Cyberella: Preyfinders Universe (8 page)

“No. I just sometimes...” He bit her ass. “Like to tie up my females.”

The pain had made her squeak but with both of his hands wrapped about her thigh, she’d had to stay there. She clutched either side of the console, thinking, feeling. That had been surprisingly hot. The hurt seemed to head straight for her pussy. She leaned over some more, eyelids half-lowered.

Her right ankle was soon fastened to the second console leg, a good few feet apart from her left, perhaps tied with his pants. She was trapped and her pussy exposed to his study, thoroughly exposed.

She liked this, she decided. As his cock touched her pussy, she felt her entrance tighten.

“That’s it. Be mine. Be still for me, Ella, while I fuck you.” Then he slid all the way in, steadily, like the pillar of a building being driven into the ground, slamming her open.

“Fuck,” she gasped.

When he ground himself in even farther, if that was possible, she moaned long and low, unsure if she was drooling on the electronics but not caring.

He fucked her hard and relentlessly, shoving her clit into the plas-g console so it rubbed up and down with his movements, driving pleasure into her, making her grunt and utter the most indescribably primitive sounds – ones she would never own up to, even if tortured.

Being held open made her feel owned. In this moment, this now, that was good in some strangely awesome, overwhelming way.

When he came, she shuddered and fell into another orgasm. Her back arched, her legs tensed, straining against the ties, her toes curled at the floor.

Cleaning up the floor and her clothes was messy. She couldn’t wear her thoroughly soaked and stretched panties, but since she could cuddle on the chair with him afterward, she didn’t care at all. There was no one to see or know how dirty they’d been in this room of high-tech equipment. No one to know if she walked around minus panties. If all sex with alien men was this good, she was signing up for more. On his lap, with his arms wrapped around her was the best snuggling ever.

After a while he kissed the top of her head. “We should talk soon. I need to find out why someone wants to buy you. It’s dangerous to ignore.”

He needed? The way he’d phrased that was odd. She thought about it. “I don’t know, really. Maybe he, if it is a he, is just collecting Earth women. My name wasn’t mentioned?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen the request. Why did the captain hurt you? It seems the opposite of sensible, if he was selling you.”

She let out a sigh then nibbled her lip. Thinking back to that was painful, but she had to face this. “I angered him. And he said they only wanted my mind intact.”

“How did you anger him?”

“I kicked him and nearly broke his leg.”

Silence. Had she said too much? A normal woman could probably not do that.

But he only squeezed her and murmured, “A dangerous move, but I understand your need. Kicking enemies when you can is very tempting.”

She huffed a laugh. The man was being silly. He seemed to have said that to reassure her, even though she’d been stupid to kick that horrible man. She snuggled in some more, breathing slower, her eyes closing. “Thank you.”

“Another time, we will talk more on this.”

She nodded though unsure if she would.

Was someone waiting to pounce on her?

Whoever this mystery buyer was, now that he’d failed, twice, she might be forgotten.

Or maybe Torgeir was right? He was being nice to her, but she didn’t like how nosy he was getting. This was her life. Relying on him would put her under an obligation to pay him back somehow. She already owed him. Debts with unknown prices scared her.

One day to landfall and Ella was avoiding him. Ever since they’d had sex she’d been more distant, as if trying to stall any relationship. It would’ve worked if he hadn’t felt so connected to her. If he wasn’t sure she was about to fall into a heap of trouble if left alone on Riptide.

And if he didn’t see her step out of the shower naked, water dribbling down her, over all those curves, wetting her breasts and making them seem plump and edible as fruit.

His color was coming out on her. She was bondmating. He stopped, frozen in place.

Did she know?

“Hey! Privacy! Shoo.” She grabbed a blue towel from the wall rack and wrapped it about her.

“Your door was open.” He struggled to keep his emotions in check and let stillness settle over his face.

“Oh. Yeah. The things on this ship that need repairing...”

“Yes.” For once he was glad the
Finatar
was rundown.

What he’d seen meant this was at a whole other level. Her nipples and even the hint of labia he’d glimpsed were rosier in color than before. Not just any shade. She had the early signs. Any male would recognize his own color.

But would she understand? And why was she resisting the pull that must be there? It was like someone was hauling him to her with hooks in his flesh.

She clutched the towel more. “Why are you still here and staring?”

“Don’t you feel it? The attraction?”

Ella blushed. “What?” She stared at the floor, frowning before looking up. “Being attracted to the opposite sex is natural but we agreed, no strings attached. I need to be my own person. I need to be
me
, and I’m already getting a vibe that says you’re not keen on that. Torgeir, please go.”

Her ridiculous argument tipped him past sensibleness.

“You’re showing signs of bondmating with me. I didn’t think it was possible with an offplanet female, but it’s happening.” She stared blankly so he explained. “Your sexual characteristics are becoming my color – a special shade of red.”

“Uhhh. What?”

“Your nipples and labia, even your lips, are redder than before.”

She didn’t even look, just hugged the towel to her. “Fuck off. Okay. Go away. I knew sex with you was a mistake. Besides, red? You’re not red. Anywhere.”

He pulled up his shirt and showed her the markings on his chest.

“Oh. So? A red tattoo or whatever doesn’t mean anything to me.”

He wanted to haul her off by her hair and do bad things to her ass. She was his and didn’t get that? Earth women were infuriating. If they had sex again she would see. The change would progress.

He stepped closer, grabbed the towel and ripped it loose, then tossed it aside. “Here.” He took hold of her breast. To not take hold of the rest of her was agonizing.

“Let go!” She put her hands on his wrist and tried to tug free.

“Look.”

“What? So? It’s the heat from the shower. Nothing.”

He ground his teeth. “You’re mine.”

“Fuck.
No.
You’re no better than the captain or that buyer. When we land, I’m going my way, and you’re going the hell elsewhere.”

He had no choice. “No. You’re legally and indisputably my slave.”

“I am not. Prove it in court. This isn’t Sicar.”

“Court? Easily. I inserted my code into you.”

“You did what?”

He released her breast but dragged her closer by her hair, gathering it tightly to her nape as he spoke, so she had to look up at him. Her pert nipples touched his shirt and wet him.

“It’s an unbreakable encryption stamped on your every cell and every part of your body. Only I, the owner, can ever remove it. You run from me and I will have you brought back to me in chains.”

She growled, literally growled at him. It was ridiculous, this little female growling at him and showing her teeth. He held back a smile.

“Mister Torgeir, you do that and I will hate you forever. What you’ve done already is unforgiveable. I swear...the things I would do to you. Remove this code!”

That gave him pause. Made him think. She wasn’t the same as most women. If he did this, maybe she would hate him forever, in spite of the bondmating? That would be tragic.

He thought fast while he held her inches from him. The way she panted through those red lips would drive him crazy, if he stayed this near her for much longer. He let her go and took a step back.

“I give you a choice. It’s true I swore off slavery.” He shut his eyes, for a second, and put his hands to his scalp, anchoring them in his hair and thinking some more.

“What choice?”

The pout she wore was offset by the wildness in her eyes. Such a feral creature. He would get this to work, but perhaps he needed patience.

“I free you, if you agree to grant me, three times in the next six months, a week of your complete presence, your complete obedience. You will be mine on those days. You will not try to leave Riptide until that time is up.”

“Six months?” She blinked, clearly thinking this through. The way she stared at his feet said it wasn’t easy for her. “If I’m free otherwise and not a slave. I’ll agree to this. No sex.”

What a stipulation. His mouth tweaked as he considered it. This could still be very interesting. He would make sure of that. “Very well.”

She smiled. “Fine. I don’t care if you make me scrub floors for a week.” Her eyes narrowed. “Wait. This is like granting you three wishes.”

The translator gave a green light to that word.

“You can call them that. Three wishes.”

“I’m no fairytale genie. But okay. I still agree.”

She folded her arms, making her breasts lift up. A distracting and naked girl, presenting her breasts to him. He made himself look at her face and to his surprise saw amusement at his reaction. She teased him? Wait until he had her for a week.

“Now, remove your code.”

“In six months’ time, I will.” By then, he would have convinced her to be his. He was a patient man, when he wanted to be. “In six months, you’ll be mine.”

“What? You never said you’d wait until the end.”

“You never asked.”

“In six months, I will leave.”

“We will see.” He stepped forward and walked around her as he spoke. “Already, I have ideas as to what I can do to you, without fucking you. You didn’t rule out the insertion of other things into you. I plan to have you begging for more, as well as begging me to stop.”

That she swallowed subtly then blushed, satisfied him all the way down to his toes.

He realized then that he’d missed something. Dresdek had been right. She should have wanted to smash something over his head for implanting his code in her. Her anger had been there but relatively minor compared to, say, threatening to kill him. The one explanation? The bondmating
was
affecting her. The signs were there. She was resisting but her culture might have nothing like bondmating so that was understandable.

This would work. It had to.

Avoiding Torgeir made for a lonely, boring day. Ella sat on the deck in the kitchen, wrinkling her nose and poking the open panel on the chef-o-mat with her finger. The amount of corrosion on the AI boards was appalling. Cracks in the protective clear layers had let in moisture, she figured. Now all the thing would make was a meal with some smoked meat like bacon, eggs, and custard or chocolate fish. Death by space vacuum was looking tempting.

Mimi sniffed where her finger rested. Her nose was stubby yet wriggly and her fine metallic fur wriggled at the same time as her nose.

“Hey! It’s already got problems. Shoo.”

The critter seemed to have decided she was worth following and had emerged from her hiding place. Most of the time Mimi had four tiny legs and with her sitting on her backside as she was, she resembled a pet dog...well, one that’d OD’d on food, expanded to big balloon size, and turned into rust-red metal.

Ella stood, dusting off the bits of decayed plas-g that’d fallen out of the panel. As she straightened, Mimi leaned in and slurped her long silver tongue all over the AI boards, leaving trails of silvery slobber that evaporated as Ella gaped at it.

“Oh fuck. What have you done? When did you acquire a tongue?”

Mimi grinned in a wide-set, Cheshire cat way only a piece of living rock could manage. A malevolent smile, some might think. Which might be exactly right, considering she’d once squashed a man’s head flat as a pancake.

“Wish I knew what was going on in your mind.” Assuming Mimi had a mind.

Tomorrow they landed, thank god. Torgeir could maybe find new parts. Chocolate fish for a day was bearable.

She laid her palm on the boards. Touching cybernetics, AI chips, it helped her somehow to appreciate the damage – as if knowledge seeped in through her skin. Before, she’d felt the wrongness but now, even when she peered closer, there was only shiny new metal and
rightness
. Would it still function like a chef?

“Hmmm.” She looked at Mimi, then went to the controls and ordered a roast meal with the red sauce that had seemed edible in the past.

When it arrived in front of her, steaming, with all the correct ingredients, as far as she could tell, she raised her eyebrows. Interesting.

*****

The approach to Riptide was a whole new experience for Ella. Captain Lyet, bastard Captain Lyet, had never allowed her on the bridge on landings or take-offs. This time she was strapped into the navigator’s seat. Which worried her.

Seemed like the long holoscreen that stretched across the room had a habit of flickering too. She clutched the arm rests. They must know what they were doing. Both Torgeir and Dresdek were tapping away at buttons on the virtual control board. The planet on the holoscreen looked close enough to suck them in – a revolving gray-fogged globe with glimpses of green-gray land and blue sea showing in the gaps.

Even though being this close to Torgeir bothered her, she’d rather be here than by herself.

“Who is navigating if I’m sitting here?”

Torgeir half-turned. “Dresdek. We’re doing multiple roles. Sit. Watch.”

Miffed but seeing the sense in that, she listened.

“They’re wanting to send us up a guide,” Dresdek said.

“That’ll cost us heaps. No.”

“We have limited insurance. We’re doing so many...” He glanced at her as if wondering how much he should say. “If we damage anything, they will suck every last unit out of you in compensation.” As he spoke he was tapping things, glowing squares, pulsing circles. Hopefully, he was steering and not playing a video game.