by Vi Voxley
Different expressions flashed across Ashley's face. There was definite irritation behind her gorgeous stormy blue-gray eyes, as deep and enticing as Zar had ever seen. He imagined he could get lost in those eyes, looking into them as he claimed her.
The mere thought of thrusting his cock into her wet, tight pussy made him grow hard. She was calling to him with a force that no female had ever managed to bring out in him.
Under the irritation, though, Zar was certain he'd noticed a slight blush. It made her pale skin glow in an incredibly sexy way, forcing him to control his need to take her right then and there, before they even reached the ship.
There was desire too, he was sure of it. Hidden, denied, forcefully subdued even, but it was there nonetheless.
Gods, this female. I would fight every harbinger on Luminos for her. She's worth every second of waiting for her.
"How many women did you kidnap?" Ashley asked defiantly once she seemed sure her voice wasn't shaking.
Zar looked at her, his head cocked to one side, observing how her amazing eyes seemed to follow his every move.
"What is that to you?" he asked. "You are mine now. The other females will be claimed by my brothers on Luminos. If you're worried about never seeing your friends again, that is out of my hands. I can't make a gift of a female to someone in my fleet for you to have company. A Nayanor finds his own mate."
"How absolutely, unbelievably caring of you," Ashley replied, the tone of her voice telling Zar she'd meant that as an insult.
He grinned, enjoying the look of surprise on her face. The harbinger presumed she'd expected him to get mad at her, but anger was not an emotion Zar dealt in. Anger implied someone had managed to change his mood and Zar didn't allow anyone to control his ways but himself.
His mate still had a curious look on her face.
"Is Luminos your home world?" she asked.
"Yes," Zar said, letting his eyes wander all over her divine body, even if it was hidden from him under the layers of warm clothing the female wore.
He imagined ripping it all off the second they got to his quarters on the Foront. The desire kept blooming in him, threatening to rob him of all sense and control. Zar didn't think he'd ever lusted after a female that badly. The thrill of conquering someone so feisty was everything he'd asked of a mate. Gods truly were favoring him.
"You'll like it there," he added, not even sure why since it wasn't really something Nayanor warriors usually concerned themselves with.
The females were there to stay and carry them strong sons to continue their bloodlines. They needed to be comfortable. Liking their stay on Luminos wasn't something the Nayanors expected from them.
After all, they made no illusions to themselves of how the females came to be there.
Right on cue, Ashley smiled humorlessly and replied:
"I doubt it, but never say never. Can you tell me how many women you took?"
"Why are you so interested to know?" Zar asked, genuinely interested.
Not many females thought about the others once they'd been claimed. They had their own lives to live then. Some focused on escaping, most settled in and accepted their fate.
"Call it genuine human compassion or masochistic interest," Ashley said, holding her head up high. "I would just appreciate knowing. What harm does it do to you to tell me? It's not like I'm going to be able to do something about it."
"Are you planning on escaping, female?" Zar asked with a grin spreading wide on his lips. "It would cause me much amusement to see you try, but I warn you not to push my patience with your futile attempts to get away from me."
Ashley didn't reply at once. She kept him firmly in her sights, her eyes searching his face for something unknown.
"I might," she said then. "Who wouldn't, in my situation? Have you ever had a woman here who agreed to this slavery right away?"
"Honesty," Zar said. "I like that."
Ashley waited. Still leaning on the wall, his sword strapped on his back, Zar observed her with a smirk. The female had spirit, he had to give her that.
He was interested to see what she would try, especially with the little gun hidden in her clothes that he'd felt when they kissed before. It didn't scare or bother him in the slightest. Ashley was right, after all.
The females resisted, most of them. There were some whose spirits were broken before they ever reached Luminos. Nayanors didn't like that, even if they would have made for easier conquest. They were mostly claimed by men whose names were bound to be forgotten the second they died.
Thinking about their kiss made Zar grow even harder. He ached for the female so much it hurt.
"I will tell you," he said, looking closely at the way doubt flared in her eyes. "If you come here right now and let me kiss you again."
There, all the emotions again. The irritation and the desire both. Only this time, there was real curiosity too.
"Why?" Ashley asked. "If I'm yours as you keep claiming, why do you need to bribe me like this?"
Zar shrugged, watching her without the smile ever falling from his lips.
"Make no mistake," he said. "I will not wait for your consent to become my mate for long, but I would rather not force you to submit. Females are a treasure in Nayanor society. I will give you some freedoms, but you can't avoid your fate. I'm offering you a chance to make it easier for yourself."
"You're offering for me to become a whore," Ashley shot back, her eyes glaring daggers at him. "You think I can be bought with little bits and pieces of freedom until I let you do what you want without asking for anything in return."
Zar laughed.
"You will not be a whore," he promised. "You belong to me. It means any man who lays a hand upon you has just killed himself. I would chop him to pieces, starting with the hand that offended me.
"As for the rest, you do not understand how Nayanors work yet. You can ask me for anything you desire and I'll give it to you, with the exception of leaving, of course."
He watched as conflicting emotions played on Ashley's gorgeous face.
"Now," Zar continued. "I will have that kiss from your lips before we board, but you have the chance to choose the terms."
It was interesting to watch the warring emotions behind Ashley's eyes as the female fought herself and her pride. Zar waited with all the patience in the world.
His heart skipped a beat when Ashley took the first hesitant, small step toward him. The light that burned in the female's eyes was gorgeous to behold, even if Zar suspected it was her inner turmoil.
She approached him calmly, never taking her gaze off him. She looked so small compared to him, not short for a Terran female, but nowhere near the height of a Nayanor warrior in war gear.
"You better not lie to me or I won't trust you again," Ashley said.
Zar chuckled at the notion of that.
"I don't lie," he said simply. "Why would I? Everything you see around us is mine. I have no reason to deceive. I take what I want."
"Like me," Ashley said, looking so startled the words must have slipped over her lips unbidden.
"Yes," Zar said, standing straight and leaning down to lift up her chin. "Exactly like you."
The kiss was as hot and passionate as the first one had been. Zar held his mate firmly in his grip, claiming her lips just like he was going to claim her body soon enough. He could hear tiny moans of pleasure from her that Ashley clearly tried to fight, but failed to.
He could feel how her body trembled in his embrace, reaching up to meet his lips better. Her mouth was warm and tasted sweeter than anything Zar had ever experienced before.
He never wanted to stop kissing her, but the treacherous fighter chose that moment to start docking and Ashley pulled away.
She looked at him, a challenge clearly visible in her light eyes.
Zar raised the transmitter to his lips, grinning.
"Bridge," he ordered. "Report on our haul."
"Yes, Harbinger. With Captain Roagh's count, we have 2,312
females aboard. Do you want to initiate the jump?"
Looking at Ashley's mouth drop open in horror, Zar replied:
"As soon as we're clear of the solar system, create the wormhole. Time to return to Luminos."
5
Ashley
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?"