The Prisoner's Deception (Renegades Book 4) Read online

  ‘Her hair is black. Her eyes are the colour of the sky on Hinar, but colder, lighter. Her skin is the lighter human colour, and she has flecks of a darker colour across the bridge of her human nose. She is pretty.’

  ‘What is her name?’ the other voice sounded enthusiastic. Great!

  ‘Tara.’

  ‘Tara,’ Idal answered, it was almost a sigh. She could almost believe he might be kind to her, except that the aches and pains of her body proved that these four were anything but kind.

  ‘I am on my way back. Then we will claim and breed our female.’

  ‘I look forward to it,’ Idal said.

  Tara rolled her eyes, grateful to have something that didn’t ache when she moved. Her eyes landed on a sheath under the bed, a sheath with a knife sticking out from it.

  Glancing at Hethan, he was leaning over the console of the ship, pushing buttons and doing something, the call over.

  Tara reached out and slipped the knife out from the sheath. She managed to hide it under her arm but couldn’t stop the groan of pain escaping.

  ‘Oh, are you awake?’

  The alien turned to her. His eyes raked down her body. More heat filled them, and his pants tented quickly. He moved towards her, slow and lazy, a cruel smile on his face, growling low in his throat.

  ‘What a pretty little thing you are. So colourful when you’re broken.’ He reached over and grabbed her hair again, pulling her off the deck as she cried out in pain and fury.

  The knife was sticking out of his chest. He stumbled back, surprise on his face as he looked from the handle to her. Hethan never said a word as he fell to the deck. When she checked him, pushed on him, he was still, unmoving. She stared at him, seeing the slight rise and fall of his chest before she lost consciousness.

  Tara took in a deep breath as she woke up in her cage on board an Adosian ship. She kept her eyes closed and pulled in some calming breaths. It was around a week and a half since she’d stabbed Hethan, by her estimation. A few days ago, she found herself standing before a judge of some kind trying to make them see that she had acted in self-defence. Apparently, it didn’t matter. To these aliens, she was nothing but property, with no rights. Any infraction of the law was met with the full weight of it. She'd been sentenced to life on the prison colony of Vadal. Unless the Hinari and his bond mates claimed her. As of yet, Hethan hadn’t regained consciousness, and his bond mates still hadn’t been in touch.

  Now, here she was, on a prison transport on the way to some prison in Adosian space.

  ‘Who harmed you, human?’ a rich voice filled the small room in which she was being held. She knew there were a dozen rooms like this, with dozens of prisoners.

  Tara opened her eyes and saw a scaled blue face looking at her. He had high, chiselled cheekbones, long blue hair, and startling light blue eyes.

  ‘Does it matter?’ she answered.

  ‘To me,’ the alien said. ‘I hate males who harm females. Tell me who did this and when my people help us escape, I will hunt him down and present you with his head.’

  Tara cocked an eyebrow at the male. She saw something moving in the background of his cage but dismissed it. ‘You’ll have to wait until he’s out of the hospital. If he ever wakes up.’

  A small smile appeared on the blue male’s face, and he moved closer to the bars of his cage. There was something off about the way he moved.

  ‘You did that?’

  Tara’s eyes, which had been moving down his body, trying to figure him out, met his. ‘He made the mistake of hitting me,’ she said simply.

  The alien laughed and moved. All at once, his whole body came into view.

  ‘You’re a fucking naga?’ Tara said, moving away from him, even though there were several feet of space between the two of them.

  The alien’s smile widened, and he moved closer to the bars. ‘I like a strong female,’ he said. ‘I like a female who isn’t afraid to look after herself. But I would like to take care of her. Pretty human.’

  It wasn’t the exact words the Hinari had used, but it immediately put Tara on edge.

  ‘I am Adalth Utieri. You are?’

  ‘Tara,’ she said, not seeing the harm in sharing a name.

  ‘Tara. I am a powerful male. Stay with me on the planet, and when my people come for me, I will see you to safety.’

  ‘Why?’ Tara asked.

  ‘I was a slave once,’ he said. ‘I have known cruel masters. I have been punished. I will save you what pain I can.’

  ‘Why?’

  The male smiled. ‘Many reasons,’ he said. ‘Not least of all in the hope I can convince you to share my bed, for however long you wish to.’

  Holy crap!

  ‘I don’t trust you,’ Tara admitted.

  ‘Then you are wise. But you will trust me,’ he promised. ‘You were moaning, shaking. You reeked of fear. Bad dreams, little human?’

  Tara nodded in answer, unable to talk about it.

  ‘About the male who did this to you?’

  Again, Tara nodded.

  ‘When did he do this?’

  Tara thought back through the days she’d been in this room, alone, until this male. Back through to the station where she’d been held prisoner, both before and after her conviction.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she admitted. ‘A couple of weeks. Fourteen rotes. I was unconscious for some of it.’

  ‘How is it that you are still bruised? I thought humans healed faster than this.’

  Tara smiled. ‘I bruise deep. It takes a while for bruises to rise to the surface of my skin.’ She shrugged.

  ‘They treated you?’ Adalth asked.

  ‘No.’ Tara huffed out a small laugh. ‘Apparently, as a slave, I’m not worth the cost.’

  ‘I am surprised they are doing this to a human female.’ Adalth rearranged himself. Tara watched as he moved, settled, then his tail moved, writhing in a line down the length as it uncoiled and settled around him. ‘Human slaves are so valuable.’

  ‘What about a human slave who almost killed her first owner, a big ass Hinari, then vowed to finish the job?’

  Rich, deep chuckles filled the room. ‘I really like you human. I must admit, however, to a partiality of your species.’

  ‘Partiality?’

  ‘Indeed,’ he said. His accent was clipped, his words fast and somehow drawled at the same time. ‘We have legends of bipedal females such as yourself in our history—a prophecy of a redheaded female that would become our goddess. Also, whenever I meet a human female, and I have met a few, both as a slave and as—in my current line of work. They always have such spirit. I find it… refreshing.’

  ‘You like spirited females and redheads,’ she huffed a laugh. ‘You should meet Pyri. She ticks both those boxes.’

  ‘I have been informed redheads are both rare and numerous on your world.’

  Tara laughed, ignoring the world comment because she wasn’t giving information about the Sol system to anyone. ‘You could say that. They have the rarest hair colour, but there are a lot of humans.’ Again, Tara shrugged.

  ‘Do you think your Pyri would like to be treated as a goddess, with a harem of eight males to satisfy her every need?’

  ‘I don’t know about her, but I wouldn’t say no. Are there beaches and mimosas?’

  ‘There are beaches, and as soon as I find out what mimosas are, I can provide them. But if I take you as my lover, human, it will just be me. I do not share.’

  Not a chance, snake man!

  The door opened, and one of the Adosian crew entered. He walked into the room, his dark black and brown eyes watching them.

  He was huge, with grey skin and bull horns growing from the sides of his head. His eyes were light green, and he wore a skin-tight black jumpsuit. When he turned to her, his gaze raked down the length of her body, a creepy smirk on his face.

  ‘We will be arriving soon. Human, the Hinari has awoken. He and his bond mates have contacted us. They intend on taking you from the plane
t. Stay close to the site where we drop you. They will arrive within the hacri of us leaving you.’

  Apprehension clawed at Tara. She wouldn’t let them take her. She couldn’t. She had been lucky with Hethan. There was no way she could fight off three more males of that size. She’d die. They’d kill her.

  ‘While we’re alive, there’s still hope.’ Marcus’s words echoed in her mind.

  ‘She got away. Pyri won the bet.’ That was the last time she’d seen Zoe, being taken away by that purple devil. Tara shivered, hoping Zoe was safe. Hoping Sophia was on her way to IGC.

  Please god! Let her be on her way to IGC.

  Minutes after the Adosian left, he entered again, this time with several other males. One of them carried chains, and the rest had weapons trained on Adalth.

  ‘It’s almost like they see you as a threat,’ Tara said.

  Adalth smirked back at her, but when they unlocked his cage, he moved out of it carefully with his hands up. He was so sure that his people were coming for him he was going peacefully. The Adosians they chained him, eyeing him warily as they did.

  Next, they came for Tara. One of the males pulled her from the cage and with little ceremony out into the hall. There, she and Adalth were chained to the back of the line of about a dozen prisoners.

  They were marched from the cells, through the ship, which was dark, fitting into their overall dark aesthetic. When they got to the hold, the Adosians separated the prisoners and chained each one individually to a loop on the ceiling.

  Adalth smiled.

  ‘Stay with me, little human. We may be on this moon a few rotes, but my people will be here and I will protect you.’

  Yeah, right, buddy!

  The ship began to shake. Tara was hanging from the lowest point of the ceiling, but she was still hanging, straining. When she stumbled, Adalth coiled his tail around her and held her up.

  The ship was obviously entering the atmosphere. Then it smoothed out for several minutes before finally it glided to a stop and descended. When it lurched, Tara knew they’d hit the ground.

  The Adosians in the room moved to the first row of prisoners and unchained them. Each one was handed a bag.

  When the hold doors opened, a frigid, biting wind filled the space. Outside, a snow-covered forest filled the view. Almost immediately, Tara was chilled to the bone.

  ‘Where’s the prison?’

  ‘The moon is the prison, little human. We are being abandoned to the wild.’

  A gasp escaped Tara as she watched the first line of prisoners stumble and run from the ship. She saw several male faces turn. When their eyes fell on her, they left. Fear chilled her further.

  The next line of prisoners was unchained, given the bags, then sent out. Then another before the Adosian finally unchained Tara and Adalth.

  A bag was put into Adalth’s hands.

  ‘What about me?’ Tara could hear the panic in her voice.

  ‘You won’t need it. The Hinari are coming for you.’

  ‘But what if they don’t come?’

  The Adosian leading her to the ramp grabbed her ass. ‘Then you’ll find other ways to survive here.’ With that, he pushed her to the ground, laughing.

  A tail whipped out and grabbed the Adosian around the throat, hauling him into the air before dropping him again.

  Tara turned and saw rage on the snake man’s face before he picked her up in his arms and moved.

  He slithered across the thick snow faster than Tara could have believed was possible. Even while the Adosian were shouting, pulling out weapons, Adalth had them in the thickest part of the tree line and out of sight.

  ‘When my people come, I will hunt that ship down and put him to death.’

  ‘You don’t like him, huh?’

  Adalth looked at her with his cool blue eyes. ‘I do not like violence against females. If you weren’t there, I would have killed him and any who tried to stop me.’

  ‘If I weren’t there, none of this would have happened,’ she pointed out.

  Off in the distance, the ship was taking off.

  ‘You can put me down now,’ Tara said.

  ‘I don’t think so. This snow is deep, little human. Too deep for your short legs. You are not nearly equipped to deal with this cold. We will find a safe place to stop, assess what is in the bag and what we will do from there.’

  ‘What about the Hinari?’

  Adalth laughed. ‘I will deal with the Hinari if they come close to us.’

  Tara refrained from shaking her head. She didn’t trust the snake man. She didn’t trust any of these aliens. She needed to get away from him as quickly as possible.

  As they entered a small clearing, Adalth stopped, going completely still.

  ‘What is—’

  ‘Ka!’ he said the word quickly, quietly and like a command. Tara was about to protest when she heard rustling. Frowning, she listened, and when the sound of snapping wood filled the clearing from the opposite side of the rustling, she knew they were in trouble.

  Without warning, Adalth moved to a tree.

  ‘Hold on, little human,’ he said, as he rose. Even slithering along the ground, Adalth was taller than a man. He was taller than any of the aliens because he was, in body, about the same size as the seven-foot-plus Hinari she’d stabbed. On top of that, he balanced on several feet of tail. Now, he rose even higher. When he reached a thick branch in the tree, he placed her on it.

  ‘Take the bag.’ He passed it to her. ‘Stay here. I will take care of—’

  Several of the prisoners from the ship charged Adalth from the trees.

  He smiled at Tara, flicking his tail around one of them and twisting it. ‘While I take care of these.’ The sound of a neck snapping filled the clearing. Tara gasped in shock.

  A snarl appeared on the scaled face of the snake man, and he turned, roaring at the males attacking him. He grabbed one of them and rose into the air, dropping him before dropping on him. Tara heard bones break. The man cried out in agony before a rattling, wheezing noise struggled out of him. Adalth did something, and the man grew still. As this was happening, he was lashing out with his tail, grabbing, throwing and hitting.

  Tara stared in horrified fascination at the whirlwind of chaos the snake man brought to the fight. Only a minute had passed before he was turning on the last two males, a growling snarl on his face, sharp talons on his hands curled, his tail restlessly moving back and forth. The two males tried to run.

  The new aliens who emerged from the woods to stop them wore furs. They passed under the tree where Tara was sitting, their eyes focused on Adalth. If they noticed her, none of them acknowledged her as they walked toward the snake man.

  Adalth looked at her, his eyes flicked to the forest beyond, his chin jerking towards her, his message clear. Run!

  With that, Adalth turned and launched himself at the males farthest from her. Beneath her, the males ran into the fray. Adalth had attracted the attention of them all, to give her an escape route.

  Not wanting to waste time, Tara surveyed the tree. She was about fifteen feet up. There was heavy snow beneath her and several branches that could make climbing down easier. She slipped the bag over her shoulders and lowered herself to the next branch down, her eyes flicking to the fight as she descended.

  When her feet hit the forest floor, she sank into the snow until it was almost at the top of her calves. Forcing herself onwards, she moved around the tree, putting it between her and the fight.

  The sounds of the men shouting and screaming. The dull thuds of fists meeting flesh. Tara trudged on into the forest listening for it, listening for the dimming of it as she walked farther and farther away.

  In the distance, the sounds of the fight grew fainter, but Tara didn’t know if that was because one side was winning or because she was getting farther away.

  The light of a partially risen planet fell on her as she moved into a clearing. The trees beyond it were even darker than the rest of the forest. Her jaw drop
ped when she realised why. It was dark because the snow had never made it to the ground; the canopy was thick. So thick and still full of leaves, despite the weather, that the snow lay atop it in a thick blanket.

  Tara froze on the edge of it, trying to pierce the darkness within and feeling an ancient, instinctual fear of it. Looking to the ground, she realised not only would she move quicker because of the lack of snow, but there would be no obvious tracks for them to follow. If they found her, it was because they could track through this. But who could track anything in this darkness?

  Taking a deep breath, Tara moved the bag around to her front, almost as a shield and walked into the dark. She compromised speed for safety but was still making better time under the snow than atop it.

  When arms grabbed her, she struggled against them. She could feel the body of a male, hands held onto her and a face moved into her hair.

  Right, you bastard!

  Tara moved her head forward, then threw it back, headbutting the alien.

  Pain lanced through her. Her vision dimmed.

  That’s a damn tough head, she thought, before blackness took her.

  Danithor hated checking his traps this far from the cave. It was too close to the rudimentary village some of the other aliens had built as a community. As though such a thing could exist on a prison moon. But he’d already exhausted the traps closer to home. Stocks were running low, and he was desperate.

  He didn’t expect the prison transport. He didn’t expect the villagers to come out and investigate. He hid in the trees as they passed and watched them walk through the snow, coordinating their movement. He hadn’t realised how close to the village he was until he looked up from the tree branch he was hiding in and saw the smoke rising over the wall several hundred fenth away.

  The villagers always came out for the prison transport. The ships meant fresh prisoners, new supplies and, very occasionally, a female. There were several already in the village, forced to prostitute for the males there.

  When the villagers had passed, Danithor jumped down from the tree and trekked after them. They trudged through the snow, wearing primitive furs with primitive weapons made from the planet's silver and grey wood.