“There she is!” a rough male voice shouted. “Get her!”
Neh’sa looked over her shoulder in surprise and was shocked to see three huge males bearing down on her. None of them wore a pain collar or had the look of slaves about them. They wore tight fitting leather trousers and loose, colorful shirts of turquoise and green and gold. One of them—the leader she thought, since he was leading the charge, had a black cybernetic patch over one eye.
She vaguely remembered seeing them during the first part of the ceremony and wondering who they were. Maybe some kind of strange emissaries from a distant planet that Mistress Thrust’much had invited? She did, occasionally, reach out to worlds where males were considered equal to females but only when she felt they had something very rare or important to offer in the way of trade or information.
Now Neh’sa wondered how she could ever have thought such a thing. Clearly these males were no emissaries or diplomats. They were pirates or slavers or something of that sort and they were coming for her!
“Get back!” She had to fight to make her voice strong. Tears still stung her eyes after the stunning revelation she’d had in the Library. Thorn…wasn’t who he’d said he was—he wasn’t even close. He was some kind of a spy, sent here to rob Yonnie Six of knowledge. He had no interest in her or in submitting to a Mistress—in submitting to her.
No interest in loving you, you mean, whispered a mean little voice in her head.
Neh’sa tried to shove it away and concentrate on the matter at hand. She had to get out of here! Get back to her ship before it was too late!
But still her stubborn brain continued thinking about the big Kindred. Was his name even Thorn? Was the tragic story he’d told her of his past true or was it all one big, elaborate fabrication?
“Get her!” one of the pirates shouted.
Automatically, Neh’sa reached for her piercer—and came up short. With a start, she realized she’d left it in her ship. She usually carried the tiny but deadly weapon with her everywhere when she was between body-slaves but she hadn’t believed she’d need it on the small moon where only Mistresses with their trusted body-slaves and foreign diplomats were allowed to land.
“Looking for a weapon? Don’t think so, girly.” The male with the eye patch grabbed her by the arm. “You’re coming with us.”
“No! Let me go!” Neh’sa demanded, struggling with all her might—but of course he didn’t listen and his grip was like unbreakable plasti-steel.
She looked wildly towards the landing area where the various ships of all shapes and sizes were parked. But there was no one she could call for help—no one but a tall, scaly Horvath who was leaning against the shiny silver side of a moon-duster and licking his eyeballs with a long, forked tongue.
For some reason the lizard-like alien looked familiar.
“Help!” Neh’sa called to him. “These males are taking me against my will!”
The Horvath shrugged his scaly shoulders.
“Thisss isss nothing to me,” he hissed.
Knowing well that Horvaths only cared about wealth, Neh’sa tried again.
“I’m a prominent Yonnite Mistress—I’ll make it worth your while. Help me!”
At last the Horvath began to look interested. He straightened up from his slouching stance against the shiny silver ship and looked at her speculatively. For a moment, Neh’sa thought he was going to draw some kind of a weapon.
“I don’t think so,” the man with the eyepatch growled. He nodded at one of the other males who drew a handcannon blaster and jabbed it in the direction of the hesitating Horvath.
“Keep your place, my friend,” he growled.
“The lady is ours to do as we please with,” the leader with the eye patch said. “Don’t interfere—no matter what she offers you, it’s not worth the price of your life.”
The Horvath appeared to consider this, then he nodded and allowed himself to slump back against the silver ship again.
Neh’sa understood what that meant—no help there.
“Help!” she shouted, raising her voice as loud as she could, trying to attract attention from the next atmosphere dome over, where the reception and party were being held. “Somebody help me! I’m being kidn—”
A heavy hand clamped over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist at the same time.
“That’s enough of that, girly,” the male with the eye-patch growled in her ear. His breath reeked of some strong, almost medicinal liquor, and his arm around her waist was horribly powerful. “You’re coming with us and no more caterwauling,” he informed Neh’sa. “Now come on.”
And before she could say or do anything else, he was forcing her up the plank that led to a later model star hopper. She wanted to fight—to resist. But all three of her captors were armed to the teeth.
“Say goodbye to Yonnie Six, Mistress,” the pirate growled in her ear. “Next stop, Berroff Prime. The Supreme Krine is going to love you—you’re just what he’s been looking for.”
Berroff Prime? Neh’sa stomach felt she’d swallowed a lump of ice as the name registered. There were stories about Berroff Prime and its ruler, the Krine. Stories about his son and the things that had befallen him on Yonnie Six…
But no—surely not! Those were just stories…weren’t they?
Neh’sa had no answers and the pirate captain shoved her roughly up the plank. Before she knew it, she was inside the cramped interior of the pirates’ ship in what appeared to be a cargo hold. The door clanged shut behind her with a finality that made her heart drop to her shoes.
She was trapped and there was no getting out again.
* * * * *
“Did you see her? Did you see my Mistress?” Thorn demanded, rushing up to Greed’lik, who was leaning against the ship waiting for him.
“Sssee who?” The other male licked one yellow, slitted eyeball in a desultory manner.
“Mistress Neh’sanna—the female who bought me!” Thorn exclaimed impatiently. “You sold me to her at the auction barely more than a standard week ago—surely you remember!”
Greed’lik shrugged. “Perhapsss—all of you fleshers look the sssame to me.”
Thorn tried to control his impatience.
“She’s beautiful—tiny and curvy with long dark hair and big dark eyes? Did you see her or not, damn you?”
“Oh her.” Greed’lik straightened up from his slouch. “Yess, she came thisss way.”
“She did? Well, where did she go? Where is she now?” Thorn demanded.
The Horvath shrugged again.
“Don’t know. Wherever the three males who had her took her, I suppossse.”
“What?” Thorn exploded. “You just stood there and let them take her?”
“What elssse could I do?” Greed’lik demanded, sounding peevish. “There were three of them and only one of me. Alssso, they informed me they would kill me if I interfered. I prefer not to die—it isss a peculiarity of mine.”
“Ha-fucking-ha,” Thorn growled. “We have to follow them before it’s too late! We have to try and find their trail.”
“No need.” Greed’lik pushed away from the ship and pressed the opening mechanism, causing a set of steps to detach and descend from its silver side. “I heard their leader sssay where they were going. Berroff Prime—I believe it isss in the Xrandosss System.”
“Berroff Prime?”
Thorn felt his gut clench. It was a planet of barbarian space lords—a place where males reigned supreme as surely as females did on Yonnie Six. A savage land where females were trodden down like dirt beneath the males’ feet. Neh’sa had a strong will but she was tiny and delicate and the Berroffs were huge—bigger than Thorn. The Goddess alone knew what those filthy bastards would do to her.
“Gods,” he groaned. “This is fucking terrible! We have to stop them before they take her there!”
Greed’lik frowned. “You said nothing about pursssuing piratesss into dangerous territory when we made our deal. This will cossst extra.”
“I don’t give a good Goddess damn what it costs—just get us in the fucking air and hail that ship before it’s too late!”
The Horvath shrugged his scaly shoulders.
“Asss you wish. Come.”