by Raven Dark
Looking at Raul in the low light of the ship, it was hard to tell his age. I thought he looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, but right then, he looked… worn, like a man who’d been through so much. I wondered if he was a lot older. I could see the worry in him, the concern for his world, his people weighing on him.
Unwilling empathy for him tugged at me. I remained where I was, unwilling to get any closer to him than I needed to, in case I ended up trying to comfort him.
Tarku ran back to him with the prickly ball in his mouth. Raul murmured something tender to him and took the ball, throwing it tiredly across the room for him. Then his eyes turned to me.
“Kahn.” The single word came out throaty, like he was on the verge of dropping off as he gestured to me.
I sighed and walked over to him. Still reclining in his chair, he gestured to the floor between his knees and rasped what sounded like an order.
My back stiffened, unexplained fear twisting up my spine. I didn’t have to understand his words to know what he expected of me—to kneel on the floor at his feet. And I hated the twinge of something else, that rightness settling under my skin.
I should have been doing what he said, kneeling at his feet, but I couldn’t make myself do it. All the things, all the crazy, dirty, nasty things he might be planning to do to me raced through my head, each one keeping me frozen in place.
What would he do once I knelt?
11
Understanding Them
I’d done a lot of stupid things since coming to this planet, I knew that. Hitting Malek after he’d killed Gwen. Running from Raul last night when he’d…wanted what was his. But here and now, I knew there was another reason—an insane, ridiculous reason—I couldn’t make myself kneel at his feet. And it wasn’t my pride, though that played a huge role.
There was just something about Raul that always made me want to push him. He was so arrogant, so demanding, so fucking full of himself. He needed to see that when he said jump, not everyone said how high.
If not me, then who?
When I didn’t leap to obey his command, his eyes glinted with knowing. He knew what I was doing.
Without even sitting up in his seat, his fist closed around the leash, and he jerked me toward him. Giving the same order, only with more words. He didn’t raise his voice above a whisper, but it hardened with a touch of warning.
He’d probably threatened me with some sort of punishment if I didn’t obey. That warning in his voice, like steel hidden under silk, caused my heart to pound faster, serving as a warning of its own. If I didn’t kneel now, I’d be in more trouble than I was ready for.
I dropped to my knees.
He still didn’t remove the muzzle. Instead, those golden eyes drank in every inch of me. His fingers reached out, skating over the line of my jaw and chin, tracing the front of my throat. Down to the opening of my poncho and the slave’s dress underneath where it left my neck and part of my chest exposed.
His fingers left a trail of fire tingling across my skin wherever they touched. The scent of him hammered at my senses, my muscles coiling with longings I didn’t understand.
I wanted to spring to my feet and back away, but I couldn’t make myself move. His eyes trapped mine, his gaze seemingly holding me in place.
He murmured something that had that word Vahashatai in it. Well, there was no way it could be an insult, not with the hunger I heard there, and yet he hardly seemed the type to use sweet pet names.
He tugged on the leash, pulling me closer, so that my face was inches from his. Bent toward him, I remained stiff, eyes on his, refusing to give him more than I had to. His fingers traced the front of the muzzle, amusement tugging at his lips.
Only then did his hands slide around the muzzle and unbuckle it. He pulled it from my mouth and let it drop to the floor.
He removed the cuffs and dropped those too.
I would have sat back on my knees and pushed the fucking cuffs and muzzle away, but Raul fisted the leash, holding me in place.
“Toth,” he rasped.
Strip.
I dropped my shoulders. “Again?” But my nipples were hardening at the thought.
“Daz.”
My fists clenched. No one had ever made me feel so used, so…owned in my life. Or like I wanted to be used. By him.
Where the hell were Malek and Z’pheer? It shouldn’t have taken this long to return the hepta.
“Raul, Z’pheer and—”
“V’ir,” he corrected, tracing my lips with his thumb, his gaze hungry.
I suppressed a curse and gritted out the word. “Master. Your men might be in trouble. Shouldn’t—”
“Heit. Z’pheer et Malek nas ahet sevna.” He was probably telling me they could take care of themselves.
“But—”
“Ma’na. Toth, nayna.”
Shut up. Strip, slave.
I sighed and pulled off my clothes, dropping them to the floor. “Happy, Master?”
His eyes roamed over my breasts, making the nipples bunch again. He fisted the leash, close to where it hung from the collar and jerked me to him until I was leaning forward, my breasts brushing his thighs, my face an inch from his.
He gave a command of some kind. When I only blinked at him, he tapped his mouth with his fingers.
He wanted me to kiss him.
Fuck, his lips were so beautiful, I wished he was ugly. Green and covered in slime. Or with horns and a tail. But no, he had to look like a fucking god.
I closed my eyes and leaned in, brushing my lips across his. Doing what he asked for, nothing more.
He released the leash and seized my nape, raking his mouth over mine.
There was no use in fighting him. Or the ache already forming between my legs. I deflated, shame and anger burning my cheeks.
Raul angled his head, bruising my lips with his so hard his teeth scraped mine. When he pulled back, his eyes were mocking and full of victory, stoking my anger.
I glared at him, waiting for whatever was coming.
His tongue licked my lips. When I stiffened, his grip tightened on my nape and he lapped at my lips, hot, wet, demanding licks.
My core throbbed until I squirmed against him. He put his head back, sliding further down in the seat and pushing my hands against his cock.
“So that’s all there is, then. Fuck you, wash, rinse, repeat?”
His eyes danced as he took in my words with interest, as if the vernacular amused him.
He muttered another order, his voice gruff with hunger. I guessed this one; his cock was raging hard inside his leathers. It jerked against my hand. He wanted to fuck me right here while he waited for his men.
I started to drop my hands, but he guided them until I’d undone his belt and opened the front of his pants.
Except he didn’t bend me over and fuck me. Instead, he pushed my shoulders up a little, held them still with one hand, and fisted his cock. He stroked it slowly, putting my head down so that my eyes were on his shaft.
Watching him stroke the hardness with firm quick strokes.
I thought he was going to push it into my mouth, but he just sped up, his low panting filling my ears.
He gripped my head, leaving me with nothing to do but watch my alien captor get himself off. It was the hottest fucking thing I’d ever seen; I had to fight not to stroke myself in front of him.
He didn’t stop, his chest heaving with restraint. What the fuck was he…oh, fuck me.
He jerked the leash downward with one hand, putting me inches from his cock, stroking himself furiously.
Raul came hard, hot seed spilling onto my throat and down my chest. Marking me.
“Jesus Christ,” I groaned, glaring at him. Hating him and feeling an ugly twist of shame in my gut at the way my pussy ached, begging for attention.
He released the leash, finally letting me drop back on my knees.
“Can I at least have a tissue to clean up with?” I mumbled.
; He smirked, gaze eating up his juices covering my neck and chest as if he loved the look of his come on me. He shook his head.
“Really?”
“Daz.”
Before I could process how to respond, the hatch at the front of the ship opened. Malek and Z’pheer’s voices drifted in, the two of them talking and laughing. I snatched up the poncho, meaning to cover myself, but Raul pulled it out of my hand and dropped it.
Refusing to let me hide what he’d done from his men.
Malek and Z’pheer came onto the bridge, still talking. Relief that they didn’t appear to have run into any trouble quickly morphed into humiliation that scalded my cheeks when the two of them took one look at me and grinned.
I covered my front and glared daggers at Raul. His eyes sparkled.
Alien words were exchanged between the three of them, an amicable, casual discussion, as if there was nothing unusual going on here. The men had zero fucking shame. In fact, Malek and Z’pheer took off their weapons and leaned them against the chairs, watching me and looking at their superior as if Raul had marked a great prize.
Malek squatted and traced my lips with his thumb, saying something to Raul that carried a mocking sort of offense. Chiding him for having fun without him, I guessed.
Raul chuckled and stood, pulling me to my feet.
I needed a fucking bath. “So I’m just supposed to let this shit dry on?” I asked him.
He tugged my hair and said something to Malek. Malek nodded, gave my ass a playful swat, and disappeared through another door I hadn’t noticed before. Raul followed him.
Unsure what to do with myself, I worked my shoulders, still aching from the previous night.
Z’pheer watched me for a moment, then sat in one of the chairs and waved me over to him. He said something that sounded like, “Sit here,” and pointed at the floor between his knees.
I rolled my eyes. Was it his turn now?
But when I came over to him, he turned me around and pushed me down until I had to sit with my back to him. I heard him undoing one of his packs.
A moment later, I heard him slicking up his palms, and then his hands were massaging my shoulders and arms, working a soothing balm into them.
I twisted around, looking up at him. “I don’t get it, Z’pheer.”
“Hmm?”
“I mean, you’re so different from the other two. Sometimes you’re… you know. Nice. But then you’re an ass, just like them. You care. And then you don’t. What’s up with that?”
His lips quirked, but he just kept rubbing the cream into my shoulders with skilled, practiced hands. A doctor’s hands.
Some of the lights that were off on the bridge flickered on and off. The computer voice started saying something in Xandari, then slowed down, like a dying battery again. I heard Malek let out a string of those curses. I looked at the doorway he’d gone through, then up at Z’pheer, trying a different tactic, voicing the revelation I’d had earlier.
“Malek. He’s Raul’s bodyguard, isn’t he?”
Z’pheer raised a brow. I could see the surprise in his eyes that I’d picked up on the behavior between them.
“Is he?”
“Daz.”
“But why? Why the hell would a guy like—”
The ship’s lights flashed on and off, and the computer spoke again, slowing down and then returning to normal speed. Z’pheer’s fingers massaged my shoulders, seeming unconcerned about the ship’s issues.
“Why would a guy like Raul need a fucking bodyguard?” I asked when the flickering stopped and the lights stayed on. “I mean, he’s like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but bigger and stronger, and he fights like Conan the fucking Barbarian. Why would he need protection?”
Z’pheer said nothing, only smiling like he enjoyed leaving me in the dark, his thumb working over a knot in my shoulder.
The computer started counting down the way it had before. “Dak. Zis. Three. Two…oooooone….” It stuttered on the last word. I looked up.
Malek must have hit something on the language controls and switched it to English. The ship had an English setting?
One of the lights blew and Malek growled a curse. The engine started with a loud wine, and then died. I heard a bang, as if he’d kicked something.
“Well, if Malek is Raul’s protection, what does that make you? Are you his doctor?”
He raised a brow in question, working on my other shoulder.
“Doc…um…healer?”
“Ah. Daz.” Z’pheer pushed my head down and started working his fingers along the muscles of my nape. I groaned in pleasure.
“..haz non-operational,” the computer said. “There is a malfunction in the forwarrrrrrd…”
The language switched again before it stuttered and died. A few seconds later, Raul strode in. I glanced at him long enough to see him taking in Z’pheer massaging my shoulders. He shook his head in irritation before Z’pheer started on my shoulder again.
“Dak ship’s engines have had it. It’s going to take Malek hours to fix them before we can leave.”
I snapped my head up so hard I didn’t know how I didn’t have whiplash. I stared at Raul, my heart in my throat. I couldn’t have heard him say what I thought I heard.
“What’s wrong with her?” He jerked his chin at me.
I swallowed. “Oh. My. God.”
“What?” He held out his arms.
Z’pheer was looking at me.
I licked my lips. “Raul…you’re speaking English.” My voice was a squeak.
“Hast haz nikam.” The tone said, “I am not.”
“Yes, you are. Or you were.” I whipped around to Z’pheer. “Z’pheer, why was he talking in English? And how come now he isn’t?” I was starting to get freaked out.
“He isn’t, nayna. You—”
“Yes, he is! And now you are! Okay, what the fuck is going on here? What game are you two playing?” There was no way they couldn’t be aware of it.
“Nayna, calm down.” He squeezed my shoulders. “Orr hal hista Funaya.”
I shook my head, pushing his hands away. “I’m not crazy. Damn it, you’re switching back and forth.”
“I am—” Z’pheer cut off. He grabbed my shoulder and lifted it, looking it over. He growled something that sounded like a curse.
Next thing I knew, he was pulling me by the wrist toward the same partitioned off area I’d been in when I’d first woken up on this ship. He was talking fast, only now he was speaking Xandari again.
He pushed me onto a long metallic table, the one I’d been lying on before I was in those cuffs. Hoping he was going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on, I pushed further onto the table, my gaze following him as he hurried over to the metal wall where the platform thing and screen were hidden.
Flipping down the panel on the keypad and typing in a code, he glanced back at me. “Nos hak coli’san sen?”
“No, you’re still speaking in your language.”
“Rosht.” An alien curse. He keyed in several codes, and the panels slid aside, revealing the screen and letting the platform slide out under it.
Bent over the table with his bare back to me, he worked quickly before crossing the room with that same tray. A syringe and wet pad were on it.
“The translator,” I said suddenly as he swabbed my shoulder. “You think there’s something going wonky with the translator.”
“Daz.” He slid the needle into my shoulder.
“Is that the probe?” I pointed to the syringe when he was finished.
He nodded.
We watched the screen. The pathways, the veins in my arm, appeared on the monitor. The blinking probe made its way along the veins, toward the non-blinking translator. This time, I noticed the words blinking at the bottom of the screen, except they were in Xandari. I guessed they were the indicator for the probe and the translator.
As with last time, the two dots collided on the screen. The translator didn’t seem to be doing anything, but I could s
ee the probe moving over it, turning, then stopping.
“Nos hak coli’san sen nak?”
I shook my head.
“Hmm.” He strode over to me and took my shoulder. I held it out for him. His fingers worked over a spot near where he’d inserted the syringe. “Nak?”
Frustration bit into me. It felt as if we’d just had a huge break through, only to have it yanked away. “Nope. Still your language.”
He glanced at the screen. The probe was moving over the translator chip again. Z’pheer rubbed the same spot on my arm with his thumb.
The translator began to blink. Below it, one of the words on the screen tuned red, flashing, but Z’pheer was looking at me. Not trusting my voice, I pointed at the screen.
Z’pheer glanced at the screen, then at me, his eyes hopeful. “How about now?” His voice was hushed, but I heard him clear as day. “Can you understand me now?”
I closed my eyes, excitement making me almost dizzy.
“Yes, Z’pheer. I can understand you perfectly.”
Finally, I wouldn’t have to spend every moment wondering what these guys were saying, busting my fucking brain cells trying to read every signal, every action and hope I interpreted it right. I couldn’t help feeling excited.
Z’pheer grabbed my hand and pulled me back onto the bridge.
Raul stood up from his chair when we came in. “Well?”
English. He was speaking in English.
“It’s working,” I said. “I can understand you, too.”
Z’pheer clapped him on the shoulders. “The translator chip is fine. I must have accidentally bumped something when I was rubbing her shoulders. I used a probe to fix it so it stays on the way it’s supposed to. She shouldn’t have any trouble understanding anything we say now, unless we block the translator’s signal.”
Raul nodded. “Good. Then—”
“What’s going on?” Malek had come in and flopped into Raul’s vacant chair, looking at us all curiously.
“Her translator chip is active,” Z’pheer told Malek now.
“How? How did you fix it?”
“Tell you later.” Z’pheer waved it off and set his hands on my shoulders. “Needless to say, you should be able to say most things and she will hear them in her language.”
