Pursued(156)

Firmly, he dragged his mind back to the business at hand—making a jump with the homemade wormhole generator and proving to Draven the machine actually worked. Then, once they were far from the bastard’s home planet—much too far to call for help—Merrick would flip the detonation switch and blow them all straight to the seven hells.

“This will do,” he heard Draven say as he looked at the instrument panel. “Let’s test it out and make a jump.”

“Fine. Where do you want to go?” Merrick asked.

Draven gave him a slow, cruel smile. “Let’s make things interesting, shall we? Why not jump to your lover’s solar system? Far enough out not to alert the Mother Ship, of course. But close enough that you can see her home planet.”

Sadistic fucker! Merrick scowled at the controls. “Fine. I’ll put in the coordinates.”

“See that you don’t alert your fellow Kindred, hybrid,” Draven said. “This is a private party and they’re not invited. If you bring them into this, you’ll be dead long before they can reach you.” He smiled. “But not long enough for your death to be anything but excruciatingly painful, I assure you.”

“I believe you,” Merrick growled. “Don’t worry, Draven—this is between you and me.”

Draven frowned. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

Merrick didn’t answer, just finished inputting the coordinates for an orbit around Mars, the small red planet that was Earth’s neighbor, and then stood back. “There you go, boss. All ready to jump—just push the button.” He indicated the red button blinking in the control panel.

Draven shook his head. “I think not. You do the honors for me, won’t you?”

Merrick was surprised. He’d been certain Draven would want to test the generator himself the first time. Good thing I didn’t hook the bomb to the button, he thought, fingering the tiny device in his pocket. “Fine,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll do it. You might want to hold on to something.”

Draven nodded but simply folded his arms, not taking Merrick’s advice. With another shrug, Merrick pressed the jump button and watched as space melted around them, folding in on itself in a bloody red blur as the ship generated a wormhole and then accelerated into it.





Chapter Thirty-nine




“Darling! It’s so good to see you!” James enfolded her in an embrace the moment she stepped out of the HKR building.

“It’s good to see you, too, James.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded stilted and false but her fiancé didn’t appear to notice a thing.

“I was getting a little worried that you might miss the wedding, but here you are after all!” He pulled back and studied her critically. “A little worse for the wear, perhaps, but a little make-up will fix that, I’m sure.”

“I’m sure,” Elise echoed numbly. Her fiancé’s handsome face, once so familiar and welcome, looked foreign to her now. His skin was too smooth, his features too perfect. He needs a scar or two, she found herself thinking. Just like Merrick…

The thought sent a wave of sorrow washing over her and she nearly started crying right there on the front steps of the HKR building. Only by sternly reigning in her emotions did she keep from breaking down. I can cry later, she reminded herself. Right now I have to get through this. I have to tell James the wedding is off.

But James didn’t give her a chance. “Come on, the car’s waiting,” he said, pulling her down the steps. “And I have a little surprise for you back home I think you’ll like.”

“A surprise?” Elise frowned. “Look, James, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness but I don’t think—”

“You’re going to love it.” He grinned as he all but pushed her into the car. “It’s the perfect wedding present.”

“About that, James,” Elise began, but he was too busy giving the driver directions to listen to her. She heard him mention his home address on Bayshore and realized that whatever the surprise was, it was far from her own little apartment—which was where she longed to be.

“So now,” He leaned back at last and patted her hand. “I’m guessing you had lots of lovely adventures while you were gone.”

“You could say that,” Elise said flatly.

“And yet you came back all in one piece.” James grinned. “I admit I was skeptical at first, but I suppose that huge, scarred fellow you went off with was as good as his word.” He frowned. “What was his name again?”

“Merrick.” Elise choked back a sob. “His n-name was M-merrick.” She buried her face in her hands, trying to get control of herself. I won’t cry, she thought. I won’t. I won’t. I have to stay in control of myself. I can’t lose it in front of James.