INTERGALACTIC BAD BOYS

by

Jaide Fox

© copyright by Jaide Fox, October 2003
Cover Art by Eliza Black
ISBN 1-58608-331-7
New Concepts Publishing
www.newconceptspublishing.com

Chapter One

“What the fuck was that?” Tor Severian demanded groggily as the scream of metal reached the cock pit and the ship shuddered.

“What?” Kerel, who was piloting the sleek sports rocket, asked irritably, juggling his drink in one hand and the steering controls in the other.

“He missed it by a mile,” Hauk said.

“Missed what?” Bradan and Galan asked in a chorus, sitting up from their sprawl on the floor.

At just that moment, the computer burst loose with a loud squawk, “Warning! Warning! The hull has been breached.”

“Dammit, Kerel,” Tor said angrily. “I thought you told me you knew how to drive this model. Now you’ve screwed up my brand new sports rocket.”

Hauk spoke up, “He does. I just bet him he couldn’t get through that meteor belt without hitting anything. And he said he could. It’s his fault.”

“I can fly this thing blind,” Kerel boasted, using one finger to push the wheel around.

“Yeah, but can you fly it blind drunk?” Tor asked, standing, clutching his head with a loud groan before collapsing back down on the bench.

“You’re one to talk. If you hadn’t been so determined to drink everyone under the table and passed out, I wouldn’t have to be driving this thing.”

“Warning! Oxygen levels are dropping,” the computer interrupted cheerfully.

Tor got up and looked blearily at the gauges for several moments. “Oh shit.”

“Famous last words,” Hauk said.

“Shut the hell up,” Tor slurred. “We’re in trouble guys. We’re going to have to set this baby down and do some work on it. Get up, Kerel, and let me see if I can find some place to set her down.” Tor pulled Kerel out of the seat.

Kerel staggered away, slinging brew off his hands. “Hey! You made me spill my brew!”

“Warning! Oxygen levels have dropped to 80 percent.”

“Shut up,” Tor said to Kerel, looking owl-eyed at the sticky controls, now dripping brew. After a moment, he decided he wasn’t currently in a state to fly it. “All right, who’s the soberest?”

A ten minute argument ensued while they discussed who was the drunkest. Tor was getting irritated. He’d lost his buzz. “All right, Dammit. Who just woke up?”

Galan and Bradan raised their arms weakly.

Tor pointed at Galan. “Okay, ‘cause you passed out before I did, you had at least thirty minutes to sleep it off. Have a look at the map and find us some place to put this down.”

“Warning! Oxygen level has dropped to 70 percent.”

“But this is uncharted space. Remember, we took the shortcut?” Galan said.

“Shit!” Tor said. “Computer, would you shut up the warnings already. We heard you. Do something useful. Find us a place to set down. Bradan, find something and stuff it in that breach so the computer can think of something besides the hole.”

“Like what?” Bradan asked, rubbing his eyes and then looking around the small cabin blankly. Empty brew cans rolled across the floor as the ship swayed.

“I don’t know. Stuff a sock in it,” Tor said irritably.

Bradan struggled to his feet and went to the door, pulling on the lever, but the door didn’t budge. He grunted, pulling on it several times before giving up and looking back at Tor. “Door’s stuck.”

Tor rolled his eyes. “Computer, open the door.”

“I’m sorry, the outer chamber has been compromised. If I open the door, you will all implode,” computer said cheerfully. “I am not allowed to do anything that would harm life.”

“Great, just great,” Tor grumbled, rubbing his hands over his face.

“Hey, Tor. I think I found something. Does that look like a hunk of metal to you?” Hauk asking, pointing out the front panel.

Everyone rushed to the windows and plastered their faces to the glass. The ship chugged over what looked like a mangled wing piece. Sailing onward, they passed another.

Tor grinned. “We’re saved! Where there’s trash, there’s life. Follow that junk, Galan.”

After a few minutes, a bright blue planet swirling with atmosphere came into view. Tor stood imperiously at the prow, his hands on his hips. Maybe it was the decreasing oxygen that had sobered him up so quickly. “Computer, scan for vitals. Can it support life?”

“Scanning now. The atmosphere is a combination of oxygen--”

He didn’t feel like listening to a list of vitals. They didn’t really have much time. “Can we breathe it?” Tor interrupted.

“Yes.”

“Hot damn!” Galan and Bradan shouted in unison.

“Are there women, computer?” Bradan asked, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

“It appears females outnumber the male species on this planet.”

“Whoo hoo!” Bradan yelled. Kerel released a triumphant war cry and coughed on the last sip of his brew.

“All right....” Tor rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Computer, download languages into the translators. Galan, set us down some place ... balmy. And we probably need plenty of cover. It’s too much to hope stealth mode is still working.”

“Uh ... it’s all I can do to steer this thing. The play in it’s a bitch.”

“That’s because we’re dragging half the galaxy with us,” Tor said, angry that his buddy dared to disparage his baby.

Kerel, who was standing beside him but apparently not keeping up with the conversation, nodded drunkenly. “I could use some sun.”

Hauk laughed. “Your pasty ass needs it, Kerel.”

“Stop it,” Kerel said, frowning, looking down at his mysteriously empty brew container. “You should talk. You’re almost as white as I am.”

“I’m blond. I’m supposed to be--you don’t have any excuse,” Hauk said.

“You two are making my head pound again. Kerel, you’re not going anywhere. You fucked up the ship, you get to fix it,” Tor warned. “Galan, get us the hell down there before I kill these two. I think the depleting oxygen is killing brain cells.”

Galan grinned, saluting. “Yes, sir.”

“And hit that button right there,” Tor pointed at it. “Federation knows we don’t want some heathens shooting our asses out of the sky.”

* * * *

The sun was high in the sky when dirt flew from the ground in a fine spray of grit and grass. The earth depressed under a heavy, unseen weight. There was a whining hiss of steam, and then a door appeared from nowhere, folding outward to become a thick, planed ramp.

Five men stumbled from the dim interior, blinking at the bright, summer sun.

Sweat popped out instantly on their skin. A cacophony of irritating chirps started up from deep in the surrounding woods.

Tor grimaced, looking around. “You landed us at a swamp, Galan.”

Galan shrugged, stretching, then rubbed his stomach lazily. “You said some place balmy. I was going by the temperature gauge on the ship.”

Tor grunted, rounding his shoulders to ease the kink in them. “Well, get to work, Kerel. I’d like to get back to my break this millennia.”

“I can’t even see the ship. How’m I supposed to work on it in stealth mode?” he asked irritably. He was always irritable. Kerel seriously needed to get laid.

“Same way you get around with your head up your ass,” Hauk said, laughing.

Kerel frowned when everyone joined in. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.”

Tor chuckled, hitting the remote. The air flickered, wavering, and the ship flashed into view. “I suppose it’s safe, since there doesn’t seem to be anyone around this federation forsaken place.”

“Thanks. A lot.” Kerel grumbled as he went inside to look for tools.

“Wonder what the locals look like,” Bradan mused, laying on the grass with his legs crossed. Galan laid down next to his brother, falling asleep and snoring almost immediately. Bradan swatted an insect from his arm. “They have blood suckers. Better turn on your protective fields.”

“Damn thing makes my hair stand on end,” Hauk muttered, switching his on. Sure enough, his hair rose off his forehead and frizzed.

Kerel came back out, arms loaded with brews and tools. He drank half of one before pulling the welder out.

“I never thought you one to worry about how pretty you look, Hauk. Think you’ll see some action here?” Tor asked, grinning as he switched his protective field on too. He popped the top on a brew and took a long swig, passing the remaining brews to his friends.

“I can hope,” Hauk muttered, taking a brew for himself.

“For all you know they’re covered with hair, smell like fonktol droppings, and have two pussies apiece.”

“Two wouldn’t be so bad. Gives me ideas.” Hauk chuckled, waggling his eyebrows.

“You ain’t got enough to satisfy one, Hauk,” Kerel piped up from under the hull, tinkering with the welder to get it started.

“You been checking me out, Kerel? I didn’t know you swung both ways.”

“Ha ha. That’s all I’m saying. Ha.”

“By the Federation, I hope they’re not that ugly. I haven’t seen a woman in...,” Bradan trailed off, frowning as he counted his fingers.

“Since we left. And it hasn’t been that long,” Tor finished for him. “You’re doing that wrong,” he said to Kerel, pointing his brew at the hull before taking a sip.

“Yeah,” Hauk piped up. “You’re holding it backwards.”

Kerel turned it around. He blinked up at Hauk. “No, it goes the other way. Maybe if someone wasn’t blocking my light....”

“I don’t think so,” Tor said, taking another swallow of brew, standing over Kerel. “The big end attaches to the ship.”

Kerel grunted, swiping the back of his hand across his forehead, smearing a streak of dirt. “Do you want to do this?”

“I’m satisfied watching you.”

“Asshole.”

“That’s Prince Asshole to you.”

“He’s right, Kerel. You’re never going to get the welder started that way. Put it on the metal so it sparks a reaction.” Hauk pointed his toe at the rough edge of the hole, finishing off his brew and starting on another.

“Shit!” Bradan said.

“What?” Tor asked, turning around.

“I spilled my brew. Any more?”

“I don’t know. Go inside and check the galley.”

He stood and brushed dirt off himself before going inside. A minute later he was back, white faced and wide eyed. “You won’t believe this.” He took a long breath, steadying himself. “We’re out of brew.”

“Huh?”

“No!”

“You’re shitting me!”

The commotion woke Galan. He snorted, coming up swinging. “Get off me fucker.” He looked around, confused when he didn’t hit an attacker. “Oh ... uh. What’s going on?”

“Okay, don’t have a shit fit, everyone. Did you check the cooling units and the cock pit?” Tor asked. “You weren’t gone very long.”

“I used computer when I couldn’t find any. She ran a scan and said Kerel took the last.”

“Fuck!” Hauk crushed the last brew container, tossing it into the ship. “That’s just wonderful. First the ship, now no brews and no women.”

“It’s not like we’ll die without it. Hell, that’s what got us in this fix to start with,” Tor said, looking morosely at the empty brews. It wasn’t that they habitually got snockered, but brew sickness would set in before long, and the only cure for brew sickness was more brew ... heaving his guts out held no appeal. He brightened suddenly. “There’s civilization here, right? Let’s go get some more.”

“My prince, I would follow you anywhere,” Hauk said, grinning as he slapped an arm across his chest and bowed.

Tor pushed him up the ramp and kicked a foot towards his ass, missing.

“What’s going on?” Galan asked, swaying as he got on his feet.

“We’re going to get you some fuel, fonktol,” Bradan said, pushing him. Galan pushed back, and they were soon on the ground, wrestling for dominance.

Tor rolled his eyes. “Get your asses off the dirt and get ready. Let’s see what this planet has to offer. Might as well enjoy ourselves while we’re here.”

An hour later they’d showered and put on their best clothes. Kerel was relegated to guard duty and fixing the ship.

“This blows,” he said. “You know I don’t like working sober.”

“Whatever. Don’t get any bright ideas and lose my remote or I’ll kick your ass,” Tor said, handing Kerel the remote to the ship.

Galan had marked a city not far away, and they made their way to it in a short time. They kept their protective fields on until they reached the edges of town.

Hauk switched his off first. “This place is a dump. No wonder they left trash in space. It’s everywhere down here.” He kicked a crumpled wad into the path of an oncoming metal vehicle, watching it dance in the wind.

“It’s a sign of higher life,” Tor said, grimacing.

“Not necessarily,” Hauk muttered beneath his breath.

“Hey, these surroundings remind me of those transmissions we received,” Galan said, elbowing past his brother to Tor’s and Hauk’s side. “I wonder if this is where they originated from?”

Tor looked around. Metal vehicles zoomed maniacally past them on the road, held in check only by markings on the road and a short stone curb. “You have a point. These vehicles look similar to those broadcasts. It could be the same place.”

Bradan whitened. “The area where we landed looked much like that study on recreation and mating. What was it? De-liv-er-an...?”

“We did fly over a river very similar and wide,” Galan muttered, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he looked around.

“Do you think squealing like a pig is some mating call? I didn’t watch the transmission after the dominant male took the submissive.” Tor shuddered. He stopped, watching as a vehicle pulled toward a building and halted. A man, similar in appearance to themselves, swung the door open and got out, giving Tor an appreciative look before going into the building. Tor glared at him and the male looked away. “The males look much the same as we, but I like not how they look at us. I think perhaps their males mate only with each other. If this planet was seeded as our own was, something went awry.”

“Then it’s natural to assume females would too. Go for each other that is,” Hauk surmised.

“That could be interesting,” Bradan said, grinning.

“Get your mind off your cock, Bradan. The females may have died out and the males resorted to each other afterward. It’s happened on planets before,” Tor said thoughtfully. “The males on Vulkahn are horny as two plebians in heat. I’ve no doubt they would do the same until the species died out completely.”

“I think only Kerel and Bradan qualify as plebians,” Hauk snorted.

“Shut up, smart ass,” Bradan muttered.

“Do you think it was wise leaving Kerel alone?” Galan asked.

Hauk laughed.

“Kerel has all the weapons on board at his disposal. Now, this building appears to distribute goods. Hauk and I will go in to procure some brew. You and Bradan, wait out here.”

“That’s fine. I have to piss anyway,” Bradan said, sauntering around the building.

“Me too,” Galan said, following.

Tor shrugged and opened the door, walking inside. Hauk followed, examining shelves of brightly colored packages.

Tor turned to an elder man standing behind a counter. He appeared to be in charge. “Where is your brew?”

The man gave him a blank look, his mouth dropping open slightly. Tor tried not to glare at him. Would every male he encountered stare at him like some juicy piece of meat?

“You don’t have your translator on,” Hauk said, picking up a package and sniffing it.

“Shit! I forgot the universal language hasn’t reached this far.” Tor pressed the centerpiece of the necklace he wore before trying again. “Where is your brew?” It garbled his words a few times before he finally managed to speak in a language the man understood.

The old man gave him a suspicious once over, making him feel immediately better about his sexuality. “Brewskies are over there,” he said, pointing toward the back.

“Hauk, keep your mind off your stomach and grab some brew.” Tor turned back to the old man, swaying a little from turning his head too quickly.

“You smell like you’ve already had a few. Against the law to sell to a drunk,” he said, chewing a lump in his mouth before spitting into a cup.

What kind of barbarous planet was this? Brew was for special occasions, though this man could not know he was on his break. And he was not ... drunk? “I’m not snockered,” he said, slurring the words. Okay, perhaps he was a little. Brew was notoriously hard to get out of the system. He still had to look forward to brew sickness ... eventually. He was feeling woozy, but he thought maybe the heat was just getting to him.

Hauk came up and set two sets of six brews down on the glass counter. They looked like the ones in the broadcasts he’d seen of ugly, squat, brownish creatures sitting in swampland spouting the name of the brew. That only confirmed how strange these barbarians truly were.

“You sure that’s enough?” Tor asked.

Hauk shrugged. “Probably not. The men here are puny. But we don’t need any more brew. I’ve about had my fill.”

“True. How much?” he asked the man.

“Sixteen bucks.”

Tor blanched. “For brew?” He fished around in his money pouch and withdrew a credit disk, slapping it down on the counter.

“Don’t take no credit cards in here. Checks neither. Cash only.”

Tor frowned, slipping the credit disk back in his pouch, and pulled out a handful of fed-units.

The old man’s eyes gleamed. “Y’all ain’t from around here, are you?”

“No. We’re from Vulkahn,” Tor said absently, counting out his fed-units.

“That’s what I figured. I know all about trekkies. My daughter’s one. These real?” He picked one up and bit it. “Tastes like it.”

Tor and Hauk gave him a disgusted look as the fed-unit came away with a brownish coating. “Of course they are. This enough for the brew?”

He snorted, laughing. “Looks good to me.”

As they turned to go, a whining blip ruptured the air. Tor and Hauk nearly jumped out of their skins.

“What the hell was that?” Hauk shouted, grabbing the brews as he led the way outside.

They rounded the corner just in time to see Galan and Bradan--their hands bound behind their backs--being stuffed inside a metal vehicle with red and blue flashing lights atop the conveyance. A man in dark blue spared them a narrow eyed glance before slamming the door and settling inside.

“Fuck me,” Tor muttered in stunned breathlessness.

“Where do you think they’re taking them?” Hauk asked Tor.

The old man had followed. “They’ve been arrested, numbnuts. They’re probably taking them to jail.”

Hauk gave Tor a look. He didn’t need to say anything--they were both thinking the same thing.

They were in deep shit.

“How do we get them out?” Tor asked.

The man looked at them like they were fonktol brains. “You bail them out. With money. Not those.” He pushed the fed-units away. “You need to go to the bank and exchange the jewels for cash.”

“Where is this ... bank?” Tor asked, stuffing the fed-units back in their pouch.

“Round that way.” He gave them directions and they were soon off.

Tor only hoped this bank wouldn’t give them trouble with the fed-units. So far, this planet had been worse than boring, and he hadn’t seen the first female to even make it bearable. If Kerel didn’t get his sports rocket fixed.... His hands tightened with the impulse to strangle him.

The thought of no women alone was enough to sober him and foul his mood. There damn well better be something entertaining here, he thought, trudging alongside Hauk. Kerel and Hauk both needed their asses kicked for fucking around.

“We could try breaking them out of jail, like in those ... uh ... Westens,” Hauk said, as if reading his thoughts.

“I see no cowboys here, though it’s almost dirty enough to be a Westen. It could be amusing. We might try that later. I’m tempted to let them stew awhile for what they’ve done.”

“Who knew you could be arrested for pissing?”

“Who indeed. This is a strange planet. Similar to the transmissions, and yet much different,” Tor said. “There’s the bank he spoke of. Let’s get this over with.”

“Yeah. Right. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Tor looked up at the faceless, glass facade. “You’re not the only one.”

Chapter Two

Fridays were always hell--especially after five. Everyone wanted to get their check cashed for the weekend, and their dispositions matched the work week they’d gone through--hellacious. This Friday looked to be worse than usual. The teller’s lines stretched nearly to the door, and cars rounded the curve outside in the drive-thru lanes. The tellers were counting out bills as fast as they could.

Samantha Declan counted down the minutes, knowing she was going to have to stay late--again.

It was five minutes till closing when the man came in. Though she wasn’t familiar with all the bank’s customers, she knew the moment he ducked through the door frame that he wasn’t an account holder. As assistant manager, Samantha was instantly suspicious. Beyond the fact that he was the next thing to naked in some sort of fitted jumpsuit--exposing his chest and belly in a deep scooped neck--his mannerisms were ... off. He looked up at the ceiling, stumbling noisily over a ficus tree, righted himself, and walked staggeringly through the crowded lobby like his feet were too big for him.

“Omigod. Will you look at what just walked in! Look at the chest on that man,” Tammy whispered excitedly to Becky.

“Shhhh. Get back to work, ladies,” Samantha cut off their tittering before it could get good and started, eyeing the man with a sideways glance of appreciation despite her suspicious nature. Tall, dark, and handsome--he looked the epitome of a romance book hero. She couldn’t tell much about his face from the distance, but it didn’t look like she’d have to wait long to see him up close.

He was headed straight for her and the girls.

The man pushed his way to the front of the line amid a chorus of angry mutterings and shouts. The natives were getting restless and this man wasn’t helping matters. Samantha glared at him. She’d always hated line breakers. She debated on putting him in his place, but wanted to see what would happen.

“Hey!”

“Jerk! Wait your turn!”

“Back of the line, asshole. We were here first.”

Sam was actually amazed at how brazen they were, because normally a man of that size inspired fear in others--not daring. And he was big enough he’d squash anyone he stepped on.

He pushed in front to Tammy, who smiled up at him, ignoring her next customer. Sam gave her a warning look but Tammy ignored her.

“Can I help you, Sir?” she asked, smiling and batting her lashes.

“I need ca-ash,” he said, accentuating multiple syllables where there were none. Sam wasn’t at a good angle to see exactly what he was doing, but she watched as he pulled something out of a pouch at his side and dumped it under the short window. Tammy blinked down at it, looking confused.

She looked disappointed. “I’m sorry. Uh. You’ll need to speak to Ms. Declan. She’s right over there.”

He faced her, and looked her over like she was a piece of candy. Sam felt a wash of heat run over her at the look he ran down her body. Stupid. She looked every bit a prude--men didn’t look at her that way. Her suspicions raised again. Sam narrowed her eyes and beckoned him toward the end of the counter.

He strode cockily toward her, and she resisted rolling her eyes. He didn’t stop until his chest was inches from her nose. It was completely hairless and gleamed like he’d been oiled down. Sam blinked a few times and instinctively backed up a step, glaring up, up, up at him, immediately caught by the strange emerald hue of his eyes. He arched one brow, studying the top of her head with a quizzical look.

Sam swallowed audibly. “Can I help you?” she whispered, hooking one forefinger in her necklace as she always did when nervous.

His mouth quirked with amusement at the corners, and a dimple pierced his right cheek. “You are the first woman on this planet worthy of my attention,” he said in a husky, intimate whisper that made her tingle all over despite better judgment.

Jesus. He sounded like a fucking nut. Or just a drunk. Sam tried not to breathe too heavily, but he fairly reeked of a sweet, alcohol smell--like he’d imbibed too much of some fruity drink. All the good looking ones always had something wrong with them. This one was probably a criminal too.

Sam cleared her throat, wanting to get on with it. “It’s almost closing time. What can I do for you?”

“I have many pleasurable ideas, but alas, duty calls.” His deep voice held a hint of an accent, almost Russian sounding with a trace of something she couldn’t place. “I need ca-ash. I have these to trade.” He turned slightly and pulled out a silvery pouch that matched his jump suit. Jewels scattered over the counter, glittering in the florescent light like sparklers.

Samantha’s heart skipped a beat. Huge blue diamonds, the size of her thumb pad and octagon cut, lay in abundance on the counter. Her mind immediately raced to the jewelry heist that had happened a few days ago in Atlanta. Blue diamonds had been part of the take.

There was only one way he could have this many blue diamonds.

He was a robber.

“Tor! What’s taking so long?” a voice called across the lobby, cutting through the angry murmurs of the customers.

Sam glanced up, saw a second man standing in the doorway clutching two six packs of Budweiser beer. He was blond and dressed similarly to the man standing before her. He looked around the bank, casing it. Sam’s nerves tightened as it occurred to her to wonder how dangerous the two might be.

“Soon. Come here,” the man named “Tor” said. Obviously an alias, for she’d never heard a more ridiculous sounding name in all her life.

Thinking fast, Sam put her hand up, halting him. “I’m sorry, Sir. You can’t bring that in here. I’ll have to ask you to leave,” she said, and watched in amazement as he obeyed her orders, backing out of the bank in a rush like a puppy chased off with a broom. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out how these two had pulled off a successful heist from one of the largest jewel carriers in the state to start with, but she wasn’t about to let them take her bank. Not while she was in charge.

“Tammy, do you know if Mr. Ira updated the books today?” Sam asked.

Tammy’s eyes widened at the code to hit the alarm. “I believe he did, Ms. Declan.”

“Good.” Now all Sam had to do was distract him long enough for the cops to arrive. She might even get a raise for catching the thieves. Wouldn’t that be nice? she thought to herself.

Sam glanced casually around the vault. She didn’t know where the security guard was at the moment, but he’d come running as soon as he saw the sensor for the alarm. “Now, sir, it will take me a little time to figure the cost of these, and we’re about to close. Can you stay while I check our books?”

He nodded, propped one elbow on the counter, and leaned against it.

Samantha took one of the jewels and held it up to the light, humming and hawing. He watched her closely, and her pulsed jumped under the scrutiny. She continued playing with her necklace and studying the jewels in the light.

All of a sudden the blond man burst through the front doors. “Tor!” he shouted, standing in the doorway and hopping from foot to foot.

Tor straightened and turned to him.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t hold it any longer! I pissed on the bushes outside and they’re coming to get me! They must have some sensors or something.”

Tor looked alarmed. “What? Shit! Let’s get out of here.” He scooped up most of the diamonds and stuffed them into his pouch.

She didn’t think--she just stepped in front of him and blocked his path. He gave her a frantic look and tried to step around her, but she moved with him mindlessly. Just then, the security guard came running from the back accounting offices, waving his gun around.

“Hold it right thar!”

Tor whirled around, his mouth hanging open. Customers scattered like buck shot.

Samantha gasped as the guard pointed at the man and squeezed off a shot.

Tor yelped and threw his arms up. Sam’s jaw dropped open as the bullet bounced off his chest and went careening into the ceiling through the chandelier. Glass pieces tinkled and hit the floor like hail. The guard fainted dead away and customers screamed and ran for the doors.

Sam froze in place, wide eyed. Then she remembered who and where she was as the man pushed past her.

“Stop! You can’t go!” He didn’t appear to have a weapon, unless you counted big, meaty fists as one. Samantha darted around him and pushed through the doors. The cops were tearing down the street toward them, cresting the rise of the overpass.

She jumped up and down, waving her arms at them. “Here! They’re here!”

It only took a moment for the world to flip upside down. Samantha’s stomach fell into her throat as her feet were dragged out from under her and she was whirled into the air. She landed hard six feet in the air--on top of a shoulder as wide as her waist.

A hand dug into her ass, spreading her cheeks in a firm grip, and then started bouncing her up and down.

Sam gasped as the man ran down the street. He’d kidnapped her! She kicked her feet and pummeled his back. The air bounced out of her lungs with each ground eating step he took, until it was all she could do to keep from losing consciousness.

She craned her head just enough to see the stupid cops rush into the bank and completely ignore the giant carrying her down the street.

They rounded the corner of the building and stopped, then she was miraculously dropped to her feet.

Sam sucked in a deep breath and screamed. He clamped his hand over her face and she bit his finger. Immediately, he released her, yelping in pain, and she screamed again.

He looked down at her in alarm, raised his right hand, and shot her a bird. “Peace, woman!”

She stared at the giant black and gold signet ring on his middle finger before fury took hold of her mind. She slapped his hand out of her face. “That’s not the fucking peace symbol! How dare you!”

He shot her another bird and waved it in her face so she could see it real good. “By the federation, I come in peace! Peace, woman! Ow, stop hitting me.”

Sam pushed past him, but he grabbed hold of her blouse, ripping it as his fist tightened. Sam dug her heels in, leaning forward, putting her body weight into walking away. She continued shouting for the cops. “Help! Here you stupid damn cops! Here! Fire! Fire!”

She dimly heard the zip of electricity, felt a shock on one ass cheek, and then she was falling face first toward the pavement and blackness.

* * * *

Tor caught up to Hauk easily, despite the weight of the woman across his shoulder.

Hauk looked at her ass in alarm, at the possessive hold of Tor’s hand on her sitting cheek. They ducked into a doorway as the blip of the flashing metal vehicles neared. “I’m glad to see there are women here, but why did you take her?”

“She wouldn’t shut up. I didn’t have a choice. Those men were coming to arrest us for you pissing on the bank.” Tor checked to make sure it was clear. It was, and they started jogging again.

Hauk kept in step with him. “Aren’t we in enough trouble already without bringing more along?”

Tor spared him a glance. “I thought that was the whole point of taking break. To get into trouble. I’m sure that’s why you suggested the shortcut that got us into this shit to start with.”

Hauk grinned, but it was wiped clean as they heard more whining blips. “Better move faster.”

“Agreed. We should split up to make it harder for them to catch us. I’ll meet you back at the ship.”

Hauk nodded and darted away. Tor secured the woman on his shoulder and chose a path through the dirty, narrow alleys. He moved through the maze-like passages until he couldn’t remember which way they’d come originally, but when the sky started getting dark, he finally found the original road they’d come across, and followed it out of town.

It was nearly full on dark by the time he got back to the ship, and in the dwindling light, he could see the hole had been patched almost as good as new.

“Kerel! You won’t believe it. I found a woman,” he said boastfully. Tor raced up the ramp and went to his cabin, locking the woman inside. “Kerel? Hauk?” There was no one on board. “Computer, where is Kerel and Hauk?”

“Hauk returned but left again with Kerel.”

“Dammit. Where’d they go?”

“They did not inform me of their destination, but they left forty two minutes, and thirty nine seconds ago.”

“Shit. This is just wonderful.” Tor rubbed the stubble on his face. There was nothing to do but wait for them to come back. He’d have to think of some alternate way to retrieve Galan and Bradan once Kerel and Hauk returned.

Until then, there was always the matter of the woman. Tor went back to his cabin and cautiously slid the door open a crack, peering around it. She lay in a sprawl on the middle of his bed, exactly as he’d left her.

The stun must have been set too high, or else these creatures were too delicate. That seemed more likely. The woman was puny. And the people dressed strangely here, as though they were ashamed of their own bodies.

Locking the door behind him, Tor walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He pushed gently at her leg, and it rolled back in place. She wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

She looked close enough to a Vulkahn, despite her diminutive size, and he admitted her smallness made her seem fragile, in need of protection. Just looking at her fired a desire to protect her and hold her close. A laugh it was, that thought. The woman was much stronger than he would have guessed and would take the hide from his bones if she knew his thoughts.

He looked at the rip on her top, exposing one creamy shoulder in a jagged line. He pushed his finger in the rent, touching her skin in one long stroke. She felt as smooth as a Vulkahn woman, perhaps even smoother. The fastenings that had held her top closed were all but gone--only two near the bottom remained.

He might as well divest her of the torn, flimsy garment. It did no good to her as it was. Slowly, quietly, he popped off the round fastenings with his fingernail and parted the top, exposing a taut belly and a small shallow hole not quite a hands width above her skirt.

He was intrigued by the hole, and rounded one forefinger around it, wondering how she’d gotten such a strange scar. Tor wondered what other differences her body held from their own. For purely scientific research, he thought he should find out.

Laying the top open, he bared her breasts. His cock jumped instantly to life to see the rounded globes harnessed and bound in sheer material. He brushed his thumbs across the dark circles of her nipples, gratified to watch them harden beneath his touch.

She moaned softly, stirring on the bed. He halted, stunned, watching her response. Experimentally, he touched her again. She arched slightly into his palms. He groaned and pinched the buds through the fabric, and she sighed breathlessly. Here she was akin to them. But what of the other? he wondered. Determined now to see this through, he released her breasts and took hold of the length of her skirt, drawing it up her parted legs.

Tiny bumps prickled her legs as he exposed her to the conditioned air of the cabin. His mouth grew dry at the perfect whiteness of her skin, the turn of her calves, the musculature of her thighs. He drew it up completely, until the skirt bunched around her waist and he saw her womanhood. A small scrap of sheer fabric covered her mound, and he could see she was devoid of hair, unlike their own woman.

Hot blood rushed from his head into his cock. The shadow of her cleft taunted him. Without thinking, he snapped off the tiny covering, baring her completely to his eyes. He drew a finger down her naked mound, up the other side, shuddering to control his response. To better his view, he knelt on the floor and spread her legs wide apart, smoothing his hands up her thighs.

Science took precedence, after all.

She stirred again from the cold, but he took no note, leaning inexorably forward. She smelled sweet, and his mouth watered with the thought of finding out if she tasted as good as he thought she would.

* * * *

Samantha was having the best wet dream of her life. She drowsed, trying to hold the sensations, keeping her eyes closed and her body relaxed.

Fingers massaged her thighs all over, moved to part her folds to the cool air. An inner heat warmed her, suffused her body with intoxicating arousal. She heard the soft groan of a man, felt the rumble of his breath against her pubic mound--hot and moist.

It seemed to light a fuse in her body. Her blood began to simmer, bringing her to the edges of consciousness. Her labia sensitized to the slightest touch, her skin tingled with awareness, demanding to be touched. A finger parted her moist folds, exploratory but knowing right where to touch. Her clit throbbed, pulsing with each teasing pass of his finger.

She felt engorged and sensitive straight down to her toes. Each brush of his finger down her slit had her pussy spasming near bliss. Her clit hardened painfully, throbbing between her legs to the rapid beat of her heart.

The sliding movement halted, changed. One thick finger dipped inside her, and her muscles clenched instinctively around it. It thrust into her deeply, curling into the ridges just inside her core. Sam whimpered on the hot, aching lust that reverberated through her body. Her juices surged as he plundered her, thrusting in and out with a master’s hand and delightful torment.

This time she’d climax, by god.

She kept her eyes closed, willing the dream to continue, willing the finger to move faster, to touch her more. Never had it been so vivid. Suddenly something hot and wet closed over her clit ravenously, and she knew immediately this was too intense to be merely a dream. It had been idiocy that had allowed her the pretense this far.

But she was too far gone to stop--too needy to do anything but beg him with her body to continue.

Sam moaned softly, her breath hitching in her throat as a rough tongue stabbed her clit then rubbed against her. An animalistic growl vibrated against her soaked mound as his tongue pushed against her, lathing her flesh with molten, wet kisses. She nearly came off the bed when he thrust a second finger inside her, thicker than any man she’d ever encountered in her limited experience. Her tender tissue parted under the onslaught, stretching to the brink. Her body screamed with jolting, mind numbing pleasure.

He seemed not to notice her reaction, her breathy panting, the spasming, jerking movement of her legs. Sam curled her toes and fingers, digging into the soft surface she lay on. He flicked his tongue faster, spurring a response deep in her core. His teeth lightly scraped the hard ridge at the base of her clit, then he pulled at the hardened nub with his lips, nibbling, suckling. His alternating nipping and sucking was driving her crazy.

She debated on stopping him, knowing in her heart this was the man who’d kidnapped her, threatened to rob the bank. It was wrong, immoral ... but it felt so damn good. And she was so close to cumming she wasn’t sure she had the strength of will to stop--deep inside, she knew it was too late already.

God knew it had been long enough since a man had touched her--she was damn near rusted shut.

Her slit made sloppy, wet noises as he pumped his fingers into her faster. If anything the muffled smacking sound heightened her arousal, increased the cream of her womb. She couldn’t remember ever being so wet.

Her body sucked his fingers in deeper, gasping its own primitive response. She was so close. She squirmed on the bed, reaching for the ecstasy, keeping her eyes squeezed shut. It hovered on the edge, elusive as a sneeze. He suckled her clit harder, moving in and out of her, and suddenly she found it. Heat lightning flashed through her body, ripping through her nerves, sizzling her blood with the impact. She groaned as the orgasm claimed her body, spasming with the ecstasy as though dying. Sam curled into it, welcoming the bliss, gasping. She cried out as he abruptly released her and pulled his fingers from her depths.

She quivered, weak. In a split second, a heavy body closed over her, and hair tickled her face. Her eyes flew open.

It was him.

He looked down at her, his eyes heavy lidded with lust, offering no apologies for what he’d done. And damn it, Sam felt an answering desire inside.

Thick, oaken thighs kept her legs spread wide apart. She was vulnerable to him, open and completely at his mercy. She was too sated to do anything at the moment except lay there. Her body felt as substantial as jell-o.

He raised up on his elbows, arching his head back, groaning as he pushed forward.

Some enormous, hard object jabbed her pubic mound. The bat stabbing her groin brought her immediately out of her lethargy. She yelped and slapped his face before she had time to think better of it.

He blinked as though waking from a fog, looking down at her with a frown. “Ow. Why’d you do that?” he scowled.

“Get off me you bastard!” She hit him again, not even denting his hide.

With surprising speed, he jumped off her and was halfway across the room before she could take a breath. Samantha gasped as she saw his turgid cock standing straight out from his body. In fact, it was the only thing she saw. Her mind was incapable of looking elsewhere. It looked like a spare leg ... in case one of the others got broken.

“Jesus! You wanted to put that inside me?”

He looked down at it then back up at her, disappointment clearly etched on his face. His eyebrows lifted in the middle, worried looking, reminding her of a pleading pup. “I hate to put this away without receiving my own pleasure.”

Sam snorted. Just like a damn man. They hated wasting an erection. “Dream on. There ain’t no way I’d let you stick that in me, even if you wasn’t a bank robber and a kidnapper.”

“I gave you pleasure, you owe some compensation.”

Samantha crossed her arms over her chest and realized he’d finished off her blouse. She gasped in outrage and closed the opening, glaring at him. “You took unfair advantage of me in an unconscious state. I don’t owe you anything.”

“Fine.”

“Fine? Are you going to let me go or what?”

He glared back at her. “That is precisely what I am going to do.” With great care, as if he was in pain, he tucked his cock back into an opening in his pants and slid open a metal door she hadn’t noticed before. In fact, now that she was able to look somewhere else besides his groin, she noticed this was the strangest decor she’d ever seen.

But she didn’t want to dwell on it--she just wanted to go home, press charges, and watch him rot in jail. She absolutely refused to think about the explosive orgasm he’d given her. It was the least he could do, after all.

Sam rose on wobbly legs and followed him out. The hallways were constructed of brushed metal with runways of recessed lighting above. It almost reminded her of a naval ship, except the ceiling was way too high for that--nearly the height of the standard home. And it looked much more expensive than what the navy would shell out for a ship--comparatively at any rate.

Sam shrugged it off. The man, Tor, stood at the end of a hallway, giving her a look that singed ... in a bad way. She didn’t care as long as he let her go. Sam straightened her shoulders with as much dignity as she could muster. When she reached him, she discovered she was in some kind of ship, or maybe it was one of those houses on stilts, like at the beach. Looking outside, she saw they were a good eight feet off the ground.

The doorway he stood off from, gesturing her to, had a metal ramp folded out onto the ground.

Samantha gave him a wary look, but he didn’t seem inclined to stop her, so she dashed through the door without looking back.

She got down the ramp just in time to see a horde of giants headed straight for her.

Chapter Three

Tor could not get rid of the woman. And no matter how luscious she appeared, he knew that lovely exterior hid a beast of the foulest disposition.

He’d no sooner set her off outside than she came back.

With a strangled cry that raised the hairs along his neck and made him grit his teeth, the woman whirled around, ran up the ramp, and collided with him, knocking the breath from his lungs.

“Oomph,” he grunted, hitting the wall behind him. “What are you doing ba--” he sputtered as she clawed into his chest, looking frantically behind her. He moved her aside with a grimace and peered out the entrance.

The men had returned like a stampeding army. By the looks of it, they had trouble right on their asses.

“Go, go, go!” Kerel shouted, running up the ramp, his arms full of weapons.

“Start the ship!” Galan yelled, looking back behind him.

Tor didn’t hesitate a moment longer. Heart pounding, he ran up to the cockpit, jumped into the captain’s seat, and started the engine, flipping switches. Lights sprang up across the board as the dash came to life. Within seconds it purred with readiness.

“We’re in,” someone called from the back, and the ramp hissed with releasing pressure as it closed.

“Systems check?” Tor asked computer.

“Oxygen levels at 100 percent. Fuel at 45 percent. Life support system is operational, however, brew has not been detected on board,” computer answered.

“Yeah yeah. Smartass,” he grumbled, cocking his head to what sounded like a duo of women’s voices shrieking in the background. He shuddered with distaste and continued with the task at hand, moving every thought from his mind but that of escape.

Tor pushed the button for stealth mode, churned up the power, and pulled the steering controls into his lap, hitting the ground release with his thumbs. The ship’s anchored landing gear released and locked back into place as it rose from the ground.

He hooked his thumbs in the spokes of the steering wheel and pulled back on it, lifting off smoothly.

The view beyond the front viewing portal whirled as they raced up into the dark sky, clouds rushing past. Within moments they were surrounded by the blackness of space. He set computer to monitoring steerage and retracing their path, unbuckled, and got up from his seat.

Tor strode from the cockpit to the main sitting area. Kerel, Bradan, and Galan were there, and they unbuckled when they saw him come in.

“Where’s Hauk?” Tor asked, looking around. In the back of the ship, he heard a woman shriek again. He clamped his hands over his ears to block the mind numbing sound. It did no good--he could still hear her. “Dammit. I should have dropped her off somewhere.”

“Who? The woman on the ramp? She’s fine. Locked herself back in your cabin when she saw us come in,” Bradan said. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, then thought better of it.

Galan added with a smile, “That’s not her screaming.”

Tor blinked at Galan. He’d been right about hearing two women then. “Where’s Hauk?” he asked suspiciously.

“In his cabin,” Kerel answered, smirking obnoxiously.

Yes, Kerel would be pleased Hauk was catching hell. They couldn’t live without taking digs at one another. Hard to believe they were cousins. Tor stared at him a long moment, turned on his heel, and went to Hauk’s cabin.

A distinctly feminine voice rang from behind the closed door, vibrating the metal. “Freeze you bastard. Don’t even think about using that on me! I’ll break your god damned arm if you come near me again.”

The sound of objects striking the wall and breaking filtered through the door. He heard Hauk shout, then a thud, and more objects hit the wall with the dull roar of a barrage.

“I said stay back!” She shrieked and then everything went abruptly silent.

The door slid open, and Hauk leaned against the jam, haggard and drawn looking. His normally impeccable hair was knotted, and a quick glance over revealed scratch marks up and down his arms and a growing welt on his forehead. The inside of his room looked like an anti-gravity storm had ripped through it. His music collection was everywhere, as though Hauk had run around trying to avoid being hit. His suits were also tangled along the floor.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Tor asked behind a grin.

“Don’t ask,” he said tiredly and pushed past Tor, heading for the other end of the ship.

Tor followed Hauk back to the lounging area. “Take a souvenir?”

Hauk snorted and sat down, rubbing his arms and head. He unclasped his translator and dropped it on the couch. “I don’t want to understand another damn word that woman says.”

“Good idea.” Tor followed and removed his. “So what happened that we had to leave in such a hurry?”

Kerel dropped his translator and spoke up, “Me and Hauk went down to break Galan and Bradan out. We blew up the back half of the jail.”

“Jesus!” Tor said, using the woman’s expletive. He rather liked the sound of it.

Kerel gave him a look.

“That was by far, the foulest spot in all the universe,” Galan said with a shudder. “There was no privacy, and the cells smelled of fonktol droppings--ten times over.”

“They strip searched us--inside and out--as though we were common criminals,” Bradan added.

“Barbaric. One would think since they have sensors on the walls to check for pissing, they would also have scanners.” Tor shook his head. “But it looks like your plan worked, Kerel.”

Kerel grinned. “They didn’t know what hit them. We went in like cowboys. You should have seen their faces when I asked them to make my day.”

“It was almost perfect,” Hauk said. He jerked his head toward his cabin. “On the way out, that ... woman caught me at the jail and wouldn’t let go. The protective field wouldn’t shield me from her. I tried again and again to escape, but it was no use.”

“Why didn’t you stun her there?” Tor asked.

“I forgot and left the stunner here,” Hauk grumbled.

Everyone laughed at Hauk until tears came out of their eyes. “I’ve never known you to fight a woman’s embrace. You ... couldn’t escape from a woman?” Tor asked, snorting with laughter.

“You didn’t manage so well yourself, Tor.”

Tor straightened, rubbing the tears from his eyes. “Don’t remind me. But then, I don’t bear the woman’s mark on my flesh. I think she’s sweet on me.”

“Yeah, rub it in. I’ll believe that only when I see it. When did you get to be such a lady’s man?”

Tor grinned at Hauk’s scowl. “It just comes naturally.”

“What are we going to do with them? I won’t even be able to get any sleep with her here,” Hauk said, frowning.

Tor fingered his jaw, then stretched. “I don’t know. I don’t really want to go back there and drop them off.”

Galan shuddered. “Me neither.” Bradan echoed his sentiments.

“I suppose tossing them out the garbage hatch is out of the question,” Hauk said miserably.

“What’s the matter, Hauk? I thought you liked pussy,” Kerel said with a chuckle.

Hauk gave him a disbelieving look. “Did you not see that woman? Look at me.” He held up his arms as proof. There were still red, angry welts on them. “I think her pussy would bite the end of my love stick off.” He clutched his cock protectively. “She’s not getting any where near it.”

“Come on, Hauk. What if she begs?” Galan asked.

“Not even then.” Hauk shuddered.

“You said you wanted a woman,” Galan said, snickering.

Hauk glared at him. “That was your brother. And Kerel.” He looked at Tor. “I think we should drop them off ... before they cut our cocks off in our sleep.”

“Good point. Someone should hide the blades and lasers on board. Though I could afford to lose an inch or two.”

Hauk sputtered. “You wish. As if you’d let one of those women trim you.”

“Heh heh heh. Think your female has a blade hidden? Could be you won’t be so long if you touch her.”
“I already said I wouldn’t go near her.” Hauk propped his feet up, crossed his arms over his chest, and frowned, pouting.

Kerel snorted. Bradan rolled his eyes. Galan just closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. Everyone knew Hauk better than that. There wasn’t a woman alive who could resist him--nor could he resist women. The man had been chased by women almost from the moment he was hatched.

Tor grunted and shrugged, hiding a grin. “I’m thinking this break has just gotten a lot more interesting. We’re keeping them.”

Hauk sat up straight, his feet thudding as he dropped his legs from the table. “No. No way. They’re not pets, Tor.”

“Yep. And I know all that, Hauk. But the fuel is low and I don’t want my father to send out the royal guard looking for us.” Tor leaned back, looking smug. Maybe this was what they all needed. As royalty, his friends had been spoiled all their lives. These barbarian women looked to be just the thing to stir them up. “They get to come along for the ride. I just hope we survive the trip back to Vulkahn,” he added.

“I’m not so sure I will,” Hauk muttered.

* * * *

Samantha never would have figured herself for a coward, but that was exactly how she was behaving. She had been unnerved when she felt the room move, especially when it felt like they were moving at unbelievable speed. Her ears had popped repeatedly, and only through moving her jaw for the last quarter hour had she finally managed to get it to stop.

She got up from the bed, determined not to cower. She didn’t know what was going on, but she intended to find out.

Sam tiptoed to the door and pressed her ear against it. She could just detect men’s voices, but she couldn’t tell what they were saying. Gritting her teeth against the noise, she slowly slid the metal door open and peered cautiously out. There was no one in the hall.

Thankful no one was ready to pounce her, she went back and grabbed her weapon. It was the only hard object she’d found not bolted to the floor or wall--a long hollow tube with buttons running down two opposite sides and one open end. It was lined with a spongy material. She had no idea what it was, but it was better than nothing.

She stepped out of the room and walked down the hall, holding the tube like a bat. The voices grew louder as she progressed--very definitely men’s voices, but she couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Her head pounded listening to the rapid speech. She felt like a kid trying to understand Speedy Gonzalez.

She sneaked to the edge of the hall, poking one eye around the corner.

The giants noticed her immediately. Her kidnapper snapped his head up and gave her a fierce glare that made her heart freeze. He stood up and rushed her.

Sam backed away from the corner, centering herself, and swung the tube in a wide arc to keep him at bay. “I want out of this thing right now!” she demanded.

The other men took one look at her and started laughing. Samantha bristled and bared her teeth at them.

Tor could not believe the woman’s gall. She had been through his things and taken his ... his....

Hauk caught his breath, tears streaming out the corners of his eyes. “What is that she holds in her hands, Tor?”

“Shut up,” he growled, reddening with embarrassment. “You know it gets lonely in space. I happen to know you have more than that in your own room. You too, Kerel.” If anything, it only made them laugh all the more. Paybacks were a bitch.

She swung it at him when he neared her, and he halted out of killing distance, trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation. He didn’t want to give her a chance to break his toy, nor did he want to be black and blue from her beating. And he’d already catch enough shit from the guys without suffering a beating.

Sam growled in warning, but he didn’t advance further. “I said let me out of here, asshole.”

He gave her a confused look, as if he didn’t understand her. It had to be a game--he’d understood her perfectly in the bank. He murmured that garbled language, raised his left hand in a calming “back down” patting gesture, held up his right and shot her a bird.

Sam could not believe his gall. “Don’t you start that shit again!” She raised the tube in warning, getting ready to bat his head off.

He frowned and dropped his hands, looking back at the others, speaking to them. A blond shrugged, grinning and wiping his eyes. He felt around on the couch, picked up a torque, and tossed it to Tor.

He caught it easily and turned back to her. He gave her a measuring stare, then slowly offered it to her.

Sam shook her head. “If you think that’s gonna pacify me, you’re wrong.”

He was insistent though and continued to offer it to her. Suspicious, she finally relented and accepted it. She wrapped her fingers around it and snatched it away. It was heavier than she had expected. Silver but heavy as gold. A huge violet gem studded the center, about the size of her short thumbnail.

He looked at her expectantly. Sam rolled her eyes. They had to be some of the strangest kidnappers she’d ever heard of. More and more she suspected someone was getting a laugh at her expense.

She tried to put the heavy torque on herself, but she couldn’t manage it with the tube in her hand. He held up his hands in a beseeching manner, offering to help.

What the hell? she thought. He could have hurt her at any time. She couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t speak English to her, but if this was how he wanted to play.... Sam let him get close enough to snap the necklace around her neck. She kept the tube ready, just in case, but he didn’t try anything else.

He murmured and reached down, pressing the gem before she could back away from him.

A sharp whine tore through her ear drums. Sam gasped and clutched her ears to block the sound. No sooner had she done so then the deafening vibration stopped.

A warm hand closed on her shoulder. “Do you understand me now? It is only because it is your first time that the translator does this.”

Sam shook her head. At first, his voice sounded like it was coming through water, but with each second the thick, muffled feeling subsided. She looked down at the necklace and back at him. “Is this a game?”

He frowned. “No. When we arrive, I will get you a female translator. It will not be so heavy. And since you are to be with us a while, I should know your name.”

“Samantha Declan--wait. What do you mean by a while? I want out of here right now. I’m not staying here. I’m not. Nope. No way.”

He gripped his right temple like his head was going to explode. “That’s not possible. You can’t go home. We’re going to Vulkahn.”

Sam burst out into laughter. She looked around for a hidden camera or some coworker to jump out from behind the furniture. “You’re kidding, right? Will Spock be there?” She made sure her shirt was still twisted closed and tucked into her skirt. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

He rubbed his jaw, looking at her like she was crazy. “Who is this Spock?”

She straightened up, looking at the other men. They looked equally confused. Hell, if she hadn’t known better, she’d swear they were going to a sci-fi convention. Didn’t they all know about that stuff? “You said Vulcan. Where’s your pointy ears?” She reached for his hair, but he pulled back, giving her a dark look.

“We are not deformed.”

“Soooorrrrrry. Look, this has been wild, but I’m really ready to go home. You got me with the gag. I give.”

He touched her shoulder, and her skin warmed under his hand. “You should see something.” He propelled her toward one wall. “Computer, open shield doors.”

What she thought had been a wall behind the men, slid back halfway up, rolling into the ceiling. It revealed windows. Blackness loomed beyond the glass, and in the darkness a huge red planet glowed lonely in the night.

Sam’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not real. That’s a TV screen.” But she knew it was. The ship had been moving. It wasn’t simulated. This was real.

“We’re aliens,” he said.

Chapter Four

Samantha’s knees gave out from under her. Tor scooped her up and sat her in an empty space on one couch. “Why can’t you take me home?” she asked, stunned, staring out the window.

“We don’t have enough fuel to go back and still make it home,” another, pale blond said across from her.

“I’m sorry,” Tor said. “We can bring you back after we refuel and check in with my father. It should only be a matter of weeks. Perhaps a month by your planet’s time.”

“Weeks? A month? My boss will fire me for being gone so long!” she shrieked.

“Peace, Samantha. I will cut this boss into a thousand pieces for causing you harm,” Tor promised, clenching and unclenching his hands.

“No!” She dropped her face to her hands. She was just going to have to figure out some way to get back sooner. Or maybe contact him. Hell, when had her life gotten so pathetic that all she cared about was her job? She had her family and friends. They’d go crazy with worry if she was gone that long. They might even think she was dead. How many people knew she’d been abducted from the bank? The cops sure as hell hadn’t noticed.

Sam looked up at Tor, who was watching her quietly. He loomed over her, at least six and a half feet tall. He looked like some barbarian warrior with all the thick, black hair falling around his shoulders and the huge muscles stretching his jumpsuit to the limit. The other men were just as big and just as handsome--two of them blond and two of them with dark brown, almost black hair. They all shared the same color eyes: a green so deep and vibrant, it almost glowed--instantly recognizable, even at the short distance. In fact, looking at them made her think of one big, hunky family. Gorgeous men always traveled in packs. And they usually ignored her.

Despite the way two of them had acted in the bank, she thought it was only drunkenness that made them seem easy going. Just looking at them--without listening--they appeared every inch fighters. They studied her warily now that their mirth had subsided.

Tor pointed at each of the men. “This is Kerel,” he said, gesturing to the one with pale blond hair. He inclined his head, smiling crookedly at her.

“A pleasure to meet you, Samantha Declan.”

Sam nodded, making sure her boobs weren’t hanging out of her blouse.

“And Galan and Bradan. They are brothers, hatched at the same moment,” he said, pointing at the dark haired men. They rose and took a bow together.

Tor pointed at the last man, the one with dark blond hair. “And this one with the mortal wounds is Hauk.”

Hauk scowled at Tor, but turned a half smile to her.

“I am Tor Severian.” His green eyes glowed with amusement as he bent and took her hand, kissing her knuckles--no easy feat with his height.

She pulled her hand away from him, resisting the urge to rub the kisses off her fingers. It wouldn’t erase the tingle traveling up her arm anyway. Sam still didn’t trust them, no matter how purty they were. Least of all Tor. The way he watched her made her go hot all over and feel like she was completely naked--and that was not a good thing, because she had every intention of going home. Alien or not, she wasn’t going to get attached.

He’d tried some funny stuff in his room--okay, he’d succeeded at it ... quite well in point of fact. A heated flush suffused her body at the memory. Sam didn’t like remembering that. What reason would he have for orally arousing her? Most men would have just screwed her to begin with and forgotten the niceties, especially since she’d been knocked out. She knew he hadn’t done anything before she woke up, because she could still walk and sit down. But she’d interrupted him poking that bread loaf in her. That thought put her on another level of thinking, one she didn’t like in the slightest.

“Okay, why did you really kidnap me? It’s not for breeding, is it? I’ve read a lot of books about this, and this whole damn situation sounds too much like that to suit me. And I heard that other woman you brought on board, too.” They’d already started assembling a harem. Maybe there were more women on the ship that she didn’t even know about.

Tor looked appalled. Barbaric practices such as that had been outlawed in his grandfather’s time. “Our women have not physically bred in a millennia. I’m not even sure we can anymore.”

All the more reason to get women who could breed ... or maybe not. She couldn’t imagine a human like society able, and willing, to get rid of some of the burden for women. Must be nice. Sam slanted him a disbelieving look, but let the matter drop. “Then if it makes no difference to you, I’d like to see the other woman.”

The man called Hauk stood. “I think that a wise decision. Here, give her this translator. Much as I hate the thought of her communicating with us, it will be easier to--never mind. I suggest putting it on her while she still sleeps.” Hauk handed her another translator necklace and led the way to another room.

He quickly slid back the door and pulled his head back as if expecting to be shot. When nothing happened, he looked inside and then prodded her towards it. Sam went in and heard the door click into place behind her. In the eye of the destruction, there was a bed, and a woman lay atop it on her belly, spread eagle and dressed in a gray and blue uniform. An empty holster hugged her hips.

The woman they’d taken was a cop!

Of course, Sam couldn’t stand most cops under the best of circumstances, but she and the woman were in the same boat. She almost giggled thinking about that, and knew she was a real shitass for thinking it funny that a cop got kidnapped for alien breeding.

Sam picked her way to the bed and sat down, pushing back the woman’s thick, red hair. She didn’t look like a cop. In fact, she looked like one of those actresses from TV that played a cop--too pretty to be tough. But by the looks of the room and Hauk, she had a temper on her.

Sam shook her shoulder, trying to rouse her. The woman moaned and snuggled deeper into the bed. Sam wondered if she’d looked this bad when Tor had stunned her. She’d get him back for that, she promised herself.

“Hello? Officer? Get up, it’s a fellow Earthling calling you.” Sam continued shaking and poking the woman until she woke up.

The cop rolled over suddenly, giving her an evil glare that singed Sam’s eyebrows. “What do you want? Are you with them?” she demanded.

Sam held her hands up in defense, smiling despite herself. “Hey, I’ve been kidnapped too. Don’t kill me. What’s your name? I’m Samantha Declan.”

The woman’s fierce expression relaxed, and she sighed and offered her hand. “Colette Marshall. Everyone just calls me Cole, though.”

Sam shook her hand. “Sam.”

“How’d they get you?”

“At the bank. I’m assistant manager of the Northeast Georgia Bank and Trust. One of them took me while I was calling for help.”

Cole nodded. “I heard about that. It never occurred to me they were the same guys who robbed the place. They got me at the jail. Some cop I am.” Cole looked around the room as though for the first time. “Have you seen any way to get out of here?”

Sam chewed her lip, debating on whether to tell her about their situation or not, but she deserved to know. “We’re in a space ship. Hey, don’t look at me like I’m a nut. We’ve been kidnapped by aliens.” Of course, that just made her sound insane, and Cole would be equally crazy for believing her. Sam explained everything, at least as much as she understood.

Cole burst into laughter once she’d finished, and Sam joined in. “This is crazy,” she said breathlessly, clutching her stomach. “Oh, I needed a good laugh. So this is all for real? It does look a little like a ship. Are you sure they just aren’t trekkies on a rampage?”

Sam nodded. “I’m afraid not. They opened the shields on the windows and I saw Mars. I mean, how can we travel this fast if they weren’t aliens?”

“Good point, though I’ll have to take your word for it. All I’ve seen were the backs of my eyelids and four goons. But mainly one jerk that was determined to grab me.” Cole got up and explored the room. Sam sat, watching her as she tried the door and looked through the cabinets.

Cole came back and laid down on the bed, punching what looked like a long, thick pillow roll. “They didn’t leave anything useful in here, I see. No tools or weapons. Nothing but junk and no way to get out. I’m wracking my brain but nothing is coming to me. I guess we couldn’t do anything anyway, since we’re in space.”

“Same thing in Tor’s room. Unless we convince them, I don’t think we’ll be headed back any time soon. At least, that’s what Tor said.”

Cole looked up from the bed and gave her a measuring glance. “On a first name basis with our kidnappers? Did he rape you? Your blouse is torn.”

Sam colored and shrugged. No, he certainly hadn’t raped her. “No, no one raped me. Anyway, I think Tor is the leader. They seem to ... defer to him, almost. They don’t act like monsters, even though they’re big as Lurch. You know, I think they might be lonely enough for women we could lull them into a false sense of security with just a little effort. I mean, men always think women are helpless and stupid. They’re big enough they’d never suspect us capable of doing anything.”

Cole brightened and sat up. “You’re so right. The men on the force act like we’re still living in the fifties. Think you could seduce this Tor?”

“Maybe,” she hedged. Cole had no idea. She could probably get Tor eating out of her p--Sam blushed again, and Cole gave her a knowing look. For a cop, she seemed pretty cool.

“That’s a plan then. If we can get run of the ship, I’m sure something will come to one of us.”

“Which reminds me, you’ll need this.” Sam handed her the torque. “It’s some kind of translator necklace. Hurts your head at first, but it works. Always good to be in the know as far as your enemy is concerned.”

“Point taken.”

Sam looked around the room. “You probably shouldn’t throw any more temper tantrums either. The guy that let me in here, Hauk, he may not let you leave the room if it happens again.”

Cole crossed her arms over her chest, grinning. “I can behave myself when I have to. As long as he doesn’t point a weapon at me, he’ll be all right.”

Sam just hoped he didn’t point a blunt weapon at her, aimed below the belt.

The door slid open then, and they looked at it, startled. Tor stood in the opening, giving her a wary stare. Had he heard their plans?

“Time to go?” Sam asked, faking a smile.

He nodded, looking grim and holding his hand out for her.

“I’ll be brainstorming. Don’t worry, Cole,” she whispered, trying to be upbeat, and launched herself off the bed.

Tor waited. She just hoped he wasn’t waiting to hand out punishment, because she really wasn’t liking the look he had on his face.

Instead of whipping her with one of those massive hands that could probably wallop one whole butt cheek, he simply took her hand and led her back to his cabin. Her senses betrayed her by warming her body as they passed through the hallway. He made her feel incredibly delicate and feminine, which was strange because tall men normally frightened her. And even though she’d been kidnapped, he just didn’t seem the type to go on a marauding rampage.

“You’ll sleep in here, with me. Unless you prefer one of the others....” He let the words trail off in a subtle hint, his gaze lingering on the expanse of cleavage exposed by her blouse.

Sam’s mouth went dry, and she moistened her lips. She was going crazy. She wasn’t supposed to find him attractive. Firmly, she pushed the taunting awareness out of her mind and locked it away. “Okay, just so long as you don’t try anything,” she said, poking him in the chest to lighten her mood.

“Just sleeping,” he said with a little growl. His mouth turned up in a sensuously mischievous grin, dimpling his right cheek, and Sam felt her stomach flip flop.

The man was pure temptation--no doubt about it. It was hard to believe it, but she thought he might actually be attracted to her. That in itself was incredibly potent, and her libido felt like it was in overdrive. All because he couldn’t keep his tongue in his mouth.

Reluctantly, he turned away and withdrew a shirt from a drawer. “This is for you,” he said, offering it to her. “You can’t go about in that. Someone has to be able to think on board.”

Sam took it, and he left her so she could put it on in private. She stripped down, leaving on only her bra. He’d obviously done away with her panties, because she hadn’t yet been able to find them. The shirt he’d given her looked like the same metallic material, but when she slipped it on, it changed color, darkening to a cool blue. Around her breasts, it was brighter, almost violet. She marveled at it, studying the fibers. It seemed to react to her body temperature or something, almost like a mood ring.

The neckline cut deep on her, down to the tops of her breasts, and the hem fell to mid-thigh. It had a faint scent to it that stirred her senses, and she held the fabric up to her nose and breathed it deeply.

A tap on the door brought her back to reality, and she straightened up when he came in. He gave her an appreciative once over, then moved to a cabinet, pushed a button that opened its doors, and began stripping off his jumpsuit.

Sam watched in fascination as he shrugged his shoulders out of the suit. The play of muscles as he bent and pushed it down his hips enthralled her. In seconds, she had ample view of his backside: a tight, rounded ass; muscled thighs and calves, sprinkled with black hair. She traveled back up, but the full beauty of his back was hidden by his long, inky black hair. It waved against his shoulder blades.

Sam was so dumb struck, it didn’t occur to her why he was getting naked in front of her, until it was too late to do anything but stare when he turned around. He gave her a knowing look, his eyes crinkled with mirth, as if he’d known she’d been watching him the entire time.

Sam looked down, embarrassed, and caught sight of his cock. It was semi-erect and still impressive and ... overwhelming. Normally, the sight of a man didn’t arouse her, but Tor was enough to overload any sensible girl’s system.

She looked away and noticed the fabric covering her breasts had brightened to a fiery red. Sam hurriedly crossed her arms over her chest to hide the evidence of her arousal. As she suspected, the garment reflected her mood. He had probably done that on purpose, the asshole. The shirt seriously undermined her aloofness. “Uh ... you did say sleeping ... right?” she asked uncomfortably.

“I did,” he said huskily. “I keep my word, always. Unless you prefer I change it...?”

She shook her head. That was good to know. Now if only she could finagle a promise out of him.... Sam continued looking at the floor, but when a soft rustle of cloth spread through the room, she looked up to see him sliding back a blanket and crawling into bed.

Her brain began working again once he was decently covered. He propped on one elbow in the bed, pulling the cover away on the opposite side in invitation. She could still see most of his sculpted, hairless chest, and that inviting smile did things to her insides that she would never say aloud. Sam swallowed, walking to the bed with dragging feet.

“Just sleeping,” she reiterated softly, more for herself than anything else. He gave his word as an honorable kidnapping alien, so that should have been some comfort, but she didn’t think she’d fair too well with a hunk of man in the bed with her. And she wasn’t about to sleep on the floor.

Sam sat back on the bed and tucked her feet into the covers, facing away from him. He scooted close, draping the cover over her and his arm around her middle.

“Lights off,” he commanded, and the room went black.

Sam tensed as he molded his body to her backside, and all she could think about was that he was naked and pressed against her. Something hard rose to the special occasion, wedged between their bodies.

Sam closed her eyes and sighed, shivering at the heat of him warming her through the shirt. It was going to be really hard to sleep with that club poking her in the back all night.

Chapter Five

Tor woke up feeling like hell after the sleep shift. His balls felt as hard as steel bearings, and his cock felt like it had been squeezed in a vice. He deserved it for plastering himself against her, but she’d felt so good ... up until the point that he realized sleeping with a hard cock wasn’t really sleeping at all. Try as he might, he couldn’t make Little Tor, the Conqueror, settle down for the night, so he’d gritted his teeth and suffered. Every time she’d wiggled her bottom, pain had shot through his groin. It had seemingly taken forever for unconsciousness to take hold of him.

By her even, shallow breathing, he could tell she was still asleep. He wanted more than anything to slide between her thighs and slake his thirst for her, but he knew his lust would soon pass. No woman could hold his attention long, nor did he want any to. He would be rid of Samantha soon enough. In the meantime, he could enjoy Hauk’s torment by the troublesome female--so richly deserved.

He held his breath as he slid from beneath the covers, careful not to awaken her. When he was free, he dressed in the dark and left her to go to the galley. Hauk was there when he came in, fixing himself some breakfast in the micronichydrogenator.

“Rough night too?” Tor asked.

Hauk rubbed his face tiredly. “You have no idea,” he said, his voice muffled through his hands. He looked up when the micronic beeped and pulled his plate out. “I feel like I’ve been beat all over with a rod. Can you believe that woman had the nerve to take my bed and demand I sleep on the floor? I had to clean up just to find a place to rest my head.”

Tor chuckled, thinking he hadn’t had it so bad after all. Unfortunately for Hauk, Tor wasn’t about to share his night just to make Hauk feel better. “I’m sure you’ll be in her--I mean your bed soon enough.”

Hauk grunted and sat down at the table. “Not bloody likely,” he muttered, quoting one of their favorite transmissions. “I can’t wait to be rid of them.”

Kerel popped into the galley, looking well rested and completely obnoxious. Tor and Hauk leveled killer stares at him. He shrugged them off, sitting down at the table in front of Hauk. “Sleep well?” he asked, grinning.

Hauk punched him in the shoulder as answer.

“Ow,” he grunted, laughing and rubbing his arm. “Don’t take out your sexual frustrations on me. I take it you didn’t get into the barbarous woman?”

“Someone should have taught you long ago not to fuck around early in the morning.”

Kerel leaned back with a satisfied smile, propping his hands behind his head. “Hey, that’s the best time for fucking.”

“Go away before I kill you.”

“Fine.” Kerel turned to Tor.

Tor glared at him, putting a plate into the micronic. “Don’t even think about it. I have enough to worry about without you ragging on me.”

Kerel grinned and didn’t say anything.

* * * *

Samantha stretched and snuggled under the covers. She’d had the strangest dreams.... Slowly, she sat up and opened her eyes and realized it was still dark out, but that wasn’t unusual as close to the fall equinox as it was.

What was unusual was the fact that she’d completely forgotten what had happened the day before. Sam dropped back onto the pillow roll. Shit. She was still stuck here on board an alien craft and god only knew how far away from Earth by now.

With that thought, she swung out of bed and fumbled around the room, looking for a light switch. It took her several minutes and two stubbed toes before she remembered the room was computer controlled. “Lights on,” she said, and blinked against the instant glare of light in her face.

It took more effort to figure out how to use the bathroom, let alone find it. It was only her frustrated muttering that caused the computer to open a panel and reveal it to her. Inside the small room she found a seat that looked semi toilet like, but instead of flushing, it incinerated waste with a laser and sucked the dust into the pipeline. She supposed it was much more sanitary, but it was bizarre. After that unnerving experience, she discovered the shower on board worked much the same way. At least, that’s what she thought it was. Hitting a button caused a rain of light to pour down from the ceiling, but after watching what happened to the toilet, Sam didn’t brave the “shower.”

In fact, there was no water at all in the bathroom. The “toilet paper” was like moist towelettes, and she used that to clean herself up as best as she could. She just hoped the bathroom facilities weren’t like this everywhere and that it was only like that here because they were on a spaceship with a limited water supply.

If this was how technology would advance, she didn’t want any part of it.

Sam stumbled back to where she’d dropped her skirt, and pulled it up her legs, tucking in the mammoth shirt he’d given her. She still felt naked without any panties, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Unless these aliens were stranger than she supposed, she didn’t think they’d be carrying women’s undergarments on board.

Dressed as well as she could be, Sam slid open the door and trekked down the hall, following the scent of food. Her stomach grumbled, gnawing at her backbone. It didn’t take long to find the kitchen in her present state of starvation.

Kerel and Tor gave her a friendly smile when she came in. Hauk kept his eyes on his plate and his shoulders hunched forward like she’d bite him if he looked at her.

Sam hid a grin. Cole must have worked him over good.

“Are you hungry?” Tor asked.

“Starved,” she said, sitting next to him. She saw no reason not to assuage her hunger and be friendly, though she thought Cole would probably disagree with her about consorting with the enemy.

Tor got up and pulled a deep dish from a cupboard and stuck it into a clear cabinet with a button pad on one side. After a minute, it beeped and he pulled out a steaming plate of food and sat it in front of her.

Sam looked down at it. Nothing was recognizable, but it smelled tasty enough. “Thank you.”

He nodded. “I can’t stay. I have to check with computer on our progress.”

“Can I come with you?” she asked. It would be a good opportunity to see the workings of the ship--maybe her only chance.

“Only after you finish your food. I’ll be in the cockpit. Just follow the hallway when you’re done. You can’t miss it.” He left her with Hauk and Kerel.

“Where are the other two?” she asked Kerel, inhaling her food. It tasted vaguely like oatmeal with chunks of fruit in it.

“Galan and Bradan always sleep well into the wake shift,” he said. “Hauk usually stays abed too, but his company wasn’t amenable to bed sports.”

She chuckled at that, just picturing what Cole had done. She might not see Cole again if Hauk had anything to do with it. She’d have to try to talk some sense into her again the next chance she had to see her.

Sam finished up her meal and drank it down with a watery, citrusy juice, then hurried down the hallway to the cockpit. The room was large, and benches lined each wall with body lock downs open above, reminding her of the safety precautions on a roller coaster. Tor was sitting in a bucket seat at the front, with a lighted dashboard in front of him. He swiveled around and gave her a grin when she came in.

“You can sit up here, if you’d like,” he said, gesturing to the copilot seat a few feet away.

Sam felt guilty for her ulterior motives. He seemed so trusting of her. She firmly pushed the guilt aside and moved behind him. “I’d like to stand here,” she said, standing beside him. “What do all of these glowing buttons do?” she asked, pointing at the dash.

“These here,” he said, pointing to the right, “monitor life support systems on the ship as well as gravity. On the opposite side we have computer controls of the ship, and in the center those that actually help with flying and landing. This is just a backup in case computer fails.”

Sam leaned over him, brushing her left breast against his arm. She smiled inside at his sharp intake of breath. Men were so easy. “And the steering controls? This wheel?” she asked, running one hand up the back of his neck.

He wrapped his hands around it, showing her the movements before switching it back to cruise control. “The thumb pads control lift and speed here and here....” He trailed off, turning his head to bury his face against her neck.

A thrill shot through her, straight to her toes. In a second, he grabbed her and hauled her atop his lap, forcing her to straddle him. She gasped in surprise, clinging to his arms. Her skirt rode up to the tops of her thighs, and she nearly moaned at the hard press of his arousal against her dampening cleft. He bent her backward, leaning forward to bury his face between her breasts.

It was wrong to allow this ... so wrong but it felt so good....

His lips scorched a trail up the valley of her chest, moving past her clavicle to the base of her throat. He thrust up against her, pressing deeply into her cleft, digging his hands into her ass cheeks to grind her into him. Her clit throbbed with her arousal, keeping time with the fast tempo of her heart. Sam whimpered, digging her fingers into his hair to drag his face away from her throat.

He straightened, watching her. Heat bathed her at the look in his eyes, washing her veins with molten lava. She moistened her lips, and his hands tightened around her, pulling her lower body flush against him, until he was practically inside her.

He groaned, and his cock spasmed against her pussy, unleashing a flood of moisture. With a husky growl, he brought his lips down to cover hers in a soul searing kiss. She’d thought he’d invaded her before, but the thrust of his tongue inside her mouth swept away all sense of anything but the sleek glide of his tongue. He kissed her ravenously, like his life depended on sipping the sweetness of her mouth. His lips moved against hers, his tongue twining against her own. He devoured her, and she was drowning under the onslaught.

He cupped her ass, moving her against him, grinding into her clit with soul shaking precision, thrusting his tongue with each movement. Sam broke away from his mouth, gasping for breath, but he recaptured her mouth. He conquered all over, and she couldn’t remember why she’d come here, only that she desperately needed his kiss.

He broke away, dragging his lips along her jaw to her ear. “If you do not go, I will not be able to stop,” he said breathlessly, then sucked her earlobe into his mouth.

Pleasure shot down her neck, and she moaned, running her hands over his massive shoulders, reveling in the strength of his arms. “This is good. Just like this,” she said, arching against him. She was so close to orgasm.

He growled, his breath hot against her ear, breaking shivers along her skin. He tried to pull back, but she clung to him, holding his neck, moving her hips against him when he would hold still and deny her.

He groaned, burying his face against her shoulder, his body shaking with the effort to control himself. Tension suffused his body, and he thrust up against her again and again, his movements bordering on frantic. Sam bit her lip, riding him. Each bouncing movement brought her closer to her goal, and she felt the tremulous waves close in on her. Sam gloried in it, crying out as the seizure of pleasure wracked her body. Her vision dimmed, and she closed her eyes, intensifying the feeling, until it overwhelmed all else.

Dimly, she heard his own hoarse cries join her. His body shook, and his cock spasmed and twitched against her naked cleft.

The orgasm left her more sated than did food, and she melted against him weakly. She breathed raggedly against his chest, trying to gather her strength. He ran his hands up her back, sparking tiny shivers up her spine.

It was too early to think about what a bad mistake she’d made, and so she mellowed in the afterglow, enjoying the fantasy. If nothing else, she was having the best vacation of her life.

After a few minutes, discomfort began trickling in. She’d worked up a minor sweat, and her thighs were sticky with residual arousal. Sam looked up at him, feeling her face heat with embarrassment. She didn’t know him. She shouldn’t have done something so brazen. Hell, a day or so in his company had practically turned her brain to mush. “Uh ... is there some place I can clean up? With water, I mean?”

He smiled lazily at her. “Would you like me to bathe you? I find myself thirsting to taste your body once more.”

Embarrassment and renewed desire were running neck and neck. She couldn’t have a repeat of that. Sam tried to squirm off his lap, but he held her still. “I can handle it on my own,” she said.

His emerald eyes twinkled, golden flecks swirling in star burst patterns in their depths. “Truly? I would like to see this trick.”

“Not that way,” she said and pushed at his shoulder, feeling amused despite her better judgment. Even alien men had one track minds.

He sighed heavily, releasing her. “Very well. Computer can instruct you on the use of the bathing facilities if you have any questions. All you need do is ask.”

“Okay,” she said, standing up and resisting the urge to grimace at her sticky thighs. She’d get cleaned up and then she’d see Cole. She just hoped Cole couldn’t tell by the look on her face exactly what she’d been up to.

* * * *

The shower was one of her more interesting experiences in life, not counting dry humping an alien man. The streaming light worked in a matter of minutes to vaporize impurities from her skin and hair. It even cleansed her teeth when she opened her mouth. She’d never felt so clean and yet not clean in all her life.

She missed hot water already. And shampoo and conditioner.

Cole was lying in bed when she went into Hauk’s room. Everything had been cleaned up, and she appeared to have been behaving herself.

When Cole sat up and looked at her with a grin, Sam knew she hadn’t been. She joined Cole on the bed, propping on her elbow.

“Okay, before I start, what have you been doing today?” Cole asked.

Sam blushed furiously and covered her embarrassment by hiding her head under the covers. “I watched Tor fly the ship and learned about the front controls.”

Cole pulled the covers off her face and gave her a suspicious look. “You didn’t screw him, did you?”

She shrugged it off. “Not in a technical sense. Anyway, I learned some valuable information.”

Cole chewed a nail. “You need to be careful. God only knows what kind of alien diseases they could be carrying.”

“Thanks for making me feel better.” As if she didn’t have enough to worry about. Assuming someone was safe to sleep with just because they were an alien was obviously out of the book. And she wasn’t going to go that far anyway.

Cole cut into her thoughts. “But what you learned could work to our advantage. Guess what I found.”

“What?” Sam asked, sitting up and patting her hot cheeks to cool down.

“Well, that jerk hasn’t let me out of the room since I’ve been here, but I examined the room more closely.” Cole jumped off the bed and went to the farthest wall opposite the door. She knelt and peeled up the carpet-like covering on the floor, rolling it back to reveal a square panel cut into the metal decking. She pointed at it proudly. “An access panel.”

“Oh.” Sam got up and joined her on the floor. “Are you sure that’s what it is?”

Cole looked down at it. “No, but I can’t imagine what else it could be. It has these weird screws, and I’ve been working at getting them out with a sliver of plastic from some of that junk I broke yesterday. At least, it feels like plastic. Anyway, I was waiting for you before opening it. My shoulders are too broad to fit through the hole.”

“I don’t see how escaping through this will help.”

“No. You’ll go in and unplug something. When the ship starts screwing up, they’re bound to come in here. When they do, we can lock them in and steal the ship.”

Sam looked at it doubtfully. “Sounds haphazard to me. What if there’s no atmosphere in there?”

Cole shot her an irritated look. “Hey, I’m not being happily screwed. I want to go home. I think this is our best shot.”

Sam bristled. “It’s not like I want to be here either! And I haven’t screwed anyone!” Almost didn’t count.

Cole sighed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just my nerves are wound so tight and I’m going crazy being confined to this one room. Can we try this, please? If it doesn’t work, you can brain me.”

Sam smiled. “Okay. If nothing else, it’ll be funny to see them running around trying to figure out what happened.”

Cole grinned and pulled out the last screw. She dug her nails under the edge and lifted the panel away.

An alarm blared through the ship. “Warning! The access panel in guest cabin 2 has been opened without authorization.”

Sam gulped and sat back on her ass in surprise. Cole hurriedly slipped the panel in place and threw the carpet back over it. The door slid open just as she tucked the carpet back into place. Sam and Cole looked up guiltily as the men crowded into the room.

Tor gave her a dark look and strode inside, gripping her by the arm and hauling her to her feet. Sam looked up at him in a daze. “You have broken my trust,” he said, his voice low and ominous. He spared Cole an angry look. “Hauk will deal with you. And you, Samantha, will know what it is to answer for your actions.”

Chapter Six

The door closed behind them with an ominous click as it locked into place. Sam wasted no time in running around the bed and putting some distance between them.

He ignored her, and she watched as he punched a button to open the same panel she’d gotten the tube from. This time it opened further and revealed a multitude of strange objects.

“I didn’t expect to use any of these on this trip.” He fingered through his collection of torture devices, picking up each in turn. Silver gleamed in the harsh light as he held a cylindrical object up, with a thick ball on one end. He examined it and then set it down again. As he went down the line, Sam’s stomach tightened further and further into a hard knot of anxiety. If she’d known there were hidden weapons in here, she sure as hell would’ve used them earlier.

He sighed heavily. “Perhaps I’ll just use my bare hands.”

Sam’s knees turned to jelly.

After a moment, he merely faced her and crossed his arms over his chest. He did nothing threatening, but she could see the tension in his muscles even across the room.

“Come here, Samantha. Now,” he added in a deep, commanding voice when she made no move to obey.

Sam shivered and walked to him like she was under water. Her blood rushed to her head, pounding in her ears as her anxiety rose. She stopped a bare arm’s length from him, her chest rising and falling with her rapid breath. She thought maybe he was just trying to scare her silly ... and into submission. She could pretend with the best of them, if that’s what it took.

“Raise your arms,” he whispered, watching her with heat in his eyes, his gaze boring into her own.

Sam complied, slowly raising her arms. When her hands were above her head, he reached out and clamped his hands around her wrists.

“Computer, release restraints.”

Sam struggled to free her wrists then, wondering what insanity had possessed her to trust him. He really was serious about punishing her. She hardly noticed the black cords that dropped from the ceiling and rose from a panel in the floor.

His grip tightened, allowing her no movement ... no chance for escape. His eyes darkened as if he was in pain, and he moved her hands to the cords. A gloved shackle hung on the end of two of them, and on another hung a thick band. When her hand neared the gloved shackle, it snaked out and wrapped around her hand, enclosing it in a warm grip, startling a gasp out of her.

“What is this?” she ground out, trying to twist away from it, shaking her arms in an effort to free herself.

He placed her left hand in the other and it tightened around her, stretching her arms up. “You’ll soon find out,” he promised, bending to put her feet in similar restraints. He straightened and looked at her a moment, then ripped her shirt and bra away, dropping them to the floor. He looked long at her exposed breasts, insolently raking his eyes down her body.

Sam gasped in outrage, bemoaning her poor bra. She couldn’t even cover herself from his sight. He smiled crookedly to see her struggling, watching the bouncing movement of her breasts, then bent and nipped one pouty nipple.

Surprise heaved her senses into turmoil. She snapped her teeth at him as he placed the last restraint--the thick band--around her breasts. It molded instantly to her naked flesh. Her breasts ached from their previous confinement, and her nipples surged against the warm binding painfully.

He backed away from her and the bands tightened on her struggling form, raising her into the air until her arms and legs were stretched wide. Sam growled and twisted her hands and feet, but she couldn’t escape. Strangely enough, nothing hurt from the awkward position. Nothing but her pride. She was spread eagle and almost completely naked in front of him.

He said nothing as he neared her once more and ripped her skirt away. His gaze lingered on her bare pussy, and despite her outrage and anger, she felt herself growing moist in her nether region. A trickle of juices seeped down her thighs.

Her arousal in the face of captivity defied logic and pissed her off. “How dare you destroy my things! What am I to wear now?” she demanded, attempting to heighten her anger at him.

“Only what I give you ... and nothing at all if it suits me,” he said, raising a hand to touch her.

Sam tried to wiggle away, but only succeeded in amusing him. One corner of his mouth hitched high as he stroked a palm up her thigh and around her hip. He seemed fascinated by the bare apex of her thighs, almost unable to tear his eyes away from her naked cleft. She sincerely regretted that wild streak that made her go for a Brazilian wax job. She certainly hadn’t envisioned it encouraging anyone--any man, to do anything he wanted.

“Will you continue your attempts at escape?” he asked, feathering his fingers across her skin.

“I’m not going to stop this until you take me home. I assure you, punishing me isn’t going to make me behave any better,” she said through gritted teeth.

He slid his hand around, low on her belly, splaying his fingers against her. He rubbed his thumb in a circle, drawing his hand lower, lower still, until his thumb was inches from her cleft. Sam bit her bottom lip.

“It’s all a matter of how you apply the lash or stinging hand,” he said, moving around her.

Her nerves jumped with awareness, at the heat of him at her back. Sam craned her head to see him, and suddenly felt his hands on her backside, cupping her ass in a firm grip. She closed her eyes as he massaged her, surprised when he released her abruptly and smacked her cheeks.

Sam gasped at the sting, jerking on her tethers. Her skin tingled, and heat uncurled in her belly. “Why did you do that?” she asked, slightly breathless as he smoothed his hand in a soothing circle on one cheek and popped her again.

“Computer, fingers,” he said hoarsely.

The gloved shackles came to life at his command. Instantly, it felt like a hot mouth latched onto her fingers, suckling her digits. Her fingertips tingled, pleasure coursing down her arms. Sam moaned at the alien feeling, arching her head back.

He tucked a thumb in the cleft of her buttocks, easing down and spreading her cheeks wider. Fingers dipped into her slit from behind, and he smoothed her gathering juices over her swollen lips. Sam tried to move closer, but she was frustratingly immobile.

“Please,” she said, unable to voice her desire.

“Please, what?” he asked, stroking her folds, so close to that bright spot of pleasure she could scream. He teased her deliberately with his nearness, increasing the flow of her desire with each pass of his fingers.

Sam growled as he continued taunting her, never closing the distance to her clit, and she began struggling anew. “You bastard,” she gritted out. She wasn’t going to beg him any more. She’d done enough of that.

He said nothing, but withdrew and slapped her cheeks again ... and again. Her skin prickled under the onslaught, driving the blood to her nether regions. The slightest brush of air felt like a caress on her sensitized skin. When he cupped her cheeks, she thought she would scream from the piercing sensation ... so close to orgasmic, it shocked her.

His fingers dug into her cheeks, massaging her roughly, spreading her wide. Hot, moist breath fanned across her flaming cheeks, and then it was on her directly--a hot wet mouth sucking at the underside of one cheek. His tongue rubbed against the curve, rough, moving toward her pussy. He pressed his face into the part of her cheeks, snuffling her from behind like he sniffed a heady perfume, nibbling at her engorged lips with sharp pulls of his mouth. He pressed his tongue against her opening, growling into her like a beast. He lapped at the edges of her pussy, tearing a ragged groan from her throat.

Sam bucked against him, her core twitching as yearning sped through her system with the force of a freight train. Her cleft wept with her longing, and she despised being forced to feel this way but be left unsatisfied.

Tor released her abruptly and stood behind her once more. He reached around her, his hands on the front of her hips, pressing her back against his hard arousal. It dug into the cleft of her buttocks, so close to easing the pain.

“Computer, enable all sensory distributors,” he ground out, breathing heavily.

Sam cried out as her bonds surged to life, growing so warm she felt seared by them. They pulled at her flesh, sucking her. Her nipples puckered painfully, like the essence of desire was suckled from her breast. She gasped as he buried one hand between her legs, burrowing to her aching clit.

“Do you know how we punish the wicked on Vulkahn?” he asked, breathing hotly against her neck.

Sam shook her head, jerking as he massaged her clit with one finger, circling it ever tighter, until he touched the bare bud. Fire danced along her nerves, centering on that wondrous spot of unnamable pleasure. His fingers moved against her slick flesh, spreading her thick juices over her bare lips, moving rapidly against her clit.

“Wh ... what do you ... do?” she asked, gasping for breath. She felt like she was being teased all over, that his hands and mouth were everywhere. Her bonds continued drawing a response from her extremities, tightening sensation more and more and more. Any moment, she thought she would burst from the tension building inside her.

“We deny them ecstasy,” he ground out, grating his teeth along the tender cord of her neck and shoulder. He worked her clit until her body jerked with the beginnings of her orgasm, then he pulled his fingers away to plump her swollen lips.

“No,” she cried out, whimpering and hating herself for wanting what he wouldn’t give her. If she’d been thinking clearly, she would have realized this was what he had planned all along. How typical of brute sized aliens.

“Will you try to escape again?” He skated his thumb across her clit. Her pussy spasmed with near pain.

Her body was slowly returning to normal, and with that, logic flooded back into her brain. The best thing to do would be to lie to him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that. “I will try at every opportunity,” she ground out, goading him, biting back a groan as he stroked her again.

“You’d best comply,” he said huskily, lathing her neck and scoring the hollow beneath her ear with his teeth.

Goosebumps rose on her skin, making her shiver. “You’d best ... not ... let me ... loose or I’ll cut ... your pecker ... off,” she gasped the words out, feeling herself climbing to that plateau again. She struggled against it, knowing it was futile, then struggled to attain it before he snatched his fingers away again.

He did, and she growled at him. He dragged his lips across the taut line of her shoulders, pushing her hair aside with his free hand. “You weaken my control, shertouj. I find myself wanting to give you all you desire.” He ground his arousal into her cheeks, emphasizing his words, cupping her sex in his hand.

“I won’t bend,” she panted. The suction on her nipples increased, heating her until sweat broke out on her skin. He massaged her slit, drawing a ragged groan from her throat. She thought she would die if she didn’t cum this time. He thrust against her from behind, driving her against his stroking fingers, driving her out of her mind.

Each nerve ending stretched to the limit, thirsting for release. The pleasure uncurled, sharper this time than ever before. Tremulous at first, it rocketed through her body. She shuddered, unable to believe the torment had ceased. Her veins flooded with the bliss, and her pussy spasmed and twitched as the orgasm unrolled through her core.

Sam whimpered, trying to move away from him, away from the intensity, but he wouldn’t let her escape it any more than he would let her leave the ship. She twitched all over as it moved through her body, until the strength bled from her muscles and her head hung down from exhaustion.

“Computer, release her,” he said, and she dropped into his arms, slipping from her restraints. He clutched her close to his chest, strode to the bed, and laid her upon it, wrapping the covers around her shaking form.

Without another word to her, he left her, commanding the lights off as the door slid closed and locked.

Her body felt like it was on fire. Her nipples, fingers, and toes felt thoroughly loved, and her femininity was painfully sensitive, as if the slightest movement would send another orgasm shooting through her.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had an orgasm with a man, before Tor, but now it was like fate was making up for all that lost time. When it rains, it pours....

She was thankful he hadn’t tried to have vaginal intercourse, because as it was, she wasn’t so sure she would recover from the punishment he’d already given her. Anything else and she might permanently fry some brain cells.

Sam had almost drifted to sleep when the ship shuddered. Her first thought was that Cole had finally managed to take over this ship. And if it was true, they were in deep shit....

* * * *

Tor turned off the screen, scowling. “This is just fucking great. How’d that asshole find us out here, in the middle of nowhere?”

Kerel shrugged. “I don’t know, but you know we have to let him on board.”

“Yeah, I was just hoping to avoid the jackass on this trip.”

“Captain Hahn Sylo again requests permission to board, Sir,” computer interrupted them.

“Unlock the loading hatch,” Tor grumbled. “Guess we better go back there and greet him. Where are the others?”

“Hauk is still busy punishing the woman. I doubt we will see him until next wake shift,” Kerel said, chuckling. “Would that I had such distractions. Perhaps we should make a stop so the rest of us can gather women.”

“You can hold your cock until we’re home. What of Galan and Bradan?”

“They’re still asleep. I think they’ve been traumatized by the barbarian jail.”

Tor grunted. “Then it’s just me and you,” he muttered, striding toward the back of the ship. Near the tail end there was a loading hatch, designed specifically for mid-flight unloading and transport to a secured ship through the retractable passageway--a gully.

It stood open now, and they got there just in time to see Sylo duck through the opening. He grinned and gave them the federation peace gesture before clasping hands. “Good to see you again, Tor, Kerel.” He looked around, pushing a hand through his short, dark blond hair. “Your sports rocket looks smaller than the way you described it to me before.”

Tor gritted his teeth and grinned. “It’s the fastest ship this side of the Nebulosium galaxy,” he said through his teeth. If Samantha hadn’t been on board, he’d challenge the swaggering braggart to a race.

“We might have to test it out ... just to be sure,” he added, looking around. His roaming eye stopped, looking past Tor’s bulk. “Who is this, a guest? Tor, you asshole, why didn’t you tell me you had a woman on board?”

Tor turned around, stunned to see Samantha coming up behind him, wearing nothing but one of his discarded shirts. The deep neckline dipped precariously on her breasts, revealing the rounded tops. Instant heat shot to his groin. He curbed the impulse to take her against the wall and fuck both his and her brains out. He frowned menacingly at her, but she didn’t take the hint. He was already in a constant state of arousal without her parading around with her breasts practically hanging out. He damn sure didn’t want Hahn ogling her breasts and legs, nor any other part.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, striving for patience. He hadn’t wanted Hahn to see they had women on board. They’d never get rid of him now.

“I just came out to see what all the commotion was about. I thought something was wrong.”

She stretched, raising the hem of the shirt until he damn near thought she’d expose her mound. He blankly watched the spot of interest a moment, waiting to see if it would happen, but then she dropped her arms, covering herself, and his brain churned in motion again.

Tor swallowed, finding his voice. “Nothing to see here--”

Hahn lost his patience and pushed between Kerel’s and Tor’s bodies to stand before Samantha, cutting off Tor’s words. He took her hand, raining kisses on her knuckles. “A pleasure to see a woman as beautiful as you in such a desolate waste of space. Hahn Sylo. And you are?”

Samantha blushed. “Samantha Declan. Your name sounds familiar....”

“I wasn’t aware it had reached so wide,” he said with a piratical grin that would make any normal woman swoon. Sam wasn’t used to receiving appreciative looks, and she couldn’t quite tell if he was serious or not.

“Lay off it, Hahn,” Tor said, elbowing him aside. “You can fool her into thinking you’re some upstanding diplomat, but everyone else knows what you are. How’s the smuggling business, by the way?”

Hahn winked roguishly at her, then straightened from her hand and faced Tor. “As good as can be expected, considering the Troglydons have swarmed the area.”

“That’s not good,” Kerel said, leaning against the wall, watching the proceedings with amusement twitching his mouth.

“Why are you all out this far?” Hahn asked, keeping his eyes on Samantha.

Tor stroked his jaw, ignoring Hahn’s question. He didn’t want the pirate going to raid Samantha’s planet--or picking up any more of their women. Not that Hahn was immoral to the point of slavery, but the planet just wasn’t ready to be immersed in Federation dealings and whatnot. What he needed to do was get rid of him--and fast. He figured some unsavory post would do the trick. “We need to refuel. I was headed to the Zampi Space Station.”

Computer cut in, “Sir, Zampi Space Station is beyond Federation controlled space. Federation members are not allowed.”

“Shut up, computer. I know what I’m doing,” Tor grumbled, cursing computer’s nosiness where it didn’t belong.

Hahn laughed, giving Tor an incredulous look, raising his dark eyebrows in surprise. “You’re going to that hole in the wall?”

Tor frowned at him. “It suits our needs, as they stand.”

“Only if you want to get your balls cut off. I’ll come with you. You need all the backup you can get if you’re headed that way.”

“Sir, Captain Sylo is correct. Vulkahn testicles have been known to sell on the black market--”

“Computer,” Tor warned, looking up at the ceiling intercom.

He’d named off that particular shit hole to scare off Hahn. He should have known the man would be up and ready for any adventure. Now he’d be lucky to piss without Hahn knowing about it. And they had no choice but to go to Zampi now or word would get back to Vulkahn. Tor felt like punching something, mainly Hahn’s face.

Hell, Zampi hadn’t been so bad the last time he’d been there....

* * * *

After Hahn went back onto his ship, Kerel and Tor went to the cockpit to set the new heading. Sam thought going to this space station, or whatever it was, was just the opportunity Cole had been looking for. She waited until she thought it was safe and crept back up to Hauk’s room, tapping on the door.

He answered it half naked. “Yes?”

Sam blanched at all that naked, tan flesh staring her in the face. “I ... uh ... Tor wanted to see you,” she lied. He grimaced, looked back over his shoulder for a heart stopping second, and pushed past her, heading towards the cockpit.

Sam slipped inside and found Cole sitting up in the bed, her blouse unbuttoned to her waist, her eyes wild and feverish, and her mouth and jaw reddened. She looked like she’d been thoroughly kissed ... all the way down to her breasts.

It sure surprised the hell out of Sam.

“What is it?” Cole asked, wiping at her mouth.

Sam looked pointedly at her shirt. Cole shrugged and started buttoning it. “He decided to torture me. I didn’t have any choice. It’s not like I could twist his arm and make him stop.”

Suuuuuurrrrrre. Sam hid a grin behind her hand, keeping one ear trained on the door. “I don’t have much time. Hauk will be back any minute, pissed that I tricked him. Anyway, I just found out we’re headed for a space station. Start thinking up plans. I think we just might be able to get home after all.”

Cole didn’t look nearly so happy as she had before when she thought they’d latched onto a good plan. “They have us outnumbered. It’s going to be tough.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something. If nothing else, maybe they’ll all leave to check out the station and leave us with the keys to the ship.”

“Or we could sell our bodies to other aliens and get back home,” Cole said wryly.

“Which brings me to what set this in motion. This guy is coming with us. I get the feeling he could be convinced to do anything for a price. Could be a backup plan if all else fails.”

“I like your thinking, Sam. Better go, I think I hear something.”

Sam scurried out of the room, plans buzzing in her mind. It helped her feelings having a cop on her side--someone that knew how to fight and defend herself--and protect her if need be.

Things were definitely looking up. She couldn’t wait to see this Zampi Space Station.

Sam got back to Tor’s room and hopped into bed. She waited in suspense for Tor to come in and demand to know what she was doing, or demand that she pleasure him. She waited. And waited. After a while, she realized he wasn’t coming to join her for the sleep shift.

She wondered if she’d done something else--or rather, that he’d caught her doing something else--or if he’d possibly listened in on their plans. A thrill of fright assailed her at that thought. It hadn’t occurred to her to even wonder if the computer could spy on them. It certainly knew everything else that was going on.

That put a damper on her enthusiasm, certainly. Sam got up and cleaned herself in the “shower” again for something to do since she was too wired to sleep, then came out and nervously paced and waited, paced and waited. She should have saved her energy for thinking.

He couldn’t know she planned to escape with Cole. He didn’t come in to punish her any more, so she suspected he didn’t have a clue what they were up to, despite having ample technology enough to know when she blinked or opened her mouth.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief and sank onto the bed, pulling the covers up. She commanded the lights off and closed her eyes. She was glad he wasn’t coming. She didn’t want to sleep with him anyway. She was used to sleeping alone, and Tor was huge. He took up the whole bed.

Now if everything else would fall into place, they’d be free women again. That thought didn’t lift her spirits up as much as it had previously, and she knew it was getting on time to get the hell out of there.

Chapter Seven

The next morning, or wake shift as they called it, Sam was stunned to see Cole moving about the ship in complete freedom. Something had changed, and she wasn’t quite sure if it was for the better.

She still couldn’t trust that their conversations would remain private, so she said nothing incriminating to Cole as she sat beside her in the kitchen and ate her breakfast. Not that she would talk about escaping in front of them--not with their translators on.

Hauk came in, stretching and rubbing his belly, looking supremely satisfied in the way that only a man could. He stopped when he saw Cole, and looked her over with an appreciative eye.

Sam was glad to see some of his animosity had abated, but she wasn’t quite sure if it was for the best.

Tor gave him a knowing look and pushed by to fix himself breakfast. The kitchen filled to maximum capacity as Kerel and Bradan came in. Kerel sat beside Cole, but Hauk hauled him up by his collar, shoved him aside, and dropped into the seat beside her.

Cole scooted away, but for every inch she moved, Hauk only moved closer.

“Hey, I can’t breathe here, Cole,” Sam finally said, irritated, half her butt hanging off the seat.

“Maybe if I wasn’t being pawed, I wouldn’t have to keep moving over.”

“I can show you pawing, if you like?” Hauk offered generously.

Cole bared her teeth at him, batting her lashes sweetly. “No, thank you.”

Tor sat opposite Samantha, giving her a guarded look, but one glimpse of her cleavage had him turning a heated stare on her. Sam colored and looked away, cursing her fair skin that showed her embarrassment every time. The prudish side of her nature still reared its head on occasion, even now with all that he’d done to her. Or perhaps his intimate knowledge of her had only worsened it. It figured.

“We’re going to Zampi Space Station. Hahn’s following in his ship,” Tor announced as Galan dragged inside the cramped kitchen, shoving through the bodies to the pantry.

“Why are we going to that hell hole?” Galan asked, surprised.

“To refuel. And I thought we could use the excitement.”

Hauk snorted. “We’ll certainly get that there. You sure that’s a good idea, what with the women aboard?”

“I have already given warning that traveling to Zampi Space Station is unwise. There is indeed a market for Vulkahn reproductive organs,” computer interrupted cheerfully.

“They’ll not get my dick. I need it for other things,” Hauk said. Kerel laughed silently at that, his shoulders shaking with mirth.

Cole snorted her drink at Hauk’s announcement, and he patted her on the back, creeping down to her butt as her coughing eased. Cole elbowed him sharply in the side when she recovered. Hauk grunted but said nothing.

They continued arguing amongst themselves, about the pros and cons going to Zampi, but Sam knew what the outcome would be. They were already on the way, and it was Tor’s ship.

The men acted like Cole and Sam weren’t even there--not that she really expected to be allowed to add her opinion. They were captives, after all. It would’ve pissed Sam off if it hadn’t been typical behavior for every other man she’d ever known. They were talking grown up man stuff--it was above a woman’s head. Sam rolled her eyes.

Tor shrugged when the shouting match died down, shoveling food into his mouth. Between bites, he said, “I don’t see why we shouldn’t go to Zampi. It’s the closest station to us from this position. We should be there by mid-wake shift at the latest.” He finished off his breakfast and pushed his plate aside.

Galan and Bradan grumbled. Apparently, they’d had enough adventure already. Kerel didn’t say anything, and Hauk appeared to be ready to enjoy whatever Tor chose for them next. This was the craziest damn bunch of men she’d ever seen in her life. It was weird to think that men acted basically the same no matter where they were from or what they were.

Tor gave her a pointed look, drawing her attention with his sudden silence. She glanced at him, feeling herself heat as he smiled at her. Irritated at her response, she immersed herself in eating and drinking. She nearly jumped out of her skin as something touched her ankle and slid up her calf. She choked on her drink, spitting it out on the table, coughing.

“Are you all right?” Cole asked, concerned, patting her on the back.

“I’m fine,” she said, catching her breath as what had to be Tor’s mammoth foot slid up between her knees. Sam glared at him and clamped her legs tight on his foot, daring him to try anything else.

He wiggled his toes, smiling at her innocently as he took a sip of his drink. Despite her best efforts, he moved forward with the giant extremity, until his toes reached the tops of her thighs.

Sam jumped up from her seat, banging her knee on the table. “Ow! I’m finished! Y’all can have my seat,” she said to Galan and Bradan.

Sam rushed from the kitchen, intent on finding some peace in Tor’s cabin, but he’d followed her. He grabbed her arm, stopping her in the middle of the hall. The voice of the men drifted down the short distance. Someone could come out at any moment, and she certainly didn’t want Cole seeing her getting friendly with the natives.

“Let me go,” she said, trying to pull her arm away.

He said nothing, but thrust her against the wall, trapping her with his body. The cool metal sheeting pressed against her back and the heat of him on her front made her nerves jump and react to the warring sensations. Sam wriggled, but he crowded closer, cutting off her movement.

He reached his right hand to tilt her face up to him. The look in his emerald eyes warmed her to her toes. Sam watched with stunned fascination as the golden flecks grew and swirled. “I missed you last night,” he murmured, snapping her to attention.

“If you missed me so much, why didn’t you come to bed?” Hell, that wasn’t what she’d wanted to say!

His lids dropped low on his eyes, and he leaned infinestimally closer. “So you missed me?”

“No,” she said, squirming in his hold. It did nothing but encourage him to hold her tighter. “I didn’t miss you. Now let me go.”

“Why do you want to run away?”

Sam nearly laughed at that. He could seriously ask her a question like that? “I’m not going to suffer footsies and molestation in the middle of ... of a group of men.”

He rubbed his thumb against her lips, cupping her jaw in his hand. He appeared relaxed, but Sam knew it was a facade. There was nothing simple and easy going about this man. Her lips tingled under the soft brush of his thumb. Sam knew she should bite him, or something, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Anticipation tautened in her belly.

“Why not? It is not unusual on Vulkahn for men and women to take several lovers, and to have other men and women watch.”

Sam stiffened. “It isn’t normal on Earth. And I don’t like having an audience for ... for....”

A lazy smile spread his lips, and he bent his head lower, closing the distance between them. “Can you not say it?” he murmured huskily.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her face flamed, her cheeks burned.

He moved his thumb in her mouth, dampening the pad, then smoothed the moisture over her bottom lip. Tor smiled inwardly at her hesitant response. He knew it took but a little effort to push her ... and himself. This woman made his blood boil with the simplest look, the slightest gesture. Her presence on the ship was a danger to his independence, but reason was no match for the desire rampaging inside him. He had to slake his thirst for her, and soon, while he still had his head. “In public, you act shy, but in the bedroom, you are a wanton. Do you want me?”

“No,” she said, shivering.

“All I hear from you are lies,” he whispered and closed the gap between their lips. He kissed her, sudden and fierce. Her lips throbbed madly beneath his as he sawed his mouth across hers. A pulse beat low, at the juncture of her thighs, growing in tempo as he crushed his body against hers.

He smoothed his fingers on her jaw, urging her lips open, to let him in. She parted her lips with a breathless gasp. The moment she did, he plundered like the conquering pirate he was. He groaned, thrust his tongue inside with a sweeping, liquid glide that sparked a torrent of tingles to zip through her veins. He tasted her, ravished her mouth as if he had every right to it. And god save her, she’d invited him in.

Sam’s mind reeled, her body melting, responding with a dizzying rush of urgency that blocked reason and sanity and left only the feel of his body pressed tight to hers. She couldn’t think straight, not with his lips and tongue commanding her, making her respond in ways she never dreamed possible. His scent enveloped her--not the scent of dyes and soaps and artifice--but the potent, natural pheromones of a man intent on bedding a woman. It was heady and maddening, driving the shreds of preservation further and further from her mind.

He nibbled her lips hungrily, plunging inside for more, pervading her like a flood of dark, incredibly exciting electricity flowing rapidly through her veins. Fire trickled through her, over her, threatening to consume. He stoked the flames ever higher, his tongue molten. She felt like she was burning alive from the inside out.

He dropped his left hand to her thigh, hooking it beneath her knee to bring it high on his hip. Cool air brushed across her heated skin as he hitched her higher, leaning into her. He snuggled his hard arousal in the cradle of her thighs, pressing into that riotous spot that promised so much pleasure and agony. His heart pounded against her upper chest, exciting her immeasurably.

Sam kissed him back, tangling her tongue with his, driving him back to force her own tongue into his mouth. He grunted in stunned approval, rumbling deep in his chest. Sam felt a surge of heady triumph.

“Is this how you check your headings?” an amused voice said behind Tor.

Tor broke away, leaving Sam heaving for breath, shielding her with his body. “It’s none of your concern, Kerel,” he growled with irritation, his shoulders tense.

Sam peered around Tor’s arm, still catching her breath. She felt like she’d been dowsed with ice water. Kerel propped against the opposite wall, smiling crookedly.

“Just get back to the cockpit and check our position,” Tor growled, pushing his hair back from his forehead in irritation.

“Why don’t you let her check the cockpit?”

“Kerel,” Tor said with menacing warning.

Kerel chuckled like his life hadn’t just been threatened. “I can take a hint. I know when I’m not wanted around,” he said, pushing past them to walk down the hall to his cabin.

“Like hell you do,” Tor grumbled. He turned back to Sam, his irritation vanishing. “Shertouj, you drive me to distraction,” he murmured, reaching for her.

Sam held up her hands, ignoring the still frantic beat of her heart. Dammit, one touch from him had her panting like a bitch in heat. “Hold it big boy. You should check the ship. We need fuel, remember? There’s plenty of time for playing later.”

His emerald eyes gleamed with amusement. “As you wish. I will hold you to your promise.”

Promise? What promise? He left her still trying to figure out that bit of cryptic information. What had she gotten herself into now?

* * * *

Sam was bored. There was only so much staring at four blank, metal walls a person could take. The room was more barren than her first apartment away from home. The only piece of furniture in the cabin was a bed secured to the floor--definitely a conspiracy to keep her in it--and cabinets lining one wall. She’d thoroughly checked their innards out--several times.

She’d snooped and played around with Tor’s toys--which she strongly suspected were nothing more than sex toys--the pervert. She’d giggled when she’d picked up that tube she’d used as a weapon, trying to imagine exactly what he’d do with it.

But again, she wasn’t interested in playing with herself, even if she was a little curious what kind of toys an alien would design for sex. That would only entertain her a few minutes anyway. Tor hadn’t come back in, and Cole was locked in the room with Hauk, doing god only knew what. So she couldn’t rely on Cole to entertain her either, not that she found discussing escape plans all that invigorating. It really was exhausting trying to figure out a way home.

She “bathed” again, tried on Tor’s clothes and sniffed them each time she pulled something new on (she really liked his smell), but after what seemed like an eternity, she was finally ready to pull out her hair.

In all the books she’d read, there’d been interesting things to do on space ships. This one was just b-o-r-i-n-g. Of course, Tor had another rocket ship below the belt that was probably more entertaining, but she wasn’t ready to try the meat missile just yet.

Sam stood up on her knees in bed, crawling across the bed, determined to leave the room and ignore any knowing stares she might get from the others. Just when she’d made up her mind, the door opened and Tor came inside, wearing a grin and a hard-on.

Sam sat back on her feet, quickly tearing her eyes away from the impressive bulge to his face. “I hope that isn’t for me,” she said wryly, looking down at his present pointedly.

“I made it just for you,” he said, bounding through the room with a whooping war cry. Sam gaped at him. He jumped onto the bed, bouncing her in the air. Sam shrieked as her knees flew out from under her. Her hair whipped around wildly in her face, and she landed back on the soft mattress thingy with a whoosh of air knocked from her lungs.

He whooped and bounced her again, and before she knew what had happened, she found herself trapped underneath him, his face looming over hers and his thick black hair hanging around them like a curtain, dimming the light.

He stared at her a long moment, silent, and she felt like they were in their own little world.

Tor broke the spell as he pinned her right arm above her head before she could react, bent, and feathered kisses along her jaw. Sam’s libido responded instantly, and by the rampaging love muscle poking her in the leg, she knew she had to distract him fast.

“What else is there to do on a ship?” she asked a little breathlessly as he moved down to her ear. His hot breath spurred excited tingles down her neck.

“There is this,” he said, lifting his head and scorching her with smoky, bedroom eyes.

She looked at him suspiciously. “What did you do before you had a woman on the ship? Play with your toys?”

He frowned at her, and she giggled. “How’d you know about my--those are only in case of emergency!”

“An emergency in your pants?” She giggled more as he frowned even fiercer at her.

“You impudent wench,” he growled and nibbled her neck all over, tickling her ribs. Sam writhed beneath him, shrieking and trying to fight him off, to no avail. His fingers were long and covered too much distance to escape. He nuzzled her neck and shoulders, and Sam squawked and jerked her shoulders to her neck, instinctively trying to block him.

“Ow, my nose,” he howled, nibbling her more, until she couldn’t catch her breath from all her laughter.

“I give!” Sam gasped, pushing at him weakly, her arms rubbery.

He growled triumphantly after several minutes listening to her uncontrollable giggling, smiled and pushed off of her. “There are other things, though I much prefer tasting you all over. We watch transmissions. They are from your world,” he admitted reluctantly, propping on his elbow as he lounged beside her.

Sam caught her breath, still grinning, pushing her tangled hair out of her eyes.

Transmissions? He had to mean TV or something to that effect. It would explain how they managed to pick up expressions from Earth. It was kind of flattering to think that words like fuck, shit, hell, and damn were really universal now. “I want to see these transmissions.”

He dropped his head on the pillow roll, hitting it a few times before smothering his face. “Now?” he asked, his voice muffled through the thickness. He didn’t raise up but pointed at his groin with an exasperated gesture. “Have you no pity?”

Sam got up, knowing she’d done her duty for the day. She was a masterful woman. It wasn’t many that could say no to a bounty like what he had hidden in his britches. “None at all,” Sam responded proudly, propping her hands on her hips, looking down at him.

He peered up at her blearily and sighed heavily. “Never have I known a woman more cruel than you, Samantha.”

Sam smiled sweetly and batted her lashes. She could tell he was loving every minute of it. There was nothing that could intrigue a man more than being mean to him. Now she just had to figure out how long he could last before ... well ... blowing his load--er ... control.

Chapter Eight

“Computer, play transmissions,” Tor commanded.

The wall facing the bed suddenly blipped to life like a projector shone on it. Streaming language rolled down the wall. It looked like some archaic writing, like Celtic or Greek. Obviously it was titles or description of some type, but the translator around her neck wouldn’t translate for her eyes.

Tor stood and touched one title, and an old Clint Eastwood movie came on--Pale Rider. “Is this good?” he asked, looking at her questioningly.

She’d always loved that movie. She was just thankful he hadn’t put on something like the three stooges. “It’s great.”

He crawled back on the bed and pulled her against his chest, rubbing her shoulders. She was surprised he didn’t press her about sex, and rather than wonder if he perhaps found the idea of sleeping with an alien repulsive, she found it more intriguing that he had such self control. She also found it entirely too pleasing to do something so simple as watch a movie with him, without worrying about talking or doing anything stupid.

She could get addicted to this. Too easily.

Sam snuggled close and drowsed through the movie, feeling strangely secure and content.

“Sir,” --computer cut in as the credits of the movie rolled by--, “Zampi Space Station nears. Would you prefer I get one of the others to land the ship?”

“No, I’ll be in the cockpit in a minute,” he said and pressed a kiss atop Sam’s head. “Would you like to see us land?” he asked her as she sat up.

Sam nodded excitedly. Despite the circumstances of how she’d gotten into this mess, she was really eager to see the sights of the universe while she had the chance.

* * * *

They hadn’t been exaggerating when they said Zampi Space Station was a hole in the wall. If anything, they’d been generous. It was more like a hell hole.

Sam looked out the front view port from the copilot seat as they approached the space station and the loading dock doors opened. From the outside, it didn’t even look like it could hold air. Sam wondered fleetingly if they were going in with space suits on. Everything looked eroded, and the dark metal covering the outside was pitted worse than a rotted orange. It probably smelled worse too.

Sam’s lips curled and her nostrils flared in a disgusted sneer without her quite realizing it. So much for seeing the wonders of alien technology.

Tor pulled the ship through the opening into a holding area while the door was sealed. Once it was, another opened in front of them and they pulled through, landing inside the dock on a space marked with faded lines. Trash blew around in a cyclone of air from the ship.

Just looking at the simple precaution to keep the place from imploding dampened Sam’s spirits for stealing the ship. It was a stupid plan anyway.

She looked around as steam hissed from beneath the ship and the exiting ramp lowered. She’d expected to at least see aliens scurrying about. All she saw were a few humans--as human as Tor and the others were, anyway. A few nodded at Tor and went on to their own ships.

Tor unbuckled himself from his seat and got up, stretching. “I’ll go and arrange for fuel to be loaded.”

Sam unbuckled and followed him. The other guys had already left the ship and were hanging around the end of the ramp, watching what she presumed to be Hahn’s ship landing right beside them. Tor ducked through the opening and she trailed behind him, surprised when he suddenly turned around and put a finger in the middle of her chest, stopping her.

“You stay here,” he commanded imperiously.

Sam glared at him. “Why?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I can’t keep constant watch on you and conduct my business too. The ship is safer. I don’t want you going inside. Do you understand?”

“What about Cole?”

“Hauk has left her in his room. Are you going to behave?”

“I’m not a child you know. Even if you are a foot taller than me, it doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

He looked at her doubtfully, but when she backed up the ramp, he turned around and joined the other men. Obviously, he didn’t have much experience with women beyond the bedroom. She wasn’t about to stay in the ship while they went and had fun.

Sam stood at the door and watched them talk to another Vulkahn, recognizable by his incredible height. When they walked off, she went back to the hall to Hauk’s room. She tapped on the door, slid it open, and walked inside.

She didn’t see Cole.

“Cole? Are you hiding?” she asked suspiciously.

Something tapped her back shoulder.

Sam jumped out of her skin and shrieked, turned around and saw it was only Cole. “Jesus, Cole! You scared the shit out of me!”

Cole grinned. “Sorry. I just had to get some things while they were gone. I got this for you.” Cole handed her what looked like brass knuckles, but was silver.

Sam reluctantly took it, holding it like she would a snake. “What is it?”

“It’s a gun ... or something to that effect. At least, that’s what I think. I saw Hauk and the others grab some before leaving. You put your fingers through the openings here, and your thumb here at the top. Under that is a pressure sensitive button. That’s what it looks like anyhow. I think it’s the trigger.”

Sam tried to give it back to her. “Are you crazy?” she whispered furiously like someone would hear. She realized how stupid she probably sounded and said in a normal tone of voice, “I don’t know anything about shooting. I’m just as likely to take my hand off as hit anything. And why would I need a weapon?”

Cole gave her a disbelieving look, rolling her eyes. “C’mon, Sam. Did you see what this place looks like? If the guys took some, we sure as hell can’t go out there unarmed. It’ll be fine, I promise,” she assured her, patting her shoulder. “You probably won’t even have to kill anyone.”

Sam grimaced. “Thanks, that just makes me feel so much better. Look at this thing, it’s not going to fit my hand. Tor’s palm alone is damn near the size of my whole hand. I can’t reach the trigger.”

“I thought you weren’t going to shoot anyone?”

“I might shoot you.” Sam grinned. She stuck her fingers through the holes, amazed when it collapsed upon itself and formed to her hand. She nearly slung it off in surprise when it moved. “Shit!”

“Cool, huh?”

“You could’ve warned me.”

“What would be the fun in that?”

“Let’s get on with it. Wait, you don’t have any more surprises, do you?”

Cole held up a silver bag strapped to her holster. “I found some of their money. We’re going to buy passage back to Earth.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here.”

Cole nodded and led the way through the hall and down the ramp. She swaggered through the loading dock like she owned the place. Sam just worked to keep up. It was probably smart acting like they were supposed to be there. Sam mimicked Cole’s bravado. Any minute she thought she’d break out into laughter, but none of the men on the loading dock gave them more than an admiring glance before they went on about their business.

Sam couldn’t read any of the writing scrawled across the walls, but a flickering sign above a large ovular door looked as likely to be an entrance into the main station as they’d find. They reached the distressed metal door, and it opened as they stopped in front of it. The door spiraled out, disappearing into the walls and floor.

A riot of noise and smells flooded through the opening, and they stepped through it quickly before the portal could shut on them.

“Don’t touch anything,” Sam whispered in Cole’s ear, grasping her arm so they wouldn’t get separated, but neither one moved from their spot in front of the door. They both just sort of ... gaped. All pretense of bravado had disappeared once they’d entered the shit hole.

The first thing Sam noticed were the aliens. The second was the smell--like rotting garbage, alcohol, and perfume, all rolled into one stomach churning, potent combination that stung her eyes and made them water.

It looked like one of those seedy bars in a Scifi movie ... but worse. There were a lot of ships outside, of various makes, but she had no idea that many ... creatures could be inside. Lights flashed from somewhere further in the building, almost strobe-like, and reminding her somewhat of a dance club. Some kind of bizarre music was playing with an erratic beat and the blaring of staccato of horns, bells, and stringed instruments. A high pitched, whiny voice “sang” a tune to it, but much like heavy metal at home, she couldn’t understand anything, even with the translator running full tilt.

Aliens covered every available surface, sitting on chairs drinking beverages that glowed like nuclear waste, leaning against counters and tables. Another one that looked like a combination of squid and spider lay on the floor--maybe dead, maybe not, but several aliens stepped over it as they went on their way. Most inside were humanoid, in that they stood on two legs, but that was about as close as anything in there came to human. Some had four arms, others two heads, still another had tentacles instead of eyes and ears, and others looked reptilian, with scaly skin in a variety of colors and patterns. Some had skin that blended in completely with their surroundings, so that it looked like just a suit of clothes drinking and carousing.

Sam didn’t see anything that resembled a human. And they were all big ... every one of them. She felt like a midget, gaping up at the big people.

Cole shook her, waking her out of her stupor. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”

Sam wiped her watering eyes with one hand, then gave Cole a scathing look. “Great. Now you get doubts.”

“So-rry,” she said sarcastically. “I just thought after Hauk and the others that the aliens here would look like them. At least similar.”

“I know what you mean. Well, we’re here now. We might as well do what we set out to do. I just wish I had something more to wear than Tor’s shirt.” Sam tried to pull the neckline higher so it wouldn’t bare quite so much, not that she thought it would really matter since they were so different from everything else in there.

Cole sighed. “Let’s do this and get out of here. I’ve had all the alien experience I want in this lifetime.”

Sam nodded and they slid through the crowd, careful not to touch anything. Sam hopped over a suspicious puddle in the floor and lost her balance, falling against one of the patrons.

It roared when she touched it, and her hand came away coated with stickiness. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she offered, catching up to Cole and grimacing as she wiped her hand on her shirt.

Cole stopped so abruptly, Sam bumped into her back. “That one over there looks promising.” Cole pointed from her hip so as not to draw too much attention.

Sam followed the line of her finger and saw a man sitting alone at a table. He looked vaguely human, but a damn sight better than anyone else they’d seen. His head came to a ridge on top--a sharp oval--his skin was fire engine red, and his eyes glowed yellow, even across the distance. Black straps crisscrossed over his chest and arms, forming his clothing, the slick material gleaming in the flickering light. Sam was so relieved to see someone like themselves, she could’ve jumped for joy.

“He looks like a good pick to me, Cole.”

“I just hope I brought enough currency to buy passage.”

“I just hope no one robs us before we get there.”

“Don’t jinx us,” Cole whispered, tightening her hand on the weapon.

Cole and Sam screwed up their confidence and swaggered to the man’s table. Just as they got there, five others popped out of the surrounding crowd like daises and surrounded them.

Sam gulped audibly. She raised her weapon hand but Cole held her steady, waiting to see what they would do.

“What do you want?” the sitting man asked, raking an insolent gaze down each of them in turn.

Sam’s head pounded as the translator assimilated his language.

“We want to know if we can buy a charter from you,” Cole said, rubbing her left temple like it hurt.

“We need to get home,” Sam added, tightening her hold on her weapon. She didn’t like the way the others kept inching closer and closer. She felt like her breath was slowly being squeezed from her lungs. Her heart pounded in her chest like the bass to a dance mix.

“You have Vulkahn translators, but you are not Vulkahn women.” The man snickered and stood up, walking around the table to where Sam stood. “Where are your keepers, little ones?”

“We don’t have keepers,” Sam gritted out, instinctively backing up a step.

“If you have no keeper, then you are an escapee and under no one’s protection ... and anyone’s for the taking.”

Sam really didn’t expect to be attacked in the middle of so many people.

One of the men grabbed Cole before she could get a shot off. Sam whirled and raised her hand a second too late. The alien seized her wrist in a lightning-fast move, squeezing it until her fingers were useless to her--and then he took her weapon..

“You bastard!” she ground out, fighting him.

He chuckled and picked up a lock of Sam’s hair, fingering it like it was gold.

Sam tried to twist away from him, but he applied pressure until she went down on her knees. “Don’t make me hurt you. Damaged merchandise sells for so little.”

Sam gasped in pain and gnashed her teeth at him before looking to see if Cole was all right. One of the others held her beneath her chest, locking her arms down her sides with one meaty arm.

The man holding her jerked her to her feet and grinned down at her, grasping her jaw in a bruising grip while he examined her face. “A king’s ransom we will have.”

“A hefty price to be sure. Look how fine they are, how small,” another said, probably the one holding Cole.

Sam was not small, and for the first time in her life, she wished she was bigger. She was just a few inches short of six foot, and Cole was a little taller than her. If Cole couldn’t get loose, Sam didn’t have a chance.

They were in deep doo doo.

Chapter Nine

Sam looked Cole dead in the eye. The slavers had bound them face to face and wrapped them like mummies together, leaving them on the floor of what they supposed was the hold of their ship. It was metal, and the room smelled like dirty socks, but Sam didn’t suppose they’d leave them out in the middle of the dock to be found by the next passerby--it had to be a ship. The hold they were in was cold, and one side of her body started going numb laying against the frigid metal.

They hadn’t felt any movement, thankfully, so they assumed they were still at Zampi, but Sam didn’t think they’d be there too much longer. Didn’t thugs usually steal and run? They had to be really stupid, or really confident, not to be in any big hurry.

Sam wiggled her toes and fingers, trying to keep that side of her body awake. “Well, that was a really smart idea. Remind me never to take your advice again. If I’d stayed with Tor, I probably could’ve convinced him to take me home,” Sam muttered. “So what are we supposed to do now?”

Cole glared at her. “I thought you weren’t going to take my advice any more?”

“Don’t be an ass. Help us out of this.”

Cole rolled her eyes, blowing her hair out of her face. She looked down at their bindings, squishing her face until she had a double chin on one side. Normally, Sam would’ve laughed.

“You’re smaller than I am, squeeze through the cords,” Cole said, looking back at her.

Sam gave her a disgusted look. “Can you be serious for a minute?” She shifted her shoulders. There was a little play room in the cords. “I think if we can move around enough, we can loosen the binding. At least they tied us together.”

“Yeah, that was just a stroke of luck. Look, I don’t want the last thing I see to be the inside of your nose.”

“Well then, you better get moving. And I have very small nostrils I’ll have you to know. You can’t see up them from where you’re at,” Sam grit out, struggling to move on top.

“Ow! I don’t have balls but it still hurts to put your knees there.”

“Sorry. Oomph. Okay, you quit moving, I’ll get on top and loosen these up.”

“I’m stronger. You hold still.”

They rolled around on the floor, cussing and working up a sweat, until Sam ended up on top. She lay on Cole several minutes, breathing heavily. Who knew moving such a tiny bit would wear her out so thoroughly? It was worse than exercising at the gym.

“I can’t breathe, Sam. Hurry up,” Cole wheezed.

“I can’t move,” Sam wheezed back.

Suddenly, they heard muffled shouts outside and something banged against the hull of the ship. At least, that’s what Sam hoped it was and not the clanking of an old engine starting up. With their luck....

“What the fuck was that?” Cole asked, straining her head and spitting Sam’s hair out of her mouth.

“Shhhh. Oh shit!” The ship rocked. Something was definitely happening.

A groan of metal reverberated through the hollow hold, ringing in their ears. Something loud and metal slammed into more metal, making a scraping noise that grated on her nerves. Sam’s left eye twitched as the noise pierced her skull then abruptly stopped. Boots thudded on the floor like a herd of stampeding elephants. Sam looked up, scared of what she’d see but unable to keep from looking.

A door banged open and Tor and Hauk dashed inside, eyes wide and faces white as a ghosts. Tor stopped dead in his tracks when he looked down and saw them. His mouth dropped open. Red slowly leveled up his face, coating him with embarrassment. Or maybe fury--it was so hard to tell.

“This is no time to be making out, Samantha, Cole,” Tor whispered furiously, loud enough it echoed.

“I wish we had more time to watch,” Hauk muttered, his words following on the heels of Tor’s utterance.

“What the hell are y’all talking about?” Sam looked at Cole beneath her. Cole shrugged her shoulders in response.

“Just get us the hell out,” Cole said, wriggling.

Hauk and Tor bent over them, pulling at the binding cords until they snapped like paper.

Sam rolled off of Cole without the support of the cords. She flopped around on the floor like a dead fish, trying to get up. One side of her body was asleep. Pins and needles shot through her muscles, and she groaned and half laughed in pain. It was much, much worse than hitting a funny bone.

Tor hooked his hands around her waist, lifted her despite her protests, and slung her over his shoulder. Looking upside down, she could see Cole’s ass poking up above Hauk’s head.

Looked like they were all set to go.

Tor trotted through the ship, jouncing her all over until her ribs felt bruised and her lungs flattened, but she was so thankful for being rescued, she didn’t cuss at him except one or two times the whole way out.

They ran down the ramp, and Sam caught sight of two sets of red-skinned legs sprawled on the floor. Tor’s feet had barely met the dock floor when a sudden, blinding blast of light zinged past her head, missing her by inches. She smelled burned hair and a stream of profanity erupted from her mouth.

“Fuck!” Tor shouted, picking up the pace. “Cover us! Run, Hauk!”

Sam felt like she was being kidnapped by Donkey Kong in a video arcade. Lights pinged off the floor, and she felt heat zip past her ass at least once as Tor tore through the hold to his ship. Answering fire came from the direction they were headed. Though she couldn’t see them, she knew the other guys were laying down covering fire. She just hoped they were good shots.

Tor raced up the ramp, Hauk close behind. He didn’t put her down until he was in the cockpit, and then he dropped her onto one of the benches. Sam melted onto it as Tor took over the pilot’s chair from Galan. Galan slid into the copilot seat, pressing buttons, and responding to computer as she checked off systems functions.

The landing gear unlocked, sliding back into the ship. She heard the other men run in and the ramp lift into place with a hiss of pressure, and then the ship was rocking, turning around in the port.

“Fuck,” Tor said, looking out the viewport with a frantic eye. “They’re getting in their ship. Looks like it might be a dog fight. Hahn agreed to keep us covered with his ship guns while we high tail it out of here. I just hope he can keep them busy.”

“Will he be okay?” Sam asked from her seat, still not feeling quite herself.

Tor didn’t spare her a glance, his mind on the controls. Galan turned in his seat. “Hahn’s gotten out of worse scrapes than this. He lives for this shit. Buckle up.”

Sam nodded and locked the body hold in place, gripping the bars weakly.

The bay doors opened, and they went through, waiting impatiently until the holding area sealed and they could race out into space. The moment the doors spiraled out, they were off, speeding through the endless night of space. The dark, blank space swallowed them whole. Stars in far off solar systems raced by, making her dizzy. Sam turned away, getting her bearings.

“Enough of this adventure shit, we’re going home,” Tor mumbled. “Computer, have the Troglydons followed?”

“I cannot find a hostile vessel approaching.”

“Good. Set a course for Vulkahn.” He unbuckled from his seat and got up.

The mention of Vulkahn immediately got her goad up. “Hey! You promised to take us home after we got fuel.” It was too bad she hadn’t remembered that until now. Obviously, it had been just as well that she and Cole had tried to escape, since it didn’t look like Tor would’ve taken them back anyway. Sam pushed the brace off and stood up shakily, propping a hand on the metal bars for support.

Tor walked to where she stood and loomed over her. His thick black brows pulled low over his eyes, and his jaw was clenched tighter than a nun’s thighs.

“I’m not taking you home. I can’t risk the Troglydons following us and raiding your planet.”

“That’s what those guys were?” What a silly name. She almost chuckled and turned to leave.

Tor caught her amusement and apparently didn’t like it. Without a word, he grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him when she tried walking away. Before she knew what was happening, he wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off her feet, and crushed his mouth against hers.

Sam tasted the anger in his kiss, the hurt, the worry. It changed almost before it began, to a kiss of helpless desperation.

Galan cleared his throat noisily, and Tor broke away from her mouth, giving Galan a warning growl. He took off to his cabin, carrying her the whole way, moving like a man with a purpose.

She’d really done it this time.

* * * *

Tor remained unnervingly silent through the short trek, saying only “open” and “close” to computer to gain access into his cabin and lock the door securely behind him. She hadn’t even realized the computer could open things.

Tor set her on her feet, and Samantha backed away, her gaze locked helplessly with his.

“There will be no escaping this time, Samantha,” he promised, advancing on her. Every muscle of his body was tense and clearly delineated through his skin tight jumpsuit and the wide neck opening. He looked ready to pounce at any moment, ready to do any number of unspeakable things to her.

Sam took a step back. Tor took a step forward and then another. They danced backwards, until she reached the wall and had no place left to run. The metal wall was cold on her back, soothing the frantic beat of her heart to a dull roar in her ears.

She’d scared him. She knew that now. “I ... uh ... didn’t say I would run away ... again.”

He stopped before her. Each shuddering breath she took brushed her nipples against his chest, he was so close. They hardened perceptibly. She swallowed--hard.

He held her gaze, shrugging his shoulders out of his jumpsuit, rolling it down his chest until it reached his hips and caught on his erection. Sam hadn’t realized she’d broken away and followed the unveiling of his body until she saw that monster rear its head.

“Again and again you have halted me, leaving me unsated, until I feel I am dying of thirst for you. My reach is long, Samantha. You could not run away if you tried. I mean to have you tonight.” There was menace in his voice, promise. The husky, rough timber resonated through her every fiber of her being like a smooth wine. He stepped away only far enough to divest himself of his suit, and then he stood before her, completely naked and simmering with pent-up passion.

He bent his head and captured her with a kiss, sudden and savagely desperate. Sam’s knees went weak, giving out beneath her. He caught her, lifted her against the wall, catching her legs in each hand to wrap around his hips. His erection nestled low on her belly, trapped by the tight press of his hips and the shirt she still wore.

Tor sawed his mouth across hers, nibbling her frantically, hungrily. Each taste made him demand more and more, until she parted her lips with abandon and welcomed the hard thrust of his tongue inside. He plumed the warm crevice of her mouth, tasting wild and dark and incredibly exotic.

Sam trembled, raising her arms to wrap them around his shoulders. She curled one hand around the back of his neck, urging him closer, needing him deeper. She was greedy for him, greedy and desperate by now. She felt like she hadn’t eaten in ages, hadn’t drunk in years. Only Tor could give her what she wanted. Only Tor could satisfy that emptiness that echoed through her core.

He growled low in his throat at the possessive feel of her hands and mouth, tangling his tongue with hers. He rocked his hips suddenly, moving against her, drawing an agonizing, achy gasp of pleasure from her as his dick rubbed against her pussy.

Her breasts felt swollen, near to bursting with the ache to be kneaded, suckled. She needed him everywhere. He wasn’t moving fast enough.

Sam dug her fingers in his hair, pulling his head back. Their mouths unlocked, freeing their mingled breath in a heady rush. He pulled free from her grasp, panted and dragged his lips down her jaw, past her ear, sucking beneath the lobe against the tender flesh. It responded to him, churning sluggish nerves to stand and dance as he sucked hard against her neck and left his mark.

Sam moaned, drawing her legs tighter around him, arching her body against his. “I can’t take this,” she said, breathless, dizzy.

“You’ll take it and more,” he murmured against her neck, nipping the tender cord between neck and shoulder.

She gasped as he slipped his hands up her thighs, under the shirt, to the bare cheeks of her ass. He spread her wide, kneading her, then lifted away from the wall. She clung to him, startled as he dropped to his knees on the bed and went down with her, rolling until she was beneath him.

He tore away from her neck, leaving a hot, moist trail of kisses down the slender column of her throat, past the translator necklace. He trailed along the neckline, running his tongue under the edge.

Sam growled at him in frustration, releasing his shoulders to tear at the offensive, binding shirt.

“Are you so eager?” he asked. He lifted off of her, sitting on his knees between her legs, a satisfied smile on his face.

“You know damned good and well I am. If you intend to tease me, I suggest sleeping with your hand on your cock, or you won’t find it in the morning,” she said, deadly seriousness in her eyes.

His grin only widened. “Such a temper, my shertouj. Do not fret. I wouldn’t dream of denying you the pleasure.”

He took the hem and lifted it inch by inch up her body, holding her still when she tried to do it herself. “You have seen my present. I will unwrap mine with more care.”

Sam squirmed under his deliberate look. “I didn’t get to unwrap mine either.”

“You were too slow,” he murmured and unveiled her pussy.

He licked his lips, glancing to her eyes briefly. “You don’t know how much I longed to taste you again, to feel your slick heat close around my body.” He looked away as if pained, shuddered.

A gush of liquid heat pooled between her thighs, until it trickled down her slit in abundance. Jesus! She felt like she could cum just listening to him talk.

He moved the shirt up, bending low between her thighs. She parted them eagerly, moving in the way only a woman could.

He kissed her bare mound. Her skin jumped at the sizzling heat of his lips. He moved higher, up the hollow of her belly to her navel. “This scar intrigues me, these muscles along each side....” He nibbled the edges of her navel, churning the flames of desire higher. He smoothed his hands up her belly, resting them on her ribcage, marking a steady path up the line of her body to the valley of her breasts. He kept pushing higher, rubbing his palms lightly over her achy breasts, dragging his lips behind. His wet kisses cooled in the air, raising goose-flesh, making her shudder.

He nuzzled her breasts, freeing her from the confinement of her shirt. She lay still, waiting to see what he would do, though the wait was nearly unbearable.

“These....” A shudder racked through him. “I can speak no more.” He made an anguished sound deep in his throat and descended on one breast. He scored the hardened nipple with his teeth.

A strangled moan escaped her throat as he sucked the throbbing nipple into his mouth, suckling her as though his life depended upon it. His tongue rubbed rough on the bud, distending her flesh. She grasped his shoulders then, moving her legs, reveling in the abrasive feel of his hair roughened skin against the softness of her thighs.

An animalistic, hungry growl tore from his throat as he released and took her second breast, running his hands over her body, grasping her around the waist. He pushed her down, lifting her until she was tilted upon his hard thighs and his cock pressed against her mound.

“Now, please,” she begged, turning her head to each side wildly, unable to hold still.

He straightened from her, holding her thighs, freeing her from the heat of his body. Her feverish skin cooled from his absence.

“Open your eyes, Samantha. I want you to see who moves inside you,” he commanded, spreading her thighs wide apart. She squirmed, trying to move closer, but he held her still, trapped, unable to fill that void.

Slowly, she opened her lids to the emerald fire of his eyes. Her blood boiled from his searing, possessive look. Her pussy simmered with the need for his claiming.

Holding her gaze, he pushed forward slightly. The mushroomed head of his cock touched the opening of her pussy. It felt every bit as huge as she thought it was, too large for her ... but she wanted all of it, all of him inside her. She felt weepy with longing.

Her mouth opened on a breathy sigh, her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth. She couldn’t beg him any more, but she knew he saw her need--his own reflected in his eyes.

He rocked on his knees, moving that hardness through her folds, smearing the thick cream of her desire. Sam’s eyelids fluttered closed and he stopped the delightful movement, only continuing when she opened them again.

She dug her fingers into the bedding as he moved again, tantalizing her, brushing past her clit and down again, slipping in her juices, coating himself. Sam arched her back, biting her lip as the maddening slide suddenly became a hard push. Her pussy clenched, trying to block the thickness from coming inside.

He groaned and tilted his head back, pushing his cock head into her. She stretched to the brink of pain, knowing she couldn’t take any more. Her very fiber hummed with anticipation, with anxiety.

He opened his mouth in a soundless cry, his shoulders shaking, his cock jerking at her opening, and then he pushed further, harder.

Sam cried out at the burning pain, at the pleasure of it grating through her. She turned her calves around his hips, urging him deeper.

He resisted, looked down at her with agony in his eyes. “You are ... too ... small. I will hurt you,” he gasped.

“You won’t,” she breathed, reaching for him.

With a savage groan that resonated in her soul, he plunged inside her. Sam rose off the bed, screaming at the sharpness, the ridge of his swollen veins grinding through her. He shifted, collapsing on top of her, crushing her into the bed. Sam welcomed his weight, wrapped her legs around his hips, her pussy spasming, adjusting to him as he lay still.

She’d never felt so full in all her life. Tor jerked in her arms, at her slightest movement, burying his face against her neck. She felt wetness and realized he cried, and some emotion she didn’t recognize burned through her heart.

Slowly, he pulled out of her, inch by agonizing inch, until only the flared head of his cock remained, and then he plunged inside once more. Her cream gathered, increasing with each shuddering thrust.

Sam moaned, urging him, raking her nails down his back to clutch his tight buttocks. He ground against her clit with each rough, rocking movement, driving her higher and higher on the bed, drawing little gasps and twitches from her. Her insides quivered, clenching and unclenching with ragged force. She could feel an explosion building deep inside. It simmered through her veins, slipped along her nerves like a fuse leading to a keg.

She’d been lit by his fire, turned molten at his touch. His teeth scored her neck, devouring her as his thrusts shortened, harder and faster. Sam tilted her pelvis, welcoming the pounding movement, whimpering, digging her nails in the cheeks of his ass.

Higher and higher it drew, the ecstasy exploded in her core, gaining momentum, igniting her from the inside out, waves building upon waves, until a flood of bliss ripped through her center.

Sam screamed with the force of the climax, her pussy clenching spastically with the mind blowing intensity, the strength of it blinding her for minutes while her mind and heart raced to capture the shattered pieces of her soul.

Tor jerked inside her, her own orgasm driving him over the edge. His body went rigid, frantic. He seized like a dying man and moaned deep in his throat, spewing his seed with potent force deep inside her.

He collapsed on top of her, crushing her, but she was too weak and sated to do anything but bask in the heavy glory of a man atop her. Tor tiredly kissed her neck and jaw, nuzzling her face as he gathered his strength. He pulled his flaccid length from her body, leaving her incredibly empty, and rolled suddenly, taking her with him.

Sam felt herself drifting to unconsciousness. Blearily, she looked up at him with a smile. “Was it good for you?”

Chapter Ten

Sam didn’t know how long she slept in Tor’s arms, and she didn’t care. The ordeal they’d gone through, the loving he’d given her--it all worked to leave her utterly, completely exhausted. Tor had given her so much loving she wouldn’t need to eat or drink anything for days. At least, that’s what she felt like.

Sometime, when she was semi-conscious, she became aware of the fact that he’d left her and that her pubic mound felt swollen and bruised. The slightest movement would put her into instant orgasm--which made for lovely dreams--but she’d had too much of a good thing and all she wanted was sleep.

Exhaustion soon claimed her again, and she drifted away.

Later, an annoying deep voice began calling her name. She ignored it and pulled the covers higher around her neck, blocking her ears. A moth fluttered in her face, tickling her nose and then her eyelashes. Sam swatted it away, but it kept landing on her nose again and again. Finally, she hit it, missed, and the twinge of pain in her nose brought her out of her drowsiness.

Sam opened her eyes blearily to see Tor sitting above her, a long purplish feather clutched in his hand and an evil smile on his face.

“Go away,” she grumbled, closing her eyes again. She was too weak and tired to fight him off. Didn’t he know how defenseless she was when she first woke up?

“Don’t you want to play?”

She could hear the grin in his voice. “No. I can’t walk as it is.”

Tor tickled her lips. Sam smacked his hand this time.

“I’ve brought you something to eat. You’ve slept through one entire cycle without eating or drinking. It is the second wake shift now, and mid at that.” He waved something tantalizing around her nose. Steam fogged her nostrils.

Sam peeped at him out of one eye and saw the plate of food. She sat up, her stomach grumbling and her mouth watering. She hadn’t realized just how empty she was. Grateful, she took the plate. It smelled like meat and looked like meat ... vaguely. That was good enough for her. She ate it anyway, even though it did taste like a strange combination of chicken flavored beef. It really wasn’t that different from a freezer meal.

Tor watched her the whole time, not touching his own meal. When she finished hers off and looked longingly at his, he happily handed it over to her. She’d eaten half of it before her stomach radioed to her brain that it was full.

Sam leaned back and rubbed her belly, then drank deeply of the drink he handed her. “Why is it y’all don’t have water?”

“You don’t like the vital?”

“That’s what this is called?” Sam finished it off and gave it back to him.

“It replenishes the vital needs of the body. Vulkahn does not have an over abundant supply of water.”

Sam’s lip curled with distaste. She was a water baby, through and through. “That sucks.”

He nodded. “Speaking of which, we need to cleanse you.”

“Oh no, not that thing again.”

He chuckled at her futile struggles and pulled her from the bed, carrying her to the bathroom. Sam hadn’t even realized she was still naked until he stripped his own clothes off and joined her in the “shower.” She didn’t need him--it wasn’t like there was soap or anything, but when he left her to strip, she discovered her legs were rubbery and could barely hold her up.

The red light rained down and zapped the impurities away. Sam watched Tor, fascinated as his skin glowed red, his veins turned black. It was like having a red light special and enticingly erotic and mellow, standing in the red light.

She spread her palms over his sculpted chest, letting her fingertips walk down his rippled belly, enjoying the feel of him. He had no belly button, but other than that and the fact that his chest and belly were devoid of hair, he looked completely human. Her feathery strokes aroused him, and she quickly looked up at his face to find him watching her steadily.

He groaned softly at her inviting smile, bent, and lifted her off the shower floor, pressing her into the corner with her thighs parted around his hips. He pushed forward, guiding his cock head to her core.

It hurt.

“Ow! Ow!” Sam slapped the back of his arms, jerking her head back. “Stop it now. It’s not going to fit.”

He gave her a drowsy, heated look, rubbing the enormous cock head through her swollen, moistening folds with a slight rocking motion. “It did before.”

Sam grimaced, fighting off the pleasurable tingles. “Well, you broke it. It’s not going to fit.” Her voice rose in pitch with each word until she shrieked as he pressed against her opening again.

He grinned lazily, not the least perturbed. “I’ll make it fit.”

That was just like a man. They always figured brute force could do anything. “Oh no you won’t!”

He stopped his tantalizing movement, just letting her feel the scorching presence of his shaft against the inner lips of her pussy. “Sam, how are we going to adjust if you won’t let me try?”

“We? There’s no we here. It’s my hole you’re trying your damnedest to stretch out.”

“You fit me like a sheath. You feel so good, Samantha,” he crooned huskily, bending to lathe the corner of her jaw, nipping her before moving to her left earlobe.

Sam ignored the desire climbing in her system, the quickened pace of her heart. “I’m too tender.” She coughed in surprise as his cock twitched against her clit, hardening the nub unbearably. “I think you punctured a lung last time.”

He smiled against her neck, running his roughened hands along her sitting cheeks. The slight abrasion sparked goose-flesh in his wake. “Or your stomach. You eat so much, I don’t know where it goes, certainly not in your tiny belly.”

Sam popped him playfully on the butt with her foot. “That’s me kicking your ass, ass.”

He lifted his head, sighing. “Do you truly not want to? If you don’t, I can go.”

Tor looked like a man who’d just found out the biggest piece of chicken had been eaten. In fact, he looked so downtrodden, she chuckled and relented. He’d warmed her up too good to stop now anyway. “Okay, but you better have some lubrication before you start pounding away.”

Tor grinned, brightening. He dropped her to the floor, and left for a full minute before he was back with his rigid cock slathered with a petroleum looking substance.

Boy did he ever have some lure.

He advanced on her, molding her to the wall and his body as he lifted her into position and slid inside her with one smooth stroke. Sam arched against him, her breasts rubbing against his chest with each movement, hardening her nipples to firm, pleasurable peaks.

Tor held her gaze until she couldn’t take the heat building in her core any longer. Her pussy sizzled with the sudden, bright orgasm, and she closed her eyes and cried out again and again as he drove into her, finding his own release two shuddering heart beats later.

He held her close, cradling her like a fine doll, kissing her neck and face all over. “I will never get enough of you, shertouj,” he breathed between feathery kisses. The red light danced over their bodies, sliding between crevices, increasing in frenetic tempo as it cleansed.

Sam didn’t think she could get enough of Tor either.

“I have a surprise for you,” he murmured into her hair, breathing deeply of her scent.

“What?” she asked, enjoying the full feeling of him clenched inside her.

“We’ve reached the Nebulosium Galaxy. The ship nears Vulkahn.”

Sam stiffened. Things were coming to an end. This couldn’t last. She regretted not acting on her desires sooner. “How’d we get here so fast?”

“It is nothing to make dimensional jumps in charted space.” He studied her face, recognizing the tension in her body. Slowly, he let her drop to the floor and finish their cleansing.

“I just thought it would take weeks.”

He sighed. “It always does when you come to Vulkahn. Politics. You’ll see. They’ll have something planned, I’m sure of it. Kerel was hailing the Federation council when I came to you. We’ll be landing any time now.”

They left the bathroom and entered the bedroom. Sam frowned, slipping another of his shirts on. “Great,” she grumbled. She was not looking forward to this at all.

* * * *

The planet she looked out on was pink. Gilded clouds, brushed with gold floated lazily in the sky. Sam watched the scenery fly by at the side windows, standing on her knees to look out. Cole sat beside her, her face pressed to the glass.

Neither talked. They were too fascinated.

They flew over a city with pink, pearly walls--like rose marble, but deeper and more luminescent, practically gleaming like pearls in the sunshine. Outside the city, it was a desert, with sands streaked in red and gold. Inside the walls it was an oasis. Aqueducts ran around the outer walls and over the cylindrical layout of the streets, carrying water that glittered like molten gold. The structures provided extra shade from the glowing yellow sun peeking through the clouds.

Within the city walls, the buildings opened like graceful flowers to the sky, spiraling grooves twisting around them, leading to basins to catch the rain. They were dotted with window openings and were formed of the same marble-like material as the outer walls. At the north end of town stood an immense castle, it’s spires the tallest, the most graceful and whimsical. Everything glimmered and sparkled, and flowers and trees danced in the wind with swaying arms and fluttering petals.

Sam was completely enchanted. She couldn’t believe men like these would build something so breathtaking and magical, since it had been her experience that they were rarely interested in such things--but there it was.

The ship headed straight for the castle and landed behind it, on a landing strip of sorts that was just as lovely as it was functional. They halted beside a ship similar to Toro’s.

Tor and Hauk came in to where she and Cole waited.

“Are you ready?” Tor asked, looking at her expectantly.

Sam was suddenly eager to check out this beautiful place. She wondered what sort of world could create a man like Tor. She hopped up from her spot and went to him. “Yes!” she said enthusiastically, looping an arm through his.

He led her out the door and down the ramp.

Fragrant perfume wafted through the air from the flowering trees and bushes, smelling like honey and wisteria. Tor guided her along a path, and a flirty wind tickled through her hair, carrying delicate lavender blossoms to catch on her skin and shirt before dropping to the ground. Sam looked up at the dazzling sky. A force field curved protectively around the city, shielding it from the harsh glare and heat of the sun, keeping the temperature to that of a cool spring day.

Sam was accustomed to balmy, sweltering weather. She was in heaven, and she’d barely taken a handful of steps outside.

“What do you think of Vulkahn?” Tor asked her softly, rubbing a thumb on her captured wrist.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. She was so amazed she didn’t even notice they were alone. She looked behind them. “Where’s Cole and the others?”

“Around somewhere. Here, see our water?” He led her through a gate formed of twisted limbs growing in and around the porous marbled stone. It was another garden, and in the center stood a fountain. A stone woman stood in the center, her arms reaching toward the sky, waves of stone splashed around her, throwing water up to arc down to a surrounding pool.

“Oh,” she breathed as they drew closer. The water was rosy, and its surface glistened like diamonds in the light. It wasn’t dyed. Everything had that same glow, reflected from the sky.

Tor nuzzled her hair. “Would you like to meet the king and queen?”

Sam looked up at him, surprise etched on her face. “Uh. You’re joking, right?”

He kissed the tip of her nose, drawing her arms around his waist. “They’re my parents. I want you to meet them.”

Sam swallowed, then looked down at herself and her skimpy attire. She didn’t even have shoes on. “I can’t meet your parents. I don’t have anything to wear!”

He sighed, giving her an appreciative look down the top of her shirt. “Too true. As much as I would like to see you naught but naked, we can’t have you meeting the king and queen of Vulkahn dressed in men’s attire. We’ll have to outfit you properly to meet them.”

Chapter Eleven

“What the hell is this?” Sam held up the flimsy bit of nothing. “I cannot meet a king and queen wearing ... wearing this.”

Sam had goggled at the interior, felt extremely uncomfortable and bumpkinish every step of the way until they were safely in Tor’s room. Now, even though the opulence still made her not want to touch anything for fear of breaking something, she felt a little better having some privacy. But she couldn’t fathom how she was supposed to wear what he’d had brought in to her.

Tor propped himself up on an elbow, lounging in the enormous bed. It fairly dripped money--as did everything. “I didn’t think you cared,” he said.

“Well, normally it wouldn’t matter.” She flung the metallic thingy around and held it up to the light. A spiderweb looked more substantial.

“Would you like me to help you put it on?”

Sam turned back around, giving him a suspicious eye. “You’re not playing a joke on me, are you? Is this really what passes as women’s clothing?”

He grinned wickedly at her, rising off the bed and swaggering toward her like a pirate. He stopped in front of her and pushed the neckline of her shirt down over one shoulder, placing a tender kiss on it before baring the other and doing the same.

He slowly worked the shirt down her arms, stretching the neck out, following its passage with feathery kisses. Sam squirmed, heating and tingling all over.

“I thought you were going to help me with this,” she said huskily.

“I have to take this off you first,” he murmured, nuzzling her breasts until her nipples stood at attention.

“We don’t have time for this. I’m a mess, and you’re going to get me messier.”

“Getting sloppy and sticky is half the fun. You said you wanted a wet bath,” --he swiped his tongue down the valley of her breasts, moving to lathe each nipple in turn--, “would a tongue bath do?”

“Tor,” she breathed out softly, running her fingers through his hair as he roamed a wet, hot path down her belly. The shirt dropped to the floor, puddling around her feet. Hot breath scorched her bare mound as he nibbled the top of her slit, wrapping his hands around her hips to mold her to the heat of his mouth.

Sam groaned at the slick feel of his tongue teasing her outer lips, forcing her to part her legs to give him access.

She looked down at him, her arousal magnifying to see him bent and worshipping her body, his dark head pressed into her folds. Liquid eased down the insides of her thighs, and he buried his face in her cleft, burrowing his tongue deep in her core.

Sam cried out, gasping, holding his shoulders as weakness enveloped her. She melted, grinding against his face in helpless abandon. His hands tightened on her ass, keeping her steady as he pumped his thick tongue inside her, eating her pussy with a ravenous appetite.

He lapped her juices like the finest wine, letting none slip past him, drinking deeply of her essence. He loved the small, whimpering noises she made, the spasmic clench of her pussy around his tongue, the laxing and gripping of her hands in his hair. She tasted like ambrosia, sweeter, quenched his thirst and left him wanting more.

He couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t slake his thirst, appease his hunger. His cock strained in his suit, surging like a mindless beast intent on finding a warm, dark hole to hide inside. Her cries reached through the fog of lust surrounding his mind, and he knew she neared culmination.

He broke from the suction of her moist core, standing abruptly. She cried out in anguish, and he wrapped his arms around her, falling back on the bed, drawing her on top of him.

Samantha moved like a wild woman, tearing at his jumpsuit, pushing the zipping fastener down. Her hair clung to her damp face, tousled and beautiful, and his blood raged to see her so enflamed. His cock sprang from the soft metallic cloth as she released it, and she moved above it, squatting, guiding him inside her with one liquid plunge.

Tor arched his head back, groaning as she took him fully inside and rose off him again, setting her body to a plummeting, rocking motion that made his balls pucker with need and his blood surge to his groin.

He looked up at her taut form, closed his hands around her breasts, massaging them, pinching her nipples as she rode him like one of the beasts of ancient travel. She was so tight and hot and wet. Each move sent piercing sweet agony through him, made him grit his teeth to hold it, hold the erection for her.

Samantha increased her tempo, coming down on him again and again. She screamed suddenly, her pussy jerking around his cock. His control gave out and his shaft pulsed, emptying his seed inside her. She milked all from him, sucking him dry.

Tor’s breath caught in his throat as he looked up at her and met her glazed eyes and the sultry smile on her face. He growled and pulled her arms, forcing her down, holding her against his chest, feeling her life beat against him.

She kissed his neck tenderly, and incredibly, he felt his groin beginning to stir with renewed intent.

“If you want to leave this room tonight, you’d best get off me,” he said with husky warning.

Samantha sat up. “It’s all your fault. You couldn’t leave well enough alone. Now I have to get cleaned up again.”

“Would you like me to bathe you again?” He waggled his eyebrows.

Sam giggled. “You’re incorrigible. Give you an inch and you take a mile.” She weakly crawled off him and collapsed on the bed.

“Well, you take the whole thing,” he said, grinning.

Sam swatted him on the arm. “Well, you just give it away. Why should I refuse?”

She left him to get cleaned up. A few minutes later, she came back in and found he’d dressed. Now she just had to get ready. “Do you think they’ll know what we’ve been doing?”

He didn’t look at her as he brushed his hair back from his face and tied two long strands back from his face with a small, silvery clasp. “Undoubtedly. Your screams of pleasure no doubt echoed through the halls, perhaps the entirety of the castle.”

Sam kicked his foot, looking outraged. “You ass. It’s just as well I’m not staying. I could never live this down.”

Tor stiffened, and then smiled as if nothing had happened. He held up the garment she was supposed to wear. “Here, I’ll help you with this.”

Sam said nothing as he helped her into it, wondering why she suddenly felt like crying. He hadn’t said anything, but she wondered.... No, wondering didn’t do anything but upset her. And she wasn’t about to walk around in front of strangers with red, puffy eyes. Besides, she never cried.

By the time Tor got finished with her, her stomach was in a knot. Looking at herself in the mirror only increased her tension.

“I can’t go out like this.” When she’d thought spider webs before, she’d been closer to the truth than she realized. Fine, silver strings streamed around her shoulders, crossing in the back and front over her breasts. A slightly thicker band covered her small nipples--barely--but the sides of her waist were completely exposed. The threads wove down in a straight line down her belly, and then clung in a short skirt around her hips. She could see the juncture of her thighs, completely.

“It is no different than what other women wear, perhaps even more concealing since it doesn’t need to stretch as much on you. You’ll find the women here are nearly our height.”

Sam held an arm across her chest and privates. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Tor smiled and sighed, taking her right arm--the one that covered her femininity. “You look beautiful. The king and queen will be delighted to see you.”

Sam wasn’t so sure. She was pretty certain she’d feel like an irritating mouse rather than some regal beauty, and she wondered why he even wanted to bother letting her meet them since she’d be going home soon anyway.

* * * *

“Tor, what have you done this time?” a loud booming voice demanded as soon as they entered the private dining hall.

Sam’s feet rooted to the floor, and her heart stopped in her chest. Tor seemed as stunned as she was.

“Stop it, Kontar. You frighten the girl,” the lady beside him said, swatting him on the arm with an ornate fan formed of silver leaves.

“I did no such thing, Deja,” he said, softening his tone.

Deja got up from her chair, long sheer skirts trailing behind her, and strolled to where Sam and Tor stood. She graced Sam with an empathetic look down at her, taking Sam’s hand from Tor’s arm. “You poor little thing. You look so tired and worn out. What has my scapegrace son done?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Tor sputtered indignantly.

She gave him a regal, scathing look. “That’s what you always say when you’ve done something.”

Tor looked at the Sam guiltily.

Deja smiled in satisfaction. “That’s what I thought. Come dear, tell us all about it,” his mother said, guiding her out of the room.

They stopped outside the doors once they’d closed, and Sam could hear Tor’s father bellow at him even through the thickness. She grinned, thinking maybe he deserved just a little tongue lashing.

“What is your name, dear?” she asked, turning Sam’s face up to her with one finger on her jaw.

“Samantha Declan, your majesty.”

She smiled at Sam. “Please, call me Deja. Now, tell me what my son has done.”

Samantha just stared at her blankly, wondering exactly what she ought to tell her. She didn’t really want Tor to get into trouble. Not really.

“He hasn’t been taking you to any of those places where low lifes hang out, has he?” Deja prodded.

Sam looked at her self-consciously. “Well ... uh ... not really. We did, but it wasn’t actually his fault. He had to stop and get fuel. And then we were kidnapped, but he rescued us from the slavers.”

“Who is this us?”

“My friend, Cole. Hauk kidnapped her from Earth the same time I was kid--uh, when Tor convinced me to take a ride with him in his ship.”

Deja looked at her piercingly. “He convinced you, hmmm? What else did he convince you to do?”

Sam blushed to the roots of her hair. “Nothing,” she said, trying not to think of all the things they had done for fear it would show in her expression. Apparently, it did, because Deja blushed. She looked very uncomfortable for several moments, and then reached over and patted Sam’s hand.

“Don’t you worry about a thing, my dear. My son was raised as a gentleman. He’ll do the right thing by you. I’ll see to it that he does. Come, let’s eat. I know you have to be hungry, you’re such a tiny thing. My son, never in his life, has had enough sense to carry healthy rations with him when he would take off on a trip.”

Sam looked at her uncomfortably, realizing she didn’t really want be there when Deja confronted her son with the things Sam hadn’t told her. “Actually, I’m not very hungry, but I am very, very tired. I wonder if I could just go to my room and rest?” she said like the coward she was.

If possible, Deja looked even more outraged. “You poor, poor thing. He just dragged you from your home and didn’t even have the grace to let you rest. I’ll have a servant take you to your room where you can refresh yourself.”

* * * *

Sam was feeling more herself when she went down the stairs the next day, wonderfully rested. She hadn’t seen Tor again that night, but she figured he’d just been pouting. Deja had sent a tray up to her room the night before, and an even more tempting tray of breakfast. All was right with her world.

Tor had just started coming up the stairs when his mother entered the foyer. He halted mid-step, looking at her and then back down at his mother.

Deja stood at the foot of the stairs as Sam descended, smiling up at her, ignoring the presence of her son. “Good news, dear. We are so glad to welcome you to the family. I told you my son would do the right thing. We have prevailed upon Tor to honor his obligations.”

Sam stopped in the middle of the staircase, feeling her jaw sag. Her mind went blank for several moments. She turned and glanced at Tor, who was staring daggers at her. “Uh ... you did? Wh-what exactly do you mean?” she asked Deja.

“Why, you are to be married, dear, this very day! Come, we must plan the nuptials. It’s going to be small and quiet, but we want it to be lovely.”

“But..but..but....” Sam stuttered, glancing hopefully at Tor. Tor offered no help and looked as helpless as she felt. “Tor?” she prompted him questioningly.

Deja wagged a finger at her. “Bad luck to see the groom before your wedding.” She made a shooing motion at Tor.

“But..but..but....” Sam said as Deja took her hand and led her into the parlor.

* * * *

Hauk paced back and forth in the study, running his hands angrily through his hair, before giving Tor another disbelieving look. “I cannot believe she is doing this. It’s so ... so archaic! Why, marriages haven’t been forced in a millennia!”

“Watch your tongue, boy, or you’ll be next,” Kontar Severian said, grinning smugly from his seat behind the expansive desk. He propped his feet up, rubbing his hands on his flat belly.

Hauk froze in his pacing, giving Kontar an incredulous look. “I don’t know what you mean,” he hedged.

Kontar narrowed his eyes at him.

Tor examined his nails, looking unconcerned. “He’s right, Hauk.”

“About what? Don’t tell me you agree with this marriage of yours?”

“No, you kidnapped Cole. Expect this to come down on your head at any time.” Tor looked up and grinned.

“I’ve heard enough of this. Dragging up ancient law for nefarious purposes,” Hauk muttered beneath his breath, exiting the room.

Tor and Kontar looked at each other and broke out into gusty laughter.

“As long as he keeps the girl, we can torment him with that one,” Kontar said, chuckling and propping his hands behind his head.

Tor wiped his eyes, nodding.

Kontar suddenly turned serious, dropping his feet to the floor as he leaned on his desk. “There’s no choice for it. You have to marry her.”

Tor straightened, watching him. Tor said nothing.

Chapter Twelve

Sam hated to admit it, but she was having a good time. She had finally relented and let Deja take over planning, since it seemed it would be a terrible affront not to let her do whatever she wanted. Besides, it was their money paying for everything. She didn’t worry too much about the legalities of marrying a Vulkahn. After all, Tor was going to take her home as soon as he was through with business, and the only law that applied to her was Earth law.

Sam was standing on a platform, having a dress altered to fit her. The planet was a strange combination of technological advancement, and olden ways. Women still sewed for one thing, but she supposed it would be necessary in many places to continue such chores.

Sam’s arms and legs were killing her from holding the position, but they were almost done. The alterationist finished marking the hem on her gown, then helped her remove it and left, taking the garment with her.

Deja gave her a pointed look. “You can speak plainly with me, dear, since we’re soon to be related. I know my son. Did he ravish you? Did he take advantage of you?”

Sam blushed from her head to her toes, remembering her punishment from when Cole got her in trouble. Actually, Cole had gotten her in trouble twice. “Really, Deja, your son isn’t that bad. He didn’t do anything any other man wouldn’t have done in his place.” That probably didn’t come out right.

“He’s brainwashed you into thinking that. He is royalty. He must answer for his actions. His father encourages his wildness too much, I’m afraid. I only hope you’ll be able to straighten him out. Ah, there comes your gown. I cannot wait for Tor to see you in it.”

She hadn’t seen Tor, but she could just imagine how thrilled he was going to be.

Sam followed Deja out to where her entourage waited, piling another box on top of one servants arms. Everyone walked in the city--there were no cars or bikes, no messenger boys or planes flying over head. The only sounds in the street were the soft tinkles of wind chimes and the muted laughter and conversation of other pedestrians.

Sam’s ears rang a little from so much quiet, but it soothed her nerves. She didn’t even hear the chirp of insects. “Are all the cities like this one?” Sam asked Deja as they walked along the street, back to the castle.

Deja chuckled and patted her hand, tucked around her arm. “No, most are much larger and grander. This is only our summer home. We have many others on Vulkahn. Don’t you find Sher Ushi a lovely spot?”

“It’s beautiful. Is there some significance to the name?”

“I forget the translators don’t catch everything if there is no word for it in your own language. It means ... hmmm ... little utopia.”

It certainly was. It brought to mind what Tor called her. She wondered if it meant something similar. “Can you tell me what shertouj means?”

Deja stopped. “Where did you hear that?”

“Tor has ... called me shertouj.” From Deja’s reaction, she wondered if it was something bad. She’d sometimes used undesirable words as pet names. For all she knew, he could be calling her a dog.

Deja looked at her pointedly then smiled. “He calls you shertouj? I will let him tell you its meaning. It is not my place to meddle.”

Sam almost laughed at that. Deja seemed like one of the most meddling mothers she’d ever met in her life, but also one of the sweetest. She was extremely fond of her already, and they’d only been walking around the city for a few hours.

“When you marry, you must beg Tor to take you to the capitol. If you find Sher Ushi lovely, you will find Tanji breathtaking. Now, let us go home. It is time to get you married.”

* * * *

Sam’s stomach was tied in knots as she walked down the center of the parlor. Tor stood on a raised platform, dressed in a black, form fitting suit save for the sleeves, with hung loose at his shoulders. Deja and Kontar sat at the base, along with Galan and Bradan, Hauk and Cole, and Kerel.

Flowers filled the intimate space, and the air was filled with the intoxicating scent of wisteria.

She couldn’t see the priest, but continued walking, keeping her eyes locked on Tor. She wondered if she’d even understand the ritual, or if everything would be above her head. The room seemed filled with tension, and not just her own. Tor looked like he was ready to bolt at any minute, and Hauk kept glancing nervously between Cole and Kontar. She wondered if her observations were based merely on her own anxiety, and figured that was probably what colored her vision.

Finally, when her knees felt like they’d give out at any minute, she reached Tor and the others, stepping up on the platform beside him. Sam looked around for the priest, wondering if he was running late.

Tor clasped her right hand, holding it reassuringly. She glanced up at him and smiled. She was such a goose for worrying--Earth law and Vulkahn law wouldn’t mix.

Suddenly, the ceiling above them opened up and a screen slowly lowered. It blipped, coming on, and a man in burgundy robes held his hands out in a welcoming gesture. He began waving a scepter around, pointing toward Tor and Sam.

Sam stood on her toes, whispering, “Tor, where’s the priest?”

“The last priest was murdered in the holy wars. It’s such a dangerous profession, only computers do it now,” he whispered back.

Sam’s jaw sagged.

The screen priest stopped waving the scepter around like a fiend and looked straight ahead. “I pronounce you two who stand before me, married in the eyes of the law.”

Everyone in the room let up a cheer that rang her ears.

Sam watched as the screen disappeared back into the ceiling, stunned. “What the hell just happened?” she asked, dumbfounded. Where were the I-Dos? Where was the speech? Where was the hellfire and damnation if anyone broke their vows?

Tor scooped her into his arms, grinning, and said, “We’re married.”

As if that was adequate explanation for what had just gone on. She couldn’t believe it was so simple. “That’s it?”

“This is an archaic ritual, we stopped doing it ages ago and have since moved on to bigger and more elaborate ceremonies. I have no idea why my mother and father hatched this plot, but it’s valid in the eyes of Vulkahn law.”

“You people are so weird. What’s next? And will you put me down?” Sam squirmed in Tor’s arms, looking at the others helplessly as he carried her out of the room.

“Now we go on to the good stuff.”

“The party?” Sam asked with a smile.

His gaze steamed her thighs. “It’s in the bedroom,” he said with a roguish grin.

“But ... but....”

* * * *

Tor listened to none of her excuses, and showed her many of the high points of having a husband. They fell asleep in a tangle of arms and legs, but some time during the night, Sam awoke, feeling miserable.

She tossed on the bed, trying to get comfortable, but the feeling persisted, nagging her. Finally, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and dropped down onto the floor, throwing a robe over her shoulders before striding toward the window. She looked out on the night, up at the clear, violet moon hung pale in the sky. She pushed the window open, and tendrils of wind fingered through her hair, loosening the binding until it trailed around her shoulders.

From her vantage point, she could see the garden Tor had shown her. The fountain’s water glittered in the moonlight, and she resolved suddenly to go there and bathe. Bathe in real water once again ... or at least feel it on her fingers.

She went through the doors opening onto the terrace, and followed the wide steps down to the grounds, moving toward the garden. It didn’t take her long to reach it. She strolled to the fountain and sat on the pool’s edge, dabbling her fingers in the water. It was cool with the night air, but bearable.

Sam quickly stripped her robe off and stepped into the pool. Only fleeting doubt assailed her before she dipped inside. She threw her head back, gasping at its coolness and the icy rivulets streaming down her body. Laughter bubbled from her throat, and she splashed in the water, rubbing her hands over her arms and breasts, her belly.

A sudden deep voice startled her from her revelry. “Is it this that makes you sad?”

Sam shielded her breasts and womanhood with her hands, turning around to find Tor watching her. She nearly melted at the look he ran over her body, as clear in the night as if it was broad day. “It is this ... and other things.”

He walked closer, slowly, as if afraid she would run away like a frightened animal. “I worried when I couldn’t find you. Somehow I knew you’d be here.”

Sam smiled softly, moving her hands to catch the falling water. Sam looked up when she caught his startled gasp. He was closer now, close enough to touch.

With agonizing slowness, he raised a hand and drew his fingers over the pebbled peak of one breast, smoothing his fingers in the moisture gathered on her skin. “I have never bathed in water, only in the laser lights,” he murmured, catching water droplets with his fingers to spread on her flesh.

Sam held her arms open. “Come in,” she whispered.

He removed the snug pants he wore, flinging them to the ground as he stepped into the pool. The water level rose around his knees. “It’s cold.”

“I’ll warm you up,” she said, pulling him into her arms.

“Saucy wench,” he said, grinning, closing the distance between them as he captured her mouth in a kiss.

The cool water danced over their skin like caressing fingers, feeling incredibly erotic, stimulating dormant senses. Sam returned Tor’s kiss with everything she had, squeezing her body against him, slipping her hands down his back to cup his buttocks firmly.

He groaned into her mouth, hugging her tight, plunging his tongue into her mouth. He was already hard for her, and Sam enjoyed the feel of him trapped against her belly.

Tor growled, impatient with play, taking them down into the water. Their hair clung to their faces and necks, swirling around in the water.

Sam propped back on the lip of the pool, parting her legs. Tor moved between them, guiding his cock to her pouty labia, rubbing the taut, rigid flesh up and down her folds, teasing her throbbing nub.

Sam pulled at the back of Tor’s neck, and he claimed her mouth with another kiss that heated her body until she was sure steam rose from the water. He rocked with the rolling motion of the water, feeling so good against her, so good everywhere.

He slipped his hands along her body, massaging, coaxing, urging her to let him inside. She pulled at his hips with her free hand, wanting him now, and he obliged, pushing his swollen shaft inside her.

It hurt more than it had before, for her natural moisture was washed away by the water, but he built it inside her again, trapping the thick cream of her desire, pumping with slow, languid strokes.

In the silvery lavender light, he met her eyes, holding her gaze steady as he stroked every inch in and out. The tempo increased, boiling her blood, pulling and pushing her to climax. It came faster now, harder, so sudden and swift she could only gasp as the pleasure seized her body in its encompassing grip.

Tor came inside her, breathing hoarsely, and tried to pull away, but she clung to him, sudden tears in her eyes. “Don’t,” she whispered against his ear, holding his head. “I want you inside me.”

She wanted to keep him close, as close as possible. He filled a void inside her, and not just physically. Why hadn’t she realized it before? How long would this last? How long before she was taken back to Earth? As if sensing her turmoil, he raised up to look at her, concern in his eyes. She kissed him, and it felt like saying good-bye.

When they parted, they were both breathing heavily, and yet Tor still wore concern on his face. “You do not have to go, Samantha.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Since the moment you awoke on my ship and slapped my face, shertouj.”

She laughed brokenly, trying not to cry. “Can’t you be serious?”

He kissed her tenderly, brushing the backs of his fingers against her cheek. He looked deep into her eyes, smiling slightly. “I am. My mother told me you asked of this name, of shertouj. Can you tell me you do not yet know what it means? That you cannot read the intent of my heart?”

Sam couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. “What does it mean?” she asked breathlessly, afraid to hear the truth ... afraid not to hear it.

“It means keeper of my heart. You have had it ... always.”

“And you mine,” she whispered as he kissed her.

Epilogue

“Tor?” Samantha rubbed her fingers on Tor’s chest, playing leisurely with his nipples.

“Hmmm?” he asked, twining a lock of her hair around his fingers.

“We need to talk. I’ve been thinking....”

He groaned. “That always gets you into trouble.”

Sam swatted him. “I know, but it’s not quite the same without Cole, which brings me to the subject at hand--we need to get her settled.”

Tor choked on his own saliva as he opened his mouth to object.

Sam laughed at his distress. “Serves you right, I know what you were going to say.”

Tor glared at the top of her head. “You know me so well?”

“I know men.”

“Not all men. Not Vulkahn men!”

“Don’t get your panties in a wad.”

“That is the foulest expression--”

Sam giggled, cutting him off. “You don’t even know what panties are.”

“I know enough. Stop distracting me from the real issue, wife. You and Cole have already been here a month. She’s to go home soon. I think she’s as settled as she’s going to get.”

“Not really....”

“Samantha,” Tor warned in a voice that threatened menace.

Sam giggled. “That’s not what I really wanted to talk about anyway. I’d like to send word to my sister and friends that I’m all right. I’m sure they’re worried about me.”

“I can get one of the guys to give them a message.”

“Thanks.” She chewed a nail, deliberating on how to broach her next subject. Finally, she just dove in. “Guess what,” she said, looking up at him with an impish grin.

Tor looked at her suspiciously, not sure if he wanted to guess, but he knew Samantha wouldn’t leave him alone until he did. “What?” he grumbled.

“I’m pregnant!”

He stared at her in shock for a moment while the words slowly sank in and then his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Tor? Tor?! Stop playing around, I know you’re awake.” She shook his shoulder, chuckling. He didn’t stir.

He’d fainted dead away.