Page 2 of Taking Jenny
“You didn’t know Deacon either before you boarded his ship,” he gently pointed out of our initial ridetoHalla.
She let out a nervous laugh. “True. But there were more of you Ladrians on that trip. If something went wrong, I knew I could call for help.”
A pause stretched before he replied, “What do you mean?”
“You know, if one of his men had been inappropriate, someone else could’ve stepped in.”
“Why would Deacon’s men be inappropriate?” he asked, sounding confused, especially considering Deacon’s high position of power on Halla. He was also one of Sarah’s companions.
“Because when some men get a woman alone, they do…terrible things,” she said, exasperated.
“I don’t follow.”
“Assault,Tiger,” she said sharply. “Sometimes men assault women when they’re alone with them. That’s why I avoid being alone with men I don’t know. So yeah, I’m nervous around you.”
“I…You think…” He sounded horrified and completely flustered. “Oh gods, I could never—I’ll stay in the cockpit for the whole flight. You can go wherever you want on the ship. I won’t bother you.”
Then his footsteps retreated, fast and furious.
It hadn’t even occurred to him—until she spelled it out. His reaction made me pause. Was he really that naive?
He must’ve been. And maybe younger than he looked? It was impossible to guess a Ladrian’s age. They all looked like immortal warriors sculpted by starlight. But whatever his age, I found it…sweet. And honestly, reassuring. Maybe things like that didn’t happen as often in Ladrian culture. Maybe they didn’t grow up learning to fear each other in that way.
I stretched out on the oversized bed in the cabin—well,Ladrian-sized, which made it perfect for starfishing—and let my mind drift.
So much had changed so quickly and it was a lot to process. Sarah was now queen of Halla and led an elite force of priestess warriors known as conduits. They could see and speak to ghosts. A fact I’d once dismissed as superstition…until I finally confessed to my siblings that I saw them too.
Elizabeth had admitted the same.
According to our mother and Sarah, our ghost-seeing abilities came from our father’s bloodline—a man none of us had ever met. I’d always thought he didn’t want us, but the truth was more complicated. While our mother had been human, our father was a Ladrian, and his family was dangerous. He’d stayed away to protect us.
After everything that had happened since Deacon’s crew arrived on Earth and turned our world upside down, I needed rest and sleep found me quickly.
When I woke, the ship had landed.
Peeking out the window, I recognized the neighborhood—Elizabeth’s house, my beat-up Jeep still parked in front from the night we met the Ladrians. We’d just sat down to dinner when they’d knocked on her door. I imagined the sausage and rice was rotting on her kitchen table by now, though I had no idea how many days had passed on Earth. Time flowed differently on Halla. My sister Sarah said she’d been there for only a few months, but for us, she’d been gone a full year.
Elizabeth said her goodbyes loudly, almost as if Tiger hadn’t walked her to the door of the ship and was honoring his word to keep his distance. As soon as the hatch whooshed closed andSovereignlifted off again, my pulse kicked up. This was it. No turning back.
I didn’t want to reveal myself until we were far from Earth. I was afraid Tiger might tell Sarah, and Sarah would demand I be brought back—especially if we were still close enough to turn around. My sisters were protective, and Sarah had enough on her plate without me sneaking onto covert missions, but I loved adventure and spending time alone with Tiger was an added bonus.
So I waited. Two hours into the flight, I slipped out of the bedroom, my bare feet silent on the floor. I didn’t want to scare him…but there was really no non-scary way to suddenly appear on someone’s spaceship when they thought they were alone.
I crept to the cockpit, heart pounding. Tiger sat at the controls, his gaze focused on the starlit view outside the ship’s main window. His black uniform hugged his frame like it had been painted on, and despite the situation, I couldn’t help noticing the way his shoulders flexed with every tiny adjustment he made to the ship’s console.
But then I looked past him—out the window—and everything else fell away.
Stars. Nebulas. Clouds of pink and lavender gas swirling in the black. The endless curve of a ringed planet, glowing in the distance. Space stretched out like an infinite dream, and I was completely swept away by the beauty of it all.
“It’s so pretty,” I breathed.
Startled by my voice, Tiger jumped. Hard. He slammed his knee into the dashboard and some Ladrian expletive popped out of his mouth. Clutching his leg, he spun around, wide-eyed as he stared at me.
“Stars above, what are you doing here?!”
CHAPTER 2
Tiger
