Chapter Three
The sounds of the camp stirring awakened Kerr the next morning. He heard several low gruff voices outside his tent and opened his eyes to the lingering dimness. Early yet, excitement filled him as he recalled the agenda for the day; after breaking camp, it would be time to go home.
A sigh and the shifting of a warm body at his side was a physical reminder of her presence and brought back pleasant memories of the evening before. His little captive had resisted at first, struggling with her conflicted feelings until she gradually succumbed to the mounting desire he had aroused within her. He’d fought his response, too, after seeing her overt reaction in her erect nipples, flushed skin, rapid breathing, and the wetness that had inundated her tight channel, his need to claim her had been intense. Reining in his passion hadn't been easy, but he’d controlled it, needing to accomplish what had to be done first. As he instinctively knew they would, the mating tests had deemed her a near-perfect match for him, and he’d breached her, making her irrevocably his.
Maes eternium. She would know those words soon enough.
Propping up on an elbow, he took in her lovely face, relaxed in sleep. Her wealth of fair hair lay like a frothy cloud around her relaxed features, the mix of golden colors fascinating him. Her beauty and fairness would draw attention.
His eyes trailed down her body, the curves prominent beneath the thin linen covering as much as the form-fitting attire she’d worn when he’d captured her. A uniform of sorts, the same worn by the other females in her group, as if they were soldiers. Such an idea seemed impossible, considering their diminutive stature, lack of strength, and inferior weaponry. Further, amongst them were nothing except females. Where were the males of her species? Did they not have protectors?
Perhaps, like Primaria, her world had been affected by natural disaster, or disease, or an attack which wiped out their males and left them to fend for themselves. They had the technology to land on Ventorcopia, his peoples’ hunting planet, and carried all sorts of gadgetry with them, yet they had been easily taken, without apparent means of defending themselves.
For them, his world would require an adjustment. Women were not warriors; they did not go about without male protection, opening themselves up for capture. No, on Primaria, women were always under a man’s guidance and safekeeping, be it father, mate, or male guardian.
In their four-tiered social society, the warrior class—the ruling class—was made up of strong, powerful, dominant men. She would learn soon enough as mate to the Maxime Princep he wielded substantial power. Beneath the warriors were the merchants, also capable men, who brought necessary goods and services to the masses. Next in the hierarchy were the artisans and farmers, who created or produced essential goods. Lastly, the dependent class of peasants provided basic services but relied on others for their livelihood, safety, and their very survival.
Females took on the class of their male and the privileges that came with it. No matter their class though, they were always subordinate to the males. Over the past few decades, following the Rain of Fire, when the asteroid storm had changed life as they knew it, many of the rules had changed. Women, who were the givers of life and necessary for the continuation of their race, had become scarce and laws were enacted for their protection. Abuse, which had always been uncommon, became an egregious crime and treated even more harshly—although this did not extend to domestic discipline.
The new laws detailed acceptable punishments for females. Closed-fist correction, or anything that would do permanent injury, was strictly prohibited. Physical discipline was limited to spankings with an open hand applied to the posterior and thighs. For more serious transgressions, a paddle or flogger might be used. There were no restrictions on physical restraint, so long as injury wasn't sustained. For severe infractions, which happened very rarely, a petitioner could request dispensation to use a whip to the Council and Princep, something the latter had never granted. Kerr felt strongly there were more efficient ways to encourage obedience.
Yes, his little alien was in for a surprise, particularly considering her reaction to the light swats he’d given her last night, mostly as an attention-getter after she kicked him in the jaw. Probing the tender area beneath his beard gently, he winced. His feisty mate had surely left a bruise. Despite this, he grinned. She was a firebrand, fighting with all her might to save herself from the inevitable. Under his care, she’d learn quickly enough protection fell under his purview and fighting would not be necessary—nor tolerated.
“Kerr,” Lothar called through the canvas door. “We’ll be ready to break camp within another cycle.”
“I’m awake, my friend, and we will not cause a delay.” He heard him move away as the cuddly armful of woman stirred and stretched at his side. He would have liked to stay in bed and explore her body at his leisure, breeding her again and furthering their connection, but it would have to wait. Instead, he contented himself with watching her come awake.
Much to his frustration, the warmth in her eyes upon waking changed as she became aware of her surroundings. As she grew wary, he longed for the drowsy and slightly disoriented, sweet mate to return. Before she had a chance to strategize another protest, he bent and took her lips in a thorough good morning kiss. Primarians weren’t shy about touching, whether giving affection with kisses, or discipline with a firm swat on the backside, in private or in public.
Something else she’d need to adjust to.
***
Eva barely had time to bat the sleep from her eyes and get her bearings before being kissed soundly. Muddle-headed from his lips, tongue, and searching hands, she was startled when he abruptly ended the kiss and hauled her out of bed, across the tent—bare as the day she was born—to a basin of water. His words weren’t clear, although his intent for her to bathe was. That he meant to watch was also made plain when he crossed his arms and stared down at her, waiting.
Well, if he thought she’d put on a show, he had another think coming. She glared up at him, mirroring his crossed arms—which served the dual purpose of covering her bare breasts and peaked nipples from his perceptive gaze—and brazenly refused with a shake of her head. Her defiance was futile because he proceeded to bathe her himself despite her very vocal protests, while slapping at his hands and squirming.
He easily subdued her with his strength, especially his powerful thighs, which he used to clamp around her tightly when he took a seat on a nearby bench. With one hand he caught her wrists and efficiently lathered a sponge with the other. Next, he washed her from top to bottom, taking care to cleanse all parts in between. Although in a discernible hurry, he veered from his business-like manner for several long moments when his soapy fingers slid between her legs. His touch gentle, his voice dropped to a rumbling burr as he bathed her pussy. Breathless from more than her physical resistance by the time he set the sponge aside, it didn’t subside when he began to dry her with a fluffy towel. Eva submitted to his attention silently, confused as much as chagrined he could arouse her so easily.
She tried to wrest the cloth from him and see to the drying herself, but he’d have none of it. In the end, she was out of breath and flushed—both her face and her lower cheeks—because he hadn’t hesitated to smack her bare bottom when she had resisted at every turn.
Once dry, he pulled a tunic over her head. Three sizes too big, it hung past her knees, so he cinched it at the waist with a leather belt so long it wrapped nearly twice around her. It was all he intended her to wear, evidently, leaving her entirely bare underneath, and uncomfortably so. Because, even though the long shirt hung to mid-thigh, if she sat, bent forward, or if a slight breeze happened by, anyone looking her way would get an eyeful.
He surprised her by brushing a gentle kiss and more indecipherable words against her forehead. She sensed affection, or perhaps merely possessiveness, because he turned again on a dime, becoming Mr. Domineering by pulling her along to a curtained off area of the tent. He gave her no more than a few seconds of privacy to see to her bodily functions, which was difficult with him standing on the other side of the thin drape.
Afterward, he led her out of the tent and returned her to her shipmates. The cage was gone, thankfully, although it didn’t mean they were left to mill about on their own. Instead, they were shackled at the ankle in a long line. While Eva stood fuming, he dropped to a knee and cuffed her right along with them. With a few incomprehensible words and a brush of his hand along her chin, he left her there under guard, the first time she’d been out of his sight since her capture.
Eva glared daggers into his back as he strode across the camp. A million thoughts ran through her mind, and none of them were good. Was he done with her? He’d had his fun, and that was that? What was this about? Were they merely sex toys to these barbarians, to be used and set aside until the next time? If so, what was the purpose of the probe—some alien STD test?
As a prisoner, she expected to be treated like one, but after his tender care this morning, and his intimate possession last night, she hadn’t envisioned being treated like a tramp, dismissed with little thought after a wham-bam one-night stand, either. She fumed, eyeing him derisively as he moved amongst the group of men.
“Eva!”
She jumped, turning toward the woman beside her. “What?” she snapped. Her curt reply was unusual for her, but, after the last twenty-four hours, her nerves were frazzled and her tolerance at an end.
It was Mailynn, the usually timid and extremely quiet microbiologist. “I called your name three times. Are you all right?”
“I’m sorry for being short, Mai,” she grumbled. “I’m fine, other than being imprisoned by barbarians.”
“Were you able to find out what they plan to do with us?” This was asked by Brenna, petite, round, appearing much younger than her twenty-eight years. She looked like a college girl who should be cramming for finals instead of an expert chemist aboard a research ship who could be captured by aliens.
Eva cast her a disbelieving look. “How? I don’t understand a word they say.”
Brenna’s shoulders slumped. “It was worth asking. No one knows what’s going on. Aside from you and Lana, all of us slept in the cage.”
She did a quick head to toe assessment of Brenna who had been lost during the initial attack. With no visible injuries, she appeared fine. Stepping forward, as much as the shackle would allow, she scanned everyone down the line. “Was anyone harmed?”
“Surprisingly, no,” Mailynn replied.
“Speak for yourself,” Lana said, rubbing her posterior. “The beast turned me over his knee and spanked me—hard. And this morning, when I didn’t snap to attention at some order I didn’t understand, he did it again. Can you believe it?”
Eva gasped, her hands flying back to her own tenderized backside. Seven pairs of eyes followed her motion.
“It happened to you, too, didn’t it?” Brenna breathed in a shocked whisper.
With a faint nod, Eva bent her head.
“What else did he do to you?” Lana, her closest friend, asked with concern.
“He restrained me, and…” She looked away.
“Oh, Eva,” Lana whispered, tears in her eyes. “Were you forced?”
“Yes. I mean, no… I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?” Brenna asked, her hands clutching her stomach, as though dreading the answer.
“He gave me something to drink—”
“You were drugged!” Thora exclaimed, her fair skin turned nearly white which made the freckles across her nose and cheeks more pronounced. Her dark-auburn hair stood out amongst the five blondes, except Eryn, whose long wavy hair was a stunning gilded copper.
As she looked around, Eva realized they were all beautiful women, tempting like ripe fruit to their hulking jailors. Why couldn’t they have been plain, or ugly? Then maybe they wouldn’t have been so desirable as captives.
She wrinkled her nose. “It was more like wine. I had a full glass, which I chugged. After abstaining for three years, it could have gone to my head. But I have a feeling it was more about him.”
“What does that mean?” Thora demanded. “Are you saying he used some kind of mind control?”
She frowned, considering it as a possibility. “He was very, um…persuasive.” Her face flamed at the weakness she revealed. How did she explain being seduced by an alien? “Except for the spankings, he was gentle.”
“Spankings?” Brenna whispered. “As in plural?”
She flushed even more fiercely. “Yes. I wasn’t very cooperative.”
“Of course not,” Lana grumbled. “Neither was I. He didn’t require cooperation, the big brute.”
“The probing was rather disturbing; don’t you think?”
Lana’s eyes grew round like twin moons as they shifted to Eva. “What probing?”
“You mean he didn’t…? The man who took you didn’t—?”
“He touched me—all over—and kissed me in more places than my mouth. But there was no probing or insertion of any kind.”
Eva swallowed, wondering why she had been the only “lucky” one probed, and so much more.
Eryn, the sole guard in the group who had been observing silently, finally spoke. “What did he probe you with—and where?”
If she got any more embarrassed, Eva felt sure her face would catch fire. It made her want to kick him in the jaw all over again. She didn’t want to reveal more than she already had, but they deserved to know what might lay ahead. “It was a digital wand, like a doctor might use, but it expanded, once inside.” She waved her hand at her lower half. Jeez, she was a scientist and couldn't bring herself to say it. “I think it was a test to see if he would fit.”
They stared at her in collective horror.
Before she could answer more of their questions, a cheer went up from the other side of the clearing where most of the men had gathered. Eva clenched her jaw, seeing they had formed a circle around the golden-eyed warrior as he spoke. From their enthusiastic reactions and gestures, the men slapping each other on the back and eyeing the women, whatever he was saying concerned her crew and was very good news. The way they grinned broadly, with looks of complete elation reminded her of him when he'd read the display on the probe last night.
The image of a high school locker room with the captain of the football team in the center of a huddle gleefully telling his buddies about scoring with the head cheerleader popped into her mind.
She wanted to kick him all right. Forget about the jaw—next chance she got she’d aim three feet lower.
Abruptly, the assembled men dispersed. Singled out by him, a few would nod in response then scurry off as if having received their marching orders.
The meaning of this coalesced in Eva’s mind. “I think he’s their leader,” she presumed aloud. “In fact, I’m positive. See how they bow and defer to him?”
“What? So, he’s the chief muckety-muck and, as such, gets first dibs on pussy?”
“Eryn!” Lana protested. “Don’t be crude.”
“Why the hell not? Look around us?” Eryn threw her arms wide as she said this. “We’re stuck on a wilderness planet with a bunch of half-naked barbarians who can’t speak our language. Who gives a fuck if we’re crude? Besides, it makes me feel better to swear.”
Several of the crew nodded, agreeing with the tall, lithe guard whose personality was as bold as her red hair.
Marta, the only physicist on their team, gazed at her with her intelligent blue eyes, as she asked, “What are we going to do, Eva?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“You’re the senior officer since Rebecca isn’t here. She and the other three either made it back to the shuttle and are safe on board the Odyssey by now, or….”
“Don’t even think it,” Eva whispered, her eyes going to the woods beyond the camp.
Rebecca was a hardass; having made first officer at only twenty-three, she had to be. Of the four unaccounted for, Rebecca had the best chance of survival, but in a foreign environment—and outnumbered by a hostile enemy—the odds were against her. Eva shook her head, unable to bear the thought of having lost even one of their own, let alone four.
“They’re coming this way,” someone whispered.
Twisting around, Eva saw seven grinning males descending on the line of tethered women.