Caged Mate: A Dark SciFi Romance

Chapter 1

Caroline

The stars swirling by the big window look like a million faraway lanterns. Clouds of nebulae in amazing, bright colors stretch between them. The only thing I can think is that they look freer than me.

I’m tucked into a tiny alcove hidden to the side of the observation deck. The massive cruise ship, the Celeste, has many sections like this. Customers pay highly for their fancy rooms, amazing views… And servants.

I dig my fingernails into the skin of an orange, peeling it bit by bit. As a bit of personal, immature revenge I toss the pieces out on to the floor. Cleaners will just think one of the rich people did it.

Technically I am a cleaner. But I do as little of it as possible.

I’m Caroline Blackwood, and I’m the most famous conwoman in the galaxy. How did I end up hiding in a cold, hard cubby hole eating a stolen orange? 

I got caught.

I’ve jumped around the universe for as long as I can remember. If I had parents, they didn’t give a fuck. My first memories are of running through the dodgiest space ports, dressed in rags and picking pockets. I slept behind dumpsters or in cardboard boxes.

I started thinking that if I upped my game, I wouldn’t have to live like this. I needed to make bigger scores. As a kid, its impossible to get anywhere no matter how big your score is. So, I made my first con—becoming child slave to Master Malden, a low-ranking government official.

I siphoned his funds for a few years until I was fourteen, then vanished into the night. From there I started ship jumping and moving through different planets and ports. Always on the move. As I got older, I found it was easy to charm men into giving me anything I wanted.

I’m not one of those tall graceful women that I’ve always seen with rich men, that’s for sure. I’m thinking there must be some sort of selective breeding going on, the way affluent women seem to be all willowy and graceful. I’m short, but fit. I have to be. Sometimes I need speed and skill to get out of nasty jams.

My curvy hips, round ass and huge breasts have always been my best assets. 

As I made my way around the galaxy ripping people off, I got busted a couple of times. With DNA and fingerprinting they identified me and from that point on I had a nasty rap sheet. They just couldn’t find a prison that could hold me.

I tear segments of the orange apart and stuff my face with the sweet juicy flesh. Fresh fruit is not something poor people—or slaves—get given. 

I was living the high life on Glimner. Its one of the most luxurious planets in the entire universe. Everyone there is filthy rich, and the accommodation is five star. I had latched on to an older man who spoiled the fuck out of me. Lounging by the pool, wearing fancy clothes, the best hotels and famous restaurants.

Until someone recognized me.

I didn’t know it, but a space force detective had been tracking me for at least five years. He knew my rep so he kept himself out of my way until he could nab me. If I had known he was tailing me, I would have vanished like a ghost.

I was dragged away from the poolside by six guards. They were so rough I almost lost my bikini. I was locked up immediately.

My benefactor ended up in jail, all his fortunes confiscated. I didn’t feel bad about it even though he had been nice to me. He was like a nice dress, I’m always ready to take it off and slip into a new one.

The trial was not even really a trial. They had my entire rap sheet. They knew all my aliases and crimes, right down to escaping from prisons. I was sentenced to life in maximum security prison on an asteroid. It was referred to as ‘The Rock’ some word play on an old earth prison that no longer existed.

I was terrified to get sent there. Only serial killers and psychopaths went there. I knew I wouldn’t be able to break out.

That’s when they offered me the second option. I could work as a slave for the private companies on Glimner. I had heard about this shit, how hundreds of people just disappeared into the bowels of the planet’s workings. They became miners, floor scrubbers, shit cleaners. I’d seen one slave in a collar cleaning up after the master’s dog. I swore it would never happen to me.

But I agreed. I was fucking guilty. I had no defense. They had pictures and videos, a whole stack of files on my various crimes. They knew everything. Well, almost. Some of my heists were just too fucking good and they couldn’t get intel on those.

I gave myself a satisfied smile as I finished my orange, thinking about the chains on my wrists and how I felt in the courtroom. Boarding the cruise ship was even worse.

I used to live on these things, not serve on one. If I could sneak on it was easy enough to find a man to charm and then I was safe. This time, I was dragged down into the ships depths and thrown into a holding compartment with a bunch of other slaves.

How do you think Glimner stays so rich? It doesn’t pay for its labor. Everyone turns a blind eye because the people holidaying there are too rich and powerful. 

I’ve been here for three weeks. Three weeks of complete torture. 

I quickly learned my way around and found there were lots of tiny holes and alcoves around the ship that I could wriggle into and hide in. It’s easy enough to steal food from the trays that go to the dining room. While cleaning, I ran off with several books and notepads to entertain myself with while I was goofing off. 

As soon as the brass took their eyes off me, I’d scuttle into one of my hiding holes, eat, read and sleep. Some of the others told me I’d get killed or locked up, but I laughed in their faces. Like I give a fuck. This shit was so demeaning I had started to wonder if prison would have been better. At least I could have kept my dignity and my spunk. 

In here I’m expected to bow and nod and smile and say only ‘yes ma’am’ or ‘yes sir’. Its fucking torture. Some of the shit I’ve been asked to do is just not humane. Well, in my opinion anyway. I sure as hell had never scrubbed a toilet before. And guess what? Rich people’s shit does stink, after all.

We were all locked into a massive room each night to sleep and let out in the mornings. I was careful to always be in the room and counted at night, because if you weren’t there, they scoured the ship for your heat signature and shot you on sight. 

It was easy enough to slip away mid shift and once they started looking for me, I’d innocently appear with a stack of towels or dishes, blinking balefully at them and apologizing. The guards had an inkling of what was going on, but no one could prove it. Black cat Blackwood at her best. 

To amuse myself I started playing pranks on my fellow slaves. Itching powder in their briefs, sawing halfway through a broom handle so it snapped right in the middle of a ballroom, slicking the floor in oils so they went ass over tit when they were carrying bowls of soup.

A little smile jumps to my face. No one likes me. That’s just fine. I fucking hate people and the only reason I spend any time with them is to use them. I’m safer on my own. No attachments, no responsibilities. No friends. Fuck them. Who needs it?

I never felt a thing for any of the men I seduced. Men are so fucking stupid. Smile into their eyes, hang on their arm, rub against them. All the while batting your lashes and licking your lips. At that point they’d do almost anything to have you wrapped around their cock.

Not exciting, not at all. I’ve never met anyone who was a good fuck. I’ve never seen anyone I found even slightly interesting.

I stretch in my tiny nook, looking out over the stars again. I’m getting stiff. It might be time to go back to work, at least for a few minutes. Get seen doing something, steal stuff, then get into one of my other hiding spots. Maybe I’ll even be able to go to the locker room and pull stitches out of people’s clothes, so their pants fall down while they’re serving dinner.

I’m still chuckling to myself at the image of that when the Celeste shudders and bucks. This thing has the best grav buffers money can buy, so if she’s moving like that, something serious is going down.

I try to keep my light mood, but I know, the Celeste is one of the biggest and most well known in the galaxy. She’s a perfect target for space pirates. 

Up above, I hear shrill screams. All the rich bitches freaking the fuck out.

Now I do laugh, really laugh. This is going to be the first decent action I’ve seen in a long time.

This is my way out. The distraction I’ve been waiting for.

I can run. I can be free.