Page 34 of Stolen Slave

She heaved a sigh and hooked both her legs outside of mine. I grinned at the back of her head and spread my knees, and hers, wide.

Comfortable, I leaned forward and started showing her how to use the panel to call up the different cameras on the ship. While my left hand played with the datapad, my right slid from hip to knee and back again.

“Watch.” I tapped the screen. “Cargo bay. See the waste crystals?” I zoomed in on them.

“Now watch again.” I pointed to the Med bay symbol on the screen and selected it, bringing up the image of the room we were just in. “Med bay.”

Then I went back to the cargo bay symbol and tapped that, repeating the process again and again until she reached out and switched between the two herself.

I let her have her fun and leaned back to run my hands along her legs and admire her flank. Hers was the roundest, softest backside ever to grace my lap. She gave a restless wiggle, and I almost groaned as my ambal filled to the point that the swell burned.

She turned suddenly and looked back at me while pointing to the symbol for the main nav view.

“Core-on?”

I nodded. “You can touch that one too.”

Reaching out, I held her finger and pressed it to the datapad. The image of the space around our ship filled the display. She gasped and settled back heavily on my ambal.

Whatever she saw had her grabbing one of my arms and hugging it to her chest mounds. Unable to help myself, I offered my other arm as well and held her close while her smooth back trembled against my bare chest.

Eventually, she reached forward again and switched the view back to the Cargo bay.

“We will practice again before I leave,” I said, smoothing my palm down her arm. “Then you can watch me and know you are not alone.”

She made a small huffing noise when I stood with her in my arms and left the nav center.

“I have two legs, you know.”

“If you truly wished to use them, why do you press your face to my skin, my sweet female? Why do your little fingers hungrily explore my flesh? You don’t wish to walk. You wish to be near me. And that is a very good thing. Look at how little fear you show now.

“Soon your life will change further, and you’ll need to make choices that won’t be pleasant. However, even when you feel lost and afraid, you will know that I am here to protect you. You will not doubt that. You will see.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying, but I think it’s something along the lines of, ‘I’m sorry for spreading your bits and invading your privacy, Vya.’ Isn’t that right?”

She smoothed her hand over my chest then surprised me by brushing her pink little lips against the same spot. She jerked back and looked up at me with wide eyes.

“If you wish to use your pretty little mouth on me, female, I won’t deny you. However, you may want to wait until we can understand each other.” I smoothed my fingers over her skin as I spoke.

A shaky exhale escaped her. “That wasn’t an invitation.”

“Not yet,” I agreed. “But soon.”

The door to the fitness center opened at my approach. The familiar space wasn’t one I’d visited since bringing Vya on board, and I knew I couldn’t continue to neglect my training. The bounties the Helix offered were never for the soft, pampered types. They gave us hunters the hardened criminals they didn’t want to track down themselves. Or the tubers too good at evading arrest.

Setting my female on the bench near the entrance, I moved to the center of the space to warm up. It never took long to work through my routine and use the machines my predecessor had used to train me. No more than an arc or two passed. Yet, my female’s stomach began to make sounds of demand before I finished.

She didn’t complain, though. She watched me avidly as I moved from one machine to another. A few times, I caught her moving restlessly on the bench and wondered if I should pause to take her to the waste removal. But every time she noticed my regard, she calmed. Likely so I wouldn’t notice her discomfort. Clever female.

Sweat coated my skin when I finished, but she didn’t seem to mind. She readily accepted my embrace as I lifted her from the bench.

“Come, my pretty one. I will feed you.”

The galley door opened, and she turned to focus on that instead of me. I gazed at the curve of her tiny, flat ear. Its cuteness rivaled that of her little feet. In reality, I found everything about her adorable.

My infatuation with her grew with each passing arc. I marked her to keep her safe so she would be free to choose. But for me, there was little choice. I wanted this female. Every sweet concession she made brought me pleasure. Each one was a sign of acceptance and trust. I hoped both would eventually lead to her surrender.

Patience was the key.

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