So why was he so on edge with the knowledge she’d drawn Lorne’s attention as well? He glared at his longtime friend. “Take yourself from here and find a woman of your own to collar. This one is taken.”
Lorne simply smiled as he leaned closer. “Why? We have shared many whores. Why not this one?”
Garon shoved Lorne and snapped his jaws at him. The Ralenium men were well aware of how they were viewed by other races and worlds. Most frowned on the orgies they were famed for. They were free with their sexuality and had no qualms about partaking in the act publically with either the opposite sex or the same. In fact, quite often they would have festivals devoted to the very thing. Mated pairs would arrive and join in the festivities, having sex where all could see, putting on quite a scene. And the whores would filter in, their sexes for sale to all who wanted to play publically for the night. It saddened Garon deeply that in all the universes he’d traveled, and all the worlds he’d been to, sharing one’s bed with someone of the same sex still held stigma when so many boasted of progress and enlightenment.
Earth was one of the worst offenders. Narrow-minded fools.
Garon rolled his eyes. “Lorne, continue and I will beat you senseless.”
Lorne licked his lower lip, his gaze drifting down the length of Garon. “You do like it rough.”
The tiny woman near them gasped. Her blue eyes widened as she tilted her head up, gifting them a full view of her face. Both men made odd noises. She was even more beautiful than Garon had first thought, with beauty the likes of which he’d never seen. As he spotted an angry, purple bruise over her right cheek, the very cheek she’d hidden with her hair, the beast in him rose. His nostrils flared as he pivoted, glaring at the traders who stood near their ship.
“Who dared to touch her?”
The traders exchanged worried looks as Lorne moved in quickly, pushing Garon back. The Ralenium men knew if they dared to attack the traders the shipments of eligible women would stop. Already the shipments were few and far between. Already the Houses of Pleasure were understaffed and too many men went without sex or a mate. Already a great number of Ralenium males had been driven mad with the sickness from The Heat, said to come from being unable to mate. It was inborn in them—the driving need to bond with a woman and to reproduce. They could no more deny it than to deny the part of them that could shift into a wolf.
He glared at the Voxenites traders, infamous for their underhanded ways, and wondered who had harmed the woman. The men wore containers over their faces, holding a red liquid of sorts. Garon knew it was a breathing apparatus and that without them, most of the traders would die. Lorne pushed at him more. “I want them dead as well but this isn’t the answer. If you continue to show your hand, they will put too steep a price upon her head.”
He was right.
Garon stepped back.
Lorne took point. “You marred the merchandise. Do you think we’ll pay full price for this group?”
The traders talked amongst themselves. One stepped forward. “Half,” he said, his voice muffled with the breathing apparatus in place. “You will pay half or we will leave.”
“For the lot?” Lorne said. “Half? Have you abused them all as well?”
Jaston puffed out his chest. “We will pay half for the lot. Now leave.”
Never before had they purchased all the women brought forth. The men of Ralen always confirmed the women wanted to stay. This was different. The abuse was clear. They could not permit these traders to keep any of the females.
The females huddled together and Garon was surprised to see the one who sparked his interest take a leadership position among them. She and two others began calming the women.
“Shh,” she said to one who had begun to cry. “It could be worse. We could be back on board with the walking and talking fishmen.”
“You heard what the guards told us before we landed,” another said, sniffling. “They said these men are cruel and will rape and kill us if we misbehave.”
Rape and kill them?
Garon and the rest of the Ralenium warriors spun around to face the traders. Several of his men lost control and shifted forms. As they roared in animal form, looking every bit as fierce as they were, many of the women screamed. Garon would try to soothe the women’s fears, but first he had to deal quickly with the traders. He took a step in their direction. The traders shared one look and then ran for their ship. They were on board in the blink of an eye. Garon gave the hand signal to the main control center to release the electronic hold they had upon the vessel. Within seconds the traders were in flight.
Lorne shrugged. “It would appear this lot of women is free.”
Garon shook his head and spun around. He pointed to the men who had shifted into beast form.
Return back at once, he pushed on their mental path. You frighten the females.
The men obeyed, and when they shifted into normal form once more they were left standing before the women as naked as the day they were born. They drew much in the way of shocked stares from the females.
Jaston stepped forward and addressed the women. “We are Ralenium. We are a proud group of people. Raping and killing women is not what we do.”
“You’re monsters,” one of the women said. “Beast monsters.”
Jaston flinched but continued to speak calmly, “We will find lodging for you until arrangements can be made to have you taken to Tagun, our sister planet. The Union is in force there. You will be able to…”
A number of the women burst into hysterical tears. A female with hair so red it looked to be on fire, glared at Jaston. “Stop helping. The more you talk the worse it gets.”
Jaston’s frustration with the female showed on his face, making the males hide their laughter.
The woman who stirred Garon’s loins looked to him. She blinked, her blue eyes beckoning him. “Most of us have nowhere to go, and if we’re taken to a Union-controlled planet we’ll end up in prisons or far worse.”
Lorne lifted his arms. “As touching as that is, Ralen is not a planet that takes in refugees. The women who reside here are married or whores who service any man who enters the Houses of Pleasure. If you wish to remain here, I suggest you warm up to the idea of being selected by a man or fucked by many and quickly. We’re busy people. We haven’t the time to devote to—”
She squared her shoulders. “We understand what you’re saying.”
She looked at the other women and they huddled in together. After a moment, the brunette stepped forward. “We accept your terms.”
“Our terms?” Garon questioned.
She nodded. “We accept the terms laid out that if we wish to stay we must be selected by a male of your race or we are to be placed in your Houses of Pleasure to service men’s needs. I have one request. Any women not selected, may they be given a chance to work, to assist, to do anything other than be sent away or sent straight to the Houses of Pleasure?”
Lorne responded. “No. Either they are taken by a male or they’re taken to Tagun. This isn’t open for debate.”
Garon cast his friend a questioning look. Lorne stared at him, using their mind path to speak, something they rarely did because all Ralenium males could listen in on it if they weren’t careful.
If you agree to what she asks, she will demand a work position. You want her in your bed, yes? And I assume you do not wish her to be a member of a House of Pleasure.
Garon thought about it. He thumbed at Lorne. Yes, he wanted the female, and no, he did not want her to end up serving others at the Houses of Pleasure. “What he said. No discussion.”
The woman huffed and faced the other females. They spoke quietly and then she turned and nodded. “Fine.”
He liked her more and more.
Much to his surprise, men began walking towards the females, surveying them, putting their hands out. It was an offer most of the women couldn’t refuse. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the redheaded woman step back as Jaston approached her. She ey
ed another warrior and took a step in his direction. Jaston’s expression hardened.
As Garon watched to see if he would need to intervene to stop a fight, Lorne moved close to the woman Garon desired. The beast within him roared. Unable to stop himself, Garon charged his lifelong friend and tackled him to the ground. The two rolled, snarling and striking one another. Both men did partial shifts, their hands and arms covering with fur as long dagger-like nails sprouted forth from their fingertips. Other men shot forward, attempting to separate them, but their beasts were too on edge. Each wanted the female. Each was willing to kill to get her.
Suddenly the female in question appeared between them just as Garon was about to deliver another blow to Lorne. He halted, stopping just shy of her head. Had his clawed hand connected, it would have killed her. Of that he was sure. Horror gripped him at the idea she could have been harmed at all, let alone by his hand. He drew his hands back and shifted them quickly to normal form. Lorne did the same.
Her eyes were wide as she stared between them. Tears fell quickly down her cheeks and something inside Garon gave in to them. He stopped his quest to kill the competition and pulled at the tiny woman, drawing her into his arms. She cried harder. Lorne neared and hugged her as well, leaving them both wrapped around her. She hiccupped out a sob and then sank against them, seemingly utterly exhausted and defeated.
“Shh,” Garon whispered. “We will fight no more.”
Lorne nodded. “It’s clear you’ve decided the outcome already.”
Confused, Garon looked to his friend.
Lorne licked his lips. “She wants us both.”
Both? To wear two collars?
Garon had heard tales of old, talking of Ralenium males pairing up to take a female and claim her between them. She would wear one collar but with two pendants, one for each male. It had not been done in his lifetime. The more he thought upon it, the more the idea appealed to him even though the wolf within was still possessive of the woman.
Lorne tilted her chin up. “Tell us your name.”
She sniffled, her eyes appearing even bluer than before. “Teon.”
“Teon,” said Lorne, a certain softness suddenly in his voice. “Does this suit you? Does sharing us work or shall we go back to fighting over you?”
She gasped and put a hand to each of their chests. “No more fighting. I’m so tired. I just want sleep and I want peace. No fighting.”
Garon swept her up in his arms. “Then it is sleep you shall have. Come,” he said to Lorne. “Let us take her from here.”
Teon put her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. Lorne moved in next to him, assisting in getting them through the crowd. As Garon held their woman, a strange sense of completion came over him. It was as it should be.
She would be collared very soon.
Chapter Five
Teon woke to find herself on the biggest bed she’d ever seen. Five adults could easily sleep upon it. The room was done in shades of blue, each complimenting the next. All in all it was distinctively male in its décor. She sat up, her body feeling the best it had since before she was arrested and then detained on the trader ship. She stretched her arms above her head and the cool air of the room skated over her exposed breasts.
She looked to the doorway and found Lorne there, sipping from a cup, a sly grin on his face. She put her arms down and covered her breasts with them. He shook his head. “Don’t stop on my account. I very much enjoyed the view.”
She took a calming breath. “How does this work? Do I lie back and let you do what you want on me?”
“On you?” asked Lorne in a mocking tone.
She gritted her teeth. She wasn’t exactly new to sex but she was new to tempting a man. She’d been caught behind a curtain, her head in a man’s lap, her mouth on his cock while another sat eagerly by, his cock in hand, waiting his turn with her mouth. The lies that she’d charged for the service were what branded her an outlaw and a criminal on Earth. It was forbidden for anyone without a license to sell sex to do so. She’d not charged. She’d been curious and the men had been willing. Her stepmother and the councilman she tried to gift her to saw to it the truth was buried behind lies. Lies that landed her on Ralen.
Lorne set his mug down and strolled towards her. Each step he took drew attention to his sinewy frame. Her mouth watered as she wondered what his cock would look like, what it would taste like on her tongue. He wore nothing more than a wrap around his waist. He stopped at the foot of the bed. “Let me look my fill of you.”
She lowered her arms.
He pulled the sheet away, exposing her naked form to him. Her nipples hardened as the cool air of the room blew over them. Lorne’s gaze found them and remained there a moment. She half thought he’d ravish her with how hungry his expression was.
She drew her legs up and he shook his head. She stopped and opened her legs slowly. His gaze snapped to her sex. He stared at her pussy as she spread her legs open more. He stepped closer, pushing her legs farther apart, making her gasp as he put his face close to her pussy.
“This scent you give off,” he said, sniffing, his eyes rolling back in his head. “It is divine. It makes my cock harden and makes me want to bury my face between your legs and lap your cream.”
She squeaked. Earth men would never be so bold. They’d never let those words fall from their lips. As she looked to Lorne, his face still near her pussy, her breathing grew rapid. What would it feel like to have his tongue in her? The only thing she’d had in her before were her own fingers. Against rules she’d spent many nights lying in her bed, her fingers on her clit, rubbing it.
She was a bad seed. That was what her stepmother said. A fiend. Too depraved to be worthy of her title or the luxuries her name provided.
Maybe she was right.
Teon didn’t care. All she wanted now was for Lorne to do what he’d hinted at. She wanted him to bury his face between her legs until she knew true bliss.
He cast a seductive smile her way. “You are not experienced in the bed, are you?”
“Somewhat,” she managed.
He stroked her inner thigh. “Have you had a cock rammed in you?”
“N-no,” she whispered, feeling so exposed.
He slid his finger lower. “Garon and I will spear you over and over again with our cocks. We will stuff you full of us, your pussy, your mouth, your sweet, tight ass.”
She gasped and flushed with color. As if on command, her ass clenched at the idea of being taken by not one but two alpha males. Her mouth went dry and she looked towards the doorway. Garon stood there, wearing only a wrap as well. He eyed Lorne and then her.
“You are scared,” he stated flatly.
She was, but then again, she wasn’t. She was frightened by how excited she was by it all and by the circumstances surrounding her being on Ralen. Not of the men themselves.
He entered the room more. “Lorne, you frighten her.”
Lorne shrugged. “She agreed to our terms. She needs to warm to the idea of being fucked by us and soon. My cock is hard and wishes for release.”
Oh, she was warm to the idea. Damn near bursting into flames.
Garon puffed his chest out. “Then gift it release, but not in her. Not yet. I will not permit her to be taken by anyone when she is frightened.”
Teon nearly protested but the look in Garon’s eyes warned against it.
“And you are the master here?” Lorne asked, seeming amused.
“I claim true collaring rights to her,” Garon said, causing Lorne to gasp. “I shall bond her to me.”
“We were to share,” Lorne protested.
“We will,” Garon said evenly. “But in all eyes I will be first husband, you second. It will be my collar she wears but with both our pendants.”
Lorne glanced at her. “You are agreeable to this?”
She wasn’t sure what exactly this was. She vaguely remembered learning of some of Ralen’s customs and what she did recall didn’t help her sort out
all the talk of collaring. She lifted her brows.
Garon entered the room more, easing alongside the bed. His nostrils flared as his gaze swept to her exposed sex. He inhaled and the tiniest hint of a smile graced his full lips. He shook his head, snapping out of the hold her sex seemed to have had on him. “Agree to my terms, woman.”
“My name is Teon,” she corrected. Every bone in her body screamed to submit to this man. His sheer presence elicited the response but her mouth had blurted out her name all the same.
“You are who I tell you to be,” he said, a note of a dare hanging there. “Or would you rather I arrange transport to our sister planet?”
She huffed, snapping her legs shut. She fought through the urge to crawl off the bed and kneel at his feet. She’d submit, but on her own terms. “If you’re going to be a big giant brute then maybe I do pick death over you.” She couldn’t believe she’d said it. Worse yet, she meant it. She waited, sure he would carry out his threat.
Garon glanced to Lorne, who simply appeared amused by it all. Loren shrugged. “It would figure she would have a temper. You picked her.”
“As did you,” Garon reminded. He looked to her. “Woman, you push too far.”
She squared her shoulders, causing her breasts to stick out more. Both men stared at them, looking as if they wanted to touch them and fondle them. Lorne actually made squeezing motions with his hands as he licked his lips.
“Smell her cunt?” asked Lorne. “She is ripe. I can smell it all the way over here.”
She gasped.
Garon rolled his eyes. “I do, but I have no wish to touch her.”
Offended but unsure why, Teon sat up more on the bed. “Why not?”
“Because I get the sense you would assume it meant more to me than it does,” he stated factually. “You are a woman. Do you not all believe sex equals love?”
Sizzling Hot Alpha Male Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 8
