Page 5 of The Captain's Pet
Wid had no idea what that last sentence meant, but the assurance soothed his nerves even as the wording rankled. He was not this alien’spet. He was tired, though—exhausted actually, despite the napping he’d done. Heat seeped into his body and chased the shivers away. Despite his intention to fight his captor at every turn, he drifted off into a fitful sleep.
Wid didn’t wake alone the next morning. Instead, he came awake with a jolt as a cock slid slowly up his ass. Still wrapped in the captain’s arms, there was no way to fight the invasion. It wasn’t particularly painful, given that he’d been relaxed in his sleep. He felt full and claimed in a way that sickened him, but the fucking was almost gentle in its slowness. They were lying on their sides, the alien spooning Wid from behind, with one leg wedged between Wid’s to keep him open for access. Large hands stroked and petted Wid’s chest, teasing his nipples to hard points, while the alien muttered strange words in Wid’s ear. The translator inside Wid’s head had trouble making sense of them. They sounded like endearments. But while his mind tried to puzzle out the implications of the attention, his body had no trouble reacting to the caressing. Wid’s cock stood hard against his belly for the first time since his capture. He seethed silently at the betrayal and tried to will himself soft again.
The captain groaned loudly with one last, deep shove. “My love!”
Wid stayed as still as he could, afraid to disturb his captor because surely the creature was not quite awake. No way the male would shower such romance on the human that he referred to as his pet. It didn’t matter. Wid knew the exact moment the alien realized where he lay and in whose body his cock remained. The arms around him stiffened right before the still hard dick flew out. Wid hissed then yelped when he was shoved away so fast and hard that he rolled off the bed.
“Shit!”
Landing on his once more sore ass, Wid glared up in fury. It wasn’t his fault that his rapist was having some nice dream of being in bed with whom? His girlfriend, wife, boyfriend, husband? Who the hell knew what kind of love life Travians had? Only what appeared to be males made up the invading force. Wid’s mother, a doctor, said some of her colleaguesspeculated that the Travians only looked male and really had one gender, reproducing through parthenogenesis. That seemed unlikely now. The aliens clearly had cocks, so there had to be something they fit into. Other than asses, of course.
His anger was lost, however, on the alien. The captain had already stormed out of the room. The bastard moved fast. Wid would give him that. At least Wid’s erection had flagged with the abrupt landing. By the time he’d picked himself off the floor and taken an inventory of his latest hurts, the male had returned, dressed and silent. He leashed Wid and hustled him out of the quarters without saying a word.
Wid was the first one to arrive at what he’d decided amounted to the humans’ kennel. The other boys weren’t far behind. Most of them, like himself, were in better shape, having learned the futility of resistance. Or perhaps the aliens had decided to be more tolerant of their human’s pathetic attempts to fend them off. Joel’s captor certainly had. Despite the fact that he had to carry Joel in, the boy didn’t look worse for it. The one exception was Stuart. He was dragged pretty much in the same shape as before. The kid whimpered pitifully as his sadistic captor shoved him to the floor and released the leash with a vicious yank.
Wid, Joel and the other boys all raced over to help him up, forming a protective ring around him as if it would do a bit of good. Wid looked up, intent on yelling some invective to the departing alien. But the male had already turned his back. Instead, through the open doors, Wid caught the eye of the captain, who had stopped in the corridor to speak to another crewmember. The male narrowed his eyes as he stared into the room before the doors shut.
“I didn’t fight him,” Stuart wailed. “I tried to be good and he beat me anyway.”
Wid forced his attention back to his friend. “Shh,” he soothed. “We know. They don’t care about fairness,” he added, thinking ofhis own rough treatment that morning simply because he hadn’t been who the captain wanted to wake up to. “Let’s get you into the waters.”
It was a temporary reprieve, he knew. They’d spend hours healing and resting, only to have it all start again. This couldn’t go on. Stuart was going to be killed sooner rather than later and Wid and the others would likely be passed along to other members of the crew. Eventually they’d all probably die from the abuse. They had to find a way out. As hopeless as it seemed, there had to be a way to escape.
“Come!” Kell stood back from his ready-room console. Some perverse part of him looked forward to the order he intended to issue.
Garen entered with his usual swagger. “As ordered, sir,” he said with a nod. All perfectly correct, except none of it seemed sincere.
Kell didn’t delay. “I’m giving your pet to Narith. Dismissed.”
Of course he knew Garen wouldn’t just leave. “Sir? What do you mean you’re giving my pet to that barely out of training junior?” The look of outraged disbelief was gratifying, except the reason behind the decision was intolerable.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you, but I’m feeling indulgent. I issued orders yesterday. I told you and everyone else who was privileged enough to have a human pet to take care with them. It is the height of disrespect for High Command to ill-treat these beings, to damage the gifts that they gave us. Yet, yours was in bad condition when I saw it today as I dropped my pet in their quarters.”
He winced inwardly at his choice of word. Humans were inferior creatures to be sure, but sentient beings nevertheless.Referring to one as an ‘it’ struck him as odd now that he’d actually communicated with one, had fucked one. How could he possibly continue to think of humans as being mere objects?
Garen shrugged, although Kell wasn’t fooled by his nonchalance. The male barely banked his fury. “The creature is defiant. It fought me as if I didn’t have a right to use its body. I merely impressed upon it its status.”
“By beating the shit out of it.”
“It’s all they understand.”
“Perhaps,” Kell conceded, remembering how his own pet had landed a solid punch before Kell had subdued him.
He also couldn’t stop seeing the image of the outraged boy glaring up at him from the floor. He couldn’t be proud of the restraint he’d manage to show the previous night given his rough treatment of the pet that morning. Dreaming of Marielle, of holding her and worshiping her body, was nothing new. For the first time, however, he’d actually held a warm body and the primitive part of his mind had registered it as his mate. He’d been so appalled by the mistake, he’d shoved the human without thought. Embarrassing and cringeworthy to be sure, yet not the sadistic brutality that Garen had obviously meted out.
Kell continued his dressing-down of the junior officer. “But they are less evolved. One can’t expect them to act rationally. Their insistence on staying within our territory confirms that well enough. I hold this crew, however, to a higher standard. A Travian one. You could easily have controlled your pet with less force. Because you were unwilling or incapable of doing so, I’m taking it from you.”
Garen obviously worked to rein his temper in. “I will be more careful.”
More careful to hide the injuries to his pet, Kell was willing to bet. “I have made up my mind.” The chime asking foradmittance to his ready room sounded in the tense silence that followed his pronouncement. “Come!”
Narith walked in and came to a stuttering halt. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You interrupt nothing. First Officer Garen is leaving.” Garen stood staring at Kell for one more heartbeat, before giving a stiff-necked nod and storming out. Kell breathed an inner sigh of relief and smiled at Narith. “I’m awarding you one of the pets. Garen finds that humans are not to his taste. You will take his after your shift ends.”
Narith’s eyes widened in surprise. “Truly, sir? This is an unexpected privilege. Thank you.”
Pacing away, Kell said, “You’ve earned it. Your navigation skills have been exemplary.” He spun on his heel and gave the junior male a pointed look. “These humans are frightened and frail. The boy you’re getting more so than most. You must take care with it. You understand?”
