by Alyx X
“What? Now?” His confusion was kind of adorable, and part of me wished I still had interest in casual fucking.
Picking up where we left off would have been fun, but Fin just wasn’t the guy for me. I sighed at that thought, but tried to turn it into something more regretful. “Yeah. I really should get it back to her.” I just needed to get from the bridge back to Roe’s room before everyone started returning from their meals. I almost looked at the watch I wasn’t wearing. I didn’t have a lot of time left to get this done.
“I have to go,” I said again as I stepped away. “And I shouldn’t distract you,” I added for good measure.
He nodded reluctantly. ‘Yeah. Qui’s not in a great mood.”
I held my fingers a small distance apart, wincing as I said, “I might be a tiny bit responsible for that.”
He chuckled. “I’ll say. I’ve never seen anyone get under Qui’s skin more.” He returned his attention to his console. “He must really like you.” He said the quiet words as he fitted the tiny earbuds back in place.
I took that as my dismissal and walked as casually as I could to the door. I couldn’t blow it now by arousing Fin’s suspicion. When I glanced back, he wasn’t even looking in my direction.
I slipped from the room and hurried down the corridor, keeping my eyes to the floor and not planning to respond to anyone who might try to intercept me. The familiar path to Roe’s room seemed to take forever to walk, and I counted nearly every step, timing them with my breaths.
I reached her door and peered inside. Finding Roe in here would be the worst-case scenario right now. I didn’t know how loyal she was to her brother, but her distinct lack of warning about his plans for my planet rang like a warning bell in my head. My anxiety level leapt to the highest it had been as I anticipated my entire plan crumbling around me in the final few moments.
I breathed a sigh of relief to find the room empty, but I didn’t know how long I had until she returned, and hiding something in someone else’s space was trickier than I expected. I had nothing that was truly mine, no space where I could guarantee Roe really wouldn’t go.
In the end, I lifted the corner on a chest of drawers and slid the folded paper underneath it.
Mission accomplished and more than a little sweaty, I grinned as triumph surged through me. I had the evidence I needed to prevent Qui from destroying Earth. I glanced at my shaking hands before heading to the shower. Now I just needed to be ready to dock on the moon so I could find someone who could help me.
19
Qui
I didn’t try to curb the rage roaring through me as I slammed my fist into the metal walls of my bedroom and shoved everything off the surface of the small desk. Something chinked then broke, but I didn’t care. Not one fuck left to give as I grabbed a stack of clothes from my closet and threw it on the floor.
Everything in the room made me furious, like it had personally insulted me. I usually channeled all of my unspent anger into destruction or plans for destruction, but we were still travelling through space at horrifically slow speeds due to Roe’s random attachment to a new source of meat. I wasn’t even letting her get off the ship at the next planet. She was fucking grounded. Fucking sisters. This was all Roe’s fault. She’d been through overthrowing the government with me and enslaving other planets. We’d destroyed planets together before—to the degree I’d started to believe it actually bored her. She wasn’t given to flights of conscience.
Until now, it seemed.
“I can’t believe you did this,” I growled, even though Roe wasn’t in the room with me. “I did everything for you,” I continued as I threw my pillow at my window. “There has never been anything I’ve refused to do.”
For fuck’s sake—I’d overthrown my government for the good of the entirety of Euquaniar. I was hardly likely to deny my sister anything. I barked out a laugh. I’d even presented her with the head of the alien king who’d rejected her proposal of marriage. Apparently, he hadn’t believed we were truly capable of conquering his world. He had to change his mind pretty quickly once I was holding his head.
So I didn’t understand why she’d chosen now to defy me. She’d agreed to take care of my Emma problem, and she definitely hadn’t misinterpreted my words accidentally. She absolutely knew I hadn’t meant her to take care of Emma by releasing her, cleaning her up and dressing her in a range of clothes, like some overgrown doll.
But she’d gotten weird on Earth. Needling me about taking Emma, insisting I wanted to even when I denied it. I hadn’t meant her to come along, no matter how much I’d thought she’d make a good souvenir. And Roe seemed to expect me to keep her.
I looked at the book in my hand, then put it back on the shelf instead of launching it across the room. Then I sank down onto my bed, sitting on the bare mattress because the sheets, blankets and pillows lay strewn across the floor. Thinking about Roe’s defiance—betrayal, even—had led to thoughts of Emma. Again.
She was fierce and feisty and her body enchanted me. From the moment I had her ass in my hands and my cock in her pussy, she had bewitched me. Ruined me. A puny human had brought down an Euquanian conqueror.
I shook my head to clear it, then stalked to my bathroom to splash my face with water. My skin heated despite myself, and when I glanced in the mirror, I could only see the redness of my irritation.
Thinking of Emma, of her broken rock of a planet, and then questioning my decision to take the core… A frustrated growl burst from me. It made me ridiculous and weak. When I couldn’t trust my decisions, neither could my men.
Renewed strength poured through me, reassuring me that all wasn’t lost. Of course I wasn’t doubting myself. I’d come too far in my goals to stop now. My entire species was depending on me. I was a conqueror, a warrior, strong. Nothing got in my way, and no puny human female from a dying planet would change my plans.
I strode back into my bedroom and glanced around. This was Roe’s fault. It was Emma’s fault. I needed to find Emma and show her. Show her who I really was, what I did, who had control. She seemed to believe she wielded some control of her own aboard my ship. Well, no more. A laugh boomed from me this time at the misplaced confidence of this human from Earth. She’d said she wanted to go travelling, to explore space with an alien.
And so she would.
Maybe Roe had been right when she teased me about keeping her. Perhaps I could have my souvenir after all. After all, it didn’t mean that I would suddenly become weak like her. I could still continue with my plan to take the Earth’s core and drain it of all its energy.
My Euquanian ship needed to travel to Xten. I needed to go there for my people, and for my pride. I couldn’t do that without the core. There was no other way. But it wouldn’t stop me from also having Emma. I was a conqueror, and it was possible to conquer two things at once. I would have the Earth’s core.
And I would have Emma.
Decision made, I marched into the corridor. I’d show Emma exactly how I conquered. The thought brought a grin to my lips. I needed to find her first. Find her and prove Roe’s knowing smile and amused laugh wrong. My temper carried me to Roe’s room. On a ship in flight, there were few places for Emma to hide after her earlier behavior, and even fewer where she would feel safe. Roe had truly taken care of her and ensured her comfort; I knew she’d be in Roe’s room.
I reached it and slid the door open without knocking first. Emma had her back to me as she stood in the center of the room. She whirled around and shoved her hands behind her back, paper crinkling as she moved.
All of my plans coming in here flew out of my head. “What have you got behind your back?” I asked the question gruffly, and her pale face became a shade paler.
But she jutted her chin at me in challenge. “Nothing for you,” she spat.
“This is my ship. Everything is for me. The real question is whether you’ll give it to me willingly or whether I need to take it by force.” I stepped toward her, using my height to show my intention.
&n
bsp; I reached for the hand she had behind her as she took a step away, stumbling before my fingers encircled her wrist and righted her. Her indignation increased as I slipped the paper from her hand, and her face twisted as she spun from my grasp.
I glanced at the paper I now held. It was one of the early diagrams we’d drawn up to illustrate how extraction of the Earth’s core could be carried out. And now it was in Emma’s hands.
“How did you get this?” I shook it up and down, creating a cool breeze but only fanning my anger. “Why have you got it?”
She only stared at me, her eyes hard and holding as much anger as I felt. “Aren’t you going to speak?” My crew were expected to answer me when I asked them a question.
But she only stared more, her posture betraying her indignant defiance.
I backed away and turned around, using the time I couldn’t see her to think. Perhaps this was a teaching opportunity, a moment I could use to show her I was truly in charge, that I had indeed taken her, and that I now owned her. After all, it was everything she’d claimed to want, and exactly what I’d denied I would do.
“Okay.” I turned to face her again. “Okay. I think you know exactly what you’ve got here, and you know you shouldn’t have it. Because I’ve found this in your possession—in your hands—I have no choice but to arrest you for treason.” I stepped toward her again.
“For treason?” Incredulity rang in her words. “Treason against what?”
“Against me, against Euquaniar.” It didn’t matter. She’d acted against every Euquanian. “And for that crime, you need to be punished.” I took hold of her upper arm and drew her from the room, then pulled her down the corridor at my side, her spluttering her rage the entire time.
“Where are you taking me?” She seethed the words, keeping them low and controlled.
It was a good question, but there was only one place I knew I could hold her without interruption from others. Even Roe wouldn’t dare interfere this time. “To the hold,” I grunted. “I can secure you there.”
Punishment would be a pleasure this time. Perhaps I would take her clothes again when I restrained her. I could blindfold her for her actions against me. My mind ran through all of the Euquanian punishments, but discarded all of them. Emma’s body wasn’t built to withstand such hardships.
I’d enjoy creating punishments just for Emma.
20
Emma
“Get off me.” As soon as the corridors changed, becoming dirtier and darker, I knew. He was dragging me back to the cargo hold he’d initially thrown me in. The same hole Roe had released me from.
Before, I’d been willing. Anything to be aboard with Qui and see the stars. Now, I knew too much. I understood him too well. I’d learned everything he was capable of. I had no desire left to seduce him into letting me go, not that it had even worked the first time. I didn’t plan to win him over with my charms. He simply needed to be stopped.
“You fucking coward,” I screamed the words as I walked down the dingy stairwell behind him. The orange light still flickered on the wall, but the room at the bottom of the stairs seemed more shadowed than before. “Don’t put me back in there.” I kicked out at his calves, trying to unbalance him, but it wasn’t enough.
He continued his long strides, ignoring my efforts to distract him from his goal. “You let go of me.” I tried again, my anger echoing back at me from the four stained walls.
“Gladly.” He dragged me up against one of the stained walls, the grainy texture rough where it touched my skin as Roe’s loose top slid from my shoulders. “I’m going to chain you up again, and then I won’t have to touch you at all.” His voice held no pity.
“There will be no fucking. You won’t fuck me again.” I tensed my jaw and gritted my teeth as I ground the words out, low and ugly. I never used that tone with men—ever—and a dart of surprise ran through me at the sound. But Qui just laughed.
I tensed all of my muscles, trying to make it difficult for him to bend me to his will, but strangely enough his touch gentled as he stroked my skin to get me to comply with the positions he wanted me. He rattled the chains above my head, moving them into familiar positions.
I used my voice again instead, shouting and screaming curses at him, but his motions continued undisturbed. It was like I hadn’t even spoken. He even hummed a little, and that infuriated me more. “Have we really travelled all this way together for you to invent a crime simply so you can chain me up again?” I struggled against the first manacle, and he clasped my fist in his big hand, leveling me with his hardened gaze. Defiance rose up in me further. “What’s next? Are you going to kill me after all?” He stared at me, amusement in his eyes.
“Remembered an airlock after all?” I flung the question at him.
He laughed like he was enjoying my anger. “Oh, Emma,” he said. “No. No airlocks. I told you that isn’t how we do things. I have…” He paused until I met his gaze. “Bigger plans.”
My gut twisted at his ominous tone, but I continued to taunt him, displaying my anger rather than my fear. I forced out a harsh laugh to match his. “Like what? Beheading me?”
He tilted his head, appraising me. “I could,” he said after a pause. Then he shrugged. “It’s nothing I haven’t done before. You wouldn’t be the first,” he clarified, as if it was needed.
I barked out a harsh laugh. “I’m not surprised. Why would I be surprised? You’re a villain. You kill without thought or recourse. You have no empathy.” I spat the last sentence, hoping I’d get a reaction out of him.
Instead, he just looked at me and pressed me against the wall, the back of my head making a dull thumping sound against the wall behind me. He lifted my arms high, holding my wrists together as he rested those against the wall, too.
He looked down at me, and his eyes began to burn with something other than just anger. My traitorous pussy became wet in response to his desire, and his nostrils flared a little as he inhaled. His lips quirked as he slid one hand down my belly before he cupped his palm over my pussy, his skin heating me further.
“Change of plans,” he growled. “I think I’m going to conquer you anyway, and we need to be somewhere else for me to do that.” He yanked me forward and I stumbled, falling against him as he unsnapped the restraints from around me and walked me back toward the door.
“What? Where are we going now?” I tried to kick out at him again.
“You’ll see,” he grunted.
We walked up the steps, back under the flickering light. I went willingly, because anywhere would be better than that windowless hole. Plus, if he was busy conquering me, instead of leaving me in his dungeon, I could still work to stop his Earth-destroying plans.
He slowed his strides as we walked so I could keep up. He turned down corridors I’d become familiar with, corridors I’d used when I first sneaked on board. My mind raced with how I could use whatever happened next to my advantage. I wasn’t sure what Qui had in store for me, but he’d used the word ‘conquer’, and that could only mean he meant to fuck me. Roughly.
The thought made me hesitate as we walked, but he just lifted me over his shoulder and continued forward. I didn’t protest. I’d long ago learned I held no advantage over the man. At least not physically. I bumped against his back, my cheek resting against the smooth surface of the black leather vest he seemed to always wear.
I gazed at the backside of him, as it was currently the only thing I could see. The back of his muscular arm was crisscrossed with the same scars I was sure were all over his body, some wider than others. I couldn’t see where we were headed, but I had an idea. A door slid open and a familiar scent swirled around me. Qui’s room.
He shifted his weight before tossing me from his shoulder. I bounced against his bed, closing my eyes before I blinked them open and looked up at him.
“Perfect,” he murmured before he reached down and began undoing the buttons of Roe’s top, ripping open the ones he didn’t have time for. Now was my chance to get w
hat I wanted. A guilty part of me whispered that what I really wanted was Qui to fuck me, even if he was a lying, murdering bastard. I wanted him so badly, but I lied to myself that I was just using my body and his own lust to convince him to spare my planet.
I gasped in my breaths, my chest heaving as I arched my back, pushing my tits toward him. My nipples were already hard, and they became almost painful as the air hit them. My thoughts were scattered. I tried to focus and grasp hold of one, but his abrupt change from angry to flat out horny didn’t make any sense. Unless… Perhaps he was trying to distract me with the best technique he had—seduction and a vibrating cock. I had to hand it to him—he had a good plan. Better than anything I’d apparently come up with.
Qui pressed my arms above my head and bound my wrists before securing the bindings to his tall bed frame. I bucked my hips a little, impatient for him to touch me. He stripped my pants off, ripping away the barely-there fabric of my panties as he did, and I exhaled a sigh.
This was exactly where I’d wanted to be when I arrived; seducing the alien. I’d just wanted him to touch me again with his magic vibrating body parts, and I couldn’t believe it’d taken this long to finally get here. I pushed my hips toward him again, begging silently.
“Touch me,” I gasped, and he quirked an eyebrow like he was amused.
“I’m a weak conqueror, but you want me to touch you?”
I nodded. No. Yes. Shit, yes. I was naked and wet, and I wanted him to touch me all over.
“All right,” he murmured. “All right…” he trailed off as he moved to the foot of the bed and stripped his own clothes off.
I lifted my head to try to watch him and parted my legs, writhing against the bindings Qui had restrained me with. He brushed the pad of his forefinger over the sole of my foot, and I flinched away from the tickling sensation. He did it again, and I grumbled a complaint.