Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Vennkor

I am well beyond the need to pretend I do not want Nina and so I obey Reke’s instruction with a perverse feeling of elation. This is my moment, I think. This is when consequences cannot stop me.

The room is empty except for the three of us. The cameras … I dismiss them from my mind. Just for a few heartbeats, I want to be selfish enough not to care about the Hov. I want to be selfish enough to abandon my hard-earned composure and submit to the need that has been pulsing through my veins since I first sighted Nina.

She stands perfectly still, her rigid back to my front. I can hear her ragged breath and smell her sweet desire. Her thick scent coats my tongue, nearly strong enough that it is the ghost of a taste. Tempting and delicious, and immediately my mouth is watering for more. I bow my head, burying my face in the hollow of her neck, inhaling deeply .

She wants this. I know with absolute certainty that she wants me .

The knowledge is a fist around my cock, and it takes all my control not to rut against her back, chasing my own desperate release. But this is just the beginning, I promise myself. There is so much more to come.

Reke laughs, but it is not his usual high-pitched laugh. No, he sounds almost as tortured for touch as I am, and I spare him a quick glance. His focus is entirely on Nina. His mouth is open slightly, and I swear his eyes are glowing darker than usual, as if I can see my desire reflected back at me.

“Spread your legs, Nina.” His command is breathless, a sign of how close he is to losing control.

Nina does as she is told, gripping the bars before her to help keep her balance on the slippery floor. She widens her stance enough that I could slip one of my thighs between her legs.

“Please.” She moves as if she’s going to touch Reke, but he still isn’t close enough for her to reach.

“That is not how this works.”

“I don’t know the rules,” she grumbles, defensively. “Care to share them with the rest of us?”

The corners of Reke’s mouth turn up, but he remains perfectly silent.

I take the opportunity to brush the tip of a finger down Nina’s spine, lightly enough that I can barely feel her back through the cloth of her shirt. She shivers in response, turning her head as if seeking me over her shoulder. My cock hardens, if possible, even more. I am so close to coming, and I have not even touched her silken skin yet .

Bending over her shoulder, I brush a light kiss to the corner of her mouth and hear Reke draw a hissing breath.

“What was that?” he asks, but I ignore the question.

Kissing is something between Nina and me. It is something Reke has not experienced. In this, I have the upper hand. In this, he is at a disadvantage.

“Come closer.” Nina crooks her finger at him. “And I’ll show you.”

Reke takes a step forward, but already Nina is shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Reke. I forgot touching you was against the rules.”

He freezes. The air is heavy with tension, and then he looks at me, and I see something murderous in his expression.

“Rub her,” he orders. “Now.”

I do not even stop to think. I slide my hand down her rounded ass and push between her spread legs. She moans, shamelessly grinding down against my hand, but I am thwarted by the rough material of her breeches. Then the waistband loosens, and I realize she has undone the closure, granting me access.

Nina

I meet Reke’s eyes as Venn pushes his hand under the waistband of my jeans and panties, over the globes of my ass and between my legs, his large fingers already slippery with how turned on I am. His longest finger glides over my clit, and for a moment I swear I see stars. My vision blurs, and I’m pretty sure I’m only still standing upright because Venn’s other hand is on my waist, steadying me.

I grind down, desperate for more friction, desperate for touch. Desperate to eviscerate all the thoughts in my head, all my overwhelming emotions, everything!

“That is right.” Reke’s reassurance is practically a purr, and I’ve got no idea if he’s talking to me or to Venn or to the both of us. His tail is whipping back and forth, like he’s standing in the middle of a windstorm, and his cock?—

I do a double take. I can see his cock, hard and thick and reaching up toward his stomach. Unlike the rest of him, the skin there is flushed red, the thick head lubricated with pre-cum. I’ve no clue where he was storing it because his cock certainly wasn’t on display the last time I looked.

I want to touch him so much the palms of my hands actually itch. I’m insanely curious. Is it as warm as the rest of him? Is it softly furred or smooth, more like my skin? Will he buck uncontrollably into my fist? Will he finally lose control?

“Come here.” Again, I gesture for him to approach, but he holds his ground, his gaze roaming over my fully clothed body, stopping where he must be able to see Venn’s hand undulating under my jeans.

His pupils are dilated, and he’s got his bottom lip trapped between his sharpened teeth, like he’s a student watching a teacher demonstrate how orgasms work. He looks suddenly much younger than usual, so inexperienced. He looks just like an alien who’s spent his entire life focusing on the Arena and who’s only now just realizing that there are so many better ways to spend time.

I grin, and that same sense of newfound power burns its way through my veins. I arch my back, rubbing my tits against the bars separating Reke and I.

The bars are cold and unfeeling even through the layers of my clothes, and I almost regret trying to look tempting, but then Reke’s eyes darken, and he wraps his tail around his naked cock, stroking himself like I’m the most desirable thing he’s ever seen. I’m rewarded with another near-overwhelming feeling of being in control, and that’s when Venn’s finger finds my clit again.

“Yes.” I arch my back for real this time. “Yes, Venn.” My bare feet slip on the floor, and I sink an inch lower, accidentally not-so-accidentally rubbing against his cock, which is still firmly pressed to my back. He’s holding himself so intensely still, for a second I wonder if he’s even breathing.

But then Venn moans, and his hand on my waist tightens. I look down, trying to see what his hand on my naked skin looks like, his blue against my pale pink, his fingers sinking into my flesh, leaving perfect fingerprints, marking me for everyone to see.

But, of course, I’m still fully clothed because I don’t want everyone to see. Before I can stop myself, I’m glancing up at the camera, icy dread stilling my movements even as Venn continues to rub small circles on my most sensitive flesh.

It’s the most out-of-body moment I’ve ever experienced. Part of me is thinking sinfully wicked thoughts about two alien men.

“Nina.”

The other part of me isn’t paying the pleasure building in my body any attention. It’s focused on the camera and the idea of the Hov watching, maybe even touching themselves, as if Venn, Reke and I are a live porn performance for their pleasure and not our own.

“Nina.” Reke’s command causes my attention to snap to him. “They are nothing. They are not worth a moment of your time.”

“No, they’re fucking not.” His words are like a switch in my brain. Immediately a fresh wave of desire courses through me, and I grind down on Venn’s hand, relishing the feel of his fingers, relishing the moans he’s not bothering to disguise. I’m chasing my release, rubbing my back against his cock, desperate for Venn to fall apart with me. Desperate to drive Reke over the edge with us both.

Reke tips his head to one side, as if he doesn’t quite understand what I’ve said. “We are fucking. Not them,” he corrects me.

I laugh. “Venn and I are most definitely fucking.” But even that doesn’t tempt Reke closer, for all that he wraps a hand around his cock, thrusting into his tail and his fist like there’s no tomorrow.

And maybe there won’t be a tomorrow for us. Maybe this is our one moment to enjoy our lives. Which is a pretty depressing thought, but I don’t let myself linger. Instead, I concentrate my entire existence on the two alien men with me, right here, right now. Kind, quiet Venn, who doesn’t have the temperament of a killer, but who is one anyway because he’s got such a thirst for life. And Reke, who’s all animal instinct. He knows exactly what he wants, and he’ll use any means necessary to get it. They’re so different from each other, but somehow they’re the perfect combination of excitement and caution, care and danger .

It’s insanely selfish of me to be grateful they’re here with me, and I so allow myself that selfish thought. I wrap it around myself like a shield, pretending I can wrap Venn and Reke around me. I want to smell like them, and I want them to smell like me. I want the three of us to be indistinguishable.

My desperate moans reverberate around the sterile room. And then I’m falling apart, all the panic, fear and anger of the last few days washing off my skin as if I’m standing under a waterfall of pleasure.

Reke

Nina throws back her head, and her eyes flitter close. Her entire body is pulsing, and her scent magnifies, almost overpowering in its deliciousness. Behind her, Vennkor roars his own release as he spills into his breeches. There is a wild glint in his eye as he screws his face up with the intensity of his pleasure.

I release my aching cock. Nina asked me to share the rules of the game with her, but I could not because even I do not know them. I have done nothing like this before. Always, I have rubbed my cock in private, with no individual at the center of my thoughts. Now I can think of nobody but Nina. The way she smells, the way she holds my gaze, the way she challenges me when all others are too afraid to meet my eyes.

I crave her touch, but I cannot accept that for our time first together there will be bars between us. And so I command Vennkor to be my hands, my touch. It is not enough. It is not nearly enough.

The tension in my cock causes me to sway on the spot, and I clench my fists so tightly my claws pierce my palms. Hot blood drips down my fingers and drops on the floor, but I pay it no heed. I hold back on my pleasure, torturing myself as much as the Hov have ever tortured me.

Nina whimpers. Her hands, still gripping the bars, slip downward as her knees give way under her. Both she and Vennkor slide to the floor. Her breaths are harsh pants. Her eyes are closed. Her limbs are pliant and weak.

Mine. The thought is sheer possession and entirely instinctual. I snap my teeth, biting on nothing but air. The Hov cannot keep me separated from Nina forever. One day, I vow. One day soon I will devour her.