by T. J. Quinn
“If you knew I wouldn’t give you any unwilling slave captured by the Sherlaacs, why did you give me their coordinates?” Kenyon asked, intrigued.
“Because I knew it was only a matter of time for you to find them and that encounter would certainly happen here. Battles are bad for business,” he explained, displaying his keen intelligence.
“We’re at an impasse then,” he stated.
Zyrh chuckled, but the sound was not even a bit amused. “Yes, and I prepared myself for it. By now, you should know nothing happens in Kalyko without me knowing about it, or at least, you should.”
“Meaning?” Kenyon asked, remembering the women staying at his place not far from Zyrh’s auction house.
Zyrh grabbed a small device and pulled up a huge screen. “I was told you had some guests at your old place,” he said, confirming Kenyon’s worst fears, as Zyrh displayed images of Samantha and the other women wandering in the house’s gardens.
“What have you done?” Kenyon asked, cursing Samantha’s stubbornness. He should have known she wouldn’t stay still. She never did.
“I kindly invited your guests to visit me and stay with me while we waited for your return,” Zyrh replied, with a cold grin on his ugly face.
Kenyon considered his options, none of them good and decided his best chance of getting out of there with all the women was to play Zyrh’s game.
“What do you want from me?” he finally asked.
“Go get me my Borzan’s female, and we’ll discuss what I want,” Zyrh ordered in a cold tone.
Kenyon nodded and left the building, striding as if all demons in the universe were on his tail.
By the time he reached the cell the Borzan woman was in, he had had the time to calm down and think more clearly. Samantha and the other women were his priority. He barely knew the woman in his cell, and though he would hate not being able to rescue her from Zyrh’s clutches, there wasn’t much he could do.
Nevertheless, it felt like the worst thing he had to do. As if handing the woman to Zyrh was the biggest mistake, he could make in his life.
Furious with the strange thoughts and feelings rushing through his mind, he opened the door.
The woman was sitting on the bed looking at the door, and when he entered, she slowly got up and closed the distance between them.
“I guess it’s time for you to take me to your client,” Sharian said, in a cold, controlled tone.
“Yes, he’s waiting for you,” he replied, in a similar tone.
Without another word, he took her by the elbow and dragged her out of the room.
“There’s no need to drag me. I won’t escape,” she protested, as they walked out of his vessel.
“I’m afraid your prior actions speak louder than your words,” he replied, never looking at her, feeling as if every step he took towards the auction house took him closer to his doom.
All his instincts were yelling at him to take her back, to protect her, but for the first time in his life, he would have to pay no attention to them. He couldn’t fail Samantha and the other women. Ethan would never forgive him, and neither would he be able to forgive himself.
It only took them a few minutes to get to the auction house. With every step they took, the woman beside him became slower and slower. Despite her words, it was evident she didn’t want to face her destiny.
“You don’t have to do this, you know? My family would reward you if you took me back,” she said, shakily as she resisted his dragging.
“I already told you I don’t believe you. Besides, things have changed, and I have no other option but to take you to Zyrh,” he grumbled, pulling her closer to him, forcing her to keep up with his pace.
“What do you mean? What changed?” she asked, intrigued, but he didn’t answer.
There was no use talking about it, at least, not until they were with Zyrh.
“Please, there has to be a way,” she was begging like she never had in her whole life. The idea of being sold to a perfect stranger terrified her. Yes, she had been prepared to mate a man she wouldn’t know that well, but men accepted by her parents had to go through thorough scrutiny that assured her they were good men and not some violent man that would lock her up in a dungeon to use and abuse.
Kenyon was doing his best to ignore the struggle inside him. His instincts were yelling at him not to let go of the woman next to him, that she was important for his future. However, his mind and heart could never accept the idea of putting Samantha and the other women in danger to save a stranger.
“There is no other way, accept the situation,” he grumbled as he dragged her into Zyrh’s auction house.
This time, Kenyon didn’t even bother to announce himself. He walked all the way to Zyrh’s office. He was waiting for him.
“Ah, here she is, and a lot more beautiful than I expected,” Zyrh said with a pleased smile on his face.
The dread on the woman’s face was worthy of a poem. At that moment, Kenyon realized she thought Zyrh was the male mating her. That simple idea was enough to make any woman want to die.
“Cut the crap, Zyrh. Now, where are my women?” Kenyon snarled, ignoring the shaky woman he was still grabbing.
Zyrh moved his hovering device closer to them. “They are fine, enjoying their stay at my harem,” Zyrh replied, with a malicious grin. “However, things have changed. I received a visit from my client, you know, the one that requested the Borzan female.”
Sharian almost passed out with relief when she found out the disgusting male in front of her was not the one she would have to mate. Of course, he could be even worse, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.
“I have nothing to do with whatever deals you might have with your clients. My men have brought you the Nakois females, and I’ve brought you the Borzan female, so set my women free, and I’ll be off Kalyko before you can say goodbye,” Kenyon replied, in a cold tone.
But Zyrh was shaking his head. “I wish I could, my friend, I wish I could, but it happens that my client saw one of your women and he has changed his order,” he dropped the news, and it resounded in the room like a bomb.
“Don’t even think of it, Zyrh, it will never happen,” Kenyon said, taking a step forward, his free hand clenched into a fist. His black onyx horns moved forward and sharpened up as they always did when he felt threatened.
Zyrh let out a humorless laugh. “Ah, my friend, there’s no need to get upset,” he said, moving his hovering device to a safe distance from Kenyon. “The lady in question seemed quite interested.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I knew you would say that, so I’ve invited her to join us,” Zyrh said, gesturing to one of the women that always accompanied him.
“I have no idea how you managed to get her to accept your offer, but I will not allow her to accept it,” Kenyon asserted.
“I believe I’m old enough to make my own decisions, Kenyon,” Samantha said as she entered the room.
Kenyon finally released the woman he was still grabbing and closed the distance between him and Samantha. “You have to be kidding me, Samantha or under the effect of some kind of drug to accept something like this.”
Samantha sighed and cradled her friend’s face. “I know what I’m doing, Kenyon. This is my best chance at having the life I’ve been dreaming of for a while,” she said with a shivery smile while glancing at Zyrh, leaning back on his chair with a very pleased smile.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” he yelled at her.
“It’s my life. I’m allowed to do whatever I want with it. It’s my decision, not yours,” she pointed out.
“You can’t be serious,” he was still protesting when he caught a movement with his peripheral vision – the Borzan woman was trying to sneak out.
But he wasn’t going to let her. With a couple of strides, he grabbed her once more and pulled her against her. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
She said nothing
but the despair in her eyes was quite obvious.
“Kenyon, I’m staying,” though Samantha’s voice was a bit shaky, it was clear that she had made up her mind.
“Have you at least met the man you’re supposed to mate? He could be someone like Zyrh,” he pointed out still upset but holding his grip around the other female.
“No, I haven’t, but I’m sure it will be alright,” Samantha said, rubbing her eyebrows. “Just don’t make things harder for me, Kenyon, please,” she asked him, with a plea in her eyes. “Take the other women and leave. I’ll invite you to visit me as soon as I’m settled in and you’ll be able to see for yourself how well I am.”
Kenyon sighed, not sure what to do. His instincts were screaming at him she was lying, but he couldn’t come out with a reason she would do such a foolish thing. He would have to take her word for it and leave her behind, at least, for now. As she said, she was an adult, and she had the right to make her own decisions even if he didn’t agree with them.
“Please, tell me you know you don’t have to do this. If Zyrh is blackmailing you in any way, or you’ve decided to sacrifice yourself to save a stranger from him, just tell me, and I’ll fix it,” he told her, with a stern tone, his eyes locked on hers.
She didn’t flinch as she stared at him for a few seconds until she looked away. “No one is blackmailing me,” she assured him, walking away and standing next to Zyrh. “There’s no need for you to fix anything.”
“I don’t believe you,” Kenyon insisted.
She snorted, impatient. “What do I have to do to convince you?”
Zyrh chuckled. “Oh, my dear, when our friend Kenyon sets his mind on something is very hard to dissuade him,” he assured her.
“I know,” she agreed. “But this time he will have to accept my decision.”
Kenyon rubbed his eyebrows trying to make a decision he felt he wasn’t ready to make. Could he believe Samantha? Was she really willing to marry a total stranger just to evade going back to planet Earth? He knew how much she hated living there, but he had never thought she would risk this much to leave.
“I want to know who the client is. I want all the information you have on him,” he asked Zyrh.
But the man was shaking his head before he finished talking. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. My clients come to me because they know they can trust me to be discreet. I will not betray their trust.”
“Damn you, Zyrh, you can make an exception in this case. How can you expect me to simply walk out of here and leave her behind? She’s my best friend and like a sister to me,” he protested, trying to find his way into Zyrh’s conscious.
“Have I ever lied to you, Kenyon?” he asked, seriously.
Amazingly, he hadn’t. Zyrh liked to bend the truth to fit his needs, but he rarely lied. He used to say it was bad for business. “No, you haven’t.”
“Then, trust me when I tell you she will be in good hands. Not all my clients are crooks and pirates,” he assured him.
Chapter Five
“I’ll be in touch as soon as possible, Kenyon, I promise,” Samantha pledged. “Now, take Neela and the other women out of here. I’m sure they are eager to see their men.”
Kenyon sighed and finally accepted the fact he would have to leave that room without Samantha.
“Don’t forget to take the Borzan female with you, my dear friend. I’m sure you’ll be able to find her a home,” Zyrh added, with a mischievous grin.
“I truly hope you know what you’re doing,” Kenyon grunted to Samantha before he turned around and left the room dragging the Borzan woman after him.
Neela, Caisys, and Ashryn were outside waiting for him.
“Let’s go,” he ordered, not even stopping.
“But, where’s Samantha? We can’t leave without her,” Neela protested, as she ran after him, followed by the other women.
“She decided to stay here,” he barked letting them know he wasn’t going to discuss the topic any further.
The women followed him without asking anything else. Apparently, they weren’t that surprised by the fact Samantha was staying and that only made him a little madder with the whole situation.
Sharian was so relieved with the results of the meeting, she felt like she would pass out. The whole encounter had been nerve-wracking, and there were moments where she was sure the man still holding her would convince the other woman to trade places with her again.
She had no idea why the woman had agreed to take her place, but she would have liked the opportunity to thank her.
Of course, she still had no idea what would become of her, especially when the man dragging her across the streets of Kalyko wasn’t very happy with the result of the meeting and that couldn’t be good for her. But being away from Zyrh and his client felt pretty good for now.
It didn’t take them long to get to Kenyon’s vessel. Kenyon took the Borzan woman straight to her cell. He still hadn’t decided what he was going to do with her, but his priority was to talk to Ethan.
“Wait! Why are you locking me in this cell again?” the woman protested, holding onto his arm, to prevent him from leaving her with no answers.
Kenyon glared at her and then looked at the hand holding his arm. His look was, more than enough, to convince her to let go of his arm, and take a couple of steps away from him.
“I don’t trust you, and I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with you,” he replied flatly before he left the cell and locked it behind him.
In the communication room, he invited Robin to leave before he called Ethan. “I need to talk to you alone,” he asked before the other man had the chance to greet him.
Ethan asked the man accompanying him to leave and only spoke when they were finally alone. “What’s going on? I’m guessing something went wrong with your visit to Kalyko.”
“Yes, you can say that again.”
He narrated the past events as quickly as possible and waited for his friend to assimilate the news.
“Are you sure there was no way he could have been blackmailing her into accepting this?” Ethan asked, with a deep frown.
“I can’t think of one. When he told me he had the women in his harem, I immediately decided to give him what he wanted – the Borzan female. I would never trade any of our women for a stranger, no matter what Jaffar might feel about it,” he replied, still feeling confused and furious.
“Of course not, and I’m sure Jaffar would have acted the same way,” Ethan retorted. “I’m just astounded with Samantha’s decision.”
“That makes two of us,” Kenyon snarled. “Of course, none of this would have happened if Samantha had followed my instructions. She knew she couldn’t show her face outside of the house and yet she did. Zyrh’s client, whoever he is, must have seen her and decided he wanted her.”
“How did he know Zyrh would help him?” Ethan asked intrigued.
“Zyrh can get you whatever you might want, one way or the other,” Kenyon assured him. “I still have trouble believing Samantha accepted this voluntarily, but I really don’t see how he could have forced her into it.”
There was a thick silence between the two men, both lost in their thoughts.
“I knew she wanted to find a new home,” Ethan said after a while. “I guess I hadn’t realized just how desperately she wanted it.”
“It still doesn’t make any sense,” Kenyon grumbled.
“Have you talked to Neela and the other girls about this? They might know something.”
“No, I haven’t. I was too furious with the whole situation,” Kenyon admitted.
“What happened to the Borzan female?” Ethan asked.
“I have her with me,” he replied, rubbing his face, in a vain attempt to make the past two hours stress disappear.
“Have you thought what you’re going to do with her?” Ethan asked, with a slight frown.
“No, I haven’t. For now, she’ll travel with us.”
“You could take her home.”
Kenyon didn’t answer right away. That would be the obvious solution, but his instincts still rebelled against that idea. He needed to clear his mind and think things through.
“We’ll see. The third quadrant isn’t exactly around the corner.”
“That’s true,” Ethan agreed. “Do you think you can pick up Jaffar’s vessel? Matthew and Steven could fly it back to our meeting point,” he asked.
“Sure, just send me the coordinates, and I’ll go.”
“Jaffar wanted to go himself, but I need to buy the weapons for the colonies. Now that we have the Sherlaacs’ vessel we won’t need that many, but I still have to purchase a few,” Ethan added.
“You’re right. Where will we meet?” Kenyon asked as he received the coordinates of the location of Jaffar’s vessel.
“The planet where I found the special suits we’re wearing has incredible technology. I’m sure we can find the weapons we need to take over the Dreshanians there,” Ethan informed him.
“That’s a great idea. It will be better than buying them from one of the intergalactic markets. Send me the planet coordinates, and I’ll meet you there.”
“Sending them as we speak.”
“Thank you. Do you have news from Gideon?” Kenyon asked.
“Yes, I talked to him a few hours ago. The planet he’s on seems to be perfect for Gyeon and his men. He’s taking his time to check everything and consult with the people already living there of the possibility to establish a human settlement, but judging by the images he sent me, I too believe the place is what we’ve been looking for.”
“That is great news.”
“Yes, it is,” Ethan sighed. “Do you at least have a way to get in touch with Samantha?” he asked, returning to the main reason for their conversation.
“No, I haven’t. Samantha promised she would be in touch as soon as she reached her new home, but we have no way to know if the guy will let her,” Kenyon replied, his concern evident in every word.
“Perhaps, we should go back to Kalyko. If we all talk to her, we might be able to convince her to change her mind.”
“I doubt we would find her still in Kalyko and Zyrh will never tell us where she is. We’ll have to wait and see if she contacts us,” Kenyon explained.
