Dangerously Yours: 2 (Loving Dangerously) (27 page)

He brought his blaster to eye level and circled the tight space. “Where the hell are you? How did you get in here?”

“I am an entity. You cannot hurt me. Please put away your weapon. I am not here to harm you. Relax your body systems. I am here as a…favor to Queen Xochis.”

He brought his blaster down by his hip and settled into his chair. Without looking down, he used his thumb to increase the blaster’s firing power. As soon as the intruder showed himself, he would blast him to smithereens. The thought brought a warm feeling over him. He wanted to kill an alien, any alien would do.

“Talk to me. Tell me what you want. I’m now under the protection of the Galactic Council.”

That he’d said that out loud made him want to laugh. Moments before he’d damned the Galactic Council all to hell, now he was throwing up their protection as a shield.

“If my crew or I have wronged you or your planet, you’ll have to take it up with them.” He swept a lazy hand through the air. “We have been absolved of all our many crimes.”

“You have not wronged me.”

“Then what? Does this queen want me dead or something?” Kane laughed sarcastically. After everything he’d been through, it would be a fitting end to die alone in a transporter on his way to a brothel.

“No, she did not ask me to kill you. If she wanted you dead, I believe she would kill you herself.”

“So you aren’t here to kill me. What’s this favor then?”

“She is a friend of Queen Sa’Mya of Laconia.”

At the mention of her name,
that
name, Kane gripped his blaster tighter.
Queen Sa’Mya.
The backstabbing, lying and conniving queen was how he remembered her.

“And?” Kane ground out.

“Queen Xochis seems to believe you left Laconia without knowing the full circumstances. She believes you were wrong to leave and should return to Queen Sa’Mya.”

Kane erupted from his seat. “What does this queen know about me? I don’t care what she believes and I’m not interested in anything Sa’Mya has to say.”

“Queen Xochis once ran away from the one she loved. She believes you may have made the same mistake.”

“What are you talking about? You know nothing about me, what I’ve been through or what I’m going through.”

“You are correct,” the entity replied, calmer than Kane. “I am merely here as a favor.”

His brows furrowed together. “Who did you say you were?”
Is this some kind of trap or trick?

“My name is Ship.”

Okay
, Kane thought, confused. This entity’s name was Ship or was it in a ship?

“I am not a ship. That is merely what King Taio of Sonis has named me.”

Kane startled. “Whoa! You can read minds?”

“No, and I would not wish to. I can see your emotions on your face and I understand my name has a different meaning on your home planet. Queen Xochis of Sonis is human as well and she had a very hard time distinguishing my name from an object.”

He threw up a hand. “Wait. Did you say this Queen Xochis is human?”

“Yes, she is a human from Michigan, America, Earth.”

“Would Queen Xochis of Sonis and ‘the
human
Eva’ be the same person?” Sa’Mya had mentioned the name Sonis intertwined in the same sentence as “the
human
Eva” enough for him to make the connection.

“Yes, Queen Eva Xochis of Sonis. Mate of King Taio Xochis of Sonis.”

“Why did she send you to talk to me? I don’t know her.”

“I told you. She is a friend of Queen Sa’Mya. She believes you ran away from Laconia without understanding the facts of what transpired.”

Kane sat in his chair. “If that’s the case, then you’ve wasted your time. I didn’t
run
from anyone. I hightailed it away from her using warp speed. I don’t want to hear her name again.”

There was a sigh. “Unfortunately, I have promised to talk to you about Sa’Mya. I’m curious. How do you intend to work for her and not hear her name?”

Kane snorted. “Easy. I’m going to stay as far away from that lying adulteress as possible.”

“Those are very serious accusations.”

“She told me she wasn’t married, but she is. We had a deal and she reneged. She contacted her uncle to rescue her and she didn’t pay us our gold. Do you know what we got in return? We got to be her glorified slaves. Ha! That’s the first and last time I ever trust an alien. It got me nowhere.”

“This all sounds quite interesting.”

“There’s nothing interesting about it. She’s a liar. She’s a manipulator.”

“Manipulator?”

“Yeah, she manipulated me the entire time she was with me. She made me feel a certain way.” Kane closed his eyes.
She made me want her.
“It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore.”

“That is no way to exist. There is much more to life and living than you could ever be aware of.”

“Whoa, whoa. Don’t try to give me some psychobabble bullshit. You, whatever you are, need to leave. Bye. Begone.”

“Queen Xochis wished for me to relay the facts to you. If you will permit me to do so, then I can be on my way.”

“And if I don’t want to hear anything about Sa’Mya, would you still leave?”

“I am afraid not.”

“Because of your favor.”

“Yes.”

“What if I made you leave?”

“Do you think that you could?”

No.
He couldn’t see the damn thing he was talking to. How the hell could he make it leave?
Fucking aliens.

He needed a minute to gather his thoughts. Of course he didn’t want to hear anything this entity had to say about Sa’Mya. But it looked as though he didn’t have a choice. He might as well hear what this thing had to tell him and then he could send it on its way.

“Hurry up. You’re cutting into my vacation,” he finally said.

“Queen Sa’Mya is not bonded nor has she ever been.”

“I met her husband. Big guy, asshole. Jay something,” he said in dismissal.

“Are you referring to her head guard Jor’Dan?”

Kane snorted. “I can’t remember the motherfucker’s name. He wasn’t wearing a nametag.”

“He is not her mate.”

“I saw the bonding contract. It was another name on it though.” Hadn’t it said Aaron, Anton or Anthony?
Doesn’t matter.
“Move on to the next lie.”

“No. Her Uncle Umar forged her signature on a bonding contract to his son. It would have been the only way to keep her under his control after she became queen.”

“No, no, no.” Kane’s head shook vigorously with each word. That’s the same lie she’d fed him before. It couldn’t be true.

“Captain Kane, I am here to give you the facts.”

Kane listened as Ship told him everything that had transpired on Laconia, from the time of her parents’ death to now.

“I offered my help, but it wasn’t good enough. She told me that she didn’t trust me.”

“What was your intent when you captured her?”

“Ransom her to her home world.” As the words left his mouth realization hit him. He’d never hid his intent from her. Ransom her back to the very place she had run from. Why would she trust him? Even after he found out the truth he still hadn’t helped her. He was negotiating the terms of her release.

“You’ve convinced me that I’m an asshole. Thanks. You can go now.”

“Are you going to return to Sa’Mya now?”

He shook his head. “No. Plus, she’d never want me back.”

“Eva is under the impression that Sa’Mya is in love with you.”

He straightened. “She loves me? Did Sa’Mya say that or did you hear it from Eva?”

“Eva told me.”

Why would Sa’Mya fall in love with him? This couldn’t be right. Someone was playing games with his heart. “I need to talk to Eva.”

“Why?”

“Don’t get offended, buddy. But I need to hear it from Eva, a human.”

“If you wish.”

There was a pause before a click came from the intercom.

“Eva?” Ship asked. “I have Captain Kane Epps here. I have done as you have asked and now he wishes to speak to you.”

“Kane?” A female asked.

He had to set her straight. “I’m here. Listen, I don’t know you and I don’t know this thing…entity. And I don’t know if this is some kind of game or—”

“No, you listen to me. Stop being a stubborn ass. Sa’Mya told me everything that happened between you two.”

“Wait a minute. I didn’t do anything to her. She’s the one who—”

“Who what? Lobbied to get your crimes absolved? Offered to give a home? A job?”

“She did all that because she felt guilty.”

“No, you idiot. She did all that because she loves you. Do you love her?”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. If you don’t love her and don’t want to ever see her again then fine, but if you do stop being a pussy about it.”

Red in the face, he yelled at her, “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?”

“I’m talking to a lawyer from Earth who, like the rest of us, got the shitty end of the stick. But if you push me, I will beat the hell out of you with it.”

Well, since she put it that way.

He slumped and let out a heavy sigh. He’d been trying so hard to forget about her and everything that she’d made him feel. She had awoken a piece of him that he thought had died along with Anna. He was in love again. He loved Sa’Mya. As if in acknowledgement, his heart skipped a beat.

“Kane, she needs you.”

Kane cradled his forehead in his hand. “I can’t do this. I don’t know if I can do this.” Sa’Mya deserved better than him. She needed someone to love her unconditionally.

“I think you need her just as much as she needs you.”

“You don’t understand. I
have
been an asshole. I wouldn’t know where to start with her.”

“Start by saying you’re sorry.”

Could it be that easy? After how he’d treated her? After everything he’d said and done?

“I don’t know.”

“Trust me. She’ll be happy to see you. She could use someone she trusts by her side.”

“She doesn’t trust me.”

“Give her credit, Captain. When she was running for her life, she trusted you with it.”

“Her uncle could have killed her,” he whispered.

“No. Her uncle would not have killed her. He would have kept her enslaved until after she produced heirs,” Ship interjected.

“You do know you aren’t making me feel any better about this, don’t you?” he replied.

“My Queen.”

Sa’Mya watched as Allehtra, her new personal aide, approached where she stood admiring her favorite view from the palace’s large plate-glass window.

“There is a vessel suspended above the planet. The captain is requesting an audience with you,” he said.

She’d been bombarded with bonding proposals from species of every walk of life. Now that her uncle no longer controlled Laconia, it seemed she was the most eligible female in this galaxy.

With the help of King Taio and Ship, Jor’Dan had increased the planet’s security system. The would-be suitors could no longer clutter her skies or palace. They now had to speak with Jor’Dan, to request an official visit.

Allehtra had been working as a gardener, one of many staff she’d never laid eyes on. It had been at the advice of Tashar, the Truth-Seeker, that Allehtra became her personal aide. So far they were still getting used to each other.

“Did you run this by Jor’Dan first?”

Allehtra’s small head bobbed frantically, making his tussle of gold curls bounce. His size was somewhat of an oddity on Laconia. Although taller than a child, he did not have the height of a full-grown male. But what he lacked in stature, he made up for in pride for his planet and for her.

She sighed. “If the answer is yes, Allehtra, then you will have to say it. Dignitaries and other royals would take offense if you answered them with a head bob.”

His eyes widened in response. “Oh! Yes, my Queen. Please forgive me. I forgot.”

“Forgiven.” She’d been teaching him how to act as her personal advisor. The time he’d spent taking care of plants and flowers was much different than seeing to the needs of a queen. She found she enjoyed the tedious task—besides, there was no one else to teach him. “Was Jor’Dan informed of our visitor?”

“Yes, my Queen. Jor’Dan said it was your personal choice. He requests he be notified of your answer so he is aware of how to proceed.”

Odd.

“Who requests to see me?”

“Captain Kane Epps of
The Vengeance II
.”

The world stopped spinning. Air ceased to circulate through her lungs. Her heart stopped. Her stomach dropped.

Her hand instinctively rested on the cool glass window for support.
Kane.
She hadn’t spoken his name since leaving Sonis, vowing then to move on with her life. She threw herself headfirst into righting the atrocities her uncle had committed. She hadn’t expected to hear his name, wasn’t prepared for it.