by Aubrey Ross
“Only a coward preys on the innocent,” Quade sneered. “You have no honor.”
“Fuck honor! We intend to feast on innocence and bathe in blood. And all of Fedoros will stand in line for their chance to join us. Now place your weapons on the floor and push them toward me, slowly. Leave those safeties on.”
Shaking with impotent rage, Quade forced himself to obey. Xyell was right. Killing him would only slow the process. They needed to sever the head of the snake. “I will not rape her. I could not live with myself if I did.”
“Who said anything about rape? Pry her thighs apart anyway you like, whisper sweet promises or threaten her loved ones.” He bent to one knee and gathered Quade’s weapons. “I expect a demonstration of your loyalty. You will overcome this squeamishness and fuck the girl. And you will go right on fucking her until she gives you the name and description of her priestess.”
“Why do you want the priestess?” Quade asked.
“It is not your place to question my motivation.” He shoved Quade away from the door. “It’s your place to obey orders. Now get busy!”
Quade heard the door close behind him, knowing that his fate was sealed. He should have acted sooner. This was his punishment for remaining passive so long.
“You look more frightened than I.”
He looked at the girl and felt a flicker of hope. She was not as young as he had first thought. Forcibly seducing a virgin held about as much appeal as…any of the other activities that had gone on in this room. “What’s your name?”
“It’s not my name you need to worry about. If I’m not mistaken.” She struggled to her feet, obviously stiff after kneeling on the hard floor for so long. He wasn’t sure if he should help her or if she would resent the assistance. Pride was revealed by the tilt of her head and the brightness of her eyes. “I only need to know one thing.”
“And that is?”
“Look at me.” He met her gaze and waited. “Was this set up from the beginning?”
He shook his head and sighed. “The ambassador is all about power. There is nothing more intoxicating for him than finding ways to bend people to his will.”
She searched his gaze for a long, silent moment then nodded, apparently having made up her mind. “How long have you served him?”
“Two years. He was not always this cruel. The more time he spends with the prince, the more they resemble each other.”
With one arm covering her breasts, she swept her other toward the narrow bunk. “I would rather get this over with, if it is all the same to you. I do not suffer anticipation well.”
He took a deep breath and closed the distance between them, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Have you ever been with a man?”
“I joined the temple after my husband was killed at sea. I am no virgin.”
“I am relieved.”
Her dark brows arched and her shoulders relaxed beneath his hands. “Most men would be disappointed. Many pay dearly for the pleasure of mounting a virgin.”
“That’s the problem. When the woman has absolutely no idea what to expect, she is generally unresponsive. I prefer women who enjoy sex and understand their own bodies.”
“Well, it has been a long time, so do not raise your expectations too high.”
His cock hardened and his blood warmed, but he still hesitated. “Before we begin, I want the other issue settled between us. Tell me about your priestess.”
She reached for the fastenings on his jacket, riding him of the garment with remarkable skill. “I will tell you about her. She is an amazing person, powerful and genuinely blessed by Venus.” Her agile fingers went to work on his pants then she bent and tugged off his boots. “She saved my sister’s life. My sister had fallen down an abandoned well. She was unconscious and would have died, but my priestess had a vision that revealed where she was.”
Someone with that sort of power could prove dangerous. Xyell and the prince were building an empire on lies and misconceptions. This priestess might be able to expose their deception. No wonder Xyell wanted to find her.
The acolyte wrapped her hand around his cock and stroked him without demure or hesitation. “I will let you couple with me, but I will never betray my priestess.”
Damn it! Fucking her was only half the assignment. He had to convince her to give him a name and description. A name, not necessarily the right name.
Feeling the cameras unblinking eyes upon him, Quade pulled her hand away from his cock and dragged her arms behind her back. He picked her up and held her at eye level, arms nestled in the small of her back. “I don’t think you’ve grasped the situation, little acolyte. This isn’t a negotiation.”
He tossed her facedown on the bunk and covered her with his body. He let her feel his weight and understand her own weakness before he pushed her legs apart with his knees and knelt between her thighs.
“You are part of it.” She trembled beneath him, but he wasn’t sure if it was anger or fear.
He pulled her hips up and slipped his hand beneath her, boldly cupping her mound. She jerked her arms free, but he merely pressed against her back and buried his face in her hair. Holding her hands down above her head, he positioned his mouth directly above her ear.
“Struggle,” he whispered. “He’s watching every move we make.”
She wiggled and bucked as well as she could with his big body covering hers. “Get off me!”
“Good. Now think. Is there a name you can give me? Someone who deserves to be found by Xyell?” Her body went slack and Quade tensed. “Are you all right?”
“Perion puts the ambassador to shame. But I told Xyell I serve a priestess.”
“Easily explained. Now wait awhile to confess.” He shifted position, pressing his cock into the crack of her ass. “We must make this look convincing.” Pulling her up with him, he adjusted the angle of their hips. His fingers passed over her clit and she cried out, renewing her struggles.
“I will not find pleasure with you.” She panted, her hands tightly clenched. “Do what you must and leave me be!”
He hid his smile in her hair. Her tone was a bit too dramatic, but she’d spoken nice and loud. “I’ll tear you apart if I don’t get you wet. It’s either this or my mouth.” He had only intended to pretend to fuck her, but she felt warm and soft as she undulated against him, almost welcoming. She rocked her hips, rubbing herself against his fingers. Her clit felt puffy and slick. He wanted to turn her over and spread her legs so he could feast on her pussy. “I want to fuck you with my tongue.”
“No,” she whispered then made a loud, distressed sound and tossed her head back and forth. “I want nothing from you! Be done with it.”
Understanding her preference, he moved his hips back slightly then clenched his ass cheeks as he lunged forward. It created the illusion of a long, inward thrust. Right on cue she cried out then whimpered—the sound so pathetic he wanted to wrap his arms around her and apologize.
“It’s been months since I had a woman.” He assured her as he continued the simulated thrusts. “I won’t last long.” Suddenly he remembered the purpose for their performance. He jerked back and pulled her ass cheeks apart, positioning his cock against her anus. “Now talk or I go inside and I won’t be gentle.”
“No! Please! I have never taken a man like that.” Her terror sounded wonderfully genuine. “I will not… I cannot betray my master.”
“Master? I thought you serve a priestess?”
She pushed her hair off her face and looked back at him. “There is a priestess in our temple, but we all serve… Please do not hurt him. He has done nothing wrong.”
The door burst open and Xyell strode in, flushed, eyes gleaming with arousal. Quade started to crawl off the bed, but Xyell stopped him. “Stay put. You may yet need to ram that monster up her ass.” He walked right up to the bed and tangled his fist in the woman’s hair. “You’ve wasted enough of our time. Give me his name and description.”
Quade caught the sheen of tears as X
yell turned her face farther toward him. Her lips trembled and she licked her lips. “Will you spare my life?”
“Perhaps, if you speak quickly.” He reached down and twisted her nipple, dragging a sharp cry from her throat.
“Perion! The high priest’s name is Perion. He seems taller than he actually is. He has a very haughty bearing.”
“No one has a bearing while they’re unconscious. Light hair or dark? Describe his features.”
“Sharp features, high cheekbones and a narrow nose. His eyes are dark and slant at the corners. His grandmother was an eastern slave. What hair he has is now gray, but most of his head is bald.”
He shoved her back as he released her hair. “Now was that so hard?”
Quade breathed a sigh and moved to sit on the edge of the bunk. They’d done it. They’d survived unscathed and—
“Speaking of hard.” Xyell gestured toward Quade’s massive erection. “You have unfinished business with my boy Quade.”
“But I told you what you wanted to know.” The acolyte scooted off the end of the bed and crossed her arms over her breasts.
“Which is why you’re still breathing.” He grabbed her arm and yanked her around to the side of the bunk. “Now get on your knees and suck his cock. My men are never left wanting.”
“That’s not necessary, Sir. I can easily—”
“You’re not jerking off when there is a perfectly good mouth right in front of you. Either let her suck your cock or you can finish fucking her ass. I wouldn’t mind watching you break her in.”
Hopelessness washed over him in waves. It had all been for nothing. All his clever maneuvering had only postponed the inevitable. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she knelt and eased his legs apart. He closed his eyes, unable to bear the pleading urgency in her gaze. What did she expect him to do! He’d tried to save her. He’d tried to spare them both.
Her warm lips closed around the head of his cock and her hand cupped his balls. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. Hating himself even more than he hated the ambassador.
“That’s right.” Xyell gloated. “You’re both mine.”
Chapter Three
“Trans…”
“Transparent.” Aiden finished for her.
Felicia held the “glass” up in front of her and marveled as she looked right through it. “How is this done?” Even as her fingers touched and her eyes beheld, her mind struggled to comprehend.
“It is made out of some sort of plastic that allows light to pass through.” He smiled and nodded toward the large window, only he had called it a viewport. “A similar compound allows us to see out into space.”
“But there are no stars.” She felt numb, adrift in a world unrelated to any she had ever known.
“We’re traveling much too fast to see stars. When we near Fedoros we’ll drop out of hyperspace and you’ll see stars like you’ve never seen in your life.”
“Fedoros is the world on which Venus built our new home?”
“Yes. I haven’t seen it myself, but I’ve heard it is very much like Pompeii.”
“I need to see my people.” She set the glass on a nearby table and fiddled with the cord holding up her leg coverings. Pants. He had called them pants. “You have told me that many of them are unharmed, but I need to see them.”
“All right.” He took her hand and then paused. “You understand that they’re in stasis, right? We talked about what that means.”
“They are in a very deep trance, but no harm will come to them. Correct?”
“Exactly right.” Keeping her next to the wall, he hurried her down the corridor and into a tiny room. “Hold on to me.” No sooner had she grabbed hold of his arm than the room plummeted, sending her stomach right along with it. She gasped, turned into him, and wrapped her arms around him. With a warm chuckle, he accepted the unexpected embrace. “You’re all right. We’re almost there.”
“What is this thing?”
“It’s called a lift, though right now we’re going down, not up.” The lift finally stabilized and Felicia exhaled. “Better now?”
He sounded more amused than concerned, but she didn’t take exception. “I believe so.”
“Good, then let’s go.” He led her to a wide double door. “This is a cargo bay. It’s been set up to accommodate two hundred survivors. There are two more bays just like this one and this is one of twelve ships. Like I told you earlier, we rescued over seven thousand of your people.”
Felicia nodded and the doors slid open. She followed Aiden inside feeling both excited and unsure. She hadn’t known what to expect, but her imagination never could have created something so amazing or so horrible. Her people were laid out in tubes and stacked one on top of the other, row after row after row. It seemed to go on forever, bodies, motionless bodies everywhere she looked.
Her heart thudded wildly and her lungs began to burn. “They are…”
“They are alive.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “They are all very much alive.”
“Wake them up! This is unnatural. Wake them up now!” She spun away from his arm and lunged for the nearest tube. His arm caught her around the waist, pulling her back against his body. She went wild in his arms, thrashing and twisting, arching her back. “Release me! I must assist them. I must…”
She dissolved into tears as his arms captured hers, immobilizing her against his body. When she stopped struggling against him, he turned her and pressed her face into the warm hollow where his neck met his shoulder. He was the only solid thing in her world and she clung to him without hesitation.
His arms were strong and his hands were gentle, but her riotous emotions prevented her from evaluating the potential intimacy. He walked her to a nearby bench and pulled her down into his lap. She curled into the warmth of his body, knowing it was just a temporary reprieve from the tempest, yet thankful for a moment to catch her breath.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered against her hair. “I should have realized I was overwhelming you. I was being selfish.”
The sincerity in his confession drew her head up off his shoulder. “How were you being selfish? You simply did what I asked you to do.”
“I need your help,” he reminded. “I was doing what I thought would earn your trust.”
She searched his gaze, unsure what to make of him. Few men she knew were so honest. It was far more often that they twisted words and situations to their own liking and their own benefit. “You are a very strange man, Aiden. But you are not a priest of Venus. The question is, why do you want people to believe you are?”
He stared at her for a long time then looked around the cargo bay before he leaned in and said, “The truth is, I don’t know why the Fedorans saved your people. I was hired to help move you to your new home and it’s the Fedorans who came up with the story about Venus and Vulcan.”
This was one eventuality she had not anticipated. “Your home is not Fedoros?” How many worlds were there?
“No.” He looked around again. Was he afraid someone was listening to their conversation? “Let’s go back to the officers’ mess or my quarters. Your choice.”
“Will you behave yourself if we go to your quarters?”
His gaze swept the length of her body and then he shook his head. “You’re too damn tempting. We better stick with the mess hall.”
She should not be flattered by his inappropriate comment, but she could not help it. Most people thought of her as a spiritual adviser, a source of wisdom and guidance. Those who found her physically pleasing knew she was forbidden and were not willing to risk the horrible misfortunes known to befall those who defiled Venus’ chosen ones.
Except when Venus’ chosen ones chose to defile each other, then Venus did not seem to care. Felicia shuddered and crawled off his lap. She would not think about Perion right now. The past could not be changed and her wounds were long healed. At least the gashes and bruises Perion had left on her body.
Aiden caught her hand and waited until she looked at him to ask, “Are you all right? I didn’t upset you again, did I?”
“No.” She pulled her hand out of his, unable to maintain eye contact.
He stood and gathered both her hands in his. “Does it bother you that I find you attractive? Surely I’m not the only one.”
“You are not.” Memories rushed toward her, threatening to overtake her hard-won control. Torchlight and incense, laughter and pain. And Perion’s face leering down into hers.
“I’m trying to be respectful. That’s why I suggested we go to—”
She threw her arms around his neck and pulled his face down to hers. His lips were warm and pliant, but he didn’t respond. She would not allow the old memories to return. It had taken so long to conquer the nightmares and overcome the hopelessness. She had to think about something else, anything else!
Shifting her head to a different angle, she tried again. After a long, frustrating moment, she pushed him away and turned to go, humiliated by her inability to arouse him. It did not matter anyway. Shadows filled her mind, like a specter she had thought long banished.
He caught her upper arm and brought her up short. “Why did you kiss me?”
“I thought you would enjoy the exchange.” She stared at his chin, refusing to meet his probing gaze.
He would not allow the evasion. His fingers curved beneath her chin and he tilted her face up until their eyes met. “You’ve made damn sure I know you’re off limits. I don’t understand.”
“I needed a distraction. I did not realize it would upset you.”
His hand cupped her cheek, thumb tracing her lips back and forth, ever so lightly. “If I kiss you, will you tell me why you need a distraction?”
Trepidation chilled her blood and fueled the discomfort churning inside her mind. Would he see this as an invitation? She wasn’t trying to seduce him. She just needed a fresh memory so she could push out the old. “All I want is a kiss. You must stop after you’ve kissed me.”
