He woke later, hearing a pounding on the door to Keelie’s—Talar’s—cabin and he staggered over. She was yelling, too.
“I have to pee and if you don’t let me out I’m going to do it right here on the floor!”
With a sigh he unlocked the door and yanked it open. She stood there, so small, but with her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face and fresh tear tracks. He’d never given her another shirt after she’d dropped the one in the galley, so she was stark naked. His dick tried to cut through its alcoholic haze to rise up and salute her, but he was too drunk, and it gave up.
“It’s about goddamn time!” She marched out of the room and around the corner to the ‘fresher. He cringed to see the red, black, and blue stripes across her ass and her legs.
She slammed the ‘fresher door in his face. A few minutes later he heard the shower start. That was not what she’d been brought here for, and he tried to open the door, but she’d locked it. He beat on it a few times before giving up and slumping back against the wall.
The shower finally turned off, and a few minutes later she emerged. “I figured this might be the last time I get to shower for a long time, so I’d better do it.” She sniffed. “You’ve been drinking. Talar was right. You are a dumbass.”
He stood there, shocked that she’d had the nerve to say those words to him. Before he could react, though, she marched back to her room and shut the heavy door in his face.
He slid the lock shut as hard as he could, then retreated to his room. He didn’t have to look in the mirror to know his skin was about three shades darker than normal.
The ship, barring any unforeseen calamity, was on autopilot for the next eighteen hours. In the meantime, there was another bottle of liquor in one of the storage cabinets, and he intended to use it to pass the time while he lay on the bed with no sheets, because they had smelled like Keelie.
* * *
The insistent beeping woke him out of another dream about Talar. Every time his brother tried to talk to him, something would interfere. The dream-wife was always there, but he could never see her face.
He groaned and rolled to his feet. He felt like shit, and the empty bottle next to the bed was a silent accusing witness to his stupidity. There was a tickling in the back of his head that was driving him nuts. He stumbled to the cockpit to shut off the alarm, which he’d set to give him an hour notice before arriving at Hayden’s Planet. Enough time to shower and change clothes. Maybe then he’d feel better.
The shower helped. The shirt he’d tried to give Keelie was still lying on the galley floor. He snatched it up and felt a strange shock up his arm, but he shook it off and donned the shirt. It was Talar’s, and it had been a favorite of his, and Siridin wore it any time he needed to feel less alone. He wasn’t sure why he’d given it to her.
The trousers came from a pile of clothing thrown on the floor during his tantrum yesterday.
He brewed himself a cup of mara and downed it scorching hot. At least he was awake now. After he grabbed a couple of items, it was time to face her.
The sight that greeted him when he unlocked the door was not what he’d expected. She sat primly on the bed, hands folded, stark naked. Her dark copper hair was neatly braided down her back, a skinny piece of sheet tying it at the end. When she saw him, she stood.
“I yelled, and tried to hold it as long as I could, but you must have been drunk, so I had to pee over there.” She pointed to a small pile of sheets in the corner.
He couldn’t deny the accusation, so he nodded curtly. He held out another shirt. She grabbed it cautiously, as though she were wary of touching it, but donned it immediately. He held up the item he’d collected. She eyed it suspiciously.
“Restraints? Really? This is hardly the time to play bondage games.”
“I don’t want you deciding to wander off and try your luck with anyone else.”
“Fuck you. Why do you care? You’re dumping me. Besides, I’d rather spend the rest of my life being licked by Anterrins than spend another day with you.”
He wanted to turn her over his lap. His hands itched to stroke her smooth skin before he spanked her silly for being so rude.
He resisted the urge.
Instead, he whirled her around and captured her wrists, snapping the metal cuff on her, a one-piece affair with the wrists crossed over each other.
“Now sit while I get landing clearance.” He pushed her back down on the bed and left.
* * *
There was no guarantee they wouldn’t know who he was the moment they identified his ship and hailed him. He was so far away from Anteros now that he thought they’d be safe, but it wasn’t a sure thing. He tried to concentrate on the upcoming communication. Instead, his mind drifted back to Keelie, bound in Talar’s cabin. The image in his mind stirred parts of him he thought would never emerge again. Not only a desire to fuck her. He wanted to tie her up and tease her until she begged to be allowed to come. To give her a sensual spanking more pleasure than pain. To slip his dick into her hot, tight pussy and listen to her groan as he stretched her to the very limits her body could cope with. He suspected she’d willingly explore all the different games he and Talar loved to play with women.
“That’s why she’s perfect for us. Siridin, please don’t—”
The strange intrusive thought was interrupted by the expected communication from the planet’s security forces. He identified himself and the ship, and stated he and his slave were here for pleasure. The official winked at him, since Hayden’s Planet was known for its brothels, where alien love of all kinds could be purchased.
Once he was officially cleared he muted the communications portal and sighed with relief. He retrieved Keelie from the cabin and brought her up front. “We have to strap in for landing. I want you up where I can keep an eye on you.”
She glared but sat down in the copilot’s seat, which used to be where Talar sat. Why did every goddamn thing have to remind him of what he’d lost?
As he strapped her in, she grimaced.
“Yeah, I imagine that cuff isn’t too comfortable. You’ll live.”
He fastened himself in, and as he began the landing sequence, he had the fleeting thought that he hoped he was making the right decision.
* * *
He understood why sex was so popular on this planet. There was nothing else to attract anyone. The second of two suns was setting, casting an orange glow through the polluted and smelly air. The ground was bare and dry and there wasn’t a green thing in sight. He thought of Anteros, of the thousands of clear blue lakes, and the green lush islands thrusting up out of the water. Most of the small cities had been built on those islands. Homesickness flooded over him.
The first sun wouldn’t come up for two more hours, so he had just enough time in the darkness to secure her somewhere safe, and slip out before anyone could even see him to wonder who he was.
The part of his brain that wasn’t sure he was making the right decision was getting more annoying by the moment. He powered down the ship and grabbed a small bag, then unstrapped Keelie and held her by the elbow as he opened the exit door. She didn’t resist as he tugged her down the ramp. He turned in the direction of the embassy compound and set off, still pulling her along. Less than a minute in, she stumbled and let out a curse. He’d forgotten to give her shoes and the ground was uneven and rocky. He gritted his teeth and picked her up, cradling her much the same way as the day he’d found her. To his surprise, her initial tension at being picked up seemed to ebb away, and she relaxed into his arms. She dropped her head to the side, to lie against his chest.
Dammit! He had to get out of here as soon as he could. He was starting to feel physically sick on top of it all.
After the longest ten-minute walk of his life, they arrived at the gates of the Anterrin embassy. It was closed and dark, as he had hoped it would be. He knew surveillance devices probably surrounded the place, but he hoped to be back in space before anyone had a need to look at them. After they
found Keelie.
He set her on the ground. Out of his bag he pulled a short length of chain that locked to itself.
“Look at her once more before you leave her behind.”
That damn ghost. “No! I’m not looking back. It’s over.”
“You don’t understand what you’re about to lose.”
“There’s nothing else I could do.”
There were two voices inside his head and he had the most splitting headache of his life. He turned without looking and walked away.
Chapter Six
He looked longingly at the bars on the way back, the sound of raucous laughter and the smell of alcohol pulling at him, telling him he could forget it all for a while. But he had to get out of here. His headache was getting worse and by the time he stumbled back to the ship he could hardly walk. He made it to the med cabinet and ran the Diagnoster around his head.
“Error,” it read. “Duplicate readings. Please move all other persons away.”
He threw the instrument across the room, and grabbed an auto-injector loaded with pain medicine. The relief was almost immediate. He slid down the wall to the floor, suddenly overwhelmed at the mess he was. He’d handled Talar’s death, his flight from Anteros, and finding Keelie, without pausing, because he’d been in survival mode. Until now. He’d been running, but he couldn’t run anymore. He needed to stop.
The ship was quiet. He knew he should get up and go to the cockpit, but he didn’t care anymore if he got away or not. The days ahead of him stretched out lonely and empty.
Where had everyone he’d cared about gone?
“You’ve pushed us all away.”
The ghost voice again.
“Please, just leave me alone!” he begged out loud. He was too tired to shove it away this time.
“Siridin, you are a first class dumbass, you know it?”
The thought rang out in his head loud and clear. He froze.
“I’ve been trying to crawl into your brain for weeks now.”
“Talar?”
“Who else could it be? I’m not dead, brother. At least part of me isn’t. I don’t understand it either. I’ve been able to get into Keelie’s dreams for weeks, but you’ve been too closed off to let me in until now.”
“You’ve been talking to Keelie?” She’d told him, and he’d caned her.
“She’s the only one who listens, though she pushed me away, too, after she nearly lost her insides. Why the fuck did you let her swallow all that cum? You knew what would happen. You know it’s a sign of commitment between males and females.”
He had no answer. He didn’t know why, either. “She threw it up, though. Doesn’t that sort of negate the pledge?”
“Maybe, if she’d done that. She lied to you.”
“What? Why?”
“Because she was angry. She deserved an apology, and all you could tell her was it meant a lot to you if she didn’t toss her cookies, but oh, no, you weren’t going to promise her any future.”
“Ow! What are you doing?”
“I’m slapping your head from the inside, for being an ass.”
“Yes, well, we’ve established that. Can we move on, please?”
“Keelie is our mate. Don’t you see it? I’ve been in her head, in the background, for weeks now. I don’t know why, and I had no idea she was going to be important to us when I started feeling her thoughts. But she kept her mental door locked, too, and I couldn’t get in until a few days ago.”
“And I’ve screwed it all up,” Siridin whispered in horror. “I lost her.”
“Not totally, maybe. They’ve found her. She’s inside the embassy now. You’re going to need something more than your good looks to get her back.”
“I have no credits at all. That’s another reason I couldn’t keep her. I have nothing to offer her. Ow! Stop hitting me!”
“If you’d let me in a while ago, I could have told you there’s an emergency fund in the box of my stuff you brought with you. You never looked in it. That’s the real reason I told Keelie to leave the hiding place and go to your room when the ship was being searched. If the Dstorian soldier had found it, he’d have either accused you of something illegal, or confiscated it.”
“Just how much is in there?” He pushed himself off the floor to his feet. To his surprise, he felt fine now. The voice laughed.
“You feel better because I’m not trying to hammer your brain to make you listen to me.”
The box had been shoved to the back of the closet. With shaking hands he unlocked it and raised the lid. There was the expected stuff—photovids of Talar and Siridin as kids, a weird carved figure from some planet they’d visited, and a deck of carribin cards. Underneath, though, was a huge pile of credits, all in the highest denomination possible. He slipped his hand through it in wonder.
“I was the neat one, and the saver,” Talar chuckled. “Siridin, get moving. She won’t let me in anymore, but I know she’s scared. The ambassador and his staff will be delighted to have a nectar slave. They’ll sample her as fast as possible.”
Siridin looked up. “That’s my nectar!” he roared, stuffing his pocket with credits and then throwing a few items into a bag. As he tore out the ship’s door he heard Talar’s voice, ringing through his head.
“Go get Keelie, brother. Go get our mate.”
* * *
Keelie stood naked before the group of Anterrin men, refusing to look down at the floor anymore. They hadn’t removed the binders, nor had they asked her any questions. They didn’t care. She was a nectar slave, dropped in their laps, and they didn’t need to know more, before they descended upon her like wolves on Earth.
Talar had promised she’d be okay. As she’d huddled in the dark and cold, waiting, she’d let him inside her mind again. He’d promised Siridin would come back for her. But she knew he couldn’t control Siridin’s actions, and at this point, it might not matter even if he did come back. The ambassador had her and wasn’t going to let her go. Anyway, she wasn’t sure she’d forgive him if he did.
A male in a uniform came in with a tablet and showed it to one of the men. He nodded. “Do you have an ID yet?”
“No, Ambassador.” They conferred for another moment and he left.
“Your master was not very pleased with you, was he?” He addressed her for the first time.
She didn’t know what the best answer was, so she stayed silent. He strode forward, looming over her and forcing her to look up. “I require an answer.” He slapped her cheek hard. She staggered and fell to the floor, unable to catch herself with her bound hands.
“That’s better.”
She stayed down, but set her jaw and looked up at him again.
“Presentation position!”
She didn’t move. He nodded at two soldiers, and they snapped to attention at his side.
“Hold her.”
One of them rolled her to her back, her butt resting on the metal cuffs and lifting it off the floor. She struggled as hands grabbed her knees and pulled them wide. Her pussy was once again spread for the use and entertainment of Anterrin men. The ambassador approached and knelt down, a hungry look on his face. His fingers reached tentatively for her folds. She struggled in the grip of the two soldiers, but they held tight. His large hand stroked her clit, pulling a groan out of her as his finger slid back and forth. She bucked and cried out as the touch changed from unwanted to desperately wanted. She closed her eyes and thought of home.
“Keelie!”
“Go away. You can’t help me anymore, and this is hard enough without reminding me of what I almost had.”
Tears leaked from her tightly closed eyes as her body responded to the touch. Nectar flooded her pussy, and a twisting took hold in her gut. She hated how her body betrayed her day after day, obligingly leaking any time she was touched in the right places. She hated that the touches made her crazy for more touching until she’d orgasmed, and she would realize what was being stolen from her and sink into despair, until it wo
uld start all over again.
“Keelie! He’s on his way! Hold on...” His voice faded as she clamped down her defenses.
The touches stopped. She opened her eyes, the remaining unshed tears spilling out. The Anterrin sat back, holding his hand in front of him with a confused look on his face. At the same moment, loud voices in the hall grabbed everyone’s attention.
The door flew open, a man in a uniform walking backwards through it, his hands held out, trying to prevent someone from coming in. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait outside until—”
Siridin appeared in the doorway, his gaze finding her immediately. Her heart leaped, even as her brain told her not to get excited.
“Ambassador. A thousand pardons. This is my slave. I’m afraid this was just a punishment that got out of hand. I had no intention of actually leaving her, but I was tired of her rebellion and she needed to learn a lesson she wouldn’t forget. I was supposed to be back before the embassy opened up, and well, I went to a bar to have a few, and you know how that goes.”
As he talked, Siridin walked closer. His skin was very dark and she wondered why he was mad. Why he was here.
“I have her ownership papers right here.” He pulled out a document from his pocket and waved it in their direction. “You guys have probably figured out why I got her so cheap.” He looked around, as if he was expecting someone to nod. Instead, they looked confused.
“I know.” The ambassador who’d fondled her spoke up. “She smells horrible.”
Keelie had a flash of irritation at the insult.
“Yes, she does.” Siridin nodded solemnly. “I use her mostly for fucking, actually. She’s worthless as a nectar slave.”
She rolled herself over and managed to get up off the floor, ready to fling an insult back at him. Instead, she found a bit gag shoved between her teeth by her would-be rescuer. She flashed him a look of hate as he secured it behind her head, tighter than she thought he really needed to.
“Fucking? Really?” The ambassador was incredulous. “I find them too fragile for that. Give me a strong Anterrin woman any day!” He laughed as though he’d made some incredible new joke. “So what did she do that made you threaten to leave her behind?”
Alien Alphas: Twenty-Three Naughty Sci-Fi Romance Novellas Page 119
