Beyond the Stars: INEO (40 page)

“Let me go!” I screamed.

“No.” He leaned back, put his arms behind him in order to slide his hands up both of my legs, starting at my ankles. I couldn’t move with his oppressive weight bearing down on top of me. It was difficult to breathe. I felt like I was being crushed. His eyebrows rose mischievously while he squeezed up my calf muscles and thighs with his tight grip as though he was enjoying himself. I cringed when he went under the edges of my dress. Thankfully, he soon removed his hands. He continued to run his hands on top of my clothes, up my stomach and chest before leaning forward to take my head in his hands. I gasped when he brought his face closer to mine and looked me in the eyes. I was afraid of what he might do to me. It was frightening to see how aroused he looked. For a moment, he came so close, I thought he was going to kiss me. “You’re beautiful,” he said seductively, bringing his mouth against my cheek. His mind was in a whole other place.

I felt helpless and didn’t know what to do. For a moment, I thought about giving in. Let him have me. Maybe he would help me if I got him on my side, but no—from the depths of my soul,
no!
The thought of him sickened me. He was a crook, an outlaw. I would rather die than compromise my integrity or dishonor my marriage to Gaelan. I gave him a threatening glare to stop and struggled to break free. “Get off me!” I said so forcefully it made him pause. Surprisingly, my tone seemed to repel him, or maybe he saw the fear in my eyes. He knew I would never submit.
“Damn you.”
He released me and slammed his fists into the floor before he stood up in a huff.

I closed my eyes briefly and exhaled in relief when he removed his body weight.
God that was close.
I glared at Loic. He was standing with his arms crossed against his chest. He appeared to be upset. If I didn’t know better, it seemed as though he was worried he had offended me with his unwelcomed advance. I was grateful for the shred of humanity he had left. I knew he could have taken advantage of me if he wanted. Carefully, I got off the floor and backed myself away.

He sneered at me in frustration. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter. I made a deal for my freedom, not yours. It’s just self-preservation, my dear. Everyone will believe you have the Ineo. You give off this strange,
other-worldly
vibe and that’s more than enough. If nothing else, you will make a cute pet for the buyer. They will be pleased. The winner of the auction can try to beat the Ineo out of you. I’m just the delivery man. I’ll be long gone before they discover the truth.”

“Have you no conscience?” I pleaded.

He paused for a moment. “Nope,” he said, giving me a frown.

CHAPTER 26

BLACK MARKET

With two Grulanti drones on each side, I was escorted to the backstage of a huge auditorium. I could hear the roar of the crowd and see a glimpse of them through a slit in the red curtain separating me from all of the commotion on the other side. My attention shifted when I saw that I was joining a long line of prisoners, including Gaelan and Urit. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones facing a lifetime of capture.

Gaelan gave me a huge sigh of relief when he saw me approach. I ignored my escorts and rushed up to him. He pulled me into his arms and squeezed me tightly. I held on to him and savored his embrace until we were broken up by another set of guards.

He looked me in the eyes and said, “That had to be the longest fifteen minutes of my life. I heard you scream—were you harmed?” Gaelan gave me an anxious grimace, awaiting my answer.

“I’m fine and even better now that you’re here,” I answered, taking his hand in mine. There was no reason to tell him more. “Wait, you heard me scream?” I questioned.

“I meant I felt it,” he said, touching his Katarian band.

We stood in the back of the line behind the other captives. Some of them were holding unusual trinkets. I watched Urit reluctantly take each step. I could tell by the way in which he breathed that he was still in pain from the Grulanti’s assault. I offered him my arm, but he refused.

We entered the auction’s auditorium. The stage protruded out to the center of the arena and was surrounded by rows of aliens on every side. The place was filled with over a thousand shouting aliens, made up of mostly green Grulanti as well as several other nonhuman-like species. I didn’t want to go home with
any
of them. I desperately searched the audience for our friends. It was difficult to see past the glaring white spotlights shining down on our heads.

“I can’t see a thing,” I said to Gaelan and Urit, squinting.

Gaelan pointed to the far right region of the auditorium. “Look, over there. Upper right corner. It’s Nia, Azil, and Maric.”

“It is?” I asked.

“Yes,” they both answered.

“Okay, now I think I see them, but I can’t tell who is who,” I said, trying to make out the human forms with my struggling sight. I saw blobs of colors that were the size of people. “Urit, maybe I should have had you fit me with those ocular implants that you’ve been trying to sell me on.”

“I’ll schedule you in, how about tomorrow morning?” he said.

“I’m open.”

We might as well have some fun. Who knew how long it would last. If our rescue fell through, it could be my last laugh. I squinted, trying to focus on our friends.
Please let them have a good plan.
I knew they were our last hope to leave here quietly.

“Hey, look, isn’t that a Dreon standing next to Nia,” Gaelan asked, recognizing his long white robe. “I can’t believe it. It’s Hyril.”

Urit and I looked at one another with flabbergasted expressions that he was still alive. “How?” I mouthed the word.

Urit inhaled and exhaled loudly. “They must not have opened it,” he replied, sounding shocked. “Maybe they didn’t find it.”

I shrugged.”I guess not.” I didn’t know if I was worried or glad.

Gaelan ignored us. “Why is he talking to them? I wish I knew what they were saying,” he said, preoccupied, as though he was trying to read their lips.

“What is he doing here?” I asked.

“Sleaze balls flock together, remember?” Gaelan said darkly.

I looked at Urit as his face stiffened with anger. I could see his neck veins engorge and throb with the rise in his blood pressure and pulse. “If he lays one hand on her,
so help me …
this time, I will show them no mercy. I will watch them die,” he said.

Gaelan was unaware of the magnitude behind Urit’s threat, although I wasn’t. Urit’s heart had grown cold from Nia’s abduction. He couldn’t bear to see him so close to her.

Gaelan leaned around me and gave Urit an empathetic look. “Keep it together, Urit. One battle at a time.”

I put my hand on Urit’s shoulder to try and calm him down. “Trust her. She’s really smart, remember? And it’s a public place.”

Urit let out a helpless groan while he kept his eyes glued on the interaction. “Sure, it’s safe here. It’s just a place known for auctioning off anything and everything, even people.”

I bit my lip after stating my wimpy defense.

Just then, Loic came around the bend with his head held up in a snotty manner and walked over to us. I could tell that Gaelan was getting ready to charge him by the way he took a giant step forward. Smartly, he stopped. We were surrounded by Grulanti guards on all sides.

“It was nice working with you, G. No hard feelings. The way I look at it, I delivered. What’s happening now? Well, I chalk it up to the unpredictability of Space exploration. You never know what is
lurking
around the corner. After all, you did get everything you wanted. You found the Dreons and recovered Urit’s precious Nia,” Loic said with a sneer.

Urit shouted at him with a rattle in his voice, “You’re insane and a disgrace to the Katarian people.” A fresh gush of blood started wetting through the stain on the back of his shirt where he was wounded.

“I should have known better than to have asked for your help,” Gaelan retorted. “We
would
have faired better if we had just thrown a dart at the star map,” he said.

Loic’s eyes filled with rage. I hadn’t realized the enormity of my previous insult until now. At that moment, I realized how much Loic prided himself on being the best navigator there was.

Urit glowered at Loic. “How can you live with yourself?”

Loic shrugged. “Oh, come on. You would have done the same if you were in my position. You used me, now I’m using you. It’s the way it goes.”

“Hardly the same,” Gaelan said under his breath.

Loic sighed as though he couldn’t care less about turning us over to the Grulanti and came up to Gaelan’s face in a threatening manner.

“Perhaps you could have dodged this little predicament if
she
was more willing to cooperate. Oh, I can’t wait to tell Cami about this. She is going to laugh her butt off when I tell her that
you,
the great Commander Liitanen, was brought down by a woman,” Loic said sinisterly.

My mouth fell open when I heard him mention Cami, Gaelan’s ex-girlfriend, who we met on the day we visited the trading post.

“What did you
say? Jeez,
you’re involved with Cami, aren’t you?” Gaelan said with irritation as he shook his head. He turned to me and gave me a brief look of shame as though everything was his fault. “I should have known. That’s why Cami wanted us to find you on Dalinova. She was desperate. She must have had no other way to help you.”

“Yes, and you fell right into her web. I should tell you, when you left her, she was one scorned woman; until she met me, that is. Samantha, you should be grateful that I’m sparing you the future heartbreak. Nobody must have warned you—G has a habit of loving and leaving.”

“You deserve each other. You’re psychotic, just like her,” Gaelan said with disgust.

I reached over and held Gaelan’s hand to let him know that I would never doubt his intentions.

“I hope so. Cami’s brilliant. She always told me I’d find a way to finance my freedom,” Loic added.

“Excuse me?”
Gaelan said, giving Loic a confused look.

“Oh, you might as well know. I’ve been commissioned by the Katarian Council. They bailed me out of a hairy situation and have owned me ever since. I’ve been forced to carry out their
dirty
work. Do things they don’t want to take credit for and add to their bank account by performing business transactions with the lowliest life-forms in the galaxy. I’ve been contracted to work for them until I can repay them, which up until now, was for all eternity. Who do you think got me the invite to this event? Little did they know, the Grulanti and I go way back. It was easy for me to strike a side deal so I could get their help once they learned of the commission they’d make.”

Gaelan scoffed. “You think I’d believe that the Katarian Council is
so
corrupt that they’d actually hire you. You really are delusional. They were never so happy to dismiss anyone. We took a risk in even finding you.”

“It’s true. I tried to get out of the arrangement and escape their sight, but their attack dogs caught up to me and threatened to take my life. They’re the ones who started the rumor that I’d died.
Bloody Guardian Fleet.
They wanted to show me how easily they could make me disappear. Just another one of their mind games to intimidate. I can’t wait until the egotistical tyrants learn how I repaid them.”

Gaelan looked at Urit and me and didn’t say a word. I could tell he was upset in learning of the Council’s private dealings.

Suddenly, I saw Maric fearlessly rush up to the side of the stage.

“Gaelan,” Maric called out from behind Loic.

Loic’s mouth fell open after hearing his voice. He turned around, appearing to be stunned by Maric’s presence.

“Maric, it’s good to see you,” Gaelan responded.

“Likewise. My mother asked for my help. We’ll have you out of here in no time,” Maric said with confidence.

I couldn’t help noticing how proud he sounded when he reported the news. Azil must have realized her son was a capable young man.

Loic scoffed at Maric.
“Pfft.
Good luck with that. You’re way over your head, boy. G, I can’t believe you obtained an audience to record your final moments as a free man. You should be taking this time to say your goodbyes. The Grulanti are high stakes bidders.”