EnforcersCraving (3 page)

And in what had to be the most incongruous moment of her
life, Chelsea’s entire body prickled with need. Her nipples hardened, her pussy
tingled and her hands itched for the feel of warm, male skin. And not just any
male either.

Tarkan’s hand found her knee, wrapping around her leg before
slowly sliding up the inside of her thigh. The fabric of her trousers protected
her from skin-to-skin contact, but the heat of his hand branded her, radiating
out to melt muscle and bone. And then the angel smell invaded her senses again.
Pure, clean, joyous, totally addictive.

“What is that smell?” she whispered, eyes closed and almost
insensible to anything but sensation.

Tarkan leaned close, his hand moving the final few inches to
cup her sex, his breath hot against her cheek. “I can’t smell anything but you
and your arousal. You smell like perfection.”

Her body was heavy. Hot and languid. Her nipples ached and
she needed more than the pressure of Tarkan’s hand on her pussy. She rolled her
hips and her moan was loud in the quiet of the cabin.

It was the sound of her own voice that bought her back,
jerking her out of her haze and slamming her into the here and now. Fear came
hard on the heels of lust and she scrambled back to press herself against the
wall, shocked and humiliated by her own behavior.

“Back off. You shouldn’t…I mean I can’t…it’s not…” She
crammed herself into the corner and her fear spiked when both men stood,
looming over her at what had to be six and a half feet.

Tarkan raised both hands, palms out. “Don’t be frightened. We
won’t hurt you.”

Maybe not, but he was a stranger who’d just taken liberties
she rarely allowed any man. It suddenly seemed imperative that she not be alone
with these two giants. “I want to be with the other women. I want to see Tansy.”

Tarkan looked concerned and a little apologetic, but Ari’s
expression was cold and stony as he opened the door and motioned into the next
chamber. “Do you need help or can you walk on your own?”

“On my own, thanks.” At this point she’d rather fall flat on
her ass than risk another bout of whatever the hell just happened with Tarkan. Doing
her best to ignore the pulsing testosterone behind her, she scrambled through
the door.

The shuttle wasn’t big. The ceiling was high enough for
Chelsea to stand upright but Tarkan and Ari had to bend at the neck and
shoulders to follow her. The door opened to a narrow space with seats along the
walls, the chairs facing in and creating a gap about three meters wide down the
center. At present there were twenty-five or thirty women buckled in, flanked
by several men of the same large scale as Ari and Tarkan, all wearing the blue
leather uniforms.

Chelsea gripped the doorway for stability as she scanned up
and down the line of women. Some met her gaze, others looked down, a few were
crying, but none of them called out a greeting. None of them was the one person
she desperately wanted to see.

“Tansy? Tansy!” Chelsea staggered forward, her adrenaline
pumping strength into her wobbly legs. “Tansy Coleman, you get your ass here
right now!” She stalked the aisle, turned and got halfway down again before she
lifted her eyes and glared at the only two people she could blame.

“Where is she?” Ari and Tarkan looked back at her, blank and
unhelpful. She whirled on the women sitting safe in their seats. “Where is she?
My friend, the one I was with on the other ship. We were right next to each
other.”

A woman with improbably red hair raised her hand to get
Chelsea’s attention. “They put her on the shuttle before this one. She was
fighting and screaming to be kept with you, but the guy in charge ordered that
you be separated. I’m sorry, honey, you’ll just have to wait until we land.”

“How long will that be?” Chelsea cast her gaze at the men,
waiting for one of them to speak up.

A white-blond soldier stood and offered her his seat. “Sit
here, put your harness on, and I’ll answer your questions.”

“Why can’t you answer them now?”

“Because if we take a hit you’ll fall and likely break
something. Now get in the chair.”

This guy had the same don’t-piss-me-off vibe as Tansy’s dad
and he’d served in the first Gulf War. Trained for obedience by years in the
Coleman household, Chelsea walked over to the seat and flopped down in silent
mutiny.

Mr. Bossy leaned over her, strapping her in with cool
efficiency. He turned his head to address one of the other men. “Kaelum, remove
her wrist band, then put it with the others. We can dump them out the airlock
once we hit the asteroid field.” He lifted his eyes and pinned Chelsea with a
hard glare. “And you keep quiet.”

Chelsea lifted a brow but kept her mouth shut, for the time
being.

The blond giant walked to the end of the chamber and turned
back, addressing all of them. “I am Den Commander Jaxmyre Randovar, my men and
I are from the Sapphire Den.” He paused, then let out a deep breath. “I suppose
that doesn’t mean anything to you.”

Strangely enough, Chelsea felt a bit sorry for him. She also
figured it wouldn’t hurt to throw him a bone, because god knew she couldn’t
afford to make any enemies. “Den Commander, why don’t you start with why we’re
here?”

He took a long look at her before he nodded his head. “We
have no women of marriageable age on our planet, so the corporation that runs
our world—Brightstar Mining—brings women in to become our wives and mothers. But
the corporation is selective about who receives their largess and woman are
used as a specific kind of currency. My people and the area in which we live
are a long way from Brightstar’s influence. The only way we are going to
acquire wives and mothers of our own is to liberate women like you from
Brightstar’s possession.” He gestured to the inner structure of the shuttle. “This
is a rescue mission. We have a few more hurdles to jump, but once we land you
will be taken to living quarters set aside for your use and we’ll begin
teaching you about our world.”

The redheaded woman sitting next to Chelsea piped up. “So
you’ve saved us from becoming Brightstar’s wives and mothers, only to force us
to become your wives and mothers?”

Huh! That’s exactly what Chelsea was thinking.

Jaxmyre shook his head. “No. Brightstar would sell you at
the bride auctions and if you weren’t purchased there you’d go to the worker
auctions. You would have no say in your life either way. But we are not like
them. We’ll give you time to learn our ways and the freedom to make your own
choices about how you want to live your lives.”

“What if we just want to go home?” a woman asked.

The giant shook his head. Again. “It’s not possible. The
Interplanetary Charter protects people from slavery by making it law that
anyone who wants to return to their home planet can. But Brightstar has the
only means of stellar-travel on our world and if you go to them for help you’ll
end up back on the auction block.”

Ari was positioned at the opposite end of the cabin, but
when he took a step forward all eyes swiveled in his direction. “We can’t take
you home. All we can do is protect you from the life Brightstar would have
forced on you and give you a place where you can make a new home. All of the
men on this mission are Enforcers, defenders, if you like, and it’s our job to
protect you.”

Chelsea squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head back
against the seat. God, what a mess. She didn’t want to be here, none of the
women did but it seemed this was going to be her life whether she wanted it or
not. Opening her eyes she leaned forward, catching and holding Ari’s gaze. “How
many rescue shuttles are there?”

“You’re sitting in it.”

This time when she closed her eyes it was against the hot
sting of tears. Throat tight, she let them fall, allowing herself to picture
Tansy on the auction block and not shying away from all the unspeakable things
she might encounter.

Tarkan sat on the floor, his back braced against the door
frame, and watched Chelsea. Even frightened, disheveled and riding the edge of
exhaustion she was still a beautiful woman. Soft, curvy, with light-brown hair
that tangled around her face and fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were the
pale blue of a winter sky and her lips evoked carnal images so graphic he was
actually grateful for his ill-fitting body armor. And she’d responded to his
touch as though she was made for him.

He wanted nothing more than to strip her naked and lick her
from head to toe and back again. But unless he came up with a brilliant plan,
he’d be lucky if he ever saw her in the township, let alone in his bed. He
looked over at Ari and caught him looking at Chelsea with the same kind of heat
in his eyes.

Now Ari might have some hope of keeping Chelsea, if he could
get his hands on her in the first place. Ari was one of Jax’s captains, well
respected and admired within the dragon den. Nobody would dare try to take his
woman from him. Tarkan’s mind ticked over, going from Ari to Chelsea and back
again.

What Tarkan needed was some decent leverage. He had to get
Chelsea on his side somehow, to make her want him, to fight for him. He didn’t
have anything much to recommend him on his own, he was no better or worse than
most of the Enforcers, so that wouldn’t get him over the line. The only way he
could make an impression on her was to find out what she wanted and give it to
her. He couldn’t get her home, none of them could, but she’d been pretty
adamant about finding her friend.

He watched the tears track down her face and he had a
feeling those tears weren’t entirely for herself. And the more he thought about
it, the more sure he became. Chelsea’s friend was the currency he needed to
deal in.

Ari’s foot shot out and kicked Tarkan hard enough that when
his body jerked his head hit the door frame. “Ow.”

“What are you doing?” Ari asked.

“Minding my own business. You should try it.”

“You are my business, and I recognize that look on your
face.” Ari drew in his legs and pivoted, blocking out the passenger section by
turning his back to it. “You’re planning something, and I’d bet my best tack it
involves that girl.”

Tarkan let a hint of a smile slip. “Maybe.”

Ari shuffled closer. “You can’t have her Tarkan. There’s no
way we can get to her and even if we could they’d never let you spend time with
her. She’s destined for councilors and land holders, not for the likes of us.”

Reaching out Tarkan laid his hand on Ari’s shoulder. “I have
a plan.”

“Fuck.” Ari’s slump of defeat said it all.

The shuttle had no windows but Tarkan knew what was going on
by feel and motion. The plan was to slip out of the convoy once they hit the
asteroid belt and use the slowly moving rocks as camouflage to make their
escape. They’d travel through the asteroids, parallel to the planet until they
hovered in orbit directly above Ivasta. Then they’d have to wait for a break in
the weather patterns, a small gap in the ionosphere which allowed them to slip
through and land safely before the next storm. It was all about timing and
luck. If they got caught in a storm on their way down they’d be dead in the air,
the shuttle would go dark and they’d have nothing but gravity until they
smashed to the ground.

The trip seemed interminable. The slow slide, dip and lift
as they maneuvered through the asteroids, then the endless wait for a break in
the weather. But once the shuttle tipped and picked up speed Tarkan knew they
were almost home. He watched the lights, alert for any flickering or
diminishing power, but they stayed steady. Finally the shuttle bled off speed
and swooped once, twice and then juddered to a halt. The engines shut down and
the lights went out as fast as the pilot could switch off the electrics.

Jax opened the airlock and the front section of the shuttle
flooded with sunshine and fresh air. Working quickly the Enforcers unbuckled
the women from their seats and herded them toward the door. Tarkan was at the
back so he was one of the last to come down the rickety stairs that led to
ground level. There was some congestion as the women milled around and he took
a moment to look out, trying to see his home through their eyes. The sky was
soft blue, the ion clouds a tumble of purple and lavender. The township of
Sapphire spread along the valley, cool marble colonnades and elegant domes
dominating the landscape and breaking up the rich green expanse of vegetation. To
the left of the town, far across the giant lakes was the cliff housing the dragon
den. Tarkan could see several winged shapes in the air, coming and going about
their daily routines, but from this distance they looked little more than dots
in the air. He’d heard the planet Earth didn’t have dragons and he wondered
what the women would make of them.

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. As the stairway
cleared and he made his way down the steps, two large, placid, green dragons
lumbered into view, ready to tow the shuttle to its hiding place. There were
gasps from the women, a couple of startled exclamations, and then chaos
erupted. They tried to make a break for it and Tarkan raced down the remaining
steps, wrangling the first woman he laid hands on and catching a second one
under his spare arm. He turned them, pushing them back to the group and raced
off to catch another one.

Most of the Enforcers were similarly engaged and they were
all trying not to laugh. It seemed ridiculous to be frightened of the greens
but their size was intimidating, and the women didn’t know that it was color
that indicated a dragon’s level of danger not his or her size.

It took a while to contain the females and calm them down
but by the time the transport approached to take them into town they were
somewhat settled. Tarkan knew this was his last opportunity to speak to Chelsea
so he wove through the wide-eyed feminine huddle, mentally rehearsing his
speech. He’d have to be quick and discreet, because this was one conversation
he couldn’t have in front of ten Enforcers, twenty-seven frightened women, one den-mate
and the rapidly approaching council officials.

Blocking out everything but his quarry he strode forward.