Lurin's Surrender (11 page)

What the hell?
Mara’s unease heightened at Lurin’s reaction to the blade.

Sara squealed with delight. “I can’t believe he’s all mine! You haven’t told Mother that we’re not coming home yet, have you?”

Gren said nothing. He continued to stare at Lurin, a blank look on his face.

“Gren?” A movement from Lurin drew Sara’s attention. “Oh, look, he’s finally coming around.”

Lurin opened brilliant blue eyes filled with hunger.

Sara leaned down and took his chin in her palm, forcing him to meet her gaze. “Look at your new master, Lurin Vez. Refer to me as Mistress Sara.”

“Mistress Sara,” Lurin responded in a voice so unlike any Mara had heard him use. He sounded subservient, and she didn’t like it one bit.

Subservient, as in, bound to his new master.

“Mother of Night! He’s
Thesha
?”

“A bit slow, aren’t you?” Sara said with half-hearted scorn, her attention fixed on her new slave.

What Sara said of the Thesha couldn’t be true, yet Lurin’s reactions to the blade clearly said he was, in fact, a mythical being. Yet, when Mara had made love with him, she’d felt no pain, only agonising pleasure.

“But,” she paused. If Lurin were Thesha, then her reactions to him had been what, coached? Had he scripted her growing feelings for him as well?

Sara sneered. “But what? But you were too slow to see you were sitting on riches beyond belief? Think of the currency you lost, the pleasures of the flesh you missed out on because you were too much in a hurry to do
Nobless Cari’s
work. Well now look at you. Lurin’s mine, and you’re nothing more than Gren’s whore.”

Mara wanted so badly to respond, but one look at Gren forced her to swallow her words.

Gren said in a low, soothing voice, “Lady Sara, Vez is no more Thesha than I am. It’s more likely that knife you carry contains some drug lessening Vez’s inhibitions. It probably tainted you as well. Hell, try it on me and I’ll probably react the same.”

“I don’t think so, Gren. I’ve seen you naked, and you don’t have the mark. No, I’m not going to waste time with you when I’ve got a Thesha here to please me.” She tucked the dagger in a drawer beside the bed and whispered in Lurin’s ear.

To Mara’s amazement, he sat up and began caressing Sara’s breasts.

“Suck them,” Sara demanded breathlessly, her voice hitching on a moan when his lips covered one tip through the fabric, then the other.

After the horrendous way Lurin had described Sara, Mara knew he couldn’t willingly touch her. A Thesha bound to a spoiled, perverted young woman. Mara felt sick.

Gren caught her by the shoulder and murmured, “Steady.” Aloud to Sara, he said, “Are we here to simply watch, or did you have something more in mind?” At his suggestive tone, Mara stared up at him in shock.

“I have something very specific in mind.” Sara smiled and ordered Lurin to drag her under him. She moaned and rubbed her body along his, drawing out the movement.

Mara didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Lurin had an enormous erection as he mounted Sara. He pushed aside her loose clothing and readied to fuck her. But she sensed his struggle, saw him look away towards her…until Sara forced him to face her once more.

But Mara had seen enough. That brief look showed her a yawning emptiness in his eyes.

“Now, now, lover. I want this to last. Stand up,” Sara snapped.

He stood, his cock swollen and ready. He groaned when Sara fondled him. She cupped his sac and licked up and down his shaft while continuing to keep Gren and Mara in sight.

Sara paused only long enough to say, “Gren, tie up Captain Mara. But put her where she can watch us.”

Gren dragged Mara to an out of place post in the far corner of the room, in full view of the bed. “You have to get that dagger, and do what exactly what she did to break her control,” he whispered as he reached around her to tie a loose knot. He also left her enough slack that escape would prove easy enough.

Sara swore and turned to Lurin. “Come with me.” They walked to the middle of the room. “Now you, Captain Gren. I believe you said something about wanting to do more than watch.”

When Gren joined them, Sara dropped the rest of her clothing and stood facing Gren with Lurin at her back.

Mara watched with helpless fascination as Gren disrobed. Gren and Lurin were strong, handsome, sexual creatures no one woman could dream of controlling, yet Sara did so with little effort. A captain of a star ship and a helpless prisoner.

A Thesha
. Mara still couldn’t believe she’d made love with a myth, a legendary pleasure-giver. In retrospect, some of the strange things that had happened to her now made sense. That first dream she’d had of him had seemed so detailed, so real. And the fact that she’d felt compelled to visit him in his cell. He must have used his gift to force her to him. She couldn’t help remembering that surge of energy he’d shared with her before Gren and his men had boarded her ship. Or the fact that she’d already healed from a wound that should still be fresh.

Then there was his ability to remain aroused, to continually want sex when a normal man should have been tired. Even as she watched his body respond to Sara’s handling, she remembered the feel of Lurin in her own hands.

Anger festered, but Mara had more to worry about than Sara. Nobless Cari had filed serious charges against Lurin, and Gren intended to take them both back to Jaron to face the law. She didn’t understand why Gren would take Lurin back there, or why Gren didn’t simply overpower Sara now. Then she thought of all the warriors still aboard the ship, and the fact that even if they somehow escaped, Lurin would still be a wanted man.

Wanted by many. Hell, despite what she knew about him, Mara still desired him. More, she needed to help him, to ease his pain. Both he and Gren were striking men, but something more about Lurin tugged at her. His Theshan heritage?

He’d probably used his abilities to manipulate her. While anger burned at his deception, Mara couldn’t forget how she’d felt when joined with him, as if they shared one bright, shining soul.

Nonsense, that she’d fall in love with a prisoner after her first bout of sex. Most women turned soft after lying with a man, which was why she’d avoided intimacy for so long. Still, she didn’t think she’d feel such affection for Catam—whom she liked and respected—if she’d lain with him. Or the myriad other males who’d begged to spread her thighs and ‘gift’ her with pleasure.

Lurin had given her pleasure beyond her wildest dreams. And if he really was Thesha, he could have forced her to do any number of things for him. He could even have escaped. Instead, he’d chosen to stay and fight along side her.

So confusing. Her head throbbed, as much from her uncertainty as from watching Sara take advantage of two strapping men.

Sara would pay for her actions, one way or another, Mara promised herself. The madwoman slithered against Lurin, and a wave of jealousy engulfed Mara, adding to the quagmire of confusion filling her mind.

Sara moved, and to Mara’s shock, both men prodded her with hard and thick erections.
Hell, Gren’s getting off on this show! And I thought he meant to help us.

Disgusted with it all, Mara subtly chafed her wrists and loosened her bonds. Watching Lurin’s sensuality exploited by Sara’s malevolent urgings, Mara couldn’t help dwelling on her time with him. Her mind told her to focus on now, but her heart refused to let her.

She knew he’d wanted to escape his imprisonment. And had his intention been to slake his lust on her before leaving, he still could have done so without giving her such pleasure. Once free, he could have tried to wrest control of her ship. There had been several instances where he could have subdued her. But he hadn’t.

He must feel something for me. And why is it so important that he does?

But he fought by my side when he could have escaped in one of the life pods. Standard on most ships, Lurin had to have known we had them.

With Sara’s attention on the men, Mara slipped out of her bonds and took a few steps towards the bed.

Frowning, Mara noted that Gren looked entirely too enraptured by Sara’s mouth over his cock. He pulled her head closer and pushed through her lips, but then he glanced from her to the bed table with a look urging her to hurry.

Gren fisted his hands in Sara’s hair and kept her on her knees in front of him while Lurin rubbed her shoulders. “Come on, Sara. Take it deeper. You know how much you want this,” Gren hissed, a strange energy in his words.

Mara faltered halfway to her destination. If she didn’t know better, she’d think him Theshan as well. But he didn’t have that marking, she remembered Sara mentioning. Mara resumed her course, rejecting the idea. Oh sure, the ship was full of them, of these beings that supposedly didn’t exist. If Gren really were Thesha, why didn’t he simply order Sara to free them?

Lurin knelt behind Sara and rubbed against her while Gren fucked her mouth. The groans grew louder from all three of them. Trying to tune out noise and deliberately avoiding the sight of Lurin pressed against Sara, Mara hurried towards the bed table.

She reached into the drawer, feeling for the dagger. She swore under her breath when her finger bit into the point of the blade, but she recovered it with all due haste.
Well, I bloodied myself. Part one accomplished.

Gren motioned for her to approach them while keeping Sara occupied. “That’s it, you little bitch. Let me come down your throat.” He groaned and Mara took advantage.

She shoved Lurin onto the ground, a bit relieved to see him still so dazed. Not a chance he’d willingly touched Sara, then.
And what the hell do I care about that now?

She traced the pattern over his skin and drew his blood. The moment his blood mingled with hers on the tip of the dagger, he froze.

Sara was so intent on Gren’s cock that she didn’t notice Lurin’s lack of participation. But when Gren withdrew from her mouth, apparently spent, she blinked up at him in surprise. “Why have you stopped? You’re not done…”

She looked over shoulder and screamed. “Kill her, Lurin!”

Lurin didn’t move, but his eyes cleared and he blinked up at Mara.

Sara shrieked, “Gren, kill that bitch and bring me that dagger!”

Gren scowled down at her. “You’re kidding, right?”

Before Sara could speak, Mara took the decision from her. Tossing the dagger aside, she clutched Sara’s thin neck in her hands and pressed hard. Sara fell unconscious to the floor.

“And that was the easy part of the plan.” Gren shook his head, staggered, and reached for his clothes.

Chapter Ten

Mara watched Gren and Lurin hurriedly dress. “Well, that was awkward.”

Gren chuckled as he belted his trousers and tucked the dagger away.

Lurin tugged on a pair of drawstring trousers and choked out a pained laugh. “Come here, Mara.” He held out his hand, waiting.

She didn’t question her relief at seeing him whole once more. Instead she focused on his deception, on the manipulations and liberties he took with her heart and mind.

“I think you have some explaining to do, don’t you?” she asked calmly, wondering how he’d react if she did what she wanted to. The thought of him back on board her ship, trapped again in shackles, had a certain appeal, especially with him being at her mercy.

“Mara?” Lurin glanced to Gren, as if seeking help, but seeing the man occupied with moving Sara to the bed must have changed his mind. Lurin gave Sara a look of repulsion and grabbed Mara by the arm, dragging her away from the woman.

Mara yanked out of his hold. “Get your hands off me. I think you forget yourself.”

Lurin’s eyes literally glowed, and Mara took a step back. For a moment, she’d let herself pretend it wasn’t true, that Lurin was just a man.

“Damn it, Mara.” Lurin glared but made no move to close the distance between them. “I’m the same man I was before all this.” He waved his arms around. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m Thesha, not some monster. And certainly not a murdering rapist.”

Gren interrupted. “As entertaining as this is, I need to take care of this new situation. You two stay here. Sara won’t be waking for hours yet, and I have to handle Vendon before he becomes a problem.” He grimaced and moved to the door. “No one should enter but me, and I’ll let you know when I return. Whatever you do, don’t leave this room. It’s the only place you’re truly safe.”

Gren exited, leaving them alone together. Mara glanced at the bed, where Sara lay bound and gagged and covered by a blanket.

Anxiety she hadn’t been aware she still held eased, and the knots in her stomach released.

“She won’t be any more trouble.” Lurin’s breath fanned her ear, and she started, unaware he’d moved so close.

She turned, caught by the sensual promise in his eyes. Despite her distrust, warmth unfurled in her belly. He stepped even closer and they touched, breast to chest, thigh to thigh. His erection prodded her, and she blinked, amazed he could feel aroused after all Sara had done to him.

“You can’t be--”

“I am,
very
. My mind is fuzzy about what Sara did, but my body remembers it well. It was hell, because I could feel her touch when all I truly wanted was you.”