by Pearl Foxx
As the guard walked away, the man’s eyes settled on Vera. They drifted over to her freshly split lip and narrowed. “Someone hit you.”
This close to him again, Vera was reminded of all she’d felt last night when she’d stared at him from across the landing pad. Up close, he was even more handsome, his jaw chiseled and his chin dimpled, and he had smile lines at the corners of his eyes, which matched the moss outside his house. His skin was deeply tanned; he spent a great deal of time beyond the mountain’s walls.
“Vera?” he said when she didn’t answer. “Who hit you?”
Her skin broke out in goose bumps, and she fought back a shiver. Stupidly, she felt excited that he’d remembered her name.
“Was it a guard?” The man’s eyes flicked over her shoulder to where her escort had departed. “Him? Tell me.”
Vera shoved away her ridiculous reaction to this alien, this flesh trader, and focused on her fear and Niva. “Fuck you,” she spat.
The large alien raked a hand through his neatly trimmed truffle-colored hair. “I know you’re upset, and I don’t blame you. But the cell was only temporary. I spoke to our Alpha this morning. We’ve arranged for you and the other women to stay within the clan and work as servants—”
“Servants?” Vera nearly choked on the word. “You’re the ones who attacked us, and you want us to serve you?”
“I assure you, you will be treated with respect—”
“Tell that to the asshole who took Niva.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Someone took one of you?”
Vera ground her teeth. “Drausus. He came to our cell this morning and took her. The cell you put us in.”
The alien’s jaw muscles bulged, and his eyes seemed to glow for a brief moment before he grabbed her arms and pulled her toward him. She threw her hands against his chest to fend him off, but he only turned to deposit her inside the building. His voice was a deep growl she could feel clear into her bones when he said, “Wait here. I’m going to get your friend.”
Ridiculously, she found herself nodding, heart thudding hard against her ribs.
He released her and stalked out the door, leaving it open for her to watch him disappear into one of the many alleys intersecting the stone towers.
A moment passed, and Vera took a deep breath, realizing her head had grown fuzzy from lack of oxygen. She stuck her head outside the door and looked in both directions, confused. He’d left her here unattended? Didn’t he worry about her escaping? Yet he’d promised to bring Niva back, to wrest her from the clutches of the monster who’d taken her.
This alien could be reasoned with.
Chewing her lip, Vera stepped back inside the house and pulled the door closed behind her.
4
Rayner
Rayner strode toward the nearest alley. He kicked himself for assuming Drausus would fall in line. After last night, he’d thought the cells would be the safest place for the women until he could talk to Kaveh. He’d been wrong. And now, a young human female was paying the price.
Rayner growled in frustration, and the Vilkas nearest him scattered out of his way.
He reached the lower barracks and cut through a servant tunnel toward the kitchens. He knew right where the asshole had taken the girl. Savas’s men liked to gather in one of the unused larders to bet on oihook fights, leaving the bloody mess of the fighting animals to be cleaned by the kitchen staff when they were through. The fights weren’t technically legal, but Kaveh thought they helped the men blow off steam between missions.
Moving through the bustling kitchen, he entered the corridor to the larders, his keen ears picking up the pitiful whimpers of a female. A roar built deep in his chest, and his inner Vilka pressed hard beneath his skin, threatening to burst free. He broke into a jog for the last forty feet of hallway and burst into the room to find Drausus lounging in a wooden chair, a cup of pungent, sour wine in one hand and a very satisfied look on his face. In the corner, a dark-haired, dark-skinned girl lay in a fetal position, her naked shoulders curled protectively around her drawn-up knees.
Drausus’s shoulders stiffened at Rayner’s sudden entrance, but he didn’t rise as he should have when a superior entered the room. The creases around his eyes tightened, and he smirked. “Come for seconds?”
Rayner lunged and grabbed Drausus by his shirt, hauling him to his feet. Their noses were inches apart when he said, “You were ordered not to touch the women.”
“Those were your orders,” Drausus said, arching his brow at Rayner. “But you’re not Alpha. Savas, our true Alpha, gave me permission.”
“That’s treason.” Rayner shoved the man hard enough to send him stumbling. The girl flinched. “You and Savas will pay for your acts this time. We are not flesh traders. Not anymore. Those women are not goods to be sold, and you are not to touch or even speak to them again. Do I make myself clear?”
Drausus smiled, exposing long canines. “Has the Alpha granted them citizen’s rights, then?”
Rayner snarled, and Drausus’s smile faltered. “They are to be servants. As of this morning, they were protected by the clan, and you”—Rayner leaned closer, smelling Drausus’s fear—“acted in direct violation of clan law.”
Drausus held up his hands. For the first time, he looked uncertain. “I didn’t rape her. I just fooled around with her some. She’s okay. Look.” He waved his hand toward the girl, who looked anything but okay. She whimpered and scooted farther away from them.
Rayner’s Vilkan instincts clamored to tear the man’s throat out, but Drausus had to be dealt with inside the law to prove to the clan that the law could be upheld. “My orders were not to touch them, Drausus. You went against a direct order, you participated in an unsanctioned mission, and you hurt a clan servant. There will be hell to pay.”
Sliding his gaze toward the trembling girl, Drausus curled his lip in fear. Then he slunk toward the door, disappearing on hurried footsteps.
Once the sound of his departure had faded into the busy sounds of the kitchen, Rayner focused on the huddled girl. Her glistening light-colored eyes watched him. Crusted blood smeared one cheek. Her slight form had barely reached womanhood, and yet the depths of her gaze told him she’d aged far beyond her years through this experience.
Without moving too quickly, he took off his shirt. The girl flinched, a sob sticking in her throat. He held it out to her and softly said, “My name is Rayner. I’m not going to let anyone else hurt you. I vow it. Can you walk?”
After a brief pause, she nodded. But she didn’t move. Her skin twitched and trembled as if trying to run away without her. Memories of his mother flashed before him, her humiliation every time she’d come home with a black eye or new welts across her back. Laying the shirt within the girl’s reach, he turned his back to allow her privacy. “Your friend, Vera, is waiting for you back at my quarters.”
The shuffle of bare skin against stone told him she was up. He gave her a few heartbeats to pull on the shirt, then turned and gestured toward the door. “If you’ll allow me, I’ll show you the way.”
He used the servant tunnels as much as possible to keep the clan’s eyes off her bare legs and bruised face, but he felt the servants watching them as they returned to his home. He felt their judgment too. They knew who he’d come from; they knew how hard he’d fought to end the Vilkas’ involvement in the flesh trade on Kladuu. And here he was with a human slave turned prisoner turned servant. One who’d been treated no better than his mother had. Rayner bowed his head in shame.
No apology could fix what had been done to this girl. Nothing could ever make her whole again. She scurried along at his side, staying close, yet every time she bumped against him, she flinched as if physical contact burned.
By the time they reached his quarters, Rayner realized what he had to do. Not just to punish Drausus for going against orders by taking the prisoner, but Savas as well for enabling and encouraging the illegal flesh trade. They finally had direct proof of his involvement. But, most im
portantly, for plotting to rouse a coup against their Alpha. Their punishment would have to be decisive and brutal enough to discourage the rest of Savas’s loyalists within the clan, which left Rayner with only one option.
The Omega Selection.
The clan hadn’t had an Omega in almost a decade. And over thirty years had passed since the last Omega Selection. There could only be one Omega in each clan. They were the lowest ranked member and barely considered more than a servant. In some ways, an Omega was worse off than a servant because the Omega was shunned and relegated to living off the clan’s scraps. Although still under the clan’s protection from violence, the Omega would receive nothing but scorn for the rest of his or her life.
Without a current Omega to battle for the position, Drausus and Savas would have to fight to the death to claim it. If they refused, they’d both be executed—though Savas might prefer execution to living as the Omega. Rayner didn’t care which option Savas chose as long as he no longer had influence over the clan, and an Omega Selection was the only course of action that could ensure that. The clan would never follow an Omega.
He rounded the last curve toward his home, his mind turning to Vera. She was obviously a natural-born leader, and it would be his duty as the clan’s Beta to keep an eye on her while these women acclimated to their new lives.
It was why this morning during his talk with Kaveh about elevating the women to servant status that he’d requested Vera as his own. His tiny two-room domicile had little need of a servant, but it was the best way to ensure her safety, especially after she and her young friend had been singled out by Savas and Drausus.
At least, Rayner told himself he was assigning her as his servant for her sake. It had nothing to do with the woman’s strength and beauty and that powerful scent of hers that he couldn’t shake.
He opened the door to his home and stepped back to allow Niva through. The girl held back, her huge eyes wary. But Vera appeared, bowling through the front doorway to wrap her arms around the smaller woman.
Without a glance in his direction, Vera guided Niva back inside the house and straight to his bedroom as if she owned the place, leaving Rayner standing outside, wondering exactly what he’d gotten himself into.
5
Vera
Vera helped Niva lie back on the alien’s giant bed. She pulled the feather-soft blanket over Niva’s legs before retrieving a small towel from the attached bathroom, which she’d used to clean her split lip before Rayner returned with Niva.
With the towel, she cleaned the blood from the girl’s face. When she finished and the towel was pink with blood, Vera sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed back Niva’s tangled locks to see her eyes.
The pain and distance in her gaze almost undid Vera. Fighting her own tears, she pulled Niva into a tight hug. The young woman clung to Vera just as tightly. Beneath the too-large shirt that wasn’t her own, Niva’s shoulders shook against nearly silent sobs. Vera ran her hand up and down the girl’s back in soothing strokes as if any comfort could be found in a moment like this.
Sniffling, Niva leaned back against the pillows. “I’m scared,” she whispered.
Vera’s heart ached. The impact of everything that had happened in such a short amount of time crashed into her and threatened to pull her under. But it couldn’t. She wouldn’t allow it. She would get these women home. It was her responsibility. “How badly are you hurt?”
The girl’s lip trembled. “He was going to do worse to me. He …” She swallowed visibly. “He threatened to …”
“It’s okay,” Vera soothed, but on the inside, she felt a wave of relief. Things could have been much, much worse for Niva. This attack, this brutalization, was already bad enough. “You’re safe now.”
“Rayner promised no one else will hurt me.”
“Who’s Rayner?”
Niva’s beautiful features smoothed slightly, her stark eyes coming to life with what could only be described as hero worship as she looked over Vera’s shoulder. “Him.”
Vera turned, feeling his presence behind her. He’d closed the front door to his home and crossed the small space of the central living area to the bedroom door, where he waited quietly, giving the women space. He stood tall and strong, arms crossed over his bare chest, which was corded with rippling muscles and thick veins. His pants hung low around his tapered hips.
If he’d caught her staring at the smooth skin right above the line of his pants, he didn’t embarrass her by showing it. He inclined his head toward her in the subtlest of bows. “I’m Rayner, Beta to Kaveh of Clan Vilka.”
Vera had never imagined an alien could be attractive, but this guy hit all the right buttons in the looks department. And he’d saved Niva from Drausus. But attraction aside, she was still a prisoner on this planet. She tried to keep her voice cold as she asked, “Where are the other women?”
“They’re being removed as we speak.”
Vera’s spine stiffened. “And what exactly are you doing with them?”
He held out his hands as if to hold her back. “They’ll not be harmed. I’m having them placed in a temporary residence where they can clean up, eat, and get some sleep on real beds.”
“Vera?” Niva’s fingertips touched Vera’s arm. “We’ll be okay. Rayner is going to help us.”
“Sure,” she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. She already knew how Rayner was going to help them. Servitude wasn’t her idea of happy patronage. “Try to get some rest. I’ll be right outside the bedroom door, okay?”
Niva nodded, her bruised eyes already shutting. Before Vera had even reached the door, the young girl was breathing deeply. Niva needed more than a giant bed to sleep in; she needed her home and family and to not be on an alien planet.
Rayner stepped back as Vera left the bedroom and closed the door quietly behind her. She raised her eyes to the massive alien and said, “If you expect me to thank you for saving her, I won’t.”
The lines around his eyes deepened. “I don’t.”
Gritting her teeth against the obvious sadness in Rayner’s voice, Vera said, “I want to talk to your Alpha. I should have the right to argue for our freedom.”
He dipped his chin in a diplomatic nod. “You’ve had a terrible introduction to our planet and our people. On behalf of our Alpha, I apologize for this situation.”
“Situation? You say Savas acted without your Alpha’s consent, but then you tell us we can’t go home. That we must stay here as servants. And you’re going to stand there and fucking apologize to me? If you’re really sorry for our situation, how about you take us home?”
Vera waved her hands to emphasize her words, but as she lifted her shoulder, the bite wound pulled and a flash of pain made her wince. She lowered her arm, swaying slightly. When was the last time she’d eaten anything? Yesterday at breakfast on the station?
“Please,” Rayner said quietly. “Let me treat your wound.”
Vera gritted her teeth. She wanted to tell him all the anatomically impossible things he could do to himself, but the truth was, her shoulder hurt. And if she was to be of any use to the other women, she needed to have both arms in working condition. She nodded tightly.
Rayner moved about his small space with the efficiency of a man who knew how to get things done. He went first to his desk and gathered up a sleek dagger. Then he went to a cupboard along the back wall and pulled out a series of silk-like strips of cloth and a closed tub of ointment. By the time he returned to Vera, she’d sat on a pile of earth-toned cushions in the corner, afraid she’d fall down on the floor if she didn’t. He crouched in front of her, his tall body folding lithely beneath him.
She recoiled when he reached for the edges of her torn uniform.
“Sorry,” he said, pausing. His eyes met hers and held. She prayed he couldn’t hear her heart starting to hammer in her chest. If he did, she hoped he thought it was merely from fear. She should be afraid. She most certainly should not be so enamored by the flecks of gold in his eye
s or the salty scent of his skin.
“I’m okay,” she said, though her body jolted when he touched her. He paused again. After a beat, he pushed back the frayed fabric and exposed her shoulder and collarbone.
He sucked in a long breath, drawing her attention once again. Her eyes went between him and her wound. “What? Is it that bad?”
“No, it’s just …” He shook his head, his jaw flexing. It appeared as though he had to gather himself for a moment before he said, “You’re fine. The bite isn’t infected. I’ll put some liniment on it and wrap it up. You’ll be fine in a day.”
He applied a dark green goo from the tub. It sank into the wound and spread along Vera’s skin with a soothing burst of coolness. She sighed as the muscles in her shoulder relaxed almost instantly. A smile flickered on Rayner’s face, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening. Yes, Vera realized, he smiled a lot.
“It’s from a tree in the jungle,” he explained as he rubbed her shoulder and up the side of her neck, exposing more of her skin. He leaned closer to get a better look at his work. “We have to burn it from the bark and set up drips in the trunk to drain the soot. It takes hours just to collect one tub, but it can heal almost anything.”
“What is it called?” Vera found herself asking just to hear him keep talking.
“Humir,” he answered. “My mother used to keep a small tin in her pockets for when I came to her with skinned knees and elbows.”
Before she realized it, a smile had tugged at her lips and Rayner had seen. She fought it off her face.
“I’m going to tear the arm off your uniform so I can wrap the wound. Is that okay?”
Vera pulled her arm away. “These are the only clothes I have.”
“I’ll get you more.”
He offered her another slight smile, and Vera found herself nodding. He tore along the seam of her uniform with painstaking care not to jostle her arm. To keep her mind off the fact that he was literally tearing off her clothes, she watched his biceps press against the tight sleeves of his own shirt. Finally, her uniform’s arm ripped free and slid off. Rayner worked quickly like he’d wrapped many wounds in his life.
