Tvek. I uttered the curse in my head. What had I been thinking to bring a prisoner of war aboard my ship? She was right. Vandar did not take prisoners. Only the Zagrath enslaved. We had no brig. To commit an offense worth imprisonment meant being put out an airlock.
I blew out a breath. My decision had been impulsive and foolish—something I would have expected from one of my younger brothers. Not the actions of a seasoned Raas.
She stumbled slightly, and I grabbed her elbow to prevent her from falling. When she chanced a glance up at me, her eyes were rimmed with red and streaks trailed down her cheeks. My gut twisted. I was unused to tears. I pressed my lips together and looked away. Another reason taking her was a mistake.
When we reached the first sprawling metal staircase, Bron eyed me, then her. “Should I take her to…your quarters for you, Raas?”
She trembled next to me as she took in the dark, soaring space of our ship, with stairs crisscrossing overhead in the shadows—a far cry from the well-lit freighter with its curved walls and tight corridors. “I will take her myself and meet you on the command deck.”
“But, Raas—“
I cut Corvak off with a flick of my wrist. “You have your orders. I expect to be back on course when I return to the command deck.”
My order was followed by sharp clicking of heels, then the loud rattling of the stairs as they started up. Astrid flinched. The echoing sounds of the cavernous warbird must have been an assault to someone used to the steady rumble of a freighter.
I rested a hand on the small of her back, reminding myself that I was much larger than her and considerably more powerful. “Vaes.”
“You said that on my ship. What does it mean?” Her voice was soft and shaky, but curious.
“Come,” I said, trying to keep my face serious when I saw confusion cross hers. “It means ‘come with me.’”
She nodded, moving forward as I led her up the stairs. “You speak the universal language, but still use Vandar?”
I grunted. “Some Vandar words are better.”
Another nod, and we walked in silence, winding through the open-weave labyrinth of the ship. Astrid occasionally peered down at the maze of stairs, her grip of the steel handrail making her knuckles pale. We left the stairs and entered a cage-like corridor and finally reached a large, oval-shaped door.
I pressed my hand to a round panel to one side and the gray doors parted in the center, sliding open silently to reveal my private quarters.
“Vaes,” I said again, when she paused on the threshold, her pupils flaring as she peered inside.
“This is where…?” She bit her lower lip.
“These are my quarters. This is where you will stay.”
She swallowed, nodding and taking a slow step inside.
As much as I wanted to sweep her up and carry her to my huge, round bed, with its headboard made from shields and battle axes welded together, I did not. I let her walk inside on her own, her steps tentative as her gaze swept the space from side to side.
“There is no couch?” she asked finally.
I cocked my head at her. “Couch? I do not know this word.”
Her cheeks colored. “Like a place you sit, but wide and long with cushions.”
I scanned my living space with its ebony tables and straight chairs. Like most things on my ship, the furnishings were hard and sleek. And as on the rest of the ship, the lighting was dim. “Do you require one of these couches?”
“I thought maybe I could sleep on the couch, so I wouldn’t have to kick you out of your bed.” She’d turned away from me and was facing the bed, which extended out into the center of the room.
I felt a flash of both amusement and irritation. “You will not be kicking me out of my bed, female. Did you not understand our deal?”
“I wasn’t sure…I mean, I thought maybe…”
My heart started to race again, my hunting instincts firing. I came up quickly behind her, winding an arm around her waist and jerking her close to me. I used my tail to circle her legs so she could not kick me. “You do not need to think so much, Astrid.” Her breath became quick and shallow. I stroked a finger down her cheek, breathing in her intoxicating scent. “All you need to know is that you are mine now. You belong to a Raas of the Vandar. Your life will be on this ship and with me. In this bed. Do you understand now?”
She moved her head up and down. As I held my hand splayed across her stomach, her rapid heartbeat vibrated into me. Just like prey before it was caught. My cock swelled as she wiggled in my grasp, reminding me how easy she was to overpower, and the tip of my tail quivered in anticipation.
I closed my eyes and inhaled the smell of her hair, resting my chin on it and tucking her into my body as she trembled. Perhaps she understood for the first time that there was no escape. That this was permanent. “Say it.”
“Say—?”
“Say that you are mine,” I growled. “I need to know that you understand.”
She sucked in a ragged breath. “I am yours, Raas.”
My own pulse steadied. “You do not need to call me Raas when we are alone. My name is Kratos.”
“Kratos,” she repeated, as if trying to memorize it.
“Raas is my title. You only need use it when you address me in front of my warriors.” I shifted my hand up so that my thumb brushed the swell of her breast.
“What does it mean?”
“Warlord.” I whispered into her ear, cupping one breast as she shivered in my arms. She clearly thought I intended to fuck her now. “Although there is nothing I would like more than to bury my cock inside you, I am needed on the command deck. I will not be claiming you now. You can breathe.”
Her body relaxed slightly, a sigh leaving her lips. The sound she made almost caused me to rethink my statement. Maybe I had time for a small taste of the female. But before I could move, the ship lurched violently to one side, and we both flew across the room.
Chapter Five
Astrid
My ears were ringing as strong hands lifted me off the floor. My leg hurt from where I’d crashed into the corner of a low table, but as soon as Kratos pulled me up, I knew it wasn’t broken. Sore? Definitely.
The ship continued to shake, but at least it wasn’t sending us flying again. Sirens as deep and sonorous as the Raas’ voice echoed overhead and the dim lighting flickered off and on, plunging us into darkness before flaring back on.
“Are you hurt?” Kratos held me by the shoulders, scouring my body with his eyes as unabashedly as he had on my sister’s ship.
“I’m fine,” I lied. I ached from hitting the table and then the floor, but I wasn’t going to whine about it. Not when he’d hit just as hard and seemed unfazed.
His face twisted as he glanced back at the door. “We are clearly under attack. I need to return to the command deck.”
Under attack? The sour taste of bile rose again in my throat. I’d been on the Vandar ship for all of ten minutes, and we were already under attack?
He gazed down at me, his hands gripping my arms too tightly. “You must stay here. Do you understand?”
For a moment, I wanted to beg him to stay with me. I wanted to feel his arms wrapped protectively around me again even though I shouldn’t have wanted him to touch me. I pushed aside my strange impulse and nodded. Where did he think I was going to run off to on a spaceship, anyway?