by Renee Rose
“So—like this?” She pushed on the controller.
He covered her hand with his, mostly because he couldn’t stand being near her and not touching that smooth pale skin again. He bumped the level to a higher speed. “Now, push it away from you, gently.”
The ship lifted, wobbled, and touched back down with a sickening jolt. All the beings groaned and shouted in protest as heads bumped and bodies jostled. Yeah, Rok’s method of training probably wasn’t the safest. They didn’t even have seats and harnesses for all the beings crowded on the ship. But who was he to complain? He got to tutor Cambry, which was all he really cared about.
“Let’s try again.” He hadn’t taken his hand off hers. “Don’t think of the ship as separate from you. Become the ship. Close your lids and just feel—no, really—there’s nothing out here to hit. That’s it, shut your eyes and pay attention to how it feels. When is the right time to lift off?”
She accelerated, this time pressing down to launch the craft at exactly the right moment. It wobbled but immediately stabilized.
“You did it!”
Her lids flew open, and she beamed. “I did it!”
Stars, he loved that smile on her. It transformed her taut, serious features into divine radiance.
“Now, land. Eyes open, this time, but imagine you’re a bird alighting on the ground. You don’t want to stumble or trip as you come down. Adjust your speed—slower!—that’s it. Pull up now.”
She pulled up too hard, and he applied pressure to the back of her hand to level the craft out. It bumped and skidded to a stop, and the whole group laughed with exhilaration.
He grinned, reluctantly removing his palm from Cambry’s slender hand. “Next.”
~.~
Cambry would give anything for a shower.
With no water source on Shooku, the Zandians had ordered water on the pod be rationed. It could only be used as fast as the pod could recycle it, which was teeth-gnashingly slow. Captain Rok had announced while he understood every being wanted to bathe, they would only receive the privilege once a week, and they would not be permitted a shower or tub, just one small basin-full. Enough to dunk her head, not her body.
Cambry received her wash-card, and it was for five planet rotations from that day. After their flying lesson, which had been a thrill beyond what she’d hoped, there’d been more housekeeping. They were each assigned chores as the Zandians worked to establish routines and order from the chaos.
Lundric had disappeared—she presumed to sleep. At some point, he’d installed a simple but effective latch on the inside of her door, so even if she wanted him to, he couldn’t sneak into her room that night.
She perched on the edge of her cot, loneliness gnawing at her. Not the ache of missing Tal, which was still there, but a fresher sort of emptiness that could be caused only by the enormous horned warrior who’d taken an interest in her.
A tap sounded at her door, and she leaped up, forcing the grin from her face. She’d known he’d come. “It’s me,” he said softly.
It’s me.
Were they already at that stage? Shouldn’t she play hard to get, still?
But she already had the door unlatched, and he shoved it open.
“Take me to a shower, and I’ll let you take me.”
She hadn’t seen the cocky young warrior lose composure before, but he did now. Lundric’s jaw dropped then snapped shut with a frown. “What the veck?” he spluttered, clearly angry at her request.
Why? Because she’d propositioned him? Hadn’t that been what he was after?
She didn’t play the sexual card—not ever, but it felt easy with him. It felt safe. She leaned in and let the tips of her breasts brush against the hard ridged muscles of his stomach. “I don’t want you to touch me until I’m clean. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had a chance to bathe. Please, Lundric?”
The muscles in his jaw eased, somewhat, but he grasped her wrists and pressed her back against the door, wrists pinned beside her head. He was seven feet of solid, aggressive male giving off a threatening vibe, but she wasn’t scared. A low, persistent hum had started up between her legs.
“Do you make bargains like that often?” he snarled.
Ah. Jealousy. She could handle that. In fact, she rather relished it.
“No, Captain. Never.” It wasn’t a lie.
His eyes narrowed as he studied her face as if to determine culpability. “Sex is not a commodity between us, little female,” he growled. “It’s not something you trade or use to manipulate. You already belong to me.” He knocked her feet apart, shoving one hard thigh between her legs and pulling his knee up until he lifted her to her toes, suspended by her crotch. She rocked her pelvis forward, grinding her clit against the solid muscle.
“If you get my cock, it’s because I decide you deserve it. Understand?”
She sucked in a breath, too shocked to speak. White-hot anger flooded through her, along with a trace of fear, but behind it came fully charged lust, which overpowered her indignation.
He doesn’t mean it, she chanted to herself. This was the way he approached sex. She’d seen last night how he liked to dominate.
And still her hips undulated over his knee, as if he’d been offering her sex instead of threatening to deny it.
She moistened her lips, knowing it would catch his attention, loving the hungry way he stared at them. “Wh-what do I deserve tonight?”
His cock lengthened against her belly. When his mouth descended on hers, flames erupted behind her eyes, turning her vision to a lustful haze of sparking lights. He dragged his open mouth over hers, sucked her lower lip, nipped it. Magically, he had both her wrists pinned with one hand as the other cupped her throat, squeezing only enough for her to register the threat, not enough to hurt or actually block her windpipe.
Her pussy clenched as she neared orgasm from a kiss, alone.
She’d thought she knew what sex was all about. Had practiced with a few partners—other slaves at the factory. But this—what Lundric did to her—proved she’d never left the training ground. She knew nothing about blind pleasure, bone-melting desire, a willingness to give herself over to a male who wasn’t even remotely safe. He bit her lower lip again as he pulled away and stared down with a heavy-lidded gaze.
She’d been wrong. His irises weren’t brown—they were violet. And his horns had thickened and leaned toward her, as if they, too, wanted to dominate.
“Oh I definitely think you deserve a vecking,” he rumbled. With his body flattened against hers, his deep voice reverberated through her, sending shock waves down her inner thighs to her curling toes. He nipped her earlobe. “Long, hard and from behind. While you shower. Come on.” Abruptly, he released her, and she registered the loss of his body with acute disappointment.
He picked up her hand and led her out of the room, pulling the door shut tight, as if she had something in there worth stealing. Her palm felt small engulfed in his larger one, and she marveled at the gesture. It seemed like it ought to feel far more foreign to her than it did. She couldn’t recall anyone ever holding her hand before, and yet Lundric’s grip felt so right, so easy and normal and perfect. She followed him through the corridors, not caring about the curious glances they received from Zandians as they passed.
He took her to a small washroom and locked the door. His tunic and undershirt came off in one fluid motion over his head, during which time he bored a hole in her with his hot gaze. She gasped when she saw how much his stab wound had healed. It appeared weeks old instead of one planet rotation.
Lundric frowned. “Clothes off by the count of three. One…” His pants came off, and she stalled in her stripping as she stared at his gigantic cock. “Two.” His voice held a distinct note of warning.
She fumbled with the tie of her tunic and wrestled it off.
“Three.”
She shoved her leggings down off her legs.
“Too slow, baby. Next time I tell you to strip you’d better move
faster or there will be consequences.”
Her pussy and anus clenched at the same time. Even her butt cheeks gave a little squeeze at the threat of punishment, the memory of his spanking the previous planet rotation making her breath quicken.
He strode to the shower, his huge cock bobbing as he walked. She joined him when he turned on the water, but he held her back with a hand on her forearm. “Wait, it’s too cold.”
Thoughtful warrior.
“Now.” He dragged her in.
She turned in the spray of warm water, not sure how long she’d have and wanting to get every part of her wet. Lundric turned it off and accepted a dollop of soap from the automatic dispenser. He rubbed a lather between two palms. She moved to get her own soap, but he spun her around and shoved her up against the wall, his soapy hands coasting up and down her sides, over her backside, down her thighs. He lathered her inner thighs, stopping agonizingly close to her pussy but never touching it. He gave breasts the full treatment, however, kneading and squeezing them until they grew tight and heavy, pinching her nipples until her pussy spasmed.
“Spread your legs, Cambry.” Lundric’s voice sounded rough and gravelly.
She obeyed.
“How do you think I should veck you?”
“H-hard. From behind.” Wasn’t that what he’d promised?
His hand smoothed down her hip. “Good girl,” he murmured thickly just before he speared her with his erection.
She shouted at his girth, her body stretching to accommodate his enormous size.
“Good girl,” he repeated, moving with the most miniscule and maddening pulse inside her as she got used to being filled by him.
The words fell like jewels, glittering between them. No one had ever praised her, nor had she wanted anyone’s approval. But hearing his satisfaction made her belly flutter with excitement. She pushed her hips back to take him deeper.
He groaned. “You feel so good, Cambry. So. Vecking. Tight. He started to rock with more movement, filling her and easing back. He brought his mouth close to her ear, one hand sneaking around the front of her to stroke her clit. “You’re lucky I’m back on shift soon, or I’d veck you all night.”
She made a humming sound in her throat.
“Tell me something. Do you like having my cock inside you, pretty girl?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Who does this tight little pussy belong to?”
She balked at his possessiveness, but her hesitation only made him slam into her harder, lifting her to her toes and making her scream with pleasure. “You!” she shrieked. “It belongs to you, Lundric.”
He gentled his movements again, scything in and out in maddening thrusts. “That’s right, baby.” He traced a light circle over her clit. “My pussy. Mine.”
“Yours,” she whispered. “Please…”
“Take it, baby. You don’t have to beg tonight. Not when you’re being such a good girl.”
He pinched one nipple and her clit, and she climaxed, loving the way it felt to have his huge cock buried deep this time when she came.
Nothing had ever felt so right as the way he filled her, the way he played her body like a master musician plays an instrument, the way he thrust upward in sharp movements the moment she’d finished until he, too, orgasmed, his shout echoing off the walls, entering her body through her ears, her pores, her breath.
Before he pulled out, he turned on the warm water, enveloping her in the soothing spray as she suffered the loss of his body.
~.~
Cambry’s offer to trade sex for a shower had offended him. If all he’d been interested in was sex, he would’ve pushed it the night before. He vecking hated the thought of her treating it like some smarmy deal they made, in which they traded favors for favors. No.
She was his vecking female. He’d known it from the moment he saw her. And it was about far more than sex. He wanted her forever—as his mate, his slave—whatever it took to bind her to him. The thought of losing her made him sick.
He took another dollop of soap and sudsed her hair, ignoring how the surprise in those big eyes warmed the center of his chest. She shoved his hands away, trying to take control, and he smacked her ass, hard, her wet skin and the walls of the washtube making the slap loud.
She yelped and immediately went still. Submission was out of character for her, and so, like the night before, he treasured that she gave it to him willingly. He knew it was solely based on trust, not weakness.
He pushed her into the spray, and she rinsed off. When he turned off the water, the automatic dryer came on with a hard blast of not-quite-warm-enough air. These sure weren’t the luxury washtubes he’d grown accustomed to on Zander’s palatial pod. He slipped out and handed Cambry her clothing then quickly dressed in his white uniform.
When they emerged they met Lily in the corridor. Her lips curved into a knowing smile when she took in their damp hair and the chamber they’d exited. She passed them then turned back and called, “Cambry.”
He picked up Cambry’s hand as they stopped, making it clear she was with him.
“My sister sent some supplies today. Why don’t you come and take some for yourself.”
Cambry’s expression turned uncertain. From what he’d seen of her behavior since he arrived on the pod, she didn’t form friendships or bonds quickly or easily, mistrust being her first reaction to others.
Lily glanced at him. “They sent a crystal for the Zandians, too. You look like you could use it. Have you been eating here?”
He frowned, vecking hating any being thinking him weak. The wound from the night before had healed rapidly, but the blood loss and being away from crystal and light made his body slower to repair than usual.
Lily rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not calling your malehood into question. Rok says Zandians have to eat more when they’re away from the crystals. That’s how he survived as a child away from Zandia.”
Lundric gnawed on that. It would’ve been nice to know he needed to eat more often upon arrival, but he supposed he should have. He just hadn’t spent much time away from the palatial pod.
“Come on, both of you. Stop acting like I’m trying to poison you or something.” Lily beckoned them in her direction and starting walking away.
He raised his brows at Cambry, who shrugged, and they followed.
Rok and Lily’s chamber was not grand or large. Several travel crates stood along one wall, and from these, Lily started pulling things out. “Here, these should fit you.” She tossed a pair of leggings and an undershirt on the small bed.
Cambry picked them up. “Yeah, thanks. I could use a change of clothing.”
“I know. Every being can. I have placed a standing supply requisition list out to the palatial pod, ordered from most important to least. These things weren’t on the list, but my mother sent them. I don’t even know what all of them are, but they sure as hell ’aren’t anything I ever had as a slave.” She pulled out large bottles of soap and gel and oil.
Lundric recognized them as the products found in washrooms on the palatial pod. His need to take care of and provide for his female made him stride forward and gather a few of them. “Thank you.” He caught the wink of sparkle on her earlobes and sucked in a breath, an ingrained sense of reverence rippling through him at the recognition of their traditional mating.
He bowed to Lily. “Congratulations on your mating.”
Lily touched the crystal studs and beamed, blushing a little. “Prince Zander sent them to Rok so he could mate me in the Zandian tradition.”
Desire swept through Lundric like wildfire. Mate Cambry. The urgency to bind Cambry to him forever in this and every other way possible nearly blinded him. He wanted the union recognized by Prince Zander, by his fellow species and pod mates. By every human on the pod.
And, most importantly, by Cambry.
But how? How did this Zandian-human mating occur? Prince Zander had bought his mate. Rok had rescued his, although Lundric had heard through some
grumbling by Rok’s Stornigian foster brothers he’d bartered weapons for her.
“Here.” Lily held out a fist-sized raw Zandian crystal, and a shudder of energy went through him. No wonder he’d felt stronger just being in the room. He took it into his palm and wrapped his fingers around it, closing his lids to savor the spike of energy.
“Rok is trying to come up with some kind of light-bathing room here, like you have on Prince Zander’s pod, but it’s hard when we’re so limited on space,” Lily explained. “Of course, if necessary, you can just fly back and forth to use Prince Zander’s, but Rok doesn’t want to attract Ocretion attention with too much traffic.”
He held the crystal up to the stab wound and swore he could feel the blood beneath it heating, energy shifting and rearranging to bring his flesh back to its normal, unmarred appearance. “Mind if I take it?” he asked. “I have an idea where it might be installed for all of us to use.”
“For all of you purple-skinned giants. Sure.”
“Thank you.” Lundric bowed and led Cambry out of the room, clutching both the bath products for his female and the crystal.
In the hall, Cambry eyed the crystal. “So, what’s with the rock?”
Even though she was human and wouldn’t understand, his need to provide for his female made him offer the gem to her. She took it, examining the different facets and whistling. “This must be worth a fortune.”
“It is. Zandian crystal is the reason our planet was taken over by the Finn. They are valuable throughout the galaxy because they have wide applications in laser and light-bending technologies.”
Cambry tossed it in the air as if testing its weight, and he winced, snatching it before it landed in her palm again.
“It’s sacred to us.”
“Oops.”
“King Zander and his queen refused to sell the crystals for technology. So the Finn invaded and committed mass genocide, killing off every member of my species they found on the planet. Only those who managed to escape or were off-planet at the time survived.”