SnaredbySaber (3 page)

Like Eva, and by extension, him.

No point in trying to dodge questions. Mr.
Brute would beat the facts out of him. Hellfire, Lady Almeda Dearbhorgaill
would order him beaten anyway—no matter what he did or said or how he begged.

“She went away for the weekend with her
friend Casey. To some resort. It was a surprise for Eva’s birthday so I don’t
know her location.”

“I require her signature on some paperwork.
When will she return?”

“Casey said they’d be away for five solar
days.”

Lady Dearbhorgaill scowled, then a crafty
grin crawled across her features and it was the scariest thing Robbie had seen
since the day a bovinebeest charged him in the forest and injured his leg when
he was a youth. Hellfire, he owed Eva his loyalty but at what cost? What would
the lady bitch do next?

“Call her.”

Robbie hadn’t managed to contact Eva since
her com-circle cut out abruptly. He wasn’t worried—much.

Robbie picked up his com-circle and pushed
a button. Anticipating the next order, he put the unit on speaker so they could
all hear the summoning tone. Robbie ended the call and stated the obvious.
“She’s not answering. Must be out of range.”

“But I
need
that signature.”

A trace of desperation echoed in the crisp
notes, poking at Robbie’s curiosity. Not that he was cracked enough to ask
questions. Oh no. He kept his lips firmly closed, his gaze downcast to offer
the respect the Dalcon elite expected from the lower castes.

“How are you paying the wages, the bills
while she’s away?”

“She left me several signed transfer
certificates.”

“I’ll take them. Give them to me. All of
them.”

The wild creature in his chest took flight
again, bashing the hell out of his ribs and attempting a new escape path up his
throat. Gaze still downcast, he limped toward the small office at the back of
the restaurant. His knees trembled and for one horrid moment, he wondered if
they’d fail and land him in a face plant on the floor.

Aware of the woman and the hulk at his
back, he forced his legs to bear his weight and made it to the office. He sank
to his knees, his hands sweaty and trembling when he turned the old-fashioned
dial of the safe back and forth to the pre-set positions. He pushed down on the
handle and the multi-locks disengaged. Robbie’s breath hissed out with relief.
At least he hadn’t messed that up.

He picked up the large envelope bearing the
currency transfer certificates. They were all blank and already signed by Eva.

“How many are there?” Lady Dearbhorgaill
demanded.

“Th-three,” Robbie said.

“Perfect.” Her eyes glittered in a kind of
sick triumph. “Ready cash?”

Robbie gulped. “Not much. Just a float for
when we open. I-I’ve already been to the bank.” Hellfire, he hoped the old
bitch believed him.

“I’ll take that too.”

Robbie grabbed a faux-cotton bag and thrust
it at the woman. She took it and shoved it inside her bag along with the
envelope.

“Knock him out. Toss the place. Give the
appearance of a robbery,” she said, and exited the restaurant without looking
back.

No remorse.

No concern.

No guilt.

Just an uppity rich woman who thought she
ruled the world.

Robbie blinked when the hulk lunged from
his position. For a big dude, he moved fast. Robbie felt the rush of wind
against his face seconds before the fist connected with his jaw. That was the
last thing he remembered.

* * * * *

“Rob. Rob-bie.” Someone was shaking the
crap out of him. “Robbie, wake up.”

Robbie groaned. His eyes flickered.
Everything hurt. Especially his head.

“He’s okay. He’s alive,” a female voice
said. “Did ya call security?”

“On their way,” a man said.

“What happened?” Robbie pushed himself into
a sitting position. Nausea clawed its way up from his stomach and he swallowed.

“Don’t you remember?” Dina, one of the
waitresses, crouched at his side.

“I…” He gazed around the restaurant, took
in the toppled chairs and the wrecked tables. The lack of liquor bottles behind
the bar. “Someone broke in.”

“They’ve wrecked the place, taken food and
booze. The safe is open,” Dina said, her thin pixie face a shade paler than
normal.

The clomp of boots had Robbie turning his
head. The security men had arrived.

“What happened?” one of the uniformed men
demanded.

“Someone burst through the door. They
must’ve knocked me out. That’s all I remember,” Robbie said.

“Insurance paperwork’s in order,” a second
security man said after pushing a few buttons and reading the screen of his genic
mini-tab. “We can proceed. Take his statement while I question the neighboring
traders.”

Dina helped Robbie to his feet and righted
a chair for him. He sank onto it. “Water,” he gasped, and while Dina rushed to
get water, his brain slipped back into gear.

Well hell. Eva had been right.

The stupid old bitch had taken the bait.

Something woke Eva. An out-of-place noise.
A faint rustle. A footfall?

She sat up in bed, eyes straining to pierce
the darkness of their chalet. “Casey?”

Casey didn’t answer.

“C-Casey?” Although she aimed for a firm
timbre, her voice emerged coated with fear because her gut was screaming
something was wrong. Casey was a light sleeper. Why wasn’t she answering?

A prickling sensation crawled up her spine
while her gaze roved the darkness, searching, searching, searching, as senses
honed from growing up on the streets worked overtime.

Someone,
something
was in their
chalet.

“Casey, are you there?” Her friend hadn’t
been sleeping well during the two solar days they’d been at the resort and
sometimes went for a walk along the beach. Maybe that was it. She’d woken just
as Casey was leaving. She listened for an instant longer and heard nothing.
Slowly, she willed her body to relax, her breathing to return to normal.

A black shape leaped at her without
warning. She screamed, scrambled back, away. A hand slapped over her mouth. Another
pushed her flat to the mattress. Memories rose like a specter, tossed her into
a thick pool of fear.

“Keep still. I’m not going to hurt you,” a
masculine voice growled against her ear.

Her breath seesawed in and out. A shudder
went through her. He wasn’t going to get her again.
He wasn’t
.

She was stronger now. More capable.

She let her body go limp, waited for her
captor to relax…

Then kicked, connecting with hard muscle.

“Fuck,” he snarled and grabbed her roughly.

With a screech, she sank her teeth into his
arm and bit down until blood flowed into her mouth. He bellowed, flinging her
away. She was up and racing for the door before he could seize her again.

“
Oomph
!” She blundered into a low
table, bashing her shins. The table skidded across the tiles, signaling her
location.

Escape. She had to get to the door. Run to
the next chalet for help. Find Casey. Frantic, Eva hugged the wall and slid
toward the door, her gaze darting to and fro, trying to locate the man in the
darkness.

He’d felt big, muscular, but he stalked
like a predator, so silent. A tremble rippled through her body, her skin prickled,
hair at the back of her neck lifted with foreboding.

Damn it. Where’s Casey?

A hell of a time for her to do a moonlight
flit.

Eva inched farther along the wall, trying
to picture the chalet interior in her mind. She reached out, hit the door
handle.

“Got you,” a man whispered.

Eva yelped and she ducked her head to bite
again. Her captor grunted, grasped her firmly and tossed her back on the sleep-bed.

No surrender!
No capitulation without a fight. She wielded her elbows, aiming for
his ribs.

“Fuck it. Stop fighting.” He cursed a
colorful streak, snatched her again, fingers biting into her arms.

Strong. Too strong
.

Gods, it was happening again
…

“Let me go. Please, let me go and I won’t
tell anyone.” Her voice scarcely recognizable, she gulped, frantic for air. His
hands shifted, grazed her breast. She lashed out with her fist, wriggled,
kicked, sobbed. “No. No, no,
no
!”

“Fuck.” The man’s grip tightened and he
twisted what felt like rope around her wrists.

“No!” Panting, she lashed out with her feet.
“Please don’t do this.” Terror crawled over her. Her pulse thundered in her
ears. Fast. Choppy. She lashed out again and almost wriggled free. “No, let me
go! Please, please. Don’t hurt me!”

She backed up on the sleep-bed, toppled off
the mattress, hit the floor with a spine-jarring thump. Unable to break her
fall, her head struck the tiles. Pain speared through her skull, stunning her
for an instant.

He was on her in a trice, his weight pressing
her down before she could gather her addled wits.

She felt a cloth pressed against her nose.
Pungent and unpleasant, the scent brought tears to her eyes. Couldn’t get away.
Couldn’t hold her breath. Stark panic loomed then, but it was too late. Had to
breathe.

She slumped, edges of black sliding over
her vision.

Lights out.

Nobody home.

“You done?” Saber’s voice ripped through
the darkness. His nostrils flared and he stiffened. “Who’s bleeding?”

“She bit me,” Felix said in an aggrieved
tone.

Unexpectedly, a laugh escaped Saber. He
flicked on the light and saw his brother sitting on the floor with the
unconscious woman. She was bleeding too. “You hurt her. I told you not to hurt
her!” For an unexpected second, Saber wanted to rip the scantily clad woman
from his brother’s arms, cradle her protectively in his own.

Sweet baby Jesus, he had to get past his…his…infatuation
with this woman.

He didn’t want another woman, didn’t need
one after Lori.

He clenched his hands into fists, the prick
of claws bleeding through the tops of his fingertips shocking him even more.
What the fuck?

“I didn’t do anything. All I did was hold
her so she wouldn’t hurt
herself
. Why is she bleeding?” Felix asked in
alarm upon seeing the woman’s head. He brushed aside her blonde hair and probed
the wound. “Honestly, I didn’t hit her when she bit me. I heard a thump. She
must’ve hit her head when she fell off the sleep-bed.”

“Bring her. We’ll treat her injuries on the
way. Hurry before we attract attention.” Saber waited until Felix picked up the
woman and carried her from the room before he flicked off the light. He tried
not to notice the generous swell of her breasts as Felix passed. He tried not
to notice the length of her bare legs beneath the bit of pale-blue silk she was
wearing.

He tried to focus on Lori, the woman he’d
loved and lost.

He failed on all three counts.

“She’s okay,” Felix said when Saber joined
him at the rear of the vehicle. “The bleeding has already stopped. I’ve sprayed
the area with anti-infection serum.” He strapped her into the rear of the
vehicle, checked her pulse and nodded. “I’ll stay with her, just to make sure
the bleeding doesn’t restart.”

Saber gave a clipped nod and closed the
rear door for his brother. He jogged around to the cockpit and strapped in,
trying to get past his rush of guilt.

No choice.

Saber started the shuttle, and moments
later, when they were clear of the resort, he hit vertical climb and punched in
the coordinates for the camp. Instead of setting the vehicle to automatic pilot,
he operated it in manual, needing something to concentrate on other than his
zigzagging thoughts. He’d failed Lori, but he wouldn’t fail everyone else who
depended on him.

By the time they reached the captive camp
on the far boundary of their land, daylight had broken. Saber landed the
vehicle and powered down. He opened his door and leaped out, the tweet and
chirp of birds and insects an assault against his ears. The vivid flora on this
island attracted bugs and beasties by the truckload. They seemed to thrive in
the fragrant tropical heat.

Saber wiped the sweat from his forehead and
strode to the rear of the vehicle. He hoped his family thrived too.

“How is she?” Saber’s eyes went right to
the woman, her pale face and her loose golden hair.

“Still sleeping due to the sedative on the
medi-cloth,” Felix said. “I’ll wait around until she gains consciousness.”

Leo appeared, with Joe and Sly trailing
him.

Saber scowled. “How is the other woman?”

Leo lifted his hands in surrender.
“Whatever the problem is—I didn’t do it.”

“Not guilty,” Sly and Joe chorused.

Felix carried the woman past Saber. A low
growl built in Saber’s throat when he noticed Sly and Joe’s undisguised
interest, their gazes lingering on the woman’s legs and breasts. The warning
rumble escaped before he could halt it.

What was wrong with him today?

“Saber?” Leo asked.

Saber ignored his brother’s prompting
query. “She got hurt during the capture. How is the other one? Is she okay?
Uninjured?”

“She’s sleeping off the sedative. She might
have a few bruises but nothing worse than that.”

Saber gave a stiff nod, his feline stirring
uneasily under his skin. “I’m going for a run. Keep the women restrained until
I return, even if they wake up.” Saber unbuttoned his shirt and shucked his
footwear and clothes. He pictured the black leopard and let the shift take him.
Muscles twisted and reshaped and he fell to all fours as black fur formed on
his body. Fully shifted, his senses amplified. The bright colors jumped out at
him while the earthy scent of the forest filled his lungs.

The camp was a small clearing with two
rough huts to one side. After they’d sighted several zylon in the region,
they’d built a sturdy fence covered with fine mesh to keep the wee beasties
away from their captives. The last thing they needed was for their prospective
mates to die of zylon poisoning. As it was, they were going to need to do some
swift talking and romancing to get these two women to stay on the island.

Edgy restlessness filled him and he broke
into a lope. It wouldn’t hurt to check the perimeter, make sure they’d caught
all the zylon during their last sweep. He exited the enclosure, scented the air
and allowed the pleasure of running to take over. The rush of cool air over his
fur.

His sensitive nose discovered the scent
trail of a zylon. A fresh one. Saber sped up and thundered through the vibrant
yellow and blue undergrowth. Overhead, tall black trunks and branches and green
and yellow foliage shaded him from the early heat of the sun-star. The scent
grew stronger, and Saber slowed into stalking mode. His nostrils flared, his
whiskers brushing delicately against leaves. Up ahead, he caught a flicker of
movement in a large clearing. A zylon sniffed at a rock while another sprawled
in the dappled sunlight.

Saber moved closer, quivering with the need
to spring, to attack. The zylon might look cute and fluffy but he’d witnessed
firsthand the agonizing death of one of his people when they’d first arrived on
Ione. Luckily, they’d discovered bites suffered while they were in feline form
didn’t carry the same toxicity.

A shadow blotted out the sun-star, and
Saber froze at the base of a black tree trunk. The zylon popped onto their hind
legs, their alarmed chitter filling the clearing. A raucous cry sounded.

Before Saber could blink, a humongous bird
dived down and plucked up one of the animals. The other zylon broke for cover
and dodged to escape a second bird. Saber didn’t move a muscle and watched,
astonished, as the two birds rose and disappeared above the tree tops.

Sweet baby Jesus.
Why hadn’t they seen those birds before?

Saber hastened into a lope and headed to
the camp. Inside the compound, he shifted and pulled on his clothes. “Felix!”

His brother strode from the nearest hut.
“Yeah?”

“I know why there aren’t many zylon at this
end of the island. I watched a bird catch one. A shit-ass big bird.”

Felix chuckled. “Was it yellow?”

“No, it was— Very amusing,” Saber said, remembering
the vintage television shows they’d studied at school on Earth, what felt like
a million years ago. One of them had a big yellow bird that talked. “How is the
woman?”

Felix sobered. “I hurt her. I didn’t mean
to, but I hurt her. Saber, this is a stupid idea. Why don’t we return the women
to the resort and forget about the whole plan?”

“Fuck.” Saber rubbed his hands over his
face then shot a hard stare at Felix. “We need mates to stop the fighting
between our males. Damn it, Felix. We’re sitting on a testosterone powder keg,
and it’s going to blow if I don’t find a way to keep women here permanently. We
need the stability that women provide. You know that.”

“Things have already been calmer since the
first guests have arrived,” Felix said.

“But they’re not going to stay. We need
mates, children. Strong family bonds. We’ve found a place to settle but we have
to make it into a home. And we have to do while ensuring the resort’s a success
because we’re running low on money.”

“Why the hell didn’t you say something?”

“I didn’t want to worry you all. We can’t
stop now or we’ll lose everything. I had to borrow money on Dalcon, the money
we needed to get the resort running. I can’t default on those loans. The
trad-bankers weren’t interested in financing me. I had to go to the market
bankers. If the resort fails, if the males start fighting, our community will splinter.
I
have
to keep us safe.”

“Fuck,” Felix said, his gaze losing some of
its normal devilry. “Those market guys don’t muck around.”

“Which is why we have to stick with the
plan now that we’ve committed our resources.”

“You
still
should have told us how
bad our situation was.”

“Everyone has been working so hard. I
wanted to encourage them.” Saber caught a flash of movement from the corner of
his eye. He turned, couldn’t help a rueful grin. “Did you tie up your woman
like I suggested?”

“No need. She was still unconscious,” Felix
said.

“She isn’t now.”

Felix turned in the direction Saber
indicated. “Bloody hell. Where does she think she’s going? We’re in the middle
of nowhere.”

“She’s a feisty one.”

A familiar shadow blotted out the sun-star.

Saber cursed and started sprinting toward
the woman.

Too late. One of the big-ass birds swooped,
talons extended, and plucked the woman off the ground.

Her terrified scream rippled through the
clearing. Saber put on a burst of speed and jumped for the woman’s legs. He
gripped them, pulling with all his might, and for an instant the bird wavered.