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 (8)

She didn’t want to think about it—or anything.  She’d been through days and days of pure hell and now, finally, she felt relief.  She didn’t know if she actually had achieved orgasm in spite of the inhibitor or if her body had simply reached maximum overload and shut down briefly.  She didn’t care either.  She was exhausted and, for the first time in a while, she didn’t feel as if her humming body was going to drive her up the wall.

* * * *

The male Merrick had told him about was crouched in one corner of the room, gnawing on his fingernails when Tariq entered.  He looked at Tariq as if he was a monster, turned pale, his eyes widening to the size of saucers, and surged to his feet.

“You had something to say?” Tariq asked, sprawling in the chair that had been set in the room for him and studying the male with thinly disguised revulsion.

“You’re … you’re the lord?”

“I am.”

The male swallowed convulsively several times.  “I’m Pete, Lord.  I know stuff.  I don’t want to go to no other world.”

Tariq’s lips curled, but he felt little amusement.  “Lord Tariq.  They did tell you that I don’t barter, yes?”

Pete went back to gnawing his fingernails.  “But I got somethin’ for you.”

“That remains to be seen,” Tariq said dryly.  “In any case, staying here isn’t an option for you.  You should count yourself lucky that we found you.  You look half starved.  Food is something you won’t have to worry about anymore—in fact anything.  You’ll be a breeder for the Anunnaki women.  All you have to do is fuck … productively.”

Pete gaped at him.  “What’s that mean?  Productive?”

“It means you’ll be expected to impreg … get the women pregnant.  If you can’t do that, then you may have problems, but our tests indicate that you should be a good breeder.”

The man gaped at him for several moments and then puffed out his chest, grinning broadly.  “Hate to brag, but I am good.  I can look at a woman hard and get her knocked up.”

Tariq resisted the urge to roll his eyes, smiling tightly instead.  “Now … the information …?”

The man frowned.  “Who am I gonna be fuckin’?”

Tariq heaved an irritated breath.  “The Anunnaki women.”

The man looked him up and down.  “How come you cain’t do it?  Shootin’ blanks?”

Tariq’s eyes narrowed.  “I’m afraid the answer to that is too complicated for your minuscule brain to process,” he said tightly.  “We need knew contributors to the gene pool—new blood.”

“These women—they big like you?”

Tariq blinked at him.  “Hardly,” he said tightly.

“But they must still be big.  All you fellas I seen was.”

“Tall,” he agreed coldly.  “Yes.”

“They ain’t gonna have a problem with me bein’ short next to them?”

“They want the dick and the seed.”

“What if I git stuck with an ugly one?”

“Luck of the draw.  Close your eyes.  You’re no beauty yourself.”

“But I cain’t git no hard on if I think she’s ugly.”

Tariq grinned evilly.  “Oh, I can guarantee you’ll be able to get it up, whatever she looks like.  You may not be able to get the son-of-a-bitch to go down, but you’ll get it up.”

Pete looked uneasy—as well, he might.  “Maybe you could help me git with a purty one if I help you out?”

Tariq studied him through narrowed eyes for a long moment and it abruptly occurred to him that he happened to know a woman who would be deeply appreciative to get her hands on a good breeder—and as wormy as the little bastard was, he was potent—not ill equipped to please an Anunnaki woman, if it came to that from what he’d heard.  Even Merrick, their medic, had been impressed with it.  Of course, she was no great beauty, but she was a powerful, influential woman.  A slow smile curled his lips.  “Lady Seana.”

The man blinked.  “Lady,” he repeated, clearly pleased with the idea.  “She purty?”

“She’s rich and powerful,” Tariq responded.

Pete’s brows rose.  He frowned, considering, and finally nodded.  “We found one of them alien ships.”

Tariq’s heart skipped several beats.  He struggled to keep his thoughts to himself and his expression merely politely interested.  “Those who attacked?”

The man nodded vigorously.  “It got shot down when the war started, I guess.  It looked all banged up, like it crashed, but it was still mostly in one piece.”

Tariq narrowed his eyes.  “What makes you think I’d be interested in that?  We’re looking for survivors.”

“Thing is, the way I heard it, they got bunches of them.”

Tariq stared at him.  “They took prisoners?”

The man nodded vigorously.

Tariq’s expression hardened.  “Tell me how to find it and I’ll make a gift of you to Lady Seana.”

Pete frowned uneasily.  “Don’t know if I can tell you how,” he said slowly, “but I can take you to it.”

Doubt flickered through Tariq and the instant suspicion that the little bastard thought that the offer might give him the chance to escape.  He got up to leave.  “I’ll consider it.  You may be certain, however, that if you’re lying to me you will deeply regret it.”

Chapter Nine

Emerald wasn’t as convinced that she’d achieved orgasm when she woke up a little later as she had been when she fell asleep.  The familiar discomfort was back.  Although it seemed to lack the intensity of before, she felt warm and achy, as if she was coming down with something.  The question was, was it just … residual arousal because she’d been teased so long without being allowed release?  Was it possible that they’d somehow trained her body from so many ‘sessions’ to always be on edge or maybe simply because she wasn’t allowed anything to wear and that kept her focus on the sensitive areas of her body?

Maybe she hadn’t actually achieved orgasm as she’d thought and it was simply that her body had reached such an unbearable peak without the ability to release the tension that it had simply shut down as she’d suspected before?

It was a dismaying thought in some ways, but she didn’t suppose it posed any real threat of harm or they wouldn’t do it.  In another way, it was almost a comfort.  At least, if it was true, she knew there was some escape, some relief.

It didn’t seem to her that she could look forward to anything else in the near future.  She was trying to learn how to behave as they expected.  She might’ve subconsciously been pushing them before Koryn had spoken to her.  She knew she’d very consciously pushed them at times, but even then she didn’t think it was because she wanted them to punish her.  Because it was punishment, almost more than she could bear most of the time.

The problem was that she still didn’t fully understand the finer points of being their sex slave slash breeder.

She considered that and amended it.  She thought she did.  She was supposed to be—like a robot, she supposed, with no thoughts or wishes of her own, always prepared to do just what they wanted.  The problem was trying to grow accustomed to at least behaving as if she was an empty vessel.  That was what she was trying to do and yet she’d discovered it was a lot harder than it seemed on the surface because she had to fight a constant battle with her instincts and her personality.  Even though she’d been trained, as a soldier, to follow orders without question, their orders were so personal, so unlike what she was used to, it always sent just enough of a jolt of surprise through her that she couldn’t prevent an emotional response.  Beyond that, their method of training was almost as demoralizing as real torture.

She supposed she should count her blessings that she was important enough to them that they preferred the ‘gentle’ discipline they’d thought up—actually she was grateful.  The pleasure might be nearly unbearable a lot of the time, and was, but it could have been so much worse it didn’t even bear thinking about.

She didn’t know why they hadn’t simply made her that way if that was what they wanted.  Surely it wasn’t beyond their capabilities if they could grow a fully functional adult from a few cells in a very short time—days or weeks?  From the things she’d heard, they hadn’t actually been on Earth long and she doubted they’d found her right away.

She didn’t understand that part, but maybe they couldn’t do that without creating something so mentally deficient that it was repulsive?

Or maybe they just weren’t willing to go that far?  Maybe it was against their principles?

She would’ve thought it would be against their principles to enslave another race, but she didn’t suppose any race ever completely advanced beyond their basic nature.  And it seemed to be in the nature of most to use anyone weak enough for them to use if the mood struck them.

Sexual slavery had been an ongoing problem for humans, for that matter, for centuries.  It hadn’t been eradicated because there was still profit in it, still plenty of men willing to pay for a woman they could use as they pleased.

The breeding thing was a new twist, though.  That didn’t make any sense to her.  They seemed capable of reproducing so why did they need to enslave another race to reproduce?  She’d heard them mention males, so it wasn’t just women they were after.  They wanted, or needed, both.

Koryn was a geneticist, she thought abruptly.  She’d assumed his presence was purely for the purpose of reviving humans since she knew he was responsible for her own resurrection, but they hadn’t known about the war.  They hadn’t known what had happened on Earth.  They’d expected to merely come to Earth, select what they wanted, and leave again.

Something was wrong with their genes?

What could possibly be wrong if introducing their ‘children’ as they called them would eliminate the problem?

It hit her abruptly—limitation.  At any time the gene pool became extremely limited, problems began to appear in the offspring—defects.  So did that mean something had happened to the Anunnaki to reduce their gene pool so drastically that they had to have fresh contributors?

It seemed to her that that was the only answer that made any sense.

War?  Disease?  Natural disaster?  She realized it could be any of those things or even none of them.  Maybe they were practicing population control and simply underestimated the numbers they needed and limited their off-spring too drastically?  Or maybe, since they seemed fond of ‘playing’ with genetics, they’d done something to themselves?

Did it matter beyond the fact that they’d decided to collect what they considered belonged to them, the human race, and that included her?

She realized it did.  It didn’t change the fact that they were unbelievably arrogant and too single minded to consider that their ‘children’ also had rights, but a true need to take breeders to insure the survival of their race put an entirely different complexion on the matter—at least insofar as her perspective on Tariq and Koryn.

She still didn’t like the fact that they considered her to be their possession, but, despite their arrogance, she believed they had made every effort to be gentle with her and she could at least concede that they weren’t careless of their possessions.

Maybe they thought of her as a pet they were particularly fond of, but it almost seemed as if they were more inclined to treat her like a lover than an object for their lust and to breed for them.

Tariq had seemed genuinely concerned after he’d broken her hymen that he might’ve done far more damage than he’d expected or intended—remorseful, not just upset that he might have broken his toy.  Maybe she’d misinterpreted it, but it seemed to her that his discomfort afterwards arose from the realization that he’d given more away than he’d intended.  She hadn’t thought about that at the time, but in retrospect it was hard to interpret his abrupt reversal any other way.  He’d picked her up so carefully and cuddled her with such … tenderness, and then abruptly plunked her down again and scrambled out of the room as if his coattails were on fire.  What else would explain that?

He’d suddenly remembered he had something far more important to take care of?

He’d said as much, but he hadn’t behaved as if he had anything more pressing when he’d come in than spending the afternoon disciplining her and he hadn’t gotten any calls.

Then again, maybe she just wanted to put a positive spin on her situation because the future unfolding before her looked pretty grim otherwise?

* * * *

Reluctant for once to rise and leave his bed the moment he woke, Tariq lay in his bunk with Emerald, going back over everything Pete had told him and the ramifications of it.  He wasn’t in the habit of yielding to impulse.  He was decisive and tended to make quick assessments of any given situation and act, but he never acted until he’d considered every conceivable angle.  It was his uneasiness that too much of his focus was on Emerald and that his judgment, therefore, was impaired that made him consider Pete’s proposition far longer than he ordinarily would have.

That plus the fact that he’d wanted to act immediately and he never trusted impulses.

Even his rage at what had been done to their children was firmly wrapped up in Emerald now.  He was certain he would’ve felt much the same regardless.  Like everyone else, he was accustomed to thinking of the humans as theirs, which by extension, meant that an attack on their children was an attack on the Anunnaki.  It had become even more personal, though, when he’d chosen Emerald as the mother of his children.

It wasn’t as if it hadn’t occurred to him that he would never have had the opportunity of choosing Emerald if things had transpired differently.  Even if the humans had increased their life-spans because of their own growing knowledge of genetics and she had lived a normal lifespan and still been alive when he arrived, it was highly unlikely she would’ve been capable of bearing children—not impossible, but not likely.  Nevertheless, it infuriated him every time he thought about the attack, because he couldn’t help but see it as an attack on Emerald.

He wanted to retaliate.  It had frustrated him no end that it seemed unlikely they would be able to discover who the bastards were that had decimated their nest of purebloods and the possibility Pete had dangled under his nose made him all the more anxious.

He dismissed any plot Pete might have hatched fairly swiftly, didn’t even dedicate any time to considering possibilities.  He would be on guard.  Whatever the man had thought of would be impossible to execute when he would be expecting treachery.

It had occurred to him fairly quickly that this was no private war.  As angry as he was about it, as distracted as he was by Emerald, he knew he wasn’t alone.  There had been brooding menace among the entire ship’s personnel since they’d realized the devastation they’d found was premeditated.  To their minds, they had been attacked.

Everyone on Niribu would feel the same way, he realized.  Once he reported what had happened, there would be an uproar and they would be calling for blood.

That might just complicate his personal agenda.

It wasn’t that he was any less angry or less inclined to retaliate, but he didn’t feel that much urgency—not enough to delay his plans for Emerald.  In point of fact, going off to war was more of an incentive to make certain he bred her before he left.  He certainly didn’t expect or plan to be a casualty, but then again no one ever did.

The question was, was it reasonable to wait until he had all of his facts before he made the report?  It seemed both reasonable and imperative.  But would the high council see it that way?  Or would he find himself in hot water for delaying at all?

If he was ordered to immediately launch a counter attack, what would he do with Emerald?  He sure as hell didn’t want to risk taking her into battle with him.  He didn’t give a fuck if she had been a soldier.  She wasn’t now.  She was his breeder and he wasn’t going to risk her.

Was it safe to send her to Niribu to wait for his return, though?

He couldn’t leave her on Earth.  Aside from the fact that there was no place that they’d discovered so far that would be protected enough to suit him, he had a bad feeling he might spend years searching for her when he came back to collect her.  She wasn’t inclined to accept her circumstances, regardless of her efforts to pretend that she was.  She wouldn’t be waiting for him if he left her.

Could he afford to spare the time with what he knew now, though, to breed her before he had to leave her?

As far as he knew, no one knew what Pete had told him, but Merrick knew he was trying to negotiate better conditions.  Once it came out, Merrick would also know when and how the information had been passed.

He could always bribe Merrick but short of seeing to it that he had an ‘accident’ that was no guarantee that it wouldn’t come out and cold blooded murder for his own ends wasn’t something he was willing to contemplate.  He had no problem killing if it was a matter of survival or protecting his own from harm, but he couldn’t justify killing Merrick simply because he was in his way.

He had finally decided he would have to simply play it by ear, regardless of the possible outcome.  He had a duty to his people that superseded his personal considerations.  He didn’t know that Pete had anything at all to offer and, even if he was right and there was a craft, he wouldn’t know until they examined it whether it would yield up the information they needed or not.

He’d arranged to check out Pete’s claims the following day.  After a little consideration, he decided not to include anyone but Koryn, whose interests were also at stake.

He hadn’t touched Emerald the night before.  He’d explained to her that he was allowing her time to heal since the rawness would negate the effectiveness of her discipline. He didn’t want her to get the entirely wrong impression after what had transpired earlier and begin to believe he was so soft where she was concerned that she could manipulate him.  He informed her that he fully intended to resume their sessions as soon as it was effective once more and she needn’t think otherwise.

He supposed it might have been equally effective to leave her wondering.  He’d considered that worrying about it might be beneficial.  He was uncomfortably aware that he’d been so … unsettled at the results of his poorly thought out and executed attempt to prepare her for breeding, however, that she could get the wrong impression.  He supposed that might also have been beneficial in a way, keeping her off guard, but he hadn’t wanted to risk the possibility of her getting that idea into her head at all.

He suspected Koryn thought he was soft where Emerald was concerned, but the bastard was wrong if he did.  The only reason he gave a fuck whether she hated him or not was for his own pleasure.  If she hated him, she wouldn’t respond to him, which would decrease his own pleasure—once he fucking got to that point!

Just a little longer, he told himself as he studied her sleeping form in his arms.  By Koryn’s calculations, she should be reaching the peak of her fertility cycle just about the time she was strong enough for that sort of activity.  Of course, he knew he would still have to be very careful with her for a while—especially if he succeeded in impregnating her right away—which he hoped to do.

Under other circumstances, he would’ve been perfectly happy to work at it for a while, but it seemed imperative to insure his claim to her.  The others might rant over it, but they would have to concede the importance of his own bloodlines and that would give him time.  Very likely, by the time she produced his first heir, the hoopla would’ve died a natural death and everyone would have settled on someone else.  If not ….  Well, he could work on it.  It still might sort itself out in the meantime.

He realized as he studied Emerald that he was still unsettled about what had happened the day before—not especially about the rough handling, although that still bothered the hell out of him.  He’d managed to, mostly, dismiss that, though, when he realized she didn’t seem to be traumatized by it either emotionally or physically as he’d feared.

It was the deep fear he’d felt, he realized, that was really bothering him.  He wasn’t used to feeling fear about anything, dismay on occasion, but not cold sweat fear and certainly not for anything in the nature of a possession.  Anger wouldn’t have surprised him or particularly bothered him.  He didn’t like to lose.

It made his chest feel uncomfortably tight all over again, just remembering it.  It made him reluctant to leave the bed and go about his business even though he knew it was important—far more important than laying abed cuddling his pretty little trinket.

Shaking the thought and the urge to hold her a little longer for the pleasure it would give him to feel her warmth, he disentangled himself and got up to prepare for his excursion.  Koryn was waiting impatiently when he arrived at the docking bay with his prisoner in tow.

“I stowed my gear in the skimmer already,” Koryn announced.

Tariq scanned him. “You need to get a weapon.  We don’t know what to expect or what we might encounter.”

Koryn sent him a startled look, saw that Tariq was wearing a holster and armed with a pair of pistols and then looked at Pete speculatively.  He merely nodded, however.  “There should be plenty in the locker on the skimmer.”

Pete was almost too terrified when they first took off to speak at all or to think.  He stammered so badly every time Tariq asked for directions that Tariq finally set the skimmer down.  Grabbing the man by the front of his shirt, he lifted him bodily from his chair.  “Do you or do you not know how to find the fucking ship you told me about?” he growled through gritted teeth.

The man gaped at him in horror.  “It’s west of where we was caught,” he stammered finally.

“Due west?”

Pete’s jaw sagged.  “Toward the sun,” he answered finally.

Tariq dropped him and returned to the controls.  The skimmer was fast enough it shouldn’t have taken them more than an hour to reach the crash site instead of the nearly three it did.  Pete was too frightened or too confused to be of much help, however, until Tariq finally realized that it was the height frightening and confusing him more than anything else.  Once he’d taken the skimmer down so that it was traveling no more than a few feet above the treetops, Pete seemed to gather his wits.  He pointed out, repeatedly, that that unnerved him, often enough Koryn began to seriously consider throttling the bastard himself.  However, he also began to point out landmarks he recalled as they headed in a westerly direction from the capture site and Koryn managed to control the irritation that arose from the man’s incessant babbling.

The ship he’d told them about had crashed on the outskirts of another city, they discovered.  Tariq hovered over it for a few minutes, studying the ship itself and then the area around it.  After a few moments, he took the skimmer up again and surveyed a wider area, using the shipboard scanner to look for heat signatures that might indicate human habitation that could present a threat.

When he was satisfied, he landed the skimmer.  Pete hopped up and tried to beat them to the door.  Tariq picked him up, hauled him back to the seat he’d occupied, and strapped him in.  “You’ll wait here,” he said grimly.

“But …!”

Ignoring his complaints, Tariq joined Koryn at the hatch again and they lowered the gangplank.  The city was eerily quiet.  Apparently, the skimmer had scattered even the wildlife or sent it into hiding.

They spent nearly an hour removing enough rubble to find a way in, but by the time they’d cleared away enough of the rubble to find the hatch, they’d recognized the design of the craft.

“Dinjin,” Tariq spat angrily.

“We had a gods damned treaty with the bastards!” Koryn snarled.  “I don’t know what pisses me off more!  The fact that we made a treaty with them at all or the fact that they knew what they’d done when they approached the council for a treaty!”

“No doubt this was the reason for their interest in making a treaty,” Tariq said tightly.

Koryn frowned.  “I’m not sure I follow that.”

Tariq was focused on finding a way in.  After trying the hatch control, he looked around for something to use as a pry bar and wandered off.

Koryn watched him with irritation.  When Tariq showed no inclination to explain his reasoning when he returned, Koryn posed the question again.

“The humans were focused on holding them here to allow the others to escape.  They must have put up more of a fight that the Dinjin anticipated.  If they hadn’t done a lot of damage, there would’ve been no incentive for the Dinjin to consider a treaty.  They wouldn’t have been worried about making one with us if they’d thought they had the resources to take us on, as well.”

Koryn digested that while Tariq worked on the door.  “We don’t know that they attacked,” he pointed out after a moment.  “We haven’t seen any others.  There are other explanations for the presence of the ship.  They might have been intent on nothing more than a survey of the planet.”

“No … but we will,” Tariq agreed as he tossed the piece of metal aside, grasped the edge he’d lifted and began heaving at the door.

It took him several minutes to break it open.  Breathing heavily from the exertion, he sent Koryn a sour look.  “Thanks for helping.”

Koryn grinned.  “You seemed to be doing just fine without my help.”

Grunting a response, Tariq stepped inside and looked around.  They had to shift more debris out of the way before they could make their way to the control room.  They formed a brigade.  Tariq, in the lead, lifted the debris and passed it to Koryn.  Koryn looked it over briefly to see if it was anything of any importance and then tossed it out.

There were two dead Dinjin in the seats in front of the ship’s controls—which explained the less than pleasant odor, Koryn thought grimly.  If the ship hadn’t been so well sealed, however, the bodies wouldn’t have been in any condition to recognize them.

He dismissed that thought even as it occurred to him.  Their elongated skulls were uncommon enough traits that it wouldn’t have been that difficult—assuming the skulls had remained—which they might not have if the ship hadn’t been sealed.

“No power,” Tariq announced.  “Either it’s been longer since the attack than we thought, or this ship wasn’t involved in it ….”

“Or the power source was damaged and that was what made them crash to start with.”

“Or that,” Tariq agreed.  “We won’t be getting anything off the computer here, though.”

“I’m going to collect some samples,” Koryn said, turning away abruptly.

Tariq glanced at him.  “It’s Dinjin.  I think we’ll get more from their computer with less effort than we would from them even if we revived them.”

“Not necessarily.  The DNA has a natural tendency to record memories anyway—at least ours does—and if they developed technology similar to ours they may have enhanced that.  We might not get anything at all, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Good point.  Watch yourself around Pete.  I suspect he thought this little excursion might give him the chance to escape and if that was the plan, I doubt tying him to his chair has dissuaded him.”

Nodding, Koryn left.

“And keep an eye out for an attack!” Tariq called after him.

“If you thought there was a chance of that why the hell didn’t you bring a couple of guards to stand watch?” Koryn demanded irritably.

“I don’t want anybody to know what we’ve found until I’ve had time to examine the evidence myself.”

Koryn peered out of the ship cautiously before he moved to the door and surveyed the surrounding area.  Satisfied when he didn’t see any movement, he headed to the skimmer to collect his instruments.  It was just as well Tariq had thought to warn him to watch Pete, he thought dryly.  The little bastard had managed to free himself and clobbered him with something he’d found to use as a club the moment he opened the door.  He dropped his pistol at the blow but managed to retrieve it before Pete could get his hands on it.

The battle was brief. Pete was no match for him in either stature, weight, or speed.  Unfortunately, it pissed him off that the bastard had hit him and he retaliated a lot harder than he’d meant to.  Looking down at the fallen man with disgust, he finally crouched down to check his vitals and was relieved to discover he hadn’t killed the stupid son-of-a-bitch.

Shaking his head, he picked the unconscious man up and carried him into the bathroom and locked him in—just in case he came around again and thought he was up to another battle.

“I hope you didn’t have any plans for Pete,” he muttered when he returned and saw that Tariq was focused on taking the console apart to get to the memory banks.

Tariq paused, whipping a look at him.  “You killed him?” he asked sharply.

Koryn’s lips tightened.  “He tried to brain me with something.  He’s alive.  I just won’t know what, if any, permanent damage I did until we get him back where we can get a scan.”

“Well, fuck!” Tariq said irritably.  “I was going to give him to Lady Seana.”

Koryn glanced at him in surprise.  “Really?  What for?”

Tariq released a disgusted huff.  “Gods, Koryn!  I know you have your nose in your work all day, but it seems to me you would’ve picked up a little understanding of the way the world works.  She’s on the high council and one of the most powerful at that—and she doesn’t have any heirs.  It never hurts to do someone a good turn—especially if you think you might need a favor yourself,” he said dryly.

Uneasiness flickered through Koryn.  “You think there might be a problem keeping Emerald,” he said flatly.

Tariq’s expression hardened.  “The problem is I don’t know and I don’t like to leave anything to chance.  Maybe, maybe not, but she’s a friend, beyond that and, according to Merrick, he should be a prime breeder.  In any case, I offered to arrange it for Pete if he helped and I’m not in the habit of going back on my word.”

Koryn didn’t especially like the fact that Tariq seemed to be in some doubt about the outcome even though he’d worried about it himself.  It unnerved him when Tariq was generally completely confident that he could do whatever he set out to do—mostly because he usually could do whatever he set out to do.

It occurred to him after a few moments that it might not be doubt as much as it was anxiety because of the way he felt about Emerald.  He’d been at pains to convince himself, and him for that matter, that his possessiveness toward Emerald was purely a matter of having selected the female he wanted.  She appealed to him sexually and she had excellent bloodlines.  His interest was nothing but a combination of personal taste and reason.

Naturally they all wanted the best breeder they could get, but they hadn’t actually managed to find that many—yet—and it wasn’t impossible that they might find one that was even more desirable than Emerald—in both respects.  If Tariq hadn’t been so fixated on Emerald, he would have considered that possibility and at least waited a while before he made his selection.

He hadn’t even asked about their latest finds, however, either the survivors that had been found or the people they’d found in the tunnels that he was currently reviving.  In point of fact, Merrick had reported that not only were more than half the survivors they’d found female, but they were all reasonably healthy and all of an age to be breedable.

Tariq would’ve been given that report long before the ‘gossip’ trickled down to him.  And yet, also according to the gossip, Tariq hadn’t even inspected them after they’d been brought back and cleaned up.

Tariq was a decisive man, but he was also intelligent.  He wasn’t in the habit of ignoring new developments and clinging to his decision only because he’d already made it.  If anything new surfaced that affected the original decision, he reviewed it and adjusted accordingly as necessary.

Granted, having looked all the possibilities over himself, he’d concluded that Emerald was still preferable to any of the others, but he’d at least looked.  The fact that Tariq hadn’t was telling, he thought.

Apparently Tariq didn’t realize that, though.

After considering it for a while, he finally decided that he needed point it out, whether Tariq would particularly welcome it or not.  He waited until they’d collected everything they thought might be useful from the Dinjins’ craft and loaded up for the return trip.

“I heard they had found thirty or so breedable women among the survivors they found.”

Tariq slid a glance at him as he powered up the skimmer.  “Thirty three.”

“I didn’t know the exact count, but I did go down to the hold to check them out.”

“Did you find anything of interest?”

Koryn’s lips tightened, anger flickering through him at Tariq’s tone.  “If you’re asking me if I’d rather have one of them than Emerald, the answer is no.”

Tariq shrugged.  “I’m at a loss as to why you brought it up, then.”

“Because there’s already talk,” Koryn said tightly.  “You were clear enough that the only reason you were willing to allow me to get near Emerald was to prevent that kind of talk.  They’re going to speculate if you don’t even have enough interest to look at them.”

Tariq looked like he might explode for several moments, but after he’d wrestled with his temper for a moment, he relaxed fractionally.  “Point taken.  I’ll take the time to look them over when we get back.”

“Fuck one or two while you’re at it.”

Tariq’s jaw tightened.  “If I see one that appeals to me, naturally I will,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Do it if you don’t find one that particularly appeals to you!  You haven’t touched a woman since you fixated on Emerald and it’s been noticed.  If they knew you were fucking her, it wouldn’t be so bad, but they know she isn’t strong enough for that yet.”

“How the fuck would they know that?” Tariq growled.

“They know how long these things take,” Koryn said dryly.  “It isn’t as if we’re doing anything radically different here than all of them are completely familiar with.  Gods!  Half of them have been cloned themselves at least once!”

“She’s taking care of my needs, regardless,” Tariq said stiffly, “aside from the fact that I’ve been focused on training her.”

“That’s exactly my point!” Koryn snapped.  “We also don’t want it common knowledge that we’ve had to discipline her!”

Tariq was too pissed off to think straight for a time.  It occurred to him as the ship came into view, however, exactly why he didn’t want to fuck any of the others—aside from his dislike of being told what to do.  He wanted Emerald with an intensity that made it impossible to consider an alternative.  Beyond that, he realized that he was deeply concerned that Emerald might learn of it and either be hurt or angry about it.

It made him so furious when he realized that that he immediately decided Koryn was right.  There was every reason for everyone to believe he was fixated on Emerald—because he was!

He was still so angry by the time he’d deposited Pete with Merrick to patch the stupid bastard up and stalked to the hold that he was radiating fury and all of the humans flew to the back of their cells and cowered there.  He was dead set on putting the rumors to rest, however, by that time.  After scanning the women, he picked one at random and hauled her off to one of the interrogation rooms.  She screamed and fought him all the way and then promptly fell into a dead faint the moment he dragged his cock out of his uniform.

“Well fuck!” he growled, wondering whether to wait until she came around or head back to collect another possibility.

Grimly determined to finish what he’d started, he hauled her back and tossed her into her cell on her ass.  She came around then, which made him suspect she hadn’t actually fainted to start with, but he decided to ignore her and pick another one.  The second was worse than the first.  It wasn’t until later that he realized it was a combination of his anger and the condition of his first ‘victim’ when he returned her that prompted her hysteria and he was certainly in no mood to see the humor in the situation even then.  The second female screamed all the way to the room and kept on screaming while he stripped.  He wasn’t sure if it was the screaming that did it, or she just didn’t have that much appeal, but he discovered that time that he couldn’t get his cock hard enough to do anything.

Thoroughly disgusted, he didn’t even bother to dress before he hauled her back and thrust her into her cell.  She was still screaming when he left her—he thought.  Most of them were screaming hysterically by that time, however, and it was hard to tell one from another.

“Satisfied?” he growled at Koryn when Koryn joined him in the interrogation room.

“Infinitely,” Koryn retorted dryly.  “It’ll be all over the ship inside of five minutes that you raped half of them and left broken women in your wake.”

“I didn’t rape either one of them,” Tariq said disgustedly.  “The first one passed out the minute I dragged my cock out and the other one was screaming so deafeningly I couldn’t focus enough to get it up.”

Koryn’s lips twitched, but he was wise enough not to smile.  “It doesn’t matter what happened.  It matters what they think happened.”

It was going to matter to Emerald, too, Tariq thought angrily, but she might as well get used it!  He owned her not the other way around, regardless of what she seemed to think!

It wasn’t until he climbed into bed with her later that it occurred to him that he had absolutely no reason to suspect that Emerald was the least bit possessive about him.  He should’ve been relieved about it, but he discovered he wasn’t.

Chapter Ten

Tariq was torn between absolute delight at the discovery that Emerald was indeed possessive of him and anger for the same reason.  He was almost equally torn by the fact that it was Koryn who told her.

They’d met in his quarters to discuss what they’d discovered in the Dinjin ship over lunch three days later.  He’d summoned Emerald to sit on his lap.  It had started as a test of her obedience, but he’d discovered he enjoyed it even if it wasn’t particularly comfortable for either of them on several levels.

“The memory cards were in pretty bad shape,” he said with disgust, “but I got enough to confirm that the ship we found was part of an attack force.  According to the propaganda issued to the fighters, the humans provoked it by attacking one of their colonies and the objective was to eradicate the threat to their interests.”

“There’s no saying that was true,” Koryn pointed out.  “They would want to inspire the fighters to do their worst.”

“It doesn’t matter one way or the other,” Tariq said grimly.  “The fact remains that they brought the fight here when the dispute was with the colonists.  I’m not sure that would even weigh with the council if it is true.  They knew exactly who it was they were attacking.  I’ve confirmed that and the objective wasn’t merely retaliation.  They fully intended to erase their existence.  They’d planned to wipe out the people here and move on to the other colonies—which they knew about.

“That suggests that they’d already targeted the humans before there was any dispute.  According to what Emerald told us, they’d taken great pains to prevent the Dinjin from learning about the other colonies.  That could only mean that they’d been watching them before the humans knew they existed, let alone were a threat.  I don’t see any other possible explanation.”

Koryn nodded agreement.  “It’s good you managed to get that.  I haven’t had much luck on my end. Not that I’m ready to concede defeat, mind you!  There might still be some useful information if I can decode it.”

“Such as the locations of the colonies?  I didn’t find that, unfortunately, and there’s a lot of space out there.  Without at least a clue of where to look ….”

“The chances are that we’ll never find them—or know if the Dinjin succeeded or not.”

“No.  I don’t believe they did, though.  The defenders hit them so hard they took out almost half the battle fleet in the first few minutes of the battle.  Unfortunately, the ship we found was one of them and that was where the recording stopped.  We do know that there was a ground battle, though, and from what we’ve learned it was a fairly prolonged campaign.”

“I guess that rules out any mention of taking prisoners?”

“The two we found were dead when they hit the ground.  There was nothing in the orders I found to suggest that was part of the plan, but the ground battle probably changed all the rules.”

Koryn frowned.  “Don’t you think the treaty rules out the possibility?”

Tariq snorted.  “With those arrogant bastards?  No, I don’t.  It might even have been part of the reason they proposed a treaty to start with—smug satisfaction that they’d wiped out our nest and taken the survivors as slaves.”

“So … what do we do with the information?”

“I’ll have to report.  I don’t see an alternative and I think it might be a fatal mistake, for us—meaning you and me—to delay now that we have the information.  The time we’ve spent gathering the Intel is understandable.  Not turning it over now that we have it could be seen as treasonous.  I’ll have to work on the report and contact the high councilor tonight.”

“What about Emerald?  That isn’t going to give you much time to breed her.”

“No, but the council will meet and discuss it.  They could drag it out for weeks or months.  I doubt they will, but it’s a possibility.  Even so, I’ll have a small window of opportunity to breed her and I’ll have to hope for the best.  I’m certainly not taking her into battle.  I’ll have to send her to Niribu if and when we’re ordered into battle.  You won’t be needed.  I could send her with you.”

Koryn studied Emerald speculatively.  “At least your trip to the hold to examine the breeders seems to have had the desired effect.  You know how gossip is.  They’re saying now that you’ve already sampled half of them.”

It took Tariq a moment to realize Koryn had very deliberately switched to English.  He’d already opened his mouth to remind Koryn, angrily, that he hadn’t fucked any of them when he realized Emerald had grown rigidly tense in his hold.  That gave him pause.  He didn’t know if Koryn had done it to stir up trouble for him, as a malicious prank, or simply to test Emerald, but he discovered that as much as it angered him that Koryn had told her something he hadn’t wanted her to know, he did want to know how she felt about it.

Wondering if he was simply imagining her reaction, he shifted her so that he could see her face and pretended his only interest was in playing with her.  He discovered when he’d pushed his hand between her legs and pressed a finger into her sex, though, that she was bone dry—so dry it took an effort to push his finger in at all.

She was tense alright and she tensed more at his touch.  He wasn’t completely satisfied that he was certain of the reason for it, however.

“Still tender?” he asked coolly.

Emerald flicked a look at his face and then looked away.  “A little.”

Maybe, Tariq thought, but she was definitely angry.

Pleasure wafted through him for a moment before it occurred to him that, not only was he not done what she thought he had, but she had no right to be angry even if he had!  “A pity.  You’re more delicate than I thought.  I suppose I’ll have to find another prospect in the hold.”

Koryn settled back in his seat, his eyes gleaming with mischief.  “A man with your appetites should consider having at least three anyway.  Then, too, that would be the best way to see which is the better breeder.  You could keep the first one that becomes pregnant as your prime breeder and the other two or three strictly for fucking.”

“Good point,” Tariq murmured, lifting his hands to massage Emerald’s breasts.  She jerked when he cupped them and then stilled, staring stonily at the table.  “What did you think of the tall one with the pale hair?”

Koryn frowned as if mentally reviewing them.  “I didn’t try that one myself.  Was she any good?”

Tariq almost chuckled when Emerald turned to glare at him.  He managed to kill the urge and return her look with a cool one of his own.  He lifted his brows at her.  “I do believe you’ve forgotten your manners,” he said evenly.  “Three days and you’re under the impression that you can give me a look like that and there won’t be consequences?  Go get in the bed.”

Her lips tightened, but she got up and stalked across the room.

“What the fuck did you do that for?” Tariq demanded irritably.

Koryn’s expression tightened.  “To see if anything we’d done had had any effect whatsoever.  As you can see, it hasn’t.  I think it would be mistake to send her to Niribu. I could pack her in a trunk and whisk her off to your place and keep her hidden until you get back—maybe, but that’s a big maybe.”

Tariq frowned.  “What do you suggest, then?”

“I don’t have any fucking suggestions,” Koryn responded irritably.  His frown deepened to one of worry.  “I almost think it would be better to use the cerebrum-wash on her.  I don’t want to change her any more than you do, but you know what the reaction is going to be if anyone sees just how rebellious she is.  They aren’t just going to be shocked that we tolerate it.  They’ll be deeply concerned that it’ll affect the others and they won’t tolerate that.  They’ll order it done or they’ll confiscate her and do it themselves and I sure as fuck don’t want them to get their hands on her.  She might not be much more than a slobbering idiot when they’re through with her and I’d rather put her down than see that.”

Tariq felt a wave of nausea wash through him.  “Don’t even think about it,” he said, his voice deadly cold.

Koryn looked taken aback for a moment.  He shook his head.  “You miss my point!  She’d be better off dead than turned into some—mindless doll!  Don’t you see that?”

Tariq shoved his chair back and stood abruptly.  “It won’t come to that,” he said. “We set her up for that and you know it.”

“I do know it and I got just the reaction I expected,” Koryn retorted.

“The discipline is working,” Tariq reminded him.  “I agree, she should’ve known better than to look at me like she wanted to kill me, but she kept that tongue of hers between her teeth.  She’s learning.  It was my mistake to give her a few days to mend.  We should’ve continued without let up until we broke her determination and she accepted.  We’ll start again.  She’s stronger now.  I don’t think we need to worry that it’ll be too much for her.  We can focus on breaking that will of hers down.  And there’s still the possibility that breeding will settle her.  She’d have the baby to consider then.”

Koryn looked unconvinced, but he merely bent down to remove his boots.  “We need to try to think of alternate plans just the same,” he said when he got up to remove his uniform.  “We have to consider doing something radical.”

“Not if you’re suggesting doing something radical to Emerald,” Tariq said tightly.

“With her or to her,” Koryn said.  “The alternative is a lot uglier.  She doesn’t have to have a mind to breed.”

As angry as he was already, it was more provoking than it might have been otherwise to discover that Emerald was still angry enough to flatly refuse to cooperate.  In point of fact, it took him completely aback to reach the bed and discover she’d bundled up in the covers.  Gritting his teeth, he snatched them off of her and tossed them onto the floor.  She promptly covered her breasts with her hands, staring stonily at the ceiling.

Koryn sent him an ‘I told you so’ look.

Tariq glared at him.  “I think the position we used last time will be good.”

Shrugging, Koryn climbed over her and settled by the wall.

“Move your hands over your head,” Tariq said tightly.

She didn’t move her hands at all.

He stared at her for a long moment and looked at Koryn.  “Change of plans.  Restrain her.”

Koryn’s brows rose, but he sat up and grasped Emerald’s wrists, prying them from her breasts, and then drew her arms behind her back.  Tariq watched the silent battle and turned, striding toward his storage compartment.  When he returned, he was carrying a set of manacles.  He secured them to Emerald’s wrists.  “Now you can hold her legs.”

Apparently, Emerald had had enough time to reconsider whether it was a good idea to try to fight or not.  She stiffened when Koryn settled behind her and slipped his arms beneath her knees, but she didn’t try to fight him when he pulled them up tightly against her shoulders, spreading them so wide the tendons on either side stood out.

Tariq settled on the bed on his belly. Using the fingers of one hand to press the lips of her sex back, he opened his mouth over her clit and began to tease it with his tongue to bring the blood to it.  She bucked at the first touch of his tongue, discovered she could only move closer and went still, panting for breath.  As angry and resistant as she was, she couldn’t prevent her body’s reaction to the stimulus.  After a few moments, her clit was swollen with the rush of blood.  Tariq sucked it into his mouth and pulled on it until he felt tremors begin to run through her.  Satisfaction filled him when he’d pushed a finger into her sex and discovered she was wet.  He thrust slowly at first, pulling at her clit a little harder until the muscles inside of her began to quake and clutch at his finger with each pass.  Inserting a second finger, he began to thrust into her a little faster, gaining momentum as he felt the convulsions of her inner muscles increase.  By the time it reached a point where they locked around his fingers he was pounding into her.  He kept the rhythm steady until she uttered a choked groan and then began to whimper almost incessantly, continued resolutely until his arm was burning from the strain.

She went limp when he finally stopped and lifted his head to study her.

“Take the manacles off.”

She didn’t attempt to lift her arms when Koryn removed the binding.  He nodded at Koryn to settle her on the bed and then climbed up beside her.  Lifting the leg nearest him, he draped it over his hip and reached to massage the nearest breast.  Koryn mirrored his movements, pulling her other leg over his hips and massaging her other breast, plucking at her nipples until they were hard with the blood engorging them.  Tariq slipped a hand down her belly, parted the lips of her sex and pushed a finger inside of her as he leaned down to capture a nipple.

They alternated.  When Tariq’s arm tired and he withdrew his fingers, Koryn inserted his and then each of them inserted two fingers and drove into her together until she was shuddering all over.  Tariq refused to allow her a moment’s respite until he was tired enough to need it himself and only then for a few moments while he changed positions with Koryn.  When she stopped whimpering and began to cry out, he told her to hold her nether lips for him and returned to the foot of the bed to suck her clit and thrust into her.

She held still for several moments and then tried escape.

Koryn caught her and held her.  When she finally stopped straining against Koryn’s hold, they changed positions and he held her while Koryn sucked her clit and rammed his fingers into her punishingly until she began to scream.  Tariq muffled her shrill cries with his hand until she abruptly went limp.

Koryn lifted his head.  “She’s fainted.”

Tariq drew in a shaky breath.  “We might as well rest then.”

Koryn frowned.  “I think she’s had enough.”

“She tried to kick me in the face not five minutes ago,” Tariq said pointedly.

“You have a point.  We’ve been at it for hours, though.”

Tariq frowned.  “We’ll give her a little time to recover.  She’ll be desensitized anyway if we keep going too long.”

“Ice would numb her.  Once the sensation returns it will have normalized.”

Tariq heaved a shaky breath.  “I need to cool down myself,” he said tightly, climbing off the bed and heading to the shower.

Him also—or better than that, release, but he wasn’t sticking his cock anywhere near Emerald’s mouth after the way she’d fought both of them.  Getting up, he went to the refreshment bar and got a cold drink and a glass of ice.

She came around with a sharp intake of breath the moment he touched a piece of ice to one of her nipples, slapping at his hand.  Koryn fixed her with a hard look.  “Unless you want to be tied to this bed I suggest you control yourself.  Put your hands over your head and keep them there and spread your legs.  I will do this either way,” he said through gritted teeth.

She stared at him for a long moment and finally lifted her arms above her head and pushed her legs apart.   She flinched when he applied the ice to her once more, lifting her arms and then resolutely dropping them to the bed again.  “I hate you.”

Koryn flicked a look at her face, but despite his determination not to show it, the comment sent a hard pang through him.  He swallowed with an effort.  “I’ll live with it,” he growled.

He ran the ice around her nipple until it was rosy from the cold and finally moved to the other.  She flinched all over again but she didn’t try to lift her arms.  “Why?”

He didn’t look at her that time.   He wrestled with the urge to answer, too angry to yield to it.  When he decided he’d cooled both nipples sufficiently, he moved to the opposite end of the bed.  Taking her ankles, he pushed her legs up and settled them wide enough on either side of her to give him easy access.  Taking another piece of ice, he parted the lips of her sex with one hand and began to rub the ice slowly around and around her swollen clit.  She jerked the moment he touched her, clamping her legs around his hand.

“Put your legs down.  Now.”

“At least tell me why,” she said plaintively.

“Because I don’t want you dead … or worse,” he ground out.

She swallowed convulsively several times.  “What could be worse than dead?”

“Alive and … vegetative.”

She was silent for a while.  “I … won’t fight anymore.”

“Yes, you will.  If we could trust that you wouldn’t we wouldn’t have to do this.  And if you behave like you have and anyone else sees it there is nothing we can do to protect you.”  He flicked a hard look at her face.  “Understand that, Em.  Accept it.  Keeping your mind depends upon it.  At the very least, they will use a cerebrum-wash—which may or not reduce you to a vegetative state—and then shove tubes into you if it does and use you for a breeder anyway.”

“I didn’t mean it,” she said after a long moment.

He flicked a questioning look at her.

“I don’t hate you.”

His lips tightened.  “Yes, you do.  But I don’t hate you, Em.  I care ….”  He stopped, glancing away.  “I care more than you realize and I’m terrified for you.  Regardless of what it seems like to you, I’m trying to protect you.”

He checked her nipples again when the ice he was using melted.  They were still erect.  He took another piece of ice and applied it to her clit and then moved back to her breasts.

Tariq glanced at him questioningly when he came out of the bath.

“I’ve cooled her down.  She should be ready and receptive to another session when I’ve showered.”

“Let her relieve herself first.”  He glanced at Emerald.  “Now.”

She got up and moved stiffly into the bathroom.  When she returned, she looked at him questioningly.  “On the bed.  We’ll wait for Koryn.”

He moved to the refreshment bar without waiting to see if she complied, getting a drink for himself and one for her.  She didn’t look at him when he handed the glass of water to her.  She took it and gulped it down thirstily.  He took the glass and tipped her chin up to look into her eyes and then got up and left.

Emerald chewed her lip.  She’d done her best to keep her expression neutral, but she had a bad feeling that that wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy either of them.  Tariq wandered out of the room and into his storage compartment after a few minutes.  She listened uneasily to his search.  When he returned, she saw that her anxiety hadn’t been misplaced.  He was carrying what looked like an enormous dildo—except that it had some sort of machine attached to it.

She was still staring at it in horror when Koryn emerged from the bathroom.

Koryn’s brows rose when he saw it.  “What are you going to do with that?”

Tariq studied it doubtfully.  “She needs discipline and I have to work up a report,” he said dryly, then added ruefully.  “Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, my arm’s tired and the shower didn’t fucking help that much.  My balls feel like they’re going to explode.”

Koryn repressed a grin.  “Reinforcements.  Where the fuck did you get it?”

“My lover left it when I told her to get the fuck out.”

“You didn’t like the competition?” Koryn asked with amusement, eyeing the size of the dildo.

Tariq snorted.  “My cock’s bigger that that!  I got tired of her constant demands—for other things,” he added irritably when Koryn grinned.  “I think she set out to make me a pauper.”

Koryn sent him a disgusted look.  “Ten women couldn’t spend enough to make a miser like you a pauper.”

Tariq glared at him indignantly.  “I’m not a fucking miser!  I was generous with her.  Some women are just never satisfied.  The very minute she got through ‘decorating’ my gods damned mansion she decided she didn’t like it after all and wanted to start all over again.  I got sick of falling over workmen every time I came in.”

“Maybe she was fucking the workmen?”

Tariq shrugged indifferently.  “Maybe.  She didn’t seem too keen on giving it to me unless I bought her something first … or I promised to buy her something else after.”

“That’s what you get for taking a lover of your own class.  They’re used to the finer things and not afraid to demand them.  You should’ve taken a woman from a lower class.  Then she would’ve been grateful for anything you gave her and she’d be too afraid of being tossed out to demand anything.  What is it doing on the ship, anyhow?”

Tariq gave him a look.  “She went with me on my last mission,” he reminded him.  “The bitch bought it to annoy the fuck out of me—said she was tired of being ignored.” He grinned abruptly.  “She never got around to using it.”  Dismissing Koryn’s ribbing, he turned to study Emerald.  “One more session and then I’ll put her on this for a while.”

“You’re going to need to adjust the depth,” Koryn pointed out.

“Probably.”

“Definitely,” Koryn countered.

Tariq studied it worriedly.  “You think?”

“Unless it’s self-adjusting.”

“Like I said, she never used it.  It probably is, though.  It’s top of the line.  She wouldn’t buy anything less than the best.  I can guarantee you, Celia wouldn’t have had it if it didn’t do everything.”

Koryn frowned.  “You really think that’s necessary … or even desirable?”

Tariq’s expression hardened.  “I think it’s necessary and desirable.  I wouldn’t consider it if I didn’t.  We’re running out of time.  Trying to explain it to her isn’t going to work.  She’s intelligent, but she isn’t used to anything like she’ll be facing there.  She has to be submissive, not pretend to be.  Otherwise, she’ll give herself away—and possibly at the worst possible moment. ”

Koryn released a pent up breath.  “I know,” he said ruefully.  “I tried that, too.  She told me she’d be good and then turned right around and refused me.  If it isn’t second nature to her, she’ll be in trouble.  And I’m still not sure about that thing.  We at least get tired and give her a break.  Maybe you should just try breeding her and see if that settles her?  It ought to be safe enough by now.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” Tariq asked tightly.  “If we try to discipline her after I’ve impregnated her, we run the risk of making her abort it—and she might not survive a miscarriage.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I don’t fucking like it either,” Tariq growled.  “You think I do?”

“I wasn’t suggesting that.  I know better.  Never mind.  Let’s just do it.”

Emerald stared at the thing warily and shifted to the other side of the bed when Tariq approached her with it.

Tariq sent Koryn a speaking glance.

Koryn’s lips tightened.  “I guess you’re right.”

“Put your arms above your head and pull your legs up and spread them,” Tariq said tightly.

She stared at him for a long moment and abruptly leapt off the bed and raced toward the bathroom.  Koryn caught her before she reached it and carried her back to the bed.  “I think she’s just scared,” he said neutrally.

“I agree,” Tariq responded grimly, “but you and I both know that’s still unacceptable. One outburst like that on Niribu could cost her her life.  We’ll have to bind her.”

“You want to use the play chair?  It’ll make it easier.”

Tariq considered it and finally nodded.  He had to set the robotic dildo down and help Koryn get her strapped into the chair.  When they had her positioned, they knelt on either side and began milking her breasts to bring the blood to them, alternately teasing her clit until her skin was flushed all over and both her nipples and her clit swollen.  Tariq tested to make sure her channel was moist, positioned the dildo and then spread the lips of her sex wide and activated it, watching in fascination as the bio-cock moved to the entrance of her body and pressed against the mouth of her sex.  For several moments it seemed to stop.  Then he noticed that the skin around her sex began to grow more and more taut.  Just about the time he’d decided it had stopped, however, Emerald began to pant and squirm and the head was slowly enveloped by the taut skin.  She struggled, jerking as she tried to buck her hips and free herself of it.  Despite her efforts, the dildo sank slowly deeper and deeper and then stopped.  Tariq frowned at the part of the shaft still showing, wondering if the damned thing was defective.  Abruptly, it began to move again, this time outward almost as slowly as it had entered her.

“Did it go all the way in?”

Tariq didn’t even glance up.  He was riveted to the thing as it slowly emerged again, coated in her moisture. “I don’t think so,” he said hoarsely.

The thing stopped when only the head was inside of her and began to press into her again.  This time it seemed to go deeper.  After moving slowly in and out several times, it began to move faster.

“It’s adjusted the depth,” Koryn commented.  “Can you adjust the speed?”

Tariq studied the small screen on the robotic device for a moment and finally began tapping the keys until the machine was driving in and out of her at a rapid pace that satisfied him.

“Does it shut off automatically or keep going till it’s turned off?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Tariq responded grimly, moving to take his place beside the chair again and testing the nipple closest to him.  Discovering it was rock hard, he covered it with his mouth and began to pull at it with a vigor that matched the machine’s pounding thrusts.  Emerald groaned and continued struggling against her restraints for a while and finally ceased and began to shudder.

Tariq switched from her nipple to her clit after a while and then went back to her breast.  Koryn moved to her clit when he abandoned it and teased it a while and then returned to her nipple.

When she began to beg them to stop, Tariq got up and headed into his storage room again.  He was carrying a gag when he returned.  He pried her jaws open and inserted the soft ball in her mouth and then secured it in place with the straps.  He could stand just so much of her moaning and groaning and no more.  He knew if he had to listen he wasn’t going to have the spine to do what he knew had to be done.

Koryn got up, as well.  After standing between her legs and watching the machine pumping steadily into her for several minutes, he looked around a little vaguely for his clothing.  “I think I’ll go jack off before my balls explode,” he muttered.

Tariq was tempted to do the same.  Instead, he pulled his uniform and boots on and moved to his desk, trying to focus on the report he had to compose.  He found it next to impossible and finally got up again.  He discovered Emerald had fainted when he checked on her progress.  He hesitated and then turned the dildo off, adjusting it so that the head was still inserted and then sat down to wait.  When he saw her eyelids flutter, he got up and reset the dildo, adjusting the speed.  He watched until he was sure she’d reached her peak and then returned to his desk and checked the time.  He managed to focus on his report that time.  When he thought to check the time again, he discovered an hour had passed.  Deciding to give her a short rest, he crossed the room and turned the machine off again.  He didn’t think of it again until he’d finally finished composing his report.

She was staring at the ceiling when he returned.  He studied her for a long moment, debating with himself.  She’d been disciplined for almost three hours.  He was inclined to think she’d had more than enough for one day.  Then again, he reminded himself, she’d fought both of them far more than she’d ever dared before—and that was after two hours that had worn both him and Koryn out and left them in as miserable a condition as she was in.

Dismissing his qualms, he set the machine again.  He was careful to watch the time that time.  One hour on, one off.   He reached his limit during the fourth session and went to take a shower and jack off.

She was so exhausted by the time he decided to feed her that she had no interest in eating and she quivered all over at his lightest touch.  He felt sick to his stomach, but he ignored it, forcing her to eat a little and drink.  He felt far worse when he told her to go relieve herself and discovered her legs were so weak she couldn’t walk.

“Hardheaded little idiot!” he growled.  He carried her to the bathroom and stood over her until she’d relieved herself.

Wondering if he was a fool himself, he carried her to the bed when they emerged and lay down with her, cuddling her against his chest and stroking her back soothingly until she stopped shivering and fell asleep.  He lay for hours staring into the darkness afterwards, wondering if Koryn was right and he should let him try to selectively remove her rebellious tendencies.  That made him sicker than what he’d done, though.

He couldn’t simply set her free, although he knew that was what she wanted.  Even if he could bring himself to do it, she’d either die, torn to pieces by some of the roving wild animals, or be picked up again.

He began to understand why Koryn had said he’d rather put her down.

He couldn’t do that.  He couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the light die in her eyes.

It would be as bad, or worse, to see eyes vacant of the spirit he was so fond of—even while it drove him up the wall.

He shook the thoughts, pulling her more tightly against his length.  He would try to discipline her a few more days and if that didn’t work, he would have to think of something else.

 

Chapter Eleven

Tariq had expected the high councilor to be furious when he made his report and the man’s rage still took him aback.  It wasn’t until later that it occurred to him why Mylor was so furious.  He’d been the one who’d talked the high council into signing the treaty with the Dinjin.

He demanded a fully copy of the report and copies of all the data Tariq had managed to extract from the Dinjin ship and told him he would be contacting him again after the high council had made their decision.

Breaking the link with a sense of relief, Tariq turned to look at Emerald.  He’d settled her with her tray on the bed so that she wouldn’t be visible to the high councilor and told her not to make a sound.

She’d obeyed … for a wonder, but as much as he wanted to believe that meant he could forego any further discipline, he knew better.  She’d been quiet because she was worried about the councilor, not because he told her to.  Seeing she’d finished, he told her to bring him the tray and then go take care of her needs.  He was standing by the chair waiting for her when she came out again.

“Come here.”

She glanced from him to the chair and slowly approached him.  She swallowed with an effort.  “Please don’t.”

A knot rose in his throat.  He clamped his jaw tightly.  “Get in the chair.”

She bit her lip, but she sat down.  She was tense when he lifted her arms and manacled her wrists and more tense when he locked her ankles into place.  He adjusted the chair so that it bent her knees upward and spread her thighs wide and then tilted it upward and went to the back to secure the inhibitor to the chair to prevent her from evading the dildo.

She was so tense it took him a good ten minutes to get her relaxed enough to produce any moisture.  He ignored it, persevering until her body responded in spite of her will.  She whimpered when he spread the lips of her sex to allow the dildo to penetrate her and then began to pant as it stretched her flesh and finally breached the opening.  He saw when the dildo retracted that there was little moisture on it and moved to her breasts to tease them until she ceased to strain against her bonds.  He saw when he checked the dildo again that there was enough moisture to prevent damage and increased the pace until she began to groan incessantly.

It reminded him that he’d forgotten the gag.  He put it in place and left her.  Settling at his desk, he checked the time and pulled up the data he hadn’t managed to decode and began working on it.  He was careful to keep track of the time, however, stopping it after an hour, allowing her to rest an hour and then beginning again.

Her teeth were chattering when he released her after the fourth session and walked her to the bathroom.  When she’d relieved herself, he sat down at the table with her and made her eat and drink as much as she would.  When he told her to get back in the chair, she began shaking, but she got up and moved to it and remained completely docile while he strapped her in and began another session.

Feeling heartened by her progress, he returned to his work.  When he checked her after the third afternoon session and discovered she’d fainted again, he was alarmed enough he dismissed his concern about her behavioral problems and removed her from the chair.  She came around when he settled her on the bed.  “Rest.  We’ll begin again later.”

She fell asleep weeping.

Tariq was just about ready to tear his hair out when she finally stopped.  Struggling to focus when she’d finally quieted, he gritted his teeth and continued trying to decipher the damaged memory chip.  He’d just managed to pick out a handful of letters that appeared to be a name and a partial spacial coordinate when Koryn arrived carrying a tray.

He glanced distractedly at the time and then at Emerald.  She was still sleeping and he summoned Koryn with a wave of his hand.  “I think I might have found a piece of the coordinates to one of the colonies!”

Koryn immediately tensed.  “You think?”

“These are English letters—not the Dinjin language—and these letters don’t match up with any of the names of the planets in this system.  I thought at first it might be one of the outposts, but it can’t be.  They would’ve used the human’s name for it if they were going to record it in English.”

“You think you can get the rest of it?”

“I don’t know.  I don’t know anything to do except to keep trying.”

Koryn straightened after a few minutes and glanced at Emerald.  “She looks worn out, poor baby.” He turned to look at Tariq again after a moment and saw that Tariq was studying her, his face drawn and as haggard as if he’d been enduring the discipline himself.  Uncomfortable, he looked away again.  “How’s she doing?”

“Better,” Tariq said, smiling crookedly. “She balked this morning when we started but after I’d let her rest and eat and told her to get back in the chair, she was completely docile.”

“Maybe this will work,” Koryn said neutrally. “I wasn’t convinced yesterday.”

“I’m not convinced today,” Tariq said tiredly.  “I just said it looked promising. Ask me again tomorrow.”

“Do you want to let her sleep a little longer?”

“If she doesn’t wake up by the time I finish eating, I’ll wake her.”

They hadn’t reached the table when the alert on Tariq’s communicator sounded.  His expression hardened with tension as he strode quickly to the console.  He activated it even as he sat down.  His belly clenched when the high councilor’s image appeared.

“We’ve declared war on the Dinjin,” he announced immediately.  “It was a unanimous vote.  We’re readying the fleet now.”

“Should we join the force at Niribu or rendezvous elsewhere?”

“I want you to stay where you are and continue collecting whatever survivors you can.  How many did you say you’d managed to round up?”

“I didn’t.  Right off the top of my head, I couldn’t give you a precise count.  Around fifty.  There’s a higher ratio of females to males—around thirty females and twenty males.”  He glanced at Koryn.  “What’s the status of your first group?”

Koryn approached him and bowed to the High Councilor.  “I have a dozen that should be ready to turn out of the pods in two days.  Six of each.  And a dozen more ready to go in when I remove the first.  Another six of each.”

Mylor looked surprised and not particularly happy.  “That’s better than I expected.  Ship the ones that are ready.  Everyone’s anxious to bring our children home to Niribu.  We’d thought they were safe where they were,” he finished angrily.

Tariq nodded.  “I’ll see to it.”

Mylor stared at him hard for a moment.  “All of them that are ready.”

Tariq’s jaw tightened.  “Yes, my lord.”

“He knows about Emerald,” Koryn said tightly when he’d broken the link.

Tariq glanced at Emerald, discovering she was awake.  “Go freshen up, baby, and come sit with me.  Koryn brought food.”

They moved to the table and settled.  When Tariq heard the sound of water emanating from the facilities, he met Koryn’s gaze.  “I’ll have to find out who’s reported to the councilor,” he said grimly.  “He may have just been fishing.  He hates my guts anyway.  He knows I usually oppose him in the lower council.”

“Fucking hell!  You didn’t think to mention that before?”

Tariq’s lips tightened.  “It’s fairly common knowledge.  If you paid any fucking attention to politics, you would’ve known it!”

“Yes, but … Gods!  The high councilor?  Don’t give me any gods damned lectures about politics!  At least I haven’t made an enemy of the most powerful lord on the gods damned council!”

“I have far more friends on the high council than enemies!” Tariq snapped, stabbing angrily at the food on his plate and eating it without any appearance whatsoever of enjoying it.  “At any rate, he won’t be in power much longer.  He has a lot of enemies and he was the one that pushed the treaty with the Dinjin.  He’ll be ousted next election, mark my words.”

“As if that’s going to do us, or Emerald, any good!”

“I don’t suppose there are any females in the new batch that have red hair?”

Koryn looked startled for a moment.  “One of the females has reddish blond hair,” he said slowly.

“Good,” Tariq said briskly.  “We’ll de-pod her and put her in with the shipment.”

“Did you miss the part where I said they wouldn’t be ready for two days?”

Tariq shrugged.  “You always add a little to be on the safe side.  We’ll delay the shipment until you take her out.”

“The count will be off.”

“Not if she’s the only one you take out tomorrow.  You’ll have time to make an extra before we make another shipment.  Put two in the same fucking pod if you have to!  They’re small enough.”

“She’ll be weak!”

Tariq’s jaw tightened.  “I intend to carry her onboard myself and put her in a special holding cell—alone.  She’ll be strong enough by the time they arrive—especially if I give the order to take special care of her.  That’ll make it more convincing anyway.”

“She doesn’t look like Emerald.”

Tariq sent him a hard look.  “No one has seen Emerald but the medic—and he was focused on her feet—me, you, and your assistant.  Adjust his memory chip.” Realizing he didn’t hear the shower anymore, Tariq glanced in that direction and saw that Emerald had emerged.  He lifted a hand.  She crossed the room and paused in front of him and he pulled her onto his lap, relishing the fresh washed scent of her hair and the smoothness of her skin.  Koryn was right, he thought absently.  She was as sweet and soft as an infant.  Baby suited her as a pet name.  It rankled that Koryn had thought of it first, but he dismissed it.

He was relieved that she displayed a far better appetite than she had earlier.  She relaxed in his arms, taking whatever he offered.

Koryn studied her through narrowed eyes for several moments.  “Did you want me to stay and help with her sessions tonight?  Or are you just going to use the robotic dildo?”

Tariq stroked her cheek lightly with the backs of his fingers when she remained completely relaxed.  “I don’t know if I’m up to watching that tireless bastard fuck her after watching it all day,” he muttered.  “I’m horny enough to crack myself.”

“All the more reason to make use of it.  She seems to be responding well to the sessions.  A few more days of intense indiscipline might do the trick.”

Tariq frowned and finally released a pent up breath.  “You handle it.  I need fresh air.” He switched to English.  “Go get in the chair, baby.”

“You should at least stay until she’s ready.”

Tariq flicked a glance at him, but he nodded.  Getting to his feet, he followed Emerald to the chair and fastened her in, adjusting it.  Koryn joined him a few moments later and immediately began massaging her breast.  Tariq worked with him until she was wet and he could insert the dildo.  When he’d inserted it, however, he turned and strode to the door.  He didn’t look back.

Koryn stood watching the pumping machine for several moments and finally flicked a look at Emerald’s face.  Her head was thrown back, her face a mask of agonized pleasure.  Seeing that Tariq had forgotten the gag, he looked around until he found it and put it in place.

After glancing at the door, he crossed the room to Tariq’s desk and pulled up the data he’d been working on.  He discovered it was next to impossible to focus on trying to unravel the code when he could hear the steady hum of the machine pumping into her and hear her moans above that.

No fucking wonder Tariq needed to escape!  If he’d spent the day listening to that and watching it he would be fucking lunatic!

Struggling to close his mind to it, he noted the time and returned his attention to the codes.  When he glanced at the clock again, he discovered more than an hour had passed.  Leaping up from the chair, he strode quickly to the chair and shut the machine off.  Emerald had either fainted or she was faking it.  He checked her pulse and then her eyes.  Relieved that she’d merely fainted, he left her to rest and returned to the desk.

He managed to break another piece of the code by the time Emerald finished her second session.  He helped her from the chair and sent her to the bathroom to relieve herself and then headed to the bed and stripped.  When she came out, he summoned her to suck him off, gritting his teeth as she opened her mouth obediently.  Relief flickered through him when she didn’t bite him.  He settled back to enjoy it, clasping her head to guide her until she had the rhythm he needed.

“Rest,” he said when she’d sucked him dry, leaving him as weak as water.  He hadn’t realized just how weak until he came to and discovered that Emerald had grasped his cock and was stroking it.  He stared at her from beneath heavy eyelids as she leaned down to cover the head of his cock, tensing briefly and then relaxing when she didn’t try to damage him as he’d more half suspected was her intention.  Tariq returned just as she brought him off the second time.  He was peripherally aware of it, but too focused on the pleasurable suction of her mouth and the hard contractions of his climax to do more than note it.

“How many sessions has she had?”

Koryn managed to lift one eyelid.  “Two.”

“That’s enough for tonight.  She needs to rest.”

Koryn nodded with an effort and struggled to his feet.  Discovering he really didn’t feel like pulling his boots on, he tucked them under his arm once he’d pulled his uniform on and left barefoot.

Tariq undressed and climbed into the bed when he’d left, pulling Emerald against his length.

“Would you like for me to suck you off?”

Tariq swallowed with an effort.  He wanted her to so bad he could taste it.  He’d almost come just from watching her bring Koryn off.  “You’re tired.  Rest.”

She slipped a hand down his belly and cupped his cock.

Tariq ground his teeth.  “Do it,” he growled.

She shifted down the bed and took him into her mouth.  He struggled to keep from groaning out loud the moment he felt the heat of her mouth close around his flesh.  He felt like he was going to explode the moment she touched him, but he fought it, wanting to relish the feel of her hands and mouth a little longer.  With the best will in the world, he couldn’t hold his seed more than a few moments, however.  He uttered a choked grunt as the first contraction hit him, groaned and then grunted as the second wave struck, knocking the breath from him again.

He was barely conscious when she finally stopped sucking at him, too weak even to push her away.  She righted herself when she couldn’t suck anymore from him.  He roused enough to curl around her and drag her close and then passed out.

He summoned Koryn to bring breakfast for the three of them when he rose the next morning, leaving Emerald asleep while he performed his morning tasks.  He felt downright cheerful right up until Emerald woke and he saw the dark circles beneath her eyes.  He felt even worse when he sent her to take care of her needs and watched her limp into the bathroom as if every step brought pain.

He didn’t have much appetite for the food when Koryn arrived with it.  “I need to take care of arrangements for the shipment,” he said as soon as they’d settled at the table.  “I’m going to leave you in charge of Emerald’s sessions until I get back.  She’ll need four between now and lunch.  On an hour, off an hour.  If I’m not back by then, give her an hour to rest before you start the afternoon sessions.”

Koryn flicked a look at Emerald and then sent Tariq a sardonic look.  “Coward.”

“Fuck you!” Tariq growled.  “Like I said, I have to make arrangements.”

“Which you could make from here.”

“Except I’m not fucking going to.”

“Fine!  I’ll listen to fucking music.  The sound of that gods damned machine drives me up the wall.”

“I endured it all day yesterday, gods damn it!  You can handle it today.”

“It was your fucking idea to start with!”

“You’re the one that pointed out that she was in danger as long as she refused to comply and that she wasn’t docile!”

“As if you hadn’t noticed!”

Tariq’s lips tightened.  He got up abruptly and dumped Emerald in the chair he’d vacated.  “Be a good girl for Koryn, baby, and I might not give you any sessions tonight.”

“You aren’t at least going to stay and get it started?”

“No.  My balls feel better than they have in days.  I’d like to keep it that way for a few fucking hours.”

Koryn glared at the door for several moments after it closed behind Tariq and then looked at Emerald.  “Come here, baby.”

She got up and rounded the table and he pulled her onto his lap.  Cradling her with one arm, he began stroking her.  He spent twenty minutes fondling her breasts and her clit and was as hard as if she hadn’t brought him off twice the night before.  Abandoning the idea of handling the session himself, he told her to get up and get in the chair.  He was relieved when she obeyed without hesitation, but like Tariq, he wasn’t convinced.

All the same, he thought when he’d bound her and positioned her, she was at least maintaining a façade of docility.  If she could manage that when he knew without a doubt that the mechanical wonder Tariq had dug up had to be pure torture for her, there was some hope she might survive.  She was dry again when he checked her, tense despite her outward appearance of calm.  He worked her heat up again until she was wet and parted her nether lips for the machine as he’d seen Tariq do.  He hadn’t actually watched the penetration before.  By the time the thing had stretched the mouth of sex wide enough to breach it and began to penetrate her he felt like he had a knot in his throat the size of his fist—and that it was his balls.

He swallowed convulsively several times while he watched the thing slowly enter her and withdraw.  When he decided there was enough moisture, he adjusted the speed and beat a retreat to Tariq’s desk.  He’d no sooner settled than the volume of Emerald’s tortured gasps and groans reminded him that he’d forgotten the gag.

Leaping to his feet again, he gagged her and then moved to the entertainment console and selected music, setting the volume high enough he couldn’t hear the robotic bio-cock or Emerald’s muffled groans.  He returned to Tariq’s desk then and settled to picking apart the code.

Emerald had three long sessions rather than four one hour sessions due to the fact that the music and his attempts to crack the code distracted him enough that he had difficulty also watching the time.  He had a third string by the time he realized it was noon.

He had to carry Emerald to the bathroom to relieve herself.  Mentally kicking himself, he carried her to the bed afterwards, told her to rest and ordered a tray sent to Tariq’s quarters.  He roused her when he decided she’d slept at least an hour and fed her.  Tariq still hadn’t returned so he sent her to the chair again and began the afternoon sessions.

He’d managed part of a fourth string of numbers and Emerald was part of the way through her fourth afternoon session when Tariq returned.  Tariq strode immediately to Emerald, studied her a moment and shut the machine off.  From there he strode to the entertainment console and shut that off, as well.

“What are you doing?” he asked tightly.

Koryn glanced around at him in surprise.  “I’ve got two more strings and part of another.”

Tariq’s brows rose.  He strode the desk and looked at the image over Koryn’s shoulder.

“Does it still look like spacial coordinates?”

“It does.  Move and let me pull up some maps.”

Koryn got up and stretched.

“Why was Emerald in session when I came in?  Did she give you any trouble?”

Koryn glanced at him in confusion.  “Didn’t you say she was to have four in the afternoon?”

“It isn’t afternoon,” Tariq said tightly.

Startled, Koryn glanced at the clock.  “Gods!”

Tariq faced tightened.  “How fucking long did you leave her on that gods damned thing?”

Koryn felt his face heat.  “Almost an hour and half—this last time.  I made sure she rested a full hour between each session, though.”

“You’re sure she only had four?”

Uneasiness slithered through Koryn.  “Yes,” he responded a little doubtfully.

“You aren’t certain?”

Koryn frowned and finally relaxed.  “I’m certain.”

“Help her out of the chair while I look for maps—and order us a tray.  I skipped the noon meal.  I’m starving.”

Koryn was less convinced when he’d unbound Emerald.  She was unconscious and she didn’t rouse when he’d removed her restraints.  Alarm flickered through him but, to his relief, her pulse was even and strong—a little rapid considering she was unconscious, but possibly the cause of it.  When he’d carried her to the bed, he checked her pulse again.  It had slowed and after a few moments her eyelids fluttered.

Angry with himself for allowing himself to get so caught up in what he was doing on the computer that he’d lost track of time, he debated brief and finally settled beside her on the bed, holding her close and stroking her soothingly.  She flinched at each touch.  When she finally seemed to relax completely, he left her and ordered the tray of food.

“How is she?”

“Resting.”

Tariq closed the holo-image on his desk when Koryn’s assistant arrived with their food.  Striding to the bed, he shook Emerald awake and then scooped her up and carried her to the table when she seemed more inclined to sleep than to get up.  She was also more inclined to sleep than eat, Tariq discovered after trying to tempt her several times.  Giving up after a few minutes, he caught her face in his hand and turned it to study it and then sent Koryn a deadly glare.  “She’s exhausted,” he said tightly.

“You thought she wouldn’t be?” Koryn retorted.  “This is her second day. I thought that was the plan—to wear her down until she wasn’t able to fight.”

Tariq’s lips tightened, but he got up and took her back to the bed without another word, tucking her beneath the sheets and lingering for a few moments to stroke her hair before he returned to the table.  “I found a leak in one of the hydraulic lines,” he said evenly when he’d settled again.  “It took most of the day to fix it, but the ship will be ready to leave tomorrow.”

Koryn met his gaze for a long moment and finally nodded.  “Emerald should be ready enough to leave tomorrow.”

Tariq frowned, thinking.  “I think it would be best if you had your assistant bring me the trunk I left in the hold tomorrow—early.  I’m sure Celia left something in it Emerald could wear.”

“I should give her a sedative to keep her calm.  How long do you want her to sleep?”

“At least three hours … if possible.”

“I’ll have to give her a time release capsule to manage that.  Any luck with the maps?”

Tariq focused on his food.  “It looks like it’s pointing to a system in this galaxy.  I’ll have a better idea when I’ve run some figures.”

Koryn focused on his own meal until he’d finished.  Pushing his plate away, he studied Tariq for several moments.  “When are you going to forward the information?”

Tariq met his gaze.  “We don’t actually have it yet, do we?”

Koryn relaxed fractionally.  “No, we don’t.  All efforts will be focused on the war right now anyway.  I doubt they’d even be able to consider an expedition until they’ve settled our dispute with the Dinjin.”

“True.  I don’t see any need to rush, especially since we aren’t sure yet.  It would be better to be sure.  There’s no point in getting everyone excited for nothing.”

“I’ve been going over that word in my head all day.  Some of the survivors we picked up mentioned a colony named Centaurian.  The order of the letters seems to match.”

“We only have four letters.  Still, it could be a match.”

Koryn nodded and then got up and stretched.  “Well, I’m for bed.  I have work to do in the morning.”

When he’d left, Tariq stared at his desk for several moments and finally got up and returned to it.  It took him nearly an hour to find the system even with most of the coordinates and a fair idea of where to look.  It was a binary system with ten planets.  The sixth lay in the perfect orbit to support human life—not too hot, not too cold.

He sat back in his chair, studying it for a while and finally sat forward.  His fingers hovered over the keys for a moment and then he began to type in the command.  ‘Dump data.’  A question popped up on the holographic screen.  ‘Are you certain you want to erase the data?’  He didn’t hesitate that time.  He typed in ‘yes’ and hit enter.

Rising, he stretched and moved toward the bed.  When he’d undressed, he settled beside Emerald and drew her into his arms.  She was shivering, he discovered.  He tightened his hold on her and began to stroke her back slowly until she stopped shivering.

“Don’t send me away.  I’ll be good.”

Tariq was more than half asleep when he heard the whispered plea.  Wondering if he was dreaming, he squeezed her gently, nuzzling his face in her hair.  “You’re my baby.  I don’t think I could bear it if I sent you away.”

* * * *

Emerald had long since reached a state where she floated most of the time on a pleasurable, tortuous cloud where she had little awareness beyond the battle raging in her body. There were brief periods where she wasn’t at that zenith of euphoria drugged state, but even then it seemed that she was climbing toward it or drifting toward complete unawareness.  There were no truly lucid moments, no time of complete awareness, and she’d begun to have difficulty sorting what was real and what wasn’t.

Dread lingered in her mind at all times, often flickering to the forefront her mind, sometimes a distant uneasiness, but it always seemed to be there.  Koryn or Tariq had only to tell her to get into the chair for it to zoom to the forefront.  She would feel it building while they bound her and the chair moved, bending her knees and then spreading her legs so wide that she could feel air whisper over her sex and dry the moist inner lips until they ceased to cling and parted.  It would climb higher when she felt their hands at her breasts or her sex, tweaking the flesh until blood rushed to those areas and warmth turned into fire and pleasure turned into pain from the pressure that built there because she knew that was what would happen the moment she felt their touch and she knew what would come next—that strange thing she remembered, the thing that looked exactly like a cock—except that it was bigger than any cock she’d ever seen until she’d seen Tariq’s cock and then Koryn’s.

The dread intensified when she felt the rounded tip press against her and then felt the pressure build and build until the skin was burning from it before her flesh finally yielded to a superior force and engulfed it.  She would pant from a combination of fear that it would tear her instead of entering her and distress from the burning pain and the unrelenting pressure. She lost track of the dread then, too focused on the building pressure inside of her as she felt the slow, unrelenting progress of the thing prying at her flesh all the way, forcing it to yield.  It would stop when it brushed her womb and retreat and come back again and, just about the time she would begin to relax, Tariq or Koryn or both together would jolt her attention from that thing, pulling at her nipples and her clit with such vigor that the jolts of heat running through her quickly converged into a constant roll of fire through her and the thing driving into her would begin to move faster and faster until the muscles in her sex began to quake as her body reached its maximum peak and prepared to release in climax.  The orgasm never reached fruition, though.  She would hover at the brink, quake until she was exhausted from the tremors and dizzy from gasping for breath—endlessly waiting for the release that never came.  And it would stop and that was almost worse.  She could feel herself slowly cooling, could feel the promise of a climax moving further and further away until there was no hope of reaching it and yet her body continued to complain because she hadn’t reached it.

And just about the time she almost reached that plain where it didn’t matter anymore, they would begin again.  It was worse when it was both of them because then she would fly upward to that trembling peak at the top faster and they would make her stay longer, sobbing for relief that was always denied.

Because she’d been bad.

She could have hours upon hours of pleasure so intense she wanted to scream because she’d been bad, but she couldn’t have the prize because she’d been bad.  And ‘bad’ was anger over being denied and reluctance to feel pleasure and deprivation at the same time.  ‘Bad’ was feeling that she had a choice when she didn’t and showing them that she thought she had a choice.  ‘Bad’ was any time she grew angry and let them know it by a look, and if she refused to yield that was even more ‘bad’ and resulted in more ‘sessions’ of tortuous, endless pleasure—without release.

That dread dominated her mind, but there was another dread, the threat that it could be much worse if she continued to be bad, if she couldn’t make herself ignore the dread and the anger and yield, whatever they asked, immediately, without question, without hesitation.  If her world hadn’t felt turned upside down, she thought that dread would have dominated, because it was fear of death or completely losing her ‘self’, losing the ability to think at all or to make choices.  One of them—or maybe both?—had told her that that was what would happen if she didn’t learn not to be bad.  There had been the hint that she would be given to someone else and that someone else might do far worse when she was ‘bad’—the other things that made her dread.

She wasn’t sure if she most feared those unnamed other things or simply being given to someone else.  She knew she was terribly afraid that she would be given to someone else, but it didn’t seem that it was because of what they might do if she was bad.  It seemed most of her fear was wrapped up in being afraid it wouldn’t be Tariq or Koryn and that she wouldn’t get the petting she so looked forward to when they were pleased with her, the tender touches when they held her and caressed her instead of teasing her, when they kissed her.  She wouldn’t feel like any time she would be rewarded with orgasm if she could just be good long enough to deserve it.

It relieved her a little while when she’d finally nerved herself to beg Tariq not to send her away, promised to be good if he wouldn’t, and he’d tightened his hold on her and murmured something to her in his own tongue.  She hadn’t understood what he’d said, but it had felt like reassurance.

As she lay drifting in the heated haze later, though, enduring the wracking pleasure she’d come to expect, something different pierced the fog, some sound of movement that wasn’t familiar.  Lifting her heavy eyelids with an effort, she struggled to focus her vision and see what had intruded enough to pierce her awareness.  She finally managed to bring the movements into focus even though there was only a tiny part within her field of vision.  Koryn and Tariq were kneeling on the floor beside some sort of container, staring at whatever was inside of it.  As she watched, Tariq bent down.  When he straightened again, she caught a flash of long, reddish hair and then he moved completely into view as he moved away from the container carrying whatever it was.  She caught a brief flash of the ‘something’ before he moved beyond her field of vision.  It was a woman, naked and unconscious.

Fear rose inside her instantly, powerful enough that it pierced the state of euphoria.  Did that mean they meant to send her away after all?  Or had they, as Koryn suggested, brought in another woman to appease their needs because she’d been bad so long they’d given up thinking that they could use her for that?

The last thought almost calmed her.  The fear lingered that they would be more interested in the new woman, but it was still better than being sent to someone else.  If she could’ve just convinced herself that that was all it was, she would’ve felt better.  She couldn’t dismiss the fear that the other woman’s presence meant that she was going to be sent away, though, especially when she remembered bits and pieces of the conversation.  Or was that the same conversation?  She couldn’t be sure, but it upset her.  She remembered they’d been talking about her.  She’d heard her name mentioned several times and they’d been angry and arguing as they so often did when they talked about her.  That was what it was about, sending her away and getting another woman to take her place.

She sobbed so hard over that that it caught their attention.  Koryn’s face swam into view when she blinked the tears out of her eyes.  His expression was taut with disgust.

“How long has she been in this thing?”

Tariq jerked an alarmed glance at the clock.  Relief flooded him.  “Only thirty minutes on this session.  It’s her second today, though.”

Koryn frowned.  “You’re certain?  She’s moaning like she’s in agony.”

Tariq’s expression tightened.  “I’m certain.  She often does, or haven’t you fucking noticed?  Why do you think I got the gag?  I can’t fucking stand it when she suffers.  It ties me in knots.”

Emerald heard Tariq leave and cried harder.  She was startled when she felt Koryn’s fingers brush lightly along her cheek.  “Shhh, baby.  You’re half way there.  Just a little longer and I’ll let you rest.”

She didn’t understand what he’d said, but both his touch and his tone reassured her.  She calmed enough to drop once more into the grip of the euphoric haze.

* * * *

Tariq garnered many a second glance and far more interest than he liked as he carried the unconscious woman through the ship to the docking bay where the shuttle was waiting to carry their first batch of breeders to Niribu.  It made him uneasy even though he’d taken care to cradle her face against his chest and cover the exposed profile with a lock of her hair—just in case anyone had sneaked into Koryn’s lab and gotten a good enough look at Emerald to realize the woman he was carrying wasn’t her.  He thought the possibility was slim.  As Koryn had pointed out, he’d hovered over her pod from the time she’d developed to a stage where he could see her maturing face, the face that had haunted his dreams until he couldn’t seem to make himself stay away.  And although Koryn had refused to admit it, he’d hovered over her, as well.  That hadn’t left a lot of time for anyone else to obsess over her.

He still didn’t want to take a chance.  The ship had been virtually empty the day Emerald had decided to take a stroll and he was fairly certain she couldn’t have run in to anyone at all or the alarm would’ve been sounded, but there was still a chance someone had glimpsed her and he was afraid Emerald’s face was too memorable to be easily forgotten.

He was relieved when he finally reached the ship and strode up the gangplank.  The crew was primarily androids and he didn’t see any of the other crewmembers as he made his way to the cabin he’d set aside for ‘Emerald’.  He settled her on the bunk when he entered and carefully secured the safety harness for takeoff.  When he straightened, he studied the woman.  She was pretty enough, he decided.  Her figure was actually a little more voluptuous than Emerald’s—not as appealing to his mind, but still enough to arouse a great deal of interest and competition for possession.

Relieved to see that she was desirable enough that it seemed unlikely anyone would question that she was the woman they’d decided he was obsessed with, he turned and left.  He met up with his android, Aeon, on the way out.  “Aeon, Emerald is sleeping.  I confess I fucked her nearly to death when I realized I was going to have to give her up.  She’ll need a good deal of care if she’s to recover before you reach Niribu.  The crewmembers are not to have access to her.  Understood?”

Something flickered in his eyes, but Aeon merely nodded.  “Yes, Lord Tariq.  I will take excellent care of her.”

“Good.  When you get to Niribu, you’re to go directly to Lord Cindar and tell him that I’ve sent along a delicate beauty who’ll require tender care and gentle training.  If he’s interested, make certain he sees her before anyone else.”

Again the Aeon nodded.  “Yes, lord.”

“I also have a special male breeder.  We put Pete in the cabin next to this one.  He’s recovering from an injury and needs special care, as well.”  He drew a credit from his pocket and placed it in the android’s hand.  “This is for you if you see to it that he’d delivered discreetly to Lady Seana as a gift from me.  Tell her that we assessed him as an excellent breeder and he has a cock that should make him equally entertaining as a love slave with a little training.  If you’re successful, I’ll give you another just like this when you return.  It’s enough to pay for a woman’s services for at least a month—each.”

The android curled his fingers around the credit, his face devoid of expression.  “Yes, lord. I’ll see it done.”

Tariq grinned abruptly.  “Don’t bother trying to convince me that isn’t an incentive.  I know you androids have needs just like us.”

Something flickered in the android’s eyes, but he merely bowed.

Feeling as if a great weight had dropped from his shoulders, Tariq left the shuttle and returned to his quarters to relieve Koryn.  He could work from his quarters.  Koryn couldn’t and he was going to have to scramble to replace the empty pod in his lab.  Someone on the crew was in Mylor’s pocket.  He was certain of it.

Chapter Twelve

Neither Tariq nor Koryn could decide whether to be unnerved or gratified by Emerald’s progress.  Granted, Tariq had hoped that the intense disciplinary sessions he’d decided on would finally have the desired effect, but he realized he hadn’t really expected that it would and yet, after only three days Emerald seemed completely docile.

He was deeply suspicious at first when he realized that Emerald hadn’t hesitated to do whatever he or Koryn demanded the moment they demanded it.  Even exhausted and weak, she struggled to comply instantly.

He pointed it out to Koryn over breakfast on the fourth day, when he finally noticed, wondering if Koryn had.  “When is the last time that you noticed that Emerald resisted an order?” he asked curiously.

Koryn’s brows rose and then he frowned thoughtfully.  “Not yesterday,” he said finally.  “It seems to me that I recall some resistance the day before, but I’m convinced there was nothing yesterday.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but of course, I didn’t know if you’d encountered anything during your sessions.  I begin to think this might actually work.”

Koryn grimaced.  “And we only needed to bring in the fucking robot to accomplish it,” he said ruefully.

Irritation flickered through Tariq.  “It doesn’t get tired or too horny to think straight,” he said tightly.  “It’s the same principle, regardless, and I doubt she can tell that much difference. It’s cybernetic after all, real flesh and muscle.”

“Except that it’s a hell of a lot bigger than our fingers even when we did four at the time and we couldn’t come close to matching it in stamina—not at that speed, or depth of penetration with our fingers for that matter.”

“That might explain it. It keeps her at fever pitch longer, which is bound to be more effective in wearing her down.”

“Maybe it’s time to test it?  Put her through her paces and see how she does?” Koryn said thoughtfully. “I can spare the time from the lab.  I’ll have to be in and out, checking up on the progress of the new seedlings, but that still leaves me plenty of time today.”

Tariq considered his own situation.  “I’ve made it clear I’m working from my quarters.  Of course, they were convinced, the bastards, that it was a determination to stay with Emerald, but it might not be a bad idea to continue that pattern.  It might help to convince them that they were mistaken.”

“It might also make them suspicious she’s still here.  We can’t openly order enough food for three anymore.”

“She doesn’t eat much.  It isn’t going to be a hardship,” Tariq responded.  “I think I can safely dedicate today to the project either way.  Maybe I’ll break pattern and spend most of the day at the dig site tomorrow.”

“I won’t be able to spend all day here attending her sessions if you do.  That’ll look equally suspicious—besides I have the lab work.”

“If she does well enough today when we take her through her paces, I think we could safely reduce the number of sessions.”

“You don’t intend to simply stop when you think she’s ready?” Koryn asked in surprise.

“You do recall what happened the last time I was soft enough to do that, right?  She was worse after a few days than she had been before.”

“Good point.  She might reach a point where it isn’t necessary at all or very often, but it would be safer not to try that for a while in case she begins slipping.  I don’t think I could handle having to start over from scratch.”

“You’ll have to if we have to—but I’d rather not chance it myself.  That’s why I said if she does well, I think it would be alright to reduce her sessions, maybe even drastically, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to stop altogether—not anytime soon, anyway.”

Koryn pushed his plate away and settled back in his chair.  “So, what’s the game plan for the day?”

“I’ve been giving that some thought.  I think it’s possible you’re right about the robotic fucker … at least in a sense.  It maintains that critical high, but it’s also drugging.  You can see she dreads it and at the same time craves it.  I think the ups and downs of handling it ourselves, or mostly ourselves, would put just the strain on her that we need to test her.  She’ll be more alert and able to anticipate what’s about to happen, which I think is the trigger for her resistance.”

“Will we rotate?  Or go together?”

“Rotation will give us both more recovery time, and I need it whether you do or not,” Tariq said dryly.

Koryn uttered a snort that lacked true amusement. “Don’t feel inadequate on my account!  I need it as much or more than you do.  Which brings me to the question of how much punishment am I going to have to take.  If I need it, is it going to be a problem to get her to mouth fuck me?”

“It isn’t a problem as far as I’m concerned—as long as most of the focus is on her.  I won’t be doing it, but that’s because I plan to begin breeding her and I want my sperm count as high as I can get it.”

“Speaking both scientifically and as a fellow horny layman, I doubt that’s going to be an issue.  You’re a virile man to start with and you’ve been doing a hell of a lot of ‘saving up’ in the past couple of weeks,” Koryn retorted dryly.

“Maybe, but it’s too important to successfully breed her quickly for me to want to take any chances.  If I miss this fertile period, I might not get the chance at another.  I wouldn’t worry about it if it wasn’t for the situation, but ….”

“We do have a situation,” Koryn finished for him.  “I’m sure as fuck not going to quibble—wouldn’t even if not for the dangers since I can’t get my hands on her until you do.  You do still hold to that?  As soon as you’ve bred her I can fuck her?”

Tariq’s expression tightened.  “I gave my word.  When have you known me not to keep my word?”

“But you don’t like it,” Koryn observed.

“I never did.  I like it less now, but I also see that you’re entitled by more than the word I gave when you’ve invested just as much effort, and risk, in her protection as I have.

Koryn was surprised and it showed, briefly.  His relief was more profound.  He knew Tariq had grown extremely attached to Emerald—at least as attached as he was—and that made it more difficult to consider sharing her.  He supposed it was just as well they’d had to share the responsibility of training her.  He didn’t think either of them would have become quite so attached if they hadn’t had to invest so much time in disciplining her, but he also thought it would’ve made it far more difficult, for both of them, to accept sharing her.  “Shall I take the lead?  Or do you want me to wait?”

Tariq hesitated.  “You take lead today.  She’s given you far more trouble than she has me and she’s very alert right now.  I think we should challenge that.”

It irritated the fuck out of Koryn for him to point that out.  Unfortunately, he knew it was true—probably because he wasn’t the authority figure that Tariq was.

Tariq cupped Emerald’s face in his hand and tilted her head so that he could see her expression.  “Go get in the bed, baby.  Koryn is going to handle your first session this morning.”

Something flickered in her eyes.  Her hands tightened on him, but as soon as he released her she scooted off his lap and moved to the bed.  When she lay down, she lifted her arms above her head and drew her knees up, planting her feet wide.

Ignoring the urge to leap to his feet and rush to the bed, Koryn simply studied her for several moments.  It was as important that she have time to feel anticipation as the actual stimulation was.  Without that, she wouldn’t have the chance to consider what might be done and begin to feel dread.  He leaned down after a moment and pulled his boots off.  “Anything in particular you’d like to suggest I try this morning?”

Tariq pretended to consider it.  “Actually, there is.  It seemed to me that the ice was very effective in cooling her down and helping her to feel more.  I want you to see how many times you can take her to the top, maintain it briefly, and then cool her down and start over.”

Oh hell, Koryn thought, swallowing convulsively!  He merely nodded, however, and got up to strip.  When he’d discarded his uniform, he strode to the refreshment center and got a glass of ice.

To his surprise, Tariq had carried a chair across the room and settled in it beside the bed.  “Don’t mind me.  I’m merely observing.”

A little disconcerted, wondering if Tariq still thought he was undermining his efforts, Koryn looked around for a place to set the glass.  Tariq took it.  Shrugging inwardly, he studied Emerald, trying to decide where to start and what would test her most.  He needed to thoroughly stimulate her to get her to the top to start with, but take it slow?  Or push it?  He decided he wasn’t up to slow and began to alternately massage her breasts and her clit with purpose as soon as he climbed into the bed.  He began to lightly pinch her nipples and her clit as soon as they began to swell with the blood flow, waiting for them to reach maximum sensitivity before he brought his mouth and tongue into play.  He decided she was ready when tremors began to run through her with her efforts to remain still and her breathing had increased to short pants. Running a finger along her cleft, he found her entrance and pushed inside, slowly thrusting in and out a couple of times to see how wet she was and how close to peaking.  The muscles along her channel were already quivering and tightening and relaxing against his finger.

Leaning down, he took her closest nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.  A hard shudder went through her in response and the convulsing muscles in her passage grew stronger and more rapid.  He slipped a second finger inside of her and increased the pumping motion while he pulled hungrily at the nipple he’d trapped.  Instead of moving to the second when he released it, he changed positions on the bed and settled between her thighs, capturing her clit.  She hit her peak almost instantly.  He kept pulling at her clit with his mouth and driving his fingers into her frenziedly for several minutes and then abruptly stopped and sat up.

Reaching for the ice, he took a piece when Tariq held the glass out and applied it to her clit.  She tensed all over, gasping hoarsely as he stroked the ice around and around her clit and over it until it melted.  Reaching for another piece, he repeated the process with each nipple and then pulled away to study the effect.  Deciding she hadn’t cooled completely, he continued until her teeth began to chatter.

He could feel the jolt that went through her when he started massaging her again, but other than a whimper that escaped her, she held herself rigidly still.  He took her to her peak four times, held her there briefly and then cooled her with the ice before he started again.  She was quivering all over by the time Tariq called the time.

Koryn wasn’t in a hell of a lot better state.

They left her to ‘rest’ for an hour and then Tariq took Koryn’s place on the bed.  “Get me a glass of ice.  I think I’ve grasped the process.”

Emerald’s chin wobbled, but she clamped her jaws tightly.  Despite the ice, Tariq managed to get her to her peak faster.  Even holding her there a little longer than Koryn had, he succeeded in carrying her up and down six times before Koryn called the time.

Koryn got up and stretched.  “I need to go the lab for a bit.”

“If you aren’t back in hour, I’ll put her in the chair for the next session,” Tariq responded and then focused on Emerald.  She was still in position he saw with satisfaction.  “You may rest.”

She curled up into a tight ball, shivering.  He hesitated and finally pulled the covers over her in case she was actually cold and not merely shivering in reaction.  He was mildly irritated but not really surprised when Koryn failed to show at the correct time.  He succumbed readily to his scientific interests and was prone to lose track of time.  Deciding it wasn’t a bad thing since it would keep Emerald off kilter, he turned in his chair.  “Go get in the chair, Em.”

She pushed the covers back and slipped off the bed readily enough, but he saw that she was in no hurry to reach the chair.  Still, she didn’t make her reluctance obvious enough that he felt compelled to call her on it.  He got up and followed her.  She didn’t simply ‘assume the position’ as she had when he’d sent her to the bed, but she didn’t resist when he moved her arms and legs into position and manacled them or squirm when he moved around to secure her belt to the chair.  He might’ve forgotten the gag except that when he flicked a glance at her face her eyes were already swimming with tears.  Bracing himself, he put the gag on her and positioned the chair.  It took him nearly ten minutes to stimulate her enough to produce the moisture he thought necessary to insert the dildo.  Once he got it going, however, he managed to peak her out in only a few moments.  Deciding she’d offered enough resistance to warrant it, he set her start time when he reached his chair again rather than allowing the time it had taken to get her going as part of the session as he usually did.

Koryn made it back about halfway through the session and moved to stand at the foot of the chair, watching the dildo pound into her.  Tariq joined him after a few minutes.  “It occurs to me that we’re damned predictable,” Koryn murmured.  “We always set the same speed.”

Tariq shrugged.  “It’s a machine.  I suppose it could be set to vary the depth and speed and angle just like we do, but I’m not that familiar with it.  In any case, it maintains her at her peak and I think that’s the important thing.”

“Unless it could take her to a higher peak,” Koryn said.  “It would be more of a test if it did.  Familiarity breeds contempt. We need to consider it a possibility that that’s why she stopped resisting—not because she’s cowed but because she’s grown accustomed to it.”

Tariq considered it and finally stepped forward, adjusting the speed until it was driving into her so hard and fast it was jolting her entire body.  The incessant moans against the gag became keen cries almost instantly.  They could see she was convulsing harder than before.  “I guess you were right.  She seems to have reached a higher peak.”

Tariq left to check the time after a few minutes.  When he came back, he watched the pumping bio-cock for a few moments and then moved around to check on Emerald’s progress.  Tears were streaming from her eyes and her cries had grown hoarser, but he thought she was alright.

“What’s the count?” Koryn asked.

“She had another fifteen minutes when I checked.  I didn’t start the count, though, until I finally got her to peak.  She didn’t offer any overt resistance, but I had a hell of a time getting her up there to start with.”

“Maybe we can cut that if we stimulate her together the next time.”

“Maybe.  She might be more resistant after this.”  He left to check the time again.  “You can shut it down.  It’s been fifteen.”

Koryn shut it down.  “Did it come with instructions?”

“In the storage room,” Tariq responded absently.  “Unless the cleaning droid got it.”

Koryn disappeared into the storage room and returned a few minutes later.  Settling in the chair at the table, he read the instructions.  “This says that the nerve bundle that controls orgasm is located at the front of her channel and that adjusting the angle can help achieve climax faster.”

“I knew that,” Tariq said dryly.

“Yes, but I think I can adjust the angle to make it easier to get her there—whether she resists or not.”

“As big as that thing is, it can’t miss much whatever the angle of penetration.”

“We can try it, though.  What’s the time?”

Tariq paused and glanced at the clock.  “It’s time.  It doesn’t seem like an hour.”  He discovered when he reached the chair that Koryn was already there, fiddling with the chair’s position.  When he’d angled it to curl Emerald’s hips upward at a slight angle, he studied her thoughtfully.  “We should do the ice.  She’s still hot and we aren’t going to keep her off kilter like that.”

Tariq shrugged and Koryn left, returning a few minutes later with the ice.  She jerked all over when he applied it but she tensed instead of struggling against her bonds.  Tariq was skeptical.  It seemed to him that Koryn had only insured that it was going to take longer, regardless of whether there were two of them stimulating her or not.  As soon as he tested and found a little moisture, however, he started the dildo.  She shuddered all over when it had fully penetrated.  Another shudder went through her as it slowly retreated.

A little surprised, Tariq focused on stimulating her breasts and clit as the dildo detected enough moisture to increase its pace.  She peaked within moments.  He stepped back, watching and then adjusted the speed to the number of reps per minute that he usually set it.  Koryn headed for the door when he moved to his desk to note the time.  “I’m going by my lab.  I’ll bring food when I come back.”

Nodding absently, Tariq returned and reset the speed, increasing it until it was pounding into her as it had before.  He left it at that speed for thirty minutes, reduced it to the ‘norm’ for fifteen and then increased it again.  When she’d been in session precisely an hour, he crossed the room and turned the machine off.  Adjusting the chair into the rest position, he unfastened her manacles.  “Go lie down and rest.”

Her legs promptly gave out when she stood up.  Consternation filled him but he bent down, scooped her up, and carried her to the bed.  She’d been sleeping nearly an hour by the time Koryn made it back again.  Irritated since he was hungry, he got up and went to the table, carefully separating the portions to divide it between him and Emerald.  Since she was still asleep, he decided to let her rest a few more minutes and eat.  He got up as soon as he finished and went to the bed to shake her awake.  “Come sit with me and eat, baby.”

Her eyes were glazed and unfocused.

“Maybe you should go to the bathroom and relieve yourself and freshen up first.”

She staggered off the bed and stumbled toward the bathroom.

“Wobbly,” Koryn commented.

“Yes, well we did set the speed higher,” Tariq said dryly.  “It took a lot more out of her than she’s used to.”

“I thought the idea was to keep off kilter today so that we could see how well she behaved.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t.  I agreed that it was good idea to test her.  I’m just saying it’s been harder on her.”

“Which means the next time we send her to the chair we’ll discover just how docile she is.”

“I think so.  We’ll give her a break for a couple of sessions and then send her back.”

“One or three.  Two makes a familiar rhythm.”

“Alright one.  I’ll start since you did last time and then I’ll send her to the chair.  One session there, back to the bed and then back to the chair.”

She was more alert and stable when she returned from the bathroom but clearly not particularly hungry.  Tariq kept insisting until he decided she’d had enough and then sent her to the bed.  As before, she assumed the position without having to be told.  Tariq decided not to allow her as much time to stew over it as they had before and got up to get a glass of ice.

She swallowed audibly when she saw it, but she lay perfectly still—or as still as she could mange throughout his session.  She looked so upset when he told her to go to the chair after her brief rest that he fully expected resistance.  She surprised him again, staring tearfully at the ceiling but otherwise completely compliant.

She looked dazed and confused when they released her from the chair and Tariq had to help her to the bed, but she behaved beautifully.  She didn’t try to bite Koryn when he told her to bring him off with her mouth and she lay still while he teased her mercilessly.  She was visibly upset when he sent her to the chair again, but she didn’t try to struggle.

Tariq thought he was nearly as rung out from her testing as she was—not as miserable or as exhausted, but on edge.  When she’d eaten, he sent her to bed and left his quarters to try to calm his frayed nerves.

“That was hellish,” Koryn commented, joining him. “I figured you would be out here.”

Tariq swallowed with an effort.  “So what’s your assessment?”

“I think she’s as ready as she’ll ever be.”

Tariq hesitated.  “You don’t think we’ve … broken her?”

Koryn considered it.  “No.  I think we’ve pushed her to her lowest ebb, but I don’t think we’ve broken her.  I think she could spring back a lot faster than you realize.  It wouldn’t hurt to reward her.  She needs to know that she’ll be rewarded for behaving just as much as she needs to know there’ll be punishment when she doesn’t.”

“If I breed her and she ‘springs back’ we’re going to have trouble.”

“Not necessarily.  We’ll just have to be a lot more careful in punishing her when she needs it.”

Tariq nodded a little jerkily.  “I’m going to breed her tonight.”

Koryn felt his chest tighten with a mixture of pain and anger and even anticipation as it flickered through his mind that he could have her, too.

He just couldn’t breed her.

“I think it’s time,” he managed to say finally.

Despite his own distress over it, Koryn almost felt sorry for Tariq when he caught a glimpse of his face in the moonlight.  He’d never seen that look on Tariq’s face before and it took him a few moments to figure out what it was.  He was … afraid.  “You won’t hurt her,” he said after a moment.

Tariq flicked an uncertain look at him.

“She isn’t the first human to be bred by an Anunnaki man.  I know it’s almost as … unnerving that they’re so small compared to us … and what we’re used to as it is fascinating, but they’re sturdy stock.  Besides, the bio-cock has accustomed her to something at least close to your size.”

“A lot of them died,” he muttered.

Koryn felt a twinge of some of same fear he didn’t doubt Tariq was feeling.  “They died when their own impregnated them, too.  They didn’t have the resistance to disease they have now, or the nutrition, or the understanding of medicine we have.  There’s no data suggesting there would be any problems using them as breeders or we wouldn’t have been sent to get them.”

He looked unconvinced, but he turned and reentered the ship, striding briskly away.  “Be careful with her,” Koryn muttered.  “I’d hate to get my ass kicked trying to kick yours.”

* * * *

When Tariq reached his quarters and crossed to the bed, he saw that Emerald appeared to be sleeping.  The doubts that had been circling his mind instantly rose to the forefront again and he considered whether he even wanted to wake her or not.  Ruefully, he realized as soon as he sat down that his cock was in no doubt.  It had been fully erect or semi-erect from the moment he’d begun considering breeding her.  He discovered when he’d removed his boots and stood to shrug out of his uniform, that she’d awakened or she hadn’t actually been asleep at all.  She watched him as he undressed.

He couldn’t tell what might be running through her mind, but it was enough that she watched him to make his heart speed up and his breath ragged.  He settled carefully beside her and pushed the covers back so that he could study the form he found so breathtakingly beautiful.  The moment he cupped her breast, however, she tried to assume the position.

“No,” he said, his voice more harsh than he’d intended.  “Not tonight.  I want you to touch me while I touch you.”

She looked bewildered, but she didn’t resist when he lifted her hands and placed them on his chest.  For several moments, she didn’t move either.  She began to stroke her hands lightly over his chest as he massaged her breasts, however, her touch tentative.  It still set him on fire to feel her exploring him, to watch her face become flushed as stroked her breasts, to see her eyes glaze with pleasure.  He brought her face close to his after a moment, cupping the back of her head and guiding her until he could breach the distance that separated them and brush his lips along hers.  They parted as he nipped at them with his lips, sucking lightly at first one and then the other and then both when he’d settled his mouth more firmly against hers.  He captured her breath and then her taste and then he explored the soft inner surfaces of her mouth with the certain knowledge that he would feel her nether mouth surrounding his cock, cupping it as her mouth cupped his tongue, sucking at it as the muscles worked around it.

The knowledge sent a headier rush through him, made him impatient when he’d wanted to savor it.

He’d waited too long to have the patience for it, touched her too many times without benefit of relief.  He moved from her lips to her throat and back to her face again to trace his lips over her cheeks.  Returning to her lips, he briefly delved that orifice with a hunger that was rapidly growing beyond his control, but it was too reminiscent of the hot, moist, clinging muscles of her channel and not enough to pacify his ravaging need at the same time.

He explored her throat and lips again and then moved down to explore her breasts, pulling hungrily at each nipple and then scooting lower to explore her narrow ribcage and her belly.  He hesitated there, feeling the urge grip him to suck her clit into his mouth.  His throat closed with need and he yielded to it abruptly, pushing her legs apart and searching briefly for the little bud.  It was swollen with her arousal and that was enough to make him near mindless.  He pulled at it feverishly for several moments until he felt the tremors running through her.  Sinking a finger into her, he discovered she was wet, the muscles along her channel already quaking.

He surged over her abruptly, pressing his cock to her cleft, struggling with the urge to find her opening with his cock.  A flicker of sanity pierced his fevered mind, though, as he felt her slight frame beneath his.   He paused, staring down at her, struggling to make his mind function and finally moved off of her, sprawling on his back beside her.

“Mount me and take me inside of you,” he gasped hoarsely.

She looked confused, but she struggled upright.  He caught her hips to steady her as she lifted one knee to move it to the other side of his hips.  It wasn’t until he felt the belt beneath his hands that he realized he hadn’t removed it.  He searched it for the clasp and unfastened it as she settled on his belly.

She glanced at him sharply when it fell away.  When he’d dropped it on the floor beside the bed, he caught her hips again and urged her up.  Her hands shook when she clasped his cock.  It flickered through his mind that it could as easily be fear as desire, but he lost all ability to think the moment she guided his cock to the mouth of her sex and he felt her flesh pressing against him.  He felt as if the breath had been punched from his lungs when he felt her body close around the head of his cock.  His hands tightened on her hips as she slowly pressed down, engulfing more and more of his shaft until he thought he would black out from the intensity of the pleasure.  Her slow descent was maddening.  It took every ounce of control he had to prevent himself from grabbing her and driving her down over himself.  He gritted his teeth when she lifted upward again without engulfing much more than the head and then she began to descend again.