Sophia

SOPHIA

I couldn't help but be impressed with how easily Makar tore through the Voleks.

Was I slightly terrified? Yes. But it was also weirdly a turn-on to see an alien go almost completely berserk after hunting me down.

In the back of my mind, I knew that, in reality, Makar was only there because he was pissed that a human tried to escape from her contract.

But with Makar going to all this trouble of tracking me down and then going so far as to hack these Voleks apart… maybe that scarf I took was far more valuable than I realized.

A sinking pit clenched inside of my stomach.

What would he do to me once he was done with the Voleks?

I didn't have to wait long for the answer. Just as the thought left my mind and I finally lowered my arms from where I had them covering my face, I saw the damage and what was left of the band of jerks who tried to kidnap me.

A quietness descended over us briefly, only broken up by the sound of Makar's heavy breathing and my pounding heartbeat. Blood and entrails were all over the ground, pieces of dead bodies sliced and diced in ways that made my stomach turn.

I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep from gagging and instead, focused on the Vinduthi man that slowly turned toward me. Fuck, even with blood splattered across his shirt, he was gorgeous.

What in the cosmos was I going to do to defend myself against a merciless killer like him?

Backing up further until my back was pressed against the hard wall behind me, I breathed in slowly and let my arm drop in order to give him what was hopefully an innocent smile.

"Fancy… seeing you here."

His brows pulled down over his eyes as he stared at me for a long moment. Those dark eyes of his bored into me, so intense, I almost fainted. It felt like he somehow looked into my soul the longer he stared me down, making me antsy.

Finally, he said, "Let's go."

And with that, he turned around and headed back down the docking bay.

I stared at him, disbelief clouding my emotions, chasing away the fear that lingered after that intense gaze focused on me for a little longer than I cared to admit liking. I did my best to keep from stepping on any entrails while hurrying after him.

"That's it? You're not going to yell at me or anything?"

He snorted, not bothering to look over his shoulder at me to see if I followed or not. "Why would I?"

What ? My thoughts banged around inside my head. None of that makes any sense.

"You're not going to punish me or anything?"

He stopped abruptly and turned around, almost making me collide right into him as he did so. "Would you like me to punish you, Sophia? And here I thought you were such a simple creature."

The insult wasn't lost on me, nor was the implication, though I ignored both anyway.

Leaning back to get a good look at him, my hands fisted loosely at my sides while I tried to slow my racing heartbeat that I was sure he heard even from where he stood. It was obvious how much his words affected me, even if he didn't know exactly why.

Did I have a little bit of a masochistic streak to me? Thinking back to how I responded to his orders, I'd have to say yes.

But that also didn't mean I liked being treated poorly.

Even with Makar's aggravating tone, I wanted to let my knee-jerk reaction to be an all-out ‘ yes '. It wasn't that I particularly wanted to be punished for stealing from him, but that same dark look in his eyes was back and the more I stared into them, the more I realized just what kind of promise was being woven in an unspoken manner.

Punishment from a Vinduthi could be quite interesting.

I wondered what his hand would feel like slapping against my ass cheek, leaving a mark bright and visible that I would feel even hours after the touch left me.

Inwardly, I wanted to groan at myself.

One would think that I would've gotten all of this out of my system from our little tryst in the kitchen, but apparently, it only reawakened something inside of me that was now dying of thirst, and Makar was the only one that could quench it for me.

Celestia, help me.

"Uh…" was all that came out in the end.

Makar's eyes rolled over me slowly, taking in my rather rapid breathing and trailing up to where my flushed face was. His lips quirked up slightly, a haughty look on his face making me more nervous than anything else.

He was hard to read, a contradiction from his abnormally easy-going temperament that I was used to from him. But then again, I hardly knew him at all, so how safe was it to say that I knew him well enough to know what his personality was like on a day-to-day basis?

Ugh, all of this is making my head hurt.

"If you would like me to punish you, Sophia," he stepped up closer to me, his hand reaching out to trace along my jawline, "you only need to ask."

Oh fuck.

Pulling away from him, I smacked his hand away from me, knowing it was obviously a bad idea seeing how he just gutted four men while barely breaking a sweat. He chuckled softly at me, though, pausing to straighten the shawl I managed to keep on me, before turning around and heading back to where we'd come from.

My head was actually spinning.

Without any more arguing, I followed Makar.

He didn't speak as he flagged down a flitter, but carefully helped me inside.

"Makar…"

"Not here." He punched in the directions and sat back in the seat, eyes closed.

I let my mind drift as the station lights went by.

I was nearly sold off the station. This was more than having my contract sold.

There were rumors all through the girls I knew about slave rings who specialized in human females, about women being taken off station in cages, sold in auction, and just disappearing.

That had nearly been me.

In a daze, I followed Makar out of the flitter again, only half aware of our surroundings as we moved through the building.

And then we were back in his room, the door sliding shut behind me, and it was time to pay attention again.

"Um," I mumbled, turning around to face Makar.

He was already up in my space before I had time to process it, grabbing onto my arm and pulling me close enough for my chest to brush against his.

"Don't ever do that again."

I blinked at him, confused.

"Do you hear me?" He looked down at me, a frown on his face.

"You mean… steal from you?"

He actually rolled his eyes. "No, Sophia. You want the scarf? I'll buy you twenty. Just don't go outside the compound without me." He ran his thumb over my lower lip. "You're too beautiful. Someone's going to try to snatch you away."

I huffed. "I was handling it."

"You weren't. You're lucky I came in time."

I really was, but I wasn't about to let him get his ego stroked. "Look, I appreciate you coming after me, but I'm leaving. I'm a free woman."

"Oh really?" At that, he let go of my arm in order to cup my face in a firm grip. "Are you forgetting that I own your contract?"

The words came out as a purr, rolling over me and causing me to shiver. Stars… did he have to say it in such a sexy tone? It wasn't fair for a man to be this attractive while also kind of threatening me.

Maybe it was me who was the messed up one.

"You can get rid of my contract?" I offered.

He chuckled, pushing me back with a thrust of his hips into mine until I found myself pressed against the wall next to the door. "Absolutely not."

I shivered again.

It was so close to possession that I was turned on from it. Never in my life did I ever think I'd get off to a man telling me he owned me, yet there I was, wanting to drop to my knees in front of him.

What in the seven galaxies was happening to me?

This Vinduthi messed up my head.

"Sophia," he narrowed his eyes, "you are never pulling a stunt like that again. Do you understand me?"

Before I knew it, I nodded along with his words, agreeing to them.

He surprised me by smirking and then saying, "Good girl."

That drew a surprisingly loud moan out of me.

Oh fuck…

Right as I opened my mouth to defend myself, Makar swooped down and kissed me.