Captive - Cheryl Brooks Page 0,8

would laugh at that. She’d done her best to see to it that her sons could defend themselves against any foe. She probably never dreamed that one of their own kind would be the one to finally catch him.

But she hadn’t held onto him for long, and if he had anything to say about it, she wouldn’t get another chance.

Still, her very existence intrigued him—almost to the point of trying to find her again.

What a stupid idea.

The gods had caused their paths to cross for a reason. If he ever got back to a decent, civilized world again, he would tell Trag about her, regardless of what he’d said to her. Her father had a right to know he had a daughter. What he would do with that knowledge was up to him. Considering his aversion to Davordians and their blue eyes, Trag might refuse to acknowledge her. Although, somehow, Moe doubted she would care.

Satisfied that his hair would at least stay out of his way, he started moving again, keeping an eye out for any other likely additions to his disguise. He couldn’t help wondering why she even bothered to come after him. He was a free man. She didn’t own him and had already profited from his capture. If he’d been in her place, he wouldn’t have wasted the time and effort to find someone who had already caused her a fair amount of trouble.

But then, he wasn’t in her place and couldn’t understand her reasoning. If his own fortunes didn’t improve soon, he might find out exactly what motivated her. For now, however, hunger was a pretty powerful stimulus, and that one slice of pizza wasn’t going to last very long.

Chapter 3

If there’d been any wild animals around, Moe could’ve hunted well enough to feed himself, but so far, he hadn’t even seen a dog. There wasn’t even anything worth stealing on this disgusting planet. At least, nothing he could see. Even the beer was nasty.

His reasons for going to Haedus Nine had faded in the past few hours. Sure, he’d delivered a load of cargo and been paid handsomely, but sticking around was as stupid as it was unnecessary. Anger had brought him to this point. His own unfathomable anger. If only he could determine the cause, he might be able to overcome it. However, this was not the time for soul-searching. He needed a strategy for survival, and he needed it now.

Think, Moe.

As he crept from one shadow to the next, he decided his best bet was to find the spaceport. On any other world, he could’ve consulted his comlink for directions. Not so on Haedus. The computer network idea hadn’t caught on there—possibly because it was too expensive for most of the inhabitants.

Maybe that was what Trag’s daughter was trying to do: get enough credits to kiss Haedus Nine goodbye forever. If that was the case, he could almost understand her actions—as long as those actions didn’t include capturing and selling him. There must be other ways for her to earn a living. Her mother had been a hooker. Even if she didn’t care to engage in the oldest profession, there were plenty of respectable ways to earn cash. She didn’t have to resort to kidnapping and theft.

A soft, scuttling sound caught his attention. Rats? Or were his pursuers catching up with him? Something as big as a Sympaticon couldn’t morph into anything as small as a rat, but Rackenspries weren’t very big to start with. Little better than vermin themselves, Rackenspries were furry and ferret-faced with long pink tails—the way a rat would look if it had evolved into a primate instead of a rodent. They were also inherently nasty, the sort of minions the average villain would hire to do their dirty work.

But was this woman an average villain? Was she even a villain at all? Or was she simply doing the best she could to survive?

Selling her captives as slaves? Well, yeah, she probably was a villain, no matter what her motives were.

He kept moving. A few blocks onward, a more habitable neighborhood came into view. The architecture hadn’t demonstrably improved, but he could at least see a few of the natives milling about.

Until they froze for a moment before scattering like roaches when the lights came on.

Moe couldn’t see any lights yet—daylight was only beginning to fade—but long, sinister shadows stretched across the street ahead.

Nedwuts!

At least a dozen of the snarling, wolf-like beasts were moving stealthily toward his position, spread