Merry & Seduced Read online

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  “Is the shield on? No one can see us land, right? The military forces won’t shoot us out of the sky?” Camryn’s voice dripped with anxiety, and Amme noted her friend’s fingers curl and uncurl, twist and untwist at her sides.

  A ship of the frigate category, the Indy was a huge hulk and built to undertake long space voyages. Its somber gray color wasn’t flashy like some of the cruise ships, and that would help it blend during their approach, but Amme understood Camryn’s anxiety. From the moment they’d entered Earth’s atmosphere, they courted danger.

  “Shields are fully functional,” Ry said in a clipped tone that indicated this landing was more difficult than any of them admitted. “The Indy is invisible to tracking devices and the naked eye.”

  Jannike planted her hands on her hips and scowled her tough-warrior glare. “Camryn, if you don’t shut up, Kaya and I are gonna gag you. I don’t care what Ry says. If the Earth military had noticed our entry into the atmosphere, they would have sent fighter ships to intercept us by now.” She crossed to her seat next to Nanu and clipped the safety harness into place.

  Amme grabbed Camryn by the arm and dragged her over to one of the rear seats. They both buckled their harnesses while the others studied the instrument panel and Nanu manipulated the controls. “Tell me about the men on Earth. Do you think I’ll manage to find one for a Christmas fling?”

  Camryn ripped her gaze off the clouds beyond the view port and turned to her with raised brows. “You want a man?”

  “I didn’t say I wanted to keep him,” Amme said. “Ooh, pretty. Look at the trees. Is that a river?”

  “Amme, you can’t drop a man bomb without telling me more.”

  Ah, her distraction had worked. She turned from the view to focus on Camryn. “Now that Gweneth has blossomed and become independent, she doesn’t need me. I was designed to look after others, and the lack of need in that department is making me…unsettled.” Yes, that was the correct word to describe her current unease.

  “But an affair? Really?” Camryn said, diverted from her anxiety as Amme had intended.

  “Memories to keep me warm on the long space voyage to Viros.”

  The engine roared extra loud, there was a metallic bang, and the Indy tilted at a forty-degree angle without warning, flinging Amme against her harness. Over at the control panel, Nanu cursed. An alarm burst into life.

  Jannike echoed him with equally pithy sentiments. “Fukk, watch out! We’re gonna crash.”

  “Don’t you think I know that,” Nanu said, his tone testy.

  “Sit-rep,” Ry demanded.

  Nanu checked the panels, his instruments, stabbed at buttons. “One of the stabilizers isn’t working. Don’t know why.”

  “Hard right,” Ry ordered. “Right or we’ll hit those trees.”

  “I said I know that,” Nanu snapped.

  Ry shot a glower at his mate. “Camryn, the clearing you mentioned isn’t where you said it would be.”

  “Sorry.” Camryn winced. “I wasn’t at my best the last time I was here. I did tell you that.”

  “I see the clearing,” Nanu said, his shoulders straining and fighting the thruster control. “Turn, damn it. Turn!”

  “Can you straighten our approach?” Ry asked, his voice calm.

  Nanu’s beefy hands raced over the control panel while his gaze remained on the rapidly approaching landscape. “It’s a thruster. A malfunction. It’s fukked up the landing stabilizers and the steering. Turn, Indy.”

  Amme gripped her seat handrests and stared out the view screen at the landscape. Despite Nanu’s attempts, the Indy was still flying at a drunken angle. The trees appeared enormous this close. She swallowed. “That’s assuming we make it to the ground in one piece. I might be all talk about this fling if we crash and die.”

  The engine roared, and Nanu fought the controls. Slowly, the Indy started to level.

  Beside them Kaya snorted out a laugh. “Don’t worry. We’ll land safely. I want one of those sex flings too. I’m counting on it. We haven’t hit many planets where the males have the right working parts. Need to make sure I haven’t gone rusty.”

  “Your brother would hatch an Earth animal…an elephant if he heard you say that, Kaya,” Jannike said.

  “What he don’t know won’t hurt him,” Kaya said with a cheeky wink over her shoulder. “Earth fling here I come.”

  Camryn barked out a laugh and shot an impish glance at Ry. “Maybe I should try a fling. They sound like fun.”

  “Not if you know what’s good for you,” Ry said. “Ease it down, Nanu. We’re almost at the clearing.”

  “She’s not responding. Darlin’, I need you level. Damn it. Jannike, you’ll have to manipulate the manual landing gear,” Nanu said, his attention on the controls. “Hurry.”

  “I can’t reach,” Jannike snapped. “Hang on.” She unclicked her safety harness just as the frigate slanted in the other direction. Her feet went from under her and she slid across the floor, landing against a panel of instruments, headfirst. “Oomph.”

  “You’re in the right place now,” Nanu said urgently. “Pull the red lever.”

  Jannike groaned, and Amme saw a trickle of blood rolling down the second officer’s cheek. Her movements were sluggish, and she missed her grab for the handhold when the Indy rolled again. She shot across the floor and thudded into another control panel just as the Indy struck the ground. “Fukk, Nanu. Can’t you fly this thing straight?”

  “Doing my best. Get the lever,” Nanu ordered.

  “Fukk you,” Jannike said and swiped some of the blood off her cheek. She half scuttled, half crawled across the floor toward the lever. She reached out, grabbed hold. “Got it.”

  The Indy bounced. Amme’s stomach dropped, and she jolted against her safety harness, her gaze on Jannike instead of the landscape and the green of trees whizzing past the view port. The Indy punched into the terrain. Jumped. Hit.

  Jannike moaned with each successive smack. Amme’s harness dug into her shoulders. She grunted. Beside her, Camryn growled, her feline rattled by the rough ride.

  “Hang tight. We’re gonna hit again,” Nanu warned.

  Outside, tree branches gouged the hull with nasty metallic shrieks. Amme’s receptors prickled at the sharp scratches, the small hairs at the back of her neck rising.

  “Come on, sweetheart,” Nanu crooned from between tight lips. The engines roared as the Indy battled gravity.

  Jannike tried to right herself, to scuttle across the floor but the Indy bucked and shrieked like a defiant beest. She cursed. Tensed to avoid another body slam as she slid, unable to gain purchase. “Can you please help instead of showing off?”

  “One more hop should do it,” Nanu said. “They’re getting smaller.”

  The Indy struck and the entire frigate groaned as if the landing pained her too.

  Amme waited for the ship to lift again. When it remained in place, she unclipped her safety harness and hurried over to Jannike. “Where does it hurt?”

  “My head,” Jannike said with a glare at Nanu. “It was his bad driving.”

  “You took off your safety harness,” Ry said. “Last time you did that you hit your noggin too.”

  “And both times I was trying to help,” Jannike said. “You’re the captain. You should have volunteered.”

  “Do I look stupid?” Ry smirked at her and Amme had difficulty holding back a laugh. The crew constantly sniped at each other, yet if anyone dared attack, they fought the foe as one strong unit.

  “Do you think anyone noticed us landing?” Camryn asked.

  “We’ve left a trail of destruction,” Kaya said. “We hit trees.”

  “This visit is doomed,” Camryn said. “Doomed. This is a sign. We should leave right now.”

  “Coward,” Ry said.

  Camryn’s back straightened and another catlike growl emerged from deep in her throat.

  “Stop teasing your mate. Watch my finger,” Amme said to Jannike, and she waggled it from left to right in front of the second-in-command’s face. Jannike followed orders, and Amme nodded in satisfaction. “Normal reaction. She has a bump on her skull, but she’ll live. I’ll cleanup the blood for you.”

  Mogens hurried onto the flight deck. “If it’s safe to leave the ship, I’ll plant a spell, one to repel anyone who comes too close. You’re positive the atmosphere is safe?”

  “It’s safe,” Camryn said. “But take a reading first. It’s a good habit.”

  Nanu’s fingers danced over the controls. “I’ll put the shield in place. There. Done. Anyone looking at the Indy will see what he or she expect to see. Trees and more trees.”

  “But what about the gouges in the earth and the broken trees?” Camryn demanded. “And the sound of our arrival.”

  A trace of black swirled into Mogens pale skin, giving him streaks of gray on his chin and jaw. “My spell will work with the damage,” he said, his tone offended. “Hopefully, the black clouds on the horizon will get the blame for the noise.”

  “Is it gonna rain?” Jannike climbed to her feet with a tortured groan. “That’s all we need. It rained last time we came to this planet. Ry stunk out the tender with his wet fur.”

  “No,” Mogens said. “The clouds are traveling away from our direction. The sunshine will remain.”

  “Well, that’s something,” Jannike grumbled.

  “Take a seat,” Amme said, but her attention wandered to Camryn before she opened the med-box and selected an absorbent pad. “I’ll doctor your ouchies.” Now that they’d arrived, Camryn couldn’t keep still. She paced the flight deck and did several circuits until Ry grasped her hand and hauled her against his side. Even so, she vibrated with her trepidation. This reunion with her family scared her and it show
ed.

  “We’re going right now,” Ry said. “We’ll leave Nanu and the others in charge of the ship, and we’ll go and tell your brother we’re here.”

  Camryn looked as if she might throw up. “No, we’ll go tomorrow. I—”

  “Camryn, you need to go now or you’ll make yourself sick with worry,” Amme said.

  “You come with us,” Camryn said and turned a beseeching expression on her. “Please.”

  Amme exchanged a glance with Ry and he nodded.

  “All right. Let me finish treating Jannike, then I’ll adjust my skin color and I’m ready to go,” Amme said and peered at Jannike’s forehead. “The bleeding has almost stopped.” She sprayed it with an anti-stop to halt the last of the bleeding, observed for a sec and nodded in approval. “A medi-pad, and you’ll be done.”

  “What about us?” Kaya asked.

  “I’ll take you to meet my brother and sister-in-law tomorrow. All of you,” Camryn said. “I promise.”

  Amme glanced at Camryn’s skin color and willed her own natural bronze tones to lighten. It took mere seconds. Yes, that was better. She’d blend now.

  “I’ve got my com if you run in to any problems. Don’t hesitate to contact me,” Ry said.

  “Likewise,” Jannike said. “We can be there quickly if you strike trouble.”

  “We’re visiting Camryn’s family on a peaceful planet,” said Ry. “There won’t be any trouble.”

  Chapter Two

  Amme thought Camryn might faint as she stood before the front door of a rambling white bungalow. All her natural sparkle had fled to leave extreme pallor, and she looked as if she were having trouble breathing, as if someone had kicked her in the gut and knocked the air from her lungs. Her breaths seesawed in an out, an audible statement of fear.

  Amme exchanged a glance with Ry, saw his concern, the way his jaw firmed and almost felt sorry for the people on the other side of the door.

  “I’ll knock on the door,” Amme said and rapped her knuckles against the wood. “Your family will be pleased to see you.”

  “Someone is coming.” Ry sniffed to ascertain the degree of danger and relaxed. “The scent holds a touch of you. It’s one of your family.”

  Camryn swallowed audibly, her gaze fixed on the doorway. Amme suspected her friend wanted to run, but Ry’s arm around her waist and her unsteady legs rooted her to the spot.

  The door opened to a child. Luke. He was four, Amme remembered from Camryn’s stories. He loved horses and other animals, taking after his father and Camryn in that respect.

  “Luke,” Camryn croaked.

  The boy looked at her and burst into a wide grin. “Auntie Cam. Auntie Cam. Auntie Cam!”

  “He remembers me,” Camryn croaked again.

  “Of course he does,” Amme said.

  “Auntie Cam!” Luke shrieked.

  A woman appeared in the passage behind them, her belly swollen with child in the Earth way. This must be Ellen, Amme decided and smiled in welcome. She was tiny with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, just as Camryn had described.

  Ellen glanced at Amme and Ry and waddled to the door, a polite expression of enquiry settling on her neat features. Then she spotted Camryn, and her mouth twisted into anger. Disdain. This woman had judged her friend and found her lacking.

  “What are you doing here? Max spent weeks looking for you. Weeks of checking bars and the hospital. We filed a missing person’s report.”

  “I-I’m sorry,” Camryn said. “I-I—”

  “You can’t just turn up and expect a welcome,” Ellen spat. “I want you to leave before Max comes. You’ve caused enough trouble and we—I can’t take anymore. You’re irresponsible, Camryn, and a drunk. Just go.” She shoved Camryn hard, pushing her back two steps. “We don’t want you here.”

  “That’s enough,” Ry said, and he thrust Camryn behind him and out of Ellen’s reach.

  “Who are you?” Ellen demanded.

  “I am Camryn’s mate.”

  Amme realized the woman didn’t have a translator. Ry’s words would sound like unintelligent garble.

  “This is Ryman Coppersmith, my mate. This is Amme Vanak, our friend,” Camryn said, apparently understanding the problem. She’d taught them English, but Ry had forgotten to use his learning in the heat of the moment.

  “I don’t care,” Ellen said. “Just go before Max gets back.”

  A vehicle pulled into the driveway, and Ellen’s lips pressed together. A flash of temper colored her cheeks with pink before she gave a hard sigh of resignation.

  Amme turned to inspect the new arrival. Camryn gasped, took half a step and halted in indecision.

  The vehicle screeched to a stop and the driver’s door flung open. “Camryn?” a hoarse voice demanded.

  The new arrival was a masculine version of Camryn. He raked a hand through his hair, shaggy and in need of a cut, and tugged off his sunglasses. He was a fraction taller but it was obvious they were siblings.

  “Max,” Camryn murmured, then they both were running.

  Max’s arms tightened around her and he buried his face against her shoulder. After a long hug, they pulled back to stare at each other.

  “Where have you been?” Max asked, his voice hoarse and throbbing with emotion. He blinked rapidly, as if to dispel a mirage and reached out to seize Camryn’s hand. His fingers wove with hers and he clasped tight. “I searched for you everywhere. You vanished, and no one had seen you. Where the hell have you been?”

  Camryn swallowed, shot a panicked glance at Ry, then glanced at Amme in a silent plea for help.

  Ry and Amme had discussed this earlier, out of Camryn’s earshot, and both remained silent. Camryn needed to do this on her own.

  “Camryn?” Max voice was hard, forceful, demanding answers.

  “I was kidnapped by aliens,” Camryn blurted.

  Amme saw the scorn form in Ellen, the disappointment on Max’s features, and realized Camryn had been right to worry.

  “Surely you could do better than that?” Ellen asked.

  Max pulled away from Camryn and stalked over to his wife.

  “I told you to leave,” Ellen said. “We don’t need you in our lives.”

  A tear rolled down Camryn’s cheek. Her throat worked but she didn’t say anything, didn’t refute their words, didn’t defend herself from their verbal attack.

  “Haven’t you got anything to say, Camryn?” Max asked. “The truth perhaps?”

  Camryn gaped at her twin. Another tear spilled free.

  “Let’s go inside, Max. You can’t let Camryn drag us down. She’ll destroy us too.” Ellen urged her husband into the house and shooed their son before them.

  “Wait,” Amme said, almost at the same time as Ry issued a catlike yowl.

  Max and Ellen froze. Max turned, a blend of shock and indecisiveness darting through his expression before settling into resignation.

  “Please, just listen to me,” Camryn said. “Let us come inside so I can tell you where I’ve been, and if you still want me to go after I’ve told you my story, I’ll leave without an argument.”

  “Max,” Ellen said in warning.

  Max glanced at his wife then back at his sister. “Ten minutes,” he said finally and steered his wife into the house.

  Camryn hesitated, squared her shoulders and strode after her brother.

  Amme and Ry grinned at each other as they fell into step. Camryn was back.

  Inside a room furnished with comfortable chairs, pictures of landscapes and family photos, they found Max and Ellen seated together. Camryn fidgeted, as if she needed to pace but wanted to appear calm in front of her brother and sister-in-law.

  Ry headed straight for his mate, and Amme took possession of a lone chair. She settled into the plush brown cushioning and willed Camryn to do this right. Amme knew how much this meant to her friend.

  Camryn loved her twin very much and hated knowing she’d disappointed him, loathed the way she’d fallen apart after the death of Gabriel, her first husband.

  “We’re waiting,” Ellen prompted, her tone a hairsbreadth from sarcasm.

  Camryn gave a jerky nod. She swallowed and started from the beginning, just as she had when she’d told the story to Amme.

  “I’d been drinking,” Camryn said, her chin lifting at Ellen’s snort. “I’d come into the house to see you, Max. I overheard you and Ellen talking. Ellen told you I’d fallen asleep while babysitting Luke. She wasn’t happy with me, and I don’t blame her. The day before you’d told me I needed help and I’d rejected your suggestion to check myself into a clinic. I left the house without talking to you and went to my cottage. When my brain wouldn’t let me sleep, I grabbed your old coat and went outside for a walk. That’s when the aliens grabbed me.”