Auctioned To The Babymaker (Kyrzon Breeding Auction Book 4)

by Luna Voss

  Having sex with Rukkarr feels more intimate without the passionberries. Or maybe it’s just that my feelings for him are stronger. But this time, making love to him is different. More emotional than just physical. It’s like I’m in tune with his every breath, every grunt, every beat of his heart. When he comes, I come too, writhing in ecstasy as his cock twitches inside me, filling me with his seed. We cling to each other panting, covered in sweat.

  “I love you, Rukkarr,” I murmur, struggling to form the words in my post-orgasmic haze. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you, Christy,” he whispers, kissing my forehead. “You’re everything I ever wanted.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Rukkarr and I wait until after dark to make our way into New Byzantium. I lead him through the back alleys, the roads I know are most likely to be deserted. Somehow, we manage to reach City Hall without running into anyone. I’m relieved: although not illegal, the sight of a human woman walking down the street with a Kyrzon in the middle of Human Territory would be considered quite scandalous. It’s not like I’m embarrassed to be with Rukkarr, but the last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves.

  The two of us stand in an alley across the street from City Hall, watching the building. I can see that the lights in the Council room are on. That must mean that their meeting is running late.

  “The City Council is still meeting,” I tell him. “We should wait until they leave.”

  “Is Governor Pullman on the City Council?” he asks.

  “He attends every meeting,” I confirm. “But a lot of the time, he stays late in his office after the Council leaves. That’s how I caught him with Nerkesh the first time.”

  “Will he be there alone?”

  “Probably.”

  “Probably?”

  “I can’t guarantee it. There could always be a janitor or somebody still there. He’ll probably be alone.”

  “You said you know where he lives. Would that be a safer location to capture him from?”

  I think about it. “It might be. The governor’s mansion is on the outskirts of New Byzantium. The problem will be getting in. The houses on the outskirts get a lot more privacy, but they’re also a lot more prone to raptor attacks, so they’re all locked down with top-notch security systems. Once he’s inside, I don’t know if breaking into his house will be a realistic option.”

  “Do you know how the governor travels home?” asks Rukkarr. “Does he walk?”

  “He drives his hover-cart. Everybody on the outskirts does. It’s basically the neighborhood where all the rich people live.”

  Rukkarr strokes his beard, seemingly interested by this information. “What route does he take? Do you know?”

  “Do I know what specific way he drives home? Of course not. Although… Now that I think about it, I’ll bet I could figure it out. Give me a moment…”

  I picture myself traveling from City Hall to the neighborhood where the governor lives. And really, there’s only one route that makes any sense to take. And that route involves following a long road around the edge of the settlement. A long, lightly-trafficked road, with big stretches that are far from any kind of building or development.

  The perfect place for an ambush.

  “I know how to capture the governor,” I tell Rukkarr. “Quick, we need to go before he leaves City Hall.”

  * * *

  “Try to look more pitiful,” Rukkarr hisses, watching from the bushes.

  I slow down my feigned limp, dragging my leg behind me. “How’s this?”

  “Better,” his voice comes back.

  I’m limping down the middle of the road that I know Governor Pullman will be using to drive home tonight. We’re at the most secluded part of it, far from the city center. It’s a part of New Byzantium most humans won’t travel to without a vehicle, for fear of animal attacks.

  “I’m going to mess up my hair a little bit,” I say to Rukkarr, ruffling up the top of my head. “Make it look more convincing.”

  “Good idea,” he replies from the bushes. “Why don’t I just come out? I’ll wait with you in the road until we see his hover-cart.”

  “No! If he sees you, it will give the whole thing away. You stay hidden and don’t do anything until I give you the signal. We need to wait until he gets out of his hover-cart. If you move while he’s still in the driver’s seat, he’ll just drive away and raise the alarm.”

  Rukkarr grunts. I know he’d rather be waiting with me, but he also knows I’m right about this. I stay in the road, doing my best impression of a poor, helpless, little girl. Minutes pass, and I find myself wondering if maybe I was wrong. Is it possible that Pullman is driving home another way? Or going somewhere other than his house after the City Council meeting?

  But then I see the headlights in the distance of an incoming hover-cart, and I sigh in relief.

  “That’s him,” I whisper to my mate. “Remember, don’t move until I give you the signal. I need to lure him out of the hover-cart.”

  The headlights grow closer, and I wave my arms in the air, exaggerating my limp.

  “Help!” I yell. “Please, help me!”

  The hover-cart slows as it approaches, and then stops next to me, floating a foot or two above the ground. I look at the driver, blinking in the light, and I see Governor Pullman staring back at me.

  “Christy?” he says, looking dumbfounded. “Is that you?”

  “Yes!” I shout, my heart pounding. “Governor Pullman, I’m so glad it’s you. I can’t believe someone found me. You have to help me.”

  “You were… you were sold to the Kyrzons,” the governor stutters. “What happened to you? Why are you here?”

  My mind races, trying to remember the story I prepared for myself. “There… there was a battle,” I whimper, doing my best to sound pitiful and scared. “Another clan attacked us. So many Kyrzons were fighting… I only barely managed to escape. I hurt my leg.” I clutch my ankle, faking a grimace.

  The governor looks me up and down, and for a moment, it almost seems like he’s suspicious.

  And then his face softens and he pats the seat next to him.

  “Get in,” he says gently. “I live close to here. We can get your leg cleaned up, and I’ll get you some hot food and a warm bed.”

  I hesitate. Get in doesn’t help me. I need him to get out. I start to limp over to him, hoping he’ll jump out of the cart and try to help me. He doesn’t.

  “My leg really hurts,” I say, pretending to wince in pain. “Can… can you help me?”

  “Here,” says Pullman, putting hover-cart in gear, and he maneuvers his vehicle so that the passenger side entrance is right in front of me. He pops the door open and holds out his hand to help me up.

  I hesitate again. I don’t know what to do.

  “It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he says in a kind voice. He holds out his hand expectantly.

  I don’t have a choice. I take his hand and allow him to lift me up into the hover-cart.

  “Thanks,” I say, trying to hide my panic. This isn’t going according to plan.

  I stare out the window helplessly as we drive away, Chief Rukkarr still hiding in the bushes.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “It’s a good thing I came across you,” says Governor Pullman as we drive. “You could have been eaten by a raptor or a tusk-bear out there all on your own. What happened to your leg?”

  “I… I tripped,” I tell him, inventing wildly. “On a rock. While I was running away. From the battle.” I fake a pained expression. “It really hurts.”

  “Don’t worry,” he says. “We’ll be at my house soon.”

  We were closer to the governor’s mansion than I thought. I glance out the window behind us as we move up the long driveway, a part of me hoping that I might catch a glance of Rukkarr sneaking behind us. I assume he started following the hover-cart as soon as he saw that we were driving away. Still, I know it isn’t realistic for him to be here so soon. Pullman
wasn’t driving especially quickly, but still much faster than even a Kyrzon can run.

  The governor parks the hover-cart in his garage and comes around to the other side to help me walk. I take his arm, allowing him to guide me out of the vehicle and up the stairs into his home.

  Pullman’s house is nice. Much nicer than most of the other dwellings in New Byzantium. I see a wealth of appliances: fans, speakers, television screens, musical instruments. The electricity cost to maintain all of this must be tremendous, not even to mention the value of the items. How does he afford all this?

  By doing deals with Kyrzons like Chief Nerkesh, I remember. Many of the Kyrzon clans, especially the ones from the Far Territories, are rich in power cells, despite their relatively lower usage of technology compared to humans. I would imagine that Pullman has been paid handsomely for his willingness to deliver Brides under the table.

  The more I think about this betrayal, the more it chills me. It’s as though he sees his role as governor as merely an opportunity to enrich himself, and nothing more. But his ability to fake the opposite is impressive. The whole time I was an intern in his office, I never expected a thing. In fact, I looked up to him.

  “Why don’t you sit down and make yourself comfortable,” he says, pointing to the big, plush couch in front of the television in his living room. “I’ll get you a glass of water. Is your leg bleeding?”

  “No,” I say, sitting down on the couch. “I think I just twisted it.”

  I hear him moving around in the kitchen, and then he comes walking over to me with a glass of water. He hands it to me, and I take it gratefully. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was.

  “Thanks,” I say, sipping the water. “I’m so lucky that you drove past when you did. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t.”

  He sighs. “Lucky for both of us. I never expected to see you again, Christy. But I sure am glad that I found you, before you made it into the settlement.”

  I pause. I don’t fully take his meaning. He continues:

  “You know, when you caught me with Chief Nerkesh after that City Council meeting, I was really worried. I actually thought the jig might be up. How relieved I was when it became clear to me that you didn’t understand what you had seen.”

  Panic starts to rise within me as I listen to him speak. He sits across from me on the couch, his demeanor still calm, but all of a sudden, the dynamic between us is entirely different.

  “But obviously, I couldn’t take the risk,” says Pullman. “There was always the chance that you would put two and two together. I had to find a way to make sure you wouldn’t tell anyone what you had learned.”

  A horrible realization dawns on me. “That’s why you had me sold to the Kyrzons,” I say in a small voice. “You rigged the Replacement Lottery to make sure my name would get chosen.”

  “That’s right,” confirms the governor, a cruel smile curling at the corners of his lips. “You always were a clever girl, Christy. It really is too bad that this is the way things have to end.”

  His words send a chill through me, and I stare at my glass of water. He didn’t… He wouldn’t…

  Have I been sealing my own death warrant with every sip?

  Pullman chuckles. “No, not poison,” he says. “Although that would have been a good idea, if I had any. But I don’t.”

  He pulls from his belt a stun gun, the kind that I’ve only ever seen human security forces use. A civilian like him, even the governor, isn’t supposed to have that. One touch from that thing should be enough to zap me unconscious. I stare at the weapon, my heart thumping out of my chest in fear. The governor smiles, as though enjoying the power he now holds over the situation.

  “Ah, I see that now, I truly have your attention. Stand up, please, Christy.” He raises his weapon threateningly.

  I stand up from the couch, not knowing what else to do. I don’t want to comply with his orders, but letting him knock me out won’t do any good, either.

  “Good,” says the governor. “Now, right this way. That’s right, Christy, start walking. We’re going down the stairs to my basement.”

  I don’t have any idea what is in Governor Pullman’s basement, but I know I don’t want to find out. I glance around the room desperately, looking for something, anything I can use to protect myself.

  And then I look out the sliding glass door that leads to Pullman’s second floor balcony, and my heart soars as I see the one thing capable of making this situation better. Chief Rukkarr is climbing onto the balcony from a nearby tree, doing his best not to make a sound. His feet create a soft thump as he lands, and he quickly flattens himself against the floor of the deck, hiding himself in the darkness. Pullman turns at the sound, and then, seeing nothing, turns back to me.

  “As I was saying. Down to the basement. Go on, now.”

  It takes all of my energy to resist the urge to look out the window at Rukkarr again. I don’t want to give away his presence. I comply with the governor’s orders, stepping around the coffee table and walking slowly past the door to the balcony on my way to the basement stairs. Pullman follows a few feet behind, stun gun at my back.

  I walk as slowly as I can past the sliding glass doors. I want to give the chief the best possible opportunity to intervene. My pulse is racing, adrenaline pumping through me. I feel as tense and nervous now as I did when Rukkarr and I were attacked by Clan Nerkesh.

  Having a stun gun at your back will do that to you.

  We pass the sliding glass doors, and for a crazy, hopeless moment, I wonder if Rukkarr isn’t coming. If he’s abandoned me. If I’m going to die in Governor Pullman’s basement.

  And then behind me, I hear the sound of glass shattering.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chief Rukkarr bursts through the sliding door, fragments of broken glass exploding everywhere. I turn around just in time to see him tackle Governor Pullman to the floor, grabbing his hand with the stun gun and smashing it over and over again into the ground until I’m sure the wrist is broken. Pullman’s weapon falls to the floor, and I hurry to kick it to the other side of the room.

  “You think you’re a fucking tough guy?” Rukkarr roars in the governor’s face, pinning him to the ground. “We’ll see how fucking tough you are without your little stun gun.”

  Pullman starts screaming bloody murder. “Help! Somebody help me! I’m being attacked in my home by a Kyrzon!”

  “Shut up,” growls Rukkarr. “You need to shut up right the fuck now.”

  The governor continues to scream at the top of his lungs. Rukkarr rolls his eyes exasperatedly, then uses one of his enormous hands to simply cover Pullman’s nose and mouth. The screaming immediately goes quiet, and a moment later, Pullman starts to thrash around, his eyes bulging in panic as he struggles to breathe.

  “Are we ready to be quiet?” Rukkarr asks him.

  The human makes a muffled sound into his hand.

  “Nod your head if you’re ready to be quiet,” the chief says casually, still covering Pullman’s nose and mouth. The governor nods his head frantically.

  Rukkarr still doesn’t move his hand. “Do you mean that, or are you just saying it? I don’t want there to be any confusion. You’re not going to keep yelling after I move my hand, are you?”

  Pullman shakes his head, his movements growing more frightened and desperate. It looks like he’s running out of air. The Kyrzon gives him a final, threatening glare, and takes his hand off his face, allowing him to breathe.

  The governor gasps and sputters on the floor, sucking in big, desperate breaths as Rukkarr continues to pin him down. I walk over to my husband and put my hand on his back gratefully.

  “You got here just in time,” I tell him, stroking his muscular shoulders. “I was getting scared there for a minute.”

  “I would never let anything happen to you,” the chief growls, standing up and putting an arm around me. He keeps one of his huge feet planted threateningly on Pullman’s chest.


  I look down at the governor, defeated, still recovering his breath. I can’t believe that I used to actually admire this scumbag. The degree to which he had me fooled was almost impressive.

  “You will tell us exactly where in this region Clan Nerkesh is hiding,” Rukkarr growls down at him. “And you will tell us now.”

  “You think I know where Chief Nerkesh keeps his troops?” Pullman gasps back. “I don’t have a single—” His voice drops to a rasp as Rukkarr starts to press down on his chest with his boot.

  “Let’s try again,” says the chief. “I’ll ask a different question. When is your next meeting with Chief Nerkesh? Think carefully before you answer.”

  Pullman pauses, and it’s like I can see in his eyes that he’s remembering something. And then, unexpectedly, the corners of his lips curl into a bizarre grin, and he starts to chuckle mirthlessly.

  “What are you laughing at?” I ask, starting to feel uneasy. I know the governor well enough to know that he’s not just a crazy person who would be laughing for no reason. If something is amusing to him in a moment like this, it’s probably not a good thing for us.

  “Rukkarr, I don’t like this,” I say to my mate as Pullman continues to laugh.

  “Answer me,” the chief snarls down at the governor. “You tell me where to find Nerkesh or I’m going to ruin the rest of your night.”

  “I think the night is already ruined,” says Pullman, still laughing. “Chief Nerkesh should be here at the house any moment.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Before Pullman is even finish speaking, a crash comes from downstairs. I startle, filled immediately with adrenaline.

  "That's him," says Pullman, practically giggling now. "Try to play nice with Chief Nerkesh, okay?"

  Rukkarr delivers a hard punch to his jaw, knocking the governor out cold.

  "He would have been a distraction if I kept him awake," explains the Kyrzon, standing up.