Zandian Masters

Chapter 2-1

She awoke on her back, n***d in a well-lit clinic of some kind. The same male bent over her, taking blood from her arm.

“Ow.” She attempted to move her limb but found her wrists and ankles strapped to the table. “Where am I? What are you doing?” Her tongue felt too thick in her mouth.

As before, he ignored her. He injected her blood into a test tube and shook it with a solution then inserted it into a machine and watched the readouts.

When he returned, he put on a pair of protective gloves. He had five fingers, like a human. He wore a lab coat with a name tag that read DANETH.

DANETHShe licked her dry mouth. “Daneth?”

He gazed directly at her for the first time. “It is not your place to address me, slave.”

It wasn’t her place. Right. This must be the “house training” the director had referred to. Though she’d been a slave all her life, other than suffering hard work and poor conditions, she’d escaped the subtleties of groveling indoor slaves were taught. “Are you my master?” She needed to get clear on what was going on.

place“No. Your master is Lord Zander, Prince of the Zandians.”

Prince of the Zandians. But Zandia had been taken over by the Finn solar cycles ago. So if this man was a ruler, he was king of nothing. Just another wealthy statesman living in exile in Ocrea territory.

Prince of the Zandians.“His name is Lord Zander. What, was he named after his planet?”

Daneth brought the pads of his fingers to her right breast, massaging in small circles around the n****e then squeezing it, hard.

She gasped and jerked.

He repeated the action on the other side, checking the readout on his armband, as if following a protocol. With two fingers in her mouth, he pried open her jaws, adjusting the light from his wrist cuff to shine inside.

“Lift your tongue.”

It was stupid, but she refused to obey. She’d inherited her father’s rebellious mind, she supposed. Knowing he died trying to free his daughters from this exact situation obligated her to resist.

He nudged her tongue up with his finger. She attempted to snap her teeth closed, but he was far too strong, and she only succeeded in straining the muscles of her jaw and throat. Her rebellion did not seem to bother him.

He traveled down the length of her body, palpating every inch. Her nudity felt shocking after a lifetime of baggy clothes. Someone had washed her and even applied a shimmery powder over her skin. Her hair sprawled in soft waves around her head. It, too, had been cleaned and smelled sweet, like citrus blossoms. Violation at being touched so intimately—especially when she’d been unconscious—coursed through her. She had to get out of here. To escape and—

Veck. She didn’t even know where “here” was.

VeckShe thought they were finished when he unclipped her ankle cuffs, but he only readjusted them, placing her feet in stirrups to lift and spread her legs.

Her bare s*x lay open to him for his examination. Her belly quivered, every muscle in her body tense.

“This shouldn’t hurt.” His tone was matter-of-fact. With his thumbs, he pried open the outer lips of her s*x and spread them wide. He prodded her anatomy with a light touch, pulling back the hood of her c******s as if to make sure it was there.

She whimpered when he shoved two fingers inside her and used his other hand on the outside to massage her inner wall.

“Does it hurt?” He sounded curious, rather than concerned.

“It’s not pleasant,” she growled through gritted teeth.

He raised his eyebrows, as if the news surprised him. “Hmm.” He removed his fingers from her channel and spread her a*s cheeks with his thumb and forefinger.

She lifted her bottom in the air, squeezing her back hole against his examination.

He pushed her pelvis back down and pinned it in place with one hand, wiggling a finger into her anus with the other.

She pinched her lips closed on a moan and held her breath, squeezing her eyes closed and willing it to be over. She could get through this. It was a physical examination.

As long as they didn’t find out her real secret, she would survive.

~.~

Zander exited the battleship, unbuckling his helmet. Training for war had been a part-time job for him since he was fifteen solar cycles old. The rest of his time was a nightmare of campaigning for support to wage war on the Finn, and keeping up with business to fund the war.

A crowd of servants and advisors stood on the landing deck, waiting to brief him on various aspects of business or the household.

“I have her,” Daneth said, dropping in to walk beside him as he strode into the pod.

Veck. The breeder. His new slave.

Veck.“Where? Here?”

“In my lab.”

“Fine. Bring her to my chamber.” Ugh. The thought of breeding with another species turned his stomach, but he’d do what he had to do. He entered his chamber and washed up.

Ugh.When he emerged from the washroom, Daneth had brought the slave. She stood fully nude, except for the wrist, ankle, and neck cuffs he would use to keep her chained up. She crossed her cuffed wrists in front of her s*x. Daneth led her by a chain attached to the ring on her collar.

Her jaw was thrust forward, mouth set in an angry s***h.

Excrement. No, Daneth couldn’t have chosen a meek, submissive human, trained to serve males as a human slave should. This one would be a pain in his a*s.

Excrement.He scanned her body. Fragile. Small. Weak.

How could this human’s genes be the perfect mix with his own?

But the sight of her bare n*****s, jutted out in stiff points, her flat belly and long, shapely legs did stir his c**k and stiffen his horns. Daneth had been right; without the dirt and grime, she was beautiful. Exquisite, even.

But what need did he have for beautiful children? He wasn’t bad-looking himself. He needed cunning warriors.

He folded his arms across his chest. “She appears stubborn.”

Daneth looked at the data readout on his armband. “Actually, elevated pulse would indicate she’s afraid.”

She darted a glance at Daneth, as if frightened to hear he was monitoring her vital statistics.

“Then why doesn’t she look afraid?”

“Perhaps she wishes to hide it, my lord. Humans often attempt to mask their emotions.”

Humans. He had no time for their deceptive ways. “They lie, yes. But it doesn’t make sense. If she showed me fear, I would take pity on her. Insolence, I will beat out of her.”

Humans.The stubborn mask fell away for a moment. Ah. There was the fear. So she had tried to hide it. Why? It made no sense. And she continued, even after he’d said how he would deal with her attitude.

Ah. hadHe reached for her, and she shrank back, attempted to dodge his touch. Daneth yanked her chain forward too harshly, and she stumbled against Zander, her fragile form soft against his body, her skin baby smooth under his hands.

He gripped her upper arms to immobilize her and studied her face. Her eyes were moss-green with yellow starbursts around the pupils. He’d never seen eyes like them before. All of his people’s eyes were the same color—brown, rimmed in violet, a complement to their purple-hued skin.

“Are you afraid, slave?”

Her little tongue darted out to moisten her lips, which had cracked. “Yes, my lord.”

Finally, the truth. “Good. Learn to please me and we will get along well enough.”

“Why am I here?” she croaked.

He glanced at Daneth. “You told her nothing?”

Daneth shrugged. “I thought it best to minimize my interaction with her, as she will be yours to mold and shape.”

Stars, he didn’t have any interest in molding or shaping any being, much less a human slave. But he supposed Daneth’s caution made sense. He would be her master; he would have to be the one to train her to his liking.

He heaved an exasperated sigh. “You’re here for breeding.”

Her eyes flew wide and she stopped breathing for a moment. Real alarm flitted across her face. Her throat worked to swallow. “I’m not a breeder.”

Her lack of deference when she spoke annoyed him. He was used to being treated with the utmost respect by all those around him. “The choice is not yours,” he snapped.

Daneth picked up his irritation. “She may require some correction, my lord, but I’m certain she will learn quickly. She was not house-trained by the Ocretions, so her manners require refinement.” Of course he wanted this to work, since it was his idea.

Zander released her and crossed his arms once more. “What makes you so certain?”

“Her brain activity is very high for a human. She’s intelligent. We already know she has excellent genes.”

“I’m not a breeder,” she repeated. “I wasn’t trained for s*x. I’m a virgin.”

A virgin. Veck. That was the last thing he needed. He already had concerns about his c**k fitting into a being so small.

Veck.He waved an impatient hand. “Cease the prattle. Do not speak unless you are invited to do so.”

She shifted in agitation. “There’s been some kind of mistake.”

He definitely didn’t have time for this. He jerked his horns toward the cage Daneth had installed in his room for her. “Put her in the cage. I’ll breed her later.”

At the mention of a cage, she spun and tried to make a dash for the door. He didn’t know where she thought she’d go, considering he had guards at every door in the pod, and the only exit was in an airship.

He caught her around the waist and yanked her back against his body. “Enough,” he growled in her ear. Looking to Daneth, he asked, “How do they recommend punishing her?”

“A beating with the flat of your hand on her buttocks should suffice for minor infractions, my lord.”

He sat on his sleepdisk and flipped her face down across his thighs, bringing his hand down on her bare bottom.

She inhaled sharply and tightened her cheeks.

He didn’t use his full strength, even though it was just his open hand. She was female, and human—he didn’t want to cause her real harm, only to quell the rebellion in her. He slapped her upturned backside over and over again, watching as her pale skin turned an enchanting shade of pink.

She squirmed and kicked her legs until he caught her ankles and fastened the cuff clips together. That impeded the kicking.

He resumed the steady beating, wondering how much it would take until she broke. She held her breath then let it out in little gasps and cries. Each time they came out, they sounded more plaintive, but she hadn’t yet begun to weep. Humans were emotional creatures, or so he’d heard. Far more emotional than his species. They cried when wounded.

He stopped paddling her and wrapped a fist in her hair to lift her head. Her face was red, but her eyes were dry.

“She’s not crying,” he said to Daneth. It came out like an accusation. Well, this whole scheme was Daneth’s doing, so he should prevent it from being so difficult. “Don’t they cry when they’re in pain?”