Kaitlyn O'Connor (4 page)

* * * *

A jolt went through Loren when she discovered they
‟
d left the auction area completely, but it wasn
‟
t entirely for that reason. The aliens she saw standing in the corridor, apparently waiting for the creature, shocked her into silence.

They were massive on an entirely different scale than the creature who was deluded enough he thought he
‟
d just bought her. They looked as if they must be every bit of seven feet tall—they were certainly a hell of a lot taller than the average six feet she was accustomed to! And whereas her „master
‟
was more like a ball with two arms and two legs, the pair of yellow skinned aliens looked like weightlifters, massively muscular.

15

The discovery that they were nearly as naked as she was shattered the comforting cocoon of shock almost as instantaneously as it descended over her. Beyond the leather-looking thing that cupped their genitals and looked like something a male stripper might wear, they were completely exposed—their feet, legs, torso and massive arms „blindingly
‟
bare. In a state of shock that made it almost impossible to assimilate what she was staring at, she gaped without a great deal of comprehension at the massive musculature of the beings, vaguely noting numerous scars at every stage from pale and knotted with age to fresh and angry red against their yellowish skin. They were tattooed, she thought, but the darkened designs on their massive chests didn
‟
t look like anything nature would
‟
ve created.

“Take female and put in harem. I go back and look for another one or two, I tink. You come back din and guard.” He frowned thoughtfully. “No. You send Pin, Uster, Balen, and Mateo.

Gods damned pirates try rob me udderwise.”

That comment pierced her shock and Loren turned to stare at the creature in disbelief as he turned and abandoned her. Harem? Her belly knotted with a mixture of fear and revulsion, but she struggled to blank her mind to the implications. He couldn
‟
t
possibly
think he could….

A hand settled on her arm that was big enough it engulfed
most
of her upper arm. She stared at the hand for a long, blank moment, and then looked up at the owner of the hand, discovering with a fresh jolt of surprise that, despite his size and his coloring, he looked human in the face.

His features were sharp and his bone structure angular, but it was a surprisingly handsome face for all that.

It took her several moments to realize that he was studying her with an equal intensity.

“Come.”

Loren gulped, struggling to call to mind some kind argument to escape the fate that apparently awaited her. “I
‟
m not supposed to be here,” she said in a squeaky voice.

His gaze flickered over her face. She thought she saw a flicker of pity, but she saw something else, as well—interest, sexual interest and it made her mouth go dry and her knees go weak. “You slave as we are. You no choose. Must,” he said in a deep voice that matched the massive scale of the man and sent a shiver down her spine.

She was too awed and too unnerved to try again. She didn
‟
t try to struggle when he tugged at her arm to get her going. The other one fell into step on her other side and she glanced up at his face finally and discovered that he was looking down at her with interest, as well. Surprise went through her to discover that he was more handsome than the first…actually, handsome in a different way. The first was attractive in a purely male way—his face and features appealing in their strength. The second was still manly, but more „pretty
‟
. As absurd as it seemed to think it, even to her, the thought crossed her mind that he was „classically
‟
handsome.

If not for the size of them, and the color of their skin…and the strange little nubs that ran up their arms and the columns of their necks…and the thin, feathery membranes at wrist, elbow and calf that looked like fins—they might almost have passed for humans. They had hair—long and inky black and worn gathered in a tight „pony tail
‟
that fell from the crown of their heads all the way to their shoulder blades—but it looked like her own hair.

Actually, their eyes weren
‟
t like human eyes either except in shape.

“Pretty little ting. Your people all little like you?” the second one asked curiously.

She blinked at him in surprise, finding once again that she had to „interpret
‟
, for although the words sounded like English in her ears, his accent was thick and the sentence structure choppy.

16

Her face heated when she realized he
‟
d said she was pretty and then whitened as it dawned on her that he was…flirting. At least, she thought he was, and it was hard to convince herself he wasn
‟
t given the way he was looking at her and the comment together. “I haven
‟
t seen a lot of men as tall as you two,” she said finally, or as massive!

“Look like tiny Hirachi woman…„cept dis hair and dis skin.”

Apparently he noticed that she wasn
‟
t especially happy with the comment.

“I like. Is pretty. Different, still pretty.”

He was an attractive male even if he was an alien, but his size unnerved the hell out of her.

Not
that she thought he was going to get the chance to hump her as he so clearly wanted to when the hideously repulsive creature that had bought her had told them to put her in his harem! And if that had been her only options—him or the fish-man—she would certainly have chosen him! But she didn
‟
t even want to
think
about what might be lying coiled like a cobra in his loincloth when it seemed likely he was completely proportional!

Unfortunately, it didn
‟
t seem to have occurred to him that her genitals were
also
proportional to her size!

In all honesty, she thought his size would
‟
ve unnerved her without that possibility thrown into the mix. He looked big enough and strong enough to break something purely by accident and she didn
‟
t want any part of her body broken or mangled!

That being the case, she didn
‟
t reciprocate even though it popped into her mind that it would be polite to tell him that she didn
‟
t find him repulsive either—terrifying, but not repulsive. She smiled at him a little weakly instead of thanking him for the compliment. “You
‟
re…Hirachi?”

she asked tentatively. “You aren
‟
t from this world, then?”

“Dis no world. Big habitat in space.”

She
‟
d thought it must be a space station and she was still dismayed. If it had at least been on some planet she might have had the option of escaping and running—and probably dying because she had no clue of how to survive, but it was deeply disturbing to think she didn
‟
t have
any
options.

“We Hirachi. Captured on Ach, brought here, sold. Master buy to fight. Am Dakaar. Shy one Kael,” he added, pointing to his companion.

Loren transferred her gaze from Dakaar to the „shy one
‟
and discovered that he was giving Dakaar a narrow eyed look.
“She is a slave, as we are,”
he said tightly.
“What are you about?If
you want to keep your manhood, you’ll do well to ignore your cock’s interest in the little one.

You don’t need it to fight.”

Dakaar flushed.
“The poor little thing is scared to death,”
he retorted angrily.
“Who does it
hurt to try to calm her fears?”

“Her!”
Kael retorted tightly.
“She has every reason to be frightened. You aren’t doing her a
good turn to allay those fears when she is destined for the master’s harem.”

Dakaar looked as sick as he felt.
“Why would he want her for…that?”
he demanded, hesitating over the term since it made him feel sicker to think of that creature pawing her.
“It’s
clear she’s far more like us, despite her size, than she is his species.”

“He isn’t interested in breeding,”
Kael said sourly, “
any more than you are.”

“There’s where you’re wrong,”
Dakaar growled.
“My time is close and I cannot think of
much else!”

17

Kael studied him thoughtfully for a long moment and finally shifted his gaze to the woman.
“Gods!”
he muttered.
“That wily bastard has bought her to tease us. I thought it strange
that he sent us to take her back when he claimed he had need of guards!”

Dismay flickered through Dakaar, and then a wild hope that he didn
‟
t dare dwell upon let alone voice.
“He couldn’t know we’re nearing our spawning time, could he?”

Kael snorted derisively.
“He is no fool. He would’ve discovered what he could about us
when he bought us. You may be sure of that.”

“Mayhap…?”

“Don’t say it! Don’t even think it! She is a pretty little thing, but when have you known
Lecur to do anything that was not something for his own comfort or to increase his wealth?”

“What
‟
s going on?” Loren asked uneasily, unable to follow the conversation since they
‟
d switched to another language. She could tell the „shy
‟
one Dakaar had called Kael was angry, however.

“Not mind him,” Dakaar said tightly. “Has only two moods—angry and foul.”

Despite everything, Loren felt amusement flicker through her even though Kael sent Dakaar a look that should have singed his hair.

Actually, she thought, maybe it was
because
he did. There was something so human-like in the exchange that it comforted her, even though it was unnerving to see an expression of anger on a face attached to a fledgling mountain.

“This…uh…harem,” she said uneasily. “On my world, it
‟
s a place where…uh…sex slaves live. At least, that
‟
s the way my culture looks at it.”

“Is same,” Kael said bluntly.

Loren felt the blood rush from her face. Weakness followed it. Fortunately, Kael had maintained his grip on her. “Oh,” she said faintly, shuddering, trying to block the images that flickered through her mind.

Glancing around for something to distract her from the horrible mental images, she found it very quickly in the stares of the aliens they passed. She only had one hand she could cover herself with, though, and she sidled a little closer to Kael to try to hide from their lascivious gazes. To her surprise, Dakaar responded by moving closer, his expression hard as he warned the bystanders away and tried to shield her from their gazes with his bulk.

She was still almost relieved when they turned into one of the buildings along the thoroughfare. They climbed several flights of stairs. When they reached what she realized must be the top floor, Kael touched buttons on a security pad and a door slid open. Giving her a slight nudge to get her inside, he released her arm. By the time she
‟
d whipped around, the door had closed again, sealing her in.

She sank weakly to the floor where she stood, feeling fear and hopelessness seep into every pore. As unnerving as she
‟
d found both Dakaar and Kael, they
‟
d seemed at least a little sympathetic and protective and she
‟
d hoped….

She wasn
‟
t certain what she
‟
d hoped. That she might fare better with them?

She didn
‟
t know that and the truth was she couldn
‟
t think of any reason at all to suppose that. The creature that had bought her hadn
‟
t seemed cruel. He
‟
d actually seemed pretty jolly, but then again she had no idea what had put him in such a good mood. It could
‟
ve been plans that she wouldn
‟
t like at all.

18

The urge to cry assailed her. She struggled with it by force of habit. Her parents hadn
‟
t approved of such an indulgence. If anything happened to make one feel like giving in to their emotions, it was very likely the worst thing to do. Keeping calm allowed some possibility of remedying the situation and giving in to hysterics was no help at all.