by Leila Brown
“I have the schematic of his ship's initial structure. But he's customized quite a bit to make it what it is today. We adapted our ship for speed. He modified his for firepower. Once we get her, we'll have to try to outrun him; if we don't, he'll take her and Sera and blast us out of the sky.” Ryas rubbed his hands along his chin. It could work. It could. They had better than a fifty-fifty chance.
“So what do we need to do?” Ace asked, pushing off the wall.
“We need to take care of Sera,” Ryas said as the door beeped open.
“You need to do what?” Sera asked, coming into the room. “Take care of me? That sounded like you want to knock me out and tie me up. Let's get one thing straight, I am not into being tied up.”
Ryas started at the idea. The image of tying her up made his cock stand at attention like she hadn't just drained him. Shit. They didn't have time to fuck again, although he wanted to.
“We need to get going. You need to stay here. We can't rescue Sophie if we need to worry about you.” Ace came to stand behind her. He laced a hand around her and pulled her back to the bed. “Stay on this bed until we get back.”
Ryas watched the play-by-play between Ace and Sera. Ace got her to give him her hands. It didn't take long for Ace to take advantage of the sexual heat still lingering around Sera. He used the sheets on the bed to tie her to it. By the time he stood, she was cursing them both.
“Let me up, you fucking bastard. I told you I wasn't into being tied up!” she screamed at Ace.
She was well and truly pissed. Ace would be paying for this later. “We won't be gone long. We'll let you up when we get back, and you can show us your appreciation for rescuing your sister.”
“I will show you appreciation,” Sera said as she strained up against the cloth holding her down. “I'll cut off your balls and feed them to you. That damn contract won't mean anything when you don't have a cock to fuck with.”
Ryas turned away from her, but Ace's dumb ass had the nerve to actually smile at her. Ryas turned and grabbed his friend before the man really pissed her off. He knew what they were going to face on Black's ship. And he didn't want to come back to the ship and fight with Sera. He wanted her to be the lover he knew she could be. Warm and inviting. He wanted her to want him.
“Let's go,” Ryas said to Ace.
He grabbed the handheld computer with Black's ship information on it. Ryas stomped through the corridors toward the ammo room. They would need some serious firepower just in case Black caught them on his ship. They didn't plan on killing him, just disabling him until they were far enough away that he couldn't fire on them.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Ace asked Ryas as they strapped on several condensed-light guns.
“What do you mean?” Ryas looked up at Ace in frustration and confusion.
“Don't try to hide it. I saw the look on your face when I tied her up and then when she started cursing us both. You wanted to let her go. She would just find a way to follow us. Then we would have to rescue two of them. Besides that, she liked it. You should have seen the way her pulse jumped when the bonds slid into place.”
“I don't want to see her in danger. But we don't know how long it will take. She will work herself into a state. A pretty bad state. But maybe she is better off tied up.” Ryas wasn't quite sure.
* * * * *
They'd made it down the dock all the way to Black's ship without being spotted. Now came the hard part.
“We'll have to move fast. The second we move that panel, his alarm will go off. We need at least two minutes to get out of the panel and into the corridor. From there it's going to be a dogfight.” Ryas tightened the straps of his guns. The last thing they needed was for them to clank around, giving away their position before they were ready.
“Let's do this,” Ace said as he shook up a can of metal acid. He pushed the button on the handle and coated the screws, as well as the crease around the vent. He pulled it out with a simple tug. The metal dropped from his hands with what sounded like a loud pang.
Ace lifted himself into the vent and hurriedly crawled along the path they'd already lined up. He counted down in his head. “Hurry, Ryas. He has to be expecting us.”
“Which means we need to up our time to five minutes forty-five seconds.”
“We need to figure out where she is on this ship.” Ace didn't stop as his words came out in short puffs. “Captain's room?”
“Not likely. He wouldn't chance having her in a place where she could mess with his stuff,” Ryas said.
“So where? He won't put her somewhere that the other crew members could get to her. The captain's room is the only one that makes sense,” Ace whispered.
It only took about three minutes and thirty-seven seconds to get to Captain Black's chambers. Sure enough she was there, tied up naked on the bed. Ace dropped down from the vent and leaned down to release her restrained limbs. Shit. She wasn't tied up with fabric restraints like they'd done with Sera. No, he'd used—-voice-activated finger restraints. There was no way to get them off without getting that damned remote.
“Does he have the remote?” Ryas asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, but Ace held his finger up to his mouth. Sophie nodded her head. Then inclined her head to the door.
“We're going to hide, and we'll need you to call him. As soon as the door closes behind him, we'll grab him,” Ryas said, leaning down flat on the far side of the bed.
Ace growled and shifted into the doorway of a closet. He held a shoe over the sensors. The door didn't close.
“Come here, you sick bastard!” Sophie yelled at the top of her lungs.
All too soon the sound of buttons being pressed on a keypad filtered through the door. Ace counted out without making a sound. The second he heard the beep of the door, he sprang. He knocked the man to the floor. Black turned beneath him and kicked him in the gut. Black threw Ace off him, and pain seared his back as he hit the console near the wall. Ryas sprang up from the side of the bed and kept Black down.
Black fought back, but he was no match for Ryas. It took a few minutes for Black to lose consciousness. He went easily. Which was a good thing, because Ryas liked Black and didn't want to make an enemy out of him.
“Is he out? Is he?” Sophie asked from the bed in a high-pitched voice.
“Yeah, but not for the long. In ten minutes the computer will recognize that he is not sleeping but unconscious. When that happens, the room will fill with gas to wake him. We've got about five minutes to get out of here.”
“We need to get off this ship before he wakes up.” Ace stood and rubbed his back.
“The planet. We need to get off the planet.” Ryas tied Black's hands behind him.
“Just one more thing,” Sophie said as Ryas bent to tie the captain's feet. She pulled off the man's pants.
Ryas frowned as the man's cock bobbed up and down. Fuck. Black was going to be really pissed when he woke up bare-assed. The woman didn't just stop with his pants. She ripped his shirt off. The only clothing left on his body was the tattered sleeves of his pure cotton shirt. A damned expensive shirt.
“We don't have time for this. The computer will soon begin pumping stimulants in to wake him,” Ace murmured as he eyed the grate they'd dropped out of. “Grate or door?”
Sophie stared up at the grate, then looked from man to man. “Door.”
Ryas turned to her. Her eyes were extremely wide, fear causing her pupils to widen into deep pits. Something about that grate was causing her to freeze.
Ace grabbed her arms and shook her. There was no time for this. “We'll take the door, damn it.” He went to the unmoving barrier and pushed a series of buttons. The standard emergency exit code. It slid open effortlessly. Most people tended not to change the factory preset. No one wanted to get locked out of that room, since there was no resetting it.
Ace and Ryas walked out the door expecting a full crew waiting to kick their asses. But there was no one there.
“He gave his crew one more night out before we were to take off tomorrow,” Sophie said as she rushed past them.
“Come on, Ace; open the damn door. The computer is going to go on lockdown the moment he wakes up enough to give the order.”
“Don't you think I know that?” Ace used a knife to pull off the control panel. The alarms went off. Red lights turning on and off overhead.
“Move,” Ryas called as he pulled his condensed-light gun. The burst of light from it flashed quickly before hitting the exposed access panel. Fire pushed out of the metal keypad toward them, then was sucked back into the wall, opening the door.
Ryas pushed Ace and Sophie through the door before it closed on them. They fell down the ramp, landing hard on the cold stones of the dock.
“Run,” Ryas commanded as she got up. The second Black got ahold of himself he would be targeting their ship. The only person on board that ship right now was Sera.
Both Ace and Sophie jumped up and ran for the ship. Ace was the first to get there. He pressed the code in the access panel, and the second the ramp was low enough, he swung up on it and ran up the incline. Sophie and Ryas weren't that far behind him.
Ryas closed the access panel as he felt the ship lurch. It only took a few seconds for him to secure the airlock. He flat out ran to Ace and watched his friend try to navigate a nighttime takeoff.
Ryas then ran over to the scanner console and targeted Captain Black's ship. Black's shields were up, and his guns were targeting. This wasn't good. The only reason Black hadn't fired already was the fact they had another ship to the left of them. For stealing a hostage from under his nose, they'd asked for a good kick in the balls. But to attack a docked ship without provocation was the quickest way to get banned from this pirates' haven. That didn't mean Black wouldn't blast them the second they lifted off.
“You need to jump to hyperspace,” he yelled over to where Ace was already trying to maneuver them out of their docking station.
“If I do that, it will destroy our station slot. That will cost us half the ransom take to repair,” Ace yelled back at him. “Not to mention if there is any ship in our way, we will rip right through them.”
“Black is targeting us. If we don't jump, he will blast us as soon as we're clear of the ship on our left.” Ryas swiveled in his chair and leveled a serious glance at Ace.
“Shit.” Ace groaned. Seconds later, the ship lurched.
The soft twang of hyperspace reverberated in Ryas's mouth. The familiar twinge of dizziness overtook him. He looked down to the console. Black had fired. But it had been off. Even if they hadn't jumped, the shot would have missed. Captain Black never missed.
“Did you check on Sera?” Ryas asked Ace.
“And when would I have had time for that?” Ace answered.
“Don't take it out on me just because you fucked up. She's going to be really pissed whenever you let her up.” Ryas laughed as he scanned the surrounding area for any sign of Captain Black. The man would follow them; he had no doubts. But seeing as how he had a run planned for tomorrow, it was unlikely he would be on their heels.
“How much do you want to bet?” Ace said as a wicked smile lifted his lips.
“So now you're betting on her? I don't think she's going to like that.” Ryas rubbed his jaw as he looked at Ace. That bastard had something planned. “What are you wagering?”
“Bastards.” Sophie's nose turned up, and her top lip jumped as if she was fighting the urge to snarl at them.
“Your take from our next run,” Ace replied.
If the next run paid like this one, it would be close to thirty thousand credits. “And if I win? What do I get?”
“She deserves better,” Sophie said, her anger rolling through her voice. “Better than both of you.”
“My share,” Ace quickly returned.
“You're on.” Ryas stood from the console, doing his best to pretend as if he hadn't heard Sophie's words. Yeah, Sera deserved better than him. Hell, she deserved better than both him and Ace. “Program the autopilot to take us somewhere secluded. Give us a couple of hours to find out which one of us will be doing the next run for free.”
Ace stabbed the buttons and was bouncing out of the room and toward the captains' quarters. “Clean up first; then I will meet you in the bedroom.”
Ryas turned toward Sophie. “Go to your quarters and stay there until one of us comes to get you.” He watched her open her mouth to argue. “If you come out, I will hand you over to Captain Black and not think twice. Imagine what he'll do to you when he gets his hands on you again.”
Sophie shut her mouth, and her eyes widened. A small piece of him wanted to take back the words. He would never turn her over to Black. He knew it would hurt Sera, and that was something he refused to do.
Ryas caught up with Ace, and neither said a word as they headed toward their quarters. Instead of opening the door to the main room designated for their mutual use, they entered their separate rooms. These were the rooms they used when they wanted sleep, not satisfaction. They hadn't shown them to Sera because neither of them planned on giving her the option of spending one night away from them.
Ryas ran to his shower. He had every intention of watching Ace crash and burn with Sera, and then he would swoop in and satisfy her. Hell, he might even bring her back to his bed. The thought brought him up short. He'd never brought a pleasure-giver to his room. Never. These rooms were the only bit of privacy that he had. Why the hell was he even thinking about sharing it? He'd known her less than three days. When had she become important to him? The answer to that question brought him to a halt right outside his personal shower. She had always been important to him. He couldn't pinpoint a time when she hadn't been. His life before her seemed a dull shadow of what was currently waiting in the other room.
Ryas stepped into the shower, and in less than thirty seconds he was clean and ready for Sera. He walked to the small door that connected his room with the one she was in, and opened the door. Sera was still on the bed. Still tied up. Still pissed.
Chapter Nine
Sera stared up at Ryas and saw red. “Untie me, you fucking bastard!” she yelled, her entire body bucking up and down on the bed.
Ryas held his hands up in a surrendering posture. “I wasn't the one who tied you up.”
“I don't care. Untie me!”
“So you can hit me for something that Ace did?” His lifted eyebrow made his face even more handsome. Shit, she needed to get a grip. These fuckers had tied her to the bed while they went to go get Sophie.
Sophie. How had she forgotten that? “Did you get Sophie? Is she okay? Did he hurt her?”
“Yes, we got her. And I don't think she was hurt. You can ask her yourself in a few hours,” Ace said, stepping in the room.
“I want to talk to her now.” Sera hoped her voice didn't sound as spoiled to them as it did to her.
“Oh no. You signed a contract to be our pleasure-giver. And right now I require those services,” Ace said, coming to stand at her side. She looked at Ryas, who was just leaning against the wall, staring at her.
“We upheld our end of the bargain. Now it's your turn.” Ace sat down beside her. He gripped her right breast and squeezed.
A curl of desire shot straight down to her pussy. She shook her head. No way was she going to sex him up after he'd tied her up. He could not be that… Ace bent down and sucked her nipple into his mouth. The heat of him surged through her body. It was too much. She needed to be angry with him. He deserved it. Leaving her tied up with no way of getting loose. What if something had happened to them? What if they hadn't made it back? The thought of their crumpled bodies somewhere brought her up short. A pain like the squeezing of her heart burst in her chest. This can't be happening. She'd known these two men for only a few days, and the thought of them dead and broken evoked the same pained response she'd had when Sophie was stolen.
She couldn't stay here. Her anger returned, drying up every drop of passion Ace had stir
red to life. No. She couldn't stay. They would use her up. Make her love them. Then toss her away to be someone else's plaything. That wasn't her. Would never be her. She couldn't, no… She wouldn't live like that. Contract or no contract.
“Let me up,” Sera said through her gritted teeth. “I can't be expected to have sex more than once a day, right?” When neither man said a word, she continued. “I think I already served my punishment tonight.”
“Punishment. I don't think this is a punishment.” Ace groaned against her skin as he bit down lightly on her nipple.
“Get off me, Ace.” Sera closed her eyes. If he kept touching her, she was going to cave. There was no question about it. His tongue was already trying to ignite a fire in her skin.
“Ryas, unless you want to be regulated to one sex session a night, I suggest you get over here and help me change her mind.” Ace's low voice was full of defeat.
She must be close to getting him to see things her way. “If you touch me, Ryas, I swear I will make you regret it.” She opened her eyes and knew she'd fucked up. She'd given him a challenge, and it seemed this man loved it.
“Really? You are going to make me regret it? Are you sure about that?” He strolled over and sat down on her left side. He grabbed her breast and rubbed up and down, moving her nipple around like a small pebble.
Sera bit her tongue. Nothing she said would be right in this situation. If she conceded, she was taking a step back. Giving them something to work with. Her only option was to bite her tongue.
Ryas slid his hand down from her breast along the curve of her stomach. Her stomach lurched with the need to cover herself, but she fought her self-consciousness. Being naked around them was getting easier. She bit her bottom lip. That was so not good. Honestly, covering up her body wasn't the least bit important. Or at least it shouldn't be. She needed to cover up her heart. It was sitting out exposed right now. Easy pickings.
“Please let me up,” she begged, choosing her heart over her pride. Hurt pride lasted a little while. A broken heart lasted forever.