Free Broken by Erin M. Leaf Page B

she
would’ve given freely to Graeme, had he just asked. And of course, Mack was the
one she needed to go talk to. Just her luck.
    “Damn
him to hell,” she muttered, stalking down the haphazard row of dwellings. The
settlement functioned as both a living space and a bazaar to the smugglers who
operated outside the purview of what few human governments were left. As she
walked, Sky ignored the itch that made her want to run. She’d escaped this
place once. She was not a prisoner.
    And
if you freak out and act scared, the wolves will eat you, so snap out of it. She paused, eyeing the cabin where Mack lived. The
front porch was covered with garbage. Graeme would kick his son’s ass to
Timbuktu and back if he could see the mess Mack had made of his home. Good
thing he’s dead. This would break his heart.
    She
took a deep breath. Damn, she didn’t want to go in there. She remembered Zoen and Jaxt , not wanting to let
her go. Was it weird that the thought of two Xyrans ,
the violent, hostile aliens everyone feared, reassured her? She squared her
shoulders and walked up the steps. She didn’t care if it was weird. It helped.
When she pushed open the door, she stopped and wrinkled her nose. Someone
hadn’t washed in a very long time.
    “Sky! Well, well, what a surprise. I didn’t expect you to crawl back here anytime
soon.”
    She
scowled. “Mack, what a surprise. You’re actually
fatter than you were a year ago. I didn’t think it was possible.” She watched
him stand up from the chair he’d set near the counter. He wasn’t actually fat,
but he was a big man. Six feet two and muscled. He
used to scare her, but after living with Jaxt and
making love with Zoen , well. She smiled. Mack just
didn’t really measure up, did he?
    “Cut
the crap, Sky. What do you want?” he leaned on the counter. Shelves ran the
length of the room behind him, mostly filled with drugs and alcohol. He kept
the contraband machinery in the back, she knew.
    “I
need a power cell.”
    He
laughed. “Please. You must be joking.”
    “I’m
not.” She frowned at him. She hated his guts, but he had the cell, she could
tell from the way he shifted his weight.
    He
gave her a speculative look. “If you’re serious, I may be able to find one. For
the right price, that is.” He let his left hand drift down and touch his
crotch.
    She
would kill him before she let him touch her. “I deal only in gems, Mack. You
know that.” He should. The last time he’d raped her she’d cut off the tip of
his ear with her knife. She cocked her head. “How’s the hearing these days?”
    He
glared at her. He really hadn’t appreciated her knifing him like that. “You are
a bitch, Sky.”
    “Focus,
Mack. The power cell?” She slipped her hand into her
vest and withdrew the bag of gems slowly, making sure his eyes lingered on her
breasts. Mostly because he couldn’t have them, or her, and she wanted to make
sure he knew it.
    “What
do you want it for?” He leaned against the counter, thrusting out his hips.
    Sky
wasn’t even tempted to look at his crotch. “None of your
business.”
    “That’s
a dangerous item to cart around. Especially for a woman alone
like you.” He stood up and rubbed the scruff of hair on his chin. “Let’s
say I do have one. The price is fifty amethysts.”
    Sky
laughed. “In your dreams.” She slid the gems back into
her vest. She had just over fifty amethysts in her pouch, along with a few
select tourmalines, but she’d be damned if she’d pay Mack that much. She also
wanted to buy some medical supplies to replace the ones she’d used on Jaxt . She turned to leave the cabin, knowing Mack would
stop her.
    “Okay,
okay. Twenty-five.”
    She
spun around. “Seventeen.”
    Mack
glared at her. “Twenty and not a damn gem less.”
    “It
better be charged,” Sky said, pulling out her gems
again. “You can buy a dozen heat cubes with that many amethysts and sell them
at a profit in the swamps, and you know it, so don’t