She shivered at the sound of his voice. He certainly did have her. His arms were like hot manacles wrapped around her midsection. He slid down the wall, braced himself against it, and dug his boots into the floor. The scratchy material of his shirt was rough against her arms and back, making her very aware of her lack of clothing.
With the intensity of their flight, and her need to escape, she’d forgotten she was wearing nothing but a scrap of what couldn’t really be called underwear.
The ship suddenly banked again, and she gripped his arm tight. The two other men grabbed the bulkhead above them and rode out the wild ride with seeming ease. She envied them their strength.
“They’ll send fighters after you,” she felt compelled to point out. The Exos had six fighters in her fleet along with several shuttles for ferrying customers from the surface of whatever planet they were currently orbiting.
The man who’d race on board behind them grinned at her. “They’ve got to catch us first, babe.”
Then the deep voice came over the intercom once again. “Hitting boosters in three, two, one.”
Rory knew what that meant and wrapped her arms around the man holding her. The ship shimmied and then was whipped forward at a massive rate of speed. This was obviously no ordinary trader ship. Boosters cost huge money and came with an element of danger as well. Flying at such incredible speeds meant it was tough to avoid another ship or a meteor if one crossed your path.
Just who were these men? And what did they want with her?
The longer they sat there, the more comfortable she got, which made her uneasy and confused the hell out of her. She was practically naked and sitting on a man’s lap, a man she didn’t know.
Something hard dug into her side, and she knew it wasn’t his blaster—the weapon was much too small to be the foreign object pressing against her. Considering she was sitting on his lap, that left only one possibility. Her rescuer was aroused.
She swallowed hard. Had they brought her on board to service the crew? She began to shiver, fear adding to the chill of the loading bay airlock. She’d fight if she had to. There had to be a safety shuttle somewhere on board. All she had to do was find it.
He pulled her closer and ran his big hand up and down her back, his touch rough but gentle. “We’ll get you some clothes just as soon as we’re out of booster mode.”
That gave Rory pause. It certainly didn’t sound as if he were getting ready to rape her as soon as they leveled out. That had to be a good sign. Right?
She nodded because there really wasn’t anything else she could do or say at the moment. She could feel the other two other men watching her and made sure her hair covered her breasts. She didn’t want to give them an eyeful, or at least any more than she already had. Who knew how much of her they’d already seen?
Rory didn’t know how much time had passed before the ship slowed, coming out of booster mode and into regular flight. She had no idea where she was. Not that it mattered. The only home she’d ever know was gone, stolen by a devious man, someone she’d trusted.
“Let’s get you up and find you something to wear,” her liberator, or captor—at this point she wasn’t quite sure what to call him—said. It was getting tiresome not knowing his name.
“Who are you?” She had to know.
He held out his hand to one of the other men and was dragged to an upright position. He kept one arm around her, taking her with him, and settled her on her feet beside him. “I’m Kal Marks.” He raised an eyebrow when she didn’t say anything. “And you are?”
Shock hit her square between the eyes. “You don’t know who I am?”
He shook his head, causing a lock of hair to fall across his forehead. She fought the urge to brush it away. Honestly, she was losing her mind. “Then why did you kidnap me?”
“Rescue you,” he amended.
She’d give him that. At least until she knew more about her situation. “Okay, why did you rescue me?”
He released her wrist. It was the first time since he’d offered her his hand that some part of him wasn’t touching her. She missed it more than she should. She felt bereft, set adrift. Which really didn’t make any sense. She might have a name for him, but he was still a stranger.
“Because of this.” Kal reached out and rubbed a finger over the base of her tattoo, tracing the thorny vines before stroking upward over the trail of colorful flowers covering her arm. He started at her forearm, moved up to her elbow and then all the way to her shoulder.
“You took me because of my tattoo?” Had she heard him right?
He nodded. “What’s your name?”
“Aurora Banks. Call me Rory.” Only her father had called her Aurora, and only when he was angry with her. Everyone else had called her Rory for as far back as she could remember.
Kal nodded. “Well, Rory. Welcome aboard the Abigail. These are my brothers Garth and Amos. You might recognize Garth from the Exos. The one with the big gun is Amos.”
Now that she was really looking at them, the family resemblance was obvious. They were all big men, although Garth was more heavily built than the other two. And they all had black hair with a shock of white in the front. She looked from one to the other. She hadn’t noticed the lock of white in Kal’s hair during their dramatic escape. No wonder. It had taken everything out of her just to run and stay on her feet.
Amos was missing the pinky finger on his left hand. No doubt these were tough men who’d lived a rough and deadly life. She had no idea what they did for a living and wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Since their ship was a trader she wondered if they were legit or mercenaries. They could well be smugglers, men who’d run anything if the price was right.
Both of the men nodded at her. They were studying her as if waiting for her to say something. She didn’t exactly know what to say, so she nodded back.
Heavy footsteps came toward them, vibrating through the floor. A red light on the wall flashed to green and the door to the loading bay airlock opened. It had been secured from the other side.
Rory might have wondered more about that, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the giant of a man standing in the doorway. He was taller than the rest, his black hair buzzed off close to his skull. But she could see the short strands of white and knew he was another brother. A black patch covered his right eye, and his right hand wasn’t skin and bone but robotic.
“What the fuck are you standing around for? What does she know?”
End of sample chapter
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