Jordan Read online

  “You can shapeshift because of the Staff.” A delighted grin lit up her face. “Are you saying you’re a dragonshaper, even though you don’t have scales in human form? And you also can change to…?”

  “An owl.” He damn well wasn’t going to tell her he couldn’t morph without the Staff nearby. But if she thought she could cleverly pull a secret from him, she might go along with his plans more easily.

  “Prove it,” she said.

  “There’s not enough room to dragonshape here.” He halted in the middle of the corridor and gave her time to catch up.

  “Show me the owl,” she requested.

  Gray’s voice filtered through the speakers. “Warning. Gravity coming back on.”

  “Good work, people.” Jordan believed in complimenting his team. It cost nothing and boosted morale.

  Vi shoved her feet toward the deck. Jordan did the same, and then he morphed into an owl. His cells compressed. His limbs shrank and his arms became wings and his skin grew feathers. His pupils changed from blue to golden, and his eyesight sharpened. He lost some of his intellect. His clothing shrank with his body, the nanobots leaving him with only a collar. He flew around her head, then humanshaped back into a man. And the nanobots quickly clothed him again.

  “When King Arthur suffered a mortal wound, he feared the Grail would fall into the hands of the Tribes. So before he died, we brought the Grail to the Pendragon Moon and placed the healing cup inside Avalon.” Jordan had spent his time on that moon, trapped in owl form, unable to fight the Tribes. While he’d often accompanied each High Priestess, his abilities were severely limited without his Staff. “When Lucan Roarke, your archeologist, made his journey home, I accompanied him and his wife Cael from her Pendragon moon.”

  “Lucan filled me in, but he never mentioned you were a dragonshaper.”

  “He didn’t know. Neither did his wife, Cael. At the time, they thought I was only an owl.”

  Her eyes lit with suspicion. “Why did you tell me?”

  “Because you and I have to work together to recover the Grail from the Tribes.”

  “You want my help?”

  “It seems preferable to locking you up in a cabin for the duration of the voyage,” he muttered.

  She cocked her head and petted the dog, not looking the least bit scared. But she should be. Ignoring his threat to her freedom, she circled back to the subject. “So exactly why did we have sex when we don’t much like each other?”

  He bit back a snort. She could speak for herself. He liked her plenty. He just didn’t want to like her. He had no time for a woman in his life. He’d had a few flings, but never had he allowed himself more than physical gratification. There’d be no emotional entanglements. He needed to focus all his energy on stopping the Tribes.

  “The Ancient Staff has powers that I don’t fully understand.” The Tribes had blown up Dominus before he’d been fully trained in the Staff’s powers. “You saw me switch up the power by pushing the crystal?” he asked, certain she’d carefully watched his every move. “There are two other crystals that serve as keys. We must find them to make the Staff fully functional.”

  Her eyes widened. “You’re saying the Staff’s working on minimum power and may not be at full capacity?”

  “Yes.”

  “And if you find the missing keys, the Staff might be stronger?”

  “Perhaps.”

  She shook her head. “Suppose it increases our lust even more?”

  He shrugged. “You’re free to get off at the next stop.”

  “That’s a birdbrained idea.”

  He choked back a chuckle.

  “I don’t like that thing randomly messing with my libido.” Her lower lip trembled, and she bit it to control the quiver.

  “I’m sorry. But we need to—”

  “Don’t tell me what I need to do.” She raised her head and glared. “You only paid for half this ship. That means I still own half.” He’d known this was coming. If she wanted to believe she was in charge half the time, he’d do his best to support her theory—as long as she didn’t get in the way of his mission. “And we may be cocaptains, but I’m keeping my distance from that Ancient Staff. And you, too.”

  “If you must.” Keeping her distance wouldn’t help, but he didn’t have time to argue or explain. She wasn’t fooling him with that cocaptains offer. Vi was too much of a control freak to share command. They’d be going head-to-head.

  And perversely, he looked forward to it. He liked that she had a backbone. Enjoyed the way her mind worked. And he loved her sexy ass.

  It was a good thing she couldn’t read his thoughts, or she would have decked him. Hell, for his own sake, he shouldn’t be thinking about how great she smelled or tasted or felt with those long legs wrapped around his hips. It was better for the mission if he kept his distance.

  He started to turn toward the galley. “You want to run systems checks while I figure out what those things were coming at us in hyperspace?”

  “All right. But do you have any idea where those missing keys are?”

  He’d been trying to figure that out for fifteen hundred years. “During my first trip to Earth, I gave one key to King Arthur for safekeeping, but it was stolen. Later, Trendonis, the Tribes’ leader, stole my Staff with the other two keys still embedded in the bark. When I finally got the Staff back, all the keys were gone. I found the triangular one on Tor, but the others could be anywhere.”

  “The staff was stolen in King Arthur’s time on Earth?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you found it again on the same world where Marisa, Lucan’s sister, visited and found evidence that the Tribes are about to invade Earth?”

  “Yes.”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “But how could that have happened?”

  “One of King Arthur’s knights was a man named Gareth. Long ago, he betrayed me and all dragonshapers to Trendonis. Gareth helped steal the Staff for the Tribes.”

  “Why would he do such a thing?”

  “The Tribes were very powerful in those days, and Arthur couldn’t defend every world. He had to make hard choices, like which planets to defend and which to sacrifice. One of the worlds Arthur sacrificed was Tor, and Gareth blamed Arthur.”

  “So Gareth made a deal with the enemy leader Trendonis?”

  “In exchange for Gareth’s help to murder King Arthur and steal my Staff, Trendonis promised Gareth that Tor would remain free of the Tribes.” Jordan sighed. “When I was last on Tor I found the Key of Space, in Gareth’s ancient home.”

  “Key of Space?”

  “The key changed a rusting ship into a shiny new one so it could fly through space. The other keys are Wind and Soil. When all the keys are attached to the Staff, they create a fire strong enough to unite with the Grail.”

  “But if Trendonis wanted to prevent the Staff and the Grail from ever uniting, why didn’t he destroy them when he had the chance?”

  “According to legend, the Staff and the keys are indestructible.”

  She frowned skeptically. “So Trendonis scattered the keys across the galaxy?”

  He nodded. “Without the keys, the Staff isn’t at full power and can’t unite with the Grail and utterly destroy the Tribes.”

  “So why didn’t he drop the keys into a black hole?”

  “Maybe he did. He’s kept me from finding them. And he’s used that time to rebuild the Tribes. Now that he has the Grail in his possession, he believes he’s strong enough to take on Earth.”

  “What happens if you unite the Staff and the Grail without all the keys?”

  She sure had a way of driving right to the point. But just because he’d lived a long time didn’t mean he had all the answers.

  “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

  “That’s not good enough.”

  He raised his eyebrow. “Would you prefer I lied?”

  “I’d prefer you had a plan to take us home, but that’s not going to happen is it?”

>   “Not just yet.”

  She sighed. “So we might as well go find the keys and our Grail.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  Her eyes blazed with heat. “One very short, very meaningless sexual encounter does not make me yours.”

  “For something so meaningless, you’re certainly talking about it a lot.” He took pleasure in annoying her. He could grow to love her scowl, he really could.

  The greatest dangers have their allurements.

  —PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, 4TH EARL OF CHESTERFIELD

  5

  Vivianne headed for the bridge with the dog tucked under her arm. But at the delicious aroma of frying burgers, the animal squirmed for his freedom. She set him down and he raced off. She followed more slowly and poked her head into the tiny galley to see the canine had already begged a hamburger patty from a slender, blue-eyed woman with her black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

  “Hi.” The woman smiled in greeting. “I’m Knox. Darren’s fiancée.”

  “Vivianne. And those burgers smell delicious.” She prayed the gravity would stay on long enough for her stomach to remain settled and for those burgers to cook.

  “They’re almost done.” After wiping her hands on an apron, Knox kneeled to pet the Boston terrier, who’d inhaled his burger in one bite. “And who’s this?”

  “Another stowaway like you.” Vivianne grinned. “I’m sorry you got caught up in this mess, but I do appreciate your cooking.”

  “Perhaps the dog will end up being good company for all of us.”

  “He’s so curious I think we should call him George.”

  George wagged his stumpy tail, then sat. Looking up with expectant eyes, he stared at the stove.

  Knox washed her hands, then flipped the burgers. “Looks like he wants some more.”

  “I don’t suppose you’ve found any dog food?” Vivianne asked.

  Knox shook her head. “There’s frozen steaks and hamburger in the freezer. Rice and beans in the pantry. No vegetables. No fruit. No spices. I found a few soft drinks, a moldy sandwich, and leftover lasagna in the fridge.”

  Vivianne noted the countertops were immaculate but the ceiling was spattered with assorted crumbs, no doubt due to the sudden lack of gravity earlier. She opened a control panel. “I’m going to program a floater to clean up the ceiling.”

  “A floater?”

  “It’s technology we bought from another planet called Honor. The floaters help clean the air and incinerate the garbage before it clogs the filters.”

  “Cool.” Knox filled a bowl with water and pushed it over to the dog.

  George lapped it up. And Vivianne realized what went in was going to come out. “I’ll program another floater to clean up after George.”

  Knox returned to her cooking. “This is way more exciting than payroll. But my family is going to worry about me.” She bit her lower lip. “You think we might be heading back soon?”

  Vivianne doubted it. Especially since the engines might have sustained damage after they’d overheated. “I have no idea.”

  “It’s just that I promised my little sister I’d be there for her graduation.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m afraid all our lives have been disrupted.” Vivianne wondered how many of the crew were married. Had children. Except for Jordan and her, everyone else likely had some kind of family worrying about them.

  “I wish we could send a message home. So at least my family knows I’m alive.”

  Vivianne clapped her hand to her forehead. Even after Sean fixed the communications system, their normal channels wouldn’t work in hyperspace. However, they might have another communicator onboard—one that only Vivianne knew about.

  Knox peered at her. “What is it?”

  Vivianne didn’t want to raise false hopes about her untested system. “Maybe we can fix our communications.” Vivianne peered hungrily at a burger. Torn between food and her need to check on the prototype unit she’d had installed in the captain’s quarters, she decided her stomach would have to suffer. But did she have time for a test before Jordan wondered why she wasn’t running the Draco’s diagnostics as he’d asked?

  “Another few minutes and these burgers will be done. You can take some with you. Maybe take some to Jordan—”

  “Sorry, I can’t.” Arriving on the bridge with cold food wouldn’t be appreciated. “Jordan’s asked me to run diagnostics on the gyro circuits—”

  “No problem. I’ll bring them to the bridge.” Knox’s tone remained friendly, but she teased, “I can see why you’d want to keep your distance.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Knox grinned. “I have six married brothers. And all of them look at their wives—just like Jordan looks at you.”

  “Jordan works for me. Other than that…” They’d shared lusty sex.

  Knox winked at her. “That man only lets you think he works for you.”

  “You’re mistaken.” Vivianne hurried aft. Knox had come to the wrong conclusion. True, Jordan’s eyes held a challenging gleam when they met Vivianne’s. But that was merely due to the fact he enjoyed baiting her, not out of genuine interest.

  And she wasn’t wasting another moment thinking about him when this might be her best opportunity to test the prototype. If it worked, if she could contact Maggie, her former college roommate and an astronomer, Vivianne could stay in touch with Earth and learn what was happening back home, even notify the crew’s families that their loved ones were all right.

  She headed straight for the master cabin. None of the private quarters were luxurious. Space was at too much of a premium. However, the captain’s quarters had a desk, its own tiny bathroom, and, best of all, its own porthole.

  The view outside, glinting pinpoints of light scattered across a black velvet universe, was as spectacular as it was daunting. Yet there was also the most magnificent promise just outside the porthole. A promise of adventure. Of the unknown. Of a tomorrow that might be better than today.

  Vivianne shut the door and keyed the lock. Anticipation thrumming through her, she headed straight to the monitor that tied into all Draco’s systems—it was bolted to the desk. She flipped open the side panel, toggled a switch.

  A tiny green light signaled that the prototype she’d designed was drawing power and good to go. Vivianne was first and foremost a communications expert. This baby was her own invention, but there’d been no way to test it on Earth.

  Vivianne heard a whine, and she jumped, then realized George was scratching on the door. She couldn’t work with him distracting her and hurried to let him inside. He leapt onto the bed, circled, and settled, resting his head on his paws.

  Vivianne turned back to the prototype. What should she say? That they were on a ship with an unproven hyperspace transport device and an untrained crew? And no navigation charts? And an alien power source that filled her with lusty energy? Oh, and let’s not forget the captain, claiming he used to be Merlin and was at least fifteen hundred years old and fully intending to take the Draco into enemy territory, if they could find it.

  Maggie would think she’d lost it.

  Maybe she had lost it. She no longer knew what the truth was. How could she? While Jordan had answered some of her questions, his explanation hadn’t proved or disproved his allegiance to Earth.

  Even if she shared her doubts and Maggie agreed that Jordan might be a traitor, what could they do? The Draco was one of a kind. Earth didn’t have another ship to send after them. They were on their own.

  A hard knock had her pulse racing. “Vi?”

  It was Jordan. “Just a minute.”

  Combing her fingers through her hair, she opened the cabin door, ignoring her elevated pulse and refusing to let his implacable expression unnerve her.

  Jordan held up a plate with a two hamburgers and two glasses of water. “Thought you might be hungry.” His tone was casual, but she didn’t miss his sharp gaze roaming over the cabin or how he immediately made himself at home by settling into a chair.


  At the scent of food, George jumped from the bed with a bark. Before he could stand on his hind legs and beg, she jerked him back. “Down.”

  George paid no attention.

  “Sit,” Jordan ordered and, to her shock, the dog obeyed.

  “Wow. Thanks.” She accepted the food and placed it next to the desk.

  Jordan’s gaze settled on her prototype. “What are you working on? Is that a communicator?”

  “It’s a prototype and has never been tested. I’ve calibrated it to bounce zeta waves along magnetic wormhole lines.”

  “Zeta rays work like dropping a penny into a pond, the waves rippling outward,” Jordan said. “Only the ripples travel through wormholes and three-dimensional space.”

  “Exactly.” There were only about three people back home who could understand the theory behind her work. Again, he’d impressed her. “It could take hundreds of thousands of years for a message to arrive… if it arrives at all. Or if it works as planned, it might be instantaneous.”

  “Fascinating.” He lifted his gaze from the prototype to her. “Your design, will it work in hyperspace?”

  Pride zinged through her that he recognized the machine as her design. “That’s the idea, but even if our end does what it’s supposed to, we left before I set up Earth’s end of the system.”

  “But you have a backup plan, don’t you?” he guessed, laughter in his eyes.

  She grinned and dialed down her excitement, told herself her reaction was normal. After all, she’d waited a year to test this machine. “I have a former college roommate, Maggie. She’s an astronomer at Sunnyside Tech Observatory. Perhaps one of Maggie’s instruments will pick up our message.”

  “Won’t she just slough it off as a wormhole echo bouncing off Earth’s atmosphere?”

  “Other astronomers might. But Maggie won’t. Not if she thinks it’s from me.”

  He eyed her with curiosity. “And why would she think that?”

  “Because in college we had a special code for when we went out. If I texted qxq, she’d call and make up an emergency excuse for me to return immediately to the dorm.”