Securing Sara (The Beast Masters Series) Read Free Page A

leave her having to spread her legs for coin like many of the women on Panciline were forced to do. It was the oldest and most reliable profession for a reason, and now she was closer to being part of it than ever before.
    The smelly, threadbare scraps of clothing her captors had her in were gone, replaced with sheer material that covered very little and emphasized her assets—mainly her ample breasts. The damn smarmy traders had even taken a keen interest in them, squeezing them, talking to each other about how much extra money she’d fetch with them.
    Bastards.
    Sara was thankful for the decontamination chamber time she’d finally been allotted. Of course, it had been under the strict supervision of two guards who forced her to shave nearly all the hair from her body, excluding the hair on her head. Sara didn’t mind. She liked being clean-shaven. She just didn’t much appreciate an audience. She despised her holders and tried to make nearly every task they set forth before her a challenge.
    She’d spent nearly every day of her captivity trying to escape. She’d traveled in space before and had enough training as a pilot to steer a ship if need be. She hated being pinned in. Pain lanced her left shoulder. She’d injured it pitching her body at one of the disgusting creatures holding her prisoner. He’d been much stronger than she expected, and she’d only hurt herself with her failed attempts at freedom.
    Her thoughts wandered back to when she was young, when the halfway home for orphaned children she’d been part of had locked her away for each infraction she supposedly committed. Their goal had been to break her spirit. To end her disobedience. They’d nearly been successful. They’d nearly broken her will to live.
    She jutted out her chin, proud she’d never given in, never surrendered to them. Just as she’d never made anything easy for the slave traders who now held her prisoner. It had been her own fault she’d ended up in their hands. She was only on the stinking ship thanks to a crooked judge on her planet. She’d been treated with the same lack of respect the damn fish men treated every other woman on board—as if they were merely property to be traded and bargained off.
    She righted herself as the ship sputtered to a final stop. One of the guards appeared, a breathing apparatus affixed to his fish-like face. When he spoke, it was garbled and hard to understand.
    “Come,” he demanded. He bandied about an electric prod, though the numerous times she’d been shocked with it had yielded anything but the results she was guessing he’d been hoping for. She didn’t like showing pain or weakness.
    She’d been raised with enough Earth girls at the orphanage that she’d picked up a number of their customs. Her favorite by far had always been lifting her middle finger in the air in a gesture of fuck off . She did so now. While he wore gear similar to the Galactic Guards and had on a badge that appeared legit, she knew better. She lived on the fringe of society long enough to spot fakes and impostors. He didn’t get the thinly veiled respect she would have given an actual Galactic Guard. Instead, he got her middle finger in the air.
    The guard’s already narrow eyes moved to the size of slits as he lunged at her. He bounced the back of her head off the wall and then dragged her to the door. He yanked at the shackles around her wrists. The prod was charged with enough electricity to reduce her to pulp should they deem it necessary. She almost wished they would decide to pull the switch.
    She snarled at him, her long, unruly auburn hair falling into her face. He shoved her hard and pain shot through her shoulder once more. She couldn’t stop the gasp that fell from her lips.
    Bastards.
    She hated giving them the satisfaction of knowing they’d caused her pain. If she could have figured out exactly where their genitalia was, she’d have kicked them in it already. The damn fish men seemed to lack