Alex Wales Read online

  She lifted her left wrist and set the countdown on her digital timepiece. Every planet and space station in this galaxy still used the 24-hour system of telling time. No matter what race, the humans were able to entice everyone into using it. Wasn’t bad, either—especially for someone who had deadlines for every single delivery she accepted.

  “You don’t have to worry. I’ll meet the delivery time,” she said.

  His eyes were shiny and creepy. “I’ve no doubt you will.”

  As Alex stepped away from Sackor, she veered to the other side of the room, ignoring the burning pain from her hand.

  She stopped in front of the booth where Michaela still seemed out of it. Then again, on closer inspection, the idiot might actually be enjoying this. The brute now had her on his lap—her back pressed against the wall and her legs dangled over the edge of the seat. He had an arm around her waist, and his other hand keyed in numbers into the handheld device sitting on the table.

  The sleazy pimp sat across from them, leaning forward as he stared hungrily at the digits he’d soon receive as payment for something he didn’t own. He was also the first one to notice Alex standing there. He lifted his greasy head, taking his time to start at her legs, before pausing on her chest for a few seconds too long. When his beady eyes finally reached her face, he said, “What the hell do you want, bitch? Are you looking for a job?”

  “Charming,” she spat. “The only thing I’m here to do is take the girl back where she belongs.”

  The pimp had the nerve to laugh. “I don’t think so. She belongs to me—”

  “No, she belongs to me, now. I just completed the transaction,” the brute said with a laugh. “So, like he said. What the hell do you want?”

  Alex crossed her arms. Her fingers itched to grab her blaster. Soon.

  The pimp slid out of the booth. “I’m outta here. If you’ve got a problem, you gotta deal with Robbo now. This has nothing to do with me.”

  Alex kept her ground, refusing to budge. Even when the sleazy bastard went out of his way to rub up against her as he tried to make his escape, she didn’t give him enough room to leave just yet. Then, she leaned over, her hands pressed against the table. “Okay, then, Robbo. I’m taking the girl with me.”

  He turned his head toward her, but Alex couldn’t see if he was looking directly at her or not. The brute’s eyes were covered by rectangular glasses, wrapped around his face and screwed to both sides of his head. She assumed he was either a cyborg or an enhanced human. Either way, her blaster would take him out. She didn’t even have to aim to kill. Just put him out of commission long enough to get the hell out of this dump.

  She wrapped her fingers around the blaster on her thigh before he had a chance to respond. Alex blasted Robbo between the eyes. His heavy frame slumped back against the wall. The shell of his glasses ripped off his face, dangling from one end of his head to reveal a mess of wires spilling from eyeless sockets.

  Michaela screamed and jumped off Robbo’s lap.

  “Oh, shit!” The pimp stared at Alex with fear in his eyes, before swiping the handheld the cyborg had been using, and running off into the stunned crowd, shouting, “You can keep her!”

  Alex was glad to see him go as she holstered her blaster and caught the girl by the wrist when she made a move to run. “I don’t think so. You’re coming with me.” If she let Michaela get away now, someone else would snap her up, and she’d once again find herself in a similar situation. I’m not going to let that happen. Not today.

  “Who are you?” The petite brunette asked, tears dripping from her eyes. Her makeup ran in matching black lines down her cheeks. She was dressed in some sort of cheesy school uniform—a white shirt and a tiny blue skirt.

  “If you weren’t so high, you’d remember me. Now, come on. I’m taking you home.” She stood there for a moment, eyeing the cyborg as his body trembled.

  “I. Will. Get. You.” His voice sounded mechanical, artificial, but he appeared to be repairing himself.

  They had to get out, now.

  “Come on.” As Alex led the girl out of the bar, the patrons they passed gave her plenty of space. No one would interfere in other people’s problems. It wasn’t as if a shoot-out or two didn’t happen in here every now and then. This bunch was used to trouble and knew when to leave it alone. Besides, she hadn’t actually killed anybody.

  She spotted Sackor staring at her from across the room and looked away.

  After stepping into the elevator with the stunned teenager, she hit the button to reach the top levels. Well, she would be able to reach neutral level before having to use her access card to get any higher. The loading dock would have to wait for now.

  “Damn,” she whispered when she caught sight of the droplets of blood still seeping from her skin. Sackor had cut her good. Her hand stung like crazy, and the bleeding refused to stop.

  “What are you going to do to me?” Michaela asked, sobbing.

  “I’m not going to do anything to you,” she replied. “Your father will probably have a thing or two in mind, though.”

  Alex tucked her injured hand into her pocket and tightened her other around the girl’s wrist. She couldn’t wait to get on her ship. Then, she could take care of her injury.

  I really have to get out of here, before someone else decides to screw around with me today.

  Chapter Three

  The troubled teenager was now safely home with a very relieved and grateful father. He’d insisted on compensating Alex for saving his daughter’s life and returning her where she belonged. This time, Alex had gladly accepted the credits. Though she doubted Michaela agreed that home was where her father was. She had no doubt the teenager would run away again the first chance she got.

  Alex understood what it was like to live in a place where you didn’t belong. After all, she also ran away at a young age, but not to a pimp. Not to someone who would keep her drugged, and then sell her to the highest bidder when he tired of her. If Michaela wanted to be on her own and take charge of her own life, she had to do it right, not by falling into a life of drugs and prostitution.

  I hope she learns something from what almost happened to her. Who knows why a cyborg had wanted to buy her.

  Thinking about what Robbo had promised he’d do to Alex should have worried her, but it didn’t. Not half as much as Ulric’s proposition. She just couldn’t shake the fact that he actually wanted her to give up everything so she could stay with him. Somehow, she couldn’t accept that’s what he really wanted.

  I wonder what he’s doing, now. She’d almost gone back to his quarters to see him, after returning Michaela, but decided if she did, she probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. She couldn’t let his admission affect her own feelings. Besides, she had a shipment to deliver.

  She glanced at her disinfected and now bandaged left hand. By the time she’d reached Promise, a rash had spread from the cut. So, she cleaned it up as well as she could, injected a little healing serum, and could only hope for the best. Though judging by the constant burn, she doubted it would heal quickly.

  Alex sighed, set the co-ordinates, and sat back in her pilot chair.

  This time, she’d decided to take a different route. One she hadn’t taken before but would cut a lot of travel time, so she could reach her destination with plenty of time to spare.

  There were easier ways to get to planets and space stations, but it required a hyperspace function. Something Promise didn’t have. She couldn’t space-jump from one side of the galaxy to the other, and instead had to settle for getting there the old-fashioned way.

  Alex turned her attention to the circular window in front of her.

  Maybe some of Sackor’s accusations about Ulric were accurate. He indeed sat in his vertical, metal shell like it was his castle. On the other hand, why shouldn’t he?

  Alex wondered what she would’ve done if she had as many credits as Ulric in her account, as well as the power to rule over others. The fact that such an op
portunity was practically handed to her by her mother once upon a time didn’t escape her. Though, there’d been too many strings attached—a marriage of convenience and a life with nothing but strict rules at every turn. Not to mention being stranded on her mother’s planet. No thanks.

  What price did Ulric have to pay for the easy life he led? Were there secrets he kept from others? Things he’d rather no one else knew about? It didn’t matter, because it didn’t change anything. Alex couldn’t accept his proposal, no matter what. She belonged in the darkness of space, free to roam and explore.

  Alone.

  Anteris was now nothing more than a gray dot in the rearview monitor to her left. No bigger than the multitude of shiny stars surrounding her in the dark edge of space.

  As she absently reached for the bronze key dangling from her leather choker, she cursed herself. Damn! It wasn’t where it was supposed to be. She’d probably forgotten the choker in Ulric’s bedroom. Her good luck charm was sitting in someone else’s home. No wonder everything had been going wrong since she left Ulric’s side.

  She took a deep breath. Calm down, there’s no need to worry. I’m sure Ulric has already found it and is keeping it safe for me. Besides, she would return to Anteris soon enough.

  The emergency lights suddenly flashed on the dashboard in front of her. Out of nowhere, everything seemed to be flashing red and green—mingling together. To have so many lights from several components blink rapidly was bad news. Alex had overhauled her ship only weeks ago, even splurged on paying a professional cleaner to make the exterior gleam. Now, everything seemed to be failing.

  That wasn’t technically possible.

  The ship was old, but mostly reliable.

  Alex secured the seatbelt over her shoulders and around her hips. She swiveled in her seat, rolling it forward to take manual control of Promise. Most of the time, cruising on automatic did the job after she programmed the destination codes, but not with everything blinking. It had been a while since she’d completely taken over the wheel.

  “Damn this!” she cursed as the colors burned into her nerves more than her eyes. What the hell was wrong? She couldn’t even get a reading on her location or what the problem with the ship was. According to the controls, everything was failing.

  She switched from auto to manual control, and wrapped her right hand tightly around the lever.

  Anteris was too far to try and make it back, now. There weren’t any planets nearby, but Alex decided to press the communication button, anyway. “Hello, can anybody hear me?”

  The response was nothing but static.

  “Hello, I need help. This is Promise calling for help.” She hoped someone would at least hear her call. Her system might be too fried to receive any signals, but if someone heard and took note of her location, there was the slight chance they would come out and search for her.

  Yet, with no planets or moons nearby, she could be left circling in space for a long time. That’s if anyone bothered to come out to search for her at all. She was just a courier. There were plenty more around. No one would care enough to save her.

  Well, no one but Ulric. Suddenly, she saw an advantage to his newfound affection for her.

  Promise jolted. The control panels were all buzzing like annoying insects.

  As she put all of her strength into trying to keep the ship steady, the rounded edge of a moon appeared from out of nowhere, right in front of her. So close that it threatened to consume her. What the hell was going on? How could a moon magically pop up?

  She checked the map. It showed nothing but clear space in this area. The closest habitable places listed were Anteris and the planet Lark, which is where she was headed.

  Steering to the right, she managed to swerve enough to avoid being dragged by the gravitational pull of the moon.

  Alex sighed in relief, her pulse beating a tattoo inside her head. Her relief was short-lived, though. As soon as she’d cleared the bluish tinge of the moon, a planet appeared before her. It had been hiding behind the moon. No matter how hard she tried to manually steer her way around, she wasn’t heading anywhere but straight for it.

  The steering lever was jammed in the one position—forward.

  The engine droned out, and the ship took a nose-dive.

  “My ship is failing, and I’m going down. I repeat, I’m going down!” she yelled into her comm-unit.

  She was falling into the planet, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it. She peered out the window. What the hell? There it was—a green and brown globe.

  I’m plunging into a planet that doesn’t show up on my navigation charts.

  Alex tried to adjust the steering lever, but her effort was in vain. The ship continued its downward trajectory. She wasn’t sure how she’d managed to get herself into this situation, but this unfamiliar planet was sucking Promise in.

  The dash in front of her sparked. All the competing noises suddenly stopped as smoke and flames ignited simultaneously. The emergency siren echoed around her, adding to the panic already gripping her.

  She reached forward and pressed the extinguisher button. At least that worked. The white spray killed the flames but probably ruined every control panel on her dash.

  Her grip on the manual control lever slipped from her clammy hands. Her heart beat so rapidly, she thought she might be having a heart attack.

  She tightened the belt around her stomach and chest. There was nothing else she could do. Flames shone brightly outside the window in front of her, indicating Promise had entered the foreign planet’s atmosphere.

  I hope I make it alive.

  Alex managed to wrap her shaky fingers around the oxygen mask she kept above her and pulled it over her face seconds before darkness washed over her vision.

  Chapter Four

  Ulric intended to surprise her.

  There was no way Alex would ever expect him to do something this crazy. He never left the space station. There was no need to. Until now, he hadn’t seen any reason for doing so. Why would he? He had everything he needed within reach, and if it wasn’t there, he could order someone to get it for him. Everything was delivered, given to him. He could afford all of life’s desires, and sometimes people even gave them away to impress him.

  After the way things had ended inside his room with Alex, he hadn’t seen any other choice but to follow her. Make her realize he meant what he’d said.

  When he eventually showed himself, and they were too far out in space for her to return to Anteris, she’d have to spend more time alone with him. That’s all he wanted—to be with her.

  Just when he’d stripped off every stitch of clothing and was about to make his entrance, the ship tilted dangerously forward. He lost his balance and smacked his forehead hard against some of the metal framing.

  “Fuck!” It was almost impossible to find a safe spot in this blasted ship, without adding this stroke of bad luck. Some of the barrels around him shook, but none moved an inch. They were strapped in with chains. Where the hell was she delivering these?

  His bare spine pressed painfully against the metal wall, scalding his skin.

  He wrapped his right hand tighter around the only token he’d ever given her. The one she’d called her good luck charm. She didn’t think he took notice, but he always heard everything she said and knew she carried two good luck charms wherever she went. The one he’d given her and what he clutched in his left hand.

  One way or another, he would give both back to her. Just as he would make sure she eventually saw things his way. He wanted Alex more than he’d ever wanted anything else in his life, and he wasn’t about to let her slip from his grasp. No other woman could satisfy him physically or intellectually, anymore. He’d tried to amuse himself when she was gone, just as he’d done at the beginning of their casual relationship, but something had changed.

  Sex didn’t mean anything anymore, unless it was with her.

  Alex Wales had gotten under his skin, deep enough to make him nuts w
hen she wasn’t around. He started to worry about her. So much that he’d sent his most trusted bodyguard to follow her on several occasions, to ensure she returned to him safely. This time, he’d decided he would be the best man for the job.

  She’s going to be mine. No other man would ever lay a hand on her again. The thought of someone else touching her made his blood boil with jealousy.

  As the ship’s temperature rose around him and oxygen failed his lungs, every bit of him burned, as if his skin was literally seeping from his body. Almost as if something was shifting beneath his skin. Something hidden so deep, he hadn’t even known it was there.

  Alex. I hope Alex is okay.

  He made a move toward the cockpit but collapsed on his hands and knees. Ignoring the cramping of his fingers, as he curled them around the two tokens belonging to the one woman he hadn’t been able to shake since the day they’d met, was bearable. Yet, what struck next wasn’t.

  Ulric roared as his skin rippled, and a world of pain tore through his body.

  Chapter Five

  Alex lifted her head slowly. A kink of pain shot through the back of her neck. How long had she been out? At least she hoped she’d just been unconscious and was now waking up, instead of dead and soon to be facing the afterlife.

  She turned her face to one side, then the other. She appeared to still be strapped inside the safety of her ship. There wasn’t a single light left blinking on the dashboard. It was dark, with some places melted from the fire that had ignited before everything went black. Most of the damage on the actual dash looked cosmetic. She prayed she was right.

  As her eyes adjusted and focused on the large window in front of her, she noticed the tangle of shrubbery the ship rested on. She took a small breath and released it. It hurt to do so. Her ribs felt achy, maybe bruised, but she was sure they weren’t broken. She patted herself down. Nothing seemed to be broken.