Angel 6.0: Pursuit

  The Emperor growled and clicked no. “You may be quick to dismiss inconvenient truths, but it changes nothing. This situation is unique. We are only now learning about humans. The Traders Guild believes humans are nothing but workers, or in Angel’s case, an unpaid concubine. Angel, in her fearless defense of my son, has proven humans are far more complex than we understand. The Trader’s Guild was mistaken in their attacks on human colonies. It is a mistake to take humans for forced labor. Angel has shown us humans are amazingly intelligent, capable, and loyal creatures worthy of deeper consideration. Let us not make further mistakes with humanity by condemning Angel. She deserves better, and we must convene a tribunal to reconsider our dealings with humanity.”

  The Emperor reached his arms out to appeal to the crowd. “This foul business with Nugene’s worker clones is a mistake that will lead to consequences. Humans capitulate to the Trader’s demands in fear, to appease. Fear and appeasement are the predecessors of violent rebellion. Considering Angel’s unique situation is the first step towards considering many things that have been troubling me regarding humans. I ask forgiveness for Angel, and that she be freed. Then I propose we open a new tribunal for discussions on our treaty with humanity.”

  By the time he finished speaking, the room filled with Traders Guild officials were all on their feet, murmuring, shouting, and growling back and forth. Cat chaos. The Emperor had just made his first mistake in my defense. He used me to grandstand his cause, and probably sacrificed my life to force his agenda on the Traders Guild.

  The fatcat yowled at the top of his lungs for attention. “We have heard the words of Angel’s defenders! We have heard the witnesses’ testament! I call for judgment!”

  With that, the clamor died and the eyes of dozens of predatory Cats settled on me standing alone, naked and vulnerable. I knew the score. I had known it all along. The Emperor and his son had only delayed the inevitable. As Cat after Cat nodded and murmured my sentence, the word echoed across the room, and all hope fled.

  Death … Death … Death for the human … Death for Angel.

  A near unanimous decision – a foregone conclusion.

  Suddenly Rollick leapt up onto the platform and stole the room as everyone settled into a hush. “I claim what I have won. I claim Warden over Angel. She is mine!” Rollick seized my arm and pulled me in close, cutting into my flesh with the harsh grip of his claws.

  One of the massive Cats in the crowd called out in a harsh growl. “I challenge you for Angel under our laws. I would fight you now. Do you accept or will you concede to my challenge?”

  I already knew what this meant, and I couldn’t stand to see Rollick get himself killed in combat to defend me. I tried to get his attention, to beg him to stop. He squeezed my arm tighter and growled at his challenger. “I do not accept. I take Angel as my mate. By right of the Prince and future Emperor of the Gran, none can offer challenge for my mate. The law protects the security of the Royal family from challenge.”

  The entire room shut down with a series of hisses. My eyes locked with Cesar’s shocked gaze and despite his inability to grasp the language, I could see he understood Rollick had claimed me for his own. Cesar and his men watched in horror and confusion as Rollick hauled me into his arms and nuzzled me nose to nose, an intimate form of affection that now had a whole new meaning.

  I was officially his mate – Rollick’s last line of defense to save my life.

  Apparently, the Prince had the right of his chosen mate and nobody could fuck with him on it. The Traders Guild Cats gawked at us with the most hilarious Cat-in-the-headlights stares of incredulity. Horrified, shocked, naked in the arms of a three meter tall Cat whose claws gripped me possessively, I thought I must be going insane when I started to giggle with the absurdity of it.

  Poor Rollick was doomed by his own decree. Mated to me, might as well have no mate at all. He could try to cram his monster cock in me all he wanted, but I’d never give him an heir. I would be the end his family line.

  * * * *

  Chapter 15

  I stood beside Rollick, holding his huge hand, and I said the words that bound me to him for life. “I accept Prince Rollick Grandrock as my mate and promise to love and serve him always.”

  Rollick said basically the same thing, minus the ‘serve’ part. These fucking Cats had a twisted, unbalanced way of binding females to males. Until my tribunal and this mating ceremony, I’d never really grasped this nuance of their society, though Chilla had tried to explain repeatedly. As we made our way to the table and I sat beside my new owner-master-husband-mate-lover, I understood the steep imbalance of power between males and females with a fresh perspective.

  The ceremony finished in a matter of minutes, in a simple, yet ornate room among the Royal family’s opulent quarters. A few guests had been invited, some Cats I’d never seen before, and to my surprise, Cesar and his men. I watched the man I loved from afar. He sat across the room with Chancy and Azad. Though Cesar’s face was closed to me, I sensed great turmoil in him. We’d hardly spoken since he’d shredded my heart and soul, and though he didn’t speak the Gran language it was obvious he knew I had committed my life to Rollick.

  Princess to Prince Rollick, I had attained the accolade most hated female in the Allied Federation of the Gran, and if humans on Earthside ever found out, they’d surely hate me with equal contempt.

  Lenka had insisted I wear a shimmery metallic bra and a matching see-through skirt, something custom made to fit me. My skin had been painted with a gold-coppery glitter, which accented the outfit perfectly. I sparkled like a bright shiny trophy on display. On top of the paint job and see-through clothing, Lenka had drenched me in a floral perfume that the females loved to wear.

  All ready to be bent over and fucked by the Prince, claimed by his monstrosity of a cock.

  Rollick left me at the table to cruise among the guests and mingle beside the Emperor. Chilla sat beside me at the table, holding my hand during the alien after-party. I could hardly stand to look her in the eyes. Through no choice of my own, I had stolen the mate she would have loved and cherished, the male she would have served faithfully, if she’d had the chance.

  From the dirty looks the males speared at Chilla, I realized her acquaintance with me would bring her more strife and shame, in addition to the stigma she carried as a scarred concubine. My friend would pay dearly for her loyalty to me, but she proved something I had often suspected – there was more to these Cats than met the eye. They could be loyal, loving, caring, and compassionate.

  Looking at Chilla, I couldn’t find words for my friend, but I tried. “I wish you were sitting here. I wish you were his mate. Believe me, Chilla, this is what I wanted for you.”

  She nodded and her eyes drifted away in silent acceptance. She held my hand and stayed at my side, a true friend. She’d dyed her stripes a brilliant metallic gold, a match to my getup. I imagined how gorgeous she’d look dressed in my shimmery see-through Princess clothing, dancing for Rollick in her graceful acrobatic movements. My heart went out to her, yet selfishly, I was glad she stuck by me.

  Despite my guilt over Chilla, my thoughts drifted back to Cesar. My heart yearned for the man I had lost. My eyes repeatedly returned to the lover who’d destroyed me with his rejection. He watched me from his table across the way, chatting quietly with his men. I didn’t understand what perverse pleasure he gained from seeing me mated to Rollick, but he stayed for the ceremony and the after-party.

  I recalled standing before the Trader’s Guild in judgment, naked at the brink of death. My needs had become crystal clear then. Nothing in the universe mattered anymore. Not Rollick, not the royal family with their good intentions, not any of these perverse male Cats and their twisted ideas about females and humanity.

  All I needed in my life was Cesar. The universe didn’t give a shit what I needed. And neither did Cesar. His rejection stung all the more because I still loved him, still needed him. My illogical need for Cesar left me feeling weak and
foolish.

  Didn’t matter anymore how I felt. The course of my life belonged to this huge, infatuated Cat, Prince Rollick. Though his motives appeared true, and I loved him … in a way, I could never be happy like this. I doubted he would either. He needed a female of his own kind, to meet his needs and integrate into his society. The brave fool had set himself against the Empire of the Gran when he took me for a mate. Apart from the royal family, every Cat eye turned my way glared in malice.

  I assumed there’d be numerous attempts on my life. I considered letting the Gran assassinate me, be done with it. In saving me, Rollick had stolen my life, and perhaps ruined his own.

  Cesar approached my table and boldly sat across from me. His eyes took in my barely there clothing, settled on my hard nipples, and the bastard smiled. “Seeing you like this.” He shook his head. “I feel like I’ve lost something beautiful, rare and precious. I’m such a stupid asshole, Angel.”

  An apology? Now of all times, as I contemplated a life spent in servitude to the Prince. NOW? “Is this a fucking joke?”

  Cesar closed his eyes and a flicker of pain contorted his face. When he looked at me, frustration and anguish shone from his eyes. Was he hurting … as if he actually gave a shit what happened to me?

  “You’re an intimidating woman, Angel. I mean that in the best possible way. You’re powerful, seductive, dangerous, and maddening. You’re not even … you’re like no person I’ve ever met. The thought of being with you is overwhelming. I don’t deserve you, Angel.”

  I wanted to hit him. I wanted to smash his apologetic face into the wall and scream. Why now, when I’m mated, taken, ruined for life. Why now?

  I held onto my shaking hands and calmed myself by force of will. Gradually I weaned away the adrenaline searing through my veins and found a way to speak without screeching. “It’s too late, Cesar. The Prince has … I’m his now.”

  He continued speaking, as if this minor complication didn’t faze him. “I was so angry with you. I’m still angry you waited so long to tell me the truth. But I can’t decide what bothers me more – being with you, or being without you.”

  God, he was doing it again, shredding my soul. This pain was the worst I’d ever felt. Tears blurred my vision and I fought to keep from bawling and screaming in his face. “I … I can’t do this, Cesar. You’re hurting me. Again. I love you so much. I begged you … and now. I’m his Cesar. Rollick owns me.” I tapped at the metallic collar still wrapped around my throat and considered trying to cut the thing off so it could blow up in my face, decapitate me, and end this cruel, painful existence.

  Cesar’s eyes softened. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I did try, Angel. I met with Rollick and the Emperor alone, no translator. They knew what I wanted, but they wouldn’t budge. I offered them all three freighters of ore, still they clicked no. I don’t understand why they want to keep you so badly.” His eyes took on a faraway gleam, then refocused on me. “Well, maybe I do understand. You’re a very special woman, and I wish I could go back in time and do it all differently. I didn’t know what to say when you told me about Nugene, your birth. I didn’t know how to handle it. I was a fool, Angel, but I promise you that I tried, and I’ll keep trying. I can get more ore. I’ll try to figure out what these Cats value, so I can get my hands on it and trade it for your life.”

  Hot tears streamed down my face and I could hardly speak from choking on this roller coaster of hate and joy, love and fear. Cesar loved me. Despite what I was, my lies, my mistakes, despite the fact I had mated an alien Prince, he loved me. I wanted to hug, kiss, fuck and punch him all at once.

  Cesar’s eyes flicked to Rollick who stood watching us beside his father the Emperor. “He saved your life by taking you for his mate. Though I want to hate him, I can’t fault him. It was very noble.”

  I could only nod as my vision blurred and my heart shattered into a million little pieces, again.

  “He can’t really mate with you, can he? Physically, I mean.”

  I shook my head, unwilling and unable to tell him how much humans and Cats could enjoy together. “All I ever wanted was you, Cesar. Even now, I want nothing more than to go with you.”

  He watched me, and another glimpse of his pain slipped through the cracks in his rigid facial mask. “I wanted you to know I was wrong. The way I treated you was wrong. You deserve more, you deserve happiness, Angel. No matter what happens, I wish you to find happiness.”

  I dashed my liquor in his face, wishing I could hurt him the way he was slashing my soul apart. “Happiness!” The words choked out between my tears. “Is that what you call this? Fucking happiness? My happiness never mattered to anyone in this fucked up galaxy.”

  He wiped my drink off his face with his sleeve. “I guess I deserved that.” He reached across the table to take my hand. I jerked away from his attempt to comfort me. Cesar had once told me you’re a mess, girl. His words had never been more true than in this moment. I was a complete mess. I wished I’d stepped out an airlock and ended it back then, before I’d fallen in love with a man I could never have.

  “I would have given you everything, all my love, all my devotion, all my time, my heart and soul. You’re worried I am too strange, too different, too inhuman. I am different. I am so much more than you can handle, but I was yours. I would have worshipped you.”

  His eyes settled on Rollick and the Emperor deep in discussion with a group of Cats, then flicked back to me with an intense soul-deep stare. “You’re the most remarkable woman I have ever met, Angel. I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve your love. There are things you don’t know, things I’m not proud of. But know this, I do love you. I have always loved you, from the moment we brought you through our airlock, covered in blood, crying over my dead brother. I loved you from the beginning.”

  Absorbed in Cesar’s heart-rending words, I barely noticed Rollick slip up beside me until the Prince’s large hand settled on my shoulder and I heard an electronic beep-click sound. Suddenly the tight-fitted collar that had ringed my neck for endless months of my captivity fell away.

  My slave collar was gone.

  Cesar’s eyes sharpened on me. Our gazes locked as my world shifted under a new paradigm.

  Rollick leaned down and purred in my ear. “I free you, Princess Angel. You may come and go as you please. I pray to the Goddess Lura you will return to me as a friend, as the Princess you are. Go now, Angel. Be with your human. I see your pain and it pains me. I would not be the cause of it. Come to me as you please. You always have a home in the house of Grandrock. Show me the shining white teeth of your joyful freedom.”

  I grinned up at my savior, the friend who supported me against all the Cats and humans across the vastness of the galaxy. Rollick had refused freighters filled with untold value in ore. He would not take money for my freedom – he gifted it to me. My heart sang with the wondrous sensation of freedom and love for this honorable Cat. To come and go as I please, to do as I please, to be with whom I pleased. Rollick had given me a chance at happiness, the most valuable gift in the universe.

  All restrictions lifted, every closed door in the universe opened for me, beckoning with endless possibilities.

  Grinning so hard my face hurt, I kissed Rollick on the nose and stroked his furry, powerful jaw. He loved it when I rubbed his fur. “It’s called a smile, Rollick. I smile when I’m happy. Like now.” My fingers delighted in the softness of his furry neck and shoulders. “I can never thank you enough. You will always be in my heart, Rollick. I will return to you. I promise.”

  I looked to Cesar and found the man I loved grinning at me, his face bright with dawning hope.

  I stood and reached out to Chilla. Her beautiful feline eyes had filled with awe at the Prince’s selfless act. “Please stay with the Prince. I want you to keep him warm at night for me. We need you, Chilla. Rollick needs you. I trust you alone to take care of his needs.”

  I looked to Rollick. “Would you accept Chilla in my place? Is it possi
ble she can stay as a permanent guest, in your quarters, without … issues? She loves you, Rollick. She would do anything for you. Anything. Please give her the opportunity to prove herself. Do it for me.”

  His eyes held a gleam of something I could only describe as Cat lust. “If you insist, Angel. I accept Chilla in your absence, my Princess.” He graciously nodded to me and then to Chilla.

  I took her hand and placed it in his. “I promise I will return to you both. You are my best friends. I want nothing but happiness for you together. The same happiness Rollick has given me.”

  Rollick’s eyes squinted in pleasure and he stroked the side of my face with the softness of his palm. I began to suspect the Prince was not nearly as naive as I’d thought. Perhaps he’d planned this all along.

  I kissed my husband goodbye and stepped around the table to snatch up Cesar’s hand. The hope in his eyes held the promise of everything I ever wanted in life. I squeezed his fingers hard in my inhumanly powerful grip. “I am way more than you can handle, and you should be intimidated. But I am still yours. That has not changed.” I pulled him out of his chair and dragged him past the glaring Cats and the stares of Azad and Chancy, to the hallway. I shoved Cesar in his guest room and locked the door behind us.

  “Angel, I need to know what’s going on. Is this one of your visits … or are you actually free?”

  I latched onto Cesar and kissed him hard. My hands fisted in his hair and I poured all my passion into his lips and mouth. His hands found my ass and pulled me tight against the hot lump at his groin. Enslaved then mated by Cats who had dragged me across the galaxy, the insanity of my life vanished in the sublime of experience of this man. His love permeated my soul and blotted out the world.

  “Please talk to me, Angel.”

  I undid his zipper past his groin. With my hand gripping his semi-hard cock, I pushed my fingers against his lips. “Shush. You owe me, Cesar. You owe me all the love and affection I can get from you. You hurt me more than anyone has ever hurt me, and now you’re going to fix it. Shut up and make love to me.”