Shipwrecked! Read online

  Almost a year ago, she’d come home with him that night after having too much to drink at the bar. She’d been like fire itself, kissing and caressing him, her hands working feverishly to strip his shirt off. He’d wanted her too, but something felt wrong, so he’d stalled her until she’d passed out. Cursing himself for a fool, he lay down next to her and watched her as she slept. He’d studied her in a way he’d never studied a woman before, and during that bewitching night, he fell in love with all her tiny imperfections. He’d fallen asleep next to her eager for the morning to come when he could have her sober, but when he’d finally awakened, she was gone.

  Later, he’d tried to recapture those feelings of love and longing with other women he’d dated, but it was no use. Morgan was the only one who could make him feel that way. But as happy as that realization had been, it was also a brutal curse, because after that night, Morgan hated him. He’d never been sure exactly why, but he guessed it was because she thought he’d had sex with her while she was passed out.

  Over time, he’d come to accept she didn’t care for him. He’d tease and pick fights with her, if only to get a little of her attention, but losing her was torture. He’d never been able to get her to go out with him again, no matter what he’d said to her.

  “We’re coming in too low,” she said, strapping in next to him. Her voice brought him back to the problem at hand. “You seem a little preoccupied. Worried about Penny?”

  A flash of anger brought heat to his neck. “Who?”

  “You know . . . Penny, the pregnant girl.”

  “What about her? Don’t tell me you think I dated her. Everyone knows that baby is Lacosta’s. Penny’s been seeing him for months.”

  Morgan switched off the autopilot and took her control stick. “She told me once you two dated. I just assumed the baby was yours.”

  “It’s not.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because I never fucked Penny, okay, Morgan?”

  Morgan stared at him. “Temper, temper. It’s just that I know you’ve dated a lot and . . .”

  “Drop it,” Lawless snarled. “Why don’t you focus your energy on helping me land this thing?”

  “Fine,” Morgan said tensely. “Peachy. That’s just great by me.”

  “Good, now why don’t you shut up for a while?”

  Morgan fell into an artic silence, and Lawless knew he won the battle. Unfortunately, the war was just beginning.

  Chapter Eight

  The planet was as lush and green as Earth was blue. As they began their descent, Morgan could see the vast forests and thick jungles. I’ll bet all kinds of animals live on a place like this. What will we find when we land? Adjusting the surface monitor, she hit the magnification button and just stared for a minute. The scanners still hadn’t picked up the other shuttles, and Morgan was worried about the crew members. She sure didn’t want her and Lawless to be the only survivors. She had a lot of friends on that ship.

  “See anything that we could use as a landing sight?”

  Morgan blinked and studied the topography below. “It looks like the only thing around is a long beach.”

  “That’ll do. Where?”

  She pointed to the screen indicating a wide flowing body of water. “Just follow that wide river east.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then Lawless said, “Are you okay?”

  Morgan grinned. “Yeah. Listen, I’m sorry about the Penny thing. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I’m just worried about the others.”

  “Forget it. I’m worried too.”

  “You think they survived?”

  “All we can do is hope. It’s very possible the planet itself is interfering with our scanners.”

  Morgan nodded. The monitor showed the image of a vast and beautiful beach. It looked like it stretched on for miles. The body of water it surrounded was only one of three oceans she’d been able to pick up, and all of them were teeming with life.

  Lawless dropped the shuttle down lower and Morgan watched the tops of the trees whiz past the monitor. Then the beach stretched out before them, and he brought the ship to a smooth landing. Morgan let out the breath she was holding. “That’s some impressive flying.”

  He grunted a “Thanks” and ran a scan of the area around them. There was animal life but nothing else. No people. Lawless opened the hatch and stepped outside with Morgan close behind him.

  The first thing that impressed her was the air. It smelled sweet, like a million flowers were in bloom, and it was slightly humid. The temperature was comfortable enough. She glanced at Lawless, but he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, his eyes were fixed out at the sea. Morgan followed his gaze and her mouth dropped open. There, rising up out of the rough ocean was a creature. It was easily larger than a whale with dark grey skin and two long, narrow heads perched atop two curved necks. Its body was oval with flippers at the front and rear, and its long, narrow tail propelled it through the water with incredible ease. But the most shocking thing wasn’t the animal itself, but what the animal had in its mouth. Wedged within those razor-sharp teeth was a piece of metal from a U.S. shuttle with the words USS Defiant clearly printed on the side.

  Chapter Nine

  “I’m going to have to shut down the generator for the night,” Lawless said. “We need to conserve energy.”

  Morgan nodded and paced outside the shuttle, her arms wrapped tightly around her. A feeling of panic gripped her, and dark thoughts kept racing around her mind. What if we never get off this planet? What if we’re stuck here for the rest of our lives? What if I never see Earth again?

  Lawless came over and leaned against the ship. He lit a cigar and watched her. “Are you all right?”

  She gave him a weak smile. “Sure. I think I just need to get some more sleep.”

  He didn’t appear to be convinced. Looking into his face she noticed there was a small frown pushing down the sides of his mouth. She tried to imagine what he was thinking and drew a blank. The man was a complete mystery to her.

  “You don’t seem very upset by all this.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Morgan. Of course I am.”

  She chaffed at his rebuke. “I’m going in.”

  He grabbed her elbow as she passed stopping her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I guess we’re both a little stressed.”

  Tears stung the corners of her eyes. “I’m terrified.”

  Lawless pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. “I am, too, but we have to stay focused on what we need to do to get out of here. There are some major shipping lanes out there. Someone is bound to find our debris. We’re already overdue to report back to Earth, so hopefully they’ll dispatch some other ships to come looking for us.”

  Morgan slipped out of his embrace and went inside. The interior of the shuttle seemed small and cramped and for a moment she entertained the idea of sleeping outside. Lawless had placed a few pillows and blankets on the floor. They were much too close together for her taste. Crouching, she moved her bedding three feet from his and laid down with her back to him.

  “I wonder what happened to the other shuttles. Do you think one of those creatures in the ocean ate them?” she whispered.

  Lawless didn’t respond. She turned and looked at him. He was studying her quietly like someone might gaze at a beautiful painting. When their eyes met, she was overcome with emotion. All her old desire for him resurfaced, twisting her heart.

  “No. What that creature had in his mouth was a piece of the battleship, not a shuttle. I choose to believe they’re here somewhere on this planet. We’ll find them.”

  Morgan felt a little better. He must be right—they’d find the others. “Goodnight, Lawless.”

  “It would be a better one if you were closer,” he said with a mischievous chuckle.

  “Forget it.”

  Chapter Ten

  Morgan woke up early in the morning just as the sun was rising. Lawless was still slee
ping soundly, and she didn’t have the heart to wake him. Creeping around the shuttle, she made some coffee and tried to drink a cup, but it was no use. She just couldn’t stand the stuff. What she would give for a cup of cocoa.

  Her stomach rumbled. Morgan dug through her rations and pulled out a small package of crackers. She set some aside for Lawless and ate her portion slowly knowing they might be the last solid meal she’d be eating in a while. Unfortunately, their rations would last only a few days. She was going to have to learn how to hunt. The prospect did nothing to lift her spirits. Morgan hated the thought of harming anything, but she had to eat.

  She wondered if Lawless knew how to hunt. Glancing back inside, she studied his rugged features and concluded that she’d be surprised if he didn’t. He was very manly and definitely seemed like the kind of guy who’d hunted and fished before. She hoped her hunch was right.

  Morgan felt a little guilty about being so hard on him. She guessed she was wary of him because she liked him so much. Strangely enough, there were aspects of his personality that reminded her of her father. She’d loved her father very much and had never forgiven him for dying on her. The sting of that morning when he’d died came to life in her memory. In her mind, she heard the deafening thump on his bedroom floor, and later the doctor’s diagnosis of a fatal stroke. Her father had been her best friend. He’d been a career officer in the Fleet—just like Lawless—and had moved her all over the galaxy. Her mother had died when Morgan was young, so her father was the only family she had. She smiled remembering how driven he was, working like a fiend to move up in rank so they’d always have enough money. The Fleet was his life and through his passion, it became hers as well.

  Her father had volunteered for some of the most dangerous duty stations in the galaxy and had taken outrageous risks to move up. For most of his career, his strategy worked. He moved up quickly and became the poster child for Fleet success. Then age caught up with him. The fleet was a young man’s game, and her father was creeping up onto sixty-five. Then, one day the brass decided to force him to retire. Her father was devastated.

  Most men would have turned bitter, but not her dad. From that moment on, he’d focused all his energy and ambition into her. He pushed her to join the Fleet at a young age, encouraged her through the rigorous training, and had been there through all of it. All except the end.

  She heard Lawless move up behind her. He gave off a warm animalistic scent that she found very arousing. He sat down and glanced at her full cup of coffee. “I thought you hated coffee,” he said.

  “I do.” She sighed. “But it’s all we have.”

  Lawless grinned. “I wouldn’t say that.” He pulled a box of powdered cocoa out of his navy jacket.

  Morgan’s mouth dropped open. “Where did you find that?”

  “I grabbed it off the mess deck on my way to rescue you from the bridge. With all the excitement, I’d forgotten about it until now.”

  She couldn’t think of a thing to say. She stared at the cocoa confused by the mixture of emotions that swirled inside her. She was so overjoyed she wanted to lunge for the box. “That was very nice of you, Lawless,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “I thought so too.”

  “You’re not going to ask for anything in return?”

  Lawless thought for a long time. “Only whatever you’re willing to give me.”

  Morgan took the box from his hand. She was about to stand up and walk away then hesitated. Leaning over, she kissed him on the mouth. The feel of his lips was a narcotic in her blood, and before she realized what she was doing, that innocent kiss turned into a scorching inferno. Lawless drank in her affection, pulling her into a hungry embrace. He smelled good and gave off a heady scent of soap and male pheromones. Her attraction was all instinct, and it took everything she had to fight off the urge to seduce him. Instead, she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back, breaking the kiss.

  Morgan blinked, trying to regain her bearings. She’d been with a few men before, but no one had ever made her feel like this. She gestured awkwardly to the shuttle. “I’m . . . um . . . going to make this.”

  His smile was all-sexual heat. “You do that. I hope you enjoy.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Lawless waited until late afternoon before he tried to use the transmitter. To save power, he only sent out Morse code with the coordinates of where they were. Hopefully someone from the Defiant would pick up their transmission. He kept the message running in a loop for an hour then shut it down.

  He made his way down to the beach where Morgan was sitting, watching the waves lap the shore. This alien ocean was a strange but beautiful sight. The water was warm and rich with life. Thick-bodied fish jumped out of the waves struggling with the current as large vulturelike birds swooped down to catch them with their jagged claws. Far off in the distance, great ocean beasts rose up out of the water, their pale blue flesh glistening in the sun. A few webbed clouds moved lazily across the pale blue sky.

  Lawless sat next to her. A thin homemade spear and a flimsy looking net made from vines lay on the sand nearby. “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Trying to catch fish, or what passes for them on this planet.” She glanced down at the spear. “Unfortunately, I’m not having much luck.”

  “I’ll tell you what. I’ll catch the food if you cook it.”

  “I don’t know,” Morgan said with the hint of a grin. “That sounds kind of sexist to me.”

  “That’s the deal, take it or leave it.”

  “Okay, but may I ask what you’re planning to catch?”

  “I can’t tell you. It would ruin the surprise. Besides I have the advantage of being an experienced hunter. I used to go with my buddies every season when I wasn’t deployed.”

  “Okay, you win. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

  * * * *

  Morgan followed Lawless into a small patch of brush. Situated in the middle of a clearing were a few larger trees as tall as pine. Morgan shielded her eyes and looked up to where the trees stretched high in the sky. “Are you going up there?” she asked, “Because that looks really high up.”

  Lawless smiled trying to look confident. He wished she hadn’t mentioned the height. He didn’t like heights much, but he kept his expression neutral so she wouldn’t pick up on his nervousness. “I know but we don’t have a whole lot of options anymore. We’re not going to be able to stay alive on those puny protein rations.”

  “There’s still the fish.”

  “We can always fish, but if I can reach that nest up there,” he said pointing to a particularly high branch, “I can get us some eggs.”

  Morgan chewed her lip. He could tell she suspected he was full of macho courage. “Okay,” she said. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Just wait down here, and if I slip, try to break my fall.”

  “That’s really not funny, Lawless,” she said flatly. “You’d better not get yourself killed and leave me here alone.”

  Lawless began climbing. The first few branches were thick and easy to get a foothold, but things became a little hairier the higher he went. After a dangerous ascent, he finally reached the branch where the nest was. Wrapping one arm around the trunk, he reached into the nest and touched one of the large round eggs.

  “Jon,” Morgan screamed, breaking his concentration. “Look out!” Her voice startled a few tiny birds nearby and a sudden flutter of wings filled the air as they took flight.

  Lawless was about to ask her what she was yelling about when he found out for himself. Following the ear-piercing screech, he was assaulted by a barrage of claws and feathers. The bird’s nails dug into the flesh of his hand, causing him to let go of the eggs and almost lose his balance. With a high-pitched cry, the creature flapped off and prepared for another attack. As it climbed high in the sky, he could see it was one of the vulturelike birds he’d seen catching fish by the shore. It was a massive creature with black and white feathers and a vicious hooked bea
k. The vulture dove at him again claws outstretched. The impact was harder this time as the bird slammed into him. Lawless had to fight to keep his hold on the tree. Deciding that he wasn’t hungry enough to risk his life, he took the next lull in the attack to begin as quick a descent as he could manage. More than once, he was sure he was going to fall.

  The fowl came at him, growing angrier by the moment. Morgan’s voice took on a note of hysteria. “Jon! Get the hell out of there!”

  He wanted to answer her, to tell her everything was okay and not to panic, but it took all his concentration not to lose his footing. The bird attacked again, this time digging its claws into his back and tearing through his shirt and into his flesh. It seemed intent on dragging him off the trunk and dropping him to the ground below. The only thing preventing the creature’s success was his weight. Enraged, Lawless swatted at the bird, determined to drive it off. Lawless felt himself lose his grip on the tree trunk. A moment of terror filled him as he realized he was going into a freefall. With his last ounce of strength, he seized the vulture around the neck and hung on. The creature screeched out its fury as the two of them tumbled to the ground together.