Maggie had no idea but she did know somehow that this wasn’t over yet.
* * * * *
He looked up at her, her adorably flushed cheeks and her tousled curls. Her oculars were slipping down her nose and he could almost make out the color of her eyes. He wanted a closer look but he sensed she wouldn’t be up for that right now.
Gods, her little hands had felt good on him! So soft and gentle and tentative but strong too, when they needed to be. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been touched in such a way. Mostly all the females that had been sent to him while he was still fighting were for breeding purposes only—none of them stayed long enough to form much of an attachment.
But this little one—the girl of his dreams—wasn’t hardened or jaded like the females he’d been with in the past. She was innocent and sweet yet very brave. Touching him embarrassed the hell out of her but she'd done it anyway, because she knew it was the only way to help him. If only she’d helped him a little longer, he was certain he would have lost control completely.
Maybe it’s better she stopped when she did, he thought darkly.
Wincing, he put his fingertips to his throat, where the black leather inhibitor had been for so many years. What would he be like without it? He only dimly remembered the incident which had prompted his master to make him wear it in the first place but it hadn’t been pretty. He had never been allowed to take it off—not even in the arena when he fought at the Blood Circuit. He would never hurt this sweet, shy girl who had saved him—not on purpose, anyway. But without the inhibitor, he wasn’t sure what the hell he might do.
Well, the first thing to do is get out of here before Pope’nose shows up. True enough, and if his rescuer was really as innocent as she seemed, she might need some rescuing of her own to get out.
Shaking off the morbid thoughts, he rose to his feet and held out a hand to her.
“Come on.”
She looked up at him uncertainly. “What, you’re better? Just like that?”
He shrugged. “You washed off the verium. My strength is returning.”
“Uh-huh.” She looked skeptical but allowed him to help her to her feet.
“Good.” He nodded. “Let’s go—you’re coming with me.”
“Wait a minute, go where?” she protested. “I never said I would go anywhere with you. I…I don’t even know your name.”
He sighed. “This isn’t the best time for introductions but I was called Korexiroth during my time at the Blood Circuit.”
“Ooookay,” she said slowly. “That’s quite a mouthful.”
“It means The Demon.” He watched her closely, wanting to see if she was afraid of him. But though his fighting name had struck terror in the hearts of countless opponents, she still showed no fear. Brave little thing.
“That’s…interesting,” she said at last. “Maybe I could just call you Kor for short? Unless you go by something else when you’re not in the, uh, Blood Circuit, whatever that is?”
“Before I was The Demon, my master just called me ‘slave.’” He shrugged. “I don’t have any other name.”
“Kor it is,” she decided.
“Kor it is,” he repeated gravely. He wondered if she knew that the giving of a name constituted ownership. She had, in effect, just claimed him. Kor didn’t know how he felt about that—though he’d been raised a slave, a part of him had always remained free. What was it about this little female with her blonde curls that made him think she could tame that part and make it her own?
Don’t be stupid, he told himself firmly. She’s just a girl. True, you dreamed about her and she rescued you but there has to be some explanation for that. Maybe something to do with that damn Dream Gas they’re all using here all the time.
“So what’s your name?” he asked, trying to move on.
“Maggie.”
“Maggie…Maggie…” He rolled the name on his tongue. “I like it. What does it mean?”
“Mean? Uh…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. We don’t…names don’t always mean something where I come from.”
“Must mean courage,” Kor decided. “It took a lot of guts for you to come save me.”
“You’re not quite saved yet,” she pointed out. “It must be near morning. We need to get out of here and be far away by the time Lady Pope'nose wakes up.”
“Exactly.” He held out a hand to her. “Which is why you need to come with me. Now.”
She drew back. “I’m not going anywhere with you! I have a fiancé back home and a ship waiting for me across the chasm.”
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow at her sardonically. “And do you have a way to get to this ship?”
“Uh, well…” She looked uncertain. “Lady Pope'nose's servant—her slave, I mean—brought me here in the first place. I guess he was supposed to take me back again too.”
“And do you want to risk using her resources when at any minute she could discover me missing and call the slave to bring you back?” Kor demanded. “I can promise you, she won’t go easy on you just because you’re a guest.”
Maggie shivered. “Okay, I guess you’ve got a point. But do you have a better idea of how to get out of here and cross the chasm? I mean, that hole is freaking huge.”
“We’ll steal a hovercar,” he said calmly.
“I can’t steal a car!” she protested. “I’m not a thief.”
“Yes, you are.” He grinned at her. “You stole me. And knowing what I do about Yonnite currency, I’m worth a hell of a lot more than even the most expensive luxury vehicle on this whole damn planet.”
“Oh my God…” She put a hand to her forehead. “Why am I always getting myself into these kinds of messes? I just wanted to keep her from hurting you—I never meant to commit Grand Theft Slave…or whatever they call it here.”
“Too late for regrets, blondie.” Kor stretched, working out the kinks in his muscles, and took a deep, cleansing breath. “What’s done is done and I’m a free male, thanks to you. Don’t worry about the hovercar,” he continued, seeing her worried look. “There are plenty of rich mistresses around here who won’t even notice one of their cars has gone missing for days. By that time we’ll be long gone.”
“In…separate directions?” she asked uncertainly.
“Of course,” he lied smoothly, although he had no intention of letting her go. He needed to make sure she was safe—and how could he do that if he just let her walk off? No, she needed to stay with him, at least for now.
“All right,” she said at last, reluctantly. “I guess if you—”
Just then the door to his cell banged open, revealing a livid Lady Pope’nose.
“I knew it!” she hissed, glaring at Maggie. “I just knew you’d get up to something you little fraud! And now you’re going to pay!”
Chapter Five
“Oh! Lady Pope’nose!” Maggie gasped, putting a hand to her galloping heart. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking on you.” Lady Pope’nose glared at her. “I had a premonition that you might try something like this. After your ridiculously soft-hearted display yesterday evening, I knew you wouldn’t rest until you’d caused trouble.”
Maggie put up her hands. “Look, I know how this looks and I admit, I was setting your slave free. But the way you were treating him—”
“Is nothing to what I’m going to do to you.” Without warning, Lady Pope’nose strode forward and slapped her hard, across the face. “How dare you?” she hissed. “How dare you touch another woman’s slave?”
Maggie opened her mouth to answer—although she had no idea what she was going to say—but just then she became aware of a low, rumbling sound in the room. Looking to one side, she saw it was Kor—he was growling. Even worse, his formerly pale blue eyes were glowing a hot, burning red.
What the hell? What’s going on with him?
“Leave her the fuck alone. If you touch her again, you die.” Kor’s voice was deep and menacing, filled with the warning of a
wild beast about to attack.
“Shut your mouth, slave—I’ll deal with you later,” Lady Pope’Nose snapped dismissively. Apparently she was so focused on Maggie she hadn’t noticed either his eyes or the fact that his collar was gone. Pointing a finger at him while still looking at Maggie she said, “Trab!”
“That doesn’t work on me.” Kor took a step toward his former mistress, towering over her. “Not anymore.”
“What?” She finally looked at him and when she did, her eyes went wide. “You fool,” she gasped at Maggie. “You removed both his pain collar and his inhibitor? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Any idea of how dangerous he is? He’ll kill us both!”
“No.” Kor’s deep voice was deceptively mild but his eyes were burning again, hotter and redder than ever as he stared at Lady Pope’nose. “Just you, my lady,” he said to her.
“Kor, what—” Maggie began but just then a beam of pure red energy shot from both his eyes.
Acting without thinking, Maggie pushed Lady Pope’nose aside just in time. The skinny Yonnite sprawled on the floor and Maggie fell on top of her.
“What is wrong with you? Get off me!” sputtered Pope’nose.
“In a minute,” Maggie said distractedly. She was busy looking back. On the spot where Lady Pope’nose had been standing, there was a deep hole carved into the rock. It looked like someone had taken a laser and blasted a trench in the solid stone. “My God,” she whispered, staring up at Kor. Maybe Lady Pope’nose was right about him after all. He wasn’t just big and strong and violent—he had freaking laser beams for eyes.
“Maggie…” He took a step toward her. His eyes had gone back to normal but she shrunk back anyway. “Maggie, what the hell?” He shook his head. “You know that wasn’t meant for you. I’m not even sure where it came from.”
“It came from your eyes, you monster!” Lady Pope’nose spat helpfully. “I swear if I had known how truly dangerous and demented you are I would have let them kill you!”
“You nearly did kill me with your constant torture and your fucking verium,” he growled and to Maggie’s horror, his eyes were glowing again.
“I should have killed you,” Lady Pope’nose proclaimed. “All I can say is that I overpaid for you by quite a lot!”
“Shut up!” Maggie hissed at her, elbowing her in her boney side. “You’re not helping yourself here—can’t you see he’s getting mad again?”
Indeed, Kor’s eyes were glowing so brightly they seemed to light up the dim room. “Maggie,” he growled. “Step away from this murderous bitch. It’s time she got what she deserved.”
“No!” Maggie lifted her chin and stayed where she was. “No,” she repeated.
“She may be a sadistic witch but I don’t believe in the death penalty. And besides, I’m already committing Grand Theft Slave—I don’t need to add murder to my list of crimes!”
“You don’t know the things she’s done. The slaves she’s tortured and killed.” His voice was a low, menacing growl.
Maggie looked at him, trying not to let the fear show in her face or shake her voice. “You know, that’s pretty much what she said about you. But I came to rescue you, didn’t I? Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“Why you—” Lady Pope’nose began but Maggie slapped a hand over her skinny lips.
“Please, Kor,” she said, looking up at him. “Please—I don’t want you to kill her.”
He took a deep breath and the red glow began to fade from his eyes. “You really are courageous to stand between The Demon and his kill,” he murmured. He crossed his arms over his bare chest, which made his muscles bulge in a most distracting way. “All right, blondie. I’m pretty sure you’ll regret it but I’ll spare her life—only because you spared mine.”
Inwardly, Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“Welcome. But if you let her go free, we’ll never get out of here. So what do you suggest?”
“Well…” Maggie took a look around and her eyes happened to fall on the discarded pain collar and chains. “I have an idea,” she said, smiling at Kor. “What do you say we give her a taste of her own medicine?”
* * * * *
“I’m afraid Lady Pope’nose isn’t going to be too happy for the next week,” Maggie remarked as they finally made their way (very quietly) out of the huge opulent building her hostess lived in. The busy street was quiet for once, almost devoid of traffic in the early morning dawn.
“She got what she deserved—and then some.” Kor smiled, remembering his former mistress’s sputtered demands and protests as he had fitted her with the pain collar and chains and poured a scoop of verium on her head. The broken inhibitor he had folded up and put into the pocket of the new slave pants he now wore.
Maggie had wanted to get out of the house immediately but as the rest of the household appeared to be still asleep, Kor had taken a moment to survey Lady Pope’nose’s assets and steal a new outfit from the slaves’ laundry. His new pants were made of black leather and were uncomfortably tight in places—obviously he was bigger than most of his former mistress’s slaves—but at least they didn’t scream “escaped slave.” His new black boots were likewise tight but the leather was stretching nicely.
“Hopefully her slaves will think she’s at the spa. No one should find her before the week is out,” he remarked.
“They’d better not.” Maggie sounded anxious.
“You wishing you’d let me kill her?” He cast a sidelong glance at her.
Maggie flinched. “No—of course not!”
Kor shrugged. “All right. But the dead don’t talk.”
“What are you, from the Mob?” she demanded. “Were you some kind of assassin? Did you go around ‘whacking’ people or something?”
“What?” Kor stared at her blankly. “Nothing you just said made any damn sense.”
“I’m just saying…never mind.” Her eyes flickered over him uncertainly and then she looked away.
Kor wondered what he’d said to upset her. He was a warrior—he killed people. Was it really that difficult to understand?
A new thought intruded. Maybe she’s just upset because she’s scared half to death after I nearly blasted Pope’nose to dust.
It was a sobering thought. Kor wasn’t sure what the hell had happened with his eyes—all he remembered was feeling so angry that he literally saw red. And then the blast of energy had come from him like a shout of pure rage. He had felt like that before, when he was fighting in the arena and he knew his eyes were said to glow when he was in a rage, but he supposed the inhibitor had stopped anything from happening. Now he was without it for the first time in years—what else might he be capable of?
But even more troubling than the situation with his eyes was the fact that he had let a prospective kill escape. True, he had never killed females—it was always males that he fought in the arenas of the Blood Circuit—but he had been more than willing to make an exception in Lady Pope’nose’s case. The bitch had done nothing but torture and taunt him the entire time he was in her care and revenge had been the uppermost thought on his mind. But one word from Maggie and he had softened, allowing his evil former mistress off with no more than a week’s punishment. Why?
Was it because he didn’t want Maggie to be afraid of him? Was she afraid of him now? He cast a sidelong look at her and saw that she was looking at him too. She looked quickly away.
“You all right?” he asked roughly.
“Um, fine. Just…just nervous,” she said and gave a jagged little laugh. “I’ve never been a…a criminal before.”
“Take it from me,” Kor said dryly. “It’s not so bad unless you’re caught.”
“I don’t want to be caught!”
“As long as we put enough distance between Pope’nose and us, we’ll be fine,” he said, taking her hand. He was pleased when she allowed it and didn’t pull away. “We just have to steal a car and get off-planet.”
“What?” Her eyes widened and she ya
nked her hand out of his. “I told you, I’m not going that far with you. I just need to get to the chasm and then we can go our separate ways.”
Kor frowned. Fine, she wanted to leave—why should it bother him? Except it did—a hell of a lot. He still wanted to keep her with him at all costs. Not that he would let her know that.
“All right,” he said, stalling. “Say that we part ways right now. How do you feel about that?”
“I…I feel fine.” Maggie lifted her chin. “After all, it’s not like we really know each other. Not like we—”
“Dreamed of each other night after night?” Kor asked softly. “Not like you risked your life to save me?”
“I…” She looked down, biting her lip in a most distracting way and then pushed up the oculars which kept sliding down her adorable little nose.
Oh yeah—there was no way in all the Seven Hells Kor was letting her go.
“I’ll let you go on one condition,” he told her. “If you can tell me the way to the chasm. Prove you know the way back and I’ll leave you here and now and we’ll never see each other again.”
“I…um…” Maggie frowned. “That’s hardly fair. I’ve never been in this city—never even been on this planet—before yesterday.”
“Exactly.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “So tell me the way. You know what—no,” he continued. “Just point in the general direction of the chasm so I know you won’t get lost. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Fine.” Maggie threw out an arm, pointing down the long street outside the huge, opulent building they had just exited. “It’s that way.”
“Yes.” Kor nodded, trying to suppress a smile. “Yes, it is.”
“See, I told you I know where I’m going!” Maggie sounded so triumphant he hated to burst her bubble.
“It’s that way as long as you don’t mind circumnavigating the entire planet to get there,” Kor said.