by L P Peace
Above the landing pad were several floors filled with stored fighters. These levels were mostly automated. When a battle was about to begin, the pilots would enter the fighters on those levels, and then the ship would deliver them to the runway for deployment.
Of course, the fighters were long gone. Now the upper levels were slave storage and an auction room for Tolomus’s famous mid-flight auctions.
That left the front of the ship for the crew and rotating aliens who came and went, earning money and leaving again, as well as a docking bay and more ship storage.
The top level at the front of the ship, above the bridge, was Tolomus’s private quarters. Daris exited the lift and headed towards Tolomus’s office.
No one knew where the vrok Tolomus had gotten a decommissioned Amaran aircraft carrier. It was a subject of much speculation. Rumour had it that the Amaran Ilan had intended on putting out a standing bounty for Tolomus and the ship, but he had too many supporters in the IGC, and no one dared to confront a ship full of slavers to attempt a collection.
Daris arrived at Tolomus’s door. He had gone about this the proper way by arranging a meeting. He took a deep breath, remembering the last time he stopped outside of a room to talk to the person inside. Ganus, the king of the Enhari. Right before Ganus decreed Daris was too arrogant and threatened his life, calling off the deal Adalth had struck and ruining Daris’s standing in the syndicate.
He let out his shaky breath and hit the call panel.
The door slid open. Tolomus sat behind a large desk, curious eyes watching him intently.
‘Come in. How can I help you?’
Daris flashed Tolomus his most winning smile and walked into the room. Tolomus gestured to the seat across from him, which Daris dropped into with an ease he didn’t feel.
‘I’d like to buy a female.’ He leaned back in his seat.
Tolomus smiled. It twisted the handsome lines in his face until they became cruel.
‘Everyone does.’
Daris waited for Tolomus to continue; instead, the Fedhith simply watched him. It was a strange experience for Daris, to find himself subject to a strategy he often used. People abhorred a void, and Daris was only too happy to create one by going silent and watching them rush to fill it, often giving themselves away in the process.
Daris forced an easy smile on his face. ‘I take it there are terms and conditions?’
Tolomus watched him for another moment before sitting up in his chair.
‘Everyone who comes on board thinks access to the stock is a perk of the job.’ Tolomus watched for Daris’s reaction. ‘I’ve lost more staff through spacing than you’d believe.’
‘I have no interest in the stock. I’m looking for a mate.’
Tolomus flinched as though the word had inflicted actual damage to him. Daris noted a curl to his lip, which revealed fangs. Disgust? Anger? Something flashed in Tolomus’s eyes, but it was gone before he could identify it. His eyes were drawn to the scar on the slaver’s neck.
He called up everything he knew about the Fedhith, which was precious little. Maruzen and Fedhith had two very different cultures, but there were areas of overlap. Fedhith males had a mating instinct, just like Maruzen males, and just like Maruzen females, Fedhith females did not have the same instinct. Instead, Maruzen sperm contained bonding hormones, emotionally locking her to one male.
Daris’s eyes returned to the fangs.
‘The males of my species,’ Daris forced a sneer, ‘we mate for life. Unlike the females.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ Tolomus said. ‘It is the same with my people.’
‘I’ve seen Fedhith males before,’ Daris said. ‘Harems of them with their female. I’ve never seen fangs before.’ He gestured towards the Fedhith.
‘They have them removed.’ Tolomus’s face filled with anger. ‘We’re trained to serve our females.’ Tolomus sneered. ‘When we graduate, they have our fangs removed.’
‘Why?’ Daris frowned, but he had an idea.
‘Our venom.’ Tolomus sat forward. ‘Fedhith males are naturally submissive to our females. But by nature, we still want to ensure our progeny will be the ones our females carry. Our venom changes their body so that she can only conceive with the first male to bite her. But in return, every male who injects his venom into the female is bonded to her.’
‘So you don’t bond, unless you bite the female?’
Tolomus sat back, his head nodding once.
‘So they remove the fangs.’
‘Sometimes they just remove the venom sacks. Our females like to be bitten. Though they grow back. Our bodies are quick to regenerate.’
Daris took in the information for a few sicri. ‘I don’t even get a choice on who I bond to. My body chooses for me, and I’m intertwined with this female for life,’ Daris snarled.
‘So what is the point of buying one, then?’
Daris looked at Tolomus. ‘I’ve met two human females so far, and almost bonded to both.’
‘You think your mate might be human.’ Tolomus sat back, his expression curious. The wariness and suspicion on his face were almost gone.
‘And what better place to find them than here?’
‘I will require a standard galactic solar of your time.’ He sat back in his chair. ‘When the solar is up, you may choose a female from the stash on board.’
That was such a long time. ‘I can’t choose a female now? Pay for her?’
‘That’s my deal.’
Daris grimaced. This wasn’t even an option. Daris couldn’t even contact any friends and ask them to buy his mate for him. Except for Makios, who Tolomus knew, he didn’t trust any of them. More immediately, he had no idea where they were, or how soon his female might be up for sale. He couldn’t risk it. ‘I don’t have that long.’
‘If I allowed every male that came aboard this ship to buy a female and go, then I’d have no crew and no stock.’ Tolomus shook his head.
Daris leaned forward. ‘I’m guessing I’m not the only one resentful of the bond?’
Tolomus seemed to consider his words for a moment. He leaned towards Daris, his fingers steepled under his chin. ‘I don’t resent the bond,’ Tolomus said. ‘I look forward to the bond. I look forward to biting my female and claiming her. Watching her grow with my child.’ Tolomus’s eyes gleamed with enthusiasm and anticipation. ‘I resent my nature. I’ve built up this business for seventeen solars. Am I meant to take a female and find my entire life dominated by her?’ Tolomus sat back. ‘I can’t trust my nature,’ he hissed. ‘That is what I resent.’
‘But you get to choose your mate.’ Daris smiled. ‘What if you were to bond a submissive female to you?’
‘That would be preferable.’
‘I may have just the female.’ Daris sat back. ‘Or rather, you do, but I can train her for you. Teach her to be properly submissive for her male.’
‘And in exchange, you want your choice of female?’
Daris nodded.
‘She is human? This female you have in mind.’
Daris nodded again.
‘Attractive?’ The wary look was back.
‘For a human,’ Daris said, fighting the urge to describe her and give himself away.
Tolomus licked his lips. A chime broke Tolomus’s thoughtful look, replacing it with an annoyed one.
The door opened, and a green-skinned Ledaan walked in. His small red eyes scanned, assessed, and immediately dismissed Daris.
‘Pelin,’ Tolomus said.
‘I’m here for my payment,’ the Ledaan growled.
‘You may choose any female you’d like,’ the Fedhith confirmed.
Daris stilled in his chair. Any female?
‘I already know which one I want,’ the Ledaan said in his harsh, grating voice.
Tolomus stood, looking at Daris. ‘Join us. Show me this female.’
Daris followed.
If the Ledaan chose Daris’ mate, that could be an opportunity. He could follow the Leda
an to wherever he went and rescue her from him.
They walked out of Tolomus’s office, down the long hallway and entered the lift. Daris took the opportunity to take in the Ledaan. He was taller than Daris who stood a few inith short of seven fenth. He was big and bulky, but Daris knew from the way the male moved that he wasn’t a fighter. Daris would be able to take him.
‘So you’ve served your year?’ Daris looked at the Ledaan, feigning disinterest. The Ledaan glanced at him, looked away.
‘Yes.’
‘And now you’re taking your human to your homeworld?’
The Ledaan looked at Daris. He should have just kept his mouth shut.
‘I’ll be having fun with her until we get to Caras. If you want to vrok her after that, you can pay, just like everyone else.’
They were rotes away from Caras. The idea of leaving his sweet human in the possession of this male was unendurable for even a moment. If the Ledaan chose his mate, he would simply have to kill him, then Tolomus, and hope he could get her off the ship before anyone realised.
The doors opened, and they walked down the long concourse that ran along the centre of the ship. At the far end was another bank of lifts. They got into one, and a few moments later, Daris walked onto the floor where he had left his mate the evening before.
The Ledaan led them to her cell.
His body hummed at the thought of seeing his mate again. Daris forced himself to act calm. His hearts were hammering in his chest, and his tail flickered back and forth behind him. He felt his body flood with hormones, getting ready for a fight.
When the cell came into view, his eyes searched for her.
She was lying on the floor next to a woman whose skin was substantially darker than his mate’s. Both females sat up, bleary-eyed. He realised his mate’s hair was braided. When he looked around the cell, all of the women had their hair braided. Daris found it momentarily amusing and wondered what had spurred such strange action. Then, the eyes of his mate found him, and her mouth opened in a gasp. Daris’s cock stirred. Soon, he would hear that gasp while he was deep inside her.
‘Which one?’
The Ledaan pointed at Daris’s mate. ‘That one.’
The universe narrowed to a single moment. He would kill the Ledaan first, then the Fedhith.
Tolomus opened the cell door. At some point he had retrieved a shock stick and was pointing it at the cell.
‘Pale hair?’ Tolomus said, his stick pointing at Daris’ mate. Just for that offence alone, the Fedhith had to die. How dare he threaten harm on Daris’s mate.
‘The dark one,’ the Ledaan said.
‘You.’ Tolomus pointed at the female with the long dreads. ‘Come here.’
‘What… what’s he saying?’ Daris’ mate looked at the other females.
‘He wants Addison,’ the red-haired female Daris had saved from the Orthali said.
‘What? No!’ His female stepped forward, putting herself between the Fedhith and the dark-skinned female.
Daris felt a burst of pride, quickly followed by fear. He looked at Tolomus, who was scowling at his mate. He pressed his finger to the shock stick’s controls.
‘There’s no need for that.’ Daris walked over, inserting himself between the two males and females. ‘The pale-haired one is the female I had in mind.’ Daris looked at Tolomus.
‘She is not suitable,’ he hissed.
‘She is submissive. Trust me. My instincts are never wrong.’
‘She doesn’t seem submissive,’ Tolomus growled.
‘Given the right circumstances, routine, and training, she will succumb beautifully. But we must establish dominance with a gentle hand. Establish trust.’
‘Can we get on with this,’ the Ledaan growled.
‘You will wait,’ Daris growled. The Ledaan’s lip curled in anger, but he quieted.
Daris circled Tolomus until he could see his mate.
‘I know that, like my race, yours is a sensual species,’ Daris whispered. ‘Do you want your female to cringe from you in fear? Or welcome you with open arms? Do you want her to submit to you to avoid pain, or because she enjoys submitting to you? Do you want to vrok a cunt dry from fear, or hot and wet and clenching you in pleasure?’
‘I stood on this floor once, watched an Amaran cut a female and remark how like pain, pleasure was.’ Tolomus scowled. ‘Rich Vadik has never been a slave. Never been subject to the whims of a cruel mistress.’
‘Then you understand. She will kneel at her feet, and when you allow her to look upon your face, there will be love there. But only if you allow me the time to properly train her.’
‘I think you underestimate how much she will hate me after we take the other.’ Tolomus’s eyes moved from Daris’s mate to the woman she was protecting. Daris followed his gaze to the smaller female who cowered behind his mate. For a moment, he hated her. Her fear was putting his mate in danger, but he knew that wasn’t true. The female hadn’t put Daris’s mate in front of her. His mate had done that on her own. He looked at the tiny female. She was small. Not just shorter than his mate, but more slender. Delicate. Too delicate for the Ledaan and the uses he had planned for her.
Daris knew that to save his mate, he had to extract the fragile female from behind her. His gut twisted, not just because his mate would hate him, but because, at this moment, he hated himself for doing it.
‘You keep the other females back,’ he said to Tolomus. ‘Ledaan, grab your female. I will ensure the pale-haired one doesn’t interfere.’
‘You lead the way, Maruzen,’ Tolomus said.
Bile rushed up Daris’s throat. He swallowed, forcing it back down and stepped inside the cell.
The angry eyes of his mate almost stopped him in his tracks. Maruzen males were not submissive to their females, but they had a deep, instinctual desire to make them happy. Right now, his mate was far from happy.
‘You can’t take her.’ His mate shook her head, glaring at him and the two males entering the cell behind her.
Tolomus gestured to the other women to step away. One, older, dark-haired female, held up her hands, shrugged and stepped away.
‘Sir?’
‘They’re going to take her, Lieutenant. All you’re doing is putting yourself in harm’s way.’
‘You’re supposed to be our CO,’ his mate hissed. ‘You’re supposed to look after us.’
‘I’m a slave now,’ she shrugged. ‘I have to take care of myself, and you have to do the same.’
‘Abrami.’ A male from a neighbouring cell was staring at the callous female. After a moment, his eyes turned to Daris’s brave mate. ‘I don’t like it, Zoe, but she’s right. There’s nothing you can do but get hurt.’
‘It’s okay, it’s okay.’ The dark-skinned female stepped out, gently pushing his mate out of the way. ‘I’ll go.’
Daris looked at the brave female. She couldn’t possibly know what this male had intended for her. For a moment, Daris considered it—considered killing the two males, opening the cages, and helping them fight for their freedom. He imagined the look of surprise on Tolomus’s face as his life ended. Imagined the gratitude of his mate, her opening her arms and legs to him. Imagined the rewards the Tessans would give him.
There were over a hundred aliens on this ship. A hundred big males, each of whom were ruthless, some downright cruel. Daris knew the human males would die because they weren’t needed. They would die, and the females would be raped. His mate would be utterly defenceless against them.
Daris stepped out of the way and allowed the small female to inch her way across the cell, her body shaking with terror.
‘Addison, no.’ Zoe stepped forward. Daris grabbed her before she could come into contact with Tolomus and his shock stick. ‘No, get off me.’
I’m sorry, my mate.
The small female screamed. Daris turned to see that the Ledaan had grabbed her and was dragging her from the cell.
In his arms, Zoe became a wild thing, screaming and bucki
ng against him.
Behind him, the fragile dark-skinned one screamed louder.
‘Quiet!’ the Ledaan yelled. The instruction was followed by the sound of a slap. A keening wail emerged from her as the Ledaan dragged her towards the elevator. Around them, the cages filled with gasps and yells, but most of the humans were eerily quiet as if sensing the mood—the danger they were in.
Zoe struggled harder, shouting for the one called Addison.
‘Zoe, Addison’s getting more upset because you’re upset. Stop being a twat.’ Zoe stilled, looking up at the callous woman.
‘You don’t understand,’ Zoe snarled.
‘How can you understand me, and she doesn’t?’ he asked.
‘I don’t fucking know.’ The callous woman stood in a corner glaring out at the room. Her back was partially turned, her arms wrapped around herself.
‘The translator gave her an infection,’ the red-haired female said. ‘She had to have it removed.’
His mate looked at the red-haired female.
‘Tell him to go fuck himself,’ she gasped.
The redhead's lips twitched. ‘He can understand you, Zo. You just can’t understand him.’
His mate turned towards him, though in his arms she couldn’t see him. ‘Fuck you. Fuck all of you for doing this.’
The Addison female screamed from the other side of the pens.
His mate went limp in his arms. After a moment, he realised she was crying, her body racked with sobs.
‘Maruzen.’
Daris tensed. He had forgotten Tolomus was there.
He released his mate, though every nerve screamed at him to ease her suffering. Instead, he walked out of the cell, fighting the urge to return to her. When he looked back, as Tolomus closed the door, she glared at him with hatred.
To her, he was just like the rest of them.
The Ledaan was standing at the lift with the female tucked against one side of his body. She stared out at a wall, her eyes wide, her breathing quick and erratic. He had to do something to help her, but if it were a choice between this female and his, he would choose his.