by E J Darling
His words cut into her soul. Maeve wished she was able to say anything with as much conviction as he did. He knew who he was, and he didn’t apologize for it, but that only forged her bond to him more. She was working with nothing but a cold heart, her upbringing not allowing her to make those strong connections with others, and she didn’t know what the hell she was feeling. But he stood there, and he waited for her words. Words she couldn’t say. Words she didn’t know how to say.
She only nodded.
Teak sighed and lowered his head to look at his hands. “I’ll leave you to rest. We’ll be docking at Hydron-5 in two hours.”
Teak walked toward the door and it slid open, allowing him to leave. He was gone so quickly her mind couldn’t react, and when the door slid closed, she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.
“Teak,” she gasped. “Touch me.”
But he was gone, and she stood alone.
Twelve
Teak hated this.
They docked at Hydron-5 half an hour ago and it was finally time to leave the ship. He stalled as long as he could, but even Cookie had caught on to his ploys. Now, they all stood in the cargo bay, waiting for the door to open with bated breath.
They had a plan, and Teak hoped they could all stick to it for as long as they were able. Keeli and Cookie stood in front of him while Captain Roth took the lead. Maeve was at his side, and Säiph stood on her other. She was as guarded as she could get and there wasn’t anything more he could do to keep her safe… aside from locking all the doors and making a mad dash for the control room to jettison them out of this place.
But he couldn’t, and he wouldn’t. He’d made a promise to the captain to do everything in his power to help get what they came for and to do it safely.
The door opened fully, and the captain stepped forward into the busy station. He wanted to grab Maeve’s hand, hold it tight and not let go until they were back on the ship and the door closed behind him. Again, he wished he’d never made her that promise. The Turnish didn’t touch unless they were permitted, and he didn’t care that his planet was long since lost. He upheld those traditions because if he didn’t, then the memory of those who perished would be gone with it. The memory of his family would be gone with it.
They followed Roth out of the docking station and into a long dark hallway that swiftly emptied into an expansive common area. Music, gambling, and conversation lit up the entire scene. This was by far the largest station he’d ever stepped foot on.
Four ornate columns stood from the floor all the way to the top of the hotel area. Levels and levels of the same design marked the balconies of the guest rooms and it gave the place a more luxurious feeling than Teak expected. There were females, in nothing but sheer material draped over their bodies. With a small fastener to hold the elaborate things together. Some were being led by wealthy men to places untold and to fantasies unimaginable.
Prostitution had never been outlawed in this galaxy and by the looks of the place, Hydron-5 was drowning in it. There was something for everyone here. Tall aliens, blue, pink. Females with five eye sockets and some with two heads...if you were into that sort of thing. There were alien races he’d never seen before and it had him nearly gawking.
Teak glanced down at Maeve to see the shock in her own eyes. “Have you ever been to a place like this before?”
“No,” she whispered, but refused to look up at him. She kept her eyes glued to the females that walked back and forth from one male to the other, offering their services. “Have you?”
“I have. Not this…diverse, but I have been to places similar.”
“Have you ever,” she trailed off and nodded her head to a couple eagerly leaving the common area and heading toward a lift.
He chuckled and nodded his head again. “Yes. Once or twice. Space is a lonely place, Maeve. I made sure the females I bedded were doing it because they wanted to, not because they were forced to. Ironic now I guess since I’m the slave walking through this place and a female is my master.”
Teak must have been too deep in his conversation with Maeve, because he never sensed anyone approaching them, a deadly mistake in a place like this. When a delicate hand slid under his leather clothing, he grabbed hold of the wrist and instantly removed it from his now tense body.
“I just wanted to feel what was under all that leather, sweetheart.” The thin female gave him a cool smile, and in any other circumstance, she would be his type. Her long white hair complimented her light blue skin tone. She was no sex worker, covered in rare jewels and an expensive fragrance she couldn’t place. Her teeth were clean and white, and her features were enough like his to be attractive, but not anymore. Not when his body only craved Maeve’s touch and not when she stood right by his side. It would have been a deadly offense on his home planet, but they weren’t on his planet and Turnix Beta was gone.
“How much for the hour?” She looked him up and down, taking in his form. It made him sick and he felt worthless. She didn’t care about anything of him besides what pleasure his body could bring her. “Make that two. Turnish males are my favorite.” He saw her glance at the silver bar on his inner wrist. She smiled as she looked down at Maeve. “She can watch if she wants.”
Teak stayed silent, trying to calm his mind. This was the last thing he needed right now and especially in front of her. “Leave,” he growled and threw the female's hand away. “I’m not interested, and neither is my master.” The female seemed to drink him in one last time as he looked forward, trying to ignore her eyes. She sashayed around them both and stopped in front of Maeve.
“She doesn’t look like a master.” The female chuckled, gently dragging Maeve’s wrist in her own soft hand. She ran a light blue finger over her gold bar. “Doesn’t look like any slave band I’ve ever seen.”
“Ignore her,” Teak muttered. “Säiph, take Maeve.” The creature used his block head to push Maeve along and he followed without looking back. They quickly caught up to the others.
Maeve giggled nervously, her body obviously running on adrenaline, and Teak tried not to smile himself now that it was over. “Maybe I could get a couple credits if I did whore you out. You seem to have the right stuff and you did promise to repay me.” She snorted.
Teak’s eyes widened and it only made Maeve laugh even more. She leaned in and bumped Teak on the shoulder with her own, the feel of her skin on his was an intoxicating sensation. What he wouldn’t do for his female.
“I’m just kidding. I could never do that to you. God I hate that species. Their cool blue skin, and white hair give me the shivers. I’d hoped the Forga female on Sapili Prime would be the last one I saw on this mission, but I guess not. She was really going for it wasn’t she? Turnish males are my favorite,” she mocked.
“That’s what they do,” he smiled. “She’s probably never even slept with a Turnish male before.”
“Well, neither have I, but I have a very active imagination and–” she cut herself off and clasped a hand over her mouth.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” she hurried out. “Forget I said anything.”
Teak smiled and looked ahead. “As you wish.”
Maeve studied her wrist with a furrowed brow. “I do wonder what she meant about my slave bars, though.”
“It’s probably nothing, Maeve. I doubt wealthy slavers like Zekekiel drag their priceless property out to places like this. Your life is in danger every second you’re here. She’s probably never seen a slave like you before,” Teak sighed. “Hell, I never have either.” He changed his language and tested her mind. “You’re the most intelligent female I have ever met.” Maeve smiled and inclined her head in a fake bow. He changed it once more to something he hoped she didn’t recognize. “And the most beautiful.”
“I’ve never heard that one before,” her eyes brightened in that adorable way. Damn she was beautiful. “Will you tell me what you said?”
“Maybe one day,” he lied again.
T
he captain turned direction and led them down another dark hallway. Teak hated these damn passages and hated even more how Maeve clung to herself like she was terrified. It made his mind wonder and his body slow to react to the potential dangers around him.
Roth stopped at a small lit opening, with a sign above the window that said “sell” in Gäshwe, the language he’d seen used all over the station.
“Maevie, come here,” the captain called. “My Gäsh is a little rusty, can you ask this male where the bar is?”
Maeve smiled and Teak rolled his eyes at the way Roth used her pet name. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much. Maybe it was because the captain had a deep bond with her Teak didn’t, or that they shared love and respect for one another he hadn’t been given the opportunity to earn yet. Whatever it was, Teak needed to get over it soon if he was going to get through this with his pride still intact.
“It’s Gäshwe, Roth, not Gäsh. And yes, I can. What was the name again?”
“The Gillion.”
Maeve spoke to the male at the window, batted her eyelashes at him, and asked him a few questions about his wares and what he sold to butter him up. Teak looked up and down the hallway, ensuring that there wasn’t anyone watching them, or following them through the station.
He liked watching her do what she was obviously trained for. Maeve was good at her job and he loved seeing her use that mind power of hers. She was intelligent, used her learned knowledge of the galaxy to her advantage, and he was in awe of her every word. Her fate could have been worse as a Human slave. She wasn’t whoring her body out to any male with a few credits in his pocket so she could eat, nor was she tied up in some dungeon on a far off planet, a captive of who knows what kind of sick ugly bastard. No, she was his and he was hers, and she was okay.
A vision of her on his old ship, touring space, finding their place in the cosmos, filled his mind. They could have made a living together. They had the brains for it. Or maybe even find a planet they could be happy together on. He’d heard about places that were habitable to Humans and those like them. Places that were free of slavery where species could live in peace. They could run far away and just be, but that wasn’t reality and that wasn’t going to happen. At least not for a while. They were two slaves when it came down to it, her master was obviously very wealthy, and they would never be able to settle down until their debts were paid. They would never be free until they were released from bondage.
He felt her presence before she made herself known. “You are so paranoid,” Maeve whispered in his mother tongue. The way it fluttered off her lips made his dick throb. She was the first person who’d spoken that language to him in too long and damn it he reacted like a naïve boy. She reached down and scrubbed Säiph on the top of his block head, completely unaware of the painful situation in his pants. “Do you need a scratch on your head too for being a good look out?” She smiled at him while her lips fluttered away, and he lost all sense again. It left a shudder up his spine and his body begged him to touch her lips.
“You’ll be happy I’m this paranoid when your ass is safely back on Trident, and we’re on our way to your home.” He’d forced himself to change the language of the conversation to something less poetic, in hopes it would calm his cock. It didn’t.
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Home. You’re going to love it. There’s clear blue water everywhere. The breeze is warm all cycle and you can leave your windows open all night if you so wished.” The way she spoke with her eyes shut and her lips pulled into a smile made Teak wish to see it for himself. It could never rival her though, nothing could. “It’s stunning to see.”
He gave himself a secret smile and imagined her sweet star kissed hair blowing loose around her face in that warm breeze she seemed to love so much. “Yes, it is,” he whispered in Kartum, that dead language of lovers. Teak was now in too deep anyways and figured what harm it could do to seduce her with words instead of touch.
Her brows furrowed and she opened her eyes, studying his face. Then, she caught it. She caught his words for what they were, and she smiled just for him. “Sometimes I tell myself that you’re a charmer, and you don’t use your gift on me. But then I see you look at me how you are now, and I start to wonder.”
“About what?”
She leaned in close, her words a whisper on her lips. “If you’re real or not.”
Maeve turned around and stepped toward Roth while Teak stood there in thought. His eyes still watched for incoming, but the hallway was clear and the two of them talked too low for him to catch what they were saying. Slow movement caught his eye, but it was no threat that crept up on him.
“I see the way you look at her, dear.” Cookie beamed. “She’s a good girl. A little hard in the middle, but with the right tools, even a diamond can be cut. Give yourself some grace, some forgiveness, if you think you say or do something wrong in the moment. New hearts take time to learn about the other, to find out what makes it beat. Eventually, it will realize it’s the same thing that makes all our hearts beat.”
The old gray haired female patted him on the back and gave him a smile befitting a mother to a child. “What would that be, Cookie?” Probably something unattainable for him, or priceless in nature that a slave could never purchase.
“Love, dear. It beats for love.”
Priceless indeed.
Teak nodded slightly, gave her a wink with that charming smile Maeve pointed out, and she beamed as she walked back over to stand with Keeli and Säiph.
She was odd, the little old female with gray hairs covering her body, but she had intelligence that came with her cycles. She watched these people, cared for these people, and knew these people better than he ever could. If Cookie believed Maeve could be softened to him over time, then he would trust her instinct.
“We have our location.” Roth spoke in a low tone, pulling Teak away from his thoughts. “It’s up this next corridor on the right.”
Teak stepped out of the dark shadows shrouding the hallway and looked out into the corridor. It was busy, packed with aliens of all races, and it wasn’t anything like the common area had been. Where that place packed luxury into every inch, the beings there wealthy and powerful, the places around it were no more than slums for the impoverished.
“This is insanity.” He shook his head and glared at Roth. “Why is this thing so important to your master?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. I do what I am asked.”
“Don’t we all,” he mumbled.
Roth grabbed Keeli’s hand, to Teak’s unmasked irritation, and stepped out into the wide corridor. “Let’s go.”
Säiph walked with Cookie, growling at anything that came within two feet of her, and Teak froze as he looked at Maevelin’s hands. He held his palm out and nerves trickled up his spine. This had to be her choice, and he would have to accept whichever choice she made. “I want to keep you safe.”
She glanced at his hand and back to his face. “I know.”
Closing his eyes, Teak held his breath and waited for her decision. Something tickled the top of his fingers as her small hand slid softly into his callused one.
Permission.
He pulled her close and held her against his body, wrapping his arms around her before she changed her mind. He’d been waiting for this moment and he didn’t care about the terrible timing. Teak just wanted to drink her in, smell her hair and memorize the way she felt right here, so when she told him not to touch her again, he would at least have this.
Selfish.
He felt two arms slowly wrap around his middle and Maeve sunk into his chest, pressing herself closer to him. He breathed her in, soaked in the moment and committed it to memory.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I required so much distance. Your desires are as foreign to me as Earth itself. I–”
“Shh.” Teak stroked her hair and placed his lips on her head. He didn’t kiss her, but he wanted to. “Can we talk when we make it back to
the ship?”
She nodded her head and pulled away. “We need to make it out of here first.”
The corridor was packed. He held Maeve’s hand behind him and became a strong wall, forging a path for them to walk through. The smell was indescribable, but it was to be expected in a place such as this. Impoverished species of all kinds were trying to make a life for themselves in terrible conditions. They weren’t all bad, Teak knew that, but within the weak there were the wicked.
He felt her hand pull on his. He looked back and a short, brown spongy creature held her other, attempting to pull her away from him. Teak reacted and shoved the male away from her with a terrifying growl. His hand melded with the creature’s flesh and sunk in until he couldn’t see his hand anymore. He pushed back and uneasy shudder.
“Walk in front of me, Maeve. I want to be able to see you.” There was no hiding the rage in his voice, but she didn’t cower at his words.
“It still amazes me the sounds you make,” she said breathlessly.
I’ll make any sounds you wish when I have you stretched out beneath me. Mine. His mind was alive with thoughts of her every moment. To be able to touch something so precious would be the ultimate gift.
They caught up to the others who were standing in front of a metal door. Above them, a sign read The Gillion.
“You’re up,” Roth mused. “Find this Filo and we can get out of here. Smells like a peradon’s asshole in here.”
Teak inhaled and opened the door without a word. The bar was dark, the only light shining through the open panes was that of the faux Light Star from the main corridor. It was smokey, the haze filled Teak’s lungs as he held in a cough.
