Stolen Destiny Read online

  A voice chuckled from the hall, and she looked at the red man with blue striping. “I am thinking that all of the above are applicable. You are Silhouette Rains?”

  She stood slowly and walked over. “I am.”

  “I am the second in command of this vessel, Commander Yamet. You have met Captain Kalek.”

  She inclined her head. “We did not introduce ourselves, but yes.”

  “I am here to take you for follow-up scans. The medics have found some anomalies with your scans that they want to examine.”

  Sil nodded. “Sure. I know what they are looking at. The station was trying to figure out how to deal with it.”

  She stood next to the door, and he unlocked it, standing aside for her to exit. Sil stepped out into the hall, and he put a hand at the small of her back. Kalek was at the front of his cage. “Move the hand, Yamet, or you will be using a stump with Lneet.”

  Yamet grinned and dropped the hand at her back. “This way, Miss Rains.”

  Kalek asked, “What are they looking for?”

  She looked at him as they passed. “Tumours. I am dying.”

  Yamet paled, and he started to rush her down the hall. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

  She padded quickly and asked, “Why?”

  There were a thunderous crash and the sound of tearing metal. “That’s why. He’s a little emotional now. The basic part of him is a little upset.”

  They headed into a lift, and the doors closed as a flash of dark blue appeared in the hall outside of it. Yamet spoke into his wrist. “He’s out, and he’s upset. I think he is heading for medical. We are in the lift, so watch the corridors.”

  Sil asked politely, “What is going on?”

  “Hmrain get a little funny when they reach a certain age. Kalek isn’t going to take his needs out on a crewmember, despite many offers, so you are the closest thing for an option as he has experienced in the last thirty years.”

  “An option? For what?”

  Yamet smiled kindly. “For a mate. Sex. Naked interaction. Exchange of genetic material. Got it?”

  She blinked and thought about the look in Kalek’s eyes. “Oh. That would explain that.”

  The doors opened, and Yamet escorted her into medical with a sense of urgency. He muttered to the medics, “He’s two minutes away. I will try and slow him down.”

  The medics took charge of her, and she was put in a diagnostic machine. One of the orangy-blue medics smiled. “So, you are aware of your condition?”

  “Yes, I disclosed it before they took me up. They said it wasn’t a problem.”

  “It isn’t. We can do more cellular regeneration while removing all hostile clusters than your people could. You also don’t have to worry about the immune system being crushed. You will be fine.” He smiled brightly and didn’t do more than flinch as there was a thud against the main door. “Don’t worry. We locked it.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean, worry? He isn’t going to hurt me.”

  “No, but he might not want you in pain, and this machine can take care of the tumours, but there can’t be anything inside your system. You are going to feel it.”

  She nodded. “Got it. So, keep calm and keep still.”

  “If you can. The machine is fast, but you have six clusters. It is not going to be fun.”

  “I am not here for fun. I am here to live.” She gripped the handrails inside the unit. “Let’s get started.”

  The medic nodded and said, “Just make a sound if you want to stop. We can do this in stages if you need to.”

  She snorted. “I am already at stage four. Get going.”

  He nodded, the scanner reclined, and the burn under her skin started. Sweat broke out on her skin, but she didn’t make a sound. She was pretty sure that if she had even squeaked, the captain would have come through those doors. There was no reason for his fixation, but she respected being controlled by your body. She winced and held as still as she could while the burn moved on, and the first sight throbbed. One down, five to go.

  When the machine opened to let her out, she fell to the floor and vomited. Hands helped her up, and she was eased into another machine. The pain faded in waves, but her body had saved the memory for replay, just in case she was tempted to forget.

  She was pretty sure she passed out in the new section of medical because when she woke up, Kalek was sitting next to her bed, flicking through a tablet. “Ah, you are awake.”

  She tried to speak, but her mouth was dry. He poured a glass of water and stood up to hold it for her.

  She drank carefully, and when she motioned with her hand, he pulled the glass away. She swallowed. “Thank you.” She looked around. “I guess I fainted.”

  “Understandable. My question is how you managed to remain as mobile as you were with that condition? I read your file.”

  Sil shrugged. “It didn’t hurt. I had just started drug treatment for it when the asteroid hit. Obviously, I wasn’t able to get more treatment, so the diet I was forced to take on did me a favour. In my family, a sedentary life and sugar cause the rapid growth, so I was forced to camp and scavenge for food, which helped in a weird way. It isn’t that I would recommend that treatment to anyone, but it kept them from growing. There was a plan for removal after my assessment, but I think you know what happened next.”

  He nodded and continued to loom over her. She looked up at him, and she could see his nose moving as he inhaled and exhaled. She frowned. “Are you sniffing me?”

  He raised his brows, and he nodded. “You had a bitter note to your scent, but it is fading.”

  “Three of the tumours were in my lymph nodes and spreading. That was probably why. They are close to the surface.” She pushed herself up and took stock of her body. She really wanted to cup her breasts and feel for lumps, but he was watching her.

  She fidgeted and then glared at him. “Turn around.”

  “Why?”

  “I need to check something, and I don’t want to do it with you watching.”

  He blinked and nodded, sitting down and aiming his head toward the wall, lifting his tablet.

  She watched him for a minute, and then, she cupped her breasts and blinked when the lumps were missing. She pulled her arm out of the smock and groped under the fabric, looking for the lumps with her fingers. She was pretty sure she bruised herself a bit, but the nodules that had been there were gone. She checked her neck, armpit, and the inside of her thigh. Nothing. She calmly put her arm back through the smock and sat there as big, fat tears began to course down her cheeks. She heard the first sob, and then the second, and then, she was burying her face in her arms, and great, heaving sobs were coming out of her with tears running down her face. There was some snot, too.

  Sil wiped her face on her sleeve, grimaced, and pulled the sheet and her smock up until the smock was off, and she had used it to scrub her face clear.

  Kalek cleared his throat. “May I turn around now?”

  She swallowed. “Yes. I wrecked the smock.”

  He looked at her, nodded, and got up and left her.

  He was back in two minutes with a slightly steaming bowl of water, a towel, and a folded smock.

  He helped her wash and dry her face while she hiccupped. Once that was done, he arranged the smock and said, “Lift your arms.”

  He slid the smock over her arms and tugged it down to her sides. The other one was tossed into a chute at the end of the chamber.

  He pulled her hair out of the smock and settled it down her back. “Better?”

  She blinked. “Yes. Why didn’t you leave?”

  “You were upset. It is understandable. You were under a death sentence, but it shattered in a day. It takes getting used to. A change of state is an emotional thing.” He smiled. “I have been through a few myself.”

  Sil nodded and looked up at him. “Yamet mentioned that you had some... hormonal issues?”

  He blinked in surprise and c
huckled. “You could say that. I am driven to find a companion during these times. They are getting more and more frequent, but I will not do that to any of my crewmembers. Being the lover of one of my kind can be... taxing.”

  “So, best tackled by a professional?” She tried to understand.

  Kalek snorted. “No, even a professional wouldn’t have an easy time of it, but the few women of your species and the rare ones in species before you are rather pleasantly adaptive companions.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I am saying that after you recover from the procedure, I would like to move you to my quarters and discuss the details.”

  Sil frowned. “If I am in your quarters, the decision has already been made, has it not?”

  Kalek grinned. “Yes, but the details can still be discussed.”

  He wasn’t wrong. There was always room for clarification.

  Chapter Three

  It took her three days of therapy before she was pronounced fit to leave medical. Kalek was there on the day she was released. She was wearing a crew uniform with no insignia.

  Captain Kalek walked her to his quarters, and she was surprised. The walls were projections of the star-scape outside. The large space was three times as big as her first apartment, but she guessed that Kalek literally needed room to stretch his wings. Space was a necessity. She walked to the projection and reached out to touch one of the stars slowly moving along the wall.

  “The projection doesn’t have to be on if you don’t like it. I hear that it upsets some people.”

  She stepped inside it and turned toward him, wearing the stars on her dark blue uniform. “Why would it upset them? It is beautiful.”

  Sil looked at the stars painted across her skin and body, and she smiled. Once her curiosity had been sated for the moment, she walked over to the dining area and sat with her hands on her knees. “You wished to discuss details.”

  He sat near her and looked at her. “What is your opinion of my appearance?”

  “Why?”

  “It is something I am curious about. How do you perceive me?”

  Sil looked at him. “Your features are even, the colours are pretty, you are constructed nicely, and your wings are soft. Oh, do you have the feather?”

  He grinned and reached into an inner pocket of his uniform tunic. His wrapped around him with room for the wings. He pulled out the feather and handed it to her. “There you go.”

  Sil smiled and stroked the feather across her cheek and lips before flicking her chin. “Thank you. It was helpful to have it in medical, but I forgot to grab it when I got changed.”

  He sighed. “Watching you play with that is giving me all sorts of ideas.”

  “I like the feeling of it; it is soft and smooth, and it smells nice.”

  He swallowed and ran a hand over his face. “What do you want?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” She scowled.

  He leaned toward her. “What do you want to do next? Do you want to travel the stars, visit new worlds, learn about cultures you have never seen, histories you have never imagined, have a family, a job, a quiet life?”

  “Yes to all of those but a family. I like the idea of learning, my life is always quiet, and I always find something to do.”

  “You don’t want children?”

  She shrugged. “A lover and children have never been in the realm of the possible for me, so I just didn’t think about them. They are for other people.”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “That is just the way it is. When I grew up, I didn’t fit. I didn’t fit at work but was very good at any task that they set me to, so that is where I put my focus and where I kept it.” Sil looked at him and asked, “What do you see when you look at me? How do you perceive me?”

  He blinked, and he smiled slightly. “You are an intoxicating scent that brings me close, your skin is soft, your hair is a panel of silk, and your hips make my hands itch to hold them. I perceive you as a delightful tangle of sensations for discovery.”

  She blinked. “Oh.”

  “The station would have negotiated on your behalf to find you the wealthiest partner. I am far from as wealthy as some of the older Hmrain, but I can provide you with the allowance of a companion and the standard century contract.”

  She opened her mouth, and he held up his hand.

  “I have heard from others of my kind that you don’t understand the effect that binding to a Hmrain will have. We have compounds in our body that will act on yours and provide you with a stronger immune system as well as a cellular regeneration effect. Your body will replace injured or dying cells, and you will remain at the peak of adult physical health.”

  “Oh. I didn’t get to that lecture yet. What if you can’t stand a century with me? Most people can’t manage four hours.” Sil sighed.

  He chuckled. “I am sure that I will have traits you are not fond of as well. We will adapt. This is a contract, not a love match. I need a lover, and you need the ability to pursue your interests.”

  She thought about it and nodded. “Deal. As long as I can study whatever I want and you keep me fed and clothed, it is a deal.”

  He cocked his head. “You don’t have any caveats? Restrictions on what I can do with you?”

  Sil looked at him. “You feed off my pleasure, right? If you do something I don’t like, fear taints the source. If you continue it, you no longer get benefit from the contract.”

  Kalek looked at her with a smile. “You seem to have grasped the essentials. So, are you ready to sign?”

  “I need to read it first.”

  He nodded and handed her the tablet. Her last three days in medical hadn’t been wasted. She had been able to get a tablet and begin refining her language skills.

  Sil paused. “There is a clause in here for offspring.”

  “Yes, it immediately fulfills the contract, and you are a free woman with all the funds released to you. It is the same if any male gets a female Hmrain pregnant.”

  She frowned and paused. “What if there was offspring and I didn’t want to leave it?”

  “The contract is cancelled, not you. You have the right to remain with your child.”

  Sil made a notation in that spot and kept reading. She added the declaration of the right to study requirement.

  He could pick her wardrobe; she got to pick what she wanted to read or learn.

  She slid it back to him, and he read her changes. Kalek nodded. “Fair enough. I have no objection to writing it into the contract.”

  He signed it and then handed it back to her. Sil signed it, and he sent it off for official recording.

  He set it aside and nodded. “Please, remove your uniform.”

  She opened the closure of the front and slid her thumb along the diagonal line. She peeled the top off, leaving it around her hips. She had to sit and remove her boots and socks, then the trousers were able to slide free.

  He let out a shuddering breath. “Go to the bed and take your feather with you.”

  She picked up the feather and walked to the bed.

  “Lie down and do whatever you would like with it.”

  Sil glanced at him, and he looked calm enough. She shrugged and focused on the wall of stars. She trailed his feather over her forehead, her eyes, her lips, and then she flicked it across her throat. Her nipples were hard nubs within seconds of being caressed with the feather. She stroked the rounded tip over her breasts, and then, she flicked the feather down to her navel and under. The first few strokes were tentative on her thighs, but then, she set the feather aside and stroked herself with her fingers. Her slow attentions had gotten her very slick.

  She heard a rustling on the other side of the room, and he walked over to her, sitting on the edge. He placed his hand over hers, and he murmured, “Show me.”

  She slid her hand over her mound, and her fingers sought her clit, circling slowly. His hand remained on top of hers a
s she breathed faster and faster until her body locked up and shivered.

  He kept his hand over hers and kissed her slowly and carefully. Kalek lifted his head and smiled. “Do you always do it that way?”

  She blinked slowly, never having the experience of explaining this aspect of herself to anyone. “Um, I usually have a toy or something inside me. It makes things go much faster. When it is over, I am ready to find another task or head to bed. Either one.”

  He was polite when he asked, “May I try?”

  She nodded in surprise but asked, “What precisely do you get from me by this?”

  “If I am successful, I will taste your pleasure. If I am unsuccessful, I will gain a greater understanding of how you work and what you respond to.” He kept his hand on top of hers.

  “This is the part where I say that this is embarrassing.”

  He smiled. “Are you embarrassed?”

  “No, but it is what I am supposed to say, isn’t it?”

  He grinned, and his very pointy teeth were on display once again. “Is that agreement?”

  She nodded. “It is.”

  He eased her hand away and brought her fingers to his mouth. Her eyes went wide as he sucked on the tips one at a time. The sympathetic tugging inside was definitely new.

  He rested her hand at her side and slid his hand to the spot hers had just been removed from. His longer fingers had a curving reach that sent the breath out of her lungs in a rush.

  She didn’t know how he did it, but he bent, and his tongue stroked across each nipple in turn before he sucked on them softly with slow care. She felt the rush of slick wetness between her thighs and was surprised. That hadn’t happened before.

  Sil felt the graze of his teeth against her skin, and she gasped and shivered. His fingers curled slightly and pressed into her while his thumb circled her clit, the motion made much easier by both his angle and the fact that her body had provided lube.

  He left her breasts and dragged his tongue up her neck. He paused and gripped her neck with his teeth. The feeling was strange, but it didn’t excite her. He released her and licked at the points where he had gripped her. That felt nice.