Kordan removed the gag and pushed her into an armchair. Then he stood before her, threatening, looking at her intensely.
“What the hell were you thinking, cutting my men up like beasts at slaughter, huh? I nearly went mad with worry and rushed after you to rescue you. For the second time since we’ve met you don’t seem to be the slightest bit grateful for that, instead you fight me and my men as if we’re your enemies. Why?”
“Because I’ve found out about your little secret, you filthy feline beast!” she shouted into his face. “And it would be best for you not to let me out of your sight because I’ll castrate and disembowel you at the very first opportunity. I’ll show you, you bastard, that you shouldn’t mess with Lory Andersson.”
“And what secret is that supposed to be, if you please? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Are you going to deny that you injected some type of drug into my bloodstream when you bit me?”
“No, why should I deny that? That’s so that …”
“And isn’t it right that it’s influencing my feelings?”
“Yes, but I thought you’d like it. I have no idea why …”
“Then there’s nothing more to discuss. Let me go and you’re a dead man.”
“You’ve behaving totally irrationally,” snarled Kordan. “What is this nonsense about? All Carthians do that with their women. It’s only so that you …”
“I don’t want to hear anything more about it,” she yelled, leaping from the chair to stand before him. She could not, of course, grab him with her tied hands, but she could do one thing. She spat into his face.
Kordan first looked surprised then his expression darkened. In a slow gesture he wiped her spit from his face then he grabbed her by the neck. He did not press hard, but she understood the gesture only too well.
“Do that again and I’ll put you over my knee myself and tan your hide. It seems to me that impressing a little respect upon you is long overdue.”
“I’m glad that you’re finally showing your true side to make it easier for me to hate you,” she hissed at him.
Barely noticeably, Kordan flinched when she said this, but he then took control of himself again. He grabbed her and pushed her onto the bed.
“Is that all you can do? Is that your answer to everything? Rape?”
“I don’t plan to rape you. I don’t see the point in taking a woman like you. I’m only taking your threat seriously and will therefore ensure that you can’t carry it out.”
Lory looked at him helplessly. What was he planning to do with her then?
“Computer, send a mechanic here.”
“Straight away, General.”
“A mechanic? What the hell are you planning to do?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
“The mechanic, General,” the computer’s voice was heard a few minutes later.
“Doors open!” called Kordan. The doors opened to reveal a man who had been waiting there.
At Kordan’s nod the man entered the room and approached them.
“General?”
“I’d like you to install a bracket here over the bed, then a chain that reaches as far as the bathroom and no further. You’re to attach the chain to Lady Lory’s neck. I don’t want her injured so make the collar so that it’s not too tight and pad it.”
The man glanced at Lory with curiosity, so she glared at him madly, making him look away quickly.
“As good as done, General,” replied the mechanic with a wicked little grin. “I’ll have everything ready in half an hour.”
“Oh, no, you’re not doing this!” said Lory threateningly once the mechanic had left.
“Unfortunately you leave me with no other choice.”
Lory shook her head. She tried to sprint past Kordan to the door but he caught her by the arm in time and pulled her in such a way that she fell back against his chest. A massive arm wrapped around her waist like a steel band. For a moment Lory leant against him, breathless. His scent enveloped her and she felt her damn body reacting. These people probably had some sort of pheromone bait in their scent. Who knew? The fact was that she reacted far too much to his presence. That simply could not be normal! Could it? Part of her wished to just push these doubts aside and swallow him whole. He was so damn sexy and he kissed so well and …
‘Oh, no, girl. Don’t get into this trap again. This is what happens with carnivorous plants. You’re the fly and he’s the plant enticing you with its fragrance, and once you’ve unsuspectingly landed, then … bam! You’re a gonna!’
She struggled in Kordan’s arms and tried to dig him in the stomach with her elbows, but he was holding her too tightly.
At that moment the door opened and the mechanic came into the room with a younger man, presumably his assistant. They were carrying chains and tools. Lory bit her lip to stop herself crying out. How could he do this to her? This now showed her clearly what a wretched pig he was.
***
Kordan left his quarters without looking back. He could not do it. He could not bear her reproachful expression. He was not happy about doing this but at the moment he did not know what else to do. She appeared to have gone completely crazy. Why was she behaving so irrationally? And why did she suddenly have such a problem with the sexual hormone? All Carthians use the hormone to give their mates the greatest possible pleasure. What was wrong with that? He did not understand the world any more. Was this whole rebellion really all about this triviality? She could have just talked with him about it and if she had really not wanted him to bite her again then he would have respected her wish. But she had never suggested that she did not like it.
Sighing, he ran his hand through his short hair. Right now he needed a drink or two. Afterwards he would inform the palace that they had found and rescued the women. He would not yet report the problems.
“Hey, Kordan!” came Amano’s voice behind him.
Kordan turned and waited for Amano to catch up with him.
“Will you come for a drink with me?” asked Amano.
“Of course,” replied Kordan, looking intently at Amano. “Did she give you hell, too?”
“Yes, and she’s going on about such incomprehensible stuff about not wanting five babies who’ll kill her and things. I didn’t understand a word she threw at me. I tried to calm her but she wouldn’t let me get a word in. So I’ve left her alone. She needs to calm down first. Tonight I’m going to sleep in one of the officer’s quarters.”
“I was planning to do that, too. Lory spat at me and threatened me. I had to chain her up in my room.”
Amano stared at him in disbelief.
“You’ve chained her up? Why?”
“If she’s let loose in my quarters she’ll just short circuit the door again and get away from me. With the chain she can only go as far as the bathroom, but not to the door.”
“I see. She probably wasn’t exactly happy about that, was she?”
“That’s a complete understatement, cousin. First she threw every insult at me that she could think of, threatened me with all sorts, then just fell silent, looking at me so reproachfully. That was worse than all the insults and threats put together. That’s when I fled.”
“Let’s have a double, then. I’d really like to drink myself senseless today. Then I wouldn’t have to think about her constantly,” said Amano, sighing.
Kordan nodded and the two men made their way to the ship’s bar.
Chapter 8
Y-Quadrant
On board the Cordelia
16th day of the month of Manao in the year 7067
Federation Time
Lory had slept badly and her mood was at rock bottom. Kordan had not shown his face again at all. An officer had brought her dinner and had not taken his eyes off her, as if he was afraid that she would jump him. Admittedly that idea had briefly come into her mind. She could have taken him as a hostage. But how would that help her? She was on a damn spaceship in the middle of the univers
e. Where could she go? Everything was pointless. So she had dismissed the idea. Now she had been sitting here for more than two hours, bored to death. It was still early. It could be a while before someone brought her something to eat. She was not hungry, but food was a distraction. She had made her dinner last as long as possible on the previous evening, but at some point the plate had become empty, and again she had nothing else to do but sit there and think.
“This is a real shit,” she murmured, folding her arms.
Suddenly the door opened and Kordan appeared, his expression unfathomable, his whole body tense. At the sight of him Lory’s heart automatically began to beat faster. She rebuked herself silently for this. This bastard should not get to her that much. Unfortunately he did.
“To what do I owe the honor of your visit?” she asked ironically. “If you’ve come to fight – I’m not in the mood.”
“I’ll take you home,” he said calmly.
“Your damn planet will never be my home!” she flew back at him.
“I don’t mean my planet. I meant that I will take you to your planet. But first we’ll fly to Moron2 and look up an astronomer who lives there. If anyone can help us to locate your planet, then he can.”
Lory’s mouth was agape. Had she just heard him properly? He was going to take her to earth?
“How am I supposed to know that you’re not lying?” she asked, distrusting him.
“Why should I? If I were to take you to Karrx7, you’d realize very soon that I’d lied. So what would be the point? I have no reason to be dishonest with you.”
“Why this sudden change of heart?” Lory asked, her heart pounding.
“Because I love you too much to live with the fact that you hate me,” said Kordan roughly, leaving the room before Lory could respond.
In disbelief she watched him leave and tears at once filled her eyes. She suddenly realized that she did not want to go home at all. She did not want to lose this alien who was driving her crazy. Maybe Ellyod had in fact lied to her. Kordan was right. He had nothing to gain by lying to her. She was at his mercy, anyway, if he wanted her to be. If it was the case that his drug could change her into a lovesick puppy, why did he not just bite her? There was no point if Kordan was speaking the truth and really did love her. He would let her go just because he thought that she hated him. Yet this presumption could not be further from the truth. She loved him. Everything in her had fought against this. But it was the truth. She loved him and she needed him. And if a damn drug was to blame, then so be it! She could not live without him any longer.
Decisively, she stood up and went into the bathroom. She took the nail file out of the cupboard and set about opening her damn collar. She had already entertained the thought of doing this on the previous day, but had dismissed it for the same reason as she had not yet taken the young officer hostage who brought her food.
It proved difficult to open the lock because she was looking at everything back to front in the mirror, of course. After a while that felt like ages to her, and after many failed attempts, there was finally a click and the collar sprang open.
She took the nail file with her to the door in case she had to short circuit it to get out of here. But, unexpectedly, Kordan had not changed the security level of the door, so it opened at her command.
“That’s good,” she murmured, leaving the nail file on a small table next to the door.
There was no one to be seen in the corridor. She wondered where Kordan might have gone and looked indecisively to the left and the right. After some consideration she decided to go left and ran along the corridor to the lift. Maybe he was in the bar. That was a place that men tended to go to when they had a problem that was best drowned in alcohol.
The bar was empty except for one table. Kordan and Amano were sitting there, bent over their drinks and staring into space. It looked as if Amano had not yet been able to solve the problem with Charly. Well, she could concern herself with that once she had sorted out her own situation. She approached the men’s table and stopped right in front of it. Neither of them looked up at her. They did not even seem to have noticed her. How could he have got drunk in such a short space of time? Or had he already given himself Dutch courage before coming to her and had now finished it off? Lory decided that that must be what had happened. Shaking her head, she looked at the two sorry figures.
“You look like some warriors to me,” she said and both men suddenly looked up at her. Kordan’s eyes grew wide and it looked as if he wanted to say something, but he then shook his head, dazed.
“Man, the Kirilian rum’s strong today. Now I’m hallucinating,” he muttered.
“Wow,” said Amano. “I’m hallucinating, too. I can see your mate standing in front of me.”
“You can see her, too?” asked Kordan, blinking.
Lory snorted and put her hands on her hips.
“Truly great, Mister General. If somebody attacks the ship now the crew will have to cope without its general or its captain because both blockheads have drunk themselves senseless.”
“I don’t bloody care about the bloody ship,” murmured Kordan. “I don’t … bloody care about anything without my little one anyway. She’s leaving me and then I’ll be alone. Once I’ve taken her back to wherever she comes from I’m going to blow myself up with the bloody ship. Bummm!”
“That’s great, Mister General. And what if she doesn’t want to go back to wherever she comes from?”
“But she does want to! She hates me because I’ve given her pleasure. No idea why. Maybe the women from wherever she comes from don’t like sex.”
“And mine doesn’t want to have five babies,” Amano joined in. “Whatever that’s supposed to mean. My little one doesn’t hate me. She’s afraid of me.” Amano shook his head sadly. “I’ve never done anything to a woman. I don’t know why she’s afraid of me.” He sighed.
Lory was more and more certain that that nasty son-of-a-bitch of a pirate had lied to her and Charly. It was clear that Kordan and Amano were really suffering. If she had ever seen two lovesick guys, then these two. She sighed and pulled up a chair, sitting between the men. She put a hand on the arm of each of them and it made them both jump as if they had burnt themselves.
“You’re not a halluci…?” stammered Kordan.
“No, Kordan. I’m real.”
“But how …?” He stared at her neck where her collar should be with the chain on it that should actually tie her to the bed in her quarters.
“Baby, do you think a little chain can stop me if I really want to get out?”
Kordan just looked at her, flabbergasted, shaking his head again.
“I’ve come to tell you that I don’t want to go back to earth. I listened to the wrong people and did not give you any real chance to explain to me what the biting and the drug were about. I overreacted. I’m sorry.”
Kordan remained silent and Lory felt uncomfortable. Should he not be happy now and take her in his arms? What had gone wrong now?
“Don’t … don’t you want me after all?” stuttered Lory. “I mean, maybe I’m not worthy of you because of the way I doubted you and …”
She did not get any further because Kordan had pulled her to him and was pressing his mouth against hers. He tasted of rum but that did not bother her. The important thing was that he still wanted her.
When they let go of one another Lory looked at Amano who was sitting there like a pile of misery. She felt sorry for him and considered how she could help him.
“Would you like me to speak with her?” she asked. “I know where the problem lies and if I talk with her I can probably clear it up.”
Amano looked up at her.
“Would you do that?”
“Of course. I’ll go to Charly right now and sort this out. Then I’ll come here with her.”
Amano nodded.
Lory kissed Kordan on his forehead and jumped up. She felt really good again, for the first time since Ellyod Allegrass had abducted her.
/>
***
Lory stood at the door to Amano’s quarters. She was not sure whether she was able to open the door to Amano’s quarters. Maybe she should have asked Kordan about that first.
“Door open!” she said firmly. The door actually opened and she went in.
Once the doors had closed behind her she was standing in darkness. The only light came from the electric fireplace. It was hot in the room. Where was Charly?
“Charly?” she called out into the darkness.
“Lory? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me. What’s going on here? Why are you sitting in the dark and why, for goodness’ sake, have you heated the room so much? It’s like a sauna in here.”
“I’m here. In the armchair next to the fireplace. And I’m sitting in the dark because I feel like it and I put the fire on because it’s comforting me, OK?”
Lory could make out the quiet sobbing in Charly’s voice. She moved slowly round the shadowy furniture until she reached Charly. She sat down on the armchair opposite and waited for a while.
“Didn’t Kordan lock you in?” Charly asked at last.
“He chained me to the bed,” replied Lory drily.
“You’re joking,” Charly uttered in horror.
“No, no joke. He specially had a contraption installed into the wall and a neck halter made for me.”
“But how did you get here then?”
Lory grinned at her friend.
“Nail file.”
“No! That worked?”
“As you can see.”
“But there’s still no point. We’re on a ship in the middle of nowhere and our return ticket is probably gone for good now.”
“Ellyod lied to us,” said Lory.
“In what way did he lie to us?”
“Concerning Kordan and Amano. Listen carefully to me. I have something to tell you. You’ll understand better then.”
Fighting Lory (English Edition) (Lords Of Arr'Carthian 2) Page 11