Taz still stared at him in amazement. Finally, he seemed to find his voice. “So, did you and this Larsson…”

“No, not exactly. I wanted to, though. I still do. It’s all I can think about, damn him. When I finally do get hold of him, I’m going to bend him over every piece of furniture I can find. I’ll make him my nobyo and take him with me on my trips around the galaxies. He’ll make a nice little bedwarmer for those long voyages.”

“Yes, good luck with that. Those sound like the plans I had for his cousin. It didn’t work out exactly that way.”

“It will for me. He needs a strong hand, and he’ll find one in me.”

“You talk as if you already have him. Just how are you planning to get your hands on him? On both of them?”

“I have my sources watching them now. Larsson used to go after bounties a great deal with his brother, only occasionally transporting bauxite. Now it seems that has changed. He’s been doing runs of bauxite with his cousin, Kyle…your nobyo.”

“Yes, I know who he is, Tarr, thank you. But why the change? Could it be some kind of set-up?”

“For what? They seem to have forgotten we even exist,” he said bitterly. “Kyle has even been seen with other men at the bars on Lycanus 3 lately.”

Taz stiffened. “I’ll kill him,” he said, his voice menacing.

“Better yet, get him back and remind him who he belongs to. The two of them, Larsson and Kyle are set to leave on a transport tomorrow, according to my sources. I say, we attack. We’ll take a small, fast ship, latch onto their starship then dock. We can get in fast and take them, leave a few of my men to pilot the ship back to Tygeria and bring them home.”

Taz’s blood was already racing through his veins at the idea of having his nobyo back in his bed. He might just chain him to it for a few days—or weeks. Other men, huh? He might have to give him daily spankings then too, until he never even so much as looked at another man again. The memory of the last spanking was still as fresh in his mind as the day it happened. Taz groaned at the thought and adjusted himself. Naked, and in his lap was where his nobyo belonged. Tarr was right. It was time to bring him home.

Chapter Eight

Kyle sat behind the comm of the transport, wondering if the blip on the screen showing a fast-moving object coming alongside his starship could finally be what he’d been waiting and hoping for. As the small ship came more fully into view on his screens, he spotted the tell-tale skull and crossbones on the side—the sign known as the Jolly Roger. He pressed a button on the comm deck in front of him to warn Larsson to come up quickly. Then he made a quick maneuver to bring down their speed. The last thing he needed was a collision with the smaller ship and it was headed toward them at an incredibly fast rate.

Its captain, however, was skilled. Kyle wondered if it was Tarr himself. At the last possible moment he brought the smaller ship alongside and powered up his side engine stabilizers to bump the two hulls together, while matching his speed to Kyle’s. Powerful magnetic grapplers attached the smaller ship to the hull of the starship like a barnacle to a whale and a hailing frequency opened up on his command screen. It was Tarr all right, looking a great deal like the pirate he was as he grinned into the monitor.

“Open your loading doors, Lycan, or we’ll blow them open.”

Kyle heard the door behind him as Larsson came running in, skidding to a stop beside his chair, and staring into the monitor. “Tarr,” he said quietly, and Tarr’s grin became even wider.

“Hello, Larsson. Did you think you’d seen the last of me? I believe I told you once that I’d make you and your family sorry they ever messed with me. I think that day has come, boy.”

Larsson grinned back at him. “Is this where I’m supposed to beg for my life?”

“Oh, you’ll beg before I’m through with you,” Tarr said. “Now do I blast your doors open or are you going to be sensible and open up?”

Larsson and Kyle looked at each other and Larsson nodded, flipping a switch on the comm desk. Tarr nodded approvingly. “Good boys. Maybe I’ll let you puppies share a juicy bone in your cages tonight.” He smiled at Larsson again. “There’s a bad joke in there somewhere. Throw down your weapons and no one will get hurt.”

When both Kyle and Larsson just stared at him, he raised his voice. “I said, throw down the damn weapons. Now!”

Kyle unbuckled his sidearm and let it drop to the floor, but Larsson stared into the screen and shook his head. “Not me. You’ll have to come and get it.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Tarr said smoothly and the screen went dark. They could hear the sounds of the scraping on the side of their ship as the smaller ship settled closer against theirs, sealing the gap.

Larsson glanced over at Kyle. “Get ready. When that hatch opens, I’m betting Tarr and Taz will be coming through and things will start to happen fast.”

Kyle nodded, his heart racing. The hatch door flew open then and Taz was the first one through, his eyes never leaving Kyle. He looked like a pirate himself, big and dangerous as he rushed toward him and swept him up in his arms. “Don’t fight me, boy. You’re coming with me!”

Tarr had been right behind him, followed by at least three other Tygerians, their huge bulk filling up the deck area. Out of the corner of his eye, Kyle saw Tarr and Larsson grappling together. He’d already disarmed Larsson and was picking him up to throw him over his shoulder when the door to the command deck opened and the other four Balanescus, along with five of their men, came surging into the room. Taz pulled Kyle behind his back and turned to face the men coming toward him. He was swarmed by three of them and went down hard, kicking and biting.

Tarr didn’t fare much better. He’d almost made it back out the hatch door with Larsson when Lucas pulled him around and swung at him. He dodged mostly out of the way, only catching part of the blow and then, as they backed him up toward the door, he threw Larsson at them and ducked behind the door, slamming and locking it behind him. By the time the Lycans picked themselves up off the floor, Tarr had made it back to his ship, along with two of his men. They managed to quickly disengage and take off before the Lycans could stop them. But Taz and the other Tygerian were putting up a vicious fight.

Afraid he’d be injured, Kyle reached for the tranquilizer gun in his console and shot a single dart into Taz’s hip. It still took almost five minutes before he collapsed under the weight of his attackers. Kyle quickly knelt down beside him and checked his pulse. He found it steady, if a little fast. He nodded at Lucas, who was standing by staring down at them, still trying to catch his breath.

“He’s good. Help me take him down to my quarters.” He got an arm around his waist and Lucas helped him pick Taz up from the other side, but it took three of them to get him down to Kyle’s room. They left them alone and Kyle quickly stripped his clothes off and secured his wrists and ankles to the chains already in place. He stood back up and stared down at his mate. He could only imagine how furious he’d be when he woke up.

He’d only given him a very light dose of the tranquilizer and he was already waking up, moaning and trying to pull his arms down from above his head. Kyle sat down on the side of the bed next to him and waited for him to wake up. He didn’t have long to wait.

Taz’s eyes flew open all at once. One second he was out and the next second he was staring up at Kyle, his eyes wild and fierce.

He pulled frenziedly at the cuffs and chains holding him in place and snarled up at Kyle. “What is this shit? Let me out of it!”

“No, I don’t think I will.”

“Kyle! Don’t do this!” Taz had made his voice firm and deep, but his eyes were a little panicked, and his voice cracked a little. Kyle wanted to soothe him, so he sat closer to his side and ran his hands over his chest.

“Shhh…calm down, baby. You’re all right. No one’s going to hurt you.”

Despite his attempts to calm him, Taz’s eyes opened wider and he began to struggle so hard, Kyle was afraid he’d do himself an injury. He climbed up on top of him and stretched out, holding him down until he exhausted himself.

“Stop it, Taz,” Kyle said when Taz finally stopped struggling for a moment to catch his breath. “I said no one will hurt you.”

Taz snorted. “I’m not afraid of you hurting me,” he yelled, “I’m not afraid of any damn Lycan!”

Breathing hard, his gaze wide and golden, he glared directly into Kyle’s eyes. “I’ll kill myself before I let you do this to me,” Taz growled dramatically.

Kyle raised his eyebrows. “Really? And just how do you think you’ll do that when you’re cuffed and chained?”

He pulled wildly at the cuffs. “You can’t keep me chained forever.”

“Yes, I think I could,” Kyle said, rubbing his hand soothingly over his sides. “But I won’t. I only have you tied down so I can get some answers.”

“Answers? What are you talking about?”

“You knew why I left, but then you didn’t want me to come back. I want to know why.”

“I told you not to go!”

“Because you didn’t think it would work. But it did. You got Tarr back safely, and you would have gotten me back if you hadn’t been such an ass.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s over between us.”

“Then why are you here?”

Taz got a surprised look on his face, and he turned his face to the wall. “I…uh…”

“You’re here to get me, right?”

“No.”

“I believe when you came in the door to the comm deck you said, ‘Don’t fight me, boy. You’re coming with me.’ Isn’t that right?”

“I don’t remember. Let me out of this, Kyle.”

Ignoring him, Kyle continued. “This was my cousin Lucas’s idea, you know. Larsson and I have been traveling back and forth on transports for weeks trying to see if you and Tarr would come for us. He said that you wanted me to beg, but if I ignored you, you wouldn’t be able to stand it.”