by Abel, Regine
Siona frowned and pressed her lips together to hold back the arguments that clearly wanted to come out.
“Okay, Mama,” she finally said, obediently.
I wanted to hug her and gently rock her in my arms while saying that everything would be all right, but we were in too public a place for me to risk touching her in a way that might cause her hologram to flicker.
“Come on, love. You don’t want to be late,” I said, taking her hand again.
As I turned around to resume walking the short distance to the Academy, my blood turned to ice at the sight of Luther’s lanky frame standing a short distance from the school’s gates. Swallowing hard, I kept my head straight, deliberately pretending not to see him as I escorted my daughter the rest of the way. To my relief, Siona didn’t notice his presence. She was terrified of him. In the early days of my contract with him, Luther used to come claim his ‘side benefits’ in the first small apartment I used to share with my daughter. Despite locking Siona in her room so she wouldn’t see, Luther had made no effort to be quiet. His grunts, shouts, and the vulgar language he loved to use while rutting over me had severely traumatized her. It had taken some time, but I’d eventually convinced him to hold such encounters at Bacchus to protect my child’s innocence.
I waited until Siona had entered the establishment before turning back. Luther hadn’t moved from his position, his hard stare locked on me. He turned around without a word and started walking away at a slow pace. Words were unnecessary for me to follow in his wake. My mind raced as to what he would say beyond berating me for ‘betraying’ him with another man. Surely, he wouldn’t dare bring up my daughter again.
We walked past the Academy into a narrow alley where deliveries were performed in the wee hours of the morning while the station was still asleep. Luther circled around the docking platform to hide us from view of any passerby. That further increased my unease. However, as he’d never raised a hand to me, I didn’t fear physical abuse. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t seek to humiliate me by demanding a blow job or to fuck me against the wall.
Not today, you wretched vermin.
“You whoring little slut,” Luther hissed, as soon as I turned the corner. “You think yourself smart getting your cunt ruined by that beast? Is that what you needed to get off? To be fucked by an animal? You should have told me sooner. I could have arranged that. There are plenty of customers asking for a beautiful piece of ass that’s into bestiality.”
“If you’re done with this disgusting nonsense, please tell me what you want. Krygor expects me soon,” I said in a clipped tone, refusing to let him get a rise out of me.
“Krygor expects me soon,” he mimicked mockingly. “You think some sweet pussy will make him fall for you? You think he’s going to buy your contract?” Luther shook his head, giving me a contemptuous once over. “You were always stupid, but even this is a new height of stupidity from you. Don’t you realize who he is? Younger, fresher, far more beautiful females than you throw themselves at him on a daily basis. So what you can take his monster cock? The novelty of your cunt will wear off, and he’ll send you right back to your master—to me. Do you think one of the right hands of a king and sire of the owner of the Hive Network would take my leavings as his mate? A whore not good enough to fully service regular customers?”
Every one of his words cut like a knife, echoing each of my fears. But hearing them spoken out loud by another gave them even more weight. Although not as vulgarly put, Roman had also stated I was too old for most buyers. Never mind that I still had twenty-five years of fertility left before me, or that I still had at least eighty to one hundred years still left to live, and that I wouldn’t show any real signs of aging for another thirty years. I hadn’t told Krygor that Luther regularly used me as a fuck toy. Not only was I too ashamed, but I’d specifically feared he’d be repulsed at the thought of lying with a woman Luther had already thoroughly used. Tears of humiliation pricked my eyes, but I refused to shed them.
“I’m not going to stay here and be your punching bag,” I said, proud of my controlled voice. “I am sorry you are displeased by my efforts to repay my debt to you. I may have been stupid entering into that contract without thoroughly reading the clauses, but I’m learning from the best. Good day to you, Luther.”
“Not so fast,” said a sensual male voice behind me as I began to turn around.
I yelped, nearly jumping out of my skin at the sight of the breathtaking male. The Goddess only knew when he’d managed to sneak up on me. Tall, lithe, with well-defined muscles, his dusty blue skin, silky long black hair, and small horns shaped like a crown gave him away as a Sarenian.
“We just got here, you can’t leave already,” the Sarenian said in a purring voice that was strangely melodic.
A spicy scent wafted to me, enticing, intoxicating. It took me a second to figure out it wasn’t cologne but his pheromones. My blood ran cold as I realized he intended to use his mind control abilities on me. I tried to avert my eyes and flee, but I reacted too late.
“Stay and be silent,” the Sarenian commanded, his voice taking on a strange vibration. His midnight blue eyes flashed with a light glow, and I immediately went numb.
Sarenians were a predatory species. While their females were entirely submissive and subservient, the males were true hunters who could release pheromones that enticed their victim. Worse still, they were able to ensnare and mesmerize their prey with a direct stare and the vibration of their voices. But the worst part was that, while the victim kept control of their thoughts, the Sarenian had full control of their bodies.
“Go to the wall,” the Sarenian ordered.
The tears of fear trickled down my face instead of the ones of humiliation I’d held back earlier as I helplessly watched my body comply with his command. My tongue had turned to lead, preventing me from screaming for help.
“You Sarenians are quite efficient. I should hire you to keep misbehaving sluts in line,” Luther mumbled, staring at me with malicious glee. “Maybe I should fuck your ass once Faolen is done with you. I know how much you love that,” he added with cruelty.
“You will not touch her,” Faolen said with a cold voice. “Remember that the Braxian’s nose is as sensitive as it is ugly. Even if she showers, he’ll scent you on her if you fuck her.”
I could have wept with relief upon hearing those words. But that didn’t alleviate my fear about what Luther could have possibly meant by his ‘once Faolen is done with you’ comment.
“As for retaining our services, you couldn’t afford us,” the Sarenian continued with an obvious contempt that left me confused. “You can barely keep your establishment above water despite the large revenues it generates. You’re pathetic. Just be grateful I’m here to clean up your mess. If my client doesn’t get the virgin as promised, you will rue the day you failed to honor a contract with a Sarenian.”
I stared disbelieving at Luther. Him promising my daughter as a means to repay debts quickly eclipsed the shock of him possibly being in financial difficulties when Bacchus was raking in millions every week. Luther glared at Faolen, his face red with humiliation and anger. The offense cut him all the deeper for being called out in front of me. I opened my mouth to argue with the Sarenian that Siona wasn’t his to sell, but no sound came out.
“Do not waste your energy, my Beauty,” Faolen said in a soothing voice, cupping my face between his hands.
I grabbed his wrists to tear them away from me.
“Stop. Remain still,” the Sarenian immediately ordered with that vibrating tone again.
My arms immediately went limp, falling to my sides. I remained helpless, trapped inside my body while tears continued to blur my vision.
“Hush, Beauty,” Faolen said in a soothing voice although he didn’t use his power this time. “We will treat you so much better than that idiot who currently owns you.”
“What do you mean?” Luther intervened. “Hope isn’t part of the deal. You only get the kid. Your Princ
e pops her cherry, and then you send her back. I have many very wealthy clients impatient to fuck a Guldan female… Especially one that young and that beautiful.”
A murderous rage rippled through me, further fueled by my current paralysis. All these years, he’d been biding his time to repay his debt to the Sarenian crown before he could pass my baby around to a bunch of sick perverts…
Over my dead fucking body.
I had no problem going to jail for murder if that meant keeping my baby safe. As the Goddess was my witness, I would kill that son of Gharah.
Faolen slowly turned his head sideways to look at Luther with a predatory look that made me shudder. “You are trying my patience, human,” the Sarenian articulated slowly in a low, menacing voice. “The girl will remain on Sarenia for the Hunts of our pre-adult males. She will be well-loved, well cared for, and showered with gifts in exchange for her favors. As for Hope,” he continued turning back to look at me, “I look forward to hunting you.” He caressed my lips with two fingers before pressing them to his own lips. “I am taking her as repayment for the interests you have accrued and cost to myself for fixing your mess.”
“You can’t do this!” Luther exclaimed, panic seeping into his voice. “They’re—”
“That’s enough out of you,” Faolen hissed with that vibrating voice, his eyes glowing as he stared at Luther. “You will not speak or complain about this anymore. Hope and Siona are mine. Now leave us and return to your work at Bacchus.”
It terrified me watching Luther compelled in this way, forced to comply as helplessly as I was. My gaze followed him until he left my line of sight. I looked back at the Sarenian who was observing me with a gentle, almost tender expression on his gorgeous face.
“Do not cry, my Beauty,” he said. “All will be well. You may not think so right now, but once on Sarenia, you will see how much better your life will be. However greedy we may be with our females, we also treat them well and make sure they are sated, happy, and fulfilled. Too bad the Hunt is still a week away. You are ripe. I intend to be the first to capture you and sire an offspring on you. But there will be time to discuss your future later. For now, we’ve got some business to take care of.”
Mind reeling, I couldn’t seem to process what was happening until I saw him raise a tool with a sharp point towards my neck. My eyes widened with fear, but I couldn’t scream, fight, or pull away, trapped by the compulsion that forced me to remain still.
“Relax, Hope,” Faolen said gently. “I will not harm you. I will never harm you. I merely need to do some tweaks to your collar.”
True to his word, Faolen didn’t hurt me but fiddled with my collar for a couple of minutes. I couldn’t see what he had done. It felt like he’d swapped a piece or modified the lock at the front which was hidden behind a large decorative gem.
“There. See? No harm,” Faolen said, leaning forward to brush his lips against mine. “I cannot wait to have you, little Beauty. In the meantime, I have a task for you to make sure our reunion will go off without a hitch.”
Taking on his vibrating voice, Faolen gave me a series of commands that horrified me, especially knowing I wouldn’t be able to resist them.
“I’m going to leave you now, my delectable Hope,” Faolen said with a seductive smile. “In a few seconds, your collar will chime. When it does, you will forget everything that happened here. You will forget seeing Luther or me, and you will go back about your business as originally planned this morning. And the next time the chime goes off, you will perform the task I have given you then forget all about it once it is completed. Nod if you understand.”
Against my will, my head nodded.
“Good girl. Now stop crying and wipe your tears.”
Once more, I complied, looking at him with murder in my eyes. But that only made him chuckle.
“I love your feisty spirit, Hope. Courting you will be so much fun. See you soon, my love.”
With these last words, the Sarenian walked away. Seconds after he cleared my line of sight, the discreet, but high-pitched sound of a bell resonated from my collar, and my mind immediately went blank.
I blinked, my eyes stinging as if I’d cried or gotten sand into them. I rubbed them, my eyelids feeling oddly humid, and then my surroundings penetrated my foggy mind.
What in the world am I doing in this alley?
Panicked, I looked down at myself for any sign I’d been mugged, robbed, or violated. But nothing felt or looked off aside from the confusion swirling in my head. Shrugging with a sense of unease, I walked out of the alley and headed back to my apartment to pick up a few more things.
Chapter 5
Krygor
Leaning back against the surprisingly comfortable hotel desk chair—considering very little commercial furniture was scaled to Braxians—I gazed at my son’s face through the vidscreen. By Braxian standards, Anton was too pretty and scrawny, even though humans didn’t see it that way. As a hybrid, he was certainly much smaller than us, pureblood. And yet, my firstborn was my pride and joy. To this day, he craved my approval, but expressing feelings didn’t come naturally to my people, least of all me. If he only knew the depth of the love in my heart for him.
“Naya says she misses her Grappa Krygor,” Anton said with a teasing smile. “When are you coming back?”
“I’ll be on Lilith Hive for a few more days,” I replied noncommittally. “Assuming Ravik doesn’t order me back to Braxia in a hurry, I’ll make a little detour to see your spoiled brat,” I added affectionately.
“I’ll hold you to it,” Anton replied. “Your business on Lilith Hive went well?”
“It did,” I said enigmatically. “However, I’m curious about a certain Luther Stromland. What can you tell me about him?”
Anton narrowed his eyes at me. “He runs Bacchus, a highly successful fancy strip club and massage parlor. However, I’m not fond of the man. I’ve been receiving an increasing number of reports about him being involved in shady deals because he’s grown highly indebted.”
“How can he be indebted with the outrageous prices he charges and when the place is constantly packed?” I asked, taken aback.
“Gambling. He’s become addicted to betting on the gladiator battles,” Anton answered before tilting his head to the side. “So, you’ve been to Bacchus. Enjoyed yourself?”
“I did,” I replied, slightly annoyed by my son’s almost otherworldly ability to read people to which he largely owed his phenomenal success.
“For all his faults, Luther has an uncanny talent to recruit beautiful females,” Anton said.
“And then exploit them,” I snarled.
“Meaning?” Anton asked with a frown.
“Maybe I shouldn’t generalize as I do not know the situation of the other girls. But he certainly trapped one of the females into a never-ending Indentured Servant contract,” I said.
“Who is she?” Anton asked, his voice taking that subtle hard edge that said someone would soon be in trouble.
“Hope Morak,” I said, the muscles in my back knotting while my son typed her name into his system.
His eyes widened, and his lips parted in shock as her face no doubt came up on his monitor. Turning back to look at me, a tense expression on his face, Anton studied my face as if it would give him the answer he sought.
“They are not related,” I said in a neutral voice.
Anton blinked, heat creeping on his face. My firstborn always took great pride in hiding his emotions. However, his mother’s departure and indifference had also left him with a gaping wound that I was helpless to mend. Hatred surged once more within me for the cold, heartless female who could have been—should have been—the one source of comfort our son could have received in the harsh years of his youth on Braxia. I could only thank the Ancestors Anton never knew what horrors she had said about him upon his birth.
Taking a deep breath, I gave him an overview of what had transpired, including Hope’s Escort contract to me. Anton listened stoically, a
sking the occasional question along the way.
“You are fond of her,” Anton said matter-of-factly.
“I am,” I conceded.
“And her child?”
“She’s a good kid. Polite, demure, eager to please, smart, and adores her mother,” I replied.
“Why don’t you bind them to you?” Anton asked. “Hope is beautiful, submissive, is compatible with a Braxian, clearly has strong maternal instincts, and bears you some affection. What more could you want?”
I snorted at the irony of him throwing back at me the same question I had asked him years ago when Grace had been his Indentured Servant.
“I am seriously considering buying her contract,” I said noncommittally, although that decision had in fact already been made.
“If you don’t, I will,” Anton said in a tone that brooked no argument.
I stiffened and narrowed my eyes at him.
“Relax, Father. I have no designs on her. Grace is the only woman I will ever want,” Anton said in the harshest tone I’d ever heard from him. “But no loving mother should struggle and suffer this much just to be able to protect her child.”
The underlying hurt at his own mother’s contempt resounded loud and clear. Once more, my heart ached for my son. Realizing he was losing his composure, Anton stretched his neck and rolled his broad shoulders, before clasping his hands on the desk before him.
“I will take care of Luther,” he said in a business-like voice.
“No,” I countered. “Luther is mine.”
The shadow of an almost evil smile stretched Anton’s lips before he bowed his head in concession.
“Very well. What do you need from me?” my son asked.
“Whatever details you can dig up on his side dealings would be of great interest to me,” I answered.
“I’ll get William right on it. And Father, remember that my Hives are also your Hives. If Luther or anyone else gives you lip or attitude, you have the full power to evict them or shut down their business, contract or not. The penalty for kicking them out is nothing to me.”
