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“Shift!” she snapped, feeling wild and reckless. “Shift now!”

  Gold eyes flicked to hers. He bared his teeth.

  “No!” the slaver gasped.

  But sable fur was already spreading over the shifter’s bare skin, his body bulking even larger, his face lengthening into an elegant muzzle. His ears rose into lupine points as his big hands and feet grew deadly, curved claws. He turned his feral golden eyes on the guards.

  “Down!” Casus roared.

  The shifter roared in agony and dropped to the ground as if he’d been shot. The fur melted away as his body returned to human form, writhing and kicking in anguish.

  Zarifa knew exactly how that felt. The pain. The helpless, searing rage. The black shame of being a puppet to callous men.

  Her gaze shot to the slaver, who wore a smile of grim satisfaction now. “I told you what would happen, Mad Dog,” Casus spat. “I warned you.”

  The next thing Zarifa knew, her sword was in her hand and pressed hard to the slaver’s throat. A tide of red washed over her vision. It seemed she could almost see the slaver’s blood streaming under her blade. Casus’s thin lips pulled into an O of terror.

  She bared her teeth. “Let. Him. Go.”

  TWO

  Rance peered through the fog of pain to see the woman’s sword digging into Casus’s neck. “Stop torturing him,” she growled. “Now.”

  An aristo was defending him?

  The slaver’s hand jerked, ready to drop the stiletto he wore in a wrist sheath down into his palm. Rance prepared to drive a kick into the man’s groin, knowing even as he did that he’d pay for it.

  “Draw on me and die,” she snarled, angling the sword upward to press it deeper into the skin. A bead of bright blood rolled down Casus’s throat. The man’s hand fell limp at his side.

  “Mr. Casus, what is your order?” Captain Aaren demanded, obviously torn between fear of laying hands on an aristo and allowing her to threaten his boss.

  Rance rolled to his feet despite the pain still fisting his balls. He was damned if he’d let a woman be threatened while he lay on his ass. Even if he couldn’t quite stand up straight.

  Aaren shot him a warning look and edged toward the aristo.

  Her eyes narrowed as she flashed him a glare. “Dare to touch me, and I’ll see you executed.”

  And she could, too. The penalties for a commoner committing violence on an aristo were severe. On the other hand, Lady Selan could cut Casus’s throat without incurring so much as a slap on the wrist.

  Rance grinned through the knife-blade pain. He’d never thought that particular law would ever work to his advantage.

  A fresh tide of pain hit, buckling his knees. He barely held himself upright.

  Casus apparently hadn’t appreciated the grin.

  The aristo titled her blade, forcing the slaver’s chin higher. “I said release him.”

  “He threatened my guards!”

  Her voice was calm, level, as if she could cut Casus’s throat with no more concern than slicing a grapefruit. “He was demonstrating his skills on my order, as you well know. I will not tell you again.”

  “He is dangerous, lady!”

  “So am I.” Her eyes narrowed, took on a fixed, cold gleam. “And I grow impatient.”

  The hand with the ruby gestured, and the pain abruptly faded. Rance slumped with a grunt of relief but forced himself to keep his feet. His rescuer might need him.

  The aristo’s voice was brisk and cool when she asked, “How much do you want for him?”

  Casus promptly lost his sense of ill usage in greed. His narrow face lit with calculation. “I don’t know that I can sell him, not in good conscience. He’s more dangerous than I thought.”

  “If I wanted a lap dog, I’d go to a pet shop. How much?”

  “He should be destroyed.”

  She peeled her lovely lips back from her teeth. “So should you, slaver. How much?”

  Rance swallowed a snort of laughter as the two began to dicker in earnest.

  He had to admit, if he had to have a mistress for a few hours, he could have done worse. There was an arrogant purity to the aristo’s features, to the clean, straight line of her nose, the high jut of her cheekbones and curve of her chin. Her eyes were large and liquid, a rich forest green, and her blonde hair gleamed like a crown in a tight, smooth upsweep.

  She wore one of those vaguely historical costumes fashionable among aristos. The tight red velvet jacket and snug white pants tucked into black boots, as if she should be off hunting foxes from horseback. She certainly didn’t look like an assassin-dodging interstellar courier. Which was probably the idea.

  There was a certain kinky temptation in the idea of being owned by her. Though, eyeing the length of those exquisite legs and the high, sweet rise of her breasts, he decided he’d much rather own her.

  An aristo slave. What a delicious thought.

  “Then we have a deal?” Casus demanded. The slaver was all but drooling in anticipation of all those imperials.

  The lady’s green gaze flicked to Rance again. Considered him for a long moment while his heart skipped a beat. What if she said no?

  He’d be a dead man. The slaver’s cyborgs would kill him before she was halfway down the hall.

  “Yes,” the aristo said at last. “We have a deal.”

  Zarifa could feel the weight of the shifter’s intense golden eyes on her as Casus presented her with the control ring. It was damned uncomfortable, having a man watch you accept the instrument of his torture.

  Especially when she knew all too well what it was like to be on the receiving end of that kind of pain.

  “I don’t need that,” Zarifa said shortly, waving aside the offered ring. “Just give me the code for his controls.”

  Casus frowned at her. “Freeworlds nanosystems like Mad Dog’s are too different from ours to access. You need a translator to control him.” He held out the ring again.

  Zarifa grimaced but reluctantly accepted it. Slipping it on, she gestured at the ring the slaver wore. “Yours, too.”

  Casus paled slightly, his gaze flickering to the shifter, who had come to feral attention. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “And I don’t want anyone else controlling my slave.” She gave him her father’s best silky smile. “Unless you’d rather cancel the transaction now…”

  His expression sour, the slaver jerked the ring off his finger and handed it over.

  Zafira tucked the ring into a jacket pocket and thought, Nanos, reencrypt and password Mad Dog’s system. I don’t want anybody accessing him but me.

  Done, said the system’s chiming mental voice.

  She relaxed. They wouldn’t be able to use him against her now.

  “You’re going to need the maximum pain setting to control him.” Malice filled Casus’s eyes as he added, “Applied to his dick. That’s about all that makes an impression on him.”

  “I’ll take that under advisement.” Apparently her icy displeasure showed; the slaver visibly flinched.

  One of the cyborgs spoke in a basso rumble. “Mr. Casus, a delivery cart is here. It says it has something for Lady Selan.”

  “It’s the armor I ordered,” Zarifa said. “Is there somewhere Mad Dog can change?”

  Casus sniffed. “He’s already naked. It’s not as if he needs privacy.”

  “But I do.” She stared coldly at the slaver until he dropped his gaze. “And I expect to get it. Any recording devices will be turned off.”

  Casus dipped a low bow. “Of course, milady.”

  The nanotium cuirass was a deep, rich crimson, accented with slashes of black. The armored greaves, gloves, and bracers were in the same color scheme, while the thigh plates and boots were black piped in red. Each piece gleamed under the overhead lights, though they could go dark and dull if needed for stealth.

  Rance held his arms out as his new mistress fitted the chest plate around his torso. “You know, I can put on my own armor.”

 
She gave him a faint smile and went on settling the cuirass into place. “I know. But you’re my man, and I want to be sure it’s properly fitted. If not, I want to be able to tell the armorer exactly what to change.”

  My man. There was something faintly medieval in the way she said the phrase, like an ancient lord claiming responsibility for a vassal knight. Something about the words sent warmth expanding through his chest, and he frowned.

  I’m not her “man,” he told himself fiercely. I’m getting the hell away from her as soon as I get the chance.

  The traitor owed him a blood debt, and he was damned well going to collect.

  The cuirass shifted to accommodate his width, then sealed with a soft hiss. Rance smoothed his hands over the slick, gleaming surface. If he knew combat armor—and he did—this was quite possibly the most expensive suit he’d ever worn. It seemed to weigh no more than a thin tunic and moved with him easily as he twisted his waist and swung his arms.

  One thing was for sure; the lady wasn’t cheap.

  He watched her lift the next section of the suit from its gleaming black case. She rose gracefully and fitted it over his biceps, her long fingers skilled and competent, as if she were no stranger to armor herself.

  Rance mentally totaled the imperials she must have spent, between buying him and the armor. He frowned. “Just exactly how much danger are you in?”

  Her pretty face went grim. “Enough.” She bent and picked up the right bracer. Rance fought not to focus on the curve of her ass. The last thing he needed right now was a hard-on. “There’s a very good armorer on this station,” she said in a blatant change of subject. “When Casus told me he had a shifter, I ordered this fabricated. The woman tells me it will change when you do, but you’ll want to test that. I don’t want any ugly surprises in the event of an ambush.”

  A dozen questions crowded Rance’s tongue, but he kept his mouth shut. He needed to play the obedient slave until Lady Selan dropped her guard.

  Though he hated to contemplate what he’d have to do to this pretty, delicate creature in order to make his escape. She wouldn’t want to let him go—and he couldn’t let himself be kept.

  Lady Selan picked up the groin section and crouched at his feet. He stiffened, suddenly, painfully aware of her face so near his cock. Don’t, he warned it. God, don’t.

  All she’d have to do is lean forward to take it into her mouth…

  Groping for a distraction, he said, “You realize Casus is probably recording this?”

  Her teeth flashed up at him in a feral smile. “Oh, he tried. I put a stop to it. I’ve got a pretty good nanosystem.”

  Rance blinked. “You disabled Casus’s cameras? He’s not going to like that.”

  “Do you truly think I care?”

  He laughed. “Not really.”

  But any sense of amusement faded as she paused, green eyes on his cock. The shaft promptly began to lengthen under her attention. He heard her swallow. She leaned forward…

  And fitted the hip section around his groin. Rance gritted his teeth as it sealed, pressing into his growing erection. The fact that she’d obviously been tempted was no help at all.

  “There.” She rose to her feet and tilted her head, studying him as he towered over her in a suit that could have stopped a star tank blast. “You look quite formidable.”

  “I am quite formidable.”

  “We’ll see. Now shift. I want to make sure that suit accommodates the change.”

  Since he wanted to know, too, he sent a mental order to his nanos. The shift surged through him as the ’bots realigned cells, altered bone and muscle and flesh. He shuddered at the hot, familiar pain. The room blurred.

  When his sight sharpened again, all his senses seemed to explode to vivid life. He looked down at her. And down even farther, since he was almost half a meter taller now.

  She looked so delicate, so fragile. And she smelled deliciously feminine, like distilled sex. Like everything he’d ever craved in a woman.

  His kind had been created to protect the colonists of a savage world filled with predators that would have slaughtered an ordinary human, no matter how well-armed. Instincts bred into his every cell drove him to speak despite the dictates of common sense.

  “Why did you do that, lady?” His voice emerged in a deep, alien rumble. “Ordering me to transform like that? I could kill you before you even had time to activate my collar.”

  There was a hint of icy warning in her smile. “I think you underestimate just how fast I really am.”

  He doubted that. “You shouldn’t take such risks.”

  “Perhaps.” Selan shrugged. “My father used to say you never know whether you can trust a man unless you give him a chance to betray you. It’s better to watch what he does than be unpleasantly surprised when you’re not expecting it.”

  Rance stared at her, appalled. “This was a test?”

  “And lucky you, you passed.” Her eyes dropped to the ring on her hand. “My father knew all about betrayal. He was good at it.” Pivoting on one booted heel, she started toward the door. “Change back, Mad Dog, and let’s go. We have a schedule to meet.”

  The nickname carried a surprising sting it had never possessed before. “Rance. My name is Rance Conlan.”

  She gave him a siren smile. “Rance, then.”

  Grinding his teeth, he let the power roll through him again, then slipped ahead of her like the loyal guard dog he definitely wasn’t.

  She’s playing into my hands, he told himself. She doesn’t know as much about betrayal as she thinks she does.

  The thought left a surprisingly bitter taste in his mouth. Betraying women was for aristos and slavers, not for Freeworlds shifters.

  Too bad he didn’t have a choice.

  THREE

  It wasn’t easy to keep her mind on business with her body thrumming in a sweet, electric buzz. I can’t afford this kind of distraction, Zarifa realized with a grim jolt of alarm. What if Gerik shows up? He’d have me in chains before I saw him coming.

  And yet…Her gaze slid up to the shifter’s towering shoulders as he preceded her through the door. Yes, she’d needed to test him, but if she were honest with herself, she’d insisted on helping him don his armor simply because she’d wanted to touch him.

  His tanned, smooth skin had felt like velvet over steel. And the way his cock had grown under her gaze…Stop it. Get your mind on the job.

  Casus looked up as they walked into his office. He was seated behind an ostentatiously massive desk, his ’borgs flanking him like bookends. As Rance fell into a snappy parade rest just behind her, all three came to full alert. Even the guards looked nervous. And Casus was one deep breath from panic.

  Not that she could blame him. Rance had looked intimidating stark naked, but fully armored he was huge, a gleaming human weapon. But it was more than just the armor. He exuded a calm, deadly confidence that nobody in the room had a prayer against him.

  Zarifa turned her head to watch as he gave Casus a long, cold look that suggested he was remembering every time the other man had tortured him. He smiled, slow and chilling.

  Casus went dead white.

  Oh, sweet Lady, Zarifa thought, fighting a panic surge of her own. Can the nanobots take Rance down before he kills the little idiot?

  If he murdered a man who hadn’t attacked her, he was dead. And Zarifa herself would be detained, which meant officials would discover her true identity in short order. Gerik would arrive to haul her back to Throneworld within hours, and everything would be lost.

  Just as she started to activate her nanobot control ring, Rance spoke, his deep voice as smooth and courtly as any knight’s. “Milady? You said we’re on a tight schedule.”

  He wasn’t going to attack. The relief was dizzying. Zarifa managed a nod. “Yes. Yes, we are.” She turned to the slaver, who had frozen in his chair like a bird hypnotized by a snake. “I believe that completes our transaction.”

  “Yes.” Casus blinked and swallowed with a
visible dip of his Adam’s apple. “Yes, fine. Your funds have transferred. Take him.”

  Rance didn’t even give the man a second look as he walked from the room. Suppressing a relieved grin, Zarifa followed him down the corridor past the slave cells and out into the space station beyond.

  Casus slumped as the outer door closed behind Mad Dog and his aristo bitch. Sweat slicked his underarms beneath his expensive velvet jacket, and his heart hammered like a volehare’s. For a moment there, he’d thought the fucker was going to tear him apart.

  But then, Casus had been having nightmares about wolf fangs sinking into his flesh since he’d acquired the hulking bastard three months ago. Doing favors for the regent could be lucrative, but sometimes it wasn’t exactly safe.

  He turned toward Aaren, the chief of his guards. “Did you get past Selan’s image shield?”

  The big man shook his head. “I couldn’t crack her system defenses. Hell, I couldn’t even get proper readings on her true height and weight, much less what her face looks like.”

  Casus felt his jaw drop. A former stellar guard, Aaren could make a slave’s nanos dance to his tune like no one else. “Why the seven hells not?”

  “I can’t be sure because of her shielding, but I suspect she’s got an Imperial Combat-grade nanosystem. Those bastards are designed to be unhackable.” He frowned. “But an aristo courier wouldn’t have a system like that. I’d expect her to top out around a Nova grade. And I’ve hacked those before.”

  “Think she’s military? Maybe some kind of special ops agent?” Though everyone had nanos—for communication and emergency healing if nothing else—it was illegal for civilians to possess the same systems the Empire’s warriors used to enhance their speed and strength.

  “Could be, but I’ve met elite forces soldiers before, and she’s a little too jumpy. The lady does ice bitch aristo better than anybody I’ve ever seen, but there’s just a hint of fear underneath. I think she’s running from somebody—and it’s not some corporate rival after whatever file she’s carrying.”

  Casus came to full alert, smelling the profit of his dreams. “You think she’s the fugitive?” The one whose name they dared not even mention.