Flames of Arousal (9 page)

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When the former Warrior appeared, Kam’s stomach clenched. Oh, damn. What was Rave doing here on the Sand Moon? He never thought she’d leave her position in the Dome on Marid. He’d actually hoped to never see her again.

Rave, the only female Pain Master, to his knowledge, liked nothing better than torturing prisoners, or anyone else who crossed her. They’d already had too many encounters for his liking.

She pulled him along, escorting him down to Pleasures. She’d been uncharacteristically quiet, so far. That worried him. Rave liked to torment, aggravate, and push people beyond their limits of control.

The area she took him to turned out to be a series of slave cages. Mostly dirty, smelly, and all-around foul. The place didn’t seem very “pleasurable” to him. He kept glancing at Rave out of the corner of his eye. He could sense her wariness and wondered when she’d confront him.

Like Halah, she had once been a Warrior. Unlike Halah, she had not been honorable in her duties. Rave had officially changed sides after being condemned and banished for the abuse of Leila during her Lair Initiation Rite. Unofficially, Rave had turned against Xylon the moment she’d decided to permanently harm another Xylon Officer for her own pleasure. The urge to exact revenge while she stood close enough for him to grab and choke the life out of her burned through him.

Almost as if sensing his intent, she changed her stance and moved to a more defensive angle. “You’ll get your choice of women, a sexual slave to serve your every whim. You can fuck her for as long as she keeps your interest.”

Kam held his emotions and urges in check. He needed to play this out, even though from what he remembered of the re-initiation, sex wasn’t all that appealing at the moment.

“You’re not fooling me, Nextor.”

All right. Here it came. The confrontation he’d expected. He fought to avoid reacting too much, and he didn’t try to speak.

“Perhaps you’ve forgotten? I was a Sensor Reader, too, before training as a Pain Master. I’ve lost a lot of my former, natural ability, but your mind is weak, probably from the pain. I sense more than you think, though I can’t prove anything, of course.

But I don’t believe for a minute that you’ve turned.”

Shit
. He slammed his mind shut as best he could and reeled in his emotions even further. It should be enough, given her limited abilities. All Sensor Readers eventually gained some natural power at reading emotions, beyond their equipment. Rave’s powers should be substantially weaker than his own, even in his current state.

Sensor Readers made very efficient Pain Masters, or Dispensers, as they were labeled if serving as a Warrior. They knew when they caused the most pain. No wonder Rave remained so feared by her victims, even long after their abuse ended.

She laughed, obviously picking up on his discomfort and enjoying it. “You’re connected too closely to the Triad of Power, Kam. We both know it. And you will die for it someday.”

The Triad of Power! A silent curse exploded in his head. How did she know about that? The knowledge wasn’t commonly known, or so Laszlo said, when he’d informed him about the Reign of Three. His heart pounded. He needed to report, but he couldn’t check in for a while yet. The satellite wouldn’t be in position.

“I never should have been banished from the Lair. Leila begged for everything we did to her during the Initiation. The more pain we inflicted, the harder she came.”

His anger rose at her softly-spoken words. She and two other now-banished Warriors had scarred Leila for life—physically and emotionally. Through a re-initiation, he and three male Warriors had helped Leila cope and partially heal. But the damage could never be completely erased.

Was her threat really about revenge for her banishment from the Lair? He doubted it. Seemed to him that something bigger was going on. Revenge, enough reason for most, was too simple a motive for Rave. For murder. She much preferred to torture her enemies. Killing someone because it suited her own nefarious, long-range purposes though, he believed she’d do that without a second thought.

Once he mastered his new power, he’d be able to protect himself in case she got any ideas about coming after him. Until then, he’d be extra careful around her. Hand-to-hand he could probably defeat her but he’d feel better if he had a weapon. She certainly carried one. Probably more than one. Other dangers existed too, that he might need a weapon for, besides just Rave. He’d keep his eye out for an inducer. He’d rather find a disruptor, but that wasn’t likely. And an inducer was smaller, easier to hide.

He felt a bit more secure now however, for Rave had provided him with a useful piece of information. A re-initiation didn’t always work. Otherwise, she wouldn’t suspect him of not turning to serve Daegal. Since he didn’t seem any different, he probably wasn’t. He wondered when they’d test him, besides just checking out the codes he’d given them, to see if he was actually on their side.

“Make your choice.” Rave pointed toward the cages.

His gaze moved over the naked and half-naked women. Not minions, thank goodness. All the women looked basically the same though. Pathetic.

A few strolled close to the cage bars, trying to entice him by fondling their breasts and tweaking their nipples. A few of the naked ones fingered their cunts. They seemed even more pathetic. Eager to serve any Agent who appeared. Too eager in his opinion.

“A large selection,” Rave responded.

“How is a slave ranking given?” he forced out painfully, his voice barely audible, but he wanted to know. “From birth?”

“Sometimes, if born to a slave, and the father is an Agent who won’t claim the child.

Others are captured Warriors who failed to turn for a variety of reasons, or who Daegal felt it served no purpose to try to turn. Others are traitors or are being punished for some offense. Hard to pick just one out of so many, isn’t it?”

Yes. But not for the reasons she obviously thought. He didn’t see any male slaves.

Perhaps they housed them separately. That would make sense. No fraternizing that way—at least not with the opposite sex.

He noticed two females, in the corner of one cage, engaged in a heated lip-lock, tongues mingling. One aggressively fingered the other’s pussy, seemingly unaware of their presence. Or maybe they purposely put on the show to attract attention, hoping to be selected. He dragged his gaze away before his cock decided to stand at attention.

A thin woman with dark hair, huddling in another corner, caught his eye. Too skinny for her own good. Didn’t they feed these women?

His sensor vibrated.
Damn
. Was it possible? His pulse began to race.

He focused his abilities on her, while checking his wrist sensor. Sadness. Loneliness.

Fear—though she tried to hide that particular emotion the most. And something else…yes, a definite vibration! He’d found her.

“Who shall it be, Kam?” Rave asked.

Compassion filled his heart. Excitement quickly took over from there. Laszlo had been right all along. An odd connection existed between the Lair and the Dome—Laszlo and Daegal. And the people who served them both. Bits and pieces were fitting together for him, as he slowly discovered more information. When the entire truth came out, he feared the repercussions, not only for him, but for those he loved, too.

He pointed to the woman. Speaking was still just too painful. He didn’t want to try it again for several hours. By then, the self-healing ability of Warriors and Agents who’d gone through all three Initiation steps kicked in.

An image of his face buried between the camel-minion’s legs, lapping at her pussy, entered his head—their self-healing transference step. She’d tasted great, but now, thinking back, he shuddered at how eagerly he’d licked the creature’s cunt. Still, his cock stirred. Now, he eagerly looked forward to tasting the pussy of his soon-to-be slave.

“Ah.” Rave laughed. “How appropriate. Seeking a little sexual revenge, Kam?

Sounds like fun. Halah! Come forward.”

Perfect. Rave assumed them enemies because of what had happened on Marid. She might even have led him to this cage on purpose just to see if he would choose Halah.

Of course, Halah might think them enemies, too. He’d need to quickly convince her otherwise.

Since his arrival, he’d been keeping an eye out for her. He wondered at the coincidence of finding her so easily, compared to what he’d thought he would need to go through. She could have been anywhere on the moon. Somehow, Laszlo had known she’d be close. Had he set her up to be captured, so she’d be in a position where she had no choice but to agree to help them in order to regain her freedom? He considered that a definite possibility.

However it happened, he felt a great sense of relief. Now Xylon could be saved.

Halah’s chest tightened when she heard her name called. She recognized the voice—Rave. And the woman wasn’t alone, damn it. An Agent stood with her. Would she be forced to serve him?

She raised her head a little and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, feigning disinterest. No! It couldn’t be. Her head snapped all the way up and she froze, immediately recognizing Kam. What the fuck was going on? The man was a Warrior, not an Agent.

He must have turned in order to serve Daegal. Disappointment rolled through her.

Not a logical emotion, because she shouldn’t care where he put his alliance, but those were her feelings. Maybe that’s why her visions of him had been so aggressive. Maybe they weren’t breeder-mate visions, as she’d briefly thought before dismissing the possibility, but a sort of warning of the future.

She itched to question him, but knew if she did, punishment would follow. Instead, she was forced to interpret what she saw and heard. At least until they were alone.

From the look in Kam’s eyes, she suspected she was in trouble.

For a moment, she’d thought she saw hope reflected, but that was just an illusion, for all she really saw was sternness on his face—a tight jaw, lips pressed firmly together, a hard stare. Slowly, she pushed to her feet, knowing what was expected of her.

She probably wouldn’t be able to hide her feelings from him, not with the collar on.

Her power wasn’t great enough anymore to cause the necessary electrical interference.

She knew he possessed natural abilities, as she did with her power. She just didn’t know how strong those abilities were. A small smile suddenly appeared on his face, as if he were enjoying her discomfort. She didn’t doubt it.

Rave opened the cage, stalked in, and pulled her toward him. She didn’t resist. She knew better than to fight over something so minor, especially with a Pain Master.

Besides, no matter the look on Kam’s face—harsh or not—he was her only hope of getting out of here in one piece. If he chose her as his sex slave, she wouldn’t protest.

“Kam has an interest in you, Halah. I’m sure you recognize him.”

Very funny. Rave was well-aware of their past. When Kam simply stared at her, she cocked her head, studying him. He didn’t speak. He didn’t move.

Without warning, Rave jerked the top off her shoulders and pulled it down to her waist. Halah held back a gasp of outrage. Her hand balled into a fist. It took all of her control to just stand there and not react.

“Have a look, Kam. She has fairly decent tits, with plump nipples good for sucking.

Though I haven’t had the pleasure personally…yet.”

Disgust and revulsion filled Halah. If Rave ever tried to suckle her, the Pain Master would have a fight on her hands. She would only take so much. Halah didn’t care if she ended up beaten to a pulp. Although, if the fight were fair, she knew she far outclassed Rave in defensive skills.

Standing half-naked in front of the two, she refused to lower her gaze and act victimized. Let Kam look. She didn’t care about him. She couldn’t afford to let herself care about anyone anymore—just Josella. Everyone else had betrayed her at some point in her life. And Kam had been no exception. She’d use him for her own purposes, if she could, but that’s as far as it would ever go.

His gaze dropped to her exposed breasts.

He continued to stare, and Halah felt a blush creep up her neck. Damn it! She never blushed. Why now, with this man? After every indignity she’d been through, she couldn’t believe her body’s reaction.

“See her flush? She loves you looking. What a whore.”

Halah saw Kam’s jaw tense. No smile remained on his face.

“Test her tits out,” Rave encouraged. “See if they please you.”

As he reached for her breasts, Halah held her breath. She expected him to grab and squeeze, like everyone else did—even Rave on more than one occasion—but his hands touched her gently, and felt so warm, so caressing.

He surprised her by not touching her nipples. Normally, the first thing a guard or Egesa did was tweak a slave’s nipples. She’d seen it happen, over and over again. When she let out the breath she’d been holding, he looked up, and his gaze locked with hers.

Compassion? No. She must be imagining things. Or seeing what she wanted to see.

“Do you want a look at her cunt? I’ll let you take a few licks, if you want. She’d probably love the attention. She hasn’t been serviced here yet, from what I understand.”