Claimed by the Conqueror

by Alyx X

  Not that arriving in his bedroom had worked out all too well for me.

  “Hm.” She made a thoughtful noise and switched the light on as she moved into the room.

  She needn’t have bothered—the sickly glow only made the tiny hole of a room look worse, highlighting the shadows, dirt, and things that scuttled across the floor.

  “Do you know anything about Qui or about Euquanians?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “No. You’re new to TerraLink. None of us really knows anything about you.”

  “That’s probably for the best, but I can give you a few quick pointers, seeing as it doesn’t look like you’ll be going anywhere in a hurry. Euquanians are a warrior culture in many ways. Big, tough, quick to anger. Qui doesn’t suffer fools around him, and he isn’t scared to…” She coughed lightly, clearly for show. “Remove those who get in his way.” She shrugged. “But you’re still here, and you appear completely unharmed, so either Qui is losing his touch and we’ve both completely underestimated you and your race, or—and this is the way I’m leaning,” she said, “—he likes you more than he should.”

  I clamped down on a feeling of pleasure. She thought I was somehow important to her brother, and that suited me just fine.

  “We can definitely play with that fact, anyway.” A smile crept up Roe’s cheeks, and she looked almost sinister. I opened my mouth to protest. I didn’t want to toy with Qui… Or rather, I did, but maybe not the ways his sister would think of. My idea of playing with Qui was much more about mutual pleasure. Roe looked like she had an agenda all her own.

  “It’s been fun to watch you mess with his head so far, but I think between us we can dial that right up.” She tapped her finger against her chin. “You know, he thinks I’m down here right now, taking care of this situation you’ve created.”

  I stiffened at her words. Taking care of a situation didn’t sound like good news on any planet.

  “I’m not ‘a situation.’” I straightened my shoulders. “I’m a guest here.”

  “Stowaway.” She whispered the word in one long hiss.

  For the first time since arriving on board, I fully questioned my decision. Even being chained up in this room hadn’t made me as nervous as being chained up in this room with Roe standing in front of me. I tried to hide my shiver, but she definitely saw something, because she chuckled, low and cruel this time. Then she reached out and flipped my hair off my neck before pressing her fingers against my pulse.

  “So fast. Humans really are fragile.” She pouted and her pupils dilated. Staring into them was a little like staring into black pools of evil, and I shivered as I looked into the void. She looked away and examined her nails. “I’ve always been amazed at the different ways dying people scream.” I backed up a little and my chains scraped against the wall, attracting her attention, so I stopped moving.

  “And there are so many interesting ways to kill people.” She looked at me as she ticked her list off on her fingers. “Slowly, accidentally, joyfully, casually…”

  I drew in a sharp breath, and the sound echoed.

  “Oh, that isn’t even a full list.” Roe looked as if she was trying to reassure me. “There are more. Listen.” She opened her mouth to start talking again.

  “I need to talk to Qui.” I backed right up against the wall, not caring how much the chains gave away my desire to put distance between us. “Send him back down.”

  She shook her head. “I told him I’d take care of you, seeing as he doesn’t seem to be able to do it himself.”

  Shit. I had nowhere to go, no way to run, but I couldn’t just crouch here and wait for my joyful-or-whatever-the-fuck-else death. I lunged toward her. “I will fight you,” I bit out as I managed to grasp a chunk of her hair in my hand, pulling it until she twisted her neck to follow in the same direction. “I won’t go quietly.”

  The bitch just laughed again, easily stepping out of my grasp. The sound, familiar now, grated across me, sparking panic and fury in me. I pushed the emotions down because they wouldn’t help me think. Not that thinking would help me much either; I was chained to the fucking wall. Straightforward escape was hardly an option, given my strength versus theirs. Rescue wasn’t an option, either. Without my ident, I was just one of TerraLink’s lost souls.

  Resignation replaced the panic. This was it, then. I’d run away to die. My desire to explore space had culminated in imprisonment in the dirtiest hovel of a room that I had ever seen. Roe squatted beside me again and brushed my hair back, trailing a sharp nail up the vein on my neck.

  “This is very pleasing,” she murmured. “I can already tell how much blood will spurt out of you when I…” She paused, appearing to consider her options as her eyes darkened further, the pupils impossibly wide. “I could slit your throat from here to here—” She trailed her finger in a curved line from the bottom of my right ear to the bottom of my left. “Or I could just chop your head off completely and let the blood gush up to the ceiling.”

  I closed my eyes, trying not to imagine that I might just become another bodily fluid that would go crusty on these walls. Why the fuck was she playing with me like this?

  “How much blood does the average human hold, Emma?” Roe’s voice was soothing, almost gentle, but danger ran through it as an undertone, and I stifled my shiver. I wouldn’t show her weakness. Maybe she was like one of the desert lions that roamed for miles and miles across Earth’s rocky surface. One hint of the scent of fear, and it was game over with them. Just as it was with Roe.

  I fixed my gaze past her, looking out into the narrow corridor beyond, and as all hope of escape left me, I began to shiver. I couldn’t hold in the trembling wracking of my body, no matter how many muscles I stiffened, and I whimpered with the effort of trying.

  “What was that you said?” She cocked her head and appeared to be trying to decipher my whimper, but I pressed my lips tight together and shook my head. Then her nostrils flared, and she leaned closer to me, breathing in deeply by my collarbone before she drew back and stood up. I watched her. Maybe the Euquanians were cat-like and enjoyed playing with their prey.

  She laughed again; the sound more pleasant this time. “Worry not, little human. As delicious as the scent of your fear is, I’m not going to kill you. Watching my brother squirm will be far more fun.” She reached out and twisted the restraints at my wrist, releasing them. With my support gone, I dropped to the ground with a cry, landing with a muffled curse against the cold, gritty floor.

  I flexed my fingers as they prickled with returning normal sensation and looked up at the big red alien in front of me, studying her for maybe the first time. As much as Qui’s form embodied a powerful alpha male, Roe was undeniably female, despite the power and strength she also exuded. Her graceful, feminine lines sent a trickle of envy through me. If this was the kind of female Qui’s species bred, I couldn’t understand his interest in me beyond novelty.

  Maybe the novelty had passed now, especially if he was aware of Roe being here with me. Wariness for her still held my muscles stiff, but gratitude at being unchained surged through me. I tried not to show it.

  “What are you going to do?” Shit. This might be her idea of torture—release me, make me think I was safe, but just take me to a second location. I didn’t have any of the warm fuzzies of safety. At least here, Qui knew where I was. Someone would know if I went missing. It wasn’t much, but that was all I had. Though, she had said he was the one who had sent her here. Maybe I was doomed no matter what.

  I lifted an eyebrow to follow my question, but she didn’t reply, even when I flat-out glared at her. Instead, she half turned, a mischievous smile dancing over her lips and her eyes sparkling like she had a secret. She gestured for me to stand as she stepped out of the room.

  My movements were slow, tentative, and she gestured again, but more impatiently this time. I followed her up the narrow staircase then out onto the main corridor, and I blinked in the sudden glare of the ship’s lights after so many hours sitti
ng in darkness. We walked quickly, Roe giving no concession for my muscles, which were stiff from sitting, nor for my body, still achy from Qui’s presence inside it.

  “Where are we going?” I asked again, my voice low.

  I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t want to speak too loud in case someone else discovered us. Roe had made no move to cover me, and while my nudity never shamed me, unfamiliar shyness had settled inside me. I didn’t want to be gawped at by any more big, red aliens.

  “I’m taking you to my room,” she answered, sparing me a quick glance over her shoulder as she led the way down corridors I’d only glimpsed when Qui dragged me to the cargo hold.

  Anxiety fluttered in my belly, but my voice came out calm when I spoke. “And is that where you’re going to behead me?”

  She laughed, a tinklier noise than earlier. “No. Although, I still think that could be fun. What color is human blood?”

  “It’s red,” I muttered.

  “Huh. Definite no to beheading you in my room, then. Red would clash with my color themes.” She didn’t slow her pace, but I allowed myself a small exhale of relief. Then she stopped without warning, and I almost walked into the back of her. “We’re here. Go inside and I’ll show you where to clean up.”

  When I hesitated, she gestured impatiently again. “Go on. Before anyone sees you.”

  “What happened to taking care of me?” I couldn’t help the suspicion that snaked through my mind. I didn’t trust that this wasn’t some sort of ruse before she killed me anyway.

  “Oh, that?” She waved a careless hand. “Forget that. I have bigger plans.” Her eyes sparkled again. “Are you ready to have some fun playing with my brother?”

  11

  Qui

  I stepped out of the shower, cock hard because I’d resisted the urge to wrap my fingers around it and stroke myself while thinking about Emma. I didn’t need to think about her at all anymore. I eased out a sigh of relief, knowing Roe had taken care of all of that. When it came down to it, I really could depend on my sister. It was that degree of trust, born out of family loyalty, that allowed me to feel so calm and controlled as I dried off and took my clothes out of my closet. I wore the same thing most days—black leather pants and a black, sleeveless vest—a simple uniform that was both comfortable and different from my crew. Not to mention relatively cool for my always warm body.

  I took a quick look in the mirror and nodded at what I saw. A conqueror back in control. There probably wasn’t a finer sight. Except Emma perhaps… Shaking off that stupidity, I left my room and walked toward the upper crewman’s dining hall with a little more swagger in my step than there had recently been. I didn’t always eat with the crew, but things were looking good, and I wanted to discuss the plans with some of them. We had more to talk about regarding the Earth’s core, and we could do that over a meal.

  “Sir.” A lower crewman greeted me as I passed him, and I nodded in return. His face was a mixture of admiration and fear, and he half bowed, half took a knee as I walked by him.

  “Crewman.” I didn’t know his name. Roe would have, but I never bothered to learn names until they were promoted to a position where I had to talk to them regularly. Seemed easier than knowing a bunch of names of crewmen who I sent out to battle regularly, anyway. They died in my name, so I didn’t usually learn theirs, preferring to leave the diplomacy to my sister, as usual.

  I strode into the dining hall at my full, confident height, every pore of me oozing the essence of being a leader of my men. The silver-gray walls reflected a slightly blurred version of myself back at me. I smiled. I even looked good in that. Things were definitely looking better, and whatever the kitchen crew had prepared for us to eat smelled fucking delicious.

  Steaming bowls of food sat on the long tables, and I let my gaze drift over them as I walked to my seat—

  I froze. Roe usually sat in the chair next to mine, only she wasn’t there today. No. That honor belonged to Emma. Her brown hair cascaded down her back and over the front of one shoulder in carefully teased coils and loops, and her face almost glowed under the close and careful attention of some of my upper crewmen.

  My mouth dropped open, and I gaped at her, all of my swagger draining away. Someone had wrapped her in a dress made of sheer fabric that hid all of her charms beneath artful drapes, but still left little to the imagination. My cock twitched like it had a mind and memory of its own.

  One of my crewmen—Fin—said something to Emma and she threw her head back and laughed, her joy making my lips twitch in amusement. I pulled them back into a thin line of displeasure as I narrowed my eyes at the man making that impossible woman laugh. She shouldn’t even have been at my table, let alone piquing the curiosity of my men with her puny human ways.

  As I watched, they reached out their hands to brush gently over her skin and her hair, and I knew what they were doing. They were responding to the cool temperature of her body. There was something indescribably attractive about it, and even I had to hold myself back from marching over there and cupping her cheek as I claimed her lips. It would serve as a warning to all of them to back the fuck off.

  I curled my fingers into tight fists and opened my mouth to bellow instructions across the dining hall, but I spluttered out a breath instead, merely huffing my displeasure. A familiar chuckle sounded at my side, and I whirled around to face my sister.

  “What the actual fuck?” I growled as I took in her casual pose where she leaned against the wall.

  She nodded toward Emma, who still had my men pawing at her like untrained pets. “She’s quite the hit. I think they might be able to see in her what you saw down on Earth. What do you think?” She rested her hand on my forearm, but I shook her off as my rage bubbled to the surface.

  I took a deep breath as my skin heated uncomfortably. “You were supposed to take care of her,” I ground out, the words erupting from me, although I managed to keep my voice quiet through some feat of control I didn’t even know I possessed.

  Roe laughed again. Oh, how I loathed that sound. Her amusement was far too often a symptom of an event to my detriment. Usually something Roe herself had brought about. Like this.

  “She looks very well taken care of though, don’t you think?” Her eyes widened as if to proclaim her innocence, and she spread her hands wide. “I’ve made sure she’s clean and dressed, and she seems to be making some friends. She’s also about to have her first decent meal aboard the ship, so that’s good progress on taking care of her, I think.”

  “But…” I started, before I met her gaze. She watched me like she was daring me to say something. “But…” I tried again.

  “Yes?”

  “But you were supposed to—” I cut myself off and gestured helplessly in Emma’s direction.

  “What?” Roe almost breathed the word. “What was I supposed to do, Qui? What did you expect to happen?” She leaned forward. “Tell me. I’m interested.”

  Only, instead of speaking, I gaped at her too. Before I could unscramble my thoughts enough to form a sentence, she pushed herself off the wall. “Let me know when you decide,” she said, her eyes turning serious.

  I glanced at Emma and her little entourage again and sucked in a deep breath, preparing to battle my way to my seat. The crew in here were very different to the lower crewmen—none of them bowed or bothered to take a knee. In fact, most of them thought little of throwing casual insults at me or joining in when Roe laughed at me. I seethed with quiet anger and tried not to listen to their conversations with Emma.

  My ears tuned in to Emma’s voice like it was the only communication wavelength in the entire galaxy. “Oh yeah,” she was saying. “You’re absolutely right. It’s very hot down on Earth these days. So hot in fact, that often most of us don’t even wear clothes.”

  I glanced at her, irritated at her flirtatious lies. Even more irritatingly, more than one man reached for her again, creeping their fingers under her dress and toward her thigh. A male voice murmured that he’d l
ike to see that, and I glanced around quickly, but I couldn’t pinpoint the speaker. I almost replied, but Emma beat me to it.

  “Maybe one day you’ll get your chance,” she purred. “You look like you might be my type.”

  I flinched and shouldered past the closest man as I took the quickest path to my seat. I didn’t need to hear any more of their conversation. I didn’t want to. And I didn’t want Emma up here, distracting my men from their duty. Especially when that duty was about to include destroying her planet and all humans remaining there.

  No one even bothered to look at me as I sat. Usually, everyone waited for me to serve myself food and begin eating before they served themselves, but today I was at least halfway done with my plate when I glanced up at everyone else, and Roe was the only other person eating. She gazed across the table with an amused smile playing on her lips. I growled low in my throat.

  My men were all entranced by Emma. They laughed when she did and wore ridiculous smiles that certainly didn’t belong on Euquanian faces.

  I slammed the butt of my knife onto the table. “Eat your damn food,” I barked. No one answered, but chairs scraped all over the dining hall as men scrambled to their seats. Cutlery chinked against serving dishes as people began to help themselves to the cooling food.

  Well, fucking great.

  They listened to me sometimes.

  Now that I’d dispersed the crowd around Emma, that left no one as a buffer between her and me, and she sidled closer. Two things became apparent. One, she smiled a hell of a lot like Roe. She’d clearly used Roe’s soap this time, and I definitely preferred it when she used mine. And two, underneath all of Roe’s perfumed crap, I could still smell the soft fragrance of Emma’s skin, and the rich scent of her pussy.

  My balls tightened.