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 (9)

He was going to blow his seed and he hadn’t even achieved full penetration, he thought suddenly.  Releasing his grip on her hips, he reached down to curl his fingers around the root of his cock, tightly pinching the tube that channeled his sperm from his balls through his dick to prevent ejaculation.  It was more torture than he’d anticipated.  He thought for several moments that his seed would blow a hole in his testicles instead.

She distracted him from his torment when he felt the lips of her sex kiss the top of his fist.  It was all the incentive he needed to let go.  He grabbed her hips, driving deeper.  She gasped, began convulsing.  Uttering a pained grunt as the first convulsion hit him, he gripped her tightly, jackknifing upright the moment the spasm eased, and coiled his arms around her, lifting her and pressing her down again until the paroxysms tearing at his guts finally ceased.

Gasping for breath, shuddering, he was so wrapped up in the glorious aftermath of release that he didn’t realize she’d fainted until he fell back against the pillow and she landed limply on top of him.  Alarm flickered through him but when he checked her pulse he could feel it.

Maybe he’d squeezed her too hard?

A mental search finally produced the memory of her own convulsions and, more importantly, the sounds of pleasure.  Not death throes then, release.

Relieved, he cuddled her, stroking her back, and went back to enjoying his release.  He’d just recovered enough to begin considering whether he was up to another round so soon when he felt something hot and wet hit his chest.  It confused him until he realized Emerald was shaking.  He shifted to his side immediately, dumping her onto the bed and catching her face to tilt it up for confirmation.  His throat closed.  “I hurt you?” he asked gruffly.

She shook her head.

He frowned.  “It’s alright to tell me.”

She sniffed.  “You didn’t.”

Relieved but not convinced, he brought her against his chest.  “If I didn’t hurt you why are you crying?”

He heard her swallow.  “It felt so good.”

His mind went blank for a handful of seconds.  A mixture of amusement, pleasure that she had, and irritation that she’d scared the shit out of him only because it had felt good, filled him.  It occurred to him abruptly, though, that he’d deprived her of fulfillment just as he’d felt deprived.  It had felt so good, he’d thought he would pass out.  Instead of either chuckling or dismissing it, though, he tightened his arms around her briefly and then leaned away to find her lips.  She clung to him when he kissed her.  He brushed his lips against her forehead when he’d broke from her lips.  “You were good today, baby.”

She shuddered, but she nuzzled closer.

Sighing, Tariq gave up on the idea of getting more of the same.  He couldn’t bring himself to put the gods damned belt on her again and the ‘reward’ thing sure as fuck wasn’t going to work if he rewarded her all night like he wanted to.

He discovered it wasn’t the hardship he’d feared.  He was wiped out from the climax he’d already had.

Chapter Thirteen

Tariq sent Koryn a deadly look when he arrived the following morning with breakfast and a scanner.  Koryn missed it since he was completely focused on the scanner.  The minute he set the tray down, he charged across the cabin and rolled Emerald over to scan her belly.

He looked disappointed when he returned to the table.  “No results yet?” Tariq asked dryly.

“It didn’t pick up anything,” Koryn said with obvious disgust.

“Well, gods damn it, Koryn!  I just fucked her last night!  It takes the sperm a few hours to make the gods damned trip!”

“It’s been hours!” Koryn said pointedly.  “And they didn’t have much of a trip to take.  You cock’s long enough to deposit the fucking things in her womb!”

“Well it didn’t,” Tariq said tightly.  “I might’ve bumped against it a couple of times but if you ask me the chances are a hell of a lot higher that it shot past her womb considering the load I had.  It might take them twice as long to find their way back down.”

Koryn stared at him for a long moment and turned to look at Emerald.  “Get up Emerald and come stand by the table.”

“Go to the bathroom and freshen up and relieve yourself,” Tariq countered.

She looked from one to the other and finally stumbled toward the bathroom.

“Don’t wash the come off.”

“Gods!  Clean up, Emerald.  Ignore Koryn.  He’s being a dick this morning.  If it falls out it sure as fuck isn’t going to climb back in again.”

“Countermanding orders is setting a bad precedent,” Koryn said tightly.

Tariq narrowed his eyes at him.  “So don’t give her stupid orders,” he snarled.

Fuming, Koryn focused on his food.  “Do you still plan to spend the day at the dig?”

Tariq studied him speculatively.  “I do—most of it anyway.”

“What about Emerald’s sessions?” he asked when Emerald reached the table.

Tariq dragged her onto his lap, rubbing his fingers caressingly along her cheek.  “She’s been a good girl.  I’m not going to punish her when she is.”

Koryn nodded.  “I’m heading to my lab, then.  I’ve got a lot of work backed up.  Do you want me to check on her at lunch?”

“You’ll have to if she gets fed.”

He got up to leave.  “I’ll just leave the scanner here.  I don’t want it found in my lab.  I stole it from the med center.”

Tariq considered telling him to put it back where he’d found the damned thing, but he was as anxious to know if his breeding ‘took’ as Koryn was.  Well, not quite as anxious, he thought dryly, but he decided it might arouse less curiosity if the scanner reappeared when they didn’t need it any more than for it to appear and disappear every day—or several times a day.

He wasn’t needed at the dig, but he didn’t think he could keep his hands to himself if he stayed in his quarters.  He spent most of the day exploring the city and most of his time either reliving the night before or conjuring images of what he meant to do that night.  When he finally returned to the ship to eat, the urge to go straight to his quarters was so strong it made him uneasy.

He’d comforted himself while he was disciplining Emerald with the thought that he was enduring her punishment right along beside her.  Arousing her aroused him just as much and although he’d allowed himself some relief, when he hadn’t her, he hadn’t allowed himself even close to what he’d wanted or felt he needed.  And women didn’t suffer nearly as much from ‘drought’ as men did—at least in general.  He knew that for a fact—either that or he just had a fucking knack for picking out women who couldn’t have cared less most of the time whether they had sex or not.

It occurred to him, though, to wonder just who’d trained who in his little endeavor when he was just as anxious to get hold of her again as he had been before he had.

He dismissed it.  Wanting was a painful fact of life for most men—even those who had their own women and could easily appease their needs—and he hadn’t spent any more time suffering than he could help.  There was no reason to be uneasy about the fact that Emerald had been on his mind all day or concerned that he was eager to get back to her.  He’d spent weeks waiting for the time when he could enjoy her and he’d been thoroughly satisfied by the experience.  He’d wanted more the night before.  It only stood to reason that he’d be anxious to get back when he’d bowed to reason instead of doing exactly what he wanted to.

When he finished his meal, he headed to the hold to check out the newest batch of survivors that they’d rounded up.  The group was a good bit smaller than the first—less than thirty, in fact, and there were more men than women.  He examined the women for quite some time, trying to decide if any of them appealed to him, and finally decided there was a dark haired woman that he wouldn’t mind fucking.

Relieved, he left again.  He wasn’t about to waste his seed on the woman—on any of them—when he was trying to breed Em, but it was a relief that he’d managed to get an erection from considering one of them as a bedmate.

Well, a semi-erection.

Of course, it had been like that most of the day, when it wasn’t as hard as a fucking rock and killing him, but he was convinced enough that it was interest in the woman to feel a little less uneasy.  Discovering it was still early afternoon when he’d finished looking, he decided to check in on Koryn’s progress with the clones.

It annoyed him when he discovered Koryn wasn’t in the lab, but he went in to inspect the clones anyway.  He didn’t spend a lot time inspecting the males, actually.  The females, he discovered, were at that awkward stage between puberty and adult.  He studied them anyway, particularly the faces, trying to decide if any of them showed any potential for beauty.  Deciding they didn’t, he lost interest.

He met Koryn in the hallway on the way out and turned toward the lab again.

“Checking out the new batch?”

“I looked.  They aren’t much to look at just yet.”

Koryn shrugged.  “They aren’t going to be much to look at when they’re ‘done’ either.  Not a one of them actually pretty, although I don’t think they’ll be ugly either—and a good figure and a sweet disposition go a long way.  I don’t think there’ll be any problem placing them.”

“Where have you been?”

“I went to check on Emerald.  She was resting so I scanned her again.  Still nothing.”

Tariq resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  “I guess I’ll have to keep working at it,” he said, smiling faintly.

Koryn sent him an irritated look, but he forbore comment.

“Why didn’t you get her to get you off as long as you were there anyway?” Tariq asked testily.

Koryn looked a little uncomfortable.  “I did.  She woke up while I was scanning her.  I figured I might as well check her behavior while I was there.”

“And get a load off.  How did she do?”

“Well.”

He sounded both surprised and a little disappointed.  Tariq glanced at the clock, saw to his relief that it was only a few hours until sunset and excused himself.  “I’ll be in my quarters.  Are you going to bring dinner?”

“Not unless I get to play with Emerald a little,” he muttered irritably.

“She isn’t bred yet and you said she was behaving acceptably,” Tariq said tightly, swiveling to glare at him from the door.

“I could warm her up for you.”

“I can fucking warm her up myself!”

Koryn’s face tightened.  “I’ll bring dinner around seven.”

Tariq relaxed fractionally, studying Koryn with more empathy that he really felt like he deserved when he’d just gotten back from getting mouth fucked.  On the other hand, he hadn’t found that that satisfied him long. “Stay and watch if you want to.  Just don’t make a fucking mess.”

Emerald was standing near his desk when Tariq entered.  He checked, feeling uneasiness flicker through him, but dismissed it when she smiled at him tentatively.  He smiled back her, feeling almost giddy that she’d smiled at him and then embarrassed that he had.  “No greeting?”

She looked surprised at the question but moved quickly toward him.  He gathered her into his arms, squeezing her tightly, and then leaned away to study her face.  “How was my baby today?  Have you been a good girl for me?”

Something flickered in her eyes that made a knot of uneasiness form in his belly.  “Koryn told me to take him in my mouth and suck him off.  I wasn’t sure if I should, but I was afraid you’d both be angry if I didn’t.”

He stroked his fingers along her cheek.  “It’s alright.  He told me.  I told him he could use you, but you aren’t to fuck him.  Understand?  Not until I’ve bred you.  After that … you can unless I say not to.”

She looked confused and uneasy.  “How am I supposed to know?”

“I’ll tell you when and if I tell him.  It’s not likely to happen.  I’m just saying if it did come to that.  What else did he tell you to do?”

“He told me to sit on his lap when he brought lunch like you do and then he told me to get in the bed and he … kissed me all over.”

“Did he put the inhibitor on you?”

She paled.  “No.”

He cupped her face with his hand and kissed her on the lips.  “It’s alright, baby.  I told him not to punish you.  I just wanted to make sure he didn’t.  I didn’t tell him he couldn’t reward you.  Did he make you come?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“But not with his dick?”

“He used his mouth and his fingers.”

He patted her cheek.  “I need a bath.  I’ve been at the dig most of the day and I’m sticky with sweat.”  He studied her for a moment.  “Come with me.”

He bathed her, enjoying the feel of her water slick skin beneath his fingers.  He enjoyed feeling her hands on him when she washed him even more.  She knelt down to stroke his cock while he was rinsing off.  He allowed it, enjoyed feeling her mouth on him until he thought he was going to come.  He stopped her then, pulled her to her feet, and then lifted her from the floor and kissed her.  She curled her arms and legs around him when he lifted her from the floor.

He met her gaze when he felt the moist lips of her sex cling to his damp belly.  “Gods!  I want to fuck you till I can’t move or breathe,” he muttered, tilting his head and covering her lips again, this time for a far more heated kiss.

He put her down reluctantly when he broke the kiss and turned off the water, moving with her to the drying unit.  Too impatient to wait until they were completely dry, he scooped her up about halfway through the cycle and left the bathroom with her.  He paused when he reached the main room.  The bed beckoned but he didn’t think he could trust himself to be careful enough with her if he took her there.  Instead, he carried her to the chair they usually occupied when they ate and sat down with her.  Turning her so that she was sitting astride his lap facing him, he drew her up onto her knees and kissed her again.  Alternating between her breasts and her mouth and everything in between, he kissed her until he was so desperate he couldn’t wait anymore.

“Take me inside of you, baby,” he murmured hoarsely.

He gripped the arms of the chair with white knuckled fists while she struggled to engulf his flesh.  He felt lightheaded from the effort by the time she finally sheathed him—most of his cock, enough that he wasn’t inclined to complain.  He coiled his arms around her tightly, holding her still while he fought the urge to come immediately.  When he finally decided he could control the urge, he released his tight hold on her and slipped his hands to her buttocks, helping her lift and settle over his cock, watching her face contort with pleasure and the bounce and sway of her breasts.  He’d begun to think he was going to lose it before she came when she abruptly stilled and began shudder.  The tightening of her muscles around his shaft was enough to rip the control he had away.  He moved his hands from her hips to coil them around her again, pulling her against his chest as he pumped his seed into her.  She settled limply against him when she finally stopped shuddering.

The last thing he remembered was stroking her back.  The next awareness he had was when he heard the door open and jerked awake as Koryn came in.  Koryn checked for a moment and then strode to the table.

Tariq blinked and glanced down at Emerald.  Seeing she was asleep, he tipped her chin up and brushed his lips lightly across hers.  “Wake up, baby.  We need to get cleaned up.”

She opened her eyes and stared at him drowsily for a moment and finally sat up.  Tariq lifted her off his cock and set her on her feet, following her to the bathroom to clean up.  When he’d finished, he went in his storage compartment for clean clothes, summoning Emerald.

He’d stuffed the clothes from the chest onto one of the shelves.  He pointed them out to Emerald.  “See if any those fit.”

Her face was carefully expressionless when he finished dressing and turned see what progress she’d made.  She didn’t lift her head.  She kept sorting the clothing, holding each one up to check it against her and folding it and putting it back.

Discomfort wafted through Tariq.  He cleared his throat.  “I’ll get you some of your own clothing when I can.  Celia left those when I kicked her out.”

The color fluctuated in her face, but he couldn’t see her expression.  By the time she settled on a one piece jumpsuit similar to the one he’d given her before, her expression was carefully neutral.

Irritation flickered through Tariq, but he decided to ignore both the urge to explain himself and his anger that he felt it at all.

Koryn had divided the food by the time they returned and was halfway through consuming his own.  He glanced up at Tariq and froze for a moment before he flicked an assessing look at Emerald.   “You don’t think the clothes are a case of too many privileges too soon?” he asked when Tariq settled in his chair.

Tariq ignored the question, watching Emerald’s face keenly as he summoned her.  She seemed to have recovered from her pique, but he wasn’t certain he trusted that.  “I don’t think she feels particularly privileged to get something to wear,” he said coolly.  “What do you think Koryn?”

Koryn studied Emerald’s face.  “I’d have to agree.  She looks a little sullen.  Maybe she has some idea in her head that a slave has the right to question her master about his lovers?”

Tariq could see when he tipped her chin up that she was struggling to pretend contrition.  He released a huff of annoyance.  “Go take it off and put it up.  And bring the inhibitor belt when you come back.”

She paled but she got up immediately and headed toward the facilities.

“That didn’t fucking last long,” Tariq growled, trying to ignore the sick feeling twisting in his gut.

“Shit!” Koryn agreed.  “Don’t feel bad.  She had me fooled, too.  The question is, what the fuck to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” Tariq worriedly.

“Have you heard anything more from the High Councilor?”

“The shipment won’t have arrived yet.  I don’t expect to hear anything further from him and I don’t have anything to report at the moment to fish for news.”

Koryn frowned.  “There isn’t anyone else you could contact?”

Tariq studied him for a long moment.  “Military protocol is clear on that one.  The high council declared war—no unnecessary ‘chatter’.  Even it wasn’t for that, we could be a target.  We aren’t exempt from being attacked just because we weren’t called to take part in the first assault.”

Koryn looked unnerved by that.  “What are the chances we might get attacked?”

“I don’t know.  It would depend on where the Dinjin are.  They will have been informed and they’ll do either of two things—amass a counter force by calling in everyone or they’ll try to divert our main force from a concentrated assault on them by attacking our most vulnerable positions.”

“Which means us.”

Tariq nodded.  “Among others.”

“You think that’s the reason the bastard said we were to stay here—so we’d be sitting ducks?”

“Mylor’s a politician not a military man.  I wouldn’t put it past him, but I doubt it would’ve occurred to him.  He has military advisors.  I’m sure they told him we needed to stay here to guard whatever interests we have left.”  He glanced toward his storage compartment, wondering what was keeping Emerald and saw her come out again.  She was carrying the belt and he decided it must have been the search for it that had delayed her.  Unfortunately, he’d been distracted by the conversation and he couldn’t be certain undressing and then finding the belt could account for the time.

He studied her face as he fastened the belt in place, going back over the things that hadn’t quite set right that he’d dismissed and realized the chances were high that she not only hadn’t learned anything at all from her discipline, but that she was searching for either a means of retaliation or escape.  He felt sick to his stomach at the thought, but as fond as he was of her and as inclined as he was to dismiss it, he couldn’t.

He settled her on his lap and picked up his fork to eat.  “You didn’t happen to catch Em anywhere near my desk when you checked on her?”

Koryn sent him a horrified look.  “She was wandering around the apartment, but I thought she was just bored or needed to stretch her legs.  I didn’t see her near anything that set off alarms.”

“I think we may have a problem,” Tariq said grimly and then amended that.  “I know we have a problem.  I’m just not sure of how big a problem we have.”

Koryn nodded, pushing his plate away.  “So how do you intend to play it?  Set a trap for her?  Try to catch her in the act?  Or simply make it impossible for her to do whatever it is that she has in mind?”

Tariq was inclined to think he just didn’t want to know, but if his suspicions were right, Em was up to something sexual discipline sure as fuck didn’t begin to cover as punishment.  Rebellious or disrespectful behavior were so insignificant beside treachery as to seem laughable, and those could get her killed if she ended up in the hands of the wrong master.  “I don’t know. I could be making something out of nothing.”

“But you don’t think so?”

Tariq released a pent up breath of anger.  “Like I said, I don’t know.  I don’t want to leap to the wrong conclusion either way and not only can I not entirely trust my judgment with Em, I also have the problem of spending way too much time in political circles where you can’t even trust your ‘friends’ not to stab you in the back if they see any benefit in it.  She’s been cooped up in here for weeks.  It might not be anything more than boredom—like you suggested.”

“This is true to an extent.  She didn’t exactly have a lot of time on her hands to be bored when she had sessions all day, though.”

“No, but she’s intelligent.  Idiots aren’t easily bored.”

“So maybe we just need to keep her busier?  Damned if I have any suggestions for occupying her time, though.”  He paused.  “Well, I think you know how I’d like to occupy her time, but I meant besides that.”

Seeing that Emerald had finished eating, he told her to go get in the bed.  “Taking her out—even briefly—isn’t an option,” he said, watching her.  “Not when she isn’t supposed to be here at all anymore.  It wasn’t something I was particularly comfortable about before.”

“No.  I don’t think we can afford to risk that.  You have an entertainment center.  Why not show her how to use it?  Maybe that would keep her occupied at least part of the time?”

“She doesn’t know our language,” Tariq pointed out dryly.

Koryn perked up immediately.  “I hadn’t thought of that!  I could teach her.”

“I’m not sure that’s a great idea either, not when there’s even a slim possibility that she’s considering treachery.  Giving her the tools to escape strikes me as being particularly … stupid.”

Koryn glared at him indignantly.

Tariq’s lips curled in a reluctant grin.  “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”

“I don’t think I’m going to ask you to explain what you did mean,” Koryn said stiffly.  “Unlike you, I’m not used to thinking in terms of treachery.”

“I know that,” Tariq said solemnly.  “That’s the reason I consider you my best friend and trust you more than anyone I know.”

Koryn looked mollified and then a little uncomfortable.  “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, then, when I point out that we need to consider an … alternate for Em.   For what it’s worth, I think she’s bored, not considering anything treacherous.  But it occurred to you and it could easily be another threat to her—beyond the fact that nothing we’ve tried seems to have really gotten through to her.  The only way to really protect her might be to free her.”

Tariq felt his gut tighten instantly with a mixture of reluctance and a sense of loss that was so powerful it sent a wave of nausea through him.  “She wouldn’t survive here.  Beyond that, the Earth could be a target for Dinjin again.”

“We located one of the colonies.”

“We think we located one,” Tariq countered angrily, “and we got the information from a Dinjin computer.  They know where the humans are!  We don’t!  You do recall that I said attacking our most vulnerable positions was a good possibility?”

Koryn’s lips tightened.  “In that respect Niribu wouldn’t be any safer than any other place—in fact far less since it’s our home world and one of the most likely targets if they break through our forces.”

Tariq scrubbed his hands over his face.  “I don’t know.  I’ll have to think about it.”  He met Koryn’s gaze.  “I’ll consider it as an option.  But I’ll tell you now it’s low on my wish list.”

“I know you don’t want to give her up.  Maybe what you need to consider is whether she’s more important to you as a possession or if her life is more important?”

“I don’t plan on letting it come to that.”

“I know you don’t, but it might come to that regardless.  I’ll agree it’s the least desirable solution, but I’d be willing to take her.”

Tariq studied him.  “And stay?”

Koryn seemed to struggle with himself.  “If she’d have me.  Once she’s free, she’s free to make her own choices.”

Tariq frowned, studying him with a mixture of disbelief, curiosity, and anger.  “You’d give up everything you left on Niribu?”

Koryn uttered an amused snort.  “There is nothing in my life that’s more important to me than Emerald.  In any case, I know enough sciences to find work.  Genetics may be my specialty, but I haven’t confined my studies to that to the exclusion of other useful sciences.  I’m not saying I want to give up everything and follow her.  I’m just saying I’d be willing to if it’s the only way to save her.  I might have some chance of pulling it off—and returning if she refuses me.  You wouldn’t.  You’d be facing charges of treason when and if you came back.”

“You would be, too, if they knew what you’d done.”

“I know, but the odds are in my favor.  Not yours.  I’m not a military man.”

Tariq shook his head.  “Like I said, I’ll think about it.  I don’t like it—especially not when there’s a damned good chance she’s carrying my child.”

“I’d think that would be more of an incentive to protect her.”

“It is,” Tariq said tightly, “which is why I’ve got no intention of leaping until I’ve thought it through.”

They felt silent.  “Under the circumstances, are you sure you want to continue trying to breed her?”

“I’m sure,” Tariq said tightly.

Koryn got up.  “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

Tariq studied him thoughtfully.  “I thought you planned to stay?”

Koryn grimaced.  “I was more in the mood to party when I still believed we’d succeeded and she would be safe without us having to go to extreme lengths to see to it.”

“Like carting her off to a world we aren’t sure we’ve pinned down?”

“Like that,” Koryn agreed.

“Stay,” Tariq said abruptly.  “She has to be disciplined.  Whether it seems to be working or not, I don’t see an alternative at the moment to continuing to treat her as she’ll have to expect to be treated.”

Koryn flicked a glance at her.  “I don’t mind saying I’d rather not.”

“But you will.”

“I will.”

“Look at this way, you can scan her tomorrow and if she’s pregnant, you can fuck her all day.  I don’t see any reason why we should suffer because she’s determined to be disciplined.”

Koryn grinned reluctantly.  “And if she isn’t?”

Tariq hesitated.  “She will be bred … or she won’t.  After tonight, she’ll be infertile until her next cycle.”

Koryn sat down again and pulled his boots off.  It didn’t escape either of them that Emerald hadn’t assumed the position when she’d climbed in the bed.

Tariq’s expression hardened.  “Assume the position.”

She sent him a startled look, but she lifted her arms above her head and positioned her legs.

Koryn climbed into the bed on the side near the wall, propped himself on one elbow and began to massage the beast nearest him.  Tariq took the other side and they stimulated her until she began shift restlessly with the heat they’d generated.  When Tariq tested her channel and found her wet, he moved over her, aligned his cock with the mouth of her sex and pressed steadily against her.  Without the bindings of the chair to anchor her, he quickly discovered, she was more inclined to yield by being pushed up the bed.  He came up on his knees and dragged her back.  “Hold her until I’m seated,” he growled.

Koryn sent him a look, but he moved around behind her and lifted her shoulders, pushing her in counter to Tariq’s thrust.  When he paused, Koryn climbed off of the bed and propped against the wall to watch.  There wasn’t a lot to see, he discovered.  By the time Tariq had settled over her, curling his arms around her tightly to hold her while he attempted penetration, Emerald was invisible except for her legs.

He crossed the room for a chair and settled in it, stretching his legs out and crossing them at the ankles.

Tariq hadn’t realized just how much effort Emerald had put into engulfing his flesh until he positioned himself to penetrate her instead.  The anticipation as she slowly sheathed him inch by inch before had been torture and still nothing compared to the agony of his current efforts.  He didn’t know if she was going to buckle first or his cock, but he couldn’t fucking brace both at the same time and it felt like she was peeling the flesh off his cock.  He eased off and pushed again with teeth gritted determination, hammering at her resistant flesh with hard thrusts of his hips until he managed to get deep enough inside that he thought he could manage a short stroke without falling out again.

It was a very short stroke and it still sent such a wave of pleasure through him that he almost came.  He paused, panting, and went back to trying to wedge his cock into her.  She let out a yelp to let him know when he hit bottom.  He felt his cock to see if it felt like there was as much hanging out as it seemed like to him and discovered it wasn’t just his imagination.  He knew damned well he’d gotten deeper before, but he decided he couldn’t hold back anymore.  There was no point in it beyond the pleasure it gave him when he’d put her inhibitor back on.

Except to punish her and he was too focused on finishing to worry about that for the moment.

Sucking in a reviving breath, he began to move his hips, thrusting into her in short jabs to keep from pulling out far enough to injure himself.  Emerald was still gasping and shaking all over when he finished pumping his seed into her.  Bracing his weight on his arms, he rested, trying to catch his breath.  The continuous quaking of the muscles along her channel might have pushed him out if he hadn’t endured weeks of deprivation.  Instead, he felt his cock growing hard again.  He had the presence of mind to cup his hips and sink as deeply as he could before he was fully erect again and discovered he had a far more satisfying connection when he was fully erect.  It was almost more satisfying in regards to his staying power.  It took him far longer to reach crisis, allowing him to thoroughly enjoy the deep massage of his cock until exhaustion began to war with the pleasure and he began to think he wouldn’t be able to come at all.

He shifted positions, tipping Emerald’s hips up as Koryn had for the machine and wedging a pillow under her.  Almost the moment he resumed his pounding cadence, he had the gratification of Emerald’s screams in his ears.  It was touch and go for a little while as to whether her cries of ecstatic agony most excited him or distracted him, but he finally reached his peak and felt the semen begin to jet through his cock.  It was an orgasm well worth the effort, he discovered, even if he also had to work harder to empty his balls because he already had once.  He drove as deeply as he could after the first few convulsions, holding himself there while his body forced the last of his semen into her.

He was almost too weak in the aftermath to support himself at all.  It felt like his bones had melted, not just his muscles.  Sucking in a couple of breaths, he rolled off of her and onto the bed, gasping for breath, halfway to coma from two of the best climaxes he’d ever had before he even hit the bed.  He drifted toward sleep with the sound of Emerald’s sniffles in his ears.

She didn’t have to give him any reproachful looks the following morning for punishing her by seeking his own pleasure and depriving her of hers.  There were dark circles under her eyes from the little sleep she’d gotten, and her eyes, nose, and lips were puffy from weeping.

Tariq settled at the table when he’d sent her into the bathroom, wondering if he should begin her disciplinary sessions again or if there was any point to it.  He wasn’t as convinced as he had been before that she was too delicate to handle the sessions even if she was pregnant.  Of course, being as willful as she was wasn’t necessarily an indication of physical strength, and he knew it, but he wasn’t sure he could’ve handled the punishment she had without cracking.

Koryn arrived with a breakfast tray just a few moments before Emerald emerged from the bathroom and went to stand and wait for her as soon as he’d set the tray down.  Ignoring him,  Tariq lifted the lid on the tray, helped himself to a portion of the food, and ate.

He was still trying to decide whether to begin Emerald’s sessions again or not when she finally emerged and Koryn sent her back to the bed so that he could do a scan.  Tariq watched the proceedings absently at first, but something about Koryn’s attitude finally caught his attention.

“Still no results?”

Koryn glanced at him, his expression an odd mixture of emotions Tariq had difficulty interpreting.  “Congratulations,” he managed finally.  “You’ve impregnated her.”

Tariq abruptly felt as if someone had punched him in the gut.  A wave of heat and then cold washed over him while he struggled to catch his breath.  “You’re certain?” he asked hoarsely.

Koryn got up.  “You can go to Tariq now.”

He proceeded her to the table and set the scanner down.  “I’m positive.  I ran the scan twice.”

Tariq stared at Emerald’s belly for several moments when she stopped in front of him.  Finally, he reached for her and pulled her onto his lap, but he felt like every movement was mechanical, as if his mind had become detached from his body.  He discovered when the cloud had lifted from his mind enough for awareness of his surroundings to seep in again, that he was still staring at Emerald’s belly.  He settled his palm over her perfectly flat belly, trying to imagine—to accept—that there was a baby inside—his baby.

He couldn’t imagine it.  Nothing felt real, not the baby, not the conversation.  It was almost more like a dream.  He met Koryn’s gaze again.  “You’re sure?”

Koryn grinned abruptly and then chuckled.  “I’m sure.  You’ve fathered a child. It wasn’t an indecisive reading.  It was positive.”

Tariq met Emerald’s gaze for the first time, wondering what she thought about it.  She looked as stunned as he felt.  Twin urges hit him at the same time—to throw up the breakfast he’d just wolfed down and to escape the sense of suffocation that descended over him.

He got up abruptly and planted Emerald in the chair he’d just vacated, striding briskly toward the bathroom.  He stood at the lavatory for several minutes, splashing cool water on his face and trying to decide if he really did need to throw up or not.  Finally deciding he didn’t, he dried his face and hands and left the bathroom.  “I’m going out,” he said harshly.

“What do you want me to do about Emerald?” Koryn called after him before he could get to the door and escape.  “Should I resume the sessions?”

Tariq paused at the door and turned to stare at him a little blankly and then glanced at Emerald.  “She’s been bred,” he said stiltedly when he met Koryn’s gaze again.  “Do what you like … just don’t remove the inhibitor.”

Chapter Fourteen

Tariq had no idea what his destination was until he reached the docking bay.  There was very little activity.  Men were prepping a shuttle for another trip to Niribu with more of the slaves, but they were in no particular hurry since he’d ordered them to wait until Koryn’s second batch of clones were ready for shipment.  At that, it was hardly enough to make the trip worthwhile—unless they managed to find more survivors.

The thought gave him a purpose and he ordered a skimmer prepped.

“How many men are you taking?”

Tariq looked at the man.  “None.  I’ll be taking it out alone.”

The man gaped at him.  “Begging your pardon, lord, but … we’re at war.  Shouldn’t you at least take a couple of guards?”

“If I thought so, I would’ve told you to send to men,” Tariq said coldly.  “Just get the ship prepped.”

The man paled, saluted, and left the operations room to take care of it himself.  Tariq was pacing the operations room impatiently when he returned thirty minutes later to inform him the skimmer was ready.  Without a word, he strode from the room and crossed the hanger to the skimmer.

He opened the com-link when he’d powered the engines up and turned the skimmer toward the bay door.  “Send me the most current coordinates of the search parties.”

“Yes, sir!  What time should we expect you back, my lord?”

“When I get back!” Tariq snarled, breaking the link.

* * * *

“If you’re done, go get in the bed,” Koryn said.

Emerald glanced up at him, feeling reluctance pierce the cocoon of shock, but she got up and moved to the bed.  By the time she reached it, she discovered she was struggling with tears, again, and for the same reason.

Tariq was angry with her.  He wasn’t even pleased that she’d conceived for him.

Because she’d been upset about the woman and she hadn’t been able to hide it.

She’d thought she was doing really well, that she’d gotten the hang of pretending she didn’t feel anything at all.

Tariq had been so pleased with her, too!  He’d been so sweet.  She hadn’t realized just how much she craved the tenderness he showered on her until he’d withdrawn again and she realized she’d screwed up—again!  She hadn’t realized just how badly, though, until now.  She’d been more upset the night before that he was too angry with her to make love to her as he had the first time than she was about not being allowed the pleasure of a release herself.  That had left her miserable and achy, but she was almost used to that.  Not in the sense that it bothered her any less, but in the sense that she’d come to expect it—more pleasure than she’d imagined anyone could feel and no culmination, no sense of completion, just more pleasure until it became as much torture as pleasure.

He knew she’d been trying to figure out how to get in to his computer.  She’d seen the suspicion that had instantly transformed his features when he’d seen her standing by the desk.  Koryn had probably told him she’d been snooping earlier, too!

The worst of it was that she hadn’t found anything at all.  All she’d wanted to do was to try to discover something about their world.  She didn’t know anything except what they’d told her and that was limited to ‘training’.  She hadn’t really thought they were lying to her about the danger.  She had thought they might be exaggerating for the sheer joy of tormenting her, but she hadn’t found out anything and even the effort had cost her more than she’d expected.

It wouldn’t do any good to try to explain why she was snooping or that she hadn’t actually found anything.  She knew it was enough that she’d tried.  And, considering she was punished for hour upon hour for days on end for nothing more serious that looking at them the wrong way, or allowing her anger to show, or not instantly leaping to every command, she couldn’t imagine what sort of punishment that was going to get her!

Except she could—now.  He was going to discard her, send her away.  She thought she’d rather be dead than have anyone else touch her.  She needed Tariq and Koryn.

She was so upset, she didn’t realize that she’d forgotten to assume the position for punishment until she discovered that Koryn was standing by the bed.  It made the urge to cry stronger, the discovery that she’d screwed up again, but what difference did that make now, when Tariq was so disgusted with her he wasn’t even interested in punishing her himself?

Swallowing the urge to burst into tears, she lifted her arms and drew her knees up, hoping if she did well enough today, Koryn would tell Tariq and he’d get over being angry with her.

His touch was harder to endure and remain perfectly still and compliant than it should have been.  She’d been deprived of any release at all until she’d thought she would go completely mad, but Tariq had removed the belt and given her the wondrous orgasm.  She’d been allowed another when Koryn had come to her and yet almost the instant Koryn touched her—before he touched her—she was warm and then hot and then feverish with the need boiling in her veins and near to weeping with the strain of holding herself perfectly still and allowing him to make it worse.

She was relieved when he moved between her thighs, not because she would have release, because she wouldn’t, but because she knew it would give her a little respite once he’d come.  She could rest before he started again.

She thought he must be as big as Tariq—at least as big as the machine.  No matter how wet they made her, her flesh screamed from the strain when they penetrated her.  She began panting for breath with fear the moment she felt the head of his cock against her, felt the skin begin to burn with the strain of stretching around him because it always got much worse before it began to ease and allow the pleasure dominance again.

He curled his arms beneath her and grasped her shoulders bearing down on her from both ends.  Relief flickered through her when she felt his cock head enter her but it wasn’t much of a relief.  Once inside, his flesh continued to stretch hers to the point of burning until he’d driven the thick member so deep she could barely catch her breath.

He paused, panting.  It allowed her body to slowly adjust to his girth and the burning pain eased.  The muscles along her channel began to flutter with excitement the moment he withdrew and thrust into her again.  She reached her peak with the dread she always felt now, knowing all that would happen was that her body would strain and strain to pitch her over the top without success.  She began to claw uselessly at the sheets when he began to pound into her so hard and deep that the quaking inside of her reached a new level of torment, moaning and then gasping out keen cries that were closer to screams.  He shuddered, rammed into her hard a handful of times as his cock jerked and spewed his hot seed inside of her and finally leaned weakly against her, pressing her into the mattress in spite of the fact that he was holding most of his weight on his arms.

He uttered a pained grunt when he pulled his flaccid member from her and rolled to one side.  Emerald felt her throat close with misery and loss.

It threw her into complete confusion when Koryn caught her chin, tipping her head to one side and covering her mouth.  His kiss was languid, but still filled with enough heat to make the muscles in her channel clap together a little frantically.  He rolled to his back when he broke the kiss and lay with his eyes closed.  She thought he might have fallen asleep.  She closed her own eyes, willing the heat to leave her.  It made it worse when they started again, but it gave her a little respite and she’d learned to appreciate even a few moments respite.

She’d cooled enough that she was beginning to drift toward sleep herself when she heard Koryn swallow.  “Kiss me, Em.”

She opened her eyes and turned to him, levering herself up high enough to reach his mouth when he didn’t lift to meet her.  He held perfectly still while she fitted her lips to his and made the motion that made her lips cling to his.  He swallowed audibly again when she lifted her head to look at him questioningly.  He met her gaze with a look she couldn’t entirely understand.  “Touch me—kiss me as if you’re making love to me.”

Emerald felt her heart contract almost painfully.  Shifting her weight, she rubbed her face against his, turning to kiss his cheeks, his eyes, to rub her nose along his and then returning to his lips.  He opened his mouth and covered hers when she nibbled at his lips, twined her tongue with his and stroked it and then sucked on it when he thrust his tongue into her mouth.  He caught her head between his hands when she would’ve withdrawn to explore further, holding her while he sucked hungrily at her mouth and tongue.

He allowed his hands to drop again after a moment, allowed her to break the kiss.  She balanced her weight on her chest, stroking him with her hands as she explored his throat with her lips and then his chest.  He moved restlessly beneath her, kneading her arms and shoulders and back and buttocks as she worked her way across and down his broad chest to his belly.  He caught her beneath her arms and dragged her up his chest when she began to stroke his cock, reaching behind her to spread her cleft and spearing the head of his cock into her.

“You’re so wet for me, baby,” he gasped hoarsely as he pressed her downward to engulf more of his shaft.  For several moments, he seemed content to saw shallowly in and out of her and then he pushed her upright and caught her hips, drawing her down over his cock as he pivoted his hips to drive deeper and deeper.

He stopped, panting for breath when he could go no deeper.  Emerald had been panting so hard for breath she felt dizzy.  Leaning forward to brace her hands on him she began to move, leaning forward and pressing back faster and faster, trying to find a rhythm he liked.  He settled his hands on the tops of her thighs, rocking her back and forth until she began to move the way he wanted her to.  He seemed to force his hands to relax then, catching his breath, holding it, and then expelling it gustily.  “Gods, baby!  Gods!  You feel so good.”

Emerald felt her body peak in response, felt her muscles convulse so hard around his thick shaft that it spiked with pain and pleasure in almost equal measure.  He caught her arms abruptly, dragging her against his chest and rolling on top of her.  She grunted at his frantic, pounding thrusts and lost her breath entirely when he bore down on her, driving as deeply as he could as his body began jerking and shuddering with orgasm.

* * * *

Tariq stared down at Koryn and Emerald, struggling with the emotions roiling inside of him and finally moved to the table and set down the tray he’d brought.  Koryn jerked and pushed himself upright the moment the metal hit the table, staring at Tariq blankly.  “What time is it?”

Tariq’s lips tightened.  “Around seven.”

Koryn frowned.  “Morning?  Or evening?”

Tariq sent him a deadly look.  “Evening,” he said tightly.

Koryn’s eyes widened.  “Are you serious?”

“I’m serious.”

He struggled off the bed, staggered around in a confused circle for a moment and finally grabbed his discarded uniform from the floor and headed into the bathroom.  Tariq glanced from Koryn’s retreating form to Emerald.  She was awake.  She pushed herself up and stared at him.  “You might as well rest until he comes out again,” he said dryly.

She blinked at him, but she lay back down.

He settled at the table to eat his own portion of the food while Koryn bathed and dressed.  When he came out, he sent Emerald in to freshen up.

“What have you been up to all day?”

Tariq’s face tightened.  “I went out to look over the grids the search parties hadn’t gotten to yet.”

“Anything that looks promising?”

“No.  It’s a waste of time.”  He got up when Emerald returned and told her to sit down and eat, pacing.  “I’ve recalled them to give them a break while we consider new grid searches.  The only two groups we’ve managed to find were near easily accessible water.  I’ve arranged to send surveyors out in skimmers to look for small patches of cultivated ground near rivers, streams, and lakes while the men rest up for the new search.  The ships are being prepped for the next grid search.”

He paused.  “You’ll be on one of the ships when they go out again—you and Emerald.  I’ve arranged a flight crew of androids.  The story is that you’ll be dropping the search team off and the crew is to take you to a place we discovered where you can get DNA samples.  Instead, you’ll leave immediately for Centaurian.  I’ve given the androids the coordinates we figured out—and I deleted them from my system.  You should have time to reach the stream beyond this system and fold space before anyone even becomes curious and they won’t be able to track you after that.

“We’ll have to move Emerald the same way we moved the other woman into my quarters.  I hate it, but I don’t see an alternative.  She’s too small to pass for an Anunnaki woman or I’d just get a uniform and have one of the androids escort her.”

Koryn and Emerald had both turned white by the time he finished.  Koryn recovered first.  “You’ve already made all the arrangements?”

“Yes.”

Koryn blinked.  “How many days do we have?”

“Two.  The ships will be prepped and ready to go day after tomorrow and everything else will be ready by then.  The skimmers are going out tomorrow to find the most likely spots for the grid searches.”

“But … two days!  I don’t know if I can pack in two days.”

“You can’t take anything you aren’t wearing.  Emerald will be in your ‘equipment’ case.”   He turned to look at Emerald.  “I think we need to sedate her.  I wouldn’t suggest it if I thought we could trust her to be quiet, but we can’t risk it.  See if you can find something that won’t ….”  He stopped and glanced at Koryn, showing the first crack in the veneer of his cool, business-like façade, and cleared his throat.  “You know.”

Koryn stared at him blankly for a moment before he finally realized what Tariq was talking about.  “It isn’t going to hurt the fetus—whatever I use.  She isn’t far enough along yet.”

Tariq nodded jerkily.  “Good.  That’s good then.”  He frowned.  “I think that covers it.  If you think of anything I might have forgotten, though, be sure and let me know.”

Koryn pushed his plate away and sat tapping at the table, thinking.  “Supplies?”

“There are always extra for emergencies.  It should be more than enough to get you to Centaurian.”

Koryn frowned.  “We don’t know that the Dinjin didn’t hit that colony, too.  What if we get there and discover there’s nothing there?”

Tariq shook his head.  “There’s a livable planet in that system, regardless—or should be.  You’ll have the ship for shelter, plenty of weapons, supplies for a couple of months.  If you can’t locate any survivors and the situation is too … disagreeable, you’ll need to consider one of our more remote outposts.  I don’t have any other suggestions.”

“But … what about the baby?” Emerald finally asked weakly.

Tariq swallowed convulsively several times.

“I’ll be with you,” Koryn answered for him.  “That’s one of the reasons he’s sending me with you—to take care of you.”

Her chin wobbled threateningly, but she merely looked down at her lap.

Koryn got up.  “I need to go my lab.  I’ve been here all day.”

Tariq’s face hardened, but he merely nodded.

When he’d left, Tariq studied Emerald for a few moments.  “Go to bed.  You should rest.”

She got up and crossed the room, climbing into the bed.  Tariq went to his desk and sat down.  He discovered it was a waste of time.  He stared at the holo-screen for hours, scrolling through report after report and had absolutely no idea what he’d read.   When he finally checked the clock for the fourth or fifth time and saw it was nearing mid-night, he turned his system off and got up.

He thought Emerald had long since gone to sleep—hoped she had.  Either he wasn’t as careful climbing into bed as he’d thought and woke her, though, or she hadn’t been asleep at all.  She shifted against his side and curled her arm around him, burrowing her face against his chest.  “Don’t send me away.  I’ll be good.”

Tariq swallowed with an effort.  “Koryn’s going to take you to one of the Earth colonies, baby.  It’s going to be alright.”

He felt hot tears hit his chest.  “Punish me.  I know I deserve it.  Beat me.  Just don’t send me away.  Please?”

Shifting onto his side, Tariq pulled her against him, curling his arms around her to hold her close.  “I don’t want to hurt you and you don’t deserve to be beat.  It might hurt the baby.”

She curled her fingers into his flesh.  “The chair then.  That won’t hurt the baby and you wouldn’t even have to stay to watch me.  I don’t deserve to get breaks for resting anyway.  I know you and Koryn haven’t been able to get hardly anything done because you’ve had to spend so much time disciplining me.  You could do whatever you needed to do and I wouldn’t even be any trouble.”

“Shhh,” Tariq said, lifting a hand to cup her head.  “No more discipline.  You aren’t going to be a slave, baby.  I won’t have to worry that someone will take you away from me that might hurt you.  You’ll be safe and my baby will be safe.  Koryn will stay and take care of you.  He loves you, you know.”

Emerald started sobbing.  “But you don’t or you wouldn’t throw me away just because I was bad.”

“You aren’t bad.  You were just never meant to be enslaved and I’m not throwing you away.  I’m sending you away to protect you because I … because it’s the right thing to do.”

“You don’t want me anymore,” she sobbed.  “I’m so sorry!  I’ll never be bad again!  I promise.  Please?  Can’t you just punish me and keep me?  I don’t want to go away.  I want to stay with you.  I love you, Tariq.  Please?”

Tariq pushed her away, wiping the tears from her face with his hand.  “I wish you did,” he said gruffly.  “But you don’t, baby.  You just think you do because of what I’ve done to you.  In a little while you’ll get past it and you’ll realize you only thought so because I made you feel as if you needed me.”

“But … Tariq!”

He silenced her with a kiss.  She curled her arms tightly around him, kissing him back feverishly.  He leaned away from her when he broke the kiss and removed the belt, dropping it over the side of the bed.  He covered her mouth again when he leaned over her, kissed her throat and her breasts and then returned to her lips for another deep kiss.  The second time he moved down to fondle and suckle her breasts, he ran his hand down her belly, found her clit and teased it with his finger.  She was so feverish with need that she came almost immediately, gasping and shaking all over.

He stroked her soothingly until she’d caught her breath and began building the heat again with his touch, with kisses.  She spread her legs eagerly when he finally shifted over her, cradling him between her thighs, lifting to meet him when he found her opening with his turgid flesh.  She wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him when he began struggling to enter her, panting with anticipation.  She’d already raced upward toward another peak by the time he’d sunk deeply inside of her.  He’d barely set a steady rhythm when she came again.  He slowed until the spasms passed and began to increase the tempo again, building more heat.  It roared into flames as he began to drive into her at a pace that told her he was nearing his own culmination.  The first jerk of his cock set her off again.  She clung to him as she rode the waves of ecstasy trying to hold on even as the strength left her and she felt herself sinking toward oblivion.

He was gone when she awoke.  She saw they’d left food for her but she was in no mood to eat.  Instead, she spent the day pacing restlessly, trying to think of something she could say to convince Tariq not to send her away.

He was wrong!  She did love him!   She loved him so much she could hardly breathe when she thought about it.  It had nothing to do with the discipline, whatever he thought!  At least not the way he thought it did!  It was because he’d done it to protect her!  It didn’t even matter whether or not he was right and it was something he needed to do to protect her!  All that mattered was that he wanted to and that he had never hurt her—as arrogant as he was, as convinced as he was that he hailed from a race so superior to hers that she was nothing but a possession—a thing.

She felt miserable all over again when she remembered how happy he’d been that she’d seemed to grasp the role she was meant to play, how eager he’d been to dispense with the discipline and reward her!  He’d made love to her.  He might not think so.  He might still be trying to convince himself he was merely fucking her and enjoying his sex slave, but she didn’t believe for a moment that he would’ve been so careful, so tender, if she didn’t mean something to him!

He was just trying to be noble, damn him!  She didn’t want him to be noble!

If he was so worried that her behavior would get her into trouble on Niribu, she didn’t know why he wouldn’t just come with them!  She didn’t care where she was as long as she was with him!

Koryn came to bring her noon meal instead of Tariq, but she could see even he didn’t mean to stay long.  She clung to him when he told her to go rest.  “Don’t take me away!  Please?  I’ll do anything you or Tariq want.  I will.  I’ll be really, really good!”

Koryn released a heavy sigh and sat down with her again, cradling her against him.  “This is for your own good, baby.  Tariq has some powerful enemies—well, one really, really powerful one.   He’d take you away from Tariq purely for spite—and because he can and the gods only know what he would do to you to torment Tariq.  Kill the baby you’re carrying, for sure, whether it killed you at the same time or not.  I don’t want that.  Tariq doesn’t want it.  I know you think we punished you purely for meanness, but that’s because you just don’t understand what life on Niribu would be like for you.  Slaves have no rights—none!  Just looking at an Anunnaki the way you have me and Tariq would be enough to warrant a public beating—or a private one.  They could do anything they wanted to with you—anything! They could make you wish you were dead.

“We aren’t trying to punish you by taking you away.  We’re trying to protect you, to save you.  I know you’d rather it was Tariq, but he’s a lord and beyond that, he’s in command of this mission.  He can’t leave.  If he could, I’m sure he’d take you himself.”

She clung to him.  “I don’t understand.  Why did Tariq think he could have me if he couldn’t?  He just doesn’t want me anymore, does he?”

“If you understood the Anunnaki, you’d understand.  He’s a lord and he’s powerful and wealthy.  Usually, he can do just as he pleases and have what he wants.  He’s used to thinking that way.  This isn’t one of those times, although I don’t think he realized it to begin with.  He thought that he could supply the Anunnaki with enough breeders that there wouldn’t be a real dispute about him making his choice.  That’s the biggest problem.  There are too many men more powerful than he is that need a breeder and if there aren’t enough for everyone, then the more wealthy and powerful will have and everyone else will do without.  We’re at war now with the Dinjin, and that changes things, too.  Acts that might ordinarily be considered fairly minor and punishable by fines or short imprisonment become crimes against the people—treason—and that’s usually a death sentence.”

He tipped her chin up.  “You can’t fight us on this, Em.  You’ll get me and Tariq killed and the gods only know what’ll happen to you.  What Tariq proposed is treason.  We needed breeders desperately before the war.  No matter who wins, Anunnaki will die and when they do, then our situation becomes more desperate.  We’ve … interbred so much we don’t dare breed without bringing in fresh contributors.”

Emerald stared at Koryn in horror.  “You can’t do it!  I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you or Tariq because of me!  If I can’t stay with you anyway, just send me with the others.  I’ll be good.  I understand now and I won’t be any trouble.  And … maybe later you and Tariq could get me back?”

“We can do it and we will.  Tariq has a good plan.  It’s doable and the best possible solution for all of us.  I’ll admit I get the best part of it,” he said, smiling faintly.  “I get to go with you and take care of you.  But this is what Tariq wants, too.  He’ll know that you’re safe and he’ll know his child is safe.  If that wasn’t important to him, he wouldn’t take the risk.”

He stared at her face for a moment.  “And it isn’t nearly as risky for us as it sounds,” he added.  “They’ll never know Tariq had anything to do with it.  I’ll be charged with treason, but I don’t plan on hanging around to be executed, so it doesn’t matter.”

Emerald didn’t believe him.  She wanted to, but she didn’t.  She was too afraid for them, though, to argue anymore or beg.  If they were willing to risk so much for her, then they might do something even more dangerous and risky if she didn’t do as she was told.

Chapter Fifteen

Tariq watched grimly as High Councilor Mylor’s ship settled slowly toward the ground.  When the gang plank began to lower, he approached the vessel, waiting at the foot of the gangplank until the door opened and Mylor marched down it, followed by a full platoon of guardsmen.  Uneasiness flickered through him when the guardsmen immediately deployed upon reaching the ground.

He bowed when Mylor stopped in front of him.  “Lord Mylor,” he acknowledged the man, bowing in accordance with his station.  “It is an honor that you’ve come to inspect our progress.”

Mylor smiled thinly.  “The honor is all mine, I assure you, Lord Tariq.”  He lifted a hand.  “Seize him!”

A jolt went through Tariq, but he aborted his instinct to lash out at the guardsmen that seized him by both arms.  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he growled, sending Mylor a deadly look.

“Arresting a traitor.  Where’s the female?”

Tariq’s jaw tightened.  “I’m afraid you’ll have to enlighten me on that one.  There are a lot of females here.  Which one are you referring to?”

“The one you’ve been keeping hidden in your quarters,” Mylor responded smugly.

Tariq felt his heart skip several beats.  “The one named Emerald?  I sent her to Niribu.”

“You sent ‘a’ female of the general description.  You didn’t send the breeder you’d appropriated for yourself.”

“I put her on the vessel myself,” Tariq said through gritted teeth.

“Debra, you mean?  The one we found when the ship arrived.”

Tariq shrugged easily.  “I didn’t know that was her name.  I called her Emerald.”

Mylor’s eyes glittered.  “So we won’t find her in your cabin?”

“Not unless she was beamed back.”

“Hmmm.  I think maybe we’ll just check the ships in the hanger bay.”

Tariq felt a cold wave wash over him at that.  His mind went chaotic with the effort to think of some way to divert Mylor long enough for the ships to leave.  “The only breeders on my ship are those waiting for transport to Niribu,” he responded tightly.  “I’ll be happy to escort your men to search my quarters and then we can search the hold.”

“I’d be wasting my time, though, wouldn’t I?”

He turned away from Tariq and instructed the men to go directly to the hanger and board the transports there.  “The transports were about to take off,” he said tightly.  “We’ve worked out a new grid search area that looks promising for survivors.  The council won’t be happy that you’re disrupting our search.”

“Oh we won’t delay them long.  Just long enough to remove the geneticist, Koryn, and the breeder Emerald.”

“What the fuck does any of this have to with Koryn?  He’s going to collect more DNA samples for regeneration.”

“Well, if he isn’t harboring the breeder we’re looking for, then there won’t be any problem at all.”  He glanced at the men holding Tariq.  “Take him into the hold and lock him up.”

“I’ll have you on charges of false imprisonment of a lord of the council!” Tariq snarled.

“I don’t think so,” Mylor said pleasantly.

Tariq considered resisting when they began pulling him toward the ship, but dismissed it, realizing it was futile.  He might be able to get away, but he had no way to warn Koryn and no time to reach them.  He considered trying to escape anyway, wondering if there was any possibility, at all, that he could somehow reach them and free them if he did.

It seemed unlikely to impossible.  He would be trapped on Earth unless he could somehow steal one of his own ships and they would be on Niribu.  It seemed to him that the only option was to go with them and try to free the three of them once they were together.

Not that that was much of a fucking option, but then again, he had friends on Niribu.  He had some hope of getting help there.

Clearly Mylor had been informed of the entire plot, although how the fuck the son-of-a-bitch had learned of it he was damned if he knew.  No one knew except him and Koryn and Emerald.

And the androids he’d bribed to take them.

One of them had to be a fucking plant!

What were the fucking odds that he would’ve picked Mylor’s plant, though, out of all the androids onboard?

It seemed astronomical, but he couldn’t think of any other way Mylor could’ve found out, and he wasn’t just fishing.  He knew exactly what the plan was.  If not for that, he might’ve thought it was someone else that Mylor had sent to spy on him, but he’d never discussed the plan except in his own quarters with Koryn and Emerald and in his office with the androids and he had both of those areas scanned regularly for surveillance devices.

Maybe Koryn hadn’t been as careful?

He shook the thought.  Who would Koryn have discussed it with?

He’d been pacing his cell for nearly thirty minutes when they brought Koryn in.  They shoved him through the door and he promptly collapsed.  Tariq went to him, turning him over.  “Gods!  You fool!  What did you fight them for?”

Koryn roused enough to open the only eye that wasn’t swollen shut.  “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”  He swallowed a little sickly.  “They got Em.  I couldn’t stop them.”

Tariq helped him to his feet and walked him to one of the bunks.  When he’d helped him settle, he strode to the door.  “He’s needs a medic!” he growled at the guards he could see.

“They’re going to execute him for treason when we get to Niribu.  I don’t see the point.”

“The point is he hasn’t been tried or convicted, you son-of-a-bitch!” Tariq bellowed.  “Get him a gods damn medic!”

“’S alright,” Koryn muttered.  “Juz bruised and banged a lit’le.  Think I might’a loss a toof.”

Tariq struck the wall with his fist angrily and moved away from the door.  There was nothing in the fucking cell but the two bare cots.  After considering it a moment, he reached up to grab the sleeve of his uniform near the seam and jerked at it until he’d managed to separate a small section.  Wedging his fingers in the hole, he tore the rest of the seam and then took his sleeve to the tiny fountain basin that supplied the water to the cell.

Koryn complained the entire time he bathed his wounds.

“Shut up!” Tariq growled.  “I need to see if any of these need attention.  There’s too much blood to tell.”

“What the fuck you gon do if they do?”

“Bind you up the best I can with your uniform.”

Koryn uttered a half hearted chuckle but broke off in the middle of it.  “Think my ribs’z cracked.”

Tariq was relieved to see that the battering seemed to be from fists, not that those weren’t hard enough but they could’ve been worse, and that there was little more than broken skin—no deep cuts he needed to worry about closing.  He didn’t know if there were broken bones or not, but he couldn’t do anything about it if there were.  His main focus was to make sure Koryn didn’t bleed to death.  He examined his mouth and saw two teeth were bleeding but they were still in the sockets.

His ribs looked as if he’d been stomped.  Fury washed through Tariq.  He’d been down already or they couldn’t have stomped him, the cowardly bastards!

He tore one of Koryn’s pant legs off to bind his ribs.  “Better?”

Koryn grunted.  “A little.  Thanks.”

Tariq patted his shoulder lightly.  Getting up, he moved to the other bunk and sprawled on it.

“You din ask about Em.”

Tariq lifted an arm and draped it across his eyes.  “I can’t … think about that right now.”

“She did good. She’s ok, Tariq.  ”

Tariq swallowed audibly.  “Not if Mylor has her.”

* * * *

Tariq’s face hardened when he read the message he’d been given.  Uttering a string of curses, he wadded it and stalked back and forth across the cell several times like a caged animal.  It was a far larger cell than the one they’d been confined in on the trip from Earth, but Tariq was angry enough it still took little more than a half a dozen strides to pace from one side to the other.

“I guess that means Biccel isn’t here either?” Koryn asked glumly.

“He’s with the fleet,” Tariq said tightly.

“Well—now we know why Mylor was so hot to get us back and start the trial.  Everyone you know that might have any influence is with the fleet.  We’re running out of time.  They’ll have closing arguments tomorrow or the next for sure and it isn’t going to take the jury long to come back with a guilty verdict.  If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect every fucking one of them was on the bastard’s payroll.”

Tariq sent him a pitying glance.  “All of them are on his payroll or they wouldn’t be sitting there.  Mylor doesn’t like to leave things to chance.”

Koryn stared at him hard for several moments.  “This isn’t a joking matter, Tariq!  We’re in a hell of a mess here.  We’re going to fry—literally.”

“I wasn’t fucking joking!  Do I look amused to you?”

“I was actually hoping it was graveyard humor since that’s going to be our next fucking address.  You can’t think of anybody else to contact?”

Tariq uttered a disgusted huff and flung himself down on his cot.  “I already contacted everybody I could think of.  They either ignored my plea or they’re gone.  That was the last of them.”

Koryn was silent for a while, digesting that, trying to come to terms with their situation.  He discovered he couldn’t.  Everything that had happened since they’d been seized seemed unreal, more like a nightmare than reality.  Even their location in Traitors Gate seemed too surreal to fully grasp.  They were the only prisoners—the only two men the ancient prison had held in his lifetime.  “How do you suppose they managed to get the vids?”

“I don’t know,” Tariq said tiredly.  “Believe me, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure it out.  I had the cleaning droids set to sweep for surveillance vids every day.  The only thing I can think is that they developed some new technology that the droid couldn’t detect.  They couldn’t have used anything long range.  I had the entire room shielded.”

“Unless they came up with something that could penetrate the shielding.  It was damned poor quality.  I don’t know how the fuck anybody could recognize any of us from it.”

“They didn’t have to.  He could’ve made anything up at all and they would’ve sworn they recognized us from the vids.”

“But he didn’t and that’s what bothers me.  He wouldn’t have known what we were doing and been able to get there before we could pull it off.”

“I think that was where we ran out of luck and he ran in to it.  I know somebody on the ship has been giving him regular reports.  They wouldn’t have known anything about Emerald at all if that wasn’t the case, but none of the vids are more than a few days prior to when we set the plan up.  Like you said, Mylor couldn’t have gotten there between the time he would’ve received that particular report and the time he did.  It isn’t possible.  He had to have been on the way already and gotten that in route.”

Koryn considered that.  “I suppose that means the ruse of sending the woman didn’t work.  That was what he was going to use as proof of treason.”

“I think so.  But he lucked up and got something even better from whoever’s been reporting to him and managed to get there before you could leave with her.”

Koryn was silent for a little bit.  “I wouldn’t mind so much if we had at least succeeded in getting Em to safety.  Gods!  It’s driving me crazy!  I wish to hell I at least had friends in low places and could hire somebody to either kill that son-of-a-bitch or snatch her from under his nose.”

Tariq sat up and stared at him.  “My gods, Koryn!  You’re brilliant!  I could kiss you!”

“Don’t!  My mouth’s still sore,” Koryn said, grinning.  “What did I say?”

Tariq ignored him, summoning the guard down the hall.  “I have an android named Aeon.  If you’ll fetch him here to me, I’ll make it worth your time.”

Avarice gleamed in the man’s eyes for a moment and then he frowned.  “How are you going to pay me locked up in here?  Anyway, don’t they take everything from anybody that commits treason?”

Tariq smiled easily.  “Luckily for me, I don’t trust too many people.  I have a few … resources they won’t have found.”

The guard glanced up and down the corridor and moved a little closer.  “How am I gonna get it?  If I go get the android, how can I trust you’ll pay me?”

Tariq frowned.  “You know where my estate is?”

The guard nodded.

“In the garden under the fifth stepping stone from the east side of the fountain, you’ll find a small gold box.  It’s filled with coins and yours if you go down to the receiving center and find Aeon and send him to me.  If you get him here, I’ll tell you where to find something of equal value.”

The guard frowned.  “They got guards there!” he said indignantly.

“I didn’t tell you it would be easy,” Tariq said tightly.  “It’s a lot of gold, but if you don’t have the balls to go get it ….”

“And you’ll tell me where to find more if I get the android here?”

“You’ll have the gold one way or the other.  It isn’t as if I could shortchange you.  I’m just saying, the box for the favor.  A handsome tip if you show me I can trust you.”

The man nodded.  “I can’t leave for another hour.  This android’s at the receiving center, you say?”

“Or the nearest whore house.  You might want to check that first.  Tell him I have something to give him.”

“What have you got in mind?” Koryn asked when the guard had left again and Tariq moved away from the bars and began pacing.

Tariq settled on the bunk next to him.  “There’s an ancient woman down in Old Town that I know.  She’ll take Em in and take care of her if Aeon can get her out of Mylor’s clutches and I think he might be our only hope of it.”

Koryn looked horrified.  “That’s where all the freaks are!”

“And that’s why she’ll be safe there.  Cleme can keep her hidden and nobody will ever think to look for her there.”

Koryn considered it for a moment.  “You think you can trust her?”

“I know I can.  She was my nursemaid.”

Koryn looked horrified all over again.  “What the fuck is she doing there if she was your nursemaid?”

Tariq glared at him angrily.  “She bore a child long after I was grown.  She took it there to keep it from being destroyed—like everyone else down there.  I bought her a house and settled a trust on her.  She’ll take care of Em for me and help her when the baby comes.”

Koryn looked at him apologetically.  “Sorry.  I should have known it was something like that.”

“Yes, you should’ve!” Tariq growled, jolting up from the bunk and pacing again.

“I really am sorry.  It was just such a shock.  Old Town.  It’s hard to believe anybody would want to go there.”

Tariq sighed.  “They don’t want to.  It’s the only place they can go where they won’t be mistreated.  Nobody bothers them as long as they don’t have to look at them.  They would’ve made her abort the child if they’d known she was pregnant, but she kept it secret.  She wanted it even though she knew the chances were high that it was going to be … defective.  She finally broke down and begged me to help her.  I would’ve made other arrangements.  I wanted to, but she insisted.  I don’t like her being there, but she says she’s happy.”

“How long since you last saw her?” Koryn asked in surprise.

“I went to see her before I left for Earth.  It upsets her if I leave without telling her,” he said a little stiffly when he realized Koryn was staring at him.  “What?”

Koryn shrugged.  “Nothing.  It’s just … I don’t remember my nursemaid,” he confessed.

“Because you had a mother,” Tariq said testily.  “I only had Cleme.  My mother died when I was an infant and they fucked up her genetic sample and couldn’t regenerate her.”

“I didn’t know that!  Gods!  How the hell did they manage that?”

“The gods only know!  An accident in the lab, they said.  She’d already been cremated.  It was too late to get another.  That was when they passed the law that no one was to be cremated without three samples being taken.  One for regeneration, the other two for insurance—and no more than one in a lab at the time—Terra’s Law?”

“I didn’t know that either.  How long have we been friends?”

Tariq sighed.  “I don’t know … half our lives, give or take.”

“A hundred and fifty years, at least, and you never told me any of that!”

“It didn’t come up,” Tariq said dryly.

Koryn sighed.  “We’re getting old.”

“I’d hoped to get a hell of a lot older.”

“Me, too.  Were you planning on going for another one?”

“I hadn’t actually given it any thought, to be honest.  Father didn’t approve.  He said one lifetime ought to be enough for anybody.  He felt differently when mother died.”

“Yeah, well it turns out he was probably right.  If the old ones hadn’t been around since fucking forever—and fucking, we wouldn’t be in the fix we are now with our gene pool in such a gods damned mess!”

Tariq released a pained breath.  “I’m inclined to agree with you, but I wouldn’t have met Em otherwise.  I can’t regret that.”

Koryn blew out a breath.  “Maybe if we’d done something differently it would’ve turned out better.”

Tariq uttered a snort.  “That’s the problem with these things, Koryn.  You take a different path, you get different results.  There wasn’t another path that would’ve taken us to Em.  There’s no point in what ifs anyway.”

The guard distracted them.  “You got a visitor, Lord Tariq.”

Tariq looked at him surprise.  He’d said he couldn’t leave for at least an hour.  He didn’t believe enough time had passed for him to have found the gold, and Aeon, and made it back, but his heart thudded with hopefulness just the same.  “I’ll see him.”

“It ain’t a him.  It’s Lady Seana.”

A jolt went through Tariq.  “Tell her I’ll see her.”

“Lady Seana?  I thought you said you tried everybody you knew and they were either with the fleet or wouldn’t come?”

“I guess she changed her mind,” Tariq said slowly.

“You don’t think she’ll help us?”

Tariq frowned.  “I don’t know.  I honestly don’t think she can.”

They fell silent as they heard the brisk click of heals against the floor.  A few moments later, Lady Seana reached the door.  “Oh!  My poor baby!” she exclaimed.  “This is a horrid place!  Just horrid!  I don’t know how you can bear it!”

Tariq smiled.  “Not much choice, actually,” he said ruefully.  “I didn’t think you’d come.”

She gave him a scolding look.  “So little faith?”

“Well,” Tariq said, grinning.  “I know you, Seana.  It’s a horrid place—not the sort of place you like to go.”

She considered it.  “Actually, I really, really didn’t want to come, but I’ve sat in that court every day trying to get a chance to speak with you and it looks like there just isn’t going to be a chance.  I didn’t want you to … uh ….”  She let out a huff a breath.  “I am so angry with this … this …!”

“Farce?” Koryn supplied.

She glanced at him and smiled.  “Yes!  That’s the word I was looking for!  It’s a … it’s a … Well, I don’t know the word for it, but mark my words, it is!  I wanted to come by and tell you how much I appreciated the gift you sent me!  It was so thoughtful of you and I am sooo enjoying it!”

Tariq chuckled.  “Not as much as you enjoyed me, I hope?”

“Of course not, baby!  You know how much I adore you!  Anything I could do for you, I would!  You know I would!”  Her expression fell.  “I’ve been trying to do something to help get you out of here.  I really have.  If I’d just known about that damned vid!  I would’ve had someone take care of it, because that’s all they have, really!”

“Apparently, that’s enough,” Tariq said dryly.  He moved closer. “I didn’t figure you could help me get out of this.  There is one thing you could help me with, though.”

She lifted her brows.  “What?”

Tariq covered her hand.  “The breeder Mylor took—Emerald.  If you could arrange to have someone remove her from his care, I can pay.  I still have resources.”

Anger flashed in her eyes.  “Really, Tariq!  That’s really, really bad of you!  Asking me to risk getting in trouble for your … sex toy!”

“She’s carrying my child, Seana.  I’m asking you to protect my child.  I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

She studied him thoughtfully.  “So you’re saying you don’t care what happens to her afterwards?”

“He’ll need his mother, Seana.”

“Well!  As if I couldn’t take care of him!”

“Of course you could.  You’ll make a wonderful mother.  You’ll want a nursemaid, though, right?  You aren’t going to want to spend all your time chasing them around—yours and mine—wiping snotty noses and cleaning their asses.”

Her lips curled.  “You can be so crude, Tariq!  Honestly!”  She frowned thoughtfully.  “They are rather nasty little savages when they’re young, though.  I’d certainly have to have a nursemaid.”

“You’ll at least consider it?”

She frowned.  “I’ll think about it.  I have to go now, baby.  I think I might catch something in this nasty place if I stay much longer and anyway, that horrid man said I could only have a few minutes.”  She glanced up and down the corridor and then stuck her tongue out, waving it at him.  Tariq was taken aback until he caught a flash of white.  “Kiss me before I go, baby,” she murmured huskily.

Tariq pressed his face to the bars obligingly, opening his mouth over hers when she pressed close on the other side.  He smiled at her when she leaned away.  “That wasn’t at all satisfactory!  I think I may have picked up germs from the bars!”  She reached in and patted his cheek.  “I’ll come back to see you tomorrow!”

When she’d left, Tariq glanced around and then moved to the bunk where Koryn was sitting and then spat the note she’d passed into his palm.

Koryn looked queasy.  “I don’t blame you.  I wouldn’t have wanted to kiss her either.  She’s old enough to be your mother!”

Tariq snorted.  “She’s on her fourth life.  She damned near shoved it down my throat.  I’d forgotten that tongue.”  He patted the note dry on the leg of his pants and carefully unrolled it.

Koryn crowded close to read it over his shoulder, blocking the little light he had.

“Gods damn it, Koryn!  I can’t fucking see!  You’re blocking the light.”

“Well?  What does it say?”

Tariq blinked at it, turned it over and stared at the single word on it.  “Unless the ink’s run it says ‘tonight’.”

“Tonight what?”

“That’s all it says.  ‘Tonight’.”

“Well, that’s fucking cryptic!  A good thing she didn’t shove it down your throat!  We would’ve had to wait until tomorrow to read it.”

Tariq sent him a drop dead look.   After a moment, he wadded the tiny piece of paper up, put it back in his mouth, and swallowed it.

Koryn was looking at him with his upper lip curled in revulsion.  “I can’t believe you ate that.”

“I didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave lying around.  They could match the writing.”

“You could’ve flushed it down the toilet.”

“I expect I will, but it’ll be less readable then.”

“I didn’t need to hear that.”

“You brought it up.”

“What do you think she meant?”

Tariq frowned.  “I don’t know.  She always was a little … unpredictable.”

“You and her were lovers?”

“That was a while back.”

“She was still old as hell.”

Tariq let out an irritated breath.  “She was lonely.  I was horny.  I figured what the hell?”

“So what happened between you two?  She seems to still be fond of you.”

“She nearly fucked me to death and I had to work up an escape plan.  That’s when I got transferred to Pater for a while—It cost me a bundle to bribe my senior officer for transfer orders, by the way.  By the time I got back, she’d taken a new lover.  I’ve managed to evade recapture ever since and maintain a friendship, but I have to watch myself around her.”

Koryn shuddered.

Tariq sent him an annoyed look.  “She isn’t that bad.  She looks good … for her age.  She was a beauty when she was young.”

“Yes, but you weren’t with her then.”

Tariq grinned abruptly.  “No, but my cock was lonely.  She was easy enough on the eyes and a lot of fun—easy to get along with.  I would’ve stayed longer if not for the fact that she’s insatiable.  And actually I was pretty happy about that—at first.”  He glanced Koryn speculatively.  “Don’t tell me you’ve never been with an older woman.”

Koryn looked uncomfortable.  “Not that much older.”

“She wasn’t even middle aged at the time,” Tariq said irritably.

“This time around.”

“I didn’t know it was her fourth time until later,” Tariq said testily.

“I was with a second timer for a while.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.  I thought she was my age.  It pissed me off when I discovered it was her second time around.”

“Why the hell would it piss you off?  What difference does it make?”

Koryn reddened.  “I was a virgin at the time.”

“Somebody has to have some experience,” Tariq pointed out dryly.  “It isn’t a hell of a lot of fun when neither one of you know what the fuck you’re doing.”

“I take it from that that you were with a virgin the first time.”

Tariq merely grunted.  “If we’re doing true confessions here, it’s your turn.”

“I’m a scientist,” Koryn said dryly.  “I have led a very boring life.  Even I think I’ve had a boring life.”

“Up till now.”

“This isn’t the kind of excitement I always yearned for I can tell you!” Koryn said testily.

“You’ve never been in imprisoned before?”

“Thankfully, no.  I came close a couple of times back in my college days, but I always managed to slip through the net when the civil patrol showed up.”

“Your college must have been a lot more fun that the military academy was.”

“That wouldn’t be hard.  Why did you go there?  I’ve heard it’s hell.”

“My father—your confessions.”

“Like I said—boring.  I spent more time in college than out of it.  I’ve got a dozen degrees in the sciences—which you already know—and not much else.  I’ve had a grand total of six lovers and none of the relationships lasted more than a handful of years.  I’d look up from the microscope one day and they’d be gone.  Not even a note to say ‘kiss my ass!’”

Tariq chuckled.  “It can’t have been that bad!”

Koryn shrugged.  “It wasn’t really.  I’ve been content enough.  I just haven’t had many highlights and the most excitement has been almost discovering something.”

“You’re one of the top scientists in your field,” Tariq pointed out.

“If some the old bastards would die, I’d be at the top,” he said jokingly, then swallowed a little sickly.  “They take samples every year.  The top people don’t have a choice.  They’ll bring me back.”

Tariq was relieved that he didn’t have to think of a response.  The guard returned and this time he had Aeon with him.  Tariq surged toward the door.  “Give me a few minutes with him.”

The guard frowned.  “Tell me where to find my tip and you can have as much time as you want.”

Tariq studied the man a moment.  “There’s a lion at the gates of my father’s old estate.  You’ll find another box like the one you have in its throat.”

Nodding, the guard hurried off.  Tariq met Aeon’s gaze.  “I’ve got a better offer for you than the one I made before, but it’ll also be harder.  You interested?”

Aeon studied him for a moment and finally nodded.

“Mylor took my woman.  I spoke to Lady Seana about getting her out of there, but I don’t trust her to do it for me or that she’d take care of Emerald even if she did.  I know you can get in there.  No one ever pays attention to the androids.  Get her out for me and take her to the old woman named Cleme in Old Town and I’ll tell you where to find a box of gold.”

Aeon studied him for a long moment.  “She won’t be safe there,” he said finally.  “Lord Mylor considers her a great prize.  He’ll take the city apart searching for her.”

Tariq stared at him in consternation for several moments and glanced at Koryn.  Koryn got up and joined them.

“Do you think you could get her on the next transport back to Earth?”

Aeon looked startled.  “Perhaps.”

“I hired a crew to take Emerald to one of the human colonies.  They have the coordinates.  If you can get her back to Earth, the six of you can take her to the colony and ….  No one will know you’re androids.  You can take a woman for yourself if you can find one and live among the humans as a free man,” Tariq said urgently.

For the first time Aeon’s face showed real emotion—disbelief.  “We would still be what we are.  We can’t change that.”

“No, but you don’t need to to live as men among men, to have the life of a man.”

Still, Aeon hesitated.  “Mylor destroyed your child.  She is weak.  It will be difficult to move her.”

Tariq had feared as much and it was still a crushing blow to hear it.  He couldn’t catch his breath for several moments, let alone speak.

“Get her out of there!” Koryn growled.  “Just get her on the transport.”

Aeon bowed.  “I will do my best.  What android will I seek?”

“Terril,” Tariq managed.  “Find Terril.”

Chapter Sixteen

Tariq exploded with rage when Aeon had left.  He was still cursing and pacing the cell and slamming his fists into the walls when Koryn finished throwing up.  Weaving a path to the bed, Koryn sprawled out weakly on it and watched Tariq pace back and forth until he was dizzy, his own anger and frustration mounting as the nausea passed.

He couldn’t think of anything to say—because there was nothing to be said.  They couldn’t kill the bastard.  He would’ve liked the chance to get his hands on him as much as Tariq did but it wasn’t going to happen and both of them knew it.

The baby was gone.  They couldn’t do anything about that either.

He pushed it from his mind.  It only frustrated him and angered him more and he didn’t know any other way to deal with it.  He felt like pacing and cursing and pounding the walls.  He felt like he was angry enough to tear the wall down, but it hadn’t worked for Tariq yet and he doubted it would for him either.

It made him sicker wondering if they would ever know if Aeon succeeded in rescuing her.

He wanted to know that at least before he died.

“He’ll get her out,” he said finally, more to reassure himself than Tariq.

Tariq paused, panting for breath, and turned to stare at him.  After a moment, he moved to his cot and dropped down on the edge, holding his head in his hands.  “I told her I’d protect her.”

“You tried.”

“That isn’t good enough!” Tariq bellowed.  “I should’ve done something as soon as you suggested it.  I should’ve thought of it myself.  She would’ve been safe then, but I was too fucking selfish.  I couldn’t give her up.”

Koryn sat up and held his own throbbing head.  “I couldn’t either.  That’s why I offered to take her.”

Tariq tilted his head up to look at Koryn and swallowed sickly.  “I knew he’d abort the baby.  I kept telling myself he wouldn’t notice, that I’d get her out somehow before he found out, but he knew I was breeding her.  He probably had her checked as soon as he got her onboard.”

“There was nothing you could do about it!  I’d love to blame you for it, but I got the shit kicked out of me for trying to protect her and you see how fucking effective that was!”

“I could’ve not bred her.”

“Hindsight is always perfect.  I didn’t think about it either.  All I could think about was that as soon as you did I could have her.  You think I don’t feel like shit about it, too?”

Exhausted from their anger and frustration, heartsick, they both lay back on their cots after a while, staring up at the ceiling.

“Do you think there’s any chance one of them might get her out before they execute us?” Koryn asked after a while.  “I’d just like to know.”

“I don’t know,” Tariq responded.  “Aeon knew a lot more than I’d expected.  Of course servants always talk.  If she’s … weak from it, though, it might make it easier for him to locate her.”  He was silent for several minutes.  “Seana will let us know.  If she succeeds, she’ll want credit and if she doesn’t she’ll complain that she tried and she was gone.”

“You think?” Koryn asked hopefully.

“If she holds true to form and I expect she will.”

Koryn had almost managed to drift off to sleep when he heard a sound just outside their cell.  He frowned, listening, and finally turned his head toward the door when he realized the sound was coming from that direction.  He discovered when he did, that Tariq was already halfway across the room.  Moving against the wall like a shadow, he flattened his back against the wall next to the door.

“Lord Tariq?” said a male voice barely above a whisper.

Tariq hesitated.

The door opened.  “Lady Sean ….”

Tariq had already jumped the man and had him in a headlock, cutting him off.

“Lady Seana sent me,” the man grunted.

Tariq held him a moment more and released him.

Shrugging his shoulders, the man turned toward the door again.  “Hurry.”

Koryn bounded off his bunk and joined Tariq at the door.  Wondering if they walking into some kind of trap, he followed Tariq and the unknown man stealthily down the corridor.  There was a guard at the end sprawled face down on the floor.  They stepped over the dead man and kept going.  After the second turn, Koryn realized they weren’t going out the way he’d come in and his uneasiness increased, particularly when they reached an old stair and descended.  They went down four flights and ended up in a tunnel-like corridor that was pitch black.  Even with his acute vision, it was all he could do to see where he was going.

“What is this place?” Tariq asked after a few minutes.

“Sewer now.”

No wonder it smelled so fragrant, Koryn thought ruefully!

It seemed to him that they followed it for miles, wading knee deep in water part of the time and sometimes through waist high water.  After what seemed several hours, Koryn noticed a lighter patch in front of them.  He discovered when they finally reached it that it was the opening where the sewer water spilled down into the canyon below the prison.

They paused in the opening.  Tariq leaned out far enough to look down and then searched the walls on either side.

“They’re coming,” the stranger said.

“Who’s coming?” Tariq asked sharply after casting a quick look behind them.

“The crew flying Lady Seana’s ship.”

Koryn gripped the man’s arm.  “Did she get Emerald?  The breeder?”

The man shook his head.

Koryn felt his heart sink.

“I don’t know.  This was my part of the mission.”

Koryn had begun to wonder if the damned ship was coming after all when he saw movement along the canyon.  His heart slammed into his chest wall, doubt warring with hope while he tried to decide whether it was the ship they were waiting for or a patrol.  Tariq stepped back and plastered himself against the wall as the ship came even with them.  It stopped, hovering, and then began to move sideways toward them.  When it was little more than a couple of yards away, an opening appeared in the side and the gangplank extended toward them like a tongue.

The man who’d led them, leapt toward the gangplank, landed solidly and disappeared inside.  Tariq turned to him.  “You next.  Don’t look down.”

“You had to fucking say that, didn’t you?” Koryn snarled when he’d looked down and felt his belly take flight.  Shaking the image from his mind, he gauged the distance and jumped.  He hadn’t taken the movement of the gangplank into consideration.  He lost his balance and went down on one knee, nearly pitching over the side.  Scrambling up again, he bounded toward the opening just as Tariq landed behind him.  Tariq bowled him over as he raced in behind him.

The man who’d led them bowed when they picked themselves up and Koryn realized for the first time that he was an android.  “Lady Seana sends her love and wishes you a safe journey and a happy life.”

“Emerald?” Tariq asked sharply.

The android lifted his arm and gestured toward the rear of the ship.  Koryn started to follow him when he turned and raced down the corridor and then stopped.  He turned to look at the android.  “Where are we going?”

The android shrugged.  “We await further instruction.”

“I’d say the first order of business would be to get the hell out of here,” Koryn said sharply.  “Tariq can give you the coordinates when he’s checked on Emerald.”

The android frowned.  “Any direction?” he asked doubtfully.

“Milky Way galaxy.  For now, just use the coordinates to reach Earth.  That’s the general direction anyway.”

* * * *

Tariq paused outside the door, suddenly uncertain.  After a moment, he pushed inside and looked around, half fearful that he would discover Emerald wasn’t there after all.  He saw almost immediately that she lying on the bed in the middle of the room, however.

A knot swelled in his throat as he stared at her, trying to tell himself that it was enough to know for certain that she was with them and finally safe.  He didn’t want to wake her.

Besides, he could smell the stench from the sewers on himself.

After a long moment, he turned and moved quietly toward the door again.  He’d almost reached it when she called out to him.  He stopped and turned back, discovering she’d pushed herself up on the bed to look at him.

His gaze flickered over her hungrily for a split second before it pierced his mind that she was clothed in the nearly transparent sheathe of a sex slave—in the colors of the house of Mylor.  A nauseating collection of thoughts and emotions collided inside him all at the same time.

“Tariq?”

Shrugging off the disorienting, conflicting emotions at the fear he heard in her voice, Tariq returned to the bed, kneeling beside it.  “How’s my baby?” he asked gruffly.

She struggled across the bed toward him and threw her arms around his neck.  “I missed you so much!  I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

Tariq felt a knot swell in his throat.  He hadn’t thought he would see her again either.  “I stink like hell, baby.  I took a stroll in the sewers and at that it wasn’t much worse than that stinking prison cell.”  He wrapped his arms around her, though, hugging her tightly to his chest because he couldn’t dismiss the need to assure himself he wasn’t dreaming.

“How did you get out?  How did I get here?  Where are we?”

He chuckled, disentangling himself and leaning away to cup her face in his hands. “We’re home.”

She blinked at him in confusion.  “Home?”

He searched her face.  “Yes.  Home is where ever you are.  Now let me get cleaned up so I can cuddle you properly.”

She sat back when he released her.  “I could bathe you,” she offered.

“Not this time, baby.  Rest.”

Getting to his feet, he headed into the small bath that adjoined the master cabin—or in the case of this particular ship, the mistress’ cabin.  When he’d stripped and dropped his uniform in the cleaning unit, he took a quick, hot shower, scrubbing himself ruthlessly to get rid of the stench.  He was too impatient to stand still for a full drying cycle and stepped out of it while he was still damp, striding back into the bedroom and climbing into bed with Emerald.  She scooted toward him even as he settled, pressing tightly against him as he curled his arms around her.

“Koryn?” she asked after a few minutes.

“He was right behind me.  He’s safe.”

She sighed, nuzzling her face against his chest.  “How did you manage to get away?”

He uttered a derisive snort.  “I bribed and begged every son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever known.  Seana finally came through for us.”

Emerald stiffened and Tariq tensed.  After a moment, she relaxed again and went back to nuzzling his chest and then kissing him.

He groaned.  “Don’t baby.  You can’t and I want to so bad I’m dying here already.”

She tensed again.  “You know I lost the baby.”

The rage he’d felt instantly rose in him again.  He fought a round with it and finally subdued it.  “You’re safe.  That’s the important thing.”

She began crying.  “I’m so sorry, Tariq.  I didn’t know what they were giving me.”

“Let’s don’t talk about it.  I wanted to kill the bastard when I heard about it, but all I want right now is to get you some place safe where I won’t have to worry about that happening to you ever again.”

She sniffed her tears back, pressing tightly against him.  “Where are we going?”

“Centaurian, I hope.”

Emerald was silent for several moments.  “I was going to take my daughter there.  It was the first colony outside our own system and the most well established.  It’s supposed to be beautiful.”

“Hopefully we’ll find out.  I did the best I could to get all the coordinates, but the data was damaged and encrypted besides,” Tariq said drowsily.  “Don’t be pissed off with me if I nod off.  I haven’t slept worth a shit since they took you.”

* * * *

As exhausted as Koryn was once the adrenaline of escaping left him and relief had swamped him to discover that Emerald was safe, he only managed to sleep fitfully.  His need just to see her with his own eyes and feel absolute certainty nearly overrode his discomfort at interrupting Tariq more than once.  He thought the certainty that she would be more interested in seeing that Tariq was alright played a part in his reluctance to interrupt their reunion.  He knew how she felt and he still didn’t want to actually face it, to see the proof that would remove the small hope he nursed that she’d cared enough to be worried about him, too.

Taking a smaller cabin, he bathed the stench of prison off and the smells from the sewer that he didn’t particularly want to identify and lay down on the bed, struggling to absorb the fact that he wasn’t going to die after all—probably wasn’t.  At least, he thought wryly, he didn’t have to face the hideous execution that had awaited him.  He might still be incinerated if the authorities managed to catch up with them, but that didn’t seem nearly as bad as being marched into a room to stand waiting for the furnace blast that would melt his skin from his body and then his muscles until even his bones were ash.  Of course, from what he understood, nobody ever lasted much more than five minutes, but he’d had minor burns.  He wasn’t unfamiliar with pain.  He knew how long five minutes felt when the pain was excruciating.

Shuddering, he pushed the thoughts from his mind and turned it to trying to imagine what life was going to be like if they did make it to this new world and it occurred to him that more had changed than he’d realized—everything in point of fact.  Neither he nor Tariq had a position on this new world.  They would have to make one for themselves.  It was almost as scary a thought as it was … exciting, he decided.

He wasn’t sure of how it was going to affect his arrangement with Tariq in regards to Emerald, though, and that disturbed him.   Technically, she wasn’t a slave anymore since she was beyond the reach of the Anunnaki nation.  She would have the same freedom and rights that she’d had before among her people—although he didn’t have a clue of what those were.  No one had ever spent much time considering that the humans might develop their own way of looking at things, their own rules of civilization, but Emerald had certainly made it abundantly clear that it was entirely different to them.

When he woke to the sound of Tariq’s familiar tread in the corridor outside his cabin, he got up and went to collect his uniform from the cleaning unit where he’d left it the night before.  It smelled better and it didn’t look filthy, but it offended him to have to put it on anyway, partly because it brought his prison stay to the forefront of his mind and partly because it hadn’t faired particularly well.  It was the next thing to rags and he’d never had to wear anything that looked so bad, let alone be seen in it.

His eagerness to see Emerald warred with his reluctance to present himself looking so shabby, but his need to reassure himself that she was alright finally won out.  Tariq, who seemed to be searching the small galley for something to eat, flicked a glance at him as he came out, but he didn’t say anything when he immediately turned toward the rear cabin.

She was sitting in a casual chair in the small cabin.  She looked up when he came in, though, and smiled when she saw him.  “Koryn!”

It did strange things to him, overset his entire system so that he couldn’t decide how to react.  Feeling short of breath and weak kneed, he moved to the bed and dropped down on the edge, lifting his hands.  “Come here, baby.”

She got up immediately and surged toward him.  He’d intended to look her over for signs of abuse, but when she rushed to him with such obvious eagerness, he forgot everything.  Need exploded inside of him.  Pulling her between his thighs, he looped one arm around her to hold her tightly against him and threaded his fingers through her hair.  Dragging her head back, he opened his mouth over hers to suck at her soft mouth greedily and then explore the warm cavern.  For a few moments, it appeased his need to taste and touch her when he’d thought he never would again, and then it wasn’t enough.  He broke from her lips and explored her face and then her throat  and then he lifted her high enough that he could explore her breasts.

“Gods damn it, Koryn!  What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Koryn jerked his head up guiltily when Tariq’s thundering voice exploded unexpectedly around him, staring at Tariq with blank, fevered eyes for several moments before anger and possessiveness rolled over him.  His face hardened.  His hands tightened on Emerald.  He tensed, feeling the urge swell inside him to counter Tariq’s challenge.

“She just lost the baby, dunce!”

Koryn glared at him for calling him a dunce even though he immediately felt like one—and worse.  He swallowed convulsively several times.  “I wouldn’t have taken it any further,” he said tightly, knowing as well as Tariq did that it wasn’t likely he could’ve stopped himself before much longer whether he’d recalled her condition or not.

He discovered he needn’t have worried that Tariq would be too judgmental about his lack of control.  There was a glazed look in his own eyes as his gaze flickered over Emerald.  “We can’t right now … can we?  She has to have time to heal.”

Koryn’s heart fluttered.  His gut clenched.  “It depends on when he did it.  If he checked her right off and discovered you’d bred her, he would’ve acted then, in which case she might have had time to heal from it—it’s been nigh a month.  If I had any way to check her, I could tell you.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a damned thing.”

“There’s where you’re wrong.  Seana’s a health freak.  I always thought it was strange that she was so fearful of getting sick when she’d been regenerated four times—and hadn’t once had any serious medical problems that I ever heard about—but she was.  I can guarantee you the sick bay is well stocked.”

Koryn stared at him in disbelief.  “She has a sick bay on her private yacht?”

Tariq shrugged and grinned.  “I told you she was a freak about her health!  You didn’t notice how unnerved she was about the possibility of germs in the prison?”

“Yes, well the place was a cesspool!  I would’ve been more worried about it myself except I figured I wasn’t likely to live long enough to die from anything I might catch down there,” Koryn said dryly.  “Where is it?”

“I’ll show you after we eat.”  He turned his attention to Emerald.  “Come on, baby.  You need to eat something.  It looks like the bastard’s been starving you.”

“I was … unhappy,” she countered.  “He said he would make me eat if I didn’t.”

Tariq’s expression hardened.  “The son-of-a-bitch won’t make you do anything ever again.  I guarantee you he’ll never get his hands on you again if I have to kill him.”

She paled.  “I think that android did that already.”

A jolt went through Tariq.  “What android?”

“Aeon.  He said you sent him to get me and then Mylor came in and ….   I didn’t see what he did.  They fought and then Mylor was on the floor and there was blood everywhere.  I only caught a glimpse and then Aeon leapt toward me, grabbed me, and threw me over his shoulder and then he … ran and crashed through the window.  I guess I blacked out.”  She frowned.  “I remember others and then I felt a sting and the next thing I knew I woke up and you were standing over me.”

Tariq stared at her for a long moment and finally dragged her close.  “Sounds like your escape was more exciting than ours,” he muttered.  “It’s a gods damned shame we’ll never know for sure.  I don’t suppose you know what happened to Aeon?”

“He’s here,” Koryn said.  “The one that helped us, Daris, said that the servants sent to fetch Emerald had captured another android trying to flee with her.  They put him in the hold.”  He shrugged at the look Tariq sent him.  “I never thought about it being Aeon.  I thought he was one of Mylor’s servants.”

Tariq set Emerald away.  “You two wait for me in the galley.  I’ll be back shortly.”