The minute the door closed behind them, Sarah turned to the big Kindred.
“Sazar,” she said, her voice trembling. “I…I have to tell you something.”
“I know,” he growled, to her surprise. He’d looked like he wasn’t paying attention to her and Chandra whispering as they walked along.
“You…you do?” Sarah asked.
“I heard.” He frowned at her. “We’re expected to perform at the Breeding Ball after all. Now what in the Seven Hells are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, but Sazar…” She licked her suddenly dry lips, unsure how to say what she had to say. “I…I’m a virgin,” she blurted out at last. “I can’t…I mean, I don’t…”
“What?” His eyes widened. “You’ve never—”
“No!” Sarah said quickly. She looked at him shyly. “I’ve never wanted to. And now this…this Breeding Ball…”
“Well of course you can’t have your first sexual experience in the middle of an alien orgy,” he exclaimed, as though reading her mind. “That’s out of the question!”
“It is? Oh, good…” Sarah was weak with relief that he understood. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t like to, uh, you know, with you,” she went on, stumbling over the words. “But in public like that…”
Sazar took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“Sarah,” he said quietly. “I understand. Virginity is precious among my people—I won’t take it from you. Your first time should be special—with a male you love and want to bond with. I’m not going to take you at the Breeding Ball.”
Sarah bit her lip.
“But what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.” He frowned. “We’ll think of something.”
Just then a knock sounded at the door and they heard the voice of the manager, Blorg.
“Hey—Chandra said you needed a screen?”
Sazar went to let him in. “Yes, Chandra is supposed to send us some, uh, instructional videos.”
“Uh-huh.” Blorg nodded absently. Sarah had expected him to bring some kind of screen or TV with him. Instead, he cleared a spot on the rounded glass wall across from the bed, moving a colorful wall hanging to do so. “There you go, folks,” he said, tapping the clear glass several times. “Should pop up right here when she sends it.”
Suddenly the clear spot on the wall darkened and loud moans began to come from it. At the same time, a picture of writhing bodies, clearly engaged in sex, showed up.
“Instructional vids, huh?” Blorg cocked an eyebrow at them.
Sarah felt like she could sink through the floor with mortification. Clearly the hotel manager just thought they wanted to watch porn together. How embarrassing!
“We can explain,” she began but Sazar shook his head.
“Thank you—that’s all we need,” he told the Alquon manager shortly.
“All right. Pat the wall here—” he showed with his own hand, “For controls. Volume, picture…that kind of thing. Enjoy.” Then he smirked and left.
When he was gone, Sazar took care to lock the door behind him and came to sit on the bed by Sarah. The mattress swayed in a rocking motion when he settled his big body beside hers.
“Well?” he asked in a low voice.
“Well, it…it’s a lot of people, uh, having sex.”
Sarah was so embarrassed she could hardly look at the screen. She’d never been allowed to see such things at the Compound where there was a strange double standard. On one hand, a girl was supposed to keep herself clean and never touch her body or think wrong thoughts or do or say anything sexual. But on the other hand, she was supposed to submit her body willingly to become a Bride of the Prophet when Father Caleb decided she was ready. After he was tired of her, she was passed to a husband and had to submit to him as well.
But she was never supposed to enjoy sex, talk about sex, or God forbid, watch sex in any format. Sex was only for the pleasure of the man—the husband or The Prophet. Never for the female who must submit to it.
So she had been taught, anyway. But the people on the wall screen certainly seemed to be enjoying it—both men and women.
“It’s not just people having sex.” Sazar was staring at the people on the screen intensely, as though he was seeing something Sarah wasn’t. He looked at her, his eyes blazing. “It’s not just porn—it’s our way out of this mess. Look.”
He stood up and walked to the screen, pointing to an Alquon couple with the pale green and purple mottled skin common to just about everyone in Idd except The Lord Magnate. The male was wearing the usual trousers and open robe combination and the girl had bare breasts and was wearing a split skirt.
“Look at the way he’s taking her—the way they’re doing it,” Sazar said. “Here, let me start from the beginning…”
He did something to the barely visible controls on the glass and the scene rewound itself to the point where the Alquon couple were just entering the vast golden throne room. Sarah recognized the tall windows and the golden light but the throne was no longer the only piece of furniture. The huge room, which had been empty when they saw it in person, had been filled with small pieces of waist-high furniture which looked like padded benches. The benches were curved down on one end and up on the other, with a large oval opening in the upward curving side.
They watched as the Alquon couple walked up and the female positioned herself lying on her stomach on the padded bench. Her bare breasts fit through the hole in the upward curving end, putting them on display and she gripped the carving handles that came off the sides almost like a pair of handlebars. Her lower abdomen and bottom were free of the bench, her feet planed firmly on the golden floor for balance.
“The breeding couch—that must be what Chandra was talking about,” Sarah exclaimed.
“Exactly.” Sazar was still staring intently. “Now watch what happens next.”
Sarah knew what happened next—the man was going to get behind the woman and mount her. But she made herself watch anyway because Sazar seemed to be seeing something she had missed.
As they watched, the Alquon female spread her legs with her bottom half hanging off the end of the bench. The male, standing behind her, opened her split skirt to show a pair of bright blue breeding panties, much like the ones waiting in the closet for Sarah. He opened his own trousers and pulled out a long, thick shaft.
It was clear now, what the fourth hole in the panties was for. It was just wide enough to admit his cock and guide it straight into his female’s pussy. Sarah nibbled her lip, her face flaming with embarrassment as she watched, waiting for him to push the thick, throbbing monster into his female’s slit.
But instead of ramming himself home in his female immediately, the male Alquon waited until a person in a long white robe and white makeup approached. It was impossible for Sarah to tell if the person was male or female—he or she had very androgynous features and unlike the other Alquons, his or her entire body was covered, making it impossible to tell the sex.
The androgynous attendant in the white robe said a few words and then motioned for the male Alquon to continue. Under the attendant’s watchful eyes, the male slipped his thick shaft through the hole in his female’s panties and thrust forward, clearly sliding into her pussy.
The attendant nodded and watched as the male pulled out and pushed in again, making low, rough grunts of effort as he did. The female moaned and writhed beneath him and he gripped her hips hard, riding her on the breeding couch as she gasped and cried his name.
The female’s bottom was hanging off the end of the bench but her panties, Sarah saw, hid most of the action. Though it was amply clear the male was indeed filling her, at least she wasn’t completely on display.
The attendant watched for a moment then nodded and moved on. But the camera person—had it been Chandra?—stayed with the rutting couple until the male thrust forward hard and held steady, clearly pumping his female’s womb full of his cum.
His seed, Sarah thought, feeling her cheeks get even hotter. He’s giving her his seed.
She thought of Sazar doing that to her—what would it feel like? Would it hurt? The female in the video had been moaning and writhing as though she liked it. But how big was Sazar? Sarah had only caught glimpses of his equipment but it seemed really large…
At last the Alquon male finished. After a long moment he pulled out and whitish stuff could be clearly seen dripping from the hole in the female’s breeding panties. She smiled up at him and he grinned back and slapped her exposed ass playfully. Clearly they had both enjoyed what had happened but Sarah couldn’t understand how they could be so casual about it. How they could just have sex in a crowded room and think nothing of it.
Sazar paused the video and turned to her, his eyes blazing.
“Did you see that?” he demanded.
“Of course I saw it—you made me watch it!” Sarah squeezed her thighs together tightly, trying to stop the throbbing in her pussy. God, she wished she hadn’t allowed herself to imagine what that would be like with her boss. What it would feel like to let the big Kindred breed her…
His voice softened a little.
“I think you’re missing the point, Sarah. It was the way he took her that offers us an answer—a way out of this.”
“What? How?” Sarah exclaimed. “He just…just stuck it in her.” She wished her heart wouldn’t pound so hard when they talked about this!
“Yes, he did but that’s not what we’re going to do,” Sazar said. “You’ll lay on the bench and get into position, just like that female did.” He pointed at the female in the video. “But when I put my shaft into the hole of your breeding panties, I won’t slide inside you—I’ll slide under you.”
“You mean…” Sarah was starting to get the idea.
“I’ll be inside the breeding panties but not inside you,” Sazar explained. “I’ll make thrusting motions but no one will know I’m not in you—the panties will hide it all.”
“Are you sure about that?” Sarah bit her lip. “I mean, there was an attendant watching them the whole time.”
“We’ll make it convincing.” He looked at her seriously. “Do you think you can act as though I’m really sliding into you? As though I’m really breeding you?”
God, if her face got any hotter from embarrassment her hair was going to catch fire! But somehow Sarah nodded.
“I…I think so,” she whispered.
“Good.” He nodded decisively. “Because I think this is our only chance. We’ll just have to fake it as convincingly as we can and wait until we’re certain we won’t cause offense by leaving.”
He pressed the controls again and the scene started once more. Sarah watched as female after female was mounted and felt a throbbing between her thighs.
So she and Sazar were going to fake it. But what happened if they were caught? And what if—
Her thoughts derailed suddenly because the videographer had come to the front of the throne room where a larger, more elaborate breeding couch was set up. It gleamed gold and The Lord Magnate himself was using it.
Or he’s using the girl who’s on it, anyway, Sarah thought, grimacing. The girl beneath the Alquon ruler was so much younger than him it made her sick. At least she looked to be of legal age but just barely, Sarah thought. Her face was twisted in a look of agony and The Lord Magnate was riding her hard, clearly not caring that he was obviously hurting her.
Ugh! Just like The Prophet! Just like Father Caleb, Sarah thought.
“Who?” Sazar paused the scene again and turned to her. “Who is this Prophet I’ve heard you speak about before?” he asked. “Are he and Father Caleb one and the same?”
Sarah’s mouth went dry when she realized she’d said the words aloud. She’d spent so much time hiding her past—running from it. She had the urge to run and hide again but somehow when she opened her mouth what came out wasn’t another excuse or evasion…it was the truth.
“Father Caleb is The Prophet—or that’s what he calls himself. He…The Lord Magnate reminds me of him. He’s the leader of The Brotherhood of Peace,” she added in a low voice.
“The religious organization you ran away from,” Sazar said and it wasn’t a question.
“Call it what it is.” Sarah’s throat felt tight. “It’s a cult.”
“A theological movement with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices usually directed at a particular figure or object,” Sazar said, sounding like he was quoting from the dictionary.
“Exactly.” Sarah nodded, looking down at her hands. “In the Brotherhood, at the Compound where we all lived, Father Caleb was who we—they—venerated.”
“But not you?” he asked.
Sarah shook her head vehemently.
“Not me—never me!” she said fiercely. “I was just stuck there—stuck because my dad left me and my mom was completely brainwashed. I would have been brainwashed too if I hadn’t been able to sneak off to the library and read books. I found out what The Brotherhood really was and I knew what Father Caleb wanted from us wasn’t…wasn’t right.”
“What did he want?” There was a soft growl in Sazar’s deep voice but she didn’t think it was directed at her.
“What The Lord Magnate wants,” she said, feeling her stomach clench. “To sleep with any girl he takes a liking to. So he made up a reason to do it—he’s ‘special’ you see. He’s The Prophet and he has to spread his seed to make ‘holy babies’ in as many girls as he can.”
“Sarah…” Sazar reached for her but she pulled away. “Did he do that to you?” he asked in a low voice. “Did he—”
“I told you I’m a virgin, didn’t I?” she snapped. “I hid for as long as I could—hid in plain sight. By wearing clothes that were too big and gaining weight. By looking as plain as I could…”
“That was why you wore the glasses!” Sazar snapped his fingers. “I wondered why anyone would wear oculars they didn’t need. You wanted to disguise your beauty.”
“Right. My beauty.” Sarah gave a sarcastic laugh. “My ‘beauty’ is why I ran away in the middle of the night, praying they couldn’t find me…” She put a hand to her eyes. “I was safe for years, you know—even working in the office. Because Father Caleb had another girl he liked—the head secretary, Sister Hope. She ‘met his needs’ as often as he wanted so he didn’t bother me. Until…until she got pregnant.”
“And then he turned his attention to you?” Sazar’s voice was low and dangerous. “Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?”
“He tried…tried plenty.”
Sarah swallowed convulsively, remembering the skin-crawling sensation whenever Father Caleb had snaked a hand up her skirt or tried to paw her breasts.
“I put him off and put him off,” she said in a low, choked voice. “But finally he said it was time I…I became a Bride of the Prophet.” The words seemed to stick in her throat. “I knew I would end up like his other secretary, Sister Hope—like every other girl in the Compound who had to ‘receive his seed’—pregnant and handed off to some other man I didn’t love. I knew I’d rather die than let that happen.”
“So you ran away,” Sazar said.
She nodded. “I ran away. I ran to the shelter and stayed for as long as I could.” She looked up at him. “Then I saw the ad for a job up on the Kindred Mother Ship. I knew if I could just get there, I’d be safe. That the Controllers from The Brotherhood would never find me.”
“They won’t,” he said in a soft, low voice. “You’re safe with me, Sarah. You know that, don’t you?”
She looked up at him. “Thank you, but can we please not talk about this? I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just that the creepy Lord Magnate reminds me of Father Caleb. And the way he looked at me when we went to the palace…” She shivered. “Let’s just say I’m not looking forward to seeing him again.”
“I’ll keep you away from him,” Sazar vowed in a low voice. “He won’t touch you, I swear it.”
“Thank you.” Sarah looked at him gratefully. “I feel better knowing that.”
“Let’s just get through this ball tonight,” Sazar said grimly. “If we can give a good performance and appear to be honoring the Alquon traditions, I think we can probably be assured of getting the Alquons to agree to a trade with the Kindred. After that our job is done and we can go home.”
“Just in time for Christmas,” Sarah murmured.
“Oh, yes…” He frowned distractedly. “Your upcoming festival of giving. I had almost forgotten about that. Yes, let’s hope we may be back to the Mother Ship in time for you to celebrate there.”
It was on the tip of Sarah’s tongue to ask if they could celebrate together…but somehow she couldn’t make herself say the words. They’d only known each other a few days, she reminded herself. And despite the intimacy they’d shared here on Alquon Ultrea, things might be completely different back aboard the Mother Ship.
Let’s just get through the ball tonight, like Sazar said, she told herself. Once we get through that and get out of here maybe we can talk.
And maybe…just maybe they might have more to talk about than work. She hoped.