Enslave Me Sweetly (Alien Huntress #2)(55)
Author: Gena Showalter

Beside me, Balls trembled. There was only silence.

“Who struck you?” Lucius repeated, an edge of danger in his tone I’d never heard before.

“We did ask that she be unharmed,” Jonathan reiterated with a frown.

“I demand reparation.” Lucius.

EenLi lost his grin. “Answer us, girl. Who struck you?”

I motioned to Balls with an accusing tilt of my chin. “He did.”

“Bitch!” Balls screeched, nearly jerking my arm from its socket. He gazed imploringly at EenLi. “She’s lying. I swear she’s lying.”

“She speaks the truth,” Cologne interjected firmly.

“No, no, I didn’t touch her. I—”

“I saw him do it.” Cologne again.

Realizing he could not continue to refute the charges, Balls changed his tactics. “I’m so sorry, Wayne.” He released me and dropped to his knees. Tears streamed down his eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, I swear. She tripped and ran into my hand. That’s all that happened. Please don’t hurt me. Give me another chance.”

Unconcerned, EenLi nodded to Cologne. Amid Balls’s cries for mercy, my guard withdrew an electro-gun from the back waist of his slacks. Shock thundered inside me as I realized what I was looking at. My mouth dropped open. The body of the gun was clear, making the flashes of electricity visible inside. This type of gun was not on the market yet because Michael, who was its creator, had yet to perfect it.

Even I had yet to use one.

Was there a traitor in our midst? The idea turned my blood to ice because it raised another, more terrible question. Did EenLi know Lucius was an agent? No, I assured myself. However he’d gotten the electro-gun, I didn’t think he knew who Lucius was. He would have killed my partner immediately.

Balls began sobbing. Eyes bright with resignation, Cologne unhesitatingly placed the barrel at the other man’s temple and pulled the trigger. To us, it appeared nothing happened. No flash of light. No emission of sound. Balls’s body shook and shuddered as electricity poured through him. His nostrils soon rimmed with black, and steam rose from his ears. Then he collapsed face-first on the carpet.

Colgone holstered the gun. EenLi and Jonathan nodded in satisfaction. Lucius’s expression was blank as he crossed his arms over his chest, discreetly putting his fingers within reaching distance of his weapons.

What the hell had we gotten ourselves into?

Chapter 22

No one bothered to move the body.

The scent of charred human flesh blended with the odor of cigar smoke and expensive Scotch as the meeting continued. Cologne took up residence behind me and gripped my shoulders to once more hold me in place. I didn’t protest.

I was ready to get this “purchase” over with.

“Jonathan, Hunter, Devyn,” EenLi said with another evil grin. “Let the bidding begin.”

At his words, I didn’t panic. So they were having a bidding war for me. Lucius and I had suspected that might happen. My gaze traveled to his. Yes, he was supposed to buy me, then purchase our way to another planet for “legal” reasons. Once we had that information, we were to kill EenLi. Now, there was a very good chance someone else would purchase me.

Lucius appeared relaxed, totally calm, as if he knew exactly what to do. Good. I knew he’d do everything in his power to win me, and if he didn’t, he’d do what needed to be done. As would I. I trusted him. Fully and completely, I realized. And I was pretty sure he trusted me.

“Turn around,” EenLi commanded me in an imperious tone.

My cheeks reddened at being treated like one of his “cattle.” Every man present was watching me, studying me, looking for flaws. The Targon rubbed his jaw, his expression blank, as his gaze raked over me.

Cologne’s grip on me tightened. “Do it.”

If I didn’t turn for them, I would be forced. And there would be no more reprieves for me under the guise of keeping me un-bruised. I saw that knowledge in EenLi’s now glowing red eyes.You want to get the sale over with, remember?

I lifted my chin and turned. Slowly. Giving them all a chance to look their fill at my sheer, pink-clad curves. I felt the heat of their gazes touching me everywhere, stripping me.

How many times had the other women endured this? How many times had they been forced to display their bodies for men they despised? My hands shook with the force of my humiliation. And beneath it all, a new sense of respect and admiration for the five women locked below grew within me. They were survivors.

Yes, Iwould save them; my determination increased all the more. No matter what was required of me.

When I faced the men again, EenLi was smiling happily from the screen, his ugly face stretched into a toothy monstrosity. Red faded to pink. “I’m almost tempted to keep the little agent for myself,” he said. “She’s powerful under all that delicacy.”

So. Hedid know that I was an agent. It was probably why he was here on the holoscreen and not in person. I was only surprised he wasn’t gloating about capturing me.

“Whatever your price,” Lucius said, his rough, gravelly voice claiming me, “I’ll pay.”

“And I’ll double that.” Jonathan.

Lucius hissed in a breath. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.” Jonathan became defensive. “I want her, too. You didn’t think I helped you out of the goodness of my heart, did you?” He tapped his cigar ashes on Lucius’s expensive Italian loafers. “Please tell me you aren’t that stupid.”

My partner snarled low in his throat—and I didn’t think it was mere pretense. “I can’t believe you’re going through with this. She’s mine. You knew I wanted her.”

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” Jonathan arched his brows, his expression haughty.

Deadly silence filled the room, slithering along the walls like a snake ready to strike.Come on, boys. Just buy me already.

Leaning forward, Lucius said darkly, “Are you sure you want to take me on?”

Jonathan laughed nervously and assumed a feigned casual pose, legs stretched, hands linked over the lapels of his dark blue jacket. “You can have her when I’m done with her.”

“Neither of you will have her.” The Targon had remained silent until that point, and now his deep timbre echoed off the walls. As he studied me, he caressed the gold band he wore around his neck, his fingers circling the ugly brown stone in the middle. “I’ll take her,” he said, as if that settled the entire matter.