Free Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) by Evangeline Anderson

that. For some reason she’s grown fond of you—even though you tried to
strangle her and you can’t keep a civil tongue in your head. Goddess alone
knows why but she actually likes you.
So I can’t kill you.”
    “Then
where am I going?” Thrace
demanded.
    “Into
one of the life pods. They’re fully stocked and they have enough fuel to
navigate deep space for a good long time. Providing you can push the autopilot
button, you’ll be able to make your way someplace safe. And anyplace away from The Alacrity is good enough for me,”
Sidna said tightly. “Now come on, let’s go.”
    She
herded him at blaster-point down the narrow curving corridor to one of the far
ends of the ship. Then she pointed to a small metal escape hatch.
    “There.
You can take that one. Just get in, press the big green button, and never come
back. That’s all I ask.”
    “Fine.”
Thrace
opened the door and ducked his head to get inside.
    Without
another word, Sidna sealed him in, cutting him off from the rest of the ship
with a final sounding chink of metal
against metal.
    Thrace looked
around, assessing his surroundings. The pod was cramped for someone his size
but it clearly had enough food and stores for several people so he should be
fine. The controls were simple too. He’d been piloting ships for almost as long
as he’d been alive. One look at the miniature but fully functional navicon
showed a stable wormhole just a few parsecs away. He could take it back to the
galaxy he’d started from, get The Empress out of dry dock and go look for his best friend and first mate, Solar who had
also been sold at the Flesh Bazaar.
    But
that would mean leaving Trin to the mercy of B’Rugh and the Demon’s Eye.
    Looking
out of the viewscreen at the front of the little pod, he saw the huge silver
space station gleaming ominously in the light of the red dwarf star at the
center of the system. Trin was in there somewhere…alone…unprotected. Oh, he
knew she was probably armed—she was a savvy female and wouldn’t go into a place
like that without a blaster or two strapped to her belt. But what good was a
blaster against such a hoard of dangerous, lecherous criminals? Against B’Rugh?
Thrace’d
had some dealings with the crime lord in the past himself—none of them
pleasant.
    She bought you and chained you up! snarled
a little voice in his brain. Chained you
to a cot for days!
    Because she didn’t trust me. Because I
gave her no reason to trust me, Thrace answered it. And she’s only there because
of me. She bought me to save my stupid, fucking life. That damn slaver would
have killed me if she hadn’t stopped him.
    He
remembered now…Sidna’s scathing words had brought the recollections of what had
happened in the Flesh Bazaar back like a fever dream. The slaver demanding that
he get off the platform so Trin could examine him…his own silent refusal…then
the horrible pain like a stinging electrical current running through his entire
body. He even remembered seeing her punch the scaly bastard in the jaw when he
wouldn’t turn off the pain collar. Trin really had saved his life—he owed her for that, no matter what the last
few days had been like.
    Turning
to the navicon, he set a course for the Demon’s Eye.
    He
just prayed he wasn’t too late.

Chapter Seven

 
    Trin
walked carefully but confidently through the long metal halls of the space
station. She kept her chin high and her hand near her blaster, which was
strapped comfortingly to her hip. It didn’t do to show fear in a place like
this but she wasn’t above letting people know she was armed. That was just
common sense.
    She’d
taken her time circling the massive structure and picking the right place to
dock. Using one of the smaller, more distant docking zones would have been more
discrete and drawn less attention. However, it also would have meant traversing
long stretches of poorly lit corridors alone until she got to a main branch.
    On
the other hand, docking in a