SavingAttractions (2 page)

They had no place to secure a captive or captives, if there
was more than one. If the Zarain captured someone, it would mean having men
stand guard around the clock. It was a waste of time and energy if it wasn’t
absolutely necessary. The pirates weren’t going anywhere. Ordinary transport
shuttles weren’t equipped for deep space travel. They were meant to transport
supplies or people from a ship to a planet or base. They didn’t carry enough supplies,
and the speeds wouldn’t allow them to reach a port from this location before
the oxygen generators were too taxed and the filters too dirty to work
efficiently.

The Zarain crew began receiving transmissions from the
satellite before they cleared the clouds. The shuttle was easy to find. It was
on a beach on one of the larger islands off the coast of a huge continent.
Scans indicated two people hiding in the foliage near the vessel.

Finding the survivors proved more difficult. The satellite
scanned while they did searches with the instruments on the
Dagger
. They
found the group of people on a continent to the east of the island where the
pirate shuttle had landed. They’d probably fled there hoping to go undetected
if anyone checked for survivors. Jagger and his crew would keep an eye on those
two and make sure that both were pirates. If one of them was a prisoner, they’d
have to rescue him or her.

As the shuttles landed, the survivors remained hidden in the
group of trees. That didn’t surprise Jagger. Given past examples of the
pirates’ work, the crew had reason to be wary. If anyone on the Zarain crew had
been smaller or less threatening, he’d have them approach the injured people,
but everyone on the
Dagger
and for that matter, the
Sentinel
, was
Zarain and all the males were large and muscled. Because of the danger of the
pirates, no female had been chosen for this mission. A female would have been
more approachable, but they didn’t want to risk one of their females getting
hurt if there was a fight with pirates.

The Zarain male’s size and muscularity were partly due to
the type of shifter Jagger and the other men of the Sentinel were. The other
reason for their bulk could probably be attributed to the fact that the Zarain
had always been warriors. The Zarain animal form had been known to send people
running the other way by sheer size alone. The head of a shifted male Zarain
often rose above the shoulders of a male human. Shaggy, coarse hair covered the
huge muscled body from the tips of the ears down to the long claws on its paws.
The sight of the long, sharp canines at the end of the long muzzle only added
to the intimidation factor.

Jagger ordered most of the men to begin raising some
temporary shelters and told them to focus on getting the medical tent set up
first. There was a large enough clearing next to the river where they could set
up camp. They’d be safe until the
Sentinel
or the
Vigilant
arrived.

As he walked toward where they’d found the heat signatures,
his eyes swept the cluster of trees and finally, he spotted them. A few of the
men had stepped out of the shelter of the tree line. Maybe they noticed the
gray uniforms, or perhaps they’d seen a difference in the shuttles. Jagger
didn’t know, but he was happy he didn’t have to pursue them into the trees.
Confronting them wouldn’t induce a relaxed, calm attitude.

A light breeze carried the people’s scents to him. He could
smell blood and the pain of the men and women watching them from across the
glade. The sharp scent raised all his protective instincts. Something else
nudged his instincts, but with all of the mixed scents and distance, he
couldn’t quite decipher it.

He carried the physician’s extra bag and walked with him
across the clearing. From what he could see, there were nearly twenty people.
The men kept the women to the back of the group, and the ratio of male to
female looked about normal for a trade ship. Males outnumbered females,
especially on the smaller trade ships. Only six women warily watched Jagger and
Kairn approach.

“We’re from the Zarain ship, the
Vigilant
, although
we were on one of our scout ships when we received the alarm of the incursion.
We’re here to help.” Jagger smiled and stopped a small distance away from the
group. He wanted to let them think and adjust without pressuring them.

An older, red-haired man nodded and took a deep breath.
“We’re from the trade ship,
Setona
. The pirates attacked and took
control of it.”

“Are all of you hurt?” The physician asked.

“Yes, we all need care.” The man’s answer was slow and
measured.

“We’re setting up a medical tent and some shelters. The
scout ship has gone after the pirates. We’ll be here until the
Vigilant
arrives.” Jagger stayed where he was, although he felt a strong urge to walk
over to the group. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the urge to protect them
or from that other feeling growing in him. He still couldn’t identify it. “We
spotted the shuttle as we were searching for you. Are there any captives on
that ship?”

“No, just the two pirates. They were trying to make it back
up to their ship before it left. I’m Captain Joshua Thomas.” The man stepped
forward and held out his hand.

“I’m Jagger Antein.” Jagger shook his hand. He deliberately
left off his rank. His title would mean nothing to them. “Let’s go over to the
tents. They should have the medical tent finished or almost so by now.”

“Is there anyone who needs help walking or who needs
immediate aid?” the physician asked before anyone could move.

“We can all walk,” Captain Thomas said simply. “We were
beaten, but they tried other methods first.”

“Other methods. Were they after something or was it simply
because they were sick bastards?” Jagger frowned. The use of other methods was
different and he wanted to know if the pirates had a reason for it.

“They are bastards, but they wanted something. Not that we
could decipher what that was. They took everything we had, yet still asked for
something else.” Captain Thomas shook his head.

Jagger stepped back to allow the people to walk toward the
green tents. The men and women began limping over to the rising shelters. He
stood to the side, watching as they made their way across the clearing.
Grimaces tightened their lips with each slow step. He could tell they were in
pain just by looking at them.

As they passed, the light wind blew their scents to him. The
bite of pain was obvious in all of them. As the women began to pass him, he
straightened. All the other scents faded away as one particular feminine
essence exploded through him. His muscles tensed and he had to fight to keep
his claws and fangs from bursting free.

He wanted to wade into those women and find out exactly
which one of them was his mate. The scent of lingering fear held him back.
They’d been terrorized. He didn’t want to scare his mate more by blundering in
amid her and her crewmates. They’d all have to be examined and treated. He
could discover which of the women was his without unnecessarily frightening
her.

He caught the physician’s glance toward him. He must have
smelled the rush of arousal. Kairn Tashien raised an eyebrow and sent Jagger a
disbelieving look. In fact, the blond-haired physician looked a little
appalled. Jagger understood it. The situation seemed a strange time to be
aroused, but he couldn’t explain everything when they were surrounded by other
people. At least not out loud. He was simply glad that there was another way he
could do it. Shadatai Zarain had a few extra abilities, and communicating mind
to mind was one of them.

My mate is among those women.
Jagger sent the thought
to the physician.

Kairn smiled and nodded his head once.
You can stay
around to help me a little. Guide them in or something so you can discover
which one it is.

Thank you.
Jagger looked at the women with interest.
He would take that opportunity.

Frustration pulsed through him. Not only at being denied an
immediate answer, but because he knew he wouldn’t be able to mate with her
fully for days or more. Because she was hurt, he’d need to give her space.
While shifter relationships tended to develop quickly, most of the time there
was some period of normal getting to know each other. If the situation was
stressful or dangerous, especially when they were thrown together in isolated
circumstances that period was often shortened or dropped altogether.

His mate had been hurt. He wanted nothing more than to keep
her close to him at all times. Instead he’d have to watch from afar until he
could work his way into her trust and life. He fought the urge to growl.

Never would he have thought that when he found his mate,
he’d have to wait and try to discover which woman was his without scaring her.
He’d always thought his mate would be Zarain. Not that he minded mating a
human.

The only thing causing him any irritation was the fact that
with a Zarain, no explanations would be needed. A Zarain woman would know him
as her mate, scent him and fully feel the pull to mate. A human woman would be
drawn by the pheromones he exuded and feel the draw to him, but she wouldn’t
understand it. She wouldn’t realize it was because she was his mate, just as he
was hers.

When they neared the tents, the physician hurried ahead and
opened the flap of the medical tent. In spite of being housed in a tent, they
had brought almost every high-tech device that was portable. First, so that any
humans wouldn’t have to suffer needlessly and second, just in case any of the
injuries was life threatening. There had been some very severe trauma on one or
two of the people found in other areas. While they couldn’t do everything that
was possible on the larger ships, they’d be able to stabilize the person until
help could arrive.

Jagger was glad that the higher levels of medical care
weren’t necessary. If his mate had been one of those hurt severely, he didn’t
know if he could act civilized and give her time to adjust. It was hard
thinking about it now when he knew she was well enough to walk on her own.

The physician performed a cursory examination of the men and
women to determine if there were any injuries that needed immediate attention.
They were all injured, but it seemed on the whole, they’d been through roughly
the same thing.

“I’ll see the women first and then the men.” Kairn smiled.
“Jagger, you can help me. You lead them in to the med tent and then to their
tents. That is unless you have something you need to do.”

“I can help you for now. I might be needed elsewhere a
little later though.” Jagger nodded. He wasn’t going anywhere until he
discovered who his mate was.

“Let me go inside to check that all my equipment has been
set up properly and we’ll get started.” Kairn lifted aside the flap of the tent
and went inside.

Jagger waited outside with the trade ship crew. Most tried
to stay as still as possible while others seemed to be trying to find a
comfortable position. From experience, Jagger knew the last would be impossible
until the treatment began to take effect.

“Jagger, you can bring in the first woman,” Kairn called.

Since he had no idea which woman was his, he gestured to the
closest female, a blonde. She limped forward, and he opened the tent for her.
As she passed, he inhaled, but she wasn’t the woman. He closed the tent behind
her so she and Kairn could have some privacy.

He ran his eyes over the rest of the crew, lingering on the
five women. Two black-haired women, a redhead, one with brown hair and another
blonde stared back at him. He smiled.

“Kairn will work as fast as he can, but he won’t want to
miss anything. He’ll get to all of you as soon as possible.” Jagger met their
eyes.

“This is better than what we expected. We honestly thought
we might have to wait for someone to check the planet. Standing here a little
while is better than living with the pain for a week or more.” One of the black-haired
women smiled at him.

“And that’s the least amount of time others have been
stranded without aid. So we can be patient now.” The redhead shrugged and then
winced, her hand cupped her side. “Thank you by the way. We were beginning to
worry about what we should do next when we saw your shuttles.”

“We’ve been on notice for a few weeks. Ever since the first
trade ship crew was found on a planet on this side of the border. There are
ships looking to see if there were other people left on isolated planets before
we discovered the pirates’ tendency to run into our space to get away from
anyone tracking them.” Jagger knew he wasn’t the only one who wondered how long
the pirates had been stranding people on isolated planets.

Ships did go missing, and in the past six months a few ships
had been found damaged and seemingly abandoned. Two of the crews belonging to
those ships had been found. Other vessels had been found and taken to the
closest planet or base, but the crews were still missing.

The men and women waited patiently for Kairn to get them. In
fact, they were more tolerant of the delay than Jagger was. Kairn opened the
flap of the tent and escorted the woman through it. “I’ve given her something
to help with the pain. I’ll need to clean and prepare for the next person. Take
her, and by the time you come back, I should be ready to take the next person.”

Jagger smiled at Kairn’s tone. When it came to medicine and
healing, Kairn was focused completely on the patient. Jagger escorted the woman
to one of the nearby green tents. Although not luxurious, they weren’t roughing
it by any means. Single camping beds had been erected. Cushiony padding topped
the bed and should be comfortable even with their aches and bruises. These
tents weren’t large enough to fit six of the beds in one tent, so the women
would be split into two groups of three while the men would be put into larger
groups, four or five to a tent.

Jagger returned to the medical tent after the woman had
walked into the shelter. He poked his head into the opening to make sure Kairn
was ready and then stepped back. The black-haired woman who’d spoken to him
earlier entered the tent. He inhaled as she passed him. She wasn’t his mate.

His frustration grew. Would he have to wait until the last
woman entered the tent to know who his mate was? The Zarain within him pushed
at him. It wanted to walk right up to the women and sniff. The animal wasn’t
subtle and didn’t care to try to be. On top of that, the fact that his mate was
still in pain irritated the animal within him. It wanted her treated and safe.
It needed to ensure she wasn’t so vulnerable, to change her to a Zarain so that
she’d be stronger and more able to take care of herself.

He escorted two more women to receive treatment and then to
their tent before he returned to find the redhead standing beside the blonde.
They looked at each other.

“You should go first. You’ve been hurt longer,” the redhead
said.

“I’ve had more time to recuperate. I’d also bet they did a
little more to you and the others than they did to us to try to get the
information out of you. Whatever the hell
it
was. They weren’t giving up
on getting it either. They talked about coming back and doing whatever was
necessary after they lost the ships trailing them.” The blonde folded her arms
across her chest.

This looked as if it could become a long, drawn-out
discussion. Jagger cut it short. He wasn’t standing around and letting them
argue when his mate was still in pain.

“You come with me.” He pointed at the redhead before she
could come up with some counter to what the blonde had said.

The redhead looked at him with mouth hanging open for a
moment as if she was stunned that he’d interrupted them. She closed her mouth
and narrowed her eyes at him but took a step forward.

He pulled back the flap and stepped out of her way. As she
passed him, a sweet scent with a hint of some spice hit him. He tensed and held
himself perfectly still until she was in the tent and heading toward the
examination table. It was the only way he prevented himself from reaching out
and grabbing her.

He stared after her for a moment, taking in the taut curve
of her butt. He especially appreciated her height and those long legs. They’d
fit together well even standing up. She was eye-catching. Her bright red hair
stood out, making her pale creamy-white skin appear even paler. Not that the
pain didn’t help with that. He looked forward to seeing her with a healthy glow
and a smile curving her lips.