Page 18 of Taken By the Convicts
Ivan pressed her body down with his and placed his mouth against her ear. “I own you.”
“You don’t have the right—”
“Iownyou, female. This is Veenith. A man owns what he possesses, and I’ve taken you from Hawke.”
“No one owns me anymore.”
Anymore? That was interesting but wrong. “This isn’t Argus, Daraan, Baccula, or whatever shit-hole you came from. It’s a prison planet with its own set of rules. We work the mines, except for a few with specialized jobs. If we don’t extract serilium, we don’t eat, it’s as simple as that. You want to eat, you’ll do as I say, because I Own You.”
“You don’t—”
He grabbed her hair and pulled back on her head, drawing his lips close to her ear. “I. Own. You. Say it.”
She said nothing, and the longer she lay there in his grasp, smelling so damn good, the more her defiance turned him on. His cock was already hard, not because he could fuck her, but because that defiance of hers called to him. She was a fighter. It didn’t matter that she wouldn’t win against him, she’d try. Fuck, but he liked the idea of seeing what she’d do.
With a fistful of her hair still wrapped around his hand, he tasted the side of her neck. Sweet, like hekka drops. Fuck, now he wanted to know how she’d taste elsewhere.
His free hand curved over her ass and around to her pussy. His fingers entered her plump folds. His cock twitched at the idea of plunging into her.
“Ass or pussy?” he repeated his earlier question as he drew his slick covered fingers to his mouth and tasted her. Fuck Jayce’s needs. This woman belonged to Ivan.
“You don’t own me,” she repeated, her voice fading away like he’d broken something in her, and yet he didn’t believe that for one second. She wouldn’t give in like this, not the monster who’d stood over his bed and those of his men, callously staring down at them as they writhed in pain.
Dr. Melina Archer, creator of the Kratos Project, was playing him. If he didn’t watch his step, he’d find himself dead, like the rest of his team.
* * *
REECE
“I thinkyour friend screwed us over,” Zev said, turning the map again, trying to find a landmark.
Reece scanned the landscape. If Jayce had double-crossed him, he’d gut the man. Not for the deception, but for taking Reece’s female.
Zev cocked a brow at him.
Fuck. He’d growled at Zev. One of the few sounds he could produce was a growl, and he rarely used it, especially on Zev. The guy was the only one who ever talked to Reece as if he were a person and not a blithering fool who didn’t understand anything. Fucking Company Fucking Crimshaw. He wished he hadn’t killed Crimshaw. Then he could cut the man’s vocal cords and dump him on Veentih. The Chief of Territorial Expansion wouldn’t last five days, let alone five years here.
“A triangle. What the fuck is that supposed to be?” Zev turned the hand-drawn map again. “Maybe it’s a tree.”
Reece pointed west. There was a clump of trees in that direction. This entire region held little in the way of trees due to the underground thermal fissures that heated the mines and most of the buildings on Veenith. The intense heat often dried out the roots, making it impossible for trees to grow here. The forests were south of the mines, except for a scattered clump of trees here and there.
“I don’t know, Reece. These other markings seem to be the mountain range behind us. The triangle’s at the base.” Zev scanned the area. “Definitely no trees here.”
Zev started walking parallel to the mountain range. Reece followed his lead. The man had a good sense of direction, which would make him a good candidate for one of Thorne’s hunting teams, but Zev refused to request a change of assignment. For a reason Reece could not fathom, Zev liked the mines. Strange, but hey, Reece wasn’t one to judge others for their choices in life, even if he didn’t understand them.
“And you’re sure they have a woman?” Zev asked again for the sixth time.
Reece rolled his eyes.
“Okay, I believe you, but it’s hard to picture. I thought women never got sent to Veenith. Maybe she’s infertile or something. That would explain it.”
It would. The Company wouldn’t send a woman who could produce children to a planet where the average life expectancy of prisoners—male prisoners who could defend themselves—was three years.
“Will you look at that?” Zev said, stopping short. Reece almost plowed into him. “I’d say that rock looks rather like a triangle.”
Reece spotted recent tracks. He brushed past Zev, who quickly fell in step.
“A bunker. Huh. I didn’t expect to find a bunker on Veenith. And talk about well hidden. Forget the snowdrifts. The rocks in the area hide that door until you’re on top of it. Nice.”
