Where the fuck were they?
There were three more doors down the length of the hallway. Bortan lay behind one of them, waiting for them, anticipating their arrival. Marc’s muscles were balled tight with anticipation, the urge to take them down rushing through him, overpowering him with adrenaline. The slightest sound would make him jump, ready to fire. Only years of serious training kept him at bay, made him think before he acted.
And that was what saved the fool woman’s life when somehow she appeared at the other end of the hallway, her large weapon aimed directly at him. He didn’t move but stared at her, noting her almost demonic expression while her shiny black hair bordered her face, her dark eyes watching him like the predator would its prey.
She gestured with the weapon, telling him without speaking to go to the next door. He didn’t understand why a woman dressed as a farmer carried the skills of a warrior, but he would worry about that later. He would also address her insubordination later.
Glancing over at Trent Dar, the man already had his eyes locked on the next door, his laser aimed, ready to fire on command. Marc turned his attention to the door, the solid wooden frame giving no indication what might be on the other side.
One of his men stepped forward, testing the doorknob and finding it locked.
“Stand back,” Marc said quietly, and aimed at the ornate knob.
The quiet laser penetrated through it, the knob disappearing and leaving a hole where it had been.
They moved quickly, entering the room. A handful of Bortan opened fire immediately. One of his men next to him screamed, falling to his death, almost knocking Marc over. Marc fired back, taking down the first two that he laid eyes on. The remaining three stepped backward, the metal in their body clinking as they moved away cautiously from an elaborate computer setup.
“Disarm them.” Marc moved to the control panel, studying the foreign equipment.
“Borna, you betray your people.” The metallic voice spoke with disgust.
Marc glanced quickly at the Bortan who was being searched by his own men while he spoke with disdain. Just as quickly, he looked back to his other side as the woman moved in next to him to check out the equipment.
She ignored the Bortan.
Pointing to the control panel, she moved her fingers over several buttons. “They are monitoring their ships’ activities from here,” she told him. “I would say you can easily open a channel and communicate with them.”
Marc was stunned. The Bortan had called her Borna. She wore the same style clothing as Dree. And Dree had been frantic that a woman called Borna be found. This was the woman who had been taken by the Bortan, but who’d obviously escaped from them, and managed to lift a few of their weapons as well. And the Bortan who stood nearby, now under arrest by his own men, just told her that she betrayed her own people.
“Who are you?” he asked, staring down at the thick black hair that shadowed most of her face.
“She is Borna, once a member of the high council, leader of the fifth armies on Bort.” The Bortan stood tall while Marc’s men held their lasers on him, his fiery red eyes glaring at the woman. “She is a thief, stealing the most coveted treasure of the leader of Bort.”
Marc turned, a sense of warning streaming through him, looking from the Bortan to the woman who he had no doubts was the woman Dree had described to him. “You are a Bortan?” he asked her.
Elaborate tattoos were barely visible under her plain clothing. He hadn’t paid much attention to them until now. The ink pattern was different from any he’d seen in Torin, or in the kingdom. But from what he could tell by her appearance, she had no altered surgery. Every bit of her appeared real and natural.
“I am,” she answered like a warrior, her expression giving no indication if she despised her heritage or not.
“And what did you steal?” he asked her.
“His unborn child. And then I killed it.”
And then before anyone could stop her, she pulled her laser, and killed the remaining Bortan in the room.
Chapter Sixteen
“Damn it to all the hells, woman.” Marc turned on her, grabbing her laser.
It pointed toward the ceiling while she resisted him. Her strength impressed him. Dark eyes shot daggers at him though. He twisted her wrist until she let go. Then taking the large Bortan weapon from her as well, he handed them to one of his men.
“If I’d wanted him dead, he would have been that way already,” he told her.
“I wanted him dead.” The bitterness dripped from her words; an anger embedded so deep it had sent her on a mission of destruction, after her own people.
Marc nodded, knowing there was more to the truth. He turned to one of his men. “See if you can contact their ships,” he ordered, pointing to the computer in front of him.
“I can do it.” Borna moved forward, ignoring Marc as she stood next to his officer.
Marc took her arm, feeling the solid muscles ripple under his touch while he pulled her back. She turned on him, like a wild animal ready to strike, her black hair streaming around her face while dark eyes pinned him with a look to kill. Even outraged, her beauty would distract a man to madness if he allowed it. Her full lips, with her mouth parted just enough to allow her heavy panting to cause her breasts to stretch the material over them, would be all it would take to give her that moment’s advantage.
He took his time though, continuing to pull her toward him, almost lifting her off the ground. Her breath burned hot against him, her breasts pressing into him when he lifted her so that they almost looked at each other eye to eye.
Borna was everything Dree wasn’t. A hardened warrior, disguised as a farmer for some reason. Dark and sultry, her sexual skills were part of her fighting power. And he had a feeling she could be deadly. Nothing about her was soft, not her attitude, or her body. Dree was everything that Borna wasn’t, and Borna did nothing for him.
“You will do as you are told, or I will have you shackled. Any questions?” He didn’t look away from those dark brazen eyes.
Not one ounce of fear seeped through her. She didn’t even nod or shake her head. Marc dropped her, believing that he’d made his point clear. Borna straightened her shirt, and he noticed that not even her hands shook. She wasn’t afraid of him. But she did stand down, not saying a word or making any attempt to move closer to the computer.
“I think we can open communication here.” The officer at the console pushed a few buttons.
An explosion rippled from behind them, the impact from it shaking the floor.
“The dead Bortans.” Trent Dar moved toward the door.
“They are all going to explode.” Borna spoke up too.
“Can we get this computer out of here?” Marc hurried around the console, looking to see how it was patched in at the back.
Another explosion rippled through the castle, this one further away and more muffled.
“I want everyone out of the castle.” They didn’t have a lot of time. Marc started dismantling the computer. “This entire structure will go with the amount of dead Bortan in here.”
This time when Borna leapt forward to help tear down the computer, he didn’t stop her. She moved over it as if it were her own, handing over the equipment to his men and then going after the next piece.
Hallways started to collapse as they hurried out of the room.
“How many warriors are still inside?” Marc yelled over falling debris while they covered their heads and ran toward the exit.
“I don’t have an official count.” Trent Dar answered.
Marc looked around to see his communication officer was no longer with them. Part of a wall collapsed just as they reached the first courtyard, but he didn’t look behind him to see who made it and who didn’t. Dead Bortan blew up all around them, the metal from their bodies flying, proving just as deadly as the falling structure around them.
“This way.” He gestured for everyone around him to follow and hurried to the large ope
n windows at the end of the huge courtyard.
It would be a fool’s mission to try and leave the way they had entered.
The Gren yelled into his communication device. “Have a glider at the west wing, yes. Fly in through the courtyard window.”
A glider flew over their heads just as they reached the window. It turned around, landing while Marc hurried with the equipment, his men huddling around the glider as well. Within a minute they had the computer loaded.
“Get out of here now.” Marc slapped the woman on the back, while she gunned the glider to life. “Head back to Torin with this. I’ll ensure that you have backup.”
She nodded while the dome covered her and then was gone in the next second.
“Let’s get out of here.” He didn’t need to encourage his men.
Explosions seem to ripple everywhere around them. It became harder to see but he needed to make sure everyone was over the top of the large window ledge before climbing over himself.
There was almost an eight-foot drop to the ground, and he hit it hard. But there was no time to catch his breath. Breaking into a run, he sprinted across the ground, out of the heavy smoke and into daylight.
The suns blinded him almost immediately.
But something caught his eye, and he stopped running, holding his hand over his eyes while he squinted at Borna. The woman raced across the grounds in the opposite direction as the rest of them.
Black hair tumbled around her while she flew gracefully away from them. Something didn’t sit right with her exodus though, and in the next minute he realized what it was.
The woman tumbled into another woman, tackling her, the two of them rolling to the ground and then tumbling down the hill. Something compelled him and he raced after her.
At the top of the hill, Marc froze. Borna moved to her feet quickly, pulling the woman she’d tackled to her feet as well. Shaking her, obviously giving her a severe reprimand, the woman appeared defenseless under Borna’s grasp.
Marc focused on the shiny white hair that streamed free around the woman. That and her creamy white skin contrasted deeply against the darker Borna. The woman looked toward him, over Borna’s head, up the hill where he stood. Those pale gray eyes widened and her mouth opened, as if to yell his name. But in the next instant Borna took off running, her grip hard on Dree as she dragged her along with her.
Marc pulled his mouthpiece down so that he could speak. “Round up all warriors and give me a count of the dead. Verify that all Bortan are dead, and then get the hell out of here. I will catch up with you shortly.”
And find that blasted king, he wanted to add. But his men would find him. Scum like that couldn’t stay hidden forever.
He terminated the transmission before he could be questioned, and then raced down the hill after the two women.
The two of them moved quickly but neither were a match for his long-legged sprint. Borna ran furiously down the street, dragging Dree with her, away from the castle while explosions reverberated behind them.
They reached a nearby house, already looted with windows broken out either by locals or the Bortan. The structure was a mere shell, but solid protection against the potential fallout from the castle.
He sucked in dust-filled air, his eyes burning while the stench around him turned his stomach. Slowing outside the house, he paused before reaching the door, the two women’s voices drifting toward him.
“What in the hell did you think you were doing?” Borna sounded harsh, furious, her tone that of a leader issuing a severe reprimand.
“I will not be put in a room and told not to move while death occurs around me.” Dree’s quick response was impressive.
It wasn’t Marc’s nature to stand in the shadows. He never had a problem with making his presence known. Something compelled him though. A friendship had spawned between these two women, if friendship was the accurate term. The best way to explore it, to determine the connection these two had, was to stay put, hear out what was said.
“So you join death instead?” Borna hissed.
He imagined Dree backing down from such harshness.
“You have no warrior skills. One week of lessons does not make you a fighter,” she continued with her reprimand.
“Enough, Borna.” Dree took on a new tone. This was not the voice of a slave. “I can not kill like you can. There is no point bringing it up. But I will not stand by and worry when there might be something I can do.”
“And what exactly did you think you could do?” Borna’s tone didn’t soften. “It was enough that I had to deal with Marc of Torin. Taking out the Bortan would have been easier without him present. But worrying about you shouldn’t have to be on my list.”
“Then don’t worry about me.” Dree moved to the door, and then stopped in her tracks when she saw him.
“Don’t walk away from me.” Borna had grabbed her, pulling her backwards, without noticing Marc standing there.
Dree turned around, her long white hair floating around her with a mystical glow in the heavy shadows.
“Borna.” Her tone grew very quiet, an odd motherly tone to it. “I do not belong to you.”
“I can take care of you.” Borna also lowered her voice.
Marc made his presence known in time to see Borna stroke Dree’s cheek with the side of her hand. Something stirred inside of him. An emotion he didn’t want to name surfaced. Dark. Determined. Possessive.
Those dark eyes met his, thick black hair flowing down over her breasts. Borna was stunning, captivating, her appearance wild and untamed. And his predator instinct went into full mode. Suddenly she was the enemy.
Reaching for Dree, his heart swelled when she went to him, a look of pure joy brushing across her face when she looked up at him.
“I know you told me to stay put,” she began.
But he cut her off. “Let’s go.”
He held Dree close to him but kept his gaze locked on Borna. An unspoken message passed between them. In a mere moment, with a simple possessive action, he hoped he made it quite clear that Dree belonged to him.
Borna hesitated when they turned to the door, but he would be damned if he would let the woman out of his sight. She was a mystery to him, and he didn’t like mysteries.
“You’re coming too.” He didn’t reach for her. There was no reason that he saw to treat this seasoned warrior any different than he would treat one of his own. “You have information for me, soldier. Let’s go.”
He sent orders for a carrier to pick them up, and they didn’t move far through the town before one arrived.
“The kingdom is under our control,” his man told him the second he relinquished the carrier. “We wait for your word to return to Torin.”
Several gliders had accompanied the carrier, offering them armed escort through town until they reached the rest of his warriors. Orders were put out quickly to send as many home as he could afford.
By late afternoon, he had warriors posted throughout the town, searching for any remaining Bortan, and ensuring homes wouldn’t be ransacked. No more lives would be lost if he could help it.
Pulling Dree to the side, he needed just a few minutes with her, the chance to hold her and feel her warmth pressed against him. She stood to the side of the room, watching with her large gray eyes while people worked around her. Borna had taken a seat alongside one of the consoles, appearing neither bored nor agitated. Her expression was blank, although he doubted she missed a thing going on around her. But Dree watched with wide eyes, soaking in everything around her with interest. Already he saw she was a quick learner.
Running his fingers down her smooth creamy skin, her warmth immediately traveled through him, sizzling him with a craving to devour her, drink her juices until he could take no more.
“Come with me,” he whispered into her hair, needing just a moment alone with her, but wishing for days to savor every inch of that luscious body.
Dree looked up at him, long thick lashes fluttering over soft gray ey
es. She ran her fingers alongside her face, brushing strands of hair to the side. His cock hardened, a rush of need so potent it took over his body with a fiery vengeance.
“Where are we going?” she asked, the softness of her voice enticing.
Leading her out of the house, to the side of the building shaded from the suns, he pulled her into his arms. “We’re headed to Torin soon,” he told her, needing to hear that she wanted to go with him.
“I can’t wait to see your home.” She spread her fingers across his chest, leaning into him.
Her smile lit up his heart, emotions drifting through him too new to comprehend. There was so much to discuss with her. Taking her to Torin meant she would be in the public eye, seen by his side, viewed and judged by all of his people. If he didn’t take her for his life mate, all would decide she was his whore, or worse yet, a sex slave he had purchased at the kingdom. That wasn’t what he wanted for Dree. And he had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate that reputation either.
But for the moment, in the precious time they had right now, all he wanted to do was taste her. Her eyelids fluttered while she sucked in a breath and raised her mouth to his. So smooth. So sweet. Her lips were full and moist as he tugged first at her top lip, and then nibbled on the bottom one.
“Marc.” She said his name on a breath, a deep sigh filled with the longing he felt.
Wrapping his arms around her, he crushed her to him, knowing there wasn’t time for much but unable to be gentle. She collapsed against him, her full breasts sweet torture as they pressed through the material. Her hardened nipples were more than a distraction, sending electric charges straight through him where they stabbed into his chest.
He grabbed her ass, lifting her, thrusting his rock-hard cock against her. “This is for you, baby,” he told her, biting at her mouth, tracing a path of moisture from her cheek to her ear. “I need to fuck you so bad.”
“Yes. Please make it soon.” Her willingness made him insane.
Her hair smelled so good, a mixture of something erotic, unique to Dree. The soft strands brushed against the side of his face, smooth and silky, teasing his skin causing a fever to burn through him. He could drown in her, basking in the softness of her skin, the gentle way she ran her fingers over his body, and the compelling touch of her mouth while she stroked her tongue over his skin. The woman made him want to be anything but gentle in return.
Sex Slaves 2: Waiting For Yesterday Page 18