Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,16

could sell her or give her over to my crew. There are all kinds of possibilities that you have within your power to avoid. And yes, little female, it was a trap. One that we have employed many times and has served us well. But hearing of a great treasure to be found on the Evandra… well…” He left the words hanging as he shrugged with a hard smile.

Cheerfully, he wagged his pistol toward the door. “I do believe it is time to dock with my ship. Your proximity alerts should be detecting its presence—” An alarm trilled, and his smile widened. “Now.”

With a dark glare, Veral rose to his feet and allowed himself to be led to the flight deck with Terri hauled between the two lackeys at the rear. Any attempt to twist away was met with a tightening, painful grip on her arms until she stopped. They half-dragged her through the corridor after her mate, her feet barely able to keep up with their long strides.

Mentally, she cursed the men holding her, relishing the thought of when Veral would tear them apart. The thought withered and died when she entered the flight deck and got a look at what exactly they were facing. Terri’s eyes widened at the enormous gray ship that filled the viewing screen. It had to be crewed by hundreds.

Her mouth went dry. They were so fucked.

5

Vibrissae rattling, Veral stalked through the flight deck, the three Blaithari trailing close behind him, holding his mate captive. Pirates! His mandibles clicked with self-disgust. The traveling noble disguise had been a clever ploy and was executed convincingly. He never would have guessed that they were anything other than what they said, their sickening, privileged behavior the one thing that successfully persuaded him to avoid their company. Not even on the vids at any time had they broken character. It had been flawless.

Still, he should have suspected something—anything.

There had been no cues that he picked up on. Instead, he had been enraged at their presence and offended by their presumption. He had even pressed his engines as hard as he dared, despite his words to Egbor, with the goal of arriving at Janilik earlier than planned.

He had been right, although for entirely different reasons. He should have thrown them out of the airlock.

At the nudge of the weapon firmly at his back, Veral stiffened and cast a concerned glance at the males crowding close to him. Terri’s face was pale with fear, but when she met his eyes, he could see the spark of anger in their amber depths. Her eyes lifted away from him and returned to the viewing screen, and her lips thinned.

He wanted to tell her not to look at it and assure her that he would get them to safety. His desire warred with the practical side of him that sneered at the sentiment and demanded to know just how and when he was planning on doing so. The pirate ship filling the viewing screen carried a large crew to successfully pilot it. He could kill Egbor, but if he did, the other males would kill Terri before he had the opportunity to reach her.

Even if he managed to save her, the ship’s systems alerted him to the fact that the pirate vessel was locked on to them. He had no choice but to bide his time and wait for the most opportune moment to strike.

Egbor waved his blaster lazily toward the control panel, belying the sharp focus of his gaze as he grinned. “Begin docking procedures, Argurma.”

With a clicking growl, Veral approached the display to manually to put in the codes. The male obviously did not realize that Argurma warriors had the ability to sync to their vessels. Veral did not need to touch the control panel to begin the sequence, but he would not enlighten the male otherwise. That ignorance worked to his benefit. For once, he wished that he was less scrupulous, like his cousin Kaylar, who entertained himself with creating virus codes to infect enemy ships.

He hated to involve his cousin. No doubt the male would have heard of the bounty and could be tempted to turn Veral in to claim it. That possibility was not something he could concern himself with that at that time. As much as he hated it, he needed Kaylar’s help to keep Terri safe. That the Blaithari pirates knew nothing of Argurma implants assured him that at very least he could get a message