“The Glorious Leader! It’s the Shining Star,” some of the males in the group began to murmur excitedly. Their fawning response to the bastard who had taken them all captive made V want to vomit.
“The day you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived,” the GL announced. “The day you get your very own Forever Mate to do with as you wish for the rest of your lives.”
There was a ragged cheer from the assembled males—all but V of course—who stood apart from the others with his arms crossed over his chest and a blank look on his face.
“Now, let me walk you through the ceremony so you know exactly what to do,” the GL continued. “We want everything to go smoothly so you can take your brides home and breed them as soon as possible, right?”
Another cheer greeted these words and the GL smiled his white, politician’s smile and nodded as if in agreement with the assembled males.
“All right now. Firstly, the females we are giving you will be led down into the Amphitheater blindfolded and bound—this shows them and everyone in the audience that they are your property—they can’t go anywhere or do anything without your knowledge and consent, right?”
You mean your knowledge and consent, you bastard, V thought, hating the “Glorious Leader” even more.
He was making these assholes feel like they had some kind of power over the people he was telling them it was all right to abuse. He was using their own hate and misogyny to control them and make them feel powerful, even though in reality, they were stuck in the same place forever while he was in command.
And these idiots were eating it up.
“The Glorious Leader!” one of them shouted. “All hail the Glorious Leader!”
“Thank you, thank you!” The GL smiled and bowed his head modestly. “Now, as you all know, this will be your Forever Mate, you’re getting today. And as such, you’ll need to mark her.”
“Mark her?” one of the males asked. “How?”
“With this…” The GL snapped his fingers and one of the NeverBreeder guards put something in his hand. It looked like some kind of writing instrument, V thought, but when the “Glorious Leader” uncapped it, the tip of this “pen” glowed white-hot and the faint smell of burning drifted through the air.
“I’ll go through the vows with all of you and your new mates,” the GL was saying as they all stared at the glowing tip of the branding pen—which was essentially what it was, V thought. “Then you’ll sign your names in the flesh of your new female—right over her left breast, to show that you own her heart as well as her body—and that will conclude the ceremony.”
“No,” V said flatly.
“Excuse me?” The “Glorious Leader” raised his pure white eyebrows politely and looked at V as though he hadn’t quite understood.
“I said no. I’m not going to fucking brand some poor female for life just because your fucking sadistic ceremony calls for it,” V growled, glaring at the other male.
“Now, V’rex, my friend…” The GL smiled at him gently. “Signing your name to prove your ownership of the female I have chosen for you is a time-honored tradition here at the Compound! Why, the ceremony wouldn’t be the same without it. Every female breeder here bears a mark of ownership.”
“Well mine won’t because I’m not fucking doing it.” V glared at the other male, daring him to try something.
Go ahead and activate my pain square, you asshole, he thought. Don’t care how many volts you run through my body, you can’t make me brand a helpless female just to fulfill your stupid fucking ceremony!
He saw the “Glorious Leader’s” hand go to the side pocket of his pure white suit, where he was probably keeping the Master Control. But then he took his hand away and simply smiled at V.
“Well, V’rex my friend, if that’s the way you feel, then maybe I should give the female I picked for you to one of these other males instead,” he remarked in a calm, genial tone of voice.
“What?” V glared at him.
The bastard! He hadn’t expected this. He could tolerate the pain from the square attached to the side of his neck, but the idea of the little human female with her big brown eyes being given to another male was…well, that was intolerable.
V didn’t know why he felt so protective of her when they hadn’t spoken a single word to each other, but he didn’t want her hurt or abused in any way.
“I’m afraid if you can’t man up and bring yourself to do what’s necessary to mark your mate as your own, maybe she would be better off with a male who can,” The GL continued. “Maybe your friend, Skrug, here could use two mates instead of one.”
“Yeah! Two for me and none for V!” The Karsian’s red eyes glowed and his long dick, which hung down past the hem of the short grass skirts they’d all been forced to wear, twitched eagerly.
“No!” V felt the stirrings of Rage blooming inside him—something he’d never felt for any female before. It was the berserker fury that came over any male of Kindred descent who felt his female was being threatened. But he knew if he lost it now and tried to kill Skrug and the “Glorious Leader” he would only be taken down by the pain square…and he would lose his only chance to get his little female safely away from the other males.
Have to wait, he told himself. Wait until I have her and we can get away together!
“Well, if you don’t like the idea of another male taking your female, then I guess you’d better agree to mark her when the time comes.” The GL was still speaking in that offhand voice, the one that said he really didn’t care which way V decided—it was all the same to him.
In that moment, V vowed to kill him—vowed the “Shining Star” was going to die by his hands if it was the last thing V did.
But there was no chance of getting him now. And no chance of saving the girl unless he hurt her.
Hands clenched into angry fists at his sides, V gave a short nod.
“I’ll do it,” he said, tight-lipped with fury. “And nobody else fucking touches her!” he added, glaring at Skrug and then the other assembled males.
Several of them blanched and backed away from him, but the GL simply smiled and nodded.
“I knew you’d see it my way, my friend,” he said to V. “Now—places everyone! The Unification Ceremony is about to begin!”
Thirty
Somewhere between the Breeding and Conception Center and the public Amphitheater, a deep, steady drumbeat began.
BUM-ba-ba-ba-Bum-ba-ba-ba…
The sound freaked the blindfolded Penny out and she tripped over the unseen ground, causing the NeverBreeder guard who was walking beside her to drag her back up with a curse just before she fell.
“Now then, my sweetie, be careful,” Mother Toone said from her other side. “I know it’s difficult to know where you’re going with the blindfold on, but we’re leading you down a nice straight path, I promise.”
A nice straight path that leads directly to Hell! Penny thought grimly. Aloud she said,
“It was the, uh, drumming sound. It startled me—that’s all.”
“Oh, that’s just the Unification Music, my sweet,” Mother Toone reassured her. “For what’s a ceremony without music?”
The heavy drumbeats sounded like some kind of funeral march to Penny—much different from the light, lovely strains of Pachabell’s Canon she was used to hearing at the beginning of a wedding.
But then, this was no ordinary wedding. She was about to be given to a stranger for life—or at least until she could escape from this horrible Compound.
Because I’m still going to escape, Penny promised herself. I don’t care what he does to me—I won’t let him break me! I won’t let him stop me from getting out of here!
It was easy to say brave words to herself, but the reality of the drumbeat of doom, which echoed all around her from the Compound’s hidden loudspeaker system was undeniable. Before this day was over, she was going to be assaulted—probably more than once. And it was going to happen over and over until she could
get away.
Penny thought of the gray, hopeless tone of Claudette’s voice when she’d talked about being raped daily during the Mandatory Breeding Hour and told Penny she would “get used to it.” The Compound had broken Claudette’s spirit. She had given up any hope of ever getting out of here.
But I won’t let that happen to me, Penny swore to herself. I won’t give in to despair—no matter what the bastard they give me to does to me, I won’t let him break my spirit. I won’t—I won’t!
She was still vowing this to herself when they came to the steps of the Amphitheater and she felt the hands of the NeverBreeders on either side of her, guiding her downwards into the huge stone bowl.
The drumbeats were even louder in here—BUM-ba-ba-ba-Bum-ba-ba-ba-Bum… They almost drowned out the noise of the crowd assembled on the stone bleachers to watch the Unification Ceremony. But they couldn’t drown out the sound of Penny’s own panicked heartbeat, drumming in her ears as she slowly and blindly descended the steps.
Who was waiting for her at the end of this blind journey? Would he be cruel? Would he delight in ‘doing his duty’ and breeding her? Would he be rough? How much was it going to hurt?
A thousand questions filled her mind but there were no answers, just the steady beat of the drums, the murmur of the crowd, and the frantic pounding of her heart.
At last the steps came to an end and they were on level ground again. Penny was horribly aware of the way her breasts and pussy were on full display as she walked. The soft, spicy breeze tightened her nipples, which were wet with the sticky, slowly leaking nectar and she could feel the long grass strands tickling her thighs with each step as they framed her bare crotch.
God, it all was so horribly embarrassing. But at least she wasn’t the only one in this position, she reminded herself. All the other women were dressed exactly the same way she was for the Unification Ceremony. They—
Suddenly, they came to a stop.
“Now, here we are,” Mother Toone whispered in her ear. “You’re standing directly across from your Forever Mate, my sweetie. And oh, he’s a handsome one. I’ll leave you now, for the ceremony is about to begin.”
There was a soft sound of retreating footsteps and then the NeverBreeders on either side of her were gone and she was alone with her husband-to-be.
Heart pounding in her throat, Penny stood there, feeling horribly exposed and uncertain. Like many women, she had imagined her wedding day since she was a little girl.
But all she could think, as she stood there waiting to be given to a complete stranger, was that this wasn’t how her wedding was supposed to go at all…
Thirty-One
Penny couldn’t see the man across from her, but she swore that she could feel him. He seemed to radiate heat like a furnace because she could feel his warmth against the chilly, tight tips of her nipples, even though they weren’t touching.
That was about to change though.
“Brides, raise your hands,” someone called. It was the familiar voice of the “Glorious Leader.” Automatically, Penny obeyed, lifting her bound hands in front of her.
“Males, take your Forever Mate’s hands in yours,” the Glorious Leader instructed.
Warm, rough hands enfolded Penny’s. They were big—so big she felt like a child holding an adult’s hand at first. The size difference made her bite her lip. How huge was this male they were giving her to? Though all the breeders in the Compound were humanoid, they varied greatly in size and appearance. Was her “Forever Mate” some kind of alien giant?
“Now, brides,” the Glorious Leader continued. “Repeat after me—Forever Mate, I give you my hands, bound in submission, to show my obedience to you.”
Penny mumbled the words through numb lips, as the as-yet unseen man across from her continued to hold her hands lightly but firmly.
“I come to you blindfolded to show that I give my heart blindly, in perfect trust and perfect love,” the vows continued. Penny repeated them, her heart still beating in her throat.
“And now, males, if you will repeat after me,” the Glorious Leader continued. “Forever Mate, I accept your love, your trust, and your body as my own property to do with as I please.”
The man across from her rumbled the words in a voice so deep it seemed to vibrate Penny’s entire body. God, that voice had to be coming from a big chest, she thought and again she wondered,
How big is he?
“And now the first stage of the ceremony—the meeting—is complete,” the Glorious Leader said. “It is time for the second stage—the unveiling.” He raised his voice so that the assembled audience could hear him. “The male breeders will now remove the blindfolds from their female’s eyes so that they can look upon their Forever Mates for the first time!”
Oh my God, here it comes. I’m going to see him. I don’t want to see him—it will make it real if I see him!
Penny’s thoughts were a jumbled mess as one of the big hands holding hers drew away. She felt the warm brush of fingers at her temple, where the silk blindfold was tightest.
The man across from her tugged at the silk, lifting it away from her eyes but Penny didn’t want to look—didn’t want to see. She kept her own eyes tightly shut, refusing to face the reality in front of her.
All around her she heard gasps from the other girls as they finally caught sight of their Forever Mates. Shurla, who was apparently standing beside her, exclaimed,
“Well, aren’t you a big boy!” in obvious delight.
Still Penny wouldn’t open her eyes. To open her eyes and see the man who now “owned” her would make this whole nightmare situation—this sham of a wedding—real. And she didn’t want it to be real. She wanted to be back on the long-range shuttle with Rive and Y’lla, asleep in her own cabin on the way to Yown Beta where she belonged. She wanted to be back with Kat on the Mother Ship. She wanted to have never left Earth in the first place. She wanted—
The big warm hand cupped her chin and lifted her face gently but firmly.
“It’s all right, sweetheart,” his deep voice rumbled. “Open your eyes and look at me.”
The gentleness of his tone surprised Penny so much that she actually did as he said. She opened her eyes, blinking at first to get used to the light after being blindfolded so long.
But the moment she saw the male looming over her, her heart rate tripled and the cold hand of fear gripped her by the throat.
It was him.
Pale gold eyes that mirrored her face exactly looked down into hers. They were the same eyes she’d seen across the crowded Lucky Lounge bar back at Hell’s Gate Station, what seemed like a hundred years ago.
The eyes of a pirate—the eyes of an outlaw.
The eyes of the Hybrid Kindred/Kru’ell One she’d been warned about.
The eyes of V’rex—the man she’d been told to avoid at all costs. Somehow he was here, in the last place Penny had ever expected to see him.
And now he owned her.
Thirty-Two
V could feel her terror the moment she saw him. A full blooded Kru’ell One would have known exactly what she was thinking, but he only felt emotions when he was touching or very near a female he wanted. And Gods, how he wanted this little one! Though he didn’t even know her name, he wanted her.
But she clearly didn’t want him. As V stared into her big brown eyes, her terror spiked so sharply that it nearly overloaded her system. He felt her start to faint and had to act quickly to hold her up before she could drop to the hard stone of the Amphitheater floor.
Gathering her close, he held her small, curvy body to his, trying not to notice the full, firm weight of her large breasts—much larger than when he’d first seen her in the Lucky Lounge—pressing against his chest.
Gods, she smelled so sweet and ripe! V couldn’t help dropping his head to sniff at her long, chestnut hair. A devastatingly feminine scent rose from her silky tresses making him want her even more.
The full body contact seemed to revive the l
ittle female somewhat because she looked up at him, her eyes still filled with terror and whispered,
“You’re him!”
“Easy, sweetheart.” He looked down at her anxiously. She was so small—so frail—and the fear and anxiety she was feeling had her nearly hyperventilating as she pulled quickly away from him.
“You…you can’t…you don’t touch me!” she gasped, which drew some disapproving glances from both the “Glorious Leader” and the NeverBreeders who were still standing at a slight distance, watching the ceremony.
V wished he could tell her that she didn’t have to be afraid because he wouldn’t hurt her, but that was a lie, wasn’t it? Later in the ceremony he was going to be forced to burn his name into her chest with the damned branding pen.
Gods—just the thought of marring her smooth, creamy flesh made him cringe inside. But he couldn’t do anything about it—he could only continue with the ceremony and hope she would let him heal her afterwards, when they were finally alone.
In the meantime, the show must go on.
“I have to touch you,” he told her. “That’s part of it.”
He reached for her hands. She wouldn’t give them to him at first, crossing her arms tightly over her full breasts and shaking her head.
V frowned. Damn, had their single encounter back in the Lucky Lounge really spooked her that much? She was looking at him like he was the Cruel Father himself coming to take her soul to the Seven Hells!
Unfortunately, her refusal had drawn the attention and disapproval of the “Glorious Leader” himself.
“V’rex, my friend,” he said to V pleasantly, but with a look of warning in his pale blue eyes. “If you cannot control your female, it’s not too late for me to give her to another male.”
Stolen: Brides of the Kindred 25 Page 15