Tariq snorted with disgust. “They’re a sorry lot. Too much inbreeding, if ask me, but the medics are running tests on them. Regular savages, too. A show of force cowed them quickly enough, fortunately. I would’ve been thoroughly pissed off if I’d gotten there and discovered the team had put them down.
“They weren’t faring well. I suppose we’ll know when get the test results, but it could be malnutrition and not inbreeding. Gods! I hope to hell that’s all it is! We rounded up fifty. If they check out, we could send them on, fatten them up on the trip to Niribu and pacify the screaming masses … at least temporarily.”
Koryn felt his spirits lift considerably. “Breeding age?”
Tariq shrugged. “There didn’t seem to be any much above full maturity. Either the conditions they’ve been subjected to haven’t been conducive to longevity or they’re a roving band of young scavengers. We couldn’t get much out of them.”
Koryn nodded. “Well … I’ll leave you to your wine and your woman. I have work to do in the lab.”
Tariq lifted his nearly untouched glass when Koryn had left, wondering if ‘his’ woman was going to drive him to drinking. He shook the thought after a moment. His only problem was having to discipline her and abstain while doing it. If she hadn’t been ‘untouchable’ at the moment, he didn’t think he would’ve felt any need for something to tranquilize. She’d been out of the pod almost a week, though, and she was on a regular diet—and gaining enough strength to fight both him and Koryn. He thought he could give her another week and take care of his real problem.
Jacking off, as Koryn had suggested, wasn’t helping do more than take the edge off and not much of the fucking edge at that. He was tempted, briefly, to find a willing partner among the crewmembers. He dismissed the thought. He wanted Emerald and, that being the case, fucking anyone else wasn’t going to help a lot more than jacking off—in which case, why go to the effort?
It occurred to him that eschewing the company of other women in his bed might not send Emerald the right message, but he dismissed it. He could handle that when and if it came to that. At the moment, he was fairly sure she wasn’t feeling the least bit possessive about him.
Chapter Seven
Emerald lay in absolute misery for hours, feeling as if every nerve ending in her body was fried from the ‘disciplinary’ sessions Tariq and Koryn had treated her to. She almost thought violent rape would’ve been better. She might’ve felt battered afterward, but she could’ve hated both of them with an intensity that left no room for anything else. What infuriated her most about the ordeal was that they’d left her wanting them to fuck her senseless. She felt as if she hated both of them and yet the moment Koryn had left all she could think about was the hours he’d tormented her without giving her any relief.
She almost thought she could’ve climaxed getting him off except she couldn’t. She skated the edge until she thought it would drive her crazy, but she couldn’t find the release she needed so badly.
If she hadn’t been so angry and miserable, she might’ve begged Tariq to give her the relief she needed. She wanted to, so badly she could taste it, and yet her pride kept her tongue firmly between her teeth—that and the certainty that he wouldn’t give her what she needed.
Instead, she clamped her eyes tightly shut and tried to ignore the sense that he was watching her, waiting and hoping that he would leave so that she could rip off the damned belt he’d fastened on her that prevented her from orgasm.
She hadn’t thought he was serious when he’d told her that! Who in their right mind would invent such a device?
The Anunnaki—to ‘discipline’ their sex slaves.
It was hard to wrap her mind around that even though Tariq had come right out and said that he was keeping her for breeding!
What was his objective any way, she wondered? To wear her down until she told him what she knew?
If that was it, she was in for pure hell. She couldn’t tell him anything if she’d wanted to and she had a bad feeling it wouldn’t take much more of what she’d already endured to tell him anything he wanted to know—if she could have.
It finally occurred to her when her mind had ceased to be so fevered with the endless hours of erotic stimulus with no relief that he’d said they were disciplining her—not interrogating. It was her flat refusal to tell him that had angered him.
It had been nothing short of stupid to fling that at him when she knew he couldn’t get information from her that she no longer possessed! And then she’d compounded that by balking at his orders. She was a soldier! She was used to following orders without question. Why she’d decided to … challenge Tariq’s authority was a complete mystery to her.
She couldn’t even honestly say she’d refused because she’d known the order was sexual in nature. She’d known, just from the way he looked at her, that he wanted her before he’d ever touched her the first time. If she was honest with herself, she’d been hurt and angry when she thought he’d decided he didn’t want her after all, not relieved. He unnerved her and yet she’d wanted him. She just hadn’t liked the way he’d demanded it.
She’d wanted to be treated as an equal, not a … slave, but she was whatever he wanted her to be. There were no choices for her.
Even if there was some chance of escaping, she didn’t stand a chance in hell of surviving the world she’d seen outside the ship, and she knew it. And she couldn’t even escape Tariq’s quarters, let alone the ship. She’d tried everything she could think of to get the door open and couldn’t.
He didn’t even need Aeon standing guard outside the door.
Despite her misery and the thoughts tumbling around in her mind, she dozed after a while, exhausted from the hours of torment she’d endured. She woke with a start some time later to discover that Tariq had left.
It took her several moments to figure out why it was important that Tariq had left. When she finally remembered the belt, she sat up and began pulling at it. If felt as if it was made of something soft and yielding, but it not only didn’t stretch, no amount of wrestling with it broke the catch. Expelling an angry huff, she looked down at it and began twisting it around and around her waist, trying to find the catch.
Unfortunately, she was still working at it when Tariq returned. His gaze immediately pinned her when he stepped through the door and although she jerked her hands away from the belt guiltily, she knew he’d seen what she was doing—trying to do. That seemed to be enough. His face hardened. Without a word, he strode across the room and settled the tray he was carrying. “I brought you something to eat. Come.”
She sent him a resentful glare which she tried to erase from her face when he glanced at her. Staring at him warily, she got off the bed and gathered the sheet around her.
“Leave it.”
She stared at his back in dismay. “But ….”
He turned and leveled a look at her. Dropping the sheet, she stalked over to the chair and sat down. She discovered he’d brought food for both of them.
“When we reach Niribu, you’ll be expected to serve me … if I decide to dine with you,” he said coolly.
And who knew? Maybe she could find some poison to lace his food with, she thought angrily? “When are you going to Niribu?” she asked after a moment.
When he didn’t answer, she looked up at him questioningly. His expression was stony. “We will be leaving when I’ve finished my task here.”
“Collecting bodies and cloning them just so that they can be slaves?” she asked tightly. “Maybe they’d rather stay dead.”
He tilted his head almost curiously. “Your people once perceived us as gods. It’s an honor to serve the Anunnaki.”
Emerald lifted her brows. “You mean back when we were living in caves and scratching ourselves? Yeah, I can see that. We aren’t nearly as easily awed these days.”
“Or as cautious,” he murmured. “I don’t need your tongue to breed you.”
Emerald swallowed the morsel of food she’d put h
er mouth with an effort at his tone and the not too subtle threat. He was actually pretty fucking scary with almost no effort at all, she thought uneasily. It was pretty difficult after that to even pretend she had an appetite, but she made an effort out of pure determination to convince him he hadn’t scared her.
“Go and bathe and then wait in the bed,” he said when they’d finished. “I have a report to make.”
She wasn’t particularly tired, but she decided that she’d pushed him as far as she dared. Getting up, she headed into the bathing facilities. She didn’t ask him to remove the belt and he didn’t offer. She soaked thoroughly, hoping against hope that it would short out. It had to be some sort of electronics even if wasn’t anything familiar to her, she reasoned. Impulses travelled to and from the brain electronically. If it was blocking the nerve signals that controlled orgasm, it would have be doing it with some sort of wave.
Tariq was sitting at his desk on the far side of the room when she returned, speaking to a holographic image hovering just above the desktop. Unfortunately, he wasn’t speaking English, but she supposed she could guess what the conversation was about—collecting humans for transport back to Niribu. Climbing into the bed, she lay back, staring at the ceiling, wondering if she pretended to be asleep if he would let her sleep.
Somehow, she doubted it and when he finally ended his communication and approached the bed, she knew with dismay that she was right. He sat down to pull off his boots and then stood again to strip. Flipping the covers off of her, he settled beside her, propped on one arm and studied her. “Put your arms over your head.”
Emerald gulped, struggled with the urge to continue trying to pretend she was asleep and finally lifted her arms. When she peered at him, she saw his expression was stony. “Draw your knees up.”
Clamping her thighs together, she drew legs up without hesitation that time, hoping the fact that she’d instantly obeyed might weigh in her favor.
“I think you know that isn’t what I meant,” he said dryly. “Spread them.”
He was going to torture her like he had before! She knew it and it was more reluctance to endure it again than rebelliousness that made her hesitate. Biting her lip, she fanned her thighs open. He used his free hand to push them wider and shifted her feet until he was satisfied. She flinched all over when he stroked a finger along her damp nether lips, carefully separating the folds of flesh. She felt heated moisture collect in her channel as he explored her there. With an effort, she stared hard at a point on the ceiling and tried to focus on it so completely as to block his touch from her mind. She succeeded to a degree and yet when he found the mouth of her sex and slowly pushed a thick finger inside of her it brought her mind right back to focus on his touch.
She swallowed with an effort, trying to calm her heart as it accelerated to match the cadence of his finger as he slowly pushed it deeply inside of her and just as slowly withdrew it, pulling completely out each time and convincing her that he meant to stop and then, after a brief pause, pushing inside of her again until she felt the heat within begin to rise in spite of every effort to prevent it.
She reached a point very quickly where she had to fight the urge to try to evade his finger, to close her legs tightly. The inner muscles of her thighs quivered both from that tension and the strain of holding her legs wide for him to torment her. She squeezed her eyes tightly, hopeful of escaping in that way, but that only seemed to intensify the sensations.
When she opened eyes again, she saw that he was studying her face, his own taut. His expression made her heart trip over itself and begin to race a little faster. The muscles along her channel quivered, sending out the first tremors of a climax and then simply continued to spasm faintly—just enough to tighten her chest and make it difficult to breathe without panting.
She was almost relieved when he finally removed his finger and skated his hand up her belly … until he began massaging her breasts and plucking at her nipples. They tightened in response, filling with the blood that would intensify their sensitivity. He continued to pluck at them until they began to ache and then hurt with the pressure.
Dread filled her when he finally stopped and leaned down to cover the closest with his mouth. She tensed all over, trying to brace for the jolt she expected and it still knocked the breath from her. She almost thought it might not have been so excruciating if she hadn’t, but she was too mindless within moments to have another clear thought. He thrust his finger into her channel again as he pulled at her sensitive nipple. This time, he drove into her hard and fast, however, pulling at her nipple in the same rhythm until she reached fever pitch and began to moan and thrash.
He released her nipple. “Be still,” he said harshly.
She stilled, tensing every muscle as he shifted over her to capture her other nipple. She nearly passed out when he sucked it into his mouth, dipped toward darkness but not oblivion. The darkness that invaded her mind only seemed to increase the sensations until her entire body was quivering.
She dragged in a shaky breath when he finally lifted his head and withdrew his finger. He studied her for a long moment when he’d stopped. “Take my cock in your mouth and give me release,” he said hoarsely, “and I’ll allow you to rest.”
She was on fire, her mind almost too fevered to comprehend. She pushed herself up, however, and crawled down the bed to grasp his cock and guide it into her mouth. It was huge. She felt her jaws pop as she struggled to fit the head into her mouth. In the end, she couldn’t manage to cover much more than the head, but she sucked at it feverishly and stroked her hands up and down his cock. He caught her legs, turning her and then burrowing his face between her legs. Her heart slammed against her ribcage as he covered her clit and began to pull at it with a fervor that made the muscles along her channel quake harder. She sucked at the head of his cock and stroked her hands along the length with more enthusiasm, lured by the promise of a climax until he cock abruptly jerked in her hands and mouth and hot semen hit the back of her throat. Still caught up in the belief that she was about to come, as well, she pulled at him enthusiastically until he finally ceased to come and pushed her away.
She settled back and stared at him, too stunned for several moments to grasp what had happened. She felt like crying when her sluggish mind had finally sorted it and she realized the belt had prevented her from achieving orgasm. It hadn’t shorted out as she’d hoped it would.
She dropped weakly down on the bed after a moment, struggling with her emotions, with the heat still churning inside of her. The quivering inside of her had only just begun to subside when Tariq caught her hand and tugged at her. “Come here.”
She sat up, eyeing him distrustfully, but she didn’t dare hesitate, despite the dread that instantly seized her.
She discovered it was warranted. He’d allowed her a few moments respite and then he began all over again. She lay awake for hours after he’d dropped to sleep, struggling to summon any emotion at all besides self pity but discovered she ached too badly to rouse anything else.
* * * *
Koryn caught Emerald completely by surprise. She’d woken to find Tariq gone with a mixture of relief, anger, and an aching need that still lingered strongly enough to make her miserable. Getting up, she’d headed into the bathroom and bathed in hot water until it eased the ache of her tense muscles and then turned the water to as cool a temperature as she could stand in the hope that it would cool the heat inside of her. It worked to an extent. She was still far from comfortable, but neither her breasts nor her sex felt nearly as swollen and achy.
Koryn appeared several hours later, while she was staring at nothing and wishing herself miles away. She eyed him warily when he came in, but relaxed when she saw he’d brought food. He strode to the table and set the tray down, pulled up the other chair and attacked the food he’d brought himself with enthusiasm. Discovering she was starving herself since she’d barely touched her food the night before, she joined him at the table and focused on appeasing her own
appetite.
When Koryn finished eating, he pushed away from the table and relaxed in the chair, watching her until she’d finished. He smiled when she pushed her plate away. “Finished?”
She nodded.
“Good. Get in the bed.”
Emerald gaped at him in dismay, feeling her stomach knot around the food she’d just consumed and creating a wave of nausea. He tilted his head, lifting his dark blond brows questioningly.
Emerald got to her feet jerkily and headed toward the bed, struggling with the dread knotting her stomach, deeply regretful that she’d eaten at all.
“You won’t need the sheet. Leave it,” Koryn said cheerfully enough she felt the urge to throw something at him.
Instead, she flung the sheet off, climbed on the bed and lay down, staring angrily at the ceiling and resolutely ignoring Koryn as he pulled his boots off, shrugged out of his uniform and strode purposefully toward the bed. The anger didn’t sustain her nearly long enough. The instant she heard his swift stride toward her, it abandoned her and dread washed over her in an all consuming tide. Settling one hip on the edge of the bed, he studied her for a moment and then grasped her wrists, lifting her arms behind her head. She clenched her teeth tightly and stared hard at the ceiling as he lightly stroked her breasts with his long fingers and then began to knead them.
She knew it was useless to try to block it from her mind, but she couldn’t think of any other way to try to defend herself from the torment she knew was coming and the certain knowledge of it made it harder than it had been the first few times. When he’d brought a rush of blood to her breasts to fully sensitize them, he transferred his attention to stroking her torso and belly and finally got up.
Hope instantly sprang to life that he’d decided not to torment her because she’d done what he told her to do. It died an unhappy death when he climbed onto the mattress on his knees and pushed her legs upward and out. He sat down his heels, studying her sex and finally reached to stroke the lips, parting them, plucking at her clit until it swelled with blood as her nipples had.
Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I Page 11
