Punished

by Tana Stone

  No, I didn’t need someone to feel sorry for me. Not now. I hadn’t been lying when I’d told Corvak that it wasn’t over. I wasn’t going to give up so easily. Not when he was the first creature to set foot on the planet who knew anything about warfare or fighting. I finally had a chance to learn how to do something I was good at, and I wasn’t going to lose it. I just had to figure out how to convince the Vandar that he was wrong about me.

  I let out a slow breath and sank onto the couch, remembering the cold look in his eyes when he’d told me to go. It was going to take something serious to convince him.

  An idea teased the corner of my brain, but it made my pulse race just thinking about it. I eyed the half-empty bottle of fermented algae on the coffee table. Lifting it to my lips, I took a reluctant swig, grimacing at the taste but welcoming the burn in my belly.

  I was going to need all the liquid courage I could get.

  Chapter Five

  Ch 5

  Corvak

  I watched the female stomp out of the amphitheater with a knot in my belly. Sienna. The female who’d fought better than any male in the group, and stood up to me, was called Sienna.

  “Return to your sparring,” I bellowed, spinning on my heel and the leather of my battle kilt slapping against my thighs. “We are not finished yet.”

  The pairs resumed grappling, but after seeing Sienna fight, it was almost painful to watch the weak efforts of the others. Even the male who claimed to be engaged to her, Donal, was nowhere near as quick or as graceful.

  I thought back to the female’s deft moves against me and then to how her body had felt under mine. The instantaneous sense I’d had as soon as I’d pinned her. My tail snapped behind me and my cock twitched, and I clasped my hands in front of myself to keep it from rising. The last thing I needed was to get aroused in an arena filled with human and Kimitherian males.

  No, the last thing you need is a complication with a female.

  I grunted as I reminded myself why I was exiled to the alien planet in the first place. It had been a human female who had caused all the problems on my horde ship. I’d disdained my fellow Vandar when they’d taken human females to their beds. It had done nothing but weaken them and the horde. So why did I feel drawn to this female?

  I strode between the males as they battled with each other, offering corrections and suggestions to improve their stance or their grip. When the group was panting from exertion, their movements sluggish and clumsy, I clapped my hands to get their attention.

  “That is all for today. You have progressed well. We will continue tomorrow.”

  They nodded and muttered thanks as they left the amphitheater, dragging their feet beneath their cloaks. Only Donal remained behind, coming up to me when everyone else had left.

  “I’m sorry about that mess with Sienna.” He gave me a familiar grin. “You know how it is with women.”

  “Unless she is a pleasurer, I do not know.”

  His eyes widened a bit. “A pleasurer? You mean a whore?” He shook his head with vigor. “No, she’s definitely not one of those. She won’t even give it up to me and, believe me, I’ve tried.”

  He gave me another grin, which I didn’t return. I did not understand a male who could not convince a female to warm his bed, especially one he intended to be his mate.

  “So you’ve visited a,” he hesitated over the word, “pleasurer before?”

  “Pleasure planets are common stops for Vandar hordes.” I started walking toward the exit, not waiting to see if he followed. “Females are not allowed on our horde ships. Usually.”

  Donal ran to catch up. “You probably noticed by now that we don’t have any pleasurers on Kimithion III. When humans came to the planet as settlers and mixed with the natives, we had to agree to a morality clause. The only relationships between males and females can be through marriage. And our species can’t intermarry. It wouldn’t work mating-wise, anyway.”

  I glanced down at him. “Your planet has morality rules that you have tried to defy by bedding the female despite her protests?”

  He stammered and coughed, glancing around even though there was no one close enough to hear. “Everyone knows males have needs, right?”

  “My needs have never involved an unwilling female.”

  His face reddened, his eyes hardening for a moment. “She’s just playing hard to get. It’s a game. She’ll accept me. Everyone here marries.”

  “Everyone on your planet is in mated pairs?” Although Vandar believed in taking mates—and there was one fated mate for each Vandar—we were not restrictive regarding sex. Vandar did not view sex—or enjoying any form of it—as immoral, and it was common to have many partners before finding your one true mate. As a male who’d enjoyed my fair share of exotic alien pleasurers, the idea of the only relationship being marriage seemed choking.

  “The ones who’ve reached maturity. That’s why I know Sienna will come around eventually.” He swiped a hand across his sweaty forehead. “What other option does she have? Stay unmarried and unmated for her entire life?”

  Considering how long the residents of the planet lived, that did seem like a grim fate.

  “There must be more eager females,” I said to him, as we passed through the arched entrance to the amphitheater and headed toward the village square. The scent of saltwater and fish wafted up from the shores of the shallows, making my nose twitch.

  Donal waved a hand. “She’s just playing hard to get. It’s part of our dance.”

  I looked at him askance. “If you say so.”

  “Besides,” Donal dropped his voice as we approached a group of people walking toward us. “Sienna would be a fool to reject a match with me, especially considering her family and her lousy job. She should be grateful I would consider marrying a female who is content doing inventory for the supply chief.”

  I slowed my pace as I mentally noted that Sienna worked with the department that handled incoming off-world supplies. “What is wrong with her family?”

  He twitched one shoulder. “Her mother died when her younger sister was born, and her father never got over it. He spends most of his time drinking their money away. Sienna got to be so scrappy because she fights anyone who says anything bad about her father or sister.” He chuckled. “She even punched me in the nose once for saying her sister was as doughy as her yeast rolls.”

  I was liking this human less and less. “Maybe that is why she doesn’t wish to marry you.”

  “That was forever ago. Besides, if she rejected everyone who ever said something about her family, there would be no one left on the planet.”

  We reached the obelisk in the center of the village, and I stopped. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Just so you don’t feel bad about kicking her from your training. She should know better than to do the things she does, but she does them anyway.” He shook his head as if he was talking about a naughty child. “Her temper is something I’ll teach her to control once we’re married.”

  Good luck with that, I thought. I would have bet good money that Sienna would never tame her temper or marry this weak man.

  I flicked my gaze over him. “Let’s hope the rest of the males in the training improve quickly, or your planet is in real trouble. She remains the best fighter I saw today.”

  With that, I turned and strode through the square and started up the winding stone path cut into the mountain. For some reason, the man’s words about Sienna had gotten under my skin. I might have just met the woman, but I didn’t like how Donal talked about her, or how he’d attempted to claim her as his, despite her obvious distaste for him. It flared a possessive streak in me that made no sense.

  I stomped my boots as I walked, my head down, even though the sun was also lower and no longer glinting in my eyes. Why did I care if Donal wanted to lay claim to Sienna? I was a newcomer on the planet and didn’t understand their ways. Maybe he was right, and she would be foolish to reject him.

  But maybe she doesn�
��t care, I thought. The woman who’d been brave enough to pretend to be a male so she could learn to fight would not bow to rigid customs. It was clear she was a rebel, and as a member of a species who’d spent millennia rebeling against the rule of the empire, I admired her spirit. My heart beat faster as I remembered the feel of her hips as I held her. It had been the curve of her flesh that was softer than any man’s hip that had tipped me off that she was no male.

  I ignored the flush of pleasure the memory provoked. It didn’t matter that she had a spirit I admired, or that she was the best fighter I’d seen. I couldn’t go against the planet’s traditions if I was to live among its community—which meant I couldn’t let Sienna in the training, and I definitely couldn’t wonder what her hair would look like when it wasn’t pulled up high, or what it would be like to peel her snug-fitting clothes off her body.

  I growled low and sidestepped to avoid running over a pair of native Kimitherians walking toward me as they chattered in their native tongue. “Sorry.”

  My gruff apology sent them scurrying away even faster. Great. The villagers were clearly scared of me, and the intense training session I’d subjected the males to wouldn’t do much to improve my reputation. I pushed open the door to my dwelling and stormed inside. I tugged off my boots, took off my wide belt, and propped my battle axe by the door before collapsing onto the stiff couch and huffing out a breath.

  At least I was finally alone. All I wanted to do was have something to eat and collapse into bed. “And if I’m lucky, I’ll wake up and discover this has all been a horrible nightmare.”

  I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. That was when I heard it.

  My eyes flew open. I was not alone.

  Chapter Six

  Ch 6

  Sienna

  As soon as he barreled into his dwelling and started to undress, I knew I’d made a huge mistake. The fermented algae drink that I’d gulped down at home was starting to wear off, and the liquid courage that had convinced me to sneak into his dwelling was now morphing into full-fledged panic.

  I rubbed my head and attempted to quiet my breath. What had I been thinking? How could I have possibly thought that crawling through Corvak’s window and lying in wait for him to return was a good idea?

  When he unhooked his wide belt and let it fall to the floor, I squeezed my eyes shut. If he dropped his kilt, he’d be naked, and then I might legitimately pass out—and not only because I’d drunk way too much.

  It had all made sense when I’d been at home swigging down the bitter dregs of the liquor my father had left behind. As the warmth had spread through my body, sending tingles down my arms and making my lips go numb, the plan had seemed foolproof. All I needed to do was get some one-on-one time with the Vandar. That way I could convince him to teach me without Donal interrupting and making me look bad. I could also explain about Donal and how delusional he was. For some reason, I hated the idea of the Vandar thinking I was promised to the man.

  All I needed to do was sneak into Corvak’s dwelling and wait for him to get home. Then I could have a rational conversation with him and fully explain why I should learn to fight and why he should be the one to teach me. Once he’d heard my arguments, he’d be sure to agree with me. At least that had been what my booze-addled brain had thought before I’d been standing flattened to the wall of his short hallway and wishing I was anywhere else.

  When Corvak flopped down on the couch, I opened one eye. He was facing away from me, and I could see his thick thighs bulging out between the leather strips of his skirt as he stretched his long legs out in front of him. At least he was still wearing something. He tipped his own head back and closed his eyes.

  This was it. My chance to escape without being seen. I cut my eyes to the window I’d entered from. All he’d have to do would be glance to the side to spot me, but maybe if I was extremely stealthy, I could crawl out without him waking.

  I let out a small sigh, which I immediately regretted.

  The Vandar raider’s eyes popped open, and his entire body tensed.

  No no no no no no no. I held my breath and pressed my body even harder into the wall and the shadows of the hallway. Fear had sharpened my mind and banished any remnants of my buzz, my heart hammering so loudly in my chest I was sure he could hear it from where he sat.

  Before I could risk taking a breath, Corvak leapt to his feet, moving with the grace and speed of a predator and vaulting over the back of the couch in a single, smooth movement. Within moments, he’d reached me and flipped me around so that my face was pressed into the wall and my arms were pinned over my head. His huge body held mine in place, his mouth to my ear.

  “Who are you?” He bit out the words. “What are you doing here?”

  I’d had the wind knocked from me when he’d slammed himself against may body, so I sucked in a shaky breath. “It’s me. Sienna. From the training.”

  The pressure on my hands relaxed as he stepped back and spun me around to face him. He kept my hands over my head and his arms braced over me holding them. His dark eyes were wild, and he looked every bit the terrifying raider he was supposed to be.

  “What are you doing in my quarters?”

  I strained against his grip, but he was too strong. “If you let me go, it might be easier to have a conversation.”

  He didn’t make a move to release me. “If you truly wanted a conversation, why were you waiting for me like a thief?”

  I jerked in his grasp, thrashing where I stood. “I’m not a thief!”

  “An assassin then?” He eyed me warily. “Maybe you came to punish me for not allowing you to train with the group?”

  I stopped my fruitless struggling and tilted my head at him. “Why would I kill the one person who can teach me to fight?”

  He didn’t look convinced by my words, his full lips pressed together, and his brow furrowed. Even though his face looked even more menacing in the shadows of the hallway, I had an urge to touch him and run my finger down the scar slashing his cheek. But I had a stronger urge to punch him in the gut.

  I jerked my gaze back to his. “If I came here to kill you, where is my weapon?” I pinned him with a sharp look. “Even I’m not cocky enough to think I could kill a Vandar with my bare hands.”

  He shifted his hold on my wrists to one of his large hands, using the other to move deftly down my body. His fingers skimmed down each arm and then across my breasts and stomach.

  I bucked against him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Searching you for weapons.” His voice was a dark purr, as his hand slid around my back and down the curve of my ass. “Spread your legs.”

  My breath caught in my throat. “What? No.” I glanced down. “Even your arm isn’t that long. Trust me. I don’t have any weapons strapped to my legs.”

  “I don’t plan to use my arm, and I do not trust you.”

  When I felt something move up the outside of my calf, unwanted shivers of pleasure made me twitch. He was feeling me up with the tip of his tail. I bit my bottom lip to keep from moaning as his tail slipped between my legs and moved higher. His eyes were pools of darkness, his gaze never leaving mine as his tail slid over my body and finally coiled around my waist.

  I released the breath I’d been holding. “I told you I wasn’t armed. I didn’t come to kill you. I came to talk to you.”

  His eyes held me for a moment longer before he dropped my wrists and stepped back, although his tail remained around my waist, keeping me from moving away from the wall. “I wasn’t aware we had anything more to discuss.”

  Now that he wasn’t on top of me, it was easier to breathe, and my heart wasn’t beating like a tripwire. It would be a lie to say that my pulse had stopped fluttering at the sight of the massive Vandar looming over me, black marks etched across the hard swell of his chest muscles. But then the indignation I’d felt after he’d kicked me from the training flashed fresh in my mind. “You know I was the best fighter out there today.”
/>   “I never said you weren’t.”

  I rubbed at my wrists, the skin still buzzing from the heat of his flesh against mine. “Then why won’t you train me? I thought the Vandar were all about being the best warriors in the galaxy. Well, I’m the best. At least, on Kimithion III.”

  “But your planet doesn’t allow females to fight. I would be going against the code if I allowed you in the training.” He scraped a hand through his long hair. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I’m a guest on your planet. And not a very welcome one.”

  For the first time I thought about what it must be like for him when all the villagers stared at him or moved away when he approached. I knew what it was like to feel like you didn’t belong. “I’m glad you’re here. You’re the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to our planet.”

  He choked back a rough laugh. “Then I feel sorry for your planet.”

  “You should. Nothing ever changes here. We might live forever, but we’re stuck in a backwards existence where everyone has certain roles and no one can ever do anything different or be anything that’s unexpected, and we can never leave.”

  Something flickered behind his eyes. “I’m not sure what you think I can do about that.”

  My shoulders slumped. “Nothing. I don’t expect you to do anything about it. I know you can’t. You may be a badass Vandar warrior, but you’re not magic.”

  The corners of his mouth quirked up. “Thank you, I think.”

  “All I’m asking is that you teach me to fight. I know I’m good at it. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been truly good at. It’s the only thing I’ve ever loved doing.”

  He angled his head at me. “You love fighting?”

  I nodded. “When I’m fighting it feels like the world slows down, and it’s just the beating of my heart and the movements of my body. It’s like some kind of outside force takes over, and I instinctively know what to do.”