Rich opened his eyes, alarmed to see the ground moving beneath him. What the hell? Where was he? Was he lying face down over a horse? He turned his head to the right, trying to see what was going on. Fuck. This thing was like no horse he’d ever seen. Not unless this one had a major birth defect and had been born with two heads.
He closed his eyes. Maybe it was his vision playing tricks on him. No way did that horse have two heads and a purple mane. Nope, as soon as he opened his eyes it was going to go back to a normal horse.
He opened his eyes. Oh, damn it.
He turned his head the other way and saw a long leg. A long, lean leg. His kidnapper?
Okay, think brain. What was the last thing he remembered? Bobble-head Santa. Stress ball. Losing power. Calling Logan. Crashing…he’d crash-landed on Tiran. Obviously, he’d blacked out, and probably had a concussion if the pounding in his head was anything to go by. And then what? How had he ended up here?
And how was he going to get out of this? First things first, he needed to get off this two-headed freaky horse and away from whoever had kidnapped him from his ship. He tensed, getting ready to jump, when the horse came to a sudden stop.
Someone called out something. A female voice, and suddenly, he was lifted off the horse. Picked up like he was a damn child and dumped not too carefully on the ground.
Above him, someone snapped out what sounded like a sharp command in a language he’d never heard before. He squinted, the rays of the sun like sharp needles piercing his eyeballs as he glanced up and up and up.
A female sat on the strange beast, straight as an arrow, her long golden hair set into thick dreads that fell well past her butt. She climbed down off the horse and stood over him. Rich’s mouth went dry. She was magnificent. Eyes as blue as a summer’s day studied him carefully. Tall and muscular, she still had curves in all the right places and boy, were those curves on display. A tight body suit in a deep emerald green was molded to her body, leaving little to the imagination. Her arms and legs were bare, displaying how well-toned she was. Over her chest and torso was an armoured plate. She reminded him of this vid he’d watched of an Amazon female warrior. Fierce. Strong. Beautiful.
A total fucking turn-on
Okay, get a grip on yourself, man. You need to concentrate. You don’t know who this woman is or what her gig is. She could be a cannibal eyeing you up for her next feast.
Other females moved in behind her. Not as magnificent or beautiful but intimidating nonetheless. They all had long, dreaded hair as well. So, maybe she was going to invite all her friends to share in a bit of Rich stew.
Wonderful.
All he had to do was stay alive for another week or so, then Logan and his team would find him. He could do that. As long as he didn’t piss anyone off in the meantime.
His sister would call that an impossible hope.
“Which of you is in charge?” he asked. He was betting it was the golden female in front of him. And from the way the others all looked at her in confusion as he spoke, he thought his guess was correct.
Suddenly, the wind changed, and the scent of something rotten and putrid hit him. He started to gag. “Shit, what is that?” He held his hand up to his nose. “Please, don’t tell me that’s one of you.”
The golden warrior barked out orders, and suddenly everyone moved into action. He watched in amazement as the two-headed purple beast and its friends, who were also two-headed—not a birth defect then—were herded off into one area of the large clearing. A few of the females fed and took care of them. Another female gathered up tree branches, stacking them in the center of the clearing, while others erected what he thought must be tents. They threw large animal skins over a few branches of the trees surrounding them. The skins fell to the ground, and they placed large rocks on the edges to weigh them down.
Rich attempted to stand; maybe while everyone was busy with their chores, he could just slip away, somehow figure out where his ship was and find someplace to hide nearby until Logan and his team could extract him.
Easy.
The golden-haired warrior spun around as he moved, pinning him with her gaze. Okay, so not much got by her. Her hair whipped around her, as though mimicking her displeasure as she glared down at him.
She barked something out, and he held his hands out in supplication.
“All right, you caught me. Look, there seems to be some misunderstanding. I’m sure you’re just trying to be helpful by taking me from my ship, throwing me over the back of your freakish horse, and bouncing me around for God knows how many hours while I have a concussion. So, thank you for your hospitality, but it’s time I left.”
She narrowed her gaze then placed her hand out, palm up.
Stay.
Yep, they might not speak the same language but that gesture appeared to breach any language barriers. She barked something out then turned her back on him again.
Well, that settled things then, for sure. He was to stay where he was put, and the magnificent female in front of him wouldn’t eat him.
That stench hit him again, turning his stomach and he looked over, gaping in shock as three of the females dragged the dead weight of a huge woolly beast to the far side of the clearing. How the hell had he missed the giant carcass? And why did it smell so goddamn awful? He blinked, watching in amazement as one of the female’s hair dreads flicked out and wrapped itself around one of the beast’s legs, pulling at it. He’d seen some odd things before, met some aliens with strange powers, but he’d never met someone who could use their hair like another limb.
Fascinating. If a little scary.
The scent faded as they managed to pull the beast downwind of the camp.
The golden-haired warrior turned back to him. She said something then gestured impatiently with her hand. She wanted him to follow her? Really? Like he was a dog?
The way she turned her back and left seemed to imply she expected to be obeyed. Rich barked out a small laugh. Oh, this was classic. He was the one who was used to people falling over themselves to please him. Not that he’d had much of that lately; living with the Zerconians had been a humbling experience. Well, as humbling as it got for him.
But now this warrior woman, dressed in little more than a leotard, was ordering him around?
She turned back, scowling down at him.
“Listen, princess,” he told her, “maybe where you come from people jump at your every command. I am not one of them. I don’t follow orders well. Not even from gorgeous warrior women. Now, best you just take me back to where you found me.”
She simply turned around again, and he sighed. He wished he had the translator chip with him. It was a new invention of Kyle’s, who lived on Zerconia. It was largely experimental, but Rich had still been excited enough to purchase one of the test models to try it out. But it was back on his ship, along with everything else. And unless he could figure out some way of communicating with her then escaping was going to be his best bet. He’d wait until they were asleep then sneak off. How hard could it be to get away?
Suddenly her hair whipped out, almost seeming to double in length as it wrapped itself around his ankles and then she strode towards one of the makeshift shelters, dragging him along the ground behind her.
“Hey, let me go! What the hell do you think you’re doing! Fuck!” He groaned as his head pounded, nausea bubbling in his stomach. His top bunched up, so his bare back was scraping along the ground.
She came to a stop then pointed at the shelter in front of her. Rich glared up at her. “You’re a real bitch, you know that, right?”
She just continued to point at the shelter, and he got the point. Left without much choice, Rich moved into the shelter. “You know, you were much sexier before you started dragging me along the ground.”
She just grunted and disappeared.
“Well, good one, Rich. Somehow you have managed to land yourself in a situation that you can’t talk your way out of.”
This was definitely new and unchartered territory.