by Emma Vance
At least that’s what I assumed some of the nonhumanoid creatures were doing. You couldn’t really tell with them all.
A fruity smell filled the air. This place certainly didn’t have the stench of the discount house. It smelled clean. Fresh. Which was shocking because there was still an awful lot of sex happening.
“They drug the air,” Kat said, as if noticing my sniffing.
I whirled to look at her. “With sex-poison?”
But she was already shaking her head. “No, it doesn’t last like that does. It does ramp up amorous feelings though. Happy ones. The victors and special gladiators get to come here for reward, but they don’t really trust that all the gladiators won’t hurt the girls and damage their property.”
Her mouth set as she stared out across the room. “It’s ridiculous, because the gladiators are much safer than some of the clients we have.” She clenched her fists at her side.
It was a reminder she had been here much longer than I had. She had seen and done things I hadn’t. If all went according to plan, I wouldn’t ever have to experience those things. But before we could escape, we had to find this Dragorian guy and get off this damned planet.
“So, if it isn’t just gladiators in here, who are all these people?”
“Patrons like to party with special gladiators. The winners and the strong fighters. It’s kind of like an elite club. On the far side of the house there is gambling—like casinos on Earth, but weird games I’ve never been able to figure out. They fill the rest of the house with females and their version of alcohol, drug the air and let the guests go to town.”
“Why do you like it here, then?”
“Like it?” she seemed confused at my question.
“You jumped at the chance to come here,” I said slowly, wondering if I misunderstood.
Her brow cleared. “Oh. No, I don’t especially like it here, but I feel a little more at home here than the luxury gardens. It reminds me of Vegas a little, just more fucked up. And as a human female, we pretty much get our pick of the males here.”
I cast my eyes around the room once more. The whole place reminded me of a ‘90’s cocaine palace—marble, gold, peach, and opulence.
“We should split up,” I said, as we moved out of the entranceway and into the dance floor area. It was surrounded by a floating bar, with alien bartenders spinning drinks in the air and serving them to creatures who looked like they didn’t even have mouths to drink them with.
Mekvar nodded at me. “Just what I was going to suggest, Beatrice. We make a good team.” I felt a rush of warmth at his praise. It had been a long time since I’d heard words of encouragement and I drank them up.
“There are more private rooms that way.” Kat pointed down a dimly lit hall. “And the food hall is over there.” She gestured in the opposite direction. “The other rooms are more public, as you can see.”
“Beatrice and I will go towards the private rooms.” Mekvar took my hand, protectively. “Tsanel, you go with the other females and search the dining hall and gambling den that Katherine spoke of.”
Tsanel drew himself to full height, which looked well over seven feet tall, and puffed out his chest. “I will, Captain.”
“Oh, he doesn’t need to accompany me,” said Kat, looking around, distracted. “I can handle myself. It isn’t the first time I’ve been here.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, but Mekvar shook his head.
“We will not have a female harmed. Especially not while you are helping us.” His mouth pressed into a firm line. Maybe he was thinking of letting Mei wander alone in the discount house.
“It’s honestly okay.” A flush rose in her cheeks and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’m meeting someone here that may be able to help.”
I had no idea what to say to that. She was acting like my co-worker, Miranda, who didn’t want anyone to know she was boning our boss. Every Friday after lunch, Miranda would walk out of Craig’s office, hair rumpled and dress askew, and paint a sunny smile on her face and ask us about our day as if we hadn’t just heard the desk banging against the window in tune with her moans.
“Trust me, I’ll be fine,” Kat said, before disappearing down a side corridor off the dance floor.
“That was odd,” came Hazel’s soft voice beside me. “Do you think she’s gone to have sex with someone? One of those strange, alien gladiators?”
“As long as she knows what she’s doing and it helps us, I don’t care if she’s fucking an octopus,” I said, thinking about all the tentacles in the discount pleasure house.
“Tsanel and I will search the dining hall.” She glanced to Tsanel, and for the first time, I saw a tremor of nervousness underlying her usually calm demeanor.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine with him.” I touched her arm, gently.
“I’m sure I will be as well. I’d just rather have some sort of direction, instead of blindly wandering around without a clue.”
“I know.” I agreed. “Hopefully we can get this Dragorian dude and be on their first-class spaceship out of here.”
She smiled at that. “Is their spaceship a first-class one?”
“Well, having never been on a spaceship, and having been kidnapped and dumped on a sex planet, I imagine it will look first-class to us.”
Hazel laughed, a light tinkling sound. I couldn’t help but notice Tsanel stare at her, like she was some sort of goddess. Oh, boy. He had it bad.
I watched her walk away with Tsanel. As she put a hand on his forearm, he glanced at her as if startled, then firmed up his shoulders and placed a six-fingered hand over Hazel’s. It seemed these Dragorians were as unused to human women as we were to them.
I felt the soft, leathery touch of Mekvar’s fingers on my forearm. He placed a hand at his waist, as if reaching for something—a weapon maybe? Then, he frowned and looked down.
“I hate feeling like I cannot defend you properly,” he muttered.
I thought of him nearly killing that alien beast at the discount house. “I don’t think you need a weapon to protect me, Mekvar.”
I glanced around. It didn’t seem as on-edge as the discount house. Here everyone seemed calmer. Less frenzied. It must be that stuff they pump into the air.
“Surely they won’t attack us here. You are technically their customer, right?” It felt weird to describe him like that considering it was me he was having sex with and my body that would was the product. I didn’t feel like a product, and I didn’t think he treated me like one. To be honest, even though I could barely control the urges I had whenever he was around me, it almost felt like we were in a relationship.
It felt like we depended on each other, like we had a partnership, especially after what he had shared with me last night. It felt like if we worked together we could truly do this—we could escape this place. I needed that hope more than anything right now.
Chapter Twenty-One
Beatrice
Mekvar and I walked towards the private rooms, and the fruity smell that filled the air stuck to my skin and hair. We entered a long hallway through a billowing golden curtain, and the moans were more muted. By now I’d become so accustomed to seeing all sorts of creatures having sex in front of me it wasn’t even registering as strange anymore.
We walked down a low-lit hallway, the walls a gilded wash of gold, lined with little alcoves covered with curtains. Mekvar stopped at one of the alcoves and slipped behind the curtain, beckoning me to follow. In front of us was a smooth white door. A private room? It was weird there were private rooms here when all over the house aliens were having sex in the open. Compared to the discount house, this was positively intimate.
Mekvar bent down low towards the door. His face was inches from the surface.
“What are you doing?”
Mekvar pulled me over. I blinked and looked closer at the door. It had a small hole at the top of it, like peepholes we had on earth to look out our doors and see who is there. Only these seemed like the other way—to
look inside.
I put my eye up to it. It was just the right height for me, which was likely why Mekvar was crouching so low. The hole was small, but if I thought it would be like the peepholes back on Earth, I was very wrong. Once I looked through the hole, it was as if I was standing right inside it the room.
A blue alien female with three breasts and incredibly hairy legs laid on a bed covered with cushions. She was being pleasured by two alien gladiators who had the muscular bodies of Greek Gods—except with giant tails I’d only seen on Komodo dragons. One of the gladiators was face down between her legs, licking enthusiastically, while the other was rolling the female’s blue nipples between his hands and then bent down to suck on them. Her head was thrown back in ecstasy and her hips undulated with each lick. It was simultaneously strange and arousing at the same time.
I could feel a flush of heat rising from my belly. I was growing wetter the more I watched them. That feeling only increased when I felt the brush of Mekvar’s breath on my neck.
I turned and swallowed thickly. “Did you see anything in there? Anything useful?”
Mekvar’s voice was rough. “Nothing useful.” He cleared his throat. “Much the same as what you are seeing.”
He stroked his fingers down my spine and I felt every inch of his calloused finger as it slid over the filmy fabric on my dress. Mekvar bent closer to me, his chest pressed into my back, crowding me against the door.
“Did you like what you saw?” He asked, his voice raspy again.
The heat of his breath tickled my cheek and I arched back into him, my butt pressing into the hard ridge of his groin. I felt a little surge of satisfaction at his groan, but that was quickly replaced with a gasp of my own as he flexed forward in response and pressed me against the door.
My palms were flat against the cool wood and my hips canted back against him. Mekvar pressed his groin into me and I felt the full length of his hard cock. I gasped as he placed his huge hands at my waist, gripping it tightly. I could feel the smooth claws, like steel on my skin through the sheer softness of my dress. Cool air hit my thighs as Mekvar bunched my dress around my waist, exposing the bottom half of me to him.
I gasped and looked behind us. We were hidden in the alcove, behind the soft white curtain.
“Look back inside,” he commanded.
I shifted forward so I could see through the peep hole. Once again, I was pulled into the room as if I was in there with the other aliens. Except I could still feel Mekvar’s hands on my hips, the scaled pads of his fingers tracing my ass.
“Tell me what they are doing,” he whispered in my ear.
I was so distracted by his fingers I could barely concentrate on what was going on. “One of the gladiators is now fucking the blue female.” My voice was unsteady as Mekvar lifted me up so my pussy was in line with his cock.
“How?” he asked, the word a grunt.
“She’s . . .” I swallowed thickly as I felt the stiff hardness of Mekvar’s cock against my wet folds. “She’s on her back,” I finished, watching the alien flex in and out of her in a rhythmic stroking. “He’s got her legs over his shoulders, and he’s pounding into her.”
“What else is happening?” He placed the head of his cock at my entrance and I moaned low as he rubbed it back and forth against the sensitive skin.
“The other alien is by her face. He’s putting his cock in her mouth.” I gasped and cried out as Mekvar thrust into me. He gripped my waist and worked me up and down on his cock, sliding me right up to the tip of it and then back down to the root.
My hands were splayed against the door as he fucked me. I whimpered when he nearly withdrew, only to push back in again. I was still watching the alien three-some go down in front of me, and Mekvar’s thrusts were somehow in tandem with the alien fucking the blue female.
The gladiator was moving his cock in and out of the blue alien’s mouth slowly, and the female sounded like she was loving it. I could hear her moans through the door, even though they were muffled by the giant gladiator penis in her mouth.
I tore my gaze away from the door as Mekvar surged forward, hard. He thrust into me over and over as I was pressed into the door. The pleasure was nearly overwhelming. Every time his body slammed into me there was a blinding spear of bliss. And I wanted more. My attention was now wholly taken away from the three aliens in the room in front of me and was focused only on Mekvar and the place where our bodies joined. I cried out as he pounded into me with his thickness, the sound of his rasping breath and guttural moans echoing in my ear.
I could feel my orgasm coming. I’d given up even trying to look through the door and my hands were braced flat against it as Mekvar pumped into me. He took one arm from my waist and his fingers searched through my slick folds to find my clit.
As soon as his fingertips skirted over it, I came. It was like an explosion going off in my body. I screamed, and whatever strength I was using to keep myself upright by bracing myself against the door was gone. I sagged as the rhythms of my orgasm flowed over me.
But Mekvar held my body against his and continued to pump furiously into me as I rode out the delicious waves. Then he froze, and let out a guttural sound, his cock feeling stiff and searing inside me as he came. I felt his hot seed running down my legs in ribbons as it flooded my pussy. He stayed there for a moment and we breathed together, my back plastered against his front.
When he withdrew, I felt as if I was missing something. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the thought. It was ridiculous. He was just a way to escape this place.
Wasn’t he?
I adjusted my dress so the floaty fabric fell back into place around my ankles. Mekvar was fastening his pants again. He lifted his head and his eyes locked with mine. We stared at each other for a moment, the moans and sounds of sex around us fading into the background.
“Is it strange that I feel this way?” I asked, unable to maintain the intense eye contact any longer.
Mekvar looked at me like I was the center of his universe—not like I was a human slave lost in the middle of the galaxy. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about him, but I knew it wasn’t nothing. At first, teaming up with this big alien was a means to an end. I thought if he could get me out of here, that was all I needed. But now, it felt good to be valued, to be important to someone.
I never had that on Earth. I had my job, and I worked hard for it. But I had no family and my insane work hours made sure I didn’t really see friends that often. I’m not sure that anyone would come looking for me or even report me as missing, even work.
I was replaceable. But I didn’t feel replaceable to Mekvar. I felt special.
“Feel what way?” Mekvar reached up and stroked the curve of my ear, as if fascinated. His own was about ten times larger than mine, wickedly twisted like a creature from a fantasy novel and coming to a point at the top. Mine must seem so strange to him in comparison.
“Like . . . like I want you all the time. Like I cannot get enough of you. And when I look at something like this,” I gestured to the door and what was beyond it, “all I can think about is us doing that together.”
Mekvar growled low, and my belly fluttered. His hand travelled from my ear to my shoulder and he gripped it tightly.
“No, it is not strange. It is the Rushing. Normally my people go away with their mate when they find each other—to let the Rushing run its course. I would love to have that time with you. But I do not want you to stay here any longer. I wish I could take you away now, I would if I didn’t have to complete this mission.” He broke off roughly and cursed, a word that didn’t translate, but I recognised it for what it was. Mekvar looked at me and his golden cat-like eyes were liquid with want. “If I didn’t have to help my people, I would take you away now. But I cannot fail them again. I wish I didn’t have to choose between you and them. But we need this scientist. We need him.”
I don’t think I understood the true weight of how conflicted Mekvar was. Even after what he confessed to me
about his last mission. Of course, he needed to do this.
And I was going to help him.
I put my hand on his forearm. “It’s okay. We will find him. You won’t fail.”
I didn’t know if I could promise him that, but I hoped with all my heart I could.
It wasn’t just about escaping anymore. I wanted Mekvar to find this guy, I wanted to help his people.
“Let’s keep looking.” I pointed to the other doors. We had about another fifty rooms to check.
We glanced at each other, then back down the hall. If there was something like this going on in every room, it would take a very long time to make it to the end of the hall.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mekvar
Beatrice and I mated three more times as we continued to look for the Dragorian scientist in the gladiator pleasure house. If I had my way, I would have pulled her into one of the empty rooms we found and mated with her a dozen more times. At this point I wasn’t sure that she or I cared who viewed us anyway. I had always been deeply private, so this shocked me. The Rushing was all-consuming. I couldn’t seem to shake it off and focus on what I needed to.
The scientist. The one person who could prevent my people from becoming extinct.
But it was getting harder to think of anything else with Beatrice here, both because I wanted to mate with her constantly and because I was consumed with the need to protect her. To get her off this pleasure planet. Just the thought of her being sold to another male nearly blackened my eyes with rage. Which was something that could happen at any moment. It was only through the whim of Bardoa and the considerable amount of Stryxx coyne I’d given him that prevented her from being taken by someone else.
I sent a prayer of thanks to the Gods that we still had control over some of the wealthiest mines in all the galaxy. The Wolgons hadn’t managed to take them yet. If coming here could save my people, we’d put everything we had behind it.