Ambushing Ariel (6 page)

Now, Jarak was telling him the tiny female had struck again while he was trying to get into the transporter room where the door for some reason was not responding, no matter what he did. Kelan slammed his fist against the solid door in frustration. There was no doubt about it. Zoran was a dead Valdier warrior when he got his hands on him again in the training level.

“Get me a tool kit,” Kelan growled out under his breath.

“Yes Commander,” the huge warrior next to him said before disappearing down the corridor.

Moments later, Kelan worked the manual lever on the door. He opened the door far enough for him to squeeze through the narrow opening. Stepping through, he bit back a loud groan. All three women were threatening his men again. From the looks on the men’s faces, they were thoroughly enjoying it too.

Shaking his head, Kelan growled out loudly. “Enough! What is going on?” Kelan asked with a resigned sigh.

“The females are demanding we transport them back down to their planet. I have tried to explain to them we left it three days ago and are not even near their star system anymore,” Tulex said wincing as Trisha jabbed him with the point of the shaving knife.

“And
I
told you to take us back!” Trisha said angrily. “I have to go home.”

Kelan crossed his arms and said sternly. “There will be no going home for any of you. This is your home now.”

Burj made a distressed noise when Carmen tightened the knife at his throat. “Commander, I don’t think they like that answer.”

“Oh, quit being a big baby. I didn’t mean to cut you,” Carmen muttered under her breath. “If I had meant to, you would be dead.”

Ariel carefully observed everything going on around her. Something wasn’t right. She could feel it but wasn’t sure what it was. None of the men seemed in the least bit concerned about their taking them hostage, well, except for the one Carmen was cutting but Carmen had a way of making people nervous when she had a knife.

She listened with half an ear to the man who entered. He introduced himself as the commander of the warship. Her eyes widened when she realized this was the man Tammit said was claiming Trisha. She turned to observe Trisha’s reaction to him. Her eyes remained locked on her friend’s face. Something was definitely wrong. Ariel knew Trisha well enough to know when she was hurting and from her body language she was beyond the normal pain. Ariel was about to go to her when something Kelan said caught her attention.

“What other human female?” Ariel asked suddenly.

“The tiny one you call Cara. She is a pain in my…,” Kelan began.

Ariel closed her eyes briefly at the idea they had almost left without Cara. She would never have been able to live with herself if she left the tiny friend she and Trisha had adopted five years before. Ariel’s eyes flew open when she heard Trisha’s cry of pain. Throwing the chair leg she was holding at the men, she raced for her best friend cursing under her breath.

“Get away from her,” Carmen said roughly pushing the man Trisha had been threatening to one side. “Breathe deep, sweetheart, and try to relax as much as you can.”

Ariel moved down to Trisha’s leg and began massaging it. “I should never have let you take on those men,” Ariel said with remorse. “You need to tell us when you are in pain before it gets too bad. You know what happens if you push too hard,” Ariel rebuked gently as she worked on massaging Trisha’s calf and thigh muscles like the physical therapist taught her.

“What is wrong with her?” Kelan asked desperately looking down at Trisha’s white face. “What is wrong with her?” He demanded again looking up briefly at Ariel.

Ariel looked at the huge warrior who was tenderly running his hands over Trisha. Biting her lip, she looked down at Trisha’s pale face and closed eyes. As much as she would like to tell him, it was not her place. Ariel knew she needed to focus on helping Trisha as much as she could. Whenever she had an attack like this it would drain her, sometimes for days afterwards and would often leave her feeling depressed. She would need all the support she could get. Ariel’s eyes moved back to the warrior leaning desperately over Trisha’s still figure and wondered if Trisha was aware her life was about to change, whether she wanted it to or not. Because, if the way the man and his gold friend were all over Trisha was any indication of his strong feelings for her, things were about to get very interesting for her friend.

Early the next morning, Ariel sucked in a deep breath as she squeezed through the opening of the air shaft. It was a tight fit.
My butt and boobs are getting bigger,
she thought in despair. She would need to work out a little more or start eating a little less. It wasn’t like she ate a lot. She was a vegetarian. Ariel suppressed a shudder as she remembered the first meal brought to her. She had demanded it be taken away immediately. Carmen grumbled she was
not
a vegetarian when the huge male warrior guarding them looked confused at Ariel and started to grab both dishes. How was she supposed to know they had never heard of a vegetarian before? After several tries, they finally brought her a huge selection of fruits. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to satisfy her hunger for long. That was one of the reasons why she agreed to Carmen’s crazy plans to sneak out of their living quarters.

Carmen was slim as ever and didn’t have any problems fitting through the hole. She had always been slimmer than Ariel; especially since Scott passed away. It was like she wasn’t interested in food except to keep her alive long enough to kill the man who was responsible for his death.

She, on the other hand, loved food. Ariel realized a long time ago she had been born with her mom’s figure where Carmen took more after their dad. She was a nice size fourteen on a good day. She would always be bigger and plumper than her little sister no matter how much she tried to slim down. She wiggled one more time before she was finally free. With a sigh of relief, she dropped down onto the floor next to Carmen.

“Are you sure you can fly one of those shuttle things?” Carmen asked in a husky voice.

“We’ll find out,” Ariel whispered back. “I feel pretty confident if I can get in one I can figure it out. It would help if Trisha was with us,” Ariel added softly.

“Next time, maybe. This is just a reconnaissance,” Carmen muttered under her breath as she peeked around the corner. “Let’s go.”

Ariel followed Carmen as she moved down the corridor. They didn’t really have a clue as to where they were going, they were just winging it. Both of them were going stir-crazy being locked up in such a tiny room. The doc had stopped by late last night to let them know Trisha was fine, just resting. He assured them she had made a complete recovery. Both of them were skeptical until a note was delivered early this morning from Trisha telling them she was fine and would meet up with them later. In the meantime, they were having fun listening to all the alarms going off every few hours. It was their only way of knowing that Cara was still on the loose. That was one of the things that gave them the idea of sneaking out. Carmen informed the guards that they were not to be disturbed under any conditions if the men valued their lives. Two of the men looked like they were tempted to test her but the other warned them Jarak could not afford to lose any more men at this time to injuries.

Once they figured out how to get out of their room by pulling the covering off the vent over the bed, it was a matter of deciding what to do with their new found freedom. Ariel suggested finding a spaceship to take them home. After all, if the guys on the warship weren’t willing to take them, they would figure it out themselves. The plan was simple. They would split up once they got to an access panel that would let them move without being seen. One would take the upper levels and one the lower. Ariel drew the upper levels. They would draw out a map when they got back and plan how to find Cara and Trisha and get off the ship as soon as possible. She didn’t tell Carmen the whole thing was probably a suicide mission. Even if she could figure out how to fly one of the damn things she had no idea where they were. Ariel was concerned with how far they had traveled but since she didn’t really think they would get as far as open space she decided not to worry about it yet and just have some fun.

Ariel figured their ‘plan’ was more of a way to relieve the boredom. Neither one of them were used to being cooped up. Besides, who could blame them! It wasn’t everyday a human girl got to explore a huge warship with a bunch of sexy-ass aliens on board. Not that she wanted any but it never hurt to look.

That is how she found herself moving quietly behind Carmen down the corridor almost a half hour later. Ariel touched sister's arm and nodded with her head. There was a marking that sure looked like it could be a maintenance access. Carmen nodded. It took both of them to figure out how to open the damn thing but luckily it was what Ariel suspected. A set of rings moved up and down through a narrow tunnel.

Carmen climbed in and started down. Ariel watched her for a moment before she climbed in and pulled the panel shut behind her. She looked up…and up…and up. Ariel gave a mental groan.

Well
, she thought in resignation,
I was thinking I needed to get some exercise.

She spent the next several hours moving from one access area to another. She peeked in different rooms, hid in others when she heard someone coming, and drooled when she accidently came across the shower area near what had to be a training room.

Wow!
She thought as her eyes widened in appreciation.
Every one of the guys could have been a male model for any girly magazine or erotic book cover. They had muscles on muscles. And, oh baby, could they flex them!

Ariel didn't even bother feeling in the least bit embarrassed about being a Peeking Jane. She didn't ask to be kidnapped! Besides, she would have to be dead or blind not to appreciate the art of the male form. She finally released a sigh of regret when she realized she had been watching the eye candy for far longer than she should have. Crawling backwards, she reluctantly made her way to another level.

She was just about ready to start the return trip to the cabin when she heard a light sound of distress floating up through the access tunnel. Moving along it, she peered up into what looked like some type of storage room lined with small cages. Her eyes widened when she saw a tiny paw peeking out from one. Her heart immediately melted. Those huge barbarians had cages full of the tiny creatures.

Ariel pulled the cover off the opening and crawled through. Luckily, this opening was aligned with the floor and wider than most of the others. She stood up looking around. The room was long and narrow but held several dozen cages. In them were a variety of creatures. Some were small and furry reminding Ariel of fuzzy little bunny rabbits with tiny ears while others were a little larger with sleek hair covering them and numerous arms. Ariel walked over to a cage and murmured softly.

“Oh, you poor little baby,” Ariel whispered talking gently to one of the little rabbit looking creatures.

Ariel's heart broke as the little creature scurried to the back of the cage where it sat shivering in fear. “It's okay, honey. I won't hurt you,” Ariel whispered softly letting her fingers lay against the front of the cage. “You're such a beautiful little baby, yes you are.”

The creature moved forward slowly as she continued to whisper softly to it. After a few minutes, she was able to gently stroke its small head with one of her fingers. She wondered what they were doing with all the little creatures. Were they taking them home to their planet? Did they find them like they did her, Carmen and the others? Ariel started when she heard some voices coming closer.

“I’ll be back,” she whispered before moving quickly back to the opening in the wall. She scooted in backwards and pulled the covering over it.

Ariel watched as two huge men came into the room. One of them was talking quietly while the other man walked to one of the cages and opened it. She bit her lip when she heard the small creature squeal in fear as the man wrapped his large hand around its neck.

“Cozar, you owe me for this one. I want a case of that Sarafin wine you got,” the man said quietly.

Cozar chuckled. “I’ll give you two bottles! I am only eating one of these, not a dozen!” Cozar said reaching out and taking the struggling creature from the man.

“Just don’t let the others know I have them. They will be in here raiding my supplies. I plan on getting a lot of credits for these when we get back home. I heard there is a Curizan family looking for a mate for their daughter. I plan on having enough credits in case she is worth it. These little snacks are a rare delicacy and were damn hard to sneak on board but they should bring me enough I won’t have to worry,” the man laughed. “It is only because I owe you for helping me get them on the warship that I am giving you such a good price.”

Ariel’s eyes darkened in anger as she listened to them talk about what was going to happen to the poor little creatures. She winced when she heard the sound of snapping bones and the silence of the creature that moments ago had been squealing in fear. She had to do something. She couldn’t let those - those animals eat those precious little creatures. Ariel’s eyes gleamed with determination as she listened to the door close behind the men as they left.

.
.*

“Are you nuts?” Carmen asked looking around the tiny living quarters they had been given.

“I couldn’t leave them, Carmen! They killed one and the man was going to eat it! The other man was going to sell the rest of them for food, kind-of like caviar for dragons,” Ariel said holding two of the small creatures gently in her arms while one of the other creatures with six legs clung to her shoulder.

Carmen shook her head looking around. There were dozens of creatures everywhere. On the table, under the table, on the bed, in the bathroom, on Ariel! Carmen had made it back after Ariel and discovered their room filled with all kinds of tiny creatures. Only her sister would be able to find an animal in need on a huge-ass alien warship in the middle of space. And, only her sister would feel the need to rescue them all.