Temporal Shift (Entangled Select Otherworld) by Nina Croft Page B

about Tannis is her crew comes first, and she recently lost two members. She’s not about to risk the rest. Plus she hates being double-crossed.”
    “Callum?”
    “He and Skylar are Collective. They reckoned in the end that he was telling the truth and that he couldn’t override whatever hold these Old Ones of yours have on the ship. But they were willing to go along with the majority decision.”
    “So did anyone say no? Why aren’t you torturing me right now?”
    “Daisy probably would have—she’s a soft touch, but she was with you. No, it was Rico.”
    “The vampire?” She sounded shocked. “Why?”
    “Who knows with Rico?” He certainly didn’t believe it was through any scruples the vampire might have about torturing a pretty girl. He had an idea that Rico was just curious, intrigued by the whole time travel crap. He’d once told Devlin that one of the ways to survive immortality was to be incurably nosy.
    “Hey, you two young lovers. Are you coming?” Tannis called from across the docking bay, and he realized with a sense of shock that the doors had opened while he was focused on Saffira. Already the air was sweeter, and his lungs no longer ached for oxygen.
    “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go meet your friends.”
    He headed for the doors, with Saffira at his side; her face still held that hurt expression.
    “I didn’t ask for this,” she said chewing on her lip. “Part of me just wishes I could go and forget it all. I always dreamed of flying away.”
    “Nothing to stop you. Tannis said you could come along.”
    She shook her head. “It’s not possible. I have a purpose in life. I can’t just walk away. You know that better than anyone. Could you walk away from what you have vowed to do?”
    “No, but I don’t have any dreams left to fulfill.”
    “That’s sad.”
    Yeah, he was a goddamn pity case.
    He decided they’d chatted enough. Anymore and he might just burst into goddamn tears. Not waiting to see if she followed, he strode down the ramp and into a circular cavern. Though he supposed it didn’t qualify as a cavern as it had no roof but was open to the sky. Above his head, the darkness faded to a pale washed-out blue. Everything about this planet was muted. How had Saffira ended up so alive growing up in a place like this?
    “Right,” Tannis said. “Devlin and Callum, work with Thorne and his people. If they can get access to the mind control systems, then disable them. Rip the bloody thing out if you have to. I want to be able to leave straightaway. This place gives me the creeps.”
    It gave him the creeps as well. He’d heard that Trakis Seven, the planet where Meridian was discovered five hundred years ago, had been hell to visit and poisonous to anyone who didn’t get the Meridian treatment. While this place wasn’t overtly uncomfortable, something wasn’t quite right. He breathed in; the air held a faint scent like spice, but it was acrid, almost burning, that teased his nostrils.
    “Me too,” Rico said. “Makes me feel like I have a gigantic hangover.”
    “Yeah,” Tannis pressed a finger to her forehead. “Okay. The rest of us will go meet with this Sisterhood, see what they have to say.”
    As she spoke, Devlin caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. A whole load of winged men emerged from one of the tunnels. He pulled his laser pistol free as the others did the same.
    “Lower your weapons,” Thorne said. “These are my people. They’re here to help.”
    Devlin shoved his pistol back into its holster, but couldn’t shake the feeling that help was the last thing they were going to get today.
    …
    The bastard had wanted them to torture her?
    Saffira scowled as she watched Devlin disappear back on board the ship with Thorne and his men.
    Of all the crew on the Blood Hunter , he seemed the most skeptical. The most likely to resist their pleas for help. Maybe because he truly believed he needed to get back to his own world, to his own people. He