Candidate (Selected Book 4) (68 page)

I kept my gaze on her eyes, but I found myself smiling. And I felt my body beginning to respond to her, responding in anticipation.

She set her clothing aside and then moved forward. I waited, my hands still bound. She reeled the chain in as she approached. She came to me and then she pushed backwards. My feet encountered something solid, and I tripped backwards. She pushed, and I sat, splashing, the water up to my chest now.

Charo climbed up on top of me, lifting my hands over my head as she did so. She climbed over me, pressing against me, and then she secured the chain somewhere behind me, my hands tipped backwards behind me.

"Oh, now you're cheating," I said. "You haven't won a challenge."

"I tricked you and captured your hands earlier," she said. "And you will let me do what I want." She climbed back down until I could look into her eyes. "Won't you, Andromeda?"

"Yes," I whispered.

She pressed closer, now caressing my face. "Do not close your eyes."

"I won't," I whispered.

And then she touched, she stroked, she kiss-licked, and it took little time before I was panting. It took little time before I was squirming and moaning.

Her ears twitched, and from time to time she squeaked her own pleasure.

Finally her hand slipped lower. She parted me, and then her fingers slipped inside. She stroked. She teased.

And she whispered, "This is what it is like to belong to me, Andromeda." And later, it was simply, "Mine."

Then she asked me, "You're getting close, aren't you?"

"Yes," I whispered. "You feel so good."

"Yes," she said. "Ask me if you may come, Andromeda. Ask permission."

"Please, Charoite, may I come?"

"Yes, Andromeda. Come for me. Let me feel you come."

That was the rest of what I needed, and I practically exploded with the orgasm, crying out her name, screaming her name while I stared into her eyes.

She slowed and stilled, there in the water, her fingers still inside me. Her other hand reached up and caressed wayward hair from my face. She ran a thumb over my lips, still holding my gaze as I panted, my heart still racing.

"You may look away now, for a while," she said. She climbed over me and freed my arms, and then we cuddled in the water.

"How did you arrange this?" I asked.

"I will tell you tomorrow," she replied. "Tonight, I want you thinking about one thing, and only one thing."

"Oh?"

"I want you to think about how good it feels to belong to me, Andromeda."

And then, soon, she was taking me again, whispering into my ear, "I have very delicate hands." And then she showed me how small and delicate they were as she slid inside of me, deep, deep inside me.

In my bliss, I screamed her name, over and over.

I opened my eyes. We hadn't gone home. There was a bed here for us, and covers, and we'd stayed here, wrapped in each other, waking with the sounds of the jungle. I rolled to face Charo.

"I have one more command for you, my lovely human. Pleasure me."

And so I did.

* * * *

It was early when we landed. Charoite squeaked at me once more then told me, "I'll see you at work. You are mine again this evening. We have a challenge, and then a date, but I will save my challenge winnings for another night."

"You said you would tell me how you did all of that."

"I didn't," she said. "Jasmine Brighteyes did it while we were at dinner." Her ears twitched. "She asked me to tell you that she will never let anyone hurt you."

"Oh," I said. I should have known, perhaps.

* * * *

"Jasmine."

She looked up and smiled. "Did you have a nice date?"

"Yes. Thank you. I'm sorry."

She stepped down from the dais, and I stepped into the waiting hug.

"Do not apologize," she whispered. "That fight was both inevitable and necessary."

* * * *

It was hours later that we sat at the conference table. I'd returned to my cell, changed into my mating candidate uniform of undies and camisole, and was delivered by the guards.

"Really," said Piper. "You could pick one so we could be done with this nonsense."

"None have made a permanent offer," I replied. "When are you throwing your hat into the ring?"

"I think my husband might have something to say about that."

"Your husband," said Dilly, "would be just fine with it, as long as he got to watch."

But they delivered me, and I was locked into place before the visor brightened. Charoite was seated across from me, of course, and Jasmine to my right. I turned to her. "You know, this is really quite silly. I could have walked here with the two of you, and you don't need to make the guards deliver me."

"It puts you in an appropriately submissive mood," she said. "You're always so bossy when you're helping to run an event."

"I'm never bossy."

Charoite squeaked and muttered something in Kitsune. I presume it was Kitsune, anyway.

"Well," said Jasmine. "I do not believe I have ever run a challenge for a Kitsune before."

"She told me she wanted me to hunt her," I said.

"I am fairly sure those weren't quite her words," Jasmine replied. "I do not have a grid prepared."

"I told her I didn't care what we do as long as it's fun and not completely lopsided."

"So you will let us decide, as long as we do our best to fit in your goals?"

"Yes."

"I could readily make an intellectual challenge that fit Kitsune skills," Jasmine said. "Andromeda, I do not believe I can create a physical challenge that isn't decidedly in your favor unless I handicap you."

"Laser tag is pretty even regardless of the athleticism of the participants."

"I do not wish this challenge," Charoite said. "I want something a little more direct. I wish to hunt you, to catch you."

"I thought you weren't at all interested."

"I told you that chasing and catching you would be quite fun," she replied. "But Kitsune do not run fast. Instead we are stealthy."

I turned back to Jasmine. "We've used weight to handicap people before, but I'd rather you did something else."

"You'll let me define our challenge?"

"Yes."

"Good, because I've had Bay thinking about this for a while." I groaned. "Just listen. I think you'll like this. We set up the smallest of our jungle arenas." She explained the event. Charoite's ears began twitching, and I could see her pleasure.

* * * *

Jasmine delivered me to the start herself. I had two simple handicaps. I was wearing one of the skin tight jungle suits. And slippers. Not boots. Slippers. Next, the arena was heavily trapped. If I moved slowly, the traps would warn me off. If I ran, I would undoubtedly trigger them.

And Bay had devised all of them.

Jasmine latched my arms to the pillar and then brightened my visor.

"I'm going to enjoy watching this one," she said. "Andromeda, I won't let Bay cheat you, but he is really looking forward to making you scream."

"Oh, god," I said.

"Some of the traps themselves are designed to do that. Others have a punishment associated if you want to be released, and other punishments if it takes too long to free yourself. None of them will hurt you, but he really wants a lot of screaming."

I sighed. "In other words, avoid the traps."

"Yes. Avoid the traps. I suspect you'll get caught at least once or twice, but don't be foolhardy."

"Got it."

"One more thing. You can't hole up. You must actively seek to complete your goal. You must keep moving."

"Or more punishment?"

"Yes, and those are particularly nasty."

"Tell me why I agreed to this."

She smiled. "I might be a voyeur, but you're a masochist. Or maybe you just like being hunted."

"Maybe I like being caught."

"Adrenalin junkie."

"That might be," I admitted. "I've never cared for team sports, but I like individual competitive sports." I smiled. "Is she going to catch me?"

"I have no doubt, but I think this is a good challenge."

"So do I."

"Have fun," Jasmine said.

"Yeah, I think this is the last challenge I'm accepting. I asked for fun, and instead I'm going to be screaming."

She patted my cheek. "That's a great attitude," she said brightly before stepping away."

* * * *

I moved slowly through the jungle, very, very slowly. My visor had a complete map of the zone. It wasn't even a kilometer square, but it was thick jungle with a number of trails. There were plenty of places to hide.

My goal was fairly simple. I needed to collect four tokens and then return to my starting point. Charo knew I had to collect the tokens and then proceed to a particular point, but she didn't know where the tokens were nor where I had to go after I had them. She couldn't lie in wait. She had to actively search for me.

But she would be given periodic hints. Jasmine wouldn't tell me what sort of hints. But she also said the longer I took, the more frequent the hints. Also, she could readily see the traps; I couldn't.

I'd already bypassed two. If I moved slowly enough, I could hear them. They hummed. If I came to a complete stop within five feet, after a few seconds, they came visible to me, and so I could easily step around them.

But the humming wasn't loud, and so if I wasn't very cautious, I was going to get caught by one. I really didn't want to discover what Bay had cooked up. The traps weren't designed to hold me, just punish me for encountering them, although Jasmine did say, "I imagine Charo will hear any screaming you do."

I was sweating. My heart was pounding. All my senses were on high alert.

I felt alive.

Oh, I was also terrified. But I felt alive. Who ever thinks she's going to be slinking through a jungle, pursued by a beautiful alien princess? Hey, okay, I was feeling a little romantic. She wasn't a princess, but in a way, she was, the daughter of a powerful woman. So if I wanted to see it as being pursued by a princess, I was going to.

A princess who wanted me, who wanted to catch me, to keep me, to do delicious, delicious things to me.

But who would probably happily stand back and let me wander into one of Bay's traps if I grew too distracted.

I still felt pretty darned good from last night, in spite of how it started. I couldn't imagine this was how she'd treat me forever, but I certainly wasn't going to complain while it lasted. Charo's attention was intoxicating. She was brilliant and beautiful and witty, all features I enjoyed.

What would a life be like with her? I didn't know. Would she pay half as much focused attention on me once she'd permanently wooed me? Would we run out of things to talk about?

Would she grow bored?

Would she treat me like property or a partner? Last night I was property, and it had been fun, but I wouldn't want to be treated like that permanently. No, I wouldn't want that at all. But if I went away with her, the only power I would have would be what she granted me.

So many questions. So many.

And I really should have been paying just a little more attention. Something hummed, and I didn't even see the spider's web strung across the trail. A part of me knew it wasn't a spider's web; it was one of Bay's traps, and of course I hadn't seen it. The visor wouldn't have let me. But I walked right into it. Not so bad, right? This wasn't a feeble Minnesota spider's web. This was a wicked little Loris spider web. It broke off from where it was strung between the brush on either side of the trail and wrapped around me. Except it didn't entirely break loose. There was a piece, a strand, that stayed attached to... somewhere. And that didn't break, and the web didn't break. It wrapped around my face and my head and my shoulders.

And then like a rubber band, the strand contracted to the side, yanking me from my feet and then dragging me backwards through the brush, faster and faster.

I yelled out a single yelp of surprise, but that's all I had time to do before the strand pulled me into the air. I came to a landing in a new web. A very sturdy web. A very, very sticky web. I flailed as I hit it, and I was stuck, my back to the web, my left arm flailed upwards and also trapped, my right straight out from my side.

It was jarring to come to a stop, although the web swayed a little as I hit it. So it didn't hurt, but I yelped again, and then gave a small scream as the web swayed back and forth a few times before coming to a stop, bowed just slightly underneath my weight, holding me several feet in the air.

The surprise had given me a burst of adrenalin, so my heart was pounding even harder, and I was breathing heavily. But when nothing else happened, I tried to calm down.

I tried moving. I could squirm, but I was stuck, flat against my back. But I looked around, turning my head carefully. But every time I moved, I could feel more of my hair getting stuck.

The web's strands weren't all the same thickness. Of course, it wasn't a normal spider web. It was a Loris web, really. I knew that. There were thick strands. Oh, they weren't ropes, but they were thick and strong. Spider silk was some of the strongest material on earth, and clearly the aliens could make it in sizes never before seen on earth.

The thick strands were the supporting structure, and they were clearly supporting my weight. They were perhaps a hand width apart, spun in a circular pattern, attached to other strands that radiated from the center, somewhere almost directly behind me.

The Loris had good aim, I decided.

"I'm going to get you, Bay!"

I heard Loris squeak-laughing, distinct from the squeaking of a Kitsune.

Between the thicker strands were far more thin strands, and these were spread about as far apart as one might expect from a spider web in Minnesota. It was as if a very large spider had built one web, and then an army of normal size spiders had built webs inside the web. But those strands were also strong, and exceedingly sticky.

My right hand had gotten stuck right in the middle of one of those, portions of the web stuck to my wrist, the back of my hand, and my knuckles. My hand wasn't pulled absolutely straight, and the very ends of my fingers hadn't touched the web yet, so I could partially curl my hand. But when I tried to pull away, the strands clung tenaciously, and they didn't break.

I squirmed, and I struggled. I tried to kick, but my legs were stuck. The web swayed, but it didn't break, and it certainly didn't release me.

I was firmly stuck, but that didn't stop me from trying to get free.

I should have conserved my strength.

Bay let me struggle for a while before triggering the next part of his trap. I should have seen it coming. I should have
known
, the little shit.

Where there's a spider web, there's a spider.

Or in this case, a lot of spiders.

I heard noise, skittering.

"No. Bay, no."

There was more skittering, and when I turned my head, I saw spiders crawling from the bushes onto the web.

"Bay! Don't do it!"

There were a lot of spiders. Some were small. Small is a relative term. They were the size of spiders you might see in Minnesota. Well, big versions of spiders you might see in Minnesota, but still, not anywhere near as large as spiders one might find in other places.

Others, of course, were larger.

All were of a size I was fairly certain could be found on Earth. I'd see photos of camel spiders. Those things were huge.

I knew they weren't real spiders. I knew they were some of Bay's robots. That didn't matter. They looked like real spiders. They moved like real spiders. And they chittered like movie spiders.