Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

Nobody, he thought savagely. But I can certainly blame myself. It’s my fault she was taken! My fault she’s not safely home!

“Can you tell me anything else about the men who took her?” he asked, glaring at the gate agent. “Anything at all? Who were they? Slave-takers? Spaceport guards?”

She shrugged sullenly.

“They were just males—that’s all I know. They probably thought she was free for the taking, since she didn’t have a Seal or a Master with her.”

Valen groaned inwardly. Yes, they probably had thought that! But the gate agent’s information was almost useless. He had already known that Selena had been taken, but he still didn’t know where or by whom.

But I’m going to find out, he swore to himself. Goddess help me, I won’t rest until I’ve found her!

60

There was one long, narrow bench that ran the length of the prison cell, where most of the female prisoners were sitting. Many of them were Ma’shorkans and they gave Selena menacing glares when she approached, looking for a place to sit, as if to say, Don’t even think about it!

Taking the hint, Selena went to sit on the far end, nearest the wall that the female cell shared with the male cell. But she learned quickly why the spot she’d taken had been free.

“Hey! Hey, pretty little bimbap!” a leering voice called to her. “Hey, stop covering yourself! Show us your tits!”

“Yeah—stick one of those stiff little nipples through the hole here…” another male prisoner shouted, poking one long, dirty finger through one of the air holes that ran in a random pattern through the clear wall and waggling it suggestively. “Stick ‘em both through and let me suck ‘em.”

“Go to Hell!” Selena snapped. Crossing her arms firmly over her chest, she turned as much as she could on the narrow wooden bench, so that her back was to the clear dividing wall.

“It’s best not to talk to ‘em at all. Just riles ‘em up,” the woman beside her—whom Selena was now facing—remarked. She was Ma’shorkan with pink and purple skin and long, bedraggled purple curls. Her nipples were pierced with silver rings that had jaunty, bright blue feathers dangling from them.

“I see that,” she said cautiously. “Sorry, I’m just so tired of men being assholes around here!” she added vehemently.

“Don’t I know it, honey? Not a single one of ‘em’s worth a damn.” The Ma’shorkan woman shook her head. “I’m Veelah, by the way,” she added.

“Hi Veelah, I’m Selena.” Shaking hands didn’t seem to be a thing here, so Selena just nodded her head and the other woman nodded back.

“Nice ta meatcha. Don’t pay any attention to these bastards.” Veelah nodded at the male prisoners, who were still leering through the clear dividing wall and shouting for Selena to “Show us your tits!”

“Thanks, I will,” Selena said gratefully. It was nice to have one friend, she thought. Or, if not exactly a friend, at least someone who would talk to her.

“Of course, if Big Horn tells you to show your tits and let him suck your nipples through the grates, you better do it,” Veelah went on, in a calm, conversational tone.

“Big who?” Selena asked, startled.

“Him, over there.” Veelah nodded to the back of the male’s cell, where an absolutely enormous Ma’shorkan was sitting at the far end of the bench. He had his head leaned back against the wall and his massive arms folded over his chest. His legs were crossed along the length of the single wooden bench and he was taking up about half of it himself. Despite the fact that this meant most of the male prisoners had to stand, Selena noticed that nobody was complaining about it.

As she watched, the big Ma’shorkan lifted his head and looked directly at her. His nose had clearly been broken several times in the past and his eyes were a flat, greenish-yellow—predator’s eyes, she thought, feeling sick.

“Who is he?” she asked, turning quickly back to Veelah and hoping the big Ma’shorkan would forget all about her.

“Big Horn’s an enforcer for the Pain Makers,” Veelah said, matter-of-factly. “Now that he’s finally been caught and sent up, he’ll be the big fish once we all get to Hammerdown.” She nodded her head and tapped her index finger under her left eye, with the same knowing gesture Selena remembered Pashmeena using. “Mark my words—whoever gets in good with him now, is going to have an easy ride. But you don’t want to get on his bad side—no you don’t.”

“I see.” Selena looked down at her hands. “Um…thank you for the information,” she said faintly. Was this what she had to look forward to? A life of trying to survive by pleasing the biggest, toughest male in prison sexually and hoping he liked her enough to keep her safe?

“So is it true you stole from royalty?” Veelah went on, looking at Selena curiously. “You don’t seem the type to be a thief—your eyes ain’t shifty enough.”