Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever Camille Anthony All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2007 Camille Anthony
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Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever Camille Anthony Brant. Willa. Bevel-leveB. Taelen. Nya. Justin. Avron weaves a web to catch them all in his threads. His bait? Letshya -- Lover. Wife. Sister. Queen. Her return masks a convoluted plot that reveals the heinous depths of the Corporation Lord’s evil. Spitting mad and ready to scratch, the crew and passengers of the Quiet Kitty will storm the enemy’s stronghold, flying in the face of what could prove insurmountable odds. Betrayal and Forgiveness… Love and Lust… Revenge and Renewal… Homecoming and Death… Unprepared and alone, the warriors come face-to-face with all this and more at the heart of the web: Corporation Hub.
Dedication This one is for Virginia Ettel -- ardent fan club of one for her beloved Captain Kitty. Thank you, Virginia, for your patience and belief that the Quiet Kitty would be taking flight again. Not to mention those veiled threats and broad hints of mayhem should their journey not happen! Love ya, Camille
Prologue Corporation Central Hub Lance Avron strolled down the center aisle of the high-security animal compound, manicured hands lightly clasped behind his back. His steps slow and leisurely, he allowed no hint of the pleasure he felt to manifest on his face. Reports of the Quiet Kitty’s last position had reached him two days ago. So had rumors his son was aboard, having turned rebel and linked with his enemies. It wouldn’t take long to pinpoint the Quiet Kitty’s exact position and the truth of those rumors concerning his son. If he found them to be correct, he knew what his course would be. Anger smoldered within, a heavy ball burning in the pit of his stomach. How could Justin betray him like this? True, his son hadn’t been the same since his sister’s death, but he had to know that had been an accident, the fault of that marauding Landresi prince. He placed the blame for Narisse’s death solely on that black-skinned alien, Taelen. Avron mentally shook himself. No matter. Once he captured the rogue Waveship, the first thing he’d do was make sure his wayward child had reason to recall the house rules all who resided within the Avron domicile lived by. No one defied him and remained unpunished. Not even Justin. Taking a deep breath, Avron composed himself. Anger, as well as pleasure, was to be controlled and tamped down, relegated to the back of his mind. Discipline started with oneself, and Lance prided himself on having long ago learned to keep a tight rein on his emotions. Control was everything. Once mastered, there remained only the inevitability of power and victory. Everything eventually came to the patient man. He was nothing if not that.
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It didn’t take him long to reach the special section, the area where the scientific specimens were housed. Sauntering past the gates, slowly progressing down the central path, he observed the alert stance of the guards, contentedly noting their wary, watchful eyes and grim expressions. He gave an inward nod of satisfaction. There hadn’t been an escape in over six years, yet these men still cringed, probably recalling his just retribution for their miserable failure. They knew he would tolerate no more breakouts from the pens. All the unique specimens he held would damn well remain right where they were until such time he decided their usefulness was over. He pursed his lips to disguise the smile trying to soften the stern curve of his lips as he thought about his most prized possession. In this one area he was weak. He could not stop the rising and filling of his cock as he contemplated how he planned using her to relieve the tension boiling in his gut. It was a good day for torture. The sky was a dark pink inverted bowl highlighted by the force bubble enclosing the prison, the weather warm and clear. Thin yellow clouds studded the sky here and there, affording minimal shade from the hot saffron mini dwarf that served as a poor substitute to the long-destroyed sun that had once been the focal point for Earth’s orbit. “Good morning, your majesty. Ready for our walk?” An animalistic roar, filled with insane fury, met his sarcasm, shook the air about him. Lance’s mouth turned up in a cold smile. “Come, now, madam. We can’t neglect your daily constitutional.” The alien cat pacing in the large cage dwarfed the human male. Her yellowgreen eyes glinted with an intelligence that never ceased to fascinate Avron. This beast was much more than her present form suggested. This unnatural animal was LetshyaleveB Sylenus, Regina of the dis-planeted Sh’Bahkyr, mated to a filthy Medusoid Jenari and lover to a degenerate killer -- the escaped animal he’d do anything to regain. Lance ground his teeth, recalling the cat man’s last taunting boasts.
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I’ll regain my queen and my people, and destroy you slowly and completely. You and yours will pay for what you have done to my people and to my world. In that moment, looking into the furious cat’s yellow slitted eyes, Avron had seen his own death. Never before had he feared for his own life, and he chafed even today, knowing how the Tygyr had somehow known and scoffed at his terror. You do well to fear me, planet-killing human, for the day comes when my vengeance will be complete. On that day, the guardians of Hel itself will not protect you… Under the intensified rays of their artificial sun, Avron felt a momentary chill at the remembered promise… no, make that a threat. He unconsciously raised a hand and fingered his neck. Thank the cosmos he’d been cautious enough to keep the Sh’Bahkyr female secreted away. If the one called Brant had known where his queen-lover was, how to retrieve her, he would have swiped those insanely long claws across his throat and ended his existence immediately. Now, years away from that incident, Lance Avron opened the door of the cage, not revealing an ounce of his lingering fear. He walked boldly inside the open-air prison, peripherally aware of his men’s open mouths and awestruck gazes. Not one of them would dare attempt what he did on a regular basis. Lance chuckled. With good cause, he admitted to himself. The fierce alien queen had killed too many of his cadre for any of them to take her deadly teeth and claws lightly. He, on the other hand, held something she wanted more than freedom, more than escape… more than her own personal physical dignity. Avron reached to the hook hanging just outside the cage and pulled down a barbed collar attached to a chain leash. Quirking an amused eyebrow at his snarling prisoner, he held them up before her, his sing-songing voice soft with menace as he reminded her of his power over her. “Come to my hand and be collared, or I’ll order that long-term experiment terminated. Your choice as always, your majesty.” A louder, fiercer roar announced the cat’s displeasure, but the great beast slunk toward the open door, belly low to the ground. Eyes promising a slow, lingering death,
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the huge head lowered in submission, reluctantly allowing the positioning of the hated collar. Fighting to hide his inner glee, Avron bit the inside of his cheek. He raised a mocking brow, mobile lips twisting in a sarcastic grin as he witnessed her surly surrender. “You know the routine…” She rolled to her back, great claws sheathed in her wide, fleshy pads. His nostrils flared, cock hardening as she meekly accepted his dominance. To see this feline bitch bow to him as all other females did, unable to withstand his will and control, was a tremendous rush. With a slow flick of the wrist, he closed the metal collar about her thick neck. Sharpened steel spikes lined the inside, pressing against the vulnerable flesh in a cruel, constant reminder of the pain he could inflict by the smallest twitching of her leash. Once he had her secured, Avron decided to give his watching men a little show. Sliding his free hand down her flank, he slid his fingers through the soft fur of her underbelly, coming close to, but not touching, the fur-hidden sexual organ snug between her back legs. Straddling her hind legs, he drew her up by his grip on the leash, forcing her body to rise to avoid the tightening of the spikes. Her flexible spine twisted until her back rubbed against his chest, hid the rise of his cock against her lower extremities. He’d been inside her many times -- though never while she remained in cat form, which would have been too nasty even for his jaded tastes. Taking her in her present guise smacked too closely of bestiality, despite knowing she was as sentient a being as he was himself. Still, though he would never tell her so, she didn’t need to worry about him wanting her thus. In her Tygyr form she was too deadly by far. In fact, he could barely stand fucking her at all. Her ghost form carried all the mass of her great cat body, which translated into a tall, full-breasted, big-hipped womanish shape that towered over him, outweighing him by at least a hundred pounds. Fucking her was like climbing a freaking mountain.
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Thank the cosmos her other form was invisible because he probably wouldn’t have been able to sustain a hard-on if he’d had to look at her while fucking her. Just the sight of all that flesh would have shriveled his cock faster than sticking it in the icy rivers of Hesperion. No, what turned him on was the power, the complete control he had over her. He ran a hand down her belly one more time, barely concealing his jerky response at her grumbling warning cough. Avron felt the throbbing vibrations clear through her dense body covering and his cock jumped, lengthening in his pants. As always, he found the danger of piquing the cat’s ire, flirting with the threat of cat-scratch fever intriguing and addictive. A mocking chuckle preceded his softly voiced retort to the cat’s clear warning. “Don’t worry, cat. I’m in no mood for pussy today. I have other, more important items on my agenda, items I intend for you and me to discuss at lash-length. Perhaps, if you’re good, I’ll let the men have a go at you… some of them like fucking animals.”
Chapter One Bevel-leveB’s knees gave way. He dropped to the floor with a howl of hope so intense and pain so soul shattering that everyone in the room fought tears. My jujo lives? leveB’s mental question rang in the minds of all present. Nya, glutted with the intense emotions, contented herself with a shrug. She spared a quick glance toward her sister Sprite in time to see Willa wiping away tears. What is she doing? How can she afford to indulge in self-generated emotions and neglect to absorb the free energy floating about? By Sparkle, can it be she’s been that well fed… if so, lucky Sprite! Brant stalked over to the still sparsely feathered Sprite. Hands clenched in fists at his side, he swallowed hard before speaking through his teeth. “Are you telling us the truth? And if so, how is it possible? It’s been six years. How could my nephew or niece still be alive after so long?” Nya gazed up at the captain, trying to convey earnest truth. “Oh, believe me, it’s possible. Avron has access to the most advanced medical technology. As for whether or not it still lives, I do not know. It was still in stasis and viable before we left, for nothing but the threatened life of her child could continue to hold the mother captive and docile.” “That iss sso true!” Bevel accepted Willa’s help to get up from his knees, his movements slow and stiff, unlike his usual loose-jointed limberness. “My Letsshya iss no tame cat, but a fierce warrior. In defensse of our jujo, sshe would be indomitable.” “I’ve seen the truth of that.” Nya smiled. “When she was first captured, she killed several guards daily, until Lord Avron thought to use her babe against her.” The smile faded as she thought about her own hostage to fortune -- Justin -- lying helpless in one of the ship’s doctor units. Would they spare her lover’s life?
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“I’ve shared a piece of important information with you to prove Justin’s value to you. Will you allow him to live?” Brant and the others exchanged secretive glances. Taelen’s dark beautiful face, usually so open when he made love to her, was closed off. She couldn’t read his stiff expression, but knew the Landresi prince wanted Justin out of the way, mistakenly believing she would cling to him with her lover gone. Nya mentally shook her head, knowing how wrong he was. Oh, she couldn’t deny Taelen had carnal talents she’d never encountered before. Her sheath filled with moisture and throbbed as she recalled how the Landresi’s thick cock had pummeled her narrow channel. By Drasarka’s fourth level of Hel, the lean, powerful male could fuck! He’d fed her four times -- one right after the other -- the last forceful session lasting as long as the first. Judging by the hot glint in the dark gold eyes trained on her, he was hard and ready for her again. She licked her lips. Since starving, she couldn’t get enough nourishment. She was ready for him too. It was no wonder Willa was so phenomenally well fed. The Jenari, standing to the side and quietly noting every movement, every emotional nuance, was a well of deep emotion, his large, sightless eyes leaking tears. He tasted of fragile strands of tasty bright hope twined around ropey clumps of salty despair and fear. He was a veritable feast of helplessness and angst. The captain’s catlike eyes glittered with determination, but he shielded his emotions from her with an ease that told her he’d taken the effort to learn how to keep anyone from knowing his inner turmoil. He’d be a talented Dartrine player, one who kept his drolls close to his chest. The Sh’Bahkyr captain required watching. Hel, they all do, Nya thought, narrowing her gaze on Willa. Even this lost and found sister of mine. The other Sprite stared back at her from wide fuchsia eyes, her soft coloring appealing and winsome. Naturally, Sprites were bi-sexual, well, actually, omnisexual. Sprites did everyone and everything. You could say they were equal opportunity sexual
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beings. Nya fought a smile, the whimsy of her thoughts amusing her. She refocused her attention on the one responsible for her being onboard the Quiet Kitty. Even to someone accustomed to preternatural beauty, Willa was comely, her petite, yet curvy body fashioned as a lure for lovers. Her full perky breasts, cinched waist and round buttocks were ideal. Her little pink clit peeking from between her puffy cunt lips -- poorly concealed behind sparse fronds -- served to entice her prey’s lusts, thus ensuring full, frequent meals of emotional emanations and sexual secretions. So why was she so denuded? There was no denying the rich feedings available with these three volatile males. The men bled their emotions all over the place. She knew her sister-Sprite was actively fucking two of them, and if they were half as enthusiastic as Taelen, she should be glutted and winged. Yet, Willa’s short fluffy fronds and sparse feathers attested to recent severe deprivation. Almost as severe as her own. Nya’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. One starved a Sprite only with cold deadly intent, for they thrived off any intense emotions, especially enjoying an occasional high level of their own pain. A member or members of this crew had deliberately weakened the Sprite a short time ago, for Sprites healed quickly. That someone would bear watching… Nya suppressed a sigh. Much as she wanted to trust these people, she dared not reveal all she knew until she gained a better knowledge of whom she and Justin might end up working with. “We’ll have to discuss the situation and get back to you. Until then, you have my word no one will harm him.” Brant glanced at his crew, his face hard and stern. He gave Taelen an especially hard glare. Turning back to Nya, he inclined his head. “No one will tamper with the doctor unit or any other device or person on this ship that might impact the health of your charge. This is my order.” “Don’t worry, little bro, I’ll be good for the time being.” Taelen winked at Brant and flicked a glance toward Nya. “As long as nothing interferes with my needs.” Standing obliquely to the two men, Nya saw Taelen’s left shoulder shift just a little as the fore and middle finger of his left hand crossed each other behind his back. A
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less watchful observer would have missed the slight movement. She wasn’t telepathic, but Sprites were highly intuitive. Cold spread along her shoulders, settling in her chest, and she realized the man she’d just fucked and planned to fuck again hadn’t given up plotting to kill her injured lover.
Chapter Two Letshya snapped her razor-sharp teeth and snarled, verbally communicating the hatred she hoped blazed in her eyes. How dare this wretch make imbecilic puns about the frequent rapes and sexual torture he’d subjected her to? How dare this puny human continue to treat her like a common animal? By his treatment of her, he called her an animal, but Avron was the true beast here. She was queen of her people, sole head of an entire planet of shape-shifting crossbreeders, and yet this vile man had forced her to assume her ghost form, her weak, humanoid female shape. While she was trapped in that form, he’d raped her repeatedly, trying to make her pregnant with his inferior seed. She hadn’t bothered telling him his efforts were futile. Sh’Bahkyr females could only become gravid when love as well as lust existed between two or more mated lovers. His failure was what helped convince him the stories of the Sh’Bahkyr’s ability to cross-breed with any species were merely fantasy. She was content to leave him believing such. Letshya tested the collar, pulling against the leash, snarling when the pain became too much. Despair at not being able to escape translated to almost ungovernable wrath. Her body contorted in an effort to win free, to rip and tear at her enemy. Avron jumped clear of her, jerking at the noose around her neck. Red sheets of pain hazed her vision and her legs went weak, tumbling her to the ground. Shamed and exhausted, she lay panting, plotting her revenge on the man standing over her in a position of assumed authority. Before his men, he remained calm and collected, but the sharp increase of the nose-prickling stink wafting off her enemy’s pale hairless skin told Letshya he only
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played at not fearing her. Regardless of what he revealed to his men, Avron was afraid of her. Letshya licked her chops, thinking of the future, of a day when she would be the one holding the leash. The wicked alien was right to fear her in this feral state… a state he had driven her to.
Chapter Three “Brant, why don’t you let leveB fuck you? It’s only fair.” Willa tossed her head back, peering through her short crest fronds as she gazed down on her main lover. Squeezing her pussy around his tunneling cock, she arched her body, pushing down to meet his upward lunges. “Yess, Brant,” Bevel grunted, his hips working, “Why don’t you let uss fuck you? You fuck me all the time. Even leveB fuckss me when he wantss. I don’t get to fuck anyone.” Bevel’s long-fingered hands cupped her breasts from behind, pinching her nipples with just the right amount of pain to spice her enjoyment. His tongue bathed the ticklish skin at the base of her neck as leveB crawled up her anus, forging farther than he’d ever attempted before. Bevel is fuck-toy! leveB projected his mental laughter to all three minds. In direct contrast to his humor, his ciliated appendages single-mindedly worked against the constricting walls of her rectum, causing her to shudder, to tighten down on the two cocks fucking her with such synchronized agility. Brant’s fingers -- tipped with sharp claws -- dug into the soft flesh at her hips; a measure of his loss of control. Shaky too was his hold on his humanoid form. Fur rippled along his thighs and back, fearsome fangs bristled from between his drawnback lips, his outline shimmered on the edge of invisibility. Though his Tygyr form was fiercely feral, Willa didn’t fear him in any guise. Brant would never hurt her… except, of course, when she begged him to. They’d shared some of the most intense sexual bouts of her life when Brant assumed his other, ghostly self. She shivered at the memories, liquid heat rolling down and bathing his cock as lust clawed its way through her belly.
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Ignoring their comments, Brant drove his hips up at her. “Willa, Willa, my own, your sweet pussy is a hot vise around my cock. Squeeze me tight. Hold me in you until we burn up together.” Willa moaned, distracted by their growing lusts. Striking hard in her anus, swarming along her clasping back channel, leveB hit a sweet spot that had her toes curling and the tips of her breasts pinging. The growling purr rumbling from Brant’s open mouth found its echo in her belly, shaking flesh that was already weak from the gluttonous pounding her two males were administering. With a cry of delight, Willa leaned back against the Jenari’s chest as far as she could with Brant holding her lower body in his masterful grip. “Yes! Oh yes, Brant! By Drasarka, Bevel-leveB… by Sparkle’s groves, you both feel so good inside me, against me!” Fire roaring along her nerve endings, Willa swiveled her hips down hard, desperate for everything Brant and Bevel-leveB could dish out. “More! Stars and galaxies… give me more, guys! I don’t want to come alone…” Her plaintive plea pushed them over. Both males growled and grunted as they slammed into her, their hips blurring with the speed of their thrusts. They powered their cocks into her tight crevices with jackhammer blows stretching her unmercifully wide. Upper body jerking as she rode the bucking cocks within her, Willa wrapped one arm around Bevel’s neck, anchoring her torso to his wiry strength. The other hand curled into the thick fur at Brant’s heaving chest. The angle of her upraised arm perfectly presented her breasts to Brant and he leaned up, latching onto a tight nipple. He gave the pert tip a swipe of sandpaper tongue and a taste of his teeth before sucking the whole thing into his hot mouth. “Bite, bite, bite me!” Willa hollered, watching his cheeks hollow with the strong pulls on her nipple. She pressed her breast against his working mouth. The licking of his rough tongue on her tender nub strung her body taut, zinging down the invisible line that attached her nipples and cunt. When he drew on her breast she felt it on her erect clit.
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Brant’s eyes flared bright gold, the slitted pupils of his Tygyr’s eyes intent on hers as he obeyed her command, biting down hard on the captured bit of flesh in his mouth. Simultaneously, both men yelled. Their cocks rocketed off inside her, gushing, filling and overfilling her crevices. Her body convulsed, bucking so hard Brant fought to hold her on his pumping organ. Behind her, the Jenari slumped against her back, lower body given over to leveB, which still struck within her clenching ass. Its thousand fingers swarmed along her back passage like streaks of fire. Bevel’s weight pressed her to Brant’s chest. Brant remained hard inside her pussy. He stared up into her dazed eyes, his own tawny gold slitted pupils smiling at her bemused expression. Leisurely swivels of his hips kept things stirring in her pussy while leveB continued to stroke and crawl behind. “Is he fucking you good, Willa? I want you glutted and full, Sprite, wanna see those new wings fluttering when I take his place and cram my cock up your tiny rosepuckered hole.” A long claw-tipped finger reached between them, carefully sliding in alongside his steely cock. He left it there, nestled snug in her tight cleft, the real threat of injury inducing streams of lightning all along her nerve chains. Willa’s entire body bucked, responsive to the addition of that one dangerous finger. It was too much, the last jolt of creamy sensation -- the cherry atop the heady dessert of carnality she’d ingested. Pussy stuffed with cock, ass invaded by a writhing tentacled alien, Willa thrashed between her men. With a warbling cry, she exploded into orgasm. They came again as she did; two strong and fierce erections spouting gouts of sperm. Muscles flexing, they pumped, pounded and pulsed inside her tight channels. Feeling safe and protected, surrounded by their love and cushioned by their affection, Willa rested her head on Brant’s chest and lifted her hips to Bevel-leveB’s tender ministrations, floating on the endless sea of their emotions. They snuggled together, the four of them drowsy in the aftermath of a marathon fucking session. Just as she tipped over into glutted sleep, Brant’s low gravelly voice tickled her ear, finally answering her earlier question. “Forget ever seeing Bevel fuck
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me, love. He can have my mouth and my love, but no way is Bevel jamming that monster in my ass. However, it’s always nice seeing leveB shaft you so hard. I could feel him crawling around through the walls of your little pussy, rubbing against my cock. Stellar!”
Chapter Four Avron stalked ahead of her into the chambers off the main holding compound, the muscles in his trim back shifting with the smooth efficiency of a proud man who kept his body in prime condition. Behind him, round ears lowered, amber eyes averted just enough to conceal her wishes for his grisly death, Letshya Sylenus padded into the hated room. Three walls held groups of manacles -- empty now, but more often than not filled with the unfortunate subjects of Avron’s pet scientists. In the far corner, a sonic shower stall stood open, the plasteel walls transparent. A huge couch took up the majority of the fourth wall, its hulking mass bristling with straps, manacles and goll-leather restraints strong enough to withstand the strongest Sh’Bahkyr. Letshya forced back the growl clawing at her throat. He’d raped her, right there on that bed, more times than she could count. No, that wasn’t true. She knew just how many times Avron had put his hated cock inside her. Seventy-eight times -- counting the three times he’d fucked her mouth as a special punishment, holding a shockhammer over the stasis-fielded portable womb that held her precious jujo. During those dark times, only the certain threat to her jujo kept her from biting his penis off and swallowing it whole. She’d even counted the one time he took her anally. As usual, she wondered how he could justify that atrocity to himself. There was no way he could rationalize it as a punishment fuck. She’d killed no guards that particular day, created no havoc. To top it off, there was no way to claim an attempt at impregnating her. Last she’d heard, anal sex couldn’t make one pregnant.
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Eyeing his retreating back through anger-blurred eyes, Letshya renewed her vow to see Avron screaming for death in payment for that horrifying transgression. Her ass was for her mate alone. As a leader, she’d done things that troubled her in the night. She understood having to perform acts that might be distasteful, even against her normal morals and beliefs. Though she personally would never resort to torture or sexual abuse of a prisoner, she knew plenty of royal planetary heads who thought nothing of such tactics. But Avron had abandoned all rights to judgment by his galactic peers when he attacked her -- a political prisoner -- for his personal pleasure, not just to advance his cause. Not one planetary ruler would call her to task when she ripped his carcass to shreds and ate his still-beating heart. “Get in the sonic shower, cat. Hurry it up!” What is this about? Avron only allowed her to shower when he planned to fuck her. Had the stinking piece of excrement lied about not raping her this morning? Belly muscles tensing, she entered the chamber, turned to face her captor and lifted her lips in a warning snarl. Avron smiled in her face, his eyes glinting with humor. “If I wanted to fuck you, I would. And you would do nothing to stop me. On command, you’d spread your thighs and offer your cunt like the no-credit whore you are.” Mentally, Letshya writhed under the lashing of his words. Is that what she had become? In defense of her cub, had she let him turn her into a whore -- a female who fucked for pay? Letshya howled inside, her mind thrashing in fury and self-hatred. She needed Bevel-leveB, wanted Bevel’s arms around her. She needed to hear her mate tell her she’d done the right thing. The sonic showerheads blasted on, snapping her out of her introspection, spewing a hot, semi-wet white sticky substance. Letshya yowled at the unexpected sensation of a strongly scented talc coating her entire body in heat. Shaking herself, she sent the powder-like stuff flying, raising thick clouds of nose-clogging, throat-choking smeg that burned in her eyes and blurred her vision.
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When the dust settled, Letshya gazed sideways at her flanks. The dense layer of clinging chalk completely covered her gold and black fur, staining her body white and gray. Growling in her throat, she swung her head about to target a laughing Avron. What the fuck is this stuff? Almost as if he’d heard her angry question, Avron approached her and bent down to unsnap her collar. “This is a new development that allows us to see and track Sh’Bahkyrs in their ghost forms. Let’s have you give us a demonstration.” He strode to a control on the wall and pushed a button. A segment of the paneled surface swung about, revealing a floor-to-ceiling-length mirror. Swinging his arms wide in a magnanimous gesture, he ordered, “Change. Go ghost. Transform. Whatever it is you call what you do.” She turned her head from him and licked the sheathed claws of her pad. His voice hardened when she ignored his commands. “Do what I say, pussy.” A chuffing sigh was her insubordinate answer. “Now!” His voice cracked like a whip. Face twisted with an angry scowl, he issued the only threat likely to control her. “Keep it up -- your continued disobedience will force me to follow through on what I’ve only hinted at many times before. I’ll flush your offspring down the drain, if you make me repeat myself.” Heart jumping at the stark threat to her baby, Letshya hissed at Avron, but hunkered down on her haunches and gave her body over to the change. Energy flowed around her and through her and Letshya went with the flow. From the smallest particle in her being, the power swirled outward, engulfing organs, tissues and blood. Changing between forms was a natural event, bred into the very structure of a Sh’Bahkyr, sexually invigorating and physically empowering. There was no momentary vulnerability, no time when she couldn’t have fought off an attack, instantaneously reverting to her Tygyr form. The hair on her head lengthened, rippled over her shoulders and down her back. The thick, dense protective fur receded, leaving a heavy dusting of hair or a light covering of fur -- depending on the point-of-view of the person cataloguing her assets.
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Full breasts, a sturdy torso leading to a low waist, fuller hips nestling a mat of silky pubic hair and long, long legs made up the stately, Junoesque form of Letshya’s invisible ghost form. Only… this time, she didn’t become invisible.
Chapter Five Taelen knocked on the entry panel of the cabin Brant had assigned to Nya. She didn’t come to the door or answer and he battled with his rising temper, reminding himself again that the damned Sprite didn’t belong to him. She didn’t even have to let him into her chambers. Taelen turned on his heel. Fuck this! I am a Landresi prince. I don’t have to grovel at some cunt’s door like a damned beggar with my hand out for scraps. He’d taken three steps down the corridor when the panel swooshed open behind him. “Taelen?” Her sleepy voice told its own tale, and Taelen cursed his impatience and his tendency to leap to conclusions. Running his fingers through his mass of dark curly hair, he swiveled on a booted heel and slanted a chagrined smile down at the petite Sprite. “I didn’t mean to wake you.” But stars and comets, I want to fuck you until you pass back out. Nya stood back, gesturing for him to enter. He brushed against her lush naked form as he passed, making sure the slow, sultry move signaled his carnal intentions. “You want me.” Taelen frowned even while a short laugh huffed out of him. Talk about a redundant sentence. From his tightly beaded nipples to the heavy jutting cock straining his flight suit, it was clear as Hel he wanted something… “Say I do. Can I have you?” A small smile tilted her bee-stung lips. “Always. In all ways.” His stomach muscles clenched. Sweat beaded on his upper lip. Dare he take her at her word? He had needs he’d neglected far too long and her promise offered sweet
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release and bounties untold. No way could he resist such a tempting proposition. “Drop to your knees, then. Ass high in the air!” Nodding calmly, Nya pivoted, headed toward her bunk. “No!” He grasped her arm, turning her back, folded her against his aching body. Just the touch of her flesh under his, her soft fragrant skin touching all along the planes of his tensed frame, had him leaking pre-come like an untried adolescent. “I want you here, on the floor, visible in the open panel. Drop and spread.” She went to the floor in a graceful fall, arms folding to hold her upper weight low as her legs held her bottom up. Full breasts, tipped with thick little green nipples, hung below her chest, begging for a hand, a slap, a pinch. Her sweet ass -- an inverted melon as fuzzy as a baby duck with her new frond growth -- lifted, legs parted to reveal her juicy cunt and the tight puckered entry he planned on plundering. “Your body holds a thousand temptations. By all that’s holy, I don’t know where to begin!” Keeping his hungry gaze trained on Nya’s lush charms, Taelen hurriedly opened the lower placket of his uniform. His hands shook as he yanked the material apart and detached the two panels back with their Velcro fastenings. Breaths coming hard, he reached in and released the buttons of his undergarment, allowing his cock to spring out. It bobbed up, the thick black barrel hugging the lean plane of his stomach, fat mushroomed head leaking pre-come from the long slit at the tip. Eyes glowing, he roughly fisted his jutting flesh, clamping down and squeezing a strategic spot to slow the inexorable rise of his passion. It took all his vaunted selfcontrol to keep back the flow of sperm already pulsing at the base of his cock. Holding back with an iron will, he slowly circled Nya, walking the fingers of one hand up her rounded butt. Halting behind the Sprite, he took both ass cheeks in his hands. Lifting and cupping the resilient flesh, he rubbed the soft giving skin with his hard palms. Moaning, she rocked her hips back into his caresses. “Be still!” He punished one cheek with a quick, sharp slap.
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She gave a playful yelp, glancing over her shoulder to view the reddening mark. He could almost smell her rising excitement, but her reaction, complimentary as it was, didn’t suit his purpose. Using an admonishing finger to gently tap her cheek, Taelen gruffly warned, “Turn back around, Nya, and stay still. Don’t talk or move, don’t fucking breathe until I give you permission or I’ll punish you severely.” She obediently went still under his hand, but not before raising her bottom, giving it one last flirty little twitch. Biting back a laugh, Taelen placed a well-aimed swat across her ass. The full globes quivered beneath the blow. “I warned you. There’s more where that came from if you don’t stay still,” he admonished sternly, pressing her body back in the position he wanted her. Placing both palms between her legs, he pushed her knees farther apart, exposing the sopping dark green flesh of her inner pussy to his hungry gaze. Mouth watering, he ran a bold finger down her slit, pushing in between the slippery lips -already swollen and wet with her desire -- to pinch and prod the stiff little mini-penis rearing at the apex of her cleft. “I don’t plan to hurt you too much, Nya.” Taelen kept his voice low and soothing as he rubbed his hands over her plump rump cheeks, fingertips applying her own body’s lubricant to the secretive groove lying along the dark crevice of her ass. He dipped two fingers back into her sex, gathered more moisture and anointed her anus with the slippery fluid, slowly rimming the tight dark mouth with a firm fingertip. The elastic sphincter pulsed, tried to swallow the probing digit. Oh yes, she was ready for his possession. “I need to be the one in charge for a while. I haven’t been in fucking control since I stepped foot on this damned boat! But that will change right now. I intend to master your body.” Her swaying body and wordless moans answered for her, telling him she eagerly accepted his control, his mastery.
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His smile would not have reassured her. Licking his lips, Taelen lifted and lowered his hand on the upturned globes of Nya’s butt. Stomach muscles clenching, he did it again, this time harder. Under his hard hands, her flesh went hot, absorbing the punishing blows, turning the pain to heat. On the next slap, her ass jiggled and she deliberately shifted her body, wordlessly letting him know she wanted more, wanted him to escalate their play. His pulse ratcheted up a notch, belly went hollow with fevered lust as his penis - blood-gorged tip leaking pre-come -- reared stiffly erect, hugging his taut abdomen. “I said, hold still!” Taelen abruptly jammed two stiff fingers into her pussy, stroking her firmly a few times before withdrawing only to force them back through her narrow wet entrance, invading her tight sex, jarring her with his abrupt movements. His thumb strummed the erect button of flesh he’d sensitized, kept her clit vibrating. “That’s right, honey… clasp my fingers with your tight cunt. Squeeze them hard. Think about how my full cock is going to fill this snug slit.” Groaning, Taelen pulled his fingers out of her convulsing pussy and brought them to his mouth, sucking her juices from his long digits. He closed his eyes, shivering as her taste slid across his tongue, sweet as a first kiss, stringent as a sassy-mouthed woman. “Aged stars, Nya, you taste better than krasn.” Shoving his fingers back inside her clinging pussy, he added a third and pumped a few times, gathering new slickness before pulling them out again. Bringing them to her mouth he said, “Here, have a taste…” Nya moaned as he first slathered her juices over her lips, and then rubbed them along her tongue before leisurely pumping them in and out of her sucking mouth. “You like your taste, baby?” Taelen slowly withdrew his fingers and slid them back into her quivering cunt. She nodded her head. “It can’t be half as much as I do. If you’re obedient, I’ll let you lick my tongue when I finish eating your succulent pussy.”
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Crooning, Nya rocked back, earning another sharp slap. Taelen brought his big palm slamming down. Giving the pain of the blow time enough to recede, the Landresi rubbed the sting from her tender backside, his mouth widening in a predatory grin. “On second thought, by all means disobey my order. Move all you wish.” His hand lifted and fell, scattering spanks to her buttocks and the tender tops of her thighs in a slow deliberately calculated rhythm designed to heat more than her skin. “I know just how much your kind enjoys pain during your sexual play. I’ll be happy to get to the bottom of your rebellion by applying firm discipline to the matter at hand.” Nya hissed. “Are you going to fuck me or beat me?” Her petulant voice broke his absorption with spanking her posterior. He cupped her burning cheeks, digging his fingers into resilient flesh. “Why, both, darling, since you enjoy them so much,” he crooned. “And when I’ve finished, I’ll start all over again. By the way, sweetness, these next are for daring to question me in that surly tone of voice.” Saliva pooling in his mouth, he administered a flurry of hard blows. He stopped. One hand cupped her sex, searching for signs the spanking had aroused her. His fingers found the tender flesh dripping with her sweet essence and he grinned, giving an open-palmed swat to her pussy lips just because. She cried out, dancing and twisting under his touch, the stimulation of pain and pleasure working as he’d planned and Taelen froze, captivated by her naked charms, his hungry gaze eating her jiggling breasts and bouncing ass cheeks. Kneeling beside her, he turned her face toward his and brought his mouth to her parted lips. Cock hard as durasteel, pressed against her tiny thigh, he rained kiss after open-mouthed kiss on her face, finally taking her mouth in a conquering exchange of tongues and teeth. His breath soughing in and out in lung-straining gusts, he pulled back, smoothing the new growth of teal green fronds off her face. “Nya, my dove, what am I going to do with you? You tie my heart in knots. How can you be so giving in your
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emotions, so responsive in your pain? I can’t seem to get enough of hurting you, fucking you…” She collapsed across his arm, head lolling back, dark green eyes drowsy as she pleaded softly, “Please, Taelen, fuck me and come. Anywhere, any way you want, just please… quench this thirst, satisfy this hunger ripping my insides to shreds.”
Chapter Six Letshya leapt to her feet, tugging at the collar that should have been too large to hold her in her ghost form. With a heated glare at the wristband on Avron’s left arm, she acknowledged she hadn’t been fast enough. He’d already activated the mechanism to shrink the band down to her present size. She held her arms out from her sides, putting her form on display. Anger made her voice shake. “What have you done to me?” Lance smirked. “I’ve merely made it impossible for you to hide from me, my captive queen. I think it’s an improvement, don’t you?” Letshya snarled, “No! This is a desecration.” She swiped frantically at her torso and down both arms, horrified when her actions failed to remove the staining substance. It clogged her pores, made her skin itch and burn. “This chemical is toxic, Avron.” “Nonsense, my dear, the scientists assure me it is not. At any rate, stop complaining. It’s not coming off for quite some time. You’ll remain visible long enough to perform the last task I have for you. After that, you’ll no longer be necessary to me.” The man was mad. The glitter in his eyes, the evil grin that crossed the Corporation pirate’s face chilled her, frightened her more than anything she’d ever experienced at his hand. Letshya stilled, pulse pounding at the base of her throat. She knew better than to believe anything the human said, knew he couldn’t be trusted, yet his words had the ring of truth to them. “I want nothing more than to see you brought down. I will do nothing for you. I will betray you at the first opportunity.” He rubbed his hands together, twisted his lips to control the insane smile. “Oh, I’m counting on just that, my captive queen. I know you won’t let me down. Let me
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show you something…” He walked over to a blank segment of wall and activated a control. The panel faded to show a room holding a single biomed unit. “Guess what’s in the box, Sh’Bahkyr queen.” Letshya placed one hand over her heart. Everything -- breathing and thinking -stilled as she drifted toward the one-way glass. Within the small room was a machine vastly different than the one that had, until today, held the small indomitable spirit that was her embryonic offspring. Tears sprang to her eyes. “Stars and galaxies, stars and galaxies…” “He breathes and lives. Right now, he floats in a generic base of nutrients that will soon prove inadequate for him. Soon this scrap of flesh will require air and food. More importantly, it will need to communicate with its mother. Tell me, your majesty… is it true there’s a telepathic bond? Can the child feel the presence of his mother when you are this close?” Oh yes, we know each other. We feel the closeness of blood. Never taking her gaze off her child, Letshya placed a hand against the glass, whispered, “You are a monster, Lancelot Avron.” Avron tilted his head, raising a mocking eyebrow. “From where I stand, Tygyrwoman, one could argue the same of you, the rightness of our allegations judged only by our differing points-of-view. No matter. We have little time and much to discuss.” He pressed the mechanism and the wall became opaque once again. But Letshya could still feel the pull of her child in this close proximity. Her hands slowly curled into fists, claws biting into the flesh of her palms. By bringing her baby out of cryo-stasis, Avron had -- all unknowing -- started an inexorable clock ticking. If she failed to reunite her son and his father, all that had gone before, everything she’d sacrificed in the name of preserving her child’s life, would be set at naught. Her shoulders slumped. “What is it you want, Avron?” “Why, what I’ve always wanted, my dear,” he crooned, rubbing his hands together. “I want Brant Sylenus, captain of the Quiet Kitty… your brother and lover.” His smile parted his lips, revealed the even white line of his perfect teeth. Pleasure
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actually registered in his dark black eyes. “And you’re going to get him for me, aren’t you, Mama?”
Chapter Seven Taelen stood in front of the doctor unit, staring broodingly at the pale occupant within the sealed medic chamber. Justin Avron, son of the man he hated most in the world, lay sleeping, his body undergoing intense healing. The Landresi prince couldn’t understand Brant’s logic in healing a man they would probably kill as soon as the doctor unit released him. Now that healing had progressed to where the bruises and marks had disappeared from his face, one could see the promise of character in the stern lines of the craggy face. Even in repose, it was a face lined with the evidence of suffering, with a jaw line that shouted stubbornness. And he was pretty; handsome enough to influence most women and many males, himself included. While rescuing him, Taelen had noticed the boy’s clear green eyes and wheat fair hair that tumbled in loose curls about his face and shoulders. Guiltless green eyes -- deceptive eyes -- Taelen now knew. Justin Avron was mired in the blackest of guilt. While a part of him acknowledged the sexual pull of the strong, masculine body and alluring face, none of those attributes had the power to move Taelen at the moment. “The captain made me promise to inflict no physical harm, make no attempt to damage the doctor unit or terminate you until he lifts his ban. But I didn’t promise not to torment you mentally.” One hand lifting to the surface of the unit, Taelen closed his eyes and concentrated. Head so close his lips moved upon the metal as he spoke, frosting the shiny surface with his warm breath, the prince whispered to the unconscious man. “I’d kill you for your name, alone. For what your father did to my Narisse and what your own bumbling ineptitude forced Nya to suffer, death is too merciful. You and your
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father will pay and pay again before I’m finished with the two of you. Suffer,” he ordered in a sibilant whisper. Opening his eyes, Taelen stared at the sleeping man’s face, the son of his most hated foe. “Dream, Justin Avron. Dream of the death both you and your father have earned. Dream of me…” Lips compressed in a grim smile, Taelen watched Justin’s eyes snap open. The distended pupils stared frantically at nothing. All along his body, muscles clenched and twitched in response to some horrendous internal stimuli. Rigid in the secure cocoon of the med unit, his mouth opened wide in a soundless scream. Nodding in satisfaction at what he’d wrought; Taelen turned on his heel and returned to his quarters. A smug smile drew his lips up as he thought of Nya, waiting for him in his cabin. Knowing he’d soon be fucking the girlfriend of the man he’d just condemned to waking nightmares added just the right finishing touch to his revenge. He was laughing by the time his cabin portal winked open. A satiated Nya still occupied his bunk, napping. Walking over, he stood gazing down at the Sprite who’d captured his lustful attentions. Taelen bent lower over her, his hands gentle as he spread her legs, tilting his head to study her dainty cunt. The dark, damp green flesh fascinated him. Her pussy glistened, shone a dark rich green -- the same hue as her fronds and plumage -reminding him of the jewel-toned rind of a juicy carsa melon. He ached to bite into the succulent flesh. Damn, that’s a pretty little sight. Sighing, he swept his gaze back to her exotic face, slack and innocent as she slumbered, unaware of his close examination. Poor Sprite, he’d exhausted her with his relentless usage. Shaking his head, Taelen wondered how she’d withstood his fierce needs, deciding Nya’s seeming frailty was deceptive. Her body had to be strong to survive the ruthless pounding he’d subjected her to more than once. Yet he knew, regardless of how tired she might be, he’d soon fuck her again, just as hard. Just as relentlessly. In fact, he wanted, needed her now.
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Slipping away to the door, he sealed and locked the portal to his cabin, wanting no interruptions. Then, hands fumbling with urgent lust, he tore off his uniform, leaving it crumpled on the deck. Freed from the restricting cloth, his cock rose dark and dripping. He had to get inside… Deep. NowNowNow! The demand beat at him, rode him, pushed him back to the bed. Fists clenching and unclenching at his side, Taelen stood over the slumbering Sprite, panting through his open mouth. Naked, Nya looked so tempting, tight little butt in the air as she slept on her belly, unaware he loomed over her almost crazed with lust. The krasn-driven need for sex -- the addiction he’d been born with -- dug claws in his gut, ripped at him, ate him up, demanding he sink his burning cock into the hot honeyed depths of her cunt without delay. “Fuck, I’ve got to have pussy before I explode!” Hands closing over her thighs, he hauled her down to the end of the bunk. Ungentle in his need, he flipped her, yanked her legs open and, lining up his cock, rammed into her pussy with a tortured groan that tore its way out of his gut. “Gods, gods this feels so good.” Cradled by her snug cunt, deep inside, where he needed to be, Taelen lay fully on her, resting, letting her slim body support and adjust to his larger frame. Hips flexing, he languidly drove his hard length in and out of Nya’s moist tight sheath. Buttery smooth, slippery soft, her pussy gloved him in feminine heat and pressure. An emotion almost of peace soothed his soul. He didn’t love Nya, but he liked and respected her. She’d been the only one since he lost Narisse to care more about his needs than her own. He’d been so lonely, so set apart from the moment he’d come aboard the Quiet Kitty. He hadn’t known how lonely until this connection, this acceptance. Here, between Nya’s thighs, his cock buried deep inside her, he felt… comforted. He was grateful to her for that. “Taelen, how nice of you… I like awakening to a gentle fuck.”
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Nya’s sleepy voice interrupted his musings and he smiled down at her, the slashing grin he gave her telegraphing his intentions. “I assure you, it won’t remain that way now you’re awake.” In answer, her intimate muscles tightened and relaxed, squeezing and compressing his cock. Immediately peace gave way to scorching demand. With a low snarl of need, he shifted to his knees. Spreading her thighs, he lifted her legs up and pressed them against her chest. Groaning, he lunged at her, digging deep in her cunt as if mining for the dearest gold. He shafted her with hard fast lunges, his hair-furred balls slapping her butt with every hard thrust. The repetitive erotic stinging added to the building tension at the base of his cock, traveled up his spine in a spike of lightning. Lowering his head, he blew her breast fronds aside and tongued a teal nipple, slurping the tight tip into his mouth where he rolled the distended flesh between his teeth. He nipped her. “Oh yes… yes! Taelen, give it to me hard! Bite my nipples for me!” With a hard tongue swipe, he abandoned the distended little button. “You’re about to get a lot more than a bite of pain,” he promised, easing his engorged cock from her sweltering sex. The thick black length gleamed with her juices. “I’m about to ream this tight little ass of yours.” Folding her almost double, he curled a fist around his erection and ran it up and down the groove of her sex, swirling the fat tip between her pussy lips until it was coated with her slippery juices. Rolling her over, he slipped one hand around to her belly, tilted her bottom up so he could place the blunt head at the mouth of her dark puckered sphincter. Bearing down, Taelen lunged forward, all finesse gone in his overwhelming need. Gritting his teeth at the hot tight clasp, he began forcing his cock into the constricted channel. She screamed. Writhing beneath him as her sphincter was stretched by his enormous girth, Nya pounded the bed with her fists. “Stars and Sparkle, Taelen, that burns!”
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Her cries made Taelen laugh and slap her flank with a hard palm. “You love it, Sprite.” He knew her kind liked pain mixed with their sex, which was a good thing, because he had no intention of stopping until his pubic hair scratched the sensitive skin surrounding her bung hole. He rolled his hips and his balls rubbed her soft tail feathers. Nya grunted underneath him, arms braced on the bed as he slammed in and out of her small ass. She wriggled some and he slowed a bit, waited for her to adjust to his cock, to the hard reaming he planned to give her anus. “Admit this feels good, sweetness.” “More than good… for the stars’ sake, don’t slow down! T-take me, please! Fuck my ass, Taelen. Fuck me hard!” She moaned fitfully, her obvious arousal and need releasing him from his self-imposed restraint. “My pleasure, babe… and it’ll be yours too.” He curled his body over her back, hip muscles flexing repeatedly as he fucked her like he owned her, sinking into her small anus over and over. Grunting with the effort, he shook off the sweat dripping into his eyes as he rode her hard until his body began screaming for release. His balls seethed with seed, pulsed and ached with the need to boil up and out, to drench her ass with their hot load. One hand dropped to finger her clit and her small body bucked under his, pushing her bottom into his as he thrust down. The sound of her wild cries came to him vaguely over the roaring in his head of Justin’s terrified cries. It was enough to send him over. Head thrown back, Taelen pounded, pounded, pounded into Nya, giving her everything he had. His balls crawled up to hug the base of his pistoning cock and tightened, tightened, spilling liquid lightning up his shaft. “Streaming stars! Sweet Willa!” Mindless with release, his cock erupted in jets of fire, filling Nya’s dark narrow opening.
Chapter Eight “No!” Avron’s lips tightened. He hated when she defied him. Fighting to control the urge to beat her, he smiled, forced his impatience back. For now, he would content himself with mocking her instead. “Oh, you needn’t look so horrified. Your brother will forgive you. History is riddled with mothers who have done reprehensible things in the name of saving their children.” “Shut up, you filth, you rotted corpse of a mass murderer!” Letshya flung herself toward Avron, her hands flashing into clawed paws. “I’ll kill you first!” She dared! With a snarl of his own, the Corporate Lord raised the length of chain still attached to the Sh’Bahkyr and yanked. She came to a halt only inches away from his neck, her fangs and claws a thought away from gutting him. With a yelp, her feet left the floor and she fell on her back, landing with a dull thud that resounded in the all but empty room. Throat bleeding where the spikes had dug into her neck, the female shakily regained her feet. “Let that be a lesson to you.” Avron waited to see what she would do. When she simply stood glaring at him, cat’s slit eyes blazing with a hatred he had no difficulty deciphering, he nodded, thumbing a control by the door. A loud siren rang and the sounds of men’s boots pounding up the hall had the woman cringing. “Yes, you see what you’ve done.” He savored the look of helpless anger on her angular face. “That little act of rebellion will cost you, Mama. Perhaps I’ll simply open the door of the mechanic uterus…” Her eyes flashed. A minute later, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “If you do, you might as well kill me now. I won’t stop until I’ve gotten to you.”
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“There is that…” Avron allowed, watching her reactions with a smug smile playing about his lips. He so loved the power control gave him. “An interesting set of possibilities, but I think we’ll wait on that decision. Meanwhile, I’m going to enjoy personally beating you bloody.” Five men burst through the door, their stun guns out and powered up. Avron waved a negligent hand, dismissing their concern. Gesturing with the leash, he pointed to Letshya. “Take this animal out and chain her to the whipping circle. I’ll be out directly.” Saluting, the men cautiously approached the naked female, their eyes round with surprise. This was the first time they’d seen her ghost form. They advanced slowly, knowledge of the danger her claws could inflict even in this humanoid shape keeping them slow and hesitant. Avron slapped his hands impatiently. “Oh, for goodness sake, I’ve already subdued her. Obey my orders!” When the men still hung back, he flung the handle end of the barbed leash at one of them. “Hold onto this. Jerk on it hard and keep a taut line. She won’t dare attack you.”
*** Sick at heart, Letshya worked at relaxing, going limp and letting her arms support her body. Undergoing Avron’s so-called discipline had taught her it helped to keep her muscles lax and loose, her mind elsewhere. Today, an absent mind was almost impossible. Anger burned through her, acid eating her from the inside out. She wanted to get her claws on the traitor supplying her enemies with damning information. She’d been so sure none but the Jenari and the intimate members of her family knew the carefully guarded aspects of Jenari reproduction. That knowledge made the Jenari -- already challenged with low birth rates -- vulnerable to those wishing the prosperous traders ill. No Jenari would ever have divulged the secret to a Corporate Lord. The traitor had to be one of her own.
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Acting on pirated information, Avron had taken her jujo out of stasis, giving her baby only a finite time to live. Letshya moaned, biting back tears that no amount of lashing had ever forced from her. Without Bevel-leveB’s sperm, their child was doomed. She didn’t know what to do. She’d sacrificed so much, done things in the name of saving her child that made her writhe in shame under cover of darkness. But there were some things she simply couldn’t bring herself to do. Betraying her brother -trading her twin to save her son -- was one of them. She looked up at the creak of the gate. Eyes narrowing on Avron, she watched his deliberate movements as he pushed up his cuffs and readied the whip. The other thing she would never do was give this deposed Earthling asshole the satisfaction of caving before him.
Chapter Nine “He doesn’t look too good. Shouldn’t he look better than this?” Worried, Nya turned from the medic unit holding Justin to question Willa. “Can something be wrong with this thing? Why does he look like he’s in pain?” Her sister Sprite touched her shoulder in a gesture of sympathy. “There is nothing wrong with the unit. It is my job to maintain them, and I know this one is functioning correctly.” She caught a lip between her teeth. Nya could tell she wanted to say something else. “What is it?” Willa didn’t meet her gaze when she replied. “Perhaps your friend was injured more than we suspected. The medic unit cannot heal everything. Some things are beyond its scope.” “He is more than a friend.” Icy dread made her head swim. “I cannot accept that he will not get better.” Nya swallowed, eyes burning and aching in a way unnatural to their people. Before leaving Sparkle, they did not have emotions; they ingested them, passing the psychic energies along to their sentient father planet. “We did not survive that dungeon and all they did to us for him to die now!” She placed a hand on the cold metallic casing of the long tube, her voice cracking as she called to him. “Justin… Justin, please hear me!” “You are leaking emotions.” Willa’s quiet comment told her nothing she didn’t already know. She didn’t even try to bite back a snarl as she swung about on her fellow Sprite. “This I know. It seems the longer we are separated from our father planet we mutate further. I suppose you are no longer the only freak of Sparklish nature aboard.” Willa’s shocked gasp and wounded eyes shamed her. How could her lips have spewed such ugliness? “Willa, forgive me! I am so ashamed and sorry. My pain is no
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excuse for attacking you like I did. Please… can you believe I have no wish to hurt or harm you, ever?” She was stricken when Willa would not answer her. Nya raised a hand toward her shoulder, but allowed it to drop shy of landing. She dropped her gaze also, not feeling worthy of the intimate connection. A long silence reigned before Willa’s voice came low and tentative. “Avron kept me starved to the point of weakness and pain, with just enough energy to heal my wounds, so when I first came aboard this ship I was naked and cold, hungry and alone. I was frightened of everything.” She looked up and her large purple eyes, filled with a soft expression of compassion, met Nya’s. After a long, intense exchange, it was the green-hued Sprite who again lowered her gaze as Willa continued. “I was terribly angry, driven to betray Avron and find my sister Sprites so we could all return home. Bitterness ate at me, souring every emotion, fouling my nourishment, until even the devoted attentions of two males could not combat my depletion. They fed me well, but I healed slowly because I generated more energy than I was taking in.” Willa walked over to Nya and placed both slim hands on the taller Sprite’s shoulders. “Bevel has many sayings. One is: I have walked in your shoes… and they pinch.” Her eyes twinkled. “You have a care for Justin. You worry, and only Taelen is meeting your needs. I do not feel anger toward you. You are my sister, the first I have recovered. I will help feed you and then you will recover your spirits.” Nya rubbed at her stinging eyes, tried to swallow past something huge and hot in her throat. “Oh, Willa, you are a true daughter of Sparkle. You are so gentle and loving, whilst I…” She sniffed, bringing her hands up to cover her leaking face. Her voice broke on her next words. “I h-have forgotten w-what I was. I have become something less.” “No.” Willa grasped her shaking hands and squeezed. “You are climbing from a long dark hole into the light. It will take time for your vision to adjust. We have survived, Nya. Of course we are changed. We are nothing anyone has seen before --
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Sprites without the father -- but who is to say we are not better? Who but Sparkle can say what His will is for us? Perhaps our growth is part of His plan. We have found each other… can we not rejoice in that? There is time enough for worries and no need to rush into them.” A short laugh escaped. “You are younger than I. How is it you are so much wiser?” The sound of Willa’s tinkling laugh did her heart good. “Please say that in front of Brant and Bevel. They are convinced I am the most foolish flightiest female to tread the decks of the Quiet Kitty.” Their bonding time was interrupted by the whoosh of the medical lab’s portal winking open. Nya gasped when the large Sh’Bahkyr captain stepped through, gold eyes gleaming with agitation. His handsome face tight with wary speculation, he swung his observant gaze between the two of them, taking in the ambiance of the room. As if it were the most natural thing in the worlds, Willa flew into his arms to be infolded in a tight hug. “I was in my cabin when I felt --” he kissed the nape of her neck, his hands roaming over her as if they could not be that close and resist touching her, “-something twist in my heart… sadness, pain so deep…” He looked confused. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I knew they weren’t my feelings. You were hurting, needing me, so I came to find you.” “Thank you. I’m all better now, but thank you for caring enough to come to me.” Brant Sylenus glared at Nya over Willa’s head. Nya knew he suspected she was the cause of his lover’s pain… and he was right. She tried to signal her remorse with her eyes, but he’d already dismissed her as unimportant, lowering his head to whisper low assurances in his mate’s ear. “Brant, Nya is still in need of nourishment. I wish to feed her.” The Tygyr stiffened. “No, Willa. You are not at full plumage, yourself.” Willa wrapped her arms around the male’s thick waist. “I have to! It is what we do when there is need.” “You do not have to. I forbid it! She has already hurt you.”
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Nya swallowed when his eyes burned into hers over Willa’s unknowing head. She raised her chin in defiance of his disparaging expression. “I did not ask this of Willa. I do not expect it.” Willa pushed away from the captain. Hands on hips, she lifted a belligerent face to the male towering over her. “Who gave you permission to command me unless it has something to do with the ship? I am a daughter of Sparkle and I know my duty --” she tossed a glare over at Nya, including her in the scold, “-- and my privilege. I will feed you and you will accept the gift in the manner it is offered!” “Fine,” Brant snarled, caving. “But you’ll do it under my supervision, in my cabin so I can feed you as soon as you finish with her. I won’t have you depleted like you were when Taelen drained you.” “You just want to watch. What is it about seeing two females together that makes you males slobber all over yourselves?” Nya couldn’t believe how comfortable and at ease Willa was with the ferociouslooking ghost walker. He scared her spitless. Those feral eyes and sharp claws, the mean way he looked at people and the utter ruthlessness he used to impose his will on others… he was not a comfortable person to be around, yet the small rainbow-hued Sprite had the nerve to giggle. It didn’t seem as if she were the least afraid of the hulking captain. And she could see why not. With Willa, the impressive male was totally different. His eyes and mouth, even his stance softened. Nya watched as Brant bent to her, swept her into his arms, engaging in a torrid kiss that had her spiking with hunger. When he pulled back, she could see the thick bar of his cock straining his skintight uniform. “How dare you ask that when you come like a screaming comet every time you’ve watched Bevel and me going at it? It’s the same for males.” Watching them together, Nya realized how entwined their life forces were, how well they fit together. She couldn’t help the niggle of jealousy flattening her spirits, wishing -- just for a moment -- for something similar to what they had. Her relationship
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with Justin was darker, based more on needs and guilt than the lightness of love shared by those two. Nya wondered if Willa ever thought about what would happen when they found Sparkle -- or He found them. No Sprite could resist the call of their father and one day He would summon them home. Seeing how the two clung to each other, unable to keep their hands off the other, she couldn’t envision the big Tygyr-male being willing to let her go. Gazing on her little sister, at the glow of happiness Willa gave off, something in her heart twisted. Following them out of the med lab, down the hall toward Brant’s cabin, Nya felt that unaccustomed stinging in her eyes again. Her heart ached for the pain awaiting her if Justin didn’t recover. More though, it ached for the future separation Willa would have to face. Little sister, I fear for you. Somehow, despite what should have been normal for our race, I suspect you won’t long survive away from your beloved captain.
Chapter Ten Avron tightened his fist around the hilt of the lash. Licking his lips -- the sole outward indication of his building excitement -- he tilted his head, motioned the guards to remove themselves. The last man to exit gave him a look of concern, which he shrugged off. There was no need for his worry; the bitch couldn’t break the chains binding her. Alone with his prisoner, Lance stalked to the whipping post, lips pulled thin with displeasure. Only now, while all his men were elsewhere, could he allow the anger and rage to pour out of him. Drawing his arm back, he sent a vicious slap swinging at the Tygyr’s head. Her face slammed against the post from the force of his blow. “Dammed whore, you dared to attack me! Me? I am Lance Avron, highest ranking official of the Human Corporation.” He hit her again, loving the way her flesh gave beneath his fist, then yanked her hair at the nape of her neck and bore down, tilting her face up. He caught the look of hatred before she could shield her emotions from him. “Now that’s what I like to see…” he crooned, letting her head drop forward, “honest emotions coming out. Enemies should be open and direct with each other, don’t you think?” Not awaiting her answer, he moved around to her side, readying the whip. “I have a hard-on, you know. I really didn’t think I could get one from looking at that big, muscled obscenity you call a body. But seeing your helpless rage, your boundless hate -- please tell me you won’t lose that any time soon -- my cock has swollen to immense proportions. You keep that hatred shining in those ungodly eyes of yours while I beat the rebellion out of you. Oh ho!” he chuckled, smiling at the heated glare she sent from under her brows, “you didn’t like hearing about the state you’ve brought me to. Well, guess what, whore?” He leaned in, got in her face, knowing to an inch what
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leeway she had in the chains. “It’s your helplessness that turns me on, your knowing you can’t do a damned thing to change the parameters of this situation. So you just keep on growling under your breath… makes my balls scrunch up… while I get on with what I do best.” Stepping back, he shook out the whip. “I am so going to enjoy this…”
Chapter Eleven Curled on the thin sleeping pad occupying one of the spaceport’s transients’ cubbies, Letshya struggled to ignore her many aches and pains. She wasn’t having much luck. Unlike all the other beatings Avron had ordered for whatever imagined offense his convoluted mind conjured up, this time he’d wielded the whip himself. And he hadn’t quit after the usual pre-determined number of lashes, but had continued until his arms gave out. Guess I really angered him, by trying to kill him. Serves him fucking right. I only wish I’d been fast enough to rip his damned throat out. Any torture would be worth that. Turning carefully, trying to avoid waking the slumbering misery of her healing flesh, she ruminated on the mishmash of emotions roiling through her. Foremost was thankfulness, though she gagged at feeling indebted to her captor for any reason. Still, she couldn’t deny she’d actually relished Avron’s diligence to dealing pain this once; physical punishment being a fitting consequence for her sins -- which were legion -those past and the future ones she had yet to commit. She’d fucked up. The sad thing was, she’d only realized it when Avron had taunted her about the lengths she’d gone to save her child. Damn it, I’m mother to a whole lot more than that tiny helpless dot of Bevel-leveB and I. All the lost Sh’Bahkyr depend on me for help and I’ve failed them miserably. How can I hope to be a good mother when I’ve proven I’m lousy at being a good queen? Restless, running from her thoughts, she rolled again, freezing halfway over. With a hiss, she sucked air in past thinned lips, riding out the wave of sharp pangs zinging up her spine. Damn it, she had to be more careful of fast movement. Her back had taken the worst of it, remaining a mass of lacerated skin despite her accelerated
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healing capabilities, but the devil human had targeted other parts of her body -- namely her belly, breasts and nipples, applying the whip in ingenious ways to ensure she’d feel the burn long after he was done. In a weird way, the pain helped her focus, helped her remember her vow. Under the agony of the lash, she’d come to a firm decision, made a plasteel-hard commitment, though her heart bled with that making. No longer would she allow Avron to control her by threats to her child. Never would she betray her brother or anyone else just to keep her infant alive for even one more day. She had to believe any child of hers worthy of its father would grow to abhor her, to hate knowing it lived at the expense of honor, the deaths of so many others. How weak she’d been, how small and petty, to think only of her baby. BevelleveB would be ashamed of her when he learned all she’d done… and not done in the name of their offspring. No matter how angry her mate became, he couldn’t hate her any more than she hated herself. Before the Corporation attacked their home world, Letshya used to take pride at ruling her people with love and fairness. In return, they’d pledged themselves to her house, to the Sylenus royal family. But a queen deserved such loyalty only as long as she put those people first. Letshya squeezed her eyelids closed on the tears overflowing her eyes, her pride ashes about her beaten feet. It wasn’t Avron who’d defeated her, but her own fears and selfishness. No one person deserved life at the cost of others’ sacrifice unless they so chose. Lying curled on the bed, Letshya sobbed. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, baby,” she cried, rocking back and forth, subconsciously curling her arms into the age-old shape of a mother’s cradle. Her soul ached, wept at the death of hope and the loss of her longheld dreams. “Mama’s so sorry she couldn’t protect you. I love you! I’ll always hold you here, in my heart, but I’ve got to let you go…” Physical pain blurred, becoming nebulous as claws of agony ripped her heart asunder. Body trembling and shaking, she rolled to her back and screamed her pain at
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the ceiling. In her abandoned loneliness, she called out the love-name she’d coined for her mate. “B-B, I need you. I miss you so much! B-B, please forgive me… please don’t hate me for killing our baby, but I can’t give Brant to Avron. I won’t!” That stupid Avron thought she and her brother were lovers because his prejudices couldn’t permit him to believe the scientists’ claims of the Sh’Bahkyr race’s cross-breeding ability. Thank the stars he’d held off their demands. The degenerate socalled men of learning had wanted to experiment by impregnating her captured female subjects with the sperm of differing animals to test their theories. The longer they could keep their secrets from the Corporation, the better. But wasn’t refusing to surrender her brother just more of her being selfish? She didn’t know and didn’t care. All Letshya knew was it ended here. No longer would she play the marionette on Avron’s strings. Her people needed her. Her mate, if he lived, might hate her, but she’d sacrificed too much in the name of a tiny spark of life that had -- to all intents and purposes -- died over six years ago. Tears continued to fall and Letshya let them, not even bothering to wipe them away when she knew more would take their place. She’d love her child forever. Her heart would never be the same, for she would bury a piece of it with her lost baby. But if she ever stood with Avron before that mechanical womb, she would smash the unit, herself. Better death at the hands of its mother than a life under the control of the evil Corporation’s head monster: Avron. Letshya got up and padded slowly to the bathroom. She voided, then washed up at the primitive waterless sink, stared into her empty, soulless eyes. Turning away from the visible portrait of her pain, she trudged back to the bed and eased her tired body down on the thin mattress. Throat tight with more tears, she shaped the inadequate pillow under her neck, ignored the soggy state of the covering. Her tears had bathed it more than once, soaking in as she didn’t seem to be able to stop crying. Weeping endures for the night. Isn’t that what the ancient poets wrote? I just hope I can endure this pain. My heart feels ripped in pieces.
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Sighing brokenly, Letshya closed her eyes, no longer fighting back the new sobs crowding her throat. Tomorrow Mommy will have to find a way to escape, but tonight… Tonight I will mourn you, little one.
Chapter Twelve “Oooh yeah… that’s how I like it! Suck me hard. Fondle my balls!” Looking up at his contorted face from between his dark brown legs, Nya smiled around her mouthful of cock. Taelen was leaned back on the bunk, head thrown against the bulk and legs dangling over the side. His heavy balls, covered with a spattering of curly black hair, lay half on, half off the bed, the plump round globes partially flattened where they pressed against the frame. Without letting up on her heavy suctioning of his cock, she slipped a hand beneath the silk-soft weighty sac, carefully rolling the stones within. His pained guttural cursing filled her with a deep sense of gratification. It wasn’t often she got him to lose control -- not since he’d slipped and groaned Willa’s name while coming. He’d been reticent about verbalizing during their fucking sessions. For some unfathomable reason, Nya had taken that as a personal challenge. She had no idea why. Sprites weren’t concerned about who their partner was thinking about, being interested only in the feeding and the mutual exchange of pleasure. A wave of homesickness swept over her, dimming her enjoyment of the sensual feast Taelen provided. She was worried. The longer she was exiled from Sparkle, the more she evolved… or maybe devolved. She wasn’t comfortable with all the recent changes and especially loathed the base emotion of jealousy she’d felt hearing her sister’s name on her lover’s lips. And he wasn’t even hers, truly. She couldn’t imagine how she would feel if Justin did the same. With an inner shake of the head, she returned her attention to the cock at hand. Right now all she wanted was Taelen screaming her name, no one else’s.
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To that end, she redoubled her efforts to bring him off with her mouth. On Sparkle, she’d been much prized for her talents in these areas. Pride made her cocky as Taelen’s fingers fisted in her head fronds, yanking her face down to his groin and holding her there while his hips bucked, sending his cock tunneling back and forth between her pursed lips. “Novas and black holes… your mouth is a fucking paradise!” Not quite my name, but it’s a start… Quickly adjusting position lest she choke on the thick girth buried in her throat, Nya hummed, vibrating her throat and lips. “Fucking stars… I’m coming!” Nya was caught off guard when Taelen pulled back on her fronds, forcing her mouth off his cock. Feeling deprived, she fought him, struggling to regain that juicy erection bobbing right before her hungry gaze. “No! Open wide for me.” He fisted his cock and aimed it at her face. “I want to watch your mouth fill up with my come. Then I want to watch you swallow it all.” A needy groan passed her lips as Nya obediently dropped her jaw, nest gone liquid at the stark erotic command. Taelen’s golden eyes burned as they gazed down into her eyes, intent on seeing what came next. He pumped his cock twice, three times and then, with a roar, he was shooting into her mouth, jets of thick white seed that splashed against the back of her throat, quickly filling her mouth. “Swallow without closing,” he ordered, panting, voice harsh and demanding. “I’ll blister your butt for every drop you miss.” The threat made her pulse race, had her heart pounding. This was what she needed and what Justin so rarely provided her -- the darker side of sex. Like all Sprites, she craved that dangerous edge, the pain mixed with pleasure. Everything else was bland fare when she hungered for spicy. She could come to love Taelen for his mastery over this luscious aspect of carnality. For a long greedy moment she contemplated spilling some just for the beating he promised. In the end, she tilted back her head like a baby bird and worked her throat to
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receive every last bit of his hot foamy ejaculate. Emotions and thrills were fine, but actual fluids were nourishment on a totally higher level. She licked at her lips, dainty tongue slipping out to check for any errant drop of semen. Satisfied she’d gotten it all, she sank to her haunches and eyed the still hard cock in Taelen’s fist. Knees wide apart, she flashed a glimpse of nest, hoping he’d take her unspoken offering and fuck her more. “Greedy Sprite, you want me in that tight little cunt, don’t you?” Nya only smiled, dipping a finger into her wet sex. He caught her hand on the way to her mouth and brought her drenched finger to his lips. He licked the juices off, eyes glinting with renewed interest. “The edge is off my addiction cravings, so if I fuck you, we do it my way.” She didn’t have to think twice. Nya nodded, excitement churning in her belly. His way meant pain -- delicious sultry pain that would lead to a mother lode of sexual energy and intense orgasms. “Whatever you want, Lord Taelen, any way you want it.” The sadistic grin that slashed across his face caused her pulse to stutter. “That is the correct answer and the only one I ever want to hear out of your mouth. Now, quickly… get up on the bed, on your back.” Nya scrambled onto the bunk and over on her back, automatically opening her legs. “Did I tell you to do that?” Taelen’s question barely left his lips before a sharp slap landed on her exposed pussy lips. The thin green feathers did little to cushion the blow. Her hips flexed under the sting, feminine moisture gathering in response. The muscles in her belly quivered and her legs fell limply to the side. “Tsk! Tsk! Nasty Sprite! You simply cannot remain still. Let’s see what a pair of stasis cuffs will do for you…” Not daring to turn her head, Nya listened as Taelen went over to the storage shelves tucked in the bulkhead, heard the clink of metal and the soft sound of cloth rubbing together. What was he up to?
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He dangled a pair of cuffs above her head, letting her see the high tech restraints. Wordlessly, he grabbed one ankle and slipped a circlet over it. He repeated his actions on her other leg, and then quickly did the same with her arms. “Now let’s see…” He stood at the side of the bunk, tapping his chin, his eyes twinkling with a hellish anticipation that had her creaming the sheets. “How shall I arrange you?” His eyes brightened. “Ah, I believe we’ll try the sexual eagle. That position leaves a female open and available… just the way I want you.” Nya had no idea what he was talking about, but she couldn’t wait for him to get started. She wriggled, reminding him she was waiting. With two soft touches at right wrist and ankle those cuffs tightened into a snug band about her limbs. She had unrestricted mobility on her left side, but try as she might, she couldn’t move the limbs on her right. That side was held stiffly, right arm and leg at forty-degree angles from her torso. Two more touches and her left side was rendered as still as her right. She was splayed wide for his delectation, small breasts topped with diamond hard nipples stabbing upward toward the ceiling. The pull was uncomfortable, but not painful. Her arousal spiked. Sweat broke out on Nya’s brow. She breathed with quick shallow breaths, her pulse an erratic throbbing at wrists and temple. A stronger more insistent pulse beat in the wet flesh of her nest as the heat of his focused gaze threatened to burn through her protective fronds. Frantic, she twisted in the rigid bonds, trying to lift her hips toward the male driving her crazy with need. If he doesn’t finish this quickly I’m going to combust. “Please… take your pleasure and then fuck me. Please!” Waves of erotic energy began beating at her psi receptors and she became aware of Taelen’s growing excitement right alongside hers. Bland as his expression was, his overflow of emotion betrayed him. He was a lot less unaffected than he let on. “Your need makes you beautiful. Look how you glow here and here…” His hands reached out, touched her as he enumerated her points. “Breasts and nipples, sweet feminine curve here at your dainty waist… your sleek dripping cunt.” Without warning two fingers impaled her flesh, pushing into the elastic opening of her sex. He
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eased them out and brought them to his lips, sucking them free of her syrupy juice. “I’m going to whip this impudent pussy, you know, and probably that pert bottom of yours too.” His hands slipped underneath to knead her naked cheeks. She groaned at his words, the salacious promises causing a dropping sensation in her stomach. “And then I’m going to stuff your cunt with the whip handle while I fuck that tight ass of yours.” His nasty words had her body screaming, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
By the time Taelen finished wielding the whip she was sobbing in ecstasy, her labia and clit pulsing with the white-hot heat of sexual agony. She writhed in small increments, body held captive by the relentless stasis cuffs. She screamed the entire time he wedged the long thick handle up her clenching sheath and pumped it in and out, the leather-wrapped shaft rasping along her sensitive tissues. Leaving the makeshift dildo in place, Taelen released her bonds long enough to flip her over, his movements abrupt and economical. He didn’t use lube before he entered her small anus, ensuring the pain/pleasure mix she craved. Entering her hard, punching in and establishing a rhythm that drove her toward the glittering edge of orgasm, he powered into her straining depths again and again. It only got better as he reached around her and grasped the whip handle, working the leather-covered wood in her cunt in counterpoint to his plunging cock. Lost in the sublime pain and overwhelming bliss, Nya was close to losing her mind, unable to master so much as a word to beg him to release her from the sharp serrated edge of unreached completion. All she could manage was guttural grunts and moans -- animalistic sounds as pathetic as her lost control over her twitching, pleasure inundated limbs. Hips slamming into her, Taelen leaned over to growl a warning in her ear. “You don’t come until I say so, Sprite. I’m in control here. When I finish with you, you’re going to know you’ve been mastered.”
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When he finally allowed her to come, Nya was almost insensate with the glut of fluids and emotions. With barely enough mind to breathe, she lay beneath Taelen, drowsing in the aftermath of the most intense encounter of her short life. She didn’t even mind that he hadn’t called her name when he climaxed. She was just glad he hadn’t called Willa’s.
Chapter Thirteen Willa leaned over Brant’s shoulder, her small hands stroking the soft fur of his back. “I love the feel of your covering, Brant. You are so soft all over. I love that about you.” Brant smirked, twisted his neck to plant a quick kiss on her cheek. “Is that all you love about me?” “No, of course not,” she quipped, slipping into his lap and twining her arms around his neck. “I’m just concentrating on one point at a time. Today, it’s your softness.” Brant snagged an arm around her waist and hugged her close, keeping his head turned so he could see the readout on the navigational console. “Are you sure you want to concentrate on my softness? I’ve got a hard spot you might want to check out. I’m hoping you love that about me too.” Willa laughed. Just as quickly, she covered her mouth with one hand. She could never tell when it was acceptable to laugh at Brant’s comments. Unlike Bevel, who made fun of everything, Brant rarely made jokes. “That was a joke, wasn’t it?” Her lover threw back his leonine head and roared with laughter and Willa’s heart turned over in her chest. He was so dear to her, so special… yet she still didn’t know how their love was possible. She was a Sprite, a native of Sparkle -- the sentient planet that had retreated undercover after being raped by the planet killers of the Corporation. Willa had been a young Sprite, only recently podded when her planet-father, Sparkle, had been invaded. There’d been no chance for instruction and training before she’d been abducted and sold into slavery, but instinct said her kind were incapable of forming a bond such as the one she and Brant shared.
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Her generation was the first to exist away from the father and it seemed she and her sisters had developed new talents and attributes. Her half-formed theories had been borne out by Nya’s -- an elder Sprite -- confession of love for Justin Avron. When the guys had gone to rescue her, Nya, though close to death from being tortured by him, had refused to leave without her cellmate. Willa hated to think she might have something she owed to the Corporation, but if they hadn’t attacked Sparkle, she never would have met and loved Brant. And she did love him… so much. “Yeah, silly Sprite, it was funny, but I wasn’t joking. Heaven forbid you should ever neglect the hard for the soft!” She ran her fingers through the dense golden-hued fur. “As if I would…” Her hand slipped down to his crotch, palmed the thrusting bulge there. “I love this part of you almost as much as your eyes…” she stroked him. “… or your purr. Have I told you how much I love the way you vibrate, especially when you’re inside me?” Brant shifted beneath her, making her clutch his shoulders to retain her seat. Smiling, she leaned in for a kiss, opening to the lick of his rough tongue with a dark little moan. “God, I love it when you give me those tiny sounds, Willa!” Brant groaned. “Let’s see if I can get you to make a few more…” His warm palms smoothed down her back, their warm weight making her shiver. She threw back her head, giving her throat into his keeping. He took her invitation, nuzzling into the sensitive bend between her neck and shoulder with nipping bites and swirling sweeps of his tongue. “Brant!” “Yes, love. I’m here. Feel me here for you.” His hand on her lower back pressed her mound down on his cock. She felt, all right, and he was large, hard and hot, vibrantly thick between her thighs. “Oh Sparkle, I feel hungry. I want…”
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“Me?” Sharp teeth nibbled at her throat, mouth moving down to nip at the straining nipples under her uniform. “Do you want me, Willa? Because, I certainly want you. I’ll always want and need you. Forever.” The emotional feast of his love flowed over her, rich and filling, made her curl closer in greedy reaction, made her grab at the bounty that still seemed so miraculous. Willa fought tears as she soaked in the waves of unstinting devotion surging from Brant to her. He humbled her with his openness, his willingness to feed her and love her without reserve. Curbing her wants, she leaned back enough to meet his slumberous eyes, heavy with passion. Her lover gazed back at her, lips parted to show the sharp incisors and a hint of that pink sandpaper tongue. She shivered just looking at it. Brant’s tongue was a sexual tool without peer. The things he can do with that long, rough tongue of his… Willa sighed. “Why did you stop? Was I doing something wrong?” A laugh bubbled up. “As if you could… No, I just wanted to look at you. You are so beautiful, so big.” Brant’s eyes lowered. “Stop, honey, you’ll embarrass me.” She smirked, nodding her head in mocking agreement. This time she knew he teased. Her man was a bold animal. Nothing embarrassed him. He was incorrigible. “Suuure I will!” He laughed with her, gathering her tight against his chest. “Couldn’t fool you, could I?” She snorted. “Not anymore! You and Bevel were horrible when I first came aboard, though. The way the two of you used to tease me was simply unmerciful. I’ll never forgive you for the time you and he convinced me Bevel was dying and needed me to toss his salad to equalize his biorhythms.” Brant’s lips twitched, but didn’t quite turn up in a smile. “He loved what you did. And I loved watching. A good time was had by all.”
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Willa pushed a fist against his chest. “I was glutted by his climaxes, but I didn’t appreciate you two laughing your fool heads off at me.” A big hand cupped the back of her head. Lips brushed the fringe of lilac fronds falling into her eyes. “Don’t pout, sweetheart. I’ll make Bevel toss your salad and I swear neither of us will laugh at you. Will that satisfy you?” Willa hid her smile as she snuggled into his shoulder. “Give me the Tygyr. Then I’ll be satisfied.” His chuckle rumbled under her cheek. “You wicked slut, have you fallen in love with my barbs? Admit it. The pain has spoiled you, hasn’t it?” She rolled her hips against the erection prodding her nest fronds, the thought of those sharp hooks embedded in his cock making her antsy. A shiver chased its way up her spine and sparked in the tips of her nipples. Licking her lips, she raised her head until her gaze locked with his. “Your barbs are like Christmas cookies for Santa. He’d come anyway, but the sweets are the creamy topping on the hot chocobean.” “Chocolait, hon. If you’re going to use an old Earth metaphor you should get it right.” “Whatever.” She shrugged, dragging her tongue over the material hiding his flat nipples. They stiffened under her attention. “Either way you say it, they’re both sweet.” She bit through the uniform cloth into the tender meat of his chest. “As sweet as the pain I receive from your Tygyr’s cock.” A strident ringing blasted through the bridge, the sudden noise resounding along Willa’s nerve endings like nails scritching on shale rock. She jerked back in Brant’s arms, heart jumping in her chest. “What the nova is that?” Brant sat up, set her away from him as his fingers flew across the communications board. Eyes trained on the feed crawling across the matte black surface, he tapped in a response code Willa had never seen. “Incoming message.” His eyes flashed to hers for a moment, the heat in them enough to melt her wings. “Hold that last thought… we’ll get back to it.”
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She nodded, moving to another station to monitor ship’s systems and the readout for local space. While Brant dealt with his communication, she’d make sure no enemy was attempting to sneak up on them. Over her shoulder, she glimpsed the Sh’Bahkyr bowing toward a live-feed hologram. Whoever he was talking to looked a lot like her least favorite person, Taelen. Large gold eyes, honey clear, were set deep in a frame of thick black eyelashes. His forehead was high and broad and his nose thin and long. Full lips and full wavy black hair finished him off. Black holes and novas, but he was a pretty male. If she hadn’t hooked up with Brant, who gave her all she needed in the way of nourishment, Willa would have been tempted by the Landresi’s boldly masculine grace. Instead, she turned around quickly and concentrated on her own board. The Landresid, as a people, frightened her. Their powers were mysterious and awesome and not to be taken lightly. This one, the most powerful of them all, had an aura about him that set her feathers shivering. Pretending to pay no attention to the continuing conversation, she kept her head bowed and her ears cocked. That last proved to be unnecessary since the language, probably Landre, was one she couldn’t fathom. The gutturals were soft and smooth, the vowels liquid and lyrical, but though she tried hard, she could understand nothing. Her curiosity didn’t stop her from completing her tests and she wrapped up the last diagnostic about the same time Brant concluded his conversation with the ruler of the Landresid. The male’s voice, imbued with a dark rich tonal quality, switched from the incomprehensible language to Galactic Standard. His words had her twisting around. “So, donesi, this is she whom you have bonded with. Your ninomo will be upset she was not the first to greet and welcome her.” He might just as well have continued in that other language, for Willa was so stunned she couldn’t take his words in. Then, a moment later, what he’d said about them bonding came through loud and clear and Willa froze in horror. How could he know what they’d done? Taelen swore he’d had no contact with home and she didn’t think Brant would have shared something so intimate. Besides, Taelen had broken his
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word not to use magic on Brant. What he’d done played an integral part in what Brant and Willa had become. She didn’t think the prince would be too quick to make an honest report of his magic usage to his father. She snuck a peek over at her captain. Far from seeming upset, Brant had a huge smile on his face. Beckoning her to his side, he faced the hologram after gifting her with a smile of sublime sweetness. “Yes, this is my Willa. The Tygyr and I have chosen her.” Golden eyes stared at Willa, the intent gaze making her shiver. The Landresi acted like he was trying to catch a glimpse of her soul. Feeling she should say something, she bowed her head without taking her wary gaze off the magic wielder. “Well met, sir.” Her soft greeting faded, dwindling away in the uncomfortable silence that welled on the bridge. Winged beasts took to flight, their pinions fluttering in her belly. Willa’s teeth worried her bottom lip, caught the tender inner curve on a sharp tip. His all-seeing eyes seemed to bore a hole right through her middle. What felt like eons went by and she’d begun to panic when he finally spoke. “She is a being unlike any other, different from most sentient life forms inhabitants of most worlds have encountered. However, she will prove an excellent mate for you. I have no objections.” Bringing a hand up to cover her mouth, Willa hid a smile, knowing before he spoke what his reaction to the male’s words would be. Sure enough, Brant’s shoulders squared and his jaw tensed. Tightening an arm about her, he spread his legs in a conquering stance. “I don’t recall running it by you for approval. Sir.” The tacked on title of respect sounded begrudged. The wise Landresi ruler seemed to note that. He didn’t bother hiding his own smile. The roguish twinkling of his eyes told her how much he enjoyed spiking her lover’s ire. Told also that he’d taken no offense at Brant’s belligerent response. Yes, Willa decided. He must be Taelen’s sire, for their smiles and their humor are exactly alike.
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“It is a good thing, this teasing and laughter -- even laughter hidden -- among family.” The handsome male sobered, his face falling into more severe lines. “But I must speak of something painful. Your second-in-command must hear this as well.” Before he finished speaking, Willa leaned over and opened the ship’s com, quietly ordering Bevel to the bridge. Straightening and turning her face up toward his, she flinched as Brant’s expression crumpled, watched him catch himself and erase all emotion from his features. He couldn’t erase it from his eyes, though. Willa swallowed a lump of sympathy, her inner reservoir filling with his bitter dollop of fear. “You have news of Letshya, don’t you?” The way his mouth formed the name, the caressing inflection of his voice revealed how much he loved his sister/twin. The Landresi nodded curtly, golden eyes dull. “The kind of news best shared only once.”
Chapter Fourteen “Sir, the prisoner has escaped!” Looking anxious, the man hastened to protest his innocence. “I swear I had nothing to do with it. I left to obtain food and when I returned, I found Abrams dead on the floor, his throat ripped out.” Fingers laced, Avron sat at his desk staring at the guard’s sweating face in his monitor, his own expression bland; a calculated response that constantly served to unnerve his underlings. Without facial clues, they had no way of guessing his true reactions. For instance, now he was quite amused. “Was Abrams the only one left assigned to watch her?”
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. How interesting…
“No sir. Shelton was there too.”
“And where is the good Mr. Shelton, now?”
“He’s a… he’s mostly here, too -- kinda…”
Avron leaned forward into the two-way camera. “Now you’ve managed to
intrigue me, got me wondering just how long you will attempt to withhold information from me.” He leaned back, jaw muscle twitching. When he continued, his voice had softened in threat. “Diverson, when I ask for a report, I expect to be given a full one… without editing. Do I make myself clear?” The man’s audible gulp was faithfully transmitted via the microphone. His voice shook when he answered, “Crystal clear, sir!” “Good. Now report!” The man’s image came to an even more strict attention. “Sir, I returned to the rented cubicle to find both Abrams and Shelton naked. Abrams was dead -- his throat bitten out, as I stated earlier. Shelton --” Diverson swallowed, looking green, “-- was on the floor moaning, hands clutched over his groin. I yelled at him, asked where the
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female was. I attempted to help him up by grabbing his arm. He screamed in pain when the motion jarred his body. That’s when I saw she’d bitten his dick off, balls and all. He went hysterical, crying and shaking, hollering about how she’d eaten his cock. Upon closer inspection, I realized she’d opened his femoral when she’d, uh, castrated him and his hands had been applying pressure to the artery. He bled out before the medics could arrive.” Avron didn’t betray his glee by a single twitch of his facial muscles. “So what you’re saying is while you were absent the two guards left behind decided to indulge in some forbidden pussy and got royally pussy-whipped, instead.” Avron almost laughed out loud as the guard’s eyes widened, probably shocked at his sarcasm. “Yes, sir, that is it exactly, sir.” “What you are also saying is that my specimen is loose and you have no idea where she is.” Avron caught the flash of fear in the man’s eyes before he lowered his head in shame and ardently vowed, “I do not intend to sleep until I recover your prisoner, sir.” Lance did laugh at that. “Oh, by all means, Diverson, take a nap if you like. That is, if you can sleep without nightmares thinking about that stupid Shelton having his cock chewed off! I know exactly where my prey is.” His eyes met the frightened ones on the monitor. “Return home immediately. I have other uses for you.” The man saluted. “Yes, sir!” “Oh, and Diverson…” “Sir?” “Shelton and Abrams got off lightly. Failure is unacceptable to me.” With a flick of his wrist, he shut off the connection and spun his chair about. Powering up another computer, one outside the Corporation’s communication grid, he opened a tracking program and smiled at the data flowing in. “Ah! There you are, my fractious little hell-cat. I figured you’d soon free yourself of the bumbling incompetents I sent with you. Belling the cat was such a simple, logical thing to do and you never knew the ends of the whip I beat your furry hide with were embedded with chips of
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microprocessors. Locator chips that now reside beneath your skin. That damned elusive Sprite taught me not to depend on only one.” He laughed again, this time in real enjoyment. “Sometimes my planning surprises even myself.”
Chapter Fifteen “Sshe iss dead! You are going to tell uss my Letsshya iss dead, aren’t you?” Bevel’s fearful cry ringing in her ears, Willa fought the urge to gag. Sick at heart, she touched his shaking shoulders. For the first time in her short life, she hated benefiting from others’ pain. Never again did she want to absorb the twisted, tortured agony radiating from her best friend. He was hurting -- her Bevel -- in such deep, incomprehensible pain his entire body pulsed with it. She also pitied poor leveB, drooping between Bevel’s thighs, its usually proudly upheld head deflated and shriveled with an equal misery she didn’t have the first idea how to lessen. Every last one of the men suffered agonies of anticipation while they waited to hear what Ehoneh had to say. For once, Taelen had lost the sarcastic twist to his full, sensually shaped lips. Seated at the engineering station, his back to the panel, he’d been silent since the strangely subdued exchange of greetings between him and his father. Taking pity on Brant, who she could see wanted to ask, but was too afraid of what the answer might be, Willa took it upon herself to ask, “Sir, is that what you wanted to tell us? Brant’s sister… is she dead?” Her quiet question caught all their attentions; Brant’s, Bevel-leveB’s, Taelen’s and the hologram projection of Ehoneh -- the name he’d instructed her to call him. Ehoneh cleared his throat. “I did not mean to frighten all of you to this extent. As of my last update, I believe your sister --” he nodded at Brant, “-- and your mate --” he inclined his head toward Bevel, “-- was still alive.” “Oh, thank the sstarss!” Willa planted both hands on her hips, angry on her guys’ behalf. “Black holes and novas, sir. You couldn’t say so at once?”
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Mobile lips quirked up in an indulgent smile. “No one gave me the opportunity. There is an old Terran saying Amecis loves to use…” Taelen snorted. “I can hear Mother now. ‘Taelen, when you assume, you make an ass of u and me’.” “Very apropos in this situation, I believe,” his father opined, which sent both Ehoneh and Taelen into soft laughter. Bevel, his sightless eyes oriented on the two Landresid, cocked his head in bewilderment. Just as confused, Willa huffed, sucking in an affronted breath. “I have absolutely no idea what all that means either, Bevel, but I’m glad someone can enjoy themselves in these trying times. Sarcasm intended,” she added snidely when the two kept snickering. Brant waved his hand, breaking into the conversation, a touch of anger in his voice. “Hello! Could we get back on track?” His topaz eyes shot lasers at Ehoneh. “Do you mean to tell me you knew where Letshya was all this time? And didn’t say anything?” Taelen came up out of the chair, mouth tight. “Watch your mouth, sprout. You don’t talk to my father that way!” Brant stepped into Taelen’s space, body screaming aggression. “I talk to anyone I want in whatever manner I want,” he snarled. A mocking smile turned up one side of his top lip. “Besides, to let him tell it, he’s my dad too.” Taelen’s big hands curled into fists and Willa grew tense. If things got physical, she’d throw herself into the fight on Brant’s side. Not that he needed her assistance, but she wouldn’t be able to help herself. She was a Sprite, yes, but for all her small size she packed a wallop when push came to shove. “Tae, Tae… shame on you and you, too, Brant. Your un-brotherly behavior is unseemly. Amecis will be disappointed to learn the two of you have not learned to get along, yet.” Brant scowled, but otherwise ignored the commentary. “Letshya…?”
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To Willa, it seemed Ehoneh was reluctant to answer. Why? He’d told them Letshya was alive and that was good, right? Surely nothing else he had to say would be worse. The hologram pursed his lips. Finally meeting Brant’s eyes he said, “Understand, donesi… I only recently received this information. It was not in my hands when last we met.” When Brant’s hard-jawed stance did not soften, the Landresi sighed. “Shortly after our meeting, your sister was moved to Corporation Central Hub, as was a cryogenic unit known only as “Avron’s Ace.” It was suspected, and later borne out, that the unit contained the unborn child of the queen and her consort.” Bevel-leveB made a choked sound. Brant put his arm across his shoulder, hugging him close. “Take it easy, Bev… there has to be more. Let’s hear him out before jumping to more conclusions.” The Jenari nodded, face glum. The medusoid tentacles covering his head lifted from his scalp, listlessly waving in half-hearted hope. “Go on, ssir. Pleasse.” “Over the years, she’s been held in check by Avron’s possession of her baby. He’s controlled her, kept her under his thumb with the threat of killing the infant. Now, he’s upped the stakes.” Face drawn and wan, his normal gray bleached with despair, Bevel said, “He hass sstarted the clock.” Ehoneh concurred, his golden eyes soft with compassion. “He’s started your jujo’s clock.” Brant cursed. “How the fuck did he find out about Jenari gestational needs? I thought that crap was a national secret.” Bevel closed his mouth, trapping his tongue completely inside as he visibly struggled to contain his anger and worry. Willa knew the action was a sign of how disturbed the usually jovial commander was. “Unfortunately, the Jenari racce iss not immune to treachery. We are a sspecciess of merchantss. Dangle the right amount of profit in the right face and…” he shrugged, “… it would sseem sselling ssecretss iss lucrative thesse dayss.”
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Willa winced at his heavy alliteration. “Damn, Bevel. I know that cilia-crowded tongue of yours gives you a lisp, but my ears are ringing. Those were too many esses all together.” “Your second is correct,” the Landresi spoke over Willa’s teasing, picking up the conversation where Bevel left off. “Just as we have operatives in the Corporation’s ranks, they have counterparts infiltrating our organization. So far, the exchange of information has been mostly one-sided -- we’ve had the advantage. Recently, that changed. By the time the leak was plugged, the damage had been done.” “What damage, Father? What eventualities have you been manipulating behind my back?” Gold eyes clashed and Willa held her breath as power swept through the room. She glanced around at the others, their calm expressions indicating they didn’t feel the surging waves of energy building between father and son. Looking at them, Willa noted their strong resemblance. The two males’ shared blood was undeniable. She’d have guessed their relationship without the introduction Brant had made because both were uncannily alike, differing in only three points -- hair texture, the tone of their skin and height. Taelen was darker, his hair coarser -- both attributes probably the gift of his Nubian mother. His height might have been inherited from her also, for he towered over his father. Regardless of his lesser inches, the elder Landresi carried himself with such grandeur of manner no one could doubt he was a ruler, one accustomed to absolute control. Come to think of it, Willa smirked, he isn’t looking too happy with Taelen’s questioning right now. Lips tight with displeasure, Ehoneh was making slashing motions with his hand. “I and others have been manipulating eventualities in the hopes of keeping those we love alive and free of the Corporation taint. As the Jenari just pointed out, the stain of self-advancement-at-the-cost-of-all-else-oriented thinking is spreading throughout the Galaxies. More and more, our parent planets are being dangerously neglected -- if not actively raped of their resources. The Humans’ Terra is destroyed. The Sh’Bahkyrs’
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home world is gone and Sparkle was grievously damaged. Other planets are at risk. Life, as we know it, faces a dreadful future if the Corporation’s credo of selfish gain isn’t halted.” “I’m sure that’s a good cause,” Brant interrupted. Willa could almost see the impatient twitching of his ghostly tail. “And I’m willing to help you any way I can, but my focus right now is the enslaved state of my people, foremost of those being Letshya and my niece or nephew.” His eyes narrowed. “If you are in any way responsible for putting them in danger…” Willa took Brant’s hand, squeezed it in warning. All they needed was for him to anger the powerful magic wielder. At first, she thought the Tygyr would ignore her concerns, but a great sighing huff blew across her crest ferns. A moment later, his arms enfolded her, taking and giving comfort. Relieved, she felt some of the tension drain out of him and she melted in the aftermath of danger averted. “Brant, you and yours are not the only ones I must concern myself with.” The Landresi held a hand up to stave off the heated replies Willa could see crowding the lips of all the males. “Have no doubt, I do concern myself, but there are greater, more pressing issues in play here, than the life of one or two Beings, no matter how beloved.” “Name one!” Coming from Bevel, the belligerent tones sounded odd. “The future of the three Galaxies… and whether or not planet-bound sentient life will be present. Will that do?” That shocked them all into speechlessness. Bevel was the first to recover. “Uhm… yeah, that’ll do.” “Letshya is not thinking clearly. She’s been duped into believing the only way she can save her child is to deliver Brant to Avron.” Brant shook his head. “My sister would never betray us.” Ehoneh pushed the fingers of one hand through his hair. “You don’t understand. She won’t mean to betray you, but over the years, she’s done things, hard things… things she never would have countenanced if not in defense of her baby. If she quits now, all that will be for naught. Failure at this point might well destroy her mentally and
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emotionally.” His face hardened. “We do not yet have everything in place. She’ll try to get a message to you at your next stop. It is imperative you do not meet with her or respond to her note. The moment you make contact it will be too late. Letshya will bring Avron’s goons right to your door.” “Fine!” Brant spat, showing his teeth. “Let his goons follow her. I’d love nothing more than to kill some more of the soulless bastards.” Willa eyed her mate with trepidation. The depths of Brant’s rage alarmed her. Even when Taelen had drained her almost to death, she’d never seen him so agitated. He looked maddened, like a berserker -- so out of control he wouldn’t care whom he might hurt in his fierce anger. In fact, when his body blurred at the edges, she wasn’t in the least surprised. For the last few minutes the thrum of power that presaged his change had been zinging in the air, electrifying the fine quills along her shoulders and arms. “Donesi, that kind of hot-headed reaction is exactly what Avron is counting on. It will get your ship taken and you back in the pens at Corporation Central Hub,” Ehoneh cautioned. “I tell you, avoidance is the only action to take at this time. Contact with Letshya is bound to escalate this matter before we are ready, and that must be prevented at all costs.” Brant shook off Willa’s calming hold and stamped closer to the hologram. “You call me son, but you really don’t know me… not like I know my twin. I’ll say it again. My sister… my queen would never betray me. And I will never ignore or abandon her. So you go tweak those plans you’re perfecting and let us worry about rescuing Letshya. We’ve fought this battle alone for the last six years. With or without you, the crew of the Quiet Kitty is willing to take the fight to Avron’s very gates. We all have a score to settle with that madman and it is too long overdue.” “In this I stand with the kitten.” By their expressions, Willa wasn’t the only one shocked when Taelen came to stand beside Brant. “The killer of my beloved has breathed too long. I want him dead and gone… the sooner, the better.”
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“As ssoon ass we attack, that monsster will kill my jujo and my mate.” Bevel wrung his hands, his long flexible fingers twining in an intricate pattern of nerves. “I don’t know what to do.” Retrieve mate. Kill Avron. Find jujo. This we do. Soon. Willa wasn’t a bit surprised to “hear” leveB. When it came to his mate he was adamant on getting her back. A quarter hour later, she stood bewilderedly turning her head side-to-side, attempting to follow the ensuing flow of rapid-fire words being bandied about the bridge. In typical male fashion, the three guys talked over each other, each proposing a plan wilder than the one before. Even leveB put in his mental comments. After a while, she gave up trying to decipher their convoluted arguing. The sheer noise and bedlam had risen until everything was being shouted and nothing was being heard. “Good thing we’re not in stealth mode.” She muttered the disgusted aside to the hologram image of Taelen’s father. “They’re making enough noise to rouse Justin in the medic unit, let alone the nearby space station.” A moment later she realized what she’d said. Willa’s jaw dropped, shocked none of the males had thought of it sooner. She struggled to hold back a laugh. Heh! Knowing her guys, they wouldn’t much like she’d beat them to the finish line, so to speak. At the last second, her conscience began to bother her. Chewing her bottom lip, Willa mulled over the possible course of events her suggestion could initiate, unsure of how to judge the rightness of what she was about to propose. By Sparkle, so many people have already been hurt. How am I to know what is right or wrong? Who must be sacrificed and who saved? I’m too new to figure this stuff out. All I know is Bevel and Brant need help. Justin will definitely be at risk, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The home team needs all the breaks they can get and since I am a member of the home team… Heart lightened by her musings, Willa traipsed over to the men, almost chortling with glee. She waved her hands to catch their attention, and was ignored. Determined
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to make them listen to her, she unfurled her meager wings and fluttered up, hovering at eye-height. “Willa!” Brant snatched her out of the air, a frown thinning his beautiful cat’s mouth. “Foolish Sprite, your wings are not up to bearing your weight, yet. You’ll harm yourself.” She grinned into Brant’s flushed worried face and brushed off his concerns, giddy with pride at being the one to come up with the solution to their problems. “I’m fine, but you’ve all forgotten something!” The cacophony of tangled voices ardently and heatedly engaged died down as all heads -- including leveB -- swiveled around, focusing on her. Lips curving in a victorious grin, she basked in the undivided attention. “We have his son. We have Justin Avron.” The silence was abruptly shattered by the males’ roars and shouts of renewed argument. The one thing they didn’t argue was the value of her reminder. “Sweetness, you’re a genius!” With a loud shout, Brant swept her up in his arms and swung her aloft, slitted pupils aglow with awakened hope. He planted a smacking kiss on her lips, whispered a promise for her ears, only. “You wonderful miraculous Sprite, I adore you! Soon as I get you alone I’m gonna fuck you so long and hard you’ll sprout a whole new span of wings while we’re coming. As a thank you, you understand…” Lifting his head and exchanging gazes with the others, he let his lips curl up into a mocking smirk. “Let’s see how Avron likes having a child hostage for his behavior.” He grinned at Taelen and Bevel, showing his sharp canines. “Fellas, what say we engage in a little game of cat’s paw?” “Little brother, I like the way you think. I also love an intelligent female and your mate is looking more appetizing by the moment.” Taelen kissed his fingers, his topaz gaze pouring over her like hot syrup, bathing her nipples and mons with his avid hunger.
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Willa felt her happy glow dim. She hid her face in Brant’s chest, not wanting to see that disgustingly handsome Taelen flash his killer smile at her. She peeked up at Brant’s darkened face, felt his growl rumble beneath her cheek. “I cannot deny you are now sept to me and as I have claimed Willa as my mate it is within your rights to share her. But she does not like you, Taelen, and if you attempt to press your privileges against her wishes, no amount of magic will keep me from avenging the insult.” The grin fell from Taelen’s face. “In all my days, I have never physically forced a female -- mind-raped them a time or two, but that hardly counts.” He turned his searing gaze on Willa and she lifted her head and glared back, though the tang of his bitterness was a sour taste in her mouth. It was true, she didn’t like him, but she was honest enough to admit that sometimes, she desired him. Willa figured it was just her nature. Food was food. Only thing, no matter how good a meal he promised to be, Taelen was sure to give her indigestion. “Tell them, Willa. Even when I burned from krasn withdrawal, I never approached you or pressured you for relief.” She nodded slowly and reluctantly, not prepared to lie, though she wanted to. She hated being in agreement with him on any count, even one so minor. “You knew Brant would punish you if you tried.” Taelen’s laugh lacked any hint of mirth. His eyes narrowed until the irises were nothing but a thin line of angry amber. “I proved at your Yule time that if I wished, I could control not only your minds, but your realities. You’ve learned nothing of me if you can believe it was a threat that stopped me.” His mouth remained tight, but Willa caught a glimpse of what she thought might be pain in his eyes before he lowered them. “No one aboard this ship is powerful enough to be a deterrent to me and damn it, Willa, Brant’s displeasure was not the reason I left you alone.” Willa couldn’t help the shiver that ghosted over her flesh. Her eyes filled. He sounded so hurt… Brant, noticing her tears, tugged her closer. His voice low and dangerous, he demanded, “Back off, Taelen. Now.”
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Surprisingly, he did, veiling his expression and holding up his hands in mocking defense. “On a totally different subject, can I say I think the plan to use that devil’s spawn is -- dare I say it? -- the cat’s meow.” Ehoneh, present only through the advanced technology of holographic projection, had remained silent up till now. All the arguing and male posturing had not drawn his anger, yet now he threw up his hands. “By following this so-called plan, you are all behaving very rashly.” Bevel-leveB, who also had maintained an uncharacteristically sober mien during the arguments, spoke up. “Our plan may be rassh, but I would not label our behavior sso.” He turned sightless eyes toward the absent king. “leveB and I want our mate back, yess, but you malign Brant if you believe he would risk the life of hiss twin in a foolhardy ploy. More than hiss ssisster, sshe iss hiss queen. Hiss people’ss queen. Insstead of railing at uss, perhapss you and your colleaguess -- whoever they might be - sshould work on forging a chain of eventss to leassh the sslavering monster sshould we fail.”
Chapter Sixteen ALL IS NOT IN READINESS. Ehoneh and Amecis, as senior planetary sentients of Plador, were allotted a place at the meeting. It helped that they commanded a strong magical force and could be counted on as weapons for the side of good. “This I know, Lord SPARKLE. I did attempt to warn them…” MUCH COULD BE LOST. Ehoneh bowed his head. “This too is known.” He spread his hands, shrugging his shoulders in a gesture of helplessness, knowing the massive creatures he addressed did not really see him. In fact, they were not physically present. The meeting place was a metaphysical construct designed to facilitate interaction between corporeal and noncorporeal beings. “Lady, you should recognize the saying, ‘argued until I was blue in the face’,” he told the lovely spring green tinted female. “It originated on your soil.” I DO YES, TERRA laughed and Her laughter was as wild and carefree as the wind blossoms tucked in the thick tresses of Her long brunette hair. MY CHILDREN HAVE ALWAYS HAD A WAY WITH EXPRESSING THEMSELVES. Amecis’ full lips tightened. “Your latter children should have learned restraint. How can you talk of them with such affection in your tones?” BELOVED CHILD OF MINE, I AM ASHAMED OF MY OTHER CHILDREN’S ACTIONS, OF THEIR AGGRESSION AND WARRING NATURE, YET THEY ARE MY CHILDREN. I LOVE THEM. Ehoneh touched his spouse’s hand -- a caution to recall how she spoke to the powerful entity. He received a glare that had him sitting back.
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“This is my mother I’m talking to,” his wife of long years reminded him. She had the audacity to turn that same glare upon TERRA. “They destroyed you. Completely blew up your corporeal body with nuclear weapons of war. How can you love them, still?” MY DEATH WAS THE RESULT OF A FEW. NOT ALL WERE INVOLVED YET ALL SUFFERED. The Lady’s image bowed her head, waves of grief pouring from her. In that instant, Ehoneh learned even a thousand years of life was not long enough to withstand the projected sorrow of a sentient planet. Tears flooded his eyes. As with any strong emotion, the sadness caused his krasn need to spike. “Lady… please!” The pain instantly eased. FORGIVE, ME YOUNG LIFE. LOST IN MEMORIES, FORGETFUL OF YOUR VULNERABILITIES. Amecis held up her arms as if she would embrace the disembodied planet, tears pouring down her dark cheeks. “Oh, Mother! I cannot bear for you to be sad.” MY OWN FAULT. CRADLING YEARS WERE TOO HARSH. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST THE WRONG LESSON LEARNED. BEHOLD SPARKLE’S CHILDREN. Ehoneh snorted. “You can hardly compare Sprites and Humans, Lady. For one thing, the Sprites are all female.” A rich round chuckle rolled through the air as the planet PLADOR chimed in. THE ALL-CREATOR DESIGNED YOU A HARDER TASK. SPRITES ARE NOT FROM MY CRADLING TIME BUT FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS. SPARKLE’S deep male tones resonated with gentle reproof. WE ALSO HAVE LESSONS TO LEARN WHILE WE EXIST. YOUR NEXT CRADLING TIME WILL BE BETTER. His statement made Ehoneh and Amecis straighten to attention. “What are you saying, Lord SPARKLE? Is TERRA to have a new body?” I AND ANOTHER HAVE REQUESTED THE ALL-CREATOR TO GIVE UP MASS FOR HER.
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Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever
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“Wow! That’s an exciting possibility. Who would inhabit this new planet?” THOSE CHILDREN OF HERS WHO DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE. “Humans? Why? They’ve harmed others, destroyed two planets -- one sentient -and harmed you, too, Lord SPARKLE.” Ehoneh didn’t think there was a species more hated in the three Galaxies than the former tenants of TERRA. The other inhabitants weren’t going to go for the Humans getting a new home planet. He didn’t need prophetic sight to foretell wars breaking out because of this. “Lord SPARKLE, do you think that course of action the wisest?” SPARKLE remained silent, but TERRA did not. SHALL THE SINS OF THE FATHERS BE VISITED UPON MY TRUE SONS AND DAUGHTERS? Agitated, he started to say something even he with all his diplomatic experience knew could be called nothing but disrespectful. Amecis -- bless her wise soul -- placed her hand over his and shook her head. Theirs was a true partnership and over the years he had learned to heed her timely admonitions. “Well, unless the response is yes, our concerns are a moot point. So, what was the ALL-CREATOR’S answer?” WAIT. He shared a commiserating glance with SPARKLE. “You get that too, huh?”
Chapter Seventeen A week had passed since the hologram meeting with Ehoneh. With the exception of Nya and Justin -- the first sleeping off another of Willa’s supplemental feedings and the latter still comatose in the healing medic unit -- all hands were present on the bridge. Jittery with nerves, impatient and angry at having nothing to do but wait, Brant barely managed to sit still in the captain’s seat. The plasteel boner trying to drill through his uniform didn’t help any. He couldn’t help it. Against his will, his hungry gaze roved over Willa’s trim form, remembering how she’d twined herself about Nya as she’d shared her life force. Eyelids drooping to conceal his growing lust, Brant licked suddenly dry lips. He’d never come as hard as he had after watching the two Sprites together. Though there’d been nothing overtly sexual about the exchange -- Willa had only linked mouths with Nya -- the act had been the most explosively carnal thing he’d ever witnessed. Stars, but he’d lost it, going at her like a crazed animal. Indeed, the Tygyr and his feline barbs had taken a turn, turning the fuck into a raw and basic interval, stripped of all civilized trappings. Groaning, Brant shifted, lifting his left buttock to give his cock more room in the constricting pants. Just the memory of how hard he’d shot his wad made his penis throb into full erection. Damn if his heart hadn’t almost exploded from the force of that orgasm. He couldn’t wait to have more of the same. Over at the science station, Bevel-leveB oversaw the information flowing through his board, his facile fingers flying as he accessed the streaming data. Seated at the ship’s internal systems bay, Taelen was pretending to monitor his board, but Brant knew the Landresi was really taking every opportunity to eye Willa
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Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever
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like a hungry blalor-shark eyes a hapless soft-shelled turkle. Ever since that day when Ehoneh had dropped the bomb about Letshya, he’d been making broad hints about taking advantage of his sept position rights. So far, Willa had been adamant in saying no, but he’d seen the inquisitive glint in her eye. Brant had no illusions where his mate was concerned. Willa was a Sprite, a sexual-psychic vampire who fed on the emotional emanations and carnal fluids of others. She was a perfect fucking machine, a pain sub blended with a regenerative system that healed any injury in mere minutes. Engineered to service many lovers, they’d both been surprised when they fell in love. He had cheated -- mated her without her consent or knowledge -- yet she’d accepted his claim and returned his love. If she wanted to sample Taelen’s wares, he wouldn’t try to hinder her, but he would insist on being present. The first act Taelen had performed upon coming to the ship had been stripping Willa of all nourishment. He’d almost killed her. On top of that, the prince had a nasty streak of sexual sadism that manifested whenever his krasn addiction spiked. No way was Brant letting him near his beloved Sprite, fuck his spouting off about rights and privileges. “Brant -- Captain, there’s a communication coming in over the secured channel. It’s scrambled, encoded to Hel and back and is signed with a Jenarian symbol.” Willa’s voice shook with excitement. “Do you think it could be her?” Brant sat up, noting Bevel-leveB’s perked stance over at the science station. The sentient cock had reared its head and extended its hood, cilia waving madly. Can it be any other? It is my beloved! Answer, Brant! Brant hated having to be the voice of caution, but it was up to him to remind everyone of the dangers. “Let’s all calm down and remember the plan. We need to find out if Letshya is trailing guards.” Bevel’s head snapped around. “You doubt her?” Brant snorted. “Come on, Bev. You know better. She might not know she’s being followed. Have you forgotten the bio-tag Avron planted on Willa? Who’s to say he hasn’t done the same with Letshya?”
Camille Anthony
Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever
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“On the highly likely chance that she is being tracked, what do you intend?” Taelen was careful to word his quietly spoken question in a manner that would cause no offense. Bevel, Brant and he had already almost come to blows over some of his earlier comments regarding their beleaguered queen. “First, we’ll set a meeting place. I’ll go in my ghost form and scout the area. She’ll know I’m there, but if there are any guards, they won’t be able to detect me. I’ll make sure she’s clear before we bring her on board.” Taelen’s nod seemed grudging. “So when do we bring Justin into play?” “As soon as Avron makes his move.” Brant cracked his knuckles, his lips stretched in an anticipatory snarl. “Knowing him, it won’t take him long. He prides himself on being patient, but it’s been six years since my escape. That has to stick in his craw.” “And after that, then what?” Willa asked, eyes wide as events rushed to their conclusion. “We kill the bastard,” Taelen drawled, nonchalantly rubbing his own knuckles against the breast of his form-fitting uniform. A cruel smile widened his mouth, but the expression in his golden eyes was stone cold. “Slowly and with extreme prejudice…”
“Brant! Thank the All-Creator… Brant!” Tears clogged the familiar voice, rendering it unrecognizable. Before the Corporation’s advent, he’d never witnessed her tears, never seen her in pain. So much pain. There is so much pain in her eyes, her voice. He hadn’t known just seeing her image would affect him so strongly. The Sh’Bahkyr feline that filled the forward screen resembled him so much his lonely heart ached. They differed only in that she was white and black where he was black and gold -- more the traditional colors of the extinct Terran tiger. After more than seven years, he gazed upon his twin, his queen -- the female who embodied all that remained of his family and home. Brant wanted to fill the empty places of his soul with her features, but his eyes kept filling up with liquid.
Camille Anthony
Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever
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“Letshya, my queen…” He choked. His words trailed off as his throat closed on all he had to say. He had so much he wanted to ask, to share, but he just sat there, in the captain’s chair, not knowing where to begin, what to say. In the end he simply whispered, “My sister.” But she did not belong entirely to him -- more specifically, she was not his. So it was with a sympathetic smile he watched her eager-fearful gaze search the bridge. They lit up with an intimate brilliance that had him averting his gaze when she discovered the Jenari standing frozen at his station. “B-B, my mate, you’re here! You’re alive!” Her soft tones held wonder and thankfulness beyond measure. “I’ve dreamed of this.” Tears fell from Bevel’s sightless eyes. His mouth worked but nothing emerged. All on the bridge “heard” leveB’s ardent reply, his mental tones alive with vibrancy and joy for the first time in ages. My mate! We breathe but we do not live, not without you. We ache and yearn and burn for you -- the sight for our blind eyes. Willa’s soft body pressed against his side and without turning his head from the prelude to reunion taking place before him, he lifted his arm, making space for her under his shoulder. Letshya burst into tears. She blinked her eyes hard, shaking off the storm, but her mouth wobbled in that way told Brant her crying wasn’t faked. Her next words came out tremulous and broken. “I would give years off my life to feel your arms about me, holding me again.” Bevel regained his voice with a vengeance. “Then come, my Leti, come to uss!” “Yes, come home, Letshya!” Brant joined his plea with those of his heart-brother. “This ship -- the last of our armada -- is official Sh’Bahkyr soil. Your rule and your sovereignty are secure as long as the Quiet Kitty flies. It is not much -- definitely not Sheiryn Castle -- but it is now heartplace of Clan Sylenus. It beats for you.” Before his words finished ringing in the emotional silence of the bridge, she was shaking her head. “I dare not come to you. I cannot know for certain Avron has not laid a trap I can’t see through.” Her eyes flashed. “I will not endanger you just so I can be coddled and hugged.”
Camille Anthony
Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever
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Anger whipped through Brant like a firestorm. He was done with separations and sadness. “Then I will pull rank as your elder brother and order you to reveal your coordinates. We have been apart too long. Besides, I tire of Bevel-leveB’s constant whining.” He met her wary gaze and sobered. “We miss you, Let. leveB was right… we’re not living without you, only existing… and that can get mighty tiresome.” “Got it! Sending to Bevel’s station now,” Taelen crowed, fingers flying over his board. “That puts paid to your attempt at noble sacrifice, sister mine.” Brant laced his teasing taunt with a large helping of brotherly concern, making sure she heard the love in his voice. “Be ready. Stay safe. We’ll be with you by morning.” His eyes narrowed as he caught her crafty expression. “And don’t even think about trying to slip away. Now we know your location, it’ll be a snap for me to track you. I always was the better hunter, and you know it.” Letshya dragged her gaze away from Bevel-leveB. “This is against my better judgment, but all right. Please, Brant… be careful. It would kill me to know I was the cause of injury or worse coming to you.” Brant smiled at her. “Your majesty, I’m not just your brother. I’m captain of your armed forces. Allow me to do my job and bring you safely home.” His sister inclined her head gracefully, remnants of her once perpetually regal bearing coming to the fore. “Very well, Commander. We shall await your pleasure.” She glanced down at the console before her, pressed several buttons. “I’ve just sent the coordinates to where I’ll be tomorrow morning to you. Perhaps they will prove a bit more concise than the ones your navigator pirated just now.” Brant glanced over at Taelen, who nodded. “We’ve received them. ETA to Grissom is fifteen standard hours.” Brant grimaced. His heart tightened hearing how long it would take them to reach the space station. Even the relatively short wait seemed like forever and he knew Bev had to be dying inside with the need to get to his mate. He sighed, squared his shoulders and put on a smiling face for all those depending on him.
Camille Anthony
Tales of the Quiet Kitty 4: Cat Scratch Fever
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“Give us the best speed you can coax out of the engines, Bevel,” he ordered, voice hoarse with unshed tears. Turning back to the viewing screen he inclined his head, giving his queen a formal bow. “Your majesty, tomorrow begins a new day for us all. With your return, the Sh’Bahkyr in hiding will rally to your flag. We shall take the fight to the Corporation.” Letshya’s eyes blazed as fiercely as his own. “They have much to answer for and I fully intend to kick their collective asses back to that tiny spiral galaxy they originally hailed from. Therefore, our first order of business after greeting will be a planning meeting. We are going to war!” Brant pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “Yes! That’s my girl!” Bevel waved forlornly at the image of his mate. “Soon…” As her beloved face faded from the screen, Brant hugged his own mate close. If not for her loving embrace, he would have given way to the tears burning behind his eyes. “Yeah, see you soon, sis.”
Camille Anthony A fertile imagination and a love of both romance and science fiction fuels Camille’s writing. Her favorite stories are those of strong, honorable people -- whatever the race or planet of origin -- who are driven by love and lust to find and do that one special someone. Camille likes her heroines feisty, her heroes dominant and her passion red
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