Trapped: A SciFi Convict Romance (The Condemned Book 1) (3 page)

Chapter Three

Bella helped Davies slide down the rock wall and then dropped
to the ground herself, her breathing a near wheeze. Their near-sprint up the
rocky cliff trail while battered by howling dry winds had drawn on her last
reserves. But even her loud panting and the whirling dust storm wasn’t enough
to drown out the shrieks far below.

A shudder ran through her. Whoever was down there had made it
to the wreckage. Next to her, Davies slammed her hands over her ears, her body
rocking to and fro.

Bella barely resisted doing the same. The frenzied screeching
and cracking of the shuttle being torn to bits was terrifying to hear. Even
knowing she and her colleagues were deep in the hidden cave and the storm would
cover their tracks didn’t help. She could only pray the shuttle explosion had
brought a quick death to the crew she hadn’t been able to save.

Not even breathing hard, mud man laid a still unconscious
Winthrop by her feet.

Their gazes locked.

“Thank you.” She meant it, too. Without him, they’d never
have made it this far. He’d found a metal bar among the wreckage and twisted it
so Davies could use it as a cane. He slung Winthrop over his shoulder more
gently than she would have expected and scrambled up the cliffs with ease, his
astonishing array of muscles shifting and flexing as he moved.

“Come.” He held out a calloused palm.

She swallowed hard, her stare raking from his scowling face
to his wide chest and muscular thighs. Payment had already come due.

“No.” Davies grabbed Bella’s arm, glaring at the mud man.
“This isn’t right. Take me instead.”

His scowl deepened.

“It’s okay.” Bella hurriedly slid her hand into his. Davies’
offer was unbelievably brave, but Bella would never allow it. Her colleague was
Council—and injured. She’d never survive this. Plus, the idea of a deal had
been Bella’s from the start. And she couldn’t regret it. Not when they were all
still alive.

His skin was rough—and surprisingly warm.

A shiver slid down her spine. So much so that it took her a
second to realize he’d gone perfectly still. His gaze locked on their
intertwined palms. Something that looked a lot like wonder etched in the hard
planes of his face.

Her gaze skittered to Davies’. Her colleague looked equally
confused.

It hit Bella then. Human contact. He was reacting to the
sensation of touch. Cherishing something as simple as the heat of her palm
against his.

A wave of sympathy rippled through her. This man might be a
criminal, but he was also a living being. One who had clearly been alone for a
very long time.

On instinct, she interlaced her fingers with his, pressing
their hands closer.

He shuddered, his eyes sinking shut, his face tilting upward,
the way a person might delight in the sun on his face after a hard, dark
winter. Her chest went tight.

After a lifetime of being just one more mouth to feed, one
more body that had to be clothed and housed using Earth’s ever dwindling
resources, the feeling of mattering to someone was unfamiliar—and nice.

“It’s okay.” It was the same words she’d said before, but
this time she meant it. “We‘re on your side….F—friends.”

His eyes flared open, his grip tightening, more possessive
now than cherishing. All hints of vulnerability wiped away. “I’m not looking
for a friend.”

He pulled her to stand on shaky legs, his voice a rusty,
husky growl, as if he hadn’t used it much. Their bodies so close, the heat of
his skin scorched her own.

Standing inches apart, she felt even smaller, the top of her
head barely level with his chest. She tried to hold onto the image of wonder
she’d seen on his face, but it wouldn’t stay. Now, he just looked dangerous—and
hungry.
I’m not looking for a friend.
Not a promising beginning.

Against her will, her gaze dropped to the loincloth that did
little to hide the rising evidence of his desire. Her stomach
spasmed
. Mud man was looking to be as big and thick there
as he was everywhere else.

His hand contracted around hers.

Her head snapped up.

“Your deal. Your choice.” He released his hold, a message all
its own.

Her mouth went dry. She understood. He wouldn’t force her.
She’d been the one to suggest the trade. It was up to her to choose what
happened next.

Not exactly what she’d expected from a Dragath25 criminal,
but the same could be said of most everything he’d done thus far.

Her gaze flickered to Davies, to Winthrop, to the cave
opening where even now those unholy shrieks rattled through the unguarded
entrance. But she didn’t stop there. She took in the metal crutch at Davies’
side. Recalled the careful way Winthrop had been laid to the ground. The look
on his face when she’d slid her palm against his.

She cleared her throat. “You fulfill your part of the deal.
I’ll do what you want.”

His nostrils flared. Without another word, he wrapped his
hand around her wrist and half dragged, half guided her deeper into the cave.

She heard Davies’ pained gasp as she tried to stand and
shuffle after them—and Bella truly appreciated the woman’s continued
willingness to fight for her, but there was nothing Davies could do. Nothing
any of them could do.

He was big and strong enough to have taken her without giving
anything in return. That he hadn’t simply used brute force, that he’d asked,
that he’d been willing to walk away, said something. But pissing him off
couldn’t be wise. One call and those shrieking beasts below would be aware of
their presence.

They might be secure for now, but mud man still held their
lives in his hands.

“Davies, please. I’ll be fine. Look after Dr. Winthrop.” She
called the words over her shoulder, her voice surprisingly steady.

Whatever her colleague said was swallowed up as mud man
hustled Bella through the twists and turns of the narrow cave. With every
hurried step deeper into the bowels of the cliff, Bella’s calm eroded. If he
wanted to hurt her, he could. If he wanted to torment her and then kill her, he
could.

It was almost impossible to comprehend that this was really
happening. That this morning she’d woken up in her own neat cot in the women’s
quarters of the Academy research shuttle, a junior researcher with moderate
hopes for literally saving the world, and now she was about to be taken and god
knows what else on a hard cave floor by a criminal with cold, dark eyes.

She couldn’t get pregnant or catch some horrible disease
thanks to the yearly shot required of all Council Academy scientific and
military personnel, but such precautions couldn’t protect her from anything
else.

Her muscles twitched with the urge to resist, to take a
surprise swing and flee before he understood what was happening, but such an
act was beyond foolish. Mud man was too strong. Too powerful. Too dangerous.
She’d likely be badly hurt if she tried to fight him.

As if he knew her thoughts, mud man’s grip tightened and he
pulled until she was pressed flat against his side.

She muffled a gasp.

He heard it anyway. Dark brows narrowed over midnight eyes as
his gaze slipped to where his hand circled her wrist. His hold loosened.

 
“It narrows ahead.
Stay close or you’ll get cut.”

Bella blinked stupidly. His voice was a dark, smoky rumble
that rolled down her spine and, under different circumstances, would have sent
her senses skittering. Now, it just confused her. Was he…was he truly trying to
prevent her from getting hurt?

Before she could think how to ask, he was moving forward
again, her wrist still unquestionably encircled in his grasp, her body held
tight against his as the cave walls narrowed and the path in front of them grew
dark. So close his earthy, male scent invaded her lungs, far more appealing
than she would have expected given the dirt covering every inch of him. So
close the rough prickle of mud abraded her left arm where skin rather than
shirt pressed against his side.

Her shirt grew damp. The air hotter. Then, without warning,
they turned a sharp corner, and halted.

Her head snapped up, a sharp breath strangling in her throat
at the shocking sight only a few feet ahead.

Awe whispered through her.

Beams of hazy sunlight from small cracks in the cave
illuminated a vivid turquoise body of water. It glistened like a jewel while
emerald colored plants with large, compound, fan-like leaves crowded along the
banks. Palms. Actual thriving, gorgeous healthy palms. From the
Arecaceae
family, if she wasn’t mistaken, though they
didn’t have the same
unbranched
stem as the one’s in
her study guides. Delicate purple fruit sprouted from their split trunks. And
the smell…she drew in a deep breath, her nose twitching at the strange,
wonderful scent. Floral. Rich. Alive.

Nothing like this had existed on Earth for centuries. But
here…her heart leapt. Winthrop had been right. Maybe there was hope for Earth,
after all.

She skipped forward. Only to be brought up short by an
unmovable leash around her wrist. Her gaze clashed with hungry, dark eyes.

“Take off your clothes.”

Her euphoria crashed and burned. For a brief instance, she’d
forgotten.

But with every second that mud man loomed above her, his dark
eyes boring into her, watching, waiting, his jaw tight, his muscles rigid, the
reality of what awaited built inside.

“I won’t force you.” His words were a growl, but their
meaning came through loud and clear nonetheless. He was again offering her a
way out.

Her breath shuddered in and out.

She could turn back now. She could renege on the deal. It
looked like he’d actually let her walk away. But without his help, she, Davies,
and Winthrop would never make it until the search and rescue team arrived. No
one would ever know what she’d found here today.

Her gaze shifted to the fan-like plants. Now she had yet
another reason to survive this, she told herself. This place. These plants.
They could be the key to saving her sister and brother.

As quick as the thought came, she shut out the memory of her
sweet siblings’ faces. She didn’t want them connected in any way with what was
about to happen.

“My choice.” Awkwardly, she unsealed the top portion of her uniform,
her shaking fingers making it difficult. Beside her, mud man had gone
disturbingly still.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t had sex just for the sake of sex
before, she reminded herself. Long hours of studying and work and scraping by
hadn’t allowed for anything more than the few quick, clumsy
joinings
with barrack mates to scratch an itch. Sure, she’d known them longer than five
minutes and none had been criminals, but there’d been no emotional connection.

Today was just more of the same. At least that’s what she
tried to tell herself.

When the seal reached its end at her bellybutton, she took a
deep breath and let the dirt-covered uniform slide from her arms before pushing
it off her hips in one fell swoop. It crumpled to the ground around her feet,
leaving her in nothing but her white bra and panties. Her skin prickled at the
exposure, her nipples crinkling into tight buds as the cooler air hit her body.

A choked curse had her gaze flying to his.

What she saw made her heart beat even faster. No longer cold,
no longer empty, mud man’s dark stare glittered with raw hunger as it roamed
her breasts and belly and thighs. The wonder was back, too. The dark blue rim
she’d noticed before expanding so wide it nearly swallowed the black.

Her arms instinctively moved to cover herself.

“Take off the rest.” The rough command had her hands dropping
back to her sides.

With jerky movements, she kicked off her boots. Then, she unclasped
her bra in one efficient move and let it drop to the ground before pushing her
panties down her hips and stepping out of those as well. There. She’d done it.

She forced herself to keep her arms by her sides.
For survival. For survival.
She chanted
the words over and over to herself.

Seconds ticked by. Nothing happened. The only sounds in the
cave were the rhythmic drip of water and the erratic scrape of her breath
sawing in and out.

Her stare flickered to his.

“Beautiful.” His single rasped word surprised her. So, too,
did the intensity of his dark gaze.

His hands fisted at his side. More seconds ticked by. Still,
he made no move to grab her. Simply stared as if memorizing every inch. Unsure,
she shifted on her bare feet, a flush of heat warming her cheeks and her chest.
The wonder in his gaze making her throat go tight all over again as it had with
their first touch.

“Go into the water.” His voice was deeper than before.

She started, confused. She’d expected him to be on her
already.

“You’ve got his blood all over you.” He sounded almost
accusatory. “Go.”

She wanted to ask why the hell it mattered, but his hands
were already unwinding the cloth at his hips.

Turning fast, she headed to the water, uncaring that the
temperature was slightly cooler than expected, barely registering the
unfamiliar oily sensation of the water clinging to her skin. Wading toward the
deeper middle, she sunk beneath the surface to her shoulders, the transparent
film giving her little protection, but somehow calming her just the same.

A splash sounded. Powerful ripples washed against her back
like a surging tide. He’d entered the water. He was coming for her.

The coward in her wanted to stay where she was, eyes slammed
shut. The officer in her knew she had to turn and face this head on.

She whirled and discovered only small bubbles on the surface
of the water. An inky cloud of red and brown streamed in all directions
followed by foamy white. Then a dark head broke the surface and he was standing
before her, waist high in the water, a mud man no more.