by Loki Renard
The chef screwed his face up in disgust. “Are you certain?”
“Very,” Zed replied. “The crispier the better. They have a palate oriented toward starch and fats.”
“Such simple beasts,” the chef replied. “Very well, commander. If I might have the benefit of a few more minutes to create some kind of nourishment for her.”
“Of course.”
Zed sat down at one of the tables and waited for the food to be ready. As luck would have it, the ship’s captain happened to drop by. He was a rather charming fellow, a merchant of considerable standing with pristine white hair testament to his age and social standing. Zed was very grateful to the captain. If not for him, there would no doubt have been a serious incident back on Earth, one which would not have been settled simply by vaporizing a few key pieces of evidence.
They greeted one another as the captain ordered a brew, then sat down opposite Zed.
“How is your pet, commander?”
“She is unsettled and tearful,” Zed replied. “Unsurprising given her method of capture.”
“Humans make terrible pets,” the captain replied bluntly. “They’re headstrong, and just smart enough to be trouble. We had a human get loose on the ship once before. Stole a shuttle and managed to crash itself into an asteroid. Complete mess. The insurance claim took an age to settle.”
“My pet will be much, much more obedient,” Zed assured him.
The captain gave a little snort of disbelief. “Does your pet even know she’s a pet?”
“Well…”
The captain snorted again. “Just as I thought. She’s not even of domestic stock. I heard a rumor that they’re breeding them over on Hivana Prime to be docile and somewhat tame, but you’ve brought a wild human onto my ship, commander. Out of respect for your rank and station, I’ll allow it temporarily.”
“Very kind of you,” Zed replied. If they were anywhere else other than the ship itself, he could have commanded the captain to lick his boots if he had so desired and the captain would have had no choice. However, there was no authority higher than a captain on his own ship. Zed knew that. The captain knew that. It was a queer facet of their laws, dating back to the days when there were no fleets to command, where every ship set sail amid the stars at its own risk. The captain was more than a leader; he was the ruler of his domain. Even a commander had to respect the authority of a captain.
“It’s strange to speak to you this way, commander,” the captain acknowledged. “But you know I have to maintain order. This ship isn’t paid for yet, I can’t afford any fines from the ethics council or anyone else.”
“I understand, captain.”
“I’ll want to see her presented in seven of her Earth days,” the captain said. “I’ll make a decision then as to whether or not she is suitable for transport. If she’s a pet, you have a week to prove it.”
Zed restrained his impulse to bristle angrily. Serena had been off-world for all of a few minutes and the captain was demanding a display of her submission. Submission did not come naturally to her. She would struggle even if she were given a year.
“And if she isn’t?”
“We’re not licensed to transport wild game,” the captain said. “I can’t afford the fines.”
“She’s not game. She’s a humanoid. A species very close to our own. We share a significant amount of DNA. They fall under different rules.”
The captain’s expression drew closed. “I want to see evidence of her submission, commander. It’s required of me.”
He was right. It was required. Once upon a time, all manner of alien life forms had been allowed to board and travel on fleet ships. It had often ended very poorly for the aliens, the ships, and their crews. An assessment of submission and temperament was a standard test. Giving him seven days to prepare her was actually quite merciful. The captain would have been within his rights to demand a demonstration there and then if he so desired. In fact, he was already stretching protocols to their limit by allowing the grace period.
“Very well, captain,” Zed said. “She will be ready.”
“Your fried root oblongs are prepared, commander!” the chef called out, presenting a plastic basket full of fries in grease paper. It was a passable Earth meal, for which Zed was grateful. Serena would cling to every single little bit of familiarity for quite some time to come. She was not a native traveler, he knew that much about her. She was a small town girl who had never explored her own continent, let alone her country, let alone her county, for that matter.
She would probably be frantic for weeks, full of fear and probably, knowing her as he did, impulsive rebellion. Her reaction to him had been distinctly atypical from the outset. She had been very brave upon meeting him and then in resisting the men who had been willing to kill her for information—but that bravery had a shadow side that made her an intractable, headstrong little brat.
Serena was asleep when he returned to the room, completely exhausted from her ordeal, red hair spread across her pillow in a beautiful cascade. His heart twinged as he looked down at her sleeping form. She had not taken the news that she was leaving Earth very well. He could not imagine how she would come to terms with the fact that she was now his pet in the eyes of the law under which she now unwittingly lived.
“This is not going to be easy for you, my sweet Serena,” he murmured down at her sleeping form. “But I promise you, this is the only way. Forgive me for what I must do next.”
* * *
Serena woke to the smell of hot oil and salt. She found Zed sitting next to her, holding one of the most unexpected items possible—a basket of fries. The little red basket in his large hand only served to make his golden eyes and aquiline features even more incongruous. Sometimes he seemed almost human, but at that moment, juxtaposed with a little piece of home, he seemed more alien than ever. The uniform didn’t help matters either. She was so used to seeing him naked. Clothing made him larger, broader, more imposing. Not exactly a fry waiter.
“Here,” he said, extending the basket toward her. “Food.”
Serena sat up in bed, pulling the covers up under her arms to cover her breasts. Pogo poked his head out too, nose twitching furiously with hunger.
“There are fries in space?”
“For you there are,” Zed said, giving her a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.
Her stomach performed a little dip as she realized it wasn’t the fries or the uniform making him look more imposing. It was his expression. He didn’t look happy. He looked very, very serious.
“What’s wrong?”
“Eat some food, and then we’ll talk.”
Serena did not like the sound of that at all. Pogo didn’t care. He nudged closer and closer until Serena relented and gave him a fry. She was not feeling hungry. Her stomach rebelled at the idea of food, in fact, even if it did look a lot like the fries she was used to getting at Sandy’s diner. Even if they did look just the right amount of crispy. Even if… oh, to heck with it. She took a fry and put it in her mouth. It tasted just as good as it looked.
“Wow,” she said, taking another. “These are actually pretty edible.”
“We do our best to accommodate our pets,” Zed said.
“That’s very nice… wait… what?”
Surely he’d intended on saying ‘guests.’ He wasn’t a native speaker of the English language, mistakes were bound to happen, even if none had been made thus far.
“Your being on board this vessel is something of a problem, in fact, your being in my possession has… consequences for the pair of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that you are a human.”
“Yes…”
While Serena stared at Zed, Pogo dragged the basket of fries across the bed, off the side, and onto the floor. He was snarfling down more of them than were probably good for him while she stared at Zed and waited for him to explain what was going on.
“In our society, humans are not equals,�
“What a surprise,” Serena replied. “So what does that mean? I’m your servant? Your slave?”
“I did mention it already. In the eyes of our law, you are my pet.”
“Pet!” She spluttered the word. “What is that supposed to mean? What… that makes no sense. We can speak with each other, make love with one another… I’m not a pet!”
“There are some who believe all humanoid species are inherently equal,” Zed said, “but as the law currently stands, humans such as yourself are not considered capable of true self-determination in a universe you do not properly understand.”
“The law as it stands can kiss my ass,” Serena scowled. “I’m not your pet, Zed. You kidnapped me and you’ve taken me into some kind of captivity and now you want me to what… do tricks for you?”
His serious demeanor broke for a smile. “What you are describing very much does make you a pet, don’t you think?”
“Well, maybe,” she admitted reluctantly. “But I’m not happy about this.”
“I didn’t think you would be,” he said with what could have been sympathy but probably wasn’t, given that he was an advanced alien who had taken her prisoner and was now announcing his intention to make her more than his slave, more than his plaything. His property. His pet.
“What does that actually mean? Is it just a title or something?” She was trying to find some silver lining in what he was saying.
“As my pet, your submission and obedience are very important,” he said, his golden eyes locking on her with an intensity that made her stomach do flip-flops. “In all things.”
Submission and obedience were not terribly high on Serena’s list of personal qualities. But Zed had been bossy from the outset; commanding, really. It wasn’t a surprise that his entire species was like that.
Serena stared at him, a hollow feeling growing in her belly, along with a fear that not only did she not want to do what he was telling her she had to do, but that she wasn’t capable of it either. “I want to go home.”
“You can’t.” Zed took her hand in his. “I am going to train you, Serena. I don’t have much time, but I promise you I will make it as painless as possible. You will determine how hard it is.”
Her eyes widened with sudden fear. “Painless as possible? You mean it’s going to hurt?”
“No, that’s not what I mean.” His expression softened. “I mean I think you will resist, which will cause you pain.”
“Damn right I’m going to resist,” she declared. “I’m not a pet. I’m a person!”
“You’re used to being the highest form of life on your planet,” he said calmly. “That’s not the case anymore, I’m afraid.”
“Oh, you’re so advanced that you can take me as a pet? No.”
Zed took a breath and tried to explain himself another way. “Listen, Serena, this isn’t just between you and me. To have you on board the ship, I have to prove to the captain that you’re a suitable pet. I have to prove that you’re tame and obedient.”
“Well, I’m not,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him. “And I’m not going to pretend to be just so you can show off to some captain.”
“It’s not a matter of showing off…”
“Yes, it is,” she snapped. “You want me to make you look good. You came to my house. You brought those men to my door. If it weren’t for you, I’d be asleep in bed, or having a nice normal day, or helping a cat give birth to kittens or something. You brought death to my door, and now you’ve ripped me off my planet and told me I’m going to be a pet… well, you know what, mister?” Her voice got very low and growly as she leaned forward until she was almost nose to nose with the masterful alien man. “You can go fuck yourself.”
Without realizing it, she had put herself in a very precarious position. It was a terribly simple act for him to tip her over his knee, which he did without hesitation. Serena shrieked in outrage as his palm began falling on her bare cheeks.
“You’re not incorrect about anything you said to me,” he admitted. “But you will learn to speak with respect.”
“You can go fuck yourself, sir,” Serena shouted over the cacophony of slaps meeting her bottom. She was furious with him, his many demands, his expectation that she would simply roll over and agree to play whatever humiliating role his society deemed acceptable. No. Hell, no. She was human, and these aliens were going to learn humans were just as advanced as they were.
“Serena, settle down,” Zed commanded. “Apologize for the way you spoke and we will discuss this matter further.”
Serena responded to his request with a lengthy string of profanity, some of which wasn’t even English, all of which ended only when she ran out of breath.
Her verbal display did not dissuade Zed in the slightest. If anything he spanked harder, welting her bottom with the power of his palm. She squealed and squirmed and shrieked to high heaven, but he continued to spank her until finally she couldn’t keep her resistance up and her cries went from defiant to plaintive.
“As I said,” he said, placing his hand over her blazing bottom. “This will be as painful as you make it.”
Serena drew in a long breath of alien air. She was still angry as hell, but she could not sustain the thrashing he was giving her. Her backside was aching and stinging and burning all at once; it was almost certain that she would be bruised. She fell silent, loathing him with every fiber of her being.
“Your situation is not fair, nor is it going to be easy,” Zed said. “The least I can do for you is keep you alive. And, you may very well find that it is not quite so unpleasant as you imagine. There are pleasures associated with being a good pet.”
“I don’t give a damn about your pleasures,” Serena bit back at him. “I want you to take me back to Earth. Now.”
Zed swatted her bottom lightly. “That’s not going to happen, Serena. Not in the short term, likely not ever. I know you have to grieve that, and if it were up to me, I would leave all this until you’ve had the chance to settle, but we’re on a freighter in deep space and the captain of this vessel needs to be satisfied that you’re legal to have on board.”
“I don’t care.”
“I believe there’s an Earth saying, don’t care was made to care,” Zed said. “I don’t have time to coddle you, Serena. There’s no gentle way of doing this. You must obey me, or you will be punished, do you understand?”
“That sounds really advanced of you, Zed,” Serena sniped over her shoulder. “What other enlightened policies does your advanced society have? Do they also involve brute force?”
“Sarcasm won’t change matters.” He swatted her sore bottom again. “I’m not going to argue about this. I know it isn’t fair. I know it’s not what you want. Unfortunately, it’s going to happen anyway.”
Hot tears welled in Serena’s eyes. Unfair was the word. It was all so very unfair. She didn’t deserve to have an aching bottom just hours after facing a bullet for Zed. She didn’t deserve to be so far away from home that her mind couldn’t even begin to fathom the distance. She didn’t deserve any of it.
Zed eased her up off his lap and gently slid her back into bed where she curled up, avoiding his eyes. She didn’t want to look at him. Couldn’t look at him. He was nothing more than a jailer now.
“Serena…”
“Leave me alone,” she said tearfully.
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can,” she argued bitterly with the pillow she was shoving her face into. Her bottom felt like it was twice the size it had started at, a big hot mass of welts and slaps and heat and pain.
Zed slid his palm over her lower back, massaging her with comforting circular motions. At first Serena was too stiff and angry to accept his soothing touch, but as the minutes passed by and the heat began to fade from her bottom, she began to settle down a little, her muscles relaxing as Zed persisted in comforting her.
“I’m going to make this okay for you,” Zed murmured to her, bending down to press a kiss to the back of her head.
“I bet you don’t,” she sniffed back.
“I bet I do,” he replied in masculine tones that telegraphed more than punitive intention.
His fingers slid down over the heated skin of her rear and made their way inexorably between her thighs. Serena found herself face down on the bed, her legs parting by instinct and a desire for pleasure. There had been too much pain, and even though she was angry as hell, her body wanted relief.
She was wet, of course. Somehow her pussy didn’t quite manage to understand that being controlled was a bad thing. Her juices lubricated the passage of two of Zed’s fingers as they slid inside her wet, tight channel, massaging her inner walls with slow strokes that left her clawing at her sheets, panting her reluctant moans into the bedding.
“You see, there is plenty of pleasure to be had, Serena,” Zed drawled, his mouth on the back of her neck, kissing her with little biting nips. His jaws were powerful and large enough to reach around the nape of her neck. She found herself pinned not with his hand, but with his teeth as her soft, wet nether lips gave way to harder, more insistent thrusts.
Zed could fuck her better than anyone ever had with nothing more than two fingers. Her greedy pussy craved more though; it craved the length of his cock, and the biological enzymes that made her walls tingle with utter ecstasy.
“Fuck me…”
“Excuse me, pet?” The question was teasing.
Serena lifted her head, her eyes blazing into his with erotic abandon. “I said, fuck me.”
His lips twisted in a handsome smirk. He pulled his fingers out of her tight, clenching little cunt and stood up, shedding his uniform swiftly and baring the body she already felt she knew so well. As the hard, muscular slabs and planes of his body came into view, her pussy released a fresh flow of need. Something about him made her react without thought, pure instinct calling for him—for the impossibly long rod erect between his thighs.
Without another word, Zed covered her prone body with his own and thrust his hips down, the end of his cock spearing between her thighs and entering her cunt in one stroke.
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