He ran his fingers over the holo, which was touch-sensitive and it expanded until he could read the label over the building where the red dot was located.The Exotic Beauty Lounge,read the tiny words.

J’orn felt like his heart might burst! The Exotic Beauty was one of the worst offenders in the city when it came to accepting kidnapped girls and women and forcing them into a life of sexual slavery. They would have been shut down if not for the extreme corruption running rampant in the Paradise Prime government. Unfortunately, every single one of this planet’s elected officials was for sale so the lounge was still open and even thriving, despite their disgusting and illegal practices.

J’orn felt the beginnings of Rage creep over him as he considered what might be happening to the woman he loved. His first impulse was to rush over and ransack the club—to kill anyone who had hurt Kara or eventhoughtabout hurting her!

But he recognized that he couldn’t do that. He was one male alone and he didn’t have time to call for backup. There would be plenty of guards to protect the club—he couldn’t fight them all and get Kara safely out at the same time.

No, he was going to have to do something different to get to her—he was going to have to pretend to be a legitimate customer. Then, once he found her, he could offer to buy her and get her out of there.

He just prayed to the Goddess he could get to her before she was hurt or raped…if she hadn’t been already.

“Goddess, protect her,” he murmured under his breath as he left her suite and took off down the hall at a run. “Let me get to her in time—please!”

25

KARA

Kara came awake in a dim room lit with red glows that hovered in the corners. The eerie lighting made her think she was in Hell for a moment…and her next discovery didn’t exactly dispel the idea. Looking down, she discovered that she was naked and tied to some kind of a frame with her arms and legs spread wide apart. She was sagging in her bonds but once she straightened up, a voice said,

“Oh good—she’s beginning to come ‘round. Finally—I was sure you’d given her too much.”

“Inevergive them too much—I know my dosage charts!” a second voice answered. “She’s humanoid and weighs exactly five and ten clinks—that’s why I gave her?—”

“I don’t care about the fucking dosage!” the first voice exclaimed. “The main thing is that she’s finally awake. And we’ve already got a customer for her.”

Two shadowy figures came forward to stand in front of Kara. One was tall and the red light glinted off his golden skin—he must be a Paradisian, she thought. The other was short and squat with a shock of black hair that looked like a Mohawk on his bald head.

But a moment later, when he moved and the dull light hit his hair differently she realized it wasn’t hair at all—he really did have long black spikes growing out of the middle of his head in an orderly stripe that went from his eyebrows all the way down to his neck.

“What…who…who are you?” she asked weakly, looking at both of them. “Why am I here? Is…is this Hell?”

“Hell?” The Paradisian burst out laughing. “Well, Iguessyou could call it that, considering your position, girly. But our customers don’t agree.”

“Customers?” Kara was beginning to have a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach—averybad feeling indeed. “What are you talking about? What customers?” she demanded.

In the back of her mind, a memory was trying to surface—something about Gaela and Brother Nono and some bitter green wine—but the images were still hazy and confusing.

“Yes,customers. This is The Exotic Beauty Lounge and you, girly, are our latest acquisition,” the Paradisian informed her.

“Which means you’re gonna be seeing a lot of customers—all of the ones on the girthy side,” the man with black spikes for hair said, chuckling unpleasantly. “But don’t worry—with the amount ofy’thosinI gave you, you’re gonna be eager to have them plowing your pussy!”

Kara felt cold all over and not just because she was totally nude.

“What…what are you talking about?” she asked through numb lips. “I never agreed to this! I’m a citizen of Earth and I live on the Kindred Mother Ship—you can’t do this to me!”

“Seems like we already did, girly,” the Paradisian remarked. “You’re gonna earn us a lot of money with that golden pussy of yours.”

“That’s what we call it for the girls who can take they’thosin,”Spikes informed her. “Because a humanoid who can stretch big enough to take a Trollox is worth her weight in gold!”

“No—let me go!” Kara struggled with the bonds wrapped around her wrists and ankles. They were oddly stretchy, like extremely thick rubber bands or bungee cords, but she quickly found that even though she was able to pull away from the posts she was bound to a little way, there was no way to break her bonds.

“Settle down, girly,” her Paradisian captor told her. “Just let thaty’thosinwork on you. In a minute you’ll be so horny you’ll be begging for a nice thick cock to fill you up.”

“See, that’s the thing abouty’thosin,”Spikes told her. “Once you get a big enough dose of it—and believe me, I gave you a big one—it’s fuck or die. So get ready—you’re about to be more dick-hungry than you’ve ever been in your life.”

“Right—you’d better thank the customer when he gets here,” the Paradisian told her. “Because he’ll be saving your life by fucking you and filling you with his cum!”

“Where is he, anyway?” Spikes asked.