15 Targeted (25 page)

Then the deeper implications of what Thrace was saying began to sink in.

“Wait a minute…” She held up a hand. “So you’re saying the only way to achieve this Deep Bond is for…”

“For me to submit to you again…Mistress.” Thrace sank down beside her on the couch and finally opened his hand, showing what he had been clutching so tightly this entire time. Trin bit her lip when she saw the black leather collar studded with pale silvery-blue Lathian Sapphires which almost exactly matched Thrace’s eyes.

If she was honest with herself, she had to admit she sort of missed their Mistress-slave dynamic a little bit. Not because she wanted Thrace groveling at her feet—she didn’t. But because she felt so cared for and protected when he was in his watchful “slave” mode. Also, the big Havoc had a way of switching from submissive slave to gentle dominant just when she needed it most. One moment he was calling her “Mistress” and begging to pay obeisance to her nipples and pussy and the next she was “baby” and he was cradling her close and looking deep into her eyes while he thrust hard and long inside her.

But during their time apart, before the re-bonding, as she thought of it, Thrace had taken off the slave collar and had not put it on again. Trin hadn’t mentioned it. She was certain if he wanted to wear it, he would. And now, here he was, holding it out to her. But exactly what would be involved in putting it on him again?

“Submit to me
how
exactly?” she asked, looking up at him. “Do I just have to put the collar on you while you say the words again?”

Slowly, he shook his head.

“I’m afraid there’s more to it than that. I have to submit to you sexually as well. The emotional heights reached during penetration are the only ones strong enough to achieve a Deep Bonding.”

“So…what do you want me to do?” For some reason, Trin’s heart was in her throat. Surely he didn’t mean he wanted her to…to…She couldn’t even finish the thought.

Thrace rose again for a moment and left the room. When he came back and sat beside her again, he was holding a familiar, light-blue velvet bag. Mutely, he handed it to her.

With trembling hands, Trin opened it and pulled out the heart’s-blood phallus she had been given on Yonnie Six. She stared at the familiar shape, emotions she couldn’t name swirling within her. One end was smooth and gold with fine markings drawn in red and white on its shiny surface. The other end, however, was all business. It was thicker than Trin’s wrist and deep scarlet, made of some shiny material as dark as blood. She knew that the dark end was supposed to fit inside her while she penetrated her slave with the slim, golden end.

My slave…Thrace…But I can’t do that! Can’t hurt him like that again!

“No!” Trin was on her feet and pushing the phallus away from her before she knew what she was doing. “No!” she said again, looking at Thrace. “I won’t do that to you—I
won’t.”

“You have to, Mistress—it’s the only way to form the Deep Bond.” He looked up at her patiently.

“I don’t want to hurt you!” Trin said, her hands curling into fists at her sides. “Not like that! Remember what happened last time?”

They had tried this once before on Yonnie Six due to the fact that Lady Tam-tam, their sadistic hostess, had been trying to blackmail them. She had ordered that one of them must penetrate the other while she watched from the spy network in her large mansion. Since Trin’s religious beliefs had conflicted so completely with this—letting a male penetrate her would have been a slap in the face of the goddess she served—Thrace had volunteered to let
her
penetrate
him
instead.

But the stress of it had been too much. It had brought back the horrors of his past and though he had been willing to allow it, Trin had sensed such submission was painful and abhorrent to him. She had stopped before actually doing the deed when Thrace had admitted his painful past. The tale had been too awful for Trin to take in—she had run from him, blindly and they hadn’t discussed it again until after they came together on the Mother Ship.

And now he wanted her to do it to him again—to follow through this time. But she couldn’t do that—she
couldn’t
.

The look on his face when he told me the dream was no dream—that everything I saw in that nightmare really happened to him…

She shook her head again. “I can’t Thrace—please don’t ask me to do that to you! Please!”

“But I
do
have to ask you. It will be different this time. Listen…” Thrace took her hands and drew her back down on the couch. “I think I know what bothered me last time,” he told her softly. “It was the position. You were trying to take me from behind which was…” He took a deep breath. “Which was the way my old master always took me. I think if we’re face-to-face so I can look into your lovely, dark eyes and know it’s
you
taking me, not him, well…” He smiled at her. “I should be fine…Mistress.”

“Please, Thrace, don’t make me do this to you—don’t ask me to penetrate you like that,” she whispered.

He cupped her face in his big hands and looked at her seriously.

“But you allow
me
to penetrate
you
. And that was once an idea that was disgusting and unthinkable to you.”

“That’s different,” Trin protested. “No one had ever…abused me before. I didn’t have any bad memories to get over.”

“I do have some bad memories in my past,” he admitted. “But now I’d like to make some new ones—with you.”

“But—”

Before she could start to protest again he placed a finger over her lips.

“We have the link now,” he growled softly, referring to the mental bond they shared. “You’ll know right away if things turn bad—I won’t be able to
help
letting you know. And if it gets too intense we’ll stop—I swear it.”

Trin looked at him wide-eyed, trying to make up her mind. She could tell that he really did want to do this—his sincerity came through their mind-link clearly.

“
As clearly as my distress would come through if what I’m asking you to do didn’t work,”
he murmured through the link, his mental voice every bit as low and growly as his speaking voice.
“I want the Deep Bonding with you—want to know you’re safe when you carry my son in your womb.”
He stroked her cheek with his knuckles, looking intently into her eyes.
“Please, Trin—I love you or I wouldn’t ask this of you. I want you to be protected.”

Trin wasn’t sure what it was that tipped her decision—maybe it was the look in his silvery-blue eyes or the soft pleading in his tone. But somehow she found herself nodding.

“All right,” she said at last. “We…we can try. But if things go badly—if they even
start
to go bad—we’ll stop.
Immediately
.”

Thrace nodded gravely. “You have my word, baby. Or should I say…Mistress?” He knelt in front of her and held out the collar again. “Would you put it on me?” His deep voice was slightly hoarse. “I’ve missed wearing it—missed having a visual reminder that I belong to you.”

“You’ll always belong to me…the same way I’ll always belong to you,” Trin murmured. Leaning forward, she fastened the black leather band with its silvery-blue stones around his strong neck. Her hands trembled only a little. “Now what?” she murmured, sitting back. “How do you want me to, uh, get you ready for this?”

“By letting me get
you
ready.” He stood gracefully and picked her up off the couch as though she weighed no more than a pillow.

“Thrace!” Trin protested, half laughing. His strength always amazed her. “Too bad I won’t be getting some of this for everyday use,” she remarked, stroking one bulging bicep as he carried her into the bedroom. “I could use it to lift furniture if I lose something under the couch.”

Thrace flashed her a grin. “You’ll have it when you need it—after I plant my seed in your sweet little belly, Mistress.”

Trin shivered with illicit pleasure at the idea of him making her pregnant. She knew anyone else on her home planet would find the idea of impregnation by a male unspeakably wrong. And until recently, she had felt that way herself. Though she had changed her mind completely, the act of letting him penetrate her and come deep in her pussy still felt forbidden…and very,
very
hot.

“Thrace,” she murmured as he deposited her gently on their large bed. “When we do this, do I have to uh, penetrate you until you, you know, come? Or can we switch it up, halfway through?”

“I simply have to submit to you completely while you stroke within me,” he murmured. “After that, if you’d like I can penetrate you.”

“Yes…” She felt another shiver of desire at the idea. “Yes, I’d like that a lot.”

“Then let’s get started, Mistress.” He was already taking off her clothes. She had on a simple garment called a “sundress” which had short sleeves and a skirt that went just to her knees, leaving her arms and legs mostly bare. It was a far cry from the clothes she’d been used to wearing—her black jumpsuit and boots—but Trin liked it all the same. It was comfortable and the pale cream color contrasted nicely with her light brown skin.

“
Gods, you look beautiful in this little nothing of a garment,”
Thrace murmured through their link as he peeled the top of the sundress down, revealing her breasts. Trin hadn’t bothered to wear anything under it as she had only planned to stay home reading that day.

“
I’m glad you like it,”
she sent back breathlessly.

“I like you best in your naked skin,” he growled, his eyes flashing as he peeled the dress completely away and let it drop to the floor beside the bed. “Mmm—no panties either. Why, Mistress, what were you doing while you were reading that book of yours earlier? Were you
touching
yourself when you got to the good parts?”

“
Thrace!”
she protested, feeling her cheeks heat with a blush. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t actually been touching herself but she
did
like feeling bare under the flirty little dress while she read the “good parts” as Thrace called them. It made her feel hot and naughty.

“Mmm-hmm, I thought so.” He leaned forward and took her mouth in a deep, tantalizing kiss that promised so much more.

Trin moaned and kissed him back, giving in to the pleasure of his hot mouth completely. Goddess, she loved the feel of his strong body against hers! His muscles were like warm, flexible steel. She never felt so safe as when she was enclosed in his arms.

Now she was completely naked while Thrace was still wearing his black flight leathers and an ice-blue shirt that looked amazing with his eyes.

“Wait…wait a minute,” she protested breathlessly when the kiss finally broke. “I thought I was supposed to be in charge. Isn’t the mistress supposed to be dressed while her slave is naked?”

“Only if she doesn’t want her slave to pay obeisance to her,” he murmured, smiling. “Mistress, will you allow me to pay obeisance to your sweet nipples?”

His low words and the hungry way he was looking at her made Trin’s pussy feel hot and wet and swollen. Goddess, this was how it had been back at Lady Tam-tam’s, when they were still just pretending to be together. She’d been very nervous about letting Thrace put his mouth on her most intimate spots but he’d proven he could do it with gentleness and utmost respect, which had allowed her to let him in more than she ever would have believed possible.

“Yes,” she whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed and thrusting her naked breasts out for him. “Yes, you may, slave.”

“Thank you, Mistress.” Thrace slid off the side of the bed and sank to his knees before her, bringing her closer to his mouth. Obligingly, Trin pushed her breasts further out, her nipples like dark, ripe berries just begging to be sucked.