Clan and Command (Clan Beginnings)

Chapter 11

It was afternoon in Kalquor’s capital city, right below Kila’s orbiting destroyer. Since ship’s chronometers were set to coincide with Fleet Command Headquarters, it was afternoon on the vessel too.

Kila bustled around his quarters, putting the final touches on his plan. Nothing in the room showed signs of anything of particular note: the sleeping mat was made up tidily, and his desk had been cleared of everything, including his computer. His sturdier racing mementos were in place on their shelves. However, it was what didn’t show that had been arranged the most carefully.

He finished his preparations and looked around with satisfaction. He looked forward to his visitor. He tried not to think how Piras had refused to answer coms the night before. How he’d taken the day off from Fleet Command without warning. What was that infernally frustrating man up to? He was determined to get some answers – but first, there was pleasanter business to attend to.

The door announce went off, and Kila’s heart drummed harder in anticipation. “Yes?”

“Chief Engineer reporting as ordered, Captain.”

A grin spread across Kila’s face. Pleasant business, indeed. “Enter.”

The door opened and Lokmi walked in. The handsome Imdiko wore loose-fitting civilian clothing, as Kila had ordered. Lokmi’s eyes widened to see his captain in nothing but a tiny pair of skin-tight workout shorts.

Kila had hoped to make Lokmi off-balance. For the moment, it seemed that he had. The man yanked his gaze from the bulging crotch of the Nobek’s shorts to pretend casual interest in Kila’s personal quarters. “Are we still fighting, or did you change your mind, sir? The floor space in here is rather cramped.”

You wish. “Oh, we’re having it out, Chief. Make no mistake about that.”

Lokmi’s studied attempt to not look at his nearly-nude captain shifted. Rabid fascination replaced the uncomfortable expression he wore. He took an instinctive step forward, his gaze locked on one of Kila’s shelves. The Nobek glanced to see what had caught his interest. A wave of nostalgia distracted him from his purpose. It was one of Kila’s favorite mementos, something he’d claimed ownership of while still a member of his parent clan’s racing crew.

Lokmi’s hushed tone betrayed his awe. “Is that—?”

“Nobek Orthek’s glove. Snatched off his hand by my father after we won the championship from his cheating ass,”

Kila confirmed. He went to the shelf and lifted the padded racing glove. It was impossible not to gloat as he had that wonderful day when right had prevailed. He sneered at the glove, thinking of the man who had once worn it. He tossed it to Lokmi.

The chief engineer handled it like a religious relic. His eyes lit with fervor. “No one could beat that bastard until your father and his team blasted past his racer in the last stretch of the championship. Orthek’s shuttle literally fell apart! Weren’t you working on the crew at that time?”

Kila nodded, his chest swelling with pride. “I’m the one who figured out the dampening frequency Orthek’s craft emitted to knock all his competitors out. I fitted my father’s shuttle with a counter-frequency that rebounded onto Orthek’s vessel. Not only did it cancel the effects on surrounding shuttles, but it strengthened when it came back at him and tore his craft to pieces. That glove was my trophy for the contribution.”

He was bragging, but he couldn’t help it. Nobek Orthek had gamed the races for five years before Kila had discovered how he did it. No one else had guessed the ruse.

“Amazing. Truly.”

The admiration in Lokmi’s voice stirred Kila’s senses. The Imdiko was an ace engineer, someone capable of appreciating the accomplishment. To receive accolades from a man who matched – if not surpassed – Kila’s mechanical abilities meant something. The captain liked hearing the note of approval in Lokmi’s tone.

Kila studied his crewman as Lokmi, still holding the glove, looked at the other tokens and vid pictures of triumphs past. In his way, the Imdiko was as interesting as Piras. Lokmi was half-Dramok, and he had fighting skills to boot. He was more than fascinating. He was downright arousing.

Being erect during a battle or a fight was as normal to Kila as the surge of adrenaline pumping his muscles. The throbbing of his cocks as he readied for the coming struggle fed his desire to win…because if he bested Lokmi in their match, he could claim a trophy far more delectable than a racer’s glove. He would be well within his rights as disciplinarian and superior officer to fuck his disobedient chief engineer.

A prize Kila had every intention of winning.

“Tour’s over, Chief. Are you ready to do this?”

“Sure.”

Lokmi turned and tossed the glove to Kila.

Even as Kila reached instinctively to catch, stepping forward to snag the glove before it could hit the floor, he knew the mistake he was making. Before he could check the unfortunate error, Lokmi rushed forward, ducking under the Nobek’s outstretched arm to drive his shoulder into his unprotected belly. Kila woofed out a breath as they collided, bending over Lokmi’s back. The Imdiko straightened, lifting the captain off the floor and flipping him over.

Kila landed halfway on his sleeping mat and bounced off. He already curled his body to spring at his opponent, who was setting to defend himself. Lokmi moved fast. Kila was faster.

For several minutes, the air filled with breathless grunts and the thuds of hard bodies making violent contact against each other and the walls. Kila’s mementos pattered to the floor from their shaken shelves, but he’d prepared by putting away all the breakable items before Lokmi’s arrival.

As he’d foreseen, it was he who carried most of the fight to the engineer. Lokmi’s use of odikan meant he used Kila’s own momentum and force against the Nobek. The man was damned good at it too. The struggle was evenly matched, with neither getting the upper hand. Kila’s respect for his opponent grew with each instance of his attacks turned aside, especially when Lokmi took advantage of putting his captain off balance and landing a solid punch or kick.

They pounded and deflected and parried and jabbed for what felt like forever to Kila. Their skin was sheened with sweat, and their chests worked like bellows. Kila noted the crotch of Lokmi’s loose-fitting trousers were as tented as his own tight shorts.

Had Kila chosen to fight fair, they might have battled until one or both collapsed from sheer exhaustion. However, playing by the rules during the confrontation had never been the Nobek’s intention. He’d wanted to test Lokmi, to get the man’s true measure as a combatant, as well as deal out a little of the punishment due. Having satisfied that portion of his curiosity about the chief, he was ready to bring on the real discipline.

Kila came at Lokmi yet again, opening himself to being tossed against the desk that usually held his computer. The Imdiko complied beautifully, and Kila went flying over the furniture.

He hit the floor. Ignoring a brief flash of pain, Kila put on a burst of speed, more than he’d used during the entire combat. It had been a tactical ploy, in the hope that Lokmi would think his captain was a hell of a lot slower than he actually was. In a flash, Kila snagged one of the hover cuffs he’d secured beneath the desk. Still zipping as fast as he could go, he flew at Lokmi, knocking the other man off balance for an instant.

Had Kila tried to press his advantage and take the Imdiko off his feet, he would have failed, as he had several times during their contest. Instead, the captain dropped to the ground and slapped the cuff on his opponent’s ankle. Kila jerked back, out of the way of a kick aimed at his head.

“Cuff, elevate subject ten feet!”

The cuff obeyed, zooming up vertically and turning Lokmi upside down in the air. The Imdiko yelled as he swung helpless, unable to escape. “You lousy shit! You told me no weapons!”

Kila sat on the floor, panting and grinning from ear to ear as he surveyed his flailing prize. “Technically speaking, a hover cuff is not a weapon, Chief. It’s a tool that aids in subduing resistance.”

Lokmi twisted to glare at Kila. His fangs were showing as he spat, “This is nothing but a cheat, and you know it.”

“You’ve got me there. But I’m the captain of this glorious vessel and you’re not. If I want, I get to break the rules I made in the first place.”

“Bastard! Asshole!”

“Right again on all counts. What can I say, Chief?”

Kila shrugged. “I can’t help that you have a magnificent ass I can’t resist.”

“You could have ordered me over your desk. We didn’t have to go through this whole fight,”

Lokmi snarled. He flexed his midsection, raising his torso so that he could grab the cuff and try to pull it off.

“Where’s the fun in that? Besides, if you had managed to take me down or avoid getting caught the way you are, I’d have conceded defeat. I gave you a chance. You should be thanking me.”

“Fuck you.”

Lokmi’s attention remained riveted on fiddling with the cuff.

It was the first real mistake he’d made, and Kila took advantage. He had the Imdiko’s wrists cuffed before Lokmi knew what was happening. “Freeze subject. Cuffs respond to my verbal commands and my physical alterations alone.”

Now only one of Lokmi’s legs was capable of movement. He flailed, but Kila knew he’d soon remedy that situation as well. He twirled the last cuff around his finger, enjoying himself.

He grinned at the furiously cursing engineer. “You say ‘fuck you’, but the situation is definitely that you’re the man getting fucked. And since you’re enough Dramok to hate losing control, I’ll count it as the best possible punishment I could give you.”

Lokmi kept yelling, not hearing a word the captain said. Kila was the one startled by his bad choice of words. Enough Dramok to hate losing control. Such a statement would wound the Dramok whom Kila had set his sights on.

“I’ve got to get my mind straight on that score before I open my big mouth like that again,”

he muttered as he captured Lokmi’s last free limb and slapped the cuff on it. “That beautiful man is a hell of a Dramok when sex isn’t the goal. And I don’t mind him not being the typical leader when we’re enjoying each other. In fact, I appreciate it.”

“What the fuck are you jabbering about?”

Lokmi stopped yelling curses and scowled at him. He looked ridiculous hanging there, one leg flung at an awkward angle.

Kila snorted. “Yeah, when there are others around who challenge me, I can live with the one who won’t.”

He smacked Lokmi’s ass with an open palm and grinned. “Isn’t that right, Chief?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, you cheating liar.”

Kila arranged Lokmi’s arms and legs so that they splayed apart, opening him to whatever the Nobek decided he wanted to do with this treasure. He grabbed Lokmi’s waistband and swept his trousers off. He gloated at the pair of still-erect cocks and muscular ass he would soon be enjoying. “I’m saying I’ll love fucking you senseless, you crazy dual-breed. A lot more than I should admit to.”

Lokmi’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. “Why?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I’m grateful that you disobeyed my orders? Just so I could fight and hopefully fuck you?”

Kila shook his head. “No, I’d have to explain way too damned much to get you to understand.”

“I wish you’d explain something, because all you’re doing is confusing me.”

Kila rubbed his chin. He wasn’t about to expose Piras’s proclivities to Lokmi. It was far too private a matter. Yet he had too many questions and concerns when it came to Piras.

“From an Imdiko’s point of view,”

he started, searching for the right words that would unlock enough understanding to gain an answer. “What would you do if you cared about someone who couldn’t give you the kind of relationship you were used to? Sexually, that is. I mean, the sex works, it really does. But it’s not what I’ve come to expect.”

Lokmi snorted. “If you’re talking about sex advice, you’re looking at the wrong man. Unless I can get with another Imdiko who doesn’t mind me going Dramok on him, I don’t fuck. I hate not having control.”

Kila looked at him for a long beat before bursting out with laughter. He roared until he had to sit down or have his legs go out from underneath him.

When he could speak again, he said, “The opposite ends of the spectrum. He’d probably love you too.”

“I think you’re certifiable, Captain. You keep making random statements that make no sense. You’ve lost your mind.”

“I most likely have.”

Kila sighed and shook his head at the grouchy-looking chief. “All right, let’s get this going. Your ass isn’t going to fuck itself.”

He pulled Lokmi’s torn shirt off him before standing up. He ordered the cuffs to pull the Imdiko to an upright position, his arms and legs splayed wide to give him a good view. He spent a few seconds admiring his win, much to Lokmi’s chagrin. He really was stunning as far as sexiness went. A nice amount of muscle, gorgeous proportions, and a hearty couple of handfuls between his legs. As Kila drank in the vision, the captured man couldn’t help but pull against his binds, still trying to find a way out of his predicament. It made his muscles work in fascinating ways.

Even as heat grew in his groin, Kila fought off another wave of hilarity. A Dramok who didn’t want control. An Imdiko who demanded control. And here he was, having to deal with the pair of them. Would have to continue dealing with them if Piras went through with the mission and succeeded in getting them in the Basma’s good graces.

“The ancestors love me,”

he said. He yanked off his shorts and let Lokmi have a good look at what he was in for.

The chief’s eyes widened satisfactorily. Kila grinned at the unspoken compliment.

* * * *

Lokmi scowled, knowing he’d given his captain too much of a reaction to seeing him naked. Damn Kila. Why did he have to look so good?

The near-nudity of the Nobek had been hard to ignore as they’d grappled. Seeing Kila so masculine, his virile body a feast for the senses, had screwed with the chief’s head from the word go. Only the discipline of odikan had kept him either a step ahead of Kila or on equal footing for much of their fight. The near-constant physical contact with the man had held more allure than Lokmi wanted to acknowledge.

Now Kila had him at a huge disadvantage. He was going to have control over Lokmi, the very thing he wanted to hate most. Lokmi genuinely did like being in charge. That no one ever seemed to take that need seriously pissed him off. It made him so frustrated that he fiercely rejected the few times that giving in to another seemed tempting.

Moments like now. The vision of being beneath his captain possessed a strange appeal. Lokmi didn’t want to feel that way. If Kila dominated him once, he’d expect to keep doing it. Lokmi’s usual instincts to take the lead would be forever ignored.

Yet the feeling persisted that being on the receiving end of Kila’s arousal might be exciting, at least in this instance. To give himself over to what amounted to reasonable discipline for his actions was increased by yet another factor, one that had Lokmi looking at Kila with dawning understanding.

As the captain stood before him, handling his impressive cocks with lazy strokes, Lokmi detected an aura of need from the scarred Nobek. The perplexing things he’d been muttering while cuffing Lokmi were so much noise. However, the tone he’d spoken in…that had been another matter. Though Kila presented a solid, assured front, his voice betrayed confusion and frustration. There were flashes of want in his expression, much like a starving man might view food he couldn’t reach.

Kila fought an internal battle, one that reflected outside discord somewhere in his life. Lokmi would have bet his engines on it. It reminded him of the way his Nobek father dealt with things that upset him: the fa?ade would be stoic, but little cracks would allow glimpses into the violent emotional storms battering the man.

Those hints of distress reached past Lokmi’s Dramok need for control to snag at his Imdiko instinct to provide for others. While his domineering nature seethed to be at Kila’s mercy, his nurturing aspect softened, feeling it was what the captain needed. That warm, caring part, rarely given full leave to act, anticipated what was coming.

As the opposite ends of his personality warred with each other, Kila moved forward to draw Lokmi in his arms. Chest to chest, groin to groin, the Imdiko felt the heat of the man’s skin, the granite of his powerful body. A feverish sensation had remained in Lokmi’s cocks even after he’d realized he’d lost the fight and would be taken by Kila. That inner warmth grew in intensity as the Nobek gazed searchingly into Lokmi’s eyes. Again, fissures in Kila’s usual mocking expression showed. Behind the aloof mask were hints of disquiet.

Kila had asked him a question earlier, appealing to his compassionate Imdiko sensibilities. What would you do if you cared about someone who couldn’t give you the kind of relationship you were used to? Was that the key to the unease he felt in the Nobek’s demeanor? A rocky relationship with someone who couldn’t offer what Kila needed?

At the time he’d posed the question, Lokmi had been too irate to bother with an answer. It occurred to him that perhaps it was the key to unlocking whatever bothered Kila at that moment.

Led by the Imdiko-facet that hungered to care for someone, Lokmi opened his mouth to ask. Before he could utter a sound, Kila took advantage of the opportunity and kissed him.

The feeling of his tongue gliding in to taste him derailed Lokmi’s thoughts. With his caregiving instincts awakened, his first impulse was to fling arms and legs around the other man and draw him closer still. The cuffs held him prisoner, however. He jerked helplessly against them as he kissed Kila back with unguarded passion. Raw need erupted, sending bolts of fervor through his body. Held back by the restraints, he rubbed his torso against his captor’s as best he could.

Kila responded to the bold ardor by stroking eager hands over Lokmi. Back, ass, chest, stomach, cocks…his rough touch enflamed the Imdiko’s senses. The Nobek grabbed flesh during the desperate investigation, as if he might rip skin from Lokmi in his eagerness to possess. The grappling was as exciting as it was bruising. Lokmi’s heart thundered as arousal awoke like a long-slumbering beast in its den.

The disparate twins of his identity strove to realize their unique desires. His Dramok side pulled at the cuffs, fighting to free him so that he might fondle Kila in return and enjoy the brutish beauty it perceived. Failing that, he kissed the Nobek with all the zeal he possessed, hungering for more of the wild, primal strength he tasted.

He exalted in the strength of the man claiming him with violent caresses and sharp nips to his lips. He dove into the Imdiko joy of being what the Nobek needed as Kila grappled with whatever uncertainty that had invaded his life. With choice taken from him, Lokmi was free to give rather than take, to soothe the pain that drove Kila.

His captain released the brain-numbing kiss to stare again into Lokmi’s eyes. He gripped the Imdiko’s shafts and stroked. Lokmi’s body tensed as rapture surged, and he yelled.

“That’s it,”

Kila grunted with approval. “Get harder for me, Chief. Get wet. That’s right.”

Lokmi had no choice but to be hard. Kila’s fists were tight, they were hot, they were rough, and they felt good surrounding his lubricating cocks. Everything beneath his navel grew heavy with demand. Meanwhile, he couldn’t look away from Kila’s dark gaze. He drowned in the slitted black pupils, in the blue-purple depths of his irises. He had to be drowning; he couldn’t find any breath as the strong grips slid up and down his pricks.

“It’s not such a bad thing to give yourself over,”

Kila whispered. “Not such a bad thing, is it? Does it feel good, Lokmi?”

Involuntarily, Lokmi’s head bobbed in agreement with the mesmerizing murmur. What Kila was doing did feel good. There was no denying that.

“Yes, it feels so good. And you have an exquisite body, Lokmi. A body made to be enjoyed. I will thrill to touch you and experience everything about you.”

The sensual haze that filled Lokmi’s head was as distracting as the pulsing ardor in his groin and cocks. Yet he understood enough to know Kila wanted to keep touching him. Lokmi shared that desire with all his being.

When Kila released his smaller shaft from that enthralling grip, Lokmi couldn’t hold back a distressed cry. For a moment, he feared the Nobek would stop all the wonderful things he was doing. Yet he continued tugging on the larger primary, keeping desire at a high pitch.

“Hush, Lokmi,”

Kila whispered. “The play has not ended. We have far to go before I’m finished with you.”

The undercurrent of threat was of little import to the Imdiko. It didn’t just matter that Kila not stop until the growing pressure in his groin was released. Lokmi also needed to know the worry driving the Nobek dissipated, that he received the care he needed.

Even the feeling of a questing touch prodding between his buttocks was of little concern to Lokmi as Kila continued the pleasurable pulling on his manhood. It wasn’t until a slick finger shoved into his ass that his Dramok side remembered to snarl. Even as that part of him protested the invasion, his body yielded easily, offering nothing more than the token resistance of tight muscles.

“That’s nice,”

Kila said, his merciless smirk gentling into approval. “I like that, Lokmi. Stay relaxed and easy for me.”

If he hadn’t sounded and looked so sincere in his appreciation, Lokmi would have been consumed with the Dramok drive that insisted it should be in charge of the situation. That part of him had awakened again, trying to make itself known by renewing the fight no matter how unwinnable the situation might be.

Yet the Imdiko sensibilities, for all their gentle nature, were just as determined to have their way. They were every bit as demanding. Aroused by Kila’s emotions and strengthened by the taste of Kila’s gratitude…not to mention the incredible way he fired Lokmi’s passion…those caring instincts eclipsed the ones that insisted Lokmi dominate. The Imdiko portion that was pushed aside far too often found pleasure in what his Dramok side could not.

Kila not only drove his finger in and out of Lokmi’s backside, stretching him a little bit at a time, but it probed for the sensitive spot of his prostate. He found it, and the Imdiko was newly jolted as molten excitement awoke. The exquisite delight lit him to the tips of his fingers and toes, and he moaned in uninhibited bliss.

It occurred to him to ask, why? After all, Kila was supposed to be dealing out discipline for Lokmi fucking around with the engines without checking in first. True punishment would have meant that once the captain overcame him, he’d simply bend him over his sleeping mat, yank his pants down, and shove his cock in his ass. Kila would know the torment to Lokmi’s pride would have far outweighed the pain of a punishment fucking.

Lokmi didn’t get to voice his confusion. Kila rubbed the magic spot in his ass again, and the burning elation made him dismiss his concerns. In the end, it was enough that the Nobek seemed to count his pleasure as important.

A second finger wriggled inside. The fullness felt good, reminding Lokmi it had been a long time since he’d been taken by another man. As Kila’s mouth closed on his again, devouring him in another enthralling kiss, Lokmi had to admit he’d missed the joy of simple touch. Now that he had no choice but to bend to his commanding officer’s will, both because of duty and physical constraints, he could revel in the contact with another person. It was a revelation to realize how much he’d missed it.

Kila released the kiss to absorb him yet again in that penetrating stare. “Ah, you delicious creature,”

he sighed. “Why couldn’t you be stupid or at least morally foul in some way? I can tolerate an irritating bastard, but not those things. You could at least have the good conduct to act so I wouldn’t find you this damned appealing. So I wouldn’t think ridiculous things.”

The man was talking nonsense again, and Lokmi had no interest in deciphering whatever riddles he spouted. Kila had manhandled him expertly until only one thing mattered. Even if he couldn’t force his will, he could at least be demanding and salve his Dramok’s hurt pride that way. “Fuck me. I want you to. Shove that big, thick cock in me, and let me come with you.”

“You assume a lot, thinking I planned to let you climax,”

Kila snorted. However, his cocks surged, shoving against Lokmi’s thighs.

Seizing on the positive reaction, Lokmi insisted, “Fuck me hard. Pound my ass. You feel how tight I am. You know how good it will feel around your dick, squeezing you—”

He’d pushed the right buttons, because Kila moved him in a flash. All at once, Lokmi was face down on the sleeping mat, bent at the waist, his knees on the floor. The captain’s thighs shoved his apart. With a sound that was half-sigh, half-groan, Kila sank one of his cocks into the Imdiko’s flesh.

Lokmi winced as the thick appendage spread his ass to accommodate its girth. His fists clenched, and his feet fought the cuffs, trying to drum against the floor. Pain, coupled with a heady flush of rapture, swept through him. The combination was amazing, making his cocks jerk in reaction. Liquid fire pulsed from his smaller secondary to pool at the base of his primary shaft. The weight in his gut doubled, then tripled. He gasped, writhing as best the cuffs and the Kila’s impalement would allow.

The Nobek fell over him, pinning him still. His hips moved against Lokmi’s ass, grinding against him, fucking him in a slow but steady motion. The pain of taking the man’s generous girth began to subside as his body adjusted, replaced by hair-raising friction against his interior hotspot. The roiling excitement at the root of his front cock glided forward an inch. Lokmi shuddered, feeling eruption closing in.

Kila spoke breathlessly in his ear. “You were right. You are wonderfully tight. So hot. So good, especially after a fight. Ah, you wonderful bastard, I could fight and fuck you all day.”

The gratified tone in his rough voice made something inside Lokmi warm. Had he been able to look into the captain’s forceful gaze, into his rugged, appealing face, he was sure Kila’s earlier angst would be gone. The Imdiko in him felt elation.

Kila seizing his cocks drove clear thought away. His grip pumped to match the strokes of their joining. Lokmi shouted, his lower body flexing in reaction.

“Lokmi.”

His name sounded like a benediction the way Kila spoke it. “Lokmi. Do you know how you feel to me? Squeezing my cock with your ass, making me crazy to fill you with my cum. Ancestors! You’re going to pull every drop from me.”

His pace increased, the friction in his ass and around his pricks growing fiery. Lokmi panted, his breaths ending in whimpers. He didn’t care about the pitiful sounds he made. The bright, boiling ecstasy in his primary slid another inch towards its tip. He was going to come.

The voice in his ear urged him closer to the precipice. “That’s it, Lokmi. Let it happen. Give yourself over while I take you. Come for me.”

Gasps punctuated his demand, breaking the words up into isolated islands. “Come…for…me…you…beautiful…bastard.”

Kila pounded against him, his groin thudded against Lokmi’s ass. Wet, slippery sounds hissed beneath the claps of contact, slick skin sliding over and over, faster and faster. Lokmi’s gut felt heavy as lead, his cocks overfull, the pressure demanding release.

All at once, something gave way. The slowly rising stream of heat in his larger penis turned into a roiling torrent, shoving through. He shrieked into the mat as it burst free, jetting in violent, electric bursts.

“Yes, Lokmi! Yes!”

Kila’s bellow made his ears ring, but he was too consumed by the brutal pleasure pulsing from him to care.

Lokmi felt it when Kila let go, his cock jolting within his ass as it filled him with the Nobek’s passion. As his own loins continued to spasm, he felt as if he spent not just his seed, but Kila’s as well. It was an astounding impression, one he’d never experienced before.

The excitement eased by degrees, shattering enthrallment gentling into bliss a little at a time. Lokmi’s sense of reality drifted in and out. He was aware of Kila draped over his body, a warm, living blanket that sank him deeper into the soft bed mat. Their gasps mingled.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he emerged from post-coital fog. It could have been mere minutes or an hour. He became aware of a contentment that shouldn’t have been there, not with Kila on top of him with his dick still shoved up his ass. His Dramok disposition snarled.

Lokmi shifted, working to twist enough to look at Kila. Roused by the movement, the Nobek lifted off him, his penis slipping free. Lokmi tried not to notice the emptiness he felt at his captain’s retreat.

Kila flopped down next to him, lying on his back and gazing at Lokmi. Whatever he saw on the Imdiko’s face made him groan. “Oh, not you too.”

Lokmi had been ready to demand the cuffs still pinning him to be taken off, but the return of Kila’s tormented look – this time not hidden by a reserved expression – brought his caregiver instincts roaring back. In a gentle tone, he asked “What?”

“For a moment you looked at me like wanted to shove me off a balcony – or, since we’re on the ship, out of an airlock.”

The answer was startling. “Do you get that often?”

“Only with the important ones.”

Lokmi made a wild guess at who might be giving Kila so much grief. “Like Admiral Piras?”

Maybe it wasn’t such a crazy supposition after all, because Kila glared at him without answering.

Lokmi didn’t want to piss off the Nobek, not when he was still immobilized in cuffs. In the most offhand tone he could muster, he said, “It seemed like there was something between you two yesterday.”

“There’s something, all right. It’s messed up as hell though.”

He sighed and rubbed his hands over his eyes.

Lokmi’s Imdiko nature pounced. “Do you want to talk about it? I can keep secrets.”

“I should hope so, you being part of a spy mission.”

Kila stared up at the ceiling and shook his head. “No. I’m not at liberty to discuss the more private details. There’s too much personal shit.”

“Okay. How about letting me out of these cuffs then?”

Kila looked over at him. His signature mocking grin spread over his face. “I don’t know. I enjoy you like this.”

Lokmi’s temper flared. “I don’t enjoy it. If the punishment is over, let me up.”

Kila choked on a laugh, but he sat up and worked on removing the cuffs. “You didn’t enjoy it, huh? Tell me why I need these bed linens washed then. You came all over my mat.”

Lokmi shot him a dark look as he sat up, rubbing his wrists. They’d been chafed from him straining against them. “Fine. It had its moments. You’re a lot more talented in the sack than you appear to be.”

Kila bellowed laughter at that. The way humor lit up his face extinguished the worst of Lokmi’s temper at having been dominated. In fact, it was impossible not to laugh a little himself.

“Chief, you overwhelm me with compliments.”

Kila eyed him with a mischievous glint. “How soon can I expect to have to discipline you again?”

The devilish look sent heat spilling into Lokmi’s groin once more. Damn, what was with him today? Why was he finding himself responsive to this overbearing thug? This man who had controlled him exactly as he disliked?

I didn’t dislike it though, because his need spoke to the side I refuse to acknowledge. But I can’t be taken advantage of. I refuse. In fact, I’d like to show Kila that as soon as possible. And how will he respond to being on the receiving end when I win? Can I make him enjoy it as much as he did me?

The idea had his cocks standing at attention again, which he hid from Kila by turning his back. Pretending to be unaffected, he gathered his clothes. He responded in a lofty tone, “That all depends on if we get to fight for dominance again. Don’t think I won’t be ready for your tricks next time.”

Kila growled and managed to make the sound happy. “Challenge accepted. I look forward to our next round of discipline.”

Lokmi threw his clothes back on the floor. “No time like the present, Captain.”

He sprang at the startled Nobek.