Cyberevolution Book One: The Awakening: Fifty Shades of Dark Kaitlyn O'Connor by Kaitlyn O'Connor, Kimberly Zant, Marie Morin, Stacey St.James, Goldie McBride (7)

“When you tire of her, then?”

Tariq flicked a hard glance at him and finally shrugged.   “I’ve no heirs,” he said dryly, studying the wine in his glass.  “I’ll want to breed more than one on her.”

“So what you’re saying is that you intend to use our friendship to keep her?” Koryn said tightly.

Tariq sent him a look of surprise.  “You object?”

Anger flashed through Koryn.  He wasn’t in a position to object and they both knew it.  His bloodlines and family name were almost the equal of Tariq’s and yet ‘almost’ wasn’t good enough—now.  He had neither the power nor the position to demand a breeder of his own—not in their current circumstances.  If they hadn’t found their nursery devastated, their purebloods vanished into thin air or dead ….

He still wouldn’t have been in a position to demand Emerald if Tariq had wanted her, he thought angrily.  He could choose one if they’d found enough to go around and as long no one of higher class or power wanted her, she was his.

Even Tariq stood to lose her if someone of a higher position decided to claim her.

That was why he refused to wait, Koryn realized abruptly.  It wasn’t just his eagerness.  It was the fear that she’d be snatched from his grasp.

His anger waned as that settled in his mind.  It wasn’t a bad plan, he decided once he’d gotten past his anger and could think straight.  If she was breeding, Tariq could keep her in seclusion and if it was known that he was sharing her she wouldn’t attract undue notice.

It did little to cool his resentment that he couldn’t claim her for himself.  He wasn’t certain he could’ve brought himself to share her with Tariq if their roles had been reversed, but then he knew Tariq well enough to know it was eating at him that he had to regardless of his efforts to behave as if it didn’t matter.  “No,” he responded finally, his own voice tight with reluctance.  “There’ll be no way to keep the other men from talking, you know. Too many have seen her already.  She might not have attracted so much notice if not for the hair.”

Tariq snorted.  “You think they noticed anything above her breasts?”

“You and I did.”

Tariq downed his wine.  “That’s why I intend to keep her confined in my quarters.  I suggest you double your efforts. I wouldn’t propose it if things were different, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make duplicates if you can get enough genetic material to do so.”

“Not that I don’t see your point, but I’ve been damned lucky to get what I have!” Koryn retorted angrily.

Tariq turned to look at him.  “What about the woman you found today?”

Koryn frowned.  “I don’t know,” he said doubtfully.  “Possibly.  I think it’s more likely I could get enough from the male to make two.”

“I don’t give a fuck whether the women have breeders or not!” Tariq growled.

“They do,” Koryn retorted dryly, “and there are some powerful women behind this enterprise.”

“They’ll be happy to learn that we’ve found nearly three times as many men than we have women, then,” Tariq said sourly.  “I hope to fuck it isn’t a trend, but it’s beginning to look that way.”

“It’s a little early to arrive at that conclusion, although I’ll agree it is certainly looking that way, but I’m not sure it will count in our favor with the women when we haven’t managed to clone even half the men we’ve found.”

The comment effectively distracted Tariq.  “It would suggest a war as the cause of this mess—either among themselves or with invaders.  The council—everyone—is going to want to know what happened and we’re going to need the right answers.”

“We haven’t found anything to support that,” Koryn said sharply.

“Except the ratio of men to women, you mean?”

“Except that,” Koryn agreed.  He glanced at Emerald, saw that her jaw was set and her eyes sparkling with anger and repressed a smile.  “Emerald doesn’t look especially gratified by your claim.”

Tariq flushed uncomfortably.  “I hadn’t realized I said that in her language,” he said ruefully.

Koryn stared at him a moment and chuckled.  “I hadn’t thought I’d live to see the day a woman rattled you that much.”

“You haven’t seen it now,” Tariq said tartly.  “I was pissed off to find you hovering over her.  It had nothing to do with being rattled.”

Koryn grinned.  “If you say so.  As much as I’d enjoy staying to watch, I think I’ll just take my leave now and let you handle this. The lab calls.”

“Coward,” Tariq murmured with amusement.

Koryn flicked a rude gesture at him as he headed out, but he didn’t turn around.

Tariq studied Emerald ruefully when Koryn had departed.  She glared at him and finally turned a disdainful shoulder in his direction and settled her head against the back of the chair.

“You aren’t sleeping in that chair,” he said grimly.

Emerald stiffened, but she didn’t otherwise acknowledge his comment.

Shaking his head, he returned to the dispenser for another glass of wine for himself and one for her.  She stared at him when he settled in the chair beside her and offered her the glass.  “It’s wine,” he said dryly.

“I had soup.”

“And now you’ll have wine.”

Her jaw tightened but after a long moment, she took the glass.  “Somehow I doubt this is part of my diet,” she muttered under her breath.  “Maybe it’ll kill me.”

She discovered Tariq was staring at her stony faced when she glanced at him again, his eyes blazing with anger.  “I hadn’t taken you for a coward,” he said evenly.

The dart struck home.  “I’m not,” she said tightly, “but there are some battles you can’t win and the only option is … a strategic retreat.”

“It’s never wise to announce your battle plans to the enemy,” Tariq said coolly.  Setting his half empty glass down, he took hers from her hand and set it down on the table, as well.  She resisted when he caught her hand and drew her toward him—for all the good it did.  An all out battle wouldn’t have stopped him, although it might have saved face.

She decided an appearance of compliance was a better battle strategy at the moment, however, since she had nothing to gain by trying anything else and a lot to lose.  She yielded to his determination, getting up and moving to him.  He pulled her down on his lap, adjusting her more to suit himself than for her comfort.  For many moments after he’d cradled her against his chest, he merely stared at her.

She wondered what was going through his mind.  He didn’t seem angry that she’d defied him, even briefly, or complacent that she’d yielded.  He didn’t even seem particularly aroused, although she could feel the evidence of sexual interest against her hip.  She flinched instinctively when he lifted his free hand toward her face.  He hesitated fractionally and then completed the move, stroking a hand lightly along the hair at her temple and then downward to grasp the lock hanging across her breast.  Lifting it, he rubbed his fingers back and forth over the strands and finally brought the lock to his nose and sniffed it.

Emerald stared at him curiously, wondering what he’d expected her hair smell like.  Different in some way than his own she supposed, but she’d used the soap they supplied her with and had to suppose it was what they all used.  She emerged from her introspection when he leaned closer.  His hair tickled her face as he brushed the tip of his nose and then his lips along her throat, dragging in a deep breath.

It aroused him—her scent.  She felt his cock grow thicker and harder against her hip.  Her belly clenched in reaction.  Her skin pebbled as he expelled the breath he’d inhaled and it wafted along her skin, making her nipples tighten in reaction.  By the time he’d brushed his face along her cheek to her temple, a deep quivering had begun inside of her and her skin felt flushed all over.  He lifted his head to meet her gaze as he reached for the sheet she had clasped tightly to her breasts.

Briefly, she resisted his tug and then yielded as she had when he’d issued the wordless command to come to him.  He lowered his gaze to her breasts as he dragged the sheet to her waist.  She looked down at his hand as he cupped one breast, lightly massaging it.

It was disconcerting enough to discover her breast looked like an apple on a turkey platter next to his hand that she glanced at his face.  Sensing the movement, he lifted his head and met her gaze again.  There was no amusement or distain that her breast looked so woefully small compared to the size of his hand.  On the contrary, his face had grown taut, his eyes dark and glittering with the need his erection gave ample testimony to.

He lifted his hand from her breast to cup the side of her face, tightening the arm he had around her shoulders at the same time to draw her closer even as he tilted his head toward her and matched his lips to hers.  He sucked lightly at her lips, with a slow relish that belied his display of ruthless aggression before even while it set her heart to pounding like a trip-hammer.

He didn’t deepen the kiss.  Instead, after teasing her with his lips until she’d begun to feel a sense of desperation for more, he lifted his lips from hers and traced the bridge of her nose to her forehead.  His hands tightened on her almost convulsively for a moment.  She heard him swallow and then his grip on her eased.  “Go to bed, Emerald,” he murmured against her hair.

She lifted her head and stared at him dizzily, uncomprehendingly.

“Now!” he growled.  “Before I do something I’ll regret.”

She bounded up from his lap and retreated to the bed, almost tripping on the sheet she was dragging in her rush.  Embarrassment and anger had joined her confusion and the fear that set her into flight by the time she clambered onto the bed.  She settled on the bed as close to the far wall as she could get, but the desire to curl in upon herself was stronger than the prompting of wounded pride to display her resentment by showing him her back and her indifference.

The problem was that she wasn’t indifferent.  She drew her knees up to her chest, curling into a tight ball, and tried to convince herself that it didn’t bother her that he’d apparently decided he didn’t want her after all.  It wasn’t as if she’d wanted him to paw her!  She certainly hadn’t volunteered for breeding—as if she was a fucking barnyard animal!

There was nothing wrong with her damned breasts, either!  Could she help it if she had perfectly average breasts and his hands were like—pie plates?  No!  They’d have to be the size of fucking bowling balls, or her head, to fill a hand that size!  And who wanted that kind of aggravation?

Her throat closed with emotion.

She told herself that she was angry and fearful.

The last part wasn’t a lie.  As resentful as she’d been over the plans he had for her, she couldn’t help but wonder—now that it seemed she didn’t have to worry about that—what she did have to worry about.  Would they use her for experiments after all?

He’d suggest that he would let Koryn have her when he was done with her, she recalled, pushing aside the resentment that had caused her at the time.  Would he offer her to Koryn now?  And what if Koryn didn’t want her?  What if none of them did?

Did she have any palatable options?

She hadn’t realized that it had almost made her feel safe to think that Tariq wanted her, despite her anger and resentment that they treated her as if she was chattel, property to be used and disposed of at will.  She knew it was stupid to feel any sense of security about it all, and yet she had nothing else to cling to.  She didn’t even have that small source of comfort now.

What was she going to do?

What could she do?

She’d told herself that yielding was the only sensible thing to do and yet she couldn’t even convince herself that she’d merely tolerated his touch and hidden the revulsion she should have felt.

She had a bad feeling he knew just how much his touch had affected her, too, and that shamed her more than anything else.

She’d almost worn herself out and dropped to sleep by the time he joined her on the bed and yet the moment she felt the mattress dip, she jolted completely awake and tensed all over—fearing/hoping he would reach for her.  He did.  He took the cover she’d wrapped around her and spread it over the two of them.  Even as she curled into a tight ball again, however, he planted a hand on her belly and dragged her back until she could feel the heat of his body and the tickle of his chest and groin hair along her back.  Tucking her head on one rock hard bicep, he curled his other arm around her and then a leg and settled his face against the back of her head.

She was still lying stiff and tense against him when she heard his breathing slow and grow deeper and knew he’d fallen asleep.  She couldn’t have been less comfortable if she’d been strapped to a rock and yet, somehow, she managed to fall asleep.

The nightmare woke her.  Even though she couldn’t recall more than a little of it when it jerked her awake, she knew it was the same dream.  Tariq’s hand glided slowly up her belly and settled between her breasts as she lay panting with residual fear.  She thought at first he was merely moving in his sleep, but then he tipped his head downward and she felt his lips along her shoulder.

Her heart calmed its frantic rhythm.  Shifting closer until she could feel his heat against her back again, she drifted, comforted by the wall of flesh surrounding her.  It flickered through her mind to wonder if he meant to do more and then she dropped into nothingness.

 

Chapter Four

Tariq didn’t regret his decision although he was willing to acknowledge that Koryn was right in a sense.  He was borderline obsessed with Emerald, but he had been on a purely scientific level and as a potential breeder for the heir he wanted so badly since she’d begun to develop so he didn’t see his interest, as keen as it was, as anything to be particularly concerned about.  It wasn’t obsession in the sense of a pathological need.  It was a rational, controllable interest and for equally logical reasons.

His bloodlines were not only important to him, they were important to the Anunnaki or he wouldn’t enjoy the position he did among them.  Emerald was as close to perfection on a genetic level as he thought he was likely to find among the purebloods, especially considering what they had found, so his decision to breed her was just plain good sense.  On a less exalted level, his sexual urges were also completely normal and understandable given his situation.  They’d expected to be transporting a large number of the purebloods back to Nibiru and had limited shipboard personnel accordingly.  It was his vessel and he was the commander and he was fully aware that he could’ve brought a woman along to provide for his sexual needs.  He’d chosen not to for the simple reason that it would set a bad example for the lower ranks, which was always a matter of prime consideration for him, and also because he’d fully intended to choose one of the purebloods for his bed as soon as one was available.

He hadn’t expected to endure abstinence quite as long as he had and his superior bloodlines didn’t protect him from his natural urges any more than it did anyone else.  There wasn’t a man onboard that wasn’t suffering from blue balls as badly as he was except for those who’d found respite in a fellow crewmember.

And he hadn’t taken a female crewmember into his bed for the same reason he hadn’t brought a woman along to start with—bad example to the others.  He firmly believed in leading by example.  If he set the highest standards for himself—and he did—his men struggled to give him their best.

He’d been tempted to discard his lofty principles and take care of his needs, more than once, but he hadn’t, which made it completely understandable as far as he was concerned that he was now approaching the point of feverish desperation to get his hands on Emerald.

It wasn’t obsession.  It was need!

Any warm female body would do.  He just didn’t see any sense in having plain bread when he could sink into a delicious piece of cake only by waiting just a little longer.  It was as much a matter of proving to himself that he had the discipline to wait as it was the desire to anticipate rather than capitulate and settle for less than what he wanted.

He wasn’t in the habit of settling for less than precisely what he wanted.

If he wasn’t entirely happy with the decision, he had no one to blame but himself—and possibly fate—that capricious bitch that supposedly controlled random odds and yet always seemed to stack the deck against everyone, especially when they were at their lowest ebb.

He didn’t believe his reasoning was faulty in any way or adversely influenced by his interest in Emerald.  He’d made it a point to remove himself as far from that distraction as possible and consider every angle carefully.

He fully intended to load his ship down with purebloods before he returned to Nibiru for the simple reason that failure wasn’t an option as far as he was concerned—and returning without them would not only be a failure for him personally.  It would be a disaster for the Anunnaki.  They needed the purebloods.  As badly as everyone hated to admit it, they all knew they were doomed without them.  It didn’t matter that it was their own poor decisions that had brought about the disaster.  They had to deal with it, and the purebloods were their only option of doing so.

He had to consider the possibility, though, that his ship might make the return trip to Nibiru without the numbers he’d anticipated and fewer purebloods meant severely limited supply to demand.  Those with power and position would get first choice, as was their right.  Those directly beneath them would get their castoffs and so on until supplies trickled down to the lowest levels.  Except supplies wouldn’t be trickling far down the scale if they were as limited as what he’d discovered so far and there were too many in the ranks above him, as it stood, for him to get more than a whiff of a pureblood.

He’d decided to take what he wanted while he had the chance—right of conquest plus most superior rank present—and handle any consequences later.  He was sure there would be consequences, possibly very unpleasant ones, but that was immaterial as long as he ensured his own lines.  Assuming he was successful enough to appease those of higher ranks than he was, he’d also decided to include Koryn for the simple reason that he didn’t want anyone of superior rank to his to look too closely at his prize and run the risk being usurped.

And they would exercise their rights if he made it too obvious that he considered Emerald a prize.  The only way he could avoid that pitfall was to make it clear that he wasn’t obsessed with her or even particularly possessive—in short to make it clear that she was of no particular importance to him at all beyond her breeding capabilities and the only way to do that was to make her available to others—or at least one other.

It was a logical conclusion.  He knew it was.  Unfortunately, it was also the only thing about his decision that had caused him any revulsion.

He didn’t want to share his prize.  The sense of possessiveness that twisted sickly in his gut at the mere thought of sharing did disturb him, but it also strengthened his resolve.  He had to share to protect his own interests and that being the case, who better than Koryn, who was almost more like a brother to him than a friend?

He could trust Koryn not to try to stab him in the back by trying to win Emerald’s affections.

He thought.

Except he didn’t trust the fucking bastard!  He just trusted him more than anyone else he could think of.

He didn’t need her affection, he assured himself, trying to shake the sick feeling that twisted in his gut every time the thought crossed his mind.  He’d claimed her and he was absolutely determined no one’s seed would prosper in her belly but his until he was satisfied he’d adequately ensured his bloodlines.  He would also enjoy fucking her any time the notion struck him, and his claim took precedence.  There was no reason to be particularly disturbed about it even if Koryn did capture her affection.  Her first obligation was to him and always would be—unless someone of higher rank usurped him and Koryn was the only hope he had of preventing that unless they found more purebloods—and quickly!

Emerald might well be the key to that—which was yet another completely logical reason for him to consider her of value.  When and if her memories returned, she might be able to tell them what had happened to the others or at least give them some idea where to search.

A shout on the other side of the excavation caught his attention.  Tariq studied the knot of activity for a moment and finally made his way quickly to the site to see what they’d found.  When he was close enough to see that the workers had broken through a wall that appeared to connect to a vast cavern or perhaps a tunnel system, he felt his stomach go weightless with anticipation and excitement.

“Let’s get some light down there and see if we can find a way down.”

Even as he voiced the order, someone hurried forward with several flares, activated them, and tossed them into the darkness beyond the hole.  The glow of the artificial lights illuminated an eerie subterranean cavern that bore all the marks of having been manmade or at least utilized by them for some sort of underground transportation.  A pair of rails made of what appeared to be some sort of metal formed a parallel ribbon into the darkness beyond the reach of the light.  Tariq could just make out a hulking shadow at the far end that appeared to be a machine of some kind.  Closer, a platform had been built several feet above the rails.

“Stairs!” one of the men peering into the cavern announced excitedly.

Tariq surveyed the area until he spotted them.  “Get a scanner and let’s get a reading on that location.”

Impatience flickered through him when they’d determined the distance and coordinates and found the location on the surface.  There was a pile of rubble over it that looked to be at least thirty feet deep.  He surveyed it with disgust, considering options.   “Let’s setup a winch and pulley at the hole we’ve punched through and lower a couple of men to check it out.  If they find anything worth the effort, we can put a group together to clear away the rubble.”

They had to send men back to the ship to gather up the tools they needed.  Nearly two hours passed before they had men on the ground inside the manmade cavern.  Tariq stared at the moving lights impatiently for a moment and finally glanced at the winch operator.  “Haul the seat up.  I’m going down.”

The man looked startled, but he hastened to obey.  A few moments later, Tariq stepped through the opening and began his descent.  He hadn’t reached bottom when he heard a shout from one of the men who’d gone down before him.  The voice echoed around the giant chamber, making it difficult to pinpoint the direction, but Tariq saw several other men that seemed to be converging on the same point.  Leaping off the crude transport they’d put together the moment it was low enough, he strode quickly toward the other men.

His stomach clenched the moment he drew close enough to see what they’d found.

There was a tangle of six to ten bodies.  It looked as if they’d huddled together in a tight knot near one of the back walls.  At least half of them appeared to be children.

Thrusting aside his revulsion, he crouched down and studied the group, looking for anything that might tell him their story.  He discovered it didn’t actually take a lot of imagination or a very long search.  “They suffocated.”  Straightening, he took the portable light he’d brought from his pocket and scanned the walls nearest the bodies.  There appeared to be a good bit of soot on the upper parts of the walls but he couldn’t be certain it was enough to indicate a fire had killed them.  If they’d been sheltering in the area for a while, they would’ve needed some means of cooking.  He couldn’t even say for certain that they were huddled together because they’d known what was coming and were terrified.  They could’ve been crowded together for warmth or even comfort from misery.

By the time they’d found the fifth group, Tariq decided, grimly, that he was fairly certain he could dismiss any possibility beyond the first.  They’d died cowering in the darkness from something they knew was coming after them.  His anger threatened to boil over into rage.  Had they turned on each other and fought a war to end all wars?  Or had outsiders invaded with the determination to wipe them out?  And if that was the case, what would’ve provoked them?  Or had they not needed provocation beyond a desire to destroy?

He realized when he’d finally tamped his anger that they still had nothing to say, positively, that a war had caused the apparent extinction.  The Earth had had time to recover from any number of things—including various natural disasters and if something as cataclysmic as an asteroid was responsible, that would also explain why they’d taken shelter below ground and cowered in terror.

The area they’d discovered was virtually undisturbed.  This might be their best chance to track down what had happened.

He returned to the surface and organized the workers into three groups.  The group remaining topside would focus on clearing enough rubble to give them easier access to remove the remains.  The two going below would divide into a recovery group and an investigative group.

He looked around for Koryn when he’d outlined the plan and discovered Koryn wasn’t among the workers.  Trying to convince himself that Koryn was working on extracting the DNA from the pair they’d found the day before, he headed back to the ship, but he discovered it was hard to contain the rage seething just below the surface.

* * * *

Koryn relaxed fractionally when he’d gone over the latest scanner results on the developing clones.  Everything was testing normal as far as he could see.  It was early days in the development, of course, but he didn’t see any reason for the alarm that had first smote him when the female’s cells had begun to divide and then separated.  Clearly, she was genetically predisposed toward that particular trait.  Once the cells had split to form two, they’d begun to generate more cells very rapidly that had clustered.

Tariq would be pleased, he thought wryly.  It was a shame he couldn’t take credit for it!

Turning his attention to the readings on the male, he studied those with equal care and was satisfied with the development of the two clones he’d managed to coax with the DNA he’d harvested from the male.

He had no idea how desirable the end result was going to be, but the males seemed to be mongoloid, at least, which meant they’d managed to harvest representatives of two races—assuming the cells continued to develop.

The more varied the genes they collected, the more pleased everyone on Nibiru was likely to be since genetic diversity was the objective in collecting the purebloods to start with.  With any luck, the clones would be ready to transplant into the larger pods within twenty four hours, Earth time.

Not that luck had been particularly forthcoming in this endeavor!

He hoped to hell they found more soon.  At the rate they were going, they were going to have the council breathing down their neck any day, demanding to know what the hell was going on.  They should already have made a shipment back to Nibiru.

He didn’t envy Tariq!

That thought produced an image of Emerald in his mind, unfortunately, and he abruptly felt a sickening wave of the emotion he’d just denied.  He hadn’t realized the proprietary interest he felt toward Emerald went beyond either pride in his achievement, scientific curiosity, or even the general sense of ownership they all felt toward the purebloods who were, after all, theirs, since they had developed them.

Without the interference of the Anunnaki, it seemed likely they would still be little more than the barely intelligent beasts they’d found when they’d first discovered Earth.  They hadn’t gained much more than a toehold on intelligence in thousands of years of evolution, after all, and still looked, and behaved, more like beasts than human.  Even with their knowledge, it had taken them generations to produce something acceptable—not that they’d expected any different.  They’d barely scratched the surface on genetic research in those days.  Apart from the fact that the indigenous humanoids were amazing similar to them on a genetic level as far as they could tell and perfect for research and development, what they didn’t know had far exceeded what they did.  They certainly hadn’t cracked the codes to accelerate cell regeneration.  They hadn’t had the ability, then, to speed things up.  They’d had to plod along at a virtual snail’s pace, waiting for the humanoids to reproduce naturally so that they could study the results of each attempt at manipulating the genetics.

He didn’t know how the old ones had had the patience!  The advances they’d made since that time made it possible to accelerate cell division at a rate that could take them from first division to a fully matured adult in a matter of weeks and then simply ‘turn off’ the hyper growth cycle when the clone reached the target ‘age’.  And he’d still been in a near fever of impatience for Emerald to reach that point long before she had.  Then, off course, they’d had to wait another full week for the cells to stabilize and fully mature before they dared remove her from the pod and awaken her.

Right up until he’d finally managed to drag his attention from Emerald long enough to notice the look in Tariq’s eyes, he’d thought he was merely giddy with triumph at having successfully regenerated her from virtually nothing!  True, it had crossed his mind, several times, that he finally understood why the old ones were almost obsessive about the purebloods—on a sexual level.  He’d thought it strange that they would discuss their defects, their backwardness, and talk about them being the children of the Anunnaki one moment, and then reminisce with such yearning about the lovers they’d taken among them.  Because, of course, their life cycles were woefully short and, speaking purely from a scientific perspective, it hadn’t been desirable to lengthen their life spans.  It was enough of a headache to complete their research as it was and there’d actually been some debate over shortening their life spans so that they could get results faster.

Their imperfections should have made them repulsive, or undesirable at the very least, but he’d realized as soon as Emerald became recognizable as a being that the imperfections were not only minute, they were what made the purebloods so fascinating—at least part of what made them so fascinating.   He hadn’t enjoyed studying the most beautiful Anunnaki woman he’d ever seen nearly as much.  Physical perfection, he’d realized, could be downright boring, whereas he’d never tired of studying Emerald because every time he did, he noticed something different—had begun to realize he never would—just about the time he realized that his sense of possessiveness went well beyond a scientist’s love of and territorialism for his pet project.

He would’ve been better off if he’d never reached that understanding, he thought with disgust, because it changed nothing beyond making him furious and miserable.

Actually, more accurately, he would have been better off if he could’ve remained objective about Emerald.  He’d had as much to gain by taking part in the expedition as everyone else, but he couldn’t say that he’d been particularly keen about the necessity.  He had, in point of fact, been furious that they’d been so arrogant as to allow themselves to get to such a pass—as pissed off with himself as anyone else since it hadn’t occurred to him what they’d done, either, until they’d had their noses rubbed in it!

It still disgusted him that they’d been so blinded by their pursuit of perfection and longevity that it hadn’t occurred to any of them that they were cutting their own throats.  Generation by generation they’d winnowed out ‘the ugly and undesirable’ until they’d reached the point where they’d so bottlenecked their gene pool that everything they’d worked for had collapsed like a house of cards!

Of course, as far as he was concerned the entire fucking mess was the fault of the old ones—the cloners!  Five hundred years or so should be enough fucking ‘lifetime’ for any damned body!   But, no, they’d decided they needed more.  They were too important, themselves, to pass down their knowledge and power.  They were needed.

Unfortunately, the council had agreed with them.  They’d gone a step beyond that, though, requiring that anyone with such skills and scientific knowledge be resurrected for the good of the Anunnaki.

And look where that had gotten them all!  An entire generation of young that was so hideously defective they’d had to abort the whole crop!  It had thrown everyone into a blind panic—including him!

So while he’d agreed it was absolutely necessary to collect enough fresh contributors for their gene pool among the ‘children’, he hadn’t been terribly enthusiastic about it when he knew from the data on them that they were considered purebloods only because they were the baseline for the Anunnaki—without improvement.

He had no trouble, under the circumstances, understanding why it rankled so much that he might not end up with one at all, let alone a prime choice.  He had his own lines to think of, after all.  But Emerald … He realized he hadn’t thought about his bloodlines at all once he’d become so enthralled with her.  Nothing had really crossed his mind but the fact that she was his … until Tariq had brought him back to reality with a jolt!

From the moment she’d left the pod she’d ceased to be ‘his’ and become the property of the Anunnaki—which meant, as it always had—that she would have to go through the selection process until the higher ranks had made their choices before he would even have a chance at making a selection himself.

And he couldn’t honestly see that happening.  Maybe he was obsessed with Emerald and no one else would want her, would think she was the most beautiful, desirable creature ever conceived, but he didn’t believe that, hadn’t believed it from the moment he realized Tariq was as fascinated with her as he was.

What he didn’t understand was why he felt like beating Tariq to a pulp every time he thought about the fact that Tariq had claimed first rights.  Tariq was well within his rights considering his position.  It had never particularly bothered him before and, besides that, Tariq had offered to share her.  Even if Tariq wanted to breed several children on her, eventually, he would get the chance, and he didn’t even have to wait that long to slake his desire for her.  Tariq had said that he could fuck her as soon as he was certain she was breeding.

It wasn’t as if the two of them hadn’t shared lovers in the past!

There was no getting around the fact that he didn’t want to share her at all, however, or that he resented the fact that she would belong to Tariq and he must make do with seconds.

Short of killing Tariq, though, which he was unnerved to admit even to himself had crossed his mind, there was no changing the situation.

Unless the female he was currently developing appealed to Tariq more, he thought abruptly.

Or they found another that appealed to him.

He sure as fuck couldn’t have more than one when they were in such short supply!

It would be a week before he even had any idea what this female would look like, though!  All he did know was that she was Caucasian like Emerald, and had the genetics that would make her tall and slender, blue eyed and blond haired.

Another with red hair might have come closer to appealing to Tariq, he thought.

Dismissing his thoughts with an effort, he checked the time and realized why his stomach felt as if it was gnawing a hole in itself.  He’d missed breakfast when he headed to the lab and it was past the noon meal time.

Emerald should be able to tolerate something a little more substantial without adverse reaction.  With that thought, he left the lab and went to the ship’s galley to chose something he thought might tempt her appetite and grab something for himself, as well.  He could dine with her and use the opportunity to see how her mind was developing.  Maybe she had remembered something of value by now?

He was still uneasy about her lack of memory.  He’d put it down to the length of time that had passed since her death.  Ordinarily, they resurrected, if they were going to, with fresh samples and, naturally enough, the fresher the better.  And, of course, he hadn’t been able to retrieve even as much genetic material from her remains as they liked to have.  It had been a full strand, though, as far as he’d been able to determine.  There shouldn’t have been such a gap in her memory.  He could understand a delay in retrieving the memories from the DNA, but nothing like they’d seen so far—with Emerald and the others.

It was almost as if someone had deliberately tampered with their memories—but that didn’t make sense.  Granted, the purebloods had come a long way, technologically speaking, since the last reports on their progress, but even if they’d begun playing with genetics themselves, why would they deliberately damage the memory strands?

He discovered when he arrived at Tariq’s quarters that Emerald was asleep.  He wasn’t surprised.  She’d only been out of the pod a few days.  She was bound to sleep a very great deal at first.

After a brief debate with himself, he decided to allow her to sleep a few more minutes before he woke her and carried the trays to the table to deposit them.  He didn’t think he would’ve noticed she was in distress if he had simply settled to wait, but he hadn’t been able to resist moving back to the bed to watch her as he had while she was in the pod.  Almost the moment he settled on the edge of the mattress, he saw that her face was twisted with some strong emotion she shouldn’t have been experiencing in deep sleep.

He frowned.  He’d noticed the other two they’d resurrected had seemed to suffer a similar phenomena—nightmares.  Was it memories her mind was trying to repress for some reason, he wondered?

The internal debate was shorter that time.  If it was memories, he needed to try to bring them out.  Speaking in a quiet monotone, he tried to reach her subconscious without waking her.  “Relax  …”  Slowly, she relaxed yielding to his hypotonic suggestion. “What do you see, Emerald?”

“They’re coming,” she whispered.

Koryn felt his heart leap, but it was hard decide whether it was the suggestion that he’d been right about the dream or a reaction to the fear in her voice.  “Who?”

“They’ll overrun us.”

That seemed, indisputably, a reference to a military operation.  He was just about to suggest she go back further when he heard a sound behind him.  He glanced around sharply and discovered Tariq had come in and had obviously leapt to the wrong conclusion.  The absolute fury on his face, however, rather than unnerve him, shot adrenaline through his system and a responsive anger.  He surged to his feet just as Tariq reached him.  Tariq grabbed him around the throat before he could speak, squeezing tightly and cutting off any attempt he might’ve made to explain the situation at that point.

Not that he felt like attempting it.  Rage enveloped him in a red haze.  He gripped Tariq’s wrists, trying to wrench his hands loose and when that didn’t work, balled his hands into fists and pummeled them into his stomach.  He managed to catch Tariq on the solar plexus, which knocked the breath from him and loosened his grip fractionally, but he was at a disadvantage.  He was a scientist, not a trained fighter.  He tried to free himself from Tariq’s grip again and when that failed, caught Tariq’s throat in a similar hold.

Dizziness had already begun to envelop his mind, however, and although he squeezed with all the fury and grim determination he could muster, he doubted he could’ve broken the deadlock if Tariq hadn’t abruptly released his hold and drove a fist toward his face.  It broke his own hold on Tariq and he stumbled back.

“I told you not to touch her,” Tariq said through gritted teeth.

The effort to suck in a reviving breath of air past his crushed throat set Koryn to coughing.  “She’s asleep,” he managed to say finally.

“If you think that makes me less inclined to kill you where you stand …,” Tariq growled.

“Hypnotized.  She remembered something,” Koryn snarled.

That gave Tariq pause.  He glanced toward Emerald, studied her for a long moment and then looked at Koryn again.  “Explain.”

Koryn glared at him angrily.  “I brought her something to eat and saw she was asleep.  I thought I’d let her rest a few more minutes before I woke her, but then I noticed she seemed to be dreaming something that distressed her.  I decided to see if I could coax it out … if it was a memory.”

Tariq’s rage subsided but he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was still both angry and suspicious.  “Maybe you could explain to me why you brought her food instead of sending a droid with it?”

Koryn studied him uncomfortably, feeling a good bit of his own anger subside as the question prompted the realization that Tariq wasn’t paranoid.  He’d come specifically because he’d wanted to spend the time with Emerald and knew Tariq was on the dig site.  He hadn’t consciously considered trying to seduce her, but it occurred to him that he’d hoped for an opportunity.  “She’s still my charge,” he gritted out instead of admitting he’d only come because he wanted to see her.

And because he’d intended more if the chance presented itself.

“There’s some reason it’s better to check on her when I’m not here?”

Koryn’s lips tightened.  “I wasn’t aware that you’d forbidden it,” he growled.

Tariq narrowed his eyes.  “Was I wrong to trust you, Koryn?”

Discomfort wafted through him.  “In Emerald’s case … possibly,” he admitted reluctantly.

Tariq looked for several moments as if he might explode again.  He wrestled with it and finally paced away.  “We have been friends a very long time, Koryn.”

Koryn shook his head.  “Regardless of what you obviously think, I had no intention of trespassing,” he said finally.

“Unless the opportunity arose?” Tariq prompted with keen insight that made Koryn uncomfortable all over again.

He shrugged, but reluctant amusement flickered through him.  “I couldn’t honestly say.” He raked a hand through his disheveled hair, making it more of a mess.  “Not consciously,” he added after a moment.  He scrubbed his hands over his face as if he could wipe away the last several minutes that had put a severe strain on a longstanding friendship.  “I wasn’t thinking straight, I guess, but, whatever it looked like, the only reason you found me as you did was because of the dream.”

Tariq moved back to the bed to stand over it, staring down at Emerald.  He glanced at Koryn after a moment.  “So … finish what you started.”

Koryn moved back to the bed and settled on it as he had before.  “Emerald … tell me where you are now.”

She didn’t answer for several moments.  “In position.”  She hesitated.  “I don’t have much ammunition.”

“There’s a war?”

“Yes.”  Some emotion flickered across her face.  “The stupid bastards!”

Koryn lifted his brows and flicked a look at Tariq.  Tariq, he saw, had moved closer to hear.  “What started the war?”

Emerald frowned and moved restlessly.  “They attacked them.  We’ll pay.  We’ll all pay.”

Koryn looked at Tariq.  “Who are you talking about, Emerald?”

“The government ordered it.  It was ours.  They didn’t know ….  Stupid, arrogant bastards!”

“This was a territorial dispute?”

“The new world.  The colony.  Then the cowards ran and left us to die.  We’re all going to die.  They’re coming!  Oh god!  There are so many of them!”

“It’s alright, Emerald.  They aren’t here.  They can’t hurt you.”   He calmed her down and then lifted the hypnotic trance he’d placed on her.

He met Tariq’s gaze for a long moment and the two of them crossed the room.  “I’m guessing Emerald took part in their last stand here,” Tariq said when Koryn joined him.  “We found a tunnel system in the city.  There are bodies everywhere—all civilians as far we’ve seen.”

“They left,” Koryn said, feeling curiously blank.  “They must have developed far more superior technology than anyone on Nibiru guessed if they colonized another world.”

“They had to have.  There’s nothing in this system suitable for colonization—nothing close to the Earth as far as habitability.” He glanced toward Emerald when his attention was caught by movement.  “Do you think she’ll recall anything?”

Koryn frowned.  “I don’t know in all honesty.  It’s almost like someone deliberately erased their memories.”

“I might have disagreed with you on that before,” Tariq said slowly.  “Now ….  We have to consider they had the technology to do so and I’m guessing they had a strong motivation. I don’t think they were simply abandoned here when the others left.  I think they were given the task of holding the enemy so that the others had a chance to escape.  If they had the capability to do so, it would’ve made sense to make certain the enemy couldn’t find out where the others went.  It seems pretty clear from what we’ve found so far that they made a dangerous enemy, or their leaders did, and underestimated their strength.  They came to wipe them out, not merely to retaliate.”

“Gods!  How the hell are we going to figure out how to find them?”

Tariq shook his head.  “I don’t know, but unless this war of theirs set them back technologically, I don’t think we’re going to find the children of the Anunnaki.  We might well find another war.”

Chapter Five

It took Emerald several moments to catch her breath and calm her runaway heart.  There was nothing unusual about that.  Every time she’d woken from the nightmare she could never remember once awake, she’d felt as if she’d been running from something or fighting or both.  For the first time since the nightmares had begun plaguing her sleep, however, they lingered over her like a weighty mantel and slowly but surely, it settled inside her that the nightmare was real—a memory, not merely some imaginary thing that frightened her.

Fragmented images filled her mind chaotically as she lay staring at the ceiling, trying to sort them and make sense of them.  The emotions came through with far more clarity, though, than what had actually happened.  She felt those with such an intensity that they peaked once more and she had to struggle to calm herself down again before she could even try to piece together what had happened—the details.

She knew what had happened.  She’d died and everyone around her had fallen beneath the heel of their enemy.

She sat up abruptly on that thought.  “The people in the subway!” she gasped, struggling to get up from the bed and discovering she was tangled in the covers.

She didn’t even see Tariq until he was nearly upon her—a huge dark, unrecognizable form that made her heart nearly lurch out of her chest when he swooped down on her and gathered her into his arms.  For several moments, panic gripped her and she fought to free herself, convinced that one of the aliens had caught her.

“Stop it!  You’re safe.”

Recognition pierced her panic and she ceased her efforts to break free and gripped him frantically instead.  “They’re coming!  We have to go!”

“They’re gone, Emerald,” he said soothingly.  “They left a long time ago.”

That caught her attention.  She pushed away from him far enough to search his face for the truth and then reality lurched awkwardly into focus, fitting itself over the residual memories.  She didn’t struggle when he pulled her against his chest again and began to stroke her soothingly.  A shudder went through her, but she didn’t feel trapped or overwhelmed.  She felt … safe, felt as if she was more sheltered by his bulk than she would’ve been by a bunker.  His warmth filtered into her, dissipating the cold that had seemed to go bone deep.   “There are … were people in the subway and the sewers.  We sent them there to protect them.”

Tariq lifted her and carried her across the room.  Settling in the chair with her where he’d sat the night before, teasing her and then sending her away, he arranged her comfortably across his lap, just as he had then, curling an arm around her as he tucked her into the crook of one arm. The memory flickered through her mind, but she was too needy for the comfort he offered to give any precedence to her wounded pride from that incident.  She snuggled closer, burrowing her face against his chest, trying to block out the memories she’d been trying so hard to bring to light.

“What started it, child?” he murmured after several moments.

The sudden urge to weep like a child made her chest tight.  She fought that urge just as she had the fear and the sense of hopelessness that had threatened to engulf her, struggling to focus on the question and trying to remember.  “It was the new colony,” she said finally.  “I don’t really know.  We heard that the colonists met with hostiles shortly after they arrived.  We heard they were trying to negotiate a treaty and then the next thing we heard was that the aliens had attacked, that there was a terrible battle and most of the colonists and the military escort that had accompanied them had been killed.  It was shortly after that that we discovered the aliens had tracked them back to Earth and were coming.”

She felt silent, trying to remember more.  “We’d heard they were backwards primitives,” she said after a moment.  “Everyone was shocked when they heard the primitives had wiped out the entire colony.  Nobody believed it.  And then, when we heard they were coming after us, we realized it must have been the colonists that had provoked it—or maybe the military—but nobody believed the military would’ve acted without orders.  Everyone blamed the government, believed they’d been the aggressors, but we only knew what we’d been told, what was on the news.

“We knew when we heard they had attacked the outer solar bases that we were going to be overrun.  They managed to get a report back before … before we lost communications.  There weren’t enough ships to evacuate everyone—hardly anyone, actually.  We—the military—were ordered to stay behind and fight, to make sure the ships got away and to try to protect the civilians who had no way to escape.  Our prime directive, though, was to throw everything we had at them and engage them so aggressively that they would have to focus on us so that the evacuees had a chance to escape.”

Tariq’s hand paused when she stopped.  “You were part of the military force?”

Emerald frowned, considering that, and felt a sudden wave of loss envelop her. It might’ve completely undermined her efforts to control her emotions except that a sense of relief and hope was part of it.  “I volunteered to stay,” she said with an effort.  “There wasn’t room on the ships for everyone.  Part of the forces were to go with the ships to try to protect them, but if you volunteered to take part in the Earth defenses, you could get a ticket.  I stayed so I could send my daughter, Cara, to safety.  And because I couldn’t send anyone else and I wanted to be part of the forces that stayed to try to protect them.”

A knot of emotion formed in her throat, making it difficult to swallow.  “I saved her,” she murmured, trying to convince herself.  “We held them long enough the ships got away.”

Tariq gave her a few moments to compose herself.  “Where did they go, Emerald?”

Emerald’s heart skipped several beats as awareness abruptly descended over her that the man she was cuddled so trustingly against was an alien—just as those who’d attacked them had been.  Not the same alien race.  Those who’d attacked were horrible creatures that barely looked humanoid—but still an enemy of humans!  She didn’t give a damn whether they called her child or not, called humans the children of the Anunnaki!  They considered the humans belonged to them!   She hadn’t died to protect her daughter just to tell them where to find her!

She pushed away from him abruptly and sat up.  She would’ve leapt to her feet and put more distance between them if she hadn’t known it would only result in a useless struggle.  “I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to.  I volunteered to stay and that meant volunteering for a memory erase to keep the enemy from finding out where they’d gone.”

Tariq studied her speculatively.  “And you wouldn’t tell me if you could,” he said flatly.

Emerald searched his face.  “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Don’t you want to know that your daughter’s safe?”

Emerald sent a sharp glance toward Koryn.  She hadn’t even realized he was there until he’d asked the question.  “Not badly enough to let your people enslave her,” she retorted coldly.  At any rate, she knew her daughter was safe!   There was more she still didn’t remember than she did, but the one thing she was completely convinced of was that they’d halted the invasion at Earth’s doorstep.  They’d thrown everything they had at them and destroyed most of the invading fleet, damaged them so badly they’d focused on a ground war.  The enemy might have defeated them in the end.  She didn’t know.  She’d fallen here—at the city—but she knew they hadn’t succeeded in wiping out mankind, even though it was abundantly clear that was their intention.

God only knew what they’d done to provoke it, but she had a very bad feeling that they had provoked it.   They’d felt their own needs superseded all other considerations, that they were the most important species, when they’d set out to colonize and, to an extent, she’d agreed with the general consensus.

She still thought that they’d allowed their arrogance to overcome good sense in their dealings with the aliens that had attacked them, but she didn’t know that for certain.  They might have made an earnest attempt to negotiate.  It might well have been impossible.  The aliens who’d attacked had certainly proven they were vicious, vindictive bastards and maybe they’d been that way from the start—impossible to deal with without a fight to the death?  To her, they’d seemed like monsters—scarier than any nightmare.  Maybe humans had looked that way to them and all they’d been able to focus on was eradicating the nightmare creatures so that they couldn’t be a threat to them?

She could see she’d angered both of Tariq and Koryn, but that was just too damned bad!  Maybe everything they’d told her was true and they would’ve still been living in caves and chucking spears if not for the Anunnaki.  She didn’t know, and it didn’t matter.  They weren’t children anymore to be awed by the ‘god-like’ aliens!  They certainly didn’t owe the Anunnaki anything for choosing them as guinea pigs!

Tariq’s eyes narrowed but after a moment he merely set her on her feet and got up.  “Koryn was thoughtful enough to bring your midday meal.  Unfortunately, although he’d thought to join you, I’m afraid I’ll have to deprive you of company.  We have business to attend to.”

Disconcerted, Emerald frowned uneasily at the two men as they strode from Tariq’s quarters.

Not that they’d mistreated her since she’d awoken, but she would’ve expected a more violent reaction than that from most anyone.

Guilt flickered through her at that thought.  Despite everything, they’d been unfailingly considerate of her, kind and gentle in spite of their arrogant superiority complex—which, she supposed, they at least had reason to feel.  As annoying as that was, it would have been far more irritating if she hadn’t seen them as superior beings herself in most every way.

It occurred to her that they must think they had some other way of obtaining the information since they hadn’t pressured her for it and it was clear that they were determined to discover whatever remained of the human race.

Or maybe they were just trying to use psychology on her, trying to make her think they had another way to get the information so that she would let her guard down?

A cold wave washed over her abruptly as another memory surfaced.  They were excavating for the remains of the people who’d died here and her platoon had been stationed to defend the entrance to the subway where those who hadn’t had the chance to flee the city had been sent for safety.  She’d told them when she woke from her nightmare!  For several moments, wild ideas of somehow diverting them chased back and forth across her mind.  Just about the time she acknowledged the futility of trying anything, however, it dawned on her that no one in the subway was likely to have the information they were seeking.  Everyone knew they had established colonies on several different planets.  She didn’t doubt that they knew the names that had been given to the planets.  She realized it was highly unlikely that the Anunnaki would find anyone who knew the star systems where those planets were, though, or would be able to give them any kind of description that might help them narrow down the possibilities.

Those who’d remained on Earth after the exodus had little interest in the other colonies.  They’d considered themselves ‘caretakers’ of the home world and it was entirely possible that was the real reason many of them had stayed, to guard human interest in the home world until it’s climate stabilized again and made it more welcoming.  For the most part, though, those  who’d remained hadn’t actually stayed by choice.  They simply hadn’t had the option of going to one of the new worlds either because they had no skills that made them desirable colonists or they couldn’t afford to make the trip and often both.

She’d joined the military because she’d known it was her only hope of getting off planet  and settling with her daughter on one of the colony worlds.  She hadn’t wanted to leave earth at first.  Sure they had problems due to the climate change, which had caused global economic instability, but it was home and the colonies had their own problems.  Besides that she hadn’t wanted to leave her family behind when there was a strong possibility that she’d never see them again.

She’d lost her reasons for staying over the years, though, lost those closest to her, and as Cara grew older, she’d come to see that there were far better opportunities for her daughter on the colony worlds.

She’d expected to get the chance to go with her, though, hoped she might at least have the chance to join her later even though she’d known that was doubtful.

Grief swelled in her chest at the thought, making it hard to breathe, but she struggled to tamp it as she had since she’d sent Cara away.  Her daughter was safe and that was far more important than anything else.  She not only had the chance for life.  She had the chance of a good life, far more opportunities than she would’ve had on Earth even if not for the war.

She was just sorry for herself that she couldn’t be there to watch her life unfold.

She didn’t presently see any possibility of it, at any rate.  She wouldn’t even be alive now if not for the Anunnaki and she wasn’t convinced, yet, that they’d done her a favor.  She had a bad feeling she never would be convinced of that.

Thrusting her depressing thoughts aside after a moment, she focused on eating what she could of the food Koryn had brought, reminding herself that she had to get stronger to even look for opportunities.  She felt stronger already than she had a few days before and she’d recovered enough of her memories to have both a past and some hope for a future.

Beyond having a goal, she didn’t allow herself to dwell too much on Cara.  She hadn’t since she’d sent her away to protect her and now wasn’t the time to allow herself to get bogged down in useless emotions.  She had to survive first before she had possibilities.

* * * *

Koryn was so consumed by jealousy that it wasn’t until they reached the dig that he emerged sufficiently to feel any curiosity at all about what Tariq had found.  It had bothered him just knowing that Tariq had her in his quarters.  He’d convinced himself, though, that Tariq wasn’t fool enough to risk Emerald just to appease his needs and, unfortunately, he’d assumed that meant that Tariq would keep his distance.

Clearly the bastard saw no reason not to gentle her to hand while he waited, though.  She not only hadn’t put up any resistance when he’d carried her to the chair and cuddled her, she’d clung to him.  The sight had been enough to make him so sick with rage that he’d wavered for a time between the urge to throw up and the urge to drag Emerald out of his lap and resume what they’d started earlier.

Emerald’s distress was the only thing that had kept him firmly planted where he was.  The memories he’d helped to surface were clearly far more traumatic even than he’d expected and he’d been worried enough about her dealing with them emotionally that he’d managed to retain a slender thread of sanity.  Not much more than that, but at least a little self-control.

The underhanded bastard was using her emotional frailty, her need for comfort to accustom her to his touch!

Not that he could see that Tariq had succeeded all that well, he thought with some satisfaction.  She didn’t trust him, despite his efforts.

Of course, she didn’t trust him either!

That rankled almost more than the fact that she’d at least trusted Tariq enough to calm her when he thought she ought to have been more inclined to turn to him.  He was the one who’d revived her, after all.  She’d responded to his hypnosis with trust!

And yet he’d gotten the distinct impression that she wasn’t even aware he was in the room until he’d spoken—which was proof positive his mind was just so much mush!  What in the hell had possessed him to pose such a question, he wondered, thoroughly disgusted with himself?  He should have known better!  Tariq might still be laboring under the impression that the humans were vastly inferior intellectually to the Anunnaki, but he’d studied their genome thoroughly.  He knew they were the equal of the Anunnaki in that respect—maybe not technologically but even that was debatable now, when they’d discovered the humans had mastered space travel to an extent that had allowed them to colonize other worlds.

If he’d been thinking straight, he would’ve known that that would instantly set off alarms and inspire distrust!

The truth was, he thought disgustedly, that he’d been too focused on trying to gain her attention and her trust to think before he spoke.

Not that he thought the fault was entirely his!  Tariq had completely underestimated the humans in general and her in particular.  Granted, it was hard to shake the preconceptions they’d had when they’d been sent to collect the ‘children’.  Everyone back on Nibiru still thought of the humans as the simple, easily manipulated and awed beings they’d dealt with in the beginning.

Tariq’s ‘slip’ in front of her—because of his ungovernable temper where she was concerned!—had done more damage than either of them had realized at the time.  He thought she would’ve been inclined to trust them if she hadn’t learned their plans before they’d had time to build any real trust, but Tariq had fucked up any possibility of that!  Her reaction to his attempt to persuade her to open up was proof of that!

“Don’t tell me you’re still sulking over the woman,” Tariq said dryly, jerking Koryn from his thoughts.

He felt his face heat with a mixture of anger and discomfort.  “I suppose you wouldn’t be ‘sulking’ as you call it if the shoe was on the other foot?” he growled.

Tariq sent him a speculative look, considered it, and finally shrugged, smiling thinly.  “Point taken.  You’ll get your chance with her.  I gave my word—as little as I like the necessity.”

Koryn’s lips tightened.  “I think you’re underestimating Emerald and I think you might come to regret it.  You need to try to wrap your mind around the fact that she isn’t a ‘child’ in any sense of the word.”

“The humans are very child-like,” Tariq said with amusement.

“So we were told,” Koryn snapped, “and I have no doubt that was true—once upon a time.”

“They progressed.  It was only to be expected.  We gave them the tools they needed, after all, to build a civilization and helped them to evolve far more rapidly than they would have without our interference.”

Koryn was about to argue further when it dawned on him abruptly that Tariq’s attitude was his advantage—quite possibly the only one he might have.  If he was too hardheaded and narrow minded to see that treating Emerald like a simpleminded child was only going to push her further away, then all the better for him. “If you say so,” he murmured, struggling to keep his voice neutral.

Tariq sent a suspicious glance in his direction, but he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the city as they approached it.   The frenzied activity at the dig distracted both of them from their focus on Emerald and the disharmony that had arisen between the two of them because of their mutual interest in her.

Koryn found that he was both relieved and eager to shift his focus to his vocation.  He wasn’t accustomed to dealing with jealousy at all, let alone anything as stomach churningly intense as he’d experienced lately and he was almost as perturbed over the cracks that had developed in his friendship with Tariq.  This was familiar ground and soothing because it was.  Beyond that, the discovery of so many boosted his flagging spirits in regards to the success of their mission.  He grinned at Tariq when he’d examined the remains of the bodies that had been recovered thus far.  “These are far better preserved.  I think we can count on extracting useable materials.”

Tariq’s expression was grim despite the satisfaction that flickered in his eyes.  “I would like to find the bastards that did this and wipe them out,” he said tightly.  “They were defenseless.  They couldn’t have posed any threat to the bastards.”

Koryn felt his belly clench.  With his mind redirected toward the tragedy itself rather than the scientific aspects of the situation, he turned to study the scene through new eyes and felt the same emotions he’d sensed in Tariq—fury at the mercilessness of those who’d killed so many.  “Do you think there’s any chance of discovering who was responsible?  I don’t imagine you would get much of an argument against launching a retaliation if we could find out.  I think most everyone on Niribu will be livid over this when the humans were our wards.”

“Maybe,” Tariq said, his expression taut.  “Most of them are far more interested in breeders than anything else.  They’ll be appeased enough if we can produce them in sufficient numbers, but I’m sure the old ones, at least, would support a campaign.”  He seemed to force himself to relax after a moment, rubbing at the tension in his neck.  “Unfortunately, I’m not sure we have any chance of discovering who’s responsible.  I’d put the chances somewhere around zero if we can accept what Emerald told us.  These people were the castoffs of their own society or they wouldn’t have been left here to die.  If they’d been important to the humans, they would’ve been evacuated.”

“Not necessarily,” Koryn countered.  “It doesn’t look to me as if they had much time to prepare for the attack.  Undoubtedly, the most powerful and important would’ve had the first seats, but we don’t know what they had available to facilitate an evacuation.  Room might have been severely limited—must have been or everyone would’ve been evacuated.”

“I guess we’ll see what we see,” Tariq said coolly.  “How much time are we looking at here?”

Koryn frowned thoughtfully, relieved to turn his focus to the task at hand.  “We hadn’t expected to have to deal with anything like this.  Our cloning facilities are extremely limited.  If we contacted Niribu, we could get what we needed to process them in mass.  If we’re to be limited to what’s available … I can grow a dozen at the time and have a dozen more ready for the pods when those are developed enough to take them out.  Even allowing the first a few weeks to fully mature, we could go ahead and send two dozen.  The second batch would be matured enough by the time they reach Niribu.”

“So we’re looking at months,” Tariq said with obvious disgust.  “Do what you can for now.  I’d rather hold off on contacting the council about the situation.  We might still find survivors and that would appease the council members somewhat.”  He was silent for several moments.  “Process everything as it comes in and select the best for quickest processing.  There’s no point in wasting time on the less than desirable—unless that’s all we find.”

“I see your point, but Emerald and the others were excellent specimens.  I’m optimistic quality, at least, isn’t going to be an issue for us.”

Tariq wasn’t as convinced as he would’ve liked to be.  He thought Emerald’s bloodlines were inarguably excellent, but he was inclined to consider her a rare gem.  It remained to be seen whether he was right or Koryn.

He was rooting for Koryn.

Dismissing the headache for the time being, he made his way back to the ship.  Emerald had defied him and he wasn’t as confident that he knew how to deal with her rebelliousness as he would’ve liked to be.  He had no doubt that he could break her to his will, if that had been desirable, but it didn’t take much of a search to realize it wasn’t.  A part of what had drawn him to Emerald, aside from her physical appearance, was her quiet strength.  He didn’t want to break her spirit any more than he’d wanted to implant false memories that might subtly, or significantly, alter her personality.

Truthfully, the rebelliousness had come as a surprise—and not a particularly pleasant one.  He’d been certain he was well on his way to taming her to hand and hadn’t anticipated any real difficulties in training her to please him in bed.  Her withdrawal and distrust had shaken that conviction and he wasn’t pleased about that, either.

He would’ve been far more than displeased if they hadn’t discovered so many humans in the underground that it seemed to make her cooperation in giving them information a moot point.  If not for that, he would’ve had no choice but to force her to give up the information they needed, whatever the consequences to her.

It still pissed him off that she’d refused.

And he couldn’t allow her to be openly defiant even if he did admire her spirit.  It would be completely unacceptable once he got her back to Nibiru.  He had to make her understand that his patience and indulgence of her would only go so far and no further.

By the time he reached the ship again, he realized exactly what he wanted to do to teach her the error of defying him.

* * * *

It startled Emerald when the door opened and the Android that had been set to guard her entered and approached her where she sat in one of the large chairs in the lounging area of Tariq’s quarters.  He knelt in front of her and indicated that she was to extend her foot.  Reluctance instantly slithered through her but riding it was the unwelcome certainty that wrestling for possession of her foot wouldn’t go well for her.  That certainty increased to uneasiness when he lifted his head and met her gaze when she failed to comply immediately.

Regardless of what they’d told her, there was intelligence in his eyes and determination, not the dead look of a thing that had no life of its own beyond the mechanics that powered it.

Swallowing against the sudden dryness in her mouth, she shifted her weight from her legs and held out the foot he’d tapped with his hand.

His gaze skimmed the length of her leg and focused for a handful of seconds at the juncture of her thighs, just long enough to increase the sense that he was far more than a machine but not long enough to solidly confirm that suspicion.  Her heart fluttered, but she couldn’t decide if it was from anxiety, a flare of hope, or a combination of both and a purely physical reaction to his interest—or what appeared to be interest.

“You aren’t Koryn’s assistant, Roth,” she murmured when he settled her heel on his hard knee and began to unwind the bandaging on her foot.  “What’s your name?”

As closely as she watched him she couldn’t see that he’d heard her let alone understood, and yet she still felt like he had.

With calm deliberation, he completely removed the bandage, dropped it to the floor and examined her foot with his gaze.

“They said you weren’t … real, that you were a machine and that you hadn’t been programmed to understand my language,” she said tentatively when he lifted her foot to study the bright pink new skin where her blisters had been.  “Your hands feel real to me.”

He flicked a brief look at her face at that.  His dark, tawny brows drew together over the bridge of his nose as he returned his gaze to her foot.  He hesitated.  After a long moment, he stroked the new skin lightly with the ball of his thumb, as if he was testing it, though it almost seemed more like he was trying to soothe the angry color.

There was nothing detached or unfeeling about his touch.  Emerald refused to believe that she could react the way she had if it was.  “It isn’t as if they talk to me or would listen to me, you know.  We’re lower life forms as far they’re concerned.”

He curled his fingers around her ankle and lifted her foot.  Instead of settling it on the chair, however, he moved her leg to one side before he released it.  She might have thought there was no motive behind it except that his gaze once more traveled her thigh to the lips of her sex—which he’d exposed very deliberately to his view by that move—lingering a second longer than before.  Again, she felt an uncomfortable flutter, this time in both her chest and her lower belly.

He flicked a look upward at her face.  “I am Aeon,” he said, his voice sounding rusty, almost harsh.  “Tariq’s man.  You will not fare well among the Anunnaki if you cannot learn to accept your place.”

Anger flickered through her as he took her other foot and guided it to rest on his knee.  “You didn’t have to, though, did you?  They created you as a … machine, so you have no feelings.”

His face hardened, but he focused on unwrapping the bandages on her foot.

“It’s curious to me, though ….  If you’re nothing but a machine and have no feelings I can’t help but wonder why you have any interest in studying my pussy.”

Dark color tinged his cheeks, but there was grim amusement in his eyes when he flicked a look at her.  “I have an interest in keeping my dick.  I have no need for one to serve Tariq.”

Chapter Six

Emerald eyed Tariq warily when he entered the room some time later.  She couldn’t see any sign of the anger from earlier, but his expression and his manner were purposeful enough that she felt a flicker of uneasiness as he crossed the cabin and disappeared inside the small compartment beside the facilities where he’d gotten the clothing he’d allowed her to wear before.  When he reappeared, he was carrying a strap-like object that looked like a belt and Emerald felt her uneasiness deepen even though he hadn’t once glanced in her direction since he’d returned.  Maybe because he seemed intent on behaving as if she was invisible?

He sat down on the edge of his bunk.  “Come here, Emerald.”

Emerald sent him a startled look.  He was focused on removing his boots, though, and she almost managed to convince herself she hadn’t heard him summon her.

She knew when he looked up and met her gaze with a look of hard determination that she hadn’t misheard him.  He hadn’t ‘forgotten’ her refusal to answer his questions earlier or decided to overlook it.

Her eyes widened as he stood up.  Contrary to her expectations, however, he didn’t stride across the room to fetch her.  He turned his attention to removing his clothing.

Realizing his intent instantly, Emerald’s heart slammed against her chest wall so hard it knocked the breath from her.  She threw a glance toward the door, wondering if she could reach it and escape before he could catch her.  When she dragged her gaze from the door, however, she discovered that Tariq had seen her glance at the door.

“You wouldn’t like the consequences if you tried that,” he murmured pleasantly.  “I might, but I’m convinced you wouldn’t.”

A shiver skated down her spine.

“I’m fairly certain you also won’t like it if I’m forced to repeat myself.”

Emerald swallowed with an effort, so panicked by that time it took her a moment to realize what he was referring to and several moments more to convince herself to respond to the summons rather than try to flee.  She chastised herself for the impulse, which she knew would be futile and would almost certainly result in discovering what he’d meant by his veiled promise.  She was a soldier, she reminded herself.  Any woman knew rape was almost inevitable if she was captured by the enemy.  She’d been trained to deal with it.

It flickered through her mind that they hadn’t forced anything upon her, that she’d been more than willing to allow the only intimate contact they’d had, but she dimissed it with prejudice.

The sex wasn’t the real issue.  It was their long term plans for her that she had a problem with.

As attractive as she found both men, she certainly hadn’t agreed to become their sex slave/breeder.  They were going to have to convince her that she wanted that and she didn’t think they could.

Mentally, she didn’t, even if physically and chemically she was attracted.

At the very least, it would be forced seduction.

All she had to do was to make like a dead fish, focus her mind away from whatever he did to her, and endure with a pretense of indifference.  If it didn’t completely wreck his ‘mood’ it would certainly spare her a great deal of pain and humiliation.

It still took all she could do to get up from the chair and cross the room obediently.  She didn’t think she could’ve managed it then except that he sent her an impatient look that she was afraid was her last warning.

Naked now, he sat down on the edge of the bed as she approached with lagging feet and picked up the strap he’d dropped on the bed when he undressed.  She stopped when she was just beyond his reach.  She knew it was mistake, but she didn’t think she could take another step without her knees buckling.

He was far more magnificent that she’d dreamed possible, too beautifully perfect even for his nakedness to seem obscene—and he seemed twice as big as he had before, which was saying something when she almost felt as if she was in the presence of giants any time she was close to either him or Koryn.

He lifted his free hand and summoned her closer with the crook of a finger, pointing to the floor between his splayed legs.  Trying not to notice the mammoth cock that went with the mammoth everything else, Emerald locked her knees, lifted her chin with as much defiance as she could muster, and obeyed.

His eyes narrowed, his expression growing harder.  “Drop the sheet.”

Emerald had to command her fingers to obey.  The urge to clutch the sheet tighter was so strong she almost thought he would have to peel her fingers loose if he wanted to strip the sheet from her.

“I’m not a very patient man,” he said grimly.

Swallowing against a knot in her throat that felt like her fist, Emerald released her hold on the sheet, allowing it to drop to the floor.  When it fell, he reached for her.  She might have fled in spite of her efforts to cling to her training if she could’ve commanded her legs to move.  She couldn’t and she stumbled slightly when he grasped her hips and drew her closer, flinching when he released the catch on the belt and it fell open.  To her surprise, rather than striking her with it, he looped it around her and fastened it snuggly at her waist.  She stared at the belt and then met his gaze with utter confusion.  “What is it?” she asked, her voice emerging as a hoarse croak.

“It’s to prevent you from achieving orgasm.”

Emerald stared at him blankly, trying to ignore the muscles low in her belly that clenched in response.

He brought his knees together, caught her waist and lifted her, settling her astride his knees.  She grabbed instinctively for his shoulders to keep from falling when he spread his knees again, parting her thighs with the movement.  She almost lost her balance again when he lifted his hands to her breasts, releasing her grip on his shoulders to cover them with her hands.

His hands curled around her wrists.  She fought the tug of his hands until they tightened around her wrists hard enough to make her flinch.  To her surprise, the moment she did, he released her wrists.

“Move your hands … now.”

She might have defied him if not for the tone of his voice.  It was so eloquent of repressed violence that she knew she’d pushed him as far as he was willing to be pushed.  Reminding herself that she was supposed to pretend indifference, not resist, she forced her hands down and settled them on her thighs.  With the best will in the world, she discovered she absolutely couldn’t keep her hands down when he cupped her breasts.

He stared at her hands as they gripped his wrists and then lifted his head to look at her speculatively for a long moment.  Uttering an irritated breath, he dropped his hands to her waist, turned and dropped her onto the bed.  Before she could react, he followed her down.  Catching both wrists and lifting her arms above her head, he crossed her wrists and manacled them with one hand and then pinned the lower part of her body by planting one leg across her hips.

She looked up at him, wide eyed with fear despite her best effort to calm herself, in spite of the chant ‘Dead fish!  Dead fish!’ reverberating through her mind.

Satisfied that she couldn’t resist any longer if she wanted to, he used his free hand to explore her breasts.  Emerald squeezed her eyes closed, trying to ignore the feel of his hand on her breasts.  No amount of chanting to herself seemed to help.  Her awareness of the sheer size of the man was so acute she almost felt as if she was drowning in sensation.  Her mind swam with the explosion of synapses firing in her brain.  Every hair follicle on her body had leapt to attention and she could feel the faintest of movements, even air currents stirred by his breaths.

And god help her it wasn’t revulsion tying her belly in knots or even the fear that had swamped her when he had so easily bound her.

His hand engulfed one breast and then the other, squeezing lightly.  He stroked his long fingers over them and then downward across her ribs and then her belly.  Her belly quivered at his touch, the muscles in her sex spasming frantically.  When he returned his attention to her breasts, he ran a finger lightly over each nipple until it stood erect and then plucked at them over and over until she could feel them tighten to hard knots and then the blood begin to pulse in them with jarring hardness.  Her eyelids flew open when she sensed him leaning closer, felt the heat of his breath against her breasts.

Mesmerized, she watched his lips part as he neared one tight peak, watched as he closed his lips around it.  Heated sensation flooded her on the instant, making her belly quiver again, thawing the coldness that had invaded her with the fear.  He sucked the tight nub with a leisure that began to send a steady stream of warmth through her, flicking at it with the tip of his tongue.  He lifted his head after a few moments, just enough to allow him to trace the circumference of her nipple with the point of his tongue and then sucked it into his mouth again, pulling on it with the suction of his mouth.

Slowly, insidiously, her fear melted away, replaced with utter confusion and leaving her defenseless.   The heat began to climb inside her far more rapidly the moment her defenses began to crumble.  The belated reminder to herself that she should focus her mind on something else was useless to her by that time.  Her body had responded to his touch and no effort to ignore it helped in the least.  Pleasure had already given way to a lethargic delirium by the time he decided to move to her other breast and tease that nipple as he had the first.

The jolt that went through her the moment he closed his mouth around it and sucked seared a path straight to her womb.  It clenched in a hard spasm but even the brief pain barely slowed the tide of heat building inside of her to an inferno.

She had no idea of when she’d ceased to strain against his hold or when he’d released his grip on her wrists.  The first she even realized he had was when she felt his fingers tangle in her hair and the tug as he tilted her head back.  Lifting away from her breast, he sucked at her throat, massaging one breast with his free hand and then gliding it lightly across her ribs to her belly.  Her heart thundered frantically in her ears as he cupped her mound and then parted the outer lips and stroked a finger along her cleft.

Releasing his grip on her hair abruptly, he levered himself upward, supported by one elbow and reached down to grasp one of her legs, pushing it aside and studying the play of his fingers as he parted the tender petals of her sex and lightly stroked her clit.  He shifted again after a few moments.  Pushing himself toward the foot of the bed, he caught hold of her legs, bent her knees, and pushed them upward.  She tried to sit up when he moved between her legs.

He sent her a narrow eyed look.  She stared at him for a long moment and fell back, closing her eyes again tightly as she felt him arranging her legs, touching her sex lightly.  She opened her eyes again when she felt him grip her wrists and move her arms down to her belly.  “Spread your lips for me and hold them,” he murmured, his voice sounding so raw it sent a shiver through her.

She hesitated, but the will to resist had melted away with her fear and the rise of the fever he’d built.  She pulled the lips of her sex apart, watching him as he lowered his head, trying to brace herself for his touch.  It didn’t help.  The moment she felt the heat of his mouth close around her clit a hard jolt went through her.  She gasped, fighting the urge to lift her hips with each tug of his mouth.

The heat grew until she felt as if she was burning up.  She tried to use her mind to cool herself, tried to ignore the sensations pelting her, but it was useless.  She felt her body climbing toward release.  It reached a point where she felt herself quivering on the verge of climax and stayed there.

It began to feel almost more like torture than pleasure.  She struggled to reach her release until she thought she couldn’t stand anymore and grabbed frantically at his hair, trying to pull him away.  He caught her wrists, squeezed them until she released his hair and then looped his arms around her legs and pinned her with her legs splayed so wide she felt the burn of the muscles along her inner thighs.

She gasped, strained against his hold as he continued to alternately tease her clit with his tongue and suck it.  She fought to reach her climax for a while and fought to escape it for a while and didn’t win either battle.  She couldn’t find release and she couldn’t close her mind to the pleasure that had become sheer torment.

She panted for breath until her mouth and throat were as dry as dust and she began to feel like she might pass out.  She began to pray for it after a time, but she discovered to her dismay that even when she did finally faint it was no more than a brief respite.

She bit her lip when she discovered that she was whimpering, trying to contain the shameful sound, but with indifferent success.  She was so fevered she barely heard the odd little chirping noise that penetrated her torture chamber until Tariq abruptly ceased tormenting her and lifted his head as if to listen.  The second time the sound intruded, he pushed himself up and climbed from the bed.

Emerald closed her legs the moment he released her, curling into a tight ball, shivering as the heat began to cool with the blessed cessation of stimulus.

Tariq snatched up his communicator and dropped to the edge of the bed shakily.  “What is it?” he growled irritably.

“We’ve just gotten a report back from one of the search teams.  They found a group of survivors.”

Tariq’s heart was already pounding with his own runaway desire.  At that, it clenched in his chest almost painfully.  He struggled to wrap his mind around the message for several moments when it was still focused firmly on Emerald.

“Sir?”

Tariq dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly, thinking.  “Get the coordinates for me if you haven’t already and prep a skimmer for me.”  He stood up.  “And tell them I’m on my way.”

Breaking the link, he turned to look at Emerald, far cooler headed than he had been a few moments before but still struggling to get his raging desires under control.  It was as well they’d interrupted him, he thought wryly, when he’d managed to regain some semblance of control.  It wouldn’t have taken a great deal more of ‘punishing’ Emerald before he’d completely lost focus and done something he would’ve regretted.

Raking a shaking hand through his hair, he stared at his uniform for a moment and finally picked it up and began pulling it on.

It occurred to him as he was pulling his boots on that his lesson hadn’t gone entirely as he’d planned even if he had been interrupted before he’d yielded to the urge to drive his painfully throbbing cock into her until he spilled his seed.  She’d fought him every step of the way.  He debated briefly and then opened the link again.  Koryn answered on the third chime.

“Meet me in my quarters,” he said grimly and broke the link.

He got up to pace while he waited, struggling with his decision.  He was still waging battle when Koryn arrived a few minutes later, but one glance at Emerald as Koryn entered his quarters hardened his resolve.  She’d sat up on his bunk and grabbed the blanket, covering herself, and was staring sullenly at the floor.

His expression hardened as he glanced at Koryn.  “Emerald is being disciplined.  I’d barely begun the session but something has come up and I have something else that needs my attention.  I’ll need you to take over until I get back.”

Surprise flickered in Koryn’s eyes but after staring at him a moment, he merely nodded.  “I’ll take care of it.”

Tariq flicked a glance at Emerald, having deliberately switched to her language to make certain she understood.  “Good.  Lay down, Emerald.  Koryn will be handling your discipline until I can get back.”

She gaped at him in disbelief but the moment he tensed as if he meant to return to the bed, she lay down.   Tariq sent Koryn a wry look.  “As you can see it’s likely to take quite a few lessons before she learns to accept the situation.”

He strode toward the door as Koryn crossed the room to the bed where Emerald lay and sat down to remove his boots.

Koryn discovered when he straightened to remove his uniform that Emerald was watching him warily but without a trace of the submission Tariq would expect to see when he returned.

This was going to be hellish, he thought!  He already felt like his balls were going to explode.  Well, he thought philosophically, if he couldn’t hold his seed, he couldn’t.  As long as he didn’t plant it in Emerald he might live to see another day.

She tensed the moment he settled a knee on the edge of the bed.  He shook his head at her.  “You don’t want to try that.”

He saw something flicker in her eyes, but although she subsided instead of leaping out of the bed as he’d fully expected, she scooted toward the wall when he settled.  “Lie down,” he said evenly.

He barely managed to deflect her leg when she abruptly kicked out at him.  Catching her ankle, he gave her leg a jerk that dragged her flat of her back.  Before she could roll away, he shifted his weight upward and pinned her to the bed, catching her wrists.  “I can bind you,” he said through gritted teeth, “but I can guarantee you this is going to be a lot more uncomfortable for you if I have to do that and take a lot longer.”

She fought him despite the warning.  Sighing irritably, he finally gave up trying to pin her down and got off the bed, dragging her with him.  She struggled every step of the way as he stalked to Tariq’s supply room to retrieve bindings and then returned to the main cabin with her.  After studying the bed speculatively for several moments, he realized it was going to be damned uncomfortable for him to spend hours disciplining her if he had to tie her to the bed and he turned to consider the chairs.  Realizing with relief that one was a play chair, he hauled her over to it and pushed her down in it.  Fortunately, she clearly didn’t realize what it was.  She hesitated in surprise just long enough for him to grasp her wrists and clamp them in the wrist manacles he’d activated.  She tried to kick him again when he grabbed her ankles, but it took little effort to guide first one and then the other into the ankle manacles.

When he clamped the last one, he activated the positioning devise, watching carefully as it moved her into position since the play chair had been designed for the Anunnaki and their women were a good bit taller.  The knee position wasn’t just right and it spread her legs a little further than it should’ve for that matter, but she’d brought it on herself.  Taking the binding he’d collected, he moved around to the back and squatted down to thread it through the loop on the back of her belt and secure it, binding her tightly to the table the chair had become.  Satisfied, he rotated it until it was upright and then lifted it until the height was comfortable for him.

She sucked in a sharp breath and cursed him when he lifted his hands and lightly stroked them down her length, but he was too riveted on his task the moment he felt her silken skin against his palms and the pads of his fingers to feel the anger it might have otherwise stirred.  Ignoring her efforts to struggle, he continued stroking her lightly until she ceased to struggle, either because she’d tired herself or because she’d calmed down.

Flicking a glance at her face, he decided, wryly, that it was the former.  Her eyes were still glittering defiance.  He moved closer, cupping a breast in each hand and gently squeezing it, massaging the round globes until they flushed with the blood rushing to them and her nipples hardened.  He focused on her nipples then, plucking at them until they were so tight and engorged with blood that they felt like little pebbles.

She flinched when he leaned in to take one into his mouth.  “Don’t!”

He paused, flicked a chiding look at her face and caught it with the edge of his teeth instead of his lips, bearing down just hard enough to warn her to behave.  She sucked in a sharp breath, bucking against the bindings.  He bit down harder until she stilled, panting, and then sucked at the tiny morsel to sooth the sting.

He hadn’t meant to do more than tease her slowly to awaken her to sensation but almost the moment he felt her nipple in his mouth, his control slipped.  He sucked and pulled at her hungrily, trying to ignore his painfully swollen cock and the urge to thrust inside of the pink little lips parted so invitingly for him by her position.  Unable to resist the urge to explore it at the very least, he ran a shaking hand down her belly and found her cleft and then her opening, pushing an index finger inside of her.

Her muscles closed around his finger and he could feel the velvety soft walls.  It sent a dizzying wave through him. The image instantly leapt into his mind of those muscles clamped around his cock and he felt his balls draw up to his belly, felt as if they’d drawn up into his throat.  She was so wet, so tight, he thought a little wildly.  His throat closed with want and it took all he could do to refrain from replacing his finger with his cock on that instant.

Some tiny spark of sanity remained, however, enough to prevent him from doing anything suicidal—like fucking Emerald when Tariq had claimed her.  Instead, he struggled to appease his own hunger by feeding on her soft flesh more frenziedly.  He paused when she began make tiny whimpering sounds that finally penetrated the red fog of his mind.

He was supposed to be disciplining her, he reminded himself with an effort.  She had to understand that defiance wouldn’t be tolerated from a slave.  If she was to end up in anyone else’s hands, she might not survive the lesson for disobedience.

She moaned when he withdrew his finger and lightly stroked the delicate petals of flesh along her cleft instead and then sucked in a sharp breath when he released the nipple he’d been teasing and switched to the other.  She fought it, forcing him to warn her again with a nip of pain.  When she subsided, he swirled his tongue around the little bud to sooth the sting and then sucked it.

For a time, he managed to content himself with merely suckling her breasts, knowing that as uncomfortable as that made her it was a nothing compared to the misery she would endure if he took her to the edge of a climax and held her there.  He hadn’t been in any state to properly discipline her when he’d started though and the longer he teased her the harder it was to control himself.

He began to think he was in far more torment than she was and decided he had to withdraw at least long enough to calm his heart before it exploded.  The moment he flicked a glance at her face, however, and saw her glazed eyes and passion twisted features, it very nearly unhinged his mind.

He stared at her for a long, long moment and finally moved around behind her to remove the binding at her waist.  When he’d freed her, he slipped an arm around her, depressed the retractor on the manacles and lifted her away from the play chair, carrying her to the bed.  She looked up at him dazedly when he’d settled her.

He fought another round with the urge to mount her on his shaft and finally settled at the end of the bed, pushing her thighs wide and leaning down to cover her clit with his mouth.  His cock bucked in his hand as he curled his fingers around it.  The counter pressure of his hand produced pleasure that was so intense, he thought for a moment he would black out.  Sucking in a harsh breath, he pulled at her clit hungrily, stroking his cock.  He’d nearly achieved orgasm when a sound behind him jerked him abruptly from his focus.  Halting abruptly, he lifted his head jerkily and looked around.

Tariq, he discovered, had returned.  He stared at him with fevered eyes, trying to summon some sense of self-preservation, but his mind couldn’t get past the fact that he was nearly there.

“I see you’ve worked diligently at teaching her the error of her ways,” Tariq said dryly.  “I believe he deserves a reward, don’t you, Emerald?  By my estimate, he’s given you a good two hours of pleasure.”

Koryn glanced at her when Tariq spoke to her, discovering with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Get up.”

Koryn glanced jerkily at him and discovered he was staring at Emerald.  She struggled upright at the command and stared at him without comprehension.

“Give him what he needs.  Take his cock into that pretty little mouth of yours and give him release.”

Nodding, Emerald slipped off the bed and moved between his legs.  Koryn stared down at her and swallowed convulsively, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse the offer.  He felt like he was going to die if he didn’t find release.  Swallowing with an effort, he thrust his cock at her.  He almost passed out when he felt the heat of her mouth close over his cock.

Then she bit him.

He winced at the pain that cut through him, grabbing her head, but the heat and pressure of her mouth far exceeded the pain.  His balls erupted like a volcano.  He tightened his fingers in her hair, thrusting mindlessly.  She struggled for a moment and then began gulping and sucking frantically as his seed spewed into her mouth.  He collapsed weakly, panting for breath when the convulsions finally ceased, feeling as if he might sink into a coma.

He heard Tariq’s footsteps as he headed to his refreshment bar and the sound of liquid pouring into a glass tumbler.  By the time he managed to catch his breath and recover enough to push himself upright, Tariq had paced back to the bed.  His expression was grim as he stared at Emerald.  “You bit him, didn’t you?”

Emerald sent him a wide eyed look, glanced at Koryn and then at Tariq again.  Her chin wobbled.  “It was an accident,” she gasped shakily.

He shook his head at her.  “Get in the bed and rest while you can.”

Emerald bit her lip, but dropped her gaze to the floor, nodded, and climbed into the bed shakily.  Koryn sat forward warily, more than half expecting her to try to kick him.  He was vastly relieved when she didn’t and not merely for his own sake.  It took an effort to push himself to his feet.  When he’d finally managed it, he looked around a little dazedly for his uniform and moved toward it when he spotted it.  Deciding he wasn’t currently in any shape to put it back on, he collected the suit and his boots and moved to a chair, collapsing weakly into the seat.  Tariq followed him, eyed the play chair for a moment and finally pressed the button to make it reconfigure into an easy chair once more.

“I take it she continued rebellious?” Tariq asked pensively.

Koryn struggled with his conscience, but he thought the play chair spoke volumes and Tariq wasn’t likely to believe any lie he told him.  Beyond that, he was alarmed at the sheer strength of will Emerald had displayed.  Granted, Tariq had every intention of keeping her if he possibly could, but they had no guarantees that he could.  And if she continued to fight she would discover just how gently he and Tariq had handled her.  “She fought like a tigress.  There was no talking reason to her,” he said finally.  “I didn’t think you were serious when you said she needed discipline.”  He lifted his head and stared at her longingly.  “I know you thought she was a soldier from the start, but she seemed so … gentle and biddable.”

“Well, thank the gods she isn’t big enough to do much damage,” Tariq said dryly.

Koryn rubbed his cock absently.  When he glanced at Tariq again, he saw amusement in his eyes.  Anger flickered through him briefly, but then a reluctant smile dawned.  “I should’ve known better than to stick it in her mouth when she’d fought me every step of the way,” he said ruefully.  “Next time, warn me.  I’ll jack off before I try disciplining her.”

Tariq was about to inform him that there wouldn’t be a next time, but it occurred to him forcefully that he wasn’t weathering Emerald’s punishment that well himself.  If she continued rebellious ….  “Tomorrow, then.  I’ll handle it tonight when she’s had time to cool down enough for another effective session.”

Koryn sent him a startled look but it took very little reflection to realize Tariq was right.  If she’d still been rebellious enough to bite him when Tariq had already disciplined her and he’d given her a lengthy session, then she wasn’t going to back down easily.  Nodding, he slipped his feet into his uniform and stood up to shrug his shoulders into it.  “I’ll be better prepared tomorrow.”  He glanced at Tariq when he’d pulled his boots on.  “Did you find anything?”

Tariq snorted with disgust.  “They’re a sorry lot.  Too much inbreeding, if ask me, but the medics are running tests on them.  Regular savages, too.  A show of force cowed them quickly enough, fortunately.  I would’ve been thoroughly pissed off if I’d gotten there and discovered the team had put them down.

“They weren’t faring well.  I suppose we’ll know when we get the test results, but it could be malnutrition and not inbreeding.  Gods!  I hope to hell that’s all it is!  We rounded up fifty.  If they check out, we could send them on, fatten them up on the trip to Niribu and pacify the screaming masses … at least temporarily.”

Koryn felt his spirits lift considerably.  “Breeding age?”

Tariq shrugged.  “There didn’t seem to be any much above full maturity. Either the conditions they’ve been subjected to haven’t been conducive to longevity or they’re a roving band of young scavengers.  We couldn’t get much out of them.”

Koryn nodded.  “Well … I’ll leave you to your wine and your woman.  I have work to do in the lab.”

Tariq lifted his nearly untouched glass when Koryn had left, wondering if ‘his’ woman was going to drive him to drinking.  He shook the thought after a moment.  His only problem was having to discipline her and abstain while doing it.  If she hadn’t been ‘untouchable’ at the moment, he didn’t think he would’ve felt any need for something to tranquilize.  She’d been out of the pod almost a week, though, and she was on a regular diet—and gaining enough strength to fight both him and Koryn.  He thought he could give her another week and take care of his real problem.

Jacking off, as Koryn had suggested, wasn’t helping do more than take the edge off and not much of the fucking edge at that.  He was tempted, briefly, to find a willing partner among the crewmembers.  He dismissed the thought.  He wanted Emerald and, that being the case, fucking anyone else wasn’t going to help a lot more than jacking off—in which case, why go to the effort?

It occurred to him that eschewing the company of other women in his bed might not send Emerald the right message, but he dismissed it.  He could handle that when and if it came to that.  At the moment, he was fairly sure she wasn’t feeling the least bit possessive about him.

Chapter Seven

Emerald lay in absolute misery for hours, feeling as if every nerve ending in her body was fried from the ‘disciplinary’ sessions Tariq and Koryn had treated her to.  She almost thought rape would’ve been better.  She might’ve felt battered afterward, but she could’ve hated both of them with an intensity that left no room for anything else.  What infuriated her most about the ordeal was that they’d left her wanting them to fuck her senseless.  She felt as if she hated both of them and yet the moment Koryn had left all she could think about was the hours he’d tormented her without giving her any relief.

She almost thought she could’ve climaxed getting him off except she couldn’t.  She skated the edge until she thought it would drive her crazy, but she couldn’t find the release she needed so badly.

If she hadn’t been so angry and miserable, she might’ve begged Tariq to give her the relief she needed.  She wanted to, so badly she could taste it, and yet her pride kept her tongue firmly between her teeth—that and the certainty that he wouldn’t give her what she needed.

Instead, she clamped her eyes tightly shut and tried to ignore the sense that he was watching her, waiting and hoping that he would leave so that she could rip off the damned belt he’d fastened on her that prevented her from orgasm.

She hadn’t thought he was serious when he’d told her that!  Who in their right mind would invent such a device?

The Anunnaki—to ‘discipline’ their sex slaves.

It was hard to wrap her mind around that even though Tariq had come right out and said that he was keeping her for breeding!

What was his objective any way, she wondered?  To wear her down until she told him what she knew?

If that was it, she was in for pure hell.  She couldn’t tell him anything if she’d wanted to and she had a bad feeling it wouldn’t take much more of what she’d already endured to tell him anything he wanted to know—if she could have.

It finally occurred to her when her mind had ceased to be so fevered with the endless hours of erotic stimulus with no relief that he’d said they were disciplining her—not interrogating.  It was her flat refusal to tell him that had angered him.

It had been nothing short of stupid to fling that at him when she knew he couldn’t get information from her that she no longer possessed!  And then she’d compounded that by balking at his orders.  She was a soldier!  She was used to following orders without question.  Why she’d decided to … challenge Tariq’s authority was a complete mystery to her.

She couldn’t even honestly say she’d refused because she’d known the order was sexual in nature.  She’d known, just from the way he looked at her, that he wanted her before he’d ever touched her the first time.  If she was honest with herself, she’d been hurt and angry when she thought he’d decided he didn’t want her after all, not relieved.  He unnerved her and yet she’d wanted him.  She just hadn’t liked the way he’d demanded it.

She’d wanted to be treated as an equal, not a … slave, but she was whatever he wanted her to be.  There were no choices for her.

Even if there was some chance of escaping, she didn’t stand a chance in hell of surviving the world she’d seen outside the ship, and she knew it.  And she couldn’t even escape Tariq’s quarters, let alone the ship.  She’d tried everything she could think of to get the door open and couldn’t.

He didn’t even need Aeon standing guard outside the door.

Despite her misery and the thoughts tumbling around in her mind, she dozed after a while, exhausted from the hours of torment she’d endured.  She woke with a start some time later to discover that Tariq had left.

It took her several moments to figure out why it was important that Tariq had left.  When she finally remembered the belt, she sat up and began pulling at it.  If felt as if it was made of something soft and yielding, but it not only didn’t stretch, no amount of wrestling with it broke the catch.  Expelling an angry huff, she looked down at it and began twisting it around and around her waist, trying to find the catch.

Unfortunately, she was still working at it when Tariq returned.  His gaze immediately pinned her when he stepped through the door and although she jerked her hands away from the belt guiltily, she knew he’d seen what she was doing—trying to do.  That seemed to be enough.  His face hardened.  Without a word, he strode across the room and settled the tray he was carrying.  “I brought you something to eat.  Come.”

She sent him a resentful glare which she tried to erase from her face when he glanced at her.  Staring at him warily, she got off the bed and gathered the sheet around her.

“Leave it.”

She stared at his back in dismay.  “But ….”

He turned and leveled a look at her.  Dropping the sheet, she stalked over to the chair and sat down.  She discovered he’d brought food for both of them.

“When we reach Niribu, you’ll be expected to serve me … if I decide to dine with you,” he said coolly.

And who knew?  Maybe she could find some poison to lace his food with, she thought angrily?  “When are you going to Niribu?” she asked after a moment.

When he didn’t answer, she looked up at him questioningly.  His expression was stony.  “We will be leaving when I’ve finished my task here.”

“Collecting bodies and cloning them just so that they can be slaves?” she asked tightly.  “Maybe they’d rather stay dead.”

He tilted his head almost curiously.  “Your people once perceived us as gods.  It’s an honor to serve the Anunnaki.”

Emerald lifted her brows.  “You mean back when we were living in caves and scratching ourselves?  Yeah, I can see that.  We aren’t nearly as easily awed these days.”

“Or as cautious,” he murmured.  “I don’t need your tongue to breed you.”

Emerald swallowed the morsel of food she’d put her mouth with an effort at his tone and the not too subtle threat.  He was actually pretty fucking scary with almost no effort at all, she thought uneasily.  It was pretty difficult after that to even pretend she had an appetite, but she made an effort out of pure determination to convince him he hadn’t scared her.

“Go and bathe and then wait in the bed,” he said when they’d finished.  “I have a report to make.”

She wasn’t particularly tired, but she decided that she’d pushed him as far as she dared.  Getting up, she headed into the bathing facilities.  She didn’t ask him to remove the belt and he didn’t offer.  She soaked thoroughly, hoping against hope that it would short out.  It had to be some sort of electronics even if wasn’t anything familiar to her, she reasoned.  Impulses travelled to and from the brain electronically.  If it was blocking the nerve signals that controlled orgasm, it would have be doing it with some sort of wave.

Tariq was sitting at his desk on the far side of the room when she returned, speaking to a holographic image hovering just above the desktop.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t speaking English, but she supposed she could guess what the conversation was about—collecting humans for transport back to Niribu.  Climbing into the bed, she lay back, staring at the ceiling, wondering if she pretended to be asleep if he would let her sleep.

Somehow, she doubted it and when he finally ended his communication and approached the bed, she knew with dismay that she was right.  He sat down to pull off his boots and then stood again to strip.  Flipping the covers off of her, he settled beside her, propped on one arm and studied her.  “Put your arms over your head.”

Emerald gulped, struggled with the urge to continue trying to pretend she was asleep and finally lifted her arms.  When she peered at him, she saw his expression was stony.  “Draw your knees up.”

Clamping her thighs together, she drew legs up without hesitation that time, hoping the fact that she’d instantly obeyed might weigh in her favor.

“I think you know that isn’t what I meant,” he said dryly.  “Spread them.”

He was going to torture her like he had before!  She knew it and it was more reluctance to endure it again than rebelliousness that made her hesitate.  Biting her lip, she fanned her thighs open.   He used his free hand to push them wider and shifted her feet until he was satisfied.  She flinched all over when he stroked a finger along her damp nether lips, carefully separating the folds of flesh.  She felt heated moisture collect in her channel as he explored her there.  With an effort, she stared hard at a point on the ceiling and tried to focus on it so completely as to block his touch from her mind.  She succeeded to a degree and yet when he found the mouth of her sex and slowly pushed a thick finger inside of her it brought her mind right back to focus on his touch.

She swallowed with an effort, trying to calm her heart as it accelerated to match the cadence of his finger as he slowly pushed it deeply inside of her and just as slowly withdrew it, pulling completely out each time and convincing her that he meant to stop and then, after a brief pause, pushing inside of her again until she felt the heat within begin to rise in spite of every effort to prevent it.

She reached a point very quickly where she had to fight the urge to try to evade his finger, to close her legs tightly.  The inner muscles of her thighs quivered both from that tension and the strain of holding her legs wide for him to torment her.  She squeezed her eyes tightly, hopeful of escaping in that way, but that only seemed to intensify the sensations.

When she opened eyes again, she saw that he was studying her face, his own taut.  His expression made her heart trip over itself and begin to race a little faster.  The muscles along her channel quivered, sending out the first tremors of a climax and then simply continued to spasm faintly—just enough to tighten her chest and make it difficult to breathe without panting.

She was almost relieved when he finally removed his finger and skated his hand up her belly … until he began massaging her breasts and plucking at her nipples.  They tightened in response, filling with the blood that would intensify their sensitivity.  He continued to pluck at them until they began to ache and then hurt with the pressure.

Dread filled her when he finally stopped and leaned down to cover the closest with his mouth.  She tensed all over, trying to brace for the jolt she expected and it still knocked the breath from her.  She almost thought it might not have been so excruciating if she hadn’t, but she was too mindless within moments to have another clear thought.  He thrust his finger into her channel again as he pulled at her sensitive nipple.  This time, he drove into her hard and fast, however, pulling at her nipple in the same rhythm until she reached fever pitch and began to moan and thrash.

He released her nipple.   “Be still,” he said harshly.

She stilled, tensing every muscle as he shifted over her to capture her other nipple.  She nearly passed out when he sucked it into his mouth, dipped toward darkness but not oblivion.  The darkness that invaded her mind only seemed to increase the sensations until her entire body was quivering.

She dragged in a shaky breath when he finally lifted his head and withdrew his finger.  He studied her for a long moment when he’d stopped.  “Take my cock in your mouth and give me release,” he said hoarsely, “and I’ll allow you to rest.”

She was on fire, her mind almost too fevered to comprehend.  She pushed herself up, however, and crawled down the bed to grasp his cock and guide it into her mouth.  It was huge.  She felt her jaws pop as she struggled to fit the head into her mouth.  In the end, she couldn’t manage to cover much more than the head, but she sucked at it feverishly and stroked her hands up and down his cock.  He caught her legs, turning her and then burrowing his face between her legs.  Her heart slammed against her ribcage as he covered her clit and began to pull at it with a fervor that made the muscles along her channel quake harder.  She sucked at the head of his cock and stroked her hands along the length with more enthusiasm, lured by the promise of a climax until he cock abruptly jerked in her hands and mouth and hot semen hit the back of her throat.  Still caught up in the belief that she was about to come, as well, she pulled at him enthusiastically until he finally ceased to come and pushed her away.

She settled back and stared at him, too stunned for several moments to grasp what had happened.  She felt a flicker of anger when her sluggish mind had finally sorted it and she realized the belt had prevented her from achieving orgasm.  It hadn’t shorted out as she’d hoped it would.

She dropped weakly down on the bed after a moment, struggling with her emotions, with the heat still churning inside of her.  The quivering inside of her had only just begun to subside when Tariq caught her hand and tugged at her.  “Come here.”

She sat up, eyeing him distrustfully, but she didn’t dare hesitate, despite the dread that instantly seized her.

She discovered it was warranted.  He’d allowed her a few moments respite and then he began all over again.  She lay awake for hours after he’d dropped to sleep, struggling to summon any emotion at all besides self pity but discovered she ached too badly to rouse anything else.

* * * *

Koryn caught Emerald completely by surprise.  She’d woken to find Tariq gone with a mixture of relief, anger, and an aching need that still lingered strongly enough to make her miserable.  Getting up, she’d headed into the bathroom and bathed in hot water until it eased the ache of her tense muscles and then turned the water to as cool a temperature as she could stand in the hope that it would cool the heat inside of her.  It worked to an extent.  She was still far from comfortable, but neither her breasts nor her sex felt nearly as swollen and achy.

Koryn appeared several hours later, while she was staring at nothing and wishing herself miles away.  She eyed him warily when he came in, but relaxed when she saw he’d brought food.  He strode to the table and set the tray down, pulled up the other chair and attacked the food he’d brought himself with enthusiasm.  Discovering she was starving herself since she’d barely touched her food the night before, she joined him at the table and focused on appeasing her own appetite.

When Koryn finished eating, he pushed away from the table and relaxed in the chair, watching her until she’d finished.  He smiled when she pushed her plate away.  “Finished?”

She nodded.

“Good.  Get in the bed.”

Emerald gaped at him in dismay, feeling her stomach knot around the food she’d just consumed and creating a wave of nausea.  He tilted his head, lifting his dark blond brows questioningly.

Emerald got to her feet jerkily and headed toward the bed, struggling with the dread knotting her stomach, deeply regretful that she’d eaten at all.

“You won’t need the sheet.  Leave it,” Koryn said cheerfully enough she felt the urge to throw something at him.

Instead, she flung the sheet off, climbed on the bed and lay down, staring angrily at the ceiling and resolutely ignoring Koryn as he pulled his boots off, shrugged out of his uniform and strode purposefully toward the bed.  The anger didn’t sustain her nearly long enough.  The instant she heard his swift stride toward her, it abandoned her and dread washed over her in an all consuming tide.   Settling one hip on the edge of the bed, he studied her for a moment and then grasped her wrists, lifting her arms behind her head.  She clenched her teeth tightly and stared hard at the ceiling as he lightly stroked her breasts with his long fingers and then began to knead them.

She knew it was useless to try to block it from her mind, but she couldn’t think of any other way to try to defend herself from the torment she knew was coming and the certain knowledge of it made it harder than it had been the first few times.  When he’d brought a rush of blood to her breasts to fully sensitize them, he transferred his attention to stroking her torso and belly and finally got up.

Hope instantly sprang to life that he’d decided not to torment her because she’d done what he told her to do.  It died an unhappy death when he climbed onto the mattress on his knees and pushed her legs upward and out.  He sat down on his heels, studying her sex and finally reached to stroke the lips, parting them, plucking at her clit until it swelled with blood as her nipples had.

She grunted as the air left her lungs when he traced a path from her clit to the mouth of her sex and shoved his index finger deeply inside of her.  Tensing all over, she clapped her legs together instinctively and was instantly sorry.  He sent her a look that filled her with dread.  She opened her legs again, spreading them wide for him, but the damage, she knew, had already been done.  Narrowing his eyes, he withdrew his finger slowly and then slipped backwards and settled on his belly.  Using his fingers to spread the lips of her sex, he flicked the tip of his tongue over her clit several times.

“Put your hands here and hold the lips wide for me.”

Emerald bit her lip, but reached down to comply.  “Good girl,” he murmured, grasping her hips and dragging her to his mouth.  Holding her with his gaze, he opened his mouth over her clit and began to suck at it.  Fire coursed through her with each tug of his mouth, centering in her belly, growing swiftly into a conflagration.

Dragging her gaze from his with an effort, Emerald struggled to catch her breath, fought the rise of heat to no avail.  He shifted after a moment, pushing his finger in and out of her slowly for several moments and then increasing the tempo until he was driving into her in hard thrusts.  Catching her clit with his mouth, he began sucking it hard as he continued the forceful thrust of his finger until he drove her to the edge of her peak where she hovered in endless torment until she couldn’t stand anymore and tried to push herself away from him to escape.

He caught her, dragging her around on the bed until her head and shoulders were against the wall.  It almost seemed impossible that he could be more punishing, but he succeeded, driving her almost immediately to her peak again despite the brief respite and holding her there until she began to weep in spite of all she could do.  He ignored her tears until she began to beg him to stop.

Finally, he stopped.  Coming up on his knees, he stared at her angrily.  “Don’t ever push me away again,” he said tightly.

Emerald sniffed and shook her head, but even she wasn’t certain whether she was refusing or agreeing that she wouldn’t.  He seemed to suspect the latter.

“Turn around and be still for me.”

Reluctantly, she obeyed, lifting her arms over her head as he told her and holding her breath as he settled to tease her breasts until she thought she would lose her mind.  She didn’t dare move, though, when he slipped a hand down her belly and pushed his finger inside of her again.  It took every ounce of will power she possessed to lay perfectly still while he pulled at her nipples with his mouth and finger fucked her until she peaked again and then continued until she was nearly mindless.

She was shaking all over by the time he finally stopped, a quivering mass of jelly.

“Suck my cock.”

She struggled up, tried to find her bearings and finally grasped his cock, opening her mouth over it.  To her dismay, he caught her legs and repositioned her so that he could suck her clit while she brought him off.  She fell to the bed tiredly when he’d finished coming, struggling to catch her breath.

Koryn sat up after a few moments, grasped her and dragged her around, arranging her against his side.  She shivered when he skated a hand along her back.

“You can stop this, baby.  You understand that, don’t you?” he murmured after a moment.

Emerald tensed against him, trying to understand what he was saying and finally gave up, shaking her head.

He released a pent up breath.  “Yes, you do.”  He shifted her to her back, surging up to hover over her, and gasped her face with one hand.  “You don’t have the right to refuse to do what you’re told to do, or to glare sullenly and perform reluctantly.  You don’t have the right to speak to any Anunnaki as an equal.  Accept that and Tariq will cease to punish you for your willfulness and he won’t send me.”

Emerald swallowed with an effort.  He was right.  She did know.  She realized abruptly that she wanted them to punish her and that was why she continued to push even when she knew what the results would be.  She didn’t know why.   It was sheer torture to be made to feel the things they made her feel and not be allowed surcease.

Maybe she’d begun to crave it?  Maybe even though they left her each time feeling as if she wanted to claw her skin off to keep from feeling the sensations, she still wanted it?

Or maybe she wanted them to keep punishing her until she could finally hate them?

And maybe it wasn’t either of those things but instead a deep hatred for herself because she was alive when she shouldn’t be, feeling things when her entire world had collapsed around her?

“Why didn’t you leave me as you found me?” she wailed abruptly.

Koryn swallowed audibly.  “Because we have orders just like you did,” he said finally.  “Because our people have needs just like yours did.”

“I still don’t understand.”

He released an irritated breath.  “Shut up, baby,” he growled, covering her mouth with his and kissing her deeply.

Against all reason, it sent a surge of heat through her.  She struggled for a moment to deny it, to deny him and then abruptly yielded, kissing him back.  She was dizzy with longing when he broke the kiss.  He studied her a moment and pressed his forehead to hers.  “Don’t be good, baby.  I won’t have an excuse to touch you.”

She stared at him in confusion when he pulled away, but he got up and crossed the room without another word and dressed.  He paused to study her when he’d started toward the door.  For a moment, it seemed he might say something else, but he turned away resolutely and left.

* * * *

As badly as he hated to admit it even to himself Tariq had begun to wonder if he had the stamina to hold out long enough to break Emerald to hand or even the strength of purpose.  He’d been angry enough about her defiance, at first, and convinced that it was the only way to ensure her protection that he hadn’t considered that she might be far more difficult to train than he could handle.  A week of nightly sessions was beginning to wear on his nerves, however, and he couldn’t see that she was any less defiant than she had been to begin with.

She hid it better.  After the first few sessions, he’d almost been convinced that he and Koryn between them had made her understand and accept her situation even if they hadn’t actually broken her willfulness and he’d been inclined to leave it at that because he hadn’t wanted, any of the time, to completely break her spirit.  He’d been determined that she would respect and obey him and equally resolved upon protecting her from the possible consequences of her willfulness if she remained rebellious once he took her back to Niribu.

He had no intention of allowing anyone to take her if he could prevent it, but that was the sticking point.  He had to admit to himself, at least, that there was a possibility that he wouldn’t be able to prevent it.  And he knew of at least two men of superior rank to him that would glory in breaking her spirit completely.  She was just the sort of challenge that could bring out the worst in them.

And Emerald wasn’t convinced enough for self-preservation.  She hadn’t openly defied him or challenged him beyond the first few days, but she didn’t guard her expression nearly well enough and she was just slow enough every time he told her to do something to make it clear that she was considering whether to obey or not.  And she still pretended deafness from time to time or that she was asleep and hadn’t heard his command.

Wryly, he admitted that he probably wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands to himself anyway, even if it hadn’t been necessary to discipline her.  He wanted her too badly to have managed to simply wait without sampling.  Under other circumstances, however, there would’ve been no need to punish her by not allowing her to orgasm.  It would’ve given him far more pleasure to hear her cries of completion, to see her sated and satisfied, to see welcome in her eyes because he gave her so much pleasure than to see wariness and dread in her eyes because she knew he would withhold what she needed.   Even demanding that she satisfy him at least often enough to keep him sane didn’t truly satisfy him.  It probably wouldn’t have anyhow when what he really wanted was to burrow his cock deeply inside of her and come, but it was even less satisfactory when he knew he’d left her fevered with need, that she was so sensitive she could hardly endure his touch.

Worse, she dominated his thoughts even when he was nowhere near her because the last session was on his mind or the next one.  It was almost as much ‘punishment’ to him to discipline her as it was to her.  He couldn’t touch her without being equally effected and even when he allowed himself some relief, it was as woefully brief as it was unsatisfactory.  He burned because she burned.

It was almost laughable that Koryn was in as bad or worse state than he was and almost gratifying if it came to that, despite his reservations about including Koryn in her training.  He had partly because he knew she needed to get used to the fact that the decision of who she would spread her legs for was as much his decision as when—or the decision of whoever ended up with her.

And also because he saw no reason why Koryn shouldn’t be just as miserable as he was and that was the gratifying aspect of the situation.  Koryn was at least as miserable if not more.

He’d fucked up at least three specimens that he knew of—because he’d confessed about those.  Fortunately, there were sufficient samples from the latest finds that that hadn’t been the disaster it would’ve been if he’d fucked up Emerald’s or any of the others that they’d barely been able to scrape together one sample for.  It was telling, however.  Koryn was one their best geneticists.  If he’d been in the habit of such sloppy work he would never have gained the stature he had in his field.

Another week, he told himself.  Only one more, and then he could safely breed her, he was sure, and once he had bred her, surely to the gods, even if she stubbornly refused to accept until then, she would have to once she was carrying his babe in belly—surely!

He wished he was more confident of that than he actually was, but it had crossed his mind to wonder if it was even safe to take her back Niribu given her grim determination to refuse to accept her status as a slave breeder of the Anunnaki in general or him in particular.  It was for damned sure she wasn’t flattered or honored to serve the Anunnaki!

She should be, he thought with sudden anger!  He had some of the best bloodlines of all the Anunnaki and the Anunnaki was the most superior race ever conceived!  They were her parent race and far superior to her own race in every way!  She should be gratified to bear his child—not fighting him tooth and nail the entire way!

“My lord?” Merrick asked, breaking Tariq’s train of thought abruptly.

“What?” Tariq growled ungraciously.

Merrick looked taken aback.  “We’ve found a survivor willing to talk.  As I said, he wants to barter the information for his freedom.”

“And you explained that we don’t barter?”

“I did.”

Tariq curled his lips.  “Any man willing to barter his fellow man for his own gain isn’t much of a man—even for a human!  My Em ….”  He broke off abruptly, feeling a wave of cold wash over him.  That was what came of having her always on his mind!  He’d damned near admitted that she’d simply refused to talk!  Merrick would be wondering why he hadn’t immediately turned her over for interrogation!

Not that it was any of the bastard’s business what decisions he made!  But there was always the chance that he might talk and that would never do!

“I’ll speak to him.  I doubt he has anything useful, but it’s worth a try.”  He hesitated.  “Has he been cleaned up and deloused?”

“Of course!  We took care of that right away.  We didn’t want the ship infested,” Merrick said stiffly, clearly outraged at the suggestion that they wouldn’t have.

Tariq ignored his pique.  “Take him to the interrogation room.  I’ll let him cool his heels in there a while and then question him.”

Merrick nodded and left and Tariq allowed his thoughts to drift back to Emerald.  It was nearly noon.  Koryn would be going to her for a session shortly.  There was little point in returning to his quarters to check on her even if that hadn’t been the case.  She hadn’t figured out how to bypass the door security and the android, Aeon, was there to guard her even if she did.

And his session with her the night before had severely tested him.

His cock rose at the thought, reminding him that he hadn’t allowed himself a release for three days.  He didn’t want her to get the impression that he was as affected as she was, though, even if he was.

Still, it had been three days and he was about ready to kill something.  Maybe it would be better to go to her and find some relief before he questioned the human?

There was no reason he couldn’t sit in on Koryn’s session any way.  It wouldn’t be the first time they’d done a three way and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

In any case, he had to wonder if it wasn’t Koryn’s technique that was somehow lacking and had failed to have the desired result.  For all he knew something Koryn was doing was countering the effectiveness of his own sessions!

He might have to kill him if he discovered that to be the case, he thought grimly.  He’d endured just about all he could take.  He was going to throttle the bastard if he discovered Koryn had been undermining his efforts!

Chapter Eight

Emerald looked surprised to see him.  That shouldn’t have instantly aroused his suspicion when he’d made it a habit to steer clear of her during the day, but it did.  Tariq narrowed his eyes at her speculatively which was when he noticed at least one reason for her guilty start when she’d discovered it was him that had entered his quarters rather than Koryn.

She’d fashioned herself a robe from the missing sheet!

She knew gods damned well that he would’ve provided her with clothing if he’d wanted to see her clothed!  He could see it in her eyes.

That also supported at least part of his suspicion that Koryn was undermining his efforts!  He hadn’t reported the fact that she’d made clothing for herself—as crude as it was—which meant that he had allowed it.

His lips tightened.  Realizing he was too angry to confront her about it at the moment, he strode to his beverage dispenser after that brief pause and searched the list of available beverages for something that might sooth his frazzled nerves, and therefore his temper, at least a little without compromising his resolve not to allow drinking to become a habit.  It was a little early even to consider wine—and certainly for beer.  He settled for a watered wine—which tasted like hell and did little for his temper.

Emerald, he saw when he headed toward his chair, had bundled herself in the remains of the sheet to hide her crude toga.

Admission of guilt, he thought angrily, settling in his chair and taking a sip of the disgusting concoction he’d gotten for himself before he fixed her with a hard look.  “Stand up,” he said evenly.

She hesitated a fraction too long and finally stood, carrying the sheet with her.

His lips tightened.  “Drop the sheet.”

Koryn arrived at that moment, fortunately for him since it allowed Tariq the opportunity to discover that Koryn was as ignorant of the toga as he had been.  The blank look on his face was testament to that even if not for the comment that followed.  “What the hell is that?”

Tariq returned his attention to Emerald.  “Apparently it escaped the child’s understanding that she wasn’t given clothing because she wasn’t allowed them.”

Emerald’s face paled and then reddened.  “I wasn’t?” she echoed with just enough surprise that it was almost convincing.

Almost.

Koryn advanced toward them after a brief hesitation and set the tray he was carrying on the table.  “I didn’t expect you.  I only brought enough for two.”

Tariq waved that off and responded in English.  “I’m not hungry … for food.  Come here, Em and sit in my lap.”

She eyed him warily, but moved toward him.

“I think you’re forgetting something,” he said, stopping her when she would’ve settled on his lap.

She studied him for a moment and reached to untie the knot at her shoulder, allowing the toga to drop to the floor.  He held out his hands, grasping her waist when she moved to him and settling her on his lap with her back against his chest.  She’d twisted at the waist, placing both legs together on one side of his.  He slipped a hand beneath her left leg and moved it over his, pushing her legs apart by splaying his own.  She tensed and then forced herself to relax.

Koryn took the chair Emerald had vacated and scooted it closer to the table, removing the cover from the tray and sorting the food.  “You decided to sit in on our session?” he asked in a conversational tone that didn’t entirely mask his anger.

“I thought I would,” Tariq agreed.  “Emerald hasn’t been responding as I’d hoped.  I thought we might … intensify the training a bit and see if that was beneficial.”

“Good point,” Koryn agreed, focusing on his food.  “How are we going to work this?”

Noticing that Emerald hadn’t made any attempt to eat her own meal, Tariq studied it a moment and finally chose something for her, holding it to her lips until she took it into her mouth.  When she took it, he stroked a hand down her belly and parted the lips of her sex with his fingers, carefully separating the folds and examining each by touch.  “I haven’t entirely decided yet,” he murmured, lifting his other hand to massage one breast.  “Suggestions?”

Koryn’s eyes gleamed as he narrowed them on Emerald’s face.  “Well, she’s not much more than a morsel.  Still, I think with a little effort we could come up with a position that would allow us both to discipline her at the same time.  Or, we could take turns—either or both, really.  Do you want to extend the session?  I generally limit it to two hours, sometimes less—depending, of course on how she behaves.”

Tariq left off pinching her nipples to pick up another bite of food and offer it to her.  “Hmm.  I usually go for two myself.  So, you’re thinking four since there’s the two of us?”

“I think we could easily manage that if we rotate.”

“There’s the dilemma.  Would it be more effective to discipline her severely for two or less intensely for four?”

Koryn shrugged.  “When she’s particularly rebellious, I try to achieve maximum intensity as soon as possible and keep it there for most of the session.  It doesn’t seem very effective to merely stimulate her.  She doesn’t really feel it until she’s reached orgasmic level and unable to achieve it.  It’s wearing.  I think, given her lack of response and the toga thing, we should consider a four hour intense session since we’re both here.”

Emerald choked and began coughing.  Tariq waited until she’d caught her breath and offered her a drink.  “I didn’t know,” she said shakily when she handed the glass back. “I just thought there wasn’t anything available for me to wear.”

Tariq studied her for a long moment and exchanged a look with Koryn.  Koryn shrugged.  “Four it is.”

Emerald turned her face away when he offered her another bite.  It hardly seemed to matter whether she refused or not given the discussion and her stomach had knotted the moment they began it until it had taken an effort to swallow what she had.

“Finished already?” Tariq asked pleasantly.  “Just as well.  I have business to take care of.  The sooner we get started the better.”  He glanced at Koryn when he’d set Emerald off his lap.  “You should cover it.  She might be hungry later.  Run along to the bed, child, and wait for us.”

Koryn settled back in his chair.  “Why did you really come?”

Tariq considered for a moment but they’d been friends a long time.  “For the reasons I already outlined and also because I’m in need of a little relief,” he said dryly.  “I didn’t want to give her the impression that it bothered me as much as it does her so I haven’t required her to give me release—and I’ve reached my limit.  I can’t keep my fucking mind on what I need to do.”

“You’re having that problem, too?” Koryn asked with a mixture of amusement and disgust.  “You aren’t seriously considering four hours?”

Tariq grimaced.  “To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I could handle four.  I’m completely serious that we need to try something a little harsher.  It almost seems as if she’s becoming more rebellious rather than less.”

“You noticed that, too?” Koryn was silent for several moments.  “I’ll admit this is wearing the shit out of me.  I propose we have her bring both of us off early on so we aren’t as distracted and can focus better.  Then we keep it intense until she begs for mercy.”

“That hasn’t seemed to have much effect,” Tariq said dryly.  “I never stop anymore until she does.”

“So maybe that’s the problem?” Koryn said thoughtfully.  “She realizes that we’ll stop as soon as she does?”

“You may be right,” Tariq agreed after a few moments thought.  “If we’re going to try that, though, I think we should hold off as long as we can.  Otherwise we’re liable to be too anxious ourselves to keep going long enough to convince her.”

Koryn blew out a harsh breath.  “Alright,” he said a little doubtfully, “but I don’t know how long I’ll manage to hold out.  I pretty much feel the same way you do and I haven’t gotten off in days.  Do we work together or rotate?”

“We may have to mix it up to manage this,” Tariq said dryly.  “Let’s start together and see if we can achieve our goal a little more quickly that way.”

Koryn nodded and bent over to remove his boots.

Tariq removed his own.  He discovered when he straightened that Emerald was watching the two of them with wide, frightened eyes and he felt his belly clench with reluctance.  He thrust it away, disgusted with himself.  If she was half as frightened as she pretended to be she wouldn’t continue to provoke them.  He discovered he wasn’t unaffected despite the determination to ignore it, however.  As much as his balls ached for release, he was only semi-erect when he reached the bed and stared down her, trying to focus on positioning rather than the look in her eyes.

He glanced at Koryn ruefully.  “What did we decide?”

Koryn’s lips twitched.  “Intense ….  When she begs for mercy, we make her bring us off and then begin again.”

Tariq frowned.  He didn’t recall that they’d decided just that way, but it took little reflection to realize that was most likely to work. “You get between her and the wall.  I’ll take this side.”

Koryn climbed over her and settled.  Propping himself up on one arm, he dragged her closer to give Tariq more room and lifted the leg nearest to him, draping it across his thighs.  After considering it a moment, he pulled it higher.  Tariq looked her over and then picked up a pillow.  When he’d settled, mirroring Koryn’s position, he shoved the pillow beneath Emerald’s hips to lift them higher and draped her other leg over his hips.

Emerald was staring at the ceiling when he glanced at her face.  It hardened his resolve.  He knew what she was doing—trying to block them out.  It wouldn’t do her any good but it annoyed him that she tried to ignore him just the same.  Focusing on the breast closest to him, he began stroking her to bring the blood rushing to her most sensitive areas.

“There’s one thing that concerns me,” Koryn murmured quietly after a few moments.

Tariq sent him a questioning look.

“In her mind she may have known many men and she admitted that she’d born a child, but this body has never known any man.”

“It did occur to me,” Tariq said.

“Did it also occur to you that we aren’t human?  I’m not familiar enough with the breed to know if she’s tiny for a human or just tiny to me because I’m used to our women, but she has a tight passage to accommodate anyone our size.”

Tariq’s cock tightened at the thought.  “And?”

“If you expect to wedge that thing of yours in her in the near future—and I know you do—it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and break the hymen and help her get accustomed to something a little bigger than my finger,” he retorted dryly.

Reluctance flickered through Tariq.  Taking her for the first time was one of the things he’d looked forward to, but he realized almost immediately that Koryn was right.  There was no telling what kind of damage, physically and/or psychologically, that he might do trying that.  He realized he didn’t want to risk that despite his disappointment in considering it.  “You’re right.  It would be better for her to help her muscles grow accustomed to accommodating something a good deal bigger than she’s used to.

“Two fingers then.  When she’s wet enough, we’ll push it with four.”

“I’ll break her hymen when I decide the time is right for it.  It won’t hurt her as much if she’s thoroughly aroused.”

Koryn nodded absently, studying the nipple he’d been teasing and trying to decide if it was sensitive enough to begin. He’d been distracted enough by the discussion to be uncertain, however, and he decided to pluck at it a little longer just to be sure.

When Tariq ceased to pinch her nipple and slipped a hand down her belly to part the petals of her sex and stroke her cleft, he reached lower, as well, and began to pluck at her clit, leaning down at the same time to take her nipple into his mouth.

Tariq followed him and they each caught a nipple almost in the same moment.  He felt a jolt go through her and satisfaction flickered through him.  She was well primed, he discovered the moment he pushed his finger inside of her, already wet and the walls of her sex fluttered around his finger as he pushed deeply and slowly withdrew.  She was nearing her peak already.  He quickened his pace to carry her to the top and then shoved a second finger inside of her and began a pounding thrust.  She shuddered and jerked beneath them as if an electric current was running through her.  He slowed his plunging thrusts when he felt Koryn’s knuckles brush his and then stopped, waiting for Koryn to work his two fingers into her and then beginning again, slowly at first and then more quickly as they caught each other’s rhythm.

He released Emerald’s nipple and lifted his head to study her face after a moment. She was gasping for breath, her fingers fisted tightly in the pillow beneath her head.  Satisfied, he lowered his head to catch her nipple in his mouth again and began pulling on it with more vigor, partly to push her to the edge of endurance and partly because he couldn’t help himself.  He was rapidly nearing the limits of his own endurance.

He was so focused on trying to ignore his own needs and the burn in his arm from driving into her that it was a while before it penetrated his mind that Emerald was whimpering.  When it finally did, he increased his efforts, driving harder and faster and pulling on her nipple more fiercely until she began to beg them to stop.  Instead of stopping as he usually did when she reached that point, he began driving into her at a pounding pace and kept going until she was sobbing.

Gasping hoarsely for breath, he finally stopped.  Koryn was slow to react, but he withdrew only moments behind him.  Settling back and rubbing a shaking hand over his face.

Tariq scooted up the bed eagerly.  “Take me into your mouth,” he said hoarsely, helping her to turn over when she began struggling.

She hovered over the head of his cock for a moment, dragged in a deep, shaky breath and opened her mouth over him.  Bliss so intense flooded through Tariq that he thought he would pass out.  He caught her head between his palms, guiding her, wishing her mouth was bigger.  It was almost as frustrating as it was thrilling to feel her tiny mouth and tongue curled around the head of his cock—frustrating because he could get little more than that in the small cavern of her mouth and yet it created sensations so intense he couldn’t have held back if he’d wanted to.  She’d barely stroked his cock and sucked at him a handful of moments when he came so explosively he damned near did pass out.  Tightening his hands against her scalp, he struggled to suppress the pained grunts forced from his lungs each time his testicles contracted to eject more seed. The suction of her mouth was almost more torment than pleasure when she’d sucked him until he was dry and yet it took all he could do to release her and push her away.

He sank toward blissful oblivion when he’d finally stopped convulsing, only vaguely aware that Koryn had demanded the same service.  With an effort, he gathered himself when she’d finished and flopped weakly on the bed beside him.

She shuddered and tried to roll away from him when he settled beside her to begin again.  “Don’t move,” he said through gritted teeth.

She stilled, opening her eyes to look at him with feverish eyes filled with both pain and reluctance that evidenced the fact that she wasn’t cowed by a long shot.  He flicked a look at Koryn, meeting his gaze.  Koryn struggled to resume his position on her other side and began plucking at her nipple.  She was so sensitized from their earlier efforts, it didn’t take more than a few moments to bring her to her peak.  Tariq wasn’t certain whether she held out longer that time before she began to beg for mercy or if it just felt like because he was as weak as water.  If felt like it was longer and because it did, he ignored her longer.

When he finally decided she’d had enough, he glanced at Koryn.  “Remove your fingers and hold her,” he said grimly, pushing himself upright to get better leverage and deeper penetration, he cupped fingers together to make his hand as small as he could since he couldn’t reach her hymen with his finger and pushed it into the mouth of her sex.  She bucked, trying to escape Koryn’s hold, and he shoved her thigh beneath his hip, using his weight to hold her still as he pressed slowly deeper until he felt her hymen.  Withdrawing slowly and pushing in again several times, he waited until she seemed to catch her breath and broke through in one, swift motion.  She cried out, bucking against him.  He stilled until she’d ceased struggling and then slowly withdrew.

She went limp when he’d withdrawn.

He glanced at her pale face worriedly, feeling the blood drain from own face as the fear abruptly smote him that he’d badly miscalculated.

“She fainted,” Koryn announced grimly when he’d checked her.

Tariq stared at the blood on his fingers a little sickly and felt a sudden surge of rage, which he directed at Koryn.  “It’s a damned good thing you thought to make easier on her!” he growled angrily.

“You think your cock would’ve been better?” Koryn growled back.  “It’s as big as your hand!”

Tariq cupped his fingers together as he had and compared the two.  It was close, granted, but his cock was the smaller of the two.  “My cock doesn’t have fucking bones in it!” he growled, flinging himself from the bed and stalking into the bathroom to wash his hand, wondering as he did why the fuck Koryn’s suggestion had sounded the least bit rational.

Because neither of them was where Emerald was concerned?

“She was as ready as she was ever going to be,” Koryn growled, having followed Tariq.

Tariq whirled on him angrily.  “You wanted me to hurt so that she’d hate me!” he snarled.  “And I was stupid enough to fall for it!”

“You were fucking determined to be her first!  You think she would’ve been less inclined if you’d punctured her with that fucking pole of yours?  It’s done.  It had to be done, one way or another, before you could breed her.”

Tariq ran a shaking hand over his face, struggling with the urge to choke the life out of Koryn.  The comment gave him pause, however, a moment to consider that he was far angrier with himself than he was Koryn.  He couldn’t kick his own ass, though!  “I should’ve sent her to Merrick and had him do it with some sort of medical instrument,” he muttered.

“So she’d hate him instead?”

“I don’t give a fuck if she hates him!” Tariq snarled.

“She’s a slave, Tariq!  Why the fuck do you care if she hates you?”

Tariq punched him, slugging him so hard Koryn staggered out of the door and slammed into the wall.

Uttering a snarl of rage, Koryn righted himself and surged forward, catching Tariq on the jaw with his fist before he could duck.  They’d just grabbed one another by the throat when a sound from the other room distracted both of them.  They tensed, hesitated, and then released each other abruptly and moved to the door to look toward the bed.

Emerald had curled into a tight ball and Tariq had the uneasy feeling that she was weeping—or about to.  The urge to leave instantly smote him.  Even as Koryn shoved past him and strode purposefully to retrieve his uniform, however, it occurred to him that beating a retreat, now, might deprive him of whatever chance he might have to mend things.  Swallowing a little convulsively, he approached the bed, braced himself and settled on it, dragging Emerald onto his lap.  To his relief, she slipped an arm around his waist and curled against him.  Feeling his chest tighten with some unnamed emotion that was dimly related to relief, he enfolded her in his arms, holding her tightly.

She sniffed.  “I think there’s something wrong with me,” she muttered.

Tariq felt his heart sink.  A wave of both dizziness and nausea swept through him. “Wrong?” he echoed hoarsely, trying to remember if he’d noticed a lot of blood.  There hadn’t been much on his fingers, but he’d withdrawn his hand.  Maybe he’d punctured something besides the hymen, he thought in sudden horror?

Emerald sniffed again.  “I think I came,” she wailed, “and it hurt so much worse than the first time!”

It took Tariq a few moments to actually assimilate that statement.  Mixed emotions pelted him from nearly every direction even when he did decide he’d heard her correctly.  An avalanche of relief mixed with a dash of amusement, irritation, remorse and then more anger.  She’d scared the living hell out of him and she’d fainted because she’d come?

How had she come, he wondered blankly, realizing abruptly that she was still wearing the belt?

He struggled for several moments to decide how to respond.  One thing stood out in his mind, though, as paramount in importance.  He struggled with it, knowing that what he wanted to say would be completely unacceptable to anyone he knew and would probably shock them to the core.   “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he managed to say stiffly.

She lifted her head and stared at him.  “You used your hand and you didn’t mean to hurt me?”

He felt his face heat.  “It had to go,” he growled.  “I thought my hand was smaller.”  He studied her face.  “I couldn’t reach it with my gods damned fingers!”

Emerald bit her lip and burrowed her face against his chest, struggling with the wild urge to laugh at his expression—a mixture of remorse, resentment because he felt it, no doubt, and wariness.  Beyond that, it was such a man thing to think of!  If anything didn’t fit that they thought should, they would get a sledge hammer and drive it in!

It had hurt like hell, though.  She sighed, realizing that she couldn’t recall that it had hurt any less at all the first time she’d lost her virginity—in her other life.  In fact, it seemed to her it had actually hurt worse the first time, now that she thought about it.  She’d been bone dry from nerves and he’d either thought it would be less painful to tear it slowly or he’d had to work harder to punch through it.  Either way, it hadn’t been a jolting stab of pain.  It had burned on and on until she’d begun clawing at him to get him off of her.

She was almost more disturbed that she’d come, or thought she had.  Aside from the inhibitor she was wearing that should’ve prevented it, it had almost seemed like the pain had set it off and that was what really worried her.  Maybe it was only that it hadn’t prevented her from coming, though?

He cupped her face with one hand after a moment, using his thumb to nudge her chin upward.  After studying her expression, he lowered his head slowly and brushed his lips along hers.  She licked her lips automatically, tasting him on them and feeling a warming tide roll through her.  She lifted her lips for more.  He released a ragged breath and covered her mouth, sucking at her lips hungrily and then spearing his tongue into her mouth and raking it along hers.

His arms tightened around her, lifting her higher when she stroked her own tongue against his in return.  He coaxed her tongue into his mouth, sucking on it greedily and then followed its retreat.  When she sucked on his tongue in return, a shudder raked through him.  He kissed her more feverishly, shifting his hold on her to run a shaking hand over her, squeezing her buttocks and at the same time pressing her more tightly against him.

He seemed reluctant to stop once he’d started, but finally, with one last brush of his lips, he lifted his head.  He held her gaze for a long moment.  She saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

He looked away.  “I have to go,” he said, his voice sounding strange.

Emerald looked at him curiously when he abruptly set her aside, but when he got up, she merely curled on the bed again, dragging the covers over her.

She’d thought Koryn had already left, but she heard Tariq say something to him as he dressed and then the two of them left together.