Prize: A Rough Sci-Fi Romance Page 10

  “Good girl,” he purred and my core clenched hard with desire.

  I liked it when he called me that.

  After several more minutes, he uncurled his arms from me and gently took my hand. He silently led me down the flight of stairs and then another, before he brought me into another hallway that looked much like the ones we’d walked through before. I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings as I followed him, too caught up in the shameful thoughts of how he’d made me scream for him in a place that wasn’t private at all.

  I hadn’t wanted it, but it wasn’t up to me. It was up to him.

  I still felt warm. My body tingled and it almost felt like I was floating as I placed one foot in front of the other. I didn’t think as I followed. I just moved, powered by his expectation that I would. My arousal was slick on my thighs as I walked. I kept my eyes on the floor, afraid to see the expression on the faces of anyone we passed, even more terrified that they could smell the sweet, musky scent of what I’d done.

  Vane strode with purpose into a chamber off to the right. It smelled slightly clinical and I finally found the courage to lift my head and look at my surroundings. It was similar to a doctor’s office back on Earth, only there wasn’t anything on the counters. No syringes. No tongue depressors. Not even a stethoscope.

  At the center of the room was something that looked like a tanning bed of some kind, but I could only assume that wasn’t its purpose. An alien sat at a metal desk in the corner of the room, perusing a hologram screen with a number of different graphs that I could see.

  “Commander Vane,” the man murmured in greeting, nodding his head slightly in a deferential maneuver.

  “Dr. Rackamar,” Vane responded curtly.

  “What brings you down here? You’re not due to have your mark examined for some time. Has it begun progressing faster?” the doctor replied, his brow furrowing with concern. He appeared to be the same species of alien as Vane, with golden skin and reptilian eyes. He was just as big, and I found myself absently wondering if he had the same sort of tattoo as Vane.

  “It has changed. Profoundly,” Vane replied, as he swiftly stripped himself of his shirt. The doctor gasped softly as he revealed the mark, standing slowly from his desk and edging closer to Vane.

  “I’ve never seen this before. When did this happen?” the doctor said as he pressed a single finger against the dark tattoo.

  “Yesterday. It happened very shortly after I took her,” Vane said gruffly, his gaze swinging to mine. I blushed furiously and turned my eyes to the floor, well aware of the fact that I was still very, very naked and still wet with the remnants of my pleasure coating my thighs.

  “What did you do to her?” the doctor questioned, and I wished that a black hole would open up beneath my feet and swallow me up so that I didn’t have to stand there while I felt the stranger’s calculating eyes on me.

  “I claimed her as mine. In front of the entire crew,” Vane answered. I could almost hear him smiling and a cold shiver raced down my spine.

  “I don’t know what this means, Commander. It’s either a very good sign or it’s a sign that the virus has taken a turn for the worst. I’ll have to take blood samples and assess the progression of the mutation,” the doctor said next.

  My eyes lifted from the floor, my shame forgotten.

  Virus? What virus?

  “What are you talking about?” I questioned. I didn’t even think about keeping silent, too concerned about what the doctor had just revealed. Vane leaned against the large medical bed in the center of the room and turned his head toward me.

  “Some time ago, we raided a planet based on intel of the existence of a profitable plunder. We succeeded in taking the cargo, but not before we encountered a number of natives that inhabited the place. They were strong, fierce warriors that put up a serious fight. I lost a number of men that day, but we prevailed. It wasn’t until weeks later that we began to see evidence of the marks on our skin, visible evidence that something was changing inside us. It made us stronger, bigger, more capable of victory in battle than ever before. For a period of time, we celebrated these changes and took what we wanted, whenever we wanted simply because we could conquer anything and anyone. Only things didn’t stay that way. The marks progressed, more and more until the first man fell into madness. At first, we thought it was chance, but it wasn’t. A second fell. And then a third,” Vane explained, his voice strangely level.

  “There has to be a way for you to stop it,” I murmured softly. I don’t know why I said what I said, but I felt a strange connection to Vane beginning to form. He was familiar. He wasn’t overtly cruel, and he hadn’t shown a single sign of wanting to kill me despite the fact that I’d openly defied him several times in front of his crew. He was more than capable of it, I knew that, but the important thing was that he hadn’t. Not even remotely.

  “There is no cure. Not that we have been able to find. Dr. Rackamar here had devised several tests that track the progression of the virus in my crew, but we have yet to find any sort of way to stop it,” he answered.

  I chewed my lip, looking back and forth between him and the doctor. Rackamar turned away and opened a drawer to pull out an oversized cartridge. Vane extended his right arm and Rackamar pressed the object against his forearm. It popped quietly and a small vial of blood began to fill at its center. After a moment, Rackamar pulled the equipment away and pressed it into a slot within the medical bed.

  “It will take me some time to process your samples,” Rackamar replied. “Come see me tomorrow and we’ll discuss your results.”

  Vane nodded and pushed himself up to a standing position.

  “Come, Nina. We are going to check on the ship’s progress to our next destination,” he said curtly.

  “May I dress first?” I pressed.

  “No. I want you bare for me. You haven’t earned the privilege of clothing yet,” he answered, and I couldn’t help myself as my pussy tightened with desire. As much as I wanted to hate the fact that he’d taken something so simple from me, I couldn’t. Not entirely.

  Back on Earth, clothing had been a basic right. Here, claimed by an alien I didn’t really know yet, clothing was something different. I should be angry that he’d taken my ability to cover myself from me, but I couldn’t. Even now, my body was simmering with desire. There wasn’t a single piece of fabric covering me, but as his eyes dragged up and down my body, I realized that I had never felt more beautiful in my life.

  In one sense, it was empowering. In another, it felt so very shameful to be on display like this, especially in front of other people.

  With a sigh, I accepted his words. I didn’t know what had happened to my clothing yesterday anyway and in all likelihood, it had been left behind on the vessel that had once been my Aberrant prison. Vane didn’t say anything else as he walked out of the room and once again, I followed because that’s what he expected of me.

  He didn’t have to call for me. I simply came.

  * * *

  For days, Vane kept me naked. Over that time, I began to feel more comfortable in my bareness. He’d occasionally reach for me, touching my body, pinching my nipples lightly or cupping his hand between my thighs. I lived for those moments, for the feel of his touch on my skin as I navigated this new life that I’d been thrust into. Sometimes his fingers were gentle, but not always, and it took me some time to realize that the unknown of it aroused me much more than I had expected. Sometimes he twisted my nipples, or he forced me over his thighs and made sure that both my very bare little pussy and my naked backside were very well punished with the harshness of his palm. He ensured that I spent very little time not feeling sore and that I was constantly reminded of his control over me, regardless of where we were or who was around. If I was defiant with him, he corrected me firmly and quickly, either with his hand or with his belt. His crew would do nothing as he punished me in front of them.

  It soon became very apparent that they wouldn’t save me from being taken
in hand by my captor. If Vane decided that I needed to be spanked, I didn’t have a choice about taking it. It was going to happen, whether I wanted it or not.

  We spent a great deal of time at the helm of the ship, where he reigned as commander. He ensured the vessel was on course and he also monitored supplies, including fuel, food, and whatever else the ship needed. He led calmly and with authority wherever he went. I soon found myself just watching him simply because I enjoyed watching him work.

  He carried on his conversation with his men as usual as though I wasn’t naked by his side. The more time I spent with him, the more I realized that his men had a great deal of respect for him in that they always responded with deference and not a single one of them leered at me even though there wasn’t a shred of clothing on my body. Vane had claimed me in the most thorough sense and all his men had accepted that without even a modicum of defiance. Unlike me.

  I still balked from time to time and Vane was always ready to remind me of my place. Sometimes that involved him taking me shamefully in front of his crew. Sometimes he made me writhe beneath him as I screamed while he took me hard. Every single time though, I was left very sore and very sorry that I had challenged him in the first place.

  A week passed and then another. We encountered no one on our trek through space on our way to a planet Vane had called Nassarc, some sort of black market where he planned to sell the rest of the Aberrants he had taken the day he’d claimed me for himself.

  He hadn’t allowed me to go see any of them, even with him by my side. He ensured me that every single Aberrant was safe, healthy, and well fed, even going so far as to have Dr. Rackamar show me the records for Mari and some of the others.

  Vane’s mark had neither changed again nor advanced any farther. The doctor had found no new anomalies and concluded that the virus had temporarily stopped progressing. He had instructed Vane to keep a very close eye on it because he was still uncertain if the prognosis would be good or bad.

  I found myself hoping that the virus had stopped altogether. Although I hadn’t had a choice in his claiming of me, I didn’t want him to die or lose his mind to the mutations waging war inside his body. I didn’t want to admit it, but I feared losing him. I didn’t know if I would be safe without him.

  The more time that I spent with Vane, the more I realized I was becoming fond of him. He never asked for anything more than I could give. He was fair, kind even at points. Even when my defiance angered him the most, he never raised a hand to me to maim me or really hurt me. I was more than confident that he would never kill me no matter what I did.

  I was his and he treated me like a prize. His prize.

  Chapter Eight

  Vane

  One morning, I brought Nina to the helm with me. I liked the feeling of her being naked by my side while I worked, but I also wanted her to become more comfortable in the daily operations of my spacecraft. Not only that, but I enjoyed showing her off in front of my crew. I knew she liked it too by the way her nipples tightened into hard pebbles and the slickness I always found when I slid my fingers between her thighs. If she begged me very prettily later, I might just allow her to come for me.

  The Black Ranger had just entered the gravitational field of Kraken Prime, a small ancient planet that served as a fueling location for passing ships. It was where I had planned on stopping on the way to Nassarc. It wasn’t well traveled or heavily inhabited. Kraken Prime was quite remote, which was one of the main reasons I’d chosen this particular route to our destination. It was a place meant for those who didn’t want to be found.

  I was pleased to see Nina enjoying the view out the window. Even though it was a small planet, it was still beautiful to watch our ship approach it. I was quite certain she’d never seen anything like it before and I enjoyed knowing that I could give that to her.

  Then, Javier called me over to him.

  He had noticed an irregularity on our radar. It was a very small, minor indication of movement, and in less intelligent hands would have been pushed aside as debris of some kind. Javier knew better though. He knew the signs to look for.

  After some careful and very deliberate tracking, he’d recognized the signature.

  It was the Shadow Star, a ship captained by a man who went by the name Greyburne.

  My ship wasn’t the only one that roamed the galaxies in search of plunder. The Shadow Star was another. I’d heard of it before in passing, tales of ruthless cruelty around the men that sailed her. The rumors were much like the ones that surrounded me, only his involved tales of brutality against women and children, something I firmly stood against. Thus far, Greyburne had made no moves to attack nor did he increase his speed to catch up with my ship. Javier couldn’t detect any changes in their weapons deployment as they followed us. Outwardly, there were no signs of aggression, but that didn’t mean anything yet. They could be waiting for their opportune moment to attack and steal what was mine.

  It was likely that word of my actions against the Earth vessel had begun to spread, that it was becoming known that I’d taken the Aberrants for myself. I hadn’t made any effort to hide what I had done. I never did. Greyburne probably recognized that I was carrying valuable cargo that he was guessing I hadn’t gotten a chance to sell yet. He was right.

  My crew quickly informed me of our fuel reserves, and it was more than clear to me that we couldn’t make it to Nassarc without stopping somewhere very soon. Kraken Prime was remote and another stopping point wasn’t in range, so that left me with no choice. We were going to have to stop here, even with the Shadow Star on our tails.

  “Very slowly begin to engage the gravity generator systems. I don’t want them to sense any increases in temperature or energy at its deployment,” I directed, clasping my hands behind my back. I was particularly proud of this aspect of my offensive weaponry. Unlike the more basic phase emitters and laser guns I had at my disposal, this system would focus an incredible amount of energy into a single point, compounding gravity and eventually causing an implosion of force that could decimate a planet, let alone a single ship. It had taken me a very long time to get my hands on such a devastating weapon because most people thought of it as a myth, that power like this couldn’t be mastered.

  But it could.

  And I had my hands on it because I had very powerful friends in very powerful places.

  The only question now was whether to use it now or land on Kraken Prime and force the Shadow Star to ground with us.

  “Javier, update me on the status of their systems,” I ordered.

  “There’s no change in energy levels from what I can see. No change in shield strength or in weaponry beginning to engage. Their speed hasn’t changed and nothing about their advance suggests any aggressive tactics,” he answered.

  From outward appearances, it seemed like the Shadow Star was just traveling along like we were. Perhaps they needed to fuel too.

  But still I paused.

  I knew better than to grow comfortable, especially in such close proximity to a potential enemy. I’d made that mistake even in the context of friends long ago and I had vowed never to do it again. Greyburne was a well-known rogue, but if he went after what was mine, I would teach him that I was a man to be feared.

  I’d rip him apart, limb by limb, if he hurt my crew. Or the beautiful little human I’d claimed as mine.

  I faltered.

  Nina.

  I took in the sight of her beautiful little body, still flushed from when I’d taken her hard that morning. I could still see the pink marks from my palm on her pussy meant to remind her that I owned her in every physical sense.

  She was a feisty little thing but that didn’t change the fact that she was human. That she was weak in battle and could be hurt just by a stray piece of shrapnel. There was no way she’d stand a chance if this culminated into what I thought it might.

  I couldn’t keep her here at the helm. It would be the most dangerous place to keep her. I could send her back to my bedroom
to rest. My quarters were secure, but not impenetrable. I wanted to make sure she didn’t get hurt and that she was protected, which left me with only one other option.

  The cargo hold.

  I’d had it reinforced many years ago so that if our ship was ever breached, we could fall back and defend ourselves from there. It was also impossible to get out of because sometimes the cargo I had stolen had a heartbeat, just like the Aberrants I had imprisoned below.

  The safest place for her would be there and there was no time to explain to her my reasoning. She was going to have to obey me because I was the captain of this ship and she was mine to do with as I pleased.

  “Javier, please escort Nina down to the cargo hold. See to it that she is placed down there until we leave the perimeter of Kraken Prime,” I ordered.

  I could see her still out of the corner of my eye. She turned toward me and opened her mouth to protest, but I shook my head.

  “I won’t go,” she said, her voice tense.

  “You will go with Javier, little human. Defy me now and you’ll feel my belt on that disobedient little bottom until you are very thoroughly reminded that you do what I tell you to do without question. Don’t make me say it again,” I growled, and her eyes narrowed toward me.

  I turned toward her, leveling her with my gaze and she took a step back. I could see the anger in her eyes at being pushed aside, but it wasn’t up to her. The battlefield was no place for a weak little human.

  “Yes, Commander Vane,” Javier answered. He stood and strode over to Nina. His hands closed on her shoulders and he turned her toward the door.

  “Yes, sir,” Nina spat through her teeth, keeping her eyes level with mine. She glared at me and turned away rather abruptly, allowing Javier to lead her out of the room. She didn’t look back toward me again. It irked me that she hadn’t obeyed me immediately and I found myself thinking about what I was going to do to her in order to punish her for hesitation and continued defiance.