Read Online Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) by Evangeline Anderson - Free Book Online

just make up any plausible sounding lie he thought might
appease you?
    He could have done that, Trin
admitted to herself reluctantly. He could
have but he didn’t. Instead, he refused to answer. He left me to draw my own
conclusions, even though he knew they were bound to be bad. Even though it
meant he had to remain chained to the cot. Why?
    She
had no answers. The big Havoc was an enigma—as well as a constant source of
concern and contention among the crew. They didn’t like having a male
aboard—much less a huge, dangerous one. Only that morning, Sidna had approached
her about the idea of simply letting him go…

 
    “I
know the Havoc was a major investment for you and the idea was to be able to
deal with the high society on Yonnie Six with him at your back but it’s simply
not working out,” she’d said earnestly. “I hear the two of you talking
sometimes and he’s not getting any more tractable.”
    “At
least he’s speaking,” Trin said defensively. “I’ll bring him around eventually,
Sidna. He may be male but he’s intelligent—not stupid or primitive like we were
raised to believe.”
    Sidna
shook her head. “He’s dangerous,” she
said flatly. “And if he’s as intelligent as you say, that makes him even more
dangerous. We need to let him go before he figures out a way to get loose and
kills us all in our sleep. Not that anyone aboard can sleep knowing there’s a
huge, psychotic male strapped down to
a cot just around the corner from them.”
    “He’s
not psychotic—he’s perfectly lucid and sane,” Trin defended.
    “I’m
just telling you how the crew feels,” Sidna said. “And seeing those bruises on
your neck isn’t reassuring anyone either.”
    “That
was an accident,” Trin said.
    “No,
that was a warning.” Sidna’s voice
dropped into a pleading tone. “Look, Lonarra,” she said, using Trin’s first
name as she almost never did. “I’m begging you—for your own safety and the
safety of the whole crew, let’s just let him go. Just stop at some busy
spaceport or inhabited planet and drop him off. Then he’s off our hands and out
of our lives forever.”
    “I…”
For a moment Trin had almost considered the idea. After all, despite the many
conversations she’d had with Thrace,
the big Havoc refused to call her mistress or swear any kind of loyalty. At
this rate, she’d never be able to unchain him—let alone walk into a Yonnie Six
gathering with him at her back.
    He
also refused to tell her what had happened to his last master—a matter which
troubled her greatly. But the idea of letting him go and never seeing him again
bothered her for some reason. The universe was vast—if she set him down in a
busy spaceport or a hospitable planet as Sidna suggested, the odds were a
trillion to one on her ever seeing him again.
    “Well?”
Sidna had asked, a touch of exasperation in her voice.
    “I’ll
think about it,” Trin had said at last. “I promise I’ll give your idea careful
consideration.”
    “Thank
you,” Sidna said. “But don’t think too long, Trin—the crew is growing
restless.”

 
    Trin
thought about it now—thought long and hard. Maybe she should just let him go. He was angry and dangerous and huge and
muscular and male. He didn’t belong
aboard The Alacrity . It was like
trying to keep an exotic pet in an environment that wasn’t good for it.
    No, I should stop thinking of him as a
pet. That’s one reason he got so mad in the first place. She
sighed. Maybe it would be best to
just let him go. There were four life pods attached to the ship and they only
really needed three of them to evacuate everyone. She could simply give him one
and let him go where he wanted.
    The
life pods had been designed to survive long stretches of time in deep space and
they all had stocks of dehydrated food spheres—provided he had a rudimentary
knowledge of flying and knew how to navigate wormholes, he could go pretty much
anywhere he wanted.
    That’s what