Captive Space (4 page)

“Come into the darkness, Shar’ia. Join me in Oblivion.”

Fearing the place, but understanding it was important, she relented. The darkness was warm and cold at the same time. It was isolated and perfect, because there, in the inkiness, only Joseferus and she existed.

Her climax exploded. Contractions ripped down her.

Leanderus climbed on the bed and jabbed his cock into her anus until he’d worked his full length into her. The two warriors set a punishing tempo. One pushing in as the other pulled out. Every stroke was intense. Her body thrived in the moment. She’d never experienced anything like fucking the Navorains before.

“Holy Mother,” Shar’ia muttered. Her climax wouldn’t let go. It kept rolling through her. The deep, driving contractions forced a long moan from her lips. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Don’t stop.”

Barely aware of the slap delivered to her butt, Shar’ia lingered in the depths of the darkness. Only now, Leanderus was there as well. An uncertainty grew inside her. There was something about having Leanderus there that unnerved her. Instinctively, she clutched Joseferus. Held in his arms, she would gladly live in Oblivion forever.

She felt Leanderus’ hot cum fill her. Soon after, Joseferus soaked her pussy.

Sandwiched between them, she laid her head on Joseferus’ shoulder. Beneath her ear, she listened to his heart race. Glad she wasn’t the only one who was struggling to regain control of her body, she smiled. Though, her breathing wasn’t assisted by Leanderus’ weight pressing down on her. She could only imagine how Joseferus felt. After all, he was on the bottom.

“Leanderus, you are dismissed,” Joseferus muttered. “I wish to speak to my
Tesra—
alone.”

“Ouch.” Shar’ia winced when Leanderus unceremoniously pulled out. To add insult to injury, he was none too kind when he used her back as a leverage point while he climbed off the bed.

“Leanderus, we will discuss your abuse once I have finished my conversation with Shar’ia.”

Noting the warning tone in Joseferus’ voice, Shar’ia stared at the strong planes of his face.
It’s not a big deal,
she wanted to say.
I’ve suffered worse.
Memories of her short time training to be a concubine returned to mock her. It was pretty obvious to her mentor in the fine arts of sexual seduction that she wasn’t cut out for some client’s brutality. Her one and only experience with what the prostitution industry called a “bruiser” had landed her in detention for a stellar week, because she’d beaten the man to within an inch of his life.

The day she’d been released, she’d begged her father to allow her to work for him.

She despised the fact she’d ever entertained the idea of using her body to pay her bills, but she couldn’t get away from it, either. If she hadn’t gone into the family business, she would have had no choice but to take up the oldest profession on Atlas Nine. She’d have whored herself on one of the vacation planets or sold herself to a Space Baron’s harem.

“You are safe here,” Joseferus told her once Leanderus had dressed and left her quarters. He helped her off him and tucked her against his side. He drew his fingers languorously over her arm. “You’ve no fear I’d physically harm you. It’s against our code of conduct.”

She forced herself to keep from gaping at him.
He’s serious.

“Leanderus is young and lacks discipline. It will take me time to train him to treat you the way a
Tesra
should be.”

He’s apologizing to me. Astounding.

“It is not outside my scope to express my contrition should it be warranted,
Tesra
.”

Did he read my mind?
The situation went from weird to downright freaky.

“That is a benefit of the sand. We are now connected in a way only a first husband and a first wife can be.”

“You’re joking.” She gritted her teeth.
Damn me. When will I learn the rules of my incarceration?

A chuckle rumbled in his chest. The sweet sound of his mirth did amazing things to her blood pressure. “While we are alone in our quarters, you may speak your mind to me. Beware, though, I’m not known for my patience with idle feminine chatter.”

Like I know what idle feminine chatter is.
“Okay,” she whispered. She didn’t know what to make of this situation. “I’m your wife?” She couldn’t help sounding incredulous. She was.

“Yes.”

Why the single word terrified her, she wasn’t sure. It was something about being tied to one man forever, a warrior she knew nothing about that had her wanting to run for the Fiery Mountains. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the Personal Care Room.”
I need to find a quiet place and think
.

“Of course,
Tesra
.” He flashed a smile at her.

“Thank you.”

Joseferus stared at the ceiling. As much as he’d come to terms with having a first wife again, he couldn’t get his last
Tesra
out of his mind. For three days, he’d contemplated letting go of the memory of Ahlantra the last time he’d spoken to her. It was an impossible feat to accomplish.

His brain immediately returned to the moment indelibly scribed on his soul. She’d excitedly told him she was expecting their first child in the harvest season. As much as his
Tesra
was thrilled, his joy had known no bounds.

It was no great secret amongst the people of their village that they’d struggled to conceive, a facet that had brought censure down on his virility and her womanhood. Their opinion of him was nothing short of ridiculous. And, he’d not made any allies when he openly spoke the facts to the whispering slugs who’d made Ahlantra’s life a living hell.

None of the gossips chose to look at the truth. No, they preferred to malign Ahlantra, because she was childless in a clan where children abounded.

Unfortunately, because of his duty to the Navorain Warrior Sect, he was home infrequently during their first years of mated bliss.
By the Great Fathers, what did they expect of her? That she conceive a child through an interstellar com-link?

Angry all over again, Joseferus exited the bed and strode for the floor-to-ceiling Iridium windows lining the exterior wall of Shar’ia’s quarters. “Computer, show me the destruction of Navora.”

Comfortable with his own nakedness, he waited for the computer to bring up the star-date very few warriors revisited. The windows darkened. Clasping his hands behind his back, he stiffened his spine when the holographic images began to play. His mind’s eye provided the setup.

It had been a beautiful morning from all accounts. The first flowers were peeking their heads through the fertile ground, and as was her habit, Ahlantra was probably heading for the market. She’d have been smiling, her world finally complete as she prepared for the baby’s arrival.

He focused his attention on the playback. The countdown ringing through the speakers imbedded in the ceiling had been retrieved from the Andromedain star cruiser who unleashed the T-9 Planet Killer on what they expected to be a lifeless moon. The facade shadowing the Navorain home world had been developed, because her inhabitants truthfully detested first contact meetings with curious species.

Their isolationist ways had led to tragedy.

His stomach pitched. He visualized Ahlantra looking up at the sky and seeing a red trail screaming toward the outskirts of the village. In a way, his village had been lucky. From the reports, the inhabitants of his village had died within seconds of the missile’s impact. They’d missed the pain the other Navorains experienced.

“I’m sorry.” Shar’ia’s soft, lyrical voice ripped his somber musings in two. “From what I heard…” Her words trailed off. “I can’t imagine…”

Breathing deeply, he exhaled slowly. “I’m glad that you can’t.” He’d lost everything that fateful morning. His wife. His unborn child. His faith in the universe.

The Navorains had once been at the top of the proverbial food chain.

Now they were on bended knees. With so few of their women left, they were forced to mate with other-worlders or face extinction.

Joseferus wanted to order Shar’ia to not die on him but stopped himself. His reality was one day either she or he would be alone.

He pursed his lips. His throat worked against the clog of ire gathering there, a potent rage he’d suffered from since word had reached the
Vor Cand
about the planet’s destruction.

He jerked Shar’ia against his side as the final few moments of the planet’s destruction flickered before him. The screams, picked up by the border sensors and transmitted to the Navorain space station, Prometheus, shouted in the room.

Every muscle in his body went bow-string tight. His gaze fixated on the planet growing dark. A red outline showed where the tectonic plates had separated. The final cries for help died off. Navora pulled in then burst into a thousand pieces.

Silence.

Frigid. Paralyzing. Eternal.

Not even the mating song wrought from the mystic sand of Lazarus could break through the solemn emotions the memories evoked.

“I am so incredibly sorry.” Shar’ia held him. The feel of her head resting trustingly on his chest didn’t assuage the anger. If anything, it enhanced the fury. For the better part of a stellar decade, he’d wanted to direct the anger at the Andromedains or The Council of Kings. In the end, he’d played judge, jury and executioner not on the forces that had caused the tragedy or even lent a hand to the massive debacle but himself.

He was guilty. He hadn’t protected Ahlantra or their child.

He hated himself, despised his existence in only the way a Navorain warrior who’d failed in his primary duty could.

Wrapping his arms around her slender shoulders, Joseferus laid a kiss to the top of her head. He wished the anger would dissipate the same way the sparks of dust strolling across the windows had ten stellar years ago.

“Computer, end recording.” Harshness edged his words. The lights slowly returned to normal.
How can I get away from the past?

Peeking down at his wife, he shivered when she swiped her hand down his side. She moved away from him less than a step when he loosened his hold on her. His intentions were clear. He was giving her better access to his body.

Her delicate touch on the ridged planes of his stomach gained his full attention. He cocked his head to the side when his brazen
Tesra
curled her fingers around his flaccid penis and began to stroke him.

“I think you need a diversion,” she whispered. Tilting her head back, their gazes met and locked. “So many sad memories. So much anger. You can’t let this continue to eat at you, Joseferus.”

“It’s not easy for me to let go, Shar’ia.”

“Let’s see if I can help you find some solace, if only for a little while.” Her fingers pumped his cock. Her other hand slowly caressed his back.

What he wanted was to feel her pussy clench his cock and view her expression when she reached her climax. Inherently, he knew fucking her couldn’t ever completely erase the memories of the past, but in a way, it did ease his pain if but for a few, precious moments.

Lifting her in his arms so they were eye to eye, he kept his stare on her face when she clutched his shoulders.
You are so different from Ahlantra.

The sand’s music rolled through him. The soothing strains of a flute eased some of the tension from his frame. His thoughts turned to the woman who was now his first wife. Gripping her ass cheeks hard, he held her close. His cock hardened.

His heart beat hard as he took her lips in a blistering kiss.
You are mine.

“I am?” She sounded confused. Whether that was because she was beginning to hear his thoughts in her head or the empathic quality of the sand was making her nervous, he didn’t know.

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“What if I don’t want to be yours?”

He teased the sexual tension he sensed rising in her by easing her down on his cock-head. “Tell me you don’t want to be mine.”

“I don’t.”

Slamming her down on his cock, he sucked in a sharp gasp. “Tell me you don’t want this.” He read her thoughts. Her passion for him pleased him. His discipline slid a notch when she dug her fingernails into his shoulders. Reveling in the heat rising between them, he lifted her up and down on his shaft. Her tiny mewls of pleasure heightened his passion for her. “I know you like this.”

She took it as he leaned her back against the solid wall of the transparent Iridium; he thrust into her with a need born from years of suffering emotional pain. His discipline slid further. His body screamed for release. “Come for me.”

“Joseferus!”

He continued to plunge into her while her soft feminine walls milked the cum from him. Even after he’d ejaculated, he continued to thrust, pouring a decade of emotional pain into her.

Holding her close, he gasped for air. Not even Ahlantra had stolen his discipline from him the way Shar’ia had. For a split second, she thought about how different he was from Leanderus.

Pulling back so he could stare at her face, he frowned. Shar’ia wasn’t afraid of her second husband, but she didn’t completely trust him, either. Joseferus couldn’t blame her. He had never trusted the young warrior. Leanderus was aboard the
Vor Cand
as a favor to his best friend. “I’ll take care of Leanderus.”