One without her. He had declared his heartfelt love. She refused to believe it was part of the game, part of the dream. It had been real! Ronan was real. He would live forever, if only in her heart and memory. She knew with certainty that if he could have come, he would have. He must have been thwarted in his plans. Perhaps even now he was doomed somewhere, shackled in an Erosian dungeon, helpless and alone. She gave a little cry at the thought. “Ronan,” she whispered, “my poor love.”
A series of sounds erupted from her control panel, indicating that she needed to enter necessary data regarding her coordinates and flight plan. Sighing heavily, she set her course, entering the necessary codes to activate the programs. She sat back, half expecting Ronan to come bursting into the ship. As permission to liftoff flickered across 52
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her screen, she finally lost all hope. The spacecraft lifted into the atmosphere and then broke free from it, casting her like a floating bottle in the sea, adrift from what she held dear down below.
She fell into a doze, as daydreams of Ronan eased a little of the ache in her heart. When she awoke, she realized she must still be dreaming because the sound of his little flute echoed in the chambers of the ship.
It was a tune she hadn’t heard before. More merry and open than the other tunes he had played. She wanted to stay in this half-sleep, to keep the sound of the music in her head, even if it were only an echo of something lost forever. Aria snapped fully awake, as the flute grew louder. She shook her head, saying aloud, “What? What is that?” Before she could even articulate what might be, her heart leapt up, soaring and doing loop de loops of sheer joy inside of her. Her mind said no, impossible, but her spirit only laughed.
He had kept his promise!
She stepped into the sleep chamber and there he sat, as big as life, as human as she. He was sitting cross-legged on her bed, shirtless, in his white linen pants. When she entered, he grinned, dropping the flute and standing, his arms open to her. Aria gave a delighted squeal, hurling herself unceremoniously into his arms. They held each other tightly for several moments and then Aria began punching Ronan in the chest. “You bastard!” she said, her voice at once playful and angry. “How could you let me take off thinking I’d lost you? What a horrible thing to do!”
Gently Ronan grabbed her fists, bringing them to his lips, kissing each whitened knuckle. “It was horrible, and I died a thousands deaths, hearing your cries, my love. I had to do it. Because I knew they would have lifted your mind block upon your entry to your ship. That’s standard protocol—you only leave with what you came with and a mind block affects the molecular structure of your brain. If you knew I was here, you’d have given us away. We would not have made our escape, my love.”
As Aria absorbed this new information, she stared up at her lover with widening eyes. The full impact of what he had done finally hit her. He had come for her, as he had promised. “Ronan,” she breathed, hardly daring to move, in case this was a dream, or a mirage, or a horrible joke her bruised psyche was playing on her.
“Aria,” he answered. In those single words, they each conveyed the depths of their love. No more words were necessary as he took her in his arms. Slowly they rocked together as Aria’s little ship hurtled into space.
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Claire Thompson
Chapter Eleven
“How’d you get in here? I have all the latest security devices.”
“Oh, that was fairly simple,” Ronan said with a small wave of his hand. “I assumed your form, just for a moment, so I could access the palm scanner.”
“Huh,” Aria wasn’t sure she liked that, but she was too curious about the rest of his story to dwell on it. “But how did you do it? How did you get away?” When Aria was finally able to tear herself out of his arms, they snuggled happily on the bed, his strong arm around her, she resting her cheek on his bare chest.
“And how,” she said, sitting up suddenly on her elbow, “did you escape thought detection on board my ship? I thought they tracked your every move.”
“I don’t exist anymore. I disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” Aria’s confusion showed in her face.
“I’ll explain it all, my love.” He paused, kissing Aria’s little upturned nose and then each of her eyelids. She kissed him back, grinning, but then said playfully, “Focus, man!
Focus!”
“Well,” he said, “When they took me away from you, I was reassigned to one of the central processing units. A computer lab really, where many of the personal records are kept on the population. Since I’d applied for the transfer before you came, they were less suspicious. I was told that I was removed from the last assignment because they feared I was being contaminated by the human elements in my brain.
“It seems I was far too susceptible to those elements. I was in fact ‘becoming human’ in some ways, which, and please take no offense, is repugnant to the Erosian way of thinking. I’m sure you’re familiar with the ethnocentricity of many planets. It’s a common conceit and one that I fear my people share. We assume we are the standard by which other cultures must be measured. We fail to take into account the beautiful and unique aspects of every culture.
“But they were right, you know. I was becoming too human. And the only part they missed, because it would never occur to them to look for it, is that I liked it! I find myself more at home in my human form than I ever did as an Erosian. But of course, this would be entirely unacceptable to the Elders. My brain would be scrubbed. If they were to understand how deep was my affinity for things human, how profound my love for you, they would have essentially ‘erased’ me. I had to disappear before this happened. I had to cease to be, in their eyes.”
“So tell me! How did you do it? How did you ‘disappear’?”
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“Well, Erosians are quite docile by nature. We rarely disobey. It’s only the younger ones upon whom the punishment cane is used, usually young male Erosians who haven’t quite settled in to our calmer, proper ways.
“I was banking on this attitude, to convince them that I too had learned my lesson and was now happily ready to be reassigned to an administrative post, where I could peacefully spend the rest of my days programming computers and tracking minutiae until I tottered over dead at my station.”
“Ronan!” The image seemed so absurd that Aria had to laugh. He went on, “But in fact, I had a plan. It came to me as they were transporting me to the Elders for a lecture on overstepping my boundaries with you. They didn’t disapprove of any of my actions—it was my feelings which offended.
“I apologized profusely, declaring that my human form had indeed begun to affect me, and I thanked them for rescuing me from that horrid fate of losing my Erosian essence. They seemed taken in and I was reassigned. I was given almost all of the pass codes necessary to infiltrate the systems.”
“Wait, couldn’t they just read your mind and know you were lying?”
“I changed my mind for them. Not in the way you’re thinking of. I didn’t change a decision—I actually changed the makeup of my mind. All Erosians can do it, but not all are as talented as I am at it.” He grinned, looking somewhat rueful. “It’s not a characteristic one is proud of, you know. At least, not openly. I suppose it’s rather like a facility for lying in humans. Those who are very good at it don’t generally advertise that fact.
“We Erosians learn to ‘change’ our mind, putting up a screen of sorts that blocks the true thoughts and emotions. Some people are so good at it that they forget which are their own true thoughts and feelings, and what is a smoke screen.
“I never got confused like that, but because I’ve always had this tendency toward strong emotion and, as a result, toward disobedience, I’d learned from an early age to cultivate the ‘mind change’, as we call it.”
Aria was all ears, sitting up and hugging her knees, her face creased into such a smile that her cheeks actually ached, but she couldn’t seem to stop grinning
. “I accessed my file—134256338. I simply deleted all the records associated with that number. That part was easy. What was tough was getting access to the codes necessary to deactivate my brain chip.
“That’s the way the authorities track us and monitor thought. But sometimes the chips are defective or malfunction and must be removed and replaced. Before they are removed, they are deactivated. Very few people have access to the codes, of course. That was one reason I wanted to be in central administration. I knew the codes were kept there.
“I befriended a programmer, and, I’m not proud to admit this, but I spied on him when he was logging into various confidential programs. I pretended to stand about chatting, but in reality, I was memorizing his keystrokes and biding my time. 55
Claire Thompson
“Well, it was simpler than I thought. As I’ve mentioned, such blatant disobedience is so rare that it becomes easier to accomplish when one is determined. I got into the confidential site, got the codes I needed, plugged them into 134256338 and voila, I ceased to be.”
“And you did this for me?” Aria asked in a small voice.
“No, my love. I did it for me.” She smiled uncertainly, and he went on, “I do love you, just as passionately as I swore before we were parted. I long to claim you now, truly as your lover and mate, if you will have me. But even if you will not or if things do not work out between us, I am here because it is the only place I can be.
“I no longer felt Erosian. I have become human in so many ways, crucial ways, that I knew I could never resign myself to that life again. I feel so alive now! So vital! So free!
It wasn’t even an option. I knew I had to find a way to keep this form. I shall stay as Ronan. I shall age as other humans do and die at the end of a natural human life span. I need this.
“But,” he stopped and took Aria gently in his arms. He kissed her lightly on her soft lips and tears glistened in his eyes, still golden, the last vestige of what he once was.
“But I want you.”
“They were wrong, you know,” Aria whispered, between kisses.
“About what?”
“Dreams do come true.”
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About the author
Claire Thompson has written numerous novels and short stories, all exploring aspects of Dominance & submission. Ms. Thompson’s gentler novels seek not only to tell a story, but to come to grips with, and ultimately exalt in the true beauty and spirituality of a loving exchange of power. Her darker works press the envelope of what is erotic and what can be a sometimes dangerous slide into the world of sadomasochism. She writes about the timeless themes of sexuality and romance, with twists and curves to examine the ‘darker’ side of the human psyche. Ultimately Claire’s work deals with the human condition, and our constant search for love and intensity of experience.
Claire welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1337 Commerce Drive, #13, Stow, Ohio 44224.
Also by Claire Thompson
Face of Submission
Jewel Thief
Sacred Circle
Secret Diaries
The Seduction of Colette
Slave Castle
Slave Gamble
TRISTAN’S WOMAN
Beverly Havlir
Beverly Havlir
Prologue
Pleasure Planet
2250 A.D.
“Fuck me harder. Stick your cocks in me. Please, harder.”
Ava leaned her head against the square, one-way viewing glass, her fingers rubbing around and around her stiff clit. She was wet and aroused, small drops of moisture rolling down her thigh. Her breath came in quick pants, her fingers working in sync with the moans and whimpers of the woman inside Pleasure Room Three. The Erosian pleasure worker disguised as a seven-foot-tall, green-skinned Barraccus grunted. “Fuck you hard, I will.” He pushed the woman’s dark limbs wider and reared back. With one rough thrust, he shoved both his cocks into her pussy and ass.
“Ahhh,” Ava moaned softly. She dipped a finger, then two, deep in the wet folds of her pussy. Her moan coincided with the whimper from the woman splayed on top of the tangled sheets.
“Oh yessss. I want both of your cocks. Fuck me,” she demanded. As the Barraccus pulled out, Ava glimpsed the glistening heads of his two cocks. She whimpered in need. The top one was roughly ten inches in length, the shorter one at the bottom about nine and a half. She couldn’t look away, and drew in a shaky breath. She could almost feel the other woman’s pleasure as the Barraccus worked his cocks inside her pussy and ass.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” the woman chanted mindlessly.
Her eyes glued to the places where the couple was joined, Ava pumped her fingers inside her pussy. Her breath quickened as she drove herself to the edge. Her hips pushed against her fingers, trapping the slim digits inside the slick folds. She parted her legs wider as she gripped the window ledge, seeking some surface to hang onto. The Barraccus grabbed the woman’s jiggling breasts in his hands and squeezed roughly. “Ohh,” Ava whispered, feeling the caress on her own aching body. The woman’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. The brute bent low and pulled her nipple between his sharp teeth, sinking into her flesh. Ava’s breasts tingled, feeling the sharp sting of his teeth as if he’d bit down on her nipples. The Barraccus straightened and hefted the tiny woman in his arms. Her legs immediately clung to his hips, his cocks sliding home in her pussy and ass without missing a beat.
Ava bit her lip, watching the huge cock ream the woman’s anus over and over again. The woman was in ecstasy, whimpering and begging for more. Ava felt her own 60
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climax approach, and pushed her fingers faster and harder in her pussy. The Barraccus grinned and bared his teeth—his gleaming golden eyes the only feature marking him as Erosian—as he fucked the woman harder.
“Two cocks of Barraccus. You like?” he asked. At the woman’s nod, he thrust harder. “Fucking your ass and pussy same time, I like.”
The rough words spiked Ava’s arousal. With a great shudder, she came in a gushing orgasm. She flexed her inner muscles to draw out the delicious waves and massaged her clit in sensuous circles. Her orgasm went on and on, until her knees threatened to buckle and she had to grip the window for support. Though hazy eyes, she glanced back at the woman who was still getting worked over by the Barraccus. It was clear she was in the throes of a powerful orgasm, her body quivering and jerking with pleasure. Her limbs had gone limp. Only her small fists clung weakly to the green-skinned giant in an effort to hold on. Pure satiation flicked across her dazed face, the look of a woman who’d been thoroughly fucked by her lover. Envy knotted a tight fist in Ava’s stomach and the pleasure she felt from her orgasm evaporated into thin air. It was quickly replaced by bitterness. She wanted—
needed—a man to call her own. It didn’t seem likely that she’ll ever have that. The High Council had decreed that half-breeds were forbidden to serve clients at the Pleasure Palace.
Ava’s lips curled in disgust. Anger, impotent and familiar, had her clenching her fists. By virtue of being born a half-breed, she’d also become a pariah. Erosians were a proud race. Except for pleasure workers, Erosians of pure blood were expected to mate with one of their own to maintain the purity of their heritage. An ache started to throb somewhere in her heart. Her mother, a full-blooded Erosian, had broken that cardinal rule. She’d fallen in love with an outsider. Why did Ava and Kell have to bear the brunt of the punishment? Aleesia Summerlin had protected her children from the harsh realities of Erosian society while she’d lived. All that had changed when she died. The High Council promptly took her brother, Kell, away and installed him in the compound for “training”. Training for what, she didn’t know. She still believed it was all part of the effort to keep her in line. Just the threat of never seeing her twin again made her do the High Council’s bidding. Her throat tightened. Loneliness was like a steel weight on her shoulders. She and Kell didn’
t belong here. Sure, they possessed the vivid, golden eyes that were the mark of all Erosians, but there the similarity ended. Unlike the rest, they weren’t shapeshifters. It was a very lonely existence. Even if she could get away, she would never leave her brother. And where would they go? Nowhere. Ava sighed, her shoulders slumping in dejection.
Once again, her eyes were drawn to the couple, who were stirring once more. A lustful smile tugged at the Barraccus’ thick lips as he worked his cocks in the woman’s slick orifices. They moved, thrusting in counterpoint to each other. In. Out. In. Out. But 61
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Ava derived no more enjoyment from the erotic scene in front of her. Instead, she ached with an inner pain that was a constant companion. The weight of loneliness bore down on her shoulders. How long had it been since she’d felt a real cock slide inside her pussy? Too long.
With a melancholy sigh, she straightened her clothing and made her way to the end of the corridor. She opened the door and stuck her head cautiously outside, peering down the deserted hallway before hurrying toward the platform to get ready for her performance.
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Tristan’s Woman
Chapter One
Lush, thick brush provided cover for Tristan as he briefed Jed and Logan. “We’ve received a tip that there are at least two, possibly more, Karn’alians here at the resort. We are to retrieve them and get out.” The two men nodded. “The Prime Ruler has issued a new directive. We cannot disrupt a kingdom’s peace and sovereignty. We do not make ourselves known. In other words, we keep a low profile and find our targets before the Pagans do. Set weapons to stun only.”
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