Tariq shook his head. “There’s a livable planet in that system, regardless—or should be. You’ll have the ship for shelter, plenty of weapons, supplies for a couple of months. If you can’t locate any survivors and the situation is too … disagreeable, you’ll need to consider one of our more remote outposts. I don’t have any other suggestions.”
“But … what about the baby?” Emerald finally asked weakly.
Tariq swallowed convulsively several times.
“I’ll be with you,” Koryn answered for him. “That’s one of the reasons he’s sending me with you—to take care of you.”
Her chin wobbled threateningly, but she merely looked down at her lap.
Koryn got up. “I need to go my lab. I’ve been here all day.”
Tariq’s face hardened, but he merely nodded.
When he’d left, Tariq studied Emerald for a few moments. “Go to bed. You should rest.”
She got up and crossed the room, climbing into the bed. Tariq went to his desk and sat down. He discovered it was a waste of time. He stared at the holo-screen for hours, scrolling through report after report and had absolutely no idea what he’d read. When he finally checked the clock for the fourth or fifth time and saw it was nearing mid-night, he turned his system off and got up.
He thought Emerald had long since gone to sleep—hoped she had. Either he wasn’t as careful climbing into bed as he’d thought and woke her, though, or she hadn’t been asleep at all. She shifted against his side and curled her arm around him, burrowing her face against his chest. “Don’t send me away. I’ll be good.”
Tariq swallowed with an effort. “Koryn’s going to take you to one of the Earth colonies, baby. It’s going to be alright.”
He felt hot tears hit his chest. “Punish me. I know I deserve it. Beat me. Just don’t send me away. Please?”
Shifting onto his side, Tariq pulled her against him, curling his arms around her to hold her close. “I don’t want to hurt you and you don’t deserve to be beat. It might hurt the baby.”
She curled her fingers into his flesh. “The chair then. That won’t hurt the baby and you wouldn’t even have to stay to watch me. I don’t deserve to get breaks for resting anyway. I know you and Koryn haven’t been able to get hardly anything done because you’ve had to spend so much time disciplining me. You could do whatever you needed to do and I wouldn’t even be any trouble.”
“Shhh,” Tariq said, lifting a hand to cup her head. “No more discipline. You aren’t going to be a slave, baby. I won’t have to worry that someone will take you away from me that might hurt you. You’ll be safe and my baby will be safe. Koryn will stay and take care of you. He loves you, you know.”
Emerald started sobbing. “But you don’t or you wouldn’t throw me away just because I was bad.”
“You aren’t bad. You were just never meant to be enslaved and I’m not throwing you away. I’m sending you away to protect you because I … because it’s the right thing to do.”
“You don’t want me anymore,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry! I’ll never be bad again! I promise. Please? Can’t you just punish me and keep me? I don’t want to go away. I want to stay with you. I love you, Tariq. Please?”
Tariq pushed her away, wiping the tears from her face with his hand. “I wish you did,” he said gruffly. “But you don’t, baby. You just think you do because of what I’ve done to you. In a little while you’ll get past it and you’ll realize you only thought so because I made you feel as if you needed me.”
“But … Tariq!”
He silenced her with a kiss. She curled her arms tightly around him, kissing him back feverishly. He leaned away from her when he broke the kiss and removed the belt, dropping it over the side of the bed. He covered her mouth again when he leaned over her, kissed her throat and her breasts and then returned to her lips for another deep kiss. The second time he moved down to fondle and suckle her breasts, he ran his hand down her belly, found her clit and teased it with his finger. She was so feverish with need that she came almost immediately, gasping and shaking all over.
He stroked her soothingly until she’d caught her breath and began building the heat again with his touch, with kisses. She spread her legs eagerly when he finally shifted over her, cradling him between her thighs, lifting to meet him when he found her opening with his turgid flesh. She wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him when he began struggling to enter her, panting with anticipation. She’d already raced upward toward another peak by the time he’d sunk deeply inside of her. He’d barely set a steady rhythm when she came again. He slowed until the spasms passed and began to increase the tempo again, building more heat. It roared into flames as he began to drive into her at a pace that told her he was nearing his own culmination. The first jerk of his cock set her off again. She clung to him as she rode the waves of ecstasy trying to hold on even as the strength left her and she felt herself sinking toward oblivion.
He was gone when she awoke. She saw they’d left food for her but she was in no mood to eat. Instead, she spent the day pacing restlessly, trying to think of something she could say to convince Tariq not to send her away.
He was wrong! She did love him! She loved him so much she could hardly breathe when she thought about it. It had nothing to do with the discipline, whatever he thought! At least not the way he thought it did! It was because he’d done it to protect her! It didn’t even matter whether or not he was right and it was something he needed to do to protect her! All that mattered was that he wanted to and that he had never hurt her—as arrogant as he was, as convinced as he was that he hailed from a race so superior to hers that she was nothing but a possession—a thing.
She felt like crying all over again when she remembered how happy he’d been that she’d seemed to grasp the role she was meant to play, how eager he’d been to dispense with the discipline and reward her! He’d made love to her. He might not think so. He might still be trying to convince himself he was merely fucking her and enjoying his sex slave, but she didn’t believe for a moment that he would’ve been so careful, so tender, if she didn’t mean something to him!
He was just trying to be noble, damn him! She didn’t want him to be noble!
If he was so worried that her behavior would get her into trouble on Niribu, she didn’t know why he wouldn’t just come with them! She didn’t care where she was as long as she was with him!
Koryn came to bring her noon meal instead of Tariq, but she could see even he didn’t mean to stay long. She clung to him when he told her to go rest. “Don’t take me away! Please? I’ll do anything you or Tariq want. I will. I’ll be really, really good!”
Koryn released a heavy sigh and sat down with her again, cradling her against him. “This is for your own good, baby. Tariq has some powerful enemies—well, one really, really powerful one. He’d take you away from Tariq purely for spite—and because he can and the gods only know what he would do to you to torment Tariq. Kill the baby you’re carrying, for sure, whether it killed you at the same time or not. I don’t want that. Tariq doesn’t want it. I know you think we punished you purely for meanness, but that’s because you just don’t understand what life on Niribu would be like for you. Slaves have no rights—none! Just looking at an Anunnaki the way you have me and Tariq would be enough to warrant a public beating—or a private one. They could do anything they wanted to with you—anything! They could make you wish you were dead.
“We aren’t trying to punish you by taking you away. We’re trying to protect you, to save you. I know you’d rather it was Tariq, but he’s a lord and beyond that, he’s in command of this mission. He can’t leave. If he could, I’m sure he’d take you himself.”
She clung to him. “I don’t understand. Why did Tariq think he could have me if he couldn’t? He just doesn’t want me anymore, does he?”
“If you understood the Anunnaki, you’d understand. He’s a lord and he’s powerful and wealthy. Usually, he can do just as he pleases and have what h
e wants. He’s used to thinking that way. This isn’t one of those times, although I don’t think he realized it to begin with. He thought that he could supply the Anunnaki with enough breeders that there wouldn’t be a real dispute about him making his choice. That’s the biggest problem. There are too many men more powerful than he is that need a breeder and if there aren’t enough for everyone, then the more wealthy and powerful will have and everyone else will do without. We’re at war now with the Dinjin, and that changes things, too. Acts that might ordinarily be considered fairly minor and punishable by fines or short imprisonment become crimes against the people—treason—and that’s usually a death sentence.”
He tipped her chin up. “You can’t fight us on this, Em. You’ll get me and Tariq killed and the gods only know what’ll happen to you. What Tariq proposed is treason. We needed breeders desperately before the war. No matter who wins, Anunnaki will die and when they do, then our situation becomes more desperate. We’ve … interbred so much we don’t dare breed without bringing in fresh contributors.”
Emerald stared at Koryn in horror. “You can’t do it! I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you or Tariq because of me! If I can’t stay with you anyway, just send me with the others. I’ll be good. I understand now and I won’t be any trouble. And … maybe later you and Tariq could get me back?”
“We can do it and we will. Tariq has a good plan. It’s doable and the best possible solution for all of us. I’ll admit I get the best part of it,” he said, smiling faintly. “I get to go with you and take care of you. But this is what Tariq wants, too. He’ll know that you’re safe and he’ll know his child is safe. If that wasn’t important to him, he wouldn’t take the risk.”
He stared at her face for a moment. “And it isn’t nearly as risky for us as it sounds,” he added. “They’ll never know Tariq had anything to do with it. I’ll be charged with treason, but I don’t plan on hanging around to be executed, so it doesn’t matter.”
Emerald didn’t believe him. She wanted to, but she didn’t. She was too afraid for them, though, to argue anymore or beg. If they were willing to risk so much for her, then they might do something even more dangerous and risky if she didn’t do as she was told.
Chapter Fifteen
Tariq watched grimly as High Councilor Mylor’s ship settled slowly toward the ground. When the gang plank began to lower, he approached the vessel, waiting at the foot of the gangplank until the door opened and Mylor marched down it, followed by a full platoon of guardsmen. Uneasiness flickered through him when the guardsmen immediately deployed upon reaching the ground.
He bowed when Mylor stopped in front of him. “Lord Mylor,” he acknowledged the man, bowing in accordance with his station. “It is an honor that you’ve come to inspect our progress.”
Mylor smiled thinly. “The honor is all mine, I assure you, Lord Tariq.” He lifted a hand. “Seize him!”
A jolt went through Tariq, but he aborted his instinct to lash out at the guardsmen that seized him by both arms. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he growled, sending Mylor a deadly look.
“Arresting a traitor. Where’s the female?”
Tariq’s jaw tightened. “I’m afraid you’ll have to enlighten me on that one. There are a lot of females here. Which one are you referring to?”
“The one you’ve been keeping hidden in your quarters,” Mylor responded smugly.
Tariq felt his heart skip several beats. “The one named Emerald? I sent her to Niribu.”
“You sent ‘a’ female of the general description. You didn’t send the breeder you’d appropriated for yourself.”
“I put her on the vessel myself,” Tariq said through gritted teeth.
“Debra, you mean? The one we found when the ship arrived.”
Tariq shrugged easily. “I didn’t know that was her name. I called her Emerald.”
Mylor’s eyes glittered. “So we won’t find her in your cabin?”
“Not unless she was beamed back.”
“Hmmm. I think maybe we’ll just check the ships in the hanger bay.”
Tariq felt a cold wave wash over him at that. His mind went chaotic with the effort to think of some way to divert Mylor long enough for the ships to leave. “The only breeders on my ship are those waiting for transport to Niribu,” he responded tightly. “I’ll be happy to escort your men to search my quarters and then we can search the hold.”
“I’d be wasting my time, though, wouldn’t I?”
He turned away from Tariq and instructed the men to go directly to the hanger and board the transports there. “The transports were about to take off,” he said tightly. “We’ve worked out a new grid search area that looks promising for survivors. The council won’t be happy that you’re disrupting our search.”
“Oh we won’t delay them long. Just long enough to remove the geneticist, Koryn, and the breeder Emerald.”
“What the fuck does any of this have to with Koryn? He’s going to collect more DNA samples for regeneration.”
“Well, if he isn’t harboring the breeder we’re looking for, then there won’t be any problem at all.” He glanced at the men holding Tariq. “Take him into the hold and lock him up.”
“I’ll have you on charges of false imprisonment of a lord of the council!” Tariq snarled.
“I don’t think so,” Mylor said pleasantly.
Tariq considered resisting when they began pulling him toward the ship, but dismissed it, realizing it was futile. He might be able to get away, but he had no way to warn Koryn and no time to reach them. He considered trying to escape anyway, wondering if there was any possibility, at all, that he could somehow reach them and free them if he did.
It seemed unlikely to impossible. He would be trapped on Earth unless he could somehow steal one of his own ships and they would be on Niribu. It seemed to him that the only option was to go with them and try to free the three of them once they were together.
Not that that was much of a fucking option, but then again, he had friends on Niribu. He had some hope of getting help there.
Clearly Mylor had been informed of the entire plot, although how the fuck the son-of-a-bitch had learned of it he was damned if he knew. No one knew except him and Koryn and Emerald.
And the androids he’d bribed to take them.
One of them had to be a fucking plant!
What were the fucking odds that he would’ve picked Mylor’s plant, though, out of all the androids onboard?
It seemed astronomical, but he couldn’t think of any other way Mylor could’ve found out, and he wasn’t just fishing. He knew exactly what the plan was. If not for that, he might’ve thought it was someone else that Mylor had sent to spy on him, but he’d never discussed the plan except in his own quarters with Koryn and Emerald and in his office with the androids and he had both of those areas scanned regularly for surveillance devices.
Maybe Koryn hadn’t been as careful?
He shook the thought. Who would Koryn have discussed it with?
He’d been pacing his cell for nearly thirty minutes when they brought Koryn in. They shoved him through the door and he promptly collapsed. Tariq went to him, turning him over. “Gods! You fool! What did you fight them for?”
Koryn roused enough to open the only eye that wasn’t swollen shut. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.” He swallowed a little sickly. “They got Em. I couldn’t stop them.”
Tariq helped him to his feet and walked him to one of the bunks. When he’d helped him settle, he strode to the door. “He’s needs a medic!” he growled at the guards he could see.
“They’re going to execute him for treason when we get to Niribu. I don’t see the point.”
“The point is he hasn’t been tried or convicted, you son-of-a-bitch!” Tariq bellowed. “Get him a gods damn medic!”
“’S alright,” Koryn muttered. “Juz bruised and banged a lit’le. Think I might’a loss a toof.”
Tariq struck the wall with hi
s fist angrily and moved away from the door. There was nothing in the fucking cell but the two bare cots. After considering it a moment, he reached up to grab the sleeve of his uniform near the seam and jerked at it until he’d managed to separate a small section. Wedging his fingers in the hole, he tore the rest of the seam and then took his sleeve to the tiny fountain basin that supplied the water to the cell.
Koryn complained the entire time he bathed his wounds.
“Shut up!” Tariq growled. “I need to see if any of these need attention. There’s too much blood to tell.”
“What the fuck you gon do if they do?”
“Bind you up the best I can with your uniform.”
Koryn uttered a half hearted chuckle but broke off in the middle of it. “Think my ribs’z cracked.”
Tariq was relieved to see that the battering seemed to be from fists, not that those weren’t hard enough but they could’ve been worse, and that there was little more than broken skin—no deep cuts he needed to worry about closing. He didn’t know if there were broken bones or not, but he couldn’t do anything about it if there were. His main focus was to make sure he didn’t bleed to death. He examined his mouth and saw two teeth were bleeding but they were still in the sockets.
His ribs looked as if he’d been stomped. Fury washed through Tariq. He’d been down already or they couldn’t have stomped him, the cowardly bastards!
He tore one of Koryn’s pant legs off to bind his ribs. “Better?”
Koryn grunted. “A little. Thanks.”
Tariq patted his shoulder lightly. Getting up, he moved to the other bunk and sprawled on it.
“You din ask about Em.”
Tariq lifted an arm and draped it across his eyes. “I can’t … think about that right now.”
“She did good. She’s ok, Tariq. ”
Tariq swallowed audibly. “Not if Mylor has her.”
* * * *
Tariq’s face hardened when he read the message he’d been given. Uttering a string of curses, he wadded it and stalked back and forth across the cell several times like a caged animal. It was a far larger cell than the one they’d been confined in on the trip from Earth, but Tariq was angry enough it still took little more than a half a dozen strides to pace from one side to the other.
Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I Page 24