Worlds Apart (Men of Orion Book 1) Read online

  Worlds Apart

  By Laylah Roberts

  Copyright

  Laylah Roberts

  Worlds Apart.

  © 2014, Laylah Roberts

  [email protected]

  laylahroberts.com

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

  This story contains explicit sex scenes and light BDSM. R18

  Editor: Khriste Close

  Cover Design by: Erin Dameron-Hill

  Chapter One

  “Here baby, eat this.”

  Kalia looked with disinterest at the piece of bread Talon held. Every day it was the same. Bread and water. Three times a day. Occasionally there might be a small piece of cheese or fruit, but those treats were few and far between.

  “Kalia,” Talon said sternly. “You need to eat.”

  She stared at him for a long moment. After weeks in this hellhole her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Concrete walls surrounded them. There were no windows to indicate whether it was night or day. The only door was made of iron. A small bit of light shone into the cell from the hallway through a hole in the door that their food got thrown through.

  “Why?” she said tiredly. “What’s the point?”

  “To feed your baby. To keep up your strength for when we escape. Or do you expect me to carry you out of here?”

  Poor Talon, he’d only been in here a week or so; he still had hope they’d free themselves. She had no idea how long she’d been here. The men who held them made their money from kidnapping people and selling them on the black market. She couldn’t understand why they hadn’t sold her yet.

  “My baby and I are better off dead,” she replied.

  There was just her and Talon in this cell. There had to be other prisoners somewhere, but she never saw or heard them. She was extremely grateful he was here; no doubt she’d already have gone mad without him to talk to.

  “Don’t say that. I will not allow that to happen. Garret is coming. We’ll be out of here soon.”

  “He’s coming for you, not me.” She prayed his lover didn’t let him down. He seemed so sure that Garret would rescue them. Kalia didn’t hold out the same hope.

  “And you’re coming with me. You’re stuck with me now, little girl. So do as you’re told and eat your lunch.”

  With a small shake of her head, she took the bread. “How do you know it’s lunch?”

  “I just know. Now eat up or I’ll be forced to get firm with you.”

  She snorted, but ate the bread. Talon seemed to think he was in charge. He’d adopted her, forcing her to eat, trying to keep her spirits up.

  “Pretty sure I’m safe, you can’t exactly reach me with those chains on.”

  “No, but one day I’ll be free and then you’ll be in trouble.”

  “You’re all talk,” she teased.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I can’t bear the idea of something happening to you, Kalia. I will do what I have to in order to protect you.”

  Reaching out, she moved as far as the chains would allow and grabbed his hand, squeezing it.

  “You mean that.”

  “I do. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Kalia. To either of us.”

  “Why? Why do you care?” she asked.

  “Because you’re a good person and you don’t deserve this.”

  “Nobody deserves this.”

  “No, you’ve got that right,” Talon said grimly.

  “I couldn’t cope being here without you, Talon. I would’ve gone mad.”

  “No you wouldn’t,” he told her fiercely. “Because you’re strong and you’re brave. You’d have found a way to survive, if not for yourself then for your baby.”

  She placed her free hand over her stomach. How did she even know if her baby was still alive? She’d had no prenatal care. Occasionally she thought she felt flutters, like butterflies in her stomach. But maybe that was just gas?

  She’d never been pregnant before, she hadn’t even had time to come to terms with her pregnancy before her father had given her to these men.

  “Even if we do get out of here, I have nowhere to go. I have no skills, no home, no one to turn to.”

  She couldn’t risk going back to Alura, her home planet. Her father ruled the planet. There was no way she could hide from him.

  “You have me. I’m going to look after you, Kalia. Trust me.”

  “Weirdly enough, I do. I thought I’d never trust anyone again. I don’t even know you and yet…”

  “And yet you know you can trust me, don’t you, baby girl? Because the Gods put us together for a reason. We were meant to meet.”

  “Are you sure Garret would like you talking to me like this?”

  “Garret isn’t an easy man,” Talon said carefully. “He doesn’t let people in. It took nearly a year before I could really get him to talk to me, even longer to get him into bed. Garret will claim that he doesn’t have friends, that he doesn’t care about anything but making money. But that’s just a defense mechanism. He cares; he just won’t admit it.”

  “Why?”

  “That’s his story to tell, darlin’. Just like how you ended up here is yours.”

  “I told you, my father gave me to these men.”

  “But that’s not the whole story, is it?” he said gently.

  No, but she wasn’t about to reveal it all. She couldn’t.

  “Garret and I might be together, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy female company.”

  “You cheat on each other?” She wouldn’t have believed it of Talon, he seemed so honorable.

  “No, never. But sometimes, together, we will pleasure a woman.”

  “Three of you? Together?” People really did that?

  Talon chuckled, but it wasn’t a derisive sound. “Yes, darlin’, it’s fairly common on some planets.”

  “Oh.” She felt like such a naïve child. She attempted to tug back her hand, but Talon held on tight.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed. I do enjoy shocking people on occasion. No matter what happens when we get out of here, you need to believe that I will take care of you.”

  She couldn’t imagine sleeping with two men, even if one of them was Talon. She couldn’t make out his features clearly, but if he looked anything like he sounded then he had to be gorgeous. Sometimes, just listening to his voice could heat her from the inside out. His voice was low, raspy and extremely sexy. But that didn’t mean she was going to sleep with him. That’s what had gotten her into this trouble in the first place.

  Anyway, there was no point thinking about something that would never come about. She was stuck in this cell. Forever.

  “Why do you think they haven’t sold you?” she asked. She hadn’t dared to voice that question before, worried she might jinx things and they’d come for him, take him away from her. She watched the door worriedly, certain the guards were going to storm in. Gradually, she let out a tense breath.

  “I think I’m supposed to be bait,” Talon told her.

  “Bait? For what?”

  “Garret. We had a run-in with these guys a while back; they were transporting some people they’d taken from Moon 11. We rescued them. Roxan, their leader, wasn’t very happy.”

  “And you think he’s after revenge?”

  “Yeah, I think so. Eat some more bread, darlin�
��,” Talon urged, handing her another chunk of bread.

  With a sigh, knowing he wouldn’t give up, she took the bread. “I’m so sick of bread.”

  Talon watched as Kalia nibbled on the bread half-heartedly. He was worried about her. She’d been in here much longer than he had and she was growing more and more depressed. Her appetite and health were suffering which was totally unacceptable.

  The minute he’d caught her delicious scent, Talon had known that Kalia was his mate, his third. It had been the same way with Garret. Of course it had taken almost a year to convince Garret to give him a chance, even longer before he’d agree to be Talon’s mate. He could only hope that it didn’t take that long to convince Kalia they were meant to be together.

  Having his unclaimed mate locked up with him made things ten times worse. The urge to protect her, to make her happy and safe was beating at him, demanding to be satisfied. He hated that he was helpless to look after her.

  This would be a very different mating than with Garret. Garret was a dominant man who needed to be in control. While Talon quite enjoyed being controlled in the bedroom, he refused to allow Garret to run his whole life. Talon had always known that they were meant to have a third. Someone to balance them out, to help Garret relax, to give Talon someone to fuss over.

  That someone was Kalia.

  He just hoped Garret would accept her.

  Talon shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position. That last beating had left him with bruised ribs. If he could shift into his wolf form he could quickly heal himself. Unfortunately, their captors knew what he was and the chains holding him were silver, meaning he couldn’t shift.

  He grimaced. He’d seen the look in their eyes when they were beating him. They enjoyed his pain. One day he was worried they’d go too far and kill him.

  Get here soon, Garret.

  “I know you’re sick of it, darlin’,” he said to her soothingly. “Once we get out of here we’ll dine on anything you want. Name it and I’ll get it for you.”

  “Kinshella,” she said, naming a popular sweet confection. “Oh, and chocolate chip cookies.”

  “Chocolate chip cookies?” he asked with amusement.

  “When my sisters and I were young one of our nannies used to make them for us. She taught us all how to make them. Have you had one?”

  “Can’t say as I have.”

  “I’ll make some for you, if we ever get out of here.”

  “When we get out of here,” he said firmly.

  “Okay, okay, when we get out of here.”

  ***

  “We’ll get him out, Garret.” Griz crouched down beside him outside the building their informant swore Talon was being held in. They had no way of knowing whether he was still inside.

  Whether he was still alive.

  It had been nearly ten days since Talon had been taken. Ten days Garret had spent with his emotions swinging between fear and fury.

  Garret nodded at Griz. He’d known the other man since they were children. The weapons expert had been part of his crew since their first mission. Which was to kill the banjeros who had slaughtered everyone in their village.

  He focused back on the building. His night vision contacts enabled him to see in the dark. There were guards patrolling, but they weren’t very vigilant. So far he’d seen one of them sneak off into the bushes and another one had just settled in for a nap.

  According to their informant, Talon was still breathing when he’d seen him. A bit battered and bruised, but still alive.

  He better fucking be.

  Garret’s hands clenched into fists. This was his fault. They’d taken Talon as revenge against him. This was why he didn’t let people close, because they could be used against him.

  He’d sworn not to get involved with anyone after losing his entire family, but Talon hadn’t been willing to take no for an answer. Talon pursued him relentlessly until Garret couldn’t deny his feelings for the man any longer.

  And now he’d gone and gotten himself fucking kidnapped! Yeah, Talon better be alive because Garret wanted to kill him for putting him through this.

  “Everyone’s in place, Cap,” Ace replied via the com in his ear.

  “Good, on my count we’ll go in.”

  Garret closed his eyes and took a deep breath, pushing all his fears and worries aside. Only when he was completely calm did he reopen his eyes.

  “Let’s go,” he said in a cold voice.

  Chapter Two

  Kalia heard a loud thump from the hallway. Oh Gods, please tell me they’re not coming back for Talon.

  Sometimes they’d come for him, dragging him away and laughing as she begged them not to take him. When they returned hours later, Talon was often unconscious, beaten and in pain. Not that he would ever let on how hurt he was.

  She whimpered as something thumped against the heavy iron door.

  “Talon,” she whispered. “Wake up.”

  Kalia scooted over as far as her chains around her ankle would let her and reached for him.

  “Wake up!” she said in a louder voice.

  “What is it?” He sat up, looking over at her. She envied the fact that he could sleep through most things. Kalia couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept, properly slept, even despite her exhaustion.

  “Something’s going on,” she told him.

  The door to their cell opened and a large man loomed in the doorway. Kalia bit back a scream of fright. The man stepped forward, towering over them. She couldn’t make out his features; the light from the hallway behind him lit up his silhouette.

  “Talon,” he said in a low, harsh voice.

  “Griz?” Talon asked. “Fuck, man, am I glad to see you.”

  The big man walked over to Talon and crouched down.

  “Silver shackles?” he asked.

  “Yep,” Talon replied.

  “Bastards,” the other man muttered. He pulled something out of his pocket. It lit up in his hand, the bright blue light illuminating the room. She watched as he easily cut through Talon’s shackles.

  Talon stood, swaying slightly. The other man reached out and grabbed him, holding him steady.

  “You okay?” Griz asked.

  “I am now that you guys are here. Where’s Garret?”

  “He’s upstairs, tying up some loose ends. Come on, we need to get out of here.”

  “Wait,” Talon said, looking over at her.

  Kalia felt tears drip down her face, certain he was about to say goodbye and she’d never see him again. She never truly expected him to follow through and take her with him.

  “We’re taking Kalia with us.”

  Griz grunted. “Siren’s freeing all the other prisoners. He’ll get to her soon. My mission is to get you out.”

  “So there are other prisoners?” Kalia asked.

  Griz turned to her and the hallway light illuminated one side of his face. She nearly gasped as she saw the jagged scar going across one cheek.

  Kalia gulped in fear.

  “There are some the next level up,” Griz said. “They were hiding you guys, took me a while to find the trap door so I could get down here. The slavers didn’t want anyone finding either of you.”

  There was a question in his voice she wasn’t about to answer. She wasn’t letting on who she was. There were a number of people who would use her because of who she was.

  “Griz, free Kalia; she’s coming with us,” Talon said firmly.

  “My orders are to get you out and keep you safe. Siren will get her.”

  “I’ll square it with Garret,” Talon replied. “But she’s coming with us. Now.”

  Griz growled under his breath and she couldn’t help but flinch away as he moved toward her. But all he did was slice through her shackles with the same blue light. She flinched as the light touched her skin, certain it was going to slice through her foot. But all she felt was a slight tingling against her skin and then she was free.

  “You’re my responsibility, sh
e’s yours,” Griz told Talon as he moved out of the cell.

  Kalia stood, swaying as spots danced in front of her eyes.

  “You okay, darlin’? Bit of a shock to the system, huh?”

  “You could say that,” she replied, taking a few deep breaths to clear her head. “He doesn’t seem very happy.”

  “Don’t worry about, Griz. He’s never happy.”

  Talon held his hand out to Kalia. She took it and he squeezed her hand firmly. She followed him out of the cell into the hallway. She moved cautiously, certain that at any moment she was going to hear the slavers yelling. Griz waited for them in the hallway, a large blaster held in his hand. The weapon looked high-powered and deadly.

  “There could still be some slavers wandering around so you need to be on your guard,” he said gruffly. “I tell you to do something, you do it.”

  Both of them nodded. No way would she do anything to make this large man angry.

  “Follow close behind me, darlin’,” Talon told her. Griz turned back to give him a sharp look but didn’t say anything. He was well over six and a half feet tall and thick with muscles. At just over five feet, Kalia felt like an absolute midget.

  Griz stepped forward, moving silently. Kalia kept hold of Talon’s hand as they followed him through the hallway. She’d been locked in that cell for weeks and she couldn’t help but feel terrified and overwhelmed.

  They reached some steep stairs.

  “I’ll go up first,” Griz said. “You wait for my signal before following.”

  Talon nodded as Griz climbed the stairs, slowing as he got to the top. Kalia held her breath, her stomach bubbling with trepidation, but as he moved through the trap door there were no sounds of a struggle.

  “Come up,” Griz called down through the opening.

  “You next, Kalia,” Talon told her.

  She shook her head. “You go, you’re more important.”

  Talon gave her a dark look. “No, I’m not. Get up there.” He slapped her ass firmly to get her moving.