Taken by Space Pirates: A SciFi Alien Romance (Bound to the Alien Book 2) Read Free Page B

suddenly stepped back from me, horror creasing his face. I sat up and covered myself, vulnerable in a way I had never experienced.
     
    He got out on the other side, his back to me, water cascading off his clothing. I rolled to my side and curled into a ball. I was humiliated. The look on his face, the hard line of his shoulders. I could hear him as he walked around the room, but I squeezed my eyes closed and buried my face into my knees.
     
    He walked towards me, and I shook in fear. He'd threatened me, but now he knew that if he was going to take me, it wouldn't be with force, and that I would give him everything he wanted with a single touch. Then, he draped soft fabric over me, and stepped away.
     
    His voice was gruff and curt. "Dry off." I cracked open my eyes, and I saw him standing facing away from me again. I sat up and gathered the towel around me and rubbed at my scales. "There's a suit on the bench. I can't leave you alone, I'm sorry. But I won't turn around."
     
    My legs were shaky as I walked towards the bench. I scooped up the suit and sat down. I was rubbery and it took a thousand years to get dressed around the cuffs. I rested my head on my hands and wanted to weep. What did I say to him? I finally cleared my throat and said softly, "I'm dressed."
     
    He turned and faced me and I flinched from him, but it wasn't anger on his face, it was something else. It was shock. He gestured at the now open door. I blushed as I walked into a room. It was clearly someone's sleeping quarters. His sleeping quarters. He moved quickly through the room to a simple antechamber.
     
    He pointed at the divan, and I sat down. It was the first bit of comfort since I felt since I was taken and I wanted to sink into its fluffy depths and sleep for a thousand years. I wondered if he was going to let me rest here, or if I was going back to that cold, dark holding cell. My stomach made a loud grumble, and I looked away from him.
     
    A tray moved into my vision. There was a steaming bowl of soup and more bread. I looked up at him, scared to reach for it. If he pulled it out of my reach, I would collapse. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the smell was divine and driving me absolutely mad.
     
    He sat across from me and said, "Please, eat."

Chapter Five
     
    He touched my wrist gently. "My name is Sam."
     
    "Hello Sam, my name is Thea."
     
    "I thought your name was Thearaugqua Iztan Droqrolla."
     
    "This is what my father named me, but my mother called me Thea." As much as he'd researched my family, I doubt he knew anything about my parents’ relationship. She was just never in public. Ever. My father forbade it after I was born.
     
    For a heartbeat, I thought we might be able to connect on a deeper level, past the pains of the past, but the door opened and in strode his first mate. She scowled at me sitting on the couch, but turned her attention to Sam.
     
    He said, "Ardal, you have a report?"
     
    She said, "They received the ransom demand. Fighters scrambled immediately for the Hainthi Quadrant."
     
    Whatever moment we might have shared was shattered when he stood up and laughed. He smiled at her, warmth in his face that I'd have given anything to have directed towards me. He said, "Well, then, I guess the plan is in motion."
     
    They both looked at me, eyes hard as agate. He thumbed the device on his belt and the bonds reactivated on my wrists. He gestured at me and I stood. I wanted that moment back, desperately. I knew I was going back to the cold box that almost killed me before.
     
    No reason to go down without swinging, in my own way. I lifted an eyebrow and mentally wrapped myself in every bit of princessly hauteur I could as I looked Ardal in the eyes.
     
    I knew she’d been responsible for my near miss with death. "Don't be a coward next time you intend on killing me." I wiggled my bound wrists at her. "Clearly I'm unable to fight back. At least have the decency to look me in the eyes while you're