Kaitlyn O'Connor Read Online Free PDF Page A

discovery that they were nearly as naked as she was shattered the comforting cocoon of shock almost as instantaneously as it descended over her. Beyond the leather-looking thing that cupped their genitals and looked like something a male stripper might wear, they were completely exposed—their feet, legs, torso and massive arms „blindingly ‟ bare. In a state of shock that made it almost impossible to assimilate what she was staring at, she gaped without a great deal of comprehension at the massive musculature of the beings, vaguely noting numerous scars at every stage from pale and knotted with age to fresh and angry red against their yellowish skin. They were tattooed, she thought, but the darkened designs on their massive chests didn ‟ t look like anything nature would ‟ ve created.
    “Take female and put in harem. I go back and look for another one or two, I tink. You come back din and guard.” He frowned thoughtfully. “No. You send Pin, Uster, Balen, and Mateo.
    Gods damned pirates try rob me udderwise.”
    That comment pierced her shock and Loren turned to stare at the creature in disbelief as he turned and abandoned her. Harem? Her belly knotted with a mixture of fear and revulsion, but she struggled to blank her mind to the implications. He couldn ‟ t possibly think he could….
    A hand settled on her arm that was big enough it engulfed most of her upper arm. She stared at the hand for a long, blank moment, and then looked up at the owner of the hand, discovering with a fresh jolt of surprise that, despite his size and his coloring, he looked human in the face.
    His features were sharp and his bone structure angular, but it was a surprisingly handsome face for all that.
    It took her several moments to realize that he was studying her with an equal intensity.
    “Come.”
    Loren gulped, struggling to call to mind some kind argument to escape the fate that apparently awaited her. “I ‟ m not supposed to be here,” she said in a squeaky voice.
    His gaze flickered over her face. She thought she saw a flicker of pity, but she saw something else, as well—interest, sexual interest and it made her mouth go dry and her knees go weak. “You slave as we are. You no choose. Must,” he said in a deep voice that matched the massive scale of the man and sent a shiver down her spine.
    She was too awed and too unnerved to try again. She didn ‟ t try to struggle when he tugged at her arm to get her going. The other one fell into step on her other side and she glanced up at his face finally and discovered that he was looking down at her with interest, as well. Surprise went through her to discover that he was more handsome than the first…actually, handsome in a different way. The first was attractive in a purely male way—his face and features appealing in their strength. The second was still manly, but more „pretty ‟ . As absurd as it seemed to think it, even to her, the thought crossed her mind that he was „classically ‟ handsome.
    If not for the size of them, and the color of their skin…and the strange little nubs that ran up their arms and the columns of their necks…and the thin, feathery membranes at wrist, elbow and calf that looked like fins—they might almost have passed for humans. They had hair—long and inky black and worn gathered in a tight „pony tail ‟ that fell from the crown of their heads all the way to their shoulder blades—but it looked like her own hair.
    Actually, their eyes weren ‟ t like human eyes either except in shape.
    “Pretty little ting. Your people all little like you?” the second one asked curiously.
    She blinked at him in surprise, finding once again that she had to „interpret ‟ , for although the words sounded like English in her ears, his accent was thick and the sentence structure choppy.
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    Her face heated when she realized he ‟ d said she was pretty and then whitened as it dawned on her that he was…flirting. At least, she thought he was,