Chapter Seventeen

Tanner

Tanny woke with a start. She didn't move, waiting for the sound to come again, and heard the soft beep. She sat up, grinning when she realized Binja was still asleep. The pace of the last few days and watching over her had worn him out. He often stayed awake when she slept. Going over lists, checking out locations before he would put her in danger.

When the beep came again, she realized it was coming from the hover control panel. Someone was trying to contact them. This hover was tiny. Which meant when the bed was out, there was only a small space on each side. The bed filled up the middle and hit right against the console. She leaned up and over, careful to switch the communication to audio only. Binja had given her a crash course over the last two weeks on running the hover. She hadn't learned how to drive it yet, but she was working on it. One of his major lessons had been voice versus video. That lesson was targeted for situations like now when she didn't have on a stitch of clothing.

Putting the headphones on, she had a brief conversation with Catalina. Tanny kept her voice low, making sure she didn't wake her mate while she fiddled with the coordinates Cat read to her. They were to another one of the Andaran's money stashes.

Catalina had discovered a reference to it when she was going through some of the papers one of the brothers lifted from the Ahnok's house. She realized it was close to where Tanny and Binja had camped in the hover, so tagged them to collect before they left the area.

Tanny frowned at the map filling the hover screen. She fiddled with the dials, working on the sequence of commands that Binja had shown her yesterday when they searched for— a swimmable lake nearby. Once they input what they wanted, several options filled the screen and Binja chose the one nearest their location. The closest swimmable lake had been up in the mountains. Warmed by geothermal springs, the water was perfect.

It should work the same way if she input— unused mining shaft nearby. There it was. Well, to be fair, three of them popped up. But only one was within walking distance of where she was now. The closest mine shaft was just a bit downhill and around the edge of the forest. It went into the side of the mountain and was located near a deep ravine. Catalina didn't think she'd have trouble finding it, and she wasn't sure they could fly there. The small clearing didn't look large enough to land the hover. So, this one had to be what she was looking for.

Slipping off the bed, she reached for her clothes and quickly dressed in her alien leggings and a simple pull-on shirt. The material for both differed greatly from anything on Earth. It was extremely stretchy, really strong, and climate controlled. Which meant when it was chilly outside, the material heated a few degrees, helping her maintain her body temperature. When it was hot, it cooled her skin. This morning was chilly, but her clothes weren't. It was amazing, but weird.

Tanny eyed her rifle and decided it would be too cumbersome to carry along with the pack she took for the money. She added a bellyband holster she'd found in the weapons accessory crate on the Paradise. The band fit snug around her stomach and held her handgun, some extra ammo, and a knife. Until they killed the Andaran, going unarmed anywhere on this planet was foolish.

Taking another look at her mate, she shook her head when she realized he hadn't moved in all the time she'd been talking to Cat and dressing. The man was out. They were going to have a serious talk about his exhaustion.

Hesitating before she left, Tanny looked around the small room, realizing she didn't have anything to use in order to leave him a note. It seemed silly to wake him when it would take her about ten minutes to walk to the mine shaft, another five to search for the money, and then ten minutes back to the hover.

She'd be gone twenty-five minutes, tops. Surely he wouldn't panic if he woke without her?

Hell's Bells. This kind of crap would drive her crazy. Part of the reason she didn't want to leave—was that she'd spent every damn waking hour of every day since he'd found her—with Binja. In less than a week, Tanner had worked herself into a raging case of depending on a man.

She didn't like it. Well, she didn't hate it, but this wasn't her… Tanner's inner, very independent warrior was horrified at her emotions. Taking a deep breath, she spun on her heel. Tapping the monitor to open the door, she slipped out and hiked away from the lake toward the nearby hills. She was damn well going to do this on her own, just to prove she could.

Tanny wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Too late, the silence triggered a warning. There was no birdsong, or the buzz of insects. A miniature boulder came whizzing by her head, just as she ducked. Instead of smashing into her straight on, it hit the side of her head, scraping off skin and hair. It bled and gave her a whopping migraine.

Her inner musings almost got her killed. Tanner crumpled against a nearby log, holding her hand over the side of her face. She wasn't sitting—she was leaning. Which meant she could move quickly if she needed to. Yet it looked as if she were close to collapse on the edge of the deep ravine. "How did you do that?"

Just before the rock hit her, Tanner saw the Andaran throw it at her head. Well, he didn't exactly throw it. He… magicked it. Pointing at the boulder and then at her, moving his arm in a sliding motion until it went sailing across the distance of about six feet.

His laugh was bone chilling. "I have my ways." He dropped the pack he carried from over his shoulder, letting it lay on the ground beside him. Jacanas was standing at the opening of the mining shaft. There was a hover bike parked off to the side.

Tanner bet he'd already collected his stash of untraceable credits. "What are you doing here?" she snarled. Wanting him to talk and not throw anything else at her. Slowly, she shifted her body. Instead of her injured side being pointed toward him, she moved to face him squarely, planting her feet, bracing herself against the heavy log. If needed, she could reach her right hand under her shirt to grab the gun.

He took a step closer at her snarling tone. Tanner told herself to soften her voice and inject more curiosity into the next question. She needed to stall. To get him to talk, not attack. She could feel the bits and pieces of Binja's bands surging through her body. The little bird mark in her palm pulsed as they worked on healing her injury. Her headache was already better. She just needed a few more minutes.

On Earth, giving the bad guy an opportunity to share their magnificence was a tried-and-true delaying tactic. Everyone liked to talk about themselves, and criminals liked to brag about their misdeeds before they killed you. "How did you get here?" she wondered. Hoping the urge to boast was universal.

The Andaran was wearing a robe. The hood was down, exposing his large, cone-shaped head and the dark color of his skin. His gray eyes flicked over her, and he smiled. The look was pure evil. "I knew I was being watched. My guards have all disappeared or been killed, but I foresaw the need for an escape tunnel years ago. Something only I knew about because you can't trust anybody. I had the workers killed when the tunnel was finished and then added the hover bike and started leaving money caches all over the planet." Jacanas kicked the bag at his feet.

Suddenly, his manner changed, and he stood taller, eyeing her. " I remember you. I knew you'd be trouble, which is why I sent you to one of my cruelest pleasure houses. A few weeks of working on your back was intended to break your spirit. Yet, you managed to escape." He spat the words at her, as if angry she dared to challenge his greatness.

Taking a deep breath, Tanner counted the seconds before she responded. Each mattered, helping her feel just a bit stronger. Giving Binja just a little more time to realize she was missing. Not that she needed to wait for her knight in shining armor. Finally, she nodded. "I did. You kept my sister, and I wanted her back." She knew she shouldn't taunt the megalomaniac, but couldn't resist.

His beady eyes narrowed. It was obvious he realized Tanner had something to do with his current situation. As his anger built, so did the whirlwind of forest debris surrounding him.

Immediately, she was hit with a barrage of smaller rocks and debris from the trees. Sticks, leaves, and some type of rotting fruit. He flung everything at her. She put up her arms, attempting to protect her face while never taking her eyes off him.

"You Salgarian slug. Did you steal your sister from me?" His eyes widened and he screeched at her. His full mouth of teeth bared in an obvious threat. "Are you the one killing my Super Spies?"

Tanner felt the push at her mind. The oily, sharp jab where he tried to steal her thoughts. Quickly, the mating bands formed a thin shield in her brain that he couldn't penetrate. But she knew what he wanted, and she'd give him some of it. Hoping to make him mad enough, he'd make a mistake and move closer to her.

So she laughed at him. "Of course, I did. Candy and the other women are now speeding away from this planet to safety, and a doctor who can remove the abominations you planted in them. You'll discover you no longer have a viable spaceport, as all the ships are gone or disabled. My favorite part of all this is that most of your money caches are empty, the prisoners you've stashed all over the planet have been rescued, and the Galactic Alliance has sent their cleanup crew to fix everything you've screwed up."

The pressure on her skull built with every word she uttered. He wanted her to jump off the cliff to her death. Wanted her head to explode and her brains to spill out onto the ground. Jacanas wanted a lot of things he would never get. Just thinking the Andaran's name reminded her of something Binja told her.

She laughed again. "You will not get what you want, Jacanas," she said his name loud and clear. "The men and women working with me are all immune to your suggestions. Go ahead and wish me dead—it isn't going to happen."

Jacanas let out the most ungodly shriek. She felt his power slip, fade, as he ran straight at her. But when he lifted his hands in the air and acted as if he were attempting to choke the living hell out of her from a distance—Tanner gagged. Damn it! The hit to his psychic power hadn't lasted long. The small clearing wavered as a little silver bird dive-bombed the Andaran… and the world went black.

BinjaOB

Binja woke in a panic, knowing his mate wasn't where he left her, and that she'd been severely injured. He didn't bother with clothes, just jumped out of bed and hit the button to the hover ramp. As soon as it dropped a few inches, Eita leapt from his skin and darted outside. He watched his bird head in the direction where he felt the powerful pull of his mate's soul.

He didn't need Eita to tell him where she was.

As he ran toward her, his reddish-brown brother joined him. Last night, at Binja's request, NinBOrB had moved deeper into the forest to rest. BinjaOB wanted privacy with his mate, planning to run naked to the lake this morning for a repeat of yesterday's lovemaking. Instead, he'd been exhausted and slept through whatever made her leave the hover.

Worse, the brothers knew last night that the Andaran had disappeared from his compound. They'd gone in and discovered an underground tunnel and were in the process of tracking him. The men wanted to spare their females, so they hadn't told them he escaped, believing they'd find him before it was necessary. Binja felt his mate's pain, her rage, and knew they'd screwed up.

The two brothers rushed into the clearing just as the Andaran ran toward Tanner. They could see he planned to push her over the log and off the cliff. Binja and Nin yelled out their fury, yet Jacanas didn't stop his forward motion or even look at the new threat.

His mate was slumped over with her eyes closed, her body resting against the log that was right on the edge of the ravine.

Time seemed to slow as Eita dove at the Andaran's face, talons ripping over his eyes, but still he kept charging..

Binja wouldn't reach her in time. He sent out a mental cry to all his brothers, asking them to come. To join what he feared would be a fight for her life.

Just before Jacanas reached Tanner, she dropped to her knees and caught him around the legs. Surging upward, using all the strength she had left, she launched the man upward, sending him over the cliff. At the last minute, he attempted to snag his fingers in her hair. Only it was in the tight braid she always wore and there was nothing he could grab that would keep him from going over.

Binja got to her side and wrapped his arms around her waist, digging his feet into the ground, preventing her from following their enemy.

Nin added his strength to Tanner's, pushing Jacanas upward and over that last bit to keep him from grabbing at the ravine's edge.

The Andaran's scream lasted until he hit the bottom.

Binja didn't care. He held Tanny in his arms, silently keeping vigil over his unconscious mate until Reb and Cameron arrived to see to her care. They loaded her on the medical hover and sped toward the Paradise.

They left behind Nin and several brothers who'd come to his aid. They were going to make sure Jacanas was dead, and retrieve the hover they left at the lake.