EnforcersCraving Page 3

  Wasn’t that a copout? If the Gemarrans were decent enough to be offended by slavery, why didn’t they boycott the auctions? If Brightstar was in business for profit, they wouldn’t bring women here if nobody wanted to buy them.

  “And what about you two? Do you care that if you buy yourself a bride you will be essentially raping an unwilling woman?”

  Ari scowled. “We’re Enforcers. It’s unlikely Tarkan and I will ever be permitted to claim a woman of our own.”

  She failed to see how that made a difference and she was about to say so when she was distracted by Tarkan as he lifted to his knees. Leaning forward he moved close enough to get into her space without actually touching her body. She could feel the heat of him and see every one of his long, thick eyelashes. When he dropped his voice every syllable slid over her like warm honey. “If I were to claim a woman, I can assure you she wouldn’t be unwilling for long. In fact, I can guarantee that what I shared with her would be sweaty, satisfying and so far from rape you don’t even have a word for it.”

  And in what had to be the most incongruous moment of her life, Chelsea’s entire body prickled with need. Her nipples hardened, her pussy tingled and her hands itched for the feel of warm, male skin. And not just any male either.

  Tarkan’s hand found her knee, wrapping around her leg before slowly sliding up the inside of her thigh. The fabric of her trousers protected her from skin-to-skin contact, but the heat of his hand branded her, radiating out to melt muscle and bone. And then the angel smell invaded her senses again. Pure, clean, joyous, totally addictive.

  “What is that smell?” she whispered, eyes closed and almost insensible to anything but sensation.

  Tarkan leaned close, his hand moving the final few inches to cup her sex, his breath hot against her cheek. “I can’t smell anything but you and your arousal. You smell like perfection.”

  Her body was heavy. Hot and languid. Her nipples ached and she needed more than the pressure of Tarkan’s hand on her pussy. She rolled her hips and her moan was loud in the quiet of the cabin.

  It was the sound of her own voice that bought her back, jerking her out of her haze and slamming her into the here and now. Fear came hard on the heels of lust and she scrambled back to press herself against the wall, shocked and humiliated by her own behavior.

  “Back off. You shouldn’t…I mean I can’t…it’s not…” She crammed herself into the corner and her fear spiked when both men stood, looming over her at what had to be six and a half feet.

  Tarkan raised both hands, palms out. “Don’t be frightened. We won’t hurt you.”

  Maybe not, but he was a stranger who’d just taken liberties she rarely allowed any man. It suddenly seemed imperative that she not be alone with these two giants. “I want to be with the other women. I want to see Tansy.”

  Tarkan looked concerned and a little apologetic, but Ari’s expression was cold and stony as he opened the door and motioned into the next chamber. “Do you need help or can you walk on your own?”

  “On my own, thanks.” At this point she’d rather fall flat on her ass than risk another bout of whatever the hell just happened with Tarkan. Doing her best to ignore the pulsing testosterone behind her, she scrambled through the door.

  Chapter Four

  The shuttle wasn’t big. The ceiling was high enough for Chelsea to stand upright but Tarkan and Ari had to bend at the neck and shoulders to follow her. The door opened to a narrow space with seats along the walls, the chairs facing in and creating a gap about three meters wide down the center. At present there were twenty-five or thirty women buckled in, flanked by several men of the same large scale as Ari and Tarkan, all wearing the blue leather uniforms.

  Chelsea gripped the doorway for stability as she scanned up and down the line of women. Some met her gaze, others looked down, a few were crying, but none of them called out a greeting. None of them was the one person she desperately wanted to see.

  “Tansy? Tansy!” Chelsea staggered forward, her adrenaline pumping strength into her wobbly legs. “Tansy Coleman, you get your ass here right now!” She stalked the aisle, turned and got halfway down again before she lifted her eyes and glared at the only two people she could blame.

  “Where is she?” Ari and Tarkan looked back at her, blank and unhelpful. She whirled on the women sitting safe in their seats. “Where is she? My friend, the one I was with on the other ship. We were right next to each other.”

  A woman with improbably red hair raised her hand to get Chelsea’s attention. “They put her on the shuttle before this one. She was fighting and screaming to be kept with you, but the guy in charge ordered that you be separated. I’m sorry, honey, you’ll just have to wait until we land.”

  “How long will that be?” Chelsea cast her gaze at the men, waiting for one of them to speak up.

  A white-blond soldier stood and offered her his seat. “Sit here, put your harness on, and I’ll answer your questions.”

  “Why can’t you answer them now?”

  “Because if we take a hit you’ll fall and likely break something. Now get in the chair.”

  This guy had the same don’t-piss-me-off vibe as Tansy’s dad and he’d served in the first Gulf War. Trained for obedience by years in the Coleman household, Chelsea walked over to the seat and flopped down in silent mutiny.

  Mr. Bossy leaned over her, strapping her in with cool efficiency. He turned his head to address one of the other men. “Kaelum, remove her wrist band, then put it with the others. We can dump them out the airlock once we hit the asteroid field.” He lifted his eyes and pinned Chelsea with a hard glare. “And you keep quiet.”

  Chelsea lifted a brow but kept her mouth shut, for the time being.

  The blond giant walked to the end of the chamber and turned back, addressing all of them. “I am Den Commander Jaxmyre Randovar, my men and I are from the Sapphire Den.” He paused, then let out a deep breath. “I suppose that doesn’t mean anything to you.”

  Strangely enough, Chelsea felt a bit sorry for him. She also figured it wouldn’t hurt to throw him a bone, because god knew she couldn’t afford to make any enemies. “Den Commander, why don’t you start with why we’re here?”

  He took a long look at her before he nodded his head. “We have no women of marriageable age on our planet, so the corporation that runs our world—Brightstar Mining—brings women in to become our wives and mothers. But the corporation is selective about who receives their largess and woman are used as a specific kind of currency. My people and the area in which we live are a long way from Brightstar’s influence. The only way we are going to acquire wives and mothers of our own is to liberate women like you from Brightstar’s possession.” He gestured to the inner structure of the shuttle. “This is a rescue mission. We have a few more hurdles to jump, but once we land you will be taken to living quarters set aside for your use and we’ll begin teaching you about our world.”

  The redheaded woman sitting next to Chelsea piped up. “So you’ve saved us from becoming Brightstar’s wives and mothers, only to force us to become your wives and mothers?”

  Huh! That’s exactly what Chelsea was thinking.

  Jaxmyre shook his head. “No. Brightstar would sell you at the bride auctions and if you weren’t purchased there you’d go to the worker auctions. You would have no say in your life either way. But we are not like them. We’ll give you time to learn our ways and the freedom to make your own choices about how you want to live your lives.”

  “What if we just want to go home?” a woman asked.

  The giant shook his head. Again. “It’s not possible. The Interplanetary Charter protects people from slavery by making it law that anyone who wants to return to their home planet can. But Brightstar has the only means of stellar-travel on our world and if you go to them for help you’ll end up back on the auction block.”

  Ari was positioned at the opposite end of the cabin, but when he took a step forward all eyes swiveled in his direction. “We can’t take
you home. All we can do is protect you from the life Brightstar would have forced on you and give you a place where you can make a new home. All of the men on this mission are Enforcers, defenders, if you like, and it’s our job to protect you.”

  Chelsea squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head back against the seat. God, what a mess. She didn’t want to be here, none of the women did but it seemed this was going to be her life whether she wanted it or not. Opening her eyes she leaned forward, catching and holding Ari’s gaze. “How many rescue shuttles are there?”

  “You’re sitting in it.”

  This time when she closed her eyes it was against the hot sting of tears. Throat tight, she let them fall, allowing herself to picture Tansy on the auction block and not shying away from all the unspeakable things she might encounter.

  Tarkan sat on the floor, his back braced against the door frame, and watched Chelsea. Even frightened, disheveled and riding the edge of exhaustion she was still a beautiful woman. Soft, curvy, with light-brown hair that tangled around her face and fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were the pale blue of a winter sky and her lips evoked carnal images so graphic he was actually grateful for his ill-fitting body armor. And she’d responded to his touch as though she was made for him.

  He wanted nothing more than to strip her naked and lick her from head to toe and back again. But unless he came up with a brilliant plan, he’d be lucky if he ever saw her in the township, let alone in his bed. He looked over at Ari and caught him looking at Chelsea with the same kind of heat in his eyes.

  Now Ari might have some hope of keeping Chelsea, if he could get his hands on her in the first place. Ari was one of Jax’s captains, well respected and admired within the dragon den. Nobody would dare try to take his woman from him. Tarkan’s mind ticked over, going from Ari to Chelsea and back again.

  What Tarkan needed was some decent leverage. He had to get Chelsea on his side somehow, to make her want him, to fight for him. He didn’t have anything much to recommend him on his own, he was no better or worse than most of the Enforcers, so that wouldn’t get him over the line. The only way he could make an impression on her was to find out what she wanted and give it to her. He couldn’t get her home, none of them could, but she’d been pretty adamant about finding her friend.

  He watched the tears track down her face and he had a feeling those tears weren’t entirely for herself. And the more he thought about it, the more sure he became. Chelsea’s friend was the currency he needed to deal in.

  Ari’s foot shot out and kicked Tarkan hard enough that when his body jerked his head hit the door frame. “Ow.”

  “What are you doing?” Ari asked.

  “Minding my own business. You should try it.”

  “You are my business, and I recognize that look on your face.” Ari drew in his legs and pivoted, blocking out the passenger section by turning his back to it. “You’re planning something, and I’d bet my best tack it involves that girl.”

  Tarkan let a hint of a smile slip. “Maybe.”

  Ari shuffled closer. “You can’t have her Tarkan. There’s no way we can get to her and even if we could they’d never let you spend time with her. She’s destined for councilors and land holders, not for the likes of us.”

  Reaching out Tarkan laid his hand on Ari’s shoulder. “I have a plan.”

  “Fuck.” Ari’s slump of defeat said it all.

  The shuttle had no windows but Tarkan knew what was going on by feel and motion. The plan was to slip out of the convoy once they hit the asteroid belt and use the slowly moving rocks as camouflage to make their escape. They’d travel through the asteroids, parallel to the planet until they hovered in orbit directly above Ivasta. Then they’d have to wait for a break in the weather patterns, a small gap in the ionosphere which allowed them to slip through and land safely before the next storm. It was all about timing and luck. If they got caught in a storm on their way down they’d be dead in the air, the shuttle would go dark and they’d have nothing but gravity until they smashed to the ground.

  The trip seemed interminable. The slow slide, dip and lift as they maneuvered through the asteroids, then the endless wait for a break in the weather. But once the shuttle tipped and picked up speed Tarkan knew they were almost home. He watched the lights, alert for any flickering or diminishing power, but they stayed steady. Finally the shuttle bled off speed and swooped once, twice and then juddered to a halt. The engines shut down and the lights went out as fast as the pilot could switch off the electrics.

  Jax opened the airlock and the front section of the shuttle flooded with sunshine and fresh air. Working quickly the Enforcers unbuckled the women from their seats and herded them toward the door. Tarkan was at the back so he was one of the last to come down the rickety stairs that led to ground level. There was some congestion as the women milled around and he took a moment to look out, trying to see his home through their eyes. The sky was soft blue, the ion clouds a tumble of purple and lavender. The township of Sapphire spread along the valley, cool marble colonnades and elegant domes dominating the landscape and breaking up the rich green expanse of vegetation. To the left of the town, far across the giant lakes was the cliff housing the dragon den. Tarkan could see several winged shapes in the air, coming and going about their daily routines, but from this distance they looked little more than dots in the air. He’d heard the planet Earth didn’t have dragons and he wondered what the women would make of them.

  He didn’t have to wait long to find out. As the stairway cleared and he made his way down the steps, two large, placid, green dragons lumbered into view, ready to tow the shuttle to its hiding place. There were gasps from the women, a couple of startled exclamations, and then chaos erupted. They tried to make a break for it and Tarkan raced down the remaining steps, wrangling the first woman he laid hands on and catching a second one under his spare arm. He turned them, pushing them back to the group and raced off to catch another one.

  Most of the Enforcers were similarly engaged and they were all trying not to laugh. It seemed ridiculous to be frightened of the greens but their size was intimidating, and the women didn’t know that it was color that indicated a dragon’s level of danger not his or her size.

  It took a while to contain the females and calm them down but by the time the transport approached to take them into town they were somewhat settled. Tarkan knew this was his last opportunity to speak to Chelsea so he wove through the wide-eyed feminine huddle, mentally rehearsing his speech. He’d have to be quick and discreet, because this was one conversation he couldn’t have in front of ten Enforcers, twenty-seven frightened women, one den-mate and the rapidly approaching council officials.

  Blocking out everything but his quarry he strode forward.

  Chapter Five

  Chelsea was struggling and she was woman enough to admit it. The whole space-alien thing had totally done her head in and now she was standing on a flat field of grass, watching a shuttle being towed away by two enormous creatures that would have looked at home in Jurassic Park. They were the size of a small house, green, scaly and strong. The dragon’s heads were big and oval-shaped, and a ruffle of leathery skin ran from their small pointed ears, along their spines and down to their foreshortened tails. They were harnessed separately and there didn’t seem to be a handler nearby, but they pulled in unison, straining every muscle to get the shuttle moving. Eventually it creaked forward and they leaned into their harnesses, their clawed feet sinking deep into the grass as they lumbered away.

  Her attention shifted when she felt a firm, masculine arm circle around her back and she looked up to find Tarkan stepping into her personal space. He pulled her against him, lowering his head so he could whisper in her ear, fast and quiet.

  “I will help you look for your friend and I will help you get her back if we find her—but there’s a price. If you decide you want to pay it, I’ll be at the lake every morning after breakfast. Come and find me when you’re ready.”

  And he wa
s gone. In the moment it took to register his presence and process his offer, he’d disappeared from sight, which should have been impossible for a man of his bulk and stature. She tried to peer over the confused mass of women but her five-foot-six frame wasn’t doing her any favors, and when the group surged she was too busy keeping her feet to worry about where Tarkan might have gone.

  As she righted herself, she turned to see what had caused the excitement. She only had a half-view from her position at the back of the mob but she wasn’t sure a full view would have helped her anyway. Approaching them at an angle were a team of six horses pulling a vehicle that looked like a tram on wheels. It was ornate at the windows, rooftop and doorways, painted an old gold with a company logo proudly displayed on the side panel. The windows were opaque but Chelsea suspected a passenger would be able to see out without the rest of the world seeing in. The horses pulling the vehicle were sturdy and long-barreled. They had brightly colored feathers instead of a mane and tail, and more feathers fanned out over their hoofs.

  Several outriders followed the vehicle and as it slowed to a halt four well-dressed men pushed their horses forward to array themselves in front of the rescued women. They wore high boots, trousers and long jackets spilt at the back to accommodate the saddle. Two were older, perhaps in their mid-fifties but the other two looked to be in their thirties. Chelsea studied them, trying to absorb as much information as she could. In this world she had no frame of reference and no way to tell what information was important and what was useless so she tried to absorb everything.

  One of the younger men nudged his horse forward a step. “My name is Tollanare Ghananstall and these are my colleagues Medalyn Consbaregh, Davetscore Fenningsbar and Willersby Lochmehdyhn. We are members of the ruling Council here at Sapphire and we’ve come to officially welcome you to Ivasta.”