The Challenge (13 page)
Authors: Susan Kearney
Instead, he spanked her again. Slap.
He was creating more heat. Slap.
She was burning up with need.
Slap.
Raging with desire.
Slap.
Whimpers escaped her throat. Gasps of delight mixed with sobs of frustration.
When he finally stopped, she no longer recognized her own voice that was hoarse. Once more he gave her pleasure between her thighs.
But not enough.
Never enough.
And she burst into tears.
BY THE STARS! Kahn couldn’t take any more. The manuals he’d studied had told him to expect her to want sex, but they hadn’t told him he would have to go this far or mentioned how he would feel disgusted and sickened with himself after frustrating her. Not to mention how hard he’d had to work to tamp down his own longings to soothe her, to comfort her, to give her what she wanted. And it had all been for nothing.
Tessa had not exhibited one sign of psi ability, and after she’d burst into tears, Kahn couldn’t continue. He’d abruptly ceased the training session, removed the stimulations from her suit, and fled the room, hoping that soon she would fall into a deep sleep. Once outside the chamber, he’d fought to keep himself steady. Without his suit compensating and regulating the flow of blood to his sex, his job would have been much more difficult. And although he’d followed Federation procedural manuals to the letter, then gone further and touched her as she’d asked, the recommended procedure wasn’t working.
Helera’s advice wasn’t helping. Perhaps a man’s point of view would be better.
Heading straight for the ship-to-planet communications console at the ship’s helm, Kahn shot a hyper beacon to Rystan. Moments later, Zical, his right-hand man and second-in-command of their people materialized on the holoscreen. The two had been friends since childhood. They had attended school, hunted, and shared several hair-raising adventures together.
Zical took one look at Kahn and frowned. “You look worse than a frozen
octar
.”
Octar
were the primary source of meat on Rystan. The creatures were nutritious and known not only for their ugly faces, but their temperamental personalities. Even the thought of food made Kahn’s stomach uneasy, and he swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth, noting that his friend looked thinner, his normally squared jaw more drawn, and the creases under his eyes deeper since they’d last spoken. “The Earthling has not yet shown one sign of psi ability.”
Zical’s frown deepened. “He should—”
“
She
should have at least changed her suit’s transparency before now.”
“She? The Terrans sent a female?” Zical rubbed his hand over his jaw, probably to hide a smile.
Since Rystani customs dictated that the widows teach the younger men about sexual matters, all men knew how to please their inexperienced wives. But Kahn had even more experience than most since he’d been married—an experience he tried hard to put from his mind. Loving Lael and losing her had been so painful that he never wanted to fall in love again. Which made his fascination with the strange Earthling especially difficult for him. His people had sent their leader on this mission due to his expertise in training men to fight—not for any ability with women.
“I’m assuming you’ve done—”
“Much more than should have been necessary.” He left out how much he’d ached to take Tessa into his arms, taste her mouth, plunge into her heat.
“And nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Maybe Earthlings need more stimulation. Maybe they are different from other humans.”
“This particular female doesn’t believe she has any psi ability at all,” Kahn told his friend with a heavy heart.
Zical shoved back from the console with a shrug of frustration. “You should speak to Helera again. Maybe she has another suggestion.”
Helera was their oldest and wisest female. Her gentle nature and healing ways soothed in times of strife, and her wise counsel often helped keep marriages strong—plus she’d helped him through many bad moments after losing Lael after an Endekian attack. But, Kahn suspected that Tessa had more in common with Azrel, his father’s she-devil wife from Scartar, than she’d ever have with the sweet-natured Helera or pliant and steady Lael. But at his wits’ end, he was willing to listen to any suggestions.
Within moments, Helera’s wizened face once more brightened the screen. As if she understood his troubled spirit, Helera smiled kindly. “Kahn, why do you believe that the Terran is not responding?”
“Tessa’s responding sexually, but no psi abilities have appeared.”
“Could she be hiding them from you?”
“Perhaps.” But he recalled her desperation and tears that seemed to have been drawn from her innermost core and shook his head. “But I don’t think so.”
“Psi abilities come from the deepest, most primitive recesses of our minds. You must not have pushed hard enough. She might have stronger barriers than Rystani women. Has she had great trauma in her life?”
“Yes.” Kahn thought of the agony of losing both parents at such an early age. At least he’d had his grandfather. Tessa had no one. She’d lost her parents, the man she’d loved, and now her world. And for what? She’d exhibited no psi ability, without which she couldn’t possible win the Challenge.
“Kahn, you’ll have to go deeper.”
The idea revolted him. “I don’t know if I can.”
Helera locked gazes with him. “You will do what you must. Even if it goes against our customs. Even if it goes against your good heart. We need you to succeed. You know what is at stake.”
Kahn couldn’t look Helera in the eyes. “Tormenting her as I did was wrong.”
“There is no other way. Once she develops her psi, the Earthling will forgive you.”
But would he be able to forgive himself? And worse, suppose Tessa was correct and her psi never developed?
“WHAT IS THAT stuff leaking from your eyes?” Dora asked Tessa who lay on her side, anguished and jagged as if every raw nerve was still exposed.
After Tessa had broken into uncontrollable tears, Kahn had immediately released her and left the chamber. Even an estimated half hour later, her body hadn’t recovered, and she yearned for release. Her shoulders shook. Her hands and feet twitched, and she trembled all over, but her main concern was not for the havoc he’d administered to her body, but the turmoil he’d inflicted to her soul. Tessa had learned with Mike that there were no rules to pleasure. While she’d still believed Kahn had intended to have sex with her, she’d enjoyed his touch and had been fine with going along with his wishes. Her mistake had been opening herself to him emotionally.
After she’d realized that he meant to deny her gratification, it was too late to change her mind set. He’d given her too much pleasure to regroup and turn her thoughts in other directions. While Master Chen had taught her methods to withdraw into her mind and how to separate her thoughts from the pain of the body, she hadn’t seen the need until much too late.
The slaps on her bottom hadn’t been anywhere near the physical punishment she regularly accepted as part of her martial arts training, but the spanking had stung her pride as much as her bottom—especially when the sting had become heat, and the heat had heightened her arousal. Kahn’s intent had clearly not been to cause pain, but maximum sexual stimulation—and after the wonderful pleasure he’d given her, after the marvelous heat he’d created, after she’d wanted sex with him with every fiber of her being, she hadn’t been prepared for him to refuse to have sex. She’d liked everything Kahn had done to her, every stroke, every caress, all the heat. But when he’d held out on her, when he’d stopped, she’d broken. Broken so completely that even now she couldn’t stop the flood of tears. Couldn’t summon the strength to answer Dora.
When Tessa didn’t respond, Dora tried again. “Unless my sensors are failing, the skin on your bottom appears red. Do you require medical assistance?”
“What I require is a way to escape.” Tessa shoved her hair out of her eyes, gingerly sat on her still stinging bottom, and quickly stood. At least she didn’t have to worry about blowing her nose, the suit took care of that problem as well as absorbing her tears.
Dora’s voice piped into the chamber stronger and more insistent than during her last visit. “But—”
“Look. Kahn set me up. I thought we were going to have sex. Instead, he enticed me with more pleasure than I’d know was possible, then the bastard refused to follow through. His methods are underhanded, offensive, and there’s no reason I have to put up with him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought the Challenge might have been my willingness to accept him as a partner—but I was so wrong. My second guess was that he was creating my sexual frustration to elicit my psi powers. But that didn’t work, either. I don’t have any latent psi. Only the stubborn barbarian and Earth’s leaders won’t believe me. This mission was doomed to failure. Now that I’ve given this my best shot and failed, it’s time to cut my losses.”
“What are you saying?”
“I have no doubt Kahn plans to repeat his performance which will have no more success than before.” At the thought of a repeat performance, Tessa shuddered again. “And since I can’t stop him”—her voice hitched at that admission—“I don’t intend to be here when he returns. Are you going to help me or not?”
“What would you like me to do?” Dora asked.
Tessa picked up the eating utensil that she’d hidden earlier and held it up. “Besides stabbing Kahn through the heart, tell me where this will do the most good.”
Dora’s voice turned prim. “If your intention is murder, my program will not permit me to help you.”
“Like this spoon/fork could even make a little dimple in Kahn’s suit?” Tessa rolled her eyes. “For the record my intention is to escape.”
“You are running away?”
“Even Kahn admitted my psi should have appeared before now. There’s no point in staying.” As much as she hated to give up on a mission, as much as she hated to fail, she wouldn’t stay for more of Kahn’s training when she saw not one iota of success.
“Dora, help me get to the shuttle. If I can return to Earth and explain what happened, they will find another candidate.”
“Compliance.” A tiny laser beamed from the ceiling and shined a dot of red light on the wall and Dora slipped back into friendly mode. “Try there. Pressure should open the door mechanism.”
Without hesitation Tessa followed Dora’s directions. “Like this?”
“Use one of the tines.”
Tessa heard a thud like a footstep, but it might have been the irregular beat of her heart. “Is Kahn in the corridor?”
“The commander is at the communications center.”
Tessa frowned and pressed harder. “Dora, I thought you only had sensors in here and on the shuttle.”
Dora giggled. “I’ve been widening my capabilities.”
“Way to go.” Tessa carefully poked the wall. “Gaining information is always critical to survival. Often the one with the most data wins.”
“Wins what?”
“Ah.” The door slid open. “Sweet freedom.”
Tessa saw no one outside on the moving corridor, just the “normal” and spectacular sight of fantastic crystal sculptures and alien machinery whose purposes she couldn’t even guess. Although Dora had informed her otherwise, she’d half expected Kahn to be there ready to come down on her for damaging his equipment with an eating utensil instead of psi power.
“You have only gained access to the corridor,” Dora said.
