Captured: The Xandari Chronicles (Book One) (Dark Sci-Fi Romance)

by Raven Dark

  I shuddered. This was going to be a long trip indeed.

  14

  Pushed Too Far

  Time passed, minutes slowly turning into what must have been at least an hour since we’d entered the—what did Raul call it—Vun Hyl mine. Caged in his arms, I kept my ears open for more Rith calls. I didn’t hear any in the mine, or above us, but I couldn’t relax, expecting them to leap out onto the track in front of us at any moment.

  We’d escaped, but would they be waiting for us the moment we went back up to the surface? Waiting for Raul?

  With no sunlight down here, it was impossible to tell how long it had been since we’d entered the mine. The stone walls of the shaft sped passed us, the lights on the cart the only illumination in the otherwise darkened mineshaft.

  More time passed, a blur of talk among the men, Tarku’s soft snores, and the occasional clatter of old bedrock dropping to the ground in one shaft or another. Z’pheer and Malek talked and bantered back and forth, eating dried fruit out of their packs, passing the food and canteen to Raul now and again.

  Raul shared a packet with me and gave me water from the canteen. It seemed I was only allowed food or drink when the men took theirs.

  At some point, Raul took off his poncho and set it aside. Sweat beaded on his brow. Come to think of it, it was starting to get warm down here, but I wouldn’t take my poncho off. If I did, Raul probably would have used it as excuse to make me take everything off and I’d find myself naked once again.

  The lack of danger settled in, and I found myself relaxing in Raul’s embrace. I should have hated being wrapped in a man’s arms as if I needed cuddling, but especially this man’s arms. The rhythmic, strong beat of his heart under my head shouldn’t have lulled me into half sleep. The rhythm of his breathing shouldn’t have felt good against my forehead. Those things shouldn’t have felt good, but they did.

  Even the slow caress of his fingers on my nape felt soothing. It seemed as if the man couldn’t stop touching me.

  I sighed, squirming restlessly against him, irritation with him and myself rising. It wasn’t as if he was holding me in order to make me feel protected from the dangers of his world. Why he was holding me, I didn’t know, but I just knew he did it for his own selfish reasons.

  One of his palms slid over the curve of my hip, then stroked lower, over one ass cheek, where it wasn’t directly on his lap. I squirmed, letting out an irritated groan.

  He ran his warm lips across my forehead, heating the skin. “What’s the matter with you?” His voice was low and husky.

  “If you’re going to feel me up all the time, I’d rather sit on the floor after all.”

  He gave a soft laugh and wrapped his arm securely around my waist. “I like holding you, Vahashatai.” Slipping his fingers around my chin, he laid soft kisses on my forehead, my cheeks, my nose. “Your body belongs to us now, and I like feeling it in my arms. I enjoy touching you. My men like touching you, and it gives me pleasure to see them satisfied with you, so you better learn to accept it.”

  I drew back. Taking in his words and the victorious light in his eyes. The level of his arrogance baffled me. It also annoyed the hell out of me that my stomach fluttered at the notion of a man so comfortable and confident in himself that it didn’t occur to him that I wouldn’t want him.

  “You do not like me, do you?” His fingers traced my lips.

  “No.” I’d never meant anything so much in my life.

  “Why?”

  Hello, Captain Obvious. “Because you’re an ass.”

  He’d asked, after all.

  He gave a low laugh that dripped pleasure, his eyes twinkling as if my dislike excited him. “Give me your mouth, nayna.”

  The last thing I wanted to do was encourage him, but he was holding my chin, and I knew he’d find a way to make me pay for my defiance.

  I tilted my head, bringing my lips close to his, but stopped. I couldn’t make that last few inches. Not with the way he was looking at me, as if one brush of my lips would wake a sleeping beast.

  Not to mention, the last time I’d kissed him, he’d ended up jacking off all over my chest.

  “I will find a better use for your mouth, nayna,” he warned.

  My mind ran wild with all the things he could think to do with my mouth if I pushed him. I drew a shaking breath and brushed his lips with mine, hating the way they trembled against his.

  Raul growled into my mouth. My muscles coiled at the raw hunger in that sound, while fear of what I was setting off in him made me shiver.

  His hand tangled in my hair, holding my head in place while his lips raked over mine. I whimpered at the heat that raced through my veins, the longing that already threatened to consume me.

  Behind me, I could feel Z’pheer watching, and I was pretty sure Malek had looked back at us; the bench he was sitting on creaked as if he’d turned around. Humiliation burned my cheeks.

  Raul’s tongue speared in, darting over mine and sending currents of heat rushing beneath my skin. My nipples hardened in response, a low ache unfurling in my core.

  This was insane. For years, I’d wondered what it would be like to kiss a man, to experience the kind of knee-weakening kiss I saw in movies. The real hot and heavy kind that made a girl want to get down and dirty in the back of a car and have guy groping for a condom in the pocket of his jeans. Strict rules put in place by the staff at Xandar had made such things impossible. Now, here I was with my mouth being ravaged by one of the hottest men I’d ever seen, in the back of a vehicle, making me hornier than hell. Except…

  Except, I wasn’t in the back of his car in some secluded park in Hallow Falls. I was on a fucking alien planet that was in the middle of a war, in eternal bondage, and he was my fucking barbarian kidnapper. And he and his men were watching, eager for their turn.

  How in the hell did that even happen?

  The insanity of the situation hit home, and I tried to turn my head away, to recapture the equilibrium Raul was quickly stealing from me.

  Raul’s fist tightened in my hair, trapping my head, his lips crushing mine. I went limp in his arms, dizzy with the scent and the heat of him. And fuck me if my lips weren’t parted, welcoming him!

  He made a deep satisfied sound. His tongue lapped greedily, searing my own.

  Malek and Z’pheer were talking, laughing behind me, but their voices barely penetrated the hammering of my heart in my ears.

  “Raul…” I finally croaked out when his lips left mine and worked their way along the side of my neck.

  “Shut your mouth, nayna.” He bit my ear and I cursed, squirming into him.

  Jesus Christ. Why was it every time he said that word—their word for slave—my whole body felt like it went up in flames. My nipples were painfully hard, my core throbbing.

  I buried my face in his shoulder. He nipped and licked my ear. “I think you like what I do to you.”

  I shook my head.

  “No? Let’s see, shall we?” His hand pushed under my poncho, into the damn slave’s dress under it, then along my thigh until his fingers slid between my folds. Wetness slicked them.

  Shit. Soaked. Again.

  “You see?” He growled in my ear, his throaty voice dark with knowing. “Malek fucked you hours ago, and your pussy is already ready for more.”

  I tried to jerk away, anger bolting through me at the truth in his words. He gripped my nape almost painfully, trapping me against him.

  “I can fuck you anytime I like—we could do anything to you we please—and you would love every moment of it, and you know it.”

  I jerked back the moment his hand left my nape. “I hate you, you know. I really, really hate you.”

  His eyes sparkled. He kissed the tip of my nose, and that pissed me the hell off, but not as much as what he did next. Raul lifted me off him and then pulled me back onto his lap, this time positioning me so that I straddled his hips.

  “Raul, for fuck’s sake.” I pushed at his chest, but he yanked my hips
closer to him until my pussy was right over the bulge of his cock. “Do you barbarians ever think about anything other than sex?”

  “With you? Not much.” He grinned and cupped my ass, holding me in place. Grinding the hardened ridge of his cock into my already slick sex.

  I threw a desperate look around me. There was no one in the tunnel, but his men’s eyes were all on me. Z’pheer leaned back in his seat, eyes glued to the show his superior was putting on, his package a heavy bulge in his pants. Malek must have put the cart on autopilot or something, because he sat on the bench facing me, his back to the console. The cart continued to eat up the track ahead of us, while Malek sat with his legs spread, popping dried fruit into his mouth like popcorn. He winked at me.

  Raul turned my face to his.

  “Your men are watching,” I gritted out, trying to lift off of his lap.

  “I know. I want them eager to have you later.” He slid his hands down to where my clothes barely covered my ass and lifted both the poncho and the slave’s dress up over my body and over my head.

  Naked again. I rolled my eyes. For some fucking reason, knowing my body was once again bared to these three aliens made my sex throb for attention.

  He captured my chin in his hand. “None of that.”

  “What?”

  “No rolling your eyes at me, nayna. It is disrespectful.”

  I closed them, refusing to let him see the riot of emotions he was creating in me.

  “Do not do that either.” I caught a hint of a chuckle as his palm ran hotly up and down between my breasts. “Open your eyes.”

  I did.

  “Better.” He palmed my breasts, the heat of them turning my bones to jelly.

  My back arched, pushing the mounds into his hands. My nipples poked at his palms, and he let out an appreciative groan, making it clear he was aware of my extreme arousal. Damn him.

  “Vshashatai.” He rolled the traitorous buds between his fingers, massaging my breasts and rolling the nipples again.

  I was bent almost backwards on his lap, my back arching for more of his touch. I let out a tortured moan. I should have been scrambling off him, especially with his men watching, but the man made it impossible to think straight.

  “Fuck, she’s so beautiful like that, Raul,” Malek said. “She’s going to feel so good tonight.”

  Raul ran his hand up my chest until he cupped my throat. He pushed me until my back was against his knees and my head hung over them. Panic seized me until his hands slid back down, cupping my hips and grinding me slowly into him.

  Fuck me, I was splayed out on Raul’s lap like some whorish prize. I was also so wet that, if he’d have fucked me right there, I would have come with one thrust.

  “Fost. Look at those gorgeous nipples.” Malek ran his palm over one, tweaking it. “So perfect. They gave us the best one.”

  Z’pheer ran his hand over the other breast, his calloused palm turning the nipple to a pinprick point of agony. Then his fingers glided along my stomach, down between my legs. Two of his fingers toyed with my clit, quickly getting soaked.

  I wailed my despair, my hips rocking into his touch.

  “Wet, so wet, Raul. We’re going to have fun with this one tonight.”

  Jesus, the three of them were pawing at me like animals! I jerked to sit up, but Raul rumbled a warning. He sucked one of my nipples into his mouth. I let out another wail. He chuckled. His tongue lapped and teased the nipple until I cried out at the pleasure that tore into me.

  Z’pheer quickened his strokes until I panted and rutted against his fingers.

  “Stop. Both of you.” Raul’s voice was hoarse with need. “No one is coming until tonight, least of all her.”

  Tonight. These men were making tonight sound like some frightening free-for-all, with me being passed around like a favored toy. Dread and need fought a war within me that was now becoming painfully familiar.

  Z’pheer’s hand slid away and benches creaked as he and Malek sat back. I heard Malek laugh, muttering something in Xandari that sounded like he’d called Raul a string of insulting names, except his voice sounded thrilled.

  Raul ground himself into me a few more times, then hauled me into a sitting position. The orgasm that had been building to dangerous levels slid away from me, never to be seen again. Damn them.

  “Turn around. That’s enough teasing your men for now.” Raul tapped me on the ass.

  My jaw dropped. Me, tease them! I made an angry sound, humiliation and indignation twisting my insides. “Oh, my God, I hate you.”

  I scrambled off his lap.

  Raul pulled me back onto his lap as if he meant to capture me before I could get away, positioning me so that I sat with my back to his chest. He bent and picked up the muzzle I hadn’t even realized was sitting on one of the bags on the floor.

  “Keep shooting your mouth off, and we won’t hesitate to use this.” He held the muzzle up.

  God, no. I turned my face away, seething, but saying nothing.

  Raul tossed the muzzle to Malek. “Z’pheer, you have her for a while.”

  Then, just like that, he released me and started talking with his men.

  As if I weren’t there.

  I got the message loud and clear. There wasn’t enough room for me to sit elsewhere, otherwise he probably would have put me away from him, yet I could feel the dismissal just as plainly. He’d proven his point. He was done with me, until he chose otherwise.

  “Come to me, nayna.” Z’pheer leaned back against the side of the cart and tugged me into his arms. Folding me into his lap neatly and closing his arms around me.

  “Did he get you close, ra alia?” he murmured in my ear. I could hear the pleasure in his voice.

  The same rage I’d felt after Malek had taken me in the shower boiled my blood, only this time it was aimed directly at Raul and Z’pheer. I wanted to hit both of them, wanted to get as far from them as I could, but there was no way I could do either now, and not just because Z’pheer had me.

  Raul’s mind games were bad enough, but that he and Malek got off on it only drove the knife deeper.

  Feeling cheap and nasty, I did my best to shut Raul and the others out. He laughed at something Z’pheer said, but I couldn’t help feeling as if he was laughing at me.

  “Answer him,” Raul commanded, resting his arms across the back of the cart. “Tell Z’pheer how much you wanted to come.”

  God, I wanted to wring their necks.

  “Ignoring us will not help you, ra alia,” Z’pheer said. “We will only enjoy you more tonight.”

  “And you will go without,” Malek added, turning back to his console and tapping a few keys there.

  Without coming, I realized.

  Animals.

  “Yes,” said sullenly, looking at none of them. “I wanted to come!”

  Raul reached over and touched me under the chin. Malek’s shoulders shook, and Z’pheer kissed my ear.

  The men said nothing more to me.

  More time passed, and every minute I spent sitting in Z’pheer’s fucking arms, I slid deeper and deeper into a sullen, seething anger, hatred poisoning every part of me it touched.

  Hatred for Raul, and his men.

  In the darkness of the mine, it was impossible to tell how much time had passed, but it must have been several hours since we’d entered the tunnel before we’d stopped to relieve ourselves. Raul had taken the driver’s seat at some point, but I’d been too wrapped up in my own anger to notice.

  When the cart halted, Malek shut it off, and Z’pheer lifted me onto my feet. No one let me dress.

  While Raul and Z’pheer got out of the cart, Malek twirled the muzzle around his finger, then set it down on his bag before stepping out.

  I stared at the thing, then looked around the mineshaft. Here and there beside the tracks, drill holes bored into the ground. How easy it would be to grab the muzzle and toss it into one of those holes. Some of them looked deep enough that no one would be able to find it
again.

  “Get your ass out here, nayna.” Raul’s voice yanked me out of my dangerous train of thought. Waiting by the open door, he tugged on the leash and snapped his fingers at the ground outside the cart. “Unless you want to wait several spans until you can relieve yourself again.”

  My fists clenched. I stepped out of the cart and looked at him. “I’m not a dog, Raul,” I said slowly.

  His lips quirked. He twined his fingers in my hair. “Watch. Your. Mouth, nayna,” he rumbled.

  I could feel the threat of retribution for my challenging him pounding off him like energy. It was electrifying.

  “Raul, you got any ideas how we’re getting through the gates at Vunadar?” Malek said returning from wherever he’d gone to take a leak. He was still doing up his pants. “I assume you won’t want to get through using your credentials, since that would mean showing the masses who you are.”

  “The guards will want something in order to let us in,” Z’pheer pointed out, doing up his belt.

  Raul shrugged. “We could sell her.”

  The other two chuckled. “Nah. We’d never get her back.”

  I looked between them, aghast. “You’re joking, right?” I ground out.

  Raul’s eyes danced, but I couldn’t tell if he was just playing with me or not.

  Z’pheer touched me under the chin.

  Raul stroked my hair. “Too bad. I would love to see her suck each and every one of those guards off.”

  Both men’s eyes widened with surprise and arousal.

  I glared at him. “I hate you,” I ground out.

  He tapped my lips with his finger and made a soft shushing sound, his eyes gleaming.

  “Come on, you, before he changes his mind and takes you right here in the dirt,” Z’pheer said.

  He escorted me over to a small cavern off to the side of the mineshaft. Thank God, because otherwise I’d have abandoned all common sense and broken Raul’s nose.

  I did my business, and Z’pheer watched my every move until I was done, then relieved himself.

  When we headed back toward the cart, Raul and Malek were talking beside it.

  “Get a move on, you two, I want to reach Vunadar by the end of tomorrow.” Raul took a drink from a canteen.