Simdow kissed her again. His and Miv’s touches grew in strength, demanding and receiving greater reactions from Katherine. Her sex seethed with excitement, growing hotter until she thought she must burst into flame. Just when she felt sure she couldn’t possibly receive more pleasure from their caresses, her body found a new level of trembling nirvana. She moaned a helpless plea in Simdow’s mouth, but she didn’t know what she begged for.
And still the uproar of her senses only increased. Simdow’s kisses were achingly deep, as if he fed on her very soul. Miv’s hands and mouth teased her breasts until every nuanced touch brought a cataclysm of sparkling delight. Her nipples jutted taut and swollen, responding to even the slightest whisper of breath.
Meanwhile, the fingers at her sex continued their dancing play, bringing stomach-convulsing pleasure that billowed her gut tight. Katherine knew agonized ecstasy, a feeling of such torment she might cry but for the physical joy that made her move harder against Simdow’s touch. She felt maddened and elated all at once. She thought if he stopped touching her, she would scream with mingled relief and horror.
“Now, my little lovely,” Simdow whispered. “Now, for your pleasure.”
His fingertips seized the bud at the start of her sex, a bit of flesh usually no more than a tiny nub but now engorged and flushed. He rubbed.
A flare of the purest rapture seared through Katherine. She would have screamed, but she couldn’t draw breath. It was too much, too big, swallowing her in a blare of white apocalyptic explosion. She shoved at Simdow’s hand, trying to push him away before she detonated.
Miv grabbed her hands, pinning them over her head. Katherine had an instant of seeing the two men staring down at her, their faces filling her vision as Simdow continued the friction on that small bit of her that summoned ecstasy too huge for her entire body.
Then all was a blinding flash as her body reached heaven. A burning, heaving, glorious chaos took her over, blasting her into a paradise of sensation. It rolled through her like thunder, like the mighty voice of God, setting her flying again and again. Each time she thought, it’s going to stop, it’s nearly over, it seized her once more, casting her to the heights.
How long the grand destruction lasted, Katherine couldn’t tell. By slow degrees, she became aware of the sleeping surface beneath her, of the room surrounding her, and of the men next to her. They held her quaking body close so that she didn’t shake apart. Katherine clung to them both, positive that she must shatter without them to keep her in one piece.
Once he saw she had returned to them, Simdow teased, “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”
Katherine could only stare. He and Miv grinned at her stunned silence.
She had known magnificence that she hadn’t believed existed on this side of the mortal coil. All from the touch of these men’s mouths and hands. It forced her to wonder, if this was what happened when there was only stroking fingers, what was the actual act of sex like?
Chapter 10
After Katherine returned to her senses, the men helped her put her gown back on. They’d no sooner gotten her clothed once more when Vadef entered the room. He smiled and bowed to her before turning to Simdow and muttering in their language. The Dramok nodded and turned to Katherine.
He said, “Why don’t we get you out of here for an hour or so? How would you like to eat in the ship’s dining room?”
Katherine’s state of mind remained bemused from the pleasure they’d given her. She felt floaty and strange. And adventurous. Seeing another part of the ship fit her mood perfectly.
She told the men, “Thank you. I’d like that.”
Vadef looked her over and frowned a little. “I would like to find something pretty for you to wear. You look like you’re drowning in that thing.”
Simdow patted his Imdiko’s shoulder while looking warmly at Katherine. “One of these days. Perhaps on our way back to Kalquor we can find something nicer. Later, we’ll take you to a Joshadan dressmaker for something really special.”
A little of the floating sensation receded. Katherine asked, “When are we going to your home planet?”
“That depends on how long it takes to decode Earth’s security grid.”
Miv added, “Or if the weapons commander can drag the information out of General Hamilton.”
A disturbing thought bumped Katherine down even closer to resuming reality. “Is the general being tortured?”
Now she received Simdow’s comforting touch. “Physically, he is not being harmed. However, he is enduring pain inflictors. While they do no bodily damage, they do deliver extreme pain. Their use is considered barbaric by some standards.”
Miv scowled and folded his arms over his chest. “If it ends the war and all the killing, I’m for it.”
“The Nobek attitude,” Vadef sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically.
The other two chuckled. Katherine wasn’t sure discussion of a man’s torment warranted laughter, but they had said General Hamilton wasn’t being injured. She’d met the grandfather of one of the older aspirants, Cassidy Hamilton. He was a severe man who treated Cassidy like a thoughtless automaton, someone to push around at his whim. Katherine knew Cassidy to be extremely intelligent. Hamilton had once ordered Katherine that his granddaughter was to have no reading material beyond that of the bible. Seeing the vast intellect of the young woman wasting away in the mundane convent had been hard to watch.
Katherine did not like Cassidy’s guardian. She found it more difficult that she should feel sorry for his plight as a prisoner of the Kalquorians. Still, knowing he was in pain gave her the strength to offer a silent prayer for his soul.
Simdow’s clan led her out into the hall, her second trip of the day. Despite looking forward to seeing more of the ship, the dining room wasn’t far from their quarters. In less than a minute, Katherine stepped into the spyship’s dining room.
Like the living quarters, soft light emitted from the ceiling and walls. Low tables dotted the solid-surface floor. Thick tan floor cushions surrounded the tables, looking soft and comfortable.
Two of the food-laden tables were occupied. Katherine’s eyes widened to see twenty-year-old aspirant Mary Anderson seated among three Kalquorians. Redheaded Tina also sat at a table some distance away. She too was in the midst of three alien men, the same men who had taken her crying from the convent’s dining room.
The two young women stared back at Katherine with expressions of dawning horror. Mary, her dark hair artfully arranged in coiled braids, cried out in obvious terror.
“Sister! Sister, I didn’t mean to! They made me! Please tell me I’m not going to prison—”
She broke off, struggling to rise even as the men she sat with gently pulled her back down to the cushion she shared with them. One man smiled apologetically at Simdow.
“She always gets upset when she sees one of her own. I hope she isn’t frightening your Matara, Commander.”
Mary fought them, her gaze never leaving Katherine’s face. “Let me go! She could tell on me, get me in trouble, they’ll torture and kill me—”
A second man, his face gentle with compassion, locked his arm around Mary’s waist and forced her to sit. “Hush, my sweet one. Hush.”
Simdow smiled tightly at the man who had spoken to him. “Don’t apologize for your little one. This has been hard on all of them.”
The men with Mary bowed their heads in gratitude. Vadef ushered Katherine past the still-whimpering Mary. As the nun continued on with Simdow’s clan, she heard Mary whisper, “Promise me again. Promise I won’t go back to Earth.”
Katherine drew near Tina’s table. The redhead didn’t cry or scream like Mary. She wouldn’t even acknowledge Katherine’s presence, keeping her eyes down at the table in front of her as the nun passed by. The clan that had taken her nodded to Simdow’s group before returning their worried attention to Tina.
Simdow, who walked in the lead, stopped a few tables down. “We’ll sit here where we can have our privac
y and they can have theirs.”
Katherine was grateful that Mary’s back was turned to their table. She didn’t want to see the fear in the aspirant’s eyes anymore. She sank down to the softness of the seating cushion. Simdow sat on her left and Vadef to her right. Miv sat on the other side of Vadef, folding his long legs easily.
Vadef looked at her, his expression concerned. “You are all right?”
Katherine swallowed. “I’ll be fine. I wish I could comfort Mary. Somehow I think nothing I could say would make things right though.”
Simdow pursed his lips and looked at the back of Mary’s head. “She seems desperately afraid, but not of her clan.”
Katherine nodded, blinking back the tears that stung her eyes. All the quiet bliss following her sexual awakening had disappeared. “Mary’s older sister was sent to prison and executed for sexual misconduct. She’s terrified of ending up the same.”
Vadef’s face paled. “Poor girl. She’s with a good clan, though. They will make her happiness their greatest priority.”
Two Kalquorians came out of a doorway at the end of the room, laden with trays. They set them down on the table Katherine’s group clustered around, sending delicious aromas wafting over her. The men bowed and retreated back to the room they’d come from.
Katherine’s appetite woke with the arrival of food. Knowing she could eat with no ill effects only made her hunger more intense. She recognized none of the alien morsels before her, cut into bite-sized chunks. It smelled wonderful, though.
Simdow plucked a golden tidbit from the offering of eight different dishes and brought it to her mouth. It looked like the pilchok she’d had before. She arched an eyebrow at him as he fed her.
“I know, being treated like this is still odd for you.” He chuckled.
Katherine chewed what was indeed pilchok. They’d told her this was a type of poultry, but it tasted like sweet pastry. It was like eating dessert before dinner. The flaky texture was wonderful. “Why is it you feed women? We’re perfectly capable of feeding ourselves,” she said.
Miv reached around Vadef to offer her a ball of green herb-like sprouts. “It allows us to demonstrate our respect and to show you how we will provide everything you need for a happy life.”
Katherine chewed the food he gave her, noting its buttery, slightly salty lettuce flavor. She couldn’t help but snicker at these three behemoths feeding her like devoted servants. However, she kept the flash of amusement quiet so as to not call attention to herself. She didn’t want Tina to take any noises the wrong way. Nor did she want Mary newly upset. A quick look at the pair of women showed they too ate from their clans’ fingers. Katherine’s smile grew and she shook her head. They were prisoners, and yet their captors waited on them.
Simdow grinned back. “I like seeing your smile. I hope to see more of it.”
“Keep acting silly then.”
Perhaps it was the stress of the situation and her confusion at everything that had happened. Katherine realized she was on the brink of outright laughter. Hysteria beckoned. Who would have dreamed an invasion of the enemy would result in being brought intense pleasure and being fed by adoring men?
It didn’t help that the men with her were chuckling as well, as if appreciating the bizarreness of it all.
Two figures appeared in the doorway that led out to the hall. Katherine started to see Cassidy Hamilton walk into the dining room with Dr. Degorsk.
General Hamilton’s granddaughter’s gaze moved from Mary to Tina. Both cringed from her hectic stare. Then Cassidy looked at Katherine, who’d been in the process of accepting some food from Vadef. The voluptuous platinum-blond aspirant’s expression registered shock and a moment of revulsion. Degorsk tugged Cassidy to another table, breaking the moment.
Katherine pushed Vadef’s hovering hand away. Shame enveloped her and she huddled, wishing she could shrink beneath the table, away from everyone’s gaze. Cassidy had always looked at her with adoration. She had often sought Katherine out when her spirits were at her lowest, needing the quiet faith of God’s love more than many of the girls.
The look Cassidy had just given her was one worthy of Mother Superior. Katherine had been judged and found wanting by a mere aspirant. She felt small, as if she’d done something to let Cassidy down.
Simdow leaned close. “Katherine? What’s wrong?”
“I wish we hadn’t come in here,” Katherine whispered.
Simdow glanced towards Cassidy and Degorsk. The pair seemed to be locked in a tense conversation. He returned his attention to Katherine.
In a gentle tone, he said, “The general’s granddaughter is bound to be more judgmental than some.”
Katherine shook her head. Despite Cassidy’s obvious revulsion of her mentor’s acceptance of the situation, Katherine had to defend her. Cassidy was one of her girls. “She’s had so much pain in her life, more than perhaps you could imagine. She looks up to me, and I’m sitting here with you, eating as though nothing is wrong. She sees me as having failed her, just as others close to her have done.”
Before he could respond, Mary suddenly screamed. Katherine covered her mouth in horror as the young woman flailed against the clan that held her. Unable to calm her this time, they carried her out of the room.
Katherine wasn’t aware she had begun to cry until Simdow and Vadef wiped at her wet cheeks. Their arms were tight around her shaking body. Miv stared at his fists, which were clenched on the table’s surface as he dealt with the drama going on in the room.
Simdow pressed a tender kiss to Katherine’s temple. “My poor Matara. If we could just give you and the others a glimpse into our hearts, you’d know there is no reason to cry.”
Katherine couldn’t respond. Despite the ultimate futility of the situation, she knew she should resist the clan’s seduction as Mary had just done. As Cassidy no doubt did. Katherine was a nun after all, not a mere aspirant.
Was it because Simdow’s clan was so kind that she allowed sin to creep its insidious path into her heart and body? Had the Church elders been right about her all along?
Katherine liked Simdow, Vadef, and Miv. She liked what they did to her and the way they made her feel. According to the tenets of her own religion she was married to them, though that very same religion would have her killed for bowing to her fate.
It was too confusing for even her faith to divine the right path to take. Katherine didn’t know whether to surrender to her inescapable future of belonging to Simdow’s clan or to fight them for the rest of her life.
God, what do I do? How do I follow your plan when I can no longer see what it is?
Katherine’s appetite had flown. No amount of encouragement or wheedling by the clan could get her to eat any more than the few bites she had. At last conceding to her upset feelings, the men took her back to their quarters.
Katherine stood before the huge bed before her, thoughts of the pleasure she’d experienced there crowding her mind and warming her body. Despite the offense Cassidy had apparently taken at her sitting so docilely with the clan, despite Mary’s terror and Tina’s refusal to meet her gaze, Katherine felt anew the pleasure igniting her body. Knowing she would sleep naked next to the men once again tonight brought wet warmth seeping down her thighs.
Strong hands cupped her shoulders. Katherine flushed to see Simdow looking at her, his eyes dark as if he’d read her mind. Without a word, he steered her towards the bath facility. Once they were inside, he bent down, grasped the hem of her gown, and swept it up and off her.
Katherine gasped and whirled around, grabbing at her garment. As she tried to yank it futilely from Simdow, Vadef pulled her panties to her ankles. Miv picked her up and kicked her underwear out of the room. Simdow tossed her gown out as well.
“What are you doing?” she cried out.
“We’re going to have a shower. You need to be washed,” Simdow answered, acting as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
He and the other two stripped their uniforms o
ff. Katherine averted her eyes while trying to cover herself as best as possible. Even while she did all she could to shield herself and her sight from the rampant nudity, a stab of desire shot through her belly. The proximity of those large, muscled bodies meant she was unsuccessful in keeping her gaze from falling on carved abdomens, chiseled chests, and strong arms.
The tremble in her voice evidenced her nervous excitement. “I can bathe myself. I don’t need help.”
In contrast, Simdow’s tone was solid, steady. “We are going to bathe you. It is no more intimate than other things we’ve shared.” He motioned to the open stall that seemed to have no door. “Get in.”
As much as her body yearned for them to touch her, to make those surges of ecstasy return, the revulsion she’d seen in Cassidy’s eyes made Katherine defy him. “No.”
A shadow passed over Simdow’s face as he watched her shrink from him. Katherine had nowhere to go, not with all three men surrounding her. It scared her to refuse them. This was the first real defiance she’d offered since they’d taken her prisoner, and she feared those gentle demeanors would disappear, leaving them forceful brutes.
Simdow’s voice contained soft reproach, but no anger. “Katherine, there is nothing to be afraid of.”
She shook her head. “I can’t let you touch me anymore. I don’t want it.”
A hand suddenly passed between her legs from behind, probing her sex. Katherine jumped and yelped in surprise. The hand withdrew, and she turned to see Vadef raising his fingers before her face. They glistened with wetness. He showed her the damning moisture, thick like honey.
He quietly said, “You do wish to be touched. Here is the irrefutable evidence.”
Simdow continued his mild disapproval. “Katherine, I will not suffer lying. It will get you punished. Admit you have received pleasure by the things we’ve done.”
Her face flamed with humiliation, though she didn’t know if it was because they’d discovered she was aroused or because she’d been caught telling a falsehood.
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