Chapter Eight

Jaro caught her unconscious body before it hit the floor. Why, he didn’t know. Anger coursed through him, a molten rage that made him want to go on a murderous rampage, and it was all her fault. He’d meticulously planned out his capture of her, and everything was going along according to his plan when he caught her returning to her room with that grey-skinned male. Livid didn’t come close to describing his emotions when the alien dared to touch her and use his brute strength against her small stature. An unfamiliar sensation had washed over him—jealousy. Even stranger, he didn’t know why it filled him to the point he needed to kill the other male she’d chosen. Actually, he lied. He did know why he’d had to decimate the alien biped. Because he touched what is mine.

It made him furious to know she’d so casually dismissed him and gone on to another. Sure, he knew she quested for a father, but to go from him, greatest warrior and scourge of the galaxy, to a waystation bully? It made him want to kill the bastard again.

Cradling her limp form in his arms, he couldn’t help inhaling her scent, a sweet perfume that haunted his sleep—and even his waking moments—the entire time he searched for her. To speed up his task, he’d snagged his cousins—in the nick of time too because their most recent scam had gotten them into trouble yet again. Each galactic unit he’d spent searching raised his ire, and boiled his blood as he imagined her in the arms of another.

Even now, he couldn’t be sure she hadn’t shared her body in the time they’d spent apart. The all-consuming jealousy at that thought made him tighten his grip on her.

Striding from the command center, he headed to his quarters. He’d no sooner laid her on his bed than his cousins crowded in behind him. As he snapped the manacles that he’d resized in his spare time around her slim wrists and ankles, he could feel their silent questions at his back.

“I hate to say it, cousin, but don’t you think that’s being a little overcautious?”

Probably, but he’d planned this part of his revenge during their time apart—fantasized about it, in fact. “You saw her. She’s too dangerous to leave loose.”

“Kind of exciting if you ask me,” Xarn replied. “She can beat on me anytime, naked preferably.”

Without even looking, Jaro kicked a foot back, snapping it into Xarn’s leg making him crumple with a shouted “Ow! What was that for?”

Somehow explaining that any mention of Aylia with another male made him see red didn’t seem like a good idea, not unless he wanted his cousins teasing him mercilessly. He settled for, “Don’t let her fragile looks fool you. She’s a killing machine.” He ignored the matching snickers as he moved to manacle her ankles.

“You aren’t serious about selling her, are you?” Brax asked.

“To the highest paying brothel,” Jaro replied tersely as he closed the last restraint. He stood and turned so as to not see her looking so helpless and small in his bed, the pale skin of her ankles and wrists marred by the black metal shackling them.

Both his cousins had no such compunction and peered around him at her still form. “What if we bought her instead? We’ve got some credits saved up, and well, I like the idea of giving my seed to such a feisty female. What a child we’d make.”

In a flash, Jaro had Xarn pinned against the wall, the sharp edge of his blade pressed against his neck. “No one touches her,” he growled. “Do you hear me? No one!” Jaro shouted the last part, stunning even himself with his vehemence.

“No problem, cousin.” Xarn stupidly didn’t show as much fear as he should have with a dagger only a nudge away from slitting his throat.

Suddenly realizing what he did, Jaro released him and stepped away, but he didn’t sheath his blade. Someone still wore too much clothes. “Leave.” The next part of his plan didn’t require an audience. Make that, he refused to have an audience looking upon his captive’s nakedness. He’d never shared well with others.

“You’re not going to kill her, are you?” Brax asked with clear worry.

Why kill her when revenge would taste much sweeter? Jaro bared his teeth. “No. She’s safe for now, but if you both don’t leave, I’ll kill you.”

With a shared look, his cousins left and the door slid shut behind them. Silence reigned except for the soft sound of her breathing.

Jaro turned and looked down upon her, the way her dark lashes fluttered against her cheeks. How her full mouth parted slightly with each breath, and her bosom moved with each inhalation. Shaking his head, he went to work, slicing through her clothes, baring her body to his view. The sight of it stole his breathe—and engorged his cock.

Parting the cloth, he couldn’t help drawing a finger down the soft flesh of her chest, finally touching the body she’d denied him. He let his digit circle around her plump breasts before he drew it up to her nipple, which shriveled immediately at his touch. He tugged on each of the gold rings piercing her dusky aureoles, so easily imagining himself pulling on them as she rode him, her fiery red hair a silken curtain around them. He couldn’t resist twisting the metal, a sharp pull that stretched her nipple.

Even in repose, her body responded to him, the scent of her desire rising to surround him and making his prick harden to the point of painfulness. What is it about this female that entices me so?

The fiery thatch at the top of her thighs drew him, and he didn’t bother trying to hold himself back from sliding his fingers through her curls to the damp cleft beneath. Her flesh quivered at his touch, and a soft sigh signaled her approach to wakefulness from the stunning shot he’d given her. Again, he stroked her, the moisture of her sex coating his finger, begging him to taste it.

As if burned, he stepped away from her just as her eyelids fluttered open.

“I’m not dead?” she murmured.

For some reason, she sounded surprised, and he bristled, making his response come out terse than he’d planned. “Death is too quick. I told you, I intend to punish you.”

Another sigh escaped her, this one sounding annoyed, unlike the soft, pleased sound of earlier. “Are all males outside of Zonia so vengeful? On my world, while the males resist, it is more out of tradition. In the end, both parties are well pleased by the arrangement.”

“I am not a weak Zonian male,” he growled. “So you can stop trying to compare me to those craven creatures.” Then because he had to know, “So how many males did you use before I found you?”

“Why do you care? Aren’t you the one who is planning to sell me to a brothel that I might serve hundreds?”

Never. You are mine. The words rose unbidden in his mind, and once there, refused to leave. “I need to know so I can relay your experience to the brothel owner.”

“Bastard.”

“Answer me,” he ordered, annoyed she kept evading his question.

As if sensing his ire, she smirked. “What if I said dozens? Why, I bedded so many, I’m probably pregnant with a half dozen babes by now.”

For a moment, red rage clouded his vision and he mentally envisioned hunting down the aliens who’d touched her and killing them in a bloody fashion. Then her words penetrated and he laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, her brow knitted in a frown.

“You. You really know very little about the mating process, don’t you? First off, I know how picky you were in your selection. Only the best will do. And a woman who spreads her favors so easily doesn’t try to fight off a male when he’s kissing her like you were when I found you.”

The glare eased some of his jealousy. “I hate you.”

“Because I’m right. You didn’t bed any other males, did you?”

Her snarl said it all, and something inside Jaro eased. Untouched, except by him.

A fierce need to put his mark on her made him lean down, his face hovering over hers, her lips a luscious temptation that he couldn’t resist. He kissed her, the fierce brand of a male conquering his female, claiming her as his. Or, at least that’s how it started, then her mouth parted and small moans of pleasure escaped her, arousing noises that he captured. He slid his tongue past the barrier of her lips, tasting her sweetness, and groaning when she hesitantly let her own tongue touch him back. Her innocent caress undid him.

He covered her nude body with his own, nestling his body between her thighs, his turgid cock, even behind the material of his britches, pressing against her sex. Her hips pushed against his hardness, begging him for more.

And he intended to give it to her. To sink himself into her depths until she thought of no male but him. Until she screamed his name as she came around his prick. He’d plow her over and over again until he seeded her womb and linked her irrevocably to him.

Like a cold shower of ice pellets, his train of thoughts penetrated his out of control arousal. With a pained bellow, he rolled off her welcoming body and fled the room. He pushed past his cousins, who hovered in the hall and tried to stop him with queries of concern. He ignored them and made his way to the command center where he slumped in his chair, staring at the large view screen without seeing.

What is wrong with me? This type of out of control behavior and emotional turmoil didn’t make sense. Aylia was simply a female—a curvy, courageous, warrior-tough seductress. He should hate her for what she tried to steal, or at the very least, feel indifference since he cared about nothing and nobody. Instead, since he’d met her, despite their brief encounters, he found himself thinking in a whole new way. Of wanting things he’d never imagined before. Most astonishing of all, if he truly were honest with himself, he wanted her in his arms, life, and bed…forever.

Not happening. Mating was emasculating, or at least that remained the impression Jaro received after watching his brother succumb to love. He’d found the display so sickening he’d had to leave. What male wanted to care for a female? Who stupidly wanted to settle down and find enjoyment in the same naked cleft every night? Worse, why would any male in his right mind want children, noisy little creatures who spent their time eating, shitting or screaming?

And why do I want these things with Aylia? I barely know her.

After Shinja, the whore who’d bedded him while spreading her thighs for the whole regiment he’d served in, he’d sworn never to let another female collar him. Never to let another whore make him care.

Stupid him. Apparently, his heart wasn’t paying attention because despite the seed Aylia tried to steal, and the fact she just wanted a male, any male, to impregnate her, he wanted her—for himself. However, she didn’t want him back.

A smart warrior would cut his losses. Let her off at the next waystation to go on her way, returning his life to normal. But, apparently, Jaro might have inherited some of the stupid gene his brother owned because he couldn’t. Make that wouldn’t.

Could his obsession simply have to do with lust? Perhaps the simple fact she’d tried to deny him access to her body while she availed herself of his made her so tempting. Could the solution to his turmoil lie in between her thighs? If he plowed her enough times, would she finally leave his poor mind alone?

Or will bedding her just make things worse?

Only one way to find out. It was with firm purpose that he went stalking back to the room, brushing off once again his cousins when they would have waylaid him. He stomped into the room, and immediately drew her wary gaze.

“Come to tease me again?” she said with annoyance, unable to hide the evidence of her interest in his return. He stared for a moment at her nipples as they pulled into tight buds, begging for his mouth to suck them.

“It occurs to me that a non-virgin with no skills won’t fetch me the best price. So, I shall have to waste some of my valuable time giving you lessons in how to please a male.” His words emerged gruff.

She snorted. “Don’t bother. From what I’ve seen, all it takes is for me to get nude to rouse interest. Actually, my second choice didn’t even require that. So don’t put yourself out on my account.” Her reminder of the now dead alien made him more determined than ever. I will show her that I am not to be compared to another. And even more importantly, I will show her pleasure—whether she likes it or not.

Despite her attempt to cajole him into leaving, he stayed and stripped. As he folded his clothes and placed them on a chair, he spoke in a low tone. “Aren’t you curious at all at the bliss that can be found with the right partner?”

“I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to discover it, what with the new career you’re intent on embarking me upon.”

“Ah, but pleasure begets pleasure. How can you expect to receive it if you don’t know how to give it?” He ran his hand up her leg as he spoke, noting the tremble of her limb as he traveled up, closer and closer to her core.

“I’ve seen the videos. I’m sure I can figure it out,” she replied, somewhat breathless.

“Aah, but there’s nothing like firsthand experience,” he murmured as he leaned down to press his lips against the creamy flesh of her thigh.

A definite quiver ran through her at his touch, and he smiled against her skin as he brushed soft kisses on her leg, moving up until he resided close enough to smell her arousal, a heady aroma that made him close his eyes and just bask in the moment. He nuzzled the soft fuzz at her pelvis and heard her suck in a breath.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a quavering voice. “Just get on with it. Stick your prick in me and be done. I am tired and want to nap.”

“Stop talking or I’ll gag you with my cock,” he growled, annoyed that she thought to fight him instead of succumbing to desire. It didn’t help that he found himself overcome with lust and wanting to taste her. His prick hurt so bad from need that he wanted to fall upon her and pound her senselessly.

Of course, his words about placing his cock in her mouth made matters worse, especially when the aroma of her arousal heightened, indicating her curiosity at his threat. Then again, there was a way to indulge both of his desires at once. He repositioned himself, his knees cradling the top of her head, his face overtop her sex.

For once, she didn’t speak, probably because he lowered his cock until it pressed against her lips, and lucky him, she caught the hint and opened wide to take him. It belatedly occurred to him that perhaps placing his prick in her mouth where she could bite it off was probably not the best course of action, but when the suction of her orifice tugged at him, that thought flew out of his head along with everything but bliss.

Inexperienced or not, she still roused him as she tasted him, sucking at him instinctively, drawing forth a groan from him. But, he couldn’t let her completely distract him, not when a veritable treasure awaited. He lowered his head between her thighs and snaked his tongue out for a long lick across her plumps lips.

Then winced as she clamped down on his cock with a cry, and almost knocked him out as her hips undulated upward. He placed his arms across her thighs before he dove in again for another lick. Back and forth, he swiped his tongue as she tried to squirm, her gasps around her mouthful of cock spurring him on. He parted the folds of her sex and stabbed at her, tasting her honeyed nectar that said more than her mewls that she enjoyed herself. When he finally toyed with her clit, she came with a scream that vibrated all around his cock and he found himself hard pressed not to follow her. However, he’d fantasized for too many galactic units about the velvety glove of her sex.

Extricating himself from her, he positioned himself between her legs and stared down at her. She lay there panting, her skin flushed, her lips parted and her eyes closed as she basked in the aftershocks of her orgasm.

He’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life. Placing his palms under her buttocks, he hoisted her bottom up, not too far, since the shackles wouldn’t allow it, but high enough to bring her level with his bobbing cock. He nudged her wet cleft, parting her folds with his swollen head, and watched as he slid into her pinkness, the delicate color contrasting with his dark mauve prick. A long sigh escaped her and his gaze flicked up to see her staring at him through heavy-lidded eyes.

Eyes locked, he took her, his cock sliding into her welcoming sheath and retreating despite the tight suction of her channel. In and out, he plowed her, his flesh slapping against hers, his full insertion making her mewl with each long stroke. He fell over her, his mouth hotly seeking hers as he increased his pace until he veritably pistoned her. But his feisty princess took it all, her hips lifting to meet his thrusts, her damp sex tightening around his rod until he could hold it back no more. With a mighty pulse, his cock spewed his seed, and like a trigger, the muscles of her channel began to quiver as her second orgasm took hold. The strength of it locked him inside her, milking him, not that he cared. He’d found nirvana, and like those who’d discovered it before him, never wanted to leave.