Brianna by Judy Mays - Celestial Passions 01 Page A

prepared to exit the room. “Do you want me to escort you to your room?”
    She shook her head. “Go on. I want to make sure she’s resting comfortably.”
    Lorilana waited until Chardadon left. Then she slipped into the other room.
    Brianna slept unaware of the conversation that had decided her fate. Her glorious red hair was draped about her, spilling over the side of the bunk onto the floor. The blanket had slipped to reveal firm white breasts with rosy pink nipples.
    Lorilana regarded her dispassionately. This woman had touched Char in a way that she, for one, was glad. And the stubborn fool didn’t even realize it yet. “He’s lying to himself, Brianna,” she said to the sleeping woman. “Oh, he thinks he just wants you in his bed. He may think of this as a marriage of convenience, but I think you’re more than an end to the meddling of Crystas and revenge on Bakom.”
    Bending, Lorilana tucked the blanket back around her patient’s shoulders. After brushing the hair from Brianna’s face, she smiled. Then she turned and left the room.
    *
    Dressed in a loose-fitting robe, Rodak don al’ Bakom relaxed in the cramped quarters assigned to him. He’d shrugged off this insult to his status, more than willing to tolerate poor food and quarters to gain knowledge of his opponents. Captain Alalakan don al’ Chardadon was no more than he’d expected, a member of a social group that reveled in what they considered their superior non-hermaphroditic sexual nature and four-syllable clan names. What fools!
    Demanding transport on the Alalakan ship had been a stroke of genius, even if he had missed the Council voting session.
    The captain had provided the one thing he, Bakom, had been unable to acquire, a non-identified humanoid specimen for his Tests of Humanity. And Captain Alalakan could do nothing to stop him. True, he should have anticipated the captain bringing a halt to his initial tests, but even that was for the best. When he got the woman back to Drakan, he’d have the Academy’s entire staff and facilities to initiate and complete the testing, certainly a facility much more adequate than the cargo hold of even the most advanced interplanetary ship. He had to give the Alalakans credit. Their ships were the best.
    Much as the captain’s highhandedness irritated him, the theft of his specimen had been in his own best interest. The interfering Dr. Sendenton dem al’ Lorilana would do her utmost to coddle the female back to perfect health, assuming the captain would somehow keep him from reclaiming her. Fools!
    He was just coming into his power. There weren’t enough members of the Ruling Council willing to oppose him. As for the Federation of Planets? Bah! They were totally inept and ineffective.
    He half reclined on his bunk, absentmindedly stroking his tail. That Aradab girl three years ago had been a nobody. What difference would one less brat make? How was he to completely catalog the effects of mithrin if he wasn’t permitted to experiment! The Alalakan clan would pay. Before he was finished with them, they’d be no more than a third-rate transport company relying on him to keep them afloat financially. That form of revenge would be much more satisfying than destroying the clan completely. To have Alalakan don al’ Jamiros and his two stiff-necked sons in his power was more heady than any aphrodisiac. The haughty daughter-in-law and wife would become his for the asking. And the daughter, Alalakan dem al’
    Sheala, young and nubile, was just discovering her sexuality; it would be a pleasure to introduce her to mithrin.
    The imagined picture of the captain’s sister naked before him dissolved into the much more real image of the humanoid specimen as she had lain on his examining table, her wrists tied securely above her head, her legs spread wide, and her thick, auburn hair falling about her body in waves. Bakom’s pulse quickened as he imagined what he and others would do to her lush body. Damn Captain