Pursued(74)

Merrick gave her a level look. “Why should you care? It’s not like you’ll ever see them—or me—again, after we get done with this.”

“Merrick, I’m sorry.” Elise longed to explain to him why she was doing what she was doing, but she couldn’t. Any explanation would require talking about the past and she desperately didn’t want to do that. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “But I do care. Please tell me.”

“Fine.” He blew out a breath and ran one large hand over his skull-cut hair. “They’re my father’s kin. His older brothers. They tried to get my mother to stay here after he died but she wouldn’t—she wanted to go back to her home planet of Tranq Prime. I met up with them again when I left there. I stayed here on Rageron for a while, but it’s been years since I saw them last.” He frowned at her. “Now you know a piece of my past. Want to tell me a piece of yours in return?”

Elise shook her head. “No,” she said in a small voice.

“Didn’t think so.” He looked her up and down. “You’re gonna want to change out of those ridiculous clothes, you know. We’re going into the fucking jungle and it’s going to be Goddess-damned hot. You’ll sweat to death in a second in those. Why did you even put them on in the first place?”

Elise bit her lip. How could she explain that she’d put on the least revealing clothes she could find? The set that Olivia’s sister, Sophia, had given her on the off chance they wound up going to a colder world like Tranq Prime? “When you’re with a Kindred, you never can tell where you might end up, she’d told Elise, smiling. And her words were already proving to be true. Elise knew where they were geographically, but emotionally, she was utterly, hopelessly lost. She’d put on the clothes to reveal less, to keep from tempting both Merrick and herself to repeat what had happened the night before.

“Never mind.” Merrick’s face grew hard when she didn’t answer him. “I think I can guess why you put them on. But it’s pointless, baby—I’ve already seen it all, remember?”

With that he turned his back and strode away, leaving her to wonder what the hell she was supposed to wear to go out into the jungle and how she was going to manage a week with him, when they were at each other’s throats all the time.





Chapter Seventeen




“Shuura, Tongs, it’s Goddess-damned good to see you two!” Merrick enveloped his kin in a warm embrace, pounding them on their backs with a fist to show his delight.

The brothers of his father returned the embrace, their golden eyes glowing with fierce joy.

“We thought never to see you again after you left, Merrick.” Shuura, the older of the two spoke quietly. “What brings you back to Rageron after so many years?”

Merrick opened his mouth, trying to think of a way to explain without actually giving anything away, but he was rescued by Tongs.

“Well, he just couldn’t stay away from us. Could you, you little bastard?” It was an affectionate insult which he’d used back when Merrick actually was small compared to the brothers of his father. Now he towered over both of them by more than a foot. But Tongs’ grip on his upper arm was as strong as ever.

It reminded Merrick of when he was a boy and Tongs would challenge him to an arm-wrestling match. He would grunt and strain and gasp and then finally declare that Merrick was just too strong for him and let him win. Merrick had only been a very young child at the time but the game had always delighted him. And he found he was just as delighted to see his kin now, even after so many years had passed.

“Would you introduce us to your female?” Shuura asked and Merrick turned to see Elise standing there at the end of the short gangplank, which extended from the ship like a tongue. She was wearing a much more reasonable outfit—a short dress with straps that went over her shoulders and left her arms bare and a slight pair of open toed sandals. Merrick frowned when he saw those—he’d have to find her some more protective footwear before they went into the Deep Blue. The razor grass would cut her feet to ribbons if she wore those ridiculous things she had on now.

“This is Elise,” he said, lifting a hand toward her. “And she’s not exactly my female but she is under my protection.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Elise said in a soft voice. She stepped forward, holding out her hand. Tongs took it at once and rubbed his cheek against it in the traditional Rageron greeting. He inhaled deeply as he did so. When he released her hand, he raised an eyebrow at Merrick.