His Untamed Mate (Swarii Mates Book 1)

by Korey Mae Johnson

  As soon as she had cried for a few seconds, just as loud as she wanted to, Jazeel’s laughter lifted through the whole room. Finally, he withdrew his finger and began to lift her up. “I will tell you what, my little teacup,” he cooed. As he spoke out loud, the voice in her head told her just how much he enjoyed seeing her tears.

  He pulled Ellie back up to sit upon his knee, and she winced as her bottom pressed against his hard thighs. “You can wear anything you’d like, but you must remove your clothing for punishments, always. And you must dress for me however I wish. Outside in the halls, however, you may attempt to be comfortable, as long as you are a good girl who does what I tell her to do, and does it without complaint.”

  As he petted Ellie’s hair, he looked over her head toward Peyton. “See that she gets whatever she desires, Prime, and make sure she is taught how to serve all of my meals to me.”

  She looked out of the corner of her eye at Peyton, whose expression was unmoving. He bowed his head and replied, “Yes, sir.”

  “And you will address me as ‘my lord’ from now on,” Jazeel added offhandedly, a smile appearing on his reptilian mouth once again. “Direct the other slaves to do so as well. It does seem like the more appropriate title. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Yes, my lord.” Peyton bowed again. “I will do so immediately.”

  “Take my little pet with you,” he said, gently pushing Ellie off of his lap. “Have the seamstress make her anything her heart desires, and make sure to give her a treat from the kitchen. But remember, my dear,” he added, reaching for her arm and petting it from her shoulder to her fingers, “just because you have a long leash doesn’t mean that I’m not still holding the other end. Do not make me jerk you back into place too severely.” In other words, she feared, he would be waiting and hoping for reasons to punish her.

  Jazeel’s other voice was already inside of her head, listing all the things he wanted to do with her, although it was clear that he didn’t want to punish her too often—he never wanted her to get used to it. He didn’t want to tame her, he wanted her to blush and act petulant. It amused him.

  SHE LOOKS SO UNCANNILY LIKE ONE OF THE SWARII’S YOUNG FEMALES… the voice sighed, well pleased. I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO ENJOY SEEING HER BE SPANKED WITH MY OWN EYES… HOPEFULLY VERY SOON. NO NEED TO CONTRIVE A REASON FOR IT OR BE IMPATIENT—THERE IS FIRE BEHIND HER EYES. MAYBE I SHOULD STILL CHECK THE GIRLS… MAKE SURE THE PRIME ISN’T TRYING TO MATE WITH THEM. I DON’T WANT HER MATED JUST YET—I WANT TO KEEP HER JUST HOW SHE IS. INNOCENT AND EASILY SCANDALIZED…

  “You are most gracious, my lord,” Ellie said softly, suddenly anxious to be out of that chamber before she heard anything else that made her feel uncomfortable. She bowed her head.

  “I know,” he said, giving her a few affectionate pats on her head before he waved her in the direction of the door.

  She wasted no time in walking back toward Peyton and letting him guide her out of the room. Afterward, they didn’t speak to each other, merely rounded corner after corner until the air filled with the smell of baked breads. She realized that they must be nearing the kitchens, and Peyton slowed down. His neck craned back to glance over his shoulder before he stopped and had her turn toward him. “I don’t know what all that was about,” Peyton said. He sounded nearly winded. “Were you trying to fry me or something?”

  “No!” she said, widening her eyes. “Remember? He was thinking about making you a eunuch or something so I had to think fast—so I said it was my fault. One thing led to another, and when it became obvious that he’s a total pervert sadist, I sort of improvised. I think you’re fine!” she rattled on nervously, reaching up and rubbing her neck with the palm of her hand.

  Peyton squinted at her like she had suddenly started talking Chinese. “What are you talkin’ about?” he asked, shaking his head. “Eunuch? What?”

  “Well, you know—that’s what his second voice was talking about,” she said, gesturing wildly with her hands.

  “His second voice,” he repeated as if those words were particularly foreign.

  “Yeah—you know, the one that he talks with when his mouth isn’t moving. It’s the really weird sounding one that’s always talking about us in the third person, like we’re not standing right there. You know, like…” she clicked her fingers, looking for the right word, “you know, like random thoughts. Just speaking to himself. The voice he does that with.”

  She imagined that Peyton would give her the same expression he was giving her right now if she had just explained how she was able to poop cupcakes. But before she said anything else, his eyes widened and he grabbed his fingers into his short brown hair. “Oh, dear Jesus! You can hear shal’ta!”

  She stepped back, now thinking that he was nuts. It was impossible to tell if whatever he was talking about was good or bad news.

  “Their language—Frians have an extra language we can’t hear. I mean, humans can’t hear. I mean… nobody but… you!” he said in an excited hushed whisper. He suddenly picked her up by her upper arms so that she was draped over his head like she weighed as much as a kitten. He just shook her. “You can understand it!”

  Suddenly, she was dropped a couple of feet, nearly landing on her ass. He had apparently been disturbed by another thought. “But how is that possible?” he asked, apparently to himself, looking dazed as she tried to right herself back on her feet.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she finally said, swiping her hand through the air. “So you can’t hear that voice?”

  “No! That’s just the thing. That’s the language we can’t hear!” he replied, then looked around suddenly, as if he was afraid he had been talking too loudly. Much more quietly, he said, “What’d he say… what—”

  She shook her head, slowly realizing that Peyton hadn’t heard the extra voice. She wanted to be unsure that she’d heard it, too… but she was certain. She had never just heard voices before. “Jazeel’s going to make sure you’re not fucking the girls. Something about checking virginities or something.” She blinked, trying to even imagine how that worked. She suddenly had a disturbing notion and she squeezed her thighs together. “You mean he—?” She gestured by putting one of her index fingers through a circle she was making with the other hand. She didn’t wait for Peyton to reply before concluding that had to be it—Jazeel had to be wanting to check hymens. Probably even personally. “That’s disgusting.”

  “Shh,” he hushed her. “Don’t worry about it—I know that rule, trust me. Everyone around here is as pure as mountain snow.” He was still shaking his head. “I can’t believe we’re having this discussion. It’s impossible.”

  Suddenly, they were interrupted by a girl coming down the hallway. Peyton looked over at her and she nervously bowed. “I’m sorry to interrupt… but… the master wishes to see all the girls one by one before supper tonight. He wants to check our… purities,” she said nervously, then ground her toe into the floor.

  Peyton stood up and then gave Ellie a very heavy, long glance before turning back to the newly arrived slave girl. He gave her a singular nod. “Thank you, Doreen. Please go inform the girls.”

  The girl bowed again, then nodded her head before spinning around on her heel and scampering away quickly.

  Peyton just watched her go, his body very still. He didn’t move or say anything for nearly a whole minute. Just before Ellie began to poke at him to make sure he hadn’t turned to stone or something, he turned back toward her and practically pressed her up against the wall, towering over her. “It is true,” he panted. “So… so you’ll know things… do you know if I’m safe?” he asked, his sentences sounding a bit scattered at first. “You didn’t hear anything else about me?”

  “No,” she said, trying to review what she’d heard and felt in the room with Jazeel. “Um… I think he’s mostly really pleased with you. He really likes it when you punish me. And I assume when you punish any of the girls. He totally gets off on us feeling violated, humiliated, and cha
stised—he’s a total sadist… and a perv.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, ready to argue the point. Sure, Jazeel might not be using his dick on humans, but they definitely did something for him. “Anyway, you beating me made his day.”

  “I didn’t beat you, I just tanned your hide,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “No need to be so dramatic. If I beat you, I’d have broken you,” he assured, then gestured to his body, as if the size difference between them should be seriously taken into account. “I just gave you a red ass that’ll be pale by chow-time.” He reached up and combed his fingers through his hair. “Man, this is a lot to take in.”

  “Tell me about it,” she grunted.

  “Alright, alright.” He put his hands up. “Let’s say that this is a thing we can keep going. Don’t tell anyone that you can hear that voice. Don’t tell a soul. Don’t pray about it to Baby Jesus at night. Nobody can know.”

  She gave him a puzzled look, wondering where all this paranoia was coming from.

  He sighed. “Look, you’re new, so you don’t understand the drama. I’ve been here for four years, so let me assure you that any of those girls, no matter how nice they seem, will throw you under the bus for the smallest privileges that you can imagine. Especially if they’re ever trying to get themselves out of hot water. Your brain would be under a Frian microscope before you knew what had happened.

  “Not to mention that they’re going to be jealous of you. I guarantee that Jazeel telling you that you could wear anything you wanted isn’t something he’s done before. There aren’t many privileges being doled out, and there’s gonna be a lot of people that don’t like seeing any doled out to the new girl. Don’t give them any ammunition to use against you.”

  She found herself gulping as she nodded her understanding. She felt like she had just dropped into a warzone, with the way he spoke of it.

  “But don’t get me wrong—this is going to be big. We can do a lot of good if you can figure out what he wants. I’ve been serving him blind. I thought he was just fickle or somethin’. But we can keep using this to our advantage; tell me what he’s thinkin’, and we can make sure we do everything we can to make him happy and to make sure there are less severe punishments. Because in the past, there’s been a lot of punishments, I’m not gonna lie to you—Jazeel’s got a wrath you can’t ignore, and it used to seem like it was coming from nowhere.”

  She bunched her shoulders as the muscles in her body tensed. She felt like a lot of pressure has just been applied to her, especially when she hadn’t been asking to be the one that was supposed to keep ‘everyone out of trouble.’ She had thought that maybe all humans could hear the voice, and she’d had no idea that this would be Peyton’s reaction to her saying something about it.

  “Hey…” he sighed, rotating his body so that his shoulder leaned against the wall. “I know what you’re thinking. The weight of the world isn’t on your shoulders here, Ellie. We’re just gonna take it one day at a time. If we wait around long enough, maybe an opportunity to get a ride back home will eventually present itself. Maybe the reason nobody’s escaped yet is because nobody’s lasted long enough.”

  She pressed her lips together unhappily. There wasn’t a whole lot of upside to her situation that she could see.

  “You’re not alone,” Peyton added.

  “Yeah, but I don’t know if a behemoth bully being ‘with me’ on this,” she said, making quotation marks with her fingers, “is really that much of an upside.”

  He gave a singular guffaw. “Hey, I’m only a big bully until you get to know me. I think, given enough time, you’ll appreciate the real me… Who’s a big bully who’s got your back.” He actually smiled and winked at her, and she noticed his expression seemed much more boyish than it had been earlier that day. She gave an amused snort, relieving some of her tension. He put his hand out and said, “What d’ya say? We together on this? Team human?” he asked.

  She let herself give him a grin. She put her hand into his and gave it a shake. “Team human,” she agreed. Then clapped her hands together. “What now?”

  He shrugged and continued to walk in the direction of the bread smell. “I think a sandwich to celebrate our new alliance should be a priority,” he told her with a shrug. “Sound good to you?”

  She nodded and jogged up to follow at his side. “Hell, yes.”

  Chapter One

  One year later…

  Jazeel’s palace was by the sea, so Ellie assumed that all the white noise coming from outside was just the ocean roaring far more than usual. She stretched across her bed and looked at the clock and was instantly annoyed that she had woken up a full half-hour before she had to.

  She sat up and crawled to the edge of the bed, set to get up. She heard her door open and shut. “Oh, good! You’re awake! Prima, the master wants his morning meal early today.”

  “Oh!” Ellie said, sitting back on her haunches at the corner of her mattress, looking at the slave girl. Ellie had been Prima for a couple of weeks now, and she found herself always looking over her shoulder whenever one of the other slaves called her that, looking for who they were really talking to. “Okay,” she nodded. “No problem, I’ll be in the kitchens in a jiff,” she assured.

  “Do you need help adorning yourself in your jiff?” the girl asked innocently.

  Ellie shook her head. Oy vey. Captive-borns. “No, I can get my, uh, ‘jiff’ on by myself. Thanks. Just make sure the cook has the platter ready when I get out there.” She walked over to her vanity and splashed some water on her face.

  “Did you hear about the fabulous news?” the girl asked, walking toward the window. “The Swarii scourge has been defeated! There is a celebration outside—a parade and everything! A lot of the girls plan to watch the celebration from the balcony, if you want to join us.”

  Ellie, who was now in the middle of brushing her teeth, blinked with confusion. She practically bent backward to look past her vanity and in the direction of her window, which the girl was opening up. It was incredibly noisy outside, only for the first time Ellie noticed that it wasn’t the sea making all the racket. It was a crowd of celebrating Frians outside. She could see the waves of people and banners move around like a colorful, overcrowded ant farm.

  “Ah!” she said, without any feeling. She had been interested in the Swarii for a few months when she had first gotten to the palace, since she supposedly looked a little like one. But she had never seen one, and they were normally the topic of most of Jazeel’s most boring conversations. The Swarii were an alien species with which the Frians were at war, and Ellie had assumed the reason Jazeel had bought her was so he could have the pleasure of seeing a little Swarii-like girl spanked and punished horribly often. “Is that why the master’s up early?” she asked.

  The girl nodded. “Oh, yes. Supposedly there are prisoners. The master’s going to execute them in a couple of days in the square when Lady Galaal arrives. There will be a night festival with balloons and all sorts of treats!”

  Ellie frowned at the girl’s enthusiasm. God help those captive-borns—they got excited by the simplest things. The only thing that would make Ellie bounce on her toes like that would be if Jazeel was diagnosed with some wasting disease. Certainly never because he got his way.

  The only good news about Jazeel getting his way was that he would be in a good mood, and thus the chances of him being completely awful to everyone in the palace were lower than usual.

  Ellie put on a skimpy yellow sundress, which she disliked but which was very Jazeel-approved, keen on keeping the lizard in his good mood. After brushing her hair, she walked out of her chambers and began her march down the hall to the kitchens.

  The kitchens were empty except for a counter full of food. She looked around and down the hall and saw a slew of slave girls all crammed out onto the balcony, watching the festivities. Apparently, that cleared out the place. She walked into the pantry to grab herself the platter she’d need for Jazeel’s breakfast.

  Less t
han a second later, she walked right back out of the pantry, sans platter, rubbing her eyes like they were going to burn right out of their sockets from the unholy sight they had witnessed. “Good lord!” she cried, horrified that the image of Peyton ass-fucking his girlfriend was now going to be permanently burned onto her retinas. “In the pantry, guys? Really?” she whined.

  There was certainly no mistaking what the couple had been doing. Peyton’s fingers were pressed firmly onto Mary—the new cook’s—hips, and she had been pressing back against his groin to take his member more fully into her bottom, moaning with a mixture of pain and pleasure.

  It took a moment before Mary scurried out of the pantry, adjusting her short skirt back into position. Whipping her mussed blonde hair back out of her eyes, she groaned, mortified, “I am so sorry, Ellie!”

  “My eyes are burning!” Ellie cried, still pressing her palms over her eyes.

  “Shh!” Peyton hushed fiercely, following Mary into the kitchen while buttoning up the front of his pants. “Shut up, Ellie! You want the whole place to be informed of what you saw?”

  “Sure! Be like that! Lecture me because you were doing the nasty in the pantry!” Ellie scolded back, putting her hands on her hips to face down the burly man standing over her.

  He sighed and looked at the ceiling with exasperation. “Grow up. You know we have trouble finding a place. And everybody’s out watching the parade. It was as good of a time as any.” He shrugged unapologetically, then hoisted himself up on the counter and stole an apple from the array of food laid out there. He bit into it and continued, “It’s practically a holiday today. Jazeel’s as happy as a clam.”

  She walked into the pantry and came out with a silver serving platter. “Yeah, so I’ve heard. I don’t see why all the girls are happy, though.”

  “The girls are simple,” Mary said, rolling her eyes as she helped Ellie load up the platter. “Their threshold for excitement is embarrassingly low.” Mary, who was only abducted from earth six months ago, was still filled with disdain for the palace. Ellie liked that about her.