The Admiral found his voice. “This was a high risk mission. We faced the unknown. No one has ever discovered the homeworld of the Gran. Now we know where to find them! Now we know where to hurt them! Jumpships are returning Earthside with news of the Gran colony locations and our assessment of the Gran’s defensive capabilities.”
He looked so smug, so proud, as if his sacrifice was meaningful and righteous. Stupid son-of-a-bitch.
“You still haven’t found the Gran’s homeworld, and it wouldn’t matter if you did. The Gran have lived in space colonies with artificial G for centuries. Their homeworld means nothing! What you’ve done, you imbecilic moron, is force the Emperor to declare humans a threat to the empire! You have started a war you can’t possibly win. Your ignorance has doomed your species!”
I listened to the Admiral’s screams as my blade burned the flesh at the back of his neck. “You and your worthless force of Shadow Cruisers have brought the full fury of the Gran’s Imperial fleet down upon humanity! They know where your homeworld is. They know exactly where to find, kill or enslave all of you! You have no space colonies for refuge! You can’t evacuate the planet! Humanity can’t survive in space indefinitely!”
My fury got the best of me. Regretfully, I took his head off. Though part of me wished I hadn’t done it … still felt good to end the arrogant fuck. He’d started a war and managed to thrust me and everyone I loved into the middle of it.
Cesar’s voice broke through to me and snapped me out of my rage-fueled bloodlust. “Angel, what the fuck did you do? That’s the Admiral!”
* * * *
Chapter 6
I dragged Captain Secora into the ranks of the Emperor’s Warriors. Not one of the Marines guarding the other officers moved to stop me. They had watched me decapitate their Admiral and done nothing but flinch. I suspected our little chat created doubt as to the wisdom of the DC sending Marines across the galaxy on a fool’s mission. Encouraging to know that human military possessed a modicum of intelligence.
I hoped the Cats wouldn’t see Secora as a combatant, given their misogynistic gender beliefs. I addressed the Emperor, Secora in hand. “She speaks the truth, but her knowledge may not be complete. Humans hold secrets at the highest level of rank. She knows little about her master’s motives. Yet I believe she may be valuable if we intend to negotiate with the humans … later.” I gestured towards the soldiers whose faces reflected the knowledge they might soon die. “If we hold the rest of them captive, we may have better leverage.”
I didn’t want to think about what might be next on the Emperor’s agenda, but I knew we needed someone from the DC who could relate to them. Maybe, if these Cats didn’t shred the woman where she stood, maybe we could get her to understand something about the Gran. Maybe I could help her understand Cats were not beasts, and humanity and the Gran can coexist.
If the Emperor put a stop to the slave trade.
If the DC refrained from attacking Gran colonies.
If the universe would take a moment to listen to my ridiculous wishes and stop treating me like the failed genetic experiment I was.
Yeah right.
I knew the ugly truth. I might be one of the last free persons in existence forced to watch humanity hauled across the galaxy for slave labor in a hard rock mine.
The Emperor reached out to Secora and rubbed his blood-splattered claws across her chin. “You believe her? She is not false?”
The woman stared into the Emperor’s eyes, entranced. I sensed she held onto her bladder by the threads of her will. I squeezed her hand. “Relax. He doesn’t want to kill you.”
She looked at me wide-eyed. “He’s going to eat me, isn’t he?”
I stopped myself from laughing in her face. “He wants to know if you will speak the truth. He wants to understand the DC, to understand what they hoped to achieve by violating the treaty. The Emperor is the reason you’re still alive.”
Her eyes took in the crowd of tall Warrior Cats surrounding her, and her bottom lip quivered as she tried to keep her voice from breaking. “I will tell him what I know, but I doubt it’s what he wants to hear.”
I nodded to the Emperor. “I believe she will speak truth. I pray her knowledge will be helpful.” I felt better about her by comparison to the other DC goons. She seemed wiser than the Admiral … sharp enough not to piss me off.
Looking in the Emperor’s yellow, vertical slit eyes as he nodded acceptance of our new prisoner, I knew what this meant. Secora was our bargaining chip and source of intel when we faced the DC in their own territory. Soon.
Fuck.
Please universe, don’t make me the instrument of mankind’s enslavement. Please, I beg you.
* * * *
We left the battle zone littered with the floating debris of dead DC warships, and a handful of blasted Gran Imperial ships. The Emperor’s fleet had destroyed or disabled every Shadow Cruiser they could find, but not without real losses. On return to the palace, we were light a third of the fleet, and the Emperor’s flagship which was still embedded deep in the DC command center. We’d gained a handful of DC Marines, a couple of low ranked officers, and one Captain Secora, all held prisoner in a cage very similar to the one I’d lived in when the Gran kidnapped me from Nugene.
Aboard the safety of an Imperial cruiser, Cesar and Azad tended to Chancy’s leg with the help of a Cat Medic. Despite Chancy’s protests – load of feckin’ ballscht … keep the mangy bastard away – the Medic managed to clean Chancy’s wounds and redress them with a medicated bandage. The men said nothing, but I clearly saw the difference. The plasma burns on his thigh and knee had been reduced significantly. Weeks’ worth of healing had occurred in hours. I suspected after a couple days he’d have only a minimal scar to show for it, a small mark to remind him of a wound that could have disabled him for life.
Cesar’s eyes caught mine and I saw a strange mixture of emotions. Gratitude I had saved his friend, but also fear. I don’t know why I inspired fear in my lover, but I liked it. Cesar’s fear gave me a heady rush of power. My pirate owed me an apology, and I intended to collect.
I grabbed ahold of Cesar’s arm and headed for the nearest available cabin. He followed my lead without complaint as I pulled him into the shower room. We helped each other remove our burnt, bloody armor, which detached easily once deactivated. Standing naked under the steam shower, Cesar moved slow and deliberate as he washed the caked blood from my hair and body with a sensual, soapy massage. He’d been strangely silent, and I thought I knew why – the Admiral.
Soaking in the hot steam bath, letting the gore rinse away, I didn’t want to drag it out for discussion, but I also hated the weight of Cesar’s silent issues. I’d rather face the problem than have it explode in my face later. “Are you up for that talk?”
He murmured with his lips brushing my ear lightly. “Will it do any good? What’s done is done. We passed the point of no return, Angel. You killed an Admiral of the Outer Rim Fleet. When the DC find out about our participation in this war, we’re all fucked. I shouldn’t complain – I knew what I was getting into when I signed on to fight beside the Emperor …” he sighed heavily. “It’s been one hell of day, Angel. One hell of a day.”
Finally, the man took responsibility for his actions. I guess it was easier to blame me than admit he hated the DC so much he’d sided with the Cats against them.
I melted into his hands as he rubbed the aches from my tight, sore shoulders. Just when I was ready to tear into him … he reminded me why I needed him so much. His fingertips gradually worked down my shoulders to my aching nipples. He squeezed and twisted around my hard buds and warm wetness blossomed between my legs. As his scruffy face buried in the left side of my neck, nipping at my skin, my hand reached down to feel my swollen clit. I rubbed myself as Cesar gently pinched my nipples and pressed the head of his hard cock into the cleft of my ass. My butthole puckered and gave way for warm, steam-wet cock as he pushed. He spread my ass open, sliding deeper and deeper in thro
ugh the out door.
I considered letting him sodomize me, enjoy the wonderful pain, but I was too wet, too needy. I wanted mine, now. I needed my lover inside me. And he owed me, bigtime.
I pushed his cock away from my ass and turned into his embrace to run my fingers over his powerful chest. My hand squeezed around his hot, slippery, erection and tugged him gently. I knew his pale, muscular body from top to bottom, and I loved the feel of him in my hands. He leaned in for a sweet kiss and his unshaved whiskers tickled my face.
This was my joy in life – the one thing the universe let me have, Cesar. No matter how ugly my world became, no matter what I did in the name of loyalty or survival, I had Cesar, and that was enough for me.
I pulled on his shoulders, using my inhuman strength to guide him down to his knees. “Apologize to me.”
Looking up at me through the misty steam, his eyelashes heavy with droplets of water, he started to speak. I curled my fist in his short-cropped hair and yanked his face between my legs. My wet pussy muffled his speech. “No more words. Show me how sorry you are. Make me a believer.”
Cesar dug his fingers into my ass and devoured me. I lost count of the number of times I came in his face as he sucked, licked, nibbled and pleasured me endlessly. Sometime later, on the floor of the steam shower, my quivering pussy grinding on Cesar’s teeth, I became a believer. I’d forgiven him several times over.
Lost in his tongue fuck, I didn’t complain when he flipped me over on the slippery floor and pushed all of his throbbing hard cock deep into my ass. Gentleman that he was, he penetrated my wet pussy with the welcome addition of two, then three, then four fingers. Cesar demolished my ass with hard, grinding strokes as I worked my hips to grind his fist deeper into me, a glorious double whammy. His balls slapped my butt and he grunted my name each time he buried his cock in my ass.
It hurt a lot, and I tried so hard to coordinate with his thrusting cock and grinding hand, making sure it hurt even more. Though sore and tired, my need for Cesar blotted out the world around us, gifting me a glorious carnal escape into steamy-wet vicious sex. Since learning the truth about my ignoble birth in the clone tanks of Nugene, my lover lacked a certain finesse when he fucked me. He knew he could hurt me as much as he wanted, that I’d enjoy it immensely. This revelation had changed him.
On my hands and knees, I helped Cesar hurt me. He grunted, pushed, moaned, thrusted, and yanked my wet hair, forcing me to arch back as he hammered in with slamming stabs. Pulling my hair, moaning my name, his fist buried in my pussy, Cesar filled my ass with the spreading warmth of his come and sunk his teeth into the back my shoulder. My sweet pain made me come so hard I gushed all over his hand.
The man knew how to ravage me, I’d taught him well. He slowly slid his fist out, along with his still-hard cock, and though I gasped for my breath in agony and ecstasy, I never complained once. Pain was my life-long friend, and Cesar had learned to give me exactly what I needed.
My knees scraped and bleeding, I turned around and washed my blood off my lover’s cock. “Thank you.”
He swayed on his knees, looking exhausted. Instead of pushing him for more, I took his hand and led him to bed. Men had limits, even Cesar, and I respected that. I knew I’d get more of what I wanted after I let him rest.
* * * *
Chapter 7
I woke my pirate with his hard cock in my throat. He loved when I swallowed him all the way down. I could suck him for hours if I chose to, if he could keep it hard that long. Male libido only went so far. I timed it right, just before he came in my mouth.
I came up from under the blanket and smiled, licking his pre-come off my lips as he growled with the loss of my suction on his ready cock. I watched him slide off the edge of his orgasm, his hands fisted in the blanket in utter frustration.
“Angel! Damn you!” Strain, sexual frustration, lust, disappointment, love, and anger – it all mixed together in his intense eyes. This was how I got what I needed, by pushing Cesar to the edge – sometimes a little past it.
I slipped off the bed and backed away. Cesar’s eyes darkened and he leapt off the bed to follow me. His dripping, hard, erection bobbed in the air, a hot missile seeking its target. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
I backed away to the wall, so horny I could almost come. “If you want me, you’ll have to take me the hard way.”
I bit my arm and my pain switch sent a spear of pleasure straight to my hot wet channel. I moaned and climaxed in front of him. He watched me get mine without giving him any satisfaction, and a feral gleam burned in his eyes. I needed the full sexual assault of my alpha male pirate, and this was what it took to get it.
He tackled me and I went down with him giggling and coming all over myself. He pried my legs open and tried to stab inside me but my knees clamped shut and trapped his thighs in my powerful grip.
He levered down onto me, his teeth gritted in concentration. God, I loved this man so much. I fought harder to keep him off, squeezing his thighs brutally. I reached down and stroked his full length, keeping him hard, primed. I wanted him to ride the sharp edge of his sexual need for me. With the amount of force in his thrusts, if he pushed through my resistance, it was going to hurt.
He pushed and shoved, but he couldn’t get past the inhuman strength of my thighs. I squeezed a bit of white come from the tip of his cock and rubbed it on my pussy lips, a mere centimeter away from the tip of his erection. “If you want me, fight me.”
I’d never pushed him this hard before. I knew I was still angry, still making him pay for his blatant distrust and hateful words.
He growled into my chest and sunk his teeth into my breast, finally giving me what I needed. The pain hit me and I shuddered and sighed in joy. His thighs slid past my knees and Cesar thrust deep. He impaled me, filling me beyond full. All the way inside me, his teeth around my bleeding nipple, Cesar fucked me savagely.
I screamed his name over and over … so damn wonderful.
Thrashing and humping and grinding, he lifted me high off the floor and slammed my back against the wall. Cesar growled in my face and bit my bottom lip as he thrust inside me, pushing with all his weight and power to dig his thick, hard cock ever deeper. I kicked my heels into his back and spread my legs wide to receive his punishing stabs. He drove in to my limit and pounded my pain switches repeatedly. My glorious euphoria soaked us both. I came for him as he pummeled me with a wicked grudgefuck.
His hips bruising my inner thighs, suddenly his hands wrapped around my throat, all my weight held by his brutal thrusting cock and his punishing choke-hold. Dominated, fighting for air, something inside me snapped and I convulsed with an intensely explosive chain reaction of overlapping orgasms. My breath wheezed as I screamed in my lover’s face, shuddering in violent, gushing climaxes.
My vision turned black and I soared through the blissful dark. I awoke in Cesar’s arms. We sat on the floor as he rocked me back and forth like a baby, his fat cock stroking my insides lovingly. Spread eagled on his lap, I savored his loving embrace. He held me like I was the most precious thing in the universe.
I floated in a beautiful, sated release, basking in the sensation of being loved above all else … felt like a dream come true.
“Angel, I’m so sorry. I … I was so furious and frustrated. You drove me too hard. You made me insane, woman. Please forgive me.” His heart-felt apology made it difficult to tell him how happy I was.
“Shhh … it’s okay.” Drunk and high on punishing sex, I could hardly speak. My voice came out a hoarse croak and I rubbed my sore nipple, catching another spike of pain.
I wrapped my legs around him and ground my hot, wet pussy onto his still-hard cock. I dug him in, right to my spot. My weak hands held his bristled face and I delved into his dark eyes. “Its fine, Cesar.” Humping his cock, harder and faster, grinding my pelvis against him, I pecked his lips. “You can’t harm me. Stop apologizing. You know I want it this way.”
I rode him and groun
d my wet pussy faster and faster, trying to punch my pain switch once more. His hands clawed my ass frantically, and his hot come filled me as he convulsed in my arms. I sighed. There went my immediate hopes for more sexual punishment. Lucky for Cesar I’d been made sterile. No matter how often he came inside me, no chance of creating little Angels to run around and fuck up the galaxy.
I kissed him hard. “I love you so much.”
He rested his forehead against mine, his eyes boring into my soul. “I love you too … but sometimes I fear I bit off too much. You’re more than I can handle, Angel. More than any man can handle.”
I hadn’t seen that one coming. Sweating, hurting and yet heavily sated, I couldn’t disagree more. “It’s enough for me, Cesar. You make me so happy. You give me everything I need.”
“I’m not talking about sex …” His eyes held me, and I began to grasp the deeper meaning behind his admission.
“You mean the Admiral?”
He nodded, but I sensed there was more.
“And the Prince?”
He nodded again.
I felt Cesar’s rough, unshaved face on my palms and looked him deep in the eyes. “I love the Prince, as much as I love you, but it’s a very different kind of love. I can’t compartmentalize my life, Cesar. I am the Princess, I am his mate, but I need you. Not any other man – only you. Do you see? You’re not sharing me. You’re the only man I want. But the Prince is … his love, his faith in me, he empowers me. He gave me a place in this universe, something I’ve never had before. I need the Prince too.”
Cesar rested his head on my shoulder with a weary sigh, and his hands gently rubbed the marks he’d left on my ass from earlier, when he fucked me stupid. “I think I can live with you … and the Prince. But what happens when the DC find out about the Admiral’s impromptu execution?”