The Alien's Pet

by Loki Renard

  “Welcome, honored guests,” a Frenri waiter said in hushed and hallowed tones. “Is this your first ceremony?”

  Before Zed could answer, Serena reached out with her hand and swatted the nearest teacup off the table. In later hours and even days, she would wonder what had possessed her to do such a thing. In the moment, it was pure reflex.

  There was a collective gasp from all present as the cup began to fall. The Freni waiter grasped at it, but it slipped through his fingers and dashed itself against the floor. There was an almost angelic shattering sound, light tinkling interspersed with high-pitched wails of despair as the ceramic cup broke into a million pieces.

  As one, the Freni rose from their seats and ran for the door, clutching their hands to their heads and wailing at the tops of their lungs. It was nothing less than a stampede that left Serena and Zed the only two people in the place. In the sudden silence following the mass hysteria, Serena looked at Zed and broke her vow of silence.

  “Oops.”

  Zed did not seem amused. Not in the slightest. His expression was like granite as he reached across the table, grabbed her arm, and hauled her against his body as he stood up. Serena was certain he was going to punish her, but he didn’t. Instead he just held her close, her rear pressed against his front, his arms wrapped around her protectively.

  Serena didn’t understand what he was doing. Everyone had reacted as though something terrible had happened—including Zed. He was holding her as if he was afraid she was going to be ripped away.

  About thirty seconds later, she found out why. A dozen Freni rushed into the café, larger than most of the others of their species, still diminutive compared with Zed. They wore robes of bright cerise, and carried themselves with officious stiffness that made Serena almost certain that these men were the Freni version of police. They were all heavily armed with long knives that hung at their waists, several dozen of them tinkling against one another like violent wind chimes.

  “Stop!” Their head man came to within three feet of her and Zed. “A breakage has been reported in this establishment. An intentional breakage.”

  Serena snorted with laughter. Zed clapped his hand over her mouth.

  “There was a breakage,” he confirmed. “More than that I cannot say. I am afraid my pet is unusually clumsy.”

  Serena glanced up over her shoulder, wondering what he was playing at. Zed wasn’t usually one to play with the truth.

  “Several witnesses have already confirmed that she caused the breakage,” the officer said. “You must relinquish her into our custody.”

  Serena felt Zed’s powerful arm tighten protectively around her body.

  “I’m afraid I cannot do that,” Zed replied. “I will remove her from your jurisdiction at once, however.”

  “It has been nine years since the last breakage,” the Freni officer said in woefully sorrow-filled tones. “This heralds a new era. All that has been done, must be undone. All that was new is old. All that is…”

  Serena reached up and pulled Zed’s hand away from her mouth. “It was an accident!”

  A shudder of discomfort passed through the officers at the sound of her voice.

  “Serena is not familiar with your customs,” Zed explained, clapping a hand over her mouth again so she could not add further counts of public speech to her crimes. “She’s very new to other cultures and worlds. This is her first off-world visit. I would ask clemency. I will remove her immediately.”

  “Our laws are very stringent,” the Freni officer said. “She must be taken into custody and subsequently rehabilitated.”

  “I will not release her into your custody.”

  “We can take her by force, if necessary.”

  Zed looked at the diminutive official and let out a laugh. “You will not take her by force. If you put a finger on her or me, you will be contravening the Golden Concord.”

  “And if you do not surrender her for justice, you will be.”

  “One of us has a fleet of war ships at his disposal,” Zed said calmly. “And one of us is on the verge of making a significant error.”

  Serena was impressed with Zed’s ability to make violent threats without actually saying anything violent, as was the Freni officer, who turned distinctly pale.

  “I am going to return to our ship,” Zed said. “You will send me communications there.”

  The Freni officer did not seem pleased with the deal Zed had struck, but there was little he could do to stop the eight foot tall humanoid with strength beyond compare from walking out of the tea shop with Serena now thrown over his shoulder.

  Serena took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at the officers, an act that caused one of them to faint.

  “Stop that!” Zed growled at her. “I cannot spank you here, but I will whip your hide when I get you back to the ship, I promise you that.”

  It seemed to take an awfully long time to walk back through the city. The streets were deserted. It seemed as though every Freni citizen had been notified of her behavior and ordered away for their own safety.

  Fortunately, neither their vehicle nor their shuttle had been tampered with. Zed made a quick and precise withdrawal from the city, hardly speaking to Serena at all except to order her in and out of the vehicle and then into her seat on the shuttle. It wasn’t until he sealed the shuttle’s doors that he let his annoyance show.

  “I cannot take you anywhere,” he scolded. “I hope you realize what you’ve done.”

  “Broken a teacup?”

  “Of course you don’t understand,” he said, buckling her into the seat. “The Freni are extremely sensitive creatures.” He pulled the belt up between her thighs and snapped it into the two straps that came over her shoulders. He snapped the three points together and tightened the belts, putting a pleasant amount of pressure between Serena’s thighs.

  “Neurotic would be a better description. Existing is a crime here.”

  Zed took the pilot’s controls and started the takeoff sequence.

  “It was a mistake on my part to bring you into society here,” he said. “You could not have been expected to behave, and you’ve not given any indication that you are particularly interested in doing so either.”

  Serena felt mildly guilty for all of a second. “They shouldn’t have let me in either, if they were going to be so sensitive about everything. I don’t like them at all. They pretend to be all nice and gentle, but it’s just a way to control everything.”

  “Whereas you don’t pretend to be nice and have no control over anything,” Zed said with a significant glance.

  “Do you really have a fleet of warships at your disposal? Even if you don’t, you can stuff the Freni into their own teacups. They’re tiny!”

  Zed didn’t reply. There was no twitch of amusement in his cheek, no sign at all that he found her cute or funny, or even likeable at that moment. The shuttle sped out of Freni airspace and into the outer atmosphere in a matter of minutes, traveling much faster on the ascent than it had on the descent.

  “So what do they want to do, spank me?” Serena tried the question by way of making conversation.

  “No,” Zed said grimly. “I want to spank you. They want to put you in a sensory deprivation chamber for five years, then force you to spend another fifty years in one of their convents where you will be subjected to daily silent contemplation.”

  Serena looked at him with pure horror. “I’ll go mad!”

  “Yes, you will,” Zed said. “The Freni have a very particular cerebral configuration that responds well to low stimulation.”

  “You mean they’re genetically boring,” she said, teasing him in spite of how serious he was.

  Zed’s brows creased as he looked over at her. “You don’t fear anything, do you, little human?”

  “I trust you,” she shrugged. “You won’t let them hurt me.”

  His expression softened and he reached out to caress her cheek. “That much is true.”

  The main ship was sti
ll in orbit above the planet. They headed straight for it. Serena kept her eyes on Zed most of the way, trying to figure out just how much trouble she was in.

  “You’re not really mad at me, are you?” She asked the question teasingly as they rocketed toward the safety of the main ship. “You think they’re silly too, don’t you? It was a teacup, it wasn’t…”

  “Don’t think that means you won’t be disciplined for this, pet,” Zed replied grimly.

  “I did try,” she said plaintively. “I didn’t say anything… well, not until it had all gone wrong anyway.”

  “You deliberately broke that cup,” he said. “I know you did. You couldn’t have known what the consequences would be, but that should have been a strong reason not to do it.”

  “I was curious,” she admitted.

  “And curiosity never ends well where you are concerned, Serena. You must learn to obey me and to heed my warnings. I do not give them because I enjoy the sound of my own voice. Your disobedience has…”

  They were sliding into dock with the main ship by that time, cutting Zed’s lecture short. He didn’t bother to finish his sentence. Instead he hauled her off the shuttle, Pogo in tow, and left them both waiting in the empty airlock between the shuttle and the main ship along with an order to stay and not to create any more diplomatic incidents.

  Pogo bounced around the metal space, making a tinkling sound with the scuttling of his paws. He was thrilled to be back on the ship, so it seemed. Serena wasn’t nearly as thrilled. The airlock was chilly, making her skin go into goose pimples and her nipples harden.

  The cool air couldn’t take responsibility for the little trickle of excitement between her thighs though, or the way she was feeling a warmth low in her belly. She shouldn’t be excited at the idea of being in trouble with Zed. She shouldn’t be tempted to reach down and play with her bare pussy there in the airlock where the ship’s surveillance system was likely capturing her every move.

  Zed was handsome when he was stern. Maybe that was why she had done what she had done. Maybe she’d wanted to see the harsher side of him again after several days of making soft romantic love. Maybe she craved his discipline as much as anything. And maybe, just maybe, she’d gone too far.

  * * *

  Zed was furious. With one impetuous act, Serena had created a situation that disgraced the ship he was traveling on, and the reputation of his people as a whole. She wouldn’t understand that of course. Humans so very rarely seemed to have any grasp of the wider consequences of their actions and Serena was adept at focusing on one little mitigating detail and avoiding her part to play in matters gone awry.

  “Back so soon?” The captain greeted him warmly just outside the inner airlock.

  “Captain, I’m afraid there has been an incident,” Zed began.

  “I know,” the captain said. “I do recall telling you that humans are trouble. The Freni are demanding her immediate return.”

  “I’m not handing her over.”

  “Of course not,” the captain scoffed at the idea. “Hysterical species, the Freni. I think they like taking offense. Unfortunately, our business here is not at an end. We still need to refuel the reactors, so there’s no chance of the ship being able to depart without Freni cooperation.”

  “And if Serena and I stay here, they could easily send shuttles to take her,” Zed frowned. It had been a very long time since he’d had to contemplate breaking intergalactic law. He didn’t like it one bit.

  “It would be unfortunate if you were to escape,” the captain mused.

  “Escape?” Zed locked eyes with the captain and saw an understanding there.

  “With a fully laden shuttle,” the captain continued. “And ample provisions. A fully fueled shuttle can make a hyperspace leap outside the temporal jurisdiction… of course, I would strongly dissuade you against any attempt at escape, especially in the shuttle that is currently being laden with provisions and fueled to capacity and that happens to be idling in the second transport bay as we speak.”

  “I understand, captain,” Zed said, reaching out to shake the man’s hand. “Thank you for everything. I assure you, there will be ample reward in due course.”

  “Assisting you is its own reward, commander. Good luck to you and your pet.”

  Chapter Seven

  After a few nervous minutes in the airlock, Serena found herself and Pogo summarily bundled into another shuttle and buckled firmly into the copilot’s seat. Zed busied himself for a time, ordering various crewmembers about as they carried crates and bundles into the interior of the shuttle. Pogo was put away in a nice safe crate that featured its own safe strap system, leaving Serena to worry only about herself.

  She watched as every last crewmember vacated the shuttle and only she and Zed remained. He took the pilot’s seat and buckled himself in before sealing the shuttle doors and initiating a launch sequence. All of this he did without speaking. An aura of grimness suffused the shuttle.

  “Where are we going?” Serena chanced a question.

  “Away,” Zed said grimly. “Stay seated and do not move. We will be traveling at high speeds, and in a ship like this, there may be some turbulence.”

  “Are we… running from them?”

  “We are making a tactical withdrawal,” Zed said, shooting a golden glance over at her. “Your little stunt has become quite a diplomatic incident.”

  “It was a teacup, Zed,” she said, rolling her eyes as the shuttle slowly turned in the bay and faced the great expanse of space. “This is not my fault. This is their fault.”

  “You should have respected their feelings.”

  “Their feelings were stupid.”

  Zed slammed a lever forward. Serena was thrown back in her seat, sinking into the soft foam as she was slingshot into the firmament so rapidly it felt as though her brain might melt. For the first few seconds there was nothing but a smooth hum and a sensation of speed. And then the turbulence began; a bone-jolting, teeth-chattering sensation that rocked in every direction at once.

  It felt as though the ship were being torn apart, as if every atom in her body were being wrenched from the others. Serena started screaming and didn’t stop until the turbulence stopped, by which time her throat was raw and there were tears running from her eyes.

  “Shhh, it’s okay,” Zed said as he came to her aid, unclipping her restraints to allow her to fall into his arms. “That was necessary to put sufficient distance between us and the Freni. The turbulence is caused by the ship auto-correcting to avoid obstacles in our path.”

  The explanation did not help the pure adrenaline still shooting through Serena’s veins. She clung to Zed, her body trembling from fingers to toes. He held her close and made soothing sounds until she finally could draw breath without shuddering.

  “I did not like that,” she said in a remarkable understatement.

  “Unfortunately smooth sailing is not a luxury given to intergalactic criminals on the run from Freni justice,” Zed said, sitting back in the pilot’s chair. He pulled Serena into his lap and smoothed bright strands of hair off her face.

  “Intergalactic criminals,” she said with a little giggle. “That has a nice ring to it.”

  “This is not funny,” he said in a soft growl. “When things settle down I am going to spank your bottom until you cannot sit for a month, and that’s just for starters.”

  Serena hoped things would not settle soon. In spite of the fact that he was being kind enough to comfort her, Zed had a particularly displeased aura about him, even more than he’d had when she bit the crewman. This was serious. She had wanted to provoke him a little, not ruin his life.

  “Are we really criminals now?”

  “It depends who one asks,” Zed sighed. “The Freni would certainly say so.”

  “But we left them behind, right?”

  “We did. Come along, my pet,” he said as he stood up. “I want to speak with you in the bedroom.”

  He stood up and walked down the shuttle’
s short hall to the room they would share as long as they were aboard the small craft. Serena hesitated a moment, then followed him. There was nowhere to run on a shuttle, and there was definitely no place to hide.

  “Kneel on the bed,” he ordered.

  She followed his direction without question, hoping her obedience would earn her some kind of clemency.

  “What you did today was worse than anything you’ve ever done before,” he said as she took up the position. “I warned you many times over of the need for obedience and calm, and you turned what should have been a pleasant and interesting outing into a diplomatic incident. I am very disappointed in your behavior.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, meaning it. “I didn’t know they’d respond like that, I just wanted to see what they’d do. I thought they’d jump a bit. I didn’t think they’d try to jail me for a hundred years!”

  “The issue is not whether or not you knew what they’d do. It’s whether or not you obeyed me. And you did not. At the very first opportunity to create chaos, you did.”

  He was right. There wasn’t much in the way of argument to be made. What she’d done was, in hindsight, stupid, insensitive, and maybe even slightly mean. She didn’t much like the Freni, but that wasn’t any reason to provoke them.

  “I am sorry, Zed,” she said. “I promise I’ll never do anything like this ever again.”

  “It is going to be a very long time before I take you anywhere again,” he said. “So you’re right on that score. I thought we had reached a point in our relationship where your respect for me would be enough to ensure your obedience. I see I was wrong.”

  “No!” Serena looked up at him with wide eyes. “That’s not it at all.”

  “No? What is it then? What possessed you to do that? You’re not randomly destructive, Serena. You’re not a mindless little brute. So explain to me why you did what you did.”