He grinned at Rabb again, unable to resist taunting him. Rabb stiffened his spine and turned on his heel, casting one last remark over his shoulder.“I’ll send a servant with food later. You should eat well, Tarr Bonnet,and gather your strength. You’ll need it.”

“Asshole,” Tarr muttered as he sank down on the front step of the tiny shack. The lingering effects of the sleeping dart, along with the warm sunshine streaming down on him began to relax him enough that he put his head back to rest it on the doorframe. He had a few hours left before the evening meal, he figured, so he might as well try to get a little rest. Larsson and his men were safe enough for now, though he had to figure a way out of this for all of them.

He was looking forward to seeing Larsson again in a few hours, and hopeful that he’d be awake, or else he’d demand one of their so-called physicians to check him out. Of course, when he did wake up to find himself in a cage with Tarr’s shirt wrapped around him, Tarr knew there’d be hell to pay. Well, they hadn’t had a good argument in a few hours now. It was well past due.

Chapter Five

Tarr awoke later to a feeling of unease. He was hot and sweaty and felt a little disoriented. He could tell from the light and the length of the shadows that it was late afternoon or early evening, just before their sun set. He saw what looked like a public well near the little center of the settlement and walked over to it. A large dipper was hanging from the structure built over the top of the well, so he drew a small bucket to wash his face and took a dipperful to drink. The water had a sweetish aftertaste but it refreshed him enough that he felt a little stronger.

He wandered back to sit down and wait for the servant who would bring the food for the evening meal. Determined to see Larsson and his men tonight, no matter what, he waited impatiently for the servant to arrive. Jaxper had said it was the little human love slave that belonged to Julan Seneca’s second son.

Tarr was having a hard time getting Jaxper out of his mind. His words when he was talking about his captivity kept coming back to haunt Tarr.’Course it don’t matter what I prefer, I guess. Not anymore, anyway.

For several years, Tarr had traded and transported love slaves to the farthest reaches of the galaxies. He had never before given them much thought, other than their value and what he could get for them. He hated the idea now, but they had been more or less livestock to him.

Like all Tygerians, he had a contempt for other races. Not so much for the ones he lived and worked alongside, of course. They were always somehow different in his mind. He considered them to be exceptions, and he was only just realizing what an incredibly selfish bastard he was. These people here on this little moon had brought that message home loud and clear.

It was little wonder the Alliance had such a large bounty on his head. His father’s nobyo, the man who reared Tarr and his brother Taz, was a handsome, intelligent human with soft, hazel eyes, who’d been captured during a battle with the Alliance. Tarr had loved the man probably more than anyone else during his childhood, and when he passed away when Tarr and Taz were teenagers, they’d both been heartbroken. Yet Tarr had no idea what his life had been like before he came to live with their father. Was he married back on his home planet? Did he have other children? With a feeling of horror at their egotism and selfishness, Tarr realized he had no idea. He sent up a sudden, fervent prayer to his gods that the man had found some portion of happiness with his family on Tygeria.

Dashing away the hot tears that had sprung to his eyes, he sat down hard on the step of his little shack, overwhelmed at the idea of all the nobyos on his massive home planet who were there unwillingly, having been captured or even in some cases, kidnapped away from their homes. He, himself, had brought Kyle Balenescu there for his brother with absolutely no qualms at all. It was only because of the sheerest, most incredible luck that Taz had turned out to be Kyle’s mate. Or was it the infamous curse at work—the one the Balenescus kept talking about? It still didn’t take away his own culpability, and it made him feel sick.

He’d planned to do the same thing to Larsson, even though he knew now that he was in love with him and probably had been for a long time. He realized that fact when he saw him in the cage and knew without a shadow of a doubt that he’d willingly give up his own life to free him. He just wasn’t sure where to sign up for that. He’d do everything he could to win the contest between him and Rabb Seneca, but what if he were killed? Had he condemned Larsson to a life of sexual servitude?

Hearing the human love slave approach, he looked up and saw the little human weighed down with two large buckets of what smelled like stew. Tarr went over to help him, taking one of the large buckets and the boy looked up at Tarr in surprise.

“I can get it, sir.” The young human wouldn’t look him directly in the eye, but gazed somewhere over his left shoulder.“My master said you wanted to go with me while I fed the men?”

“Yes,” he said. “Thank you.” He looked the young human up and down, noticing the small codpiece he wore as his only clothing.“What’s your name?” Tarr asked.

The human looked startled.“Uh…my master doesn’t like me to say my old name. He says I need to forget my past.”

Tarr nodded.“I promise I won’t tell him. What is it?”

“Billy Morris,” he replied. “I was taken from an Earthen settlement a year ago.” “And how old are you, Billy?”

“Nineteen, sir.” He glanced around behind him. “We should go now, sir. My master is jealous of you. He didn’t like it when Rabb Seneca told him you were going with me.”

Tarr nodded.“Lead the way then. Ihave no wish to cause you any difficulties.”

The young man turned and hurried back the way he’d come, taking Tarr to a group of huts just beyond the perimeter of the settlement. As he followed the young man, he tried hard to look at the back of his head and not at the muscles bunching in his pretty little backside as he walked. He felt enough of a pig as it was.

They went to each shack in turn and Tarr found that six of his men were still alive. They told him that two had died on board the ship and one from his injuries after they’d arrived. They were gratifyingly happy to see him, especially considering the fact he could do very little for them. The two older men were ecstatic to hear that he would be buying them back from the Ravnians, since they’d been given a very strong indication that they’d be disposed of since they had little value to them. Hemade assurances to the other four that he’d do what he could and that he’d come back for them if he managed to get off the moon with the trader.

They went into the last hut and found Jaxper looking well enough. He noticed in passing that he was wearing a strip from his shirt wrapped around his genitals and knew that Larsson must have given it to him. Tarr gave him a pat on the shoulder and left the human to feed him while he hurried down to see Larsson.

His nobyo—he couldn’t seem to stop calling him that despite his earlier revelations because to Tarr, it meant beloved—was leaning against the back of the cage. He had fashioned himself a kind of diaper out of the shirt, though Tarr would have been boiled in oil before he would have called it that to his nobyo’s face. He could only imagine the scathing comments and the look he would get. It would take the skin right off him.

What was left of Tarr’s shirt was passed through Larsson’s legs and tied on each side at the waist, thus covering his groin and his rather delectable ass, a fact that Tarr was quite happy with, actually.

He opened his pretty red eyes and regarded Tarr with a narrow look.“What in the hells have you gotten me into?”

“Nobyo, I…”

He held up a hand to stop him.“Do not—under any circumstances—call me that stupid name again. Those, those—barbarians—pawed all over me with their hands when they pulled off my clothes and put me in here. Iwas stunned by their stupid dart and couldn’t shift to stop them.”

“You may not have been able to anyway if there were a lot of them and only one of you. I…”

“Stop. Stoptalking. I’m sick of Tygerians.”

Tarr was quiet for a long time as Larsson kept his eyes closed and heaved out one tired sigh after another. After several minutes, he opened one eye.“Damn it, you’re still here. Go ahead, talk.I can see it’s killing you.”

“Oh. Well…uh…what may I call you?”

He glared at Tarr.“I havea name.”

“Yes, of course. Larsson.They didn’t hurt you, did they? Or…mess with you in some way?”

“You mean rape me? No, but they put their damn hands all over me. One of them tried to kiss me.I almost bit his bottom lip off.”

“Good. I’m so sorry, nob—bab—Larsson.I’ll get you out of this, I promise.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” He glared at Tarr, pointing a finger in his face. “Don’t you dare do something stupid to make this even worse.”

“But bab—Larsson.I have to do something or Rabb Seneca will take you as his…you know.”

Larsson got a dangerous glint in his eye.“I’d kill him. The big, overgrown asshole. If not while he was raping me, then later. The man would have to sleep sometime.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to have to go through any of that. I got you intothis after all.”

“Yes,you did,” Larsson agreed bitterly.

“I admit it. So let me get you out. I’ve challenged Rabb to a fight in the arena. The winner gets you.”

“Do you have any idea how deeply humiliating that statement is to me? Or is that what you live for?”

“No! Nobyo, I mean Larsson.Please listen to me. I’d do anything to be able to trade places with you right now.” Tarr reached into the cage and tugged on his arm to urge him to move closer to the bars. “Please, baby.I love you.”

Larsson’s eyes widened at the words, but he softened a little and allowed Tarr to pull him toward the bars.Tarr reached through almost reverently and cupped Larsson’s face in his hands. “I love you. I have, for the longest time.”