Battle Queen: Red Ruler Series (Book 1) Read online

  Our viewership and membership had increased one hundred fold once our teams had put together the replay version. The commentary, which included the general’s information, had made the recorded match a hot commodity throughout the central worlds. It was being marketed with a plethora of monikers like ‘backwater brawl’ and ‘general’s take down’. To be honest, his stunt had netted us more profit in a day than we had made in the last two years.

  “Fine,” I acquiesced. Leaning forward I bore into his eyes with my own, demanding a serious answer to my next question, “What do you want?”

  “One night with you,” L’Ryx stated.

  “You’re already staying at the Pleasure Palace,” Hs’tar stood quickly from my desk and planted his feet, his voice sharp as obsidian, “There you won’t have to coerce any of our workers into your bed, so long as you pay them.”

  “I want the opportunity to convince her not coerce her,” L’Ryx growled, his eyes shooting daggers at Hs’tar.

  “Enough,” I was done with this conversation. Watching Hs’tar and L’Ryx snipe at each other was only making it harder and harder to control my pheromones. If I didn’t clear everyone out soon they’d both be able to smell my arousal and things would go downhill from there. “You have one night, General L’Ryx. Do not expect anything other than conversation and a meal. Hospitality is important to me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t kick you out on your ass if you won’t take no for an answer.” L’Ryx vibrated with tension, his hands balled up into tight fists.

  “Contrary to what all of you have obviously been exposed to, my people are not rutting savages,” he rose from his chair, “that Rentok you faced in the arena before me, was nothing more than an animal. An outcast. Scum.”

  “And yet he was left to roam freely,” I stood as well. I understood why he bristled at the insinuation but I wasn’t about to be lectured by some high ranking sanctimonious military jag off, who probably had an entire armada at his beck and call. “Thank you for coming by today, General L’Ryx. I’ll have you informed of when my schedule will be free for your night negotiation.” Mel stood, her upper lip curled in a snarling smile of politeness as she gestured towards the door. L’Ryx nodded once more and left with Mel hot on his heels. No doubt she was going to make sure he left the Blood Palace, personally.

  Welo

  Hs’tar sat calmly in the same chair he had prior to L’Ryx taking his spot. He didn’t speak a single word, just stared at me. I shifted in place, not yet sitting in my chair.

  “What?”

  “You tell me,” he said calmly. His thumb brushed slowly over his lower lip. I watched the movement and felt my nipples pucker. My breasts began to ache and my spine slowly and softly arched. I felt my fangs pop out and I licked the excess blood off my lips.

  Hs’tar got up from his chair and circled around the desk to my right. I could feel my body temperature rise the closer he got to me. He stopped just short of touching me then placed his hand next to my keyboard and quickly tapped in a sequence I knew all too well.

  “What are you doing?” All the holoscreens and keyboards sunk into the stone until it was only a flat empty surface. I balled up my fists on my desk. I could hear how deep and harsh my voice was but I didn’t care. No one made my decisions for me.

  “You were distracted in that meeting and made a rushed decision at the end,” he was so irritatingly calm and measured. I snapped my neck to stare him down in all my fury.

  “I made the correct choice for the situation we are currently faced with, Commander Hs’tar,” I had aimed for ice but I was spitting nothing but fire. My claws bit into my palm where my fingers were still tightly balled up.

  “I never said you didn’t,” he hissed. He took two steps forward until he was only an inch away from me. He inhaled slowly, his exhale caressing my cheek as he continued, “I said you were distracted and that you rushed the meeting to a close.”

  “What more needed to be said,” I mocked. I knew he was right but I didn’t care. He was so close and too far away. It had been months since my last heat and my body wept at how much I wanted to feel his rough skin along mine. “The discussion was devolving and we needed a solution, if at least temporary, to placate him without burning any possible future business.”

  “And giving him one night with you was the best solution?” As I sank deeper to churning magma, Hs’tar soared higher to the frigid cold of space.

  “It’s just a dinner negotiation,” it came out breathless, my eyes focused in on Hs’tar’s mouth.

  “You’re going to fuck him, aren’t you?” His nostrils flared and his breathing grew as ragged as his breath. How dare he. I leaned into him, closing the minuscule gap between us, shoving my shoulder into his chest.

  “So what if i do?” I challenged.

  “Then you should do it because you want to,” he hissed. His cold calm sizzled and clashed along my burning edges, “Not because you are in need.”

  “I’m not...,” I began. Hs’tar crowded into my space, his nose buried in the hair just above my right ear. I choked in a breath feeling his warm breath caress my neck. I felt his long tongue dart out of his mouth and trace along the edge of my ear.

  “You. Are. In. Need,” he whispered. His clawed hand roughly cupped my traitorous cunt between my thighs. He moaned and panted as he nibbled on my ear lobe. His voice strangled, “Did you think I couldn’t smell your delicious, warm wetness when I sat so close to you?” He gripped me harder before running his fingers soothingly just along the seam of my wrappings. Like he was taming a wild beast with soft but firm touches. Fuck me straight to the abyss I didn’t care that he was playing the role of pussy tamer as long as he kept doing what he was doing.

  “I reined in my pheromones after I caught myself,” I retorted. Hs’tar gave me a deep throaty laugh in response.

  “And what about now?”

  “What are you talking about?” My mind was fuzzy and my body on fire, Hs’tar’s strokes making my inner muscles clench and squeeze angrily on nothing.

  “Look at me,” he commanded. My eyes narrowed. I looked up to his eyes, about to tell him off, when I saw it. There was more black than burnt copper, his pupils completely blown to shit. He took in another breath and I felt how his body shook. His fingers never stopped caressing me but his hold was stronger, more possessive. “Your wrappings may hide your drenched cunt from my fingers, but you’ve soaked this entire room with your pheromones.”

  “No, I...,” I tried to deny what he was saying but it was so weak, it was laughable. Hs’tar circled behind me and cupped my breasts hard through the red fabric. He hooked his claws over the top and yanked hard again and again until my breasts spilled out and into his hands. “Hs’tar...,” I whimpered.

  “I know,” he breathed out forcefully. He kissed and nipped along my neck. He kept his body flush to my back as his hands massaged my breasts and plucked at my taut nipples. “Whenever you are in need I am here, we are here.”

  He quickly undid more of the wrappings with one hand. I leaned back into him, distantly hearing my skirt belt and lower wrappings hit the floor. Hs’tar plunged two of his fingers deep inside me. “Fuck’s sake, Welo. Why did you wait so long?” His groan ended with a hint of exasperation.

  “I... I didn’t,” my tongue felt dry and swollen as I tried to focus. “My heat shouldn’t be for a-another 60 s-standard days.” I rolled my hips, grinding my clit into his palm. Reaching up I gripped the back of his neck, feeling my claws pinch into his flesh as I gripped him hard. He was still fully clothed and I wanted every inch of him he would give me.

  He pulled his fingers from me and stepped back. A wall of grief and longing scraped through my body. I stepped forward and braced myself on my desk as I was punched with sorrow straight into my gut. Of course he wasn’t going to be with me, it wasn’t my heat. He probably was just trying to tide me over until Merooth could respond to the mate call he had punched in earlier on my keypad.

  Hot, searing shame dripped down
my chest like acid. He was always here when I needed him. Never because he wanted to be, but because I needed him to be. My head hung between my shoulders. He may not have been locked in a cell with me anymore but he was locked into servicing me because Merooth couldn’t handle my heats on his own. At most, Hs’tar cared that my suffering affected my ability to think clearly. Merooth had said Hs’tar wanted to be with us and my mate truly but this proved Hs’tar was merely trying to do his job to the best of his ability.

  Slowly I reached down to grab a fistful of my wrappings. I could have walked away naked, the door to my upstairs quarters only across from my office, but I felt the need to cover myself.

  “What are you doing?” Hs’tar’s gruff voice only made me curl my hands around the wrappings I had picked up tighter to my body. I didn’t want him to see the shame leaking from my eyes.

  “I meant what I said,” I cleared my throat, “My heat shouldn’t be happening now. Whatever this is, I’m sure you can send Merooth whenever he gets here. You shouldn’t have to deal with this.” I took two steps before I was ripped backward and spun around to face him.

  “Are you saying I didn’t choose to be here?” His body trembled with barely controlled rage. His shirt was neatly drawn across the back of my chair, his boots stacked beside them. His grip on my arm was bruising. “Or that I was forced to be right here?” I cried out as he roughly impaled me with two of his fingers.

  “I would never take away your choices, Hs’tar,” I yelled. It was so hard to think, to breath. All I wanted was to feel him everywhere and anywhere but I was locked in a battle in my mind. Was I taking advantage of him?

  ”Whatever you’re thinking, stop.” He pressed his forehead to mine. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking that I was coercing him, yet again, into helping me. He pulled his fingers from me and wrapped his hands around both of mine, bringing them to his chest.

  The scales on his skin were so tiny that he looked more like some special forces leader covered in jungle body paint camouflage. He pressed my fists to his chest harder. “When you are in need. I. Am. Here,” his chest rose and fell in harsh breaths, “That is my choice.”

  I looked up into his eyes, the raw honesty of his words washed away my shame and doubt. I uncurled my fists and felt the warm beating of his hearts below my palms. His black and forest green hands slid along my golden bronze skin. The contrast was beautiful to me, as beautiful as his eyes focused entirely on my lips. I licked along the seam, teasing him.

  Hs’tar hissed and gripped the back of my neck. His half clothed body smashed against mine, his lips and tongue warring with my own. We were equals in mind and force of will. We kissed as if it could be our last match. I reached down and yanked his pants until it pooled at his feet. I ran my fingers along the slit that hid his cock feeling it bulge out and his hips buck.

  I always reveled in this physical difference between Syleans and Humans. That and Hs’tar’s cock was prehensile. He could direct and move it just as well as I could my own fingers. His slick black cock slipped from behind its protective barrier. It was almost an exact replica of his tongue except so much thicker. Its natural lubricant was warm on my skin. I held tight to the very bottom of his cock and felt it wind around my fist.

  Slowly I pulled, making it straighten out before doing it again and again. “Fuck, Welo,” Hs’tar swallowed his moan as he pushed his hips forward. When I got to the tip again, Hs’tar pulled away from my reaching hand. He pushed me front down onto my desk and lifted my thighs until my knees braced me. His palm pushed down hard on my lower back, making my thighs spread wider.

  I felt his cock trace up and down between the lips of my cunt. I groaned and fought hard to press back against him. “If you won’t come to me Welo,” his laboured breaths accompanied the claw marks he was tracing down my ass cheeks. His thumb circled my entrance as his cock continued its slow up and down glide between my lower lips. “Then I’ll come to you.” He slammed forward and his cock filled me so perfectly that I felt myself spasm and drip. The pace he set was punishing. He rolled his hips and swirled his cock inside me. I cried out at the full on assault he was waging against my cunt.

  My screams and Hs’tar’s grunts filled the room for what felt like hours, or days. I came over and over but he didn’t stop. He pressed his face between my shoulder blades biting and nipping at my flesh. With one last final slam of his hips he gasped and came deep inside me. I shivered, the air feeling too cold even though we were both dripping with sweat.

  “Merooth, mate.”

  “It is good to see my mates enjoying themselves,” Merooth chuckled. Neither one of us moved. I felt his large hand brush away the damp strands of hair from my sweaty face. “Are you in need of your mates, my fierce one?”

  “Yes,” I whispered. I stared up into his face full of love and felt my heart melt and my muscles relax.

  “Then let me under you, my deadly one. Hs’tar will you hold her up,” he asked quietly. I don’t know if he saw the fear of rejection in my eyes or not. Merooth always knew how to handle us both.

  “Of course,” Hs’tar wrapped his arms around me and lifted me back to his chest so that I was kneeling on my desk. A sigh of pure contentment slipped past my mouth but Hs’tar only held me tighter. Merooth dropped his pants, the only clothing he ever wore, and kicked off his much hated boots. I forced him to wear them when he was outdoor to protect his feet but he still hated that he couldn’t connect with the land like he was used to. I told him once that connecting with the land was fine, but he was more likely to connect with a broken piece of metal or glass here. I didn’t want him getting hurt.

  Hs’tar’s cock was still deep inside me. It once more began to swirl in slow circles and I felt my lashes flutter shut as my hips followed the movement. Merooth lifted me by my thighs and placed them on his own as he perched on the edge of the desk. I hadn’t even seen him move. “Will you not share, Hs’tar?” He teased. Hs’tar’s only response was to cup my breasts and lift them up to Merooth’s waiting warm mouth. He swirled his prickly tongue round and round while Hs’tar kneaded my breasts softly. Hs’tar’s sharp teeth nipped along my neck, his body still flush against my back.

  In a torturously slow slide he pulled me up from his cock and plunged me down onto Merooth’s. The thick barbed length of Merooth was so wholly different from Hs’tar’s that I cried out in ecstasy. I wrapped my legs around Merooth’s waist, rolling up and down his cock. He groaned into my breasts, never stopping his sucking and licking. His large soft hands stroked my sides and slipped down my hips. He broke away from my breasts to kiss me deeply and gently.

  His kiss was so unlike Hs’tar’s but I craved it all the same. The abrasive pads of Hs’tar’s thumbs skated across my wet nipples, easing the sting of their oversensitivity. Merooth’s giant hands palmed my ass cheeks and spread them, “Be with us.” Merooth’s simple request spoke for us both, even if I wouldn’t say it out loud. If I had, it would have been a plea. Hs’tar stiffened for a moment and I was sure he would leave.

  The tip of Hs’tar’s cock swirled around the rose of flesh Merooth held wide for him. I pushed back seeking his touch, unintentionally tightening on Merooth deep inside me. “You should feel how tightly she is aching for you, Hs’tar,” Merooth groaned. I couldn’t stop the blush that formed on my cheeks. I tried to turn my face away but Hs’tar brushed his knuckles against my cheeks and ran his fingertips along my jaw and down my throat.

  “I know,” he replied so softly I almost didn’t hear him. He pressed deeper into me, kissing behind my ear. “My Stars,” he breathed before wrapping his arms around my stomach. My mates crushed me between them. I closed my eyes and let my body guide me. Their hands, their mouths, their whispered words soothed the ache inside my flesh. I felt them kiss away the stray tears that leaked from my eyes in rapture and awe.

  Of all the terrible and degrading things that I had seen and been put through, nothing touched the sanctity of this holy act. Our heartbeats thrummed as one,
our bodies wrapping around each other. Time had no meaning. Pain held no sway. Worries ceased to exist. For just this precious moment, it was just us.

  Our solace from the suffering. Our hopes to draw out this small bit of happiness. All of it was written in our moans, our gasps, our flesh, and our screams.

  Hs’Tar

  I woke suddenly at the unfamiliar softness under me. My quarters were stark and my bed utilitarian, not soft. I blinked my eyes slowly at the soft golden light warming the room. I licked my lips and tasted Welo. Her smell filled my mind as I inhaled that warm and fuzzy scent from where my nose was pressed to the back of her neck.

  Her steady breaths made the fading light of the yellow star dance across her flesh. In this moment, she was achingly beautiful. It wasn’t just the perfection of her muscles or the curve of her cheek pressed to Merooth’s chest. It was the look of peace that gave her face a vulnerable softness. She never looked like this in public, and she never softened herself in front of me.

  I wanted to stay here. Be with her. Be with them.

  I kissed the back of her neck softly and sighed. I couldn’t stay. Welo hated it when she was vulnerable around me. There could be nothing more vulnerable than waking up wrapped up in my arms. Even though I felt like my heart was fracturing I knew I had to leave.

  A quiet sadness consumed me as I slowly pulled myself away from her. Welo’s brow pinched and I paused. Her sheets were half hanging off the bed, maybe she was cold now that I wasn’t at her back. Moving quietly I pulled up the sheets and covered her back and hips. The crease in her brow only seemed to deepen.