Alien Refuge (30 page)

“Even if they were love words spoken in the privacy of your bedroom? In the heat of passion?” Ospar scowled.

“Even there. Conrad said all it would take was one slip of the tongue in front of everyone, and trouble could happen. I was to always be on guard. When I forgot, he had to teach me a lesson.”

“Now you must learn to do the exact opposite,” the Dramok said, his lips pursing in contemplation. “You will learn to speak of your needs. You will learn to say what you want to say.”

Iris hunched. “I don’t know that I can.” Momentary anger flared, and she gave Ospar a defiant stare. “Why should I have to, anyway?”

His eyebrow cocked. He considered several moments before answering. “Partly because I won’t have you feeling afraid of anything. Partly because you should reclaim your sexual freedom in its entirety. But mostly because I say so.”

Iris gaped. “You – you arrogant jerk! Who are you to tell me what to do?”

He shrugged. “I’m the Dramok.”

She could only stare at him. Ospar looked at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. He was ready to laugh at her, and it made her mad.

“Is there something you want to say to me, Iris?” he invited. “Or shall I just assume you agree that I know what’s best for you and my word is law?”

Her fists clenched at her sides. “In your dreams, you self-important, egotistical bastard. Where do you get off acting superior? You don’t know enough about me to order me around!”

“But I’m the governor of this rock pile. You’re just a colonist who has to do my bidding. You have to kiss my ass, so to speak. Right? So finish getting naked, lay down, and spread your legs for me so I can fuck some Earther pussy, as is my due.”

He said it as if he truly believed it was his right. Iris was outraged. She spluttered in shocked fury, and the words left her mouth before she could think to censor them. “Fuck you, you conceited asshole!”

Ospar’s grin bloomed. Before Iris could react, he framed her face in his hands and kissed her soundly. “Now those were wonderful words. I bet you never told your husband that.”

Jol and Rivek chuckled as she gaped at Ospar. She blinked. “Oh. No, I never dared. That level of defiance and the language—”

“Here, they are just words. I know I keep saying that over and over, but I’ll continue to until you believe it.” Ospar kissed Iris again, making her warm all over. “I’ll keep telling you until you live it.”

“Okay.” Iris snickered. “I guess if you make me mad enough, I’ll say anything.”

“It’s good to see you take a stand on your own behalf,” Rivek told her. “I’m sure you would without thought for Thomas, but you need to be ready to assert yourself for yourself too.”

Jol stroked her hair. “You are certainly worth it.”

Iris glowed under their care. They wanted to take care of her, yet they also wanted her to be strong, to be able stand up for herself when she needed to. What they offered was a gift she hadn’t known she’d always wished for.

“What do you want to do right now, Iris?” Ospar asked. “Tell me exactly what you’d like.”

She looked at each of their patient, waiting faces. They wouldn’t hurt her. They wouldn’t put her in her proper place. She could say what she wanted, and it would be all right.

“I’d like you to fuck me.”

The three men looked as proud as if Iris had discovered gravity. It made her giggle at the ridiculousness of it all. But it did feel like a breakthrough.

Profanity will set you free.
Iris kept snickering.

Ospar gave her butt a couple of light spanks. “Take those panties off, silly girl,” he said.

She did, still feeling vulnerable but safe as well. She didn’t question the strange dichotomy of the situation.

“Now for the next limit,” Jol said.

“Bring it on,” Iris challenged him. Giddy, she felt like she could accomplish anything.

He took something off his belt and held it before her face. The linked circles of copper-colored metal swung from his fingers. “Give me your wrists,” he said.

It took Iris a moment to realize what the bands were, and she very nearly held her hands out to the Nobek before she figured out what he was about to do. “Cuffs?” she asked, pulling back.

Jol nodded, watching her face carefully. “Hovercuffs. I also have a set for your ankles,” he told her. “They will keep you immobilized. Helpless.”

Iris stared. Rivek had held her down the day before when she’d had her first sexual encounter with the clan. She’d been nervous and excited by the power exerted over her. Ospar had told her anxiety made things feel more intense and he’d been right. Still, hovercuffs were much more extreme.

“I know you want me to trust you enough not to question—” she started.

“But you haven’t quite reached that point yet,” Ospar finished. “Still, we’d like you to try.”

Iris bit her lip. Her instincts were to go along with what the men asked of her. In fact, it was almost frightening how easily she’d nearly obeyed Jol without thought. It was that sense of rightness that kept knocking her defenses down, defenses she’d erected during eleven years of marriage to Conrad.

A part of her already trusted them with everything. Trauma was holding her back. Even after death, Conrad was still controlling her with the fear he’d instilled. She didn’t want to be her dead husband’s victim anymore.

Iris slowly turned to face Jol. Her arms crept outward, offering herself to be captured. To be made truly helpless to the Kalquorians.

The Nobek’s gaze never left her face as he slipped first one, then the other cuff over her wrists. Ospar and Rivek each placed a hand on her shoulders. Despite the gentle assurance their touches offered, Iris shuddered to feel the cool metal close over her skin, drawing tight enough so that she couldn’t slip them back off.

“Are you all right?” Jol asked.

Iris tried on a brave smile. “So far, so good,” she said in a voice that trembled only a little.

He knelt at her feet. Again, he kept his eyes on her face as he put a larger set of cuffs around her ankles. When she didn’t flinch or protest, he nodded his approval.

“Very good, Iris.”

She felt pathetically happy that she’d pleased him and frowned at herself. Why was it so important to satisfy these men?

Jol stood up and stroked her face. He said something in his own language.

Iris’ arms lifted, splaying outward as the cuffs obeyed whatever the Nobek’s order had been. She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her lips as she rose into the air, her feet leaving the ground and moving apart so she was spread open.

She floated slightly higher than the men’s heads. She attempted a weak joke. “So this is how it feels to not be the shortest person in the room.”

They obliged her with chuckles. Their hands were on her again, stroking bare skin to make her shiver in reaction.

“How do you feel about being held helpless like this?” Rivek asked.

Iris thought about it. “Scared,” she admitted. She looked down at the floor before adding in a small voice, “Aroused.”

“Excellent,” Ospar said. “You do remember that you can say stop at any point, and everything halts, correct?”

Iris nodded. “Yes, Ospar.”

“You are safe,” Rivek soothed. “It may not always feel like it because we want to push you, but you have nothing to fear from us.”

She gave him a smile. “I believe you.”

“Good,” Ospar said. “Here is your next challenge.”

With that, he slipped a blindfold over her eyes, tying it carefully behind her head. All was darkness behind that soft binding. “Too tight?” he asked.

“No.” Iris was amused. “This is a challenge?”

“Absolutely. You can’t see what we’re going to do to you. You’ll have no warning at all before it happens.”

“Oh.” The smile fell off Iris’ face. He was right. She would have no idea what the men were up to until they did it. Her nervousness went up several notches.

Their hands were all over her, stroking her body and making her respond despite the anxiety brought on by being cuffed and blindfolded. After a few minutes of this, Iris was moaning and writhing. Her breasts were fondled by mouths and hands. Her sex received gentle caresses, her clit the occasional tug that made her insides clench. Lost in the darkness, every touch was magnified.

“That’s a good start,” Ospar said after they had her nearly dripping with need. “Our little lovely is quite aroused, I think. Are you eager for more, Iris?”

“Yes,” she groaned. “Please.”

As if her affirmation was a signal, the touching abruptly stopped. There was the sense that the three men had stepped back, though she didn’t hear any steps. Utter silence descended over the room.

Iris waited for a few moments, wondering what was going on. Her insides were churning with want, and she thought that at any moment the sensual assault would resume. The seconds ticked by, however, and nothing happened.

“Um, guys?”

No answer. Heavens, had they left the room, leaving her hanging in midair with no clothes on?

“Ospar?”

“Yes?”

Iris breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t left her. Good.

She asked, “What’s going on?”

“Why do you ask?”

Iris’ brows knit together beneath the blindfold. “Well, it’s kind of odd to be suspended here with nothing happening.”

“But it’s what we want.”

She was more confused than ever. “You want me like this? Why?”

“For you, it doesn’t matter. All you need to be concerned about is that this is how we want you and this is how you’ll stay until we decide otherwise.”

Iris tried to figure out what was going on. The more she puzzled over it, the more baffled she became.

Trying to figure out what they wanted from her, she said, “Do you want me to use profanity again?”

“Do you wish to use profanity?”

“No, I wish to know what you’re waiting for me to do.”

“Nothing. We just want you to hang there like you are.”

Iris was utterly mystified. None of this situation was making sense. Didn’t they want to have sex? “I don’t understand.”

This time it was Rivek who spoke. “You have a lot of responsibility, Iris. From taking care of Thomas to making sure there is food, clothing, and shelter for the two of you. Do you remember me asking you when was the last time you had a moment for yourself?”

“Yes.”

“And you told me, you couldn’t remember the last time.”

Jol said, “That is too much sitting on your shoulders, with no way to alleviate the pressure. Eventually, it will crush you.”

Iris still wasn’t getting it. “What does that have to do with sticking me in the air and not doing anything?”

Ospar responded. “Your problems don’t end with not being able to express your needs and speaking your mind, Iris. You are also struggling with letting others take care of you. It’s time for you to let go of some of that control, to hand over some of the pressures.”

Rivek’s voice came next. “With us, when we are together in an intimate situation, your only responsibility is to do whatever we tell you. You have no choices to make, nothing to worry over. That’s what this lesson is about.”

“So, what? I’m just supposed to stay up here until you decide to do something with me?”

“Exactly.”

“This is crazy,” Iris said. “I thought we were going to make love.”

Ospar again. “We will, but on my terms. Jol’s terms. Rivek’s terms. Not yours. Your only concern is to surrender to whatever we wish of you. For now, we wish you to hang there while we enjoy looking.”

Iris couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But we will eventually do something, right?” Her tone was thick with sarcasm.

“Maybe. If I don’t like your attitude, maybe not. It could be we’ll just walk out and leave you here for the night.”

There was no compromise in Ospar’s voice. He was deadly serious, as hard as it was for Iris to comprehend the clan might actually leave her naked and blindfolded and unable to move.