by Tana Stone
Her heart beat erratically, and her palms were damp. She turned back to Kos and rested her forehead on his chest. “I can’t do this.”
He circled his thick arms around her and tucked her head under his chin, kissing the top of her head. “It’s okay, cinnara.”
She took a deep breath, trying to block out the voices growing louder outside the glass. “What does that mean, cinnara?”
“It’s Drexian for ‘my love.’”
Usually, that type of term of endearment would send her running or packing, but now it only sent warmth through her entire body. She traced her fingers across the hard curves of his chest muscles and watched his nipple harden in response.
“Sorry,” she murmured with a small giggle.
“You never have to apologize for touching me,” he said, his voice low so only she could hear. “I am yours. You may touch me any way you wish.”
Pounding on the glass made them both jump.
“Now I know how fish at the aquarium feel,” Hope muttered. If she ever got back to Earth, she would never set foot in another zoo or aquarium for as long as she lived.
Back to Earth. Did she even want to go back anymore? She’d been hell-bent on the idea not too long ago, but that was before her stupid obsession had gotten them into their current situation. And it was before she’d slept with Kos.
She gave herself a hard shake. Come off it, girl. You can’t change your life plans after one fuck, even if it was a really great fuck.
But it hadn’t just been another fuck, had it? She flattened her hand across the row of bumpy ridges stretching across his stomach. And it wasn’t just that he was incredibly hot, which he was. No, there was something more. Something she’d never felt before.
The little voice in the back of her head nagged at her, reminding her that people were all the same. They all left, one way or another.
She peered up at Kos. But he hadn’t ditched her, even when she’d seriously deserved it. He was still right by her side.
“Well, isn’t this sweet? And boring.”
The voice was so close it made Hope whip her head around. Zaria stood inside the compartment, her laser whip humming by her side. Somehow she’d managed to open the door and come inside without them hearing, although that wasn’t a huge shock, considering the music and loud voices made it hard to hear much.
Kos spun Hope behind him, putting himself between her and the alien with the whip. “What do you want?”
Zaria leaned forward, her words a near hiss. “I want you to do what you’re supposed to do.” She snapped the whip, and the end sizzled. “Or I’ll give our guests another kind of show to watch.”
“Go ahead,” Kos said. “Pain doesn’t frighten me.”
Zaria grinned, advancing on Kos, and Hope knew she was going to enjoy whatever punishment she was about to mete out.
“Stop!” She stepped in front of Kos and held out her hands. “You don’t need to do that. We’ll…do what you want.”
Zaria’s lips curled up in a cold smile. “Now that’s more like it.” Her gaze flicked between Hope and Kos. “See that you do.”
She spun on her heel and stalked out. Hope noticed several of the guests outside looked genuinely disappointed that they weren’t going to see Kos get whipped.
“You didn’t need to do that,” Kos said, when she turned around. “I told you I would protect you.”
Hope took him by the hand and led him to the edge of the bed. She pushed him down so he was sitting on the end, and then lowered herself so that she straddled his lap. His eyes flared with surprise and desire, but he shook his head. “I told you that you wouldn’t have to—”
She put a finger over his lips. “I know. But now it’s my turn to protect you.”
Twenty-One
Kos gaped up at Hope. “Protect me?”
Her back was to the glass, but he could see the growing crowd over her shoulder. The colored lights swirled across the faces of the aliens watching them, contorting their already manic expressions. Spirals of purple and pink danced over the garishly hued robes and intricately styled hair, making the spectators appear to morph. The clear walls blocked out enough of the noise that he couldn’t make out exact words, but he could hear the jeers and catcalls over the increasingly intense thump of the music.
She leaned over so that her lips were against his ear, her hair falling onto his shoulder and tickling his bare skin. “The best way to keep them happy is to give them what they want. More than what they want.”
He bristled at her words, even though the buzz of her lips sent an involuntary shiver down his back and made his nodes pulse. He knew she was right, but he didn’t like it.
Hope took his earlobe between her lips and sucked gently, making more than just his nodes throb. She nipped at it hard, and he jerked back, seeing the challenge in her eyes.
“Spank me,” she told him.
“What?” He must have heard her wrong over the cacophony of noise.
She wiggled her ass on his lap. “You heard me. I told you to spank me.” When she saw his hesitation, she added, “They’ll love it, and it’ll buy us some time.”
His female was as clever as she was beautiful, he thought. There was more than one way to satisfy a crowd who’d come to be scandalized and aroused.
He cocked his head as she braced her hands on his shoulders. “Only because you asked me to.”
He slapped her ass, and she let out a yelp much louder than the slap deserved.
“Come on, big guy,” she told him, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “I know you can hit harder than that, and I know you must want to.”
“Why would I want to?”
She shrugged. “Don’t you want to give me a spanking for me being a dip shit and getting us into this mess?”
He slapped her ass again, but this time harder. “You make a good point, cinnara.”
Her eyes flared. “That hurt. You don’t have to put on that good of a show.”
He could see out of the corner of his eye that the party guests were cheering. He slapped her other ass cheek this time and felt the flesh quiver under his palm.
“Son of a…” she said, trying to wiggle off him.
He clamped his hands on the sides of her hips to keep her on his lap and pulled her close enough so that his head was beside hers. “You were right. They love it.”
“And I think you’re loving it a little too much,” she said.
“You were correct,” he whispered in her ear. “You do deserve punishment for tricking me and knocking me out.”
“I thought you forgave me,” she said.
“I did,” Kos told her. “But as your Drexian mate, it’s my responsibility to ensure that you learn from your mistakes. And it’s my right to keep you in line.”
“Keep me in line?” Hope spluttered.
Kos pulled her into a forceful kiss, his mouth opening hers and his tongue fighting with hers as he pinned her arms behind her and held her wrists together with one large hand.
“Are you taking the piss?” she said, jerking her mouth from his.
He lifted her in one swift motion and flipped her over his knees, his hand still holding her wrists together at the small of her back. Hope struggled and thrashed as he held her. The crowd cheered, waving their arms and clapping wildly.
Hope craned her neck around to meet his eyes. “I swear, I’m going to beat the ever-loving shit out of you for this.”
He leaned down, dodging her head as she attempted to headbutt him. “This was your idea, cinnara, and it’s working.”
She stopped glaring at him and cut her eyes to the crowd, then looked back at him, her eyes narrowed. “Fine, let’s do this, but stop enjoying it so much.”
He smiled at her, his gaze wandering to her round ass cheeks visible through the sheer fabric of her dress. “I will try, but your ass is just too pretty.”
She struggled again, and he groaned as her ass wiggled. He slapped one cheek and got a sharp yelp as a rew
ard. The crowd surged, screaming for more.
Kos’s cock throbbed as the female—his mate—lay across his lap, her ass in the air and her arms pinned behind her. Her skin was pink from his smacks, and he was grateful the aliens had taken her underwear. He loved seeing her flushed ass cheeks through the nearly transparent fabric of her dress.
Hope was right. He was enjoying this much more than he would have expected, her noises of protest and struggling arousing him so much, he was grateful she was covering his rock-hard erection.
He was so distracted by his arousal that he loosened his grip on her wrists, and she jerked away, scampering out of his lap and across the bed. He instinctively lunged for her, but she slipped off the bed and danced out of his reach.
The crowd at the glass had grown in size, and even Xarla next door had stopped her acrobatic performance to watch in fascination as Kos chased Hope and pinned her against the wall between their two cells.
Her back was to the wall, and he pressed both her arms over her head. Her eyes were wild, and her cheeks crimson, and she seemed to be just as turned on as he was, the hard points of her nipples straining against the gossamer fabric of her dress.
Kos crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her so hard her head was pressed back against the clear wall. He was lightheaded with desire, the cheers of the spectators dissolving into the background. The only thing he was aware of was the pounding of his blood in his ears and Hope’s needy moans in his mouth. When she lifted one leg and hooked it around his hip, grinding into the stiff bar of his cock, Kos growled and pressed himself into her even harder.
A gasp from the next cell made him rear back, the swirling colors and deafening sounds coming back into focus. He stared down at Hope, her lips swollen from his kisses. Her breath hitched in her chest as she looked up at him.
He steadied his breathing. He’d almost gone over the edge and taken her with him. He dropped her arms and cupped her face in one hand. “Do you trust me, cinnara?”
She held his gaze. “After the spanking you just gave me, I probably shouldn’t.”
He moved one hand down and caressed her ass. “I promise there will be no more spanking.”
“I trust you,” she finally said.
“At least no more spanking from me,” he said.
Hope’s mouth dangled open. “What?”
“Trust me,” he said, kissing her again quickly. “It’s our way out of here.”
She darted a glance behind him. “I don’t know why you getting spanked can’t be part of the escape plan.”
“My ass isn’t as round and perfect as yours,” Kos said, turning her around so that she faced the wall and pinning her wrists to the small of her back again. “Now just go along with this, and we should be able to make a break for it.”
He pivoted to face the crowd that stood nearby on the other side of the glass, rubbing one hand down the curve of her ass and swatting it lightly. Hope shrieked loudly, gyrating her hips as if the blow had been much harder.
“That’s my wild mate,” he whispered before raising his voice and bellowing over the music, “Who else wants a turn?”
Twenty-Two
“What?” She shot daggers at Kos over her shoulder. “This had better work.”
If this didn’t get them out of there, she was going to kill him.
The music still pounded, the heavy beat seeming to mirror the surging energy of the crowd as they clamored at the clear wall. Seeing the mouths hanging open and the eyes flashing with barely contained desire to inflict pain did not make Hope any happier about Kos's dangerous gambit to escape. If he didn’t pull it off, she would be in serious trouble.
She did not see Zaria anywhere. That was good. She doubted the woman would be taken in by the ploy. She did see one of the burly guards from earlier and saw that he seemed just as entranced as the party guests. His pasty gray skin was flushed, and he licked at his lips as he watched through the glass.
“Who will be first?” Kos called out, giving her ass another swat and gaining himself a sharp glare.
A tall alien wearing a shiny indigo suit waving something metallic over his head. “A thousand credits.”
Kos leaned close to her ear. “A scream might send the bidding higher.”
Hope jerked back, struggling to loosen her arms. “Maybe they’d like to hear you scream, big guy.”
Raucous laughter rose up from the spectators.
“Two thousand.” An alien wearing yellow robes over a corpulent belly waved his credits in the air. The first bidder scowled but stepped back.
The crowd gasped and cheered as the squat alien stepped forward, pushing them aside with the tip of a silver cane. He handed the shiny discs to the guard, his watery eyes locking on Hope’s.
She swallowed down the taste of bile and tried not to shudder. The thought of the doughy creature touching her made her want to puke, but she steadied her breath and reminded herself that Kos was a Drexian warrior trained in battle and strategy. He also had an overdeveloped sense of protectiveness that bordered on obnoxiously chauvinistic, so she knew he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.
She looked over her shoulder and caught his eyes. “You’d better know what you’re doing or I’m going to be seriously fucked off.”
“I do,” he whispered. “When they open the door to let him in, that’s our chance.”
Hope looked at the aliens gathered near the clear barrier. How were they going to push their way through all of them? Kos had no weapons and neither of them was dressed to blend in. They’d need to take out the guard and then get past all the other security before they even made it to the hangar bay. Then they’d have to find their ship and manage to get off without being stopped. It seemed impossible.
But what was the alternative? Live their lives trapped inside a kinky prison-like zoo? She’d rather take her chances trying to escape.
Kos’s grip on her wrists relaxed, and he held his hand over hers only for show, turning his palm so that it covered her hands. The warmth of his skin sent pulses of heat up her arm, and she managed to give him a half smile.
“By the way, big guy,” she said, as the alien in yellow robes negotiated with the guard. “This makes us even. I don’t ever want to hear another word about what I did to you. My ass feels like it’s on fire.”
Kos quirked an eyebrow at her, his gaze drifting to her ass. “Agreed.”
They were only a few meters from where the door would slide open, and Hope felt Kos tense as the Curator’s guard looked around to see if anyone was watching before he fiddled with the button on his belt.
She would have bet good money that opening the cells during a party wasn’t something he was supposed to do alone—or maybe at all—but she also guessed that two thousand credits was probably a lot in alien currency. And no way would the guard be sharing it with anyone else, if the look on his face as he shoved the discs in his pockets was any indication.
“Get ready,” Kos whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
She was ready. A noise behind her made her think of Xarla, and she swiveled her head to find the alien who’d been so nice to her. She didn’t like the idea of leaving the creature behind. Not when she knew what the rest of Xarla’s life would look like as a prisoner of the Curator.
Even though the colorful lights danced across the floor and walls of the neighboring compartment, she couldn’t see the willowy alien. Was she hiding, or had she twisted herself into a shape so compact that Hope couldn’t spot her?
Shit. She wouldn’t even get to say good-bye.
Kos’s hand tightened over hers, but he was no longer restraining her; he was grasping her hand. Tearing her gaze away from the next-door cell, she glanced over at the Drexian and her mouth went dry.
She knew Kos was a Drexian, and that the Drexians were known throughout the galaxy as great warriors, but seeing Kos bare chested and wearing only the dark battle kilt really brought it home. The lights bounced over his glistening chest, and the muscles rippling a
cross his back made him look exactly like the deadly warrior he was. His jaw was set in a fierce line as he stood coiled, the energy practically radiating off his huge body. Hope shifted her small hand within the grip of his bigger one, glad the guy was on her side.
Kos flicked his gaze to her briefly, but it was long enough for her to see the determination in his eyes. Determination and a flash of something else for her. Something more than desire and possession. Something tender that made her throat tighten.
She wanted to say something in case everything went to hell, but there was no time. The door slid open and the short alien waddled through the opening, his smile almost manic.
Kos did not wait. He yanked Hope by the arm, spinning them both around the startled creature and knocking him to his knees. The guard, who’d also stepped inside the cell, was backing up quickly and fumbling with his belt.
Panic rose in Hope’s chest. They weren’t going to be fast enough. The guard was almost back in the corridor, his thick finger jamming his waist as the other guests began staggering back as they realized what was happening.
A flash of movement from above made Hope flinch, as Xarla leapt down on top of the guard the second before he made it outside. Her long legs circled his neck like a pretzel, and she held on even as he tried to pull her off, smacking at his hands with sharp slaps of her tail.
Hope peered up. Had Xarla gotten through the opening at the top of the compartment? She must have, even though it looked too narrow for anyone to get through. Then again, the alien was a contortionist, and Hope suspected she was even more talented than she’d let on.
Kos barreled through the aliens clustered around the opening, pulling her to his side as hands reached for them. Even though the guard was distracted—his face an unnatural shade of red as Xarla constricted her legs around his neck—the guests weren’t going to make the escape easy. Some were screaming, and others looked enraged at the turn their entertainment had taken.
