by Alyx X
She pushed her tits up against my arm, and my skin heated at the contact with her soft body. I’d hoped I’d fucked her right out of my head. Turned out I’d just fucked her deeper in.
“How are you doing?”
I didn’t even look at her. She knew exactly what she was doing. Just a temptress, playing me like she’d happily play my men if I hadn’t commanded them all to eat. I shoveled another mouthful of food in and chewed it.
Then I replied. “Eat your damn food.”
She drew away, falling silent. Good. She shouldn’t be here, anyway. I glanced at Roe as she pushed her chair back from the table and hurried around to sit next to Emma, sending the crewman at Emma’s right on his way.
She sat down and murmured something, and they both glanced my way before breaking into fits of giggles. I shook my head and glared at Roe. Damn females were the same in any species. I stabbed a piece of meat with my fork, then chewed on it angrily, trying to channel my temper into something productive as I watched my sister and the woman who shouldn’t have even been here grinning and laughing up a storm. They were clearly plotting something.
I ate mechanically. Automatically. Mouth open, food in. Repeat, repeat, repeat. And the whole time, my blood heated in my veins, and my skin heated as my temper rose.
My mind raced through all the ways I could handle this insubordination, but none of them seemed to make any sense. Roe had deliberately acted against my instructions, deliberately misunderstood me, but for what? No one understood the importance of use working as a team more than she did. We hadn’t achieved all we had, decimating and desecrating so many planets, by acting for ourselves. We acted for the good of the plan, so what had gone wrong this time?
More importantly, would her sudden desire to act out impact future plans? I hadn’t planned on Roe stepping this far out of line. She might be my sister, but she was also a member of my crew. Members of my crew who disobeyed direct orders would be punished. Then again, had I even given it as an order?
As Roe glanced up and we locked gazes, I lowered my eyebrows, sending my fiercest scowl her way. She simply shrugged and laughed before turning to Emma again and lowering her head so I had no way to see what she was saying. Emma nodded, then looked at me and the smile on her face brought me joy I didn’t want to feel. I had no intention of feeling it, so I picked up my drink and threw that back instead.
“Drinks?” Roe spoke just one word and I huffed out a sigh.
I couldn’t even head back to my room now. I had to endure this torture while everyone drank too much and celebrated. We only did this after we found something worth celebrating, and apparently Roe had put the word around, so here we were…celebrating.
I couldn’t leave because I was the leader. The captain. The conqueror. Another fucking great twist to my damn day. Before I could work up an excuse or a valid protest, Fin slammed a frothing jar of FireSlug juice in front of me, and my mouth watered. It had been too long since I’d had a decent drink, and fuck, I needed one now. Roe and Emma had driven me to this moment. As I thought of Roe, she stood and came to stand between Emma and me, placing her arms around both of us, like the galaxy’s most unwanted group hug.
“I’m not up for drinking right now,” she said, raising her voice to be heard over the increasing volume of chatter from my men. “But I’m just going to leave the two of you here to enjoy it together. She stepped back, but as she did she pushed Emma up against me, making me grit my teeth.
Emma held up her jug of FireSlug juice as Roe walked away, her hips swaying smugly with every step she took. “Cheers,” she muttered. I glanced at her and she frowned before chinking her glass against mine.
“To your good health?” she questioned, and I shook my head.
“Are we just saying random shit now? In that case, nice lady balls.”
“What?” She drew her eyebrows together in confusion.
“Took balls to creep in here and get as far as you did,” I said as I looked across the room, out over my men as they celebrated the imminent downfall of the planet Emma had just escaped from. Something twisted in my gut, but I met her gaze, anyway. I couldn’t resist her. “I admire what you did.”
“Yet you wanted me dead?”
Shit. This little human definitely had a death wish. Creeping on here, escaping her confines... Challenging me.
I nodded. “I don’t keep anything I have no use for.” It was the way conquering worked. Always had. I was single-minded, unsentimental. “So, yeah. I did want you dead.” I swallowed because I wasn’t sure that had ever been the case.
Something in her exceptional boldness appealed to me. It reminded me of…me and the way I took risks because I had to win at any cost. Losing wasn’t an option. I knew my reasons but I was curious about what drove Emma. It didn’t mean I’d worked out a use for her yet, though.
“Huh… You did?” She was prompting me. Inviting me to reveal that I had never actually wanted her dead, just removed from my thoughts. She lowered her head, but it seemed only to hide the smile at her lips. She was too late—I saw it anyway.
“I only have one request,” I said, ignoring her. “Do not come to my room naked again.” It was more of a command than a request, now I thought about it. She looked at me and grinned, no more hiding her amusement.
“Do you mean that?” She did the tits pressing against my arm thing again, and I nearly wavered.
But there was no going back now. I’d made my decision. I nodded. “I do,” I said. “It’s not appropriate, and I don’t want you there.” A lie. I glanced down into my FireSlug juice as I swirled it in my glass. I had to hide the lies in my eyes somehow.
When I looked back up at her, confident my gaze wouldn’t give me away, she watched me, her expression serious for a moment. Then she pulled the corners of her mouth down and shrugged. “Ah, well. Thems the breaks, I guess.” She flipped her hair and touched me briefly on the shoulder, her hand barely lingering long enough for me to soak in the feeling. “Okay.” She shrugged again, then she winked. “It’s a very good thing there are plenty of guys here to keep me amused.”
I turned my head to watch her as she started to walk away, but she turned back and leaned down to press a cool kiss to my cheek. “I do intend to be amused,” she murmured. “A girl doesn’t come all this way for nothing.”
She winked again and strolled toward the largest cluster of guys, reaching out to touch one to catch his attention. I watched her, mouth agape. The audacity of this human… When the crewman turned and looked down at her, he grinned like he knew everything about her that I wanted to know.
My stomach clenched as she flirted right back with him, bestowing casual touches on Fin that really belonged to me. Hot irritation flared in my chest. Perhaps sending her away was the wrong decision, but it wasn’t like I could actually keep her. Not when I didn’t even really want her.
As I tried to distract myself with conversation, I watched Emma and Fin instead. I went back and forth between anger and jealousy for the rest of the time the drinks flowed. The two grew friendlier and I snorted my disgust. The puny human was just working the crowd.
Worse, Fin was falling for it. He stood too close to her. Touched her skin too often. Looked at her too closely. It took all of my self-control to prevent myself from springing up and running over there to drag him to the cargo hold to cool off.
We had a job to do, and Emma would only prove to be a distraction from that. Fuck. She was already proving to be that distraction. As I watched, Emma stood on her tiptoes and drew Fin down so she could whisper in his ear. He grinned at her and nodded. I’d never wished for supersonic hearing more. Fin wrapped his arm around Emma, pulling her flush against him, and they walked away from the room.
Well, hell. I needed supersonic hearing and X-ray vision, because now I had no idea where they were or what they were doing. My pulse started throbbing in my head as anger worked its way through me, smooth and steady. Except it was an anger I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t the irri
tation that flared toward Roe, and it wasn’t the adrenaline-fueled urgency of battle.
No, this anger whispered to me. It told me what I was missing and how much I’d lost. I stopped; my whole body suddenly cold. That wasn’t anger at all. It was jealousy, and before I had time to examine it, Roe stepped into my field of vision.
“You okay there?” Her tone was concerned, but it didn’t translate to her expression. Instead, her usual amused eyes dared me once more to say something she didn’t agree with.
I shook my head, denying all of my thoughts and all of her unspoken implications. “Absolutely fine.”
“I don’t know.” She almost made the words sing-song. “For a red alien, you’re suddenly looking very green indeed.”
12
Emma
Well, he wasn’t entirely like Qui, but maybe he was close enough. He was big and red, and a girl could close her eyes. We stood with a group of other big, red aliens, and they chatted back and forth in a language I couldn’t understand.
I glanced about, but the room was really no more interesting than the blackness of my holding cell, no more diverse than the sand colored rock of Earth. The dining hall was just shades of gray metal. I glanced at Qui, taking in his lowered eyebrows and tense mouth. That was quite some glare. Oh, well. He’d made it very clear he didn’t want me in his bedroom again, so he had no right to be angry.
I tugged on the arm of the alien next to me, and he turned flirtatious eyes and a ready grin my way. “What’s your name?” I asked him. That was generally a good place to start.
“Fin.” His low voice rumbled deliciously through me.
I grinned. “And do you all have three letter names?”
He bowed his head in quick acknowledgment. “We do.”
“Hmm…” The idea they might all be similar in other respects occurred to me, and I nudged closer to him, pressing into his arm. “How about we go somewhere else?”
“Somewhere else?”
I almost rolled my eyes. Men. They were as dense in any species. “Somewhere a bit quieter.” He looked at me. “More private.” I prompted.
His grin widened, and he nodded, enthusiasm lighting his eyes. “That sounds like a very good idea.” He took my hand and led me from the room. I expected him to walk me to his room, but apparently his impatience was too great for that.
We rounded a corner, and he pushed me up against a wall. I shivered at the cool metal under my skin. Well, that and the excitement of the alien in front of me. He bent down—way the hell down—and pressed his lips against mine before impatiently lifting me so my legs sat astride his hips and he held me against the wall with his body.
“That’s better,” he murmured as he used one hand to angle my chin and the other hand to support my weight. I moaned a little when his lips finally touched mine. His skin was warm and heated more as our kiss deepened.
I closed my eyes and allowed myself memories of Qui. Fin didn’t taste quite the same as he coaxed my lips apart with his tongue. I gasped anyway, muscle memory kicking in as my body responded to the man I had my legs wrapped around.
Grinding against him, I slid my hand between us and palmed his cock. “Very nice,” I murmured.
“Only nice?” He dropped his mouth to my neck and nibbled the skin there before sucking on it gently. I drew away from his eager mouth. I wasn’t about to let him mark me as anything else but my own. That wasn’t how fucking me worked. I did what I chose and belonged to no one.
“Well, how nice depends on what you can do with it.”
He chuckled, but it wasn’t quite deep enough, nor sexy enough. Still, it would do. “I can do plenty. You’ve probably never even experienced the things I can do.” His tongue grazed across my skin. “I could lick you all day,” he murmured.
I rolled my eyes. Another man who thought he was sexually unique. Well, he needed to consider that little bubble burst.
“Can you make your body vibrate?” I asked the question in my breathiest voice, right by his ear.
He tensed, then relaxed, pressing his hard cock into my hand. “Oh, you better believe I can make it vibrate. You said you wanted to see the stars? You don’t need to be anywhere but with me to see those, baby.”
I laughed. “Interesting taste in pick-up lines, you have.”
“Honestly, I don’t usually need lines.”
His cock began to vibrate against my hand, and I moaned before grabbing his cheeks between my hands and sliding my tongue back into his mouth.
I almost laughed at how easy this was. As bad as his line had been, he was right. I came up here to explore and see the stars, but maybe I was wrong about that. Perhaps great alien sex could be enough for me. I moved my hand and ground myself against him, shifting my position until the vibrations pressed against my clit. They were muffled by his pants.
“You got a place we can go?” I muttered against his mouth, too greedy for kisses to move away from those lips.
Qui might be coming up with plans to get rid of me, but I could definitely get my fill of hot sex while I was still here. Maybe it really would be the best way to see the stars.
“Sure have.” Fin set me back on the ground. “Let’s head to my room. I can flash us there, make it real quick?”
I laughed. “Slow down, speedy.”
He grinned at me. “Oh, sweetheart,” he drawled. “I won’t be speedy when I make you scream.”
My pussy pulsed with a sudden spark of desire, and I pressed myself to his side. I laughed as he took my hand and we walked quickly down the corridor. All of these corridors looked the same, but I’d been dragged down them by Qui, walked meekly behind Roe, and now hand-in-hand with Fin. I knew which one I preferred.
We rounded a corner and I stopped suddenly as my nose nearly collided with a pair of arms folded across a rock-hard chest. I didn’t even need to look up, but when I did, Qui’s eyes were glaring down at me.
“I see you’re having a particularly hard time with something at the moment, Fin.” His voice was gruff, and he redirected his glare at Fin’s cock as it jutted out, practically pointing our way forward.
“Not particularly, sir.” Apparently, Fin wasn’t great at reading tone.
“I disagree. I see a very obvious personal issue that you need to go and take care of right now.” Fin still hesitated. “To your quarters, crewman, now.” Qui’s raised voice left no room for argument, and Fin shot me a surprised glance as he walked away.
I took all the credit for the fact it was slightly a waddle as his cock rubbed against the inside of his pants. Oh yeah, that guy was going to have to take care of his—very big—issue real soon.
Qui didn’t move from in front of me, and I lifted my gaze back to meet his. He didn’t say anything at first. He just shook his head slowly back and forth.
I refused to feel any shame. “What?” Shit. This guy…this guy. Damn him. Well, fuck him. There was a whole collection of other guys with their weird three letter names in the dining hall, still. I’d just head right back there and collect another one. Seemed like big, red, cock-vibrating aliens were a dime a dozen around these parts, or whatever that old saying was that Dad usually parroted at me about commonplace things. I spun around.
“Where are you going?”
Unlike Fin, I had no issues reading the room, and I turned back to face Qui. For all I knew, he still had plans to throw me out of that airlock he said didn’t exist.
“Yes, Qui.” I emphasized his name to piss him off.
Instead, it seemed to amuse him. One corner of his lips quirked. “I said you could stay on the ship.” He lowered his voice and it almost felt like a caress across my skin. I nodded, but hell no. Was I supposed to thank him for something he’d agreed to in the first place?
“But,” he continued, “it will very much be on my terms, so don’t mistake my kindness for weakness, Emma.”
I folded my arms, too, and his gaze dropped to my tits. Asshole. “And what are your terms? They aren’t me naked in your bed, and a
pparently I’m not allowed to enjoy the other men on this ship. So what? I’m not the souvenir you wanted, huh?” He narrowed his eyes. “What? You prefer me naked in a disused cargo hold? Maybe Roe was right.”
He laughed. “Roe, right about me? I doubt that.”
It was my turn to shake my head. “I don’t know, she’s been pretty on the money so far. And I like her. You know, with her being the one who brought me back upstairs and found me some clothes and everything.”
“Good. I’m glad you like her, because you’ll be staying with her. We don’t have any spare rooms, and you’re certainly not staying with any of my crew.” He shuddered like the thought disgusted him, but for the way he kept checking out my tits, that wasn’t at all the case.
“Looks like Roe was right about one more thing, then,” I taunted him. Before he could ask what, I told him anyway. “She said even if you don’t want me, if you believe you can’t have me, you won’t let anyone else have me either.”
He laughed again. “She is so full of shit. No, but nice try. And it makes it even easier for me to room you with her. This way, she gets punished for releasing you and filling your head full of crap. She can put up with you. Go to her room, Emma.” He turned abruptly and stalked away.
I stared after him. “For fuck’s sake. Is that how you finish all of your conversations on this ship? You send people to their rooms?”
He didn’t say a word in response, and nothing about his retreating back even suggested he’d heard me. Gah. He was so infuriating, but he was the one I imagined inside me—not Fin—so that just made things worse.
I turned and walked in the opposite direction—I didn’t want to bump into Qui again. He’d assumed I knew where Roe’s room was, he was flat wrong, but I wasn’t about to ask him for directions. I’d probably find my way back there pretty easily, anyway.
The walls were smooth and cold, and very few of the doors set into them stood open. The ones that did showed rooms much more spartan than either Qui’s or Roe’s. Clearly, they were in charge. Neatly made beds were in every room—the whole place was run with military precision.