Chained (Brides of the Kindred) (25 page)

Maggie moaned with abandon and worked
herself against his fingers. His deep, steady penetration and the friction of
his palm against her sensitive clit were exactly what her body was desperate
for. She could feel the pleasure rising in her again and for a moment, she was
able to forget her shame and just be—just
feel
as another strong orgasm
washed over her.

“That’s right,” the man in black murmured.
“Let it go, sweetheart. Let it all go and just come for me. Gods, I can feel
your sweet little cunt squeezing my fingers. Wish I wasn’t wearing these damn
gloves.”

Maggie could feel it too. Her inner
muscles were working hard, contracting as though she was trying to pull him
deeper into her. As though her body was seeking something else—something more.
But what? Maggie wasn't sure and she couldn't think anymore—she lost herself in
the pleasure.

At last it was over. To her relief, the
cycle the ruby implant had started in her seemed to be fulfilled. The constant
desire that had been tormenting her all day was quieted—but only for a little
while, Maggie sensed. The implant was still pulsing—but much slower now. It
would speed up again in the future and torture her some more. But for now she
had a moment of respite.

The man in black seemed to understand what
was happening. Slowly his thick fingers withdrew, leaving Maggie feeling empty
and alone. Suddenly all the shame she’d been able to ignore while the desire
was at a fever pitch came rushing back. God, had she really just done that? Had
she really just rubbed herself off against a complete stranger’s hand?

What’s wrong with me?
What am I becoming?

She hung her head, her eyes burning with
unshed tears. She didn’t want to cry—it seemed like crying was all she did
lately. She had to be strong.

But somehow she couldn’t help the single
tear that dripped down her cheek or the soft sob that escaped her lips.

“Hey, no—don’t do that.” The man in black
sounded genuinely concerned. “Don’t cry, sweetheart.” He smoothed her skirt
back into place and stepped away, talking in low tones to Zamir.

“She’s a fine specimen but maybe you’d
care to see others as well?” the slave trader said. “I have some females from
the Ganga system—”

“She’s the only one I want,” the man
growled. “Here—take your damn credit and unchain her.”

For some reason Zamir hesitated. “Your
pardon, sir, but I was told to only sell this slave to someone who would…how
can I put it delicately…misuse her as much as possible. My patroness would not
be pleased if I report that I have allowed a compassionate male such as
yourself to purchase her.”

Maggie’s heart sank as she remembered Lady
Pope’nose’s final instructions.
“…be sure you sell her to the absolute worst
male you can find. The crueler and more heartless, the better.”

At least the man in black seemed to be
kind and understanding. Would Zamir really refuse to sell her to him because he
wasn’t a complete bastard?

“You think I’m compassionate?” There was a
swift movement and they were close enough for Maggie to see that the man
suddenly had the dealer by the throat. “Filthy slaver
scum,”
he growled
as Zamir choked and gurgled in his grasp. “How
compassionate
do you
think I am now?”

“Sir…sir,
please,”
Zamir gasped.

“I’m leaving with the girl whether you
want to sell her to me or not. So you can either take your credits and unchain
her or I can break her chains myself and you’ll get nothing. Make your choice.”

“If sir will only let me go,” Zamir
gasped. “I will…will be pleased to…unchain—”

“Good, do it! And be fucking quick about
it—I want to get her out of this fucking meat market.” The man pushed him
roughly away and threw a clinking sack at his head.

Zamir fell to his knees and then somehow
managed to stand, rubbing his skinny green throat. He stooped stiffly to pick
up the sack the man had thrown, then made his way over to Maggie and fumbled
with the cold metal manacles around her wrists. At last they clicked free and
she could lower her arms.

“It’s all right.” The man beckoned to her.
“You can get up now. You’re free.”

Maggie tried. But she’d been kneeling in
the same position for so long that everything was numb. Her arms were all pins
and needles and her legs felt like rubber. She stumbled and would have fallen
off the raised pedestal she’d been displayed on for so long if the man hadn’t
caught her.

“It’s all right,” he said again and lifted
her easily into his arms, cradling her like she was a baby. He looked at Zamir.
“I’m taking her. Is there anything else I need to know about this fucking
implant?” He nodded at the jewel blinking slowly in Maggie’s naval.

“Nothing,” Zamir said sullenly. “Just go.
I will tell my patroness that she has been purchased by a
suitable
male.”

“If by suitable you mean a mean son of a
bitch more than willing to come back and wring your skinny green throat, you’d
be right,” the man growled. “Fuck off, slaver.”

And turning, he carried Maggie away.

Chapter Twenty-two

He carried her through the crowded
marketplace and into a small, twisting corridor that seemed to be leading
outside. Maggie lay still in his arms, too frightened to say anything. She
belonged to the man in black now—he had bought and paid for her, implant and all.
Would he be a kind and compassionate master, as Zamir seemed to think? Or would
he hurt and abuse her as soon as he got her wherever it was that they were
going?

He could be
anyone—could be a serial killer!
whispered
a little voice in her brain.
He could just buy slaves so he can take them
away and torture them to death.

Of course, even if he wasn’t, even if he
was a completely nice guy, the fact remained that he was a stranger and he
owned her now. And what if she somehow managed to get away from him? Everything
was just a big blur. How could she ever get back to Earth? And even if she
did
get back, she still had the implant lodged firmly in her belly button. An
implant she still knew almost nothing about. What even
was
it? Some kind
of animal? Some kind of machine? Zamir had said that it was bred
and
engineered
.
Did that mean it was some freaky hybrid thing that was half
living and half robotic?

As if the implant knew she was thinking
about it, Maggie felt it begin pulse more steadily again. She bit her lip and
moaned silently as the unwanted pleasure between her thighs began to grow. The
need it evoked in her wasn’t unbearable…
yet
,
but she knew eventually it would be. God, this was
torture.
What was she
going to do?

“Here we are.” The man’s low voice broke
her train of thought and Maggie looked up to see that they had reached the end
of the twisting corridor and were facing a white panel that might be a door—it
was hard to tell when everything was so blurry. The man pressed a button on the
wall with his elbow—he was still cradling Maggie to his chest like a baby—and
the white panel in front of them
whooshed
silently open. The man stepped
inside and the door shut behind them, leaving them in a small white box of a
room.

“Hang in there,” he told Maggie. “Just
have to wait for the airlock to cycle.”

There was a whirring noise and a second
white panel slid open. This time they entered a much larger room filled with
many colorful blurs. Maggie wished desperately that she could see where he was
taking her. What
was
this place? His private apartment? The secret lair
where he tortured his victims? Without her glasses she felt absolutely
helpless—lost and vulnerable and afraid.

The second door
whooshed
shut
behind them, trapping her alone with him in a strange place. Maggie shivered,
wondering what was coming next. Was this the moment he dropped his nice guy act
and pulled out a knife? Was this the moment she died?

The man set her down on a soft surface and
took off his gloves and cloak. Then he knelt in front of her.

“Are you all right?” he asked her
directly. “That bastard of a slaver back there, did he hurt you?”

“I…he…” Maggie shook her head. “Who
are
you?” she blurted.

“Who am I? Don’t you know?” He slid off
the black mask and tossed it aside. “Well?”

Maggie looked at him but his face was
still a blur. “I’m sorry, I lost my glasses. Well, I didn’t lose them—they were
broken. And without them I can’t really see much of anything.”

“Oh, that’s right—your oculars. I forgot.
He leaned closer. “Open your eyes wide and look straight at me.”

“All right,” Maggie said, obeying his
orders. “But I’m afraid that really doesn’t help much. You’re still just a big
blur and—”

Suddenly a burst of red light came right at
her, so quickly Maggie didn’t have time to shut her eyes. She felt a pressure
sensation against both eyeballs—the same feeling she got when the optometrist
did the air puff test for glaucoma when she had an eye exam.

“Ugh!” She jerked away, closing her eyes
reflexively. She’d always hated that test! “What did you do to me?” she
demanded, forgetting for a moment to be afraid.

“Open your eyes and find out.”

Maggie blinked and opened her eyes,
expecting to see the familiar colorful blurs which had been her whole world
since Lady Pope’nose had spitefully broken her glasses. Instead, everything
around her jumped suddenly into focus.

She was sitting on a gold brocade couch
with intricate scarlet patterns embroidered all over it. The room around her
seemed to match the couch in opulence and elegance. And kneeling in front of her
was…

“How about now, blondie?” he asked. “Do
you know me?”

Maggie could have cried as his familiar
features came into focus. “Kor?” she asked in a small, trembling voice. “Is
that really you?” She reached up a hand to touch his cheek…then pulled back at the
last instant. “Where have you been? Why didn’t you come for me? And what did
you do to my eyes?”

“Fixed them.” He grinned. “You can see
now, right?”

“Yes, but how did you do it?”

“I’ve been mastering my, uh, talents for
lack of a better word.” He tapped his temple, indicating his eyes. “I’m safe
now—I won’t hurt anyone by accident.”

“That’s great.” Maggie crossed her arms
and looked down. “It sounds like you’ve been putting your time to good use.
Meanwhile, I’ve been locked up in some kind of stasis tube while Lady Pope’nose
grew this…this
thing
in me.” She looked down at the ruby implant in her
belly button.

“Yes, that
thing
does seem to be a
problem. Let me see it.” He leaned down to examine the implant but Maggie
covered it quickly with her arms.

“Don’t. Please.”

“All right.” Kor sat back. “I’m sorry I
didn’t come for you sooner but I thought you were fine—thought you got away
safely. I had no idea that bitch Pope’nose had gotten free and come looking for
you.”

“When did you find out?” Maggie asked.

“One solar week ago. I’d been cruising
towards the Black Planet, looking for answers, and then I had a dream—the same
kind of dream we shared before. I saw you in a dark room with Pope’nose and
that slimy green slaver.”

Maggie’s heart jumped. “You saw that?”

“The same way you saw me chained up before
you came to rescue me,” Kor said softly. “The least I could do was return the
favor. I knew you were in trouble so I came back to find out what was going
on.” He frowned and cracked his knuckles. “I had to get a little rough with one
of her slaves but he finally gave up the information. I came to find you as
fast as I could.” He looked at her earnestly. “I got here in time, didn’t I?
Nobody hurt you, did they? Please tell me you’re all right, sweetheart.”

“Nobody
raped
me if that’s what
you’re asking,” Maggie said bitterly. “Unless you count being implanted with an
alien device that makes you—” She broke off abruptly. “Why did you come in
disguise? I thought…I didn’t know who you were. I thought some stranger was buying
me to take me away and do God knows what to me!”

“I’m sorry about that, blondie,” he said
gently. “But I’m a wanted male and I’m known in the Hub. Don’t forget I used to
be a slave myself—I was bought and sold to my last master not fifty feet from
the place that slimy green bastard had you displayed. I couldn’t risk showing
my face.”

“You should have let me know somehow.”
Maggie’s voice trembled and she dropped her eyes. “I was so embarrassed and
ashamed, thinking I had let a total stranger touch me. Make me…” But she
couldn’t finish.

“Oh Maggie…sweetheart…” He tried to cup
her chin but Maggie pulled back from his touch.

“Don’t. When you touch me it only makes it
worse. Makes me want…” She shook her head.

“You’re going to have to let me look at
that thing eventually, you know,” he said softly. “We need to figure out how to
get it out of you.”

Maggie kept her eyes down. “I don’t care
about that. I just want to go home.”

“Home to
Donald
you mean?” His
voice hardened. “I should have known you’d still feel the same way.”

Maggie glared at him. “What do you expect?
I know it’s been six months for you but it’s only been two days for me. Two
days since you said it was a trillion to one chance we’d ever see each other
again. Two days since you walked off and
left me.”

“I left you because you didn’t
want
me,” he reminded her grimly. “You wanted that stupid fiancé of yours. Well, let
me ask you something, blondie—how do you think good old
Donald
is going
to feel about that implant you’ve got? Will you try to hide it from him? Or
explain what it is and how it affects you?”

“I…” Maggie looked away. She could just
imagine Donald’s irritation if she had to interrupt his work and ask him to
“service” her. He wasn’t very into sex at the best of times, believing it was
simply an appetite that had to be satisfied occasionally. If she was constantly
at him, always needing him to touch her, to help her… “He won’t like it,” she
said at last in a low voice. “He won’t like it at all.”

“So we need to get it out,” Kor said
reasonably.

“I’m sure one of the Kindred doctors can
do that,” Maggie said. “We should call and ask them. In fact, I should call
right now. I’m sure my family is worried sick about me.”

Kor shook his head. “The viewscreen on
this ship isn’t wired to make such a long distance interstellar call.”

“Well, then let’s just go. I’m sure the
Kindred can get it out—they have very advanced techniques.”

“Not for something like this,” Kor said
firmly. “It has to be taken out by the same people who developed it in the
first place.”

“Why?” Maggie demanded. “Please, Kor, I
just want to
go home.”

“Why?” He stood up and started to pace.
“Because that thing is like a fucking
bomb,
that’s why! You think it’s
just a pretty, shiny little jewel in your belly button? Hell, no—it’s a living
creature with biomechanical tendrils. Tendrils that are probably wrapped all
around your spinal cord and—” He must have seen the stricken look on her face
because he stopped abruptly. “Damn it. I’m sorry, Maggie—I didn’t mean to scare
you. I just want you to know how serious this thing is.”

“You think I’m taking it
lightly
?”
she demanded. “After the way it made me—
makes
me feel? After what it
made me do when you…when you touched me?”

Kor stopped pacing and ran a hand through
his hair. “I’m sorry about that too,” he said roughly. “I didn’t want to take
advantage of you but I could tell you were in need. You were practically
crying
with pain. I couldn’t just let you suffer.”

“Maybe you should have,” Maggie whispered.
But even as she spoke, she could feel the implant cycling up again, pulsing
faster and faster, sending unwanted jolts of desire to the place between her thighs.
She crossed her legs and tried to ignore it.

“Fuck.” Kor ran both hands through his
hair this time. “I can’t talk to you about this now. I have to go set a course
for the ship.”

“The ship?” Maggie looked around at their
opulent surroundings. “We’re in a ship?”

“Lady Pope’nose’s private luxury space
cruiser to be exact.” Kor gave her a hard grin. “Let’s just say she won’t be
missing it any time soon.”

“She…she won’t?” Maggie put a hand to her
throat. “Kor, not that I like her—she’s
horrible
. But what did you do to
her?”

“Nothing she didn’t fucking deserve,” he
said shortly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, blondie, I have to get us away from the
Hub and set a new course before anyone gets suspicious.”

“Set a new course? Where are we going?”

“To the Maw Cluster,” he said. “Straight
to the Dragon’s Mouth.”

* * * * *

Kor handed the ship’s controls roughly,
jerking the little cruiser out of its docking berth and shoving it into
hyperspeed as soon as they were clear. Damn it, what was wrong with Maggie?
Would she never be willing to see that she didn’t belong with anyone but him?

Mine,
he thought, unable to help the wave of possessiveness that
swept over him.
She’s fucking
mine
.
Where was her fucking fiancé when she was captured and slaved
out? When she was put up for sale? Did he even come looking for her?
Kor
would have bet any amount he hadn’t.
I
came for her.
I
claimed her.
She’s
mine…
or should be anyway.

But what if she didn’t want to be? She’d
been stuck in stasis for almost the entire time they were apart—which was
possibly the reason he hadn’t dreamed of her before a week ago. Because the
weird dream thing that happened between them seemed to need both of them to be
lucid to participate somehow.

The point was, almost no time had passed
for her. Of course she still felt the same way—why wouldn’t she? Kor had been
off, researching his roots and learning to deal with the devastating powers
taking off his inhibitor collar had unleashed. He’d also had plenty of time to
think…time to regret that he’d left her. But that didn’t mean Maggie had
experienced a similar situation. To her it was just yesterday that he’d left
her standing at the end of the Grand Promenade thinking she would never see him
again.