* * *
She’d made Thelo angry with her display of defiance. She could see it in his eyes. Foolish of her, considering what was to come. He glared at her, muttering something she guessed was a curse. Then he walked behind her, running his hands over her naked body from her shoulders down to her waist, cupping the twin cheeks of her bottom and squeezing before sliding his fingers between her legs. Playing to the crowd. Deliberately lingering, teasing, taking liberties—all to strident cheers and shouts.
He whirled her body around and she would have fallen if not for his strong hands on her arms. The cheers grew louder.
“You would be defiant?” He hissed in her ear. “You are a fool.” Even with the noise of the crowd, AJ heard him clearly. A part of her registered the fact that she could now understand his words, even with the limited exposure she’d had to them.
Thelo whipped off her veil. She saw the crowd for the first time. Saw the mass of leering faces uttering their taunts, their shouted obscenities. Deliberately she fixed her gaze on a point high above their heads. General Tok sat in splendor at the far end of the square, at the top of the stairs. He had a row of men on either side of him. Honored guests given a prime spot to witness her humiliation? A figure to one side of Tok drew her eye. Like her, he was taller than the Petrans. Unlike all the others, he wasn’t shouting or cheering. He sat silent. Observing, but not participating. AJ blocked out everyone else and concentrated on him.
Enraged by her lack of response, Thelo increased his onslaught. He stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her body, grabbing her bare breasts. Wild shouts urged him on. Deliberately, the High Priest took her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, pinching and twisting, until the men closest to the platform could see the hard little peaks standing out.
He slid one hand down farther, running his fingers through the tangle of dark hair between her legs and pantomimed thrusting into her from behind. He needed no acting skills. His stiff cock bulged out and had it not been for the tunic he wore, it would have penetrated her. He yanked on her thick braid, arching her body back. Parting her curls, he exposed the soft folds of her vaginal lips to the nearest bystanders. The noise from the crowd swelled to a crescendo.
Still holding her braid in one hand, he twisted her body back around so she faced the bench. He bent her across it, pulling her head to hang down over the other side.
The added height of the sandals made AJ’s bare bottom stick up high above the bench, emphasizing her indecent position. The two soldiers stepped forward, one on each side, and grabbed her ankles, spreading her legs wide as they tied her to hooks on the feet of the bench. They came around in front of her and seized her wrists, tying them to the other legs.
Despite her bravado, AJ was trembling all over. Having a jeering crowd witness her violation added a thick layer of shame, compounding her punishment. Her legs were spread wide, every inch of her naked body on display. She clenched her fists and swore she wouldn’t embarrass herself further by crying out, no matter what Thelo did to her.
The High Priest stepped to the edge of the platform and held up his hand. The crowd fell silent.
“This lowly female has invaded our city and broken our laws. She disgraced our honored traditions by walking freely among us as only the men of Petra are allowed to do. She sought to deceive you, our citizens, by disguising herself as a male. She has been found guilty and will be punished before all those she dishonored, as is fitting.”
Another man bearing a long wooden object came forward and mounted the steps to the platform. Although she was upside down, from between her legs AJ could clearly see what he carried. A thick slab of wood, about ten inches wide and two feet long, narrowing to a handle at one end. He bowed to the High Priest and placed it in his hands. Thelo waved it in the air.
“The sentence is…twenty strokes from the Implement of Correction!”
Pandemonium broke out. The crowd roared, clapping and stomping their feet. The drums rolled. She heard a loud CRACK. AJ gasped as a burst of white-hot pain tore through her. Everything else faded. Dimly, she made out voices all around her, counting in unison.
“ONE.”
Drums rolled again. AJ tensed. Another lick of flame seared her tender bottom. She shuddered as the crowd chanted.
“TWO.”
Drums. The sharp slap of wood against flesh. A convulsive jerk, followed a millisecond later by the agonizing bolt of fire…and then the count.
“THREE.”
Three? Dear heaven, how could she endure seventeen more? Fleetingly, AJ regretted that she hadn’t taken Dianna advice and brought herself to the edge of pleasure before they dragged her here. She’d have done anything at the moment to lessen the searing impact of the harsh paddle.
Time ceased to exist. There was only pain. AJ didn’t know which was harder to take—the physical pain or the emotional torment of being humiliated in front of so many people.
On and on it went. First the drum roll, followed by a moment of silence that made the harsh smacking sound echo through the square. Finally a fresh wave of burning agony such as she’d never known, then the hateful voices of the men keeping count. She bit her lip until she tasted blood, trying desperately not to make a sound. But that seemed to inflame the crowd even more. They wanted to witness her complete submission, wanted to hear her scream and beg for mercy, knowing all the while there would be none for her tonight.
She refused to give them the satisfaction. Though she didn’t think it was possible, Thelo increased the severity of his blows. Hot tears flowed down her face, dripped onto the platform. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms, and tried to send her mind somewhere far away. Gradually, the noise receded. The pain of each blow blurred into the next, until all that remained was the scorching fire that burned hotter with each stroke.
By the time the crowd chanted twenty, AJ had sent her mind far away, imagining herself splashing in the cool lake she’d spied out her window. But as soon as the soldiers bent to untie her arms, she came rocketing back into her body. She did cry out then as the full force of the pain flooded into her consciousness, a sound she tried to choke off. But Thelo heard it. He bent over the bench and whispered in her ear.
“I promise you—next time will be worse.”
The next hour passed in a blur. Still naked, she was half dragged, half carried back through the crowd to the Citadel. All along the path, outstretched hands pinched and pawed at her. The men who had been given seats of honor had disappeared by the time the soldiers took her through the doors and down another endless series of passages.
A different Harlot awaited her there in a suite of rooms more luxurious than anything she’d seen up till then. This one wore sandals with lower platforms, like Dianna’s, and a sheer, deep purple gown. Her hair was drawn back on both sides into long blonde braids that met and merged into one at the base of her head. Oddly, she had some sort of feathered plumage protruding from the back of her gown.
The Harlot never spoke, relying on simple gestures to communicate. She ushered AJ into a bathroom, where she bade her lower herself into a tiled stone tub filled with water as cool and soothing as the lake she’d imagined. AJ complied gratefully. The silence was a boon to her tortured soul, just as the water was to her aching bottom.
The Harlot handed her a soft towel to dry off, then stepped behind her and rubbed a cool lotion into her fiery bottom cheeks. AJ winced at the touch. The lotion soothed the worst of the burn. But nothing could do away with the strange, potent heat the paddle had ignited all through her lower body.
The Harlot produced a new gown, this one black, and helped her slip into it. With deep slits at the neckline and up the back, it was so revealing that AJ thought she might as well still be naked. Leading her to a dressing table, the woman motioned for her to sit as she rummaged through the pots and jars there. AJ lowered herself carefully to the edge of the bench in front of it, grateful that it had a padded cushion.
Choosing kohl and
ground ochre, the Harlot adorned her eyes and lips, then rouged her nipples. Despite all that she’d been through, AJ felt herself blushing as the rosy peaks of her breasts grew hard under the stroking of the woman’s brush. The Harlot pulled AJ to a standing position once again. Then she opened a wooden box, taking out an item AJ could not see. She pulled AJ’s gown apart in back and wedged the item firmly between the cheeks of her bottom, arranging it so that it protruded from the back slit in the gown. Smooth and hard, the object nestled between her legs from her rear passage all the way to her vaginal opening. The Harlot spoke for the first time.
“Squeeze your bottom cheeks together. Tight. Whatever you do, make sure this does not fall to the ground. It is a gift for your Master.”
The Harlot led AJ back into the sitting room, walking behind her and adjusting the object several times so that it was lodged securely between her stinging bottom cheeks. She’d barely managed to make it into the main room when the door to the suite flew open. General Tok strode in, with the ever-present pair of guards at his side.
“Good. You are ready. I am giving you to Kaden, my comrade from the kingdom of New Atlantis. You will obey his every command tonight—or suffer another session with the Implement of Correction.”
The general called out and his guards disappeared down the hall. He ordered the Harlot to pull a straight backed chair into the center of the room, then sent her away as well. He walked over and leaned against the wall near the door, folding his arms as he observed her in silence. Although it took all her courage, AJ returned his look steadily.
There was a rap at the door.
“Enter.” Tok’s voice rang out. His eyes never left hers.
As she had done on the platform, once again AJ straightened her shoulders and raised her chin higher, vowing she’d never give up her free will to whatever lecherous gnome stood on the other side of the door. Tok’s eyes narrowed. Her defiant spirit displeased him, too.
The door opened and a man stepped in.
AJ drew in a sharp breath. So this was her new Master. Kaden of New Atlantis. The silent observer she’d seen in the place of honor next to General Tok on the platform. One glance told her he was descended from Atlanteans. Like all of them, he was tall, easily a head above her six foot frame, with the golden bronze skin that told of a Mediterranean ancestry somewhere far in the past.
He wore a loose white robe with one end tossed casually over his shoulder. Grecian in style, tied at the waist with a knotted leather braid. His arms were bare, sleek muscle rippling under smooth skin. Hinting at other smooth, powerful muscles underneath that robe.
She lifted her eyes to his face, framed by a full head of dark wavy hair hanging nearly to his shoulders. He wore it back except for a few unruly locks falling over his brow on one side. Gorgeous deep brown eyes met hers. Warm. Sensual. AJ felt an unaccustomed shiver of lust as she stared into their depths. This man radiated a compelling aura of dark intensity. She dared not test her ability to control him by sending out her power. Not with Tok so near. Unlike the other inhabitants of Neodyma, Tok was capable of perceiving her attempts to engage in mental combat. He’d recognize it if she was able to control this Master and assign her to another. She’d have to hold off testing until she was alone with Kaden.
To her amazement, she realized that a part of her hoped she wouldn’t be able to use her mental training to control this man. The heat in her bottom radiated into her vaginal opening, flooding it with sudden dampness. But how could that happen? She had no electrodes stimulating her.
The new sensations introduced to her body today were so foreign, yet so intense. The High Priest’s insolent probing of her most private parts, Dianna and the other Harlot touching her in ways she had never been touched by another. Even the harsh paddling. AJ realized her carefully regulated female hormones had been thrown out of balance. Now they surged through her, out of control. Combined with the unfamiliar but highly erotic physical contact, they’d awakened long dormant desires deep inside.
Wicked images poured into her mind. What would it be like to submit to this man’s primitive sexual hungers?
He gave her a tiny smile and lifted one eyebrow, as though he was the one capable of reading minds. AJ blushed.
* * *
Kaden’s smile deepened a bit when he saw her blush. This one possessed the perfect combination. Fiery willfulness warring with embarrassment told him a certain degree of innocence remained in her, despite the fact that she was older than most of the women introduced into the colony. It would be amusing to explore the boundaries of that innocence.
Now that he stood in front of her, he could see she was even taller than he’d first thought. Just a head shorter than he was. But the high sandals on her feet closed that gap. And the bronze chains winding from her toes to her calves emphasized her long legs, giving the illusion of even more height. Knowing Tok as he did, Kaden wondered whether he was here only because he was the one man in Petra other than Thelo who wouldn’t be intimidated by her size.
He looked the woman over. A long, slow inventory from head to foot.
Her auburn hair had been fashioned into an intricate braid. Strands of pure gold woven into it intertwined in front and formed narrow bands circling her forehead and neck. The hairstyle was common among the women in the Lyceum, a deliberate choice by Tok. A Master could easily control even a Harlot this tall with a firm tug on that braid, yanking her down to her knees.
Eyes a strange golden color, almost bronze. Warm deep pools that a man could get lost in. He’d seen the flash of desire in them when he walked into the room, though she’d tried hard to hide it. She’d ringed her eyes with kohl, making them stand out even more. She had high cheekbones and a full mouth, with lips painted red, ready to open wide and receive a Master’s stiff tool.
Her shoulders and arms were firm. His gaze went lower. So were her breasts. Full and lush for such a slender frame. She’d been dressed in typical Harlot attire. Flowing black gown cut nearly to the waist in front, giving a Master’s hands easy access to the curve of her breasts, barely restrained by the thin fabric. The gown was cinched at the waist, cut so short in front that he got a tantalizing peek at the nest of dark curls between her legs when she swayed a little on the high sandals.
Tok stayed where he was, leaning against the wall, and motioned for Kaden to be seated. Then he addressed the woman.
“Turn around and walk to the end of the room.” His tone was flat, with no inflection, but everyone in the room recognized it as a command.
Hesitantly, she pivoted. Kaden’s eyes widened. The gown flowed to the ground in back but it had a slit all the way up in the center, coming together again just above the reddened cheeks of her bottom. From between them, something long and equally red protruded.
She took a few steps and suddenly he realized what it was. Between the clenched cheeks of her ass, she sported the scarlet tail of a tajina, a mid-sized cat-like creature unique to the mountains of Neodyma. The tail was nearly two feet long. Movement in the dangerously high sandals restricted her to tiny steps that caused her hips to rock from side to side, making the tail sway enticingly. At the same time, it drew attention to the rounded cheeks of her ass, still hot and flushed from her paddling in the square.
His cock reacted instantly. Tok was a fool to give her away. Kaden was already hard at the thought of being alone with her in the private suite.
But Tok had other plans.
“As part of her training, she will wear the device every night in the Lyceum. You have the privilege of being first to install it. Bid her come to you. I will instruct you in ways to use the device both for her punishment and, if you choose, for her pleasure.”
Apparently the general planned to witness and possibly partake in this session. Kaden seethed inside.
“By what name do I address her?”
Tok laughed. “Here she has no name. Call her Harlot. Or, once she is fitted for the device, simply reach out and grab her by that red tail when you want her
. I guarantee she will come.” He smiled, a cold smile that never reached his eyes. “Red tail. How fitting… since we will no doubt be reddening this one’s tail on a regular basis.”
“Red Tail.” Kaden’s voice was firm. “Come here.”
Blushing again, the woman turned and came toward him with that tiny mincing gait. Her unfettered breasts swayed a little with each step. Kaden’s cock, already hard, was aching by the time she stopped in front of him.
“Have her turn around and bend at the waist, so you can attach the device.”
The woman didn’t move.
“It will be easier if you make her lie across your lap and grasp the rungs of the chair.”
Kaden saw the general’s eyes sizing him up. He decided to skip issuing an order. Grabbing the thick braid hanging down her back, he gave it a tug. Her head flew back and he saw the band tighten around her neck. Her eyes widened and she bent over the chair awkwardly, feet on one side and hands wrapped around the highest rung on the other side, so her body didn’t come in contact with his.
“Have her put her hands on the floor. Then take away the tail so it can be installed securely into the device.”
Kaden pushed down on her back and felt her tense as her dark curls brushed against the bulge in his robe. Slowly he slid the tail out from between her clenched cheeks.
The general handed him a handful of leather straps that looked for all the world like a harness.
“This part goes around her waist, buckling in back. The wide leather flap hanging from it goes in front. It is split here to allow you easy access to her portal, then it narrows down to a thin strap. Bring that one back between her legs.”
His to Command (Alien Masters Book 1) Page 5