Enslaved

  The slaver picked up the bag and hefted it expertly in one many-fingered hand. At once his expression changed from anger to avarice.

  “A fair price. Most kind, Master.”

  “Take it and go.” The Master turned his greedy gaze on Thrace once more. “I have a new slave to attend to…”

  Trin watched in horror as Thrace was dragged away, still looking over his shoulder and shouting for his father…begging him to get up…to not be dead…to come back.

  Oh Thrace, I’m so sorry…so terribly sorry…

  The scene was horrible—it made Trin feel like her heart was being twisted in a spiked glove. She wished she could do something but she was frozen in place, unable to move or go after the young Thrace. Unable to help him in any way or do anything but watch.

  I don’t want to watch this! Please, just let me go…

  But she couldn’t go and the worst was yet to come.

  The scene shifted to the young Thrace in a bedchamber wearing only a thick leather belt with a few scraps of fabric hanging from it for cover. He had his arms tied behind his back and he was wearing a cruel black pain collar with silver agony conducting studs.

  Trin watched, her heart beating in her throat. What was happening now? At least the young Havoc seemed to be all alone. Maybe he would be all right. Maybe…just then the gray haired master walked in.

  “Are you ready?” he demanded, with no preamble. He came to stand before Thrace and glared up at him. “Ready to say the words? Ready to kneel before me and accept your fate as a good slave should?”

  “Never.” Thrace raised his chin, looking coolly down his nose at the master. Though he had obviously yet to reach his full size, he was still bigger than he had been in the auction scene. Clearly some months or maybe even a cycle had passed. “Never,” he said again, glaring boldly at the other male. “I’ll never bow to you. Never acknowledge you as my master.”

  “Bite your tongue, boy.” The master glared at him. “Or else maybe I should cut it out. I’d do it without a second’s hesitation if it didn’t feel so good wrapped around my shaft.”

  “You’ve never had me willingly and you never will,” Thrace growled. “You have to use the force gag every time because if you don’t you know I’ll bite that tiny, shriveled piece of meat you call a shaft in two and spit it out.”

  The master’s face grew scarlet with rage.

  “You dare!” he roared, advancing on Thrace. “You dare to speak so to your master when you ought to be kneeling before me instead? When you ought to be taking the oath of fealty, swearing to be mine forever?”

  “I’ll never be yours,” Thrace spat. “You might own my body but you cannot own my soul. You killed my sire and someday I will repay the favor.”

  “You mouthy little bastard.” The master’s face was nearly puce now. “Take back those words and swear the oath of fealty to me now or I swear by all the Gods I’ll make you sorry.”

  “I’m already sorry,” Thrace snarled. “Sorry you’re too much of a coward to let me loose before you come at me. Come on, old man—give me a fair fight.”

  “This is your last chance.” There was a note of warning in the gray haired master’s voice that sent a shiver down Trin’s spine. She wanted to tell Thrace that he ought to curb his tongue. He was tied up…helpless and wearing a pain collar. He shouldn’t provoke the male who held the remote.

  “Your last chance,” the master repeated. “I’ve been waiting for you…waiting for months for you to develop the proper feelings of obedience and love towards me. Waiting to take you until you spoke your oath to me. But I swear to you, boy, tonight the waiting ends. Swear your oath to me and I will take you gently. Do not and I will take you just the same…but not nearly as tenderly as I had planned.”

  “You think I fear you?” Thrace sneered. “I fear no male. I am Havoc!”

  “It is not your fear that I seek—I want your love and loyalty. But if you will not give them freely, I will take them. Guards!”

  Four huge, muscular males wearing gleaming gold armor came forward, carrying a large, X-shaped piece of equipment. They turned Thrace to face the X and untied his arms from behind his back. Then they bound them above his head instead, fastening his wrists with iron cuffs to either side of the X shaped device. They manacled his legs too, bracing them far apart at the bottom corners of the X—chaining him down so he couldn’t move.

  Trin bit her lip as she watched. Though he struggled and fought will all his might, the young Thrace could not break free. He might have had a chance if he was the Thrace she knew now, the big, powerful male that had fought his way free of the Demon’s Eye with no more than a blaster and a bad attitude. But he was still young in this scene—he hadn’t reached his full growth and potential. Which made what happened next even harder to watch.

  “Say it! Say the words!” The gray haired master stepped up behind him and pulled his purple robes to one side, revealing a surprisingly large shaft. Not as large as Thrace’s own but enough to cause serious damage, Trin was sure.

  “Don’t!” she shouted. “Leave him alone, you bastard!” But neither the master or Thrace seemed to hear or see her. As before she was frozen in place, unable to help, unable to be anything but a silent, invisible observer.

  The master grabbed Thrace’s lean hips and pressed forward, entering him. Violating him.

  “I will belong to you body and soul—say it!” he snarled as he thrust in.

  “Never!” Young Thrace’s face was a trembling mask of pain and hatred, his hands clenched into fists as he fought to keep the tears standing in his silver-blue eyes from falling.

  “I will protect you with my life, shield you from harm in times of danger, and pleasure you in times of peace—say it!” The gray haired master thrust again. “To the last drop of my blood, I am yours. Say it, Gods damn you—Say It!”

  Those words! Trin thought wonderingly. Those are the words he said to me when I put the pain collar on him. Is this how he knew them? Was he a slave after all? But how? And where?

  “Say you love me! I’ll make you love me!” the master raved. Reaching around he grasped the other male’s shaft in his hand and began to pump it in time with his strokes. “You love it…you know you love it,” he hissed.

  “Never.” The young Thrace’s eyes were closed now, his jaw clenched as silent tears rolled down his face. “I’d rather die. Never.”

  Trin found that she was crying too.

  “No—no leave him alone! Please, leave him alone! Stop!” She shouted until her throat was raw, screaming at the horrible sight going on before her, her hands clenched into fists and tears pouring down her cheeks. “Stop it! Stop it!”

  “Stop what? Trin wake up—what’s going on?” The deep familiar voice in her ear seemed to pull her out of the nightmare she had somehow entered.

  She opened her eyes to find she was curled against Thrace’s muscular side, her hands balled into fists and her breath coming in short, heaving gasps.

  “Th-thrace? Is that you?” She reached up to touch his cheek.

  “Yeah, baby, it’s me. What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?” He looked at her with obvious concern. “You were yelling for someone to stop doing something.”

  “I…was?” Trin frowned, trying to recapture the details of the nightmare. Whatever it was, it had been bad—terrible. But now that she was awake it was gone except for a few wisps.

  “Yeah, you were. And…you’re crying.” He cupped her face and rubbed his thumb gently over her cheek.

  “I am?” Trin touched her fingers to her other cheek and they came away wet. What had she dreamed that affected her so deeply? It had to do with Thrace somehow…something bad happening to him. But what?

  She couldn’t answer the question. The dream was gone. Not that she wanted it back if it was that upsetting.

  “What were you dreaming? Do you remember?” Thrace asked softly. “I only ask because my people believe there can be significance in dreams.”

  “
I don’t know. It was so vivid but now it’s just…gone.” She shrugged and swiped at her eyes. “Silly, huh?”

  “No. Nothing that upsets you that much is silly.” He frowned. “I had a bad dream too. Maybe it had something to do with the dream gas we inhaled.”

  “Maybe.” Trin sighed uneasily. “Although I doubt it was the red gas and I didn’t breathe in any of the black nightmare gas like you did. Maybe it was the white…the one that’s supposed to show you the truth about people?”

  “That’s right.” He frowned. “You know, I meant to but I never asked what you saw when you inhaled that. You touched Lord X and nearly jumped out of your skin.”

  “Oh—that was so weird.” Trin shook her head. “And it didn’t make any sense. For a minute I thought I saw that male from the Demon’s Eye. You know—the one with the metal teeth?”

  “B’Rugh’s second in command, you mean? But why would you see him when you touched a male from a completely different galaxy?”

  Trin shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense. But then…” She motioned, indicating not just their room but all of Dreaming Hills. “None of this does.”

  “No, it sure as hell doesn’t,” Thrace agreed in a low voice. “C’mere.” He pulled her close to his side again. Trin let herself settle against him, not even minding the fact that she was still naked. She was still too much upset by the dream, whatever it had been, to feel aroused anyway.

  “Just a dream,” she murmured, feeling her heart begin to slow. “Just a really bad dream.”

  “Whatever you were dreaming of, you don’t need to worry about it,” Thrace rumbled comfortingly. “I’ll protect you with my life, you know that.”

  “I know,” Trin whispered. Something about his words seemed to jog her memory and for a moment she almost remembered what the terrible dream had been about. But then Thrace breathed deeply, jostling her against his side and the moment was gone.

  She took a deep breath, inhaling his warm, spicy male scent and snuggled closer to him. His arms around her were so comforting and his body against hers felt so right. Though she knew it was weak and wrong to want the protection and comfort of a male, she couldn’t help it—Thrace made her feel good. Warm. Safe. Too safe to want to remember whatever the horrible dream had been.

  “Go back to sleep, baby,” he murmured and placed a tender kiss on the top of her head. “It’s still a few hours until we have to get up.”

  “Okay.” Trin yawned and let herself relax completely. Finally sleep took her again and this time there were no dreams.

  * * * * *

  Thrace held her close against him, wondering if she had dreamed the same thing he had somehow. He didn’t know how that was possible unless it was some kind of effect of the dream gas. All he knew was at the same time he’d been dreaming of his first violation at the hands of his old master, Trin had woken up screaming, “Leave him alone! Stop it!”

  Her shouting was what had woken him, bringing him out of the nightmare of reliving the old pain. But while she had apparently forgotten it, the images lived on in his own memory. Images he had tried to bury, memories he had kept under lock and key for more years than he cared to admit.

  It’s all right. It’s over, he told himself uneasily.

  Except it wasn’t. Here he was, a slave all over again. And this time by his own choice. What had he been thinking to accept the collar a second time? And of his own volition!

  I’ll tell you what you were thinking, whispered a little voice in his head. You were thinking that you weren’t ready to leave Trin yet and this was the only way to stay with her. That’s what you were thinking. You weren’t considering any possible consequences. Anything that might happen to you because you chose to travel this road again.

  Thrace told himself not to be a fool. Though it was true he had actually chosen slavery this time, Trin was a far cry from his old master. She wasn’t wantonly cruel and she didn’t delight in his pain or subjugation. In fact, she treated him more like an equal than a slave. And he was certain she would never put him through what his old master had done. She would never hurt him that way.

  She was more likely to pierce his heart by leaving him after this deal was said and done than she was to penetrate his flesh in any way.

  If she wanted to though, would I let her? Could I? Thrace shivered at the thought. The idea of anyone doing that to him again made a mixture of emotions rise inside him—anger, fear, hurt, shame… They threatened to swamp him, to overwhelm his senses until he wanted to weep and rage and kill the male who had hurt him in the first place.

  But you could only kill someone once. After that, you had to deal with what they had done. And their death didn’t erase the horrors they’d committed when they were alive—that fact he knew only too well.

  Stop it, he told himself roughly. Stop bringing up the past. Just bury it again and forget it. It’s over and done with and it’ll never happen again. I was young then—weak and tied up—defenseless. I’m a full grown male now and no one…no one will ever be able to use me that way again.

  Brutally, he shoved the images from the dream and the emotions they brought up, under the surface of his mind. He concentrated instead on the girl in his arms—the one he would die to protect.

  The one he had already lost his heart to.

  * * * * *

  Charlie woke with a start, coming out of the strange trance-like state she had fallen into when she touched Stavros. Of course, she’d touched him because he was in another one of his trances.

  Ever since the time they’d made love after he came out of a particularly long trance, she had somehow gained a mental connection as well—not that she wanted one. Of course, hers wasn’t as bad as his—he was still seeing most of what Two did and none of that was very nice. Charlie, however, had somehow become connected to Trin, the girl from Zetta Prime who had bought the Havoc male, Thrace as a slave.

  “Are you all right?” Stav was looking at her with concern. They were sitting together on their bed, having just finished making love, which was when the trances most often seemed to occur.

  “I think so.” Charlie shook her head and ran a hand through her blonde hair. “I just had a bad one though—Trin had some kind of a nightmare. Only it wasn’t just a nightmare—it was a memory and I shared it.”

  “Really?” Stavros looked uneasy. “Tell me about it. Because I think I know what caused it.”

  “You do? What?”

  “Just tell me what you saw.” He made a motion with one hand. “Ladies first, right?”

  Charlie sighed. “All right. Well, it was weird. Trin was definitely the one having the dream but she was dreaming about Thrace. It was his memory. Of…something that happened to him when he was younger. It upset her a lot.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “Honestly, it upset the hell out of me too.”

  “What was it?” Stav asked gently. “Just tell me—you’ll feel better when you do.”

  “He was being…well, there’s no pretty way to dress it up,” Charlie said grimly. “He was being raped by his old master—back the first time when he was a slave.”

  “What?” Stav asked blankly. “But I thought that Trin established he wasn’t a slave before she bought him.”

  “He wasn’t at the time she bought him—but he was captured by slavers before. Back when he was just a teenager. He and his dad were both taken and his master…” Charlie shivered. “He must have been a horrible man. He kept demanding that Thrace say some kind of oath—I think swearing his loyalty or something.”

  “And did he?”

  “You know Thrace. Of course not.”

  “No, of course not. That male will bend for no one—other than Trin, that is,” Stav said thoughtfully. “I wonder if she knows that he loves her.”

  “You think he does?”

  “Why else would he willingly go back to being a slave just for her? Especially if he was one before and such horrible things happened to him?”

  “You’re right,
” Charlie said. “It’s the prophesy, you know. A free-born male, Too proud to bend his knee, Enslaved of his own will—that’s Thrace.” She was quoting the words Two himself had told them—the prophesy was the reason he believed he was invulnerable to any attack by the Kindred.

  “It also says ‘Against his will set free’” Stav pointed out. “How do you explain that?”

  “I don’t know.” Charlie shrugged. “Maybe it hasn’t happened yet. But I think we can tell why Two is so interested in Thrace and Trin.”

  “Other than the fact that he’s tracking them for B’Rugh, you mean?” Stav asked. “Or he was before he took that side trip back to the Dark Kindred home world.”

  “I wish you could’ve seen what he did there.” The idea made Charlie uneasy.

  “I wish so too,” Stavros said soberly. “But ever since, he hasn’t come near Trin or Thrace. He’s been spending time in a ship—just orbiting Yonnie Six.”

  “I wonder how he tracked them there in the first place?” Charlie murmured.

  “Well, it is the only place where there’s a demand for Jaxite crystals,” Stav pointed out. “And we know he has ways of tracking people.”

  Charlie remembered the tiny, furry creature Two had used as a spy—seeing through its eyes to know where she and Stav had gone during their trip to save Earth from the Dark Kindred.

  “That’s true,” she murmured. “You think he planted one of his spy rats on their shuttle somehow?”

  Stav shrugged. “Who knows? It’s possible. Anything is possible with Two.”

  “True.” Charlie sighed. “Well, he obviously knows where they are. Which makes me worried—what’s going to happen to Thrace and Trin?”

  “I don’t know—I pray to the Goddess they will be well.”

  Charlie stretched, trying to get rid of some of the tension in her shoulders.

  “I guess it’s weird to talk about them like we know them. But since we’ve been seeing all these different pieces of their lives, I kind of feel like we do. It’s like…our own private soap opera playing out right in front of us.”

  “With some important pieces missing,” Stav pointed out. “What did Two do when he visited his home world? What is he up to now, orbiting Yonnie Six? And what part of the future did B’Rugh See for him?”