Merry & Seduced (2 page)

He was keeping her.

* * * * *

“D
o my ears look pointy in this?” Kaya asked, cocking her head so her blue hair swung away to reveal a jeweled ear cuff.

“Very funny.” Camryn O’Sullivan plucked at her hair in telltale irritation. “Tell them, Ry. None of them are taking this seriously. Earth isn’t ready for aliens. It’s gonna be bad enough facing my brother and his wife again after all these months. I don’t want to worry about the population of New Zealand panicking because they think it’s an alien invasion.”

Amme Vanak stood in the background, leaning against a wall of the flight deck of the
Indefatigable
, a smirk tugging her lips. This argument had been ongoing ever since Ry announced they’d visit Earth for Christmas. A summer Christmas since they were going to the southern hemisphere, and she couldn’t wait. The conversation never failed to entertain her, and she suspected the crew enjoyed teasing Camryn.

“What do you say, Amme?” Nanu, the ship’s engineer and pilot, drew her into the discussion. The beads on the ends of his braids clacked as his attention shifted from her back to Camryn. “Do you want to do some sightseeing on Earth?”

Of course she did. “As long as I can regulate my skin tone.”

Her cyborg nature allowed her to change her skin tone to blend. Her other characteristics were less noticeable. When she was a child, the categorization committee on her home planet of Sheng had determined she would profit their society most by entering the profession of childcare. Then, like all children on Sheng, she’d undergone enhancements to complement her natural inclinations.

Her enhancements included increased empathy for children, the ability to think and learn quickly, extra physical strength and stamina to keep up with the young and fend off attacks on her charges if necessary. Perfect eyesight. Excellent hearing. Perfect health and antibodies added to guard against most known diseases. On Earth, she’d appear humanoid. She was luckier in that respect than Kaya with her pointed ears and bright blue hair or Gweneth with the cat tattoo on her cheek and Mogens who flashed from black to white depending on his mood.

“I have the solution for those of us who don’t appear humanoid.” Mogens violet eyes sparkled in his white face—an indication of happiness and contentment. “Never fear. We shall all visit Camryn’s family. We shall have fun. I have read this in the clouds.”

A spurt of excitement fizzled through Amme, and she grinned at Mogens. Camryn had told them so much about Earth, and they were eager to explore and experience a New Zealand Christmas. The southern hemisphere. Hot weather. Beaches. Barbecues.

“What sort of solution? Have you trialed it?” Camryn asked, suspicion coloring her tone while her gaze sliced and diced, forging a path to the truth.

“On myself.” Mogens’ long broad nose lifted in a show of dignity. “My appearance represents the biggest challenge since it fluctuates from black to white and in between. The cream I’ve developed turns my skin a golden brown. If I change my robes for those things you called jeans and a T-shirt, I’ll pass as a human.” He winked at Amme.

Amme felt her mouth drop open. Well! Mogens was very pleased with himself.

“Fine, that’s one problem solved, but where are you going to hide the
Indefatigable
?” Camryn asked, spearing each of them with a glower in turn. “You can’t just park it in the middle of a paddock and leave it there. My brother is going to notice. His employees and neighbors are sure to remark on a hulking big spaceship parked on the lawn.”

“Nanu and I have a plan,” Mogens said.

“Of course you do,” Camryn said drily.

Ry placed his hands on Camryn’s shoulders and pulled her against his chest. His handsome features held a wealth of tenderness as he stroked his mate’s shoulder and arm. “Stop worrying. We have the
Indy
covered. No one will come upon our ship. I’ve told you this. Your brother will be pleased to see you.”

“I hope so.”

Amme moved forward to stand beside the woman who’d become a close friend. They’d spent a lot of the voyage together, discussing their lives and sharing personal experiences. “Of course he will. Once he gets over his shock, I’m sure he’ll be excited to see you. Are you going to tell him about becoming a feline shifter? That you’re no longer fully human like him because you mated with Ry?”

“Maybe.” Camryn’s brow creased then she pulled away from Ry to pace back and forth in front of the view screen. Her boots beat a tattoo on the bridge floor, the sound becoming increasingly rapid as her mind wrestled with her fear. “I guess. He’s not going to believe a human can turn into a black leopard without a demonstration.”

Amme exchanged a glance with Ry.

“Let’s go and workout,” Ry said. “It will rid you of some of your nerves.”

“If workout is code for sex, then I’m staying here to help Nanu,” Jannike, Ry’s second-in-command said. Built like an assassin warrior, the tall blonde woman maintained a serious mien. Most thought she lacked humor. Amme knew better. The woman hid her humor bone and soft heart. She often acted the champion for those who were weaker and unable to stand up for themselves.

Camryn’s troubled gaze swept them, and she let out a huge sigh. “This visit is going to be a disaster. I just know it.”

* * * * *

“I
s the shield on? No one can see us land, right? The military forces won’t shoot us out of the sky?” Camryn’s voice dripped with anxiety, and Amme noted her friend’s fingers curl and uncurl, twist and untwist at her sides.

A ship of the frigate category, the
Indy
was a huge hulk and built to undertake long space voyages. Its somber gray color wasn’t flashy like some of the cruise ships, and that would help it blend during their approach, but Amme understood Camryn’s anxiety. From the moment they’d entered Earth’s atmosphere, they courted danger.

“Shields are fully functional,” Ry said in a clipped tone that indicated this landing was more difficult than any of them admitted. “The
Indy
is invisible to tracking devices and the naked eye.”

Jannike planted her hands on her hips and scowled her tough-warrior glare. “Camryn, if you don’t shut up, Kaya and I are gonna gag you. I don’t care what Ry says. If the Earth military had noticed our entry into the atmosphere, they would have sent fighter ships to intercept us by now.” She crossed to her seat next to Nanu and clipped the safety harness into place.

Amme grabbed Camryn by the arm and dragged her over to one of the rear seats. They both buckled their harnesses while the others studied the instrument panel and Nanu manipulated the controls. “Tell me about the men on Earth. Do you think I’ll manage to find one for a Christmas fling?”

Camryn ripped her gaze off the clouds beyond the view port and turned to her with raised brows. “You want a man?”

“I didn’t say I wanted to keep him,” Amme said. “
Ooh
, pretty. Look at the trees. Is that a river?”

“Amme, you can’t drop a man bomb without telling me more.”

Ah, her distraction had worked. She turned from the view to focus on Camryn. “Now that Gweneth has blossomed and become independent, she doesn’t need me. I was designed to look after others, and the lack of need in that department is making me…unsettled.” Yes, that was the correct word to describe her current unease.

“But an affair? Really?” Camryn said, diverted from her anxiety as Amme had intended.

“Memories to keep me warm on the long space voyage to Viros.”

The engine roared extra loud, there was a metallic bang, and the
Indy
tilted at a forty-degree angle without warning, flinging Amme against her harness. Over at the control panel, Nanu cursed. An alarm burst into life.

Jannike echoed him with equally pithy sentiments. “Fukk, watch out! We’re gonna crash.”

“Don’t you think I know that,” Nanu said, his tone testy.

“Sit-rep,” Ry demanded.

Nanu checked the panels, his instruments, stabbed at buttons. “One of the stabilizers isn’t working. Don’t know why.”

“Hard right,” Ry ordered. “Right or we’ll hit those trees.”

“I said I know that,” Nanu snapped.

Ry shot a glower at his mate. “Camryn, the clearing you mentioned isn’t where you said it would be.”

“Sorry.” Camryn winced. “I wasn’t at my best the last time I was here. I did tell you that.”

“I see the clearing,” Nanu said, his shoulders straining and fighting the thruster control. “Turn, damn it. Turn!”

“Can you straighten our approach?” Ry asked, his voice calm.

Nanu’s beefy hands raced over the control panel while his gaze remained on the rapidly approaching landscape. “It’s a thruster. A malfunction. It’s fukked up the landing stabilizers and the steering. Turn,
Indy
.”

Amme gripped her seat handrests and stared out the view screen at the landscape. Despite Nanu’s attempts, the
Indy
was still flying at a drunken angle. The trees appeared enormous this close. She swallowed. “That’s assuming we make it to the ground in one piece. I might be all talk about this fling if we crash and die.”

The engine roared, and Nanu fought the controls. Slowly, the
Indy
started to level.

Beside them Kaya snorted out a laugh. “Don’t worry. We’ll land safely. I want one of those sex flings too. I’m counting on it. We haven’t hit many planets where the males have the right working parts. Need to make sure I haven’t gone rusty.”

“Your brother would hatch an Earth animal…an elephant if he heard you say that, Kaya,” Jannike said.

“What he don’t know won’t hurt him,” Kaya said with a cheeky wink over her shoulder. “Earth fling here I come.”

Camryn barked out a laugh and shot an impish glance at Ry. “Maybe I should try a fling. They sound like fun.”

“Not if you know what’s good for you,” Ry said. “Ease it down, Nanu. We’re almost at the clearing.”

“She’s not responding. Darlin’, I need you level. Damn it. Jannike, you’ll have to manipulate the manual landing gear,” Nanu said, his attention on the controls. “Hurry.”

“I can’t reach,” Jannike snapped. “Hang on.” She unclicked her safety harness just as the frigate slanted in the other direction. Her feet went from under her and she slid across the floor, landing against a panel of instruments, headfirst. “
Oomph.
”

“You’re in the right place now,” Nanu said urgently. “Pull the red lever.”

Jannike groaned, and Amme saw a trickle of blood rolling down the second officer’s cheek. Her movements were sluggish, and she missed her grab for the handhold when the
Indy
rolled again. She shot across the floor and thudded into another control panel just as the
Indy
struck the ground. “Fukk, Nanu. Can’t you fly this thing straight?”

“Doing my best. Get the lever,” Nanu ordered.

“Fukk you,” Jannike said and swiped some of the blood off her cheek. She half scuttled, half crawled across the floor toward the lever. She reached out, grabbed hold. “Got it.”

The
Indy
bounced. Amme’s stomach dropped, and she jolted against her safety harness, her gaze on Jannike instead of the landscape and the green of trees whizzing past the view port. The
Indy
punched into the terrain. Jumped. Hit.

Jannike moaned with each successive smack. Amme’s harness dug into her shoulders. She grunted. Beside her, Camryn growled, her feline rattled by the rough ride.

“Hang tight. We’re gonna hit again,” Nanu warned.

Outside, tree branches gouged the hull with nasty metallic shrieks. Amme’s receptors prickled at the sharp scratches, the small hairs at the back of her neck rising.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Nanu crooned from between tight lips. The engines roared as the
Indy
battled gravity.

Jannike tried to right herself, to scuttle across the floor but the
Indy
bucked and shrieked like a defiant
beest
. She cursed. Tensed to avoid another body slam as she slid, unable to gain purchase. “Can you please help instead of showing off?”

“One more hop should do it,” Nanu said. “They’re getting smaller.”

The
Indy
struck and the entire frigate groaned as if the landing pained her too.

Amme waited for the ship to lift again. When it remained in place, she unclipped her safety harness and hurried over to Jannike. “Where does it hurt?”

“My head,” Jannike said with a glare at Nanu. “It was his bad driving.”

“You took off your safety harness,” Ry said. “Last time you did that you hit your noggin too.”

“And both times I was trying to help,” Jannike said. “You’re the captain. You should have volunteered.”

“Do I look stupid?” Ry smirked at her and Amme had difficulty holding back a laugh. The crew constantly sniped at each other, yet if anyone dared attack, they fought the foe as one strong unit.

“Do you think anyone noticed us landing?” Camryn asked.

“We’ve left a trail of destruction,” Kaya said. “We hit trees.”

“This visit is doomed,” Camryn said. “
Doomed.
This is a sign. We should leave right now.”

“Coward,” Ry said.

Camryn’s back straightened and another catlike growl emerged from deep in her throat.

“Stop teasing your mate. Watch my finger,” Amme said to Jannike, and she waggled it from left to right in front of the second-in-command’s face. Jannike followed orders, and Amme nodded in satisfaction. “Normal reaction. She has a bump on her skull, but she’ll live. I’ll cleanup the blood for you.”

Mogens hurried onto the flight deck. “If it’s safe to leave the ship, I’ll plant a spell, one to repel anyone who comes too close. You’re positive the atmosphere is safe?”

“It’s safe,” Camryn said. “But take a reading first. It’s a good habit.”

Nanu’s fingers danced over the controls. “I’ll put the shield in place. There. Done. Anyone looking at the
Indy
will see what he or she expect to see. Trees and more trees.”

“But what about the gouges in the earth and the broken trees?” Camryn demanded. “And the sound of our arrival.”

A trace of black swirled into Mogens pale skin, giving him streaks of gray on his chin and jaw. “My spell will work with the damage,” he said, his tone offended. “Hopefully, the black clouds on the horizon will get the blame for the noise.”