by Sadie Marks
Silla made her way to the general's office alone. It wasn't the first time he'd called her in to quiz her about Earth or ask her if one of his plans would work over the year, and she knew the way there. Being useful to the man who ran the ship couldn't hurt her situation, so she cooperated. Maybe it wasn't always with enthusiasm, but she did cooperate.
She pressed her hand to the door panel and waited. After a few seconds, it cycled open and she stepped inside. He was making notes on a tablet, so she dropped into a seat to wait. She'd learned patience during her time on the ship. The Sadecs made it clear that she waited on their convenience and not her own, and she didn't bother throwing a tantrum about it unless she wanted a swift and painful punishment.
"Silla," he said, without looking up. "I assume Kri't told you that you'll be moving to new quarters soon?"
"That's one way of describing being sold off like property to someone else, I guess." A deep sigh escaped her as she sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. Her lips were pressed in a tight line and her eyes were narrowed in irritation.
He put down the tablet and sat back to look at her. "It's for the best; for the ship and for you. You did tell me that you didn't want to get attached, and moving you is a good way to keep that from happening," he pointed out.
She rolled her eyes. "Don't act like this is for me." He was right, and she didn't mind the change, what she minded was that no one had consulted her.
"It's for everyone, but you've been helpful as promised, and I believe you deserve to have a say in your next owner. Does your original request still stand?"
It was slightly mollifying that he'd thought of her, but she was still annoyed. His question served to remind her that she might have a second chance with him. "If you mean the original one where I asked if I could be yours? Yes, I'd still like that."
He regarded her silently, and she met his stare without blinking. The deep black of the alien eyes no longer felt odd to her. If anything, running into one of the few other humans on board was more of a shock these days. "I don't think that would be a good idea, Silla." That was all he would say on the matter, and the conversation moved on.
"Tell me who you want, and it will happen. There must be someone on board besides me who pleased you more than any other? I assure you no one would refuse you, and if I tell them that I gave you permission to choose, no one would argue that, either."
She thought very briefly of that Sadec woman, the one who had driven her crazy without ever once touching her sexually. Something about the idea appealed, but she discarded it. Sex was one of the perks and she would get bored with being owned by someone she had no attraction to, even if she was frequently shared.
The truth was that even after a more than a year, Trev still held her heart. There was no one who appealed to her, because she avoided anyone she felt a connection with. Of them all, the general was the only one she'd have risked falling for, and that was only because she thought the prestige of belonging to him might give her more power—and she was desperately tired of feeling powerless.
"I don't care. Pick one," she said in an empty tone.
One eyebrow went up, and he sighed. "Fine, but, Silla, eventually you're going to have to get over your one-syllable renegade." He made it sound like she'd fallen in love with a pile of trash and not a Sadec who had opened her heart and taught her to love again.
"Maybe, but it won't be today," she said with finality. "Anything else you need? Or should I go pack?"
"Actually, I do have a few things I'd like to discuss—since you're here. The Council of Affiliated Sentient Beings is still making us wait before we approach your people. They insist humans need more time to get used to the new reality before…" He grimaced, baring his teeth in frustration as he snarled the words."…being faced with the horror of the Sadec race."
The aura of frustration was palpable, and she wondered, not for the first time, why he was so determined to get more humans onto his ship when he didn't even seem to want to play with the ones already there. "Not much I can do about that since I'm not even supposed to be here."
"No, there isn't, but I thought you'd like to know. They've given us a new timeline; one more year, and then we can approach them with our offer. Thanks to you, we know exactly what your planet wants and needs and what will best induce the Pain Receivers to come to us." It was a nice compliment, and true, but she still had no idea what he wanted, so she just looked at him and waited until he got to the point.
"We'd like to set up an orientation for new humans coming on board. Before they begin to arrive, we want to set up a system of assigning a more experienced Pain Receiver to greet them and explain how everything will work. I think it will make their arrival on the ship less of a shock."
"So, you want me to meet the new ones and—"
"Oh, no, definitely not you." He said it so quickly and with such emphasis that she was almost insulted.
"Why not me?" she demanded.
He just stared at her. "Silla—"
"Oh, right." She wasn't exactly the easiest person to get to know, and at times she could be right over the border into anti-social. If he was looking for a smooth and relaxing transition to ship life, then she probably wasn't the best person to facilitate that. "Okay, so what then?"
"We have three other humans on board now, but all of them have spent considerable time with us, and two of them were on our home planet until recently. I think they'll do fine meeting the new recruits and explaining things, but because they've been away from Earth for so long, I thought you could spend some time with them, bring them up to speed on the current events. And then you can work out a system for teaching the new ones together." It should have sounded like a request, but it didn't. He had a way of making things into orders without coming out and saying it directly.
She frowned. It was bound to be a lot of boring talk with submissives who would want to gush about their Sadec partners all the time. She had been curious about the other humans, though. They had exchanged greetings in the halls a few times but had never really spent any time together. Maybe it would be interesting, and it was true that sometimes she missed seeing skin that wasn't flecked with silver and eyes that had actual irises. "Yeah, okay, why not?" she said. It wasn't like arguing with him ever worked anyway. He didn't even punish her when he argued. Apparently, breaking safety rules was the only way to get his attention; when she tried deliberately pressing his buttons, he just looked at her until she gave up, and that was the whole problem with the Sadecs. They gave you what they wanted to give you and not necessarily what you were craving.
"Good. I'll arrange a new situation for you while you get to know your fellow Pain Receivers. I have something in mind—Silla, how do you feel about belonging to a pair of brothers?"
She tilted her head and gave him a skeptical look. "Brothers?"
"Yes. Era'D and Nikon both have experience with a human in their family on our home planet but have never owned one of their own. I think they'd be a good match, and with your high energy levels, two wouldn't be too taxing, I think?" A question this time and not rhetorical since he waited for her to answer.
She wasn't sure how she felt about it. On Earth, a submissive was something you didn't share with a family member. "Isn't that, um, a little weird? For brothers to share a woman?" she asked.
"No, they have shared everything, including a womb. Is it taboo on your planet for twins to share things?" he asked curiously.
"Yes. I mean, no, but not lovers. It's considered incest." And Silla, who thought she couldn't be shocked by anything, couldn't quite keep the horror out of her voice, and she could see it amused him.
He chuffed and shook his head. "Humans. By your definition, I believe incest would involve them having sex together, which I don't think would interest them. They prefer females, and right now, they prefer you. In my culture, twins tend to be considered two halves of a whole. We all share to some extent, but twins share everything, often even a mate."
He pau
sed and contemplated her while she squirmed in her seat and tried to pretend like the idea of two muscular warriors taking her at once didn't make her wet. "It's a desirable situation. An offer by twins is rarely rejected, but if you're not interested, I will—"
She cut him off quickly. "No!" She stopped, swallowed, and took a slow breath. "I mean, no, that's okay. I think I'll try it."
One side of his mouth quirked up in a grin, and she could see he was holding back laughter as she slunk from the room. It wasn't her fault her brain had kicked in with the images of two sexy warriors all over her. It still seemed weird to her, but she could see his point—and she had to admit, the idea was exciting.
All the exciting play she'd enjoyed on the ship had been one-on-one except during her display session. It was funny, now that she thought about it, that the Sadecs didn't play in groups more often. It might ease some of their issues of not enough masochists to go around the sadist table. But she was living on a spaceship surrounded by aliens who stared at her like she was dessert, so it didn't even top the weird list.
She forced her mind out of the threesome-gutter and asked the ship's computer to pinpoint the other humans for her so she could meet them. That ended up becoming a full day adventure since they were all in different parts of the ship. Dez was the first one she found, and she knew his name because he was the only human male on board. She finally tracked him down in the green section. He was moving briskly down the hall away from her and she was forced to yell to get his attention. "Dez! Hey, Dez, I need you!"
He stopped short and turned to see who was calling, and then one eyebrow went up slowly as he walked back to her. "Need me, sugar? I don't think I'm your type." Dez had a delightfully smooth southern accent that took her by surprise every time she heard it.
"The general wanted me to get together with the other humans on board so we can set up some kind of orientation for the new volunteers. I mean, whenever they finally get here." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Apparently, it's taking forever."
"Don't tell me you mind having all these warriors to yourself? I heard you made quite a splash during your display." He looked amused, and she tried not to show that she was annoyed by the gentle teasing.
"Yeah, that was something. You should try it. There's nothing like having every Sadec on the ship lusting over you." She knew she sounded bitchy, but she couldn't help it.
"Some warriors will take whatever they can get, I guess," he snapped back coolly, but then he laughed. "I heard about the famous Silla attitude. The Sadecs are impressed by how stubborn you are. I guess that explains your name."
She relaxed and let herself smile. She found herself liking Dez quite a lot by the end of their chat. He was gay, but also a switch who didn't mind BDSM games with girls, and she found that hot. On Earth, she might have sought him out to play since switches tended not to have the same Dom egos she'd tried to avoid back then—but here, her plate was already overflowing. She did think that maybe they could be friends. Which was more than what she thought of the other two.
The women had been living with the Sadecs for so long that they felt just as alien. They seemed uncomfortable in Silla's presence, like she reminded them of things that they'd rather forget. Though she met with them separately, they both reflected the same aversion to spending much time with her and could barely wait to get away. She had a feeling neither of them was going to be helpful in the general's plan, and she told him so.
"Are you sure? That only leaves one other human," the general said with a frown that seemed to fill his whole face.
"Yes, but Dez is up for it. I think he'll enjoy it, actually. He's a switch."
He looked confused until she explained that some humans liked to play both sides. "Anyway, we're already planning it out. It will have to be a quick lesson since we'll only have Dez to start with and we can't take up all his time with this, but I think we can break the whole thing down to about an hour. I have an idea for using the relaxation suite to put the slaves in the right mindset so that when their owners come to get them, they are already squirmy and ready."
She was actually proud of the set-up, even though it was only in the beginning stages. Over the next few weeks, she met with Dez a number of times to plan it out, and they both put in things they thought any masochist would find exciting. It would start with a visit from the clinicians when the human woke up in his or her new body.
That part was non-negotiable, she'd been told. But then Dez would arrive to give his little orientation. His eyes lit up when he talked about teaching them various poses and telling them how to behave.
"You know how things are here. I haven't been able to top anyone since I left Earth. I think it'll be fun, and if they get snippy with me while we're going through things, I'll put 'em right over my knee." He clapped his hands together dramatically and grinned. "Course it's been a while. Maybe I should get a little practice in on you. I promise not to make you cry…" He waggled his eyebrows at her.
It was all teasing and fun when they worked together, and by then, Silla had learned to value his friendship. She was tempted to throw him right off balance by accepting the offer just to see his face. It might even be fun to be spanked by a human again, but her two new Masters kept her fully sated and the ménage-dynamic was still new enough that it kept her constantly aroused just thinking about it.
She rolled her eyes and put on her best 'Silla Ice Queen' voice. "As if a little boy like you would have what it takes to make me cry anyway. Pfft! Not on your best day!"
"Oh, really now, darlin'? Let's just see about that!" He lunged for her with a wicked gleam in his eyes and she squealed and took off running. They raced through the halls like children, laughing and shouting at each other as the Sadecs stared in confusion.
The game ended in a cavernous room that had recently been redone as a park for the humans on board. They collapsed on the ground under a tree and panted for breath, still laughing. It was maybe the most fun Silla could ever remember having with another human. Or at least the most non-sexual fun.
Months passed on the ship, and as they got closer to the two-year mark, the excitement began to rise. Their Sadec overlords were practically drooling at the idea of more humans joining the crew. Silla, on the other hand, was ambivalent about it. It would be nice to see more human faces around the ship, but when the eager submissives flocked to sign up, they would no doubt bring a lot of drama with them.
The Sadecs were a lot of things, and she'd called them every name in the book during her time on board, but they were very low drama. They meant what they said, and most of them tended toward a bluntness that she found easy to deal with because she was blunt herself. There were none of the petty fights here that so often cropped up in the scene at home and she worried that would change with a bunch of new faces.
She also knew that Dez would be too busy to hang out with her once he had to pick up his orientation duties and she was going to miss that. She'd made another attempt to get to know the two human women on board, Lum and Dama, but no one really seemed to enjoy it, least of all her.
Lum seemed bored and disinterested in spending time with any humans. Dama seemed nice enough, she just had so little in common with Silla, who still acted very human. They'd lived among the Sadecs for so long that she wasn't even sure they still remembered Earth, or who they'd been before they'd been taken away.
Content, happy with their lives, they didn't really want to reminisce about a planet they'd left behind years ago, and so with Dez soon to be busy, Silla resigned herself to being without company—aside from her Masters, and those they shared her with, of course.
Chapter 10
Silla had never developed anything more than fondness for Kri't, but she'd always enjoyed the things he did to her. The way he mastered her and made her beg for more and the creativity he put into torturing her had filled all of her needs when she was with him. It wasn't until the first couple of months had passed and they'd gotten used to each other that he began the Sad
ec tradition of sharing her with his friends and fellow warriors.
She was never asked if she had a preference, which was fine, because she didn't. She found them all delightfully inventive, and playing with someone new every few weeks wasn't much different from going to the clubs back on Earth. Though, on Earth, she'd rarely played with women. Here on the ship, the Sadec females were just as eager to play with her as the males.
She was nervous at first because she'd never been into women sexually, but when she made that clear, they respected it, as the general had told her they would. She had no problem with the pain aspect of those shares. The women, she found, were cruelly inventive, and there was one in particular who seemed to know exactly how to draw every nuance of delicious torment from her body.
She'd been shaky and grinning with a dazed look of surging endorphins when she'd returned to him after that visit. And of course, he'd been perfectly happy to take care of the pent-up sexual frustration that had built while she had been untouched sexually.
But the twins were a whole new experience. It was like nothing she'd ever been involved in before. They overwhelmed her when they eerily moved in sync, anticipating each other. At times, she thought only telepathy could explain it.
She both loved and hated belonging to them, but she couldn't deny that having two men to challenge and fight was hot. They looked similar, as most Sadecs did, so she couldn't tell if they were identical or not, but she quickly learned that they had incredibly different temperaments.
Although both were dominant, Era'D tended to take the upper hand in their games, and Nikon rarely seemed inclined to go against his brother's wishes. It made sense, since the awkward pause and skip that made his name sound like Err-uh-Da was a sign of rank. She still didn't know how they were promoted, but it wasn't hard to tell why Nikon was still only a standard warrior.
He was like a giant alien puppy. Full of affection and playfulness, he seemed unlike the other Sadecs, and even his brother at times seemed to lose patience. The flip side of that bouncy personality seemed to be mercurial moods, and he was the first warrior she'd ever managed to get to give her an angry spanking.
