He buried his cock in me, pumping in and out. Matching the rhythm of his tongue. When he let go of my hair and ran his hand under my body, I dug my heels into the dirt and lifted my hips for him. His fingers probed, then one invaded. I shuddered as he worked it past the tight pucker of my anus, sliding in deeper. Fucking me, claiming me, taking me prisoner in every hole at once.
With his mouth covering mine, I couldn’t even scream when the explosion hit. I shattered in silence, shards of my soul spinning away into the black void of the night.
Chapter Seven
Ree
His hand clapped over my mouth, waking me from a deep dreamless sleep. I struggled instinctively but he had me in a viselike grip.
“Hush,” he breathed into my ear. “Stay here. Stay silent.”
He slipped away into the night, leaving me trembling. What was it he’d heard? The enemy he said was hunting me—or was it something else? The jungle was home to dangerous predators. Though I’d never caught a glimpse of one, I’d seen the carnage they inflicted. Corpses of animals, some of them huge, torn to shreds and covered with swarms of insects feeding on the bits that were left. Jaden and Zeke had taken turns guarding the mouth of the cave every night, sleeping in shifts.
To my shock, I heard voices outside. Had the alien lied to me? Were my bodyguards alive after all?
A moment later, my hopes were dashed. A squad of armed soldiers stormed into the cave, blinding me with lights. As best I could tell, they were all human. The alien trailed after them.
“Aria DiMello.”
I didn’t recognize the voice of the one in front but I’d heard the tone before when I came up against leaders of the Federation who thought they’d gotten the best of me. A mixture of triumph and grudging respect.
I sat up, covering my naked body as best I could with the animal-skin vest the alien had tossed over me while I slept. “Yes, I’m Aria.”
“We’ve been searching for you for a long time. Lucky for him that meddlesome old fool Andreu is already dead. I planned to kill him slowly and painfully for all the trouble he caused us. Kaal tells me he robbed me of that pleasure.” He gestured to my alien captor.
Kaal. His name was Kaal. Despite the guns trained on me, my mind went to the lust-filled hours we’d spent together. It came as a shock that I’d been thoroughly fucked by this man three times and never learned his name.
“Get her up.” He pointed to the two men nearest me. “She’s coming with us.”
“No!” Kaal stepped forward, put himself between me and the soldiers. “She belongs to me, Nye. I did what I was ordered to do. I tracked down your escaped criminals.” He glanced at me and went on scornfully. “She’s not a warrior. She’s just a female. I need a mate. I’ll take her—instead of the bounty you owe me.”
The man called Nye turned away, addressing the squad of soldiers. “Wait outside. Guard the entrance.”
He waited till they filed out, then whirled on the alien. “Bounty?” he snarled. “You were told to kill them all. Take no prisoners. My troops should never have seen this one alive. Now I have to take her in, maybe even hold a mock trial. Show them the Federation always sees that justice is served.”
Kaal closed in on him menacingly. “We had an agreement. When I told you I found a female with them, you said you wanted me to take you to her so you could question her. You swore you wouldn’t hurt her.”
He stopped suddenly. “You called her by name. You already knew who she was.”
“Yes, I knew. She’s the reason you were sent here. I said I wouldn’t hurt her and I won’t. But she’s caused the Federation an enormous amount of time and trouble, not to mention the money we spent hunting for her all over the galaxy after she and her bodyguards escaped our raid on the Insurrection’s compound. She’ll be questioned on Zibaru while we’re holding her in maximum security until her trial. The warden there wasn’t party to our agreement.”
“Zibaru? No! You can’t take her there! She’ll never survive in that hellhole.”
Nye shrugged. “One way or another, Aria DiMello is going to die. She’s guilty of treason. That verdict carries a death sentence. If she dies in prison while she’s awaiting trial, so much the better. Then the rebels can’t hold her up as their hero during a long public spectacle.”
“I trusted you! I thought you were my friend!” With a roar, Kaal launched himself at Nye, only to crumple to his knees, clutching at his neck and gasping for breath.
“Relax.” Nye held out a small black device. “You just got a shock from the chip we implanted in you before we sent you on this mission. While you were tracking them, I was tracking you. The effect will wear off soon enough, and then you’ll be able to move again.” He gave Kaal a pitying look. “By the way, to set the record straight, I don’t make friends with primitive species.”
“Davis! Jensen!” He raised his voice. “Get back in here. The alien tried to attack me! We now have two prisoners to prepare for transport.”
* * *
The trip to the transport vehicle was a nightmare. Before we left the cave, two of Nye’s soldiers took great pleasure in manhandling my naked body. They stripped off the vest Kaal had given me, squeezing my breasts painfully, then shoved fingers up my pussy and ass, claiming they were searching me. Thankfully they allowed me to put on my spare uniform and boots before tying my hands behind my back again.
Still unable to move or speak, Kaal lay on the ground and watched, his eyes blazing with anger. When they finished with me they bound his hands too, after removing his belt with all its weapons. One of the soldiers examined the black stone blade, then slipped it in his pocket before tossing the belt into a far corner of the cave.
Once his hands were secured they came back to me and tied my ankles together, leaving just enough play in the rope for me to take halting steps. After doing the same to Kaal, they hauled him up. Though he could barely stand upright, he shoved their hands aside. They prodded me to my feet and led me outside, with soldiers flanking me as though I presented a serious threat. Kaal shuffled along behind us, surrounded by more soldiers.
Haltingly, I made my way through the jungle. With my hands bound, I couldn’t keep branches and vines from tearing my clothes and whipping my body. Before long I had bloody scratches crisscrossing my skin. The two soldiers who trussed me up walked behind me, carrying on a conversation loud enough to make sure I heard every word.
“Did you see those red marks on her ass?”
“Looks like our alien tracker was into punishing his prisoner, along with fucking her. I wonder if she likes it? What do you say, Davis, shall we find out when we’re on guard duty tonight?”
Behind us, Kaal made a rumbling noise deep in his chest. I heard a shout, then a crash, and turned around to see he’d lurched at Jensen’s back, knocking him to the ground.
“You fucking animal! Get off me!”
Three other soldiers rushed to haul Kaal to his feet and hold him back while he roared at Jensen. “Touch her and you die!”
The soldier backhanded him, a vicious blow that took him to his knees. “What are you going to do—beat me to death with one of your stone axes? Oh, wait, you can’t do that, can you? I got rid of all of them. Maybe you can make another one. I hear where you’re going is nothing but a fucking rock pile hurtling through space.”
He was right. I’d heard tales about Zibaru. Everyone had. It was reserved for hardened criminals, beings for whom the Federation decided death would be too easy a punishment. They were sent to the asteroid prison to work in the mines there and live out their lives as best they could. Only the strongest and most ruthless survived. Escape was unheard of.
I had no illusions about what awaited me. Females were rare on Zibaru. Those who ended up there didn’t last long. No matter what species she belonged to, if a female was lucky, she’d become the property of a prisoner mean enough to fight off the gangs who’d attack night after night, intent on taking her away from him. If her owner didn’t fuck her to death h
imself, she’d die of exhaustion from overwork or succumb to some bizarre alien disease. If she was unlucky—well, she wouldn’t survive the first night.
As for me? My bodyguards were dead, killed by my best hope for a protector, the alien lying crumpled on the ground behind me. A being from a primitive race who thought because he was a male, that made him my master. One too dumb to know when he’d been conned by an officer of the Federation. At the rate he was going, he’d be lucky to make it to Zibaru alive. I had to face reality.
If I was going to survive, it would be up to me.
Chapter Eight
Kaal
I hauled myself painfully to my feet, head down, blood streaming from my nose. Jensen’s blow had reopened the wound the female gave me but he’d done more damage to my pride than to my face.
Though it went against my grain, I decided to act cowed. I would be of no help to her or to myself if they beat me senseless or hit me with another pulse from that device again. I staggered backward, knocking against one of the soldiers who hauled me to my feet, smearing his shirt with blood when I twisted and scrabbled at him with my bound hands to keep from falling down again.
When we got to the transport ship, they threw me into a holding cell. They did the same with my female, locking her in a cell opposite mine. One soldier stood guard, but he must not have seen us as a threat because once everyone else left he got a visor out of his pocket, put it on, and immersed himself in VR. From the sounds he made, I guessed it was a porn vid.
“Are you all right?”
My voice was hushed but I needn’t have worried. The soldier’s pants were down and he was busy jerking off, accompanied by female moans coming from his headgear. Relief flooded over me. He was less likely to attack her while on duty if he’d already come with a virtual whore.
“I’m fine.”
She sounded cold, matter of fact—with none of the hysteria I’d have expected from a female who’d been captured by an enemy.
“Back there, in the cave, Nye called you Aria. I will not call you by that name. I’ve taken you as my mate. I will call you Ree. You belong to me now, Ree. I won’t let them hurt you.”
She uttered a sound halfway between a snort and a laugh. “Excuse me if I don’t take comfort in that. Exactly how are you going to stop them?”
The stone blade I’d managed to get my hands on when the guard who stole it from me hauled me to my feet dug into the small of my back. I’d slipped it into the waistband of my pants. Later I’d find a way to smuggle it into the prison. It was far too valuable to risk having it taken away by using it on one of these humans. I’d kill them with my bare hands if I had to.
But I’d run into males like Nye before and I doubted if he’d allow any of the men to fuck his prisoner. Asserting his absolute power by dangling a female prisoner in front of horny soldiers and declaring she wasn’t to be taken would be far more satisfying. On Zibaru there’d be no such rule. I’d need the blade—and any other weapons I could craft.
“How I stop them doesn’t matter. Only that I do it.”
She turned away but not before I saw the scorn on her face. It seemed the mate the gods had delivered to me lacked faith in my ability to care for her. I couldn’t blame her. She’d seen me on my knees twice. I vowed she’d never see me that way again.
* * *
They kept us in our cells during the entire voyage to Zibaru. I didn’t try to speak to Ree again. Instead I spent my time trying to remember every scrap of information I’d ever heard about the prison, creating an image in my mind so vivid that I could almost see the alien lifeforms we’d find there and navigate my way around on the asteroid before I ever set foot on it.
My people on Rylos had seen modern technology, knew its advantages. We simply chose to live the way our ancestors did. Relying more on our senses than on machines to survive. Machines malfunctioned. Technology became outdated moments after it was created.
But the ability to smell fear in an enemy, to hear the beating of a poisonous serpent’s heart just as it was poised to strike, to see the brilliant blue eyes of a raptor soaring high above fix on his prey right before he swooped in for the kill—those were skills a broken machine couldn’t take away. Skills I’d need in the hostile environment I was about to enter. I had no time to dwell on what my mate Ree thought of me, whether she had faith in my ability to keep her safe and alive. She’d see me in action soon enough.
* * *
I had no way to tell the length of the voyage but by my hunger and thirst and the desperate need to relieve my bladder I guessed a full sol cycle passed before we reached our destination. The subtle vibrations of the ship’s engine slowed, then stopped. Nye’s soldiers marched in and yanked us to our feet.
I heard Ree give a muffled cry. Though I hadn’t been with her long, I knew her well enough to know it would take serious pain to make her utter a sound. I memorized the features of the soldier who hurt her when he dragged her from her cell, vowing I’d get revenge on the man.
We headed down a long corridor to the ship’s cargo bay. The huge door slid open and I got my first glimpse of the asteroid.
It looked like the hell from Rohyndan myths. A gray wasteland pockmarked with giant craters, the surface everywhere else studded with sharp spiked rocks sticking out of the ground. The only color came from waist-high red and orange flames spewing from narrow fissures slashing the landscape.
To my surprise, I could breathe, though the air carried the stench of noxious chemicals burning. I was surprised the Federation had gone to the expense of outfitting the asteroid with an artificial atmosphere. But their concern for its prisoners didn’t extend to comfort. It was hot enough to make me sweat.
We headed for a darker gray structure in the distance, with Nye leading the way. The ground was strewn with razor-sharp rocks. My feet had been toughened roaming the jungles of Rylos barefoot, and I thanked the gods that Ree had been allowed to keep her boots. I didn’t see anything I could have used to fashion foot coverings for her.
Four helmeted guards waited in front of a thick iron door.
“I’m delivering the prisoners. Aria DiMello, awaiting trial. The charge is treason. And this one.” He gestured to me. “A mercenary from the planet Rylos. Attempted murder—of an officer of the Federation.”
He raised an eyebrow at me, as though expecting me to protest. But he was right. I’d have killed him if his soldiers hadn’t rushed to his defense.
He seemed disappointed when I stayed silent. Though it was hard to hold my tongue, I couldn’t afford to react. The soldiers would beat me if I did. I had to stay strong and healthy or I’d never be able to protect my mate.
But I would not allow one wrong to go unavenged. I’d been biding my time, waiting for the perfect opportunity. As Nye’s soldiers prodded us toward the entrance to the prison, I stumbled, falling backwards against the two soldiers behind me. The one nearest me tumbled to the ground. As he fell, he slammed the one who hurt Ree against one of the giant spikes, impaling him on it.
The soldier let out a high-pitched scream. His comrade scrabbled to his feet and came at me.
“Clumsy idiot! Look what you made me do!”
I backed away, head down to hide my satisfaction.
“Leave him, you fool,” Nye spat out. “It’s your fault!” He grabbed the soldier by the collar. “Get that man off the spike and carry him back to the ship.”
He rounded on me. “As for you, I don’t want you harmed. Yet. I’m looking forward to seeing you released into the yard. The warden here runs a side business live streaming the arrival of new prisoners. Taking bets on how long they’ll survive. You may be from a primitive world but you’re a cunning bastard. I’m laying big money on you and that bitch Aria.”
He brought his face inches from mine and gave me a cold smile. “You hate me. I can see it in your eyes. But I’m a cunning bastard too. The only way to get revenge on me now is to die quickly. Every hour you live will only make me richer.”
&n
bsp; Though they took away my weapons, they’d let me keep my leather pants, crafted for life in a primitive world, where both hands were often needed to fight or gather food. “From one cunning bastard to another,” I said, smiling back. I twisted my hips sideways, popping my dick free through the slit made for that purpose. Then I emptied my bladder on him.
Chapter Nine
Ree
Ordinarily I’d have been disgusted by such crude behavior, but the look on Nye’s face made me choke back a laugh. Seeing him struggle with his desperate desire to make Kaal pay for what he’d done while weighing the loss his pocketbook would suffer if he inflicted any injuries on the alien gave me a new appreciation for my fellow prisoner.
Maybe Kaal wasn’t as dumb as I thought. Despite our captive state he’d found a way to get revenge on the human for betraying him. Though it hadn’t hurt him, Nye had been humiliated in front of his men. The story would soon spread throughout the Federation’s troops. From now on, he’d be an object of ridicule. Everywhere he went he’d hear snickers and whispers behind his back.
I’m not sure what Nye would have done next if a tall, rail-thin figure hadn’t appeared in the doorway. A navy blue dress uniform hung from his gaunt frame.
“Warden Starn. Greetings. Commander Nye delivering the prisoners.” Nye kept his distance from the warden, probably hoping he could hide his urine-soaked clothing.
“Welcome, Commander. It isn’t often we have such a high-ranking officer escorting our new arrivals.” Starn nodded but made no attempt to shake hands. Though his words were polite, his manner held a hint of disdain. I suspected he’d arrived in time to witness Nye’s humiliation.
The warden stepped aside, ushering us inside the compound. “So... this is the infamous Aria DiMello.” His voice was low and surprisingly deep coming from such a scrawny chest. “I’ve heard about you,” he declared. “The rebel heroine. The brave soldier they say will step up to take her father’s place leading the Insurrection. We’ll see how well you lead my band of miscreants.”
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