While Gelan kissed and Wynhod suckled, Krijero concentrated his warm, wet mouth on Dani’s clit, sucking and flicking his tongue over the sensitive nub. He slid two fingers into her sheath, curling the tips to press hard against the nest of nerves that felt best. In and out he pumped, hitting that sweet spot and rasping his rough raw-silk tongue over the distended nubbin of flesh. Her whole body electrified, racing towards orgasm. She writhed, her body bucking helplessly against the tide of sensation washing over her. The three men working her with such care never missed a beat, riding her jerks and jolts with ease.
Krijero sucked hard on her clit, and orgasm exploded over Dani. She shouted into Gelan’s mouth, her fingernails sinking into his and Wynhod’s skin. Her stomach seemed to twist in on itself with the force of the uproar. She heaved and convulsed, the men clinging to her thrashing body to continue their delectable assault.
Just as Dani’s throbbing sex began to calm, Krijero found her G-spot once more, simultaneously swirling his tongue forcefully over her clit again. She screamed with renewed cataclysm, her body shattering under the men’s ongoing attention.
There was no escape from the gentle onslaught of their mouths and hands. Again and again they brought Dani to shuddering completion until she begged for respite.
“Please, enough, don’t, I can’t, oh please, not again…” The words streamed from her lips as she shook her head, trying to evade Gelan’s kiss.
“Once more, my little girl,” he cajoled, his mouth pressing to her ear, his rough tongue tracing the whorls. “Come for us again.”
As if he held command over her body’s involuntary responses, she immediately ignited, her pussy spasming tight around Krijero’s tireless fingers. She strained against the men pinning her down, but there was no escaping the delicious torture.
Dani could only beg when she recovered her senses enough to talk again. “Please, stop. I’ll be good, I promise.”
“But you are good, Dani. You’re a good person. Say it.”
He had to be kidding. After all she’d done? The stupid decisions she’d made? The thoughtless way she gave into whims that always landed her in trouble?
If ‘good’ could be summed up in a person, it sure as hell wouldn’t be Danielle Watson.
Krijero’s tongue scraped over her clit in a barrage of hard rubs, and she went out of her skull with climax once more. The pleasure had crossed the line into exquisite torment until she could bear no more.
When she finished screaming this time, her ragged voice poured from her throat. “I’m a good person, I’m a great person, I’m the best Earther to ever be born, now stop for God’s sake!”
“I suppose that will do for now,” Gelan said. Wynhod and Krijero’s mouths left her overwrought flesh at last.
Dani sagged in their arms, let them arrange her so that she draped over their laps when they clustered around to cradle her, to stroke her still trembling body, to whisper kindnesses as if soothing a fussy baby. They treated her as if their lives centered on her, as if she was the only person that had ever mattered.
They confounded her, these men from the species that had destroyed her world and yet brought her such pleasure with little care for their own.
* * * *
When the clan finally returned to their guest quarters about five miles outside of the wilder center of Ler, Gelan’s fatigue weighed his body down. It had been a taxing day, both physically and mentally. Somehow he thought the mental aspect, dealing with a delectable but obviously damaged Earther, had been more exhausting than physically battling the sheclir.
He considered the round bathing pool as his clanmates undressed. It was deep. The water that would flood it would be warm. Tempting. A good place to gather his roiling thoughts that threatened to hold off sleep no matter how tired he was. But as Krijero and Wynhod fell into the bed made to accommodate a Kalquorian clan, Wynhod spooning the smaller man and curling an arm and leg protectively over him, Gelan scented the mixed aromas of Kalquorian and Earther sex. A lovely bouquet to add to his dreams, he decided. Rejecting the bath, he pulled his clothes off and got into bed, sandwiching his Imdiko in the middle.
Stretching an arm across his clanmates’ waists, Gelan murmured into Krijero’s tousled hair, “I’d say it’s been a good vacation so far.”
He let the other two’s breathing lull him, inhaling their spicy scents and the ghostly remnants of Dani’s musk. Sweet dreams indeed, if he could shut his mind down to sleep. Dani’s pretty face, alternating between stubborn, euphoric, and heart wrenchingly sad, kept appearing before his mind’s eye. Most of the standoffishness she’d affected right after their dinner had disappeared by the time they’d left her. Her eyes had been warm again, her smile bright. Only the occasional guardedness in her eyes let him know the Earther still harbored doubts about sharing her body and thoughts with them. Gelan hated leaving her alone at the brothel that way. He wanted to hold her until her anger and pain vanished.
Who am I kidding? I want to hold her because she feels right.
Wynhod’s voice broke through the darkness. “Am I the only one wishing she was here?”
Krijero snickered, his voice sleepy but still alert. “Haven’t you had enough for one night?”
“If you mean sex, yes. I was thinking how nice it would be just to have another body to warm the bed.”
Gelan kept his tone careful. “For one night or more?”
Wynhod propped himself up to look at Gelan over Krijero’s shoulder. His eyes glittered in the dim light. “She won’t remain here. A clan will find her and buy her contract at some point. Why not us? We have the funds saved.”
Krijero stiffened between them. “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to fight the odds of gaining a Matara.”
Wynhod’s tone matched Gelan’s for caution. “No waiting for the lottery on Kalquor for this one. No vying for her attentions against hundreds of others.”
“She doesn’t want us.”
“Not yet,” the Nobek agreed. He grabbed his handheld off the bedside table and tapped. The green wash of illumination from the little computer showed Gelan Krijero’s tense face.
Rubbing his reluctant clanmate’s shoulder, Gelan said, “If we buy Dani’s contract, that means no worrying about rejection.”
Krijero stared into his eyes. He suddenly looked every bit as tormented as Dani. “Only until her contract runs out. She might not want us when it’s over, and the Imperial Clan has ordered no more forcing Mataras to clan for the next five years.”
Before Gelan could respond, Wynhod grunted at his readout. “At her present rate of payback, Dani has slightly more than three years left at that brothel. She’s expensive, but we can swing it.”
Gelan thought. They’d not only have to pay off her contract, but pay for the care of the Earther. Clothing, food, nice things to let her know she mattered.
Why not? The three of us are a long way from retirement anyway. Besides, it will set us back on all our plans only what, ten years? Maybe not even that.
His excitement at the notion surprised him. Even when Earther women proved compatible with his species he’d known the odds of clanning one had been steep. The cataclysmic end to the war had cut their numbers dramatically. The moratorium against forcibly clanning the repressed females had made his chances even less.
Gelan had thought he was okay with that. Having Wynhod and Krijero as lifelong companions seemed enough. He had looked to his future and found it satisfactory.
Now here was Dani. Spirited, sexually free, and adventurous. A woman who needed a strong leader. A woman who could provide children. A woman to warm their bed properly.
A woman he could perhaps fall in love with. Gelan had never acknowledged how he yearned for that until this moment.
To his clan he said, “Three years should be long enough to convince her to stay, if we do find her compatible.”
Krijero continued to fret. “She’s got problems with trust, and not just because she blames Kalquor for Earth’s destr
uction. Her family issues will be a factor.”
Gelan exchanged a look with Wynhod. The Nobek put his handheld down and wrapped himself around Krijero once more. His fierce nature was masked as he stroked the Imdiko’s tousled hair like a mother calming a nightmare-inflicted child.
Gelan also pulled closer to his clanmate. “She’ll be an interesting challenge for your skills,” he encouraged.
Krijero refused to look at him. “I’m a criminal psychologist. I analyze law breakers. I don’t fix traumatized Mataras.”
Of course Wynhod cut right to the chase. “And you’re afraid of getting your heart broken again. Admit that’s your biggest objection.” Despite his harsh words, his tone remained gentle, his touch soothing.
Krijero cringed anyway and didn’t answer. Gelan’s rage for the pain his Imdiko continued to feel over the past … over the way his trust had been trampled on … woke anew.
The Dramok growled, “I swear if I ever meet that man, I’ll pound him senseless for clanning another Imdiko. He was a fool to give you up.”
Krijero sighed. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“It shouldn’t, but you’re still hurting after all this time. There’s no reason to think you’re unworthy, Krijero. We didn’t reject you, did we?”
Wynhod snorted laughter. “Reject him? We were the ones chasing him for three years.”
Krijero finally found a smile. “Yes, you did.”
“You made us work for it too, damn reluctant Imdiko.” Wynhod hugged him close, and Krijero eased up.
Gelan took advantage of his clanmate’s calming nerves. “We know Dani will resist for a little while. It won’t be against you personally. And you did so well with her when she shut down tonight. I think you’re more than equal to the task of being her caregiver.”
Krijero licked his lips. “What if we want to keep her at the end, but she doesn’t want us?”
Gelan shrugged. “Then we still have each other. We’ll go back to the way we are now, the way we planned to be all along.”
He knew it wouldn’t be that easy. One only had to see the effect Krijero’s past had on him to learn that. But Gelan thought Dani might be worth the risk.
Wynhod added, “I know it’s tough for you, Krijero, but there’s something about that Earther that makes me want to watch over her. She’s got a tough exterior but I get the feeling there’s a softer girl in there, desperate to get the care she hasn’t had.”
Krijero took a deep breath. He stayed silent for a few seconds, then snorted. “Protective Nobek.”
“Exactly. She needs us all. Someone to lead her, someone to guard her, someone to nurture her.”
“And we need her,” Gelan added. “We need someone we can offer our strengths to. Life without someone like Dani suddenly seems … empty. She fits us, and it feels like a piece of ourselves would be missing if we walk away.”
His clanmates stared at him. He realized he’d said something more profound than they were used to. Gelan was not usually a philosophical man.
Krijero finally sighed and shook his head. “All right. I think it’s a mistake, but if you two really want to buy her contract out, I’ll go along with it.”
Gelan pressed his lips to his clanmate’s brow. “Thank you, Imdiko.” He shifted, got comfortable, and closed his eyes. “Let’s get some sleep, clan. I want to take care of a few things in the morning before we collect our property.”
Despite his words, he didn’t fall asleep right away. He waited for Krijero’s breath to deepen in slumber before allowing himself to drift off too.
Chapter 7
Dani’s scowl sat firmly upon her face as she dragged her feet down the hall towards Pob’s office. The brothel owner’s summons had pulled her out of bed long before she was ready to be sociable in the least. She barely snatched four hours of sleep, and soreness from playtime with the Kalquorians plagued her. She’d need a pain inhibitor to get through tonight’s shift, especially if the three men booked her again. Boy, they were endowed. And physical.
The rush of unwanted arousal made her mood worse. Pob had better come up with a damned good reason for waking her so damned early.
His door stood open, and she swept into his office like a force of nature, ready to storm all over the Dantovonian. The sight of Gelan’s clan waiting in the room made her inhale sharply, and Dani choked on the sour fumes of the rinheo Pob smoked.
Jeez, he could stay high for a year without lighting another bowl of that shit, she thought.
The clan surrounded her in an instant as she tried to hack up a lung. “Are you all right, Dani?” Gelan asked.
After a moment she caught her breath. Rubbing her streaming eyes dry, aware she hadn’t even combed her sleep-tousled hair, Dani gasped, “Sure. Damn it Pob, trying breathing normal air once in awhile. You’ll live longer.”
The Dantovonian laughed heartily, as if she’d told the funniest joke ever. Dani stared at him. What had put him in such a good mood?
Pob could wait. Dani focused her attention on the Kalquorians. Were they filing a complaint against her? “What are you doing here?”
Before anyone answered, Pob’s computer beeped, and Dani was treated to the very unlovely vision of him smiling so hard the segments of his face ground together. The brothel owner buzzed. “The funds are successfully transferred. I appreciate your business, Kalquorians.”
“We are done?” Wynhod asked.
Pob buzzed again. “She is yours. I wish you luck; you’ll need it.” With that, he pointed a black box at Dani and tapped a button. Her collar’s release clicked. The circlet flung wide open and fell with a meaty thump to the floor.
She clutched at her throat, amazed at how light her neck suddenly felt. She stared at the collar, its two half circles spread like the wings of a dead bird. Dani slowly looked up at Pob. “What is going on?”
The Dantovonian looked up at her as if surprised to see her still standing there. “They bought your contract. You belong to them now.”
Dani’s world came to a shuddering halt. Her brain didn’t whisper a thought, she was so taken aback. Krijero spoke, but she couldn’t hear him over the roar in her ears. Gelan offered her something, and her numbed hands took it from him. Some part of her recognized the dress she’d ogled in the storefront the night before, but other than that, it made no impression.
Somehow Gelan’s voice pierced the veil she’d been cloaked in. “Change into this and pack your belongings. We’ll take you shopping for whatever else you need.”
As if she’d turned into an automaton, Dani’s senseless legs turned her around, carried her out of the office door, and walked her to her room as she unfeelingly clutched the dress to her chest.
The instant the door to her dorm closed, Dani’s conscious mind flooded back. She stood in her little broom closet of a room as terror closed over her. The Kalquorians had bought her contract. They owned her.
Being rented for sex for a couple of days had been one thing. But now she was their property for … Dani did the calculations in her head.
More than three years. She was their slave to do with as they wished for the next three years plus a few months.
After all I did, all I sacrificed to avoid going to Kalquor and live among the enemy, and now it’s thrown out the window.
Damn them!
Dani had never hated anyone as much as she now hated Gelan, Wynhod, and Krijero. The bastards had taken advantage of her status. Once they had her on Kalquor, there was no doubt in her mind that they’d keep her for good, enslaving her for the rest of her life for breeding. Forget three years. The Earth-destroying beasts would never let her go.
Calm down, Dani. Think. There has to be a way out of this.
The breeze from the open window wafted against her skin where exposed by her slave clothing. She rubbed her neck where the collar used to be. She looked at the dress still clutched in her hand.
As excitement seized her, the little voice she too often ignored spoke up. Wait. Take a breath. Yo
u know how bad things get when you don’t think these things through, when you don’t consider all the stuff that can go horribly wrong.
“Like what?” she whispered. “Like being free to live my life as I want? What is there to consider other than getting the hell out of Dodge while the getting’s good?”
She yanked her bra and skirt off so savagely that something ripped. The dress the Kalquorians had bought for her, no doubt thinking she was shallow enough to trade her liberty for a pretty frock, went on. Dani didn’t even take the time to admire how the ruffles up top gave her pear shape a more hourglass appearance or how the skirt showed her long legs to advantage.
Dani paused for only a moment, realizing she had no funds to get on a transport and leave the Kalquorians as far behind as she could fly.
So use your body. It’ll pay the way off this rock.
And after that?
No time to think. Go before those freaks come looking for you!
The small voice, the one Dani almost never listened to, tried one last argument. Those Kalquorians have treated you well. They’ll abide by the agreement. Running off half-cocked is a mistake, one that could get you in serious trouble.
Dani tried to listen. She tried to make herself calm down enough to think over the ramifications of her actions, especially if the clan caught her. But in the end the opportunity to escape was too great to be denied.
Dani stepped on her bed, boosted herself up on the window, and swung a leg over. Moments later, walking quickly but trying not to draw attention to herself, she disappeared into the throng of aliens partying on the streets of Ler, collarless and free.
The spaceport lay only about a mile from the hub of Ler. Dani reached it quickly and tried to look like she knew what she was doing as she looked over her options.
Ships and vendors crowded the port, and Dani hoped she’d see an Earth vehicle among the multitudes. Hangar after hangar stretched as far as the eye could see. Ler was a popular destination for decadence-seeking tourists. It boasted more sex slaves than anywhere else on Dantovon. Surely she could find some man of her own kind enjoying freedom from the old regime. Someone who would have pity on a lost, frightened woman who’d ended up on this planet through no real fault of her own.
Alien Slave Page 9
