Alien Slave (2 page)

It still made no sense the Solns would
choose that room. But who knew why aliens did what they did? Dani
couldn’t make sense of her own species; never mind trying to figure
the others out.

She reached the playroom door and
punched her code in. The door whooshed open obligingly, and she
stepped in.

The room’s walls were curtained. The
dark blue fabric was easily swept aside to put in use any of the
restraints that hung behind the drapes. Spotlights were trained at
those areas, as well as over the equipment scattered about the
floor: padded cuffs hanging from the ceiling, the table, and the
podium that emitted the suspension field. Shadows pooled in the
corners, making the lit areas so much more glaring for the
surrounding darkness.

As the door closed behind Dani,
movement came from the far corner. Instead of a dozen tiny Solns,
three huge men stepped from the shadows. Kalquorians.

Dani had only an instant to register
the dark-skinned, black haired aliens before turning on her heel
and running for the door, a scream poised on her lips. She’d not
gotten one step before a thick, muscled arm wrapped around her
waist, pinning her arms to her sides and pulling her to a granite
hard body, lifting her from her feet. The Kalquorian had her near
six feet length dangling several inches above the floor. She kicked
wildly.

“
Let me go!”

Another man stepped in front of her,
moving in a blur to grab hold of her flailing legs. He held her
calves easily against one side of his body, rendering her helpless.
“We have paid for your time, Earther.” His rolling bass of a voice
thrummed through her body. He’d not ordered her to do anything, but
the command in his tone stilled her struggles.

Terror made her own voice high and
screamy. “Not you. Not Kalquorians. It’s in my
contract!”

The third man stepped into view,
peering at her over the shoulder of the one who held her legs. His
tone was much milder, though still deep. “We were told the extra
money would change your mind.”

Dani curled her upper lip. Damn Husta.
Owner’s sister or not, she’d pay for this. “Well you were told
wrong,” Dani loftily informed them. “So put me down and let me
leave.”

“
May I ask why you find us
so distasteful?” His head cocked as if he was genuinely interested
in her opinion.

She swallowed, taking a good look at
the man who spoke. These were the first Kalquorians she’d seen up
close, and they weren’t at all what she’d expected. She’d thought
they’d look like evil incarnate. The Church had described them as
devils, and that had always conjured images of dark fiends with
horns on their heads and cloven hooves.

Well, they were dark. Dark brown skin
like chocolate milk. Blue-black hair. Huge. The one who’d asked the
question had at least seven inches on her, possibly more. The guy
holding her legs was only a couple inches shorter. The one pinning
her against his very wide, very muscular chest was the tallest of
all. Dani had never felt dwarfed before, but she sure as hell did
now.

Size aside, they didn’t look demonic.
Darn if they weren’t handsome, in fact. Their blue-purple eyes were
beautiful, once you got past the catlike slit pupils. The one who
wasn’t touching Dani had tousled hair to his shoulders, softly
rumpled like he’d forgotten to brush it. His face was lean, his
nose slender and pointed. There was a bemused smile on his gentle
features, and he looked at Dani as if he studied a particularly
fascinating butterfly he’d swooped up in a net. He looked intense
and friendly all at once.

Dani refused to acknowledge the
fluttery feeling his interest elicited. Making herself attend to
his question, she spluttered in outrage. “Why do I find you
distasteful? Are you kidding? After what you did to
Earth?”

A voice like brushed velvet slid
against her ear. “Our ships never would have entered the portal if
we’d known it was rigged to explode your major cities.”

Dani looked up and up at the face of
the man holding her with arms of steel. His gaze on her was sharp
too, but instead of clinical interest, he looked at her as if
trying to decide how she would taste. More rugged than his
companions, the fierce creature looked like a born hunter. His jaw
couldn’t have been squarer, his high cheekbones lending him
haughtiness like some kingly savage. His skull, most of it shaved
so that a long Mohawk strip of hair hung down his back, was
beautifully formed. He was as handsome as a tiger, and every bit as
deadly. Icy chills raced down Dani’s spine to be caught in his
gaze.

Don’t show this one fear. It will be
very bad if you do. Every instinct told her this was a dangerous
creature. Forcing her tone to hold steady, Dani snapped, “Rigged?
What are you talking about? The way I heard it, Kalquor attacked
us, blew everything up, and then began carting off all the
women.”

The third man, the one holding her
legs, spoke. Dani was grateful to look away from the beast-man
holding her to the one with the deep, rumbling voice. “And where
did you hear this? From trusted leaders? Reliable
sources?”

He was the handsomest of the three,
with chiseled features and a sly smile that both charmed and
worried her. Except for the cornrows of tight braids that swung
over his chest and shoulders, he looked like a sculpted bust of
young Julius Caesar Dani had seen when she toured Italy. The
confidence in his demeanor was almost smug, and it set her teeth on
edge.

Unfortunately, he’d brought up a valid
point. Grudgingly, Dani admitted, “Well, that’s what people were
saying.”

Velvet Voice spoke in her ear once
again. “Your leaders were religious fanatics. They determined it
was better you all die than lose the war to us.”

She refused to look at the predatory
owner of that voice. “Why should I believe you? You’re the
enemy.”

Cornrows smirked. “Did you really trust
your government so much? Few Earthers I’ve spoken to
did.”

Dani gave him attitude for attitude.
“My father was part of that government, so I think I should know a
thing or two you might not.”

Cornrows exchanged a look with Scruffy,
and Dani wished she had kept her mouth shut. The Galactic Council
was convening trials against the few Earthers found that had been
in power. She was only the daughter of a state official, but if
they were on a witch hunt maybe any Earther would do. The lower and
middle class of the destroyed world were clamoring for reparations.
Dani had led a life more privileged than many.

Backpedaling, she hurriedly added, “He
wasn’t an important official, only regional.”

“
It is odder still that an
Earther female so close to those in power would choose this life of
sexual decadence.” Scruffy leaned closer to her, as if he could
find secrets in her eyes.

She noticed his shirt stretched tight
over his wide chest and shoulders, but where it hung loose and
untucked, a jigsaw puzzle of wrinkles marred the ivory fabric. He
was obviously not worried about appearances, but he was attractive
enough to get away with it.

Scowling at him and her wandering eyes,
Dani asked, “What are you, some kind of psychologist?”

He smiled, and the way his face lit up
made her stop breathing for an instant. Heaven help her, the man
was beautiful when he beamed. “As a matter of fact, I am. I’m what
you Earthers would call a criminal psychologist.”

The situation just kept getting worse.
Dani had experienced enough brushes with the law on Earth to be
leery of police, and this one, while not an actual cop, was part of
that authority. Her father wasn’t here to bail her out of trouble
this time. And if he had been, George Watson no longer had a cushy
job to protect from his children’s tendency to flaunt
decency.

The war had removed all her father’s
worries. She wondered how directly responsible for that these three
men were. Only one way to find out.

“
Were any of you involved in
the war?”

Cornrows shook his head, his long
braids whispering against his blue tunic. “We work as police on
Kalquor. I am a negotiator, and he is an enforcer.” He nodded
toward the velvet-voiced beast holding Dani.

Damn it, they were all law enforcement.
And cops just loved to take down those in higher authority when
they could. Except Dani wasn’t higher authority any more. She was
no one. As a prostitute, she was lower than no one. These officers
wouldn’t care too much about her.

And they hadn’t been involved in the
actual war. Hadn’t destroyed her world. Hadn’t ended her empty but
easy life.

Some of Dani’s enmity bled away. “Will
you put me down? Please? I won’t run away, I promise.” She could be
sweet when it suited her purposes.

Velvet Voice chuckled, his chest
rumbling against her back. The sensation made things inside tumble
in slow motion. Dani imagined them both naked, his warm skin
pressed against hers as he pushed inside...

“
I like you where you are,
little fighter,” he said.

Cornrows gave him a grin, devastating
with charm. Dani swallowed. Forget physical strength. The
Kalquorians posed real danger with their smiles. “Put her down,
Wynhod. She’s going to be a good girl, aren’t you?”

“
Sure.” Dani was her most
agreeable. What was it her nanny had told her time after time? You
catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Until the day Dani pertly
informed Nanny she had no use for catching flies.

They set her on her feet, and Dani
adjusted her clothing. It hadn’t actually shifted, but fussing with
her skirt gave her something to do, a way to avoid meeting the
probing stares. Cops. Her luck just never seemed to get
better.

The sexily scruffy Kalquorian asked,
“Why are you here? How does an Earther end up as a sex slave on
Dantovon?”

Unlike the dangerous Wynhod, the
psychologist was easy to look in the face. Even easier to tell the
truth to. His gentle expression wasn’t guarded, wasn’t ready to
judge. Dani warmed in the alien’s regard. He really did seem
interested in her answer.

“
I didn’t want to go with
the enemy. Your people. But I was hungry and the Dantovon slave
trader promised food and shelter in exchange for my services. If I
didn’t go with him, I’d have died.”

Cornrows was no longer smiling. He
folded his arms over his chest, but there was no threat in his
attitude. A negotiator he’d said he was. Not an interrogator. “Our
people offered food and shelter as well. The war was over, and your
world was dying. Even though it was your leaders who set the bombs,
we did feel responsible for detonating them, unintentional as it
was.”

Dani shrugged. “I thought you were
there to enslave us.”

“
Now you are enslaved here
instead.” Wynhod laughed at that, and she whirled around to
confront him. It took a moment to realize he wasn’t laughing at
her, just the irony of the situation.

And here was another Kalquorian who
turned her insides to jelly just by the virtue of a too-handsome
face when it smiled. He loomed over her, the coral shade of his
tunic making his dark skin glow. It made her mad that they were so
striking. They were not supposed to be attractive. They were not
supposed to give her thoughts she had no business thinking about
the enemy.

Dani pouted, not caring she was being
childish. “I won’t be a slave for life, which is what would happen
on Kalquor. What I thought would happen on Kalquor,” she amended.
“I’m only stuck here until I pay my contract off. It seemed like a
good idea at the time.”

And that pretty much summed up her
life. All the trouble Dani had found in her 29 years had come about
because it had seemed like a good idea at the moment.

She’d found a lot of
trouble.

Cornrows bowed deeply, surprising her
with the genteel gesture. “To that end, allow us to help you then.
We paid extra for your company tonight, and we will pay more. What
is the rate for a full night with you?”

Dani looked at him with surprise. “But
my shift is half over.”

The charming smile returned, making her
insides all trembly, her brain sludgy. “Full night’s pay for your
half shift. How much?”

No way cops made that much money to
blow on one bratty Earther. But weren’t all Kalquorians supposed to
be rich? Dani named the price, hoping against reason. As big as
they were, the Kalquorians looked surprisingly Earther-like. She
only now realized how much she missed her own kind. Besides, she
counseled her flare of conscience, even though Kalquor had been
Earth’s sworn enemy, this particular clan wasn’t directly
responsible for the mess on her planet.

Instead of demurring the high number
Dani named, Cornrows walked to an unobtrusive panel on the nearby
wall and tapped a few commands into it. He turned back to
her.

“
Done. You will spend the
rest of your shift in our company. What is your name, little
fighter?”

“
Danielle. Everyone calls me
Dani.” The words fell out of her suddenly numb mouth. Dani was
surprised by both his acceptance of her price and the request for
her name. Since when did customers care about
introductions?