Bayden was in the cargo hold readying their drop of supplies on Cerbys. “Yeah?”
“Zaira’s requesting to board.”
He grunted. Great. Just what he needed. Zaira had helped on a few missions in the past, but the woman was a pain in his ass. She seemed to think it was her duty to try to bed every Reaper. He’d never deny that she was an attractive package with her near white-blonde hair, dark green eyes, golden skin, lush curves, and commendable fighting skills. He’d even been tempted by her
charms
a time or two himself, but he didn’t feel it was appropriate to have relationships with other team members. That scenario could bring on a shit load of problems that could quickly spin into a dangerous situation for them all.
“Set the ship down and let her board. Instead of a drop, we’ll make it a stop and drop.” He knew he didn’t need to warn his crew about her notorious behavior. They’d all been on the receiving end of Zaira’s overzealous attention at one time or another.
The delivery went off without a hitch, and they were back on course to Earth within minutes. Bayden lounged back in the captain’s chair.
“Well, well, if it isn’t my favorite team of man meat in the whole universe.” Zaira purred.
Stryder ignored her, and Thad shrugged, which could’ve been taken as an acknowledgment or dismissal. Of course, Conlan glanced at her and gave her a low whistle.
“Heard anything new about Mykal floating through the communication loop lately?” Bayden asked.
She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. “No ‘how are you, Zaira’? Just straight into ‘what do you know about Mykal’?” She huffed at Bayden.
Conlan laughed, and Bayden shot him a cold stare. “Oh come on, Bayden. You’re a rude motherfucker sometimes.” Conlan laughed again.
“Remind me later to kick your ass.” Bayden turned back to Zaira.
“So boring. Tell me, have you finally gone limp?” Her gaze dipped to his groin.
“Only when you’re around,” Bayden said. “So indulge me. Have you heard anything?”
She rolled her eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh of obvious irritation. “Only the usual. Rape, murder, thievery, raids—same old Mykal.”
Bayden started to ask her something else when a quiet voice came from behind them.
“I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something?” Ellie looked at Zaira.
“Who are you?” Zaira’s eyes narrowed.
“Who are you?” Ellie countered.
“Ellie, this is Zaira.” Bayden said. “She’s helped us with missions over the last several months. We rescued Ellie from Earth.”
Zaira had a smart mouth, and Bayden swore he could hear the seconds ticking down to the point where she was going to offend Ellie.
Zaira turned a narrowed gaze on Ellie and treated her to a scathing once-over. “Why the hell is she on this ship? You don’t take civilians with you on missions.”
““Ellie had some vital information we needed for this mission.” Bayden hoped Zaira would leave it at that, but knew he was an idiot for entertaining that idea.
“Ridiculous.” Zaira flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“I don’t understand what the big deal is. It’s not your ship anyway.” Ellie’s face was red with what Bayden guessed was indignation, not embarrassment.
Zaira walked toward Ellie and stuck a finger toward her chest. “For your information, little girl—”
“Enough!” Bayden’s thundering voice brought the control room to utter silence. “It was my decision to bring her, Zaira. You have no authority to question my decisions. Let it go.”
It was Zaira’s turn to flush red with anger now. “Is she your lita?”
Bayden vaulted from the seat and stood toe-to-toe with Zaira. “Don’t ever insult someone under my protection again, Zaira. Are we clear on that?”
Her eyes widened momentarily before narrowing. “Oh. I think we’re clear. I’m going to go find something to do.” She brushed past Ellie with a not so gentle nudge. “I’ll see you when we land.”
ZAIRA STORMED FROM the control room. Ellie had an instant dislike for the woman, and knew it was returned twofold on Zaira’s end. Bayden stood next to Ellie, his breathing ragged, and a scowl marring his gorgeous face.
“I’m sorry about that.” Bayden fixed his lavender stare on her. He started to reach a hand toward her face but jerked it back before his fingers made contact with her cheek.
Her heart sped up. It wasn’t that he’d defended her that surprised her. It was the ferocious way in which he’d done so. He could deny it all he wanted, but he cared for her. On what level, she didn’t know, but he cared. She hoped she could nurture that part of him and make it grow.
Ellie wanted to kiss him for his fierce protectiveness over her. But that would only drive him away. She cleared her throat. “Do I even want to know what a lita is?”
“Nope.”
“How long until we arrive?”
“A couple more hours.”
“Ellie?” His low, raspy voice sent hot chills through her body.
She turned back to him. He looked angry and confused. And something else burned in his eyes. Desire for her? It seared through her and stole the breath from her lungs. How could he pull her inside out with a mere tortured look? “Yes?”
“I—I—” He squeezed his lids shut for a moment. When he opened them, the now cold, empty stare told her that he’d squashed down the turmoil that was brewing inside him.
She wanted the turmoil back. At least the turmoil was an indication that he was feeling something. She wanted him to need her as she needed him. So he had to acknowledge his feelings instead of acting as though they didn’t exist.
“Bayden?”
“Go to Sarek. I’ll let you two know when we’re ready to land.” He walked across the metal floor and sat.
Chapter Ten
As Ellie walked back to her room, she wondered if she’d ever be able to get through to Bayden again. After what Sarek told her, she wasn’t sure. Bayden already had a long history of people who’d been less than trustworthy, and she was now a contributor to that history. She wouldn’t give up.
She hoped she didn’t bump into Zaira on the way. Her instant dislike for the woman wasn’t normal for her. Something about Zaira, other than her snarkiness, rubbed Ellie the wrong way.
Zaira would use Bayden. She’d seen this kind of woman before. Gorgeous, overconfident, and venomous to anyone who posed a threat to her list of desires. Maybe Zaira and Bayden had a past. She couldn’t imagine Bayden going for Zaira. She nearly laughed at that thought.
Yeah, because men hate the beautiful, I’m-available-to-whatever-you’re-game-for-burn-your-sheets-up type.
Once she got back to her room, she got lost in her pity-party thoughts and was surprised when Bayden’s voice came over the intercom telling them to prepare for landing. She followed Sarek to the front of the ship where they exited. Bayden, Thad, Stryder, Conlan, and Zaira were already outside.
She looked around. “Oh my God.” The familiar anxiety she’d felt on a daily basis after the meteor hit returned and formed a rock the size of Gibraltar in her stomach. Even in the dark, the moon glowed bright enough to show that ground was flattened for miles. Grief surged upward, threatening to make her vomit. So many people lost. The ones who survived would have the job of spending the rest of their lives making the US what it once was—better, she hoped.
“Shrouds up,” Bayden said.
“What are shrouds?”
“Shrouds are electronic scramblers that jam tracking devices. If they are working properly, no one should be able to detect the ship.”
“Oh.” Zaira rolled her eyes. “Not the brightest star in the universe now, are you?”
“Enough!” Bayden shot Zaira another menacing glare. “Let’s go.”
Sarek walked with Ellie and gave her a drink from his canteen when she got thirsty.
Bayden’s irritation practically oozed from him. The man seriously needed to loosen up a bit, but she didn’t think this was the appropriate time to mention it. She shifted her gaze to Zaira. A small flicker of jealousy sparked inside her.
I bet Zaira wouldn’t mind loosening him up a bit
. Her thoughts surprised her. She’d always been mild-natured and rarely experienced jealousy.
She clenched her fists. She didn’t like the new emotion. It made her want to scratch that flawless skin on Zaira’s face. Ellie could almost feel the way her fingers would twist in the woman’s hair as she yanked it.
Oh my goodness. What the hell is wrong with me?
She’d always tried to refrain from judging a book by its cover, but she’d done just that with Bayden and now Zaira.
True, the woman was obnoxious, but Ellie didn’t know Zaira or the life she’d experienced. Determined to think about anything but this, Ellie took another deep drink from Sarek’s canteen. It slid down her throat and soothed some of the tension from her bones. She looked up into the sky and watched the billions of stars twinkling back at her.
She missed Earth. No, that wasn’t exactly true. She didn’t so much miss Earth. She missed the people. She missed hanging out with her friends on Sunday afternoons. She missed those long nights when she’d lain in bed reading her favorite romance book. A lump formed in her throat, tears threatened, and she pushed away the sudden overwhelming urge to cry.
* * * *
By the time they reached their destination, her feet ached, and her heart was heavy. The hard-packed dirt reminded her of a pane of cracked glass. The fingers of damage spiraled outward in various directions over barren ground as far as she could see. She prayed that the stone would be the fuel source the group had been hunting for. Bayden gave her a sleeping bag and water. “Take a break. You can spread that on the ground to sit on.”
Grateful for the reprieve, Ellie did as Bayden said and sat down. The bag was softer than she thought possible, and some of the tension and soreness left her muscles as she relaxed.
“This is it!” Sarek called from several feet away.
When Sarek sprinted back, the men and Zaira gathered around him. Ellie started to get up, but before she could, Sarek came to her. He dropped a small blue rock onto her palm.
“This is it?” Ellie rolled the stone around in her hand. It was smooth and cool on her skin. Such a tiny thing, yet part of what had destroyed everything she’d loved.
“Yes!”
She gave him the rock, then clasped his hand. “You do everything you can to help people with this. At least that way, everyone who lost their lives here did so to save others.”
“If there’s any way this can be turned into a fuel source, I’ll find it.”
“I know you will.” Ellie’s chest began to ache again. The thought of there being a grand purpose behind the meteor catastrophe somehow softened the blow of loss. Every single life lost would be important forever in her mind, but the fact that those losses might lead to saving others made the sacrifice a little easier to swallow.
Bayden made his way over to Ellie and Sarek went back to the others. “I’m staying here with you. The others are going closer to the site of impact with Sarek to retrieve samples and to let him explore. They’ll return within four hours, even if they have to drag him back by the ears.”
“He’s definitely enthusiastic.”
“It’s a good thing, I suppose. Annoying, but good.”
“Are we in danger?”
“Other than the possibility of another earthquake, chances are low. Why?”
“I was just wondering if you were going to stand there for the next four hours like a lion guarding his pride.” She patted the sleeping bag. “I won’t bite.”
He took the pack off his bag and sat beside her with his long legs stretched in front of him, crossed at his ankles.
“Must be nice,” she said under her breath.
“What?”
“I was just admiring your long legs. Mine are so short, and—”
“Yours are perfect,” he said.
Happiness bloomed inside her heart. “Thank you. Yours are pretty perfect too.” When he shifted on the blanket, she got the distinct impression that he wasn’t comfortable with compliments.
Or maybe he’s just not comfortable with me?
She cleared her throat. “Sooo… Why didn’t we know about your existence until now? I mean, Earth was pretty technologically advanced.”
“Who says Earth didn’t know about our existence?”
“We knew? I mean, we knew specifically about you?” She tried to keep her mouth from gaping.
He grunted. “We made contact with Earth years ago, but after research showed us your planet’s propensity for violence, we chose to—I believe you say—stay off the grid.”
“So we were unfriendly when you made contact?”
“Unfriendly is a mild way to put it. Let’s just say your government was more interested in capture and research than discussing a friendly union. After that, Earth was considered a hostile planet, and we steered clear of it.”
“Wow. So many people believed that there was other life out there somewhere. Others like us. I don’t understand what the harm would’ve been telling us.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie, but those who governed you were corrupt. A handful of the people in power made decisions for everyone.” Bayden shrugged. “That’s how it usually works. A few thinking they know what’s best for hundreds, thousands, or millions.”
It wasn’t a surprise to her. Although she’d thought America the greatest country on Earth, she’d always known there were things that the government would never allow people like her to discover. The number of conspiracy theories pointed to at least some form of corruption in her former government.
To be fair, there was always corruption. It was unavoidable. Any group of people had corruption, from governments to gangs on the street. People couldn’t help it. As much as some people strove to be good and help others, there were just as many who thrived on greed, money, and whatever it took to get it.
“I guess our planets had something in common then,” she said.
“That they did.”
She couldn’t keep her gaze off him. He was mouthwatering, and she wished she could snuggle up next to his warm body. She felt safe with him near.
“Bayden?”
“Yeah.”
“I know you didn’t want to bring me. But…” She looked away.
He reached out and touched her cheek. “It’s okay.”
“I didn’t know if I’d ever have a chance to come back again. This was my home. Everything I ever loved was here.” She choked back the tears, not wanting to cry.