by Zara Zenia
A human man who spoke only of profit was a man I could admire in my book. I liked him that way. He was straight forward and easy to control with the lure of payment. All I had to do was throw gold at him and I had the information I needed. Besides, humans were the reason men like William existed in this black market area. Any time anything was forbidden to the humans, there was always a new business that popped up underground to provide that exact thing that had been forbidden. In the past, it had been drugs and drink, now it was the prohibition of Trilyn and human interaction.
“Make sure my ship is fully charged for this evening’s scouting trip,” I said to Danja.
“Yes, Prince Manzar,” he replied. “I will see that your dinner is served in your quarters, sir.” He left to make sure the kitchen staff didn’t delay my meal and to carry out the rest of my orders.
Later that evening, I set out on the hunt.
I took a scouting ship into the night and hovered near the building where she was dropped by my pilot. Where are you, my love?
Chapter 29
Jake
Seeing Andromeda on that waterfront was enough to make me want her again. I wasn’t surprised that she had shown up. I was holding her father, after all. But seeing her again sent a thrill through me, not just because I desired her, but also because I knew that she needed me. She needed a savior and I could be that savior, since no other human was there to do it for her. Seeing her sadness was a bit of an obstacle for me, it wasn’t what I wanted from her.
I didn’t want her to be sad about her father, he was safe for the moment. If she would just listen to me then she and I could be married and I would be able to keep her father safe always. Feeling this way wasn’t what I was used to. Most of the women I had come across and slept with in my life had always wanted me right up until I tossed them out. They had thrown themselves at the opportunity to have sex with me. But Andromeda was different. She hated me.
Hate I could deal with, though, hate actually made me more attracted to her. Just thinking of it made things stir inside me. The more she struggled against wanting me near her, the more I wanted her. Perhaps it was the challenge? She was the great hunt I had been looking for. I was a hunter. She was the prey.
I looked over at her strapped into the seat on the transport ship. She was huffing and puffing, her ample chest heaving up and down. She was angry, extremely angry. She had no idea what was ahead of her, and it thrilled me. “Launch when ready,” I ordered my pilot, not taking my eyes off of her.
“Yes, Sergeant Marsh,” he responded as he hit switches and made preparations for launch.
“No, you can’t do this, Jake. Take me back! Who do you think you are?” She glared at me. “Where is my father? You can't just come down here and take a human off the planet without their permission! Don't you know what the penalties are for kidnapping? It could be death!” she shouted.
I walked over to her and leaned down to her. She looked so small strapped into the seat meant for much larger men. I grinned at her. “You think this is my first time doing this?” I arched a brow at her. “I’ve done it so often I’ve lost count,” I assured her in a deep whispered growl.
Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. “But why? Why are you doing this to me and my father?”
“Launching, sir!”
“Go,” I commanded, ignoring her demanding questions and moving back to my chair.
I sat down in my captain's chair and strapped in as the ship hovered above the landing pad. Then within five seconds, it shot straight up into the atmosphere. The blue slowly gave way to black outside the glass of the windshield. I could hear Andi breathing harder and faster behind me.
Then we were in space.
“It’s more beautiful than I ever thought,” she mumbled, her voice filling with wonder.
I turned to look at her. “You’ve never been in space?”
She shook her head, her eyes on the window. “I haven’t. Not until this moment. It’s so dark. The blackest black I’ve ever seen.” She continued to whisper musings to herself about what she was seeing outside the windshield, completely forgetting her anger at me for the moment.
I found it very interesting and intriguing. It had been a long time since I had seen and heard anyone's reaction to space. I’d taken it for granted after years of traveling back and forth between the Humanity First mothership base and Earth.
Her eyes were wide with surprise and her small pink lips mumbled words that only she could hear.
I just felt happy that some of the anger had left her and was now replaced with wonderment. I’d done her a service. Only minutes before she was filled with rage and now, she was seeing just how much more was out there for her to experience. I sat up prouder, arrogantly congratulating myself on being her everything, showing her new things. And I hadn't even started yet.
“Sergeant Marsh, we’re set at cruise altitude,” my pilot announced. “We will be docking with the mothership in ten hours.”
“Good, keep the course steady,” I replied. “We don’t want to arouse suspicion.”
My words must have penetrated her wonderment, because a moment later, Andi was shouting at me again, “Mothership! What? No! Where is my father, Jake? I want to know right now!”
I rolled my eyes knowing that she wasn’t going to quiet down the entire time and ten hours was a long time for my crew to be distracted by an angry female. I removed my seat straps and got up from my chair. Walking over to her, I unstrapped her seatbelts and scooped her up into my arms. She didn't stop arguing for one moment as I tossed her over my shoulder. I wondered how she was even breathing with that many words coming out of her mouth, angry words, as she beat at my back.
“Set me down, you buffoon! You can’t do this to me! Where are you taking me now? Why don't you answer me! Where is he, Jake? What have you done to him?”
I carried her down the long hallway toward the back of the ship where the living quarters were located. The crew shared a large room of bunks that were no bigger than a closet. But there was a large living quarter at the very back, which was my own private apartment, next to it was a smaller room with all of the amenities that a female would need, she wouldn’t be its first occupant, considering I’d brought numerous companions along on many of these journeys. I opened the door and dropped her down on the bed.
As soon as I let go of her, she scrambled to the corner of the bed against the wall hugging her knees. “Don't touch me!” she demanded, but her eyes were that of a frightened rabbit.
“It’s too late for that now, don’t you think, Andi?” I arched a brow at her, enjoying her terror. “Or have you forgotten our time together?” I grinned at her. “Have you forgotten when I put my cock inside you? You loved it. Always begging for more,” I said getting aroused.
Her chin lifted in defiance.
I scoffed at her tough act. “You flatter yourself. I’m not going to press myself on top of you. I only want answers. Why were you staying on the Trilyn ship of Prince Manzar?”
“That is none of your business.” She looked away from me, setting her jaw stubbornly.
“It is my business now, considering that I was the one who rescued you from going back there.”
“You are an arrogant jerk.” She glared at me.
“That’s not the worst thing I’ve ever been called.” I smirked. “I’m now a leader of Humanity First. I’ve heard a lot worse.”
“Good for you,” she said stubbornly, her eyes glaring daggers at me.
I laughed. “You have everything you need in here. If you slide that open, there’s a small porthole to look out and see that blackness you were enjoying earlier. Now I have duties to see to.” I walked toward the door. “Oh, and don’t try to escape. This door is locked.” I left her and returned to the flight deck. This was going to be very interesting, she was already intriguing me so much, I thought as I took my seat again.
“Sir?” Lieutenant Robook was in the process of receiving a message.
“Wh
at is it, Lieutenant?”
“Sergeant Marsh, the mothership received a message from the Earth Council, they are patching it in to our ship,” he reported.
“Play it when ready.”
The large communications screen turned on in front of me. I waited as the message was transferred from my ship to this transport ship.
Suddenly, a message appeared. It was from the Governor of New-New Orleans. “Sergeant Marsh, greetings to you. I am calling because the Earth Council intends to set up a second council meeting with you in a month's time. Please return a response and let us know which Earth Day might work best for you. The topic will be the same.” Governor Edwards face disappeared and the message ended.
It was always the same with them. They wanted to discuss matters and make themselves feel important by having these meetings, but nothing ever got done. We were in a cold war after all, which meant everything was always at a standstill. They weren’t interested in Humanity Firsts’ demands – number one being that all Trilyn leave Earth.
“Enter the information on my agenda to look at my itinerary next week, so I can determine a meeting time to return to Earth to meet with the council. Not that it will matter, we’ll get nothing done.”
“Yes, sir.”
Over the next two hours, I kept myself busy. There was always a lot of work to do when returning from a trip to Earth, even one that hadn’t been completed. Being of the Humanity First, I had to log meetings and send a report. I ate and had a few glasses of whiskey. I made sure that food and drink were brought to Andromeda in the room she was occupying, so she wouldn’t starve.
As the hours passed, I continued to consume more and more of the strong drink. I began to think about her curvy body. I found my cock growing hard just thinking about her jiggling backside when she moved. I stood up from my desk in my living quarters and walked down the hall to her room. Adjusting myself, I opened the door.
She stood up immediately. Her breasts started to heave up and down as she breathed harder.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why do you do that? Why do you act scared when I enter your room? Why do you grow fearful when you see me? We used to be lovers,” I commented as I walked around her, looking at her up and down, her scent arousing me further. I knew that my words were a breath of whisper on her pale neck. I could see her stiffen.
“You’re not that same man you were when we first started seeing each other,” she responded, trying to move away from me.
“You have so much fear. Why?” I asked, enjoying it, but also curious why I made her so frightened.
“You know why, Jake,” she hissed, anger in her tone.
“I know that you speak with a lot of passion, and passion is something that I know a lot about. But you already know that,” I said, keeping my eyes on her heaving chest. I pulled her into my arms by putting my hand around her lower back. My fingertips brushed against the ample softness of her ass.
She breathed hard, putting her forearms against my chest and opened her mouth to protest, but it only allowed me to press my lips against hers in an open mouth kiss. I moved my other hand up and down along her upper back while putting my other hand around the back of her neck. Now, she was mine to control.
She grunted angrily and struggled in my arms. Her hands pressed against my chest pushing me away from her, or she tried. It was impossible for her to do so. She was too small.
Abruptly, I pulled away from her. “You liked that. Don’t pretend that you didn’t.” I laughed, loving the fight in her. Then I walked out. There would be plenty of time to get reacquainted once we were married.
Chapter 30
Andi
I never expected to be so shocked by the look and experience of space. Now I understood why people had been so drawn to it. Looking out the windshield earlier, had left me feeling so small in the universe, it was a good feeling. It realigned my inner feelings toward the grand scheme of things.
I was completely in love with this new experience. Like an adrenaline rush, like a drug. It made you have a bigger perspective on everyday things in life. I’d never been in space before, and now having this experience changed everything I’d ever thought about it.
However, having it with this ruthless man wasn’t the ideal way to experience space. Jake wanted something from me. I thought it was clear that he wanted to bed me, but he was also being very confusing. He could take me anytime he wanted to by force. But he didn't. When he came to the small room I was staying in, he’d pulled me toward him and kissed me. I could tell that he’d been drinking and I’d fought against him. I thought about my love for Manzar, and felt terrified that Jake would try to force me to be with him. Then he left the room, leaving me with a mocking laugh.
I moved to the porthole that I’d uncovered and peered out into the blackness of space. The small window was no bigger than my face, but it gave a view of the darkness, even though it was a limited one. I didn't know where they were taking me except to a mothership. I assumed this was the Humanity First base.
But that ship could be out of Earth's solar system for all I knew. Then what would happen once I was on the mothership? Was this it for me? Was I doomed to be the prisoner of this arrogant man for the rest of my life? Was my father on the mothership?
I didn't have any answers and he wasn't going to give me any, now matter how much I demanded or begged.
Hours later, I stood there looking out the window and noticed a change in scenery. We were coming near a very large, oval gray ship. I could only assume it was the mothership they’d spoken about earlier. I grew very nervous. I felt like my fate was imminent once we docked with that ship. But there was nothing I could do except watch out the window hopelessly. The ship came closer and closer until it was suddenly swallowing us whole. The darkness gave way to grey panels, the walls of the inside of the ship. I could see other ships like the one I was on, parked in a row, as well as ships with guns on them. Lots of people were running about here and there and it made me realize something. Jake had said that he was now one of the leaders of Humanity First. That meant that he was a leader of all of this chaos. It was astounding.
Suddenly, the door to my room opened. I jumped up startled. It was Jake again. I was worried about what he would do to me. He said nothing, but marched right over to me, scooped me up in his arms and tossed me over his shoulder as he had done twice before already. In truth, I was getting used to it by now. But I didn’t like that I was becoming used to it. I needed to show strength in my precarious situation.
So I began to ramble, as I always did when I felt nervous, even knowing I’d receive no answers from him. “Where are we going? Where are you taking me? Is this it? This is the mothership? Where will it go now that we’re on it? Are you taking me away from Earth forever? Are we going to another planet? Where the hell is my father? You said if I showed up at the waterfront, my father would be safe. Where is he?” I couldn’t stop myself with the questions.
Jake remained silent and just continued to ignore me as he had since he’d kidnapped me. It was as if I wasn't even speaking as he marched out the door and down the hallway. He walked down the ramp of the ship and before I knew it, we were in the long hallways of the vast mothership. He stepped into an elevator that took us up a couple of levels. Then he just continued to walk with long strides.
Finally, he came to a door and pressed his palm against it. The panel lit up with many colors as though it were searching for a combination, the door opened. He walked in and set me down on my feet. “This is your new living quarters. Show yourself around. I have a lot of work to do,” he said and then stalked out.
“But what do I—?”
It was no use. He was gone. The door closed behind him and I was left in silence. I was astounded by the space. This wasn't one room with a bed and a washroom like the last room. This looked like an entire apartment. Where I stood was a large sitting room connected to a kitchen like area. It was huge. I walked around it and then found a doorway to another room. It wa
s a bedroom. Beyond that was a very large washroom with a bathtub. I was surprised that a ship would use water so recklessly, enough for a bath. I walked around each area until I finally just sat down on the bench in the sitting area. I didn't know what to do with myself. I had no one to talk to, then the only visitor I had was a soldier who came in with two large trays of food and jugs of water and wine. He didn't have any answers to my questions. Where are you, Father?
Chapter 31
Jake
“Sergeant Marsh, Miss LaBelle has requested an audience with you,” Lieutenant Robook reported to me on the flight deck.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Robook.”
I didn’t know what she could possibly want, but I didn't have time to deal with it at the moment. In truth, I was excited about seeing her, but even more excited that she was requesting to see me. Maybe being with me had turned her back into the wanton female that I used to know and desire.
Two hours later, I was finally able to make my way to her living quarters. I walked into her living room to find her fully dressed, and I felt disappointed. She was sitting on a bench in the sitting area with a cup in her hand. She turned to me and shot fire at me with those eyes. I could already tell she was ready for battle. It was a disappointment, considering I thought we were going to have sex like we used to.
She put the cup down and stood up.
“You requested to see me?” I arched a brow at her.
“Yes, I have many questions,” she said.
“When don’t you? You haven’t stopped asking questions since I rescued you. Even when I don't answer the first question, you continue to ask, Andromeda,” I stated while standing in front of her.