Chapter 3
CHAPTER
THREE
“Fucking Palk.”
Kai watched his and Rehz Akran’s least favorite person in the universe strut into the training center as if he owned the place.
Palk wasn’t a particularly big or striking man, but he sure knew how to inspire fear in his subordinates.
He reminded Kai of the hrel snake, an innocuous brown reptile that bit you so fast you didn’t feel the fangs, only the agony of the venom pumping through your veins.
Two days later you keeled over and died, because the poison had turned your cells to gel from the inside out.
The seven remaining trainees were being put through their paces while Palk and his team watched and made notes. The trainees would only graduate to stage two of the program if Palk deemed them worthy.
And Palk was not only incredibly difficult to impress, but an unrepentant sadist who had made Rehz’s life hell and almost killed Anna Lee. Now that Palk’s favorite was no longer running the program, Kai had to worry about whom Palk would choose to share his quarters for the next couple of days.
Kai paused beside Price, who was beating the shit out of Graif. After the bout was officially declared over, he hauled Price to his feet.
“There’s no need to show off.”
“I wasn’t.” Price fixed him with a puzzled glare. “You told me I have to win at everything.”
“Not today.”
Price’s expression hardened. “Why? Because you don’t want me to impress General Palk?”
“Something like that.”
“Because he’s military and can affect my future career?”
“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.” Kai looked over at Palk, who was coming toward them, and lowered his voice. “I’m trying to help you here.”
Price got in his face. “Like you’d ever do that. You’ve had it in for me since the day I got here. Any advice from you is worth pig shit.”
Kai smiled, took a step back, and punched his trainee hard enough to send him to his knees. “Fine. Enjoy.”
“Is everything all right here, Kai Mexr?” Palk inquired, his gaze on the blood now streaming out of Price’s lip.
“My trainee just needs to learn some manners.”
Palk’s smile was chilling. “Indeed?” He glanced over at his sycophants. “Perhaps he should show me what he can do. You are relieved of duty, Kai.”
Kai saluted and walked away, his temper still growling.
For the first time ever, he’d tried to give a trainee a warning about Palk, and he’d been treated like shit.
Fuck. That actually hurt. His steps slowed as he avoided two battling trainees.
Was he going soft? Had he come to like the fiery redhead’s ballsy attitude too much?
It was too late to worry about that. He slammed out of the arena and headed for the mess hall to get drunk. If Price thought Kai was a big meanie, wait until he tried talking back to Palk. Price was in for something of an attitude readjustment.
Hopefully one he would survive . . .
Aled wiped the sweat from his eyes and took up his fighting stance again, aware of the cold eyes of General Palk watching his every move. He reacted too slowly and came crashing down on his ass for the third time. Palk stood over Aled, his gaze considering.
“Get up.”
He rose slowly, wiping at his still-bloody mouth.
“Follow me.”
He looked around the deserted arena, but there was no sign of Kai.
Straightening his back, he fell in behind Palk and was taken down another set of passageways, past the trainer quarters, and into what he assumed were the senior officer suites.
His jaw throbbed from where Kai had punched him, and the rest of his body ached as it always did at the end of every hellish day at the training center.
Palk’s second-in-command unlocked the security door and stood to attention. “Do you wish me to stay, General?”
“No. Go and eat. When you return, remain on guard outside until I call you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Even Aled detected the unmistakable sound of relief in the man’s voice before he marched away. Palk went in and Aled followed, his eyes adjusting to the harsh light and the whiteness of the furniture and walls. It all looked incredibly luxurious, but then he hadn’t seen a proper couch for weeks.
The smell of food set his stomach to growling, and Palk smiled at him. “How unfortunate that you can’t eat.”
“I . . . cannot, sir?” He risked the question and watched Palk’s face close up.
“You’d puke it up.” Palk moved abruptly over to the dining table and took the cloth off a white tray to reveal a single syringe and glass tube. “This will give you all the necessary nutrition and keep you awake.”
He brought the syringe over and jabbed it into Aled’s bicep, making him breathe out hard through his nose.
“Now strip off your shorts, get down on your knees, and suck me.”
“Do you want me to shower first, sir?”
The question brought a blow to his head that forced him to his knees.
“You will not speak unless I ask you a question. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” He blinked hard and reached for the fastening of Palk’s pants. Heat coursed through his body in great, shuddering waves as if he’d stuck his fingers in a power source. Whatever had been loaded in that syringe was already affecting him.
Palk’s cock was smaller than Kai’s, but it took Aled a lot longer to get him hard, and even longer until Palk eventually came. When he finally eased away, his swollen mouth was already tired and his lip had begun to bleed again.
He gasped as Palk yanked hard on his hair.
“There’s blood on my cock. Lick it off.”
He leaned in and did what he was told and then waited, his gaze carefully fixed on the white carpet.
“Get up.”
He stood and Palk beckoned him forward. “Stand against the wall here while I eat.”
Aled moved into the spot Palk indicated and found himself staring at his own reflection in a large floor-to-ceiling mirror.
He looked . . . ripped and exhausted at the same time.
Weeks at the facility had honed his muscles to perfection, and there was almost no fat on him.
If Kai had wanted to turn him into a supreme fighting machine, he and the program had achieved their aim.
But what was the final aim? No one knew apart from the trainers and Palk, who headed up the program. What task could demand extreme physical fitness combined with the fucking skills of a low-class prostitute?
Palk started to eat, and Aled simply inhaled the scent of good food and wine and tried to pretend he wasn’t hungry. His body was buzzing, his cock was now hard, and there was nothing he could do to disguise that from Palk, who seemed happy to ignore him for the moment.
The meal took forever and was measured in Aled’s heartbeats and the throb of his dick, which was disinclined to go down. Eventually Palk turned to face him, his knife clasped lightly in his hand.
Palk stood and walked over to him and then pressed on the wall by his shoulder.
“Put your hands up over your head.”
Aled complied and felt metal shackles close around his wrists and tighten until they hurt.
There was a whirring sound, and his arms were yanked upward until he was barely able to balance on the balls of his feet.
Palk waited until the machinery stopped and then rested the tip of the knife against Aled’s sternum.
“It was good of Kai to offer you up to me.”
As it wasn’t a question, Aled chose not to answer.
“He knew of course that with Rehz Akran gone, I would be expecting him to fulfill all of Rehz’s duties. He also knew how much I like blood, and gave me a preview of how you’d look when he punched you.”
Aled tensed at the first prick of the blade cutting into his sternum and watched it travel to the bottom of his rib cage.
Palk grabbed his chin. “Don’t look down. Look in the mirror or I’ll add more restraints.”
Aled reluctantly raised his gaze to the mirror and saw a thin red line already opening up where Palk had cut him. He set his jaw as Palk moved the blade lower, trailing it over his stomach and coming to rest against the base of his erect cock.
“You’re big. And you’re hard, which must mean you are enjoying this, yes?” The grip on his bruised jaw tightened. “You shouldn’t be hard in front of a superior officer. It shows a lack of respect.”
“I mean no . . .” He stopped speaking as the blade flashed upward, leaving a cross over his abs that stung like a motherfucker.
“You seem to be finding it difficult to understand the concept of not speaking.” Palk was close now, his voice quiet. “Your mouth is for sucking cock and for screaming.”
He moved away and a ball of fear settled low in Aled’s gut.
Palk returned with a gold and leather contraption.
He forced the metal circle into Aled’s mouth like a riding bit and then buckled the straps behind his head.
The chains were lowered, bringing him to his knees, and Palk’s cock was reintroduced to his mouth to prove the point that he couldn’t talk anymore.
He wasn’t screaming yet though. He hoped to all the gods he wouldn’t have to do that.
While Palk fucked his mouth, a myriad of shocks flowered on his skin as his captor drew the knife over his flesh like a thousand bee stings.
He could smell Palk’s come, his own sweat, and now the coppery tang of his blood.
It occurred to him that perhaps Kai had been telling him to keep a low profile for a very good reason.
Palk pulled out and came over his face and chest.
“Get up.”
It was hard to move with his arms still extended over his head, but he used the weight of the pulley system to help him. Beyond Palk, he briefly saw himself in the mirror, his upper body now covered in thin, red, bloodied lines and his skin gleaming with sweat and come.
“You’re still hard.”
He yelped as Palk struck his cock with the flat of his hand. He couldn’t close his lips around the sound, and did it again when Palk slapped him three times. His cock remained hard and his heart rate trebled like he was being hunted.