Chapter 5 #2
He snapped back into consciousness, aware that Ungrich tentacles both inside and outside were supporting his whole body and he was part of the floating community. Everything hurt, his body exposed and penetrated and pulsing with Ungrich power.
“Show me.”
A beat of pain zapped through his skull, and he choked on a fat tentacle. Marshaling his thoughts, he replayed the images through his mind, along with the commentary he remembered.
“Earth.”
The deeper voice joined in, and Aled was suddenly aware of the force of the two personalities entwined around him as they communicated with each other and through him.
“Seed.”
And then he had to endure the extraction of his semen all over again. This time he couldn’t fight the pain, and let them experience it with him. For some reason that seemed to excite them even more, and eventually he gave in to the darkness and let himself be used.
He wouldn’t survive this.
No one could.
He wouldn’t . . .
His family would miss him . . .
Kai Mexr would . . .
Want to die .
Please . . .
“He’s alive. Get him wired up and get him out of here.”
Lights and sound so loud he wanted to scream at them to return him to his peaceful, floating grave, but they wouldn’t leave him alone, kept touching him when he couldn’t bear it, shoving pain into his arm and . . .
“Watch out!”
He fought then and tried to scream, but his voice was gone, he was gone, lost with the Ungrich . Then blessed relief from everything.
“Greez .” Kai let them take Aled Price into the medical vehicle, which set off for the military hospital.
Malke crouched down beside him. “We got them all out, sir. Well done.”
Kai nodded and forced himself to get off the floor.
Seeing Price like that had stirred his worst memories.
He knew how it felt to be ripped out of that strange environment that had become almost familiar.
Price’s skin was super soft from immersion in Ungrich space, and he’d lost about a quarter of his weight.
He’d come out fighting, though. A reluctant smile curved Kai’s lips.
Getting Aled through the rest of the program wasn’t going to be easy, but Kai would handle it. He had no choice.
The brightness had dimmed, and the bed Aled lay on was soft enough to support his strangely weightless limbs without hurting him. He swallowed and there was nothing in his throat except his own saliva: no tentacles, no bitter tang of Ungrich seed, no . . .
He brought one hand up to his throat and felt the raised ridge of the scar where the Ungrich had coiled around his neck and penetrated the skin behind his ear.
Now he understood how Kai Mexr had gotten the same marking.
He very carefully turned his head on the pillow and saw a male sitting in a chair by the side of his bed.
Kai was sleeping, his head resting on the back of the chair, the livid Ungrich scars barely visible above the neckline of his black T-shirt. As if aware of Aled’s gaze, he slowly opened his green eyes and blinked.
“Price. Welcome back.” Aled just stared as Kai rose from his seat and came closer. “Can I get you anything? Water, food?”
“Why are you here?” Aled croaked.
“It’s my duty to see you through this process until you are cleared by all personnel involved in your care, both medical and military.”
“I don’t want you.”
Kai sighed. “I get that, but you’re stuck with me.”
“No.”
“That’s an order.”
He struggled to sit up on his pillows. “I am resigning from the fucking military.”
“You can do that as soon as you are out of the program. To get out of the program, you have to put up with me.”
“Fuck you.”
“That can be arranged.” Kai nodded and walked over to the door. “You can’t get out of this apartment, but you are free to move around inside. I’ll be in the kitchen if you change your mind and want something to eat.”
Aled ignored him and closed his eyes. Minutes ticked by, and he couldn’t find that peace anymore, couldn’t reclaim the floating silence of Ungrich space because bloody Kai Mexr . . .
He shoved off the blankets and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Gods, he felt so weak, and his body looked wasted. All the piercings had been removed, and he felt curiously bare without the hardware. Pushing down on the soles of his feet, he managed to stand and stumble toward the door.
To his surprise it opened, giving him a glimpse of an apartment that contained little except black couches, a huge vidscreen, and a couple of fancy rugs. The large windows offered a view over what appeared to be a lake. It was all so normal that he struggled to believe it.
The smell of meat rose from the kitchen, and he lurched forward, using the couch and chairs to help him on his way. He leaned on the countertop that divided the kitchen from the table by the window. Kai looked over his shoulder.
“Eating takes a while to get used to again. There are protein shakes in the refrigerator you can just dump in a glass and drink.”
Rage bubbled in his chest, growing hotter and bigger and stealing his breath as he glared at Kai’s back. How dare the fucker stand there making conversation like nothing had happened? How fucking dare he be so untouched by everything he’d done?
Aled kept moving closer, his focus on one thing and one thing only.
As if sensing danger, Kai looked up again and somehow managed to dodge to his left as Aled grabbed the knife that lay on the chopping board, and tried to stab him.
Aled was brought down with a controlled energy that made him shake with fury and buck to get Kai off him.
“Drop the knife, Price.” Kai’s calm voice in his ear. “I’m not your enemy.”
“Fuck you, fuck you, just . . .”
Kai slammed his wrist against the tile floor, and the knife slipped out of his hand. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you.”
“You fucking betrayed me. You all fucking betrayed me.”
“May I remind you that you volunteered?”
He hated the calm reasonableness of Kai’s tone. “Not for that! Not to be used! I thought—” He’d imagined himself fighting heroically in the service of his planet. He was a fucking delusional fool.
“I tried to give you the necessary skill set to survive.”
“You are a liar. You’re a fucking collaborator .”
Kai’s grip tightened, and for a moment, vicious pleasure flooded through Aled at the thought of violence.
Kai took a deep, slow breath and relaxed his hold. “I did what I could to make sure you survived an impossible situation.”
“What the fuck do you know?” Aled whispered.
“I know. I’ve been there twice, remember?” Kai stroked his hair. “I know you hate me. That’s okay, but I’m not going to let you kill me. You need me. If I go down, your next option is Palk.”
“Good, I’ll fucking kill him too. Fucking military.”
“Now that I’d pay to see, but as I’d have to be dead before I let you go anywhere near Palk, it’s not going to happen.”
Kai was still stroking him, and as his rage abated, he wanted to cry. That wasn’t acceptable. He’d never cried in front of Kai and he never would.
“Let me up.”
“Sure.”
Kai released him. It took him a long time to get off the floor.
He was still too weak to even consider a second attack, and Kai was ready for him now.
He knew him well enough to sense that. By the time he was vertical, Kai had placed a cold nutrition box on the countertop and returned to his cooking.
“Try that.”
He grabbed the box and ripped open the seal. There was no scent from the white, milky substance. He forced himself to swallow it aware that Kai was watching him.
“Take another.”
It took quite a bit of his rapidly diminishing strength just to open the refrigerator door and take out a few of the drinks. He forced two more down. The quicker he regained his health, the sooner he could leave.
Three days later, Price reemerged from his bedroom, looking much better.
As he cooked, Kai kept a wary eye on his charge, mentally cataloging how many weapons his ex-trainee could reach before Kai could stop him.
In his experience, trainees got emotional, hysterical, or physical after dealing with the Ungrich .
He actually preferred the physical, and Price was definitely ripe for murder.
If he could manage it, he’d divert Price’s rage into a more acceptable form of punishment and wait him out.
The ragers had the best chance of surviving into the next phase.
The worst were the ones who went quiet. He’d lost his previous trainee that way, and he still blamed himself.
He nodded as Price came closer. “Do you want something more substantial? I’m making traz burgers, and there’s kvas in the ice box.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
Kai put down his spatula and sighed. “Don’t be petulant. It doesn’t suit you.” He flinched as Price got right in his face, then met his angry blue gaze. “Back off.”
“Fuck you.”
This time he smiled. “I already told you, be my guest.”
Price crowded him back against the counter, his breathing uneven, one hand wrapped around Kai’s throat. Kai made no effort to move away, and angled his hips forward until his hard-on brushed the front of Price’s thin shorts.
With a curse, Price turned him around and slammed him facedown on the worktop, lowering Kai’s shorts as he did so. Kai groaned as his dick got wedged against the edge of the counter.
“I’ll fuck you, Mexr, I’ll . . .”
Price kicked his feet wide. Kai could’ve thrown him off but didn’t want to. A familiar pulse of lust worked through him.
“Gods,” he gasped as Price’s wet cock pressed against his unprepared ass. He remembered he was supposed to be struggling. “Get the greez off me!”
Price spat on his fingers and then applied the moisture to his cock, making his passage a little easier, but it still fucking hurt. Kai lifted his ass higher as Price hesitated.
“Are you too scared, soldier boy? Scared you can’t satisfy me?”
He yelped as Price bit his ear hard. “This isn’t about what you want. It’s about me fucking you in my own time and in my own way.”