Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

in the infirmary.  Mac and Sera stood together at attention,
their sides touching.  It made the captain roll his eyes.  Lore and the doctor
seemed less surprised about the whole thing.  The patient was sitting up in her
bed with a blanket tucked carefully around her.  Even so, she was a distraction
to every man there but Mac, who seemed to have his eyes permanently glued to
the pretty mechanic.
    “We have a situation. 
Cor Warrung has issued a warning on warrant that he is missing some property
and will take it back.  ‘Any who may have knowledge of a Bruha, male or female,
will be greatly rewarded.  Any who harbor said Bruha will be annihilated and
all their blood family with them’.”
    That caught Mac’s
attention; he pulled Sera into his side and glared at the captain.
    “He invoked Tokan?” asked
the doctor incredulously.
    “Yes.”
    Lore who stood at ease
just behind the captain spoke.  “It appears that Warrung was fully aware of
what he was picking up in that cargo bay.  It is the only explanation.”
    “Or this is my fault,”
Mac said.  “He felt the break.  This could have nothing to do with the little
one.”
    “No,” Lore said, “he says
‘male or female’ as if he did not know.  I believe he is looking for the Bruha
he believed he would find on that ship.  Otherwise, he would have mentioned you
by name; at the very least, he would know your sex.”
    “So,” said the captain,
“that brings us to the problem.”  He looked at the patient.  “Do you have any
questions?”  The captain grimaced.  “We need a name to call you.  Have you
remembered anything?”
    “No, and I have no
questions.  According to the computer, a Tokan is a hunt of an entire family to
extinction to right a perceived wrong.  Though I do question why I would be so
important, I understand the significance.  You must get me away from you and
yours, but you are attempting to find a way that you can both make a profit and
protect my interests as well.”
    The captain cleared his
throat.  “Basically, yes.  I thought you couldn’t read me?”
    “It seemed the logical
course of action.  According to your computer data banks, you are salvagers and
freelance mercenaries.  But I feel you are also honorable men.”
    “So, any ideas?”
    “You could simply give
me to Warrung for the profit.”
    “Not bloody likely,”
Mac said.  In fact, no one seemed to like that answer.
    Warrung is a sadistic
killer who uses others, and then when he has no more use for them, he disposes
of them like so much garbage.”  Lore’s voice was mechanical in its recital, but
there was real feeling there.  “If he is able to get his hands on you, he has
the genetic code that can imprint you.  He will hurt and abuse you for the rest
of your days and you would not be able to leave him except in death.”
    “That is not an option,”
the captain said sternly.
    “How far does this
Warrung’s power extend?  Is there anyone who he fears that I can go to?”
    “A few others, but with
the Tokan in effect, and the genetic claiming that keeps you from imprinting on
anyone else, they may not see it as worth it.”  Lore continued, “And even if
they did, all it would take is for Warrung to be in the same room with you for
a few minutes to complete the imprint and you would be genetically tied to him
in such a way that you would crave him to the point of madness.  No, you will
never be safe until you are mated, and your genes state that it must be a
Warrung, at least someone with a close genetic match.”
    “There is an answer,” the
doctor said, “if we can get her to someone else in the Warrung line she could
mate; besides, his own family is probably the only one safe from the Tokan he
invoked.  He might fight with his brothers, but he can hardly kill their
families when his name would be on the list as well.”
    Lore turned to the
captain.  “You know where we need to take her.”
    “Fuck.”
    “You have to be