Captive Heroes

by Springer, Jan

  She didn’t think. She went into automatic survival mode and reacted.

  He descended upon her and his grin widened in victory. A horrific chill snapped through her and, before she knew what had happened, she’d palmed the knife. A split second later, a gurgling drifted through the air. The man went limp on top of her. Warm, sticky wetness splashed against her right hand and over her neck and chest.

  Panicking, she pushed at him and, to her surprise, he fell off her easily. There was blood everywhere. His face, his neck, but mainly on his chest. She must have stabbed him in the heart.

  Nausea climbed into her belly and she scrambled to stand.

  “What have you done?” Blackie’s low and deadly voice erupted from close by.

  He had allowed this to occur. He had been watching what had happened and, from the shock in his dark eyes, he hadn’t expected her to kill his friend.

  Fear sliced sharply into her. He would want his revenge against her for killing this man. He would hurt her. She needed to leave.

  Ignoring his shouts, Kinley sprinted as if her feet had suddenly grown wings.

  She ran.

  Chapter Two

  Several days later…

  Astronaut Kayla Hero couldn’t help but keep her eyes glued to the brown-haired stranger limping behind the caged wagon she’d been locked inside. The wheels continued to turn beneath her barred prison, spewing puffs of dust that clung to Kayla’s hot, damp skin. She and her two women captors—who sat on a wooden bench in front of the wagon—as well as the wagon itself and the man behind her, were being dragged along a road by four black horses.

  Despite being surrounded by lush jungle and having no clue where they were taking her, she couldn’t keep her eyes off the guy. He possessed an impressive arrangement of scars that crisscrossed his broad chest and shoulders and held a very seductive smile for her. A smile that made her insides flip-flop all over the place whenever he looked at her.

  God! There must have been something in that swamp water she and her two sisters swam in as they’d escaped the wreckage of their spaceship. She drank some of the water by accident. Maybe a few swallows…if that…and since then she’d been experiencing intense arousal and had become very aware of her femininity.

  The more she looked at this guy, the more excited she got.

  Although she realized it wasn’t normal, she just didn’t seem to care about the spaceship crash or the fact she’d been separated from her sisters after heading out to find help for them. It didn’t seem to matter either that she’d been walking for days or maybe even weeks, eating berries and wild carrots and other types of vegetation.

  But finally, early this morning, she’d been surrounded by a group of women. Near-naked ladies who appeared quite confident in their state of dress…or perhaps in their state of undress. They’d asked her questions about which “hub” she came from. Hub meaning “village” if she remembered right from the information her brothers had sent when they’d decided to remain on this planet more than a couple of years ago.

  The women asked her who she was and she’d made up some fake name. When she’d asked for their help in going back into the swamps to get her sisters, they’d scowled at her like she was crazy, saying it was too dangerous to trek to the Fever Swamps. With a name like that, she didn’t want to stray close to the place either, but her sisters were there.

  Amid her protests, the women hustled her to a nearby town where she’d swiftly been given to a couple of tall, well-muscled chicks who had locked her inside this wagon.

  Shortly after that, the guy had been tied to the wagon and off they’d gone. The instant she saw him, her troubles had dissolved into the background. She was pretty sure the excitableness she experienced when she looked at him had everything to do with the water she drank, but hey, who cared. He reminded her of Tarzan. Tall, lean, deeply tanned, muscular… oh yes, very muscular.

  Black bristles covered his lower face, making him appear hot and dangerous at the same time. His chest had scars. She couldn’t help but inspect every one of those raised lash marks. She loved scars on a man. Always had.

  Of course those scars led her focus lower. To the area between his powerful thighs. Quite the swollen sac beneath a very big cock that was more than semi-erect, jerking and bouncing as he walked.

  Man she loved this planet and she loved the shape of his cock too. It was oh-so-long, with a bulging, plum-shaped, purple head, and so engorged she knew he was craving some tender loving care.

  Heat suffused her face as she continued to inspect his nakedness. Warm wetness wept from her pussy and tight breaths of arousal shifted through her at the thought of his muscular, toned body coming down upon hers. Of him entering her swiftly.

  Sure, she was comfortable with guys and their cocks, but this man walking behind her, his wrists bound and tied with a length of rope that ran beneath the bars at the back of the wagon, had her cheeks warming.

  He was also drawing out her compassionate side. With his every step, he grimaced. He wore no shoes and his bare feet had to be smarting on the hot dirt road. Directly overhead the brilliant sun shone waves of heat rays upon his flesh, baking him a gorgeous dark tan.

  She was thankful to have a roof over her head, keeping her in the shade. The air was thick and sticky, making her shift uncomfortably on the primitive wooden bench. She wore no bra or underwear beneath the light green, see-through tank top and skimpy skirt she’d been given by those women this morning.

  In their haste to wake from sleep stasis and get out of the wreckage of the starship, she and her sisters hadn’t had time to dress.

  Playfully flirty, she couldn’t resist spreading her legs, allowing air to caress her pussy and to show him what she had to offer. Blowing out an aroused breath, she used her bound hands to brush away the perspiration dotting her forehead. Forcing her gaze from his luscious cock, she studied his face for the umpteenth time since they’d started this journey.

  The stranger possessed remarkable eyes. Warm and brown, like melted chocolate fudge. Every time his gaze locked onto hers, a hot rush of arousal pulsed through her.

  She wondered if he was one of those male sex slaves her brothers had vaguely mentioned in their message about how this planet worked. Here women were in charge and all males were uneducated slaves.

  No fun. She wanted to be the one dominated. Wanted this rugged stranger breaking her out of this wagon, dragging her into the dense, green foliage and taking her on the ground…or up against a tree…or… A knowing grin tugged at the corners of his lush, full lips. Lips made for fusing over her clit and sucking her until she came and came.

  Oh God, Kayla! Focus! Not on him! But on getting out of here!

  She needed to find her brothers. They’d get the help her sisters required, and then they needed to figure out how to get off this planet and go home.

  Crud! But how was she going to break out of this damned cage? All four sides were made of two-inch, solid metal bars, pounded into a thick-planked wooden floor. The roof was flat and also made of thick-planked wood.

  Her gaze moved from the wagon ceiling back to him. And what about him? When she had an opportunity to escape, she’d definitely have to take Mr. Yummy Tarzan along with her, if only to have him put her out of her delicious sexual misery.

  She resisted the urge to close her legs to him. She shouldn’t be so sexually blatant. Instead she embraced the sweet shivers sweeping through her as he continued to stare at her with erotic interest. She swore if he had his way with her, she’d enjoy every minute of it.

  Her gaze dropped back to his cock and she inhaled softly at the sight. Have mercy! His cock was getting bigger! Expanding, lengthening. Readying itself for her.

  Kayla moaned at the sight and found herself losing control of her senses. She craved for him to plunge into her. To spear into her pussy until she came apart, crying and moaning and whimpering.

  White heat enveloped her and she fought against pressing her tender clit into the warm, wooden bench
beneath her. With every breath and every jiggle of the wagon, naughty vibrations cascaded against the area between her thighs. She inhaled softly, her world rocking at the knowing look in the stranger’s eyes as he raised them from studying her pussy to recapture her gaze.

  Fight it, Kayla. She moaned inwardly. Fight the erotic pull this man and this planet have on you.

  On this planet who knew what was in the water or, for that matter, in the air she was breathing or in the food they’d given her.

  Clenching her teeth, Kayla vowed not to bring herself off. At least not until he was sinking into her.

  * * * * *

  One more step. Another. One more. Keep going. Just one more.

  Those commands swept through Taylor’s mind as he struggled to keep from falling, his legs threatening to buckle with every step. He fought to keep his eyes focused on the female he’d been tracking since finding her trail in the Fever Swamps.

  When he’d first spotted her, she was being surrounded by a group of females. As he’d followed the females to a hub, he’d become so overwhelmed by her beauty he hadn’t heard the several women sneaking up behind him. Getting caught hadn’t been in his plan of breaking her free, but at least now he was close to her.

  This woman was too alluring for a simple male like himself, but every time he looked at her, obvious interest flared in her eyes and something inside of him screamed with happiness. This jubilance and protectiveness while gazing upon a female had never happened to him before. It frightened him and made him eager to possess her at the same time.

  She had wavy, dirty-yellow, shoulder-length hair, a color he had never seen on a female. He had thought she was one of those Yellow Hairs who ate males, but then he remembered she was one of those missing females that were kin to the talking Hero brothers and relief had slipped into his bloodstream.

  She had a heart-shaped face. Her eyes were pale blue, the same color of an early morning sky during the wet season. Her nose looked just right and she had the pinkest cheeks he’d ever seen. Her mouth looked velvety lush and he ached to kiss her.

  She had long legs too. Very long legs he couldn’t wait to have wrapped around his waist. Wide hips he wouldn’t hesitate to hold while he fucked her long and hard…and he would fuck her.

  But first he would have to break her out of that cage. Second, he would feast upon her pussy and third, he would drink from her until his thirst was quenched, and then she would accept his aching cock deep inside her hot, wet channel.

  Taylor groaned at the succulent ideas and kept his gaze transfixed on his prize. Her pussy danced in the shadows, beneath the cloth riding high on her thighs and, if he looked hard enough, he could see her glistening arousal wetting her cunt lips. The scent of her sex drifted on the softest of breezes and, because he’d followed her tracks from the Fever Swamps, fever twinkled in her eyes. She must have drunk some of the water. Not enough for her health to be in trouble like her sister, but enough to make her aware she would need sex to ease her aching lust.

  His friend Jarod had discovered this woman’s sister, Piper. Her petite, nude body had been lying motionless amid the moss-enshrouded rocks at the outskirts of the Fever Swamps. He’d managed to save her life by sucking the poison out of her pussy. Literally. They had fallen very hard for each other.

  If this female had swallowed the water, she would be sexually hungry. Her body would be hot and ready for the taking. She would need a male to cure her. She would need him. And he would make her belong to him just as Jarod had made Piper his woman.

  Warmth spilled through Taylor at fantasizing about a woman who would look at him with such love. The way Piper looked at Jarod. Yes, he would enjoy that. Enjoy it very much.

  But first, he must escape.

  Suddenly his wrists screamed with pain from the tightening rope and he lurched forward. He stumbled, almost fell and silently cursed the two females leading the team of horses. He’d overheard them say he and the woman were being taken to Death Valley and the Death Valley Boys.

  He needed to keep her from falling into the hands of the Boys. Once inside the walls of Death Valley, escape would be extremely difficult. The Boys had acquired the technology to outfit their captives with the ankle bracelets. That’s one thing that surprised him. These guards had not outfitted this female and himself with ankle bracelets that, upon escape, would track them.

  Perhaps it had been overlooked? If so, they were lucky. Or maybe these females would outfit them at nightfall. Taylor exhaled a frustrated sigh. If that were the case, things would get very difficult.

  The Death Valley Boys were a tight-knit group. They consisted of escaped males who’d once been sex slaves, just as all males were trained. They’d been taught to follow a female’s every command without question or suffer the consequences.

  Red-hot anger splashed through Taylor as he remembered the punishments. Different kinds of sexual torture—such as having heavy weights hung from his balls or cock and painful nipple clamps that turned a male into a submissive beast—were used. Cock cages, penis leashes, harsh whippings and sex on demand were a few of the hardships a male endured as a slave.

  Once when a female had broken the rules and educated a male, who just happened to be a close friend of Taylor’s, the male, in turn, began educating other males, including Taylor. As a result, males became aware of their slavery and fought their way to freedom. The violence inflicted upon them by the women had been turned upon the females themselves.

  Rapes, forced seductions and kidnappings occurred during the period of the Slave Uprising. Most of the males left their hubs. The majority moved to a secure valley—Death Valley—and called themselves the Death Valley Boys. It was a place where males ruled and females became captives and subservient. Taylor had been one of the original Death Valley Boys, until he’d decided the Boys went too far with the female captives.

  He and his friend Jarod had escaped. They’d lived on their own in a tree house, hiding from the Death Valley Boys and being hunted by females who were trying to recapture or kill escaped, talking slaves. But now, with the appearance of the Hero clan and Taylor’s promise to Piper that he would find her sisters, and with this luscious female pounding heated blood through his system, Taylor knew he would never be the same.

  As his focus renewed on the female, erotic heat flashed through him. His cock became so unbelievably thick and heavy he had to force himself not to grit his teeth at the sexual torture just looking upon her evoked. Oh the sweet, sensual things he could do to this luscious woman. He couldn’t wait to mount her, to fuck her, to have her.

  A cool wind breathed against his heated flesh and he gazed to the western horizon. The sun was setting in a misty veil of pinks and pale blue. Good. They would be making camp soon.

  As they’d traveled along the dusty road, he’d been studying the terrain. It was rugged and rocky and an escape over this land would be difficult enough for him, weary from walking all day with no rest stops or water. But for her, the woman in the cage who appeared so delicate, it would be very difficult. Near to impossible in her bare feet.

  For a moment, he toyed with the idea of leaving her behind. Of going in search of help and then returning to Death Valley to break her out. He dropped the idea immediately. If he left her, the Death Valley Boys would have her in every way the instant she arrived. She would be ruined, emotionally and possibly physically. He didn’t want her damaged. He just wanted her.

  Escaping with him, she would hurt. Her feet, her body and her pussy when he finally took her. But he would make sure she hurt nice. She would be his.

  Tonight.

  * * * * *

  Blackie was gaining on her! Oh God, he was going to be on her in minutes.

  Anxiety screamed through Kinley as the black-haired, scarred man crashed through the jungle behind her. His heavy breaths ripped through her senses and she swore the heat of his gasps whispered over the back of her neck.

  He was that close.

  Up until a few minutes ago
, he’d kept a discreet distance. Over the past couple of days, she’d eluded his capture and actually enjoyed setting false trails that led him to a river’s edge or to a dead end up a tree. But he’d always managed to pick up her trail again. She hadn’t expected anything different this time. After all, she’d killed that other man after he’d tried to rape her and Blackie had stood by and watched as she’d been attacked.

  At remembering the reason he kept trailing her, icy tendrils of fear raced up her spine, urging her to run faster. If he caught her, she wouldn’t have a chance at killing him. He was too strong. Too muscular and oh so powerful.

  She didn’t want to think about how the knife had sliced into that other man so easily. Didn’t want to remember all the blood. She hadn’t meant to kill him. Truly she hadn’t. She’d been afraid and, well, she’d panicked and reacted in self-defense.

  Oh God!

  She was so confused. She’d killed someone, so why didn’t it bother her more than it did? The only thing she knew for sure was she needed to stay away from her hunter. He was almost on top of her and she was tiring. Her legs were cramping due to exhaustion, but she grit her teeth against the pain and kept running.

  * * * * *

  He craved the female Kinley so badly, but he’d held off taking her the night she had allowed him to make her come over and over again. He’d wanted to wait until she was stronger. He’d been so turned-on by the scar on her belly. Aroused by her erotic moans and sexy whimpers. Too turned-on.

  He needed to capture her and explain. Hatred had flared in her eyes when she’d caught him watching her after she’d killed. The betrayal he saw had been a severe blow to his system.

  He had been out searching for food when the leader had shown up at Blackie’s camp. Back in Death Valley, he had warned their leader she would be feisty, perhaps unpredictable. Blackie wished to track her on his own and bring her back already trained. Obviously the leader had decided to join in the hunt after all.