by Ivy Barrett
Celeste was about to demand an explanation for the cryptic statement when Vikrin said, “The general refused to take my urgings seriously, so I told a hunter team to capture Brianne and made them think the general had authorized the mission.”
“When they completed the mission,” Ram took up the tale, sounding none too pleased with the gatekeeper, “the hunters turned over Brianne and the others to their supervisor. He knew nothing about the unauthorized mission, so he processed the females as usual. By efficiently doing his job, he created a web of complications I’m still untangling.”
It took two of them ten minutes to say absolutely nothing. God, these jerks were frustrating, “Is Brianne on this ship or not? Lorna told me Bri was safe. She said they were both safe. Was all of that bullshit? Just tell me what’s going on.”
Ram’s eyes narrowed, and his features hardened into a mask of displeasure. “You’ve spoken to Lorna since you’ve been on this ship?”
She closed her eyes as dread shoved through her anger. She always blurted out every thought she had when she was pissed, but Lorna would likely pay for this blunder. Warm fingers curved around her chin and slowly tilted her head back. She could feel the heat of Ram’s body, sense his leashed power. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes.
“Answer me.”
Did Ram know about the messages Lorna sent? Was it best to tell him about that or admit someone onboard had arranged for a quick holo-com when Celeste first arrived?
“I don’t repeat orders.” His tone was even grimmer than his expression. “Failure to reply honestly will result in punishment.”
Shit! The chances that Lorna’s transmissions had gone unnoticed were slim to none, so she opted for what he likely knew already. “Lorna allowed herself to be captured so she could send me messages. We were hoping her investigation would lead us to Brianne. Her last message indicated that it had.”
“Lorna did not know Brianne’s fate the last time she sent you a message.” He shook his head. “I don’t make idle threats, but I will deal with this in a moment.” He lowered his hand and turned back to Vikrin, still looking angry. “What were you hoping to accomplish by forcing this change on Celeste? There are strict rules regarding the treatment of life-bringers. You know this.”
“We don’t know if she’s a life-bringer or not. I’m confident the answer will be yes, but she must be bred to find out.” Vikrin paused and squared his shoulders. “We don’t need the Ventori. They will only complicate what you’re trying to accomplish. As Celeste will prove, I can provide life-bringers for all your warriors.”
“Leave us,” Ram said.
The Tavorian didn’t hesitate.
Hoping to distract Ram from his conquest, Celeste said, “Vikrin told me that was the third injection. Why didn’t anyone react when he gave me the other two?”
“I will inquire.”
Well, that bought her about three seconds. Not even enough time to organize her thoughts. Celeste knew this moment would come, had been dreading it since Ram brought her onto his ship. He moved even closer. She forced herself not to back away. Showing fear would only make him more ruthless. The Yashonty respected strength and bravery. Pity was an alien concept.
“If what Vikrin said is true, you will have your choice of protectors.”
That left a massive ‘if’ between her and safety. Rather than dwell on the fact, she went in a different direction. “And if I prefer not to have a protector?”
“That’s not an option on this ship. I must maintain order.” His voice took on a husky purring quality as he asked, “Are you a virgin also?”
Also? Did he know about Brianne? It sounded like he did. Is that what he meant about the hunters not asking questions? “Why do you ask?”
His arm shot out and he grasped the back of her hair, tilting her head back far less gently this time. “Answer now, or I’ll find out for myself.”
Okay, now was not the time to worry about Brianne. “No. I’m not a virgin.”
“Good.” He released her hair but remained close, towering over her. “Until we can determine whether or not you can bring forth Yashonty life, you are a comfort-giver. It is my right as commander to claim any comfort-giver I want. You will offer me comfort.”
“I’m not offering you anything.” It was impulse, an instinctual reaction to his bullying behavior. It was also pointless and unwise. Her refusals meant nothing to Ram. Alien females were a commodity to the Yashonty.
As if to prove her point, he rattled off the rules she’d foolishly hoped to avoid. “Every alien female must be claimed. Your male will provide for all your needs. That means food, shelter, and protection. Without a protector, you will be used by any male who needs comfort. If you refuse me as your protector, you will be offered to the next officer on the rotation. If I’m not mistaken, that’s Fiknar. He has three cabin mates. Would you rather submit to me, or four of my officers?”
She looked at Ram as she frantically weighed her options. She’d known she would have to submit to survive the moment Ram threw her over his shoulder. Human reality had changed forever with the first Skarilian bomb. If she had to have sex with someone, why not put herself in the best position to help her sisters? Because you’re not a whore! a lifetime of social expectations screamed, yet a strange, tingling heat cascaded through her body and pooled low in her belly. Something about Ram intrigued her. But he wasn’t even human! “I can’t. I won’t.” She tried to sound assertive, but her voice broke, and her hands were trembling.
“Fiknar and his cabin mates, or me.” He leaned down, bringing his face within inches of hers. “That’s the only choice you’ll get, human.”
She dragged in a nervous breath, and his exotic scent filled her nose. He was savage and ruthless. He would expect her to obey without question and submit completely to his will. The concept was contrary to her personality, to everything she’d fought for all her life. She was self-sufficient and independent, proud of the fact that no one controlled her. So why the hell were her nipples hard and her pussy aching? She pressed her thighs together with an inward groan.
“I have no interest in terrified females, Celeste. Decide now, or I walk away.”
One dominant alien or four? Either way, she was fucked. Choosing the lesser of two evils, and her best chance at helping her sisters, she took a deep breath and raised her gaze to Ram’s. “I choose you.”
He accepted her choice with a nod and sat down on the bunk. “Remove your dress and bend over my lap. Before we move forward with our agreement, you must be punished for lying to me.”
Celeste felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare. Hearing about these situations and experiencing one were very different things. Even staring into Ram’s pale purple eyes, she couldn’t quite convince herself that she was really a Yashonty prisoner about to be disciplined and then used in whatever way pleased him most. “What I told you about Lorna was true. She is on this ship hoping to gather information about Brianne.” Celeste was stalling, and they both knew it. There was no way Ram would be talked out of soundly spanking her. Why didn’t she just get it over with?
“That’s not how you learned that we’d found Brianne. You will be spanked. Nothing will change that, but denying that you lied will add to the severity of your discipline.”
She didn’t care about the spanking. Ram could ‘discipline’ her all he liked if he ensured her sisters’ safety first. “Brianne is on this ship, under your protection?”
“Asking me questions is a privilege you’ve yet to earn. You were given an order. Why am I still waiting for you to obey?”
She took half a step forward, then a full step back. “If I let you spank me, will you tell me exactly where Brianne is and when I can see her? I want to see Lorna too. I’m not convinced she’s as unharmed as she pretended.”
Apparently out of patience, he rocked forward, grabbed her by the wrist, and dragged her to him, all without standing up. She stood between his spread thighs, which put her eyes on a level with his.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and locked their gazes. Damn, he was tall. She’d never seen a man... no, not a man. Ram was a Yashonty male. She couldn’t forget for even a moment that he was not human. He did not think like a human, had been raised with an entirely different concept of right and wrong. The aliens didn’t behave like humans because they weren’t.
“Are you willing to obey me, or not?” He didn’t sound as impatient as his actions made him seem, and she couldn’t begin to untangle the emotions in his expressive eyes. “I must have obedience from my crew. What kind of example does it set if I allow defiance in my comfort-giver?”
She licked her lips, feeling small and vulnerable framed by his powerful legs and muscular arms. It took a lot to intimidate her, but Ram was daunting. “Adult humans don’t spank each other.” It was a feeble excuse, but she couldn’t think of anything better.
“Some do.” His silky white brows arched in challenge. “But even if they didn’t, the argument is irrelevant. I’m not human, and you are on my ship. That means you must adapt to Yashonty expectations, not the other way around. If you move into the appropriate position right now, I will take your culture into consideration as I spank you. If I must assist you, I will consider that too.”
She turned to the side, willing herself to bend over, but her body refused to move. She was a grown-ass woman. This was ridiculous! Even as a child, she had never been spanked.
With a heavy sigh, he grasped the back of her neck and urged her down over his leg. He rocked her so far forward that her feet nearly left the deck. Then he flipped up her dress, baring her upturned ass. Humiliated and angry, Celeste automatically covered her butt with her hands. The position and her nudity, not to mention her complete helplessness, all added to her humiliation. Couldn’t she have a time out, or be grounded, or something? The ridiculous thought helped push back her building hysteria.
His hand left the back of her neck, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Had he changed his mind, decided to take pity on her after all? His next move proved her earlier conclusion that pity was alien to the Yashonty. Ram crossed her wrists at the small of her back and secured them there with one large hand. His other hand slapped her behind, first one cheek then the other.
Her eyes widened, but she bit back a yelp. This wasn’t just kinky foreplay. It hurt!
Again and again, his hand connected with her butt. The sting made her gasp and grit her teeth, but the heat was harder to ignore. It sank deeper with each spank, stimulating sensations that were both unexpected and unwelcome. Her pussy clenched and her clit tingled. What the hell was wrong with her? This could not be turning her on. She wouldn’t allow it!
“Stop it,” she yelled, struggling against his unyielding hold.
As she hoped, he spanked her even harder, driving back the unwanted desire. For a moment or two. Then her body came alive in a way she’d never experienced before. Radiating heat echoed each swat, and the ripples of warmth brushed across every erogenous zone in her body. Her ass still hurt, throbbing persistently, but pleasure threaded through the discomfort. She groaned and clenched her fists, driving her nails into her palms. To her horror, the additional sting only drove her closer to orgasm.
“You do not have permission to come,” he snapped.
She froze, mortified that he knew she was that close to losing control. “Stop. I don’t want... Don’t make me come like that. Please.”
He paused, his hand resting lightly on her burning ass cheek. “I smell fear as well as arousal. Why? You were not afraid before.”
“I’m sorry I lied to you. I will try very hard not to do it again.”
He chuckled, moving his hand to the small of her back. “Your wording infers that you expect to fail.”
“You want me to be honest.”
He pulled her up and rocked her back, placing her on her knees. “Celeste, there is no shame in finding pleasure through pain.” When she said nothing and continued to stare straight ahead, he tilted her head back and turned her face toward his. “Why do you find the thought so upsetting?”
“I don’t want any of this,” she whispered, but her pussy ached so bad it was all she could do not to beg for his cock.
“Your scent says otherwise.” He took one of her hands and guided it between her legs. She struggled when she realized what he intended, but it did no good. Soon her fingers, strongly assisted by his, explored her slick pussy and swollen clit. “Say it, naughty human. Admit that the spanking nearly made you come.”
She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. His hand released hers, and she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he’d lost interest in the game. Instead, he pulled her up and pushed her back over his leg. But he didn’t spank her bottom. He shoved her legs farther apart and swatted her needy pussy.
She cried out, shocked at the pain—and horrified at the other sensations that pulsed through her abdomen.
“Say it!” He swatted her pussy again, catching her clit this time.
She screamed and twisted her hips. “You’re right! It turned me on. I almost came.” She pushed off his leg and tried to crawl away. He grabbed her arm, preventing her escape, but made no other move.
For a long silent moment he studied her, then suddenly ripped her filmy dress down the center, baring her body completely. “Stand and face me.”
Her legs felt like Jell-O, but she managed to get them beneath her. She tried to convince herself that her nudity didn’t matter. The dress hadn’t really hidden that much anyway. It just helped her feel less vulnerable.
“I said face me,” he reminded.
Reluctantly, she made herself turn. If he was going to fuck her, she’d rather not look at him while he did. It would be easier to distance herself from the act if she wasn’t staring him in the face.
He studied her objectively as if she were an inanimate object. She was an object to him, a possession to be used and discarded. That thought jolted through her, jerking her back to alertness. She had to please him, had to make him want to keep her. Ram could order the release of her sisters. She would never be in a better position to help them. She needed to obey.
He cupped one breast and then the other, not seeming to be overly impressed. She wasn’t surprised. Her ass and legs had always gotten more attention than her boobs. His gaze locked with hers as he slipped his hand between her thighs. She started to close her eyes, but he growled out, “Don’t.” He waited until she opened them again before he continued. He watched her closely as he stroked her slit and rubbed her clit. She gasped and moaned, hoping he’d let her come before he—No such luck. He moved on right before the tingling pressure released.
With his gaze still locked with hers, he pushed two of his fingers up inside her, his two longest from the feel of them. She tensed, inside and out. The invasion was unwelcome. Sort of. It was more like she didn’t want to want it, but she did. She wanted him to finger-fuck her so fast and hard that she came screaming while he grinned at her loss of control. She wanted him to command her, to—She refused to utter his favorite word, even in her mind. She did not want to be ‘used’ by him or anyone.
“You’re still really tight,” he muttered as he slid slowly in and out. “When’s the last time a male used this soft pink hole?”
Such a delightful way of describing her lady parts. Like cunt or pussy was any better?
“Answer me,” he snapped.
How long? She quickly thought back and was shocked at the answer. “Over a year.” She’d had plenty of opportunities for casual hookups, but there was no one special in her life. She wanted something deep and meaningful.
He didn’t react openly to the information. Without removing his fingers from her pussy, he worked some of the moisture farther back and eased his smallest finger just inside her other hole.
She tensed but forced herself not to close her eyes or resist him. He wasn’t hurting her. It just felt incredibly intrusive and obscene.
“And here?” He pushed in a bit deeper. “Has any male f
ucked you here?”
She shook her head. “Never appealed to me.”
He smiled, his gaze boring into hers. “It appeals to me greatly.” He pulled back then pushed all three fingers inward, driving steadily until she had taken their entire length. “And I like this even better.” He carefully fucked both holes at the same time. “But that requires two cocks, and I’ve only got one.”
She whimpered as heat swirled through her abdomen. Her clit twitched, and tingles dropped down her spine. “I don’t want to be shared.”
“You say you don’t want any of this, but your juices are all over my hand.”
“I can’t help what my body does. I don’t want this.” Yet orgasm’s familiar tension was rapidly gathering in her pussy and making her back passage clench around his sliding finger.
He fucked her faster, harder, lubricated by the arousal she denied so adamantly. “Come for me, little liar. Come hard on my fingers.”
She tried to fight it, wanted desperately to prove him wrong. But her body had its own ideas. She cried out in defeat and arched her back as pleasure burst inside her. Her pussy rippled and her ass clenched tight, trapping his fingers inside her. She grasped his shoulders as her body shook and her head swam with the intense sensations.
The tingling spasms were just beginning to fade when shame crashed down upon her. She covered her face with her hands and frantically blinked back tears. She would not humiliate herself further by bawling in front of her tormentor. Tormentor? He’d just given her the most powerful orgasm of her life, even if she didn’t want to think about how he’d done it. Most females dreamed about that sort of torment.
He slid his fingers out, and she tried to move back. He caught her wrist again. God, she hoped that wasn’t the hand he’d just been using to finger her ass!
As if he’d heard her thought, he shoved her torn dress into her other hand. “Wet that with soap and water then come wash my hand.”
Happy to oblige, she rushed into the tiny utility room and wet a portion of the dress with water then held another area beneath the soap dispenser. She avoided looking in the mirror, wasn’t ready to face what she’d become.
