Chapter
Black caught Kady in his arms and carried her out of the tub. He laid her on a padded bench and fanned her beautiful face.
Great job he was doing protecting his mate. So far, she’d pulled him from the wreckage of his crashed ship, shielded him from the local law enforcement, called him an asshole, and passed out, either from his advances or the heat.
Not the heat from her desire for him. In fact, she didn’t even seem all that attracted to him at all. Except for that kiss, she didn’t display any indication that she felt the same pull. His beautiful human didn’t seem to know they were bound together for all of time, that she was his fated mate, that she was his.
Forever.
His mate. Strange that the Fates would have him travel hundreds of light years to find her, and in the middle of an intergalactic crisis, none the less. This couldn’t have come at a worse time.
He needed to get his head in the game. The instant he saw Kady, his brain had fallen for every impulse his dick demanded. Time to get back in control.
He had ninety-nine problems, but the top two priorities had to be getting to Magic, New Mexico, and wooing his beautiful new mate.
Normally he had no problem assessing a situation, evaluating the best solution, and putting it into action. It was a large part of why he’d been recruited onto the Elite team in the first place, and how he’d been promoted to leading that team.
Those skills had escaped him when Fate had taken over his life.
The galaxy was depending on him and his team. Since the Fates had decided to interfere, he’d simply have to combine his two goals.
He’d woo Kady while hunting the spectral soldiers. But, first they had to get to Magic, and without his ship he had no knowledge of the terrain, only a vague sense of which direction he needed to go.
But, Kady would know how to navigate Earth. He knew they weren’t far from the destination. He would get her to take him there.
Once he was more fully healed and she was conscious again, he would tell her of his plan. The traveling part, not the wooing part. In his experience, women liked some mystery and intrigue.
Black poked his head out of the bathing tent flap and did some quick reconnoitering. No sign of the tree weasel or his goons. Kady’s plan had worked brilliantly. There was activity and voices in the area he’d left his ship behind.
Passion was going to castrate him for allowing this primitive planet to discover their technology, much less get their hands on it.
He’d have to figure out how to deal with that later.
He went back in, pulled on his tattered pants and shirt, then lifted Kady into his arms again. Her skin still seared him in a way that continued to edge up his desire for her. He only hoped they had the evening to themselves. He would begin tantalizing her as soon as she was awake.
Across the small meadow, he spied what must be her abode. It wasn’t much bigger than the storage locker on his ship. Why would she live in such a tiny space? Was it an earth custom to have such sparse quarters, but to enjoy the wide-open surrounds? He could live with that. His own home on Honaw, which he hadn’t seen in far too long, was at least twenty times the size of hers, but he too had chosen an area to live surrounded by nature.
He crossed the field, limping slightly, but moving fast. The time and waters had more than half healed him. If she was still unconscious when they reached her home, he would become the bear and let the healing powers of shift finish repairing his wounds.
A small ship with blades that whipped through the air passed overhead and hurried him on. The sooner they could leave the better.
Kady’s home was on wheels, and was attached to a vehicle. Maybe she was a traveler. Good, because taking her back to Honaw would be a long voyage for her.
The doorway didn’t look big enough for him to fit through, much less carrying Kady. He tried and broke some of the wood framing the door with his shoulder.
Another bladed ship approached the field, this one with a search light. It used a standard box search pattern and it wouldn’t be long before it reached them.
He’d have to scrap the idea of shifting, or making love to Kady, much to his cock’s sorrow. They needed to get out of there and soon.
The back of Kady’s vehicle was open and flat. He laid her there as gently as he could and approached the cockpit.
The technology was so ancient it couldn’t even be called technology. The only displays were a few dials, and the controls appeared to be a steering wheel, foot pedals and a steel rod lever. That was workable, but he saw no way to start the engine. Maybe it was voice activated?
“Vehicle, start.”
Nothing.
“Vehicle, on.”
Nope.
“Vehicle, begin ignition sequence.”
Okay, so not voice activated.
He should steal one of the bladed ships. He could probably figure out how to fly that easier than Kady’s wheeled conveyances.
The search light flashed across the glass shield. They’d changed their search pattern and were moving in to check this part of the field out.
If he didn’t figure out how to get the vehicle started and damn soon he’d have to grab Kady and make a run for it into the forest. That had a much lower probability of success.
Black jumped out of the cockpit and moved to the front of the engine housing. He examined the lines of the metal hunk of junk and deduced the best location for a latch. He pulled on it and the casing popped open, thank the Fates.
He used the bear’s superior night vision to examine the engine. Combustion. Wow.
No wonder the Earthers had barely made it to manned space missions. What kind of a backwoods planet still used combustion engines. Probably ran on some sort of ancient fuel made of rotting carcasses or something strange too.
He studied the components and, aha, there, wiring that led into the cockpit. The starting mechanism must be wired to the engine from inside.
He ran back and jumped inside. The wires led to the steering column, but the only thing besides the metal was some sort of hanging decoration in the shape of a powerful warrior woman.
Fuck. He ripped open the panels inside the cockpit and found more wiring than he’d bargained for. Combustion meant a firing sequence, and it must be triggered by an electrical current. He chose two wires that had the best chance of connecting and pulled them out.
“Hey. Are you seriously trying to hotwire Herbie? After I saved your ass?” His lovely mate stepped up next to him She had her glasses on her face, and the towel he was sure he’d left in the pleasure den, wrapped tightly around her. Strange. But she also had a fire in her eyes.
He’d have to remember to push that fire as often as he could. She was gorgeous.
He would do plenty of that as soon as they got to safety, or Magic. Whichever came first.
“Kady. Thank Fates. How do you start your vehicle? We have to go now.”
The bladed ship, with the words Task Force Omega printed boldly on the side, bore down on them and pointed its search light directly on them. A voice came from the sky. “Don’t move. This is the TFO. You are being detained for further questioning. Remain where you are.”
Kady held her arm aloft and extended only the middle finger toward the ship. Her gesture did not appear to be a sign of surrender. “Screw you, you big bullies.”
The metal warrior woman decoration in the vehicle must be Kady’s totem.
“Push down on that pedal, right there.” She indicated the pedal to his far left and he depressed it.
Nothing happened. She reached across him, twisted the totem and the engine sputtered to life.
Noted. Pedal, then totem twist. “Get in.”
Kady bolted across the front of the vehicle.
“Halt, or we’ll shoot.” The TFO didn’t wait and fired a weapon that bounced off the corner of the engine housing with a loud clang.
Kady ducked down and crawled on her hands and knees to the side door. No way was Black allowing these Earthers to use weapons against his mate. He roared, letting his bear rise to the surface.
His canines and incisors elongated and his claws burst forth, weapons he would use on anyone who harmed Kady.
“Whoa. That explains the fur.” Kady peered at him from a crouched position on the side of the open door. She tried to stand, but another volley of the weapon rained down on them, puncturing the vehicle’s metal.
“Shit, Herbie.”
Shouts came from behind them and they both turned to see a whole squad of the TFO men moving toward them at a rapid clip.
They had maybe three minutes before they were swarmed. He could not allow them to capture him or touch Kady.
The second bladed ship flew in over the trees and hovered just above them, its lights illuminating the cockpit. “Kady, we have to move.”
“I have a plan. Can you distract them? Maybe with more of that animal thing you got going on?”
“I must protect you.”
“Protect me later, first, cover me.” Kady bolted, running for the tiny home. Fucking hell.
Black shifted fully, his bear pouring forth from his soul faster than it had ever come on. He rolled from the Herbie and stood up to his full bear height and roared so loud it echoed off the mountains.
That drew the TFO’s fire. Shots of metal bit into his shoulder and still he snarled. Fear poured from the men on the ground and he would use that to drive them away.
He charged toward the closest men, taking fire, but pushing them to retreat. The first few rounds went clean through him and his wounds healed easily. Another squad emerged and flanked him shooting at his back.
He turned on the closest of the men and lashed out, tearing them down like children’s toys. More men fired and this time the projectiles lodged in his body. The bear’s healing powers pushed some of the metal bits out, but there were more hitting him than his body could deal with.
He’d have to either turn and run, leading them away, or charge and hope he could last against the barrage for as long as it took for Kady to escape.
Black roared again and his muscles bunched in preparation to take out the line of men firing at him.
Before he could move, Kady appeared on the porch of her home, a small black box and wiring leading into the house under her arm.
A weapon?
“Come on universe. Gimme some cloud cover,” she said.
The billows of smoke from the fires started by his crash and a quickly building bank of clouds closed in over the field. The bladed ships were engulfed and moved off.
Fates above. Had Kady done that?
She squatted down, pointed one end of the box toward the sky and flipped open a cover to reveal a white light.
A squadron of fighter ships appeared in the sky, seeming to appear right as the clouds did, surprising both Black and the TFO men. The men raised their weapons and fired.
Kady aimed a small handheld control at the interior of her home and the sound of the ships whooshed through the sky. Laser fire sounded, pew pew pew, and they could all hear the communications of the star fighters.
“Red leader one…”
“He’s on my tail, I can’t shake him.”
“It’s a trap!”
Black looked up at the battle raging in the sky, and then over at Kady.
“Don’t just stand there, you big bear, help me unhitch the trailer.”
Black used all his energy to run to her side, and fell beside her. The last hits of the weapons had weakened him.
“Oh no. Black. You can’t die now.” She touched his muzzle imbuing him with her own spirit. The flow of her soul to his buzzed like a shot of alcohol spreading warmth through him. It was enough to get him back on his feet.
The Fates had given him a powerful mate. He only hoped he was good enough for her.
Kady pushed on the metal bar connecting the Herbie and the little house, turning the crank on a hand wheel at the same time. “These schmoes are only going to fall for those X-wing fighters for about two more seconds. Come on, universe. Gimme a little help.”
The metal ball and socket holding the whole thing together fell apart right before his eyes. That was the second time Kady had used those words and made her will happen.
Hot damn. How had he not noticed it before? His mate was a witch. A much more powerful one than any he’d seen on his home world.
“Go, Black, go.” She pushed him toward the Herbie.
“God. You’re not going to fit. Can you turn back into a human?”
Black pushed the bear back inside, again shifting faster than normal. That had to be from her powers as well.
“Yes,” he said.
“Okay then. Get in the truck. The Death Star is about to explode.”
Sweet Fates, what did that mean? Just how powerful was his witch?
They both jumped into the vehicle. Kady started it up and pushed on the accelerator. They screeched across the field and down a hidden dirt road. As they flew into the cover of the trees, behind them a loud explosion boomed and then the sounds of cheering reverberated through the air.
“Did the TFO destroy your weapon?”
“No, the rebels just defeated the Empire.”
Black looked at her wondering what Empire she could possibly mean. Had the Taarians been trying to take over this portion of the galaxy and he’d been so tied up in the hunt for the spectral soldiers he hadn’t known?
There was so much more to Kady than he expected. Her powers could help in the battle against the spectrals. The sooner they could hook up with his team the better.
“Don’t worry,” Kady said, “The Empire will strike back.”