Queen of the Savages - Complete (20 page)

"No, I mean for them, the sexual feeling lasts for the rest of their lives. They don't talk about love on Kerdos. They talk about their mating bond, if they have one. Love is not a word in their vocabulary."

"That sounds awful."

"It's not. It was shocking to me at first, but I understand it now. For as long as Tev lives, he'll be faithful only to you. He can't do otherwise. Whether or not you two share 'warm feelings of affection', which they do recognize, will depend on you to nurture them. And if you give Tev half a chance, I'm sure you could. If Tev is anything like his brother, his one thought will be to make you happy."

Carol looked thoughtful. "I guess we'll just have to see where that leads. So tell me about this queen stuff."

"I don't know much, except that I hold the genetic marker of their long dead emperors. S'den is telling everyone I'm the queen, but it's not a done deal yet. If I'm lucky, I'll get a chance to see if the throne will kill me or not."

"What do you mean?"

"They tell me the throne will kill anyone who sits in it and doesn't have the right genetics."

Carol whistled.

"Maybe you should just tell them no."

"I think I might need to become the queen. Ja-Idin Du is powerful and all he's done is try to kill me or get rid of me. The only way to stop him may be to take the throne. And that doesn't even touch what Rev and his brother are facing. There's a traitor right now among their people running over the governing council of Kerdos."

"Girl!" exclaimed Carol. "And I thought politics on Earth was rough."

A beeping noise filled the cabin.

"What's that?" said Carol.

"I don't know," replied Tracy. "There are a lot of alarms, but usually when something beeps on a ship, all hell is about to break loose."

Rev shuffled out of their cabin, looking sleepy. He went to the kitchenette counter and turned on some lights. He pressed a button.

"Ar-Reven here," he said.

"Your highness," said D'gar over the speaker. "We are about to dock with the Equal Measure."

"Thank you for informing us, Captain." He looked at Tracy. "Nothing is breaking loose. It's all under control."

The deck under them shook and they heard a rolling metallic sound, like the rumble of a thunderstorm running through the floor.

"All hand, all hands. We are under attack. Battle stations."

"I wonder what it's like when things aren't under control?" said Carol.

The ship shook again, and the door to their cabin flew open, revealing Telwin and another uniformed officer. "Your highnesses, we are instructed to use life pods to get to the Equal Measure. They are a bigger ship and can fend off the pirate attack better than we can.

"Pirates," hissed Tracy. "Is it Quargan again?"

The officer nodded his head. "It appears that his ship is leading the attack."

Tev came out of his cabin, pulling his tunic shut in the middle. He grabbed Carol around the shoulders.

"Let's go and get you safe."

"We need to talk," she said.

"Safe first. Talk later."

"Come on, you two," said Tracy. "We've got work to do if we want to survive."

They spilled out into the corridors, which were filled with men and women running through the halls. The officer tried to take them down one pathway, but was stopped.

"Fire, sir. This passage is blocked."

The officer swore and led them back out of the corridor and down another, leading them to a ladder.

"When there's a fire on the ship, it's not safe to take the lifts. The fire will be fed by any oxygen it can get. We need to get down to the lower decks where the escape pods are."

Tracy stood at the top of the ladder, looking down. It was a tube extending to several decks below.

She closed her eyes.

"Tracy," said Carol. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yes," chuckled Rev. "She's afraid of heights."

"She is?" said Carol surprised.

"Don't worry. This is an anti-gravity tube. You hold onto the sides of the ladder and slide down. You'll fall gently."

"Really! That sounds like fun!" said Carol excitedly.

"Yes," said the officer. "I'll show you." With smooth grace he grabbed onto the sides and threw his weight forward, easily sliding down.

"Only you, Carol, would find fun in a life and death situation." Tracy said.

"You only live once," said Carol. She threw herself against the ladder and pushed herself down. She slid unsteadily because she was only holding on to one of the rails, but she made it down unhurt. Tev followed her, jumping in but not grabbing the rails. He crossed his arms, hugged his shoulders and tucked his chin to his chest. He landed next to Carol with a soft thud.

"Show-off," called Rev.

"Come on!" yelled Tev.

Rev looked at Tracy, and she flung herself forward, clutching both rails. She fell, but it felt like she was floating through clouds. When her feet hit the deck she smiled. Rev landed next to her.

"That WAS fun," she said.

The ship rocked again, reminding them that meeting the pirates would not be fun.

"Follow me," the officer insisted and he dashed forward. The scene in the ship's hallways had changed dramatically in minutes. They made their way through a chaotic scene of crew running through the halls, shouting and carrying fire fighting equipment.

He led them to a hatch that he opened with a palm print. Inside, Tracy saw a small room with four hatches in the walls. In the middle of one wall was a porthole that looked out onto the stars. What Tracy saw frightened her.

Ships were engaged in ferocious battles. Huge laser beams shot through space. On the starboard side, she saw a big ship, its hull scarred with dark streaks. It fired a punishing rain of short energy bursts at their ship.

In front of her was a larger ship. It appeared to be maneuvering toward the ship firing at them. Red laser blasts flew from it, striking their attacker.

It felt like something out of a movie, but the threat of death lowered the entertainment value.

The officer opened the hatches as the ship rocked again.

"This ship wasn't designed to take so much fire. Get inside and let's get you out of here."

Although the pods seemed sized for a single passenger, Tev had other ideas. He grabbed Carol and pulled her into one of the pods. Rev slammed the hatch shut. He pushed a green button next to it and Tracy watched an oval escape pod streak away towards the Equal Measure.

"Tracy," said Rev holding out his hand. "Let's take the next one."

"Your highness," protested the officer. "It's safer if you take separate pods." He moved next to Tracy, getting her ready to enter an escape pod of her own.

"We go together," said Rev.

The officer sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you're not going anywhere together, traitor." He pulled out a laser pistol and grabbed Tracy around the neck. Rev let out an animal growl.

"Leave her alone."

"Her? She's the cause of this mess. No way. I'm taking her to Quargan. He'll take care of her permanently."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Tracy.

"Frankly, the resistance doesn't pay to feed my family. Talk only goes so far, and Quargan has a nice bounty on her head."

"And you have the nerve to call me a traitor." said Rev.

Tracy looked at Rev. His face was worried. Fortunately, this was one situation that her training in self-defense classes on Earth had prepared her for. There weren't any weird creatures and she wasn't trying to fight a bunch of aliens. The officer was shaped like a human and in the exact position she had practiced in class.

She clutched the man's arm around her neck and went slack. The change in weight caused him to stumble forward in an attempt to regain his footing. She kicked the man's ankle hard, pulled down on his arm and bent forward once again, tossing him over her hip. He fell hard on the deck.

"It worked!" The officer stared at her in disbelief.

Rev reacted immediately. He picked Tracy up and practically threw into the open hatch of the life pod, then jumped in after her. He pulled the hatch shut and locked it by twisting the inner handle.

"What do we do now? No one is going to launch us." Tracy asked.

"It will launch automatically after ten seconds." Rev stretched out and held her tightly.

Ten seconds passed quickly. The tiny pod shot out of the ship. The flight path would take it straight towards the Equal Measure.

Unfortunately, that ship was having its own troubles with the pirate vessel. If anyone were going to rescue them, it would be after someone won the battle. Rev and Tracy were left to watch the fire fight through a window in the pod.

One thing that Tracy did not expect was the total lack of gravity. She floated in the pod with Rev clutching her.

He nibbled at her ear.

"Rev! People are fighting out there."

"Yes," he said. "But we need to release the tension from that last assault. We might not make it out of here, so we should take this last opportunity to spend time together. Besides, " he said whispering in her ear, "having sex in zero gravity is a singular experience."

"And how would you know, Mr. Intergalactic Traveler? Just who have you had sex with in zero gravity?"

Her indignation sparked laughter in Rev. "I've forgotten very jealous you can be."

"I'm not," she sputtered. "I don't, oh heck, its all your fault. I was never jealous before I met you."

"Maybe," he said, "you didn't have anyone worth getting jealous over until now."

Tracy's eyes grew wide, but before she could say anything, Rev grabbed her head and crushed his lips into hers. The effect in zero gravity was different. Instead of feeling his mouth pressed hard against her, his lips skated over hers, the tip of his tongue giving a light feather touch.

She shivered.

He slipped one of his strong arms around her waist, drawing him to her. With his other hand he opened her robe. Her breasts, free of the constraints of gravity, stood straight up, and Rev easily took her nipples into his mouth. He sucked hard, burying his face into her pillowed breasts.

She whimpered as his tongue lashed her nub mercilessly, the liquid from his mouth sloshing around the nipple. It provided a delicious cushion between the tender flesh and Rev's tongue. He nipped the tip with his teeth, sending a shot of pleasure and pain through her. Her breathing sped up. Rev was sweaty too and she could see that soon neither one would be able to hold onto the other.

She reached for his cock and found it wasn't as hard as it usually was. "Rev," she said. "Are you okay?"

"This is normal," he gasped, reaching for the cleft between his legs as she grasped his shaft. "Blood pressure doesn't work the same in zero gravity. But don't worry. My enhancements work on all parts of my body. Just give it a few minutes."

"Oh, do they?" she said raising an eyebrow. "So all this super hot sex we've been having is the result of your enhancements that you got for your job as a tracker?"

"It is important for all parts of a tracker to operate at peak efficiency always."

"So all the talk at the palace among Kerdos men about your super alien sex prowess is true."

"Yes." He found her cleft with his fingers and inserted a finger.

"You sneaky alien," she gasped as fire spread through her. She was floating in an escape pod with her former space cop working her body for everything it was worth. Despite the circumstances, this was awesome and glorious, and made up for all her other encounters. She never could imagine such experiences back home on Earth.

"I'm finding I need every one of them to keep up with you."

Tracy gasped at this admission as his finger burrowed inside her, working her clit with his thumb. It never occurred to her that her super sexy lover would feel he had to keep up with her.

"Oh Rev," she groaned.

He pushed another finger inside her, working his hand back and forth, her moisture giving his hand a delicious slide in and out of her channel. Her orgasm built suddenly and she exploded, crying out in the small space.

Rev withdrew his finger and quickly undid his drawstring, kicking one leg of his pants off. She reached for his cock and pulled on it. His breathing sped up.

"I need you now," he gasped. "This is the tricky part."

"Is it?"

"Yes. Bring me to you. I want to feel your softness against my cock."

He held her tightly and she guided him to her entrance.

"Keep holding me, but put your legs around me."

Tracy put her legs around Rev's hips. Holding him tightly, she eased him into her. She twined her legs around the back of his, and they lay there floating in space, joined with him filling her. It was the strangest sensation, not feeling him pushing or pulling, but she felt the pulse of his cock against her walls. He slipped back slowly since all her moisture stayed in once place, providing a smooth and sensual feeling. He grabbed her ass, and with a jerk of his arm seated himself again.

The slow sliding and the pull into her aroused her in a way she never felt before. It was the most intimate thing she had ever done, being face to face with him while he filled her with his body. The build-up was slow but intense, and she found herself entering into a place where she was only aware of Rev's gentle slide in and out of her.

Suddenly heat flared between her legs and she came hard, harder than she ever had before, because there was nothing she could do to control any of it. Her hips rocked, and Rev gasped and pulled her onto him. She felt his cock pulse, and the rush of more moisture as he filled her with his cum.

He looked deeply into her eyes as their breathing slowed.

"Wow," he said when he could speak.

"I'm so glad you have enhancements."

"Yes," he agreed. "A singular experience."

Tracy was somewhere between barely awake and totally asleep when a beeping filled the cabin.

"What is that infernal beeping now?"

"Escape pod," said a disembodied voice. "This is the vessel Equal Measure. Prepare to be towed into our landing bay."