“All aboard.” Mogens sealed the entrance. A throaty roar indicated Yep had started up the thrusters, and secs later, they lifted off.
Ry slumped onto his chair and closed his eyes, battling with the compulsion to grab Kaya, who sat next to him. He took a deep breath. A mistake since he almost drowned in her feminine pheromones. He tipped back his head and growled, the catlike yowl full of fury. Kaya’s eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, staring at Ry with something akin to horror.
“Good girl, watch the man for me,” Mogens said, pretending nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. “I’ll sit there. I want to have a word with Ry.”
Ry stirred uneasily. He’d never done that before. Gripping the edges of his chair, he fought for control, despite the air laden with Kaya’s scent. If anything, her surge of terror and adrenaline intensified the desire filling his body with savage need. Kaya shifted her weight, drawing his attention. Rich female musk filled every inhalation, along with the stink of the horse trainer. His gaze slid from the slumped figure back to Kaya. An intense shiver racked his body, and Ry closed his eyes, struggling to remain seated. The loss of one sense served to intensify the others, and he hurriedly opened his eyes again.
“Seer, do you have more of the slumber drug?” Ry had to force the words out, past jutting canines. They emerged in a growled hiss, almost unintelligible. He tried again. “Slumber drug.” The words were little more than a feral snarl.
Luckily the seer seemed to understand. “I have more.” He frowned, a ribbon of black swirling across his bare arms and face. It combined with the white of his skin to darken his complexion.
Good, Ry thought, panting heavily. His chest rose and fell rapidly, the shallow breaths still dragging in too much in the way of sensory input. Mogens knew, as he’d feared, sensed his desperation.
Heat, so intense it seared his body, brought a torturous shudder. He had to rid himself of the inferno inside. Fukk, he needed the release of sex.
So bad.
Ry blinked, sweat pouring down his face. The dampness plastered his black hair to his head until it hung in wet tendrils.
“Dose me. Now. Don’t want to hurt.” A high-pitched growl erupted, echoing in the tender. He gripped the edges of the seat he sat on even though his fingers had bled to claws. “Kaya.” Fukk, never forgive himself if he hurt one of his crew. They were his friends. Family. They knew his secrets, were loyal to him, to each other. Ry snarled, trembling on the cusp of a shift to feline. “Mogens,” he gritted out.
“I’m not sure how it will react—”
“Do it.” An order.
Mogens stood and strode to his satchel. He rummaged through and drew out another of the impregnated cloths they’d used to subdue the human. The seer returned, his face dark black with worry as he glanced at Ry with compassion. “Are you sure?”
The pity made Ry spit with fury. The solid walls of the tender rattled with his bark of anger. In lieu of a reply, Ry reached up and grabbed the cloth. He pressed it to his nose, gagging at the herbal reek. His instinctive reaction was to remove the pad, but Mogens grasped his hand and held it in place. Gradually the world blurred. His arms and legs refused to support his body. Ry slumped over, his world turning black.
* * * * *
Camryn woke to the sensation of the floor shuddering. Her head vibrated in time. Damn whiskey kicked like a mule. A moan escaped, the sound tiny and insignificant. Her eyes flickered, the glare of light intense. A jagged slice of pain cut across her temples. Everything ached, even her eyes. She stopped trying to open them and her world ceased spinning. Cautiously, she catalogued her body for aches and pains.
Dry.
Her mouth felt like a dusty paddock during the middle of a severe drought. And her tongue—heck, that felt too thick and furry to fit inside her mouth. She moved her arms, or attempted to, but they stuck fast against her sides. Her heart thudded, an erratic beat of fear. Her brother. He’d told her—told her yesterday she had to stop drinking. If she didn’t…
What had he done?
She struggled, hyperventilating in fear. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
For her own good, he’d said. Yeah, easy for him. He had a wife, a child. They were a family. A unit. She had nothing to live for. Not now.
Camryn forced her eyes open, her heart drumming like the thunder of horses’ hooves during a race. Her gaze lit on a large black shape on the floor. Camryn closed her eyes and moved her head in a cautious shake, wincing at the sharp throb. When she opened her eyes again, the object came into focus. A large black cat lay on the floor near her. It stared at her with its green eyes. Its mouth lay open and sharp white teeth glittered in the bright light. Camryn swallowed. A dream. No, a nightmare. She wasn’t awake.
Maybe Max was right—she’d started drinking too much alcohol.
The cat stood, stretched just like her mother’s used to, extending front legs and sticking its butt in the air. Then it prowled toward her, black tail swishing from side-to-side. A panicked whimper escaped. Camryn wanted to flee but couldn’t move.
Not her arms or legs.
Trapped.
The cat stalked closer until she felt the creature’s hot breath through the denim of her old jeans where her brother’s heavy coat had fallen away. The cat let out a sharp, fierce grunt, raising the hairs on her arms into a distinct prickle. She whimpered, the cry weak and thready. The cat moved nearer still. It opened its huge maw, globules of saliva visible. Oh heck. This was no dream. It intended to eat her. Camryn struggled fiercely, a ripple of pure terror pouring from her parched throat.
The thud of running feet sounded and two people burst into the room. Camryn’s eyes widened and she screamed again. And again. The black leopard bit her on the leg, the sharp pain silencing her scream abruptly.
They stared at each other before weird jabbers commenced, sounding like Chinese mixed with lots of clicks and guttural sounds too rapid for her to even start to understand.
Camryn moaned when they approached and halted by the leopard. Fear, stark and real, pummeled her body, her mind. She cried out as they moved closer in a collective step.
People. A loose term. Real loose.
One appeared female and had bright electric blue hair and…and pointy ears. Her flashing eyes and rigid jaw brought a warrior to mind. The tight-fitting trousers and brown tunic top, plus the huge number of weapons strapped on her slender yet muscular body confirmed the impression. The other was the palest person she’d ever seen. Everything about him seemed white. Totally colorless. Apart from his eyes. They were the palest violet and focused intently on her. While she gaped at the male—at least the bulge at his groin suggested the masculine gender—he changed color. Streaks of black swirled through the white, mixing to a slate gray. The black kept appearing in long ribbons across the part of his chest she could see until his skin and hair gleamed deep ebony. His eyes remained the same eerie violet.
Camryn’s gaze traveled to the black leopard. It sat on its haunches between the warrior and the creepy changing man. Changing Man carried a satchel in his hand. After snapping several clicks at the other beings, he pulled a glass jar from the bag. He opened it and tipped the contents onto the palm of his black hand. He frowned at them, white ribbons of color suddenly swirling across his chest. His head dipped in a satisfied nod, and the things on his hand wriggled like fat scarlet caterpillars.
She whined softly. God, this wasn’t a nightmare. These weren’t the orderlies at the clinic where Max had threatened to send her.
They were aliens. Aliens.
Her heart pounded, leaping against her breast. Camryn started to struggle. Not even a warning snarl from the leopard stopped her fear escalating into outright panic. With another grunt and three rapid clicks, the warrior approached her. She grasped Camryn’s head and held her still. Changing Man picked up one bright red caterpillar between gray fingers and shoved it in her ear.
Sharp pain. Intense. Worse than even the most evil hangover. The caterpillar crawl
ed down her ear canal. She heard the crunching sounds when it attached itself somewhere inside. Her head rang, agony slicing across her temples. She keened, her strength sapped and no contest for the warrior’s superior power. The warrior held Camryn’s head, forcing it in the opposite direction, baring her other ear for the same abuse. Anguished tears slipped down her face. She sobbed, but that didn’t stop Changing Man from forcing a caterpillar inside her ear. Camryn felt every slither when it crawled inside. The pain felt just as intense, the crunching sound deafening while the caterpillar ate into her head.
“Gabriel,” she whispered, realizing she’d landed in hell. Gabriel wouldn’t be here. Only she had sinned enough to gain entrance to hell.
“Stop crying,” the warrior woman snapped, her blue hair flying around her head in a halo. “Can you understand us now?”
She could, but nausea tiptoed through her stomach. Camryn’s entire body shuddered with the depths of her misery. She’d heard hell was fiery hot, but ice enclosed her heart, her body. Nothing had changed. She still missed Gabriel.
The woman bent, tipped Camryn’s head back and struck her face with the palm of her hand. Camryn jerked back, stopping her crying mid-sob.
“Stop cryin’ and hold still while I take the seat harness off you.”
“Keep still, child,” Changing Man soothed. “We intend you no harm.”
Something in his calm violet eyes told her he spoke the truth. Maybe they didn’t intend to cut her up for experiments. Camryn cast a quick glance at the leopard and her anxiety ramped up again. The feline looked as if it would devour her in a few bites, gobble her up until nothing remained.
“And him?” she croaked, heart fluttering like the starter’s flag in a stiff breeze.
“Ry, back up and leave the woman alone. Shift.” The changing man didn’t seem frightened of the kitty at all.
Camryn held still while the warrior released the restraints holding her in place. Her attention remained on the black leopard. She didn’t like the way the animal stared at her. The leopard curled its top lip and twitched its whiskers. Then, as she watched, the leopard started to blur. The warrior pulled the harness away. Camryn blinked, her spine slamming against the back of the chair. Tension seeped through her, finding an outlet in clawed hands, gripping the armrests. Under her horrified gaze, the leopard transformed to a man wearing tight black trousers and knee-length black boots. Tall and muscular with a wild mass of black hair falling down to his shoulders. A green gaze pinned her in place, studying her just as intently as she examined him. Her heart did a crazy flip, slowing and suddenly galloping into a frenzied beat. For the first time since she’d met Gabriel, she looked at a man in a sexual way, even if fear tinged the curiosity.
The muscles in his chest rippled when he moved, the skin the color of burnished copper. A tattoo of a cat decorated one biceps, so real Camryn wondered if it might spring to life in the same swift manner the leopard had transformed to a man. The man’s trousers clung to his long, muscular legs and slim hips. The bulge at his groin proclaimed his maleness without a shred of doubt.
“You’ve got clothes on,” she blurted. Mortified color spread to her face when she realized what she’d said. In all the books she’d read about shapeshifters they’d ended up naked after their change. When he’d morphed, his lower half remained covered.
“I could always take them off,” he said in a husky voice.
They stared at each other, the moment so intense Camryn forgot they weren’t alone. Spellbound, she studied his very masculine body, his musculature and his heavily fringed green eyes. She blinked when he stepped closer, and again when he squatted in front of her to cup her cheek with one callused hand.
“You’re female.” His sigh sounded like a purr, and it dragged every receptor on her body to high alert. Her breasts pulled tight, the hard points dragging across the cotton cups of her bra with every rapid breath. In breathless anticipation, she waited for his next move even as part of her rebelled at the unwanted feelings coursing through her body. This wasn’t right. These people had kidnapped her. She shouldn’t—she refused—they’d given her something, made her react to this man, this animal.
Camryn sprang to her feet and squeezed past him, fear lending her speed and agility. She leapt for the open doorway and ran down a short passage before coming to an abrupt halt. Whoa. Whoa! This was not happening.
“Where am I?” Camryn stared in stupefied horror at the vast blackness. A man—at least she thought it was a man because he seemed relatively normal with his black ponytail—flew the spacecraft. He’d turned on hearing her question and stared with something akin to shock.
“We’re orbiting Earth, waiting to meet up with the Indefatigable,” the man said.
“It’s a woman,” the warrior said in disgust. “You kidnapped the wrong one.”
“No crap.” The pilot’s bushy eyebrows squeezed together in a scowl when he looked over his shoulder again. “No, we kidnapped a man. He wore the same coat as the man in our depictions.”
Camryn said nothing, backing away from the fierce man. They’d kidnapped her because she’d taken her brother’s coat to ward off the cold? Her head throbbed and her ears felt tender. At least the caterpillars had ceased their wriggling. She hated to think what they were doing inside her head.
“We seemed to have kidnapped a woman masquerading as a man.” The warrior glared at the pilot. “You stuffed up.”
“We had a depiction of the man in that coat.” The pilot pointed at her.
Camryn studied the view through the huge port, thoughts bouncing through her mind. The pilot had taken both hands off the controls. She couldn’t see any traffic but surely he should watch for obstacles?
Gabriel…
Tears welled in her eyes. A raging thirst made her swallow but nothing encouraged saliva. God, she needed a drink. Bad. She stepped back and bumped into a muscular and warm naked chest.
“Turn around,” Changing Man said. “We’ll take her back and find the right man this time. The real horse trainer.”
Belatedly it occurred to Camryn they were talking about Max. “No!” she cried. “No, you can’t take Max. He has a wife and a child. They need him.” Her heart pounded anew. They couldn’t take Max. God, she was such a screw-up. No one would miss her. “Take me instead. I’ll do anything. Anything at all.”
Without Gabriel, she was nothing. It didn’t matter what they did to her. She didn’t have a life to wreck while Max…Max had everything to live for. His family. His business. The success starting to come his way. Owners demanded his training skills while they ran in their haste to escape her.
“Take me,” she repeated.
“Our goal is to win,” the warrior said, her words directed to the half-naked man. “Captain, that’s the whole point.”
A hand grasped her shoulder. “You’re right. Yep, turn back.”
“No, wait,” Changing Man raised his right hand in a stop gesture. His violet eyes seemed to drill into hers. She trembled under the close attention because it felt as if he stared into her soul. “What if this is fate? I read the night skies while I waited for your return. They spoke of change and opportunity.”
The warrior snorted. “Which could mean anything. Things are always changing.”
“True,” Cat Man said, although he didn’t sound as disbelieving as the warrior.
“We’ll have to take her back and get the right one,” the warrior persisted.
It had become crowded in the front of the ship, and Camryn realized she had nowhere left to run. “Leave my brother alone.” Unfortunately, her order emerged in a scared, girly voice. A fine tremor slid through her body.
“Let’s be sensible about this,” Changing Man said. “Return to the rear of the tender and let us discuss what can be done.”
Camryn saw Cat Man’s quick nod of assent.
“Send Jannike a message. Tell her we have a delay. Return to the same landing space,” he said.
The pilot nodded and flipp
ed several buttons, taking Cat Man’s orders in his stride. Camryn frowned. If Cat Man was in charge she didn’t rate her chance of survival. His expression bore such hunger and the color of his eyes darkened each time he stared at her. The speculation, the sheer lust in his gaze made her nerves shriek. Camryn backed away slowly. She bumped into the changing man and the warrior and at once felt marginally safer.
Changing Man reached for her with his pearly-gray hand. He clasped her forearm in a gentle manner. “This way, my dear.”
Camryn couldn’t help it. Visions of Red Riding Hood rushed to mind. Wrong fairy tale but the principle remained the same. Sharp teeth were better for eating red meat. They intended to kidnap her brother. God, she couldn’t let them.
She turned to Cat Man, took a deep breath. “Please, you can’t take my brother. You can’t.”
“Child, we need him,” Changing Man said. “He has expertise we require.”
“What expertise?” There must be a way to save Max from the aliens.
“We require a horse trainer,” Cat Man said. Once again he’d moved close, and she hadn’t noticed until their bodies touched.
Camryn flinched at the electrical surge that zapped the length of her body and edged away with a soft gasp. She forced herself to concentrate. “I can train horses.”
“You?” the warrior asked with a sneer.
“Yes,” Camryn said, resisting the urge to shuffle her feet. Cat Man had stepped into her personal space again, leaving her nowhere to move. “I’m a jockey. I ride horses for a living, and I know how to train them. Take me with you. I can do it. Leave my brother with his family. Please.”
Ry listened to her impassioned words and wanted to follow her suggestion. Giving in to temptation, he stroked his hand across her cheek. He detested her scent but her skin felt soft, like the finest, expensive fabrics they’d seized from one of his brother’s shipments. He wanted to unwrap the female, toss her in the sanitizer then rub his scent all over her. Mark her as his. The urge thundered through him. His fingers slid across her jawbone, down her neck until he felt the jump of her pulse beneath his fingertips. She was a tiny thing, smaller than Kaya he saw now, with brown or black hair slightly shorter than his. He wasn’t entirely sure because it hung in damp, oily clumps around her head. Her eyes were golden brown while her lips…her lips were full and sensual and enticed him to explore at closer quarters. He traced her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb, savoring her quick, ragged intake of air.
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