I clench my hands tighter.
After what feels like an hour of silence, the trader turns away from the screen, one hand raised in dismissal. “Give me time to consider.” The connection hisses away into a blank screen, leaving Ro and I alone. Ro pulls himself up from his bow, his gorgeous body slouched in defeat and I bite my lip, watching him.
“Give him time to consider,” Ro says under his breath. “He always says that before he decides to say yes.” Slowly he pulls himself out of his defeated posture, his side-glances in my direction showing me he’s aware of my scrutiny. “He likes you.”
“He has a weird way of showing it.”
“He’s a trader. He doesn’t have the luxury of showing feelings.”
“Isn’t that promising.”
Ro’s mouth twitches. “Are all humans this obstinate?”
“Are all aliens this frustrating?”
“First of all, I’m Siktharian.” He tilts his head adorably. “If any species are alien, it would be humankind.”
He actually has the audacity to smile at me while saying that? I fold my arms with just enough attitude that his complacency vanishes. He leans toward me, the lines of his face tight, intense.
“Not all beings are predictable. Learn not to rule out anything based on a single meeting.”
“Like when I met you for example? The apparently human dude who actually liked me?”
“Exactly. You learn fast, Human.” He looks back at me, his smile pleased, and I dissect him with a glance.
“You deceived me, then fucking kidnapped me, for god’s sake. How is this a good example about giving strangers the benefit of the doubt?”
A mask settles over his face, emptying his eyes of emotion. There’s no longer any sign of the softened Ro who kissed me, the Ro who looked at me like I hung the stars in the galaxy. This Ro is the stranger that he really is, a harsh reminder that I don’t really know him at all.
My heart sinks into the pit of my stomach.
“That is hardly applicable to who I am as a person,” he says through clenched teeth. “What I do for a mission is not what I would do in my personal life.”
Slowly I raise my gaze to his. “Then why did you do it?”
He turns his back to me, shoulders tight. “There are certain things expected of a warrior. My duty is to follow orders, not question them.” Anger creeps into his voice. “And it’s certainly not your place to question me.”
“In other words, I’m not allowed to think for myself?”
His voice softens. “You have a good life ahead of you, Ella. You just don’t know it yet.”
Ella.
Not Human.
Ro leans toward me and takes my hand in his. His palm is enormous, swallowing my hand whole, and his touch has just the right amount of roughness. My heart squeezes with emotions I don’t want to acknowledge.
I stare down at our intertwined fingers, desire and regret battling for the upper hand.
You can’t fall for him.
You. Can’t.
“Ro.” I grab his arm, tugging him toward me. “You don’t have to do this. We can be together. There’s no reason—-”
“This was my mission, Ella.” He pulls away from me. Cold as death itself. “I entered an agreement with Xhav and I cannot go back on my bargain.” For an instant, his voice softens. “I found him the best.”
“What if I don’t want to go?” I whisper. “What if the one I want is you?”
“Breaking my word, withholding you —it would all be a crime. I would be cast out of my society. There would be nowhere left for me to go.” His face is like ice as he turns away from me. “This is the only way it can end.”
“And if I refuse to go?”
He turns back abruptly and his fingers find my arm, drawing me closer. I watch the tendons in his neck throb. “Ella. There is no refusing to go. You’re promised to him and that is the end of the story.”’
“We write our own destiny.” I fight against tears. Against every voice of reason screaming in my senses. “I will never let the trader claim me. I’ll find some way to—”
“Ella. You have no idea how dangerous that would—”
“I don’t care!” I clench my hands around his forearm. “Is this really how you want things to end? Do you want to watch me be taken away and sold to whoever chooses to claim me?”
I feel the muscles in his arms twitch. “It’s no longer my decision to make.”
“Ro—”
He pushes me off of him, shoves away my hand before I can pull him back. He strides for the door, muscles pulled tight, tense with anger I can feel even with the distance between us. He’s pulled too far away now. Nothing I say, nothing I do, will bring him back and maybe, just maybe, that’s for the best.
Maybe we never were meant to be together.
Maybe our attraction was only that. A passing fancy for each other’s bodies and the connection between us was only imagined.
Except everything I felt for him was real.
Left me feeling alive.
More alive than I’ve been for years.
And as I watch him walk away, all I feel is death.
He pounds his fist against a buzzer on the wall, his back tight, muscles ripping beneath his tunic. Vibrations hiss through the wall and footsteps pound up the corridor in response to the summons.
“The guards will take you back to your room. I would advise resting while you can.” He keeps his back to me. His voice emotionless. “Our course will collide with the trader by morning.”
Chapter 4
Ro sleeps on the edge of my bed, almost as if he knows I intended to run. I curl up against the shell of the headboard, and stare up through the roof window as the night passes in a cloak of stars and spinning planets. No matter how hard I search, I cannot spot Earth.
It already feels like I’m a thousand light years away.
You can’t stay here. Can’t surrender myself to the nightmare of being sold to Xhav. But how in hell am I supposed to get out of a moving spaceship? Miraculously grow wings and fly outa here into space? I clench my fists around the rough fur of my blankets, fighting the anxiety that threatens to cripple me.
Think, Ella, think!
There has to be a solution, something I haven’t spotted yet. After all, this is a ship, for god’s sake. There have to be escape pods or life ships onboard in the case of an emergency.
And if this isn’t an emergency, I don’t know what is.
Ro shifts in his sleep, turning from his back to his side so I can finally see his face. He looks so — vulnerable while sleeping. Gentle, almost, in a way he fights not to show while awake.
It’s the same vulnerability I glimpsed in his eyes when I shared my body with him. When he told me he had no choice but to send me to the trader.
Why the hell does he have to make it so hard to leave him?
I lean forward and silently trace a finger across his cheek and down the hard line of his jaw, and he moves his head toward me slightly, his face relaxing. More than anything, I want to lie his head on my lap, hold him close before I lose him.
Screw going back to Earth.
I could be happy anywhere in space if Ro was alongside me.
But that’s not going to happen, now, is it?
Stupid voice of reason. As if I needed the reminder. Biting my lip, I pull my hand slowly away from Ro’s face.
As if my entire being doesn’t beg to hold him.
As if the bond between us is nothing more than dreams and imagination.
I’ve already made the mistake of letting myself grow attached. I certainly can’t afford to make it worse. What was I thinking, giving myself to him in the first place? I should have known this is the way it would end. Should have known he couldn’t actually want me. Tears burn the back of my lids, blurring my view of his face. Focus, Ella! Moping over what might have been will only hinder me.
I have to take action now.
Or forever regret it.
&
nbsp; I ease off the edge of the bed. My feet brush the floor in a whisper of sound, loud enough to rouse him, but this time he doesn’t stir.
Is this a trap? His way of catching me in the act? I shift my stance, my body inches from his head. Don’t wake up. Please don’t wake up---
Ro shifts again, one hand flopping across his head support as he settles on his back. I stop in place. Sweaty fingers gripping the bed. All it takes is one peek and he’ll see me. Know what I’m doing.
He turns onto his other side, facing away from me. Still asleep.
Now. I inch closer, one hand in front of me before I finally have the courage to touch him. As gently as possible, I slide a palm down his leg, searching for a pocket, anywhere that a key could be hidden. One finger bumps against a small tablet and for an instant I hesitate, debating its usefulness. If there is a chance I can bypass the security and send a message back to Earth—
I slide a finger into his pocket, feeling for the tablet. Ro stirs slightly and I freeze, heartbeat thudding in my ears. If he catches me like this— With a soft grunt, he settles back in place and I quickly slide a second finger into his pocket. The tablet is firmly locked in my grip now. Will only take a tug to pull it out. I work it up gently, one eye on Ro all the while. Elation rises as the tablet brushes the top of his pocket. Bypassing security may be a bit of an issue, but I can always use Ro’s palm or fingerprint to force it open.
And then— I will take destiny into my own hands
I tug the tablet out of his pocket and into my palm.
And then –
Ro’s eyes open.
His hands are around my wrists in an instant, jerking me down on top of him before I can move. “Krikkda.” He hisses the word like a curse. I struggle against his grip and his hold on me tightens, pulling me down until my curves are pressed into his chest. The hard lines of his body press into mine and I become aware of his cock dangerously close to my entrance. So close I could reach down and touch him, feel the hard ridges and –
“I knew I needed to teach you to obey. Now I see I shouldn’t have waited.” Ro lowers my face to his. His lips brush against mine with each word, so close he could kiss me. And yet, he doesn’t.
I stare up into the dark, dark coldness of his eyes and wish I dared to press my lips to his. But I’m frozen under his command and can only lie there, squirming against the harshness of his touch, breathing heavily against his moving lips. Wetness pools in my pussy and begins to slide down my legs.
“You cannot be trusted.” He slides a hand harshly between my legs. Grips one thigh firmly to hold me still. “Do you know how we punish the disobedient in Sikthari?”
His hand moves up my thigh in a soft, fluid motion, teasingly close to my aching pussy, only to pull away again.
“Show me,” I whisper. His hand climbs upward another inch, so close I can feel the heat of his hand against my lips, so close all he has to do is lift a finger and he would touch me. My breath trembles in my throat.
“You are not the one giving orders here.” He traces his hand around the inside of my thigh, never moving upward. The trembling inside me grows frantic with hunger and I slide a hand down to my pussy, desperate for touch, but he grabs my hand before it can connect. In one rapid move, he has my arms pinned behind my back, holding me firmly in place while he rises to a sitting position. I squirm against the hard muscles of his chest, the heat in my body rising to a fevered pitch.
“Say you will obey me.” He growls the words against my neck. Arousal dances across my skin, begging for more, gasping for his touch inside me, controlling me, working me into ecstasy.
“You must learn to obey.” His teeth find my neck, a nip that leaves my skin burning. “Am I understood, Human? You will obey me.”
My entire body tingles with desire, burns into a fire that’s out of control, and the only way for it to be filled is through him. I crave his touch, the violence with which he shoves me downward, ever wicked brush of his hand against my pussy. So close, so damn close, but every time he pulls away, leaving me throbbing, aching, tormented without his touch. I angle my body desperately upward, grinding against him, but he shoves me back down so that our bodies no longer touch except for the fingers clutched so fiercely around my shoulders.
“You won’t move until you’re given permission. Am I understood?”
The fire inside me explodes.
Completely out of control.
I’m burning, burning, burning, and there’s no way to satiate without pulling him inside me. I gasp with pleasure as his hands push me down further.
“Am. I. Understood.”
Somehow, I find my tongue, a breathless gasp escaping me. “Yes.”
“Yes what, Human?”
Breathe, breathe, breathe— I squirm desperately beneath him. “Yes, commander.”
“That’s right.” He lowers his face against my neck once more. Hot breath teases my skin. “The human is learning her place.” His head dips down my neck and down to my chest. A flick of his tongue between my breasts before his teeth find me and he nips first one breast and then the other, holding the bite just long enough until the sensation grows too intense and I’m forced to cry out. I squirm, grinding my pussy against his chest and Ro draws back abruptly.
He jerks my head back, forcing my eyes to meet his, and my stomach twists in a cosmic mess of emotions that I’m not stupid enough to name. Why does he have to be so fucking delicious? Tall as a god, sensual as a porn star, and, well, can we talk about his body for a minute? Looking at those muscular legs, his horns, and the hard cock straining against his pants is enough to set my imagination on fire with possibilities.
I tilt my head back, breathing hard, and his fingers clench tighter.
“I will break you.” He says the words quietly, but they hold all the darkness of a curse. “You belong to the trader, do you understand me? There can be nothing between us, Human. Not now. Not ever.”
“Then let me go.” I wind my legs around him. “Give me a pod and some coordinates, and let me find my way back to Earth.” I press him closer and I feel his cock twitch. “Tell the trader you lost me.”
“Breaking my promise would destroy my honor.” He traces a finger down my cheekbone. “In Sikthari, small one, honor is everything.” He brings the finger to a stop at the center of my lips and I lick the tip, my entire body trembling. “Surely you wouldn’t ask such a thing of me.”
“And surely you don’t expect me to tamely go into slavery.” I place my palms on either side of his jaw, pulling him close and he leans forward, meeting my kiss halfway. He kisses with the same forcefulness with which he speaks, his tongue teasing the corners of my mouth, forcing me to open fully to him.
“I would buy you again if I could.” He breathes the words against me and I slide my hands to the back of his neck, our bodies fully intertwined. I feel his heart beat against my chest with every breath I take.
“We can find our own destinies, Ro.” I whisper. “Just keep me with—”
“Hhraada Ro?”
The center entrance hisses open and we separate in a frantic tangle of limbs. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a scarlet-robed shipmaster staring in at us with his ears distended in shock.
Well, fuck.
“Jiik.” Ro pushes himself up to a sitting position, but his hands remain firmly around my middle, keeping me on his lap. He barks a series of commands at the shipmaster, but the man doesn’t budge. A fierce rally of words flies between them until Ro’s grip on me becomes tighter, more urgent. He shoves me off of his lap and rises, one hand still wrapped around my wrists. “Kah.” He barks a command and the shipmaster scurries off, robe fluttering behind him.
Silence crowds the space between us.
Then, slowly, Ro turns to face me. His face is drawn tight and stripped free of all emotion.
It’s only the dread in his eyes that gives everything away.
“It looks like the choice has been taken out of our hands. The trader has just board
ed our ship.”
Chapter 5
“I must say, the human looks better in person.” Xhav circles me, his gaze dipping low across my body. In the harsh lighting of the ship deck, he’s little more than an ogre, drooling over my body as he inspects my skin, my hair, every bend and fold of my body. I hold myself stiff and aloof like I’m not aware of his touch.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ro watching us. His face is still impassive, the stoic aloofness of a warrior, but his tension shows in the harsh fold of his arms.
I look away before our gazes meet.
“Raise your arms,” Xhav barks. His hands stray down my back and settle on my ass. His fingers squeeze my skin, hard enough to make me gasp. Teeth clenched, I raise my arms, hoping my trembling limbs won’t betray my fear.
Xhav circles his fingers around my arm before releasing a satisfied grunt. “I’ll take her.” He shoves me around until we’re both facing Ro and my trembling grows out of control.
My last chance to say goodbye.
I raise my gaze to Ro’s and his eyes meet mine for what feels like an eternity of skipped heartbeats. His mouth moves in the tiniest of smiles and I break our gaze, sickened.
He’s going through with this.
Will let Xhav take me away.
And then — it will all be over.
I lower my head, tears stinging my eyes, and allow Xhav to shove me toward Ro. No longer have the heart to fight the inevitable.
Maybe slavery won’t be worse than my nightmares.
Maybe I won’t regret losing Ro for the rest of my life.
Maybe I can survive off of lies.
“I’m ready to strike the bargain.” Xhav claps his palms against his leg. “Shall we discuss our terms?”
I feel Ro’s gaze on me, but I keep my head bowed. Every breath painful to draw.
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