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  No Way Around It

  Elayne S. Venton

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2007 Elayne S. Venton

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  ISBN: 978-1-59596-583-7

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  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  PO Box 1046

  Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Chrissie Henderson

  Cover Artist: Sahara Kelly

  This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  No Way Around It

  Elayne S. Venton

  Captured on an unexplored planet and sold at auction to the head of a biomedical lab, Vonna King imagines her days are numbered. Chilling rumors surround her new “owner.” Meeting him with her wrists tied over her head, in a room filled with various restraints and sadistic devices, doesn’t ease her mind.

  The male she comes to know in the lab is nothing like the person she expected him to be. She has a hard time reconciling the hard-edged dominant male she met on the first day with the compassionate man who works non-stop to find a cure for a degenerative disease. As much as she respects the scientist, Vonna is secretly drawn to his darker side. Dare she investigate her inexplicable desires to surrender to him?

  Yale doesn’t have time to tame a fiery Earthling into a submissive partner, even if the challenge stirs his blood. The premature deaths on Alishontakawa are accelerating at a frightening rate. Even though mating with Vonna King would boost his immune system, he isn’t looking for a short-term fix. He must find a cure, not only to save his dying civilization, but to save himself.

  Chapter One

  Vonna King slapped the forcefield surrounding her. “Let me out!” Waves of light rippled along the vertical surface, but the barrier held firm. A prickly tingle danced on her palms.

  She’d been a fool to trust the two alien males who’d rushed to her aid after her shuttle exploded. They’d appeared out of nowhere, amidst attacking carnivores, no less. Heroes, she’d thought. Ha!

  All the intel reports indicated this planet was unpopulated. Yet, here she was, imprisoned below a modern city that shouldn’t even exist, with rescuers who planned to sell her to the highest bidder. In the five years she’d been investigating unexplored planets, this was the first time she’d encountered hostile inhabitants. It was bound to happen, but she’d been unprepared. They weren’t supposed to be here!

  One of the marble-skinned captors walked around the circular platform where Vonna was trapped. He was a good foot shorter than the other male in the room. Vonna towered over him. Not that it did her any good.

  “She has a lot of muscle for a female,” he complained.

  Along with her laser pistol, communicator, med supplies, and the flight suit she’d worn, they’d taken her translator. Still, she understood what he said. The linguistic training required for Distinguished Scientist rank came in handy.

  “Yeah, but it’s her human cunt that will bring high bids,” the other humanoid snickered. A scar below his eye creased into his cheek, giving him a pinched look. He stood behind a control panel mounted on a metal podium, doing who knows what. “Plus she looks a lot like us with her dark skin, hair, and eyes. The bidders will go wild!”

  “Maybe we should’ve taken off all her clothes. No Alishon female covers her breasts.” His friend completed the circle around her and stood in front again, studying her closely.

  The one behind the podium looked her over too. “I like how the black cups push up her breasts and make them rounder. The thin strip she wears to cover her mound shows more than our loincloths.” A leer spread across his face. “The skimpy coverings tease the viewer, don’t you think?”

  Vonna would’ve turned her back on the jerk, but then he’d probably comment how the g-string outlined her big butt.

  His partner in crime grabbed the bulge in his loincloth. “She’s got my cock hard.”

  Vonna looked up, wondering how high the forcefield rose. She turned aside from the gawking males and studied the smooth ceiling, trying to figure out a way to escape. The threat of rape aside, she’d abandoned her unit members. As team leader, it was her responsibility to keep them safe, and she’d failed. Two had died. In the mayhem of the explosion, she’d lost the other two. Guilt punched her in the gut.

  Coiling the power in every inch of her six-foot frame, she jumped up, stretching an arm toward the upper rim of the forcefield where the invisible net might be thinner. Sturdy. Damn.

  The two males standing outside the forcefield smiled at her antics. “Do you think Yalenfrapqui will be high bidder again?”

  “Even if he isn’t, his participation in the auction will drive up the price,” Scarface said.

  The smaller male rubbed his hands together. “I’d like to get a look at Yale’s setup. I bet he keeps all the females he’s bought from us in a harem, trained to service on command.”

  His friend looked at him with scorn. “Don’t you think we would’ve heard about a harem? He’s probably using the females for outlawed experiments. The Medical Council denounced him for malpractice.”

  The shorter one agreed with vigorous nods. “I hear he likes to watch them thrash in pain. He has a room where he ties them up and beats them. Killed his wife that way when he went too far.”

  “That I might believe. Nobody who goes into the compound ever comes out again.”

  With a shiver of dread, Vonna knelt down and felt for a space between the forcefield and the platform floor. If she could interrupt the energy flow…

  “Hmm. Look at that ass poking up in the air. Too bad we can’t use her for a bit of sport before we start the auction.”

  Static electricity shocked her fingers and shot tremors up her arm. “Ouch!” She jerked her arm back and shook the tingle away. A snicker floated over to her. Aggravated and discouraged, she stood up and scowled at the two males. The horny little one grinned at her.

  “Better that we don’t touch her,” Scarface said, ignoring her. “Cylegg won’t bid if she’s been used, and he’s almost as rich as Yale.”

  “If Cylegg gets her, she’ll never have a flat belly again.”

  “He’s a smart trader.” He pressed something on the control panel and the room lighting dimmed to a soft pink. “Her human reproduction genes are worth a fortune.” A bright white light filled the forcefield tube.

  “So why don’t we keep her and charge a fee for mating with her?”

  A cold hard knot of dread twisted in Vonna’s gut. Which could possibly be worse… torture and possible death, or her body sold over and over as a fertilization chamber? She had to get out of here!

  Bracing her body for a major jolt, she lunged at the forcefield.

  “Ooof!” Shockwaves sizzled through her brain. Her trembling body lashed backward, and then all went dark.

  Vonna opened her eyes and blinked hard at the white ceiling far, far above her.

  Scarface’s calm voice filtered into her fuzzy brain. “The sooner we get off this lousy planet, the better. After this sale, we should have enough credits to fuel the old planet cruiser. Good riddance, Alishontakawa.”


  “I hope so.”

  God! She’d knocked herself out and they acted like nothing had happened.

  “Let’s get this show going. The bidding begins… now.” With a flourish, Scarface hit a button on the control panel.

  The gravity pull on the platform decreased. Vonna floated. With nothing to hold onto, she twisted and rolled in the forcefield tube. Lightheaded, she swam through the air to the top, hoping to lunge over the edge of the shield, but the invisible walls cut straight to the ceiling. Her stomach pitched. She needed to lie down. When her head bumped the top, she pushed off and sprung back down toward the platform, then slowly rose again.

  A flat screen on the wall flashed with symbols, the number of symbols increasing at a rapid pace. Vonna tucked her knees to her chest.

  “This is good,” the smaller humanoid said with excitement.

  The changing symbols began to slow. A rush of cold air spun Vonna upside down. She stifled her scream of surprise and instinctively groped with hands and feet for a secure hold. There wasn’t one.

  Inverted within the tube, the bun pinned at the back of her head loosened. Her nipples popped over the top of her demi-bra.

  The symbols flashed faster again.

  With her luck, they’d turn on the gravity feed again and she’d fall on her head. She rolled until she was right side up again. “Bastards!” she screamed, tugging on her bra until the tips of her breasts slipped back into place.

  The symbols slowly clicked to a halt. A buzzer sounded. The two males congratulated one another with hard jabs to the other’s chest.

  Vonna fell to the platform floor in a heap.

  * * *

  With her hands secured over her head in heavy cuffs and unable to see through the blindfold, Vonna kicked out blindly at her new captor. They’d used that damn stun gun on her again in order to transport her, so she had no idea where she’d ended up, or who her buyer had been.

  The male in the room with her chuckled. “Feisty, aren’t you?”

  He was behind her. She spun, swinging her leg in a roundhouse kick.

  The stranger grabbed her ankle and slapped a warm shackle around it. Panicked, Vonna struggled hard. Holding tight to the cable strung between her wrists, she whipped her free foot upward, hoping to connect with his head. Unfortunately, he caught that leg too, although her toes smashed into hard muscle somewhere on his upper body. His grunt gave her a modicum of satisfaction.

  The muscles in her arms strained while he held both her calves hip-high. Another warm band secured her second ankle. He let go of her legs and they dropped fast, dragged down by a heavy weight between them, a stiff bar that held her legs apart. The balls of her feet slapped the smooth, cold floor.

  “Oh!” With her arms pulled above her head and her spread legs shackled, she was unable to do more than stand on her tiptoes and ponder her fate. Courage failed her, so she relied on anger, aimed primarily at the lack of caution that landed her in this mess.

  “Hmm.” She felt his heat as he circled around her. “I wonder what Yale will think of you?”

  Yale? God help her, she’d been sold to the sadistic killer. She swallowed the dryness in her throat. “This is a violation of the peace treaty in this sector,” she shouted in his language.

  After a few beats of silence, he replied. “Your familiarity with the Alishon language is impressive. Where did you learn it?”

  “I have a good ear. Now release me!”

  “Your uniform says D.S. Vonna King. What rank is D.S.? I am not familiar with it.”

  Shit. Was he a military man? An interrogator?

  “It stands for Distinguished Scientist,” she grumbled.

  “Yes, they said you were a scientist. What is your specialty?”

  Vonna clamped her lips tight. She wasn’t going to give him any more information until he released her.

  “No matter,” he said calmly when she didn’t answer. “Yale uses everyone. I’m more interested in your human DNA.” He ran a finger over her lips.

  She jerked her face aside. Her whole body wobbled within the constraints of her bindings.

  “Settle down, D.S. King. I won’t hurt you.” He pulled the blindfold from her eyes. “That’s Yale’s fixation, not mine.”

  The change from total darkness to brilliance made her grimace. Large round mirrors dotted the walls, bouncing the brightness and her tethered image around the room. As her eyes adjusted to the light, her shock grew. In between the mirrors, tools of punishment -- whips, floggers, paddles, heavy coils of raw rope -- hung in a haphazard array.

  In one angled mirror, she spied a padded examination table with built-in restraints. The lower portion contained several shiny inset drawers. The possible contents within those metal drawers made her shiver.

  Above her head, erotic murals flowed in a vid stream across the ceiling. The scenes depicted females bound with rope or shackled to objects by thick, glowing laser rings like the ones locked around her wrists. She empathized with their strained expressions. Yet, their eyes glowed with sensual heat. They liked it, she realized, somewhat surprised.

  An image of a female trussed spread eagle to an X, slowly turning within a giant circle, made her cheeks burn. A vibrator was strapped between the female’s legs. Heavy clips hung from her taut nipples. Pink stripes crossed over her breasts and belly. The agonized pleasure on her face made Vonna clench her inner muscles. Could one enjoy torture like that?

  Undoubtedly.

  “Something appeals to you, D.S.?”

  Vonna shifted her gaze to the male standing next to her. “No.” Yet she felt hot all over.

  Tall and leanly muscular, he possessed the same light brown skin as the other males who’d captured her, but he was marked with his own unique marble pattern running down his arms and legs, and framing his face. His straight black hair hung past his shoulders, not a style that usually appealed to her, but somehow it looked right on him. A loincloth must be the national attire because he wore one too.

  His eyes, bright with curiosity, stared unerringly at her face. “I expected you to protest much more about being trussed up. Perhaps you like it?”

  A heated flush crept up her neck. The shackles molded to her wrists weren’t nearly as uncomfortable as she expected. With her arms pulled over her head, her breasts rose within the confines of her low-cut bra, showcasing her cleavage quite nicely. Not that she cared if she impressed her captor. She simply enjoyed showing off her best asset. Was that sick, or what?

  The bar holding her ankles apart allowed air to waft around her limbs, cooling her overheated skin. The draft floated through her thin panties into her cunt, teasing the inner lips. Her pussy ached to be filled with a buzzing dildo, preferably a soft model she could grip with her hungry inner muscles.

  “There’s nothing I can do about it, is there?” she said, disgusted by her untimely arousal. At another time, in another place, with the right person…

  He stood directly in front of her, leering at her with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “I wonder what will make your pulse race.” He gave her semi-naked body a lengthy appraisal. “The stinging sweep of a flogger?” A light brush of fingertips swept across her belly, making her shiver. “Clamps on your nipples?” He raised both hands toward her breasts.

  She clenched her jaw and twisted her chest away. The thought of him plucking her breasts out of her bra and pinching her nipples made her stomach churn. It wasn’t his touch she resented as much as his mocking attitude. “You’re repulsive,” she spat.

  He dropped his arms with a snicker. “Sensitive about those lush melons, eh? A nice tight pinch will make you come like you’ve never come before. I bet you’d like it, D.S. King.”

  Vonna glared at him. She’d tweaked her nipples lots of times before a climax. She liked the fluid burn shooting to her pussy. Tightening a clamp on her nipple was another story. In the privacy of her quarters, she’d tried it once. It hurt. Who in their right mind enjoyed physical abuse?

  Yet, she had s
everal friends who loved a good spanking. She’d often wondered what it would be like to have a firm swat on the butt. Knowing her, she’d turn around and smack the guy. Typically, she dominated her sexual encounters, riding her partner in a fast frenzy. Wham, bam, thank you, sir. Now get out of my quarters.

  Whenever she gave the male the upper hand, her partner usually demanded all the pleasure for himself. Where was the fun in that?

  “What is happening here?” a deep voice boomed.

  Vonna spun in the direction of the newcomer stomping toward them. Christ, she hadn’t heard him enter the room. How could she not have? He was one big solid male. Arm muscles bulged out the sleeves of the lab coat he wore. The form-fitting powder- blue shirt beneath the coat clung to his flat belly and matching pants hugged his powerful thighs. He wore lab booties on his big feet.

  And his face… oh my. Classic male beauty. A strong jaw line bracketed wide, sensual lips. His nose flared at her perusal and his eyes flashed, but he said nothing. He stopped a few feet away, his legs spread in a wide stance, fists balled at his sides, and he glared at the male who’d strung her up. Dark eyelashes flicked over eyes more hazel-green than brown.

  Anger simmered around him like a hot wave, yet she didn’t feel threatened. Of course, his attention wasn’t focused on her right now.

  Unlike the other males she’d seen so far, his skin color was a light tan and the markings on his face were less noticeable. He wore his dark hair short in a spiky, casual mess, revealing ears less pointed than the other males’ ears. He looked almost human -- like an aggressive, extremely sexy male Earthling.

  Now here was a male worth hanging in chains for. Would you like to examine me, doctor?

  Her captor, the recipient of the newcomer’s lethal stare, smiled like a boy caught playing with a starship’s controls -- guilty and unrepentant. “I’ve brought back your latest acquisition, as you requested, Yale.”

  The heat flowing through her veins like lava instantly froze. She gawked at Yale, her heart in her throat. What those males had said about him couldn’t be true. A sadistic killer should be an ugly, pockmarked, gaunt beast, not a gorgeous, come-take-me, fantasy male.