Taken (11 page)

No. Raimey said that would have worn off days ago. That could only mean one thing. Even though he had taken her only minutes before, she was getting aroused again by looking at him.

The men on the field were lined up against each other and squaring off. When a whistle blew, they charged at each other. They met at the yellow line in the middle of the field and then they grappled, each man trying to push his partner across the line.

Despite her initial lack of enthusiasm, Lyzette cheered along with the crowd, rooting for Mikael's clan. Then she saw the man that watched them having sex. He lined up against Mikael. He turned his head and looked right at her again. He gave her a nasty smile. The whistle blew, and the two men wrestled back and forth over the line.

Mikael had a look of determination on his face, and he pushed hard until the other man was on the other side of the line. He kept pushing until the man lost his footing and fell. They were the last pair, and when his opponent went down, a great shout went up from the crowd.

Mikael slammed forearms with the other members of his team, which seemed to be their version of a high five - and their match was done. Lyzette watched without interest as the next two teams lined up and pushed each other around. It wasn't as much fun when you didn't know any of the participants.

She tried to sort out her muddled thoughts. She knew she liked Mikael because he was kind, funny, and unbelievably gorgeous. And of course, he was irresistibly sexy. He seemed to find her irresistible too, based on his behavior at the waterfall and here in the box. Of course, he had also explained how Markans needed to have a lot of sex.

But what about the fact that he was her master? And she was a slave? Lyzette had recognized when the alien bit her that her life was being irrevocably changed. When Mikael bought her in the slave market, she knew that was a significant shift, too.

She had expected him to be harsh and cruel, keeping her in a dungeon or something. But not this. She was living in the height of luxury, and it was better than her life as a free woman.

How was she supposed to remember that she was a slave when she was being treated better than she ever had been in her whole life?

Mikael put his arm around Lyzette and went along with the flow of bodies leaving the stadium. Even now, he couldn't stop thinking about when he would get to have her again.

He had never felt this way about anyone in his life before and had never wanted a woman the way he wanted Lyzette. He had gone out of his way to please her and to make sure she had her pleasure before he took his.

Of course, he hadn't asked if she was okay with fucking behind the waterfall and in the box, but she had gone with it and enjoyed it, so that was okay, wasn't it?

But what about her comments about slaves? He became uncomfortable when she referred to herself as a slave. He felt she was demeaning herself.

Was he demeaning her as well?

He owned her and paid an exorbitant sum for her at the slave market because he hadn't been able to keep his eyes off of her, even then.

And she was surprising. She made him laugh unexpectedly. She was an amazing woman, not a slave. The other slave women had been merely bodies for him to enjoy. He treated them well, but they had only been a way to blow off steam, nothing more.

Lyzette was something else entirely, and he was still learning what.

There was no reasonable way to free slaves on Marka. They left the planet, died themselves, or their masters died — that was their path to freedom.

Was it wrong that slaves couldn't be liberated? Even if it was reprehensible, there wasn't anything he could do about it. Many influential clan leaders and commoners kept consorts. The system was established and impossible to change.

Markan women were delicate and wouldn't have sex with you only because you wanted them to. But the slaves, they were required to do what the man wanted, and that was the way men liked it. It was the way he had liked it, until now.

Shouldn't the women have a choice, though? How could they claim to revere their females, then enslave women from other planets to be their living sex toys at the same time? It was the ultimate hypocrisy.

Trying to change anything would bring about his clan's downfall and allow the Delanor to rise to power and take over. That wasn't a good outcome. But he couldn't support keeping women as sex slaves either.

What was he to do?

People spilled out of the building and spread through the streets, heading home. Mikael looked around for Jol, but he couldn't find the driver.

"Jol's not here again. Perhaps he parked somewhere in the surrounding streets. I'll send him a message," he said. "Hm. He's not reading it. I wonder what's going on? We'll walk around and look for him. What do you think of that? Want to see some more of the city?"

"Is it safe?" Lyzette asked, looking around at the dark streets fearfully.

"I'm with you. You're always safe now," Mikael said, brushing aside her worry. He wasn't concerned.

"What about the man who saw us? The one you defeated at the end? What about him?" she said.

How did she know that man was the Delanor and his enemy?

"That's the Delanor. We haven't got along since I convinced his girlfriend to 'watch the matches' in my private box."

"You fucked his girlfriend?" Lyzette said, with such candidness that he was shocked. "So he hates you."

"Yes."

"I think we should wait here for Jol," she said, looking around at the brightly lit area in front of the stadium. "We could even go back inside."

"Lyzette," he said, shaking his head. "It's fine. I'm the Markanor, remember? People don't mess with me. And by extension, they won't mess with you. Got it?"

"But that man hit you today," she said.

"It's okay."

She nodded but didn't look convinced. Mikael moved quickly across the street and turned into a smaller lane that led up to the stadium. It was dimly lit but not seedy. He showed her the dining district that surrounded the stadium. There were dozens of shops with different specialties of baked goods.

"See?" Mikael said. "This shop makes only filled pastries. They're pretty good. I'll bring you here one day, and we'll get an entire box."

He stopped speaking and stood very still, listening intently.

"What is it?" Lyzette said, looking up at him and then around the street. He stood frozen a moment longer then looked down at her and smiled, tucking her into the crook of his arm.

"Nothing," he smiled confidently. "Just some people shouting."

But he didn't like what he'd heard. It was odd to hear people yelling at this time of the night, and they weren't speaking words. It sounded like a code the Delanor and his clan used to signal each other.

Why hadn't he listened when Lyzette said they should stay at the stadium?

"We should head back and call for a cab. Who knows where Jol's gone?" Or if he's tied up in a basement somewhere, he thought.

He tried not to seem rushed, but he walked them as quickly as he could back towards the main street. Lyzette held on to his hand tightly and walked as fast as her stupid shoes would let her. Why did women wear such things? Then he remembered how she had looked with her shapely calves on display as she strode into the stadium. He couldn't resist, and her calves looked and felt good. He liked it when she had them wrapped around him while he took her in his private box. She drove him crazy.

He looked down at her dark head and felt a stab of fear. It was his job to protect her. And alone in the city, with the Delanors surrounding them at this very moment, he wasn't sure if she could.

The thought frightened him.

"Lyzette, if anything should happen, I want you to take those lovely shoes off and run as fast as you can back to the stadium, okay? It's at the end of this street. It's not far at all."

"Something's going on, isn't it?" Lyzette said, her big blue eyes wide with fear. "Mikael, do you have a weapon?"

He shook his head. He hadn't thought to bring one. And it wouldn't have been allowed in the stadium. Marka was a safe place, damn it! Unless your enemy was trying for a huge point gain by beating you senseless and taking your girl. It might even be enough to shift the balance away from his clan.

"Fuck," Mikael said under his breath. Lyzette moaned, and she slipped her shoes off, clutching them in her free hand and stepping gingerly along the sidewalk in her bare feet.

The Delanor was a ruthless asshole who had his eye on Mikael's power for a long time. The fact that Mikael had been stupid enough to fuck his girlfriend had not helped things. It had only made him angrier and more resentful. Mikael honestly couldn't say what the Delanor would do. Mikael's murder was a possibility, and he quickened his step, dragging Lyzette along with him.

His heart was pounding. Three more blocks. Maybe there wasn't anything to worry about after all, but his senses were on high alert.

In the end, his enemies attacked from the rooftops.

"Run, Lyz," he cried, pushing her towards the stadium. She took off, and he turned to face his first opponent. He recognized him. He fought so often with the Delanor's clan they were as familiar to him as his own.

He backed away as the man came at him with wild, swinging punches. Mikael ducked once, then twice and came up underneath with a solid blow to the solar plexus. He knocked his assailant back onto his butt.

Mikael whirled around as the next one attacked. He caught Mikael's chin and knocked him off balance a bit, but not enough to stop his forward momentum. Mikael tackled him and punched him hard in the face, ensuring that he would stay down for awhile. The first guy was still sitting on the ground. He had the wind knocked out of him.

Two men came to him next. He swung at one and hit him, but the other man landed four or five quick punches to the gut, bending Mikael over. As the first thug recovered, he sent a vicious hook flying into Mikael's ear, which started ringing. But he didn't go down.

The two attacked at once, and he had a hard time defending against four sets of hands. He took several hits to the face, and he felt his lip split. He probably had a black eye, but he was coming out okay. He could handle two.

Just then seven or eight more men stepped out of the shadows. Mikael knew that they wouldn't attack. The first four had been a warning.

When the Delanor walked out into the middle of the street, he knew that things had gone from bad to worse.

He glanced up towards the stadium and hoped that Lyzette was safe inside.

"Well, well, well," said the Delanor. The voice made Mikael want to vomit. "Hello, Markanor. You're looking well tonight. Probably because you were shagging your new slave rotten at the match."

The men all laughed. Mikael tightened his jaw. The Delanor had the upper hand.

"You did well against my men, but I think even you might find twelve well-trained soldiers overwhelming."

Mikael said nothing. The Delanor would get to the point when he damn well felt like it.

"If I sic them on you, you might find yourself beaten to a pulp in the hospital the next time you wake up. Who would defend your new slave then?" he asked.

Hadn't Lyzette made it to the stadium already?

"But I won't need to do that, will I? You're going to cooperate. Sometimes street fights go badly, and people end up dead, even Markanors or their consorts."

He was threatening murder. Okay. Mikael could deal. Then he would figure out a way to take this man down for once and for all.

"I'll cooperate. What do you want, Deese?"

"Such a good boy, aren't you, Mikael? You always have been. But it's bad form to fuck a woman where anyone can see it. It makes men want things they shouldn't have."

Deese had seen when he'd taken Lyzette in the box. That's the man she had noticed. Where was this going?

Just then, a man pulled Lyzette out where Mikael could see her. The man had her arms behind her, and she had a gag in her mouth. She looked beautiful and terrified. He trembled. He wanted to protect her but knew that any move on his part might get himself incapacitated or hurt her.

"It makes men want to take women that aren't theirs," Deese said, and he smiled. The smile radiated pure triumph. That's when it clicked for Mikael. This abduction was about Deese's revenge. He hadn't gotten over Mikael fucking his girlfriend, never mind that she had been willing. Deese had been biding his time.

Deese couldn't have picked a better person to use against him. Mikael realized that when he had said that he cared for Lyzette, it was because he had feelings in his soul. Now Deese had her, and he didn't know what he was going to do to her.

"I'll return her when I feel like it, Mikael," Deese said, walking over to Lyzette and twisting her nipple. It was standing out against the thin fabric. She looked angry and made a sound against her gag. "Mmmm, feisty. Just the way I like my women."

Mikael breathed heavily, and his hands clenched and unclenched into fists. He shook and felt like fighting. He forced himself to hold back, knowing anything he did would make the situation worse.

"You know where to take him," Deese said. Two men came up to Mikael and secured his hands behind his back. "As for the slave girl?"

He stopped, making sure that he looked Mikael straight in the eyes.

"Put her in my bed."

They tied Mikael to a chair in front of a viewscreen and left him alone in the room. He worked to loosen the ropes trapping him on the chair. Had the men given any slack at all to work with? He felt desperate knowing that Lyzette was at Deese's mercy.

He had failed to protect her. It was as devastating as any other failure in his life. In the back of his mind, he knew the points he lost would result in a massive loss of power.

Of course, he had also been beaten up and kidnapped. The twin failures could be enough to shift the balance to the Delanor clan.