WarDog: Book Twelve in the Galaxy Gladiators Alien Abduction Romance Series

by Alana Khan

  Maddie

  I’m on fire. Oh, Stryker’s doing it again. I love when he wakes me like this, my core already dripping wet, my nipples hard as diamonds, my hips thrusting. Sometimes I wake with a little moan on my lips, like now.

  “Stryker,” I whisper. He likes when I say his name. It’s the least I can do to please him.

  His thick, calloused fingers pluck my nipples just the way that quickens my pulse and makes me wet. I roll onto my back and open my thighs, giving him complete access to me.

  “Maddie,” he growls, biting back the things I know he wants to say.

  Damn. It’s going to be one of those nights. Sometimes I can shut out my shitty thoughts and just dive into the physical pleasure. I can already tell tonight won’t be that night. The snakes in my head are coming out to play in full force. Screaming at me, chastising me, deriding me.

  You’re such a fucking bitch to him, one of my many inner critics scolds. Great. Even the heckler is on duty tonight.

  I redouble my efforts to take pleasure from Stryker’s sexy hands, his deep breathing, his hard cock pulsing against my thigh. When that doesn’t stop the contemptuous voices in my head, I wiggle out of his grip and push him onto his back, then dive for his cock.

  His hard cock in my mouth is one of the only things guaranteed to keep the crazy thoughts out of my head. Ahh, yes. It’s working.

  I love everything about this male’s body. Every plane, every muscle, the shallow divots on his flanks, and the little ones on either side of the base of his spine. My fingers adoringly explore his ropey shoulder muscles. When we're not in the thick of things, I even like the soft hair under his arms. I like everything about this body.

  It’s hard and masculine and tastes good. Even when he comes in from the ludus after sparring. When he tries to jump in the shower before I attack him, I’ll catch him just to snatch a taste of his salty tang.

  I like his face. I know he’s self-conscious about his scars, but I don’t see them anymore. I just see the compassionate male beneath his skin. I wish I could see him now, but I can’t bear to have the lights on during sex. I don’t like the way I look, which makes it hard for me to find my pleasure. Since the lights are on now, I’ll keep my eyes closed.

  Right now, though, with his thick cock in my mouth, all the writhing snakes in my head are finally silenced. It’s just me and him. A fucking miracle.

  I cup his balls in my palm and roll them just the way he likes.

  “Maddie,” he says on a deep sexy groan.

  That’s right Stryker, no one deserves pleasure more than you. I swirl my tongue and roll his balls and then flick his frenulum; it’s his very favorite place.

  “You’re trying to kill me, L—” He thinks he caught himself in time, but he just awakened all the snakes. Shit. I thought we were going to get to the finish alone this time--just him and me without the snakes. Not tonight, I guess.

  But he’ll never know. I want him to think I didn’t hear him almost call me ‘Love’. In fact, I speed up, bobbing my head, moaning in pleasure, providing more pressure with my lip-covered teeth. He’s panting, his thick fingers taking extra effort to be gentle on my shoulders, so I don’t feel like he’s forcing me onto his cock.

  He doesn’t need to compel me to do this. I love it. I love giving him physical pleasure. It’s the only thing I’m capable of giving.

  “Gotta slow down, Mads,” he says as he flips me onto my back and maneuvers between my legs in one swift move.

  Two hundred pounds of gladiator muscle is crouched between my thighs with one mission and one mission only. This man wants to hear me come.

  He won’t be satisfied with a faint little moan, either. He won’t stop until I’m screaming loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear. We’re a little family. My screaming orgasms quit embarrassing me before we even staged our insurrection, when we were in the cell block. There’s no way to hide them, and they make him so fucking happy.

  I guess a few good things came from his gladiator training. He has the stamina of five males, and he had to train with his non-dominant hand, so this male is ambidextrous in all the right ways.

  He can finger fuck me with one, and practically bring me to orgasm with the other just plucking my nipples.

  “You just keep getting better at that,” I tell him between gasping pants as my head thrashes against the pillow. I pull my knees up, my heels flat on the mattress, and can’t contain my urge to press his beautiful head even harder against my clit.

  I come with a grunt, then a long, howling moan. Somehow, he knows what every wordless noise and changing pitch means. He knows when to get right down to business, and when to back off to prolong my ecstasy.

  Tonight, I just want it hard and fast, and the red male is delivering it as if he had a written playbook.

  He strings three orgasms together, first using one finger, then two, then a third. He does the come-hither thing just when I think I’m rolling to a stop, and amps me up for several more releases. It’s only now that he gives me what I truly desire—that beautiful cock.

  I’m slippery with my own release, he needs no help to enter me in one long, hard, delicious drive.

  “That’s right, Stryker. Right where you belong,” I whisper as I feel my inner muscles quiver against him, setting off a chain reaction of explosions—mine and his. I love to feel his come jet into me. It never fails to make me feel so feminine, and somehow cared for and owned. The snakes always go away, at least for a moment, after he comes.

  I pull him down onto me, our bodies hot and sweaty. I lick his pec with the tip of my tongue so I can go to sleep with his taste in my mouth.

  I let him cuddle me after sex. It’s the only time I allow it. And now the snakes come back to play, hissing at me, deriding me for ‘allowing’ anything in a relationship like this. I’m an awful person. I know it.

  With two people, one shouldn’t have power over the other. But it’s the only way I can bear to be in a cabin alone with him. If he didn’t follow my rules, my edicts, I’d never be able to tolerate him walking through the doorway.

  ~.~

  I wake early, today like every day. Stryker’s gone, just as I expected. I laid down the ground rules the day we were freed: no words of endearment, no praises about my looks, no sleeping over unless expressly requested, and if so, be gone when I arise.

  Bitch, my heckler hisses.

  No shit, is my honest reply.

  I need to get going, an entire ship full of people are going to be in the dining room wanting breakfast in an hour and I don’t have time to dawdle.

  Except I can’t force myself out of bed.

  I knew this was coming. It’s why I tried to keep him at arm’s length since the day we met. I knew I could fall for him quick and hard if I allowed it. How could I resist the gentle giant? Look at his big, strong hands, yet they touch me with such exquisite tenderness. And the way he looks at me, the way he’s looked at me almost from the moment we met. God, what woman doesn’t dream of a male gazing at her with adoration?

  I didn’t want to taint him. I didn’t want my snakes to infect him, too. But here we are. Does he think he’s sly? Does he really think I don’t know he sneaks into the bathroom at night and turns on the light just so he can look at me? Does he think his little slips where he almost says the “L” word trick me?

  I know how he gazes at me with longing when he doesn’t think I notice. And it breaks my heart that I can’t reciprocate.

  Hot tears flow down my cheeks. Tears of sadness. And self-loathing, too. Don’t forget that.

  I’m getting worse. I knew this was coming.

  I’ve fought depression since my teens. It waxes and wanes. Some days are worse, some are better, but on the whole, the really dark times come every few years. Those are the periods when no meds help. There’s no ‘better living through chemistry’ that I used to joke about with my friends.

  No, there are periods that sometimes go on for years where I gut through the debilitat
ing depression through sheer fucking strength of will. Today I can feel it coming after me fast and hard. And outer space doesn’t have Prozac.

  As much as I love the salty taste of Stryker’s skin, I hate the salty taste of my tears. I pound my fist on my thigh and try to pull myself together.

  I’m going to have to do it. I’ve avoided it since the first day we met. I thought if he followed my rules, we could keep what we have within my set parameters. But I’ve hurt him. I know it. I don’t know how I deluded myself for a year, pretending what I was doing was okay.

  Before I fall into the deep chasm of the worst of my depression, I’ve got to send him away. I’ve got to save him from me, protect him from the black hole of my emotions and my need. He’s too good; he deserves so much better, better than me. I don’t want to drag him down with me.

  I hurtle off the bed, perform the world’s quickest shower, and skid to a stop in my kitchen within ten minutes.

  I cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all souls onboard every day of the year--nonstop. It keeps me as sane as I can get. And I get accolades, which helps, even if some days it feels like they’re praising someone other than myself because I’m cocooned inside myself so far I feel hollow.

  Around eight a.m. when everyone rolls in, I put on my Maddie persona and do my chef thing. As far as anyone on the ship knows, I’m the happiest female they’ve ever met. I don’t talk, I sing. I think I developed it by watching Oprah who kind of sings her words sometimes. Only I do it constantly.

  My depression is my little secret. No one knows. I didn’t even divulge it to Dr. Drayke. I’m certain the galaxy doesn’t understand human serotonin and dopamine. I mean, we’re illegal up here, except that it seems everybody and their brother are abducting us.

  “Biscuits and gravy,” I call cheerily to the dining room, which is half full. “Eggs will be there in a minute.”

  Click on Stryker’s cover to order now.

  Who’s Who and Glossary

  Galaxy Gladiators:

  Zar and Anya—The feline captain of the Fool’s Errand and Anya led the insurrection against their masters and freed all twenty slaves on the original ship. They are loving life mates.

  Shadow and Petra—Shadow could pass for human except for his bionic parts, although he’s from planet Morgana. His mate, Petra, is a hairdresser.

  Tyree (Tie-REE) and Grace—Tyree morphed from a three-foot-tall non-sexual being to a huge alpha male. His mate, Grace is known throughout the galaxy for her ethereal musical compositions.

  Devolose and Tawny—(Dev-AH-lose rhymes with dose) This mated pair left the Galaxy Gladiators to join Dev’s cousin, Thantose, in the Galaxy Pirates series.

  Dr. Drayke sun Omron (AHM-ron) and Nova—Nova came aboard after her arm was sliced off in a gladiator fight. Originally an MMA fighter, after she was abducted from Earth, she was trained as a gladiator. She now assists her mate, Drayke in medbay.

  Axxios (AXX-ee-ose), Braxxus (BRAX-us), and Brianna—All males of this species are born as twins—one silver and one gold. The gold of the pair is more dominant. They fell hard for Brianna, a BBW massage therapist with a heart big enough to love them both.

  Sirius (SEAR-ee-us) and Aliyah (aa·LEE·ya)—Born a geneslave with genetic material from different animal species, Sirius found his mate on planet Nativus. Aliyah was an Earth girl abducted young and nurtured by her native father. Her mother and father’s story is told in the novelette, Jax-Xon.

  Dax and Dahlia—Dahlia was ripped from her life on Earth just days before her wedding. She had to adjust to life in space before she could realize how compelling her feelings were for huge gladiator, Dax.

  Beast and Aerie (EH-ree)

  Beast and Aerie joined the crew when they and three others were rescued from a slave ship. Beast is a Premier Gladiator (one of only ten in the Galaxy), and Aerie was stolen from her life as a Sports Attorney. She had a love for Louboutins and now prefers flipflops with chartreuse alien eyes.

  Ar’tok (ARE-tock) and Star

  Ar’Tok had just been freed from jail right when he was rescued from a slave ship along with Beast and Aerie. A shy male, he meets human Star through midnight comms. Their love blossoms concurrent with Wrage and Elyse’s book. This couple are not in the bang district, though. They’re on the more respectable part of the planet. Happy Blessed Peace Day.

  Wrage (Rage) and Elyse (uh LEASE)

  Recently freed from slavery as a gladiator, Wrage heckles Elyse mercilessly in her position as a slave singing in a bar. Elyse agrees to Wrage’s drunken marriage proposal, believing it will garner her freedom from both him and her owner. Little do they know that on the Pleasure planet there is no such thing as divorce.

  Galaxy Pirates:

  Sextus (SEX-tus) and Lexa

  Sextus and Lexa begin on very bad terms and are throw together on a planet where she has to be subservient to him. He redeems his previous bad behavior by risking his life to save her. They were mated on his planet, Ceruleous.

  Thantose (THAN-tose) The ‘th’ is pronounced like the ‘th’ in thought and Brin

  The captain of the pirate ship had no desire for a mate until his protective instincts, and libido, were brought to life by Brin. Thantose is known for his love of theft, credits, the game of klempto, but most all his love for his mate.

  Ssly (rhymes with fly) and Carrie

  Ssly, a hover-chariot racer, keeps to himself to care for his adopted human daughter, Tru. He wants nothing to do with Carrie but needs her help to get Tru the medical help she needs. The two fell in love and the little family settled on Ssly’s home planet.

  Slag and KJ

  Slag is the green, pebbled giant so debilitated by the effects of the irradiated green salt ore he can’t talk and barely think. KJ is thrown into the mine as punishment by her new owner. Together they fall in love and go on adventures. One of which involves the adorable dreambaby pictured here.

  Glossary

  Drack—the perfect all-purpose expletive. It’s a noun, it’s a verb, it’s an adjective.

  Fierto—foot

  Hoara—hour

  Ince—inch

  mille—mile

  Minima—minute

  Modicum—second

  Lunar or lunar cycle—month