Learning to Blush (34 page)

He didn’t respond to her, and so Penny began to tremble. What started out as an ordeal that was going to make her afternoon shitty was going to get that much worse. “Thorton, if you were me, you’d understand how… Not right… those… those pills are.”

“These supplements are bringing you back to your normal healthy state,” he reminded patiently as he guided her back to the bed. “You've already stopped losing weight. They're good for you.” He seemed to prefer to spank her on the bed whenever he did it. He tried the chair the second time he’d spanked her, and it hadn’t been comfortable for either of them.

He pulled her down across his knees. “I
am
sorry!” she defended as if she was dead-certain that the problem at hand was that he didn’t believe her to be sincere. Looking back at it, Penny decided now for sure that that was the case. And she hadn’t been sincere; she just wanted to get out of a spanking!

Thorton reached over to the end table and grabbed a small bottle of lube and put it on his finger. He spread her bottom cheeks and she clamped her mouth shut to keep from whining, trying to be so good that Thorton would decide that she didn’t need a spanking after all, even though she hated every moment of this attention.

He pressed his lubricated finger against her anus, swirled it around, and then popped it into her. She squealed, “Please, please no!” she whined miserably.

With his free hand, he rubbed the small of her back soothingly. “It’s okay. This will only take a second.” He put his finger deeper in. Despite his gentle words, gentle despite how annoyed he was with her, she could see his eyes become hooded with blatant desire. She knew that look!

Of course, she knew that Thorton was an ass-man, much to her horror. He so wanted to take her from behind, to play with her bottom, and was constantly rubbing it or patting it or trying to peek at it during sex.

Strangely, watching Thorton do this to her, rather than enjoying it at the time, was strangely erotic…

After he lubed her entrance, he took one of the pills—roughly the size of his thumb, and pushed it deep into her. More squealing, more whining, even feet-kicking was the action’s response. The supplements were uncomfortable, too large, in her opinion, to go up her bottom. And as they sat in her, they had a somewhat burning sensation…

But again, watching it now was hot, even though she was so humiliated when it had happened.

Thorton once said that he would teach her to blush. He had done it. Anything to do with her bottom would do it. Even Penny’s blushing and then the way she pressed her face into the bed covers was arousing in its own way.

“Now,” he said. “What did we say about swearing?”

“Please no!” Penny had cried, bringing her face up from the mattress.

Watching a spanking was a hell of a lot better than receiving one! She remembered thinking Ellie’s spanking that she had watched being strangely alluring… But Penny was turning herself on much more, mostly because the spanker was Thorton—who was tasty even as he spanked her with his firm, flattened hand, his jaw locked with resolve.

Penny couldn’t tell if Thorton enjoyed spanking her bottom or if he didn’t. Certainly, it wasn’t hard for him to do. Especially with her hands cuffed in front of her, keeping her from reaching behind, it was easy for him to keep her from squirming too much or kicking around as his hand left one pink mark after the other until her bubbly little bottom was a cherry-red hue.

This fantasy / memory of Penny getting spanked should have been ruined by all the screaming and crying and promises to never speak again. But it wasn’t… It just made it that much naughtier, that much more real… And afterwards, as Thorton pressed his hand against her hot bottom, feeling her warmth and asking her if she was ready to start speaking like a
lady
, he had never looked so hot. So
dominant
.

But then… Penny still was angry with him for spanking her, wasn’t she? She remembered being so. When Thorton picked her up, she could see her own angry loathing in her eyes. But now, watching the scene, she felt a tenderness in her heart for him. She saw his expression as he righted her and then brushed the hair out of her eyes. He loved her. There was no question about that….

“Penny!”
Penny felt herself getting ripped out of her own dream. Everything seemed to change around her to a lighter and lighter contrast until she found that she was opening her eyes into somewhere else… Somewhere that smelt like spices and incense. “
Penny? Oh Good!”
Ellie was above her, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

Penny’s head throbbed and she looked around her. “Where am I?” she asked, and it came out as a nearly indiscernible mutter. She slowly sat up.

Ellie swallowed. “My old home.”

“Huh?” Penny rubbed her eyes and looked around. They were swaying back and forth as they were being hauled in a cage barely bigger than a coffin by two very tall reptile-men towards the direction of a sandstone palace that was directly in front of them. Around them was a land heavy in lakes, surprisingly without mosquitos or flies—water stretched out around them in a peninsula.

She looked over at Ellie, who was scrunching her knees up to her chest and looking extremely uncomfortable—more so every moment. “Ellie… How’d we get here?”

“We were apparently nabbed by a Frian special ops team.”

“
Why
?”

Ellie shrugged. “I dunno.”

“What are they gonna do to us?” Penny asked, panting.

Ellie didn’t answer for a long time. The palace was getting larger and larger as they got closer and closer… Then she saw flower-like women looking out from some of the windows. “Ellie?” she asked in a squeak.

“We’re not gonna make it out of here alive, Penny,” Ellie said quietly in a pained, resolved way.

“
What
?” Impossible! They weren’t doomed! They were just… in an enemy's solar system… with green monsters around them and she was locked in a dog cage and…

Okay, so it seemed pretty hopeless. “What do we do?”

Ellie shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m going to try to talk us out of a
slow
death.”

“Slow’s
good
! Maybe that will give Thorton a chance to come and rescue us!” Penny heard herself say, much to her own surprise.

Ellie raised her eyebrow. “There’s no fucking way they know where we are. Even so, they’re probably still days and days behind. The Frians ships are way faster than the Swarii ones… And that’s if they get cleared to rescue us at all. I’m afraid I didn’t make very good friends with the admiralty before I left, and that’s who Thorton would need clearance from to come get us.”

“So you’re saying it’s hopeless?” Penny fretted.

“The Swarii believe in miracles. Maybe we should pray for one of those… And pray fast. I don’t know why we’re here, but I have a feeling finding out will not be a fun process. Now, the best thing to do is to keep your mouth shut and play dumb.”

Play dumb?
“Huh?” She didn’t know what she meant until their cage was carried into the main throne room, where a couple of lizard people dressed in silks and a small yet ornate crowns sat in chairs, peering at them with their yellow eyes.

“Master!” Ellie chirped, as if excited beyond measure and frightened at the same time. She pressed her fingers through the bars. “Master, it’s me!”

Master
? That
thing
was Ellie’s master?
That
was what used to grope Ellie in public?
That
was what used to fondle her? …
Ewe!

“My pet!” The reptile actually seemed alarmed. He moved to stand up, but the reptile next to him put a hand on his. He turned to the other one—which seemed to be his wife. “This was my pet that was stolen by the damn Swarii Commander!”

“This pet of yours was the one who the Swarii honored with an innovator’s award. Intelligence says that she’s created something that allows the Swarii to know our plans,” the reptile lady reminded tersely. “If she was ever there because she was stolen, she is surely there of her own free will
now
.”

Ellie was quick to disagree and to continue to act like she had been kidnapped. “Master—I couldn’t get back to you! I couldn’t find how to get back home! They
forced
me to work on their machines like I was
theirs
, and not yours like I truly am!”

Penny had a feeling that the Swarii didn’t lie too often, not even when they were captured, because Penny watched the lizards consider this. “Tell me, Pet… Have you been taken?”

Ellie paused, but then made a show of looking ashamed. “The commander has been using me as a bedmate the last year… They’re able to use us as sex slaves.”

And vise-versa,
thought Penny, recalling how often on the ship that Ellie had taken Graham by the hand and pulled him to their bedroom to have her way with him. But she knew what Ellie was doing here.

The lizard sighed and nodded towards one of his guards and said, “Release them.” Without moving his lips…
Shal’ta
—it was different than the way the Swarii had used it. The Swarii hated to Shal’ta, although they had the ability. Half the time they’d still move their lips and use hand-gestures.

Either way, the top of their cage was soon opened and the scaly creatures reached in and pulled them out of their cage by their underarms like they were puppies picked up from a window display.

Apparently trying to do her best not to get tortured, as soon as Ellie’s feet touched the ground she bee-lined to the lizard, knelt down in front of him and put her arms around his feet. It was one of the most ridiculously submissive things Penny had ever seen done, so she just stood there, watching.

“Pet.” The female Frian was speaking now, and not looking as pleased as her Master—who must have been the
Jazeel
Penny had heard so much about. “You will tell us why you were awarded. The Swaraan broadcasts were very… shall we say… non-specific?”

“Mistress,” Ellie said, raising her head. “My friend and I invented a very, very popular cooking gadget. Makes very good, yet very unhealthy, food. Hopefully that will clog all their arteries and make them fat.”

“I don’t believe her,” the female snapped. “When she was kidnapped, that’s when things started to turn around for the Swarii. It cannot be coincidence! They’re always one step ahead! You’ve said so yourself.”

“Come here, Pet,” Jazeel said snapping his fingers at Ellie, who got out of her position and brought her face to where his hands were. He put them around her cheeks. “Are you lying to me?”

“Master, I live for you!” Ellie cried desperately.

Jazeel looked at the guards. “See if she is lying. If she is, she shall be punished. My wife does not believe her, and she has never been wrong about such things…” He sighed. “And take the ugly one back with you, too,” he said, pointing at Penny.

Penny made a face.
She
was the ugly one? Ouch…

She was picked up and carried underarm, which Thorton had done before, but these creatures were eight-feet-tall or taller—even taller than Dr. Fie!— and her feet dangled at least a foot off the ground when held this way. “Ellie!” she cried.

“Shut up!” Ellie snapped back, struggling.

It seemed like ages until they could talk freely again. Not until they had blood drawn and were sitting in chairs where a Frian was putting a device over their temples and faces. “What’s going on? What is this?” Penny asked her.

“Lie detectors, what do you think?” Ellie snapped back.

Penny kept her ‘Oh, Fuck!’ to herself, which was wise. It took a long time for them to ask her any questions. They asked Ellie most of the questions; although she couldn’t see their faces. The devices covered up most of her eyes.

At first, the questions were simple—what was Ellie’s name? How many fingers did she have? But then the questions got tough. “Do you have any loyalty to the Swarii?”, “Did you swear any oaths to the Swarii?”, “Do you get paid by the Swarii forces in any respect?”, “Are you an inventor?”, “Do you invent weapons?”, “Do you invent intelligence-gathering devices?”

Unless Ellie had a trick to get past this test, then the Frians were very unfortunately not stupid because they were asking all of the right questions.

And then they turned to Penny. Did she have any loyalties to the Swarii? Was she used as a bedmate? Was she an inventor? Was she an employee…?

“Sir? You might want to look at these results for the little human.”

Suddenly, they were asking Ellie questions again. “Was the Swarii Commander your only bedmate for the last three months?”

“Yes,” Ellie admitted shortly. Their devices were pulled off soon after. “What gives?” Ellie demanded.

“Is it over?” Penny asked hopefully.

“You’re nearly three months pregnant,” they told Ellie. You could cut the seriousness in the room with a knife.

Ellie’s mouth fell open, and then her eyes dropped to her stomach. “What?” she asked.

Penny didn’t know why, but fear clenched her gut at the announcement. Surely, this couldn’t be good…

The Frian looked at a lower one. “Tell Lord Jazeel. We might have a new species on our hands. The humans and Swarii can cross-breed.”

Ellie and Penny exchanged glances. Like fools, they had thought their new ship modification or the fledge was the most important secret. But now they realized that if Earth could be allied so closely with Swarii… Then their whole
planet
was in danger.

Chapter Fourteen

“There’s no chance you’d be able to get to them in time, anyway,” the admiralty was trying to tell Graham and Thorton as they sat all the way across the room. The admiralty had treated the disappearance of Ellie Masterson and Penny Hux like a trivial inconvenience. They wouldn’t put any effort into figuring out where they had been to, leaving Graham and Thorton to go through all the ground work. It was a loose-end. Nobody had seen them since they’d left Graham’s hospital room.

Nobody knew where they were at all until Admiral Jack Masterson heard a message on the fledge, where the Frians were discussing a new species of Swarii-crossbreed that they had gotten on a recon mission. That was all they heard, but that had been enough. There simply couldn’t be that many half-breeds that looked like humans.