Cosmic Bliss Read Free Page B

high had quickly
worn off. Only her practical side was left to deal with any trouble in the
cargo bay.
    She found the three men and three women shackled to the
floor in a corner of the cargo area near the doors. She could see brands
tattooed inside their wrists. The swirling scrollwork was obscene in its
beauty. They wore rough-hewn pullovers. At least they had clothes. Most slaves
weren’t allowed any.
    The aliens ranged in colors from fair and red-haired to
brown- and black-haired. Some cowered, but one, a male, stood as straight as he
could and faced the Dovian Heart crew. He looked prepared to do them
harm with his shackled body and teeth if necessary.
    Acia could not look away from the man. He was large and
muscled, his face chiseled in such a way to make him more rugged than handsome.
His skin was the medium-brown of oduei bread. His lips were full and his
eyes slanted. Straight, heavy black hair framed his face, drawing her gaze and
giving her unexpected pleasure.
    This warrior-man fascinated Acia. She felt the fervor, which
had subsided some during the battle, flare to life. Heat and tension settled
between her legs and her nipples pulled taut. Wetness soaked her panties.
    “Keep the tall one, Acia. You will need him,” Cheris said.
    “We don’t traffic in humanoids, Cheris.” She blew out
slowly, trying to dispel the urge to go to him and rub her body against his.
    “Ask him.” Cheris nodded.
    The male spoke in a language she could not understand. She
needed to calibrate her Language Interpreter. The LI would need to adjust to
this new language.
    “You want me to ask a perfect stranger, an alien slave, to
keep me sexually satisfied while I go through my first fervor? He could be a
murderer.”
    “What other choice do you have? Go all the way to Dovia? You
can’t stop staring. You want him. The fervor wants him. Tell him we will
transport them to a friendly planet if he does this for you.”
    The fervor flared higher, streaking through her entire body.
Tendrils of heat branched out from her core. She’d waited too long to find a
man to help her through her time.
    Acia took a deep breath to steady herself. “Unchain them,
but guard your weapons.”
    Acia instructed her crew to adjust their LIs. Acia adjusted
her LI as well. There was mumbling among the alien men and women as they were
released. Finally she could make out words from their foreign tongue.
    “You, warrior, I would speak with you.” She cursed her
voice, which she knew sounded as sweet as flowers in a light breeze.
    “You’ve freed us.” He stepped closer. “Or is this a trick?”
    “There is no trick. But maybe I haven’t done you any favors.
You are free to take this vessel and leave,” Acia replied. A new sheen of
perspiration released from her pores as she tried to contain the fervor. The
presence of a humanoid male made it almost impossible. “My crew and I will be
appropriating the cargo.”
    He grimaced. “We wouldn’t know how to fly this ship. We
would be easily targeted sitting here. Can you take us to a safe place or back
to Earth?”
    Acia held herself rigid even though her body was demanding
she display for this man signs she was ready to mate. If she bent over to let
him mount her she would expire on the spot. “You aren’t even in the same galaxy
as your Earth anymore, warrior. Passage on our vessel is limited and—”
    “There is a way you could pay the way for your people. Of
course they would still have to work to earn their keep,” Cheris said.
    “No, Cheris.” It was difficult to talk through clenched
teeth.
    “How would I do that?” he asked. He frowned at Acia’s first
officer.
    Acia raised her hand to halt Cheris’s next words. “It is not
something I would ask of—”
    “As the first officer to your captain, you hold rank, but as
the woman who raised you, I demand my right to speak.”
    Acia clamped her lips together. The other woman had raised
her and protected her during their enslavement.