Mate-Prize

by Renee Bond

  He was a Hell of a lot taller than me, that’s for damn sure.

  I’d turned towards Daxen when he spoke.

  Just as I did, I felt something brush my hair from behind.

  I whipped around - to find Jensi’s hand in my hair. Stroking it gently. Letting it fall between his fingers. His arm was passing right through the glass box, as if it weren’t even there!

  I must have looked as shocked as I felt, because all the men around me laughed.

  “She’d never seen a DNA-coded stasis box before,” mused Daxen. “Don’t worry, little lady, I’ve got a lot more fun surprises like this in store for you!”

  Instinctively, I flinched away from Jensi’s hand.

  Big mistake.

  I could only get my head about a foot further away. Jensi was under no such limitation. He reached further through the side of the box and grabbed my hair again. But this time, he wasn’t gentle. He grabbed a big handful of my hair, right up near the roots, and jerked me back towards him.

  I gasped in pain as my scalp lit up, seemingly on fire.

  “You will not resist us,” said Jensi darkly. “In any way.”

  As he said it, that strange feeling came back.

  The one in the pit of my stomach. The heavy sensation I’d felt earlier.

  Only, this time, I recognized it.

  In abject horror, I realized that I was getting kind of turned on.

  But how could that be? I was being treated like an animal. Worse, an object, to be used for sex, without even the status to have an opinion about that sex. And Jensi had really tugged my hair hard! He was clearly intending to show me who was the boss. Who was in control.

  Gasping - from the pain, from the unwanted feeling in my stomach - I twisted my head as much as I could, looked over at Jensi.

  His eyes were stern. Informing me, just by his look, who was the master and who was owned.

  I believed him. Feeling his hand in my hair, powerless to turn my head more than half an inch, I believed him down to my bones.

  The feeling in my stomach grew heavier. Started leaching into my knees.

  It’s wasn’t a normal arousal. It was almost a fear reaction. Something primal. Animal. Something I’d never, ever suspected was a part of me.

  But I was sure as Hell aware of it now.

  And having so many pairs of eyes on me, watching me as I felt this new, unwanted sensation I had no control over, just made that sensation even stronger.

  Jensi released my hair, running his fingers gently through it as he let go… then tracing his hand gently, tenderly, down my jaw. I gasped again, surprised by the sudden softness, and jerked my head away out of instinct.

  A surge of fear gripped me, realizing that I had just done what he’d just told me not to. I hated myself for that. I should be able to do what the fuck I want with my own damn head!

  But Jensi was huge. And I was trapped in a fucking magic box.

  I looked up at him, sure he was about to inflict more pain as a result of my mistake.

  Jensi’s eyes narrowed. His mouth pursed tightly, openly displaying his pleasure at my reaction. At the fact that I feared him.

  But his hand fell away, back outside the box.

  “You’ll learn,” he said softly.

  Suddenly, my own damn jeans jerked my butt up into the air! I was pulled nearly off my feet, and pitched forwards. I nearly smacked my face on the front of the box, but thankfully my hands shot out to steady myself.

  But, it wasn’t my jeans. It was something behind me.

  I twisted my head around.

  To find that Ellon had reached into the box, looped his index finger through one of the belt loops on the back on my jeans, and used it to hoist my ass up into the air.

  “Would you look at that,” Ellon said appreciatively, openly staring at my ass - just like all the other men suddenly were. An ass which, thanks to the leverage he was exerting on me, was now conveniently on display. His huge hand began pinching it, squeezing firmly here and there. “Tight, round, and with a perfect amount of meat on it!”

  A chorus of chuckles sounded from all around me.

  Intense emotions clashed inside me.

  I wasn’t just some fucking piece of meat! I was a woman. A person. And these men were treating me like a fucking thing! It was humiliating. Infuriating.

  The bastards.

  On the other hand.

  Ellon was holding most of my weight. With his index finger. As if I were… I don’t know, like a small basket, or something. As I looked over my shoulder at him, staring at my ass, a gentle smile on his face and not even the hint of effort in his eyes, it sunk in just how fucking strong he was. Just how powerful. Not only that, but the object of his desire was little old me. I was what he wanted to focus all that raw power on.

  That thought alone was positively breathtaking.

  Even after thousands of years of social evolution, of the building of modern civilizations - such as there were on Earth - people still have instincts. And one of mine was intensely appreciative that someone as powerful as Ellon was interested in me.

  But that was no excuse for talking about my ass like I wasn’t even attached to it!

  If only that feeling in my stomach, in my hips, in my knees, wasn’t quite so thrilled to be put on display.

  “Cut that out!” I said after a long moment of mental processing. “That is not the way to treat a woman!”

  The men around the circle made “ohhh” sounds. One and all were clearly mocking me.

  A hand took hold of my jaw. Turned it back around, facing forward.

  Travan’s hand.

  It gripped my face tightly, firmly, yet in a measured way. I knew I couldn’t pull away. Not without hurting myself. But at the same time, he wasn’t exactly hurting me.

  He did, however, demonstrate that he had complete and total control over my head.

  He lifted my face upward, tilting it up so that I was staring up into his eyes. His cold, steel blue eyes.

  So intense. So confident.

  So hungry.

  “That is precisely how one treats a woman,” Travan said, his tone soft yet commanding. “And that is because it is what we want. What we want from you determines how we treat you. And that is how it should be. It’s time for you to start learning that, little woman.”

  Ellon let go of my jeans. My head instinctively tried to jerk back from Travan’s hand.

  It didn’t move an inch.

  “Hold her arms,” said Travan, his voice deep and husky. So close to his face, I could see his pupils dilate ever so slightly as he said it.

  Before I knew what was happening, impossibly strong hands had me by both wrists and both elbows. In about one second my arms were folded behind my back, forcing my back to arch in order to keep the pressure on my shoulders from causing me too much pain. It hurt - a little. But if I stuck out my chest, and kept it there, it didn’t hurt too badly.

  Of course, doing that made my breasts stick out, putting them on display for everyone in the group. The leering chuckles returned.

  Momentarily, my anger won out over my other emotions. I glared up and Travan, putting as much contempt into my expression and my voice as I could.

  “This better for you?” I asked. “You feel safe being around me now?”

  Laughter. Even from Travan.

  “I feel perfectly safe around you,” he said. “Can you say the same of me?”

  I could not. And he damn well knew it.

  I was trying to think of something else witty to say. Some other insult to hurl at him. Not smart, I know. But I wasn’t exactly thinking straight right at that second.

  But before I could say anything, Travan, in one smooth motion, took the front of my black top in both his hands and ripped the garment slowly in half down the front.

  Our eyes were locked the whole time. I couldn’t bring myself to look away.

  The ruined rag of my top fell away, exposing my naked breasts for everyone to see. For a
long moment, all I could think about was how easy it had seemed for Travan to tear my shirt in two. Like it was a wet piece of newspaper.

  Then Travan took my right breast in his massive hand, cupping it gently.

  Instantly, my whole body lit up with panic, even as Travan sighed a little in satisfaction. The panic roared in my ears.

  Even as the nipple of my right breast started to harden.

  Fuck. Why was it doing that? It’s not supposed to do that! I don’t want this to be happening!

  And yet, it was.

  Travan squeezed my breast. Gently. Increasingly firmly. In front of a leering crowd of men.

  And my nipple - no, both my nipples, now - we growing rock hard.

  I gasped so hard I let out a little cry as a sudden wave of pleasure washed out from my chest. Fuck me, was I some sort of animal? Some… something, that can’t even control their own body? My head lolled back, and I stared at the ceiling, my mouth agape in shock. I tried to pull away - but stopped instantly, when I realized that any movement on my part sent stretching pain into my shoulder blades, courtesy of Jensi and Daxen holding my arms so tightly.

  “I’ve waited so, so long for a woman like you,” said Travan softly, huskily, as his hand moved to my left breast. “A woman for me to break. For me to train. For me to make into exactly what I want.” He squeezed my left breast hard. A dull ache danced with inexplicable pleasure.

  At this point, both of my nipples could have cut glass. And I noticed, for the first time, a distinct moistness down near my crotch.

  I was not having this. I was not just going to roll over and be a fucking sex puppet. Even though my downright treasonous body apparently had other ideas.

  “You’ll never break me!” I spat up at Travan.

  His smile widened into a grin.

  Pain lanced through my left nipple - Travan had it pinched between his fingers. Hard. Slowly, so slowly, he tweaked it back and forth, stretching it as he squeezed mercilessly.

  “Ahhh!” I cried out.

  But he didn’t stop.

  Neither did the pain.

  A fresh burst of hot pleasure radiated out from my breast, gripping my chest, making me gasp deeply. I even let out a muted squeal.

  Then it was over. Travan let my nipple go, leaving the pain and the pleasure to linger there, the memory of his power over my body.

  Seemingly on their own, my hips wiggled back and forth, trying to put some sort of friction on my suddenly very sensitive pussy.

  Not helpful, hips!

  “She’s fiery,” said one of the men standing behind Travan. “You going to break her with pain first, or pleasure?

  I didn’t like the sound of that.

  Wait. Wait.

  Was it really possible they could break me… with pleasure?

  What... would that even entail?

  “Definitely pleasure,” said Travan. “The pain will teach her to obey. The pleasure will teach her who she really is.”

  More chuckles from the group.

  Who… I was?

  “Enough stalling,” said Jensi suddenly, releasing my arm. “Let's take her to processing. Now. I want her to be perfect the first time we take her.”

  “An excellent idea,” said Travan. Daxen released my other arm. I rubbed my triceps and stretched my aching shoulder blades, all while instinctively trying to cover my nakedness with my arms.

  The other men, the ones who’d stayed behind after the ceremony, left.

  My… men… walked through a different door, all four of them turning their backs on me and walking off. As though I wasn’t even there.

  My magic box hovered up an inch into the air and began following them.

  Chapter 12

  Ellon

  I’ve been to lots of other mate-prize award ceremonies. Most of us have - they’re quite well attended. So I know that you’re supposed to hang around for a while after it ends, to talk with the junior soldiers, have a bit of fun, and generally show that you’re not too desperate to get back to your bunk and fuck your new woman.

  Standing in the room, shooting the shit with the boys after the ceremony, introducing ourselves to our new woman while showing off in front of the others, was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. My cock was rock hard the whole time. Damn, but our woman had a fine ass!

  Then it was finally over.

  We just had to make one more stop on our way back to our bunk. Where we’d find some much-needed privacy.

  But first things first.

  “Can you boys believe we finally made it?” asked Daxen.

  “Yes,” said Travan and Jensi simultaneously. That was them. Never less than one hundred percent confident. I’d been with them so long that I could tell Jensi was just saying what he thought he should say, and that Travan was saying exactly what he believed.

  There was a reason he was the Squad Leader.

  As we walked through the yawning white halls of our home sector, deep within one of the many massive residential pods within the Bane, I saw people I knew on all sides. It felt great, knowing that our woman was just behind us, following us, even if she was still in that stasis box. She’d be well trained enough to follow on her own two feet soon enough. But even as she was, she got a whole lot of looks from soldiers too young, too inexperienced, to have their own woman.

  It made me feel proud. Proud to be part of my squad. Proud to own such a fine looking creature as our woman. Our squad had gotten lucky - harvested women were always attractive, but I’d not seen many that were as fucking gorgeous as ours. That face, that body, even her hair - it was like she was right out of a computer-generated holovid.

  And she was all ours.

  The four of us were each lost in our own thoughts. All introspective, in such a large moment in our lives. As such, we walked for a long way in silence, using the moving walkways to navigate the cavernous hallways more quickly. We might have used a travelway, but waiting for one to open up might have actually taken longer than just walking. We weren’t going far. Just down to the med-bay near our bunk, to get our woman freshened up a bit.

  Just then, I heard a sniffle behind me.

  As Tarvan, Daxen and Jensi strutted on ahead, exchanging greetings and jokes with other soldiers as we passed, I dropped back to walk next to our woman.

  She was crying. Or, rather, desperately trying not to.

  “It’s ok if you want to cry,” I told her.

  It took a moment for her to hear me. To register what I’d said. When she did, she looked over at me. Her strange Earth shirt hung from her shoulders in tatters as she held her arms in front of her breasts.

  The social mores on some of our more primitive worlds sure are strange.

  When she looked up at me, my heart broke a little. Seeing those big brown eyes, watery, quivering, so nakedly vulnerable, so desperately looking for any source of comfort… it made me want to shut off the stasis box and take her in my arms. Not to have sex with her, but to comfort her. To show her that to be our woman was not going to be nearly so awful as she surely thought it would.

  Then those eyes hardened. Squeezed shut. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and when she looked at me I could see only anger on her face.

  “Gee, thanks,” she said sarcastically. “I’ve got to take a piss - do I have your permission to do that too?”

  She was indeed a fiery one. It was going to be so much fun breaking her in!

  “No,” I said with a wicked smile. “You may ask again later.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. Her delicious little mouth dropped opened a little.

  My cock hardened again. What a rush.

  “Don’t be so down,” I said. “I know it must look bleak now. Like you’re going to hate every minute of your life. But me and my squad are going to change your mind. You’re going to be our little slut all right. But you’re not going to hate it. Pretty soon, you’re going to crave it. We’re going to make you insatiable. Whether you want it to happen or not, you’re going
to love us. And when that happens, you’re going to beg for our cocks. And you’re going to be damn grateful when you get them. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?”

  She tried to act horrified. She put her best fearful, hateful expression on her face.

  But her hips twisted just a hair, as I was speaking. Putting her true feelings on display.

  “Fuck you,” she whispered.

  Fiery.

  Perfect.

  “Soon,” I said with a wink. “But first, we’re going to make a few modifications to that hot little body of yours.”

  Chapter 13

  Rachel

  Oh. fuck.

  Modifications?

  Ellon quickened his pace. Caught up with his squadmates.

  The four of them soon picked one metallic door from the hundreds of identical metallic doors in the stark white hallway. My magic box hovered through it after them.

  Inside was a circular chamber, partitioned into smaller sections. Some sections had benches. Some had beds, large enough for eight-foot soldiers to lay down in.

  The men strode over to a section that was little more than empty floor space. As they stood back, my box hovered neatly into the middle of the space. How were they controlling this thing? None of them said anything to it, or motioned to it, or anything like that. It was like the hovering pad underneath my feet was reading their minds.

  “Take your clothes off.”

  My eyes snapped up to Travan’s, who had given the order.

  I wanted to say no. To tell him to go fuck himself. Hell, I wanted to jump out of my box and bash his fucking head in.

  None of those were options.

  “You’re not going to like what happens if you disobey me,” said Travan gravely.

  I didn’t doubt it.

  “Please don’t do this,” I said. I had no hope that they would suddenly change their minds and listen to me. I was just desperate.

  In response, Travan simply glanced over at Jensi.

  Jensi stepped forward. His hand shot out, grabbed my hair, and bent my head downwards. I had absolutely no choice but to bend over. Way over. Then I was down on my knees, my ass suddenly sticking up in the air behind me, as Jensi forced my face firmly into the floor of the magic box.