Relkor

by C. R Corbin

  "What the hell are you still doing here? Don't you have duties on the ship?" I asked in exasperation. "I don't need anything from you so just get the fuck out of here!"

  "I have already completed my duties." he grumbled while his eyes shut and he let out a breath that had been held in for far too long. "And I suggest that you play nice, lest I give you another punishment."

  I blushed and averted my eyes while grumbling. There was nothing here that could be used for anything that I would have referred to as fun. The computer was down so that meant no movies, TV, nothing. There was nothing that I could do to amuse myself besides argue with this idiot...he did say that I was afforded several freedoms that the other prisoners weren't thanks to being his mate so... I could pursue those?

  "Can we go for a walk or something? It's much better than staying there in one spot while glaring at one another." I remarked with a pout while glancing at the doorway with a hunger that surpassed every other desire in my body. I could make a run for it, I could get the hell out of here.

  "If you wish. Behave yourself, however, if you do not then there will be consequences." he hissed as he walked outside and dragged my chest back in, it was full of my clothes.

  "What the hell did you take them for?" I asked in shock. You didn't do anything to it did you?"

  "I was checking as a security measure." he snorted as he kicked the chest over to my feet.

  "Fool."

  I noticed that his kick was a bit harder than it should have been and he had made a dent in the hull of the box. I scowled and glared at him before shouting back, "Not that hard genius!". He only rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall.

  "Just get dressed. I have already seen you nude so don't act like you need me to leave." he scoffed, again his remarks elicited an incredible degree of flushing in my cheeks.

  Why did he have so much power over me? Was this the power of a mating bond? Is that what they even called it or was there a word for it?

  I stared at the chest in front of me and decided to get to work. I briefly checked to see if there was anything in here that I could have used as a weapon but there was nothing, the tray that had been sent in with my food was already gone so there was no chance of me using the fork or the shards of the plate as a weapon. All that there was were some pieces of cloth, maybe I could hang-

  "Hurry up." he growled and I glared at him in frustration before sighing and slipping on the rest of my clothes.

  He leads me out slowly as he flicked his wrist near the control panel and waited for the metal door to slide to the side. He leads me through and forcibly grabs my wrist to make sure that I wasn't trying anything. His grip his firm and yet gentle at the same time. There was no pain derived from it except for...well emotional pain.

  "I know how you can get so don't look so shocked. If you behave then i'll let go but for now you remain in my grasp. Do not question your mate." he snarled into my ear and I scoffed while glaring back at him.

  Every single atrocity that these guys were committing ran its way through my head once again. They were going to kidnap Penny and sell her off to some creep and sell the rest of us as well. I was going to be stuck there permanently with this dumbass if I didn't play my cards right. I closed my eyes and hissed in frustration, all I could do was just wail and cry and hope for some sort of hope to come.

  Or I could make an effort.

  I quickly began to scan the ship for anybody that I would have known, there might have been a sight of Jeremy, of Hasan, of Xu, of anybody! I wanted to see Penny the most to see how she was holding up, poor girl wasn't meant to fight back against this kind of situation. She was already pretty meek by nature which didn't help with the fact that these men were basically forcing her around.

  "Where are we going?" I asked him after a short while, I had just realized that I had no idea where I was actually walking. We were basically wandering around aimlessly.

  "Isn't this your ship?" he asked with his eyes full of annoyance. "Pick the location."

  "We'll go here then." I growled and pulled him sharply to the left. He sent me an accusing glare before I ran up the steps and into the main hall.

  The men in the main hall spotted my companion and immediately took it upon themselves to start shouting at him in a frantic manner. They call out all manners of compliments including "Nice catch!" and "That's your mate?! I wish i've found one on this nasty ship!" Brutes, every last one of them are brutes that didn't deserve the time of day from me.

  I frowned as I walked to the top deck, it was a spot that only I knew existed pretty much. It was a select secret amongst certain members of the crew that I only shared with certain people. Not like it really mattered now that the ship was taken over though, they probably knew that this place existed already.

  I led him through a variety of hallways and doors until we reached it, this tiny little viewing area where we could sit and watch the space outside wash on by. The void howls against the window as I sat down and looked out the window, my arm was released and I could move freely as I looked out onto the stars. The gravity of the situation begins to hit me at that instant.

  "Why...Why the hell?" I whispered to myself, to my shock he didn't say anything to me when I buried my head in my hands and sighed. The most I hear is just his breathing, that was it.

  I begin to silently quiver and shake as I watched those distant stars roar past us. Their ships were floating right by us in fact, their crafts were simply drifting by and they look to be so much more advanced that this hunk of junk. I despised this goddamn thing but even it looked way better than their ships which were basically an amalgamation of metals that were painted a shade of gold. It looked like their ships were much more triangular than cylindrical, which our's were. I hope to god that someone had gotten a distress signal or anything of the sort but this was it, this was all that was waiting for me. A life of living under him.

  "Are you alright?" he asked me in a quiet, gentle voice. I didn't even know he could take that tone with anyone. I lock my eyes with the window but feel his touch graze my shoulder. I stay in place and quiver while trying to maintain my composure.

  I was trapped, I didn't have any way out and my friend was going to be sold to some prince.

  All of that and more contributed to this sense of helplessness that was racking my mind.

  I watch the void roll on by and somehow I miss the fact that he was sitting next to me. Sometime during all of that he had ended up moving directly next to me and was sitting on the bench to my left. His hand was resting on his knees and was dangerously close to mine but he makes no movement to grab me or touch me. He just sits there with this strange look in his eye.

  I glanced over at him at brief moments and saw this glint of...sorrow festering in his pupil. It was quite brief, however, and it was quickly erased by this sense of stoicism that was always prevalent in his gaze. His hands were folded on his thigh and he sighed while glancing out amongst the stars. His posture slumped and I assumed for a moment that he was going to say something but he keeps silent and simply watches the void with me.

  And so we watched in silence.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Relkor

  It has been approximately 8 setras, the humans time measured it as 10 “hours”, since we had loaded the ship and were taking advantage of its resources. We were travelling at a slow pace but that was mostly due to the pace that this human craft put on. It would take another 20 fetras until we get anywhere close to where we need to go, where we needed to be was the prince's homeworld and that was a distant dream at this point.

  I spent most of the days tending to my duties as the commander but more so than that, I spent most of my day tending to my mate, to Kelly. I would bring her meals, I would escort her around and amuse her, I would even take her to see her friends at times but she was always with me no matter what. When she slept I went over reports or discussed things with Gerax before returning and laying on the bed with her
.

  Of course this had led to more than my fair share of...lustful encounters with her.

  Every night it seems we would follow a pattern, she would get angry at me and I would get angry at her and our argument would spill over into intercourse. It was a tiring game that we were playing but I adored it immensely and I had the feeling that she adored it as well. She didn't protest at all when we did it, but after we did she would always respond in the same cold manner that she always had. She would always keep silent and glare at me no matter what happened and I would simply take it, other times I would argue with her again and that would lead to more of our "misadventures."

  She was my mate though, that was for certain. I understood it the moment I saw her.

  I had pinned her down on the bed and she spread her legs. Her scent was infectious and I couldn't tolerate being away from her more than I had to. I loved the way that she felt, loved the way that she sounded, I adored everything about her during our sessions of fun and yet...she was so infuriating!

  I had brought her things to amuse herself with, here were these things called board games which wasn't all that dissimilar to the gambling that we did on Rialan ships but she had insisted on getting me to play as well. We had already let the prisoners meet and play games with one another when there was supervision but never has one asked me to.

  "I have no need to learn such a primitive game." I remarked while glaring at the board laid out in front of me, the board was composed of light and dark squares and there was a variety of figures on it.

  "Come on just sit down. Might make this whole mating thing a bit easier if you didn't act so dour. Stop being such a square." she hissed while rolling her eyes. I groaned and sat down across from her which elicits a small smile from her.

  Over the last week, we had grown closer as a result of our required proximity as she was my mate, but she could still be a pain. In addition to that she was still quite resistant at times to my attempts at conversation and could be...infuriating.

  "See so this piece can only move in this shape and this can only move diagonally." she remarked.

  "And the goal is to kill this thing? The piece with the cross on top?"

  "That's right. You have to trap it so it can't move out of the way or eliminate your pieces in order to escape. Basically, you have to ensure that no matter what the player does in the next round that piece will always be dead regardless of their actions. Does that make sense?" she asked me while she fiddled with the pieces. Her eyebrows raised and lowered while she glanced up at me. Her face was contorted into this tired yet...joyful expression. It put me in a state of unease to see her this way, as if she was teetering on the precipice of being civil and uncivil.

  We didn't speak at all during the first two fetras, about 5 days, I was with her unless you count the time that I argued with her when she kept on insisting that I let her go. I had her pinned down and what started as a shouting competition quickly devolved into another one of those lustful encounters that I adored so much. The next two fetras were spent in the same manner and it wasn't until the fourth that she actually engaged in some civil conversation with me. We had discussed food.

  And then during the proceeding evening we had devolved into arguing and sex again.

  Now, this was the first time we were doing something besides small talk, I had led her around and allowed her to speak to her friends so I knew that she could be talkative under the right circumstances.

  "Alright...What?" I asked as my piece was suddenly removed by her.

  "You moved it in the way of my rook." she responded with a teasing smile on her face. I scrunched my face up in anger while glaring at her "You can't do that." I hissed.

  "I'll show you..." growled before I moved my piece into place and eliminated her bishop, I wore a satisfied smile on my face until she moved her queen into place and...

  "Checkmate." she declared in a dissatisfied tone with the first genuine smile I have seen out of her...ever. This was the first time I had seen her soul filled with unbridled joy since I met her and it was quite shocking to say the least.

  She was beautiful, it was something I hadn't seen before during her attempts to rebel against me. I had always thought that she was infuriatingly arousing and that had led to more than our fair share of mating but this was the first time that her appearance invoked some sort of innocent admiration in me.

  I was quite shocked myself.

  "You want another round?" she asked.

  "This game is gercek." I cursed under my breath and turned away from it with my arms folded. She giggled at my fury which only made me grow more incensed and a little...happy.

  "Alright another round." she remarked.

  I stared at the clock on my gauntlet, it was apparently 10 setras into the day and there were about 18 left. We had plenty of time to entertain her. I swear that I would beat her at this game. As a proud warrior I would not be tricked by my mate, not once, not ever

  And then she beat me again

  By this time I was already growing tired of the game but I couldn't help but entertain her. I was fun to pick and probe her mind like his, I had to say. I settle my fingers around the pieces and try again and again until this is clear to me that she was going to win almost every encounter.

  "You want me to make this easier for you?" she asked in a teasing tone. "I can if you want."

  "Leave me be." I growled.

  "Handicap!" she said in a sing-song voice while I sighed in exasperation.

  "Where do you humans find the time to play games such as these anyways? They are so infuriating I could barely stand sitting here for more than I have to while playing this thing." I grimaced, I had to admit this was actually a bit more fun than I thought it would be but I would never tell her that of course.

  "It's to pass time on the ship. Usually we use the computers but you guys shut it down." She said while shooting me an accusing glance. "So we played these at times. You should see Penny, she's the best at these." She remarked with a saddened expression forming on her face

  Penny...Yes that was the girl that was captured. I remembered.

  We played in silence for a while until she gathers the will to speak again. Unsurprisingly this time her questions are about the nature of the mating bond more than anything else.

  "What is it like? Do I have to spend my whole life with you?" she questioned

  "Yes."

  "Do I have to have children? How many?"

  "As many as I want."

  "Do you even have the means to provide for that sort of thing?"

  "Ye-What do you mean by that? Do I look destitute to you?!" I roared and she smirked in satisfaction at her success at getting a rise out of me. I scowled and keep my eyes on the board in an attempt to avoid her questions.

  "What did you do on this ship?" I asked her through gritted teeth, she had me trapped in another one of her schemes in this game. "Were you just assigned here to question people until they wanted to murder something?"

  "I was in charge of the computer systems...the data. I was something." she remarked and glanced at the wall behind me with glazed-over eyes. "As opposed to who I am now."

  "You still are something girl."

  "Not in your eyes i'm not."

  "How can you tell what I see?"

  "I know based on how you treat me."

  Her voice takes on a sober, almost morose tone while she moved her pawns in place. I keep my scowl but my eyes soften, it was clear that she wasn't in the mood for one of those arguments that simply devolved into a lustful frenzy at this moment. She pauses and flicks her fingers over the pieces mindlessly while I watched her consider her moves. This was one of the few times that I actually had her in danger during this game.

  "I wasn't always like this you know?" I began and she looked up from her pieces, glancing at me with those same sober eyes. "I was a soldier once, a proud one too."

  "I had served as a warrior in the Rialan army,
there was an operation once that led to my captain doing some very...unsavory things. That is the best way that I can put it I suppose. We had landed on this outpost commanded by a rebellious Rialan ruler and we were tending to the civilians. It was a long, hard-fought battle that involved the raid of a military base that was as heavily guarded as you could have imagined.....We took them out at the cost of a tremendous amount of life...He saw the civilians and began to execute them on the spot, women, children, everything. I tried to stop him and well...the blame was placed on me." I recalled in a sorrowful tone, my eyes were filled with hurt, resentment, anger, sadness, but mostly a tired apathy that I had cultivated over what seems to be a lifetime. "I had wanted to get back to my old life for so long, to see my family and....it was taken from me. I would have done anything and I have done everything that I could but...this might be the final break that I need. I might be able to win..." I remarked and trailed off.

  Perhaps somewhere in that long, meandering discourse of mine, I would have admitted that I regretted some of the things we did. I regretted most of them, but I had buried all of it under my apathy, under the need to reclaim what was mine. I had already learnt that true evil is treated with indifference so why bother to try anything different than what I've been doing? There was obviously no repercussions.

  And yet when I saw her that first day and saw her reach that height of hopelessness, I wasn't sure how to respond. If it had been me in the past I would have simply told her to suck it up and get over it but there was something stopping me from saying that. I didn't want to displease her any more than she already was. Her sadness had a greater effect on me than her anger ever would.

  I laid the pieces down in front of her and waited for her to make her move. She seemed to stay silent, considering my words as she moved her pieces into place around me. I glanced at her with a furrowed brow and watched as she clicked her knight into place.