Page 32 of Stealing Mercury (Arena Dogs #1)

“And...” The softly spoken word encouraged her to continue. To dive back into the old memories as she completed her work.

“I knew he was my only way out of the camp, so when he came to visit Mom I hung out with his crew. I was just a kid, but I was his kid, so they treated me well. Taught me things.” Probably, her old man had told them to keep her busy so she wouldn’t be in the way of him getting busy with her mother, but mentioning that might be over-sharing.

“So, I learned to work on ships around the port and he eventually falsified citizenship papers for me and paid for the tests so I could get certified. I signed onto his ship and he taught me to be a pilot, too.”

“You no longer work with your father.”

She had to swallow a lump of regrets before she could answer. “He died last year.”

Mercury stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers.

“I may not have had a true blood family, but we made our own.” She’d understood that much and been awed by the strength of heart that had allowed them to survive in such brutality without losing their humanity.

“We made packs to protect one another, to stand and fight together. Just as Carn and Lo are my pack brothers, there were others who are gone now. We mourned their loss and still feel it with each breath.” Maybe it was the loss he wore like a gravity-suit that had made it so impossible for her to ignore him.

It was something they shared. He slipped his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to look into her eyes.

“I’m sorry you lost this man who was your father.

You honor his memory by using the skills he taught you. ”

Something moist dripped onto her lip. She licked it away, tasting the saltiness of tears. She hadn’t known she was crying. Had never cried for her father before.

She scrubbed the moisture from her eyes.

“I hated him. I loved him, but I hated him too. My mother loved him, always. Every time he came around she’d light up and then he’d leave again.

She never cried in front of me, but her light was gone when he left.

” She scrubbed at her eyes again to make sure all traces of her tears were wiped away. “I swore I’d never cry for him.”

Mercury pulled her into his arms. His deep voiced rumbled softly in her ear. “You wanted to hate him, but you couldn’t hate someone who gave your mother joy, gave you life, gave you skills to make a life for yourself.”

She pulled away, choking on a laugh. “Sure. Side with him. Just like a man.” Her laughter faded quickly, leaving a raw ache in its wake. “I thought I’d become important to him, but when he died he left me nothing. Not even a part interest in his freighter. He left that to his crew chief.”

“I have nothing to give you,” he said. His eyes narrowed as his stormy gaze met hers. “Nothing but myself. But I’ll never stand against you or leave you behind. I’ll fight to keep you with me always.”

His words were too perfect, everything she could hope for... and impossible to believe. “When would that be? After you rescue Carn’s mate? Or after you free all the slaves?” Stars, she sounded like a selfish shrew.

Mercury didn’t bristle as she expected—as some terrified corner of her soul hoped he would. A fight would be easier to handle than more of this weak, clingy creature that had taken over her body. But the solemn expression on his face never wavered, never gave way to anger.

“You’re right,” he said. “I’m not free to devote myself solely to your happiness, but seldom in our world are things as we would wish.”

His easy agreement doused the fuel for her ire.

She couldn’t even imagine the life he’d endured. The cruelty and hate. He came from a world that seemed terrible and incomprehensibly horrifying.

He didn’t scoff at her grief. A grief that should have seemed trivial through his eyes. Eyes that had gone silver for her. As if he stood ready to fight her battles. How could she do any less for him?

She couldn’t find the words to tell him how she felt. Even if his intentions were the best, letting herself love him would give him the power to crush her.

The crackle of the cargo-drop’s newly adapted receiver saved her from failing, utterly, to protect her heart.

“Drake? Come in Drake.” The voice coming across the recently modified circuits was unfamiliar, but the person obviously knew the Roma men.

Mercury stilled, barely breathing.

“This is Drake.” The voice that answered filled Samantha with rage. “You get them?”

“We retrieved the tracking receiver from the Dove . We’re coming down for a low pass now. We’ll land when we’ve completed the sweep. Should be first light in your location.”

“We’ll be waiting,” said Drake’s voice over the receiver. “We can start the hunt as soon as your ship is down.”

“Hoowa.”

The transmission went quiet and Samantha let out the breath she’d been holding. “That doesn’t sound like a rescue.”

“Hunters.” Mercury growled in the back of his throat.

“We must return to camp and tell the others.” Mercury threw back his head and howled. The others joined him, howls echoing faintly in the distance.

By the time they made it back, Carn and Lo were there, waiting for the news.

“The hunters are here. They hunt at daybreak.” Mercury’s voice had gone all snarly in a way she hadn’t heard since they’d left Drake and Resler behind.

“We’ll be ready.” Carn sounded calm and confident.

Lo spoke directly to Samantha. “Will you be able to fly their ship?”

Finally, something she knew she could handle. “If they can land it here, I can pilot it.”

Mercury squeezed her hand. “You’ll remain in this camp. We’ll come for you after they’re dead.”

She had no intention of waiting in safety.

She might be a coward, but she wasn’t that kind of coward.

And she’d really hoped they could avoid any killing.

“They said something about a tracker. They’ll know where we are by now.

” She looked up to the cloudless aqua expanse overhead and in her mind’s eye she could picture the ship skimming the planet’s atmosphere.

“She’s right,” said Carn. “The camp may not be safe.”

Lo spoke up. “If they can track us, they’ll know we’re coming to them. They’ll have the advantage.”

“Maybe not.” Samantha met Lo’s fire-flecked gaze.

“If they needed to run the scan before landing, then they aren’t sure it will work once they reach the surface.

It may be designed to bounce off a satellite—something this planet doesn’t have.

Then again, the pilot could drop them off and return the ship to orbit.

The ship could relay the info down to the men on the surface. ”

“They’ll be too arrogant and too eager to hunt to believe that would be necessary,” said Lo.

“Tomorrow,” Mercury growled, “we take the fight to them.”

She knew her next words wouldn’t go over easy, but they had to be said. For Mercury, for them all. “You can’t kill them.”

Lo snarled. “You don’t know their cruelty.” His words were bitten off with remembered pain. Samantha flinched at the sound, but she knew now that his anger wasn’t directed at her. It only made her want to find a way to undo every terrible hurt done him.

Mercury wrapped a hand around her arm and spoke more quietly. “Do you care so much for them?”

She jerked her arm out of his grasp and huffed as angry heat flushed through her. “No! I don’t give a damn about them, but if you kill them, you’ll be wanted men. You’ll never be free.” And it would be more violence to weigh on their souls.

Lo’s growling faded. “We’re already escaped property to them, little Sam.”

She shook her head. “But maybe not in Gollerra. There’s only one crime the Golley-Alliance treaty recognizes as cause to hand someone over, and that’s the murder of each other’s citizens.”

Mercury reached for her slowly, cautiously, as if she were a sand-viper. He drew his palms down the length of her arms until he circled her wrists. “Then perhaps we steal their ship and leave them here, alive. Can we prevent them from alerting Roma?”

She took a deep, relieved breath and exhaled her agitation. “They’ve probably already alerted them to what’s happening now, but yeah, we can keep them from finding out you’re on your way back for Hera. The real question is, do you have a plan once you get there?”

“We’ll find a way. A way that will keep you safe.”

“We’re not far from Haverlee port. We could get help.” She realized she was pleading. It wasn’t as if she wanted them to abandon Carn’s mate, but it wouldn’t do the woman any good if they got themselves killed trying to get to her.

“We,” Lo raged, voice dripping with venom, “don’t need the help of humans.”

Mercury released her and put himself between her and the others. “We’d still be in cages if this human hadn’t helped us.”

Samantha could hear Lo panting with anger. She squeezed Mercury’s shoulder and edged around him, stopping within touching distance of Lo.

She rubbed her hands on her pants legs to keep from reaching out. “I only wanted to help.”

“You’re different,” Lo snapped then shook his head as if clearing his thoughts. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“I wasn’t afraid.” From the moment she’d realized his anger served to shield his pain, her fear had started to lessen. She didn’t know when it had disappeared completely, but she knew now that it was gone.

He frowned, tiny lines disturbing the beauty of his features.

She pressed her lips together, biting her lip as she searched for some way to reach him.

“I can’t pretend to know what your life has been like, but I do understand the hopelessness of having all roads to a better existence blocked against you.

I understand going without the things others take for granted.

I understand betrayal.” She took a deep breath.

It was important that she think about her words before she said them.

When she made a promise she made sure it meant something.

“I’m nothing like the people who hurt you, Lo.

I’m not perfect, but there’s one thing you can count on, I’ll never betray your trust.”

Lo reached out and took her hand. He glanced over her shoulder to where Mercury stood at her back, then pulled her hand to rest over his heart.

***

Mercury directed everyone to prepare for tomorrow.

Samantha slipped easily into the rhythm of the team as they worked in silence.

A silence that gave him plenty of time to contemplate the coming challenge and all that was at stake.

He had time to reflect on the determined set of Samantha’s chin as she’d spoken to them from her heart of loyalty and betrayal.

She’d help them free Carn’s mate. She’d help them learn how to survive in her world, she’d face danger at his side. She was beautiful and courageous. In his heart she was already his mate. A more perfect mate than he could ever have dreamed of. So much more than he deserved.

He’d seen so many of his people die in the arena, unable to do a thing to help them.

In the kennels he’d done all he could to protect his pack brothers, but still two were gone.

After years of standing strong together on the training grounds and in the arena, Jupiter and Seneca were dead.

The thought made him want to howl out his grief.

He’d been shocked by the offer in the glance Lo had given him as he pressed her small hand to his heart.

He’d never thought to see the implied offer of loyalty to Mercury’s mate from his troubled brother.

It was something he’d been afraid his brother would never be able to give.

It made him breathe easier and created an ember of hope in his gut.

Tomorrow they’d slip into the enemy camp and steal a ship.

Something could go wrong. They could face death.

If not tomorrow, then when they returned to RomaRex.

He could be killed and he couldn’t leave Samantha to face the consequences of aiding them alone.

Lo’s look assured him that was no longer a worry.

Even if death took Mercury from her side.

It was the way of the Dogs. The way of the packs. The only way they’d found to stay sane in a life full of danger and death.

A man always had brothers. He always knew that, should he die, they’d stand together and survive.

A mate to one became bonded to the pack and they’d give their lives to stand beside her.

Females of their kind were so rare, no pack had ever been given two, but Carn was already mated.

That left only Lo to bond with Mercury’s mate.

He might harbor a deep distrust of human females, but Lo would stand with Samantha should Mercury fall.

Tonight, he’d seal the bond between his mate and his brother.

If he fell in battle, they’d stand together. Samantha would not be left alone.