by Ivy Barrett
“If your ‘other guest’ is Celeste Mortenson, I would very much like to see her.”
“I’ll consider it.” He didn’t wait for Galzar’s reply before he strode from the dining hall.
* * *
Celeste paced the main living space inside Ram’s cabin, anxious and jittery. She’d cried for a few minutes after Ram left so abruptly, then went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. Refusing to wait for him naked and in bed, she’d borrowed another one of his shirts and went into the outer room. The restlessness had been building steadily ever since. He’d refused to let her clean up, so she couldn’t escape his scent, or the memory of his thick cock sliding in and out of her aching pussy. Was this need a side effect of whatever Vikrin had injected into her? A sharp humorless laugh burst from her throat. It wasn’t a side effect. It was the express, engineered purpose. The Yashonty wanted mates, and now her body was urging her to fuck like an animal in heat.
She raked her hair with both hands, moaning in frustration. Well, she wasn’t an animal or not a wild animal anyway. She was a sophisticated, civilized American that—wanted cock so bad she could scream! She’d rubbed herself to orgasm twice, but nothing helped. She didn’t need to come. She needed to fuck.
As if summoned by her desperate body, Ram walked into the cabin. She took two eager steps toward him, then froze. He looked furious.
“One of my crewmembers is in medical right now having his scalp regenerated. If that tray hit any lower, you would have broken his neck.”
The crewmember in question had been polite and so damn young that Celeste had almost abandoned her spontaneous escape plan. But he’d unloaded the alloy tray then left it on a chair while he arranged the contents on a nearby table. He was distracted, and much too convinced by her little-girl-lost act. As he headed for the door, she’d picked up the tray and smacked the back of his head with it right as the door slid open. She knew the tray’s edge would be more impactful than the flat bottom, and she’d wanted to make sure she knocked him out, so she swung the tray sideways. She hadn’t meant to hurt him badly, just keep him from sounding an alarm.
“I saw an opportunity and took it,” she defended, ignoring the guilt resulting from her own words. “You would have done the same.”
“An opportunity for what?” Ram challenged. “Where the fuck did you think you were going?”
“To hide on the Ventori shuttle.”
He tensed, gaze narrowing. “How did you know there were Ventori onboard?”
“Your ‘crewmember’ told me. He gossiped like a schoolgirl as soon as I started flirting with him.” Half a second after the words left her mouth, she cringed at her carelessness. Would the poor thing be punished for his indiscretion thanks to her rebellion?
Ram closed his eyes with an exasperated sigh. “His weakness does not excuse your actions.” His eyes opened and locked on to hers. “I was concerned that you would be hungry or thirsty, wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be. You repaid my kindness with violence. I have been much too lenient with you!”
Without further explanation, he grasped her upper arm and dragged her into the adjacent bedroom. He retrieved a synth-leather belt from one of the compartments inset in the wall, and her entire body went cold. A hand spanking was one thing, but a belt would doubtlessly hurt much worse. And Ram was pissed, seriously pissed.
“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” she cried, tugging against his hold, but his fingers felt like a manacle around her upper arm.
Pulling her to the side of the bed, he tugged her borrowed shirt off over her head. “Bend over.”
She shook her head. “You’re too angry right now. You’ll hurt me.”
“Damn right it will hurt. But I will not harm you.” Rather than arguing with her further, he turned her to face the bed. Then he grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her torso down until her cheek touched the bedding.
“Please don’t do this. I already said I was sorry.” She hated the cowardice reflected in her words, but her body was acting so strangely right now, there was no telling what this would do to her. “I feel really weird. Can you have—”
“I’d hoped to train you slowly,” he cut in. “Give you time to adapt to my expectations of you.” As he spoke, he quickly folded the belt in half and then placed his free hand against the middle of her back, holding her in place. “Defiance of any kind will no longer be tolerated.” He punctuated the statement with a swing of the belt.
Pain sliced across her ass cheeks in a fiery line and Celeste cried out sharply. “I’m sorry!” She tried to struggle, but he held her down, immobilizing her upper body against the bed.
The belt connected again, searing a line lower on her bottom. “You will speak respectfully and only argue when I’ve given you permission to voice your opinions.”
“Fuck you!” The phrase was out before she could comprehend the foolishness of her reaction.
He spanked her in silence for several agonizing moments. Each blistering swing connected with a different area of her sensitive backside. It didn’t really matter where the belt landed. Her entire ass was one concentrated ball of pain after the first few swats.
She clenched the bedding, tears streaming down her face. Each breath was a shuddering sob. She liked to think she was tough, that nothing bothered her, but her emotions were rioting, and her entire body had gone haywire. She might have been able to process the pain if her other senses were behaving. But beneath the heat and the flashes of pain, the ache in her pussy wound tighter and tighter. How could she possibly want sex while in the grip of such harsh discomfort? It was irrational, twisted, wrong.
“You are so fucking wet.” His voice growled, but she couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or aroused by her reaction.
He kicked her feet apart and brought his hand up between her thighs. This pain was different, sharper but somehow more connected to the ache she’d been fighting since he left. Rolling to the balls of her feet, she helplessly canted her hips. She needed another slap, knew it would make her come, and she craved the intensity.
“You’re not supposed to enjoy this.” He spanked her pussy again.
She cried out louder, her clit twitching wildly. “Please, may I come? Please, please let me.”
“I should deny you,” he snarled. “You’ve been a very bad girl.”
“I need it, Master. I need you so damn bad.” She sobbed out her misery, opening her thighs wider to tempt him with her wet flesh. She was beyond modesty and shame, beyond pride and rationality. This was an instinctual demand as old as time, as fundamental as survival.
He spanked her pussy again, and she came, screaming as her body shook, but as before it didn’t really help. “Please, Master. Please.” She had never felt so miserable, never needed anything this badly.
“You want my cock?” His voice deepened, sounding even rougher than usual. “You’ve got a greedy little cunt. My cum is barely dry on your inner thighs and already you want more.”
“Yes! God, please.”
“What will you do if I give it to you?”
She heard the rasp of his pants opening and her core clenched so hard she moaned. “Anything you want. I’ll do anything.”
He fisted the back of her hair as he said, “I’ll hold you to that, little human.”
He filled her with one brutal thrust, stretching her pussy muscles to the point of pain. She cried out in shock and pleasure, hating that she had been reduced to a sobbing, begging mess. He wasn’t gentle. It would have frustrated her if he had been. He slammed his entire length into her sopping cunt over and over. His pelvis slapped against her still-stinging ass with each possessive impact. The diffused sting kept the heat smoldering and quickly rebuilt her arousal.
Releasing her hair, he grasped her hips. “Who does this pussy belong to?” He paused with his entire length inside her as he waited for her answer.
“You, Master, only you.” Another humiliating sob followed the admission. She did not want to be his slave, didn’
t want anything to make her this vulnerable.
Without pulling back his hips, he reached around and pinched her clit. She climaxed so hard lights danced before her eyes, and a strangled cry tore from her throat. He pulled her up off the bed, pressing her trembling body against his as his hands moved boldly over her breasts and belly. His knees were bent, but the angle of his cock and his much greater height urged her to the balls of her feet. She felt impaled by him, hung from a hook, or something equally perverse.
“Say my name,” he commanded as he swatted her breasts, making them jiggle and sway.
“Ram,” she whispered, lightheaded and so damn confused. Pleasure and pain melded so completely that she found herself craving both.
“What do you want, pet?” He squeezed her nipples until she cried out. “Tell me what you need.”
“Fuck me, Ram. Please, fuck me fast and hard.”
Bending her over the bed again, he obliged, pounding into her just as she’d requested, making her cry out with each savage thrust. One of his hands still cupped her breast, but he found her clit with the other. He rested a finger over the sensitive nub, allowing the forceful motion of his hips to rub her body against his finger rather than the other way around.
Her butt still stung from the harsh spanking, but her core was finally getting what it needed. Over and over pleasure detonated inside her, one orgasm blending into the next. She moaned and whimpered, nearly incoherent from the intensity. Nothing had ever felt so good.
And nothing but your master’s cock ever will. Ram’s voice sounded harsh and possessive in her mind, but she found it comforting. Her master? Oh, yes. Her mate? That had yet to be determined. She came one final time, her shrill scream muffled by the bedding. Her entire body shook and reality blurred, leaving her suspended in a euphoric haze.
He jerked her hips up to his, pulling her feet clear off the deck as he pumped his cum deep into her trembling body. His cock twitched and pulsed rhythmically. She came again as his seed splashed the mouth of her womb, but she was too dazed to do more than moan.
For a long time, they just stood there panting. Even spent as he was now, his cock filled her up. Echoing ripples of her numerous orgasms tightened her core around his softening shaft. What would he feel like stretching her tight back passage? She knew he wanted to fuck her there and—What the hell was wrong with her? His cum was still making her dizzy, and she was already thinking of even darker pleasures. Maybe that explained the impulse. His seed was making her crave what he craved.
He slowly set her feet on the deck and spun her around. His arms wrapped around her, and his mouth swooped down for a long, demanding kiss. She clung to him, shaking and still dizzy from all the hormones surging through her system.
“Would you like to hear what you’re going to do for me now?” he whispered against her parted lips.
Oh, shit, she’d told him she’d do anything he asked. Easing back, she hesitantly raised her gaze to his. “What do you want me to do?”
“I’m going to send someone here to help you dress and fix up your hair. Then you’ll be escorted to the officer’s dining hall. You’re going to kneel at my feet and behave like a well-trained pet. You will eat from my hand and allow my touch anywhere I choose. I’m satisfied at the moment, but if my cock hardens again, you will suck me off, or bend over and offer me that soft, wet cunt right there on the dining table.”
Her heart sank, and heat crawled up her neck. “In front of the Ventori?”
He pushed one of his hands between her thighs and shoved two fingers deep into her slick core. “Yes,” he said firmly, his gaze boring into hers. “Your body is mine and I will use it whenever and however I like.”
He wanted to show her off, to demonstrate his power over her. She should have been horrified by the situation he described, but her pussy fluttered, and the traitorous ache erupted all over again.
He chuckled, clearly feeling her body’s reaction. “I guess this won’t be as hard for you as I thought.” He pulled out of her pussy and pushed his cum-soaked fingers into her mouth. “You will not shower or wash away my scent. I want you reeking of my seed. Lick me clean.” After she had, he pulled his fingers out of her mouth, tucked away his cock, and righted his uniform.
“Ram.” She looked up at him beseechingly. “Will you be the only one touching me? I really don’t want to be shared.”
His smoldering gaze swept the length of her body before he said, “That depends on your behavior. The more obedient you are, the more likely I’ll be to take your preferences into consideration. And call me ‘Master,’ unless I ask to hear my name on your lips.”
“Yes, Master,” she grumbled, glad he was about to leave.
His expression gradually softened, though his gaze remained unusually hot. Was her sexual fever affecting him? She was about to ask when he said, “If you’re especially good tonight, you might earn other privileges, like having a supply of clothes at your disposal, maybe even visiting your sister.”
* * *
“They’re fucking with us, Commander,” Kryit whispered urgently as Ram’s first officer crossed the dining room to refill their drinks for the second time. “Let’s get out of here.”
“They’re testing us,” Galzar argued in the same hushed whisper. He looked at the armed guards flanking the doorway. Even if they wanted to leave, it was unlikely they’d be allowed near their shuttle without an order from Ram. “Do you want this alliance or not?”
Kryit looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “I want to successfully complete our mission.”
“Which mission do you mean, Officer Kryit?” Moxtel asked without turning around. “You and your commander seem to have different objectives.”
“Is General Dulvet even coming back?” Kryit asked, impatience creeping into his tone. “How long are we supposed to sit here and wait?”
“As long as it takes,” Moxtel told him as he returned to the table. “If Ram decides not to return, he’ll contact me and reschedule. Hopefully.” He held out the first glass toward Galzar. “You seem to want some sort of an alliance. But you,” he handed the other to Kryit, “seem torn. I don’t think you’re opposed to working with us. It’s more like you’re not convinced cooperation is really an option.”
Kryit’s jaw dropped, then he snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. “Did you hear us or...”
“I told you he was psychic.” Moxtel was clearly surprised that Galzar knew, but he didn’t comment on it, so Galzar asked, “Is an alliance an option, or is Kryit right? Are you just fucking with us?”
“I’m not the one you need to convince,” Moxtel said with a mysterious smile. “Ram has various advisors and no problem delegating power, but this sort of decision is entirely up to the general.”
“I know you’re his top advisor. What recommendation will you give him?” Galzar persisted, wishing he could borrow the magister’s abilities for an hour or two. It would be wonderful to know what these cagy bastards really thought.
“Ram knows how I feel about an alliance. Hells, everyone in the rebellion knows I think it’s the only hope we’ve got of ending this war.”
“Everyone also knows that your new mate is largely responsible for your passionate support,” Ram said from near the door. “Which is why this really is up to me.”
Galzar had been so focused on Moxtel that he hadn’t heard the general return. Judging from Moxtel’s guilty expression, he hadn’t either.
“So what’s the verdict?” Ram asked as he walked across the room and sat down across from Galzar.
The question didn’t make sense until Galzar realized Ram wasn’t talking to him.
Moxtel moved to the table as well, but stood beside Ram rather than sitting. “If you’re ready to consider this seriously, send that one back to their ship.” He pointed to Kryit. “He’ll just muddy the waters. Galzar is suspicious of us, but everything he’s told you so far is true.”
“Unfortunately, he hasn’t told me much of anything.” Ram f
ocused in on Galzar. “Are you ready to answer my questions?”
“There’s one more thing,” Moxtel warned. “Negotiating was not their original objective, but I’m not sure when or why it changed.”
Damn, his psychic scanners were accurate, and Galzar had never felt any indication that his mind was being probed.
As Ram studied Galzar across the table, a scent drifted to Galzar, or more like a combination of scents. He easily detected the earthy musk of cum. Regardless of the species, cum all smelt similar. He also detected a female, human female to be exact. But this female smelled different, more evocative, more—his olfactory exploration seized as the implications of what he smelled stabbed into his mind. Ram had left to deal with Celeste Mortenson’s misbehavior and returned smelling of sex.
“Was she willing?” Galzar ground out the question between clenched teeth. “Celeste is an envoy of Earth’s largest government. If you just raped her while you made two members of the Protectorate wait, that is an act of war!”
Rather than taking offense as Galzar expected, Ram smiled. “Envoy Mortenson will be here shortly. You can ask her yourself.”
Suppressing his anger with great effort, Galzar went back to analyzing her scent. Why did she smell so damn good? He inhaled deeply, trying to draw more of her tantalizing scent into his nose. His pulse sped, and anticipation made him feel almost jittery.
Ram narrowed his gaze, visibly tensing. “Would you like to come over here and sniff my cock?”
Moxtel placed his hand on Ram’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.
“If we’re both down here, who is at master command?” Ram snapped, apparently not appreciating Moxtel’s warning. “Get back to work.”
Moxtel said something in Yashonty as he turned and left the room.
Ram glared at his back then returned his light purple gaze to Galzar’s face. “Tell Officer Kryit to return to your ship. You can summon him when we’ve finished, or I can have you shuttled over. However, I will not continue while he is here.”
“Kryit, go,” Galzar ordered.
