by Paige Tyler
“Who told you to stop moving?” he growled, capturing her lips again.
That was when she realized he hadn’t come yet.
She started rotating her hips again, this time intent on making him groan in pleasure. In spite of how tempting it was to move up and down on him wildly, Teyla controlled herself, wanting this to be the best night of his life.
Murmuring something unintelligible, Slayter tore his mouth away from hers to trail blazing-hot kisses over her jaw and down her neck. His stubble scraped against her tender skin and she shivered as he slowly kissed his way back up to the curve of her jaw before reclaiming her lips once again.
Groaning, he slid his hands down her back to grasp her ass. Firmly holding on to both cheeks, he guided her up and down on his cock in a slow, sexy rhythm. It felt so good Teyla knew she would be able to come soon, but she didn’t want to do that. She wanted him to come first.
She reached behind her and grabbed his hands, pulling them away from her ass and pinning them down to the bed. Teyla enjoyed the look of surprise that flashed across his face.
“I’m supposed to be showing you what I’ve learned, remember?” she said softly.
A smile curved his mouth. “By all means. Please do.”
In this position, she was able to rub her breasts against his muscular chest while she gyrated on his cock. She kept his shaft deep inside her as she clenched her pussy around him, wanting it to be as tight and hot as possible for him.
Only when she felt his hips begin to thrust uncontrollably upward did she start moving up and down on him. Even then, she moved as slowly as she could, keeping her pussy clenched tightly around him, letting him slide almost all the way out before sheathing him deep inside her again.
She teased him mercilessly, lifting her pussy off him every time he tried to thrust into her. He got the idea soon enough, lying back to let her do all the work.
When he began to come, she squeezed his cock even tighter, milking the hot cum from him even as she shuddered and trembled uncontrollably with her own release. The orgasm that washed over her was so powerful and so beautiful that it brought tears to her eyes and she was glad when he sat up to wrap his arms around her. This time she didn’t try to stop the tears, but wrapped her arms just as tightly around him and rested her cheek against the top of his head, letting them roll silently down her cheeks.
Teyla wasn’t sure how many times she and Slayter made love after that. She demonstrated every skill he’d taught her, as well as a few more she thought up on her own. Whenever they came down from one intoxicating high, they would do it all over again. It was as if neither of them could get enough of the other.
They had just fallen into an exhausted slumber sometime after dawn when Teyla felt the ship touch down. Her lips curved into a sad smile. It was funny how she had become so attuned to the sensations of the ship in such a short period of time.
She pushed herself up on one elbow and looked down at Slayter. Though he was asleep, a slight frown marred his handsome features. Fighting the urge to kiss it away, she tore her gaze away from him with a muffled sob and carefully slipped out of the bed. As desperately as she wanted to spend the few precious hours left in his arms, she wasn’t sure she’d be strong enough to walk away from him when the time came if she did.
She couldn’t stay in the cabin, though. She didn’t want to waste the hour or two of freedom she had left, either. She should go check on Olin, then take one more look around the ship. Perhaps she might even ask Genoone to go outside with her so she could walk around the spaceport while she was still a free woman because that was almost certainly one of the things she wouldn’t be allowed to do after today.
Chapter Six
Slayter jerked awake, his heart pounding, his gut telling him that something was very wrong. He looked over at Teyla’s side of the bed only to realize it was empty. He ran his hand over the sheets. They were cold.
Uncontrollable terror seizing him, he jumped out of bed and threw on his clothes. It was irrational to panic like this. She was probably having breakfast or checking on Olin. Then why was there a voice in his head screaming at him to find her?
He went to the mess first, but found it empty. He ran to the medlab next, but no one was there except the medtech. Bantly looked up from the computer monitor curiously.
“Have you seen Teyla?” Slayter asked.
“She was here about thirty minutes ago. She looked in on Olin, then left.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“She didn’t say.”
Slayter swore under his breath. Turning on his heel, he raced up to the bridge. Hewson and Salo were there, but Teyla was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Teyla?” he demanded, the question coming out sharper than he’d intended.
His first mate frowned. “Take it easy. She’s out with Genoone, strolling through the market. She didn’t run away, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
Slayter clenched his jaw. “I didn’t think she had.”
“Then why do you looked so worried?” the older man asked quietly.
That was just it. Slayter didn’t know what the hell had gotten him so riled up. It certainly wasn’t like Teyla was going to go and put herself on the auction block. His lip curled. No, that distasteful task would be up to him.
Realizing his first mate was still waiting for an answer, Slayter walked out rather than face the older man’s penetrating and all-too-knowing hazel eyes.
Angry with himself as much as with the situation, Slayter strode down the passageway toward the medlab. It was as if events had taken control of his life these past few days and he was simply along for the ride. Teyla was payment for a debt, which was completely aboveboard and legal on almost every planet in the galaxy. He had every right to do what he was doing. He needed the money to run his ship and pay his crew.
Then why did he feel like he was making a huge mistake?
When he walked into the medlab, it was to find Bantly frantically disconnecting wires and tubes on Olin’s pod. Sure the boy was dead, Slayter rushed across the room, only to sag with relief when he saw a heartbeat on the monitor.
He moved closer. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Bantly said. “He’s coming out of his medically induced coma.”
“Is that good?” Slayter asked.
The medtech pushed a button on the side of the pod to lift Olin out of the water. “That’s very good.”
Slayter wasn’t so sure. Olin emerged wet and slimy from nutrient bath, like some sort of strange rebirth. The thick, viscous liquid blocked his nose and mouth, and Bantly worked quickly to clear both as a fit of coughing racked Olin’s thin body. After clearing both airways, the medtech attached an oxygen tube, then wiped the boy clean.
“When will he wake up?” Slayter asked after the medtech had transferred Olin to a bed.
Bantly shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. It could be a few minutes or it could a few hours.”
Though he had a million things he probably should be doing, Slayter commandeered a chair from a nearby desk and sat down beside Olin’s bed. He wanted to be there when the boy woke up, regardless of when that was.
To Slayter’s relief, Olin’s eyes fluttered open a few minutes later. He looked around in confusion for a moment, as if trying to figure out where he was.
“It’s okay. You’re in the medlab,” Slayter said.
The boy’s brow furrowed, then his eyes widened. “Oh God, Teyla! Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” Slayter assured him. “What about you? How do you feel?”
Olin grimaced. “Like I went twelve rounds with a Baklonian ornyx.”
Slayter chuckled.
Olin looked around in confusion again. “We’re not moving. Where are we?”
“We’re on Arkhon.”
Olin frowned. “Arkhon? But I thought…”
“You thought what?” Slayter asked when the boy’s voice trailed off.
“I thought with ev
erything that happened…everything Teyla did for us…that you’d change your mind about selling her into slavery.”
Slayter sighed. If only Olin knew. “I don’t like the idea of putting Teyla on the auction block any more than you do, but it’s complicated.”
Olin sat up, feebly pushing away Slayter’s hand when he tried to urge him back down. “Let me up,” he said, his voice halfway between timid and angry. “It’s not complicated to me. Teyla’s one of us, Captain. She ate with us, negotiated for us, fought alongside us. If you don’t want to sell her, then don’t.”
The boy had no idea how hard this was for him. “I understand what you’re saying, Olin, I honestly do, but I have a responsibility to you and the other members of this crew. Teyla represents the money you were supposed to get paid for that job we did for Dunai on Zenoral 5. I might be able to forget about the money, but I can’t ask you or the rest of the crew to do that.”
“I don’t care about the money I was supposed to get paid,” Olin protested. “Neither does the rest of the crew. Ask them, they’ll tell you!”
“I don’t have the right to ask them, Olin.”
Or did he? Maybe Olin made more sense than he gave him credit for. Maybe he needed to hear it from someone else, someone who wasn’t jaded by this profession yet. Maybe it was as simple as telling the crew he’d changed him mind about putting Teyla on the slave block and that he would have to find another way to pay them the money they were due.
Slayter swore silently. What the hell was he thinking? This was real life, not some damn fairy tale. This wasn’t going to have a happy ending. Not for Olin. Not for Teyla. And certainly not for him. He was deluding himself if he thought it could.
“Captain, please. She saved my life.” Tears shone in Olin’s eyes. “Hewson, tell him. Tell him he can’t put Teyla on the slave block.”
Slayter looked over his shoulder to see his first mate standing behind him. How much had the older man heard?
Hewson gave Olin a placating smile. “Why don’t you get some rest? We can talk about all this later.”
Thankful for the interruption, Slayter stood and walked out of the medlab. To his annoyance, his first mate followed.
“You know the boy’s right,” Hewson said once they were in the passageway.
Slayter scowled. “Olin knew Teyla would be leaving. He was foolish to let himself get so close to her.”
“He’s not the only one, apparently.”
Sometimes Hewson was too damn perceptive for his own good. Slayter narrowed his gaze at the older man. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Hewson shrugged. “I’m simply saying that women like Teyla don’t come into a man’s life every day. Especially if that man’s a pirate.”
Slayter folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe not. But that doesn’t change anything.”
The other man regarded him thoughtfully. “Can you stand there and watch them drag her up on the auction block so men can bid on her? Can you live with knowing some sadistic bastard might buy her and use her for his depraved amusement? Maybe beat her now and then just for the fun of it?”
Slayter clenched his jaw, his gut wrenching at the image. He’d kill any man who did that. He opened his mouth the answer, but a commotion in the passageway behind them interrupted him. He turned to see Deran and Winsen dragging the half-conscious Genoone toward the medlab. There was blood pouring down his face from a gash along the top of his head, though he barely seemed to register the mess as he tried to focus his eyes on Slayter.
“What the hell happened?” Slayter demanded as he followed them into the medlab.
“I don’t know,” Deran said. “He staggered into the cargo hold like this.”
Slayter’s heart beat faster. “Was Teyla with him?”
Both Deran and Winsen shook their heads.
Ice cold fear settled into the pit of his stomach. Slayter grabbed his communications officer’s sagging head, lifting it so he could look into the man’s unfocused eyes.
“Genoone, what happened to Teyla? Where is she?”
Genoone’s gaze sharpened a little at the sound of Slayter’s voice, but he didn’t answer right away, and Slayter had to fight the urge to shake the injured man.
“They…took her…”
“Who took her?” Slayter demanded.
“Three men…they jumped us…at the market… I tried to stop them, but they surprised me. Hit me before I even saw them.”
Bantly hurried over to wave a light in Genoone’s eyes. “Captain, he’s got a pretty bad concussion. I need to get him in a bed.”
“In a minute,” Slayter said. “Genoone, do you know who took Teyla? Or where they went?”
Genoone nodded. “Yes. I recognized one of them.” The words were slurred, but his voice was strong. “It was that damn scar-faced first mate of Rommel’s. I’ve seen him before.”
Slayter’s heart dropped through the deck. Shit. He glanced at Hewson. “Tell Salo to get on the nav-program and find out where the hell that bastard’s ship is headed.”
“He took her to the auction house,” Genoone said.
“Are you sure?” Slayter asked.
“I’m sure. I heard them say Rommel was going to sell her out from under you the same way you sold that Thracian yacht out from under him.”
Fuck.
Slayter looked from Hewson to the other two crewmen. “Meet me on the loading dock in five minutes, armed and ready. We’re going to get Teyla back.”
“I’m coming too,” Olin said from the other side of the room as Hewson and the other two men raced out of the medlab.
Slayter swore under his breath. He’d almost forgotten about the boy. He looked over to find Olin already half out of bed.
“No, you’re not,” Slayter told him. “You’re staying right where you are, and that’s an order.”
Olin opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again at the warning look Slayter gave him. Satisfied the boy would stay put, Slayter left the medlab and ran down the passageway.
He made it barely ten feet when he heard booted feet behind him. Furious that Olin had disobeyed a direct order, he was about to stop and turn around when Genoone caught up with him.
“I’m coming with you, Captain, whether you like it or not,” he said as he followed Slayter down the steps. His voice sounded surprisingly firm for a man with a concussion. “I told Teyla I’d keep her safe out there and I’m not coming back here until she is.”
Slayter ground his jaw. Damn, but sometimes the Belkin could be pigheaded. When the redheaded man put his mind to something he did it, and nothing short of a tranquilizer was going to stop him. Not that Slayter wanted to. He was going to need all the backup he could get.
Hewson, Deran, and Winsen were already on the loading dock waiting for him, along with Valin, Conder and Salo.
“You know weapons aren’t allowed outside of Arkhon’s port,” Hewson said as they hurried down the gangway. “There will be hell to pay if we go charging into the auction house carrying them.”
“I don’t give a damn,” Slayter said. “I’m not going to let that asshole Rommel take the most precious thing I have and sell her into slavery.”
He tried hard not to remember he’d been going to do the exact same thing ten minutes ago.
“Can he do that?” Deran asked as they pushed their way through the crowded streets inside the port. “Sell Teyla, I mean. Doesn’t he have to show proof of ownership or something?”
Slayter threw the man a quick glance. “No. Teyla came with me willingly as payment for her father’s debt. There’s nothing in writing. Not that it matters, though. The auction house here isn’t exactly big on how people get to the block. They only worry about what happens once they’re there. Most of the slaves they sell have been kidnapped from somewhere or someone.” He sidestepped a slow-moving vendor with a cart of sweet cakes. “It might slow the auction down a bit if she claimed she already belongs to someone else, but I doubt Rommel will let her do any
of the talking.”
“Then how are we going to get her back?” Genoone asked.
Slayter clenched his jaw. “I’m going in there and putting a hole through his head, then taking back what’s mine.”
“That’s a wonderful plan,” his first mate yelled as he skirted a hovercar parked near the exit of the port. “But it doesn’t explain how we’re going to get out of the port toting these weapons. The alarm will go up the moment we walk through the gates.”
The alarm actually went off before they even got out of the gates thanks to the detectors just inside the perimeter. As soon as the alarm sounded, the two security guards posted at the exit immediately stormed into the street to bar their way, rifles at the ready.
Slayter knew it would be pointless to try to reason with the guards, so he fired his weapon instead, hitting both men in the center of their chests before they could a shot off.
Around them, the port erupted into chaos, screams echoing in the air as people ran for cover. Slayter headed for the exit, taking advantage of the confusion.
Hewson caught his arm. “You shot them?”
“I only stunned them. They’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure that’s the information dozens of screaming witnesses are yelling into their coms right this minute.” The older man swore. “If you thought it was going to be tough to get into the auction house before, it will be impossible now. Hell, we probably won’t even make it to that part of town. They’ll have a hundred guards out looking for us.”
“They won’t be looking for me,” Slayter told him calmly. “They’ll be looking for you and the rest of the crew.”
Hewson frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“They’ll be looking for a raving group of pirates waving their weapons around and firing indiscriminately. That will be you and the rest of the crew.” He motioned down the street in the opposite direction. “You’ll be going that way while Genoone, Deran and I go to the auction house.”
