Zandian Pet (Zandian Masters 7)

Maybe he could recover them when he collected his female. After he brokered the deal of a lifetime.

Forcing his breath to slow, he brought his mind to the single-pointed focus: get Mina. Seke had taught him self-discipline.

The least he could do was use it to get the warrior’s daughter back.

Prium registered his entry with a wide smile. “Back for more?” he called out when Erick arrived within listening distance. “They enjoyed your show.” He waved a bejeweled hand toward the audience in the lounge.

Erick didn’t mean to look, but his eyes darted to Mina’s cell.

Vecking hell!

She’d curled up in a ball on the rug with her slender back to the laser screen. Had he hurt her? He’d cut off his own balls if he had.

Prium followed his gaze, and his thin lips stretched into a toothy smile. “You wore her out, didn’t you?” The male gave him a speculative up and down sweep of the eyes. “You were exceptionally rough. Unexpected…” He tapped the tips of his polished silver claws together. “I had to give her a short rest after you. She’ll need stamina for the five males in queue to use her.”

His throat closed, choking back a roar of rage. “How much?” he growled.

Prium arched a white-haired brow. “I beg your pardon?”

“To buy her for personal use. I have Zandian crystal to trade, or I can have steins delivered to any intergalactic account within seconds.”

Prium showed his interest in the dart of a forked tongue from the corner of his mouth. But he said, “I am not a broker. I do not trade in slaves. I only buy them.”

“You’re keeping her illegally. Zandians are recognized by the United Galaxies as free beings. She cannot be held against her will by any being.”

Prium brought his slender fingers to his chest with affected innocence. “Zandian? No, I think not. She’s a human with unusual skin coloring. Zandians are far bigger.” Again, the up and down perusal of Erick’s large body.

It was all he could do not to fist Prium’s elegant robe and shake the male until his teeth rattled.

He pulled out the bag of crystals. “Your choice. Give her to me now and get something in return, or have her taken by the intergalactic police and pay a hefty fine on top of losing her.”

Before Prium could answer, the lounge erupted in chaos.

A spray of laser sparks cartwheeled from Mina’s cell, pelting all the beings in the lounge with scorching light-drops.

He ran without thinking, eyes trained on Mina’s slender silhouetted figure.

Clever female.

She’d used the Zandian crystal to refract the lasers. She wasn’t waiting for him to buy her—she’d chosen her own escape.

He grabbed a fistful of the stones from his pouch and pegged one into the cell next to Mina’s, and the one next to that, creating more chaos to cover for her.

A guard surged past him, laser gun drawn. Erick grabbed the weapon, slamming the guard’s wrist into his knee to dislodge his hold. A slash of the side of his hand into the male’s throat dropped him to the floor. He used the gun to shoot out the lights, aiming and firing with careful precision, until the entire place fell into darkness.

Zandians could see in the dark, but Aurelians might not. He dashed off in the direction he’d seen Mina go—not toward the entrance, but down a corridor. Perhaps she knew another exit.

Laser sparks flashed around the bend. He sped up and arrived in time to see her rolling through an elevated window, the laser glass sparking in showers away from Behn’s ring.

“Wait, Mina!”

He’d never fit through that window. How did she even get up there? He jumped to look out, but all he saw was Mina’s fleeing back.

Damn. How would he find her?

He ran back up the corridor. Another light had been found, and it cast dim shadows around the lounge. Figures darted back and forth. Calls and shouts filled the room.

“There’s the Zandian!” a guard yelled, pointing at him.