Free Thieves In Paradise by Bernadette Gardner

far worse than a swift death. He would never have condemned one of them to the abuse he'd witnessed in his vision. He could not allow it, but how could he stop it?
    Wordless, he rushed forward and the female scrabbled back, suddenly afraid. He grabbed her wrists and freed her from the cuffs, then tossed them into the underbrush. She rubbed her bruised flesh and in that moment, Kol hated himself as much as he hated the Valencian guards. He was no better than they were.
    While she stared, he retrieved her communicator from the case to which he'd transferred the crystals and thrust it into her hand. “Call your allies. You're free to go."
    Her mouth worked, but no words came out. Finally, he clamped his hands over her shoulders and shoved her toward the perimeter of the camp. “Go. I will not follow you."
    "Uh ... if you don't want to have sex again, why don't you just say so?” She took only one hesitant step and Kol contemplated raising a stunner and chasing her away.
    "You need to leave before the Valencians arrive. Hide if you can, and I'll tell them you are dead."
    "Why would you do that?"
    "Because I...” He drew in a deep breath, laced with the rising scent of the pollen. He'd have her again if she lingered too long. “Because if I turn you over to them, they will kill you."
    * * * *
    Charity raised a brow. Suddenly the bounty hunter was worried about her dying? “No they won't. Gremin wants me alive. He'll kill me.” She cocked a hip at him. “But his lackeys won't."
    He reached her in three long strides and curled his trembling hands around her arms again. “Listen to me. His men will kill you. He's instructed them to bring your body back to him, in pieces."
    She pursed her lips. “That's not his style. I've been—"
    A'Kosu shook her. “It's the truth. I've seen it.” With that, his lips twisted in what appeared to be disgust. Why did he care what the Valencian guards would do to her?
    "You've seen it?” She glanced at his rumpled bedroll. “You mean you had a dream?"
    "A vision within a dream.” He held himself still, seeming to calm the tremors in his muscles with visible effort.
    "So you have visions?” Whatever he'd seen had enraged him and that terrified Charity.
    "Many Antareans have visions. It was a trait bred into us over generations. We see glimpses of the future—not always linear, not always easily interpreted, but always accurate. What we see comes to pass one way or another."
    She paced back and forth at the perimeter of the camp, turning her communicator restlessly in her hand. What was she waiting for? She could radio Gossamer and be on her way home before Gremin's people came for her. “You know what's going to happen in the future?"
    "Sometimes I see it with perfect clarity. I saw your ship crash and you walk out of the wreckage. I saw myself chasing you through the forest and I saw myself ... the two of us..."
    "Fucking?"
    "Several times.” He looked away. Did it embarrass him? Charity turned away to hide a blush. No wonder he'd come after her so readily in the lake. He probably already knew she'd be willing.
    "Ah. That explains a lot. How come you didn't know about the carnivores?"
    "The visions are selective. We cannot control what we see. They don't exist to warn us of danger, but to show us moments in time that will shape who we are. What they show us comes to pass. It cannot be changed except in the most unusual circumstances. I intend this to be one of those times. If you run now, and hide where the Valencians won't find you, perhaps you can avoid your fate."
    "Are you going to give me the selenite?"
    He moved toward her again and she backed up instinctively. “Aren't you listening? They're going to torture you to death."
    "And my contact on Gossamer doesn't give a broken asteroid about me if I don't have the selenite."
    "Perhaps you need a better class of allies, then."
    "I never said he was my ally, just my contact. I give him the selenite. He gives me four million credits