by Anna Zaires
“Where are you taking me?” asked Mia in confusion, disoriented after the recent reality shift. Oh God, surely he wasn’t thinking of having sex right now; she didn’t think she could bear that kind of intimacy after everything that happened.
“To the kitchen,” Korum replied, walking swiftly. Before she could ask him why, they were there, and he was setting her down on one of the chairs. Mia blinked up at him, too drained to attempt to understand his inexplicable behavior.
“When was the last time you had something to eat?” he asked, looking at her with a slight frown on his face.
“Um . . . last night.” Mia couldn’t fathom where he was going with this.
He nodded, as though she had confirmed something for him. “No wonder you’re so shaky,” he said reprovingly. “You didn’t eat breakfast, and your blood sugar is low.” Walking to the refrigerator, he filled a glass with some clear liquid and brought it to her. “Drink this, while I make you something to eat,” he ordered, ignoring the incredulous look on Mia’s face.
He wanted to feed her right now? Was he serious? Cautiously sniffing the glass, Mia discerned a faintly sweet coconut scent. What the hell, she decided, if he wanted her dead, she sincerely doubted he would use poison to kill her. Taking a sip, she realized that her nose hadn’t lied; Korum had indeed given her fresh coconut water to drink. It was exactly what her body was craving right now, a perfect blend of carbohydrates and electrolytes. The frozen numbness that had been encasing her like armor began to crack, and tears welled up in Mia’s eyes again. Why was he acting like this now, after everything that she had done to him?
Finishing her drink, she watched him move about the kitchen, making her an avocado-tomato sandwich. Now that the main adrenaline rush was over, she was starting to think again, her brain beginning to function at some fraction of its normal ability. The truth about their relationship had been revealed. This entire time she’d thought that she was spying on him for the benefit of all humanity, but he had really been using her to crush the Resistance once and for all. All those lives today had been lost because of her . . . No, she couldn’t focus on that now, or she would shatter into a million pieces.
She concentrated on the puzzle of Korum’s intentions instead. He wasn’t going to kill her, he’d said. But would he punish her in some other way? She couldn’t imagine that he would want her around after the way she had betrayed him. Their farce of a relationship was over. He had won: Earth would remain firmly under Krinar control. And Mia had outlived her usefulness. He didn’t need an unwitting double agent anymore –
“Here, eat this,” the object of her musings said, placing the sandwich in front of her and sitting down across the table. “And then we’ll talk.”
“Thank you,” Mia said politely and obediently bit into the sandwich. Her stomach growled, and she was suddenly starving, her lumberjack appetite making its appearance despite the trauma of this morning’s events. In less than a minute, she had devoured the sandwich and looked up, slightly embarrassed by her greediness. The smile on his face was a genuine one this time, and she remembered that he liked that about her – the healthy appetite she possessed despite her small size.
“So what now?” Mia repeated her earlier question, and Korum’s smile faded. He regarded her with an inscrutable gaze, and Mia shifted in her seat, growing increasingly nervous.
“So now,” Korum said quietly, “you will come with me while I help clean up this mess.”
Mia felt all blood drain from her face. “Come with you where?” Surely he couldn’t mean –
A small smile appeared on his lips. “To the same place you went while snooping this morning: Lenkarda, our settlement in Costa Rica.”
All of a sudden, there wasn’t enough air in the room for Mia to breathe properly, and the sandwich felt like a rock inside her stomach. What was he saying? He couldn’t still want her, not after everything . . .
“Why?” she managed to squeeze out, staring at him in horrified disbelief.
“Because, Mia, I want you with me, and I can’t stay in New York any longer,” he said calmly, with an unreadable expression on his face. “I’ve been away far too long. There are things that require my attention – not the least of which is what to do with the traitors.”
Mia shook her head, trying to get rid of the mental fog that seemed to be slowing her thinking. “B-but why do you want me with you?” she stammered. “You were just using me –”
“I was using you because you chose to betray me – don’t ever forget that, darling,” he said in a dangerously silky tone. “I’ve wanted you from the very beginning, and nothing you’ve done changes that fact. You’re mine, and you’ll remain with me for as long as I want you. Do you understand that?”
There was a dull roaring in her ears. “No,” she whispered, her words barely audible. “No. I’m not going anywhere. I won’t be a slave . . . I refuse, do you hear me?” Her voice had risen in volume with each sentence until she was almost yelling at him, the red mist of fury taking over her vision and getting rid of any remnants of caution.
“A slave?” he asked with a puzzled frown on his face. And then his forehead smoothed out as he apparently realized what she was talking about. “Ah, yes, I almost forgot that you’ve been laboring under a misconception this whole time. You’re referring to being my charl, aren’t you?”
“I will not be your charl!” Mia snarled, her hands clenching into fists under the table.
“You will be anything I wish you to be, my darling,” he said softly, a mocking smile curving his lips. “However, your friends in the Resistance have misinformed you – either inadvertently or on purpose – about the real meaning of charl.”
Her temper cooling slightly, Mia stared at him. “What do you mean? Are you telling me that you don’t keep humans in your Centers as your . . . pleasure slaves?” She spit out the last words with disgust.
He shook his head, with that same sardonic look on his face. “No, Mia. A charl is a human companion – a human mate, if you will. It’s a unique term that we use to describe a special bond between a human and a Krinar. Being a charl is a privilege, an honor – not whatever it is that you’ve been imagining.”
“A privilege to be with you against my will?” asked Mia bitterly. “To be forced to go where I don’t want to go – unable to see my family, my friends?”
“Don’t lie to me, Mia,” he said quietly. “Or to yourself. Being with me is hardly a chore for you. Do you think I don’t know why you’ve been crying this week? You need me . . . just as much as I need you. What we have together is rare and special – even though you’ve done your best to tear us apart. If I were young and foolish, I would let my hurt and anger get the best of me . . . and leave you, full of bitterness at your betrayal. But I’ve been around long enough to understand that when you find a good thing, you hold on to it; you don’t throw it away on a whim.”
“Really? You hold on to it even if the other person doesn’t want you?” said Mia sarcastically, infuriated by his arrogant assumption that he knew all about her feelings. Maybe she had fallen for him; maybe she’d even thought she loved him – but that was before she knew how he’d used her, before she witnessed the deaths of thousands of human soldiers as a result of what he’d done. He might be able to get over his hurt and anger, but Mia couldn’t be so magnanimous right now.
“Oh, you want me,” Korum said softly. “That much I know for a fact. Would you like me to prove it?”
And before she could come up with a retort, he was next to her, swinging her up into his arms and bringing her toward him for a deep kiss, his tongue pushing into the recesses of her mouth. Infuriated, Mia tried to remain impassive, to temper her response, but her body didn’t know, didn’t care that he was about to ruin her life. It only knew the pleasure of his touch, and Mia found herself melting against him, her hands clinging to his shoulders instead of pushing him away. A familiar wave of heat swept through her, and she felt a surge of moisture between her legs,
her body eagerly preparing itself for his possession.
Still holding her in his arms, he walked somewhere, and Mia was too far gone to care where. They ended up in the living room, and he lowered her onto the couch, still kissing her with those deep, penetrating kisses that never failed to make her crazy. She heard the zipper of her jeans getting unfastened, and then he was tugging them off her legs along with her sneakers, leaving her lower body clad only in a pair of white lacy panties. His thumb found the sensitive nub between her legs, and he pressed on it through the underwear, circling it in a way that made her insides tighten, and Mia moaned helplessly, arching toward him, wanting more of the magic that she had only experienced in his arms.
He let go of her then, taking a step back to remove his own clothes, stripping off the T-shirt with one smooth motion and then swiftly taking off his jeans and underwear, leaving himself fully naked. Mia stared at him with unabashed lust, taking in the powerful muscles covered with that beautiful bronzed skin, the smattering of dark hair on his chest, and the hairy trail on his lower abdomen leading down to a large, fully aroused penis, with the heavy balls swinging underneath.
He didn’t let her enjoy the view for long, grasping her shirt to pull it over her head and unclasping her bra. A second later, her panties were pulled off her legs and joined the heap of clothes lying on the floor. He paused for a second, raking her naked body with a burning gaze, and then he bent over her, his hot mouth closing over her left breast, sucking on it. Mia moaned, feeling the pull of his mouth deep within her belly, and he sucked on the other breast, his tongue flicking over her nipple in a way that made her desperately wish his head was two feet lower. As though reading her mind, he touched her wet folds with his hand, one finger pushing into her opening, pressing on the ultra-sensitive spot inside her vagina, and Mia gasped from the intensity of the sensation, her body throbbing on the verge of release. Without removing his finger, he brought his mouth down toward her genitals, his tongue finding its way inside her folds to tease the area directly around her clitoris. At the same time, his finger moved slightly within her, starting to find a rhythm, and Mia’s entire body tensed as the tingles of pre-orgasmic sensation began to radiate from her lower regions outward. His tongue flicked at her nub, first lightly and then with increasing pressure, and Mia screamed under the almost cruel lash of pleasure, her inner muscles clamping down on his finger and then pulsating with the aftershocks of the release.
Withdrawing his finger, he flipped her over, pulling her toward the edge of the couch. Lifting her briefly, he placed her so that she was bent over the plush couch arm, face down and her feet on the floor. Covering her with his body, he began to push inside her, his cock penetrating her inch by slow inch. Mia was soft and wet from the orgasm, and her body accepted his gradual entrance, the tender inner tissues stretching and expanding to accommodate the intrusion. As he pushed forward, he kissed the side of her neck, and she shivered, the tension starting to build again. Her vagina spasmed around his cock, and he groaned in response, sheathing himself fully within her. Mia inhaled sharply from the feel of his cock buried to the hilt; he was impossibly hard and thick, and she felt like she was burning from the heat of him inside her, over her, all around her.
And then he began to move, his thrusts pressing her deeper into the arm of the couch. Every muscle in her body tensed, and she cried out, each stroke intensifying the agonizing pleasure, until her world narrowed to nothing more than the cock moving back and forth within her body and she existed purely for the sensations, stripped down to the raw and elemental parts of her animal nature. She could hear the rhythmic cries in the distance and knew that they had to be her own, and then the massive climax swept through her, her inner muscles rippling around his penis and her entire body trembling from the shock of the orgasmic wave. And, with a hoarse shout, he was coming too, his hips grinding into her as his penis pulsed inside her with his own contractions.
When it was all over, he withdrew from her, leaving her lying there naked, still bent over the sofa arm. Without his large body covering her, Mia suddenly felt cold – and the realization of what had just happened added to the icy knot growing inside her. Standing up on quivering legs, Mia bent down to pick up her clothes, refusing to look at him and trying to ignore the wetness sliding down her leg. With the heat of passion over, her anger returned, magnified by the shame of her unwanted response to him.
“Mia,” he said softly, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him standing there, completely unconcerned about his nakedness. She turned away, putting on her bra, and using her shirt to wipe off the traces of the sex session before putting on her underwear. Pulling on her jeans, she felt slightly better, but the cold fury inside remained. Without even thinking about it, she walked over to the little purse she’d left sitting on the couch earlier this morning. Reaching inside, she pulled out the little device Leslie had given her and pointed it in his direction.
“I’m leaving,” she said with icy calm. A stranger seemed to have taken over her body, and the normal Mia couldn’t help but marvel at her daring, even though she knew that her odds of success were nil.
At the sight of the weapon, the golden glow in Korum’s eyes cooled.
“That’s a dangerous toy you have there,” he said quietly, staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face.
Mia nodded coolly. “Don’t force me to use it.”
“So you walk out of here, and then what?” he asked with mild curiosity. “There’s nowhere you can go where I won’t find you.”
Mia hadn’t thought that far; in fact, there’d been no thinking involved in her actions at all. It was too late now, though, so she just shrugged and said bravely, “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”
“Are you going to go on the run? Change your identity?” he continued, an amused note appearing in his voice. “None of that would work, you know.”
“Because of the tracking stuff you put in me without my knowledge or consent?” she asked bitterly.
Korum just looked at her, neither admitting nor denying it. “There’s only one way you could be free of me,” he said slowly.
Mia stared at him in frustration, not understanding where he was leading. Now that the initial wave of fury had passed, the full stupidity of her actions dawned on her. He was right; even if she managed to walk out of his penthouse – a big if, given the laser-quick reflexes she was up against – he would catch her before she could go more than a few blocks. By pointing that weapon at him, she had only succeeded in angering him, and she felt a tendril of fear at the thought.
“And what way is that?” she asked, deciding to stall for time.
“You could shoot me,” he said seriously. “And then all your problems would be solved.”
Horrified, Mia gaped at him. The idea of actually pressing the button and watching him dissolve before her eyes, like those shield posts at the colony, was unthinkable. She’d never had any intention of actually using the weapon. All she’d wanted was to regain some measure of control, to feel like she was in charge of her own life. She’d wanted to threaten him, to make him bow to her will, to make him feel the way she felt when he took away her freedom of choice. She’d never wanted to hurt him, much less kill him.
“Go ahead, Mia,” he said softly. His powerful naked body was relaxed, as though they were having a regular conversation – as though he didn’t have a deadly weapon pointed at him. “Go ahead and shoot.”
Her fingers trembled, her palms slick with sweat, and she felt her eyes burning with stupid, unwelcome tears. “Please,” she said, not caring anymore that she sounded like she was begging. “Please don’t make me do it. I just want to leave . . . to go home. Please just let me walk out of here –”
“Just press the button, Mia. And then you can go wherever you want.”
Mia felt hot and cold, her stomach twisting with nausea. The tiny device in her hand was suddenly unbearably heavy, and her arm shook with the effort of holding it pointed at hi
m. The tears spilled over, running down her cheeks, and she lowered the weapon, sinking down to the floor, her trembling legs unable to hold her any longer. Burying her face in her hands, she cried, bitter at her own cowardice, her own idiocy. She couldn’t hurt him, couldn’t kill him; she would have sooner cut off her own limb. How could she feel this way about him even now? What was wrong with her that she had fallen in love with someone who wasn’t even human . . . an alien whose kind had just murdered thousands of people?
In the depths of her despair, she felt him wrap his arms around her, lifting her from the floor and onto his lap on the couch. “Hush, my darling,” he whispered, “everything will be all right, I promise. I wouldn’t have been able to press that button either – and I’m glad you couldn’t.” He stroked her hair gently while she cried into his naked shoulder. After a few minutes, her sobs began to quiet. Feeling embarrassed about her outburst, Mia tried to pull away, but he didn’t let her, lifting her chin instead to look her in the eye.
“Mia,” he said softly, “I’m not taking you with me to be cruel. After everything that happened, the Resistance – or whatever is left of it – will be looking for you. They don’t know the full story, and they’ll think you set them up. They’ll spare no effort in trying to kill you, and if they figure out how much you mean to me, they’ll try to capture you alive to use you against me. I’m sorry, but I have no choice. It’s simply not safe for you to be anywhere but in Lenkarda right now.”
Mia stared at him, her vision still blurred by tears. She hadn’t thought about that, but it was true. As far as the Resistance was concerned, she was a traitor to all of humankind. They would definitely blame her for the huge loss of life she’d just witnessed. A terrifying thought occurred to her. “What about my family?” she asked, everything inside her turning to ice at the possibility that the freedom fighters might try to hurt those she loved.