Alien Outcast (Clans of Kalquor Book 12)

by Tracy St. John

Asam’s glare through the eye not swollen shut softened. “You remind me of my younger brother. He had trouble keeping shit from leaking out of his brain too, the poor fucker. The other Nobek boys at training camp made his life hell. I guess I hope you’ll end up better than he did.”

  “How’d he end up?”

  “Murdered. He became a bodyguard for a crime boss, then got caught trying to rob his employer. The stupid fuck all but took out an advertisement that he was going to steal from the organization, and he got what he deserved.”

  “You sound as if you didn’t like him at all. Why help me if I remind you of him?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t start off a bad kid. He just had a bad hand dealt to him. Our mother died when he was a baby. Then a year later, our fathers were involved with the wrong sort of people and made the kinds of business decisions that stuck us in the worst of basic housing. Add a Nobek temper and the inability to keep up intellectually with everyone else, and the guy was fucked. That asshole never found a niche beyond beating the shit out of people and stealing their stuff, so he got himself killed.”

  Ulof could believe it. Despite coming from a well-to-do family and possessing sufficient Imdiko instincts to temper his worst inclinations—most of the time—he had struggled mightily to simply exist. Asam’s brother hadn’t stood a chance in the rank-climbing society of Kalquor.

  “You think if I find a job I’m good at, I might not spend the majority of my life in prison. Or dead,” he guessed.

  Asam’s ever-changeable mood had soured, eclipsing the urge to admit to altruistic notions. “Fuck if I know, and quite honestly, fuck if I care. Teaching you to cook is something to do instead of gutting everyone for the fun of it. You’re a distraction, that’s all. A project to keep me from giving in to the urge to kill every last one of you assholes. I could give a shit how your stupid life turns out. I just don’t want to live out the rest of mine jerking off in solitary psychiatric confinement.”

  * * * *

  Ulof rolled over and traded his view of the ceiling for the wall. Maybe Dramok Asam hadn’t been capable of real compassion, as his psych report claimed. Maybe he’d only taken Ulof on to distract him from committing the mayhem his sick mind clamored for. In any event, he’d given the Imdiko a decent role to fulfill.

  It took a long time, but he had learned. He had retained the information. Could he do it again with terraforming? Piper is sure I can.

  Piper. His chest warmed to think of her. She was the reason he had stayed in his quarters, why he remained in bed though it drove him crazy. He wouldn’t give Nako another reason to be angry at her. Most of all, he couldn’t have Zo putting him in stasis or Nako and Terig confining him with no hope of seeing her again. Of perhaps touching her again.

  It was only a few hours more. She was worth it. Any chance to be with her was worth it.

  Though Ulof’s mind was set on prevailing, he could have cried with joy when the door opened and Terig came in. His clanmate grinned to discover him behaving for a change.

  “My Imdiko, I am impressed. I was sure I’d come in to find you gone. You’re not making me hunt you down?”

  “I’m sure you’d enjoy that, as well as disciplining me for disobeying doctor’s orders.”

  “I would, but instead, I’m going to help you misbehave. Piper is joining us tonight. Nako’s swinging by Medical to rescue her from Zo.”

  “He made up with her?” Ulof was off the mat in an instant, heedless of his nudity. His pulse sped up as Terig accessed the drawer full of their sex tools. “Crops, huh? She’s still wearing Nako’s stripes from their last encounter.”

  “He’s having Zo heal those so we can give her a few new ones. You’re up for this? Besides those, of course,” he chuckled, noting the rigid lengths standing out from Ulof’s groin.

  “I haven’t coughed in an hour. Not even a little. I feel fine.” Ulof chewed his lower lip. “What if she doesn’t want all three of us?”

  Terig’s gaze was sharp on him. “You mean, what if she doesn’t want you? Don’t be ridiculous, my Imdiko. If she won’t have you, then she can’t have me. She wouldn’t dare risk that.”

  Ulof was still laughing at his clanmate’s joke when Piper and Nako walked in.

  His breath caught, cutting off the hilarity. Ancestors, she was beautiful. And she was looking at him, her eyes widening. Shit, he wasn’t wearing anything. He was erect. He must look as if he believed he had every right to strip and claim her after their earlier encounter.

  Panic took hold, and Ulof ripped his gaze from hers to search for something to cover himself with before her startled expression could turn to disgust. Or amusement.

  “I’m glad to see this guy fully recovered.” Piper smiled, but her brow arched in a way that said she was pleased with his nudity. She walked past the grinning Terig to close in on Ulof. “Welcome back to health. Now I can make it up to you for getting you so sick.”

  She knelt before him. Before he could come to terms with what she was apparently about to do, she did it. She sucked his primary cock into her mouth, enfolding him in wet heat.

  He barely heard Nako and Terig pretending to cough, ruining their bids for similar attention by snickering as they did so. For the next few minutes, the presence of his clanmates disappeared from his consciousness as Piper bobbed her head, moving from one throbbing cock to the other, pleasuring him until there was nothing but the pull of her lips, the friction of her tongue, the heat of her mouth and throat.

  Then the gentle vibration of her moaning. Ulof woke from the hypnotizing sensations as a surge of powerful lust jerked him into the real world again. A soft whistling and thud reached his ears before his vision cleared to find Nako and Terig applying their crops to Piper’s ass. Striping her fair skin with hectic red. Her dress had been pulled up to the middle of her back, baring her for punishment.

  With each strike, she whimpered. Yet her rhythm as she sucked Ulof never wavered. In fact, with each blow, she drew on him with more ardor, as if they spurred her to delight him all the more.

  However, tears streamed down her cheeks. Though Ulof couldn’t back away from her mouth and the gorgeous things it did to him—his legs wouldn’t obey him for that when he tried—he waved frantically to his clanmates. “She’s crying. You have to stop.”

  “She knows what to do when she’s had enough. She’s holding a rattle to shake if she needs to quit.” Nako’s tone was gentle, completely at odds with the fact he was cropping Piper’s tender flesh. “It’s nothing more than a spanking, Ulof. Like what I did with her before.”

  Terig paused to reach between her legs. His fingers emerged, gleaming with wetness. “This is what she responds to. This is how she gets past her belief she’s unworthy, how she finds fulfillment.”

  “It’s her way. We can give her what she needs.” Nako brought his crop down, and Piper cried out around Ulof’s cock. It was not the sound of a woman in torment. At least, not in the bad sort of torment.

  He stared down at her. In spite of the punishment and her reaction to the pain, she appeared—happy. Relaxed. Tearstained cheeks could not erase the peace suffusing her expression.

  He wondered what it would take to keep her in that state. And if he could be a part of it.

  The men’s voices droned above her, speaking to each other in their language. Piper didn’t care. It was sufficient to hear them. To taste Ulof, his larger cock occasionally spurting a few drops of sweet-salty-spicy passion for her to swallow. To feel Nako and Terig’s crops burning her ass, cleansing her of past crimes.

  It couldn’t be properly called pain. Not when the intense sensations married to the sensual excitement of servicing Ulof, to the anticipation of the men taking her pussy and ass as well as her mouth. Piper trembled with eagerness to be joined to them, however they wanted, in every manner that they desired.

  For now, she would serve. She would rectify her mistake in making Ulof so ill, as well as her selfishness in not warning Nako and Terig that she carried the vir
us that would infect the entire crew. She would give them her body, and perhaps they would save her soul.

  The crops whistled through the air, singing their song of retribution, taking their payment from her stinging skin. Ulof swung his hips, driving his primary into her throat, making her swallow him. She wept with the joy of being cleansed, of being freed.

  One crop ceased its heady punishment. Rough hands pushed her thighs apart, opening her. She eagerly complied, ready for whatever her saviors deemed her next penance to be.

  A palm clapped against her pussy, striking her clit. Piper’s scream was muffled by Ulof’s primary. She wasn’t sure if she felt agony or ecstasy. She didn’t have time to figure it out before her tormentor struck again.

  As the pussy spanking continued, sending jolts of stomach-churning chaos through her stomach, she tightened her grip on the wooden handle of the rattle Nako had given her. Not because she wished to use it, but because she feared she would shake it on accident and stop the chastisement.

  Piper sobbed against Ulof’s driving length, tears flowing more freely than before as the crop whickered against her defenseless flesh. She shuddered as the firm, unforgiving hand slapped her sex. She held as still as her quaking body would allow her, giving herself over to the punishment that was all reward.

  Her pussy flexed. A bolt of lightning flashed from it, traveling straight up to her skull to blind her. Then wave after wave filled her. Not like the waves of the ocean, but lightwaves, burning bright, chasing the shadows away.

  She came to her senses in time to taste when Ulof filled her mouth with his passion. She swallowed his seemingly endless eruptions, delighting in having atoned for the wrong she’d done him. The flood signaled his forgiveness, that all was resolved between them.

  If only I could make everything right for him. For all of them. I wish I could help them find the peace of mind they give me.

  Nako’s ears reverberated with Piper and Ulof’s cries as he shoved Terig’s crop aside and positioned himself between the Earther’s long legs.

  Careful. Watching those two beautiful creatures surrender to ecstasy made him crazy for his own release. It took all his willpower to not shove his cocks into Piper like a mindless animal desperate to breed.

  He eased into her ass with his slickened primary, groaning at how she clutched him in a silken grip. Then his smaller shaft slid into her wet pussy. Ripples of her continued pleasure coaxed the hot ribbon of cum filling his cocks into a roil. He clenched his teeth against the crazed desire that threatened his control.

  He maintained some restraint, but he pushed deep in a strong thrust. Ulof staggered away to crash on the sleeping mat as Piper moaned, “Yes!”

  Terig claimed Ulof’s former spot in front of her. She went to work on him with a will, as if she hadn’t gotten enough from their clanmate. The woman was resilient as hell.

  And incredible. How lucky we were that she was chased straight to us.

  Nako’s entire being should have been consumed by the tight grip of her ass and pussy on his eager cocks. Tight, yes, but yielding to his strength. He gripped the taut globes of her rear, rubbing the crop marks hard as he rode her, giving her the punishment that set her on fire.

  As incredible as she felt, thought came in snatches to Nako as he pounded against her. He didn’t consider himself as a sadist, but he knew no one would accuse him of being tender. Rough and crude—perhaps even forceful—he’d never for an instant considered himself suitable for a relationship with a woman.

  Piper had changed all of that. With her, the idea was not so far-fetched.

  She’s perfect for men like us. She needs men like us.

  It was his last coherent notion before urgency dissolved all intelligence. The heaviness in his cocks grew, eclipsing the ability to deliberate. All was lost before a torrent of rapture, thundering from his secondary to his primary, racing through to expel itself in shattering bursts as she came anew, her clutching sleeves milking him of every drop.

  Moments later, Terig strained mightily, tendons standing out all over his strong body as he too gave himself over to bliss. The Nobek gasped as Piper gently licked his shafts, reassuring herself that she’d claimed all of his offering.

  Then she wilted, exhausted by their combined passion. The three men lifted her to their mat, arranging themselves around her, sheltering the tiny Earther with their muscled frames. She fell asleep within seconds, a smile softening her face.

  Nako gazed at her with wonder. With worry. He knew what he wanted, but what did he have to offer such a woman? As Terig had said, life as an exile was no gift.

  “You’re thinking awfully hard for a man who just had something so incredible,” Ulof whispered. He was curled up behind Piper, spooning against her as Terig cradled him in the curve of his scarred body.

  Nako drew a breath. “Of course I am. I don’t know how to appreciate what I’ve got while I’ve got it.” He turned his thoughts from the impossible and regarded his Imdiko. “You didn’t overtax yourself, did you? I doubt Zo would approve of so much activity.”

  “Fuck Zo. Unless I need to escape to Medical before you crop my ass too.” Ulof grimaced.

  “For what? Oh, that whole thing about me being the same as my Imdiko father.” Nako’s guts curdled at the idea, but he had to own up to what his actions. “I can’t fault you for setting me straight. I’ll work on doing better, for our clan’s sake. And anyone else who might be involved.” He looked at Piper.

  Ulof gazed at her too. Smiled, and turned his head to include Terig. “We’re okay then? All of us?”

  Terig considered, then dipped his head in a nod. “You gave me a lot to reflect on. And maybe you’re right. Thank you for sharing your ideas, my Imdiko.”

  “I live to serve.”

  That note of sarcasm brought snorts from the other two. Nako shook his head at his unrepentant clanmate.

  His regard returned to Piper. Now if only he had insight on what to do about his wishes that he could keep her with them.

  He might have to swallow his ridiculous pride and go home after all. That was assuming she’d have him after everything he’d done.

  Chapter 20

  Yanking their uniforms on, Nako and Terig raced down the corridor to the bridge to the sound of sirens blaring. The men had fallen into a contented doze following their tryst with Piper, only to be awakened by the ship quaking to the accompaniment of booms.

  They were under attack.

  Sealing the front of his armored formsuit, Nako shouted to his Nobek, “Got a guess?”

  “Maf. Never trust a proven traitor.”

  “At least we’re no longer under attack. We must have gone into phase.” The booms had ended after one tremendous volley.

  “I don’t like the sound of the engines.”

  The pair burst onto the smoky bridge. Terig went straight to the weapons commander’s podium. Nako stared at his own computer, scowling as information scrolled through too fast to read.

  “Report!”

  The helmsman Girek was the first to speak up. “Four of the Basma’s destroyers opened fire on us without warning. Admiral Piras’s squad of raiders and the battlecruiser also came under attack.”

  Terig took his turn. “One of Piras’s raiders is destroyed. The rest phased in time, same as we did. The battlecruiser is crippled, maintaining life support, phase, and nothing else. We should have never made that gesture of goodwill by remaining visible.”

  He’d barely finished when Girek shouted in frustration. “Fuck!”

  “What?”

  “I can’t raise anyone in Engineering, and the engines are overloading. We’re going to blow apart in three minutes.”

  “Shut engines down.”

  “System is not responding. I can’t take the engines offline.”

  “Shipwide announcement: non-essential personnel, prepare to abandon the raider. Terig?”

  “I can’t access engineering controls either, not from here. The links are fried.” Without an
other word, he ran off the bridge. Nako followed him.

  The corridor blurred past the men, but Nako felt as if he barely moved as the seconds flew by.

  * * * *

  Terig dashed into Engineering two steps ahead of Nako. The smoke within was thick, burning the Nobek’s throat, but the suppression system had already put out the fire.

  More distressing than the clouds of gray blinding him and the irritation of breathing the shit was the noise. The sirens continued to wail, but they were musical compared to the earsplitting whine coming from the engine compartments. It sounded as if only one of the four neared explosive overload, but one was all it would take to rip the raider apart.

  At least the damned noise would stop. Terig thought his ears must be bleeding.

  He vaulted over two bodies on his way to the computer bank a few feet from the entrance. Through the gloom of smoke, he saw the vids flickering and homed in on them. Seconds later, his fingers flew over key commands. Next to him, Nako worked as furiously. If he gave orders, Terig had no way of hearing them. The shrieking engine drowned everything out.

  His readouts were useless, unable to tell Terig which engine had been hit. The computer responded to nothing he tried.

  Terig gave up and waded through smoke and bodies to reach the bank of engine power cylinders, waving Nako to the far end opposite from him. His Dramok nodded, heading for Engine One’s energy feed while Terig removed the panel for Engine Four. Feeling the seconds fly by, he worked to manually shut Four’s power supply off. He hurried on to Three, the screeching that spiked through his skull increasing. Terig thought he might be screaming with the overloaded machinery but wasn’t sure. He shut the mechanism off.

  Blessed silence descended. A second later, the room plunged into darkness as well, as if he’d somehow shut down the entire ship. For a few moments, there was only the acrid scent of burnt machinery. Otherwise, Terig existed in a void, in which he couldn’t even hear his heart beat.

  Then soft illumination rose, bringing the room back to existence. The raider’s power had utterly failed, and the reserve systems had come online.