Pirate's Price (13 page)

Without warning, Vihlok blasted the pet with
a short burst from his rifle. The young man shuddered then
collapsed into a graceless heap on the gleaming floor.

“What is the meaning of this?” Vega shot to
his feet, remaining on his dais, as if the added height would
protect him from the coming storm.

Rana made no effort to hide her animosity.
The time for pretending was long past. “I’ve just learned of my
mother’s death and my handmaiden’s incarceration. Did you honestly
expect I wouldn’t respond?”

His brow knitted and he caught the trailing
ends of his billowy sleeves. She might have been amused by his
continued pretense, if she had been the only one hurt by his
maliciousness.

“I hope you were not harmed by those
villains,” he said. “I can only imagine how frightened you’ve
been.”

“I was kidnapped by my lover.” Her tone was
firm and steady. “I was never in any danger. He was less than
pleased when he learned I’d agreed to marry another man.”

“You did more than agree to marry me.” His
mask slipped long enough for indignation to erupt within his gaze.
“The union was consummated.”

“We’ll come back to that.” She clasped her
hands in front of her and took a step toward the dais. “I regret to
inform you that your lover is dead. Why did you send a pleasure
giver to do the work of an assassin? That seems quite foolish to
me.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” He
crossed his arms over his chest, his expression insolent.

“You will release Kashi into my custody and
you will do so now.”

He laughed. “Why would I do that?”

Vihlok and Fibros snapped to attention,
their weapons trained squarely on Vega. His gaze widened and he
looked around, wondering where his guards were, no doubt.

“I only ask nicely once,” she told him.

“You’re a bold piece of baggage, I’ll give
you that. We’ll have to work on your manners after my
coronation.”

“You are not, nor will you ever be, my
husband.”

“I spilled my seed inside your body. By
Peronite law that solidifies a betrothal. You are my wife.”

“You’re delusional, and I’m running out of
patience.”

His expression tensed and his gaze clouded.
Had he just realized his only witness was dead? It was his word
against hers. His nostrils flared and he slowly licked his lips.
“Just your servant, that’s all you want?”

“And the official annulment of our betrothal
contract.”

Apparently she wasn’t the only one whose
patience was growing short. Before Rana realized his intention,
Vihlok rushed the throne. He dragged Vega off the dais and shoved
him to his knees. “I already killed one man for touching what was
mine,” he snarled. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t do the same
with you?”

Vega raised his hands in front of his face
as his skin turned ashen. “You’ll never get off Peronite if you
harm me. Take her handmaiden and go.”

“Not good enough.” He fisted his hand in the
back of Vega’s hair, bringing their faces nose to nose. “My first
instinct was to repay you in kind, to arrange for your transport to
explode at some time in the not too distant future. The problem
with that is others would die; others who had nothing to do with
your decisions.”

“I will never come anywhere near her,” Vega
pleaded. “I’ll forget I ever knew her. What do you want from
me?”

“Take us to Kashi.” Vihlok dragged Vega to
his feet. “If you so much as make eye contact with anyone on the
way, your life is forfeit.”

“How do I know you won’t kill me
anyway?”

“You don’t.” Vihlok shoved him toward the
doors. “Move.”

Vihlok walked at Vega’s side, his pulse
rifle casually tucked beneath his arm. She’d seen how quickly he
could snap the weapon into position and so had Vega. Fibros
followed close behind them. The others waited in the main corridor,
ensuring their escape route.

“Many believe Devaunt will benefit from the
loss of Empress Bakula,” Vega said as they descended a narrow
staircase into a far less appealing level of the compound.

“Murder is murder,” Rana insisted, “no
matter how you justify it.”

“I have admitted nothing,” Vega reminded
her. “Who benefits most from the accident? Some might suspect you
of the foul deed. I say whoever is responsible did the people of
Devaunt a favor.”

Raising her heavy skirts nearly to her
waist, Rana kicked Vega squarely in the back. Vihlok pivoted to the
side and Vega tumbled down the last three stairs.

“You cold-hearted bastard,” she shouted.
“Regardless of her faults, she was my mother! I can’t believe you
would speak to me this way.”

Motivated by the weapons aimed at his
various body parts, Vega wisely remained silent as Kashi was
released from the detention cell. She flew into Fibros’s arms and
he greeted her with a consuming kiss.

“This reunion has to wait,” Vihlok reminded
them. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

They crept back up the stairs and retraced
their path through the palace. Vega grew more combative with each
step they took. He said nothing, but he twisted away from Vihlok’s
grasp and looked around with growing agitation.

“You have what you came for,” Vega protested
as they reached the side door closest to where they’d left the
skimmer. “There is no reason to take me with you.”

Vihlok responded with a cruel smile.

Rana shivered, suddenly very glad Vihlok was
on her side.

With an efficiency that fascinated her,
Vihlok directed his men with hand signals and curt commands. They
tied Vega’s hands together in front of him and loaded him into the
skimmer’s middle row of seats. One guard sat on either side of him,
their weapons aimed to kill.

Vihlok helped her into one of the front
seats and Kashi and Fibros sat in the back. Rana couldn’t help but
remember her kidnapping and how disappointed she’d been that Vega
hadn’t cared enough to give chase. Now she understood why. Her
death would have served his purposes better --

Shots rang out over the side yard of the
compound. Vihlok activated the skimmer and took off at breakneck
speed. Vega might not have cared enough to chase her, but his
guards obviously felt obligated to retrieve their sovereign.

“Can you shoot this?” Vihlok handed her his
pulse rifle.

She aimed well over the other passengers’
heads until she grew accustomed to the kick and the arc of each
pulse. The guards followed on individual skimmers, slower, yet more
nimble than theirs.

Vega went wild, his boisterous struggles
keeping Vihlok’s men occupied. Fibros fired fast and accurately,
picking off Vega’s guards with frightening ease. Rana landed one
shot in a guard’s thigh, sending his skimmer careening out of
control. She released an excited yelp and Vihlok chuckled.

“We’re almost there,” he told her.

“Do you really think they’ll let you take
off without releasing me?”

Vihlok didn’t seem concerned with Vega’s
threat, so Rana rushed onto the ship behind him. The ramp retracted
and the hatch closed before Vihlok laid into Vega again. Grabbing
the front of the king’s robe, Vihlok shoved him into the nearest
chair as the cruiser shuddered beneath them.

“Last chance,” Vihlok said. “Confess to your
involvement in the explosion and we’ll settle this like civilized
men.”

“To my knowledge, only one of us qualifies
for that distinction. I won’t be dictated to by a common
criminal!”

Vihlok glanced over his shoulder and into
her eyes. “I told you he was destined to meet the pirate.”

How could she argue with that? She inclined
her head with a gentle smile then the lack of commotion caught her
attention. “Why aren’t they shooting at us?”

“Three different rebel factions have taken
credit for his kidnapping,” Vihlok said. “We’re being escorted by a
Mendovian destroyer and a Sabrotine frigate. We also used decoys to
scatter his forces. He didn’t stand a chance.” Vega tried to rise.
Vihlok shoved him back into his seat and Fibros moved closer. “This
isn’t our first kidnapping,” he told Vega. “I was amazed how many
people wanted in on this particular job. You’re not very popular in
certain circles.”

“Do you intend to ransom me?”

“Perhaps -- eventually. We’ll have to see
how
compatible
you are with Sabrotine rehabilitation
programs.”

“You’re amazing,” Vihlok said as he pulled
Rana onto his lap. They were alone, at last, in the small officers’
lounge. Fibros had taken Kashi off to bed, leaving Rana and Vihlok
to update Umar on the outcome of the confrontation.

Vihlok had used his contacts on Spaceport
Makar to secure Umar a new identity, but he would be starting over
with nothing. Rana couldn’t help feeling he’d gotten off too
easily, even if he’d paved the way for the rest to unfold.

“I was shaking so badly I could hardly
speak,” she admitted. “Seeing Vega cower at your feet felt
incredibly good. I know you had him transferred to the frigate
after he signed the annulment, but is he being taken to a Sabrotine
outpost or back to the spaceport? Will he be ransomed?”

“One of my acquaintances operates a
rehabilitation mine in the asteroid belt on the far side of Makar.
Unlike the other miners, Sabrotine workers aren’t allowed to leave
the premises. Mental reconditioning is part of their program. Vega
won’t remember who he is by the time the Sabrotine handlers finish
his rehabilitation, but he’ll have rock hard abs.”

“That isn’t funny.”

He shrugged. “Not only did he kill your
mother with the wave of his hand, seven other people died in the
explosion. There had to be a reckoning. Would you have preferred
something more final and direct?”

“I thought you didn’t do
assassinations.”

“I don’t, but I know plenty of people who
do.” He kissed her, his arms firm and sheltering. “If he ever tries
to escape or if any fragment of his memory survives the treatments,
I will take the final step. One way or another that chapter of your
life is closed. You are free to focus entirely on the future.”

“And what awaits me in the future?” She
brushed her lips against his. “Many of the nobles would far prefer
an emperor to an empress. I intend to restore Devaunt to its former
glory, but that would be so much easier with you at my side. You
are Vihlok Torral. You were born to be emperor.”

“My brother was born to be emperor. I was…
born to be your husband, to cherish and protect you.” He kissed her
palm, his lips warm against her skin. “We’ll start with that. I’m
not sure I want to completely reform my uncivilized ways.”

“I’ll help you be more civilized outside the
bedroom, if you continue to unleash my savage nature inside the
bedroom.”

He nipped the heel of her hand then slipped
his hand up under her skirt. “You’re a natural negotiator, my love,
but I still have three days left on my original contract.” His
mouth captured her playful objection as his fingers sank into her
heat.

Price of
Passion

(3-in-1
Collection)

Aubrey
Ross

Price of
Passage:
 
Moments
after departure, Ivy Slane discovers an escaped sex slave hiding in
her cargo bay. Kade is convincing her not to turn him in when her
ship is attacked by pirates. Seeing no alternative but death, Kade
offers his services to Traborn Morel, commander of the pirate ship.
Traborn isn’t opposed to the pleasure Kade offers, but he’s even
more interested in teaching both his prisoners the true meaning of
surrender.

Price of
Pleasure:
 
Mason has
guarded the fact that she is a shapeshifter, knowing the Sabrotine
Federation will not offer the same respect to a woman they extend
to a man. Her new bodyguard, Kade, arouses her as no other lover
ever has, but can he accept her complex nature?

Price of
Passion:
 
After Jazz
and Bluz rescue Treena from an angry mob, she’s strongly attracted
to both brothers. Jazz knows a past betrayal is making Bluz overly
cautious, so he agrees to help Treena seduce his reluctant sibling.
She knows they can be happy together. All they have to do is erode
the barriers Bluz has erected around his heart.

Alpha Colony 1:
Untamed Hunger

Aubrey
Ross

Major Sasha Young has been stationed at Alpha
Colony for the past three years, part of an elite military team
assigned to maintain order and resolve conflicts between the
shapeshifters. She has watched the hostile morphs, secretly
fascinated by their predatory grace and animal magnetism. The
colonies were established to protect defenseless humans from these
genetic anomalies. So why does she feel like the morphs are the
ones being victimized?

Grayson Evans, a rare white-tiger shifter, is
frustrated and appalled by how little their human keepers
understand the average “morph.” After an especially violent
altercation between leopard and tiger shifters, he decides it’s
time to educate them. He’s had his eye on Sasha ever since she
arrived, and introducing the feisty beauty to the full potential of
a felidae-morph is going to be his pleasure -- and hers!

When my parents realized I had an aptitude
for storytelling--okay, even at an early age I was a consummate
liar--they encouraged me to find constructive ways to put all that
"creativity" to use. I wrote my first novel when I was in junior
high school. It was a typical teenage girl's fantasy about being
kidnapped by a rock star, finding out he was really misunderstood,
a millionaire's son, and living happily ever after with the
reformed rebel. Erotic romance just seemed like an inevitable
destination for someone with my naughty muse.