Page 25 of Commander's Slave
Her screams still haunted him. In the throes of her bad dream, she’d sounded so desperate and afraid as she begged her father for help and asked for forgiveness. While she’d claimed her dream was just about the snow she’d collapsed in, so close to the refugee camp, he knew there was more to it and it pained him to know her father had featured in the dream.
He considered her situation. Had President Carson tried to help her after she was arrested by Kall forces? Had he attended her trial? Visited her in prison? Edek tried to imagine himself with a daughter of his own and rage filled him. If he had a daughter who’d gotten into the same sort of trouble as Betsy, he would’ve done anything to help her. He would have started a newfluxxingwar just to save her.
Perhaps humans didn’t care for their own flesh and blood in the way Kall did. Edek couldn’t honestly say. Betsy was the first human with whom he’d ever held a conversation, but he liked to think she possessed a kind, compassionate heart.
No, he knew for certain that she did.
After all, she had spent months helping Draken recover from his injuries. According to Draken, Betsy was the reason he was even able to walk again. When Edek had departed planet Kall to join the war against Earth, Draken had been getting around solely in a hoverchair.
Why was Edek unable to stop looking at Betsy? All day he’d felt drawn to her. He’d secretly watched her going about her chores. Sometimes he saw her looking around, peering up and down the corridors, and he’d pridefully wondered if she were searching for him.
When his need to be near her became too intense, he’d departed the gates and gone for walks on the mountainside. He’d visited his wife and sons’ graves as well, hoping the stark reminder of what humans had done to his family would bring him to his senses.
Butfluxxif he couldn’t help desiring the little human. And it wasn’t only sexual attraction, but he wanted to make sure she was safe. It bothered him that the servants hadn’t treated her well and he intended to speak with them about it soon, even if she had begged him not to intervene.
May the ancient gods help him, but the thought of anyone treating the sweet creature in his arms with anything but kindness made him want to commit murder.
A soft sigh drifted up from her, and her breath tickled his chest. He entered his room and immediately carried her to the bed. She stirred in his arms and her eyes fluttered open.
“I’m sleeping, Edek. Leave me…” Her whispered words trailed off and she stiffened in his arms. “Master,” she said. “I meant Master.”
Hearing his name on her lips provoked his desires anew, though her slip of tongue would cost her later. He sank down on the bed and kept her cradled in his embrace, brushing her hair from her face as he enjoyed the effect her wiggling had on his hardening cock.
Each little movement sent waves of heated longing through his loins.
Betsy paled as she stared up at him, fear filling her eyes. “What are you doing, Master?”
“Saving you from your foolishness, it seems.” His jaw tightened. “Why did you not come to my room, Betsy? Didn’t you understand this is where you sleep from now on? I thought I’d made myself clear last night.”
Her lips parted in surprise and she looked pained. “I don’t wish to sleep here, Master.”
“Then why were you not in the closet you’d been sleeping in before my arrival, little human? Why did you relocate? Were you deliberately hiding from your master?”
She stilled and blinked a few times, then took a deep breath as if summoning courage. “Yes, Master. I-I was hiding from you. I will not sleep here. I-I refuse. Now let me go.”
Edek lifted her to sit on his knee, gripping her upper arms to keep her in place. She was already in enough trouble, and he didn’t want to have to punish her for running, in addition to hiding and calling him by his name.
He shook his head slowly in a show of displeasure.
Her lips quivered, but he was glad she wasn’t having one of her fierce shaking episodes. At least his room was warm. Sweltering, in fact. He’d started the fire in the hearth just after dinner, wanting to ensure she would be comfortable enough tonight. Yet she’d hidden from him. She’d deliberately disobeyed him.
“Did I not promise to keep you safe?”
“Yes, Master, you did, but—”
“How can I keep you safe when you’re hiding from me? I almost had to call the town authorities and ask them to track you for me,” he said, touching the place on her upper arm where the tracker had been implanted, “to be sure you hadn’t left the house. If I’d been forced to do that, Betsy, the authorities would urge me to punish you publicly in the square as an example to other slaves.”
Horror filled her wide blue eyes. “Forgive me, Master,” she whispered. “I promise I’ll never leave this house. But I’m not a whore. I will not allow you to take my body.”
She’d been naughty. Disobedient. He had to punish her. But he didn’t want to. He wanted to gather her closer and ease her fears. He wanted to trail gentle kisses all over her body and make her squirm beneath him.
Most of all, he wanted to see desire lighting her eyes instead of fear.
“Allowing me to take your body won’t make you a whore, Betsy.” He trailed a finger up and down her neck, brushing the soft spot behind her ear. “You belong to me and no one else. All others are forbidden to touch you. I promised not to sell you, and I promised to protect you.”
Betsy’s brows pinched together, her eyes flashing with anger.
“So you think I owe you?”
