Charming Charly (English Edition) (Lords of Arr'Carthian 3) (3 page)

‘Damn it! Damn it!’

“How am I to know that you did not make use of my unconsciousness to … to … do things to me?” she responded distrustfully.

“What would I gain from that?” he asked, clearly annoyed. “Do you think I’m
that
sort of person? I can reassure you. If I sleep with you, you won’t lie lifelessly below me.”

Charly snorted. That was the sort of person he was. He liked his victims to struggle and scream.
 

She felt sick.

“So you admit that you … that you … with me …”

“Sooner or later,” he answered casually, smiling sensually, which, to Charly’s confusion, did not completely fail to have an effect on her. An arousing tingling sensation spread through her body.
 

She swallowed hard and tried not to think about what he could do to her. This tingling inside her was completely inappropriate. He would hurt her! Do unthinkable things to her! Degrade her.

“Wh...,” she uttered, faltering.

“You’re my mate,” he said insistently, crossing the short distance between them so that they were only inches apart. His hand wandered to her red locks and took a strand between his fingers. “You belong to me,” he murmured close to her ear and she shuddered involuntarily.

“No!” she said defensively. She felt panic rising within her and she welled up. “Please don’t,” she whispered in horror.

He moved away from her a little to look at her.

“Why are you so afraid of me?” he asked, sounding truly bewildered. “I’ve done nothing to you. I …”

“Done n-nothing!” she said with a hint of hysteria in her voice. “You mean, apart from breaking into my suite and abducting me?”

“You were hysterical. I had to put you out briefly so that I could bring you here safely. What’s more …”

“Put me out briefly, huh?” she asked, outraged. “How … how long is it since you hit me?”

“Fifteen hours,” said the man. “But what’s that …”

“You must have hit me very hard for me to be unconscious for fifteen hours,” she said accusatorially.

“You weren’t unconscious for more than a few minutes. We beamed you on board and then you were given an injection so that …”

“Right!” she said furiously. “You pumped me full of drugs!”

“It was only a mild sleeping potion,” he said defensively, “so that you could rest.”

Charly tried to organize her confused thoughts and feelings. It reassured her a little that he was talking with her, rather than just grabbing her the way her torturers had done back then. Perhaps she could persuade him to let her go. He did not seem to her to be nasty – but rather a little crazy, talking about
mates
and such rubbish.

Now that she was not feeling quite so acutely in danger, she had enough space to think a little rationally again. Horrible images at once came into her mind: Lory lying in blood with a shard sticking out of her belly.

“What about Lory?” she uttered breathlessly. “Is she …?”

“She’s fine,” the giant reassured her. “She’s sleeping.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said, shaking her head, dazed. “She had a huge shard right through the middle of her stomach and all of that blood. She cannot possibly have survived that. No one can survive something like that.”

She was so overwhelmed by her horror over the terrible fate of her friend that, at first, she was completely unaware of two strong arms embracing her and pressing her against a large chest. Tears were pouring down her cheeks and she nestled into the warm body before her, without thinking.

“Everything’s OK,” she heard the gentle voice of the man in her ear. “You can visit her, but she’s still unconscious. Would you like to see her?”

Charly pulled away from him abruptly. How could she have let this man touch her so intimately? She was too enraged to admit that it had felt good to be held by him. Much too good! She had lulled herself into a sense of false security. She must not allow him to lull her again. Perhaps these damn aliens had hypnotic powers, too, some kind of super power that could render her submissive. How could she know?

“Never do that again!” she yelled at him.
 

“What?” he asked, clearly confused.

“Touch me!” she screamed. “I will not … You will not …”

“OK!” he interrupted her. “I get it.”

Charly was breathing heavily. She wrapped her arms round her upper body and stared at him. He stared back.

“What about your friend now?” he asked calmly. “Do you want to see her?”

Charly pushed her chin out.
“Yes!”

“Come on then.”

He went to take Charly by the arm, but she pulled away from him, glaring at him in rage. He sighed quietly, then shrugged.

“Door open!” he said, and the door actually slid open with a quiet hissing sound. Charly stood there, speechless, not moving as the giant walked through the open doorway.
 

“That’s it?” she asked in disbelief, thinking of how she had stood, clueless, before the closed door. “Just
door open
?”

The man stopped and turned to her, smiling at her in amusement.

“Try it!”

“But the door’s already open,” she said, irritated by the warmth that his smile released within her.

“Door close!” he said, and the door closed between them.

Charly stared indecisively at the door.

“Door open!” she said finally and waited in anticipation, but nothing happened. She stamped her foot in anger. “Oh!”

She heard an amused laugh from the other side of the door and she hated him for that. He should not laugh. He should not have any humor! He should not come across as so damn pleasant, as if he was the nice chap from next door, teasing her a little.

“Door open!” she heard him say, and the door opened again.
 

She stared angrily into his amused face. His brown eyes should not twinkle like that and his damn dimple should not look so sexy.

‘Oh no, Charly, you really are sick!’
she admonished herself.
‘Sexy! This man is not sexy! He’s a psycho!’

“I don’t find that funny!” she snapped.
 

“You’ll be given the authorization when I can trust you,” he said unruffled.
 

“When you can trust
me
?” she shouted, laughing cheerlessly. “Did
I
abduct you and pump you full of drugs, or what?”

“You’ll understand once you’ve calmed down enough to think clearly,” was all he said and turned away. “Come on.”

Charly was tempted to resist his command and just stand there, but she wanted to see Lory, so she finally followed him sullenly.

They stopped in front of a closed door.

“Open!” said the man
.

The door opened and Charly realized that there was clearly no single order for opening the doors.
She entered a fairly small, darkened room
i
mmediately behind the giant. A man in white clothing was sitting at a small desk. Behind him were three large windows, each with a door beside it. As Charly approached, she saw Lory lying in one of the small rooms situated behind the windows. The room was almost completely filled by the hospital bed that Lory was lying on and the technical apparatus. The only other thing that could fit into the room was a chair, occupied by the blond bloke who had fought with Lory.
 

„Oh, Captain Amano,“ said the man at the desk, who was clearly a type of doctor.
 

Charly stared at her companion. Captain? He was the captain of this space ship?
Captain
Amano?

“How is she?” asked Amano.

“Oh, she’s making progress,” answered the healer.
 
“She’ll probably be transferred to the standard care unit this evening.”

“This is her friend. Lady …” He looked at her inquiringly, until it dawned on Charly that he wanted to know her name.
 

“Charly,” she replied, smiling at the doctor. She much preferred a man who healed wounds and saved lives to a warrior who did quite the opposite.

“Delighted to meet you, Lady Charly,” said the doctor amicably. “Would you like to see your friend?”

“Yes, please.”

“Come this way.”

The doctor opened the door to the small room and the blond giant rose. His face looked tired and sorrowful. He glanced briefly at Charly before looking at the doctor.
 

“Shouldn’t she be stable by now?” he asked with concern.

The doctor smiled kindly.

“She will recover, General. Don’t worry.”

“But she’s so pale.”

“She lost a lot of blood, General,” replied the doctor. “Lady Charly here would like to visit her. Please, General
,
could you briefly …?”

The general stared at Charly. He seemed unwilling, but he nodded. Charly did not know what to make of the general. He might be dangerous, but the concern that was written across his face was genuine. Reluctantly, he came out of the room, and the captain pushed Charly gently inside.
 

Lory looked pale but her facial expression was peaceful. The white sheet covering her body meant that her wound could not be seen, and Charly did not want to see it anyway. It must look terrible.
 

“Will she really get well?” she asked.

“Yes,” the doctor assured her. “The wound has almost healed and her body had reproduced a sufficient quantity of blood. She will soon be able to leave the medical unit.”

“How can that be?” Charly turned, staring in disbelief at the doctor. “Such a wound will definitely take a long time to heal. She …”

“The medical unit ...,” explained Amano,”... is able to heal wounds much more quickly than is normally possible. Take a look yourself, if you don’t believe me.”

Charly turned to Lory again and stared at the white sheet, before summoning up enough courage to lift the piece of material slowly. Lory was only wearing her underwear, so Charly ensured that she did not expose too much of her friend’s body. But she could see enough to ascertain that Amano was right. All that could be seen there, where a horrible wound should be gaping, was a pale, purple-colored, jagged scar.
 

“Holy shit,” she murmured in amazement.
 

Charly carefully covered Lory up again, a tear running down her cheek and dropping onto the white sheet, forming a small, pale patch. Her heart was heavy. What sort of a situation had she got herself into here? –Abducted; escaped; only to be abducted again; her friend seriously injured; and, to make matters worse, a ship full of muscular aliens who intended to do goodness knows what with them.
 

She felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched. She knew it was this captain
,
Amano
,
who seemed to have convinced himself that she belonged to him. She tensed her shoulders and shook his hand off. Never again would she belong to a man that she had not chosen herself. Never again would she allow any man to abuse and torture her according to his whims. Perhaps this Amano was not as cruel as her once-time abductor, but he would at some point force himself upon her – that much seemed certain.

“I’ll take you back now,” he said quietly and she tensed up.

“No!” she decided. “I’m not going back to your cabin with you. If you have something like a prison cell on this damn ship, then take me there.”

She heard him sigh behind her. He took hold of her arm, but she shook him off again.

“I’ll take you to my cabin and we’ll
talk
!” he said decisively. “I won’t touch you, as long as you come willingly. If you don’t do that then I’ll have to force you.”

“Talk?” she asked derisively. “
Only
talk? Am I supposed to believe you?”

“I swear it by my honor.”

She laughed dryly
.

“How am I to know that you possess anything like
honor
?”

“I’m physically superior to you – I could just grab you and take you into my quarters. So what use is your refusal? Why don’t you give me the chance to prove to you that I’m speaking the truth by coming with me willingly now and sparing us both what we both don’t want? Because harming you is the last thing I want to do.”

Charly knew he was right – he could force her and she would not have the slightest chance of doing anything about it.
 

“Well?”

“I’ll come with you,” she said quietly. “But only to
talk
!”

Charly was trembling slightly, as she entered the cabin ahead of Amano. His presence unsettled her. Up to now he had, indeed, done nothing to her, but of course that could change at any moment. And there were no police to lock him up for it. Here, in the farthest reaches of the universe, she had no rights.
 

“Take a seat, please,” he said, pointing to a small group of chairs.

With mixed feelings, she sat down in one of the armchairs, but was ready to jump up at any moment. To her relief, he sat in the armchair opposite, so they had the small table between them.