“When?” A barely understandable grunt from the silent one.
“When I am ready.” He studied the two. “It will not be soon, but I will give you a preview of what to expect.”
Before Emily realized what he was about to do, he ripped open her dress, leaving her in bra and panties. A second later his claw sliced down her chest, leaving a thin trail of blood and destroying her bra. Her hands instinctively flew up to cover her breasts and this time his claws cut through the side of her panties. He pulled her wrists together behind her back with one hand and brushed the remnants of fabric aside with the other.
“As promised. One ripe breeding female for our pleasure.” He twisted her nipple viciously and the unexpected pain made her writhe and cry out. To her disgust, both males had their uniforms unfastened and their hands stroking their cocks. T’ngorzul slid his hand down her stomach and thrust a finger between her labia. It scraped painfully against dry flesh and she cried out again. The watching warriors focused between her legs and their hands moved faster. T’ngorzul made a disgusted sound. He pushed her behind him and stalked over to slam the door. Both males roared and her eyes fixed on the door, terrified that she would see it fly open again. The uproar continued but the door didn’t move, and her attention switched to T’ngorzul. Instinctively, she moved behind the desk, wanting something between them. He shook his head, the smile that twisted his lips sending shivers down her spine.
“Do you want me to chase you, human? I do not object, but you may not like the result.”
“You can’t damage me. You’d lose your money machine.” Her voice shook but she kept her chin high.
“I have no intention of inflicting permanent damage. But that leaves a number of… interesting possibilities.” Again, his eyes scanned her body and she shuddered. Her hands gripped the edge of the broken desk and the top drawer shifted and gaped open. Automatically, her eyes dropped to the miscellany of objects before they flew back up to T’ngorzul’s face.
“Have you made a decision? Are you going to come to me, or do you want me to play?” He extended his hand. She stared at it. Every inch of her body protested the idea of going to him willingly. She didn’t feel brave—she didn’t want him to torture her in whatever twisted way he had in mind—but knowing that he wouldn’t hurt the baby gave her a tiny amount of courage. And surely T’lan was coming. All she had to do was hang on until he got there. Keeping her eyes on T’ngorzul’s face, her hands dropped into the drawer, desperately searching through the contents for a weapon. The best she could do was to clutch a pencil in each fist. Slowly she shook her head.
“No, I’m not going to come to you.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
T’lan positioned himself just outside the breach. His hands moved constantly over his tablet, checking the monitors and sending reports while he issued orders and assigned tasks to his males, but part of his mind remained with M’lee. She had looked so frightened when he left. His instincts demanded that he return to her, but the cabin was safe, escape close at hand if they could not get the breach under control, and he was needed here. A second explosion shook the ship and a bulkhead panel came flying at his head. He dodged to one side but wouldn’t have made it if T’chok hadn’t yanked him aside. They both looked at the slab of metal buried in the wall next to his head.
“Thank you, my friend.”
“You should not be here. Your L’chka needs you.” T’chok looked grim. No doubt T’lan’s surly mood, and M’lee’s obvious unhappiness had not escaped the other warrior.
“I know, but she is safe. And I—I cannot be near her.”
“You have received the greatest gift a warrior can hope for and you cannot be with her?”
Rubble filled the corridor and together they began to clear it, freeing a path for the warriors ahead of them to return. As they wrestled another broken panel to one side, the confession erupted. “I damaged her.”
He waited for T’chok’s anger and disgust, but the older warrior only snorted. “I do not believe it.”
“She bled after we were together.” He shook his head, the memory of blood on her pale thighs still haunting him. “I cannot risk it happening again.”
“So, you cannot be near her at all?”
“You do not understand. I want her with every breath in my body. When I am with her, I want only to hold her, to sink into her, to lose myself in her.”
“I thought you had more control.” Now, T’chok sounded disgusted.
“I cannot risk it.”
“Instead you hurt her. Not physically, but in her heart. Rather than test yourself, you cause her pain. You are a coward, T’lan.”
His hand instinctively went to his sword hilt. It was a mortal insult to accuse another warrior of cowardice. T’chok tensed but stood poised, eyes steady on T’lan. Shame washed over him.
“You are right. I thought I was protecting her but instead I was protecting myself. As soon as we have cleared this corridor, I will return and confess to her.”
Something slammed into his ankle and he looked down to see Tribs tugging at his uniform. Blood matted the sekhmet’s fur and one leg hung at an awkward angle, but the small pet kept pulling at him.
“Tribs,” he exclaimed and looked at T’chok. The same thought occurred to both warriors. T’lan scooped up Tribs and began to run, T’chok close behind.
“Call a team to finish this job,” he yelled over his shoulder.
“Done.”
They reached his quarters in record time. The door stood open. A low moan sounded from within and he raced inside to find T’renan struggling to stand.
“Where is she?” T’lan demanded as he steadied the young warrior.
“Commander T’ngorzul. He surprised me outside the door. I think he took her. He was at the workroom earlier.”
“Why did you not tell me?”
Despite the blood streaming down his head, T’renan shot him an accusing look. “I was not sure you would care.”
“Of course I care. I love her.”
Ignoring the shocked silence from the other two males, he scanned the room. His hearts pounded as he spotted the blood on the floor. Passing T’renan over to T’chok, he crouched by the red stains. His hand shook as he swiped a finger through the blood and brought it to his nose. M’lee’s delicious fragrance was undeniable. Tribs whined.
“She was bleeding.” Terror and rage poured through his veins.
“If he didn’t kill her here, he wants her alive,” T’chok insisted. “Where would he take her?”
“Off the ship,” T’lan responded, the answer immediately apparent. With a grateful word, he gently placed the wounded sekhmet in the life pod. He closed the lid so that the life support capacities could begin to heal the small creature and headed for the door. “I am going after her.”
“We are going with you,” T’renan said.
“Only if you can keep up.” Racing toward his personal flyer, he was not surprised to hear the other males behind him. At first T’chok helped to propel T’renan but the younger warrior soon matched their strides. As soon as they were aboard his vessel and launched into space, T’chok gave him a grim look.
“Do you know where to find her?”
T’lan raised his wrist com and synced it with the console. A glowing dot appeared on the screen. “There.”
“You have a tracker on her?”
“Embedded in the mating bracelets.” He bared his teeth, even as he increased their speed. “I was not taking any chances with my L’chka.”
They raced toward the planet at a dangerous pace, but no one protested. As they approached an abandoned airfield, T’chok cried out in triumph. “Two cloaked flyers, one registered to T’ngorzul.”
T’lan dropped the flyer as silently as possible and bolted out of the door, leaving the others to follow. The hangar doors were open, and he could see two giant warriors pressed against the far wall, their hands frantically working their cocks as they peered through cracks in the rottin
g surface. Rage and fear fought for dominance as he crossed the floor in a silent run, although he suspected they were too intent on their pleasure to notice if he had come in with a full squad. One of them partially blocked the doorway and he simply tossed him aside to break through the door. Confident that his warriors would control the threat, he didn’t even spare them a backward glance.
As he burst into the room, his horrified glance went to M’lee, naked and bent over a desk with T’ngorzul raising his hand to strike her. T’ngorzul was flushed with rage, a small wooden stick protruding from his neck and another from his thigh. He jerked back as T’lan entered, but recovered quickly, a facetious smile crossing his face. One hand went to his sword hilt.
“You are too late. Your breeder is already—”
T’lan’s blade separated his head from his neck, an arc of blood spraying across the room and splattering on M’lee’s naked body. The expression on T’ngorzul’s face as he was decapitated could almost have been surprise, but T’lan had no time to waste on a fallen enemy. His reason for being stared at him with widened eyes.
“T’lan, you came.”
“I told you I would always come for you, M’lee.” He gathered her close with one arm, relief weakening his knees. He kept his other hand on his sword as he swung around to make sure no one was approaching from behind.
“Clear,” T’chok called. “Is M’lee safe?”
“Yes. Stay on guard.” He dropped his sword and began to run his hands frantically over M’lee’s body. “Are you hurt? Did he injure you? Is the child safe?”
M’lee had been touching him just as urgently but at his last question, she froze.
“What is it? Did he damage our child?”
She drew back, her face pale and cold. “What if I told you that he did?”
Sorrow ripped through him, and he pulled her with him as he collapsed to his knees. Her body was stiff in his arms and all he could think was that he had failed her.
“Forgive me, little one. I did not mean to fail you. I let my fear control me.”
“Fear?”
“After I damaged you, I was afraid to touch you. Afraid that I would lose control and damage you again.”
Her body softened against his, but she still searched his face intently.
“Is that why you were avoiding me?”
“Yes.” He met her eyes, letting her see his shame and sorrow. “T’chok made me confront this and I intended to return and throw myself on your mercy.”
His gaze dropped to her stomach and another wave of anguish overtook him. “And now we have lost our child.” His hand curved over the still swollen mound.
“Do you want another one?” A strange note hovered in her voice, but he was too distracted to pay much attention.
“Of course, if you wish it.”
“Do you wish it?” A momentary flash of irritation surfaced at her persistence. He did not want to think about another child; he wanted to mourn the one they had lost. Immediately ashamed of his impatience, he hastened to reassure her.
“M’lee, I can think of no greater honor than to father a child with you, but it is too soon to even consider such a matter. We can discuss it at some time in the future. Some distant time in the future,” he added firmly.
“Oh, T’lan, thank you.” She collapsed against him, weeping. Confused, he was about to question her when he felt the movement under his palm.
“The child—the child lives.”
“Yes.” She looked up at him, her eyes wet but her smile radiant.
Joy overtook him, immediately followed by anger. “Why would you tell me—”
“I didn’t.” She flushed and looked away. “But maybe I did let you think that something had happened. I had to know.”
“Know what?” he demanded, still struggling to control his anger despite the relief that filled him.
“Commander?” T’chok interrupted from outside the small room. “The Supreme Commander has requested that we return to the ship.”
“T’ngorzul didn’t destroy it?” M’lee asked.
“The explosions were his doing?” He shook his head. “I do not know why I am surprised. No, he did not destroy it, although he made a determined effort. T’chok is right. We must return.”
He looked down at her in his arms and the last remnant of his anger vanished, only to be replaced by rage at the dead T’ngorzul. Her naked body was covered in blood and he could still see the bruises blooming on her cheekbone and across her breasts, the deep claw marks gouging her arm. “T’chok, can you retrieve a thermal blanket?”
The words had barely left his mouth before a silver blanket flew through the door. He wrapped it around his L’chka’s body and rose carefully to his feet. Her eyes went to the body crumpled in the corner, and she paled but did not look away.
“I don’t think he expected it to end like that.”
“He was lucky. I was more anxious to get to you than to issue the punishment he deserved.”
T’chok and T’renan awaited him in the hangar. Their eyes went directly to M’lee and both grew rigid with anger at the sight of her visible injuries.
“Tren, you’re alive.” Relief filled her voice.
“Yes, M’lee.” The young warrior bowed his head. “I am sorry that I failed you.”
“You didn’t fail me. You came to save me. And T’chok, how can I ever thank you?”
“We gave you our honor, M’lee. We do not forget.”
She smiled gratefully at both warriors, but she still seemed troubled. T’lan drew her closer but he kept returning to her earlier words. How could she have let him think their child was dead? What had T’ngorzul told her that left the shadows in her eyes?
As soon as they were onboard, he strapped her in with him and nodded for T’chok to take the controls.
“Now, little one. Tell me why you lied to me.”
She attempted to evade his glance, but he gripped her chin and turned her face gently towards him
“T’ngorzul—he said my baby is valuable.”
“Of course, our child is precious to us.”
“You don’t understand. He meant valuable as in she is worth a lot of money.”
He closed his eyes as rage filled him. He wished again that he had not been so quick to strike the man dead, but his only thought at the time had been to get to his L’chka.
“Is it true, T’lan?” she whispered.
“Yes, M’lee.” He would not lie to her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It makes no difference. Are you proposing to sell her?”
At her shocked expression, he nodded. “Of course not. She is valuable to us simply because she is our child, so any other value is irrelevant.”
She sighed, and more of the tension eased from her body.
“Why did he tell you this?”
In halting tones, she described the evil bastard’s plan for her and her children. T’lan’s hands clasped the chair arms so hard that one broke off in his grip. The other two warriors looked just as enraged.
When he could speak without growling, he hugged her close. “I am sorry, M’lee. There are many things I should have told you. I did not because I was concerned that you would not understand. It was a mistake.”
“Will you tell me now?”
“Yes, I will tell you anything you wish to know. But perhaps…” He looked at the other warriors and then back at her. “Perhaps we could continue this in private?”
She bit her lip but nodded. “Okay, but there is one thing I need to know now. Are you really keeping women penned up on your ship so you can give them to your warriors?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
T’lan hesitated, unsure how to answer her question.
“There are human females on board,” he said finally.
“For your warriors?” Her eyes were wide and horrified.
“Not exactly.”
“Then what exactly? Stop beating around the bush and tell me.”
“Just tell me!”
“I told you that females who broke curfew were relocated. If they are unmated and of breeding age...” She winced. “Then they are relocated onboard the ship. Once the Forbidden Cycle is complete, the warriors may offer them a contract. I told you before, we do not force females.”
“Oh, sure. That sounds exactly like you’re giving them a choice.” she said sarcastically.
His brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“T’lan, if you had been captured by aliens and kept locked up, completely dependent on those aliens, do you really think you would feel that you had the option to say no?”
“It is how it has always been done.”
“So of course, that makes it right.”
T’lan thought back to his first campaign, to that unpleasant attempt to mate an alien female and couldn’t suppress a surge of guilt. She had certainly consented but was M’lee correct? Did she think she had no choice? He looked at T’chok and saw that the older warrior was looking equally appalled.
“Perhaps you are correct, my L’chka.”
She stiffened at her words, and he frowned at her.
Before he could ask her why she was troubled, she simply shook her head. “Later.” Returning to the subject, she asked, “Who is in charge of these women?”
T’lan’s frown deepened and he looked at T’chok.
M’lee sighed. “Please don’t tell me that T’ngorzul was responsible.”
“I believe that he had that assignment,” T’chok answered.
“Great. Talk about putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.” She waved a hand at their puzzled looks. “Never mind. Who takes over now?”
“Sub Commander T’judin is T’ngorzul’s second in command,” T’chok said.
“I wouldn’t trust anyone who reported to that asshole,” she muttered, tapping her fingers. “T’chok, couldn’t you take over?”
“What?” Shock was evident on the older warrior’s face.
“I trust you not to hurt those women—and not to make them feel like they have to mate with a warrior.”
Alien Conquest Page 28