Alien Slave (24 page)

She rubbed her cheek against his bicep.
His skin was velvet over the steel of his muscle. “Still, I know
you’re pretty mad at me for putting everyone in this position. You
could have left me and gotten away from the Tragooms
easily.”

Krijero scowled. “Unthinkable. Has that
been your experience in the past? People leaving you behind when
things got rough?”

Before Dani could answer, the sunlight
coming into the cave was blocked. Gelan and Wynhod entered, looking
big and bad and beautiful. Dani’s heart glowed to see the
Kalquorians, and she felt a smile stretch across her
face.

Better them than my family, came the
unexpected thought. Shock to realize she was actually glad to see
the alien men dampened her spirits a little.

They knelt next to her and Krijero,
identical pleased expressions on their faces. Gelan stroked her
face with a feather touch. “You’re awake. I am so thankful. How do
you feel?”

“
Not much like dancing, I’m
afraid.”

Wynhod took one of her hands and
pressed her fingers to his lips. His chuckle vibrated pleasantly.
“I would think not. Welcome back.”

The warmth in their gazes, the caresses
they touched her with made something hard in Dani’s heart crumble a
little. She could almost believe they liked her. She could almost
like them back.

She felt a maelstrom of emotions as
they tended her needs: confusion, hope, and fear.

Chapter 13

Another day passed, and Dani’s strength
began to return with food and clean water. As her second day of
lucidity waned towards night, the clan hunkered down around her.
She sat upright on her own, and Dani almost laughed at her pride
simply because she was able to be vertical again.

“
We’ll head for the ship
tomorrow,” Gelan informed her as Wynhod brought out his handheld.
“Let’s go over our route so you know what to expect.”

Wynhod showed her a map winding in a
roundabout circuit through the forest, leading into a swampy
section, which emerged in a rocky flat before descending into
marshland again. “We’re not taking a straightforward route simply
because we don’t want to trip over the Tragoom party. Remember the
rock formation we decided to meet at should we become
separated?”

“
Yes. The tallest of the
group.” The formations had looked like fingers pointed accusingly
at the sky.

He tapped the part of the map that
showed the plain. “That’s this section. Even if the Tragooms pick
up our trail again, this area will leave less traces of our
passage.”

He spoke to her as if she wasn’t a
slave to be hauled around simply because they’d spent a lot of
money on her. As the Nobek pointed out natural signposts to look
for that would mark their trail, Dani wondered at the respect he
seemed to accord her. It was nice to be treated like an intelligent
person, someone deserving of an explanation rather than just told
what to do. It made her wish she was more to him and his clanmates
than just a slave. She liked being included, something her father
had never bothered to do.

As he put his handheld away, Wynhod’s
sharp gaze examined her face. “Where is that sad look coming from,
little fighter?”

Oh darn. She needed to guard her
thoughts better. “Just thinking,” she replied, keeping her voice
light.

Gelan’s firm grip closed around the
back of her neck, turning her head so she was forced to look him in
the eye. “What are you thinking about? I want to know.”

Dani scowled at him. “Can’t I have
private thoughts?”

“
We can’t properly care for
you if we don’t know what makes you look so unhappy. Now, Dani.”
Despite the command in his voice, concern bled into the Dramok’s
tone. Both emotions kept her from arguing for her right to her own
ruminations.

She blew an exasperated breath at him.
“Fine. I was thinking how pathetic it is that my enemies include me
in what’s going on with my life when my own father never
did.”

Krijero cocked his head, like an
inquisitive puppy. “Do you think he didn’t love you?”

“
Of course he loved me. I
mean, he had to, right? He was my father.” Dani’s brows pinched
together. She’d had a better relationship with Perry Watson than
anyone else in her family, distant as it had been. If one could
call being moved around like a chess piece a
relationship.

Maybe her father hadn’t loved her. He’d
never said so. Hugs and kisses were doled out during photo ops on
the campaign trail. The realization was like a hit of cold water in
her face.

Her voice was small and hurt. “I don’t
know if he loved me. He bailed me and my brother out when we got
into trouble until Alan did something so bad no bribe would work.
That counts for something, right?”

Wynhod brushed away the single tear
tickling its way down her cheek. “Maybe you and your brother
wouldn’t have found so much trouble if your father had made you
more a part of his life. If he’d given you the attention you needed
and deserved.”

“
Maybe.” She grimly fought
the urge to give in to more tears.

Krijero rubbed his chin, contemplating
her situation. “And your mother wasn’t around either because of her
illness. How much did you and your brother lean on each
other?”

Dani snorted. “We didn’t. Alan was
older than me by several years. We had nothing in
common.”

The Imdiko sighed, his expression as
unhappy as her emotions. “That’s a very lonely life to have,
pet.”

Her eyes flooded, and Dani angrily
ground her fists against her eyes. A sob trembled her words.
“There, now I’m crying. Nobody loved me, and I don’t matter to
anyone. Are you happy?”

Gelan released her neck to gather her
in his arms. “You matter to us. No one here wants to see you in
pain, little girl.”

He kissed her, muffling her weeping.
The other two stroked her hair and body, murmuring sweet words to
comfort her. It only made her cry harder.

“
Stop being nice to
me!”

Krijero’s breath was warm in her ear.
“I’m afraid we can’t do that. You need men who will be nice to
you.”

Gelan agreed. “You’ll just have to get
used to it, Dani. You’ve got three years to get through being cared
for.”

They petted her, giving her the tender
affection her family had denied her. A part of Dani wanted to
rebel, to deny the warm feelings. That part kicked and screamed
like a child in the throes of a tantrum.

How dare they bestow such kindness,
kindness that should have been given in her parents’ home! It was
her mother and father who owed her love and respect, not these
strangers. Perry and Emily should have been the ones to wipe her
tears, to tell her how beautiful and sweet and wonderful she was.
Instead, she had to hear it from aliens. From Kalquorians who no
doubt lied!

But even as the blighted part of her
raged, another part took refuge in the warm concern Gelan’s clan
gifted her with. This aspect of Dani basked in the tender words and
touches they gave her. It recognized that as her captors, they had
no need to treat her so kindly. She was property. But they made her
feel as if she was so much more to them.

The men caressed her like a troubled
child needing comfort. Nothing about their manner hinted even
remotely at sexual seduction. Yet Dani woke to them in that way,
her body softening to them, growing wet and aroused. As they filled
one need, others clamored to be satisfied. She was drunk on being
the center of attention, wanting more, wanting it all. And wanting
it to last forever.

The gentle press of Gelan’s lips on
hers was too much temptation for Dani. Her tongue peeked out to
taste him, and his breath caught. He pulled back to look at
her.

“
You’re still very weak,
sweet girl,” he warned, but his eyes had taken on an intensity
she’d seen before.

“
You can be careful. Please,
Gelan? This feels so nice. You make me feel wanted.”

“
You are wanted, little
fighter,” Wynhod rumbled. His eyes seemed overly bright.

“
You will exercise caution,”
Gelan said to the Nobek. “She’s been through a lot.”

Wynhod nodded slowly, his gaze never
leaving Dani’s face. “I will handle her as if I was an
Imdiko.”

“
All right then. You go
first. I don’t want your natural bestiality taking hold because you
had to wait too long.”

Wynhod gave Dani a smirk. “Do you hear
how little faith our Dramok has in me? You’d think I was an animal,
not a man.”

Krijero grinned at him. “You’re a
Nobek. Forcefulness is part of your nature.”

Gelan laid Dani on the soft dirt floor
of the cave. He and Krijero arranged themselves on either side of
her, and Wynhod knelt between her legs. “I will be careful with
you, my little fighter,” he whispered, his hand rubbing up and down
her inner thighs. “And the moment any one of us thinks it’s too
much, I will stop.”

“
Thank you,” she whispered
back. But she hoped she would be all right. Wynhod was too gorgeous
to deny herself the contact. She needed to be touched.

He stroked her sweetest flesh, finding
her slippery with need. Dani moaned as his big hand fondled her,
heating her insides. Meanwhile Gelan and Krijero bent to kissing
her face, breasts and belly, their mouths balmy on her skin. Rough,
catlike tongues lapped here and there, the flesh like coarse
velvet. Dani closed her eyes and floated on the
sensations.

A mouth closed over one nipple,
suckling it to a peak. Another trailed kisses from her sternum to
her navel and back up again. Fingers gently parted her nether lips
open to allow other fingers to swirl in the pooled moisture of her
core. They spread the slick honey all over her secret flesh,
including her clitoris. She sighed at the swell of pleasure that
lapped through her body.

The mouth left her breast to trail
kisses to her lips. A tongue swept into her mouth, possessing her
with tender force. At the same time another tongue whirled around
her untasted nipple, bringing it to the same stark attention as its
neighbor.

The soft touch of hair on her belly and
thighs alerted Dani to Wynhod’s next action. As his talented
fingers continued to explore the petals of her sex, his mouth
closed on her clit. His tongue slid over it as he sucked. Dani
moaned into the mouth covering hers, her senses
igniting.

The wicked tongue played with her most
sensitive flesh, delighting her with different levels of pressure.
Her hips bucked helplessly in reaction as he twirled and rubbed and
flicked and laved. One finger slid into her wet warmth. In and out
it moved, taking her higher with every tender intrusion.

Nibbled. Nuzzled. Devoured. Dani moaned
under the men’s delicious attention. Diamond bright flashes of
arousal stabbed through her belly. Her hands swept over the two
bodies she could reach: Gelan and Krijero. The thick muscled bodies
over hers made her feel small, dainty, and soft. The careful way
they handled her gave her a sense of safety. She basked in the glow
of being loved like a woman should be.

The moist sounds of Wynhod’s finger
moving in and out so slowly, of his lips and tongue’s carnal kiss
on her delicate nub made things below go tighter. Dani had never
known mere sound could add to sensual excitement. Her hips moved up
and down of their own accord, a hypnotized dance under the
Kalquorians’ spell.

The mouth kissing her moved to her ear,
the warm breath bringing gooseflesh out all over her body. Gelan’s
voice rumbled. “You have no idea of how beautiful you are, do you?
How stunning your body is, how wonderful you taste?”

“
I’m small up top,” she
protested. “I’m tall for a woman, I have a big butt, wide hips, and
I’m awkward.”

“
Your breasts are perfect,”
Krijero growled, releasing the mound he’d been teasing
unmercifully. “Flawlessly formed and sensitive. There’s not one
damned thing wrong with these.” His mouth covered the other breast,
sucking hard either to underscore his words or to punish her for
hers. Dani groaned in reaction to the darts of pleasure coursing
from his mouth to her clit, still adoringly tongued by
Wynhod.

Gelan paused nibbling her earlobe to
add, “Tall is good. So many of your kind are tiny, insubstantial
creatures. I couldn’t touch any of them for fear of breaking one.”
He looked into her eyes. “I love your round buttocks because I can
fill my hands with them. These hips are perfect for cradling my big
body. You have nothing – nothing – to dislike about
yourself.”

Dani heard more of the praise in his
tone than his words, because Wynhod was doing things to her that
claimed the majority of her attention. He pressed a second finger
into her core, and his hard teeth scraped over her clit, setting
off firecrackers of sensation stuttering through her body. She
arched against the solid bulk of the men on top of her, the heels
of her feet digging into the soft dirt of the cave floor. She
ground out a cry between clenched teeth.

“
How close, little Dani?”
Gelan whispered. His hand circled the column of her
throat.