Lifting her chin defiantly, she decided she didn’t care. Captain Keer would doubtless bring her up on charges once they got off this hell hole. She might even be assigned to the brig for the rest of their mission. But she was damned if she would hang her head in shame for him or anyone. She might have been foolish to go after V alone but at least she had shown some initiative and that was more than could be said for the other Intergal drones who followed their tall captain blindly.
So to hell with Captain Keer and all the idiots standing around eyeing her naked body. Tabitha stared back at them, daring them to say anything. V might have stripped her of her clothing but she still had her pride and it would carry her through this sticky situation until they reached the ship.
Keer’s first instinct was to cover her with his cloak and hide her nakedness and shame as they passed through the crowds. He had a strangely proprietary feeling toward his wayward sergeant—as though the bill of sale he held in his hand was for real instead of an elaborate prop in this dance of deception they were engaged in. She was his now, bought and paid for and he didn’t want anyone else to see her beautiful body.
But a real slave owner would never have taken the trouble to cover his slave’s nakedness. She was property—no more important than an animal he might have purchased—and he had to treat her accordingly so no one suspected what was really going on. It was bad enough that Tabitha held her head high and refused to cower in fear or embarrassment at the many looks she drew as they made their way through the crowd. Keer tried to banish the irritation that was building inside him. He just hoped the other merchants and buyers would assume she was an exceptionally intractable slave and think nothing of her defiant attitude. If someone suspected otherwise, they were going to be in trouble.
As though reading his thoughts, several of the purple robed merchants at the edge of the auction crowd drew together, whispering and eyeing Keer and his new acquisition suspiciously as they passed. Tabitha glared back at them, as though daring them to think whatever they wanted. Keer feel his irritation flare into anger. That was it—she’d left without orders, gotten herself captured and endangered the mission, and now, as he was attempting to rescue her, she was going to get them killed before they got back to the ship.
His anger began to rise—a dangerous anger he kept a chokehold on at all times. In his time as an Intergal captain he had been through altercations that would have had other men in a murderous rage and he had not so much as raised an eyebrow. But now he was itching to deliver some much needed punishment to his blonde sergeant.
“Slave, come here!” He yanked on the leash attached to her collar and she stumbled forward, giving him an angry look.
“Yes, Master,” she spat sarcastically. “How may I serve you?”
Seeing her defiance, the merchants muttered angrily and one of them began to speak discreetly into a wrist communicator. Keer felt another surge of fury. In another moment the market guards would be summoned and they would both be up on the auction block. He had taken a calculated risk coming to get Tabitha on his own—betting his own life and freedom that he could get her out without backup. If he didn’t do something soon it was a bet he was about to lose.
Up ahead was a whipping post—two sturdy wooden poles with a long crosspiece between them—used to punish thieves, of which there were many in the crowded, dusty marketplace. It was empty at the moment but several sets of manacles hung from its well-worn crosspiece—a convenient place to chain those who needed punishment. And Sergeant Tabitha Bryce certainly needed some now.
Without a word, Keer pulled her forward, veering from his original path and heading for the whipping post. She saw their new destination and her eyes widened, first in surprise and then in anger.
“Hey!” she protested as Keer bound her slender wrists above her head to the crosspiece. “What the hell are you doing?”
Keer frowned at her grimly. “Punishing you, slave. Your defiance has no place here.”
“What? No!” She struggled against the manacles. They were a bit too high for her and she was forced to stand on tiptoes, the long, slender lines of her body crisscrossed by the strange Drusinian love rope pulled taut. Keer felt his cock rise again as he reached beneath the voluminous purple robes and unbuckled his thick black leather belt. It would serve her right if he fucked her here in public, to prove that he owned her beyond the shadow of a doubt, but he wasn’t about to do something like that in front of all the avidly watching eyes. Instead he would teach her some proper respect before they returned to the Pride of Justice. Maybe she would think twice about sneaking off the ship next time to try to fulfill a mission by herself.