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“Wren, this is Cleo. The ship’s vanished. It pulled away at the last second.”

“Why would it do that?” Striker tensed. “Malfunction?”

“It could be,” Cleo said. “But the tech it’s using makes it impossible to scan.”

“It didn’t land on the planet?” Wren said.

“No, you got a lucky break. They must have changed their minds,” Cleo said. “The atmosphere around this planet is a bitch to fly through. Maybe they didn’t want any damage.”

Wren’s broad smile just about split Striker’s heart wide open. “The mission is still on? We’ll collect the sullock.”

“It’s on,” Cleo said. “We’ll keep watch from up here, but you’re good to go.”

“Are you certain they’ve gone?” Striker said. “Bounty hunters are sneaky bastards. They have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. And it sounds like they’ve got sophisticated shielding tech. One you missed when they approached.”

“They’re gone.” Cleo bit off the ends of her words. “The ship left orbit a couple of minutes ago. We monitored them to see if they’d return, but they haven’t doubled back.”

Relief coursed through Striker. Wren was safe. So long as they could capture the sharp-toothed sullock, they’d be back on the ship within the hour. “Okay, the mission is still on.”

“I told you there was nothing to worry about.” Wren bounced on her toes as she hurried along another narrow rocky gully.

“It’s my job to worry about you,” he said.

“Worry about making sure the sullock doesn’t gouge your eyes out for fun.”

“I’d like to see it try.” Her joy was infectious, and he smiled as she practically skipped in front of him.

Wren turned and walked backward so she could see him. That sweet smile on her face got to him every time.

“I was thinking, when we get back to the ship, we could—”

Two blasts from a laser had Striker ducking and rolling toward Wren. He went to grab her, but she was gone.

He leaped to his feet, his weapon in his hand. “Wren? You okay?”

There was a muffled sound, scuffling, and then a curse from a low male voice.

Striker was running in the direction of the noise, his gun up. “Wren!”

Her scream pierced the silence, jabbing into his heart like a serrated knife.

He leaped on a high rocky outcrop and looked around, desperation coursing through his veins as he tried to find her. She couldn’t be far. He’d lost sight of her for five seconds at the most.

Shit! She was gone.

His breath quickened, and his fingertips tingled.

Wren had been grabbed by those soul empty bounty hunting scum. It had to be them.

He growled and leaped off the rock. There was no fucking way they were keeping her. He was getting Wren back.

Chapter 5

Wren kicked and punched like her life depended on it as she was dragged through an underground tunnel. She slammed her booted foot back repeatedly into a solid calf, but whoever had grabbed her from behind didn’t let her go.

“Get your damn hands off me. I’m part of a scientific mission. I’m Human. We have rights.”

Whoever had hold of her was tall and solidly built. He grunted in her ear. “You’re not what we were looking for, but you’ll do for now. A bonus prize. A pretty prize.”