He finished with a wicked grin that made her heart beat faster. Darkest desires? If they he only knew.
Hoping to hide her reaction, she searched her memory for the sales pitch she’d been forced to memorize when she first arrived. Bophe, the owner of the Rapture Dome, made sure his slaves never missed an opportunity to grow his fortune.
She’d only seen her alien owner once, when Magnus sold her and the Tharan female Aura to the Dome. Magnus had managed to catch up with Bophe on one of his rare visits to inspect his operation at the Rapture Dome. The pirate headed straight for the brothel after the Luna’s former commanding officer escaped on Tharon. Not only did Cass get away, she killed several of Magnus’s crew members who tried to stop her. Fearing that other captives would follow her lead and attempt an escape as well, Magnus decided to get rid of the strongest, most independent females as quickly as possible. The ones he thought were most likely to mobilize the others into action. Saige and Aura were the first to go.
Bophe was a cretin, a despicable creature who made his fortune trading on the misery of other sentient beings. Lady Zey often bragged that her employer was a shrewd businessman. According to Zey, he had his hand in many different enterprises, including an arena on his home planet of Tanis Major. There, other slaves he owned fought to the death against alien foes from galaxies all over the Universe for the amusement of paying spectators.
Saige remembered all too well her encounter with him. His misshapen body still held the powerful musculature of a slave who’d fought his way out of the arena to become its owner. His face was crisscrossed with scars, including one that ran across the empty eye socket on his left side.
Bophe ordered Magnus to strip her naked. He ran his hands over every inch of her body. Squeezing her breasts, shoving two fingers inside her, even forcing her mouth open to look at her teeth. Inspecting her like an expensive livestock purchase. Then he met her eyes and smiled. A cold smile that sent shivers down her back.
“I started out as a slave, just like you. I fought for my master, killing the most vicious creatures in the Universe before they could kill me. It took years, but eventually I earned my freedom.”
He tapped one gnarled finger against her skull. “I know what goes on in the mind of a slave. Forget any dreams of rebellion or escape. You belong to me, now. I own you. Prove your loyalty to your master, perform well for me, and one day you can rise in the ranks of my operation, just like Lady Zey has done. Give her any trouble, and I’ll personally toss you to the Gornian dragons in my arena. My customers enjoy seeing them tear their victims limb from limb before devouring them.”
“Are you deciding which dark desire you’d like us to fulfill first?”
Keir’s question brought her rocketing back to the present. She shot him a flirtatious smile. “On the contrary. I am here to serve your darkest desires, my lord.”
She went into the sales pitch. “The Rapture Dome offers an assortment of scenarios suitable for any fetish or fantasy. If this boudoir isn’t to your liking, you can choose spend time with me or any of the other consorts in a secluded beachfront cabin on the shores of a tropical lake. For patrons who enjoy an audience, there’s also a fully operational casino, where you can wager my services on the luck of the draw. If you win, I pleasure you right then and there in front of the other players. If you lose, you watch as the competitor who won the bet claims me. And there’s…”
Khaun interrupted her. “Tropical lake? Casino? What are you talking about? Unlike some of the more attractive bodies hurtling through space, from what we’ve seen of it, Girra Sola is a hellhole. It’s nothing but a sterile hunk of rock pocked with strip mines and craters made by colliding with other asteroids over the millennia.”
She nodded. “You’re right. But what it lacks in natural beauty, it makes up for in rare minerals. You said you’re new here. How much do you know about this whole operation?”
Keir shrugged. “Not much. When we signed on, we were more interested in hearing about the Rapture Dome and its consorts than the mines.”
Saige had learned all about the asteroid from her patrons. She’d discovered, like most of the men she’d known on Earth, alien males loved to show off for a female. Tell her top-secret information so they could brag about how knowledgeable and important they were.
Originally built for the miners on Girra Sola, the Rapture Dome began as a single gray bubble crammed with female slaves. But when word got out that money would get you anything you desired, customers began flocking there. Miners who’d been marooned for months on other gray rocks without seeing a single female of any species came in droves.
At first, his customers were content just to have a female they could fuck. But Bophe soon realized he could charge even more by offering fantasies they never knew they had until they were presented with the opportunity to live them out. “There’s more to this place than meets the eye,” she explained. “Like many other asteroids, Girra Sola started out with a small operation. It’s common for mining companies to lay claim to a stray hunk of rock hurtling through space, set up a rough camp, and drill test holes. They send samples back to their home planets to be tested while they drill more holes. Often, the substances they uncover can’t be identified because they’re found nowhere else in the galaxy. Rare minerals from the planets that spawned the asteroids. Planets that no longer exist.”
“My master, Bophe, started out small, too. He bought a plot of barren land from the mining colony, built a cheap enclosure on it, and brought in a few female slaves. He gave it the grandiose name The Rapture Dome, hoping to cash in on a bunch of horny males stuck on a barren pile of rock with minecoin in their pockets and nothing to spend it on.”
“He got lucky,” she continued. “The miners struck a vein of an incredibly dense mineral they called girranite. Scientists discovered a thin sheet provides superb protection to spacecraft entering a planet’s atmosphere at high speed. Apparently the substance has never been found anywhere else in the galaxy so that makes it quite valuable. The bigger the operation got, the more Bophe expanded to handle all the new customers coming here. Girra Sola is booming and because of that, so is the Rapture Dome.”
“We’ve seen the whole asteroid,” Khaun argued. “There’s no lake here. No elaborate casino.”
She nodded. “That’s part of Bophe’s genius,” she explained. “Once an area has been completely stripped of any substance of value, he leases it from the mining company for a pittance. He builds his fantasy worlds inside the abandoned domes that were erected so the miners could work in an artificial atmosphere. From the outside, all you see are gray shells surrounded with jagged outcroppings of rock so they blend into the surface of the asteroid. The miners hear tales of these secret places on Girra Sola. Fantastic places.”
“Places they’ll only see if they pay the price,” Khaun broke in. “Is that part of your job? Selling us an upgrade?”
Even though her Tellex chip was translating the sounds he uttered, she could pick up a note of disapproval in his voice. She had to tread lightly. She’d witnessed other slaves being beaten. She didn’t dare risk having these two go back to Lady Zey with a complaint.
“No, my lord, not at all. I was merely answering your brother’s question about other accommodations.” She reached out and ran a hand up his thigh. “Seeing to your pleasure is my only goal.”
“Well, you answered my question – and you’ve certainly caught my interest,” Keir burst in before his brother could say another word. “I wouldn’t mind taking a dip in a tropical lake with you. Can we go there now?”
“You must ask Lady Zey. She will let you know if your request can be accommodated tonight. All you need do is summon her with the device she gave you when you arrived.”
Keir pulled a communicator out of his pocket and pressed the button. The knock on the door came so swiftly, Saige wondered if her keeper had been lurking in the hallway outside to listen in on their conversation.
“Come in,” Khaun called out.
The door opened slowly, and Lady Zey made her entrance. The Dome mistress never simply walked into a room. That wouldn’t suit her. Instead, she commanded everyone’s attention by sweeping in, holding the long train of her black gown up with one jewel-bedecked hand. The severe garment covered her from head to toe, skimming over her tall frame to outline surprisingly generous curves underneath it.
Zey never competed for attention with the pleasure slaves under her command by wearing revealing clothing. Instead, she moved with the confidence of a woman who knew if she were in a room full of half-naked females, male heads would swivel to catch a glimpse if she so much as flashed a bare ankle.
“How may I be of service, gentlemen?”
Zey’s tone was deferential, but she shot a malevolent glare at Saige, prepared to blame her for anything that might be amiss.
“Our lovely consort told us you have a tropical lake where we could enjoy our time with her in a secluded cabin. Is that accommodation available for the remainder of our time here?”
Lady Zey curled her thin blood-red lips into a smile. “For you, certainly.” She lowered her voice and leaned in conspiratorially. “You must promise not to tell anyone I allowed you access to that area of the Rapture Dome on your first visit. It is normally only available to our most loyal patrons.” She turned so her cold smile encompassed both brothers. “Although I’m certain two such virile males as yourselves will soon be at the head of that list.”
She headed for the door then stopped. “I’ll see to it that your accommodations are properly prepared. An attendant will escort you there shortly. I take it you’ve requested the lake for a reason. Is there any special… equipment… you’d like me to make available for you?”
“Equipment?” Keir sounded puzzled.
“Bondage gear, perhaps, for breath play in the water? It’s a favorite activity of one of our best customers. I’m sure you’d find it quite entertaining with Saige. I don’t think she’s ever been subjected to it.” Zey cocked her head, as if a though had just occurred to her. “I believe that makes her a breath-play virgin, doesn’t it?” She gave them a conspiratorial wink. “You might want to take advantage of that. We don’t have many virgins here – at least, not for long.”
Delighted with her own wit, she gave a tinkling laugh as she made her way to the door. “I’ll make sure the necessary restraints are there, just in case you decide to indulge yourselves.”
Saige fought down a panic attack by sheer force of will. She couldn’t let the twins sense her fear. Some patrons who came here were so vile they’d jump at the chance to see the terror in her eyes building as they took her to the brink of suffocation underwater.
Thankfully, these two didn’t seem to be among them. Keir watched the Dome Mistress leave the room then grinned at her and his brother. “I can see why that ghoul doesn’t work as a consort. She’d send half her customers running for the door. She even scares me a little!”
Chapter Four
Keir
Flickering sconces lit the way as they headed down a long hall lined with private rooms. Low moans and cries of passion could be heard, even through the heavy wooden doors.
The attendant sent to escort them turned out to be an android nearly as big as one of their fellow warriors. Keir guessed he did double duty as a security guard. We can take out this one easily, but how many others do you think Lady Zey has patrolling the halls?
Hard to say. We’ll need to come back here. Often. We’ll just have to inform command that planning the mission took a few more reconnaissance sessions than we originally thought it would. Even though he couldn’t hear the words, it was easy to pick up the hint of amusement in his brother’s remark.
At the end of the hall, the android used a code to open another door, this one metal.
Did you get that?
Of course, Khaun replied. It’s a basic Tridarcan glyph sequence. Fortunately, it doesn’t require any physiological scans to open it. I guess Bophe figures his inventory is secure if he uses androids as servants and guards. They won’t be seduced by his slaves into helping them escape.
They walked through another narrow dimly-lit passage toward an opening filled with light. Keir blinked in disbelief as he stepped through the portal.
After several weeks of living and working in dull-gray buildings on a dusty gray rock, he teetered on the verge of sensory overload. Ahead of him was a riot of color, sound, and scent. A soft breeze kissed his skin, warmed by the rays of an artificial sun disappearing into deep-blue water on the far horizon. He had no idea how Bophe’s designer had created the astonishingly realistic illusion of a vast distance.
The plants and trees around him were no illusion, though. He’d stepped into a tropical forest at the edge of a very real lagoon. He reached up to feel the fronds of a palm, broke off part of a leaf, and sniffed it. Not synthetic. He heard Saige’s cry of delight as she stopped to sample the fragrance of a brilliant purple flower he’d never seen before. Waves lapping at the pure white sand on the shore ahead made him long to kick his shoes off and dash into the water.
The android waited patiently at a fork in the path. No doubt he was used to this reaction. “Your cabin lies at the end of this walkway. It is one of six on the shores of the Sola Sea. Each cabin is on a private cove, so you will not be disturbed during your stay here. The units are separated by invisible barriers which extend out into the water to guarantee seclusion for our guests.”
Their guide kept talking as he led them down a winding path lined with waist-high flowering shrubs. Taller trees behind them swayed overhead, forming a green canopy. Keir caught glimpses of blue sky, tinted with shades of orange and red near the horizon where the setting sun dipped into the sea.
They rounded a curve in the path, and the cabin appeared. Saige took one look at it and turned to them, her eyes shining with the first real emotion he’d seen in her.
“It’s beautiful! Like something out of a fairy tale. The perfect beach cottage.”
Keir wasn’t sure what fairy tales were, but she was right about the cabin. Built of softly weathered wood with a thatched frond roof, it sat at the edge of the sand, with a balcony extending out over the turquoise water.
“These flowers look just like the orchids we have back home.” Saige darted up the wide steps, stopping at the doorway to bury her face in the spray of yellow blooms growing in a massive terra cotta pot.
Keir walked past her and stepped inside. Like the exterior surroundings, no expense had been spared to create a sensual retreat. Narrow strips of wood covered three of the four walls, with wide windows opening to views of the jungle. An enormous bed with carved wooden posts on all four corners stood on his right, while a plush sitting area complete with a bar filled the left side of the room. Both the bed and the sitting area faced the fourth wall – or the space where a fourth wall would have been. Instead, the cabin stood open on that side to the balcony and the sea beyond. Apparently Bophe’s concept of a tropical paradise didn’t go so far as to include insects, dangerous creatures, or storms.
The android followed them inside and went on with his introduction. “If you get hungry, your cabin is equipped with an assortment of delicacies from all over the galaxy, as well as complete meals and a wide variety of beverages – enough to last for several days if you choose to extend your stay.”
He made the rounds of the room, showing them where food and drinks they ordered would appear inside a cabinet on the wall by the bar. “You can view your choices here.” He waved a hand toward one of the walls, and a menu appeared on a holographic screen. “Lady Zey instructed me to tell you your visit is complimentary for the remainder of this rotation cycle. If you choose to stay on, you can view the fee schedule on the screen as well.” With another wave of his hand, a dizzying list of options scrolled down the screen.
Oh Sacred Ones! Did you see the price of this place for one rotation cycle? Keir couldn’t hide his surprise.
Did you see some of the other options
available? Khaun shot back. We could buy as many females as we want to spend time in here with us. Working a regular shift in the mine is brutal enough. Now I understand why so many volunteer for overtime. With this kind of motivation, they’ll work harder than any slaves. Ten cycles of hard labor buys a miner one rotation in paradise, with a willing female to suck his cock whenever he commands. Throw in overtime and he can get two more. Bophe is a smart businessman. He gives new clients a taste of this for free, hoping they’ll get hooked.
We’re probably being monitored every moment we’re here, Keir pointed out. Time to get back in character.
“Yes, thank you, that will be all.” He cut off the android’s spiel with a curt nod. “You can go now.”
The attendant bowed his head. “Yes, sir. Please do not hesitate to summon me if you require anything more.”
He slipped silently away. Keir scanned the room. “Saige?”
“I’m in here.” Her voice came from behind the wall near the sitting area.
He glanced at his brother, and they both headed for a doorway next to the bar. It led to a luxurious bathing area with a huge glass-enclosed shower. Just as in the main room, one wall opened onto the balcony and the sea. The other walls were studded with exotic shells from oceans all over the galaxy. Half a giant clam from Cansala D15 doubled as a sink, its deep-pink interior reminding him of the peek he’d gotten of Saige’s nipple.
She was running her hands over the shells embedded in the walls, exclaiming whenever she found one that reminded her of home.
“Is this your first time at the Sola Sea?”
Saige nodded. “I’ve heard about it. We all have. Lady Zey uses time with a customer here as a reward for us.” She dipped her head shyly. “So far, I haven’t been given that reward. The only reason I’m here now is that you told her you wanted me to join you.”
“Yes, we did.” Khaun came up behind him. “Now it’s time for you to show your gratitude. But, first, take off that ridiculous long dress. You will remain naked the whole time you’re here.”
Mastering Their Mate: a Sci-Fi Alien Dark Romance (Tharan Warrior Menage Book 4) Page 3