Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I (34 page)

* * * *

Tariq stared down at Koryn and
Emerald, struggling with the emotions roiling inside of him and
finally moved to the table and set down the tray he’d brought.
Koryn jerked and pushed himself upright the moment the metal hit
the table, staring at Tariq blankly. “What time is it?”

Tariq’s lips tightened. “Around
seven.”

Koryn frowned. “Morning? Or
evening?”

Tariq sent him a deadly look.
“Evening,” he said tightly.

Koryn’s eyes widened. “Are you
serious?”

“
I’m serious.”

He struggled off the bed, staggered
around in a confused circle for a moment and finally grabbed his
discarded uniform from the floor and headed into the bathroom.
Tariq glanced from Koryn’s retreating form to Emerald. She was
awake. She pushed herself up and stared at him. “You might as well
rest until he comes out again,” he said dryly.

She blinked at him, but she lay back
down.

He settled at the table to eat his own
portion of the food while Koryn bathed and dressed. When he came
out, he sent Emerald in to freshen up.

“
What have you been up to
all day?”

Tariq’s face tightened. “I went out to
look over the grids the search parties hadn’t gotten to
yet.”

“
Anything that looks
promising?”

“
No. It’s a waste of
time.” He got up when Emerald returned and told her to sit down and
eat, pacing. “I’ve recalled them to give them a break while we
consider new grid searches. The only two groups we’ve managed to
find were near easily accessible water. I’ve arranged to send
surveyors out in skimmers to look for small patches of cultivated
ground near rivers, streams, and lakes while the men rest up for
the new search. The ships are being prepped for the next grid
search.”

He paused. “You’ll be on one of the
ships when they go out again—you and Emerald. I’ve arranged a
flight crew of androids. The story is that you’ll be dropping the
search team off and the crew is to take you to a place we
discovered where you can get DNA samples. Instead, you’ll leave
immediately for Centaurian. I’ve given the androids the coordinates
we figured out—and I deleted them from my system. You should have
time to reach the stream beyond this system and fold space before
anyone even becomes curious and they won’t be able to track you
after that.

“
We’ll have to move
Emerald the same way we moved the other woman into my quarters. I
hate it, but I don’t see an alternative. She’s too small to pass
for an Anunnaki woman or I’d just get a uniform and have one of the
androids escort her.”

Koryn and Emerald had both turned
white by the time he finished. Koryn recovered first. “You’ve
already made all the arrangements?”

“
Yes.”

Koryn blinked. “How many days do we
have?”

“
Two. The ships will be
prepped and ready to go day after tomorrow and everything else will
be ready by then. The skimmers are going out tomorrow to find the
most likely spots for the grid searches.”

“
But … two days! I don’t
know if I can pack in two days.”

“
You can’t take anything
you aren’t wearing. Emerald will be in your ‘equipment’ case.” He
turned to look at Emerald. “I think we need to sedate her. I
wouldn’t suggest it if I thought we could trust her to be quiet,
but we can’t risk it. See if you can find something that won’t ….”
He stopped and glanced at Koryn, showing the first crack in the
veneer of his cool, business-like façade, and cleared his throat.
“You know.”

Koryn stared at him blankly for a
moment before he finally realized what Tariq was talking about. “It
isn’t going to hurt the fetus—whatever I use. She isn’t far enough
along yet.”

Tariq nodded jerkily. “Good. That’s
good then.” He frowned. “I think that covers it. If you think of
anything I might have forgotten, though, be sure and let me
know.”

Koryn pushed his plate away and sat
tapping at the table, thinking. “Supplies?”

“
There are always extra
for emergencies. It should be more than enough to get you to
Centaurian.”

Koryn frowned. “We don’t know that the
Dinjin didn’t hit that colony, too. What if we get there and
discover there’s nothing there?”

Tariq shook his head. “There’s a
livable planet in that system, regardless—or should be. You’ll have
the ship for shelter, plenty of weapons, supplies for a couple of
months. If you can’t locate any survivors and the situation is too
… disagreeable, you’ll need to consider one of our more remote
outposts. I don’t have any other suggestions.”

“
But … what about the
baby?” Emerald finally asked weakly.

Tariq swallowed convulsively several
times.

“
I’ll be with you,” Koryn
answered for him. “That’s one of the reasons he’s sending me with
you—to take care of you.”

Her chin wobbled threateningly, but
she merely looked down at her lap.

Koryn got up. “I need to go my lab.
I’ve been here all day.”

Tariq’s face hardened, but he merely
nodded.

When he’d left, Tariq studied Emerald
for a few moments. “Go to bed. You should rest.”

She got up and crossed the room,
climbing into the bed. Tariq went to his desk and sat down. He
discovered it was a waste of time. He stared at the holo-screen for
hours, scrolling through report after report and had absolutely no
idea what he’d read. When he finally checked the clock for the
fourth or fifth time and saw it was nearing mid-night, he turned
his system off and got up.

He thought Emerald had long since gone
to sleep—hoped she had. Either he wasn’t as careful climbing into
bed as he’d thought and woke her, though, or she hadn’t been asleep
at all. She shifted against his side and curled her arm around him,
burrowing her face against his chest. “Don’t send me away. I’ll be
good.”

Tariq swallowed with an effort.
“Koryn’s going to take you to one of the Earth colonies, baby. It’s
going to be alright.”

He felt hot tears hit his chest.
“Punish me. I know I deserve it. Beat me. Just don’t send me away.
Please?”

Shifting onto his side, Tariq pulled
her against him, curling his arms around her to hold her close. “I
don’t want to hurt you and you don’t deserve to be beat. It might
hurt the baby.”

She curled her fingers into his flesh.
“The chair then. That won’t hurt the baby and you wouldn’t even
have to stay to watch me. I don’t deserve to get breaks for resting
anyway. I know you and Koryn haven’t been able to get hardly
anything done because you’ve had to spend so much time disciplining
me. You could do whatever you needed to do and I wouldn’t even be
any trouble.”

“
Shhh,” Tariq said,
lifting a hand to cup her head. “No more discipline. You aren’t
going to be a slave, baby. I won’t have to worry that someone will
take you away from me that might hurt you. You’ll be safe and my
baby will be safe. Koryn will stay and take care of you. He loves
you, you know.”

Emerald started sobbing. “But you
don’t or you wouldn’t throw me away just because I was
bad.”

“
You aren’t bad. You were
just never meant to be enslaved and I’m not throwing you away. I’m
sending you away to protect you because I … because it’s the right
thing to do.”

“
You don’t want me
anymore,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry! I’ll never be bad again! I
promise. Please? Can’t you just punish me and keep me? I don’t want
to go away. I want to stay with you. I love you, Tariq.
Please?”

Tariq pushed her away, wiping the
tears from her face with his hand. “I wish you did,” he said
gruffly. “But you don’t, baby. You just think you do because of
what I’ve done to you. In a little while you’ll get past it and
you’ll realize you only thought so because I made you feel as if
you needed me.”

“
But … Tariq!”

He silenced her with a kiss. She
curled her arms tightly around him, kissing him back feverishly. He
leaned away from her when he broke the kiss and removed the belt,
dropping it over the side of the bed. He covered her mouth again
when he leaned over her, kissed her throat and her breasts and then
returned to her lips for another deep kiss. The second time he
moved down to fondle and suckle her breasts, he ran his hand down
her belly, found her clit and teased it with his finger. She was so
feverish with need that she came almost immediately, gasping and
shaking all over.

He stroked her soothingly until she’d
caught her breath and began building the heat again with his touch,
with kisses. She spread her legs eagerly when he finally shifted
over her, cradling him between her thighs, lifting to meet him when
he found her opening with his turgid flesh. She wrapped her arms
and legs tightly around him when he began struggling to enter her,
panting with anticipation. She’d already raced upward toward
another peak by the time he’d sunk deeply inside of her. He’d
barely set a steady rhythm when she came again. He slowed until the
spasms passed and began to increase the tempo again, building more
heat. It roared into flames as he began to drive into her at a pace
that told her he was nearing his own culmination. The first jerk of
his cock set her off again. She clung to him as she rode the waves
of ecstasy trying to hold on even as the strength left her and she
felt herself sinking toward oblivion.

He was gone when she awoke. She saw
they’d left food for her but she was in no mood to eat. Instead,
she spent the day pacing restlessly, trying to think of something
she could say to convince Tariq not to send her away.

He was wrong! She
did
love him! She loved
him so much she could hardly breathe when she thought about it. It
had nothing to do with the discipline, whatever he thought! At
least not the way he thought it did! It was because he’d done it to
protect her! It didn’t even matter whether or not he was right and
it was something he needed to do to protect her! All that mattered
was that he
wanted
to and that he had never hurt her—as arrogant as he was, as
convinced as he was that he hailed from a race so superior to hers
that she was nothing but a possession—a thing.

She felt like crying all
over again when she remembered how happy he’d been that she’d
seemed to grasp the role she was meant to play, how eager he’d been
to dispense with the discipline and reward her! He’d made love to
her.
He
might not
think so. He might still be trying to convince himself he was
merely fucking her and enjoying his sex slave, but she didn’t
believe for a moment that he would’ve been so careful, so tender,
if she didn’t mean something to him!

He was just trying to be noble, damn
him! She didn’t want him to be noble!

If he was so worried that her behavior
would get her into trouble on Niribu, she didn’t know why he
wouldn’t just come with them! She didn’t care where she was as long
as she was with him!

Koryn came to bring her noon meal
instead of Tariq, but she could see even he didn’t mean to stay
long. She clung to him when he told her to go rest. “Don’t take me
away! Please? I’ll do anything you or Tariq want. I will. I’ll be
really, really good!”

Koryn released a heavy
sigh and sat down with her again, cradling her against him. “This
is for your own good, baby. Tariq has some powerful enemies—well,
one really, really powerful one. He’d take you away from Tariq
purely for spite—and because he can and the gods only know what he
would do to you to torment Tariq. Kill the baby you’re carrying,
for sure, whether it killed you at the same time or not. I don’t
want that. Tariq doesn’t want it. I know you think we punished you
purely for meanness, but that’s because you just don’t understand
what life on Niribu would be like for you. Slaves have no
rights—none! Just looking at an Anunnaki the way you have me and
Tariq would be enough to warrant a public beating—or a private one.
They could do anything they wanted to with you—
anything!
They could make you
wish
you were
dead.

“
We aren’t trying to
punish you by taking you away. We’re trying to protect you, to save
you. I know you’d rather it was Tariq, but he’s a lord and beyond
that, he’s in command of this mission. He can’t leave. If he could,
I’m sure he’d take you himself.”

She clung to him. “I don’t understand.
Why did Tariq think he could have me if he couldn’t? He just
doesn’t want me anymore, does he?”

“
If you understood the
Anunnaki, you’d understand. He’s a lord and he’s powerful and
wealthy. Usually, he can do just as he pleases and have what he
wants. He’s used to thinking that way. This isn’t one of those
times, although I don’t think he realized it to begin with. He
thought that he could supply the Anunnaki with enough breeders that
there wouldn’t be a real dispute about him making his choice.
That’s the biggest problem. There are too many men more powerful
than he is that need a breeder and if there aren’t enough for
everyone, then the more wealthy and powerful will have and everyone
else will do without. We’re at war now with the Dinjin, and that
changes things, too. Acts that might ordinarily be considered
fairly minor and punishable by fines or short imprisonment become
crimes against the people—treason—and that’s usually a death
sentence.”