Chapter Thirteen
It’s over. All over. I have been taken from my ship and forced into a dark Rathkari cell. Fierce soldiers took me kicking and screaming, stripped me of the exo-suit and left me here in my thin rubber undersuit. I can smell their species here, something in the blend of alloys they use is tangy against the back of my throat. I was free of him for so long, and now I am back in his custody and I can’t stand it.
This was a mistake. I should never have given the order to fire. We were hidden. Safe. And I threw us from the shadows and I blazed hell at this vessel. I had to do it, but I wish I hadn’t. I should have let them float by. I should have left things as they were. Now we are all in danger. I don’t know what’s happened to my crew, but the Rathkari are not known for their mercy. I may have sentenced them all to death with my attack.
Guilt. Fear. Rage, they all battle within me as I struggle to hold back tears. I know he will come for me soon, and the last thing I want is for him to find me sniveling on the floor. I have to be strong, for myself and for my crew. Taking a deep breath, I force the tears back—and just in time. I hear footsteps. Heavy. Solid. Measured. Fuck. I still know him by his step.
The cell door opens and he steps inside. He is wearing Rathkari war garb, black-plated metallic pieces of armor that conform perfectly to the lines of his body. A tremor runs through me. He is darkly handsome and the role of war general suits him. He always was a merciless bastard.
My knees go out from under me. I am too tired, too scared, too awed. I thought I could stand up to him, but I can’t… I can’t…
He crouches down in front of me and looks me over, his gaze sweeping up and down my body. “Era.” That deep voice rolls through me, finds my soft spots and makes them squirm.
Karlo is as I remembered him, but his eyes burn brighter in the dim light of the cell, and it seems to me that they hold more cruelty than they did before.
“I searched for you,” he says, running his fingers over my temple, brushing hair away from my eyes.
“I know. I hid.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
My temper flares. How dare he lecture me for running after he was the one to give me the chance to leave?
“You were done with me. You sent me away.”
“I gave you freedom,” he growls. “And look what you did with it. I’ve looked at your ship’s logs. I know what you’ve been up to. I gave you freedom, and you threw a tantrum across seven solar systems. I won’t make that mistake again.” He takes the front of my suit in his fist and pulls me close, his golden eyes searing into my soul. “You’re mine now, Era. Forever.”
“No, Karlo, you’re wrong,” I hiss as every nerve in my body comes alive. My heart is beating faster, my senses are heightened. My gaze locks on him with desperate intensity. There’s nothing but him.
“Do you ever get tired of lying to yourself?” He quirks his brow and the question seems almost genuine. “You spend so much time in denial of your own feelings, your own desires. It must be exhausting.”
“You don’t know me, or what I think,” I hiss back. “Let me go or kill me.”
He smirks and snorts at the same time. “Spoiled,” he says. “You are so fortunate, Era. Fortunate that I found you. If it had been one of the other war ships, you would have been spread across the stars in a fine vapor by now.”
“I’d prefer that.”
“Stop lying.”
What’s the point of talking to a man who doesn’t believe a word I say? I fall silent as he holds me, his eyes scanning my face intently.
“I missed you, Era.”
Those are words I did not expect to hear. Almost immediately, tears spring to my eyes, because in spite of everything I’ve told myself for the past three years, I’ve missed him too. Terribly. We did not spend long together, but he left a mark on my soul and no man has matched him. Fucking has been pointless. I haven’t managed to muster attraction for anyone or anything. Until now. Now it’s back, a torrent of desire running through me.
He pulls me forward, his mouth finds mine, his lips crushing mine as he kisses me deeply and thoroughly, his tongue claiming me, his other hand wrapping around my shoulders, pulling me against him as we curl on the floor there, and my tears make everything salty.
“I looked for you,” he repeats when he breaks the kiss. “I looked for you for months and months. You hid well, Era.”
“You rejected me because I can’t give you the only thing that matters to a Rathkari male.”
His lips tighten. “I…”
“I wasn’t good enough for you, Karlo. Not then. And I’m not good enough now. So let me go. Please. For both our sakes. I won’t make this easy for you if you keep me.”
“You’re mine,” he repeats.
We stare at one another, my stony gaze marred by tears, his hard glower showing no such internal conflict. He wants me, whether I want him or not. The fact that I do is irrelevant. And that is the problem with Karlo. He is not a man. I can mistake him for being human at times, but he is fundamentally something else, and we do not belong together.
“What have you done with my crew?”
“They are criminals, and will be dealt with according to Rathkari criminal code.”
“You mean you’re going to kill them.”
“The penalty for rebellion and piracy is death.”
“So kill me.”
“No.”
I draw in a deep, shuddering breath, hatred and anger flowing through me as I realize there is only one bargaining chip Karlo is interested in.
“If you spare them, I will be yours.”
“You’re already mine,” he says. “I have no need to negotiate with you.”
“Karlo,” I snarl his name as my voice shakes with anger. “If they are hurt, in any way, I will never be yours. I promise you that. You will be able to take my body, but I will hate you every second, of every minute, of every day.”
He looks at me with those eyes like twin suns and I know he is thinking. He seems to have finally understood something about me.
“Yes,” he says after the longest pause. “You will, won’t you.”
* * *
I have no intention of killing her crew. However, she needs to understand who and what I am. This is an opportunity to demonstrate mercy, to show her that even though I need not spare anyone, I will do so to make her happy. Era has never understood my care for her. She sees me through a veil of prejudice and fear. Even when she feels desire, it is twisted through hate to become some perversion, something I do to her rather than something she admits to herself. She has lain in wait in this far flung corner of the galaxy like a black widow awaiting her prey—and she struck out at me the moment I came by. I have been hunting her all these years, but in the end, she was the one to lure me in.
“So you will spare them?”
“I will spare them death. They will serve a year’s sentence in the nearest prison colony.”
“No, Karlo. You have to let them go free.”
“Two years.”
Her eyes widen as she realizes that every time she argues with me, the sentence for her crew increases.
“Karlo…”
“I have no intention of letting any one of you get away with your rebellion,” I say, my tone significant. She will pay for this too. Her crimes are extensive, each and every one committed with the intention of some kind of revenge on me, I am sure.
“A year… please…” She lowers her head, feigning some kind of submission. The pretense is good enough for now.
I already have the colony picked out. Antera 9. It is in the process of being built. Her crew will help settle a new world, learn some skills aside from piracy, and perhaps even find a home for themselves on the purple starlit shores.
“A year,” I agree. “If you take your punishment gracefully.”
“That’s not fair, Karlo. You know… you know what I’m like.”
“I do,” I agree, holding back a smile.
She lets out a small whine of complaint, and in an instant she is no rebel captain. She is the little human I rescued all those years ago, curled in my arms.
“I’m not graceful.”
“You can be,” I say, running my fingers through her hair. It is soft like silk. I have missed its touch. I have missed her. Having her in my arms again fills me with a sense of completion and contentment. I doubt she will be graceful, or even remotely well behaved. I am sure she will fight it tooth and nail, but I want to give her a good reason to at least try to access that little sliver of submission that flares when I touch her.
* * *
He’s going to punish me. He has come prepared, a thick cord is coiled at his waist and even as he embraces me, he begins to strip me. My suit is one piece, close-fitting rubber. He peels it from me, baring my skin, which is marked with little droplets of stress sweat. There is no point resisting. My body is softer than it was when he last saw me. I keep myself shaven now, to make it easier to slip into the suit. The feminine tang of desire is evident to both of us, my shame and his need are equal as he thrusts his hand between my legs and his fingers find my pussy.
“You’re wet,” he says, triumphant.
“The suit is hot,” I say, lying even though it will not help me save face at all.
His fingers slip inside me, twist and pull out again. He lifts them to his nose and then pushes them toward my mouth.
“Open,” he commands as he pushes them past my lips. He makes me taste myself, my desire undeniable. “Does that taste like sweat to you?”
I can’t speak with his fingers in my mouth, but it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t need to hear my answer. He just wants to make me admit I want him as much as he wants me. As he pulls my clothing the rest of the way off, he brings his binding rope into play.
I am nothing but a doll in his hands as he wraps it around me, creating a sling that spreads my legs wide and lets me lie back just a little, semi-reclined as he holds me in place and tosses it around a bar in the roof and ties it again. He stands back to look at his handiwork. I am trussed up so effectively, no part of me can move besides my fingers and my toes. My breasts are presented in a rope brassiere, my arms crossed behind my back. He has used my hair against me, tied the end of it to a piece of rope that pulls it high so I am limited in how much I can move my head without tugging on my hair.
He slides his hand up the ropes, between my breasts and his large, strong fingers close lightly around my throat. He holds me there, his eyes boring into mine and for long moments all we do is look at one another. He has me. I am his captive. He owns me again. It has been so long and yet the years melt now that I am back in his grasp.
Have I missed this? I told myself I didn’t. I told myself that he was sick and I hated him and I never wanted anything he did to me. But now, lashed in his ropes and held in his hands, I know I did. I wanted all of it and more. Yearning makes my heart ache for everything we’ve lost. Everything we’ll never have.
“I’ve missed you,” he says, a rough quality to his voice. He sounds… broken. How is that possible? Karlo is the strongest creature I know. Even in his absence these long years, I have felt him. He is bigger than the sun. And yet now, he is vulnerable in his dark longing. “I will never let you go again, Era. Not ever.”
“I won’t have a baby, Karlo.” I remind him why he sent me away, why any chance of togetherness was lost.
“There are more important things.”
“You said there’s nothing more important.”
His eyes flash at me. “I was wrong. You are more important to me than any person yet to be. You are the one I love here and now. You are all that matters.” His tone is fierce, but his voice nearly breaks and I see for the first time that he loves me. He loves me for all I am, and all I am not. But it is late in our story, maybe too late.
“I don’t understand… you were so… that’s all you wanted…”
“Of course you don’t understand me. You don’t understand yourself,” he says in pitying tones. “I take you and your body sighs for me. I slap you and you grow wet. And yet you declare you hate it, and hate me. You live in a constant contradiction. I made my biggest mistake when I listened to you, when I did what you told me you wanted me to do. I let you go and it was wrong, Era. I won’t make that mistake again.”
His hand slides from my throat and cups my breast. A trickle of wetness slips between my inner lips. I am spread for him and his presence alone is enough to make my body respond. His desire is a physical force I can feel. It infects me, takes me. It makes me his. I cannot resist him, even if I wanted to.
As his hands roam my bound body, he makes soft reverent sounds, caressing me all over. This is not the most tender of places. It is a prison, and I am trussed and bound and swinging from the ceiling. I am his prisoner but this might be the most gentle he has ever been for me. My pussy clenches as his fingers run lightly over my skin, his mouth finding mine as he kisses me. I taste him again as if for the first time. He is unique in all the universe, his tongue slipping against mine, conquering me with a gentle insistence that triggers me to respond.
I love him.
I don’t want to. I’ve never wanted to, but I do.
There’s the sound of fabric shifting and then I feel him pressed against me. That impossibly long rod is gliding over my slit, using my juices to torment me. Karlo has always known how to use my body against me, how to make my desire his plaything. He has lost none of that talent.
* * *
I have her. She’s mine. I have dreamed of this for so long. I am on the precipice of joining with her again and I will savor this moment, even as she twists in my ropes. I love having her bound. Her sex is wet and flowering, I can see it contracting, willing me inside. The lines between captive and captor are becoming blurred now. I have been hunting her, but she was waiting for me, and now I see the desire in her eyes and smell it between her thighs and I do not know which of us is in control. All I know is that I must have her, must be inside her.
I grab the ropes and pull her onto my cock in one hard thrust, her hot, soft flesh enveloping mine. Her scream of ecstasy is music to my ears as I start to fuck her hard, pulling her on and off my rod, swinging her sweet female form from the ceiling. She has always had difficulty accommodating my girth but as she writhes in her bonds she takes every inch of it, her lower lips gripping me eagerly every time I pull out.
Reunited in flesh, we become one, her sex wrapped around mine perfectly. She was made for me, this woman from another star. She is mine and I will never let her go. My orgasm rushes quickly forward, my body equally eager to reestablish dominion. She must be filled with my cum. She must be made mine again.
Her head falls back and she shrieks as I hold her hips and come inside her, filling that hot little hole. I feel her pussy clenching around me, I can see the spasms of her bound muscles as they strain against the ropes. She comes loud and hard, her tight pussy draining every drop of my cum inside her.
“Mine,” I growl, holding her close, grabbing her by the hair and kissing her deeply. I want to stay inside her forever, to feel her wrapped around me, to know precisely where she is. “All fucking mine.”
She moans softly into my mouth as I stand and hold her just like that, my beautiful bound human, the only one my heart has beat for all these years. If I were to die at this precise moment, I would be happy. There is nothing I want, nothing I need. I have her. I have everything.
Finally my cock softens and slips from her, leaving a trail of my seed sliding down her slit. I go to my knees before her and press my mouth to her lips, cleaning her with gentle sweeps of my tongue. I taste myself and her, joined as we should be as she lets out soft cries of pleasure. I pay special attention to the jewel of her clit, lapping around the little bud as I hold her in place, her bound legs spreading wide as she starts to spiral into a new orgasm. I see it all, her sweet sex trembling, the movements of her inner muscles making her outer lips quake. She comes again writhing on my mouth, sharing her juices and my seed as they flood from her sex into my mouth. I lap all over until I am satisfied that I am leaving her pussy gleaming and clean.
“That’s new,” she says shakily as I loosen the knots and bring her down into my arms.
“Everything is going to be different, Era,” I promise.
“Everything is different,” she agrees. I see something like a flash of regret in her eyes and draw her close again, holding her so tight she squeaks and taps me to get me to loosen my grasp.
“Are you going to let me go, Karlo?”
“Not ever. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” I wrap the rope around her neck, using a knot that will not allow it to slip too tight, but will keep her on a leash of rope. For all the technology we have, a simple rope is by far the most effective with a disobedient little human like her, and having her at the end of it brings me more than pleasure, it brings a deep contentment. This is how she should be. This is where she should be.
I lead her naked through the ship, toward the bridge. I have learned my lesson where she is concerned, I must never let her more than a few feet from me, and clothing, well, I will not see her clothed for quite some time. I want to drink her delicious body in whenever I desire.
“I’m not wearing anything…”
“I know.”
She blushes and looks toward the floor, but does not argue as I lead her onto the bridge. She is my prisoner. Mine. I will keep her as I please. The others look away quickly as she enters, knowing better than to ogle my mate. I feel a rush of pride as the energy in the room shifts. Her beauty is powerful, and it is mine, harnessed.
“Karlo?” Her voice is soft, hesitant. I turn toward her and cock my head.
“You should,” she says, twisting her fingers nervously. “I mean, you should get rid of me now. There’s stuff… there’s something…”
Rathkari war ship, return my child.
A woman’s voice blares over the open audio channel. Apparently the operator didn’t close it. Her strident tones startle everyone on the bridge.
“Who is that?”
Open a video link and find out, Seale Karlo.
Whoever it is, she knows my name. The operator looks at me for his orders. I nod. May as well see who this is. A second later, our unexpected interloper makes an appearance.
The image is of a large Drixi woman. She is mature; the olive tone of her skin demonstrates that. Drixi change color over the course of their lives, beginning a pale puce and slowly becoming more green with time. She has large dark eyes, no nose, as is typical of the Drixi, and a broad smile that broadcasts her glee.
“Hello, General Karlo. My name is Duchess Marchone.”
Airs and graces from another planet and another time do not make her any more noble. I recognize the double diamond insignia she has branded above her cleavage. She is a rebel. Only the most die-hard of them mark themselves in such a way. So there is another rebel ship out here. Very well. I do not understand why this woman has revealed herself. It is a significant error on her part. My appetite for conquest is never sated. She will make as good a trophy before the Rathkari council as any other rebel.
“The crew of the ship we took are being sent to a prison colony. You are welcome to join them if you are unable to outrun us.”
She smiles.
“I see why she likes you.”
A chill runs down my spine. I do not know why, but every sense I have is suddenly acutely aware of danger. This is a Rathkari war ship, one of the safest places to be in the entire universe. Our engines are capable of running down practically any other craft, our shields can guard against radiation from a neutron star, we have a crew of hundreds of highly trained soldiers. And yet, suddenly, I am uneasy. Something is not right here. Where is this woman broadcasting from, and why can’t we see her?
“It’s called phase shifting,” she says, reading my confusion perfectly. “Your Rathkari sensors can’t quite pick it up as yet. You should work on that. It can lead to some nasty surprises. Have a look.”
“Sir! Fuck!” My scanner tech exclaims. He points at his screen, which displays a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of surrounding space. It was empty moments ago, but now all around us, silver stars begin blinking into existence, except they’re not stars. They’re rebel cruisers. Hundreds of them, all with their weapons powered.
“Oh. Fuck.”
Someone on the bridge utters an obscure Earth curse as it sinks in. We have been outmaneuvered and outplayed. We are surrounded by an entire fleet of rebel vessels. We lost this battle the moment we drifted into this bit of space hours ago, we just didn’t know it. I am filled with rage, some level of natural fear—and no small amount of admiration. These rebels constructed a perfect trap and I walked right into it.
“High command will send vessels for us,” I say as the Drixi woman sneers at me triumphantly. “You may have us at a disadvantage now, but soon enough you will be the one at a disadvantage of numbers.”
“Oh, I am sure they will,” she says, her smile broadening. “That’s the best part, General Karlo. You will be right here, and they won’t see you. I think we’ll stay, just so you can watch your last hope of rescue drift by.”
“I still have Era,” I remind her. “And your crew.”
“Touch a hair on any of their heads and I will obliterate you.” She speaks with a chilling smile. “Now be a good boy, General, and lower your shield. We will send shuttles to board your vessel momentarily.”
I consider my options. I could try to blast through the rebel wall, but odds are the ship will be crippled in the attempt and by the time the unscathed rebel ships catch us, they’ll be looking to avenge their dead comrades. That wouldn’t bode well for me, or the crew.
There’s nothing to do. I realize in that moment that I have been played quite expertly, and not just by this Marchone character—but by the woman I love.
* * *
He turns toward me and I see the betrayal in his eyes. It hits me like a boot to the gut, but I try to stay strong. It has been a long time since I owed allegiance to him. I had no choice but to do this.
“I told you this wasn’t your territory anymore, Karlo.”
He drops the rope that leads to the collar about my neck. That simple action says more than a thousand shouted words ever could.
He’s angry. Seething. He doesn’t like to lose and he just lost. Badly. I used to dream of this moment. I used to fantasize about what it would be like to be the one in control, to have all the power over him. I should feel a welling of triumph, especially after what he just did to me, but instead I feel a rush of guilt. I’ve betrayed him. The man I love. I had to do it, and soon he’ll understand, but right now… right now his anger excites me a little more than it should.
Marchone and our rebel crew soon board the ship. She makes her way to the bridge, where two of our staunchest warriors take Karlo into custody. I expect a battle, but there isn’t one. He seems oddly detached from the proceedings. Maybe he’s unconcerned. Maybe I’ve fucking destroyed him by betraying him. There’s a part of me silently screaming for him to attack the men holding him. He could do it. He’s stronger than them. But he doesn’t. He lets them take him by the arms. Stands there like a mannequin.
“Good girl,” Marchone purrs, running her fingernails down the back of my neck.
Karlo stiffens at the gesture. He does not like to see her touch me.
“Take him away,” she says. “Put him in a cell.”
He lets them take him. I keep expecting him to explode with all the power and venom I know is at his disposal, but he walks between the warriors as if he has been a prisoner all his life. The entire moment is unspeakably anticlimactic and deeply depressing. I knew this was going to happen, but I don’t feel good about it. I should be celebrating turning the tables on the man who made me his captive, but instead I just feel sick.
“Let me take that off you,” Marchone says, her fingers reaching for the rope about my neck.
I keep a tight smile plastered on as she pulls away the last connection I have to him. She can’t know what I’m feeling. It would mean death for us both, and worse.