Battling Rapture (3 page)

Rhine laid his cards down one at a time. In the game
Warrior’s Curse, only two hands won over a barbarian’s hammer. Rhine held one
of them.

“Emperor’s council,” Rhine said. The table computer beeped,
recording the win. Rhine waved his credit badge over the machine and then quickly
uploaded Niki’s deed to the satellite server that their spaceship, the
Alta
,
stored information in.

Isor Ja still stared at the cards on the table.

Rhine stood and rounded the table. He grabbed Niki’s arm and
pulled her toward the rest of the Ordanians. He had his blaster out and aimed
as Isor Ja woke from his stupor and did the same. Rhine shoved Niki behind him
and was relieved when he realized Bronwyn had pulled her weapon with the rest
of the
Alta
crew. They shifted, covering every direction of the room,
and keeping Niki in the middle of the group.

“You must have cheated,” Isor Ja said.

The blaster was trained on Rhine. There was almost no way
the man would miss.

“You lost. You’re a terrible gambler. I’m questioning your
manhood as well. You wouldn’t know what to do with a woman like this. That’s
why you have that black eye, and had to use shackles on one small woman. How
badly did she beat you?” Rhine sensed the rage welling up inside Isor Ja.

“I’m going to kill you,” Isor Ja said.

Rhine had been waiting on the declaration. He fired once,
hitting the other man in the forehead. Isor Ja dropped to the ground, still
clutching his weapon.

“I guess he wasn’t any good as a killer either,” Rhine said
quietly.

No one stopped them as they slowly moved toward the door.
Isor Ja had declared his intention to kill Rhine while brandishing a weapon. On
a casino moon, Rhine was clearly within his right of self defense to terminate
Isor Ja before he could act on the threat. They still needed to make a rapid
retreat. The gambler might have had family in the casino.

In the front room, they all turned, continuing to keep Niki
in the center. Tor cut a path to the door by simply pushing any and everything
out of his way. Sometimes it was good to be bigger and stronger than everyone
else. They reached the door quickly and Rhine thought of her unshod feet. He
turned her toward him and lifted her. She remained straight, and stiff against
him. He shifted her some so he wasn’t blinded by the tumble of her hair. She
still hadn’t said a word and her emotions were shifting too rapidly for him to
keep up.

They began to run as soon as they left the casino. Gunter
fell back to cover Rhine and Niki. Rhine made sure he kept Bronwyn in the
middle of the men. She was doing well and he was proud of his young cousin.
Mostly he tried to block Niki’s scent. It was hitting his system as if it was a
drug and the urge to rub his scent into her pores, obliterating Isor Ja’s
stench, was strong.

They made it to the
Alta
quickly. He gave the verbal
command to open the door. He didn’t put her down until they reached the bridge.
He let the others start the launch as he searched the information he’d gotten
from his win for the code to her shackles. She still hadn’t said a word, yet
she was exuding impatience. He found what he was looking for and entered the
release code. Her chains fell away.

“Where’s Camryn?”

It was the first thing she said as she shook out her arms.
Her voice was husky and sultry. Rhine took off his jacket and helped her into
it. It covered her past her knees. He took her left arm, and began to massage
the feeling back into it. She paused and cocked her head, but otherwise didn’t
protest.

“Camryn?” she said again.

“Why haven’t you spoken before now?” he asked.

“The little shit had the chains set to stun me if I talked.
I didn’t know if they would still work when you won me.” She shrugged. “Where’s
my cousin.”

Everyone paused.

“Cousin?” Rhine asked.

“Camryn didn’t send you?” she asked.

He took her other arm and massaged it.

Bronwyn answered while he gathered his thoughts. “Yes, she
is waiting for you. You don’t smell as if you are cousins. You smell as though
you are sisters.”

“We smell as though we are sisters?” She pulled her arm away
and he let her. “You’re not the same as the Trogo, are you?”

“Do we look as if we are illiterate animals to you?” Bronwyn
said. Her customary sneer was in full force.

“My mistake. Where is Camryn?” She enunciated each word.

“Don’t worry, Niki. When we are safely away from here, we
will contact her on a secure channel so that you may speak with her. Right now
we need to put distance between ourselves and this casino moon,” he said.

His expression never changed as he grabbed the hand she was
using to lightly steal his blaster. She stared back at him defiantly.

“Give it to me as an act of good faith,” she demanded.

“We don’t know you. I won’t have you at my back, scared and
confused, with a weapon.”

“You know Camryn,” she said.

He allowed a slight smile to touch his mouth. “I’ve seen
your sister elbow a hostile alien in the crotch before breaking his nose.
Excuse me if that isn’t a ringing endorsement.”

He felt the pride well in her and she grinned. A lesser man
would have been blinded by the sight. He had practice with her sister. She
visibly relaxed.

“I bet she still looked sweet and helpless as she did it
too,” she whispered. “That’s my Cam. How long is this escape going to take?”

“Just stay out of the way and it won’t take long at all.”

He turned then. He restrained the urge to check to see what
she might have stolen from him. He took the captain’s chair and pulled out the
hidden seat behind him. She could make her way to it or not. He wouldn’t coddle
her. He had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate it.

He launched the second he had clearance. They needed to
leave the ten thousandth galaxy. The planets and moons were inhabited by the
desperate and the lawless. He pushed the
Alta
. They needed to reach a
hyper-jump entryway fast. He set a course and then handed the bridge to Gunter.

Niki hadn’t moved, but the smell of Isor Ja mixed with the
scent Rhine had created on her when he’d carried her turned his stomach and
made him increasingly angry. He knew he was being unreasonable. Rhine wouldn’t
try to lie to himself. He hadn’t lied to himself with Camryn and he surely wouldn’t
with this one.

He wanted her. He wanted her more than any woman he had met
before. The lure of the exotic had struck again and something about Niki called
on all of his possessive instincts. Maybe it was the slave deed still stored in
his credit badge. He hoped that was it, and when he released her from the deed,
it would cure him.

Rhine stood and headed toward her. She clutched the jacket
to her chest and watched the crew with unconcealed interest. She slowly turned
to him as he approached.

“Follow me,” he said.

The doors opened as he approached. The narrow hallway was
dimly lit and quiet. Her bare feet hardly made a sound as she followed behind
him.

“I don’t even know your name,” she said.

“Captain Rhine, or Sir Rhine, if you prefer.”

He opened the door to the room he’d set aside for her.

“You said Camryn was Lady something or other. What does that
mean?”

The door closed as she entered. He needed a moment. Her
scent trapped him in the small space. He stared down at a holographic photo.
Camryn called it their family photo. It showed a thirty second moving shot of
the moments after Venn and Camryn’s wedding ceremony. She had made them all
stand for the pictures and they had done it, letting her mix her customs with
their own.

He stiffened as Niki neared. She tried to touch Camryn’s
face, but the hologram scrambled and reset when she drew her finger back. He
looked down at her and she turned to him.

“Camryn sent you clothes. Our culture requires women to
cover their legs and wear skirts, but she has gotten around that with the split
skirts and leggings. I put everything in the closet.” He turned to go.

“Wait, why won’t you answer my questions?”

He didn’t turn. “Take a shower and put on the appropriate
clothing and I will answer your questions.” He started for the door again.

“Don’t leave. How will I find you?”

“I will return shortly to see if you have done what I asked.
I will answer your questions then.” Or not, if she chose not to comply. He
didn’t wait, but escaped with the little bit of sanity he had left.

Chapter Two

She was clean and dressed. The blue bisected skirt felt
weird. She was used to fatigues and jeans. At least she could move if she
needed to. She could have lived without the too revealing fitted top with its
somewhat plunging neckline. It was more Cam’s style than Niki’s.

She stared at the moving picture of Camryn surrounded by
really big, mean-looking blonds. Camryn was the only one in the photo smiling.
She looked happy. At the end of the picture’s rotation, the giant holding her
looked down and his eyes softened. If she had blinked, she’d have missed it.
Fortunately, the hologram played over and over.

“Playtime’s over.” She stepped away from the table and
looked around. She walked back to the bedroom portion of the large room.

She needed a weapon. Captain Rhine and crew might be friends
of Cam, but Niki didn’t know them. Period. She was especially suspicious of the
new throbbing low in her belly. She didn’t trust the attraction she felt for
the good captain. She hadn’t felt desire in months. Maybe that was his freaky
alien hoodoo. He lured unsuspecting women in with super pheromones that caused
a perpetual case of wet panties.

It was pretty unfair, considering that for such a big,
muscled man, he was almost pretty. She wondered how hard he hit anyone who
mentioned it.

She searched under the bed, but found the boxlike bed frame
shackled to the floor. She stood and her eyes fell on the other large object in
the room. The dresser was metal and had many drawers. She opened and inspected
each one. All she found were clothes and a bottle of cream with instructions
written in Cam’s handwriting. A comb and brush sat on the top. Captain Rhine
looked big and strong enough to crack the brush in half. There was a man with
her would-be rescuers even bigger and taller than the rest of them. He wouldn’t
even feel it if she tried to hit him with it. He would shoo her away as if she
were an annoying fly.

She hurried to the sitting area. She wouldn’t be able to
lift the sofa. They’d taken everything out she could use. She did a slow twirl
in the center of the room, scanning for anything sharp, hard or blunt. The door
swooshed while she had her back to it. She turned quickly, sweeping her skirt
out of the way and bracing her legs.

Captain Rhine stood in the doorway. He quirked one eyebrow
and scanned her from head to toe. Her nipples tightened and her pussy clenched
in response. She held her ground and returned his full body scan. His straight
blond hair stretched past his shoulders. His eyes were a vibrant blue, clouded
only with what appeared to be extreme cynicism. His nose was perfect. His mouth
was strong and sensual with a bowed upper lip and a firm, but slightly plump,
lower lip.

Except for his bare muscular arms, he was covered from neck
to toe in black leather. It appeared that there was a good deal of delectable
muscle under all that black. He wore black leather gloves and a pair of
kick-ass black leather boots with steel toes. They could have been titanium for
all she knew. She wished she was wearing them instead of the ballet flats
currently torturing her feet.

“Are you finished?” he asked.

“Wait, I haven’t checked out your junk.”

“Ah, I am familiar with this Earth word.”

She smirked. She just bet he was.

“I see you have done what I asked. You may ask your questions.”
He walked into the room and took a seat on the sofa.

His wide legged pose framed his crotch area and left little
doubt that he was built along impressive lines…all over. She restrained the
urge to check if she had drool on the corner of her mouth.

Get it together, Sawyer.

“Are you taking me straight to my—to Camryn?”

His head cocked to the side and she watched the slide of his
hair along the leather of his shirt. She blinked and refocused.

“Yes. Why does calling Camryn sister cause you distress?”

“I’m asking the questions, big boy. You called Cam your new
cousin. How is she your cousin?”

“You’re abrasive.” He stared her directly in the eye.

You’d think she’d be used to that. The sting in her chest
said otherwise.

“Look, gigantosaurus, I need information, not
psychoanalysis.” He could kiss her ass.

He was a blur of movement. One moment he was seated casually
on the sofa, the next he was in her face. She blocked him with her right
forearm, turned and kicked out at him with a roundhouse kick. He caught her
leg. Held it. She balanced.

Her chest heaved. Adrenaline flowed through her system.

“So you’re the kind of guy who hits women?”

“I’ve never hit a woman in my life.” He smiled, and it
transformed his face from fierce to devastating. “I’ve spanked a few, but only
when they begged.”

“Can I have my leg back now?”

He pulled lightly on her leg and she pitched forward. She
pressed her hands firmly to his chest. He held her leg around his waist. His
other hand pressed on her back. There wasn’t an inch of space between them and
she fought the urge to undulate.

“Here are the rules. I’m responsible for you. Do what I say
when I say it. I’ll be happy. You’ll be safe.”

“You caught me by surprise that time. Just answer the
questions, take me to Cam and you and I won’t have to interact at all. Oh, and
since you aren’t my commanding officer, I don’t have to do anything you say.”
It really turned her on that he could get the best of her. Strength, muscles
and he didn’t appear stupid. He was everything she wanted in a bedmate. Too bad
she had to resist. Technically, he was still the enemy.

“Your mouth is saying one thing, but your pussy is screaming
another. I can smell how aroused you are. I bet if I slid my fingers through
your folds right now, they would be drenched in seconds.” His hand pressed her
tighter to his chest.

“You don’t have an invitation to touch me.” She managed a
smile, but it hurt. She could feel his erection pressing against her belly, and
hot damn, was it impressive. Come to mama, impressive. There was one big but in
all of this. She’d seen the way he looked at that hologram. She didn’t care how
many people thought so, she wasn’t a substitute for Camryn.

“You’re right.” He abruptly released her and she almost
stumbled. He returned to his spot on the sofa. “What would you like to know?”

She caught the whimper before it could escape. “How is
Camryn your cousin?”

“She married my first cousin and the leader of our tribe,
making her Lady Huntu.” His expression was blank, but his cock still pushed
against his pants.

“Did she want to marry him or was she forced?”

“You don’t force Camryn to do anything for long,” he said.

That was true. “How long will it take us to reach…”

“My planet is Ordan. It will take about a week to reach our
galaxy from this one.”

Talk of galaxies always stumped her. She resisted the urge
to clutch her chest. It felt as if a large weight was crushing her breastbone.
Her former world was measured in continents and countries, not galactic
regions. Her mind blanked. Her next question vanished from her head.

He stood and went to retrieve something from the table with
the hologram photo. He turned. In his hand was a wristwatch.

“Language Interpreter, L.I. Do you know what it does?” he
asked.

She nodded and held out her hand for him to give it to her.
He held onto the L.I., staring her in the eyes, and she finally turned her hand
over, presenting her wrist. The slavers and Isor Ja had Language Interpreters.
It allowed people with different languages to speak with one another. He
fastened it to her wrist. Then he grabbed his jacket from the sofa arm and
strode to the door.

When it opened, he stood in the portal and turned to her. He
didn’t say anything, but she understood he wanted her to follow. She exited the
room, but only because she didn’t want to be trapped there for the journey.

He walked her to another doorway and went inside. “Stay here
for a moment.”

She looked around at the gray walls. The hall was stark, and
metallic. Doors were interspersed along the walls, and she couldn’t see how one
looked any different from the rest. She stood straighter as he emerged from the
room.

Rhine pushed a cylindrical container at her and something
which looked as though it was a sandwich wrap. Almost everything inside it was
the wrong color to be food.

“What is it?” She turned the wrap around in her hand.

“Water and a sandwich. We don’t have time for a full meal
right now, though I can hear your stomach growling.”

That was rude. “How good is your hearing?”

“I am a hypersensitive and an empath. I have six super
strong senses.” He watched her closely.

She choked on her first tentative bite of her sandwich.
“When you say empath, you mean you know what someone is feeling? What I’m
feeling right now?”

He nodded. His eyes never left her face.

Well wasn’t this a mess.
“Prove it.”

He turned his head to the side. “How would you like me to do
that? You only seem to have two emotions, anger and desire.”

And he called her abrasive. “All of you can do this?”

“The males of our family can.” He slowly grinned, causing a
severe rush of cream to her panties. “It does come in handy when pleasuring a
woman.”

She just bet it did. Even though she doubted he could tell
what she was feeling, she had too much experience with the Trogo not to believe
he had super senses. Right then her pussy was practically sending up smoke
signals, it was so hot. He wouldn’t miss that. His nostrils flared. Nope, he
hadn’t missed it.

Niki forced herself to take a bite of her sandwich. She
feigned nonchalance. She didn’t taste a thing. She watched his eyes dilate and
focus on her mouth, then her throat. His gaze was almost a caress.

The slaver, Fewa, had explained a few things to the women he
had separated from the rest of the slave population. She had been classified as
an exotic. The little bastard had a checklist. She had everything a rich
hypersensitive pervert could want. She had a pleasing face and form, a unique
skin hue and her scent was an aphrodisiac. Oh yeah, even her voice was
supposedly the correct pitch to please someone similar to the good captain.

She wondered if he would find her to his…taste?

She took another tearing bite of her sandwich. She was in
trouble. Usually when she found out a man she liked was into Cam, she dried up
faster than the Sahara during a drought. He shifted slightly and she admired
the play of muscle along his arms. She wasn’t the least bit dry.

“Your sister became slightly hysterical when she learned we
were empaths. You are surprisingly calm.” He lifted one of her curls and rubbed
the ends between his fingers.

She shrugged, but didn’t pull her hair from his grip. Her
hands were full.

“If your dear cousin had enslaved her at the time, she
probably had things to hide.” There was a fire in her belly thinking about
Camryn as anyone’s slave. “Me, on the other hand, I don’t have anything to
hide.” She smiled.

“You do realize you belong to me,” he said.

Her already sensitive nipples pulled tighter. It was too bad
belong in this context meant own. “I don’t belong to any man.”

“I have a deed. You have a brand.”

They both looked at her wrist. She squeezed her sandwich
until the filling began to ooze out.

“Camryn won’t—”

“Your sister isn’t here.” His voice was hard. His eyes were
as cold as anything she’d ever seen.

She stayed quiet. She could play along for now. No matter
what kind of papers he had, she didn’t belong to him and she wasn’t going to
have sex with him. He didn’t seem to be the type to force her, and that was
what it would take. She took another bite of her sandwich and realized she was
almost finished.

“Are we just going to stand out here in the hallway?” She
wanted to get away from his stare.

He grunted, turned and headed down the corridor. She
followed. A set of double doors at the end opened as he approached and she
found herself back on the bridge of the ship. She glanced around. There were
things which could be used as weapons. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a
gigantic crew member between her and each item.

Rhine pointed at each of his crew. “Edela Bronwyn, Sir
Gunter, Sir Tor and Sir Olaf.”

She memorized each name. These people had to all be related.
Blond hair, blue eyes and rock-solid jaws abounded. Even the chick looked hard
core and mean. Other than a terse nod from the men, they all ignored her. Rhine
crossed to the captain’s chair. Niki decided to remain standing.

There was a large screen. Through it, space was inky black
and spattered with lights which striated and glimmered as though they were
thousands of oncoming headlights. It was beautiful and strange at the same
time.

She wandered around the room and finished her sandwich and
water. She stopped briefly at each station. It was all flashing lights, knobs
and foreign writing. She would need a box of Cracker Jacks and a secret decoder
ring just to make out what each of them was doing. If it took so many people to
fly the spacecraft, she wouldn’t be able to do it on her own. Her eyes
involuntarily sought out Captain Rhine. She needed him long enough to get to
Cam.

Finally, she sat in the chair he had folded down for her
before. She set down her water container and reached for a knife that wasn’t
there. She missed her knife. She’d reached for it many times since she left it
decorating the gut of a Trogo patrolman. She didn’t have anything to do with
her hands. She worked better when she had something to do. Cleaning a gun would
do. The man wouldn’t even let her hold his blaster. It was going to be a long,
boring and horny week.

“We are nearing a hyper-jump port,” Sir Tor said. He was the
really tall one.