Replicant: The Kithran Regenesis, Book 2 (3 page)

“No one pays for the food here. The Company provides this area and the food to keep us happy—as much as we can be in the small spaces still available, but crews are making fast progress on tunnel repairs.”

“I thought we were mining already. It’s why I signed on to help build another ship. Doesn’t that mean all the mining pods are operative? To get that much kithronite, they’d have to be.”

“Not with Egan’s robotics. Wait until you see.” Excitement lit his eyes. “Four mining pods are up and running and we have enough living pods repaired, but it can still get tight, which is why you’ll have a roommate or two in a couple of months.”

Voices sounded behind me, and I turned as Lux and Kol walked arm in arm into the room, followed by Erik and the woman I assumed was his fiancée. She was a real raven-haired beauty, taller than Erik and full figured. She laughed at something Lux muttered, her head tilting back, her long hair loose, falling in thick ropes to brush over the hand Erik had on her back. When she lowered her head, her gaze zeroed in on me, and in that instant, her humor was gone.

It was replaced by a fear so stark, adrenaline flooded my body.

She turned and ran.

Chapter Three

I jumped a bench and slammed past Erik and the others, catching their stunned expressions out of the corner of my eye before I hit the first path tunnel.
Damn, she is fast.
I only saw one of her legs as she turned a corner into the next tunnel. Unzipping my jacket as I ran, I slipped the NED over my fingers and tightened my hand around it. I picked up speed, muscles in my thighs screaming, and all the while, I knew she was caught. She knew it too. Where could she go? There was only one damned way off this planet, and the pilot of that ship was running somewhere behind me with the others. Bootfalls were loud despite the padded floor covering.

When I turned the next corner, I realized she’d clued in. She stood, back to the clear dome wall, her breasts rising and falling with the force of her overworked lungs. The blue and green splashes of color in the tree leaves outside the tunnel were cheerful, a stark contrast to the very real terror making her brown eyes wide. She shook her head, black hair spilling around her face in thick disarray. “You won’t give me a chance to explain, will you, Tracker?”

The others arrived behind me and Erik shoved past me, putting himself between me and the Replicant. “What the fuck is your problem, Jarana?”

“Oh no, not Maska,” I heard Lux say softly behind me.

I barely focused on the growling man in front of me. All I had to do was touch her and there would be no need for explanations. Someone grabbed my arm and I yanked free. Before anyone else had time to react, I lunged around Erik, opened my hand and put my palm on her throat.

Her eyes rolled back in her head, and the scream that tore out of her mouth echoed through the dome tunnel, ripping into me and, I’m sure, everyone standing there. The Replicant’s knees buckled and she hit the floor hard, her entire body drawing tight in obvious pain. I dropped to my own knees, shock freezing my system.

No one had told me that forcing the change with this new device would hurt them.

Erik shoved me away from her and crawled to pull her writhing body into his lap. “What did you do to her?” he yelled, voice a near roar as he tried to cradle her close when all she could do was twist and scream. A seam along the shoulder of her black shirt ripped.

The bone-cracking noises that followed made me wince, and I scrambled back to her, thinking I could touch her with the NED again and make it stop, but someone grabbed me. “Oh no, you don’t,” Egan bit out through gritted teeth, holding on to me tight. I struggled, but another pair of hands joined his and I turned to find a dark, murderously glaring Kol.

Lux ran to the pair on the floor and knelt. “Kei! She’s going into a seizure.”

The Gwinarian medic joined them, blocking my view.

“She’s changing,” I yelled. “She’s going back to her original form.”

I didn’t have to say more. Kei moved enough so I could see what was happening. The feminine line of her jaw squared out and dark whiskers sprang up, covering the rapidly changing chin and mouth. Her dark eyes began to pale until they were the opaque, nearly milky eyes of a true Replicant. The intricate pattern of black swirls and lines around her left eye came into view, and her body rippled and shifted until she was no longer
a she
.

The obviously male Replicant never once took his gaze off Erik’s face, and the raw terror in that expression so clouded with agony ripped into me even worse than hearing the creature’s pain had. I didn’t like Replicants, but I didn’t want to cause one that kind of pain—pain I could still see tearing through the very fabric of strong, masculine muscles.

Erik, face pale with shock, let go of the Replicant and shuffled back until his spine hit the dome. “Maska?”

Another seizure slashed through the Replicant, and this time the cry that tore from his throat was deeper, raw and full of anguish.

I sagged, surprised when Kol gently lowered me to the floor. I crawled to the now still Replicant, sure I’d killed him. But his lungs moved, his pulse beat; only, he was deeply unconscious.

Lux grabbed my hand and forced the NED off my fingers. She stared at the device before looking at me.

“You need to tell us what the fuck is going on. Now.”

I pointed. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m a Tracker and that’s an escaped prisoner. A Replicant.”

Egan bent over to sneer into my face. “And that gave you the right to force a change like that on him? I saw your shock—you never used that thing before. Do you even know what kind of damage it might have caused?”

Surprised at the level of disgust he aimed at me, I pushed him away. “Did you hear me? Prisoner. Bad person.”

“What’s a Replicant?”

We all looked at Erik when he quietly asked the question. He hadn’t moved, his face still unnaturally pale, his gaze still locked on the comatose being two feet away from him. Golden hair stood in tufts on his head.

“You didn’t know?” I asked. “How could you not know?”

“I met Maska two years ago. She was always as you saw her before. Female. What did you change her into? I don’t understand.”

Lux sighed, closed her eyes. “Not everyone has been exposed to the race, Jarana.” She turned to Erik. “They normally keep to themselves and don’t leave their planet. See the beautiful design around his eye? That’s the symbol of his planet—the name escapes me. I’ve seen the tattoo before but never on one’s face.”

“That’s because this one is an escaped prisoner. They’re all forced to get tattoos of home world symbols on their faces so the guards know what to expect. Every race has its quirks, but the forces in charge on Bastilleen worked harder to keep the Replicants segregated—especially from the guards, because the shifter aliens could change into one, given enough DNA. That’s why the tattoo is so dark and so large. And his real name is Amunet Hunner.” I held out my hand. “Give me the NED. It’s mine.”

Lux shook her head. “No, not until I know what it is and why it did that to Maska or Amunet or whatever his real name is. That…that Replicant, as you so snidely call him, is a very good friend of mine—”

“Who lied to us all.” Anger sizzled from Erik’s big frame. He moved away from the dome wall, looked down at me. “She…he…it…what the hell is it?”

Keeping one eye on Kei as he crawled back to the Replicant, I explained. “Once Replicants have the DNA of a particular species, they can change into its form as long as it’s humanoid. I’ve never heard of one staying in a different form for so long, though.” I watched Kei check Amunet’s pulse, lift his eyelids. “This is his real form. He must have taken on the other soon after the prison break. Maybe that’s why the transformation hurt so much. You’ve never seen him like this before? Maybe you met him like this before he came to you as Maska?”

“I would remember that face, that tattoo. A prisoner?”

“From Bastilleen.”

Egan let out a long sigh. “That’s where the worst prisoners are sent. It’s not a Replicant prison.”

Erik scowled. “I know exactly what Bastilleen is. A planet colonized for one reason—a place to send the worst of the worst. Murders, slavers and rapists.”

“What did he do?” Kol asked. “As Lux said, Maska is our friend and has been for a long time. The person we’ve come to care for isn’t capable of harming anyone.”

“I don’t know what he did, but it had to be something bad. That’s all I know and all I care about.”

Egan knelt beside Amunet and slid his arms under the man before lifting him. He groaned with the weight. Amunet’s form change kept him the same height, but all those lovely, full curves had turned to muscle that was bound to be heavier in this form.

Kol cupped Egan’s shoulder. “You carry him halfway, I’ll take the second half.”

Egan shifted the man in his arms and leaned over to kiss Kol. “Bossy.”

Kol, concern darkening his features, offered his lover a quick smile before his worried gaze went back to the unconscious Replicant.

I stepped in front of all of them, shook my head. “No, this is my prisoner and I’ll be taking him back to where he belongs.”

“Really?” Lux dangled the NED before she shoved it into the tight opening at the throat of her black flight suit. “I’m the pilot, so you won’t be going anywhere until I know more. Maska needs to be in a bed in the med pod and…” She frowned. “Kei, do you know anything about Replicant bodies or forced shifts?”

He pushed his braid over his shoulder, shook his head. “No, but I can tap the database and send a vidscan to people who do. If he needs major medical attention, we’ll take him where he needs to go.”

I crossed my arms. “None of you seems to understand me here. You will not be taking my prisoner anywhere but where I say.”

“Shut up, Jarana.” Lux stepped close. “You used some kind of unauthorized device on one of our crew. I have more jurisdiction here, and we’ll see who stepped over the line. Trust me, I won’t hesitate to send your ass to jail if it turns out this thing is illegal.”

“It’s not.” I shrugged. “But suit yourself. I’m a legal Tracker, and once we’re sure he’s okay, he’s mine.”

Chapter Four

First thing I did was disable the ship. No one was sneaking off planet with my prisoner. The removal of three key wires shut the electrical system down flat. Heading toward the med pod, I tried to ignore the explosion of glowing color on the other side of the dome walls. Kithran plants thrived on moonlight, soaking it in and turning leaves and flowers into luminescent hues that ignited the night sky. Nothing on any other planet came close.

Then I hit a tunnel I knew well.

Too well.

Halting midstride, I held my breath and tried not to blink, suddenly terrified that if I closed my eyes, I’d see ghostly images of a six-year-old me playing chase with my sisters through the tunnel systems. I slowly walked through the tube-like area and discovered I didn’t have to close my eyes at all.

Wisps of memories drifted past—spectral little-girl giggles and tiny, phantom bells that we’d tied in our long, red hair. This time, I couldn’t help but squeeze my eyes shut tight. The ache in my chest turned white hot, spearing my lungs, stinging the backs of my eyes. I stopped long enough to pull up the section of floor that hid a compartment. I didn’t even look inside, just shoved the wires in, closed it and left the tunnel.

Lux was annoyingly smart. She’d find the problem, but hopefully it would buy me some time.

My heart was pounding when I got to the med pod, and I halted down from the open door because everyone stood inside the pod, watching Kei. Everyone except Erik, who hovered in the doorway. He stared at the Replicant, expression unreadable. My own recent upsurge of emotions strangled me as it clawed for release, and I suddenly didn’t want to deal with any of these people. I turned and strode toward the living quarters, figuring I’d just hold my palm to each door panel until I found the one coded to me. I made it around the corner before I was grabbed, spun and shoved against the dome side.

I met Erik’s furious blue eyes as he leaned his body against mine and wrapped his hand around my throat. I poked him in the side with my gun before he could blink. “Strangling me isn’t going to solve the problem.”

“I’m not planning to strangle you, just keep you still long enough to hear what I have to say. Put the gun away.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Take your hand off my throat.”

He did, but he didn’t back off. I lowered the gun but kept it in my hand.

“Look,” I said, voice low. “You can be angry with me, but it doesn’t change the fact that your Maska is an escaped prisoner and it’s my job to find him and bring him in.” The heat from his body seeped into me with relentless determination. A raw, answering need built low in my body. My breasts actually started to feel heavy, to ache. My reaction to him was so powerful—too powerful. It didn’t make sense. But then, it was coming in on the tail of potent anguish. The strongest urge to spread my legs hit me.

I needed the distraction. I gave in.

He groaned, his pupils dilating as his gaze dropped to my mouth.

I licked my lips, shifted against his body as my blood ran hot, burning me from the inside out.

Erik suddenly let go and backed away from me. “I don’t understand my reaction to you. All these years and I’ve reacted to exactly two people with this kind of intensity, and I shouldn’t be feeling this toward you. Not now…not ever.”