9. Molly
9
MOLLY
T he first thing I noticed was the warmth surrounding me, and that felt good in a bone deep way. I tried to remember where I was, what happened to me. Everything swam together, facts, fictions, and things that might be either. Figuring anything out was impossible.
It would be easier, I realized, if I opened my eyes. Something must be wrong given how long it took me to think of that. My eyelids felt like lead as I strained to open them, but eventually I managed. The room around me swam into focus.
Above me, rather. I was looking at a ceiling. A familiar ceiling at that. I blinked, summoned my strength, and looked around. Between the dim light and my eyes refusing to cooperate, I didn’t take in much, but it was enough.
“A colony pod,” I breathed. I’d spent time in one of these preparing for the journey to Arcadia. I was in the bathroom of an Arcadia Colony Company pod.
That thought brought my strength back in a hurry. Had we made it? Did I have some kind of stasis-sleep sickness? Was all that horror on Crashland just a nightmare on the long journey to the stars?
It was only when I tried to stand up that I realized I wasn’t just in a bathroom, I was in the bath, soaking in warm water. And Glitch sat at the foot of the bath, watching me intently.
I hauled myself out of the water carefully, my limbs weak and shaking. But they held my weight while I dried myself with the warm, fluffy towel that waited for me.
A warm bathrobe too. Luxury undreamed of. Except, if Crashland had been a dream, it would be normal. So why the relief? Maybe I wasn’t on Arcadia? There was one way to find out. Well, several, but I dismissed the rest. If I called for help and I was a prisoner, that would be bad. Waiting here until someone found me would take hours most likely, since they weren’t here yet. So exploring it was. With a bit of effort, I pulled free the rail from the towel rack and gave it a test swing. Sturdy enough to make a crude club, light enough that I could lift it even in my condition.
Finger on lips, I shushed Glitch and then slid open the door, ready for anything.
A disappointingly empty corridor waited for me. Cooler air blew past and I pulled up the hood of my robe to pad barefoot down the curved hallway, looking for someone, anyone. I couldn’t be alone here, surely? Whether on Arcadia or Crashland, there’d be someone else with me. But as I walked around the ship, Glitch trotting along behind me, no signs of life showed themselves. Not until I was almost halfway around the pod, and I heard a rhythmic sound up ahead. Quiet at first, growing louder as I tip-toed closer. The galley, I realized, and as soon as I knew that, I recognized the sound. The blade on wood, the familiar sound of a chef’s knife in use.
So, whoever it is, they’re armed, I thought, lifting my improvised club higher. My grip was slippery which I put down to hands wet from the bath. Not nervous sweat at all. Nope.
The galley door stood open, lights on bright. And there, standing with his back to me, was a Prytheen. My heart thumped so loud it surprised me that he didn’t hear it. A pirate, a killer, butchering an animal hanging at the far end of the room. Colony pods were equipped for that — some of us would hunt, others raise cattle — but I’d never seen one in use before.
I didn’t like it one bit.
What now? Run? Not plausible, I’d never get away from him when I didn’t even know what planet we were on. Hide? No good. I’d need food sooner rather than later, so I’d have to emerge and get spotted. That only left fight.
Look, I knew it was a stupid idea, okay. I don’t need to hear it again. It was just the best I could come up with, the only one with a clear idea of success. So I crept out from the doorway, crossed the floor quietly. Being barefoot was good for that.
Something, some instinct, screamed at me to stop. At first, I thought fear — perfectly reasonable, I was about to attack a warrior twice my size — but that wasn’t it. I worried that I might injure him.
I didn’t let some misplaced empathy stop me. Once I was in range, I swung the bar with all my strength, aiming for the point where skull meets spine.
It must have been the whistle of the pipe that alerted him. I saw his back straighten, muscles tense, and then everything was a blur. The club went flying one way, I went another, and I never even saw the hands he laid on me to do it. I tried to catch my balance, hit the table hard and then he was behind me, pinning me, rough blue hands gripping my wrists.
I panted for breath and he leaned over me, chest pressed to my back, head over my shoulder.
“So you’re awake,” he whispered in my ear, his hot breath brushing my face. “I didn’t expect to find out this way, but I admit it has an appeal.”
My cheeks burned at that, and I tried to squirm out of his grip. No way, not against that strength, but my struggles had their own effect. He hardened, his stiffening cock pressing against my butt. I whimpered, adrenaline coursing through me and burning out the fog that filled my memory.
“Karnac?” I spoke the name that came back to me, along with all the rest.
“Who did you expect?” He chuckled darkly as he spoke, and my blush deepened. “Who else would I be?”
“The Prytheen who attacked me?” I tried to be angry, but it didn’t come across well. My breath was short for other reasons. One of which was pressed up against my rear. I wriggled again, ‘trying to escape’ and it swelled again.
Karnac’s voice was rough and deep, his breath ragged. “Torgek? No. I killed him for threatening you. No one will harm you while I am near enough to reach your side.”
Flashes of memories surfaced. The hand on my throat, lifting. Death approaching… and then Karnac, appearing out of the snow like an avenging angel. I couldn’t remember much more than that, but that didn’t matter. He’d saved me, and here I was…
Turning my head to see his, I bit my lip. I’d started this fight with a fuzzy brain from the cold, now it finished with me confused by the lust that pumped insistently in my veins.
Karnac growled, prompting me to continue while sending a shiver of need through my body. My heart raced and my pussy pulsed with a desperate emptiness.
“You saved me, and this is how I reward you?” I swallowed before continuing. “Trying to smash your skull in a sneak attack? How can you be so…”
Words failed me, but Karnac didn’t. “So forgiving? Because, darling fool, I love you. You are my khara, and I will always side with you. Even if you do not wish to hear this, it is true.”
His words hit like a sledgehammer, smashing aside the wall I’d tried to keep up around my own feelings. I still wasn’t sure that I believed in the fated mates thing, but my body sure did. And my heart? It melted when he spoke, that dark rough voice speaking words of love into my ear.
I took a deep breath, inhaling his intoxicating scent, but before I could reply, Karnac continued. “Besides, who says I’ve forgiven you?”
Lifting his right hand, he moved back, breaking the contact between his body and mine. My moan of disappointment mortified me but amused him.
“What are you — oh!” His heavy hand came down on my rear with a crack like thunder and I jerked, trying to straighten up. Pinning me in place with his left hand, Karnac kept me bent over the table as he spanked me again.
Either the robe provided no protection, or I really didn’t want to feel his hand on my bare behind. My ass stung and I whimpered, my eyes wide and my heart racing.
“You can’t do this,” I whimpered, trying to sound angry. It came out husky, needy, instead. Okay, so my body was responding to him, that didn’t mean he wasn’t being a jerk.
“Of course I can,” Karnac said, and again his voice filled me with need. “You thought me too forgiving. I will not disappoint you: if you think you need to be punished before I forgive you?—”
Crack, his hand came down again, even harder. And again, the sound of the spanking echoed through the room.
“—I am happy to oblige.” His voice, amused, arrogant and oh-so-fucking-sexy, vibrated through me.
“That’s not what I meant,” I protested, not sure if I was lying. No, I this wasn’t what I’d had in mind, but good god I’d never felt hornier. And Karnac, perceptive asshole that he was, knew it.
“You did, darling, even if you will not admit it to yourself,” he told me, pulling up the back of my robe and baring my stinging butt. I tensed, but the expected blow didn’t happen. Instead, his hand brushed between my thighs, parting them and teasing. I moaned and arched, his fingers coming away wet.
“See? Now I have to spank you for lying to me, khara.”
I squirmed helplessly, my face burning. He wasn’t wrong about my body’s reaction to him. He also didn’t sound annoyed or upset by my ‘lies’ — no, his hungry, lustful amusement made it clear that he just wanted an excuse, the bastard. The sexy, domineering, beautiful bastard.
He smacked my bare behind, the loud crack echoing and my body shaking. The burning sting his handprint left behind just made me want him more.
A second smack on my other cheek, leaving another handprint, another jolt of mixed pleasure and pain shooting through me. My breathing rapid, I twisted in Karnac’s grip, unable to keep up my denial any longer.
“Okay, okay,” I panted. “I’m sorry Karnac, sorry I lied to you.”
His grin could have swallowed worlds. Golden eyes blazing, he looked down at me.
“You mean you wanted this?” A light tap of his hand on my skin, a reminder of the penalty for ‘lying’ to him. I bit my lip.
“No, I mean that I wanted you,” I said, all in a rush. “I want you, Karnac. Please.”
Saying it out loud made me realize just how true it was.