Kierce ended the kiss and brushed her hair away from her face, then allowed one hand to caress the side of her breast before palming the weight softly. “You’re the most desirable woman I ever met, Elianna of the Sectors.”
She laughed, running her fingers through his hair, enjoying the heavy silk against her skin. “I’m the only woman here.”
“My compliment was sincere.” He kissed her neck then toyed with her ear lobe. “I’ve desired you since the first time I transformed to the man and beheld you through the proper set of eyes.”
Elianna heard a note of hurt in his voice and regretted her urge to be flippant. She was trying to cover her nervousness. “I feel the same. I would very much like to act on the—the mutual admiration. But we barely know each other, and I don’t want to be one more person exploiting you. .”
“You’re my friend,” he said. “And a smart, caring, funny woman I grow fonder of by the day.” He nuzzled her neck, stroking her breasts through the rents in the jumpsuit fabric. His hands were warm on her skin. “I would like to make love to you if you would like to let me?”
“I…I would. I never expected to say this about the damn prison jumpsuit, but I have too many clothes on.” She fumbled with the fastenings and he assisted her, his hands more steady than hers as they eased the torn, stained garment off her body. Impatience to be skin to skin with him made her clumsy.
With a quick yank, Kierce undid the knot holding his inadequate kilt together and gathered her into his arms. “You’re shivering—do you want to go inside?” He made as if to pick her up.
“No.” Elianna shook her head emphatically. “I hate the dreary cell. You’ll keep me warm out here, won’t you?”
He laid her on the blanket and covered her with his own much larger body, the heat immediately soothing her tremors. “You have only to ask. I can deny you nothing.”
The head of his shaft rubbed the sensitive folds between her legs as they kissed again. Elianna ran her hand down his body, over the amazingly hard muscles of his abdomen and clasped the fingers of one hand around his manhood. She stroked him root to tip, enjoying his reaction and murmur of pleasure as she did so. Under her hand, his cock was velvet over steel, with ridges below the head. She’d had enticing glimpses of his equipment when he transformed and both the size and the unusual extra feature were intriguing. She pushed at his chest with her free hand. “Lay back—I want to see.”
Kierce moved in response to her request, watching with rapt attention as she adjusted her position to lie with her head close to his groin, admiring the functionality of his cock, which she was sure would provide maximum stimulus once she took him into herself. But not yet. This may be our only time together, and I for one want it to last.
Taking him in both hands, she ran her thumb across the weeping head he tried to control his eagerness, and then took him into her mouth. Delighting in how he moved, shifting under her hands in response to every touch she applied, Elianna hummed with pleasure. With her free hand, she cupped his sac, kneading carefully, enjoying the freedom to enjoy every aspect of his magnificent body.
While she was busy pleasuring him and enjoying herself in the process, Kierce inserted a careful finger into her channel, massaging the sensitive folds, then adding another finger to apply even more delightful pressure. Changing his position, he lapped at her body with a skillful tongue, finding and toying with the hidden bud of nerve endings.
Elianna broke off her own activity, arching in a futile effort to fend off the orgasm he was intent on giving her with his efforts, but the rush of delicious sensation was like a tidal wave going through her, starting deep in her core, spreading everywhere, impossible to resist.
Rather than allowing her to resume her exploration of his body, Kierce positioned her on her back on the blanket and guided himself into the warm slickness of her passage. “I can’t wait any longer to have you,” he said as he penetrated more deeply, mindful of her comfort as he went. “Your scent is driving me to haste, and telling me you’re ready.” Pausing, he gazed deep into her eyes. “Am I wrong? Do you need more preparation to be comfortable?”
The throbbing ache inside her was begging to be satisfied and only Keirce’s cock would do. His well-intentioned hesitation only heightened her desire, making her squirm. “I’m so close,” she said in a breathless whisper. “There’s no need for anything but you inside me, now.”
In response to her command, he thrust forward, his girth stretching her, enhancing the sensory overload. She bit her lip, not wanting to risk attracting the attention of any Khagrish night guards but it was hard to remain quiet when her entire body was like a musical instrument under his hands
“Harder.” To urge him on, not to treat her like a fragile flower, she clung to him with all the strength she possessed, locking her legs to hold him in place and put maximum pressure on the astonishing cock he filled her with. The ridges did indeed stimulate her nerve endings as he moved deeper and deeper, flexing his powerful hips to sheath himself in her body.
She did her best to retain enough control to constrict her inner ring of muscles to repay the favor with enhanced sensation for him. Judging from his low guttural sounds and the tightness in his body, Kierce was as aroused and pleased as she was. Elianna wasn’t surprised at all when the two of them climaxed in unison.
Carefully, he rolled onto his side, bringing her with him so there was no separation of their bodies, and held her close. “You’re amazing, my Elianna. Never have I felt so much pleasure. I think I went out of my own mind for a moment there, gone into a beautiful private place where there was only the two of us.” He kissed her tenderly as she snuggled close, breathing hard. “I only wish we hadn’t met here, in this prison of torture and death, but we wouldn’t have met at all if not for the Khagrish.”
“I hate owing them anything, much less for this experience, for what we just shared,” she said. “I refuse to let them intrude into our space tonight even in conversation.”
“You were satisfied?” he asked, a bit of anxiety in his voice. “I’ve haven’t ever been with a woman of my own free choice before and I—I wanted to make you happy.”
She rubbed his back and dropped little teasing kisses on his chest. “Mission very much accomplished.”
“You’re not a mission to me.” Now he sounded upset.
“Sshhh, it’s merely a phrase humans use.” Elianna made her voice soft and placating. “It doesn’t mean anything. We’re two people who care about each other, and we shared a special connection just now. Frankly, I’m wondering if we have time to repeat the experience again before dawn, because you, my friend, are one hell of a lover.”
He laughed, and she enjoyed the way the reduction of tension in his muscles brought their bodies closer together in all the right places. Cushioned inside her, he began to harden and lengthen as Kierce was obviously more than willing to oblige her request. “I won’t even make you play cards to earn another forfeit,” he said.
“Clearly, we’re well beyond the forfeit strategy.” It felt good to be silly and laugh with him. She stretched her body in a sinuous curve, pushing her naked breasts against his chest.
In response to her invitation, he lowered his head and tasted one of her peaked nipples, rolling his tongue around the sensitive bud then expanding his quest, paying devoted attention to one breast with his tongue while kneading and teasing the other with his hand. He chuckled against her skin. “I think we’re of like mind when it comes to the stakes we’re playing for.”
Their coupling this time was every bit as satisfying to Elianna as the first experience had been. Kierce drowsed a little afterward, with her head pillowed his shoulder, and she was warm and content, watching him rest. She couldn’t help thinking wistfully how wonderful it would have been to keep Kierce as a friend and lover, and maybe much more, given time. But at least we’ve given each other happiness here, in this wretched place. At least I have a friend’s hand to hold.
He stirred as if he could r
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I sense sadness in you.”
“I am sad, I guess.” She craved the comfort he could offer, even though their true situation weighed on her emotions, a bittersweet mix of joy and sorrow twisting her heart. “What we have is pretty special to me, and I’d like to see where this connection between us goes, but we both know it’s only a matter of time before the Khagrish lose their patience and—.”
He placed his finger over her lips. “We won’t speak of dire things, not tonight, not when the Great Mother has blessed us with each other.” Now it was his turn to look troubled. “I should have asked if we were at risk for creating a child. I don’t even know if I can father children, but it was wrong of me not to consider the possibility.”
Elianna hugged him. “Don’t worry, I’ve taken the standard precaution, when I was in the Sectors. I have a year or so before the shot wears off. Hadn’t you better become the tiger?” The sky was lightening to the east and their captors started the day’s rigors early A headache throbbed at her temple as she remembered what their captors would be doing to him in a few hours. The anger over the situation was a physical force inside her but there was nowhere to vent it and no one to take it out on.
Kierce kissed her a final time, a deep, demanding embrace as if he couldn’t bear to let her go, and she clung to him for the illusory reassurance to be found in his arms. He’d do anything to save her, she knew, but rescuing themselves was beyond his powers. He left her, walking naked into the center of the yard and kneeling as the mad kaleidoscope of colors winked into existence, surrounding him and pulling at him in a mysterious, undefinable way.
Elianna wanted to close her eyes, to avoid seeing him changed into the tiger, because knowing the man was subsumed in the animal was so distressing to her, on his behalf. But he was watching her with a golden amber gaze as steady as a rock, and she didn’t want him to misinterpret anything if she averted her eyes now. For all his size and lethal abilities, Kierce had a soft heart and was easily wounded where she was concerned.
Once the tiger sat in the middle of the grassy space, she walked to him, carrying all the blankets looped over her arm. “We’d probably better go inside. Make our situation appear normal to the Khagrish at least on the surface, us on the sleeping platform.”
The tiger nudged her thigh playfully, butting her with his huge head. As they strolled toward the building she scratched behind his ears the way he liked and tried to contain the tears. She didn’t want him to see her cry and was afraid he might try to become the man again, demanding to know why she was upset or trying to comfort her. It would be a disaster for the Khagrish to see him in the human form.
Cry later, once he’s gone for the day.
An hour or so later the daily routine played out again between the tiger and the Khagrish.
Elianna addressed the lab tech as the man walked out of the cell behind the anti grav litter. “Please, I’m going to need more food and maybe another dozen bottles of nutrient drink.”
He continued out of the enclosure, triggered the force barrier and only then answered her. “Dr. Innimarrg refused to authorize more when I asked yesterday. He indicated he’s on a new protocol with the subject that will yield the results he’s seeking in another day or two, so the current situation will be ended.”
The way the previously mildly friendly tech averted his eyes while speaking to her gave Elianna a terrible feeling. “What—what are you doing to the poor thing?”
The Khagrish walked away. “None of your business.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Kierce endured another day of utter agony and newfound terror under the new techniques Innimarrg was employing. The physical pain and violence of the force whips was nothing compared to this combination of psychological manipulation, enhanced by multiple injections of drugs which induced tearing pain all through his body.
The pain came in waves at unexpected intervals, and he was restrained in such a way to prevent him from making any move to alleviate the agony. He suspected a large proportion of the torture was all in his mind, like the hallucinations and other horrific thoughts in his head, but he couldn’t be sure. He was growing exhausted trying to remain sane, and the only escape route was becoming the tiger at a much deeper level than ever before. Kierce feared losing himself and couldn’t even be triumphant over how Innimarrg was ironically going in the wrong direction entirely with his new protocol. Kierce was too worried about Elianna to find any triumph in his tormentor’s failure.
At times during the endless torture, he watched Innimarrg talking to the techs or doing work on his handheld, and it seemed to Kierce his torturer was only going through the motions to some extent. He wasn’t avidly studying and documenting each moment of Kierce’s suffering, wasn’t savoring the agonized cries of the beast, torn from Kierce’s throat by the mistreatment.
With an increasingly rare flash of higher level reasoning, Kierce wondered what game the Khagrish was playing.
At the end of the session, while the hallucinations were fading in his head and the pain was leaving his body like a slow moving tide, Kierce hung limp in the restraints.
Innimarrg came to stand right in front of him.
If Kierce hadn’t been muzzled for the last few hours, he’d have done his best to tear a chunk from the Khagrish. As it was, he fought the restraints with the last remnants of the tiger’s strength and glared at the scientist, while emitting broken growls from a throat made raw by the day’s physical and mental trials.
Innimarrg appeared amused rather than intimidated. He reached out to twist Kierce’s ear painfully. “I know this new protocol is having a powerful effect on you. The readings are most encouraging. You need to listen to me very closely, animal. Tomorrow there’ll be no treatments for you. Your human companion will be brought to the lab with you, chained and put through the same treatment you’ve been having, while you watch. The only way to save her life is to do as I demand and transform to the humanoid. I know you can do it. I’ve been impressed by your stubbornness in holding to the feline form, but I’m out of time and patience. I owe the science council an update, and the idiots will cancel my funding and reassign me if I haven’t achieved the desired result. I won’t allow you to deprive me of my well-deserved accolades and rewards. Do you understand?”
Kierce shut his eyes.
The scientist took the gesture for assent although Kierce’s only purpose had been to block the hateful sight of the Khagrish in front of him. “Good boy.” He added, “The drug is going to give me control of your mind, you know, break you into pieces until you’ll do what I command. It keeps working even after the guards float you out the door at the end of the day—there’s no escaping its effects. You’ve imprinted on me under the influence of the new meds, and I will break you to my purpose.” With a final pat on the head, Innimarrg strolled away.
Kierce was stunned into helpless paralysis as usual for the trip to the cell. Once he’d been dumped on the floor and the Khagrish left the enclosure, Elianna moved to his side at once, stroking his fur, checking for the day’s injuries. He couldn’t tell her the wounds were all inside, not to mention the lingering mental effects.
He staggered to his feet, shaking his head in a vain effort to dislodge the wrongness in his mind, the miasma left by the drugs. With an intense effort, he grabbed tonight’s bloody roast in his jaws and stumbled to the external door. Hoping a full belly might give him strength to banish the day’s side effects, maybe even enough to transform to the man and be able to talk to Elianna, he fought the door to get outside.
Murmuring soft comments in Basic he was too tired to translate right now, she came to the flap and helped him slink underneath. He escaped to the slightly less oppressive prison outdoors. Much as he craved her companionship, he was relieved she stayed inside. He wanted to be in control of himself before they encountered each other at more length and, if he was being honest, he was afraid he couldn’t manage the transformation tonight. Innimarrg’s new form of torture was too effective.
He refused to believe the Khagrish boast that the scientist would control his mind. The drug was doing horrific things to his thought processes but, if he was imprinted on anyone, it was Elianna, with her warm heart and generous sharing of herself with him the night before. He had to keep the image of her front and center in his mind and, no matter how turbulent the condition of his brain became, he’d be all right. The goddess had sent Elianna to help him and, in return, he’d do anything in his power to protect her.
Even from himself.
Elianna watched the tiger flee outside, shocked at how defeated he seemed, and how awkwardly he was moving. Always before the animal form had been graceful and powerful, no matter what the day’s experiments had brought. She sat on the edge of the sleeping platform, too keyed up to eat the ration bar sitting wrapped and sealed next to her, and chewed on a fingernail instead.
Kierce hadn’t exactly rejected her help tonight, and there’d been no growling either. “Dammit, Kierce, you need me, whether you’ll admit it or not. Stubborn man.”
She’d waited all day to have him safely returned to her. To be honest, she was hoping they could make love again because those few hours in his arms had been pure bliss. But only if he was well enough to want intimacy. The worst thing he can do is growl at me to go away. She refused to entertain any apprehension about the tiger doing much worse if Kierce lost control. But plainly events had gone more badly today than usual, and she had the sinking feeling she needed to know the details.
Rising, she grabbed several of the blankets and followed the tiger outside.
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