Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,58

alarm. Come on, we have to get inside the shuttle.” The words were barely out of his mouth when something shimmered into existence right behind Xori. It took him a split second to recognize her face, and another to get over the shock. Ariel fraxxing Coal.

His first instinct was to lunge for her, to shoot her, or scream. But he’d already faced this demon once before. This time, it was easier to control his reaction.

Vic cursed and raised his pulse rifle, then stopped and lowered it again. “Just a distraction,” he muttered.

“Hardly.” The projection spoke in Ariel’s voice a moment after the alarm cut off, leaving the shuttle bay eerily quiet.

That…probably wasn’t a good thing. He ignored the Ariel hologram and reached out to Xori. “Come on, we’re leaving.”

The hologram vanished, but almost immediately it spoke again, this time from behind him. “You’re not going anywhere, Reaper.”

He and Victor spun around, putting themselves between Xori and this weird new threat.

“Vivian, stop this. Please.” Xori pleaded. “I’ll cooperate, but not if you kill them. Stop the decompression cycle and let them go. The Reaper project failed. You don’t need them. You need me to stop that happening again.”

“It’s stopped. I just wanted to get your attention.” The hologram held up a device that looked identical to the one he’d given Xori. “Since my first attempt to end this little standoff didn’t go as planned.”

Xori gasped and looked at her hand. The signal blocker was flashing an angry red. “You tried to kill me?”

“You think I wouldn’t? You’re only valuable to us if you’re willing to cooperate. Otherwise…” Ariel, or Vivian, whatever she was calling herself now, shrugged. “I’m starting to believe the only way to get that from you is through incentive. Of course, I only need one of them for that.”

There was a brief silence, and that’s when he heard it: a single footfall from behind them. Fraxxing hell, the hologram had managed to distract them after all.

Chapter Thirteen

Xori’s thoughts were racing almost as fast as her heart. She’d only just found them, and now she might lose them again – forever, this time.

Danger and fear sharpened all her senses, including her psychic ones. She’d felt the presence of the male coming up behind her before she heard him, and she spun around at the same moment he rounded the side of the shuttle. Vic and Ward both cried out, and she knew what would happen if she didn’t act before they did. Ward would lay down his life for her because he didn’t believe he was worthy, and Vic would protect them both, no matter what the cost. She couldn’t let that happen.

She ran straight for the male with a feral howl she didn’t know she was capable of making, anger boiling up from deep inside her. She’d spent too many years submitting meekly, apologizing for any slight, real or imagined. She’d gotten so good at avoiding conflict she’d left her homeworld to escape it. Yet, here she was again, being threatened and bullied by beings who wanted to control her and make her submit.

No more.

She bared her teeth, her talon-tipped fingers curving into claws as she ran. She reached out with her gifts without even being sure what she could do, but knowing she had to do something. All the rage, pain, and fear she felt flowed out of her in a dizzying wave.

The male raised his gun, fired, and her perception shifted and slowed, her life passing in a series of disjointed images. She was running. Then there was a light tap on her shoulder. The next moment she was falling, and the floor rushed up to meet her. Someone was screaming. It sounded terrible. Ragged. Agonized. She hoped it wasn’t her. The floor was closer now. She closed her eyes. This is going to hurt.

It didn’t. For all she could tell, she might have landed on a cloud of feathers instead of a hard metal deck. She cracked open one eye, saw nothing but darkness, and realized that was because she was face down on the deck. The moment she lifted her head, the pain hit all at once. An ambush of agonies that made her want to scream, or better yet, lose consciousness. Only she couldn’t do that.

It took her a second to remember why not. Vivian. Vic and Ward. The male who’d snuck up on them. Danger!

She tried to push herself up, but one arm refused to work and a fresh wave of pain

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