by Celeste Raye
She let him slide out of her mouth and walked her body down his until she was poised above his member. His hands gripped her ass, separating her cheeks as she lowered herself onto his engorged and swollen flesh.
She slid down him, her walls opening to take him in. The feel of him inside her, all the way inside of her body, caused her hips to shake and her inner folds to spasm. He filled her completely, taking her in ways she had never known before. Her legs shook as she balanced above him, rocking and writhing, feverish in her attempts to feel his cock at the very end of her tunnel.
Her whimpers became moans, and she heard his answering cries as she lifted her body up and away from his, not letting him withdraw completely, and then slid back down again.
She came, hot gushes of fluid streaming from her body and onto his hot flesh. She felt his cock give a long throb and then several smaller ones and heard his moan of release below her own cries.
Her sigh of contentment became a moan of pleasure as he moved low again. She whispered, “Jeval, I…”
“I am not done.”
The words, slow and a little throaty, sent warm breath across her wet flesh, adding a new layer of sensation to that skin there and making a long and slow thrill run up and down her skin.
That sensation spiraled up again, that time even more intense than the first time he had done that to her. His fingers dipped between her legs and found the wetness there then spread it across her labia. The musky scent of her arousal filled the room, and her ass lifted so he could slide his fingers higher to the throbbing flesh of her clit.
He massaged it in slow circles, and she whimpered, her fingers clutching at the sheets as her hips lifted and lowered.
His fingers thrust into her slippery inner folds, and she cried out as sensation spiked through her body. His hands went back to rubbing her ass cheeks, gently lifting and squeezing the flesh and muscles of them before going back to her clit and massaging it hard and fast.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, “Oh my God, that feels so good.”
He lifted her hips higher. His mouth sought out her clit, and his tongue slid across it, then down, darting into her swollen entry then out again to wander slowly back to her clit. Fine trembles started inside her inner thighs. She used her arms to lever herself up higher, giving him easier access to her dripping folds.
His tongue continued to torment her. Her legs went rigid as she arched and lifted, desperate for the release hovering so close. His fingers slid into her again, spilling her fluids as they withdrew. Her cries got longer and louder with each lick and thrust.
Jeval moved away from her. Now that it was over, she was dizzy from the satisfaction but on the heels of her satisfaction was another feeling. She was confused by the sudden sex and the fact that she had given in to the wild urges she’d had.
He stood. His body, coated with a thin sheen of perspiration, glistened in the low lights. He said, “We should get going.”
She scrambled off the bed and hurried to the bathing chamber. By the time she had returned, he was dressed, and he merely said, “Let’s go. I don’t want to spend another night here if I don’t have to.”
She didn’t either. She wanted nothing more than to be gone from there, to put as much space between herself and that place and him as possible, and as quickly as possible, too. Revant Two was a large place, and soon a party would be going into the wilderness beyond the small city they were building, and she could be in that party if she chose, and she was pretty sure that might be the best thing to do.
Jeval spoke. “You know I have a gift.”
“I’ve heard that, but all of your brothers seem to have some gift or another.” She was numbed and tired, her brain and body at war and they still had to try to find some intel that would make the trip worthwhile.
He stopped walking. His tone was stiff. “It seems to me that your kind automatically mate with whoever they engage in sexual things with.”
“Wow. No, but whatever.”
She went to walk on, but his fingers held her arm and kept her immobile. “I can’t be your mate. I can’t be anyone’s mate. My gift, if I were to pass it on, the child you would bear would not be strong enough to survive that birth. The child would not be able to live with that gift. I was lucky to live at all. Most don’t.”
She was too dazed to try to parse that out. “All right then. Let’s go get some intel. I want to go home.”
She waited for him to get ahead of her and she followed him, but her heart was heavy and her limbs too loose and trembling.
Several hours later, Margie sat at Jeval’s feet, her gaze lowered as he’d instructed her to in training. Her senses were on full alert. This planet was rife with corruption and bad politics. Criminals used it as a transport for all their illegal goods and politicians came to indulge all their bad habits.
Half the creatures in the room were masked and unspeaking. A low trill of music came from above, through the speakers that set beside the glassed-in cage where a band of Songers, probably captives too, played tiredly on a small stage.
The sex they’d had was terrific. Mind blowing, in fact. But it had left a lot of regret and worry in its wake.
The last thing she needed to do was get her heart involved with Jeval, and she damn sure didn’t need to give in to that desire she had for him either; ever again.
It was dangerous.
He was dangerous.
He was not known for kindness, and she knew that. He was harsh and reserved and even while he’d been in the middle of sex with her she had felt him withdrawing from her. Not just that last literal withdrawal when he had sent his seed to the sheets instead of inside her either.
A mental withdrawing. She might as well have just been any warm and willing body!
Tears threatened, but she blinked them back. She had known he was just giving in to attraction, the same as her, but his coldness afterward just kept growing. There was a definite chill coming off him then too.
His legs were stiff despite his seemingly relaxed appearance and she had to fight for air to breathe when some masked and snuffling creature came up and said, in a guttural voice that was clearly being filtered through a masking device, “What a lovely human.”
“Yes. She’s obedient too. That makes her even more attractive.”
If she had not known for a fact what the result of her biting him in the calf muscle would yield, she might have done just that. Resentment flared along her body and tore across her system, sending a warm tide of red blood up into her face and along her neck.
“Oh, it is pleased with your words,” the masked creature wheezed out. “You have done well with it.”
It? Let me catch you alone, and I’ll show you what this woman can do when I grab you by your ‘it’ and yank it right off your body you…
Jeval’s hand buried itself in her hair, fisting it and yanking slightly, not enough to rip the hair from her scalp but enough to grab her attention and let her know to cool down. She blanked her mind. She knew that he could read the tension growing in her body and sense her anger. She had to hope no other in the room could as well.
Jeval said, “I do try.”
The thing sat. Margie’s nose wrinkled. It was a Morger. They were the only creatures who stunk like Sulphur and unwashed feet. She kept her head down, letting her hair hide her face and the revolted expression upon it.
The thing’s presence came with a bonus though. Trying to breathe past its reek kept her mind occupied and off Jeval and that amazing sex they’d had. Sex that had been wholly satisfying in a bodily way but that had left her heart bleeding and her senses feeling like she had somehow missed something that should have been there, but hadn’t been.
The Morger rumbled out, “You selling today, stranger?”
“No, but I might be renting.”
What? She froze, her muscles cording and tautening at his causal words. That had never been part of the plan! Or at least nobody had told her that it was part of the plan! If the Morg
er took her out of that big Hall, he’d find himself gutted by the short and sharp blade she had hidden in the belt that held her pants up.
The Morger grunted. “I am not in the mood for a rental. I want to own.”
Jeval said, “Then we have nothing to speak about, now do we?”
The Morger grunted again and ambled off. Margie had to repress the urge to wave a hand in front of her face to try to dissipate the odor he left behind.
Jeval whispered, “It smells like that rotten egg Marik found in a nest a few days ago; remember?”
Margie had to repress laughter by lifting a hand to her mouth and pressing down firmly.
That movement was hidden by the fact that just then a massive fight broke out between two slaves who were fighting for the right to be auctioned off to the wealthiest patrons.
Danger was everywhere, and she whispered back, “I think I should get near the other slaves, the ones brought in by that trader from The Federation’s pleasure world.”
He bent down low. His hand cupped her neck, his fingers spanning across the skin that covered her pulse. Her heartbeat picked up at the casually ruthless gesture. She knew it was for show and that he would not harm her, but fear flooded her system anyway.
He spoke in a harsh tone. “Go on. Go be with the other slaves while I enjoy myself. You annoy me.”
She was sure that last bit was true.
She went, skittering forward on her hands and knees, keeping her head and eyes down the whole way.
The slaves huddled near a raised dais. Pungent alcoholic beverages circulated above but the costliest drink was, as always and on every world that had been civilized and taken to the brink by tech and pollution, water. Not just water, but clean and clear water. Pure water, brought in by ships that traveled many cycles to find it and bring it to those who could afford it.
Revant Two had fresh and clean water. That alone made it ripe for taking, even if there was not much of that water. She had, in truth, no idea how much of it there was but she did know that the planet’s position made it hard to reach and that the water would go flat and stale and become not worthy of the high dollar sales that the traders wanted, so that would help keep them at bay.
But for how long?
The slaves she chose to sit next to looked afraid and tired; many had brands, and some had tattoos on their legs or on the napes of their necks. They were allowed to talk amongst themselves, but very quietly, although, none were.
That sort of flustered her. How was she supposed to get intel if nobody was talking? What would be the best way to start the conversation? Should she just ask, hey, have any of you heard any dirt on The Federation lately?
Probably not.
She squirmed a bit, her nerves rising as she considered a hundred different gambits and discarded all of them. Time was passing way too quickly, and she had to figure something out. Everyone was counting on her and Jeval, and she did not want to disappoint them, nor did she want to miss something vital, something that they needed to know, so she didn’t dare scoot back to where Jeval sat either.
She licked her lips and shot a glance at a male next to her. He was of a species unknown to her, but he looked vaguely humanoid. She whispered, “Have you been here before?’
He gave a short nod of his head. Heart beating faster now, Margie whispered, “I’ve never been here before. I was on Orbital before I came here.” It was true enough, anyway.
A few of the slaves perked up. One female whispered, “I hear it’s lovely there.”
“It is.” Margie looked around the Hall. It stood on a desert plain that stretched far and wide. The city was the only one on the planet, and it had a rep for being rough and tumble, for keeping whatever happened there discreet, and there was plenty of reason to be discreet as well. There were about a hundred dance and carding halls as well as other gambling places. There was rare and exotic entertainment, some of it provided by slaves and some provided by hired entertainers shipped in for that purpose. “I’m a little scared.’”
Another female, definitely not human but very lovely with her green skin and hair, gave her an encouraging smile. “It’s not so bad. They’ll start shouting for us to entertain them soon. Do you have any skills beyond the delights?”
The delights? Oh shit. She meant sex! “I was a gurley on Orbital.”
The green female asked, “How’d you get here?”
“I owed a debt I couldn’t pay.”
They all nodded with understanding and sympathy. Margie looked down at her hands, hoping to look as forlorn as possible. She whispered, “I hear that it’s better to be sold to a Federation officer than to…to a trader. Is that true?’
The male next to her asked, in a voice so low it was barely audible. “Are you being sold?”
She swallowed hard. The fear came back. Her hands actually shook, but it was because she was afraid they would know what she was really doing, trying to open a conversation that was forbidden. “I don’t know. I am trying really hard to please him so that doesn’t happen, but I am terribly afraid that he will sell me to recoup the credits, that he may find the credits more attractive than me.”
The green female said, “It happens. And yes, The Federation officers can be better, but it depends on which you gain as your owner.”
“And that applies to every owner,” the male whispered. “Speak no ill of The Federation.”
They all went silent. Dammit. That was not working at all. Jeval had hoped she would get some pillow talk, but it seemed that all of the slaves were too afraid to speak much at all.
She sighed inwardly. The green female leaned in close and whispered, right into her ear, “He speaks the truth. No matter what, never speak of them or what they do or want or ask for. They hold all, as you know, and we are less than motes of dust in their eyes.”
That went for all things, and not just slaves, but Margie doubted that that would make much of a difference to the slaves she huddled with.
The green woman asked, “That’s your owner?”
She let her eyes flicker to Jeval. Her heart fluttered, and her pulse raced. Her inner temperature spiked and spilled juices into her panties. “Yeah. Who’s yours?’
The green female let her eyes move across the room to a vividly green male with a strip of long hair tied up into a high knot at the crown of his skull. “He is, Ruckland…” the green female gulped. She averted her face and Margie knew that the pride that had made her use her master’s name had gotten the best of the female. She was clearly not supposed to say his name; it was probably some kind of rule, Margie guessed, and she glanced around quickly to see that the other slaves weren’t paying attention at all. They were busy gathering themselves up and going toward the stage that had been set up because, as predicted, the beings there nearest it were screaming for slaves to entertain them.
Jeval strode over, tugged at her hair briefly, and walked toward the door that led out of the Hall. She scrambled to her feet and went after him; following at the distance she knew would make it look like she was following a master and not a fellow spy.
They entered the chamber, and he drew her close, his mouth next to her ear like the green woman’s had been moments before. “Learn anything?”
She shook her head. He whispered, “I did. We have to get out of here and now. The Federation is on its way; looking to do a roundup of those they call fugitives and traitors.”
Panic settled in. “Why isn’t everyone running then?”
“Because they don’t know. I walked into the mind of a being not far from where I sat and found out that he is a Federation officer working undercover, looking for a being called Ruckland.”
She stiffened. “I know who he is.”
He grinned at her. “Then you learned something after all. Come with me; we need to get him out of here.”
“Why?”
“Because if Federation wants him, he must know something they don’t want him to talk about.”
That made sense but what m
ade more sense was getting the hell out of there as fast as possible. Talon had earned a pardon from The Federation after that fight with the Gorlites, and only because the universe had been watching and they could have done nothing else, but the rest of the brothers had not been given amnesty.
Jeval was an outlaw, and he had a bounty on his head and a death warrant with his name on it sitting in every Federation Intel bank in the universe. He couldn’t be caught up in a sweep.
“We can’t take the time for that, not if that is going to happen soon.”
“I need him. Come on, let’s go.”
They headed back toward the Hall even though it was the last thing she wanted to do and the last place she wanted to go. She spotted the green-skinned female and whispered, “She’s his slave. That’s him over there; see the one with skin her color and the big gold hoops in his ears?’
Jeval moved. She tripped along beside him, her head down low and her eyes on her feet. Worry kept her emotions weaving between a raging desire to get the hell out of there as fast as possible and an equal desire to get to the creature Jeval said they needed and get whatever he had that the Fed wanted from him if possible.
More than anything else, though, she was scared that Jeval would get caught and captured, sent to some Fed hellhole where he would be tortured or worse and then killed.
Jeval moved close to the creature known as Ruckland and muttered, “See the human there with the brown hair? The one with the gold tunic?’
The creature muttered, in a voice pitched low enough not to be heard over the pounding music. “The Fed spy? Yes, why?”
“He’s looking for you, and he has corps on the way. A massive fleet. They are going to try to capture you under the cover of doing a sweep.”
Ruckland didn’t ask questions. His hand came up. His fingers snapped together. His slave came to him, leaping off the stage with real grace and prowess. He didn’t say a word, but he did sign a gesture into the air. The female cast a startled glance at Jeval and Margie and then she nodded. Knives appeared in her slim hands.
The four of them hastened out of the Hall, and Margie saw, with a sinking heart, that the officer that Jeval had pointed out had noticed that exit too. She gulped out, “I think we might be in some real trouble here.”