Slave World (16 page)

“I remember you now; you were the Major officer who spoke to me, right?” My speech was slurred, and sounded funny with the bit in. It was going to take some work getting used to talking with it.

“That’s right, ace, that was me,” he said softly.

“That was a long time ago and none of that matters any more, I’m a slave now. Why are you telling me all this?” This damn bit! I sounded like a drunk with a mouth full of marbles trying to talk.

“Because it matters to me, that’s why,” he growled sharply. “Put me down please, I don’t feel like riding any longer.”

“I don’t mind, really. I…I like carrying you...I want to.” Burke pulled lightly on my reins, stopping me regardless of my unexpected protest. I couldn’t believe I’d just said that to him. The light tap of his crop brought me to a kneeling position and he dismounted.

“You don’t deserve this, Margo, you’re better than this and it’s not fair after everything you’ve…you just don’t deserve this is all.”

“Do any of us deserve to be treated like this, Burke?”

“No, but you’re different from the other ponies. Most of them were born and bred here, and this is the only life they know. They were engineered for it, conditioned from birth. They don’t know anything else
but
this kind of a life.” I’d been right about the others. “On occasions Savota will bring in fresh blood, but not very often, and even more rarely for the stables.”

“Is that why you’re treating me differently, because I’m not one of them, or is it because you said you owe me for pulling you and your men off Target?”

I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted him to say it, to confirm my hopes and desires. I prayed he wasn’t just being nice because he felt he owed me for some long forgotten debt like he’d said. Burke started walking, leading me behind him.

“Neither. Sure I owe you, and so do a lot of other Marines, but that’s not it. I’m treating you different because… well, just because, that’s why.” I frowned. That wasn’t exactly the reply I was hoping for. “Come on; let’s get you back to the stables. I think you’ve earned a break for the rest of the afternoon.”

I followed behind Burke in a pouting mess, chewing nervously at my bit, silently chastising myself for drawing him into such a browbeaten mood that brought our short time alone together to an untimely conclusion. It was then that I realized I’d been addressing him by his name, not to mention as if I was his equal, throughout our entire conversation. Something that obvious wouldn’t have slipped by him unnoticed, and could get me in a world of hurt; a severe disciplining at the very least, but it didn’t. Why? I knew why, or at least I hoped so.

“Am I going to be punished, Sir?”

“Why, what makes you say that?”

“Well, Mr. Todd said we’re not supposed to call anyone by their names, and-”

“No, Margo, you’re
not
going to be punished,” he snorted lightly. “Not by me at least. You do need to be careful in the future though; out here on the periphery, when we’re alone it’s okay because the sensor grid is a fucking joke for the most part.” Burke gave me a crafty smirk. “I just happen to know all the holes in it, but closer to the main grounds it’s a no-go.”

“Okay, I was just wondering is all. So no one can hear or see us then?”

“No, that’s why I brought you out here, so we could talk. It’s nice for a change, you know, just to talk with someone that you have things in common with for a change.”
Yes, it is, isn’t it?

We were alone and unobserved; this was the chance I’ve been secretly waiting for. It wasn’t just the fantasy of having sex with Burke that had been haunting me since I’d first laid eyes on him. There was something about him, something more that I dared not put words to at this point. Just thinking the symphony of his name electrified my body. I felt a comforting safety when I was with him, and even though I was a slave, he made me feel special for the first time in my life since… I didn’t believe in karma, or fate, or divine intervention, but some power had definitely played its hand in my current situation. It was too uncanny to explain, like the universe with all its seemingly endless probabilities had placed us together, face to face at last, for a specific purpose.

“Burke?”

“This isn’t fleet any longer; I do have a first name, and it’s Nathan.”

“Huh? Oh sure, sorry.” Nathan… I liked his name; it seemed to fit him perfectly. “Nathan, I don’t want to go back to the stables.” My voice clipped, strained with an uneasy tightening in my stomach. It was the first time that I’d openly voiced a personal want since my capture.

“What?” He turned in surprise, brow raised, coming to a stop.

“I don’t want to go back to the stables. I… I like spending time with you. Ever since all this started I’ve been by myself, and I don’t like it. I’m scared, and you’re the first person that’s treated me decently and…”

I looked down at my feet; my hoof-booted feet that I could barely see overtop my new breasts. I let out a sniffle, eyes misting over. Nathan took a step closer, and I began to shake. I hoped I was right about him. At this point I was willing to take whatever he had to offer, even if it was only his perceived friendship during the course of my training and continued life as a slave.

Nathan took off his sunglasses, slipping them in the breast pocket of his shirt. The gentle warmth of his fingertips caressed the top of my hand with elated results.

“You know something? You are a very pretty pony, the princess of the stables in my opinion.”
Princess… Daddy used to call me his princess…
“But you’ve always been beautiful, even that day in the assault boat with your visor down, your face hidden from view.”
He thought I was pretty even before my pony augmentation?
“I wouldn’t have changed a thing about you if given the choice.” I whinnied softly, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks.

Nathan laughed. “You’re really enjoying this stuff aren’t you, being a pony?”

Yeah, I was; I would have been lying to say otherwise. I’ve never got into this sort of thing before, of being controlled down to my every action, but suddenly I craved it from the man standing before me. Maybe it had something to do with the remote, and the tinkering that Dobbs had done with the processor in my head? Maybe it was because of the slave conditioning that I’d undergone at Holloway Trading, forcing me to accept an oddly simple and quieting sense of complacency in life that I’d never known before? It could even be because of the physical alteration of my body itself that gave me a sense of unknown pride I’d never had in the past. I could speculate all I wanted, but in all honesty, I knew exactly where the change stemmed from. It felt as if a piece of the puzzle that had been missing all this time was gradually sliding into place, making me complete after so many years.

“Only because of you, Nathan. I…I like being a pony for you.”

“But you’re not mine, you belong to Michael.” He swallowed hard, inching a bit closer.

Oh my God, I’m trembling! Well, here goes nothing.
“I’m yours, that is, if you want me.”

“I can’t, Margo, please. If Michael ever found out… I’m not afraid of him, but I’m afraid of what he might do to…it’s hard to explain. You’re going to be presented to your Mistress tomorrow night at the party. After that I can’t stop what’s going to happen to you, Michael-”
He’s worried about me; he actually cares.

“Nathan, there’s nothing he can do to me that hasn’t been done already. I’m not afraid any longer, as long as I have you.” I cringed. I couldn’t believe I’d spouted some cheesy, melodramatic dribble like that, but it was true.

I yelped when Nathan’s hands shot to my waist, pulling me against him. He smelled good, very mannish and I drank his scent like an aromatic aphrodisiac. I surrendered to it no different than how I had since the moment I’d been placed in his care.

“We shouldn’t be doing this, Margo, but god help me I can’t resist you any longer.” His lips hovered over the nape of my neck, grazing it lightly. I moaned, exposing it further.

“Why,” I stuttered, “It feels right, so how can it be wrong?”

“It’s not wrong, not in a million years.” My body burned from the kiss of his touch slowly moving over my hips, working around to the small of my back.

“I always wanted to talk to you on board the ship, to maybe ask you to dinner or something, but I couldn’t. I’m not very good at this sort of thing, and the time just never seemed right.” He began nibbling lightly at the cleft of my shoulder, tasting my desire-laden flesh with the tip of his tongue. It made me shiver, gasping for breath.
Not very good… You could have fooled me, cowboy.

I interlaced my fingers behind his neck, straining to pull myself inside the sensation pressing against me. A bulge of strained fabric probed at my thighs, and I cocked my leg, allowing the predatory appetite that had so effectively cornered me, unrestricted access to its prey. Nathan broke the embrace, looking around nervously. “Come on, follow me.”

I whinnied, shaking my head, swishing my tail excitedly as Nathan took my hand, pulling me off the trail and into the jungle. It only took a few minutes until he found a suitable place for our needs; a small open patch in the jungle, relatively free of ground foliage.

“Stand still, I’m…I’m going to take off your gear now, all right?” I fought to remain calm, trying desperately to keep from shaking.

“Yes, Sir.”

Nathan paused with a quizzical expression before removing my saddle and tack setting it aside. Soon, all that remained was my body harness and boots and a moment of awkward hesitation between us. I was panting like a long distance runner, eyeing the jungle with wide unfocused eyes when he undid the harness strap that ran through my legs. The hot, jungle air felt incredibly cold now. Then, at the worst possible time, a bout of self-conscious anxiety hit me.

It had been a long time since I’d been with a man, but this time it wouldn’t be with ‘just any man’. What if I didn’t please him, what if I couldn’t anymore? I was quickly working myself into a nervous wreck of imaginary disaster. Nathan reached for me and I flinched, shying away from him.

“Margo, what’s wrong?” His voice was so soft, so sensitive… Fingers touched my chin, lifting it until our eyes met. He was so beautiful, so perfect, and what was I? An ugly woman in so many ways that had found solace in being nothing more than a flagrant slut my entire life. “We don’t have to do this, if you don’t want to.”

I shook my head, lips quivering, choking back my tears.
Why are you being so nice to me? Just throw me down on the ground, and use me like all the others.
“No, I want to, it’s just… I don’t want to disappoint you. I…I don’t deserve someone like you.”

Nathan’s expression grew hard, the steel in his eyes boring into me. So powerful… so commanding… I wanted to look away, but my chin was held firmly between unyielding fingers. “Don’t ever say that, Margo, don’t even think something like that. I could never be disappointed in you, ever. You’re a very special woman, at least to me you are.” His intensity became a slow, accepting smile. “It’s all right, I understand. You’ve been through a lot and-”

I lunged forward, looping my arms over his broad shoulders. “No, I don’t want to go back, not yet! I want you, Nathan, please don’t take that away from me,” I breathed into his ear, kissing it gently. “I need you right now, Sir.”

“I know, Margo, and…and I’m here for you.”

Our lips hesitantly met with a slow passionate embrace of turbulent emotion while I began to completely open myself to a man for the first time that I could remember. Our kiss grew desperate and forceful quickly building into a wild hunger that left me reeling under its trance, wanting more.

Nathan’s hands trailed timidly about my body at first, growing in confidence, massaging my skin with culminating desire. He cupped my breasts, gently at first as if unsure, rolling my nipples between his fingertips. I felt myself melting as a single bead of passion trickled down the inside of my thigh. His exploratory touch began the expectant trip downward, and I lifted my leg, inviting him inward. His fingers easily slipped into the velvet heat between my thighs with viscous ease.

“Oh yes…that feels so good,” I gasped, sucking at his lower lip. “Do what you want with me, anything at all, Sir,” I mewed softly, jerking with a stuttering breath every time his thumb bumped against my swollen clit. The intensity of sensations was nearly orgasmic in itself, and made me wonder if the doctor hadn’t done some nerve enhancement, as well as cosmetic alteration to my genitalia.

It wasn’t just Nathan’s hands that were driving me to the brink, but the way my body reacted to his smell, to the elusive and inciting fragrance he gave off. I whinnied in his ear, sucking at his lobe, grinding my hips against the feel of his hand even more. My conscious mind succumbed to a wild storm, as one of his fingers pushed its way deeper into my slit. I winced, moaning, clawing at his back. I felt tighter, and the perception of it made me grasp desperately through his shorts for something much larger.

Nathan reluctantly drew away, unsnapping the buttons of his shirt like a frenzied stripper. I’d been with a lot of men in my life, but this was the first time I could honestly say that I was awestruck, speechlessly entranced by the sight unfolding before my eyes. Nathan had the rippling physique of an honest to god, bronzed slice of male perfection. His shoulders were rounded and broad, and his well-defined caramelized pecks and stomach glistened like living stone in the intermittent light filtering around us. An anatomy student would have had a field day studying a specimen like this. But the best was yet to come. His boots came next, followed by his shorts and underwear. When his cock sprang into view, growing thick and long with each passing heartbeat, I about lost it right there.