chapter 15

We stayed cuddling at the dining table for some time, a blanket draped around me and my body in his arms. I tried not to think about what I'd done and instead focused on how much better I felt.

Eventually a beeping from the cockpit disturbed us and Icaan picked me up and put me down on the bench the other side of the table.

"That will be our window to get in the air. Have a drink and rest a moment. I'm not done with you," he said.

I blinked, the last sentence making me feel an array of different emotions I wasn't sure I could place. Was he promising to blow my mind even further?

Whatever it was, I wasn't sure I wanted to do anything until I'd done the other part of the instruction. I helped myself to a glass of water, noticing my clothes discarded on the floor.

For years I'd lived almost constantly in my suit and now I had removed it twice in one day. And I didn't entirely feel like putting it back on. I was no more safe than I had been in the past, not really. Not if we'd been hunted by pirates already.

Instead of sitting and resting I found myself heading up the ladder and slipping into the small shower area. I looked over the array of different options and wondered if it would work better than the one on my ship did. Of course, my ship was still with us, but I didn't know if I could get to it anymore. Icaan had said he was towing it, but that didn't mean there was anything more than a few cables keeping it powered up and following.

Wanting something simple to make me feel clean I pressed the most basic button and let it scan me before the jets and funnels, power cleaned and dried both my skin and hair.

It used a fairly intensive amount of water for a spaceship, but I knew it had almost all been removed again and would be cleaned and recycled back into the system.

By the time I was done and walking out, I noticed Icaan was standing there. He looked me up and down, clearly appreciating what he saw. I hesitated as he came closer and reached for me again.

Did I want more? Now I could think more clearly, but as he slipped an arm around me again I found my body still responded. Whatever was happening between me and Icaan I wanted more of it.

Maybe for a few days I could forget all my troubles, forget all the needs I'd had from before and forget that this wasn't something I'd wanted and it wasn't going to last. For now I wasn't going to go hungry, I wasn't alone, and I didn't need to worry about money.

Icaan seemed to sense my willingness to continue having some fun as he pulled me toward the mattress on the floor and toppled me onto it. Within seconds he was on top of me, our arms around each other.

"Relax, and let me show you how much a Frentin can make you feel."

Icaan's words held promise but he quickly started to deliver, kissing my skin in places I'd never been kissed before and warming me up despite the lack of affect from the pheromones.

I moaned as he ran a hand across my breast, followed by his mouth. He slowly stoked my fire again, taking his time and giving me his attention. Each time I tried to reach for him, he stopped me, gently pushing my hands back above my head. He clearly wanted to be in control of this moment.

Without the heady experience his pheromones created I was able to relax a little more and let him stoke my fire in a more gentle practiced way. The end result was still the same, however. My hot, wet body eager and ready for him to take.

When he finally slid into me, I was again aware of how full he made me feel and how good it felt. For a race that had slaves unable to think straight and easily deny them their sexual desires I was starting to understand they were incredible lovers.

Maybe this whole slave thing wasn't as bad as I'd initially thought? I didn't know for sure, but I did know I was enjoying every moment of being bedded, my hands running over smooth toned skin and exploring him as much as he explored me.

We rose to heaven together, entwined and giving everything to the other until we moaned our peak and the stars burst. Slowly coming down, I shivered in his arms. I felt sated in a way I never had before and I was pretty sure the Frentin who'd captured me was firmly under my skin.

Frack.

But it felt so good being in his arms. So warm, so safe and for now where else did I even need to be? My thoughts were like little traitors as we settled down beside each other, getting ready to sleep for a bit while the ship traveled through safer space, the route on autopilot and neither of us needed to navigate.

I tried to think of a thousand reasons to get up and put some distance between us, but no matter how plausible they sounded in my head I didn't utter a single one or move except to run my fingers lazily along the top of one of the arms wrapped around me.

"You're not like other humans, Jet Montrose," Icaan said a moment later.

I blinked, not sure how to respond. It sounded like a good thing, but it wasn't a given. Was he trying to tell me that I was getting through to him as well?

"You seem to feel as deeply as the others, but you carry it better. You can rein them in."

"I do what I need to do to survive," I replied, feeling on safer ground talking about the difficult life we both led.

"As do most, but most suck at it."

"I'm not exactly doing brilliantly either, am I?" I retorted. "I've been deceived and captured and I can barely handle being restrained around your scent. You've even bedded me when I was meant to be least vulnerable."

"You say that as if our coupling is a bad thing. Did you not enjoy it as much as it appeared?" he asked, pouting in a genuine way.

"Now, who is getting insecure. Of course I enjoyed it, but the human culture prides itself in being dedicated to one partner and going deeper with just one. Letting someone enjoy your body simply because you can when you know it's not going to last is considered to be the actions of people who can't sort their lives and emotions out."

"It isn't the same in the Frentin culture. Connections are valued, even if brief, but also to be enjoyed. Life is full of all sorts of possible pleasures. Ones we've fought in many wars to protect. If we can't enjoy them when they present themselves, what did we fight and die for?"

I shrugged. To some degree he had a point. If we were constantly trying to protect something we never had the benefit of what was the point? But despite his words and my mind considering them, I knew I'd never want any kind of relationship more than I'd prefer something loving and committed. Maybe I was a lot more human than Icaan realized.

"There are clearly some big differences, but even if there weren't so many, I know I'd want to be free. And I think the Frentin population could benefit from it too."

"Why?"

"Because there's something very special about being given something freely. Because the person wants you to have it entirely of their unguided and uninfluenced free will. To be loved for no reason other than that person decided to love. That's far more special than buying a woman who gets so addicted to your scent and what it does to her mind that she can't say no even if she might have wanted."