Beyond Galaxy's Edge Read online

  As long as she didn’t try to kill him.

  Chapter Five

  Hair still damp, Justyn yanked on brown woolen trousers, shrugged on a white lawn shirt with a stand-up collar, and followed that with a dark leather waistcoat. He holstered twin double-barreled pistols at his hips and tugged a leather ammunition belt—filled with honest-to-God metal projectile bullets—sideways over his chest. To finish, he yanked on short leather gloves and lifted his hands. Hmm, he rather liked the dashing look of them.

  Glancing in the mirror, the last thing he did was attach a clunky ocular device over his left eye. It was made of copper-colored metal with a glowing green lens in the center. It would blend in perfectly on Alchemia.

  He looked around the cabin, adjusting to the enhanced view. No one would know it wasn’t actually grafted to his skin. And no one—except him—would know that inside the antiquated shell was a modern, high-tech device that provided night vison and thermal imaging.

  Time to see how his partner was doing.

  He strode down the corridor and up a set of steps to where the captain’s cabin was located. He pressed a hand to the panel beside her door and waited for her permission to enter.

  The doors slid opened soundlessly. Everything on the Freedom was in top form. Nissa ran a hell of a tight ship.

  He stepped into a modest living area with a small kitchen area tucked off to the side. A doorway led into what he guessed was her bedroom.

  Bedroom.

  Hers.

  An instant cue for his brain to start running away thinking about where she slept…and did other…nighttime things…

  “Just a minute,” she called out.

  Justyn gave himself a mental slap and forced his focus elsewhere. He wandered her living area, curious about her private space. There wasn’t much in the way of personal touches. It was neat and tidy, which he expected. Stars forbid Nissa Sander had a messy cabin. There was a framed picture of a man in uniform with a woman with caramel-colored skin on a shelf across the room. Justyn frowned, his gut tightening. Did Nissa have someone back in the central systems?

  He grabbed the frame, ready to smash it against the wall.

  Then he relaxed. It was a picture of a stern-looking, older man with gray threaded through his brown hair. But the shape of his face and eyes were exactly the same as Nissa’s. Her father. The smiling, half-reptilian woman by his side gave a good indication that Nissa would age very well.

  “I’m not wearing this.”

  Justyn set the frame down and turned. His mouth went dry as space dust.

  The black synth-leather pants were so tight they looked painted on. They were tucked into black boots that hit her knees and were covered with heavy silver buckles. The top—he swallowed the lump in his throat—was covered with a tight, black leather corset. The thin white cotton of the shirt was so fine he could see the shadow of her golden skin beneath. And the corset was so tight it cinched in her waist to impossibly tiny proportions and plumped up her very fine breasts.

  Have mercy. He’d planned to tease her with a sexy outfit that was also practical for their mission, not torment himself.

  “Phoenix, my eyes are up here.”

  Her tone made him snap his gaze up. Ordinary brown eyes met his. She’d used contacts to hide her elongated pupils and derma-patches to hide her reptilian scale pattern. He hated that her beautiful markings and eyes were concealed. A pair of goggles sat on top of her shapely, bare head.

  “Nice…goggles,” he managed.

  She flashed him a look that lasered right through him. “I want an outfit like yours.”

  “That’s what women wear on Alchemia.” He waved at her. “Or huge dresses with enormous skirts. Didn’t think you’d appreciate that.”

  “I don’t understand why they have outfits that are so…so…archaic.”

  “Alchemia was started by a mad scientist called Nigel Magellan Rowbotham. He had collections of steam-powered technology and manuscripts talking about a time on Earth when airships ruled the sky and steam was king.” Justyn shrugged. “Most astro-archeologists don’t believe Earth ever went through a period like that, but no one knows for sure. Maybe it was just fiction but Rowbotham believed enough to emulate it. And Alchemia was born.”

  “And now?”

  “And now, Ulysses Mackon won’t let it change. By the way, I have something else for you. I had Luciana help me with it.” He held out his offering.

  Nissa frowned. “An old gun?”

  “No, a perfectly modern Patrol laser pistol disguised to look like an old weapon.”

  “Thank you.” She checked the pistol, then slid it into her belt.

  Justyn noticed a buckle at the back of her corset was loose. He stepped up behind her. “Let me tighten this for you.”

  He yanked the strap and did up the buckle.

  She sucked in a sharp breath, her breasts rising. “Easy!”

  Taking a peek over her shoulder, Justyn’s gaze locked on those curves of flesh. They weren’t large, but not small, either. He wanted to shape them with his palms, flick at her nipples until they were tight little peaks. He settled a palm on the nape of her neck and felt the heat of her skin through the fabric.

  Nissa froze under his touch.

  “Nissa.” Just a tiny taste of her. That’s all he wanted. Needed. He kneaded her skin, lowered his head and pressed his lips to the delicate spot beneath her right ear.

  She shivered against him. “Phoenix.” A breathy whisper. When he flicked his gaze up, he saw her eyes were closed.

  “All this golden skin…it gives me so many ideas.” He slid his fingers along her shoulder and dipped beneath the white fabric, feeling the toned muscle beneath. She was strong as well as sexy, and to him, that made her even more attractive.

  She arched her back, pushing those gorgeous breasts up.

  He had to touch her.

  A chime sounded. Justyn ignored it.

  Then Allard’s voice filled the cabin. “Captain Sander? Mr. Phoenix? We’ve just hit the galaxy boundary and are crossing over into uncharted space. One hour until we reach Alchemia.”

  Nissa hissed out a breath and stumbled away from Justyn.

  He thought for a second she’d refuse to look at him, or race for the safety of her bedroom.

  But she didn’t. Of course, she didn’t. That wasn’t Nissa’s style.

  She straightened her shoulders, any remaining hint of the woman beneath the uniform vanishing. “Do whatever else you have to do to get ready. I’ll meet you in the teletransportation room in an hour.” Her eyes narrowed. “And Phoenix?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Keep your hands to yourself.” She swiveled and left the cabin.

  ***

  As Nissa stepped out of the Alchemia Space Transport Station and onto the giant floating raft that made up the main level of the planet’s capital, Cirrus City, the sights, smells and sounds overwhelmed her.

  She stopped, neck arched, staring at the huge balloons floating above the city like giant starcruisers. Airships and smaller rafts were tethered to the main raft, giving the floating city a haphazard feel. Under her feet, she felt a gentle rocking that she figured the locals didn’t even notice.

  The narrow street was lined with ramshackle two-story houses made of plas or wood. Steel or stone would have been too heavy. A mass of people hurried along the sidewalk—men in outfits similar to Justyn’s, people enhanced with mechanical limbs and other crude devices, clockwork droids passing with a distinctive clacking noise, and women in huge skirts and tightly-corseted bodices.

  All kinds of transports trundled past—people peddling single-person transports and a few steam-powered rickshaws. Above her head, some people were flying tiny gyrocopters. The whirr of the gyrocopter blades competed with the huffs of stream from the rickshaws below and the shouts of hawkers selling their wares on the street.

  “Takes a bit to get used to.” Justyn appeared unaffected by
the chaos.

  “It’s so different than any world I’ve visited.” She watched a woman rush past holding a wooden basket filled with clothes on her hip. “I just can’t understand why they don’t have more…modern tech. Steal it, smuggle it, something.”

  “They can’t afford it.” Justyn studied the street now. “Mackon has a stranglehold on the planet.” Justyn nodded at the transport station. “He controls who can come and go off-planet. Only way in or out is the transport station where his very own starships transport people to the orbital station. For a hefty fee, of course.”

  Where they’d left a disguised shuttle from the Freedom. They couldn’t risk bringing a Patrol ship in too close. Instead, her maintenance team had hastily painted a shuttle and modified any features that screamed “GSS”, and she’d piloted herself and Justyn to the orbital station. “So, very few of these people have ever been off planet?”

  “That’s right. They’re more worried about using their coins to feed their families.” He nodded along the street. “Come on, we’ll head to the Flying Compass.”

  “Flying Compass?”

  “An inn. It has the best ale in Cirrus City. And also the best information.”

  Nissa followed him down the street. She waved off women trying to sell fresh fruit and vegetables—guessing that somewhere in the city there had to be gardens. She caught a tiny street urchin in the act of trying to pick her pockets and sent the young boy off with a coin—another old-fashioned item they’d created on the Resolute Freedom’s goods printer. Most of the rest of the galaxy had been using e-creds for centuries.

  It was surprisingly cool in the city. A brisk wind blew down the streets, finding its way through clothes and ruffling anything in its path. She shivered.

  “Cold?”

  She glanced up to find him watching her. “I’m fine. Part-reptilian, remember? I’m more susceptible to the cold.”

  “You’re from Thusia, right? It’s a pretty cold planet.”

  “My father’s Thusian, my mother was half-reptilian from Sonash. She hated the snow.” Nissa remembered her mother always cradling a mug of hot tea in the winter. “I don’t mind it as long as I’m dressed for it.”

  “Your mother’s no longer alive?”

  A bittersweet sting of pain. “No. She died of Ophidian flu when I was ten.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  There was nothing but honest sympathy in his voice. “Thank you. It was a long time ago.”

  “Still hurts. Kids always think their parents will be around to protect them, love them…it’s always a shock when they’re not.”

  He turned and continued down the street, leaving her to wonder at the dark edge to his words. Nissa fell into step behind him, but quickly lost track of their direction, thanks to the incredibly distracting view in front of her. The man looked far too delectable in his outfit. And the way his trousers molded over his tight ass…

  Jesus, Nissa. She bit her lip and made herself look away. But seconds later, her gaze was back on him again. The way his too-long hair curled at the collar of his white shirt, the charming grin he tossed at anyone who looked his way.

  The man just enjoyed…everything. He leaped into life, into adventure, and took his time enjoying every second of it.

  And he’d made it clear he was interested in enjoying her.

  Nissa swallowed. And goddess damn it, she was tempted. So, so tempted. She wondered what kind of lover he’d be—fun and adventurous, or strong and intense? Something told her Justyn Phoenix could be all of those things.

  She’d enjoy it. She knew it. Having his big, muscled body spread out naked on her sheets. Him moving thickly inside her.

  But afterward, he’d be gone with a smile, and she’d be left holding the tatters. She wouldn’t be the first Patrol captain temped by the wild things the galaxy’s edge had to offer. She’d seen it happen before, you got so used to being around people who didn’t follow the law that you started to think it was okay to bend them. Other officers had indulged in ill-advised affairs, or gambling, or smuggling.

  Aside from making her father proud, Nissa had ambitions. One day she wanted admiral insignia on her chest.

  With that thought, she made herself look away from the temptation that was Justyn Phoenix.

  “Here we are.”

  His deep voice drew her out of her thoughts. He was standing beside the wooden door to a building that looked older than time. It was made of wood and leaned crookedly to the left. A carved sign swung on a metal chain above the door, showing an old-fashioned circular compass with wings.

  Justyn pushed open the door and waved her inside.

  The interior was warm and most of the wooden tables were filled. A synth-fire burned in a plas fireplace on the far side of the room and two female servers bustled through the room, carrying trays filled with frothy-topped ales. They wore similar outfits to Nissa but instead of trousers, they had on skirts that were long in back and rucked up high in front to show stocking-clad legs.

  Justyn led Nissa to an empty spot by the back wall. He leaned against the wood in a lazy way, like he was a man with all the time in the galaxy—not a man on the hunt for one of the galaxy’s most prized historical documents.

  He waved down a server and held up two fingers. The pretty woman’s round cheeks filled with color, but her gaze slid down his body, lingering in a few places before she shot him a flirtatious smile and headed for the bar.

  Nissa kept her face blank. She was certain Justyn had more than a few women throw themselves at him every day. She damned well wasn’t joining the crowd.

  The woman hurried back. “Here you go, Mister.” She handed him an ale.

  “Thanks. And the other’s for my woman.”

  His woman. That sounded so wrong…and so right.

  When the server turned to Nissa, her smiled flattened out with disappointment. She handed the second drink over.

  “My thanks for the speedy service.” Justyn handed over a gold coin. “Looks like you’re busy today.”

  “Always busy.” She shot him another hopeful smile. “But I do get regular breaks.”

  He held up another coin. “You seen a good-looking, young treasure hunter in here? Goes by the name of Solomon.”

  The woman eyed the coin the same way she’d looked at Justyn. “Maybe.”

  “He here?”

  She shook her head. “Left a little while ago. Heard him say something about heading to the Antiques Market.”

  Justyn placed the coin in the woman’s hand before leaning over it and giving her a little bow. “Thank you, lovely lady.”

  The woman giggled. “Get on with ya.” She spun but shot a saucy look over her shoulder. “My next break’s at midday if you’re interested.”

  Nissa waited for the woman to leave. “You finished flirting?”

  “Don’t be jealous, Captain Smooth. You know I only have eyes for you.” He winked at her and took a healthy sip of is ale. “No harm in keeping our informant happy. She’s less likely to blab about us that way.”

  “Blab to whom?”

  “Mackon rules with an iron fist. An actual iron fist, in fact. He has spies everywhere.”

  Nissa automatically scanned the pub. No one appeared to be paying any attention to them.

  “Drink up, Nissa.” Justyn clinked his glass against hers. “Looks like we’re going shopping.”

  She took a sip of the ale. It was good. It hit her bloodstream and warmed her.

  But it was nothing compared to the charming smile of the smuggler beside her.

  Chapter Six

  The Cirrus City Antiques Market was situated on its own separate little platform off the eastern end of the main city.

  As Justyn and Nissa walked up the ramp leading into the market, he thought the place had a whole bundle of charm. A lovely railing of what looked like black wrought iron with pretty curling designs ringed the platform to keep anyone from taking a nasty tumble to
the ocean below. He let his hand trace over the railing. Plas, not iron, but someone had done a good job of making it look like the real thing.

  Vendors had set up stalls and tents across the platform with disorderly walkways winding between them. There was already a small crowd wandering the market. Mostly the city’s middle and upper class. Their clothes were richer and their bodies plumper than the working class.

  He leaned in close to Nissa and lowered his voice. “We’ll wander. We need to look like lovers out hunting for a keepsake.”

  She scowled at him. “Lovers? Why?”

  He made a tut-tut noise and cupped her face with his hands. Felt her stiffen. “Because we don’t want to look like two off-worlders chasing after a treasure-hunting thief.” He leaned down and nuzzled the side of her neck. “Loosen up, Nissa. Or the game’ll be up before we get started.”

  Her hands clamped around his wrists, but after a second, loosened by the smallest degree. “I still don’t see why we have to be lovers. Why not buyers out hunting for bargains?”

  “Quit arguing.” He turned them slightly and pressed his mouth to her ear. Anyone looking at them would see two people entranced with each other. He inhaled the rich scent of her. She used something on her skin, some oil that made him think of a fragrant wood. “See those two men dressed in black with red sashes around their waists?”

  She angled her head so she could look over his shoulder. It also brought her lips against his temple. Justyn barely swallowed his groan. He was so hungry for a touch from this woman that the barest brush of her lips made him hard as a rock.

  “I see them.”

  “Mackon’s guards. They have sharp eyes and even sharper swords.”

  She turned to look at him, their lips just a breath apart. “Okay, lover boy. Let’s go find ourselves a keepsake.”

  Unable to stop himself, he nipped at her lips. Just the tiniest touch, but he got a hint of her taste and it electrified his blood. “Something to celebrate our love.”

  A laugh burst out of her before she could control it. She slapped a hand over her mouth but he was already smiling. He grabbed her hand and tugged her into the maze of stalls.