by Jenika Snow
“I can smell your desire for the human. You need to rein it in before others sense it,” Stellan said.
Tolcan waved off the advice from his second in command, even if the other male was right. He needed to calm himself, but if someone smelled the arousal he had, and figured it was because of his human female, and what he was about to do was because of that as well, things would not end well. “I need to offer a deal to Redon,” Tolcan said. He was doing this for his woman, for Greta, and this was going against everything that he was brought up to believe.
“Look at me,” Stellan said.
Tolcan looked at the other male. He trusted the Rogue, trusted him with his life, with the knowledge that he wanted to have Greta as his mate, even if Tolcan hadn’t told him specifically that. Stellan could sense it, Tolcan knew, because the truth was Tolcan was being sloppy with his desire, wasn’t shielding his feelings for the female like he should.
He pushed his arousal down, his desires and needs for the woman that had changed something monumental in him and she’d never realized it, and moved toward Redon. When he was a few feet away Jayce looked up, his eyes widening slightly when he clearly recognized him, and then he narrowed them. He lunged toward Tolcan, and Tolcan lifted his brow in surprise, and also appreciation. This male was coming after him because of what Tolcan had done, of who he had taken.
“You motherfucker,” Jayce said in English, and although Tolcan knew a translator had been implanted in the human, the male was speaking his native tongue. “You took her. You took my Greta.”
That had his amusement fading, a growl leaving Tolcan, and had him moving closer. He growled low again, but bit his tongue, knowing he would do no good by correcting the human on the fact that Greta wasn’t his. Greta was Tolcan’s, would always be Tolcan’s, and this human, or any other male, wouldn’t change that.
Redon turned, scanned Tolcan, than saluted him as was customary for any Rogue to do in front of an Enforcer. He tugged on the Hulla cord around Jayce’s neck, causing the human to jerk back. But the murderous rage was still in Jayce’s face, still burning brightly in his eyes, and there was a part of Tolcan that had to admire the fact that this human was not showing any fear.
“Enforcer, is this slave bothering you?” Redon said. “I can have him punished back at my estate.”
“Not necessary,” Tolcan said, and turned his focus off of Jayce and to Redon. He made sure to keep everything stable so the Rogue didn’t pick up on the fact that he knew Jayce, aside from capturing him. “Although I am interested in purchasing this male, if you’d be willing to sell him.” Tolcan had never even owned a slave before, let alone had a mate, but thinking about Greta, wanting her happy … happy with him, made him want to do things out of character.
Redon stared at Tolcan then looked at Jayce. “I just recently acquired this slave and paid a handsome price for him, too. I would like to keep him around my estate as he is one of the stronger males I have.”
Tolcan suspected Redon wouldn’t be willing to sell the human, but the first step was asking to buy. The next would be challenging a Dukka, but judging by the male’s stature, the fact that he was overweight, had no military training, and Tolcan would have no trouble defeating a Rogue male such as Redon, it was clear it would be an easy fight.
“So, you are not willing to sell the male to me?” Tolcan asked again, stared at Redon, hoping that he was seeing that he was serious about this, but already sensing the male wouldn’t budge.
“As I’ve said, Enforcer, I’ve just newly acquired him, and would like to use him for labor.” Redon pulled his cord, having Jayce jerked away from Tolcan. He stared at the human, watched the rage cover the male’s face, and couldn’t help but feel that pride again. This male was physically weaker, easily someone Tolcan or any Rogue could defeat, but he didn’t care.
He was willing to fight for what he wanted, and that was Greta. That latter thought had his nails curving slightly into claws, the wild, primitive beast in him rising up. Although a Rogue did not physically change completely, they were more volatile in nature, had to be if they were to survive.
He sensed Stellan moving up to him, but his second in command didn’t speak. He was a smart male for keeping his mouth shut. Redon turned and left the market, and Tolcan watched them the entire time, knowing what he had to do next.
“Come on, I think we need to talk about this, Tolcan,” Stellan said.
Tolcan looked at the other male, sensed the genuine need to help, and nodded. They left the market, walked past the stalls, and headed back to his home. If he was going to talk about this with Stellan he was going to do it in front of Greta so she knew he was serious about what he’d told her.
17
Greta stared out the pod window in the living area, watched as the Rogue males walked around with their harem of females, stared at the overly masculine Rogue females that had their own human males, most likely as sex slaves as well, and felt this twinge of gratefulness and guilt.
She was grateful that she’d been taken by a male that didn’t want to use her like the others were being used, like nothing more than cattle and meat. But Tolcan had been almost … human in his capacity to give her space, time, letting her adjust to this situation. She shouldn’t have to adjust, because she shouldn’t even be in this situation, but considering the things that could have happened to her, she was grateful in a sense.
“You’ll have to go through the Royals if you want to do a Dukka, Tolcan.”
Greta looked behind her, saw Tolcan and the one named Stellan sitting closely, their heads downcast and their expressions fierce. Greta remembered the one named Stellan being in the cave, taking her people away. A part of her still hated these men, hated everything they stood for, but slowly she realized they were different from what she’d seen from other Rogues.
In fact they were willing to do a Dukka, which Tolcan had explained was a fight between two Rogues to claim the other’s “property”. This whole situation was insane, crazy in every sense of the word, but Greta wasn’t going to fight these men, not when they were willing to help her get at least one of the members from her camp back.
“I know, and I doubt they will deny me,” Tolcan said. “I’ve served them since I was able to hold a weapon.”
“Redon won’t accept the Dukka, Tolcan.”
Tolcan looked at Stellan. “If he denies, he forfeits.”
Stellan shook his head. “You know on Earth the rules are different.”
“What does that mean?” Greta asked, the first time she’d spoken since the two Rogues had come through that pod door an hour before. They both looked at her, their expressions void of emotions. These males were proving she, and the humans in her camp in general, didn’t know much about these aliens.
Yes, most of them were brutal, evil creatures that sought to destroy her kind, to take over her world, and to degrade humans. She hated them, had hated them since she knew what was going on in her world.
But things were different now. She felt different, and her mind was being opened to the possibilities that just like humans, there were Rogues that didn’t fit the mold.
“On our home world there are challenges called Dukkas. If a Rogue doesn’t want to sell their property, a Rogue can challenge them in a Dukka. It’s a fight that will have the victor claiming what wasn’t originally for sale.”
“And this is a ‘to the death’ kind of fight?” Greta asked, assuming the worst with Rogues.
“At times, but in some cases the male that is being defeated will surrender,” Stellan said. “When that happens not only are they the loser of the Dukka, they are also shamed by being weak. Surrender doesn’t happen often between our kind.”
She smoothed her hands over her pants, thought about what he said and pictured the fights they spoke of. She saw brutal fighting, blood, flesh being cut, and bones being broken. Although these aliens had superior technology, she also heard their style of fighting was barbaric, primitive. Greta knew there were many th
ings she didn’t know about them, about their world and culture. This was one of the things she’d never heard of, and it frightened her. It frightened her that this male, her captor, and the Rogue she was starting to become close with, even have these strange feelings for, was willing to do this for her just because she’d asked.
“So someone could die because of this fight?” she said, looking between the two towering, massively built men. “You could die doing this for me?” She addressed Tolcan now, and as the silence stretched on, Stellan cleared his throat.
“I’ll be going now. Tolcan,” Stellan looked at Tolcan then turned toward her. “Female.” He nodded to her.
“Greta,” Tolcan said. “Her name is Greta.” Tolcan stood and stared at Stellan, this challenge in his expression.
“Greta,” Stellan said, looked at her again, nodded, and let himself out. The silence once again stretched out.
“You’d do this for me, risk your life, risk everything, to help Jayce?”
He nodded.
“But why?” She felt like she’d asked this question a million times, or maybe she’d just thought about it so much it felt like she’d been screaming it out loud.
“Why?” he asked and stepped closer.
Greta nodded, swallowed the lump that was in her throat, and didn’t move.
She’d been fighting these emotions for Tolcan since she realized he was different. And every time she slept alone, heard him in the other room, and knowing that for him, wanting her like he clearly did, it had to be hard for him as well, Greta realized that her life wasn’t so bad here. She wasn’t made to be a slave, wasn’t required to clean up after him, to cook for him, or be his sex slave. All those humans that were not in her situation, that were tortured, taken, degraded, broke her heart. She wanted to be stronger, fight for them until she couldn’t fight any longer, not live in this little bubble of a twisted reality.
He stopped a few feet from her, and she felt her questions bubble up, rise up from her and demand to be free.
“I want to help my people, not just help Jayce, but help free all of them.” She swallowed, feeling her strength, but also trepidation rise in her. “I want to be able to do something to make a difference.”
He lifted his hand, cupped her cheek, and she held her breath. His skin was cooler to the touch, or maybe she was just overheated from her emotions and the sudden desire to give herself what she wanted … Tolcan.
“You can’t save everyone. I can’t even do that.” He sounded a little softer, not so harsh.
“We don’t know if we don’t try.”
He shook his head and stroked her cheek a few more times before dropping his hand to the side. “It would take an uprising. It would take a massive shift in my people to realize that capturing and enslaving humans is wrong.” He took a step back, looked down, and for a second was silent, his expression showing he was deep in thought. “I’ve never thought of what we did to the humans as wrong.” He lifted his head, this dark expression on his face, as if this realization filled him. “I followed orders, did what I was told, and never questioned anything.” He moved closer to her again, and the scent of him, dark, spicy, male filled her nose. “But then I saw you, and something in me woke, came alive. I can’t even describe it, can’t even understand how one small human female can make me completely change the way I think and feel.” He cupped her cheek again, and Greta found herself leaning into it. The sound of her heart beating fast, wild, untamed, filled her ears.
This was all so crazy, but it felt … right.
“I know that I’d do anything to make you happy, and bring anyone back for you if it meant you’d trust me.”
As strange as all of this was, and how twisted it seemed when she thought about it, she did trust him. “I do, Tolcan, and that scares a part of me.” She felt this pit in her stomach grow with the truth of that. “I feel something, too, something that makes me question my own sanity, and makes me wonder what I’m even doing.” She lifted her hand, finding strength, and placed it over his much bigger one.
Looking into his light blue eyes, she saw a man, not an alien, not a brute, but a man willing to help her against all odds.
“I know we can’t save the world, and I would never ask you to risk everything to fight, because helping me with Jayce is such a big step. I can never repay you, and never let you know how truly happy and grateful I am for you helping me, helping the other humans, the ones I consider my family.”
The silence stretched between them, and her heart beat faster. The need to be closer, to show him she didn’t ignore the fact that he was kind and gentle to her, that he was trying for her. She wanted to show Tolcan that she wasn’t this Rogue-hating bitch, just like he wasn’t this human killing brute. Well, he might have been in the past, might have been right before he found her, but he’d shown her this good in him, and she wanted to show him that didn’t go unnoticed.
Without thinking anymore, and without letting uncertainty and fear control her, she rose on her toes, braced her hands on his pecs, and tilted her head slightly to kiss him. It was hard since he was so tall, so big, but at the first touch of her lips to his this growl left him. He grabbed her around the waist, and he lifted her easily. She was then moved to the wall, Tolcan so big she felt like a doll in his grasp.
He pressed her back to the wall, and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. God, he was so hard, his erection like steel behind his black pants. She knew she wouldn’t stop what was about to happen. She couldn’t if her life depended on it.
18
“You want this, want this as much as I do, don’t you?” He all but growled, and the way his baritone voice wrapped around her had an obscene amount of wetness coming from Greta. But it was like he was speaking to himself right now.
That animalistic sound left him again as he sucked on her lips, stroked his tongue over hers, and took control of this situation. She moaned, feeling like this was right, and in the next second his knee was wedged between her thighs. A shocked gasp of pleasure and outrage left her.
“I can smell how wet your pussy is, how much you want this.” He leaned down, ran the tip of his nose up her throat, and growled once more when he reached her ear. He had his hand between her legs seconds later, rubbed her through her thin pants, and all she could do was hold herself up by sheer will alone. Holding onto his massive shoulders also helped.
“I feel like I’m going to pass out,” she whispered.
“I’d catch you before you hit the floor, female.” In the next second he had the flimsy material of her pants torn away. Using his knee he pushed her thighs farther apart and had his hand right over her pussy, right on her mound that was spread and bared for him.
A gasp left her at the chilled feel of his skin against her heated flesh. His touch, his very essence speared right into her. Everything happened so fast that she couldn’t tell him to stop, even if she could have formed the words, or wanted to.
The truth was, Greta wanted this desperately, but her pride, guilt, and the fact that her situation was anything but ideal kept a firm hand on her, refusing to let her relinquish anything. At the first touch of his fingers on her labia she let her head fall back and closed her eyes, knowing that whatever she felt right now wouldn’t matter because he was making her burn alive. Never had she felt anything like this, had anyone touched her so desperately, intensely. She’d never wanted anyone to, in fact. Not until now.
“So warm and wet. So mine.” He ran the pad of his huge thumb along her clit, rubbed the bundle of nerves back and forth, and rumbled deeply. “Your surrender is the sweetest thing, and your acceptance of me, of what I can offer, is the greatest gift.”
Her inner muscles clenched down hard, as if trying to grab onto what wasn’t there. Tolcan continued to rub her clit over and over again until she found herself digging her nails into the flesh of her palms. He was just so much bigger than she. Greta felt like this tiny, small thing next to him.
A gasp left her as a
spark of pleasure assaulted her. He was relentless in his erotic onslaught, and when he slipped a finger down her cleft, ran circles around her opening, and slowly penetrated her, a moan she wished she had kept inside spilled out.
“Give yourself over to me, and let me make you feel so good. Let me show you your pleasure is what I seek.”
He pushed his finger in and out of her, tormented her, pleasured her, and had her hating and loving every minute of it. It was so good, so bad, and she wanted more. Greta shook uncontrollably, and something monumental, something she’d experienced with him before, grew inside of her. She was going to come for this male.
“Tell me what you want, Greta and I’ll make the ache go away.” His thick, wet tongue moved along the shell of her ear, causing explosions of sensation to crash and churn inside of her.
Why was she restraining herself so hard when the precipice of ecstasy was just a rub away? He nipped her earlobe, and that spark of pain had her digging her nails deeply into his skin. She knew she drew blood, but all he did was hiss out and lick her ear again. “That’s it, make me bleed. I’d gladly spill my blood for you.”
The air whooshed out of her, and she swallowed roughly. “Please, just do it already.” Her words were broken, hurried, and full of need. As soon as they left her mouth she knew they could never be taken back, knew that saying them had started something that couldn’t be stopped.
It was like something in Tolcan broke right before her. He was a madman between her thighs, moving his thumb over her clit so hard and fast she couldn’t catch her breath. He had his finger still in her, and she felt stretched, bordering on tears of pleasure/pain, and couldn’t stop asking for more.
