Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,20

slightly at her show of bravado. She knew that he was aware of the conflict brewing within her.

As much as she wanted to tell the captain to go suck the biggest dick on the ship, she wasn’t stupid. Since she couldn’t join her mate in his cell, staying in this cabin was her only real option. The last thing she wanted was to be at the mercy of crew members who would do the barest to toe the line of whatever orders were issued by the captain. There was a lot of flexibility in regard to what lengths of unpleasantness they could get away with before the captain deemed it crossing the line. That meant that she would have to play by the captain’s rules, however much she hated it. It was better than option two.

Sweeping one arm out, Egbor pressed his hand on a panel and opened the door. At the same time, his lower hand closed around her arm and yanked her forward, ahead of him, into the room. Terri stumbled forward a few steps but drew to a stop as she stared at her surroundings. Although possessing simple lines and sparse furnishings, everything in the room was far more luxurious than anything she had ever seen before. Compared to the filth of the rest of the ship, this was surprising. Her mouth hung open at the polished desk that sat in one corner as the captain steered her toward a chair and sat her down on it.

Leaning forward, his nostrils flared as he met her gaze with a steely regard. “I have been utilizing this room as my personal office. Be aware that all the drawers are keyed to me. You will not get anything out of my desk, and if you damage it by attempting to break into it… well, it has been passed down through my family for generations and I will find a way of taking its value out of your hide. Your mate was fond of rules. Here are some rules for you, and I suggest you heed them well. Rule one: do not try to leave this room. You are locked in, but do not get it into your head to attempt to escape in any clever method that may occur to you. You will fail and only bring my wrath down upon you. Rule two: as I said before, I expect silence. Any attempts to disturb my rest will be dealt with harshly. Rule three: I do not know what condition your species lives in on your homeworld, but you will not soil or otherwise destroy this room. There is a waste receptacle. I expect it to be used.”

He straightened and smiled. “Now, I suggest that you rest. I will send someone to collect you to join me for evening meal.”

“I would rather not,” she muttered before she could stop herself.

His retaliation with immediate. A red-flushed hand swept down to curl around the neckline of her shirt as he lifted her nearly off her feet. Only her toes just barely had contact with the floor when he leaned down and growled threateningly in her face.

“It was not a request. I will see you fed and guarded. You can at very least provide me some amusement during the evening meal. If you enjoy eating, I suggest that you do so. If you refuse to eat with me, then you will not be eating at all. It is still several diurnal cycles until we arrive planetside, where you might have an opportunity to forage.”

“Is that rule four?” she squeaked. Her mouth was suffering from such a disconnect with her brain that must have had a death wish.

His nostrils flared again, but he smiled and dropped her back down into the chair. “Indeed. Rule four.”

He reached out a hand as he stared down at her. One of his goons stepped forward and handed him a cleansing cloth. Egbor’s eyes narrowed on her as he wiped each of his hands off as if he had touched something filthy.

She tamped down the offense that immediately sprung forward. No. It was a good thing if he thought of her as an unclean burden. She didn’t want him to have any interest in her outside of how he might use her to manipulate Veral.

“Be sure to use the cleansing unit before you join me for evening meal. You will forgive me if I do not trust the hygiene of a salvager and his primitive mate.” He snorted to