Tee-ani's Pirates

TEE-ANI’S PIRATES

Rachel Clark

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED:

Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device.
You do not have
resell or distribution rights without the prior written
permission of both the publisher and the copyright
owner of this book.
This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest.

Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5

years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.”

If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at

[email protected]

A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

TEE-ANI’S PIRATE

Copyright © 2010 by Rachel Clark

E-book ISBN: 1-60601-803-5

First E-book Publication: April 2010

Cover design by Jinger Heaston

All cover art and logo copyright © 2010 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter from Rachel Clark

Regarding Ebook Piracy

Dear Readers,

I write because I love to create stories and characters, but to get published I go through several rounds of editing with the help of my critique partners, beta readers, and editors, so that the story you read is the best it can be.

Sadly, my ebooks and thousands of others have been stolen and uploaded illegally to pirate Web sites. I have spent countless hours sending DMCA take-down notices requesting for the links to be removed, only to have them pop up somewhere else. It is a frustrating and painful process, and it takes up time that I’d rather use writing.

Ebook piracy is a serious drain on the industry. In a single day, more copies of
Accidental Love for Three
were stolen than were bought legitimately in the first month of its release. If you downloaded one of my ebooks for free, please understand that it is a stolen copy. I don’t get royalties for stolen copies and neither does my publisher.

Most authors are just hardworking, average citizens. Very few make enough royalties to earn a living with just their writing. With so many copies illegally downloaded and shared every day, my dream, and the dream of many writers to work full time on their craft, will remain just that—a dream.

Please don’t steal ebooks. If you see Siren-BookStrand books being offered for free, or sold in bulk lots, chances are that they are stolen.

Please don’t download them. You can help by reporting illegal sharing to [email protected] and encouraging your friends and family to do the right thing.

With deep gratitude,

Rachel Clark

To all of you who paid for this book. I couldn’t do it without you.

Thanks.

TEE-ANI’S PIRATES

RACHEL CLARK

Copyright © 2010

The harsh sound of a whip rang out across the crowded cargo bay.

Tee-ani pushed through the group of terrified women, trying to get to the one who was injured, the one still being attacked. Another loud snapping sound, another terrified, pain-filled scream.

What the hell was wrong with these creatures? Men seemed too kind a word. They may have looked similar to humans, but the complete lack of empathy toward another’s suffering seemed downright bewildering.

Tee-ani broke through the edges of the crowd as one of their captors raised his arm to hit the woman again.

“Stop,” she yelled as she placed herself between the whip and the injured woman. The guard hesitated at the sound of her words and then turned his attention to her.

“This is not your concern, slave. Move away or you will be next.”

The voice sounded gravelly and cruel and the creature grinned maliciously. He obviously enjoyed the woman’s pain and no doubt he would enjoy hers as well. Tee-ani swallowed nervously, but stepped in front of the guard, effectively cutting off his clear aim at the terrified woman.

“She’s just a child. She doesn’t understand the rules yet.” Tee-ani wasn’t above begging, but she knew that only a show of strength
8

Rachel Clark

would stop this creature. It seemed the only thing they understood. He raised his arm again as if to strike, but Tee-ani held her ground. No way would she let more harm come to this young woman if she could do something to stop it.

She held her hand out, palm facing him in what she hoped was a universal sign to stop, and then she grinned back at him, trying to infuse as much mocking bravado as she could.

“How do you think Keytark will react when he finds out you damaged his property? He personally wants this slave. How are you going to explain what happened when she dies from injuries you caused?”

The creature threw his head back and made a loud snorting sound that Tee-ani had learned was the equivalent to a human laugh.

“He would thank me for ridding him of this troublesome slave.”

Tee-ani braced herself for the blows that would surely follow such confident arrogance, but they never came. She watched as he coiled the whip and pushed it back into the clip on his belt.

“Clean her up.” He barked the order as he turned and stalked away.

Wobbling at the knees, Tee-ani exhaled the breath she’d been holding and then turned to the softly crying woman behind her. The young female had curled into a ball on the deck floor and it seemed that the whip lashes had hit her squarely between the shoulder blades. Tee-ani moved toward her, but she cringed away in fear.

“It’s okay.” She kept her voice low and soothing. “I can help you.

I have medical equipment.” The injured woman lifted her head to look at Tee-ani. Her face streaked with tears, eyes puffy and red-rimmed, the woman didn’t look much older than sixteen or seventeen in human years. The beginnings of a bruise showed on her left cheekbone and Tee-ani reached over to run her hand lightly over the swelling. “I can fix this.”

The young woman looked at her again, fear crowding her features as she hesitantly moved so that Tee-ani could help her to her feet. She
Tee-ani’s Pirates

9

hissed with pain as her shoulder muscles flexed, and Tee-ani could clearly remember the agony of her own beating so many months ago.

The other women parted to let them through. They were all terrified and it seemed clear from their movements that even though many may have wanted to help, none were willing to align themselves with her, lest they share the same fate.

Tee-ani helped the young woman onto the narrow bench that she’d been using as a medical bed and grabbed her equipment. She helped the woman lie on her stomach and then peeled back the damaged material to examine the angry welts. The skin had broken in many places and Tee-ani could see green blood oozing from the damaged areas.

“Sweetie,” she said as she moved into the young woman’s line of vision. “What species are you?” The girl shook her head in confusion, but gasped in pain when the movement pulled against her damaged flesh. Tee-ani tried again. “What is your home planet?”

“G’trobia.” It was a small breathy sound, as if she didn’t understand the question. Tee-ani moved so that the young woman could see her clearly.

“That explains the green blood but not how you ended up on a slave ship.” Curving her lips into what she hoped looked like a kind smile, Tee-ani showed her the medical instrument that she held and then straightened so that she could use the technology to close the wounds on the woman’s back. “G’trobian females aren’t supposed to leave the planet. Isn’t that right? How did you get abducted by slave traders?”

Tee-ani saw the woman’s body tense. A reaction she suspected had nothing to do with the pain of the beating she’d just received.

“I wasn’t abducted.” The monotone of the mumbled words startled Tee-ani for a moment. Every G’trobian that she’d ever met had a fascinating sing-song quality to their voice, but it was completely missing in this woman’s speech pattern.

10

Rachel Clark

Moving back into the woman’s line of vision, Tee-ani tried to make eye contact. The young woman’s eyes seemed unfocused, as if she saw something from the past, not what was actually in front of her eyes.

Tee-ani reached out a hand to carefully brush stringy, matted, sweat-soaked hair away from the woman’s eyes.

“If you weren’t abducted, how did you end up a slave?”

The woman’s eyes filled with tears as she said the one thing guaranteed to chill Tee-ani all the way to her soul.

“My family sold me.”

Tee-ani’s Pirates

11

Nearly four Earth months later…

Tee-ani sat on the stool, fighting the lethargy she felt. It had been close to forty-eight hours since she’d had any sleep—or even a moment’s reprieve—and her body just couldn’t give her any more.

“Looks like that was our last patient,” Sarah told her as she walked back into the medical bay. The woman still bounced with energy, despite the fact that she’d been dealing with patients alongside Tee-ani for the last two days. “You look like hell,” Sarah said with a smile on her face.

“Well, thank you, that makes me feel so much better.” Tee-ani laughed tiredly. Sarah was married to the ship’s captain and had been able to help with the influx of seriously wounded patients. They’d come across the freighter after a vicious attack and most of its crew had been left seriously injured. Sarah’s first aid skills had saved a lot of lives today and Tee-ani felt very grateful for the help. She didn’t know where Sarah’s knowledge of medicine came from, but considering they were all currently crew on a pirate ship, it was probably better that she remain in the dark.

“Go get some sleep,” Sarah said, smiling. “I’ll wake you if something comes up that I can’t handle.”

“What about you? You haven’t slept either,” Tee-ani said, concern for the other woman’s health overriding her own needs.