Bounty

  BOUNTY--Barbarians of the Sand Planet #1

  A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance

  Tana Stone

  Broadmoor Books

  As captain of the galaxy’s only all-female bounty hunter crew, Danica thought she was prepared for anything. She wasn’t expecting him.

  Marooned on a sand planet, injured, and separated from her crew, Captain Danica Miller is not having a good day. When she’s rescued from the desert by a huge, gold-skinned alien, she doesn’t know whether to be relieved or to panic. Not only is he clearly a barbarian—a barely-dressed one at that—he seems to be able to read her thoughts. Even worse? She can sense his. And he seems to think she’s his to claim.

  The last thing K’alvek wants is a frail creature distracting him from his mission—even if he does feel drawn to her. Then why can’t he stop himself from saving the willful woman and vowing to help her and her crew get off the planet? Especially when what he really wants to do is drag her to his tent and never let her go.

  This standalone action-romance novel features a feisty, all-female bounty hunter crew; gorgeous, sand planet barbarian warriors; action-packed battles; and steamy scenes in an exotic desert oasis.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Epilogue

  Free Bonus Epilogue

  Preview of CAPTIVE: Barbarians of the Sand Planet #2

  Also by Tana Stone

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  “Are they shooting at us?" Danica asked, grabbing the edge of a smooth, metal console as she stepped onto the bridge and the ship heaved to one side. She tasted blood as she bit the inside of her mouth, and flinched from the pain. Son of a bitch.

  She and Bexli had just brought their latest captive onboard, and she’d given the order to take off, hoping the rival bounty hunters who'd also been in pursuit hadn't seen them. From the staccato sounds of gunfire, she guessed that her plan of slipping out unnoticed was shot to hell.

  She took in the familiar sight of the compact bridge—a round, flat panel console in the center of the room with view screens suspended above it, smaller individual consoles forming a half moon around the main one, and a final ring of screened consoles against the circular walls. A long, narrow slit of a window gave them a view out the front of the ship, but had a steel shade they could lower for security. Nearly every part of the room was composed of metal that was long past gleaming, and looked nearly black with age and grime. Wires spilled from underneath most of the consoles, a result of various hacks and patches to keep the aging space ship running. Danica inhaled the scent of burning fuel that seemed to permeate the ship, and felt a rush of affection for the bucket of bolts she'd practically grown up on.

  "Looks like it," her pilot, Caro, said turning from one of the smaller consoles where she navigated the ship, her straight, nearly black hair flying behind her as she spun back around. "And we're definitely outgunned."

  "Can we outrun them?" Danica asked, as she made her way down to the center console and looked out at the massive ship blocking their escape.

  "What we don't have in size or gun power, we make up for in maneuverability," Caro said. "I should be able to get a little extra acceleration from our impulse drives if I boost the—"

  “Caro,” Danica said, cutting off the woman before she launched into an overly detailed explanation of their engine.

  “Sorry, Captain,” Caro said spinning back around to her console. “On it.”

  "I hope you're right," Tori said from where she stood at the weapons console along the wall, her curly, dark hair pulled up in a topknot and held in place with what looked like metal chopsticks with dangerously sharp ends—almost as sharp as her pointy teeth. A row of hard, raised bumps ran above her eyebrows, down along the sides of her face and disappeared into her hairline—a hallmark of the Zevrians—making her look even fiercer than she was. "Because we're running low on weapons."

  "How low?" Danica gripped the console with both hands as the ship jerked to the right and skirted underneath the larger ship.

  "How good are you at hand-to-hand combat?" Tori asked, her brown, muscled arms braced against the wall.

  Danica had gotten a lot of flak—mostly from her father’s old bounty-hunter friends—when she’d brought on the Zevrian as her security chief, but she’d never had a moment’s regret for making Tori a part of her team. Especially in situations like these.

  "I thought we were supposed to stock up when we were docked at Centuri Twelve," Danica shouted over the roar of the engines firing.

  "I would have, if we had anything to buy them with," Tori said as the ship accelerated.

  Danica sighed. Her crew had been running on fumes—sometimes literally—for weeks. "I know it's been tight, but once we turn over this bounty, we'll be flush for a while."

  "I'm just glad Mourad won't have the satisfaction of beating us." Caro turned to face forward as the force of acceleration pressed her back into her chair. "I hate that guy."

  Danica couldn't agree more. The ship shooting at them belonged to a bounty hunter and mercenary named Mourad, who didn't believe in female bounty hunters and didn't believe in playing fair. Not that Danica was against stretching the rules or pushing her luck, but Mourad had no limits on what he and his crew would do to capture a bounty.

  He was the one bounty hunter her father had gone out of his way to avoid, because Mourad ignored all the usual professional courtesies and accepted practices. He would double-cross anyone. Instead of tracking down bounties himself, he was known for waiting until another bounty hunter did all the legwork, then he and his band of mercenaries would swoop in and snake the bounty. Just like he was trying to do now.

  Over my dead body, Danica thought, as their ship broke through the atmosphere and shot into space, the sky going from hazy yellow to inky blue to black. She thumped the side of the console, mentally thanking the ship for getting her out of yet another scrape.

  When her father died, he'd left everything to her, which meant basically his ship. It had just been the three of them for as long as Danica could remember—her and her father and the ship. Different crews had come and gone, but the ship had been the only constant in their lives, aside from each other. She'd thought about selling it, but only for a moment. The old ship was as much a part of her as her father had been, and she couldn't stand the thought of losing both of them.

  She knew her father had never wanted her to take over his bounty-hunting business. Truth be told, he never thought it was possible, but after spending a childhood chasing after crooks all over the galaxy, she didn't really know any other life. She was good at tracking people and getting out of scrapes and skirting the law. Her fath
er had taught her well.

  Danica shook thoughts of her father out of her head as she glanced at the fuel gauge. "Good work. We should have enough steam to reach the Gendarvian outpost, where we can unload out bounty and get our reward."

  Tori crossed the bridge to stand next to her, the chain belt wrapped several times around her waist jingling as she walked. "I wonder what this one did to command such a high price."

  Danica shrugged, tucking a loose strand of wavy, blonde hair behind her ear. "It's not our business to wonder why. I can tell you it wasn't for a violent offense. I've never had a bounty put up less of a fight."

  "The tracking was the hard part. Dr. Max Dryden did a fucking brilliant job of hiding."

  The women turned to see their engineer, Holly, step onto the bridge. While the rest of Danica's crew favored utilitarian clothes that made them look more like their male counterparts—military issue pants, T-shirts, multi-pocketed vests and jackets—the ship's engineer and resident computer whiz wore color and patterns and combined them fearlessly. Red hair spilled over her shoulders and down the skintight, pink-paisley top she'd paired over an equally snug pair of turquoise pants. Her decidedly feminine appearance didn’t do a thing to stop her from cursing like a space pirate, which usually startled people who thought her girly looks meant she was all sugar and spice.

  "Not good enough to outfox us," Tori said, hand on her hip.

  "Luckily for you, I understand the doctor's research and narrowed it down to the few planets that are ideal for that type of scientific study," Holly said. “And then Bexli did her thing.”

  Bexli was the other non-human in the crew. A Lycithian shape-shifter who excelled at sneaking in and out of otherwise impenetrable places, she was their ace in the hole. Officially, she was their acquisitions officer, but only in the sense that she could acquire any bounty by way of her shape-shifting skills. She was so indispensable, Danica even put up with the pet glurkin that Bexli had insisted on bringing on board.

  "Remind me again what type of research," Tori said, then shook her head. "Never mind, I actually don't care."

  Holly rolled her eyes at Tori. "The study of a rare mineral only found in a few systems. Word on the astronet is that the doctor has figured out a way to harness its power, which would be fucking amazing."

  Caro twisted in her chair to face them. "I'm still not thrilled we're turning over a scientist. Are we sure this is a legit bounty? How many doctors do you know who commit crimes severe enough to command this amount? Should we really be turning in other women? I mean, we’re an all female bounty-hunting crew."

  Danica frowned, partly at Caro’s barrage of questions and partly because she'd had the same thoughts, and had been trying to ignore her inner voice during the entire search. "We don't have the luxury of picking and choosing our bounties. Anyway, if we don't turn the doctor in, someone else will. At least we treat our prisoners well."

  "Not that all of them deserve it." Tori pulled up the hem of her black cargo pants to reveal a thin, red scar running up her calf. "We should have put that Daxian smuggler out the airlock."

  “Agreed,” Bexli said, as she joined the other women on the bridge, a tiny puff of green fur running along beside her. “He was particularly repulsive.”

  “Is the bounty all settled?” Danica asked.

  Bexli nodded, and her iridescent-lavender bob swung at her jawbone. “This one was a breeze. I didn’t even have to transform into something terrifying to keep her in line.”

  She leaned against a console and scooped Pog up in one arm, ruffling its fur and making it emit a low purr. “The Daxian from our last mission only stopped struggling when I morphed into a gorvon.”

  “Remind me again, what’s a gorvon?” Holly asked.

  “A particularly gruesome creature from the Daxian’s home world.” Bexli grinned. “Lots of claws and fangs.”

  Caro laughed, tightening her high ponytail. “That explains why he soiled his cell.”

  "At least he kept us in fuel and rations for a month," Danica said, glancing at Tori. "And you gave him a few scars, if I remember correctly."

  Tori grinned. "A souvenir from the bounty hunter babes."

  "You know I hate that nickname." Danica folded her arms across her chest.

  "Babes is better than the other name they call us that also starts with a b." Holly leaned against one of the consoles, crossing her long legs at the ankles.

  "I don't mind the name so much," Caro said. "At least they're talking about us."

  Danica let out a long breath. "They should be talking about us because we've brought in the two highest bounties in the past astro-year, not because we're all women."

  Holly patted her on the shoulder. "It's just because we're the first—and so far only—all-female bounty-hunter crew. Once the novelty wears off, or another crew comes along, people will talk about something else."

  Danica knew there was truth in Holly's words, but she hated the fact that even though they'd brought in two of the toughest bounties around, the other hunters still didn't respect them. She'd known working in a field known for tough guys wouldn't be easy, but she'd hoped her unorthodox methods and maverick crew would win her respect. So far, they'd only managed to acquire nicknames.

  "I say we own it," Tori said, taking one of the pointy chopsticks from her hair and pressing the needle-like point into the pad of her finger. "We know we can do any job the boys can do and, once we bring in this hot-shot doctor, we'll be rolling in enough dough to outfit this ship so we can blast anyone out of the sky. Let them call us babes then."

  "Um, guys." Caro's fingers flew across the screen in front of her. "We probably shouldn't count our money quite yet."

  Danica jerked her head to the screens above her, slamming her palm against the console when she saw the rival ship closing in on them. "I thought we had enough of a head start to lose them."

  "They're faster than I expected for a ship that large," Caro said, maneuvering their ship so that it dipped to the left.

  Holly slid onto the floor, landing with a thud. "A little warning next time."

  "Sorry," Caro shouted over the sound of weapons fire hitting their hull. "You should probably brace for impact."

  A blast shook the ship and alarms began screaming, red lights flashing overhead.

  "Was that a torpedo?" Danica asked, shaking her head in disbelief. Was a rival bounty hunter really trying to blow up her ship?

  “Shit.” Holly scrambled to her feet, using the nearest console to pull herself toward the door. "I'd better get back to the engine room. If we lose that, we're dead in the water."

  “I’ll go make sure the prisoner is okay,” Bexli said, following Holly with Pog tucked under one arm.

  The entire ship jolted, and Danica heard the sound of metal scraping against metal. Her skin went cold. "They've clamped on."

  Tori's face was grim. "They're boarding us."

  "Maybe they'll take the doctor and go," Caro said, although her voice quivered. Danica knew her pilot had been captured more than once when she was a pilot for a resistance movement, and she suspected it hadn’t always been pleasant.

  Danica squeezed her hands into fists. "They're not taking our bounty or us." She turned to Tori. "Hold them off as long as you can, but don't get yourself killed. I have a plan."

  Tori pulled the other chopstick from her hair and slipped both sharp metal sticks into her chain belt. "You got it, Captain."

  Danica ran off the bridge and down the dimly lit corridor until she reached a steel door where Bexli stood guard. “I’ve got the doctor. Why don’t you and Pog try to hold off Mourad’s soldiers?”

  Bexli nodded, her lithe frame and lavender hair transforming into a hulking beast covered in matted fur, with only the slightest hint of purple at the tips. Pog gave a gruff bark and became a green lizard the size of a human, with short legs that scampered across the floor. Both creatures hurried off toward the noise of the enemy bounty hunters boarding their ship.

  Danica tur
ned back to the steel door and punched in a code. The door slid open with a groan, revealing a petite figure with short, chocolate-brown hair sitting on the edge of a cot in the sparse room.

  "Doctor Dryden," Danica said, her breath ragged. "Some pretty nasty bounty hunters are coming on board to take you. I can promise you they won't be as humane as we've been, but I have a plan that could save us both."

  The woman on the cot blinked her wide, blue eyes a few times before answering. "Call me Max."

  Chapter Two

  Danica heard the booming footsteps reverberating off the floor as the crew from the rival ship came on board. "We only have a few minutes to make you look like one of us."

  Max stood up. "What do you mean 'one of us'? Who are you?"

  Danica managed a half smile. "I'm the captain of the galaxy's only all-female bounty-hunting team."

  "So you're the reason I'm being held against my will?" Max asked.

  Danica gave a curt shake of her head. "You're focusing on the wrong thing, doctor. Unless you want to be dragged off this ship and thrown in a cell much less comfortable than this one, we need to convince the nastiest bounty hunter in the galaxy that you're part of my crew." Danica took off her own black, canvas vest and tossed it to the doctor. "Ditch that shirt and put this on."