by Flora Dare
Taken by Space Pirates
Book Two of Bound to the Alien
A SciFi Alien Romance
by Flora Dare
www.floradare.com || Join Flora’s mailing list! || Facebook
Copyright 2015 by Flora Dare
First Amazon Edition: November 2015
DESCRIPTION
The lifemate bond. An unbreakable, sometimes unwanted, always dangerous link between two people. I watched my father go insane, and my mother broken because of their bond. I swore no matter what, I’d never let that happen to me. I promised I’d fight it until every shred of my being was used up.
But I’d never really felt what it was like to have the bond burning in my chest. And once I did? All those promises were a lot harder to keep.
When a vengeful pirate pulled me from my escape pod, I felt the bond flare to life. With a single touch, he enslaved me, and with a single glance, he stole my heart...no matter how I fought.
Will this man let me keep my sanity and my life? Or will he use the bond to break me into a million pieces? I can’t say no to his kisses, his whispers... but will I be able to survive HIM?
Table of Contents
Taken by Space Pirates
About the Author
Other Books by Flora Dare
Legal Bits
Taken by Space Pirates
Chapter One
My knees went weak, and the moment I'd been dreading all my life finally happened. My life mate, my weakness, my heart, found me.
Hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me out of the capsule I'd been stuffed into. But it wasn't one of my people I opened my eyes too.
It was a human. And he leered at me.
The only other human I’d met, Meli, said she experienced an immediate, almost uncontrollable lust when she first saw her life mate, my brother Tlavi, despite the fact that he was in the middle of kidnapping her. What did Meli do? She fought the bond, physically.
So I pushed down the urge to pull the human against my body, instead shifting into a fighting position. I let muscle memory guide me as I cocked my arm. Before I could let my animal instincts take over, I put every bit of fear and anger I felt into my fist and swung. It connected with his nose, making a nasty crunch, and knocked him to the ground.
Bloodlust swept through me and made me want to scream at the stars. My mate! Hurt! I didn't understand how we could be so tightly bound already? And how the hell had Meli managed to keep fighting my brother? I staggered away from him. It physically hurt me to see him shocked and bleeding.
The need to protect myself warred with my desire to fall at the stranger's feet and beg his forgiveness. I would not let myself be humiliated like that, no matter what my traitorous body wanted. I had to get away.
It was like being torn in two as I turned and ran. I only made it about three steps before I was tackled from behind. He was faster than I expected, and stronger. His weight pressed me into the ground, and I bit my lip to stop a moan from escaping.
How had my brother resisted claiming Meli? Every second the human’s skin touched mine, the bond tightened around me - whispering in my mind to submit to him. I had to get away from him, I tried to crawl away from him, but he entwined his fingers in my hair and pulled my head back.
Lust shot through me as he whispered in my ear, "If you don't stop fighting, we will kill you." My spirit cracked and drained out of me. Whatever I felt, I alone felt it. I collapsed on the floor, letting his weight trap me.
It felt like a thousand heartbeats with his face hard against mine, his hand tangled in my hair and his body pressed into mine.
Something metallic skittered across the floor at us and I flinched. He abruptly released my hair so suddenly I couldn't lift my head and stop it from cracking into the ground. I was dazed from the blow to my head. He caught the object and seized my wrist. He sat back up abruptly, moving away from me while pulling my arm behind me. Something clicked into place and he hauled my other wrist behind me.
Slave cuffs. He cuffed me, Princess Thearaugqua Iztan Droqrolla. His weight was gone from me, and all I could do was lay there. The cuffs were weightless against my skin. I could only feel the resistance of the force holding them together. I felt soft movements at my hips and realized he, or someone, was pulling my gown down, covering me. In my desperate attempt at flight, it ended up mostly around my waist.
The full realization of just how helpless and vulnerable I was swept over me. I was bound and trapped. Tears of humiliation and fear started to roll down my face. There was grit pressing into my skin and pain flickered through me as the grime of the ground mingled with my tears.
I heard steps coming towards me and low murmuring voices. I cracked my eyes open, peering through my hair. I could barely make out two pairs of boots. I looked past them, trying to focus on where I was. What little I could see gave me the impression of a vast interior scattered with robots and cargo.
I must be in a ship's hangar. And the way he'd treated me, this wasn't anything official. I hadn't been rescued. The realization that I was very likely in the hands of the very pirates who'd attacked my brother's ship made my blood run cold. I started shaking, half in fear, and half in shock.
An edge of darkness crept upon me as the pain in my head intensified. The voices above me grew harsh until his voice cut through with one sharp order. Two different sets of hands grabbed my arms and hauled me to my feet. He stood in front of me and tilted my face towards him, then he suddenly swore and let go.
My head drooped. It wasn't only tears, but blood rolling down my face and into the dust on the ground. Pain streaked through my head as he lifted me into his arms. His warmth eased the chill in me, but I gave into the pain and fear and chased the darkness.
Chapter Two
I knew I was drifting in and out of consciousness. Light changed into dark. But I was in his arms, so I didn't care.
We finally entered a small dark area and came to a stop. He set me on a high stool in the middle of the room. He called out for something and suddenly pressed a sharp item against my skin. A wave of heat flooded my body and he stepped away from me.
"You should be able to stay upright for a bit now. The stim I gave you will see to that."
I could taste copper in my mouth. More blood. The sharp bite of the stimulant coursing through my veins let me put mental distance between my wild emotions and the man who leaned against the wall in front of me. I straightened my back and looked him in the eyes.
He pressed a tile, and except for a single light beating down on me, the room was completely dark, and I no longer saw him. I couldn't help but ball my hands into fists. As long as I didn't struggle, I felt nothing at my wrists. But I tugged against the restraints and the cuffs chafed my skin, pinching my delicate scales.
His voice drifted around me, plucking at my nerves. "My first mate wants to skin you for the black market. Would fetch us a pretty penny. She isn't very forward thinking, of course. Jealousy is blinding her to the more lucrative aspects of slavery."
I shuddered and looked away from him. I was Princess Thearaugqua Iztan Droqrolla, and I would not show him my fear. I knew the nasty parts of the Republic Foundation; the universe was full of ugly backwaters that I could disappear into.
There would be people who would enjoy breaking my father's child. It was an understatement to say he had not been a pleasant man and enjoyed having enemies. All these years after death had taken my father away from their revenge, someone would want to use me, to break me as a proxy for my father. I would rather die than let certain people ha
ve possession of me.
I lifted a brow and threw a cold look where he'd last been. If he didn't know who I was, I wasn't going to tell him. But it was a wasted look. He stepped into the light suddenly, and I flinched. He frowned at me and pursed his lips.
I forced myself to look away from him. He looked all wrong to me. I'd tried to meet every type of alien the universe held, but my father had kept me fairly sheltered. After he died, I let my brother, Tlavi, protect me.
I wanted to drink in this strange man. He should be ugly to me, with his pink skin and its rough texture. But the lifemate bond I'd run from my whole life pulled me in.
He leaned in close. I could feel his breath on my cheek. My nipples tightened in response. He said softly, "Tell me your name."
It was a command from my bondmate. My body went rigid, wanting to throw myself at his feet, to tell him anything he wanted. I drew on something I never knew I had in me and leaned away from him, pressing my lips together.
He just laughed. "Don't worry, Thearaugqua Iztan Droqrolla."
My head snapped towards him in shock. How did he know? He leaned in so close to me it was practically a kiss then slapped me with his words. "I've been tracking you for a long while. Your family owes me. There is nothing I could do to you that would ever make up for what I am owed."
"But I've never, I didn't..." My words trailed off. I knew what my father was, I was there at the end. I closed my eyes and nodded. I'd done nothing wrong but that wouldn't matter.
"You didn't what? Rape my mother? Beat my father to death in front of us? You were a beloved, pampered daughter. Are you going to try and tell me your father couldn't possibly be capable of doing such horrendous things?"
A sour taste filled my mouth. Pampered at the end of his fist, maybe. But I just shook my head. The stimpak he'd shot me up with was starting to wear off and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay on the stool.
I'd long since given up believing there had been anything good in my father. The dream that my father would become a good man died the same day he killed my mother in front of me.
I twisted away from the man and stood. I knew I couldn't get away but I needed physical space as I stumbled toward the dark corners of the room. But he caught me, twisting me in his arms, pushing me against the wall. My arms were trapped behind me as he pressed hard into me.
"There is no getting away from me, my lovely Thea. I will use you up, and when I've had my fill of you, I'll sell you to the highest bidder. There are so many people who will take you in whatever condition I leave you in."
Darkness edged around my consciousness, and I welcomed the momentary release slipping into it would bring. My body went limp against his and I let go of holding onto this moment. My father's sins had finally caught up with our family, and I would be the one paying for his crimes.
Chapter Three
I abruptly came to as ice cold water splashed on my face. I was on my side, my hands still bound behind my back. My shoulders ached from being in such a position for who knows how long.
I looked up, and it was him. He sneered down at me, his face hard and angry. How could I still want him? How could he not feel any part of the bond between us?
I must have been out for a while as I was now laid out on a thin mattress, and there was a tray in front of me. He didn't move to help me, but I sat up as gracefully as I could manage. I might be soft and pampered, but I wasn't weak. I wasn't going to let him see me beg.
It looked like vitae and bread. My mouth was shockingly dry, the aftermath of the stims. I curled my legs under me and cleared my throat. "Please, could you undo my hands?"
He was unmoving and I couldn't read his face. "No." Clipped, short. I bowed my head and tried to let myself relax. Eventually, I would be driven by thirst to lap at the vitae, but I couldn't bear to do that in front of this man.
I finally broke the lengthening silence between us. "What should I call you?"
"You aren't going to demand that I release you? That I bring you a feast? That I take you to an appropriately appointed room?"
"Would it do me any good?"
"No, but it would be nice to hear you beg."
Never. I steadied my breathing. "Is that why you won't tell me your name?"
"No, it’s because I don't want to hear my name on your soft, lying lips. Besides, you are my pet now. You obey me in all things."
A peculiar sort of rage started building up in me. How dare he, how dare he. Even if he felt no bond, I was still innocent. My father ruined lives across the galaxy while my mother and I were locked away.
"I suppose that answers what kind of man you are."
"What kind of man I am? What kind of lizard are you? You flounce around in your silken flowing gowns, expensive ships. Have you ever worked a day in your life? You live a life funded by slavery and war."
I shook my head, but a thin thread of doubt wiggled into my brain. I knew what want and need looked like, but I'd never been hungry. Our factories were well run, but my father had built an empire my brother was still unraveling, and I knew I didn't know everything.
"You clearly already know what you want from me."
"You have no idea what I want from you." A thin smile stretched across his lips. "I want to break you."
There was a peculiar feeling, having your fated lifemate spitting hate at you. I wanted to curl up and die, to give up. This must have been what my mother endured, as my father turned against her, warped by jealousy. No, I'd never worked as this man thought, but I'd spent my life trying to free my people from the tyranny of our bodies' demands.
So I just bowed my head, and told myself I would make it through this. I would survive whatever he threw at me, because I had to make it home to break the bond between us so I could truly be free.
He broke the growing silence between us, "I'm a little disappointed in you."
"In me?" I was surprised, this man clearly knew a lot about me, and I knew nothing of him.
"After your display of spirit, I was hoping you'd keep fighting."
I looked up at him, locking eyes. It lashed me to my core that I wanted him to touch me so badly.
"Do you want to hit me? Would it be easier to hurt me if I hit you first?"
He just snarled at me. I leaned forward, jutting my chin forward. "There, you can get a good, clean shot in. You know my people are tough." He just glared at me. "If you shift my hands in front of me, I'll slap at you." I thrust my chest out at him. "Or are you looking for a more intimate hurt."
I addressed the sexual threat that lingered. He looked so angry I thought I might have finally pushed him into action.
"You think you can tempt me? You think I will go easier on you?"
"Oh, so you think I'm a whore as well?"
He rocked back on his heels. "No, I don't." The anger drained out of his face, replaced by a more disturbing look. Analyzing, thinking. "I do intend on using you for my revenge, but I don't know why I got so angry, so out of control. Of course you would try to get away. But the second I laid hands on you, everything got strange."
I looked away. He didn't know what it was, but the bond was affecting him. Even now, I burned for him to lay his hands on me. I stared at the tray of food. He reached out and lifted the vitae. I couldn't help but lick my lips.
He surprised me by raising the glass and letting the cool liquid flow into my mouth. Then he tore off a chunk of the bread and lifted it to my lips. He alternated bread and vitae, neither of us speaking.
As I chewed the last piece, he said, "What I want from you is information."
I said, "I am not sure if I should help you. You mocked me, but people will be looking for me. My escape pod will draw them here."
"Ah yes, about that. I dropped a little note in there, a list of modest demands. Allowing a few planets to leave your foundation, releasing prisoners, that sort of thing."
My throat drew tight and I sputtered. "But that isn't anything we control. Whatever you think of my family, we're rich, but
we’re not the government."
He smiled at me. "I know."
"So you know my brother can't meet your demands?"
"I don't want them to think they can. It's bait. They won't know how personal it is. Your brother will start looking in all the wrong places."
"But he will look."
"A wild goose chase is fine. Leaves me free to move exactly where I need to go."
"Please, I don't understand. I've never done anything to you, to anyone. Are you going to let me go after I give you whatever information you think I have?"
His eyes grew sharp and hard. "No, I never planned on letting you go. I'd enjoy having a Madrelir slave."
He stood up suddenly, towering over me. "I'd thought I might eventually get what I wanted, but I think you are right, I'll need to have you with me, as protection against your people's inevitable rage. I can't imagine they'll be happy when they're called out for being the slavers they are."
