Slave (21 page)

We found a safe lock-up for the pack-droid and went out for dinner. I told Cat he’d better not plan on staying out too late, or I was gonna end up doing him in the
restaurant. I thought he looked ever so slightly smug when I mentioned that, although, seeing as how everyone else did it, why couldn’t we?

The eatery in the village wasn’t nearly as posh as the one near the spaceport, but two things remained the same. One: the food was good, and two: there was sex of some kind or another going on at every table. They didn’t have a live band, so there was no dancing; but that didn’t seem to slow anyone down, and the style of dress was essentially the same as it had been in the larger city.

Once again, Cat and I attracted a fair amount of attention, but at least no one thought that fucking my nose would be a fun thing to try. I sat next to Cat this time after I discovered that sitting across the table from one another as we had been before was an open invitation for others to wander over and try their luck. Sitting next to him, no one bothered either of us, although some people did stop by our table to chat.

During the course of our conversations with the other patrons, we discovered that there was another human female besides Ranata living nearby. I wondered if I should attempt to rescue her as well, but, you know, the more I hung around with the people of that planet, the less I believed that anyone needed rescuing. Everybody we saw or talked to seemed very happy, indeed. I had to admit that I wasn’t feeling quite so uncharitable toward them myself, even if one of them did have my sister, because they were all very nice. I’d realized after a bit that the females were as free to talk with anyone as the males were, and I got into a conversation with a couple of them who were on their way back from the ladies’
room—this was one time, it seemed, when it was permissible to let your woman go it alone and be off her leash, something I hadn’t noticed when we were out before. I did notice the occasional female leaving her man in the company of another woman while she was gone, though, and no one seemed to mind sharing their mates with others, trusting souls that they were. I, myself, wasn’t quite so generous, and I wouldn’t have dreamed of leaving Cat alone with one of them. They might decide they liked multiple orgasms, too, and chain themselves to him—assuming that they could get the key from their own males, of course.

I was coming back from the restroom when I saw that Cat had struck up a conversation with an older male from some other world. He seemed to know of Cat’s species and had been anxious to speak with him.

“It was a terrible tragedy!” the man was saying. “I’ve never found any others of your kind since then, and I have traveled through space for many years. It could be, my friend, that you are the only one left.”

“The Nedwuts made certain of that,” Cat replied, “for it was no accident that the asteroid struck my planet. It was an act of war.”

The man appeared much stuck by this statement. “If that is so, we should let it be known throughout the galaxy! I will spread the word as much as I am able, for the Nedwuts are hated by many, and this would provide good reason for banning them from space travel.”

“If it could be enforced,” I put in as I approached. “The damned Nedwuts are everywhere!” I regarded the man with interest. “How is it that you know so much about
Zetith?” I asked curiously. “I’ve been in space for some time now, and I’d never even heard of it until I found Cat.”

The man smiled at my ignorance. “Oh, it happened many years ago, of course, but Zetith was a very distant planet, so far from here that most who travel in this region of space have never even heard of it. Until now, it was simply a planet which was destroyed by a terrible accident and has, regrettably, been mostly forgotten. I’m afraid that it is little more than a legend now, having been so far away and with so few of its people left to remind us of them.”

“Well, we have Cat now,” I said, smiling. “And anyone who meets him will remember him, if not his planet, don’t you think?”

“They will,” the man replied gravely. “Zetith should not be forgotten, especially not now that the truth about its destruction is known. It was a heinous crime that should not go unpunished. I will do my best to see that it is done.” He smiled at me kindly. “You, however, have another responsibility, my dear, for you must take great care of him. He is very precious.”

I smiled at Cat, who seemed to be rather embarrassed by this discussion. “I know,” I said. “Very precious, indeed.”

I didn’t know who this guy was, of course; he could have been nobody, or he could have been someone people would actually listen to. I had no way of knowing, but just hearing him say that was comforting. I would love to get rid of the Nedwuts, if only for the sole purpose of ensuring that they never bothered Cat again.

I started to tell our new friend that we had, in fact, killed
a couple of them that very afternoon, but even though it had been in self-defense, I had no idea what view the laws of Statzeel would take on such a matter. The way I saw it, it was probably best not to mention it. If one of the other Nedwuts filed a complaint about Cat killing a couple of them, we might have to answer some questions, but those guys didn’t exactly strike me as having been law-abiding citizens, so I rather doubted that they would go to the authorities. I, myself, had no desire to explain that we were here to take my sister back home. I had an idea that getting kicked off the planet might be the least of what we’d get for doing that!

Having heard what Cat had been telling the man, I realized there was a great deal of Cat’s life that I had left unexplored. I knew virtually nothing of his youth and, other than his having been a soldier and then captured, I realized I knew very little about his life before he became a slave, and even less about what came after.

“How long were you a slave, Cat?” I asked gently.

Cat smiled grimly. “The Cylopean was not my first master,” he replied. “He was merely my last. I have been enslaved since I was seventeen of our years, and I am forty years old now—or so I believe. Years are of different lengths on different worlds, but I have been a slave for a very long time.”

And had at least one scar to show for every year of his servitude! My poor, poor Cat! “They never broke your spirit, though, did they?”

“No,” he replied, smiling at me, “for I always had hope. Hope that I would find a good and kind master who would love me. Someone much like yourself.”
“Aw, now you’re sweet-talking me again, Cat!” I complained. “You don’t have to butter me up anymore! I already love you.”

Cat smiled and said nothing further, but he began purring in my ear.

“So, how long had it been since you had sex?” I asked curiously. “Since before you were a slave?” If that were the case, it was no wonder he’d been so horny when I bought him!

“Not that long,” he admitted. “But since before I was bought by the Cylopean—perhaps five years.”

I gave a low whistle. “Whoa! Want to make up for lost time?” It had easily been longer than that for me, but that was my choice, and as much as Cat seemed to like it, it must have seemed like a very long wait, indeed!

“If that means what I believe it does, then yes, I do,”

he replied. “If you are willing.”

“Oh, I’m willing,” I assured him. “In fact, I’m more than just willing! Just in case you haven’t noticed, you’ve got me hooked on you now, Kittycat.”

He purred loudly enough that a woman at the next table glanced up at him with a worried expression. She relaxed again when I leaned in and kissed Cat gently on the lips.

“Ever do it in a public restaurant?” I whispered seductively in his ear.

“No, I have not,” he replied. “But I believe I would like to.”

“Mm-m, good answer.”

Slave 221107.qxd 1/30/08 4:36 PM Page 191

I WANTED TO FEEL THAT SAME SENSE OF RELIEF WHEN

Cat thrust inside me that I had on the previous night, but I was afraid that being close to him and touching him would somehow diminish the intensity of that feeling, so I moved away from him ever so slightly and let myself just look at him. His dark spiral curls were gleaming in the dim glow from the candle on our table, and a similar fire glittered within the pupils of his dark, smoldering eyes. I reached out and pulled back the edges of his shirt and vest, revealing his chest, and I leaned down to lick his nipples, forgetting for a moment that I was only intending to look at him, but he was simply impossible for me to resist. I sighed as I thought about all the things I hadn’t done with him yet: hadn’t gone swimming with him in a cool, sparkling lake, hadn’t held his hand on a beach at sunset, or made love with him by a flickering fire. I wanted to do all of those things and more, and I wanted to do them with him and him alone.

My desire was becoming more and more intense with each passing moment as the sun went down and darkness fell in the world outside the cozy little restaurant. I glanced down at his cock to make sure it was ready for me, but I needn’t have wondered for it was already thick and hard and the coronal fluid was flowing profusely across the apex of the head and down the shaft. Some of
it had already dripped onto Cat’s breeches, and I thought it was simply a crime to waste any of it. I considered asking some of the other women to help me, but only for a moment, for I’ll admit to having been a bit greedy where Cat’s fluids were concerned. I wanted them all for myself.

Reaching down, I touched it with a fingertip and brought it up to my lips. As before, an orgasm followed shortly thereafter, rolling over me in waves of pleasure until it subsided and I was able to relax again. I would wait for a while, I decided, instead giving Cat as much pleasure as I could before indulging myself further. After so many years of slavery, I felt that he deserved all the pleasure I could possibly give him. I would devote my life to his enjoyment, I decided, for his joy was my joy.

His smile would be my source of delight. His climax would bring me to greater heights knowing how he had suffered before I found him. And if he wanted sex in a public place, well, by golly he could have it, and I would make as big a show of it as I possibly could.

“Mm-m, Kittycat, you make me so hot!” I murmured.

“I like to feel you purring when I touch you.”

“And I like it when you touch me, Jacinth.”

“Well, that’s good, because I’m finding it harder and harder to keep my hands off you all the time. In fact, if we hadn’t been set upon by Nedwuts, I probably would have pounced on you there by the stream. It was a lovely place, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was,” he agreed. “But not so lovely as you.”

“Aw, you’re sweet-talking me again!” I said accusingly. “You don’t have to do that, you know. You’ve got me now. I don’t need to be convinced anymore.”
“But I like sweet-talking you,” he purred. “It makes you smile, and I like the way you smile.”

“Mm-m, kiss me, Kittycat,” I urged him. “Make all the women in this joint pea-green with envy and all the men wish they had even half of your charisma.”

Cat took a deep breath and shook his head. “Do not make me seem too…charismatic? Is that the right word?”

“Yes,” I replied. “You’re pretty good with languages, aren’t you?”

“I have been required to learn many languages in my lifetime.”

I nodded. Who knew how many planets he’d been on in that length of time? “So, tell me, Cat. Why can’t you be too charismatic?”

“I believe it was one of the reasons my planet was destroyed,” he explained. “Possibly because the females of other worlds found their own men wanting once they had been with one of us.”

If I hadn’t been with one of them myself, I would have been chastising Cat for sounding too cocky, but I had no doubt whatsoever that he was telling the absolute truth—though when I’d asked that same question of him once before, he’d hedged a bit.

“Why are you telling me this now, Cat? When I asked before why your planet was destroyed, you said only that there were theories.”

“This is my own theory,” he replied, “though others shared it. It seems a weak reason for destroying an entire race, but it is the most logical. We were not a warrior race; we did not make war on other planets. It is the only explanation that makes any sense at all. I did
not wish to tell you before because you had no such experience with me.”

“Afraid I’d think you were bragging?” I asked with a chuckle. “Maybe I would have thought you sounded a little too cocky, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have believed you. No, my only question is why you’ve never been the slave of a female.”

“Oh, I was,” he replied.

“Well, it beats the shit out of me to explain why any woman you ever belonged to would sell you to someone else!” I declared, thinking that they all must have either died smiling or gone completely wacko from the continuous orgasms. “Did they at least keep you happy? Is that why you never tried to escape to freedom?”

He shook his head. “There was nowhere for me to go, Jacinth. When you freed me, I could only follow you, for I had no home to which I could return. But you, my lovely master, you have made me feel as though I have a home with you.” The tone of his purr deepened and the glow in his eyes grew softer. “I will never leave your side, for you bring me hope and joy and contentment.”

He toyed with my leash, easing me closer with it. “This chain we wear keeps us together, but it is not necessary.

I would follow you if you ever left me behind, just as I did on Orpheseus. Having seen into your eyes and inhaled your scent, you became a part of me, and I would seek you out whether you be across the room or across the galaxy. We belong together now. Parting from you would mean my death.”

“And the other females you’ve been with?” I asked hoarsely. He was making me feel pretty special, but my
skeptical nature resurfaced briefly. “They didn’t have this bond with you?”

“No, they did not,” he replied. “Only you.”

If he was lying, I didn’t ever want to hear the truth.

“I love you, Kittycat,” I whispered, kissing him softly on his full, sensuous lips. “I don’t think I would die if you ever left me, but I certainly wouldn’t have much of a reason left to live.” Ranata had been my reason for living for so long now, I’d almost forgotten that my life could have any other purpose, but I was beginning to remember.