Enslaved by a Rebel [Sold! 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (14 page)

Jarrett followed his gaze down the hallway. “Who are they?”

“I know not.” The officer tilted his head in that curious way. “You could request my presence as an officer of Krase to ensure you are well treated.”

“You would do that?” Ranic asked.

“I would.”

Before Jarrett could ask the obvious, the Krase officer met his probing, suspicious glare.

“I will ask nothing in exchange for defending you in this way.”

“No kinky sex acts?” Jarrett asked jauntily.

“No.” The officer reached out, but rather than touch Jarrett, he stroked one massive finger against Ranic’s cheek, taking a tear away. “Sparkles.”

There was a moment of stunned silence when he lifted the mark of pain to his mouth and licked it away. Jarrett had never seen anything so oddly touching and yet totally bizarre.

“Why did you do that?” Jarrett asked.

“Because I wished to know what the tears of love would taste like.” The officer turned away as the people—aliens—who had been moving toward them reached their sit-in protest in the hallway.

True to his word, the Krase officer stopped them short of Jarrett and Ranic. It wasn’t much, maybe only a minute or possibly ten longer, but it was them taking a stand. Jarrett was proud of that.

“You are so strong.” Jarrett wrapped his hand around Ranic’s forearm, as he did the same. They were bracing themselves against one another to make the effort of dragging them away that much more difficult.

“You are so brave.” Ranic reached for Jarrett’s other arm.

Pulling him into his lap, Jarrett nestled him close. They clung together, waiting for brutal hands to pull them apart. As Jarrett buried his face against Ranic’s neck, he smelled the rich scent of his fear, but also that of his love. His body was cooler than his own, but there was heat down below where their bodies meshed. Surely, if they could sway a hardened warrior, they could get others to take their side or to see their plight. If they refused to fight because of the love they shared, then surely, someone would see. Someone else would help. There had to be a way for them to stay together.

Ranic picked up his golden cloth, but rather than pull it over his head to hide his face, he draped it over the two of them, giving them a golden cave of privacy.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Ranic smiled and tears of joy slipped beyond the corners of his beautiful eyes. “I’m not leaving you.”

Jarrett realized that if they took him away to kill him, Ranic would come with him. He wanted to stand, to push him away, to say no in a thousand ways, but he found that he couldn’t. Just as they had sworn to in their vows, they would stay together through thick and thin. Jarrett realized that even death couldn’t part them, not if they faced it together.

Ranic was terrified beyond reason, but he was determined to stay with the man he loved. He hadn’t been certain until a war-hardened Krase warrior, with three planets under his massive conquering boots, found their love so strong, so unique, that even he was persuaded to stand up for them. If he could find the spark to turn from his usual tack, then surely Ranic could, too.

But then Ranic realized he’d turned from the usual road of his species long before now. His kind stayed hidden behind thick suits, immutable laws, and restrictive planetary codes. Ranic didn’t think he was the first of his kind to seek happiness beyond the limited scope of his rulers, but he thought that maybe he might be the first to effect a change.

“I’m not leaving you. Even if they throw us in a pit of fire, I’m not letting go.” Ranic could see that Jarrett wanted to argue. It was his nature to be protective, but in this, Jarrett recognized that Ranic would stand firm. And he relented.

“You amaze me.”

“Do I?”

“You are so strong to do what you have already done and then to defy them with me makes you totally amazing.” Jarrett pulled him tight against his chest, and for a moment, Ranic weakened. He wanted to stand and make a grab for the Krase’s weapons, but he knew that was crazy. He didn’t know how to wield such instruments of death. He only knew how to blast asteroids apart and how to make his mate utter cries of bliss and submission.

“I honestly don’t know what they are protesting.” It was the three-eyed auctioneer. He was peering past the imposing blockage of the Krase warrior. “No one is getting killed or beaten or anything!”

“What do you want them for?” The officer refused to step aside.

“It is not your concern.”

“I am here to protect them while they are under Krase law. They asked me to aid them during this time.” He straightened just a little more, and Ranic had the impression that the officer had always done what he was told, and he enjoyed his work, but taking a stand for helpless aliens gave him a strong sense of personal satisfaction. “Surely you must understand that having their ship commandeered and being taken captive by an entire contingent of Krase warriors is disconcerting.”

“It wasn’t my idea to send you steroid-riddled monsters.” The auctioneer realized what he’d said about two seconds after he said it. He took a wary step back. “Your government forced me to let you—them—get involved.”

“Then I shall stay.”

Frowning, his three eyes blinking in a chain—plink, plink, plink—the auctioneer considered where they were. He looked at the hallway from the floor to the ceiling. He shook his rounded head. “This is not the place for our discussion.”

“Where would you have them go?”

“My office.”

The Krase officer considered.

In a huff, the auctioneer explained that what they had to talk about was a private matter and he simply couldn’t tell them about the problem in the middle of a hallway on an unsecured ship. He offered them safe passage to his building on Krase. On his honor, no harm would come to any of them and they could bring their warrior if they wished.

Ranic and Jarrett talked about what they should do, but it was Jarrett who thought they should go. If they were safe, and their bodyguard had heard the auctioneer swear that this was so, then they could go to another venue and talk.

“But we are free to leave at any time.”

“Well, yes. You are not under arrest.”

Ranic and Jarrett rose, but rather than get close to the auctioneer, they stayed behind the protective bulk of their warrior. Pleased that they had convinced the officer of their inherent innocence, Ranic felt safe going down to the surface of Krase with him as their protector.

“No one is going to mess with this guy.”

“No.” Ranic grinned at Jarrett. “They see the mark on his right cheek and they know what that means.”

“He really defeated three worlds?” Jarrett sounded impressed.

“Krase are fierce warriors.”

“Yeah. And horny freaks, too.”

“Do not denigrate him for that, because I think that is what prompted him to become our protector.”

“He still isn’t getting any.”

“I think he just wants to be near us.”

“Yeah, well, that’s fine.” Jarrett stood a little taller as they walked down the hallway. “I just don’t want him to get any weird ideas.”

“There is no harm in that. It’s only if he tries to act them out that there would be a problem.”

They chuckled but kept following. Eventually, they were taken to a shuttle bay. The four of them entered the back of the shuttle while another Krase warrior took the pilot seat.

Ranic noticed that the pilot and their protector flashed one another a look, and while he strapped himself in, he pondered what it meant. And then, when their protector looked at the back of the pilot’s head and his eyes flashed black, Ranic had his answer. They were lovers. He grinned. It seemed even the war-hardened Krase had their softer moments.

“What are you grinning at?” Jarrett asked as he leaned close.

Ranic explained and watched as Jarrett tried to assess the two Krase without attracting attention to himself. He failed miserably.

“You wonder at him and me?” the officer asked.

“No. I was just…looking.”

“You would be a terrible spy.”

“Yeah, well, I’m an accountant by trade.”

“And a scuba diver,” Ranic added proudly.

“What’s that?”

“It’s like wearing a spacesuit out in space but I’m underwater.”

The officer made that strange face again. He narrowed one eye and tilted his head. “Why would one do that?”

“To see what’s under the water.”

“Why would one care?”

Now Jarrett flashed that odd look at the Krase warrior. “Curiosity?”

The officer nodded and then darted a quick look at the pilot.

To Ranic, it was clear he liked him quite a bit more than he wanted him to know. Ranic felt sorry for him. Maybe the Krase did love but it was very difficult for them because of the curious way of their kind. Unlike most of the galaxy, the Krase had three sexes. Male, female, and neutral. All the Krase warriors were neutrals. It was their job to protect the planet and expand the empire so their males and females could mate. However, Ranic knew that the neutrals were just as driven to have sex. Not for procreation, but strictly to release the buildup of fluids. If they didn’t, they could go into a terrifying battle rage and kill everyone around them. Ranic hoped for all their sakes their protector had recently indulged himself. Although, given how he’d propositioned them and his complaint about the lack of sexual slaves on the ship, maybe he was strongly feeling the need to find release.

Since the auctioneer had decided to sit quite a distance away from them, Ranic moved into the seat next to the officer. When he did, his
strosan
squirmed in his trousers and Ranic considered moving away again, but his curiosity got the better of him.

“Do you love him?” Ranic nodded to the pilot.

“He is adequate.”

“How romantic.” Ranic made a face, and the Krase warrior laughed.

“Why do you care?”

“Curiosity?”

Again, he laughed. “I find I am richer for having met you and your slave.”

“He’s not my slave.”

“Yes. You wed him.” The Krase warrior considered them for a long moment. “How do you decide who penetrates whom?”

“We toss a coin,” Jarrett said with a pointed frown at Ranic.

“I didn’t ask him to ask that question,” Ranic pointed out.

“It’s just really nosy and totally none of his concern.”

“He asked me about the pilot,” the officer said. “He is the one who is nosy. Nosy? What a curious word.”

“How about we all move back to our seats and stop asking the big, scary alien who he’s slipping his enormous sausage to?” Jarrett got up and offered out a hand to Ranic.

“You are being silly. He’s our protector.”

“I think it best if you move away.” The officer eyed Jarrett. “I would not wish for him to have a sitting protest at my feet.”

It was a cruel dig, but it didn’t faze Jarrett. Once Ranic was out of his straps, he moved back over to where they had been sitting and settled in again with Jarrett at his side.

“Are you angry with me?”

“No.” Jarrett shook his head and took his hand. “You’re curious. So am I, but I am not brave enough to ask.”

“I think he likes the pilot very much, but there is some problem there.”

“Maybe he’s of a lower rank and the officer can’t take him home to mother.”

It took a moment for Ranic’s translator to work, but when it did, he found himself explaining about the sex life of Krase. Fascinated, Jarrett couldn’t help but look at the massive officer and wonder that he wasn’t male. “He’s more male than a freestanding cock.”

Giggling, Ranic explained in detail about how they went about procreating. None of it mattered in the least, but it kept them entertained and stopped them from pestering the auctioneer, who clearly wasn’t going to answer any questions until they landed on Krase and made their way to his office.

Since they were with a fully named Krase warrior, they were allowed to land near the shuttle port. From their ship, they entered a private train car that would take them into the domed city of Gerfal.

“It’s not much to look at.” Jarrett seemed disappointed by the severe, wind-torn landscape of Krase.

“It has a harsh beauty,” their protector defended.

“I meant no offence.”

“Yet you still managed to succeed.”

“You never did tell us your name,” Ranic interrupted, cutting off their sparring. He did this not because he feared retaliation, but because he thought it was a curious form of flirting for the officer.

“I am Nobel Chaos.” He lifted his chin proudly.

“Wow.”

Nobel flashed Jarrett a dark look.

“Whoa, no. It’s a cool name. Really. Kinda scary and yet fitting.”

“Does he mock me?” Nobel asked Ranic.

“He does not understand that Krase warriors must earn a name.”

“What do you call them before then?” Jarrett asked.