The Harvest: Taken

by M. A. Church

  "Let me guess. You noticed this scent, right?" I smirked.

  "It smelled like cinnamon." John blushed. "Now I smell like it, too."

  "Anything... ah, out of the ordinary happen?" I tried hard to keep a straight face.

  "That tail of his! And his hair—good Lord, these Tah'Narians should have some sort of warning stamped on their foreheads," John whispered, turning even redder.

  Chad and I both busted out laughing, while John just grinned at us.

  "Caught Dale off guard, too," Chad snickered. "Don't let him fool you."

  Several minutes later, our mates returned with breakfast. The party lasted about an hour then broke up. Many of the crew had to go on duty, including our mates. We remained and sat around talking.

  Finally, Chad suggested that we show John around the ship. We'd just entered the retail shop where I'd bought the nightshirt when an all-call went through the ship, warning we were going to jump to hyper-drive. The three of us watched out a portal as Saturn sped past. We were on our way to a new life. Keyno had told me it would take close to a week to get to his planet.

  For the next few days, Chad and I spent many hours in the Botany Lab, while John continued his training with Doc. Keyno told me Colt had been separated from the other males. His injuries from the fight with Keyno were extensive, and so his counseling sessions took place in Dosstkal, under Doc's supervision, as he continued to heal.

  Life settled into a routine for all of us.

  Chapter Eleven

  "No!" The sound of breaking bones filled my mind, and my stomach heaved. Lifeless eyes stared back at me.

  Shouts and endless noise surrounded me—cold eyes stared at the necklace around my throat. Another pair of eyes stared into mine. Oh, man, I was in trouble. Big trouble. Those eyes of his were so cold and emotionless. He was a killer, a gang member—a man used to taking lives. I wasn't.

  A roar filled the corridor. The scent was all wrong, too. It wasn't like usual—sweet and horny; it stank of blood and pain.

  This had to stop. No one deserved to die because of me.

  Eerie green lights flashed. Death was all around me; it lay on the floor.

  "No, Keyno!"

  "Dale? Wake up. Chosen, come back to me. Calm down, you're safe." A hand shook my shoulder, snapping me out of the dream.

  I jerked up in bed, throwing the cover off, my body sweaty. "Dammit. Not again."

  Keyno sat up next to me. "Same dream?"

  "Yeah." I ran a hand through my sweat-soaked hair.

  "I am so sorry, Dale. This is my fault. I shouldn't have... These dreams are partly from what I did."

  He was right, and there was no point in lying about it. This wasn't the first nightmare I'd had about what had happened in the corridor. Someone being killed in front of me wasn't something I was used to seeing. "It's not as bad as it was right after... it happened. It's getting better."

  A few days had passed since Colt had tried to escape. Things had calmed down again, but I'd started dreaming about the whole mess.

  "If it doesn't get better, you need to talk to Doc."

  "We'll see." I lay back down and tried to go to sleep. The person I needed to talk to wasn't Doc.

  Many evenings we gathered in the Lounge or in each other's quarters to have the final meal of the day. Chad, John, and I spent every free minute together. But there was only so much to occupy us. Because I was so bored, Keyno agreed to let me train with a crew member who was a champion with the hast, which was a lot like the nunchakus I favored. Keyno was good, but this Tah'Narian was great. With his training, I was now able to hold my own with Keyno when we sparred together, and the much-needed workouts were a huge benefit.

  Keyno was due to come off duty when my comm buzzed.

  "Dale, meet me at the gym on Level Fourteen. We'll get in an hour before final meal. That okay?"

  "Sounds like a plan to me." I hurried to the electrolift. I had a surprise for my mate.

  When I arrived, Keyno was already there, waiting for me.

  "Hey!" I motioned to Keyno as I headed to the locker room. "Give me a minute to change."

  The last couple of times that we had sparred had ended in a draw. I'd gotten cocky, teasing that I was going to take him in a match now that I'd been practicing with a champion. With my newfound strength and improving skills, I constantly picked at Keyno, promising all sorts of outlandish things—like how I was going to wipe the floor with him and how I was done holding back. My ego was fast getting out of hand; in my zeal, I'd forgotten the first major rule of combat.

  "Let us begin." Keyno bowed to me.

  "This time is going to be different," I bragged, twirling the hast. "I'm going to win, just watch."

  Twenty minutes later, we were both tied, dead even. Every move I made, he had a countermove for. Try as I might, I couldn't break past his guard. I noticed he wasn't even breathing hard as we circled each other, and a slight smirk hovered around his lips. I was worried. Had he been playing with me? Like a cat would play with a mouse, right before the kill?

  "Let's make this interesting," Keyno suggested with a slight grin. "How about a wager?"

  "I don't know—"

  "Afraid you can't beat me?" he goaded.

  "You're on," I blurted, against my better judgment. "What're the terms?"

  "If I win, I get to make love to you right here, right now," Keyno winked at me. "However I want, with no questions asked. And you cooperate fully with whatever I want to do."

  "Okay, okay, fine. If I win, I want to stop at that planet we talked about for a plant specimen."

  "Let's take a few minutes to rest, and then we'll start."

  I'd heard about a planet, Aploi, that we'd be passing by on the way to Tah'Nar. Aploi had very rare elements in its soil, air, and water, so it grew very rare types of plants. Supposedly, there was a plant on Aploi that produced amazing flowers. When in bloom, their fragrance caused deep relaxation, induced perfect calm and a deep sense of peace. John and I thought it might be interesting to gather some of the flowers and see if they worked on mutated humans, since Doc couldn't tell us for sure.

  Called "Moonlight Blossom," the Aploi plant only produced its large, silvery white flowers during a full moon. I wanted one to add to the collection of plants in the Botany Lab since they didn't have a real one. More to the point, though, if their relaxation properties did work on us, I desperately wanted three or four more to put around my new home. I figured any help I could get in finding a 'deep sense of peace' with the whole pregnancy thing looming right around the corner was a really good thing. Yeah... I really, really wanted this plant.

  "No hard shots to the face, no drawing blood, and we go until one of us submits," Keyno said as we faced each other.

  Twenty minutes into our match, I knew that I'd been set up. Keyno landed many more hits on me than I landed on him. Plus, I was sweating heavily, mostly from fending off his attacks. Keyno had barely broken a sweat. A frustrated growl worked its way out of me. When the hell had I started growling, for God's sake? Seeing I was distracted, Keyno stepped back several paces and smirked at me.

  "No more playing around, Dale. Time to get serious."

  Oh, fuck me. Playing around? I wasn't playing around. Oh, damn, he's gonna hand my ass to me on a platter. He came at me like a hellgod—a furious blur of spinning moves, speed, and motion that I had no chance against. Again and again, he lightly struck me: on the arm, the thigh, and my head. He was careful not to hurt me as we fought, and I was impressed with the ability he had to control his power. Many of the damn moves he used against me were ones I'd never seen before. I lapsed into a primarily defensive mode of fighting, which was never a good thing with an opponent.

  "You... you tricked me," I panted as he backed me across the room. "You were holding back... not fair."

  "And you were way too cocky, my mate." Keyno blocked yet another one of my moves. "Never underestimate your opponent."

  With a flick of his wrist, my hast went flying. Anoth
er quick move pinned me against his chest, helpless.

  "I'm waiting."

  Keyno held me prisoner in his arms. I couldn't have struggled even if I wanted to, though with the light scent of cloves wafting up to tease my nostrils and the feel of his hard body against my back, I didn't particularly want to be anywhere else at the moment. Not that I intended to tell him that.

  "Damn," I sighed. "Okay, fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I submit."

  "You can do better than that." He growled, pushing what was unmistakably an erection into the small of my back. I shuddered, and his arms contracted around me even tighter, pushing all the air out of my lungs.

  "Oh, come on." I gasped when he nipped my ear. His tail lashed the insides of my knees and thighs as he held me in front of him. "Okay! I submit to you. You're all-seeing and all-knowing, a supreme hast-wielding Grand Ruler of the Galaxy, and you beat me... you damn tricky alien."

  "No arguments, remember?" Keyno said.

  "I know what the damn bet was—jeez, no arguments."

  I knew that I'd been beaten, and beaten by someone who had far better skills than me. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I had been overconfident in my abilities, and I'd underestimated him. Both were stupid rookie mistakes, and I knew better.

  Keyno pulled my shirt over my head and down my arms. Twisting his hast in my shirt at my elbows, he trapped my arms by my sides, where I'd be unable to move them. Stepping around in front of me, he pulled my sweat pants and underwear down to my ankles, trapping my legs in the material—since he hadn't removed my shoes. Keyno's pants were tented already.

  "Perfect." He deliberately walked around me, looking at my helpless, practically nude body.

  "Oh—oh, damn, Keyno. Make sure the door's locked, please." I was trembling already, his scent affecting me.

  "I locked it after you came in."

  "Hellfire. This was your plan all along, wasn't it?"

  "You needed to be taught a lesson, and this way, you'll remember it." Keyno stepped behind me. "Plus, I think you'll enjoy this. We both will."

  Sweeping me up in his arms, he carried me across the mat to a bench. Dropping me to my feet, he steadied me with a hand before sitting on the bench. Keyno helped me down to my knees, and then unbuttoned his pants. His shaft was hard and angled toward his belly. I lowered my head to his lap, running my tongue through the pre-come, enjoying his sweet taste. I let the tip of his cock slip into my mouth, sucking on the swollen head.

  "Take a little more."

  I nibbled at the shaft, running my tongue up and down the length. I licked his thick shaft, working my way to the head of his cock. Opening my mouth, I eased his cock into my throat, going straight down as far as I could. Hollowing my cheeks, I pulled back up his cock until the head was left in my mouth, my tongue playing with the tiny slit in the top of his shaft.

  "Mmm..." I hummed as his sweet pre-come flowed into my mouth.

  Bobbing my head up and down, I cut my eyes up to him, watching the emotions play across his face. Lust, desire, and something else flittered across the planes of his face. Faster I went as one of his hands tangled in my hair and the other touched my necklace, the physical symbol of our bond, of everything we were to each other. I worked him with my mouth and tongue since I didn't have use of my hands. Taking a deep breath, I drew his shaft fully into my throat, holding him there for a few seconds.

  "Gods. So good, so good." Keyno's head dropped back as I moved back up his length. "Faster."

  Up and down I went, moving faster as I took his cock all the way. A gentle tug on my hair told me to stop, that he was close to losing control.

  "Stand up." He helped me since my arms were restrained, and my legs trembled. The smell of cloves surrounded me, thicker now.

  Keyno bent down and eased my shoes off, removing my pants. He sat back down and pulled me into his lap. I straddled him, both my legs on either side of him, and leaned against his chest as I heard the lube top snap open, my body shaking in his arms. A finger teased my entrance, barely touching me. His other hand pressed against my back, keeping me against his chest. I turned my head, panting into his neck as the relentless teasing continued.

  "Keyno..." The tip of his finger eased inside me.

  "What? What do you want?"

  "Deeper."

  "Like this?" Slowly he eased it farther in. "Tell me if this is what you want."

  "Yes. Oh, yes, please." I shifted around in his lap. "More."

  "You want more?" Keyno added another finger, twisting them inside me. "Here?"

  "Ah, ah, you're driving me crazy." I tried to push back against those fingers. A light slap on my ass stilled me.

  "Behave, Dale." Keyno's voice had a grin in it, as I snorted out a strangled laugh.

  "You—you had this planned." I gasped as another finger entered me, scissoring. "From start to finish, didn't you?"

  "And what have you learned?" Those fingers stroked my prostate now, sending little bursts of pleasure through my body.

  "You're sneaky?" I snickered breathlessly as another light slap landed. "Okay, okay! You're sneaky and underhanded?"

  "I can do this all night. Can you?" he purred.

  "Good grief. Never... oh, Lord... underestimate my sneaky and underhanded... opponent." I wiggled my ass. "Damn, would you please just fuck me?"

  "All you had to do was ask." He grinned as his fingers slid out. Gripping my hips, his hard, thick cock slid into me, filling me up.

  He set a pace that would quickly bring me over the edge. The thrusts were fast, hitting my hot spot every time. He kept a hand on my lower abdomen, the pressure perfectly intense so that every stroke sent waves of prickling heat over my skin. His hips snapped up into me, driving him deeper. As he turned his head, his lips sought mine. The kiss was as gentle as the furious pounding of his cock in me was hard.

  Deep purring was all I could hear as he strained against me, finally bringing me to orgasm. I moaned loudly into his mouth as I came all over the both of us. A few more thrusts and he came, that wicked barb of his springing free to bite deep into my most tender flesh. I shivered; man, it was good.

  I rested against his chest, trying to catch my breath. "I'm sticky, sweaty, and I need a shower. You made a mess of me."

  "In that case, I will have to clean you up." Keyno released my arms as we waited.

  "I think we should use the showers in here."

  "I agree." Keyno's barb released, sending another shiver through me. Gently, he placed me on my feet, holding on to me when I swayed.

  "Well, one thing for sure, that's a lesson I won't soon forget."

  "Hmm, I think I'll have to reteach it to you, quite often, in fact." Keyno walked us to the showers. "And by the way, the champion you've been working with? He has never beaten me."

  I shook my head as he nudged me into the showers. "Like I said, set up. Now clean me up, my mate."

  Keyno updated me on the counseling, which was going well—better than Doc had thought, actually, and I was relieved to hear it. The idea of any of those men being sold as slaves bothered me. Colt was the only dark cloud on the horizon.

  He was in Dosstkal, being treated for all his various wounds. His shattered right arm was set in an encasing skin cast that extended from his fingers to his elbow. He had a concussion from being slammed into the ceiling, and several bulging disks in his neck that Doc repaired with laser surgery. Colt's internal injuries required several hours of work with the Tah'Narian's high-tech surgical equipment, and apparently John proved to be a prodigy operating the machine. I'd broken his nose when I'd hit him, and dislocated his jaw with that lucky kick. He was damned lucky to be alive.

  Colt was in four-point restraints due to his violent nature, and Doc even used a force field around Colt's bed for added protection. He could see and hear what went on around him, but even if he escaped from the restraints, he couldn't go anywhere. Doc was the one who monitored Colt through much of the counseling—which centered on his early childhood—and the abuse
and neglect from his biological mother. To say Colt was not handling it well was an understatement. Doc said that the pain and anger he unleashed during those sessions was mind-numbing. Listening to Colt scream as he relived the horror of his mother burning him with an iron or threatening to sell him for drugs wore Doc to the bone.

  Colt was gay, but he'd repressed most of those feelings, since he was a gang member. Tough guys like him didn't admit to homosexual feelings. Though he'd eventually taken 'bitches' in prison and had male lovers on the outside, it had all been in secret. His homosexuality wasn't something to celebrate or an identity of which he could ever be proud. He fucked men out of desperation, hating them because he wanted them, and then hating himself for hurting them. Love, hate, pleasure, and pain were all hopelessly snarled up in Colt's head. Doc said he was making progress, but it was painfully slow going.

  So, when Colt asked to speak to me, I wasn't really shocked. Keyno, on the other hand, hadn't anticipated such a request coming from Colt and adamantly refused. We had several arguments about it, and I finally told him I needed to do it. I needed to confront the man who'd caused me more than a few bad dreams. That finally made him decide to let me visit Colt.

  I walked into Dosstkal and made it clear to Doc I needed to see Colt alone. I knew he wouldn't leave us completely alone, but I needed privacy for this, and I didn't need him or anyone else standing over me. Doc finally agreed, promising only to interfere if things got out of hand. I walked straight up to the bed and stared at the eyes that haunted my dreams. Even restrained, Colt was just as scary-looking. His eyes weren't cold, bottomless pits anymore, though. If anything, the emotions swirling there were painful.

  "You wanted to speak to me?"

  "Que paso," Colt said. "I just, uh, I just wanted to—"

  I stared at him while both of his fists clenched and unclenched in the restraints. "Wanted to what? Apologize for what happened?"

  "Naw, dude. I did what I had to do to survive." Colt shrugged as best he could. Keyno had crushed his larynx, but John had repaired it surgically. "I know all about survivin'. I was wantin' to let you know that, ah, you fight good, white boy. Very few have been known to pop me like that. I respect that. I don't respect many folks."