Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,19

and I will skin your female and feed every bloody chunk of her flesh to the Igwins after I have let them take turns in fucking her into a useless pile of flesh. Do we have an understanding?”

Sickness pooled in Veral’s belly as he glared at the captain, his mate’s gasp loud in the silence of the brig. Slowly, he inclined his head, and the captain’s pleased laughter floated around him.

He opened his eyes and watched as Terri was pulled away. She kept turning in their grasp, attempting to keep him within the field of her vision, struggling against their hold to join him. He met her eyes and shook his head. She stilled, her face stricken. For the first time, he wished that she had the implants that his people possessed. He would have already had a private channel established to communicate with her.

Instead, he was forced to plead with his eyes.

Do nothing. Just wait and watch. Wait for the opportune moment.

She studied his expression as she was pulled toward the exit. Just before she was pulled through the doorway, she gave one short dip of her head. She had caught something, some small part of his intention. He hoped it was enough.

Her absence from the room drained his energy and spirit. With a roar he fell to his knees, shuddering with despair from the forced separation. A piercing pain filled him as if something vital was torn out from within him. His mandibles spread as he let loose another roar and another, his voice echoing through the brig as he vented his fury and pain.

6

Terri struggled between the Blaithari as they carried her caged between them, jerking her with each of their uneven steps as they entered the lift. At one point, she wondered if they were intentionally trying to pull her arms out of their sockets, as hard as they seemed to tug her between them. Despite the discomfort, she infinitely preferred their company to the other pirates who watched her every step through the pirate ship.

To her surprise, she saw few other Blaithari once they left the brig. For some reason, she had figured that that the captain would have arranged a crew primarily of his own species, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Aside from her escorts, Terri only saw three or four other Blaithari during her trip to the upper decks where she was presumably going to be kept. For the number of males she had seen in the docking bay, it didn’t make sense that there weren’t more traveling to the upper level quarters. Not only was the short corridor empty, but of all the doors that lined the hall, all but two appeared to be sealed.

“I will be putting you in the room typically reserved for my second-in-command—if I had permitted him to enjoy it instead of housing him with the other upper crew members on the floor just below this one. I like my privacy… and I like silence,” he stated, eyeing her sternly. “You should be comfortable in here so long as I do not hear any noise and you don’t make any attempts to escape and make me regret providing it for you. It is the most convenient way to keep you away from my crew, but if you cannot behave, I will send you down to keep my upper crew company. I can trust them to follow my orders not to touch you, but the experience will be far less than pleasant.”

So that was the way of it. She saw no other Blaithari because the captain kept the entire upper deck for his own use. No doubt the other males were crowded into the levels that they passed on the lift. It was clear that Egbor saw everyone as his lesser. Terri, as a member of another species, wouldn’t have even the smallest amount of mercy from him.

All that kept him in check was Veral’s promise.

Swallowing, Terri nodded to demonstrate that she understood exactly what her position was just seconds before she was dropped to her feet. She was pleased that she didn’t stumble, despite how heavy her legs felt from being hauled through the ship by her arms. She did, however, straighten her back and meet the captain’s gaze unwaveringly. It was a shame that he was no longer the sniveling, pompous male who Veral was complaining about only yesterday. The cold eyes of a killer stared right back at her, though his lips curved