Galactic Treasure (Quads of Galafrax) (3 page)

“Are you human, Ruby?”

“Yes, sir.” Her voice came a little stronger. “Have you been giving your master trouble, pet?”

An arousing flush of reddish colour flooded her face, and she dropped her gaze. “Y- yes, sir.”

Good answer, I’d be kicking his genitals up into his nostrils had he enslaved me.

“When you fight the control collar, it causes you pain.
From now on you will not fight it, will you, pet? You will obey your master and avoid the pain, is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, now return to your master.”

She turned and quickly walked to the
Ambassador’s side, her gaze still lowered.

“Amazing!” The Ambassador stroked a hand down Ruby’s hair.

Once again the urge to rip the Ambassador’s hand off and feed it to him, grew painfully strong.

Bir stepped forward and handed the Ambassador the vocal inhibitor. “I doubt you’ll need this or your collar from now on. One hundred extra credits per cycle for guarding your pet.”

“A deal!” The Ambassador beamed with glee. “Go back to your place, my pet.”

She was quick to comply, scurrying over to the chair and sinking down out of sight.

“Tev and Niz will take first watch, and Zay and I will shadow in our ship to
Zarnak Station.
Be ready to leave with in the quarter of the hour. Zay, with me.”

Bir turned towards the door. Zay glanced one more time in the direction of the hiding Ruby, before forcing himself to turn and follow Bir out.

* * * *

“Damn the ice plains, brother, you touched her.
What did she feel like? Soft, sweet?” Zay blurted out, even before the door of their ship closed.

The softness under his fingers was indescribable.
He’d only touched her to offer what small comfort he could, trying to communicate without words he meant her no harm. The feel of her silken skin only ignited a burning desire to touch more of her. Wisely, he’d refrained, before he lost total control.

The fear and awe in her gaze as she stared at him both humbled and aroused him to his breaking point.

Always in control of his mind and body, he was amazed at how the little human shattered everything in an instant. Her vulnerability and obvious frailty made him want to pull her into his arms, protect her from the harsh universe. At the same time he wanted to dip his head and taste her sweet, full pink lips. Explore her large chest mounds, which heaved with her every breath. He wanted to replace her look of fear with desire and passion, as he sank slowly into her depths.

“She was … soft,”
was all Bir could manage.

“If I’m not mistaken, one set of the Lord Quads of Galafrax have taken a human female as their
sheraz
.” Zay followed close behind him.

“I read the reports too.” Bir secured the airlock before storming away, heading up to the top deck towards the bridge.

The fire in Bir’s blood churned restlessly, his body and mind strangled by desire for the one little flame-red haired and pale skinned human female.

“I want her, and I know you do too.”

He wasn’t going to argue with Zay. Being eldest of the quad brothers, he knew he would have her first, if they ever got her away from the Piclar Ambassador’s clutches.

“We can offer to buy her.”

“You saw the possessive pride on the Ambassador’s face. She’s his red charm of good fortune, try bargaining that away from a Piclar.”

“I can always negotiate with this.” Zay laid his hand over the holster of his laser pistol, attached to his belt. “I want to rip that control collar off her, grab the Ambassador and shove it far up where the starlight doesn’t shine. How dare he treat a female like that!”

Bir couldn’t agree more. For the first time, he was tempted to blow off the contract and simply take what lay before them, but it was a heck of a lot more complicated than that. As good as they were, to snatch her and run would alert the station’s security, and have them locked down faster than they could make it back to their ship.

“Enough, Zay, we’re here to do a job, and we’re going to do it.” Bir poured as much force into his tone as he could muster. Zay only snorted.

“Don’t pull that command control trick on me, brother. I can feel what you’re feeling. You want her as much as I do, all of us do.”

Bir burst into the control room, and in an uncharacteristic display of anger, he turned and slammed his fist into the metal bulkhead.
The pain radiating through his fist and up his arm was a welcome relief for the aching in his rod.

Zay folded his arms, watching him stare down at his bloody fist.

“Feel better now? I know you’ve never used the, now broken, sex droid, but if we don’t do something about this soon I doubt any of us will be able to think rationally.”

He knew Zay was right, and sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“I know and I want her too, but we’re going to have to be smart about this. The Ambassador will not let her go without a fight.”

“Isn’t that what we do best?”

Bir strode around his central command chair and sat down at the navigation controls. Fighting is what they did best.

“Yes, but this fight will have to be underhanded and sneaky, and carefully planned. I think it would also be best to gain her trust before we acquire her.”

Zay’s lips twisted up into a conniving grin. “Then you had best leave that kind of planning to me. It’s our turn when we reach the galactic trade centre. I look forward to getting to know our little human
sheraz
better.”

“
Sheraz
?” The thought startled him, but somehow, deep down it felt right. Not if, but when, they stole her. Bir knew damn well, they would never let her go. Still, the choice had to be hers.

“You object?”

“No, but she might.”

“Then we’ll just have to convince her otherwise.” Zay took the helm, and ran through the undocking sequence. “I think you’ll have more work convincing Ruby, after that domineering control trick you pulled.”

“I just wanted her out of pain, and the vocal inhibitor.” Anger curled like a snake ready to strike. He still didn’t know how he maintained a cool façade in front of the Ambassador.

His hand began to throb.

“I know, and it worked. Let’s just hope it stays that way and she behaves.”

“I saw the fire in her beautiful blue eyes, matching her red hair.
She has a strong spirit.”

The admiration in Zay’s voice told Bir that Zay was already in deep.

With their brotherhood bond, he knew they were in one accord. If the Ambassador hurt her in any way, they would rip him to shreds.

Chapter Three

Would her heart ever stop pounding? Ruby felt faint and refused to look up at the two huge red men standing over by the door.

Commander Bir, holy moly! Just his deep raspy voice short circuited her brain and made her insides melt like butter.

When she’d first spotted the tall deep red coloured aliens, she’d been stunned at just how human they looked.

Four of them, two sets of twins by the look of it, the first of the twins had a clean cut jaw line, set firmly in place. High cheekbones, large hawk-like nose. The other twin had a scar running from the top of his chin down the side of his throat. Damn, they were gorgeous despite being so big and red.

The other set of twins had a rougher, bad boy look, reminding her of her favourite actor Gerard Butler.
Well, if he were a seven-foot, muscle-bound alien. With liquid golden eyes, all four of them had gazed at her like hungry predators and she was the weak, meek, little prey. Everything about these ‘Demos’ guards screamed raw masculine power and sexuality.

The control behind Commander Bir’s voice, she couldn’t help but obey his commands. But the look in his molten gaze was also one of concern and kindness.

Backed up by the fact he’d gotten the Ambassador to turn off the control collar and to allow him to remove her voice inhibitor. Oh, the simple touch of his hand on her chin, lifting her eyes to his, and the feel of his large finger stroking down her cheek, she shuddered in a sudden wash of arousal.

It confused the hell out of her, as she’d never really felt like this with a human man, and here, a big tall, buffed up alien made her body respond like a feline in heat.

Good god, what the hell is wrong with me?
Squeezing her eyes shut, praying to wake up from this bizarre dream. She pinched her arm hard and mumbled, “There’s no place like home, there's no place like home, there—”

“What are you doing, little pet?”

Startled by the sudden deep voice above her, she squeaked, stumbling back on the pillows and staring up into one of the, uh, Demos men’s golden eyes.

She glanced around for the Ambassador, fearful of his reaction to find one of his ‘hired’ guards talking to her.

“I, um, pardon?”

“I’m Tev, and the talkative one by the door is my brother Niz. Don’t look so scared, sweet little human. We may be guards, but we’re not going to harm you. By the ice plains, we would rather cut off our own hands than hurt something so pretty and precious.
Now tell me what you are doing?”

Pretty, precious?
Ruby ran back over Tev’s words in her mind. So the guard had a sense of humour, considering his twin brother, the one with the scar, hadn’t said a peep.

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Why? Are you going to report it to fish face?”

Tev barked in laughter. “No, whatever you say in private stays in private. I swear by everything we hold sacred, we won’t repeat anything you say to ‘fish face'.”

Was he for real? Only one way to find out.

“I was pinching myself.”

Tev’s brow furrowed in a frown. “Why?”

“Haven't you ever had a bad nightmare you've wanted to wake up from?”

“Night-mare?”

“Bad dream, you dream, don’t you?” Ruby had no clue what these aliens did or didn’t do.

“We indeed do, night-mare, interesting word, but we understand.”

“Well, welcome to my nightmare.” She lifted her hand and pointed to her collar, cuffs, and the room around her.

“I can’t comprehend what it would be like to be stolen from your world, but don’t fear, little pet. Justice will come to those who deserve it. You have four friends here now.”

“I do?” She glanced across the room, where Niz stood, and saw the slight smile on his lips as he met her gaze. He nodded to confirm his brother’s words.

Friends? She didn’t know who to trust.
What if they were lying and spying on her for the Ambassador? Well, she had nothing left to lose but her life.

She reached out offering her hand, “On my planet, friends shake hands when they meet. My name is Ruby MacTavish, of planet Earth. I used to live on the continent of
Australia.”

“What a lovely custom.” His smile widened.

Tev enfolded her hand into both his larger ones. The warmth of his touch sent tingles of awareness down her spine, making her lower belly quiver. She clenched her thighs together, trying to relieve the sudden blooming ache, but it only made things worse.

What the hell?
Wasn’t it enough she’d become aroused at Commander Bir’s voice and simple touch? Tev seemed to have an even more devastating effect on her.

He gazed down at her hand, slipping to hold her by the wrist, while he traced her skin with his fingers.

“I’ve never touched someone as soft as you, Ruby.” She heard the awe and fascination in his deep smooth tone. She gulped when he ran his thumb over her palm, then up over her wrist. Holy moly, her breathing accelerated, and danger signs flashed in her mind. She squirmed, feeling her juices flowing between her thighs.

Is he trying to seduce me? No, not possible, he’s just curious, that’s all. If the Piclar considers me an exotic species, then these Demos guards would think so too.

With extreme effort, she tugged on her hand. “Let me go, please.”

He seemed reluctant, but he did release her.

“Tev, three seconds.” Niz’s voice made her snap her gaze to his.

Tev straightened and quickly returned to his post. “Ruby, do not harm yourself, no more pinching.” The admonishment was clear. She stared at him.
Does he really care if I hurt myself?

He placed a finger over his lips, in a silent shhh.

He didn’t have to tell her twice. She nodded and sat back on her butt.

Sure enough the doors opened and fish face swept into the room.
She lowered her gaze.

“Come pet, time to depart.” He snapped his finger for her to come stand in front of him.

This time, without hesitation she obeyed. From the corner of her eye, she saw both brothers nod their silent approval.

“Such a change, little pet.
If I had known all it took was a firm Demos hand to tame you, I would have sent for them earlier.”