Lost Among the Stars (Sky Riders) (7 page)

Qetera stepped in to halt the evil that was trying to spread through the universe. Hundreds of good men and soldiers had been lost in the two wars and Etor wanted to avoid another war at all costs. Each war had taken years to push the Lephusans back to their home world and bring peace to the universe again. Restrictions and bans had been placed on the corrupt planet
, thus limiting their access to any foreign world. That’s where the problem now came in. How did Ruehar succeed in having Earth send females to his planet?

As soon as he reached Qetera he would have to have a meeting with his two brothers, father and troop commanders. He wasn’t about to let Ruehar start another war and if he had to
, he would completely eliminate the entire Lephus race to keep the peace that now existed.

His thoughts veered back to the woman sleeping in his bed. He could feel the Rage starting to build as he thought about the Lephusans.
What would have happened to those women if that asteroid had not hit the transport? What kind of a miserable life would they have had? What kind of life would Maggie have had? His Maggie, his mate. He would kill anyone who ever dared to harm her or the other women who survived. The Rage in him would continue to grow until they were completely mated and their life bond formed. Until that happened he would be vulnerable to losing his self-control. 

Chapter 7

“I want that transport found! I don’t care how you do it just do it!” Ruehar shouted at his top generals. “I paid too much money to those damn Earthlings for it to just disappear!” He threw the glass he was holding across the room causing it to shatter. “Get that dim witted fool of a captain on a secured line, NOW!”

A lesser officer, Morgay, scrambled to do as their king asked. Morgay was all too familiar with Ruehar’s temper and didn’t dare to disobey. “The transmission is coming through now, Sir.”

Ruehar stood in front of the viewing screen waiting impatiently. If he could get his hands on the lowly Earthling he would surely wring his neck.  It took longer than usual for the image to come through but when it did he instantly went off on the captain.

“Where is my transport?” He shouted at the screen.

“Ah King Ruehar, it is good to see you again,” the captain said trying to placate the alien. 

“Shut up and tell me where the transport I paid for is.”

The captain visibly paled at Ruehar’s statement. “What do you mean? It should have arrived months ago.”

“Do you really think I would
be contacting you if it had? You had better find that transport and soon. You will not receive any further compensation until you do so. Is that clear?”

The captain nodded his head quickly. “Yes, King. I will find it for you.”

“Oh and captain. If you should fail in finding that transport I will personally come to Earth and skin you alive for deceiving me!”

Ruehar hit the button that would end the transmission. He knew he shouldn’t have trusted that little weasel of a man! He and his creepy counterpart didn’t look trustworthy enough to pull off such a scheme without being caught.
Of all the damn Earthlings he chose to confront! Now, he was out of his money and the females!

He turned to face his captains again. “I want that ship found! Search every planet and moon in the surrounding galaxies! It has to be somewhere.”

He turned his back to them which signaled they were dismissed. “Captain Zol’tsa, may I have a word.” He waited for the sound of the door to close before he faced the man.

“Yes, Sir.”

When he faced the waiting man, he had taken control of his temper and was now calm again. “Captain, I would like you and your men to head to the Yahiri Galaxy. I have received reports that our old enemy has recently been patrolling the outskirts of the galaxy. I wouldn’t put it past the filthy Qeterans to have stolen my ship!”

“I will see to it, Sir.”

“Good. If you succeed in finding where that transport is and bringing it to me, I will give you the choice of any of the females.” He knew this would entice the man. Every man on Lephus was dying to have a female or two of his own to breed with. He wanted to repopulate Lephus with strong soldiers who could aid him in taking back what was his and the only way to do it was by having females of any compatible race, shipped to Lephus. He had every intention of paying that fool of a captain on Earth more money for another shipment of females, but not until the first had been found. He would personally see the man skinned for betraying him and taking his money. No Earthling was going to get away with making him look like a fool.

******

Maggie liked the feeling of the man’s hands on her body. What a glorious dream this was! The bad thing was she couldn’t see his face, but his hands were wonderful. The long, thick fingers massaged the tingling muscles in her thighs and calves to bring them back to life. Each stroke of his hand sent little sparks of fire to her core as she lay on her stomach. She moaned in pleasure as those fingers moved further up her body to massage her bare ass. God, she could stay like this forever! The man’s face still stayed hidden as she told him, “That feels so good.”

Next to her ear she felt the warm breath and the tickle of spoken words. “I am happy to do it for you.”

Her eyes instantly shot open at the sound of that deep voice. She twisted uncomfortably as she tried to look at Etor sitting next to her on the bed. “What are you doing?” she shrieked as she tried to pull the cover up over her semi-clad body.

His eyes held amusement as he watched her scramble to cover herself. “You
r skin looked so inviting and I thought it might help your legs regain their feeling.”

She heaved her body up into a sitting position and glared at him. “That doesn’t give you the right to touch me! I was sleeping for God’s sake.”

He chuckled. “I know you were but you were also talking in your sleep.” He shifted his position on the bed so he could sit closer to her.

“I was?” That was odd. “What did I say?” Jesus, she hoped it wasn’t anything to do with Mark.

“I couldn’t make out everything, but you said something about having to hide.”

Shit! It was about Mark. What would he do if he found out she was a hunted woman? That her ex-boyfriend probably had a hit out on her.

“I don’t remember what I was dreaming before I felt someone rubbing on me.” Her cheeks flush with the thought of Etor’s hands touching her again and he clearly knew what she was talking about by the look on his face.

“Did you enjoy the feel of my hands?”

“I…I…yes…I mean no….oh I don’t know!” Geez, she was so embarrassed she had to look away.

Strong fingers gripped her chin and turned her face back to his. His eyes held hers and he spoke to her. “There’s no need to be embarrassed, little one. I enjoyed it too, but I will not push you until you are ready to accept me.”

“Accept you? For what?” This gorgeous man sure could confuse the hell out of her.

“As my mate,” he softy said.

She stiffened at his words. There was no way in hell she was going to be someone’s mate again! She just escaped one relationship with her life and wasn’t about to jump into another one. “I am not your mate. I wish you would get that through your head.”

He held her chin tighter. “Yes
, you are and as soon as you accept the fact, the sooner we can move forward.”

“Move forward my ass! I didn’t ask to be here. I would like to be put onto the next transport headed to Lephus.” The
words escaped her mouth before she could stop them. It was the wrong thing to say and by the look on Etor’s face, she had angered him a lot.

He stood up and frowned down at her. “You are mine and will be going nowhere but with me! Did you not understand what I told you about the Lephusans?”

“How do I know what you say is true? You could be lying to me just to keep me for yourself.” Her brain told her to stop, but her mouth had a mind of its own. “You could be the ones needing females to breed with!”

She pushed him too far and she knew it. His eyes darkened to a deep purple and his hands turned into fists at his side.
What’s the matter with you, Maggie? He was being nice to you and you have to go and piss him off again!

He moved so quickly she didn’t even see him move until he was in her face. “Listen to me, female! You are mine and no one else’s. I will never let you go even if I have to keep you locked up. The Lephusans would have raped you over and over until you were breeding and after the babe was born, the process would have started all over ag
ain! I will not permit any female, much less my mate, to live a life like that. You had better get used to the idea of being my mate because I will have you. We will be mated together to form the life bond.”

She sat there fuming as he stormed out of the room. He was an infuriating man and she wasn’t about to let him bully her into mating with him. She got on that transport wanting to start a new life for herself not to become another man’s play thing.

Without thinking, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She had to pee. As soon as she tried to stand her semi-numb legs collapsed beneath her. She hit the floor with a muffled thud. “Shit!” She forgot she couldn’t walk because of that damn gas. Now she was stuck on the floor until Etor came back and she refused to call out to the over grown oaf. Rhaegos also wasn’t in the room, so she had to sit and wait. At least she had a nice view of the stars, but she really needed to pee.

It wasn’t too long before the door to the room opened again. “Medic Jonik is here to…Maggie?” Etor called out.

“I’m down here,” she chimed back as she stuck her hand up in the air to wave.

“By the gods!”

She heard Etor mumble under his breath. Even though there was carpet covering the floor the sound of two sets of footsteps had her glancing over her shoulder.

Etor was by her side and running his hands over her. “Are you alright? What are you doing on the floor?” Satisfied she was fine, he lifted her up and put her back in the bed.

“I had to pee and forgot about my legs,” she hissed as he continued to touch her even after she was in the bed again.

“I didn’t think about that after I left.”

“You mean, stormed out. I still have to pee.” She folded her arms refusing to look at him.

Jonik spoke first. “Go ahead and carry her into the relief room. I can examine her after.”

Etor did as he was instructed by the medic. Reluctantly, she wrapped an arm around his defined neck as he carried her into the bathroom.

“I can do this by myself,” she said before he sat her down on the toilet.

“No, I will stay with you in case you need assistance.” He wouldn’t let her arms go as he stood there in front of her.

“I cannot and will not pee while you are watching me! I don’t have anything on under this stupid gown so I won’t have to stand.” She glared at him as he glared right back. She was going to lose this battle. “At least turn around!”

He growled in dissatisfaction but turned around. She quickly took care of her business then told him she was finished. How humiliating to have to pee with a stranger watching you!

Jonik was waiting patiently for them to return with a grin on his face. She felt like slapping it right off his handsome face as well as slapping the one carrying her just for the fun of it.

Back in the bed she let Jonik do his thing without complaining. “Do you have any feeling at all in your legs?”

“I can feel them tingling, like they were asleep and are starting to wake up,” she answered honestly.

Jonik smiled as he ran a strange looking metal thing over her. “That’s good. I was worried you wouldn’t get the use of your legs back. I’m not sure why it’s taking so long for you to recover from the gas. The other three females are fully recovered.”

She perked up at the news of her friend. “Kelly? How is she? Can I see her?” She was desperate to talk to someone other than the medic and Etor.

“She is doing fine. She’s asked about you several times. I told her she could see you after I examined you this evening. She’s been quite worried about you.” He dug in his instrument bag and pulled out a gun with a syringe on the end.

“Umm…what is that for?” She didn’t like needles and definitely didn’t like the looks of the thing in his hand.

“This,” he waved the syringe gun, “is an antidote to the sleeping gas. I come across individuals with problems coming out of stasis every now and then. I’ve never used it on a human before though. It’s the last thing I have for the treatment of stasis paralysis. I’ve been studying you and the other females since you came on board and have found there is very little difference between us and humans. I’m almost positive this will work for you.”

She
swallowed nervously as she eyed the needle on the end of the gun. She didn’t like the idea of him not knowing if it would hurt her or not, but it was either try it or remain paralyzed. “Where so you have to stick me?”

“It needs to be inject
ed into your upper thighs once in each leg.”

She looked behind Jonik to where Etor was standing watching. He nodded his head at her as if giving her permission to go ahead with the treatment. “Will it hurt?”

Jonik laughed as he raised up the hem of the gown she wore and placed the tip of the gun on her extreme upper thigh. Behind him, she heard Etor growl low and deep in warning. Jonik glanced behind him then shook his head, chuckling to himself.

“Ready?” he asked her. “The needle isn’t as bad as the burn.”

She had no time to prepare for the big stick. She let out a squeak as the needle punctured her skin but it was the medicine that truly hurt! It felt as if he was injecting fire straight into her leg.

“Oh my God! That burns!” She squeezed her eye
s shut to try and ward off some of the pain. Her fingers gripped the sheet on the bed as she felt the medicine make its way down to her toes. She barely heard the growl coming from Etor as Jonik, without warning again, stuck her in the opposite leg. “Son of a…” The burn in the two legs took her breath away. Etor’s voice sounded far off as he yelled at Jonik.

“You’re hurting her! Make it stop!” He was down on his knees next to her as soon as Jonik moved out of the way.

“The burn will go away as soon as it makes a full revolution in her legs,” Jonik explained.

Sure enough the first leg started to feel better. It was still burning but not as bad.

“It will pass, I promise you, Maggie.”