by Tana Stone
“Yes,” he said, clearly missing the point of her snarky question that wasn’t so much a question.
She rolled her eyes and dragged a hand across the back of her neck, the tendrils of hair that had fallen out of her messy topknot corkscrewing into damp curls. “Remind me again why you’re here.”
When he opened his mouth to reply, she threw up a palm to silence him. “Never mind. Talking makes it hotter.”
Of course, she knew why he was here. At least she knew why she was here, and she figured he’d come just to get under her skin, which was what Vrax seemed to do best.
She’d stowed away onboard the enemy bounty hunter Mourad’s ship to get her revenge on him for stranding her and her crew on a desert planet and then for returning and killing the bounty they’d been hiding from him, Dr. Max Dryden. The noted scientist was not a man, as Mourad had thought, but was instead a pretty, petite woman with short, dark hair and blue eyes.
She squeezed her eyes shut remembering seeing one of Mourad’s thugs holding Max’s dead body for his captain’s inspection and hearing Mourad tell him to toss the body. Her own body still hummed with rage that they’d killed the woman—a woman who’d risked her own life to save Tori’s. It had been that rage that had caused her to board the enemy ship and plot revenge on the bounty hunters.
She cast another dark glance at the native from the sand planet who’d followed her onto the ship. It was one thing for her to work as part of an all-female bounty hunter crew, but it was another to partner up with a barbarian who towered over her, had wild hair that spilled over his shoulders, and massive biceps emblazoned with bands of tribal markings. He didn’t exactly blend in, although she had to admit he moved with surprising stealth for one so huge and muscular.
Not that she had much choice. He’d run onto the ship behind her as the ramp had been closing, and then they’d blasted off the surface. She’d been too consumed with finding a place to hide to bitch at him about messing up her plan. Also, it hadn’t been much of a plan. More of a blood-lust revenge thing.
Once Tori had calmed down, she’d formed a plan. A plan that involved causing as much discomfort to Mourad and his crew until the point when she’d slit the Gorglik’s throat and take his ship. She smiled when she thought about that part. Since Mourad had damaged her crew’s ship and marooned them on a primitive planet, then come back and blown up their ship, it was only fair play that she’d get to commandeer his ship to go back and rescue her crew.
No way was she leaving her friends behind. The Dothvek barbarians they’d formed an alliance with seemed nice enough—and even Tori had to admit they were fearsome warriors—but living the rest of her life on a scorching hot ball of sand was not part of her plan.
Tori held her breath as a group of bounty hunters walked beneath them, talking and laughing, the rough voices echoing off the steel walls of the ship. When they’d gone, she released her breath, and Vrax did the same.
“When do we start?” he asked, his voice a low purr that sent an unwanted shaver of pleasure down her spine.
She glared at him, working hard to keep her eyes on his face, even though the way he crouched on the back of his heels with his knees wide made it almost impossible not to look at his crotch. She swallowed hard, even though her mouth was bone dry. Did he seriously not realize that she could see his cock outlined against his tight leather pants? And shit if it wasn’t the longest, thickest one she’d ever seen.
If he was any other guy she’d have known he was showing off, but these Dothveks didn’t seem to have the same sense of modesty or awareness other species had. She guessed if other aliens had cocks that big—and for fuck’s sake, were those rings around it?—they wouldn’t be modest either.
He cleared his throat, and she jerked her gaze back to his eyes, her face warming.
“Soon,” she said, once she’d remembered what he’d asked her. “We need to make sure our sabotage is subtle. If they realize they have stowaways, they’ll rip the ship apart to find us, and I, for one, don’t want to be put out an airlock before I have the chance to kill a few of these assholes and take their ship.”
“Why don’t we kill them all now?” Vrax touched a hand to one of the curved blades hooked to his waist. “Are you afraid of the odds?”
Tori shifted her weight, feeling her thighs and her temper burn. “Not afraid, aware. As impressive as your fighting skills are, pretty boy, there are more of them and they’re armed with blasters.” She looked away from him quickly. “I’m not losing another team mate.”
Silence hung between them, and she knew he was thinking about seeing Max’s limp body, as well. Even though he hadn’t known the human scientist, his people had been on a mission to save her, and she knew without him saying a word that he felt the failure keenly. She’d learned that the Dothveks might look rough, but they had a pretty developed sense of duty and honor, as well as a pretty male chauvinistic attitude about protecting women. She’d decided to let that second part slide as long as Vrax didn’t pull any overprotective shit with her.
“So how do we do this sabotage?” He said the last word slowly, and she suspected it was not one he knew well.
Tori cut her eyes to the sliver of metal behind his ear—one of the temporary universal translator devices they’d shared with the Dothveks to make communication easier. She suspected not all words translated perfectly into Dothvek, and the sand-dwelling warriors didn’t seem like to type to go in for something as non-confrontational as sabotage.
“We need to get a good sense of the ship.” She peered down through the slats below. “I worked on a ship like this before I joined my crew. It’s an old model, which is lucky for us. Lots of the environmental controls are in one place.”
He tilted his head at her. “Environmental controls?”
“We need to make things really uncomfortable for the crew so they’ll be forced to land sooner. The faster we can get this bird out of the air, the better for us.” She waved her hand at the cramped air duct. “Unless you want to stay like this for weeks.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “I do not mind.”
“Of course you don’t mind. You’re used to two suns and an ocean of sand. You probably think it’s balmy in here.” She studied him for a second. “You aren’t even sweating.”
“Would you prefer me to be sweating?”
The thought of him sweating—and how it would feel to drag her fingers down his sweaty body—sent thoughts racing through her head that she did not need or want. She shook her head. “Definitely not.”
He touched a hand to the side of her face, swiping away the moisture with the rough pad of his thumb. “I do not mind your sweat.”
She jerked away, startled by the warmth of his touch and the buzz she felt on her skin where he’d touched her. It had been so long since a male of any species had touched her—unless they were trying to kill her—that the contact caught her off guard.
His touch was so much softer than she would have expected. Nothing like the foul-breathed, rough fumblings that had left her with bruises and cost her a job on a mercenary ship. At least, she assumed she would have lost her job if she’d stuck around long enough to see if the first officer who’d tried to rape her had survived. As it was, she’d run just far enough to find a ship where she knew she’d be safe—Danica’s all-female bounty hunter crew and the women she now considered her family.
Losing her balance as she pulled away from him, Tori fell backward onto her ass, hitting the metal panel hard and hearing the hollow sound echo in her ears.
“Shit.” She froze, half expecting a fleet of bulky bounty hunters to descend on them. When no one came, she released a breath and sat up, glaring at Vrax, who wore a look of amusement.
“Do not do that again,” she said, leveling a finger at him. “Not unless you want a broken nose.”
“Do what?”
“Touch me. Where I come from you don’t touch people like that unless you want to get your ass kicked.”
He shifted and his shoulder muscles rippled, but his face was solemn as he held her eyes. “I will not touch you again. Unless you ask me.”
She gave a small snort of laughter. The guy was confidant, she’d give him that, but there was no chance in hell she’d ever ask him to touch her. She was on a mission, and getting it on with a hot alien barbarian was not part of the plan.
Chapter Two
Vrax watched the female as she brushed off her pants and wiped a hand across her forehead, pushing a dark, damp curl out of her eyes.
She looked a little different from the other females who’d crash-landed on his planet, the row of bumps curving over her brows and sweeping up and into her hairline being one of the noticeable difference. He fought the urge to touch the slightly raised bumps that were the same shade of brown as her skin.
Tori had made it clear she didn’t want to be touched, but he’d also felt her flash of fear and panic when he’d put his hand to her face. Although the female was tough, with the roped muscles and fighting skills to prove it, she’d also been hurt in the past. He didn’t know who had hurt her, but he’d felt her powerful instinct to protect herself, and his own urge to protect the female had kicked in.
That is the last thing she would want, he reminded himself. Unlike the other females, this one was a warrior who thrilled with battle. He felt his blood stirring as he remembered how she’d slashed at their enemies, weapons flying and teeth bared. This female he understood.
All Dothveks were gifted with empathic powers. It was something he’d grown used to—sending the moods and feelings of his fellow warriors. He hadn’t known it was something that could be shared with an offworlder until the females had crashed onto their planet. First, the ship’s captain, Danica, had become K’alvek’s mind mate, and then his cousin Kush had formed a bond with Max. He pressed his lips together, imagining the pain his fellow Dothvek was feeling at the loss of the female, and promising himself that he would help avenge her death for his clansman.
He stole a glance at Tori. He got strong feelings from her, but he suspected it was because she had such powerful emotions and took little pains to mask them. So far, he’d seen no evidence that she also felt his or that they had an unusual connection. This was probably for the best since the female did not seem like the type to take a mate, despite the flashes of arousal he’d picked up from her.
She might want to fuck him, but she would want nothing more than that. He would not be adverse to seeing the feisty female straddling him, but he knew she had no intention of staying on his planet any longer than it took to rescue her crew and fly away. Would that be enough to slake his undeniable desire for her?
His cock twitched, straining painfully against his snug pants. That was the last thing he needed as he sat crouched a finger’s length away from her. He forced himself to think of something else, anything else. Luckily, an ugly, purple-skinned alien waddled below them, muttering and scratching at his balls. Problem solved. No male could be aroused looking at that.
He shifted his focus to the alien ship’s corridor—the battered metal walls dull and grimy—his belly tightened. Everything about this place felt foreign, from the stuffy air that smelled of unwashed bodies to the metallic pounding of footsteps and the high, sharp noises of something Tori had called a computer. Although he didn’t regret following her onboard the ship, he had to force himself not to think that they were hovering in mid-air somewhere far away from his home world.
As a Dothvek warrior, he’d never had any reason to leave his planet or any intention to. Why would he? The planet provided everything they needed from the creatures they hunted to the fruits that grew at the tops of spindly trees to the water in their oasis village. Although his people were aware of offworlders and had seen ships overhead, they’d never desired to live like them, dashing around in the coldness of space. Not when they had the warmth and bounty of two suns.
He shivered, even though the air was not cool, as he thought about the blackness of space enveloping the ship he was currently riding. Tori had mentioned being put out into space as a punishment if they were caught. The idea made fear claw at his throat, and he tasted the bitter tang of bile. Then they would have to be sure not to get caught.
“When will we make things uncomfortable for these hunters?” he whispered.
“They should start a sleep rotation soon,” she said. “They won’t all hit the racks at the same time, but they’ll only leave a couple of crew to man the bridge. They’d have no reason to guard the engine or control rooms.”
“How will we get to these rooms?” He eyed the square, metal tube they were currently huddled in.
She grinned, flashing her pointed back teeth. “You don’t want to crawl there on your belly?”
“I do not mind crawling. I am used to stalking sand serpents for hours. It is you I think might not move quietly.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do I need to remind you that this is my mission? You’re just a stowaway I’ve decided not to turn in.”
Her bluster amused him, but he tried not to crack a smile. “These hunters killed my people, as well. It is not only you who requires vengeance. And how would you turn me in without ending up out an airlock yourself?”
Her frown deepened. “Fine. As long as you understand that this isn’t a pleasure cruise, pretty boy.”
His gaze took in the cramped space and he touched a finger to the translator they’d given him. He did not know the word “cruise,” but he understood her meaning. “Perhaps we have different ideas of pleasure, female.”
She cocked her head at him and a few curls fell down over one eye. “I am sure we do.”
Before he could reply, she put a finger to her lips and slapped a hand over his forearm. A pair of bounty hunters were coming, the sound of their heavy footfall ricocheting around them. One hand instinctively moved toward his blade as they passed underneath, never even bothering to look overhead.
He recognized one of the men as the one who’d carried Max’s body, and he felt Tori stiffen next to him, her grip on his arm tightening. So she’d recognized him, too. A flood of rage coursed through her and into him. It was all he could do not to leap down with a roar and tear the alien’s head off his body.
Tori squeezed his arm, and he realized that he was emitting a low growl. Not loud enough to hear below over the rumble of the ship, but loud enough for her to hear.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ll make them pay, but that guy is mine.”
“We will see.”
She flexed the hand on his arm, her fingernails digging into his flesh. “Do you always argue with other warriors?”
He skin was firm enough that her sharp nails didn’t cause him pain. “Only the ones who take all the kills for themselves.”
“Me? Who had to show off and jump in front of the blaster?”
He did not understand this female. “You are upset I was shot and you were not?”
“I didn’t ask you to be a hero.” She removed her hand from his arm and leveled a finger at his chest. “I’m a bounty hunter. I don’t need saving.”
“Clearly.” His gaze flicked to the dim, cramped vent.
“This is temporary. It’s the only way I could think of in the moment to make these assholes pay for what they did.”
“Then we agree on something. They will pay for their dishonorable actions.”
He was there was to make these creatures pay for disturbing his planet, attacking the women his people had vowed to protect, and killing one of them. Killing females was forbidden. As a people ruled by the wisdom of goddesses, he’d been trained in the value of females above all others—to worship, to protect, to revere. To murder a female was to invite the vengeance of his entire clan, and he was there to carry out the punishment. With her.
It would be a lie not to admit the pull he felt toward the wild warrior woman—both his attraction and his frustration. She was unlike any female he’d known—stubborn and willful, even if it meant putti
ng herself in danger. It had been exhausting keeping her safe, and she’d been less than grateful for his efforts. She’d barely muttered a thanks after he’d taken blaster fire meant for her, although he’d felt her relief when he’d survived.
Even Dothvek females, who were far from powerless themselves, were not as headstrong and fearless as this female. Of course, there were few Dothvek females anymore. Not since their enemies the Cresteks had inadvertently created an illness that had swept through the female population of the entire planet. The ones remaining wouldn’t put themselves at risk like this foolish female seemed to do every time she got the chance.
No, another reason he’d followed her onto the ship was to keep her safe. He knew her crew mates would be devastated to lose another one of their team, and he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he wasn’t helping her out of dangerous situations. Not the he would ever tell her that.
The lights flickered and then went to half power, the hum growing quieter.
Tori’s face was dim in the lower lighting, but he could still see the flash of her white teeth as she grinned at him. “Ready to have some fun?”
Also by Tana Stone
The Tribute Brides of the Drexian Warriors Series:
TAMED
SEIZED
EXPOSED
RANSOMED
FORBIDDEN
BOUND
JINGLED (A Holiday Novella)
CRAVED
AUDIBLE
The Barbarians of the Sand Planet Series:
BOUNTY
CAPTIVE
TORMENT
TRIBUTE
*TAMED & SEIZED are now available as audiobooks!
TAMED on AUDIBLE
SEIZED on AUDIBLE
About the Author
Tana Stone is a bestselling sci-fi romance author who loves sexy aliens and independent heroines. Her favorite superhero is Thor (with Jason Momoa’s take on Aquaman a close second), her favorite dessert is key lime pie (okay, fine, all pie), and she loves Star Wars and Star Trek equally. She still laments the loss of Firefly.
