Aletta shot a look at the woman at the bar, but she looked away quickly, turning her back to reveal angry red welts where her halter top exposed her pale skin. Aletta curled her fingers into fists, her nails biting into her palms.
A searing pain in her scalp had her reaching for her hair and crying out as A’Kar grabbed her by the hair and jerked her upright.
The bar had gone deathly silent. The players at the table stood up slowly, chairs screeching against the floor.
A’Kar’s hand shook where he held her hair. So much for him being a tough guy. The similarities to schoolyard politics weren’t lost on Aletta. If these guys were the popular crowd, and A’Kar was trying to impress them… that didn’t bode well for her.
“And you think this will impress him?” It wasn’t the biggest one who spoke, but a whip-thin, tall man she hadn’t paid any attention to. He was the only one still sitting on the far side of the table, his voice deceptively quiet. He took a drag on the odd-looking device he was smoking and blew it out in a thin stream. This was the source of the sweet-smelling smoke.
A’Kar cleared his throat.
“Be quiet.”
A’Kar’s hand was still shaking, tugging Aletta’s hair and making her wince. She reached up and gripped her hair belowhis hand in an attempt to stop the tugging that was ripping the strands out at the roots.
“Let me see her.” The thin one turned in his seat slightly and gestured with his hand.
A’Kar sagged, his hand loosening on her hair, and Aletta jerked it back out of his grasp. He gripped her shoulders from behind, steered her around the table, and pushed her in front of the man who obviously held all the power here.
“She’s yours,” A’Kar said, and Aletta bristled.
She’d never before understood what it meant to see red, but now she did. How dare these assholes abduct women from their homes and take them across space against their will! How dare they treat them like objects, as if they were able to be bought and sold!
Comply or die, girl. That’s what will happen here. You can rage, scream, and yell later.
Something in her expression must have given her away, because the thin one laughed. “She’s a fiery one. Good. She’ll last longer that way.” The thin one smirked, gesturing to someone behind Aletta with one hand as he took another drag of whatever he was smoking.
Too late, Aletta felt a prick in her neck. She turned, confused to see one of the big guys holding a syringe. Her vision started to swim.
“What was that...” Her words slurred, and her legs went wobbly.
The last thing she saw before she fell to the floor was the tear-streaked face of the woman behind the bar.
CHAPTER 10
GARK
“Ihear you got into some trouble.”
Gark was sitting in the corner of a dingy bar on Irith’s Moons across from his contact. Known to him only as O, the big Taurean carried himself in a way that screamed dangerous confidence. Gark pretended to take a sip of his drink, being careful to appear to swallow. Being drunk around O would not serve him well, he guessed.
“A little, O.”
The Taurean smiled grimly, leaning back in his chair with his legs splayed. “I think we can get rid of the, what’s the term? Cloaks-and-daggers? Call me Oren.”
That’s why O—Oren—had looked familiar. He was one of the Ress lineage—a warrior whose ancestors could trace their origins back to the earliest Taurean Emperors.
And infamous for his relationship with a human woman.
Gark frowned. He should have realized sooner. “Oren Ka’Ress, Taurean intelligence officer.”
Oren huffed a laugh. “Hard to be in intelligence when everyone knows who you are. I’m more in a liaison role these days, though most see me as part of station security.”
The relaxed pose did not fool Gark. Oren may not be in intelligence anymore, but he was armed to the teeth and moved with the casual grace that only those with years of experience as warriors possessed.
“You caught the attention of the Purists, though they prefer the term Alliance.” Oren tapped the package on the table in front of him. The package that Gark had been paid handsomely to retrieve. “This is the evidence we need to reveal their interference on Earth.”
Gark frowned. “Why Earth?”
