Temporal Shift (Entangled Select Otherworld) Read Free Page B

stood in the center of the docking bay, staring around them with wide eyes. “The two of you look like you’ve never been on a ship before.”
    “I haven’t,” the girl said. “We have no ships. No technology,”
    “The thirteenth protocol forbids the development of machines,” Thorne added.
    Running his hands through his hair, Devlin regarded the two newcomers. What the hell was he supposed to do with them? The girl returned his gaze, a hungry, hopeful expression on her face. But what was she hoping for? Callum had said he wanted to talk to them, but Devlin doubted he’d be talking to anyone until Tannis regained consciousness. Apparently, Callum and Tannis were in love—he’d really thought Tannis had better taste. And Rico would no doubt be similarly preoccupied until Skylar awoke, because they were in love as well. Goddamn ship was like a goddamn brothel.
    The only other crew member, Daisy, was flying the ship. So that just left him.
    Great.
    First things first.
    “So why did those guys attack us?” he asked. They’d swooped out of nowhere, knocked out Callum, Skylar and Tannis—the Collective members among the crew—without any warning or any weapons. Leaving just him and Rico to fight them off. They’d have been dead if rescue hadn’t arrived.
    “They were the Wardens. They guard and protect the Circle of Change. And you violated the fifty-eighth protocol,” the girl said.
    “Just how many protocols do you people have?”
    “A lot.” She flashed him a grin. “Too many.”
    “And the fifty-eighth?”
    “Forbids the changing of any females. They’re considered abominations.”
    He presumed she meant Tannis and Skylar.
    Tannis was a brand new convert, but Skylar was a long-term member of the Collective, the ruling faction back in their own universe. Five hundred years ago, Callum Meridian had crash-landed on Trakis Seven, and there stumbled across the secret of immortality. Named Meridian after its founder, the substance bestowed eternal life, plus a few other—not necessarily beneficial—attributes. A new class of people had evolved—the Collective—and they ruled the universe with Callum at their head. Well, until he’d decided to take an extended vacation on board the Blood Hunter .
    Presumably these Wardens were the same as the Collective.
    Which made sense. After all, that’s why they had dived through the black hole and into this universe. In search of an alternative source of Meridian, the only thing that could save Tannis from the poison killing her. And they’d found it, only hours earlier, and just in time. Tannis was cured and changed—though obviously some of the locals were pretty pissed off about that.
    Though not all of them. He had no doubt that they would have died down there without the help of these two. But what did they really want, and why had the girl insisted they come on board? Because she’d lied. He could sense that. She could have escaped with the winged guy. Instead, she’d whispered something to her protector, and he’d appeared almost shocked.
    Time to discover what their agenda was. And it had better not interfere with his or it wasn’t happening.
    “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go find out what you’re after.”
    He led them to the far side of the docking bay and into one of the transporter bubbles. “Conference room one,” he murmured when they were all inside.
    Callum had built this ship while he’d been Leader of the Universe. No expense was spared and it was big—made for men with wings, and even in the transporter bubble there was space to spread them. The whole ship was on the same scale. Five times as big as the old Blood Hunter and all brand new and shining. She was a beautiful piece of engineering, and Devlin would have happily spent his life seeing to her every need—if he hadn’t had more pressing things to do. His time on the Blood Hunter was temporary; it was his brother Tris who had been their engineer. Devlin had merely joined