22. Thrax

22

THRAX

T hrax soaped and scrubbed himself with the long-handled bristle-brush he found hanging in the shower stall three times with scalding water before he could bear to get out. Even as he was drying off with the fluffy, blood-red towel he'd found hanging on the rack, he still felt dirty.

He almost ducked back into the stall and had another shower…but then he forced himself to admit that he would just be wasting time if he did. Nothing in the world could make him feel clean now that he had fully remembered his past—a past he'd been desperately trying to bury for the last twenty years of his life.

He finished drying off and then looked balefully at the crotchless leather trousers he'd peeled off. He really didn't want to put the damn things back on. It made him feel too fucking vulnerable to have his shaft and balls swinging in the wind like that.

Luckily, when he opened the cupboard beside the sink, he found a pair of long gray sleep trousers that looked like they would fit him. Maybe they were part of the "hospitality gift" from Queen Itchy Panties, he thought grimly. If so, he and Andi had certainly paid the price for them.

He couldn't forget the look in his partner's eyes when she'd sucked him off…or the horror on her lovely face when he'd admitted what had been done to him and how he had survived.

He'd been trapped for months on Yonnie Six, caught in the seventh level of the Seven Hells being tortured and sexually teased by turns until Mistress Stoneheart had decided he was "fully trained." She'd been about to sell him to another Mistress who wanted a new bodyslave and she had taken him out shopping for a new pain collar to mark the occasion.

That was when luck—and possibly the Goddess—had intervened. There had been an accident right outside the storefront just at the moment that Thrax's old collar was removed and before the clerk put the new one on. Everyone went to the window to see the two hovercars that had collided in midair with each other and he had taken the opportunity to slip out through the back of the store and into the alley behind it.

By the time Mistress Stoneheart had realized he was missing, Thrax had already stolen a ship and was flying out of the Yonnie Six atmosphere. He had gone home and never spoken of his ordeal—not even to his friend Braze, who had also been captured and sold.

Some things just didn't bear talking about—for him anyway. Braze had talked guardedly of his own situation and Thrax had gotten the impression that his friend had had a totally different experience with Mistress Sweetwater—who he actually spoke fondly about—than the one Thrax'd had with Mistress Stoneheart.

Shortly after getting home, Thrax had gotten his first tattoo—a thick black swirl at the small of his back to cover the brand of ownership his Mistress had put on him. He had vowed to cover the memory of what she had done as thoroughly as the ink covered her brand and in the years that followed, he believed he had succeeded.

Until this fucking mission brought everything roaring back, that was.

Thrax sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face as he looked at himself in the viewer. He'd gotten all of the eye make-up off, at least—that was something. And he felt a hell of a lot better without that fucking tail inside him—it was currently buried in the trash receptacle. But the eyes that looked back at him from the viewer had a hunted, haunted look and his fangs were about twice as sharp as usual.

That wasn't surprising, given that the Thirst was now tormenting him, despite the fact that he'd taken several drinks of water in the shower. But of course, it wasn't water he was thirsty for—it was blood. The Pitch-Blood Kindred part of him was crying out for nourishment and Thrax couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Should have gone to a donor again before we left, he thought, staring at his long, sharp fangs—the living embodiment of his Thirst. But he hadn't known how fucking emotionally taxing the mission would be. He had often observed that his Thirst grew worse when life got difficult, and meeting his old Mistress again and being forced to remember his past was about as difficult as it got.

Hell, he would probably still be thirsty even if he'd drunk a gallon of blood before he left—not that he needed nearly that much to survive. He just needed a few swallows…unfortunately, there was no way he was going to get it around here.

He bared his fangs again and glared at his image in the viewer.

"Get over it," he muttered to himself. "You're just going to have to stay thirsty until this fucking mission is over."

With a sigh, he hung up the towel and pushed open the door to the fresher. It was time to face his partner and see what she thought of him now. Despite hearing her say what had happened to him in the past wasn't his fault, Thrax couldn't get over the idea that it was.

Because part of him had enjoyed it and he hated himself for that. Not the beatings or the branding or the pain collar or being tied down—all that was fucking horrible. But being trained sexually had been an experience he would never forget.

It had changed him deep inside and he had often thought—when he allowed himself to think about it at all—that if only his Mistress had left out the pain and humiliation and simply trained him with pleasure, he never would have left her. That was how addicted he had become to her—to the sexual pleasure she had given him and sometimes allowed him to give to her. She had used his body and his sexual needs against him—twisted him into a male who wanted to give her whatever she demanded.

Admitting that, even to himself, made Thrax cringe with shame. He couldn't forget all the times Mistress Stoneheart had made him crawl…all the times she'd forced him to beg before she?—

His thoughts cut off abruptly when he stepped out of the fresher and saw Andi sitting on the bed.

His partner had changed clothes too—she had taken off the tight black dress and was wearing a flowing garment that showed her beautiful bare breasts. Just the memory of sucking her tight nipples made him instantly hard—which was a problem considering the black sleeping trousers he was wearing did nothing to disguise his erection.

He dragged his eyes from her rosy peaks and tried to see the other details of her new outfit. The sleep dress she was wearing was a shade of deep blue. The color made her skin look creamy and soft and touchable. Kissable, too, he couldn't help thinking, before he stopped himself.

As though Andi would want him kissing her, now that she knew what had happened to him—what he had done. She was probably disgusted by him, or worse, she might even pity him. Thrax fucking hated to be pitied.

Only…she didn't look disgusted or sad when he finally dragged his eyes up to her face. She looked like she was waiting for someone—for him , he supposed. He wondered if she was going to want to talk more about his past and fervently hoped not. He'd had enough of that for tonight. He just wanted to get the fuck away from this fucking place and try to forget everything again.

"Hey," she said neutrally as Thrax came over.

He grunted in reply and settled beside her on the side of the bed.

"So what's the plan? Wait until everyone's gone to bed and go get Kier?" he asked.

"Yes, but first I need to give you something," Andi said.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Thrax looked at her warily.

"This."

To his surprise, his partner suddenly swung a leg over his hips, so that she was straddling him. Before he knew it, she had settled firmly in his lap.

"What are you doing?" Thrax looked at her in surprise. Even with her sitting on his lap, he was taller but their faces were nearly level and he could see a look of determination in her big brown eyes.

"I'm giving you what you need but you're too stubborn to ask for." She drew her long hair away from the side of her throat, baring her neck for him. Just under the surface of her creamy skin, Thrax could see a faint blue vein pulsing.

The sight made his Thirst spike almost uncontrollably and he had to resist the urge to crush her to him and pierce her tender flesh with his fangs, which were aching with need.

His cock was rock-hard too—feeling her soft ass and hot little pussy rubbing against him as she sat there and seeing her bare breasts right in his face was an almost unbearable temptation. Thrax was glad all over again that he'd found the sleep trousers to wear. If he'd still had on the crotchless leather ones he'd been forced to put on earlier, he would have been poking his partner in an extremely intimate area—especially since it didn't feel like she had any panties on.

"What the fuck, Andi?" he growled, frowning at her. "Stop fucking teasing me and get off my lap!"

Her brown eyes flashed.

"I'm not trying to tease you, you big idiot! I'm trying to give you what you need—blood! You're thirsty and don't deny it—I can always tell by how long and sharp your fangs are and how grumpy you get."

"It doesn't matter if I'm thirsty or not, I'm not going to drink from you," Thrax snarled. "Not like this—you're too fucking tempting, Andi. I don't want to hurt you!"

"You're not going to hurt me," she said impatiently. "I'm not afraid of your fangs. I've seen a Blood Kindred bite his mate before."

"Yeah, well I'm not a regular Blood Kindred—I'm a Pitch Blood," he reminded her. "Which means I can't give you pleasure when I bite. Not when I'm biting for blood, anyway," he added grimly. "All I can offer you is pain."

That was the main reason the other Blood Kindred pitied and reviled the Pitch Bloods like himself. Hurting a woman—especially one you cared about—was considered a great shame.

When a regular Blood Kindred bit someone, he was able to inject his essence—a pale blue liquid that had healing properties and also caused instant orgasms when it entered a female's blood stream. With a Pitch Blood, things were different. It was impossible to inject essence while biting for blood.

In fact, only a Pitch Blood warrior's fated mate could feel pleasure from his bite when he took blood from her. And since the chances of finding one's fated mate were about a million to one, that almost never happened. Which meant a bite from a Pitch Blood was as painful as you might expect—which was to say, the same feeling as having two fourteen-gauge needles driven into the side of your neck.

Thrax didn't want to hurt his partner. He was careful never to treat Andi like she was a delicate doll—even though she seemed like one to him sometimes, with her petite, curvy little body and her sweet face. But he knew she was tough inside and also that she resented being treated as less-than or helpless because of her small stature. So he went out of his way not to be overprotective.

But holding himself back from being overprotective was one thing—actually sinking his fangs into her throat and drinking from her was a whole other game. His blood was up and the way he felt now, he was half afraid he might sink his teeth and his cock into her at the same time. It would be so fucking easy to pull down his sleep trousers and fill her soft little pussy which he could feel pressing against the ridge of his shaft…

"Just do it, Thrax!" Andi insisted, breaking his train of forbidden thought. "Just bite me!"

"I can't. Baby, please—I'm really afraid I'll hurt you." Putting his hands around her waist, Thrax attempted to lift his partner off his lap.

But Andi surprised him by grabbing hold of one of his horns with one hand and his shoulder with the other. Holding tight to him, she refused to be moved.

"No—I'm not going anywhere until you bite me!"

Thrax gave up trying to push her off him and gave her an exasperated look.

"Andi, you don't know what you're fucking doing to me," he growled. "With your gorgeous, ripe tits in my face, and your sweet little pussy rubbing against me…" He thrust his hips up, rubbing the ridge of his shaft against her to show her what he meant, which made her squirm in his lap. "You're driving me fucking crazy," he told her. "I don't know why, when you just sucked me off an hour ago, but I feel like I haven't come in months and I'm right on the fucking edge!"

Andi's cheeks got pink but she lifted her chin and didn't run from him.

"That's just that awful Fume working on both of us—I've been fighting it too."

Thrax frowned.

"Do you think that's why we've been…doing things we normally wouldn't do on a mission?"

"Like you going down on me and me going down on you?" Andi asked dryly. "Yeah, I think so. They told us it makes men submissive and women dominant, but I think what it really does is just make everyone horny all the damn time."

Thrax shrugged.

"Who knew that the scent of sweetly sour chicken could make you want to fuck?"

Andi gave him her irrepressible grin—the one that lit up her whole face and turned her from pretty to drop-dead gorgeous.

"That's sweet and sour chicken. You've had it before, at that Asian bistro in my old neighborhood, remember? The kind with the bright red sauce?"

"Oh yeah." He nodded thoughtfully. Andi loved to introduce him to different Earth cuisines—they actually made a habit of going out to try someplace new together at least twice a month. Thrax couldn't help loving his partner's excitement whenever he really liked something she had suggested.

"So now that we know what's causing us to both be so, uh, horny, it's easier to control it and just do what we need to do. Don't you think?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"I guess so," Thrax growled doubtfully. He still wanted his partner in a way he knew wasn't right—he couldn't fucking help it. But his head was a little clearer now that they had talked some.

"Good. So just bite me and take some of my blood," Andi told him. "I'm not just doing this for you—I'm doing it for me ," she added. "I need you on the top of your game if we're going to grab Kier and get out of here. Okay?"

Thrax sighed in defeat. He had never known anyone as stubborn as his partner. Once Andi dug in on something, she absolutely wouldn't let it go until she got what she wanted.

"I'm not going to change your mind about this, am I?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Absolutely not."

"I can't make it good for you," Thrax warned. "It's going to hurt even if I can make myself be gentle." Which he wasn't completely sure of—the Thirst was really riding him.

"I'm not afraid," she repeated and he could see the determination in her big, brown eyes. "Bite me, Thrax—take what you need. And then we can worry about getting out of here."

"All right. I'm sorry in advance for the pain," he growled. Then he bent his face to her neck and drove his fangs deep into the vein he saw pulsing there.

Andi stiffened at once in his arms. As her blood rushed through his fangs and down his throat, hot and fresh and delicious, Thrax couldn't help crushing her to him. He tightened his grip on her small, curvy body and ground himself against her, pumping the ridge of his cock against her soft, open pussy. Gods, if only the damn sleep trousers weren't in the way! He needed to be inside her, fucking her, filling her, Bonding her to him. It was an urgent need, even though he knew it was impossible.

Gentle—be gentle! he warned himself, but it was so fucking hard when all he wanted to do was drink from her and take her and make her his for fucking ever…

"Thrax! Oh my God!" The moan that broke from his partner's lips finally made Thrax stop. Forcing himself to pull back, he licked her wounded neck, closing the puncture wounds with his tongue, and looked at her anxiously.

"Andi? Are you all right?" he asked anxiously. "Did I hurt you?"

Andi was panting as though she'd run a race and when she looked up at him, Thrax saw that her pupils were dilated and her eyes were half-lidded. Strangest of all, he could smell the sweet scent of her feminine desire rising to tease his nose. She didn't look like a woman who had just endured being stabbed in the neck with two steak knives. She looked like a woman who had just…

She looks like she just came. But that's impossible—right?

"What happened? Are you all right?" he demanded again, since she hadn't answered him.

"I thought…thought you said it would hurt," she panted. Her cheeks were flushed and her full breasts were rising up and down as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Yeah, it's supposed to." Thrax gave her a suspicious look. "You're not into pain are you? I mean, it's fine if you are?—"

"No, no—nothing like that. I'm not a masochist or anything like that." She shook her head. "But you said it would hurt ."

"Well, didn't it?" Thrax asked, frowning.

She shook her head.

"The opposite. I…I came." She blushed, her cheeks going even pinker. "In fact, I've never come so hard in my life. Not even when you were—you know—going down on me at the feast."

"You what?" Thrax couldn't believe what she was saying. "But that's impossible—I can't inject my essence to make you come when I bite for blood. My fangs are hollow—they can't inject essence and suck blood at the same time."

"Well, I don't know how you did it but you did it," Andi informed him. "It was like my whole body was suddenly hooked up to a heavy-duty vibrator or something." She shook her head, looking dazed. "I've never felt anything like it."

Thrax still didn't understand how it was possible for him to give her pleasure from his bite. Unless…

No, he told himself. No, that's impossible.

But impossible or not, the thought wouldn't leave his head.

There was no way that Andi could have come from having him bite her unless she was his fated mate—the one woman in all the universe the Goddess had set aside expressly for him.

But that would mean I might actually be able to Bond her to me—even though I'm a Hybrid! My mixed blood wouldn't matter because the pull between us would be strong enough to overcome it and form a Soul Bond anyway.

The thought was too impossible to believe, so Thrax shoved it away to the back of his mind. He would think about it later, he told himself. He couldn't consider it now—couldn't contemplate the fact that he might have been living and working with the one woman he was fated to Claim as his mate for the past three years without even knowing it.

"Hey, are you okay?" Andi's voice pulled him back from his contemplation and Thrax saw she was giving him a worried look. "Did you, uh, come too?" she asked uncertainly.

"Of course not. If I did, there would be a big wet spot on my fucking sleep trousers," he said sarcastically, nodding down at his crotch.

"Oh, um…" Andi lifted herself and looked down. "Oh, no!"

This time her cheeks were pink with embarrassment as they both saw that he did indeed have a wet spot on the gray trousers—exactly where she'd been rubbing against him. It was even shaped like her soft little pussy, Thrax saw with some amusement.

"I'm sorry!" Andi exclaimed. "This dress didn't come with panties. And I guess when I came…"

"Hey, baby—don't worry about it." Thrax brushed her hot cheek gently with his fingertips. "I love how wet your little pussy gets when you come," he told her softly. "Couldn't you tell when I was tasting you?"

"Thrax…" She was blushing and squirming on his lap in embarrassment which only made him want to make her squirm even more.

"Are you feeling shy now, Andi?" he asked, stroking her cheek again. "Don't you want to hear how much I loved tasting your soft little pussy and licking up all the honey you made for me?"

"We shouldn't be talking this way!" his partner protested. But Thrax noticed she didn't make any move to get off his lap.

He pulled her closer and shifted back on the bed so she was pressed against him again. Leaning down, he began nuzzling the other side of her neck, tracing the vein he could feel pulsing there with his tongue.

"Oh, Thrax!" Andi moaned softly and he could feel her grinding against him. "Oh, that feels so good! Are…are you going to bite me again?"

"I don't know. Do you want me to bite you again, baby?" he growled softly.

"Yes, but rub against me when you do it." Andi was already fumbling with the waistband of his sleep trousers. She yanked them down eagerly, exposing his shaft.

Thrax barely had time to groan before she was rubbing herself against him—her hot, open pussy sliding up and down his thick length. He wasn't inside her—not yet—but he knew that the moment he sank his fangs into the side of her neck he was going to sink his cock to the hilt in her tight little cunt. Gods, she was so wet…

"Fuck me!" Andi moaned in that soft, breathless voice that drove him fucking crazy. "Fuck me, Thrax! I need you inside me—I can't wait anymore…"

Thrax was just about to comply when a loud knocking on the door of their room startled him.

"What?" Andi sat up straight in his lap. Her eyes, which had been clouded with lust, suddenly cleared. "What are we doing?" she demanded, looking down.

Thrax looked too and saw that her night dress had rucked up, clearly showing the place where her soft pussy was rubbing against his bare cock. Fuck—what were they doing? Had he really been about to fuck his partner? There was no way he ought to be doing that and he damn well knew it.

"It's the Fume," Andi said as the knocking on the door sounded again. "It's making us crazy. We have to stop."

"We do," Thrax agreed. But he still had to make himself let go when she climbed off his lap. His instinct was to grip her hips and thrust himself inside her, whether he ought to or not.

"Who's at the door?" Andi asked rhetorically, as she went to answer it. "Whoever it is, they stopped us from making a stupid mistake."

Thrax had to agree with her again…regretfully. He knew it would complicate their partnership to have sex—especially if it turned out to be Bonding Sex. But damn, did he want Andi! He'd never wanted a woman so badly in his life .

Andi opened the door and looked out to see Turg standing there. The little male-wife had an apologetic expression on his face.

"Excuse me, Queen Elladaughter," he said to Andi. "But my own Queen asked me to make certain that you're comfortable and to ask if you need anything else before we all turn in for the night."

"What? After the way she acted—threatening to throw us to the kroc-o-wows—now she's worried about making sure we're comfortable?" Andi demanded, her eyes blazing.

Turg shrugged uncomfortably.

"It's part of our hospitality."

"I'll tell you what I think of your hospitality!" Andi snapped. "It comes with a very high price. I want to leave this place tomorrow as soon as possible!"

"Naturally. I'll be certain that a ship is prepped and a pilot is ready to fly you back to the Southern Continent," Turg said, nodding. "I'll even make certain there's a lovely first meal waiting for you on the ship."

"Fine. See that it's done," Andi said, nodding imperiously. "Now I'm going to bed and I don't want to be disturbed again! Do I make myself clear?"

"Very clear, Queen Elladaughter." Turg nodded quickly.

"Good. Then leave. And don't come back until you wake me in the morning."

Andi banged the door shut in the little male-wife's face. She would make a pretty good Yonnite Mistress herself, Thrax thought, admiring his partner's self-possession. Maybe the Fume did make her a little more dominant—or at least bossy. But he liked it. Gods, she was so fucking sexy!

"There, that should take care of him ." Andi dusted her hands together and came back to the bed. "Now you and I need to get ready to go. In another hour or so, everyone is going to be asleep and then we can sneak out and get Kier and get out of here."

"So we have a whole hour before we have to go?" Thrax growled, giving her a half-lidded look. "I know how I'd like to spend it."

Andi gave him a stern look.

"Stop it, Thrax—you know we can't."

Thrax sighed and ran a hand over his horns.

"Yeah…I know. Not on a mission."

"Not ever," Andi said earnestly. "I mean, not if we want to keep being partners," she added quickly, possibly seeing the stricken look on Thrax's face.

"What if I want you as more than a partner?" he asked, the words coming out before he could stop them.

Andi's eyes went wide for a moment and she put a hand to her heart.

"Then…then we'll have to talk about that," she said at last. "But we can't right now. We need to be planning how we're going to get to Kier and get him out of here."

"I wouldn't mind letting the other poor bastards go free either," Thrax growled. "It's fucking inhumane what they're doing to them."

"I agree— if we have time," Andi said. "But Kier has to be our first priority."

"Agreed." Thrax nodded and soon they were talking about the plan to escape.

But he couldn't forget how close they'd come to making love…or how badly he wanted his partner.

Especially now that he knew Andi might be his fated mate.