by Myla Jackson
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back into his chest. With her breasts cupped in his hands, he buried his face in her hair. “Woman, you will be the death of me.”
She sighed and laid her head back against his neck, enjoying the feel of him pulsing inside her. “No, pirate, you will more likely be the death of me.”
When her legs protested the cramped position, she eased off Khetan’s lap, stood and stretched, reveling in the freedom of nudity. How wonderful life was for those without responsibility. Trapped by a storm and separated from her subjects, Mayla had never felt so free. This once, she’d indulged herself without worrying about her entire race.
“Come here woman,” Khetan commanded. “I need the warmth of your body next to mine.”
Mayla sat next to him on the cold stone floor of the cave and leaned into his body.
Khetan slipped his arms around her and pulled her against his side. “I’ll be sad to leave in the morning. I’d like to spend more time getting to know you better. Don’t you wish we could stay another day? Free of responsibilities of the those we lead and those who look to us for guidance?”
Mayla nodded in the darkness, unable to speak around the lump in her throat. He’d spoken what she hadn’t had the courage to say aloud.
“Have you always been a princess?”
“Yes,” she answered softly. All her life. Destined to lead.
“Do you rule?” Khetan whispered the words against her hair, squeezing her breasts in a rhythmic motion.
“Yes, for the past six years since my mother abdicated the throne to me when I was only sixteen.” She remembered how overwhelmed she’d been, with everyone pulling at her from all directions. She’d grown into the role, all her upbringing geared to this destination. But, deep down, she wanted a normal life and love.
Thunder roared outside the cave, a noisy reminder of their plight.
“Perhaps the storm will continue and you’ll get your wish for another day.”
“Ummmm. I hope so.” He nuzzled the sweet spot behind her ear.
She enjoyed a tingling awareness of his lips against her skin. “What about you, pirate? Have you always been a captain of a salvage ship?”
Silence greeted her question.
Mayla held her breath. Had she stumbled on a sore spot? Was there more to Khetan than she’d originally suspected?
Khetan’s hand stopped stroking her breast and he sighed into the dark. “No, I haven’t always been a captain of a salvage ship.”
Mayla looped her arm over his chest, pressing her face to his skin. She rubbed her thumb over a hard brown nipple. “What is it about the dark, we’re able to share thoughts we’d never consider sharing in the light of day? It is as if the dark grants us enough anonymity to free us of inhibitions.”
“Perhaps.” His response was brief and sounded distant.
“What did you do before you went into the salvage business?” she persisted.
Khetan didn’t answer immediately and just when Mayla began to think he wouldn’t, he shifted on the pallet of their clothing. “I used to lead a squadron of Intergalactic fighter ships.”
Mayla’s thumb stilled. “What happened?”
“I trusted someone I shouldn’t have. I believed my commanding officer and he led my squadron into a trap. Half of my men were killed. The other half left the service and joined me on the Condor.”
“Did he know he led you into a trap?”
Khetan’s body stiffened. “Yes. But something in my gut told me the maneuver was wrong.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked.
“I thought he was a good leader. I trusted his judgment. That trust cost the lives of twenty men.” He lay back against the hard ground, tucking his free hand beneath his head.
Mayla’s throat threatened to close and tears spilled from her eyes onto Khetan’s skin.
“Hey, what’s this?” Khetan rolled toward her and touched her cheek.
“So many rely on us to lead them into what is right. When we fail, we lose the one’s we love and we have to go on knowing it’s our fault.” Mayla turned her face into his hand and let the tears fall.
Arms wrapped around her, sharing warmth and understanding.
As the Princess of Shandal, she would never have shown such a public display of emotion. But here in the dark with Khetan, she wasn’t a princess--she was a woman. A woman who needed the comfort of a man’s brawny arms.
When the storm of tears subsided, Mayla gulped and sat up.
Khetan leaned up on his elbow, wrapping his body around her. “I bet you don’t do that often.”
She sniffed and laughed into the darkness. “No I don’t. It’s a sign of weakness in a leader.”
“You’re not any weaker in my mind,” he assured her, trailing a hand down her back and around her hip.
“Weakness can take many forms. Tears are but one of the forms. Gullibility is another.”
His hand crossed her stomach and he scooted closer so his chest rested against her back, the warmth of their bodies touching dispelling any coolness of the cave’s interior. “I can’t imagine the beautiful Princess of Shandal being gullible.”
“Oh, but I was. Like you, I trusted when I shouldn’t have.”
“How so?”
“In our need to vacate our planet, many offered to help shuttle our people to New Shandal. Most offered in friendship. But our current plight was instigated by those who didn’t offer our transport to safety.”
Khetan’s hand slid upward, cupping one of Mayla’s full breasts in his hand. “What happened?”
“The Durakee offered to transport our last ship full of refugees to New Shandal. While in flight, one of my people overheard the Durakee captain bragging about all the money they’d make when they landed on Palathea.”
“I thought Palathea was a mining planet.”
“It is.” Mayla’s voice was grim. “You see, they never intended for us to go to New Shandal. We were to be sold to the owners of the Palathean crystal mines or elsewhere across the galaxy.”
Khetan’s hand stilled it’s gentle massaging of Mayla’s breast. “Damn!” He sat upright next to her and pushed a hand through his hair. The Durakee had lied to him, as he’d suspected. And Mayla’s people were to be treated as slaves. Damn. The worst part was, now he was in the middle of it. The Durakee had contracted with him to find their ship and retrieve their cargo.
Mayla didn’t know his connection to the Durakee, yet. And how could he explain without risking the loss of her trust? He had to get them off the planet, no matter what challenges they had with the Durakee.
* * * * *
“I must get back,” Mayla said, tugging her jumpsuit up over her hips and breasts. Those glorious breasts Khetan wanted to bury his face in.
Had it really been two days? Between bouts of mind-blowing sex, they’d shared intimate banter over cold meals of the food Mayla had in the bag. Khetan felt they were getting to know each other as people instead of captain and princess. He hated the idea of leaving the cave. He hadn’t thought about Bandar, his ship or his men since he tackled Mayla in the woods.
His men...
Jamming his feet into his pants then shoes, he was ready when Mayla was. Together, they stepped out into the deceptively peaceful sunshine of Tatama.
Except for a few jagged scars on the landscape and several freshly fallen trees, he couldn’t tell there had been a vicious storm the day before. How easily Tatama could lure a person into believing it was inhabitable.
Mayla turned to the left and hurried along the base of the mountain, her eyes darting to the sky. Khetan followed. If his men hadn’t sought the shelter of the mountain, they were most likely dead. He hoped to find all of them safe and sound in a cave.
“Here it is!” Mayla’s relief was evident in the smile on her face. She ducked into the side of the mountain and for a moment, Khetan couldn’t see her. His heart flipped in his chest and he quickened his step. Then he saw the entra
nce.
The lighting was dim in the interior and it took several moments before Khetan’s eyes adjusted to the change.
Mayla stood with her back to him, her hands planted on her hips, her back stiff. “What is going on?”
Khetan glanced around the interior. This cave was larger than the inside of an Alliance Coliseum. Filling the interior was a bounty of beautiful women--standing, sitting, or laying on hard earth. All were nude and all wore guilty expressions on their faces.
A beauty with hair as dark as Mayla’s was blond, approached the angry woman. “Princess Mayla, we can explain.”
“I certainly hope so, Sinsal, preferably before I explode.”
Sinsal turned to the group of women and spread her arms wide. “Shandalans...”
The women parted. Lying on the floor behind them were five men, naked and unconscious.
Mayla frowned and walked forward. “Are they dead?”
“I doubt it, unless a man can die of too much coupling?” Sinsal answered.
Khetan strode forward and kicked Max’s foot. He fought to keep from laughing out loud.
“Huh?” Max blinked his eyes and stared up at Khetan. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Glad to see you escaped the storm.”
“Escaped? I don’t know, the way I feel, I was in the middle of it.” He reached down and rubbed his penis, wincing at the contact. Slinging an arm behind him, Max smacked the man lying on his back, snoring. “Get up, Kasar! The captain’s here.”
One after the other, the five men, groaned and lumbered to their feet. Each cringed when he pulled his pants on and zipped, as if the effort was painful.
Khetan knew what it felt like, he was feeling pretty bruised as well. All-night activities with a Shandalan Princess was hard on a man. He glanced her way admiring her wild blond hair and the voluptuous curve of her hips and breasts beneath the jumpsuit.
Too bad he had a job to complete. Perhaps when they got back to his ship, they could take up where they left off. If she didn’t slice his throat for not telling her about the Durakee on board.
Mayla was deep in conversation with Sinsal, her voice lowered and her expression intense.
“Is something wrong?” Khetan asked.
Mayla looked at him like he’d lost his senses. “I told you, when a Shandalan virgin is breached, she requires consistent attention to keep her from weakening.”
“You mean these women were all virgins?”
“Yes. They were under my protection. I was to find them suitable mates on their new planet. Now they are breached. What are you going to do about it?”
“What do you suggest? Do you want my men to give it back?”
“Your flippancy is humorous, however, if they aren’t relieved at least once every two days, the Shandalan Effect will cause their bodies to overload with the Shandal hormone and they will weaken. Some may even die.”
Khetan pushed his hand through his hair. His men weren’t helping the matter. Now that they were fully awake, they were fondling the women. Khetan understood their desires. Standing so close to Mayla had him straining against his britches. By the Gods, the situation was impossible!
“Men! Get dressed. We leave at once.” Not one of the men misunderstood the command in Khetan’s voice. They dropped whatever breast they held and scrambled for the rest of their clothing.
“Hey those are mine!” Jepal snatched a pair of black pants from Max.
“Like hell! Since when have you been man enough to fill my britches?”
“Why you--” Jepal swung a fist, connecting with Max’s jaw.
Knocked backward, Max spun around and went after Jepal. Before Khetan could stop it, all five men were locked in battle.
Khetan’s anger rose and he stepped forward to stop the fight, but Mayla’s hand halted him. “It is the Effect.”
“I don’t care what it is to you. To me, it’s a fight.”
Mayla stepped in front of him blocking his path, an eyebrow rising into the hair draping her forehead. “The Effect raises the level of testosterone in men, causing males to revert to more base instincts of procreation and fighting for survival or domination. There is little you can do to stop it.”
Khetan struggled to control his own desire to throw Mayla to the ground and ram into her cunt. He took a long steadying breath...then another. Finally, through gritted teeth he asked, “How do the Shandalan men handle it?”
“Over the years, they’ve developed the ability to control their urges. Otherwise, our planet would have been destroyed long before now.”
“If I don’t stop their fighting, my men will destroy each other.” He squeezed his eyes shut to block out the view of the beautiful Shandalan Princess, but his body still sensed her in front of him. “Step aside. I have to stop this fight.”
She pressed a hand to his chest. The warmth seared trough his shirt and his eyes flew open. “Allow me.” She turned to the still naked women gathered around the five fighting men. With a sharp clap of her hands, they stopped giggling and turned to face their princess.
Mayla tilted her head and nodded almost imperceptibly and the women moved into the fray.
A male hand raised to punch was captured and laid on a full round breast. The owner of the hand, completely switched his attention to the contents of his grip. The man he would have punched was pulled backward by two sets of feminine hands. He went willingly, his cock stiff and throbbing, a smile spreading wide across his face.
Jepal straddled Max on the floor choking the life out of his opponent. Khetan watched in fascination as a Shandalan female pressed herself to Jepal’s naked back and slid her arms around his chest. His hands loosened on the other man’s throat, and he leapt to his feet to pull the woman into his embrace.
When Max pushed himself to a sitting position, Sinsal’s silky legs straddled him cutting off his intent to pursue the fight. The Shandalan grabbed his hair and pressed him to her sex. The fight forgotten, he grabbed her buttocks and buried his face in her cunt, licking, growling and emitting loud slurping noises.
The flurry of activity and the musky scent of sex juices, filled the air. An ache built between Khetan’s legs, and he fought to control himself.
A hand slid around him to cup the bulge in his pants. “Why fight it?” Mayla’s breath stirred the hair at the back of his ear.
“I must,” Khetan groaned and leaned his head back against hers. “I need to stay in control. We have to figure a way off this planet.”
“We will work together.” Her hand slid beneath the waistband of his trousers, gripping his cock. “But for now, my women need relief. And so do I.”
“When you put it that way...” Khetan swung around and in a few short movements removed her jumpsuit and his clothing, laying them on the ground. He dropped to his side on the pile of clothing and extended a hand to her. Instead of taking his hand, she clapped sharply and two other women joined her.
“What...” Before he could continue his next thought, one woman planted a foot on either side of his hips and lowered herself until the entrance to her sex nudged his stiffened shaft.
“Hi, I’m Ridha,” she said with a wry smile tilting her lips. Then she guided his cock fully inside her.
Mayla dropped to her knees and straddled his head. “Lick my cunt,” she demanded.
“As you wish, Princess,” he said through gritted teeth, having difficulty concentrating with Ridha stroking his cock in slow, undulating motions. Then he tilted his head up and nipped at Mayla’s folds, tonguing her clit until juices flowed from her. He lapped at her entrance, thrusting his tongue inside her tasting her come while Ridha rode him.
Mayla moaned, one hand cupping her breast while the other tangled with his tongue in the folds of her sex.
Khetan’s passion spiraled out of control when Mayla reached out to fondle Ridha’s breast and the two women leaned forward to kiss and spar with their tongues.
A whimper next to them drew Khetan’s attention to the other woman, patiently awaiti
ng her turn at relief. Her hands ran feverishly over her own body. She dipped her fingers into her cunt, swirling and rocking, breasts thrust forward, her head tipped back.
“Join us, Jaina,” Mayla commanded softly.
Khetan licked and thrust deep into Mayla and fought his building climax. He struggled knowing he needed to prolong his efforts to satisfy all three women. But he didn’t know how long he could hold out.
When Jaina stepped between Mayla and Ridha, he almost came. Mayla leaned forward and grabbed Jaina’s hips, pulling her close enough to tongue her clit.
“Oh princess!” Jaina screamed.
Bombarded with sensation, Khetan’s head reeled. Ridha’s hand reaching beneath her to squeezed his balls, Mayla’s taste and her breasts in his hands, the sight of Mayla tonguing Jaina, all bombarding his senses at once. Ridha tensed and jerked, her release shaking all of them. As soon as he felt her release, she jumped to her feet and Jaina slid onto him and rocked to her release.
The strain of restraining his climax built to a physical pain. He couldn’t hold out any longer. Tossing Jaina off his body, he leaped to his feet.
While his men were in various stages of slaking their lusts and that of the women in the cave, Khetan stalked Mayla, growling low in his chest. Jaina and Ridha quietly backed away, leaving Mayla and Khetan alone in their corner of the cave.
Mayla’s breath quickened and she stepped backward. “Like that, huh? Didn’t Ridha and Jaina satisfy you?”
“Yes and no,” he replied.
“Yes they satisfied you or no they didn’t?” Mayla took another step backward, then another until she bumped into the cave wall.
“Yes, I liked it and no, they didn’t completely satisfy me.” He reached out and palmed her pussy, sliding a finger into the slippery folds.
“Ummm, I’m glad.” Mayla slid her arms around his neck and leaned into his hand. His fingers did the same delicious things to her clit his tongue had only moments before. Without the distraction of the other women, she could concentrate on her own pleasure. And, oh, how he pleasured her.
“Like that, huh?” Khetan used her words.
