And he did not like having her fear him. Did she not know that she was safe with him? Of course she did not. He was an unknown male. Far larger than her.
Another breath. In. Out. He closed his eyes and hoped the red had faded.
“You wish to find mate.”
“I don’t know,” she told him hesitatingly. “I mean, that’s what I told the recruiters. But I never really thought I would find a mate. I’m pretty sure I’m not destined for that life. You know? Sitting around and being coddled and protected isn’t me. But it was a way to get off Earth and I really needed that.”
That helped calm him a bit more. He could understand a need to escape. And from her appearance, whoever was in charge of looking after her on Earth had not been doing a good job.
And can you do much better? What have you to offer her?
He would make certain she was safe and fed at least. Long term, he had little idea what he was going to do with her. He had hoped to send her back to Earth, but that was sounding unlikely.
“Human females can mate with Zerconian males.” Knowledge tickled the back of his mind.
“Yeah, they figured that out when the current Emperor of Zerconia found his human mate.”
“The Empress of Zerconia is human?” He gaped at her.
“How do you not know any of this?” she asked, slipping back into her chair.
“We go to Diclac,” he told her abruptly. “Land there. Sell pod. Move on.”
“Right. Not going to tell me. I get it, big guy. You have your secrets. I have mine.”
Except he very much did want to tell her—and have her confide in him in return. He knew he had been an accident and the slavers had captured him. But he did not know anything more. He did not know how he had lost his memories.
He did not know who to trust.
9
It was a rumble loud enough to signal an earthquake.
Zandar turned to glare at her. “You hungry.”
She sighed. “Why does everything come out as an accusation with you? How hard would it be to say, ‘Are you hungry?’ See the difference? ‘You hungry,’” she repeated, trying to mimic his deep, dark voice, “or, ‘Are you hungry?’”
He just stared at her. Oh. Crap. She’d broken him.
“It was bound to happen. I break everyone eventually.”
He stood and moved to the back of the emergency pod. Curious, she turned to watch him and saw as he pulled out a small bag. He pressed something on the side of the bag, and it made a whooshing noise before it inflated to five times its original size.
“Wow. Okay, I admit it. I’m impressed. Does it do any other tricks, like maybe cook a four-course meal?”
He opened the bag and, reaching inside, drew out a number of dark blue packets and some pouches.
“Bars. Water.” He set them down on a chair and her stomach growled again.
With an impatient sigh, he unwrapped a bar and handed it to her along with a pouch. She eagerly started munching on the thing. It was dry and tasteless, except for this weird, sickly aftertaste. But then, that was her experience with things that were good for you. They usually tasted like shit.
She was halfway through the bar when she noticed he hadn’t eaten.
“Aren’t you going to eat? I mean, they taste like garbage, but they’re better than actual garbage. I should know, since I’ve eaten actual garbage. It’s foul.”
He gaped at her, looking appalled.
A blush crossed her cheeks. An actual blush. Holy. Fuck. She hadn’t thought she was capable of blushing after all that she’d been through. But it turned out she was still capable of being embarrassed.
Suddenly, she wasn’t so hungry anymore. She wrapped up the rest of the bar. She wasn’t going to waste the shitty-tasting thing. It was actually surprisingly filling and already the shakes from earlier had eased, so her blood sugar level was going back to normal.
“So, uh, you like sports?” she asked lamely.
He frowned down at her half-eaten bar. “Eat.”
“Oh no, I’m full. You should eat the rest.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I eat you finish.”
“You’ll eat once I’ve finished?” she guessed.
He gave a brief nod.
Wow. That was really quite sweet.
She had to clear her throat before she said something dorky. Well, more dorky than normal. “Like I said, I’m finished. So go ahead.”
“Not eat enough.” He looked her over. “Too thin.”
“Thanks, that’s what every girl wants to hear.”
“It is?” He looked genuinely confused.
“Really. I don’t need anymore. This is filling and I’ll save the rest for later. But you need to eat. You’re a big guy. You need lots of fuel.”
He frowned. But he picked up a bar and ate it quickly and methodically. Another two bars followed, then he drank down a pouch and put the bars back in the bag.
“How did you even know that was there? Are all emergency pods the same or something?”
He frowned and looked around. “I don’t know. Just know.”
That made perfect sense.
He abruptly stood. “Give me communicators.”
“What? The guard’s one?” She looked at the over-sized one on her wrist.
“Both.”
With a frown, she handed them both over. He walked to the back of the pod and pressed a button. A drawer popped open and he placed them inside before pressing the button again. They disappeared into the wall.
“What did you just do?” she asked.
“Sent out airlock.”
“What? But why? We could have used them!”
“Can be traced. Like this pod. Had to go.”
“But we could have sold or traded them.”
He just shrugged. God, he was so infuriating!
“Need knife.”
“What?”
He held out his hand. “Need knife.”
“Why? Are you finally going to succumb and murder me?” she joked. At least she thought it was a joke. The dark look in his face was making her nervous.
He sighed again.
“Fine. Fine. You really do need to learn to use your words, though.” She pulled one of her favorite knives out. He grabbed one of his hair twists, and holding it out from his scalp, he started to saw at it with the knife.
She kept her knives very sharp, so it only took a swipe before the twist was cut from his head.
“Whoa!” She jumped up. “What are you doing?”
He grunted.
“Oh no, a grunt won’t work right now. Why are you cutting your hair?”
“Disguise.”
All right. That made some sense. “You really think someone will come after us?”
He gave her a look of disbelief.
“Right. Of course they will. You killed those guards. And they think you beat up Elise.”
“Female, I—”
“Nope. Don’t want to hear your excuses.”
He’d hacked off two more twists and she winced at the mess he was making. Plus, she was worried he was going to hurt himself accidentally.
“Here. Let me.” She held out her hand for the knife.
He gave her a suspicious look. She sighed, making it as long and drawn out as the ones he liked to aim her way. “If I wanted to slit your throat, I would wait until you were asleep.”
“Fills me with confidence.”
She grinned at him. “Give me the knife, Goliath. I’ll make a better job of your hair than you will.”
He continued to scowl, but to her shock, handed over the knife.
“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
From the look on his face, it definitely wasn’t pleasant. She quickly worked on his hair until all that was left was a bit of fuzz. She sheathed her knife then moved back around to look at him.
Okay. Shit. She wasn’t expecting that. If anything, he looked hotter than he had before. His cheekbones were more pronounced;
his eyes deeper, darker.
She swallowed, feeling her skin tingle, her body react.
Calm, girl. You’re acting like a freaking nympho.
“Looks good,” she told him, gathering up his hair to give her hands something to do. And not because what she really wanted to do was rub them all over his skin.
Nope. That wasn’t it at all.
Was it just her or was there some weird tension in the room with them? Some sort of connection between the two of them? If he just reached over and touched her. . .
“Now, your hair.” He reached for the knife.
“What? No!” She jumped back, tripped over a seat and fell on her ass. Then she scuttled back like a crab as the big bad man stood over her with a knife in his hand.
And he was coming for her. . .hair.
“No!” She grasped hold of her hair as though that would stop him from chopping his way through her dark locks.
She wasn’t vain about much. Pretty hard to be vain when you lived on the streets and owned just a couple of outfits.
But. Not. Her. Hair.
He frowned, staring down at her. “It grow back.”
“You are not cutting off my hair. Get back, you monster.” She reached into her boot to extract her spare knife. “I’ll fight you to the death.”
He slowly placed the knife down, looking at her like she was a ticking time bomb about to explode. Did they even have ticking time bombs anymore? She’d seen it on a vid once. Always cut the red wire. Or was it the black?
“Female. Just hair.” He was still looming over her, his arms crossed over his chest. And she was beginning to feel a little ridiculous just sitting here on the ground, brandishing a knife.
“It’s not just hair. It’s my hair. And I won’t have it hacked off. I like my hair.”
“Need disguise.”
“So let’s buy me a scarf or something.”
He frowned. “No credits.”
“Oh, we don’t need credits.”
He frowned.
“I mean,” she said quickly, “I have credits. I stole some from that asshole who attacked me.”
A beeping noise sounded throughout the ship and she gasped before she could stop herself. She stood. “What is that?”
“We near Diclac. Sit.” He pointed at the chair. “We land.”
“So my hair is safe.”
“Female, hush.”
Okay. She could do that. For now.
* * *
Diclac was the asshole of the universe.
That was the best descriptor she could come up with. This place was the pits. Cold. Dark. Desolate.
And what the fuck was this shit about women being subservient?
“Nope. Not happening.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Zandar.
He gave her an impatient look. “You must.”
“I must not. I’m not wearing it.”
He sighed. Long. Loud. Ridiculously dramatic in her opinion.
“Must wear.”
“I am not an animal. I said I would stick close to you. I don’t need a freaking leash.”
“Not leash.”
“Just because it doesn’t go around my neck doesn’t mean it’s not a leash,” she pointed out. “Where did you even find that?”
They had just landed on Diclac when he’d pulled this soft rope out of a storage compartment and told her that he had to secure it around her wrist or waist and lead her around. That sounded exactly like she was going to be led around like a dog!
“Should go around neck.” He frowned, but more like he was thinking than he was upset. “But not want strangle you.”
“Thanks for that small consideration,” she muttered. She wasn’t really upset with him. More with their circumstances. What kind of planet was this, that women were led around by leashes around their necks?
“This planet sucks.”
“Sucks what?”
“I don’t know. Women’s souls? Their will to live? I cannot believe anyone would come here willingly. Are you sure I have to have that on? You’re not pulling my leg, right?”
“Why pull your leg?” He peered down at the limb in confusion.
Her stomach danced with nerves. Jeez, Georgie. Just get over it. So he’s going to secure you to him. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not such a big deal. You’ve had people try to rape, beat, and murder you. Wearing a leash for a few hours isn’t that bad.
She didn’t know why she was reacting so badly. Maybe it was just that this was coming on top of everything else. Maybe it was the fact that she realized how completely out of her depth she was. She was having to rely on Zandar for so much. It was driving home how ill-prepared she’d been for space travel. Imagine if she’d come here alone? From what Zandar had told her, women were basically slaves here.
“You not have this, someone take you,” he said with clearly visible frustration.
She bit her lip then held out her wrist. To her surprise, instead of immediately tying the rope around her wrist, he ran his finger along her sensitive skin. She had to bite back a moan of pleasure and wondered if she was coming down with something. She kept having these hot flashes and her skin felt itchy. She wanted to crawl out of her own body and. . .and leap onto him and tear off his clothes and. . .
Whoa, down, girl.
This was not her. She’d never been this attracted to a guy before. Certainly nothing like this. She’d had sex, all of them one-night stands when the need for some human contact got to be too much. But she was a love ‘em and leave ‘em type. And none of those guys she’d fucked had made her feel like this.
“Like if I don’t get me some, then things are gonna get bad. Dark bad.”
“Get you some what?” he asked as he gently tied the rope around her wrist. At least it was soft and not prickly. If she had to, she could slip her hand out of the hole; he’d made it that big.
Okay, that made her feel better. There was still a small part of her that didn’t know if she could trust Zandar, that warned her that she was completely relying on him, to be honest. What if he decided to sell her to someone here?
Panic started to steal her breath. She tried to take a deep breath. Then another.
“Female. Breathe. Breathe. What wrong?” His worried voice infiltrated the fog of fear surrounding her. But still, she couldn’t seem to take deep enough breaths.
“Female! Breathe! Now!”
A large palm landed against her chest, almost pushing her over. But his other hand went around her back, steadying her as he held her cradled in his embrace.
“Breathe. In. Out. Breathe.”
She gradually managed to get her fear under control. The feel of being held by him was actually soothing. No, it was more than that.
She felt safe.
Unbelievable. She hadn’t felt safe in. . .ever? Yeah, she couldn’t remember ever feeling safe. And now some stranger held her. . .some stranger who was extremely bossy and more than a little overbearing, and she suddenly felt secure?
Georgie, you are losing it.
“Th-thanks,” she stuttered, trying to pull away from him. Way to make a dick of yourself. This was so embarrassing. He refused to let her move back, though, pulling her in tighter against him.
“You are ill, trouble?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“Georgie, my name is Georgie.” Although she couldn’t really protest too much, considering the nicknames she’d given him. “I’m not ill. Just had a little panic attack.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Oh, I don’t know. We’re about to walk out onto a planet that enslaves women. I have to pretend that you’re my owner while you barter to get us a different ship that can travel longer distances and can’t be tracked by the transporter, which had people on it who tried to frame you for a crime and kill me when I stuck up for you. Not to mention I have no idea how to survive out here and so I have to trust you not to sell me.”
“I will not sell you.” He looked appalled.
&n
bsp; “I know. I know you wouldn’t. You’ve done nothing but take care of me. Well, you did smack my ass, I haven’t forgotten that. I know I’m freaking out over nothing. You wouldn’t sell me.”
“I would not.” He took hold of the other rope. “Zerconians do no believe in slavery.”
“Yeah. I know. Sorry.”
“Besides, you not fetch a very good price.”
She gaped after him as he headed towards the door of the emergency pod.
He was joking. Right?
10
He was proud of her.
He knew what he was asking of her was not easy. If he had asked a Zerconian female, he would be assured that she would follow his orders fully.
Then again, a Zerconian female would also have demanded that he protect her, that he take care of her. They had broken into the emergency rations on the pod earlier and she had attempted to only take one protein bar, leaving him with the other nine bars. A Zerconian female would have insisted she be fed first, that she be offered the best of everything. And he would have done so, because females were to be taken care of. They were treasures.
Georgie did not seem to know her own worth.
A Zerconian female would likely not be here with him in the first place. One would never have risked herself to help him.
Yes, he was beginning to see all the ways that Georgie differed from the females of his race. She might be impetuous and unable to follow orders well, however, she was brave. And unselfish. Sometimes he feared her bravery got her into trouble.
But he would protect her.
Right now, though, he needed her to follow his orders. This was not the place for her to disobey him. He would defend her to the death. But if he died, she would be left unprotected. She would be much safer if she did as he ordered, kept her head down, did not talk, and followed his lead.
He moved through the marketplace. People scuttled around like little rodents. He spotted a stall selling scarfs. An ugly, stooped male stood behind the table. He was snarling down at something on the ground. As Zandar drew closer, he spotted a female on the ground. She sported bruises up her arms and had a black eye on her face.
Alien Conquest Page 7
