Dani licks her lips. “Can I try one?”
I step in her way, blocking her reach. “You’re talking about drugs,” I say to Vahree. I can already imagine what Prust would say about the dangers of taking unknown alien pills.
Vahree nods. “Technically, yes.”
“Pass. I can’t have my people getting hooked on drugs.”
“They’re not addictive,” he replies.
“Why can’t we try them?” Dani asks.
“Because we can’t let ourselves get dependent on them. I said no.”
Vahree puts away the pills, glaring at me. “Think it over, Alexis. You may change your mind later.”
“Fine. What else do you have in mind for trade?”
He sighs. “Well, as much as you need effective labor, so do we. The Venai always have need for more able hands. If you can spare a few of your workers, their earnings will more than make up for their absence. They will also learn a great deal about trade in the Blight and be able to share their experiences with everyone here.”
While it’s true we don’t have many workers to spare, this idea is far more palatable.
“Will the work be dangerous?”
Vahree shrugs. “Space travel always carries some risk, but we don’t have many of our people left to spare, so we try to stay as safe as possible.”
“Understandable,” I say. I suppose that makes sense. “Dani, what do you think?”
“Sounds fun,” she replies, eyes glued to Vahree.
Yeah, I thought she’d say that. “I can ask my people for volunteers. I’m sure some will be excited by the idea.”
“Alexis, I can’t have unqualified, overeager neophytes working with us. We need capable individuals who will be prepared for anything. You’re the leader. You will need to pick people fit to serve with us and ensure their compliance.”
I shake my head, hands turned upward in disbelief. “Are you out of your mind? I’m not ordering my people to do anything of the sort. I’m their leader, not their queen. I can’t and won’t force that on them.”
Vahree rises to his feet, glaring at me. My heart leaps, thinking he’s walking out of our meeting, but he turns and paces around, brushing back his hair. As I watch him, my nanites relate to my mind a new warning: the amount of his allure in the room is increasing. He’s secreting it right now.
“I’d gladly volunteer,” Dani interjects. “It would be an amazing adventure.”
His smile renewed, Vahree sits back down next to her. “Oh, it would be. Salvaging derelict ships from the gravity wells of black holes... capturing exotic creatures from distant worlds to sell at auction... meeting aliens from thousands of civilizations... being free to explore the Blight while answering to nobody... It’s more than any human has ever dreamed about.”
“It sounds amazing,” Dani says, her jaw hanging open.
“It sounds sad,” I counter. “Not having a place to call home, leaving behind people who care about you... and if something happened, you could disappear without a trace. No one would ever know how or why you died. I wouldn’t want to live that way.”
My nanites sound the alarm: alien pheromone levels in the room are rising steadily.
“Let’s circle back to that later,” says Vahree. “We should take a break, have a little fun.” He reaches into his jacket and retrieves a thin metal flask. “Can you get a few glasses?”
“I’ll get them!” Dani practically shouts, launching from the bed.
Prust was right, wasn’t he? Dani can’t help herself one bit. She’s practically panting. If not for his nanites, I’d probably be acting the same way.
“We shouldn’t,” I say as Dani sets out three tumblers. “We don’t know if that’s safe to drink, for humans.”
“I’ve scanned, and it’s fine,” Vahree replies. “This is laksa wine—an inexpensive but delicious drink I can trade to your colony in great quantity. People living on the fringe need to unwind at the end of the day, and I doubt you brought enough liquor to last for more than a few months.”
He’s right about that. No matter how much we joked about alcohol being considered an essential supply, we couldn’t justify bringing a lot of it when we needed food and medicine. At the same time, founding a distillery or brewery is not high up on the list of priorities. Obtaining alcohol in trade could be a good solution.
Dani takes the glass Vahree pours, but I wrap my hand around it before she can drink. “You don’t know what’s in that.”
“It’s just booze,” she snarls at me. “Vahree’s not going to poison us, Lex. That would be pretty stupid, don’t you think?”
She does have a point; it wouldn’t go well for trade if he killed the leader of the colony. He’d be lucky to get off this planet alive.
“Fine, let me try it,” I say, forcing the glass from her hand. I’ve got nanites, and the health monitor. If there’s something toxic in the wine, better for me to drink it than Dani.
Vahree sets his hand on Dani’s shoulder. “Let her have it. There’s plenty more where that came from.”
Dani lets go, and I give the alien a withering stare as I test sip the laksa. Though the drink is sweet and tasty as Vahree says, my nanites immediately alert me to the fact that the wine is loaded with allure.
Unbelievable. How can he be so brazen? Is this how he wins over his trading partners? Does he think I’m stupid, or that he can take advantage of me biologically? I can’t believe I felt sympathy for him after his sob story about being exiled. If this is what the Venai are really like, then the Dominars were right to invade and exile them!
Sneering, I throw the rest of the wine in Vahree’s face.
“Alexis!” Dani shouts. “What the fuck?”
I grab her hand and yank her off the bed. “Come on.”
Wiping his face with his hand, Vahree sidesteps into my path. “What was that for?”
“You’re acting crazy!” Dani screams, trying to throw me off.
“He tried to drug us!” I shout back. “Get out of my way,” I say to him.
Vahree’s fury breaks through his facade for just a second, then vanishes behind a hurt expression. “I’d never—”
My fist crashes against his nose with every last bit of frustration and fear and anger I can muster. He staggers back, his face red.
“Save it, Vahree. You have twenty minutes to vacate the planet. Never come back.”
I don’t wait for him to respond; this time I pull Dani so hard I nearly dislocate her shoulder, but she follows me.
“You crazy bitch, what the hell did you do?” she screams.
“He drugged you,” I snap at her. “He tried to drug me. It’s a Venai thing, just trust me.”
“Let go, Lex!” she says, trying to pry off my fingers.
“Dani, you trust me, right? Listen to me!”
She stops, but she keeps seething. As we walk toward Prust’s residence, I explain quickly about the Venai allure and that my nanites protected me. By the time I’m done, Dani’s calmed down a bit, probably since we’re free of the pheromones.
“I can’t believe you got nanites,” she says.
“Yeah,” I reply. “Me too.”
Prust is waiting for us when we arrive. We come in, and I give him the rundown of what happened. From my vitals, he knew I’d been pretty angry, and could guess why.
“Dani, please go use my cleaning station. Wash yourself thoroughly—his allure is still on your skin, you’ll want to clean it off.”
“Okay,” she says, shivering.
“Hey,” I add. “If we’re not here when you get out, stay put, okay?”
“Sure,” she replies, then heads off.
I turn to Prust and kiss him. “You were right about Vahree.”
He smiles. “I know. But thank you for saying it.”
Groaning, I feel the plug still lodged in my backside, now that my adrenaline rush is wearing off. The device Prust put on me still clings to my body. “When Vahree leaves, you’ll take this thing off, right?�
��
“Yes, pet. Though you’re going to have to earn it.”
I knew he was going to say that. “Yes, sir.”
Prust kisses me once more. He holds me close and makes me feel his hunger. In his embrace, the Vahree’s vile, subliminal scent vanishes into the ether. Prust replaces it with a reminder that I belong to him and no one else, that I am his to enjoy, to protect, and to love. I kiss him with the promise that I will be his, that I will obey him and that the future we make, we make together. We linger in our kiss, as if we could shut out the entire universe, frozen in a perfect moment. His lips grasp greedily for mine, his breath pants in rhythm with mine—for a time, we are as close to being one as I’ve ever experienced, and I’d give anything for it to never end. However, when it does, at least I know it’s just one kiss of many more to come—once we get rid of Vahree.
“Come on,” he says, as if reading my mind. “Let’s go make sure he leaves.”
Chapter Nineteen
Prust and I walk fast on our way back to the settlement. My plug jostles with each step, but I don’t mind. I feel amazing. Throwing that drink in Vahree’s face was immensely satisfying. Though I’d rather not admit it, the nanites saved me from falling victim to a manipulative asshole. I have Prust to thank for that, and I intend to show my gratitude in every way imaginable.
However, Prust’s face hardens as we get close to the colony center.
“What is it?”
“You’ll see, come on.”
He picks up his pace until we’re jogging. When we arrive, I nearly scream.
“That’s right, sir. We have access to all kinds of robots, anything from worker bots to fully armed sentinels,” Vahree explains, standing on the stage I left just a short while ago.
Only a few dozen colonists have gathered around to listen, but I see more approaching from nearly every angle. My nanites report there’s more allure in the air.
“What about medicine?” asks Martina Green.
“I’m sure what we have can be applied to human physiology,” Vahree replies. “And I’m sure we can treat many ailments that still plague humanity to this day.”
As the crowd murmurs excitedly, my heart pounds. I’m just about ready to throttle this piece of crap.
“Oh, we’ve got entertainment,” he says, smiling at Freddie Robertson. “You name it, some corner of the Blight has made it. You sign a contract with us, and you’ll be able to buy it by the truckload. The riches of the galaxy can all be yours!”
“Hey! What the fuck?”
Marching onto the stage, I’m about to punch Vahree again when Prust takes my wrist.
“I told you to leave. This doesn’t look like leaving.”
Vahree smirks. “You said it yourself: you’re not the queen. If your people want to trade with me, you can’t stop them.”
Like hell I can’t.
“This man can’t be trusted!” I shout. “He’s been drugging us since he got here! He’ll take advantage of us. He has to go!”
Vahree steps forward and looks out into the crowd. “She’s only saying that because her Dominar boyfriend told her to!”
“Liar!” I scream, fists balled. I would rip this alien to pieces if Prust let me go.
“He turned Alexis against me!” Vahree continues. “He couldn’t stand me moving in on his woman and you’re all going to lose out because of it!”
How Prust manages to keep his cool, I don’t understand.
“I made you many great offers, and they want to throw it all away!” Vahree finishes.
“He wants to sell you drugs and liquor, then take you away from the colony to help him sell more! That’s not what this colony needs right now. We need to stick together, to make this planet our home independently!”
“Except for your Dominar friend,” Vahree snaps, pointing at Prust. “He has all of you under his thumb, but with my help, you can be free!”
“We don’t know who this person really is or what he really wants!” I counter. “He shows up with a nice smile and a generous offer but we have no idea what his real intentions are. We need to be careful! We can’t trust him!”
Vahree snorts. “That’s rich, considering you shacked up with a Dominar and didn’t tell your people about it until just now.”
I buck against Prust’s grip but he doesn’t let go. “At least we’ve known the Dominars for years. We’ve seen what they do and what they want. You’re just some piece of space trash who drugs people to get your way.”
“I have a natural charm, it’s true. But Prust is no different. I use what nature gave me—he uses machines that take over your brain.”
“Your ‘charm’ got your people exiled from their world,” Prust cuts in, finally letting me go. He steps toward Vahree, getting in my path. “We use our nanites to protect people, not control them.”
Vahree turns to the crowd, which has now grown to more than half the colony. “Who are you going to believe?” he asks. “An alien who oppressed you and forced you from your home world, or an alien whose people suffered the same fate and know how to survive in the Blight? The oppressed need to band together, not join with their oppressors!”
The crowd cheers for Vahree.
“The Dominars aren’t oppressors!” I shout, but the applause from the audience is too loud. “Listen to me!” I belt, using my nanites to amplify my voice. This gets the noise to dwindle, but not completely.
“For the good of the colony, I’ve ordered Vahree to leave, and that’s what he’s going to do. We can discuss the matter of alien trade later, if we find someone trustworthy to trade with.”
When I hear the first of the booing my jaw drops. I haven’t heard any directed at me since I left Earth. Soon more people voice their displeasure, until finally someone yells, “Step down, Alexis!”
“Yeah, step down!”
I look to Prust; he takes my hand again and gives it a squeeze. What can either of us do?
“Step. Down. Alexis!” they shout again and again, with more of the voices in unison with each chant.
Vahree flashes a malicious smirk. “Thank you!” he calls out, getting the mob to settle down. “Thank all of you! On behalf of the Venai people, we appreciate your support. I promise you I am a man of honor, and as such I must follow the decree of a planet’s ruling body. I was asked to leave, and I will. But I will return with a great bounty of opportunity for your colony. I hope that when I do, your leader has rethought her position, or that you’ve rethought your leader!”
Fresh cheers ring out. “Vahree, Vahree, Vahree!” my people shout as I hustle away.
At least he’s leaving, I tell myself, trying to find some consolation. The second I’m out of sight, I lose the fight to keep my composure. Tears draw wet trails down my cheeks. Vahree ripped away the world I’ve built and he did it with ease. These are my people, aren’t they? How could they turn on me like this? I’d like to believe Vahree’s pheromones clouded their judgment, but truthfully I know my relationship with Prust drove them away. In their position, without knowing what I know, I’d probably feel the same way. I should have told my people about us much sooner; I could have gotten them to understand our relationship and grow comfortable with it over time.
I hear Prust behind me, his heavy footsteps thudding in the grass. He catches up to me and takes my hand, but doesn’t say anything. I lead us back to my tent and lie down in my bunk; Prust sits on the floor next to me, keeping my hand in his.
“When Vahree comes back, you have my permission to shoot him down,” I say.
Prust grunts a dark laugh. “Who says I was going to ask next time?”
I turn onto my side and kiss him. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. “I should have listened earlier.”
“It’s going to be okay,” he says. “Vahree’s not coming back. He knows what I’ll do to him if he tries.”
I don’t know if that’s true or Prust’s just trying to comfort me, but I hope he’s right.
“Get up, pet,” he says.
Too tired to argue, I do as he says. I stand still, letting him pull down my pants, revealing the Dominar device that’s been locked to my body. With a click, the belt opens up, splitting in two, and gently floats away, taking the plug with it. I groan loudly as the toy slips out of my ass, sore from its lengthy presence.
“Want me to make you feel better?” he asks.
“Yes, sir.”
It occurs to me that I could use my nanites to not feel so sore, but I don’t mind the mild pain. I’ve gotten so used to it, and it’s almost hard to imagine having an orgasm without it. I’m sure I can blame Prust for that.
He sets me down on my bunk, lying me on my back for once, then pushes my thighs apart. I gasp as he lowers himself to his knees and leans in to kiss my swollen pussy. Moaning, I clutch my bed sheets and shut my eyes.
Prust’s tongue explores my folds eagerly, rubbing against my clit in tight circles. He grips my knees, keeping my legs well spread and my pussy totally exposed. My chest heaves as waves of euphoria rip through me. I writhe in place, lifted higher and higher with each movement of his tongue. My pussy aches for more. I have to fight the instinct to grind my hips, knowing that Prust’s doing exactly what he wants to do. I know he’s going to make me come; I can be patient and let him get me there, even if that means letting him go slow.
“Like that, pet?” he asks.
“Yes,” I murmur. “Please don’t stop.”
He doesn’t—he goes even faster, vigorously licking my soaked entrance. Overwhelmed by pleasure, I quiver in place; if not for Prust, I’m not sure I could hold still. I want to explode with bliss. All of my fury at Vahree drifts into the back of my mind, pushed aside by the incredible ecstasy.
When I come, I let out a soundless scream, my jaw stretched to the point of hurting. I remember that we’re in my tent, not Prust’s residence, and I don’t want the entire colony to hear me. As the leader, I never wanted to be the subject of muffled laughter and I still don’t. At least now I won’t have to sneak around with Prust, seeking him out on lunch breaks. The two of us can walk right through the settlement, hand in hand. We can kiss at the cafeteria table in plain sight. I haven’t thought about that at all until now; the mental picture of us sends a fresh surge of bliss through me, erupting in a mind-bending orgasm.
His Human Subject Page 14
