Claiming Hannah

Hannah Trueblood and Jax Marjani had a very brief interlude a year ago. Hannah ran, not ready for the feelings Jax engendered in her--an alpha dom to her true submissive. Trying to do something to make a difference with her life, she joins a group of animal rights activists. Now, twelve months later, she's part of a team rustling cattle, saving them from certain slaughter. The only problem is...she's stealing them from Jax.

When Jax realizes who he has in his hands again, he's determined not to let her get away from him again. With his best friend Ian, the two men show Hannah just how exquisite being at their mercy can be. But come morning, she's run again, only to be captured by a group of barbarians. She finds herself in town on the block for a public claiming. Jax speaks up for her and must prove his "claim" by having sex with her in public.

Plus, there's still that little matter of his missing cows...

~ * ~

Jax Marjani jolted awake and knew something was wrong by the silence from the pens. Even as late in the night as it was, the bovina had been restless, as if aware of their fate to land on dinner plates in the not-too-distant future. That was, after all, the reason they’d been bred.

And so they usually shifted their weight, stomping their hooves and mooing to each other as if seeking comfort. But today they were unusually quiet. Poor things.

He snorted. “A couple of months alone and you’re turning maudlin,” he muttered. After finding out his government was in collusion in the attempted wrongful imprisonment of the man who ended up being his brother-in-law--and going through imprisonment himself--Jax had left his home planet of Tima Prime and taken a job hauling cargo for his new brother-in-law. The most recent “cargo” was the bovina. He was supposed to have merely stopped, loaded the cattle, and taken them to their final destination.

But the ranch manager had quit two months ago, and Jax had promised he’d play the part of cowboy until another manager could be found. He’d taken up residence on this small ranch on O’Kar Six where the bovina had been raised. And up until two days ago when his friend Ian Hunter had joined him, he’d been by himself.

He’d found that, though he missed being out in space, the simplicity of the barbarian planet suited him--it provided a place where a man could lick his wounds without a lot of people trying to get him to talk about his feelings. He didn’t need to talk. He just needed to work. Everything would sort itself out in due time.

If it weren’t for those fucking cattle thieves… The animal rights activists had come, leaving their graffiti spread over the side of the barn, and tried to steal his cows and set them free somewhere so they could... What? Eat, sleep, and procreate.

He raised his eyebrows. Now that he thought about it, that didn’t sound like a bad life after all. Food, sleep and hot, randy sex. Wasn’t much else a man needed.

Copyright ©2007 Sherrill Quinn. All Rights Reserved.