“You will not,” Baine said, sounding offended. “No one will ever trace a transmission to this compound. I am the most sophisticated computer ever made.”
“With an ego to match,” Rees observed quietly.
“That is rich, coming from a Shareem.”
“Prepare the message, Baine,” Dr. Laas admonished. “What do you want to say, Nella?”
“Just that I am safe and that Linginian should be arrested and questioned, and that he tried to use drugs to induce the Bond.” She shuddered. “It was the most horrifying thing he could have done.”
“Will the people on Ariel believe the message is from Nella?” Talan asked. “They won’t think it a trick, or a hoax?”
“They will have visual, voice print, and DNA match,” Baine said, somewhat huffily. “I will direct the rescue effort to Station 657. We will get Nella there, and all will be well. No one will need to come near the compound, or even to Bor Narga. I fancy that Princess Nella would be happy to leave ‘this rock’ as Rio so poetically calls it.”
“Yes, indeed,” Nella said fervently. “Not that I do not appreciate what you all have done…”
She broke off as Rio laughed. “You’re not offending me wanting to get out of this place.” He leaned down and nuzzled her neck. Warm sensation trickled down her spine. “Of course, that means we won’t have much time to get to know each other. We’d better do it fast.”
“I’ll find you passage on another transport,” Rees announced. “Rio will go with you.”
“No.” Nella pushed back her chair and stood up. The others looked at her in surprise.
“Tired of me already, beautiful?” Rio asked. His blue eyes were watchful behind the teasing twinkle.
“I do not want the assassin bots after you. Put me on a transport—I will do the rest.”
This noble speech did not go over well. Rio snorted, Rees look skeptical, Talan distressed.
“Still don’t trust us, do you?” Rio said. He moved to stand behind her and began teasing the fine hairs on the nape of her neck. She felt her agitation slow, her body responding whether she liked it or not.
“I do,” she said quickly. “But—”
“No buts,” Rees broke in. “Rio brought you here, we’re in it now. Rio can protect you until you find your own people.”
“Think of it,” Rio said in his deep voice. “You and me on a transport, in a private cabin, a tiny space, for hours and hours. Hmm, wonder what we’ll think of to do?”
Nella tried to step away from him, but she could not move from his touch for anything.
She felt his increasing body heat as he put his arms around her waist, leaned down and rested his cheek against hers. “Let’s just say we’re suckers for a damsel in distress,” he said.
“It is dangerous to get involved with me,” she tried. “If I am tracked here, then Dr. Laas will be exposed. I do not want that to happen.”
She stared in surprise at the smiles that surrounded her. “You won’t be tracked here,” Dr. Laas said. “I’m an expert at hiding.”
“But they are experts at tracking,” Nella argued.
“Yes, those assassin bots.” Dr. Laas made a dismissive gesture. “They’re programmed to track you and only you, correct? They ignore everyone else but their target?”
“Unless someone gets in their way,” Nella said, glancing sideways at Rio.
“We could disguise her,” Rio said. “Hmm, we could dress her as my sub, collar around her neck, a sarong that doesn’t cover too much. Dye her hair, maybe, though that would be a shame. It’s nice the way it is.” He ran his fingers lightly over the knot of hair gathered at her neck, his Shareem touch scalding hot with his growing arousal.
Dr. Laas chuckled. “Nice try, Rio. The bots look for a genetic match, not a visual, so there’s no mistake. You could dress her up and dye her hair and give her drops to change her eye color, but they’d still find her.”
Nella nodded. “So there is no escaping them.”
“Ah, but you’re assuming you were rescued by everyday, ordinary Bor Nargans,” Dr. Laas said. “Instead, you were rescued by a genius of genetic research. My work was lauded throughout seven systems. If the bots can track you through your genetic signature, we’ll just change your genetic signature.”
Nella stared at her. “That isn’t possible.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I thought genetic manipulation could only happen while a person was still developing—before they’re born.”
“Oh, yes. Usually. You can opt out inherited diseases and genetic disorders and manipulate hair color and whether you’ll have your great-grandfather’s nose. It’s easier, of course, when the person is developing. But I can still do it. I have the blood samples I took when I analyzed the poison you’d been given. I’ll think about it and do a little creative genetic sculpting to fool the bots.”
The woman smiled, her gaze far away as she imagined the fun she could have in her lab.
“How much will you change?” Nella asked in alarm.
“Oh, not too much. Enough so that your signature won’t match the bots’ programming. Outwardly, you’ll never know the difference. Unless, of course, you’d like me to make some modifications.” She ran a eye up and down Nella, like a dress designer trying to decide where to put more pleats or frills.
Rio’s arms tightened around Nella. “Don’t change a thing. She’s perfect the way she is.”
Nella blushed. “Not really.”
“You don’t believe me?” Rio said, his voice taking on a dangerous note.
“You’re very flattering,” she said quickly.
His playfulness vanished. “Flattering? You mean I’m lying?”
“I did not say that. I—”
He confused her. All her life she’d been taught to be banally polite, to have the correct remark for the correct person at the correct time. Everything she said to Rio seemed to provoke a reaction opposite of what she expected.
But then, Rio was nothing like any male—any human being—she’d ever met before. He did nothing expected. Maybe that was part of his attraction—his unpredictability.
This flashed through her head just before he spun her around, bent and quickly lifted her over his shoulder. She hung upside down, too startled to do anything but stare at his leather-clad buttocks.
“You’re still having a problem with trust,” he said, very softly. “One I’m going to have to cure.”
Planting his hand on her backside, he hauled her out of the room, completely ignoring her squeak of protest.
Chapter Seven
Further Lessons in Trust
Rio took her to the room with the mirrors, the one in which she’d first seen Talan and Rees and Rio together. The mirrors covered all four walls, and the reflections curved off in all directions, out of sight to infinity.
Rio set her on her feet with a thump, and the door closed quietly behind them.
“Baine,” he said to the air. “Take a hike.”
“Dr. Laas does not like to leave any of her rooms unmonitored,” Baine replied in a stuffy voice.
“Too bad. If you don’t turn off the monitors, I’ll pull the wiring, and she’ll have to do all kinds of repairs. Better you just go.”
Baine heaved a sigh, which sounded more like static than anything else. “Very well.”
Something clicked, then the faint hum of whatever monitors were built into the ceiling went off.
“Rio,” Nella said. “Were the monitors on yesterday, in my room?”
“Yes.” He smiled, a slow, wicked smile. “Baine stores all the images. I had fun replaying them last night when I went to bed.”
She stared in horror. “You watched what we did?”
“Why not?” Rio slid his tunic over his head and tossed it to the floor. His torso was bare underneath, and the mirrors reflected his hard and beautiful body thousands of times. “It wasn’t as good as being there, but you were so, so beautiful.”
Nella gulped, r
emembering how she’d willingly rubbed herself while he traced her entire body with his whip.
“Could anyone else replay them?”
“If they bothered to. Rees and Talan are so wrapped up in each other that they’re probably not interested.”
“What about Dr. Laas?”
“Don’t think so. If you’d been there by yourself, maybe, but she doesn’t watch or have sex with Shareem. Some of her own genetic material went into creating the first ones, and she says that would just be weird. She has her own lover—Dr. Ralston. He was another DNAmo scientist, almost as smart as her. I think they fuck and talk about genetics at the same time.”
She smiled at the wry note in his voice, while she involuntarily let her gaze run up and down his body. His black chain circled the tanned skin of his right biceps, the muscle curving around his arm to firm triceps. His forearms were strong, wrists large, hands broad and sinewy.
Nella had never seen a man this perfect, this sexual, in her life. While Rio’s face did not have the model-like beauty men of Ariel seemed to want, it was square and strong, his jaw firm and hard. His eyes, the blue irises already widening, were almond-shaped and framed with thick, black lashes.
His mouth was wide and sensual, and right now that mouth curved in a smile that made her want to run for cover.
But there was nowhere to run, only Rio and this mirrored room and the bed.
“I think it’s time to continue your training,” he said, “in trust.”
Her mouth went dry at the same time her quim grew wet. “I do trust you,” she babbled. “If you were working with Linginian, you would have already turned me over to him.”
Rio shook his head. “No, love, I don’t think you know the first thing about trust.”
“But I am grateful to you and Dr. Laas for trying to help me.”
He cupped her chin in one hand, brushing her lips with his thumb. “Sweetheart, you have so much to learn. Are you willing?”
He was doing it again, sending his Shareem pheromones over her, lacing them with endorphins to quiet her. She didn’t understand how he did it, but she knew one thing—it worked.
She felt her limbs go slack, her eyes heavy, even as she warmed in anticipation. What would he make her do this time?
“That’s better,” Rio said in a near whisper. “No matter what I ask of you, it will free you, Nella. Do you understand?”
“Not really.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He glanced back at the darkened door. “Rees. Come in.”
The floor-to-ceiling door slid softly back on itself, and Rees came through, leading Talan by the hand. Talan was blushing, but her eyelids drooped, and Nella sensed the same calm from her that she felt herself.
Rees, still dressed in his tunic, handed Rio a leather whip as he walked by. The door closed quietly behind him.
Rio folded the whip in his hand, as he had the strap the night before.
Nella remembered the sudden, sharp sting of the strap on her backside. Rather than hurting, the strange pain had released her, spilling out all her emotions and worries in one, ecstatic climax.
Still, she eyed the whip nervously, and Talan and Rees more nervously still. What on earth did he expect her to do?
“Strip,” he said, as though reading her mind.
“What?”
“Take the clothes from your body,” he repeated, each word succinct.
“Now?” Nella gulped, glancing at Rees and Talan. “But—”
Rio snapped the whip in the air. “Now.”
“I cannot. Not in front of—”
Rio snapped the whip again, his eyes glittering. “You can trust all of us in this room. We will never hurt you or betray you. I will show you that being naked does not mean being vulnerable. Do you understand?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“You will, once you obey. Strip, Nella.”
Rees said, “I would obey him.” His quiet voice for some reason chilled her more than Rio’s whip.
And yet, she sensed that neither of them would hurt her. Talan trusted them. The lovely woman nodded when Nella looked at her. “It’s all right,” she said softly.
Slowly Nella unlaced her tunic, hands shaking. Three pairs of eyes riveted to her, two sets Shareem-blue and aroused.
Nella was used to attention, having had reporter bots follow her around most of her life, but this was different. Reporters and fans on Ariel watched the princess, their symbol of elegance and stability. The princess could be anyone—these days, it happened to be Nella.
Here, in this room, far from Ariel, Rio and Talan and Rees watched her, Nella the person.
She at last got the tunic unlaced and pulled it off over her head. Underneath, she wore a thin garment against her skin, a layer to keep her cool in Bor Narga’s merciless heat. In the mirrors, she saw that her hardening nipples were raised points against the fabric.
She left the garment in place for now and began loosening the ties of the leggings. Rio watched her intently, his dark gaze following her every move.
Slowly Nella pulled down the leggings and stepped out of them. Underneath these was another thin garment, white and translucent, like the top. The red hair at her quim could easily be seen through it.
“Keep going,” Rio said when she hesitated.
Quickly, Nella skimmed the undertunic over her head and stepped out of the silky trousers as they watched.
There. She was naked.
Cool air touched her skin, seeming to linger on her nipples and trickle its way into her quim. She saw Rees tighten his hold on Talan, one thumb stroking her side, up and down, up and down. Rio did not move, but the blue in his eyes widened even more.
Nella instinctively folded her arms over her chest, hiding her breasts. Rio growled and snapped the whip.
“Stand there and let us look at you.”
Slowly, she lowered her arms. Rio focused his gaze on her breasts, tracing the curve of each, lingering on the darkened tips.
Rees moved his hands to cup his wife’s breasts, and Talan leaned back against him, a dreamy look on her face.
“Put your hands behind your back,” Rio said to Nella.
Nella hesitated. Such a posture would lift her chest and thrust her hips forward.
Rio leaned down and put his lips close to her ear. “Do it.”
Trust me.
He did not say the words, but she heard them in her head, echoes from the night before. Slowly she folded her arms behind her back.
“Thank you.”
He stepped behind her, and she felt a metal cuff enclose her right wrist. Before she could jump away, another enclosed her left wrist. Manacles? Where had he gotten manacles?
Wherever he’d stashed them, they were clasped to her now. Cool metal hugged her wrists, the bands about three inches wide. A narrow metal chain stretched between them, holding her hands in place.
“You belong to me, now,” Rio said. “Me and me alone.”
She looked up at him, curls of red hair falling in her eyes. “Why?”
“Why? Because I said so.”
“I mean, why do you want me to belong to you?”
He brought up the whip and touched her cheek with it. “Because you’re beautiful. Because I want you. Because you need me.”
She did not understand, but she did not argue. Why Rio had discarded a chance to get away from the planet that restricted him in order to help her, she did not know. She was happy he had, because truth to tell, she’d never felt more safe in her life than standing bound, naked, in front of Rio and his friends.
She understood now that much of this feeling of safety was the pheromones he cast over her, and the way he could make her own endorphins relax her.
She glanced at Talan, who’d relaxed in her husband’s arms, her eyes closed. Rees was working his spell on her, shutting out all things but the pleasure of being with him.
The difference was, Talan and Rees had become lifemates. In the end, Nella would go home alone, and
Rio would pursue his dream of fleeing Bor Narga forever. She suddenly hated the thought of never seeing him again.
Rio put the whip under her chin and turned her face up to his. “Are you a virgin, Nella?”
“Yes.” That at least she did know.
“I will do many things to you,” he said in his low voice. “I will do many things with you. But you can remain a virgin, if you want.”
Why did that news distress her? She should be happy that she’d return home untouched, able to go to her Bond-mate when she found him.
He smiled a little. “Technically, at least. Do you believe me?”
“I think so.”
His eyes narrowed. “I said, do you believe me?”
She gasped, “Yes.”
“No, you don’t. I see it in your eyes. I’ll just have to prove I’m a man of my word.” He caressed her lips with the whip. “I won’t take your virginity, unless you ask me to. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He moved away, taking the whip with him. The absence of his touch, even of the leather on her skin, made her feel suddenly empty.
“I cannot ask you that,” she blurted.
He stopped. “What?”
“I cannot ask you to—to couple with me. The man I first couple with will be my Bond-mate.”
“I know that,” he said his voice calm. “That is why I will not fuck you fully. So when your husband crawls into bed with you, you’ll still be a virgin.”
“It’s the other way around, actually.”
Rio gave her an odd look. “I think your translation implant is malfunctioning. That didn’t make sense.”
“Yes, it did. On Ariel, a woman is not a virgin when she marries, and a man does not expect a virgin wife. Once I find the man who is my Bond-mate, I ask him to couple with me. If he accepts, then we marry. After we couple for the first time, of course.”
“What happens if the man couples with you then runs for it?”
She regarded him in some surprise. “No man would. He would be shamed and humiliated, and he’d never Bond with anyone again. He either refuses, breaking the Bond, or he marries her.”
Rio stared at her. “What happens when he just wants sex? He has to get married? You must have a planet full of horny men.”
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