Captive - Cheryl Brooks Page 0,66

beat for the inevitable explosion.

Klara peered up at him with a suspicious lift of her brow. “And this plan of yours involves not endangering who, exactly?”

“You,” he replied. “We thought we’d offer you as the prize for whoever wins the fight, with Nex pretending to be you. We figured you’d still be laid up.”

“Does this plan also include not endangering you or Nex?”

Her sharp, accusatory tone wasn’t lover-like in the least, but Moe wasn’t sure he could stand there gazing at her much longer without scooping her up in his arms and making a dash for the bedroom with a much more satisfying outcome than the last time. “Well, no. Not really. I mean, no plan is ever entirely foolproof. We’ll have to be careful, that’s all.”

“Hmm.” She glanced toward Lis, who still held the priceless pencil in his paw. “Never knew you were such a terrific artist, Lis. I’m impressed.”

Lis bared his teeth in what Moe could only assume was a smile. “Yah, boss.”

She patted the Rack on his furry little back, then leaned forward, bracing her elbow on the table as she scratched her head in a contemplative manner. “Okay, Moe. Tell me more about this plan of yours.”

Klara sat quietly while Moe outlined his plan, doing her best not to interrupt until he’d finished. The mere thought of him in the arena filled her with foreboding—and not only because he was the father of her children. She couldn’t have said she loved him. Not yet. But her feelings toward him were undeniably strong. Her main concern was whether, in the no-holds-barred contests in the arena where life and death were on the line, he had enough of the killer instinct to emerge victorious.

“It sounds feasible,” she conceded when he’d finished. “We all know you’re a damn good fighter, but are you prepared to kill your opponents?”

“Oh, right,” he said with a slightly sheepish and immensely endearing expression. “Forgot that part. If I have to fight anyone else before Pelarus, all I have to do is convince them to play dead so we can all escape with our lives.”

This idea surprised her, particularly given the dubious nature of his potential opponents. Convincing them to cooperate would take some doing. Plus, there was the flip side of the coin. “You’re willing to let known criminals go free?”

He cleared his throat and offered her an apologetic smile. “The fact that you intended to sell me to the highest bidder would suggest that not everyone in the dungeons has committed a crime.”

“This is true,” Velkma said. “Most were imprisoned for trivial offenses. Many for no reason other than opposing Pelarus.”

Klara heaved a sigh. “You make a good point, Velkma. Which makes me wonder how many innocent men I’ve sold to the patrons of the arena.”

“Don’t go there, boss,” Temfilk cautioned. “You only sold four, and they were all major badasses.”

He was right, of course. Even so, she shuddered to think what would’ve happened to Moe if she’d gone through with her original plan, although her blackballed status would’ve made finding a buyer unlikely. She had Pelarus to thank for that. Her only other alternative would’ve been to enter Moe herself—if she wasn’t barred from that aspect of the competition, as well. Challenging Pelarus to a duel seemed much safer, especially with the backing of the local women.

She leaned back in her chair and slapped her palms on the table. “Okay. You sold me, except for one small detail.” She glanced at Velkma. “Are you sure there are enough of you to pull this off?”

Velkma’s slow smile said it all. “My dear, you have no idea the scope of our numbers. As I have said before, we only lacked a leader.” Her smile broadened to a confident grin. “We have one now. This will work. I am certain of it. However, because Moe already claims you as his mate, I believe it would be best for him to fight for the freedom of all who live within Pelarus’s domain. Pelarus must be the one to insist that you be the prize should he fail, and I very much doubt that a great deal of persuasion would be needed to elicit that demand. A word or two dropped in his ear would be sufficient, if indeed it would be needed at all.”

“The prize for winning the hand of the princess is also the key to the kingdom,” Moe mused. “It’s been done before, and it wouldn’t be the first time the underdog came