by Marie Dry
He watched her very closely. “How did you know that Natalie enjoyed watching the nature programs and the Space Ranger?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.” She’d given up on trying to figure out how she knew some things while other’s remained a blank.
“The leader’s breeder is the most important person in this city. If you harm her in any way, you will live only to ensure you die a long and agonizing death.”
“All right, I get it. Don’t harm the breeder.” Did that mean Julia was free game? And where did that thought come from? That sudden wish to break her neck by jerking her skull? Maeve rubbed her forehead. “Wait, did you just say this city? You consider this a city?”
“Natalie City will be the capital city of earth. Do not change the subject. You do not wish to harm Julia. Zurian will be merciless,” he said as if he read her mind.
“Don’t worry, I won’t harm either one of them.” Thankfully, that strange urge had left her. “Natalie City?”
He nodded again, a curiously human motion on his green alien body. “I will leave you now.”
She couldn’t bear to be alone anymore. “Are you at least going to introduce me to the others and show me around?”
The air in the room disappeared. “You want to know the warriors?”
“Um, no.” That’s precisely what she’d been thinking but he was giving off seriously scary vibes.
“You plan to make the warriors notice that your beauty is not hidden by ugly red hair anymore.”
“What. No, I was thinking of Julia.” She had been talking about the warriors, but she wanted to live relatively free. His attitude around the doctor should’ve warned her. Did he really think her beautiful? That her red hair had hidden her beauty from the other warriors? How could he be fierce, objectionable, and sweet all at once?
“All right.”
They stared at each other for the longest time, and she wondered if he was as determined as she not to be the first one to blink. Or maybe Aliens just didn’t blink.
“I only came to see if you are all right. I have to return to my duties.”
His hand tightened on the back of her head, against the base of her skull, and his head lowered toward her. Slow, so slow. He kissed her and she knew it was to show her that he could. Again that strange pleasant lethargy creeped into her until she clung to him and kissed him back while her mind screamed in horror. She’d seduced men on assignments before. This was different, dishonest, unfair to both of them--and where the hell did that thought come from? She loved kissing him, where did the sudden terror come from?
When he pressed his forehead against hers, she forced herself to smile and hide her sudden anxiety.
CHAPTER 8
She was watching a nature program on eagle’s she found among the files Natalie had sent her. Strange how she knew it wasn’t something she normally enjoyed watching. After seeing the eagle soar in the sky that one time, she found the program fascinating.
Larz should come off duty any time now. About a month ago, he’d come home bruised and bloodied. The kind of injuries he had, had been made by someone out to kill him. Did the Zyrgins fight each other like that? She had the awful feeling that Larz was the only one subjected to such treatment. He refused to tell her what was happening and she lived in fear of him coming home too injured to recover. He’d become her whole world.
He walked in and she relaxed when she saw he was uninjured. She stared up at him, an eerie silence settled over the sterile living room. Sometimes she thought she saw thinly veiled contempt in his gaze.
“Do you hate me?”
“No.”
“Resent having to keep me?” She might not know what led to him keeping her, but it wasn’t any tender feelings. That, she did know.
He came to her and, pulling her up, pressed his forehead against hers. He stayed like that for the longest time. As if he didn’t want to be anywhere else, do anything else. “I have sacrificed for you. I will never give you up.”
“What does that mean? What did you sacrifice?”
Instead of answering, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.
His lovemaking had changed in the last months. Where, before, she had the feeling he had sex with her because he saw it as his due, now he made love to her with such gentleness and care that she sometimes wanted to cry. He always complimented her, assured her she had beautiful hair, and she had to hide her laughter, because he always added that he’d wanted her even when she had ugly red hair. Her lizard man thought her hair might grow out red again and was covering all the bases. She was starting to believe he felt more than physical lust for her.
“I want no other. I would sacrifice even more to keep you,” he said.
He stepped out of his clothes with that eerie ease and then took off her clothes with quick efficiency. He laid her gently on the bed and lay down next to her, leaned over her, gazing at her with that scary intensity that thrilled her so much.
She caressed the ridge bisecting his head, enjoyed the way he tautened against her. “What did you sacrifice?”
He kissed her. As always his kiss made her want more. It’s almost as if his kisses were addictive, his tongue demanding entrance, his exploration of her mouth more a conquest than a need to give pleasure. He lifted his head. “I sacrificed everything.” He kissed her again. An intimate, demanding kiss that allowed her to do nothing but respond, to accept him.
She pulled him closer to her, tried to give him the surrender that he seemed to crave from her. She loved how warm and solid he was against her. “Make love to me, Larz. Give me pleasure until we are both too tired to think.” She needed that oblivion. That escape from the constant fear that the person who had hurt Sarah would take over her mind again. She traced a vein over his chest down to his stomach. “Would you like me to tickle your feet?” she teased to lighten the atmosphere.
He became rock solid and stared down at her. “I am not a pre-first-change warrior. You do not treat me like a baby.”
She leaned up and kissed him. “Yeah, yeah I know, you’re a dangerous warrior. But what I want to know is, are your ticklish?”
Maeve dug her fingers into his ribs and tickled for all she was worth. He stared at her until she felt silly. He was not a human man. She couldn’t play with him the same way she would with a human.
“Should I laugh in a high silly voice now?” he asked, deadpan.
“I never know when you’re serious or if you’re making a joke,” she told him. “It’s not fair. You tickled me,” she said. She couldn’t stop her lips from pouting.
He stroked a leathery finger over them and then lightning fast, tickled her ribs. She laughed and screamed and begged for mercy. He had none, didn’t stop until she couldn’t laugh anymore. “Humans like this tickling?”
She scowled up at him. “No.”
“Why did you try to do it to me if it was not to give me pleasure?” He leaned down and spoke with his nose almost touching her. “What were you trying to do to your warrior?”
“Nothing.” She walked her fingers down his chest and he watched the movement the way a snake would stare at a mouse escaping him. “I may have been trying to find out if you’re ticklish. Just for future reference. You know, if I ever needed some extra convincing power I’d just tickle you until you agreed to give me whatever I want.”
“I will give you want you want unless you want to leave me or endanger your life,” he said.
She leaned up and kissed him, as gently and with as much love as she could manage. “Thank you, my warrior. No woman could wish for more. Now make love to your woman until she is so tired all she can do is sleep.”
He stilled and she had the impression that he shook off some dark emotion.
A slow movement of his lips that she thought was meant to be a grin but looked more like and evil sneer curved his lips. “That I can do.”
He caressed her brow, down her nose, and under her chin and then moved his thumbs over her shoulders, her collar
bone, and down until he cupped her breasts. She sucked in a deep breath. Whenever he touched her, her skin came alive with pleasure. And whatever he had in his mouth was lethal. When he kissed her, her pleasure level went through the roof. She had erogenous zones on her erogenous zones. Larz sucked her nipple into his mouth and she knew she was lost. Whenever he did that, her body became his to command.
He moved down, parted her legs, and placed her knees over his shoulder. Maeve grabbed the edge of the bed and held on. He started at her stomach and kissed his way down until he parted her folds and went to work with his wicked tongue. He sucked on her until she was a sobbing moaning mess. His wicked fingers stroked and delved and incited her every nerve ending to pleasure. She didn’t think her body was capable of enduring that many orgasms without coming apart. Only when she thought her body couldn’t endure any more pleasure did he move up her body and enter her.
“I can’t, it’s too much,” she moaned.
“You can. I am worthy. I will please you properly.”
“I’m properly pleased, promise,” she vowed.
“I will do it properly, eventually it will be enough,” he said and started to move, long slow thrusts that pushed her over the edge again. He seemed driven, as if merely pleasuring her was not enough, as if some goal remained out of his reach.
Only after they lay spent next to each other did she realize he’d never answered her. She still didn’t know what he sacrificed for her.
“I cannot give you the first knowing,” he said as if driven. As if not giving her this first knowing hurt him somehow.
“What is this first knowing?”
“It is for breeders with honor.”
His words hurt. Even without knowing what the first knowing meant, it hurt her. He always said it, but never really explained. She only knew she was not good enough to have it.
She closed her eyes. “And I have no honor?”
“No.”
“So you condemn me for having no honor, even though I can’t remember what I did before I lost my memory. How long would I have to proof myself before you believe that I would never do any of the things you said I did?”
“I do not know.”
“I don’t want to talk anymore.” She pretended to sleep and both of them pretended he fell for it. It took a long time for her to fall asleep. The word honor haunted her. What did she do before? Did she lose her memory because she’d been so bad that her mind had found a way to get away from itself? There were a few times when something inside her had urged her to harm the other women. At those times, she knew exactly how to break a neck. Where to cut an artery with a knife. She’d thought like a monster. The way the monster inside her wanted her to think so that it could take her over.
***
The next morning, Larz went to Natalie’s quarters. Zacar had summoned him and instructed him to go to see Natalie first. If he and Zorlof didn’t visit her at least once a day, she became demanding, didn’t hesitate to humiliate them in front of the warriors with excessive shows of emotion. Or to let Zacar know she found the situation unacceptable.
Larz found Zorlof at the entrance, pushed him aside, and pretended to enter. Zorlof pushed back. The little drittsekk was strong for a pre-second-change warrior. Without making a show of it, Larz walked in first. Zorlof was a warrior and wouldn’t show his back to a citizen. No warrior would.
They were still pushing and shoving each other when they entered the living room of Natalie’s quarters. Looking around at the place he’d called home since his first change, he realized how sterile his own dwelling was. Would Marcie like to change the color of the walls in their dwelling? Maybe want more furniture? She enjoyed spending time in the kitchen but, apart from complaining about being cooped up, she never asked to change anything. He should’ve allowed her to have windows.
“Please don’t fight. We’ve had some upsetting news and I just can’t deal with anything else,” Natalie said.
Larz looked at Zorlof who shrugged.
“What happened, Mother?”
It never felt right to address her like that. She was Zacar’s breeder and shouldn’t interact with them. Zacar had given precise instructions. Upset Natalie and they’d replace the sanitation bots on the ship.
“Sarah wants to go home to her family. She insists she has people in New England, but things are so dreadful over there.”
“Has she contacted them?” Larz asked. He knew Sarah wasn’t going to New England. Her journey would be much longer. For now, none of the humans would be told where she was going. In spite of Zacar’s protests, The Zyrgin had decreed that, for safety reasons, not even Natalie would be told.
Natalie grabbed her hair and, twisting it, jerked it. “She says she has. I’ve got this terrible feeling she just wants to get away from everything, that she’ll be alone in some strange city without me or Julia to look after her.”
She wanted reassurance and it would be easy enough to pretend to escort Sarah to her family. “Let Zorlof go with her and see if it is safe to leave her there. She would not feel threatened by him.”
Natalie looked at Zorlof. “Would you do that?”
“Of course.”
Larz relaxed, but tensed again when she continued. “Maybe we can send some warriors in disguise to make sure you’re okay. I’d worry about you, Zorlof. What if she goes to the middle of a gang-infested town? You’d be outnumbered and you’re still so small.”
Zorlof walked away and Natalie sighed and bit her lip. “I keep forgetting you think it’s the best thing since sliced bread to take on large numbers by yourself. Especially when you’re smaller than them.”
To forestall having to listen to the story of how Zacar had taken on a whole camp for her, Larz excused himself and headed to Zacar’s office. What sliced bread had to do with battle, he didn’t want to know either.
He went in and Zacar nodded at him, without looking away from the holo display from the probe. “You will clean the floor.”
“Yes, my leader.” This was the first time Zacar had called him to do cleaning duties normally performed by a bot. He usually found a reason for Larz to be in his office at the end of the day and spent an hour or two brutally training him. Zacar wielding weapons while Larz had to go up against him with only his claws. Zacar didn’t hold back the way he would with newly changed warriors and Larz appreciated Zacar’s determination to sharpen his skills. It had forced him to learn how to defend himself against any weapon with only his claws and his reflexes at his disposal and would, hopefully keep him alive through the challenges every third month.
Ignoring the humiliation of having to do the work of a cleaning bot, he fetched cleaning materials and started. He’d chosen this and would do so again to keep Marcie. Eventually, he’d get used to not being a warrior. For a human, two hundred years might seem like an eternity but, for a Zyrgin, it was barely a conquest of a minor planet.
Zurian came, and he and Zacar stood before the hologram. From where Larz worked he could see a scene in an office.
“I have observed Parnell and he has equipment in the basement of that building. The door and walls are lined with thick steel, and the probe had to wait until someone entered before it could go in cloaked. They have equipment in there that humans shouldn’t have at their technological level,” Zurian said.
The scene changed to a basement with a cracked cement floor. Larz sneered at the floor beneath him. Centuries from now it would still be strong and new. Humans were incapable of producing anything that lasted like that. Everything they’d ever built was falling apart.
“The only source of advanced technology is from the travelers and they would never allow their technology to be taken by primitive races,” Zacar said.
“This is human technology. From more than a century ago. They called it the golden age. They even managed to build spaceships. Somehow Parnell got his hands on some of the technology that survived,” Zurian said.
“When we move against him, bring it here. Azagor ca
n study it. I doubt if there is anything we can use but Azagor will make sure,” Zacar ordered.
“Yes, my leader.”
Zurian added another scene to the holo. “I found this in his primitive database.”
Larz didn’t even pretend to clean anymore. He should’ve known this kind of petty act wasn’t in Zacar’s nature. Larz was sure Marcie dreamed of Parnell and that the man had hurt her. Sometimes, in her sleep, she would plead with someone not to hurt her.
Zacar made sure Larz knew about the man who trained his breeder in the only way open to him. This was why every warrior going through his third change wanted to join Zacar. His care for his warriors was legendary.
In the image the probe projected, two human children stood before Parnell. He was much bigger than the two scared-looking young human females. “I will turn you into agents. Into dangerous weapons that will defeat the enemies of our great country,” Parnell said.
He produced a knife with theatrical flourish and threw it from hand to hand. The two girls watched him with wide impressed eyes. Larz had to gnash his teeth not to laugh at the ridiculous training. Before she lost her memory, he’d seen Marcie handle a knife, and she didn’t learn her skills from Parnell.
They all stared at the worst training ever devised in several galaxies.
“They are all young humans,” Zacar said.
“I’ve reviewed a few and he prefers girl humans,” Zurian said.
“He chose young females because they’re impressionable and wouldn’t question his knowledge. He cowed them before they had a chance to develop.” Zacar made a sound of disgust when the recording showed Parnell beating one of the girls with his belt until she lay bleeding and sobbing on the cement floor in the basement where he trained them.
“He has to die,” Zurian said.
“When we test the weapon, we will make an example of him,” Zacar said.
Zacar turned and nodded at Larz. “You may go.”
