by Alana Khan
“What I will not do is allow any of my possessions to be touched without the utmost appreciation, respect, and permission. Thantose, come.” I sweep through the grand ballroom, glide up the steps, and hail a waiting limo without a backward glance.
As soon as the limo doors slam shut I start to launch into a tirade, but Thantose’s knuckles surreptitiously graze my knee as he shakes his head almost imperceptibly. Right, there are eyes everywhere. We endure the limo ride in silence.
The full force of my emotions catches up to me on the short walk from the vehicle to our vessel. By the time the doors whisper shut behind me, there are tears in my eyes.
“That must have been miserable for you,” I grumble as I kick off my shoes.
“Actually I wonder if it was harder on you,” his voice is full of compassion.
“I wasn’t the one wearing the loincloth.”
“Right. I just thought . . .”
I put my head in my hands and breathe. My indignation and anger weren’t only about him, this brought back memories for me—but I don’t want to revisit them.
“You’re right.” I shake my head, then switch the subject. “Your ahma is going to be pissed. I got us kicked out before the first event was over. I’ll tell her it’s all my fault. She might kick me out of her house when we get home, but I couldn’t let that awful female manhandle you like that.”
“Ahma won’t kick you out, Brin. She’s compassionate. She likes you; she’d never throw you out. If she did, though, I’d find a place for you on my ship. Don’t worry.”
I glance at him. He’s sincere, and so handsome. When I first met the Primians, all I could pay attention to were their markings. Now that I’ve spent more time with them, I can watch the subtle play of their emotions. His liquid brown eyes are sympathetic and kind.
Grasping my chin, his gaze flicks across my face. “You’ve lived through so much heartache. I’ll see to it you’re safe and protected the rest of your life.” The pads of two fingers gently graze my forehead. “If I could take it away, suck all those terrible days and nights and hoaras out of your memories I would.”
We’re inches from each other in the small main cabin of the vessel. The lights are off; the room is only illuminated by the instrument panels. It’s safe and silent and private. His lips ease closer so slowly it’s maddening.
I want this kiss. I’ve wanted it for months. I like this male of the quick smiles and strong resolve. Warning bells go off in the back of my mind, but I ignore them and silently command Thantose’s lips to come closer.
His gaze is locked with mine, as if he’s taking my emotional temperature, assessing if I want this. I’ll ease his reluctance. I breach the rest of the distance and meet him more than halfway.
Moaning in the back of my throat, I memorize every aspect of this moment. The masculine softness of his lips. The firm press of his hand splayed open on my back. The almost-silent murmur of satisfaction escaping his mouth.
His lips brush mine gently, as if he has all the time in the world. My nipples contract into tight buds, and liquid yearning erupts down below. Clasping my hands behind his neck, I melt into the kiss. It’s everything I’d hoped it would be: sweet and sexy and slow and intimate.
“Thantose,” I’ve pulled away from the kiss to affirm his name, to remind myself I’m here with the male I’ve been fantasizing about for months.
“Brin.”
To hear my name on his lips, so rough and sexy, sends a pang of lust through me. Old habits die hard. I want to hit my knees, grab the cock that lurks behind his loincloth, and pull him into the warm clutch of my mouth.
At this moment, I’m two different people. I’m the Brin who wasn’t abducted from Earth, who’s never had a date, who’s experiencing her first voluntary kiss. I’m also jaded Brin who’s been passed from one man to another under a banquet table.
I want her dead—Amrus’s Brin. He was my worst abuser. He called me hinzeer, it means pig. I wish I could wash in magical waters and drown her. I’d emerge as twelve-year-old naive, virginal Brin again. Dear God, what I wouldn’t give for this to really be my first kiss. There’s no one I’d rather share it with than Thantose.
Thantose
I’m two distinctly different people right this moment. I’m my parents’ son, who was raised to show respect to others. I’m also Captain Thantose. A plundering pirate who takes what he wants. I should stop, step away from the lovely, willing female in my arms. She’s vulnerable, programmed to be too willing.
“Thantose? TT? Answer my comm.” It’s Ahma pleading with us on screen. Could she possibly have worse timing?
“TT I know you’re there. What did you do?” Luckily, although we can see her, our channel isn’t transmitting.
She’s interrupted the moment. Although I can’t undo that, I’m certainly not going to answer her comm.
“Are you there? Don’t tell me you’re out celebrating. You haven’t bought the Meris yet, and their eyes are everywhere.”
“Celebrating?” Brin asks, her head cocked.
“I don’t know what you did, but I just received a comm informing me the field has been narrowed from one hundred applicants to you and three others. Pick up, TT, and tell me what you did to pass the first test.”
“I showed my ass and we passed the test? I don’t understand,” Brin says.
“No. I showed my ass. What are you talking about?”
She laughs and tells me, “It’s a saying in parts of my country. ‘Show your ass’ has nothing to do with flesh, it means you misbehaved.”
“Here,” Ahma says as if she’s part of our conversation, “let me read it to you. ‘We are pleased to inform you . . .’ lots of fawning, let me get to the good part, ‘your responses this evening reassured us that you would be a good shepherd of the gem we will entrust you with should your bid win. We look forward to your presence at tomorrow’s luncheon at 1300. Dress is midday formal. Bring your favorite slave who will be relieved of all clothing after we dine.’
“You won’t be embarrassed will you, TT? You’ve never been shy about your body before. Think of it as a fashion show without the clothes. Talk to you tomorrow. I hope you’re both having fun.”
Her face flickers out.
“Freyd’s balls.” I shake my head, still wondering if my ahma could possibly have worse timing. I don’t think she has any idea how hard this is for Brin. She’s right, I don’t give two dracks about who sees my cock. I have nothing to be ashamed of, but Brin’s been through enough.
“We should leave in the morning,” I announce. “This is too hard.”
“You’re right Thantose. There’s no need for you to go through this.”
Her beautiful green eyes are gazing at me, full of concern.
“I’m not distressed about me. I’m worried about you, Brin. No book is worth this. I won’t put you through one more minima of this. We leave in the morning. I’ll plot a course to . . . somewhere beautiful. A lovely planet we can explore. We weren’t expected home for a few more days. Let’s have some fun.”
“Let me get this straight, you don’t care if you dangle your manly bits in front of all those terrible women?”
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it.” I shrug, a playful grin on my face.
“Your mom’s been so good to me, and you love her. Let’s get her that dracking book. I’ll do the luncheon tomorrow if you will.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. If I get uncomfortable I’ll give you a code word and we’ll leave. How about that?”
“Code word?”
“Yeah, something sly and stealthy like . . . I don’t know, ‘Thantose let’s get the drack out of here, who wants a copy of an old, dusty religious book anyway’?”
“How can I say no to you when you smile at me like that?”
She’s lovely. And sweet. Who else would go to such lengths to indulge ahma? Ahma, who interrupted that amazing kiss. An amazing kiss with a female I promised myself I wouldn’t touch. I don’t wa
nt to confuse Brin, but I’m certain I am.
“Time for bed. I’ll be a gentlemale and let you have the restroom first.”
Chapter Four
Brin
It took me hours to get to sleep last night. My body was dancing with desire. That kiss was glorious. I’d dreamed of kissing those lips for months. It exceeded expectations.
There’s no one in the galaxy more intimately acquainted with just how fucked up I am than me. You can’t be forced to do things against your will for a decade without learning how to turn off certain parts of yourself.
I learned how to shut things down, and by necessity, I discovered how to turn things on.
So now I need to figure out what’s really me, and what’s left over from a different, shitty lifetime of dancing like a puppet on someone else’s strings.
During the months I stayed on Primus, while Thantose was away on his ship, with the help of some therapy, I’d convinced myself my attraction to him was due to my confusion. But now that we’ve spent the last few days together, I can’t ignore my responses. My mind’s messed up, but somehow my body didn’t receive the memo that I’m not ready. It wants him. I feel downright needy.
But he’s not interested. At least that’s what he said. He just wants to be friends. I’m not certain that’s true. I don’t think I was hallucinating the desire in his eyes or the passion in his kiss, or the steel-hard rod pressing against me through that flimsy loincloth last night.
I shake my head, pulling my thoughts together. Everyone’s right. I’m not ready for this. I just need to get through today. We’re one luncheon away from making Valeria happy. Then we can fly back to Primus, he can leave on the Ataraxia, and I can go back to working at the dress shop and lying in bed watching vids in my free time.
Good, glad that’s settled.
I’ve avoided him all morning, but he’s knocking on my door.
“Come in.”
“Are you avoiding me, Brin?”
“Umm . . .”
“That sounds like yes. Was it the kiss?”
“Umm . . .”
He’s standing outside the bedroom doorway, clothed from neck to ankles in black t-shirt and pants. When I dredge up the courage to glance at him, his eyes are pegged on the floor.
“That sounds like yes. I overstepped . . . I should never have . . . I took advantage . . .” He heaves a sigh and shrugs. “I broke the rules, Brin. I’m sorry. This trip, Virago, the jeweled loincloth, it’s all played with my mind. I don’t want to hurt you or confuse you. Let’s do this ludicrous lunch, either collect the Meris or not, and then bounce.
“You’re a lovely female. I’m a terrible dracker. This isn’t about you, it’s about me.” He steps back, presses the palm plate, and leaves me in this little bedroom alone with my swirling thoughts.
~.~
Thantose and I are in the opulent dining room in The Meris Society’s private clubhouse. The walls are pristine white, the chairs are upholstered in garden green. You’d think we were preparing to have tea rather than getting ready to tell our slaves to disrobe.
Ten of us ladies line one side of a long banquet table. Fourteen males are standing against the wall across from us. Thantose is straight as an arrow, stiff as a board, and feigning nonchalance as if he does this on a daily basis.
On the other hand, I’m so nervous I’ve lost my appetite. Maybe because of the situation in general, maybe because scantily-clad males keep delivering course after course of fancy food in tiny portions.
“We’ve narrowed the field to the four of you here today,” says Mistress Han, the society’s president. “Write down a number between nine and three-hundred-eighty-eight. We’ll pick one of your slips of paper, and that will be the page we will peek at today. Rest assured, while you saw no illustrations yesterday, you’ll have the opportunity to see two today. While you’re choosing your number, please ask your slave to disrobe.”
Shit. I’m hating this, but Thantose seems fine. A moment later all the aliens along the wall are nude. There’s everything from very human-looking males to reptilians. The waiters are now naked as well. I look up and down the table and see the females on either side of me are drinking it all in. Me? I’m squirming in my seat and my eyes can’t find a safe place to rest.
Even though I was trying to avoid it, I couldn’t help but notice Thantose’s cock is magenta on the underside and black on the top. I try to push it out of my thoughts as I forbid myself to even gaze in his direction.
Two naked blue males, twins by the look of it, carry in the hover-dolly with the domed pedestal holding the Meris. The president of the club makes a show of picking one of our slips of paper and announces, “Page two-ninety-seven. If memory serves, that’s a good one.” She sounds titillated.
I’ve been so busy learning proper protocol and how to arrange my hair, and when to curtsy that I never took the time to jump on the Intergalactic Database to investigate this book. Valeria never struck me as a religious female, but somehow she became obsessed with the Meris, which I assume is some alien religion’s bible. Maybe it’s because the book sounds the same as her married name, Marris. Who knows?
She said we’re going to see illustrations. A picture flashes in my head—a watercolor illustration of Samson and Delilah from some Bible storybook Mom read me as a child. Gee, I can’t wait to see this . . . not. For the life of me, I can’t imagine what all the excitement’s about.
While the society ladies don white gloves, open the glass dome, and reverently turn the pages to two-seventy-nine, I glance at Thantose. He’s looking at me as if I’m the most important thing in the room. When he catches my eye, he winks at me. Cheeky devil. I wink back and smile.
The three females titter as they turn the pages with veneration. I hate this. I hate this planet, and these women, and the fact that every fucking society in the galaxy allows slavery in one form or another. I hate that I was kidnapped and enslaved, and I hate that every male in this room is here against his will.
Give me my peek at this book everyone’s so gaga over, let me bid in tonight’s auction, and get me out of here.
We’re called one by one to inspect the book. Each female takes her own sweet time scrutinizing it. Two of them lean to the very glass itself as if this will allow them a better view. I’m called last.
What are my eyes seeing? I have no idea what the two lines of text at the top of each page say. What catches my attention are the pornographic images.
The illustrations are beautiful, loaded with detail, and although they’re over a thousand years old, the colors are brilliant. The first page shows a humanoid female, partially wrapped in a kimono the very colors of the one I wore last night, lying on her back, her arms slipped under her knees to allow better access. One nude male is plunging his glistening penis into her core as another is about to enter her mouth.
The facing page shows a different female in an equally colorful kimono on her hands and knees with two men servicing her.
What religion is this? How could I have missed the gist of what the Meris is? The joke’s on me.
“Lovely, isn’t it?” Birdcage lady asks, her voice hushed in reverence. “It was Ivid’s work that pushed Viragon society into the matriarchy it is today. Even eons ago, it was clear how superior females are to the male of the species.”
When I don’t answer, she presses, “Don’t you think?”
I quote what Valeria told me a week ago when she explained why she wanted the book. “I’ve enjoyed my copy of the Meris all my life. It’s been a lifelong dream to see an original close up.” I hope that shuts her up. I don’t have it in me to wax poetic about how lovely this is.
“We hope you enjoyed your viewing of this extraordinary copy. For three of you, this will be all you will ever see of it,” the society president announces. “For the lucky winner of the auction tonight, you will have this beautiful book to keep, admire, and hopefully . . .” she smirks, “be a manual for the bedroom to be enjoyed frequently with your ma
le slaves.
“I’m certain you will all agree it is not only beautiful, not only a historic artifact of monumental proportions, but it is a testament to the superiority of the female of every species. If only all societies believed in this tenet, there would be far less war, anger, and abuse in the galaxy.
“We’ll see you all in six houras. Don’t forget to wear a kimono this evening for the auction.”
The other females approach their males, have them kneel at their feet, and either collar their necks or cage their genitals in a chastity device. I shiver, call Thantose, and exit with as much dignity as I can muster.
The hover ride home is spent in silence. I have no idea how Thantose is doing, but I’m quivering in anger. Furious thoughts ricochet through my head. How dare these females think for one moment that they’re superior because of their sex? I shake my head. It’s ridiculous to get my ire up over this; I remind myself male cultures all over Earth did this for centuries. But turning the tables doesn’t make it right.