Chapter Eight

 

Erick frowned and adjusted his cock. “Look at her and you die,” he growled at Rok, who stood beside him.

They were surveying the two beautiful, naked pets in the cage loaded on Rok’s ship. One human, one Zandian. The females wore nothing but collars, wrist and ankle cuffs—incredibly high-tech voice-activated ones he’d found with the cage back at Zander’s pod.

“Ah, Lily and I need to have a private discussion in our room before we go.” Rok’s voice was rough.

“There’s no time for sex. Keep your mind on the mission,” said the male who’d made good on his promise to pleasure Mina with his mouth and tongue all night.

“Veck you. My mind isn’t going to be anywhere but in that cage unless I get some relief,” Rok snapped. He unlocked the gate on the cage. “Get over here, female,” he growled.

Lily smiled and walked forward, shrieking as Rok tossed her over his shoulder and carried her back to his room. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”

“Take your time.” Erick eyed his female, now alone in her cage. “Let’s go over it again—”

“Erick. We’ve been over it four times already. I know how to release the gas. We double and triple checked to make sure all of us are now immune to it. I know how to get to my gun, fast. I know how to open the cage door. We’re ready. Or we will be as soon as Rok is finished with Lily.” She smirked.

Pal, the Zandian who had outfitted the cage with sleeping gas, arrived on board Rok’s ship, dressed in black like the rest of the extraction and backup team members. No Zandian whites for this operation. Good, he was glad they’d have another Seke-trained warrior on board. Not that he didn’t trust Rok’s scrappy crew.

“Don’t look at her,” Erick growled.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Master Erick,” he said smoothly.

The rest of the team entered and milled around, also tactfully averting their eyes. It was stupid of him to threaten them all. The last thing he wanted was for them to look uncomfortable around the “slaves” when they arrived at Neo Lin’s, but he couldn’t help himself. His need to shield Mina from other eyes asserted itself too strongly.

Rok returned from his chamber on the old ship, Lily once more hefted over his shoulder, giggling. He deposited her back in the cage and spoke into his collar. “Comms test. Primary team report.”

Each of the members responded, their voices piped into the tiny devices in their ears. “Mierna ready and in position.”

“Tal ready and in position.”

“Guardo in position.”

“Depri in position.”

“Lily in position.” She smiled at her mate, who swatted her ass.

“Mina in position.” She folded her arms over her bare breasts and smirked at him, as if the cage was to keep him from touching her, rather than her being the prisoner.

He forced a smile. He couldn’t deny the excitement coming off Mina in waves. She loved being a part of this mission, as much as it killed him.

“Extraction team report,” Rok ordered.

“Jano ready.”

“Jaso ready.”

“Erick ready.”

“And I’m ready,” Rok said. “Backup team report.”

“Pal ready with a team of four soldiers.” The soldiers were human—newly trained—but they were armed and would prove useful. The plan was for them to remain hidden on Rok’s ship unless needed. Erick just hoped they wouldn’t be.

Rok buckled into a seat near the cage in the cargo hold. Erick did the same. “Let’s fly,” Rok commanded, and the ship lifted off.

He closed his eyes, striking all the images of tragedies that might befall them from his mind. Rok’s scrappy team had succeeded many times without expensive ships or equipment. What worked for them was the same thing that he used in his negotiations. Having nothing to lose. Or believing they could get themselves out of any situation. He needed to adopt that mindset, too, if he was going to be of any use to this mission.

After what felt like three planet rotations, but in actuality was less than half of one, the ship docked on Neo Lin’s pod off the planet Aurelia and they got into position, activating heat-masking sensors on their flight suits to prevent Neo’s guards from accurately reading how many beings they brought.

Rok used his ship’s sensors, controlled through his arm cuff, to scan Neo’s ship. “There.” He pointed at a dock below the one they were on. The outlines of the three galactacarriers showed on the screen.

“This is it,” he murmured to Mina before taking his position in hiding. “I know you’ll take care of yourself.”

The smile that stretched across her face was so genuine, he kicked himself again for trying to keep her back from this mission. “Of course I will.” She winked. “You too, Master.”

 

~.~

 

Mierna, flanked by Tal, Guardo, and Depri, pulled the hovercage out of the ship. Mina and Lily sat on their knees, fingers twined around the bars in their attempt at pitiful and scared slaves.

Neo Lin’s guards met them on the dock and escorted them to a reception area. Neo’s ship was as expensive and beautiful as Zander’s pod, only decorated with far more flash, which didn’t surprise her. Neo cared about his possessions more than anything. They were a source of power to him, of identity and pride.

He’d been one of Dorhock’s friends, one she was always assigned to service because he demanded her. It hadn’t been about the sex or the quality of her skills. It had been solely because he, like Dorhock, knew and recognized her value in the galaxy.

I’ll bet Prince Zander would pay any amount to recover the only female of his species still alive. Too bad he has no idea you’re tucked safely in Aurelia.

He’d been stroking her cheek with the backs of his fingers as she’d sucked his cock, and she’d stopped, unable to hide her shock.

You didn’t know? He’d grinned, as if being the one to tell her thrilled him beyond measure. Dorhock knows. Why do you think he keeps you hidden away except for his most special guests? You’re his prize possession. I’ve offered to buy you at least a dozen times, but he won’t sell. Too bad, because you’re as beautiful as you are rare.

So, she had no fear of the reception she’d receive from the eccentric Aurelian. But she wouldn’t put it past him to shoot Mierna and dump their ship to avoid spending any of his own money to keep her.

When the silver-haired Neo came in, he clapped his hands with glee. “Mina! My little Zandian pet. What a treat.” He came close to the cage, ignoring every other being.

He was just as she remembered—ornately dressed, face painted in metallic silvers and rose, silver nails sharpened.

“I was furious when I couldn’t find you at auction after Dorhock’s death. They must have traded you privately.” He turned to Mierna. “Where did you get her?”

Mierna lifted her chin. “I stole her.”

“And what makes you think I won’t simply turn you into the authorities?”

“It’s illegal to keep Zandians as slaves. Besides, the slave pet told me you’d pay.” She rapped the cage with a cane that doubled as a concealed weapon. “Didn’t you, pet?”

Neo’s face lit up. “Did you, dear?” He reached through the bars to pinch one nipple.

Mina didn’t flinch.

“We always had an affinity for one another, didn’t we?”

Damn. She hated having the conversation broadcast to all three teams because she’d prefer Erick didn’t hear she’d had past relations with this being.

But he must’ve known anyway. And he’d never judged her or been jealous of her past exploits. He only seemed possessive about any future males.

Guards on the dock have been neutralized. Extraction team heading to the underground bunker for the galactacarriers, Rok’s voice reported in her tiny earpiece.

She rubbed up against the bars like a nelot, or cat, as her human friend Leti called them.

“Where’s your tail, little one?”

She stuck her lower lip out like an infant. “I lost it, Master Neo. Maybe you’ll buy me a new one?” She licked the bar of the cage, holding his silver gaze.

He chuckled. “How much do you want for her?”

“One million steins.”

Neo barked a laugh. “Ridiculous. I’ll give you ten thousand.”

“No deal.”

Galactacarriers located and boarded.

Mierna grabbed the cage and swung it around. “Come on, boys. We’re leaving.”

Mina didn’t believe Neo would actually let her walk out without a counteroffer, but if he did, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. It sounded like the galactacarrier extraction team was in position and ready to leave.

Neo grabbed the back end of the cage and whipped it back to face him. “Open the cage, and let me inspect her.”

Mierna thumped her cane on the floor. “She requires no inspection. You can see for yourself she’s in excellent health.” The tiny Venusian drew herself up tall. “And you’re already acquainted with her skill.”

Neo whipped out a gun and put it to Mierna’s head. “Open. The. Cage.”

The entire team tensed, but no one dared move, not with the laser gun so close to Mierna’s head.

Primary team, get out of there. Extraction team is ready to evacuate. Rok’s urgent communication came through her earpiece.

“Open cage,” Mierna said tightly.

Lily slowly lifted her hand to her hair then to the ceiling of the cage, where the trigger for the sleeping gas had been hidden. Using the guise of stretching her cramped body, she pushed it.

Nothing happened. Veck. Why didn’t the gas work?

Neo kept his gun trained on Mierna but gestured to one of his guards. “Pull out the Zandian. Leave the human.”

Lily tried to trigger the gas again.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Mina kicked off the guard’s hands and tumbled out of the cage then bounced to her feet, still playing cute. She heard the snick of the cage door closing behind her.

She wiggled her body between Neo and Mierna and threaded her arms around the Aurelian’s neck. She licked a line up Neo’s jaw. “You’re going to buy me, aren’t you, Neo?”

The male’s face hardened, and he didn’t take his eyes off the rest of her team, but he clamped a hand over her shoulder and shoved her to her knees.

She knew exactly what he wanted, and didn’t hesitate to comply. Humiliation had always been part of the pet game, which she’d learned to play a long time ago. If he wanted to have his cock sucked while he held a gun on Mierna, she’d do it.

The gas hadn’t worked, but they had other distractions in play. Erick would set off a bomb somewhere, and she’d knock the gun out of Neo’s hand. Or bite off his cock. Or do whatever she had to do to get out of there with her friends’ lives intact.

She pulled Neo’s flaccid cock from his pants and fit it easily in her mouth, sucking and warming it with her tongue.

In the past she’d been able to disassociate from sex. No, that wasn’t it. She had no positive association with it, so there’d been no need to disassociate. It was just one of the asinine ridiculous things Dorhock expected of his pets.

Now that she’d been with Erick, now that she knew true pleasure, understood the measure of sex—how gratifying it could be, how intimate, how incredibly bonding, she couldn’t stand having her mouth on another being’s cock.

And the fact that it was a small, soft cock made it even more disgusting to her.

But her job was to distract. To diffuse the situation until the gun left Mierna’s head and her team could act. So she cupped Neo’s four balls, and rolled her tongue along the underside of his pathetic malehood.

To make matters worse, Erick’s voice came through on the comms unit. Primary team, it’s too quiet. What’s going on in there?

“Get rid of them,” Neo snapped.

In a mind-boggling blur of simultaneous action, Mina slammed her wrist up against Neo’s, sending his gun flying to the floor. He backhanded her, and she flew to the floor as his guards pulled out laser guns and shot at Depri, Guardo, Tal, and Mierna.

Depri fell, but rolled, taking a wound to the shoulder. Guardo attacked the guard closest to him. Mierna, Depri, and Tal scattered to take cover. Tal flipped the cage, with Lily still inside, to its side, using the floor to shield them from the laser fire.

Lily opened the compartment in the false floor and pulled out her own laser weapon, aiming and firing at Neo, but she missed.

Mina had scrambled to her feet, her cheek throbbing, and she ran for the cage, launching herself at it and using it to knock over two guards.

What the veck is going on in there? Rok’s voice rose with urgency.

“Small problem,” Lily muttered.

A shock stick struck Mina’s back, and her body jerked and dropped to the floor, immobile, staring up at Neo’s cold face. He picked her up by the armpits and dragged her toward the exit, barking a command for a guard to help him. One swooped in and grabbed her ankles.

No, she tried to scream, but her larynx was paralyzed, and her body didn’t obey her commands. Laser fire flashed through the room, Guardo still fought in hand-to-hand combat. Miera lifted her cane and fired at the guard holding Mina’s feet, and he crumpled to the ground. It didn’t stop Neo from dragging her from the room and down a corridor into what must be his chamber.

To his comms unit, he said, “All units to reception. The Zandian has been taken. Kill the rest.”

Oh veck! Mina! Don’t worry, pet, I’m coming for you. Erick’s determined voice came through.

But she couldn’t answer him.

Apparently, Neo had to keep his sex partners prisoner, because he had cuffs attached at the head and foot of a low sleeping platform. He swiftly locked her in place as she stared up, unable to blink or move any muscle in her body. It was a wonder her heart still beat, lungs moved air.

Immediate backup requested for primary team, Rok barked. Jano and Jasu, fly your vecking galacatacarriers out. I’m triggering explosions now. Pal, find the primary team and get them the veck out of there!

On our way, Pal clipped.

Who is flying out the third galactacarrier? some being asked, maybe Jano or Jasu.

We’ll leave it vecking behind, if we have to. Erick and I aren’t leaving without our females! Rok snarled.

Copy that. Jano taking off.

Jaso taking off.

Explosions sounded through the building.

Neo turned a deadly gaze on her. Gone was the pompous, well-mannered collector. She was seeing the killer. “What is this, Mina? What are you after?”

“Lord Nin, the galactacarriers are taking off!” A frantic transmission came through some invisible comms unit on Neo.

His face contorted with rage, and he picked up the shock stick and hit her with the voltage again, just for spite.

The door flew open, and Erick took Neo down with a single laser shot to the head.

“Mina,” he choked, taking in her lifeless form. He unsheathed his sword and sliced off her bonds then put his ear to her chest.

Not dead, she tried to croak, but nothing came out.

He scooped her up and ran down a smoky corridor.

Rok and Lily taking off in the third galactacarrier, Rok reported.

Thank the stars. That must mean her friends made it out. At least Lily had.

Guards rounded the bend at a run, and Erick fired twice, dropping them both. A true warrior. He killed four more on the run through the mansion and had to use the laser gun to shoot the panel of an electronic door that kept them from exiting. The bodies of sleeping guards lay everywhere on the dock, but her friends waited at the ship, hatch open. “Come on, come on,” they urged.

Someone tried to take her from Erick, but he wouldn’t let go.

The ship lurched into the air before anyone had buckled in, and Erick stumbled along the deck until he found a cot to lay her on. Beside it, Depri lay on another, tending to his own bleeding shoulder wound.

Erick injected her with something that took away the jangling of her nerve endings, the fire that had started in tiny pinpricks. He pressed a large Zandian crystal into her palm and closed his fingers around hers, helping her hold it against her heart.

Her body sputtered to life, and she lurched to a sitting position, coughing and choking in more breath.

Erick clapped an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, and she sank back to the cot.

This wasn’t how she expected to feel. Like the weak female who required rescuing. Like the one who’d been captured for sex. Used like a slave pet.

Gone was the strength and excitement she’d felt going into the mission. Buried under the guilt and shame that she’d sucked another male’s cock. Had used her body like a slave’s again. She wanted to beg Erick’s forgiveness, but then that instinct made her angry.

Why should she apologize? She’d been doing what she had to do, like any other warrior there.

Why, then, did she feel so dirty?

She’d never once felt this way in all her years as a sex pet. This must’ve been the misery most of the sex slaves experienced. She’d seen it in the dead of their eyes. Their extreme distaste for what they had to do.

She’d never understood it.

Because she hadn’t had her own desire awakened. Hadn’t known what it meant to give her body of her own free will, to give and receive with a partner of her own choosing.

Now that she knew, it changed everything. And she hated how soiled she felt.

 

~.~

 

“Talk to me, Mina. Can you speak, now? Tell me you’re all right.” Erick didn’t like the way Mina had receded before his eyes, as if her life force had drained. But her physical body looked better. Her color had returned. She could blink her eyes and turn her head.

Turn her head away from him.

Why wouldn’t she look at him?

“Mina…” He tried to hold in the question raging at the forefront of his mind, but he couldn’t. “What did he do to you?”

Mina’s lips curled in disgust, and she rolled to her side, away from him. “Nothing.”

“Mina—”

“It’s Tara,” she corrected.

And then he understood.

Veck it all. Something in there had caused Mina to feel degraded. Shamed. It brought back the life she wanted to forget.

He wanted to beat his head against the ship wall. To go back to Neo’s and kill the bastard all over again. He’d let him die too easily. He should have caused some suffering first.

He laid a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. The rejection stung more than he would’ve thought possible. Of all the worst-case scenarios that had trampled his mind as he’d raced through Neo’s following Mina’s tracker on his armcuff and praying she hadn’t been hurt or defiled, he’d never imagined this consequence.

Her rejection of him.

But he deserved it. He’d never treated her like anything but a sex object. He’d agreed to this ill-conceived mission, which had been necessary to solve his own shortcomings in business dealings.

He’d not only relished the sex pet in Mina, he’d put it to use. Offered her to another male.

The thought sickened him.

Yes, she’d thought she wanted this, it had energized her to be a part of an exciting and dangerous mission. And he’d accepted that as enough to justify the plan.

But he should have considered every angle. Should have known this might happen. Wasn’t it his duty to protect Mina? She was his female.

Or he wanted her to be, anyway.

Now, he may have lost that chance.

Veck it all, this was bad.

“I’ll...uh...just give you some space. Do you want anything? Any other being?”

She shook her head, still staring at the wall in front of her.

Damn.

He would’ve rather died back there than have this outcome.