Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  Chapter 24

  Kiri had seen the Grand Lava Hotel and Casino from outside—it was impossible to miss with the holovid volcano spewing lava and sparks night and day atop the skyscraper. Silly, because the only volcanoes on Earth II had been harnessed for energy production long ago.

  She knew from history lessons that Old Seattle on Earth I had had volcanoes that blew centuries before and covered the city in mud and debris hundreds of feet thick. No picturesque lava involved.

  However, this faux volcano was certainly spectacular. Gaping at the fiery display, she nearly tripped on the carpet laid out on the landing pad.

  "Head down, kitten," Stark murmured, smacking her on the bottom. "Or shall I carry you?"

  Kiri gave him an indignant look. They were surrounded by other beings in lavish evening wear, and he'd spanked her?

  He bowed to a Serpentian couple in brilliant evening wear. "Yes," he murmured to her. "And I'll do it again if needed, so behave."

  "Great," she grumbled. "I can dress you up, but I can't make you behave."

  He crooked his arm for her to take."No, you can't. Remember that."

  A wide awning had been set up to shield the roof-top arrivals from the rain. Kiri shuddered as the acid droplets pelted the clear sides of the enclosure. Beyond them, sky traffic zoomed and hovered, signal lights a blurred wash of color against the black night.

  Kiri hung on to Stark's arm as they paced along the walkway toward the open doors ahead, which resembled the opening of a plant-edged grotto opening into the mountain under the volcano. Holo-vines and holo-ferns swayed in an imaginary breeze.

  The walkway was lined with huge Argonautians holding spears. At first startled glance Kiri thought they were naked, but then she saw they wore brief purple loincloths nearly the same hue as their skin.

  Inside, lights flashed and glittered, red and golden 'lava' shooting up from a central holo-fountain to stream over the heads of the hundreds of guests mingling in the huge, sunken room. Huge ferns and vines, so lifelike Kiri wasn't sure if they were real or not, walled the room, and every seat and table appeared to have been carved of some exotic wood.

  Long bars were attended by beautiful women and men wearing brief, clinging garments, and overhead dancers writhed on long vines, twirling through the air.

  Kiri had never seen anything like it, but the beings chatting and laughing, posturing in their gilded evening clothes seemed to find it nothing out of the ordinary.

  She and Stark were the cynosure of avid gazes as he led her through the crowd. In the lovely gown and wrap, she nearly felt as if she could hold her own. Stark nodded to many men and women, but he didn't pause until they'd reached one of the bars. Kiri was glad—most of the women seemed to be trying to use their heavily made-up eyes as lasers, on her at least.

  "What will you drink?" he asked her.

  Kiri eyed the variety behind the bar. "Something with fruit, please."

  "A tropical sun for the lady," Stark told the bartender. "And a moon brandy for me."

  The bartender, her bare breasts painted with green and gold glitter, smiled at Stark, and Kiri gave her a warning glare.

  "What do you think?" Stark asked her, turning his back on the bar to survey the room.

  She looked around, letting her wrap slip down her arms to the crook of her elbows. Other women wore their wraps that way, as did a few men. "Your associates sure know how to party."

  His hand slipped from her waist to cup her ass. "Remember that. These are just people—with a bit more credit or influence. Some earned, some inherited, some stolen."

  She looked up at him. "You earned yours."

  He returned her look. "Not always in sunlight, kitten. Don't romanticize me."

  Even though he was holding her, she felt as if he'd just pushed her firmly away. She was surprised by how much that stung. She forced a laugh and looked away. "So serious. I thought we were here to party. And if this is a casino, where's the gambling?"

  "I might have known you'd want to gamble. Through there." He nodded toward one side of the ballroom, where lava poured through a rift in the rock and vines. "You're welcome to it. I've set a credit limit for you."

  "Thank you. Don't want to lose too much of your credit," she said. "Rather spend it on my coffee stand."

  Stark bent to brush his nose and mouth along the curve of her bare neck. Kiri shivered with pleasure. "Don't worry," he murmured in her ear. "I'll take it out of your sweet hide, little cat."

  Kiri accepted her drink, a tall flute of golden liquid topped with a creamy froth and a bright fuchsia bloom. She took a sip, avoiding looking at Stark. She believed him. And she was so bent that the mere thought of working off a gambling debt with sex made her pussy clench.

  She peered down and saw that her nipples were hard again, or still. Every breath sent the fabric of her dress whispering over them.

  Stark took a drink of his brandy and clinked his glass gently against hers, his gaze warm. "Supremely fuckable. Come along, I've people to talk with."

  The next hour was a blur of beings, from elegant to shocking, friendly to icy. They all had one thing in common: wealth dripped from their fingertips. Slowly Kiri realized this was just another decadent nightclub. The patrons were simply a bit older and more richly dressed than those at Le Tigre and Flash. There were heavy drinkers and even druggers in the crowd; she recognized the glassy stares and languid movements.

  Stark introduced her to the mayor potentate, senators and commissioners of this and that. She liked the mayor potentate immediately. She was a tall, commanding woman with a sly twinkle in her eye, her stout figure encased in dark satin with the broad ribbon of her office draped from shoulder to hip. Her partner was a stunningly lovely Serpentian in emerald diamante.

  "A collar," the mayor approved, looking Kiri over with clear appreciation. "Very wise, Logan. I'd be inviting her to join a threesome myself."

  Kiri froze. Quark. These people knew what the collar meant? Stark had been serious.

  He merely smiled lazily. "As a mere male, I thought it wise to forestall any such attempts."

  The other two women laughed, and Kiri looked up at him through her lashes. There was nothing 'mere' about Stark. He wore his air of command like an aura. She couldn't believe that out of all the enhanced women in the huge room he wanted to be with her.

  "Perhaps we'll see you at one of the clubs?" the mayor suggested, lifting her brows at Stark.

  He nodded. "Eventually."

  "Excellent." The two women were smiling as Stark led Kiri away.

  "You want to explain these clubs of yours?" she asked suspiciously.

  Already greeting another couple, Stark ignored her question. She'd ask him later, that was certain. She wasn't going to any twisty sex club where other women would want to touch him.

  A loud gong sounded, ringing over the noise of conversation.

  "Ah, dinner time." Stark turned Kiri to the stream of people already moving toward one of the openings.

  He led her to a table in the center of the dining room. The tables were decorated with centerpieces of lush greenery and the most beautiful flowers Kiri had ever seen, brilliant red, fuchsia and yellow. Their heavy blooms nodded, with long waxy stamens protruding from the centers. Kiri blinked as she sat in the chair Stark held for her. The flowers were almost sexual.

  She wriggled in her chair, letting the chained balls fall between her thighs. She was looking forward to her dinner until she heard a smooth, familiar voice. "Logan, here you are."

  It was Haassea, in a sleek gown of cream diamante, long earrings dripping to her shoulders and an ornate stole hanging from her arms. Then Kiri looked at her escort and her eyes widened. Lithe, auburn haired, clearly Serpentian with his golden skin, tilted green eyes and high cheekbones, he was quite possibly the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. He wore a fitted suit of olive raw lii silk, and a heavy gold choker, visible through the vee of his high collar.

  He gave Kiri a solemn wink, and she snapped out of h
er trance, her cheeks heating up. Quark, she'd been staring like a teenie meeting Chaz Jaguari.

  "Haassea and her husband, Traay," Stark said. She cast a guilty glance at him. He looked amused, as did the other couple. Well, okay. Guess she wasn't the first to be dazzled.

  The Serpentians sat on Stark's other side, with Haassea between the two men. Kiri nodded politely at Haassea and looked away, her stomach clenching. Damn, she was going to have to spend the next hour or more listening to the Serpentian slithering all over Logan, verbally at least. And if the woman touched his hand again, Kiri was going to leap out of her chair and claw her sly eyes out.

  Two couples sat on Kiri's other side, a pair of Pangaeans, and a human-Serpentian couple. They all greeted Stark with obvious respect and admiration, and eyed Kiri with interest. The Serpentian whispered something in his companion's ear that made her smile wickedly at Kiri. Kiri gave her a cool stare.

  Stark alternated between visiting with them and Haassea and her husband. Kiri joined in at times, but mostly she listened.

  They'd been seated for a while when another couple joined them. The woman had elaborately arranged hair and wore a tiny red dress. Kiri noticed her only peripherally. Her escort was broad and muscular, with harsh features, dark blond hair tied back and arresting light eyes. He wore a tailored gray suit shot with silver. His demeanor said what he wore didn't matter, nor did his date, unless he chose to make them matter.

  Kiri stiffened with instant dislike. She recognized his face, had seen it on the holovids and business sites. Marc Moon, owner and CEO of MoonPenny Coffee. The man who was trying to put all other coffee stands out of business, and the man who'd insulted her friend Illyria Tate.

  The others at the table greeted him cordially. He didn't bother to smile back except at Stark. His gaze landed on Kiri, with interest and then amusement. Stark's hand tightened on the back of her neck. Only then did she realize she might possibly have a less than friendly look on her face.

  She took a drink of the excellent white wine, figuring it was better to do that than throw it in the coffee mogul's face.

  Stark caressed the side of her neck with his thumb, tracing over her collar. He looked amused too.

  "My evening has just been ruined," she muttered.

  "Then I'll have to see what I can do to improve it," he replied. She didn't trust the gleam in his eyes. "I could tell him you're in the same business, then you'd have something to chat about."

  "Thanks, but no thanks. Rather chat with a shark."

  He chuckled. "Perhaps one day you'll be competition for him."

  "Now that, I would enjoy," she said. "It's not just the business, though. He insulted a friend of mine. Propositioned her during a sales call."

  "She must be very attractive."

  Kiri gave him a look. "That doesn't make it all right, Logan."

  "He didn't get where he is by not going after what he wants when he sees it," he replied calmly. "Like me. I saw you, I wanted you, I asked."

  That was true. Kiri looked at Marc Moon again and wondered if Illyria was going to be able to hold out. The man did have a certain raw magnetism.

  Marc Moon glanced at her and smiled. He had big white teeth, and his gaze held cool calculation, just like a shark. Illyria was in trouble.

  They were served wines and salads and then some kind of strange vegetable in a delicious sauce over fresh pasta, and finally tiny elegant desserts, almost too pretty to eat.

  Something odd happened then. Haassea's assistant, Slidi, slithered up to their table arm in arm with an escort. Kiri stiffened. Would the parade of her least favorite beings never end? Maybe Tal was next.

  The Serpentian, who wore a striking gown of silver, with iridium and diamonds flashing at her throat and wrists, smiled invitingly at Stark. She ignored Kiri, which was wise, because Kiri did not like the sheer lust in the other woman's eyes when she looked at Logan. Like she wanted to wrap around him and strangle him in her coils.

  Glaring, Kiri watched Slidi flick a glance at Haassea and her husband. Slidi smirked, then posed arrogantly as her escort greeted Marc Moon. Moon rose, shaking hands with the man and bowing politely to Slidi. They said a few words and then the two walked away. Or rather the man walked and she undulated.

  Kiri looked at Stark to make sure he hadn't been unduly impressed. He was looking at Haassea. The woman looked furious, her slanted eyes glittering, nostrils flared. Her husband was leaning over to speak to her urgently. Stark added something that Kiri couldn't hear. At least Haassea was classy. She had that same Serpentian walk, but she made it elegant.

  A waiter poured a thin stream of coffee into the cup at Kiri's place. Across the table, Marc Moon watched smugly. No wonder, probably MoonPenny coffee. Kiri plucked the crisp chocolate wafer from the top of her dessert and snapped it in two with her teeth.

  Stark put his hand on her leg.

  "Who was that man who just spoke to Marc Moon?" Kiri asked.

  "Head of his security, I believe. Why?"

  "Just wondering who was stupid enough to date that snake," Kiri said.

  Stark shrugged, clearly not interested in Slidi, which made Kiri smile at him.

  "Now come the boring speeches I warned you about," he said.

  Kiri spooned up a bite of creamy gremel mousse. "I'll be fine." She had Stark at her side and rich people to watch. They were no more virtuous than the people who traversed her end of the space port, but they were certainly shinier.

  His eyes glittered in the dim light. "But I won't. I want you to do something for me."

  The hair on the back of her neck rose. She swallowed another mouthful of mousse. "What?"

  "Time to use your gift."

  Chapter 25

  "Go into the ladies' lav, and slip the balls into your cunt. Then come back here."

  Kiri stared at Stark in horror. He watched her, stroking her thigh calmly as if he hadn't just announced he wanted to tease her in public.

  She started to shake her head, but he nuzzled her ear, his warm breath tickling and arousing. "For me, kitten. You'll enjoy it, I promise."

  No, she would not. She peered furtively at the other couples, but they were all looking toward the lighted stage, where a Pangaean in a suit studded with emeralds was strutting toward the podium, his hair curving up with pride.

  Stark trailed his finger down her cheek. "Go. I'll be waiting."

  And somehow Kiri found herself on her feet, making her way through the tables toward the discreetly lit ladies' lav. She was full of turmoil. Not shame exactly, but definitely conflicted emotion.

  Tonight Stark was treating her as his sexual plaything in public, and she was not sure she was ready to play this new game. The balls thumped gently against her thighs as she walked. Her pussy quaked at the thought of putting them inside herself so he could torment her.

  At least these balls weren't full of current, like the electroplasm balls. But that had been in the complete privacy of his bedroom. This was in the midst of a huge crowd of New Seattle's elite. No, she'd use the lav and then go back. She wasn't his public toy, and that was that.

  The women's lav had a lounge with divans and lighted holomirrors. Kiri met Slidi coming out. They exchanged a mutual glare, although Slidi's ended in a little smirk as if she knew something Kiri did not.

  Inside, women primped before the mirrors, conversation humming. It died as Kiri walked in. She smiled, but it was not returned. Huh. She recognized a few of these women—they'd ignored their partners to preen when Stark greeted them.

  She lifted a haughty brow and stalked through the lounge.

  Then one of them spoke just behind her.

  "Poor Stark, reduced to searching the slums for a thrill." Another laughed snidely.

  Kiri stopped in her tracks, anger burning in her middle. Bitchiness knew no credit limit, apparently.

  Thrown into the rough and tumble of the girls dormitories in the state-run school, she learned that anyone who didn't stand up to a bully was in for unending trouble
. She'd been tripped, shoved and even had food stolen off her tray until she'd lost her temper and gone after the leader of the bullies.

  She knew damned well she didn't look like a slummer in this gown, with her hair and makeup done. Someone had been spreading rumors. Slidi, at a guess.

  Setting her hands on her hips, she turned with a swish of her skirt. The speaker was readily apparent, a dark beauty with enhanced breasts bursting out of an ornate gown, her puffy lips smirking while the other women around her watched.

  Kiri looked the woman up and down, and smiled back, showing her teeth.

  "Yes, Stark told me he'd tried the pussy here," she drawled. "But he found all the enhancement much too artificial for his tastes."

  Turning, she sauntered into the lav, hearing a gasp of outrage behind her.

  Jealous bitches. He might have been with every woman in the room, but they weren't with him now. She was the woman he wanted, and she was not afraid to do what he asked of her. He might have some twisty ideas, but so far all of them had been for her pleasure as well as his.

  As long as she remembered it was just sex, she'd be fine. She could play his games with him and come out—or just come—smiling.

  In one of the private stalls, she used the lav and then dealt with the dangling balls. Being so small, they were easy to insert. When she straightened and let her skirts fall, she could feel the chain riding across her mons.

  Her head high, she walked out of the stall, cleansed her hands in the wash-dry basin, and stopped to check that her gold skirts fell straight before walking out of the lav. The balls rolled against each other inside her as she walked. It was strange, and arousing, but they were so small that she was more attuned to the chain stroking her labia. On every other step, it rubbed her clitoris. Wow.

  Thus preoccupied, she barely noticed the stares of the other women in the lounge, until she met Haassea in the doorway. The other woman gave her a searching look. "Kiri. Enjoying yourself?"

  "Oh, yes," Kiri returned just as sweetly, brushing past her. "Logan is so … attentive."