Bait

by Marissa Farrar

  I paused for a moment, considering my options, and then climbed onto the edge of the bath, using the wall for balance, and bringing the top of my head closer to the vent. I reached up and pushed at the panel hiding the vent. It opened a crack. I listened hard. Could I hear anything? A low hum met my ears, and I assumed it was caused by whatever powered the automatic settings in the bathroom, but I couldn’t hear any voices.

  Did I dare call out? If Zoe was in the next room along, she might hear me. I had no idea if she was or not, but it was worth a try. But what if Borys was in there with her and heard me as well? If that happened, he’d know that I’d discovered the existence of the vents, and I might lose my backup escape route, should I need it.

  How much time had passed since Borys had last been in here? An hour? Less? Would he really still be in with Zoe, if he’d even gone to visit her at all?

  I had to take the risk.

  “Zoe?” I hissed. “Can you hear me?”

  Only that low hum replied.

  I tried again. “Zoe? It’s Tara. Answer if you can hear me.”

  Still nothing. It had been too much to hope for anyway.

  I started to climb down from the side of the bath, making sure I’d dropped the panel back in place so Borys or his men wouldn’t notice that I’d been tampering with it.

  A faint voice made me pause. “Tara, is that you?”

  My heart swelled with hope, and I hopped back up on the side of the tub and pushed open the panel a crack again.

  “Zoe, yes, it’s me! Are you okay?”

  Her voice was faint but audible. “Yes, I’m okay. No one has touched me yet. What about you?”

  “I’m fine.” I didn’t want to give her any more detail. “They’re treating me okay.”

  “I guess this is better than the facility,” she said, though she sounded sad.

  “Yeah, I guess so.” At least no one had touched us like that back at the facility, but then we’d been pregnant, so our bodies hadn’t been our own then either.

  “We’ll end up back there, though, won’t we,” she said, “when we’re ready to give birth after he’s...done what he plans to do to us.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.”

  I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I wasn’t going to get pregnant again, so it hadn’t been one of my concerns, but I could understand why it would be on Zoe’s mind, especially after she’d had a traumatic birth there.

  “Do you ever think about them?” she asked.

  “Who?”

  “The babies we gave birth to. Do you ever wonder if they’re okay?”

  “Yes,” I admitted. “I do.”

  “It’s not right that they get to keep them.”

  I knew who she meant by ‘they.’ She was talking about the babies’ fathers, and guilt twisted through me. I could have chosen to keep the baby I’d given birth to, but instead I’d willingly handed the child back to its father.

  “We couldn’t keep them, Zoe. They’re not even the same lifeform as us.”

  I heard a sniff.

  “Yeah, I know. It just all seems so wrong.”

  “It is,” I agreed. “This whole fucking thing is wrong.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I felt better now I was able to speak with Zoe, though I was concerned someone might overhear us. I’d previously convinced myself the only reason I’d wanted to contact her was to let her know she wasn’t in this by herself, but now I had to admit that I took comfort in knowing I wasn’t alone, too.

  The Trad guards seemed to bring our meals at regular intervals and left us alone during the periods in between. We used the opportunity to talk—me, with the panel above the bath propped open, poised to leap up and close it again should we be interrupted.

  Borys had left Zoe alone so far, but I knew that meant he had designs on me. I told myself this was a good thing, but it didn’t stop me worrying. I felt as though he knew I’d been angling for a way out of the room, and had teased me with the possibility of my plan working. We both wanted something out of this situation.

  A second night passed, and I still hadn’t seen Diarus. My worry deepened for him. I itched to ask someone—one of the Trad guards, or even Borys himself—what had happened to the Athion slave we’d been bought with, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If Diarus had a plan, and I messed things up by making Borys aware of our connection, I’d never forgive myself. Just a hint that I’d known him from before might be enough to get us both killed.

  Not long after breakfast that morning, Borys returned.

  “Good morning, Tara. I trust you had a restful night.”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  He was strangely formal. I worried about what he was planning.

  He put both hands behind his back, his neck bent. “I’ve been giving some thought to what you said about me taking you out of this room. I have an event where I’d like you by my side. I’m having some company—male company—and I would like to show you off.”

  My heart fluttered with anticipation, and my thoughts instantly went to Zoe. “What about the other girls, too? I bet you could easily make others jealous with your collection.”

  He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “No, I think one will be sufficient.”

  My stomach dropped. Perhaps she would be safer in her room anyway.

  “What’s the event?” I asked.

  “A little gambling, that’s all.”

  “Gambling? On what?”

  “You’ll find out if you come along, won’t you? Make sure you wear something flattering. I like to see those curves.”

  All the dresses I’d been provided with looked exactly the same to me. “Shall I wear the dress from the auction?” I suggested.

  “Yes, why not. You did look beautiful.” His gaze darkened. “I expect for any exposing of skin to be done only for me, however.”

  My cheeks heated, and I glanced down at the floor. “Yes, of course.”

  He caught me by the hair, yanking my head back. “Look at me, Tara.”

  I gasped, my lips parting. His other hand palmed my breast over the top of my dress, his thumb and forefinger pinching my nipple, hard enough for tears to form. I let out a whimper, and something in his gray eyes lit up. The flames around the pupils danced with delight. He was enjoying this.

  I wanted to tell him to fuck off and let go of me, but I had to go along with the game.

  “You got me thinking about pleasure without conception,” he said, leaning in so his lips grazed mine. “You have another hole I can fuck, Tara, one that won’t end in pregnancy, and I intend to make use of it.”

  My core clenched. “Oh!”

  He released his hold on my hair and spun me around and pushed me to the bed. My upper torso lay flat against the mattress, my backside lifted high for him. He pushed the dress up and over my ass, so it rested on my lower back, leaving my backside and pussy naked and exposed.

  Leaning over the bed, he took the little bottle of liquid from the bedside drawer. I remembered what it was—lube. I swallowed hard. I was facing the wrong way for the extra hole he planned on using to be my mouth, and we didn’t need to use lube for oral sex anyway.

  Oh God.

  I wanted to tell him to stop, but I couldn’t. This was a tradeoff. Give him what he wanted, and I’d get out of this room. I needed to see the rest of the property, hope he’d take me to his private quarters, and slip away long enough to search them.

  Something touched me back there, and I jumped.

  “Relax, Tara,” he said from over my shoulder. “I’ll make sure this is good for you.”

  A surge of pheromones washed over me, sweeping around me in a dizzying wave. Even though I knew it wasn’t real, and this was his way of tricking me, and controlling me, my pussy gushed, and my nerve endings came alight.

  I pressed my forehead to the bed and groaned. Just that simple influx of hormones had made my body react, and desire coursed through me. Only a moment ago, I’d been wanting to tell h
im to stop, but as cool liquid dribbled onto my asshole, and then I felt the increasingly familiar touch of his tail, my internal ‘stop’ morphed to ‘don’t stop.’

  He used his tail, the tip slipping inside my ass. I knotted the bedsheet in my fists, fighting the instinct to tense up. I didn’t want it to feel so good, but it did, and he kept going. Somehow, even the burning pain as he stretched me felt incredible, and I found myself pushing back on him, wanting more. He thrust into me several times, each time a little deeper than the last, so my ring had to stretch as the girth of his tail increased. My pussy clenched, needing something to clamp down around, even though I already felt so full.

  His tail slipped from my body, and I wilted in disappointment.

  “Now, you’re going to take my cock.”

  Need made me forget all rational thought. I gave no thought to the others, or even our plan. All I wanted was to be taken in the most savage of ways, to be used and abused, and to love every second of it. I wanted to forget my past and my future. I’d have happily forgotten my own name.

  “Do it. Give it to me now.” My voice was low and guttural, animalistic. I was my basest self. Barely human.

  I dared to glance over my shoulder at him. He was still fully dressed, but the front of his pants was open, and his cock sprang into the space between us. He held it in his hand, and I tried not to think about how the girth was nearly the size of my wrist.

  I turned back around and lowered my face to the bed. I sensed him move up behind me, and the head of his cock grazed my asshole.

  He was too big. Surely, I wouldn’t be able to take him. But the hormones he’d filled my senses with prevented my body from tightening up in the same way it might have done with a human male, and the ring of muscle, already loosened by his tail, relaxed further.

  The wide dome head pushed against my opening. A part of my brain cried out in alarm. No, no, no. I wasn’t going to be able to take this. He’d rip me open. But I stretched as he edged inside me, and though it hurt, pleasure wound me in its grip.

  His tail whipped around my body, sliding across my back, to land on the back of my neck. The weight pressed me down, pinning my neck to the bed. I couldn’t have moved now, even if I’d wanted to.

  The head of his cock breached my ring, and he paused again, giving me time to get used to him. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to him. With a grunt, he slid deeper. I was glad I couldn’t see him in this position—a horned and scaled creature, with his huge cock embedded in my ass, and his tail holding me down by the neck.

  He thrust his hips, shunting me forward, and then pulled out again, slowly, so I could feel every inch slipping from my body, only to be thrust in again. I cried out at the invasion.

  His movements grew faster, pounding me harder.

  “Take me, human,” he snarled. “Take all of me.”

  Something was happening back there, pulsing inside my ass. But the pleasure was insane, and I screamed out, my entire body convulsing. I understood now why he was pinning me down with his tail, perhaps knowing I’d writhe right off the bed without it. My vision darkened at the edges, and I squeezed my eyes shut, bright flashes of light exploding across the backs of my eyelids.

  Borys grunted and held himself deep, until the pulsing finally faded away.

  He released his hold on my neck before he pulled himself from my body and tucked his cock away. I didn’t move, remaining in the same position.

  “Thank you, Tara.” He leaned over and planted a kiss on my bare shoulder. “That was exquisite. “Make sure you’re ready for me this evening.” He got to the door and then paused. “And, Tara, don’t let me down.”

  I held back a sob. I probably should have straightened and bid him farewell, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. I could still feel the weight of his tail across the back of my neck and imagined the heaviness of his huge cock in my ass. My entire body trembled, and I hoped he’d put it down to the orgasm rather than shock at what I’d just done.

  Thankfully, I sensed him step away, and then came the now familiar whoosh of the door opening and closing.

  I allowed myself a shuddery breath then gulped back a sob. I felt wet and liquidly between my thighs and didn’t want to make a mess of the bed, so slid to my knees on the floor instead.

  Something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t only that I’d been fucked hard in the ass. I felt overly heavy with his ejaculate, like there was still something of substance inside me. The change in position must have brought whatever it was lower. My asshole stretched once more, a strangely erotic and yet terrifying sensation, and I knew something was swelling out of me. I cried out, moving back onto my haunches, and the next moment I experienced the shame of feeling like I’d just relieved myself on the floor. But when I looked down, a black, jellied egg, a little smaller than my fist, lay directly beneath me.

  Oh God!

  I wasn’t done yet. Still, I experienced that weightiness, an inability to control myself, and another of the egg’s mass pressed against my asshole from the inside, stretching my ring before dropping out of me. I whelped and pressed my face to the side of the bed, my arm pillowed beneath it. Revulsion and shame coursed through me.

  A third egg expelled from my body, and the feeling of heaviness inside me vanished.

  Shakily, I got to my feet and stared down in horror at the three, jellied, quivering balls. I knew exactly what they were—they’d contained the DNA of the Trad who’d ejaculated inside me. Rhett had done the same to me when I’d been on Earth, though I assumed when it happened vaginally, the eggs were laid high enough to somehow enter the womb—perhaps melting down to a liquid inside the body—which, of course, wasn’t possible in this situation.

  Unable to stand looking at them, I ran to the bathroom, yanked some tissue from the holder, and then ran back to the eggs. They weren’t babies yet, and so I scooped them up and hurried back to the bathroom and threw them down the toilet. Averting my face so I didn’t catch sight of them floating in the bowl, I reached out and hit the flush.

  Crying hard now, tears streaming down my face, I sank to the floor. I put my head in my hands and sobbed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  When my tears finally dried, I yanked off my much-hated dress and stepped into the shower, willing the hot water to wash away what I’d done.

  Every inch of my body screamed wrong, wrong, wrong.

  I wanted to scrub off my skin, hell, I wanted to scrub the inside of me as well. It wasn’t going to get any better, either. With frustration, I waited for the soap to be dumped on top of me from above. The tiny blob of gel didn’t feel like anywhere near enough. I’d need a thousand times that amount to get myself clean. Tears bit at my eyes, but I wasn’t going to allow myself to cry again. I could have stayed safe and protected with Nad and Miko, but I hadn’t, and Diarus had come here for me as well. He’d willingly put himself in danger, and I was going to be strong, like he was.

  I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, trying to erase the feeling of him from my skin. My body felt battered and used, and a hollow pit had opened up inside my chest.

  How long did I have until he came back to take me to the event that evening? I needed to pull myself together before then. I couldn’t let him know what had just happened had affected me so badly. He needed to continue to believe there was something special between the two of us, something none of the other women—however many he might have here—could provide him with.

  “Tara?” The faint echo of Zoe’s voice came down the vent. “Tara, what happened? Are you okay?”

  But I couldn’t even bring myself to answer her.

  What would I tell her? I just wanted to forget this had ever happened.

  I dragged a comb through my hair, the blonde locks still a little damp, despite the automatic dryer. I took the dress from the auction out of the closet, where it hung among all the identical silver dresses, and lifted it to my face. I pressed my nose and mouth against it, remembering how Nadeusz and Mikotaj had dressed me up,
ready for the auction. How fucked-up was my life now that the memory of being readied to be sold caught me up in a wave of nostalgia?

  I stepped into the dress and pulled the boned corset up to support my breast. Then I did up the side of the dress and let my hands fall to my sides. I was nowhere as primped as I’d been at the marketplace, my hair a shiny sheet around my shoulders, instead of piled high on my head, but the dress still made me feel elegant, at least on the outside.

  A knock came at the door, and my stomach lurched.

  It was already time.

  Instead of Polityk Borys, it was one of his guards who opened the door and stepped into the room.

  “He’s ready for you now,” he said.

  I sucked in a breath and nodded. I was relived Borys wasn’t the one to come and fetch me. I knew I was going to have to face him soon, but I didn’t know how I was going to manage to look him in the eye without picturing him bent over me, laying his fucking eggs inside me. I wanted to launch myself at him and tear at his eyes with my nails at the memory, but instead I was going to have to continue with this act.

  I followed the guard out, and he led me through the house.

  I did everything I could to take in each corridor and doorway. I wanted to imprint every detail on my memory, but everything looked the same. We passed the first door on side of the corridor my room was on, and I felt sure it must be Zoe’s room. I pictured her behind it, most likely worried about me. How much had she heard from Borys’s little visit? Did she have some idea of what he’d done to me? I hoped not. I didn’t want her to know. I didn’t want anyone to know.

  We left the sterile, long, white corridor and entered a new part of the house. The corridors were wider, and there was artwork on the walls, and a rug beneath my feet.

  “Is this the polityk’s living area?” I inquired of the guard. “Is this where he spends his time?”

  “No questions,” he snapped.

  He continued, with me following, until we reached one of the external hexagonal doors.