Free A Perfect Bond by Lee-Ann Wallace Page A

over rode the security protocols.”
    He looked from me to Manik, his lip curling with disgust.
    “It took me all night, but I finally figured out where I’d seen you before.”
    My heart dived towards my feet. If he’d figured out who Manik was, we were in a lot of trouble. I didn’t want Manik thrown in a cell. I wanted to be able to leave with him on his ship and spend the rest of our lives together.
    “Stadden, I—”
    “Shut up, Merty. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
    My back stiffened at his tone. Manik made a noise low in his chest that sounded suspiciously like a growl and stood up, pushing me away from him slightly.
    Stadden raised the weapon he had in his hand and pointed it at Manik. My heart leapt in my chest. Being thrown in a cell might be the least of our worries. Stadden was pretty quick to anger—volatile and moody. He could also be unpredictable. He could change his mind in a split second and decide he wanted Manik dead instead of in a cell, and there wouldn’t be much I could do about it.
    “It took me hours of searching the database to find you. I knew I’d seen your face somewhere before and there you were, disembarking from a shuttle exactly three hours before you left as quietly as you’d come. When Vrentis notified me of his stolen research, I knew you had something to do with it, but had no way of tracking you. But I’ve looked into you and the other people on that shuttle, and you match the descriptions of a crew of pirates wanted in almost every galaxy between here and Merchon. The only thing I haven’t been able to figure out is why you’d steal a scientist’s research. What he was working on wasn’t all that important.”
    I hadn’t had a chance to process the fact that Manik was a pirate, but as I looked back at Stadden, I decided it didn’t really matter what he did. He was my mate. We were bonded, and that was all that mattered to me. I could learn to live with the fact that he was a pirate and stole things for a living. I could learn to live with a lot if it was for him.
    “Stadden—”
    “Merty, I told you to shut up.”
    Anger flared to life inside me, rising up like a wave of heat in my chest. “I will not shut up, Stadden. You’re making a mistake. Manik is not a pirate. How could he be, and why would he risk coming back here if they’d stolen Vrentis’ research? The risk wouldn’t be worth it.”
    He stared at me, his eyes flat and hard. “Yeah, I haven’t been able to figure that out. Why would he risk coming back here? Surely, he didn’t risk being captured for you?”
    His words cut me to the quick, but then I reminded myself that Manik had come back for me. He’d just needed a strong reason to convince his captain that he needed me. Manik’s hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me to the side, out of the line of fire.
    “You obviously missed it if you believe Ellie isn’t worth it, but then this is what it’s all about, isn’t it?” Manik said.
    Stadden’s hand tensed on the weapon he was holding and my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.
    “You know, I was going to bring you in and call it in to whoever was paying the highest price for you, but I think I’ll just kill you now.”
    Time seemed to stand still as I yelled, “No!” and threw myself in front of Manik as Stadden squeezed the trigger on his weapon. Searing pain ripped through my chest, pain so intense it pulled a scream from me and darkness crept into the sides of my vision. Manik grabbed me as I fell back, strong arms holding onto me as the darkness took over.
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
    “Fuck!”
    Manik eased Ellie down to the floor. Damn it! He didn’t have a scanner. He didn’t have anything with him that could tell him how badly she was hurt. He glanced about her lab, looking for anything he could use to scan her, but there was nothing. The acrid scent of singed clothing and burned flesh assaulted his nose.
    A smell that shouldn’t be