Without warning her small hand shot between his legs from behind and suddenly she was holding his balls in her hand in a very firm grip.
“Mistress!” Thorn’s voice came out sounding hoarse.
“Hmm—I dare say this is a pain that will bother you. At least a little,” she murmured sarcastically and for just a moment Thorn actually thought she meant to squeeze and bring him to his knees. Because she was right—there were some kinds of pain a male simply couldn’t ignore.
Instead, though, Neh’sa released her grip on his sac and began to tickle the sensitive area, using just the tips of her soft little fingers. Then she reached further between his legs and stroked his now-hard shaft several times, drawing a low groan from Thorn’s throat.
“Now you see the reason for the special trousers,” Neh’sa murmured, still stroking him.
“So you can jerk me off any hour of the day or night?” Thorn demanded through gritted teeth. Though he didn’t like to admit it, this situation was turning him on—he’d never had a female push him up against a wall and stroke him this way before. It was fucking sexy, especially since, if he’d wanted to, he could have thrown her over one shoulder and carried her straight to bed to have his way with her. But he couldn’t do that—he would never take a female against her will.
Also he didn’t want her to stop what she was doing.
“I’m not jerking you off, Thorn,” she whispered, still stroking. “In fact, you had the last orgasm you’re going to for quite a while yesterday during your first training session.”
“What?” Thorn demanded. Her soft little hand was enflaming him—his shaft was so hard it felt like he could fuck through a plasti-steel wall—he was dying to come. And now she was telling him he couldn’t?
“You heard me—I control your orgasms now. You’re going to have to earn them, Thorn.” She smiled at him. “Which means you need to be very good and very obedient if you want one.”
“I…” He licked his lips. “I don’t—
“And if you’re thinking you’ll help yourself—well, just try.” Using the long crop, she twitched the loincloth to one side and nodded at his throbbing cock. “Go on—try to touch yourself.”
Thorn reached for himself, almost reflexively. But the moment his hand touched his erect shaft, he felt a sharp, electrical shock in his fingertips.
“Ow!” Grimacing, he pulled his hand away. He had forgotten the non-contact bracelets.
“I think you can see the hope of touching yourself again is useless,” Neh’sa told him sternly. “I want you, as much as possible, to be in a constant state of arousal. Which is why I’ll do this…” She grasped his thick shaft again and stroked several times—long, slow strokes that went from the root of his cock all the way to the flaring crown. “Anytime I want,” she concluded.
“Mistress—” Thorn began hoarsely.
“I might even do this.” Leaning over him, Neh’sa put out her small, pink tongue and swiped delicately over the broad head of his cock. The soft, hot heat of her mouth made Thorn’s hips jerk with need.
“Gods, Mistress—you’re a fucking sadist!” he growled.
“No—I just have to find a way to control you besides pain,” Neh’sa told him, looking up into his eyes. “And pleasure is the next logical option.” She straightened up. “Welcome to the world of tease and denial, Thorn. Follow me.”
Cock throbbing, Thorn took his hands off the viewer and straightened up stiffly, well aware of the awkward tent he was making in the black loin-cloth. Gods, did she really want him at this level of arousal all the time? It would fucking kill him! And it made the fire inside him so much harder to control when he was aroused.
Where was the sweet Neh’sa who had let him hold her and pleasure her the night before—who had knelt before him and treated his wounds? Somehow she had disappeared to be replaced by Mistress Neh’sanna who was every bit as ruthless as Thorn had imagined she would be when he had first agreed to take this mission.
And yet…despite his irritation and sexual frustration, he couldn’t help admiring her. She was tougher than he’d thought. Despite her petite size, she wasn’t afraid to take him on, even though he was so much bigger than her. And the touch of her small, soft hands still affected him in a way no other female’s touch ever had.
It doesn’t matter, he told himself sternly. Doesn’t matter how she affects you—it’s better to ignore it. Ignore the feelings she raises inside you. Don’t let her get to you—you’re only here to get the information from the Library of All Knowledge and as soon as you do, you’re leaving.
He’d allowed his new Mistress to get under his skin, Thorn admitted to himself. For a little while during that first night, he’d been acting like a true body-slave and had almost forgotten his real purpose here. Well, he wouldn’t let it happen again. He made up his mind to consider everything she did to him as just another form of torture, the same as the blood snails or the fire whip which had been used on him in his former missions.
He wouldn’t let his heart be touched again.
Neh’sa seemed to have made the same promise to herself because she kept up the persona of the strong, remote Mistress perfectly and he didn’t see the soft, vulnerable female who had allowed him to take her to bed and pleasure and cuddle her again.
At least, not for almost a week…
Chapter Eleven
Sovereign Ysldred X’izith paced around the small, irregularly shaped room which seemed to be made of some kind of reddish rock. He was the leader of the Hive, an insectile race of beings from beyond the Void, and Brynn found herself watching him now, with the same horror as the first time she’d seen him without his disguise.
But how am I seeing him? she thought, shuddering. And why?
She had no answers—just the image of the Sovereign pacing around the red rock room in slow, measured strides.
In Earth terms, he most resembled a cross between a cockroach and a wasp, with the long hard shell-like wings of the former and the narrow waist and stinger of the latter. His head, bulbous and triangular, resembled that of an ant with its curving, serrated mandibles, mobile, twitching antennae, and huge black, soulless eyes. His entire body was shiny black slashed with crimson and his long, chitinous legs were lined with coarse, wiry hairs and tipped with gripping claws.
Now he was missing one of his long, thin arms and when he turned his head, Brynn could see that one eye was only an empty socket. The long, insectile abdomen at the bottom of his body was twisted with scar tissue and the black breeding barb he had longed to sink deep inside her appeared withered. But for all his injuries, he was alive…still alive, Brynn saw with horror.
On a raised stone platform beside him sat several gem-like stones. Two were small and purple—about the size and shape of the Earth candy called M&Ms which Brynn’s new friends had given her to try. The third stone was bigger—the size of a human palm. It glowed green with some strange, alien energy that made Brynn shiver for some reason.
“My Sovereign,” came the buzzing voice of one of the Hive’s sentient workers. “My Sovereign, good news! Good news!”
“What is it?” Sovereign X'izith snapped in an angry tone as the worker came into view. It looked like a slightly smaller version of the Sovereign himself although its wings were longer and lighter—more like a dragonfly’s wings, Brynn thought numbly.
“It has to do with the latest scouting expedition we sent out.” The worker groomed its long antennae excitedly. “One of the scouts brought back the most extraordinary sample—”
“What good are samples to me?” X'izith demanded. “When the females they are getting samples from are forever out of my reach behind the energy shield those blasted Kindred have erected around Earth?”
“But my Sovereign we have found such a female—”
“I need more than one female and you know it!” X'izith’s tone was surly. “Not that I will enjoy breeding them with my barb in this state.” He gestured to the withered husk of his once long and
sleek breeding barb. “It will be agony but I must do it—the royal grubs must be implanted in order for my successor to be born. In order that the Hive may live forever.”
“Yes, my Sovereign but what if I told you we had found a female who can be bred more than once?”
“What are you talking about?” X'izith demanded. “No female can be bred more than once. They cannot stand more because the grubs kill their hosts as they eat their way out after gestation. That is why we need many of the Earth females—hundreds or thousands. But we cannot even get one!”
“But what if I told you we had found a female whose genetic results suggest she could withstand the gestation of the grubs and birth them naturally?” the worker asked excitedly. “This same female could be bred over and over—she could be used for years or at least until we find a way around the energy shield the Kindred Mothership is generating around the Earth.”
Sovereign X'izith’s antenna perked up.
“The ten’sora?” he asked. “You have found a ten’sora? I thought such females were only legend.”
“This legend is true, my Sovereign!” the worker nodded rapidly. “We have tested her DNA—the ten’sora exists!’
“Say you so?” X'izith buzzed. “And can this female be used for the royal grubs?”
“Both royal and common, my Sovereign,” the worker promised. “The ten’sora is able to bear multiple litters of both. So she is the only one we need to transport—at least for now.”
“But how are we to transport her? Getting even one female past the shield—”
“Will be possible as soon as the scholar-workers have finished their study of the E’lo transport stones and are able to make them work.” The worker came forward and groomed the stump where Sovereign X'izith’s fourth arm had been, nibbling it tenderly with his mandibles to stimulate blood flow.
“They have told me they are close to such a revelation,” X'izith said, musing. “I thought it would do us no good as the stones are able to transport only one. But now, if what you say is true—if there truly is a female who can bear brood after brood of grubs without being destroyed from the inside out…”
“It is true, my Sovereign,” the worker promised, ceasing his grooming for a moment. “As soon as the stones are working, we shall have the ten’sora —the only female we need for now. I swear it.”
“The Nameless Ones, Gods of Nothing, grant it shall be,” X'izith buzzed. “That the Hive shall live forever…”
That the Hive shall live forever…that the Hive shall live forever…
The words seemed burned into Brynn’s mind. They rang in her head, tolling like a giant bell, tolling out destruction and doom and death…
“Brynn? Princess? Wake up, little one—wake up.”
A big, warm hand was shaking her and Brynn opened her eyes to Varin, her lover and mate, leaning over her. He was looking at her anxiously, his pale bronze eyes filled with worry as he stroked her cheek.
“You were shaking the whole bed,” he told her. “It must have been an awful dream.”
The bed—we’re in bed together. Safe in our suite in the Mothership, she suddenly remembered.
“Yes, safe—you’re safe here with me,” he murmured through their link, his mental voice comforting. “Everything’s all right, little one. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Oh, Varin!” She threw her arms around his neck, a sob caught in her throat.
He pulled her close and stroked her trembling back and shoulders with his big, warm hands, caressing her as gently as though she was made of crystal and might break if he was too rough.
But Brynn needed reassurance that he was really there—that he was really real. She clung to him desperately and pressed her face against the side of his neck, breathing in his spicy, masculine scent. She could feel the warmth of his big body through the thin, silky nightdress she wore but still she needed more.
“Tight, Varin,” she whispered pleadingly. “Hold me tight.”
In response, his massive, muscular arms tightened around her in a gentle squeeze. Then he sat up in bed and lifted her into his lap, cradling her close against his broad, bare chest, surrounding her with himself.
“Want to tell me about it, little one?” he rumbled softly. “Was it a really bad dream?”
“It was but…” Brynn shook her head, her long black hair brushing against his chest. “But I can’t remember it now. All I know is that it was…” She shivered against him uncontrollably. “It was about Sovereign X'izith.”
“Just a nightmare,” Varin murmured, stroking her hair soothingly. “That’s all it was—a nightmare.”
“No,” Brynn shook her head anxiously. “No, it was real—it was true. I don’t know how I know that but I do—I know. Varin…” She looked up at him, tracing his familiar, sharp features in the dim glow of light coming from under the fresher door. “He’s still alive. We thought we killed him but we didn’t—he’s alive!”
Her mate didn’t try to contradict her. Instead, he held her close, cuddling her and soothing her, rocking her as though she was a lost child he wanted to comfort.
Brynn, for her part, closed her eyes and tried to absorb some of the comfort he was offering.
“Varin,” she sent through their link. “It was awful—so awful I don’t even want to think of it. But at the same time I wish I could remember what it was so I could tell someone—maybe Commander Sylvan or someone else on the High Council. It seemed so important but I can’t remember any details now—just the Sovereign standing in a cave with some weird, glowing stones.”
“That may be enough to give Commander Sylvan some information.” Varin’s mental voice was thoughtful. “At least now we know our suspicions are correct and the Sovereign is still alive. It’s a good thing Commander Thornx went on his mission to get the information on the Hive from Yonnie Six.”
“Didn’t you tell me he had to get himself sold as a slave in order to get it?” Brynn asked timidly. Slavery was something her mate knew much about.
Brynn had grown up a princess on Galen, a planet far from the Mothership and Varin, who was a Vision Kindred, had been her slave since birth. For years he had been unable to touch her because of a band he wore around his wrist which gave him jolts of agony if he made even the least amount of skin-to-skin contact with her.
But though he had been forced into his life of slavery, he had been devoted to her from the first. Their love had grown against all odds and now they were the only two people left of her home world. But though being a slave was in Varin’s past, Brynn knew he still had bitter memories of it.
“He did allow himself to be sold as a slave,” he said now, aloud. “I thought it was a poor idea myself, but as I am not part of the Kindred High Council and was only testifying about the Hive, my thoughts were not much taken into consideration.” He sighed heavily. “Even worse, I’m afraid the Yonnite Mistresses who own only male slaves are supposed to be a cruel and brutal bunch. I saw a holo image of the female Commander Thornx was going to be sold to and she looked…” He shook his head. “Well, let’s just say he’s not going to have an easy time of it.”
“What do you mean?” Brynn asked. Then she caught a mental image from her mate’s mind—a petite female with long, wavy black hair and a stern look in her dark eyes. She was wearing a tight leather outfit and between her legs was strapped… Goddess, what is that?” Brynn wondered.
“It’s a phallus.” Varin’s mental voice was grim. “It’s used for male penetration.”
“Male pene—” Brynn broke off and stared at him, wide-eyed in the dark. “But why…why would a female want to…to do that to a male?” she asked, feeling her cheeks get hot with a blush.
Her own entry into the world of sex had been filled with confusion and pain, due to her people’s cruel and archaic customs and a dose of the blood honey she’d been given when she had been a prisoner of the Hive. Only now, with Varin’s loving patience, was she beginning to feel less conflicted about her normal sexual
urges. But surely the urge for a female to penetrate a male couldn’t be normal—could it?
“It’s normal on Yonnie Six, apparently,” Varin murmured. “Normal enough that Commander Thornx will quite probably have to endure it. He will be a slave, after all—he will have no say in the matter.”
“That’s awful,” Brynn whispered. “What if I had wished to do such a thing to you when you were my slave? You would have hated me!”
“I could never hate you, Princess.” Varin stroked a lock of hair away from her eyes and kissed her lightly on the lips. “And if you wished to penetrate me…well, my body is yours to do with as you please.”
“Really?” Brynn looked at him, wide-eyed. “You’d really let me do…do that to you?”
“I do it to you all the time,” he pointed out with a soft chuckle. “And you don’t hate me for it.”
“That’s true,” Brynn admitted, blushing. “But we…we do that because we love each other.”
“Well, a slave may grow to love his Mistress,” Varin remarked thoughtfully. “I suppose Commander Thornx may feel for his Mistress as I felt for you all those years, though I could never touch you because of that damn inhibitor band I wore.”
“I just don’t know if you could have loved me if I was…was penetrating you like that.” Just the thought made her blush again, her cheeks growing warm with the mental image of herself dominating and taking Varin as he so often took her.
In fact, she and her mate made love often. Due, perhaps, to traces of the blood honey left in her system, she needed to feel his shaft inside her, breeding her long and hard, on a very regular basis. Just thinking of it made her pussy feel hot and tingly and needy but she didn’t like to say anything about it since Varin had filled her multiple times just before they’d gone to sleep that night.
“I’d love you no matter what,” Varin whispered, kissing her again. “Even if you wished to penetrate me, Mistress. My body is yours to command—yours to do with as you wish—you know that.” He stroked her cheek. “Which means you shouldn’t feel shy to ask for what you need right now.”