by Renee Rose
“Yes, master.” Lundric bowed and pushed on.
The fact he’d protected her after what she’d done, considering his obvious agony over her actions, made it so much worse. And infinitely better. Lundric was still on her side, after what she’d done to shatter his trust.
How could that be?
Or did he simply wish to be the one to squeeze her life out? No, he could have already done it. A tiny speck of hope kindled in her solar plexus. He stilled cared about her. Maybe he could find a way to forgive.
Lundric kicked the door to her tiny chamber open and shoved her inside, latching the door. He grasped her wrists and pinned them behind her back, tying them together with a handkerchief. In deafening silence, he yanked down her pants and panties.
Though she faced a furious alien warrior, her instinct to fight in the face of danger was absent. All she experienced was a loose-limbed surrender. She stepped docilely out of her pant legs, breath rising and falling in shortened bursts. She waited to see what Lundric would do next.
He hadn’t looked at her once since he’d come for her, but his agony, his devastation came through in waves. He paced to the cot and picked up her blanket, flicking it open then doubling it and rolling it into a cylinder. He set it in the center of the cot and pointed at it. “Lie down,” he barked.
Oh. She lost her breath.
His intention suddenly became crystal clear. Even more so when he stripped the leather sword belt from his waist.
A starstorm of flutters kindled in her belly, and her palms turned clammy and cold. But still no alarms went off spurring her to fight or flee. A whipping from a giant, angry alien was endurable. Because he was an angry, giant alien who cared about her. One who had lied to his superior in order to handle her punishment on his own.
She’d accept whatever he had to give her.
Acceptance didn’t stop her legs from shaking as she walked to the cot and lay over the rolled blanket, which lifted and tilted her bare ass up for Lundric’s punishment.
He wound the buckle end of the belt around his fist in what seemed like an agonizing delay. The entire time, the skin on her buttocks twitched in anticipation of the whipping.
When the first stroke landed like a line of pure fire, she flung a leg off the cot, lurching to get away. Lundric stopped her with nothing more than a stern point of his finger. She froze, halfway off the cot.
“Get back in position and stay there until I say you can get up.” The tightness in his voice gutted her.
“Yes, Captain,” she whispered, her throat hoarse. She obeyed despite the agony of the first welt. If he needed this to make them whole again, she’d give it. What she feared most, though, was that it wouldn’t. That nothing would repair the rift she’d put between them.
He whipped her with his belt, over and over again, striking the lower part of her buttocks. Each stroke seared her bare skin, marking it and leaving her raw. The strokes fell too quickly for her to cry. Ten. Twenty. Thirty strokes. Her legs writhed on the cot, but she stayed where he’d commanded, absorbing his anger, his retribution. He stopped at forty.
She panted into the cot, struggling to catch her sobbing breath. Her bottom throbbed in time with her pulse. She imagined it must be swollen and raw.
Lundric hadn’t moved. She didn’t have the courage to look at him but sensed him still standing at her side, towering over her with dark bitterness.
Because she had no excuse, because any apology she gave would fall flat, she offered the one thing her position allowed. She spread her legs.
Lundric’s breath audibly caught. He neither spoke nor breathed for what seemed like a long moment. Finally, he asked, “You think you deserve my cock?” There was a sneer to his voice, but underneath she heard layers of hurt.
“No,” she croaked. Now the tears that hadn’t come during the whipping smarted. His punishment she could take, but his rejection? She’d rather go through ten Ocretion executions than endure the pain of losing Lundric.
“The only place you’ll be taking my cock is in your ass.”
It vecking gutted her that he left off the little human, or one of the other endearments he had for her, but she celebrated the fact he still wanted her.
“Do you want to take it there?”
Sweet Mother Earth, even in his anger, he still respected her agency. Was he giving her a choice?
“Yes, please.” She almost didn’t recognize her voice, which sounded tiny.
Lundric uttered a harsh curse, the first outward sign he’d given of his turmoil. He picked up her hips and shifted her onto her knees, perpendicular to the bed, her ass in the air, facing him. With her hands tied behind, her face rested on the mattress. She heard a rustle of movement and the sweet-smelling citrus oil Lily had given her dribbled down her crack.
She nearly wept at the kindness because there was no way Lundric’s huge cock would fit in her tight ass otherwise. “Lundric, I—”
His palm crashed down on her welted ass, and her words broke off on a yelp. “Don’t speak unless spoken to.” His harsh edict made her nose burn.
She whimpered as the well-oiled head of his cock nudged her back entrance, and he applied steady pressure. She forced herself to breathe, willed her muscles to relax and accept his plunder. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Quiet.” He breached her entrance. The sensation was half-pleasure, half-shame, and it had her pussy clenching with need. She wished she had use of her hands to touch herself there. But this wasn’t for her. It was an offering to Lundric, and while she couldn’t do much in her position to satisfy him, she could hold still and relax into the riot of sensation he caused.
“Veck, Cambry,” he spat as he braced her hips. “It doesn’t matter what you do, I’ll never be cured of the need to possess you.”
She sobbed, heat and desire and residual pain from her whipping turning her delirious.
“Tear out my vecking heart. Use me. Manipulate me with that body. That smile. I’ll still want to mark you forever as mine.”
“Lundric, please—”
“Did you think I used you back?” he cut her off, harshly. “Do you think all I wanted was this? To veck this pretty little body as much as I wanted? I never vecking used you. I could’ve taken you any way I liked. No. My part was real. I killed for you. I would die for you. You are my vecking female. I love you.”
He loved her. That incredible revelation seemed tragic considering the pain and anger in his words.
“I would have cared for and protected you every vecking planet rotation for the rest of our lives.”
Would have.
Those words confirmed her worst fears. Even as he swore he needed her, he’d spoken in the past tense, like they were through. Over. Done. At the same time he declared his love for her. The last pieces of her heart splintered and fell away. He may not be able to resist this last veck, but he was done with her, emotionally.
Tears dampened the mattress, but she held her sobs in, not wanting him to hear. Wanting him to finish, to take his bitter pleasure out on her in the way he’d chosen.
He reached around and cupped her mound, one finger sinking into her wetness as he continued to pump into her ass, stretching and filling her beyond what she thought was possible. “Did you think it was all a transaction, little female? You’d win everything you needed from me in exchange for offering this?”
“No!” she wailed. “It was real!”
He pounded into her harder and the intensity of the sensations made stars dance in her vision. “Don’t. Lie,” he growled behind clenched teeth and shoved in, balls deep, sending his anger, his rejection, right into her with his seed.
She wept.
~.~
Veck. Hearing Cambry cry cut his insides like he’d eaten glass. He eased out of her tight back hole and untied her wrists then used the handkerchief to clean them both.
He had to bite back the urge to apologize, to hold her and rock her until her tears dried. He’d taken it upon himself to puni
sh her on behalf of Prince Zander or his officers. He couldn’t show weakness now.
Though he’d freed her wrists, Cambry hadn’t moved from the kneeling position he’d placed her in. Her surrender was the only thing that made this scene bearable. If she’d fought him—if he’d had to put a knee in her back to whip her into submission, he would have done it as his duty, but it would have slain him.
He plucked her from the bed and sat on the chair, holding her on his lap. He thumbed away a tear lingering on her cheek.
She hadn’t climaxed, and she didn’t deserve to, but his pride demanded he show her he still had command over her body. She may not care about him, but he sure as stars would ensure she needed him to bring her to satisfaction. He hiked one of her knees up to her shoulder, spreading her wide.
“You don’t get pleasure here today.” He slapped his fingers down over her pussy.
She shrieked, her anus and pussy contracting.
He slapped again, harder.
She squirmed in his arms, gasping. “I didn’t use you, Lundric.” Her voice had a pleading tone.
It flayed him to hear his name on her lips. He wanted to believe her but he wouldn’t be made a fool twice. He slapped again.
“I didn’t ask for your favors.” She writhed, her hips jerking, legs fighting to close.
He spanked her pussy, hard. “Lies.” She’d bargained her body for a shower, hadn’t she? He should have known then none of it was real.
“The shower, yes,” she gasped, realizing her mistake. “But not us—ooh!” Her wet pussy made the most enticing sound every time he slapped it. Her squirming had his cock hardening again. He slapped faster, recognizing the frantic note of her gasps. “Lundric. Ah-oh! Please.”
Holy Zandian Star, her approaching climax brought his need right back to the edge.
“Lundric, I swear! I’m not some sex slave who—oh Mother Earth!—offers up her body to any male in authority.” Her pants became cries. “It wasn’t a trick.” Words tumbled from her mouth. “It was you. Only you,” she babbled.
He ignored the words, listening instead to the sound of her need, brought to the brink by his hand. It was the only thing he could trust about her. This was no lie.
I’ve never—never used sex to—”
“Shut. Up.” He pitched forward and pivoted her to her back on the cot, her knee still drawn up to her chest. Following her down, he speared her with his erection.
She cried out with pleasure, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, chin lifting to the ceiling. The way her pussy clenched around his cock sent a tremor through his thighs, his balls tightening, ready to explode once more.
He vecked her hard, the position unforgiving, her sex splayed open, spread for him as he angled deep into her channel.
How could anything that felt this good be wrong? No, he’d made no mistake about Cambry. She was his female. Whether she accepted him or not.
“You left,” he growled, punishing her with his cock, their flesh slapping together like a third spanking. “You vecking left.”
Her mouth opened, and he saw horror there. He didn’t understand it, but even if he had, there was no stopping now. He had to veck her within an inch of her life. Holding back was not an option. It was like his life depended on this moment, on forever branding her with his rainbow-hued cum.
“I had to—I had to find my brother.”
He froze, dick mostly withdrawn, hovering above her.
“They separated us. I’ve been trying to get to him ever since. That’s why I ran away from the factory. Why I was sentenced to the death pod.”
He impaled her with his cock again, shoving deep. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” Slap. “You think I can’t locate a slave in the Ocretion kingdom?” He drove into her.
“Ung.” She cried out each time he plowed into her.
“You think I wouldn’t do that for you?”
Tears swam in her big beautiful eyes. “I—I never considered—” She sought his gaze, but he vecked her so hard hers rolled back in her head.
“No, don’t pretend you had no choices here. If you wanted to stay and be with me, you would have.”
He steeled himself against her shock and sorrow, driving himself to his finish.
“I’m sorry. Lundric, I’m so sorry.”
He roared, bruising his thighs on the edge of the cot as he thrust so deep and hard, the cot collapsed beneath them. Cambry screamed, wrapping her legs behind his back and holding him in tight as her muscles spasmed around his cock, drawing his seed deep inside of her.
As the deafening thunder in his ears faded, he became aware of pounding on the door, and Cambry’s arrested posture as she listened to the shouting male voice behind the door.
“Lundric! Do you hear me?”
Excrement. Master Seke.
Still in battle mode, he disentangled himself from Cambry and leaped to his feet, yanking the cot, with her on it, back up and snapping the legs in place. He shoved his cock back in his flight pants.
Cambry scrambled up and hopped as she pulled on her pants.
He put his palm on the door handle. “Coming.” To Cambry, he growled, “Lock this behind me. Do not open it for anyone but me.”
Her face paled and pupils narrowed, but she nodded and obeyed.
Outside her door, Seke gripped his tunic and slammed him up against the wall. “Don’t you ever vecking lie to me again. Zandians don’t lie. Your deceit lacks honor.” Seke placed his forearm over Lundric’s windpipe, allowing him breath in measured doses.
Lundric didn’t fight back. His mentor was right—he lacked honor.
“Say it. Tell me what happened.”
“She ran away. I brought her back.” He hated speaking the words, even though Seke already knew. They stung like salt in a fresh wound.
“I know you’re in love with her, but you don’t forsake your training, your species, your friends. You don’t put everyone at risk.”
“I couldn’t—” He struggled to draw enough breath to defend himself. “I couldn’t let anyone else punish her. I would vecking kill any being who touched her.”
“You think we don’t know that? No being’s going to hurt your female. But that doesn’t mean you compromise the safety of everyone on this pod and the security of our mission.”
“Zandia and honor before love, right Seke?” It was a low blow. A terrible blow Lundric should not have taken. When Zandia had been invaded, Seke had made a fateful choice—saving Prince Zander over finding his own female and children. Though he never spoke of it, Lundric knew his master suffered for his choice.
The color drained from Seke’s face before he slammed Lundric’s head back against the wall. “Don’t you vecking throw that in my face.”
Lundric regretted his words immediately. “I’m sorry—I’m sorry. I don’t judge you. I never have. Forgive me. I know you suffer every day.”
A haunted shadow fell over Seke. “You don’t know anything,” he rasped.
“No,” Lundric agreed.
“I don’t know anything, either.” The heaviness in Seke’s tone matched his own. Lundric got the sense Seke wasn’t thinking only about his lost family, but also about Leora, the human female he’d fallen for.
“Listen,” Seke said heavily, easing back on the pressure on Lundric’s throat. “Your female has an agenda that doesn’t align with ours. If you don’t find a way to make them come together, you’re going to be faced with a choice—your female or the fight for the survival of our species.”
Lundric scrubbed a hand over his face. “That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” Seke finished releasing him and walked away without waiting for an answer.
He sagged against the wall, sorrow weaving through the shards of pain in his chest, leaving him battered. Was a female who didn’t even care for him worth endangering his species?
Stars, he wished he knew the answers.
~.~
Cambry waited after Lundric’s convers
ation with Master Seke ended, expecting—hoping—Lundric would come back, but he hadn’t. She’d stood at her door and listened to every word, every thud of bodies crashing against the other side of her wall.
She swam in guilt for the position she’d put him in with his superiors. She didn’t want him to have to choose between her and Zandia. Despite her dislike of the Zandians’ choice to use the humans as their army, she’d developed some sympathy for their cause. She didn’t want their species to die out any more than she wanted humans to remain enslaved.
Lily claimed Zandia would be some kind of Shangri-La. A beautiful place where the humans who fought for her would be free. She still didn’t buy that story. What guarantee did they have that, even if they survived the takeover of Zandia and it was successful, they would be offered freedom?
But she didn’t care anymore. Because after hearing the way Lundric and Seke had spoken about her, something had changed.
I would vecking kill any being who touched her. Lundric had punished her himself so no one else would. That part didn’t surprise her. She’d come to believe the sincerity of Lundric’s attachment.
It was Seke’s response that made her believe all the Zandians might be as honorable as Lundric.
You think we don’t know that? No being’s going to hurt your female.
He made it sound like they recognized Lundric’s bond to her. As if it was something real and sacred. As if Lundric’s claim on her took precedence over any form of justice they might want to see served.
She wasn’t even sure how to process that, but it changed things. Everything had changed since Lundric had marched her back into the pod. As she’d flown away, she’d thought her heart would never repair from the break of leaving him. It was worse, even, than when Tal had been taken from her, sold to some other factory master. So, on some level, she’d wanted to be caught and dragged back by her giant warrior. But she’d hurt him. Badly. The Lundric she knew had retreated, and what was left was just a hull of his normal self.
At first, she hadn’t been sure which part angered him—that she’d violated his trust, or stolen the ship, or tricked him. But when he was vecking her—in his uniquely dominant way—it became clear she’d reopened the wound inflicted by his mother. She’d left.