Angel 6.0: Pursuit (Space Opera Romance) (Angel 6.0, Book 4)

by Travis Luedke

  We were locked in.

  He continued fumbling with the control panel but his hands were shaking and he kept looking back at me with a feral gleam in his eyes. He lost interest in the door and stood rigid, staring at me, licking his lips like I was on the menu for dinner. His huge, hard cock jutted straight out from his hips, pushing past the light swath of belted fabric that passed for clothing among the males.

  That’s when I recognized the musky scent in the air, on my skin, the liquid that had splattered all over me – amixa. Poor Rollick was drugged into a psychotic sexual frenzy. He’d probably never been exposed to the scent. This massive quantity would be a severe overdose for him …

  Mewling and panting, I saw in his eyes the moment he succumbed to the drug and lost control. Two hundred kilos of horny Cat barreled into me and lifted me off my feet. Airborne, with all the strength of Rollick pressing up between my thighs, I knew the landing was going to be rough. We hit the wall, cracking my back hard, and Rollick sandwiched me. He shredded my skirt with his raking claws and I learned just how much of a grown male my friend had become when his throbbing hard cock ground up between my legs.

  I looked into the tortured eyes of my friend, the Prince. His huge vertical pupils were heavily dilated. As he ground the fist-sized head of his cock into my pussy, I knew nothing would ever be the same between us.

  Hissing and growling, he begged in guttural pleas. “Please forgive me, Angel.” He growled and roared as my small size could not accommodate his girth.

  Dual instincts warred inside me. To stop him I might have to kill him … or I could let this happen, burn the drug out of him the only way I knew how. I couldn’t find it in my heart to hurt Rollick. I loved this Cat too much.

  “Give me your claws, Rollick! Mark me!” He’d tear me open from the inside if something didn’t give. I needed the release of my pain to make it work.

  As soon as I said the words, his claws gripped into my thighs, gouging my flesh. I cried out with the intense agony, and then gushed with the blast of euphoric pleasure that made my body ready for him. Rollick grunted hard in my face as the head of his cock squeezed inside my soaking wet entry. I came hard for him as he pushed and stretched me wide open. The pain of his entry blasted me with another wave of euphoria and I came a second time, soaking his thick erection with my orgasm.

  He thrust into me, and somehow, an agonizing centimeter at a time, half of his monster cock magically squeezed inside me. I’d never felt anything like him before, such a massive surge of thick, hot flesh, grinding into me with all his strength, power and weight, shoving me higher and higher against the wall. He yanked down with his claws on my shoulders, holding me in place as he struggled to seat himself farther in.

  If he kept going he’d surely rip me apart from the inside out. I breathed in gasps between my screams punctuating each of his punishing thrusts. Crying out in waves of agony and joy, I reached down and stroked him, kneading his balls and massaging the base of his huge cock that had impaled me so completely. I needed him to finish before he really hurt me bad.

  High up on the wall, my feet dangling in the air, face to face with my best friend, Rollick begged me over and over. “Forgive me, Angel. I need you! I can not stop!”

  He roared in my face and his body convulsed and squished me flat against the wall. He leveraged his strength and weight to push deeper into me, but he’d hit my limit, and it was all I could do to shove my heels off of his thighs and keep him from impaling me any further.

  Massaging his warm balls in my hands with his cock splitting me in half, and all the strength of my shaking legs fighting to push against him, he finally came for me. His claws raked my shoulders as he yowled and squirted streams of hot Cat come inside me. God he was so huge, and he just would not stop humping and squirting. My thighs were soaked in his release, and some of my own as I came for him yet again.

  The more he hurt me, the more I enjoyed the glorious torture of his vicious, punishing sex. After an endless time of growling, mewling convulsions and thrusts, Rollick’s heavy pinning weight slowly lifted, and I fell off the wall into his arms, exhausted and still impaled on him. He held me off my feet, his thick meaty cock carrying my body weight. His elephant trunk dick could hold my sixty kilos in the air.

  Rollick staggered backwards and flopped on his back on the floor, lost to his overdose and the power of what was probably his first sexual climax. I crawled off the endless length of his slippery monster and rested on his heaving chest. As I passed out in his arms, I realized I’d just taken the Prince’s virginity.

  * * * *

  Chapter 7

  I woke to Rollick licking my face. If Cats could cry, I’m sure he’d have been bawling. He looked miserable as he gently touched my shoulders and hips where the dark, crusted blood of his assaults marred my skin.

  “We need to bathe, Rollick. Get rid of that damn scent.” The hard length of his cock pushed against my thigh – ready for round two. The drug’s effect would linger for Rollick until the scent was gone.

  He helped me stagger to my feet, and I hurt. I looked down at myself to find blood everywhere. Damn Cat had done a number on me, way worse than any of Cronin’s twisted sex games. But Cronin had a tolerance for amixa, he knew how to handle it, and he only used a couple squirts – not an entire bottle.

  Suddenly something hard and heavy slammed into the door, cracking the framing. The locked door burst open and three massive security guards rushed inside. They tensed up and yowled as the scent hit them. The royal security brutes backed out of the room snapping their jaws and growling. Rollick’s apartment was a contamination zone for males. None could stand the overpowering scent.

  I took one look at Rollick and the open door, and he nodded. “I must go before I lose control again.”

  I nodded in agreement and he slinked out of the room to leave me alone with my injuries, and the memory of what he’d done to me. Any other woman probably would have bled to death from the ordeal.

  Not me.

  I limped my sorry, bowlegged, ass to the steam shower and washed away the mess, wishing I could wash away the memories too. I had no idea what would come of this, but I knew my happy place amongst the royal family was compromised.

  As I limped out of the bathroom, I encountered a work crew of four females scouring Rollick’s apartment to eradicate the scent of amixa. These Cats were in full protective gear – face masks, gloves, even booties to cover their feet. The couches had been changed out, and my nostrils burned from the strong smell of chemical disinfectant on the floors and walls. It was the equivalent of a Hazmat cleanup operation.

  Once the female crew finished, the burly security guards returned to the room and escorted me down the halls wearing nothing but the savaged shreds of my skirt. I might as well have been naked – what little remained of my clothing. The guards deposited me in the Emperor’s quarters without ceremony and shut the door behind me.

  One of the Emperor’s doctors came to me, checking me up and down, poking and prodding at me, trying to ascertain the damage. The Emperor and his wife stood before a downtrodden Rollick, their ears pinned back as they hissed at their son in furious tones. The Prince said nothing in defense as they raked him with threats of punishment and lectures on the severe consequences of his actions.

  I shoved the doctor’s prickly claws away from my ass. “I’ll be fine in a few more hours. Get off me!” The doctor mewled and stepped away, looking hurt from my rejection of his unwarranted services. The Emperor dismissed the doctor, and the Cat exited to leave me alone with the royal family.

  I limped in closer to Rollick and laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked miserable. I held the Emperor’s eyes and defended my rapist. “Though his actions were wrong, it wasn’t Rollick’s fault.”

  The Empress stepped forward, eyeing me as if I attacked her son. “You intend to lay claims against the Prince? You would barter your freedom with this scandal?”

  Taken aback, I could not answer her. I had no
idea what they were insinuating.

  The Emperor watched me with a dark, assessing gaze. I’d never seen him and his wife look at me that way … like I was a potential enemy.

  I’d been grudgefucked against the wall by their son, and yet they behaved like I had assaulted them.

  I leveled my gaze at the Emperor who was twice my height and many times my body weight. “Rollick would never hurt me intentionally. We were sabotaged with amixa. Rollick couldn’t control his reaction to the drug. The attacker sealed our door shut and Rollick couldn’t escape. I know what amixa does to males. Even a small spray is potent. Rollick was exposed to a massive overdose. The drug made him near insane … he didn’t want to hurt me. That wasn’t Rollick hurting me – it was the drug. And I recover quickly. With food and rest I’ll be fine.”

  Rollick watched me with confusion in his eyes. “How can you know of amixa? How do you know what it does to males?”

  The poor kid didn’t understand what went on behind closed doors between Captain Cronin and me. I’d hoped Rollick never learned the sick details of my trips across the galaxy with Cronin. The Emperor knew, I’m pretty sure Rollick’s sister Lenka knew, but in this, Rollick demonstrated his youthful naivety.

  The Emperor interrupted his son, growling in my face. “We must know what claims you make against the Prince.”

  I limped back a few paces, trying to get out of reach. I sensed an aggression I’d never seen from him before. “I told you it wasn’t his fault. What kind of claims are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

  The Emperor looked to his wife then. Something silent passed between them and they glanced at Rollick who was watching me with a dark, suspicious glare. He’d damn near split me in half a few hours ago, but now he and his parents acted like I was the villain.

  The Empress approached me in her calm, graceful manner and laid a hand on my shoulder where my recent wounds were mostly healed, but still an angry pink color, swollen and sore as hell. “Drugs do not excuse Rollick’s behavior. He committed a severe sexual assault. To mark a female’s body and take her against her will … it is a grievous crime in our society. Only the concubines agree to allow markings in their contracts with Trading Guild Warriors who use the drug. The Prince of the Allied Federation of the Gran will be destroyed by the disgrace and scandal of his assault on you. Tell me Angel, what do you intend?”

  It finally got through my exhaustion, the meaning of it all. They feared what I might do to them, to their son. To his reputation?

  “Please do not mistake me, Empress. Though I want freedom more than anything, I would not take it at the cost of harming those I care about.” I reached out to Rollick again and laid a hand on him. He looked at my hand and then me, anger and confusion warring in his face. I held the power to ruin his life, and he wasn’t handling it very well. The kind, exuberant boy I loved was lost to the powerful, grown male who had done wicked things to me.

  “What happened between Rollick and I is our business alone. I will never speak of it. I have no desire to harm Rollick or the royal family. I only desire to know who did this, who tried to kill me. Someone attempted to bring scandal on us and take my life. We must find the attackers and deal with them.”

  The Emperor’s face gradually slid from suspicious wariness, teeth gritted in menace, to a calm nod and a chuckle. Before I could limp out of his reach, he closed the distance and enveloped me in a painful hug. He rubbed me nose to nose in a show of deep affection. “I should never have doubted you, my beautiful, Angel. Another female would use this situation to gain favors and wealth, or bring ruin on our house. You offer forgiveness and loyalty.”

  He looked to his son and the Empress. “If the Prince mated her this moment, he could ask for no finer female in all the galaxy.”

  And that was where my real problems began.

  * * * *

  Chapter 8

  Rollick wouldn’t talk to me anymore. It seemed he couldn’t stand to be in my presence. He avoided me at all times, leaving me to spend time with his sister Lenka. I couldn’t get to Chilla either. She was busy serving a new client. My very small list of friends was shrinking. I wanted to talk to Rollick about what happened, but I could hardly articulate how I felt. Pain had always been my friend, and though I did not want to be raped, I did not hate Rollick for his actions.

  He never gave me the chance to tell him I forgave him, how I still considered him a friend. I felt we’d shared something deeply intimate, despite the violence. I was no stranger to violence – the adrenaline rush was an extreme experience like no other. I wanted to reassure him. Instead he maintained a cold distance from me. I reminded myself he was young, brash, maybe dealing with Cat puberty or something.

  The Emperor faced the issue head on. He and his security worked diligently to investigate the attack on Rollick’s apartment. In the meantime, I lived in Lenka’s room. She gave me some of her clothes to wear, flashy black and gold skirts with itsy bitsy tops that were little more than a strap across my breasts that barely covered my nipples. The Gran females had no breasts to speak of and their bikini tops were not designed for the size of my chest. The Cats didn’t notice my lack of clothing and once again I had grown accustomed to being mostly naked in their presence.

  When in Rome…

  Two days after the incident, the Emperor pulled me from Lenka’s apartment and took me to a room with several holovid displays. Hulking security guards lined the room with their teeth bared in nervous tension. The Gran only smile when something unpleasant is happening. The Emperor gestured to a holovid showing a low quality recording of one of the palace guards. The large Warrior strolled up to a doorway, tossed in a little glass vial, and slammed the door shut. The Warrior then sprayed something around the edges of the door. The liquid must have created the barrier sealing the door closed.

  The Emperor growled with satisfaction. “The guard attempted to destroy the record of his actions. My technicians recovered it.”

  The holovid zipped forward in time, same hallway. The same guard alerted others to Rollick’s sealed door, as if he’d just found it. Together, the guards broke through the barrier and busted open the door. Perfect timing to discover me standing bloodied beside Rollick, whose claws, groin and thighs were painted with my blood. We both looked fucked up on the grainy holovid – probably not much worse than I looked after some of my sessions with Cronin.

  Violent sex had become the norm in my life, but it obviously wasn’t kosher among the upper echelon of Gran society.

  The Emperor gestured to another display, a room where the security guard who sabotaged me was strung up on chains, stripped naked, and being whipped by a very pissed off Prince Rollick. The Prince hit his stride, working his whip like a master, carving slices of fur off the guard’s backside.

  This was more brutal than what Rollick had done to me.

  “Stop! Make him stop!” I seized the Emperor’s hand. “I do not want this, not on my behalf!”

  The Emperor swiped his claws across the holovid and spoke into the room via an intercom. “Enough, Rollick. Angel wishes you to stop.”

  The Prince froze in his tracks, whip poised for another blow. His face twitched with powerful emotions. I’d never seen him so vicious, so wicked. Even when he was hurting me, he begged me to understand his plight. This Rollick was a mean bastard.

  “Take me to the Prince, please.”

  The Emperor nodded and his entourage of security escorted us through the halls to the whipping room.

  As we stepped inside the door, I noticed the looks on the faces of the security guards surrounding us. They did not like this situation at all. I had to turn this shit around fast, or soon there’d be another attempt on my life. Some of these guards held strong opinions against me – strong enough to kill me. The guard in chains may not have been in this alone.

  I reached up to my attacker’s chains and released them one at a time until he slumped to his knees, exhausted and mewling in agony. I looked my would-be assassin
in the face. “I do not know why you attacked me, but I wish you no harm. I make no claim against you, and I would plead for your safe release … if you answer my question.”

  The guards watched me without blinking. I held the full attention of the room. I looked down at the massive Cat panting on his knees in front of me. “Tell me why.”

  He dropped his head, seemingly in shame. I waited. Everyone waited with me. This shit was getting us nowhere. I dropped to one knee to get into his face, so he could see me and I could see his eyes. I whispered low enough, I doubted anyone else heard. “You can not hurt me. My flesh heals too fast. My pain is joy you will never know. The only one you hurt is the Prince. Tell me why and I will beg for your release. You have my promise.”

  He looked at me then, really looked at me. “You are unnatural. You bring unclean influences to this noble house. The Emperor and his family are tainted by your filthy, hairless infestation.” Xenophobia, distrust, hate, he clung to it like a drowning Cat.

  Reeling from the ferocity of his hate, I sat silent for a moment, considering what to do. I’d never overcome the hate in his eyes, but I still held the rapt attention of the guards and Rollick. Their opinions mattered most.

  I held my attacker’s hate-filled gaze and tapped at the metal collar sealed around my neck – the mark of my enslavement. “I did not choose this life. My choices were taken from me by the Gran. My home is thousands of light years from here, on the other side of the galaxy. I would be there, if I could, with the man I love. Until then, I am here, and I will survive. I will endure. Even if that means watching you die from your ignorance and fear.”

  I’d growled pretty loud – I’m sure the rest of them heard me. It was the guards who needed to hear me … and Rollick.

  The Cat finally acceded and nodded to me. I knew he still hated me, probably wanted to string my guts out across the space station. But his suffering had served a purpose.