The Thief's Dark (Renegades Book 3)

by L P Peace

  Sitting on the bed, eating excruciatingly slow, Daris looked up at her, glanced from the plate to her eyes and chuckled.

  ‘I have some interesting food on my ship.’ He smiled. ‘But as soon as I can, I’ll introduce you to some Amaran fare. Their food is decadent.’

  ‘I bet none of it’s chocolate.’ Zoe pouted. She’d been missing her evening hot chocolate with Tara and Sophia. She sighed and looked up at Daris, who had a grin on his face. ‘What?’

  ‘Is this chocolate really that good?’

  Zoe took an exaggerated breath. ‘Is it that good?’ She shook her head. ‘Not only does it taste incredible,’ she started, ‘but it releases feel-good hormones in the human body, and the exact melting point of chocolate is the same temperature as the core temperature of the human body.’ Zoe sat back in her seat, feeling she had made her case. ‘Chocolate isn’t just good. Chocolate is destiny.’

  ‘Destiny?’ Daris almost spat out the food in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed it quickly. ‘Destiny?’ he laughed. ‘You and I, my ahdali, are destiny. Chocolate is a food.’

  ‘You’re an alien,’ she crossed her arms. ‘I can’t expect you to understand.’

  ‘Hmm?’ Daris sat back, mirroring her when he crossed his own arms. ‘Perhaps you can teach me.’

  ‘I would love to. Got any chocolate?’

  ‘Yes.’ He smirked at her.

  ‘What? Did Makios and Rhona give it to you?’ Zoe was still waiting for the confession that maybe he didn’t know them all that well.

  ‘No, though now I know you like it, I’ll certainly have Rhona pick me up some next time she visits her family, at Hermes Village, on Mars.’

  How did he know about Hermes?

  Opting to ignore that for now, Zoe sat forward in her chair. ‘So, where did you get it from?’

  ‘I snagged one of those big bags from your ship in the bay where we met.’

  Zoe froze. She knew the ones he was on about. They were there to be handed out as samples to aliens as one of the things Earth had to trade. They were huge. Big enough that a diplomat at IGC could hand out the packets inside to staff and family if they so chose.

  ‘You’re serious?’ she breathed.

  Daris’s smirk widened to a smile. ‘I am. I’ve left most of it in my ship, but I brought a couple of the smaller packets here to treat you.’

  Zoe’s mouth watered. Oh god. She would do anything for chocolate. She wondered if Daris realised how much power he had over her right now. From the look on his face, he did.

  ‘Erm…’ Zoe tried to force her voice to stay even. ‘So what is it you expect for—’

  ‘If you think I’m going to force you to submit to me for foodstuff, no, Zoe.’ Daris leaned into the table. ‘Chocolate will be your reward for this rote’s walk.’

  Daris stood and turned, feeling inside the things on the storage shelf over the bed. She heard the familiar rustle of the packet before he pulled it out.

  ‘Oh my god,’ she whispered, her mouth watering once more. He held the packet out to show her, before moving to tuck it away. ‘Wait. Can I smell it?’

  Daris frowned. ‘You want to smell the packet?’

  ‘No, the chocolate. A smell’s almost as good as the taste.’

  Daris flashed her with an indulgent smile as he turned back to her. Carefully, he opened the packet and held it close to her.

  Almost giddy with excitement, Zoe leaned forward. She reached out to hold it steady and stop him snatching it back too soon.

  ‘No, Zoe,’ he warned.

  She flashed him an annoyed look, then leaned in and took a deep breath through her nose.

  Immediately, the earthy, sweet, almost nutty tones penetrated. Zoe felt muscles she hadn’t known were tense, relax. Her eyes closed of their own accord as her senses were overtaken by, in Zoe’s opinion, Earth’s most alluring scent.

  ‘Mmm.’ She realised the voice was hers.

  ‘Mmm?’ Daris’s voice answered. ‘What an interesting reaction.’

  The scent disappeared. Zoe opened her eyes to find Daris holding the bag to his nose. He sniffed, and his nose crinkled as he looked at her as though she were insane.

  ‘My species are mostly carnivorous.’ Daris picked out a single button of chocolate from the bag. ‘This really doesn’t appeal,’ he said, then dropped the button into his mouth. His face contorted in disgust, he swallowed it quickly, his jaw working as she assumed, he scraped his tongue off the roof of his mouth. A moment later, he grabbed the fork from his plate and ate three huge bites in a row.

  ‘That’s better,’ he said. He turned, securing the packet back in its hiding place. Zoe imprinted the location on her memory.

  ‘I’m thrilled you don’t like it,’ Zoe said. ‘More for me.’

  Daris raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement. ‘You can have some after the walk.’

  ‘When will that be?’ she asked, her eyes looking back at the shelf.

  ‘Soon.’ Daris grinned. ‘We’re waiting on a delivery of Tolomus’s shirts.’ His lip curled, the look in his eyes hardening.

  Zoe finished the disgusting goop Tolomus called food on this boat. She went into the bathroom, changing into another outfit the metallic purple alien had sent for her to wear.

  She stared at the black, lace-like panties. The lace felt nothing like lace from Earth. There was a red ribbon around the waistband. Crimson. The red and black bra was black lace over red silky material that matched the ribbon on the panties. Red lace went between the cups, up to the straps in a split strap design common on Earth. Zoe looked down at it. There had to be a human somewhere, designing these things. They were too close to underwear she’d seen and owned for it to be a coincidence.

  She dressed, put on Daris’s shirt, and was opening the door when she heard another voice in the room. She paused and listened.

  ‘All is well, Zoe,’ Daris called. ‘You may come.’

  Slowly, she pulled the door wider, already knowing what she was going to find.

  Tolomus stood next to Daris, the two of them staring at the door with equal intensity. While Tolomus looked eager to see her, Daris’s face was clouded and thunderous.

  She looked to Daris for reassurance. He gave her a tight nod of encouragement. She stepped out of the bathroom, tugging the edges of Daris’ shirt tighter around herself and keeping focused only on him, ignoring the slaver.

  ‘I want her in my shirt.’ Tolomus’s voice was tight.

  ‘Then tell her.’ Daris’s voice sounded light, but the look on his face only intensified. Tolomus’s attention was focused on Zoe, so he was oblivious.

  ‘Zoe.’ Tolomus’s voice was smooth but edged with hardness. ‘Take that off,’ he said. ‘I want you to wear this.’ He grabbed something from the table and held it out to her, a shirt. It was red and silky.

  Zoe looked at Daris. He closed his eyes for a moment, his body shaking. When he opened them, he nodded again.

  Swallowing her fear, Zoe reached out, stepping forward. She snagged the shirt and turned to put the bathroom door between her and the slaver.

  ‘In here.’ Tolomus’s voice was commanding.

  She froze, caught between wanting to go in the bathroom anyway and telling the alien to fuck off.

  ‘You heard him, Zoe,’ Daris called when she still hadn’t moved. She turned, beseeching him with her eyes to find a way out of making her do this. She saw the pain in his eyes, the hardening line of his mouth, and realised Daris was moments from turning to violence against Tolomus.

  Taking a deep breath, Zoe turned. She stared at Tolomus, letting some of the hate she felt for him show. She slid Daris’s shirt off, and with one arm outstretched, she dropped it on the bed.

  Tolomus watched with eager eyes, tracking down her body. She swung on his shirt, pulling it on and clutching the edges together, blocking her body from his covetous gaze.

  Tolomus’s eyes met hers. There was a definite heat there now. He approached her, his chin high. He looked down his nose at h
er.

  ‘The females of my world are larger than the males,’ he said. ‘I prefer you.’

  He observed her with cold eyes. He would hurt her and never give a damn.

  ‘Zoe?’ She saw Daris approaching him out of the corner of her eye. ‘It’s all right. You’re safe.’ She realised she was shaking. She stepped away from Tolomus, stepping away from the coldness that seemed to radiate out from him.

  ‘As you can see,’ Daris was saying. ‘She’s not ready yet. But she will be.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘Several more rotes,’ Daris said.

  ‘We’ll be at Addis in four.’ Tolomus’s eyes still hadn’t left her. ‘If I have her by the time we reach the planet, you may have your choice of the females on the floor.’

  Zoe looked at Daris. Fear and surprise closed her throat and stopped her from being able to speak.

  What if all of this was a ruse and he really meant to leave her with this alien?

  ‘Excellent,’ Daris said. His voice was thick, his eyes imploring her.

  Tolomus broke his gaze and looked at Daris, who, quicker than lightning, had a casual, even haughty air to him.

  ‘Of course, if you change your mind about joining us,’ Tolomus’s eyes searched Daris’s, ‘it’s an open invitation.’

  What the fuck!

  She couldn’t be betrayed by Daris and then still forced to submit to him. She took a panicked step back.

  Tolomus moved towards the door, Daris following though he was watching Zoe with a wary look on his face.

  ‘Thank you. As I’ve said, my interest lies in females.’

  When the door closed, Daris turned to her, his movements careful.

  ‘It is part of the act, Zoe.’

  ‘So you’re not planning on handing me over to him so you can leave with another woman?’

  ‘There is no other woman,’ he said with conviction.

  ‘You didn’t tell me about that,’ she said, hearing the vulnerability in her voice and hating herself for it.

  ‘I honestly didn’t think about it.’ He shook his head. ‘For me, the idea of taking any female but you from this place is…’ He shrugged. ‘I can’t even contemplate it, Zoe.’

  ‘I want to get off this ship Daris.’

  He crossed the room and wrapped himself around her. ‘We will, together. I promise.’

  ‘He would hurt me,’ she whispered. ‘I can see it. Why is he doing this?’

  ‘He told you the males of his species are smaller than the females. Fedhith males are submissive to their females.’ He drew away, looking into her eyes. ‘He plans to bond you to him, his bite. He’s afraid if you fight, he’ll submit.’

  Zoe remembered the scar on the side of his throat. ‘What happened to him to make him this way?’

  ‘I don’t know. But nothing good.’ He sniffed her and growled. His hands slipped the shirt off her. When he withdrew, she saw a look of distaste on his face and his bared teeth.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Vrokking shirt smells of him.’ He went into the bathroom and opened some device Zoe hadn’t noticed before. He dropped it inside. ‘It’ll be clean soon.’ He turned, took one look at her and froze. ‘I hate the keth vrokker, but I can’t fault his taste in this strange clothing.’

  ‘Strange?’ Zoe looked down, crossing her arms over her stomach. ‘This is normal to me.’

  ‘Normal?’ Daris looked into her eyes, his own widening. ‘Human females wear this?’

  Zoe nodded.

  ‘How often?’ he asked, his voice raw now.

  ‘Daily,’ she shrugged.

  His eyes fixed on her breasts as they followed the movement of her shoulders.

  ‘Oh, vrok,’ Daris turned to the side, taking deep breaths. ‘This is getting harder.’

  Zoe closed her eyes and tried not to laugh. ‘Looks that way to me.’

  Daris’s laughter filled the room.

  Zoe was a test on Daris’s ability to control himself. He had to control himself; it was part of what being dominant to her meant. He had to control himself to accept her control, her trust and not betray it. She had to know that when she gave herself up to him, he was there to accept her trust and not lose himself to the overwhelming presence that was his mate.

  It was becoming harder. Daris hadn’t expected it to be this challenging. To be in her presence, unable to touch her the way he wanted to. Unable to pleasure her the way he wanted to. His control was slowly fracturing under the weight of her repressed needs, and his denied ones.

  Daris wanted to lift her into his arms, sink inside her cunt and lose himself until they were both spent.

  He took the wretched crimson shirt Tolomus had brought out of the wash and proceeded to rub them against his jaw, cheek, and neck, where he had some of the most pungent scent glands, gifts from his ancient ancestors who still prowled through the jungles of his home planet. She had to wear the vrokking shirt, but it would be his scent she wore. He’d already had her wash and redress when he realised that the moment the shirt had been in contact with her, had imprinted the Fedhith’s powerful scent on her skin. It cloyed in the back of his throat and claimed she who was not the Fedhith’s to claim.

  He grabbed the other shirts Tolomus had brought and dropped them, en masse, into the cleaning unit, setting them to cleanse so he wouldn’t have to deal with the scent when they got back. He cleansed himself, getting rid of the last of it from his body. When he walked out, he smelled the scent, still clinging to the air, on the table where Tolomus had laid the shirts when he entered.

  Growling, Daris wet a cloth in the bathroom, loaded it with a cleanser meant for the body and washed the table down. Zoe watched him, a curious look on her face.

  ‘You’ve got a sensitive nose, haven’t you?’

  Daris nodded. ‘I’m a predator,’ he confirmed. ‘I need to hunt my prey.’ Barely looking at her, Daris returned the cloth to the bathroom and returned to the main room.

  Zoe was standing, using the shirt she’d just been wearing to dry the table. She stood there in the red and black ‘underwear,’ she called it. Underwear? Who bought things such as these to wear ‘under’ clothes? The idea of it was bizarre. If she was wearing it, he wanted to see her in them. He wanted her walking around in only them. Though there was a tantalising idea of knowing these things were under her clothes as she spoke, interacted, ate with other people. Especially if he had licked her ‘til she came while wearing them. Daris was halfway across the room when the thought occurred to him. He stopped in his tracks, closed his eyes, and groaned.

  ‘Daris?’

  He opened his eyes and took in the full length of her again. ‘You wear them under your clothes?’

  A bemused grin blossomed on her face. ‘Again, yes.’

  ‘And people know you wear them?’

  ‘Everybody wears them, or a variation on the theme. Men’s are different. It’s considered indecent to go without them.’

  ‘I consider it indecent to wear them,’ he growled, his eyes poring over the way the garments fitted to her, covering, accentuating, and revealing her all at the same time. He held the cleaned shirt out for her. Zoe slipped inside, one arm at a time, and wrapped the shirt around herself, covering her body from view.

  ‘That’s even worse,’ he groaned.

  Zoe looked at him, surprised. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I know they’re under there.’

  Zoe chuckled. A wicked grin appeared on her face, and holding the sides of the shirt, she tore the sides apart, revealing her body to him before covering herself again.

  The growl erupted from Daris without his permission. He took a step back and sprang, cutting off her escape when panicked, she bolted, trying to sidestep him. His hunter instinct reared up. He grabbed her, being careful with his delicate mate despite his deteriorated mental state, and spun her around, pressing her into him, her back to his front.

  ‘I’m going to make you cum again, Zoe,’ he promised.

  ‘Daris, no.�
��

  He froze. His mate had said no, he groaned releasing her.

  She turned. He saw the longing in her eyes, heightened by fear. He realised seeing him like that had frightened her, but it had added a flavour to her growing desire for him.

  ‘If you make me cum, the aliens out there will smell it?’

  He nodded.

  ‘So.’ There was a hesitance to her face now. ‘Not before.’ There were fear and hope in her eyes now.

  He stepped closer to her. ‘Chocolate and an orgasm.’

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  He took hold of her wrist and pulled her to him. ‘You’ll be so spoiled,’ he said quietly. ‘If you’re to have both, then the latter, we do it my way?’

  Zoe’s lips parted. She nodded.

  Excitement ratcheted up inside him. He forced it back down. They had to get through the walk first. Then Daris would satisfy his instinct to dominate his mate.

  Most of the men on The Crucible had disembarked at Caras. They’d been brought on for this particular job, so when he took her out, the halls were quieter. The Athon was absent, which made things instantly easier on Daris’s mate. Zoe tensed when she saw his door, then relaxed when they came to the lift and still hadn’t encountered anyone.

  ‘I think maybe last time Tolomus spread the word that you would be walking,’ Daris said to her when the lift doors closed.

  ‘To show me my place?’

  Daris nodded.

  When the lift came to a stop again, he saw his mate brace. He reached a hand towards her, touching the small of her back through the crimson shirt. ‘I am here, my mate.’ The doors swished open.

  A dozen or so males walked around the concourse. When the doors opened, eyes turned on Zoe.

  ‘Oh god, oh god, oh god,’ she whispered. She took a deep breath. ‘Okay, that’s not so bad.’

  With a gentle shake of the leash, Daris urged her forward. They had practised this and Zoe, hesitating only for a moment, stepped out of the lift.

  Tolomus leaned against a wall on one side of the enormous hall. His arms were crossed over his chest and he watched Zoe with rapt yet cold eyes. They fell on Daris, and Tolomus tugged on the collar of his shirt.