Origin by Dani Worth Read Free Book Online Page B

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    I had no idea what they were talking about but I could gather enough to understand that they’d discovered Saturna blew up my home and that my former owner had something to do with it. “What do we do about him?”
    “Lashin?” Anders asked.
    I nodded.
    “We?” Clay asked, nudging me with his shoulder.
    This time I didn’t answer. It might have been presumptuous but I felt a part of this somehow. I don’t know if it was because they’d rescued me and made me a short part of their lives or if it had more to do with the good memories I still retained about my home. “Do we need to go after him?”
    “I’d like to. It might take some time to figure out where he went.”
    “What about continuing on to Burga One like originally planned? By the way, that’s no small mining camp like Jacks thought. The whole place is one big mining operation. Most of the crew has been there. Said it’s rough.” Anders slid out of the booth and walked to the simulator. He programmed two tubes of something and came back to the table. He handed one to me. “It’s fruit juice.”
    I nodded my thanks and sipped cautiously. This time, I liked the flavor.
    “We should take her home first,” Clay answered, glancing at me.
    They were both quiet then and I knew I should say something, I just wasn’t sure what. Did I want to extend my stay with them? The more I considered it, the more I realized I did. I truly liked these men, was curious about their ship and what they did and more than anything, I wanted to see Lashin get what was coming to him.
    “I don’t mind staying on the ship longer if it will help. And if Lash…my owner was responsible for what happened to my family, my planet, then I want him to pay.”
    Clay nodded. “We’ll change course then. I’ll check in with Jacks to see if they’ve found any more information—” He broke off when Lia came on over the speaker.
    “That Vala woman just sent a message saying we needed to turn on the screens.”

Chapter Five
    The whole crew gathered on the bridge to watch as the news about those responsible for Kithra’s explosions shot across every media outlet in every galaxy. The whole thing felt surreal to me because I’d been taken from my home years before the explosions. I’d mourned when my owner showed the vids of Kithra’s demise, mourned to the point of breaking because even though I didn’t remember my parents, I remembered their love, remembered feeling safe there. I’d held on to the hope of home. Seeing the explosions took the last of my hope away.
    The media went crazy as it tried to take in all the information. News of fleeing Saturna partners rivaled that of the vids of the explosions. Ones I didn’t care to watch again.
    Instead, I looked around the bridge.
    It was the roomiest section of the ship I’d seen so far. There were two pilot seats in the front and two rows of seats behind them. The front was one huge window and the sides of the room held monitors and gadgets I supposed made everything run. Speero was in the pilot seat and he gave me a friendly smile before turning back to his vid charts.
    I met Lia and had to struggle to hide my surprise. She’d sounded bigger, more powerful outside my door, and I’d pictured someone entirely different than the diminutive alien female. She was humanoid, but stood less than five feet tall, had spiky white hair and huge eyes with orange pupils. She moved with an odd, fluid grace—almost like she glided.
    “Woohoo, those assholes are finally gonna get what they deserve!”
    Her yell made me flinch and want to cover my ears. Such a loud voice to come out of such a tiny body.
    A man as massive as Juniper came onto the bridge. My eyes went wide as he had to turn slightly to fit through the wide door. He had nice features—kind of ordinary, really—with light brown hair and dark eyes. But from his neck down, he was thick. Thick muscles, wide shoulders and thighs. He walked to Lia and ran his hand over her