4
LEXI
Lexi woke slowly, the world swimming into focus a little at a time. The first thing she noticed was how weak she felt. And the second thing was that she was resting in what she assumed was some kind of big, cushy recliner. There was a broad window above the recliner that showed a starry night outside with a single purple and gold planet floating off in one corner.
She frowned. Wait—was that a window or a painting? It must be a painting or some kind of digital rendering, she decided. Because the only way a window could show her a strange new planet was if she was out in space somewhere. And that wasn’t possible…was it?
“Ah, I see you’re awake.” The deep, rumbling voice sounded familiar. Lexi turned her head and was surprised to see Dr. Brandt sitting beside her. He was wearing the Kindred uniform of tight black trousers tucked into tall black boots and a long-sleeved button-down shirt made of some heavy, satiny material that was dyed crimson. The deep color looked amazing with his dark skin tones and made his golden eyes seem to gleam as he looked at her.
“What…where am I?” Lexi asked groggily. She looked down at herself and saw that she had a five-point harness crisscrossed over her breasts and thighs, holding her in place in the comfortable, oversized chair. Also, she was still wearing the clothing she’d had on for her interview—minus her bra which was nowhere to be seen. Her newly perky breasts were clearly visible through the white silk of her interview blouse and her nipples were pressing hard against the thin fabric.
Speaking of her nipples, they were still tingling like crazy. In fact, Lexi thought that might be what had woken her up in the first place.
“Where is this and what happened to my bra?” she demanded, frowning up at the big Beast Kindred in the seat beside her, since he hadn’t answered her the first time.
Dr. Brandt gave her a stern look.
“We are currently orbiting Bio-Terius Centra,” he told her. “And as for your bro, I threw it away—it was nothing but a torture device.”
“It’s a bra and…wait a minute. What? Where did you say we are?” Lexi sat up straight and immediately regretted it. “Oooo!” she moaned, putting a hand to her head. “Why am I so dizzy?”
“Producing an extremely large amount of nectar in such a short time weakened and depleted you,” Dr. Brandt told her. “Here—eat this.”
He handed her something that looked kind of like a candy bar and a granola bar mixed.
“What is this?” Lexi took a nibble and a salty-sweet delicious flavor burst over her taste-buds. It was like roasted nuts and salted caramel and chocolate and some other savory flavor she couldn’t put her finger on. But whatever it was, it was good.
“That’s a high-intensity, calorie-rich nutrition bar,” Dr. Brandt informed her. “It will provide you with fifteen hundred calories and forty grams of fat as well as thirty grams of protein.”
“What?” As delicious as it was, Lexi nearly spit out the bite she’d taken. “But that’s horrible!” she exclaimed. “I can’t eat this—It’ll make me gain weight!”
“No, it will help you maintain your current weight—and keep your curves,” he said sternly. He glared at her. “You will eat it. I refuse to let you melt away to nothing while we are on this mission together.”
“But I never agreed to go on any mission with you!” Lexi exclaimed. “In fact—you…you kidnapped me! I don’t want to be here at all! I’m supposed to be back at my friend’s suite getting ready to go back down to Earth right now!”
“Now listen to me…” Dr. Brandt turned to her and took her chin in one big hand. Leaning down, he got right in her face, his golden eyes blazing into hers. “You will come with me and you will submit to any and all tests I need to run on you in order for your body to host the Bacillus Aurum,” he growled at her. “My mission is too important to let one headstrong human female fuck it up!”
Lexi stared at him, wide-eyed. Previously she’d pegged him as kind of a nerd. A big, muscular, handsome nerd, but a nerd just the same. Now, with him growling at her and his golden eyes blazing, she was beginning to rethink her assessment of the big Beast Kindred. She remembered how her friend, Natalie, had warned her that Beast Kindred had the hottest tempers—now it seemed like maybe that was true.
“I…I never agreed to this,” she tried to protest. “To coming here with you!”
“Too fucking bad,” Dr. Brandt growled. “Because I’m through begging and cajoling. You will be paid a sum of thirty thousand Earth dollar-credits in addition to the six thousand I already owe you, but you will submit to me in any way I tell you to. And if you don’t, you’ll be punished. Do I make myself clear?”
“Y-yes?” Lexi breathed uncertainly. She could barely get the word out. She had never felt so unsure of herself in her life—but then, she’d never had a man kidnap her and take her to another planet, either. Her nipples were still throbbing with desire and she couldn’t seem to look away from his blazing golden gaze. His warm, spicy scent seemed to surround her, making it hard to think.
“Yes, Sir,” he corrected her. “You’ll call me ‘Dr. Brandt’ or ‘Sir’ while we’re on this mission together. No other names are acceptable. Do you understand?”
“Yes…” Lexi licked her lips. “Yes, Sir,” she got out at last.
“Good.” He released her face but stayed where he was, frowning down at her. “Now that we understand each other, I’m going to do something I should have done back at my office.”
Reaching down, he began to unbutton her blouse, baring her newly-perky breasts.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Lexi tried to push his hands away, only to have him grab both her wrists and push them over her head.
“I’m removing the Bonding Fruit cream, like I should have earlier,” Dr. Brandt growled. “I’m going to suck your nipples to break the chemical bonds and you’re going to let me without misbehaving. Do I make myself clear, Alexandra?”
His use of her name and the way he was staring at her so sternly made Lexi’s heart pound in her chest. Was this somehow turning her on? She read a lot of BDSM romance and it made her hot and bothered to read about a dark and delicious Dom bending the heroine to his will, but she’d never imagined being in a situation like that in real life!