Page 4 of Warped

I’ll do anything he wants—anything at all—just as long as he gets me off this planet in one piece.

“So tell me,” Rek says, as we continue walking. “Is your name really Binx?”

“It’s a nickname,” I tell him. “But I usually spell it with just one X, not three like on my profile. My real name is Bianca, but all my friends call me Binx.”

That’s another lie, but a smaller one.

My real nameisBianca, that part is true, but the only person who ever called me Binx was my father. That’s why I used it on my WarpSeekers profile. So the bad people who’re after me wouldn’t recognize it.

Same reason I used a fake picture.

I’m glad Rek is being so forgiving about that. He doesn’t realize it, but he’s my savior. I won’t be truly safe until I’m aboard his ship and through the Warpgate, but simply being in his presence is already making me feel a whole lot better.

“What about you?” I ask. “Is your name really Rek?”

“Yep, but don’t let the name fool you. I’ve been warping for almost twenty cycles, and I haven’twreckedonce.”

He flashes a smile that makes me feel a little weak in the knees.

“Actually, Rek’s just a nickname,” he goes on. “My full name is Rekhard.”

I offer a smile of my own.

“Wreckhard?” I tease. “Oh my, that’s even worse.”

“I know,” he chuckles. “Don’t worry, though. I’m not the pilot. That’s Traven’s job. I’m just the navigator.”

Oh God. That’s right.

There aretwoof them.

I’d almost forgotten that not-so-little detail of the arrangement. These guys don’t like to bring multiple companions with them. They prefer to share. From what I saw on the WarpSeekers website, that’s a pretty common trait among warpers. A way of saving money, I guess.

As the companion on Rek and Traven’s ship, I’ll be expected to service both of them whenever and however they want. I may even have to service both of them at the same time.

The mere thought makes my heart race with anxiety. Will I be able to handle two men at once? Twobigmen?

“Over here…”

Rek places a huge hand against the small of my back and guides me toward a gate at the edge of the sidewalk. Normally, I don’t like it when men try to steer me like that. It feels like they want to control me. But when Rek does it, it feels different…protective.

If his partner Traven is even half as nice as Rek is, I might actually make it through this ordeal.

There’s a scanner next to the gate. Rek raises his right hand and scans a sigil-code that’s tattooed on the back of it. He has another, bigger tattoo encircling his upper arm. A strange,swirling pattern drawn in metallic purple ink. I’ve always secretly had a thing for guys with tats, even though I’ve never actually been with one before.

I guess that’s about to change.

After a few seconds, the scanner beeps, and the gate slides open. The tunnel beyond is quiet after the noise and bustle of the crowded street, and the wheels of my suitcase rattle softly on the smooth, hard floor.

After a short walk, we emerge into a large, open-air pit about five or six stories deep. The circular walls of the pit are covered in scorched metal panels, and thick black cables snake across the ground to the bottom of the big Warpship dominating the center of the space.

“There it is,” Rek says proudly. “The Nomad.”

My first thought is that the craft looks like an upright metal egg perched on a cylindrical base. Then I look closer, and I realize it’s not perfectly symmetrical. There are two slight bulges near the bottom. Two lobes that make it resemble the head of a penis. As I watch, a door opens in the middle of the upside-down V where the two lobes come together, and a ramp swings down to the ground, offering access to the ship’s interior.

“Those two bumps contain the ship’s main gravity generators,” Rek explains, as if reading my mind. “One’s for propulsion. The other one produces an artificial gravity field inside the ship, so we can walk around freely while we’re traveling through the Warp.”

He gestures toward the boarding ramp in front of us.

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