“Not exactly? Then why are you here?”
The brother who’d spoken paused, as if selecting his words carefully. Her stomach knotted, knowing that this didn’t bode well for her.
“We’ve come to escort you back to Vartik. Once there, we can discuss the issue and see how best to handle the situation.”
“This isn’t a situation. It’s my sister. And the best way to handle it is to go and get her.”
“One does not simply ride into Dazimin—” said the brother with green eyes.
“Why not?” Ally cut him off. “I heard you’ve already done it. Twice.”
The scarred one let out a bark of laughter. “Not in the way you’re talking about. And even though I was with someone from Team Evil, it wasn’t a walk in the park. Flying in there, even with five heavily armed battle cruisers, is still likely to fail.
“Not if you get your wives and the other Guardians to help. You all have special powers. I’m sure between all of you, you can save one human girl.”
Lyk put his arm around her shoulder, but Ally shrugged it off. “You supposed to be the good guys. What kind of heroes let an innocent girl be carried off by demons and do nothing about it?”
“She’s got a point,” the one with green eyes said.
The big one, the one in charge, growled. “We’re already trying to work out how to rescue Caleb. Are we just supposed to swoop down and rescue some human first? Do you know what Jazmine would do if we tried that?”
The scarred one laughed. “We could call it a test run. See if our plan to get Caleb could work.”
The brother in the military uniform shook his head. “Why not combine both rescues? That makes more sense to me than doing this piecemeal.”
“You never go after multiple targets in an operation,” the green-eyed brother scoffed. “Your chances for fuck-ups quadruple.”
Ally watched them squabble, her hope crumbling.They’re not going to do anything. This is another dead end.
Without saying a word, she turned and walked away. Ignoring the call from Lyk to return, she stalked off the bridge, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. She didn’t know where she was going. All she wanted to do was get away, find a quiet place, and regroup.
Her younger life had been lived without a care for the most part. Sure, her parents didn’t pay much attention to their daughters, but they were well provided for, and they had each other. Now Ally had no one. And Evie was undergoing gods knew what torture.
I have to do this on my own.
It had been a hard lesson to learn after her parents had died, but Ally now accepted that it was not going to change. The only person she could depend on was herself, and if she didn’t go after her sister, no one would.
The ship shifted course as she walked down a corridor, and she moved to the viewing port to see the other ships fall in formation. They were heading to Vartik, it seemed.
Ally was slightly surprised. Lyk had seemed dead set against returning home. She wondered what his brothers had said to change his mind. Watching the stars blur past, Ally considered what had happened just before the Vartik ships had arrived.
Another few moments and Lyk would have taken her virginity. And she would have let him. Hell, she probably would have been begging him to by then. There was something about the way that man touched her that set her entire body to flame. She’d never felt like that, had never had such a powerful experience.
Is that what an orgasm feels like? No wonder everyone loves sex.
Although she’d had plenty of opportunity to have sex before, she’d never let it happen. Ally had seen her peers’ exploits with casual sex and had decided to save herself for someone truly special. Someone she loved.
That, like everything else, had changed now.
I was ready to give up my virginity just at the chance to convince Lyk to help me. Or, even worse, just to distract him so he won’t expect me to jump ship at the first chance I get. Love was so far out of the picture, you’d need a telescope to find it.
Love. Ha.
Lyk’s sister had accused her of being in love with him. That was ridiculous. Sure, he knew how to make her shiver with his kisses, but they had little else in common. Besides, he was a pirate, and from the rumors she heard, he was fairly free with his favors.
Falling in love with a scoundrel was its own punishment, and it was something she would avoid at all cost.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been staring out the view port, replaying the memory of the way Lyk touched her while at the same time telling herself she was being a fool, but after a time, the scenery changed.
