“I’m sorry, too.” Lala snapped the gum she was chewing. Then she leaned down and spat the gum at the cuffs. The pink glob stuck to the metallic surface.

  There was a tiny spark of light followed by a puff of smoke.

  Ria coughed. Zayn waved to dissipate the smoke. The electro-cuffs fell into the dirt with a plop.

  “What the—?” Zayn exclaimed.

  Lala shoved her hands on her hips. “I’ve already had one set of idiots try and kill me today. I’m not planning to finish today off with a kidnapping.”

  “You blew up the cuffs.” Ria stared openmouthed. “Are you crazy? You could have blown off your hands.”

  The girl shrugged. “It’s a new prototype I’m testing. Chewing gum that doubles as an explosive.” She grinned. “Worked a treat. Now, I need to be going.”

  She’d skipped three steps down the street before coming to a hard stop. Ahead, the group of men had neared. They all stood, legs spread wide, hands poised over their holsters and hats pulled low. There was a jostling in the crowd as two men moved forward.

  Clint and Ray.

  “Not good,” Lala murmured.

  No, not good. Ria went for her pistol.

  “Put it down,” Clint called out. He gestured to his associates. Three men held rifles aimed at Ria, Zayn and Lala.

  Ria’s chest felt heavy. Her mind churned as she sought a way out of this. Left with no choice, she set the pistol on the ground.

  “Now, Lala, I’m through with you and your crazy antics.” Ray sliced a hand through the air. “Time for you to meet your maker.”

  Lala sniffed. “Screw you, Ray Baker.” The girl snatched something from her pocket and rolled it toward the group of men.

  The small black ball bounced once, then rolled up and hit Ray’s boot. “What the fuck—?”

  There was a huge flash of light.

  “Explosives!”

  “Bomb!”

  The crowd dove and scattered. Ria skittered backward, her shoulder slamming into Zayn. He gripped her waist to steady her.

  A huge ball of smoke engulfed them all. Ria coughed. The stuff worked its way down her throat and stung her eyes.

  “I can’t see,” a cowboy yelled.

  “I can’t breathe,” another rasped.

  As the cowboys panicked, Ria grabbed Zayn’s arm and pulled him to the ground.

  Fresher air hit her lungs and she gulped in large mouthfuls. She heard Zayn dragging in air as well.

  “I don’t think Lala is as crazy as she makes out,” Ria said.

  “I don’t know. I think you can be a genius and be crazy at the same time.”

  The smoke slowly cleared.

  Ria scanned the street. “Damn it.”

  Lala was gone.

  “Slippery little thing. Probably how come she’s survived so long on her own,” Zayn said.

  Scarred boots stepped into view. “Lala might be gone, but we also have a score to settle with you.”

  Ria looked up. Ray towered above them, with Clint and their cronies standing behind him. “Look—”

  Two men grabbed Zayn’s arms and hauled him up. Before Ria could say anything, Clint slammed a fist into Zayn’s gut.

  He groaned and jerked in his captors’ hold. Another fist. Then another.

  Ria felt a familiar calm descend. She swiped out with her leg. Ray tumbled back, arms wind-milling. As he fell, she exploded upward, swinging a fist at one of the men holding Zayn. Still moving, she chopped a straight palm at the other, hitting him in the throat. He stumbled back choking. Zayn stumbled as well, wrapping an arm around his middle.

  “Zayn!” Ria lost her concentration. How badly was he hurt? Too late, she sensed someone behind her and spun. They were close. Too close.

  Ray slammed a rifle butt against her head, smashing it into her temple.

  As the world went gray, she felt herself falling. She saw Zayn struggling, yelling, his hot blue gaze on her.

  Then she felt dust under her cheek before darkness descended.

  ***

  Heat seared through Zayn’s brain and body. He tried to swallow but his mouth and throat were dust-dry. Flame-burned son of a… Had he and Dathan been on a kila bender again?

  His head was throbbing hard, a bouncing beat that sent pain zinging through his ribs. He forced his eyes open. Bright light speared into them and he squeezed them shut again. It took him a minute to slowly open them again and focus on what he was seeing.

  The bouncing wasn’t in his head. He’d been tossed over the back of a horse, his wrists tied so tight the rope dug into his skin. He swallowed back some curses. Below him he saw the rocky terrain of the desert. He lifted his head. The sun was blaring down toward the horizon, baking everything in its path.

  Diablo. Memories rushed back in. Ria. Where was Ria?

  Frantic, he looked around as best he could from his awkward position. He spotted Clint and Ray seated on horses ahead of him. They had two extra horses on long leads, trailing behind them. When Zayn saw the feminine body draped over the other horse, he released a long breath.

  Then worry pounded into him. She wasn’t moving. Was she okay?

  Zayn tested the restraints. They were solid. For now, he wasn’t going anywhere. Besides, he really needed to assess how bad his injuries were. He remembered some rib-shattering jabs to the chest and gut before a blow to the back of the head had equaled lights out.

  And Ria. She’d gotten a damn hard blow to the head.

  He forced the panic down. She was a Guild assassin. She’d be fine. She had to be.

  It felt like hours later when Ray and Clint stopped the horses amongst a stand of straggly trees surrounded by a high canyon. The rocky walls were striated in every shade of red. The setting sun hit them, turning them a bloody scarlet.

  Zayn remained still and listened to the men muttering about making camp for the night. The next second, Zayn was dragged roughly from the horse and dumped on the ground. The drop made fire tear through his ribs and he clamped down on his lip to stop an agonized groan from escaping.

  Ray dropped Ria’s dead weight down beside Zayn and stalked away. The men set about creating a fire and setting up camp with the ease of long experience. They ignored Zayn and Ria.

  For now.

  “Ria? Ria?” He kept his voice low

  She didn’t move.

  He managed to scoot over beside her. With a nudge, he rolled her over and he sucked in a breath. One side of her face was covered in dried blood. As best he could with his bound hands, he searched for the wound. There. A bloody gash on her temple. He probed it a bit, was gratified by a tiny groan. It wasn’t too bad. Might scar without a medscope, but it wasn’t life-threatening.

  In sleep, her face was more relaxed. Even injured, covered in blood, she was beautiful. Not like Eos with her dark gorgeousness, but something fresh, healthy and real. Looking at her now, he couldn’t see Vik in her anymore. He dragged in a deep breath, finally acknowledging what he’d known for a while. She was like Vik in some ways, but so different in others. She was more flexible, more understanding than Vik had ever been.

  Now looking at the woman beside him, Zayn only saw Ria.

  As the sun sank farther away, a night sky scattered with stars appeared. One huge rising moon balanced on the horizon, and visible not far behind it, the top of a second, smaller one. He kept his bound hands resting on Ria’s and willed her to wake, all the while watching their captors. The Baker brothers clearly knew how to survive in this planet’s harsh climate. God only knew what they had planned for him and Ria. They needed to escape. He looked back to the unconscious woman beside him. There was no way they were going to do that until Ria woke up.

  Full darkness descended, broken only by the moonslight and the temperature dropped rapidly. The men’s fire popped and crackled, but Zayn was too far away to feel any warmth from it.

  Suddenly one of the men came out of the shadows, silhouetted by the flames. He dumped two tin bowls filled with a gray gruel down on the ground. Some sort of animal skin landed beside Zayn’s bowl, topped at one end with a plas cap.

  “Hare stew and water. Eat up. You’ll need your strength.” Clint gave a harsh laugh.

  “Where are you taking us?” Zayn figured if they wanted him and Ria dead, they’d be rotting in the desert by now.

  “We’re going to sell you both to Tumbleweed Bob.”

  That didn’t sound good. “Who’s Tumbleweed Bob?”

  “Owns a gold mine up in the hills. Always looking for workers he doesn’t have to pay.” Clint laughed again. The sound rubbed across Zayn’s nerves like barbed wire. “But he also likes to blow things up, especially his test subjects.”

  Zayn’s gut tightened.

  Not long after Clint left, Ria stirred.

  “Ria? Baby? You okay?” Zayn leaned over her.

  Her lashes fluttered and she turned her head toward the sound of his voice. Reaching out, he awkwardly brushed some strands of hair off her face. He felt the puff of her breath on his palm.

  Her eyes opened. The green remained unfocused for only a second before he saw her work through the circumstances. “Zayn?”

  “Yeah. We’re okay. For now.”

  She sat up, raising her bound hands to her head. “Where are we?”

  “Somewhere in the desert. On our way up to the mountains. Apparently Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb are going to sell us to some mine owner who likes to blow people up.”

  “Nice.” Ria lowered her wrists, studying the ropes. “Guess we’ll have to make an escape before that happens.”

  “Sounds like a great idea.” He scanned the black of the desert around them. “And then what?”

  “We’ll have to take a horse and some water. Lay low until sunrise then find our way back to Bedlam.”

  He tugged on the ropes. “And these?”

  She lifted her hands and he watched as the ropes fell away.

  His jaw dropped. “How the hell did you do that?”

  She crouched beside him and with a knife she took from her boot, cut his bindings. “Assassin, remember? We’re taught all kinds of handy things.”

  Zayn glanced over at the fire. “We need to wait for them to fall asleep.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And we should eat some of this gourmet cuisine and drink whatever is in the skin.”

  She glanced at the offerings and grimaced. “I’ve had worse.”

  They ate and slowly the cold of the desert night had them shifting closer together, shoulder-to-shoulder. He felt the shivers she tried to hide and wrapped an arm around her. She held herself upright for a moment before relaxing into him.

  Together they tied the ropes loosely around their wrists and watched the shadows of the men as they prepared to rest for the night. Sure enough, Clint came over one last time to check on them, leaving after spitting a wad of…something disgusting on the ground.

  After Clint and Ray were horizontal on their sleeping gear, Zayn and Ria waited longer to ensure they were truly asleep. A long, eerie howl echoed through the night.

  Zayn wasn’t sure what animal was serenading the night and he was pretty sure he didn’t want to find out.

  “Time to make a move, flyboy.” Ria pushed to her feet, a slim shadow in the darkness.

  Zayn stood and all the aches and pains spilled in. He refused to let the groan past his lips.

  But Ria was eyeing him. “What hurts?”

  “Ribs.”

  She stepped up close to him, her fingers pressing into his side. Damn, but the scent of sweat an blood shouldn’t tempt him like this.

  “Might have a couple of breaks.” She kept probing, her brow furrowed. “But I think you’re just bruised. Can you handle riding a horse?”

  Zayn couldn’t quite get his brain to work. He imagined those quick, clever fingers on other parts of him. “Uh, sure.”

  “Good. I’ll get the horse, you wait here.”

  Moments later she returned with a brown mare plodding behind her.

  “Just one?” he asked.

  “Just one and they might not bother following us. Two, we can guarantee they’ll track us down.” She secured the animal-skin waterbag to the saddle of the horse. “I’ll get on first.”

  She swung up, finding her seat.

  Zayn couldn’t manage to mount with any sort of grace, not with his ribs screaming bloody murder. He settled in behind her.

  “By the way, I found a present for you.” She twisted and offered him her palm.

  He couldn’t see much, but pressed his hand to hers. He felt the small pills. “Tell me these are pain blockers and I’ll not only marry you, but bear your children.”

  A soft laugh. “I’d like to see that. Yep, pain blockers. I found them in Clint’s pockets.”

  Zayn froze. “You rifled through their pockets?”

  “Assassin, remember? Good at sneaking.”

  Zayn dry-swallowed the fast-acting pills. He felt their instant effects moments later. The pain was gone and energy zinged through his veins. “You are a goddess.” Without thinking, he leaned down, tipped her chin back and kissed her.

  She went still beneath his lips. Then she returned the kiss for the barest second before they pulled apart. There, cloaked by the darkness, they stared at each other.

  Shit. Zayn felt so drawn to this woman and he was certain now it had nothing to do with his past or his memories of another woman.

  Ria cleared her throat. “We need to get going.”

  With a nod, Zayn urged the horse into action and let the desert darkness swallow them.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ria sat on the horse surrounded by darkness and the heated warmth of Zayn Phoenix.

  With the natural sway of his body to direct her, she didn’t have the same jolting seat she’d suffered from during her earlier riding attempts. This time they moved in a natural rhythm with the horse.

  But it was the hard, masculine body behind her that stole all her attention.

  As they moved, her bottom brushed against his hard body. His strong arms surrounded her, one of his hot palms resting on her belly, the other holding the reins. His warm breath puffed against her hair, giving her crazy thoughts of tipping her head back and kissing him. The way he’d kissed her before.

  She released a breath. Now really wasn’t the time to be fantasizing about Zayn. They had a mission and right now, it wasn’t going well. Who knew where Lastite Lala had run off to? There was every chance the Baker brothers would come after them. Oh, and they were lost in the desert on a harsh, frontier planet.

  Ria stared up into the night sky. The stars were so bright here. Like a spill of lights on a megacity world. She’d always loved stargazing, imagining zipping through the vastness of space, where anything was possible.

  She frowned at the thought. That wasn’t right. She’d rarely had the chance to study the stars. The red glow of the Devil’s Nebula blocked out almost everything in the night sky. And she’d been too busy with her grueling training to worry about vastness and possibilities. Shaking off the strange thoughts, she focused ahead, trying to see through the dark. They were climbing up a hill, on a narrow track, with scraggly trees appearing here and there from out of the darkness.

  She wasn’t sure where they were headed, but the horse seemed to know where it was going. As long as the thing didn’t lead them back to Ray and Clint, she was happy. “Any idea where we’re going?”

  “I thought the hills would be cooler in the day time. And we’ll have a better view from up there once the sun rises.” Zayn shifted, his body pressing firmly against hers.

  Ria swallowed the growing lump in her throat. “Right. Sounds good.”

  “Keep an eye out for somewhere decent for us to rest. We both need to get some sleep.”

  She only realized then that she was feeling a little tired. She’d been trained to block out her body’s responses. Zayn shifted again and she closed her eyes. She wasn’t having much luck blocking out her desire for this man.

  Then she felt the hardness pressed into the small of her back.

  “Sorry.” His tone was rueful. “Automatic response to being pressed up against a woman like this, and the damn rocking of the horse.”

  Right. Nothing to do with her personally. “It’s fine.”

  “Might be for you,” he muttered.

  His hand moved a little on her belly, slipping one inch lower. She didn’t think he was paying any attention, but his touch was burning through her clothes right to her skin. So, so tantalizing, just mere centimeters away from where she was growing hot and damp.

  “Talk to me.” His voice sounded a little hoarse. “Distract me.”

  “Talk about what?” Her voice didn’t sound much better than his.

  “Anything. Tell me about growing up.”

  “A boring story.” Ria drew in a breath. She didn’t often dwell on the past. “The Guild starts our training young. As soon as we can sit up, they start subliminal training. Different fighting techniques, strategy. Once we can walk, they begin the physical training.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. They abuse babies?”

  She heard the horror. She knew it was hard for others to understand. She shrugged, her gaze on the stars overhead. “We have a warm bed, clothes, food. Regular medical checkups and an education.”

  “So you can become their slaves. Their personal property.”

  “Maybe.” She’d never thought about it like that until recently. Until she’d started to dream of something different, something more. “When we turn five, they start the assassin training. They start making us kill.”

  “Jesus.” Zayn muttered a few curses. “What about love? Did someone hug you, kiss you goodnight?”

  She had no memories of anything like that. Just hazy images she knew where her own secret longings. Her silence was obviously answer enough.

  He cursed again and hugged her from behind. “Everyone needs that.”

  “You had that?”

  The breath he released ruffled her hair. “For a while. When I was little, well, my parents were happy then. We grew up on Zerzuza.”

  “So you’re used to the desert?” Zerzuza was a desert planet filled with ancient ruins. No wonder they’d become treasure hunters.