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“You see nothing,” the male hissed.
“I cannot look away if the females are in danger. It’s against?—”
“The females are fine. This is normal among Calysii, captain,” the gonsi insisted, his lip curling in an expression that matched the disdain in his voice. “He will not harm his mates. Since you insist on making a nuisance of yourself, simply observe.”
Varik’s stomach dropped as the prince’s illusion of lazily circling grew more intentional with his every step. His long, slender tail flicked behind him, sending the various gold rings and chains adorning it rattling softly. The females bumped into each other warily but other than mild signs of distress, they did not seem to be too frightened by the process.
There was a soft squeal as the prince suddenly lunged forward, snatching two and then a third female from the group. Varik tensed but the giggles from the captured females reassured him that the females were not the least terrorized by the prince’s action, permitting him to redirect his attention as Gaix herded them toward his private room. The prince was obviously edgy, his eyes shifting furtively through the room, watching any potential attack until the door closed behind him. Varik could not care less. So long as the females were not being harmed in any fashion that would be against Calysii law—and in fact appeared to be enjoying the male’s attentions—he was far more interested in one female in particular.
In a show of inspecting the room, Varik allowed his gaze to brush longingly over her. Silently he entreated her to look his way and felt a stir of excitement deep within his chest when her head turned, and her brown eyes met his. This time there was no surprise but a softening in her depths in what he imagined to be a silent invitation. Did she desire his company again already?
His heart leapt and his vibinum lifted faintly in preparation to display and his frillum twitched with a warning that he felt echo to the depths of him. What was he thinking? He could not openly flirt with her in the prince’s private domain. To dare now would be suicidal. He cut a quick glance toward the gonsi and relaxed minutely. The male was not paying him any attention at that particular moment as he was milling among the females, talking to them in a low voice. But that could change at any minute.
His gaze flicked back to his female, his heart swelling when he found that she was still watching him. He wanted to signal to her, to let her know that he desired to meet again and explore what this strange bond between them was. He might have done so regardless of the risk of having Athdar in the same room except another female, one with curling yellow hair whom he had noted to be in her company before was watching them. Her gaze shifted between him and his female, a knowing look on her face. He eyed the female for a long moment, waiting for any sign of impending betrayal. All she had to do was alert the gonsi and the male would be within his rights to summon security and have him thrown into the brig.
The female suddenly smiled and took a sip of the drink she held in her hand, her brows quirking in challenge. Varik stiffened, his eyes narrowing in turn for a moment before resolutely turning away from her, uninterested in whatever games the female was intending to play. She could have sounded the alarm if she had wanted to, so he simply had to trust that she would not—for now.
He allowed his gaze to search out his blossom and linger on her, in pain of wanting. The clench of his heart and the hollow ache that couldn’t be filled no matter how the fire had begun to rage within his blood. He was certain that she was affected by his presence as well. Her soft lips had parted, and he was lost to imagining what delights that moist little cavern between them offered.
A shiver ran through him, and he took a step back, the heat of his gaze piercing her with every forbidden promise held within his heart and soul. And then he turned and left, unable to bear to so much as a look back at her lest he be tempted to act recklessly.
That did not stop him from stalking her, however. He told himself that was not what he was doing, he was certainly keeping an eye on her welfare as he was responsible for her and all of the humans and yet he utilized his clearance and programmed the ship system to alert him whenever she emerged so that he could arrange to be wherever she ended up by seemingly casual happenstance. He was certain that not even his officers were on to him yet, although Jornesh was suspicious and would soon discover what he was doing—if he had not already.
He drank in the sight of her as she walked the corridors, his heart beating with an urgency to stalk and claim his mate that was as an impulse as ancient as Lorgoon. Sometimes he allowed himself to be seen, or even arranged a point that they might run into each other. Each occasion was a mark of his weakness, giving him a moment to savor her scent and the brief contact if the space forced them to brush intimately close together. A word exchanged or two, with heated glances under the politest of guises that none might guess the dance that was occurring right before their eyes.
He was slowly destroying himself—plummeting into madness—but how sweet it was, rolling through him as he took his cock in hand at night. He stroked along the heavily ridged length and over the thick, minor frillum that ran from the mid-length of his cock to just beneath the ribbed head, to the head itself with enough pressure to make him hiss with his pleasure as he imagined her there in his bed with him.
Such exquisite torture. He would need her beneath him soon, but for now he was in control until he could ensure her safety.
ChapterEight
By some miracle a second, third, and fourth day passed without being subjected to the prince’s lust. She had barely even seen him as he had only emerged from his private room to select a couple of his favorites and disappear with them for the rest of the day. Athdar kept the room supplied, slipping in and out with whatever they needed. But then this wasn’t unusual behavior for Gaix. He often fell into moods where he would disappear for days on end with a small number of females to satisfy the demand of his cyclic ruts that seemed to spring up every three to four months. That it happened now of all times was a welcome to relief, though it put the gonsi in a terrible mood.
But then, she had little doubt it was because the prince kept tight control of the male’s cock and got off on watching his servant fuck his females under his specific directions and desires as they serviced him in turn. The gonsi might as well have been nothing more than a dildo attached to flesh as far as the bed play went and Stacey might have pitied him if the male didn’t usually take considerable pleasure in performing in sometimes brutal ways outside of the rut cycle.
And it certainly had its advantages. With the prince’s needs distracting the gonsi, those women who were not selected to satisfy his rut had even more freedom in how they spent their time. Within reason, naturally.
Stacey knew that she couldn’t spend it all outside the suite without attracting negative attention from Athdar, who would eventually notice her constant absence whenever he left the room and grow suspicious as to its cause, but she was able spend much of the time in relative peace and quiet. And in the evening, when Gaix sank into an exhausted sleep and Athdar retreated to his own quarters with a tired order for them all to be silent, she was free. Free to explore the ship and hope that her exploration would eventually lead her straight to Captain Otorol again. Unfortunately, her interactions with the male were brief and far too infrequent for her liking, leaving with her a constant hum of frustrated warmth within her belly. Sometimes he brushed so close that she felt as if they were connected so intimately that the simple contact sparked an electric rush of desire through her.
She prayed for better results tonight. She was running out of time and hadn’t even managed to corner the captain to exchange more than a handful of words. How was she going to draw him and plead her case if he was always escaping her? Was he intentionally avoiding her company? She frowned as the thought crossed her mind. She was certain that she wasn’t mistaking his interest in her but then why would he?
She wanted to go seek him out, pin him against the wall, and demand answers… and kisses, but there was nothing she could do just yet except wait, her eyes lowered to her datapad, as she watched the gonsi leave the prince’s room from beneath her lashes. As with the prior evenings, there was a haggard cast to his face but tonight it seemed even more pronounced. He cast a weary glance over the deck’s main room as the door to the prince’s quarters slid shut behind him. They must have passed his critical inspection because he didn’t bark any orders at them. Instead, he grunted in approval before ducking into his own quarters, disappearing inside as his door closed behind him. Stacey held her breath and waited, her heart pounding the tempo of the passing seconds as she watched and waited for him to emerge once more. Just in case there was some last-minute direction he forgot to give them in his exhausted state. Several minutes passed…and nothing.
She quietly expelled the breath she was holding as the tension within the room nose-dived and activity returned to normal. A weight settled on the bench beside her and shifted with a quiet brush of fabric. She glanced over at Quin and raised an eyebrow as the other woman peered speculatively past her in the direction of Athdar’s room.
“You think he’s in there for the night? The prince finished a bit early tonight.”
Stacey’s gaze slid back toward the room, and she nodded. “I think so. He looked dead on his feet. I’m betting Gaix’s rut broke.”
Quin sighed. “Good news for him and those poor girls in there, not so great news for the rest of us.” Her gaze flicked to Stacey. “Are you going back out tonight?”
Stacey felt her blush stir to life and climb up her neck. “Yeah.”
“To seehim?” Quin whispered. There was a teasing note in the other woman’s voice.
Stacey’s blush climbed higher into her cheeks and began to burn. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m just going out to get some exercise.”
“Exercise, I bet,” Quin cackled quietly and gave her a sly look of open disbelief when Stacey scowled at her. “Uh huh. I’ve never known you be much of an explorer. You keep to our section of the females’ quarters more than anyone else I know, seldom even taken full advantage of what the facilities offered… and yet now you are suddenly Jessica Fletcher?”
