10
Quinn
Lukabo paced. And paced. And paced some more. He checked an alien gadget on his wrist every few seconds like he was waiting for a call. Or message. Whatever these aliens called it.
My head didn’t hurt quite so much now, which was nice. My captor hadn’t said anything else since our initial conversation, which had been—I checked the delicate gold watch on my wrist—almost three hours ago.
I was tired of sitting and staring at the wall. Or him. Or my feet. Or the weird, bolted metallic ceiling. The room was smaller than my bedroom, which meant Lukabo had to turn around every three steps.
If the whole situation hadn’t been so damn scary, his long legs moving back and forth in the tiny space would have been funny.
Unfortunately the longer I sat here, the more I’d realized exactly how horrible a situation I was in.
First, I’d been kidnapped by an alien criminal who wanted vengeance for the deaths of his family members. Like some kind of mafia king.
Second, I was on a space station. In outer space. Outer. Space. Even if I got away, how was I going to get home? It wasn’t like I could catch a rideshare or hitchhike. How was Bahre going to find me?
Third, I was hungry, thirsty, and if I didn’t get out of here soon, I was going to embarrass myself because as far as I could tell, they didn’t have toilets on this station. At least, not in here.
Lukabo ran his hand through his hair. It was a shame he was so evil. He wasn’t bad to look at. Too pretty, actually. Like Jeff Randall. Gorgeous on the outside, rotten on the inside.
“How long are we going to be here?” I asked.
“Be quiet, female.”
No. Not going to happen. “I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. And if you don’t want a mess in here, I need to use the facilities.”
“Facilities?” He turned to face me. Frowned.
“You know. Bodily waste.”
He winced. “Fucking primitive. Gods be damned. Why the fuck does Cerberus want you?”
Was he actually expecting me to answer? I wasn’t sure. And Cerberus? Like the mythological dog with three heads? I knew my Greek mythology, and not once did any book or teacher mention aliens or outer space. Not. Once.
Lukabo stepped forward and grabbed my chin with rough fingers, forcing me to look up at him. “Doesn’t matter, does it? Cerberus himself is paying for you, enough to set me up on a new world.”
Before I could decide what to do next, the thing he’d been checking on his wrist made a pinging noise. He looked down at once, released me, then cursed.
“Fuck. He’s coming. I knew he would come for you.”
My heart skipped double time. “Bahre? He’s here? He’s coming? How do you know?”
Lukabo laughed and the sound made my skin crawl. “Helion is not the only one with spies.”
Who the hell was Helion?
Lukabo grabbed me by the back of the neck and shoved me into the corner of the small room behind him. I couldn’t see over the brute’s back, but I held my breath when he pushed a button and a large, thick wall slid forward like a shield. Attached to the back of the divider was a very large space gun of some kind. As big as my leg from hip to thigh.
“Fucking Atlan,” he snarled. “He won’t be able to dodge this.”
“Hey!” I tried to push around him. “What are you doing?”
Lukabo shoved me back, and my head hit the wall. My headache, a dull throb, came roaring back to life as I stumbled and lost my footing. Asshole.
The alien lifted the space gun to the top of the movable wall and hunkered down like we were in a bunker. He ignored me, which wasn’t hard to imagine. I was half his size, unarmed and…
No, not unarmed. Reaching down slowly, I slipped the shoe off my right foot. Gripping the shoe tightly, sharp heel facing out, I kept quiet, just like he wanted.
The door to the small room opened.
Lukabo’s shoulders tensed, and I figured he was getting ready to blow Bahre away with the monster gun.
Lifting my shoe, I swung the spiky end of my high heel as hard as I could.
Bahre roared as he leaped into the room. Lukabo screamed, my heel buried in his shoulder. The huge space gun fired, blasting a hole in the wall next to the door, clean through. I could see the outer corridor through the newly created space. He’d tried to vaporize Bahre.
Jerk.
I was reaching for my left shoe when Lukabo’s body was lifted over the wall and thrown across the room.
“Shield her.” Bahre’s voice was distinct, but I’d never heard that tone before. I didn’t question when Tane came to stand before me, his big chest blocking my view of whatever Bahre was doing to the creep who’d kidnapped me.
I hoped it was nasty. Deadly. I was so tired of men trying to bully me, intimidate me, threaten me. Manipulate me. I was done.
I wished I’d had a chance to stab that jerk with my other shoe and give him a matching hole on the other side.
“I should have gone for his balls.” I muttered the realization to myself, but Tane heard me and chuckled.
“You did well, my lady. Let me escort you out of this room.” I resisted, wanting to stay with Bahre. He must have sensed this because he said, “Your mate will join us in the hallway momentarily. I will not take you from him.”
At his words, I relaxed. I knew him from Earth. He was a good guy. “Okay.”
He took my arm, gently, and led me toward the door. I had to pass a stern-looking Prillon—I knew he was a Prillon only because I’d read up on the various alien races, although it hadn’t included anything about Hyperion hybrids—and past two other males who looked like large
