Charming Charly (English Edition) (Lords of Arr'Carthian 3) (14 page)

“Will you cause us trouble?” he asked threateningly.

The male shook his head vehemently.

“No! No! Definitely not, General. I didn’t get on this ship voluntarily anyway. I have no sense of loyalty towards Allegrass. He forced me into service for him. I will help you, general. I swear!”

Kordan nodded.
 

“What are you called?”

“Loomo, General.”

“What use were you to Allegrass, Loomo? You’re definitely not a soldier.”

Loomo shook his head.

“No, I’m not a fighter. I’m the cook.”

“The cook?” asked Amano in amazement. “What does Allegrass need a cook for? He has meal generators.”

“He liked freshly cooked food. I’m a master chef. Maybe you gentlemen can make use of someone like me?”
 

“Help us find our mates, then we’ll see.” replied Kordan.
 

“Yes, I’ll help.”

They combed the whole cabin and the connecting bathroom. Next they systematically searched the entire deck – one room at a time.

***

Charly’s heart was pounding in her chest. What would happen to them now?

“I can hear something,” Lory whispered.

Charly listened out into the darkness.

“Yes, me too,” she replied quietly. “They’re getting closer but I can’t work out whether they’re coming from your side or mine.”

“They’re on my side,” said Lory. “They’re combing the rooms. They’re obviously looking for us. Only I don’t know whether they’re Kordan’s males or Ellyod’s.”

“And we still don’t know for sure who the bad guys are now,” Charly pointed out.

“I wish this whole bloody alien abduction hadn’t happened,” complained Lory. “I’d happily carry on believing that aliens only exist in science fiction films, and just get on with my job. Fuck! And whilst I’m wishing for things, I also wish that my last night on earth had gone differently and that my colleagues were still alive.”

“Life can sometimes be truly shit,” Charly responded quietly.

‘If there’s anyone who’s had plenty of experience of that, I have,”
she thought with frustration.
 

They were silent for a while. The waiting was nerve-racking for Charly. Time did not seem to be passing. Had only minutes passed or an hour? She could not tell. Then she heard something. And it kept on getting closer.
 

“They’re coming,” she murmured anxiously. “Should we go out on my side and hide somewhere else?”
 

“Can you just open the door really carefully and see if anyone’s there?”
 

“I’ll try. It’s really tight in here.”

Charly opened the door behind her cautiously and peered into the corridor. She closed the door again immediately, swearing quietly.

“What is it?”

“There are three men there. I recognize at least one of them from the Cordelia. At least we now know who’s won the battle and is now after us.”

“I can’t even say yet whether that’s good or bad. Damn it!” Lory swore.

 
“They’re getting closer,” whispered Charly, panicking. “From both sides.”

“I can hear it,” snarled Lory. “Shit!”

The door was torn open and three men stared into the cupboard. Just seconds later the other door opened, too. They were caught in a trap.

***

“General,” a voice came from Kordan’s radio.

Amano’s heartbeat raced. He looked over at his cousin. Was there news of the females? Were they OK?

“Yes? Any news?” asked Kordan.

“We’ve got them.”

Amano rushed over to his cousin to listen to the conversation better. He felt restless and wanted, at last, to take Charly in his arms. “Where are you now?” asked Kordan.

“In the infirmary.”

“Are the females injured?” asked Kordan.

Amano was walking up and down restlessly. He ran his hands in frustration through his ruffled hair, swearing quietly to himself.
 

“Not the females, but several of our males. Lady Lory had a scalpel and Lady Charly sprayed a de-icing substance into two of the male’s eyes.”

Amano stood still. That did not sound good. Whatever had happened to the females to make them react in that way?

 
“I have a feeling that our mates don’t want to be rescued at all,” he said, frustrated. “It’s so complicated with those two. I wonder whether all females on their planet are like this?”
 

 
“No idea, but we’ll soon calm them down again. They’re undoubtedly just feeling stressed.”

Kordan did not sound very convinced and Amano also doubted that things would calm down quickly.

“We’re coming,” said Kordan.

“OK. Over and out.”

“Over and out.”

Amano, Kordan and Loomo went to the infirmary on deck F. Amano stopped in the entrance and his heart sank. Both females were bound and gagged. What was going on here? He felt anger rise within him and he swore. He was going to rush to Charly who was sitting next to Lory, with tears in her eyes, but Kordan held him back.

“Wait. Let’s clarify the situation before you jump to conclusions.”

“I’ll kill anyone who has hurt a hair on Charly’s head!” snarled Amano sinisterly. His blood was boiling and he had to bite his teeth firmly together to stop himself roaring loudly.
 

“Right now you’ll be silent!” said Kordan. “That’s an order!”

Amano muttered quietly but he stayed where he was. For now! He looked round. All four medical units were occupied by injured males. A few others were sitting on beds, waiting their turn, whilst the ship’s healer was frantically administering first aid.
 

Maron spotted his superiors and greeted them with respect by clenching his right hand and placing it on the left-hand side of his chest, over his heart.

“General. Captain.”

“Was this necessary?” asked Kordan, nodding in the direction of the two bound females.
 

Lory appeared to want to say something but the rope in her mouth made her words unclear. But it was certainly nothing nice that she had to say because her eyes screamed
murder.
He felt sorry for his cousin. Lory was sure to launch into battle with him
as soon as her ropes were untied. Amano hoped that Charly would be somewhat more peaceful. She looked more frightened than angry.

 
“Unfortunately yes, General,” Maron responded to his question. “As you can see they’ve injured a lot of males. Some seriously. At first we’d only tied them up, but they did not stop insulting us in the most awful way and they made unspeakable threats.”

Amano could imagine what threats they had made and despite his anger he had to grin.
 

“Do you still want to set them both free?” he asked, turning to him.

Amano shook his head and looked at the two females. No, for now perhaps it was best for them to remain tied up.

 
“Prepare to leave the ship,” commanded Kordan. “Maron, you’ll stay here until the males come out of the medical units, then return to the ship immediately. How long will the treatment last?”

“An hour,” replied the ship’s healer.
 

“Kandu, program the self-destruction of the ship at one hour and twenty minutes,” Kordan ordered the officer. “The extra time should be enough for the return to the Cordelia.”

“And what about me?” Loomo spoke.

“You’ll come with me.”

Loomo nodded eagerly.

When Kordan and Amano approached the females, Lory pulled wildly at her ties. She struggled when Kordan took hold of her and threw her over his shoulder. Amano sighed, but he did the same as his cousin and hoisted Charly over his shoulder. His mate wriggled and struggled like an eel. Amano smacked her bottom with the palm of his hand and she shouted in outrage behind her gag.

With the struggling females they returned to the docking station where their fighters were waiting for them. Amano dropped Charly into one of the seats and belted her in tightly.
 

Once all of the males had taken a seat, Kordan started up the small space ship. He counted down from ten and the ship shot out of the docking station into the infinite universe.
 

***

Charly was calm during the flight. At least outwardly. Inside her a war was raging: her heart against her reason. Who should she believe? She loved Amano. But he was a damn alien and because that was not quite enough, he also had to be half animal – a beast of prey, of course. What else? Beasts of prey could never really be trusted, could they? How much cheetah was there in him? Who controlled his actions? – The male or the cheetah?

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she only noticed that they had landed when her belts opened. A hand took her arm to help her out of her seat. It was Amano. His expression was without emotion, unreadable. It was impossible to know what was going on inside his head. Why was he behaving like this? If everything was OK then he surely would not react so strangely. Maybe it was true what Ellyod had told them. At least in part. Perhaps it had only been that damn hormone.
 

Amano led her through the ship to her cabin. In silence they entered the room and the door closed behind them. Now they were alone. She looked nervously at her feet. What would he do now? She heard him sigh, then his footsteps moved away. A little later he returned and pushed a glass into her hand.

“Here,” he said.”Drink this.”

She looked at the glass suspiciously.

“What is it?” she asked.
 

“Brandy,” he replied. “We need to talk and I think you could do with a drink – after all that’s happened.”

“What … what did happen?” asked Charly, taking a sip of the brandy. He was right. She could handle a drink right now.

“You were abducted,” he reminded her, in a tone that suggested that he feared that she had gone mad. “Are you OK? Did … did that son-of-a-bitch lay a hand on you?”

She shook her head.

“Is that now an answer to my first question or my second question?” he asked, looking at her with concern.
 

“He … he didn’t …,” she said quietly, taking another sip. “And I feel like shit,” she added, after putting down the glass. “I’m confused.”

“Come here. Let’s sit down. Then we can talk better.”

She let him lead her to the armchairs and they sat down. Charly was really pleased about this because her legs felt like jelly and she had feared that she might collapse.
 

“Why are you confused?” asked Amano gently. “Tell me what’s troubling you. You have nothing more to fear. You’re safe now.”

“The … the hormone. What’s it for?”

“I thought it was obvious,” Amano relied, looking at her, puzzled. “To increase pleasure.”

“Could we do away with it?”
 

He raised an eyebrow questioningly.
 

“You don’t like it?”

“I want to know whether the hormone is necessary.”

“Well, apart from the first dose, it’s not necessary, no,” he answered cautiously. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this, Charly. Why would you wish to go without it when it gives you heightened pleasure?”

“So, the … the first time is necessary, then?” she probed.

“But I explained that to you. It would have poisoned me if I had not injected it into you.”

“And it has some effect on me, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s more than a method of increasing pleasure, isn’t it? Does it affect me so that I fall in love with you? Does it bind me to you? Is it addictive?”

Charly was looking directly at Amano. She saw confusion and but also anger in his expression.

“It’s not a potion with which I can simply set off and get any female to fall in love with me, if that’s what you’re suggesting,” he said, agitated. “It is only intended for one female. For my mate. It wouldn’t have any effect on you if you weren’t the right one.”

“But it binds me to you somehow, doesn’t it?” she shouted at him. “So Ellyod was right!”

“Ellyod!” he snarled sinisterly, clenching his fists. “What lies did that bastard put into your pretty head?”

“He said that you Carthians have a potion that makes females addicted to you. And that you’re reliant on females of other races because your females are becoming extinct. Because … because at the birth of your … your boys …”

“Charly!” Amano interrupted her, reaching over the table to her arm. “Forget everything that that man told you! He’s lying. Calm down first now and let me explain things to you calmly. It’s all different to the way you think it is.”

“How am I to know what I should think?” she shouted at him.

“I can’t believe that you believe
him
more than you believe me,” he said bitterly.

Charly pulled away from him and in doing so threw her glass to the floor. She leapt up out of the armchair. Amano stood up, too, glaring at her angrily.