Page 9 of The Captain's Pet
“I just hate to think of her going through this. That’s all.”
“They told her to go and even had to drag her away from you. I don’t think that was some kind of act. Travians may be fuckers, but they seem to be straightforward ones.”
“I guess.” He heaved a loud sigh. “I’ll try it. What you said. I’ll make nice and maybe I can get some info out of him.”
“Good, and I’ll see if I can convince the captain to give us more space to exercise in.”
“Should we say anything to the others?”
“Not yet. If it’s a complete bust, I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up or get them into trouble for trying to play their captor.”
“Fair enough.” Joel held out his hand. “Good luck.”
Wid clasped it and laughed, a bit lighthearted for the first time in days. “You too, buddy.”
“Captain, a moment of your time, sir?”
Kell paused in the corridor and waited for the navigator to catch up to him. “Yes?”
Narith nodded as his feet came to a stop. “Sir, I wanted to thank you again for honoring me with the gift of the human boy.”
Kell waved away the words. “You earned the privilege and I was gratified to see that you were careful with it.”
Narith’s lips quirked up. “Easy enough to do, sir. The boy was docile and accommodating. I don’t know why anyone would need to beat it into compliance.” His eyes widened once the words were out. “I meant no disrespect to the first officer, of course.”
“Of course,” Kell agreed smoothly, even though he felt nothing but disrespect and dislike for the man he’d been saddled with as his right hand.
Narith glanced away. “I’m just happy to have the diversion. I’ve formed no attachments with any of the other crewmembers, being careful about such things as an officer. I mated right before deployment as well and”—he shrugged—“I frankly miss her.” His expression brightened on his next sentence. “She’s sent me word that she is expecting her first child.”
Kell returned the look. “Congratulations. I hope you have given her a daughter.”
“Thank you, sir. I pray for that as well. It’s the best a male can do for his mate. And,” he added with a shy duck of his head, “I’m looking forward to a child having my scent. Knowing that other males will detect me as her—or his—sire gives me a feeling of pride.”
“Indeed, it should.” Kell didn’t bother to add that no matter what became of Narith’s relationship with his mate in the future, the male would always have that primitive claim to the child. In a world in which children belonged only to their mothers, the scent bond was a powerful boon to fathers. To mention it, though, would force Narith to remember that his mate could replace him at any time, and he didn’t think a junior officer on his first long deployment needed that worry.
Kell also didn’t mention that talk of Narith’s impending fatherhood reminded Kell how he had done that very thing for his own mate not so long ago. It was one of the things that grated on him about this endless patrolling. He hadn’t had a chance yet to hold the new baby. The Mother only knew when he would. It wasn’t proper for a captain to become overly familiar with his crew, however, so he kept his thoughts of longing to himself.
“I know that human boy is a poor substitute for being with your mate, but I hope it gives you some pleasure.” Kell also hoped the junior officer took these final words as the dismissal he intended. There was an endless amount of work to be done as the captain of such a large cruiser.
“It does, sir. It’s small and soft, more like being with a female than another male.”
The observation punched at Kell’s dick. His own pet was also small, although not really soft. The human had well defined muscles for all his leanness. And he was troublesome enough that fucking him was exhausting on an undesirable level. Excepthe hadn’t been difficult the night before or even that morning. Not really, not physically at least. The defiance had still been there.
“I hate you.”
Kell hadn’t doubted the veracity of those words flung at him even as the boy’s body had bucked under his. They had stung, but what did he expect? The boy lay underneath Kell by force, after all. He held no illusions, either, that just because he was able to wring orgasms out of the human that it meant the boy had become a willing partner. It was merely survival mode, an effort to get through the ordeal with as little pain as possible.
If Kell had his way, he wouldn’t touch the creature at all. Duty called, however. He couldn’t afford to pass a gift from High Command along to some other officer so soon—or ever, really. His crew would view it as a sign of weakness. If the crew didn’t detect his scent strongly and consistently on the boy, they’d begin to wonder if he was fit for the captaincy, just the opening Garen would likely pounce on to undermine Kell’s authority.
Right. It was his devotion to duty that had him fucking the human multiple times at night and first thing in the morning, not the overwhelming need for release or the stress of his position or just plain loneliness. Not. At. All. And he wrapped himself around that slender body so his pet would stay warm, not because it felt so damn good to have someone in his arms, even someone who despised him.
Realizing that he’d stood staring past Narith for too long, he mentally shook himself. “You are correct. They aren’t like our usual male bedmates. They are slaves, unwilling and not inclined to view our attentions as anything positive in their lives. Have a care to not become too complacent with them.”
“Of course, sir. Good day to you.” With another nod, the navigator continued on his way.
Kell did the same, mulling over his advice to the younger male and wondering if he, himself, would be able to take it.
“May I ask you some questions?”
