Free The Huntress by Michelle O'Leary

a code into the panel there and a section of wall slid open, revealing mounted weapons. Bracing herself as the ship bucked, she glanced over at Stone. “You in?”
    His hesitation was brief.
    She smiled grimly and tossed him a gun when he moved forward. They strapped on various weapons and instruments, Mea pinching a tracer to her nose, but not activating it until the ship rolled hard and the power went off. The weak, auxiliary lights on the control panels kept the room from being completely black, but Mea clicked on the night vision anyway. Stone pulled his goggles off.
    “Warren, get Regan to her quarters, lock her in, and then lock yourself in your alcove. We’ll take it from here.”
    “What do you mean to do?”
    “I mean to knock his dumb ass out and leave him adrift for HQ to deal with,” she answered. It was essentially the truth. She just left out the part where she entered his ship and updated his systems.
    The other two disappeared down the hall as the ship shuddered. Bragan was already alongside sealing the hatches, and Mea shook her head at his haste. Sloppy work for a hunter. “Let’s go.”
    As they moved through the dimness, Mea murmured to Stone, “I’m going to assume he’ll take the rear hatch—the docking bay—since it’s closer to cargo where he thinks I’ve stashed you. While he’s busy looking for you, we’ll breach his ship through the front hatch.”
    They flanked the front hatch and triggered it to open, slipping into the other ship to do a quick search. Mea couldn’t smother a smile at how smoothly they functioned together, matching each other in fluid grace and efficiency, no wasted efforts and no hesitation. In this, her convict seemed to know exactly what she wanted.
    Bragan had done what she’d predicted, and Mea quickly found the control room, not having to tell Stone to watch for his return. With swift fingers, she connected his systems with the main system and refreshed the onboard information, keying the ship to refresh all tracers as well. Then she signaled Stone and they both moved like twin shadows toward the hatch, stopping abruptly as Bragan’s voice boomed over the ship-wide intercom.
    “Where is he, Brin? You give him up and I won’t have to break this girl’s neck!”
    He had Regan.
The shock of a hunter threatening an innocent and the realization that she’d pushed him over the edge for real stiffened her form, but guilt took a back seat to a maternal rage flowing through her like lava. She could see an answering feral snarl twist Stone’s lips. Words weren’t necessary—they could read Bragan’s fate in each other’s eyes.
    As one they put down their guns, knowing that if they shot at him, they might hit the girl. With silent and savage purpose, they prowled through the ship like the predators they were, armed only with blades and their own lethal intent. Their search ended outside of the cargo bay.
    “Cover your eyes,” she whispered in his ear, putting an arm across her own as she activated full power. When the lights came on, there was a howl behind the door. Bragan had had his night vision on and the brightness had blinded him. She killed the power and they dove into the cargo bay together under the cover of darkness.
    Bragan stood in the middle of the room, blind eyes staring at nothing, discarded tracer lying at his feet. He held a long gun in one burly fist and Regan’s neck in the other. The girl was whimpering softly.
    Eyes black with deadly promise, Stone circled around to the opposite side of their quarry. Mea crouched low, watching the big hunter pan the dimness with his gun. Somehow, she had to get him to drop the girl and take her out of the equation. Even with the two of them, they might not be able to stop him before he hurt her.
    “I know you’re there!” Bragan snarled to the darkness. “Just give me a reason, Brin. I’ll snap her like a stick.” Following words with action, he lifted the girl off the ground and shook her like