Chained (Brides of the Kindred) (26 page)

Kor thought of the dream he’d had—the
abject terror he’d felt for her when he realized what was going on. He knew the
shame and humiliation of being put up on the block for sale, knew the helpless
anger you felt when complete strangers touched and handled you, seeing if you
met their requirements, deciding if they wanted to buy you or not. He hadn’t
wanted that for Maggie—had been desperate to spare her that shame. And yet,
somehow, he had only added to it.

Shouldn’t have
touched her,
he thought savagely.
Should
have just taken her back to the ship and let her deal with the need herself.
But
the urge to touch her had been irresistible. When he’d seen her chained up like
that, her full breasts on display with nothing but the narrow silk ribbon to
hide her ripe nipples and just a tiny little red skirt that barely covered her
pussy, he’d been overcome with desire for her. And Gods, the way she’d reacted
when he touched her…the way she’d pushed her little cunt into his hand, begging
mutely for release…the soft cries of desire that had escaped her when she came
for him…the way her hot, slippery pussy had squeezed his fingers…

She only reacted that
way because of the implant,
a sharp voice spoke
up inside his head.
It’s not like she wanted you to touch her—you’re not the
male she longs for and you probably never will be.

You should never have
come back for her
,
A deeper, uglier voice whispered. It was the voice he
sometimes heard in his dreams—the
other
dreams that had nothing to do
with Maggie. These were the dreams that had come to him soon after he left her,
whispering what he was…and what he could become. The dreams that had taught him
how to control the strange powers growing within him. The dreams that had been
leading him to the Black Planet to find the secret of his origins before he’d
turned around and gone back for Maggie…

I had to come for
her,
Kor thought uneasily.
I could never
leave her to be slaved out like I was. Even if she doesn’t care for me, I have
to do the best I can to help her. I’ll get the implant out of her and help her
get safely home to Earth, then I can go back to my quest. After all, it’s not
like the Black Planet is going anywhere.

The ugly voice muttered indistinctly in
the back of his mind but Kor tried to ignore it. Instead, he concentrated on
setting a course for the Maw Cluster. Of course once they got there, it would
take a bit of finesse to get them to the Dragon’s Mouth. They would probably
have to join a group that—

A low cry of pain from the living area of
the ship stopped him in mid thought.
That’s Maggie! What’s wrong with her?

He jumped up at once, and ran to the
living area which was furnished with gold brocade couches and gilded lamps with
exotic red silk shades. It was a foolishly lavish display as far as Kor was
concerned but it wasn’t the décor he was concerned with right now—it was
Maggie.

She was sitting in the middle of the gold
couch where he’d left her, a look of pain twisting her lovely face. Her hair
was disheveled as though she’d been running both hands through her curls and
her deep blue eyes were wild. Her hands were between her legs but when she saw Kor,
she pulled them away quickly, as though she’d been burned, and crossed her arms
over her chest instead.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he demanded,
going to her. He put out a hand but Maggie pulled away from his touch.

“It’s nothing. I…I’m fine.”

The broken tone of her voice told him it
was a lie and the way she wouldn’t meet his eyes made Kor’s heart twist in his
chest.

“Maggie…” He tried to keep his voice
gentle as he sat beside her on the couch. “Come on, sweetheart…please.”

“I just…I can’t…” She shook her head and
he saw that she was crying. Kor wanted to gather her to him and hold her,
wanted to comfort and protect her. But she’d already pulled away from him once
so he sat quietly and waited. “It’s the implant,” Maggie burst out at last. “I
can’t…it’s making me feel so…so…”

Kor looked at the rapidly blinking red
jewel and nodded. “I get that when it cycles up it makes you hot—gives you
increased desire—but your arms aren’t chained now. You can…take care of
yourself if you need to.”

“No, I can’t,” she whispered and fresh
tears filled her eyes. “You should know that. I thought you knew about these
implant things.”

“I know they’re dangerous if you let
someone who doesn’t know they're doing go fucking around with them,” he said,
frowning. “I’ve heard stories of escaped slaves who tried to deal with their
own implants…” He shook his head. “Anyway, what’s going on?”

“I can’t feel my own hands when I…when I
touch myself there.” Maggie nodded at the spot between her legs. “It’s like I’m
totally numb from my lower pelvis to my upper thighs. I can’t feel anything when
I touch myself except the need getting worse and worse, no matter how hard I
try.”

Kor frowned and placed a hand on her
thigh. “Can you feel this?”

Maggie threw back her head with a little
gasp. “Ah! God, yes.
That
I can feel. I just can’t feel my own hands…my
own fingers.”

“So you can’t help yourself,” Kor
murmured, frowning. Apparently the implant was worse than he’d imagined.
Suddenly the slaver’s promise that Maggie would be eager to do anything to get
him to touch her made more sense. The implant didn’t just increase a slave’s
desire—it made them physically unable to get relief from anyone but their
master.

“No.” Maggie put a hand to her face,
hiding her eyes. “No, I can’t…can’t help myself.”

Kor frowned. “Who the hell designed that
thing? I’m going to have something to say to them after they get it out of you.
Fucking sick bastard.”

“I just…I can’t…” Maggie was looking more
and more distressed. “Kor,” she burst out. “It
hurts.
I mean, it feels
good but it’s
too
good.
Too
much. I can’t…can’t stand it!”

“Do you need help?” He looked at her
directly. “Look, blondie, I don’t want to take advantage. But if you really
can’t stand it…”

“I…” She looked down in shame, her hands
twisting in her lap. “It’s awful, Kor. I feel like my nerves are on fire. I
guess…I guess I
do
need help.”

Kor sat and looked at her for a long
moment. She was breathing hard and her tousled curls framed a flushed face. The
thin scarlet band that encircled her breasts had pulled down on one side,
baring one plump, dark pink nipple and part of the tiny red skirt was flipped
up, showing just a hint of her soft little pussy. She was so beautiful—so desirable—it
hurt Kor to look at her. But it hurt him even more to see her in pain. He
wanted to help her but he didn’t want to add to that pain, didn’t want to
overload her with guilt.

“Maggie, look at me,” he said quietly,
lifting her chin. At first she refused to meet his eyes. Kor waited patiently,
refusing to give up. At last, she looked up at him reluctantly.

“What?” she asked in a small voice.

“This desire inside you, this need, it
isn’t your fault,” Kor told her firmly. “It’s the implant. And I know I’m not
the male you want to help you, but your fiancé isn’t here—I’m afraid I’m it.”

“I know you are,” she whispered. “I just…I
feel so guilty asking for your help. Asking you to…”

“To do what’s necessary,” Kor said softly.
“To give you what you need, to ease your pain. Do you think your fiancé would
want you to be hurting? Would he want you in agony?”

She bit her lip. “No, I don’t…don’t
think
so.”

“Then you have to let me help you,” Kor
told her. “And you need to let go of the guilt. It’s not your fault, Maggie.
You can’t help this—you can only deal with it as it comes. And I’m the only one
here to help you deal with it.”

She looked away. “I can’t believe you even
want to. I thought you hated me for—”

“For staying true to your intended? No.” Kor
shook his head. “Your loyalty is one of the things I love about you, Maggie.
One of the things that makes me want you so badly.”

“Oh, Kor…” Her eyes flitted to his for a
moment and then she looked just as quickly away.

“I won’t lie about that,” he went on,
roughly. “I
do
want you. But I know your heart belongs to someone else.
So I swear to you here and now to only do what is necessary to ease your pain.
I won’t take advantage of you, Maggie. Do you understand?”

Slowly, she nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Kor stroked the tousled
curls out of her face and looked at her directly. “Do you need my help now?”

She nodded again, her eyes filled with
pain. It hurt his heart to see that mixture of need and shame in her lovely
face. He wanted to erase it somehow but he didn’t know how. All he could do was
try to make this as easy for her as possible.

He longed to take her in his arms and kiss
her, to hold her close while he brought her to the edge. Instead he extended a
single hand to her and rested his fingertips lightly on her thigh.

“Do you want to do it the same way?” he
asked. “Want me to cup you and let you rub against me?”

“Yes,” she whispered, unable to meet his
eyes. "Please."

“Then raise your skirt, for me,
sweetheart, and spread your legs,” Kor directed. “Let me give you what you
need.”

Her face flushed with shame, Maggie did as
he asked. Slowly she got to her knees on the broad cushion of the couch and
spread her legs. Then, hands trembling, she lifted the tiny red skirt.

Kor couldn’t keep a low curse from
escaping him. He’d thought she was hot and in need before, when she was on the
block. But that was nothing to what he saw now. Her little cunt was swollen
with need, the outer lips parting to show her dark pink folds and the ripe
little button of her clit. Her juices were also flowing freely, coating her pussy
and inner thighs with her honey, making him long to bend down and lap it up
from the source. His cock surged in his pants, snarling for release. Gods, how
he wanted to worship her sweet pussy with his tongue!

Sternly, Kor controlled himself. He was
only giving her what she needed, he reminded himself. Only easing her pain. He
wouldn’t go there, wouldn’t taste her, unless it was absolutely necessary.

He wasn’t wearing gloves this time—a fact
that wasn’t lost on him as he reached between her legs and cupped her sweet,
open cunt. Gods, she was hot—and so wet his palm was immediately drenched. Oh
yes, she needed this
badly.

Maggie moaned breathlessly and held
herself back for only a moment before settling more firmly into his hand. Kor
could see the overwhelming desire in her eyes, could feel the soft, hot,
wetness in the palm of his hand and he knew how desperate she was.

“All right, blondie,” he murmured, trying
to control his own lust. “It’s all right—I’m going to take care of you.” Slowly
he spread her pussy lips and slid two fingers into her slippery folds,
bracketing her clit just as he had before.

Maggie cried out and rubbed against him
but this time the action didn’t seem to satisfy her. Leaning forward, she
gripped his arm with one small hand, her eyes wild.

“Please, Kor…I need…inside me.
Please.”

She needs
penetration—like before,
Kor realized. “All
right, sweetheart,” he murmured.

His cock surged again but he ignored it
and slid two fingers deep into her tight channel. Gods, how he wished it was
his tongue or his cock instead! But he squashed the thought quickly.
That’s
not what Maggie wants—not what she needs
, he told himself sternly
.
This
is what she needs. Just this and
nothing more.

With his thumb, he began a slow stroking
motion over her swollen clit. Maggie’s eyes fluttered closed and she let out a
low, breathless moan. Then she began to move, rolling her hips in time with his
rhythm as he thrust deep into her core, filling her as well as he could with
his fingers.

It didn’t take long for her to come. Kor
knew when it happened because her grip on his arm tightened and her inner walls
began to contracting around his invading fingers. But best of all he liked the
soft little cries that were torn from her lips. Cries that sounded suspiciously
like his name…Gods, he could imagine her crying and moaning like that when he
was on top of her, could imagine her scratching his back and pulling his hair,
begging him to take her harder, to fuck her deeper…

He was so caught up in the fantasy that he
almost didn’t notice something was wrong. But then his ear caught the note of
distress in her voice and he realized something—before when he’d helped her
come, the implant in her belly button had stopped blinking for a short while
and then started again only slowly. This time it hadn’t stopped at all, in fact
it was blinking even faster than before he’d first tried to help her. What the
hell was going on?

“Please!” Maggie gasped. “Please, I
can’t…I don’t know what’s wrong. But even though I came it still…I still need…need
something else. I don’t…I can’t…”