Authors: Aya Morningstar
Marauder Ramses (16 page)
Kara
T
he airlock opens
, and only Kain enters.
“Kain--”
He widens his eyes at me, and shakes his head imperceptibly. They must be able to hear us.
“Just let us go!” I say, in my whiniest, weakest voice. “We can just wait here, hope someone else finds us--”
“Quiet, woman!” He growls. “We’re going to load you in first, then we’re taking your mining haul.”
Felicia looks like she’s about to cry when I mention her mining haul.
“We only have one suit,” I say.
“Well, put it on then!”
“You first,” Felicia says.
I roll my eyes and start to get back into the suit.
No one moves to help me. “I can’t get it on alone.”
Kain crosses his arms.
Fucking asshole. “Felicia, come on!”
She sighs and gets back up, then holds the legs out.
When the helmet is finally locked in, Kain shoves me into the airlock.
“Asshole,” I mutter as he seals the door behind me.
As soon as the pressure equalizes and the seal is tight, the outer door starts to open.
Two more Marauders greet me, and by “greet,” I mean that one grabs me by the arm and starts to drag me.
Suddenly I hear his voice from the comms in my suit. The comms were broken, but apparently his biosuit can repair them.
“Get up!”
He tugs my arm again, and I fall back down.
“Stop fucking knocking me over, and maybe I will get up!”
“She’s feisty,” the Marauder says, “You didn’t tell me she was feisty, Kain.”
I grit my teeth and stand up. “I’ll walk with you if you promise not to--”
He shoves me, and I fall flat on my back.
“God,” the Marauder says, “I love when they get mad.”
The second Marauder pushes the first away from me, and I hear his voice in my helmet, “We don’t have time for this shit, Senka. Let her walk.”
I hear Senka laughing, and already I fucking hate him. Maybe I do want Kain to flay his skin.
“Thanks,” I say to the one that rescued me.
“Don’t thank me,” he says, “I don’t think you’re worth the oxygen and food we’ll waste keeping you alive. If it were up to me, I’d execute you on the spot.”
“Well,” I say, “At least you’re not shoving me.”
“Raius!” Senka shouts, “You can’t protect both of them at once!”
I shudder thinking of him getting his hands on Felicia.
“Don’t touch my sister,” I say, seething.
“Sisters!” Senka shouts. “Oh, this is too good to be true! You must be the big sister, huh? Want to protect little sister--”
The voice cuts out.
“I broke his uplink with you,” Raius says.
“I thought you didn’t care about me.”
“I don’t,” he says, “Now keep moving.”
He leads me up the ramp, through an airlock, and once I’m inside he helps me out of the suit.
The moment the suit is off and in his hands, he turns his back to me as if I don’t exist.
“I really am grateful to you for not being a total piece of shit,” I say to his back, but he doesn’t show any hint of having heard me. He shuts the door to the airlock and is gone.
* * *
T
he door swings open again
, and Felicia falls headfirst onto the floor. Senka is behind her.
He shuts the door again and leaves us alone.
Felicia pulls her helmet off and screams. “I want to fucking flay that dickbag’s skin off!”
I help her out of the suit, then hug her. “We’ll make it out of this, I promise.”
“This is so miserable, Kara,” Felicia says. “I just want to curl up into a ball and die. You should have let me freeze to death.”
I hug her tighter. “We’ve had a shitty life. Really shitty. All kinds of awful things have happened to us, but that’s made us strong. The night is darkest just before dawn--”
“No it’s not,” Felicia says.
“It’s just a saying…”
“It’s factually incorrect though.”
“But the point stands. This is our last ordeal. If we make it through this, everything will be okay.”
“Our mining haul,” Felicia says. “They’re crating it all up and hauling it onto their own ship. After Kain
claims
you--” Felicia coughs and smiles at me, “Maybe you can convince him to rescue our mining haul while he’s at it.”
“Felicia,” I say. “Do you
really
want to make our rescue include hauling a ton of heavy rocks? As if breaking two human women out of Darkstar isn’t difficult enough on its own?”
“Fine, fine,” Felicia says. “But it sucks. Even if we get rescued, we won’t even have a mining ship anymore. I guess we could go to Mars as refugees.”
“Kain is a peacekeeper,” I say. “He could probably get us to Venus. I’ve heard Sankt Petersburg is nice.”
“I think after Darkstar,” Felicia says, “That anywhere will seem nice.”
“There you go!” I squeeze her arm, “Now you’re thinking like an optimist.”
“You could see that as pessimism about how bad Darkstar will be,” Felicia says.
“I
could
.” I smile at her. “But I’m an optimist.”
This ends the preview of MARAUDER KAIN. Look for it on Amazon sometime next month.
I
can run from danger
, but I can’t run from
him.
When my father tries to marry me off to a man I don’t love, I buy a one-way ticket to Mars. But before I can even get out of orbit, a brutal alien warrior attacks. He says he wants our ship, but from one look in his eyes, I know he wants
much
more from me.
I’m left with a choice: try to hitchhike to Mars--alone and penniless--through the empty cold of space, or accept this infuriating alien’s protection. And take him home with me.
I’d always wanted a man to stand up to my father, I just never thought it would be
him
. He’s frustrating, mysterious, and fiercely protective. All of humanity is one big game of chess to him...am I his pawn? Or his queen?
He’ll protect me from everything in the world, but nothing in the universe can protect me from him.
M
ating Wars Series
S
HIFT Squad Series
G
rizzly Next Door Series
Bears Next Door (four-book bundle containing the whole series)
S
hifters
of the Primus
Series by Elyssa Ebbott.
The panther shifters of Markul are dominant and fiercely protective of their mates. This series follows the alpha royalty of the planet and how far they will go to protect the women they want.
The only safe place for her is in the middle of danger, beside
him
.
Gage is the most deadly Primus in the galaxy. Hire him, and the target is as good as dead.
But this time his target is Aria, and one look at her changes everything.
Gage has never cared about a woman beyond one wild night, but then he has never met someone like Aria. Now he’s determined to protect her above all else, fiercely and without question—his pay and reputation be damned.
With death pursuing her at every turn, Aria will have no choice but to ally with the frustratingly cocky mercenary. Danger, intrigue, betrayals, and the threat of a galactic war will be the least of her troubles if she can’t shield her heart from the irresistible rebel.
He was supposed to be her killer, but became her protector.
* * *
T
he Shifter Kings of Kartak
Series by Delores Diamond
. This series is Dune meets Mad Max meets some big, thick, sexy alien cock. The Shifter Kings are alpha and protective as hell, and they aren’t afraid to take what they want.
My personal fairy tale had almost come true.
I was a powerful merchant princess with my own Mercantile House. I had a title, servants, and unimaginable wealth. I was missing just one thing... a fated mate. A Prince Charming, if you will.
But life on Kartak is hardly like a storybook.
Betrayed on a mission to unearth an ancient technology, I fell into the clutches of Kartak's barbaric skinner forces.
Now, my only hope for survival is a Tulani mercenary, a savage alien with a short temper and a lusty fire in his eyes. One touch, and I'm worried we'll both burn alive.
Could this brutal alien be my fated mate? Or will he betray me to my worst enemy?
My life is in the hands of my own personal Renegade.