Prime Selection (20 page)

Without moving the forearm he held against her throat, her assailant shifted his lower body to the side slightly and shoved one fat finger of his roaming hand along the notch between her legs.

She gritted her teeth and resolutely shoved away the persistent image of the last guy who’d attempted to rape her—and had almost succeeded.

Not gonna happen, buster
.
I won that round and am even stronger now.

Her attacker moved his arm off her neck and shifted to grasp her throat one-handed.

His hand was big and easily spanned the column of her neck, one finger placed against her carotid. He laughed. “Just a little more pressure, Terran whore, and I can make you unconscious and do whatever I like to you. But I won’t—I like my women to scream.

You’ll scream for me, won’t you,
karote
?”

He straightened to sit more upright. His knees straddled her torso, his powerful thighs acting like a vise to hold her in place. His ass settled on her thighs. In this position, his free hand had more access to her body. And he used it. He ripped her thin, long-sleeved T-shirt and proceeded to pinch and knead her breasts through the sheer camisole she wore underneath.

His movement off her diaphragm now allowed her to breathe more easily. She took in more oxygen as the hand he’d had at her throat now joined the other in poking and prodding her nearly naked upper torso.

Confident he had her subdued and absorbed in his lust, he’d forgotten Nadia was a trained soldier. To him she was just another weak piece of ass.

Big mistake on his part.

Head cleared now, thanks to being able to breathe, Nadia snaked her hand up her side and gripped his balls through the thin stretch fabric of his pants. As she twisted his nuts, she thrust the stiffened fingers of her other hand into his trachea.

The bastard’s eyes widened with shock. He grunted and choked as his hands reached to cup his abused testicles and his damaged windpipe at the same time.

Using his pain and distraction and the better leverage with his body more upright, she bucked him off her using her strong core. She rolled away. Then using her elbows and feet, she scuttled backward along the pavement like a fleeing crab.

Her attacker had murder in his eyes now.

Too weak to stand, too dizzy to run even if she could get upright, Nadia continued to scrabble away. Fighting back the pain from her shoulder and arm wounds, she struggled to pull in more oxygen and dig deep for another life-saving shot of adrenaline.

Her attacker stalked her. His eyes glittered with menace as he rubbed his balls. “You will pray for death.” He eyed her body. “It will be enjoyable to see how many ways I can make you beg.”

Dermo
! She’d hurt him, but hadn’t disabled him. Most men would still be on the ground, retching up their guts from the shot to the balls alone.

Note to self, Prime males have tough packages
.

He easily caught up with her as she backed into a curb
.

Shoot him, dummy!

Damn! She’d forgotten all about her weapon as she’d fought the man. Lack of oxygen must’ve affected her brain.

Her gaze holding the man’s leering stare, she slid her hand down her side and prayed the gun hadn’t become dislodged during the fight.

“No, you don’t!” The Prime’s meaty fist connected with her jaw. Her head bounced cruelly off the rough edge of the curb, stunning her.

Dazed and unable to move, she lay at his feet, gasping for breath and seeing stars. He pulled her laser pistol out of her holster and tossed it to the side.

At the same moment, Joen shouted something. The sound of an Alliance laser pistol and another laser returning the fire registered in her scrambled brain. She struggled to get up. The world whirled. She turned her head and vomited into the gutter.

Coughing, she sought to crawl away from the grate in the street, but her attacker’s legs stopped her. She turned to lie flat on her back as she attempted to breathe through the pain and nausea. She had a concussion for sure, maybe a skull fracture.

“Nadia!” This time she registered Joen’s shout, but couldn’t answer.

Another round of laser fire. Joen’s cry of pain chilled her.

God, she had to get up. Had to help her shipmate. She struggled to sit, but fell back.

She retched once again into the grate covering a storm drain. Definitely, a concussion.

Jury was still out on the fracture. She closed her eyes against the swirling world.

“Joen?” Her voice was weak and so unlike her.

There was no answer. God, was he dead? Pain and despair swamped her.

“He’s out of it,
karote.
” The Prime’s raspy voice held a sound of triumph. The legs connected to the harsh voice straddled her body once more.

She slitted her eyes and watched as he ripped her uniform trousers open. He raised onto his knees just enough to shove her pants and underwear down to her calves before setting his ass on her naked thighs.

Underneath her mostly naked torso, the wet, cold stones of the street set her body to shivering.

“Pretty sex. Never seen light-colored hair before.” Her attacker shoved two thick fingers into her dry opening. She made an effort to move away from the intrusion, but couldn’t. With his other hand, he twisted a nipple through the camisole. She gasped in pain.

He ripped the camisole away. “Very firm. Nice breasts.” He grunted, a sound of satisfaction. Pulling his fingers from her vaginal opening, he slapped her across the face.

“Let’s see how you suck seed, slut. I want to be good and hard before I take you.”

Nadia closed her eyes. She didn’t need the world spinning around her to distract her from the fight she’d have to mount to avoid being violated.

The only good news was that help had to arrive soon. All she had to do was survive.

Using the last of her reserves, she bucked against the man atop her in an attempt to dislodge him. It had worked before, why not this time?

But she was too weak. He didn’t budge.

“Stop it!” He squeezed her jaw cruelly with one large hand.

The pain shot through her head into her neck and spine. She moaned weakly. The brute let go of her jaw and knee-walked up her body until his knees met her shoulders.

Stripping open his pants, he grabbed her jaw and yanked her head up so she had a direct view of his erect penis and the purpled head with precum leaking from the slit.

“Open your mouth,
karote
!” He dug his nails into her face as he shoved the wet head of his penis against her lips.

She shook her head wildly, whimpering through another wave of teeth-chattering vertigo, and tightened her jaw even more. He cursed and grabbed her hair with his free hand and tilted her head back onto the ground at such an extreme angle that taking a breath was painful.

She mentally screamed for Huw. He had to open for her—she needed him. The strange instinct which had gained strength over the past two weeks urged her not to give up. She continued to beat at the black wall blocking her from Huw’s raw energy—and suddenly Huw was there. A sense of rightness settled into her very soul.
This is the way
it’s supposed to be.

“Nadia … Nadia…”

The sound of her name screamed in Huw’s mental voice sparked her to fight anew.

Huw was coming.

Nadia reached for the connection with all that was in her and found a deep well of pure power unlike anything she’d ever encountered. This was stronger than what she’d drawn from him on Tarn.

“Nadia! Nadia…”

Using Huw’s strong energy, she threw her attacker off to the side long enough to get her right arm free from his imprisoning thigh. Her head pounded like a bitch of a marching band. So, she closed her eyes and lay quiescent.

Even with Huw and the deep-rooted instincts urging her to get up and fight, she couldn’t stand, let alone outrun the man. But she could defend in other ways. Slowly, so as not to call attention to her actions, she reached with her right hand for the laser pistol the bastard had tossed aside.

“Nice try, but you will not succeed,
karote
. Prime males are superior in all ways to females of any race.” The bastard was immediately back on top of her. He was far too sure of himself and ignored her grasping right hand.

It would be what killed him.

“You are one surprise after another.” He cruelly twisted a nipple.

Nadia moaned, pandering to his ego, and moved her hand another inch. She’d spied the pistol just before she’d closed her eyes against the crazy kaleidoscope the world had become. Her fingers scrabbled along the damp paving stones. God, maybe she’d just thought she’d seen the pistol.

“Arch into me. I like my
karote
vigorous.”

The Prime attacker was damn proficient speaking Standard. She’d bet her next pay he was a member of the Prime military—and a fanatic.

Huw’s strength continued to flood her, saturating every pore of her being. The seemingly infinite well of pure energy cleared her mind and dulled her pain, allowing her to plot, plan, and observe as if she were looking at the scene from outside herself.

The Prime’s alcohol-laden breath wafted over her face, nauseating her. She swallowed the sickness threatening to take her over.

Once more, he held her jaw still, his fingernails biting into her tender skin. The tip of his cock touched her closed lips. “Take me in your mouth. Suck me off good, and maybe I’ll keep you for a pet rather than kill you.”

A man yelled something. It was Joen’s voice. Another voice yelled something back.

Joen was still alive and fighting.
Thank you, God
.

Then she realized the sounds of fighting had been going on all the while like white noise. It wasn’t until now with her heart not pounding loudly in her ears that she could hear the low grunts and curses as Joen fought the other man.

Joen’s war cry echoed off the buildings. He was fighting for his life. The only one who could help Nadia at this moment would be Nadia. She couldn’t wait for the rescue.

She sensed Huw nearing, sensed his desperation to save her—but knew he wouldn’t make it in time.

So be it.

Her eyes closed. She lay quietly as if she were defeated, as if she were totally helpless. Her right hand was free and moving at a snail’s pace in the search for the weapon that had to be there. All the while, she plotted and planned what to do if she couldn’t shoot the bastard.

The man slapped her. “Open your eyes—watch as I take your mouth.”

He hit her twice more. Her head protested the abuse, but her mind remained clear and focused. Her hand edged its way over another millimeter of ground.

“Unconscious. Weak Terran woman.” He grumbled, muttered, and raged under his breath. Releasing her jaw, he moved down her torso. His intent was obvious—if he couldn’t have her mouth…

So not going to happen.

Fighting the need to tear off his dick with her bare hands, she forced her body to remain motionless. Then she found the butt of her laser pistol. She grasped the sidearm and felt for the safety. The man was too busy fumbling to notice. He leaned over. His foul breath touched her face.

She clutched the gun, getting her fingers around it more firmly. Safety was off.

Power was on the lethal level.

Nadia moaned and fluttered her eyelashes. Through the curtain of her lashes, she found his attention was fully on her face.

He leered. “Ready for a real man,
karote
?” He grabbed her face to hold her for a biting kiss.

She brought the gun closer and fired the weapon into his thick upper body. The angle wasn’t perfect for a heart shot, but it blasted him in the torso hard enough to roll him off her.

Nadia rolled onto her left side. She brought her weapon up and located him through blurred vision. He’d fallen only a few feet away. Somehow, he still moved. He lay on his side, facing her. He glared. He’d kill her if he could.

“Die,
apayebo
.” She smiled grimly as she fired a full stream into his head. He fell onto his back. This time there was no movement, not even a fricking twitch.

Pain and nausea drove her to the ground. Breathing in gasps and moans, she curled into a ball, her laser pistol still clutched in one hand and clasped against her stomach. The cut on her shoulder, the laser gouge on her arm, and the damage to her head sent waves of pain throughout her body. She gritted her teeth against the need to scream and scream and scream. She could smell her blood mixing with the rain on the wet streets. She was cold and miserable and all she wanted to do was black out.

But she couldn’t let down her guard until she knew all of the attackers were dead or contained. She wasn’t sure she had the strength or the vision to hit anything else, but she’d damn sure try if someone else attempted to assault her.

Nadia groaned low in her throat, an animallike sound, and hot tears streamed down her icy face. She’d survived; her attacker hadn’t. At the end of the day that was all that counted. Anything he’d done to her body could be healed with time and a regen bed.

All sounds of fighting had died away. The sounds of the rain on the street, the surf hitting the breakfront, and some waterfowl calling to one another were the only things she heard. Then a thudding sound startled her. After a few seconds, she identified it as the sound of running footsteps coming closer and closer. Was it the last Prime attacker coming to finish her off? Had Joen fallen?

Nadia dug for the strength to uncurl and prepare to fight yet again. Huw’s masculine energy was still there—a strong, beautiful, vital tunnel in her mind—waiting for her to call upon it.

“Nadia … Nadia … hold on…”