by Renee Rose
She caught Seke’s look—half bemused, half fascinated. “You talk to them?”
She shrugged, ducking her head. “I know it’s silly. On the agrifarm, the plants were all we had for company for most of each planet rotation. We worked alone, each with our own plot. I suppose, to me, they became like friends.”
She looked up, prepared to see his amusement, or worse—scorn.
But he fingered a leaf, thoughtfully. “They are living beings, I suppose. I wouldn’t be surprised if things grew so well here because of the love you and Lamira impart to them every day.”
A caress of warmth swooped through her chest at his understanding, even appreciation for the small service Lamira had found she could provide to Zander and his pod.
“So how do you know when they’re ready—color?” he asked, turning a half-green tomato on the vine.
“Yes, and touch.” She picked up his hand and guided it to a tomato ready to drop. “Test this one. Give it a small tug. When it’s finished growing, it practically falls from the stalk.” She half-feared he’d pull too hard, his strength being so much greater than hers, but her warrior had a light touch, no doubt honed with all his study of battle arts. He plucked it gently from the vine and held it up with an uncharacteristic smile.
It sent shocks of pleasure right down to her toes. Had he ever smiled before? A big smile like that, with white teeth gleaming? She hadn’t seen it.
He brought the tomato to his mouth. She followed the motion with her gaze, enthralled by the softness of his beautiful lips, the straight white teeth opening to take a bite. Juice and seeds spurted out, hitting her in the face, dribbling down his chin.
He shouted in pleasure and surprise, laughing as he reached to thumb the mess from her face, his tongue sweeping down his chin to lick the rest. “Delicious. It’s better when you pick it yourself, isn’t it?”
She beamed, irrationally pleased he understood. “Yes, it is.”
He held the half-eaten fruit to her mouth. “Here, you must be hungry. Daneth tells me you eat two to three times per planet rotation.”
She tried to take the tomato from him, but he didn’t relinquish it, insisting on feeding her. Face growing warm, she nibbled and bit at it, trying to look dainty as juice spilled down her front and splattered on the floor.
Seke chuckled again, the rich sound of his voice echoing throughout the hall. He popped the rest into her mouth, and she closed her lips, trying to manage the huge mouthful without looking ridiculous. Still chuckling, Seke moved away, initiating his own examination of the plants growing in huge, beautifully painted pots all around the room.
She picked plump lemonberries, cultivated from seeds from the Earth-like, human-populated planet of Jesel. They grew on small, heaping bushes covered in tiny, hair-like thorns. Normally, she was adept at plucking berries without catching a pricker, but she looked over her shoulder to see what Seke found interesting and brushed up against a patch of thorns.
“Ouch!” She yanked her thumb back and held it close to her face, angling it into the light to see how many of the culprits had embedded in her skin.
“Let me see it.” Before she could refuse his help, Seke took her hand and brought her thumb to his mouth, closing his lips over the area. His tongue brushed along the offended flesh then he sucked, hard. Her body heated by several degrees, as if his mouth had been on her nipple. Or two feet lower, on her sex.
Her pussy clenched.
His tongue swirled again, teeth scraped along the finger. His violet eyes met hers, and a shock ran through her. Her knees went weak, body shivery and feverish, as her anus closed around the plug and his skilled tongue lapped at her thumb. He released her finger and swiped his lips with the back of his hand to rid his mouth of the stickers. “Did I get them all out?” His voice sounded deeper than usual, raspy.
“I-I’m not sure.” She’d lost her breath.
“Leora.” He spoke her name like a lament, like being with her made him sorry for something. “I’m not sure I’ll survive training you.”
“Nor am I,” she whispered.
~.~
Seke wanted to shove Leora against the wall and pound his cock into her until she screamed for mercy. The way her breath caught, the flutter of her pulse at her throat as he stood so close to her, and her wounded flesh in his mouth, had him shaking with lust.
Fortunately, the palace chef, Barr, entered, and Leora pulled back from Seke. “Any harvest, Leora?” Barr sounded cheerful, as always. Like most of the Zandians who’d lived in the pod since Zandia’s demise, he seemed to find the new presence of females invigorating.
“Ah...yes.” Her voice sounded shaky. She gestured toward the bowl. “Some fruit.”
“Lamira picked some earlier, so I’ll add these to the bounty.”
Seke caught Leora’s eye, the pink flush of her cheeks deepening. “Did you realize your daughter had already been here?” He already knew the answer by the way she turned from him, taking an intense interest in the leaf of the plant in front of her.
Humans lied. They didn’t have the same sense of honor as Zandians, a fact that had bothered Zander immensely when he’d taken Lamira as his breeder. But if you watched them closely, it wasn’t too hard to see beyond their words.
“Leora.” He kept his voice soft, so Barr wouldn’t turn back as he bustled away with the fruit.
“Yes, master,” she whispered, still not looking at him.
Veck, she was sweet. He vecking loved when she called him master. Which was wrong on so many levels. For one, Zandians shouldn’t take slaves. It wasn’t part of their culture, and had been Zander’s original objection to buying Lamira. For another, his pleasure at her subservience surely showed an ego-driven desire for power. Masters of the battle arts had no use for ego or power. They served as honorable beings.
He tunneled his fingers into the back of her hair and gripped her by the nape. When she still didn’t look at him, he put a finger under her chin. “Were you going to tell me?”
Her lips looked full and lush—close enough for him to ravish with a bruising kiss, if he let himself. But he wouldn’t. She hesitated.
“I punish for lies, lovely.” He kept his words soft and light, banking on the tenuous bond he’d established to win her honesty.
“No, master.”
He kissed her forehead. “Thank you for your honesty, little one. It saved you from further punishment this time. But you’ve dawdled enough.” He turned her and propelled her out of the Great Hall. “We have Zander’s punishment to deal with before I put you to bed in your cage.”
She stiffened. Whether it was from the mention of punishment or the cage, he wasn’t sure, but the woven magic between them dissipated.
He didn’t want to administer Zander’s punishment—the serious whipping she’d earned for allowing or encouraging her daughter to leave the pod and put herself and their unborn young in danger. Slapping her with the flat of his hand while holding her snug against his lap was one thing. Binding her to the apparatus Daneth had provided and using various implements was another.
But it had to be done. He served Zander and had taken Leora on as his slave, his responsibility. And no, he wouldn’t want or allow any other being to do it in his stead.
He brought her to his chamber and leaned his back against the door. His nervous system had been abuzz since the moment he’d taken charge of her that planet rotation—fight or flight hormones dumping into his system, making his pulse race, his skin flush. And, yes, keeping his horns stiff and his cock thick and heavy for her. Stars, he didn’t want to desire her so.
He drew what he wished was a calming breath and began her lesson. “What do you do when you enter my chamber?”
She lifted those green eyes, her expression puzzled. He didn’t help her. Dawning bloomed, and some of the openness on her face hardened, chin lifted as she peeled off her robes, letting them drop to the floor.
Far from appearing humiliated by her forced nudity, she faced him and square
d her shoulders and if the challenge hadn’t been so dead on the mark, he might have laughed in wonder at her brilliance. But she’d pinned him—she hadn’t missed his agony every time he was near that perfect, petite human body and had to resist flipping her onto her back and burying his malehood into her tight, moist heat until she screamed for mercy, for more. He wanted her calling his name as he spanked her ass red and then vecked her hard and rough from behind.
“That’s right.” He summoned the whip-like control again, pacing slowly toward her—no, prowling. “When you’re in my chamber, you’re naked. Why is that, little slave?”
Her nostrils flared as she drew a breath through them, as if to calm her ire. “To humble me.”
“Very good, Leora.” He stepped close to her and allowed himself a slow, lingering gaze up and down her body. His palm reached of its own accord to cup her breast, thumb strumming her hardened nipple. “It didn’t work, though, did it?” He pinched the nipple, and the scent of her arousal filled his chamber, drugging him like an intoxicating gas. The kind that made him only attuned to Leora. Her body. Her pleasure. And, for the moment, her pain.
“No,” she whispered.
He continued to worry her nipple, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger, longing to lower his head and give it the full treatment with his mouth, with his tongue. His teeth. “No, you know you’re a torture to me, too, don’t you?”
Her eyes drifted closed, and her head lolled back, as if his touch brought her too much pleasure to stay present. “I’m glad,” she murmured.
“I’m sure you are. Don’t push me too far, little one. If I fail at training you, tempting human, Zander will give you to another.”
Her eyes flew back open, and he was satisfied to see the alarm he felt about such an arrangement mirrored there.
With a gentle touch, he turned her and gave a little shove toward the spanking bench positioned on his sleepdisk. “Climb on, beautiful female. The time for your punishment has come.”
He didn’t like the fear flashing in her smoky eyes, but it couldn’t be helped. A serious punishment was a serious punishment, and that was what he’d been charged to deliver.
She obeyed him, climbing onto the contraption and holding still as he locked her legs and wrists to it. With her knees spread, ass lifted and presented for punishment, she made an incredibly erotic sight. The spankings he’d given earlier in the planet rotation had faded in color, leaving him a fresh, pale canvas on which to paint once more. He eased the tail out of her ass.
More of the hormones that had kept him on edge all day surged. He knew his skin and eyes had to be dark purple, horns harder than stone.
To cover his desire, he adopted a clipped, terse tone. “This will be a harsh punishment, one that will cause you significant pain, perhaps for several days. You will endure it as your penance for betraying the trust of your host, Prince Zander. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
With a whack of the smooth, thin paddle he’d picked out, he made her gasp.
“Yes, master!” she cried out, self-correcting.
“Good girl.”
He applied the paddle with sharp, quick slaps, keeping the force light and letting the wood do the work. The thicker paddles in the box would leave pain farther below the surface, but he preferred this one, which was more like a cooking utensil—a large, flat spatula. As Daneth had explained to him, the beauty of punishing humans on the buttocks was their ample padding. All punishments inflicted on the surface caused great pain but left no lasting damage.
Leora’s breath came in quick gasps and pants as he peppered her lovely posterior. He took his time. A long, carefully measured punishment would be more effective than a short, severe one. It would achieve the emotional submission, which was all that mattered. Punish too cruelly and the student would harden rather than soften. Too many masters failed to understand that. He’d give her a long warm-up to ensure her bottom was properly prepared for the whipping that had to come at the end.
If he hadn’t seen the dew glistening between her nether lips, he might have survived it. But her body’s reaction to his dominance vecking slayed him. It was all he could do to keep his head, to not pounce on her like a feral animal in rutting season and turn her inside out with his malehood.
He spanked harder, sweat gathering around his horns as he drew long, slow breaths in an effort to regain his brain.
She gave a little whimper, which helped to ground him, remind him he served the prince and also had a duty to Leora to keep his head and do this right.
When her whimpers became more frequent and pitiful and her ass glowed red, he stopped. “Good girl, Leora. You took that well.” He ran a palm over her heated backside, lightly stroking, soothing. “We’re almost finished, but this will be the worst part.” He laid the wooden paddle down and picked up the braided leather whip. Normally used on large riding beasts with tough hides, it would mark her, leaving deep welts that would last for several days.
“Ten with the riding whip. You will count them. After each one, you will repeat, I will not betray Prince Zander’s trust.”
“Yes, master.” Her words didn’t seem forced this time.
“Good girl.” He stepped to her side and took aim then drew back the whip and brought it down across both her buttocks.
Her scream set off alarms in every cell of his body, adrenaline flushing his system, demanding he rescue her from the pain.
But he could not.
Veck Prince Zander and this vecking assignment. He would vecking wreck the boy next planet rotation in the studio.
It took Leora several beats to regain her breath, and when she did, the injury in her voice was evident. “One. I will not betray Prince Zander’s trust.”
All he could do for her was offer encouragement. “Good girl. Nine more. You can do this.” He whipped her again.
Another scream set his teeth on edge. “Two.” Her voice shook. “I will not betray Prince Zander’s trust.”
“That’s it, beautiful. You’re doing so well.” He struck her again.
A broken moan this time instead of the scream. It was worse—so much worse. His chest tightened with agony.
“Three.” Her voice caught on a sob. “I will not betray Prince Zander’s trust.”
He ran a hand up and down her back, which now glistened with a light sheen of perspiration.
“Faster,” she croaked. “Get it over with. Please, master.”
He gritted his teeth and lifted the whip, striking again.
She screamed the words this time, as if to get them out fast, so he applied the next line before she’d even finished, then another and another. Her words toppled over one another in a panicked screech, echoing off the walls of his chamber, surely carrying down the hall. She couldn’t finish the required speech after he reached seven, and he stopped, waiting for her to catch her breath, absorb the pain.
Her back shook with sobs, but no tears dampened her face.
“Please, no more,” she moaned, drawing shaky, terraced breaths.
He leaned over her, weaving his fingers into her thick copper waves and resting his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “The mercy is not mine to give, or you’d have it.”
“Seke…”
Veck—hearing his name on her lips made his heart lurch. He wanted to protect her from all this. To rescue her, to keep her safe.
“Ready, lovely girl?” he murmured in her ear.
“No,” she moaned, but she braced herself, lifting her head and drawing her shoulders down.
“We’re on eight.” He moved to her other side to be sure he kept the pain evenly distributed, and applied the whip again.
“Eight! I will not betray Prince Zander’s trust.”
The next one he laid just beneath her buttocks on the backs of her thighs, and her screech and shouted count rang with anger. “One more, little slave, and you need never see this whip again, so long as you keep your masters happy.” He laid the
last welt, hardly hearing her refrain as he spoke over her to release the voice-activated bonds.
He tossed a soft blanket around her and scooped her into his arms, carrying her to a sitting area of two hoverchairs nested together. Her little body trembled, and she hid her face in his neck, but he did not smell any tears. His chest tightened—she was so fragile, so vecking sweet.
~.~
She’d drifted to sleep—not for long, at least she didn’t think so. She still lay cradled in Seke’s arms, his huge hand stroking circles over her back. Her ass throbbed and burned, but desire also thrummed in her, hot and insistent, as if the pain had been simply foreplay.
What about Seke’s punishments made her body turn so wanton? It woke sleeping desires in her, made her hungrier than she’d ever been in her life. She shifted, squeezing her legs together in an effort to alleviate the ache there.
“You’re awake.” Seke’s lips were close to her ear, his breath warm and comforting.
She shifted on his lap and winced.
He picked her up as if she weighed nothing and adjusted her so her spread legs hooked over the tops of his knees and her bottom hung freely between his thighs, touching nothing. His huge, hard cock flexed against her sacrum.
“I smell your arousal, little human,” he murmured in her ear.
She tensed, shocked to hear her personal secretions were so evident. Zandians had to have a finer sense of smell than humans.
“Why are humans aroused by punishment?” Seke bent over, picking something up from beside the hover chair.
She spluttered. “We’re not! At least, I’ve never heard that before…” Where to take her protest? She couldn’t deny her own reaction to his punishment, but she didn’t think it was a given with humans and discipline.
Seke remained silent.
“Why do you think so?” she asked.
He brought one large digit between her legs and brushed the seam of her sex, slick with need. “You deny it?”
She groaned at the featherlight contact, dying for more. “No,” she gasped, lifting her hips in hope he might return that blessed finger to her core. “I feel it with you, but…”
