by Aubrey Ross
The pet scrambled off Vega’s lap and quickly righted his clothing. He looked at the king uncertainly and Vega waved him away.
“Rana.” The pleasure in Vega’s voice didn’t begin to reach his cold eyes. He held out his hand for her kiss and she ignored the gesture. “This is a surprise.”
Without warning, Vihlok blasted the pet with a short burst from his rifle. The young man shuddered then collapsed into a graceless heap on the gleaming floor.
“What is the meaning of this?” Vega shot to his feet, remaining on his dais, as if the added height would protect him from the coming storm.
Rana made no effort to hide her animosity. The time for pretending was long past. “I’ve just learned of my mother’s death and my handmaiden’s incarceration. Did you honestly expect I wouldn’t respond?”
His brow knitted and he caught the trailing ends of his billowy sleeves. She might have been amused by his continued pretense, if she had been the only one hurt by his maliciousness.
“I hope you were not harmed by those villains,” he said. “I can only imagine how frightened you’ve been.”
“I was kidnapped by my lover.” Her tone was firm and steady. “I was never in any danger. He was less than pleased when he learned I’d agreed to marry another man.”
“You did more than agree to marry me.” His mask slipped long enough for indignation to erupt within his gaze. “The union was consummated.”
“We’ll come back to that.” She clasped her hands in front of her and took a step toward the dais. “I regret to inform you that your lover is dead. Why did you send a pleasure giver to do the work of an assassin? That seems quite foolish to me.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression insolent.
“You will release Kashi into my custody and you will do so now.”
He laughed. “Why would I do that?”
Vihlok and Fibros snapped to attention, their weapons trained squarely on Vega. His gaze widened and he looked around, wondering where his guards were, no doubt.
“I only ask nicely once,” she told him.
“You’re a bold piece of baggage, I’ll give you that. We’ll have to work on your manners after my coronation.”
“You are not, nor will you ever be, my husband.”
“I spilled my seed inside your body. By Peronite law that solidifies a betrothal. You are my wife.”
“You’re delusional, and I’m running out of patience.”
His expression tensed and his gaze clouded. Had he just realized his only witness was dead? It was his word against hers. His nostrils flared and he slowly licked his lips. “Just your servant, that’s all you want?”
“And the official annulment of our betrothal contract.”
Apparently she wasn’t the only one whose patience was growing short. Before Rana realized his intention, Vihlok rushed the throne. He dragged Vega off the dais and shoved him to his knees. “I already killed one man for touching what was mine,” he snarled. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t do the same with you?”
Vega raised his hands in front of his face as his skin turned ashen. “You’ll never get off Peronite if you harm me. Take her handmaiden and go.”
“Not good enough.” He fisted his hand in the back of Vega’s hair, bringing their faces nose to nose. “My first instinct was to repay you in kind, to arrange for your transport to explode at some time in the not too distant future. The problem with that is others would die; others who had nothing to do with your decisions.”
“I will never come anywhere near her,” Vega pleaded. “I’ll forget I ever knew her. What do you want from me?”
“Take us to Kashi.” Vihlok dragged Vega to his feet. “If you so much as make eye contact with anyone on the way, your life is forfeit.”
“How do I know you won’t kill me anyway?”
“You don’t.” Vihlok shoved him toward the doors. “Move.”
Vihlok walked at Vega’s side, his pulse rifle casually tucked beneath his arm. She’d seen how quickly he could snap the weapon into position and so had Vega. Fibros followed close behind them. The others waited in the main corridor, ensuring their escape route.
“Many believe Devaunt will benefit from the loss of Empress Bakula,” Vega said as they descended a narrow staircase into a far less appealing level of the compound.
“Murder is murder,” Rana insisted, “no matter how you justify it.”
“I have admitted nothing,” Vega reminded her. “Who benefits most from the accident? Some might suspect you of the foul deed. I say whoever is responsible did the people of Devaunt a favor.”
Raising her heavy skirts nearly to her waist, Rana kicked Vega squarely in the back. Vihlok pivoted to the side and Vega tumbled down the last three stairs.
“You cold-hearted bastard,” she shouted. “Regardless of her faults, she was my mother! I can’t believe you would speak to me this way.”
Motivated by the weapons aimed at his various body parts, Vega wisely remained silent as Kashi was released from the detention cell. She flew into Fibros’s arms and he greeted her with a consuming kiss.
“This reunion has to wait,” Vihlok reminded them. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
They crept back up the stairs and retraced their path through the palace. Vega grew more combative with each step they took. He said nothing, but he twisted away from Vihlok’s grasp and looked around with growing agitation.
“You have what you came for,” Vega protested as they reached the side door closest to where they’d left the skimmer. “There is no reason to take me with you.”
Vihlok responded with a cruel smile.
Rana shivered, suddenly very glad Vihlok was on her side.
With an efficiency that fascinated her, Vihlok directed his men with hand signals and curt commands. They tied Vega’s hands together in front of him and loaded him into the skimmer’s middle row of seats. One guard sat on either side of him, their weapons aimed to kill.
Vihlok helped her into one of the front seats and Kashi and Fibros sat in the back. Rana couldn’t help but remember her kidnapping and how disappointed she’d been that Vega hadn’t cared enough to give chase. Now she understood why. Her death would have served his purposes better --
Shots rang out over the side yard of the compound. Vihlok activated the skimmer and took off at breakneck speed. Vega might not have cared enough to chase her, but his guards obviously felt obligated to retrieve their sovereign.
“Can you shoot this?” Vihlok handed her his pulse rifle.
She aimed well over the other passengers’ heads until she grew accustomed to the kick and the arc of each pulse. The guards followed on individual skimmers, slower, yet more nimble than theirs.
Vega went wild, his boisterous struggles keeping Vihlok’s men occupied. Fibros fired fast and accurately, picking off Vega’s guards with frightening ease. Rana landed one shot in a guard’s thigh, sending his skimmer careening out of control. She released an excited yelp and Vihlok chuckled.
“We’re almost there,” he told her.
“Do you really think they’ll let you take off without releasing me?”
Vihlok didn’t seem concerned with Vega’s threat, so Rana rushed onto the ship behind him. The ramp retracted and the hatch closed before Vihlok laid into Vega again. Grabbing the front of the king’s robe, Vihlok shoved him into the nearest chair as the cruiser shuddered beneath them.
“Last chance,” Vihlok said. “Confess to your involvement in the explosion and we’ll settle this like civilized men.”
“To my knowledge, only one of us qualifies for that distinction. I won’t be dictated to by a common criminal!”
Vihlok glanced over his shoulder and into her eyes. “I told you he was destined to meet the pirate.”
How could she argue with that? She inclined her head with a gentle smile then the lack of commotion caught her attention. “Why aren’t they shooting at us?”
“Three different rebel factions have taken credit for his kidnapping,” Vihlok said. “We’re being escorted by a Mendovian destroyer and a Sabrotine frigate. We also used decoys to scatter his forces. He didn’t stand a chance.” Vega tried to rise. Vihlok shoved him back into his seat and Fibros moved closer. “This isn’t our first kidnapping,” he told Vega. “I was amazed how many people wanted in on this particular job. You’re not very popular in certain circles.”
“Do you intend to ransom me?”
“Perhaps -- eventually. We’ll have to see how compatible you are with Sabrotine rehabilitation programs.”
* * *
“You’re amazing,” Vihlok said as he pulled Rana onto his lap. They were alone, at last, in the small officers’ lounge. Fibros had taken Kashi off to bed, leaving Rana and Vihlok to update Umar on the outcome of the confrontation.
Vihlok had used his contacts on Spaceport Makar to secure Umar a new identity, but he would be starting over with nothing. Rana couldn’t help feeling he’d gotten off too easily, even if he’d paved the way for the rest to unfold.
“I was shaking so badly I could hardly speak,” she admitted. “Seeing Vega cower at your feet felt incredibly good. I know you had him transferred to the frigate after he signed the annulment, but is he being taken to a Sabrotine outpost or back to the spaceport? Will he be ransomed?”
“One of my acquaintances operates a rehabilitation mine in the asteroid belt on the far side of Makar. Unlike the other miners, Sabrotine workers aren’t allowed to leave the premises. Mental reconditioning is part of their program. Vega won’t remember who he is by the time the Sabrotine handlers finish his rehabilitation, but he’ll have rock hard abs.”
“That isn’t funny.”
He shrugged. “Not only did he kill your mother with the wave of his hand, seven other people died in the explosion. There had to be a reckoning. Would you have preferred something more final and direct?”
“I thought you didn’t do assassinations.”
“I don’t, but I know plenty of people who do.” He kissed her, his arms firm and sheltering. “If he ever tries to escape or if any fragment of his memory survives the treatments, I will take the final step. One way or another that chapter of your life is closed. You are free to focus entirely on the future.”
“And what awaits me in the future?” She brushed her lips against his. “Many of the nobles would far prefer an emperor to an empress. I intend to restore Devaunt to its former glory, but that would be so much easier with you at my side. You are Vihlok Torral. You were born to be emperor.”
“My brother was born to be emperor. I was… born to be your husband, to cherish and protect you.” He kissed her palm, his lips warm against her skin. “We’ll start with that. I’m not sure I want to completely reform my uncivilized ways.”
“I’ll help you be more civilized outside the bedroom, if you continue to unleash my savage nature inside the bedroom.”
He nipped the heel of her hand then slipped his hand up under her skirt. “You’re a natural negotiator, my love, but I still have three days left on my original contract.” His mouth captured her playful objection as his fingers sank into her heat.
Price of Passion
(3-in-1 Collection)
Aubrey Ross
Price of Passage: Moments after departure, Ivy Slane discovers an escaped sex slave hiding in her cargo bay. Kade is convincing her not to turn him in when her ship is attacked by pirates. Seeing no alternative but death, Kade offers his services to Traborn Morel, commander of the pirate ship. Traborn isn’t opposed to the pleasure Kade offers, but he’s even more interested in teaching both his prisoners the true meaning of surrender.
Price of Pleasure: Mason has guarded the fact that she is a shapeshifter, knowing the Sabrotine Federation will not offer the same respect to a woman they extend to a man. Her new bodyguard, Kade, arouses her as no other lover ever has, but can he accept her complex nature?
Price of Passion: After Jazz and Bluz rescue Treena from an angry mob, she’s strongly attracted to both brothers. Jazz knows a past betrayal is making Bluz overly cautious, so he agrees to help Treena seduce his reluctant sibling. She knows they can be happy together. All they have to do is erode the barriers Bluz has erected around his heart.
Alpha Colony 1: Untamed Hunger
Aubrey Ross
Major Sasha Young has been stationed at Alpha Colony for the past three years, part of an elite military team assigned to maintain order and resolve conflicts between the shapeshifters. She has watched the hostile morphs, secretly fascinated by their predatory grace and animal magnetism. The colonies were established to protect defenseless humans from these genetic anomalies. So why does she feel like the morphs are the ones being victimized?
Grayson Evans, a rare white-tiger shifter, is frustrated and appalled by how little their human keepers understand the average “morph.” After an especially violent altercation between leopard and tiger shifters, he decides it’s time to educate them. He’s had his eye on Sasha ever since she arrived, and introducing the feisty beauty to the full potential of a felidae-morph is going to be his pleasure -- and hers!
About the Author:
Aubrey Ross
When my parents realized I had an aptitude for storytelling--okay, even at an early age I was a consummate liar--they encouraged me to find constructive ways to put all that "creativity" to use. I wrote my first novel when I was in junior high school. It was a typical teenage girl's fantasy about being kidnapped by a rock star, finding out he was really misunderstood, a millionaire's son, and living happily ever after with the reformed rebel. Erotic romance just seemed like an inevitable destination for someone with my naughty muse.
Now I spend my days, and many of my nights, trying to keep up with the characters springing to life within my mind. I find creative ways of avoiding errands and housework because I can't drag myself away from the dramas unfolding in my latest story. And every day I thank God I was able to quit my day job and actively pursue my dream!
I also write paranormal romance as Cyndi Friberg. So if you're in the mood for something a little less...in your face, give one of my other books a try:
http://cyndifriberg.com
Other Books by Aubrey Ross
Self-Published:
Station X (3-in-1 Collection)
Price of Passion (3-in1 Collection)
Untamed Hunger
United Passion
Unwanted Desire
Uninhabited Fire
Ellora’s Cave:
Undercover Embassy (Futuristic)
1) Codename Autumn
2) Codename Winter
3) Codename Spring
4) Codename Summer
Sworn Protectors (Vampire/Sci-fi)
Onset of Darkness
Onset of Danger
Mystic Keepers (Elemental Magic)
1) Refugee
2) Cayenne
3) Krystle
4) Lorran
5) Rammi
6) Minuette
7) Elita
8) Felise
Enemy Embrace (Sci-fi)
1) Rebel
2) Toymaker
3) Replicant
4) Mystic
5) Madam
Enslaved Hearts (Gladiators in space)
1) Captives
2) Pleasures
3) Secrets
Sensual Captivity ( Sci-fi)
1) Seducer (Available in print)
2) Shifter(Available in print)
3) Sorcerer (Available in print)
4) Specter (Available in print)
5) Seer (Available in print)
Intimate Invasion (Futuristic)
1) Forgotten Hope
2) Forsaken Desire
3) Forced Alliance
Crimson Carousel (Vampire)
1) A Taste of Twilight
2) A Taste of Midnight
3) A Taste of Oblivion
4) A Taste of Da
wn
Crimson Pleasures (Vampire)
1) Crimson Thrall
2) Crimson Prey
3) Crimson Awakening
Invasion Earth (Sci-fi)
1) Forgotten Hope
2) Forsaken Desire
3) Forced Alliance
Single Titles
Dream Warriors (paranormal) also in print
Velvet Deception (Suspense) also in print
Silent Abandon (Anthology) also in print
Soul Kisses (Anthology) also in print
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
About the Author: