Cold dread settled in her stomach. “Get to the security room. Arm yourselves. Sound the general alert.”
Evena raised her club and entered the room overflowing with men—brightly dressed men. And more were climbing through the docking port. Four of her guards struggled wildly to escape their captors’ arms. “Release the women,” she shouted.
All gazes turned toward her. Evena wondered whether she should’ve waited for reinforcements as one man strode toward her. Unlike his comrades, he was dressed entirely in black. His dark, disheveled hair brushed the tops of his shoulders, and a many-days-old beard stubbled his chin. His dark gaze swept over her in a single quick appraisal, burning her skin.
Evena’s pulse pounded loudly in her ears, and a quiver of awareness fluttered deep in her belly. He was a large man, broad-shouldered and heavily muscled, and despite his wary scowl, a handsome one. She raised her club higher and bent her knees, sinking into a fighting stance.
The bearded pirate raised a hand. “I come in peace.”
Evena dropped her glance to the laser sword at his side before mocking his claim with a cynical lift of her brow.
He spread his hands wide and took another step toward her. “We couldn’t be sure who would be aboard.”
She snorted. “What? You couldn’t read the warning on the portal? This is the New Attica. A prison ship. The Dominion doesn’t have a sense of humor about intruders. And weapons aren’t permitted here.”
His frown deepened, and he took another step forward. “That isn’t exactly a toothpick you wield.”
Evena resisted the urge to retreat. “I’ll repeat. You and your men have trespassed on a Dominion prison. We’ve nothing of value to steal here.”
“I take it you’re in charge?”
“Yes, and I’m ordering you to depart immediately.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that for at least another eight days—that is, if we don’t want to be caught in the security beams and obliterated.”
“Not my problem.”
The corners of his lips twitched. “You’re a stubborn wench—and a bit bloodthirsty. I like that. Aren’t you curious why we’re here?”
“Nope,” she said, shifting from one foot to the other. Aware of movement around her, she was unable to look toward it, as the bearded man was now within the reach of her club. “Like I said, we’ve nothing here of value.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. We’re here to conduct a little business with you and your fellow inmates.”
“Then you’ve wasted your time. What exactly do you think we have to bargain with?”
“Yourselves.”
“Explain that before I beat in what’s left of your brains.”
“Very well. We seek wives.”
Chapter Two
‡
Adamarik admired the woman’s fearless stance. Never mind she didn’t stand a chance and probably knew it. Even now, Darak and Ivan crept along the wall, outside her peripheral vision, ready to pounce and disarm her when he gave the signal. First, he wanted to test her mettle. He needed a strong woman for his mate.
That she also possessed the body of an Amazon only sweetened the pot. The sleek black reclamation suit she wore clung lovingly to her curves, revealing long, muscled flanks, and a flat stomach that inspired an immediate hard-on. The suit outlined the areolas of her breasts and the buds springing from their centers expanded with each exhalation of her chest.
His gaze returned to her eyes, now narrowed green slits, as she rotated the club in a figure eight above her head. He realized she couldn’t fight her body’s instinctive response and was pissed about it. He grinned.
“Get whatever’s going on behind those black eyes out of your head,” she warned, swinging the club in a sudden arc at his shoulders.
He leapt to the side with a bark of laughter, raising a hand to hold back his men. “I could cut that club in two with a single slice of my saber.”
“Only if you’re fast enough.” She stressed her point with a sudden feint to the left, and then swept the club at his knees.
Adam jumped over it, but he didn’t get out of the way in time to miss the backstroke that clipped him in the ass. “Ooomph!” He needed to end the game before either of them was injured.
“I think you need to lose a few pounds before you can give me a real fight,” she taunted.
Fat, was he? With an imperceptible nod to his men, he offered her a target she wouldn’t be able to resist. He stepped forward within striking distance and grimaced as the club arced toward his head.
Darak lunged at her back and tapped her with the electro-stun.
Adam caught the feisty beauty in his arms as she crumpled wide-eyed and slack-mouthed toward the floor. Having felt the effects of the electro-stun himself, Adam knew she was aware of everything happening around her and likely distressed by her sudden paralysis. Smoothing his hand over her auburn hair, Adam crooned, “Shhh, now. Give it a few moments. Darak only stunned your body. You’ll regain movement.”
He took her to the ground, cupping the back of her head to lay it gently against the floor. A wisp of fire-colored hair caught at the corner of her mouth. With a finger, he pushed it away, tracing a path along the cream-colored skin of her cheek. Hot color quickly bloomed there—anger, he was sure.
“Tsk, tsk. Spitfire, I bet you’ll be ready to carve out my heart when you come back to full strength.” To give her something to really be angry about, he chuckled and traced her pink, pouting lips. “Now that I have your full attention, you will listen to me,” he said, placing his face close to hers. “I was telling you the truth. My crew and I are looking for mates—willing mates.”
He admired the fierce concentration that produced the frown drawing her dark brows together. “We’re pirates, yes—” he continued, enjoying the advantage he held, “—but still, we’re honorable men.”
Her green gaze glared back at him.
“I really don’t make it a habit of using electro-stuns to get women to fall into my arms,” he said with a wicked smile. “They are usually quite willing.”
A faint gurgling sound emanated from the back of her throat.
Adam stretched out beside her on the floor, resting his head on his palm. With a finger, he tilted her chin toward him so that her gaze met his. He marveled at her expressive cat-green eyes as she stared mutinously back. Her show of spirit pleased him, and his loins stirred.
Casually, he raked a thumbnail across the nipple nearest him. “Yes, I can tell you and I will be spending a lot of time together.”
The gurgle was now a low growl that increased in volume when he palmed her breast and gently massaged the round mass. The bud at the center rose against his hand, and he rewarded its response with a tweak.
“Getting into the spirit of things so soon, Captain?” Darak interrupted his play, a lopsided grin on his face. “The men are aboard, and the breaching craft has returned to the Intrepid.”
“Well, love,” he said with another quick tug of her nipple. “Looks like you are stuck with me and my crew for the next eight days.”
The woman surprised him with a blow to the side of his face. It lacked power, for she had yet to regain control of her body, and her arm fell back limply to her side.
He rose over her, straddling her middle, applying only light pressure to her arms to restrain her. Averse to causing real damage or distress to a woman, he nevertheless had a job to do, and her continued resistance would only alarm her shipmates. The sooner they understood he and his band meant no harm, the sooner he could move forward with his plan. Sighing regretfully, he said over his shoulder, “Darak, bring me rope. This one’s not going to listen to reason.”
She squirmed weakly beneath his spread thighs, and his cock reared uncomfortably high within the confines of his breeches. Damn, but wasn’t she a feisty wench? Taming this one would be pure pleasure. She’d sheathe her claws and purr, and he’d soothe the ache she was building in his groin. But, first things first, he had to
subdue her—for her own safety.
She squirmed again.
He cursed and stretched his legs beside hers before nudging them apart to nestle his groin between. His cock rode the crest of her mons and surged. “Move again, and I’ll consider it an invitation,” he growled, at the same time grinding his cock against the apex of her thighs.
Her eyes widened and her lips moved slowly to form words. “Bu…Bu…”
“Bastard?”
She snorted.
“Need a hand?” Darak dropped the rope on the floor beside him.
Regretfully, Adam lifted himself off the woman, and then rolled her to her stomach. “Darak, be prepared. Their security force will attempt a rescue. No one must be harmed.” He tied her hands together. Then, with an arm encircling her middle, he hefted the woman to her feet.
Immediately, she sagged against his side.
Suddenly, the door to the docking station slid open. A large black woman stormed inside, followed by a contingent of guards.
They looked mad as hell.
The black woman’s gaze flickered over the woman at his side, whose head lolled on her shoulders. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Bastard,” she spat at him. “You wanna fight? You’re gonna be sorry you ever messed with us.”
Hoisting his hostage until she stood on wobbly legs in front of him, he slid a knife from the top of his boot and held it against her throat. He hoped they wouldn’t guess his bluff. The last thing he was looking to do was spill blood.
The black guard stilled instantly, as did her companions.
“Drop your clubs,” he commanded.
The guards looked to the black woman. Her mouth tightened, but she nodded. Clubs thudded against the floor and rolled away from the group.
Seeing the guards’ capitulation, Adam realized the woman in his arms was the key to a peaceful capture.
His hostage protested incoherently.
“Hmmm. Looks as though your friends hold you in some esteem. I’ll be keeping you near.”
“Bu…Bu…”
“Yes, my dear. I expect I am, but be a good girl and shut up. You’re exciting your guards.”
Evena seethed, silently condemning her captor to die a tortuously slow death. At her own hands, of course. Her face would be the last thing he saw. He’d cry out for mercy at the end, and she’d laugh. Then she’d stomp on the fingers clinging desperately to the door of the garbage hatch—just before she jettisoned him, and the rest of the refuse, into space.
She clung to that wistful dream when the needling pain began to usher sensation back into her muscles.
She wished the electro-stun had been as effective at numbing the rest of her. How dare he use her own body against herself? Well before her muscles flared back to life, every erogenous zone she possessed had awakened, screaming with awareness.
And he’d known—the bastard! The fingers that had gently twisted the tips of her breast had applied exactly the right amount of pleasure-pain. She’d been unable to hide the telltale signs of her arousal. Heat had flushed in a red-hot wave across her skin, raising goose bumps and constricting her nipples to form nerve-rich points.
When he’d lowered his body over hers to restrain her movement, his weight drew an anguish from her soul she didn’t recognize. She’d felt small and feminine. Helpless. Aroused. Unlike the person she’d made herself into. Her hard-fought independence and confidence in her ability to resist all temptation—gone in an instant of male domination. His immense size had been a blanket of hard, pulsing heat. While overwhelming to her starved senses, his weight had also been strangely comforting. Why in the galaxy did that appeal?
The scent of him had nearly driven her mad. Faint traces of soap mixed with male musk had filled her nostrils with every intake of breath.
The long ridge of his cock had made her feel powerful and weak. Moisture pooled between her thighs. Then he’d ground his cock against her crotch, and the muscles buried inside her belly had contracted, instinctually seeking to draw him deep within.
She hadn’t had a man between her thighs in five years. The first would have to be a ravaging pirate.
Being found subdued by her guard deepened her humiliation, and her cheeks burned hotter. She’d struggled too hard for their respect.
“You can let her go, now.” Mary Grogan wasn’t suggesting. Her tone demanded.
“I don’t think I will. I like this one,” Evena’s pirate replied silkily. “I may keep her for a while.”
An inarticulate gurgle rattled in the back of her throat. Sheer willpower would not return the function of her limbs. She dangled in the pirate’s arms like a boneless rag doll, and she was beginning to feel just as witless.
“What have you done to her?” Mary asked, her voice deepening with anger.
His arm shifted, circling her like a steel band, her breasts resting on his forearm. “This woman’s in no danger. She’s merely stunned. Are you next in command?”
Evena knew by the silence that Mary wore her bulldog expression. The pirate wouldn’t get his answer from her.
“God’s ballocks.” Abruptly, he turned her in his arms, fingers snaking through her hair to bring her face close to his. “Are you all this stubborn?”
Evena could only groan as another wave of pain rolled over her body.
“Darak,” the pirate barked, his gaze never leaving hers.
Footfalls sounded behind her.
“Aye, sir.”
“You’re in charge. I’ve got to get this one to a bed,” he said, a speculative gleam in his eyes.
“Ummmm.” Evena groaned, the only audible evidence of her silent scream of protest.
“Organize the men. The women who aren’t quartered must be brought into a common area. I’ll find you there.”
Evena heard a click of heels then footsteps retreating. In a movement that left her head swimming, she suddenly found herself dangling over his shoulder.
“Ladies,” the pirate addressed her guard, “you are to do precisely what my crew orders. No one will be harmed. I’ve business to conduct.”
As the pirate exited the docking station and strode down the corridor toward the living quarters, Evena’s view was limited to his impressive ass. Almost giddy from the rush of blood to her head, she’d never pondered a man’s ass before, but she supposed his ranked among the galaxy’s most prodigious. Hard and deeply muscled, it flexed enticingly with each step. What would it look like flexing to drive his cock inside her overheated flesh?
Where was he taking her? Would he “take” her? Could she resist? Regardless of her diminished strength, she wasn’t sure whether she’d want him to stop. He’d primed a fire inside that threatened to consume any remnant of common sense. This prime specimen of manhood could scratch her five-year-old itch.
They entered a cell, and he dumped her on a mattress then sat on the bed beside her. His black gaze swept over her, lingering on her breasts. “I’ve never seen a reclamation suit before. I’ve heard about them, but only deep spacers use them. Looks damned uncomfortable.”
The muscles of Evena’s face spasmed, and she gasped.
He leaned forward and pressed his fingers to her temples, slowly rubbing circles that swirled lower to her cheeks. Her lids fluttered shut, and his touch swept softly over her closed eyes.
She sighed as the muscles in her cheeks relaxed, and the pain ebbed from her face.
“You must stink.”
She opened her eyes to glare, and then the next spasms racked her torso and legs.
His hands cupped her shoulders, pulling, lifting—easing the cramps. “I’d guess if it breathed, it wouldn’t do its work. But, you have to reek.”
She realized he was deliberately baiting her. Was he trying to keep her mind off the agony? She found she could open her mouth. “Lining of suit…absorbs water…pulls it away from skin… Don’t stink.”
“Well, I’m finding out.” He reached for the fastening at the neck of her suit.
“Like…hell…you are.
” She tried to rise up, but her belly clenched in a paroxysm of agony.
Despite her protest, he opened her suit and peeled it from her body. Then his hands settled on her tummy and kneaded gently until the convulsions subsided.
He moved down to massage her thighs, and then her calves. At the touch of his hands on her feet, she didn’t care he was a pirate, or that he’d caused her pain in the first place. Drifting toward sleep, she was just grateful the pain was finally gone. She heard him inhale deeply.
“Amazing,” he said.
She opened her eyes to find him staring at her, his nostrils flaring, ruddy color staining his cheeks. Control over her limbs was fully restored, but every place he’d touched remembered his teasing rubs and tweaks. His gaze traveled down her naked body, and she felt the caress to her toes.
“Just a little musky.” His voice sounded strained.
“Bastard.” Her voice lacked conviction.
“You need a bath.”
Her heart stuttered, and then began a pounding rhythm that grew so loud in her ears she was sure he would hear.
He swung a leg across her middle, straddling her, his cock separated from her body by only a layer of fabric. Her breath grew ragged. He’d do it now. And the size of him and the determined set of his jaw told her he knew exactly how to wield his “weapon.” Her pussy softened and grew damp.
Please, do it now. He leaned forward, nuzzling against her ear, and then she felt the moist, hot lap of his tongue along her jaw. An explosion of pleasure erupted inside her. Yes! I want this. I need this. The years of self-imposed abstinence while she’d tamped down any hint of desire was swept aside. Once she’d had him, she’d be able to think—to plan how she’d retake her ship. Why not use him as he was using her? Lull him into believing she was an easy conquest. She let her head roll to the side, giving him access to her neck and signaling her surrender.
Then he licked her collarbone and moved lower to “cleanse” her breasts. Evena didn’t care she didn’t know his name. Didn’t care he was a ruthless pirate. He was a man. A man with a prodigious ass.
A man who licked his way around her breast, but he missed the point. Raising her arms, she clamped her hands to the back of his head and guided his mouth to her nipple. “Christ…do I have…to draw you a map?”
Desire's Prisoner Page 2
