Wormholes. Two thousand women. Gods!

Ashley's mind was spinning fast as she tried to find a way out of the mess she'd ended up in. If she heard correctly, and she was certain she had, Zar had just confirmed the one possibility the Galactic Union had ruled out ages ago.

"Everyone aboard, Harbinger. Moving out of the solar system. Estimated time until opening the wormhole six hours," she heard the bridge report.

Impossible.

Wormholes were close to a myth in the Galactic Union.

Their existence was known and documented, but they simply existed as a phenomenon and not something to be created. Palians, the wisest and kindest species in the Union, had recently offered up the explanation that Nayanors traveled through them. It would have explained why they seemed to come out of the blue and why no one could locate their damn home world.

The rest of the Union had soon dismissed the idea, thinking it ludicrous that someone could control time and space like that. Now, hearing the truth with her own ears, Ashley was forced to reconsider.

A ship could travel untold distances through wormholes. Luminos could be at the other end of the galaxy for all she knew. No wonder no woman had ever escaped the raiders. How do you make it home with a human's lifespan and possibly the entire galaxy between Luminos and Terra?

Ashley felt cold all of a sudden. If Zar's ship jumped, there was no escape anymore. Not for her and not for any of the other two thousand women. The number still refused to register in her brain.

I need to be quick. And clever.

"Come now," Zar told her, beckoning her to follow him out of the fighter. "I will show you my quarters."

Ashley tried to ignore how much his deep voice made her body shiver and ache in need for him. The kiss had only solidified her doubt that she wasn't as immune to the harbinger's manly charms as she would have liked to be... Damn all those Terran guys. Scientists didn't usually make for the best kind of treats and now Ashley was paying the price for it.

She'd never seen a man like Zar. Almost certainly never would. One look at him had been enough to make Ashley's mind run wild with images of what it would be like to be fucked by such an excellent example of manhood. The idea was nowhere near as horrifying as she would have liked it to be.

She followed Zar, like she had back at the station. There was no use in trying to physically fight him. Zar looked like he could have overpowered her with both hands tied behind his back.

Ashley stepped onto the deck of the mothership. It surprised her how clean the exterior was. She'd been expecting something more... savage. Rusty metal, hastily pieced together machinery, etc. The reality was quite different.

It wasn't the calmest or most pristine ship in the world. Palians had that honor once again, considering you could hear a feather drop in their engine rooms. Aboard Zar's ship, Nayanor warriors were running around and support personnel, dressed in lighter green, were looking to the fighters. Everyone was clearly preparing for the unloading of the women.

Ashley gritted her teeth. Six hours, the bridge officer had said. It left her less than that to somehow save as many as she could.

Zar led the way, glancing her way with a look that left no doubt as to what he would rather have been doing to her. Ashley tried to give no indication of her own feelings, following in his steps like an obedient little prisoner.

They didn't walk long. A long corridor took them to a large elevator, which carried them a few floors upwards. In there, Zar leaned in to kiss her again and Ashley let it happen, deciding that fighting him at that critical point wasn't in her best interests.

"In here," Zar said at last, pressing his hand on a scanner behind a huge silvery door that matched his short hair.

Ashley walked in first and looked around in her cage.

Even that wasn't as bad as she'd feared. It had been her goal to land someone unimportant, so she'd expected to make do with little in the way of comfort. Now she was to live with the most decorated harbinger who'd ever flown the Nayanor colors.

The quarters were large and sparse. On her left and right, Ashley saw weapon rooms and something that looked like a work area. Up ahead there were several more rooms and she imagined at the end there was a bedroom.

Zar nudged her gently along, even if Ashley suspected it was a thinly veiled excuse to run his hand along her back and down to slide over her ass.

She quickly stepped out of the way, but the ghost of Zar's hand lingered on her. Ashley bit her lip, concentrating hard on her task at hand. Wanting to know how the warlord's hands would feel on her naked flesh definitely wasn't helping.

"Look around," Zar said, disappearing into one of the weapon rooms.

For a quick, insane moment Ashley considered bolting straight for the door behind her. She decided not to. She had no idea of the layout of the ship, the women were still being unloaded and besides, she had no leverage whatsoever.

The first warrior would have dragged her back and probably lost their life for touching her in the process.

She walked on instead, feeling more than a little hot in her coat. The gun, pushed into her pants in a hurry, was pressed against her back. Ashley didn't know if it was safe to hide it somewhere yet and she wanted it near her in any case.

She'd been right. After passing what looked like a large bathroom – with a huge bath that called to her after spending long months of taking lukewarm showers – Ashley saw the bedroom. Curiosity got the better of her and she peeked in.

Surprise was her first reaction. In the middle of the room stood a large comfortable bed she wouldn't have immediately expected from a feared warlord. With her skeptical mind, Ashley didn't put it past Zar to have ordered the bed in preparation of finding a mate. Perhaps it was to make her comfortable.

How cute, she thought with a self-deprecating grin. I'm going to live like girls in ancient harems, except I'm the only one. Lovely.

"Do you like it?" a deep voice asked behind her and Ashley jumped despite herself.

The bastard laughed that soft, maddeningly sexy laugh of his as Ashley backed into the bedroom. The last place she wanted to get cornered by him.

There’s something fitting about curiosity and cats.

When she turned to glare at him, Ashley stared instead. The long sword was gone and so was the dark green armor. Zar Kohora, the terror of all free worlds of the Galactic Union, was standing in front of her dressed in nothing but a pair of black boxers.

Ashley wanted to react in a normal and healthy way, but her mind could only come up with "nnggghhh". Another round of red hot desire flooded her body, making her even warmer in the harbinger's quarters.

The temperature seemed to be rising too, if Ashley wasn't mistaken. He was trying to smoke her out of her clothes.

"I think you've skipped a few steps here," she said when she finally had control over her voice again.

Her back hit the wall.

"You look absolutely gorgeous," Zar said like he hadn't heard her, coming closer.

It was hard to focus on his words. Ashley had seen some pretty handsome men in her days, working around soldiers on occasion did that, but none of those words did Zar justice. The harbinger was ripped like an avatar of the gods, every perfectly crafted muscle moving under tanned flesh as he approached. The gleaming diadon in his chest only caught Ashley's attention for a second before her gaze was drawn back to the warlord's sculpted chest.

Every inch of his body looked like it belonged to someone who was born on the battlefield. His biceps were so wide Ashley didn't think she could wrap both hands around them and have her fingers meet. His thick thighs made her want to know what it felt like to be between them, running her fingers over Zar's smooth flesh.

At the last moment before Zar would have caught her in his arms again, Ashley remembered the gun and slipped away. She had no idea how she managed to jump and roll over the bed, but suddenly it was between her and her so-called mate who looked positively bemused.

Looking at her with a grin like she was overreacting somehow, Zar said:

"I was going to wash the battle off me, but I like the way your mind works. You should join me. Those clothes look like you must be sweating in this heat."

"Pass," Ashley said, circling out of Zar's reach as the harbinger began to come her way around the bed.

He didn't seem to be trying very hard, which Ashley noted.

So you like to play. Useful to know for later.

She had to chide herself in the next moment for thinking that. There was not going to be any later! She was going to escape, find Felicia and however many women she could save and take her newfound knowledge back to the Union.

Maybe then the Palians could figure out where Luminos was. Then they could send Brions or some other warrior race to rescue the women. Most of the warriors in the Union would have welcomed the challenge. Nayanors were considered great exercise by most of them on rare encounters.

"You can run as much as you like," Zar said, looking at Ashley climbing over the bed again. "Your future is intertwined with me now. I can't wait to have you bear my sons and become my true mate."

"Also pass," Ashley said, eyeing the door.

If she could somehow take Zar out of the play, she might stand a chance.

She was so caught in trying to plot her escape route that she let out a scream when a pair of strong hands suddenly closed around her and pressed her against the wall. Ashley looked up into deep, dark eyes full of desire and pressed her hands against Zar's firm chest.

She might as well have tried to push the wall out of the way.

"Do you really want to get out of my arms, female?" Zar asked. "Or do you think you need to put up a fight for the sake of your pride?"

"Terra has a funny rule about that," Ashley said, noticing how breathless she was. "When a woman says no, it means she doesn't want anything to do with you."

"I see," Zar said, his lips inches from hers. "That is indeed a funny rule. On Luminos, men take what they want and females generally find it pleasing. Of course, I have yet to hear a "no" from you."

That was true, Ashley realized all of a sudden. In her enthusiasm to get away from Zar, she had never considered the option of just telling him to go to hell.

"No," she repeated, giving him another push.

Zar didn't budge.

"Interesting," the warlord said, coming even closer to her. "I've never heard that word being said with less conviction."

Ashley, who was starting to think that her feeling hot didn't have much to do with her coat after all, glared at him. She was certain she felt Zar's erection press against her and it knocked her back into reality.

She really was losing her mind, wasn't she? No matter how drop-dead gorgeous Zar was or how much she found herself gravitating to him, the man had just kidnapped her and a lot of other women. He was going to drag her to his home world, imprison her there – and it hadn't taken him more than an hour of acquaintance to mention he planned to knock her up the first chance he got.

"Funny," she told the harbinger. "You're a funny guy. I like that. Could you kindly let me go now?"

"No," Zar said with a grin.

His hands were suddenly on her coat, unzipping it in the front. Ashley's heart beat fast, trapped as she was without any chance to get away unless she gave the warlord what he wanted.

"I'm only going to get these over-clothes off you," Zar said, seeing the look on her face. "For now."

"Forgive me if I'm not swarming with trust for you right now," Ashley replied, sliding her hands down the warlord's amazing body until they were on her sides.

She slowly began to inch her fingers behind her back to the gun. It was a hopeless play, Zar was too close, but she had no other choice. Once the coat was off her, there was nowhere to hide.

She was so close now. Ashley's fingers brushed against the cold surface of the gun. Her breathing was growing quicker and Zar's lips claimed hers in a passionate kiss that nearly made her forgot the gun. He pushed the coat off her shoulders.

Then the gun was in her hand and Ashley pulled it out. Her world went tumbling shortly after that and she found herself lying on Zar's bed with the harbinger on top of her, a fire flaring in his eyes. His teeth were bared in a grin that confirmed what she could already feel with the hard cock pressing against her belly.

Ashley's hands were held in his firm grip above her head, the gun still in her left. She was truly caught now but instead of fear, Ashley had to bite back a moan. She'd imagined having Zar on top of her before, but the reality was not even comparable. His strong, masculine scent washed over her, capturing her mind so completely that she forgot to breathe.

"Were you going to shoot me?" Zar asked. "With this little gun?"

"It crossed my mind," Ashley whispered defiantly, trying to maintain some dignity when she was sure that by that point the harbinger had to know what effect he had on her.

"I knew you had it," the bastard said. "Ever since the station. As I said, I like that you have not lost your spirit yet, but it's futile."

"It's the principle," Ashley replied, her peace of mind returning to her when she realized she wasn't going to get punished for the attempt to kill the man. "I know I can't fight you. It doesn't mean I can’t try."

She wasn’t nearly as disappointed about failing to shoot him as she thought she should have been.

The hard cock throbbed against her belly as Zar moved just slightly, rubbing them together. The show he'd offered to share with her started to sound better and better, but Ashley remained quiet. She had to focus on all the horror the harbinger had reaped, all the lives he'd destroyed and ended. And all that he was yet to do with his eternal youth.

Then she saw something she hadn't expected at all. Zar hesitated, looking at her breathing heavily under him, trapped. She could practically hear the inner conflict going on and looked on in pure shock as Zar's grip on her wrists gave up a little. The gun fell from her hand after the vise-like hold disappeared.

"If I could take you right now," Zar said quietly, the first time Ashley had seen him being serious, "I would make you scream my name to the stars as we travel under them. I could make you cum so hard your body can't take the pleasure just once. I'd have you begging for more."

She believed him.

The harbinger sighed heavily, groaning at the back of his throat as his dark eyes wandered over her body. The way he'd ripped her clothing off had left her chest half-bare for his sight. Her breasts were almost popping out of the T-shirt she wore underneath the coat.

When Zar pressed his hot mouth against her flesh, Ashley moaned. The sound echoed in the room, stolen from her lips by his sheer presence and power. She could hear the warlord chuckling softly as he kissed her breasts, yanking the shirt down a little to pull her nipples into his mouth, licking and sucking on them lightly.

Ashley writhed. Her pussy had been hungering for Zar's cock ever since she'd set her eyes upon him at the station, against all reason. Now she was as wet as she'd ever been, brought so close to an orgasm without Zar ever touching her pussy like she wanted him to.

Then the harbinger let her go, standing up and leaving Ashley panting on the sheets. She could still see the outline of his erection as Zar looked at her with obvious lust in his eyes.

"Did you get the fighting out of your system now?" he asked, the grin returning to his lips as easily as he breathed. "I will wash the stink of battle off me. I have killed your males but it doesn't mean you have to suffer the humiliation of being fucked with their blood still on my hands.

"Stay here. I trust you've understood your attempts to escape will lead nowhere."

With that, Ashley was left alone. She laid on the bed for much longer than she needed to, staring at the ceiling.

She wanted to get out of there, of course she did. No question there.

Then why do I have to keep telling myself that?

With a sharp reminder that there was no future for her and Zar, no possible way she could fall for a killer like him, Ashley got out of the bed.

Zar had taken the gun, but it didn't matter. He'd given her all the tools she needed to escape.