Taken (10 page)

Lyzette felt her carefully constructed bubble pop around her. He hadn't made love to her because he cared about her. He fucked her because she was his property, and he had needs. She suddenly felt dirty and used. All the wonder and amazement of what their bodies did together seemed soiled, and Lyzette was on the verge of tears. Then the tears came out. To conceal them, she turned and looked out of the carriage as if she were enjoying the view.

Mikael didn't notice her change of mood until he had talked to himself about Marka for over twenty minutes. He got a nod from Lyzette every once in a while.

"Lyzette?" he asked, taking her chin and turning her head towards him. She looked at him, not because she wanted to, but because she was his slave, and he wanted her to do something. Tears ran down her cheeks.

He frowned in consternation.

"What's wrong?" he said.

She shook her head. She shifted on the seat and tried to get comfortable. As much as she had enjoyed having sex both times, she was surprised at how sore she was down there. It was a good thing he made sure that it hadn't hurt when he broke her hymen. Otherwise, she would never have enjoyed any of it. But the anesthetic had long worn off, and she felt every bump in the road. Especially now that the euphoria from the waterfall had worn off.

"Lyzette, tell me," he said.

She did because he ordered her to, and she was his slave and had to do everything he said. But she didn't tell him the whole truth.

"I'm sore, from, you know," she whispered. "And I'm trying to keep in mind that I am a slave. I was starting to get some crazy ideas in my head, and I want to keep my feet on the ground. My mother always said that a girl with her head in the clouds gets it knocked off by the first passing jet or shit on by the geese."

Mikael looked shocked. Then he laughed, but his smile faded quickly.

"This is my life. I accept it. There's nothing a person can do to change their lot in life. My mother told me over and over, Lyzette, make the best of it because this is as good as it gets, and you can't change it."

"Lyzette."

"I mean," she went on as if he hadn't even said anything. "I guess I had it a bit better back home because I wasn't a slave and could do what I wanted. But I was just as trapped because I had to work a job I hated. I was asked to sleep with an asshole. My mother was never happy with me, no matter what I did. And the city was so dirty and ugly. At least here, it's pretty, I have a beautiful room and pretty clothes."

"Lyzette, please, let me say something." he said, trying to stem the flow of words, but she wasn't done.

"You're very nice and tricked me into wanting to sleep with you, which was better than raping me, I guess. Thank you for that. And I did have a lovely time, and I won't mind sleeping with you, I'm sure, ever. But I have to keep in mind that it's not a choice. I have to do whatever you tell me because I'm a slave."

Finally she stopped, having run out of thoughts. Mikael stared at her.

"What?" she said. "I'm only trying to keep my feet on the ground, you know? Be sensible. Smart. I shouldn't be dreaming about things I can't have."

"What do you want that you can't have, Lyz?" he said, his blue eyes looking right through her.

She shook her head.

"I would like to ask you not to call me that because you should only call people sweet names if you care about them. And if this were anything like a normal situation, I would say that. But it's not a typical situation, and that's what I meant. I need to get used to the fact that you own me. And you can call me whatever you like."

She took out a tiny handkerchief from the pocket of her blouse and dabbed at her eyes, trying not to ruin her makeup. She wasn't crying anymore, but the tears from earlier were making everything muddy.

"Why does a wealthy, modern planet like Marka even have slaves?" Lyzette asked, forgetting that slaves probably shouldn't ask questions like that of their masters. "Even on Earth, which is so backward compared to Marka, it's illegal."

Mikael looked at her unhappily.

"I'm sorry. I'm talking too much. I'll shut up now," she said, turning to look out of the carriage again.

After a few minutes, Mikael spoke, and she turned so she could see him out of the corner of her eye.

"All the responses in my head sound false when I start to speak them," he said. "I was going to say that there aren't many slaves, usually only consorts. And I was going to say that we don't enslave Markans — only people from other planets."

He trailed off.

"Those excuses sounded fine before, but they don't make much sense when you're in front of me."

Lyzette looked up at him as he continued.

"Those explanations don't make sense at all. Why is it okay to have slaves, as long as there aren't too many? Why is it okay because they're only consorts? Why is it okay because we don't enslave our people?"

He shook his head and looked out of the carriage at the busy city.

"It's not okay, Lyzette."

Lyzette stared at him. She felt disappointed. For a moment, she had thought that he was going to change the social order of the planet because she had shown him a truth, but that was ridiculous. She wasn't someone who could open people's eyes and make them change. She was a nobody. She got that. She would remember it from now on.

"What is it now?" he asked.

"Nothing." She smiled brightly, remembering what her mother always suggested. If life is kicking you in the ass, put a smile on your face and ignore the pain because your pain doesn't matter.

The carriage pulled up to an enormous building.

"What is this place?" Lyzette asked.

"It's the stadium where the match is," Mikael said, getting out. He held out his hand to help her exit the carriage, but she ignored it and stepped down on her own onto the street. She tilted her head up, craning her neck to try and see everything she could.

"Come on." He put his hand on her back and urged her forward off the street. The next carriage was pulling up, and they needed to get out of the way.

She stepped forward purposefully in her high heels. They were lavender and matched the rest of the outfit. Lyzette liked the sharp sound of her shoes clicking on the floor. The harsh sound matched her brittle mood.

Lyzette didn't know it, but at that moment she radiated beauty and incited desire. She was gorgeous with a post-orgasmic glow lighting her from within. Her cheeks were pink, and her curvy body was on display in a short shirt and mini-skirt.

What she did know was that every male eye in the entrance was on her. She moved closer to Mikael unconsciously, flipping her dark hair back over her shoulder. She had decided to wear her hair down tonight, and now she was having second thoughts. She would be trying to keep it out of her face all evening.

"Why are they all looking at me?" she whispered to Mikael.

"Because you're beautiful," he whispered back. "And because I haven't brought a woman to a match in a long time."

She frowned and turned her head to meet his eye. He didn't say anything else but led her through the crowd and out to the seats. They walked down to field level. The building reminded her of a small football field. Mikael opened the door to a private box seat which looked luxurious and expensive.

Once they were in the box, they could see the whole field but none of the other fans could see them. She heard a lock click once they were inside.

She was trapped again.

"This is the Markanor's private box," he said. "We'll watch from here."

"I thought you were playing today," Lyzette said. She didn't care about sports right now because she was still upset.

"I am. But there are many different setups at this one match. You'll see. It'll be easier to explain once it starts," he said.

She said nothing, and Mikael needed to break the silence.

"Lyzette," he murmured, coming to her and enfolding her in his strong arms. "I wish things were different."

"But they're not," she said, trying to pull away.

"I do care about you."

"Not really," she said. "You want to fuck me. Are those two things the same for aliens?"

He blew out a frustrated breath.

"The slave system is the way things work here. All the higher level men have consorts, even if they're married. It keeps our libidos in check. When we arrived on this planet, it was next to impossible to get a woman pregnant. When we first arrived, our race was forced to have the males pleasure the females multiple times a day in order to survive. Seven days a week. Most men had seven or eight mates to get some of them pregnant."

Lyzette was shocked.

"That's right. Our bodies adjusted, producing larger and larger amounts of sperm in shorter and shorter periods of time. When the population stabilized, there wasn't any danger of us dying out any longer, and we couldn't reverse our physiological changes. In a different society, the males only have one partner, but we were stuck. A thousand years ago, our rulers declared that men should have only one official partner but if another were needed to satisfy the requirements of the body, he could take a consort."

"A man created that rule," Lyzette said.

Mikael didn't respond to her statement. "When slave traders found out about our new laws, they provided inexpensive women used for their bodies. We kept the women of Marka in the dark. And everyone was happy."

"Everyone except the slaves," Lyzette said to herself.

"You know what that means, right, Lyzette?" he said, coming over to where she stood. His voice was husky.

"What?" she said, suddenly picking up on his change in mood.

"Lots of pleasures," he whispered, his breath hot in her ear.

She shivered. She had to let him fuck her. It was her job.

"But I'm sore!"

"Don't worry. I've got it all covered. Sit down," he said, indicating once of the plush armchairs.

She sat, keeping her knees tight together, like a lady. He knelt in front of her.

"Open your legs, Lyzette," he told her.

She spread them a little bit.

"I need access," he said, taking her knees and moving them far apart. Then he moved between her legs and brought her to climax so quickly, she couldn't believe it. Apparently, neither could he.

"I've never…" he said, shaking his head. Then he picked her up as if she were as light as a feather and deposited her on a couch near the back. She was still convulsing as he rubbed something on himself and then pushed into her.

She grimaced. She had to bear it. She was a slave, and if he wanted to fuck her when she was sore, then she had to put up with it. But he didn't move right away.

"What are you doing?" she asked. She was confused.

"Letting the painkiller I put on start to work. It takes a couple minutes."

She was surprised. He was thinking of her comfort. It didn't fit with the image of the cruel slave master she had been building up in her mind.

She lay still, waiting. She realized that where before she had felt pain, now she only felt tingles of excitement. She wanted to have him fill her again.

She didn't mean to beg him to move, but she was almost going to when he pulled out and then pushed back in so fast, she huffed out her breath.

"This isn't going to be slow, Lyzette. The match is starting," he said.

"Starting?" she squeaked, turning her head to see men in shorts and no shirts running out onto the field. "What if they see us?" But he didn't answer, focused only on plunging into her body over and over.

It was his right to fuck her in front of whoever he wanted, she supposed. She lay back ready to endure it, but in no time she was near the edge again. He dropped his hand down and rubbed her clit in tiny, light circles.

"Lyzette, I can't wait," he said, exploding inside her. He sucked hard on her nipple, and the combination sent a shattering climax ripping through her body. She looked up and saw that one man on the field was at the correct angle to see them.

He was looking in their direction.

"Mik, get off me. Someone's watching," she said, unable to stop her hips from bucking. He turned quickly.

"No one should be able to see in, Lyzette," he said, glancing at the players lining up.

By the time he looked, the man was gone.

Lyzette felt conflicted. She was upset with Mikael for being her master. But he kept making her feel fantastic. She couldn't make up her mind about him. He had thought of her comfort...in order to have more sex with her. Still, he could have fucked her and not worried about how she felt.

She was confused. Now he was trying to tell her about how this stupid match thing worked, and she didn't care, and it would be more confusing. Her body was so relaxed that she could hardly sit upright. Even though she had finished having sex only moments before, sitting beside Mikael was making her want him again.

It was all so frustrating and strange. All in all, it was looking to be an annoying afternoon.

When Mikael took the field, she forgot everything else.

He explained how the game worked earlier, but there were a lot of rules. All she had got out of it was that they had to push the other guy over the line, and certain things weren't allowed. It had something to do with keeping his clan on top. Every match was important. They needed to gain points every time to ensure they stayed in power. Blah blah blah. Even on another planet she couldn't escape men's obsessions with sports.

She watched, rapt with attention, as he squared off with the other men from his clan. She admitted that he looked dominant. They were all fine specimens, but she had eyes for no one but Mik. Although Lyzette had seen Mikael's chest for a few minutes while they had played cards, she suddenly realized that she hadn't been able to see anything last night. Nothing she could appreciate. When they had made love today, both times he had kept his shirt on.

The shirt was off now, and Mikael was built. Like, tons of muscles. His biceps were large, and his chest was broad and powerful. She remembered the feel of the muscled flesh under her hands and mouth last night but to see his strength was something else entirely. His hips were narrow and his buttocks tight. In those cute shorts, she could see his lean, long legs. His rock-hard body was on display, except for the shorts. She wondered if she still had any of the venom in her that was making her so horny.