Cross the Stars by Nicole Grotepas

Author:Nicole Grotepas [Grotepas, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

“You must be some kind of badass, Mia Bonde,” Zach cried as they ran through the market area of the spaceport. “It takes four bounty hunters to track you down and take you in? How many was it that first time we met?”

“Hey! This isn’t over!” The leader of the bounty hunters shouted from the entrance to the tavern.

“Keep running!” Ozzy yelled, cutting through the crowd.

“Rabbit, get the ship ready for take off,” Zach said, directing the crew back on the ship over the comm. “Sheena and Dox do the preflight checklist fast. Quick as a brown fox jumping over a log.”

“That’s nostalgic,” Rabbit said. “I remember a time⁠—”

“You do not,” Zach said. “You weren’t even alive then.”

“There, Zach. You have said it. I am alive.” Rabbit’s voice was smug, recalling a smug Angel Starwanderer. “It was very easy to trap you into saying that.”

“On it, Zach,” Sheena said. “We’ll be ready to take off when you get here.”

“Make that a promise,” Zach said. “Mia’s quite popular here. We can’t have her fans so much as getting a shot at White Rabbit.”

“Thank you, Zach, though I am equipped to take some hits before it does any real damage.”

“Real or fake, Rabbit, I want no damage. We didn’t get any supplies here because I didn’t follow my gut.”

“And what was your gut saying?” Mia asked breathlessly as she jogged beside him, darting between foot traffic.

“Not to get comfortable, not to kick back and have a hot meal and beer. But I listened to the crew.”

“Oh, woe is me, you listened to the crew,” Mia said, a bit more snide than Zach appreciated. “Sometimes a little R and R is what we need. As a crew. For bonding. I’m a diplomatic specialist, Zach, I should know.”

“For a diplomatic specialist, you sure as hell don’t ever seem to employ any diplomacy at getting us out of hairy situations,” Zach shot back, nearly colliding with a towering Pegasion. That would have definitely knocked him on his ass. “What good are you? Ozzy’s a better diplomat than you and he hardly says a damn word.”

“Well, if that’s the way you feel about it, next time, we’ll let Ozzy do all the talking.”

“You did none of the talking back there,” Zach said.

She shouted a laugh. “You did all of it, remember? And look where it got us. So do we have you to thank for nearly getting us killed?”

“No, that would be you,” Zach shouted. He was starting to get a bit irritated as he ran and argued with her. “Before you joined the crew, Oz and me never had run-ins of the sort you’ve been bringing into our sphere, Ms. Bounty Hunter’s Special of the Day.”

She scoffed. “Is that the best you can come up with? Why not try something with a little more spice—how about Bounty Hunter’s Holy Grail? Or better yet, Bounty Hunter’s Wet Dream, eh? You know all about those, Zach.”

Oh, that smarted. That was a low blow. What was she insinuating? He didn’t grace it with a response.

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