"Yes," she whispered, looking away even though his masked face was just a blur. "Yes, I...please, yes."
"All right. Don"t be ashamed." The long fingers slid smoothly into her, stretching her a little with their thickness. He still wore the glove and Maggie could feel the coolness of the leather entering her heated c.u.n.t. She cried out when he found the end of her channel, penetrating her completely. G.o.d it was exactly what she needed-it felt so good she was nearly panting with desire.
"Please," she whispered again. "Please..."
"Please what? Do you want me to do this?" His voice was low and rough as he thrust up into her, f.i.n.g.e.r.f.u.c.k.i.n.g. her hungry c.u.n.t, giving her what she"d been needing for hours.
Maggie moaned with abandon and worked herself against his fingers. His deep, steady penetration and the friction of his palm against her sensitive c.l.i.t were exactly what her body was desperate for. She could feel the pleasure rising in her again and for a moment, she was able to forget her shame and just be-just feel as another strong o.r.g.a.s.m washed over her.
"That"s right," the man in black murmured. "Let it go, sweetheart. Let it all go and just come for me. G.o.ds, I can feel your sweet little c.u.n.t squeezing my fingers. Wish I wasn"t wearing these d.a.m.n gloves."
Maggie could feel it too. Her inner muscles were working hard, contracting as though she was trying to pull him deeper into her. As though her body was seeking something else-something more. But what? Maggie wasn"t sure and she couldn"t think anymore-she lost herself in the pleasure.
At last it was over. To her relief, the cycle the ruby implant had started in her seemed to be fulfilled. The constant desire that had been tormenting her all day was quieted-but only for a little while, Maggie sensed. The implant was still pulsing-but much slower now. It would speed up again in the future and torture her some more. But for now she had a moment of respite.
The man in black seemed to understand what was happening. Slowly his thick fingers withdrew, leaving Maggie feeling empty and alone. Suddenly all the shame she"d been able to ignore while the desire was at a fever pitch came rushing back. G.o.d, had she really just done that? Had she really just rubbed herself off against a complete stranger"s hand?
What"s wrong with me? What am I becoming?
She hung her head, her eyes burning with unshed tears. She didn"t want to cry-it seemed like crying was all she did lately. She had to be strong.
But somehow she couldn"t help the single tear that dripped down her cheek or the soft sob that escaped her lips.
"Hey, no-don"t do that." The man in black sounded genuinely concerned. "Don"t cry, sweetheart." He smoothed her skirt back into place and stepped away, talking in low tones to Zamir.
"She"s a fine specimen but maybe you"d care to see others as well?" the slave trader said. "I have some females from the Ganga system-"
"She"s the only one I want," the man growled. "Here-take your d.a.m.n credit and unchain her."
For some reason Zamir hesitated. "Your pardon, sir, but I was told to only sell this slave to someone who would...how can I put it delicately...misuse her as much as possible. My patroness would not be pleased if I report that I have allowed a compa.s.sionate male such as yourself to purchase her."
Maggie"s heart sank as she remembered Lady Pope"nose"s final instructions. "...be sure you sell her to the absolute worst male you can find. The crueler and more heartless, the better."
At least the man in black seemed to be kind and understanding. Would Zamir really refuse to sell her to him because he wasn"t a complete b.a.s.t.a.r.d?
"You think I"m compa.s.sionate?" There was a swift movement and they were close enough for Maggie to see that the man suddenly had the dealer by the throat. "Filthy slaver sc.u.m," he growled as Zamir choked and gurgled in his grasp. "How compa.s.sionate do you think I am now?"
"Sir...sir, please," Zamir gasped.
"I"m leaving with the girl whether you want to sell her to me or not. So you can either take your credits and unchain her or I can break her chains myself and you"ll get nothing. Make your choice."
"If sir will only let me go," Zamir gasped. "I will...will be pleased to...unchain-"
"Good, do it! And be f.u.c.king quick about it-I want to get her out of this f.u.c.king meat market." The man pushed him roughly away and threw a clinking sack at his head.
Zamir fell to his knees and then somehow managed to stand, rubbing his skinny green throat. He stooped stiffly to pick up the sack the man had thrown, then made his way over to Maggie and fumbled with the cold metal manacles around her wrists. At last they clicked free and she could lower her arms.
"It"s all right." The man beckoned to her. "You can get up now. You"re free."
Maggie tried. But she"d been kneeling in the same position for so long that everything was numb. Her arms were all pins and needles and her legs felt like rubber. She stumbled and would have fallen off the raised pedestal she"d been displayed on for so long if the man hadn"t caught her.
"It"s all right," he said again and lifted her easily into his arms, cradling her like she was a baby. He looked at Zamir. "I"m taking her. Is there anything else I need to know about this f.u.c.king implant?" He nodded at the jewel blinking slowly in Maggie"s naval.
"Nothing," Zamir said sullenly. "Just go. I will tell my patroness that she has been purchased by a suitable male."
"If by suitable you mean a mean son of a b.i.t.c.h more than willing to come back and wring your skinny green throat, you"d be right," the man growled. "f.u.c.k off, slaver."
And turning, he carried Maggie away.
Chapter Twenty-two.
He carried her through the crowded marketplace and into a small, twisting corridor that seemed to be leading outside. Maggie lay still in his arms, too frightened to say anything. She belonged to the man in black now-he had bought and paid for her, implant and all. Would he be a kind and compa.s.sionate master, as Zamir seemed to think? Or would he hurt and abuse her as soon as he got her wherever it was that they were going?
He could be anyone-could be a serial killer! whispered a little voice in her brain. He could just buy slaves so he can take them away and torture them to death.
Of course, even if he wasn"t, even if he was a completely nice guy, the fact remained that he was a stranger and he owned her now. And what if she somehow managed to get away from him? Everything was just a big blur. How could she ever get back to Earth? And even if she did get back, she still had the implant lodged firmly in her belly b.u.t.ton. An implant she still knew almost nothing about. What even was it? Some kind of animal? Some kind of machine? Zamir had said that it was bred and engineered. Did that mean it was some freaky hybrid thing that was half living and half robotic?
As if the implant knew she was thinking about it, Maggie felt it begin pulse more steadily again. She bit her lip and moaned silently as the unwanted pleasure between her thighs began to grow. The need it evoked in her wasn"t unbearable...yet, but she knew eventually it would be. G.o.d, this was torture. What was she going to do?
"Here we are." The man"s low voice broke her train of thought and Maggie looked up to see that they had reached the end of the twisting corridor and were facing a white panel that might be a door-it was hard to tell when everything was so blurry. The man pressed a b.u.t.ton on the wall with his elbow-he was still cradling Maggie to his chest like a baby-and the white panel in front of them whooshed silently open. The man stepped inside and the door shut behind them, leaving them in a small white box of a room.
"Hang in there," he told Maggie. "Just have to wait for the airlock to cycle."
There was a whirring noise and a second white panel slid open. This time they entered a much larger room filled with many colorful blurs. Maggie wished desperately that she could see where he was taking her. What was this place? His private apartment? The secret lair where he tortured his victims? Without her gla.s.ses she felt absolutely helpless-lost and vulnerable and afraid.
The second door whooshed shut behind them, trapping her alone with him in a strange place. Maggie shivered, wondering what was coming next. Was this the moment he dropped his nice guy act and pulled out a knife? Was this the moment she died?
The man set her down on a soft surface and took off his gloves and cloak. Then he knelt in front of her.
"Are you all right?" he asked her directly. "That b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a slaver back there, did he hurt you?"
"I...he..." Maggie shook her head. "Who are you?" she blurted.
"Who am I? Don"t you know?" He slid off the black mask and tossed it aside. "Well?"
Maggie looked at him but his face was still a blur. "I"m sorry, I lost my gla.s.ses. Well, I didn"t lose them-they were broken. And without them I can"t really see much of anything."
"Oh, that"s right-your oculars. I forgot. He leaned closer. "Open your eyes wide and look straight at me."
"All right," Maggie said, obeying his orders. "But I"m afraid that really doesn"t help much. You"re still just a big blur and-"
Suddenly a burst of red light came right at her, so quickly Maggie didn"t have time to shut her eyes. She felt a pressure sensation against both eyeb.a.l.l.s-the same feeling she got when the optometrist did the air puff test for glaucoma when she had an eye exam.
"Ugh!" She jerked away, closing her eyes reflexively. She"d always hated that test! "What did you do to me?" she demanded, forgetting for a moment to be afraid.
"Open your eyes and find out."
Maggie blinked and opened her eyes, expecting to see the familiar colorful blurs which had been her whole world since Lady Pope"nose had spitefully broken her gla.s.ses. Instead, everything around her jumped suddenly into focus.
She was sitting on a gold brocade couch with intricate scarlet patterns embroidered all over it. The room around her seemed to match the couch in opulence and elegance. And kneeling in front of her was...
"How about now, blondie?" he asked. "Do you know me?"
Maggie could have cried as his familiar features came into focus. "Kor?" she asked in a small, trembling voice. "Is that really you?" She reached up a hand to touch his cheek...then pulled back at the last instant. "Where have you been? Why didn"t you come for me? And what did you do to my eyes?"
"Fixed them." He grinned. "You can see now, right?"
"Yes, but how did you do it?"
"I"ve been mastering my, uh, talents for lack of a better word." He tapped his temple, indicating his eyes. "I"m safe now-I won"t hurt anyone by accident."
"That"s great." Maggie crossed her arms and looked down. "It sounds like you"ve been putting your time to good use. Meanwhile, I"ve been locked up in some kind of stasis tube while Lady Pope"nose grew this...this thing in me." She looked down at the ruby implant in her belly b.u.t.ton.
"Yes, that thing does seem to be a problem. Let me see it." He leaned down to examine the implant but Maggie covered it quickly with her arms.
"Don"t. Please."
"All right." Kor sat back. "I"m sorry I didn"t come for you sooner but I thought you were fine-thought you got away safely. I had no idea that b.i.t.c.h Pope"nose had gotten free and come looking for you."
"When did you find out?" Maggie asked.
"One solar week ago. I"d been cruising towards the Black Planet, looking for answers, and then I had a dream-the same kind of dream we shared before. I saw you in a dark room with Pope"nose and that slimy green slaver."
Maggie"s heart jumped. "You saw that?"
"The same way you saw me chained up before you came to rescue me," Kor said softly. "The least I could do was return the favor. I knew you were in trouble so I came back to find out what was going on." He frowned and cracked his knuckles. "I had to get a little rough with one of her slaves but he finally gave up the information. I came to find you as fast as I could." He looked at her earnestly. "I got here in time, didn"t I? n.o.body hurt you, did they? Please tell me you"re all right, sweetheart."
"n.o.body raped me if that"s what you"re asking," Maggie said bitterly. "Unless you count being implanted with an alien device that makes you-" She broke off abruptly. "Why did you come in disguise? I thought...I didn"t know who you were. I thought some stranger was buying me to take me away and do G.o.d knows what to me!"
"I"m sorry about that, blondie," he said gently. "But I"m a wanted male and I"m known in the Hub. Don"t forget I used to be a slave myself-I was bought and sold to my last master not fifty feet from the place that slimy green b.a.s.t.a.r.d had you displayed. I couldn"t risk showing my face."
"You should have let me know somehow." Maggie"s voice trembled and she dropped her eyes. "I was so embarra.s.sed and ashamed, thinking I had let a total stranger touch me. Make me..." But she couldn"t finish.
"Oh Maggie...sweetheart..." He tried to cup her chin but Maggie pulled back from his touch.
"Don"t. When you touch me it only makes it worse. Makes me want..." She shook her head.
"You"re going to have to let me look at that thing eventually, you know," he said softly. "We need to figure out how to get it out of you."
Maggie kept her eyes down. "I don"t care about that. I just want to go home."
"Home to Donald you mean?" His voice hardened. "I should have known you"d still feel the same way."
Maggie glared at him. "What do you expect? I know it"s been six months for you but it"s only been two days for me. Two days since you said it was a trillion to one chance we"d ever see each other again. Two days since you walked off and left me."
"I left you because you didn"t want me," he reminded her grimly. "You wanted that stupid fiance of yours. Well, let me ask you something, blondie-how do you think good old Donald is going to feel about that implant you"ve got? Will you try to hide it from him? Or explain what it is and how it affects you?"
"I..." Maggie looked away. She could just imagine Donald"s irritation if she had to interrupt his work and ask him to "service" her. He wasn"t very into s.e.x at the best of times, believing it was simply an appet.i.te that had to be satisfied occasionally. If she was constantly at him, always needing him to touch her, to help her... "He won"t like it," she said at last in a low voice. "He won"t like it at all."
"So we need to get it out," Kor said reasonably.
"I"m sure one of the Kindred doctors can do that," Maggie said. "We should call and ask them. In fact, I should call right now. I"m sure my family is worried sick about me."
Kor shook his head. "The viewscreen on this ship isn"t wired to make such a long distance interstellar call."
"Well, then let"s just go. I"m sure the Kindred can get it out-they have very advanced techniques."
"Not for something like this," Kor said firmly. "It has to be taken out by the same people who developed it in the first place."
"Why?" Maggie demanded. "Please, Kor, I just want to go home."
"Why?" He stood up and started to pace. "Because that thing is like a f.u.c.king bomb, that"s why! You think it"s just a pretty, shiny little jewel in your belly b.u.t.ton? h.e.l.l, no-it"s a living creature with biomechanical tendrils. Tendrils that are probably wrapped all around your spinal cord and-" He must have seen the stricken look on her face because he stopped abruptly. "d.a.m.n it. I"m sorry, Maggie-I didn"t mean to scare you. I just want you to know how serious this thing is."
"You think I"m taking it lightly?" she demanded. "After the way it made me-makes me feel? After what it made me do when you...when you touched me?"
Kor stopped pacing and ran a hand through his hair. "I"m sorry about that too," he said roughly. "I didn"t want to take advantage of you but I could tell you were in need. You were practically crying with pain. I couldn"t just let you suffer."
"Maybe you should have," Maggie whispered. But even as she spoke, she could feel the implant cycling up again, pulsing faster and faster, sending unwanted jolts of desire to the place between her thighs. She crossed her legs and tried to ignore it.
"f.u.c.k." Kor ran both hands through his hair this time. "I can"t talk to you about this now. I have to go set a course for the ship."
"The ship?" Maggie looked around at their opulent surroundings. "We"re in a ship?"
"Lady Pope"nose"s private luxury s.p.a.ce cruiser to be exact." Kor gave her a hard grin. "Let"s just say she won"t be missing it any time soon."
"She...she won"t?" Maggie put a hand to her throat. "Kor, not that I like her-she"s horrible. But what did you do to her?"
"Nothing she didn"t f.u.c.king deserve," he said shortly. "Now if you"ll excuse me, blondie, I have to get us away from the Hub and set a new course before anyone gets suspicious."
"Set a new course? Where are we going?"
"To the Maw Cl.u.s.ter," he said. "Straight to the Dragon"s Mouth."
Kor handed the ship"s controls roughly, jerking the little cruiser out of its docking berth and shoving it into hyperspeed as soon as they were clear. d.a.m.n it, what was wrong with Maggie? Would she never be willing to see that she didn"t belong with anyone but him?
Mine, he thought, unable to help the wave of possessiveness that swept over him. She"s f.u.c.king mine. Where was her f.u.c.king fiance when she was captured and slaved out? When she was put up for sale? Did he even come looking for her? Kor would have bet any amount he hadn"t. I came for her. I claimed her. She"s mine...or should be anyway.
But what if she didn"t want to be? She"d been stuck in stasis for almost the entire time they were apart-which was possibly the reason he hadn"t dreamed of her before a week ago. Because the weird dream thing that happened between them seemed to need both of them to be lucid to partic.i.p.ate somehow.
The point was, almost no time had pa.s.sed for her. Of course she still felt the same way-why wouldn"t she? Kor had been off, researching his roots and learning to deal with the devastating powers taking off his inhibitor collar had unleashed. He"d also had plenty of time to think...time to regret that he"d left her. But that didn"t mean Maggie had experienced a similar situation. To her it was just yesterday that he"d left her standing at the end of the Grand Promenade thinking she would never see him again.