Free The Alpha Prime Commander by Kelly Lucille Page B

insides.  She rolled to her
side in one heaving breath, clutching at her heart where the loss seemed centered. 
She could feel both of them; Jackson barely felt behind a wash of a different pain. 
Both he and Cordan were looking for her, she knew that without even thinking
about it, and they were getting closer.
    Lena concentrated on the
feel of the deck under her and realized she was on a ship but docked.  Where,
she had no idea, but at least the men were getting closer, and not farther
away.
    “You are finally awake,”
the voice she had never heard before spoke from her right side, and she turned
and met the black eyes of The Collector.  “Good.  We have much to do.”
    Lena blinked at him, and
tried to speak around the pounding in her head.  “What, no spokesman this
time?  How do I rate the high honor of your dulcet tones?”
    He hissed at her, and
Lena opened her eyes wide at the sound.  “I do not care to converse with
savages.”
    “Right,” she muttered
sitting up careful of her pains.  “So why speak to me?”
    “You may have no idea what
you are, but I know the truly rare when I see it.”  His words held an almost
glee behind his hissing syllables that she really didn’t like.  “I was not
there for you, but I knew as soon as I saw you what you were.”
    “What were you there
for?  I mean besides assassination.”
    The being shrugged, “I
needed a certain book the Alliance had well-guarded.  The auction was the price
I paid to get what I needed.  The Alpha Prime, and as an added bonus, most of
the ruling houses gone in one night.  The Alliance blamed.  A new order waiting
patiently to emerge and restore order.  I get the last piece of my puzzle.”
    “And now you have
nothing,” Lena said grimly.  This would be a lot more satisfying if she was
anywhere else but here.
    The Collector smiled, his
black eyes glinting with satisfaction.  “On the contrary.  I have you.”
    Lena swallowed and tried
to be subtle about moving her hands and feet to try to restore blood flow. “And
what is it you think I am?”
    “The answer.”  He looked
her over, spending a long time on her strangely colored eyes.  “A very rare
descendant of a species thought to be extinct, known by their amethyst eyes and
the ability to sense the connections in all things.  And you are going to help
me claim the ultimate prize.”
    Lena studied him catching
the zealot behind the glee.  “Alright, I’ll ask.  What is the ultimate prize
and how is it you think I can help.”
    “Do you know what a blood
stone is?”
    “No,” Lena answered
really not liking the sound of that.
    “There are two variations
of the blood stone.  One of them you are familiar with by another name.”  He
said it and stopped expectedly, and Lena drew in a deep breath.
    “The immortal stone,” she
murmured and he beamed, like she was a prize pupil showing promise.
    “Yes, exactly.”  He
smiled, and it was an ugly thing, full of arrogance and smugness.  “Legend
states that my immortal stone is one of four that were made.  I have two in my
collection, actually.”  He smiled again, and then the arrogance switched to a
dark greed.  “But it was only one kind of blood stone.  Powerful, yes, and
rare, but it is the second type of blood stone that I want.  My research has
shown only one in existence.  And you are going to help me get it.”
    Lena took a deep breath
and blew it out slowly.  “And how will I do that?”
    The Collector pulled the
immortal stone from his cloak and held the glowing rock up before her eyes. 
She looked from him to the stone and back again, wondering how such a small
thing could complicate things as much as the fist-sized stone has.
    “And what,” she asked, “am
I supposed to do with that?”
    “Let me show you,” he
said, that ugly smile turning to pure evil.  Then he shoved the stone at her
and without thought, Lena misted, or at least she tried to, but it was as if that
part of