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  “Putting me behind glass will never keep me safe. I will go nuts and break out as soon as I can.”

  “Why do you have such an aversion to tanks?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like being naked in front of strangers.”

  She gave him a glance, and he was looking at her with a shocked expression.

  “That is it?”

  “Yeah. Clothing isn’t an option, and technicians and medics come in any time and look at you. I don’t like it.”

  She quickly finished her breakfast.

  He was still stuck in his astonished pose.

  “Helbri, your food is getting cold.”

  He shook his head and ate.

  She took her plate and implements to the recycler and cleanser before returning to sip tea while he scarfed down his meal.

  When he was done, he poured himself a cup of tea and sat with her. “Pardon my surprise, but you seem completely at ease when you are unclothed with me.”

  She blushed slightly. “Well, that is different. You are not looking at me with any kind of frustration or contempt. The medics on the moon base were not really impressed with me, and their expressions showed it.”

  To her surprise, Helbri nodded. “They were not happy that you were not a volunteer. It appears that they thought you were shaming your people by refusing to sacrifice yourself.”

  She blinked. “My parents asked me not to participate in the Volunteer Project. They wanted me at home, so I went to the recruitment centre to let Recruiter Norz know in person that I wasn’t going to be able to go, and the next thing I know, I was in the tank and you were there.”

  “Why didn’t your parents want you to leave?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I have begun to suspect that there is something in my genes that wouldn’t reflect well on them.”

  “Right. Well, as the other Brides were happy to leave, you have set yourself apart in the eyes of the regulatory bodies that arranged your arrival.”

  “Wonderful.” She sat back and finished her tea.

  “I am going to continue to check my weaponry for my assignment. If you want to come with me and keep me company, you are welcome to do so.”

  She followed him out of the galley with a fresh cup of tea. While he laid out the long-range weapons, she simply watched to figure out what he was doing and why.

  When he had checked out all of the rifles and pistols of the energy variety, he sat back on his heels. “Well, we have three hours until we land. Would you care to rest?”

  She jerked upright, unaware that she had been slumping over.

  “Um, rest? I think I would like to learn about where we are going.”

  He chuckled. “Fine. Meet me on the command deck.”

  He stood gracefully and headed down the hall. With a groan, Cleo got to her feet and rubbed her butt. The rush of pain prickles to her backside woke her up for the moment.

  She hobbled to the command deck and curled up in the navigator seat. He pulled a small crystal out of the console, and he inserted it into a tablet.

  “Here is everything you need to know about Ytheera. We are going in with a visibility-obscuring unit, and you are to remain in the ship at all times. If you leave, you will be visible to the locals, and they have a bad reputation for abusing alien women and men.”

  She frowned and nodded, opening the file and reading the whys and wherefores of the mission. Helbri was after a serial rapist and murderer operating under the guise of a cult leader.

  He was not a nice man, and he had hurt a lot of men and women. A price had been put on his head, and Helbri had been invited by one of the family members of the deceased to collect it.

  Cleo was just along for the ride.

  Chapter Six

  The first seven hours on Ytheera were quiet. Cleo was bored out of her mind. Helbri was off doing whatever it was that he did, and she was stuck reading one horrific file after another.

  The moment the proximity alarms went off, she froze in place. As quietly as she could, she triggered the exterior displays and watched as heavily armed men walked toward the ship as if drawn to it.

  She identified the style of detector in the man’s hands and looked it up. “Fuck.”

  They were looking for life signs.

  She bit her lip and debated what to do. They were close now, only five hundred metres away from their shaded location.

  If it weren’t for the rocks surrounding the ship, she wouldn’t have gotten up the nerve to act on her impulses.

  Helbri was here. If she could survive this, he would come for her.

  It sounded very dramatic and fainting-heroine-ish, but it was all she had. If they found the ship, she was screwed.

  She grabbed a ration pack and a water bag before walking to the hatch. Cleo opened the hatch with the code, and when she stepped outside, she set the lock and ducked as the door swung shut.

  Knowing what direction the men were coming from, she chose a right angle to the ship and started to run.

  She was slapped by brush and skidded on rocks, but she made it out of the twisting valleys to stand in front of a huge, deep basin that was occupied by a large city built around a central, circular, open area. She knew that place from the files. That was a bad place.

  There was a sound behind her, so she ran through the brush, keeping low and hoping that her hair would blend in with the dark scrub. It wouldn’t help, but then, she wasn’t supposed to know that she was being tracked.

  Every few hundred feet, she took some food and some water, but she ran out in a matter of hours.

  The game of cat and mouse took her past sundown. When she thought she could get away with it, she curled up at the base of a tree and sobbed gently.

  She was unsurprised when a beam of light illuminated her. She jerked and covered her eyes.

  A language that was difficult to decipher was spoken, and the words were barked as an order.

  She focused on English and muttered, “I am sorry; I don’t understand.”

  They paused and discussed her. One man came over and grabbed her wrists, pulling them gently but firmly away from her face.

  She squinted and blinked into the light, and the masculine laughter took on a distinctly unpleasantly familiar tone. The man who was holding her wrists tied them together and pulled her to her feet. The men were talking amongst each other, and gradually, she could make out enough of what they were saying that she had to fight to keep down her ration bar.

  If Helbri needed his target out in the open, he was going to get it. This little group was looking for any woman or man who possessed any measure of beauty. Tomorrow, beauty would be sacrificed in the forum, and their master would do the honours.

  They congratulated themselves on finding an alien, as the locals were too good at hiding when a sacrifice was announced.

  One member of the group asked at the convenience of finding an alien woman on her own.

  The others told him to shut it. It was obviously a case of the gods providing their own sacrifice.

  Cleo kept her mouth shut and walked along with them. It was a long evening, but when they stumbled into the city, lights flared up in a runway pattern, and her captors hauled her toward the large pool of light at the far end of the path.

  A wide courtyard was filled with smart-looking guards. She tried to look afraid as she was handed over to the military with her original captors getting a bag that clicked and jingled.

  The guard that took her by the bindings on her wrists cut the cord and released her. He spoke in slow Alliance Common. “There is no need for this, is there?”

  She shook her head slowly. “Where am I?”

  “You are on Ytheera, and you are very fortunate. Your arrival at this time makes you a symbol of wealth and beauty. Do you wish to rest and refresh?”

  “I do.” She looked at her grubby hands and the dirt and tears in her clothing. “Please.”

  He smiled kindly, an
d deep inside, Cleo painted a target on him. He knew what was being planned for her, and yet, he was coaxing her along like a shy little lamb.

  She really wanted to grab his gun and blast her way out, but that wouldn’t stop another woman or man from being raped and slaughtered the following day.

  She knew what was on the agenda for the cult leader, and there was a grim happiness knowing that Helbri was not going to miss. Cleo would have to get herself out of the city, but Helbri was not going to miss.

  Quiet women bustled around her and removed her clothing before leading her into a deep bath. Without exception, each of the women had had their faces carved up.

  Cleo didn’t ask why. She didn’t have to. The monster that controlled the area liked to kill those with outward beauty.

  She didn’t want to get anyone into trouble, so she played in the water, finally relaxing on a submerged bench while a woman massaged a heavily lathering substance into her hair. When spots began to appear in front of her vision, Cleo turned to look at the woman washing her hair. Her blood ran cold when she saw the man who was planning a particularly unpleasant end to her tomorrow.

  She shrieked and pushed away from him, splashing back into the wide pool before surfacing with her mind being consumed by a blanket of numbness.

  Hands fished her out of the pool and laid her on a table nearby.

  Cleo fought for personal control as the master stroked her with long fingers and fondled her breasts and belly.

  “Lovely. You will make a fitting sacrifice to the dark lord.”

  She squirmed on the table, and he chuckled.

  “The paralytic you were given will keep you docile for hours. Are you a virgin?” He snaked one hand between her thighs.

  Her brows snapped together, and she jerked violently. He laughed. “It doesn’t matter. The dark lord is not fussy. He will take you as you are.”

  The man made of polished grey stone scales bent and licked up her belly and across her nipples. “I look forward to channelling him in your final hours.”

  His tongue was long, slimy and had a strangely hollow tip. Her skin began to burn where he touched it, and it wasn’t a good burn.

  He barked orders to the women cowering in the corner of the bathing room, and Cleo caught enough to know that he wanted her dressed but not bathed again. That slime was going to stay on her.

  She was handled like a doll. To her astonishment, they engaged in the equivalent of waxing her. From her chin to her toes, she was hairless when they were done.

  The women had an expertise that was disheartening. Their ability to prop her up and handle her limp limbs showed that they had a lot of practice. Cleo got nauseated all over again.

  She held onto her anger and was soon able to twitch her fingers slightly when no one was watching.

  Expert hands arranged her hair, and she was still at the mercy of her attendants while the burning on her skin continued.

  The black gauze dress was made out of long strips that were draped over her shoulders with one of the ladies holding them as they were placed. When she had been covered in twenty or more strips, a wide, beaded cincher was wrapped around her waist, and it dipped below her navel and up between her breasts. The metallic beadwork would have been lovely if she hadn’t had to stare at it because of her neck being limp.

  When she was dressed, gilded slippers were placed on her feet, and she was supported to a seat against the wall that had a hole in it.

  To her humiliation, it was a toilet. They moved the skirt out of the way and strapped her in place, leaving her alone in case her body demanded relief.

  With her body pinned to the stone, she was left to feel the burn of the saliva and the mortification of her situation.

  Two hours later, she was unstrapped, cleaned and walked toward the door.

  The ladies handed her off to a pair of guards who carefully arranged their hands so that it would appear that she was walking under escort.

  Keeping her arms and legs limp was her entire focus. If they knew she had shaken off the paralysis, they would dose her again. She was sure of it.

  The light that surrounded them grew brighter as they entered the sacrificial circle.

  The master was standing at the front of a wide platform, overlooking his devoted flock. “The dark lord has called for a sacrifice, and he has delivered her unto us.”

  The guards walked her to the edge of the platform and showed her off to the crowd. The worshipers were staring up at her with glazed expressions.

  “She is pure in body and bears the mark of the dark lord.”

  Cleo was escorted up a set of stairs, and she was held in front of the master. The master reached out and tore her cincher from her body, parting the dark veils of gauze that were her only clothing.

  The master looked at her torso, and he jerked in surprise. A wave of astonishment came from the worshipers who were fixated on the spectacle.

  She didn’t need to look down at her skin. The burning had ended an hour earlier. Whatever he had licked into her skin was gone.

  “How did you do that?” His whisper was low.

  She spoke clear Alliance Common. “I didn’t do anything. I am not marked.”

  The crowd whispered again. Doubt was creeping into their blind faith.

  Their master turned to them. “The dark lord has accepted her and made her as pure as the day she was born to join him in the shadow world. He will be pleased to have the opportunity to take her there himself.”

  That seemed to be the cue to the guards. They lifted her out of the remnants of her clothing and splayed her out on a stone.

  Her legs were fit into grooves that held them wide, and her arms and shoulders were also settled into a space designed to hold a being comfortably, as long as they had been paralysed.

  When the master moved between her thighs, she had had enough. He gripped her hips and stepped forward, pulling her against the spiked member between his thighs.

  She leaned up and punched him, snapping his head to the side just in time to watch his skull explode.

  The crowd screamed as his body flopped back from the force of the shot.

  Cleo wrestled her way off the altar as a familiar figure rushed toward her. The hood and cloak were not his, but the fierce expression on his face was all Helbri.

  He caught her around the waist and kissed her savagely, bending her backward. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to be on the ship.”

  “The sacrifice hunters spotted my life signs.” She pushed the hood away from his face, and she kissed him desperately. “I was afraid you would be too late.”

  * * * *

  A few of the locals who hadn’t made it to the exits turned to watch the dark lord pick up his Bride and bear her off into the palace. The master had tried to stick his cock in the wrong woman. It was good to know that the gods were willing to take what was theirs.

  Chapter Seven

  “If I wasn’t your Familiar, I would take you over my knee.” Helbri wrapped her in his cloak and got on the small riot runner he had obviously stashed on the roof of the palace.

  “I didn’t realize you were into kink. It is food for thought.” She huddled in his arms as he flew them over the city and toward his ship.

  He growled against her ear and increased their speed.

  The cargo ramp descended as they approached, and Helbri tucked them neatly into the belly of the shuttle. The ramp pulled in, and the rear hatch sealed.

  He didn’t talk to her but carried her into the ship and settled her in the navigator’s chair. He sat and did his preflight checks before lifting off.

  They flew through dawn and back into the night a moment before he pulled them out of the atmosphere and back into space. The tense silence hovered between the two of them as he flew, but when the computer took over the route back to Lrrko, he turned to her, and she could read the fury in his gaze.

  He didn’t say a word, simply picked her up and c
arried her to the lav. He pushed her inside and hit the solar shower. To her surprise, brain and blood sizzled and disappeared from her skin. Oh. Right.

  When she was clean, he hauled her out again, and this time, he placed her under the scanner.

  He frowned and double-checked what the scan was telling him. “They poisoned you.”

  “Paralysed me. Yes. I only got movement back half an hour before my charming debut on the stage.” Being flippant was the best defense. She wanted to bawl like an infant, but the way he was acting, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of soothing her. She had nearly been raped and murdered at the hands of a megalomaniac, and only the thought that Helbri was out there and ready to kill the freak had kept her going. Now, it was over, and she knew exactly how close she had come to disaster and eventual death.

  “Skkolos. They are forbidden from leaving their world for this reason. They secrete dozens of toxins that all have applications for species like ours. Each has a different purpose, including the hypnotic he dumped into the water supply.”

  She shuddered.

  “Do you understand the danger that you were in?” He was nearly shouting.

  She shoved the scanner out of the way, and she jumped to the floor, stalking to the target area to find her medical wrap. It might be bloody, but it was her blood, and it was a covering. She was done being naked.

  Helbri was behind her when she turned and put the wrap on. He sighed and stroked her hair. “Are you all right?”

  Her lip trembled, and she took a deep breath. It didn’t help. She started to cry in huge, ugly sobs, and he caught her against him, sitting on the floor and cradling her in his lap. He didn’t tell her to hush or that everything was fine. He let her cry it out until all of the pain, panic and adrenaline had burned itself out of her system.

  He sat with her until she was calm and the hiccups had stopped. “Too bad he fell. The next shot was going to blow his cock off.”

  She giggled and sighed. “That was my next target as well.”

  “I will get you something to eat and possibly something else to wear. I don’t think we have any more female clothing, but we can make do.”