Raines, Elizabeth - Sold [Wicked Missions 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

Chapter 2

“Get up!” The angry voice had been barking the same thing at her several times, growing louder with every bellow. Each occasion, Lyrianna tried hard to ignore it, wanting to drift back into the oblivion that blocked the horrible thoughts nibbling at her returning consciousness. The trial. The prison. Something about an auction.

“I said, get up!” This time, the holler was accompanied by a splash of cold water in her face.

Sputtering, she sat up, trying to get her bearings. Everything was still a bit fuzzy, and all she could figure out was she was on some kind of ship. Her hands reached for the side of wherever she’d been lying. A bed? A bunk?
No.
A stasis pod
. She tried to talk, but her mouth felt as if it had been stuffed with sand. Dry. Gritty. Shit, but she hated stasis. How long had she been out? And where in the hell was she now?

“Get up!” A middle-aged man dressed in a military gray jumpsuit walked down an aisle that contained at least another twenty stasis pods. His salt-and-pepper hair had been buzzed short, and his brown eyes showed not an ounce of kindness. He set down the bucket and glass he’d clearly been using to rouse the people who were slow to wake. “All of you, get the fuck up. Get some chow and something to drink. Then we’ve got to get you purtied up for the auction this afternoon. Up! Get up!”

Looking around, she saw several other young women, all sitting up in their stasis pods and appearing as confused as Lyrianna felt. Memories came flooding back. The shuttle trip to Delta. The near fight with the Amazon from hell. And someone hitting her with a hypospray. That was where her memory just…ended. She ran her hands over her face, wiping away the rest of the water that she now wished had reached her mouth. She could have used a drink rather than a wet alarm clock.

“Up and at ’em, ladies!” the man shouted again. He walked among the pods and banged on the ends of them with a policeman’s baton he’d just pulled from the black leather utility belt strapped to his waist. “Up! Up! Up!”

Stretching her legs over the side, she stood with muscles that trembled, trying not only to get her space legs but to regain some of the strength stasis had drained from her. As the pseudo-sergeant passed, she found the temerity to ask, “How long were we in stasis?”

A reptilian smile spread across his face, revealing two gold teeth, front and center in his mouth. “Well, well. One of my little ladies finds her voice. You wanna know how long you been in stasis,
sweetheart?
”

She wasn’t sure whether to nod or run, but she refused to show him her fear. Straightening her spine, she met his gaze head-on. “Yes.” She followed quickly with a, “sir.”

A flicker of respect flashed through his eyes before they grew hard again. “Four months. You multiply that by the speed this ship can travel, and you ain’t never going back home again. Hell, sweetheart, you ain’t even in the same quadrant of space now.”

Two girls burst into tears, and Lyrianna had to resist the urge to either hug them or give their ponytails a good, strong jerk—whatever it took to shut them up. No way would she
ever
let someone see her lose control of her feelings that way. Sure, she was an empath and open to knowing what others felt, but she sure as hell didn’t want anyone else to know what emotions tumbled through her, especially tumultuous emotions. Whether that made her a hypocrite or not, she honestly didn’t care.

A small brunette who appeared much younger than Lyrianna found some courage. “Where are we going?”

The man whirled on her, his smile dropping to a frown. “Fuckin’ women. Think you can question a ranking officer…” His voice dropped to unintelligible muttering as he shook his head.

So he
was
ex-military, which explained a lot. Lyrianna had no doubt he wanted to scream in the young woman’s face and almost admired his self-control.

Straightening his shoulders, he marched over to glare down at the brunette. “You, little lady, are going to a concubine auction for all those horny pod-farmin’ Pilgrims on that godforsaken water planet, Pagonna.”

One tall woman on the far side of the room spoke up. “Pagonna? But that’s in the Tadoorni System.”

Several of the women gasped.

No wonder
. Few ships could travel that far that fast. They had to be going at least warp nine—a speed restricted to military and government ships—to get them to the Tadoorni System in four months. He’d been right when he said they might never go back home again.

“Well, well,” the man said with a smug chuckle. “Looks like someone here knows her stellar geography. You’d get an extra cookie at chow, sweetheart, if we had any fuckin’ cookies.” He marched to the middle of the room. “Listen up! All of you women get to fuck all those lonely farmers for the next five years to earn back your auction price. Then you can start earnin’ back your freedom. Prob’ly take you another five years at least. And good luck findin’ a transport back to the Prime Sector even if you make that kind the money, which ain’t fuckin’ likely.” His gaze raked the brunette from head to toe, returning to rest on her full breasts. “They like you well enough, one or two of ’em just might marry you once they pork your brains out.” Turning back to the rest of the women, he put his hands on his hips. “Be sure and make up those little faces purty, ladies. This trip ain’t cheap, and you need to bring in some money to make it all worthwhile. Now get some chow and get ready!” The bark in his voice made a few of the women jump.

Lyrianna picked up the pile of clothes resting on the end of her stasis pod and followed the rest of the women heading to the sonic showers.

* * * *

Chow ended up being nothing but protein mush and synthesized vegetables—shit Lyrianna wouldn’t have fed to a hungry dog. Her stomach was so empty, she choked down as much as she could anyway, not sure when she’d be able to eat again. The “sergeant” came back around with a big vinyl bag. He unzipped it and poured powders, face creams, and makeup of all kinds on the table.

“Listen up, ladies! Get yourselves all purty, and get ready for meeting the new men in your lives,” he snapped. “You gotta take turns painting each other up since we ain’t got any mirrors.

The brunette who’d been so afraid of the man sat down next to Lyrianna. “Hi. I’m Simone. Want me to help fix your face?”

If the women’s brown eyes hadn’t been so kind and full of innocence, Lyrianna would have told her to bug off. She had no intention of trying to look “purty” for a bunch of sex-starved Pilgrims who were going to be throwing away good money, thinking they were buying themselves a woman to fuck. Instead, she simply shrugged.

Then it dawned on her that these women might all be in the same situation—prisoners who’d be abducted against their will. What kind of crime could this sweet girl have committed?

“I need some help,” the young woman said with a sheepish smile. “I never used much makeup back home. Mama didn’t like it much. Said only…bad girls…” Her voice cracked, and she started nibbling on her lower lip.

Lyrianna was almost swept away by the despair pouring through the woman.
Woman?
Hardly. She reached out to lay her hand over the girl’s. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

Sweet Father have mercy
… She swallowed hard, trying to hide her sympathy. Or was it empathy because her own situation was every bit as bleak?

No
. No, she’d find a way to escape. Surely, she could get a message to Hannah Bates. Her friend owed her a favor, and since she was a bounty hunter, Hannah knew ways to get in and out of places undetected and had connections. Perhaps she could even find a way to travel at restricted speeds.

I’m not spending my life on Pagonna
.

Lyrianna picked up a pale shade of powder, rubbed a small brush over it, and took Simone’s chin between her thumb and finger to hold her still. She gently applied the powder, added a touch of blush to her high cheekbones, and then gave her a dusting of light blue eye shadow. “There. Nothing too showy. Clean and pretty.”

“Pretty? Really? Will one of…
them
think I’m pretty? Pretty enough to buy?”

“Yeah, honey. Pretty enough to buy.” Her heart was near to breaking for the fear and longing inside that young woman.
Please let someone kind buy her
.

“Now, I’ll do you!” Simone reached for a bottle of thick, beige liquid.

With a shake of her head, Lyrianna said, “You can do my face, but only the way I did yours. Okay?”

Simone nodded as Lyrianna took the bottle from her fingers and handed her the powder.

* * * *

Simone hadn’t let go of her hand from the moment they’d been ushered off the ship like animals being herded into a stockyard. Normally, Lyrianna avoided a lot of physical contact because it made the other person’s emotions next to impossible to ignore. But right now, she was clinging to Simone’s hand every bit as tightly as the girl gripped hers.

They were pushed aside to wait in a large fenced pen just off an enormous wooden platform. “Can you see anything?” Simone asked.

Lyrianna craned her neck, trying to get a glimpse around the taller girls. “There’s a big crowd. All men. The auctioneer is on the platform. He’s speaking English.” Were most of the Pilgrims from Earth? She’d heard that once upon a time but couldn’t remember where. Earth was a hell of a long way from the Tadoorni System.

Two men opened the door to the pen, reached in, and grabbed the arms of the woman closest to them. The other girls started fleeing, shoving and pushing to the other side of the pen, and Lyrianna feared some of the women would be crushed. “Stop! Ladies, please! Just stop!”

As the first woman was dragged out of the pen and the door was shut, the rest of the women stopped shoving. Dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on Lyrianna. Someone had to take charge here. The fear she saw in those faces washed over her in a wave threatening to drown her. She thrust their emotions aside, trying to dredge up something resembling courage.

Taking a deep breath and squeezing Simone’s hand, she tried to bring some calm to the situation. “We can’t stop this, but we can keep our dignity. Are you going to let these men see your fear? Are you going to give our captors the satisfaction of knowing they’ve broken you?” She straightened her spine and raised her chin, pleased to see Simone copying her actions. “Show them you are not easily tamed. Show them that you are not what they think they’ve come here to purchase! No matter what these men believe, we are
not
whores.”

“That one.” The “sergeant” was back and pointing his gnarly finger right at Lyrianna. “She’s next.” When the two men came for her, the women backed up, clearing a path directly to her.

Once the men stood in front of her, she directed her hardest glare at them both, daring them to touch her. They didn’t. Instead, one motioned with his hand. Trying to keep herself as composed as she could manage, she walked the path to the platform.

* * * *

Carter Verdel sucked in air for a good five seconds when he saw her. As she turned to face the crowd, her smoky eyes settling on each of the male faces shouting their approval, he couldn’t breathe at all. One by one, the rowdy men quieted as her gaze settled on them. When those eyes caught his, his heart kicked into a higher gear, slamming against his rib cage.

Did that incredible creature stare at him a little bit longer than any of the other men? Perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

Her ivory skin was clear and clean, her hair the shade of honey and long enough to reach below her slender shoulders. Her back was straight as a lance. She bore herself like a conquered queen—captured but not broken. Dressed in tight black leggings and a black tank top like the rest of the women, she wore them like the latest fashion, each gentle curve of her lithe body there for all to see and admire. Full breasts. Rounded hips. A tight backside. She glided across the auction platform, almost as if her tiny, bare feet floated above the wood. Her chin lifted in defiance, she was practically daring the men in the crowd to claim her.

Carter would take that dare. Even if it cost him every single coin and money card he’d brought to the auction. Even if he had to borrow or steal more.

Glancing around, he noticed several of the men were such cowards, they couldn’t even hold her gaze before they looked away. A woman like that was not what they came here for. They came for the women who were afraid and willing to do anything to survive on Pagonna. They sure didn’t bargain on a strong and independent creature like this.

He strained to listen for the auctioneer, pushing his way forward in the crowd. While he and Brandon had held quite a few discussions about what they were seeking at the sale, Brandon had left the ultimate choice in Carter’s hands, telling him he trusted his mate to find the woman to complete their perfect lives. Probably because Carter always led with his head rather than his heart.