Burning Up Flint by Laurann Dohner Page B

doses of radiation were born like this man, indicating that he was a lifer space inhabitant. As he moved forward, grabbing seats to float his way toward her, she got a good look at his misshapen hands. He was without a doubt a full-on radiation mutant, which meant he was a pirate. They usually were born in space and lived on old, unsafe ships, turning them into virtual monsters.
    “What do we have here?” The man’s voice was raspy.
    She saw more motion at the pod door, causing her to turn her head. Three men who floated in were just as physically messed up as the first man.
    “Pod 3? How far away is the Star ?”
    “Not close enough,” the pirate rasped as he grabbed her by her floating hair.
    Mira screamed in pain and missed what the computer said as her grip was torn from the seat. Her body floated freely in the cabin. The man had yanked her so she was pushed in the direction of the three other mutants until rough hands grabbed her. Mira tried to kick and claw at them but the lack of gravity hindered her. They dragged her through the hatch into a sleeve that connected to the pirate ship. The hatch was shut and gravity suddenly returned.
    Mira fell, hitting the floor of the sleeve, pain slamming through her head and her back where she hit the hardest. Three mutant males grabbed her and lifted her. She heard a door slide open on the pirate ship and then she was carried into a cargo area. One had her arms while the other two were gripping each leg. She saw the beams and the high ceiling above her. Boxes were packed and secured in the hold.
    “No!” she screamed. She fought but she couldn’t get away.
    The men hauled her higher, slamming her down on a large table-sized crate with enough force that pain tore through her back where she landed. The air was knocked from her lungs. Rough hands gripped her as they rolled her over onto her stomach. One of the men dropped on her, his body slamming down over her to pin her in place. Mira sucked air into her lungs. Her wrist was yanked above her, something closing over it so painfully that she screamed out. The other wrist was yanked upward and more pain shot up her arm as something pinched that wrist.
    “Nice,” a raspy voice hissed. “Where are the other ships?”
    “The jumper is approaching fast. The second ship is larger and slower.”
    “Pull back behind the asteroid. We’ll be off their sensors and we can jump them as we did the pod. By the time their proximity alarms go off we’ll have hooked them. It’s two for one day. We’ll have to let the larger ship go, unfortunately. We’ll lose them in the asteroid belt where they won’t dare follow us.”
    Hands gripped her hips and yanked them away from the crate as the weight lifted off her. The man who’d pinned her smelled horrible. She breathed through her mouth so she wouldn’t puke. The entire cargo bay smelled like garbage and rotted flesh so it wasn’t just his stench that was getting to her. She lifted her head, shaking the hair from her eyes, to see at least seven of the radiation mutants approaching her. The man behind her slid his hands around her waist and reached for the front of her pants.
    “What a nice one,” one of the men rasped.
    If snakes could talk Mira imagined this was what they would sound like. Fear struck her as the hand started to unfasten her pants. She’d heard horror stories about pirates who got their hands on women. She threw her hips forward, grinding her pelvis between the crate and the man’s hand, trying to smash it.
    She saw that her wrists were tied over the edge of the crate. Blood ran down one of her fingers. They’d bound her so tightly that her hands were going numb and the straps they’d used had cut into her skin. She yanked anyway, trying to break free. Pain made her gasp. The man behind her cursed as his knee slammed into the back of her thigh. Mira screamed.
    “Get the pants off. I want to fuck her before we attack the shuttle. We’ll see what goodies it is