by Renee Rose
“I won’t, Captain.”
~.~
Cambry tossed the staff back into the box, exhilaration from the fighting racing through her. She’d seen Lundric and Rok go at it briefly. Holy star, it had been a beautiful sight! The two males were evenly matched, though Lundric had far more grace while Rok looked more like a street fighter. They both moved with surprising lightness for such massive warriors, and they clearly loved the battle arts. She was learning to love them, too. It almost made her want to stay—just to learn more. But she couldn’t.
She had learned how to fly. She’d known how to navigate. They hadn’t taught her how to engage the weaponry on the battleships, yet, but she’d manage. Every day she spent on this pod was a day she could be looking for Tal, and, yet, she’d been postponing her departure. She’d told herself she was waiting for the right opportunity—the perfect chance to slip away undetected.
But that was a lie.
Her reasons for dragging her feet were only about one particularly possessive and dominant male. She also should acknowledge every planet rotation she stayed with Lundric would make it harder to leave.
The next opportunity she got, she needed to take. Or she needed to create her own opportunity. Tal had been sold by the factory owners where they both worked. She needed to go to Ocretia and find a way to access their slave database to locate him. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was better than sitting around and accepting the fate some other being shoved at her.
Still, the thought of leaving Lundric felt like shards of glass being driven through her chest. She liked to think maybe they’d meet again, after she found Tal. But she knew, even if they did—which was highly unlikely, considering he was part of the suicide mission to take back Zandia—he’d never forgive her. She could no longer pretend his interest was just about scratching a sexual itch.
Lundric waited for her at the door, his gaze heating the closer she drew to him. “You enjoyed yourself,” he observed, a look of fascinated amusement dancing over his features.
She shrugged. “Why shouldn’t I?”
“Fight all you like, little rebel, just know this: I will rip out the throat of anyone who leaves a mark on you.”
Laughter bubbled up in her—as it had with more frequency lately. His overprotectiveness should bother her, but all she could do was marvel at the fact someone besides Tal cared about her well-being. She wrote it off as hyperbole, like she did with all his absurdly possessive declarations. She breezed past him. “You leave marks on me every planet rotation,” she tossed over her shoulder.
His huge hand collided with her ass, and this time she giggled out loud.
Dearest Mother Earth, she’d never giggled before in her life. Particularly not with a male. Lundric made her feel...lighter. His intensity, his protection and care allowed her to relax some of the tight control, the overriding anxiety and fear she’d always lived with.
He closed his large hand around hers, and she was surprised at how comfortable it felt. How right. “What now, little female? Are you hungry again?” Lundric thought it amusing how often and how much she ate. Once he’d realized she worried about missing meals, he’d started asking every few hours if she was hungry. She hadn’t seen him eat yet. Apparently, the Zandians only ate once a week, so long as they had access to their crystals.
“No, not yet. But I have to do my chores.” She’d been assigned laundry duty. It was menial work compared to the tasks she’d done at the factory—building complex circuit boards and programming the software for robots—but she didn’t mind.
“I’ll help.”
She peered up at him, taking in the sturdy line of his jaw, the long lashes framing his brown-purple irises. “Isn’t it time for you to sleep?”
“I don’t need sleep. Are you trying to get rid of me?” He spoke lightly, but a shadow had fallen across his face.
“No, stupid, I just—”
“Stupid?” His brows shot up, and the world tilted as he scooped her over his shoulder, smacking her ass with his huge, paddle-like hand. “Are you sure you want to call me that?”
She shrieked and laughed, kicking her feet as he clomped down the corridor, spanking her as he went. They passed a Zandian guard, who looked amused, but the clump of humans they passed stared with what appeared to be dislike. Whether it was of her or Lundric, she couldn’t be sure. Maybe they resented her for cultivating special favors with their guards. Maybe they’d heard he’d killed a human.
“I’m sorry—sorry! Please put me down.” Her face was surely as red as her hair.
Lundric lowered her to her feet but held her close, the heat of his huge, hard body radiating through her clothing. He gripped her nape and tilted her head up for a kiss. Though she wanted to be somewhere more private, especially with the group of humans looking on, her body melted into his, pussy turning to liquid heat.
His kiss was just enough to leave her wobbly-kneed, and he seemed to know it because the smug warrior smirked as he released her. “Let’s go, little female.” He walked with her, through all the cells, where she collected laundry from the bins—blankets and sheets, mostly. Some towels. No being had thrown clothing in, probably because they didn’t have much extra clothing to wear.
Lundric insisted on pushing the large wheeled cart. When she tried to force him to let her—because she cringed to think what the other humans would say when they saw she’d convinced a guard to help her do her chores—he tossed her into the cart, too, running to drive it at top speed through the corridors.
She laughed and stood up in the cart, balancing without holding on, surfing the careening cart.
They reached the laundry room, and Lundric caught her up as she climbed out, lifting her the rest of the way and settling her with her legs wrapped around his waist.
“Mm,” he growled against her neck and walked her backward. He pinned her back against the wall and ground his hips against hers. “This is how I’ve been wanting you.”
Her pussy dampened her panties at the pressure from his cock. “Not here, Lundric,” she protested, even as she rubbed herself over his hardened bulge.
“You think you have a choice?”
She brought her fist down on his massive shoulder without real effort. “Yes.”
“I veck you wherever I like, and you say thank you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Get off me, you arrogant lug.” Her words might have meant something if she hadn’t been undulating her hips against his in the lewdest possible manner.
“Naughty girl. I can feel how much you want my cock.”
Her gaze flicked to the open door.
Lundric bit her ear. “Don’t worry, little rebel. I’ll shut the door. Do you really think I’d allow any other being to see you?” He eased her to the floor and shook his head with a dark look. “Never.”
She sucked on her lip and watched his broad back as he walked to the door and shut it. It was hard not to feel like royalty around Lundric. Every day she fell further under his spell. The one that made her forget her miserable past, the loss and loneliness. The need to be ready to defend her life at every moment. Even though she knew it was a false sense of security, an illusion she’d soon be horribly divested of, Lundric was like the magnet that kept drawing her closer.
~.~
Lundric turned back to his aroused female, the need to satisfy her making his blood hum. He relished the way she’d softened to him over the past week. His little rebel was beginning to trust him, beginning to receive everything he wanted to give her. Pleasure. Satisfaction. Protection. He wanted to provide for her, to make her life easier, even though she was the toughest, most capable female on the pod.
Even though he still scented her arousal, he saw he’d half lost her in the moment he left. Her face clouded with some inner conflict. What was she thinking? It had something to do with him, he’d bet his last crystal. He didn’t believe she feared him, despite her play at resistance.
He stalked back to her, taking his time, predator appr
oaching his beautiful prey. When he reached her, he picked her up by her narrow waist and plopped her on top of the long, industrial-sized washing machine.
“There’s no getting away from me now, little female.”
She kicked up her chin. “Is that a challenge?”
A surprised burst of laughter erupted from him, echoing off the walls of the small room. He touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “It was not so long ago you refused to be closed in a room with me,” he said softly. He brushed her lower lip with his thumb. “The old Venusian said I need to know the secrets of your heart.”
Her smile fell away, wariness returning.
A chill washed over him from his neck down to his boots. What was his little female hiding? What didn’t she want to show him? He vecking hated uncertainty. He needed to know Cambry belonged to him. Forever. He couldn’t stand a repetition of his mother’s fickle love. He’d recovered from maternal abandonment, but he wouldn’t recover from losing Cambry. He refused to ever accept her leaving.
His fear had already morphed to aggression, his masculine pride demanding he claim her here, now, but he drew a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. The prince said he had to win her. Force was not an option, not that he’d ever allow Cambry to be hurt or unhappy on his watch.
He pushed her knees open and curled his hands under her thighs, yanking her hips forward on the machine.
She gasped and fell back on her hands behind her.
Without waiting a moment, he thrust his head between her legs, biting at her pussy through her leggings. Her wanton moan made his cock turn harder than stone. “Do you want me to lick your pussy, beautiful female?”
“Y-yes,” she breathed, her inner thighs trembling against his ears.
He rubbed his knuckle over the seam of her pants, stimulating her clitoris. “Tell me three secrets.”
She stilled. “What?”
He continued the slow knuckle treatment. Her pussy dampened her panties and pants, and the scent made it hard for him to maintain control. “You heard me. Three secrets.”
She rocked her hips to meet his knuckle, and he smirked. “You want my mouth there, don’t you, pretty girl?”
“What kind of secret?”
Again, foreboding twisted in his gut. He cocked his head to the side and locked gazes with her. “I don’t know. What are you hiding from me, Cambry?”
Her face went pale, confirming his worst fears. Now she played at sounding casual. She tossed her long ponytail back over her shoulder. “I’m not hiding anything. I’ll answer three questions. You ask them.”
He reached for the thread holding her hair back and broke it with his fingers. The thick mane fell down in riotous waves. Gorgeous locks of brown, red, and copper wove in and out in soft curls. He wanted to see it all the way down—the little braids around her face unwound, as well. He wanted to make rules for her about her hair—that she must always take it down for him, or that he’d be the only male to see it unbound. But he wasn’t in a position to make demands like that. Yet. Stars, he needed to be.
He pushed the fingers of one hand into the braids, bunching them up to gently tug her head back. With the other hand, he continued to massage her pussy. He struggled to think what her secrets could be. What were his worst fears? “Have you already been mated, Cambry?”
Her lips fell open with pleasure, lids drooped. He couldn’t wait to bring her to orgasm, to watch that beautiful face contort as she toppled over the peak. But not until he had answers.
“Mated? I wasn’t a virgin, is that what you mean?”
He removed his touch from her pussy as punishment for not answering his question. “No, that’s not what I meant. Bound to another male. Do humans not mate?”
Her cheeks turned pink. He always found it enchanting when she blushed, because she was normally so composed, so fierce. “We once called it marriage, yes.”
A dark shadow loomed over him.
“I mean, no. I’ve never married or mated. No.”
He let out a rough breath and returned the pad of his thumb to her pussy, stroking lightly up and down the seam of her outer lips.
“Do you love another male?”
She hesitated for a beat before she shook her head. “No.” The answer sounded definitive, yet the pause had ice prickling through his veins. Veck. Who was this other male? Was he dead? Or alive? Did she pine for him? Was she waiting for him? He wanted to slam a fist through the wall and demand to know everything.
But scaring his female would be disastrous.
What else could he ask? What other secret might she carry in her heart? Or was there nothing? The old Venusian was probably just speaking in riddles. But no, Cambry had appeared to be hiding something. He had to ask the hardest question of all, even though it was too soon. He had to know what was in her heart.
“Do you wish...would you like...tobematedtome?” He said the last words in a rush, forcing them from his mouth. Breath held, he forced himself to watch her face.
Her eyes flew open, but not with pleasure. She, too, stopped breathing. Her throat worked. “Lundric, I—”
He covered her mouth with his hand, too much of a coward to hear what she would say. “Don’t answer. It was too soon, I know. I haven’t won you yet. I’ll keep working.”
For some reason he couldn’t fathom, her eyes filled with tears.
Not wanting to slog through the awkward moment and determined to vecking prove he could offer her something she couldn’t live without, he yanked her pants and panties down and tossed them to the side. “Give me this pussy,” he growled as he palmed her ass and lifted it to meet his mouth.
She’d done her part and answered his questions. She deserved her reward. He couldn’t vecking wait to show her pleasure. His tongue parted her lips, tracing the swelling inner petals of her sex. He circled her clit then suctioned his lips over it and sucked hard on the tiny bud.
Cambry cried out. Her torso fell back, and she wrapped her fists around his horns, bringing him painfully close to the brink of orgasm, without a single touch of his cock. His horns stiffened and pulsed in time with his cock as he vecked her with his tongue, making it into a hard point. He replaced it with two fingers, which he curled inside her to stroke her inner wall as he sucked and nipped at her labia then reattached his mouth to her clit. With his free hand, he thumbed her asshole. The moment he pressed there, she came, closing her mouth on her scream so it reverberated in her throat, still echoing off the walls.
Her hips bucked up and down, but he kept his fingers and mouth working her through the spasms of her climax, following her frantic movements with a satisfaction so much deeper than achieving his own pleasure would have brought.
She finally went limp, a soft moan sighing from her lips. “Lundric.”
He wished to always hear his name on her lips with that hoarse, wrung-out sound of contentment. “That’s right, little female. Lundric makes you scream.” He eased his fingers from her and planted one last kiss on the apex of her pussy, which sent it into another paroxysm of quakes.
She sat up and slid her butt off the washer, turning to present it to him. “Do you want to spank me?” Her voice was little more than a ragged whisper. Despite the way his cock surged with excitement, the question also caused his heart to compress.
His little female felt guilty. She wanted his punishment to atone for not accepting him as her mate. Well, he’d vecking give it to her, then. He loved spanking that pretty little ass, leaving his marks for her to remember where he’d been. He gripped her hair and tugged her head all the way back. “You like feeling my hand on your ass.”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Because you know I’m safe? Or because you like the danger?” He wasn’t going to ask why she needed this punishment. Wasn’t going to mention mating again. Not until things were clearer between them.
“Both.” Her husky voice made him squeeze his cock through his pants.
He let his hand fall, hard.
She choked on a breath and rose to her tiptoes.
He slapped again, abusing the under part of her buttocks, the enchanting place where ass met thigh. As he continued, her breath grew ragged and she jerked with each smack but always returned to position, offering her sweet little ass for his chastisement.
“I like punishing you, sweet female.”
“Why?” she croaked, gasping as he struck her again.
“I vecking love everything about it. The sounds you make. The way your ass looks when it’s painted red by my hand. The way it feels under my palm.” He shoved her tunic up her back and licked a long line from the base of her spine to her shoulder blades. “The trust you show me when you submit.” He took his cock out and dragged the head through her moistened lips. “Vecking you afterward.”
She arched back, pushing her hips against the head of his cock to encourage his entry.
He rocked slowly into her, shaking with the effort of holding back. “Showing you my strength even though we both know ultimately—when it comes down to it—you’re in charge.”
“Lundric...please,” she whined.
“That’s right, little rebel. You’re already begging—just the way I want you.” He braced one hand on the washer beside hers and gripped the side of her hip with the other. “You give it to Lundric, now. Tell me who owns you.” He beat into her with his cock, pumping hard, slapping his loins against her ass, shoving deep and nearly lifting her from her toes with each instroke.
“Yes,” she gasped. “You own me.”
He knew she meant in this moment. In this moment, he owned her, not forever. But he would take what he could get while he figured out how to wrest the promise of forever from her.
Control slipped, and his vision tunneled. All he knew was the sweetest pleasure of Cambry’s pussy squeezing his cock. All he saw was her thick mane of hair sprawling down her back. All he heard were her panting breaths, the little grunts and cries she made as he pummeled her pussy with his cock, imagining he was marking it like his hand marked her ass, giving her something to remember him by, to keep the sensation of him with her when he went to sleep and she stayed up.