Precious Starlight (Quads of Galafrax Book 3) (10 page)

“I can’t say no to that. I do want to learn more, but this is not a date and we are
not
courting.”

The Councillors nodded solemnly.

“I hope, if nothing else, Daisy, we can be friends.” Lik smiled.

“All right, so when do we leave?”

All four Demos men beamed happily as she got to her feet, helped by But.

“If you’re ready, now?”

“Sure, I’ll put some shoes on and we’ll go.”

“Trust us to show you a wonderful time.”

Pot’s smile was wide, yet she saw calculation in his golden eyes. For now she shook it off. She had to try to make the best of things until her men returned.

The sooner, the better.

* * * *

The painful squeeze in Bex’s chest made him stagger, near collapsing, on the seat in his brightly lit office. Pain poured through his every cell.
It couldn’t be, no, no,
no…

Cir, who’d been working by his side, glanced up in concern. “Bex? What is the matter? You’ve turned a pale shade of pink.”

“A current news report from the Third city of Galafrax,” Bex managed.

Scowling, Cir leaned over Bex’s station, his eyes flicking through the reports and images displayed.

“Oh, by the Fire Gods! There has to be some mistake. She would never willingly do this to us.”

“Tos was right all along: they wanted her, and they now have her.” His voice sounded strangled even to his own ears.

“We can’t show this to Tos.” Cir shook his head, the pain swirling in his eyes. Bex still struggled to believe she would betray them.

“He’s going to find out sooner or later. These reports are public knowledge.” He pushed back to his feet. “We need to talk to her. I want to hear it from her own lips she’s accepted those pompous pricks over us.”

Cir clamped his hand on Bex's shoulder. “I’ll call a family meeting. We need to find out why we haven’t been able to talk to her for all this time.”

Bex took a deep breath, trying to quell the pain of possibly losing Daisy. Something was wrong here. The four of them needed to stand together and find out what by the Ice Plains was going on.

* * * *

Arr burst into her room without knocking. Daisy, dressed in her fuzzy slippers and robe, with a hot cup of
Purrt
in her hand, jumped in fright. The liquid sloshed, spilling down her front.

“Oh, Daisy! You’ve got to see this.” In one smooth move, he’d grabbed a cloth to dab at her spill while dropping a Galafrax information pad into her lap. She swore the Demos man was half-octopus, sometimes.

Frowning, she picked up the pad and squinted. “Just what am I looking at?” She scrolled down to see images of her with the High Councillors from yesterday’s outing where they’d shown her the city. Pot had his arm around her shoulder while pointing out an old landmark. However, the wording was all in the Galafraxian language.

“I can’t read this yet, Arr.” She shoved his hand from her chest when it crept too high.

He flopped down next to her on the sofa and took it from her hands. “It says, 'The High Councillors of Third City are proud to announce their coming bonding with the human female Daisy Putter, who yesterday agreed to become their
sheraz
. After the bonding of the High Lords in City Prime, there are high hopes their mating will produce many fine female offspring.'”

Shock hit her like a sledgehammer, knocking the breath from her lungs and making her hands shake. Arr relieved her of her cup before she could spill any more.

It took a moment for the shock to morph into sharp anger.

“I did not agree to be their
sheraz.
They know fucking well I’m spoken for! Why, those dirty, underhanded sneaks…”

Daisy jumped to her feet, her ample chest heaving in rage.

“I didn’t think you had, which is why I got here as soon as I could this morning. I’ve heard you talk about your quads. I know how much you love them.” Arr sat back against the sofa, sniffing at her remaining
Purrt
.

Love. The word brought Daisy to a halt as she realised she’d never actually told them she loved them.

She sat back down next to Arr and reclaimed her drink, finishing it in one swallow.

“I’m a twit.”

“Why?” Arr took her now empty cup.

“I never told them I did love them. What if they read this and…”
Oh, god
. Her heart fell, and she cradled her head in her hands.

“In the time we’ve known you, Daisy, you’ve shown remarkable strength. Are you really going to give in so easily? The question is, how are you going to respond to this claim?”

“How am I going to respond?” A plan formulated in her mind. “I’m going to give those prick Councillors a piece of my mind, then kick them in the balls so they’ll never be able to breed with anyone!”

Arr winced. “May I suggest you get dressed first? I doubt many will take you seriously in your robe and fuzzy slippers.”

Her lips curved up into a sheepish grin, glancing at Arr. “Good idea.” She hurried to get dressed.

A short time later, Arr, joined by his brother, Lis, led her to the main High Councillors' office. They waited just outside as she went forward. The doors were ten feet of golden metal and elaborately carved with different images of life on Galafrax, all in sets of four.

If steam could rise from the top of her head, she was sure it would be there, as her anger simmered, ready to give those controlling pricks a verbal slam down they wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Head held high, she walked in through the first set of doors to be met by a smaller eight-foot set that were slightly ajar. Before she could push open the doors, she heard voices.

“Tonight, she’ll be ours completely. There is no way she can resist and no one will know the difference.”

She held her breath to listen. What the hell were they talking about?

“You obtained the drug then, Lik?”

“Everything is ready. One press to Daisy’s neck and she’ll be completely under our control. I’ve already tested it out, on the human Stacy. Of course, she was already willing to spread her legs for us anyway. She wanted us, but there is no way I’m touching that skinny human female. She is too much like our own.”

There were chuckles of agreement. Daisy’s heart pounded in her ears.

“By now, the news reports would have reached Commander Loz's ship and they will give up on having her as theirs. By then, it’ll be too late anyway.”

“It’s a perfect plan. Once we have her safely in our quarters, there’s no way she’ll be able to escape when the drug does wear off. No one will ever know she didn’t willingly agree to be ours. She’ll add to our status. With her, we can never be deposed.” She was sure it was Pot who talked.

“When are we scheduled to see the doctors to reverse our sterility?”

“Two hours. I can’t wait to sink my rod into Daisy, then watch her swell with our offspring.”

Daisy slapped her shaking hand over her mouth to stop her gasp of horror sounding out.

On equally shaky legs, she quickly headed back through the main doors. Arr and Lis flanked her.

“Daisy, you are so pale. What happened?” Arr’s eyes filled with worry.

“Just get me back to my quarters, please. I… I need your help.”

They nodded, quickly leading her back. She was grateful for their strength and to have their friendship, but now she was going to put it to the test. She needed to escape and quickly, but not before sending out a distress signal to her men. She hadn’t thought to use it till now, but there was no way she was going to sit idly by while some stupid pricks tried to drug, rape and trap her into a relationship she didn’t want.

She prayed by whatever gods looked out for people like her on a foreign planet, they answered. Right now, she needed all the help she could get.

Chapter Ten

Loz and Cir held Tos pinned to the floor. “It will do you no good to lose your head. Calm down,” growled Loz. Tos always had a temper problem, ever since early childhood. He got into many fights with other quad sets during their schooling and early military training.

Cir and Loz quickly tackled their brother to the ground after showing him the news report before he could tear Loz’s office apart. Tos’ eyes blazed with the same pain and anger they all felt.

“Don’t make me sedate you,” Cir warned.

“I will fucking kill them all!” Tos’s yell was muffled by Loz pressing his head down.

“I called this meeting to see what we can do, not have your temper rage out of control. Pull yourself together and see reason. Even I feel something wrong with this whole situation,” Cir said.

“We should have never sent her away from us!” Tos yelled.

Loz couldn’t disagree with that. “I know, brother.” He felt Tos calm and take one of his deep breaths to bring himself under control. He loosened his grip and pulled away. Cir followed, before helping Tos to his feet.

A flashing green light on Bex’s belt band caught Loz’s eye. “What’s that?”

Bex glanced down, his eyes widened. “Daisy! Brothers, I knew it, something is wrong ––she’s sent an emergency message.”

He bolted for the door, all three brothers quickly on his heels. Bex’s quarters were filled with gadgets he’d been fiddling with for years. He sat down at his computer, activating it with nimble fingers manipulating the controls until Daisy's worried face came on screen.

“Guys, I don’t have much time. If you’ve read any reports that I’m marrying those stuck-up prick councillors, I can tell you it’s wrong. They’ve been keeping us apart. But worse than that, I overheard them talking about drugging me and taking me by force to be their
sheraz
. But I’ve got help. My friends are going to get me out soon and hide me the best they can. I need you. I’ll activate the signal in a few hours so you can find me. Please come as quickly as you can.”

Someone in the background touched her shoulder. “Daisy, we have to hurry.”

She looked up and nodded before turning her pale face back to the screen.

“Loz, Tos, Cir and Bex, I love you guys. Please believe me, we’ve been set up and kept apart. I need to go now before we’re discovered.”

The screen went blank.

Loz’s mind started preparing for action, taking charge, as was his birthright. “Tos, prepare my commander's shuttle…Cir, notify your medical crew that we’re leaving. I’m going to hand command over to our seconds. Daisy needs us and we’re not going to let her down. Bex, keep a close eye to see when she activates the tracking signal.”

Tos ran for the door, Cir following at a slower pace. Bex grabbed Loz’s shoulder before he could leave. “Before we go, I think we should prepare.”

Loz studied him for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“If they are forcing human females to their will, then the proper authorities should be warned.”

“Bex, you have free rein to do whatever you need to, but be prepared to leave in the next fifteen minutes.”

Bex’s smile was one that Loz knew well. He was up to something. Loz placed absolute trust in his youngest brother, knowing they were all there for each other and for Daisy.

* * * *

It seemed like hours since she’d been stuffed in the cramped space of the hovering supply cart and Arr and Lis pushed her out of the Palace, without anyone stopping to question them. A few hold-your-breath moments did pass, as they were questioned by several Palace guards, but the boys had their IDs ready.

Lis slid open the side panel and stale smells of the old, cramped streets behind the Tri-Qui palace bombarded her senses. She drew in shallow breaths in an attempt to quickly adjust.

“Daisy, we must hurry.” Lis gripped her arm as she unfolded her cramped legs, setting them on the reddish-black cobblestone pavement. He quickly slid a black scarf over her head.

“As beautiful as your hair is, Daisy, it’s a moonlight beacon to anyone around.”

She shrugged, unable to help the colouration of her hair. After one botched attempt to dye it plain brown when she was younger, she found it really didn’t suit her pale skin, and got more strange looks and more teasing at school than with her natural colour.

“I found this.” Arr held up a little pot. Lis stepped aside and Arr took her chin. Tilting her head up, he started to smear a red greasy substance over her face.

“We can’t hide your lovely eyes, but keep them downcast and anyone will think you’re just an over-fed child.”

She held in her snort, knowing they weren’t calling her fat, but trying to save her from a bad fate.

“I’ve contacted Ael, so he knows we’re coming. We have to be back on duty in the next twenty minutes to avoid suspicion as long as we can, to make sure you’re safely tucked where no one can find you.”

“Isn’t there some higher authority we can report their actions to?” Daisy glanced from Arr to Lis in hope as Arr finished smearing the substance on her face. He eyed his make-up job critically before nodding in satisfaction.

Lis’s gaze was one of pity. “They are High Councillors of the city, there is no one higher other than the Lords of Galafrax, and they live in City Prime. If your quads can come and get you off Galafrax or to City Prime before the High Councillors can find you, you stand a good chance.”