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  Kidnapped, ransomed, and rejected, she didn’t think things could get any worse until she realized that the rescue approaching was going to have conditions.

  Misty survived a horrible life and terrible parents and siblings to make it across the stars when her world ended. Those that hurt her were on the same ship. Family groups needed to be kept together, and she accepted that her suffering wasn’t going to end.

  Four and a half years of a menial job later, she meets a few people that are genuinely kind, and she enjoys the kindness while it lasts. A few days later, she is kidnapped and held for ransom, and no one will pay.

  She is ready to be auctioned off to the highest bidder when a rescuer appears, and it is the person who offered her kindness at the café. Now, he is offering a contract, and she doesn’t have another option. She will sign a contract with the overseer and see how long she lasts.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Unexpected Hero

  Copyright © 2022 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-990635-10-6

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com.

  Unexpected Hero

  Shattered Stars Book 10

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Misty smiled at the customers that came through the door, careful not to show teeth. She looked, assessed, and spoke while she signed, “Welcome to the Ridge Café. Would you like to sit indoors or outdoors? Would you like me to continue manual conversation or cease?”

  She looked at the gaggle of young women with the soft silver skin and solid black eyes of the deep-sea folk. A young woman in front smiled and signed, “Please, continue manual conversation. Thank you. We will sit on the overlook.”

  Misty nodded and gestured to lead them out to one of the tables for four. She waited until they were seated, and she used her hands to ask if they wanted beverages or water to begin.

  She waited on them and answered questions about the food, the drink, and her species.

  The spokesperson said, “Your people speak Vecchin manual?”

  Misty smiled and said and signed, “Something similar. It was used by the hearing impaired on my world. When they offered me the chance to learn it here, I took it.”

  “Misty!”

  She cringed and turned. Her boss was there and scowling. “What are you doing?”

  She spoke and kept her hands visible for the party of four to see. “Talking. Sorry. I will get back to work.”

  The young woman got up and signed rapidly. The boss blinked. “I don’t understand. Misty, can you translate?”

  “Uh, sure. Can you say that again? He doesn’t speak manual.”

  “As a granddaughter of Vecchin himself, I find it very distressing that genuine interest in a new alien is considered unusual. You have a very interesting employee and should celebrate that fact.”

  Misty smiled and said, “Thank you, but I am sorry. He’s right. I just don’t get to talk much, audible or manual.”

  She nodded to her boss, who grabbed her arm. “You are going to find a way to pay your bond and get out of my sight. You have a month.”

  Misty hung her head and nodded.

  She got back to work. She delivered the ladies’ orders and asked if there was anything else.

  The leader grabbed her arm. “What did he say to you?”

  Misty patted her hand and then said, “Doesn’t matter. It’s fine. Let me know if there is anything else you need.”

  “You got in trouble.”

  Misty smiled. “I always get in trouble.”

  She returned to the other six tables and checked on orders. The evening burned to night, and eventually, it was just the table of four, and they finally left the café. Misty started her cleaning protocol, and when that was done, she did quality checks on the food, and then, she studied. She was looking for office skills and filing familiarity for Vecchin standards.

  She was on the overnight shift. It started around six and went until six. She was in for a long night, and as long as the customers were tended to, the boss didn’t care if she studied. He wanted her gone. She was too much of a talking point at the café. She was one of three humans on Vecchin, and the other two were her relatives. They were the reasons she had an interest in sign, but they had no interest in her. She was glad that they found a world where signing was common enough that fifteen percent of the population did it. All of the deep-sea folk could hear, but their speech wasn’t great. The manual language filled that gap. Misty was used to the silence, which is why she had taken the job at the café. The boss might be regretting her position, but she loved it. Small moments of bustle and large swaths of peace. She loved it on the ridge.

  She sat and went through the course load with an induction unit behind her ear. The door opened, and she looked up, walking up to greet the patrons with a smile. She stared as three large men in armoured bodysuits came in. She paused, and then, she bowed and said, “Welcome.” She asked the question about manual speech, and the one with deep-sea roots smiled and said, “We do not require it today, but feel free to continue. We would just like a large table and keep the food coming.”

  She smiled, bowed, and walked them to a large table in the rear of the café with an engageable privacy screen. She said, “Menu is in the table. I will bring you whatever you order. If the screen is engaged, I will enter and leave without speaking.”

  The one with black eyes smiled and asked silently, “What do you think we will be talking about?”

  Without missing a beat, her cheeks pinked, and she answered him with manual, “How you guys get in and out of those suits without having them painted on.” She bowed and left them to settle while the dark-eyed one laughed.

  The drink order came in first with one for snacks, so as the machine did food prep, she brought the completed items to the defenders of Vecchin for close to an hour, taking away the empties and keeping more food coming in. They were really hungry.

  When she brought the final fruit course, they all turned to face her. She had to field the question, “What are you?”

  One of the men had silky red air, the other had vivid blue, both of their eyes were amber, and they looked like mainlanders. The third, with the inky green hair and black eyes, the silver skin, made him local.

  She signed and smiled. “Terran, but not one of the good ones. Just one of the normal boring ones.”

  The deep-sea one smiled. “Not companion class?”

  She blushed. “Definitely not.” She was one mark off from companion class. Her mind wasn’t quite right. It was too open.

  He blinked as if he had heard her. She blinked and stepped back. He reached out and gently caught her wrist in his hand. She felt a light pressure on her mind, and her brain did what it had been trained to do at the Education Station. She blacked out.

  * * * *

  “Mekked, what did you do?” Aldrun was glaring at him. Soith was looking at the woman in concern.

  “Sartuth’s response. They give it to folks who can’t hold a shield. You prod her mind a little, and it shuts down.” Mekked looked at the unconscious woman in his arms. “I have been trained to identify them, but I had not seen one before, so I wanted to see it in action.”

  She was limp in his arms, helpless, like a broken dol
l. He smoothed her dark brown hair from her face, touching her mind again. There was something there. He could identify it. “She’s an empath. A wide-open empath. How the hell did she end up here?” He glanced around the empty café.

  Aldrun smiled. “There were three of them. Two went into research at one of the deep-sea stations. I am guessing this was the third.”

  Soith scowled. “Weren’t they a family group?”

  Mekked scowled. “How do you know so much about it?”

  Aldrun shrugged. “Because we read the security briefings. The two researchers are mother-daughter. This is also a daughter but was not raised with little to no hearing. The Education Station brought them to species standard against their wishes, and they were assigned here.” He looked at the woman. “No mention of an empath, though.”

  “I need to see her file.”

  Aldrun snorted, and he brought up the data stream, found the café’s name, and sought out bondservants registered. There it was. “Misty Deluca. Terra. Skillset basic hospitality. Class is companion minus one. She was deemed unsuitable due to the issue with her open mind. She’s taking courses to switch into low-level administration.”

  Mekked chuckled. “I will have to thank Hazda for the tip.”

  Soith looked at him. “She drops like a rock the moment that your mind touches hers.”

  “That is a failsafe to keep her from being used as a puppet. I can install protections in her mind.” He caressed her brow and cheek. “Ah. She’s waking up.”

  Her lashes fluttered, and her eyes opened, then widened as her mouth made a small circle. He felt shame and panic coming off her in waves as she rolled to the floor and scrambled to her feet, apologizing.

  She was broadcasting that she had done something wrong. He tried to calm her with words, but his alarm went off, and he and his team had to leave. “Contact the defenders’ office to settle the bill.”

  She nodded, and they left.

  * * * *

  It took her an hour to clean up, and when she had managed it, she contacted the defenders’ office for payment. She got nauseous when the claim came up, Denied. They weren’t an authorized eatery. The boss would not like that, and no matter the proof on the vids, her butt would be on the line.

  “What the hell am I going to do now?”

  She held onto her elbows and put away her studying supplies. She just had to wait until the boss came in, and then, it would be back to the bond auction with a higher price on her head to make up for the loss of supplies consumed by three grown men who lifted buildings for a living.

  She had new supplies ordered, and the delivery would come in after she was discarded. She was sure of it.

  When the boss arrived to go through the receipts from the night, things went down as she thought they would. The bond auction transport arrived, and she left. The bill from the night before had nearly been equivalent to her entire value, so they had to put her up for auction with a reserve.

  * * * *

  Hazda was reading the news and the reports for the next open auction. “What the hell?”

  She sent Mekked a note and bit her lip. If he was off-world or at the mines, he wouldn’t respond until he was back on Vecchin. She didn’t have enough spending money for the reserve, but she knew who did.

  What the hell had gone wrong? She was sure that when he met her, he would see what Hazda did. She was his match. She glowed with it. What had happened, and why was Misty up for auction?

  * * * *

  Misty hated this portion of the auction. She was standing centre stage in a thin gown, a spotlight outlined everything, and the sensuality test was about to begin.

  The assessor took her hand, and heat poured up her arm and over her, pooling in her breasts and groin. She gasped, moaned, and pressed her thighs together. The numbers on the bids continued to climb, and the assessor kept her arousal climbing higher until she cried out and collapsed to the floor, panting and sweaty.

  “So, aside from the psychic interference response, she is a delightful addition to anyone or facility who treasures a stunningly high sensuality rating. She can also be made very ornamental with limited effort.” The bidding continued to rise higher.

  Misty was helped to her feet, and she kept her eyes and head down.

  There were cries of shock and anger moving through the space, and when she looked up, a team of shadows was coming toward her. Other women and men up for auction were being hauled off, and she was looking at the several people coming toward her. A touch on her mind caused her to drop, and that was it.

  * * * *

  Mekked was exhausted. Three days of fighting raiders near the mines was a tiring time at work. He wanted to get home, get changed, and get a decent sleep. Then, he would go back to that café.

  The alert sounded. Soith muttered, “Attack at the bond auction.”

  “Injuries?”

  “Minor. No fatalities. They were going after the high-priced bondservants. They will probably be sold on the black market.”

  “Lock the ports, and we will go looking for them tomorrow.” Mekked rubbed a hand over his face.

  “Right. You look like shit. I will have Aldrun get information on the pulled personnel. It will be ready when we are.”

  Mekked frowned and settled the shuttle at his home. He checked his message list as he headed in, and Hazda’s name appeared frequently. She probably wanted to know how the meeting went. He looked forward to the next time he saw Misty. He was going to ask her out on a picnic.

  He headed to his quarters, got cleaned up, and dropped into his bed. He smiled and imagined how nice it would be to share the space with Misty. He was asleep in seconds.

  Chapter Two

  She was alone in a cage. It was a large animal cage. There was a container in one corner to relieve herself, and they came by and fed her twice a day. That was how she kept track of time.

  Other kidnapped bondservants were being released and delivered to folks who paid their ransom. Misty knew she was stuck. She was going to be sold in some weird situation and shipped off-world.

  A shadowy figure stopped in front of her cage and cocked its head. “What makes you worth so much?”

  She shrugged. “It is what some folk have paid for specific women from my world. I think it is insane, personally.”

  “But what is it, specifically?”

  “We are a Hmrain food group.”

  The shadow paused. “Interesting. Why can’t we find one willing to take you on?”

  “I am defective. Close but not quite companion class.”

  “But, you reacted properly at the auction.”

  “Just because I can react to an assessor doesn’t mean that I will be a good companion. I have a psychic flaw that makes it unlikely that I will ever be considered a suitable match for anyone. Fun to play with, impossible to maintain.”

  “Huh. Well, since your employer isn’t going to pay your ransom, we are looking for high bidders. So far, the brothels are coming in pretty consistently.” There was a nasty laugh. “Just so you know what you have to look forward to.”

  Misty nodded and hugged her knees. “I figured as much. Thank you for the information.”

  The shadow left her, disappointed that she hadn’t sobbed and wailed.

  Misty sighed and located all of the dozen people in the building. The guards were regular, someone was preparing food, and the others were in the main chamber. There were two more kidnap victims left, and they were both relieved. Their ransom was being paid, and they would soon be back at the bond auction. Their employer received bond insurance for just this occasion, so no one was out any money.

  She tried to imagine life in a brothel and stopped when she felt the sense of dread kick in. Misty wanted to be back on Earth, dying slowly as the planet starved. It had more dignity.

  * * * *

  Mekked got up, dressed, and headed to the kitchen. He started checking messages as Aldrun came in, scowling. “
What is it, Al?”

  “You know that server from the café?”

  Mekked’s heart thudded. “Yes. Is she okay?”

  “She was taken with the others from the bond auction.”

  He was nervous, but these matters were usually sorted. “What is her ransom status?”

  “None.”

  “What? The employer is duty-bound to provide ransom, and bond insurance will reimburse them.” Mekked felt nervous dread trickle through his body.

  “They refused.” Aldrun lifted his free hand helplessly. “They have the right. I have just never heard of anyone doing it before.”

  Soith came in. “Are we going to see that cute server you have been mooning over, Mek?”

  Mekked looked to Aldrun. “Are they seeking them?”

  “No. There is no reason to. Your Terran is the only one unaccounted for. The last two were returned to the auction house at dawn.”

  Hazda’s messages were heartbreaking. They cancelled her bond because the defenders wouldn’t pay your bill, and she didn’t have enough to cover it.

  She’s at the bond auction. Grandpa says he won’t buy her bond as it would be wrong. Hope that you get back and can sort this out.

  They stole her. They took her after the assessor proved that she is companion class. Please, let me know when you get this.

  Mek. They aren’t going to ransom her back, and I have heard rumblings that she is going to be sold at an underground auction. Please, come home.

  He sent her a message. Home. Searching.

  She replied a moment later. Thank you.

  Hazda didn’t usually get attached to people. She must have really connected with Misty.

  “Well, Hazda wants me to go get her.” Mekked shrugged. “So I will find her.”