“Silence, female!” shouted the alien.
The human male crossed his arms and regarded her with amusement as he walked around her to check out the panel in her cell. He was tall, had black hair, and bright green eyes. She had no idea what a human was doing with this alien.
“Jordan.”
“What?”
“My name is Jordan Kuper, not female. What are your names? Or should I call you Thing One and Thing Two?”
The alien stared at her for a long moment, clearly at a loss for words.
“I’m Laith,” he finally said. “And this is my slave, David.”
“Slave?” She looked at David. “You’re really his slave?”
“I am what he says,” David replied.
She studied Laith with a critical eye, trying to humanize him, although it was difficult. He wore black armor type clothes, as did David, but it was clear Laith was not human. He was too bold, too big, too … alien, to ever be considered human, boiling down to the evolving rainbow of emotions subtly changing his skin color. He seemed to be having a hard time controlling his complexion. Currently he flushed a deep red.
“Does that happen a lot?” She pointed to his face. “Or is that a medical condition I should know about?”
“Xyrans have a unique anatomy,” Laith replied stiffly. “Usually we control our skin, but sometimes extreme emotions can alter our appearance.”
“You change into any color?” Jordan didn’t want to admit that was a neat trick. She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, getting back to the real issue. “I’m glad to see you have regular hands. I thought I was dealing with a demon or something. So where are the clothes I demanded?”
“It seems to me you have found your own clothing. Tell me, why were you pretending to be a boy?”
“None of your business, but you need to take me back right now.”
Laith folded his arms, mimicking her, and stepped forward to crowd into her personal space. Awareness flooded through her, as well as something else she couldn’t identify. His dark eyes stared at her, slightly hungry, and her emotions went on a roller-coaster. It scared her. She took a step back and bumped into David, and suddenly her confidence fled.
“Now listen, female,” Laith murmured softly, and to her ears, dangerously. He grabbed her arm and practically shoved her back into the cell. “We took you to bring you to market. To sell you. If we sell you at the right time and get noticed, we can join on a raider’s ship. So understand this. You will never see your home again, and if you cause us any more problems I will tie you up. If you want to keep your sheet for now, fine. But once we get to market, you will wear the clothing we provided.”
As he talked, his skin color shifted. Subtly, nothing too overt, but enough to fascinate her. His words, however, were a slap in her face. Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes. He turned and walked out of the cell. David brushed by her, making her senses reel once more, before he followed behind his partner.
The cell door closed, leaving her alone. She walked over to the cot and sat down, thinking. Trembling. This was all too real and something she couldn’t bluff her way out of. Mr. Meier had trained her for years on how to defend herself, but how could she possibly fight her way out of an environment she didn’t know?
But fight she must. She had to get back to her mother. But what could she do?
Chapter Three
“You scared her,” David said as they entered the cockpit.
“Of course I did,” Laith replied. He sat down in the pilot’s chair and studied the screen in front of him. “You may want feisty, but the female needs to learn her place.”
“You’re thinking like a raider.”
“Any sane person would subdue a firecat.”
“You know what I think? I think you like her feisty.” David’s gaze wandered for a moment. “Why do you think she was acting like a boy?”
Laith shrugged. “I have heard conditions in the Earth camps are detestable. No doubt she was hiding her gender to protect herself.”
David rubbed his knee. “She was very handy with that club. And did you smell her?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“No, I meant there’s something different about her. Sweet, floral, but also … I’m not quite sure. You’re the one with the super scent detector.”
“David, you cannot possibly be attracted to that female.”
“Why can’t I? As we say on Earth, I’m a red blooded male, and she’s a damn good looking woman. But I wasn’t the only one feeling it. You were turning red with anger back there. Or was the red for a different heat?”
Laith bristled and turned back to his console. “I have no idea what you are talking about. As usual, you are being ridiculous.”
“Am I?”
“Yes, you are. And you were right. We found a worthy female that even Commander Kath can’t ignore. When we arrive at the Targin Market we’ll be able to get his attention and get onto his ship,” said Laith.
“Yes. Our plan is sound.”
“Do not get any ideas when it comes to Jordan Kuper. She’s a virgin who will be the perfect spoil of our war.”
David nodded, his focus on the console before him, although Laith didn’t know what he could possibly be engrossed with. They were cruising on autopilot.
“Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll feed our guest.”
“All right. Wake me in a few hours.” Laith made his way to their quarters, past the cell that housed their abductee, and a sliver of guilt went through him. He pushed it aside because as much as he may hate what he was doing, he was on a course that couldn’t be altered.
It seemed like he’d just fallen asleep when an alarm sounded, causing him to immediately spring into action. David met him by the cell door.
“The sensor is down,” David announced. A small smile graced his lips. “I suppose you didn’t scare her too much after all.”
****
Jordan knew she had to stop the ship, but inspiration wasn’t very forthcoming. But she’d thought about it all through the night, through the unrecognizable dinner the asshole human had served her, and even into her dreams. She may not know much about technology, but she did know how to make a mess. How hard could it be to throw the proverbial monkey wrench into the gears?
Sometime through the night she sat up and turned on the lights to begin to study the room. First of all, she had to get out of this cage. Sure, it was the cleanest cage she’d ever seen, but she was still a prisoner. Was she the only woman the Xyran and human traitor had? If they were slavers than she might have to rescue more women, and that thought was daunting. How could she be responsible for rescuing others?
Her gaze landed on the sensor panel by the door. From the looks of it, it was the only way to check on her, and no doubt when the door opened it would let her two captors know. She had to disable the panel. But with what?
She got down on her hands and knees and looked at the cot. It was connected to the wall on one side but had two legs for the other side. And the legs were attached with screws. As much technology as this space ship had, it was about to be undone by a normal screw. Using her fingernail she tested both and discovered the second was loose enough to untwist. It took her a while, but her patience paid off. The leg was made out of metal, and when she pulled it off, the cot warped a little at the side but stayed upright. She studied the panel for a second, took a deep breath, and brought the metal leg back to smash the panel.
She smashed it again and again, until she was satisfied it was completely disabled. She tried the door, but it must have locked manually. She replaced the leg back to its original place but picked up a screw and put it between her toes. Then she waited for the Xyran and the traitor to show back up.
It didn’t take long. A few minutes later she heard noise on the other side of the door and crossed her arms, automatically taking a defiant stance. They had to manually crank open the door.
The alien was the first one through, and he looked from her to th
e decimated panel. “You broke it.”
“I had to go to the bathroom,” she said.
Laith looked at her blankly. “What does that have to do with breaking the sensor panel?”
“How could I trust that you wouldn’t peek in on me right when I have my sheet lifted?”
He turned an interesting shade of amber. “I have no interest in seeing you disrobed.”
“Famous last words,” she said with a haughty sniff. “I have to admit, I find that changing skin color trick fascinating. There’s not much color in the camp. I mean, sure, sometimes we get a blue shirt or a red scarf, but given enough time in the muck and the burn of the sun, well, everything turns brown.”
“Enough!” Laith shouted. He rubbed the bridge between his eyes. “Do not touch anything. Anymore. Do you understand? You are our prisoner.”
One of Jordan’s eyebrows shot up. “I thought I was your merchandise.”
“That does sound better,” David murmured. When she looked at him she saw a smile playing on his lips. His very full, masculine lips. She shook her head a little to clear away that disturbing thought. No way would she develop a fixation on her captors.
Laith took a deep breath. “Just lie down and wait for us to reach the Targin Market.”
“Is that what your other captives do? Just … surrender? Because I won’t. It’s not in my nature.”
“Is that why you dressed like a boy?” David asked. His dark gaze was so stark and direct it caused a little fluttery sensation in her belly.
“I dressed like a boy to hide myself from predators like you, traitor. Men hurt women, and I refuse to be a victim.”
“Traitor?”
She nodded. “You’re working with him, selling human women to demons. Of course you’re a traitor.”
David frowned. As he opened his mouth to no doubt rebut what she’d said,
Laith took a step forward and grabbed her by the arms. They stood, bodies touching, and that nagging awareness she had of them flared back to life. He was big and hard, and he made her feel wholly feminine.
She didn’t like it, or perhaps she liked it too much. Regardless, she pulled herself from his grip and took a step back. Her heart thundered in her chest, and her palms grew sweaty.
“Get out,” she ordered shakily.
“You give a lot of orders,” Laith said as he shook her a little. “You need to learn your place.”
“My place? You kidnapped me. How could you possibly expect me to cooperate?”
His tongue darted out and touched the air before he bent his head. It touched the skin on her temple, and she shivered. It should have been a shiver of revulsion, but for some reason she seemed fixated on that tongue. What would it feel like to kiss him with that tongue?
What the hell was she thinking?
Heat had flared in Laith’s dark eyes, and his skin had turned a deep passionate maroon. He backed away from her, gave a look toward David, and then left. She let go of a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
“I’ve never met a female who wasn’t afraid of anything,” David told her on the threshold. “And it’s pretty stupid to antagonize a Xyran.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Me? I’m scared of everything, but I don’t cave to the fear.” Jordan took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “Why are you helping him? You’re human.”
“I am human, but Laith owns me. A word to the wise. Xyrans admire spirit. He’s finding yours an interesting challenge.”
“Yeah? Perhaps he’ll reconsider when I stick my foot up his ass.”
With that damn smile still lingering on his lips, David followed after Laith. She walked after him and stood just on the threshold of the door. David held her stare as he closed the door on her face. Jordan looked down and saw that the screw she’d just placed with her toe had produced a very tiny gap at the bottom of the door. Without the sensor, they wouldn’t know that the door wasn’t as secure as they thought.
Now it was her turn to smile.
Chapter Four
As she stepped out of her cell, it immediately became clear that she was the only human female held prisoner. The ship was small, so small she could see up into the cockpit. The Xyran and the human sat at their stations, and she ducked to the opposite side of the very small corridor to get out of their line of sight. Shit, the whole area wasn’t any bigger than the dilapidated cabin she lived in back on Earth. And even though the whole thing was Spartan to the extreme, there were more computer screens than she knew what to do with. Where were the big engines like on cars and planes? How could she throw a monkey wrench when there wasn’t a gear in sight?
Frustrated, she rubbed her forehead as she tried to think of what to do. She supposed she could smash one of the screens and disable something, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of the computer displays because it was all in the Xyran language. What about an escape pod? Didn’t all space ships have one? But what would that accomplish? It wasn’t like she could fly that back to Earth. She had no experience flying anything.
Could she incapacitate the two men? Maybe if she had a gun. But as she looked around she didn’t see a weapon. She needed to investigate the ship. Find something useful to fight with. A noise grabbed her attention, and she looked toward the cockpit. David stood from his chair, and she panicked. If he came down here and caught her, she’d never have another chance. She looked back at the bank of computer monitors. How was she supposed to disable the right one? She wanted to go back to Earth, so she shouldn’t damage the engines. Navigation? If they couldn’t go forward perhaps they could still go back?
She knew it was not the sanest of plans, but desperation called for desperate measures. One screen had a bunch of graphs and configurations on it, and she remembered Mr. Meier once talking about star charts. Could that be the same thing? She hesitated, not sure what to do. The smart thing would be not to mess with anything because she didn’t know what any of it meant or did, but picturing her mother’s devastated face over her disappearance was enough for her to throw caution to the wind. She couldn’t let them win, just like she couldn’t sit back and do nothing.
She took a step back and hefted the metal bed leg onto her shoulder like she was wielding a baseball bat. Pursing her lips, she held her breath as she let her weapon fly. With a spray of electric arcs, the computer caved in most spectacularly. Immediately, the ship went dark, and she felt the engines stop vibrating. Emergency lighting came on, giving the ship an eerie glow, and a huge wave of satisfaction came over her for a job well done. She didn’t have to wait long for David and Laith to come rushing.
As the two men saw her, they came to a halt, their mouths hanging open. It gave her a momentary thrill to see them looking flummoxed. Laith shook his head and hurried over to the very broken console, staring at it with something akin to horror.
David took a step toward her and grabbed her arm. She stomped on his foot. Pain radiated up her leg, and she looked down. Her bare feet were no match against his big boot clad ones. He shook her, hard enough to cause her head to snap back and forth.
“How did you escape?” he asked. He looked toward the door, inspecting it, and she knew exactly when he saw the screw. His body went rigid. “Clever. You disabled the panel so the sensor wouldn’t alert us when the door opened. You are proving to be a very resourceful, if stupid, woman.”
“Why did you do this?” Laith demanded as he tried to fix the damage. It was a futile gesture.
Jordan lifted her chin. “I want to go back to Earth, so I figured if I got rid of your navigation you’d be forced to go back instead of forward.”
“This is a starship!” he roared. Laith took a threatening step toward. His skin was turning a sickly yellow color. “Navigation is necessary to go in any direction, including going back! You are foolish, irrational, irritating—”
“What would you have me do? Accept my fate?”
“Yes! Have we treated you badly? Humiliated you? If this was a proper Xyran slave ship you would ha
ve been chained, but David told me not to do that. He told me a woman like you wouldn’t respond well to being tied up. But you’ve just killed us all.”
Doubt flickered through her. “What?”
“You didn’t destroy navigation. You destroyed the life support systems!”
Jordan flicked a gaze over the mess before looking between Laith and David. “Really? Are you sure?”
Laith took a threatening step toward her, and David had to grab him to hold him back. “Don’t,” he said. “We have to conserve oxygen.”
“She wants to die so badly out here in the coldness of space then I’d be happy to oblige her,” Laith growled.
“I don’t want to die at all,” Jordan said and waved a hand at the smashed console. “I didn’t know that was life support.”
“It was foolish to attack something you don’t know a thing about,” David told her.
“I could say the same for kidnapping me,” Jordan said. She gestured to the damage. “By the way, this is all your fault.”
“Our fault?” Laith roared. “If you’d have stayed in your cell like an obedient girl we wouldn’t be losing oxygen!”
She poked his chest, knowing it was the same as poking a rabid animal, but she had to make a point. “If you hadn’t kidnapped me, I wouldn’t have smashed your console! I’m not some human female that will meekly roll over and obey her captors’ demands. Yes, you scare the crap out of me, but I’d rather die fighting with every breath I have than surrender by sitting in a cell saying yes, sir.”
Laith shrugged off David’s hands and stepped into her space. They stared at one another, both not budging an inch. She refused to let him see how much she was shaking, partly from fear but also from the flare of desire that burned from her core. Out of everything that had happened to her, that scared her most of all. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back inside the cell. He sat on the bed, which wobbled a little and made him glower even more, before he yanked her down across his knees.
Defiance Page 2