An Ellora's Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Demand to Submit
ISBN # 1-4199-0780-8
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Demand to Submit Copyright(c) 2006 Jaci Burton
Edited by Mary Altman.
Cover art by Syneca.
Electronic book Publication: October 2006
This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.(r) 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors' imagination and used fictitiously.
Content Advisory:
S - ENSUOUS
E - ROTIC
X
-
TREME
Ellora's Cave Publishing offers three levels of RomanticaTM reading entertainment: S (Sensuous), E (Erotic), and X (X-treme).
The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E-rotic.
S- ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.
E- rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. E-rated titles might contain material that some readers find objectionable--in other words, almost anything goes, sexually. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry in terms of both sexual language and descriptiveness in these works of literature.
X- treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Stories designated with the letter X tend to contain difficult or controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.
DEMAND TO SUBMIT
Jaci Burton
Jaci Burton
Prologue
They'd left her in the dark. She'd heard their movements and the hurried whispers as they rushed to destroy the evidence of what they'd done. All that time she'd waited, wondering when they'd come for her.
But they never had. For some reason, they'd let her live.
She knew it had been their plan to destroy her. They'd told her as much. She'd waited, locked in this cage without food or water for...how long? After a while, she'd looked forward to death, actually wanted to die. Why not? It wasn't as if she was wholly human any longer. Better dead than live with the way they'd changed her.
Time had ceased to exist. She no longer knew the day or hour. No sounds permeated her dungeon. Not even the rhythmic ticking of a clock, a lifeline to reality.
Deprived of sound and light, her senses dulled. She'd even stopped talking to herself just to hear a voice. What was the point? Her stomach had long ago stopped rumbling.
Now she just felt weak, filthy, her fingers torn and bloody from her efforts to break the locks on her cage.
She was alone on the island. They'd packed up and run.
Why hadn't they killed her? If she was discovered alive, all their efforts to cover up or destroy evidence would be wasted.
It would have been better if they'd terminated her. Anything would have been preferable to starving to death alone in this lab. She shivered, wrapping her arms around her too-thin, naked body. Her own smell sickened her. How long had it been since she'd bathed?
For the hundredth time that day, she licked her cracked lips, desperately wishing for a single drop of water to quench her thirst. She lay down on the cold slab and curled up upon herself, praying that today would be the day death would come.
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Because even as tired, hungry and sick as she was, the need still boiled within her--
the desire that had been forced upon her and wouldn't go away.
The only thing that kept her going was anger. Flashes of vengeance warred with despair and she had waffled between the two for the past couple weeks. She latched on to the anger when she needed to remind herself not to give up. It burned inside her, giving her the strength to stay alive, if only to heap curses on their souls.
If by some grace of God she ever got out of here, she'd find them someday. And when she did, she'd kill them. Slowly, leisurely, making experiments out of them and treating them exactly as they'd treated her. Callous and without feeling.
Damn them for what they'd done to her!
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Jaci Burton
Chapter One
Marina of the Intergalactic Enforcement Unit shook her head at the devastation of the lab. Whoever had run this illegal operation had taken off in a hurry. A big damn hurry. And they'd had plenty of time to get out, considering it had taken Marina and Kaden over a week to traverse the mountain ranges here in the South Pacific. Having to fly over meant they couldn't see deep within the valleys to find the lab. Thankfully they'd spotted metal glinting off sunlight and zeroed in on this location--one of the smaller islands.
"We missed them. Looks like it hasn't been long since they left, though. There's still fresh food in the cooling units."
"Check for survivors," Kaden said, his lips set in a grim line.
She nodded and began to move aside pieces of debris. God, it looked like a bomb had exploded in here. They'd been hunting these bastards for months now, after seeing some of the poor women who'd been altered by their experiments. Basket cases, most of them, too far gone for any help before they died.
Genetic experimentation was sometimes a good thing and more often a very bad one. Especially when it was done for personal gain, as it had been on this island.
Not that Marina minded a short visit to a tropical island. She and Kaden were usually sent to some icy, forbidden planet. This place was warm, sunny and she'd love to linger on the beaches awhile with her husband.
She looked over at Kaden and sighed. Hard to believe they'd been married six months already. Her pulse still raced and her sex moistened every time she looked at him. Working with him was a plus, too, since Kaden never wanted to be apart from her.
They worked side by side as equals, patrolling the galaxy and bringing in wanted 6
Demand to Submit
criminals. At night he dominated her, pleasured her, teased her and took her to the very brink until she begged for an orgasm.
At first she thought she'd hate having him around all the time. But she was wrong.
The thought of being separated from Kaden made her physically ache.
The sound of a moan quickly diverted her attention away from her dark, brooding husband. She followed the sound down a long, dark hallway, stepping into a room that looked like a damned zoo. Smelled like one too. She wrinkled her nose at the foul scent.
Cages lined every wall. Huge, human-sized cages. Fortunately all were empty.
Rectangular slabs were in the center of the room, stirrups and straps attached to them.
Needles and broken vials of strange liquids sat beside each table. All were shattered, their contents dried and caked over the edges of the trays.
Marina heard the moan again and headed toward the darkened corner of the room.
She yanked aside discarded furniture and pulled a tarp off, hearing only a whimper and the skittering of something shifting in the cage. The foul scent grew more prominent here. She grabbed her palmlight and clicked it on, resting it in her hand and raising it over the enclosure.
Her heart dropped to her feet as she spotted a figure huddled in the farthest corner.
Obviously female, as the bastards who ran this lab had only messed with feminine genetics. How else to make the perfect submissive, right? Anger bubbled up inside her and threatened to explode. But somehow she doubted the poor creature would appreciate her rage right now.
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"Honey, I'm here to help you," she said, keeping her voice low and nonthreatening.
"Can you understand me?"
No answer. Then again, she hadn't really expected one. She clicked on her dialect converter and spoke again, hoping whatever language the woman spoke could be understood. Still no answer.
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Marina crouched down in front of the cage, shining the light toward her own face so the woman could see her. "My name is Marina. I'm an officer with the Intergalactic police and I've been sent to rescue you. No one will harm you."
"They want me dead," the woman whispered, her voice hoarse as if she'd been screaming for hours. The woman's rage and frustration were clear, her response coming in a guttural growl.
Fury filled Marina, but she forced it back. "Whoever put you in there is gone now.
The place is empty. I'm going to unlock this cage and let you out."
Marina reached for her tools, setting to work on the door's double locks. She stilled, spotting the blood right away. It covered the locks and dripped down the bars onto the front of the cage floor. She'd bet any amount of money that the woman's hands were torn and bloody from trying to get out.
Bastards. They'd pay for this. Training her anger on severing the locks to the cage, she worked on cutting them off. She made no progress, though. The locks must be made out of some kind of impenetrable metal. She might need Kaden's help with this.
"What are you doing?" he asked, appearing behind her.
Marina jumped. The woman shrieked and tightened into a trembling ball at the back of the cage.
"Lower your voice!" she hissed at Kaden. "She's alive and probably not too damn happy to see a man. I need your help getting this lock off."
"Then get out of my way."
"Hang on a minute." She looked into the cage, once again shining her palmlight onto her own face. "Honey, this is my husband, my mate. He will not harm you in any way. He's going to help me get these locks off so we can get you out of there, okay?"
The woman didn't answer, but she did nod. Marina motioned to Kaden, who slowly lowered himself to the side of the cage and used a laser to cut through the thick metal. The locks fell off, clanging to the stone floor.
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"Back away, Kaden. She's scared and more than a little pissed off, I think."
Kaden stepped out of the room and Marina opened the door, inching away to give the woman some breathing space. "Come on out. You're free now."
She didn't budge. Marina held out her hand. "I won't hurt you. I promise I won't hurt you. Please come out."
The woman hesitated for a few seconds, then began to crawl toward Marina, keeping her gaze trained on Marina's weapons belt. When she reached the entrance, she looked around, no doubt expecting someone to pounce on her and toss her back inside the cage. Marina stood and moved back, waiting for the woman to grow comfortable enough to crawl completely out.
It took a few minutes but she finally inched out onto the floor, crouched on the balls of her feet like she was ready to spring into a fast run.
Not that she'd have the strength to even walk, Marina guessed. The woman was naked, her body nothing but bones and thin skin. Hadn't they even fed her?
She was dark, no doubt a native to this area. Even in her shattered state, the woman was beautiful. Skin like dark honey, her tangled hair hung down to her waist. But her eyes spoke volumes. Golden amber, they had a haunted look that showed every one of her emotions. Right now it was fear and distrust.
"Where will you take me?" she asked, her voice raspy.
"We're taking you back to my headquarters in the States. California. You will be treated well there. Fed, clothed and a doctor will make sure you return to normal."
"I'll never be normal again," she whispered, resting her chin against her knees.
When Kaden stepped into the room the woman's gaze shot to the floor.
"Here's a gown," he said, handing it to Marina. "I found it in one of the abandoned quarters."
Marina took the long, colorful cloth and held it out to the woman. "Wrap this around yourself and we can go."
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The woman nodded. Marina helped her stand--the poor thing was so weak she could barely hold herself upright, yet she insisted she be allowed to dress on her own. It was almost as if she couldn't bear someone's touch. She took the cloth, winding it expertly around her body. She stepped toward them, keeping her gaze downcast. But then she forced her chin up, glaring at Kaden as if he were somehow responsible for her predicament. A war was going on inside this woman's mind. Marina could tell the woman fought the desire to speak to him as an equal with the need to bow and treat Kaden, a male, with submissive respect. The tension emanating from her was palpable.
But her internal fight weakened her. She shuddered, sighed and dropped to the floor, her knees smacking the slab with a bone-jarring thud. It was obvious that her exhaustion had finally won out over determination. The girl had a lot of fight in her though. Marina admired that.
Bending down, Marina reached underneath the woman's arm to help her up. She jerked at Marina's touch but didn't try to pull away.
As they walked toward the ship, Marina asked, "What is your name?"
She responded in a low whisper. "Waia."
*
Laren paced her office and glared at Marina and Kaden. "Why did you bring her to me?"
Kaden shrugged. "You're the head of the Intergalactic Enforcement Unit. We figured you'd want to talk to her. I've entered a report in the data files on this case. The woman is currently in the hospital ward undergoing treatment for malnutrition. The tests run on her so far indicate she's one of the altered."
Laren couldn't believe this woman was being dumped on her. But Kaden never did anything without a good reason. He wasn't the type to offload his professional burdens on someone else. "And then what?"
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Kaden said, "We have to go after her creators and don't have time to find someone who can deal with her."
"She's a mess, Laren," Marina added with a disgusted frown. "Besides the malnutrition and dehydration, there's the DNA angle. She burns with the desire for a master so badly it's like a drug addiction. I've never seen a woman who'd been changed this severely before. But she's also angry as hell and refusing to allow herself to act as a submissive. She's fighting her altered genetics and it's killing her."
Laren nodded. "I've seen it with some other women. Most don't make it because none of the Doms know how to handle them."
"She's the worst I've seen. It's ingrained within her, like a physiological need that can't be denied. But the experiment didn't remove her independent spirit, which puts her at war with herself."
Laren turned to Kaden. "Surely you know someone."
"On my planet there are plenty of Doms. But no one who can deal with her special needs."
They'd managed to find a few of the women who'd had their DNA altered by the vicious savages. They'd created submissives as if they were growing crops on that island, then sold them as slaves to the highest bidder. Once their illegal experimentation had been discovered, they'd shut down their labs and ran. Marina and Kaden had found their secret location too late for any of the others.
None of the women who'd been put out in the galaxy as slaves had survived. It was as if they fought demons within themselves that ended up destroying them. Only the one remained.
"We have to go, Laren," Kaden said. "There's only one person I can think of who might be able to help her."
"Who's that?"
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He wrote the name down on her desk pad. "I included the coordinates to his planet too. I suggest you take her there in person, when she's capable of travel. A communication via telecom won't convince him as much as a visual inspection might.
But to be honest, I'm not even sure he'll be willing to take her
on."
"All right," she sighed, knowing that the woman wouldn't be able to go anywhere for at least a little while. She was still too ill.
"And bring him chocolate," Kaden added with a wink.
Laren arched a brow and smiled. "Okay."
"We have to get back on this before the trail gets too cold," Marina said.
"You two go. I'll figure something out."
After Marina and Kaden left, Laren sat at her desk and looked out the window.
Hovercraft whizzed by, signaling rush hour in San Francisco.
At least some people would be able to go home. Laren had a feeling it was going to be another long night.
The woman's predicament bothered her. She picked up the note Kaden had left, her eyes widening.
She hadn't thought about him as an option. She'd never met him, but she knew he was the very best at training submissives. Would he be able to deal with the woman's pain? It wasn't like her genetics could be reversed. No, the bastards who had created her made sure of that. The alteration to her DNA was permanent, her needs as real as the need for air.
If she wasn't given what she needed, Waia would die of hunger.
Not the usual type of biological hunger. Her plight was sexual hunger, the desire--
no, utter need--to submit to a master. But she was flawed, too, as were all the women who'd been altered. They'd tried retraining some of them but had never succeeded.
Their necessity to be submissive overrode all other basic needs. The psyche then attacked itself, driving most of them insane.
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Maybe this man could deal with her, could retrain her so that she could live at least a semblance of a normal life.
She sent a message to her superiors, giving them a heads-up that as soon as Waia was physically able, she'd be taking her to the planet Dargon.
To Kyr.
*
Waia gripped the handles of her seat, terrified at the thought of hurtling through space. If, in fact, that's where they were going. These types of small craft could also be used for Earth-bound travel.
Laren looked over at her and smiled. "Relax. I promise you'll like where we're going."
What if Laren was taking her back to them? Now that she was healed, would they return her to her island? She hated this fear--it was still a new emotion to her. After all, she had once been a strong, capable leader who feared nothing.