Battling Rapture

by Stormie Kent

  “Wait, why won’t you answer my questions?”

  He didn’t turn. “Take a shower and put on the appropriate clothing and I will answer your questions.” He started for the door again.

  “Don’t leave. How will I find you?”

  “I will return shortly to see if you have done what I asked. I will answer your questions then.” Or not, if she chose not to comply. He didn’t wait, but escaped with the little bit of sanity he had left.

  Chapter Two

  She was clean and dressed. The blue bisected skirt felt weird. She was used to fatigues and jeans. At least she could move if she needed to. She could have lived without the too revealing fitted top with its somewhat plunging neckline. It was more Cam’s style than Niki’s.

  She stared at the moving picture of Camryn surrounded by really big, mean-looking blonds. Camryn was the only one in the photo smiling. She looked happy. At the end of the picture’s rotation, the giant holding her looked down and his eyes softened. If she had blinked, she’d have missed it. Fortunately, the hologram played over and over.

  “Playtime’s over.” She stepped away from the table and looked around. She walked back to the bedroom portion of the large room.

  She needed a weapon. Captain Rhine and crew might be friends of Cam, but Niki didn’t know them. Period. She was especially suspicious of the new throbbing low in her belly. She didn’t trust the attraction she felt for the good captain. She hadn’t felt desire in months. Maybe that was his freaky alien hoodoo. He lured unsuspecting women in with super pheromones that caused a perpetual case of wet panties.

  It was pretty unfair, considering that for such a big, muscled man, he was almost pretty. She wondered how hard he hit anyone who mentioned it.

  She searched under the bed, but found the boxlike bed frame shackled to the floor. She stood and her eyes fell on the other large object in the room. The dresser was metal and had many drawers. She opened and inspected each one. All she found were clothes and a bottle of cream with instructions written in Cam’s handwriting. A comb and brush sat on the top. Captain Rhine looked big and strong enough to crack the brush in half. There was a man with her would-be rescuers even bigger and taller than the rest of them. He wouldn’t even feel it if she tried to hit him with it. He would shoo her away as if she were an annoying fly.

  She hurried to the sitting area. She wouldn’t be able to lift the sofa. They’d taken everything out she could use. She did a slow twirl in the center of the room, scanning for anything sharp, hard or blunt. The door swooshed while she had her back to it. She turned quickly, sweeping her skirt out of the way and bracing her legs.

  Captain Rhine stood in the doorway. He quirked one eyebrow and scanned her from head to toe. Her nipples tightened and her pussy clenched in response. She held her ground and returned his full body scan. His straight blond hair stretched past his shoulders. His eyes were a vibrant blue, clouded only with what appeared to be extreme cynicism. His nose was perfect. His mouth was strong and sensual with a bowed upper lip and a firm, but slightly plump, lower lip.

  Except for his bare muscular arms, he was covered from neck to toe in black leather. It appeared that there was a good deal of delectable muscle under all that black. He wore black leather gloves and a pair of kick-ass black leather boots with steel toes. They could have been titanium for all she knew. She wished she was wearing them instead of the ballet flats currently torturing her feet.

  “Are you finished?” he asked.

  “Wait, I haven’t checked out your junk.”

  “Ah, I am familiar with this Earth word.”

  She smirked. She just bet he was.

  “I see you have done what I asked. You may ask your questions.” He walked into the room and took a seat on the sofa.

  His wide legged pose framed his crotch area and left little doubt that he was built along impressive lines…all over. She restrained the urge to check if she had drool on the corner of her mouth.

  Get it together, Sawyer.

  “Are you taking me straight to my—to Camryn?”

  His head cocked to the side and she watched the slide of his hair along the leather of his shirt. She blinked and refocused.

  “Yes. Why does calling Camryn sister cause you distress?”

  “I’m asking the questions, big boy. You called Cam your new cousin. How is she your cousin?”

  “You’re abrasive.” He stared her directly in the eye.

  You’d think she’d be used to that. The sting in her chest said otherwise.

  “Look, gigantosaurus, I need information, not psychoanalysis.” He could kiss her ass.

  He was a blur of movement. One moment he was seated casually on the sofa, the next he was in her face. She blocked him with her right forearm, turned and kicked out at him with a roundhouse kick. He caught her leg. Held it. She balanced.

  Her chest heaved. Adrenaline flowed through her system.

  “So you’re the kind of guy who hits women?”

  “I’ve never hit a woman in my life.” He smiled, and it transformed his face from fierce to devastating. “I’ve spanked a few, but only when they begged.”

  “Can I have my leg back now?”

  He pulled lightly on her leg and she pitched forward. She pressed her hands firmly to his chest. He held her leg around his waist. His other hand pressed on her back. There wasn’t an inch of space between them and she fought the urge to undulate.

  “Here are the rules. I’m responsible for you. Do what I say when I say it. I’ll be happy. You’ll be safe.”

  “You caught me by surprise that time. Just answer the questions, take me to Cam and you and I won’t have to interact at all. Oh, and since you aren’t my commanding officer, I don’t have to do anything you say.” It really turned her on that he could get the best of her. Strength, muscles and he didn’t appear stupid. He was everything she wanted in a bedmate. Too bad she had to resist. Technically, he was still the enemy.

  “Your mouth is saying one thing, but your pussy is screaming another. I can smell how aroused you are. I bet if I slid my fingers through your folds right now, they would be drenched in seconds.” His hand pressed her tighter to his chest.

  “You don’t have an invitation to touch me.” She managed a smile, but it hurt. She could feel his erection pressing against her belly, and hot damn, was it impressive. Come to mama, impressive. There was one big but in all of this. She’d seen the way he looked at that hologram. She didn’t care how many people thought so, she wasn’t a substitute for Camryn.

  “You’re right.” He abruptly released her and she almost stumbled. He returned to his spot on the sofa. “What would you like to know?”

  She caught the whimper before it could escape. “How is Camryn your cousin?”

  “She married my first cousin and the leader of our tribe, making her Lady Huntu.” His expression was blank, but his cock still pushed against his pants.

  “Did she want to marry him or was she forced?”

  “You don’t force Camryn to do anything for long,” he said.

  That was true. “How long will it take us to reach…”

  “My planet is Ordan. It will take about a week to reach our galaxy from this one.”

  Talk of galaxies always stumped her. She resisted the urge to clutch her chest. It felt as if a large weight was crushing her breastbone. Her former world was measured in continents and countries, not galactic regions. Her mind blanked. Her next question vanished from her head.

  He stood and went to retrieve something from the table with the hologram photo. He turned. In his hand was a wristwatch.

  “Language Interpreter, L.I. Do you know what it does?” he asked.

  She nodded and held out her hand for him to give it to her. He held onto the L.I., staring her in the eyes, and she finally turned her hand over, presenting her wrist. The slavers and Isor Ja had Language Interpreters. It allowed people with different languages to speak with one another. He fastened it to her wrist. Then he grabbed h
is jacket from the sofa arm and strode to the door.

  When it opened, he stood in the portal and turned to her. He didn’t say anything, but she understood he wanted her to follow. She exited the room, but only because she didn’t want to be trapped there for the journey.

  He walked her to another doorway and went inside. “Stay here for a moment.”

  She looked around at the gray walls. The hall was stark, and metallic. Doors were interspersed along the walls, and she couldn’t see how one looked any different from the rest. She stood straighter as he emerged from the room.

  Rhine pushed a cylindrical container at her and something which looked as though it was a sandwich wrap. Almost everything inside it was the wrong color to be food.

  “What is it?” She turned the wrap around in her hand.

  “Water and a sandwich. We don’t have time for a full meal right now, though I can hear your stomach growling.”

  That was rude. “How good is your hearing?”

  “I am a hypersensitive and an empath. I have six super strong senses.” He watched her closely.

  She choked on her first tentative bite of her sandwich. “When you say empath, you mean you know what someone is feeling? What I’m feeling right now?”

  He nodded. His eyes never left her face.

  Well wasn’t this a mess. “Prove it.”

  He turned his head to the side. “How would you like me to do that? You only seem to have two emotions, anger and desire.”

  And he called her abrasive. “All of you can do this?”

  “The males of our family can.” He slowly grinned, causing a severe rush of cream to her panties. “It does come in handy when pleasuring a woman.”

  She just bet it did. Even though she doubted he could tell what she was feeling, she had too much experience with the Trogo not to believe he had super senses. Right then her pussy was practically sending up smoke signals, it was so hot. He wouldn’t miss that. His nostrils flared. Nope, he hadn’t missed it.

  Niki forced herself to take a bite of her sandwich. She feigned nonchalance. She didn’t taste a thing. She watched his eyes dilate and focus on her mouth, then her throat. His gaze was almost a caress.

  The slaver, Fewa, had explained a few things to the women he had separated from the rest of the slave population. She had been classified as an exotic. The little bastard had a checklist. She had everything a rich hypersensitive pervert could want. She had a pleasing face and form, a unique skin hue and her scent was an aphrodisiac. Oh yeah, even her voice was supposedly the correct pitch to please someone similar to the good captain.

  She wondered if he would find her to his…taste?

  She took another tearing bite of her sandwich. She was in trouble. Usually when she found out a man she liked was into Cam, she dried up faster than the Sahara during a drought. He shifted slightly and she admired the play of muscle along his arms. She wasn’t the least bit dry.

  “Your sister became slightly hysterical when she learned we were empaths. You are surprisingly calm.” He lifted one of her curls and rubbed the ends between his fingers.

  She shrugged, but didn’t pull her hair from his grip. Her hands were full.

  “If your dear cousin had enslaved her at the time, she probably had things to hide.” There was a fire in her belly thinking about Camryn as anyone’s slave. “Me, on the other hand, I don’t have anything to hide.” She smiled.

  “You do realize you belong to me,” he said.

  Her already sensitive nipples pulled tighter. It was too bad belong in this context meant own. “I don’t belong to any man.”

  “I have a deed. You have a brand.”

  They both looked at her wrist. She squeezed her sandwich until the filling began to ooze out.

  “Camryn won’t—”

  “Your sister isn’t here.” His voice was hard. His eyes were as cold as anything she’d ever seen.

  She stayed quiet. She could play along for now. No matter what kind of papers he had, she didn’t belong to him and she wasn’t going to have sex with him. He didn’t seem to be the type to force her, and that was what it would take. She took another bite of her sandwich and realized she was almost finished.

  “Are we just going to stand out here in the hallway?” She wanted to get away from his stare.

  He grunted, turned and headed down the corridor. She followed. A set of double doors at the end opened as he approached and she found herself back on the bridge of the ship. She glanced around. There were things which could be used as weapons. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a gigantic crew member between her and each item.

  Rhine pointed at each of his crew. “Edela Bronwyn, Sir Gunter, Sir Tor and Sir Olaf.”

  She memorized each name. These people had to all be related. Blond hair, blue eyes and rock-solid jaws abounded. Even the chick looked hard core and mean. Other than a terse nod from the men, they all ignored her. Rhine crossed to the captain’s chair. Niki decided to remain standing.

  There was a large screen. Through it, space was inky black and spattered with lights which striated and glimmered as though they were thousands of oncoming headlights. It was beautiful and strange at the same time.

  She wandered around the room and finished her sandwich and water. She stopped briefly at each station. It was all flashing lights, knobs and foreign writing. She would need a box of Cracker Jacks and a secret decoder ring just to make out what each of them was doing. If it took so many people to fly the spacecraft, she wouldn’t be able to do it on her own. Her eyes involuntarily sought out Captain Rhine. She needed him long enough to get to Cam.

  Finally, she sat in the chair he had folded down for her before. She set down her water container and reached for a knife that wasn’t there. She missed her knife. She’d reached for it many times since she left it decorating the gut of a Trogo patrolman. She didn’t have anything to do with her hands. She worked better when she had something to do. Cleaning a gun would do. The man wouldn’t even let her hold his blaster. It was going to be a long, boring and horny week.

  “We are nearing a hyper-jump port,” Sir Tor said. He was the really tall one.

  “I see it on the scanner. There is an enormous amount of traffic surrounding the site,” Rhine responded.

  His brow was furrowed and his lips were so tight she decided a crowded hyper-jump port was undesirable.

  “I can’t get a lock on the spacecraft identification codes. They could be anyone,” Sir Gunter said.

  “Reversing course. We need to find another port,” Rhine said.

  “We are being pursued,” Sir Olaf said.

  Their voices were so steady, she almost second-guessed her assumption that they were in trouble. She wasn’t stupid. She understood space was a dangerous place. If they had reversed course and were being pursued, it was serious. She stood.

  “Can’t you make this thing go any faster?” She was holding the back of his chair.

  He spared her a look which would have made her smirk if she weren’t focused on coaxing him to go more swiftly.

  “They have Gesturian fighters.”

  She had no idea who said the words. She was fascinated by the sleekly sharp-angled ships that appeared to zoom past them and begin to travel in front of them. They sparkled as if they were chrome.

  “The Alta is fast, but we can’t outrun Gesturian fighters,” Sir Olaf said.

  “We’re being hailed,” Sir Gunter added.

  Niki’s focus snapped back to Rhine. He unclenched his fist. It was the only sign he might be angry.

  “On screen,” Rhine said.

  The first thing she noticed was the creature’s muzzle. The rest of its face was humanoid except for the short hair that covered it. The hair or fur was the length and texture of a German shepherd. The ears stood straight up the same as a dog on alert and it had a thick mane of black hair that hung in coarse waves from a high forehead. It wore a tight black uniform with various gold and silver medals. The hands were the same as human fingers
except covered in fur, and oh yeah, tipped with black claws.

  Her normal adrenaline-enhanced bravado was failing her. Her heart pounded and she gripped the back of Rhine’s chair so tightly she thought her fingers might break.

  “Captain Rhine, your presence and the presence of your crew is requested by Bute Chaeen in the fortress.”

  She was fascinated with how the sharp teeth in the alien’s mouth appeared and disappeared as he talked.

  “I am travelling on Tribe Huntu business. My cousin is expecting us,” Rhine said.

  “Bute Chaeen insists I do not return without you. He has sent an honor guard of twelve ships to make sure you reach Tuetvon safely,” the furry alien said.

  Yeah, their escorts were closer to prison guards. That wasn’t a friendly invitation. Twelve ships against one were pretty terrible odds.

  The screen went completely blank for a moment.

  “Make sure the feed is cut,” Rhine said.

  “We’re clear.”

  “What in the hell was that?” Niki asked.

  “Who. He is a Contu. They are bipedal beast men with hypersenses and form-shifting powers. They are closely related to the Nestvur,” Rhine said.

  Anger flared hot in her stomach. Her fear retreated. The Nestvur were an enemy she could get behind killing.

  “I take it we have no choice but to go to this Tuetvon.” These hairy beasts were standing between her and Camryn. What was the good captain going to do about it? “Do they all look that way?”

  “He was in a semi-shift. Most of the time they are just really hairy men,” Edela Bronwyn said.

  “Only ten seconds of the distress signal was allowed to go through. It has been blocked,” Olaf said quietly.

  “Damn,” Rhine said.

  They were screwed.

  Rhine looked at Niki and Bronwyn and almost howled as if he were a Contu in battle. He was going into a brutal, conniving and extremely sexually charged environment with a Huntu edela and a level one exotic. He should have just tied a hunk of raw meat around his neck.