Shielder — A new Science Fiction Romance (Book 1, Shielder Series) (17 page)

Tremors shook her arms and legs. Not that!
She couldn't have a seizure now. She sucked in great gulps of air.
Miraculously, the oblivion never came. After a moment, the
trembling eased. Pushing away from the panel, Nessa turned to the
children.

"We have to hide you. Quick, in the
lav!"

* * * *

Chase entered the ship, carrying packages
and towing Marak in the wheeled body harness. He saw Sabin in the
corridor. "What are you doing here, Travers? I thought you were
headed toward Verante." He sneezed violently and rubbed his
watering eyes.

"And I thought you were headed for Star Base
Intrepid, old man." Sabin sauntered forward to study the
unconscious prisoner. "So you got Marak. What did you do to
him?"

"I injected him with a knockout drug, so I
wouldn't have to listen to his foul mouth." Chase shifted the
packages, not adding that he'd also wanted time to do a little
shopping. It galled him that he couldn't banish thoughts of Nessa,
even while planetside hunting a vicious criminal. But she'd needed
something else to wear, he rationalized. Then, when he'd passed
that cursed vendor…

He sneezed again, swearing under his breath.
He would have to take another allergy injection, as much as he
hated it.

"Allergies acting up?" Sabin inquired.

Chase resisted the urge to beat the knowing
smirk off his partner's face. Once while in the throes of a
drinking marathon with Sabin, he'd made the mistake of confiding
that he had allergies. A confession Sabin liked to lord over
him.

"Shut up, Travers. Where's Nessa?"

Sabin jerked his head toward her cabin. "In
her quarters. Why do you ask?"

Chase sneezed twice. "Because I need to
unload something into a plexishield case—not that it's any of your
concern." He headed for Nessa's cabin, Sabin right behind him. At
the panel, he turned and glared at his partner. "Don't you have
anything better to do? You could put Marak in the brig."

Sabin considered for a moment. "Nah. Plenty
of time for that. Marak looks like he'll be out for a while."

Chase almost decided to wait until later,
when Sabin was gone, before he unloaded his troublesome package.
His partner didn't need to know he'd lost all sanity for a few
moments at the marketplace. But another round of sneezing convinced
him to do this now.

"Why don't you just mind your own business
and go back to your ship?" he muttered, sounding the panel
tone.

Sabin shook his head, an infuriating grin on
his face. "I wouldn't miss this for a thousand miterons."

Chase ignored him. "Nessa, are you in there?
I have something for you."

"Wait! I'm coming." Nessa opened the panel,
her face unusually flushed. "What is it?"

She sounded breathless and Chase eyed her
critically. "Are you okay? Your face is red."

Her hand flew to her check and she seemed to
grow even more flushed. "Umm, I'm just a little warm." She grabbed
her tunic and fanned it. "This robe is very heavy."

A pungent stench wafted into the corridor
from her cabin. Chase wrinkled his nose. "What in the Abyss is that
smell
? It's worse than Marak's stink."

Nessa's eyes widened and she glanced at
Sabin. "I do—don't know," she stammered. She edged out and shut the
panel behind her.

A sudden sneezing episode racked Chase. "I
brought you something. You can open it in your cabin."

Nessa appeared anxious. Probably Travers
making her nervous. She always acted skittish around him. "It's too
crowded in the cabin," she hedged. "Couldn't we do this in the
cockpit?"

Chase found her behavior strange. He was
starting to get very irritated, not to mention completely
congested. "No!" he snapped, shoving the boxes at her. "Open the
larger one
now
."

She fumbled with the clasp. He couldn't
understand her reluctance. Didn't every woman like to get gifts?
The box opened and a silvery head poked out, as four shiny eyes
looked around. He stood proudly, waiting for her pleased
reaction.

"It's a lanrax," she said blankly.

"Yep, it sure is," Sabin quipped.

The lanrax hissed at Nessa and slithered out
of the box. It hung by its back feet, then dropped to the floor and
scurried to Chase. It climbed his leg before he could react and
settled against his chest. Nuzzling its cold nose against his neck,
it chattered happily. A violent sneeze left his chest aching.

"Get off me!" He tried to pry the lanrax
loose but it dug its claws into him. He finally peeled it off and
held it away from him by the scruff of its neck. "Nessa, take
it."

Hesitant, she reached out and took the
spitting and hissing lanrax. It sank its teeth into her hand.
"Ouch!" She dropped the lanrax and grabbed her hand. "It bit
me."

The creature hightailed it back to Chase and
started up his leg again. Damnation. This wasn't going as planned.
"What's wrong with this thing?" he snarled, pulling it off his leg.
"It's for you, Nessa. Take it, damn it!"

She stepped back, shaking her head. No
appreciation whatsoever for his gift.

"It doesn't want Nessa," Sabin pointed out.
"It wants you, old man."

"Why would the creature want me? I hate the
damn things!"

"Let me see if I can guess. Did you use
gloves when you purchased this little critter?"

Glaring at his partner, Chase shook his
head. Sabin sighed with mock heaviness. "That explains it, then.
The lanrax picked up your scent and bonded with you."

A sick feeling settled in Chase's gut.
"That's crazy! I only held it for a moment while I put it in the
box—" A series of sneezes interrupted his protest. "That's not
enough time for anything to bond. Nessa, is that plexishield case
still in your cabin?"

An apprehensive look crossed her face. "I'm
not sure."

"It has to be there. I never removed it." He
opened her panel.

"No! You can't go in there!" She grabbed his
arm and tried to pull him back. "The case is occupied."

"Occupied?" He pushed past her, looking
toward the case. There was Turi. It couldn't be. He stepped closer
and the creature hissed. Sure looked and acted like Turi. "How did
he get here?"

"Sabin brought him," Nessa explained, still
tugging on his arm. "Moriah found him."

Chase met his partner's amused gaze. "Gee,
thanks a lot."

"Think nothing of it, partner."

"Now, could you please leave?" Nessa
pleaded, glancing toward the lavatory.

"But what am I supposed to do with this
thing?" Chase demanded, holding up the lanrax. "I have to put it in
the case, too."

"I'd think twice about that if I were you,"
Sabin advised. "If this is a female, you'll have lots of little
lanraxes running around here in no time."

Chase groaned, then sneezed. Worse and
worse. If he ever saw that vendor again on Elysia, he'd torch her
stall. "Well, then, this
female
lanrax will just have to
stay in Nessa's lavatory until I can replicate another case."

"No!" she cried, digging her nails into his
arm.

The ungrateful wretch. Chase glared at her,
all vestiges of patience gone. "What is the matter with you? You're
not allergic to the cursed creatures. I say it's going to stay in
your lav. Either that, or I'll euthanize the damn thing."

Nessa paled. "You can't do that," she
whispered.

"I can, and I will, if I can't find a way to
un-bond with it," he snapped, pushing past her toward the lav.

Her grip on his arm tightened. "Put it in
the case with Turi, then."

Was it his imagination, or did she appear
frightened? Why had he ever delayed in dumping her at a star base?
"Not a chance in the universe, lady. Two lanraxes are two too many.
And what is that horrible smell?"

Shaking Nessa off, he stormed to the lav. He
punched the panel pad, ready to toss the lanrax in…and froze. Two
naked children, covered with filth, cowered against the cleansing
stall. The stench almost gagged him. He stared, trying to
comprehend the impossible. Then rage exploded through his head,
momentarily blinding him.

He whirled, dropping the lanrax and grabbing
Nessa up by her tunic. "What are these…these
children
doing
here, on my ship?" Anger coursed through him, robbing him of
rational thought. He shook her. "I want an answer and I want it
now
!"

Gasping, she tried to pry his hand away. He
didn't realize how close he was to losing control, until Sabin
intervened, breaking his hold on her. "Whoa, partner. She can't
answer if she can't breathe."

He dropped her like a hot brand, dragging
air into his lungs. The rage receded from boiling to simmering. Her
hand at her throat, Nessa backed away. He grabbed her shoulders and
jerked her back. "Tell me what is going on here."

She shook violently and her eyes rolled up,
the beginnings of a seizure. Cold, lucid control returned. Chase
maneuvered her to the bunk and eased her down. "Breathe, Nessa.
Stay with her, Travers. I'll be right back."

He dashed to the lab, ignoring the lanrax
clinging to his leg, and filled a hypochamber with medication.
Grabbing his medical monitor, he returned to find Nessa in the
throes of the seizure, Sabin watching helplessly.

"Stars," Sabin said, yielding his place to
Chase. "Will she survive this?"

"She'll be fine." The seizure appeared the
mildest Chase had seen yet. She was obviously taking the medication
he'd given her and it must be helping, if her quick response to the
injection gave any indication.

He gave her only enough time to awaken and
orient herself before he allowed his anger to resurface. He pulled
her up against the end of the bunk, his face a few millimeters from
hers. "I want to know where those children came from and why
they're on my ship. I want the complete truth. If I don't get the
truth and get it now, you'll find the brig mild in comparison to
the consequences."

Her eyes huge, she looked over his shoulder
at Sabin. A nagging suspicion entered his mind and his head snapped
around. "Do you know anything about this, Travers?"

Sabin shrugged nonchalantly. "Not much more
than you do, old man."

Although he didn't totally believe his
partner, Chase let it go, returning his attention to Nessa. "I'm
waiting for the answer."

She swallowed. "The children were being sold
as slaves on Elysia."

He must have misunderstood her. "Slaves! How
did they get on the ship?"

She averted her eyes. "I bought them."

Her voice was so low, he wasn't sure he
heard right. "Did you say you bought them?" She nodded and his
blood pressure rose several hundred points. "How did you manage
that?" he bit out.

She stared at her hands clenched tightly in
her lap.

"My patience is at an end, Nessa. Tell me
everything
now
."

"I decoded the hatch and went looking for
transport."

"How in the blazing hells did you decode the
hatch?"

She paled even more, if that were possible.
"I —I…I stood at the hatch pad and entered combinations until I hit
the right one."

Her tenacity amazed him. "Go on."

"Well…then I went to the marketplace. When I
saw the children being sold as slaves, I couldn't leave them there.
So I bought them."

She decoded the hatch? She left the ship
against orders? She purchased
slaves
? Angry tension pounded
through his body. He checked the strong urge to shake her into
oblivion.

"And just what did you purchase them with?"
She began the hand twisting routine again, and he clamped his hand
over hers. "Answer me."

"My coins."

Sustaining belief became more difficult with
each answer she gave. "You spent your transport money on slaves?
How much was that?"

"Two hundred miterons each."

"Four hundred miterons? You spent
four
hundred
miterons on
slaves
?"

A quick nod of her head sent Chase's blood
pressure off the chart. He grabbed the bunk to keep from throttling
her. "After spending all your money on slaves, what did you plan to
use for transport to your all-important eclipse?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

The dam of restraint broke, and fury
rampaged through him. "
You don't know
?" he roared. "You
leave the ship against orders, purchase two slaves with the only
money you have, and
you don't know
? I'll tell you what you
don't know. You don't know how much you owe
me
. I rescued
you, treated your seizures, gave you food, and offered you
transport to the nearest star base. Yet at every turn, you've
defied me, lady. I've been lenient, but no more."

He grabbed Nessa, lifting her off the mat
and so close, her breasts brushed against his chest. He glared into
her dark eyes, not concerned with her obvious terror. "You owe me
so much, you can't possibly ever repay me. Where I come from, that
means I own you now.
I own you, body and soul
!

“
You're
my
slave, to
do as I command. And if you value your welfare, and that of those
two children in the lav, you'll do whatever I tell you, whenever I
tell you. As a matter of fact, I plan on working what you've cost
me out of your scrawny hide. You'll be very certain that I'm
comfortable and happy at all times. My every wish will be your
duty. I hope this is very clear to you, because your life depends
upon it. Do you understand me?"

She stared at him, her chest rising and
falling rapidly. He dug his fingers mercilessly into her upper
arms. "I said, do you understand?"

"Yes."

He released her and rose, peeling the lanrax
off his leg. Shaking with anger, he knew he'd better put some
distance between himself and Nessa if he didn't want to commit
mayhem. A long, stiff drink of Elysian liquor sounded damn
good—make that damn necessary—right now. He needed at least a
bottle. And an allergy injection, he thought, as a paroxysm of
sneezing hit him.