Shield [New World Book 1] Read Online Free Page A

eyes, Grace reacted. Without thought she screamed at the man to run, but it was too late. Chase grabbed Dustin and zapped him with the stun gun.
    “For mutiny,” Chase ground out.
    Dustin sank to the ground.
    “How could you?” Grace screamed. “We have no idea where we are and you killed an unarmed man.”
    “You all saw him charge me and Adams,” Chase replied calmly. “He would have killed us all.”
    “But you stopped him from being a threat,” Stacie argued. “You murdered him in cold blood. I’ll testify to that. They must have laws on Ulsy.”
    Chase glared at her and looked around. The man who had been giving food and water to Stacie wasn’t among them. The captain grinned at Stacie then and moved forward toward her, fists balled. Stacie paled and took a step back. Grace maneuvered herself in front of her. She put her hands up on Chase’s chest. Adams stepped forward as well.
    “You have no idea what the real laws of Ulsy are.” Chase sneered.
    “Chase, we have a bigger issue here,” Adams said. “We have no idea where we are and the part of the console that ripped off is in the other half of the shuttle. Our communication is severed. We have no way to contact Ulsy.”
    “We need to find the other half,” Chase said.
    He then looked down at Grace and gripped her wrists. He yanked her closer and kissed her hard.
    Grace struggled and fought him. The kiss broke when Chase jerked forward and howled.
    Stacie had hit him with a large branch across his back. Chase took a swing at her, but Stacie dodged him. She spun and fled into the brush with four others following her. Grace turned to join them, but Chase grabbed her again.
    “Oh no,” he snarled. “You’re mine. I chose you as my reward for good service.”
    Again Grace struggled against him wondering what on earth he meant. Did he think because he saved people with his shuttle, people on Ulsy would turn a blind eye to confinement and rape? Oh God, would they? Once again Grace wondered what she had gotten into. A scream in the foliage stopped them all. Grace whimpered, when she remembered what Adams had said about creatures on Ulsy. There could be creatures here, too. What happened to Adams’ niece?
    Chase pulled her away from the shuttle with Adams trailing.
    Grace was hard-pressed to match the large man’s stride but she had no choice. Grace was yanked through thick vegetation. Everything was so different from Earth. Never before had she seen trees so tall or this cream-colored shade. The leaves looked prehistoric they were so large. Off to her right, Grace gasped when she saw what looked like a red frog. The thing was about half a foot in size and when it opened its mouth, she saw jagged sharp teeth—a forked tongue flicked out.
    A screeching noise captured their attention and they all looked up. A bird with an eight-foot wingspan soared overhead. The creature was feathered on top, while its underside was slick as a dolphin. It squawked again with a big beak and had flaming colors of black and orange. It dropped lower and hissed at them.
    Chase dragged her faster.
    “You’re hurting me,” Grace snapped and yanked at Chase’s hand. “This aimless running is pointless, you big coward.”
    They stopped abruptly and Chase tossed her to the ground.
    Grace was breathing heavily; she rubbed at her aching wrist. She glared up at Chase then over to Adams. “So much for your crew,” she said.
    “We’ll find the others,” Chase said. He rubbed at his back. “Whatever scared your little friend must have been big. Hopefully it was a painful death.”
    “You’re a cruel man,” Grace said.
    “I’m a very strong man,” he countered. “I’m thinking you’re going to be very pleased when I keep you safe from the dangerous things around here. And it looks like there may be a lot of them.”
    “I doubt it,” she countered back. “The only dangerous thing I see is you.”
    Chase pulled her to her feet. “You better get used to