Amelia obeyed, following Breft’s instructions through the twisting maze of ductwork.
Chapter 23
The thumps of running feet inside the transport alerted Ramon in time to resume his proper position. No one except Copeland noticed he had left his post.
Dr. Joyner hurtled down the ramp, his eyes glazed and hair standing on end. He dragged the pretty, dark-haired nurse Jessica McInness along by the hand. Ramon had noticed her before. As the only female on the entire ship, everyone had noticed her. It didn’t hurt that her pixy features were so pretty, her body so trim. She was still a little young for his tastes, had she ever deigned to notice someone like Private Juan Ramon.
Right now, her expression was rapturous, as if she’d seen the Promised Land. Ramon was so startled by the disparate expressions of doctor and nurse that it took him a few moments to notice the blood trickling from Joyner’s forehead.
“The nurse and I have been attacked! A Kalquorian has taken the Ryan woman!” he cried.
Croft gaped at him, his argument with the two huge aliens ending abruptly. “That’s not possible! There’s only one way onto the transport and I have guards posted.” Ramon cringed as the general charged over to confront him and Copeland. “Have you let anyone board this ship since I disembarked?”
Ramon exchanged a frightened glance with the other guard. Croft was crazy. Men got hurt when the general got mad.
Amazed he had a voice to answer with, Ramon said, “I’ve seen no one fitting the description of a Kalquorian besides those two, sir.” He nodded at the coldly staring aliens. “No one has attempted to board the transport.”
Joyner looked at the huge Kalquorians standing in the transport’s shadow. “Only two Kalquorians? Where’s the third of the clan?” He whipped around, his eyes bulging at Croft. “Kalquorian males group in threes, not pairs. General, where is the third?”
Croft’s face paled. His mouth hung open. “No one told me clans were made up of three men. What kind of woman would cavort in such a way?” He stared at Nurse McInness. “What would possess one of you to do this?”
The nurse was too dazed to understand she’d been addressed. She looked at the crowd around the transport, seemingly fascinated by the predominantly Plasian group.
Joyner didn’t bother with Croft’s shock. Instead, a look of grim satisfaction settled over the doctor’s face. “I see. You didn’t bother to research your enemy thoroughly before you encountered them. Your incompetence has allowed a criminal and our research specimen to escape.”
“No.” Croft breathed the word, then spoke louder. “No, she hasn’t. She and the third Kalquorian must still be on board, or those two wouldn’t still be here causing a distraction.”
The doctor stepped close to the general. Despite Joyner’s whip-thin frame, the threat in his posture was unmistakable. “You’d better hope so,” he murmured, low enough so Ramon had to strain to hear. “I guarantee you, Croft, that there’s a court martial in your future. Recovering Ryan and capturing that Kalquorian might go a long way to keeping you out of prison.”
He strode back up the ramp, leaving Croft seething. The general unleashed his fury at his underlings.
He screamed orders, his rough voice breaking up in the wildness of emotion. “Everyone search the transport for the woman and the alien! They’d better be found, do you understand me?” He glared at the assembled men, his hectic gaze marking every face. His hand clenched at his sidearm. “If I go down because they escape, you’d better believe I’m taking every last one of you sorry bastards with me. Now move!”
Everyone raced up the ramp past Croft, Ramon, and the dreamy-eyed nurse as if running for their lives. Even Copeland scurried from his post and onto the ship to escape Croft’s wrath. After a moment’s confusion, Ramon decided he’d follow his lead.
Instead, the general grabbed a fistful of Ramon’s collar, yanking him close until they stood nose to nose. Ramon fought an urge to retch at the general’s sour breath. “Don’t you move, boy,” Croft growled. “You let that slimeball alien on my transport. If you value your life as well as your career, you’ll not let that slut leave this ship.” His deadly gaze shifted towards the Kalquorians where they stood with Israla. “Damn the diplomatic relations. If they make a move towards the ship or their companion shows his ugly face, kill them all. You got me? The Kalquorians and their nasty whore. Blow their damned brains out. That’s an order.”
Croft stormed up the ramp without hearing Ramon squeak, “Yes sir.”
* * * *
Rajhir folded his arms across his chest and contemplated his next move. Before he could order his thoughts properly, a giggle caught his attention. He looked at the alien nurse, who still stood on the Earther transport’s entry ramp. She seemed totally unaware of the tense situation, her pretty face wearing a lopsided grin.
She giggled again. The sound seemed unique to Earther females. Rajhir had only heard his sweet Amelia utter anything similar. The thought brought his anxiety up another notch. Breft had found their Matara; that much was certain from the appearance of the bleeding doctor and the exchange between him and Croft. Would the Nobek be able to get them off the ship now that the alarm was sounded? Would the frightened looking man-child standing guard near the hatchway really try to shoot them if they appeared?
To no one in particular the beaming nurse said, “The general has serious anger issues.”
Rajhir studied her carefully and fought off a smile. The two tiny trails of blood running down her collarbone confirmed his suspicions. He whispered so only Israla and Flencik could hear, “Breft has been biting the enemy.”
Despite his worried expression, Flencik managed a chuckle as he looked the woman over. The deep, rolling sound of it attracted the Earther female’s attention.
“Kalquorians,” she breathed. She shuffled a couple of drunken steps towards them. She offered a hopeful smile. “Are you part of that Ryan girl’s clan?”
“Yes.” Flencik darted a glance at Rajhir, who shrugged.
The young woman’s happiness dimmed a little. “That’s too bad. I want to go to Kalquor. Are there any free clans running around Plasius that could take me there?”
The soldier guarding the entrance started. He shifted his avid gaze from Israla’s nearly nude body to the nurse, his eyes almost perfectly round in his shock.
“There is no room left on our escape transport,” Rajhir told Israla. “We can’t help her.”
“Then in the interest of good relations between our people, allow me to keep her here until a clan can come and claim her.” Israla approached the woman, who blinked at the guard staring at her.
“Are you going to tell on me?” she was asking him. Her eyes were wide with sweet entreaty.
“He won’t say a word, will you my young friend?” Israla flowed up the ramp towards the Earthers.
“Is this a good idea?” Flencik muttered to his clanmate. “If that boy decides to shoot the Saucin, we can’t stop him in time.”
“Shooting her is the very last thing on the youngling’s mind. He can’t take his eyes off Israla.” Rajhir kept watch on the transport’s entrance, willing Breft and Amelia to appear. What is taking so long?
“I still can’t believe Israla is chancing it just to help an Earther female.”
“It’s not the female she’s focused on.”
“You mean—” The Imdiko emitted a nervous chuckle. “I know she likes them young, but he’s barely done suckling his mother. ‘In the interest of good relations’ indeed!”
Rajhir flicked his gaze to the unlikely trio on the ramp. Israla whispered into the red-faced soldier’s ear while simultaneously gesturing for the nurse to join them. All smiles, the intoxicated female came close enough for the Saucin to take her hand.
Tracing the tense jaw of the boy with one long finger, Israla raised her voice just enough for Rajhir to hear. “I’ll be back in a moment. Think about what I’ve told you.” With that, Israla drifted away, pulling the other woman with
her.
The soldier watched them walk to Israla’s aide, his expression dazed, an erection tenting the front of his olive green pants. He glanced at Rajhir as if for advice, his confusion plain to read. He glanced back at the open entrance of the transport, no doubt to make sure no one had seen him allowing the nurse to leave. Then his eyes settled back on Israla, now deep in conversation with her aide and the nurse. That’s where his lost stare remained, his lips parted, his tongue peeking out from time to time to wet them.
The kid was under the Saucin’s spell all right, completely lost in want. It would have been funny any other time. However, all amusement fled as Rajhir watched the transport’s entrance and worried.
Amelia and Breft, where are you?
Chapter 24
Amelia soon lost her bearings in the twists and turns of the transport’s ventilation system. Only Breft’s assured directions convinced her they’d find their way out.
A large mesh-covered opening appeared to one side, and Amelia slowed.
“Stop,” Breft whispered. “Make no sound.”
Amelia obeyed. Her breath seemed loud to her own ears. She opened her mouth to let air flow into her lungs silently. She shivered as she crouched, still as a statue. Her naked skin bumped into gooseflesh.
A voice bellowed, making its way into the shaft by way of the vent opening. “Check the storage bins! Scan the air vents! The moment you have a reading, relay it to all and surround them! I want that Kalquorian bastard and his slut found now!”
Amelia recognized the grating voice and whimpered. “It’s Croft.” Behind her, Breft placed a warm hand over her buttock. She quieted, comforted by his unspoken promise. The Nobek would not let the Earthers capture her again.
Breft pressed his hand in the small of her back, and she lay flat on her belly. Silent as a cat, her clanmate eased up to crouch over her. He peered through the mesh.
Thudding steps thundered to a crescendo outside the vent, echoing until it seemed an army of thousands charged by. Finally the noise faded. The steps receded to distant parts of the transport, becoming the far off rumble of an angry beast.
Amelia thought all the soldiers had moved on until she heard the gravely muttering begin. Her heart froze to hear Croft so close.
“I’ll kill them all. I’ll kill that Ryan slut and her nasty alien freaks. I’ll kill those stupid guards who let the Kalquorian on the ship. I’ll kill that fucking pompous doctor too. They’ll pay for this shit. They’ll all pay.”
Amelia looked up at Breft who continued to watch the man below them. She touched his arm to get his attention. When he looked down at her, she mouthed, “Don’t let him see you. He’s crazy.”
“They’re all dead,” Croft continued to growl. Footsteps sounded; he was pacing back and forth in his agitation.
Breft’s eyes narrowed as he looked down into Amelia’s bruised face. He looked through the grate again.
“All dead.”
Breft looked at Amelia again. His cat eyes widened, and he touched her swollen cheek.
“Especially her.”
Breft’s lips twisted into a snarl, showing his fangs. Amelia knew he’d deduced Croft was responsible for her injuries. She grabbed his wrist in a desperate attempt to stop him.
She might as well have been clutching wind. Breft was a blur, smashing through the vent cover and diving out head first with supernatural speed. The cover clattered to the floor below. Croft uttered a gasp but nothing more. There were a few thumps.
Breft’s angry voice hissed, “No one harms my Matara.” Then Amelia heard a wet, tearing sound, followed by more thumps and a whistling, drawn-out gurgle.
She didn’t want to know. She really didn’t. But it was as if an invisible hand pulled her head up to look down on the men below.
Blood had sprayed in an arc across the far wall. Breft stood over Croft, breathing hard, his back to Amelia. The general lay on the floor, his eyes still just glazing over as his last whistling breath ended. His throat was torn out.
Without looking at her, Breft said, “Do not look, Amelia. This is not fit for your eyes.”
Amelia slid back, her eyes squeezed shut against the nausea that threatened momentarily. Below her, Breft muttered to the dead man, “You got off easy, gurluck.”
The Nobek suddenly reappeared in the shaft, bringing the vent cover with him to snap into place. Once that was done, he smoothed Amelia’s hair from her face. His expression was one of concern. “Are you all right? I did not mean for you to see that.”
Amelia drew a shaky breath. “You have blood on your mouth.”
He wiped his lips clean on his sleeve. “I am sorry.”
“No.” She felt a little shocked at the surge of savage joy she felt. “That bastard threatened to tear our child out of my body. I’m glad he’s dead. I’m glad you did it.”
Breft’s predatory grin appeared. “My Matara is safe from that one. Now we leave. Follow me.”
He crawled ahead of her, looking back often as if to reassure himself she still followed. Amelia stayed on his heels, her ears straining. Any moment she expected Croft’s gruesome death to be discovered. Then the soldiers would really come after them. They wouldn’t bother to take them prisoner now; they’d shoot to kill if they found her and Breft.
The shaft seemed to go on forever. Amelia realized she was close to panic but couldn’t stop her heart from pounding or her breath from sobbing loud and fast. The walls of the shaft closed in, making air harder to find. Breft must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. They’d never get out in time. Surely the general’s body had been found by now.
When the Nobek stopped abruptly, her racing heart skipped a beat. A wall blocked further advance; no other passage branched off from this one. Only a vent opening shining light into the dim confines provided exit.
Breft grasped the vent grate and pushed. It popped out with just a slight whine of metal against metal, but Amelia cringed anyway. Every sound seemed amplified. That tiny shiver of the cover giving way shrieked in her ears. Her own breathing blew a hurricane.
Breft eased his head out of the vent and scanned the transport’s corridor. He slid farther out of the duct until he leaned out from the waist up. Amelia squeezed her eyes shut, certain at any moment she would hear a shout of detection.
Instead, Breft drew back in unseen. “The way off the transport is across the corridor,” he said. “Only one guard remains just outside the exit.”
“We’re trapped,” Amelia moaned.
“Not for long. Rajhir and Flencik are out there with the Saucin.” Amelia heard the smile in his voice. “Israla could distract one hundred guards.”
“We can’t be caught. If you knew what Earth has planned for me and the baby—”
“The Earthers will not take my Matara.” All amusement fled Breft’s tone. His fingers raked her hair. “They do not dare.”
The cold menace left no doubt in Amelia’s mind of his exact meaning. A thrill of fear ran down her spine. He’d already proven once he’d kill for her without conscience. After the demonstration of his speed and viciousness, Amelia actually feared more for their enemies than for Breft.
* * * *
Ramon’s body went hot and cold at the same time. The beautiful Saucin Israla was looking at him again. He swallowed and dropped his eyes under her intense gaze.
The things she’d whispered to him earlier! The things she said she wished to do to him! Of course he knew it was all a ploy to get him to let Nurse McInness escape. There was no way a woman of Israla’s beauty and power could want a childish nobody like him. Still, he’d let the nurse go, envying her the sexual freedom she was heading for. As oppressed as Ramon had felt on Earth when it came to his sexuality, he knew women had it the worst. He didn’t begrudge his shipmate her chance at a better life.
Besides, he’d have sacrificed anything to hear the Saucin whisper the deliciously naughty things she had. In those few precious seconds she’d described wonders Ramon had never even imagined a man an
d a woman might do together. It had been worth the court martial he undoubtedly faced to know the possibilities of unbridled love and lust. If only he was free to partake in them!
A movement brought his eyes back up. The Saucin’s aide was leading the McInness woman away. The Earther nurse’s face was alight with euphoria.
Ramon barely registered this because he only had eyes for his beautiful Plasian tormentor. A whimper escaped his throat. Israla slunk towards him. Came right up to him and stood before him. Surrounded him with her musky scent. Stared down at him from her greater height with black marbled eyes as her lips parted. Dear God, was she deigning to speak to him again, to lowly Private Ramon?
“Hello once more, Earther. I told you I’d return.” Her words spread over him like honey.
“Yes ma’am, you did.” Ramon’s voice was breathless.
“What is your name?” Israla spread her long-fingered hand on his chest as if to feel his drumming heart. He basked in the warmth that radiated from her touch through his shirt.
He felt incapable of speech, but the undercurrent of command in Israla’s voice forced a reply nonetheless. “Ramon, ma’am. Juan Ramon.”
“Hhhwahn,” the Plasian breathed. Ramon’s heart double beat at the silky sound of his name from her lips. She tasted it. She savored it. That sound alone made his cock fill, brought it fully erect with strong demand.
Israla stepped closer. She looked him up and down. He felt the heat from her nearly-naked body coming at him in waves. “You are very young, are you not? An innocent, perhaps?”
This time, nothing could bring Ramon’s voice back. He nodded his head, his eyes locked on hers.
“I am curious about Earther males. Young Earther males.” Israla’s bronze lips parted to let her golden tongue wet them. “I want to know about you.”
Good Lord, how could he respond to that? All he could do was stand and tremble before her.
Israla didn’t give him time to figure out what to say. Her slim fingers slid over his crotch, seeking. She found him so achingly hard that he whimpered at her caress. Deep pleasure kicked within his balls. He couldn’t believe the strength of her touch. For one so willowy and fragile looking, she possessed power beyond reckoning.
Alien Embrace Page 27
