Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) (3 page)

Mac snorted, looking at
the doctor and narrowing his eyes, his tongue swiping over his bottom lip.

“Warrung.”  Everyone on
the bridge froze.

“Come again.”

“Her DNA tag, I
researched it, just out of curiosity you understand and got a name back. 
Warrung.”

“Cor Warrung is not old
enough to be her DNA marker,” Lore interjected smoothly.

“Not Cor, the name was Ladon
Warrung.  I am still tracing the genealogy but the name is not a common one . .
.”

“Ancestor?” Lore asked.

“Or a very big
coincidence,” the doctor finished lamely.  Clearly, even he did not believe
that.

“Dumb fucking luck,” the
captain spat.  “I am beginning to think this girl is the devil incarnate.”

Mac’s voice was low and
cold when he interrupted them.  “Will someone tell me what the fuck is going
on?”  He speared the doctor with a look of rage.  “Are you telling me that this
she-demon is related to Cor Warrung?” he spat out.

“No!” Doc was quick to
answer.  “Not even close.  She was genetically marked for him, or at least
possibly his great-great-great grandfather.”  The doctor rubbed his head as if
it ached, and then winced before looking away from Mac.  It was the captain’s quiet
voice that continued.

“She was genetically
altered to be his slave.”

Mac flinched, falling
back in his chair, his face closed of all expression.

“How does changing her
DNA make her a better slave?”  His hands fisted white against his chair.

The doctor looked at
Lore and then back to the captain.  The captain sighed loud and long.  “She’s
Bruha.”

“Son of a bitch,” he
spat, before pulling out of his chair and stomping out.

They watched him go and
then Lore turned to the captain.  “If Cor Warrung finds out what we have . . .”

“He will consider her
stolen property and kill all of us to get her.”  The captain finished for him
in a tight voice.

“He would have done
that even without the genetic marker,” Lore said quietly, “just for what she
is.”  He turned to the captain.  “I do not envy you the choices before you,
Captain.”

Mac headed for his
cabin, but by the time he got there, he was too angry to be contained in his
small cubical of space.  He found himself heading for medical.  When he got
there, she was plugged into the terminal, with her eyes closed, her hair spread
out behind her.  Bruha.  She was beautiful enough, despite not having the gold
hair and eyes of the Bruha.  She gleamed.  Her dark lashes long and curved over
smooth cheeks.  He was tempted to pull off her long robes; despite the
sheerness of it, the many layers hid her from view and he wanted to inspect all
of her for telltale signs of what she was.

He had actually put a
hand to her ankle before he realized what he was doing.  The property of
Warrung, was she?  He felt his hatred flare picturing Cor Warrung with the
beauty before him.  He actually growled.

“You are hurting my
ankle.”  He looked up into clear green eyes that considered him with suspicion,
and if he wasn’t mistaken, a little anger to match his.

“Bullshit,” he said,
but his grip loosened anyway, although he did not remove his hand.  She picked
up her ankle and kicked out, but he just pushed it back down to the bed and
held it there.  She sat up glaring, pulled the white connection off and placed
it to the side on the terminal.

“What is your
employment on this ship?  Don’t you have work you should be doing?  Manual
labor somewhere that needs done?”

He smirked.  “Oh,
sweetheart, you have no idea.”  He held her by her ankle while his other hand
traveled up her leg beneath her loose gown.  She gasped and threw herself
forward, grabbing his hand through the gown and holding his still.  The
position bent her over and he took the chance to look down the gaping gown that
had never been refastened.  He chuckled, enjoying the view, and she looked
where he was leering and gasped, using one of her hands to push it back against
her neck.

“I know quite a bit
about the Bruha.”  That caught her attention.  He was telling the truth.

“Really?”  Her
curiosity got the better of her.  “There is very little about it in the
tutorial.  Other than that they were supposed to make good companions.”  Her
nose scrunched up at the thought.  “It does not go into detail why.”

“Companions?  That
another word for sex slave?”  She flinched at his gruff honesty but then
sighed.

“Apparently.”

“I can show you why Bruhas
make good sex slaves.”  His voice had gone from gruff to smooth in less than
three seconds. His hand moved again, finding the back of her knee despite her
trying to hold him.  He did something with his fingers there, applied a slight
pressure, and she arched back on a moan, her body catching fire.  When she
looked at him, again she was writhing against the bed, her eyes a fiery green
and her mouth pressed tight.  He hadn’t moved other than the fingers that
continued to play with her knee.  She reached for his hand again, uncaring how
her dress fell, and tried to shove him away with shaking hands.  Every nerve in
her body seemed to be jumping.

“Stop.”  She said it on
a shaky breath, the tears in her eyes flowing freely.  “Please stop.”

His eyes were hard
brands on her face and the smile on his face was cruel.

“Bruhas make good sex
slaves because they are made for sex.  Take this situation right here.  You don’t
like me and I don’t like you, but if I wanted to I could climb up on this table
and take you and you’d be begging me for it.”  She squeezed her eyes shut, she
wanted to deny she would do such a thing, but his voice rang with truth and she
couldn’t get the lie past her lips.  “Bruhas make good sex slaves because they
need sex often or they go a little crazy.  Deny your heat and you will get to
the point that you’ll fuck anyone.”

He released her and
stepped back.  “Bruhas make good sex slaves because once they bond with someone
they are incapable of saying no to them.  No matter that you don’t want to want
them, you do.  You dream about them and ache for them until you can have them
again.  And they will do anything to keep you.  No one else can satisfy once
you are bonded to a Bruha.  You, for instance, were made for a Warrung.”  He
spat out the name, even as she pulled her legs up to make herself as small as
possible.

“Imprinted but not
claimed.”  He laughed but it was not a happy sound.  He brushed a finger down
her soft cheek, catching a tear and pulling it to his lips for a taste.  “Not
good enough.” he growled.  He grabbed her by both arms and pulled her into his
chest; she tried to push him back but it was like pushing a stone wall, there
was no give at all, and there was even less in the eyes that seemed to pulse
with a gold fire.  “I have put up with a lot of shit in my life, from Warrung
especially.”

He shook her then, hate
pouring off him in a flood; she could feel it pounding her along with desire
and something close to pain.  He pulled her even closer.

“Until I can rip out
his throat and taste his blood, you’ll have to do.”  Then his lips were on
hers, a hard punishing claiming that she had no way to fight.  His lips had
been rough and commanding before, but now they stole her breath and fanned the
flames he had started with his hands at her knee.  She groaned as she tried to
stop the tide of desire crashing over her, the pain, the anger, the despair he
was feeling all came in, and she had no defenses against it.  Pictures and
flashes were echoing from his thoughts to hers and she couldn’t keep a hold of
anything.

“What the hell.”  The
voice sounded like it was coming from a distance and Mac ignored it.  She was
incapable of response, trying so hard to fight what he was feeling, what he was
making her feel.  He growled when someone began yanking him off and yelling in
his ear, but the heat was taking him and sweeping over the girl in his arms. 
At that moment, he would kill anyone that came between them, as lost as he was
in the haze.

There was a sharp pinch
on his arm and then he collapsed.  The doctor looked down at Mac’s unconscious
body; he placed the hypodermic needle to the side, breathing hard, and looked
at the girl sobbing and clutching herself as if her heart was breaking.  He
tried to touch her shoulder to offer comfort but she jerked away, barely
staying on the table.

“Please,” she said, her
voice broken, “please, don’t touch me.”

“All right, you’re safe
now.  No one is going to hurt you.”

She laughed, and there
was enough hysteria in it to have the doctor reaching for the hypodermic
again.  She was out instantly, and the doctor looked at his shaking hands and
breathed deeply, trying to find some calm.  Then he reached over and triggered
the icom.  “Captain.  I need you in medical.”

“What the hell is it
now?”

“Mac.”

“Fuck!”  The line went
dead.

***

When Mac woke up, it
was with a blinding headache and a raging hard on.  He sniffed the air and
growled, looking over at her; once again, her eyes were closed, this time there
were tracks of tears and even in her sleep, she looked hunted.  She twisted and
turned as he watched.  He tried to get up to go to her but he was strapped down
to the bed.  His roar of fury brought both the doctor and the captain to his
bedside.  She whimpered in her sleep but did not wake up.

“I see what you mean, Doctor.”

“Mac?”  The doctor’s voice
was concerned, but he barely spared him a glance.

“Mackenzie. Look at me.” 
The captain’s voice held more authority, but Mac only growled.  The hard slap
across his face got his attention.  He strained against his bonds, but he was
finally paying attention.

“What?!”

“Exactly.  What are you
doing?  Have you lost your mind?”

“Let me out of these
bonds.”

“So you can attack our
passenger again?  What were you thinking?”

“He’s going to come for
her.”

“Who?  Warrung?”

“Yes,” he hissed.

“So you thought what,
that you’d have her first?”  The captain’s voice was loaded with disgust. “What
the hell is wrong with you?”

He gnashed his teeth. 
Then as if he was drawn, his eyes went to her.  The captain looked over and
found her eyes open and on Mac.  Even as he watched, she stood up, swaying only
briefly, and touched her head.  The doctor went to her but she pushed away his
hand and he dropped it.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”  Her eyes were
still on Mac.  “He didn’t hurt me.”

“You were hysterical,” the
doctor said, his eyes going from her to the captain as she shook her head.

“It was his pain.  It
was too much.”  She still had not looked away from Mac’s heated eyes.  She
walked up to the side of his bed and he turned his head as she came forward to
keep her in his sight.  She reached out and placed her hand on his forehead, almost
hitting her head on the rail when she collapsed.  The captain caught her just
before she did, gently letting her down to the floor.  She did not move her
hand from Mac’s head.  Her own rested on the bed beside Mac, who could move
just enough to touch the side of his head to hers and bury his nose in the hair
resting on the bed.  He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

The captain and the doctor
looked from each other to Mac’s tortured face and the girl who was crying
openly.  Even as they watched, Mac’s face relaxed by increments, as if she was
pulling something poisonous out of him.  Finally, they both breathed deeply,
almost in unison and opened their eyes.

His voice was calm and tenderer
than the captain or Doc had ever heard; he spoke just inches away from her, “How
did you do that?”

She smiled, wiping the
tears from her eyes.  “I guess you don’t know as much as you thought,” she
paused, “Bruha.”

The captain raised a
brow at that.  He had the thought that he’d been in a constant state of
amazement since this passenger arrived.

She turned to the doctor
“You can release him now.”

“Not until someone
tells me what the hell just happened,” the captain said, and the doctor nodded.

“She broke the link,”
Mac said, the amazement in his voice clear.  He was looking around as if he had
never seen anything before today.  “Let me out of this.”  He was laughing.

“What link?”

“I’ll explain it all,
just let me up.  I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“Truth,” she said
meeting the captain’s eyes.

“Let him up.”

The doctor did, and
then stepped back when Mac whirled around the room.  Laughing.  No one had ever
seen anything like it.  He kissed the girl, kissed the doctor, and then tried
to kiss the captain, and thought better of it.  He stood at attention instead. 
“Sir, you know I have been hiding from Warrung for years.”

“I am aware that you go
into a rage every time you hear his name, yes.”

“Fucking bastard hired
me to do a job for him, I was injured and he found out I was half Bruha.” He
bowed to the girl who bowed her head back.  “Piece of shit had the doctor adjust
my DNA so that he was imprinted on me.  When I woke up, he tried to make me his
goddamn sex toy.  I fought him off before he could fuck me and complete the
claiming, cut his pretty face for him, too.”  He looked more than satisfied at
the thought.  “I’ve been running ever since, and I’ve felt him inside my head
all this time, laughing because he knows he’ll eventually find me and finish
what he started.  But whatever she did,” he looked at her again, “it changed,
cut the cord.  I could feel his fury and then nothing.  He’s gone.”  He laughed
again, picking her up and twirling her around before smacking his lips to hers
again.  Then he put her down.  “I owe you big.”

“You owe me nothing, but
you do owe her.”  She looked beyond them and all eyes turned to Sera who was
once again standing in the doorway.  She wiped at her tears, quickly hiding her
pain behind a smile and then she turned and walked away.  He looked from the
girl to Sera and back again.  Then he twirled her around again.  Placing her on
the floor, he turned and bolted down the hallway yelling Sera’s name.

“I am extremely
confused,” the doctor said, rubbing his head and looking first at the captain
and then the girl.

“Sera is Mac’s mate. 
He knows it; that’s why he stayed on this ship, but he kept his distance
because of this Warrung.  Now he does not have to,” she explained, a smile on
her face.

“Shit.  I don’t think I
like this,” the captain grumbled.

“You don’t,” she said,
making the doctor laugh, “but once they have had sex, Mac will be her mate. 
Her Bruha mate and nothing short of death will separate them, now that the
imprint is gone.”

“How do you know this?”
the doctor asked.

“I know what Mac knows.” 
She shrugged.  “Unlike your computer, he seems to have a great deal of
information on the Bruha.”

“Being one himself.”

“Yes.”

“Can you cut your own
connection the same way?”

“I cannot even see the
connection you speak of, how would I cut it?”

The captain was looking
at her, his eyes as usual giving nothing away. His mind was closed to her as
well; since he was the only one on the ship who was, she assumed there was
something about him specifically.  It was calming, but at the same time, it
left too many possibilities open.