EnforcersCraving Read Free Page B

army, she caved like an egg under a
hammer. It took everything Ari had to stand motionless, pretending not to watch
or care, pretending he didn’t want to turn his blaster on Sergeant-fucking-Edrick
and melt him into a puddle of nothing.
    Tarkan wasn’t faring much better. Even across the distance
of the room, Ari could see how close he was to breaking cover. When the
tortured girl’s bracelet finally switched off and she slumped into a shaking
heap, Ari let out a quiet sigh of relief. That brief moment of respite lasted
right up until Edrick stalked over and peered into his closed helmet.
    “Get that slave off the floor and onto the shuttle. And don’t
damage her because I’ve already put in a bid.”
    Ari nodded and did as he was told, mentally cursing the
whole way. Their entire plan hinged on getting in and out without anyone
noticing, without their shuttle transfer being different to any one of the
other fifteen embarkations. They did not need a special interest woman on their
manifest and they certainly didn’t need Sergeant Edrick taking note of their
shuttle.
    Crouching down Ari slid his arms under the girl, lifting her
carefully and cradling her against his chest, doing his best not to jostle her.
He’d had firsthand experience of a control bracelet, and he knew the residue
coursing through the girl’s body would make her hypersensitive to touch. He
didn’t want to add to her pain but he couldn’t afford to appear too gentle with
her either. As far as Brightstar and its soldiers were concerned, these women
were now commodities to be bought and sold. Sentiment and decency had no place
here.
    Holding the girl in his arms he stood by the door, waiting
for the females to disembark from the transport ship. He followed them through
into the shuttle, doing his best to ignore the fear so obvious in their body
language. The connecting door swished shut behind him like a falling sword and
his sense of impending danger didn’t lessen as he made his way to the back of
tiny craft.
    Laying the girl down on one of the two emergency beds, he
buckled her in and perched on the end of the bunk, bracing himself with one
hand on the wall and the other on an overhead cabinet.
    The tiny ship declamped, eased forward and then side-slipped
into formation with the other Brightstar shuttles. Now all they had to do was
fly casual until they reached the asteroid field and the next phase of their
mission.
     
    Every centimeter of Chelsea’s body hurt—even her eyelashes
and hair were not immune. Something particularly foul had crawled inside her
mouth to rot and her head throbbed like it was in the running for the biggest
hangover of all time. She heard the hum of male voices and the thought that one
of those voices might belong to the sergeant put the fear of god into her.
    Prying open her gummy eyes, she squinted against the glare
of overhead lights and turned her head. On the bed opposite her, sat two big, scary
men who were built like gym-junkies. Broad shoulders, deep chests, huge arms
and thighs and hands big enough to snap her in half. Their skin was sun-bronzed,
but the warm copper tinge was unusual and there was something odd about their
features. Their faces were rough-hewn and strong but their cheekbones were a
little too prominent, and their eyes a little too slanted to look…well, she
hated to use the word “normal” but it was the one that fit. And the color was
off in both of them. One had clear, light-brown eyes the color of cognac
diamonds but the other’s gaze was as purple as amethyst. Both men boasted long
thick lashes and they were staring at her with such intensity she couldn’t hold
their gazes. Her glance skittered up and that’s when she noticed their hair.
    She blinked, swallowed and blinked again, convinced in that
moment she was suffering some kind of weird concussion. Their hair wasn’t
really hair, it was more like long, silky fur. Like a lion’s mane, only soft
and shiny. Purple eyes’ hair was