Twist (A BDSM & Romantic Erotica Boxed Set)

by Tara Crescent

  I tried to close my ears to the screams and moans as they progressed around the circle behind me. It had probably been an hour and my arms were cramped and burning by the time Oriana was finished with her torment on the pole next to me. I was fixated on the branches being swung at her, trying to understand why they hurt so much. The leaves had saw-tooth edges and looked hairy but then I saw the thorns on the branches, and I understood.

  Aliya was still crying softly and moaning in pain on my other side.

  It was my turn, and as Samial approached the bucket I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch him prepare to hurt me.

  "Leina," a moment later his voice pleaded softly and I opened my eyes to see him standing in front of me with the branch. "I really am sorry. For all of this."

  "Let's just get this over with," I said with gritted teeth. He nodded and swung at me. I watched it land on my breasts, idly noticing that the leaves were smooth, not serrated. Just as the second swing hit, the pain began.

  I screamed. This was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life. I struggled beyond all reason to get free, not caring if I pulled my arms out of their sockets. The next two blows landed and I knew I wouldn't survive this. The small rational part of my brain wondered why the other women hadn't screamed this loud. And then I noticed I couldn't breathe. I started heaving, my screams stilled by the need for air. My throat closed up, and blackness closed in.

  I woke in a room that was all white, very bright, and filled with beeping noises. Two figures stood over me that took me a moment to see. One was a female, dressed in some kind of uniform. She was adjusting a tube that snaked down from a machine and into my arm. The other was Samial.

  "What did you do to me?" I croaked out accusingly, my voice hoarse from the screaming.

  He shook his head. "Leina, you had some kind of reaction that no one has ever seen before. It caused your throat to close up."

  "Well, it looks like you'll have to cross that particular torture off your list, since it's obvious that some people are allergic to it." It was hard to sound angry with my scratchy voice.

  "It doesn't make sense. There's nothing in this plant that should do this! It's not supposed to harm you any more than the skin reactions. They told me that none of your females have ever reacted to it like this."

  He really did look distressed, and I was too tired to hate right then, so I said nothing. I could not get the memory of that first branch out of my mind, though. There had been something I'd noticed.

  "Samial, the leaves of the plant you held – it had smooth edges. The leaves that were used on Oriana had jagged edges. Didn't you notice that?"

  He shook his head. "I've never seen it in plant form before – only processed. Are you saying the one I had looked different?"

  "I think so. I'm not sure." I closed my eyes, really tired and still in a lot of pain. "Why did you choose that one?"

  "I didn't. There were none left in the first bucket so Joran grabbed a second bucket and handed the branch to me."

  "Joran…" I choked out. "Samial, last night after you and I argued, Joran approached me and I told him to go away and never come back. He said I’d regret that decision."

  His eyes suddenly glittered and his face had a hardness I'd never seen before. He reached down and squeezed my hand. "I'll be back." He disappeared.

  I closed my eyes and slept.

  I left the hospital the next day, red splotches still covering my stomach accompanied by an almost unbearable itching despite the creams they slathered over it. Samial had only struck me three times before realizing something was terribly wrong, so I didn't have the welts everywhere like the other girls did.

  They crowded around me as I arrived back. Their welts had faded some, but our hugs were still tentative. A flurry of questions flew at me, and I couldn't answer them, because I hadn't seen Samial since yesterday and didn't know what had happened, and wasn't going to mention what I'd seen about the plants.

  At the dinner that night the townspeople fell all over themselves to apologize, telling me that had never happened before, and they were so sorry. I smiled and nodded, not really feeling like chatting. It wasn't that I held any malice towards them; I was worried about Samial. No one knew where he was. And no one knew where Joran was, either.

  I took a plate of food outside and sat on the stairs. No one followed; the males had stopped watching us closely by now. I looked up at the stars and wondered once more at their beauty, sad that my mother and father had never seen them in their entire lives. Perhaps if my people had seen the stars they would have had an better understanding of the vastness of the universe and perhaps a humbling of their arrogant nature. I wondered which star was the one that circled my planet.

  A noise startled me out of my reverie. A figure approached in the darkness and I was about to flee back inside when it spoke.

  "Leina, it's me." The sound of Samial's voice was soft but clear. He climbed the stairs and sat down next to me. I looked at him with confusion; his shirt was splotched with something that looked like blood.

  "Joran is dead," he said quietly.

  My mouth dropped open.

  "He switched the branches. What he handed me to use on you was something that looked similar but is deadly. In the chaos after you passed out he removed the branch and destroyed it, but a piece had broken off when it hit you and we found it on the stage later. He denied it had been him but we found a description of the plant and where to find it, in his handwriting, in his belongings."

  He was silent for a moment.

  "The attempted murder of a woman from your planet is a capital offense."

  I looked at him in astonishment.

  "You hold our future in your hands. We can't lose any of you." His voice broke for a moment.

  "Then the blood on your shirt is from…?"

  He nodded. "Leina, I took a chance, a risk, and I hope you will understand, even if you never speak to me again. When a woman is harmed, the man who is her mate has the right to dispense justice."

  I took in what he was saying. He'd told them I was his mate, and taken the responsibility for killing Joran onto his shoulders. I needed to think about that.

  He took my silence for rejection and stood up. "I'll see you in the morning. I'm really glad you are well."

  "Samial – ," I started, but he was gone.

  Chapter 12 – The Wooden Horse

  The day of the last punishment had arrived, and it might be the last, but the familiar pit of dread and fear was in my stomach. Samial had made himself scarce since the night he had told me about Joran, always busy with something or someone else.

  The stage in this town was set up with strange wooden structures – horizontal poles supported at either end by triangular supports. They didn't look very bad; therefore they must be awful. We each had our hands clipped together behind our back, and then we stepped onto a block on one side and were assisted to swing our legs over the bar to rest our foot on the block on the other side. I still had no idea what was going to happen and that was worse, somehow. At least with a paddle or strap we knew what was coming.

  We were all in position when the speech began. It took forever and no time both, and then the males were at our sides. Azmer was standing next to me; Samial was with someone else. At a nod from the council chair, the males leaned down and removed the blocks from under our feet, and the reality of our predicament was immediate.

  We were suspended on the pole with our feet barely able to touch the ground – only enough to keep our balance. All our weight was on the tender area right between our legs, and it hurt like hell.

  Shrieks went up almost immediately. The pain was immediate and constant. Shifting around brought only more agony. I gritted my teeth and tried to think of something else besides being split in two but it didn't work, and like everyone else, I was crying and begging within minutes.

  A fog of pain settled over my mind and the crowd faded out, as they always did. At some point I was dimly aware of Azmer holding a str
aw to my lips. I drank greedily, the cool liquid the only pleasant thing in my existence.

  "How much longer?" I begged him.

  He gave me a look of apology. By now, I knew the males hated what we were going through, but like us, had no choice. "A while," was all he said as he stepped away.

  How do you survive constant pain? By living one second at a time. I kept absolutely still; the pain was so much greater if I shifted and new skin was pinched.

  The sun had shifted in the sky when the males ascended the stage at last. Rather than replace the blocks under our feet, they lifted our small bodies straight up off of the poles and carried us off the stage.

  I had no idea who held me. I was barely aware of anything but being carried to another generic hall with the same cots set up as usual. This time, though, instead of being laid on the bed, the male carrying me sat down and continued to cradle me in his arms.

  "It's over, Leina, it's over. No one will ever hurt you again, I promise." I heard Samial's soft voice above and lifted my head up. His eyes held a look of pain that transcended the differences between us.

  I studied his angular face. "You really killed someone because of me?" I asked softly.

  "Yes." He looked at me uncertainly, as though he wasn't sure if I thought that was a good thing, or a very bad thing.

  "I've never had a man care about me enough to kill for me," I said wonderingly, reaching my hand up to touch his cheek. It wasn't the face of an alien any more - it was the face of someone who loved me, and that alone made it beautiful.

  "I'll go away and never bother you again if you want."

  I twisted out of his arms to look up at him. "Seriously?"

  "Seriously. But you have to know, I would die for you. I need you. Not your eggs, not your children – you."

  "I know that now." I curled further into his chest, finding that I fit perfectly, and never wanting to leave. "And I need you." I felt his breath catch.

  His question came tentatively. "Then…do you want me to bid for you at the auction? I've saved every penny just in case."

  I climbed off his lap and stood up, wincing at the pain between my legs, knowing once again that it would be days before I sat comfortably. Standing before the large man brought me eye-to-eye with him.

  "I want to spend the rest of my life making babies with you. You'd better find a way to buy me."

  He gathered me in his big hairy arms and held me close.

  Part 3 – After

  Chapter 1 – The Auction

  The very air seemed to be brighter now that we were done. We were giddy, the thought of being sold at auction nothing compared to what we'd been through already. The collar and cuffs – hated, but strangely familiar after all these weeks – were removed that evening and we reveled in the sense of freedom their absence imparted. We quietly admitted to each other that we felt a sense of pride at our endurance and knew that whatever came next, we were strong enough to see it through.

  The next morning there was one last pregnancy test for all of us, and with shrieks of joy Aliya showed us her purple stick. Linal grabbed her and swung her around, and disappeared out the door with her. I shook my head at the worry that must have consumed them as the end grew closer. They couldn't be certain that he could buy her at the auction.

  In the surprised quiet that followed their departure, the rest of us looked at our unchanged sticks. I knew there was no possibility that Joran had succeeded in getting me with child, but it was a relief to see the evidence anyway. Now I just had to get through the auction.

  That afternoon, each of us went on stage before a mostly quiet group of males. Men. I suppose I was starting to see them less as alien males. Anyway, each woman had many bidders, and we all knew that our well-being was so important that no one would end up with someone truly cruel. One by one we said goodbye to each other, promising to keep in touch, and knowing we would.

  Finally it was my turn and I walked onto the stage, my knees threatening to give way at any moment. Samial was in the front, looking me in the eyes and seeming to telegraph a reassurance I just couldn't feel. He'd told me that he had three thousand, a substantial sum, but I wasn't going to feel better until I was in his arms.

  As luck would have it, I was last. The bidding started just like the others -- I was a little taller and broader, and had hair that was more reddish than the other women, but it wasn't enough to attract too much more attention. Samial countered every bid easily, looking me in the eyes each time. Suddenly the amount rose again, but this time it was above what Samial told me he had. I looked at him in fear and his calm eyes looked straight back at me. I didn't know what was going on. Panic welled up. Another bid countered that last one and the amount rose higher, and this time he didn't counter it. I was dying on the inside, and on the outside tears started to fall down my frightened face.

  Another bid drove the price even higher. My knees were going to give out. At last I heard the auctioneer call for final bids, and when there were none, he raised his gavel to end the auction. I frantically held onto Samial's eyes.

  "Five thousand." Samial's voice was clear in the silence. I gasped. That was a thousand more than the last bid. How was it possible?

  In a daze I heard the auctioneer call out for any more bids, and when there were none, he declared Samial the winner and the auction over. I swayed a little, not quite believing what had happened, and in a flash he was on the stage, sweeping me up off my unsteady feet.

  "How?" I stammered as I relished the feel of his strength.

  "There's another part of that old custom I didn't mention. Not only can a mate dispense justice, but he can demand the forfeit of some or all of the accused's property. I didn't care about Joran's money until you told me last night that you loved me and I knew I had to win the auction, and to do that I needed to get my hands on his money. I went to the council and demanded they turn everything he owned over to me, as your mate."

  "But… I'm not really your mate, yet. I mean, I want to be, but they agreed to overlook that?"

  He looked a little sheepish. "Well, there was some debate over the matter, so I had to promise them that we would marry as soon as the auction was over."

  "You mean now?"

  He set me on my feet and turned me around. A gentleman from the council stood in front of us, holding a small book and looking very officious.

  "Yes, Leina, right now."

  Less than five minutes later we were mated for life. Once more he swept me off my feet and carried me, stopping only long enough to pull out a card from his pocket and run it through a device at the door. I looked at him in question.

  "Gotta pay the auctioneer or the deal is off. I'm afraid my bank account just got considerably smaller, though Joran had a surprising amount of money. I sure hope you are worth it," he teased me. I playfully punched him, my small hand making almost no impression upon his bulging muscles.

  "Careful, there, my little alien. I'll wait a few weeks till you're healed, but I still intend to spakk your bottom if you get out of line."

  "You're welcome to try, dear husband. Welcome to try."

  Chapter 2 – Arriving Home

  The trip to his home took a little over two hours in one of those fast hover vehicles they had. We arrived at the modest house, set in a lightly forested area, one story and made of wood. He'd been gone for two years, but a neighbor had come over the day before and opened it to air out. The place was snug and warm, and I felt a little like a child as I wandered around the large furniture and realized I'd need a stool to reach the counters in the kitchen. He fretted that I might not want to stay here since he had lived here with Seranay, but I told him I felt nothing but a sense of welcome.

  He unpacked in a matter of minutes and returned to find me gazing at a hologram of him and a lovely woman who must be Seranay. They both looked young and carefree and I had a pang of grief at what had happened. He placed his arms around me, nearly enveloping me.

  "Want me to put that away? It's okay if you do
."

  I shook my head. "No. That would be denying what had happened in your life and I would never do that. I'm not the jealous type – I know there's room in your heart for both of us."

  He suddenly swept me up in his arms, making me squeal with surprise. A moment later I was dumped on his enormous bed. I was still wearing the shift I'd worn for weeks and with one move he grabbed the neck of it and ripped it apart clear down the center to the hem, laying me bare in front of his hungry eyes.

  Despite the fact that I'd been naked many times in front of him since we met, I'd never felt like he saw me as a woman until now. His gaze raked over my breasts and down to my pussy and I became instantly wet.

  He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it somewhere behind him. My eyes dropped to the bulge in his pants and then back up to his face, telegraphing my request without words. He opened his pants, lowering them until his cock finally sprang free.

  He might have seen me before, but I'd never seen him, and what I saw I liked. He was as big as Joran, if not a little bigger, and I gulped at the idea that all of that was going to go inside my narrow tunnel. He absently fisted the length while he continued to look at me, as though trying to decide where to start. Finally he moved onto the bed, straddling me and pinning my legs tight between his. He lowered his face to mine and I rose up to meet him, sharing a passionate kiss for the first time. One of his arms wrapped around my chest, further pinning me against him until he chose to let me go. As far as I was concerned he didn't have to ever let me go. We leisurely explored each other's lips, kissing, biting, nuzzling, until he finally laid me back down and I caught my breath. He bent over one of my breasts and enveloped half of it in his mouth, flicking the nipple with his tongue and causing me to cry out and arch up. My hands flew to his head to grasp at the massive amount of curly brown hair that I knew was not uncommon among his people, and I tried in vain to pull him off and stop the intense sensations. He looked up at me with a grin.