The Price of Pleasure (3 page)

Sitting up, Calla reluctantly faced the man whose seed was still warm in her body.

He sat next to her on the bed, trousers open and pulled slightly down. Her eyes strayed down to his still-stiff cock, then quickly flew up to his face. His skin was slightly dark-toned, and his shoulder-length hair was almost black. His eyes were black as well, and they stared at her intently. He reached one finger out and gently pulled up her chin.

“You’re a cute one, Calla,” he said. “I may have to keep you for a while.”

There was no way Jenner would go for that, Calla realized, clamping down firmly on another hysterical giggle that threatened to escape. Oh no, not a good idea at all …

“I need to go, I have work to do,” she said. He frowned at her. Unable to help herself, Calla’s gaze was drawn to his mouth. His lips were full and soft looking, a little grin playing at the corners. What she really wanted, Calla realized, was to lean over and bite the lower one … Another bad idea. Things were definitely out of hand.

“When can you come back?” he asked bluntly. “I’m not done with you.”

“I can’t come back,” Calla said. No matter how much pleasure this man had given her, she couldn’t afford to anger Jenner. His hand grasped her chin hard now, forcing her to meet his eyes. He had lost his open, pleasant smile. She had to think of a way to get rid of him and keep him quiet, too.

“Why not? I’m prepared to compensate you.”

“I’m married,” she said, thinking quickly. “His name is Jess, and if he finds out what happened here it would kill him. I didn’t mean to have sex with you, it was an accident.” It was a stroke of genius, Calla thought. Or at least it would be if the Saurellian was willing to respect a slave’s wedding vow. Jess was like a brother, they’d been raised together in the same crèche. He would lie to protect her without question.

Since slave marriages weren’t recorded, the Saurellian would never know the difference.

Seth’s hand tightened on her chin, and a dark look swept across his face, scaring her with its intensity. He was angry, she realized. His eyes flashed.

“I see,” he said tightly, then abruptly let her go and stood up and paced across the room. His intense gaze followed her, and a muscle worked tightly in his jaw. “Get out.”

Calla quickly stood up, not about to argue. It seemed like she might yet escape this horrible situation–she certainly wasn’t going to give him time to change his mind.

Moving quickly, she paused to pick up her basket and gather the fallen linens. Seth watched for a few seconds while she collected her things. Then he repeated his terse order.

“I said get out.”

Dropping the linens, Calla did as she was told.

* * * * *

It took every ounce of Seth’s strength to let Calla leave. He couldn’t believe she was married. The mere thought of another man touching her made him want to smash his fist through the wall. He’d kill him, Seth thought. He’d kill him, and take Calla.

Then he caught himself, disgusted by his own thoughts. It wasn’t as if she was his life mate, he reminded himself. She was just a slave on a third-rate, back-world mining station. He could have any woman on the station he wanted. What use did he have for one little slave? If anything, he should feel sorry for the poor bastard she was married to.

After all, he’d just fucked her silly and she hadn’t exactly protested. In fact, she screamed her pleasure when she came. Who knew how many times she’d done the same thing with other guests? Seth could probably have her again if he really wanted, but he didn’t get involved with married women, even if they were only slaves. He liked his relationships open and simple, preferring to pay good money to get good service.

Seth prowled around his room another hour, then decided he needed to get out.

He’d hoped to catch up on his reports to the Saurellian High Council. He was concerned about rumors that some mining camp factions calling themselves “pilgrims” were hoarding weapons. With a snort of disgust, Seth realized he wasn’t going to be able to focus after his romp with the cleaning slave. Instead he’d go and check the patrols, and maybe even head over to the House of Lilies. He’d find a woman there who’d make Calla look like the little nothing she was. It was definitely time to seek out the services of a professional.

Chapter 2

When Calla collapsed, exhausted, onto her pallet in the kitchen that night, she couldn’t fall asleep. Just thinking about Seth’s hands on her hips, holding her while he pounded into her from behind, sent little shudders of pleasure through her. She was still sore from that morning, yet she ached from wanting more. He’d watched her with an intensity she’d never seen before. When she’d told him she was married, he’d looked ready to hit something. Or someone. She couldn’t afford to have him find out she’d been lying to him. For all she knew, he might kill her.

The Saurellians were crazy, everybody said so. They fought hard, they fucked hard and they were ruthless with their enemies. Without being told, Calla knew that a woman who lied to their commander would be one of those enemies. Rolling over on her pallet, she pillowed her head against her arm, willing the pleasurable sensations in her body to go away. It didn’t matter how much she wanted to go back to his room. It was too dangerous. Even if he didn’t kill her, Jenner would sell her in a heartbeat if she found out what Calla had done. Even death would be better than spending the rest of her life on her back in a mining-camp crib.

Calla slept restlessly and woke up tired. She had plenty of work to do. Even conquering warriors had to eat, and it was her turn to check on the availability of supplies at the market. The bulk of their food at the hostel was delivered each week, but since war had come to their system Mistress Jenner had sent Calla or one of the girls each day to see what was available on the black market. Supply lines were up and running now that the Saurellians had occupied the station, but there were still good deals to be found if you were resourceful enough. Calla was very resourceful.

Slipping out the back of the hostel, Calla pulled a shawl over her head and made her way down a side corridor toward the central market. It was always safer to go out covered; she might not be much to look at, but more than one slave woman of even average appearance had disappeared in the station’s back corridors. It was best not to take any chances. She was also concerned about running into Seth, but once she thought about it, she realized she had never seen him before yesterday. He was probably too important to spend his time on guard duty at the hostel, anyway. Bumping into him wouldn’t be a problem, she assured herself.

The marketplace was centrally located in the station, making it easy for Calla catch a ride with one of the small transports that regularly moved through the station’s main corridors. In less than ten minutes she arrived at the market, where she quickly hit all of her usual stops and arranged for the deliveries. Jenner gave Calla full bargaining authority, but no one got their credits until the goods arrived at the hostel. A slave might be trusted to run errands and negotiate for supplies, Calla thought bitterly, but she would never be trusted with actual money.

Checking the time, she realized there was at least an hour before she needed to be back to the hostel, enough time to visit her friend Dani. Dani’s apartment wasn’t far from the marketplace, although it was on the opposite side of the station from the hostel. That was fine with Calla, because it made it less likely that Jenner would ever run into her and Dani together. Dani was a pleasure worker, a profession that Jenner and her fellow pilgrims despised. According to Jenner, any woman who had sex outside of marriage was a dirty slut and deserved to be treated as such. In Calla’s opinion, Dani had things pretty good.

Dani was a member of the powerful Pleasure Guild, highly trained and well paid for her services. She was completely free to come and go as she pleased, working in any pleasure house she chose. Upon retirement, she would have her pick of suitors and a healthy cash settlement, more than enough to support her for the rest of her life.

Unfortunately, the Guild only accepted extremely beautiful girls in their early teens as apprentices. Calla was too old to join even if she wasn’t a slave, she thought wistfully.

“Dani? It’s me, Calla,” she said into the little com outside Dani’s door. It was still a little early for Dani to be up after working all night, but Calla knew Dani wouldn’t mind her stopping by. They got very few opportunities to visit, especially lately. Things had simply been too chaotic.

“Calla?” Dani’s voice floated out through the speaker. “It’s good to hear your voice.

Come on in.”

Pressing her palm to the doorplate, Calla waited for the door to slide open. When it did, the scent of Dani’s perfume wafted out into the corridor. Dani stood in the doorway, dressed in a luxurious silk robe tied around the waist. Her long, blond hair fell to her waist in fat curls. Calla knew she must have just crawled out of bed, but she still looked like a vid star. Dani always looked perfect–whenever Calla asked how, Dani would simply wink and whisper “trade secret.”

“Come in, come in,” Dani said, engulfing her in a warm hug, then gesturing toward the low couch in her living area. Dani’s apartment was tiny, like every apartment on the cramped station, yet somehow it seemed like a different world to Calla. Everything was draped with silk and soft pillows, and there were holo pictures on the walls from all over the galaxy, one from each of the places Dani had lived and worked. She’d been everywhere.

“It’s so good to see you, Dani,” Calla said, smiling warmly at her friend. “Things have been so strange since the occupation started. You know, almost all of the Saurellians are staying at the hostel. They’ve taken over the whole place.”

“I’m surprised they even bother to get rooms anywhere,” Dani said with a laugh.

“I’d swear they spend all their free time at the House of Lilies–though they’re hardly sleeping there,” she added with a wink.

“Really?” Calla asked, curious despite herself. Dani’s stories of the pleasure house always intrigued her. Not that she was interested in learning any more about the Saurellian commander, of course, she told herself. She needed to keep her distance from him. But it was interesting to learn more about their conquerors.

“Oh, yes,” Dani said. She sighed dramatically and draped herself back against the pillows. “You wouldn’t believe what those men are like in bed. They’re
insatiable
. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I have to say, if I wasn’t a card-carrying member of the Guild, I’d do it with any of them for free… I swear the credits are just a perk.”

“I see,” Calla said. For once, she felt like she truly understood what Dani was talking about. She’d certainly never experienced sex as wonderful as what she’d had with the commander. If it wasn’t for Jenner, she’d have taken him up on his offer in a heartbeat.

“Last night I was with one named Seth,” Dani said. Calla’s breath caught. Was Dani talking about her Saurellian? “He’s like a machine. He fucked me twice in a row! I must’ve come something like five times. I can hardly walk this morning, yet I know for a fact that he had at least one other girl last night after me.”

Calla’s brow furrowed. Seth had sex with two other women last night?

“Was he, um, one of the ones staying at our hostel, do you think?” she asked, trying not to sound too curious. It didn’t matter of course. Seth could never be hers, even for a few days. Only a slave who was a complete fool would allow herself to get involved with a free man like him. He’d have to leave eventually, and then she’d be left to Jenner’s tender mercies. No man was worth it.

“Probably,” Dani said. “He’s the commander, so I would imagine that he’s staying there.”

It was him, Calla realized. If he’d left her to head straight for the pleasure house, then he must not have been as interested in her as she had originally thought. He’d seemed so angry when she told him she was married, but maybe that was just his way.

He was Saurellian, after all. They were all crazy. It was stupid of her to think she’d actually been anything special to him, she thought in disgust.

“Um, Dani, I have a question for you.” Calla said after a brief pause. Dani was probably her best source of information on the Saurellians–she might as well take the opportunity to learn as much as she could about their new governors. “What do you think of the Saurellians, other than just what they’re like in bed, I mean?”

“Well, I like them,” Dani said, after pausing for a minute to consider her answer.

“They’re open about what they want. They’re here, they’re leaving soon, and they aren’t interested in playing any games, especially with women like me. I hate it when men pretend to be emotionally involved in sex.”

“What do you mean, they’re leaving?” Calla asked, confused. “I thought they were going to keep the station. I mean, they fought hard to take it. They must want to keep the mining belts.”

“Well, from what I hear, they’ll be leaving soon,” Dani said, lazily leaning over and picking up a fruit from the basket on the table. Dani offered the little basket to Calla, who took a citrus.

She didn’t get these very often, so they were a special treat. Calla suspected Dani realized that, because she always seemed to have them on hand when Calla came to visit.

“The
warriors
will be leaving, that is,” Dani clarified. “They’re sending a governor or something, with a regular occupation force. Their military is totally separate from the civil authority. From what Jax tells me–he’s one of my regulars–the soldiers really hate it when they have to stay put for too long like this. They like action, and this isn’t cutting it.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Calla objected. “The imperial troops liked action, too, but that didn’t stop them from occupying the station for years.”

“I don’t think it’s quite the same with Saurellians,” Dani said. “It’s kind of weird, but these soldiers are different from the imperial soldiers.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, this is going to sound strange, but I think they’re just kind of sexually frustrated and restless all of the time,” Dani replied, laughing a little. “According to Jax, they can only really be satisfied when they get a life mate, and there aren’t enough of them to go around. I guess that only about one female is born for every four or five men in their home system, and while they can mate with human women, they can’t bond with them. Once they bond, they bond for life, but the poor saps that don’t get one of the women are just out of luck. Jax told me that by the time they’re about 25, they pretty much have to leave the home system because they tend to get out of control, even violent.”

“That’s horrible,” Calla said. “And they can’t bond with anyone outside their home system?”

“Nope,” Dani said. “They can fuck all they want, but it’s never quite enough.

According to Jax, most of them won’t live past their 40th birthday. They get into too many fights. When they send a governor to the station, he’ll be bonded and stable, a family man. Otherwise their occupation would never last.”

Calla licked the last drop of citrus juice from her fingers, then looked longingly at the little clock hanging on Dani’s wall. It was past time for her to go. With a sigh, she pushed herself off the couch and stood up.

“I need to get going, Dani,” she said. “I’m sure Mistress Jenner’s watching the clock again, just waiting for me to be late.”

“I hate that old bitch,” Dani said, disgust written all over her lovely face. “She’s such a hypocrite–condemning pleasure workers like me, yet keeping you as a slave and dealing on the black market. I wish I could buy you, but the Guild forbids us to purchase slaves, even to free them. I doubt she’d sell you, anyway.”

“You’re too good to me,” Calla said, standing up and giving Dani a hug. “You’re right, though, she probably wouldn’t sell me. Unfortunately, she almost seems to like me in some sick way. She’s told me more than once that the only way I’m getting away from her is to die or get sold to a port-side pimp.”

“Bitch,” Dani hissed with feeling, then sighed heavily. “At the very least, take some of the citrus fruit with you. I know you love it.”

“Thanks, Dani,” Calla said, pocketing the fruit. She’d share it with the other girls at the hostel later. “I wish I had something to give you.”

“Oh, I can always buy more citrus fruit,” Dani said gently. “Good friends are harder to find. I count myself lucky that I ran into you in the market that day. You saved me from losing a fortune on that fake jewelry, you know. I still can’t believe I fell for that guy’s spiel.”

Calla laughed at the memory. She’d seen old Gavin trying to sell Dani some of the same jewelry he usually sold to the drunken miners. Nothing but tin, with a coat of gold paint. Dani had been new to the station, however, and wasn’t used to unregulated trade standards. Calla had stepped in and warned her just in time. They’d been unlikely friends ever since.

“Take care, and I’ll see you later,” Calla said, then stepped out the door. If she was lucky, she’d get home before Jenner realized she’d taken a side trip. Fortunately Mistress Jenner–while cruel–was not particularly smart.

* * * * *

It was nearly the noon hour by the time she arrived at the small, back-corridor door that was the service entrance to the hostel. A tall Saurellian guarded the entryway, and another was seated just inside the door. Both scrutinized her identity chit closely before allowing her to go through to Mistress Jenner’s office, located off the kitchen. They’d seen her before, of course, but it didn’t stop them from thoroughly checking her identity.

The Saurellians might like to party, Calla thought, but they were all business when it came to security.

“I’ve gotten all the supplies,” she said when her middle-aged owner looked up and acknowledged her with a grunt. Jenner was sitting at her desk, all three hundred pounds of quivering flesh tucked into a chair that was far too small for her massive body. Jess, with his dark sense of humor, had gone so far as to take bets among the slaves as to when the chair would break. “Here’s the list,” Calla said. “The deliveries should be complete by this afternoon.”

Jenner reached up a hand for the small transaction pad Calla carried. Calla’s fingers brushed against those of her mistress as she handed the pad over, and as usual she had to suppress a small shudder at the feel of Jenner’s skin. They were cold and dry, like a snake’s. Or at least like Calla imagined snake skin would feel. She’d always thought of Mistress Jenner as snake-like, with her staring eyes and stale scent. Her mistress was cold and cruel, something Calla had seen demonstrated time and again over the years.