Excerpt from Venomous Craving
Eok Warriors Series, Book One
Rose looked at the tall, mottled-green male hovering over her.
He was a Cattelan, one of the many alien races that plagued the Ring, looking for ships to plunde r and goods to steal.
This one’s name was Arrik, and he was the captain of the largest pirate ship this side of the solar system.
At least, that was what he said. Not that she cared.
His hand was still above his head, and his smoldering yellow eyes burned holes inside her skin.
The entire left side of her face throbbed with pain where he’d backhanded her.
It would leave a mark for sure. She’d be lucky if she only had a bruise in the morning.
Rose swallowed and glared at him. The hatred she felt for the alien male was like a tidal wave of ice, digging through her internal organs, chilling the fear she should be feeling to a dull ache in the back of her mind.
She was no match for his size and strength, but she wasn’t a sheep to accept slaughter without a fight, no matter the consequences.
Still, the hand that reached for her throbbing cheek trembled. Some fights weren’t meant to be won.
Rose closed her eyes. One mistake, one little moment of inattention was all it took.
The Cattelan had captured her as she walked back from her hunt, a mere few hours from her house.
Rose was exhausted and her feet and fingers were dull with the cold, but a string of three rabbits dangled from her hips.
She was giddy with excitement at the thought of food, not looking around for signs of danger, as her father had taught her.
As she had done countless times over the years.
It was her fault. Her fault the rabbits were thrown in the snow like garbage, like they didn’t mean life or death for the four people waiting in the mudhouse.
It was her fault their last hope for survival was now aboard a slaver’s spaceship, leaving them defenseless and with no way of feeding themselves. They were doomed, and so was she.
Capturing her had been so easy.
It took Arrik only a second to jump on the opportunity, literally. As soon as he saw her, he leapt over the five feet or so that separated them and knocked her to the ground. The rest was history.
Rose was bagged and grabbed in a matter of minutes, and the world she knew had blacked out of existence.
The next time she opened her eyes, she was inside a tiny white room, strapped down on a medical bed.
The Cattelan had been there, looking over her body as if she was a unicorn sprinting out of the sea.
He’d probably never seen a real life human before. Not many people had.
Cattelans were a merchant race involved in anything that turned a profit, including slavery.
They would get more from the sale of Rose’s body than they could spend in two entire lifetimes, the whole crew of them.
But first, they had to deal with her human downsides.
So, they fitted her with a top-of-the-line universal translator, embedded deep inside her brain, and proceeded to inoculate her against all illnesses humans were known to succumb to in the vast aggregation of planets known as The Ring.
They performed every test imaginable, deemed her fit and healthy and, since then, she had been treated like an exotic pet—so precious and fragile it had to be preserved in a glass enclosure for its own protection.
That was about a week ago. Rose had spent her days since in a tiny cell under controlled atmosphere. She was about to go crazy in the confined space. She was used to the open spaces, and the claustrophobic living quarter made her want to scream and hit the walls with her fists until they bled.
Right now, she would happily replace the walls with the green bastard’s face. Rose’s stare locked with Arrik’s and they exchanged strings of malevolence.
“Again, where are the other humans?”
“There are no others.” She gave him what she hoped was an intimidating sneer. “I escaped from the breeding facility last spring, after killing my guards.”
“You think I’m stupid, human?” He raised his hand again and Rose glowered at him, forcing herself not to flinch.
“No specimen was reported missing from the breeding facility in the last twenty-three years. You’re lying.
” An ugly smirk spread on his lip-less mouth, showing yellow teeth. “There are ways to make you talk.”
Arrik stepped closer, his gaze sliding over her body, his intent as clear as the erection stretching the fabric of his pants.
“Get up.” He tugged at his pants. “Take off your clothes. I’ve never had a human female before.”
“If you touch me, you’ll never have any other female, period.” Rose glared at him. “I’ll cut off your cock with my teeth if it’s the last thing I do.”
“Humans are supposed to be the best of all females.” He pulled a long black belt from his tight gray pants. “Let’s see if you’re worth the fortune you’re going to get me.”
Arrik moved, his longer reach an advantage in the fight to come.
It was easy to see that he didn’t think she was a threat, no matter her earlier bragging.
He wouldn’t hurt her, though. Damaging merchandise as precious as Rose wasn’t in his best interest, and Cattelans were experts at getting the best of their goods.
Human females were worth fortunes, in any condition, but she was more valuable if she was pretty.
Still, what he had planned would wound her more than any blow.
“I’ll kill you for that.”
“A wild human female.” A long, forked tongue lapped the air, tasting her pheromones. “I’ll be richer than an Avonie duke.”
With that last assessing look, Arrik leapt.
His strong hands closed around her ankle and she was thrown on her back, too slow to react.
He slammed his large body over hers, pinning her under his weight.
He didn’t even have to struggle with her, his nearly three hundred pounds were enough to render her defenseless.
His weight was making it impossible to breathe, and all Rose was able to do was to gasp for air, opening her mouth uselessly as though she was a fish out of water.
As the seconds passed, her lungs burned and tiny spots of darkness grew in her field of vision.
Panic took hold and Rose fought more fiercely, knowing she was using her oxygen reserves uselessly, but unable to control it.
It didn’t matter. Dying was better than the life the slavers had in store for her.
As darkness invaded her thoughts, she summoned the features of her family, as they were before her father left.
Her cousin Aliena, her twin brothers, even her mother’s soft eyes, full of tenderness and love.
Her father’s easy smile, coming back from a hunt with a deer carcass on his back.
Those were the things Rose wanted to see as she was dying.
Darkness grew and Rose felt her grip on reality slip.
Arrik grabbed both her wrists, brought them over her head, and pinned them together inside his larger hand, then finally lifted his crushing weight from her ribcage.
Rose gasped for air, gulping in the life-giving oxygen in large, greedy mouthfuls.
The next second, the stench of the male’s body hit her nostrils, a mixture of damp, rotting vegetables and acrid sweat.
It was all she could do to prevent herself from gagging.
Rose shut her eyes and focused. She needed all her strength to fight him off.
Panic was just going to waste her energy, and she didn’t have any to spare.
Wasting precious seconds indulging in sensitivities such as smells wasn’t one of her weaknesses, thanks to years of hunting with her father.
When a girl knew how to gut a bear open, nothing could turn her stomach.
Without giving her time to recover, Arrik used one hand to keep her arms above her head while the other groped at her body.
He squeezed her breast between his large, strong fingers so hard it hurt.
Unable to restrain herself, Rose cried and twisted, but it was no use.
He was so much stronger than her, she could as well wrestle with a boulder.
Arrik’s yellow gaze locked with hers as he used his knees to push her legs open, forcing himself between her thighs.
A whimper escaped her lips, and tears stung her eyes.
She wasn’t as strong as she thought. Not nearly strong enough.
“You’re soft, and you smell like nothing else I’ve ever smelled.” His voice was husky and bubbled with lusty violence. “I’m not even sure I’ll sell you right away. Maybe I’ll keep you for a while. You’ll be worth less, but that kind of pleasure is priceless.”
Rose’s heart sank deeper in her guts. He was going to keep her for his personal pleasure.
He would rape her, repeatedly, and she was sure he would take pleasure in inflicting as much pain and humiliation as possible.
She had to think fast if she wanted to avoid that fate.
Opportunities wouldn’t come by the dozen, if they came at all.
Then a plan imposed itself. It was a stupid, destined-for-failure plan, but it was the only one she could think of.
Arrik didn’t have a choice. If he wanted to rape her, he had to undress himself and take off his clothes, too.
Rose’s pants and top were made of a light fabric, reminding her of cotton.
Arrik could easily rip through them with his bare hands.
His own clothing was another matter. He was wearing top quality synthetic leather, virtually tear proof.
He had to withdraw from her and take it off if he wanted to do anything more than dry humping. And he did, without question.
Rose kept her eyes on Arrik as he let go of her wrists.
He still towered over her, sitting with his knees between her spread thighs.
His gaze didn’t waver from her body as he started to fidget with his shirt.
Her breaths rose in rapid succession as she searched for an opening, her mind racing.
When Arrik’s shirt was over his head, blocking his view for a few precious seconds, Rose didn’t hesitate.
She rushed forward, head-butting him in the stomach.
It had the intended effect and Arrik fell down on his ass, unbalanced.
Summoning all her strength, she brought her knees high up on her stomach, then used her two feet to kick him square in the face.
The kick hit its target squarely, jerking his head back with a sickening snapping sound.
Arrik roared in fury, struggling against the constraint of the fabric, his arms still trapped in the shirt.
Then the fabric came over his head and he glared straight at her.
Two molten yellow eyes fastened on Rose, and she knew there would be no end to the male’s retribution. Failure wasn’t an option anymore.
With everything she had left, she brought her knees up high again and aimed her next kick at his groin.
Her heels connected with the hard bulge of the Cattelan’s erection with a muffled thump.
This time, Arrik didn’t roar, but let out a thin, choked sound of agony as he grabbed his sex with both hands.
His eyes rolled in their sockets and he fell on his side, momentarily incapacitated.
Without losing another second, Rose jumped over his body and pulled with all her strength on the strong necklace that attached the universal magnetic key to Arrik’s pants.
It was sheer luck that Arrik was confident enough in his own superior strength that he didn’t bother leaving it behind him.
She would have had no means of opening the door without it.
As soon as Rose pressed the small, oval object into the depression on the side of the door, it slid up, and the hallway, with its long white walls, appeared.
There wasn’t a lot of time before Arrik regained his composure and ran after her.
She looked down both ways, and sprinted to the left.
There was no particular reason why she chose to go that way, she just made a quick decision because staying still, she knew, would mean defeat.
She couldn’t afford defeat. Rose ran along the corridor, searching the walls as she went.
Father had told her about spaceships when she was younger, but she’d never even dreamed she’d find herself on one.
Rose silently thanked the man for his diligence in educating her, and kept searching.
She scanned the long hallways for a round, red hatch, just big enough to let a grown man through.
The escape pod was her only chance at freedom.
Even death would be better than the life of a slave in the human female sex trade.
A shout traveled from the far end of the hallway, interrupting her thoughts. Her time was up.