No Mercy (13 page)

The woman shook her head, and Gia shrugged it off. Lifting the cover she groaned as she saw roasted meat, mounds of potatoes and corn, diced sweet fruit, and some sort of pudding. “Damn, this is all for me?”

Shalla nodded. “My lord ordered the cook to prepare food native to your planet. I hope it is all to your liking.”

For such an irreverent bastard, Zan could be downright thoughtful. The meal was excellent. Gia enjoyed every bite but found her appetite had diminished due to her recent lack of food. Still she did her best and told Shalla to leave the pudding and fruit for later.

“I shall draw your bath,” Shalla murmured when Gia indicated she was done.

“That's okay, I'm used to taking care of bathing myself.”

“Then you are ready for me to pleasure you?”

Gia tapped the translator implant behind her ear, sure the thing had malfunctioned. “I'm sorry, can you repeat that last question?”

“I was sent here to see to your needs and prepare you for his cock.”

Gia's eyebrows hit her hairline. It wasn't a technological malfunction. The woman really had offered to pleasure her. What, the lazy bastard couldn't be bothered to turn her on himself, now? She shook her head even as her nipples tightened under the blanket she wore. “I don't think—”

Shalla's eyes turned pleading. “I was ordered to, my lady Gia. I will be beaten if I disobey.”

“I won't tell. You shouldn't be forced to touch someone against your will.”

The other woman's eyes dilated. “You are beautiful. Touching you would not be against my will. I would enjoy bringing you pleasure.”

It had been a long time since she'd felt another woman's touch. Perhaps Zan had thought she'd want gentleness after the violence of the day. It would be just like him to send Shalla as an apology.

“Well, I guess we wouldn't want to disappoint Zan, now would we.” She let the other woman lead her to the bed.

“Z
an! Come forth, there's something I wish you to see.” Xander's lips were turned up in a cruel twist.

Zan had been subtly scouting the compound since he left Gia. His father had chosen his stronghold well, placing it in an area almost impossible for his enemies to reach. Other than the small village oasis outside the fortified walls, the desert sands stretched for leagues in every direction. Only a party privy to hyperspeed technology would survive the journey. And in the Hosta System, Xander controlled all the technology.

Plastering a vaguely amused smile on his face, Zan strolled into his father's throne room. Though the temperatures out in the desert were well past the century mark at this time of day, the moisture collectors set up around the perimeter of the compound created a bubble of cool air, a pocket of heaven inside the deepest pit of hell. His boots clicked on the stone floor as he approached his father's side. Xander clicked off the view screen he'd been studying and he smiled up at his only son. “I plan to throw a feast in honor of your homecoming. All the lords and commanders will attend. Bring your woman tomorrow night so I can become better acquainted with her.”

The words were innocuous enough, but Zan read the tones beneath them. His father wanted Gia, almost as much as he wanted to punish Zan's disobedience. “I have plans for her before the ranking.”

Xander's eyes turned knowing. “As well you should. Such a marvelous bit of technology, that personal health shield of hers. What galaxy is she from?”

“The Milky Way. Thousands of light years from here.” For that Zan was relieved. He had a fondness for Earth and all its color and would hate to see his father's influence on the soft inhabitants. The people of Hosta had been struggling to survive under Xander's iron rule for centuries, while humans took liberty as a right. Most would break before they bowed.

His father called to one of the serving wenches, a little wisp of a thing clad in a transparent veil-like dress that exposed her to Xander's greedy gaze. “Ah, but a ship that could produce wormholes would bring it under my reach.” He stroked the woman's ass through the sheer cloth.

Zan tried not to look into her frightened face. Gaining Xander's sexual interest drastically reduced a woman's life span. Chances were his father would take her under him the moment Zan left the room, then kill her to heighten his climax. Zan had learned better than to become attached.

“Too bad I lost the ship in that card game.” Zan wandered over to Xander's personal banquet and plucked a piece of fruit from the bowl. Xander demanded that all the food be prepared and tasted in front of him, to minimize the chance of poisoning.

“Yes, it is. That prototype was very valuable to me.” The woman let out a squeak as Xander's knuckles turned white where they dug into her flesh. “What did you say the name was of this man whom you bet against?”

“Finn.” Zan named one of the interstellar traders who'd swindled his crew a few decades back. The likelihood of Xander finding the sneaky little weasel was small, since Zan hadn't seen him since. Even if his father did manage to drag Finn out of whatever slimy rock he'd crawled beneath, the shyster deserved a little torture for his cheating ways. Biting into the fruit, he pretended to enjoy the imported snack from the farming colony on the third moon, when truth was he couldn't taste a thing. Every cell in his body was anxious to get back to Gia, to feel her warmth, her softness, and make sure she was safe.

Xander studied him closely, probing his façade for any incongruity. “You should be punished for your flippant attitude.”

Zan raised a brow. “Isn't that why you ordered the ranking? To punish me?”

Slowly Xander shook his head. “You disappoint me, son. The ranking is to show your power against our enemies. United, none will challenge us. That whore of yours was affecting your mind, coming between us. I want to ensure history doesn't repeat itself.”

Forcing himself not to react to the burning anger zipping through his veins whenever he remembered Isabella's death he asked, “What was her name again?”

Xander's eyes narrowed, and for a heartbeat Zan worried he'd overplayed his hand. But then his father shoved the serving wench aside and beckoned Zan to take her place by his side. “I don't think I ever bothered to learn it.”

One day soon, Zan would carve it into the bastard's forehead. “No matter, the past is done. I'm more interested in my current conquest.”

His father's smiled darkly. “Speaking of which . . .” Flicking on the monitor he turned his full attention back to the view screen. “I sent your little concubine some dinner.”

Zan stopped breathing as he saw Gia's naked body twined with another woman's on the bed in his room. Two sets of feminine hands explore the expanses of smooth, bare skin. The other female, a local girl by the dark color of her skin, moaned as Gia bent her head to suck on one tight nipple. His cock hardened even as rage made the blood pound in his veins.

“Aesthetically exquisite, are they not?” Xander's focus was on him.

“The sight of two women together always revs me up.” Except when one of them was
his
woman.

“I thought Shalla would be doing all the work, but your little foreigner does like variety. Look at the way she's spreading Shalla's legs apart to get to her cunt in a rush. She almost fucks like a man. I am totally intrigued.”

He couldn't answer. If Gia had been seeking a way to punish him, she couldn't have found a better one. Her sensual movements as she writhed against the other woman might stir his blood, but the fact that she was taking pleasure without him, almost as thought to forgo his touch, had him seeing red.

“Why don't you join them?” Xander asked.

Swallowing slowly, Zan turned to face his father. Gia had no idea she was being watched, considered as a sexual plaything by a true sadist. Shalla was a test, and from the interest Xander expressed, Gia had exceeded his expectations. His eyes focused on the girl huddled on the floor, shaking from fear. Her gaze met his and he saw knowledge there. She knew her time was almost up. If Gia didn't keep up the ruse with her germ shield, she'd be next.

“Excellent suggestion.” He bowed and forced himself to swagger out of the room and down the hall.

All he'd wanted was to have her to himself, to hold her tenderly and love her for a few hours. And then she'd seduced another person into his bed while he was out. She may have passed his father's test, but she'd failed his. Did his avenging angel
want
to die?

Zan moved faster, his mind whirling with all the ways he could punish her.

 

Gia slipped two fingers inside Shalla's wet passage, rubbing her clit quickly with her thumb and pumped her while watching the other woman's face. Shalla's lips were parted as she gasped for breath, her eyes closed in bliss. This kind of play was exactly what Gia needed. She grinned when she thought about Zan coming back, seeing the two of them. All men fantasized about being the filling in a two-woman sandwich. She could take his cock into her mouth while Shalla concentrated on his other hot spots and then . . .

Shalla let out a low moan as her channel clenched around Gia's thrusting fingers. Her orgasm was short but intense, wetness soaking her pussy and the hand that played there. Gia nuzzled her full breasts while she waited for the other woman to recover. Dark eyes filled with gratitude opened and a hand stroked her head. “There's something very relaxing about being with one of your own gender.”

Gia nodded. “I always thought so. For years, I only took women as lovers.”

Perfectly arched eyebrows drew down. “Why?”

Because I'd been assaulted by a man, forced to take cock, and I thought I'd never want to see another one.
Gia didn't know Shalla well enough to trade secrets, so she smiled and shrugged. “Just one of those things. From the time I was sixteen until I turned twenty, I only had women in my bed.”

Shalla turned on her side, propping her head on her hand. “When did you decide to take a man?”

“The woman I was with, her name was Rachelle, was bisexual. We'd been living together for a few months when she asked if I was interested in a threesome with a man she knew. I wasn't, but I wanted her to be happy so I agreed.

“When I saw how much pleasure she got from having him inside her, I knew two things—that I would never be enough for her and that I wanted to experience the same thing myself. So after she came, I took my turn.”

How awful was it that she couldn't remember his name, the first man she'd invited into her body willingly? The sex had been incredible but she'd moved out the next day and had never seen Rachelle again.

“You look so sad.” Shalla stroked her cheek. “I will make you happy again.”

Pushing Gia to her back, she trailed soft kisses down her neck, over her breasts and belly, and down between her spread thighs. Gia sighed and opened herself to the sinfully delicious assault on her pussy. She closed her eyes, losing herself in the long, slow licks as Shalla thoroughly ate her out.

Squeezing her breasts, she fought for orgasm and tried to relax into it. Just like riding a bike. Yet something had changed. The soft feminine lips and tongue working against her sex were too soft. She missed the scrape of Zan's stubble against the inside of her thigh, his rough grip on her ass as he held her to his face. When Shalla drove two fingers into her wet tunnel, they were too small, too soft, and though they made all the right moves, they didn't send her over.

Groaning she threw an arm over her face, near frantic. He'd ruined her for girl-on-girl action, that bastard! God help her if he ever found out.

“Am I interrupting?”

He appeared as though conjured from her mind, leaning one broad shoulder against the doorway, muscled arms crossed over his massive chest. From his position, he had a bird's-eye view of her spread legs and the dark head working between her thighs. She smiled up at him and extended one hand, “Join us.”

Shalla fell away from her as though she'd been burned. Bowing her head she trembled on the floor. “My lord.”

Her reaction puzzled Gia. She propped herself up and looked from the trembling woman to Zan and then back again. “Don't worry, Shalla, he knows I was just enjoying his gift.”

Zan's golden eyes narrowed. “Gift?”

“You sent her to me,” Gia reminded him, though why he should need reminding, she didn't know.

“No, my father sent her to you. To see what you'd do. Now we know.” Zan's gaze cut quickly to the mirror, then back to her.

Gia's lips parted, but she didn't know what to say. His father had sent Shalla? Judging from the way she huddled on the floor she feared their reactions. But Gia was more concerned with Zan. Though his posture claimed nonchalance, Gia saw the anger in the tightness of his mouth, the hurt lurking in those spectacular eyes.

Never mind that his father might be watching—a disturbing concept she just couldn't dwell on at the moment—she had to fix this. He'd asked her to trust no one but him, and then she'd fallen into bed with the first interested party. If their positions were reversed, and she'd walked in on him with someone else she'd be upset too. Climbing off the bed she went to him, touched his arm lightly. “I thought you sent her and that you would join us. I wouldn't have indulged otherwise.”

She was prepared for anything, including another slap.

Zan shrugged. “What man doesn't love watching two women together?”

A jealous man. She didn't say it out loud. He played a dangerous game, acting for his father's benefit as though he didn't have feelings for her, like he had for Isabella. At the same time, he needed to stake his claim on her by defeating any challengers in the ranking. With so many pitfalls on either side he had to be constantly on his guard. All he'd asked of her was for her to keep doing what they'd been doing, having lots of sex to help him control his seed when the time came. He was willing to kill others to protect her, to fuck other men, to be fucked by other men, and perhaps even to die for her.

She needed him, but more than that she wanted him. Not just someone to help sate her body, but him, her wicked space pirate. If he wanted exclusivity from her, he'd have it. She wouldn't even make him ask for it.

Laying a hand on his stubbled cheek she cleared her throat. “Shalla, you can go now.”

His eyes widened and she nodded slightly, hoping he understood. He got to call the shots. She trusted him.

“No,” he growled low. “I want her to stay.”

Standing on her toes she licked his earlobe once before breathing, “Are you sure?”

Burying his nose in her hair he squeezed her tightly to him for a moment. When he released her, his lips covered hers and he herded her back into the room.

Gia's pulse pounded as he trapped her between his body and the mattress. Swallowing, she cast him a glance from beneath her eyelashes. “How do you want me?”

One side of his mouth kicked up in a roguish smile. “On the bed as you were. Both of you.”

Gia shivered and hastened to comply. Shalla cast him another wary glance before resuming her position. Zan shucked his leather vest and opened a drawer. Her breath caught when she saw what he held. “Are those detention cuffs?”

The small metal bracelets looked innocuous enough in his big hands, but the ring he slid onto his fourth finger told her the full story.

“You ever played with them before?”

She shook her head. “They're wicked expensive. Top-of-the-line technology.”