Naked Read Online Free Page A

families.”
    “Will I be sent back?”
    He smiled, and it was a slow quirk of his lips. “You have no family there.”
    “No, but I have friends, I work for the Xerat government. They would ransom me, I think.” She wasn’t sure, but she thought they might.
    “The Xerat have laws against dealing with us. They will not offer funds for anyone who does not have family.”
    Cierra blinked. “You have done this before?”
    “Every twenty years we take women from Xerat and ransom them back. The funds gained buy enough supplies to support our people for two years, and then, we go out again to another world and do the same. Not all of them pay as well as the Xerat, but it beats injuring folk. Ransom is far easier.”
    She gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I am going to beg to differ on that subject.”
    He shrugged and moved to the com unit, speaking quietly to someone on the other end. They had their discussion while she looked at her slightly more spacious prison. There had to be something she could do to get back to Xerat.
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    When Captain Ahket finished his call, she cleared her throat.
    “Send a ransom demand to the Nyal Imperium, and they will send one to the Alliance. I am sure you can get something for me.”
    He cocked his head and smiled. “You are seriously telling me to contact the law in order to get a ransom? This is between us and Xerat. You have no place in it.”
    She blinked, and the flickering hope she had been nurturing died. “I am sure that I could arrange something. Hell, can I pay my own ransom?”
    “You have three hundred thousand credits?”
    She blinked. That was more than she would make in five years. “Um, no. I have twenty thousand credits.”
    He raised his brows. “That much?”
    She shrugged. “I know it isn’t enough, but could it at least buy me a call?”
    He quirked his lips. “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “You are not authorized to communicate with the government of Xerat.”
    She was getting the feeling that he was stonewalling, but she had no options.
    He gave her a focused look through his dark lashes. “I will get you some food and water. Remain here for your own safety.”
    Cierra nodded quietly, and the moment he left her, she skidded over to the com unit and followed the brightly lit up pathways on the keyboard until she unlocked the com, and she was surprised to see a very shocked face looking at her. It was an older man of the same species as Ahket.
    “Oops.”
    She raised her hand to kill the call, but the man laughed. “You are the one that Captain Ahket brought onboard.”
    She nodded.
    “I am General Sapya. What can I do for you?”
    “I want to go back to Xerat.”
    “We don’t give up women that are not ransomed back. We keep them and they join our colony.” He was frank.
    “Well, contact the government of Xerat and ask if they will ransom back Contract Proofer Cierra McAffee of Terra. I am on permanent contract to them. They are as close to family as I can get out here.”
    His ears registered what she said; she could see a change in his expression. “I will look into it. You are in no danger. Captain Ahket will keep you well.”
    She had one chance, so she asked the question that had been zipping through her thoughts. “It is obvious I am not Xerat. Why did he take me?”
    The general smiled. “He said you glowed with a colour of something he had to take with him. Good afternoon. I will look into your queries.”
    The screen went dark and when she tried an alternate code, the screen was locked.
    She sighed and went to the lav, staring at herself in the mirror by rising on her toes. This entire ship was meant for tall men, not tall women. Standing barefoot, she could only see her forehead.
    Grimacing, she used the facilities, took a solar shower and bemoaned the loss of her luxurious bathing room on Xerat.
    She looked through the wardrobe and found that he hadn’t been lying. This was definitely a journey with a purpose to leave and