Janus' Conquest (6 page)

“I’m not going to fuck you.”

She gasped as her cheeks flushed scarlet. Pressing her hands against his arm she tried to free herself, but Janus only tsked at her. He leaned down, hovering over her still-wet lips as his finger found her clit and rubbed it gently once again. Pleasure instantly renewed its grip on her, tugging at her attention and making it hard to recall exactly why she wanted him to stop touching her. Hunger still gnawed at her body, but if he listened to her words, she would be left wanting. Her temper rose in the face of that idea.

“I didn’t ask you to.”

“Fuck you? No, you didn’t.” One thick finger teased the opening to her pussy. He circled the tender skin, slipping through the fluid that had seeped from her body. “But your body has made its wishes plain enough. A wet pussy is the sign of arousal, Fay.”

He penetrated her body with that finger. A little wet sound hit the silent room and she shivered. The walls of her sheath tingled with delight as he filled her. But it wasn’t enough. She needed more than a finger.

“I know it.” The words tumbled from her lips as her hips lifted towards his hand.

Even in the midst of her temper, she couldn’t continue to protest something that felt so good. Janus might be a demanding male, but he was an honorable one, worthy of honesty. He worked his finger up into her body again and her eyelids fluttered as sensation crested over her thoughts once more. Forcing her eyes to open, she shot him a hard glare.

“Yet that does not mean I offer you submission. You should not even ask anymore, Janus. You need to consider your own goals. I am not a good choice of companion.”

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He frowned at her. She wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to warn him away from the stain of her father’s guilt, only that the words crossed her lips before she might hold them back. She wasn’t sorry though, becoming a weight that dragged him down soured her delight. His hand left her slit as he stood up. She closed her thighs in a protective motion as his gaze moved up her bare body. Her robe was pressed up to her waist, her lower body bare to his gaze. A twist of pain went through her as she faced the reality that he might take her suggestion and leave before his career suffered any tarnish due to her father’s arrest.

Janus lowered his body onto a knee instead. He pressed her knees wide and pulled her to the edge of the bed before glaring up her body at her face. “Do not offer me protection again, Fay. I came here willingly and as testament to the fact that I do not believe your sire to be guilty. It is time for you to adjust to me and our impending union. It will be my cock that opens your body. My seed that seeps inside your womb.

Yet I confess that I’m going to enjoy teaching you the rightness of our relationship. So protest as long as you are able.”

“No.”

Her protest died in a moan as he leaned forward and lapped her slit. He licked her slowly as he held the folds of her slit open. Her hips bucked up off the bed as pleasure raced into her sheath. It was hard and deep, twisting into her with such a fierce need she moaned low and deep. Her fingers clawed at the bedding beneath her as Janus moved up to the front of her sex. He tongued her clit with small motions, sending more pleasure into her aching passage. All at once she was acutely aware of how empty her pussy was. While she had craved him before, it was only a small fraction of the need curling through her at that moment.

“I will be very happy to prove my worth to you, Fay. What I will not tolerate is more foolish denials from your lips.” His voice was harsh. He looked up her body and she shivered at the expression on his face. It was hard, so immovable, but there was something inside her that shouted approval for that. Some part of her that enjoyed the 39

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fact he had taken up her challenge at last. He fingered her clit once again, slowly and gently as he kept her thighs spread wide with his shoulders. “Tomorrow I am going to place you in a training harness.”

Excitement leapt through her. It really shouldn’t have, but having tasted the pleasure her clit could produce, there was no denying how much she would like to experience it again. A training harness would be fastened around her hips. Strips of leather would run between the lips of her slit and three pleasure beads would be placed against her clit. As she moved, the motion of her hips would draw those beads back and forth across her clit sending pleasure up into her pussy exactly the way his finger was doing right now. The strips could also be adjusted to hold her slit wide, exposing her clit.

“I see the excitement dancing in your eyes, Fay.” And it almost undid him. His cock was straining against his pants. Janus clamped his control over the instinct to rip his uniform open and split her body open with one hard thrust. A Hunter never tore his female. He might prove his ability to master her body, but he never mounted her pussy until her sheath was loosened by several orgasms. It was the core of who they were.

Only animals mated without concern for pain. For him, mating with Fay would be the greatest challenge, one he was going to enjoy moment by moment until he finally pressed his length deep into her body.

Leaning down, he sucked her clit back into his mouth. She moaned as her hips bucked beneath his tongue. Rubbing the little bundle of nerve endings with the tip of his tongue, he sucked harder as he listened to the whimpers coming from her. Fay didn’t have any practice at holding off her pleasure. She moaned as a second climax tore through her. She gasped as he thrust two thick fingers into her sheath. Working them back and forth, he began stretching her tight sheath, fucking her with his fingers so that her pleasure might ease the muscles of her pussy.

Her emotions were boiling. She didn’t seem to be able to hold them back any longer. One short day and her life was no longer her own. Even her body was being 40

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penetrated, and her cursed flesh was enjoying it. She tried to reason it out but her brain was exhausted and unwilling to think anymore. The bed beneath her was all the comfort she needed as Janus pulled his fingers from her body and began to smooth his hands over her thighs. He pressed her knees closed as he soothed the tension in her muscles. It was too tender for the invasion that had just passed between them. While she had expected his harder nature, this tender side of his personality confused her.

Lifting her legs, she rolled right over her head in a somersault. She kept going off the bed and caught her weight on balanced feet. Her robe fluttered back down into place as she stared at Janus. He was still just as huge and imposing as always, but her memory offered up the image of his hands smoothing over her tenderly as well. It was an odd combination, one that touched not only her hunger for him but her heart as well.

“I believe you have made your point, Janus.”

He lifted an eyebrow at her. Fay lifted her chin as she looked at him without shame.

She was a female past her tender years. There was no guilt in admitting that his touch created pleasure in her flesh. That was a natural thing. It was time to for her to surprise him for a moment.

Fay moved across the space between them. Janus held his position as she approached him. He was almost afraid to breathe because it might shatter the illusion.

He wanted to remain immersed in the fantasy. She laid her hands on his chest and rose onto her toes to press her lips against his. He had to angle his head down so that she could reach his mouth. It was a sweet kiss. Almost cold, considering the taste of her pussy still clung to his tongue, but it was by far the most treasured touch she had ever gifted him with.

One freely given kiss. It was something no amount of strength might pry from her.

“Good night, Janus.”

She shivered as she waited to see what he might do with her command. It was a gentle dismissal, but one that tested the foundation of their future relationship. Trust was not something that might be taken from her. All his mastering and demands still 41

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had to respect that moment when she decided enough was enough. At least while she was chaste, it did. They were both too excited by each other now. They needed to part before nature pushed them beyond their control. Perhaps that was what made it so exciting—the conflict between control and need. The two forces pushed against one another sending out a shower of sparks that was mesmerizing.

“Agreed.” He caught her chin once more, cupping it in his palm as he leaned down to press a firm kiss against her lips. He lingered over that kiss, teasing the opening to her mouth with the tip of his tongue before he drew away from her.

Fay wrapped her arms back around her body as she moved to the doorway of her sleeping chamber to watch him leave. He never looked back, his back stiff in his Hunter’s uniform. She caught the faint scuff of his boots against the floor.

At least she was not alone in her turmoil. Small comfort, but there was intimacy in it. That was the most surprising thing she had learned tonight. Of all of the things she might ever have considered to find in Janus’ embrace, intimacy wasn’t one of them. She felt exposed, and shivered. Even now that he had departed the dwelling space was marked with his scent. She no longer felt buffeted against his encroachment by his invasion of the living quarters she had always called home. It wasn’t the safe haven that had cradled her since childhood. It was now a place where Janus might corner her and use her own body against her will.

Her body urged her to follow Janus and invite him back, but surrender still sat uneasy in her mind. No good answer presented itself as she pressed her palm against the door to seal it. She frowned as she looked at her new wristbands. Her hand imprint was no longer able to lock the door completely. Janus had entered her dwelling because he was a Hunter, and she the daughter of a convict now. For the remaining six days until she made her formal choice to stay or follow her father, any Hunter might override the lock on her front door. It left a harsh taste in her mouth but she forced herself to swallow it because living in a penal colony would be even more exposed.

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She would have to learn to live with it no matter her choice because Janus had proven his point. She might not like it but her body did. A little bubble of joy formed in her heart as she savored the fact that he was still interested in her submission. She frowned at her own joy but couldn’t erase it. There was no denying that being valued was sweet and far more valuable than anything else in life. The possessions in her dwelling meant nothing. Tonight, what she valued most was the friendship of a little coworker named Zoe and the frustrating demands of a Hunter called Janus.

It was a perplexing tangle, to be certain. But she was sure of one thing.

He would be back as long as she was in the Hunter sphere.

* * * * *

Edric didn’t worry about looking for his deviants. Laying a trap was far more his style. The penal sphere was crowded, and gossip moved faster than an open flame.

Leaning against the doorframe to his assigned dwelling, he considered the eyes watching him. Greed was a powerful demon. It took control of the soul and drove its victim insane. All around him were creatures who spent their lives as willing slaves to possessiveness.

It turned his stomach.

A man should be able to master his own mind. You didn’t have anything if you didn’t have your own self-control. Where was the value in money if you didn’t have a family to share it with? How did you sit down to enjoy a fine meal, knowing that others starved because you had stolen? The occupants of the penal sphere would have snickered in the face of his questions and that was exactly why he had always enjoyed being a Hunter.

“I am Alana. It is my duty to bring you your first rations.”

The man in front of her frowned at her. Alana was used to the dark look, but there was something about his look that sent a chill down her spine. Maybe it was his size.

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She wasn’t a stranger to Hunters because they patrolled the sphere and inspected her whenever they chose, but she had never encountered a convicted Hunter. The purple clothing of a convict looked misplaced on his huge shoulders.

“They sent a female?”

She laughed at his comment. Males did have one thing in common—pride. Oh it was a wonder they survived at all with their arrogance. Her amusement died as she considered her past weakness of the flesh. Well, in truth, the female was engineered by nature to be prey to the urge to mate. Even the overblown pride of most males hadn’t kept her from lying down with one. She’d been too blinded by passion to see him for the thieving greedy bastard that he was.

“Everyone works here, Edric. Rations can be delivered by females most effectively.

A Hunter should know that convicts wear wristbands that protect all inhabitants of this sphere from violence simply because you will be exposed if you decide to take advantage of my smaller size.”

“I did not grant you use of my name.”

He growled at her. Alana relaxed as the sound hit her ears. She was used to males grunting at her. It had been his dark frown that made her nervous. The look had almost been personal, as if he cared about her well-being. Which of course, he could not. The man was a convict. Any form of good intention was extinct in him.

“Excuse me, convict. Enjoy your rations. I will bring you more in two days.” Alana turned and moved away from him. She shrugged off her annoyance. He was just a new convict. His surly attitude was to be expected.

It was still too bad. There was something in his eyes that she hadn’t seen in a very long time. A little smile tugged at her mouth as she went about her duties. Alana enjoyed thinking about that little something because her dreams were her only escape from a harsh life. It had been a long time since she’d had any reason to be amused.

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“Zoe has been reassigned.”

Cleo announced her news with a flourish that stunned more than just Fay. There were horrified looks from the others who worked in her section as well. Fay made sure to keep her eyes on Cleo as her superior smirked at her department. She wanted to remember how ugly self-glorification could make a person. It was a lesson you might be lectured on but never truly absorb until you witnessed it. Zoe’s laughing face flashed through her memory with its sparkling humor. Cleo was making a point to the rest of the department—stand up against the leader and you would be made an example of.