Merry & Seduced Read Free

“The Indy is invisible to tracking devices and the naked eye.”
    Jannike planted her hands on her hips and scowled her tough-warrior glare. “Camryn, if you don’t shut up, Kaya and I are gonna gag you. I don’t care what Ry says. If the Earth military had noticed our entry into the atmosphere, they would have sent fighter ships to intercept us by now.” She crossed to her seat next to Nanu and clipped the safety harness into place.
    Amme grabbed Camryn by the arm and dragged her over to one of the rear seats. They both buckled their harnesses while the others studied the instrument panel and Nanu manipulated the controls. “Tell me about the men on Earth. Do you think I’ll manage to find one for a Christmas fling?”
    Camryn ripped her gaze off the clouds beyond the view port and turned to her with raised brows. “You want a man?”
    “I didn’t say I wanted to keep him,” Amme said. “ Ooh , pretty. Look at the trees. Is that a river?”
    “Amme, you can’t drop a man bomb without telling me more.”
    Ah, her distraction had worked. She turned from the view to focus on Camryn. “Now that Gweneth has blossomed and become independent, she doesn’t need me. I was designed to look after others, and the lack of need in that department is making me…unsettled.” Yes, that was the correct word to describe her current unease.
    “But an affair? Really?” Camryn said, diverted from her anxiety as Amme had intended.
    “Memories to keep me warm on the long space voyage to Viros.”
    The engine roared extra loud, there was a metallic bang, and the Indy tilted at a forty-degree angle without warning, flinging Amme against her harness. Over at the control panel, Nanu cursed. An alarm burst into life.
    Jannike echoed him with equally pithy sentiments. “Fukk, watch out! We’re gonna crash.”
    “Don’t you think I know that,” Nanu said, his tone testy.
    “Sit-rep,” Ry demanded.
    Nanu checked the panels, his instruments, stabbed at buttons. “One of the stabilizers isn’t working. Don’t know why.”
    “Hard right,” Ry ordered. “Right or we’ll hit those trees.”
    “I said I know that,” Nanu snapped.
    Ry shot a glower at his mate. “Camryn, the clearing you mentioned isn’t where you said it would be.”
    “Sorry.” Camryn winced. “I wasn’t at my best the last time I was here. I did tell you that.”
    “I see the clearing,” Nanu said, his shoulders straining and fighting the thruster control. “Turn, damn it. Turn!”
    “Can you straighten our approach?” Ry asked, his voice calm.
    Nanu’s beefy hands raced over the control panel while his gaze remained on the rapidly approaching landscape. “It’s a thruster. A malfunction. It’s fukked up the landing stabilizers and the steering. Turn, Indy .”
    Amme gripped her seat handrests and stared out the view screen at the landscape. Despite Nanu’s attempts, the Indy was still flying at a drunken angle. The trees appeared enormous this close. She swallowed. “That’s assuming we make it to the ground in one piece. I might be all talk about this fling if we crash and die.”
    The engine roared, and Nanu fought the controls. Slowly, the Indy started to level.
    Beside them Kaya snorted out a laugh. “Don’t worry. We’ll land safely. I want one of those sex flings too. I’m counting on it. We haven’t hit many planets where the males have the right working parts. Need to make sure I haven’t gone rusty.”
    “Your brother would hatch an Earth animal…an elephant if he heard you say that, Kaya,” Jannike said.
    “What he don’t know won’t hurt him,” Kaya said with a cheeky wink over her shoulder. “Earth fling here I come.”
    Camryn barked out a laugh and shot an impish glance at Ry. “Maybe I should try a fling. They sound like fun.”
    “Not if you know what’s good for you,” Ry said. “Ease it down, Nanu. We’re almost at the clearing.”
    “She’s not responding. Darlin’, I need you level. Damn it.