Page 38 of Healing Creek (Arena Dogs #3)

Low-pitched sounds emerged from the speaker.

Feeona’s hands clenched tighter on the seat.

The nausea Grace had been fighting only grew more intense.

She wanted to ask what it was, but she couldn’t make herself speak.

She watched Feeona’s face tighten and her lips press together until they were as pale as ash.

It seemed like just noise to Grace but Feeona was listening intently and breathing faster.

Seconds stretched to minutes and Grace didn’t dare make a sound.

Maybe Feeona was able to hear something she wasn’t.

Finally, Feeona’s eyes shot open and the view screen went dark.

“They’re alive.” It was the first thing she said, and Grace was grateful. Grateful and horrified that the starting point of her report was life and death.

“How, what—” She didn’t know what to ask first.

“Sen can do this thing where he can speak at an ultra-low frequency and Bug is sensitive enough to pick it up. I have a special filter I use just for this sort of thing. But I didn’t have time to set a filter for the audio speaker.”

“But you weren’t talking to him.”

“No, the positioning was bad. I couldn’t get close enough.

” Feeona huffed and threw her hands in the air.

“It doesn’t matter. He was hoping I was listening, so he was repeating a warning for us.

” As she spoke, she spun the chair around and sat down.

Her hands flew quickly over the controls.

Another view came up of the jungle around the exterior of the ship.

“There were way more guards than we were told to expect. They were ready for them. Waiting with dart guns and who the hell knows what. Some of our guys are injured but they’re all alive. ”

With Feeona in the pilot seat, panic started to set in. Grace grabbed the chair and jerked Feeona around to face her. “We’re not just leaving them there.”

Fee blinked and her eyebrows lifted. “Of course, we’re not.”

Grace released a long breath. “Okay.” Of course, Fee wouldn’t abandon the Dogs. Her mates were in there, too.

“Sen did tell us to leave them here and get reinforcements from the Abundance .”

If only they hadn’t relied on the Resistance’s intelligence, they might have brought enough Arena Dogs to make a difference. Grace rubbed her hands on her thighs as if she could scrub away her fears. “That might take too long. They could kill them.”

“Unlikely. If they were going to do that, they wouldn’t have used non-lethal force to subdue them.”

“They have a ship. They could leave the planet.” Her voice rose and cracked with the thought.

“Possible.” Feeona reached out and grabbed the hand Grace had been using to idly tap against her thigh. She squeezed, probably meaning to comfort, but it just made Grace’s nerves jump into her chest.

She jerked her hand back and returned to pacing. “We have no idea what they’ll do.”

Feeona sighed. “Well, we know one thing. Sen also said they’re sending guards out into the jungle to locate our ship.

I’m not letting them get their hands on the Hawley .

” Feeona spun back to the control console, popped open a small compartment, and pulled out something that looked like a dark metal clip.

She slipped it into her hair and it disappeared.

“A long-range communication device for the Hawley .”

“What are we going to do?” Grace could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

“I have a plan.” Feeona shrugged. “It’s not a very good plan.”

“I don’t care at this point,” Grace snapped. “Just tell me what we’re going to do.”

“We’re going to give them what they want.” Feeona sounded way too calm while Grace’s mind was spinning.

“What do they want?”

Feeona’s lips were pressed tightly together and she hesitated a moment before answering. “They want you.”

“Me?” It came out as a high-pitched screech.

“Yes. Roma has a bounty on you. They want you. If we go in together, willingly, they’re not going to hurt us and—”

“And?”

Feeona stood up abruptly and grabbed Grace’s hand. She tugged her through the ship and to the open hatch. “Alfred, retreat and monitor for my signal.”

Alfred was the artificial intelligence that helped Feeona operate the ship. Its calm voice came across the ship’s speakers. “Yes, Captain.”

“Your ship can do that?”

“Alfred can.” She tugged Grace down the deployed ramp and they ran into the jungle at the edge of the clearing where the ship sat.

Grace watched the ramp retract and the hatch close. Then the ship lifted into the night, near silent and dark in the night sky, and it was gone. “You didn’t finish your thought. “We surrender, and…”

Feeona took a deep breath and let it out again. “I said it wasn’t a very good plan.”

“Ah.” Grace squeezed Feeona’s hand. “And then…we’ll figure it out from there.”

Feeona gave her a weak smile. “Right.”

Grace gently pulled her hand free from Feeona’s grasp and smoothed her clothes into place.

She thought about Creek doing the same that morning when she’d gotten dressed.

She suspected he did it just for the excuse to touch her.

The memory made her heart hurt in a different way.

Panic leaked away as she thought about what her life had been like without him in it.

Dull and full of disappointment. Her family disappointed with her failures.

Her own disappointment at her inability to measure up to them.

How many times had Creek told her she was strong and smart and capable.

He believed in her and now he needed her to save him, and her sister, and all the others.

She heard rustling in the jungle beyond the clearing where the ship no longer sat. The Roma guards were coming.

“Okay. We’ll figure it out from there.” She caught Feeona’s gaze and raised her hands in the air. “Let’s go.”

Feeona followed her lead and together they walked into the clearing.