Disobedience Read online

  “Don’t forget, Dhala, it is in the nature of an Aquariian to help those in need. She brought the Goslan back to her temple, healing him just enough each day to keep him alive.”

  “Why didn’t she heal him all at once?”

  “The Goslan sought sanctuary within the walls of her garden temple. The Aquariian was good-hearted but she was not stupid. She hoped that by the time the Goslan was fully healed, he would have grown to love the temple as she did, making a betrayal impossible.”

  She almost misses it, but Finn catches the intent behind Grim’s eyes a second before his massive leg shoots out. She dives out of the way just in time, crouching low and winking at her mentor. They both know had her timing been a second later, he would have flattened her again.

  “Let me guess, when he was fully healed, he killed the Aquariian for her troubles,” she muses sarcastically.

  “No,” Grim barks, charging Finn at full speed. She barely has time to register his attack before he slides low, gliding across the floor on his knees as his weapon sweeps her legs out from under her. It really isn’t fair that a giant of his mass can move with such remarkable speed and grace. He looms over her prone form, holding his sword at her throat. “While she slept, he robbed her sacred temple, stealing her people’s most holy possessions. She awoke to find her gardens screaming at his attempted escape.”

  Finn hangs on his words, curious now to know what became of them both.

  “Go on then,” she prods. “What did she do?”

  “She found him before he could flee and she let the plants take him. Slowly, over a period of weeks, they fed on him until he became a part of their garden, no longer resembling anything close to the creature he’d once been.”

  Finn gulps before she catches herself, narrowing her eyes on her mentor.

  “So, what? Is this another lesson on naïveté? Don’t trust Goslans?”

  Grim finally pulls the bokken from her throat, offering her his hand. He isn’t offended or surprised when she doesn’t take it.

  “No,” he rumbles, watching her stand. “The lesson is, never underestimate the depths of an Aquariian’s rage.”

  Finn came into awareness slowly, the last dregs of her memory clinging to the edges of her consciousness like a hangover. Before even allowing herself to open her eyes, she took inventory of her body. Wiggling all ten toes and fingers, she winced as her slow inhale of breath exacerbated the aches and pains left over from whatever “episode” had plagued her the night before.

  Never underestimate the depths of an Aquariian’s rage.

  Grim’s warning reverberated throughout her head. Perhaps she should’ve paid closer attention to his lesson. She didn’t know what the ship’s resident healer had done to her all those weeks ago; but if last night was any indication, whatever it was couldn’t be good.

  Finn’s body tensed as she remembered her brief contact with Tiri the night before. She’d never lost consciousness while still connected to the little girl. What if she’d somehow given away their pod’s location?

  She forced her heavy eyelids open, blinking away the last remnants of sleep as she struggled to get her body to do something other than just lie there. Her mind became so focused on the task, it took a few moments before her surroundings came into focus and she realized she was no longer on the flight deck of her pod.

  Don’t panic, she ordered herself, taking in the familiar white walls and steel desk below a domed window that provided a spectacular view of the vast spacescape outside. Her heart disobeyed, pounding against the confines of her chest as the rest of her senses screamed in recognition.

  The conversant hum of Independence’s mechanics was impossible to mistake. She’d recognize it amidst a fleet of thousands.

  As though with a will of its own, Finn’s body shot up in bed, her frantic eyes searching the room she knew so well yet hoped to never see again. Her heart sank like a stone before immediately lodging itself in her throat.

  Isis, in all her statuesque glory, sat calmly at the foot of the bed, silver eyes watching Finn with casual interest. Her blue lips parted in a half smile.

  “Welcome back, Finn.”

  Finn assessed the Aquariian she had once considered a friend from the top of her bald, iridescent blue head to the graceful blue hands resting atop her knees. All the while, Grim’s lesson rang in her head.

  “Shit.”

  SIX

  At Finn’s muttered expletive, Isis’s smile widened.

  “The ship has been painfully dull without you, my child.” The Aquariian’s silver eyes grew serious as she regarded her. She set a new pair of black gloves on the bed next to Finn’s hands. “We have missed you.”

  “Oh you have?” Finn bit back a groan of leftover soreness as she forced herself to sit up. “You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”

  She dutifully ignored the way Isis’s head tilted in genuine surprise at the thinly veiled accusation.

  “We were worried. Tiri said you were hurt. We couldn’t just leave you out on your own.”

  Finn scoffed, subtly testing the strength in the muscles of her arms and legs.

  “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about my injury, would you?”

  “Whatever do you mean?”

  She couldn’t help but be impressed. Isis was putting on quite the show. Her glittering skin wrinkled above her eyes and her lips parted in confusion.

  “Just tell me what you did to me, Isis,” Finn bit out in frustration. “I know you put something inside of me when you healed me . . . something to cause unbearable pain when I get too far away. It’s pretty devious actually. I didn’t know you had it in you. Well, you’ve got me back where you want me now, so you can take it the hell out.”

  The Aquariian’s eyes shot comically wide.

  “You think I did this to you?”

  Finn paused, her breaths stalling in her lungs as she forced out a whisper.

  “Didn’t you?”

  The genuine affront clouding Isis’s face made Finn hesitate. She’d seen the Aquariian lie before, and the woman wasn’t very adept at it. Unless she’d mastered the skill in a few short weeks, it appeared she truly didn’t know what was causing Finn’s bouts of unbearable pain.

  The long-limbed alien got up and sat next to her on the bed, causing Finn to stifle a flinch at her nearness.

  “I would never intentionally cause you pain, my child.”

  Her eyes shone with their candor and some of the leftover tension leaked from Finn’s body. She wanted to roll away from the comfort and warmth in the woman’s stare . . . wanted to unleash the inferno of anger she’d been stoking for the last few weeks, but a terrible, creeping sense of loneliness snuck up on her and erased her intentions.

  “Then . . . what’s happening to me, Isis?” she whispered, swallowing past the fear in her throat.

  The Aquariian leaned close enough that her warmth soothed Finn, but not close enough to touch.

  “I examined you thoroughly. Your body is perfectly healthy.”

  Even as relief made her sag against the pillows, new anxiety began to fill her.

  “Then—”

  Isis hushed her with a graceful motion of her slender fingers.

  “Your body is perfectly healthy, but I have a theory about the rest of you. You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”

  Finn cocked her head defensively.

  “I’ve been a little busy.”

  Isis inhaled and released a breath on a sigh.

  “You’ve been unconscious on Independence for three days.” Finn didn’t have time to appropriately react to that outrageous statement before the Aquariian continued. “We’ve all been understandably concerned. Can you tell me more about this pain?”

  Finn blinked. Three days? She’d been out for three days? That thought led to ones of her crew, and a new wave a panic stole over her.

  “Wait,” she cried, tearing the covers free from her body and throwing her legs over the side of the bed. “Where are Nov
a and Enyo? Are they all right?”

  Isis hurried to stop her.

  “Calm yourself.”

  Finn stopped her movements with a hard glare.

  “I can’t calm myself. I need to know what you did with my crew. They need me.”

  She panted from the exertion as a fresh wave of pain hit her in the abdomen, causing her to double over. In an uncharacteristic show of force, Isis unceremoniously shoved her back into bed.

  “You must. I believe this pain is a manifestation of your worry.”

  “My what?”

  “Listen to me, Finn. Focus on your breathing and think. When does the pain usually strike?”

  She watched the Aquariian’s chest rise and fall in gentle swells, trying to get her breaths to mimic the action.

  “At night,” she gasped.

  Isis offered an encouraging nod.

  “And what are you normally doing?”

  Finn sucked in a ragged breath and worried her lower lip between her teeth.

  What am I doing? Her mind practically screamed.

  What wasn’t she doing? There was so much resting on her shoulders. Each night while the worlds slept, Finn plotted. She agonized over every detail of her plans, worrying that one wrong step could cost her and the imprisoned hybrids everything. There was so much at stake. How could Isis even ask the question?

  The Aquariian seemed to read as much in her expression as in her shortness of breath.

  “It is as I suspected. When I examined you, I could feel the turbulence centered here.” A long, slender hand stopped to rest just below the center of Finn’s chest. “The task you have undertaken would be difficult for anyone in the most ideal of circumstances, but you have been pushing yourself, forcing yourself into isolation and refusing sleep. With no outlet to release your anxiety, it has manifested itself physically. It is not unusual, though I have never seen a case quite so severe. Perhaps this is yet another unique aspect of your Teslan heritage.”

  Finn sputtered for a response, coming up empty. She was beginning to think of her hybrid abilities as more of a curse than anything else. Finally, she mumbled, “Great, in addition to not touching people, I can now look forward to bouts of blackout-inducing pain every time I get a little worried.”

  A gentle smile lifted the Aquariian’s lips a fraction of an inch.

  “I’d say you were more than a little worried. But I expect things will be easier for you now that you’re back on Independence. You won’t be dealing with this alone anymore.”

  Even as the words fell like a warm blanket of much-needed relief over Finn’s weary body, she resisted. That is, until the door opened to her right and a deep voice slightly tinged with token sarcasm cut through the fog of her emotions.

  “I couldn’t agree more, Isis.”

  Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Finn turned to meet her newest visitor. The captain of Independence looked as polished and handsome as ever, though his blond hair had grown a bit shaggy and his normally clean-shaven face was covered in a smattering of new stubble. He held his tall body in a casual pose, but there were new lines of tension around his green eyes that were impossible to miss.

  “Shane.” She gave him a smile that ended up more like a grimace. “You’ve looked better.”

  Some of the lines eased a bit as he shot a pained grin over at Isis.

  “I see our patient is on the mend. Do you mind if I have a moment alone with her?”

  Finn’s panicked face shot to the Aquariian’s, begging her not to go, but the woman merely gave the blankets draping her patient’s legs a sympathetic pat and took her leave.

  Left alone, Shane cleared his throat a bit awkwardly and shifted on his feet. Seeming to catch himself, he grabbed the steel chair from its spot by the desk and pulled it over to her bedside.

  “I . . . we are all more than a little impressed at what you have accomplished in such a short amount of time.” Finn’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Of all the things she expected him to say, a compliment didn’t come remotely close to making the list. Shane’s gaze left his hands to meet hers. They burned with intensity. “The luxury pod was a clever touch, though I must say I still can’t wrap my head around how you managed to take the Sirian hybrid from one of Arcturus’s most revered religious emissaries without detection.”

  Not entirely without detection, Finn thought, as she remembered Enyo’s bloody claws sinking into the soldier’s flesh with a disgusting gurgle. She ignored both the praise and the obvious curiosity in his tone and sat up straighter.

  “Where is Enyo?”

  Surprise darkened the olive green of his eyes.

  “So, Enyo is her name?” Leaning back in his chair, an affectionate half grin tugged at his lips as he commented, “She was more than a little perturbed at the notion of boarding our ship. A bit like someone else I know. She said she would answer to ‘N’Goza’ or no one. After she tried to take my eye out with those claws of hers, we had to lock her in one of the smaller cargo holds.” Taking Finn in from head to toe with a grin, he chuckled. “It figures you’d find the most foul-tempered blended to rescue first.”

  Once again, Finn threw the covers off her body and moved to stand.

  “Take me to her.”

  Shane rushed to steady her.

  “Hold on. There are some things we need to clear up.”

  Glaring at him from beneath a fall of auburn curls, she snapped.

  “I won’t stop rescuing hybrids. I’ve spent almost every last piece of gold I’ve earned, and I intend to see my plan through.” Quieter this time, she said, “They’re suffering out there, Shane.”

  “I don’t want you to stop.” The softly spoken admission halted Finn in her tracks. She lifted her stare fully to find him waiting for her, his face gentle with affection. “I want you to help us finish what you started. There’s no denying you have a talent for this, Finn, but as the last few days have proven, this was never meant to be a solo job. Let us help you. We can do this together.”

  Grim’s face flashed in her mind:

  There is a bigger mission at stake, one you are needed for.

  “Is that you talking,” she asked Shane on a harsh murmur, “or the Luminary?”

  At the mention of their leader, the openness in his eyes shuttered before disappearing completely. His tone went flat as he answered.

  “The Luminary and Independence aren’t separate; we’re a package deal, Finn.”

  “What did Grim do to make you so blindly loyal?”

  Shane opened his mouth and then closed it. She waited, but an answer never came. Using every ounce of strength she possessed, Finn rose to her feet and stood tall. She hoped that she hid the shaking in her legs as she demanded, “Take me to see Enyo.”

  She felt certain he would have obeyed her had her legs not chosen that moment to give out. Her body sagged to the floor in a heap, but he managed to catch her around the waist before she could hit.

  Shane released a bone-weary exhale, gently pushing her back into bed.

  “We’ll bring your crew to you.”

  SEVEN

  Air hissed through the automatic doors, announcing her crew’s arrival. Finn had managed to find an acceptable position—propped up and cross-legged in bed. She hoped her strength would return soon. She was certainly going to need it to deal with whatever lay ahead.

  Nova came into the room first, her blemished body proudly on display in a pair of short linen shorts and a cropped tank top. Her stringy brown hair hung limply at her shoulders. She smiled brightly at the sight of Finn.

  “Hey, boss lady. Feeling better?”

  Before she could answer the doxie, an unholy growl shook the walls of her room and Finn caught sight of Enyo being led in by none other than Conrad.

  The sight of him was like taking a hit from Grim’s bokken straight to the chest and it sent her reeling. Thankfully, his glowing, otherworldly blue eyes were focused intently on holding the struggling Sirian hybrid in place as her lithe fur
-covered body fought against his control. Conrad’s powerful frame dwarfed Enyo. His black dreads were tied away from his face in a messy topknot and his ebony skin shone under the artificial lights.

  Shane brought up the rear of the strange group, the doors hissing closed behind him. His blond hair looked more disheveled than it had been mere minutes ago; yes, he was a far cry from the handsome, buttoned-up captain she’d come to know.

  “Let me go, you bastard,” Enyo spat at the glowing-eyed hybrid. Conrad gritted his teeth in response and his eyes flared brighter.

  Before she could stop herself, Finn spoke quietly.

  “His parents were married.”

  Everyone in the room went silent and four heads turned simultaneously in her direction.

  Enyo’s struggles ceased as her yellow eyes cleared and she regarded Finn for a long, confusion-filled moment.

  “You are alive, N’Goza. I thought they had killed you.”

  “I’m okay. How are you?”

  “Not pleased with being locked up again,” she sneered in Shane and Conrad’s direction.

  “Sorry about that,” Finn apologized, cursing her inability to help her new friend while being missing in action for three days. “It was a misunderstanding. They won’t do it again. You can stay with me.” She glanced at Shane meaningfully, but before he could respond, a low voice filled the room.

  “Like hell she can,” Conrad argued. “She almost took your eye out, Shane.”

  “I’ll admit my aim is not what it used to be,” Enyo said, offering a toothy grin.

  Finn couldn’t put it off any longer. She finally turned and looked at the glorious hybrid she’d spent the better part of a month trying to forget. As though he could feel her attention, Conrad’s incredulous and angry gaze shot to hers.

  No longer focused on Enyo, his blue eyes drank in the sight of her, paralyzing Finn with their intensity. Like Shane, course stubble colored the hard planes of his cheekbones and jaw. He wore a black singlet that hugged the muscles of his chest, leaving the runic markings covering the swarthy skin of his arms and shoulders on full display.