Authors: Tracy St. John
The Kalquorians had put cuffs on the wrists and ankles of the six men they’d taken down. Hovercuffs, I later found out. The things actually lifted the prisoners in the air and flew them out of the way. I received a lot of verbal abuse as they went. They called me a traitor, whore, cunt...all the pet names a girl just loves to hear coming from a man’s mouth. The Kalquorians threatened them into silence, but the Earthers’ glares continued until they were transported out of sight.
I barely noticed. I was having a fit to get inside and find Mom. At last Nang’s com went off. After someone jabbered for a second, he said, “I’m sending Matara Shalia in. Keep looking for Matara Eve.” He set me down.
I raced into the building, then found myself stopped by the heap of littered bodies lying just inside the doorway. I looked at dozens of people, searching each face desperately as the Kalquorians started bringing in hover stretchers to cart them out. No Mom.
I ran down the middle of the aisle that stretched down the length of the mall, looking into the shattered, broken store spaces as I went. I ran from one end of the shopping center to the other. No Mom. There was no sign of her anywhere among the unconscious people who had taken her. I couldn’t find her. She wasn’t there. I fell on my knees, sobbing in the middle of it all. They’d taken my mother away and I thought I’d never see her again.
Oh God. I’ve got to stop again.
All right, I’m going to finish this tale. After all, it has a mostly happy ending.
So there I was on my knees, squalling like a cat with its tail under a rocking chair when I heard Esak roar my name.
“Shalia! I found her!”
I jumped up and staggering around in a circle, trying to see where my favorite Nobek called from. Finally I saw him waving to me from a spot between two storefronts. I bolted to him as fast as my shaking legs would carry me.
“Matara Eve is in here. She’s unconscious from the shockwave, but she doesn’t seem to have been injured,” he told me. He tugged me behind a doorway into a service hall that had apparently been for the mall’s former employees only.
Mom lay unconscious in that hallway. It was empty but for her and three armed but equally senseless men. The poor thing was crumpled against the wall like a wad of tissue paper, looking haggard and so old. I’d never seen her look that pathetic. Even Monroe was the most lost and broken person I’d ever seen. I was in tears all over again, both because Mom looked that way and because she still lived.
I’ve been at her side ever since. I rode with her in the emergency shuttle that took us back to the Academy. I hovered nearby as Dr. Dad scanned her. He found that other than a little dehydration and evidence that she hadn’t eaten much since she was taken, she was fine. He kept her sedated until yesterday afternoon. Apparently the shockwave device the Kalquorians used affects the nervous system, and had Mom wakened, she’d have been in severe pain. Even when Nayun let her wake, he kept her on pain inhibitors until he was sure the aftereffects had passed.
Since regaining consciousness Mom has cried at times, and I cry right along with her. She won’t talk about what happened except to say, “It wasn’t a very nice party. Not nice at all.”
Nayun let me bring her back to our dorm room last night, where two big bad Nobeks stood guard outside the door (and still do). I slept with Mom last night, curled up against her back both so she’d feel safe and to reassure myself that she was right there, that I hadn’t lost her.
I didn’t send her to the care group today. She and I are here in our room. Mom has only broke down twice so far, and it’s nearly noon. She’s getting better, I think. I arranged for food service to bring us our meals today. I can’t conceive of going out. I feel safe and secure right here. More importantly, I feel Mom is safe and secure. I’m writing all this down and she’s knitting. It’s good to see her knitting. It’s good to see her sitting there. I can’t even explain how good.
Oh, who is calling? I don’t want to answer the com. I want the world to go away and leave us alone. Crap.
It was Dusa, telling me that he and Esak are heading over. It will be good to see them. I need to brush my hair before they get here though. Maybe slap on that all important mascara and lipstick too. Same for Mom. We can at least pretend we feel good, and maybe it will become real.
September 30
Ah, thank heavens for bossy Kalquorian men. They can be the most paternal creatures in the universe, but sometimes that’s a good thing.
When Dusa and Esak showed up, they had Weln with them. Without any ado Dusa told me, “Come with us, Shalia. Weln is going to take Matara Eve to her activities.”
“I don’t want him to. And I don’t want to go anywhere,” I protested.
“That wasn’t a request. The sooner you get out and face the world again, the better you’ll feel.” Dusa folded his arms across his chest and gave me a look that was older than his years.
“Mom is upset. She wants to stay with me.”
Mom’s voice came from her corner. “I will go with Weln. He keeps me safe.”
I turned in surprise. She was already gathering her knitting into her little bag. Weln walked past me to help her. She smiled at him. “Hi. Can I have pilchok for lunch?”
“Absolutely, but you’ll have two vegetables and a fruit as well. No hiding the vegetables under your napkin or throwing them at anyone this time.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “All right. But I get dessert too.”
I felt my stomach turn watching her getting ready to go, getting ready to leave me. Maybe I was being ridiculous, but I didn’t want her out of my sight. “Maybe I could go too? I wouldn’t mind spending the day with you guys.”
Weln gave Dusa a look and moved his gaze to mine. “That would be too disruptive. Matara Eve needs to get back on her schedule. She needs her life back to normal.”
Dusa came over to put his arm around me. He cupped my chin and tilted my head so I had to look up at him. “You can come with me and Esak, or we can take you to Medical and have you assessed for trauma therapy.”
I tried to jerk away, but he wouldn’t let me. “I’m fine! I just...Dusa, I could have lost her.”
His smile was gentle. “I know, but she’s going to be okay and so are you. The longer you wait to face the world again, the harder it’s going to get.”
Mom and Weln were heading for the door. My hands kind of fluttered at her as she passed by. She grabbed one briefly, squeezed, and kept going. “See you later, Shalia.”
I followed her out all the way to the shuttle waiting to take her, Weln, and her guard to the rec room. As the hatch closed and cut off my view of her I had to fight to not beat on it, to demand I be allowed on board. It zoomed away.
Dusa took one of my hands and Esak took the other. “Come on, Shalia. We don’t often get the same day off, so let’s take advantage of it.”
I let them pull me down the sidewalk, heading towards their dorm. My bodyguard followed, but not too closely. At least he didn’t look ready to rip everything around us to shreds like some of my previous security.
I scowled. “Okay, I’m going with you though I don’t remember putting you in charge of my life.”
The men exchanged an amused glance over my head. Dusa said, “You’re too old to pout. Behave or I’ll put you over my knee.”
Esak gave me a narrowed-eye glare. “She deserves a good hard spanking, after coming out to where the kidnappers were and endangering herself.”
“I know, but I think she’s been through enough where all that is concerned. I’ll let her rash behavior go this one time.”
I snorted in disbelief. “Spank me for misbehaving? You can’t spank a grown woman like she’s a naughty child.”
That had Dusa and Esak glaring at me, and something in my stomach flipped over. Holy cow, they were talking about doing just that. And not like the other spanking, the one that was part of sex play. They were talking actual punishment. That was just weird...and exciting for reasons I didn’t want to examine too closely.
We got to their room. No sooner had the door closed behind us, shutting the Nobek guard out, when clothes went flying everywhere. I barely had the chance to breathe before I found myself held in Esak’s strong arms. But the position he held me in ... whoa.
My back rested against his chest, and his hands gripped beneath my knees, holding me in such a way that I might have been sitting in a chair. My legs splayed wide open, allowing Dusa to step between them.
“I am going to fuck you until you come screaming for me,” the Dramok said. “It’s going to be hard and fast and you will not resist.”
Holy shit. All I could do was nod with my eyes so wide I thought they might fall out of my skull. What the hell do you say to that? Especially when the man saying it is looking down on you like you belong to him?
Dusa reached down and positioned his cocks so they were ready to invade me. He found me soaked and ready. It was like his words and attitude had flipped a switch, making my body instantly prepared for his use.
He shoved into me. Exactly as he’d promised, it was a hard taking. I cried out as he filled me to bursting, pressing hard against my hot spot and hitting my cervix with a single thrust. My anus protested the sudden incursion, but the pain was secondary to the burst of raw, carnal delight that filled my belly. My head fell back on Esak’s shoulder as I was overcome.
Dusa pounded against me, his hands tight around my hips as he thrust deep. He worked me so hard my tits bounced up and down with the power of it. I clutched his shoulders for dear life as he had me. I shouted with every push into my body, announced by wet smacking sounds as our groins met.
The brutal elation that burned in my pelvis was a ravening monster, ripping and tearing at my insides. The cataclysm built higher, promising utter devastation. I struggled, terrified at how intense the climax would be, afraid it would destroy me.
The men held me easily between them. The only effort I saw expended was as Dusa heaved his body against mine, making me take him, making me the receptacle for his insatiable lust. His widened pupils nearly eclipsed the purple of his eyes. He stared into my face, fierce intent in his expression as he took what he wanted.
My body was a riot of sensation. I clawed at Dusa, unable to escape as vicious elation burned bright and grew hotter. The orgasm was on its way, its appetite voracious as it barreled towards me. I screamed in anticipation of its greedy hunger, coming to devour me.
Then all was twisted, fiery, heaving, beautiful catastrophe. I don’t remember anything except powerful spasms that made my insides clutch Dusa’s thick lengths and the raw ecstasy that took me away from the rest of reality.
When I returned, I found myself being held by the Dramok now. He too held me up by the backs of my knees, but I still faced him. My arms were slung over his broad shoulders, and my chin propped on one. Esak filled me from behind.
I groaned. The pulses from my first orgasm hadn’t yet faded, and Esak’s entry stirred the sensations again. At least the wild ride I’d gotten from Dusa had stretched my ass enough that it didn’t mind the Nobek’s larger cock sliding into it. Nor did my butt care that Esak pumped into me with the same forcefulness his Dramok had used.
The one big difference was my clit had very up close and personal contact with Dusa’s lower abdomen. With Esak shoving hard into me he moved me up and down, grinding that sensitive bit into Dusa. I was suddenly not so limp in the men’s arms. No, I clawed again, shrieking anew at the intensity that attacked my clit.
The merciless fucking was relentless. With sharp shards of rapture spiking through my pussy, I went off again. This one didn’t want to end as Esak continued to thrust hard and quick. Every time I thought I couldn’t possibly come again, my body took off once more.
I was finally reduced to begging, “Please come, Esak, please come, I can’t take anymore, oh, please, please come...”