Pointed Arrow

  Wings of Artemis 12

  Rebecca Royce

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Pointed Arrow (Wings of Artemis 12)

  Copyright @ 2020 by Rebecca Royce

  Ebook ISBN: 9781951349400

  Print ISBN: 978-1-951349-48-6

  Cover art by Syneca Featherstone, Original Syn Covers

  Content Editing: Heather Long

  Copy Editing: Jennifer Jones of Bookends Editing

  Final Proof Editing: Helayna Trask of Polished Perfection

  Formatting: Ripley Proserpina

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Rebecca Royce / RARE Publishing, LLC

  www.rebeccaroyce.com

  Contents

  INTRODUCTION

  Acknowledgments

  Who is Who in the Wings of Artemis

  1. All Good Things

  2. Into The Heart Of Darkness

  3. Who Turned Out The Lights?

  4. Dark Days

  5. The Phoenix

  6. The Dark Planets

  7. They Came From The Sky

  8. A Better, Brighter You

  9. On A Cellular Level

  10. Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub

  11. Once More Unto The Breach

  12. Just Waiting For Us

  13. Trust Your Gut

  14. The Place Melissa Left Behind

  15. Tricky Situations

  16. Goodbyes

  About the Author

  Other books by Rebecca Royce…

  INTRODUCTION

  Dearest Reader,

  Well, we are here. The very last book in the Wings of Artemis series. This is an incredibly bittersweet moment for me. This is the twelfth novel I’ve written in this series since 2016. There are also two novellas in this series, so a total of fourteen stories I got to tell. Wow. This is the longest series I’ve ever written, and it was a privilege to get to tell each and every one.

  What started with an idea about a woman who had no memory and was “kidnapped” by her husbands (plural) moved to the story of her daughter and what happened to her. And then suddenly she had a best friend who was miserable living on the other side of the universe. Once her story was told, I needed to tell you all about her sister-in-law who was having an absolutely terrible time at the hand of her father. Oh, and then that once miserable friend had a sister too. She had been living a lie on Earth for long years, and she needed a story. Somewhere in there, I told a small story about a woman who woke up on a pirate ship, and she had her story to tell. Melissa. Diana. Paloma. Waverly. Amber. Priscilla.

  And finally, that brought me to Sienna. The thing about Sienna is she was the first female heroine I wrote in this series who wasn’t connected at all to the other women. Amber rescued her, but she was in cryogenic sleep when that happened. She isn’t someone that anyone really knows. She is an outsider. So, I believe, are her guys. She is from the Dark Planets, the completely misunderstood part of the universe that most of our other heroes and heroines have never been to before. Or not for very long.

  That’s okay. The outsiders are going to save everyone. And when that is over, they won’t be outsiders anymore.

  With love and gratitude for every word you read or listened to,

  Rebecca Royce

  This book is dedicated to YOU. With all my thanks!

  Acknowledgments

  Well, things never get written in a bubble, and certainly a twelve novel, two novella series did not. So let’s see who I need to thank for all of this. This is a huge list so please don’t be upset, I’m just going to use first names. Ripley, Chandra, Heather, Jennifer, Becky, Meghan, Helayna, Jax, Cara, C.L., Lane, Autumn, Julia, Syneca, Lia, Ralph, Austin, Sawyer, Duncan, Gene, George, Joss, J.J., The Doctor, Mom, Dad, Kathy, & You (Most of All, Scarecrow.)

  Who is Who in the Wings of Artemis

  Who is Who in the Artemis World:

  Just in case you got lost in the twelve books and two novellas.

  Our heroines and heroes:

  Kidnapped By Her Husbands/Rescued By Their Wife—Melissa Alexander. Love interests: Cooper, Nolan, Wes, Dane, C.J., and Geoff. Daughter Diana, son Asher, and other younger children.

  Crashing Into Destiny/Reclaiming Their Love—Diana Mallory (daughter of Melissa Alexander & Geoff Mallory, introduced in Kidnapped By Her Husbands). Love interests: Damian, Sterling, Cash, Lewis, & Judge.

  Meeting Them/Loving Them/Saving Them—Paloma Delacroix (best friend of Diana Mallory, mentioned in Crashing Into Destiny). Love interests: Tommy, Clay, Keith, and Quinn Sandler.

  Ship Called Malice—Priscilla. Love interests: River (introduced in Loving Them), Bo, Jordan.

  Dark Demise/Light Unfolding—Waverly Sandler (half-sister of the Sandler brothers on their father’s side, introduced in Saving Them). Love interests: Ari (cousin of the Sandler brothers on their mother’s side, introduced in Meeting Them), Jackson (introduced in Rescued By Their Wife, and seen again in Reclaiming Their Love), Canyon (introduced in Crashing Into Destiny and again in Reclaiming their Love and Saving Them), Rohan (introduced in Reclaiming Their Love and again in Saving Them).

  Still Waters/Rising Tides—Amber Delacroix (introduced in Loving Them and again in Light Unfolding). Love interests: Amari, Hunter & Shane Chen (introduced in Loving Them and again in Light Unfolding).

  Lost Star/Pointed Arrow—Sienna MacKinnon (introduced in Still Waters and Rising Tides). Love interests: Trenton (introduced in Loving Them and again in Light Unfolding and Rising Tides), Wade (introduced in Light Unfolding, Still Waters, and Rising Tides), Blaze (introduced in Light Unfolding), Anders (introduced in Light Unfolding), Corbin (introduced in Light Unfolding), Kellan (introduced in Light Unfolding) and Devil (introduced in Rising Tides).

  The Bad Guys:

  Sandler Cartel (destroyed)

  Garrison Sandler (deceased)

  Evander Corporation (from the other side of the galaxy, bent on world domination for the purpose of commerce, constant changing leaders, creator of Super Soldiers.)

  1 All Good Things

  The small ship we were in jolted in the air, and I held on for dear life, wishing I could be back on the hot, rainy, miserable planet we’d just escaped. Trenton, who was flying the small vessel, didn’t notice my discomfort, nor should he since he was, in fact, saving our lives. His concentration belonged elsewhere. But Wade, who sat strapped in next to me, sure did.

  He leaned forward, taking my hand in his. “Whoever designed and built this thing was obviously not concerned with the dampeners. It sucks.” He side-eyed me. “I might even puke.”

  I highly doubted that. Wade and Trenton were battle scarred, and I doubted that space travel would make either one of them blink an eye in worry. But he was sweet to say that to make me feel better.

  I didn’t miss the way his gaze traveled to the number on my wrist, telling him just how alive the infection inside of me currently was. It hadn’t changed. I was still at a level seven, and that was higher than any of us wanted it to be.

  “I think it’s more likely they were repaired badly.” Trenton rolled his eyes. “We’re not spending a minute more on this thing than we have to. As soon as I can get parts to repair her, I’m going back for the ship.”

  I cared about Artemis. Somehow, in the few days I’d been conscious on her, I’d really come to feel fond of the old lady. But I cared about who we had just left there a lot more. Without people on it, a ship was really just a ship. Wasn’t it? What did I know? I’d only been consciously aware of being in space for a matter of about a week. Or maybe less. Time was becoming something I lost track of regularly. It changed from planet to planet, ship to ship, space station to space station. In any case, it didn’t matter.

  I was missing five people who should have been here with us.

  Blaze, he led everyone with so little thought to himself. Anders, he was sweet inside and a caretaker despite that not being his role in life. Kellan, he didn’t see how he was kind because he was trained to see that as a fault. Corbin, he knew how to fix everything and wanted to be there for everyone. And finally Devil, he had not started out with them but came to join us because he wanted to be with me, because he wanted redemption for the life he’d lived before he’d started over. He was smart and kind, even if he didn’t know it.

  All of them were somewhere else, not with us. Raising my free hand, I bit down on my thumbnail. “I’m asking again, how can we just leave them?”

  “Because Blaze told us to.” Trenton didn’t look up. “And the general agreement all seven of us have is that we are putting you above everything else. I assure you, I won’t rest until we have them back from wherever they are. If they’re hiding down there, then le
t’s assume there is really a good reason for it. If they’ve been captured or killed, then we have to run. But we’re not abandoning them. We’re just regrouping once we have you safe.”

  I was so sick of being the reason they were constantly at risk, and I was even more annoyed at having absolutely nothing to contribute except as someone they could make love to or make out with when it was safe. Not that I hadn’t really enjoyed that. I absolutely had. But it couldn’t be my only role. That was pathetic.

  Clearing their emotional pain wasn’t particularly useful right now, and I had no one to zap.

  I let go of Wade’s hand, smiling at him, and turned back to Trenton as I swung the chair around to face the controls. “What can I do?”

  “Do?” Trenton shot me a quick look I couldn’t decipher. “You want to help fly?”

  “Yes. What if the two of you were suddenly rendered unconscious? How would I fly? Can I help make it less bumpy?”

  Wade leaned back in his chair. “You’re nicer than me. I’m not offering to help.”

  “I noticed.” Trenton laughed. “Okay, Sienna. You want to fly? I’d love the help. Put your hands on the two buttons like I am. They’re not push buttons; you have to rotate them. Do you understand?”

  I actually did. I held on to it. Funny, I could feel the ship differently when I touched the controls. As though it moved through my hands while my body continued to bounce in the rough turbulence.

  “I’m not going to let you fly right this second. Too much instability until we exit the atmosphere and head into space. Then I’m going to haul ass to Mars Station. But hold on to the controls with me so you can feel what I do. You should get the sensation of what I’m doing as I’m doing it. This is a teaching trick on vessels like this one. Artemis is different. But we’ll start with this.”

  Wade rose, holding on to his chair but seeming really unconcerned with what was happening, which only added to my already solid belief that he really wasn’t as freaked out as I had been from the bouncing.

  “I’m going to go check out the medical supply situation here. I left most of our stuff on Artemis locked up in a fridge. I didn’t want to risk losing all of it. Hope that wasn’t a huge mistake.”

  That meant that he was concerned about me and the looming seven on my wrist. I was worried about it, too, but less so every day than I had been on day one with it. At this point, the last thing I needed to worry about was the viral number and my complete inability to control it.

  Wade abruptly stopped, lifting up his tablet. “I’ve got contact.”

  “Who is it?” Trenton still didn’t turn to look.

  Wade scrolled his fingers over the screen. “It’s Kellan.”

  “Is he okay? Where is he?” The ship jerked as Trenton pulled us clear, the turbulence fading as we broke orbit. He still hadn’t taken his eyes off of the control panel. I swung around to fully regard Wade, releasing the controls. I’d get back to it. I wanted to see Wade’s face. He was better at hiding things with his voice than his facial expressions.

  He chewed on his lower lip. Not a good sign. “They’re taken. He got a message out before they grabbed their devices. Says to dump the tablets.”

  Trenton swung around, letting go of the controls. “Take mine. Put them out the airlock. Evander took all of them. How did that happen? Our guys are better.”

  I loved that he was so confident about them. It filled me with warmth for a second before cold took me over. Evander had them? Didn’t that mean they would soon be dead? “Trade me.” I spoke the words fast. “Give me to them.”

  “No,” they both answered quickly, and I wanted to throw something. Why was it so constantly the case that everyone else could risk themselves for me and not the other way around?

  “You know what? I have some fucking self-determination.” Yep, I’d cursed. “Maybe if I say that I want to go trade myself for people that I have—in a short period of time—grown to deeply care about, then that is exactly what I want to do.”

  Wade shook his head. “Sorry, Sienna. I know this goes back to when we didn’t listen to what you wanted. But we are listening. We hear you, and we’re saying no because we deeply care about you. Maybe even more than you do about us, because we’ve all been fighting to keep you alive and safe for a long time. Before you were really conscious to know that.” A muscle pulsed in his jaw. “We’d all die to do that. Don’t lessen their feelings or their sacrifice by insisting on invalidating what we’ve done by throwing yourself in front of the exact people who want you. What they would do with you would be so much worse for the galaxy. Do you understand?”

  I did because they kept repeating that over and over. I knew they were right. I wasn’t an idiot, but neither could I stomach the idea of losing those I cared about in my stead.

  Wade nodded at me as he exited with the tablets, presumably to put them out the airlock. I placed my head in my hands. Okay, I had to think.

  “Trenton, I understand we can’t give me over.” I started with that as I lifted my head.

  He smirked at me. “Trying to pacify my response?”

  “Yes.” Why bother lying? “But hear me out. Could you tell them that if they hurt the guys, then I won’t give myself up? But I will if they agree not to. And then obviously we’re lying and I don’t.” I shook my leg. The ship was steady now, but all I wanted to do was to shake some more, apparently.

  He sighed. “We don’t communicate with Evander. We beat the shit out of them, or we escape them.”

  “Okay, yes. That’s what you’ve been doing. But this is different. There’s one giant ship out there. Looming. Stalking. Fighting. It’s the last one, and yet it seems to be getting stronger, not weaker. Any minute, it might figure out how to break through the black hole and bring reinforcements. But for this second, they’re here and they’re alone. If you could find them, you would bring in a big armada right now and take them down. Do I have that all right?”

  He cleared his throat before he leaned forward and took my hands in his. “You do. You have that all correct.”

  Trenton’s hands were rough, like he’d done a lot of work with them over the years. That was so sexy. I leaned forward before I rose and climbed on his lap. If he thought we were in danger, he’d have been paying me no attention right now. It must be an okay moment. “Then maybe it is time to do something differently. What do you think?”

  He smirked at me. It shouldn’t have been so adorable, but it was. “Are you pressing yourself against me to get me to do what you want?”

  My heart raced. “That’s not the only reason.”

  He threw his head back, laughing. “Sienna, when I get you alone, when Wade isn’t about to walk back in here, and when I’m not responsible for a craft that shouldn’t be flying in space anymore, I will gladly give you whatever you want as I get you naked. Trust me, I am walking around in a perpetual state of hard wanting you. But for now, I have to keep my head in order and not think with my dick. Thank you for trying though. You on my lap is the best thing to happen to me today.”

  “Trenton.” I ran my hands over the scruff on his cheeks. “Thanks for keeping me alive last night.”

  We’d been lost in the rain, and he’d found us shelter. I didn’t want to imagine what would have happened to me without him.

  He nodded. “I’d die to keep you safe.”

  That was quite a statement. “Okay. But please don’t.”

  He cupped my cheek. “I’ll do my very best.” He kissed my chin. “Do me a favor and let Wade look at you. I need to know that you’re as set as we can make you right now. Then we’ll strategize about where we are running in order to regroup. My vote is Mars Station, but I know that’s not your favorite…”