Unbound

  What was wrong with her?

  It was a question that tormented her day and night whenever her mind wasn’t busy with learning to pilot or learning how to fight. Thank the Goddess above, Varin worked her hard, often waking her early and not letting her stop until well into the night—or what passed for night on the ship, anyway. Brynn was eager to learn and more than happy to divert her mind from the dreams and their implications…the implication being that she was becoming a monster—a sick deviant as disgusting and horrible as Sovereign X'izith himself.

  How could she think otherwise? Why else would such dreadful dreams cause her to throb not just with horror, but also with desire? What kind of person got aroused when witnessing the disgusting things she’d seen and been subjected to in the Hive? Especially the sight of the massive alien’s breeding barb—why did the sight of it make her body yearn for penetration? For it did, even though she had promised herself after her deflowering that nothing would ever enter her body again in that way.

  Brynn wanted to reach inside herself and rip out the part of her that lusted and craved and ached to be penetrated…to be filled to the core. There was an empty ache inside her now—a feeling of desperate need that never went away, no matter how hard she tried to banish or ignore it.

  She kept thinking that if only she could reach the peak she’d been able to find with the tickle-teaser Varin had given her, she would get some relief from the awful dreams and their strange, perverted effect on her. But through she lay in the darkness and tried night after night, the release of orgasm eluded her. Brynn couldn’t help feeling that she needed something more—someone more to help her.

  She thought of asking Varin…and dismissed the idea. Even though he could touch her now, the idea of admitting that she needed help to reach the elusive peak was too embarrassing—too humiliating. He was already teaching her to fight and to pilot—what kind of idiot would he think she was if she had to ask for his help with that too?

  And even worse, what if he asked her why she was so desperately needy? What if she had to admit it was her nightmares that were waking her in such a state of desire she could barely breathe? To be aroused by such awful images made no sense and the idea of admitting what was happening to her filled Brynn with shame.

  No—far better to keep her mouth shut and just endure the nightmares. Just hope that they would go away and leave her alone.

  Only they weren’t going away. In fact, if anything, the longer she was away from the Hive, the stronger they got. Almost as if there was some kind of law of physics that didn’t apply anywhere else—an inverse correlation between how far she was from the Hive and how much access Sovereign X'izith had to her mind—if it was, in fact him sending the dreams.

  Maybe he’s not, Brynn told herself as she lay in bed one night, sleepless despite the fact that she’d been up early and had studied with Varin in both piloting and fighting until she was almost ready to drop that day. Maybe I’m just sick—twisted by my time in the Hive. Maybe I’ll never be normal again…

  But no—she couldn’t accept that. She knew if she could just achieve a release—give herself an orgasm—before she drifted off to sleep, she wouldn’t be bothered by the dreams any more. Or that was what she told herself, anyway.

  Though it hadn’t done her any good earlier, Brynn decided to try again. Biting her lip and trying to still her breathing, she slipped her hand under the pink silk sheets to cup her pussy.

  Already she was wet and hot, even though she hadn’t had a nightmare yet that night. That was because of her proximity to Varin when he’d come to say good night to her, Brynn thought. Because being too near the big Kindred brought on the same sensations that the nightmares did. And since she was near him all the time now, it felt like her body was always on overload.

  Tentatively, she tried parting her pussy lips and stroking between them. But though it felt good and the sensations built quickly inside her, her body stubbornly refused to reach orgasm. Brynn tried harder, rubbing now hard, now soft, now faster, now slower—but though her need continued to build until she felt like she might go mad from it, nothing happened.

  Unaware that she was doing it, Brynn began uttering angry little cries, which soon turned into real tears. She put an arm over her eyes and sobbed in frustration. Goddess above, she felt so helpless…so useless. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she find the release she was seeking? If only she could orgasm she was sure she could get a good night’s sleep for once. Maybe even a night without dreams. If only—

  “All right, Princess—we need to talk.”

  The deep, familiar voice in her ear shocked Brynn out of her abject misery. She jerked and turned her head to see that Varin was standing right beside her bed, looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

  “I…um…” She suddenly realized she still had one hand under the covers, cupping her pussy. With a jerk, she drew it out and then, realizing her fingers were wet with her juices, she tried to hide it back under the covers again.

  But Varin was too quick for her. Reaching down, he caught her guilty hand before she could push it back under her sheets.

  “What…what are you doing? Let me go!” Brynn demanded in her most imperious ‘I am a Princess’ voice.

  “Not until we talk this out.” Still holding her hand, he sat down on the side of her bed and raised an eyebrow at her. “I know what you’re doing, Brynn.”

  She felt her cheeks go hot with shame.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I…I’m not doing anything.”

  In answer, Varin brought her hand to his lips and sucked her fingers into his mouth. Brynn watched, wide-eyed, as he carefully cleaned away her juices, lapping slowly as though to savor every bit of her honey.

  “I know what you’re doing,” he repeated, his voice a soft growl. In the dim room, his bronze eyes seemed to glow. “And I know it’s not doing you a damn bit of good.”

  Brynn snatched her hand back.

  “Have you been watching me—having visions of me, I mean?”

  “Some,” he admitted. “But mostly I can hear you through the walls—the same way I hear you when you have one of your nightmares.”

  Above all things, Brynn didn’t want to discuss the nightmares. Even admitting to touching herself was better than that.

  “I…I just thought I’d sleep easier if I could, you know, reach the peak first,” she admitted in a low voice. “Only…I can’t. No matter how hard I try.”

  “I know,” he said softly. “I can hear you trying.”

  “I wish I had that little tickle-teaser you gave me back at the palace,” she said wistfully. “I don’t understand why I can’t…can’t seem to manage without it.”

  “Different things work for different people,” Varin said reasonably. “Some females have a difficult time just using their fingers.”

  “How do you know what works for females?” Brynn demanded. “Have you had a lot of experience before I came to the palace?”

  “None, actually,” he said blandly. “I’ve been blood-bonded to you since I was seven solar years old. Which means the idea of being with any other female sexually is unthinkable.”

  “Really?” Brynn sat up in bed and stared at him. “You were…faithful to me even before you knew me? I mean, before you met me in person?”

  “Always, Mistress. My chastity is yours,” he said, giving her a level stare.

  “But…then I don’t understand. How do you know so much about females and what, uh, works for them?” Brynn asked. “How did you know to give me that tickle-teaser?”

  “It’s as I told you before—no one pays attention to a slave. People talk.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t always in the Arena before I came to guard you. I was often much in demand to guard at female ceremonies and affairs of state.” He made a wry face. “If there’s a hornier, more lustful creature than a Galen noblewoman, I don’t know what it is. The tales I’ve heard by simply standing there and being ignored…” He shook
his head. “Never mind.”

  “Tell me more.” Brynn couldn’t help being intrigued. “What did you hear? About…about how females, um, help themselves?”

  “Well…” He appeared to consider. “Some swear by the water nozzle in their bathing chambers—the kind with the moveable head?”

  Brynn nodded. “I’ve seen that kind but we don’t have one in the fresher here.” She frowned. “Of course there are the jets in the bubble pool, but I can’t help thinking those might be too forceful. What else?”

  “Hmm…most of them had a variety of toys like the tickle-teaser I got you,” Varin said. “But of course we have nothing like that here.”

  “There must be something else.” Brynn felt frustrated enough to start crying again. “There must be, Varin—Goddess above I just…I feel so hungry inside.”

  It was the closest she could come to telling him about the aching emptiness that had invaded her and wouldn’t leave her alone. Brynn didn’t dare say more lest she might have to explain about her dreams.

  But Varin seemed to understand.

  “Don’t fret, little one—we’ll find a way to help you. Here…” He motioned for her. “Come sit by me for a moment.”

  “Why?” Brynn asked but she was already sliding out of the covers and going to sit beside him on the edge of the bed.

  She was wearing a silky kind of undershirt—at least she thought it was an undershirt. It had shorter sleeves than the dress shirts she wore during the day but the same low-cut v-neck that fell almost to her navel. The hem of it ended high on her thighs and of course she had no underpants to wear under it, so she felt bare and vulnerable as she sat beside the big Kindred.

  Vulnerable but still safe—always safe with Varin who still felt like home and security to her. Which was why she didn’t protest when he reached for her.

  “Here.” Varin sat her on his lap, facing him, positioning her so that she was sitting with one of his muscular thighs between her legs.

  Brynn felt awkward balanced on his knee and she wasn’t sure what was going on.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, frowning a little. “I don’t understand.”

  “Some females are able to reach the peak by rubbing against something,” he explained. “Brace your hands on my shoulders and press down against my thigh.”

  “Varin…I…I don’t know if I should.” Brynn felt herself blushing from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

  “Why not?” he asked reasonably. “Are you ashamed to find pleasure in front of me? I’ve already seen you, little one—seen you and heard you and smelled the sweet scent of your pussy when you get hot and come so hard it makes you moan.”

  His bronze eyes were blazing into hers and his words made her shiver. Brynn felt she was going to be consumed by the heat that filled her. The edges of her vision were tinged red again and she could feel her body wanting something…wanting to be close to his body, maybe. His maleness seemed to draw her—pull her in a way she didn’t understand. And yet she was still embarrassed…still ashamed.

  “Varin,” she protested. “I…I shouldn’t use you for my pleasure.”

  “On the contrary, Mistress—that’s what I’m here for,” he murmured. “Make use of me any way you want. If it helps you find what you’re seeking, my body is yours to command.”

  “Well…” Brynn bit her lip. “I…I guess it couldn’t hurt to just…just try.”

  Varin was silent at this, but his bronze eyes, blazing in the darkness, were all the encouragement Brynn needed.

  She’d been sitting with her knees drawn together as much as possible, keeping intimate contact to a minimum but now she relaxed her stance. Bracing her hands on his broad, bare shoulders, she leaned forward experimentally, opening her thighs so that her bare pussy came in contact with his leather-clad thigh.

  Hmm… Brynn bit her lip in concentration. That felt good. Experimentally, she rolled her hips forward, pressing harder so that her pussy lips opened and the tender, swollen nub of her clit pressed against the hard muscles of the big Kindred’s thigh.

  The moment she felt his rock-hard muscle connecting with her throbbing button, Brynn knew this could work. A jolt of pure pleasure ran through her and she bit back a moan. Goddess above, that was really good!

  And it wasn’t just the pressure of Varin’s hard thigh between her legs—it was the nearness of his big body—his warm, spicy, masculine scent and the feel of his bare skin under her fingers. It felt so good—so right—to have him close to her like this while she felt such intimate pleasure. It heightened her experience and made it feel even better.

  She rolled her hips again…and then again, riding his rock-hard thigh, rubbing her wet pussy against the slippery black leather as she dug her fingers into his shoulders and tried not to moan.

  “Goddess, little one…” Varin’s voice was a hoarse growl. “You’re so beautiful…so wild when you seek your pleasure. So hot when I feel your little pussy grinding against my thigh.”

  His deep voice and forbidden words seemed to add another layer to her pleasure, to push her even higher, even closer to the peak.

  “Talk to me, Varin,” she begged, shamelessly working herself against him now. “Tell me…tell me things.”

  “What things, little one?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Naughty things,” Brynn whispered breathlessly. “Forbidden things.”

  His bronze eyes were sleepy with lust and amusement.

  “You want me to talk dirty to you, Princess?”

  “Yes,” Brynn gasped, pressing hard against his thigh. “Goddess, yes—please Varin!”

  “Do you want me to tell you how hard you make me when you rub against me like this?” he murmured. “How I can scent the heat of your pussy and it makes me want you so badly I can hardly see straight? But then, I’ve wanted you from the moment you came back to the palace, Princess.”

  “You…you have?” Brynn looked at him with wide eyes.

  He nodded. “I have. Does it bother you to hear it?”

  “No.” Brynn shook her head. “No, I…I like it. Tell…tell me more.”

  “Should I tell you how good your pussy honey tasted when I licked it off your fingers just now?” Varin murmured. “Should I tell you how I wish I could taste it right from the source? Put my head between your legs and tongue open your soft little pussy lips to lick that hot little clit I can feel grinding against me?”

  “Oh! Oh, Varin…” Brynn gasped. “I…I’ve imagined you doing that,” she admitted breathlessly as she continued to ride his thigh, her pleasure growing and growing. “Ever since you told me my little bump was called a clit and that…that it felt good when a male touched or licked there.”

  “Gods, I’d love to lick you there, little one,” he growled, his eyes flashing with lust. “Love to feel you quiver under my tongue while I lapped you to orgasm over and over again…”

  “Oh!” Brynn moaned again and felt a cool breeze on her chest. Looking down, she saw that her night shirt was gaping open to show her bare breasts, the wide v-neck pulled apart by the vigorous motion of her rocking. Her pink nipples were hard and thrusting, almost brushing against the broad planes of Varin’s chest with each stroke as she writhed against him.

  Her first impulse was to clutch her shirt closed—but then she thought again. Why should she hide herself? And why shouldn’t she take as much pleasure as she could? She needed it, she reasoned with herself, needed it to reach that elusive peak that she was so desperate to get to.

  “Varin,” she moaned as she rolled her hips. “Varin would you…could you…touch me?”

  “With pleasure, Mistress,” he growled. Cupping her left breast in his right hand, he rolled her tight nipple between thumb and fingers, tugging gently until Brynn felt sparks of pleasure running from her breasts straight to her spread pussy.

  “Varin!” she moaned. “I…I’m getting so close. Don’t stop…talk to me…touch me!”

  “Gods, little one, you’re so dam
n beautiful,” he groaned. “You make my shaft so hard when you ask me to touch you.” He was tugging on her other nipple now. Brynn wished he would tease both at once but he still wasn’t using his gloved left hand for some reason.

  But Varin made up for not using his other hand by ducking his head and capturing her other stiff bud between his lips.

  Brynn gasped in surprise as his hot, wet mouth enveloped her and then, suddenly, she was at the peak—at the peak and over it as the hot suction of his mouth and the hard muscle of his thigh against her pussy made her come harder than she ever had with the tickle-teaser—harder than she’d ever come before in her life.

  “Varin!” she moaned, throwing back her head and thrusting out her chest to give him better access to her bare breasts. “Yes, Varin, yes—suck me! Lick me! Goddess, I’m coming—you’re making me come! Come so hard.”

  A low growl was her answer and he redoubled his efforts, switching to her other nipple to lick and suck and nip it, sending showers of pleasure/pain sparks through her entire body, intensifying her orgasm so drastically that Brynn thought she was going to pass out.

  Goddess above, she couldn’t help thinking. This is good…this is right! Being with Varin, letting him touch me…taste me…it’s better than anything I ever could have imagined. I wish it could never end!

  * * * * *

  Varin thought Brynn had looked on the verge of blacking out for a moment, during the most intense part of her orgasm. Her eyelids fluttered and her heart was pattering as quickly as a little bird’s. For a moment he was concerned but she didn’t pass out—though she did eventually come to a stop, panting and gasping for breath.

  Varin released the nipple he’d been sucking and teasing with his tongue and looked at her.

  “You all right, little one?” he growled hoarsely. “Did you find enough pleasure?”

  “Yes, I…I think so.” Brynn gave a soft little sigh of contentment and collapsed against his chest. “Goddess, Varin, that was so good,” she moaned.

  “For me too, little one.” He stroked her back, still trembling with the aftershocks of orgasm. Holding her in his arms while she came had been the most erotic experience of his life—knowing that she was using his body to bring herself pleasure made him so hard he felt he might explode. Even now he could feel her soft little pussy, still spread open against his thigh. It made him so hot…as hot as Brynn.