Possessing Providence [Warriors Of Kelon Book 6] (3 page)

“You’re in no position to make demands. We do what we want and what need to do. We will not be letting anyone go, especially you.”

Oh crap, what the hell am I going to do now? Make a run for it?
A second man wandered through the door. He was slightly taller and older.
Light brown
hair, peppered with grey,
was cut short—military style
. He blocked her only way out.

“A guest, Forrester?” The amusement rang clear in the newcomer’s tone.

The one named Forrester didn’t take his eyes from her. “It seems so, Martin. A rather nosey one at that. Meet the electrician we hired to fix our blackout, Providence Velour.”

“Uh, look guys, I’ll just head back upstairs.” She inched towards the door, but the grey-haired man moved a step right, blocking her path.

“You’re not going anywhere, Miss Velour. If word ever got out we have aliens in our care, the repercussions wouldn’t be ones I’d care for.”

“We can have Frankie dispose of her and make it look like an accident. An electrical accident. After all, working with electricity is very dangerous.” Forrester nodded at his co-worker.

The cold look in the men’s eyes made her head swim and she started to panic. Her hands and her whole body shook as she folded her arms defensively over her chest
. Crap, they are going to kill me.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, pulling her backwards, her back hitting the bars of the Kelon’s cell.

A strangled scream caught in her throat. She was pinned against the bars. She felt the heat of the Kelon’s body with only a few bars separating them. She still faced Forrester and Martin, unable to move, as one arm came out to wrap around her waist, in a firm grip.
She was aware of a
tickle of hot breath over the top of her head and felt the rumble from his chest as he let out a growly sound. She recognized the single word the Kelon spoke. “Mine.”

Both men in the white coats stilled, and glanced at each other; a sinister smile spread across Forrester’s face.

“Well, we did say we needed to get him a girlfriend, and it would be a waste to kill her.”

“Protective instincts, do you think? From reports, this species prize their women as there are so few.”

“I don’t care what it is, as long as we get results. I’ll go call the boys in. We’ll strip her before putting her in there with him. Get rid of her gadgets.”

“Mine.” The Kelon rumbled again. “You will not hurt her.”

“We won’t hurt your new little girlfriend. Let her go and we can do this properly.”

“No.”

Providence’s mind blanked as she listened, everything sounding like it came from a distance.

“Co-operate and she won’t get hurt. All we want to do is check her for devices, and then she’s all yours.”

Her brain clicked back into gear as she realized what they were implying. “What? No, you can’t!” She struggled against the Kelon’s grip, but he held her firm and grunted. “Be still.” The growl by her ear sent a chill over her body.
Good grief
. Despite herself, she stopped struggling.

God, her stomach churned; if not for the firm grip of the alien she would have swayed dangerously on her feet.
What the hell is happening? Did they just give me to the big Kelon?

“This is against the law. You can’t keep people or aliens against their will. The government will find out!”

Several more men filed into the room, and she recognized some of the guards from around the factory, only now, they held semi-automatic rifles.

“The government turns a blind eye to whatever brings them profit. I’m going to give you a choice, Providence. You can either strip down right here, or I can let the boys strip you. Trust me when I say they won’t be gentle.”

Some of the men behind the Martin and Forrester chuckled.

The arm round her waist eased its grip and pulled away. The Kelon turned her around, forcing her to tilt her head back. Her whole body trembled as she met his hard, dark gaze. “Obey, no hurt.”

The question right now was who did she trust more? The Kelon trying to help her or the men holding him captive? There was only one choice.

Chapter 3

Zelron could feel her trembling. She is such a small, helpless little female. At first, he was confused by her presence and her odd, multi-coloured hair. Females never came down to the cells, but it was clear she was not part of the establishment, or someone who tormented him.

She was strangely dressed, with a belt of tools and other human gadgets buckled around her lush waist. To Zelron, she appeared to be some kind of worker. He’d learned little about the humans he was sent to defend, and he’d never come across a human female close up. He did not realise how alluring this female was, with her bare arms and legs. His gaze lowered to her chest, where her ample cleavage displayed her to full advantage.

Zelron had no idea human males made their females work. He always assumed they valued their females as every other race did.

Her wide, blue eyes held him captive; they dominated her pretty, oval face. Full soft-looking pink lips parted as she stared at him in obvious shock. Her every little expression vividly animated, she pressed her lips together and her eyes narrowed in clear anger.

For a brief moment, hope speared through him. All he needed was one chance to be drug-free and the doors unlocked. The rest he could
handle—even
with the guards and their weapons. His hand-to-hand combat skills were the envy of many back on Kelon.

He frowned, concern settling uncomfortably in his chest. Why did such an alluring, little female come down to a dangerous place, unprotected? Who in their right mind would leave a precious thing like her unguarded? Why did would they make her do laborious tasks, outside the protection of the home?

Then, when the two doctors walked in, Zelron gripped the bars. A new desire raced to the surface, the desire to protect her. His heartbeat sped up at the danger she now faced; his tormenters threatening to kill her for discovering their secret.

With her so near the bars of his cell, he did the first thing he thought of. He reached through the thick bars and grabbed her, yanking her back into the circle of his arms and staking a claim he really had no right to.

The softness of her skin and the sweet floral scent of her flesh hardened his body. He had never reacted physically to a female before. He needed to get her closer and place her behind him
—
not in front. It was not ideal, but it was all he could do.

“Obey them; I will not let them harm you.”

Her fingers touched his arm and he felt her draw in a deep breath.

“I’ve got nothing but my tool belt.” Her tone was soft and musical, but laced with fear and anger. She unbuckled the belt, turned, and then tossed it. It landed with a heavy clinking onto the solid floor. “Nothing else I swear. I’m not stripping.”

“Unless you want to meet with an unfortunate accident, lose everything but your underwear. We’ll allow you some modesty, this time.”

She twisted her head to glance back at Zelron. He met her worried gaze. Not knowing what to say, he nodded his reassurance and loosened his hold, but kept her within arm’s reach.

With another deep breath, she raised her trembling hands and unbuttoned the short-sleeved shirt, sliding it off her shoulders, revealing creamy pale skin.

She froze and Zelron realised he was growling in pure desire.

I must bring myself under control, I am a trained warrior. I will behave as such.
He drew in a deep breath, but nothing would calm the pounding of his heart as she continued, sliding down the pants covering her legs. She stepped out of them and kicked them away. Lastly, she toed off her thick boots and peeled away the socks.

A pinkness crept over her skin, but her chin rose and she glared back at their captors. “Bunch of assholes. See, nothing! Happy now?”

Zelron admired the human’s defiant spark, but it would do her little good.

Forrester met Zelron’s gaze. “Alright, you know the drill beast. Do it now, and don’t move while we let her in.”

Zelron did not want to take his eyes from her, but obeyed for the sake of the trembling, little female. He walked to the wall, raised his hands behind his head and waited.

It took every ounce of Zelron’s will power not to move. His breathing became more rapid with the urge to fight, but he held his control; the doors unlocked and swung open on heavy bars.

“Hey! You overgrown apes!” The sound of shuffling, and then of the door slamming and the locks being shoved back into place.

He turned around, but stayed by the wall, struggling to draw in slow, measured breaths, letting his gaze sweep over the near-naked female. The abundance of the female’s rounded curves and soft-looking skin almost pushed him beyond his control.

Zelron swallowed hard. Her pretty, different-coloured hair ran down the provocative slope of her shoulder blades in a braid. She gripped the bars and he knew she stared out at their audience. Zelron wanted nothing more than to rip the smirks from their faces.

“This has been a most fortunate afternoon for us. Not so for you, Miss Velour. I hear the Kelon mating practices are rough. No doubt you’re in for a long, hard night.”

“You won’t get away with this!” She rattled the bars. “People will realise, when I don’t turn up for appointments, they will know something’s wrong and they’ll come looking!”

“Oh, we’ll make sure no one notices you’re missing—it’s what we do best. Try to enjoy your evening, Providence. We’ll go easy on you for the rest of the day; tomorrow, the real fun will begin and you had better be ready.”

“Just what the heck do you expect me to do? I’m not an alien; you can’t use me as a test subject, it’s inhumane!”

“You will be assisting us in our work. As your new alien friend takes a shine to you, it will make life easier. For us anyway. If you don’t co-operate, well, there will be dire consequences. Understood?” Forrester stepped closer to Providence. Zelron growled low in warning, making the grey-haired human step back again.

“There is no law down here. You belong to us and we will do whatever we want to them and to you. Behave or we can and will make your life a living hell.”

His last words dripped with deadly venom. Zelron knew from experience they would carry through with any threats.

They were laughing as they turned and walked out of the cell area.

“I’m going to kill them when I get my hands on those bastards!”

Zelron cleared his throat and Providence stiffened. Slowly, she turned around, her arms crossing over her chest, her eyes wide as she stared up at him.

“You…you’re not going to rape me are you?”

He fought the urge to roll his eyes and shook his head instead. “Protect, no hurt. You are safe.” He moved to the single bunk and ripped off the blanket they provided, holding it out. The more flesh she covered, the safer she was from him.

She did not need to know Kelon males only had sexual relations with the female they intended to claim. Until now, thoughts of claiming a female were the furthest thing from his mind, but now, with the temptation before him…

No, I cannot, she is human and finds me repulsive, as every Kelon female has.

“Thank you.” Her shoulders seemed to relax and she stepped forward, taking the offered blanket. As he watched her lift her arms, his gaze swept over her white garments covering her sex and her full and alluring breasts. She pulled the blanket around her shoulders, covering herself from neck to toe.

“I’m really sorry about this. I mean, it wasn’t meant to happen. I…I am in a lot of trouble aren’t I?”

Zelron gestured towards the bunk and moved away, as far as he could to allow her space. She moved over and sat down. “I heard on the news Kelons are friendly. I’m sorry for what they did to you.”

He cocked his head and crouched down so as not to tower above her, but also to keep himself in check, not crossing the small distance between them to touch her. He’d spent countless hours remembering and teaching himself to speak human words. Now, it was time to put his learning into practice. It was a struggle as their languages were so different, but it also kept him from going completely insane.

“Do not be sorry, you are not to blame. Human males are to blame. Why…you come down here?”

She sat down, her white legs poking out from the blanket. He forced his gaze up to her face.

“I’m an electrician, ah, um, worker. I fix broken power circuits, install switches, stuff like that—” She paused and he nodded his understanding of her words, but not the reasons why.

“They make you do this work?”

“Well, yes. They offered me a lot of money to come here.”

He growled and fought to keep the simmering rage under control.
How dare they use a female like this?

Her eyes widened and he saw the fear in them and, he did not want her to be afraid.

“Not good, they make you work, you are female. Females should be protected and at home. Do they make many females work?”

She blinked at him, her fear melting into confusion, then wonder. So many expressions he read on her face. “Um, yes, but I think you misunderstand. I don’t know what it’s like on your planet, but here on Earth, we females like to hold down jobs; we like to work and earn money. It is our choice.”