“We will see, pet.”
She quivered in the chains, hoping he would release her from the position soon. It was not comfortable, but it was likely not meant to be. He was trying to break her. He had told her as much. She wouldn’t let him. No matter how much pain he put her through, she would not crumble.
“It just occurred to me that I haven’t introduced myself,” he purred. “My true name would be impossible for you topronounce. An equivalent in your simple language would be General Vyktor. You may refer to me as Master.”
“I would prefer to refer to you as scum,” Aria hissed.
“Not a good idea,” he said. “I wonder at your commanders not instilling more respect in you.”
“I respect my commanders,” she said, knowing several of them would not keep a straight face if they heard her speaking those words. “But I don’t respect you.”
“Well,” he said with a smirk. “Let me see what I can do to change that.”
Aria had a cold feeling in the very pit of her belly as she looked into his oh so alien golden gaze and knew that she was in more trouble than she had ever conceived before.
He reached out and ran his hands over her body, tracing the curves of her breasts, stomach, hips, thighs, and bottom. He was surprisingly gentle, given his extreme strength.
“This isn’t going to work,” she promised him. “I will never submit to you.”
“Then you will be subjecting your species to a brutal annihilation.”
“What?” His words shocked her.
“You don’t understand,” he purred, letting his fingertips run lightly up and down her flanks in a touch that was quite soothing, the hard edges of his fingernails scratching over her skin. “This is not merely an exercise in humiliation. This is to prove a point to my people. Many of our leaders believe that humans can only be subjugated by violence. They will tear Earthapart and leave it a smoldering wreck. I believe that you are not only possessed of some intelligence, but can be trained to please us. So, pet, the more quickly you become compliant, the more quickly you save your species.”
She stared at him, surprised by how ingenious his plan was. It was… almost brilliant. And it was almost humane as well. Aria was shocked that one of these lizards could scrape together enough empathy to want to save the people his kind were attacking. It was too good to be true.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe me or not, the results will be the same,” he said patiently, caressing her body as if he owned it. “My plans for you will work whether you comply or not. The only difference is how painful it will be.”
The mention of pain made her tense. “You can’t break me.”
“Pet, I could destroy you in the blink of an eye,” he reminded her. “You are a tender, delicate thing and I am the monster your people have told stories about for generations.” He chuckled at her frown. “Oh, yes, we are aware of your fairytales. Quite interesting, some of them. Your modern world seems to have lost much of the wisdom of the older peoples. The ones who knew that it was better to leave the dragons sleeping in their lairs than to go tearing holes in the sky…” He lowered his lips to her skin, his mouth finding her breast. Heat bloomed where his lips touched, as if there were some reaction between his mouth and her tender skin. Her nipples rose erect in response to his touch, hot buds straining toward him.
“What a beautiful pet you will make,” he murmured as he kissed from her breasts to her neck, leaving a trail of heat in his wake.Aria moaned, her head falling back as his kiss made tingles race down her spine. “You will serve me well.”
“I will never serve you!” Aria’s outrage flared. “You are not my master and I will not be your pet. I am equal to you in every way that matters,” she hissed in his face, yanking at her chains. She wanted nothing more than to get at him and wipe that smirk off his face. If only she still had her boots. A good kick to the face, that’s what he needed.
He looked at her, an expression of amused pity on his face. “You really believe that, don’t you,” he said in patronizing tones. “Little earthbound human, you can’t even fly,” he pointed out. “Not without a machine.”
“Yeah, but put me in one and I can out fly you any day…”
“I captured you in your little metal toy,” he reminded her.
“Only because it broke down,” she argued back. “If I was in anything decent, or anything that hadn’t been worn out fighting you assholes…” She trailed off, her boasts falling on deaf ears.
“Arrogant little pet,” he smirked. “That seems to be the quality all humans share, a total inability to understand how fragile they are. You have but one form, and it is soft and it is squishy, and it is prone to hunger and disease and a very early aging process… you are so weak… and yet you speak and act as though you were born into a suit of armor.”
“I don’t think you’ll ever understand what it is to be human, lizard.”
His palm met her bare bottom in a hard slap that made her grit her teeth and grunt.
“Language, pet,” he cautioned. “I will not tolerate your disrespect.”
“I will never respect you,” she seethed. “Not if I lived for a million years. You and all your kind are scum…ow!”
His hand landed harder than before, the leathery texture of his palm and his superior strength making her cheeks ache and sting at the same time.
