Shalia's Diary Omnibus
Page 131
“Are you kidding me?” I squalled. “The second I touch myself, I’ll lose it!”
He rolled us slightly to the side, enough to bare one of my ass cheeks. His palm cracked against the flesh twice, lighting sparks that were more pleasure than pain in my state.
“I said, no talking. Do I stop fucking you? Do I leave you like this?” Betra’s voice was cold with command.
“No,” I whimpered. Trying to placate him, I added, “No, Master. Please. I need to come so badly and if I touch myself the way you insist, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
“You won’t climax until I give permission.” Betra wasn’t giving an inch to mercy. “Now touch yourself as I told you to.”
I groaned, knowing there was no choice but to obey. I slid my hand over a breast. The other crept toward my pussy as Betra rose to give me room to work.
“You know what excites you most. Touch yourself as I would. Do it.”
I gazed at him beseechingly, but he wasn’t giving any slack. I tugged at my nipple with his stare on me, watching me squeeze just shy of pain. Prophets, it felt astounding, especially with him witnessing everything I did to myself. He knelt between my splayed legs, fucking me.
My other hand found my clit. I slid two fingers on either side of the swollen nub, feeling the electric delight of my own touch. My breath caught.
“You’re clenching down on me,” Betra said. “Do not climax, or you’ll be punished.”
I bit my lips together. I had to come. Need rode me, a devouring hunger demanding release. Yet a large part of me was eager for Betra’s permission first. I ached to please him, to show him that I deserved the privilege of belonging to him.
“Show me what gives you the greatest pleasure,” he panted. He was starting to move faster within me, rubbing glorious friction within my avid core. “Play with that clit. Make it feel good.”
My finger slid over the erect unhooded flesh, matching Betra’s quickening rhythm. A cry spilled from my lips as my entire abdomen spasmed. A monstrous swell rolled through me. I clenched my teeth, fighting back the orgasm.
“Oh yeah,” Betra groaned. “I feel you grabbing hold, massaging my cocks with your sweet ass and pussy. Keep playing with yourself. Keep going.”
My moans were continuous as I ground my teeth and stroked my clit. Climax was right there, grasping at me, impatient to be realized. I held on by sheer will, needing Betra’s permission before I could bow to the quaking in my guts. I gushed wetness all around him as he drove faster and harder, his gasps growing louder with every passing second.
“Shalia ... so beautiful ... so incredible ... fuck ... fuck ... fucking come! Come now!”
With his shout, the tightly coiled excitement unfurled in my belly, streaming throughout my body. My clenched jaw sprang open, unleashing the scream that had welled up in my throat. My whole being heaved, hurling itself into glorious expansion. I heard Betra’s animal roar in the distance and was aware of heat flowing from him into me.
He fell over me again. We rutted, a couple of beasts, me clawing his shoulders as he pounded deep within me. All was force and effort and sweat as we rode our passion into mad oblivion. I came a second and then a third time before we wilted like storm-whipped flowers.
I lay there, weary and fulfilled, feeling the last pulses of Betra’s release. We didn’t speak. Often, there’s no need to. Talk can ruin the perfection of a union. We stayed in each other’s arms, caressing, kissing, and even dozing for the next hour. For that spell, I soaked in the happiness, keeping all worries at bay.
August 2
Today had some incredible highs. It had lows to match.
First the good stuff, mostly because I need to distract myself from the bad. Anrel, my love, my angel, my beautiful girl! She is really coming along. With her continuing to thrive and all tests showing she’s in terrific health, Tep has taken the monitoring vest off her. Her incubator can monitor her vitals when she’s sleeping in it.
When I went to her this morning, I called in a soft voice, “Is my girl awake?” She was. My heart damned near burst through my chest when she turned her head toward my voice. She responded to me! Her legs kicked as if excited that I was there.
I lost not an instant in hurrying to her, to pick her up and snuggle that sweet baby to my chest. I kissed her soft black curls ... she’s growing quite the crop of hair! Then I held her in front of my face.
“Good morning, beautiful baby. Mommy loves you, Anrel.”
Then another astonishing moment – she looked at me. Those clear blue-purple eyes riveted on my face, focusing. She was seeing me, perhaps for the first time. My daughter looked at me with a gaze that reached into my soul. Her fist popped out of her mouth and she chirped her happy sounds.
I couldn’t have been more overjoyed in that moment if all the worlds had given me their every treasure. I was swept up in love so complete that it hurt to try and hold it inside.
When Tep came in to give updates (all wonderful!), I showed him how Anrel acted cognizant of me being there. He nodded, his lean face lighting with approval.
“She’s developing at a normal pace. It’s wonderful, considering how the odds had been stacked against her from the start. I think we’ll have her in a normal environment within the week.”
I was delighted when Oses showed up a little later, ready to show off my brilliant, beautiful daughter. Oses is too intense a man to coo, but there is an amazing softness that appears on that tough Nobek’s face when he’s in Anrel’s presence.
“Hello, warrior queen.” He cradled her in the crook of his elbow. “Are you looking at me, Anrel?”
“She is,” I gushed. “See how alert and aware she is? Tep says she’s right on schedule for normal development.”
“As if my tiny warrior would do any less.” Oses looked as if he might burst from pride. “Once her medical issues are past, she’ll excel at all she puts her mind to.”
Okay, so we were probably ridiculous in our boasts. But Anrel is wonderful, and I’ll talk about it all day to anyone who’ll listen to me. And I’ll listen all day to anyone else who brags on her.
Unfortunately, Oses had shown up not just to adore his niece, but to deliver awful news. “Nang has been sighted.”
My high spirits stuttered and failed. “Where?”
“He showed up working a Dantovonian freighter on the Adraf station where you and I were captured by Finiuld.”
“He’s following me,” I whispered, my eyes growing wide.
“He knows you’re going to Kalquor, and I remain certain that’s where he’s heading as well. His route just happened to put him on the same space station where we were. It was a coincidence. Not surprising, since that station is heavily frequented.”
“He wasn’t caught?” That upset me. Weren’t there plenty of people looking for Nang?
“You remember how busy Xniktix is. With the empire heading up the evacuation of Earth, plenty of Kalquorians are in and out of that place. Nang apparently disguised himself to keep from being identified.”
“Someone saw him, or else we wouldn’t know he’d been there.”
Oses nodded. “He inquired about our ship. Our abduction was big news, especially because it confirmed the existence of the Ofetuchan race. Nang was noticed by a couple of mercenaries, who happened to be in a bar where he was asking some of the regulars what had happened. His interest appeared to be obsessive, so they made inquiries of their own. They hoped to somehow cash in on helping him find you, since he asked about you by name. They instead found out he’s wanted by the empire, with a reward offered for information leading to his capture.”
“What happened? Why wasn’t he apprehended?”
Oses sighed. “Xniktix is a huge station. He could have easily hidden himself. If a man wishes to disappear badly enough, he can in such a place. At least for a while. Or maybe he hired on to another vessel before he could be caught.”
“He could still be at the station or heading to Kalquor again.”
I felt like a fly caught in a spider’s web, struggling helplessly and waiting for the inevitable end.
“Try not to worry, pet,” Oses said. “You know you’re safe for now. There will be any number of safeguards placed around you and Anrel once you make it to Kalquor. Nang won’t show up anywhere near you.”
“I suppose you’re right.” He had one part correct; Nang was a long distance off. There was no immediate danger.
Yet it feels as if doom waits on the horizon. What can I do to keep it at bay?
To distract myself, I moved ahead with Betra’s suggestion on keeping Clans Aslada and Seot updated on my life. I recorded messages to each of them. Front and center was the update on Anrel. Meyso received many profuse thanks for sending the Solns our way, so to speak.
I informed them about Nang as well, which kind of put a damper on the whole ‘distracting myself’ idea. In my message to Clan Seot, I asked Larten if he could send me some instruction on how to use the knife he’d sent. “Weapons Commander Oses says he can cover the basics, but I’ve heard you’re something of an expert,” I told Larten. “I’m hoping with all of my heart that I never have to use that scary-ass blade, but if I do, I’d prefer not to chop off my own arm.”
I also thanked Seot for the trackers, assuring him both Anrel and I were now using them. Cifa got his due for the latest vid recorder ... not that I shared with him about all the footage it has captured thus far. It would hardly be polite to tell one beau how I’d used a gift he gave me during sex with a couple of other men.
Off went the messages, each ending with the request that the clans answer, even if nothing of note was going on. “What happens in a day in the life of your clan?” I showed as much interest as I could without seeming fake. I do want to know ... as Betra said, it’s the everyday stuff that’ll make up most of my future with the clan I choose.
August 5
(Early)
Anrel’s condition has upgraded again! Her current environment is at the last step before she is to leave Isolation entirely. We are all so excited. Everyone who knows me is shouting congratulations. At lunch, Captain Wotref came to the table I sat at, bearing a bottle of leshella to toast to my baby’s continued improvement. He made the nicest speech too.
“Matara Shalia, I had never met an Earther before I was called upon to transport all of you to the empire. I had heard stories of frightened, weak Earther women, women who were cowed by an unjust society to the point where they trembled all day long. You and the rest of these amazing Mataras—” here he gave Katrina a special smile that left her blushing with pleasure “—have shown us time and again that not only are you strong, capable people; but that the most fearsome Nobek should quake in fear at your approach!”
That got a round of laughter. Oses put on a show of nodding and grimacing as if terrorized, making us laugh all the harder.
When we quieted, Wotref became a little more serious. “In all honesty, Matara Shalia, I don’t believe I have ever known a more resilient, stronger person than you. I am delighted to note that your daughter, as young and small as she is, appears to have inherited that same ability to overcome odds that would make many a man crumble. I congratulate you both on all you have withstood. Long life, great health, and honor to you.”
I blinked back tears as I raised my glass and thanked him. He gave me a deep bow, which was echoed by each Kalquorian man in the room. I was astounded that they thought so much of me. Shalia Monroe, the Earther who trips over trouble on almost a daily basis? I didn’t deserve such notice.
The leshella was damned delicious though. I wasn’t about to refuse that.
(Later)
Shit. Shit. Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!
I just received a message. From Nang. From fucking Nang.
He’d recorded it while within Earth’s system, before he got to Xniktix Station. That son of a bitch had the fucking gall to think I’d hope he would search for me!
Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll start from the beginning.
After Tep chased me out of Anrel’s room this afternoon, I went to physical rehab. That therapist Dramok Resan is a bastard, constantly pushing me harder than I feel comfortable with. To say we don’t see eye to eye would be putting it lightly.
I went into my quarters after, wringing with sweat, my legs trembling from exertion, and calling Resan more bad names than he’s probably heard his entire life. I saw that a message had been left for me. I played it.
My stomach turned to a ball of ice when a familiar resonant voice issued from the com unit. “Hello Shalia. It’s Nang.”
My legs, weak from therapy, damned near dumped me on the floor. I barely managed to reach my lounger before dropping. I saw my reflection on the wall mirror: eyes wide open, mouth gaping like a landed fish. Horror doesn’t begin to describe how I looked at that moment.
Meanwhile, Nang rolled on. “I learned of your pregnancy. I know in my heart that I am the father. All the times we spent in each other’s arms – all the fun we had – Shalia, I know you are hoping I’ll reunite with you and our child. That we can be the family we are meant to be.”
He was delusional. It was obvious. His tone had that fervent ring that religious fanatics get when they talk about being called on by God.
“I’ve left Trenu and Kru. They have no place in our lives. I never should have clanned them. You and I and our baby are clan enough. I love you both with all my soul. This was meant to be, so we’ll find a way to live without Kalquor.”
Then he spoke the words that chilled me to my very core. “I am coming for you both. I’ll find you and I’ll take you with me. Nothing – no one – will stop me.”
That’s where the message ended. I’ve commed Oses, and he is heading here.
(Later)
I’m not so freaked out now. Oses reminded me for the hundredth time that Nang is far off, though he acted ready to tear someone’s head off after hearing that awful message.
I have to give myself a little pat on the back. Though I called for Oses the moment that recording finished playing, I managed not to be screamy. I didn’t wail and cry and turn wimpy. When he got here, I simply replayed the message and waited for his reaction.
“Gurluck,” he swore, his lips curling to display his fangs. “The man is insane.”
“I’ll go along with that,” I answered. “The craziest thing is he thinks that I would want him to chase down me and Anrel. He’s delusional.”
“He won’t have you, Shalia. You and the baby are safe and will remain so. I swear it.” Oses’s eyes spat purple fire. I think if Nang had shown his stupid mug then, Oses would have bitten it off.
He had no one to take his anger out on. He needed some outlet for that energy though. Oses looked me over, fury joined by another primitive expression. Well, passion has more than a single face. Fury easily translates to lust with the weapons commander.
I held a hand up. “I was put through my paces with that sadist Resan. I’m a sweaty mess.”
“Then let’s clean you up,” Oses growled.
He came at me, a muscled freight train. A moment later I was slung over his beefy shoulder, being carried with long strides to my bathroom.
“Hey!” I shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Giving you a shower,” he said in his gruff tone.
“What about work?”
“Fuck it. What’s the point of having rank if I can’t use it now and then?”
“Oses—”
“Quiet, woman.” His slap on my ass made me obey. The pulsing warmth had me wet in an instant.
“Dominating lug,” I said, as he set me on my feet in the restroom.
“I hope that’s not a complaint. If it is, it’ll be the first of many.”
His burning eyes raked over me. The glare had me trembling and my panties soaked. Panties that weren’t on for very long. They went
in the flurry of the Nobek’s forceful stripping. I was left gasping as he pulled and yanked clothing from my body, his motions that of a man who would not take no for an answer.
As if I would say such an awful word.
When he had me naked, Oses grabbed me by the nape of my neck, propelling me toward the shower. “Water on, normal temperature,” he commanded the system, which was left at my preferred level. About hot enough to roast a chicken, in other words. I know it’s no good for my skin, but I love a hot shower.
Near scalding water streamed over me, instantly pulling all tension from my muscles. “Stay there,” Oses growled as he stepped back to pull off his uniform.