Born of Shadows (The League Gen 1 #3)(14)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

“But it’s stupid to not have an override of some sort.”

He scratched the side of his mouth while his eyes silently laughed at her. “I suggest you take that up with the designer when next you see him. That is if we survive long enough to be rescued.”

“We will be rescued.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I won’t allow my mother to die. The traitor happens to be part of the Head Guard. My mother trusts her implicitly. If I don’t get to her and warn her about Pleba, she’s as good as dead.”

Caillen started to point out that he really didn’t care about her mother who had intended to subjugate an entire race when his attention was drawn to the display. His stomach hit the floor as he recognized their next obstacle. “Yeah and we have another problem.”

“That is?”

He enlarged a portion of the star chart that showed the area where the Arimanda had vanished. He pointed to the glowing orb that was quickly getting larger. “I’m really hoping I’m wrong, but judging from the size and speed, that looks like a fighter to me.”

Her entire face lit up with hope. “Is it coming to rescue us?”

Wow, he’d sell his soul to be that naive. Without responding to her question, he slid out of his chair and ducked underneath the controls to open a panel so that he could access the wires. “It’s a fighter,” he repeated.

Desideria was baffled by his single obsession with that one statement. To her, this was a good thing. “Meaning?”

“It can’t hold more than two people and it’s flying so.” His deep voice was muffled by the metal he was underneath. “They’re designed to kill, not rescue. And unless I miss my guess, which I never have yet, I’m pretty sure that one’s headed this way to finish what was started in that hallway.”

Pah-lease…

There was no reason to think that. It could merely be a scout. Especially if, as he’d said earlier, they thought this might be a trap. It made sense to send a single fighter to see if they were hurt or needing rescue. It might be nothing more than an escort for them. Could the man never be optimistic? Must he always see the worst in every situation even when it didn’t warrant it? “You’re being paranoid.”

Those words had barely left her lips before a blast of color shot across space, straight at them.

They were under attack.

And they were completely defenseless.

11

The blast slammed into the rear of their pod and knocked them spinning. Desideria cursed as she was thrown against the arm of her seat, bruising her ribs. She watched Caillen continue to dig around, underneath the console. He lay on his back with his legs bent and wide apart to keep himself balanced and stable while the pod rocked from its assault. Unused to the motion, she fought down her nausea, then frowned at the sight of his old, scuffed work boots that were tied with laces that had been broken and then knotted back together. Those boots looked like they’d been put through hell—like they were the only pair of boots he owned. She’d never known any prince to deign to touch something so ragged never mind actually wear them. And now that she thought about it, his clothes were the same way. Clean, but worn. His brown jacket even had what appeared to be blaster burn marks on it.

His head and shoulders were completely obscured by the steel panel while he worked in silence. And in his hurry to get under the console, his jacket and shirt had ridden up, exposing his tanned abdomen. With every breath and move he made, his toned muscles contracted, making them all the more pronounced. Yeah, okay, that part of him was totally lickable. And if she didn’t miss her guess, his left side seemed to have a tattoo on it that covered a nasty looking scar.

On an aristos? They considered those things vulgar and common…

Why would he have such marks? It didn’t make sense. Prince Caillen was definitely a man of complete contradictions.

Another blast hit them hard.

Grimacing in pain, she righted herself in her chair. “Let me guess. No guns on this thing either?”

There was no missing the disgust in that deep baritone. “Which I think is particularly stupid. If you’re using an escape pod to… you know, escape, nine times out of ten, you’re escaping because your ship’s under attack and you had to evacuate. What kind of krikkin idiot thought it smart to make an escape device that leaves its occupants defenseless moving targets while they’re being attacked? Oh wait, don’t answer. I’ve met too many design engineers whose IQs are smaller than my shoe size”—he tilted his head out from under the console to give her a pointed glance, then added—“which for the record is actually larger than most men’s except for Syn who’s a mutant sonofabitch”—he returned to working—“but as far as IQs go, it puts them on the same level as protozoa. My number one peeve in life. Think it through, people. Think it through.” He paused to curse as one of the wires shocked him. “Just so you know my ship has a gunner pod with enough juice to take down a starcruiser. This one… really sucks.”

She couldn’t agree more. “You have a bad case of Attention Deficit Disorder, don’t you?”

He wiped his hand on his pants leg, then moved it up to hold something she couldn’t see. “Just a little. Luckily it’s mostly verbal.” He hissed sharply as if he’d hurt himself again. “Damn it, I’ve lost all feeling in my right hand.”

“So what do we do?” she asked, trying to keep him focused on the danger.

Another shot rocked them.

Desideria groaned as she slammed into the arm again and it rebruised her ribs. “Besides die painfully.” She was trying to stay calm, but it was getting harder and harder. She hated feeling helpless and this situation was really starting to anger her. “I’m about ready to throw my shoes at them,” she mumbled under her breath. “I know it won’t hurt their fighter, but it would make me feel better.” At least if she did, she’d have done something other than sit here and watch.

Caillen laughed as if he admired her spunk. “Cross your fingers.”

Desideria was confused by his words as he finally slid out from under the panel. “Why?”

Without answering, he shot into the front seat, then his hands flew over the computer. Schematics and diagrams flashed on the monitor so fast she couldn’t even identify what he was looking at or adjusting before he moved on to the next one.

Another blast headed right for them. She sucked her breath in, bracing herself for impact.

It didn’t come.

Instead, the pod turned sharply and lurched forward while the blast shot harmlessly past them by a narrow margin.

Caillen let out a jubilant shout. He kissed his fingers, then smacked them down near the controls. “That’s my girl. C’mon, baby, don’t be fickle with your love. You know you want to do me right. Stay tight and fly where I tell you.” He made more adjustments on the computer and the pod responded.

Desideria was so happy they had some form of control over their craft that she could kiss him. He might be a complete and utter jerk, but, lucky for her, he knew his way around spacecraft.

The fighter changed course and headed straight for them at an accelerated speed.

She cringed as she saw more bright orange flashes in the darkness. “There’s another blast coming.”

“I know. Hold on in case this doesn’t work.”

He turned the pod again, but not enough to miss all of it. The force of the shot slammed her back. She struck her head hard against the panel. Wincing in pain, she didn’t speak or cry out for fear of distracting him.

To her utter amazement, Caillen dodged the next blast.

“C’mon, baby. Go. You know you want to. Just keep humming and don’t stop.” Their pod lurched forward again and this time, finally, it made contact with the planet’s gravitational pull.

It sped up dramatically as they fell toward the surface.

The fighter opened up more fire, spraying across space in a last-ditch effort to kill them. Luckily Caillen dodged most of it.

But not all. The lights blinked and sparked as the pod rocked to the point she feared again she might be sick. Or worse that the pod would come apart.

Caillen flipped a switch over his head. “We’re going in hot.”

“Meaning?”

“The blasts took out our brakes and homing beacon. I’m going to try and find us something soft to land on. However, I make no promises. My control of this thing isn’t the best and… well, if you’re religious in any way, now would be the time to summon some divine intervention ’cause, no offense, the gods don’t think much of me most days. However, they might listen to you.”

Desideria started praying. She held her breath as he struggled with short-circuiting electronics. The scent of burning wires was pungent and she hoped the wires were the only thing burning and not their fuel lines.

Caillen appeared completely unshaken by everything that was happening. Other than the occasional mumbled obscenity when their frying electronics shocked or burned him. “I’d kill for one ion cannon. Just one.”

She knew the feeling.

Caillen ran over their settings as he assessed their coming situation. The good news? They could breathe on the surface. The bad news? There was no information on this planet at all. No maps, nothing on culture. Nada. Not even the name of the place.

Those were things usually reserved for penal colonies and it explained why the pod hadn’t chosen this site for their landing.

Why hadn’t he left them on course? At least with the Andarion planet, he’d known what he was getting into.

This one…

An image of them crashing into a prison with giant man-eating aliens went through his mind. Yeah, that’d be his luck. Couple thousand pissed-off superhuman, psychic aliens with an ax to grind against smugglers and royalty…

Why didn’t I stay in my room?

He glanced over his shoulder at the princess. Her face was pale and drawn, and she had a death grip on the arms of her chair. But at least she wasn’t screaming or having a real girl moment. She was holding it together and he really appreciated that.

Even though she was dressed as a Guard, her posture was that of royalty. She was planning to die with dignity and that caused a wave of respect for her to swell inside him. If he admired anything in life, it was those who could stand brave while terrified.

If I’d stayed put, she’d be dead.

Yeah, okay, he felt better about being here, but not by much. Wouldn’t do any good to save her from that only to have her die on impact or from the assassin chasing them.

Or get eaten by giant flesh-craving alien prisoners…

Gods, how do I get myself into this shit? Whatever unlucky constellation he’d been born under had been working overtime lately.

The pod started shaking around them.

“What’s that?” Desideria asked with a note of panic in her voice.

Warning lights blinked, letting him know that their engine was failing, meanwhile there was a gash in the back stabilizer that was widening. But only one of them needed to be terrified, so Caillen downplayed the severity of their situation. “Turbulence. Sit tight and brace yourself for the landing.” Unless the pod disintegrated before they made it that far.

“Why are you lying to me?”

Her question surprised him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw her staring straight at his back. “Who says I’m lying?”

“The tone of your voice. It dropped an octave.”

Damn, she was good. He returned his attention to the catastrophe at hand. “Fine. The pod is coming apart.” He flipped the computer to the external monitor just in time to show her one of their stabilizers being ripped off the right side and with it went the last thing he wanted to see go. “FYI, we needed that. It was the remains of our landing gear. I was trying not to scare you, but since you insist…”

Desideria swallowed. She wished now she hadn’t asked. “Would shifting our weight help guide it?”

“You don’t weigh enough to affect anything.”

“So what do we do?”

“Grab your ass, and hang on like you want to keep it.” He was making more mental calculations as the surface of the planet drew rapidly closer.

They were flying so fast Desideria didn’t see how they could land and not become a stain on the planet’s surface.

Well, her aunt would be happy.

Her, not so much.

She cringed as they started lamming into the upper limbs of trees. It made the pod buck so hard she could barely stay in her seat even with straps. Her heart was pounding as fear held her close and mutilated her hope for living through this.

Suddenly, Caillen turned, unbuckled her belt and wrapped his body around hers, pulling her onto the floor. The pod slammed down hard. The only cushion she had was Caillen’s body. Although honestly, it was almost as hard as the steel walls surrounding them.

Her breath left her as they were thrown against the steel and the pod rolled over and over. They tumbled like a stone in a cylinder and still Caillen held on to her, trying to keep her safe.

For a moment, she thought they’d live through the crash until her head struck something so forcefully it made her sick. Her vision dimmed. She fought the darkness as best as she could, but in the end the blackness took her under.

The ship finally stopped.

Caillen remained still, waiting for more—they’d had such a rough landing that it felt like they were moving even though he could see they weren’t.

But they stayed put. The pod snapped and hissed around him. Everything in it had been shaken loose to the point that it looked like the thing had been gutted. Wires, straps and pieces of steel swung and sparked, but at least the fires provided some form of light in the dark interior. The area where their seats had been was completely destroyed. He lay on his back with Desideria draped over him. Her breath tickled his skin, letting him know she was alive even though she was completely motionless. Pain reverberated through his body and head with every heartbeat.