“I assumed you knew about it.” She tapped her empty holster ruefully. “And I thought I was capable of protecting you. I didn’t count on aliens.”
“You were using us as bait, weren’t you?” Naomi’s eyes narrowed.
She battled against another wave of guilt. “Not exactly. I go to the park every morning.” She didn’t mention that she had thought Ashley and Naomi were her best hopes of drawing out whoever had kidnapped her daughter.
“I don’t understand. Why would Bob let me go somewhere where a murder was committed?” Ashley looked truly distressed.
Naomi only shrugged. “Because he wants you thin and fit?”
“Is that why Stefan let you go?”
“If it didn’t affect the stock market, I doubt he even knew about it.” Naomi shrugged again. “I knew what I was getting into when I married him. Didn’t you know what Bob was like?”
“He’s not like that!” Ashley cried as Naomi and Jade exchanged a disbelieving look.
Jade too had been married to a wealthy man whose main interest was his financial affairs, and as they had gotten older, she saw a number of first wives being traded in for younger models. She suspected that the only reason that Nathan hadn’t done the same thing was because she owned a controlling interest in the company.
Naomi sighed and patted Ashley’s back. “All right, sugar. If you say he’s not like that, I’ll believe you.” She turned and looked at Jade. “So what do we do now?”
“We figure out how to get out of the cell and make these bastards take you and your children back to Earth.”
“What about you?”
“I’m not going anywhere without my daughter.”
Chapter Two
Two weeks later…
“Remove your clothing,” the Vedeckian ordered.
“I will do no such thing.” Jade raised her chin, giving him a defiant look.
His hands moved to the controls for the shock collar locked around her neck. A shiver of dread crawled down her spine, but she refused to let him see her fear. Her plan to escape had not worked out in her favor. She had severely underestimated the ruthlessness of the Vedeckian commander.
Before the Vedeckian could administer the shock, the other alien grabbed his hand.
“You can’t shock her, Kafri. Commander Kadica said that she will not fetch as many credits if she is unconscious.”
“Who cares? I just want the bitch off the ship after what she did to Kragan.”
Jade bit back an indignant protest. Commander Kadica had been the one to kill Kragan. Admittedly, it was because she had been holding a gun to the crewmember’s head at the time. She had foolishly thought that holding one of his crew captive would give her a bargaining chip. She had been wrong. The commander had shot Kragan himself, and the shock of his head exploding in her face stupefied her long enough for the commander to coolly take the gun away from her.
Once he had the weapon, he struck with an almost casual hand, but the blow had knocked her unconscious. When she awoke, she had been fitted with the shock collar. Although the commander kept his face impassive, she saw the sadistic delight in his eyes when he proceeded to demonstrate to her how it worked.
When she regained consciousness the second time, Kwaret had been placing cool cloths on her bruised cheek. She was no longer in the cell with the other women. Instead, she was in a small room, barely large enough for the cot she was lying on. Just as in the larger cell, three walls were composed of white metal while the fourth was glass.
“I wish you had not attempted to escape,” Kwaret had said softly.
“Yeah, well, I’m glad I did. Did you expect me to just wait around and see what you bastards have in mind for me?”
“I suppose not.” He tugged a little at the rigid metal band surrounding her neck and shook his head. “But I’m afraid this makes you more vulnerable to them.”
“I won’t give in to them,” she said fiercely. “Never. I’ll never stop looking for a way to escape.”
“I don’t suppose you would believe me if I told you that help is coming? And that you just need to trust me and be patient?”
“Trust you?” She snorted. “I don’t believe in trust anymore, nor in patience. If you want something, you have to go after it yourself.”
“I suspected that that would be your response.” Kwaret smoothed a cream around the edge of the collar. It burned like hell, and she tried to jerk away, but then a soothing numbness spread out from the cream. “Can I just ask, for your own sake, that you try and avoid antagonizing them?”
“You keep saying them. Aren’t these your people?”
“They stopped being my people the day they started selling sentient beings for profit.” He looked at her, red eyes solemn. “I am trusting you by telling you that.”
Even though she scowled at him, rather than responding, part of her was impressed by his honesty. Based on what she had seen so far on board the ship, even the suggestion that he might betray his crewmates would probably result in very unpleasant consequences.
Kwaret made no further attempt to convince her, but she did her best to follow his advice even though it went against all of her natural instincts. She had never been good at holding her tongue. But then again, not holding her tongue had been what started this whole terrible chain of events. The usual wave of guilt washed over her, but she pushed it away with a practiced familiarity.
The lights in the corridor had dimmed twice before Kwaret reappeared. She had seen enough of the Vedeckians by now to pick up on the subtle indications that he was worried.
“What is it?”
“We have docked on Driguera. They have decided to sell you.”
Fighting back a flare of panic, she gave a sardonic laugh. “So much for that help you promised.”
“I believe that it is on the way, but I can’t guarantee that it will be here in time.”
He lowered his voice even further as he bent over her, running a scanner over her collar.
“I am resetting the frequency in your collar. It will still shock you, but it should not render you unconscious.” His forehead creased slightly, what she interpreted as a sign of deep concern for the generally impassive Vedeckian. “But if you are shocked, I suggest you let them believe that it was successful. That may give you an opportunity to escape. I hope it will not be necessary.”
Despite his hopes, a short time later two crewmen had entered her cell, thrown a hooded cape over her head, and force-marched her to her current location. Now she was in a small, dirty room. A cot against one wall was piled with stained blankets, and the other side of the room held hanging racks covered with an assortment of clothing, all of which looked cheap, flashy, and skimpy.
“If you won’t let me shock her, then you take her clothes off,” Kafri muttered.
Despite her underlying horror, she had to bite back a satisfied smile. Her training might not have been enough to keep her from being captured, but it had instilled a healthy fear in her captors. She had found out the first time one of them laid hands on her that the Vedeckians had their genitalia in the same place as human men and they were apparently equally as sensitive.
Of course, that was before the shock collar.
They looked at each other and she tensed. Kafri feinted to the right and she turned with him, trying to keep an eye on the other male. But Kafri grabbed her hand and held her long enough for the second male to take hold of her hoodie and rip it off her body, leaving her in her tight-fitting jogging tank and yoga pants. They stepped back, surveying her.
“She is quite small,” Kafri said derisively, running his eyes over her breasts.
Apparently, even aliens preferred big-breasted women. Good. That meant they would be less interested in her.
“Perhaps they would be more enticing if they were not bound so tightly?”
They started to move into position again, and even though she was prepared this time, she still heard the fabric of her tank rip, leaving her clad only in her s
ports bra. The chilly temperature in the room hardened her nipples as both aliens stared at them.
“Is that a sign of arousal?” Kafri asked.
“Perhaps she likes this,” the other sneered. “Commander Kadica may have been right about the type of master for whom she is best suited.”
“He said we should find someone who’s looking for some spirit. She doesn’t look like she put up a fight.” Kafri pulled out a knife and her heart hammered against her chest. “But I can take care of that.”
Five minutes later, all three of them were breathless, and she was glad to see all of them were bleeding. Unfortunately, it was a small consolation. Her jogging pants were in tatters, sliced almost to the waistband over one hip and revealing a long strip of golden skin and an equally long red scratch where the knife had caught her. Her sports bra was tattered too, the torn fabric hanging by a thread from her right shoulder and the left side gaping open to reveal most of one small breast. More scratches covered her shoulders and her breasts.
She supposed she should be grateful they were not trying to injure her—none of the cuts were deep, even though she could feel the sting of each shallow mark.
“That’s better, Keroud. She’ll appeal to those buyers who prefer the challenge of breaking a more spirited slave.”
“No one is going to break me,” she snarled.
Keroud shook his head. Was that a fleeting flash of sympathy in his red eyes? “Everyone can be broken.”
“Do you think that works?” Kafri asked, inspecting her.
“If they’re looking for a fighter, yes.”
“The commander spread the word that’s what he was selling.” Kafri shrugged. “I just hope some rich bastard is willing to pay to take her off our hands. And speaking of hands… Hold them out, human.”
When she just glared at him, he sighed, and the two of them moved into position again. A few painful—for all of them—minutes later, her hands were cuffed in front of her, and a leash extended from the cuffs to Kafri.
“You’re going to come with us now, like a good little human. If you struggle, I will yank you off your feet and drag you. Do you understand?”
She nodded reluctantly. As much as it galled her to comply with any of their orders, being dragged along like a piece of meat wouldn’t do anything to help the situation.
“Good.” He grinned, showing very sharp teeth. “Perhaps you can be trained after all.”
He tugged sharply on the leash, and she stumbled but managed to stay on her feet, thankful that at least they hadn’t removed her shoes, as he marched out of the room. They proceeded down the hallway, ending up in an area that reminded her disconcertingly of the backstage area from her brief foray into high school musicals. There were other women present, from a variety of other species, most of them standing meekly beside their captors. The only exception was a catlike female who growled and tried to scratch the tentacled alien holding her leash, but the ends of her fingers were bleeding and her handler only laughed.
“That one might be some competition,” Kafri said quietly. “She’s the only other one with any spirit.”
“I doubt it. They’ve already declawed her. Probably yanked her fangs as well. She won’t last long.”
Jade closed her eyes to mask her instinctive horror. Will someone do that to me too?
“Don’t worry, human. Your pathetic little nails are just enough to excite, not damage.”
Somehow, that didn’t make her feel any better.
One by one, each of the other females disappeared through the curtain at the far end of the room. None of them returned. At last, it was down to her and the feline female. Her captor dragged the other female yowling through the curtain.
Kafri had been studying a tablet while Keroud kept his eye on her, and a few minutes later he looked up, flashing those shark-like teeth.
“You were right. She didn’t fetch much.” He leaned closer to her. “We still have a few big buyers out there. You’d better hope you sell for a lot of credits—you might live longer as a valuable purchase.”
Rather than responding, she headbutted him, smiling when she heard his nose crack and saw purple fluid drip down his face.
He snarled and reached for the control to the shock collar, but once again, Keroud stopped him.
“Conscious, remember? Her new owner will teach her manners soon enough.”
Kafri glared at her as his hand dropped away from the controls and he snatched her leash. Almost dragging her off her feet again, he marched across the room and through the curtain. On the other side of the curtain, two aliens waited. Easily over eight feet tall, they were painfully thin with grey skin and oversized bald heads. They looked so much like an Earth stereotype of an alien that she had the oddest impulse to giggle but fought it back, afraid that it would turn into sobs.
One of them took the leash from Kafri and she immediately yanked at it, hoping to take him by surprise. Unfortunately, those deceptively thin limbs were stronger than they looked. He simply lifted the leash over her head, pulling her arms up until she was suspended on tiptoes trying to relieve the strain.
“A fighter?” The grey alien nodded his approval. “We have had a special request for this type of slave.”
“I’ll make sure he regrets that request,” she growled, but the alien only nodded.
“Excellent. You may await the results of the sale in a reception room,” he added, turning to Kafri and Keroud.
“We wished to watch the auction, Master Eiran,” Kafri protested.
“There is a live feed.”
“We would prefer to be in the audience. I want to see who takes her.”
The grey alien tittered. “Oh, no. We would never breach our clients’ confidentiality that way. Please accompany my assistant, Honorable Sirs.”
Turning his back on the Vedeckians, Master Eiran led her through another set of curtains, keeping her on tiptoes as she tried not to fall. He paused to consult with another of his species.
“That is not the usual attire for a slave,” the other alien complained.
“Perhaps not, but considering her classification, I suspect it is most appropriate.”
“I bow to your wisdom, Esteemed Master.”
Her captor pulled her through yet another set of curtains into a small round room surrounded by draperies. A bright overhead light illuminated the area as he fastened her leash to an overhead pole and stepped back to regard her thoughtfully.
“Under normal circumstances, I would warn you not to fight, but in this situation you may do whatever you wish. If someone damages you, then they will have purchased you.”
He disappeared through the curtain, and a moment later, the surface on which she was standing began to rise until she was no longer backstage. Her platform was now surrounded by eight arched windows. The overhead light was too bright for her to make out anything behind the glass but then the panes slid silently upwards. A cacophony of noise erupted, and she realized that each window led into a small viewing room. She couldn’t see much of the interior of the rooms, but her nose was assaulted by a variety of unpleasant smells.
A slithering sound came from one of the rooms, and she saw a yellow light flash over the opening. A moment later, a snake-like alien slithered into view. His head reminded her of a cobra’s and his body looped below him in long coils, but he had two small arms. One of them reached for her face. She whipped her head around and bit down hard on a two-fingered hand. Her mouth filled with acidic blood and she released her grip, spitting the blood to the ground. The alien hissed angrily and his tail coiled around her legs with bone-crushing pressure. A red light flashed overhead, and she heard the slave master’s voice.
“May I remind you, Honorable Sir, that any damage you cause will result in a forfeit of your deposit?”
The alien hissed again and let her go, slithering back to his room.
“Would any other interested party care to inspect the merchandise?”
Another light flashed yellow,
and a new alien stepped out onto her platform. He was humanoid—just. Heavily furred, with short legs and longer arms extending from broad shoulders, he bore a faint resemblance to a gorilla and was easily twice her size. He wore a metal vest studded with spikes, each tip painted red, with matching cuffs around his wrists. Unlike the first alien, he made no attempt to approach her at first, simply circling her and studying her from all sides.
When he finally decided to come closer, she grabbed hold of her leash, putting all of her weight on her cuffs, and twisted her body to kick out at him, catching him in his broad midsection. Her arms felt as if they were being pulled out of their sockets, and her feet ached as if she had slammed them against the concrete wall. He just laughed.
“This one definitely has some possibilities.” He studied her face. “If you try that again, I’ll make you regret it.”
The smug assurance in his voice infuriated her and when he approached a second time, she repeated the maneuver, aiming lower this time. He gave an outraged howl as her feet connected with something much softer. Another alien male with genitalia between his legs, she thought triumphantly, but a minute later, his hands were around her throat above the collar.
“I see you want to make your life interesting.” He squeezed tighter. “I believe in making the punishment fit the crime. I wonder how you would look spread-eagle on an iron bar with my cock jammed down your throat?”
She could hear Master Eiran protesting and black spots were flashing in her vision, but she gathered her last strength and spat at him. To her shock, he laughed and released her.
“I’ll take her. How much?”
Before the grey alien could respond, an alarm sounded and red lights began flashing in every one of the surrounding rooms. Another of the gorilla-like aliens came rushing out and grabbed her tormentor’s arm.
Daughter of the Alien Warrior Page 2
