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  She had never had a friends-only relationship with a man. Whoever ended up being Royce’s mate would be a very lucky woman.

  Even if Royce had shown an interest in a short fling, Susa would’ve had to say no. She’d made a vow before leaving her home planet that sex for sex’s sake was no longer a part of her life. She’d lived that lifestyle for most of her adult years.

  If she wanted an orgasm, she had a vibrator or the use of the resort’s simulation rooms and sex droids. What she desired in a future relationship was what Lia, Mel, Nadia, and Bria had—lust and love, trust and partnership. A lasting relationship which would lead to having her own family.

  The four companions shared an appetizer of various cheeses and olives. The conversation flowed easily with lots of laughter and good fellowship. Susa reveled in their company and being surrounded by the lighthearted locals.

  Suddenly, a cloud of dark emotions swept in and destroyed Susa’s relaxed mood. As she scanned for the source, Lia leaned over, all her smiles and laughter gone.

  “Susa, look at the entrance onto the patio. The three men at the hostess station. Look familiar?”

  Susa looked casually over her shoulder, then stiffened. “Ansu bhau.” Devil’s balls.

  “What’s wrong?” Royce began to turn his head. “I’ve never heard you swear before.”

  “Royce, don’t look,” Lia hissed. “Joen can see. We’ll keep an eye on them.”

  “Who’s them?” Royce snarled and scanned Susa’s face. “You’re spooked. What the fuck is going on? Did something happen today while Joen and I were fishing?” He aimed an angry glare at Lia. “And why wasn’t I informed?” He sounded very much like the Alliance starship captain he was.

  “Don’t look at my gemate that way, Royce, or we’ll be having words,” Joen warned. “Lia informed me some pseudo-reptilians were at the pool today and stared at the gals the whole time they were there. Nothing happened so shut down your thrusters. The women were in public, and resort security was present. The apayebote didn’t follow them when they returned to the bungalows. I would’ve told you later when we weren’t in a social situation.”

  Royce turned to look at Susa. “Are these men the same ones?”

  “They look—and their emotions feel—like the same men.” Susa could see them more clearly now since the three had been seated at a table in her line of sight. “I couldn’t place their exact origins, but I know they aren’t Antareans. They have too many human features.”

  Susa’s stomach churned at memories from her childhood when the Antareans had laid siege to their solar system. The Prime Elders had ordered the women and children to leave the home planet in order to protect them. Susa’s father had waved and shouted for Susa to be brave as her mother had carried her from their home. It had been the last time she’d seen her father alive.

  She’d been one of the lucky evacuees and had made it back home to Cejuru Prime after the Antareans retreated—unlike Bria and Mel, along with many other women and children, who hadn’t returned and had been assumed lost or dead, the Lost Ones. Mel and Bria had survived and thrived in adoptive families far away from the Cejuru solar system.

  “Ignore them.” Susa touched Royce’s tense arm. “With you and Joen here, they won’t approach.”

  Susa caught Joen nodding slightly to Royce. Royce then used hand signals, a series of taps and gestures on the table top.

  Diew, they were up to something, but being the protectors they were, nothing would happen while she and Lia were present.

  Lia caught Susa’s eye and mouthed “tell you later.” Joen must’ve let something slip mentally over the battle-mate connection Lia shared with her bonded mate. At least her friend wouldn’t leave her in the dark.

  Just as their meals were placed in front of them, Joen excused himself and headed for the main bar where the restrooms were located. As he strode inside, he pulled his com-unit from his pocket.

  “What’s Joen doing?” Susa murmured.

  “Calling planet security to follow us back to the resort.” Lia cut her vegetables into bite-sized pieces with a savagery that belied her calm expression and tone. “My gemat is nothing if not overly cautious where you and I are concerned.”

  “As he should be.” Royce had inhaled half his food already. “Once we have you ladies secured behind locked doors, with guards posted outside, Joen and I will have a talk with the Dornians who seem far too interested in you both.”

  So the men stalking her and Lia were Dornians. Susa had heard of the pseudo-reptilian race, distant cousins of the Antareans and Erians. Bria had once been stalked all the way to Cejuru Prime by a Dornian co-worker.

  Lia nodded. “Ah, Dornians. I thought so.”

  “I heard the Dornians were mostly nomadic.” Susa looked to Royce and frowned. “Are they organized enough as a race to have an embassy on Tooh 2?”

  “Not that I know of,” Royce replied. “Yes, they are nomadic. And bad news. They travel in family groups and scam unwary travelers and outlying settlements. Some of them hire out as mercenaries.”

  “Could someone have hired them?” Susa said.

  With a gentle touch, Royce turned Susa’s face toward his. “Why would you ask that? Did they approach you sometime when we weren’t around?”

  “No, I would’ve said something if they’d tried to approach me.” Susa shrugged. “It’s just a feeling I got from them at the pool earlier.”

  “Explain,” ordered Royce as he stared at the three Dornians as if memorizing everything about the men.

  “The feelings of lust weren’t merely sexual.” She thought back, attempting to put ephemeral feelings into words. “They were more avaricious—mercenary as you named them. My instincts tell me they don’t want to harm me, or Lia, because that would be damaging the merchandise.”

  “You and Lia aren’t merchandise,” Royce growled.

  “To those men, we are.” Susa glanced at the Dornians’ table. The men were eating and drinking and seemingly ignoring their table, but Susa still felt their regard—it was hot … intense. The Dornians were tuned into Susa and her companions.

  Her insight was proven when Joen walked back onto the patio from the bar, and all three Dornians stiffened and went silent for the space of one or two heartbeats before resuming their eating, drinking, and talking.

  “Fuck,” muttered Royce. “They’re definitely on the hunt. Doesn’t mean someone hired them, though. The slit-lipped bastards are opportunists, and sex trafficking is one of their most prolific money-making operations.” He eyed Susa and Lia, in turn. “It won’t be just Joen and me asking the assholes questions about their business on Tooh 2. I’ll be pulling Tooh 2 security into the mix. Neither of you are to be alone anywhere while those scum-sucking lizards are on this planet.”

  As much as Susa wanted to protest the restriction on her movements, she said nothing. She didn’t want to find out, up close and personal, what the Dornians’ actual intentions were.

  Chapter 3

  Jump Station Charybdis

  Club Hades was revving up for the busy and lucrative nighttime cycle. On the central stage located adjacent to the largest bar in the huge circular room, one of the club’s best pole dancers had the early evening crowd mesmerized. Skilled acrobatic moves showed off her glistening nude body with its generous breasts and heart-shaped ass.

  For Damon Martin, one of the owners of the jump station, the dancer was just another employee. For the gawking patrons, many of them galactic freighter crew members who’d spent long, female-less months away from their home bases, she was the embodiment of all their sexual fantasies.

  Of course, if any dared touch her, Damon or his business partner Borac Anghard or one of the club’s many muscle-bound bouncers would remove the offender’s hand. The house rules as it pertained to the dancers, whether on stage or mingling among the crowd, were “look, don’t touch—ever.” The dancers and bar maids were not sex operators.

  The jump station had a whole other area that catered
to sex. The house prostitutes, both live and android, performed a wide variety of sex acts at an equally wide range of pricing. The women were independent contractors who kept all the money they made and paid a monthly stipend for their secure private quarters and protection while they worked. Damon and Borac weren’t pimps, and didn’t want to be, but they were realistic. In the galactic rim, the sex-for-hire business would’ve moved into their jump station whether they allowed it or not; in Damon’s mind, it was better to regulate it.

  Damon and his partner made a very good living serving up entertainment for crews and passengers waiting to use the Charybdis Jump Gate. The jump station had garnered rave reviews across the Milky Way. In fact, their station was now featured on several adult cruise ships’ itineraries as a must-visit experience thanks to Club Hades’ dancers and live sex shows, the station prostitutes, the sim-room experiences which ranged from straight to kinky, and the casino. The station’s four gourmet dining venues, which were contiguous to the station’s casino, were rated excellent across-the-board along with their wine cellar and top-shelf alcohol. No well drinks were served in any of Damon’s bars or eating establishments.

  Confident the club and the customers were under control for the moment, Damon turned to watch as Borac paced back and forth in front of him. His partner had been treading a rut in the floor ever since Borac had received a communication from Wulf Caradoc.

  “Borac”—Damon grabbed the Prime’s arm, halting him mid-stride—“exactly what did Caradoc tell you? And this time, tell me in Galactic Standard. While I understand some Prime, you were talking so fast I couldn’t get anything other than you wanted to kill someone.” Or maybe it was several someones.

  Borac shrugged off Damon’s hand and then sat next to him. His friend picked up the Valerian whiskey Damon had ordered for him and downed it in one gulp. “Wulf told me my cousin Susa and one of his female officers were being stalked by a group of Dornian males at the Tooh 2 resort. The female officer’s gemat, also an Alliance officer, and one of Wulf’s squadron captains felt the bakking apayebote were focused more on Susa than the Terran female officer. The men alerted resort and planet security and also reported to Wulf, who felt I needed to know.”

  “Did security question the Dornians?” Damon asked.

  “Yes, and so did the Alliance officers who were with Susa.” Borac stared into his empty glass.

  Damon pulled the empty from his friend’s slack hand and placed it on the bar, signaling the bartender for a refill. “What did they find out?”

  “Nothing. The Dornians admitted nothing.” Borac grabbed the new glass of whiskey as soon as the bartender poured it and took another large drink. “Planet security couldn’t find any outstanding warrants on the three, and since staring at women is not against the law, they couldn’t arrest them. Wulf’s men convinced the trio to leave the planet.”

  Damon understood Borac’s anger and fear. Damon’s adoptive sister Bria—the woman he’d loved for years and wanted as his wife—had been stalked by a Dornian. She’d run to Damon for protection, but only until her newly discovered gemat, Iolyn Caradoc, could come to get her. When she’d left his jump station with Iolyn, it had been a killing blow to all Damon’s hopes and dreams, to a future with Bria that had only been full-grown in his mind.

  In reality, Bria had never seen Damon as a mate—to her, he’d always been her beloved older brother.

  Damon rubbed a hand over his chest as if he could erase the ache of losing Bria to the Prime warrior. Intellectually, he understood he’d lost her before he ever met her, but still, he wondered what might’ve happened had she never realized she was a Prime gemate.

  Turning his mind back to Borac’s concerns, he asked, “What’s really stressing you the fuck out? The Alliance is aware of the danger, and I’m sure Caradoc’s people will protect Susa. Besides, you and I both know Dornians are basically cowards. They only act when they know they’ll be successful. With Alliance officers on hand and resort security alerted, the Dornian assholes will undoubtedly move on to easier prey.”

  “Normally, I’d agree,” Borac said. “But Susa told Wulf the Dornians’ emotions were more greedy than sexual. She felt she was a specific target because she’s an unmarked Prime female.”

  “And you think she’s correct? That someone hired the Dornians to take her?” It was unlike his partner to get upset over mere speculation.

  “Yes.” Borac turned to look Damon in the eye. “I trust my cousin’s feelings. Coming from a maternal line that had a lot of battle-mates in the past, she’s a strong empath. The genes are there whether she’s mated with a warrior-gemat or not.”

  Damon nodded. “Good enough. I’m still not sure why this situation has you drinking so heavily. The Dornians were warned off.”

  “For now. But the Alliance officers and the Tooh 2 security people won’t be with Susa on the Mason freighter she’s taking to our jump station. Wulf’s people will protect my cousin on Tooh 2 and will see her safely onto the freighter. And they’ve already advised Captain Vanni, the freighter captain, of the potential danger, but—”

  Damon finished his friend’s thoughts. “But if the Dornians have been hired to kidnap Susa, she could be kidnapped at any of the freighter’s stops along the route.” It was a legitimate worry. The freighter’s route hit some of the less-patrolled areas of the galaxy.

  “Yeah.” Borac looked tense.

  The biggest danger would be during the short layovers. The protocols on most docks, whether they were on a jump station like theirs or an orbital dock, were the same: (1) once a ship docked, all sentient beings had to disembark while the ship was treated for alien life forms that might’ve attached during the flight or come on board with luggage or freight, and (2) the passengers had to remain outside of the ship while freight and baggage were unloaded or loaded.

  Bria had almost been kidnapped from his own freight docks because of the disembarkation rules.

  “So, what do you want to do?” Damon asked.

  Borac shoved fingers through his thick black hair, causing it to stick up as if a surge of electricity had run through the Prime’s body. “She needs a bodyguard on the freighter. Someone who can be with her at all times until she reaches our station.” He angled a worried look at Damon. “And while Mason’s ships and crews are better than most, there’s always one less-than-honest person who could be bought. I don’t trust anyone, not even Captain Vanni.”

  Damon signaled the bartender to refill both their drinks. “I agree. What are you planning on doing?”

  Borac paced again. “I’d go, but Cissy is still recovering from the birth of our son. And our daughter is a handful. My mate is exhausted all the time. I can’t leave her.”

  Cissy had almost died giving birth to Borac’s son and could no longer have children. Consequently, it was taking a longer time for her to recover physically—and emotionally.

  “No. Nor should you.” Damon would never leave any mate or young children of his in such a situation. While he was considered the black sheep of the Martin family, he’d been raised to put family first, especially the women and children.

  There was only one solution. “I’ll go.”

  Borac stopped his pacing, a look of relief and more—a look Damon had seen on his five brothers’ faces everyday growing up on Gliese 581C—one of filial love.

  “Thank you.” His Prime brother-of-the-heart grabbed Damon’s forearm in a warrior’s grip. “Thank you, my friend … my brother-kin. Susa will be in good hands. And, be assured, I will take good care of our jump station until you return.”

  Damon returned the grip. “Damn straight, you will. Now, let’s contact Wulf Caradoc and let him know I’ll hook up with the Mason freighter at its first stop, wherever in the hell that is. There’s no way I can make it to Tooh 2 before Susa boards the freighter. Contact your cousin and let her know I’m coming. Send her a picture of me so she’ll recognize me.”

  “She’s seen pictures of you. She’ll recognize you.” Bor
ac pulled out his com-tablet and pulled up the Mason Freight schedule. “You can catch a Mason freighter due to dock at our jump station in the next two standard days.” He pointed to a small solar system on a star map. “Your ride will intercept Captain Vanni’s ship at a space dock circling the major planet in the P85 system.”

  Damon sipped his beer and listened as Borac contacted Susa, first, and Wulf Caradoc, second.

  As long as both Mason freighters kept to their schedules, and they usually did, he’d reach Susa early in her journey. He just prayed she wouldn’t be a high maintenance female. As a former sex surrogate for the high and mighty Caradoc family, Susa had most likely lived a segregated, but pampered and privileged life.

  Damon sighed and prepared himself for a stressful trip. He’d only do this for Borac.

  Chapter 4

  One standard week later, Tooh 2 orbiting space dock

  Susa stood on the freight dock with Royce, Joen, and Lia, waiting for the Mason Freight captain, or his aide, to escort her to her quarters for the trip to Jump Station Charybdis. The freighter’s route would encompass two standard weeks before reaching her cousin’s jump station.

  “I don’t like this,” Royce muttered as he gave a suspicious side-eye to one of the freighter’s crew members as the man collected Susa’s luggage to take onto the ship. “I’ve met RimPz pirates who look more upstanding than some of these assholes.”

  “Royce,” Susa hissed, “keep your voice down.” She smiled at a different freighter crew member as the extremely pale male with an explosion of twisty, multi-colored braids on his head picked up the boxes of presents she was taking to Borac and his family … her family. “I’ll be traveling with these men for quite a while. I’d like to start off the trip with good feelings on all sides. Besides, no matter how the crew appears, both Bria and Borac assured me this was the safest way for me to get to the jump station.”