As the others talked among themselves, leaving the room one by one, I got up from the bed.

And just where do you think you're going? the voice spoke firmly in my head.

I looked to my left, startled. Ruby was still standing there, gathering a reluctant Jaden into her arms in order to orient him. For his part, Jaden was still love stricken, his heart in his eyes as he looked at me. My eyes traveled further to the left and, trying to find the source of the voice, even then I already knew. I just had to know for sure. My gaze froze abruptly. I trembled inside. Oh, my, god....it was him.

Yes he whispered, wrapping himself about my thoughts. Now, go back to that bed and sit down. And don't he warned as though he could read my thoughts, even think about getting dressed.

I obeyed without question. Why I did so was unknown to me. I had liked the power that I had wielded with Jaden but in the end, I had sought only to please him, filled with sorrow for my harshness with him.

What did it mean?

My eyes were glued to his as the captain approached me. I didn't even see; didn't even notice that WB was still there, watching us. I only saw him.

He gestured to someone and I suddenly realized that we were not alone. He must have spoken to her in his mind because without warning, WB rose, leaving the cabin.

The door closed with a distinct click.

We were alone.

He walked toward me, his eyes gentle but warning. "I have allowed you to play for a time, Alura, because I was curious to see what you were capable of. I am glad I made that decision. You are very very dangerous. You have enormous powers and great potential, but the very powers which you have used on others in your journey to understanding, which I have also allowed for a time, could have destroyed the very best part of who, and what you are becoming."

He reached me, lifting me to my feet. His right hand wrapped in my hip length hair, turning and turning until the last of the length of it disappeared, woven beneath his fingertips. His right hand closed, trapping me completely.

He hauled me against him. I felt the brush of his shirt against my skin like a thousand tiny needles. My nipples tingled and I realized, to my dismay, that I was growing aroused desite my best intentions.

He looked down at me, his nostrils flaring slightly as he simply studied me; I began to feel as though I were some strange sort of exotic creature that he had yet to figure out.

His mouth widened in a sudden grin, his eyes filled with calculation. I shivered. It was the smile of a seasoned pirate. And I knew that I was his captive, willing or no.

I felt his hunger and I knew that I was about to become the main course of an exotic, mind-boggling banquet of the senses.

Lie down on the bed and do not move. his voice whispered in my mind.

I did so, even as I fought the crazy need to run like hell once my hair was freed.

He stood there in front of me, watching me with a detachment I knew that he couldn't possibly feel.

I shuddered, fighting the urge to run even more strongly than before. With powers I had never known he had, with a flick of his hand, he pinned me to the bed, unable to move. Even my mouth, by some strange power, was rendered mute; unable to speak.

Then, as though he had willed the knowlege to me, at last I knew what he was doing and cried out with mute terror in the darkest parts of myself, wishing that I had run while I had had the chance.

He was using his mind to call the others to him.

And I was trapped, unable to do a thing about it.


***Tag to Captain C, Ruby, WB, Jaden, Jade or anyone else to wants to take on the challenge ***