by Renee Bond
I contented myself with watching.
The most delicious conflicting emotions were warring all over that beautiful face of hers!
After long moments, she swallowed.
“You could keep making my legs feel like that,” she whispered sheepishly.
And here it was. The moment when our little captive woman finally felt brave enough to actually ask for what she wanted… even though she was asking it of someone she’d previously thought was her enemy. Maybe still did think of as her enemy.
Lenth leaned in close.
“I’ve got a better idea,” he whispered.
His massive arms reached around Liza’s back. Pulled her closer to him - then straight up onto his giant lap. Liza was tall for a woman, but sitting there, her butt resting on Lenth’s crossed legs, her own legs wrapped around his core, she looked genuinely small.
Her arms resisted, wedged between her torso and his.
Then Lenth dug his warrior’s fingers into the small of her back.
And Liza’s eyes rolled back into her head.
“Ohhhh… that’s magic,” she breathed.
Immediately, her elbows bent. Then, inch by inch, her arms relaxed, allowing her torso to move closer to Lenth’s. As Sandora and I watched - his facial expression indicating that he was enjoying this as much as I was - Lenth’s fingers worked their way up Liza’s spine.
First, her shoulders slumped. Then her back began to curl.
Then, with the softest push from Lenth, she sank forward, resting her body against Lenth’s massive chest, her head to one side, her eyes closed, her face the picture of serenity.
Of surrender.
For many long minutes, Lenth worked on her back, then her shoulders, finally finishing with her arms.
He took her head gently in his hands. Kissed her tenderly on the forehead, right where her injury had been.
Then, perhaps emboldened by her utter lack of resistance, her easy acceptance of that kiss, Lenth hooked a finger under her chin, slowly pulled her face up towards his, and kissed her again on the lips. It was a short, tentative thing, lasting all of a second. But both faces seemed to enjoy it very much. And when Lenth pulled away, Liza’s lips followed for a hair of a moment before retreating once again.
“This is only the beginning, little human,” Lenth said softly.
“Indeed,” I said. “The three of us are going to show you just how wonderful life can be under our rule, our care, and our protection. And, in return, you are going to help us understand how we might better spread this knowledge among the members of your species who seem so dead set against accepting it.”
Liza began buttoning up her shirt.
“You think I’m going to be some sort of Domann ambassador?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “We have not decided on the exact nature of your role. But that is a good way to characterize it.”
I was expecting some cutting remark at that. Or at least a comment of some kind.
But, though her face wore a mask of frustration and doubt, she said nothing.
“We’re going to leave you for a time,” I said. “Think about what you have experienced with us. Think about what kind of relationship you would like to have with us. That will not be up to you, of course. But search that fierce spirit of yours, Liza Strong, and think about if you really want to resist us… or if what you really want is to accept your fate. To submit your life to us.”
“I will have some bedding brought in,” Sandora said, “and assign a drone to escort you to a proper washroom once in a while.”
“We don’t want you to live in this little cell forever,” said Lenth. “As you earn our trust, you’ll be allowed more privileges and comforts.” He gripped Liza by the waist, lifted her up with ease, and set her back on the floor of her cell.
She didn’t resist. Didn’t speak.
Didn’t even meet our eyes.
That worried me, a little. It could be a good sign… a sign that she was struggling to see us as her enemies no longer.
It could also be a sign that she was plotting something.
Only time would tell.
Chapter 20
Liza
The three Domann left. Leaving me once again in my cell.
As confused, as lost, as conflicted, as I’d ever been.
Who were these aliens? How was it possible that the dreaded overlords, conquerors of my species, were treating me like… shit, like they fucking cared for me. Not just as a friend, either, but deeply… almost like-
A lover.
No. I wasn’t a Domann lover. I certainly could never be in love with any fucking alien, never mind three of them!
No. This was a trick.
Karkan had said as much himself. They just wanted me to go back to Earth, to the resistance, and tell them all what really nice guys the Domann were, and why don’t we all just put our guns down and surrender to them nicely? They give really great back massages you guys!
No way. I was not going to be used like that.
I was not going to let them twist me around their giant, powerful, sexy fingers.
Was not going to let them get under my skin.
But as soon as I thought that, that shitty little voice at the back of my skull pointed out that it was too late.
That they’d already gotten under my skin.
Badly.
I’d let one of them kiss me, long and hard. I’d let another one touch my breasts. I’d let the other one sit me on his lap, massage my whole body, then kiss me.
Well. Maybe “let” wasn’t exactly the right word. I was still their prisoner, after all.
But I certainly could have resisted harder.
And then there was the extremely non-trivial fact… that I’d liked it.
The kissing. The touching. Even the spanking. All of it.
I’d tried not to.
But I’d failed.
Worse… far worse… was that, if any one of them kissed me again… touched me again… I would fucking like it again.
I lay back down on the floor.
Trying desperately to think. To sort out my tangled emotions.
I was attracted to three Domann. I’d been attracted to multiple humans before. Hell, that was only natural. But this was different. I actually felt as though I was forming the foundation of a real emotional connection… with all three of them. Like we were all dating, or something. I don’t know how. I’d never forged relationships with my human partners this quickly - and never with three at the same time.
But the fact remained.
Karkan. So utterly confident. So commanding. Exuding sheer authority with every word. Every breath.
Lenth. So easygoing. So physically powerful that he didn’t have to even bother to be aware of it.
And Sandora. So caring. So passionate. I’d spent the shortest amount of time with him, but during every second of that time he’d been laser-focused on my well-being. Even when he’d punished me, I’d gotten the sense that he felt like he was doing it for my own good.
Each one of them irresistibly sexy. Each one of them a treat for the eyes.
Each one of them… claiming that I was theirs.
But not in a confrontational way. Rather, in a cooperative way.
There was something about that I just couldn’t quite wrap my head around. They all seemed to be at ease with the idea of sharing me between them.
An attitude that was, for some reason I couldn’t articulate, strangely appealing.
What were they going to do to me? What did they have in store for me next?
It seemed as though my every interaction with them was more intimate, more sensual, than the last.
It wouldn’t be long before….
Before what?
Did… did I dare finish that thought?
How long would it be before the amazingly sexy aliens broke me down completely? Had me eating out of their hands?
Just a few days ago, I never would have believed that it wou
ld be possible.
But now… now it seemed not just possible... but inevitable.
Maybe the Domann really did have pheromones that made them irresistible to human women.
I shook my head. Took some deep breaths.
Reminded myself that I was a soldier. A prisoner of war.
Reminded myself that I knew things that the enemy absolutely could not learn.
And the longer I stayed here, the more these freaking sexy aliens twisted me into emotional pretzels, the less control I would have over that information.
I had to get out.
While I still could.
I sat up. Feeling like I finally realized the true extent of the danger I was in.
I’d thought that the Domann would torture me with pain.
Instead, they were torturing me with love.
And the worst part?
It was working.
I stood up. Determined to figure out a way to escape.
I had to escape.
Part of me already didn’t want to. Part of me already wanted to stay here. To see my amazing alien captors again. And again. And again.
That part of me scared the shit out of me.
I started pacing.
Started feeling pent up. Like the walls were closing in.
I don’t know long I waited. How long I paced. An hour?
But soon enough - sooner than I’d ever expected - I got my chance.
I happened to be standing near one of the walls.
A panel on that wall slid open. Less than an arm’s length away from me.
I bolted. Not caring who or what I might find through that doorway. Just wanting, needing, to get out.
I stumbled over a very small rolling drone carrying a stack of blankets and a thin folding mattress. I and it ended up on the floor.
I was up first.
And my booted food crashed down on the little drone with every ounce of frustration and emotion I’d felt over the last few days.
It didn’t feel like I damaged the thing. In fact, the drone’s metal chassis kinda hurt my ankle.
But it stopped moving!
I forced myself to calm down. Forced my breathing back under control.
The drone sat there. Motionless.
I looked around.
I was in a very short hallway.
There was another doorway.
It was still open.
Once again, I bolted.
Chapter 21
Sandora
Karkan was on the bridge - which, as one of his honor guard, meant that I was on the bridge - when we heard that one of our prisoners was trying to escape.
We had been meeting with Karkan’s ground lieutenants, on the Captain’s Deck in the middle of the bridge, a wide platform raised above the rows of seated officers, technicians and pilots that made up the ship’s command staff. The ground lieutenants were responsible for organizing drone patrols in the dense urban sprawl surrounding the city of Atlanta. Far from a drop-off in attacks on our patrols following our capture of the resistance base, ambushes against our drones had increased by several magnitudes of order. That was unusual, to say the least. Other raids in other bases in other cities had always resulted in a ‘cool period,’ often lasting several months, where the remaining resistance fighters laid low and regrouped.
Not this time.
We were debating whether or not to add Domann soldiers to those patrols. The human resistance is brave, but they’re not stupid. Rarely will they attack a Domann in a full combat exoskeleton. Lenth was for it. I was against it.
Karkan was about to make a decision. I was sure he was about to make the right one, by agreeing with me. Direct confrontation with resistance elements tends to stir the local population to increased levels of resistance, while backing off for a time always seems to cool them off. It’s not that we couldn’t crush this new, higher level of resistance. But why bother, when we could just wait until the humans grow bored of it? Fewer casualties that way, on both sides.
Then a prisoner admin drone approached us.
“Captain,” it said, its smooth metallic voice displaying no emotions or urgency about the situation, “there has been a breach of cell 1014-a. The prisoner in that cell has escaped, and their location is currently unknown.”
Karkan, Lenth, and I recognized the cell number immediately.
Of course. Of course it would be her. Our fierce little woman. We’d taken over five hundred prisoners onto our ship from our raid on the resistance base. Not one of them had given us so much as a whisper of trouble. But our woman, the one Karkan had selected for our personal attention, the one we were trying to flip to our side, to convince to become a Domann agent… that one, of course, is who managed to become the first person ever to actually get out of a holding cell on our ship.
I sighed. Anticipating what was coming.
Lenth grinned in triumph.
“Told you,” he said, holding out his hand. It was a symbolic gesture, and I knew full well what it meant.
With a grimace, I used my nanites to access the Domann militaries’ communications network, then proceeded to transfer a tidy sum of money from my holding account to Lenth’s. He’d bet that Liza would at least try to escape her cell. Having studied her at the end of our last encounter, I’d felt that she was prepared to at least be rational about her ability to escape, and therefore wouldn’t bother to try.
Never expect a human to be rational.
Suddenly, I noticed that Karkan was frowning.
Crap.
“How dare she?” he whispered. Then, a little louder, “after the kindness we’ve shown her, she actually breaks out of her cell?”
“There’s no accounting for humans, sir,” one of the lieutenants said. “Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been baffled by something one of them does or says.”
“Locate her,” Karkan ordered, “but do not approach her. Inform me of her location. I will deal with her personally.”
“At once, Captain,” said the drone, before it floated off.
Our ship was home to dozens of Domann. A small number for a ship this size. But it was also home to many thousands of drones.
Finding her would not take long.
“Double or nothing on how long it takes to find her?” I asked Lenth.
“You’re on,” he said. “I’ll even guess first. I say… four minutes.”
I was all but shocked by his guess. Of course, professional that I was, I kept my emotions to myself.
“That long?” I asked. “Not a chance. I’ll take under.”
“She’s smarter than you think,” Lenth said.
“That’s got nothing to do with it,” I said. “She has no way to mask her body’s heat signature-”
“We will return to the matter at hand,” Karkan ordered sternly. “The meaningless, futile efforts of a single ungrateful, obtuse, petulant human girl will not interrupt us again.”
“Sir!” responded everyone on the Captain’s Deck in rough unison.
I’ve served Karkan personally for more than thirty years. Time enough to give me a very intimate sense of his personality. Of how he would react to any given situation.
As such, I could tell that he was upset. And it wasn’t like Karkan to get upset. Especially when giving orders.
Why had he reacted that way?
But, the answer was obvious, wasn’t it?
He was taking this personally. He’d thought that Liza Strong was already feeling exactly how we wanted her to be feeling towards us.
But… that would only be hurtful to him, would only inspire such a reaction from him… if his own feelings were hurt. And if his feelings were hurt, that could only mean that he’d already developed feelings for Liza Strong.
I’d spent the least amount of time with her. Even so, after leaving her cell recently, I’d been surprised to realize that I was already quite fond of her.
But Karkan… he sounded like he was developing real feelings for her.
Why else would such an insignificant thing as a doomed escape attempt cause him to use such a tone?
We would have to talk about this.
Liza Strong wasn’t our mate. Well… probably. We were not supposed to be developing feelings for her.
A thought occurred to me then. A rather unpleasant one.
Was it possible that our plan to seduce women into either giving up intelligence or becoming agents of the Domann military… would backfire?
Would merely attempting such seductions place the three of us in a compromised position?
Was it even possible that we were already compromised?
I didn’t feel compromised. I didn’t feel like I was bound to Liza Strong in any way.
Then again, I hadn’t spent much time with her. Hadn’t been nearly as intimate with her as had Karkan. Perhaps, when my time came, I would become just as attached to her as Karkan seemed to be.
The meeting about the ground patrols continued. Karkan ordered Domann soldiers down into the city. Unwisely.
But, then, emotions do have a funny way of getting in the way of our better judgment, don’t they?
Chapter 22
Liza
Right away, I knew it had to be a trick.
I was on an orbital combat ship. A huge vessel. One more powerful than any of the old militaries, back before the invasion. Maybe more powerful than all of them.
But… there was nobody here.
Empty hallway after empty, drab, slate-grey metal hallway greeted my escape from my cell. The ceilings were high, rising above my head by several feet, but the spaces were narrow. I could easily reach out and touch both walls in each hallway I fled down.
I had no idea where I was on this ship. No idea where to go. No idea where the best place would be for me to go.
I had the vague idea that I should look for some sort of ship, or maybe an escape pod.
But none of the doors in any of the hallways had buttons on them. As such, I couldn’t open any of them. So, even if I was near some sort of launch bay, I would have had no idea how to get into it.