Chapter Five
“What will you do if I untie you?” He sucked on one nipple, then on the other, his hands caressing her hips.
She had no idea what she would do. The aftershock of her orgasm still rippled through her. Deciding what to do next was too much work.
“The ties are rubbing my skin.” And more than anything she wanted to touch him, run her fingers over the hair on his chest.
The pressure began its slow torturous path once again, her pussy swelling while her mouth suddenly seemed too dry.
Trev’s expression turned serious, his gaze focusing on her wrists, and then her ankles. It was as if he’d suddenly realized her being stretched against the wall, bound so she couldn’t move, might just be a bit uncomfortable.
He knelt in front of her, his large hands encircling one of her ankles. Pale brown curls covered his forehead, preventing her from seeing his expression. He massaged her ankle, his hands moving up her leg before she realized he’d freed it.
Once her legs were untied, hanging unbound, her toes almost touching the cool, hard floor, the urge to wrap her legs around his neck, pulling his face to her pussy, consumed her.
It dawned on her that she could use her legs, wrapped around his neck, to try and maim him, disable her enemy. But she didn’t want to hurt him.
That realization brought her pause. All her life she’d accepted Trev as her enemy. Yet she couldn’t take him down. Once she had kicked his ass, and felt damned good about it. But his seductions had left her weak, crazy in the head, crazy with a need for him that overwhelmed her with its intensity.
It took more effort than she realized to bend her legs. She swore pins and needles tortured her feet. Trev took her legs, bending them, bringing her knees toward her chest, moving them slowly with the gentle care of a loving parent.
These thoughts of tenderness about her enemy baffled her. Trev should be watched, her back never turned on him. His seductions had made her brain as limp as her legs.
“The circulation will return in a moment.” He sounded rather sure of himself.
“You sound like you know a bit on the matter.” She wondered if she would be able to stand once he untied her arms. If not, she would continue to be at the mercy of her enemy.
But he didn’t feel like an enemy.
“I know a thing or two.” His grin caused her heart to skip a beat, the mischievous glint in his eyes almost covering his cautious expression. “Don’t tell me you’ve never been tied up before.”
She couldn’t believe he would think such a thing of her. “No. I haven’t.”
Her knees pressed against her chest, exposing her pussy and ass. He held her against the wall with his body, his fingers tickling her rear end. If only he would caress away the painful ache in her cunt.
“Of course not.” His hands ran up the backside of her legs, making her want to squirm against him. “Who would dare bind Marla of Torl?”
That made her sound so unapproachable. She almost told him the situation had just never come up—that no man had ever turned her on enough that she would consider doing this with him. But he gripped her ass, pulling her toward him, her backside leaving the wall. Her arms stretched, her head tipping backwards, while he pulled her pussy to his mouth. His fingers brushed over her small, tight asshole. She jumped, her body convulsing while a wave of pleasure over the sensitive area being touched rushed through her. Cum dripped from her, soaking her clear to her ass.
“You would dare.” The ties around her wrist rubbed against her skin, while her body stretched away from the wall.
Trev hadn’t hesitated in putting her in a situation no other man had ever attempted. They had no idea what lay outside these doors. Their world could be destroyed, all rules gone. Or the attack could be isolated, their status and rank intact. None of that appeared to matter to him.
His tongue inflicted wicked torture on her pussy, swiping at her clit, lapping the juices from her cunt. She exploded, her orgasm rushing through her with so much force she thought she would black out.
“Yes. I would.” Once again he stopped, leaving her to ride out her orgasm alone.
She almost didn’t have the energy to lift her head. Her body stretched from the wall, Trev gripping her hips, his mouth glistening from her cum, while he watched her try to regain her senses.
“I would break every law, every treaty, to help you see what you’ve denied for years.” His words shocked her. But she knew immediately what he meant.
Since they were teenagers, thrown into the business world of sex trading, taught how to run the trade that one day each of them would be in charge of, she had noticed him. Her worst enemy. The only person she should never turn her back on. Trev of Kopah was her nemesis.
Her father was dead. The slaves had run for their lives, their freedom given to them, although more than likely it would ensure their deaths. Everything she had was gone.
And here was this man, offering her something she never thought she could have. All she had to do was reach out and take it. That is, if he would untie her hands.
A rumbling sound outside caught both of their attention at the same time. Trev looked toward the door and then carefully lowered her legs. He untied her arms, slowly, standing close enough that she could lean against him.
Her arms wanted to float away, carrying her with them. Free from the ties, finally unbound, she found she could hardly move.
“The Bortan have returned.” He spoke her worst fears, but the rumbling of the aircraft grew closer outside.
“My clothes.” She stared at the shredded pile of material realizing she couldn’t put them back on. “All I have is my cloak.”
“Wrap it around you.” Trev picked it up for her, carefully covering her shoulders with the black material.
Before she could attempt walking, he scooped her into his arms, cradling her like a baby. “We stand a good chance if we can get to my glider.”
Her body still tingling with sexual need, she cuddled against his strong chest, finally feeling the heat of his body pressed against hers, just not as she had imagined doing so minutes before.
“It’s like nighttime out here.” Marla strained her neck, looking up toward the dark gray sky.
“The smoke from the fires has blocked out the suns.” Trev held her just outside the doorway to the medic’s house, the home where she’d been forced to admit her love for her enemy.
And now they would run for their lives—together.
She thanked the gods that his glider wasn’t too far away. Bortan hovered just above the clouds. She could hear their aircrafts. But due to their own destruction, they couldn’t see them through the smoke.
Trev straddled his glider, not putting her down first. She scooted around in front of him, searching for a comfortable position, when he grabbed her.
“Quit moving.” His tone sounded fierce.
The gray in his eyes had deepened to a shade of lavender, the sight of them making her womb tighten. There was no time. But she couldn’t stop herself from touching him, stroking his dirt-stained cheek.
“Thank you for saving my life.” His skin was smooth, her fingers tingling while she touched him.
“The price is high.” His grip around her tightened, crushing her to him.
This time she could kiss him back. And more than anything, that is what she wanted to do. He lowered his mouth to hers, his body touching hers everywhere.
The sensation of being naughty, of getting caught if she weren’t careful, surged through her. The heat of his mouth burnt her lips, while memories of her father cursing the Kopah name flooded her thoughts.
His hair was coarse, thick against her fingers. She tangled her hands in his locks, pulling his head closer, craving to taste every inch of his mouth. What had the Kopah done to deserve her father’s wrath? She wasn’t sure. But this man had never wronged her.
“Marla.” Her name on his breath brought her insides to a boil, her pussy craving relief. “Marla,” he said again, ending the kiss. “We need to get out of here.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the rest of their world looked like, if the villages nearby remained or not. Trev had worked magic on her, made her realize how desperately she wanted him. If the outside world remained, would he turn his back on her? What would she do then?
Chapter Six
After an hour of flying, she no longer worried about Trev, but focused on the destruction of the world beneath her. Nothing remained. Villages burned. The colorful countryside was now singed black.
Her people, the slaves she had loved and helped raise, the merchants she had visited weekly, the townspeople who had worked for her father, everyone was gone, dead.
“There is nothing here for us.” Trev guided her back toward the glider after landing at the third village in the region.
“Someone has to be alive somewhere.” Very few buildings stood. The rank smell of burning flesh turned her stomach.
Trev’s expression was hard, his thoughts not clear to her by his expression. His gaze was fierce though. He squinted while he scanned the remains of smoldering structures around them.
“I’m sure they are alive.” He braced the glider while she climbed on in front of him. “More than likely, any survivors are well hidden, and will remain that way until they are sure the Bortan are gone.”
By the time they’d reached the region’s capital, the second sun had set, darkness settling in around them.
“There is a shuttle launcher here.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. Did he mean for them to leave the planet? Granted nothing appeared to be left here for either of them, and he was as homeless as she was, but where would they go? She didn’t know any outworlders. Her life was here. Or the life she’d known up until the Bortan had taken it all away.
“What good would a shuttle launcher do us?” Not to mention she was naked under her cloak. She didn’t want to dwell on the explanations Trev might offer for flying with a naked companion.
He adjusted her against him, his long legs pressing against hers, while one arm held her in place. The glider hummed underneath her, while they circled the community beneath them. The buildings seemed intact, but no people were visible. It didn’t seem right for a community of this size to look so abandoned.
“We’re an open target up here.” Trev circled lower, hovering along steep hills that surrounded the community.
He didn’t answer her question about the launcher.
“Do you think there are Bortan down there?” Her stomach clenched at the thought, bile rising in her throat. “We probably aren’t safe anywhere.”
He ran his hand up her front, stroking her breast. “We’ll be safer once we wear different clothes.”
“I don’t have any clothes.” Like she needed to tell him that.
His hand moved from one breast to the other, making her wish more than anything that they could find some isolated place. He pinched her nipple, pleasure and pain rippling through her.
“And I wish I could keep you that way.” His breath tickled the nape of her neck, almost bringing her to the point where she wished it, too.
But she knew how men treated women. They needed to be reminded at times when they were with a woman of class, and not a sex slave.
“Well, you can’t.” She turned just enough to glare into those gray-lavender eyes. “I suggest you land this thing and see if we can find something for me to wear.”
Something triggered in his expression, and she realized she hadn’t taken the upper hand with him yet. Her gut tightened, hoping what she saw wasn’t disapproval.
But if he couldn’t handle her being able to command a situation, wouldn’t it be best for her to find out now, before she became too involved with him?
She held on to the inside of her cape, keeping it wrapped tightly around her, while they ventured down one of the streets of the region capital. She’d never been to Grok before, although her father had been here, and shared stories of how lively a community it was. It didn’t look too lively now.
“This looks like a clothes store.” Trev pushed open the door to one of the merchants’ shops, his laser in hand. “Find something you like. I’m going to see if anyone is here.”
“What do you want?” A man appeared through a doorway, aiming a laser at them, a woman hovering behind him.
Trev straightened, lowering his own laser just a bit, but taking the stance of upper society. “It’s okay. The lady needs clothes. We’ll pay for them.”
She didn’t have any money on her. Trev had to realize that. She was at his mercy to provide for her at the moment. If that bothered him, he gave no indication of it.
“You’re Trev of Kopah.” The man immediately lowered his gun, his entire expression changing. “Maycha, help the lady find something suitable to wear.”
By the time she had dressed, her new clothes simple, but serving their purpose, Several men stood around Trev, all of them chatting quietly. He turned, reaching for her, when she approached.
“We’ll meet you at the launch site at second sunup then.” He nodded to the men then escorted her from the store.
“Where are we going?” Darkness surrounded them, giving the empty street an eerie feeling.
“I think we would be safer staying the night in one of the surrounding caves.” He held her close to him, the warmth of his body traveling through her. “These people have lost a lot and might be a bit too desperate.”
“You don’t trust them?” She wondered where he was taking her, their walk purposeful, and his hand on her shoulder making her crave his touch in other places. “Then why are we meeting them at this launch site? And where are we going?”
Several people appeared around the corner of the building ahead of them, took a look in their direction, and then fled the opposite way. Fear gripped her, their actions appearing so suspicious.
“There is nothing left of Poltar, Marla.” He sounded sad, a reluctant acceptance that their home world would soon be destroyed. She doubted he wanted to believe it any more than she did. “We won’t be the only ones leaving on the shuttle. And we’ll go to the Molten satellite, apparently where everyone else who can afford to leave is going.”
She couldn’t think of any argument. Trev had taken her under his wing. Granted she liked how it felt, but was she there because she had no place else to go? Or did she want to be by his side?