I can’t do anything to change it now, though. Maybe I should find a way to kill myself and end my misery before my life becomes unbearable. Heaven only knows what Rami will do to me when he gets me alone. His body might damage me so I’ll never be able to function sexually again. He might infect me with some horrible disease.
I push that thought out of my mind in a hurry. For one thing, I was never a quitter. I’ve been through some tough times in my life, and I always got through them on sheer willpower. I’ll get through this, too, and I can’t believe Rami is really a bad guy after all. Why would he ask if I was well, if he didn’t care?
I’m sure these Rekyl know perfectly well what human women need, too. They do research on human women, so they must know Rekyl are compatible with human women. I can’t resign myself so easily to being somebody’s toy, though. I’ll fight back, no matter the consequences.
I have plenty of time to think about what’s coming my way. The journey wherever they’re taking me takes a lot longer than the short one from my first prison to the tournament. Will it never end?
Then I see the last buildings fall away, and the men carry me out into the countryside beyond. The same colorless desert sweeps over hills and valleys in all directions. The wind blows dust in a straight line parallel to the ground, but I don’t see any buildings or streets. The place is deserted―literally.
Then the men march around a low hill, and I see a big building at the top. This must be Aranon’s version of a castle, except it lies low and sloping on the ground. It has no turrets or anything else sticking up into the air. From a distance, I see multiple layers of grey-brown walls all lying close to the ground to let the wind and sand blow over them.
The men climb the hill to the building. They pass under an arch and carry me through a courtyard surrounded by high walls. The building blocks the desert heat, and the courtyard is blessedly cool and tranquil. They pass through another portico into another part of the building.
A long, low hall stretches in either direction, and the men carry me into a large room lined all around with low benches covered in cushions. The room holds no other furniture. They set the cage down on a bench and withdraw without a word.
I’m too freaked out to speak to them or anyone else. I keep shifting my weight back and forth in the cage. I’m stewing in an agony of anticipation and anxiety. What’s going to happen to me? How long to I have to sit here in this cage before someone comes and lets me out?
Hours pass. I guess Rami is busy down at the stadium. I’m sure every Rekyl on the planet wants to shake his hand and tell him what a hero he is. Maybe he has state functions to perform with the defeated Zerq as well. My imagination runs wild in the silence. Not a single person comes into the room. As far as I can hear, nothing but silence fills the whole castle.
The air changes and turns even cooler. Night must be coming. I could be in here for days before Rami comes. I lie down on the cage floor and make myself as comfortable as I can. I might as well get some sleep while I wait, but I’m too keyed up.
I close my eyes, and I guess the exhaustion takes over. I find myself drifting through a cloudy sky. Then I’m back in the room, but I’m not in the cage anymore. Rami is standing in front of me, and I face him with a steady heart. I’m not afraid anymore what he’ll do to me.
He surveys my body the way he did at the arena, and the bright golden honey of desire oozes from my nether fountain. My lower lips rub against each other and pulse with life. My nipples prick against my thin robe, and he admires them through the fabric. His gaze turns me on even more. I want him to touch me.
He takes a step toward me. His hands hesitate in mid-air. Then he touches the fine fabric of my robe. He pushes the two sides apart, and my erect breasts jump out for him to see. He lays the robe on either side of their perfect orbs. The nipples point straight out at him in open invitation.
My breath heaves in my chest and sends my breasts farther toward him. I ache for his touch. I want his mouth sucking my nipples, and his fingers exploring my forgotten recesses. How long has it been since a man touched me like that? I can’t even remember any of the players I wasted my time with on Earth. I don’t want anyone but him.
He happily obliges by laying his two palms over my nipples. He massages them in a circle until my lips fall apart and a gasp of lusty desire escapes me. He closes his fingers around my sharp nubs, and I moan up into his face. He returns my gaze with masterful possession. He wants to drive me to my limit. He wants to see me blatantly, cravenly excited for him.
He pushes the robe farther aside, and my naked skin lies waiting for him underneath. He runs his hand down my belly to the dark triangle between my legs. My folds open at his touch, and the sticky syrup covers his delving fingers. I arch my hips toward him to bring his fingers inside me, but he holds back. He knows what I want, but he’ll only give it to me on his own terms.
He spreads the lubricating cocktail over my flaming flesh, and I pant and whine for more. He watches my reactions, and his attentions grow more insistent, more compelling. I can’t withstand his touch. I’m rising to the heights of climax faster than I can imagine.
In an instant, I fall into contortions of mesmerizing rapture. He holds me up with one hand while he titillates me with the other. His fingers explore every erogenous zone and bring my fluids brimming forth. I can’t hold back. He owns me. He wants to give me pleasure, and I feel more pleasure at his touch than I can ever imagine.
At his leisure, he brings me against his body. His clothes vanish in the blink of an eye, and I’m suddenly aware of his monstrous appendage protruding at me with its cyclops eye locked on my verdant slit. Gravity tows me toward him, but the endless waves of orgasmic rapture never stop.
His member slides between my legs. The pain of his intrusion splits me in half, but the next minute, I’m cantering over fields and plains and deserts on a bucking steed of throbbing flesh. Its ridges send powerful contractions through my being. My muscles ripple along its length, and it strikes deep to the center of my body.
I undulate back and forth, but his hands and arms guide me so I never fall. My very cells cry out for completion with his rock hard slab. I want nothing more than to feel those endless pounding thrusts. My fountain pours forth a river of fragrant perfume to kiss his wicked snake. He destroys my carefully constructed facade of detachment, and I swallow him whole with my waiting mouth.
He holds me against him with both hands, and whiplike tentacles emerge from his back. They surround me on every side. I hear them crack and hiss through the air. They’re coming to take me, but I don’t care.
They surround me and fill me. I’m one with him. I’m complete. He gazes into my eyes. I can’t tear my eyes away from his face. We’re fated to be together. He senses the same thing.
His nostrils flare. He smells me from there. His lips curl back in a feral snarl. He’s an animal, and I’m his prey. His thing pulses inside me, and every pulse showers iridescent rainbow sparks from my center out to the tips of my limbs. Sparks flash before my eyes. I’m in heaven. I’m losing consciousness, and I’m attaining nirvana all at the same time.
I hang limp in his arms. I’ve climaxed so many times I can’t move my body to ride his stroking rhythm anymore. Oh, I want to ride it. I want to ride it forever, but I’m finished. He holds me tighter and doesn’t stop. My channel produces more juicy nectar to lubricate his shaft. My body knows what it wants, even if I can’t keep up.
Then his face takes on a hard, determined cast. He grits his teeth and pumps faster. He sweats over me, and suddenly, his tool explodes. It injects his spunky love potion into my cavern. He milks the last drops on my quivering vulva, and he closes me in his arms in a last, beatific embrace.
I rest in my cage in a hazy half-world of dreams. I wait for him to come and take me through the bars. I crave his dominance and his wicked attentions. I’m stretched on tenterhooks of anticipation at seeing him again. When will he come and put me out of my misery?
; Voices echo down the hall outside and startle me awake. I hear men and women, all talking and laughing in high excitement. So they’re coming back from the tournament at last. I’m glad and terrified at the same time. I’m still wet from my dream. I want Rami to come and seal my fate, but at the same time, I hope he never comes. I can’t stand this waiting, but my mind jumps at every horrible phantom I can think of.
Finally, the door opens. Voices clang on my ears at close range, and I recognize Axl’s voice. He must be talking to Rami, probably wishing him a pleasant evening with his prize. Women’s voices drift down the hall and away.
Then the door closes. It lets out an ominous click, and silence envelopes the room. I freeze in my cage. I should shout threats and curses now, but I don’t. I wait to see what he does first.
Then Rami walks around in front of the cage. He still wears the same pants he had on at the arena, with no shirt or shoes. He scans me up and down for a moment. I stare out at him, but I can’t move. Can he see what I’ve just been dreaming about? Can he see my wet slit between my legs? “How are you?”
I swallow hard. My throat aches from unquenchable thirst. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” I’m his slave. I’m his captive. I’m all his.
“Are you hungry or thirsty?”
I look down at the ground and shake my head. I don’t want his kindness at a time like this. Just do what you’re going to do and get it over with.
He slumps down on the bench next to my cage. His shoulders sag, and he hangs his head with a deep sigh. “I was never so glad to get away from everyone. I’m glad there’s no one here but you. You can’t imagine how exhausted I am.”
I don’t respond. I’m aching all over from that dream.
“I’m sorry it took so long to get back here to you. I know you must be hungry and thirsty and tired, but I got back as soon as I could. I had to meet the new Zerq leader, and we had to conclude a peace treaty. Then there was the official banquet and the prize giving. I had to stay a while before I left.”
He waits for me to say something, but when I don’t answer, his head shoots up. “Are you all right?”
I shift in my cage. “I’m fine.”
He frowns. “What’s wrong with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know. Yell and scream and kick and fight. Tell me how you want me to let you go and send you back to Earth.”
“I already did that, and you said it was impossible. What’s the point of doing it again now?”
He studies me. “There’s something wrong with you. What is it?”
His constant questions start to annoy me. “Why do you ask that? I’m not here to be your companion. I’m your prize. You won me in the tournament, so just take me and get it over with. Don’t pretend you care about me when you’re incapable of caring about me.”
“What makes you think I’m incapable of caring about you?”
I turn on him with bared teeth. “I’m locked in a cage. If you cared about me, you would at least let me out before you tried to talk to me. Do you really think I can have anything to do with you when I’m a prisoner and a slave for your pleasure.”
He stares at me for a minute. Then he puts out his hand and pops the lock on the cage. The door swings open. “Come out, then. Nothing’s stopping you.”
I hesitate. Is this some kind of trick? Then I jump at the chance. I step out of the cage and move away from it, but he waves me toward him. “Come here and sit down. I want to talk to you.”
I’m in no hurry to go near him, though. Talk―yeah, right! That must be some sort of sexual innuendo on this planet.
He waits, but when I don’t obey him, he pats the bench next to him, on the side away from the cage. “You have nothing to fear. I won’t hurt you.”
In the end, I sit down next to him. If I’m going to do this, I guess there’s no point prolonging the inevitable. His presence brings back the sensations from my dream. I’m on fire for his love.
He turns toward me. “Now, tell me why you want to return to Earth so badly.”
His question takes me by surprise. “You would want to return to your home planet, too, if strangers abducted you by force and dragged you off to an alien planet to be some kind of sexual currency.”
He listens with curious attention. “I would want to return to my family and my home, but you don’t have that. I saw the records on you. You have no family and no real home. You barely have any friends. What do you have to return to?”
I shift in my seat. “I admit my family is not great. My dad left when I was young, and my mom became an alcoholic. She couldn’t take care of me and my sister, and we wound up in foster care. I guess that’s why I don’t spend much time with my family. I worked my tail off putting myself through college and making myself a successful career, but I guess I never learned how to let people get close to me. I learned early on not to depend on anybody but myself.”
“What about the woman who reported your missing?”
“That’s Tanya. We used to spend lots of time together, but nowadays, she spends most of her time with her boyfriend. Now she’s getting married, so our friendship happens mostly by text.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe you could find what you’re looking for here instead.”
I snort. “You mean find it here with you? That’s a laugh.”
“Why is it a laugh? Why is it so hard to imagine?”
“I’m not a person to you. I’m just a good time. When you’re finished with me, you’ll get rid of me, and that will be the end of it. I can never make my home here, and I have no more reason to trust you than any other guy I’ve ever been with. In fact, I have every reason in the world not to trust you.”
He listens and nods, but says nothing. I’m just starting to think about walking away when he breaks the silence. “Maybe you hate me because I have a family and you don’t, but you’re not the only one who’s unhappy.”
My eyes pop open. “Unhappy? You? How could you be, after what you just told me about having a home and family?”
He lowers his eyes to the floor. “I haven’t been happy since my father died a few months ago.”
“Your father?”
He nods. “He was leader of our people for decades, and he was the greatest leader you can imagine. Now I have to fill his shoes, and I no longer have the one person I used to rely on to help me in times like these.”
My heart softens toward him. I’m not the only person in the galaxy with troubles. “What are you going to do?”
“There’s nothing I can do. As the eldest child, I’ve been destined for the leadership position from birth. I take the job seriously, but it’s not what I thought it would be. I thought it would be rewarding. Instead, it’s a chore. Fortunately, I have Axl to help me.”
I sit up straight. “Axl?”
“He takes on some of the most difficult duties. He’s really a second leader. I don’t know what I would do without him, but nothing can take my father’s place. Axl feels the same way, so we lean on each other.”
My hand goes out to him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything to bring up painful feelings.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. You are the first bright spot in our otherwise dreary existence.”
“Our?”
His eyes gravitate to my face. “Rekyl women are quiet and subservient. You are so different from them. No Rekyl woman would shout and curse me the way you did. You captivated us the first time we saw you, and we determined to win you.”
I swallow hard. “Who is ‘we’?”
At that moment, the door opens again. I jump three feet in the air. I thought it was locked. I whirl around and my mouth falls open when I see Axl walk into the room. He stands in front of Rami and regards me with that direct gaze of his.
“What the devil is going on here?”
“I told you Axl is my br
other. He’s like my shadow, and he’s joint leader with me.”
I don’t like where this is going. “So what’s he doing here? I thought you were supposed to....you know.”
“I thought you might like both of us.”
I spin around the other way. “What?”
“You like us both,” Rami replied. “You find both of us appealing. We both noticed that at the landing center. I won you for both of us, to share. Now we’re here.”
I stare back and forth between them. “To share? Both of you? You’re insane.”
“Are we?” Rami stands up. “Is it really so insane? Think about it. You may find you like the idea.”
I turn my back on him, but I can’t answer. My mind churns in turmoil. This can’t be happening. Not even I would be crazy enough to go through with this. One alien man is bad enough, but two? No way!
Rami walks up behind me, and his presence fills my whole body with electric warmth. He breathes my name. “Lena.”
A squirrely feeling burns down my flesh and into my loins. I can’t get myself under control. He’s right. I want this.
He murmurs into my ear again. “Lena.”
I can’t speak above a whisper. “Yes.”
“You want us both, don’t you? You want to give yourself to us without reservations, don’t you?”
I open my mouth, but no sound comes out. I’m on fire already, and neither of them has laid a hand on me.
All of a sudden, Axl steps in front of me. He dominates my whole field of view. His dark eyes burn into my soul. I lock my eyes on his face. He grounds me. I can get through this if I concentrate on him.
The old attraction draws me to him. I want him. I want him to touch me and possess me and complete me. At the same time, Rami comes up behind me. They enclose me in front and behind. I can’t get away, but I don’t want to get away. I want to be theirs. I want to be here, and I want to be home.
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