Page 8 of Forbidden Desires

“It’s your right to do whatever you want that doesn’t put the crew in danger,” Captain Gylor said. He silently reviewed his thoughts. Zylar had the right to put them all in danger if he thought there was a reason to. He wouldn’t apologize or recant his statement because Zylar wouldn’t want him to, but they both knew who was in charge and it wasn’t the captain.

“Release the lift,” Zylar told the wildlife specialist. He was a junior officer looking over his shoulder at Zylar waiting to see what he wanted done.”

“Immediately.” He released the lift from the holding pattern it was in between floors.

“I don’t want it to stop for anyone except Amelia.” He spoke over the intercom in his native language.

He could tell the moment Amelia realized she was hearing his voice. He spoke the words‘little bird’to describe her. It was the only English he spoke. There were no words for little birds in Diza because they didn’t have any. The way she moved reminded him of one. She was flitting from place to place, afraid that a larger predator was chasing after her. She was correct and didn’t realize it. He was coming for her.

She entered the lift, and he smiled. Let the games begin.

“Are the Tar-gu’s in their cages?” Zylar asked.

“Yes, all seven of them are in their cages.” Zylar let out a silent breath. That was the one part of the plan that worried him. Now that he was certain he had contained the only predator on the ship that could give him a run for his money, he wasn’t worried about the frights Amelia would face.

“What about the infant who was born last week?” The infant was a misnomer. The babies were as tall as Amelia and twice as vicious as the parents because they didn’t have the bulk of maturity to defend themselves. If it was a …

“It’s a female,” another crew member said.

“Don’t let her out of.” It was too late. The door slid open, allowing Amelia to walk into an alien jungle with a predator who loved flesh, and Zylar was sure that human flesh would be a delicacy.

The Tar-qu silently slid between Amelia and the door to the lift. “Run!” Zylar broke his word even as he ran for the lift. “I want to be down there yesterday!” He commanded as the door to the lift slid shut.

***

Amelia’s eyes went wide as she looked at the jungle before her. The concrete jungle was her home, but this was amazing. If she hadn’t been awake when they landed inside this ship, she’d swear she was outside in the Amazon or the Brazilian jungle. The trees were huge and shaped in ways she’d never seen. The bark was black, not brown, and the leaves were green. Most were shades of lavender, but others were multi-colored. There were small shrubs. She couldn’t resist taking a couple of steps forward, despite knowing she didn’t have the time to explore, as she was completely captivated by what she was seeing.

There was a small sound behind her. There was no way she should have heard anything, but she did. It felt like the grass and air were displaced at the same time. A quiet snort soundedbehind her. Amelia turned slightly to see a nightmare standing between her and the lift.

There was an animal that stood a little over five feet with a triangular head, two beady orangish-red eyes, and a mouth of serrated teeth. The closest thing she could compare it to was a T-Rex. This one looked like she was on the menu.

“Run!”

Chapter Five

“Good T-Rex.” Amelia was more of a cat person and prehistoric dinosaurs were out of the question. She slowly backed up, keeping eye contact, although she didn’t know if it was the right thing to do. Would direct eye contact be a challenge? If she dropped her eyes, would she signal prey? It took a step toward her, and she ran. Maintaining eye contact was the last thought on her list. Various thoughts of wanting to live filled the rest of the list.

Amelia took off acknowledging that fleet of foot was something she flunked in gym class. She also wasn’t silent as a big woman. She could hear every footstep as they pounded into the ground. To her ears, it sounded like ‘hurry up and eat me. I’m over here.’ Her heart thundered as she thought of her cousins. They were the only two people in her family she was close to, and she blew that. There’d never be another chance to tell them how sorry she was. When she tried to think of Zylar she shied away from him. The male who wanted to use corporal punishment on her.

Is it punishment if he spanks you?Mind, have you gone over the edge? She hissed in her head and then reminded herself she wasn’t thinking about him. The thing, whatever it was, sounded closer. It was stalking her. That sounded about right. Wild things like the thrill of the chase. Zylar said he was keeping her around until he got tired of her. She thought it would be longer than this.

She ran face-first into what she assumed was the talents tree in this garden of hell. With no other recourse, she started climbing. If that thing could climb, she might as well kiss her ass goodbye, but she couldn’t keep running and it would tire of playing with her. Amelia started climbing. This was easier when she was a child, but there was no room to complain unless she wanted to be dinner. Speaking of dinner, her stomach rumbled, thanks stomach as if I’m not making enough noise as it is. The branches in this tree were lower than the other trees and the leaves were large and rainbow-colored. If she were a child, she’d pick this tree to hide in. That’s how large the leaves were. Had she signed her death certificate? A growl seemed to shake the trees, and she knew her time was up. Amelia’s knees shook as she tried to climb higher and faster.

Another growl came, and she was counting the rest of her life in minutes and not years or days. Maybe she could survive one, but no way was she surviving two. All she could pray was that she didn’t pee on herself. Why did minor issues like that bother her when death was stalking her?

There was a yell and words she couldn’t decipher, followed by her name. Thank God it was the same in every language. She knew that voice and part of her wanted to slump into the tree branch, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet, both figuratively and literally. She

squirmed when he started yelling again.Was it possible to have a rush of lust in a life-or-death situation? Please don’t let her be the only one this happened to. It’s not like she knew himor liked him, but maybe it was his eyes or the muscles that were rippling under his clothes. When did doctors become ripped?

She moved closer to the trunk of the tree, wrapping her arms around it and pressing her trembling knees against it. Please don’t let me fall or die, was the prayer she was sending heavenward. All she had to do was fall in line with the other grandchildren and she wouldn’t have fallen from grace. Her estranged family would take her back when her parents died. All she had to do were two things, and she refused to do both. They disowned her, and that was that.

“Help!” she screamed when the dinosaur-like animal ran into the tree head-butting it to get to her. She clung tighter even as the tree swayed more. Her life flashed before her eyes. Holy hell, that happens. Would it have been so bad to fall in line with her family? Yes, it would have. If only for her peace of mind. Not that it mattered since she sold her cousin out.

Kind of sort of. She was looking for a way out and, in the end, she should have just spoken up. Coming from two families that used secrecy like it was currency made her keep her mouth shut and look for a way out on her own. Blood doesn’t betray blood. It would become her new motto if she lived through this.

There was movement out of the corner of her eye. It was too fast for her to home in, but it was there. Friend or foe? She wasn’t sure and there was no way she was calling out to bring more attention to herself.

Zylar stepped out of the trees behind her. He was wearing a pair of jeans and nothing else. Well, damn, he was a wet dream. She needed to be shot on sight because his ass in those jeans was doing it for her. Later she’d talk to a shrink about this. Right now, she was cheering him on silently. Beat the dinosaur up. Was she freaking ten? She couldn’t bring herself to say kill it because she was in its territory, not the other way around. Ifhe hadn’t brought her onto this ship, none of this would have happened.

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