Fallen Star (7 page)

“Tilt your head back and close your eyes.” He sprayed her head down, soaking her hair. “Hasn’t anyone ever bathed you before?”

Fallon shook the water from her cheeks. “No.”

“No one?” Sobehk frowned as he attached the nozzle to the side wall, letting the water spray down over her back, rather than directly in her face. “Not even your parents or a lover?”

Fallon stared at her hands. “I didn’t exactly have parents.” Her parents were a vague memory of people who shouted -- and left. Her childhood had consisted of a windowless steel institution, with hours spent strapped to a couch, downloading crap she would never use. They called it education.

“You must have had at least one lover bathe you?” He pulled the soap dispenser from the wall and reached down to snag a cloth from the floor.

“No.” Lovers were few and infrequent. Encounters were hurried and rarely happened in private quarters. They were only interested in scratching their itch and getting on with other things. A moist towelette did for bathing after. In a world of thieves, you couldn’t trust anyone enough to actually fall asleep with them. She shrugged. “I didn’t have ... lovers like that.”

“Considering the human vermin living on that station, I’m not particularly surprised.” His expression was wry as he squirted creamy soap on the cloth. He set the soap back on the wall and faced her. “I’m going to make sure you get plenty of handling.” He dropped the cloth on her back and started scrubbing her back and shoulders with brutal efficiency.

“Handling?” Fallon gripped the rail tightly as her body rocked under the pressure of his strong hands. He wasn’t playing; he was scrubbing the burning fury out of her skin with vigorous attention to detail. Thick rich lather formed and spilled down her body in his wake.

“Being touched, being held ...” He leaned over her back and whispered, “Being cared for.” He knelt at her side and scrubbed at her flanks.

She ducked, her cheeks warming, and braced her feet to keep from getting knocked over by his sudden scouring assault on her legs. “What if I don’t want to be ... cared for?”

“I’m afraid you really don’t have much choice in the matter.” His cloth slid up between her legs and focused on her sore privates.

She turned away and hissed. The cloth was warm and his hands were gentle, but it was painfully humiliating to have someone’s hands on her, especially there.

“You’ll just have to get used to the fact that ...” He dropped the cloth and slid his soapy fingers over and into her tender flesh. “You don’t get to make those decisions anymore.”

She cringed. “Blood and hell, you are a bastard!”

He chuckled. “Yep.” His shoved a soap-slick finger deep into her ass.

She froze, stunned by the sudden invasion.
He did not ...!
A snarl escaped her lips. Before she knew it, her foot had snapped out in a kick aimed at his kneeling side.

He twisted out of range and his hand whipped out. He smacked her wet thigh with a sharp crack. “Stop that!”

She yelped and pulled her leg back. The strike stung, a lot. She’d known it was a stupid move; her hands were locked on the bar, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

“Behave yourself!” He stood up and reached for her shoulder.

Lightning blazed up the back of her skull and rage erupted in a hot red rush. She turned and snapped at him with her sharp teeth. “Don’t touch me!”

He jerked his hand back. “What?”

Her eyes narrowed, and a growl rumbled in her chest. Her lips curled back from her teeth. If he tried to touch her again, she would make him bleed.

His eyes narrowed. “Oh, no, you don’t.” His hand snapped out, and his fingers knotted in her hair at the back of her neck, yanking her head back. He stared hard into her eyes as his lips curled back, baring his fangs only centimeters from her throat. “Get it through your thick skull -- I caught you; I took you.” His hand closed on her throat. “Your life is mine!”

She snarled and tried to jerk her head away. “Fuck you!”

His fist tightened in her hair. His other hand caught her chin, tilting her head back further and forcing her to arch back. He focused his cold, angry gaze on hers. “Back down, kitten.” A deep growl erupted from his chest. “You’re already beaten. Don’t make me prove it.”

She focused on his mouth. His teeth looked really big, really sharp, and way too close. If he decided to rip her throat out, she was not in any position to stop him. Her growl died. She closed her mouth and swallowed, knowing he would feel it with his palm. Her gaze slid away from his, and she trembled in his grasp.

“Good.” He tugged at her hair. “Now, apologize.”

She sucked in a breath. “What?” Her gaze darted to his.

His eyes were ice cold and his jaw was tight. “You heard me.”

She cringed. He was seriously pissed. “I’m ... I’m sorry.”

“Good girl.” He pushed her back upright and released her hair. He cupped her shoulders and stroked her arms. “Now, keep that feral temper of yours in check.”

Fallon hunched under his hands, but the urge to bite him had completely fled. She had no idea where that urge had come from in the first place.

Sobehk released her arms and stepped away to retrieve a fresh cloth from the floor. “You’ve got good reflexes; I barely caught that kick. You’re going to make a damned fine
upuaht
rehkyt
.” He watched her as he coated the cloth with soap. “But the faster you learn to submit, the easier everything will go for you.”

Submit?
Her hands clenched on the bar and she shivered. “I don’t take orders very well.”

He snorted. “That is the understatement of the year.” He knelt at her side and grabbed her ankle, turning her as far to the side as her hands on the bar would allow. “You’d better get used to taking orders.” He looked up at her with narrowed eyes. “Or you will get beaten, a lot.” His cloth swept across her belly and he began his merciless scrubbing across her hips then up toward her breasts.

Fallon rocked under his strong strokes. She’d been beaten before. It hadn’t done any good then, she doubted it would do any good now. She suddenly tripped over the end of his earlier statement. “Wait a minute ... you thought I’d make a what?”

“Took you long enough to catch that.” He focused his scrubbing on her breasts. “An
upuaht
rehkyt
is a bodyguard.
Upuaht
translates into Imperial basic as ‘canine guard.’
Rehkyt
means pet.”

“What is with you and all the ‘canine’ and ‘pet’ stuff?” She bit her lip as the cloth rasped against her nipples, bringing them to abrupt and insistent life. “I’m not an animal!”

“Oh, but you are.” Sobehk stood and lifted her chin to stare into her eyes. “Close your eyes.” He ruthlessly scrubbed her face. “
Rehkyt
are what we Skeldhi call our human pets.” He rinsed the soap from her cheeks carefully. “There, much better.”

“A human
pet?
” Fallon had to blot her eyes against her shoulder as she couldn’t release her hands from the rail. “What? Are you going to put a collar and leash on me?” The idea was so silly a smile lifted her lips.

Sobehk scrubbed down her arms, pinking her skin in his wake. “Yes.”

“Huh?” Fallon stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“Very.” He tossed the cloth on the floor and reached for the soap dispenser. “Lift your chin and close your eyes; I’m going to wash your hair.”

Fallon lifted her chin and closed her eyes tight. “A collar for people?”

His fingers dove into her matted hair and massaged her scalp. “The collar is for temperamental
pets
.” Thick lather dripped onto her shoulders. “
Rehkyt
are designed to be sexually aggressive. Their appetites -- or their tempers -- occasionally get out of hand. The control collar, the
shen
, is jacked directly into your nervous system at the cerebral cortex. It does pretty much what force-cuffs do, only more so.” He doused her hair with water to rinse off the soap.

She shook her head to clear her eyes. “You’re putting a
control collar
on me?”

“Yep.” Sobehk spread soap on his palms and trapped her gaze with his. “You’ll be collared as soon as we are done here. As soon as I get to a proper enclave, I’m getting you a nice steel chain with a tag with your name and mine.”

“A chain ...
two
collars?”

He stepped behind her and his broad palms swept down, spreading soap along her waist and over her hips. “The control collar is for behavior, it doesn’t come off. The chain is for the leash, and the tag marks you publicly as mine -- my pet, and my property.”

Leashes? Tags?
He really was treating her like a
pet!
Her mind reeled under the shock of what he was saying. Her knees jelled and threatened to give out. She stayed upright by will alone. Her throat constricted with alarm. “I don’t like this game anymore.”

His mouth caressed her ear even as his soapy hands swept across her belly. “It stopped being a game when I registered you and no one argued the claim, making you legally mine to collect.”

Blood and Fate!
Her knuckles whitened on the rail. “Sobehk, you can’t make me your
pet!
”

“I already have.” He pressed the rigid lengths of his erections against her spine and her butt. His soft groan caressed her ear, creating shivers. “You’re already showing signs of impression.”

Fallon shook her head as foam dripped down her body.
Impression?
What in burning fury was that?

He brought his soapy hands up and cupped her breasts. “Relax, kitten.” He kneaded and caressed the warm softness in his broad palms. “I’ll take very good care of you.” He tugged the peaks of her nipples to rigid tautness with his strong fingers. “No more living in sewers.”

Arousal scorched through her in a torrential wave of damp heat. Fallon felt her breath violently rush from her lungs. A small sound escaped her lips. He was doing it again, making her boil with need, and so easily. She was not used to getting excited so quickly; but then, she was not used to being completely in someone else’s power, either.

“It’s done, it’s over. Just let go, kitten,” he whispered. He slowly rubbed both of his hot, rigid erections along the damp seam of her butt.

She found herself leaning back into him. She couldn’t stop herself anymore than she could stop the ache between her thighs. She took a deep breath to gain control and caught a nose full of his scent. She could smell the rich musk of his arousal even over the soap. A small, helpless sound came from her throat.

“That’s it ...” His hand slid sensuously over her belly, drawing tremors along the path of his fingers. “Don’t try to resist.” One hand slid up to cup her breast as the fingers of the other dipped lower, seeking the juncture of her thighs. “There’s no need to resist.”

Her body clenched in eagerness. She couldn’t stop her legs from parting in invitation.

He squeezed her breast and a soft groan came from his throat. “I have you.” The fingers of his other hand delved among the folds of her intimate flesh, exploring the damp softness with inciting skill. “Body and soul ...” His fingers trapped her nipple and slid across her clit at the same time.

Fire, heat, urgency ... She gasped, arching back against him, and bucked against his palm, so close to the edge of orgasm a breath more would take her over.

He chuckled. The sound held pure masculine triumph. “And you want me to have you.” He pulled his hands away and stepped back.

Fallon shook hard with both fear of what was to come and raw carnal frustration. She set her forehead against the slick glass wall and fought against the lust howling in her body.
Bastard
 ...

He reached up and shut off the water. “You’re clean. It’s time.”

Fallon felt her heart slam in her throat. He was going to put a collar on her throat and take control of her body.
Blood and Fate ...
Sudden panic engulfed her. Her voice escaped in a tight whisper. “I wanna go home.”

He grabbed the hair at the nape of her neck and jerked her head back. He stared hard and unyielding into her wide eyes. “You are home.” His mouth took hers in a devouring and possessive kiss.

She moaned under his hungry assault, unable to release the rail and not all that sure she wanted to release his mouth. Pain crushed her heart in a tight fist of inexplicable and undefined emotion. A sudden sob exploded from her chest and tears abruptly fell from her eyes. She ripped her mouth away from his in mortified dismay. She was crying?

Sobehk caught her face in his palms. “There, that’s what I was waiting for.”

Fallon stared up at him in confusion.

“Let go of the rail, kitten.”

She released the rail and scrubbed at her damp cheeks. The damn tears didn’t want to stop. “You want me to cry?”

He pulled her into the circle of his arms. “Yes.” With an arm around her waist, he turned and hit a switch by the door. Warm air filled the tiny glass room, drawing all the moisture from the shower stall.

Fallon wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

He knelt down to catch her eye. “
Rehkyt
are affectionate by nature.” He brushed away the tears that still slid down her cheeks with his thumbs. “You obviously don’t give your affections easily, but you’ve begun to respond to me.”

Fallon shook her head. “I don’t want to be anybody’s slave!”

“Ha!” He rolled his eyes and grinned broadly. “The way you kept dodging in and out of my reach, daring me to catch you? You were begging me to collar you!”

Fallon stared up at him in horror. All those times she had popped out just to see where he was, how close he had gotten ... Had she been daring him to chase her, to catch her?

To keep her?

His blue gaze remained steady, knowing and amused.

She finally had to look away.

“You will make a very fine
rehkyt
.” He leaned over to drop a kiss on her brow. “Trust me.”

Chapter Six

Clean, dry, and somewhat shaken, Fallon let Sobehk nudge her out of the water stall. Did she really want to be a slave -- a pet?
Sobehk’s
pet?