3. Rivvac

3

RIVVAC

My offer hung between us like a blade.

Mia stumbled to one side as if losing her balance. My words might have been a sledgehammer for the effect they had.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “A what?”

She hadn’t gone running out of the room screaming at my suggestion, so that was probably a good sign.

“I want you to be my Steyatt mate,” I repeated. “For the week.”

She stumbled to one side again, and this time, I dashed forward to catch her… but she didn’t fall.

She raised a hand to keep me from touching her and shook her head. “I’ve been an executive assistant for ten years and I’ve never had anyone make that part of my duties.”

“These are… exceptional circumstances.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and shut her eyes as if she had a headache coming on. “I can’t believe I fell for this,” she said.

“Fell for what?”

“This is obviously some kind of sick joke. I should have known from when I got caught in the ballroom earlier, and that big dude accosted me.”

“Someone tried to mate with you?” I felt strangely angry, indignant as if she were already mine and no one else had any claim to her. I shook the crazy feelings away.

She wasn’t my mate yet, and by the way, this conversation was going, I didn’t think she ever would be. And I sensed on some level that would be a great tragedy.

“You’re a prince, for Christsakes!” Mia snapped. “There are women literally pounding on your door to mate with you! And you choose a random stranger to mate with? What’s wrong with you?”

Nothing is wrong with me, I wanted to tell her. There’s a female I wished to mate with but she wouldn’t until I had the money to convince her father we could be together…

She didn’t need to know that, not yet. But she did need an explanation for my behavior.

“Look, don’t overthink this,” I said. “It’s a business proposition, that’s all.”

“Business?” she said, and I could see the dark clouds already beginning to cloud her face.

“I don’t want any trouble,” I said. “And I mean no disrespect. I don’t want anything difficult. You ask, why don’t I choose one of those breaking down my door to mate with? Because I don’t want their claws buried deep in me. And with the Sirens, I can guarantee there will be nothing but trouble.”

I felt sick at the thought of them using their seduction techniques on me, overpowering me, forcing me to perform actions against my will…

And felt more than a little angry that none of this would be necessary if Flara satisfied my Steyatt…

“It’s only for a week,” I said.

“A week is a long time.”

With Steyatt, I certainly knew that was true.

Mia shook her head. “No. My answer is no. Now I’m leaving. Your Highness.”

She nodded her head, her anger painted clearly on her face. She turned to the door and gripped the handle.

“You can name whatever price you wish!” I said desperately.

She froze at the door and didn’t turn to face me. “This may be difficult for someone like you to understand, but I’m not for sale.”

She yanked the door open and the wailing warbling of the Sirens soared like a funeral song.

I immediately turned toward the window. If I ran, I could make it… but they would know where I went and had likely already closed off the exits…

There would be no escape this time.

I was doomed.

Mia was my only hope.

“There must be something you want!” I said desperately. “Something you dream of? Something you’re desperate for?”

Something as desperate as I am to avoid the Sirens?

I didn’t expect my words to have any effect but Mia came to a stop in the doorway. She stared out at something on the other side but I couldn’t see what.

I would have given anything to see the expression on her face, to see what she was seeing…

Then her head dropped before rising again. Her back straightened and she shut the door.

Rescued from the precipice? I wondered. Clearly, my words had struck a chord with her.

There was something she wanted. I felt completely at her mercy and wished she wanted something I could actually give her, knowing I was largely powerless if she asked for a fortune.

She still didn’t step further into the room and simply folded her arms in a lost, confused, and yet strangely confident expression. “There is something I want. I need guarantees you’ll give it to me before I even… entertain going through with this craziness you’re suggesting.”

“Of course,” I said, my mouth dry. “Whatever you need to feel comfortable.”

“Comfortable?” Mia said, shaking her head. “There are many words I would use to describe this situation, but comfortable is not one of them.”

“Okay,” I said, chastising myself for putting my foot in. “Shall we sit down?”

Mia shook her head. “Not until we reach an agreement.”

“Fine,” I said.

My cock was still throbbing. It had only grown harder at the sight of her turning to face me, taking my offer seriously.

“Can you… do something about that thing?” she said, deliberately not looking at my crotch. “It’s very… distracting like there’s a third party in the negotiations.”

“It’s… not exactly something I have an off-switch for. But if you would like to do something about it, by all means…”

Mia rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but snort. “You’re incorrigible, aren’t you?”

I’m desperate, I wanted to tell her. I had long since learned that showing all your cards in a negotiation was about the dumbest thing you could do.

“So what do you want?” I asked.

She could have asked for all the gold in Valexia and I would have given her it… except I knew I wouldn’t.

I wouldn’t lie to her just to avoid my fate with the Sirens. She had no idea the Crown was bankrupt and poorer than most of the merchants on the streets.

“My family bought a farm,” Mia said. “It’s small and I’ve paid for half of it but it’ll take at least another ten years to pay for completely.”

My hopes sank. “A farm?”

A farm cost money, and money was not something we had a great deal of right now…

“How much more do you need to pay?” I asked.

Mia considered her response carefully, not in an effort to add a surcharge but because the amount would be, to her mind, what she would be “selling” herself for.

She told me the number. It was not a huge amount. Just a few years earlier, I could have given her what she wanted without a second thought. But when your funds had dried up and you had little remaining, you had to be careful about how the funds were allocated.

“I’m… not sure I can pay that much,” I said.

Mia turned on her heel. “Then there’s nothing else we need to discuss.”

She reached for the door and depressed the handle.

“Wait!” I said desperately. “You don’t need to… I mean… It’s not the amount that’s the trouble…”

“Then what?” she snapped.

“Our money… it’s tied up in various… investments.” ‘Investments’ was a bit of a stretch, but it could be argued we had invested in the Empire. “It’s not easy to move money around when it’s already invested.”

“So you want me to take you at your word that you’ll pay me? Is that it? Apologies, but I’ve been around enough ‘elites’ to know they guard their money better than they guard their word.”

She turned back to the door again. The curve of her ass caught my eye and made my cock scream with desperation.

Let me at her! it cried. Let me at her!

My entire body was shaking and I could barely control myself. If we didn’t come to an agreement soon, then when the Sirens came in, I wouldn’t just be fighting them, but the raging Steyatt in my chest.

“Where is it?” I asked.

“Where’s what?”

“Your farm.”

“Ghizzart 9.”

I let out a huge sigh of relief. I had to rearrange the front of my pants to loosen the aggression with which my cock attacked the material.

“Then it’s yours,” I said.

Mia looked shocked. “Just like that? I thought you had trouble moving funds around?”

I nodded. “We do. But we own Ghizzart 9. I can assign a small parcel of land to you. That’s a lot easier.”

I would tell the bank to release it to her and, judging by the relatively small amount of capital it cost, the farm couldn’t be too large.

Mia took her hand off the door handle. She folded her arms beneath her surprisingly large breasts.

I turned away, averting my gaze. I wished she wouldn’t do that! It was hard enough controlling myself with a succulent female in the room!

Her scent had not only taken control of my senses but had permeated into every pore of my skin, seeping between the scales.

I was virtually drowning with her.

A closer look would have revealed my irises were dilated, my heart rate thundering at four hundred per minute, about ready to burst from my chest. A light slick of sweat had already begun to slide down my face, and if I ground my teeth any harder, I would be grinding my jaw bone.

“Do… Do we have a deal?” I asked, my voice quivering.

Mia pursed her lips, as if she might change her mind last-minute.

“I’ll want proof before we… do anything.”

Gah!

I raised the holo-communicator attached to my arm and called my people.

The broad handsome face of Lorandak appeared after a moment, clearly naked from partaking in his own Steyatt with his chosen mate.

He spoke as respectfully as he was capable of considering the position I’d caught him in. “Yes, my Prince?”

“I need you to release a farm on Ghizzart 9 and sign it over to someone else.”

“Does this need to be done right now?” I could hear the strains of desperation in his voice as it was evident in my own but at least he had partially satisfied his desires with his mate. I hadn’t had so much as a lick!

“Yes!” I snapped. “Right away! It’s urgent!”

Lorandak groaned as he shoved himself up onto his knees. “Very well, my Prince. The document will be with you shortly.”

“Not shortly,” I said. “Immediately. As in, ten parsecs ago.”

“Understood.”

The call ended and I turned to Mia. “Satisfied?”

“Not until I have the deeds in my hand.”

Gah!

“You will not have the deeds until the week is over,” I growled, some sense filtering through the cloudy mist of my desperation.

“Then I want a contract that details everything we’re going to do and what will happen once things are signed over—”

“That will take too much time!” I snapped.

Mia’s eyes widened and a curious smile alighted her lips. And just like that, I had revealed my hand.

Mia’s eyes flickered down to my crotch and then back up to me. Then her eyes pulled focus and she noticed how my body was quivering, the sweat rolling in rivulets down my face, drenching my clothes.

Please! Be reasonable!

“Give me that letter opener,” she said, nodding toward my desk.

It was solid Klingart gold and encrusted with priceless jewels.

“What for?”

“A down payment. Until the contract is complete.”

I dabbed at my parched lips with my equally dry tongue. “That was a gift from the Sultan of Shishmere. It’s priceless.”

“Everything has a price,” Mia said. “Us negotiating like this proves that. Give it to me as a down payment for… services rendered.”

“What services? You haven’t given me anything yet!”

She hesitated before reaching for the door key and turning it in the lock.

I gulped, hoping that meant what I thought it did.

She sashayed over to me, her hips attracting every iota of my attention. She wasted no time and placed her hand on my crotch. My cock turned so hard I thought it would drain the rest of my body of blood.

“Well?” she said. “What do you say?”

“Take it!” I growled. “It’s yours!”

I slapped a hand on it and slid it over to her.

She looked it over and nodded with appreciation. She raised it and used it to slice open my shirt and pants.

Ordinarily, I would have complained—the clothes were gifts too and irreplaceable—but she could have set them on fire while I was still wearing them for all I cared at that moment.

The instant my cock was released from its prison, it sprang up to meet her.

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! it cried.

Mia tucked the priceless heirloom blade in the waistband of her pants and dropped to her knees.

The sight of her down here, mouth open and hungry to take me, was worth the price of the heirloom alone.

She wasted no time in running her tongue along my full length, from balls to tip.

I couldn’t believe this was really happening. A random stranger had come into my room at the exact moment I needed her. She had no reason to listen to my offer, much less agree with it, and now here she was, pleasuring me.

Then I realized this might not be random at all.

Something had brought us together, and there was something else at work now, something I didn’t fully comprehend or fully understand, but with time, I was sure it would play itself out…

At that moment, I couldn’t focus on such things. I was fully engrossed on the quivering throbbing mass of my cock as Mia worked it.

She ran her lips the entire length, her tongue following in their wake, making my cock wet. My juices ran from the tip and joined her saliva, making her slurp hungrily at my organ.

I looked down at her. Her eyes were closed as she reached the bulbous head and widened her mouth to take the entirety of it. She slurped on the head and flicked it with her tongue.

I grunted, enjoying the sensation, my cock quivering with over stimulation.

The Sirens’ song was still audible outside the door. It faded now, serving as nothing but the backing track to the pleasure Mia was giving me.

“Mm.” My voice was a deep rumble I hadn’t intended on making.

Mia used both hands to rub my cock, massaging it as her mouth worked the tip. I felt my orgasm fast approaching. It wasn’t much of a surprise, considering I had been turned on for so long. With my Steyatt in full throes, it wouldn’t take long for her to bring me to orgasm.

My balls tightened. As she lowered her head to lick and suck on them, her hand worked my length, I knew it wouldn’t take long before I spurted.

But I wanted more.

I wanted all of her.

The desire was so strong, so immeasurable, I wasn’t sure I had ever wanted anything else more than I wanted her right then.

But she wouldn’t allow it, not until the paperwork was presented to her.

A beep came from my wrist communicator. I raised it to see the documentation had been finalized. I tapped on it, and it became a full-size holograph.

“I… I have the… the contract,” I said between violent thrusts at the back of her throat. “Look.”

I lowered it so she could see it. Without taking her lips from me, she flicked the head of my cock with the tip of her tongue and ran her eyes over the contract.

I took her head and gently lowered her mouth so she could lick my balls. She did so without argument or resistance, her big beautiful eyes still open and reading.

She raised a hand, glistening with my juices, and signed on the dotted line.

I did the same, noting the date the deeds would pass to her was correct. It was. I shut the holo-image down and allowed her to play with me a little longer, my balls growing so tight I knew I would explode at any moment.

I pulled back. She wiped at her mouth with the back of her arm. I lifted her up off her knees and onto her feet.

“Now you belong to me,” I growled with intensity.

“For seven days,” she reminded me. “What are you going to do with me?”

She batted her eyelids and peered up at me seductively. She didn’t need all the expensive high-cost education and teaching the so-called “expert” Sirens had garnered to drive me wild.

It seemed as if she had been built to turn me on, to satisfy my every urge.

When she sucked me, she performed everything I liked, even looking at me while my cock was in her mouth, savoring me and making soft “Mmm” noises, making my scales vibrate.

I undressed her, one item of clothing at a time, and kissed each piece as I placed it on the back of a chair until she was completely naked.

She was all curves—nothing like the sharp angles of the female Ulsen. I felt myself stiffen further at the sight of her.

She reached up and pinned her hair back, the tips a little damp from sucking on me earlier.

I pulled her to me and felt her small body pressed against mine. The warmth of her skin was hot and pleasing against my cool scales.

I buried my lips on hers and slipped my tongue in her mouth. She met it with her own and groaned as I wrapped my arms about her, squeezing her ass, and gently slapping it.

She didn’t complain and only groaned louder with pleasure.

I did it again and again, but never too hard. I respected the female form too much to harm her. I grabbed great handfuls of her soft ass.

Her hand found my cock. She rubbed the length of it in long, slow, efficient movements that set my teeth on edge, gasping between breaths.

Unable to keep her distant from me any longer, I lifted her up and slid her onto my cock.

She hissed through her teeth painfully as she took me, one glorious inch at a time.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine. I braced her weight and began entering her with long, slow strokes.

She groaned and clutched me closer. I warmed her up, one impale after another.

The Sirens’ song was beginning to get on my nerves, so I decided to send them a message…

I carried Mia over to the door, timing each stride to coincide with a viciously deep incision. I reached the door and pressed Mia’s back to it. As I increased the speed and severity of each blow, the door rattled and shook.

I was pleased when I heard the Sirens’ song catch, hesitate, and then stop altogether.

I grinned as Mia threw her head back as I hammered her mercilessly. She screamed in pleasure, her pussy tightening about my cock, drawing every iota of sensation from me.

Her tongue found mine as an orgasm ripped through her. I heard the grumbling of the Sirens on the other side of the door and rejoiced in hearing their song leave us.

Finally, I was free!

That didn’t mean they would give up trying to seduce me, of course. There were still seven days remaining of the Steyatt but for now, at least, I could relax.

A second layer of tension left my body as I realized it was thanks to the hot female I was pummeling that I had been released from the Sirens’ claws and their sadistic designs.

I carried her over to the bed and devoted my full attention to her. She deserved a reward.

Her satisfaction was as important to me as my own.

I laid her on the bed and hammered her mercilessly. Without the Sirens or anything else to distract me, I could focus entirely on her.

She screamed and threw her arms out to either side, clutching at the sheets and gripping them tightly.

She attempted to ease herself up onto her elbows but I was working her so hard she could only flop back.

Her breasts bounced and I gripped them in my large hands, her legs spread out wide beneath me. I pinned her down and kicked it up a gear.

“Oh my God!” she cried as I shifted her legs to one side and hammered her from behind.

The extra friction helped me hit her pleasure zones.

She cried once more, a thick layer of sweat forming across her body.

Out of breath but refusing to release myself yet—I was having far too much fun to do that already!—I rolled her over onto her front so her ass hung over the edge of the bed, and entered her from behind.

“Oh!” she shrieked and turned to look back at me.

She placed her hand on her ass and spread it.

I held her hips and rode her hard. Her cries were muffled by the bed as I flew the Fhizzard March (which, according to my translating device, was the equivalent of “going to town” in her native Earth language).

I felt my arrival point approaching once more. I knew I could slow down and make the moment last longer but I was exhausted from my earlier escape.

I gripped Mia’s shoulders and used them to leverage myself deeper into her, the sharp slapping my hips building to a frenetic pace. Mia arched her back and peered up at the ceiling as I roared loudly in the victorious cry of the Ulsen after a conquest, spilling my seed inside her with powerful thrusts.

I was exhausted, gasping for air as I fell onto the bed beside her. She lay still, her chest heaving with aching breaths, her hair damp at the tips, her eyes closed, relishing the moment, and entered some kind of meditative state.

I felt the same. I peered over at her, at my Steyatt mate, knowing that things for her, and for me, would never be the same again.

A strange and not entirely welcome thought came to me…

During the entire time we made love, I hadn’t once thought about Flara. I felt a little guilty about that. With every other Steyatt mate I’d claimed over the years, I often imagined Flara with me instead of the mate I was with…

But not with Mia.

Strange…

But I didn’t read too much into it.

It was probably nothing, I told myself, all the while knowing that it was certainly not nothing.

The fates had their plans and we were but pawns in them.