by Roxie Ray
“I think you should leave.” Bree-ah rose from her chair and pointed me to the door. “This is my room now, isn’t it?”
“It is,” I said, giving her a slow, steady nod as I rose to my feet as well. It was wrong of me to snap at her. I should have controlled myself better than that. But before I could leave as she wished, something cruel flashed in me. My own rage—my worst quality—from being ordered around by this ridiculous female would not be ignored. “But I am General Kloran Dyoval of High House Dyoval. I go where I please. I am captain of this ship, am I not?”
“Oh, yes.” She folded her arms across her chest. “You won’t stop reminding me.”
“I would stop if you ever showed any intention of learning your place, vringna!”
“I am not a vur-reengh-nya! And I’m not a slave either, you bazterd.” Defiantly, she pointed me to the door again. “Leave!”
Gripping the table in my fists, I shoved it aside and strode toward her. My body loomed over hers, so much taller, broader, stronger. She was soft. Delicate. Fiery, yes, but far, far weaker than me. I was her superior, and she, my guest here. Slave or not, she would do well to learn manners—especially if she was to bear my cubs someday. Someday soon, if I had my way.
A breath of hot fury left my nostrils. She let one out in kind. But unlike me, she was shaking. The spice of her anger was mixed with sourness of her fear again, and the longer I loomed over her, the more the sourness overtook the scent emanating from her skin.
Blood. I had overstepped again. Lost my temper. Caused her distress. All of which I had wanted to avoid now that I had some understanding of what she had been through.
None of which would help me in winning her affections so she would warm to my will and offer herself to me in the way I so desired.
“I…I will go, then.” My anger was still raging within me, but I could not linger any further if I was causing her so much fear. I had told her that I would protect her, and I had meant it. If she was afraid of me, though, that would not be a promise that she could come to believe. But as I paused at the doorway, I allowed myself the final word. “But in the future, Bree-ah, you would learn well to obey me. I will not be ordered around on my own ship.”
I left her room in a fury. Normally, anger felt satisfying to me. But with Bree-ah…it was not quite so. As my temper abated, I found the space it left in my chest quickly filled with shame once more.
She would not want to mate with me if I kept terrifying her like that. The only relief I had as I stormed down the hall was that no longer being in the same room as her had at least relaxed the stiffness she had been summoning up in my cock. If I’d gotten any harder while sitting there watching her eat, it would have stretched the fabric of my breeches to ruin.
“Rough day, General?” Leonix asked, catching me as I passed her by.
“You have no idea,” I said. “No idea at all.”
“The human…is she well again?” Leonix’s concern for Bree-ah was kind, but unnecessary.
“Oh, she is well. Called me bazterd again.” My brow crinkled. “I wish I knew what it meant.”
Leonix let out a chuckle. “I’m sure you will learn in time. You will not win her over if you continue acting like a Rutharian to her, though. She has a kind heart. I doubt our little human’s anger toward you came unprovoked.”
“I was not acting like a Rutharian.” A lie—to Bree-ah, I was certain that was exactly how she saw me. Quick to anger, quick to bellow. Ruthless and cruel. Perhaps, in that at least, she had been right.
“The humans have a quotation, you know. ‘You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.’” Leonix followed me as I continued to make my way down the hall.
“I am not attempting to catch flies.” It was a ridiculous saying in every conceivable way. “And I did not feed her vinegar. I fed her steak.”
“It means you ought to be kind to her instead of yelling and slamming your fist into things any time she displeases you. If you wish for her to mate with you, as I highly suspect you do—”
I waved Leonix’s notion away. She was not wrong—but it was wrong of me to have wanted that in the first place.
“I cannot mate with her, regardless. You know I am promised to Dianella. My mate has already been chosen for me. Thankfully, she is not a ridiculous, insubordinate human.”
Leonix made as sound of amusement. At my expense, too.
“What amuses you so, Lieutenant?” I knew I might as well ask. She obviously wanted me to.
“Your parents never signed that contract, Kloran. Dianella’s did not either. It is a spoken agreement, of course, but then you left with the rest of us to procure the breeding slaves after the high council’s vote and—” She gave me a confused look. “How do you not know of this? Surely they told you.”
I stopped abruptly. The contract had never been signed? But that meant…
“You speak honestly, Leonix? This is not some silly trick of yours?”
“As honest as the moon is high, General.”
I raked my fingers through the silver of my hair. If the contract had not been signed, then I had no official obligation to Dianella. My betrothed might have been promised to me verbally, but legally…
Legally, I was free to pursue whomever I saw fit.
“I must consider this,” I said in parting and turned sharply down the hall to my own quarters.
Cackling, Leonix called after me, “Perhaps try to consider it without your hand around your cock, General!”
Normally, her joke would have only infuriated me further. Instead, I was able to brush it off with ease. My mind was filled with other things, and most of all, with hope.
My parents would be livid, of course, if I were to claim Bree-ah instead of returning home to honor their agreement with Dianella’s parents. But I did not desire Dianella, who was not of age yet anyway. And Bree-ah…Bree-ah, I desired greatly.
I was a prince of Lunaria, yes, but I was also maker of my own path. I only needed to speak with them to confirm that what Leonix had told me was true.
And if it was…
Then the only thing stopping me from making Bree-ah mine was Bree-ah herself.
In my quarters, I sat down at my personal controls for the ship and sent a call out to my parents on the telecommunications screen.
The first to appear on screen upon answering was my mother. She was dressed in Lunarian finery, with precious metals strung through her elaborate hairstyle and around her neck.
“Oh, Kloran! It has been too long since we have heard from you, my dearest one.” Mother leaned forward to make a kiss at the screen. But as she drew back, her lips turned downward. “You look tired, my love. You would do well to get more sleep.”
“I’m working on it,” I assured her. “Is fath—”
Before I could finish, my father leaned into the camera. He was far too close and did not seem to know where to look. I could only see the side of his head, which eclipsed my view of Mother completely.
“Hello, son!” He shouted his words as though he was trying to shout across the void of space. “Your mother and I were just getting ready for the harvest feast! How are you?”
I placed my face in my hand. The telecommunications screens were a product of my generation, not his. When he was my age, he’d simply needed to stand in the center of a hologram pad to communicate over such long distances. This new technology was still growing on him—though I had tried to teach it to him hundreds of times before.
“Father, please sit next to mother, I cannot see her when your face is so close to the screen. And stop shouting—I can hear you perfectly well when you speak with a normal tone.” I waited until my father did as I had asked—grumbling the whole time about this cursed new technology, of course, until I broke the news to them. “I believe I have found a solution to the Lunarian breeding issue.”
My mother’s lips fell open into a tall O of surprise, and my father clapped his hands together joyfully.
“You’ve done it
, son!” Father shouted. He obviously had no intention of lowering his voice at all. “You’ve finally done it!”
“We are so proud of you, Kloran. What species was it, in the end? Not the Rutharians, surely.” Mother, at least, was able to maintain her composure on the call.
“No, not the Rutharians. We’ve encountered a new species, one that is…still rare in the slave trade.” It was a lie, but only a small one. The larger lie had already been told. I did not know that Bree-ah would be able to become pregnant with my child if I spilled my seed within her. But I wanted her so badly…a man could hope.
Besides, I needed them joyful. It would make it easier when I asked my next question—the one that I knew would enrage them both.
“These humans are rare, you say? You will have to bid cleverly, then.” My mother clucked her tongue in annoyance. “We will need every one of them you are able to track down.”
“Are these humans an attractive species, Kloran? You know that all of the warriors here on Lunaria will be eager to know!” My father leaned into the camera again, once again blocking Mother from view. But even as he tried to whisper, he was still shouting. “Tell me about their breeding holes! Do they have—”
Father’s inappropriate line of questioning was broken by a yelp. The top of his head was just out of frame, but I had good reason to believe Mother had just hit him with her hand fan.
“We only have one female human aboard presently, but they, ah…these humans cannot be impregnated by the usual means.” I cleared my throat. This was an awkward conversation to be having with one’s parents, but it was a necessary one. “They must be mated with in the, ah…in the traditional way.”
“Kloran!” Mother looked scandalized. “You know that is against the laws set by the commission. If we were to be caught—”
“I know, Mother. But it is our best chance. Perhaps, even, our only chance.”
Mother and Father exchanged a grim glance, then Mother nodded.
“If it can be no other way, then we must.” She arched a brow. “Does the human female find these terms to be…agreeable?”
“I believe she will, yes.” Another lie. But what was one more added to the pile at this point?
“Then you must select your strongest warrior,” Mother said. “Or, if she finds it more agreeable, perhaps she should select one herself. Then—”
I held up a hand to stop her.
“I wish to be the one who mates with her. We have an…ongoing friendship.” Lie. “She has yet to have contact with any other male aboard the ship. I believe she will be most agreeable if I am the one who impregnates her with my cub.” Lie. But again—it was a lie built on a hope.
There was a long silence, one that was palpably heavy despite the great distance between us.
Then, Mother scowled.
“Absolutely not. You have an oath to uphold, Kloran! Get one of your warriors to befriend the woman instead—then come home. Immediately. That is an order.”
“Is it? Because from what I understand, your oath is naught but words. You made it when I was but a child, when Dianella was only a babe in her mother’s womb. The contract, from what I have heard, was never even signed.”
At that, Mother stiffened—then she unleashed a string of curses even my warriors would blush at the sound of.
It was all the confirmation I needed.
“Glad to hear it,” I said. I was able to control the joy in my voice and was grateful that they could not smell it in the air. Like citrus fruits, tangy and bright. “Thank you, Mother. Father. That was all I needed to know.”
“You had best hope that your human female gives you a dozen cubs, Kloran. After this betrayal, if she does not, you will be making it up for the rest of your life.”
“I am sure she will, Mother. Enjoy your evening.”
She was right, of course. I knew it even as I ended the call.
I was putting my entire reputation on Lunaria on the line to sate the desire I had for Bree-ah. But as I called to mind again the shape of her hips, the way her breasts pulled at the sides of even the drabbest of clothing, large and full…
I knew it was a risk that I was more than happy to take.
10
Bria
After I returned what was left of our meals to the food articulator, my hands finally stopped shaking. So that was a plus.
Another plus: at least now I knew where I stood on my Kloran feelings from earlier.
I just couldn’t let myself be alone with General Kloran anymore.
The man was rude. Domineering. Everything I’d hated in my ex-husband and everything I’d sworn to myself I’d never have to endure again. He was clearly the alien equivalent of a narcissist. I knew exactly what that could do to a person. What it could turn them into.
I wanted no part of it. One minute he was buttery sweet, sure, but he was screaming and ranting the next. Blaming me for his outbursts. He had the emotional control of a toddler. Worse than a toddler. The little tantrum he’d just put on display over the sounds I was making as I enjoyed the first real food I’d had since I was abducted was the last of his nonsense I was going to endure.
He was hot, sure. When he was being nice, he was even a little dreamy. But I’d already married one psychopathic chronic abuser. I wasn’t about to put up with another.
Sighing, I moved to the bathroom and stripped off my hospital gown. Leonix had promised there’d be clean clothes for me in the bedroom closet. As long as they even sort of fit me, I knew I’d be more comfortable in them than this thin shift I’d been wearing.
In the bathroom cabinet, I found something that looked like a miniature toilet brush that I could only assume was used for cleaning teeth. At least, I hoped it was for cleaning teeth—because along with a tube of black paste that smelled faintly of pine, that’s what I used it for. Even just scrubbing the taste of that steak out of my mouth made me feel better.
Now I just needed to hop in the shower to scrub the memory of Kloran’s warm hands from my skin, too. The searing hot water, as painful as it was at first, was at least good for that. It still kind of amazed me how much better my bad shoulder felt when I showered here. Back home, on the worst days, the burned skin there was so taut and stiff that I had to just take a painkiller and hope that it kicked in. But here…maybe it was the salt in the shower water, some mixture of alien minerals that I didn’t understand.
I bet if I told Leonix that Kloran had yelled at me, she’d bottle some up for me to take home. Kloran’s attitude was all over the place, but Leonix struck me as kinder. She was a tough nut to crack, but at least she hadn’t screamed at me yet.
With Kloran out of the picture, I might even be able to spend the rest of my time here without any more screaming at all. I wrapped a towel snugly around my body after I dried off and smiled at that idea. I had my own little apartment here now. The food articulator wasn’t perfect, but as long as I was specific with it about what I wanted, it would keep me fed. If I played my cards right, I wouldn’t have to leave my room at all.
The only trouble left on the horizon was what I would do when I finally had to leave the ship, but I was sure I’d figure something out. They said they’d return me to Earth, but they didn’t have to return me to the sectors. I could go to somewhere overseas instead, maybe. Apply for refugee status—people who escaped the sectors, I’d heard, were often granted it, though there was no way to be sure.
It was a gamble I’d have to make, though. I could rebuild my life somewhere new. A fresh start, far away from Michael and even farther away from Kloran.
At least, that was what I thought until I walked into my new bedroom to find him sprawled out across my bed, looking as comfortable as anyone had ever been.
A scream echoed through the room. It took me a second to realize that this time, I was the one screaming.
“Out,” I ordered him when I regained my composure. “Get out! Or have you already forgotten how I asked you to leave, what—less than an hour ago?”
&
nbsp; “I am a persistent man, Bree-ah. Especially when it comes to something I want. You will quickly come to know this about me, I hope.”
I wanted to point him to the door again, but when I moved my arm to, my towel started to slip. Oh, no. It was already mortifying enough standing here with dripping hair and dressed in nothing more than a thin black towel while Kloran stared at me from the bed. The last thing I needed was to suddenly be naked in front of him.
I clutched at the towel, pulling it even tighter around me.
“Where I come from, this kind of persistence is just…creepy. Remember that word?”
He chuckled, unfazed. “Yes. I am a quick learner as well, Bree-ah. I apologize for being…cree-pee, as you have said. I only wished to…to speak with you again.”
His eyes raked over my body, taking in every inch of me. Suddenly, the towel might as well have been on the floor. His gaze was so intense, I felt like he could see right through the thin fabric. Kloran wasn’t looking at me like talking was exactly the thing he had on his mind.
Especially when it comes to something I want. His words wrapped around my brain as my body reacted to his stare. Shivers. Goosebumps. But I wasn’t cold. The same heat I’d felt earlier was coursing through my veins again, unfurling within me and making my body ache in a brand new, entirely unknown way.
And that was just from a look.
“Talk, then. Say your piece…then get out.” I couldn’t meet his eyes. The color in them was shifting in a way I found far too fascinating. The purple in them was deepening by the second, until they weren’t purple at all anymore.
Now, they were a dark, rich midnight blue.
“I should not have lost my temper with you earlier, Bree-ah. You…the sounds you were making, they were stirring something in me. Something that I desperately wanted to act on, though I knew I could not. I feared you would find it…cree-pee, as well.”
“You…that’s fine. Apology accepted.” Oh, crap. He’d yelled at me because he wanted me. I’d already clocked that he wasn’t a man who was very good at hiding his emotions. Michael hadn’t been, either.