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  She felt a splash as the invaders entered the water, and while several swam past her, one grabbed her ankle and hauled her back toward the theater and out of the water.

  Her mind scrabbled around trying to find the logic in the moment, and she couldn’t. She was hauled out of the water by her ankle and hung in the air before being dropped to the floor next to the pool.

  She saw the slick, featureless helmet of the person staring at her, but he didn’t speak.

  Cierra listened to the breather; the slight hiss told her she was still getting air.

  Her body started to tingle, and she fought the urge to twitch. If they didn’t know she was recovering, it might give her a chance to get away.

  Other invaders came up, and they had other Xerats in their grip. All women.

  It looked like her guy had pulled a dud.

  The Xerat women were unconscious, their gills closed and eyes shut. All Xerat had gills, but the land folk usually pretended they didn’t.

  Cierra looked around, and the invaders were picking up their prizes and leaving the theater.

  If her fella tossed her over his shoulder, she wasn’t going to have a chance. Her hand-to-hand combat skills were not up to snuff.

  When he reached for her, she grabbed the breather, threw it at him, scuttled back and got to her feet.

  The helmet tilted slightly, but she couldn’t tell if he was amused or confused. He stepped toward her, and she ran for the rear exit as fast as she could. Tyan hadn’t been hauled up, so there was a chance she was still free.

  She didn’t hear pursuit, but she kept going, bursting outside and coming to a halt. The sky was dark with a huge ship, and small shuttles were making the rounds to the surface and back, presumably with members of the population.

  An arm wrapped around her waist, but she was too shocked to do anything. This was something out of fiction, out of someone’s twisted imagination. Why was it happening now?

  With a smooth move, she was flipped up over his shoulder and he carried her to the shuttle taking up the courtyard behind the theater. She had done half the work for him; he hadn’t had to carry her all the way to the shuttle.

  Inside the shuttle, she was strapped to a wall with the unconscious women, and the ship took off.

  They lifted into the sky, and she fought the straps. Her senses and predictive logic weren’t giving her anything. There was no logic here.

  The other women were still unconscious. Cierra looked around the hold and noted a few medical kits on the walls. They were located every two women on each side of the hold.

  The ship shuddered and Cierra winced. The cuffs dug into her wrists as the ship tilted and twisted in midair. Whatever they were doing, Cierra hoped they would rectify it soon.

  * * * *

  “Who the hell is shooting at us?” The captain snarled.

  “Surface-to-air attack. They didn’t have these twenty years ago.”

  The captain swung them around and slid their shuttle into the incursion ship’s protective field.

  “Are the others under fire?”

  His helmsman looked at the data coming in on their scanners. “No, it is just us. Who did you grab, Captain?”

  “I have no idea, but she was completely lit up when I looked at her. I couldn’t leave her there.”

  He tightened his grip on the controls and tried to focus on skimming along the belly of their ship. Her frightened crystal-grey eyes didn’t match the Xerat-blue hair that she was sporting, but there was a focus in her gaze that he hadn’t been expecting. She didn’t look at him; she analyzed him. Even though she was not his target species, he hadn’t been able to leave her behind. He was going to catch nine kinds of hell for this, but if she didn’t have someone to ransom her down on Xerat, he wanted to keep her.

  He knew when something belonged in his life, and she was it. Cruising the galaxy, seeking species that were vulnerable to kidnapping and ransom had been a match for his destiny, but he had never been sure what the end game was. With all the seers in his bloodline, seeing into his own wasn’t possible beyond recognizing parts of his own future when he saw them.

  That woman was definitely part of his future; he just wasn’t sure which part.

  Chapter Three

  When the helmeted figures returned to haul them out, Cierra was bruised, aching and still the only woman awake.

  Not one of the men made a sound, even as they hauled the women up and flipped them over their shoulders. Cierra grunted as her captor did the same with her, but she was too busy trying to look around to care.

  The ship they were brought to was clean, grey and the walls were unremarkable. There was nothing for her senses to get a grip on. Nothing that she could see as a means to escape. She wasn’t dumb enough to think she could fly down to the surface. Her flight skills were non-existent.

  As a survivalist, she was strictly urban. She could only manage a dodge or escape when she was in an environment that gave her options. There were no options here.

  She finally gave up in her reconnaissance and dropped back down; her breath caused condensation on her captor’s armour.

  Behind them in the corridor, she heard more marching feet, and when she craned her head up, there was another line of armoured men walking the hall and each of them had a woman over his shoulder.

  She was taken into a room with what seemed to be docks of a sort on the walls. She could see the unconscious women being stood up in the docks and clamps came out to hold them.

  When she was flipped, her head spun, but she lunged to get free of the dock. Her captor pushed her back into the dock, and the clamps wrapped around her neck, wrists, thighs and ankles.

  A scan ran over her from head to toe and back again. Blood was taken from her palm, and then, the most alarming point of the process began. Small servos reached out and peeled off her clothing.

  Hyperventilating wasn’t her first choice, but she couldn’t help it. Being naked in front of a stranger was not her idea of a secure position to be in, and she was all about making herself feel secure.

  The scanner ran light over her again, and a hypo hissed with a cool jet striking her thigh. Her heartbeat slowed, her breathing slowed and she slipped into darkness.

  She was inside a small cocoon and that was nearly as bad as the nudity. The glowing opaque shield above her was close enough to hit, so she pushed at it, bringing her legs up and using them in the effort as well. She heard a creak, then another and finally it swung open.

  Cierra leaned her head over the edge of the unit and gasped for the stale air of the ship.

  Wait a minute. The air wasn’t stale. Not completely. There was an organic component that was very familiar. Wherever she was, there was a garden nearby.

  She was still without clothing and that didn’t make her happy, but it did make her cautious. Cierra slipped out of the capsule and looked at her surroundings. She was in a warehouse filled with other capsules, each one holding a single sleeping woman.

  Cierra still didn’t know why they had been taken, because the obvious reasons didn’t seem to apply. If you wanted sex slaves, you didn’t keep them in storage, did you?

  She crept along the columns of capsules, listening for a guard while she tried to get a feel for who was in those containers. She was queasy when she counted one hundred thirty sleep capsules, including her own.

  A small noise made her jump, and she skittered between two capsules, wishing that she hadn’t been an idiot who left the lid open on her unit.

  Her mind translated a masculine tone cursing and the footfalls headed out the only door in the storage area.

  Well, they knew she was out; apparently, they thought she had made it into the ship.

  * * * *

  “No ransom will be collected for her. You know that.” General Sapya scowled at him.

  Captain Ahket nodded. “I know, but I had to take her. She was meant to be here.”

  The general sighed and ran his hand over his features. “Are you sure that tha
t is what your senses were telling you? They could have been pointing out her unsuitability for a payday.”

  Ahket shook his head. “The colour was wrong. She glowed with the colour that my family associates with someone or something close to us. Something to keep.”

  Sapya made a notation on his tablet. “Well, your other endeavours have paid you well. This one won’t injure your standing.”

  Ahket nodded. “Thank you. How are the other ransoms going?”

  “The funds are flowing in. This was a most successful event, with one minor hitch.”

  Ahket winced. “If I had not collected her, then I would have had to return for her.”

  Sapya nodded grimly. “I am going to have to have a word with your grandmother. She has corrupted you.”

  He was about comment about his grandfather choosing his grandmother, but the duty sergeant skidded into the room.

  “Apologies, General, Captain. The woman.”

  Ahket turned. “Yes?”

  “The pale woman…”

  Sapya raised his eyebrows. “Yes?”

  “She isn’t in her capsule.”

  Ahket began cursing and ran for the hostage sanctuary. The sergeant followed him, apologizing the entire way. When they approached the door to the unit, he lifted his hand to stop the younger man.

  “What did the door record?”

  “It didn’t record anything, but her capsule alarm didn’t go off either. Perhaps she can get around our technology.”

  Ahket didn’t bother calling the young man an idiot. Those alarms were set to keep the soldiers from getting in and abusing the unconscious women. They were not set to keep the women from breaking out.

  He entered the sanctuary and looked around. The open capsule was right where he had left her, but the woman was missing.

  He closed his eyes, opened them slowly and scanned his gaze down the lines. Her path became visible to him, and it brightened as he focused on it.

  He didn’t say anything and raised his hand to stop the sergeant from following or speaking.

  As quietly as he could, he followed her path until he was one capsule away from her. He came around the corner and her trail was still bright, but she was gone.

  He heard her breathing nearby and sighed. “I will not harm you.”

  She held her breath. He heard the intake and then nothing.

  Ahket leaned against the capsule behind him, and he cleared his throat. “We have run your scans. It is certain that you are not Xerat.”

  He heard her snort.

  “If you want to know the fate of these women, they are being ransomed back to their families and governments. It is our way.”

  She shifted slightly, and he saw the dark blue of her head emerge over the arch of the capsule.

  “That is asinine.”

  He blinked at the acid in her tone. A slow grin crossed his features. “It is our way. Our world does not give us anything, so we fight, trade and ransom women.”

  She cocked her head, and her crystal eyes looked him over as he enjoyed the lush curve of her breasts, the slope of her shoulders and the graceful curve of her neck. She still glowed, but now, it was not the glow of an essential object. She was taking on a completely different shade.

  * * * *

  Cierra took in the bright glow of his red and purple eyes in the multi-coloured planes and angles of his face. Every time he shifted slightly, a new, deep jewel tone was exposed as if there was a wide rainbow cast over onyx. In other respects, he bore a stark resemblance to the images of the Admaryn that she had seen. The pointed ears jutting out of bronze hair was a dead give-away. She was dealing with a spin-off race of the Admaryn.

  He was glowing, and it was similar to the glow that she saw when she needed to bring an object with her. She had no idea how she could pick him up and take him home, but part of her wanted to try.

  “Why just the women?”

  He smiled. “We will not take children and males are too difficult to carry.”

  “Why are they asleep?”

  “It is easier for us to keep them under; they will not remember being taken. The charges that we use to knock them out are species specific. You woke up because you are not Xerat.”

  She made a face. “What was that shot I got?”

  “It was supposed to keep you out, but you woke. I am sorry about that. It must have been unpleasant.”

  “It was not my favourite moment.” She realized he was staring at her breasts, and she hauled hanks of her hair down in front to hide her puckered nipples.

  He seemed uncertain but finally nodded. “Come with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you need food, shelter and possibly clothing if I can find some.”

  “What about the clothing that I was in when I got here?” She scowled. She had loved that bodysuit.

  “Into the recycler to provide us with additional materials.”

  She fought the urge to cry, but she jerked her head up instead. “Fine.”

  “I will find you something, but we have to leave here first.”

  She blinked and frowned. “I am not very keen on running around like this.”

  “I can understand that. I can carry you if you wish.”

  She could feel the press of the metal deck in her feet. “I do not want to impose.”

  He grinned. “It is the least I can do for the callous manner with which I hauled you in here.”

  Cierra nodded. “Please then. These decks are not very comfortable.”

  He came around the capsule between them, and he carefully lifted her up in his arms. He pulled her up against his chest and walked out of the storage area with her.

  A younger male in a tight grey uniform, with fewer markings on it than her current transporter, shifted nervously from foot to foot as they approached. His gaze was running over her with strange intensity.

  “Captain, you can’t take her out of the sanctuary.”

  “Duty Sergeant, stand down. She is not a Xerat and will suffer physically before the transaction is concluded. We do not harm those we take.”

  Cierra crossed her legs slightly and turned her head away from the young man who was ogling her. This was more of a disadvantage than she was used to and definitely more attention.

  “I will have to tell the duty commander.”

  “Go ahead. He can come to me if he has any questions.”

  The captain carried her out of the storage area and down the halls, startling several soldiers within the ship and ignoring their questions.

  They were in a lift, and it was rising when she asked, “What is your name?”

  He looked down at her with his hypnotizing eyes, “Captain Urion Ahket. What is your name?”

  “Cierra McAffee.”

  “What may I call you?”

  “A shuttle back to Xerat?”

  He grinned and the lift stopped, the door sliding silently aside. He carried her past a sentry who blinked rapidly at their passage.

  “I am guessing that there aren’t any other women loose on this ship.”

  “You are correct. The short hair that we wear indicates we are soldiers and that we have not mated. There are a few men with mates back home, but they are few and far between and only here because their work is essential.”

  She nodded, and now, the stares made sense. They were starving men and she was a chicken wing. She might not be what they wanted, but she was better than nothing.

  He shifted her in his arms and opened a door in what appeared to be the officers’ wing.

  The sparse interior included a tiny com station, a bed suited to his height and a wardrobe pressed tight to the wall. It wasn’t huge but there was a lav en suite.

  He set her down at the edge of the bed and walked to the wardrobe. “We only keep uniforms here most of the time, but I think…ah, yes. I have something you can wear.”

  He took out what appeared to be a vivid blue wrap shirt. She wasn’t fussy at this point, and she thanked him before slip
ping the shirt on and pulling her hair out from under it.

  The crossover portion would have exposed a small bit of his chest, but on her, it parted beneath her breasts, exposing the inner curve and pulling tight against her. The shirt did fall to just above her knees, and it was an extreme relief to be covered again.

  Cierra finger combed her hair while Ahket stared at her. His gaze was considering, not creepy, and the difference was important.

  When she had her locks mostly separated, she made a braid and knotted the end.

  Settled, covered and much calmer than she had been earlier, she faced him and stared into his strange eyes. “Why am I here?”

  “I told you, we take women from a planet and ransom them back to their families.”

  “Will I be sent back?”

  He smiled, and it was a slow quirk of his lips. “You have no family there.”

  “No, but I have friends, I work for the Xerat government. They would ransom me, I think.” She wasn’t sure, but she thought they might.

  “The Xerat have laws against dealing with us. They will not offer funds for anyone who does not have family.”

  Cierra blinked. “You have done this before?”

  “Every twenty years we take women from Xerat and ransom them back. The funds gained buy enough supplies to support our people for two years, and then, we go out again to another world and do the same. Not all of them pay as well as the Xerat, but it beats injuring folk. Ransom is far easier.”

  She gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I am going to beg to differ on that subject.”

  He shrugged and moved to the com unit, speaking quietly to someone on the other end. They had their discussion while she looked at her slightly more spacious prison. There had to be something she could do to get back to Xerat.

  Chapter Four

  When Captain Ahket finished his call, she cleared her throat.