by Isoellen
That smell. What was it?
He paused, the bed gently rocked, and then he went back to rubbing.
It was pre-cum. He was using it like massage oil, covering Naya in his scent.
She was pretty sure that was something else not listed in the take-home material about mating.
Chapter Nine
Naya
Naya woke slowly.
She heard Monster's muffled talking, the sharp bite of his words, even if it was difficult to understand what he was saying. The door to their room was closed, the space lit by a single lamp.
If she listened carefully, she thought she could hear other noises—a scraping of dry on dry, a hurried scrambling, a shushing that wasn't human. There were creatures in the walls.
Shivering at the thought, she pulled one of Monster's shirts over herself and breathed in the comfort of his scent.
She didn't even want to imagine what could make noises in the walls of the building. The hushed sounds served as a stark reminder she wasn't in her safe, clean, organized sector anymore.
She wasn't the same person, either. Now officially and biologically an adult, Naya had become a woman in the eyes of Administration law. She could take ownership of property and make her own choices without the influence of her parents.
Naya thought she'd feel an immense sense of relief and freedom. Instead she just felt sticky and sore. Encrusted from their vigorous activities, covered in every bodily fluid she had never imagined, Naya was ready for a wash, toilet, and clothing.
She threaded her fingers through the long curling hairs of one of the strange animal skins in her nest. It must be from the Un, she decided, not a strange herd beast from the farm districts. Monster must have been stationed out there during his younger army days.
Her brothers sent her letters talking about the wonders they had seen while patrolling the Un. Older than Naya by decades, she wouldn't have known them without their letters and few brief furloughs. The three of them made life outside her home sound like an adventure.
Her mother had tried to discourage their storytelling and bawdy talk. It riled up Naya’s younger brothers and encouraged her misty-eyed daydreaming.
But her dreams hadn't included the run-down, neglected, seedy Sector 2 with its scratching and crawling things in the walls.
The first time she had ever been beyond her street and out of her sector, she'd thought herself caught in a nightmare. Now she had a mate who called himself a monster. She wouldn't expire from the pleasure he gave her. No nightmare, this.
She'd spent the last few months preparing for the adventure of picking out her own furniture and linens. Planning and preparedness was essential for a peaceful life. She liked order, predictable outcomes, and safe choices.
This place frightened her.
The building was old, made of ancient materials. The betas had carried her up several flights of stairs to get here. It could fall apart, collapse at any moment with her and Monster trapped inside.
She didn't even have any clothes.
The door opened. "What's this? Are you going to cry? I leave you for ten minutes and you're ready to cry?"
She rubbed at her eyes and stifled a humiliating hiccup. "I don't know where I am."
Monster crossed the room and picked her up, holding her as if she was a child. "You are with me."
"That's what you said before."
"And it's all that matters now. You chose me."
Naked, the monster walked them out the door he'd just come through. Naya started to protest, but the hall beyond was deserted. It had the same feel as his sleeping chambers—aged and decayed. Lined with doors, some walls had holes in them and looked patched with salvage. It was all somewhat clean, but nothing was new.
They went into the room with the box-like shower. He filled a bucket with water, explaining, "There’s no plumbing, but I control a couple of big cisterns. Unless there's a drought, we are fine, but everyone knows not to waste water. No more long, hot showers or baths for you, princess."
He let her use the toilet first, showing her how to use the bucket of water to flush the waste.
"Pour it fast. You don't need too much,” he said and tipped the bucket. She watched in fascination as the quick flow of water "flushed" the toilet.
Crowding her into the box with him, he opened the valve over her head without warning. She gave a shout and slapped at the ladder of his abdominal muscles.
"That's cold!"
"Naw. That's warm. Cold is when I have to send someone up to break it loose to get it moving."
He manhandled her, putting her where he wanted her, shutting off the flow of water and soaping her hair. She let him do as he pleased.
His hands were everywhere, returning to her breasts and nipples time and again as if they were filthy and needed extra attention. He drew her close and washed down her back and over her bottom, squeezing and shaping her flesh as he went.
"I can wash myself,” she said. His touch made her crave him until she was moaning.
He grunted. "Wish I could reach your pussy better. You are so tiny. Might be time to invest in some kind of tub. Bathing you would be worth the water."
He put her hands on his cock and showed her how he liked her to touch him. "Look at me. I want to see your emerald eyes, your pouty mouth. I dicked you so much I'm raw. I can't get enough of you."
He covered her hands with his, adding pressure, moving faster. His member jerked under the abuse, spurting creamy white cum all over his belly and their hands. She caught some of it and licked it up. She was addicted.
Addicted to him.
Naya hugged him then, trapping his still-hard cock between their bellies. She nuzzled at the hair on his chest, kissing, licking, and biting while her hands tripped over his burly shape. She found every scar within reach and loved them with her hands, her mouth, even her breasts, rubbing against him shamelessly.
"I told myself I'd leave you alone, give you a break, but then you go and do that." Turning the shower lever, he opened the water on them again before setting his hands around her waist and picking her up. "Arms around my neck. Legs around my waist."
Being held by him was an experience. Sensations and feelings poured over her like the water as she found her mark and bit him again.
He cursed.
She giggled.
He adjusted her. The unquenched, hard heat of him breached her entrance unexpectedly.
Naya gasped.
"Just a little. You make me burn. By the rod, will it ever stop? Come now, baby. Just a little fuck now. Gotta be inside you."
His head was in the crook of her neck, kissing and licking in between bursts of dirty talk. He bounced her up and down, stretching her, filling her, owning her.
"So tight. How can you always be so tight? Could do this all day and night."
When they walked back to the room, he was still inside her. He was so strong; everything he did was effortless.
Setting her on the bed, he put a little distance between their bodies so he could get between them and stimulate that demanding bundle of nerves at the top of her slit.
"Look at me in you. Connected to you. Can't believe it. They should shoot me for violating this perfect little pussy. Come on me. Come on my cock, baby," he growled.
Helpless against the onslaught of pleasure, Naya cried out and came.
"Good girl. Such a good girl."
Pulling out of her, his unsatisfied cock waved and bounced as he moved away. It was impossible for her to take her eyes off it. She wanted to grab it.
He went to the door, leaning out and returning with a basket. "Some clothes and shit here, treasure. You need to get dressed. We need to talk, and I gotta get some business taken care of. There will be more food too. I need you to eat.
"That's alright, I'm not really hungry."
"That's not what I said. You need to eat, so you will eat."
Naya huffed, but didn't argue.
The basket had drone clothes in it: loose p
ants for a man, too-long knit leggings for a woman; two unisex tunic-style tops long enough to be dresses; and underwear that looked like it might fit, but no support wear for her chest.
At home she had custom made support wear; her chest was too big for her frame and she would hurt without it.
She picked out the underwear, loose pants, and one of the tunics. With her unbound breasts, it would not be a proper fit.
"Monster, may I wear one of your shirts?" Naya asked while struggling with it.
"Everything you do is fuckin' cute and sexy,” he said. He was wearing his own loose pants now, his cock tucked down one leg, but still stubbornly hard so that she could actually see the length of it and was tempted to put her hands on it again.
Bringing her a shirt from his rack, he held it out of reach, taking a moment to pay homage to her chest. His hands lifted, shaped, and plucked at her nipples before he dipped in for a taste.
"Never gonna get out of this room. What trouble you are. I should give these breasts a whipping for this blatant show."
"Wh-What?"
He sucked hard at one breast while brushing his hand over the nipple of the other. "These are gonna fill up nice for my child. They’ll get even bigger, sweeter."
He played just long enough to get her all worked up and ruin the underwear she had on, then helped her get the too-small tunic off and dress herself in his roomier one.
His shirt was too long in the arms, gaped at the neck, and hung on her like a giant sack down to her knees.
"I'm going to need some support wear. I can't go around loose like this."
"I don't have anything like that. I wasn't planning on taking a mate. You can ask for one, but it might take a little time. Not a lot of shops and shit around here for women."
"I can bind them if you have some fabric or a bandage."
"Bind them? Wrap them up and flatten those beauties? No. Don't even think it."
"But—"
Monster snarled. "I said no. Naya."
This was exactly one of the reasons she'd wanted Crispin. He would never think to get in the way of women's business he didn't understand. This male thought nothing of throwing out a subject he didn't understand. What did he know about big breasts, how they hurt, or how cumbersome they felt? He didn't know anything.
She took the comb she found in the basket. Raking it through her wet curls and snarls in sharp, frustrated strokes, she swallowed down her comments about his highhandedness.
This was the type of bossy male she hadn't wanted in her life. She didn't need an alpha to tell her what to do or how to dress. She wasn't some idiot breeder doll who wanted a daddy to direct and control her every step. She was perfectly capable of managing herself, thank you very much.
She should have been watching him.
Putting his hand at her neck, grip firm, he tipped her head back so that she had to look at him. He growled the kind of growl that made her insides clench in pleasure and slick leak out of her.
It wasn't as pronounced as it had been during her heat, but if he kept doing that, she'd have a noticeable wet spot on her pants. It was so easy to envision a future where she walked around all the time looking like she'd peed herself.
Oh, help her. That was not something she had wanted either. She closed her eyes.
"Look. At. Me."
She didn't want to.
Monster tightened his grasp, using his hold to pull her up high on her knees. Towering over her, he growled in her ear, his lips just brushing her there, a whisper of touch to her cheek and forehead. The sound was pure dominance.
Her body loved it.
"Do I need to fuck you boneless, Naya?" he asked. "Is that what you want? I'm the mate you chose, and you will do as I say without any eye rolling or those little thoughts you were just having."
"Monster," she whispered. She was insane. She had to be. Because right now all her little thoughts were on bending over and begging him to use her.
She couldn't take her focus off his black eyes dancing over her face to her lips, which suddenly felt hot and swollen, then back to her green ones. A tremor of desire went through her, shaking her whole body.
Her heat was over. It was okay to be the needy slut during a heat. It was normal. There was nothing normal about wanting to mate again because her alpha was getting dominant. He robbed her of her self-control, took her over.
She never wanted this.
But she watched her hands reach out for him, slide over his naked chest, and try to bring his delicious strength and power close so that she could sink into it. She gave him a needy whimper.
"Pretty mate,” he said in his low, gravelly voice. He kissed her forehead before burying his face in the damp hair at her neck, scenting her just below her ear. "I need to get out of this room a bit. Have a conversation. Get some shit done. Stop distracting me or we will be here another eight hours."
"Okay."
"Okay." He took a deep breath, went to the clothes rack, and finished dressing.
At home, even with cream to soften and detangle it, working a comb through Naya’s hair took ages. Rolling around in bed, washing it, and then not at least braiding it had left her with impossible snarls.
Monster came over to help her, carding his fingers through the hair on the back of her head, gentle and patient while Naya was frustrated.
Finally finished with the mess of it, she started to braid it, but he stopped her. Grabbing her hand, he kissed her knuckles.
"No. leave it."
Naya pouted. She didn't want to leave it. It would be a mess in minutes and then she'd be working at the snarls all over again.
Standing over her, his head above hers, he picked up handfuls of her hair and rubbed his face in it, purring.
She left it.
Shoeless, chest jiggling, she followed as he guided her down the hall with his hand between her shoulder blades. They entered another room, oblong-shaped and empty, which appeared to run through the center of the building. He was using it as a shortcut to get to the other side of the structure and their destination.
They stood at the entrance as he inspected the place and said thoughtfully, "Need to get you something comfortable to sit on in here, a bed maybe. Fuck my life, never thought there would be a woman in it."
He took her over to a chair by a wide desk. When he sat down, he pulled her into his lap.
She didn't mind too much.
On the desk was a data pad, a big book that looked like a ledger, and writing pens. Everything was lined up in a row.
Nudging the data pad a bit, he lined it up with the bottom edge of the ledger before picking it up and activating it.
Neat and orderly.
When he started typing on it, she didn't know what she was supposed to do with herself until he said, "So, Naya, daughter of Ratmhir Zell, you were to be married to a pup named Crispin?"
She startled at the familiar names. He must have looked up her registration number. She hadn't even realized he'd seen it.
"Five brothers, one sister. Your mother's line dates to the 12 Sectors’ founding. Nice. You really are a princess. Tell me about this Crispin."
She cleared her throat. His question sounded dangerous.
"I thought you challenged him,” she said evasively. "I imagined you had won the challenge. All that blood. But that wasn't him, or a challenge, was it?"
"Don't doubt I would have challenged him for you. The smell of you turned my monster the fuck on. But no, that wasn't him. That was Tenbel and two of his black crow boys. You were drugged. I didn't realize that until later. Until the shower."
He had her tucked against him, her head on his wide shoulder and her legs dangling over one side.
She felt a shaft of tension go through him, as if all his muscles hardened in resolve, then relaxed as a decision was made.
"You were drugged with a common combination given to women to make them unable to respond to a situation. It dulls your senses, makes you feel detached while you are being roughly hand
led. I saw your eyes, but I was in a drugged state as well and had even less control than you. Do I need to apologize to you for taking you that way? I can't regret it. But I don't want you to feel violated."
"You were taking drugs?"
"No. Not like that. It's difficult to explain. I was in a place in my head that leaves me disconnected from rational thinking. It happens to me sometimes. Anger issues."
He kept his eyes on her, watching her face intently. His own placid expression attempted to hide the concern she felt leaking through their bond.
"Anger issues? That was a lot of blood for anger issues. You were covered in it head to toe," Naya said in a small voice. At the time, drugged and triggered into her heat by his smell, she had thought the blood magnificent. Remembering it now, it had been gruesome.
"Are you afraid of me now?"
Disgusted with herself, yes. Afraid of him, no. The question was insulting.
"Do I smell afraid of you?" she shot back.
The cough in his throat sounded like a choked-back bark of laughter.
"Why did you kill them?" she asked.
"We will get to them. You haven't told me about your intended. Your records show a fully filed and approved contract. You were going to be formally bonded after your second estrus, I assume. Did someone pick him for you, or did you pick him yourself?"
He typed on the pad. She couldn't see what he was doing, but she could guess. The Administration liked to keep track of everything. Privacy was a non-issue. Her life, all her medical records, schooling, family—everything was stored in a public database that anyone with an entry code could access. Crispin's information would be there as well.
"Recently retired from the Administration army, done with King's duty, he didn't do any extra service. His records show he didn't have an aptitude for leadership and his superiors suggested he stay in the Admin army longer. Did you know that?"
Naya gave a small nod. It wasn't anything Monster was saying or doing, but his review of Crispin's record shamed her. She knew he was a weaker, younger alpha. It was why she’d wanted him.
He was nothing compared to a male like Monster.
