Whatever my mate was doing, they really didn’t want me to see it.
I discovered that I didn’t want to see it either. Bahre was going to take care of that creep, and that was good enough for me.
The Prillon handed Tane a wand that had a blue glowing light. Tane held it before me. “A ReGen wand, which I move in front of you to ensure you are healed from any harm.”
“I’m uninjured,” I told him.
“May I?” he asked, either not believing me or wanting to ensure for himself I was well.
I nodded.
Tane waved the wand in front of me with slow precision. A couple minutes later Bahre emerged.
“She is unharmed,” Tane said. He pushed his thumb on the wand, and the glow ceased. “There was a minor wound behind her ear where an NPU was inserted. The wand has healed the insertion spot.”
Bahre nodded and took his place. My Atlan crushed me to his chest, and I clung, the shock and calm deserting me now that he was here, holding me. Now that I was safe.
“Bahre.” I breathed him in. Felt the heat of him, the hard muscles of his huge body.
“I will not leave your side again, mate.” He lifted me into his arms and held me against his chest.
“I can walk.”
“One of your feet is bare. I will not have any part of you touch this filthy corridor.”
“Okay.” I agreed. I was shocked to discover I meant it. All of it. Not leaving his side. Allowing him to carry me like I was a damsel in distress. My beast had come for me and killed the terrifyingly beautiful monster who had intended to sell me like a piece of property.
Bahre leaned down and placed a kiss on my head. I cried the second his lips touched me. I’d known he’d come for me. Deep down, having him rescue me was the hope I’d clung to, to hold myself together. That vampire alien creep had been scary. Despite the fact that he hadn’t touched me other than to put that weird dot on my clothes and then to shove me into the corner. His intentions, his cold-blooded disregard for life, that’s what had frightened me to my core.
My beast carried me, and we took an elevator up—I felt the movement—then exited, then followed another corridor before Bahre led me into an area that could only be described as a penthouse in space. He set me gently on my feet, and I made quick use of the facilities, washed the alien vampire’s blood off my hands, and splashed water on my face. I had stabbed an alien with my spiked, high-heeled shoe.
For some reason the absurdity of the entire situation made me want to either lay on the floor and sob or burst into hysterical laughter. I refused to do either. And Bahre was waiting for me.
I left the small bathing room, and Bahre entered behind me. Perhaps washing the same creep’s blood from his own skin. I was a bit shocked to discover I did not care that Bahre had killed that alien. In fact, I was relieved. If someone had taken out Jeff Randall about three years ago, I would have had a different life. But then I wouldn’t have been in Florida or met Bahre.
Not wanting to poke too much into the psychology of my past, I walked to stare, with wonder, at the view. There were windows, actual windows—maybe screens, I wasn’t sure—but there were stars outside. Planets. Swirling galaxies and ships moving to and from what I could see of the massive space station. I could see them all, like some kind of sci-fi movie.
I. Was. In. Outer. Space.
The jerk who would not be named had told me we were on a space station. However, being told while sitting in a tiny, shed-sized room with metal walls, and seeing stars and moving spaceships outside the window were two very different things.
“Where are we?” I asked, glancing around when I heard Bahre move behind me. The walls were coated in soft fabric, and I assumed the metal of the ship was underneath. There was lush carpet under my feet and a large, gorgeous bed made up with bedding that, when I leaned over to touch, was soft as the finest silk. The other furnishings, a small sofa and chair and several small tables scattered around the area, looked to be of high quality. I had an eye for details, and this place reeked of money.
“Safe.”
11
Quinn
Bahre’s gaze raked over me as he leaned down and took off my remaining shoe and dropped it, forgotten, to the floor.
“This is Transport Station Zenith. We are in Sector 436 of Coalition space. We are in designated quarters while here. We will not be disturbed.”
I couldn’t help the shiver of excitement and fear that raced up and down my spine. It was one thing to meet an alien and have a wild night of uninhibited sex with him, it was another to be kidnapped by some kind of space bandit and transported to the far reaches of the galaxy. People didn’t just go to space. And get luxury hotel rooms on space stations. And float around on a metal thing held together with what? Bolts? Welding? Was this place made of steel or some kind of alien material? How many people had been breathing this air? For how long? Decades? And were there aliens on this station? Like green ones and furry ones and cute ones that didn’t have fangs? Did I even want to know?
I looked at Bahre. No. Right now, I did not want to know. I just wanted to feel safe.
“This is real, right?” An insane question after everything I’d just been through.
He’d looked so serious, until now. The corner of his mouth
