Captured by his mortal enemy General Fintan
Daykin is held for many long months in an Imarian Facility. On the day that
he’s able to escape he’s faced with one of the biggest surprises of his life.
Adira Lora is the head of the Medical
Ministries offices of Imaria and she learnt that there is something seriously
wrong with one of the facilities. Something that she has to go and figure
out for herself since she trusts no one else.
Taken hostage by the tall, dark Craegin was
not what Adira had in mind when she got to the facility, but it seemed as if
Fate and the Spirits had something else altogether in mind for her.
She should be wary of the man who could tear
her apart but she’s not. She’s drawn to him, she aches for him and she’s
desperate to heal his injuries but he pushes her away at every turn.
He can’t let her too close, he’s far too
attracted to the small Imarian that he dragged with him onto her crawler. He
only wanted to get home, back to his people and away from the slow death that
her people were giving him.
Once the pain of his injuries starts to ease
and the reality of who little Adi is to him sets in Fin realizes that he will
have to protect her from more than just his people. Fin realizes that he would
also have to protect her from hers as well.
When Adira finally submits to Fintan however
he knows that he will never let her go. He owns her now, she is his in every
sense of the word for now and all time and nothing would come between them.
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Excerpt
Adira
went stiff as a board when the pistol was lifted to her temple. She took a deep
breath and nodded. She understood what he was saying, understood and would
comply. She had no idea who it was that had her, so she would play along until
she could be free.
She
listened to the man’s breathing and frowned. He was in pain; it was clear from
how he was gasping for air but there was something more. He wasn’t breathing as
an Imarian would, three sharp intakes of breath and one exhale.
Her
stomach felt as if it were in knots. She felt ill because she suddenly knew
that she wasn’t being held by someone that was on the island and had no idea who
she was. She was being held by one of the Craegin that her people had kidnapped
and had been torturing.
Stars.
She was in deep trouble. “You really don’t want to do this,” she told the man.
“I’m more trouble than I am worth. Ask anyone. I’m seriously not a good person
to take hostage.”
“I
don’t have what one would call a lot of choices here.” His voice was low, but
she could hear the underlying growl that gave it a certain rough quality. “One
way or another you are my ticket out of this hellish place. So you can either
help me willingly, or I start to break bones. Nothing important, but I know the
ones that will cause you immeasurable pain while still allowing you to function
enough to get me free. The choice is up to you. What will it be?”
There
was no choice. Adira was a lot of things, but able to withstand pain was not
one of them. She just nodded. “What do you need?” She would get him to where he
needed to be in order to get free. Then she would run as far and fast as she
could.
He
let out a harsh-sounding breath. “I need you to guide me to the ship bay here.
Preferably to one of your crawlers. Then you and I are going to leave on that
ship, and get me to a place where I can contact one of my own vessels to pick
me up. If you behave yourself, don’t try anything to alert anyone,
and generally do not make yourself an annoyance to me I might let you go free.
Depends on how bad my mood is by that point.” She felt him shift slightly, his
arm slowly letting go of her neck.
“We’re
going to take the path of least resistance. No guards, as few cameras as
possible, and you are not going to let anyone know anything is amiss in any
way. I have zero problem shooting a woman, but I’d rather not have to drag you
around at my heels to break free of here.”
Stars.
“Okay,” she said with a wobbly voice. “Then the best way to go will be back the
way that I came.” She had already killed a guard. This had to be her
punishment. She knew it. She had killed one of her own people so this was the
spirits’ way of punishing her. She was going to be this Craegin’s shield to get
free of her people. “I have a crawler. I came over from one of our other
worlds.”
The
weapon lowered until it was pressed into her lower back, right on her spine. At
that range he’d never miss, and if she wasn’t dead she’d definitely be
paralyzed. “How many guards between here and the bay?” he asked. He’d given her
a nudge to get her moving, but a hand on her arm slowed her pace. Adira
couldn’t see much of him beyond the one arm down at his side. But she did
notice he seemed to be limping, even dragging one of his legs slightly.
“None.
There was one but he won’t be a problem.” The physician in her wanted to heal
him. She wanted to reach out and find out what was wrong, but the prudent part
of her kicked in and she knew that would be just plain dumb. She did, however,
slow down. She ensured that she kept a pace that would keep them moving, but
wouldn’t push him too far. She didn’t know what to expect of this Craegin,
especially since the female captive had so easily sold out her people.
“What
about the cameras? How many are we going to have to contend with once we’re
past the holding areas?” The pressure of the weapon on her spine eased a
little. She knew it was still there, but he wasn’t digging it in any longer. He
might be injured, but she didn’t think for one moment he wasn’t aware of
everything around him.
“None.”
She had disabled them so that she could wheel the body out and dispose of it.
Why hadn’t she thought to reenable them? “I had disabled them,” she told him.
“I had been so caught up in my own mind that I forgot to reenable them,” she
added honestly. “My crawler is the one closest to the exit doors as well, so
there shouldn’t be anyone in the bays that will see us as that side is blocked
from view by my crawler.”
“Good,”
he grunted out. Suddenly his hand came up to her arm, pulling her to a stop.
“Shh,” he hissed. The pressure of the weapon was back for a moment as the sound
of boots on the tiled hall could be heard. They faded a few minutes later, and
he released her arm. “Go.”
She
nodded and went. There was something about his touch. It was odd. She didn’t
focus on it, though. Instead, she concentrated on getting through this alive.
She
made several twists and turns, being stopped a few times by the rather large
male that held a weapon at her head, and finally they were before the bay
doors. “When we enter we need to be fast. Get on my crawler. I need to make a
call to the booth. There is audio as well as visual so you will have to stand
far to the left behind a console and have to trust me. I really don’t want to
die, so I will get you out of here.” She would have somehow gotten him free
anyway because she didn’t believe in the tortures her people were inflicting
upon this male.
His
hand was on her arm again, holding tight. “Say or do the wrong thing when you
talk to them and you won’t live long enough to make another mistake. If need be
I can fly this thing out of here, but I’d really rather not have to do it with
your blood all over the console.” He gave a light but firm squeeze of her arm,
then let go. “Move,” he said under his breath.
She
nodded and moved as quickly as his pace would allow to her crawler. The medical
insignia on the side denoted it to be the head of their Medical Ministry, her.
Her hand to the panel at the side had the doors sliding open and engines
starting. She explained, “I’m still a doctor. My crafts need to be able to go
the moment I get in, just in case of an emergency.”
No
words came from him, just a grunt. A hard hand landed on her shoulder as soon
as they stepped into the crawler. She could see the weapon out of her periphery
as it was sweeping around the space. He was ensuring they were alone in the
small craft. The hand eased and gave her the smallest of pushes toward the
cockpit as the doors sealed behind them with a hiss of air.
Adira
settled into the pilot’s seat and strapped in. Looking back at the male, she
viewed him for the first time. He was large and impressive, handsome even. He
was also severely injured. “Stand just to the left there,” she told him as she
pointed to a console. “Now, please. They are beeping to get through.” She
adjusted herself slightly, and when he was hidden pulled up the view screen.
“Sorry that took so long, gentlemen. I had to take another call. I have an
emergency on Talaxia five. I need clearance to scuttle quickly.”
The
man on the screen was looking around the inside of her cockpit. “Likely a good
thing you’re getting out of here now, Doc. Sounds like there’s an escapee in
one of the wards. No clue how the freak got loose, but he’s extremely
dangerous. He’s killed three of our men already, the spirits only know what
he’d do to a woman,” he said. The hangar bay doors began to open. “You are
clear for departure. Head straight out, and stay in the lane until you clear
the beacons. Safe journeys.”
“Thank
you.” She winced. Oh God, had he really killed three men? Or was the man she
killed one of those? She closed off the view screen, then looked back. “You
might want to hold on to something.” She began to move her crawler into place
and took off as quickly as she typically would in any emergency situation.
Ten
minutes later they were free of the planet and she looked to him once more.
“Where are we headed?” She knew that he had said to a planet where his people
could pick him up, but she had no idea where.
Easing
around the equipment board he’d hidden behind, the Craegin male came forward.
He leaned over the console to input some coordinates. “There,” he said. “Set
the autopilot, and then we’re going to check the rest of this crawler over.”
There wasn’t a whole lot left to check, except for the kitchenette, a tiny
medical bay, the small sleeping quarters, and the bathing room that
approximated to less than a closet amount of space. Crawlers were meant for
short runs, not for comfort. Beyond that there was a storage area, but it
wasn’t accessible from inside, only from the exterior of the craft.
Once
she’d set the autopilot, he leaned in once more to type something else in. A
quick glance showed he’d just locked down the entire panel. Without the code
he’d entered she couldn’t call out, or fly the craft. Which meant she had to
keep him alive if she wanted to survive this. “Stay here,” he ordered. Now that
she couldn’t alert anyone to the fact she was a hostage, he likely felt secure
in leaving her in the space. A hard look from his bright gray eyes under the
heavy fall of badly tangled black hair, and he turned to leave the cockpit.
He
had to keep his head lowered to move through the spaces, being taller than the
average Imarian male. She noticed he was also broader, more heavily muscled
than an Imarian. Not that she should be noticing anything about him, but it was
hard not to when he seemed to take up so much of the space around her.
“Since
you have locked everything down you should let me have a look at your
injuries.” She should just let him bleed to death, but with him having locked
her out of her own ship that would end very badly for her. “It’s beneficial to
me for you to survive. The least I can do is tend to your injuries. I am a
medical doctor, allow me to assist you.”
A
derisive snort was her only answer as he continued away from her. He
disappeared from view a couple of times, checking out the additional spaces
afforded on the craft. Finally he reappeared from the sleeping quarters and
signaled her toward him.
Adira
cautiously moved forward. “Yes?” she asked as she looked up into his gray eyes.
They were actually rather beautiful and ringed with a bright green that
captured her interest. Adira shook her head. No, not her interest, something
else. “I have a full medical bay. It’s very small but it has everything that we
could offer. I could close your wounds and do a scan of your leg to find out
what’s wrong with it. If you will let me?” She couldn’t push him to do as she
asked, but she itched to ensure that he was okay.
“I
know what’s wrong with it. I was there when they did it,” he said. No, it was
more of a snarl, given the curl of his lip. “Inside. You’re going to sit on the
edge of the bunk and not move while I clean up. I need to get the blood off of
me so I can evaluate the exact amount of damage your colleagues inflicted.”
She
winced and nodded. “I know that this isn’t a good time to tell you this.” She
settled on the bunk and watched him as he moved. “And please don’t shoot me for
telling you this truth.” She was chewing her lower lip as she watched him and
gasped at the injuries that he wore. “By the stars, how can you even be
mobile?” Gone was what she was going to tell him about the Craegin female.
Instead her medical training kicked in and she wanted to heal.
He
turned a cold look on her as he dropped the coat and shirt he’d removed to the
floor. “Sheer will to not die in an Imarian testing facility. It’s amazing what
the body and mind can do when the goals are so simple. Do not move,” he warned
again. He took the pistol, and one other she hadn’t realized he had, and set
them inside the shower—up high so they wouldn’t get wet, and where he could
easily reach them but she couldn’t. He turned on the water and dropped his
pants. No warning, no closing the small sliding door, nothing. Down they went,
and a moment later his ass disappeared behind the sliding pane of the
enclosement.
Adi
simply watched him. Her mouth had gone suddenly dry and her mind went places
that an Imarian held captive by a Craegin should never go. He was stunning. His
height was massive, over two meters tall, easily, and his build was thick but
it was the markings on his body that captured her attention. Well, that and the
musculature and his ass. By the mother, his ass was impressive. “I’m sorry that
you were taken,” she told him honestly. “There was a Craegin female that was
held there as well.” Please don’t let them be related, she prayed.
“So
I’d heard.” His words were barely loud enough for her to hear. “She was the one
feeding your people information about us. Once I’m back I’ll be ensuring that
anything we’d done prior is never done the same again. I will not allow our
people to be easy prey for you sick freaks.”
“How
did you know?” she asked with a frown and tilt of her head. “Yes, she has been
feeding my people information for years, from what I surmised. They are sick.”
She mumbled that last part. She didn’t protest on the sick freaks comment,
because he had that right. Sadly. Her people weren’t supposed to ever take
prisoners of war and abuse them as this man had been abused. “She watched. She
took glee in telling me that when they did their first procedure on you she was
able to watch. I’m so sorry.” Her people had a lot to answer for, but not every
being who was Imarian was a sick freak, as he had stated.
“It’s
amazing what we can hear in that place. They figure since we’re all going to
die they don’t need to watch their words.” She watched him tip his head back,
his face into the spray. He was tall enough that his shoulders, neck, and head
were above the partition. The water shut off a moment later, and he shook his
head before slicking his hair back from his face. He locked eyes with her as he
pushed the partition aside and stepped out to collect a towel.
“Holy
mother,” she whispered a moment before she turned her face from him. He was…there
weren’t words to describe the perfection of this man. Even with the injuries
that he had sustained he was impressive. Her gaze had gone straight to his cock
and she had to bite her lip at the memory of that brief glance. He was soft,
but his shaft hung low and was thick. He was very large, all over, and he made
her heart do things that no Imarian had ever made her do before.
She
could hear him toweling off. A soft clunk sounded, and she shot him a
look to see he’d collected the laser pistols. The towel was wrapped around his
waist, barely covering everything of importance. He was peering into the mirror
on the wall, twisting this way and that to get a look at all the damage done.
His back was a mass of bruises, as were his legs and arms. His chest had some
bruising, but older from the colors she could see. Fresh nicks and cuts were
all over his body. The leg he’d been favoring, though, looked the worst. His
leg looked as if there was a heavy bruise that was practically fully black from
his knee up to somewhere under the towel. She cringed at the sight. The pain
that he was in had to be terrible. She hurt for the man. Obviously someone had
repeatedly struck that leg.
“Will
you please let me scan your leg at least? I know you have no reason at all to
trust me, with what they did to you, but I need you to understand that it’s
hurting me to see you hurting, especially since I can do something about it.”
She wanted to help him. He could think all that he wanted about her people, but
seeing him injured was hurting her. She had never hurt before like this. It was
as if she could feel his pain.
He
turned his head slowly to give her a look. She could practically see him
thinking through all the options, considering every angle, and coming to a
decision. With a small jerk of his head he gave her permission. “I need
something to wear. This towel is not exactly comfortable over the wounds
inflicted on a certain part of my anatomy. I need pants at the very least, but
a shirt wouldn’t be amiss either.”
“I
should have a medical uniform that will fit you.” She pointed to the drawer to his
left. “There should be one in there. It might be a bit short on you but the
male who wore it was rather overweight, so it should fit across your chest. I
hope.” She winced and chewed her lip again. “I’m so sorry.” She seemed to
continue to say that to him, but there weren’t enough words to tell him just
how horrified she was that her people had done this to him.
“Your
words hold no meaning to me, Imarian, so you may as well quit spouting them,”
he said coldly with his eyes narrowed. Digging through the drawer, he pulled
out pants and slipped them on. They were definitely short, only coming down to
the top of his calves. He was a lot taller than the average Imarian, and
definitely taller than her coworker. The shirt he pulled on after dropping the
towel to the floor. It was definitely tight, but he seemed to have no loss of
movement. “Good enough,” he muttered.
She
nodded. “We should go into the medical bay. There’s a handheld scanner there
and I can check to ensure that they didn’t break the bone. If they have, then I
can put you into an air cast to help ease the pain.” Cocking her head to the
side, she asked, “Are you going to be okay if I get up and go get medical ready
for you?”
His
head whipped around to look at her. “We’ll go together,” he said. He picked up
one of the laser pistols and quickly took it apart, dropping the parts, except
for the power source, into the disposal unit. He picked up the other one, but
kept it down at his leg as he waved her out into the corridor.
“Okay.”
She moved away from the large Craegin and toward medical bay. Looking over her
shoulder she saw him following slowly behind her. Once that was done she pulled
down supplies. “If you will have a seat on the bay bed there? I will scan you
from head to toe. I would feel much better knowing that you are at least mostly
healed before you go to your people.”
He
eyed her up and down for a long moment before moving to the bed. Easing up on
it slowly, he let out a hissing breath. Not that his face showed any of his
discomfort, though. Once he was laying down she moved closer to him and saw he
still had one hell of a grip on the weapon.
“I
won’t hurt you. I know you have no reason at all to believe me but I will not
hurt you,” she assured him. “It’s not who I am. I’m a healer,” she told him
quietly. “Oh this is not good.” She paused the scan over his knee and bit her
lower lip. “It looks as if they have dislocated your knee. I can set it and
that will ease much of your pain.”
The
Craegin gave her a grunt, but didn’t move. Adira was going to take that as
acceptance of the help she was offering. He also didn’t shoot her, so that was
a huge plus. “Apparently not all your healers have the same beliefs
as you do.”
“I
can’t speak for them, only me. I can’t believe that they did this. We have laws
in place for a reason.” She was muttering as she spoke to him. “No one is
supposed to ever be subjected to the pain and suffering that you were submitted
to. For that I am so sorry. I want to kill my people for doing this.”
Especially in her facility. She was not pleased at all.
The
look on his face said he didn’t believe her. “If you plan on fixing my leg,
sooner would be appreciated. I’ll need all the time possible to heal before we
reach our destination. Especially since it won’t be in friendly territory, for
you.”
“You
aren’t going to put me off at a neutral planet?” she asked with a frown and sat
back on her heels on the floor in front of him. “Oh stars.” She was so totally
screwed. She was never going to live through this one. “Okay.” At least she
could set his knee and help him heal, that was what she could do.
“There
are no neutral planets anymore,” he said. “There are only ones slightly less
hostile than the others. The one we’re aiming for is the least hostile around.
But if your brethren weren’t so determined to exterminate us we wouldn’t have
this problem. Would we?” he asked with a hard look at her.
Sadly
he had a point there, but she didn’t say anything. Instead Adi worked on his
leg, then passed him a medical hypospray. “You should give this to yourself to
help you with your healing. It’s only vitamins, it shouldn’t harm you.”
He
took the hypospray, looking it over a moment, then tossed it aside. “No drugs,
nothing from an Imarian. I’ve been given more shots since my arrival than I
have in my entire life. No more.
Especially
something I didn’t load myself from supplies I trust. Fix my leg, or move so I
can get up.”
She
nodded and put her hand on his knee. “It’s going to hurt,” she told him only a
moment before she popped his knee back into place. “So sorry,” she said once
more and moved back. Standing, she looked over him. “No drugs, then. Sorry I
offered them to you.” Maybe she should drug herself and be done with it.
He
hadn’t even flinched. Either his pain was already so great he hadn’t felt what
she’d done, or he was so well trained he’d been able to hide the reaction. She
had a feeling it might have been a little of both. Easing to a sitting
position, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and slowly put weight onto
his leg. “Better,” he muttered. “You really shouldn’t be apologizing to anyone,
especially your enemy. It leaves you in a weakened position, more so than you
currently are in.”
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