Authors: Angela Castle
She pulled from Loc’s arms. “I understand. You’re a
military strategist, so it’s okay. Do what you need to do to take those
arseholes down. You know I’m tougher than I look and will do anything to help
you, all of you. Even if I am the prize bait you dangle, I trust you all to
keep me safe.”
“
I love you, Celeste,” Loc on her right said. Stunned,
she just stood there, not knowing how to respond.
“
So do
I
, lovely. I’ve loved
you from the moment you knocked out Zeb and kicked my rod.” Raz grinned,
standing up from his spot and walking towards her, taking her hands into his.
“
Her hot, wet mouth tipped me over.” Kue ginned. “I
love you, too, sweetness.”
Zeb shook his head. “We don’t have time for this now.
But I have to add in with my brothers. We all love you, so there’s no way we’re
letting you go now.”
Celeste opened her mouth to say something, anything,
but nothing came out. She loved them, but couldn’t force the words out. Zeb
stepped in, as if sensing her need to be rescued.
“
You don’t have to say anything right now. We have to
focus on our situation. Brothers, we’re executing the plan from gamma fourteen.
Loc, take the helm, and Celeste, I know you’re strong, but I need to know if
you can handle this, being our bait and facing the Jorvals.”
“
I am. I know you won’t let anything happen to me. I’m
fully on board with whatever you need to do.” She straightened, feeling her
courage rising. Heck, with these four men at her back, who wouldn’t feel like
they could take on any world and win?
“
I wouldn’t do this to you unless I had no choice. What
I need is for you to be our helpless and angry female. We’re going to let them
take you. But not without being prepared. Kue, go suit her up and explain.”
Kue swapped with Loc, grabbing her hand, and he wasted
no time in pulling her after him. She jogged with Kue and Raz as they marched
down the corridor, turning this way and that. She lost her bearings until a
door slid open and she was ushered in to a completely blank room. Raz punched a
code by the door release and suddenly the walls slid open. She blinked against
the bright glowing lights and all the snazzy looking alien command equipment.
“
Wow.” She breathed, her heart rate pushing even
higher. Kue started grabbing body armour, weapons, knives and attaching them to
various parts of his body.
“
Right, lovely.” Raz pulled out some long straps,
dotted with what looked like black bubble wrap, and he held them up with a
grin. “Let me explain what gamma fourteen is.”
Chapter Twelve
Due to Celeste’s smaller, rounder size, Raz and Kue
had to do quick modifications to the straps and pouches now hidden under her
clothing. Raz wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and take the
worry from her big blue eyes. So brave to be going along with their plan, she
was going to make a fantastic mother, as soon as their seed took hold in her body.
What worried him more than their current mission was her surprised and almost
panicked reaction when they’d all confessed their deeper affections.
Raz and Kue were both fitted out in some special
stealth space suits they’d kept from past missions. Perks of once being the
best at what you did, some toys you got to keep. Now they waited for Zeb and
Loc to join them.
“
Hey.”
She glanced up at him.
“
It’s going to be all right. We won’t let anything
happen to you.”
She drew in a deep breath. “I know, but who’s going to
stop anything from happening to any of the four of you?”
Utterly precious, worth more than a thousand Demos
females on Galafrax, she cared about them. She didn’t have to say anything. Her
actions and the worry in her eyes said more than words could. He thought over
what he could tell her to ease her fear.
“
For a few million Galafraxian years, our genetics have
determined that every Demos male is born in sets of four. But our brotherly
bond goes beyond genetics. It is something stronger that can’t be broken.
Because of it we need to look out for each other, protect each other. If we
lose even one brother, it is a pain worse than death. Because of our bond and
our need to care for each other it makes our species one of the most formidable
fighting races in the
Hellious
Galaxy
.”
Kue quickly clued in, eagerly adding in his piece.
“I’ve saved his ugly arse too many times to count, and he mine. In sets of four
we are strong, but you have to know, because of you, the dynamic has changed.
Because of you we have grown stronger. Because our four is now five, you are a
part of our bond just as it was meant to be, what every set of Demos quads
needs and craves, their unit to be complete.”
“
I complete you?” Celeste shook her head. “I never
wanted to complete someone. All I ever wanted was to be accepted by someone,
completely.”
Raz tipped her chin up so he could see the colours of
her beautiful blue eyes. “Lovely, you don’t have just some
one
who accepts you, you have four of us. So never fear, we’ll
never leave or abandon you. No matter your past or our future we accept and
love you.”
She tipped her head slightly, regarding them both. A
stray soft brown hair escaped its bindings, and without thinking Raz reached
out, gently lifting the silky strand placing it back behind her ear.
“
How do you do that?”
Raz glanced at Kue. “Do what, beauty?”
“
Know just what to say to me to make me feel…” She
shook her head. “Alive, valued, needed.”
“
It’s not hard when it’s the truth. You are valued, and
we need you.” Raz got in before Kue, who shot him an annoyed look.
Her gaze lowered, and she seemed to be struggling with
herself. When her eyes lifted again she opened her mouth. “I—I’ve never known
love, never been wanted or needed until now, but I think … I feel…”
Heavy, fast paced footfalls made them all turn towards
the sound. Celeste pressed her lips together, staring at Zeb and Loc as they
approached. Raz was annoyed at the interruption, when she was on the verge of
confessing something. On the other hand he knew their time was up now that Zeb
and Loc had joined them.
“
Everyone ready and know what to do?” Zeb eyed them one
by one.
“
We’re retired, not dead.” Raz couldn’t help needling
Zeb, trying to make light of what they were about to do.
In short, the Jorvals threatened not only them but
their new family, and he met his brothers’ gazes and understood. The Jorvals
would pay.
“
Celeste, we’re going to board the Jorval ship. Try to
keep up the pretence of being a frightened human for us.”
She shrugged. “I don’t need to pretend. I’m scared out
of my mind, but more of losing you than anything happening to me.”
“
Thank you, beautiful.” Zeb leaned down, and she lifted
her head to accept his kiss, smiling up at him, before taking the others’
tokens of affection and reassurance.
“
Reedip’s ship is docking. Raz and Kue have explained
your part?”
“
They did. I’m ready.”
They all glanced at each other, saying what words
couldn’t. Things don’t always go to plan so to be ready for anything and
everything. Their main mission was to protect their
sheraz
, even if it meant the cost of their own lives.
With a nod they split up, Raz and Kue moving through
the corridors of their ship to the airlock on the other side. The soft thump
indicated the Jorval warship had docked. Time had run out.
****
Her men had changed from tender and caring to hard and
formidable. All Celeste wanted to do was hold either Zeb’s or Loc’s hand,
bringing her some comfort, but now wasn’t the time to have them pampering to
any of her insecurities.
Game face.
They had one, and she needed to buck up and do what needed to be done.
She let the hatred for these Jorvals seep into her
whole being. She didn’t doubt what her men had told her were true, that she,
and the other women on the ship she was abducted on, weren’t the first human
women abducted and treated like salvaged cargo. How many had died because of
the Jorvals? How many were still out there in the galaxy, who hadn’t been
rescued by Demos from Galafrax?
They stepped into the airlock, and doors clicked and
whined before hissing out gases around them. The doors rolled open, and light
flooded the area. She sucked in a deep breath, stealing a glance up at Zeb’s
stony poker face.
They are mine, as
much as I am theirs. I will do my best to protect them as they are me.
Zeb grabbed her arm, and she tried not to wince as he
tugged her forward.
All the world’s a
stage, and we are merely players.
She let the phrase circle around in her
head as she stepped over the door lip and into the Jorval ship.
The commander waited with five Jorval soldiers,
weapons aimed high at them.
“
What is the meaning of this?” Zeb growled. “We come in
good faith, and have no weapons on us. We are simple salvagers and you dare to
point weapons at us!”
“
Come now, commander. You are Demos, and we are not
fools. We just want to insure you are not carrying any weapons.”
Zeb released her arm and held out his. “Go ahead,
search us. We are unarmed, and now you have insulted us with this.”
“
Apologies, Commander Zeb, we are just being careful of
our own safety. Please step through the weapons scanner, so we can move on with
the sealing and celebrating our mutual transaction.”
Reedip’s black, greedy eyes turned towards her. She
glared back at him. Zeb had ordered her to stay silent, and no matter what
happened, she was to let Zeb or Loc do the talking.
As much as she wanted to give the pompous, upstart
Jorval a piece of her mind, she didn’t want to disappoint Zeb and remained
silent by his side.
“
Where are
your other brothers, Commander Zeb?”
“
Probably fucking the sex droid, on the bridge. This
human wears out too easily.” He waved a dismissive hand at Celeste.
“
You don’t happen to have the latest upgraded sex
droid, would you?” Loc stepped forward.
Reedip’s eyes gleamed. No way in hell did she trust
this
creature.
“Yes, we do. I’m sure we can work out a
deal. This way first, then we can bargain.”
Without a glance at her, Zeb and Loc, who feigned a
bored look, followed after Reedip into the large tube tunnel.
She wanted to yell at them not to do it, but she bit
her lip and held her breath, as green lights shot out scanning over their red
skin and black clothes. It beeped and then nothing. She let out a relieved
breath. She’d gotten worked up over nothing.
“
I told you we only want to trade,” Zeb said, staring
at the Reedip on the other side.
“
The thing is, Commander Zeb, we don’t really need to
negotiate or trade with you when we already have what we want. Do it.”
A second beam suddenly shot out. It was red, and Zeb
and Loc twisted and convulsed in agony, before collapsing onto the floor.
Celeste screamed in horror seeing her men hurt. Were they dead? Had the Jorval
just killed them?
Panic filled her, and without thought to her own
safety she rushed forward, falling to her knees next to Loc as he had collapsed
behind Zeb. Next to Loc, she grabbed Loc’s top and pulled, grunting under the
strain of his weight as she rolled his body. A sob escaped her when his saw his
chest rise and fall.
“
Did you really think we believed their indifference to
a human female? They are Demos. They would have never willingly let you go.”
Commander Reedip strode forward standing over them.
Celeste, no longer able to keep silent, glared up at
the Jorval Commander. “They are not dead? Why didn’t you just kill them?”
“
Because it will bring me more pleasure to see a pair
of quads torn apart from the inside out.”
She shook her head. “What do you mean? What are you
going to do?” She clung to Loc’s top like a lifeline, staring up at the Jorval
through tear blurred eyes.
The commander ignored her. “Take them to the cells and
disengage from that worthless piece of garbage.”
Behind them door rolled shut, and uniformed Jorvals
rushed forward.
She fought and scratched as she was torn from her men
by two guards. It took four Jorvals to drag each of her Demos men out of the area.
You’re letting
your emotions get the better of you. Is this what your quads would want?
No, they’d want her to stay strong. She stilled her
struggles, and started paying attention to her surroundings and where they were
being dragged.
After long corridors of white walls and an elevator
ride, they were shoved into one large holding cell, facing a grey stained wall.
They dumped Loc and Zeb beside each other and threw her against the wall. She
grunted as pain shot up her arm.
Reedip, who’d followed them, pressed a button and a
shield went up, trapping them inside.
“
Isn’t this nice, the human female and two of her
lovers.” Reedip’s purplish lips turned up in an evil grin, the colour matching
his red and purple robes. In a display of wealth, the gems on his fingers and
chains around his neck gleamed, even in the duller light of the brig area. He
stood before their cell, staring down at her.
“
I’ve always wanted to see the effects of tearing apart
a quad bond. I hear they go quite insane with grief. I wonder what they will do
to you in their state of insanity.”
The only way that could happen was if one of her men
died. Reedip clicked his fingers, and a screen flickered to life, showing a
distant view of her quads’ ship. The pit of her stomach dropped, and ice slid
through her veins as she realized what they were about to do.
“
Fire at will.” He waved at the screen, standing back
to allow her a clear view of the screen.
She jumped at the first few bright red lights streaked
out towards the ship.
Boom!
Celeste’s eyes widened in horror as the ship hit and
blew apart into billions of pieces scattering a blue light that sent a
shockwave throughout into space.
Kue, Raz! Oh God,
oh God no!
Sobs broke free of her throat, and she threw herself
over Loc, holding on to Zeb.
No, no, no, this
can’t be happening!
They promised
everything was going to be all right. They’d sworn they would protect her and
each other.
She jumped up. “You murdering bastard, you’ll pay for
this!” She bounced off the shield and tripped over Zeb’s feet, landing on her
arse.
Commander Reedip laughed. “Such loyalty, but it won’t
matter once you’re sold off.”
Celeste closed her eyes feeling as if a part of her
soul was ripped from her, losing Raz and Kue, remembering what had they told
her about quads who lost even one of their brothers. It was something worse
than death to them.
“
Eh, it will be no fun until they wake up. Set a course
for home. This’ll be a nice prize to deliver to our Grand Master. It’ll be
worth a grand profit indeed.”
Commander Reedip pivoted on his thick black heeled
boots and strode out of the brig followed by all his lackeys. Celeste broke
down into sobs of utter grief on Loc’s chest. Between what was left of her men,
was the only place she could draw any comfort, and there was no way she could
give up on what was now left of her new family. If quads went mad with the loss
of a brother, then she would be the one to help guide them out of it. She would
do whatever it took. The way she figured it, there were two main goals. One was
to get revenge on the Jorval for callously murdering the men she loved, and
two, to try to stop Zeb and Loc from going mad. One thing Celeste was good at
doing was surviving, and now she had to do it for what was left of her new
family.