Prize: A Rough Sci-Fi Romance Read online

  With an alarming swiftness, he unclasped the bonds around my ankles and then the ones around my thighs. Partially freed, I only had to worry about the ones around my wrists now.

  “I want to touch you. Will you let me?” I begged, making sure that my voice shook with false arousal. I rubbed my legs together, pretending that I couldn’t wait to have him between my thighs. I put on a show for him and waited for the opportune moment to turn his sick and twisted fantasy against him.

  “Hmmm. I bet those soft human fingers would feel real good stroking my big dick. Cupping my heavy balls,” he murmured before reaching over top of me. Overconfident prick.

  God damn, did he stink. He smelt like sweat, piss, and something that was well past its sell-by date. He smelt like sulfur and bacteria and I hoped that I wouldn’t throw up if he got even closer. I questioned when he showered last and I had to swallow back the gag that threatened to reveal my true intentions as he moved on top of me.

  Just being near him made me feel dirty.

  Fuck.

  Hold it together, Nina.

  He reached overhead and all I could smell was body odor. This was going to be much harder than I thought. It seemed to take him far longer to undo the straps holding my wrists hostage and I turned my head, trying to direct my nose away from the closeness of his body. It didn’t help much, but it did a little bit and I was thankful for even the slightest reprieve so that I could focus on what was important.

  When he finally freed my hands, I took a moment to stretch and roll my wrists, working out the stiffness in my joints. Then I wound my arms around his neck as he centered himself above me.

  His fingers explored my skin, trailing along my neck before he squeezed my breast and I absently wondered if he’d ever had the chance to touch a woman before. When he pawed at my chest once more, I decided he most certainly had not. At least, not a human woman before.

  I moaned suggestively, egging him on. He grasped my breast a bit harder and I sighed as he ignored my nipples entirely. Carefully, I slipped one hand free and dropped it to the bed, arching my breasts into his chest at the very same moment in an effort to distract him from my movements. It worked.

  He growled low in his throat and I shuddered with disdain while he mistook it for pleasure. His hand passed to my other breast and he repeated the asinine squeezing that he thought was working to turn me on so much.

  Stupid.

  I looked up into his eyes; he was breathing heavy and his lips descended down onto mine. I could feel the growing bulge of his cock still blessedly constrained by his trousers and I felt around with my fingertips for the dagger. I edged my fingers along the sheets slowly because I didn’t want to knock the knife out of my grasp, even by accident.

  His kiss was wet and incredibly sloppy. It felt like a dog kissing my lips instead of a fully grown man. It was fucking gross. There was nothing I could do to stop it though and I was thankful he was still kissing me, rather than forcing his dick into my pussy right now. At least someone had told him foreplay was a thing.

  He finally found one of my nipples and began to play with it. He tapped at it with a single finger first and then squeezed it with a mild pinch. I swallowed a laugh and a small high-pitched sound of pleasure escaped his mouth as he suckled at my face.

  Fuck. Where was that knife?

  I moved my hand a little bit more, searching desperately and then the tip of my finger grazed against it. I could only just reach it and I almost swore at my discovery. I had figure out how to get my hand around the handle.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist, distracting him by pressing my pussy up against his dick. I caught him off guard and he groaned in appreciation, taking my behavior as an indication that he was doing something right.

  Stupid asshole. It was all an act and he was too dumb to figure that out. He hadn’t even thought to see if I was wet. I wasn’t. I was dry as a fucking desert and all I wanted to do was throw up at how disgusting he smelt.

  Using my hand, I pushed myself up into his kiss. With my other arm, I pulled myself closer to him and with my body angled upward like this, I could just reach the dagger. Quickly, I gripped the handle and slid it closer to me so that it would be in reach before I dragged my hand across his hip, suggestively touching the top of his buttocks as he continued to kiss and slobber all over my mouth.

  Fucking gross. No woman deserved this nonsense.

  I pulled my hand back and pushed against the mattress once more, before I took the jeweled knife back within my fingers. I flipped it so the blade was facing me before I wound that very same arm against his shoulders. He was too preoccupied with his conquest of me to even notice. He’d become overconfident and that had been a big mistake.

  I was getting awfully tired of alien men underestimating my capabilities. It was time that I embraced my role as an Aberrant. It was time I showed them that they had something to be afraid of and not just the other way around. If anything, I was intelligent and incredibly fucking resilient, no matter what the stars threw at me.

  I pulled my arm back one final time and then I slammed the entire knife straight through the base of his scalp with as much strength as I could muster. With a quick jerk of my wrist, I severed his spinal cord in one incredibly brutal blow. He didn’t even have time to scream before his eyes fluttered backwards behind his lids. His body shuddered hard in the throes of death before he collapsed down, landing straight on top of me with every last pound of his weight. Instant death. He hadn’t even had a chance to fight back. But god damn, this guy was heavy.

  Fucking fantastic.

  The only saving grace of this creep right now was that there wasn’t a lot of blood. I groaned as I tried to shove him to the side and slip out from underneath him. It took some work but by shimmying side to side, I was able to get one shoulder free. With both arms, I pushed him hard and roared with fury as I pulled the rest of me out from beneath him. With a heavy sigh, I simply breathed and allowed myself to recover, lying next to his dead body for several long seconds.

  “Remind me never to piss you off,” Mari whispered. I’d almost forgotten she was there with the others. I’d been so caught up with figuring out how to free myself and then get rid of the man holding me hostage. With a deep breath, I sat up and kicked Greyburne’s body off the cot using the power of my legs. He tumbled to the floor, right where he belonged.

  I stood up and walked over to him, grabbing the keys off his belt. I looked at the door to my cell, realizing that the dumb bastard hadn’t even locked it after he’d come inside.

  I don’t know how the stupid bloke had made it this far or even how the hell he’d gotten a number of men to follow him as their captain. Whatever. It didn’t matter. I had to focus on my escape now and I had to get the rest of the women locked in here with me out too.

  I tore the sheet off the small bed and quickly wrapped it around myself. Then I left my cell and strode purposely over to the others. I opened Mari’s first, followed by the other four, releasing the dozen women who’d been my cage mates back on the Black Ranger. The cell doors creaked as I opened them, and I looked back toward the door hoping that none of Greyburne’s crew were waiting outside.

  “That was incredible, Nina,” Mari murmured.

  “Thanks. We have to go. Greyburne’s too heavy to move and his men might be close. Let’s make a break for it before it’s too late,” I urged and Mari nodded, along with many others including Vicky. I smiled in her direction, noting her black eye. It had gotten pretty dark.

  “I hope you hit him back,” I said, and she smirked.

  “Damn right I did. Gave him a bloody nose,” she answered, and I snorted with laughter.

  “Good,” I answered, grinning as I peered around the dungeon.

  The door squealed behind me and I spun around, only to be greeted with a familiar face.

  It was Vane.

  Chapter Twelve

  Nina

  Just the sight of him made my heart pound. My body reacted viciously
to his presence, almost like the two of us were connected on some deep biological level and I wondered if we were. The moment he saw me, he shook visibly before he pressed his palm to his chest with a quiet groan of agony.

  “The mark,” I murmured quietly, and he shook his head before lifting his shirt to look at the progress of the virus across his flesh. It was bright red again and I watched, entranced, as it darkened in color until it was once again charcoal gray against his golden skin.

  He sighed in relief. I could see that it had spread much further across his chest than when I’d last seen it and that scared me. Without thinking, I rushed over to him and pushed my fingers against the mark, tracing along the darkened swirls of color. I leaned forward and pressed my lips against the very ends of it, closing my eyes and leaning against him for the briefest of moments. When I pulled back, I drew in a breath as I watched the mark retract slowly back to where it had been when I’d first seen it for the very first time.

  “It seems I can’t be without you for very long, my little mate,” he murmured softly.

  “It would appear that you’re right,” I answered with a breathy sigh of relief at seeing him once again.

  “I missed you,” he said quietly, showing his emotion with the gentle shake of his voice. The gravity of his words was not lost on me, especially because he said them in front of all the other Aberrants that Greyburne had taken along with me.

  “You shouldn’t have sent me away,” I replied, and he stilled, before winding his arms around my shoulders.

  “I know. I’m sorry I sent you away, but because of that you showed me something about humans that I never would have known. You’ve shown me that humans are strong and that you in particular, little girl, are fiercer than even the strongest warrior. You’re intelligent, cunning, and I couldn’t have asked for a better woman by my side. You’ve got a great many surprises tucked into that head of yours, don’t you?” he murmured into my ear. He paused for a long moment before pressing his lips against my forehead in a gentle kiss. My heart warmed at his apology. I knew it wasn’t easy for him, especially in front of others, but he’d done it anyway. He was a good man. He was mine and that made my heart pulse with love.

  When he pulled back, he began to speak again. “Still, I think you need a firm reminder of your place though. Am I wrong?” he asked as he rolled his palm over top of my hardened nipple. I sucked in a breath at his expert touch.

  My core jolted greedily at his words. I could still feel Greyburne’s knife against my tender skin, could still feel the hardness of his cock pressed against me and my lips burned with his juvenile kisses. I didn’t want to feel him anymore. I wanted him gone. I wanted him erased from my memory.

  I wanted Vane in his place. I wanted to feel his mark, to be forced across his thighs and spanked until he decided I’d been punished enough before he threw me down on my back and fucked me senseless. I wanted to forget everything that had happened, and he was the only one capable of doing exactly that.

  “I was rather defiant, wasn’t I?” I asked and I knew he had smiled at my words without even looking.

  “I should punish you for that,” he said gruffly, and I shivered hard. He pulled back and peered back at Mari and the others while he pressed me back against the bars of one of the cells. “Head out that door and my men will be waiting for you. They’ll guide you safely back to my ship, where the other Aberrants are safe and sound.”

  Mari met my gaze and I knew she was trying to figure out if she and the others should intervene. For a moment, I contemplated fighting for my freedom, but in that moment, I realized something about myself.

  I didn’t want to be free.

  I wanted to be owned. I wanted to answer to someone and that someone was Vane. There would be no one else for me. Even now, my heart was beating for him. The sense of relief at seeing him walk into the dungeon to rescue me had felt like a massive weight that had lifted off my shoulders.

  I realized then that I was choosing him.

  He’d taken me some time ago, without caring if I had wanted it or not. He hadn’t given me a choice, but right now I had a chance to make that decision myself. I turned my head toward Mari and shook my head.

  “My place is by Vane’s side,” I whispered to her and she narrowed her eyes before nodding with understanding. She turned away and walked toward the exit of the dungeon. I watched her leave and in the ensuing silence, I heard Vane clear his throat. We were together now, and I knew what was to come was going to hurt, but I wanted it to. I wanted him.

  “Your place is with me, isn’t it, my little human,” he murmured, and his arms wound around me even tighter than before.

  “Only that’s not the only thing that your place means,” he murmured, and I shivered against his warm embrace. I could feel his grin press against my shoulder, and I didn’t answer. We both knew what that meant.

  I belonged with him. Naked. Wet. Ready for his use.

  I was ready for him to show me my place once more.

  The rest of the Aberrants filed out of the dungeon and the two of us were left completely alone. He stilled and looked over my shoulder into the cell I’d been held captive inside not long ago. With a quiet laugh, he pulled back and gazed down at me with an amused twinkle in his eye.

  “That’s Greyburne over there, isn’t it?” he questioned, his smirk growing as I squirmed beneath him.

  “Yes,” I answered with a shrug. I could feel a smirk edging at the corners of my lips.

  “He doesn’t appear to be moving,” he observed.

  “Nope,” I replied evasively. I was quiet for a long moment before I finally spoke again and explained myself. “I killed him with his very own dagger,” I added, unable to stop myself from grinning with my victory.

  “You are a downright menace to society,” he replied, amused but very clearly impressed too.

  “Perhaps, but I can think of a certain someone that has volunteered to remind me of my place from time to time,” I countered, and he chuckled.

  “In due time, little human. I think you and I are going to spend some time in this ancient dungeon and you’re going to remember what happens to defiant little girls who forget what it means to be obedient,” he threatened. I bit my lip, feeling a soft heat caress my cheeks. “First though, we’re going to have to get rid of that body before it starts to really stink, and I have just the men waiting outside to do that for me.”

  “He already stinks,” I replied rather matter-of-factly, remembering the smell of him as he pressed his body against mine.

  “Yes, but the smell of a rotting body is infinitely worse, and I plan to have you bound to that bed over there for quite some time while I remind you who owns you,” he answered.

  I gasped, shivering hotly at his words.

  “Wait here. If you move, I will punish you even harder than I already plan to,” he warned. I leaned against the bars of the cage, watching as he strode purposely toward the exit of the dungeon. He left and I took a deep breath, trying to prepare myself for what was to come, but I knew better.

  I had semblance of an idea of what would happen when he returned. I could feel a certain sense of nervousness and fear brew up from deep inside me at what he might do. Truthfully though, I was never quite certain of what he planned to do with me. I knew it would hurt. I knew it would make me wet. I also knew that by the time he was through with me that I would be a very sorry and wet little mess, but I would be satisfied in a way that only he could make me. I took a deep breath.

  I waited for him and what was to come.

  Several members of Vane’s crew wandered inside. They didn’t say anything when they saw me, which wasn’t entirely unexpected. They knew I was their commander’s property and that meant that I was untouchable. Without delay, they dragged out Greyburne’s dead body so that I didn’t have to see him anymore.

  I was relieved to see him go. He was never going to lay his hands on me again.

  The men left and I was alone for a few minutes. I st
ood there, trying to think of what Vane might do next. I could feel myself growing aroused, liquid heat gathering between my thighs at the prospect of being taken in hand by the man who had stolen me away and made me his.

  He’d kidnapped me off that ship some time ago. I didn’t know where I would have ended up if he hadn’t taken me. I could be a slave on some treacherous planet. I could have been sold to a brothel and had my virginity sold off to the highest bidder.

  No.

  Vane had rescued me from the unknown.

  He was merciless but also sweet at times and despite the hard, cruel front he put on in front of everyone else, I knew that there was an honorable and kind man deep inside that rough exterior.

  The shrill squeal of the door startled me, and I turned my head, watching as Vane walked back inside. His eyes never left mine as he slowed, striding purposely toward me as he savored the look of my body encased by the simple white sheet that I’d wrapped around myself. He paused about a foot away from me before he began to speak, his voice deep and gruff and entirely too seductive. My core clamped down hard at the sound of it and I bit my lip hard, trying to keep myself from moaning just from that alone.

  Fuck. He hadn’t even touched me yet and my skin was already simmering with desire.

  “Did I give you permission to cover yourself, Nina?” he asked as he leaned against the nearby wall. He crossed his arms over his chest and the expression on his face immediately made me feel like I had done something naughty.

  “No, sir,” I whispered, unable to keep my eyes from falling to the floor at the prospect of being exposed for doing something without permission. I bit my lip and glanced up for a fraction of a second, only to see him shaking his head in disappointment.

  “Take it off. Slowly. I want to see what belongs to me. I want to see you completely bare. I want to see those hard nipples and that wet little pussy. Then, you will go and put the sheet back on the bed. You will make sure it is neat before I inspect every inch of your gorgeous body as a reminder that it isn’t yours to cover. You still haven’t earned the privilege of clothing, have you, my little mate?”