by Iona Strom
“I have nothing left to fill your greedy cunt,” Nulis speaks words that sound filled with compassion. “My sack is empty for now.”
Moving toward the panel to open the door, he drags me along as I’m attached to his leg. Once we reach the section of the wall that will dissolve with a scan of his palm, he pauses and gives his leg a shake.
I’m hanging on like a cat to a raft in the middle of a lake. He’s my way out, and I’m not letting go without a fight. Marking his annoyance with a snort, he tries to shake me off again, no more successful this time than the last. I’m a permanent accessory.
“Avay. I am honored you want my cock so badly, but you must let go so I may leave.”
He’s not going for it. The tone of his voice and his aggressive stance tell me what his words cannot.
As he drops into a crouch, I have no choice but to let go of my grip around his leg. Now at eye-level, the luminescence of his backlit gaze washes my face in soft light. Nulis searches my expression for an explanation as to what my problem is.
“Out! Let me out,” I demand.
Following the direction I indicate with a stab of my finger, I then point to myself. Nulis scrunches his brow and runs his eyes over me then his brow suddenly raises as if he’s solved a riddle.
The hope he’s caught my drift is erased when he gathers a wad of the material I’ve been wearing as a toga and nods.
Lifting me from the floor, he carries me back to the sex table. Once there, he sets me down and turns to leave, long strides eating up the distance as he outmaneuvers me.
With a palm to the panel, he’s out the dissolving door before I’m able to catch up to him. Stumbling over the trailing material of my toga, I land hard on my left side, the shooting pain in my hip stealing my breath. My scramble to freedom was a waste of energy; the door solidifies, leaving me to my solitude.
My frustration comes to a hard boil. Isolation and this language barrier have pushed me beyond my limits. Beating my fists against the now solid door, I do the only thing I know to do when nothing is going my way.
I pitch an epic fit.
Chapter 5
Lying on my uninjured side with my back against the door, Xuel trips over me as he enters my prison.
All tired out from acting like a spoiled child, I had no energy or inclination to drag my sorry ass over to shower or to my bed, so I flopped to my side and stayed put. With aching fists and a bruised hip, I’d curled up in a ball and pouted. Where had that gotten me, making like a doormat to trip up my next visitor?
I don’t bother to move from my place on the floor when Xuel squats in front of me. I remain aloof, not bothering to acknowledge his presence.
Concern etches his features. I play like a rag doll as he gives my limp body a quick assessment, turning me this way and that, he ultimately finds the bruise on my hip. Storm clouds of misunderstanding narrow his slitted pupils, and I realize my folly.
Xuel will blame Nulis for my injury.
Sitting bolt upright, I start to explain. When my rushed words merely hang in the air between us, I stand, miming out my accidental fall.
Xuel tilts his head to the side, then nods.
I sag from relief. No way would I want any of my males accused of something they didn’t do, especially after the epic fight I watched between Natu and Agris. I can do without bearing witness to anymore gory spectacles.
Caught up in my own drama, I just now take notice of what he’s brought with him. The fold of material is a stunning blue with what appears to be silver threads intermingled in the ultra-fine weave, glittering like stars in a clear sky.
Xuel shakes out what’s crumbled in his meaty fist.
I gasp at what I first thought to be a rectangular piece of fabric, much like the shapeless thing I’ve been wearing as a garment.
As the material comes to rest in a flowing, full-length skirt, Xuel hands me a wide strap encrusted with sparkling gems and smooth iridescent stones. Longer than a belt, I can’t imagine what I’m meant to do with it except admire its beauty with wide-eyes and an unhinged jaw.
As I stand there like a buffoon with no sense at all, Xuel tugs off my toga and tosses it to the ground. Lifting the gorgeous fabric, he arranges my head through an opening and allows the material to cascade down my body and swish around my ankles.
There’s more style to the fabric than I first thought. The front piece that covers my boobs has a plunging V-neck with a tight accordion pleat that gives way to yards of sumptuous material. With the fluidity of Chiffon, it’s softer than cashmere.
Other than the yards and yards of folding skirting and gathered top, that’s where the shape ends. Not as much a dress as an extravagant sheet with a hole in the middle for my head.
Taking the adorned strap from my hand, Xuel solves the problem of my new fashion dilemma. Starting at my waist, I try to keep track of the intricate wrapping as he incorporates the curves of my body within the folds of the material. Finishing up, he smooths his hand over the end of the strap, which somehow meshes the end piece to the part it touches.
My eyes flip over to the entwined braid that makes up his waistband. With no fasteners of any kind, the attraction for one section of the garment to the other is baffling. Swinging up to the rugged beauty of his face, our eyes lock. Just as mystifying as the attraction the material of our garments have for themselves, I am the same to his kind.
To him.
Xuel’s slitted pupils expand in want. His nostrils flare to breathe in my hunger. Touching me with his eyes, he takes all of me in at once. His peculiar musk, dark and intoxicating, is a wave of pure lust that spears me in the center of where I just held another male.
I should be more than satiated with what I shared with Nulis, but tendrils of Xuel’s heady redolence are like strong fingers that sway me toward me.
Lifting a heavy hand to my face, Xuel drags tremendous knuckles down my cheek, his thumb brushing the pout of my mouth.
A low growl curls back his upper lip bearing razor-sharp canines. Akin to that of the fabled vampire of Earth, my perverse mind throws up an image of Xuel at my throat while his cock is buried deep inside of me, laying waste to my sense of self-preservation. Where I was first terrified of those deadly attributes, I am now strangely fascinated.
Taking another step forward, I relish the feel of Xuel crowding me. Only a heartbeat separates us. Just when I think he’s ready to take his turn between my thighs, a bald expression of raw pain and regret tears open the mask of his desire.
And just like that... he pulls away.
“Why do you fight what is so blatantly obvious, Xuel?” He may not be able to understand my words, but my hard stare at his bulging crotch needs no translation. “I know you can somehow smell that I want you.”
Turning his back, he smooths his hands over his head before rubbing at the back of his neck. Heavy strides create the physical distance I feel in my bones. Crossing to the opposite side of my prison, I can’t tear my eyes away from the heavy muscles that splay out from the solid core of his spine.
Reaching the wall, he abruptly turns back to face me. Eyes downcast, he begins at the tips of my toes peeking out from beneath my new attire. Traveling upward at a leisurely pace, Xuel follows the swell of my hips, then the swooping indentation of my tight waist. My nipples harden under his intense scrutiny of my breasts.
Dropping his salacious examination, Xuel begins to pace. A caged beast as dangerous as he is alluring, he gives me a sideways look, measuring me as if he’s unsure what to do.
The longer he wears a path in the sparkly floor, the more emotions etch his heavy brow. Something has happened to this behemoth of a male that holds him prisoner.
Like me, he’s trapped in a cage, yet there are no walls that hold him. No dissolving door that remains solid when he wants out.
Nope.
Unlike my situation, he’s free to go at any time. Then again, what defines freedom if your mind is what’s holding the key to your lock?
Wat
ching the emotions play across his fiercely stoic face, I’m struck with the irony that we’re both captives, in one form or another.
Xuel’s heavy boots come to an abrupt halt. With a hard glare over my shoulder, I turn to find Natu has joined us. Xuel’s fierce eyes are disregarded by the other male as he circles me with a delightful expression dancing across his gorgeous face.
“You honor her as a proper mate.” Natu’s comment gets Xuel moving again. “So, you have committed to a decision. We three will finally belong to Avay. I will inform Nulis to prepare for a ceremony.”
At the mention of my name—well, my males’ version of it—I look to Xuel, waiting for his reaction to Natu’s words.
“Enough time has passed that proves no seed has taken root. Now that Agris and Orius are no longer a factor, she will breed only our young if she is able.” Xuel rakes his narrowed eyes over me. “A translator must be found. Until then, you will have to find a way to make her understand her new status.”
Natu gives him a firm nod. The broad smile a permanent fixture.
“Before she is moved, areas of the ship must be secured.” Xuel’s hard gaze lands on Natu. “There is much she does not understand. We must do our part to ensure her safety.”
“I agree,” Natu answers. “I will call for Nulis—”
“I will fetch him myself.” Xuel storms over to Natu.
“There is no need. I will use the interlix to summon him.” Natu moves to the panel near the dissolvable door.
“No.” Xuel shoves Natu’s hand away from the panel.
I have no idea what’s going on between these two, but the tremor climbing up the column of my spine leaves the impression a monumental shift is about to take place, and I’m the center of the disturbance.
“I need a moment.” Xuel opens the door and strides out, but not before bathing me in a hot yearning that sets my toes on fire.
“As you wish.” Natu gives him a definitive nod before turning his attention back to me.
Natu’s eyes miss nothing as he parades around me, tugging and smoothing at my new attire, making little adjustments here and there. After several passes, he stops to face me.
Awkwardness settles around me at his rapt attention. It may be my imagination, but Natu is looking at me differently. His pure shimmer of lust and curiosity morphing into something more substantial, more possessive—no longer a plaything to tire of, but something to keep.
The start of a smile warms me from the inside out, and I’m momentarily mesmerized by the sharp cut of Natu’s jaw. I give my leg a pinch through the fine fabric of my new dress, bringing myself back to heel, lest I forget where home really is.
“Avay,” Natu begins by placing his strong hands on my shoulders. “Xuel has released you. No longer are you property but will be elevated to that of a shoulsis, a Nomadian mate. The three of us will be your clov, protectors as well as your preferred mates. I and Nulis will serve as your secundries from now until death, with Xuel as your primarius.”
About the only words I could grasp were names which lend nothing to my understanding of what the hell he just said. I hate to mar the glow of this moment, so I simply nod once, which seems to make him very happy.
Just as he leans in to plant a kiss on my lips, we are joined by Nulis and Xuel. Both scrutinize our act with scrunched brows.
“What is it you are doing?” Xuel demands as he touches his own lips while zeroing in on mine.
“It is called a kwis,” Natu explains in a proud tone, “a Mannock custom Avay taught me. You and Nulis should try this.”
Grumbles are exchanged between Nulis and Xuel.
With a brawny shoulder, Natu is shoved out of the way, making room for Nulis who dips his head and presses his mouth to mine in a crude, uncoordinated way. Hit with a spoiled exhale, I keep my cringe to myself as my breath is stolen from me.
That’s where my revulsion ends.
Nulis is a large male, smaller than Xuel, but outweighs Natu by at least fifty pounds. Dwarfed as I am with all three of them surrounding me, I’m lost in a field of musculature that’s covered in miles of hot, subtle skin.
Leaning back when Natu steps in behind me, my mind begins to play a dirty scenario where I’m the main attraction of a foursome. With all the heat wafting off their skin and the smell of sex still heavy in the air from Nulis’ last visit, I can well imagine what it would be like to be used by all three of them at once.
As Natu nuzzles my neck, I act on my desire to make what’s flashing through my mind a reality. Reaching back, I take hold of Natu’s hands to cover my breasts. He gives me a squeeze, and I moan.
With handfuls of my long skirting, I lift the material, bearing my sex. Leaning back against Natu’s chest, my hips jut toward Nulis, a silent offer for him to slip a hand between my thighs.
He doesn’t keep me waiting as two of his fat fingers find their way inside. I nearly come undone from the erotic nature of what I’ve instigated.
Xuel is just close enough for me to grab his arm and draw him to me. Nulis steps to the side to make room for one more while my sweet Natu massages and plucks at my hardened nipples. Nulis expertly works my flesh into a fever. Before I can think better of it, I wrap a hand around Xuel’s neck and drag his head down for a kiss. His giant body jerks as I push my tongue between his perfect lips. Xuel goes stiff, then relaxes into me. Tentatively, he mimics what I’m doing, and I feel his hand cup my ass while our tongues tangle. He learns fast, deepening the kiss.
Fingers continue to penetrate my soaked sex as Nulis strums my clit. The sinful musk from their powerful bodies mingles and saturates every pore of my being. Large male hands cover me, fondling me in all the right places. A pleasure overdose, it’s almost too much to bear—
I fly apart, orgasming so hard, I don’t think I’ll ever come back from the high.
Xuel pulls away from our kiss, and my eyes flutter open to meet his surprised face, his usual harsh expression thawed for only the tick of a second before his hard mask drops back into place.
So... my Xuel has a soft side.
To my disappointment, Nulis retracts his fingers while Natu steadies me on my feet—not the ending I was hoping for. Odd that I’ve never fancied multiple partners back on Earth. Then again, these males aren’t an ordinary group. Knowing how much pleasure comes at their hands, I can’t help but want to gorge myself on what they can give me.
Straightening my dress, I wish for a mirror. The way this garment is constructed, looking down my body, I’d say I look pretty damn sexy in this getup. I feel sexy in it too, especially while basking in the hungry gazes of the large males still surrounding me.
“We are hers; Avay’s clov,” Xuel makes some kind of announcement and three pairs of possessive eyes regard me. “She will be ours—our shoulsis to protect and serve. We will attempt to breed her. For a Mannock, she appears to be a strong female. If fortune shines upon us, perhaps she will bear our young. We will take measures to ensure our seed will take.”
“Yes.” Natu nods at Xuel. “Her womb could very well be the vessel that holds the future of our dying race. I will see to it that the sorcerist creates a potious to ready her womb.”
“If any female could carry our seed, it would be her,” Nulis adds. “Ripe with want, her sex is always ready to receive.”
Xuel’s gaze tracks over my body before he places his palm over the panel to make what I’ve ached for come true. Xuel steps aside as the wall at my back dissolves. There’s nothing between me and the freedom I crave. I don’t bolt out of the opening like I imagined I would.
Ever so slowly, I turn to face the opened door, remaining as still as the wall of males at my back. I don’t dare take a breath; afraid one false move will re-engage the obstacle that’s kept me within.
Looking to Xuel, he inclines his head and sweeps a hand in the direction of the hallway beyond. There’s nothing spectacular about the corridor that extends past the door—all smoothed wall and backlit with the same ebony floor that seam
lessly runs throughout.
I take my first tentative step out of the room where I’ve been held. Pausing just beyond the doorway, I feel the males at my back patiently waiting for me to continue. I need a moment to absorb what’s happening.
The headiness of leaving the confines of my room makes my head light, but the weight of the monumental task which I’ve laid upon myself keeps me grounded.
I know this is my first step to finding my way back home.
Chapter 6
My first steps to freedom are beyond underwhelming. Standing in the center of the corridor outside the room where I’ve been held prisoner, the compression of my crushed enthusiasm slows my steps to a halt.
Looking left and then right, there’s more of the same white walls and sparkly black floor. It’s nothing more than a curving tunnel. Randomly, I choose to go right. Looking back, I find my males meandering behind me, seemingly content to stroll along in my wake.
The farther my steps take me only reveals more tunnel with an infinite curve and no end in sight. If I had a handful of breadcrumbs to mark my route, I bet if I walked far enough, I’d simply circle back to where I began—back to the door to my prison.
Maybe that’s the idea. Perhaps, my males are only letting me roam in an endless circle. So, this freedom is an illusion! This is nothing more than a stationary hamster wheel—I could run all day long and never reach an end. I’m the pet being taken out for a walk—leash not required as there’s no place for me to go.
How fucking special!
Fury blooms in the center of my chest, expanding outward until every inch of me is red-hot pissed off. My feet propel me faster down the endless tunnel to nowhere. Just as I’m about to round on my three followers and tell them exactly what I think about this little outing, the scenery changes.
Dramatically.
My breath sticks in my throat, and stability is stolen from my knees as I wobble forward before falling to the floor. Reaching out a shaking hand, I press my palm against what I assume is glass. Smooth beneath my palm, it feels the same as if I was touching a window—except the window before me is enormous, a panorama curving seamlessly with the walls. The view is beyond compare. I don’t dare blink; there’s simply too much to take in.