His to Claim

by Taylor Vaughn

  One, I have given her.

  I have done this to her, I realize with a start. I would give my k’vani any luxury she desires, but I have turned her into this emotionless husk. Broken her hu’man spirit to the point where she has become an empty vessel.

  I touch the skin above my hearts at the sight of her, another unfamiliar feeling seizing my vital organs.

  I cannot…cannot quell her again as I did last night. I know that, even as I turn to leave her alone in the room.

  However, there is another thing I know I cannot do, and the certainty of that knowing rocks me to my very core.

  I cannot let her go.

  Somehow, some way, I must make this right.

  18

  Kira

  He’s back.

  I’m not sure how much time passed between when the door slides closed behind my Kel, and when it whispers open again. But I’m still awake.

  All I’ve been doing is staring at the same wall I was forced to face last night when he brought me to heel. Too tired to fight anymore. Too weary to sleep.

  I’ve decided to stop loving him, but his presence still fills the room. Still makes every atom in my body vibrate with the instinct to turn and face him. Stupid body. Stupid human.

  “Ki’Ra,” he says in that way of his, putting so much space between the syllables, that the translator makes them sound like two separate words.

  I don’t respond. I force myself to keep lying there.

  I get maybe five more seconds to play that game.

  That’s how long it takes him to cross the room and pull me into a seated position, so that I’m facing him. “There is something I must say to you. You will listen now to my words. All of my words.”

  Yes, of course, I will. After all, he’s the alien overlord and I’m just the human underling. But…too tired to fight.

  I just sit there waiting for the next inevitable threat.

  His ridges ripple in a strange, stuttering way I’ve never seen before. Then, instead of pinning me with his imperious red gaze as he usually does before he makes a proclamation, he looks down.

  “There has never been a time when I did not know I would become Kel. From the moment I could understand words, everyone I came into contact with, my father, the court, servants, soldiers, and even my friends impressed upon me the gravity of my position. My birthright has not allowed me to be anything but the Xalthurian sitting before you today.”

  He lets out a hissing sigh. “As Tel I had to do better, be better than those who followed me. I had the weight of my people on my shoulders. To falter or fail was a sign of weakness I could not afford.”

  I sit all the way up, already completely fascinated by his story.

  “Weakness is not a desired attribute among my people, particularly in our males, though some leeway is given to our females. Sudden outbursts of emotion are frowned upon and during my warrior training we were often instructed to severely beat any male who dared to engage in a show of weak temperament, no matter their standing. I am both a royal and a warrior. I have never been beaten. As Kel, I must be precise in my decisions and put my people’s welfare before all else. Xalthuria first. Even before my own wants and needs.”

  He’s still not looking at me, and I wonder out loud, “Why are you telling me this?”

  He pauses, and I sense a struggle within him, before he starts talking again.

  “I have always known my place in this world. I had never even thought to stray from my path. That is until I met a fiery hu’man female…”

  He finally looks up at me, his ridges vibrating. “One who challenged and defied me in a way that no one else had ever dared. It was only a moment. A bare sliver of an hour. Yet I found myself obsessing over her for two entire solars. I could barely sleep for all the time I spent plotting my conquest of her. And I planned to work her poison out of my system, during the little time the Breeding Ceremony would afford me with her.”

  He winces, as if embarrassed by himself and his intentions. “But then she tried to escape me. She ran, having no idea her plan would never have worked. Not because of my superior strength and speed, but because I would not have left that planet without breeding her. I would have searched every patch of red earth to find her, then razed her village to smoke her out if need be.”

  D’Rek shakes his head. “As crazed as I had become over her, of course I hunted as soon as she gave chase. But when I caught her, when I finally had her underneath me, I knew with certainty that three hours would not be sufficient. That very first touch, the feel of her body against mine only strengthened the obsession—”

  He breaks off, dropping his head, as if he’s in pain. “I am sorry, Ki’Ra, but saying these words to you…admitting my abject weakness when it comes to you…it is very difficult. Even saying it is difficult…is difficult.

  How should I feel about this confession? Insulted? Yes, probably. Angered? Oh, most definitely.

  But I can only shake my head, mute with shock. And I am no longer tired. The soul weariness has suddenly disappeared.

  My quiet seems to encourage him to continue on with his strange third person version of our story. “She should be out of my system. She should no longer be my complete and utter weakness. Even she has reminded me that she is little more than a womb to me. Yet, I cannot make her words or my desire to be rid of this obsession true. I think of her so often, it feels like always. Not just thoughts of breeding her as I would if she were only a womb for my progeny as she believes. I think of her smile, and the way she explains her incomprehensible New Terrhan phrases to me. I like the way she molds her body to mine as we lay, and often pull her to me if she forgets to touch her skin to mine in this way. I…I do not completely understand this concept of love…”

  He stops, once again raising his eyes. And this time he holds my gaze as he says, “But I know when you are not with me, Ki’Ra, I feel bereft. I enjoy you. Like your hu’man emotions. It is your hu’man I was and continue to be obsessed with, and I should never have attempted to turn you into a Xalthurian female. And this is why I, your Kel, have presented myself to you on my knees. To humbly apologize for my transgression. I can see now that I went too far.”

  He waits for me to answer, only to furrow his ridges when he sees how I respond.

  “Ki’Ra, you will tell me why your eyes are issuing water. My words were not intended to give you further offense.”

  I shake my head, a strange urge to laugh, replacing the tears that sprang to my eyes during his unexpected apology. “That was beautiful…your words were beautiful.”

  I can tell we’ve hit upon another cross point of cultural confusion by the way his ridges bristle. But then he smooths them and says, “You will tell me if my beautiful words are enough to make you forgive me.”

  Are they? Are they enough to get me to stay?

  “It’s just…you really hurt me,” I tell him, making a confession of my own. “Do you honestly think my kind is not intelligent? Beneath you?”

  He stiffens. Then says, “I do not think you are unintelligent, Ki’Ra.”

  Mmm-hmm. Don’t think I didn’t notice that careful you placement. “But my people are?” I ask, my voice becoming heated in ways I thought it never would again when I was dully staring at the wall.

  “How would you even know that? Your people barely interact with mine except to give us supplies once a year and breed our twenty-one-year-old females without a translator. What little we know about each other are in those brief meetings. You don’t even allow hybrids to visit the planet they were birthed on. It would make sense for you to initiate some kind of cultural exchange as our people share offspring. But I’m sure that has never crossed the mind of the high and mighty Kel D’Rek.”

  His ridges flatten in anger, and I wait for the imperious alien overlord to take back over. But instead of losing his shit, he lets out a long hissing breath and his ridges lower, as if he is pushing them back into a neutral position. “You will tell me how to make this right.” />
  Another command. But it feels like an offer. However, I can’t believe it, I remind myself. Can’t allow myself to see what I want to see in him ever again.

  “You can make it right by sending me home as you promised!” I answer, raising my arms to push him away. “That’s the only way.”

  His ridges re-flatten, and he grabs my wrists before I can shove him again.

  “That is not the only way!” he says, his eyes now as heated as mine. “I will not abide the thought of never mating with you again.”

  And here the imperious Kel is again. Obviously, his apology was just another tactic.

  I struggle to pull my wrist out of his vice grip. “You don’t have my permission. The only way you’ll ever touch me again is with immobilization cuffs and another plate of those unfairness berries of yours.”

  He stares at me for several hard moments, his ridges a smooth line of anger. Then he throws down my wrists and says, “Very well.”

  He stands and begins to disrobe, and my heart drops into my stomach when I see the two items that were sitting behind him the entire time he was delivering his fake apology.

  Another pair of immobilization cuffs. Silver this time and three times as large as the golden ones. And sitting beside them…another plate of those damned golden berries.

  The sight is enough to make me wonder if he purposefully got me all riled up, so that he could break me all over again. A sick psychological game that I was too human to ever win.

  I glare up at him. “So it’s come to this? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

  He doesn’t answer, just finishes disrobing. He’s already hard, his ridged penis standing at attention like a soldier ready to deliver a beatdown for my rule breaking show of emotion.

  I hold my breath, trying to decide whether to just give in or continue to fight as he scoops the entire plate of berries into his large hand and…

  Puts them in his mouth? His jaw works once, twice before he swallows them in one gulp.

  “What…what are you doing? Why did you eat those berries?”

  “I think you once referred to it as symbolism,” he answers. “The berries do not have the same effect on my species. But your mere presence has a similar effect on me as you have discovered over these last few weeks, when I could barely bring myself to eat, sleep, or work for the wanting of you.”

  With that declaration he holds out the cuffs. To me. Apparently, he’s waiting for me to take them.

  All the heartbeats get skipped, as I eye both the cuffs and the alien suspiciously. “What do you expect me to do with those?”

  “They are your retribution,” he answers simply. “You will put them on me and do with me as you will.”

  “Is this a trick?” I ask.

  “No.”

  I don’t…I don’t know what to do.

  When I don’t move, D’Rek lets out a hissing sigh and reaches for the robes he threw off. After a little digging he pulls out a small black bottle and knocks it back before I even have a chance to ask what it is.

  “What did you just do?” I ask, worry pausing my suspicion. On New Terrhan we only paint bottles black when they’re filled with poison. “What was that?”

  “That,” he answers, setting down the now empty bottle, “Was a special cocktail that serves as a sexual stimulant for my kind. It lowers our inhibitions and often has the inconvenient side effects of causing arousal much like when hu’man’s consume the ju’li berry. We give it to the Breeding Ceremony participants who have chosen to mate with other males but still desire progeny.”

  “Oh!” I say, getting it now. But then I have to ask, “Why would you drink that?”

  He picks up the cuffs, and his ridges remain in a neutral position, “To let you know that I am completely at your mercy. Take them, Ki’Ra. Put them on me. If you do not, I will soon be overtaken by a rutting madness, from which I will not be able to hold myself back.”

  I blink. Several times. But the stakes are very clear. I pick up the cuffs, knowing they’re the only things that will prevent me from getting taken against my will.

  19

  D’Rek

  I can tell my k’vani is unsure of my sincerity even as she takes the cuffs from me. “How…how does this work?” she asks, her voice trembling.

  I try to keep my ridges neutral, so as not to alarm her any further. “Place them on my wrists and they will automatically lock.”

  “And how do I take them off when the rutting madness is over?”

  Warmth floods my hearts at the question. Though the rutting madness is imminent, she seems much more worried about being able to remove the cuffs than her own safety. How brave she is, I suddenly realize, replacing the word defiant in my previous assessment of her character.

  “There is a small digital keypad on the side,” I answer, my ridges lowering ever further. “I will tell you the code when you are ready to take them off.”

  “You’re actually serious about this?”

  “As sure as my need for you,” I answer. But there is no more time for emotional confessions. The effects of the cocktail are quickly beginning to take over. My body tightens as my skin begins to tingle with hot, insistent need. My diijo, which was already fully erect, stiffens even further, becoming painful.

  I lay down upon the mats and hold up my wrists. “Quickly, Ki’Ra. My control will not last long under the influence of this cocktail.”

  With a sharp breath, Ki’Ra slaps the cuffs on my wrists.

  My ability to move disappears in an instant, but Ki’Ra just stares at me. Then at my diijo, which already leaks blue seed in needy anticipation of mating.

  “Do it,” I command her. “Punish me for breaking you.”

  Ki’Ra hesitates for several moments before finally pushing my arms over my head.

  She then stands up, her large breasts swaying as she sheds the thin examination robe. Then proving she can be just as cruel as her Kel, she straddles me, one foot planted on either side of my head, giving me a nice view of her sweet hot, and a breeding slit that is already glistening.

  My mouth goes dry. Suddenly a desert as vast as the one on her terrible red planet. I thirst for her more than I have ever wanted any drink.

  She stares down at me, saying nothing. Her eyes defiant.

  “How does it feel to be at someone else’s mercy…my Kel? Do you like being held captive unable to move, unable to fight back?”

  The ache of my need rattles my mind. I have never been so vulnerable…so exposed to anyone before.

  “I do not like this, k’vani,” I admit. “Please, put me out of my misery. Let me taste you.”

  She raises a brow. “Do my ears deceive me? Is the mighty Kel of Xalthuria begging an inferior human for something?”

  “Yes, yes, I am begging you.” My tongue reflexively whips out, trying to reach the sweet treasure she’s placed directly above but too far away from my mouth. “I will do anything you ask. Name your price.”

  Is this how she felt under the influence of the ju’li berries? I have only suffered this inconvenience a small amount of time compared to the hours of torture I put her through. Yet I am ready to promise her anything she wants, if she would just touch me!

  “Is this what you want?” Slowly she squats over my face, until her sweet hot is hovering at the very edge of how far my tongue can reach.

  Sickeningly grateful for this small allowance, I slide the tip of my tongue along her folds. Just that brief taste is enough to make me spill some of my seed. But I soon become frustrated.

  “Please k’vani. Lower yourself. Let me taste you properly.”

  She bites her bottom lip, seeming to debate her next move.

  I let out a hiss of victory when she presses her breeding slit against my mouth, almost sitting upon my face. I have tried many positions with Ki’Ra before, but this is a new one and I like it very much. My only regret is not being able to grip her hips and hold her against me. I swipe my tongue all over her breeding slit before slippin
g it deep into her sweet hot.

  She moans and soon arrives with a helpless cry, leaking her juices onto my face. Though I cannot move my neck I do my best to lick every drop I can.

  “D’Rek!” she cries out as she grinds her delicious mound against my face.

  But then to my great disappointment, she abruptly pulls away.

  “Ki’Ra,” I call out desperately.

  She moves to my side and does something most curious. She runs her tongue down the center of my chest not stopping until she reaches my diijo. She then wraps her fingers around my thickness before licking it up and down.

  The sensation of her tongue upon my shaft…oh this… this I like very much.

  And then she places my diijo in her mouth, licking around the severely swollen head. Hot sensation quickly consumes me, and soon I am on the verge of exploding. “That is so pleasurable, k’vani. Your mouth feels incredible. Please…please stay with me always,” I ramble as the most wondrous sensations flow through my body.

  Abruptly she pulls away.

  “K’vani. Do not stop. Essh, I cannot handle this,” I plead, my voice little more than a series of broken hisses.

  However, she sits back upon the mats and regards me with cold eyes, as she asks, “What’s to stop me from making you give me everything I would need to get out of here? Leave you and this planet behind and take a long-distance flyer to the Amnesty Space Station?”

  My entire world tilts on its axis when I realize the answer to that question….

  Nothing. There was nothing to stop her from making me do something that went completely against my self-interest and long-term desires. Not while I am in this state, at least. I curse L’Than anew for telling her of the only place she could run where I would not be able to give chase.

  “The access codes to get out of here, clothes, and a ship to fly to the Amnesty Station,” she says into my answering silence. “Would you give me that?”

  “Please, do not do this, k’vani. This is not what you truly want,” I reply through gritted teeth, as the unbearable heat of the rutting fever washes over me.