by Sharon Green
"You aren't permitted to take that out or do anything to make it come out on its own," the slave told Tain softly once the insertion was solidly in place. "If you're a very good slave your master will see that you're eased. You can stand straight again now."
Swallowing the rude sound she wanted to make wasn't easy for Tain, but she still managed to keep her comments to herself as she carefully straightened up. The insertion was worse than she'd thought it would be, and it was all Tain could do not to squirm in place the way Ennie had been doing. Heat began to flash through Tain's body from the feel of that insertion, but she gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the feeling. Once her new "master" got her out of this place, she'd be rid of him and the insertion together.
Not to mention the blindfold. The cloth had been folded into a fairly narrow band, which meant the thing was tight over her eyes and almost nothing of light leaked in. The practice was meant to make the new slave nervous and unsure of herself, two reactions designed to help her learn her "place," but Tain already knew her place…
Even so, when a big hand wrapped itself around her right arm and began to lead her somewhere it was all Tain could do not to gasp. Walking with that insertion inside her was bad enough, but not being able to see where she was going made things a lot worse. She felt the edge of a doorway when she was taken through it, and then the sensation of moving air on her body told her she was outside the building.
The first part of the trip lasted only a few steps past the outer door. Sounds told Tain there were people all around her, and she also heard the snort of what seemed to be a horse. She expected to be handed over to her new owner and taken away, but the first thing that happened after the hand on her arm stopped her came as a surprise. Her arms were drawn behind her and her wrists quickly tied, making Tain want to curse out loud. Now she would have to wait until the leather on her wrists was removed along with the blindfold before she'd be able to free herself.
As soon as she was tied to the satisfaction of the guard who had been guiding her, Tain was given another surprise. This time she did gasp as she was lifted into the man's arms, but he didn't hold her for long. Another set of arms took her and arranged her astride the horse she'd heard, most of her lower body in this other man's lap. His right arm came to circle her waist and hold her in place, and then the horse was moving off from where it had stood.
Tain hated surprises, and this newest turn of events made her more sure of that than ever. Her new owner should have had a small wagon or buggy to put her in, not be mounted on a horse. And he shouldn't have asked to have her tied, not when she'd been presented as a slave who didn't give any trouble. Nothing was working out right, especially not her position on the horse. The way her bottom rested on the man's thighs made that insertion work on her even more than it had been doing, which was to his benefit but not hers.
The horse was kept to a fairly slow pace for a short time, but then the man holding Tain made a clicking sound and the horse shifted into a trot. That gait was much worse than the walk had been, and it became more than Tain could do not to squirm around. The man holding her chuckled, showing he knew what she was going through, but that was it as far as reaction went. He still kept the horse at a trot and his hand and arm kept her close to his body.
By the time they finally stopped Tain was silently frantic. She wanted to scream and curse the man who held her, but doing something like that would not have gotten the leather off her wrists and the blindfold taken from her eyes. When the man dismounted and then lifted her from the horse's saddle Tain moaned, so badly in need that if she'd been free she'd probably have tried to rape the fool.
But she wasn't free, so all she could do was rant inside the privacy of her head as she was carried a short distance and then set back on her feet. A big hand on her arm kept her from bouncing and squirming away from where she'd been put, and then a length of leather was tied to her left arm. A moment later the man walked away, but when Tain tried to take a couple of steps of her own she found that the other end of the leather on her arm had been tied to something and pulling at the something didn't loosen the leather.
So Tain was left with no choice but to stand and squirm where she'd been put. She could hear the sound of something like leaves moving in a small breeze, which probably meant they'd stopped in a stand of woods of some kind. If she hadn't been tied she would have stumbled off into those woods even if she couldn't see where she was going, and once she put enough distance between herself and her new owner she would have had the time to do something about the blindfold and the leather on her wrists.
But tying her like this effectively killed that plan. Being so hot didn't encourage clear thinking, but even with the heat raging around in her body Tain was getting suspicious. Why would someone who had bought an "obedient slave" have her wrists tied behind her and then tie her to a tree or something? It just didn't make any sense -
"Oh!" Tain cried out as a big hand smacked her bottom once, hard. The smack hurt, but more than that it had made her even hotter than she'd been. The man was back near her and doing something from the sounds Tain heard, but she didn't know what that something was until she was picked up and put down on her back on what felt like a blanket. The length of leather tying her to a branch or a bush was now slack, but the looseness did her no good at all.
And then two lips and a tongue came to her hardened left nipple, the tickle from the tongue making her moan and squirm even harder. A big body was now positioned between her knees, probably in a crouch, and when the tongue moved to lick her right nipple two hands also came to caress her body. Nothing but mewling came from Tain's throat as the sensations seared through her body, that body bouncing and kicking in a silent demand for easing. And then -
A scream forced its way from Tain's throat as the unseen man thrust himself inside her, a scream of victory at getting what she needed so badly. Then she choked some when the size of the man became very clear, a size she hadn't been expecting. But when he began to stroke in and out of her the mewling returned as she matched his motions, as she was forced to match his motions. The demands of her body let her do nothing else, and in no more than a moment she was lost to the incredible sensations.
The sex lasted for quite a long time, allowing Tain to explode again and again in an easing of need. Not being able to see somehow made the time more intense for her, focusing all her attention on what she was being made to feel. When the man finally let himself join her latest explosion, Tain couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed. The experience had been incredible, and when the man withdrew to lie beside her his hand came to gently touch her middle.
"That was almost as good as I thought it would be," the man drawled, his hand on her middle downright possessive. "But don't worry, Kitten, I wasn't really disappointed. And as the days pass I know you'll get better and better. You won't be given a choice about that."
The man chuckled over what he'd said, but Tain was so shocked she almost forgot to breathe. She now knew why so many precautions had been taken with her, and also knew why the man hadn't spoken sooner. That deep, arrogant voice couldn't possibly be missed, not when she'd spent so long a time avoiding the man who owned it.
It was a small relief to know she'd been found and retrieved by someone from her department, but why did that someone have to be Jake Killen? And what the hell had he meant about her "getting better?" He couldn't possibly be thinking of keeping her as a slave? No, he was probably just trying to torment her…
Wasn't he…?
Chapter Two
"Do you think it's safe to untie me and take off this blindfold now?" Tain finally forced herself to say, letting a hint of disdain color the words. "If you're afraid I'll attack you, I can always promise not to."
"Before I untie you we need to get the ground rules straight," Killen answered, sounding a lot less disturbed than Tain had hoped he would. "I'm in charge this time, not you, so we'll be doing things my way. There are a number of reasons why I've been put i
n charge and told to stay there, not the least of which is the fact that you're not entirely your old self."
"I'm also not completely and totally under the influence of the drug, something you ought to know," Tain countered, getting more unhappy by the minute. "If not for that fool female I was saddled with - But that's beside the point. The fact still remains that I can do what I have to even with that drug in me."
"But not nearly as well as you normally can, and there's no getting rid of the drug until we're back where we belong," Killen stated, his voice taking on a hardness Tain didn't like at all. "You can't go back to being an upper class woman, not when there's a chance someone will say something to show you do have the drug in you, so you have to stay a slave. That means doing as you're told, not whatever you care to."
"That's garbage," Tain said, making the mistake of moving in annoyance. The movement started that insertion to working on her again, and having to lie absolutely still to calm the thing again multiplied her annoyance. "If I'm dressed as an upper class woman and you're acting as my protector, everyone we met would talk to you rather than me. You're just trying to - "
"And if I don't happen to be around every minute of the day and night?" Killen interrupted, still with that hardness in his voice. "All it would take would be one bit of bad luck, and then the game would be over. Do I have to remind you what's done to slaves who pretend to be free?"
Tain had parted her lips to snarl at the fool, but his last words left her with very little to say. She did know what happened to slaves who dared to pretend they were free, and to say the fate wasn't pretty was to understate by a mile. Death was a happy thing compared to what would be done to her…
"And where do you think I would get the clothes and other requirements of an upper class woman?" Killen went on after only a very brief pause. "My character is nothing but a mercenary, and even if there were stores to go into where the clothes and things could be bought, how could I explain why I was buying those things? And then there's my companion, who'll be joining us in a short while…"
"What companion?" Tain asked automatically while her mind scrabbled around looking for a way out of the mess. A way she could live with… "Who are you talking about?"
"We've managed to recruit one of the natives of this world who's willing to work with us," Killen said. "Tandro is smart enough to know that enslaving women is bad for his world, so he's going to try to help us change the practice. But he grew up with the rules this planet operates under, and he knows I just bought you at the slave auction. He'll expect you and the girl to be treated like any other slave, at least until we get you both back to where you came from."
"The girl," Tain said, knowing the place Killen meant was the very well-concealed base they operated out of. And that had to mean he'd been at the base when her tracer and Ennie's had shown they'd been taken. "Are you telling me your friend is the one who bought Ennie? And I thought I'd be rid of her for a while."
"I couldn't very well let her be sold into real slavery, now could I?" Killen asked, amusement having entered his voice. "Tandro bought the girl and I bought you, and we each left the compound with our slaves and headed in a different direction. Tandro will circle around and meet us here, where we'll camp for the night. First thing tomorrow we'll all head back, he and I taking care of our assignment on the way. The assignment shouldn't take long, so this will all be over almost before you know it."
The amusement had strengthened in Killen's voice, and Tain didn't have to wonder why. He sounded like a used-car salesman, trying to talk someone into buying one of his lemons.
"Come on, Kitten, be reasonable for once," Killen urged when Tain didn't say anything for a moment. "We have no real choice here, so why fight the inevitable? And this will be the first time we've ever worked together. I don't know about you, but I've always been curious about how we'd do if we teamed up."
Sure, teamed up. With him being the owner and her being the slave. But even beyond that there was a reason she'd never agreed to work with the man, and that reason hadn't changed.
"I won't let you take advantage of this foul-up to treat me like a slave," Tain finally stated, wanting him to know how firm the decision was. "It isn't 'reasonable' to let people walk all over you, especially when the mess you're in was caused by someone else. But if you don't like what I'm saying, you don't have to go along with it. Just untie me and turn your back for a minute, and I'll take care of getting myself home."
"And run the risk of getting caught as an escaped slave?" Killen countered at once with a snort of scorn. "I don't think so. You seem to believe that your not being in charge will mean the end of the world, and it's time you learned that that isn't so. If you want to do it the hard way, then that's the way we'll do it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tain demanded, finding it impossible not to react to his belligerent tone, but the fool didn't answer in words. A gasp escaped her when she felt his hands on her body, hands that caressed her breasts and then moved to the place between her legs.
"These are my orders to you, slave, and you'll obey them completely and absolutely," he said in that very hard voice as Tain lost the fight not to squirm. "To begin with, you won't obey anyone else's orders but mine unless I tell you to. If I'm not there and someone tries to command you, you'll humbly explain that you're not allowed to obey anyone without my permission. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Tain gasped out, agreement forced on her by the damned drug she'd been given. And with the louse's hands all over her, she couldn't even control her thoughts well enough to make mental loopholes she could take advantage of later.
"My second order is that you'll obey me completely and absolutely any time I address you as slave," Killen went on without taking his hands away. "If I call you by some other name, the decision about whether or not you'll obey is yours - with the firm awareness that if you don't obey me you'll be punished. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Tain repeated, writhing and pulling at the leather on her wrists. The insane need she'd felt earlier was back, and his every touch made the fire burn hotter.
"The third thing you need to be told is that you're not to take off on your own unless something happens to me," Killen said, giving her no rest. "No matter how unhappy you are, you'll stay with me until we get where we're going. Do you understand?"
This time Tain's answer was more of a grunt than a word. If he didn't ease her soon she would die, and she wanted to die!
"And lastly, for the moment at least, you're to tell me every time that insertion dissolves," he said, his voice sounding kind of far away. "The thing takes a while to dissolve, but as soon as you feel that it isn't influencing you any longer you're to let me know. Do you understand?"
Tain wasn't capable of anything but mewling as she tried to nod in answer, but that response seemed to satisfy him. The next thing she knew he was between her knees again and entering her, and then there was nothing for her but sensation. Explosions wracked her body again and again, and when the very last release came, exhaustion took her down into blackness.
* * *
Jake lay still on the blanket for a few minutes, unwilling to lose the feeling of satisfaction too quickly. Making love to this woman was something he'd wanted to do since the first time he'd seen her, but her own reaction to meeting him hadn't been the same. She was the department's fair-haired girl despite having dark-brown hair, their top agent, and most of the people she worked with were intimidated by her in one way or another. Either they tried to be as good as she was or, failing that, they tried to be invisible.
But I never did the same, and wouldn't have even if we'd worked together, Jake thought, getting up on one elbow to look down at the woman who was lost to exhausted sleep and stroke her hair. I don't need to prove how good I am at everyone else's expense, and if she'd wanted to be in charge, as she usually was, I wouldn't have minded. But Coleson would never give us the same assignment, and even though he refused to say why I had the definite feeling the refusal was h
er doing.
Even though Jake didn't know why she'd refused to work with him. The refusal might have something to do with her nickname, Tain, a less-than-usual shortening of "captain." Her unofficial rank was captain, but he'd earned the rank of major before he'd left the armed forces to work for the department. Could she resent him for something as petty as that? He didn't like to think so, but it was always possible.
Jake sighed as he reached for his body cloth, stood, and began to put it back on. Only the upper classes wore more than the scantiest of clothes on this world, and even they stripped down when they weren't in public. His role as a mercenary let him be as comfortable as possible in the heat, and Tain would be even more comfortable as a slave. At least as far as clothing went. As far as the rest of it was concerned, this woman would get exactly what she'd asked for.
Annoyance got a good grip on Jake as he crouched next to the sleeping girl, removed the short strip of leather from her arm and the bush, then began to untie the leather holding her wrists behind her. Anyone else in her place would have seen the need to be reasonable, but not the mighty Tain. She had to have everything done her way, even if her way put her life in more danger than usual. Any slave caught pretending to be free or proving to be a runaway was tortured to death slowly and horribly, but that was not going to happen to this woman. No matter how unhappy the restrictions he'd put on her made her.
And the time just might teach you a needed lesson, Jake thought as he stood straight again to look down at the sleeping woman. In your own way you're as much of a brat as that girl Ennie, and Ennie will definitely be taught better before this is over. And who knows? Maybe the time we spend together will make something grow between us in spite of your unhappiness. As soon as you learn to relax and let someone else be in charge…