Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) (14 page)

“So…you’re
admitting
you’re aroused?” Trin
didn’t know how to feel about that.

“I can’t help it,” Thrace rumbled. “You’re fucking
gorgeous and you smell incredible. What can I say? Holding you makes me hard.”

“If you knew that holding me would make you…feel
that way, then why did you offer to do it in the first place?” Trin demanded.
“Was it just to…to get off?”

“Have I grabbed you in any way?” he demanded,
sounding offended. “Have I cupped your breasts or put my hand between your
thighs to feel your soft little pussy?”

“Well…” Trin could feel her cheeks getting hot.
“No,” she admitted at last.

“If you’re thinking I wanted to cop a cheap feel,
you’re wrong,” Thrace
said flatly. “I could’ve just gone to sleep and let you freeze all night long
but I didn’t want to do that because I feel—” He shook his head. “Never mind.”

“No, go on,” Trin said softly. “What do you feel?”

“I feel
protective
of you.” He sighed. “I
realize you might not want to hear that since your people don’t feel like they
need a male to protect them in any way but I can’t help it. Ever since the
Demon’s Eye, I just feel the need to look out for you. To keep you safe, no
matter what.”

“Well…” Trin didn’t know whether to be offended or
touched. It
was
irritating that he felt like he had to look after her.
One moment of weakness in the Demon’s Eye didn’t mean she wasn’t perfectly
capable of looking after herself. On the other hand, it was kind of nice too.

“Well…?” he echoed and she knew he was waiting for
her verdict.

“I guess that means you’ll make an excellent
body-slave,” Trin said at last. “I
have
heard a few of the mistresses of
Yonnie Six say that the best body-slaves are bound to their mistresses by true
bonds of affection, not just the imminent threat of the pain collar.”

“Is that what they say?” he rumbled. “Bonds of
affection, hmm?”

“Y-yes…” Trin’s teeth chattered as she tried to
speak. They’d been apart for too long—the cold was creeping back into her bones
and she was beginning to shiver again. Thrace seemed to recognize her
problem at once.

“Come here.” He reached for her in the darkness but
Trin resisted.

“W-wait. What about—?”

“I’ll keep my hips angled back so I don’t touch
you,” he promised. “Just let me warm you up again so you don’t freeze. It takes
a long time for the passion berry’s effects to completely leave your system.”

Reluctantly, Trin allowed him to draw her into his
arms once more. It was like being held by warm, flexible steel bands. Almost
immediately, her shivering stopped as his body heat seemed to penetrate her
skin. Thrace kept his hips well back so that only the top parts of their bodies
touched this time and after a little while, Trin found herself relaxing again.

“Mmm, this is nice,” she admitted, pressing her
cold cheek to his chest. “You’re so
warm
.”

“Glad to be of service,
Mistress,”
he said,
his deep voice slightly sarcastic in the gloom. “Just doing my best to be the
perfect body-slave.”

“You
are
acting like a good body-slave
would,” Trin said earnestly. “And I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful. I
know you could’ve let me freeze and ignored my pain and you didn’t. It’s
just…I’m not that used to male anatomy and you…startled me.”

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it when you
had me chained down,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but back then I thought of you as a pet—like
my stallion, Swift,” she admitted. “I was just helping you. And you never…er,
got hard until that last time.”

“If you’ve got a big, male animal as a pet back
home then you’ve certainly seen a hard shaft before,” he rumbled.

“Yes, but not directed at
me,”
Trin said.
“Not
because
of me.”

He sighed. “Sorry about that. Like I said, it’s an
automatic response. The same way your pussy gets wet and your nipples get hard
when you’re with another female you like.”

“I don’t…” Trin cleared her throat, embarrassed by
his frank words. “I don’t have that kind of reaction to other females.”

“But I thought that females from Zetta Prime always
mated with each other and since there are no males—”

“You’re right—they do. And a mating between two
females can be a beautiful and fulfilling thing,” Trin said. “I’ve always
wished
I could have that,” she admitted in a low voice. “But I just can’t…can’t
seem to feel that way for another female. I’ve
tried
but it never works
and that’s not fair to the other girl. Women want a loving commitment and all I
could ever offer was friendship. So I decided to keep to myself—it’s better
that way. Easier.”

“And it never occurred to you to even
try
with
a male since you’re clearly not wired to love the company of your own sex?” Thrace
sounded incredulous.

“Why would it?” Trin demanded. “You know what my
people think of males—the misconceptions they have. Why, I bet not one female
in a hundred back home would believe me if I told them you were able to carry
on an intelligent and thoughtful conversation like this. They’d as soon believe
that I taught my pet stallion, Swift to talk.”

“Huh.” He grunted thoughtfully. “I guess that makes
sense then. You wouldn’t want to form a relationship with a creature you
considered no better than an animal.”

“That’s what the
other
daughters of Zetta
Prime would think—not what
I
think,” Trin protested. “Not anymore.
You’re not what I was taught to expect, Thrace. You’re
intelligent…interesting…protective…
different.”

“Glad you find me so entertaining,” he murmured
dryly but there was a trace of humor in his voice.

“I didn’t mean it that way and you know it.” Trin
sighed. “But it’s not just the misconceptions that stopped me—having a sexual
relationship with a male
is actually against my religion—well, the
religion I was raised in, anyway.”

“Your
religion?”
Thrace sounded incredulous.
“Forgive me but you don’t strike me as the religious type. And I thought your
people worshiped the Goddess. The same one the Kindred revere?”

“We do worship a Goddess—the Goddess of Judgment,”
Trin said. “I don’t know if our beliefs coincide with the Kindred—I doubt it.
Our belief is that the Goddess wanted us to leave Yonnie Six because of all the
sexual depravity going on between the mistresses and their male body-slaves and
eschew contact with males as much as possible. That’s why we broke off from
them in the first place and moved to a whole other planet.”

“So why did you go looking to buy a male body-slave
then if you’re so devout?” he asked.

“I didn’t go looking to buy a male to…to
penetrate
me,” Trin pointed out. “I simply needed one as a prop, so I could trade
with the entitled, snobbish mistresses of Yonnie Six.”

“So you truly believe it’s some kind of mortal sin
to let a male penetrate you?” he rumbled. “You think this Goddess of yours is
looking down on you, ready to blast you if you let that happen?”

Trin felt her cheeks get hot but she tried to speak
lightly.

“Not blast me, exactly, but I would certainly be
damned to the Hell of Defiled Women. But that’s not the only reason I wouldn’t
let a male do that to me—only a weak or pathetic woman would allow such a
thing.”

“That’s pretty much what males of my race feel
too,” Thrace
admitted. “Allowing yourself to be penetrated is the…” He swallowed hard and
for a moment is seemed as though he was having trouble getting the words out. “The
ultimate sign of failure. The final loss of dignity and pride. When you submit
to such a thing…you’re no longer a male of worth.”

“Exactly,” Trin exclaimed. “But it’s even more than
that with us. It’s considered depraved and disgusting…only a few steps up from
bestiality.”

“Huh,” he grunted. “Your people really
don’t
think much of males.”

Trin shrugged. “Most of them don’t
know
any
males—except for the body-slaves they see occasionally if they visit Yonnie
Six. And those sad, cringing creatures are hardly an accurate representation of
your sex.”

“So what do
you
believe about it?” he
probed, his voice soft and questioning.

Trin lifted her chin. “Well, I’m not as religious as
my mother but I still have way too much self respect to allow my body to be…to
be used in that fashion. It’s low and vulgar and degrading. I won’t cheapen
myself by allowing anyone or anything to penetrate me. In fact…” She hesitated
for a moment and then decided to tell him. “In fact, I’m one of the
Unpenetrated.”

“The who?”

“It’s a vow you take on Zetta Prime when you decide
that you don’t want to join with anyone. You stand before the priestess of the
Goddess of Judgment and swear that no one and nothing shall ever enter you…your
sex, I mean.” Her cheeks were getting hot again. “I took my vows five years ago
and I’ve always adhered to them. I’m very proud of that.”

“I see,” he murmured neutrally. “So it
is
a
religious issue.”

“More of a pride thing,” Trin said. “What about
you—have you ever allowed yourself to be penetrated…down there?”

He gave a harsh laugh. “I told you what my people
feel about it…that it makes you less of a male, that it negates your self
worth. Do you think I would willingly allow such a thing?”

“So it’s a pride thing for you too,” she
challenged.

“Exactly. And yet, as proud as we both are, I don’t
see
you
being too proud to snuggle up with a male to get warm,” he
pointed out.

“That’s different,” Trin said, trying to make
herself believe it. “There’s nothing sexual about this…well, not for me. And
even if there was, it’s not like I’d let you actually—”

“I know you wouldn’t. I wouldn’t try it,” Thrace
murmured. “I get it,
Mistress
—you’re off limits.”

“I wasn’t trying to say that exactly, I was just
letting you know what I believe…how I was raised…Oh, Hell.” Trin sighed
unhappily. “Now I’ve offended you. I’m sorry.”

“Not offended, exactly…” He sighed also and shifted
on the bed. “Just confirmed what I already knew, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry,” Trin said again. “Look, maybe I should
just scoot over and let you be.” She started to scoot to the far side of the
bed but Thrace
stopped her.

“You think I’ll let you freeze all night just
because of what you said?” he demanded. “I’m not that vindictive. And
considering that most of your people wouldn’t give a damn whether they offended
a lowly male or not, I’m willing to forgive you.”

“Thank you,” Trin said a little stiffly. “I just
want us to know where we stand.”

“Don’t you mean where we lay?” he rumbled, a half
laugh in his deep voice.

“Exactly.” Feeling better now that they’d clarified
things, Trin snuggled closer to his warmth. The top half of her was toasty warm
but her hips and legs and feet were beginning to be cold again. She shifted,
trying to get a little closer and felt something hard brush her thigh again.
“Oh!” She drew back a little, though not as much as before.

“Sorry,” he said roughly. “I’m trying to keep
back.”

“No…it’s all right.” Trin bit her lip. “I’m
just…the bottom half of me is getting really cold.”

“Well, you can come closer if you want but I can’t
promise not to have a hard-on,” Thrace
rumbled. “Just because lying here holding you isn’t sexual for you doesn’t mean
it’s not for me. You’re too beautiful and too close. I can’t fucking help it.”

“What if I put my back to you again?” Trin turned
over on her other side. Somehow it seemed safer that way—though she couldn’t
say why.

“Works for me.” He pulled her to him, nestling her
into the curve of his big, hard body.

Trin settled back against him, feeling the planes
of his flat chest against her back, his long legs against the backs of her
thighs…and the hard ridge of his shaft pressing directly against her ass.

It felt odd at first and she wiggled, trying to get
more comfortable. This elicited a low groan from Thrace. She stopped at once.

“Did I hurt you? I was just trying to get settled.”

“No, you didn’t hurt me. Not in the way you mean,
anyway.” His voice had that slightly strangled quality to it again.

“How then? Does it hurt when I, uh, touch it?” Trin
asked.

“Does it hurt when you touch your pussy?” he asked
roughly. “Hell no, it doesn’t
hurt
. It just feels so good it’s a little
bit painful…if that makes any sense.”

“Not really,” Trin said doubtfully. “I’ve never
felt a pleasure that was so good it was
painful.”

“Then you’ve never been pleasured properly,” he murmured.
“Never had a partner who knows exactly how and where to touch your body to make
you moan and gasp for more. Who knows how to make you beg them to stop and to
never stop in the same breath.”