Authors: Tracy St. John
In the minutes it took for him and the other two to thoroughly chart her clandestine flesh, some of the euphoria ebbed from Katherine’s mind. She became aware once more of how bare she was to the men. Despite the thrills their touches gave her, it was difficult to remain still or quiet the protests that rose to her lips. She felt blatant and whorish lying there, allowing them to look at her sex without objection. The word
sholt
trembled on her tongue, begging to be spoken so they would stop staring at her intimacies. Only the promise of chastisement kept her from rising up in struggle.
A small part of her was amused that having her husbands look at her sex proved more difficult than being painfully disciplined. A very small part; she mostly wished they would tire of searching through her folds. It was so uncomfortable to be on display!
When it ended, it was with a shocking strike of Simdow’s palm on Katherine’s sex. A blast of superheated torment resounded through her loins. She shouted out a stunned cry.
“Such a good girl,” he said, straightening and gently stroking up and down her stinging clit. The enthralling sensation twisted the pain into heady arousal, and Katherine lost all ability to remain still. Rapture bloomed, building fast and hard towards explosion. That it came on so quickly left her unable to breathe.
Simdow’s hand clapped down on her vulnerable sex once more, splitting the air with a heavy smacking sound. Katherine shrieked at the cataclysm of agony. Again the Dramok became gentle, teasing her tender nub until the pain was transmuted and absorbed in the beguiling promise of orgasm.
“You have definitely earned your reward,” Simdow said as he brought her to the edge of fulfillment.
Climax yawned wide, ready to engulf Katherine. Simdow gave her rioting sex two smart spanks, driving her back from release but sending a different pleasure through her brain. She wailed from being denied physical satisfaction even as her mind uncoupled to drift. The Dramok then took that from her, slipping two fingers in her female sheath as he stimulated her clit once more. Frantic need for orgasm reasserted itself, denying her the ability to sink into peaceful euphoria. Then, just as Katherine’s sex clutched at Simdow’s plunging fingers, he drew them out to slap her soaked flesh again.
Katherine cried as she experienced agony far more beautiful than any she’d ever dreamed could exist. Her body begged for pleasure and her mind for pain, and Simdow delivered both until somehow she couldn’t separate the two. Now his fingers filled her back passage, giving her that more taboo pleasure that fulfilled all needs at once. At last her thoughts broke free, leaving her in a state of near trance. Yet her body thrilled to the aching delight of her husband moving in and out of her while rubbing her clitoris to the verge of ecstasy once more.
Simdow released her throbbing clit. His hand snapped against it. Exaltation billowed in a torrid flare, consuming her in a turbulent storm. Katherine’s mind, in the clutch of the peaceful otherworldliness of pain, catalogued the vicious surges of fire that scorched her insides.
Beautiful, cleansing fire blazed through, clearing out all the fears and guilt and sadness that she held. It seized her in its immolating grip, burning everything else away. Now was only peace of mind, paired unexpectedly with tumultuous elation. Calm and frenzy existed at once, and Katherine held it all within her.
She emerged from the orgasm renewed, like the fabled phoenix from the flames. Still dreaming in the embers of afterglow, she smiled as Simdow tore off his uniform and mounted her, taking her until she flared anew and set him aflame with her. Next was Vadef, and he too was consumed by her. Last to sacrifice himself to the blaze came Miv.
They filled her with their passion, kindling her over and over. In return, she offered them all, holding nothing back. It was right. It was good. It was perfection such as Katherine was sure no one had ever known.
In the end, she no longer entertained any doubt that this was indeed what Heaven wanted for her.
The next morning Katherine kissed each of her clan goodbye at the end of the corridor where the girls and elder nuns were kept. They stayed out of sight so no one would see.
Miv grinned at her. “Have fun with the little ones. Tell my sister I said hello.”
Katherine smiled back. “I will.”
Her heart light and happy, Katherine hurried to the rec room. Once the euphoric hold of pleasure and pain had elapsed the night before, she’d continued to feel right about her marriage – or clanning, as it turned out – to Simdow, Miv, and Vadef. She felt more than right, in fact. Her becoming their Matara seemed ordained.
She thought she might be falling in love with the three men. She didn’t care that it was so soon after having met them, nor that they were aliens. They were hers and she was theirs, and it was all by divine rule. Katherine had never known anything as surely as that.
As she approached the open door of the rec room, the Nobeks on guard bowed to her. She gave them both a sunny smile and entered.
Marci ran to her with a happy cry, but she was the only one to approach. Katherine heard a chorus of drawn breaths as the littlest aspirant wrapped her thin arms around Katherine’s waist. Darci came forward a few steps as if to retrieve her sister and stopped. She looked at Katherine with an expression of sheer misery, as did most of the other girls. Sister Cheryl’s head was bowed, but she gave Katherine a warning look before shifting her gaze to her right.
Mother Superior came out of the group, her lined face stern and uncompromising. Marci glared reproachfully at the elderly nun and hugged Katherine all the harder. A sudden throb of fear took all the joy away that the young woman had entered the room with.
Pushing away the disquiet, Katherine nodded to the woman who stopped several feet away. “Mother Superior! I am so glad you’re back. They said you’d taken ill.”
Mother Superior pursed her thin lips. “God has not seen fit to take me from my work yet. It would seem I still have much to do.”
Her scathing tone made Katherine’s heart pound. The elder woman stared disapprovingly at Marci. “You will step away from her, child. As I told you before, she is corrupted and no longer in the sight of God.”
Marci scowled, though Katherine felt a tremor shake her tiny body. “Sister Katherine is good! She loves me.”
Mother Superior’s eyes went hard. “Darci, take your sister. I will deal with your penance later, Marci.”
Marci shook but tightened her hold on Katherine. “I love Sister Katherine. I’m going to stay with her. Even if she’s done something bad, God always forgives her.”
Katherine didn’t want her littlest one to suffer because of her. She untangled Marci’s grip and squatted down to look the child in the eye.
She said in a caring but firm tone, “Sweetheart, you must do as Mother Superior says. She only wants what is best for you. Go with Darci so I can fix this. Go on.”
Marci’s eyes swam with tears. “Do I have to?”
“Yes, my darling. It’s for the best.”
Darci came close, already crying. She mouthed, “I’m sorry,” as she took Marci’s hand and led her now sobbing sister away to join the others.
Katherine smiled reassuringly at them as they walked away. Sister Cheryl put her arms around the two children.
Katherine straightened and faced the head of the convent. “Mother Superior, I’ve done nothing wrong.” She said this with confidence, because she knew it to be true.
However, she was fixed with a disbelieving stare. “You have not sinned with the aliens?” Mother Superior didn’t wait for an answer. “Of course you have. That’s why they took you. No matter how you may have fought their lusts, your flesh has known men. You have been defiled by their touch. For the good of the girls, you must remove yourself from our sight.”
Katherine didn’t care what Mother Superior thought of her. It was being separated from her children that made her beg. “Please reconsider. You know what the aspirants mean to me. I love them and would never hurt them. Don’t do this to us.”
For a moment the elder nun showed an instant of compassion, a fleeting glimpse of sadness. “I have no choice. I cannot allow the innocent to be stained by your sin. You are hereby dead to the Church and God.”
“At least let me say goodbye. You have to let me say goodbye to my little ones.”
Mother Superior drew herself up straight and took a step back. In a firm, carrying voice she said, “You are not welcome among us. Go.”
The other nuns, most ducking their heads as if ashamed, stepped forward to flank Mother Superior and create a wall between Katherine and the girls. The first tears streaked down her cheeks. They might feel sorry for her, they might not even agree with Mother Superior, but they would not let her pass. They would not allow a last moment with the children.
Katherine whirled around and ran out of the room. As she went, Marci’s scream followed her out.
“Come back! Sister, don’t leave me! I love you! Come back!”
A deeper voice called, “Matara, stop.”
Katherine couldn’t obey the Nobek guard’s command. She ran blindly, the first sobs blasting from her lungs as Marci’s shrieks chased her down the corridor. The abrupt movement of darkness that zoomed into her path was the only thing that brought her to a halt.
One of the guards, a Nobek with a few scars on his arms, stood before her to block her path. He held up his hands but was careful not to touch her. In a low voice he said, “I am sorry, but I can’t let you roam the ship on your own. Which of your clanmates shall I call for you?”
Katherine could barely speak for her weeping. “They’re all on duty. “
“You need to be with someone. Who can I take you to?”
Katherine wanted to go back to her quarters where she could hide and cry. However, the kind Nobek was right; she needed to be with someone from her clan. Simdow was too important to the ship. As second in command, he had far too many duties to attend to for her to cry on his shoulder. Miv, as wonderful a defender as he was, could not protect her from her pain.
She told the guard, “Imdiko Vadef. I need my Imdiko, please.”
The guard nodded and indicated which direction she should go. “I will take you to him.”
* * * *
Vadef sat in his new office, which had once belonged to the Earther transport’s first officer. The desk and seat were sized pretty well to his smaller frame, but he knew Weapons Commander Lidon couldn’t be comfortable. The desk they shared was too short and the commander’s chair too small for the average-sized Nobek. Lidon was not one for fidgeting, but he shifted often. Vadef thought the Earther-friendly furniture probably irritated the commander’s bad leg, though Lidon would never admit to pain.
The Imdiko tapped on his computer as he squinted in the too-bright glare of the room’s lighting. The vid showed row after row of half-interpreted lines of code. He’d already peeked at the weapons commander to know the other man was scowling at his own readout just as hard as Vadef did. The Earthers had coded everything to a ridiculous degree: regular ship regulations along with the actual secretive information. It made finding what he and Lidon wanted monumentally difficult.
Lidon snorted. “I think this bit has something to do with recycling bodily waste.”
Vadef leaned over to take a look. He sighed. “I think you’re right, Commander. I suggest you trade this shit for another batch.”
Lidon slowly turned his head and gave Vadef a look that would freeze flame. The Imdiko’s face flushed. The weapons commander was not a humorous man.
Vadef had been a bit giddy all morning over Katherine. Last night she had given herself over to the men in a way he’d never imagined she would. This morning there had been no sign she regretted it. He thought she might someday not just accept her situation, but perhaps even love him as he loved her.
He needed to get over his rampant joy during work hours, especially when he was working with the demanding and decidedly not playful Nobek Lidon.
Vadef bowed his head. “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what came over me.”
Lidon blew out a breath. “Have you been spending time with my Imdiko? For a moment there, you sounded just like him.”
Before Vadef could answer him, the door opened. Katherine came in accompanied by an unarmed Nobek. She sobbed piteously. The Nobek hovered over her in concern but did not touch Vadef’s Matara.
Vadef leapt to his feet and rushed to his weeping clanmate. “My Matara! What has happened?”
The Nobek told him, “She appeared to have angry words with the elder in charge of the younglings.” He looked at Lidon, who had risen from his chair. The younger Nobek visibly paled to see the weapons commander standing there. “My apologies for us barging in, Commander. The Matara said she needed her Imdiko.”
Lidon’s face betrayed no expression. “Return to your duties,” was all he said.
The guard bowed and hurried out of the room. Meanwhile, Katherine kept crying, her face burrowed against Vadef’s shoulder. The Imdiko held her tight and tried to think of what to do.
His Matara needed him, and she was his priority. Lidon was already angry with him and they had an important job to do, but Katherine came first. There was no question in Vadef’s mind about that.
As he tried to come up with a way to explain this to Lidon without earning a disciplinary infraction, the weapons commander glared at him through narrowed eyes. In a tone that would have made a Tragoom cry, the Nobek asked, “Why are you still here, Records Officer?”
Vadef blinked and tightened his grip on Katherine. “Sir?”
Lidon folded his huge arms over his chest and regarded Vadef with more exasperation than anger. Gentling his tone, he said, “Your Matara is in distress, Vadef. Shouldn’t you take her back to your quarters and see to her needs?”
The question startled the Imdiko. Fierce Nobek Lidon, the terror of the spyship crew, was the last person he’d expect to understand an Imdiko’s need to comfort a grieved Matara. Especially right now, when time was running out on their mission. Vadef stared at Lidon.