Read Online Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) by Bevan Greer - Free Book Online Page A

sensed she remained unaware of it.
    Before he could say anything, the door to the cell slammed open. He was roughly pulled from his chair and slammed against a wall, held in place by two gigantic thirst demons. Lord Demise stood behind them, staring in distaste at Naria.
    “I had a feeling you two might like each other,” he said pleasantly, while an unholy gleam lit his eyes. “I’m rarely wrong.”
    Naria stared at Demise with fire in her eyes. “What do you want with him? Why can’t you just let him go?”
    She sounded more angry than scared, and Jace was conscious of strange undercurrents running between the demon lord and his beautiful prisoner.
    Demise stared at her a moment, then struck her full in the face with one large, finely boned hand. Naria stumbled back but quickly righted herself. Jace opened his inner senses to help defend her but instead witnessed a tremendous mental display. Demise barraged Naria with a bombardment of mental strikes Jace could sense on the psychic plane, only to come up against her large mental shield.
    Again and again he pried at her mind while Jace watched, unable to interfere without possibly hindering Naria’s defense. The sheer amount of power flowing in the cell made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Even the thirst demons let him go and backed away, watching their master but not moving to distract him.
    Naria began to shake, then seized in great jerks. Jace longed to help her but knew he would only do more harm than good while she engaged so deeply with Demise. Her forehead beaded until rivulets of sweat ran down her face, marring her already dirty cheeks with a combination of sweat and tears. She cried out and clutched her head, then fell to the ground in a heap, finally losing consciousness.
    Before Jace could reach her, Demise’s minions hauled Naria out of the cell.
    Demise turned to Jace, a knowing look on his face. “She’s quite beautiful isn’t she?” Jace said nothing.
    “You want her. Perhaps in exchange for some information, I could give her to you. I believe the foolish girl may actually be attracted to you.” Demise taunted, as he normally did. But Jace thought he caught a hint of some deeper feeling in Demise’s words.
    “There is nothing to tell. I’m nobody.” Compassion for Naria warred with his need to remain a mystery. More than his life was at stake. The existence of Mystique must never be questioned or discovered, and not by a creature as evil and chaotic as Lord Demise.
    “That really is too bad,” Demise said. “Because now I’ll be forced to terminate your crew’s lives that much sooner. I don’t think you realize how badly I want to know about you, Jace.”
    Jace allowed nothing to show on his face, but inside he quaked with fear. He’d lied to Naria when saying he had no family or close ties. His crew was his family . He’d been with Castor longer than the others, but even though they were a fairly new crew, he’d bonded with them deeper than he’d thought possible.
    “I’ll give you a little time to think things over, shall I? After all, it’s clear you’re not thinking straight after that heated bit of affection.” Demise gave him a knowing look.
    Damn. Kissing her had been a foolish thing to do. Of course Demise had been watching them. What had he been thinking? And that was the problem. He hadn’t been thinking. Instead he’d followed his emotions, his instincts.
    “She’s a beautiful woman.” Jace shrugged, as if Naria’s impact on his senses were no more than a physical response.
    “That she is,” Demise said in a low voice. “Too bad you don’t want her enough. Such a waste to let a ripe piece of woman go to my men when you could have her instead.”
    Jace felt torn but couldn’t let Demise win. Even at the expense of Naria’s life, of his crew’s, hell, his own, he couldn’t disclose information of Mystique or the Psi.
    “Perhaps a visit to your crew might convince you to rethink things.”