Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (26 page)

Chapter
Thirteen

Tren didn’t wait for the
encroaching enemy to approach. He charged them with silent fury. A gun in one
hand, a knife in the other, he took aim as he went after the invaders. He
didn’t miss. Nor did he shoot to injure. Each head shot took down an intruder,
and those who popped up silently from the rocks and brush met the sharp edge of
his blade.

As attacks went, the enemy proved
less than impressive. Mindless clones who resembled the slimy skinned goblins
of the Pracgudian galaxy, they didn’t even wield any laser pistols. Whoever had
sent them to attack had armed them instead with knives and swords. To say he
sliced through them in a gruesome swath was an understatement. Actually, the
ease with which he dispatched them insulted him.
If someone was going to
attack me they could have at least made an effort.

Unless these fodders for death
served another purpose, such as delay. Tren almost groaned aloud at his
stupidity in not recognizing the stalling tactic.

Urgency imbued him as, through his
connection to Megan, he sensed her sudden shock, then fear. Her anger swiftly
followed, but what worried him most of all was when, like a fire snuffed, he no
longer felt anything of her emotions.

Tren roared in fury, the icy chill
of fear held at bay by the intact tendril of his mating bond allowing him to
know she lived, if incapacitated.

Unacceptable.

Tren broke off the battle with the
clones and ran towards his house, then past it, following his ghostly
connection to Megan.

At a swift jog, it didn’t take him
long to catch up to his brother who strode along in cocky arrogance with Megan
slung over his shoulder.

"Drop her, Jaro, before I put
an end to our feud once and for all."

His brother turned with a smirk. "Done
with my little surprise already? That must be a record even for you. I’d
calculated it would take you at least a few units, enough time for me to get
away with the female."

Tren raised his gun and aimed it at
his brother’s head, his hand steady even if his heart quavered at what Jaro
forced him to do. "Don’t make me kill you," he warned.

Jaro scoffed. "You and I both
know you won’t break our promise to mother over a female."

Tren felt the coldness of his
killer side slip over him. "I will kill anyone who thinks to harm my mate,
promise or not."

Jaro’s eyes widened, and he reeled
back a step. "Mate? Surely you didn’t bond with the Earthling? She’s a
barbarian."

"Megan is my mate. The proof
of her claiming is visible on her neck. So I am going to ask you one last time
to put her down, or make no mistake, I will kill you."

Before Jaro could comply, a burning
pain hit Tren’s back. With a growl, Tren turned and fired on the ranks of a new
group of aliens approaching armed with laser pistols. A presence at his side
made him snarl, a sound bitten short as he saw his brother shooting at the
advancing menace.

"Game over, Jaro. Call your
lackeys off," Tren shouted.

"They’re not mine," Jaro
replied, his expression grim as he aimed and fired.

"Frukx!" Tren didn’t like
the sound of that, but then another worry hit him.
Megan.
He whirled in
time to see figures darting toward her prone figure on the ground. Tren roared
as he rushed them, shooting them down, but more poured forth from the
vegetation as he stood over her body, protecting her unconscious shape with his
own.

A few fiery shots struck him, the
burning pain making him grit his teeth. It also made him sloppy and he missed
the attack from behind which toppled him over to lie face first in the ground.

And this is why I became a
mercenary instead of a soldier. Sneak attacks are much better for my general
health than full on battle.

The injuries peppering his body
would heal if he got to a medtech unit. Tren groaned as he tried to push
himself up. He struggled to one knee as the sounds of shouting and renewed
firing letting him know the guards that he’d sent away during his courtship of
Megan had finally arrived from the outpost.

Frantically, he looked about for
Megan. When he didn’t see her he staggered to his feet. The sudden movement
made him sway and black spots danced in front of his eyes.

Then
he knew nothing.

* * *

Tren woke in the healing unit and
he bellowed when the frukxn’ thing wouldn’t let him rise as it completed the
mending sequence. His shout brought Jaro who sported some colorful bruises.

"Where’s Megan?" Tren
could sense her, faintly. His fragile connection to her frightened him like
nothing else ever had.

Jaro’s face tightened.

Tren struggled against the
invisible bonds that held him while the machine worked, and gave up with a
frustrated scream of rage. "This is your fault," Tren yelled.

"I’m not the one who kidnapped
her," Jaro shouted back.

"But you’re the one who
frukxed with my security, are you not?"

Jaro at least had the decency to
look sheepish. "I only meant to take your human and copulate with her like
you did with Shinja. Show you what it felt like to have a female you cared for
tainted."

Tren growled. "You idiot! How
many times do you have to be told I never touched that she-witch?"

Jaro’s lips tightened. "Stop
lying. She admitted it to me."

"Because the whore was mad I
rebuffed her advances."

"Liar. She loved me and you
just couldn’t keep your hands off."

"She was copulating with the
whole regiment. I was the only one who said no. Don’t believe me? Fine, then
call up some of the others from the rank. I’m sure now that all this time has
passed, they might finally have the courage to admit their part."

Jaro’s face stiffened for a moment,
then went slack with resignation. "Some already have confessed."

"And?" Tren growled.

"I killed them instead of
believing them."

Tren snorted. "They probably
deserved it. So are you going to keep believing that good for nothing whore or
your own brother and common sense?"

"What? And give up our
competition for greatest mercenary?" Jaro grinned.

"Ha. What competition? We both
know I’m the better one."

"Says the male who had his
security system cracked and didn’t notice until I intentionally set off an
alarm." Jaro smirked in triumph and Tren scowled.

"I was distracted." And
still was with worry about his mate. "How much longer before this blasted
thing is done? I need to go after Megan."

"You still have a few units to
go, but don’t worry, we’ve almost caught up to the idiot who took her."

Tren laid his head back and closed
his eyes in relief. "Good."

"Not really. Z’nistakn is the
one who kidnapped her, and he’s taking her back to his planet which is
virtually impregnable."

Tren allowed a ghost of a smile to
tilt his lips. "No, it’s not. I bribed the engineer who designed his
system."

"You mean tortured?" Jaro
replied wryly.

"Either way, he gave me some
backdoor codes to get in."

"How do you know he’d didn’t
change them?"

"I killed him right after, of
course." Tren chuckled and Jaro joined him.

"Fine, that gives you a
possible way in, but it does nothing to help us with the troops he has on hand
to throw at us both on land and in space."

"I’ll worry about penetrating
his fortress, it is after all my specialty. As for space, I think it’s time I
called in some favors. I will get her back, Jaro, even if my actions start a
war with the entire galactic council." Tren couldn’t care less about
Z’nistakn’s position on the council. He’d frukxed with the wrong male when he
took their mutual dislike to a personal level.

 Jaro sighed. "Great, reunited
for not even a galactic unit and already you’re dragging me into trouble."
He laughed. "Just like the old days."

Tren
joined him in chuckling, but his was a darker sound. Where Megan was concerned,
he’d do and kill anything to get her back. Woe to anyone who stood in his way.

* * *

In what rapidly was becoming a
tedious pattern, Megan blinked her eyes open, sighed and kept them open. Not
that the view really appealed, but she’d learned playing opossum simply didn’t
seem to work. Besides, the situation warranted her using her wits, because
standing in front of her was a cross between an alligator and a human. In other
words, something butt ugly. Unlike her other abductions, this time she sat in a
chair with only her hands bound in front of her which left her feet free. What
a mistake.

"Finally, she awakes,"
hissed the creature, flicking out a forked tongue.

She crinkled her nose. "What
are you, Voldemort’s cousin?"

Slitted yellow eyes narrowed. "Silence
female. I am galactic councilor Z’nistakn, but you may call me Master."

A snicker escaped her. "I don’t
think so. Although, I can see calling you my new pair of boots if you don’t
take me back to Tren, like, yesterday." Megan made the threat even as she
didn’t hold out hope Tren would rescue her again. Ridiculous as her new captor
appeared and spoke, she recognized the signs of wealth from the well-armed
guards at his back to the more opulent surroundings around her. Anyhow, it
wasn’t as if her pirate truly cared for her. He simply enjoyed using her body.
It didn’t stop her from hoping, though, that he’d come sweeping in, guns
blazing to rescue her like Han Solo and Luke had with Princess Leia.

The lizard, whose name she couldn’t
pronounce, just about went postal at her words. "Insolent whore. I will
teach you to mock those superior to you." Its clawed fingers grappled with
the robe it wore and spread it open to reveal a stubby penis.

Megan laughed. "Ooh, make me
shake in teeny, tiny fear, why don’t you? My god, are all your kind so poorly
endowed? No wonder you need to kidnap women. Your own probably keep laughing
you out of the bedroom."

The titters she heard didn’t come
from Mr. Lizard, but his guards. And it made him snap. He drew back and slapped
her, rocking her head to the side.

Turning back to face him, she
smirked. "Lovely, another alien coward who can only hit a woman when she’s
tied up. Is Tren the only alien in the galaxy man enough to handle a real
woman?" She really should learn to shut up, she thought, as Mr. Lizard
smacked her again and again, but honestly, she’d rather die than let the
alligator freak touch her.

A beeping sounded and a computer
generated voice announced, "Request for teleconference from Trenkaluan for
galactic councilor Z’nistakn."

The upright crocodile stopped
slapping her, and his slitted eyes lit with pleasure. "About time. I was
beginning to wonder if my troops had killed him during your extraction."

Megan’s heart almost stopped at
those words.
Was Tren hurt? Oh, my god.

The lizard turned away from her and
faced a large blank wall. "Put him onscreen."

Tren’s face filled the wall, his
blue eyes almost opaque in his fury. "Z’nistakn," he snarled. "You’ve
crossed the line."

The alien crowed. "Ah, has the
mighty mercenary suffered a loss? So much for your reputation of always
prevailing."

Mercenary?
Megan’s brow furrowed. Tren was a space pirate, or was he? Suddenly
some of the things he’d said and done came together and she wanted to laugh at
her naivety. Mercenary or not, she still loved the stupid, purple lug.

"You will return Megan to me
this instant or suffer the consequences," Tren ordered.

"I think not. Well, not until
you’ve done a few tasks for me, then we can talk about a possible exchange."

"You sign your death warrant
then."

"It will take more than
threats to frighten me," scoffed the lizard.

Tren’s lips curled into a sadistic
smile that made her shiver, not in fear for herself, but satisfaction. The
idiot who’d kidnapped her didn’t seem to realize he played with fire. "That
wasn’t a threat. It was a promise."

The alien laughed. "You seem
to forget, I have an army at my disposal. Actually, as we speak, I’ve already
dispatched my squadrons to take care of your vessel if you refuse to cooperate."

Tren’s smile widened. "Who
says I came alone?" The view on the screen switched to show one tiny ship
hovering in space and then suddenly, there were dozens of vessels of varying
sizes.

A stink permeated the room as Mr.
Lizard almost shit himself in sudden fear. His voice quavered when he spoke
again. "You wouldn’t dare! The council won’t sit back and allow you to
kill me. It would mean a declaration of war against your kind if you did."

Tren’s eyes narrowed, becoming flat
and cold. Megan could almost feel the chill creeping from them. "If it
takes a war to get my mate back, then bring it on. I am coming for her. And
when I do, you and anyone else in my way will die."