by Ravenna Tate
The fact that Earthlings had come to Sera and Addo voluntarily to join the fight had angered the Tyranns even further. So instead of simply rounding up their family members, they’d resorted to further lies and blackmail, holding the family members hostage to force the Earthlings to betray the Regum and Addonians.
If this Earth woman was indeed related to the couple the letter indicated, they would need to keep her presence here a carefully guarded secret.
Neither Vaughn nor River had seen one of the letters yet, or met an Earth woman who had received one. This girl coming here to Addo with one in her possession was big news. Not only would it give them concrete evidence of this deceit that originated with the Tyranns, but it would also prove to the Regum that this was really happening.
The Regum preferred to stick their collective heads in the sand when it came to rumors of the letters, believing no one in their ranks would have made their official seals or letterhead available to Tyranns.
Vaughn shook his head as the transport finally came to a stop. There had been information leaks from the Regum to the Tyranns since that group took on the name fifty years ago. It was about time the Regum accepted it and worked toward a solution rather than pretending that because they’d now given the Tyranns total control over Voyeur Moon, they would leave everyone alone and go about their business.
That wasn’t the Tyranns’ way. They wouldn’t leave the people of Earth alone until they’d emptied the planet and left it floating in space, dead.
Two men stepped off the transport first, followed by the third one carrying the girl. The humans didn’t survive the hyper jump necessary to make the journey from Earth to this system in such a short time unless they were put to sleep with an anesthetic agent, because of their different DNA. The people of the Alpha Centauri system could make the journey in about an hour in one of their spacecrafts, but Earthlings did not survive it unless they were asleep. The medication would wear off in a short time, and then they’d have to try to explain all this to the woman.
“Where should we take her?” asked Billings, the man carrying her.
Vaughn’s dick jumped to attention as he gazed over her sleeping form. To my bed. “Our quarters for now. Until we can verify that she actually is the niece of Blake and Betsy Williams.”
River reached out toward the girl, and Billings placed her in River’s arms. Vaughn gave his brother an incredulous look, and River grinned. “You’re too slow.”
They walked toward the squat stone building that now served as one of the hubs for the Addonians working on running the computer systems for their missions. This building used to house Special Retrieval Commanders for the Tyranns, including Jakara. When he had been with the Tyranns, he was among those whose mission was to sweep the Earth every night, rounding up females who were on the lists to be taken.
But during one of those sweeps, Jakara had taken an instant liking to Callie O’Doyle, a woman he’d taken from Earth because she’d been on a list of those the Tyranns wanted brought to Voyeur Moon. He’d brought her here to his quarters instead of taking her to the holding cells on Voyeur Moon, and then he’d sneaked her into his spacecraft again, and taken her to his home on the other side of Voyeur Moon. He’d hidden her there for months before the two were spotted by a drone while they were out walking.
“She’s very pretty,” said River, as they walked. Vaughn glanced down at her again. She was indeed quite attractive, with dark brown hair and a curvy, lush body. All the Earth women were attractive to the men of the Alpha Centauri system. But she was here for them to keep safe, no other reason. He couldn’t allow his raging hormones to interfere with this mission the way his boss had done with Callie.
Jakara had been one of the Tyranns who opposed what his group was doing with the Earth women. As their depravity toward them grew, Jakara pulled away more and more, and was finally forced to make a choice between his job and Callie. Jakara’s own Section Chief and a friend who had betrayed Jakara had taken Callie forcibly out of Jakara’s home and to the holding cells, while Jakara was on his way to Earth to fly a mission.
Jakara had enlisted the help of Eldon, a Regum that he’d known since childhood, and the two men had disguised themselves and gone to the holding cells, posing as men who wanted to choose a woman to take as their own. It had become standard practice by then for men from all three planets, including some of the Regum, to partake of the selection in the holding cells, so no one gave them a second glance.
But it had been a daring and risky move, just the same, because Eldon and Jakara both could have been recognized. Now, Jakara and Callie lived here on Addo and worked gathering intelligence on the Tyranns and helping to stop them from taking everyone left on her planet.
When the Addonians had driven the few Tyranns left on Addo off the planet, they’d taken over this building as one of their systems hubs due to its construction and high security. That would certainly come in handy now for hiding this woman.
Once inside, Vaughn and River bid the men who had brought the girl a good night, and went to their own quarters. Although they could have had separate ones, they’d decided to share them once they came here to work. They’d been working side-by-side all their adult lives in a company they’d started here on Addo, until they were set up and falsely accused by their own Regum clients, because they’d refused to stop doing business with the Tyranns.
Neither man had known the depth of what the Tyranns were doing until after Jakara intervened for them, and told them the truth. If they had, they wouldn’t have refused to stop selling computer software and hardware to them.
But it was fate that they were here now, working toward a cause they believed in. Jakara and Eldon had been instrumental in bringing the Addonians as far as they’d come in six months. And it had been Jakara who had contacted Blake and Betsy Williams on Vaughn’s and River’s behalf after their Regum clients betrayed them and filed charges against them.
Blake and Betsy were very good attorneys, and they had been able to get the false charges dropped, but only by agreeing that Vaughn and River be sentenced to the Zoo on Voyeur Moon. But Blake and Betsy had never had any intention of allowing Vaughn and River to become forced into having sex with an Earth woman during shows put on by the Tyranns at the infamous Zoo.
Instead, they’d helped Vaughn and River escape, as they’d helped others falsely accused of crimes do the same thing, only this time something had gone wrong. This time, the Tyranns had been onto them, and instead of taking Vaughn and River to Voyeur Moon to carry out their prison sentence, they’d taken Blake and Betsy Williams to an undisclosed location on that planet.
Jakara had people looking for them, but if this girl was truly their niece, Vaughn knew two things. Her aunt and uncle were still alive, and the Tyranns wanted this girl for bait. That not only put her in extreme danger, but it made her very valuable to both sides.
****
River readjusted the girl in his arms. If she was truly Blake and Betsy Williams’s niece, they owed her far more than shelter right now. And it would be difficult to try to explain to her how her aunt and uncle had ended up prisoners of the Tyranns on Voyeur Moon, but they owed her that, as well.
River carried her into the spare bedroom of his and Vaughn’s quarters, and laid her on the bed. He then let his gaze travel over her face and body. She had very pretty hair. It was the color of the summer sunsets on Addo when it was going to rain that night.
“How long do you think she’ll be out?” asked Vaughn.
River reluctantly pulled his attention from the girl. “Shouldn’t be too much longer. Did they find anything else on her besides the letter?”
Vaughn handed River the girl’s tiny bag. “Only this, but they didn’t check her pockets.”
River opened the bag and glanced at the ID he was used to seeing now from Earth. Nodding, he handed the driver’s license to his brother. “Marianne Kowalski. And her address is listed as the one Blake and Betsy had occupied on Earth after they first
came here. I’d say she is definitely their niece.”
“What else is in there?”
“A credit card, a set of keys, some makeup, and a cardboard coaster from Greebo’s Place.”
A soft noise drew their attention to the bed. Marianne opened her eyes, and then sat up so fast she fell back down again, moaning. “Shit. Fuck. My head is killing me.”
“We can fix that,” said Vaughn.
He left the room, and River sat next to Marianne on the bed. She had the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. “It’s all right. He’s gone to get you some water with lemongrass and vanilla. It will take away the headache and settle your stomach. The medication used to knock you out will make you feel woozy for a while, but it should wear off soon.”
She didn’t say anything. She merely stared at him with a look of total disbelief on her face. He knew that was a lot to take in at once, so he forced himself not to continue speaking for now. Explanations would have to wait until she felt better.
Vaughn returned, holding out a glass. “Drink this. It will help.” She didn’t move. “It’s water with herbs. They won’t hurt you.”
“Where the hell am I?” She asked it in the same tone one might use when speaking to someone dim-witted, as though if she didn’t say the words slowly and carefully, they wouldn’t understand them.
“Drink first so you don’t throw up,” said River. “Then we’ll explain everything.”
She took the glass, and River’s heart went out to her as he watched her fingers tremble. She drank tentatively at first, as if she wasn’t sure whether what Vaughn had handed her was really water, and then she drained the glass. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Do you feel well enough to walk? We can sit in the common room to talk.”
She glanced around. “Yes. That might be more … comfortable.”
No kidding. The urge to push her back on the bed and kiss her until he could no longer breathe was strong. Get a grip. This might have been a mistake bringing her here, but what else could they have done with her? Now that he’d had a good look at her, he couldn’t imagine sharing his quarters with her and not spending every waking and sleeping moment thinking about making love to her. But they had to keep her safe. That was their main objective.
As she climbed off the bed and followed him and Vaughn out to the common room, River cursed the damn stars. Why did she have to be so damn pretty? He hadn’t signed on for this. He was supposed to be strong. A warrior, like Jakara, fighting the evils of the Tyranns and the puritanical laws of the Regum. He should be able to resist the charms of a pretty girl. He’d been doing it his entire life.
Right. But not for the same reasons you just ticked off, genius.
That was another thing they’d have to try to explain to her. How all this mess with the Tyranns had come about in the first place. But for now, River made sure she had a seat in the most comfortable armchair in the room, and then he and Vaughn sat side by side on the sofa across from her.
“Okay,” she said. “Please tell me what’s going on. Did you bring me here to see my aunt and uncle? I showed those men near the spaceship my letter. Are they here? When can I see them?”
River exchanged a glance with his brother, and then he took a deep breath. He leaned forward, resting his palms on his thighs. “First things first. The ID in your bag says you’re Marianne Kowalski. Is that who you are?”
“Yes. Yes, of course it is.”
She sounded annoyed, not that River could blame her, but they had to be sure. “And Betsy and Blake Williams are your aunt and uncle?”
“Yes. Where are they?”
River took a deep breath. “They came here how long ago?”
“I don’t know. A year, maybe? They were going to Sera to work as attorneys for the Regum. They said they’d be involved in the contract negotiations between the Regum and the Tyranns, but I don’t even know what that means.”
“We’ll explain it all in a moment,” said Vaughn. “Were you offered the chance to come with them at the time?”
“Yes, but I … I didn’t.” Her voice trailed off, and a look of such profound sadness graced her features that River had to fight the urge to get up and go over to her. “I chose to stay behind at the time. They were supposed to come back for me, but they never did. I heard nothing until I got that letter.”
She glanced around, her face full of panic. “Where is the letter? Do you have it? And where is my bag?”
“We have both,” said Vaughn. “They’re safe. When did you get the letter?”
“Two weeks ago. It was just sitting there in my mailbox. It had no postmark on it, so I don’t know who put it there.”
“And did you show it to anyone?” asked Vaughn.
“No. No one. I wasn’t even sure I’d follow the instructions in it.”
“Why not?” Vaughn’s voice was sharp.
She sighed loudly, then fingered a thin gold chain around her neck that River hadn’t noticed earlier. “I have my reasons. Look. Please just let me see them. I’ll answer any questions you have, but I need to know they’re okay.”
He and Vaughn exchanged another glance, and then River forced a neutral expression to his face. “I’m sorry to tell you this. Your aunt and uncle aren’t here on Addo, and they’re no longer on Sera with the Regum. They’ve been taken prisoner by the Tyranns, but we don’t know where they are.”
She didn’t say anything. Her eyes widened, and River watched the skin on her face grow pale.
“You were targeted with that letter. The Tyranns sent it, not the Regum. It was a trick they’ve begun using. It was their intention to take you as well, but not to be reunited with your aunt and uncle.”
He watched her swallow. “Take me where?” she whispered.
“As bait,” said Vaughn. “For blackmail.”
Chapter Three
Marianne shook her head as the two men talked. This couldn’t be real. What they said had to be a lie. “No.” She didn’t have words. Her chest hurt suddenly, and she was certain she was going to puke after all, although that water had helped considerably.
Both men rose at once, and Marianne wished her damn eyes hadn’t gone straight to their crotches. For heaven’s sake. This was hardly the time to be checking them out, even if they were freaking gorgeous.
The one who had given her the water reached her first, and he gently lifted her to her feet. “Come sit with us over here. It’s all right. We’ll explain everything that’s going on.”
“I just want to know how to find my aunt and uncle.”
“We’re working on that,” said the other.
“Really?” It hadn’t occurred to her until just now that they were the good guys. “You’re trying to get them set free, you mean?”
“Yes, we are. Come on. Sit down over here.”
She did as they asked, taking a seat between them. “Where did you say we were? Addo?”
“Yes. Let us try to explain.”
She held up a hand. “Can I at least know your names?”
They both frowned. “I’m sorry,” said the one who had brought her the water. “I forgot we never introduced ourselves. I am Vaughn, and this is my brother, River. We don’t use surnames here.”
She nodded.
“And yes, we are on Addo. This is one of the three habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri system. When you were brought here, you were put to sleep because the journey only took an hour. We use technology you don’t yet have, called a hyper jump, but your people can’t survive it while awake.”
“Is that the sharp prick in my arm I felt?”
“Yes,” said River. “The men on the transport recognized the names on the letter you showed them, and brought you here because it was safer than letting you stay on Earth.”
“You brought me here to keep me from going along with these Tyranns.” They were truly her heroes, then. Heroes with tats all over their arms, and rich, deep, sexy voices.
“Exactly. So, as Vaughn said, we are on Ad
do. Sera is where most of the Regum live, and the Tyranns now control Voyeur Moon. Our planets revolve around our star just as your Earth revolves around its star, so we have the same hours in a day as you’re used to.”
“Are you human, like me? I mean inside.” They looked human enough, but both were taller than most men she knew, and their combat fatigues couldn’t hide their muscles. Both had dark hair they wore near shoulder length, and River had eyes as blue as sapphires, while Vaughn’s were the color of dark chocolate.
“Yes, but our DNA is vastly different than yours,” said Vaughn.
“You said the Tyranns control Voyeur Moon. What does that mean?”
“Let me start at the beginning. The Regum are the ruling class of all three planets. They have been for centuries. They live in palaces and have great wealth, and they control the laws and commerce on all three planets. Or, they did control it on Voyeur Moon.”
He shifted his weight so that his body faced her, and she forced her gaze to stay on his face, which wasn’t much help because she’d never seen such good-looking men.
“They're also very puritanical about sex, and for centuries have raised the women of Sera, Addo, and Voyeur Moon to believe that sex is messy, painful, and nothing more than a duty so they can bear their husbands children one day.”
“Is that why the Tyranns took our women? The rumors floating around Earth say so.”
“It didn’t start out that way,” said River. “Not to the point it has spiraled downward. You see, the Regum have strict laws not only about sex. Their laws also permeate the way our people think and feel. They want to control every aspect of our lives.”
“And the people rebelled.”
River nodded, a slight smile gracing his lips. All that did was make it more difficult to concentrate on what he said. “As rebellion against these laws, and especially against the way the women were raised to think and feel about sex grew, the Regum backed off somewhat and allowed women from a nearby planet called Velone to be brought voluntarily to Voyeur Moon.”