“Now stop that,” the doctor chided, “don’t be a child. It’ll be over in a moment.”
Rena closed her eyes and tried to think of something, anything but the situation she was in. The first touch of the cold, slim shaft at the tight circle of muscle that guarded her rear entrance caused her to clench and wriggle again. The doctor’s own heavy hand landed on her rear this time and Rena realized she had no choice but to comply. She felt him spreading her again, felt the tip of the shaft push past her entrance. She gasped at the sensation. No one had ever touched her there, nor had she ever felt anything penetrate her that way. The feeling it brought was a confusing swirl of embarrassment and arousal. Once more the ache between her legs returned, but at the same time, she wished she could just hide from everyone and never see any of them again. The faint beeping of the thermometer brought her back into the room.
“A perfect temperature.” The doctor unceremoniously pulled the length of the shaft from her and Rena couldn’t help the moaning gasp that escaped her as the implement left her body. She looked to her sides at the sounds of laughter to see the grunts who were holding her in place, giggling and staring steadily at her soft core. Their attention made a fresh wave of arousal soak her even further. When they lowered her back onto the table, she felt the liquid dripping down her thigh. “You have here a perfect specimen,” the doctor proclaimed. “The Bani will be most pleased. Most pleased,” the doctor repeated. “All that’s left is to clean her and you can begin her training.”
Clean her?
“Alright,” Riks said. She turned to stare at him as he moved toward her. “You think you can be good? Or are we going to have to leave you in here without any clothes on? I don’t want anybody else flying across the room.”
Rena stared at him, unwilling to concede that he had the upper hand, despite her exposed position. But he didn’t look away the way most humans did when she locked onto their gaze. He held her just as intensely in his own until finally it was she who was forced to look away.
“Well? Is that a yes? No funny business?” he asked.
“Fine,” she said, her voice terse. She glanced back to see him nodding at the grunts, then felt their grip on her release. Her legs falling forward, she sat up on the table, trying to cover her exposed breasts with her arms. The grunts stepped back but moved no further. She could tell by the mounds that stood at attention between their thighs that if there were no one else here they’d have no trouble having their way with her. She shuddered at the thought.
“You grunts get out!” Riks roared at the four men, waving his hand in the direction of the door. The four of them scurried away, making sure not to collide with his massive palm. Each of them stole a final glance at Rena, no doubt to cherish the memory for later that night.
“Good,” the doctor said, removing his gloves. “My nurse can take care of the cleaning.” He looked at the small watch strapped to his arm, pushed a button on it, then looked back up at Riks. “There’s my invoice. To be paid before you leave.” Riks raised an eyebrow at the doctor’s directness but said nothing in response. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going to my next appointment. The nurse will stay for the cleaning.”
“There’s nothing else,” Riks responded, bowing slightly and motioning toward the door. “I’d see you to the ramp, doctor, but I’m afraid that…”
“Never mind,” the doctor snapped. “I found my way in, I can find my way out.” He turned and walked quickly through the entrance of the cage and down into the darkened hallway beyond.
Rena now found herself in the company of the nurse, Riks, and Jayne, who was still looking on in great curiosity from the other side of the bars. The nurse came toward her.
“Turn around, girl,” the nurse ordered sharply. Rena shot her a scowl but remembered her promise as Riks stepped toward her again.
“I’m turning,” she said, putting up a hand and stopping him from doing it himself. Slipping off the table, still holding one hand to her breast, she turned slowly to face the wall. She heard the nurse rummaging through her things again and saw her pull out a sack with some sort of liquid inside and a tube attached to it.
“You’ll have to hold her open for me. Take this,” the nurse ordered, handing a small round thing with a protrusion on it to Riks. “When I’m done, you’re to plug her. She’s to hold it in for ten minutes, then she can void.”
Rena’s mouth dropped open as she realized what kind of cleaning this was going to be. She spun around and put a hand out. “Oh, no. Uh-uh,” she said, waving her palm in the air and trying to climb back up on the table.
The nurse looked up at Riks with a raised eyebrow, waiting for his reaction. For a moment he stood there, seeming unsure of what to do. Finally, he looked at the nurse with an outstretched hand.
“Give me that. I’ll pay extra for it. I’ll do this myself later.”
The nurse scowled. “The doctor said that…”
“I heard what the doctor said. I said I’d do it myself. I’ll pay for that… thing together with the invoice.”
For a moment Rena wasn’t sure what the nurse would do. Finally she shrugged, handed the sack to Riks, then pushed a button on the phone on her wrist. “Suit yourself,” she said, picking up her bag and walking toward the exit. “Remember, she’s to hold it in for ten minutes for a proper cleansing.”
“Fine,” Riks growled, staring at the sack and the long tube attached to it before turning his attention back to Rena. “You want your clothes back?” he asked.
Rena was caught off guard by something in his voice, something softer than anything she’d heard from him before. No, it couldn’t be. She was imagining things. A situation like this would make anyone a little crazy.
“Of course I want my clothes back.”
Riks looked back at Jayne. She scurried inside, picked up Rena’s clothes, and handed them to her.
“We’re leaving soon. Our food order has arrived and the fuel supply’s nearly changed. You’ll get your dinner shortly.” Riks glanced at her, then down at the bag he was holding. “We’ll do this… later.”
Rena glared at him as he left but he didn’t look back. She found that strangely disappointing but pushed the feeling away along with all the others. What was wrong with her? The man was a bastard and about to sell her to be a breeding slave. How could she want to feel his touch again so badly?
Chapter Four
“Uh, captain, I think you should come see this,” Jayne’s soft voice called from the corridor into the bridge. Riks turned around from the star charts he’d been studying.
“What is it?” he asked, impatient at being disturbed.
“There’s someone here to see you.” She paused before adding, “I think he’s Bani…”
Riks straightened at the mention of the word. Bani? This far from Ceto? It didn’t make sense. He walked quickly past the thin girl into the darkened corridor. From below decks he could hear the sounds of the grunts putting in the new power supply. Once they checked the heat shields, they’d be ready to go. In the light coming from the ramp, he saw the silhouette of a thick-looking humanoid. The shape was unmistakably distinct. Definitely Bani. As he approached, he saw the figure bow.
“Greetings,” the raspy voice said as he descended down the ramp to the platform below. He bowed slightly, not as deeply as the creature had. He had no time for formality and less patience for it.
“Greetings to you. What can I do for you?”
The creature’s thin lips spread into a wide, sickly smile.
“There was talk in the tavern that you might have something I’ve been looking for,” the creature said, rubbing the thin fingers of one hand with the fingers of the other.
“Is that so,” Riks asked, nothing about his tone implying a question. The creature didn’t seem to notice.
“It is so. I am Voida,” the creature said, bowing again but keeping his eyes on Riks.
“Nice to meet you, Voida, but I think you’re mistaken,” Riks replied, maki
ng sure not to offer his name.
“I don’t think I am,” the creature said and Riks noticed its hand drop to its side, just above the butt of the laser gun that was holstered there.
Riks smirked and shook his head.
“Look, brother, that’s the last damn thing you want to do right now. I’ve got militia coming here any minute now to make sure I’m not smuggling,” Riks bluffed. “Now you draw that thing and I bet you good money they’ll be more interested in what someone like you is doing in these parts.”
The creature’s smile faltered slightly as he seemed to consider his options. He looked up at the ship, his gaze settling on the heat shields. “Looks like she needs a bit of work,” he said, directing his gaze back toward Riks.
“You let me worry about that,” Riks replied, holding the Bani’s gaze with his own.
The creature hesitated, its lips almost curling into a snarl before he twisted them back into a forced smile and bowed again. “Very well then. Sorry to have bothered you.”
Riks watched the thing turn, then lumber away. Every time he saw the Bani move he had a hard time believing they’d come to be so powerful on Ceto. He’d never seen it, but it was common knowledge that they were the best marksmen that side of the Ashima system. It was hard to believe, watching the thing walk away now. But it was no use taking chances.
When Riks turned to walk back up the ramp, Jayne was standing there.
“What was that about?” she asked.
Riks put a finger up to his lips to silence her. The creature was probably still within earshot. He walked up the ramp, took her by the arm, and led her back into the ship.
“Just a little too curious about our cargo,” Riks said softly, checking to make sure the Bani had left the platform.
“Why?” Jayne asked.
“I have a feeling he’d like that bounty as much as we would. It doesn’t matter. Once we’re up and away we won’t have anything to worry about. For the time being I’ll get one of the helmsmen to keep watch while we finish repairs. Are we almost ready to eat? I’m starving.”
Jayne nodded and smiled. “Almost. I’ll go get everything ready.”
Riks nodded and followed her down the corridor. Walking back onto the bridge, he returned to the flat screen he’d been studying, trying to plot a course to Ceto that would keep them well away from known pirates.
Concentration didn’t come easily, though. Something inside him clawed at his focus, pulled his mind back toward the brig in the back of the ship.
Her body. The way her body had looked, naked and exposed, held his attention even now. He closed his eyes and her shape appeared in front of him. He followed her soft contours with his mind’s eye and settled on the soft, shaven spot between her legs that had glistened from her arousal at his touch. He felt himself flex. His eyes shot open as he remembered the small bag with a tube that the nurse had left. He would take any excuse to see her again.
* * *
Rena rose from where she’d been huddled on the floor as she saw Riks come into the room. He made sure to cover the buttons of the keypad that unlocked the door to the cage with his body before pressing the sequence of seven digits. Rena had spent the time since he’d left trying to find a position that would make it possible for her to see his hand. She thought she’d found the perfect spot, but he seemed wise to the trick.
“Changed your mind? Coming to let me go?” she joked. There was more than one way to skin a marmle and it seemed like force wasn’t going to work with this one. It was time to try a different tack. She tried ignoring the way her body felt as soon as Riks entered the room, but it was not an easy thing to do. It was as if the memory of his touch was enough to send her into arousal.
“Not quite,” Riks replied, his voice even and expressionless. “It’s time for your cleansing.”
Rena felt the smile she’d been trying to maintain fade from her face. He was going to do it himself?
“Take your clothes off.”
He was looking straight at her now, his dark gaze piercing through her.
The ache between her legs started again.
What am I thinking? her mind screamed. There was no way this hardened bounty hunter felt anything for her; why did she feel this weakness, this longing at just the thought of him? She tried to fight the feeling but it proved much more difficult than any fight she’d been in before, and she’d been in a few. Steeling her nerves, she cocked her head to one side before replying.
“Just like that, huh?” she asked, crossing her arms, daring him to respond to her defiance. In fact, she wanted nothing more.
“Just like that,” he answered dryly. She searched his voice for any sign, any sound that might betray that he felt anything close to what she did for him. There seemed to be nothing there but the stern resolution of a man who had set his mind to sell her for a bounty. “You’ll take them off or I’ll take them off for you,” he added, his stance perfectly still, his stare boring through her. She couldn’t help but look away. He was obviously not interested in playing games.
Rena turned around, making some attempt at preserving her modesty in front of the giant brute, though she knew there was little left to hide. She peeled away the layers of her flight suit, throwing each piece of clothing into the corner as she removed it, then removed her underwear and tossed them into the same pile. She wondered if he was staring at her, staring at the redness that he’d left on her ass. She could have sworn she could feel his eyes on her, roaming across her body. The thought made her wet again.
* * *
Riks shifted his weight from one foot to another, trying to adjust the uncomfortable erection that had risen between his legs. He didn’t want her seeing that just watching her undress made him this hard. In a way, he wanted to hide it from himself as well. He’d never felt this way about a bounty. She is just a deal, dammit! his mind roared. He cursed himself for letting her become such a distraction. But he couldn’t even call her that to himself. She was much more somehow…
When she turned around he did his best not to stare, but her body pulled at his gaze and he wanted nothing more than to study every curve, every dip, every cleft of her until he knew her more intimately than anyone ever would. Clearing his throat, he looked off to one side.
“You’ll have to turn back around and spread your legs,” he said, trying to sound as gruff as he could. There was little use entertaining such fantasies. Soon she would be gone.
She obeyed him almost instantly. Somehow he’d expected something different, that she’d defy him and give him cause to react and overpower her again. He found her submission disarming. He wanted to push her further, test the limits of her obedience. Was this just an act? Was it just a clever ploy to get him to trust her? Or was she enjoying it as much as he was?
“Bend over the table.” His tone left no room for discussion. Again, he expected defiance. He expected a foot to come flying at him, a scowl, a growl, a tension in her body at his request. But again she surprised him. She lowered herself onto the table without question, leaving Riks even harder as he stared at her exposed holes.
“Now open yourself,” he ordered, his voice even more commanding than before. Now, surely, she would react. Surely she would not suffer this humiliation, proud and fierce as she was.
Riks held his breath as he watched her hands circle around the two beautiful orbs of her rear, the fingers settling on them, then pulling in opposite directions as she did his bidding and spread herself apart.
His cock flexed. His body screamed with desire. The only thing he wanted, the only thing he could think of was claiming her right then. Sinking into her soft flesh and making her his. He shook the thought from his head. No! This was just a deal. She was just another bounty. The most furious and beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
* * *
Rena wondered what had driven her to obey the big thug so completely. She’d never tolerated taking orders from anyone. She hated it. She would go far out of her way to do the opposite of
what anyone asked just to make a point. Something about the way this brute handled her, overpowered her, compelled her to obey.
It wasn’t the fear of another spanking. Far from it. Every time she thought of his strong hand landing on her rear, she craved it even more. And she wasn’t scared he would truly hurt her, as she knew he wouldn’t.
It was the feeling that swelled inside her every time she did as he asked, did as she was told to do by him. Lying on the table now, her breasts pressed against the cold metal, her nipples pink and tight, she held herself open as he’d asked, and dreamed that he would touch her in the way she craved.
She heard him step toward her. The ache in her middle swelled and she felt wetness in between her legs again. He was there now, just inches away, holding the implement she knew he would push inside her. It wasn’t what she really wanted, but suddenly anything from him was good enough. When she felt him hesitate, she turned her head slightly to see why he had stopped.
“I haven’t any salve,” he muttered, looking around the cage, as if there would be anything there.
Rena closed her eyes. She turned her head forward again and tried to ignore what her body was screaming for. There was plenty of wetness between her thighs… if he would just touch her there.
The feeling of his hand pressing against her soft center lips made her gasp as her body rose from the table at his touch.
“Relax,” he rumbled, “it’s just to wet it,” he explained but she couldn’t help the swell of agonizing pleasure that rushed from between her thighs and through her entire flesh. She felt her legs quiver as his fingers worked to spread her. Her slick lips opened for him and her mouth fell open in a whimper as he pushed his fingers into her, coating them in her juices. She squirmed beneath his unintended affection. Even though he wasn’t doing this to pleasure her, she couldn’t help what she felt at his touch. Rena felt a tremor inside herself, a roaring of pleasure that threatened to drown her completely in bliss.
Hunted and Caught Page 3
