Shalia's Diary Book 11

by Tracy St. John

  Candy stared at him with her mouth hanging wide open. I was astonished too, but I recovered faster than she did. “What an amazing opportunity,” I said. “Congratulations, Candy!”

  She didn’t appear happy when the initial shock wore off. In fact, she seemed close to tears. “How can you trust me with something resembling that after what happened with Anrel?” she choked out.

  Cifa leaned towards her, looking her steadily in the eye. “Who better to watch out for children than the person who knows the worst that can happen? I have no fear that you’ll do the best job possible. I’m also positive you’ll be absolutely militant when it comes to the well-being of our littlest patrons.”

  She blinked. “Militant? I’ll want to personally be on each ship to be sure any children on board will be okay.”

  He chuckled at her near-snarl of protectiveness. “You see? I knew you were the person for the job.”

  “Can I hire security for the childcare facilities on each ship? If someone would snatch a kid in the middle of the market, right under her caregiver’s nose, anything can happen.”

  “I agree. We already have a department that manages security on board the ships. You can coordinate with its director, Nobek Odup. The two of you can determine if the shipboard facilities need dedicated protection or if he wants to assign guards under a standard rotation schedule.”

  “The caregivers have to be certified in emergency medical response,” Candy said, her gaze going distant. I could see the wheels turning in her head. “We need activities that are fun and educational. The kids can’t sit around, expected to amuse themselves. Babies are not to be left in their cribs if they’re awake. Child-friendly exercise equipment. Bright, interesting colors. Soft flooring for falls, but easy cleanup for spills.” She grabbed her handheld. “I need to note this all down.”

  Cifa laughed, enjoying her enthusiasm. He put his hand over hers, keeping her from firing up her device. “Slow down, Candy. Bask in the moment. You can freak out in two weeks when you walk into your office and realize you have to start from scratch, as Shalia has with her division.”

  Candy put the handheld away. “Okay, I’ll enjoy drinks for now. But don’t expect me to wait two weeks to start going nuts with this. I can have a couple of assistants, right? To manage things along the lines of nutrition and medical? Because I’m weak in those fields.”

  Cifa patted her shoulder. “You’ll determine an overall plan, and then submit to Ila what you believe you’ll need as far as personnel is concerned. The two of you will discuss your team and all you hope to accomplish for the rollout of the childcare programs. Fair?”

  “Yes.” Candy squealed again, hugging herself in delight. It apparently wasn’t enough, because she asked, “Shalia, can I hug your Imdiko? I swear it’ll be platonic.”

  “It had better be,” I joked, winking at her.

  “Thank you, Cifa,” she gushed, claiming her brief hug. “I will not let you down. Cross my heart, hope to die.”

  “Don’t hope for that,” he said, unaware of the old saying. “I have every confidence in you doing a great job.”

  “Goodness,” she exclaimed, sitting back in her seat. “Two big projects. I’m the woman who makes things happen.”

  “What else do you have on your plate?” I asked.

  “I’m starting to put together my campaign to allow non-traditional clans to have legal rights matching those of conventional clans.” She beamed at us.

  “Wow,” I said. “That is a big deal.”

  “Huge,” Cifa agreed. “I wish you all the luck you can find. You and Stidmun are certainly happy with it being solely the two of you.”

  “I truly am monogamous at heart,” Candy sighed. “I can’t contemplate another man, much less two. Why shouldn’t we be recognized as a valid clan? We’re happy. We’re not hurting anybody. Kalquor needs to get with the program.”

  “As long as you realize it will be an uphill battle the whole way,” Cifa counseled. “It could take years to build real support for your cause. People are used to the system.”

  “Once Candy has her heart set on something, she makes it happen,” I said. I grinned at her. “You aren’t the kind of woman to give up.”

  She nodded, her blond curls bobbing cheerfully in contrast with her determined expression. “I’m in it for the long haul. I think I’ll have the most luck building my base with unclanned Nobeks. When they see how an Earther woman can prefer just one man, and a member of their breed to boot, they’ll understand they don’t have to be left out. And if I can reach out to the women who didn’t choose to come to Kalquor because they can’t fathom being with more than one man, it will be even more impressive to the Empire’s lawmakers.”

  “Don’t forget to present your case to the Dramok-Nobek pairings too,” Cifa added. “My breed is the second-most rare, making for many incomplete clans who can’t vie for Mataras for lack of an Imdiko.”

  Candy laughed. “Do I have my first two recruits for this revolution?”

  We were more than happy to pledge our support. Candy and Stidmun are invested in each other, with no room left for any other clanmates. Why shouldn’t they and those monogamous types like them be protected by the law? Am I the only soul who feels it’s a no-brainer?

  January 17

  It’s crazy, but I can’t get Hina out of my thoughts. Whatever I do, wherever I am, I keep circling back to her. What she’s gone through. What she’s going to go through, what with counseling and trying to cope with her losses.

  Last night, after Anrel had been put to bed and my clan was able to relax enough to consider making love, I wasn’t able to completely untangle my thoughts about the woman who’d taken my child.

  In fact, my mind was on her as I stepped into the sleeping room, naked and damp from my shower. I had it in my mind to ask my guys if they’d heard anything about her court appearance, which supposedly happened the day before. The Terrific Trio were sprawled on the mat, all intently staring at their handhelds and tapping away. Larten lay the length of the foot of the tall mat. Looking down the line of his back to his gorgeously rounded derriere, I forgot about Hina. I thought it might be fun to swat his rear since he was on his stomach. Approaching as silently as I could, I peeked over his shoulder and figured out he was working on his class schedules. Yeah, he needed to be distracted with a hearty smack.

  “Try to spank me, and you’ll be the one with a red rear,” he said without glancing at me. I could hear the laughter in his voice.

  Seot and Cifa, propped up against the pillows against the headboard, looked at each other and grinned. Tossing their handhelds aside, they sprang at Larten simultaneously. He must have been concentrating on me too hard to notice them coming, because Cifa immobilized his legs and Seot flattened his shoulders to the mat.

  Whooping with glee, I sat my naked fanny down on his broad back. Straddling his struggling body, I played butt bongos with great enthusiasm, much to my Dramok and Imdiko’s delight.

  I shouted, “What was that about a red rear? Because I see only one hiney around here getting spanked.”

  I shoved his pants down and found my rhythm again, my palms splatting merrily on those gorgeous curved cheeks. Seot and Cifa guffawed uproariously, which loosened their grip on our Nobek. Larten was able to jackknife his body and struggle free.

  He jumped to his feet to loom over the rest of us. I’m sure he meant to appear threatening, or at least imposing, but we were all chortling so hard that soon he was too. He stood at the foot of the bed and roared with violent laughter, as tickled by it all as Cifa and Seot.

  Tension had permeated our lives since the kidnapping. We laughed as much to gain release from that as finding humor in me swatting Larten’s delicious ass while the other two held him down. It felt wonderful to laugh like that.

  We paid for it, of course. Larten saw to that. He proved to me that he didn’t ascend to his position as a trainer simply because he has big muscles and does the dangerous look so well. He might have
joined us in enjoying him being overcome, but he recovered a lot faster than we did.

  I learned something new about my Nobek. I discovered that man has a thing for hiding hovercuffs all over the place. He went after Seot to start with.

  He brought out the first cuff from beneath my jewelry box, which sat on a shelf by the bed. Before any of us knew what was happening, he snapped it on our Dramok’s wrist, pinning him to the sleeping mat.

  Cifa knew the danger we were in immediately. He yelped, “Run, Shalia!” as he made a desperate dash for the door. Larten was on him in an instant, shoving the Imdiko to the floor and pulling another cuff from beneath a black fur rug, which he circled Cifa’s ankle with.

  I went in the other direction, thinking I’d lock myself in the bathroom. No such luck. Larten caught me a step away from safety, his arm circling my waist and hauling me back to the sleeping mat. He sat on the edge, but out of Seot’s reach. My fanny blistered under his heavy hand as he took me to task for daring to assume I could spank a Nobek of his stature.

  I regret nothing.

  Once he had me flailing and howling, Larten put me on my knees on the floor next to the mat. “Do not move while I deal with these other two, or you will be a sorry little girl,” he warned me.

  With my ass roasting fit to burst into flame, I decided I didn’t want to push my luck. I kept quite still as he turned his attention to Seot.

  “Whose turn was it to sweep the rooms for his fucking cuff fetish?” our Dramok demanded of Cifa as the grinning Larten retrieved a pair of the metallic rings from behind the head of the sleeping mat.

  “Yours,” came the retort. “I cleared the house just before the cruise. This is on you.”

  Seot sighed, watching as Larten claimed another cuff from behind a painting hanging on the wall. “We forgot to warn you about this, Shalia. We have to check the home regularly to keep Larten from getting the jump on us as he has this time. Surprising us with the cuffs is one of our Nobek’s favorite things.”

  “Why am I only now finding this out?” I scowled.

  “I didn’t want to scare you away before you agreed to be our clanmate,” Larten laughed. He danced around as Seot kicked and punched at him, trying to keep him from slapping the other cuffs on his ankles and wrist.

  “No full disclosure? I cry foul.”

  “Cry anything you want to. It’s too late to run off at this stage.” The Nobek succeeded in cuffing our Dramok. I thought if Seot truly wanted to stay uncaptured, he’d only have to turn on that incredible voice of control that I can never refuse. A simple, ‘No Larten,” in his best lord-and-master voice would have put our protector in his place.

  Larten forced Seot to stand helpless on one side of the sleeping mat with his hands behind his back. The two men made a lot of sexy growling noises at each other before Larten went off to search for more cuffs to incapacitate Cifa.

  “Fetish, my eye,” I said in disbelief as I watched Larten grab three more cuffs from various hiding places. “That’s a bondage obsession.”

  Funny enough, Larten had to work a lot harder to escape unscathed from Cifa as he cuffed him. Our Imdiko is not too proud to try to bite in defense of himself, as well as punch and kick. In the end, however, Larten had him on the opposite side of the bed from Seot, standing in the same pose. It also put him next to where I knelt, waiting to see what Larten had in mind for us all.

  In my case, it was more cuffs, though he had only two for my wrists. “Do you buy them wholesale?” I asked as the Nobek bent me over the sleeping mat. He immobilized my wrists to the small of my back, as he had Seot and Cifa.

  “I have to. Seot and Cifa donate them to law enforcement agencies when they remember to look for them.” Larten patted my ass, making me yelp as the spanked flesh reacted. “Don’t move. I have to fetch goodies for you three.”

  “Shit,” Seot and Cifa chorused.

  Larten only chuckled. He went to the drawer where the smaller toys were kept. Lucky me; I was the first recipient of his gifts. Before he got to those, he knelt behind me and pulled me against him. “I want you nice and biddable,” he rumbled in my ear the moment before his fangs sank into my neck.

  I jerked against the sharp but brief moment of pain. As Larten’s venom spurted into my veins, he rubbed my pussy. I moaned, going slick against his fingers in an instant. A sweet mist formed in my brain, making me feel warm, euphoric, soft, and insanely aroused all at once. I rocked against the hand playing with me.

  He let the bite go and whispered into my ear. “Are you my well-behaved girl, Shalia?”

  I moaned. “Yes, my Nobek.”

  “I hope so. I’d hate for this soft, wet pussy to be denied the orgasm it wants.”

  I whimpered. I would hate for that to happen too.

  “Show me what an obedient girl you are. Bend over the mat again. Spread your legs wide. I have to fill your pussy and ass.”

  I was more than happy to comply. In my intoxicated state, it never occurred to wonder what he would fill me with. I had visions of his cocks, naturally. I’m so dumb when I’ve been bitten by a Kalquorian.

  I realized my silliness the moment I heard him squirting gel from a tube. The Kalquorian men I’ve been acquainted with lubricate much too well to require that kind of help. A moment later a slick, questing touch probed my rear entrance. The thick plug Larten had found for me slid home, stretching me enough to ache. It was an enticing ache, the kind that made my venom-soaked system heat with excitement. I wriggled with need and promptly got a swat on my sore ass for it.

  “Stay still.” Larten doesn’t have quite the magic command that Seot wields so easily, but it does the job. I trembled, but I managed to hold steady.

  Next, he stuffed a Kalquorian-sized vibrator inside my pussy. I groaned when I felt not just the shaft, but a solid surface against my clit. It would be amazing when he switched it on…and agonizing when he wouldn’t let me come. I had little doubt Larten had no intention of playing nice with me.

  He had a harness that wrapped around my waist, thighs, and cinched up tight between my legs to hold all that stuff in place. With my wrists bound behind my back, I had no way of escaping the coming teasing.

  “How does she look, my Imdiko?” Larten asked Cifa, landing a meaty smack to his ass.

  “Incredible. I guess the punishment for me is that I won’t be allowed to enjoy her.”

  “Oh, you’ll enjoy her, all right. Up to a point.” Larten’s grin was hair-raising.

  Larten wasted no time in testing his work. The vibrator switched on. It was every bit as incredible as I knew it would be. I was gasping and moaning almost immediately as it shivered deliciously against my G-spot and clit. With the anal plug making me full and pushing the dildo up against my hot spot, I writhed in ecstasy. It felt incredible, my insides lighting up and tightening hard, coiling up towards that magic moment when the tension became too taut, when strained rapture must break free in an explosion of bliss.

  The euphoria of Larten’s bite had let me forget this was going to be punishment first and foremost. It was a real shock when the vibrator quieted, leaving me wired for release and unable to claim it. My pussy clenched around the toy, as if to coax it to life so it could finish the job.

  A long, low wail escaped my lips. Larten chuckled and picked me up, setting me on my knees in the middle of the sleeping mat facing Seot. The crotch of my Dramok’s pants, all he had on at this late point of the day, bulged enormously.

  Larten patted my rear. “I bet that talented mouth of yours can move those trousers aside to claim your prize.”

  Knowing the goodies that hid behind the taut fabric, I licked my lips. I walked on my knees to meet my Nobek’s challenge. I tugged at Seot’s waistband with my teeth, urging the crotch seam open.

  Over my head, Seot groaned, “Oh, you are a merciless bastard. All this over a few love taps?”

  “It’s the principle, my Dramok. I have to draw the line when it comes to who gets to wear out whose ass. Speaking of which, l
et’s raise those hands up a bit out of the way. That’s better.”

  I scarcely noticed their conversation. I was intent on yanking Seot’s stubborn fly open. Finally, it parted. His swollen cocks emerged, glistening and smelling of cinnamon. I was overjoyed to see the boys, stiff and eager for me. With my pussy throbbing and euphoria coursing through my veins, I waited for no one’s leave. I sucked the lower cock into my mouth, moaning to taste my clanmate.