“And then I wouldn’t be stuck on a Vandar warbird.”
I shouldn’t be complaining. Any other alien I’d been trying to kill wouldn’t have thought twice before throwing me in a cell or out an airlock. I wasn’t sure exactly why the Raas was so determined to save me, but I wasn’t going to question it too much. Not when the alternative was pretty grim.
I shivered as I remembered the battle chief with the scar running down his face and the menacing look in his eyes. That guy would have no problem punishing me. Then I thought about the imperial forces. If they discovered I’d failed to kill the Raas, they’d treat me even less kindly than the Vandar.
“I guess I have no choice,” I whispered, pulling the silky sheet tighter around me and attempting not to think of the huge warlord who’d claimed me as his property. Part of me bristled at the idea of belonging to anyone, but another part of me couldn’t deny the intense reactions his touch provoked. My pulse tripped at the mere memory of his lips brushing my skin.
“Come on, Alana.” I stamped a bare foot on the hard floor. “Get a grip. You’re not some innocent virgin being swept off your feet. You’ve had plenty of guys before.”
And killed most of them, a little voice reminded me. And stayed with none longer than a few rotations. The thought of staying on the Vandar ship indefinitely caused panic to flutter in my chest. I never stayed anywhere long enough to get attached or be remembered. It was part of the job. And now this Vandar warlord was telling me I had to stay? Permanently?
“As if,” I mumbled as the engines of the ship slowed, and I grabbed the doorframe for balance. Was the Vandar ship stopping because we’d reached the planet the Raas claimed he wasn’t going to leave me on? No, that would have been too fast.
My skin prickled with fear. My highly tuned instincts were telling me that something was wrong—and my gut was never wrong about these things.
I gathered the sheet tighter around me and stomped to the door, pounding on it until it opened. The guard outside raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t comment on my attire.
“Why are we slowing?” I asked.
He frowned at me, clearly debating if he should disclose any information to me.
I sighed and tried to give him my most endearing smile. “Come on.” I waved a hand at my sheet. “Do you really think I’m a threat?”
His frown didn’t fade. “It’s a raiding mission. It won’t take long. Go back inside and wait for the Raas.”
“A raiding mission? Is it an imperial fleet?”
His frown hardened. “If it was a fleet there would be red alerts and the sounds of battle.”
“So, a single ship?” The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. This was not an accident. The horde had come across another imperial ship so soon because the empire had planned it this way.
The guard grunted, clearly done answering my questions and maybe not pleased with himself for telling me anything at all. “You should wait inside. The Raas will return soon.”
I backed up and allowed the doors to shut again, my mind racing with possibilities. What was the strategy? I was willing to bet my life this was part of some imperial war game. The Zagrath rarely sent out solo ships. The question was, were they doing this to save me or kill me?
Since my ship had been destroyed along with the tracked cargo, they’d lost all ability to track me. I’d also been unable to send any sort of transmission. They must think I was either dead or captured. Either way, they were now sacrificing one of their ships so they could lure the horde into showing itself or attacking.
Then what? I paced a long path from one end of the room to the other, the sheet dragging behind me like a tail. Having the Vandar raid their ship wouldn’t make it possible to hunt down the horde, and it certainly wouldn’t guarantee that the Raas was killed. It wasn’t like the empire had invisibility shielding or could hide a fleet from view. Vandar sensors would pick up on approaching vessels and be able to vanish like smoke.
“It’s something more subtle,” I whispered to myself, nibbling my bottom lip as I thought.
What would I do if I needed to find a captured spy? My gut coiled into a hard ball. I’d send in another spy.
“Fuck me sideways,” I said. That was it. They were using the imperial ship as a way to lure the Vandar into sending raiding ships. Once the raiding ships were on board, the spy would manage to sneak onto one and return with the raiders. Then he’d be on the warbird. I knew in my gut that this was what the empire was doing because it was something I’d done before, just not against the Vandar.
One of my most notorious missions had been when I’d snuck onto a pirate ship that had attacked an imperial vessel. While the pirates had terrorized the crew, killing them all, I’d climbed onto their transport and made it back to their main vessel. There I’d systematically murdered all of the alien mercenaries without them ever figuring out they had an imperial spy in their midst.
I groaned. If I was right, the empire was using my own playbook against me.
I strode to the inset dresser, grabbing one of the hanging kilts and pulling it on. It was huge, so I rolled it up around my waist until it stopped slipping down my hips. I opened a drawer below and pawed through it until I found a baggy tunic. I pulled it on and tied it in a knot at my waist as
