Kidnapped by a Warrior (7 page)

“
How will I prevent that?”

“
By staying indoors unless you’re with me.”

“
What if someone besides Lesha comes to the house?”

“
No one will. This home is on the other side of
Voyeur Moon where almost no one lives. The people who have built homes here do
not want to be found. That’s why we live here.”

She
swallowed hard. “But what if there’s an emergency and I have to get in touch
with you?”

He
pointed toward her plate. “Let us eat first and then I’ll show you how to do
that.”

****

Callie
had never tasted food like this. “Why is it so much better?”

“
It’s fresh, and we don’t use preservatives or
chemicals to enhance the soil or the animals from which the eggs and ham come.
It makes a difference in how the food tastes.”

“
Thank you for making it.”

“
Do you like to cook?”

She
smiled. “If you mean can I pop a frozen dinner in the microwave, sure. I love
to cook.”

“
You won’t find frozen dinners or microwaves on this
planet. Lesha will teach you to cook without using what you’re used to, but
when I’m here, I’ll take care of the food preparation for us.”

She
glanced up at him from under her lashes. “So, I’m here as
your
… um … sex partner, then?”

The
look he gave her was full of amusement. “Is that not desirable to you?”

“
Do I have a choice?”

“
No, unless you’d prefer I take you to the holding
cells.”

She
lowered her gaze. “Are they here, then?
On this planet?
I assumed they were on Addo.”

“
No. Our barracks are there. The holding cells I described
are here, on Voyeur Moon.”

Callie
blinked back tears. Had last night meant nothing to him except a body to use?
How did that make him any different than the men he was constantly putting down
for using women as sex slaves?

“
Why are you upset?”

She
told him what she was thinking.

“
There is a vast difference. Do you understand what
I’ve described to you? What is happening to women taken from your planet?
Instead of bringing them here for us to have as partners, they’re being
gang-raped.
Brutally and without mercy.
The entire
operation has turned into something it was never meant to be, and my own people
are doing this!”

Callie
shook her head. “Stop it,” she whispered.

“
You need to hear this. We targeted the women on your
planet for your passion and your warmth. We want that. We
crave
that because there is no chance with the Regum in power that
we will ever get that from our own women. But this isn’t what most of us had in
mind. We never intended for it to be a frenzy that hurt and sometimes killed
Earth women.”

“
I’m sorry.” Her entire body shook and she fought not
to cry again, but so many emotions bubbled up inside that she had trouble
processing any of them right now. Had her sisters gone through that?
Or her mother?
Is that what had really killed them?

“
I don’t want your apology. I want you to
listen
to what I’m telling you. I could
have taken you to the same place I’ve taken countless girls. It was what I was
supposed to do. If my Section Chief finds out
I
did
not, I will lose my position and worse. But I couldn’t do that to you. I
couldn’t condemn you to that fate. Something…”

He
ran his hands through his hair. “Something about you called to my soul. And in
response, I deliberately disobeyed
an
order and brought you instead to my barracks. Then I brought you here. I could
be killed for this if I’m found out. That’s how serious of a breach it is.”

She
studied his face while his words sank in. He’d saved her on purpose because he
wanted her.
And to protect her from a horrible fate.
Finally, she understood what he’d been telling her since yesterday.

Callie
stood and tentatively sat on his lap. He put his arms around her, but his eyes
still held an expression of hurt. “Forgive me, Jakara. I’m trying so hard to
make sense of all this. I’ve lost everything I knew. Please give me time to
accept it.”

His
gaze finally softened. “I know you have. I do tend to forget that because your
very presence makes my blood boil, and when I look into your eyes my heart
melts.”

She
sighed out loud. No man had ever come close to speaking to her in such words.
And she knew he spoke from his heart. There was nothing phony or rehearsed
about his speech. “In addition to the porn you all seem so obsessed with, did
you ever read any of our books, or watch any of our other movies?”

“
Yes. We studied all of it.”

She
smiled.

“
Why do you ask?”

“
I was wondering what you thought of our fairy
tales.”
Because you’re
my knight in shining armor, flying a spaceship instead of riding a white horse.

“
Their very name suggests they are not to be taken seriously.”

“
You’d be surprised how many girls grow up to be
women who still believe in them. Far more than we believe in the ridiculous
stories in pornos.”

“
I suppose we might have misjudged the thought
processes that went into the making of such an industry.”

“
What you’ve done is only look at one side of it.
The male side, for the most part.
You forgot to take the
female views into account.”

“
I believe the term you’re searching to call me is
sexist
.”

“
I didn’t say that.”

“
Not in so many words. But I’m not upset by it. It’s
a different society than the one you grew up in. This is who we are. The sooner
you accept it, the easier this will be for you.”

“
And what happens when you grow tired of me?”

He
looked at her like she’d just asked him why the sky wasn’t yellow with pink
dots. “Why would I grow tired of you? Do you still not understand that I’ve
claimed you? You’re mine. I won’t give you up. Not for anything.”

Callie
felt dizzy as the realization of what he meant hit her. This was her life now.
She was here, with Jakara, and no one but an old neighbor of his knew about
her. Even if her family were still alive, they wouldn’t be able to find her. If
her friends and neighbors from Earth came here to look for her, they wouldn’t
succeed.

Lizzy
must be wondering by now why she never showed up for work. She would never know
the truth. Callie O’Doyle, for all intents and purposes, had ceased to exist.
She was a prisoner now.
Jakara’s prisoner.
And there
was nothing she could do about it.

Chapter
Six

Jakara
showed Callie how to use the communications system to contact him if she needed
to, and she asked intelligent questions about it, but he knew from the tone of
her voice that something had changed since last night.

When
she asked him when he had to leave again, he told her he could spend the day
with her and leave in the morning. He showed her the rest of the house, and
then took her on the roof where she spotted the telescope.

“
Can we see Earth?”

“
No. It’s too far away, and this isn’t powerful
enough. But tonight we’ll come up here and look at the stars.”

She
glanced around at the dry, rocky terrain. “Does it rain here?”

“
Not very often.
But there is plenty of water
underground. I’ve dug two wells for this home, so that will never be a
problem.”

“
Is that why no one wants to live here?”

“
It’s a large part of the reason why.”

“
What do you do in your spare time? Don’t you have
friends?”

He
gave her a sheepish grin. “I read a lot.”

“
What do you read?”

“
Your planet has a wealth of books on military
history.”

“
You’re kidding. You read about battles for fun?”

“
Not for fun.
For education.”

“
What was the last novel you read?”

“
I’ve never read fiction.”

“
When was the last time you listened to music for
pleasure?”

“
I don’t.”

“
All right.
I have a plan. A proposal, if
you will. I’ll stop crying at the drop of a hat, and will try my damndest to
accept my fate, if you agree to read a novel and listen to a symphony.
Just once.”

“
You have no bargaining chips, Callie.”

“
I can refuse to enjoy sex with you.”

The
slow, sexy grin that spread across his face sent desire racing through her
body. The moment she said it, she knew she was in trouble. He put his arms
around her, and her pussy was instantly wet.

“
I seriously doubt that would last long.”

She
tried to squirm out of his grasp, but it was too late. Those big, strong arms
held her firmly now. “Pretty confident in your abilities, aren’t you?”

He
gave her an incredulous look. “And what do you call last night? You came five
times. Tell me how often in your life you’ve had five orgasms in one night.”

“
You put some kind of a spell on me.”

He
shook his head. “I told you I don’t possess such powers. What happened last
night was real. I exerted no control over your reaction to me.” His voice was
soft, soothing, and it filled the frightened, lonely spaces inside her head
until all she wanted to do was hold him and fuck him again. If he wasn’t doing
this to her, what the hell was? Where had she kept this passion hidden? Or
maybe it had only needed the right man to unleash it?

Jakara
kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and clung to
him like a life raft. When he lifted her in his arms, she assumed they were
going back to bed, but instead he carried her down the stairs and into the
bathroom. Then he placed her on her feet.

He
opened the faucets in the bathtub, and then he peeled off his shirt and pants.
He wore no underwear, and it struck her that he hadn’t had any on last night,
either. She reached for the hem of her tunic, but he shook his head. “Allow
me.” He lifted it over her head,
then
gazed at her
breasts for a moment before removing her pants as well.

“
Does anyone on your planet wear underwear?”

He
smiled slightly. “It gets very warm this far south. Why wear extra layers of
clothing if there is no need to?”

“
In that case, wouldn’t cotton be a better choice for
that outfit you just took off me? It’s cooler than silk.”

“
But I
prefer
silk. The fabric lies nicely against your curves, and when I run my hands over
the material, it’s more pleasing.”

He
pulled her close and held her, caressing her hair and back until Callie moaned
softly and pressed against his dick. When he released the embrace, he took her
hand and helped her into the warm water. He handed her a cake of sea green soap
that smelled like peppermint. “Wash me, Callie. Touch my body the way a lover
would.”

Callie
looked into his dark eyes and thought of the boyfriends she’d had. Certainly
not a lot by today’s standards, she’d still never had an experience like this
with any of them. She wasn’t even sure she’d loved any of them, and only one
had told her he loved her. She’d been fourteen. As if anyone knows what the
hell they want out of life at that age.

But
Jakara looked at her now with love in his eyes.
Or at least,
tenderness.
One thing was certain. He was true to his word. He hadn’t
hurt her, and he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. She felt that in
the air. There was no logical explanation for it, but she didn’t want one. She
only wanted to immerse herself in the moment and enjoy this seductive, gorgeous
man.

She
took her time with the soap, reveling in every quiver of his muscles and
sighing out loud at each deep, sexy moan. She’d never touched such a perfect
body. When she washed his dick, she also reached underneath and gently brushed
her soapy hands over his balls. That earned her loud groans and a hard tug on
her hair as he brought his mouth to her neck. He nuzzled it, sending tiny jolts
of electricity straight to her already throbbing clit.