She closed her eyes. "That's such a relief. Maybe they could be happy there."
Jaximor lowered his sultry eyes toward her. "You've no need to fear for any of your people, Meredith. We're noble conquerors above all."
She gave him a wry smile. "It sucks that you're conquerors at all. And your prophesy thing annoys the Hell out of me. It's just religion justifying one race's obscene ambitions."
Jaximor's voice grew soft. "If you continue to disparage the empire I will give you a barehanded spanking on your naked buttocks."
Meredith's eyes bulged. The threat, spoken with dripping sexuality, made her sex clench. She blinked a few times while gazing into his potent, sensual eyes. So this is the type of pervert he is...
"If you try to put me over your knee you'd better be ready for a kick in the nuts."
"You don't know where my nuts are." His voice remained darkly sensual. "My sex organ isn't the same as a human's. I've seen your pornography. Quite a bit of it."
Her brows lowered. "So...where are they?"
Jaximor took her hand off his shoulder. He tried to steer it between his legs. Meredith yanked it free.
"That's fine! I'll do a nut hunt later."
He gave a low laugh. His hand went to the side of her face. This time she didn't intercept his lips.
Their mouths combined in a hot seal of moisture. Jaximor tilted his chin to deepen the kiss. His heated tongue slipped against hers with practiced ease. He was able to amplify the intimacy of their kiss without causing even a fleeting glimmer of protest. His mouth sought hers too masterfully for her to resist. Meredith parried with his tongue in the space their mouths shared. His warm hold and eager lips made her feel as though her core melted out of her. Rapturous flutters coursed through her, making her nipples harden. If he insisted on sex she wasn't sure she could manage a refusal strong enough. Jaximor's sultry mouth was wearing down her resistance.
His hand moved over her ribs, causing ticklish shocks of sensation. Then he caressed the side of her breast. She ignored the tingles this caused her flesh in order to remain focused on kissing. But then his palm slid over her breast and groped. An electric shudder coursed through her.
Meredith forced her mouth to break from him. "Move it or lose it."
"You didn't say this was off limits."
"I shouldn't have to."
"Just a moment." He palmed her. "Are women's nipples as sensitive as men's?"
She plucked his wrist off her with a shaky hand. "More sensitive--you opportunistic perv."
"Master, she's had a trying day," Pret-Dorno said. "Shall we settle in for the night?"
Jaximor stood while lifting her in his arms. "Fine idea." He carried her toward a door in the back. Meredith's heart started to race.
Pret-Dorno moved to block him. He put his arms under Meredith's legs and back and pulled her out of Jaximor's arms. Then he lowered her to stand on the floor.
"I beg your pardon!" Jaximor said.
"Meredith shall room with me until the tenth degree of intimacy."
He ushered her toward a door past the lava lamp thing.
"Absolutely not!"
Jaximor grabbed her hand. Meredith plucked it free.
"Sorry, Jax." She blew him a kiss. "Better luck next time."
Pret-Dorno's chamber was small, with the bed taking up most of the room. The walls were concave and full of cupboards with flush handles.
"I apologize for the cramped quarters," he said. "I'll sleep on the floor and you may take the bed."
She sat on the side of the bed. "I'm sure we can both fit. We'll just stick a pillow between us. You need your sleep, too."
"That's very gracious of you. And have no fear--I would not betray my master by attempting to dishonor you in any way."
She smiled. "I know, Pret."
He went to the door. "I'll have a sleeping gown made for you." He gestured directly across from him. "The toilet is through there. Please make yourself welcome."
"Um...Pret? Do you think I could get more food?"
"Of course, Mistress." He bowed and left.
The sliding door didn't close after he passed through it. Meredith heard Jaximor's footfalls from the main sitting room.
"I wanted to sleep with her in my arms. I wasn't going to take it further than that."
"Master, you don't trust yourself. How can you expect for me to trust you?"
"I adore her, Pret! And she's receptive--enchanting, sweet, and vivacious. I don't want to be away from her."
"She could yield to your desires willingly, Master, I don't doubt it. But your brand of love could frighten her and give her feelings of shame. You told me to make you proceed slowly. That's what I'm doing."
"I can't--Pret. I ache. It hurts."
"I'll send a Domestic to see to your needs, Master."
"You send her or I'm going to whip you!"
Meredith chewed the side of her cuticle.
"I will...accept your punishment, Master."
Oh shit.
Jaximor's tone softened. "You will? Are you sure?"
"Yes, Master."
"All right. Go wait in my room. I'll get the lash."
"As you wish, Master."
Meredith stood but was frozen in place. She didn't want poor Pret-Dorno to get beaten. But at the same time, he was going through this to protect her. Did she need protection?
She concentrated on listening. Maybe Jaximor was bluffing?
There was the sound of shuffling and then silence. Meredith sat down again.
She heard a snap through the wall. It was faint. She didn't think anything of it.
The snap sounded again.
"Ow."
Meredith's eyes widened. She pressed her ear against the wall.
Snap!
"Ow."
Snap!
"Ow."
Snap!
"Ow!"
Her face contorted. He's really whipping him!
Crack!
"Aiee!"
Meredith balled her fists against her chest.
"Was that too hard?" She made out Jaximor's voice through the wall.
"No, Master."
"Can I mark you lower?"
"Master--she asked for me to bring her food."
Snap!
"Ow!"
"All right. We're done. Go feed her. And send in the Domestic."
"Yes, Master. Thank you for correcting me."
"Psh. For all the good it does me."
Meredith heard footfalls and more shuffling. She moved her ear off the wall. Two minutes passed and then Pret-Dorno entered with a tray of food. Meredith gave him a look of anguish.
"He whipped you!"
Pret-Dorno hesitated with his lips parted. He set the tray of food on the bed beside her.
"I trust this will be to your liking, Mistress."
"Forget that. Are you okay?"
"Yes, Mistress. He didn't injure me. That was not a sincere punishment. He was merely working out his frustration."
Meredith scowled. "It was a punishment! I heard you crying out through the wall."
Pret-Dorno considered a moment. He moved to the front of the bed and sat with his back to her. His hands reached back to lift his close-fitting black tunic. A broad light blue back was displayed to her. She had to stare a while to notice the faint pink stripes. Only one mark was pronounced over his shoulder blades.
"Mistress, the traditional punishment for a manservant is to be lashed with a bolt whip so that the skin is flayed on the back and buttocks down to muscle tissue." He righted his shirt. "Commander Jaximor lashed me with a belt. Only a few strikes, and only one was at his full strength. I assure you...this was not a sincere punishment."
She swallowed. "I don't get it."
Pret-Dorno glanced over to her. "Mistress, do you recall our discussion before about his foibles?"
"Yes."
"Commander Jaximor is a sadist."
Meredith kept an unblinking stare fixed on him.
; "He beat me...not because he wished to injure me, but rather because it gives him pleasure."
Now she blinked. "So he got off on that."
"Not as he was doing it, but he is getting off presently."
She crossed her arms. "So you two have a sexual thing going--is that it?"
"Mistress, it's illegal and immoral for a master to engage in sexual acts with his manservant. However, a master correcting his manservant with the whip is a strongly established custom. I wish to please my master more than anything else in the universe. I'm happy to allow him to whip me in order to alleviate his stress." He turned away from her. "I am aware that his breathing grows heavy, his eyes glaze, and that he seeks a robot for masturbation afterwards. I don't concern myself with such things."
Meredith let out a sigh while shaking her head. "Jaximor doesn't deserve you, you know that?"
"I disagree."
She lifted the cloche on her tray. A steaming fish pastry with starchy mush beside it was on the plate.
"Well, I was right about him. He's a pervert."
"He's a noble soldier who conducts himself with compassion and grace," Pret-Dorno said. "He merely has...foibles."
She began eating.
Pret-Dorno moved to sit beside her. "You must not think poorly of him, Meredith. His honorable qualities far outweigh his compulsions."
Meredith smiled at him. "I like him, Pret--a lot. You don't have to worry."
His shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. "I'm grateful to hear that."
The next morning Meredith was woken by a gentle nudge to her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Jaximor holding a tray with breakfast. He had a suspicious smile that her brain couldn't absorb in the groggy first moments of wakefulness. All she registered was how sweet it was for him to bring her breakfast.
"Morning, blue boy."
Jaximor put his finger to his lips. Pret-Dorno was snoring lightly beside her. Jaximor gestured for her to get up.
Meredith emerged from the bed carefully. A little private time with Jaximor was something she wanted also.
He placed the tray in the still warm spot she'd just vacated, and then took her hand to lead her out the door. She felt confused.
When the door slid shut behind them Jaximor's smile erased. He tapped a panel on the wall. "Lock this door on Command of Jaximor C-Jeda-Nine-Jeda-Hallo. Temporarily revoke Pret-Dorno's voice commands."
Meredith heard a panicked Pret-Dorno thumping out of the bed past the door.
"Confirmed," a computerized voice said.
"Master--what are you doing!"
Jaximor drew a long breath. "I need you out of the way today, Pret. It's time to finish our investigation on the escaped colonists."
Meredith's stomach felt as though it dropped out of her.
"Master, let me out, I implore you!"
"Princess will be with us, Pret. Try not to worry."
"You ask the impossible, Master! You made such wonderful progress with her yesterday and now you're going to ruin it all!"
Jaximor looked unmoved. "No I won't. I've left you enough food for the day. You're off duty. Feel free to amuse yourself however you wish."
"Master, please!"
"Quiet!" He turned his back to the door. "My decision is final. Stop defying me or I'll whip you harder than you'd like."
Meredith's eyes bulged. Then she glowered at him. "That was a dirty trick, and I don't appreciate being made your accomplice."
Jaximor wrapped a gentle arm around her. "Let's talk in the kitchen."
He ushered her to yet another hidden room diagonal from where they'd stood. The kitchen was smaller than Pret-Dorno's bedroom, with a narrow table for two on one side, and a galley with sleek cupboards and a cooking machine on the other. Jaximor gestured for her to sit at the table. She did so while keeping fierce eyes focused on him.
Jaximor went to the cooking machine.
"I'm intensely attracted to you, Meredith."
Her expression bordered on a sneer.
"It's not just physical desire. You're smart. You're willful. You have all the attributes I'd been seeking in a bride, and now that I see them personified I'm full of enchantment. You're the one I wish to sire offspring with. I believe you'll be a fine mother, and a vicious advocate who will fight on behalf of our children."
She blinked a few times. It might have been sweet-talk drivel meant to distract her--but she chose to believe him. Talk of children sparked a tender instinct inside of her.
Jaximor turned to set a plate of food in front of her, then resumed dealing with the cooking machine.
"I don't want to sour things between us--especially this early in our courtship." He turned again to set a drink beside her plate. "But I have a mission. My devotion to the empire always comes first. I know that may be difficult to accept. It's still an unwavering fact. I must retrieve the rest of the colonists who lived on this moon and place them with the others. I won't fail in my mission, even if it means you'll come to hate me."
Meredith stared at the food without eating. The spiel twisted a slow knot in her stomach. It felt as though the honeymoon had ended. If only they could have had a few more days of bliss...
Jaximor sat across from her with his own plate and drink. He locked eyes with her.
"Let's not do this the hard way, Meredith. Tell me when they left and where they're headed right now and that can be the end of it. I wrap my mission up in a single day. Then we can begin our lives together in earnest."
Meredith kept focused on her plate. She was a miserable liar. How did I get put in this bullshit position?
"What makes you think anyone left?"
Jaximor groaned through his nostrils. He cut into his food with the crescent utensil.
"Honestly, Jaximor. That was just an assumption on your part."
"Where's your leader, Chun Dai? And his wife, Morgan, his children Tate and Mai. Where's Laura Rosconi? Derik Neighbors? Flinta Curruthers? Do I have to go through the whole list?"
Meredith felt the color drain from her face.
"It's not acceptable for you to lie to me."
She squared her jaw. "What the Hell did you expect? Playing house is fine. I have to be your wife, and yes, it's great if I'm not miserable in the process. But what's the reality? You're a bunch of zealot warlords trying to enslave my whole race. I'm devoted to my empire too."
He stopped eating. The cruelest look he'd ever given her formed in his dark eyes.
"Don't try to pit your loyalty against mine. You're not going to win--and it's not going to go well for you."
Meredith turned to sit sideways in her chair. She fought back the angry tears pushing at the back of her eyes. It was no use. She touched away one droplet with a finger.
Damn it.
"Meredith."
His voice had grown softer. She hazarded a glance toward him.
"Earth already surrendered years ago. Your colony wasn't supposed to exist. You defied the Surrender Agreement that your leaders signed and we're not even punishing you for it. That wasn't a unanimous decision. My old General wanted to kill all the men and turn the women into brood mothers. There weren't going to be any marriages. The moon was going to become a brothel for the soldiers."
Meredith's face grew paler still.
"My more compassionate general won out. We're bringing you into the empire as gently as if you'd been with the first Earthlings who surrendered. The men, along with their wives and children, are going to a civilized slave colony to live out their lives in peace. The unmarried women of breeding age are being matched with husbands, just like you were matched with me. There's no torture, no killing, no tearing apart families. The brides we're taking are being given the right to communicate with friends and family back at the slave colony. We're absorbing you into our Empire, rather than relegating all of you to chattel. It's absurd for your people to still rebel against us under these circumstances."
Meredith stared at him.
"These escaped colonists aren't going
to be punished. It's going to be the same for them as with all the others. This is my decision. You don't have to fear for them. They won't be harmed."
She took a sip of her drink. The lump that had formed in her throat made it difficult to swallow.
"Your people were out of food when we arrived. These escapees are still going hungry. If there was a real hope for them to bring back sufficient provisions then you wouldn't have sent out the help beacon. No, they ran out of fear, not hope. I've shown you there's nothing to fear. Let me bring them back and end this. They'll be grateful you did so once they see there was nothing to fear in the first place."
Meredith hugged herself. She let the silence linger after his speech. Then she drew a long breath through her nostrils.
"I believe everything you're telling me. Honestly, I do." She squeezed her eyes closed. "But that still doesn't mean I can help you. I'm sorry, Jaximor."
"You don't have any choice, Meredith."
She shook her head without looking at him.
"You're going to force me to do things in a very unpleasant way."
Now she met his eyes. "What? You're going to torture me? I know you get off on it."
His face became placid. "Of course. Why do you think I was assigned this mission?"
Meredith grimaced.
"Eat your breakfast. It's going to be a very long day for you."
Oh, God. She forced herself to eat.
Jaximor opened the ship's hatch and led Meredith outside onto the landing area. It was a short walk to the tower door. Meredith realized he'd parked the ship in tower's shadow so it wouldn't be visible to any ship attempting to land.
Meredith followed him with her arms crossed. "How did you know the names of the people missing?"
"A file for a sports tournament of some sort. It listed the different team members. Once we cataloged the colonists we had it was easy to determine which ones were missing."
Meredith cringed. She'd helped their computer specialist purge all their rosters and revealing records. Apparently they'd missed something in their personal files.
"When did you go through our computer systems? When I was having those surgeries?" Another thought struck her as she ascended the stairs to the control room behind him. "How are you even able to read our language?"
The Complete Alien's Bride Page 54