by L P Peace
‘Zoe,’ Daris whispered. ‘All you have to do is ask.’
The screams of her shipmates. A green hand grabbed Tara’s throat. Sophia in her fighter. Addison alone. Aliens laughing at her.
I’m not weak. I’m not weak. I’m not weak.
‘Daris, please.’
She was spun around and pressed against his body. The shirt slid to the floor, and he grabbed her hands, setting them on the waistband of his pants. ‘Hold on, Zoe,’ he whispered. ‘You’re not to let go.’ She wrapped her hands around his waistband, her knuckles grazing on his bare skin.
One of his hands went to her throat and enclosed it, holding her like he had on the balcony. Zoe’s mind became instantly calmer. The spinning in her head steadied as Daris’s presence filled her senses, an anchor against the maelstrom of her thoughts.
His other hand slipped over her panties, fingers brushing against her sex. She gasped at the sensation that light touch sent through her body. Like a pebble cast into water, it rippled out. A moment later, his fingers were inside her panties and he was touching her skin, his fingers searching through her folds. When he brushed against her clit, she gasped and bucked.
‘Hmm.’ He kissed her neck. ‘This time you may cum quickly my Zoe,’ he growled. ‘But next time, I will make you wait. Next time, I’ll make you beg.’ He whispered the last words, his lips brushing her ear and sending waves of shivers down her spine.
His fingers circled her clit slowly, gently, but building up steadily in speed and pressure. For a moment, his fingers left her, and then they were back. A second later, she felt something brush against her entrance.
‘I promised myself you’d cum on my tail the first time,’ he whispered. ‘I keep my promises.’
His tail moved back and forth over her, spreading the moisture of her arousal as his fingers continued moving. She could hear his fingers slicking over her, the sound filling the room along with her cries and gasps.
‘Vrok.’ Daris’s voice was deep and husky. ‘Ahdali, you are sensational.’
His teeth grazed over her shoulder, his tongue tracking across her skin and sending shivers through her body. He bit down, ratcheting up the sensation and causing her to moan.
His hand slipped from her throat and down her chest. He slid inside the material of her bra and rubbed against her nipple. Zoe gasped as the sensation shot down to her core and intensified the tension building in her pussy. His fingers closed on her nipple and he rolled it between finger and thumb.
‘You like this, ahdali?’ He rolled it again and pinched it, the pressure pushing her further towards her release. ‘Do you like me touching you here?’
Somewhere, deep in the recess of her mind, Zoe realised he was expecting an answer. What had the question been?
He alternated between rolling and pinching her nipple, then switched to her other breast. ‘You’re so wet,’ he whispered in her ear. She realised she could hear his fingers, more and more, hear the sounds they made, and smell the scent of her arousal filling the room.
His tail penetrated her folds and he rubbed it back and forth, teasing over her entrance. His fingers left her breast and grasped gently over her throat again, flexing and grabbing her firmly. Sense wiped out at the same time as the building tension burst across her body. She cried out. Daris pulled her tighter against him, his flicking tail and moving fingers dragging out her orgasm as she moaned and cried against him. She shook against the tension of her locked muscles until, her body relaxing, she fell against him.
She was carried to the bed. Daris laid her down and settled beside her, pulling her into his arms.
His breathing was ragged. ‘That was beautiful.’ He kissed her bare shoulder. ‘So beautiful.’ He kissed her again. ‘I never knew, never realised what it would be like.’ He kissed and nipped at her skin. She could feel him shaking against her.
She could feel something else too. She reached down and felt his hard cock through his pants. Daris hissed, his eyes hazing with lust, his hips bucking, pressing against her hand.
He reached down and lifted her hand away.
‘I want to—’
‘No, Zoe,’ he closed his eyes, his grinding hips slowly coming to a stop. He opened his eyes again; they were clearer. ‘I can’t wait to spread you on my bed.’ His voice was a whispered groan. ‘I’m going to restrain your hands and blindfold you, so you have no idea what I’m going to do. I’m going to watch your pretty lips.’ She felt the warmth of his fingers press to them, ‘When you bite them. When you lick them. When you open them. When you moan and gasp and cry out and scream at the things I have planned for you.’ He traced his thumb over her lip. The touch sent shivers through her. ‘But when I do these things, when I enter you for the first time,’ his voice deepened and he pulled her closer into his chest, ‘it will be in my bed. On my ship. Far away from this vrokking place.’
‘I won’t make you do that again,’ he said after a moment. His voice was thick. ‘I’ll find another way.’
‘There is no other way.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ll get through it. I have to.’
‘You don’t understand, Zoe.’ Daris’s eyes closed for a moment before opening and refocusing on her. ‘Watching you go through that was hard. But those males looking at you, reaching out for you…’ He growled his deep lion growl. It reverberated against her.
‘What did you do to the, erm, Surilan?’
‘Made sure he never thinks about touching you again.’ Daris’s voice was filled with anger.
‘So he’s not dead?’
A smile flashed on Daris’s face and was gone. ‘No. Not that I couldn’t have killed him, but I have to ensure I don’t annoy Tolomus.’
‘Have you killed people—erm, aliens? Err…’
Daris snickered, then went quiet, solemn. ‘I’m a criminal, Zoe,’ he said. ‘I work for a crime syndicate, or I did until recently. I’ve done bad things.’
The silence between them grew tense as he stroked her hair. Rules were important to Zoe; they always had been. Other people didn’t follow the rules, and she was the one usually hurt. On rare occasions, Zoe tried to deviate from the rules, she was caught and, somehow, her punishments were always worse than those who routinely broke them.
The day her brother, Carl, broke her arm, he’d discovered Zoe had been breaking the rules. Zoe wasn’t allowed to attend ballet class. As soon as her parents heard that she was good, that she could go professional, they had pulled her from class to focus her studies on ‘useful’ things—namely martial arts. Instead of attending the class, she had been skipping out and going to ballet instead. Her teacher wanted to teach Zoe, so when Zoe told her that her parents had allowed her to return, she had eagerly believed the lie.
Zoe didn’t know how Carl had found out, but he stomped in mid-class. His face was like thunder as he dragged her out, telling the teacher, Victoria, she wasn’t supposed to be there. To give Victoria credit, she had tried stopping Carl, insisting on calling their parents. Carl forcibly removed her from the class. When Zoe gathered her things, she’d gotten her arm caught awkwardly between two posts. She saw the look in Carl’s eyes before he pulled at her. Saw the gleam after. Victoria’s shocked gasp had quieted the whole class, or it could have been the snap of Zoe’s humerus. The force exerted to cause the damage could only have been intentional. Zoe overheard her father say as much in the hospital when he thought she couldn’t hear him. But while Carl escaped all punishment, Zoe had been sent away to military school. Her parents told her it was to ‘toughen you up’.
Zoe baulked at rulebreakers. The few men she’d dated coloured carefully within the lines. Looking up at the dusky purple-skinned alien, she could tell, if he acknowledged lines, it was as a courtesy. That scared her.
It was better to go back to Earth as soon as she had the opportunity. Do what she could to bring information about her people to the Tessans then return to Earth and resume her life.
Something panged inside her. She realised she’d miss Daris.
‘
If we’re going to do this again,’ Daris said, his voice husky. ‘If this is how we’re making our escape, I’m going to bring your uniform to my ship, so you have something you feel comfortable wearing.’ His flint grey eyes bored into hers. There was something behind them, something he wasn’t saying. It was something Zoe wasn’t sure she wanted to hear.
He hesitated for a moment before standing. He walked around the room, gathering a few things and placing them in a bag, with Zoe’s uniform on the bottom. When he was done, he turned to the bed and stared at her for a few moments.
‘I’ll be right back, ahdali,’ he said before turning and leaving.
Zoe swallowed as the door closed behind him. She heard something, a mechanical whirr, and realised he’d locked the door.
The buzz of her orgasm was fading now. The comfort that she had drawn from it, from that act, started to twist on her.
I’m not weak. I’m not weak. I’m not weak.
She repeated the mantra in her mind.
‘Daris, please.’
The need in her voice disgusted her.
I’m not weak. I’m not weak. I’m not weak.
She’d begged him to touch her. He offered his services to her, and she had relented. She wondered what her mother and father would say if they knew she’d needed him to take care of her, or that she’d allowed an alien to touch her at all.
‘Aavani, Zavi, Ualha, Mvari. It’s not just us, Zoe. They take homeworlds and exploit the resources; we have everything to lose. Tell me you’ll sign on. I need the best crew, and you’re the best astronav in the fleet. I want you in charge.’
‘You can’t seriously be intending on going out there with those filthy aliens?’ Her father’s incredulous face stared at her.
If he knew. If he knew Zoe had allowed herself to cum at the hands of an alien, he’d disown her.
‘You’re so wet.’
The memory of how she reacted to him was like a slap in the face. The sound of how wet she was as his fingers moved over her, echoed in her mind. The way she’d cried out. The way she’d reacted when he gripped her throat.
I’m not weak. I’m not weak. I’m not weak.
It couldn’t happen again. Zoe wouldn’t let it happen again. She wasn’t this person. She wasn’t like that.
But she’d never cum as hard as that before. She’d been so close when Daris was playing with her nipples. As soon as she felt his fingers flex around her throat, her mind stopped, and her body responded.
What’s wrong with me? Why am I like this?
She tried convincing herself she was using Daris to get off the ship and get the information about her people to the Tessans. Somehow, she couldn’t quite force herself to believe it.
It couldn’t happen again. She wouldn’t let it happen again.
What’s wrong with me? How could I do that to her?
Removing the sheets from the cleaning unit, Daris replaced them with Zoe’s uniform and set it to work. He dropped his bag on the floor and left the ship. He couldn’t wait to return to her.
She didn’t notice, but he had cleaned his fingers and tail in his mouth, greedily sucking the flavour of her. He’d never tasted anything like it and knew nothing but her would be as good again.
As soon as they left the room, he had seen her demeanour change. Her body stiffened, and she began to shake. The Athon hadn’t helped. Then the males had lined up against the lift. When the Surilan touched her, hurt her, it took all of his willpower not to snap his fragile little neck. To remind him, but for the implants, his people would be in just as much trouble as the humans.
When they left the lift, he’d gotten so caught up in his performance for Tolomus, he hadn’t realised how much of what she was going through wasn’t an act until she looked at the assembled males. Her skin had gone deathly pale, and her lips had turned blue.
What’s wrong with me? How could I do that to her?
Daris left Nevalis and the bay behind and started the journey across The Crucible to return to his ahdali.
He saw her in his room, her body shaking, the accusation in her eyes. She spiralled so quickly, and by the time he touched her, she was in freefall. Her mind plummeting to a dark place he’d never be able to follow her to.
When he felt her wetness on his fingers, all thought of calming her faded as he fought his instinct to dominate her. He wanted to drag it out. Wanted to make her beg for him.
‘Please, Daris.’
The words had excited him beyond anything he knew he was capable of. Had Zoe continued begging, he knew he would have spilt in his pants.
All thought of her care had gone out of the window until she came.
What’s wrong with me? How could I do that to her?
His mind returned to the corridor. Every look turned in his mate’s direction had been a violation of her body and his duty to protect her; he felt it deep in his bones. It was his job to ensure she was safe. He couldn’t do that on this ship, and it was starting to profoundly affect him. Worse, he had actively led her into something that made everything worse for her. That meant he had to push her into accepting his touches when he felt she wasn’t ready for them.
How could he ever expect his mate to trust him if he exploited her body? If he couldn’t protect her?
But he had to do it and do it again and again. He had no other plan. None that would see Zoe safely off the ship.
Daris barely saw the corridors on the way back to the room. He released the door lock and walked inside to find Zoe was sitting on the bed, a tense look on her face.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, shutting the door behind him.
She looked up at him with wary eyes, then looked away.
‘I’m fine.’
She was judging him, as a mate, and finding him far from worthy. ‘No, you’re not,’ he said, crossing the room and dropping to his knees in front of her. She stiffened at his proximity. The smell of her musky arousal still filled the air around her. He wanted to tip her back on the bed and drink from her. ‘Tell me.’
‘I’m fine.’ Her voice was harder this time. ‘I’m not talking about it.’ Her lip curled as she spoke. He could see the disgust in her face.
‘Zoe.’ He reached out, and she flinched away from him. The action speared him in his hearts. ‘Ahdali,’ he whispered.
‘Don’t call me that,’ she hissed. ‘What does it mean?’ she sneered. ‘Good little sub? Good little bitch? Whore? Weak?’
Always that word. Why was she so afraid of being weak?
‘Ahdali is a flower on my world.’ He leaned away from her, giving her the distance she seemed to need. ‘They are very rare and expensive. They are beautiful and their nectar is highly sought for expensive desserts. The nectar,’ he looked at her cheek, ‘is the same gold as your skin.’ He gestured to her. ‘It is considered precious on my planet.’ He looked into her eyes. ‘The way I consider you to be precious to me.’
Her sneer softened as he spoke. Now she stared at him, her face revealing her need. Not the sexual needs she kept trying to deny, the deeper need.
Who had done this to her?
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her voice breaking.
‘Who convinced you that you were weak?’ The answer occurred to him, as he finished asking the question. ‘Your family.’ If Daris ever met them, he would show them strength and weakness. ‘Ahdali,’ he breathed. He closed the distance between them and took her hands. ‘You can’t allow the opinions of others to affect who you are, or what you want.’ He rubbed his thumbs against the soft skin on the mound under her thumbs. ‘That includes me.’ He forced the words out. ‘If you do not want to be… dominated,’ he growled, ‘I will fight my instincts, for you.’
Zoe licked her lips. His eyes focused on her mouth.
‘Even though I believe you need it. Even though I believe it’s a part of your being. As Rhona would put it, hardwired into your being,’ he growled again, unable to tear his eyes away from the gentle, full curves of her lips. ‘I will figh
t it.’ His voice was reverberating in his chest as the beast inside fought the civilised male to make his mate happy.
She was shaking.
He looked up at her, afraid he had frightened her.
Her eyes were closed. When she opened them, her eyes searched for Daris. ‘Why does that voice do this to me?’ she asked. Her voice was small, and there was a hint of fresh arousal on the air.
Daris closed the distance. Moving slow, he cupped her face, his fingers caressing the nape of her neck, and pressed her gently to him. He brushed his lips against her ear as he growled. ‘Your body knows what you want, even as your mind resists.’ He felt her shudder against him. ‘It is your body I’m responding to,’ he admitted. ‘I sense the need it feels. My instinct wants to fulfil those needs.’
‘I’m scared,’ she whispered. There was barely any volume to her voice.
‘I know, ahdali.’ He brushed his lips over the pulse on her neck, following it with a graze of his fangs. She took in a sharp breath, her body jerking against him. ‘I’m here for you.’
Daris pulled away and looked into her eyes, assessing if she needed to be calmed, or knocked over the edge again.
Slowly, her eyes cleared.
‘There’s my mate.’ He smiled.
The smile she gave him in return was weak, but there was something else there—an acknowledgement, if not acceptance, of what her body needed. Daris growled in satisfaction.
‘Oh, god,’ she breathed. ‘You need to stop making that noise for a while.’
Daris smiled, loving the shiver that ran through her. The way her skin bumped, the tiny gossamer hairs standing on edge. He had evoked that reaction in his mate, and it filled him with pride.
Some rote, she would submit to him eagerly. He just had to be patient.
It was what passed for morning on The Crucible. Zoe was sitting at the table grimacing at the flavourless grey stuff that passed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner here. There seemed to be no imagination in this place.
‘Please tell me all alien food isn’t like this?’