by Sadie Carter
“We will land on Equin. I have been there before. It will sustain us and the people will be happy to house us until we can be rescued. I just hope we will make it that far on the fuel we have left.”
“That’s good.” She yawned. “Oh. Sorry.” She felt very tired all of a sudden. Must be the adrenaline leaving her body. Her head bobbed to the side and she giggled.
“Saffron? Are you well?”
She turned to stare at him, aware that he vision was slightly blurred. “I feel great. Better than great. I feel like I could float away.” She held her arms out and flapped them. “Flap just like a birdy. Cheep cheep.”
She giggled again. Part of her recoiled in horror at the sound. Since when did she giggle? She wasn’t a giggler.
He looked grim as he reached out and grabbed her hand before it could slam into his face.
“Whoops. Sorry.”
“Is your vision blurred?” He pressed two fingers over her pulse. “Your heart rate is fast.”
“I like it when you go all doctor on me. Makes me think you actually care about me.”
He was silent as he pulled the lid of her eye open. He peered down at her.
“What is it? Oh God, has something happened to my eye? Is it missing? Did it fall out? It fell out, didn’t it? When I was a kid we used to read this story and the donkey’s eye got plucked out by a bird. Can that happen?”
“Hush,” he told her gently. “Your eye is fine. That pain inhibitor must have been pretty strong.”
“Oh hell, there’s two of you.” She stared at the two Morocos, blinking rapidly. She shook her head, stopping when it made her feel nauseous. “I can’t handle two of you. I can’t even handle one of you.”
His gaze turned thoughtful. “I should have given you a half dose. You are much smaller than a Sky Warrior.”
She giggled. “They’re giants. Wonder if they’re big all over.” She attempted to wink as she held her hands about a foot apart. “If you know what I mean.”
“They are big all over.”
“Ooh, so you’ve seen one.”
“I just saw a pack of them. They were just holding us prisoner. Perhaps your memory has been affected by the pain inhibitor. Stars, I should have been more careful.”
“Of course, I remember that they just held us prisoner. But I didn’t see one naked, did I?”
“You wished to see one naked?” he roared.
She winced and cupped her hands over her ears. “Do you have to yell? I’m sitting right here. I swear you’d make the devil stop in his tracks.”
He grabbed hold of her shoulders. “Why did you wish to see one of them naked?”
“Huh? Who?” She was having trouble following his conversation. “When do I get to see you naked?” She glanced down at his crotch. “From the feel of that banana earlier, I’m guessing you’re really, really large.” She stared up at him, blinking. “Moroco? I don’t think you’ll fit.”
He gaped down at her. He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. In the space of a minute he’d gone from being blinding furious at her for wishing to see another male naked to being aroused by her admiring stare. Although what a banana was, he did not know.
He should have been more careful with the dosage he’d given her. Clearly it had been too strong. But there was one benefit; it seemed that the barriers she usually kept up were eroding. She was much more talkative than normal.
Would it be fair to question her in this state? When she had no defenses?
No, it wasn’t fair. But since when had he cared about fair?
“Fit?”
“Yeah, your cock. It’s not going to fit inside me.” She pouted. “Shame really. I bet sex with you would be really hot.”
“I will fit,” he told her arrogantly.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Mike only had a pencil dick and it really hurt.”
He tightened with anger. “Mike. That is the male who abused you?” He would like nothing more than to get his hands on this Mike and punish him for daring to harm his mate.
“Abuse? No, I wanted it. Well, I thought I did. But that’s before I knew how much it would hurt. I thought my virginity was something to get rid of, you know. I was twenty-one. I’d been seeing Mike casually, one thing led to another and we’re getting hot and heavy in the back of his car. Although it was quick. I mean, he barely even touched my breasts. What we did earlier went for much longer and you didn’t even fuck me. Are you sore?”
He scrambled to keep up with her words. This Mike was obviously the one who had joined with her, but she said he was not the one to abuse her?
“Sore?”
“Because you didn’t get to come.”
Sore? No, he wasn’t sore. He was in agony.
“You said that a male had abused you. Was that not Mike?”
“Oh no. Not unless you call really bad sex abuse. I mean it was truly awful. He really sucked. Guess I wasn’t any better. You got a real dud as a mate, huh? I suck at sex…” Suddenly, she giggled. “Actually, I don’t suck. He wanted me to, but I didn’t like the idea of putting it in my mouth.”
His stomach tightened in anger, jealousy and arousal.
“I think you should stop talking, Saffron.”
“Bad at sex, not exactly a looker, and I’m a bitch.”
He growled. He didn’t like that she put herself down. Why she did not realize how beautiful she was? He supposed it was up to him to show her but he had no idea how to do that. Threatening to spank her had no impact. Speaking to her logically? Well, that never seemed to work. For anything.
“Ricky liked to call me a bitch a lot. And cunt. Cunt bitch was a particular favorite. He thought he was so clever when he was such a dumbass. Except when it came to being a criminal. He was actually quite good at that.”
His stomach tightened even further. Fury swamped him. Who had dared call her such names?
“Who is Ricky?” He grimaced at how dark his voice sounded but he could not act like her words were not affecting him. Luckily, she was too caught up in her drugged haze to pay much attention.
“He’s an asshole.”
Yes, he had guessed that.
“Was he the one to hurt you?”
“He threw me down a flight of stairs. And then he laughed. He stood over me and laughed as I cried in pain. He’d already hit my face so I could barely see him out of my swollen eyes. He stood there laughing as I sobbed then he spat in my face and walked away.”
What?
The fury filling him was nearly uncontrollable. He knew if he looked in a mirror that his eyes would be red. “He pushed you down some stairs? He beat you?”
“Yeah, and then he left.”
“I will kill him.”
She smiled at him, her eyes drooping. “That’s nice.”
“That’s nice?” That was not the reaction he had been expecting.
She yawned. “Sorry. Tired. Must be all the excitement getting to me.”
Plus, a really powerful pain inhibitor. He knew if he wanted any more answers while her guard was down that he had to work quickly.
“Why did he push you down the stairs, Saffron?”
Her eyes popped open at that question and she frowned. “You think it’s my fault? You think I did something to deserve it?”
Moving swiftly, he grabbed hold of her chin. “Never. Never could you do anything that would deserve that. And if I ever have the chance, I will make him pay for the pain you suffered.”
“Still suffer,” she said, relaxing back into her seat and closing her eyes once more. She made a little sound of pleasure and his cock twitched despite his anger at what she was revealing to him.
“What do you mean, still suffer?” He tried to temper his voice but it still came out as a growl.
“It’s why my back acts up. He broke three of my vertebrae. Having to lie there for hours in the cold until his neighbor returned home from work and called the police didn’t help either. Took me months to recover. So mu
ch damn therapy. Physiotherapists are really mean.”
Her voice was almost childlike and he ran his hand over her hair in reaction. “Shh, marlia, it’s okay.”
“I think they must give them lessons in how to be jerks. They just push and push and push until you’re ready to scream.”
“Tell me he was punished.”
She snorted. “Ricky? That slippery dickhead? No such luck. Ricky was a big man in our town. I think he had more cops on his payroll than he did criminals. No, I knew he’d never get prosecuted so I didn’t even bother to lay charges.”
“But he could have come after you again.”
“That’s why I discharged myself from the hospital as soon as I could move, packed me and Sophie up and moved. I knew I wasn’t safe until I put a lot of miles between me and him. Even then I never felt that safe. I guess moving to Zerconia is the first time I’ve really felt safe from him. Even he can’t get me here, right?”
He watched as she drifted off to sleep, her breathing growing deeper, her body losing the last bits of tension it held.
“As long as I have breath in my body no one will ever hurt you again, my mate.”
And he included himself in that vow.
Chapter Eleven
Something rocked her and she mumbled. She was too comfy. She didn’t want to move.
“Go away. I’m sleeping.”
Another shake and she opened her eyes, glaring around her. Wait, this wasn’t her bed. She wasn’t even in a bed. She was sitting up. In a shuttle. Next to Moroco. Who was supposedly her mate.
And they were headed really fucking fast towards that planet!
“Moroco!” she cried out, unable to hide the fear in her voice as she clenched hold of the arms on her seat.
“Stars! I had hoped you would sleep through the landing.”
“Landing or crashing?” Her heart raced, her mouth growing dry. “What the hell is going on?”
“Engine malfunction. We’re going to crash land.”
“Holy crap. We’re going to die.”
He turned to her giving her a fierce glare. “We are not going to die. Brace yourself. Bend over and protect your head.”
Holding back her sob of terror. Barely. She crouched over as far as she could with the safety harness on and covered her head with her arms.
The next few moments were terrifying. A loud roaring noise drowned out whatever Moroco was trying to say. Then they landed with a huge jolt that made her scream, her whole body trembling with the impact of the hard landing. Then she was spinning, the world swimming around her in a sickening rush.
Then a final jarring stop that had her back screaming in pain.
She lay still, just trying to breathe through the God-awful pain. Her brain struggled to figure out what was happening. Oh God. Oh God. Moroco. Was he all right? She attempted to sit, letting out a cry as agony engulfed her. So, moving at the moment didn’t seem to be an option.
“Moroco?”
Silence.
No. No, no, no. What if he was hurt? What if he needed her? She forced herself to move, slowly inching up, pausing several times to breathe. Sweat coated her body by the time she managed to sit upright, her stomach rolling with nausea. She reached up with one arm to push her hair back off her face, whimpering as sharp strikes of pain whipped down her back.
Oh, this wasn’t good. It really wasn’t.
She turned slowly, keeping her movements careful and small. “Moroco!”
Fuck. He was slumped over the console, not moving. “Moroco, wake up!”
Nothing. What was she going to do? She could barely move, how was she going to help him? That was supposing he wasn’t beyond help.
No, he couldn’t be dead. The agony filling her now had nothing to do with her back and everything to do with the idea of losing Moroco.
“Moroco, wake up, please. I need you. Please.” She didn’t even care that she was practically begging. She just needed the damn man to wake up. Tears gathered in her eyes as he just lay there. She felt so ridiculously helpless.
“Moroco! Please!”
He had a thumping headache.
He opened his eyes. Where was he? He forced himself to sit up, the world tilting around him.
That wasn’t good. He held his hand up to his forehead to attempt to steady himself, surprised when he felt something wet. Pulling his hand back he stared down at the redness on his palm.
“What is that?”
“It’s blood. You’ve hit your head. Moroco, please tell me you’re all right.”
He turned to look at the female beside him. She was pleasantly attractive. Not beautiful. But she had a softness he enjoyed. He raked his gaze over her. Yes, he thought he would greatly enjoy that body. He smiled, liking the way her eyes widened in surprise.
Then he frowned. He knew her. Knew that face. The round cheeks, the full lips, her dark brown eyes which were normally filled with fire but were now clouded with pain.
Who was she?
A memory tempted him. This female was beneath him, looking up at him with passion. And trust.
“Saffron.”
“Oh, thank God,” she half-sobbed. “I thought you might have memory loss or something.”
Or something was right. He frowned and rubbed at his throbbing head. “What happened?”
“We crash-landed. After escaping from the ship. Do you remember?”
Bit and pieces of memories came back to him, trying to fit together like a puzzle. Saffron crying out in pleasure with an orgasm, looking up at him, pain in her gaze as she lay on the floor.
“Your back!” He turned towards her, moving too quickly and his head swam.
“Careful. Just move carefully. That must have been quite a bang and you’re bleeding.” She watching him worriedly. “It’s not bleeding much but you should still wrap it up. I’d help, but I’m having a bit of trouble moving around.”
He frowned, ignoring the way that pulled at his skin. “Your back? How does it feel?”
“Like someone is pressing hot pokers into it.” She let out a deep breath. “But I’ll be okay until you get sorted. I don’t think it’s a good idea to move me at the moment anyway.”
He guessed she was in a lot of pain if she was admitting that. He undid his safety harness and moving slowly to combat the dizziness and nausea assaulting him in turns, he searched around for the medical kit he remembered using earlier. Finally, he found it on the floor.
“There should be some pain inhibitors in here.”
“There are. But last time you gave me one it made me feel all loopy and I think I passed out.”
He couldn’t remember that. Wait…no…there was a memory of her laughing, her face relaxed. Then she’d grown serious, she’d been telling him something. What was it?
“Moroco? Are you okay?”
“Yes. My memory is a bit patchy. It will return to me.” He grabbed the inhibitor and changed the dosage, knocking it down to half. He should have done that before.
But then she wouldn’t have told me about Ricky.
Ricky, who had pushed her down the stairs.
Ricky, who had broken three of her vertebrae.
Ricky, who had made her fear for her life so much that she’d packed up herself and her sister and moved to get away from him.
Ricky, who was a dead man if he was ever fortunate enough to meet him.
“Um, Moroco, are you okay?”
“Yes. I need to give you this.”
“There is no way I am rolling over so you can stick that in my ass,” she told him. “It just about killed me to sit up.”
“That is okay. I will put it in your arm.”
“What? I thought you couldn’t inject it into my arm?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Why indeed?” she muttered to herself. “You really are impossible.”
“I am impossible? Because I wish to inject you in the arm?” He was not the impossible one. “You make no sense. But then I am not certain why
I thought you would.” He was still reeling from the memory of what she’d told him. He couldn’t believe someone had hurt her.
She’d had no one to protect her.
But she did now. Him.
After giving her the pain inhibitor, he took her pulse, frowning slightly. “Your heart beat is racing.”
“Anger will do that to a girl.”
Not understanding the fiery glare she aimed his way, he studied his head injury in the small mirror he found in the medical kit. It wasn’t so bad, even though it appeared to be giving him some issues with memory lapses.
He dabbed the wound with antiseptic then placed a skinlastic over it. When it sealed over the wound, it was hard to even tell he had a wound.
“Wow. That’s amazing. I can’t even see where you got hurt.” She gaped at him.
“They do not have these on Earth?”
“No. You can’t even get access to a regeneration machine unless you’re rich. Our medical practices are way behind yours.”
“All of your practices are lightyears behind ours.”
She scowled. “I wouldn’t go that far. Do you have to be so arrogant about everything?”
“Yes. What did you mean, not unless you are rich?”
“You can access a regeneration machine if you have enough money.”
He frowned. “It is only available to those with a lot of funds?”
“Uh-huh.” She still studied his forehead with fascination.
“That is barbaric.”
She shrugged then gasped a little.
“The pain inhibitor is not working yet? Perhaps I should increase the dose.”
“No, I don’t want any more. Just give it a bit more of a chance. I don’t want to go all loopy like I did before. Did I say anything?”
“Say anything?” he asked, pretending to focus on the medical bag.
“I can recall us talking but I can’t really remember what it was about. Do you remember?”
“I need to leave the shuttle and check on the outside damage. I will climb higher and see if I can tell how close to a settlement we are. You will wait here.” He left before she could answer him, although he thought he heard her mutter something.
