“You are mine, River. I have claimed you. You belong to me.” Torak said arrogantly. He moved far enough back to look her up and down possessively.
River’s eyes narrowed. Only once before had someone ever said that to her and looked at her that way. It had been some guy she had gone out with on a total of two dates and he thought that entitled him to her body. River didn’t like it then and she didn’t like it now.
Narrowing her eyes, she said calmly, “Take it back.”
Torak looked surprised before replying, “No.”
River glared at him coolly, “I said, Take. It. Back.”
“And I said, no.” Torak replied just as coolly.
“Fine. Your funeral.” River said right before she lifted her knee and impacted it with Torak’s exposed crotch.
Torak’s eyes widened before he let go of River’s arms which she brought down in a karate chop on his shoulders dropping him to his knees. River had a moment of doubt when she kicked him in the chest knocking the wind out of him. Twisting away from the pain and fury she saw in Torak’s eyes, River realized she might have acted just a might hasty. Not knowing what else to do she headed for the door only to find it wouldn’t open.
Torak groaned out, “You are going to pay for that.” He gasped as he held his crotch with one hand and his chest with the other.
River looked around frantically trying to figure a way out of the room before he recovered. Rushing for the bathroom she ordered the door closed and locked it from the inside. Glancing around, she noticed a vent in the ceiling. It would be a tight fit but she was sure she could wiggle into it. Standing on the toilet, she pulled the grill down and jumped pulling herself through the small opening. Scooting back until she could reach the grill she pulled it back into place as she heard a loud thump against the outer door. Frightened, she backed up until she came to a junction leading to a larger vent. Moving on her hands and knees she moved as fast as she could through the ventilation system. Oh God, she was back to living in the vents, she thought with despair.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Manota asked in disbelief. “Where could she have gone?”
Torak ran his hand through his hair, flushing. He had finally had to break down the door to his bathroom only to find River gone. He knew the only place she could have gone was into the ventilation system. He had called for her over and over to come out but she had not responded. When he had torn the grill off the opening so he could at least get his head up inside the vent to look around he didn’t see her.
“She’s in the ventilation system.” Torak muttered brushing his hand over his neck.
“And why is your mate in the ventilation system?” Jazin asked puzzled.
“She wanted me to rescind my claim on her.” Torak muttered softly.
“What?” Manota asked irritated. “She wanted you to what?”
Torak turned and glared at both of his brothers. “I said, she wanted me to rescind my claim on her and I refused.”
Both brothers looked at Torak in shock. Never had a female refused a claim by a male, especially a claim by one of the ruling members. It was a great honor to be claimed by one of the ruling males. The female would receive much acclimation and be held with great respect and honor in any house she was at. Torak, as the next leader, was considered to be one of the greatest prizes with many females asking to be in his house with the hope of being chosen. They didn’t know what to think of a female actually refusing to being claimed.
“How did she get into the ventilation system? Jazin asked curiously.
Torak just glared at his younger brother in frustration. Like he was going to tell them how the female disabled him and put one of the strongest warriors on Kassis on the floor like a sniveling first year.
“What of the other two females? What did you do after you took them from the training center?” Torak asked. If at all possible they had to keep the three females apart. He hated to think of how much damage the three female warriors could do to his men and his ship. He had had a taste of their power on the Tearnat’s warship.
It was Jazin’s turn to flush and rub his hand across the back of his neck. “I took Star to another room and locked her in. She wouldn’t quit crying as long as I was near her. I couldn’t stand her tears any longer and told her I would return later once she had calmed down.”
“What about you, Manota? What did you do with the female named Jo?” Torak asked in frustration.
“I took her back to her room.” Manota said defensively. “What? She said she would never speak to me again and every time I tried to talk to her she just held up her hand, not even looking at me. It was as if I didn’t even exist!”
Running a hand down his face Torak groaned. These female warriors were going to be the death of them all. He had to figure out a way to find River and make her understand there was no changing his claim on her. He wouldn’t change it even if he could. He had to admit a small part of him was impressed at her ability to disarm him. It didn’t mean he would let it happen again, just that he was proud of having a strong female as his mate. Their offspring would be strong, he thought with a grin.
“What are you grinning about?” Manota asked disgruntled. “I thought you were mad at the female.”
Torak grinned, “You have to admit life will be interesting with three such strong warrior women. Just think of how strong our offspring will be.”
“Yeah well, I just don’t know if I will survive long enough to create them.” Jazin muttered.
River’s knees were killing her. She had crawled through what seemed like a ton small vents off the main ones looking from Jo and Star. She had finally found Star on the level below the one she had been taken too.
“Star.” River called softly. The room was dim with only a small light shining from the bathroom. “Star, are you awake?”
“River? What are you doing in the vent?” Star asked puzzled looking up from the bed at River who was gazing down at her through the grill.
“I, uh, I kind-of beat Torak up and he, uh, kind-of got upset about it.” River whispered back down at Star.
“You beat up the captain of the ship?” Star gasped before she started laughing. “Oh River, what did he do to deserve that?”
“He said he claimed me or some such nonsense. You remember Billy Myers?” River whispered.
“Oh no, he didn’t pull a Billy Myers, did he?” Star asked laughing.
“Yeah, he did.” River laughed back resting her chin on the edge of the vent. “I told him to take it back and he said no, so I decked him.”
Star laughed so hard she had tears running down her cheeks. “Oh River, that’s priceless.”
Sobering up she looked up at River from where she laid on the bed, “River, I don’t think they are going to take us home. Jazin won’t let me see Jo either. He said they were going to keep us apart for a while until we learn to behave like females. I’m scared, River.”
River looked down on Star. “Come on. It’s time to find Jo and figure out how to get out of here. This is the last time we trust any guys.”
Star looked up at River and nodded uncertainly. “How are we going to get out of this one?”
River reached down and grabbed Star’s hand pulling her up into the vent next to her. “Who knows?” River said with a grin. “As long as we’re together again, who cares! Now come on, let’s go find Jo. Maybe she’ll have an idea and some food!”
Star grinned back. Maybe all they needed to do was show a bunch of macho males who was really the boss, she thought. It might be fun this time. Star pulled the vent grill closed and started crawling behind River.
The girls had been in the ventilation system for three days moving from level to level driving the men nuts. The vents were too small for the men to get into and the girls were too smart to stay in any one place long enough to get caught. They now had a new challenge. Torak, Manota, and Jazin had stationed men in the larger emergency tubes in an effort to catch the girls.
Manota p
oured over the schematics to the ship while Jazin paced back and forth. Torak sat at the table in the conference room with his head between his hands growling in frustration. They were supposed to be on Kassis tomorrow. He had no idea how he was going to explain his missing mate and her two friends to the council members who had requested they be presented to the assembly.
“Any luck?” Jazin growled frustrated. He had been livid when he had gone to check on Star only to find her missing. When he had sounded the alarm, Manota had gone to check on Jo only to find her missing as well. They had been taunted by the females over the last three days with food, clothing, and blankets mysteriously disappearing from different rooms around the ship. Torak had been so concerned, he had posted additional guards to their weapons storage and even had men stationed in the emergency access tubes. They had found nothing, nothing but some haunting laughter that echo throughout the ship and told them absolutely nothing. At this point, he was ready to pull his hair out.
Swearing loudly he stood up. “Where in the hell are they?”
River looked down at the men through the vent grill. All three looked exhausted. It was weird but she almost felt sorry for them. River couldn’t take her eyes off of Torak. He was so damn handsome it almost hurt to look at him. She was smart enough to know she wanted him in a way she had never wanted another man before. She just didn’t like the way he had claimed her without asking her. She wanted to be romanced, not claimed like a car. She wanted to get to know him, not be told she was his. She wanted…him, just in a way she could handle. She also had to come to terms with what it would mean to belong to him. She knew if she made the decision to accept him she would never see Earth again and she wasn’t sure she was ready to take that jump. To never see her home, her friends, her world…she needed time to make that kind of decision.
“We arrive on Kassis tomorrow. How are you going to explain to the council men the disappearance of not only your mate, but the other two women?” Jazin asked leaning back against the glass window, the vast darkness of space behind him.
“I don’t know. There is no way they can get off the ship. It is only a matter of time before they are caught.” Torak said tiredly.
“Yes, but time is the one thing we do not have.” Manota added glaring at the schematic in frustration. There were miles and miles of ventilation system running through the ship. Even with the larger tubes cut off the females could by-pass them using the smaller ones. It was a strategy they had never encountered before and would have to take into consideration. They were lucky it had been these females and not some other species bent on their destruction.
“I have no idea where they could be!” Manota said in frustration as he sat down at the table. “They could be anywhere. There are miles and miles of ventilation systems they could access that we can’t. If they had been bent on our destruction we would be dead now.”
“I have never seen a warrior clan as elusive as these females. I would not like to have to face their males if they are as good as these females.” Manota continued.
River couldn’t keep the grin from spreading across her face. They thought her, Jo, and Star were warriors? She couldn’t wait to tell Jo and Star that. She wondered what the men would think if they knew her and the other girls were just circus performers. They had never had to battle anything worst than a strong cold or a bad boyfriend. Sliding back away from the vent opening, River moved silently away from the conference room and back to where Jo and Star were waiting for her.
“They think we are warriors?” Jo asked in disbelief.
Jo looked at River and Star and burst out laughing. They didn’t even like to argue much less fight. They had only done what they had had to do over the last month and a half because they didn’t have a choice.
“So, what are we going to do?” Jo asked looking back and forth between Star and River.
“I don’t know. What do you two think?” River asked.
She already knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to get out of the vents. She was tired of living in them. She also wanted to be near Torak again. She didn’t admit to the other girls but she had spied on him over the last three days. She flushed when she remembered watching him shower. She hadn’t meant to spy on him while he was bathing but she had been so mesmerized as he had removed his clothes she hadn’t been able to look away. Later, she had watched him sleep. On the second night, he had talked softly to himself. She had listened unabashedly as he pulled up a picture of her on the computer console in his room. He had re-enforced his claim on her. Only this time it didn’t make her mad as she listened to him. She heard something in his voice she didn’t understand but it sent a shiver of need down her spine. She had hidden her face in her hands biting her lip to keep from calling out to him. Unable to leave him, she had lay above him in the vent and watched him sleep for hours before she had quietly crawled away.
“I want to get out of these vents.” Star said softly. “I miss Jazin.”
Star looked defiantly back and forth daring either one of the other girls to deny their own feelings.
River let out a relieved sigh, “I guess that answers your question. We go back.”
The girls decided they would make an appearance tomorrow morning in the shuttle bay. River would go out first with Jo and Star covering her back. They would meet with the council members and greet them as representatives from the planet Earth. River had recovered her black duffle bag during one of their excursions and planned on being decked out. Jo and Star would carry their signature weapons of choice. They didn’t know what to expect but they hoped a little bravo went a long way because all three of them were scared shitless. None of them had talked about the difficult choices they knew they were going to have to make soon, stay or return home. Right now, none of them felt like they could make that final, important decision without knowing more about the men who were causing them to have doubts about returning to their home world.
Chapter 7
Torak, Jazin, and Manota stood in the shuttle bay waiting for the council men to disembark from the shuttle. Torak shifted impatiently from one foot to the other. He had not expected the council men to board the Galaxy Quest. He had worked on all types of excuses as to why the females couldn’t be presented to the council assembly right away. Now, all those excuses were worthless as the council had decided to bring the assembly aboard his warship.
Torak glanced at Jazin and Manota with a frustrated look on his face. Both the other men just shrugged their shoulders. They didn’t have any idea of what to say and were just as frustrated as Torak.
“Lord Torak, may I present the council members.” One of the council guards said stepping back to let the council men approach.
Torak stepped forward bowing to the council men before standing straight. “Gentlemen.”
Grif Tai Tek stepped forward. Torak scowled as the tall council man approached him. He bit back a curse. Tai Tek was a pain in the ass on a good day and today was not a good day. He had been opposed to ending the war and had always been jealous of the Ja Kel Coradon name and the House of Kassis.
“Torak, where are the female warriors we have heard so much about.” Tai Tek asked looking around skeptically. “I do not see them.”
Torak cleared his throat. “They are currently not available. It was our understanding we were to present them in the assembly room.”
Tai Tek grinned wickedly, “Yes, well the council members were intrigued by the idea of women actually being warriors and did not want to wait. Surely they truly exist or was it just another way to try to make the House of Kassis appear something it is not?”
Torak’s eyes narrowed and he held his hand up to stop his brothers advance at the insult to their House. “They exist. We will present them at a later time.”
Tai Tek looked directly at Torak before demanding softly, “I think not. Present them now or admit they are a make-believe stunt created by the House of Kassis.”
Torak bit back a sharp retort. What he really wanted
to do was challenge Tai Tek for attempting to smear the name of the House of Kassis but he couldn’t do so without proof and without the females, he had no proof. Standing silently before the council he glared at Tai Tek.
River, Jo, and Star had been watching what was going on from the beams above the shuttle bay area. They had secured ropes to the higher beams and had planned to make a dramatic entrance. Listening to the puffed up pinhead below made River so mad she was ready to knock his socks off. Who did he think he was ridiculing Torak in front of the other council men and his own men? Standing up on the narrow beam, River nodded to Star and Jo before letting out a battle cry Mel Gibson would have been proud of.
Startled, Torak swung around and looked up toward the beams above the shuttle bay. His breath caught in his throat as he saw River standing there looking down at him. She looked into Tai Tek’s eyes before diving head first off the beam. Torak let out a strangled cry as he saw her dive off the beam. Within seconds, Jazin and Manota both called out as they watched Jo and Star do the same thing. With utter grace and ease River seemed to fly through the air before releasing the rope she had been holding to do a flip in the air and land on the floor of the shuttle bay. Crouched down with one knee and one hand down on the floor and her head bent she didn’t lift it until the other to females had landed right behind her. Only then did she slowly stand, drawing out her two short battle swords in slow motion from the sheath on her back. Looking up with her vivid blue eyes outlined in black she stared with deadly intent into Tai Tek’s eyes. Taking a step forward, the other two females stood up behind River. Star held a small crossbow in her hands while Jo held a double-bladed staff.