Captives of New Pompeii (4 page)

The acolyte wrapped her hand around his cock
and stroked him without demure or hesitation. “I will let you
couple with me, but I will never betray my priestess.”

Damn it! Fucking her was only half the
assignment. He had to convince her to give him a name and
description.
A name
, not necessarily the right name.

Feeling the cameras unblinking eyes upon
him, Quade pulled her hand away from his cock and dragged her arms
behind her back. He picked her up and held her at eye level, arms
nestled in the small of her back. “I don’t think you’ve grasped the
situation, little acolyte. This isn’t a negotiation.”

He tossed her facedown on the bunk and
covered her with his body. He let her feel his weight and
understand her own weakness before he pushed her legs apart with
his knees and knelt between her thighs.

“You
are
part of it.” She trembled
beneath him, but he wasn’t sure if it was anger or fear.

He pulled her hips up and slipped his hand
beneath her, boldly cupping her mound. She jerked her arms free,
but he merely pressed against her back and buried his face in her
hair. Holding her hands down above her head, he positioned his
mouth directly above her ear.

“Struggle,” he whispered. “He’s watching
every move we make.”

She wiggled and bucked as well as she could
with his big body covering hers. “Get off me!”

“Good. Now think. Is there a name you can
give me? Someone who deserves to be found by Xyell?” Her body went
slack and Quade tensed. “Are you all right?”

“Perion puts the ambassador to shame. But I
told Xyell I serve a priestess.”

“Easily explained. Now wait awhile to
confess.” He shifted position, pressing his cock into the crack of
her ass. “We must make this look convincing.” Pulling her up with
him, he adjusted the angle of their hips. His fingers passed over
her clit and she cried out, renewing her struggles.

“I will not find pleasure with you.” She
panted, her hands tightly clenched. “Do what you must and leave me
be!”

He hid his smile in her hair. Her tone was a
bit too dramatic, but she’d spoken nice and loud. “I’ll tear you
apart if I don’t get you wet. It’s either this or my mouth.” He had
only intended to pretend to fuck her, but she felt warm and soft as
she undulated against him, almost welcoming. She rocked her hips,
rubbing herself against his fingers. Her clit felt puffy and slick.
He wanted to turn her over and spread her legs so he could feast on
her pussy. “I want to fuck you with my tongue.”

“No,” she whispered then made a loud,
distressed sound and tossed her head back and forth. “I want
nothing from you! Be done with it.”

Understanding her preference, he moved his
hips back slightly then clenched his ass cheeks as he lunged
forward. It created the illusion of a long, inward thrust. Right on
cue she cried out then whimpered—the sound so pathetic he wanted to
wrap his arms around her and apologize.

“It’s been months since I had a woman.” He
assured her as he continued the simulated thrusts. “I won’t last
long.” Suddenly he remembered the purpose for their performance. He
jerked back and pulled her ass cheeks apart, positioning his cock
against her anus. “Now talk or I go inside and I won’t be
gentle.”

“No! Please! I have never taken a man like
that.” Her terror sounded wonderfully genuine. “I will not… I
cannot betray my master.”

“Master? I thought you serve a
priestess?”

She pushed her hair off her face and looked
back at him. “There is a priestess in our temple, but we all serve…
Please do not hurt him. He has done nothing wrong.”

The door burst open and Xyell strode in,
flushed, eyes gleaming with arousal. Quade started to crawl off the
bed, but Xyell stopped him. “Stay put. You may yet need to ram that
monster up her ass.” He walked right up to the bed and tangled his
fist in the woman’s hair. “You’ve wasted enough of our time. Give
me his name and description.”

Quade caught the sheen of tears as Xyell
turned her face farther toward him. Her lips trembled and she
licked her lips. “Will you spare my life?”

“Perhaps, if you speak quickly.” He reached
down and twisted her nipple, dragging a sharp cry from her
throat.

“Perion! The high priest’s name is Perion.
He seems taller than he actually is. He has a very haughty
bearing.”

“No one has a bearing while they’re
unconscious. Light hair or dark? Describe his features.”

“Sharp features, high cheekbones and a
narrow nose. His eyes are dark and slant at the corners. His
grandmother was an eastern slave. What hair he has is now gray, but
most of his head is bald.”

He shoved her back as he released her hair.
“Now was that so hard?”

Quade breathed a sigh and moved to sit on
the edge of the bunk. They’d done it. They’d survived unscathed
and—

“Speaking of hard.” Xyell gestured toward
Quade’s massive erection. “You have unfinished business with my boy
Quade.”

“But I told you what you wanted to know.”
The acolyte scooted off the end of the bed and crossed her arms
over her breasts.

“Which is why you’re still breathing.” He
grabbed her arm and yanked her around to the side of the bunk. “Now
get on your knees and suck his cock. My men are never left
wanting.”

“That’s not necessary, Sir. I can
easily—”

“You’re not jerking off when there is a
perfectly good mouth right in front of you. Either let her suck
your cock or you can finish fucking her ass. I wouldn’t mind
watching you break her in.”

Hopelessness washed over him in waves. It
had all been for nothing. All his clever maneuvering had only
postponed the inevitable. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she
knelt and eased his legs apart. He closed his eyes, unable to bear
the pleading urgency in her gaze. What did she expect him to do!
He’d tried to save her. He’d tried to spare them both.

Her warm lips closed around the head of his
cock and her hand cupped his balls. “Fuck,” he muttered under his
breath. Hating himself even more than he hated the ambassador.

“That’s right.” Xyell gloated. “You’re
both
mine.”

“Trans…”

“Transparent.” Aiden finished for her.

Felicia held the “glass” up in front of her
and marveled as she looked right through it. “How is this done?”
Even as her fingers touched and her eyes beheld, her mind struggled
to comprehend.

“It is made out of some sort of plastic that
allows light to pass through.” He smiled and nodded toward the
large window, only he had called it a viewport. “A similar compound
allows us to see out into space.”

“But there are no stars.” She felt numb,
adrift in a world unrelated to any she had ever known.

“We’re traveling much too fast to see stars.
When we near Fedoros we’ll drop out of hyperspace and you’ll see
stars like you’ve never seen in your life.”

“Fedoros is the world on which Venus built
our new home?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen it myself, but I’ve
heard it is very much like Pompeii.”

“I need to see my people.” She set the glass
on a nearby table and fiddled with the cord holding up her leg
coverings. Pants. He had called them pants. “You have told me that
many of them are unharmed, but I need to see them.”

“All right.” He took her hand and then
paused. “You understand that they’re in stasis, right? We talked
about what that means.”

“They are in a very deep trance, but no harm
will come to them. Correct?”

“Exactly right.” Keeping her next to the
wall, he hurried her down the corridor and into a tiny room. “Hold
on to me.” No sooner had she grabbed hold of his arm than the room
plummeted, sending her stomach right along with it. She gasped,
turned into him, and wrapped her arms around him. With a warm
chuckle, he accepted the unexpected embrace. “You’re all right.
We’re almost there.”

“What is this thing?”

“It’s called a lift, though right now we’re
going down, not up.” The lift finally stabilized and Felicia
exhaled. “Better now?”

He sounded more amused than concerned, but
she didn’t take exception. “I believe so.”

“Good, then let’s go.” He led her to a wide
double door. “This is a cargo bay. It’s been set up to accommodate
two hundred survivors. There are two more bays just like this one
and this is one of twelve ships. Like I told you earlier, we
rescued over seven thousand of your people.”

Felicia nodded and the doors slid open. She
followed Aiden inside feeling both excited and unsure. She hadn’t
known what to expect, but her imagination never could have created
something so amazing or so horrible. Her people were laid out in
tubes and stacked one on top of the other, row after row after row.
It seemed to go on forever, bodies, motionless bodies everywhere
she looked.

Her heart thudded wildly and her lungs began
to burn. “They are…”

“They are alive.” He wrapped his arm around
her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “They are all very
much alive.”

“Wake them up! This is unnatural. Wake them
up now!” She spun away from his arm and lunged for the nearest
tube. His arm caught her around the waist, pulling her back against
his body. She went wild in his arms, thrashing and twisting,
arching her back. “Release me! I must assist them. I must…”

She dissolved into tears as his arms
captured hers, immobilizing her against his body. When she stopped
struggling against him, he turned her and pressed her face into the
warm hollow where his neck met his shoulder. He was the only solid
thing in her world and she clung to him without hesitation.

His arms were strong and his hands were
gentle, but her riotous emotions prevented her from evaluating the
potential intimacy. He walked her to a nearby bench and pulled her
down into his lap. She curled into the warmth of his body, knowing
it was just a temporary reprieve from the tempest, yet thankful for
a moment to catch her breath.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered against her hair.
“I should have realized I was overwhelming you. I was being
selfish.”

The sincerity in his confession drew her
head up off his shoulder. “How were you being selfish? You simply
did what I asked you to do.”

“I need your help,” he reminded. “I was
doing what I thought would earn your trust.”

She searched his gaze, unsure what to make
of him. Few men she knew were so honest. It was far more often that
they twisted words and situations to their own liking and their own
benefit. “You are a very strange man, Aiden. But you are not a
priest of Venus. The question is, why do you want people to believe
you are?”

He stared at her for a long time then looked
around the cargo bay before he leaned in and said, “The truth is, I
don’t know why the Fedorans saved your people. I was hired to help
move you to your new home and it’s the Fedorans who came up with
the story about Venus and Vulcan.”

This was one eventuality she had not
anticipated. “Your home is not Fedoros?” How many worlds were
there?

“No.” He looked around again. Was he afraid
someone was listening to their conversation? “Let’s go back to the
officers’ mess or my quarters. Your choice.”

“Will you behave yourself if we go to your
quarters?”

His gaze swept the length of her body and
then he shook his head. “You’re too damn tempting. We better stick
with the mess hall.”

She should not be flattered by his
inappropriate comment, but she could not help it. Most people
thought of her as a spiritual adviser, a source of wisdom and
guidance. Those who found her physically pleasing knew she was
forbidden and were not willing to risk the horrible misfortunes
known to befall those who defiled Venus’ chosen ones.

Except when Venus’ chosen ones chose to
defile each other, then Venus did not seem to care. Felicia
shuddered and crawled off his lap. She would not think about Perion
right now. The past could not be changed and her wounds were long
healed. At least the gashes and bruises Perion had left on her
body.

Aiden caught her hand and waited until she
looked at him to ask, “Are you all right? I didn’t upset you again,
did I?”

“No.” She pulled her hand out of his, unable
to maintain eye contact.

He stood and gathered both her hands in his.
“Does it bother you that I find you attractive? Surely I’m not the
only one.”

“You are not.” Memories rushed toward her,
threatening to overtake her hard-won control. Torchlight and
incense, laughter and pain. And Perion’s face leering down into
hers.

“I’m trying to be respectful. That’s why I
suggested we go to—”

She threw her arms around his neck and
pulled his face down to hers. His lips were warm and pliant, but he
didn’t respond. She would not allow the old memories to return. It
had taken so long to conquer the nightmares and overcome the
hopelessness. She had to think about something else, anything
else!

Shifting her head to a different angle, she
tried again. After a long, frustrating moment, she pushed him away
and turned to go, humiliated by her inability to arouse him. It did
not matter anyway. Shadows filled her mind, like a specter she had
thought long banished.

He caught her upper arm and brought her up
short. “Why did you kiss me?”

“I thought you would enjoy the exchange.”
She stared at his chin, refusing to meet his probing gaze.

He would not allow the evasion. His fingers
curved beneath her chin and he tilted her face up until their eyes
met. “You’ve made damn sure I know you’re off limits. I don’t
understand.”

“I needed a distraction. I did not realize
it would upset you.”

His hand cupped her cheek, thumb tracing her
lips back and forth, ever so lightly. “If I kiss you, will you tell
me why you need a distraction?”