Enslaved Read online

  “You got them?” Trin jumped up from the bunk, shedding the thermal blanket in her excitement. “You got the crystals?”

  “Of course I did,” Thrace said roughly but he couldn’t help liking the excitement and joy he saw in her eyes and knowing he was responsible for it. “Had to blast some big holes in a few of B’Rugh’s thugs to get both them and you out of there but I got them.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Trin actually laughed, a low, musical sound that he liked a hell of a lot. “Amazing.” She frowned. “Now that I think of it, the last thing I remember before I blacked out was that we were surrounded.”

  “Not for long. I rigged the blaster’s power switch and turned it into a heatbeam—little trick I learned in the war with the Lud’oms. Cut a few of B’Rugh’s thugs in half and blasted a few more to puddles of twitching ooze…they got out of the way pretty quick after that.”

  Her eyes widened. “You overrode the safety setting? You could have blown your hand off!”

  Thrace shrugged. “It was a calculated risk—like the one you took. Just so happens it paid off. You complaining?”

  “No…” She looked thoughtful. “I guess I don’t have room to complain considering the results. It’s something I never would have done myself but well…”

  “But your new slave is crazy,” Thrace growled. “So he does whatever the hell it takes to get the job done.”

  * * * * *

  “I’m glad you do,” Trin said seriously. She was still stunned that he’d come for her—she really couldn’t complain about his methods. “Listen, about this slave business,” she began. “You really don’t have to—”

  “Yes, I do,” Thrace interrupted, frowning. “I told you, a Havoc always pays what he owes. It’s a point of honor and pride among us. If you deny me the right to serve you until I have paid this debt, my honor will be forever darkened.”

  “Well…” Trin looked at him uncertainly. Males were such strange creatures—so big and strong and stubborn. There seemed to be no reasoning with him about this. Though she honestly felt he had more than paid his debt by rescuing her from B’Rugh’s horrible plot, he seemed determined to help her sell the crystals as well.

  But can I trust him? What’s to stop him from taking over the ship the minute I let him back on board? Of course if he’d wanted to do that, he probably already could’ve done it when he got out of his chains in the first place. How had he gotten free, anyway? A sick feeling formed in the pit of her stomach.

  “How did you get loose in the first place?” she asked softly. “My crew…”

  “Are fine,” he assured her. “Your good friend, Sidna let me go. Then she held me at blaster point and forced me into one of the pods—this one, in fact. I’m afraid we had to leave yours behind back at the Demon’s Eye since I couldn’t pilot them both.”

  “Sidna let you go?” Trin asked without surprise. It was exactly what the medic had been advocating before she left—the exact course of action Trin herself had decided on, in fact. She supposed she ought to be mad at her friend for going behind her back and making the final decision without her but considering the circumstances, she really couldn’t be upset. If Sidna hadn’t set the huge Havoc free, Trin would be helpless, at the mercy of the slimy B’Rugh right now. Ugh!

  “She let me go and she’s fine—they’re all fine. Trin…” Thrace looked at her steadily with those pale, piercing eyes. “Let me do this. You need me to make the sale on Yonnie Six—I know you do. Sidna said so.”

  Trin frowned, trying to think of an objection. One popped immediately to mind.

  “My crew won’t like it,” she said. “They think you’re a monster and they saw Sidna escort you out of the ship at blaster point. They’ll never believe you asked to serve me.”

  “I’ll make them believe,” Thrace promised steadily. “I can be very convincing when I want to be.”

  “They won’t like to have a male—especially such a, uh, big one running around the ship free,” she pointed out.

  “That’s probably true.” He sighed. “All right, I can’t believe I’m saying this but…put the pain collar back on me. Then keep the remote on you at all times if you want.”

  “Ugh!” Trin made a face. “I threw it away as soon as I got you aboard The Alacrity! I can’t bear those things!”

  “I fucking hate them too,” Thrace said steadily. “I have good reason ton. But your crew needs assurances and I can tell you still have some doubts as well. So dig it out of your trash bin, dust it off, and put it on me.”

  Trin looked at him uncertainly.

  “You’re sure about this?”

  “Positive. Once we get to the ship I’ll wait in the pod with the doors locked until you get the collar and bring it to me. Bring the crew too—let them watch you put it on. That should put their minds at ease.”

  “And all this just so you can pay your debt?” Trin still couldn’t believe it.

  His pale eyes flashed.

  “You’re damned right, Trin. I won’t go through life owing anyone so much as one fucking credit—let alone fifty thousand of them. I pay my own way.”

  Trin suppressed a small smile.

  “You know, if you’re going to remain my slave and it’s going to look convincing, you’re going to have to start calling me Mistress.”

  Thrace cleared his throat and looked at her.

  “I can do that…Mistress.”

  The word sounded strange in his deep, gravelly voice and yet right somehow in a way Trin couldn’t define. She looked at him for a moment more and made her decision.

  “All right,” she said at last. “We’ll do it. You’ll remain my slave until I can sell the Jaxite crystals on Yonnie Six. After that, we’re even and you’re free to go. Or I’ll drop you off wherever you need to be. Agreed?”

  “Agreed.” He nodded his head. “Mistress.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Thrace didn’t know why he’d asked to stay on as Trin’s slave. Oh, he knew the outer reason—the one he’d given her—that a Havoc always pays his debts. But there was more to it than that, though he hardly wanted to admit it, even to himself. The plain fact was, he was reluctant to leave her.

  Maybe it was the way she’d felt in his arms, the scent of her hair and skin, the helpless way she trembled against him as he tried to warm her. Maybe it was her soft voice, her sweet laugh or that warm, feminine scent that followed her everywhere and seemed to get into his brain somehow. Thrace didn’t know—he only knew he wasn’t ready to leave yet. And even if it meant putting back on that fucking pain collar and calling her his mistress, he was going to stay until he was damn well ready to go.

  His only reservation was that he felt bad about not going to look for Solar right away. But his First Mate and best friend was a resourceful son of a bitch. He would land on his feet wherever he was. Thrace promised himself as soon as he had seen this thing through and paid off his debt, he would go looking for the other Havoc. In the meantime, he had unfinished business that he had to see through before he could consider himself free to hunt down his friend.

  Consider yourself free—right, whispered a sarcastic little voice in his head. Why are you really doing this, Thrace? What is it about this female that makes it worth giving up the chance to go free and putting that fucking pain collar on again? She doesn’t even like males and she’s damn sure never going to let you have her. Even if she would, it’s not like you’d want to bond to her—you’re Havoc remember? ‘We do not bond’—it’s your fucking code. So what the hell is wrong with you and why are you doing this?

  Thrace didn’t have the answer for the little voice. It’s the debt, he told himself stubbornly. I have to pay my debt. Only then can I truly be free. Only then can I leave. Not before.

  At last they docked with The Alacrity and Trin went out to get the collar. Thrace stayed in the pod waiting for her, trying to steel himself for what he had to do.

  It had been his idea, of course and it was a good one—the only way she