Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
Lt. James Donovan, shipwrecked on a strange, alien planet, must
fight for his life in the arena against an alien twice his size. The
Tyger shifter is gorgeous, powerful, and set on killing him. When
Donovan shows reckless courage, the alien spares his life and
takes him to be his submissive captive against his will.
The young Alliance pilot tries to accept his fate, and against all
odds he falls in love with his captor, Ragan. Yet on this planet,
mating with a fierce and beautiful Tyger male means having to
prove your ingenuity and bravery by participating in a deadly
game of cat and mouse with his Tyger mate, while thousands
watch on closed-circuit television. In his bestial form, Tyger won’t
recognize his mate and will try his best to kill him.
Can Donovan outwit the game, survive the contest, and find
happiness, or will the challenge prove to be too great?
Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Science Fiction, Shape-shifter
Length: 41,883 words
TYGER, TYGER, BURNING
BRIGHT
Shannon West
EROTIC ROMANCE
MANLOVE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove
TYGER, TYGER, BURNING BRIGHT
Copyright © 2012 by Shannon West
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-346-1
First E-book Publication: September 2012
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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TYGER, TYGER, BURNING
BRIGHT
SHANNON WEST
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
Lieutenant James Donovan had never been more exhausted in his
life—in mind, body, and spirit. Later when he remembered this night,
it came back to him only in nightmares. Bright, noisy nightmares that
left him breathing hard and coated in sweat. His squadron, once two
hundred strong, now consisted of only these fifteen crewmen still left
alive, wearily circling the huge, dusty arena as the alien crowd
screamed hideous laughter and raucous cheers.
He kept his chin tilted up, his eyes blinded by the spotlights
trained on them as they paraded themselves in front of the huge crowd
of howling Tygerians. They called this the Exhibition, and he and his
shipmates were the main attraction. Resentful and unwilling to give
the crowd the satisfaction of witnessing his humiliation, he surveyed
the bleachers with a baleful glare. It was only about five o’clock, but
the darkness fell early on this godforsaken planet, bringing with it an
icy breeze from the north. He shivered slightly in this loincloth they
had put him in but knew he might be glad of the breeze as soon as the
fighting commenced.
A strange, otherworldly (appropriately enough, he thought
ruefully. This was certainly an other world) music blared loudly
through the arena, making this experience seem even more surreal.
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
9
That and the old Earth-style television cameras that were trained on
them from seemingly every direction.
All that day in their cages, the men had whispered that tonight
would be the final Exhibition Game—tonight they would fight, not
with each other or strange, vicious animals, as before, but with the
Tygerian gladiators themselves, who were sure to make quick work of
the crewmen, human strength puny in comparison to that of the
massive Tygerians. Tonight they would finally meet their deaths.
Donovan had promised himself he wouldn’t go down without a hell of
a fight, maybe taking one or two of them with him.
His whole life, he had heard stories about the people that
inhabited this planet—of their savagery, their bravery, their utter
brutality. From what he’d seen so far, the stories hadn’t begun to tell
the tale. Tygeria was a planet on the far reaches of the galaxy and
shrouded in mystery, as well as thick clouds of a gas Donovan had
never heard of that shielded the planet from its sun’s searing rays and
from all but the most determined alien intrusion into their world.
There had long been rumors about the fierce inhabitants of the planet.
Some said they were shapeshifters and changed into huge, fearsome
tigers in the full moon or when under attack. Donovan thought the
stories to be mere myth, but he was learning that on this crazy planet,
anything was possible.
The planet had been known to the Earth Alliance for the past
twenty-five years. Twenty-five years of failed diplomacy with a
people who wanted only to be left alone. Once the Alliance learned of
their planet’s diamond deposits, there was no way they’d ever leave
the Tygerians alone again. Probable reserves on Tygeria had been
estimated at 500 million cubic meters of ore at an ore grade of 2.29
carats per one hundred cubic meters. With diamonds as one of the
only remaining monetary systems on Earth, the diamond standard was
high and growing higher each year. When negotiations failed with
Tygeria, the Earth Alliance took the only action remaining to it—the
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Shannon West
action that the Alliance always reverted to in the end when
negotiations failed—invasion.
Technologically, the Alliance felt itself to be far superior to the
Tygerians, thinking they could easily subdue the planet and take
whatever resources they pleased. But Tygeria was four times the size
of Earth with resources and technology only before guessed at by the
Alliance. Most of what Donovan had witnessed was a curious blend
of old Earth-style technology, like the television cameras and newer
technology that included weapons that had easily brought down their
ship.
Not only that, the Tygerians fought with unparalleled fierceness.
Rumors abounded that in one of the more recent battles, when the
Alliance had the Tygerians outnumbered three to one and defeat was
imminent, the Tygerians shifted into monstrous tigers and annihilated
the entire force that came against them. It remained a rumor because
all of the Allied Forces had been wiped out to the last man. The
rumors developed from the bodies they recovered, bodies that had
been ripped to pieces.
The Tygerians were slowly winning the war, and their hatred for
the Alliance and everything it stood for had grown by leaps and
bounds over the long months of conflict. When Lt. Donovan’s ship
had been brought down by the Tygerians three weeks ago, the
Tygerian Council had decided to make an example of the survivors by
putting them in the arena and making them fight to the death.
Donovan forced himself to keep moving around the arena,
knowing that soon they would stop and face the Tygerian gladiators,
who would make short work of the remaining crew. His only wish
was to fight bravely until the end and acquit himself well. He
wondered fleetingly if the warrior who was to face him would shift
into a tiger to finish him off. He almost hoped he would—at least it
would put a quick end to this torture.
He realized that the so-called Exhibitions were being televised and
sent back across the enormous expanses of the galaxy to Earth in
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
11
order to humiliate and demoralize the humans. For the first time, he
thanked the gods his parents were dead, so they wouldn’t have to see
their only son killed by these huge, savage warrior-beasts. He thought
briefly of his three older sisters, though, and willed them to be strong
if they watched this. For them, he would put on a brave front and
refuse to cower before these vicious giants.
A loud horn sounded, and the remaining men of the Starship
Lincoln stumbled to a halt. Donovan heard a gate open behind him,
and he whirled around to face whatever was about to emerge. The
only weapon he had was a dagger thrust into his hand by a sneering
guard as he left his cage to be herded into the arena. Useless, of
course, except at close range, and if he were close enough to use it, he
would be easy prey for the Tygerian gladiator he was about to face.
He forgot the howling crowd and the cries around him of his
former shipmates as the tall form emerged from the gate to engage
him. Stepping from the shadows was a young Tygerian gladiator in all
his glory.
The Tygerians were humanoid, and they were a beautiful people.
Tall, an average of perhaps seven feet, the males were extremely
muscular and fit. Their skin was a golden-brown color, and all of
them seemed to have hair that was either blond or some shade of red.
This particular young warrior had long golden hair, thick and wavy.
His eyes, like all of his people, were catlike, slanted and gold-green.
Strange, the details he noticed about this man who would soon
dispatch him as easily as he would swat a fly.
The Tygerians’ skin had thin, barely noticeable black stripes
running just under the skin, making the people look like some exotic
fantasy creature. This young man wore some type of leather-looking
leggings with a loincloth and a vest over his naked chest. He carried a
huge chain and what looked like an old-fashioned mace. In the old
Earth calendar’s Middle Ages, maces were a type of club with a metal
or stone end, sometimes with a flange used to smash in the armor of
warrior knights. Donovan imagined that wicked-looking weapon
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smashing into the side of his head soon. Again, he sent up a brief,
whispered prayer to the gods that he could remain strong and not
break down in front of this howling crowd.
The Tygerian smiled at him, a mocking show of white teeth. He
stepped out in the arena and held up his muscular arms to the crowd
and they went wild, stomping their feet and screaming like banshees.
Donovan narrowed his eyes and watched him carefully. Before they’d
started on this mission, they’d been forced to sit through a long-
winded lecture on the Tygerians and their Games. At the time, he was
a little bored by it all. Now he wished he had paid closer attention.
He must be some young son of a wealthy family who had decided
to participate tonight in the Games. The usual gladiators were other
slaves, trained exclusively to fight in the arena. Sometimes, the young
wealthy men of the city would take a turn in the arena, particularly in
a special Exhibition like this one. Forbidden by law, the presence of
these young scions was tolerated, with officials turning a blind eye to
it in the name of higher ratings for their television programs.
The Tygerian began to circle him tauntingly. Donovan turned as
he did, trying to keep the gladiator in front of him. The large creature
made a few feints at Donovan, showing off for the crowd, but
Donovan refused to react. He kept breathing slowly, steadily, his eyes
trained on his opponent. He noticed what he thought was a grudgingly
approving look in the Tygerian’s eyes.
The Tygerians honored stoic bravery above all else from what
Donovan had learned of them in his brief captivity. A warlike people,
they reviled cowardice, and the members of his crew who had broken
down in defeat early on had been dispatched with contempt and
alacrity.
The Tygerian turned his back on Donovan, deliberately playing to
the crowd. The posturing reminded Donovan of pictures he’d seen in
his Ancient History classes at the Academy of old-time bullfighters,
showing the spectators that he had nothing to fear from the weak
creature he was about to battle, and tempting the bull to make a run at
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
13
him. Donovan refused to be baited. Instead he picked up a rock half
the size of his fist from the gravelly arena floor and hurled it at his
opponent, striking him in the back of the head. He’d thrown the rock
as hard as he could, but it bounced off the thick mane of blond hair,
causing no discernible damage whatsoever.
The Tygerian whirled around though, as the crowd shrieked their
pleasure, and gave Donovan a strange look of amusement and
satisfaction. He threw back his head and laughed, seeming to
welcome the spirit and fight left in his opponent. For the first time he
spoke to him in English with a deep, melodious voice tinged with a
strange accent. He wondered fleetingly not only how this alien
creature knew English, but how he knew it was Donovan’s own
language. The crew had been international, of course, and had spoken
many languages, though the official language of the Alliance was
Earthonian, a kind of mixture of several of Earth’s primary languages.
He tried to concentrate on the words spoken to him in this heavy
accent.
“So, Little Warrior, you have claws after all.” He made another
mock-attack move at him, smiling as Donovan took a step backward.
“Time to see how sharp they are.”
Moving quickly for a man of his size, the Tygerian dove at his
feet, knocking him down and rolling away from him so fast he could
barely react. Donovan was able to get in one good swipe with his
dagger and was gratified to see thick crimson blood welling up in a
stripe along the Tygerian’s bicep. He sprang back to his feet and
grinned at the Tygerian. So you bleed the same color we do, don’t
you, you bastard?
“Come at me again, and I’ll stripe your other arm,” Donovan
taunted.
It was only a graze, but the Tygerian sprang to his feet and looked
down at it in surprise. Again, the satisfied look came across his face.
Throwing down the chain, he raised the mace over his head, and with
a powerful swing of his arms he swiped the weapon at Donovan’s
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feet. As it came toward him, Donovan pulled his legs up beneath him,
barely clearing the club as it passed under him. He landed back on his
feet, and again, the Tygerian laughed with seeming delight as the
crowd roared. If the blow had landed, it would have easily broken
both his legs, and he would have been done for.
The young gladiator again turned his back to Donovan, holding
out his arms to the crowd, soliciting their cheers. Knowing the
Tygerian wouldn’t aim so low next time and realizing it was only a
matter of time before that terrible club shattered his body, he decided
to go on the offensive and end this thing. At least he could die well
for the cameras. Raising his dagger over his head, he leaped onto the
alien’s back and brought his weapon down toward the gladiator’s
neck.
In a lightning-fast move, the Tygerian reached up and grabbed his
wrist, pulling and twisting downward. He brought his face up close to
Donovan’s and whispered urgently in his ear. “Pretend I broke your
wrist, little warrior. I need to make this look good for the crowd.” He
pulled away and hurled Donovan over his head to fall on his back in
the dusty arena. Donovan’s dagger bounced away, and the young
Tygerian warrior kicked it contemptuously from him so it landed
some twenty feet from them. Again the gladiator held his arms in the
air, playing to the crowd, milking their response. Donovan looked up
at him in wonder. Was he trying to help him or merely making
himself look good? He reached down for Donovan’s other wrist and
twisted it as well. “Cry out in pain. Do it!” Without another thought,
Donovan followed his orders and yelled loudly, gazing up at the huge
young man in confusion.
Writhing in mock pain, Donovan lay on his back in the filthy
arena, shoving his hands up under his armpits to make it look real. He
wasn’t sure if this was some elaborate game the gladiator was playing
with him, but just in case it was, he did the only thing he had left to do
as the Tygerian warrior leaned over him. He spat in the Tygerian’s
face as he bent over him, and bared his teeth in a menacing snarl.
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
15
“Come and get me, you striped bastard!”
The Tygerian wiped the spittle from his face with one hand,
showing it to the crowd and laughing aloud. He bared his teeth back
at Donovan and bent down, Donovan thought, to finish him off.
Instead, he grabbed him around the waist, twisted him around so he
was facing the crowd, and held him aloft. He yelled out some rapid
phrase in Tygerian. Still holding him above his head as Donovan tried
ineffectually to kick his feet back at him, he turned to each corner of
the arena, displaying Donovan. The crowd screamed its pleasure and
held up one fist. At first Donovan thought they were shaking their
fists at him, but a snatch of memory came back from the long ago
lecture on the Games, and he remembered that the closed fist was a
sign of approval. A sign to spare his death.
In a sudden move, Donovan found himself thrown over the
Tygerian’s shoulder facedown. His loincloth was bunched around his
waist, baring his ass to the spectators. The Tygerian brought his hand
down in a hard slap on his ass, causing the crowd to go wild with
laughter. Despite Donovan’s fierce struggles, he held him across his
shoulder with little effort, walking around the arena, spanking him in
front of the crowd.
After about four of these stinging, humiliating blows, Donovan
stopped struggling and gave up, dizzy with fatigue and stress. As soon
as the Tygerian sensed his limp body, the blows stopped and became
almost playful, like little taps. As they finished their circle around the
arena and came to the Tygerian’s gate, the man pulled Donovan down
from his shoulder and held him facing forward in his arms, his head
lolling down in exhaustion. Hooking an arm around his waist, he held
him up effortlessly with one hand while with the other the Tygerian
reached down between Donovan’s legs and found his soft cock,
giving it a few hard pulls for the amusement of the crowd. As the
crowd laughed and stomped their feet with glee, he threw him back
over his shoulder and strode with him from the ring.
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* * * *
The Tygerian kept him over his shoulder as they walked into what
looked like a common dressing area. Donovan’s view of things was
upside down and backward, so admittedly it was confused. He had a
momentary fear that the young gladiator was taking him to some
central execution area where he would finish him off. Instead, he
pulled him off his shoulder and sat him down on a kind of massive
bench, pointing his finger in his face and saying something loud and
menacing to him, punctuated with a snarl. Donovan couldn’t
understand a word, but the intent was clear, so he nodded tiredly.
To his surprise, he felt the Tygerian sit down beside him and pull
him almost gently toward him. He pulled back in surprise but again
got a loud shout of words and a dirty look as he pulled the arm back
toward him.
He fastened what looked like splints on Donovan’s wrists. They
encased his hands all the way down past the knuckles of his fingers.
“They think I broke your wrists. We must make it look good for
them, yes? Drink this.” He produced a greenish liquid in a little bottle
that he held to Donovan’s lips.
Donovan twisted his head away. “What is it? Some kind of poison
to finish me off?”
“You are…weak. Bruised. This will help.”
His body ached all over from days spent in the tiny cages at the
mercy of the cruel guards, but Donovan still lifted up a splinted hand
to bat the liquid away. “No. I don’t want your damn medicine.”
“You drink!” Impatiently, the Tygerian pushed the liquid back
under his nose and Donovan gave in, drinking it down quickly, It was
sweet and thick. Right away, he could feel a warmth spreading
through his body.
He gazed back up at the Tygerian in surprise. Why was he doing
this? What could it mean?
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
17
“Your name?” the alien asked roughly in the same deep voice as
before.
Donovan cleared his throat. “Lieutenant James Michael
Donovan.”
The Tygerian shook his head impatiently. “Too much.” He
thumped Donovan’s chest. “Your name!”
“Donovan,” he said a little louder. The alien was irritating him,
damn it, and he’d about had enough of this shit. What the hell did he
mean, too much? It was his fucking name. Hadn’t he asked for that?
“Don-o-van,” the Tygerian replied, then shook his head again.
“Hmmph.” When Donovan stayed quiet, he thumped his own chest.
“Ragan. Ragan is your…” He hesitated, seeming to hunt for a word.
“Your master. You are my nobyo.”
“Fuck you,” Donovan said tersely. “What the hell is a nobyo?” He
glared at Ragan and shook his head. “No.”
Ragan’s eyebrows lowered instantly into a deep frown. “You are
my nobyo!” Grabbing him by the shoulders, he shook him until his
teeth rattled. “Say it.”
“Goddamn it! Okay, okay—I’m your no-by-o. Shit.” The liquid
Ragan had given him was suddenly making him slur his words and
making him unable to think straight.
“Yes,” Ragan said to him. “You are mine now, little warrior.” He
bent down and took Donovan’s mouth with his, nudging his lips aside
to thrust his long tongue deep into Donovan’s mouth, sweeping over
the inside of his mouth possessively until Donovan gasped for breath.
Ragan pulled his head back and looked him in the eye, as if daring
him to say a word about it. Donovan’s brain barely registered the kiss.
One more degrading act from these fucking aliens.
Like most men on starships that sometimes stayed away from
ports for months at a time, Donovan had used men for sex before,
though he preferred women. He had rarely been kissed by a male
before, though, and his mind was swirling with confusion. It had
been—not terrible. If he was honest, it had been kind of hot. Really
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hot, but that didn’t mean he wanted to repeat it with this arrogant
bastard. He’d been trying to kill him just a few minutes ago, and now
he was kissing him? Was this more mockery?
“Mine. Say it.” He shook him again. “Say it.”
“Yours,” Donovan managed to say, half dead with exhaustion,
and Ragan nodded once.
“Good.”
Ragan picked him up in his arms and strode with him out of the
room as everything seemed to tilt, and darkness closed over him
completely.
* * * *
Donovan awoke to softness and warmth. He was lying on some
type of big mattress, wrapped in a furry blanket. He was so
comfortable he wanted to stay where he was, but his stomach was
growling loudly, and he remembered it had been a long time since
he’d had anything to eat other than a few scraps of bread and water.
He struggled to sit up awkwardly, the large splints on his hands
making it difficult. Almost instantly strong hands were pulling him to
a sitting position. For the first time, he noticed a young Tygerian who
had been sitting beside his bed, apparently watching him.
He wasn’t as large as most of the Tygerians, and it took a few
moments for Donovan’s befuddled brain to realize he was still little
more than a child, probably only about twelve or thirteen. He had the
same golden hair as Ragan. He was looking down at him with great
interest, and smiled a little when Donovan said, “Hungry. Hungry.”
“I speak your language, human. My father taught it to me. He was
a diplomat to your people before the wars began. My name is Lothan.
I will have some food brought to you.”
He picked up a small communicator and spoke into it rapidly then
regarded Donovan with interest. “Do you need to…” He punched the
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
19
screen a few times on his communicating device and looked back up.
“Go to the bathroom?”
As a matter of fact, Donovan’s bladder was bursting, so he nodded
yes and the boy helped him to his feet. He guided him to a big
bathroom and over to a kind of trough in the tiled floor.
“Do you need help?” he asked solicitously.
He shook his head no and pulled up his loincloth. One good thing
about these things they’d made him wear, they were convenient for
taking a piss. His hands were still encased in the splints, but the tips
of his fingers stuck out at the ends, so he was able to manage. When
he’d emptied his bladder, he walked back into the room he’d just left.
His nostrils were immediately assailed by delicious scents, and he
came back over to the bed with great interest. A tray had been placed
by the side of the mattress, and Lothan was pulling the tops off
various dishes.
Donovan came over eagerly and sat down cross-legged on the
floor in front of it. He didn’t recognize anything on the tray, but it
smelled so good he decided to try a little of everything. He looked
down at his wrists encased in the splints and wondered how the hell
he was going to get them off to eat. He pulled one up to tear at it with
his teeth, but Lothan reached out to stop him.
“No! You mustn’t take off your splints, or Ragan will be very
angry with us both. I will feed you.”
Donovan leaned away from him and continued to tear at his
splints, ignoring him. Lothan stopped him by simply pulling down his
hand and slapping his cheek smartly.
“Ow!” Donovan cried out. “Stop hitting me. I will not be fed like
some stupid child.”
A deep voice came from behind him. “Stop acting like stupid
child then.”
Donovan whirled around to see Ragan standing in the doorway,
looking impossibly large and muscular, his muscles rippling down his
body.
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Shannon West
He walked farther into the room and came over to Ragan,
dropping to a squat in front of him. “You allow Lothan to feed you, or
you lie in my lap while I feed you from a bottle. Which?”
Donovan flushed furiously and made a move to slap at Ragan with
his splinted hand. Ragan caught his hand and gently placed it back in
his lap, holding it there to show him his strength. There was no anger
at all in his golden-green eyes, only cold calculation. Holding
Donovan’s chin in his hand and making him look him in the eye, he
said, “Lothan, bring this baby a bottle.”
“No!” Donovan cried. “Damn! No, please! I–I’m sorry. I’ll let
him feed me.” He felt his face flaming with heat. “Why do I have to
keep these on? Surely I can take them off now.”
“No. I wish for my servants to see. It is better for us both if they
believe you are injured. It won’t be for long, but I must be careful.
There are many who would like to see you dead, nobyo. Even among
my staff.”
Donovan sighed, hating this stupid charade and hating everything
else about this godforsaken planet. He tried to twist away from
Ragan’s hand, but he held him effortlessly.
After gazing at him for a long moment, he finally released him.
“Very well. For now. Remember in future if you act like a baby, I
treat you like baby. Do whatever Lothan tells you. Or I come back.”
He stood up and looked down at Donovan for a long time,
intimidating him with his nearness before he turned and walked
slowly from the room.
Lothan made no comment, and neither did Donovan. At least not
out loud. Trembling with rage, Donovan refused to meet his eye.
Finally trusting himself enough to speak, he turned to Lothan, his
voice sounding ragged and hoarse even to his own ears.
“Who are you, Lothan? Are you related to that son of a…are you
related to him?”
“Of course. Ragan is my brother and the head of our household
now that our father has passed to the Holy Realm. Ragan would
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
21
hardly allow anyone else to touch you. You are his nobyo.” He had a
look on his face that said Donovan was stupid even for asking. Lothan
dipped a large rounded spoon into a broth and held it toward
Donovan’s mouth. Donovan accepted it without further struggles,
hating every second of it, but sure that Ragan would make good on
his threat if he made any trouble. Instinctively he knew Ragan didn’t
make idle threats. He had to bide his time until he could escape.
Escape was the only thing now he could cling to. Escape or rescue,
and rescue by the Earth Alliance was farfetched at best. The war was
not going well for their side.
Lothan allowed him to try all the dishes, and he found he liked
most of them, but although he had been ravenously hungry, he
couldn’t seem to hold much food. After a few minutes, he told Lothan
he was full, and Lothan nodded and put down the spoon.
“It’s the healing medicine. It’s very good, but makes you sleepy
and takes away your appetite. You only need it for a few more days,
and your bruises should be almost healed. You were very badly
treated in the arena.”
Donovan held up the splints, “Why did he pretend to break my
wrists? What’s the point of that?”
Lothan gazed at him as if he were slow. “To show the spectators
that he could. To show them he had all the power. My people hate the
Alliance and everyone connected with it. He had to give them a
measure of violence or they would never have allowed him to take
you from there alive. He wanted you for his nobyo.”
Donovan flushed again. To show them he could. One look at those
biceps convinced me he could. “Yeah, and what exactly does that
mean? Nobyo. Am I a slave or something?”
“No. Not a slave.” Lothan shook his head. “You are his nobyo,”
Lothan said, using the word again that Donovan didn’t understand.
“I have no idea what that means,” he said impatiently.
Lothan punched his communicator screen again. “There is no
English word for it. The closest I can find is—paramour.”
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“His what?” Donovan fairly yelled at the boy, making him look
confused. He punched the screen again and looked back up.
“Yes, I think that’s the word. Do you not understand it?”
“Oh, I understand it all right, and if it means what I think it does,
it’s not happening! Fuck, no!”
Lothan looked confused. “Do you not find him beautiful? Most
everyone thinks Ragan is very beautiful. He is very brave and good in
battle. You could not have a better master.” Lothan cocked his head
and studied Donovan. “You are quite beautiful, too. Everyone was
talking about it last night at the Exhibition. Your dark hair and your
white skin. Your eyes are very blue, too. We don’t have blue eyes on
my planet, so they make you look very different. Everyone said you
had a nice body as well, even though you’re so small. You are like a
little doll.”
Donovan almost choked. “A little doll? Look, I understand that to
your people we seem small, but I’m almost six feet tall. Well, five
eleven, anyway. In my world, that’s considered maybe a little taller
than average. And I like women better than men.”
“You do? Why?” Lothan asked with a shake of his head.
“Why? Because they’re soft and pretty. I don’t know—don’t you
like girls?”
“No. We have no females. Or, we have them, but they are for
breeding only. We do not want them with us, and they don’t want us
to be with them. We breed by—” More punching at his communicator
and another quick glance at his screen. “Ar-ti-fi-cial in-sem-in-a-
tion.”
“You mean the women don’t live with you?”
“Oh, no. They like to have sex with each other, too. We are all
much happier this way. They live in their own separate zone. When a
male child is born, he is given to his father to raise. We feed our
babies with bottles, like Ragan told you, and take great care of them.
Often our nobyos help us with our babies. Girls are raised with their
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
23
mothers. We use males for sex, and most Tygerian males have
nobyos. They are all aliens we have captured from other planets.”
“Captured from other planets? You mean in raids?”
“Yes. We have long made raids to find our nobyos. It would not
be seemly to use each other. It is a sign of submission and subjugation
to allow yourself to be made a nobyo. The Tygerian males cannot
allow that.” He shrugged. “So we must go to other planets. Earth has
the best-looking ones. All of the warriors who fought with you found
one. Oh, except for one or two who got too excited in the arena and
were injured with their own knives.” He shrugged as if the lives of his
men were unimportant.
“So this is it? I live here now and get used for sex by your
brother?”
“Hmm. No, not exactly. Ragan must now train you for the next
Exhibition. It will be the Hunt. If you survive, then you can live here
and be his nobyo forever.”
“The Hunt? What the hell is that?”
“Ragan will explain.” Lothan stood up and picked up the tray to
put it on a table in the room. “Come now, you must be bathed. You
are very dirty and smell bad.”
“Thanks a lot,” Donovan grumbled, but he knew Lothan spoke the
simple truth. The surviving men of his starship had been kept in filthy
cages for two weeks, not even allowed out to use the bathroom. He
had no doubt he was very ripe indeed.
Lothan led him to the bath area, a large square pool in a separate
room filled with steaming water that flowed in from one end of the
pool through an opening in the wall and out on the other side, always
ensuring a fresh supply. There were low shelves on the sides to sit on.
Lothan helped him take off his loincloth and assisted him into the
shallowest end. Donovan had to sit on a lower step, as the shelves
weren’t the right height, but soon he was immersed except for his
hands in the blissfully steamy water. Lothan bathed him
disinterestedly, using a sponge to smooth soap over his body and then
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helping him to rinse it off. He even shampooed his hair for him. When
he was finished, Lothan surveyed his work.
“The rest must wait for Ragan. At least I have you clean enough
so that Ragan can touch you if he chooses.”
The hell he can. Donovan was growing increasingly uneasy about
this whole thing. What the hell would he do if Ragan came at him?
He’d fight him if he had to, and then what? Once Ragan knew he
wouldn’t accept him as a sex partner, would he discard him? Send
him back to the arena? If Ragan raped him, he would find a way to
kill him. He might be able to get used to the idea of having sex with
the beautiful alien bastard eventually, if he were kind and gentle with
him and gave him some time. But rape was a different story. The idea
of rape made him shudder.
Lothan dried him off and produced a clean loincloth for him to
wear. The loincloth consisted of a type of thong in the back with a
thin waistband and just a cloth covering the front. Donovan didn’t
really mind wearing the skimpy cloth. He’d never been overly modest
and was proud of his body. On the starship, every night when his
duties were done, he’d spent the hours until bedtime in the gym
working out. It was better than sitting around a bar, drinking and
losing his paycheck to one of the ever-present card games. As a result
of his time spent in the gym, his body was toned and muscular, his
muscles cut in sharp definition.
As they sat in the steamy room a bit longer, Lothan pulled a wide-
toothed comb through his hair to straighten all the tangles. Donovan
allowed him to help him because the kid seemed nice enough, and the
idea of further humiliation at Ragan’s hands was not appealing.
After his bath, Lothan took him back to his room, gave him
another drink of the medicine, and left him alone. His physical
condition must have been worse than he’d thought, or else the
medicine was working very quickly. His body ached all over. He
thought briefly of the other men who had fought in the arena with
him. He’d thought he’d heard some of their death cries, but he’d
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
25
wondered if many of them managed to survive as he had. Lothan had
just told him that all but “one or two” had found a master. He was
momentarily happy they had survived. But survived for what? A more
lingering torture? He closed his eyes wearily and allowed sleep to pull
him under.
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Shannon West
Chapter Two
What must have been a few hours later, Donovan awoke to late-
afternoon sun streaming in the windows. The bed was large and
comfortable, and he wondered if he’d be expected to share it with
Ragan. He shivered, thinking of the beautiful alien. He made him
furious and tried to humiliate him, but Donovan was intrigued by him.
Lothan’s words about his being a paramour came back to him,
filling him with apprehension, but he told himself Lothan must have
been mistaken. Surely he’d gotten the words mixed up. Perhaps he
wanted him as some kind of hostage. In his heart, he knew that he
wasn’t important enough for that role, but it kept his stomach from
feeling so full of butterflies. He sat up, intending to go to the
bathroom, and discovered that he felt sick and weak when he wasn’t
lying prone. It must be the medicine, he thought idly, and shook his
head to clear it. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up,
a low moan escaping his lips as his feet hit the floor and the room
spun out of control. He took a deep breath and got to his feet with
determination. He made it about halfway across the room before the
room began to slide, and he tilted on his feet. Just before he hit the
floor he felt strong arms go around his waist, steadying him, and he
breathed in sharply in surprise. Ragan! He’d moved so quietly
Donovan had never heard him come in.
He turned to look up over his shoulder at him and saw his exotic,
handsome face looming over him. Sweeping Donovan up in his arms
as if he weighed nothing, he carried him into the bathroom and
deposited him by the trough. Feeling the heat rising up to his cheeks,
Donovan thought nothing could be any more embarrassing than being
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
27
picked up like a child and carried to the bathroom. Then to his horror,
Ragan proved him wrong by pulling up the thin piece of cloth
covering his cock and taking his dick firmly in hand, pointing it down
toward the trough. He jumped and tried to bat his hands away, but a
loud growl in his ear made him stand still, irritated at himself for
being intimidated so easily. If only he weren’t so tired and dizzy.
Biting his lip and looking down, Donovan emptied his bladder and
made another move to shake the alien off him. Instead, Ragan again
picked him up and carried him in his arms back to the bed, setting him
in the middle of it.
“Uh…thanks,” Donovan said uncomfortably. “That medicine is
making me pretty woozy.”
“The medicine will heal you. You need it. The guards treated you
very badly in the cages before the Exhibition. In another day or so,
you’ll be able to take off the splints.”
Donovan shrugged, at a loss for anything else to say. Since it
seemed Ragan expected him to say something else, he angled a look
up at his exotic features. “You seem to speak my language well
enough. How did you know my birth parents spoke English and not
Earthonian or some other Earth language?”
Ragan gazed at him steadily. “We had cameras in your cages and
watched you in your captivity. The programs received very good
ratings, I understand. Spectators could choose which cage to watch
exclusively if they wished. Yours was one of the most popular.”
Donovan thought his humiliation couldn’t get much worse. He
wondered how much further he had to go.
“I watched you often. Once I decided you would be perfect as my
nobyo, I renewed my long-ago study of your language my father
taught me. I was out of practice when we first spoke, but I am getting
better.”
Better, hell, he spoke more fluently now than Donovan himself.
Obviously he was more than just a quick learner. Donovan thought
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back to stories of the brilliance and near-photographic memory of
these people. Obviously some if not all of the stories had been correct.
Ragan surprised him then by sitting beside him on the bed. He
picked up one of the splints in his massive hand and held it with
surprising gentleness. Slowly he began pulling the splints from
Donovan’s wrists, occasionally glancing up to look in his eyes.
“When we fought…” Ragan seemed to be frustrated, searching for
words. “The people wanted violence, and would not settle for less.
When I decided to spare your life and take you from the arena,
this”—he held up the splint—“became necessary.” Donovan nodded.
“I was so afraid you wouldn’t understand what I was saying to
you, but you’re very bright, nobyo. You understood right away, and
played the game well. It gives me great hope for the next stage of the
Games.”
“What stage would that be, exactly?”
Ragan shook his head. “Let’s discuss it when you’re feeling
better. It will be my duty to get you ready—to prepare you to be
successful in the Games. We may have to resort to certain subterfuges
again, Donovan. So many of your men survived the arena, my people
were left still wanting blood.”
He tried to understand what Ragan was telling him. Donovan had
been aware the crowd in the arena had reached a fever pitch, and they
were crying for bloodshed. Perhaps if Ragan and the others had
merely carried the humans from the circle, they might not have been
allowed to leave. Instead, Ragan was probably correct in feeling he
had to put on a show for the crowd, pretending to break some of
Donovan’s bones. Perhaps carrying him around the ring and spanking
his ass had been necessary, too, to get the crowd on his side. It didn’t
make Donovan like the idea any better. Ragan felt he had to turn the
crowd’s mood from bloodthirsty to amused and playful, and while it
had been humiliating and painful for Donovan, it had also probably
saved his life.
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
29
“If you were going to take the splints from my hands anyway,
why didn’t you do it in the bathroom?”
Ragan smiled at him. “Because I wanted to touch you.”
Donovan opened and closed his mouth, trying to decide if he
wanted to throttle the man or kiss him. He wondered where that last
thought came from. Undoubtedly, Ragan was a beautiful young male.
His eyes, in particular, were attractive to Donovan, the green-gold
color seeming to change depending on his mood.
Ragan stood up and pulled him to his feet. “We go outside now.
Go for ride.”
“Go for a ride? But where? Where are we going?” Sudden fear
struck Donovan and he thought perhaps it had been only a respite.
Now Ragan was taking him for execution. He pulled back, all his
former courage deserting him.
Ragan turned his head to look at him strangely. “Just a ride,
nobyo. For pleasure. You must learn about your new world. Come.”
He held out a hand to Donovan, and he took it gingerly, following
behind him as he led him slowly from the room. He hated being
treated like a child, but he had to endure the small shit and save his
rage for the bigger adjustments. Like if this alien was really planning
on fucking him.
They went through a series of opulent rooms until they finally
reached a large glass door. Ragan led him through it into the soft
evening air, and for the first time since he’d arrived on this world, he
actually had an opportunity to look around him. This was a green
world, he thought with pleasure. Unlike Earth, which had become
mostly large urban areas of concrete and steel.
Here on Tygeria, the trees were lush and vividly green against a
sky of pearl gray. The clouds that constantly covered Tygeria allowed
for little direct sunlight, but it was enough to let the grass and foliage
run rampant over the ground with little attempt by the residents to
curb it or cut it back.
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Shannon West
The trees were massive, stretching high above him, and Donovan
took a deep, dizzying breath of the sweet air around him. A bit more
oxygen than on Earth, he remembered. He looked with delight at
Ragan, who looked steadily back at him.
“I will take you for a ride on one of my vetamis. They are
beautiful and difficult to tame, but I’ve had this one since I was a
young boy. It’s one of my favorite things to do, and I’d like to share it
with you. You will ride with me.”
Donovan nodded in hesitation. He had never heard of a vetami
and had no idea what one was. He wondered, too, why Ragan wanted
to share anything with him, but was willing to be agreeable as long as
he was being shown some civility.
Without further warning, Ragan gave an earsplitting whistle, and
Donovan heard the sound of heavy wings approaching. A huge
shadow passed overhead, and Donovan raised his head to see a bird of
prey of massive proportions sweeping down toward them.
Instinctively, he covered his head and crouched down, but he heard
the huge wings settling next to him. He raised his head to find Ragan
sitting astride the massive black bat-like creature, his legs around its
neck. He was holding out a hand to Donovan.
“We’ll ride.” He laughed out loud at the look on Donovan’s face
and raised an eyebrow. “Frightened, little warrior?”
Donovan shook his head proudly and straightened up, trying not
to flinch away as the beast shifted and cast a wild red eye toward him.
“Put your foot on the wing and hold up your arms. Come on!”
Not wanting to get anywhere close to the creature, he shook his
head. “You gotta be out of your fucking mind. I’m not going
anywhere close to that thing.”
Ragan frowned at him impatiently. “If I have to get off again to
make you come to me, I will, nobyo. Make no mistake, I expect you
to obey me. Vetamis are difficult to control. Come. Now!”
Donovan clenched his jaw, angry at Ragan’s tone and wanting to
tell him to go fuck himself. With his still-bruised body, however, he
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
31
knew he wouldn’t be much good in a fight, so reluctantly he stepped
forward, put a foot up on the wing that was resting on the ground, and
extended his arm toward Ragan. Ragan pulled him effortlessly up in
front of him and settled him on his thighs, putting both arms around
him. Ragan held onto a type of harness around the beast’s neck.
“Lean back,” Ragan ordered. “Hold on with your knees. Press
tightly.”
Donovan gripped the beast with his knees as best he could, but he
felt very uncomfortable sitting on Ragan’s thighs. There was only a
thong on his naked ass, and he could feel Ragan’s hot, enormous cock
burning through his own loincloth and against his flesh. Stubbornly,
he didn’t want to lean back against him, so he held himself upright,
gripping the beast’s feathers in his hands. That lasted only until they
took to the air.
Ragan yelled something to the creature, and it soared up toward
the sky with a hideous screeching sound. Donovan fell back in terror
against Ragan’s chest, his arms flailing. He’d never liked heights. It
seemed foolish for an airman to admit it, but it was true. Inside the
huge ship, he forgot most of the time that he was actually even
airborne. It was one reason he never liked to go anywhere near the
flight deck.
He closed his eyes, swaying dangerously, in imminent danger of
falling to his death. Immediately, a strong arm wrapped around his
waist, pulling him back against him and holding him tightly. Ragan
bent his head to whisper in Donovan’s ear, nonsense words to
Donovan, but the soft, reassuring sound made him calm down a bit. It
was another bit of tenderness Ragan had shown him, and he was
foolishly eager for every kindness. His time in the cages, waiting to
die, had been more traumatic, perhaps, than he had realized. He
leaned toward the mouth whispering in his ear and felt a soft kiss on
his temple.
Irrationally, it calmed him, and he managed to catch his breath
and open his eyes. The huge bat creature was flying over the forest,
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the giant treetops only inches beneath them. Far in the distance,
Donovan could see the mountains, purple in the waning light. They
flew for probably twenty minutes over the forests, and then Ragan
turned the creature around to head back. The dipping, banking motion
of the turn made his stomach flip over, and he thought he’d be sick.
Ragan spoke to him sternly.
“Take deep breaths, nobyo. Don’t look down—keep your eyes on
the horizon.”
Donovan did as he was told, and the nausea eased off some. He
sagged back against Ragan’s chest and felt the hand that was holding
him so tightly around the waist dip lower to the groin area just above
his cock. He massaged gently, and Donovan was amazed and
horrified to feel his traitorous cock rise in anticipation.
Donovan sat forward nervously and was pulled roughly back. “Do
not shy away from me, Donovan. I will touch any part of you I
choose. You are mine now.”
Donovan was filled with anger. He knew he should probably keep
his mouth shut—knew he was asking for trouble, but he was unable to
be quiet. “I am not yours. I ‘belong’ to no one!”
Ragan growled in his ear. Despite his best efforts, Donovan shook
in terror at the feral sound so close to his ear, and goose pimples
sprang up all over his body. Ragan made a move behind him, and the
bat creature dove for the ground just as Ragan removed his arm from
Donovan’s waist. Without the security of his arm, Donovan lost his
seat and his body flew upward. In that split second, he fully believed
he was about to die. Before he could rise more than a few inches from
Ragan’s lap, Ragan’s arm went tightly back around his waist, pulling
him down onto his thighs again.
“You are mine, beautiful one, and I will have you. Like this
animal, you need my guidance. Without it, you will die, nobyo. You
must learn to trust me. Trust that I will never let you go.”
Donovan sat back against his chest, breathing hard. Ragan sat
silently, his strong hands guiding the beast down to a surprisingly
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33
smooth landing. The creature simply touched down his feet and ran a
few steps before coming to a stop.
Ragan swung his leg over and jumped off, helping Donovan down
to stand beside him. Shaky, Donovan’s knees gave way a little, and
Ragan put his hands around his waist.
“This is not play, nobyo. The only reason you are still alive is
because I chose you in the arena. I chose you as my nobyo. Though
we take our nobyos from other humanoid species, since the war the
humans have become…unpopular. Most of my people despise
humans and are gleeful when they suffer humiliation. Do you
understand? That is the only reason you are still alive. They want to
witness the utter subjugation and humiliation of an Earth warrior.
They are hoping you won’t survive the Hunt. Quite literally they want
to see you fucked and abused. Hunted to your death. Do you
understand?”
Donovan nodded, but Ragan tipped his head back and made him
look directly into his eyes.
“Be sure you understand. Your pride is out of place now unless
you wish to die. Your situation has changed, and you must accept it.
If you can accept your new role and your new life here in Tygeria,
you can find great happiness. If you can’t, if you continue to fight
everything and everyone, I’m very afraid for you. I will not rape you.
Mating with me will be your decision. If you want to become my
nobyo, you will have to ask me to make love to you. It’s what I want,
Donovan. It’s what I’ve wanted since I first saw you on the closed-
circuit transmissions. But is that what you want? Do you want me to
make love to you? Or do you want me to let my people kill you?”
Donovan actually considered saying yes for a moment, but a
strong sense of survival still cried out within him. “No,” he said. “I–I
don’t want to die, but I…”
“If you cannot or will not cooperate, I will be forced to break
down your resistance. Make no mistake about that. I will break all of
your resistance along with your pride. Sooner or later, you will beg
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me to make love to you, and you will mean every word. I will become
the sun you orbit, and you will worship me with your body. Do you
understand?”
Did he really just say I would worship him with my body? Give me
a fucking break. What I understand is how arrogant you can be
sometimes, you striped bastard. But Donovan bit his lip and lied his
ass off. He nodded and said, “I understand. I’ll try.”
“Whether or not you want to admit it, I am your master. You
belong to me, and I won’t give you up. I like your bravery, and I like
the way you look. I want you permanently for my nobyo. And I’m
used to getting what I want. I must train you for the Hunt. If you can
survive this, you will live and be with me. For now I must give the
people what they want, so I will train you to survive. But though I
won’t rape you, make no mistake, nobyo, if I decide to touch you, I
will. You are mine now.”
Donovan understood only about half of what he was saying, but
he was too tired to argue. His eyelids had half closed out of sheer
exhaustion as Ragan spoke, so Ragan shook him none too gently
awake. “Listen to me, sweet one.”
“Sorry. Yes.”
“Until you learn to obey, you will answer me with words and not
shrugs and gestures. When you address me, you will call me Ragan-
lan. The suffix means ‘master’ in my language and will help you to
remember that your very life depends on how well you can learn from
me and obey my every command. We will begin training soon. You
were brave in the cages and in the arena. I watched you in the time
you were captive. I saw how unwilling you were to kill your own
comrades but how bravely you defended yourself when you had no
other choice. This is why, along with your beauty, I decided to save
you long before I entered the ring. But make no mistake. You have no
choice in this either. I hate humans, too, just like my people do. I have
made an exception for you. Do not prove me wrong.”
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
35
So he hates humans. Back at you, you alien fuck. You’ll wait a
long time for me to ask you to make love to me.
“You must be brave now. Your submission is not about weakness.
The ability to survive and subjugate your will to another is not an
ability every man has. I believe you have it and can learn to live on
my planet. Your pride is the only thing that will get in the way. It will
come between us, and I will allow nothing to do that. It is your
stubborn pride that I will strip from you. Do you understand? Only
then can you begin training.”
“I understand.” I understand you’ll try, asshole. Donovan saw his
eyebrows raise expectantly, and he prodded his sluggish tongue.
“Yes. Ragan-lan.”
Ragan released his grip on his hair. “Stand up and strip.”
Donovan cast his eyes downward. There wasn’t much to strip, but
he pulled the loincloth straps down his body and stepped out of them.
“From now on, you will always be naked in front of me when it is
only the two of us. Do you understand?”
He shrugged. He was pretty much naked in the loincloth anyway.
“One,” Ragan said quietly.
“What?”
“Two. That makes two times you have disobeyed me. I told you to
always answer me with words and always to address me as Ragan-
lan. Now I have had to repeat myself. I won’t do it again.”
“C’mon. I’m exhausted and half dead here.”
“Three.”
Donovan sighed loudly. “Three what? Uh…Ragan-lan.”
“Three repetitions of whatever punishment I decide to use on you.
I told you I mean to break you from your bad habits.”
“All right, Ragan-lan,” he replied cautiously.
Ragan smiled down at him. “Good. You are not quite as stupid as
I feared for a moment.” He led Donovan over to the bath. “Get in.”
“Okay. Ragan-lan.”
“Four. You’re being sarcastic.”
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Biting the inside of his mouth to keep from shouting at him, he
answered as meekly as he could instead. “Yes, Ragan-lan.” Inside he
was raging. One day—one day soon, damn it…
Donovan took the steps and walked into the steaming pool, the
water actually feeling good against the aching tension in his body.
“Soap yourself up and rinse. All over.”
Donovan nodded and then caught himself. He looked up with guilt
written all over his face. “Yes, Ragan-lan.”
“Five. Not quick enough.”
“Yes, Ragan-lan,” Donovan said, unable to keep a sulky pout
from his face, and he was sure he saw a tiny smile by the corners of
Donovan’s lips.
Donovan moved to soap himself, enjoying the warm, relaxing
water. He could get used to this. He rinsed by submerging himself
until Ragan told him to come back out of the pool.
“Yes, Ragan-lan,” he said automatically and climbed out. Ragan
used a huge towel to wrap him up and blot him thoroughly dry. Then
he threw the towel down on the floor of the chamber and picked him
up to carry him to the bed.
“I can walk, you know, Ragan-lan.”
“I like holding you,” he said, surprising Donovan.
Donovan’s heart began thumping out of control, “Yes, Ragan-
lan.” Why did this make his heart beat faster? He didn’t want this
alien to like him. Did he?
Ragan put him down and stretched his arms above his head,
“Now we go to bed.” He pulled off his clothing, and Donovan
caught one glimpse of a huge cock, incredibly long, but not as thick as
he would have imagined. Good thing, or it would have killed him for
sure. It was beautiful, and though he was no expert on men’s cocks,
he’d never seen anything like it. The head was almost totally black,
wedge shaped, and the entire shaft was covered in thin, black stripes,
not appearing to be under the skin like on the rest of his body. The
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37
hair covering his groin was as golden as the hair on his head. Muscles
rippled the length and breadth of his body.
“Yes, Ragan-lan,” Donovan said, surprised to find that he was
breathless.
He pulled Donovan up to the pillows and crawled in beside him.
“Come over next to me, nobyo. I want to hold you as I sleep.”
Donovan scooted over as close to him as he could, and Ragan
turned him to face away but pulled his body close so that his penis
was flush against Donovan’s ass. The heat from it was searing, and
Donovan could only gulp in terror. Or was it arousal? His own cock
was rigid and aching.
“Six,” he said sleepily, and Donovan groaned, realizing he hadn’t
answered him. He could hear the laughter rumbling in Ragan’s chest
as he closed his eyes and began to suffer through what promised to be
a very long and trying night.
* * * *
Ragan had a hard time going to sleep. Donovan’s sweet body felt
so good in his arms, and his cock ached and burned with wanting him.
He knew exactly when Donovan dropped that rigid control and
allowed his body to relax. He’d sagged a little, like a tired child, and
allowed Ragan to draw him closer to his body. Making him go naked
had only added to Ragan’s misery and didn’t seem to bother Donovan
in the least. Ragan sighed and rolled to his back, staring at the ceiling.
He vividly remembered the first time he’d seen Donovan on the
closed-circuit cameras in the arena holding rooms. The sponsors of
the Games decided to put cameras inside the holding areas with a
continuous feed, both as a way to further degrade the Alliance
prisoners and as a way to build interest in the coming gladiator
contest.
Ragan had been struck almost immediately by Donovan. Not only
was he the most beautiful captive to Ragan’s eyes, but he was also the
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bravest and most defiant. He didn’t necessarily bait the guards but
was always ready for them when they prodded them with sticks
through the bars or jeered at them like animals in their cages. Even in
defeat, he was magnificent.
Right away he made plans to personally fight him in the arena and
save his life. At the time he thought only to reward such audacity, but
when he actually saw him the night of the contest, he knew he had to
have him for his own.
Those exotic blue eyes had measured him carefully when he stood
across from him, but he’d saved his energy and didn’t respond to
Ragan’s feints and subterfuges, simply looking on while Ragan
played to the crowd. When Ragan finally attacked with his mace, he
tried to telegraph his intentions clearly and was proud of Donovan
when he easily outmaneuvered the attempt. Still, Ragan was afraid he
might hurt himself by doing something rash, so he’d whispered to him
to pretend he was hurt. The hoax had paid off, and he’d been able to
get him out of the killing arena still in one piece.
It was the next Game, however, that Ragan worried about the
most. Traditionally, this next deadly game killed fifty to seventy
percent of its participants. Somehow, he had to prepare Donovan to be
one of the survivors, so he could stay with him forever. The
alternative was quickly becoming unthinkable. Even though he’d
known him only a short time, he couldn’t bear the image of his body
still and cold in death.
Donovan would face Ragan again as his opponent in the next
Game, but this time the conflict would be deadlier, and the game
would be out of Ragan’s conscious control. His beast would take him
over, and his beast would try very hard to kill Donovan.
The only question was, how he could get Donovan to survive
despite the odds? He was so defiant and unyielding, making no secret
of his dislike for Ragan and all the Tygerians. If he could gain his
trust, and yes, his obedience, he might be able to gain his love as well.
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
39
Donovan’s complete faith in Ragan and his love for him were the
only ways to help Donovan defeat the beast.
The beast who would face Donovan wouldn’t recognize him or
have any desire other than to spill his blood unless a mating bond had
been formed. A mating bond would defy the change and render the
beast incapable of harming Donovan. In order for a mating bond to
form, however, Donovan must completely accept him as his master.
Donovan must totally give him his trust and his faith and his love.
Otherwise, the beast would sense it and destroy him.
The problem was, the more he pushed him, the more defiant and
resistant he was becoming. He’d looked at Ragan with something like
hatred earlier, and it was a knife twisting in his heart. Sometimes he
saw a look in Donovan’s eyes that made him think he was close to
giving up. He couldn’t allow that to happen. He had to reawaken that
fighting spirit in Donovan he’d fallen so much in love with.
The secret, Ragan believed, lay in gaining Donovan’s love. If he
could make Donovan return his love and give him a reason to survive,
a mating bond might be possible, even in the short time they had.
Donovan puzzled him a little. On one hand, he seemed to dislike
Ragan, but on the other, Ragan was sometimes surprised to see an
admiring look in his eyes, just a flash of attraction before he carefully
hooded his eyes again. Left to his own preferences, he thought
Donovan, like most of the other humans, would have preferred the
opposite sex. Yet he knew that on long space voyages when women
weren’t available, men often used each other’s bodies. Jealously, he
wondered if Donovan had taken one of the other prisoners as a lover.
The idea made him so unreasonably furious he pushed it away.
Ragan himself had other lovers, but he’d never before even
contemplated taking a nobyo. Nobyos were held in high esteem by his
people, and it was important to take care in choosing one. Ragan had
known Donovan would be perfect from the moment he saw him in the
arena.
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He’d promised him a punishment in the morning, but he had no
idea what that might be. He didn’t want to hurt him in any way, or
push him away even further, though he enjoyed teasing him and
watching those little blushes stain his cheeks. Perhaps a spanking,
though not to punish but to arouse him? The idea of spanking his
perfect little ass certainly made Ragan aroused.
If he could do it, if he could get Donovan to a high state of
arousal, it could possibly move their relationship along very quickly.
The sooner he became his willing lover, the better.
He rolled back toward him and pulled him closer, kissing the back
of his neck. Donovan sighed in his sleep and snuggled his ass into
Ragan’s crotch. Ragan rolled his eyes and moaned. His nobyo might
truly be the death of him. He would make him obey him and think of
him as his lover, his master. The mating bond must be forged, and
quickly, or else he could lose Donovan forever.
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
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Chapter Three
Donovan had slept badly. For one thing, Ragan had fondled him
all night long, keeping him in a constant state of arousal. For another,
about midway through the night, he began to worry about six
repetitions of a punishment carried out by this massive giant lying
next to him and wondered if he would even survive.
When Ragan awoke, he pulled Donovan’s head around to face
him and looked deeply into his eyes. “We’ll have your punishment
and get it out of the way, shall we?”
“I guess I have no choice.” As an afterthought he tacked on,
“Ragan-lan.”
Ragan sat up and stretched and then swung his legs over the side
of the bed. Donovan’s eyes fell to his huge erection. Was that for
him? The idea made his mouth go dry and his heart beat a little faster.
Ragan pulled out his communicator and spoke softly into it in
Tygerian. He turned back around and made himself comfortable by
leaning back against pillows stacked against the headboard. Then he
beckoned with one finger to Donovan. “Come here, nobyo.”
“Okay, uh…Ragan-lan.” Maybe if I obey quickly, he’ll go easier
on me. Shaking all over, hating himself for his fear, he crawled across
the bed to Ragan, who grabbed him under the arms and hauled him
over to him. Then Ragan put him firmly over his lap facedown.
Donovan’s naked cock rubbed against Ragan’s. He squirmed
uncomfortably.
A spanking, of course. Humiliating and painful. He had no doubt
that six swats from Ragan’s powerful hands would be enough to
permanently cripple him, unless he pulled his punches. A lot.
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Ragan ran his hand slowly, sensuously down Donovan’s back and
over the cleft of his ass. “Are you ready, little one?”
“I doubt it, Ragan-lan.” He hated how his voice cracked, but he
was powerless to stop it.
“Be still. I don’t want to hurt you. Try to relax, sweet one.”
Relax? Was he kidding?
Ragan stroked his ass for what seemed like a very long time.
Donovan couldn’t help wondering if this was some kind of new
torture he’d thought up for him. His fingers slipped into the crevice
between his cheeks and found his entrance. Slowly, he circled it with
his fingers, causing Donovan to groan and squirm.
“You have a beautiful backside, little human, plump and white.
This little hole is beautiful, too, so pink and tight. It pleases me that
it’s tight, nobyo. I would have you the first time all for myself.” He
slowly massaged the rim as Donovan grew harder. He knew Ragan
could feel his rock-hard cock against his groin. It had to be as
uncomfortable for him as it was for Donovan.
“Have you ever had a spanking, Donovan?”
“No, Ragan-lan,” Donovan gritted between his teeth. “Not since I
was a child.” Considering his rather vulnerable position, he fought to
keep the sarcasm from his voice. Why did the question in that low
sexy voice of Ragan’s arouse him so much? He moved around a bit,
trying to get more comfortable. He was lying across Ragan’s lap on
the bed, and the position wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, just
embarrassing. If only his stupid cock wouldn’t get so hard. Did some
perverse part of him like this? What was the matter with him?
“Do you think you’ll like it?” Ragan’s comment was so much like
his thoughts he jerked in surprise, wondering if he’d spoken aloud for
a moment.
“I–I don’t want to be hurt, Ragan-lan.”
A little slap came down on his butt cheeks and Donovan flinched.
It hadn’t hurt, not really, only startled him. “That was one, darling.”
With one hand Ragan massaged the place his slap had landed, while
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43
the other hand slid back to stroke his rim. Ragan opened his thighs
slightly to give Donovan’s cock more room. “Did it hurt you?”
“No, Ragan-lan,” he said hoarsely.
“Do you think you could ever climax just from a spanking alone,
Donovan?”
Donovan groaned aloud and let his head drop to the mattress
beneath him. “No, Ragan-lan. Please.”
“Please what, sweet one? Please do it again?”
Another light slap fell on his cheeks. “Two, baby.” The light
caresses to his ass were going straight to his cock, making the shaft
harden even more and press against Ragan’s bare leg. Donovan took a
deep, shuddering breath.
Without any warning, all the air he’d managed to drag into his
chest came out with a surprised yelp. Ragan’s hand had come down
sharply on his ass, and pain shot through him. He half turned in
Ragan’s lap and looked up over his shoulder into Ragan’s eyes,
finding him concentrating deeply on every expression flitting over
Donovan’s face. Right away, his hand began to massage the abused
flesh, first rubbing and then lightly stroking his skin.
“That was three, Donovan.” He made no move to pull Donovan
back into position. Donovan had the feeling that if he wanted to get
up, Ragan wouldn’t stop him. His eyes were glowing at him warmly
and Donovan wasn’t the only one with a huge erection. Donovan
moved a little, adjusting himself so his aching cock could rub against
Ragan’s thighs. It felt so wonderful, he almost closed his eyes and
moaned in relief. Suddenly, this spanking morphed into something
else entirely. This was a love game they were playing, and Donovan
knew it. He suddenly knew with clarity that if he decided to get up
and end this, Ragan wouldn’t say a word. The choice was his.
He made his decision and settled himself back on Ragan’s lap,
squirming his ass a little more than was absolutely necessary to see
Ragan’s reaction. Ragan closed his eyes and drew in his breath
sharply. Donovan lay his head back down, beginning to enjoy his
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spanking, if for no other reason than to torture Ragan. Donovan
rocked his body against Ragan’s legs, almost dry-humping him.
Another quick slap was his reward as Ragan choked out the word,
“Four.” Donovan felt the heat from the slap building all the way
through him, and his head reeled with so many emotions he couldn’t
catch hold of any one. He rocked his hips harder, and Ragan’s hand
came back to caress and massage his rim. Ragan reached beneath his
body and his thumb swiped across the slit on the head of Donovan’s
cock. He spread the drops of pre-cum gently over his hole, sliding in
one fingertip.
Donovan jerked his head back as another slap landed. “Five.”
Ragan’s hand caressed the skin on his ass and moved back to give his
attention to Donovan’s entrance. Donovan found he was raising his
ass higher in the air, craving more, then slamming back down to get
relief for his throbbing cock. Ragan stuck in another fingertip and
pushed it in and out slowly while Donovan made whimpers of
pleasure he’d never heard himself make before. “Six,” and as the slap
landed, Ragan pushed his finger deeper inside and touched a spot that
made Donovan scream and buck his hips as cum shot from his cock
and spurted between Ragan’s legs. As the fireworks exploded inside
his head, he collapsed forward onto Ragan’s lap, feeling boneless and
incapable of forming a complete thought.
Ragan pulled him up to lie beside him as they both tried to get
their breathing under control.
A servant knocked softly on the door and stepped in as Ragan
drew the covers over their bodies. He brought food on a tray, and
Ragan sat up, stretching out on his back to watch the servant place the
tray on the bed. He leaned forward to pull off the tops of various
dishes and gazed down at them. He waited until the servant left and
put a hand on Donovan’s leg.
“When I eat, you will sit beside me,” Ragan said, gesturing at the
floor, “so I can feed you from my hand.”
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45
Surprised, Donovan sat up and raised his eyebrows. “Like a
fucking child? I thought Lothan was feeding me because of the splints
on my hands. They’re gone now, and I don’t need anybody’s help to
eat. I’ve been doing just fine on my own for a while now.”
Ragan sighed deeply. “One. You have hardly finished one
punishment before you start on another. Perhaps you really are too
stubborn to be trained, as the others warned me. Or else you enjoy
your spankings. I promise you, nobyo, you will tire of punishment
long before I do. Come over and sit by me. At once.”
“Fuck. You. Ragan-lan!”
He turned, grabbing Donovan by his arm and dragging him across
the bed and to the floor to sit beside him. “That’s two. You will learn
to take everything from me that I give you, Donovan. You have to
trust me and learn that I am the only one you can rely on to care for
you.”
Donovan thought it over for a long moment. He hated all of this.
He wanted to be defiant and fight him. Why not let Ragan kill him
and get it over with? He looked longingly at the knife on the breakfast
tray.
“You want to use that on me, sweet one?” Ragan picked it up and
held it out to him. “Go ahead. Give it your best try.”
Donovan hesitated, knowing it was useless. He didn’t want to use
a knife on Ragan, no matter how angry he was at him right now.
“Not so sure after all, nobyo? I give you one more chance to
accept me so I can feed you this breakfast. I think you know what will
happen if you don’t, baby. I have plenty of bottles.”
“All right, all right.” Donovan shot him a filthy look. “Ragan-
lan.”
“That makes three, I think, by the way, or maybe four,” he said,
chewing his food. “Don’t give me dirty looks, nobyo. It is
disrespectful.”
Donovan sat by his side on the floor fuming, refusing to look up at
him. After a few minutes, he was aware that Ragan had finished his
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breakfast and now was prepared to feed him his. “Nobyo. Open your
mouth, and look at me.”
“No, thank you, Ragan-lan.”
“Five. You are not allowed to say no to me. Now open your
mouth.”
“Ragan-lan. Please. Explain to me why I have to do this.”
Ragan looked down at him sternly. “It should be enough that I tell
you to.”
“I know, Ragan-lan. And I swear to the gods I am trying to obey.
If you could just please tell me why I have to do this. It would help
me if I understood. Please, Ragan-lan.”
“That’s six, of course. And the reason is the same reason I have
already explained to you. You must take everything from me, so you
can learn to trust me and rely on me for everything. False pride is not
anything you need, nobyo. Not with me. Losing it is not the same as
losing your bravery and your courage. Those are the things that drew
me to you and the reason I spared your life and took you as my
nobyo. You will still have your courage, and you’ll need that on the
Hunt. I would never take it from you. It’s the stubbornness that must
be taken away. The idea that you alone know best. You have to learn
that I will care for you and give you what you need, too. When the
next Game comes, your life may depend on following my directions
as well as your instincts. By taking food from my hand, you show me
that you trust me. I only want to protect you. And feed you. I own
you, nobyo. This false pride only acts as a barrier. Open your mouth,
and take the food from my hand. It is my right as your master to feed
you and care for you.”
Donovan still felt resentful, but at least the explanation made
some kind of twisted sense. I hate this shit, though, and I hate this
planet more every day. I have to get out of here.
“I will eat from your hand, Ragan-lan.” He managed to choke out
the words, but he knew the food would stick in his throat.
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47
Ragan broke off a piece of the meat he’d been eating and held it to
his lips. Donovan opened his mouth and accepted it, chewing slowly.
Ragan fed him dispassionately, making no comment but watching
him closely.
“Eat more slowly, and keep your eyes on mine at all times. I want
to look at you.”
Donovan almost choked at the words. Sitting there staring up at
him like some lovesick idiot while he slowly chewed his food made
him so furious he almost choked on every bite. By the end of the
meal, though, he was mortified to find his cock was as hard as a brick
again. Damn it, how can he have this effect on me? I’m not like that.
Especially with him! I always liked women more than men. Then why
is your cock so hard? Maybe you like sexy aliens. You do like the way
Ragan looks, and deep down you know it. Maybe, considering what
happened with him this morning, it’s not even all that deep.
Donovan had been with plenty of men, of course. Soldiers who
went on long voyages with few women on board used each other for
sex, and Donovan was no exception. He’d never had anal intercourse,
though, and had always been on the receiving end of any oral contact.
The fact that he was attracted to Ragan’s beauty and strength made
him uneasy. After this morning, there was no doubt Ragan would
demand anal intercourse, and the idea that Ragan was anything but a
top was ludicrous.
Ragan noticed Donovan’s hard cock right away, of course.
Donovan was naked and sitting right in front of him, after all. There
was no way he could miss it. His golden-green eyes narrowed as he
looked down at Donovan’s cock. He motioned for Donovan to stand.
When he did, Ragan put his hands on his hips and drew him in
between his legs.
“You are very beautiful, nobyo. When you ask me to, I will suck
your beautiful cock for you. Would you like that?”
“I–I…” Donovan closed his eyes and swayed between his thighs.
He could feel his resolve weakening. Why not just admit the truth that
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had been growing since he’d first seen Ragan? He did want him. But
if he told him, he’d be giving in, and he wasn’t ready for that.
“I don’t know, Ragan-lan.”
“Open your eyes and look at me, nobyo.”
Donovan looked directly into his eyes. “Ragan-lan? I feel very
confused, and I need help. Can I tell you that without you counting
again?”
“You can always ask me for help, nobyo. Why are you confused?”
“I–I’m attracted to you, even though most of the time, I’m angry
and furious at you. I even want to…uh…well, I sometimes have not
exactly…um…loving thoughts about you.” He risked a quick glance
at Ragan’s face. Ragan looked back at him stoically.
“I’m sorry, but I’m trying to be honest.” Donovan had dropped his
head as he spoke, but now he raised his head to look directly at him.
“But sometimes…sometimes, Ragan-lan, I feel…like I’ve never felt
before. Like now, Ragan-lan. I feel…like I never wanted to feel about
you.”
Ragan was regarding him closely. He bent over and put his
fingertips on Donovan’s cock. Dragging his fingers slowly up and
down, he stroked Donovan’s already rock-hard penis. Donovan’s
knees grew weak and he sagged a bit, but Ragan held him up by his
hands on Donovan’s hips. “Go on, Donovan. Finish. You were telling
me you are confused and asked for my help. You feel…?”
“I–I’m having trouble saying it. Could you ask me that question
again?”
Ragan looked amused. He moved his hands to Donovan’s hips
and rubbed his thumbs along the sides. “I asked you if you would like
me to suck your beautiful cock for you. But you have to ask me to do
it, nobyo. You have to say the words.”
Donovan felt his cock grow even harder, if that were possible.
Ragan’s eyes bored into his, almost hypnotic in their intensity.
Donovan bit his lip and took a deep breath. “Will you…will you…oh,
gods!”
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Ragan sat silently, still rubbing his thumbs up and down slowly.
“Will you suck my cock, Ragan-lan?” Donovan felt a slow blush
crawl up from his toes and travel all the way to his hairline.
“Yes, Donovan.” Ragan looked at him gravely. “I will.”
Donovan’s breath hitched in his throat. He looked up with shining
eyes at Ragan’s face. His face really was beautiful when it was in
repose like this, and he was being gentle. His cheekbones were high
just below those golden cat-eyes. The stripes on his face were very
faint, just barely visible beneath his golden skin. They ran across his
cheeks up toward his temples, and Donovan reached out to trace them
with his finger. The first time he’d willingly touched Ragan. He
wanted his hands on him so much.
“You will?” Donovan asked, his voice tremulous.
“Yes, little human. I will.” He bent his head and kissed the tip of
Donovan’s cock. “Just as soon as you can go one full day without my
having to discipline you. And that was eight, by the way, for not
addressing me as Ragan-lan. I didn’t count the other times when you
were asking for my help, because I am kind.”
Donovan sputtered. Just sputtered. He’d heard the word before
and never knew exactly what it meant until now, but it meant a
strange, choking sound mixed with a spitting noise coming from his
mouth. Rage swept over him, actually making him feel weak with its
intensity. After he humbled himself to ask for the bastard’s help! Help
to ask him to suck my fucking cock! He tried to pull away in anger, but
Ragan’s hands were locked on his hips and his thumbs bit down into
Donovan’s skin as he struggled.
“Be still!” he said sharply.
His chest heaving, he refused to look into his face again. “Sure
thing, Ragan-lan.”
“Stop being so stubborn and proud, nobyo. I’ve told you there is
no place for it between me and you. You know I want to suck your
sweet cock. You know I think you’re beautiful, and this is as difficult
for me as it is for you. Do you not think I would like to take you now
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and make love to you all day long? I can’t do that until I know I have
not failed you by bringing about your death. I can’t overlook your
insubordination just because I want to mate with you. You have to be
trained to trust me with all that you are, to know I am consistent and
fair in my dealings with you. You must think that I alone know what
is best for you, so I will choose even the food you eat.
“I must become the one you call master, and this title must be
freely given. Only then can our bond be made. When you trust me
that much, we can enjoy each other every day.”
“Yes, Ragan-lan.” He could barely choke out the words. He knew
Ragan was speaking to him and tried to listen above the roaring in his
ears.
Ragan shook him. “Listen to me! Stop being so angry, little
warrior! I will fail you if I don’t secure your absolute obedience. I
will fail you if you don’t learn to think of me as your master—if you
ever forget it, no matter what. Your life will depend on your listening
to me and following my commands. The people want you dead, little
human. You’ll only be safe if you survive the Hunt. If I don’t manage
to gain your trust, to make you feel I am everything to you, I could
lose you forever, and I will not allow that. You are my nobyo and I’ve
waited for you for a long time. I refuse to lose you for any reason.”
“All right, Ragan-lan.”
“One day without any discipline, nobyo. Can you not do that for
me? For us? If you can do this one thing for me, everything can be
different between us. I can finally show you how much I…how I care
for you. How much I love you.” He reached up and caressed
Donovan’s cheek. The traitorous feelings swept back over him, and
Donovan leaned into the caress. “I can train you for the Hunt and
know that you will be able to survive for me, and the beast will never
touch you.”
Donovan raised his eyes to the golden-green ones gazing so
intently down at him. “The beast? Who exactly will be hunting me in
this game?”
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“I will, nobyo. I will be in my beast, and I will do my very best to
kill you.”
Donovan almost reeled in shock. It was the last thing he expected
to hear. Ragan, this powerful warrior, would be trying his best to kill
him?
“I–I don’t understand. I thought you said you wanted me for your
nobyo, your lover. Why would you try to kill me?”
“Because if I don’t try, if I allow you to win and you don’t win on
your own merits, then my entire family and all my estate is forfeit.
The state would kill them all, Donovan, and no matter how much I
want you, I can’t allow that to happen. The only way out, the only
way I can protect you, is to make you my true mate. We must form a
bond between us that is so strong, nothing could ever come between
us.”
* * * *
The rest of the day was spent quietly, with Lothan coming in late
in the afternoon to help him learn to speak the Tygerian language for
a couple of hours while Ragan left on “business.” When Donovan
questioned the type of business, Lothan looked at him oddly and
shook his head.
“Ragan-lan will tell you what he needs you to know.”
Donovan glared at him, but Lothan was unimpressed, just
grinning back at him. “If you don’t learn this lesson, perhaps he will
spank your butt again.”
“Yeah, well, perhaps I will spank yours!” Donovan play-wrestled
with him for a moment and was able to actually hold his own for
about thirty seconds before he wound up on his back with his arms
pinned. They were both laughing when Donovan heard Ragan’s deep
voice behind them.
“Get off him, Lothan, you’ll hurt him. You are much stronger than
he is.”
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They sprang apart as if they’d been caught doing something
wrong, and although it was true that Donovan was smaller even than
the much younger Lothan, Donovan was irritated by the idea that
Ragan thought Lothan would hurt him. He wasn’t a fragile child.
Though I guess to him I must seem like it.
For most of the day after Ragan had gone, Donovan had tried to
wrap his mind around what he’d told him. Ragan would be the one to
hunt him down and try to kill him. Ragan, this beautiful, young,
powerful warrior almost twice his size. He would change to some
kind of beast, he said. A tiger, like the rumors he had heard?
Whatever it was, Donovan didn’t want to think about it right now. He
knew he didn’t stand a chance.
Yet he still had to try. He would train and listen to whatever
Ragan told him to do, and he wouldn’t give up. He wondered what the
“true mate” business was about. He’d tried to get Ragan to explain
more about it, but he’d refused, saying it wasn’t the time yet to talk
about it.
If it meant having sex with the alien, then he could do that. No
sense in denying his attraction to Ragan, even if he thought he was
too bossy and too dominant. Part of him was attracted to that
dominance. He was trained as a military man, and he knew it wasn’t a
sign of weakness to give your loyalty and obedience to a superior
officer, so long as you trusted that officer to do the right thing—to
know the right thing and make the hard decisions. Did he trust Ragan
in that way?
Not yet. Not completely. If he gave his allegiance, even his
submission, to someone, he had to know the person he gave it to
would know what to do with it. He had to know that his master would
put his needs above anything else, even his own. Mostly he decided
not to worry about it for now. He’d learned long ago not to worry
about things he couldn’t change. So he’d put it out of his mind for
now. Worrying over the situation wouldn’t change a thing.
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He glanced guiltily at the time device on the wall. It was late
afternoon, and he’d learned very little of the Tygerian language so far.
He’d never been good with languages, and this one was so alien with
its many pops and clicks of the tongue he thought he’d never be able
to master it or even come close to understanding it.
“That will be all, Lothan. Thank you. What have you learned of
my language so far, Donovan?” Ragan asked, stretching out on the
lounging chair in the bedroom.
“I can count to ten.”
“Excellent. You can practice on counting up your punishments.
That one was nine, I believe.”
“Shit!” He clapped his hand over his mouth as soon as the word
left his lips, but Ragan smiled. “Ten. You’re doing well. What is ten
in Tygerian, nobyo?”
“Nee-lo, I think, Ragan-lan.”
“Come over here, and sit by me.”
“Yes, Ragan-lan.” You jerk. Donovan crossed over to sit on the
wide chair next to him, taking off his loincloth on the way now that
Ragan had dismissed Lothan. He didn’t want another punishment for
forgetting. He was becoming so used to being naked it barely
bothered him anymore anyway.
Absently, Ragan put his arm around him and ran his fingers
through his hair. “Have you given any thought to our conversation
this morning, nobyo?”
“Yes, Ragan-lan.”
“And what have you decided?”
“I want to trust you, Ragan-lan.”
“Do you have any idea how you’ll manage that, Donovan?”
Donovan decided to be honest. “No fucking clue, Ragan-lan.”
Ragan laughed out loud. “I will help you. The people have been
asking about you. I want them to see you, so they will know you and
start to admire you. Soon then, I can start your training. Tomorrow’s
council session will be televised. I will take you with me tomorrow to
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keep an eye on you and help you if I can. You will stand behind my
chair and say nothing all day. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Ragan-lan.”
“And if you fidget or make noise, I will punish you.”
No doubt. “I won’t, Ragan-lan.”
“You might be uncomfortable from your punishment tomorrow
morning. If you feel you can no longer stand, touch me on the
shoulder, and I will call for a break.”
“Yes, Ragan-lan.” Gods, is it going to be so bad I won’t be able to
stand? Huge butterflies began clamoring to get out of his stomach.
Servants walked in bearing food trays, and for the next hour
Ragan alternately ate his dinner or fed Donovan pieces from his plate,
even making Donovan lick his fingers when he was finished.
Donovan’s licks seemed to make Ragan’s eyes glow brighter, and it
certainly made Donovan’s cock sit up and take notice too. Whore!
He’s going to do something to punish you in the morning. But no
matter how much he berated it, his stupid cock remained interested.
Ragan dropped his hand to touch Donovan’s cock and gave him a
hard look. “You’d better not make me give you any more
punishments after tomorrow’s discipline, nobyo.”
“Yes, Ragan-lan. I’ll try not to.”
“Tomorrow morning you will have your ten repetitions, and we
will leave after that. You’ll be starting with a clean slate. However,
the punishment tomorrow will be worse than the spanking today. In
fact, they will grow progressively worse for every day you continue
this stubbornness. This cannot continue!”
“May I ask what tomorrow’s punishment will be, Ragan-lan?”
“I will beat you with a silken flogger. On your shoulders, back,
and ass.” Silken? Well, that doesn’t sound too bad. Must be a catch.
And then I have to stand behind his chair all day. Should be enough to
do me in nicely.
“Yes, Ragan-lan.” Donovan wasn’t sure if that last response was
even necessary, but just in case Ragan did, it was better to be safe
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than risk another repetition. His mind kept drifting back to the
promise of that silken flogger. What the hell could that be?
“Go to bed now, nobyo. You need your rest for tomorrow.”
“Yes, Ragan-lan.” Gods, I sound like a goddamned broken record.
Donovan stood up quickly and got into bed. Put to bed like a child
again, but he was almost glad. He needed to get some space away
from Ragan.
Donovan lay awake for a long time, his mind uneasy. It was so
hard to believe that just weeks before, he’d been a starship soldier,
fighting these same aliens for the Alliance. Would he ever escape this
half-life he had here on Tygeria? He was not quite a slave, yet he was
certainly not free. He didn’t know if he could keep this up much
longer, being punished and intimidated and hell, even seduced in a
crazy kind of way by Ragan. Beautiful, exotic Ragan, who treated
him not like a man, but like a kind of child at best. Yet what was his
alternative?
He didn’t even know if the other men who fought with him that
last time in the arena were still alive. Perhaps they rebelled against
their “masters” and were killed for their resistance. Most likely some
were dead, and their bodies thrown on some garbage heap. He didn’t
want to end up that way. The Tygerians reviled the humans and
wanted them all destroyed. None of them had ever really stood a
chance once they entered captivity. From the sound of this Hunt, at
least he’d be able to go out fighting.
An hour or so later, he felt Ragan slip into bed beside him, and
immediately he pulled Donovan’s body over to him, threw his leg
over his, and wrapped an arm around his waist. Donovan knew what
would follow, and he wasn’t disappointed. Ragan’s large warm hand
reached down between his legs to cup his balls and gently massage
and handle them. His hand then moved to Donovan’s cock, just
holding it as it throbbed in his hand, while Ragan’s huge, burning-hot
cock rubbed against him from behind. Donovan wondered if this was
as torturous to Ragan as it was to him. The past two mornings
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Donovan had awakened to find he’d had wet dreams during the night.
Like a fucking kid!
Soft kisses landed on his neck and trailed around to his ear. Ragan
whispered in his ear in Tygerian. Donovan had no idea what he was
saying, but it was soft and sweet and sexy as hell.
How could he be so gentle and good to him now while he planned
to beat him ruthlessly in the morning? While he contemplated killing
him on this Hunt in the near future? Ragan’s mind was truly as alien
to Donovan as his exotic skin. Donovan lay as still as he could,
hoping Ragan would think he was asleep. He hated him, though he
thought he was beautiful. No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t hate him at
all, and he had to admit it. Damn, I’m attracted to him. I crave his
hands on me. Am I falling in love with him?
Gods, what am I going to do?
* * * *
The next morning followed the same pattern as the morning
before. Ragan woke up a few minutes after Donovan. He stretched
and turned to face him. “Good morning, nobyo. We’ll have your
punishment and get it out of the way, shall we? First go to the toilet
room.”
Donovan got up wearily, his feet dragging, and went in to stand
by the trough to empty his bladder. He came back to find Ragan
standing naked in the middle of the room holding a whip with long,
supple strands hanging from it. They were wide and looked to be
made of something like silk.
“Drink this medicine. It will help you later to relax and focus only
on me.” He held out a small bottle and a glass of water, which
Donovan accepted gratefully. Anything to help, although why he
needed to focus on Ragan, he couldn’t quite figure out. He’d seen the
so-called whip, and it really didn’t look like anything to worry about.
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But he’d been fooled before on this planet, so he was learning to take
nothing for granted.
“Come over here and brace your arms on the wall. Don’t fight it,
little warrior. I would have to restrain you then. Be strong, and don’t
try to resist the feelings that will come over you. It will be over soon.
I believe your count was ten?”
Donovan walked slowly over to him and leaned into the wall.
Damn, could he make himself do this? Stand here and allow someone
to flog him with a whip? Even one made with silken strands? And
what damn feelings was he supposed to not resist? What was Ragan
talking about?
Donovan knew he had to stop resisting Ragan. All he had to do
was cooperate, and Ragan said this shit would stop. It was wrecking
his nerves. It had to stop, because if it didn’t, he really would be
broken in mind and spirit. He made a vow to himself to get through
this and make Ragan think he’d broken his pride. At least it would
stop this abuse, and who gave a shit about pride when you were
getting your ass kicked? Well, technically, he’d only had it mostly
rubbed yesterday, but still…
“I don’t suppose it would do any good to ask you not to do this?”
At Ragan’s silence, Donovan sighed deeply. “Yes, Ragan-lan. The
count was ten.”
The first silken strands landed across his shoulders, but it was not
at all the hard blow he feared it would be. It felt more like soft fingers
that brought him heat but no real pain. He looked back over his
shoulder, surprised, but thought possibly Ragan had been pulling his
blows. The next one came, landing across his ass, and it was no
harder than the first. It filled him with a kind of heat that radiated
down his legs, and the soft silk-like strands almost felt like a lover’s
fingers sliding between his butt cheeks. The blows, if they could be
called that, continued, and the heat became almost painful, but not
quite. It was more like the heat and tension that built up in his body as
he got closer and closer to an orgasm. As a matter of fact, it felt
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exactly like that, and he was having trouble standing still. A yearning,
a craving for sex was building up inside him, making his cock ache
and his balls draw up tightly under his body.
Ragan’s voice came from behind him, low and gentle. “Three
more, nobyo. How do you feel?”
“I feel like…like I want to have sex with you. I need to have sex.
Please, Ragan.”
“Why did you say you needed it from me, darling?”
“Because…because you give me what I need. You take care of
me. You’re my…my…” What was he trying to say? Master? It was
true. He felt a yearning for Ragan, as crazy as it seemed. Ragan was
the one doing this to him, but he wanted Ragan to make it better.
Ragan was strong and powerful. Ragan could protect him from these
out-of-control feelings. He’d know what to do to make it all stop, to
make it all right.
Donovan started to moan at the thought of three more repetitions.
Each one only made the longing for Ragan worse. His knees were
shaking, and rivulets of sweat ran down his body. Not from pain, but
from trying to hold himself together and not climax as the soft strands
caressed his balls and his ass. He felt as if he might fly apart at the
seams. Another blow landed on the backs of his thighs very close to
his balls, and he felt the pressure building. He groaned and pressed his
head to the wall in front of him.
The last blow fell on his ass again, and he held on, waves of
pleasure washing over him. He tried to stand up but couldn’t because
his legs were trembling, and he felt his orgasm clawing at him. Then
Ragan was beside him, holding him around the waist and gazing into
his face, murmuring something to him. He led him to the bed and
helped him lie down across it.
But Donovan couldn’t catch his breath, and he felt the adrenaline
coursing through him, burning its way through him, until his heart
raced uncontrollably. His back was arching, and his hips were
thrusting into the air, but he couldn’t come. Ragan was beside him,
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leaning over him, stroking him gently, crooning to him, helping him
regulate his breathing. He felt dizzy and hyperaware, and why in hell
couldn’t he come? His hips kept thrusting, and he didn’t think he
could hold on another minute. He would surely die if this kept up.
“Look at me, nobyo. Look at me!” Ragan’s face appeared right in
front of him, and Donovan realized he must be kneeling by the bed.
“Keep your eyes on mine and match my breathing. Long slow
breaths, yes? Can you hear me, nobyo? The strands secrete a chemical
that creates powerful sensations in your body. The chemicals match
certain hereditary material in my body. It can create the urge for an
orgasm, but without release unless I allow it. Do you want me to give
you release, Donovan?”
Donovan nodded his head wildly and clutched at Ragan. “Yes,
Ragan, help me. Please.”
Ragan covered his erection with his hand and stroked him gently,
evenly. “You must focus on me, darling, and give me all of your
attention. I’ll help you, but you have to do as I say. Can you do that?
Can you tell me why you think I can help you?”
Because you’re my…my master. My mate.”
“That’s right, sweet one. Let me help you.”
His hand moved strongly and surely up and down Donovan’s
shaft, easing him, but when he came to the head, his thumb passed
over it and smeared the drops of pre-cum down onto his shaft with a
silky feel that drove him out of his mind.
Donovan arched his back and cried out in abandon, but still his
orgasm was just out of reach. Desperate, he raked his nails over
Ragan’s arms and tried to sit up, but Ragan pushed him down gently
and held him there.
“Look into my eyes, baby, and focus just on me. Match my
breathing. Do whatever I tell you. Can you understand? You have to
calm down first.”
Donovan tried to focus on his beautiful eyes, now so close to his.
He’d said something about breathing. Oh, yeah, match his breathing.
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He tried to concentrate very hard on the rise and fall of Ragan’s chest.
Finally, he felt very close, his climax just there, just beyond his
control. Only Ragan could make him come. Ragan stroked him harder
and harder and bent down to whisper to him. “Come for me, darling.
Come hard for me.” A wave of ecstasy crashed within him, and his
mind went blank, totally unable to process anything but this feeling of
pure bliss that was washing through him. Arching his back, he cried
out his pleasure. Ragan kept the pressure on his cock, gently stroking
him up and down, milking him for every last drop of his release.
Finally, it was over, and Donovan felt drained and boneless. He
reached out for Ragan, needing to touch him, to find his anchor.
Ragan was there beside him, patting his hips, stroking his sides,
and holding up a bottle of medicine. “This will help you, little one.
Soon the places on your body where the strands touched you will start
to burn.”
“Burn? But the strands felt more like silk on my body.”
“Yes, the strands secrete a chemical. The effects will last for
several hours and can become almost painful. You must try to relax,
and tonight I will help you again.” He rubbed his back gently and
Donovan closed his eyes. Ragan’s voice in his ear woke him a few
minutes later.
“Now tell me, nobyo, what did you learn?”
“I–I…”
“Take a deep breath, little one. Think. What did you learn?”
“That you will help me when I need it? That only you can make it
better? That you’re my master. Uh…Ragan-lan.” His cheeks were
burning at his own words, but he knew them to be true. He knew it
was probably the effects of the drugs, but he felt very loving and
submissive to Ragan. All he wanted to do was please him.
“Good. And will I ever have to do this again?”
“No, Ragan-lan. I s–sincerely hope not.”
A little chuckle. “Good, sweet one. Please be careful today. No
more of this stubbornness, please. Neither one of us can take much
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more. I only want to bring you pleasure from now on, not cause you
distress. Just give in to me. Let me guide you in all things.”
“Y–yes, Ragan-lan. You got it.”
He kissed him tenderly. “I hope you mean that, nobyo. Stay here
and rest for a moment, and I’ll be right back.”
Donovan felt the tension actually draining away as the medicine
took effect, enough at least so he could let go of the death grip he had
on the blanket. He realized he was still clenching his teeth and tried to
make his jaw relax. He must have dozed for a moment, because he
began to dream that he was back home on Earth in his sister’s small
home. She was cooking breakfast for him and laughing over
something her daughter said. He reached to pick up his little niece,
and suddenly he was awake again, back on Tygeria, lying on an
alien’s bed. An alien who had just gave him the most intense orgasm
of his life.
“Nobyo? Can you sit up?”
Fuck, no, leave me alone. Donovan was afraid to move, actually,
afraid the crazy, intense cravings would start up again, but he pulled
himself up slowly. Ragan-lan was there beside him, holding a cool
drink to his lips.
He drank thankfully until Ragan-lan pulled it away. “Not too
much. You’ll be sick.” He pulled the glass away and fed him little
pieces of toast and fruit. After a few bites, Donovan tried to turn his
head away.
“Please, Ragan-lan. I’m about to pass out. I’m afraid I’ll throw
up.”
“Do you trust me, Donovan?” A strange question from the alien
who just did this strange thing to me. Donovan found himself nodding
his head. Strangely enough, he did trust him. He’d never really lied to
him about anything he was going to do to him. He helped him get
through the punishments and cared for him after they were over.
Donovan thought that meant he could trust him. He leaned into him.
“Yes, Ragan-lan.”
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“Then eat, little nobyo. Eat to regain your strength, and let me
take care of you.”
“Yes, Ragan-lan.” He opened his mouth up like a stupid little bird,
but he found he couldn’t help it. He fucking wanted to be cared for
right now. He leaned against Ragan’s shoulder and received a little
pat on his cheek in return.
He hurt all over, probably from the tension and the extreme
orgasm he’d just experienced, and he was tired and wanted to sleep.
Suddenly he would have done anything to just lie down for a while.
Anything. Whatever pride he might have had left was gone. In its
place was only need. The need to please this alien, so he wouldn’t
ever feel the need to punish him again, and so he would never
disappoint him again. He rested his head against Ragan’s body,
feeling wasted and exhausted and so dependent on him.
Apparently, Ragan had actually done it. He had broken his pride,
or whatever perversity in his personality existed that made him keep
smarting off to these giants who could so easily control him. So
Ragan had accomplished what he set out to do after all. He hadn’t
beaten him or hurt him, really. He’d made him want him, need him
like he needed to breathe. Donovan had no strength left to argue. No
will to be stubborn. His strong sense of survival kicked in, and only
Ragan’s will mattered now. Anything Ragan wanted him to do, he
would do if it meant pleasing him. He was just so damned tired of
fighting. From now on, he would submit and give in. He thought it
would make him ashamed to want to submit to Ragan, but instead it
only brought him relief.
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Chapter Four
Donovan stood behind Ragan’s chair, trying his best not to fidget.
That would bring on one of those “punishments,” and he didn’t know
if he could stand another one. The problem was it was all just so
boring. He’d been standing for almost two hours, and his feet hurt.
The relaxation medicine still hadn’t worn off, so he was still kind of
drifting in his own little world. That was good shit, whatever it was.
Ragan had told him to touch his shoulder if he got to the point he
could no longer stand. He was determined to stay strong and not
wimp out. He wanted to make Ragan proud of him, plus he didn’t
want to give these alien bastards any excuse to think he was weak.
Maybe he had a little pride left in him after all.
He thought again with shame that he had been broken of his so-
called pride and stubbornness rather easily. It had taken only two
weeks of near-starvation and fighting with his own comrades after
they were captured, intense humiliation at the hands of Ragan, and
two “punishments” from him that were more like exercises in extreme
pleasure. He remembered Ragan saying the next punishment would
be even worse, and the idea of that was enough to bring him around.
If he had any more intense an orgasm, he doubted if he would survive
it. Perhaps he really was a coward. He shivered at the thought.
Hell, no, no more of this bravado. He knew he didn’t want to
resist Ragan any more. From now on, I go along with everything and
stop fighting him. I have to survive this shit so I can escape and get
back to the Alliance. Get back home. As soon as the thought of
leaving Ragan went through his head, a sharp pain settled somewhere
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in the middle of his solar plexus. Was that the medicine still affecting
him? Or something else?
Another part of him knew it wasn’t all about survival. It was also
about Ragan. His opinion had become important. So important it was
blocking out his own will. Ragan’s will was becoming more
important to him than his own. The idea scared him a little.
He shifted his feet a bit, trying to make as little movement as
possible, and still got a glance from Ragan. Donovan stopped moving
his feet around and fidgeting until he turned his head back around. He
looked around the room filled with all Tygerians, unlike the Allied
Forces Council, which comprised several alien species. Only humans
held the high offices there, but other aliens were always around, either
as delegates or making supplications. Not here. Donovan was the only
non-Tygerian to be seen.
Ragan sat at a long ornate table in the front of the room along with
six others. All males, except for one large, strikingly beautiful female
at the end of the table. She was rather heavily pregnant and wearing
only a short skirt and a halterlike top. The skin over her abdomen was
stretched out, so her stripes were very apparent. No other females
seemed to be present.
He wondered idly why Ragan’s chair was in the middle of the
table. It made it more difficult for Donovan to be out of sight.
Tygerians had been inspecting him all morning, but strangely, no one
had spit at him or said anything vile as they had before in the arena.
He tried to keep as still as he could when they were near and kept his
eyes down. He was aware that Ragan watched everything very
closely. Whether to watch over him or watch for him to do something
wrong, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps a little of both.
Donovan wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of doing anything
wrong today, he vowed to himself. And that little traitorous voice
inside whispered to him. Is it because you want him to suck your cock
for you tonight? The idea made him fidget again and got him a dirty
look from Ragan.
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Ragan had kept him close by him on the way into the council
room, always making sure he followed a couple of steps behind but
constantly checking on him. He showed him where to stand then sat
down with his back to him, and the meetings had begun. Donovan
didn’t understand a word, so he soon stopped even trying to make
sense of it. Instead he concentrated on keeping his eyes on the floor
and his body straight and still.
After about an hour, an aide came up to him, pressed some tablets
in his hand, and whispered to him to swallow them. Donovan knew
they must be from Ragan, some kind of medicine. He really was
trying to help him, then. It would have been much more helpful not to
have beaten him with that silk thing in the first place.
Finally, they seemed to be breaking up the meeting, and an older
Tygerian came up to Ragan and said something about Donovan. He
knew it was about him from the way the alien’s eyes surveyed him
carefully. Ragan laughed at whatever he said and stood up to take
Donovan’s hand and turn him around as if showing him off. So now
I’m Exhibit A in this fucking alien freak show, huh?
The older alien made a sound of approval, and with another quick
laugh, Ragan popped Donovan’s behind with his open hand. Not all
that hard. Probably to him it was a love tap, but to Donovan it was
painful. He drew his breath in sharply and winced, but Ragan had
already turned his back on him to speak to someone else. The older
alien saw it, however, and gave him a spiteful grin behind Ragan’s
back. Another Tygerian I will hunt down and kill one day. I’m
beginning to have quite a list.
Turning back to Donovan, Ragan motioned with his head for him
to follow. He tried to keep up with his long legs, but soon Ragan, who
had fallen into step with one of the other Tygerians from the table,
had walked off and left him. Donovan struggled to see him in the
crowd, not an easy task with so many seven-foot-tall aliens in the
way.
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As he practically ran down the hallway in the large building, he
couldn’t believe Ragan had gone off and left him. Suddenly without
his presence he felt vulnerable and scared. He careened into a large,
red-haired young Tygerian who steadied him with his hands. “You’re
in quite a rush, human. And all alone. Has the Dyson tired of you
already?” He ran his hands appreciatively up and down Donovan’s
arms and bent down toward him. He put his face very close to
Donovan’s.
“Would you like to go home with me? You are quite beautiful.”
He turned him around to look at his backside. “I could be so much
better to you.”
A low growl came from behind them. “Take your hands off him,
Nethan. He belongs to my mate, and he won’t be at all happy to find
out you’re speaking with him.”
The red-haired alien dropped his hands immediately. He bowed
and stepped back as the lone woman from the council meeting spoke
up behind him. What the fuck, did she say her mate? Ragan is
married?
“Sorry, Alana, but he was all alone. I had no idea he was the
Dyson’s.”
Donovan looked at him and back to the woman. Why was the
alien lying? Was he afraid of Ragan?
Alana smiled at the alien, or at least she bared her teeth. Could
have been a snarl. The other alien quickly bowed his way down the
hallway. She turned to Donovan speculatively.
“I am Alana, the Dyson’s mate. You are his new nobyo, yes?”
“Uh, yes, I think so. That’s what he calls me, anyway. Did you
mean Ragan was your mate? Like husband?”
The beautiful alien nodded and rubbed her stomach
absentmindedly. “You are quite pretty. I’d heard he was besotted with
you and now I see why. I can see Ragan hasn’t told you about me.
Don’t be alarmed—I only wanted to meet the nobyo who would be
caring for one of my children. I’m having twins, it seems, and one is a
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boy. You have kind eyes. That’s good.” She patted his cheek and
swept off down the hall, leaving Donovan feeling slightly stunned.
“Nobyo! You must learn to keep up with me!” Ragan materialized
out of the crowd, reached for Donovan, and put him firmly in front of
him. Steering Donovan down the hallway, he leaned over to whisper
in his ear. “You made a good impression, nobyo. Very well done.
Come with me. You must be tired.”
“Who or what is the Dyson, Ragan-lan? And I think I just met
your wife!”
“Hmm?”
“I said I just met your wife, and I asked you who the Dyson is,
Ragan-lan?”
“My wife? Oh, Alana. Dyson is just my title. Nothing to worry
about. Alana is my mate, of course.”
Donovan glared at him in anger. “What the fuck do you mean,
your mate, of course! I thought that was me!”
Ragan pulled him outside to a cool glade of trees by the side of
the building and sat Donovan down on a bench before answering.
“Yes, Donovan, you are my mate and my nobyo. My other mate has
to be a female so she can bear me children. I thought Lothan
explained it all to you when he told you that you were my nobyo!”
“Well, then what the hell is a nobyo? Lothan said it meant a
paramour. ‘Paramour’ means we mate at some point!”
Ragan smiled from ear to ear and grabbed his hand. “You are
jealous!” he said delightedly. “I’ve never seen you jealous. I think I
like it!”
Donovan pulled away from him and sat back down on the bench,
folding his arms across his chest. “I’m not jealous. I just don’t like to
be played and lied to, that’s all.”
“You are jealous, and I do like it. No, sweet one, you don’t
understand the words. Nobyo doesn’t mean ‘paramour.’ That word
would imply something illicit. No, Lothan made a mistake. There is
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no good translation, but I suppose it means something like
‘concubine.’ And I am your master.”
“Concubine? I’m your concubine? Oh, hell, no!”
Ragan grabbed him around the waist as he would have stormed
off and made him sit beside him, holding his arms down by his side.
“Are you ready to listen, nobyo? I’m going to ignore all these new
infractions, because you’ve been so good all morning, and because I
know Alana surprised you. But don’t forget where you are and with
whom you’re speaking. Concubine is a closer interpretation, because
it means something like a secondary spouse, but you aren’t really
secondary. Not to me.”
Donovan struggled to remain calm. Ragan watched him, seeming
to be amused at his attempts to control his tongue. Finally, after
several deep breaths, he asked, “Are you ready now, nobyo?”
Donovan’s chest was heaving, but he managed to nod. “A nobyo
is a mate only more so, for us. It means lover and friend. It means
partner, in a way. It means you are the closest person in the world to
me now. All male Tygerians are betrothed to a female at birth.
Neither one of us has a choice. We never live together, because we
are born preferring our own sex. When it seems to be a good time for
both mates, the female is artificially inseminated. She gives birth, and
if it is female, she keeps it to raise. If it is male…”
“Yes, yes, Lothan explained that. Alana said one of her children is
a boy.”
“Alana will give birth to twins, and I will be given the boy to
raise. It is very exciting. The birth of a new Battle Commander. It is
an inherited title. We will raise him together, my nobyo. He will be
our son.”
“What? You want me as some kind of fucking nursemaid? A
goddamned nanny?”
“Nobyo, if you want another spanking, then keep on cursing, and
I’ll give you one. You forget yourself with this jealousy of yours,
though I must admit I like it.” He smiled and turned his gorgeous
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head curiously. Donovan wanted to slap his face and only barely
restrained himself.
“We will raise my son together, and that’s the end of it. I don’t
know what those words meant, but I suppose something disrespectful.
You will be his father, like I am. We will choose his name together
and make him a part of our family. You are my nobyo and I love you.
You see, I have two mates. In our world, we have our female mate,
and we have our nobyo. One is for children and the other for love.”
Our nobyos are our true mates.” He shook him a little. “Do you
understand?”
“Y–yes, Ragan-lan.” And it was finally beginning to sink in.
Ragan said he loved him. And he was going to be a father. Of an alien
child. A beautiful one, no doubt, if he looked like his father. And he
finally understood what nobyo meant, he thought. Ragan had said
several times now that he loved him. Loved him. Is that what this
feeling is inside my chest? This tight, almost painful feeling that if
Ragan doesn’t kiss me soon, I will die? Do I love Ragan, too? Gods,
what’s happening to me?
Ragan patted his head and smiled. “Alana told me you were with
Nethan just now. What did Nethan say to you, Donovan?”
“Say to me? Nothing much, Ragan-lan. He wanted to know if I
wanted to go home with him.”
Ragan’s hand stopped for a moment, and he simply stared, his
mouth hanging open. “Go home with him?”
“Yes, Ragan-lan. He rubbed his hands up and down my arms,
looked at my ass, and said he thought I was beautiful. He said he’d be
much better to me than you are.”
Another low growl. “Oh, he would, would he? He looked at you?
He touched you?” Donovan found it gave him a little thrill to see the
jealous rage on his face.
Jealous, huh? So Donovan wasn’t the only one. Could he use this?
“Perhaps it was a mistake to bring you here today. I will take you
home. You must never speak to Nethan again!”
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“He seemed very friendly, Ragan-lan. But whatever you say,” he
said, lowering his eyes.
Ragan put a finger under his chin. “You are very agreeable all of a
sudden. You must want me to do something for you tonight very
badly. What could that be, I wonder?”
Donovan shifted on the bench then just decided to test him. He
wanted him after all, and it might even give him some leverage.
Besides, he wanted to see if he had any power at all over the
Tygerian.
“You promised to suck my cock if I didn’t make you count today.
I haven’t, have I, Ragan? I’ve been good all day.” He raised his eyes
then, looking up through his lashes into Ragan’s eyes, and was happy
to see Ragan breathe in sharply.
“I’m taking you home, nobyo.” Ragan stood up quickly, and
Donovan could see Ragan’s loincloth tenting up over his leggings.
He stood up and held out a hand to Donovan, who took it with a
tight little smile. So he had a small measure of power over Regan. He
was jealous of other men’s attention, and the mere mention of sucking
his cock made Regan desperate to take him home. This was
something to consider carefully.
* * * *
As soon as they arrived back home, Ragan pulled him firmly to
the bedroom and locked the door. “Take that off,” he said, pointing at
the loincloth.
“Yes, Ragan-lan,” he replied obediently as he slipped it off his
hips.
Ragan was busy getting naked, too, and when he’d stripped off the
leggings he was wearing, he pointed to the bathroom. “In there.
Now.”
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Donovan turned and went inside, only a little surprised when
Ragan came up behind him, picked him up, and carried him into the
bathing pool.
“Wrap your legs around my waist, little one. I am going to bathe
you then make love to you for the rest of the day. There’s nothing you
can do to stop me.”
“What makes you think I want to stop you, Ragan-lan?” he said
softly.
Ragan growled and poured soap in his hands, and rubbed it all
over Donovan’s body. He was especially gentle with his cock.
Donovan threw his head back and reveled in the sensations. Ragan
bent down to kiss Donovan, his hot tongue tenderly exploring every
crevice of his mouth. Donovan responded, straining against him and
kissing him back with a passion he hadn’t known existed until this
moment.
Ragan grasped Donovan’s ass in both hands and ground his heavy
cock into Donovan’s groin. “Tell me what you want, sweet one.”
Donovan could barely speak, his breath hitching in his throat. He
pulled back and looked directly into Ragan’s eyes. “I want you to
make love to me, Ragan-lan. I want you so much.”
Ragan groaned and lowered his lips to Donovan’s again. Then,
still holding Donovan tightly with his legs wrapped around his waist,
he carried him to the bedroom. The fluttering started up in Donovan’s
stomach again, but Ragan was pressing his lips to his with hot
urgency again, and he didn’t have time to feel apprehensive.
A prickling need built up over Donovan’s entire body as the
Tygerian’s mouth engulfed his. Ragan’s hands traveled over his chest
and pinched his nipples, his hard cock grazing Donovan’s thighs.
Donovan gasped and rolled his hips into the touch. He shouldn’t like
this so much. But the gods knew it was the hottest thing he’d ever felt.
Ragan laid him back against the pillows and gazed at him, Donovan’s
hard cock curved back on his stomach and his lips parted, breathing
raggedly.
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“You are so beautiful, nobyo.” He bent over and kissed
Donovan’s nipples, teasing the cherry-red nubs with his teeth to stand
up so he could suck them. Donovan bucked beneath him, but he put
his hands on his hips to still him. “Not yet, sweet baby. Not yet.” He
trailed kisses down his stomach until he reached his groin. He looked
into Donovan’s eyes then and smiled slowly. Ragan looked so damn
sexy with his mouth inches away from his cock, Donovan felt there
was no way he could stay still.
He put his hands behind Ragan’s head to pull him down, and
Ragan laughed. “So eager, little warrior. What do you want me to do?
This?” he said, licking the tip of Donovan’s cock. “Or maybe this?”
He bent down to the bottom of Donovan’s shaft and dragged a slow,
hot tongue all the way up the length. His tongue was slightly rougher
than a human’s, and the sensation against the silky skin of Donovan’s
cock drove him wild.
“Ragan!” he screamed, forgetting all about the honorific at the end
of his name and not caring anymore. Ragan engulfed his cock with his
hot mouth, swirling his tongue over his skin as he moved up and
down in a maddeningly slow rhythm. Donovan tried bucking his hips
to make him go faster, but Ragan simply held him down so he
couldn’t move his hips at all, making it clear who was in charge. It
took only a few more minutes of this treatment for Donovan to come
uncontrollably, screaming out Ragan’s name. Ragan sucked down
every drop and kept sucking until it became almost painful for
Donovan, who began to moan and writhe on the bed before falling
back and closing his eyes.
Ragan smiled as he pulled away and looked down at Donovan half
swooning against the pillows now that he’d pulled his lips away.
“Don’t go to sleep, nobyo. You still have work to do.”
He pulled him up to face him and kissed his breath away. Then he
lay down with him still in his arms, though now Donovan was on top,
sprawled out across Ragan’s big body. Donovan could feel his huge
cock rigid and burning hot beneath him. Wanting to take care of
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Ragan, Donovan pushed himself up to straddle Ragan and survey his
beautiful body. Rippling with muscles, his chest was wide and
incredibly strong looking. A small blond treasure trail led from his
navel down to his groin, and it was there that Donovan stopped in
wonder. He’d caught glimpses of his cock, of course, and spent every
night with it firmly planted against his ass, but this was the first time
he’d actually been able to simply stare at it.
Long, thick, and very hard at the moment, it curved up and back
toward his stomach. The stripes radiated out from the base of his shaft
and wrapped around it all the way up to the tip. The entire tip was a
rich black, and the sight of its alien color made Donovan’s own cock
begin to stir. He couldn’t stop himself from bending over to give it an
almost chaste kiss. Ragan’s reaction made him smile. He bucked his
hips so hard at just that tiny touch that Donovan had to grab his waist
to hold on.
“Ragan, sweetheart, you must control yourself or you’ll toss me in
the floor. Please try to be still. I want to make this good for you.”
Ragan looked up at him with lust-filled eyes, lids half lowered,
and nodded almost breathlessly. Donovan reveled in this newfound
power over the man. He’d never before been able to give him an order
and knew he’d never accept it unless it was at a time like this. He bent
over again and this time, stuck his tongue inside his slit. The reaction
was immediate, and Donovan wound up beside him on the mattress.
Laughing, he climbed back on and bent back to his task, holding on
tightly with his hands around Ragan’s waist.
Ragan’s muscles were tensed all over, and Donovan knew he was
trying hard to stay still as Donovan laved his tongue over the
magnificent cock. He couldn’t take the entire length in, so he paid
most attention to the highly sensitive tip and soon had Ragan moaning
and crying out beneath him. Donovan sucked hard at the tip and
suddenly found himself being lifted off and put down firmly on the
bed facedown. His hips were pulled up, and in another moment he felt
oil being splashed against his hole.
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Ragan’s voice sounded hoarse as he bent low to speak in his ear.
“I will fuck you now, little one. I will try to be gentle, but I am
very…excited. Be as still as you can, and let me try to prepare you.
Please don’t make those little noises you make, or I won’t be able to
control myself. If I can’t keep control…”
Donovan nodded, not sure what noises he was talking about, but
his mouth suddenly dry at the idea of that gorgeous, huge cock up his
ass. Would it hurt? Probably like a bitch. But he didn’t seem to care
anymore. He held very still as Ragan prepared him by pressing a
finger to his rim, stretching him first, letting him get used to being
filled up. Then another long finger joined the first. It burned, but soon
it felt like a pleasurable pain, and Donovan couldn’t stop himself from
rocking back and forth on his fingers. Donovan heard Ragan gasp,
and he felt the huge tip of his cock nudging against his hole. He had
to stuff a pillow in his mouth and bite down hard to avoid making the
“little noises” he suddenly realized Ragan was warning him about.
Ragan worked his cock in slowly, pausing when Donovan gasped or
moaned. Finally, he was deep inside, and the pain was tolerable. He
was so damned hot that it even felt good to Donovan. Ragan began to
move more slowly once he was in, but soon he was moving quickly,
pounding his balls against Donovan’s ass, unable to hold back,
reaching his sweet spot over and over again until Donovan couldn’t
keep the screams from coming from his throat.
Donovan’s body rocked with the force of the thrusts, and his shaft
hardened again, tormenting him with need. Donovan pushed his hips
back toward Ragan, unable to hold back his moaning any longer. He
yelled hoarsely as he came again, his hot seed spraying onto the
mattress. Ragan’s thrusts continued, steady, deep, relentless, until
after a few minutes he, too, began to moan uncontrollably. Suddenly
he stiffened and pushed himself into Donovan’s body, claiming him,
marking him as his. After a few moments he collapsed on top of
Donovan, holding onto him tightly. He fell over on his back and
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pressed his mouth to his skin. “Mine,” he moaned quietly against him.
“You’re mine, little warrior.”
“I’m yours,” Donovan agreed softly. “Ragan-lan.”
Ragan smiled, a low rumble coming from his throat. “Oh, now
you call me Ragan-lan, huh? After breaking probably a hundred rules
while we were making love. Did you think I’d forget about them so
easily? No, baby, I’m sorry. You’ll have to be flogged again for all
those infractions.”
“B–But, Ragan-lan, no! I was just so excited I…uh, I sort of
forgot.”
He lay down beside Donovan and pulled him over into his arms.
“Darling nobyo, you didn’t forget. You can’t forget ever. You must
never forget yourself and let down your guard. I’ve explained that to
you over and over again. No, you’ll have to have a hundred strokes as
punishment.”
“Ragan-lan, a hundred? Of the silk flogger? It would kill me!”
“I would never do anything to hurt you, sweet nobyo. Perhaps I
can give you one hundred strokes of something else instead of the
flogger. My cock, perhaps, in your sweet little ass?”
Donovan blushed and smiled. “I’d like that, Ragan-lan. Maybe not
all at once…”
“No, we must spread them out over the course of a whole day.
Maybe two days. I am a kind and generous master.” He leaned up to
kiss Donovan on his lips. “Give me a minute to rest, darling. Then
we’ll get started.”
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Chapter Five
The next morning, Ragan woke him up with kisses and little
nuzzly nibbles on the side of his neck. Donovan rolled over and
stretched his arms above his head, laughing and not trying very hard
to get away.
“Wake up, sweet one, and let’s have breakfast. Today at the
council I will introduce you as my chosen nobyo. It will be televised
and sent back to the Alliance.”
Donovan squirmed uncomfortably. “Is that really necessary,
Ragan-lan? My family will see it and worry about me.”
“You are my nobyo! My lover! I am the Dyson, and it must be
announced. We are preparing for the Hunt. Your training starts next
week.”
“Your lover, Ragan-lan? And what if you kill me on this Hunt?
What then?”
“No. You can’t allow that to happen, sweet one. I will teach you,
and you will listen to everything I tell you. We will become true
mates before the Hunt and you will be successful—I know it!” His
beautiful, exotic face was so set and determined Donovan didn’t have
the heart to argue with him.
“If you say so,” he muttered, half under his breath.
Donovan rolled off the bed and hobbled toward the showers. His
ass ached badly, and even his cock was sore, but he thought he’d held
up pretty well all things considered. He stopped by the mirror on his
way in and surveyed himself. His lips had a well-kissed look, and his
eyes looked dreamy and almost dazed with passion. You look like
you’ve been up all night fucking. Which was exactly what he’d been
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doing. Ragan had been insatiable the night before, having to have his
dick stuck somewhere inside Donovan, it seemed, at all times. He
smiled ruefully at his image in the mirror before hobbling over to the
shower and turning it on full blast. The hot stream of water soothed
his aching muscles as he soaped himself all over, washing away all
the stickiness and dried-on cum.
When he’d finished and dried himself off, he came walking back
into the bedroom and got an appreciative gaze from Ragan. “Damn it,
little warrior, why do you make my cock so hard every time I see
you?”
Donovan smiled. “Surely not every time, Ragan-lan. The first
time I saw you, you were trying to kill me.”
“In the arena? Oh, no, sweet one, if I’d wanted you dead, you
wouldn’t be here now. I saved your life in the arena. I knew from the
first moment I saw you I would make you mine. I just had to play
with you a bit first to make the crowd happy.”
“Play with me, Ragan-lan? Swinging that mace at me was
playing?”
“Ah, yes, I’m sorry about that, sweet nobyo. But I knew you’d be
smart enough to jump over it.”
“Oh, really? And if I hadn’t?”
Ragan ignored him and kept on. “The crowd demanded violence,
as I told you. I was careful not to hurt you. Pretending to break your
wrists gave the crowd the violence they craved and allowed me to
save you. I was very proud of our little ruse.”
The servants knocked on the door, and Donovan dived for the
covers as Ragan smiled. “Come in,” he called to them, and a servant
bearing a large tray came in with his eyes averted. Ragan opened the
lids on the dishes and ate greedily. He gave Donovan a spoon to eat
from his plate.
“So you’re finally allowing me to feed myself.”
“Yes, since you’re being so good. You’ll have more privileges as
the days go by without disobedience. I told you I am a kind master.”
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They both ate for a few minutes, Ragan apparently ravenous as he ate
the delicate little pancakes and the strange-looking fruits on his plate.
From time to time he held out a particularly good morsel to Donovan,
seeming to enjoy feeding him from his hand.
Finally, he sat back and rubbed his flat belly. “That was delicious.
Did you have enough, nobyo?”
“Not really, Ragan-lan. I wanted some of those pancake things
you were eating, but you ate them all.”
“None of those for you, pretty nobyo. I like you just the way you
are. If you eat too much, you’ll get fat. Then I’ll have to find a new
nobyo.”
Over my dead body. And yours. “And if you get too fat?”
“Tygerians never get fat. We have superior digestive systems.”
“Uh-huh. I may have to remind you of that one day.”
Ragan put one finger in the rich sauce from the cakes and rubbed
it on Donovan’s lips. But before he could lick it off, Ragan covered
his mouth with his own and licked it clean. “Mm, I need to take you
back to bed, but there’s no time. Get dressed, Donovan, and let’s go to
the council. I have to make the announcement about you today.”
After they both dressed they went outside and took Ragan’s
private shuttle craft to the city. Ragan had a personal driver, and they
docked their craft on top of the council hall. For the first time,
Donovan wondered how Ragan rated such luxuries. He’d been here
with him once before, but he had been so nervous and distracted then
he barely noticed anything that was happening. It seemed a terrible
oversight now. He was getting sloppy. He had to remain more alert in
the future if he was ever to escape this planet and gain his freedom.
Ragan took him by the arm and led him firmly down from the roof
to what Donovan would have called elevators. He didn’t know the
Tygerian name for them, but they were larger than the elevators
Donovan had seen on Earth and much faster. In only a few moments
they were stepping off the lift, and Ragan again took his arm and
steered him into the council room. He directed Donovan to stand
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behind his chair again and took his seat in the middle of the large
table.
Immediately, other people came up to him, speaking urgently and
shoving papers toward him. Over and over, Donovan heard the others
refer to him as the Dyson. There was that name again he’d heard the
last time he came with Ragan to the council room. What could it
mean? Who was Ragan exactly?
Before he could concentrate on an answer, the cameras were
brought up and set before the table. Strong lights came on overhead.
Other young Tygerian males began to come forward, and Donovan
was shocked to see some of his former shipmates. Soon all the
survivors, it seemed, from his ship were lined up beside him.
Counting himself, there were eleven. Their Tygerians stood behind
them, dwarfing them all.
Ragan stood up beside Donovan. He began to speak into the
camera. He spoke loudly for probably five minutes, slamming his
hand down on the table several times during his speech. Donovan was
fascinated by him. He’d never seen him so fierce, not even when he’d
faced him in the arena. After he’d been speaking a while, he looked
down at Donovan and took his hand.
He spoke again in Tygerian for a long time, looking occasionally
at Donovan and gesturing toward him once. He snapped his fingers
again and motioned at Donovan with his head to step behind him. In
another minute or two the cameras were turned off, and again, many
of the others in the room crowded around all of them, speaking far too
rapidly for Donovan to catch even a word. He looked at the others
from his ship for the first time, trying to ascertain their condition.
They looked healthy enough, though like him, many still had
marks and bruises, mostly healed over. None would look him in the
eye, and he could see that a few were frightened of the Tygerians
behind them, jumping when they spoke to them. One of the men
leaned back against his Tygerian, though, and the alien fondled him
under his loincloth.
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Donovan looked away and found Ragan’s gaze on him. He
lowered his eyes quickly and felt a little pat on his backside, perhaps
telling him he’d done well or maybe just promising things to come.
He was surprised at how much this thrilled him. The sexy alien was
becoming important to him, and he didn’t know how he would feel
about leaving him when the time came for him to escape.
On the one hand, he didn’t like having to obey Ragan’s every
wish and act like a damn slave, but it was nice in a way to be so
cherished and cared for, and he knew Ragan was as excited by his
body as he was by Ragan’s. There were times, especially in the
bedroom, when he enjoyed calling Ragan his master. He liked the
sexy spankings that Ragan had given him at night, and he loved for
Ragan to pick him up and hold him in his lap. He had become more
and more submissive in the bedroom, and he found he liked it very
much.
Now that the battle of wills between them had ended, he was
looking forward to getting to know the real Ragan and not the
posturing bully he had sometimes been in the past. Of course, if the
chance came to escape, before the hunt came about, he would take it.
The Hunt that promised him death by Ragan’s own hand. He couldn’t
help but wonder what Ragan would do when the moment came.
Would he give him a quick, humane death and then go out and find
himself another nobyo? He was surprised how much the idea of
Ragan with someone else bothered him. Crazy, to be jealous of the
man who intended to kill him.
Donovan’s attention came back to his surroundings when Ragan
suddenly started yelling. Someone had handed him a message, and he
looked furious. He even glared down at Donovan for a moment, and
Donovan actually flinched away from the look on his face. He seemed
to be in the grip of some strong emotion. Others in the room took up
his shout, and soon the room was filled with emotional Tygerians on
their feet, some growling and grimacing. Donovan had to admit to
being terrified.
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Suddenly Ragan came over to him, grabbed his hand, and pulled
him from the room. The council meeting was over, apparently, and
Ragan still seemed to be angry or highly emotional about something.
Donovan kept quiet on the way up in the lift and when they climbed
into the shuttle. But when it lifted from the roof, he turned to Ragan.
“What’s the matter? Why are you so upset?”
Ragan glanced at him impatiently. “Be quiet! I’m not upset. I have
important things on my mind. Stay as still as you can until we get
back home, and stay way over there on your side of the cabin. You
distract me, and I can’t be bothered right now.”
So, back to being an asshole, huh? These sudden changes are
giving me whiplash.
Hurt, Donovan stared out the window at the city zooming by
outside. He stayed as still as he possibly could and didn’t so much as
glance in Ragan’s direction. What the hell happened in that room a
few minutes ago? Admittedly he hadn’t been paying close attention,
but to him it was like the last boring meeting until the yelling started.
At least he’d had the chance to see some of his former shipmates.
He tried to occupy his mind by looking out at the city. It had a
strange look to his eyes, all in colors of gold and black, no buildings
much higher than four or five stories. Every building had plenty of
green space around it, parks and grassy areas. Only larger multi-
passenger shuttle crafts moved slowly through the air around them,
holding up to twenty passengers each. Except for theirs, of course,
which held only the driver, Ragan, and Donovan. Why was that? Who
was Ragan that he rated such a luxury? What the hell did Dyson
mean? Ragan had said it was a title, though he’d said he wasn’t the
king.
Donovan was sure now that it had to mean some kind of leader
though. Why then did Ragan seem so loath to tell him? Was it
because he’d so often used “the people” and what they forced him to
do to Donovan, when it was possible it wasn’t true at all? No one
could force the leader, could they? Could it have all been lies? Was
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Ragan just a sadistic bastard who enjoyed dominating him and
punishing him? He’d admitted that he hated humans. Donovan was
very afraid that this might be the truth of the matter. Odd that the idea
should hurt so much.
Soon they were arriving back at Ragan’s home, and they
disembarked from the shuttle craft. Ragan grabbed his hand and
pulled Donovan behind him into his home, a one-story, sprawling
black building that didn’t look particularly different from those
around it, except for its larger size.
Ragan pulled him to the bedroom and left him there without
another word, actually locking the door behind him. Donovan
couldn’t remember that happening before. He was a little tired from
standing so long at the council meeting. He went into the bathing
room, and taking off his loincloth, he turned on the shower and stood
under the hot shower spray for as long as he could stand it. He turned
the water off and went back to the bedroom to fall across the bed in
exhaustion.
He woke up hours later and slowly realized that it was fully dark
in the room, and Ragan had never come to bed. The room was a little
too cool, so Donovan pulled the silky sheet up over his hips. He
should have been glad Ragan hadn’t come, but he felt strangely bereft
and lonely. Why was Ragan acting so strangely, locking him in the
room and not even sending anyone in to feed him? He was a bit
hungry, and now he wouldn’t be able to eat until morning. Where the
hell was everybody?
Donovan got up stiffly from the bed and went over to one of the
windows positioned just below the ten-foot-high ceiling. The
windows in Tygerian homes seemed not to be about the view. Most of
the one he’d seen were high up next to the ceilings and seemed to be
used only to let light come in. Most of them had bars across them. He
dragged a chair over to look outside. Immediately he began to feel
uneasy. There were lights that looked like torches moving in the
distance and shadows running past on the streets. A huge vetami flew
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by just outside his window, startling him with its closeness and
massive size. He got down and pushed the chair against the wall,
suddenly glad for the locked metal door on his room and the bars
across the windows. He got back in bed and tried to relax, but his
mind refused to let him rest. Something was happening outside. He
could feel it.
As he lay on his back, his mind racing over various possibilities,
he heard a strange growl followed by a whimpering sound outside the
house. He climbed back on the chair by the window and was
astonished to see a huge beast pacing back and forth restlessly
beneath his window. As the moon came from behind a cloud he could
see more clearly. It was a huge, beautiful tiger, perhaps sixteen feet
long and massively built. The biggest such beast he’d ever seen, it
was a golden-orange color with black stripes, exotic, beautiful, and
dangerous. Its long claws dug into the ground beneath the windows as
it paced back and forth, occasionally throwing back its massive head
to look up at the windows and make that strange whimper. Donovan
rapped on the glass, and the beast gazed up at him, locking its eyes on
him. The golden-green gaze seemed familiar to Donovan, and he
knew suddenly who it was. Ragan.
He didn’t know how he knew, or why he would associate this
savage wild beast with Ragan, but he did. The stories about the
Tygerians were all true. Ragan could shift into tiger form, probably at
will. The rumors he’d heard all his life hadn’t been lies or myths. He
couldn’t tear his gaze away, and for a long time they stayed where
they were, their eyes locked on each other. Donovan imagined Ragan
had a look of human longing in his expressive eyes. Twenty minutes
later, it was over. The beast’s ears pricked as if he heard a distant call,
and he sprang away and disappeared into the night.
By this time the first faint hints of the coming dawn were on the
gray horizon. Donovan was exhausted. He got down off the chair and
fell into bed, already wondering if he could have imagined the entire
encounter. His eyes closed and he sank down into sleep, the words of
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the William Blake poem sounding in his head. It had been his favorite
poem in his Ancient Literature class. He had liked it so well he’d
memorized it. He said part of it to himself as he drifted into sleep.
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
* * * *
Ragan walked into the front door of his home, almost dead with
fatigue. It was early morning and he hadn’t seen Donovan since the
day before when he’d dropped him off at home. He’d been in a
bloody-minded mood the night before and deliberately put his lover in
his room, locked the door, and left him without supper. It seemed so
childish now, but at the time, in his mind, it was a way to punish him.
Stupid thing to do, and he regretted it bitterly this morning. Donovan
had done nothing to deserve any punishment. Instead Ragan had taken
out his anger on him, and he wasn’t proud of it. He moved quietly to
the kitchens and left an electronic note for the staff to take his nobyo a
large tray as soon as possible. As an afterthought, he told them to be
sure to include the little pancakes he liked so much.
Turning away, he went to his study to sleep on his couch. He
would use the room darkeners to sleep for most of the day, and while
he would have liked nothing better than to slip into bed and wrap his
arms around Donovan, it wouldn’t be fair to him to keep him there all
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day. Perhaps at the next shift, he’d have his sweet one stay up until he
got home. He hated to sleep without him now.
As he pulled off his clothes to stretch out, his thoughts went back
to the message the Allied Forces sent the day before. Essentially, the
Allied Forces had thrown down a gauntlet to the Tygerians with the
message that they’d be back to rescue their men to take them home. It
was a calculated insult and one that had made them all furious, but it
really wasn’t what had filled Ragan with rage. He’d even snapped at
Donovan on the way home and told him to stay away from him. He
felt a bright slash of pain at the memory of Donovan staring out at the
forest on the way home.
It was the idea that someone was plotting to take his nobyo, his
mate, away from him. He wouldn’t, couldn’t lose him. The very idea
made his hands shake and his stomach twist in knots. The worst of it
was he thought Donovan would probably want to go. That’s why he’d
been so angry at him. He knew he was being unreasonable, but he
couldn’t help it.
The night before had been a full moon, an event that happened
only three times a year. They weren’t able to see it because of the
thick cloud cover over their planet, but they felt its pull strongly.
After the shift, their beasts hunted prey. He had no conscious memory
of his time as his beast, more like sensory impressions of being in a
strong sinuous body, prowling through the forests in the night. The
night before he had been aware of a stronger pull than the forests. He
made his way to his own home and prowled restlessly outside, his
mind screaming to him to protect his mate. He had one fleeting image
of Donovan’s face looking down at him. He wasn’t sure if it was a
real memory or not. He only knew he’d been there simply because
even in his beast, he couldn’t stay away.
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Chapter Six
Donovan awakened later to the smell of coffee. A servant stood
by his bed with a tray of food and beverages. There appeared to be
enough food for several people, and Donovan hoped that meant
Ragan or perhaps Lothan would be joining him. No one came,
however, and he ate alone. He noticed that some of the pancake things
he’d mentioned to Ragan were on the tray and wondered if Ragan had
sent them for him. The thought made his heart turn over a bit.
He was impatient the rest of the morning, pacing up and down in
the room, much like the beast had paced outside during the night. He
was bored and restless, and damn it, he wanted to see Ragan. Why
hadn’t he come to him? It was almost three in the afternoon before the
door finally swung open and Ragan appeared.
Donovan had been doing calisthenics. He hated not being able to
run every day as he had in the spaceship’s large gymnasium. He had
done laps there every morning before they’d been captured, and he’d
come to love running. Calisthenics was a very poor second, but at
least it gave him some exercise. Ragan looked at him with interest.
“What are you doing, nobyo?”
“Exercising, Ragan-lan. There certainly was nothing else for me
to do in here for so long.”
Ragan gazed steadily back at him. “I’m sorry, nobyo. It was
necessary to lock you in your room. Last night was a shifting. Can I
explain to you?”
“Yes, Ragan-lan, please do. I was worried last night when you
didn’t come, though, in the middle of the night, there was…”
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“A beast outside your window? Yes, nobyo, that was me. As I
said, last night was a shifting. We have them at the full moon. I came
to see if you were all right. Did I frighten you?”
“No…but why have you not mentioned this to me before, Ragan-
lan? We’ve heard rumors in the Alliance, but…we didn’t know for
sure.”
“And that’s how we like to keep things, nobyo. Our strength lies
in our privacy. We want no outsiders in our world unless we invite
them in.”
“Or steal them from other worlds? Lothan told me of the raids to
find nobyos.”
“You have a sharp tongue, little warrior. See to it that you don’t
sharpen it on me in the future.”
Donovan dropped his gaze, always intimidated when Ragan got
that look on his face. “I’m sorry, Ragan-lan.”
“Don’t be afraid of me, nobyo. You can speak to me frankly, but
stay respectful, please. You must never lose the habit, and then you
will never slip up in public. Ask me whatever you want to know.”
Donovan sat on the side of the bed and gathered his courage.
“Ragan-lan. Are you the king of the Tygerians? Is that what Dyson
means? You told me the people demanded my obedience, but as king
you can do whatever you like, surely?”
“I am not king, nobyo. The Dyson is our name for Battle
Commander. I lead our armies, so while I do hold a very important
office, I am not in charge.” He moved over to sit beside him and took
his hand, rubbing his thumb gently over the back.
“I would never have had to fight you in the arena if I’d been king,
nobyo. I love you.”
Donovan’s head snapped up, and he gazed deeply into Ragan’s
eyes. He loved him! No matter how many times he heard those words
from Ragan’s mouth, it thrilled and frightened him at the same time.
“You–you really love me?”
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“Very much, nobyo. I was afraid to speak of my beast to you. I
know how skittish you can be.”
“Skittish?” Donovan was deeply insulted. Didn’t that mean
scared? “I’m not skittish! You’ve startled me a couple of times, that’s
all. Like that night with the monster bat.”
Ragan laughed. “My pet vetami? He won’t hurt you, little one. I
would pluck off his feathers and cook him for breakfast if he ever hurt
you.”
Donovan shifted uncomfortably. “Well, maybe I am a little
anxious around that thing. But your beast, as you call it, was
beautiful. Scary as hell, but beautiful.”
“I would not hurt you willingly in my beast form either, but I
might get too—excited, shall we say? If you ever see me in my beast
form, drop to the ground, and stay as still as you can. Never look at
me directly or challenge me in any way. If I were to, uh…try to mate
with you in my beast form, I could hurt you badly. If it ever starts to
happen, go limp as possible, and let me do whatever I want to you. As
long as you don’t fight me, you should be all right.”
“Damn, Ragan. I mean, Ragan-lan. What the hell?”
“Don’t curse, nobyo. It is not seemly. You must understand that
my mind is not fully my own when I’m in beast form. I can still think
a little, but I mostly act on instinct. That’s why I locked you in your
room last night. I knew I would be shifting into beast form, and I
wanted you safe. I will always take those precautions with you. Even
after we shift back, it can be hours before we are truly ourselves. It’s a
dangerous time for you, and you must never be outside when it
happens.”
“Why last night in particular?”
Ragan stared down at their joined hands and brought his hand up
to kiss it. “Several things happened yesterday. First, it was the full
moon, so I deliberately chose the day of the shifting to introduce you
as my nobyo. These are always important days to us. Then we sent a
message to the Alliance about how you and the others were now all
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our nobyos and that you would soon be in the Hunt. We received an
answer that angered us greatly.”
“An answer? What was it?”
“It was addressed to the eleven of you. Totally disrespecting us by
ignoring us. That was a calculated insult on the Alliance’s part. It said
for you all to be strong and that they would come for you soon.”
“Come for us?” Donovan was dazed by this news. On the one
hand, it made him happy that the Alliance was concerned for them,
but on the other, he didn’t know how he felt about leaving Ragan if
they were to make good on their promise.
Ragan gripped his hand so hard it made him look up in surprise. “I
knew you would be excited by the news! I knew you would want to
leave me!” He threw down Donovan’s hand, stood up, and began to
pace back and forth like his tiger form had done the night before.
“You will never leave me, nobyo!” He stopped to point a long finger
in Donovan’s face. “Forget that idea now! I will never let you go, do
you hear me?”
“Yes, Ragan-lan. I hear you. I don’t want to leave you either.”
“Bah!” He began to pace again. “You say that only to appease me.
But I am making you a promise, nobyo. You leave me only over my
dead body! Is that clear?”
“Yes, Ragan-lan. Very clear.” He let him pace for a few moments
and then spoke again. “Can I ask if that’s why you all shifted last
night?”
“Hmm? No, we were angry, but that was only part of the cause.
We were also celebrating. We received word yesterday that my mate
had delivered a set of twins, one boy and one girl. The boy will be
taken from her after the Hunt and brought to me.”
It was Donovan’s turn to jump to his feet. “What? The baby will
be here soon?”
“Yes, but don’t be alarmed. The baby will have a nursemaid for a
few weeks until you get used to caring for him.”
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“I don’t know about this, Ragan-lan. I don’t know anything about
children. I mean, I like them, but…”
Ragan took him in his arms and kissed him hungrily, nudging
aside his lips and filling his mouth with his questing tongue. “You’ll
be perfect, nobyo. You’re perfect at almost everything. I will probably
have to teach him obedience, however, since that’s not your strong
point.”
At Donovan’s gasp of outrage, Ragan kissed him again.
Donovan’s lips tingled as he groaned and moved closer, pressing his
body against Ragan’s. A sweet, musky flavor blasted across his
senses as their tongues tangled together. Donovan couldn’t hold back
the soft mewling little sound he was making.
Ragan pushed him away and gazed deeply into his eyes. “Don’t
do that, sweet one, or I’ll have to take you, and we need to start
training right away. The date for the Hunt has been set for three
weeks from now.”
“Three weeks…so soon.”
“It will give us enough time, don’t worry. Come over here, and I
will show you the map of where the Hunt is to take place.”
Donovan followed him over to the bed and settled himself to
watch as Ragan pulled out his communicator and punched in a few
buttons. Instantly a holographic image floated in the air in front of
him. It wasn’t in the arena as Donovan had pictured. Instead the
image looked like a huge park surrounded by fences that seemed to be
electrified. At one end of the image was a huge ring of some kind.
Ragan zoomed in and showed him the entrance to the park. “This
is where you’ll begin. You and the others. You’ll be given a head
start, and your goal is to reach the other side of the park. Here.” He
punched a finger at the ringed structure on the other side. “These are
the Sacred Stones.” He punched more buttons on his communicator,
and the screen changed to show the stones from a vast height. He
zoomed in to show them to Donovan in detail.
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The stones were actually massive chunks of diamond. There were
eight of them, all standing at least twelve feet tall, and they had been
arranged in a kind of ring. In the middle was an incredibly large stone
laid on its side, another diamond of shocking brilliance. They all
seemed to be white diamonds, clear and perfect. The Alliance would
do most anything to get its hands on such stones. “Diamonds,”
Donovan whispered, putting up a finger to touch the hologram.
“We call them obidians. They are plentiful on our planet.
Worthless, but beautiful. If you’d like some, I will buy you plenty of
them.”
Donovan laughed. “Yes, please. On our planet these are valued
highly.”
“We know. Your Alliance wants to mine them here, but we have
declined. They decided not to take no for an answer.”
“But if they’re of little value to you, why not let them mine them,
Ragan? Would it be so horrible?”
“For us, yes. We want no foreign presence on our planet. Our only
wish is to be left alone.”
“I understand that, but…”
“No. We won’t waste time discussing it. Now. Let me show you
several routes from the front of the park to get to the stones.”
The next thirty minutes consisted of Ragan mapping out several
routes for Donovan to use. Donovan was attentive, but in his mind, he
wondered what value these routes really had if Ragan was aware of
them. Wouldn’t it make more sense to choose a new way? Almost
immediately on the heels of that thought came Ragan’s admonition
not to make his own plans, thinking he knew best. Donovan had to
learn to put his trust in Ragan. He tried to listen more attentively.
“Can we go and visit this park, Ragan? Can I walk through the
park and plan for my route?”
“Yes, you can train here. As a matter of fact, we go there
tomorrow to do just that.”
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“But Ragan, how is training with you going to help me? Won’t
you know my every move that way? I’d have no tricks up my sleeve
to fool you.”
Ragan looked uncomfortable for a moment. He took a deep
breath. “Donovan, when I hunt you, I will not be in my Tygerian
form. I will have shifted and be in my beast. I won’t remember
anything of my former self.”
“In other words, you’ll be a tiger.”
Ragan smiled gently, running one finger down his cheek. “Yes,
nobyo, I will be a tiger. As a tiger, I will no longer be able to think
and plan. I will act only on instinct and will hunt in the traditional
ways. There’s one thing that might help us, nobyo, and that’s how we
feel about each other. I think of you as my true mate, and if you truly
love me as well…” He angled a look at Donovan, a little uncertain but
trying not to show it.
“I do love you, Ragan,” Donovan said, knowing he was absolutely
speaking the truth. “You are my true mate.”
Strong emotion flooded Ragan’s face, and he smiled with
something like relief. “Then my tiger will never hurt you, darling. It
will instinctively know its true mate and would never attack you.”
Donovan allowed this new information to set in before he spoke
again. When he did, his face was set and determined. “I hope that’s
true, Ragan-lan. Not that I doubt you, but I need a communicator. I
need to do some research.”
* * * *
The next few days were busy for Donovan. Each morning, he and
Ragan went running to build up his stamina and endurance. He was
happy to learn that he could run faster and farther than Ragan over
long distances. His past efforts in the gym paid off for him now in a
big way. After their run, they spent time with weapons that would
easily be at hand in a forest setting. Using branches he found on the
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forest floor, Ragan taught Donovan to form makeshift staffs and
sparred with Donovan until he felt confident of his abilities.
In the late afternoons, Donovan spent time on the communicator
learning about tigers. Of course, the Tygerians were different in some
aspects, being shapeshifters and larger than the tigers on Earth, but
Ragan admitted most of the information he found was true. Donovan
discovered tigers were thought to be predators who hunted mostly at
night, though they did occasionally hunt during the day as well. Lone
hunters, they attacked their prey from ambush. With their large size
they could easily overpower their prey, and though very fast, they
weren’t good with long distances. Tigers normally didn’t like to chase
their victims any more than they had to. As a result only one in twenty
of their attacks proved lethal. As potential prey, Donovan found that
little tidbit to be very good news indeed.
Donovan found out further that when tigers attacked their victims,
they liked to grab them by the throat and hold onto them with their
forelegs until the prey was strangled to death. Unless the initial bite
broke the prey’s spinal cord or their teeth went through the windpipes.
Either way, an unpleasant death, Donovan thought.
Most of their time in the evenings was spent going over and over
the terrain, finding the water, and mapping out potential routes to the
Stones. Every night, Ragan made love to him. He was almost
insatiable, and the closer it came to the time of the Hunt, the more
nervous and upset Ragan seemed to grow.
The night before the Hunt, Donovan sat in the pool for a long
time, letting the steamy water heal his aching muscles. He’d been
training hard, and now he was about to enter the last phase of the
Exhibition Games. If he wanted a life with Ragan, this was the only
way to get it. He actually felt sympathy for Ragan, who had grown
more jumpy and on edge as the days came closer to the Hunt.
The idea that his beast might actually kill Donovan weighed
heavily on him, Donovan knew, but a lifetime of tradition and the
safety of his family were important as well. He’d explained this time
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and time again to Donovan, his eyes pleading with him to understand.
Donovan knew he was suffering, so he tried not to dwell on failure. It
simply could not be an option.
He got out of the pool, dried himself, and walked naked back to
the bedroom. Ragan lay on his back staring up at the ceiling. Donovan
walked over to him, and Ragan looked up at him. He was startled to
see tears standing in his eyes.
“Ragan, what is it?” He sat down on the bed beside him and ran a
hand over his sculpted chest.
“The thought of losing you is making me feel…Donovan, I can’t
be the cause of your death. I can’t! If I shift out of the beast state and
find I have killed you…” A choking sound came from his throat, and
he turned his head on the pillow, biting his lip.
Donovan bent down and kissed the skin on his abs, trailing kisses
down to his groin. He lifted his head, his lips poised over Ragan’s
gorgeous, exotic cock. “Don’t, Ragan. Don’t do this to yourself. I
know you have no choice. Failure is simply not an option, okay?”
Ragan sat up, gripping Donovan’s shoulders. “Don’t you see? I
don’t think I can kill you, even as a beast. The night of the shifting,
when you saw me outside the window, I hadn’t come to harm you. I
came because I couldn’t stay away. I came because I loved you so
much and wanted to protect you.”
“So…this is a good thing, right?”
“Nobyo, if I save you I condemn myself and my family. I don’t
care for myself, but for Lothan, my wife, and the new babies…” He
buried his face in his hands and shook his head. “Either way I lose my
own life.”
Donovan pulled his hands down from his face and kissed his lips,
salty with tears. “No. I will escape, and you will try to hunt me, but I
will get away. This is how it has to happen.” He pushed him back on
the bed again. “Now you need to stop thinking. It’s time I taught you
how to be the bottom for a change.”
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Ragan’s eyes widened, and he wriggled his body as if to get up in
alarm, but Donovan straddled him and quieted him with his mouth
going around his beautiful cock and sucking it hard. Ragan writhed in
ecstasy as Donovan used his lips and his teeth to bring his cock up to
stand proudly against his stomach, rock hard. As his big body relaxed,
Donovan removed his mouth with a pop and scooted forward up his
body. He aimed for his open mouth and thrust the dripping head of his
cock into his lover’s mouth.
Ragan opened his eyes in surprise, but he flicked out his tongue to
welcome the invasion. He tried to suck the head into his mouth, but
Donovan laughed. “Oh, no, you don’t. You’re trying to top from the
bottom, you bad boy.” He pulled his cock back and thrust it into
Ragan’s mouth, making him take it as he drove it in again and again.
Ragan was surprised, but he gripped Donovan’s ass with both hands
and hung on for the ride. Donovan loved the sizzling heat of Ragan’s
mouth, but he didn’t want to come yet.
He pulled away and scooted back down his big body, smiling at
the groans coming from Ragan. “Raise your knees, baby. Let me take
care of you for a change.”
Slowly, his face a mask of indecision, Ragan raised his knees, and
grunted when Donovan shoved a pillow under his hips. Before he
could react further, Donovan attacked his rim. There was no other
word for it. He flung himself down and began his assault, licking and
nipping at his rim, sticking his tongue in and flicking it around inside
him. Using both hands, he pried Ragan’s cheeks apart and stuck his
face in, nuzzling and kissing. Ragan literally screamed his pleasure,
bucking his hips wildly, almost flinging Donovan to the floor.
Donovan raised his head and pointed a finger at him, wagging it
back and forth. “Uh-uh. If you’re not a good boy, I won’t keep doing
this. Now settle down.”
Ragan looked at him with glazed eyes and nodded slowly.
Donovan laughed, but instead of continuing with his tongue, he drove
his cock deep into his hole instead. Ragan grunted in pain and tried to
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buck him off, but Donovan held on like a terrier. “Settle down, big
boy, or I’ll have to tie you!”
Ragan stilled a little, looking at Donovan with wide, scared eyes,
and Donovan relented. “Let me make it good for you, sweetheart.
Relax for me. Push back against me. That’s it.”
Donovan set up a slow and steady rhythm until Ragan cried out.
“Fuck me, Donovan. Fuck me hard!”
“Darlin’, I thought you’d never ask!” He pounded him then, trying
to reach his sweet spot and knowing he’d found it when Ragan
suddenly gasped aloud and tried to sit up. He pushed him back down
and hammered at him, each thrust harder and harder, the friction
growing in intensity. Donovan was going crazy himself from the tight
heat of his lover’s passage, and his balls throbbed for release. Finally
a rolling wave of passion swept over him as he emptied himself inside
Ragan. Ragan, too, found his orgasm and spurted in long white
streams onto Donovan’s chest. Donovan fell down on top of Ragan
and tried to still his ragged breathing.
Ragan reached for him and dragged him up beside him, turning
into him and kissing him over and over. “I love you, nobyo. I love
you so much.”
“I love you too, darlin’,” Donovan said, and he knew it to be true.
He’d come a long way with this alien, from hatred all the way to love,
and he’d never let him go now. No one and nothing would separate
them. He said this over and over to himself as he fell asleep wrapped
in Ragan’s arms. It was a kind of mantra, a promise to himself that he
didn’t know if he could keep.
* * * *
The next morning dawned bright and beautiful, a seeming
mockery of how Ragan and Donovan felt. Donovan made himself eat
a good breakfast, though Ragan could hardly eat a bite. They didn’t
talk about it. There was nothing left to say.
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After breakfast, they took the transport to the great Exhibition
Games Park where the Hunt was to take place. There Donovan
walked quietly away, only touching Ragan’s hand briefly, but not
looking back at him. He joined the other remaining crew members at
the gate of the park, all nervously waiting for the Games to begin.
They had a long time to wait. Hours passed as they waited for the
signal to begin. They saw no sign of the Tygerians, who were
somewhere beyond the forest surrounding the gates. Was this
supposed to make them anxious and disquieted? If so, it was working
well. Donovan sat for a while, then paced back and forth with restless
energy.
The bastards were messing with their heads, Donovan was sure of
it. He wondered where Ragan was and how he was holding up. He’d
already been overwrought and jittery that morning. No telling what
state he would be in by now. Evening came and went and still the
signal hadn’t started. Some of the men’s nerves had broken, and one
was sitting apart, muttering to himself. Donovan glanced over at him.
He’d tried earlier to comfort him, but the man had shaken off his hand
on his shoulder, telling him in a sharp tone to leave him alone.
When the horn finally sounded an hour later, Donovan ran straight
into the woods, heading for the deepest part of the forest. He tried to
control his panic, thinking that if he could run as far and as fast as he
could, he might put a good distance between him and Ragan. By this
time the night was stygian in its blackness, and he stumbled often and
fell more times than he could count.
After thirty minutes or more, his eyes finally became adjusted to
the dark, so he ran not completely blind, managing to dodge most of
the trees and rocks, moving as fast as he could to get away. Finally,
after traveling for what seemed like hours, he stopped and leaned
against a tree. He looked behind him and saw nothing but darkness.
He listened carefully to the sounds of the night. He thought he might
have heard distant cries, but it could have been his imagination. Once
he could have sworn he heard distant shouting and screaming, and he
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wondered if one of his shipmates had been caught. Sick and scared,
he started to run again, this time veering off in another direction, as
far from the path as he could. He came to a stream. Stopping to fill his
water bottle, he then ran right through the middle of it, stumbling over
rocks and wetting himself through to the skin, but thinking that this
might confuse any scent he would leave behind.
He was becoming exhausted and knew he couldn’t go much
farther. He leaned against a tree to rest and found that he could smell
a strong, mint-like odor coming from the tree leaves. He climbed up
into the dark foliage, going right up to the tallest branch. Tigers could
climb, but usually didn’t climb so high. He had no idea if the
Tygerians could or would climb up after him. He thought that perhaps
if Ragan were able to track him by scent this far, the strong odors of
the tree might mask his scent. He straddled the tree, wrapping his
arms around it, and decided he’d stay there for just a little while so he
could rest. Each noise he heard in the darkness around him made him
flinch and startle, but gradually, as nothing came close to him, as the
dark stayed dark around him, he must have drifted off to sleep.
He awoke to daylight and panic. Oh, gods, I didn’t mean to sleep
so long. Ragan has found my scent by now. The idea terrified him.
Perhaps if he got down from the tree and circled back to the stream,
he might be able to throw off the scent that way. Besides, it was on
the circuitous route he’d chosen to take toward the Stones. He
climbed down from the tree and looked around him. He was on some
kind of small hill, in a bit of a clearing, the forest stretching out before
him as far as he could see. He turned back toward the direction he
thought home might be in and froze.
A huge tiger was staring at him from the treeline. Its eyes were
intent on him, head low. Even from yards away, Donovan could hear
the steady growling coming from its throat. Donovan took a step
backward, every instinct in him telling him to run, knowing if he did,
the big cat would be on him in seconds, tearing him apart. He thought
back to what Ragan once told him to do if he ever saw a Tygerian in
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beast form. “Go limp, and drop to the ground. Don’t run, and don’t try
to fight.”
He was ready to do just that when he saw the big cat suddenly
raise its head and sniff the air. It cocked its massive head and turned
its back on him, walking away and disappearing in the brush.
Donovan dropped to the ground as reaction set in, and he trembled for
perhaps five minutes. He finally pulled himself together and managed
to stand up. The tiger could not have been Ragan. It must have been
another Tygerian searching for one of his former comrades.
Once he had the strength to move again, he made his way slowly
back to the stream. He was terribly hungry, but he tried to ignore it
and drank more water. He pulled an energy bar from where he’d stuck
it in his loincloth and took a bite, chewing slowly and carefully. It
wasn’t much, but it would have to do for now. He stuck the rest back
down for later and took another swig from his bottle.
After walking for another thirty minutes or so, he spotted the
stream up ahead, hearing it splashing on the rocks long before he
actually got to it. Once there, he crouched down to watch the scene
for a few minutes to make sure there was nothing hiding in the
shadows, ready to jump on him. After waiting and watching for some
time, he was convinced the area was clear. He started to move from
the shadows when he heard a crashing in the brush behind him. He
turned, crouching lower in the bush, and saw one of his shipmates, a
man he’d known casually as Harris, come running out of the brush
toward the stream. He fell down beside it and began to drink,
obviously desperate for water.
Donovan started to get up and go to him when he heard a sound
behind him and to the left of Harris. In horror, Donovan watched as a
huge tiger pushed its way from the bush and headed straight for
Harris. Before Donovan could cry out to warn him, the beast was on
him, leaping onto his back and taking the nape of his neck in his huge
mouth. Harris screamed in fear and agony, but the great cat shook him
like he was a rag doll until he was silent and unmoving. The huge
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tiger crouched over him for a long time, growling and snarling,
making sure he was dead, perhaps. Then the beast rose to its feet and
dragged the dead human away, still holding him by the nape, leaving
a wide smear of blood in its wake.
Donovan turned his head and vomited in the dirt beside him.
Harris had been a cook, he remembered, twenty-four or five years old.
The reality of this Hunt hit him squarely between the eyes, and he was
sickened by the savagery of the encounter. What kind of people could
cause this to happen? How could they televise it and watch it as part
of their evening’s entertainment? Even if he managed to survive this
insanity, how could he live with people like this the rest of his life?
He managed to pull himself together and make it to the stream. He
filled his water bottle one more time and walked through the stream
again trying to hide his scent.
It was almost an hour later that he found what he’d been looking
for. It was a feature he’d seen on the hologram and tried to enlarge to
make sure of what he had seen. He’d devised a plan based on what
he’d found. It was a natural hole in the ground. Narrow, no more than
six feet across at the top, widening as it got deeper, it was also a long
way down, dropping at least thirty-five or forty feet to a pool of water
below. There was a shelf around the pool, so if he could lure Ragan to
the declivity and make him fall into it, he would be able to survive
until he was rescued. It would give Donovan time to make a beeline
for the Stones, and he could maybe survive this thing. The other tigers
weren’t focused on Donovan, so if he could trap Ragan here, he’d
have a real chance.
It all hinged on luck—a great deal of luck. He had to confront
Ragan in his beast form with the declivity between them and lure him
forward until he fell, hoping he wouldn’t decide to make a sudden
leap at him and miss the hole altogether. It offered a slim chance, but
a chance for both of them nonetheless.
He went to work gathering branches and foliage to place across
the void. It was vital to hide what it really was and still make it thin
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enough that the huge tiger’s weight would cause its collapse, hurling
Ragan down to the water below. According to his research, tigers
could swim very well. He certainly hoped Ragan could. He had no
wish to hurt him, an irony that was not wasted on Donovan. He loved
this alien, though, no matter what form he was in.
He had mostly finished his camouflage of the hole and was
headed back to the declivity with another load of foliage when he
heard a slight noise behind him. Freezing in place he slowly turned
and saw a huge, beautiful tiger not twenty feet away from him,
stalking him relentlessly, its eyes burning a hole in him with their
intensity.
Even though it went against everything his body was screaming at
him to do, he dropped down to the ground on his knees and wrapped
his arms over his head. The big cat was on him in an instant. He heard
the loud snarl in his ears and felt its hot, moist breath on his neck. It
stood over his back, covering him completely with its great weight
resting slightly on him, enough to hold him down. He felt the soft fur
covering him, and his whole body shook from the force of the rumble
coming from the massive body. He cried out in terror, but
immediately got hold of himself and remembered to make
whimpering, mewling sounds of submission. He had to be as
nonthreatening as possible to survive.
He could feel the cold wet nose of the beast sniffing him
everywhere. A great paw came down on his back, claws sheathed, and
pushed him flat to the ground. The beast chuffed out its breath again
and fell down beside him, keeping its paw still on his back, pressing
him facedown. He lay there waiting for a blow that never came.
Finally, reaction set in and the adrenaline drained out of him, leaving
him exhausted. He closed his eyes, still not moving, making his body
limp and playing dead. An hour passed, and still the huge tiger hadn’t
attacked. Donovan had to chance taking a look at him. He couldn’t
crouch here any longer expecting death at every moment. Slowly, he
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raised his head to take a look, preparing himself as much as he could
for a sudden swipe of the massive paws.
The huge tiger was sleeping, or seemed to be, its head lying across
one massive arm, the other arm outstretched to hold him in place.
The first thing that struck him was the beauty of the beast. The
black stripes made an intricate pattern above his eyes and around the
sides of his face. In the middle of his face was his large golden snout,
leading to his mouth and incredibly long whiskers. As Donovan gazed
at him in awe, the beautiful beast opened his eyes.
They were a dark golden color with a greenish cast. They were
intelligent and wary, gazing at him without any trace of anger or
vicious intent. They were Ragan’s eyes. Donovan could have sworn
he saw an expression of love in their depths. He remembered what
Ragan had told him weeks ago. If a tiger found his true mate, he
couldn’t attack him. It wasn’t possible for a tiger to hurt his mate.
Donovan felt a fierce stab of hope. He knew Ragan loved him, but
now the proof was literally staring him in the face. He’d seen with his
own eyes what the massive jaws of these tigers could do, and he knew
with sudden clarity that Ragan, even in his beast, would never
knowingly hurt him.
The adrenaline that had been racing through his body began to
drain slowly away. In relief, Donovan allowed his head to sag onto
his arms. Ragan’s beast kept his big paw steady and protective on his
back. Donovan willed himself to relax as the tension drained away.
That was the last thing he remembered for a long time.
When he awoke, he was still lying facedown on the ground, and
the tiger was sleeping beside him. Although he believed Ragan
wouldn’t harm him, danger still threatened both of them. Donovan
was all too aware they were being watched at all times. The closed-
circuit cameras were all around them, and Ragan had been
commanded to do his best to hunt Donovan down. He’d told Donovan
repeatedly that if he didn’t, his spouse Alana, her children, and his
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brother Lothan would all be put to death. He had to prevent that if he
could, and he had to make it look good if they were to get out of this.
He crawled slowly, to get as far as he possibly could before he
made his move. He was only a few feet from the declivity. If he could
reach it and jump over, perhaps Ragan’s beast would follow. If luck
was with him, he would fall, and Donovan would be safe. He knew he
was within a mile or two of the stones, and he felt sure he could run
that far and make it to safety, outrunning any pursuers.
Moving by inches, he finally made it away from Ragan’s beast
and rolled slowly and gently even farther. He got to his knees and
began to crawl slowly. When he’d made it about twenty feet from the
beast, he got up the nerve to look back over his shoulder at Ragan,
and his heart almost stopped. The tiger was staring at him, green-gold
eyes never moving, a low, growling rumble beginning in its chest.
His nerve breaking, Donovan jumped to his feet and ran as he’d
never run before in his life. He could hear the beast springing to its
feet behind him. Reaching the declivity he’d camouflaged, he jumped
and cleared the hole. He ran forward a few steps and turned to look
back at Ragan’s beast. Ragan had stressed to him over and over that
his mind would be that of a beast. Even if Ragan’s beast had
recognized him earlier as his mate, he may not remember it now, or
even if he did, in trying to stop his escape he could hurt him badly.
The beast had begun to run after him, a snarl transforming its face
into a terrible mask. It came running at him and almost slowed for a
second, looking at the branches Donovan had so carefully laid across
the drop. Donovan’s heart dropped, because he could see in the
beast’s eyes that he knew there was danger there.
Donovan stood still, chest heaving, waiting for the leap he knew
was coming and the teeth that could soon fasten around his throat.
Instead, Ragan’s beast looked directly at him, ran forward, and leaped
squarely in the middle of the camouflaged void. The massive body
dropped like a rock, and Donovan ran over to the edge to make sure
Ragan was uninjured. He saw the massive body come to the surface
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of the pool and begin swimming, his head above water, moving
steadily toward the shelf of rock. He watched until he reached it and
climbed out, standing on the shelf looking up at Donovan. He roared
at him once, whether in anger or in triumph, Donovan couldn’t tell.
Donovan didn’t wait any longer. He jumped to his feet and took
off in the direction in which he knew the stones lay. In only about ten
minutes, he reached them, beautiful and sparkling in the sunlight.
Three others were already there, and they welcomed him with hugs
and high fives. Donovan fell down on the grass in the middle of the
stones and tried to catch his breath. He wondered how Ragan was,
and if he’d been rescued from the trap he’d set for him. He hoped so.
He was almost desperate to see him.
He knew that somehow Ragan, his Ragan, had controlled his
beast. He’d known the hole was there, but he’d jumped into it
anyway. To save his nobyo. He could easily have ignored his feelings
and given in to his beast, taking Donovan down. Instead he jumped
into the void, not even knowing what awaited him. It could have been
a drop so extreme he wouldn’t have survived, or there could have
been rocks below. Ragan had taken a leap of faith, and Donovan
loved him for it.
Donovan loved him. He knew that without any doubt now, and it
had never been clearer. He thought he’d probably loved him from the
moment he first saw him standing proud and regal in his gladiator
regalia, fierce and strong and beautiful.
The Tygerian people were brutal and savage, often frightening
him with their strange customs and harshness. But his Tygerian was
beautiful both inside and out. A little rough around the edges, and he
still needed a bit of civilizing, but Donovan knew now that he could
never leave him, even if he were given the chance.
The men waited throughout the afternoon, and four more of their
former crew came in. That meant that three of their number hadn’t
made it. Out of the two hundred crewmen who had been on the
starship, only the eight of them had survived.
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A horn sounded and music began, loud and blaring. A procession
was coming toward them. Eight young Tygerian males in all their
splendor came walking down the path, followed by two older males.
Donovan searched for a glimpse of Ragan and saw him at the back of
the group, looking tall and gorgeous in his gladiator leggings and
armor. He stared straight ahead, as did the others, regal in their
dignity. As they came into the standing stones, each one came to his
nobyo and took possession by wrapping an arm around him and
drawing him to his side. When Donovan’s turn came, he sagged
gratefully into Ragan’s side, and Ragan gave him a little squeeze. The
elder Tygerians stood in front of the group and turned toward the
cameras mounted on the sides of the stones. They made a series of
long pronouncements, the horn blared again, and it was over. Finally
over, and they could go home.
* * * *
“Donovan, the baby is on his way here.”
“He is?” Why was he suddenly so excited at the idea of the baby?
Donovan couldn’t fucking wait to get his hands on him. He’d never
before experienced any craving for a child of his own, and he couldn’t
quite figure out why he was so excited.
Ragan looked nervous. “Don’t be mad, sweet one, but since I
knew the baby was on his way from the moment I met you, I’ve been
putting something in your medicine and food to make you feel
more…uh…maternal…”
“What. Did. You. Say?”
“I knew you wouldn’t like it, but you will be the primary
caregiver, nobyo. If you didn’t like babies, it would have been a
disaster, and you’re so stubborn.”
Donovan sat very still. “Did you give me female hormones? Tell
me the truth! Am I going to grow boobs?”
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“No, sweet one. No hormones. Just a chemical developed in our
labs long ago for our male nobyos. It makes them want to love our
babies and take care of them. I promise it has no ill effects! I don’t
know what this ‘boobs’ is, but if it’s something on your beautiful
body, don’t worry. I would never change a thing about you.”
“I still don’t like this, Ragan-lan. If I start to have periods or
something, somebody is going to wish he was never born!”
“Again, nobyo, I don’t know what you mean, but nothing bad will
come of this. I promise.”
A knock on the door made Donovan suddenly hold his breath.
Then the door opened and Lothan walked in carrying a tiny bundle.
Well, for a Tygerian it was tiny. The baby Lothan placed in his arms
was about the size of a four-month-old human child, but totally
helpless like a human infant. He was just as beautiful as he’d
expected, too. His skin was golden with no stripes at all. His hair was
long for an infant’s and golden blond like his father’s. He opened his
little eyes, and they were the same gorgeous shade of green-gold.
Donovan put a finger down, and the baby gripped it with his little
fingers and drew it down to his mouth so he could suck it. He had
surprising strength. “Yep, just like his daddy, all right. Sucking me
already.”
Donovan raised his gaze to see Ragan beaming down at him and
the baby. “You look so beautiful with my son in your arms, nobyo. I
wish I had a picture.” He pulled out his communicator and clicked on
it, and a hologram of Donovan and the baby floated in the air above
them. “Look, nobyo. Aren’t you both pretty?”
Donovan’s eyes looked very blue in the hologram as he gazed
down at the beautiful child. He also looked very possessive of the
baby in his arms. “Pretty?” He scoffed. “Men are handsome. This
baby is a handsome child.”
“May I hold him, nobyo?”
Donovan hesitated. Ragan could be so rough. “Okay, but just for a
moment. And support the back of his head.”
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Ragan smiled and took the baby in his arms. Donovan felt twitchy
and nervous the whole time he held him. Damn, what was in that drug
they gave me? Then again, who cares?
When Ragan handed him back, Donovan almost snatched him
away. “Why doesn’t he have stripes, Ragan? Nothing’s wrong, is it?”
“No, sweet one. He will develop them more and more as he ages.
By the time he reaches puberty, he’ll have them. He grows faster than
human children, too. Don’t be alarmed by that, it is completely
normal.”
Ragan touched the baby’s cheek with his finger. “What shall we
call him, nobyo? I will let you choose.”
“Me? But I don’t know many Tygerian names. I don’t want him to
be embarrassed by anything I would call him.” He gazed down at the
baby’s eyes, then back up at Ragan’s powerful frame and quoted
William Blake again.
“When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”
“Lam? You like that name?”
“It’s lamb, and no, Ragan. I don’t want him to hate me forever.
What about Blake, though? It’s a nice name, and he reminds me of a
poem by the ancient Earth poet William Blake. You both do.”
“Blake. I like it. It is strong, and yet sounds like something my
nobyo thought of. It’s a good name, sweet one.”
Donovan smiled and leaned over for a kiss. For the first time in a
very long while, he felt happy and at peace with the world around
him. Why then did he still have an uneasy feeling, like everything
could be snatched away from him any minute?
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Chapter Seven
The days seemed to pass quickly once the baby came. For one
thing, Donovan was usually totally exhausted. Thank the gods for
servants, but even then he didn’t really want the baby out of his sight.
After the first two nights of Donovan jumping up to hover over the
cradle or pick the baby up during the night every time he made the
slightest sound, Ragan put his foot down and demanded that the baby
sleep in another room of his own.
Donovan was worried sick until Ragan promised him a closed-
circuit camera and a guard on the door all night. He would have
stayed up then to watch the camera, but Ragan pulled him firmly
down beside him and made long, slow love to him most of the night.
On the second night, when Donovan tried to sneak into the baby’s
room, Ragan put his cock in Donovan’s ass and kept him impaled on
it all night. He told him firmly he was cutting back on the medication.
“I don’t think it’s just the medicine, Ragan. I just love him so
much I want to look at him all the time. He’s like a tiny little you.
One that I can kiss and hold and keep on my lap as long as I want to.”
Ragan smiled and shook his head. “I’m here for you, too, nobyo.
If you want to kiss me I’ll be happy to oblige. I could even sit on your
lap if you insist.”
Donovan snorted. “You’d break my lap. Though I will take you
up on the kisses.” He smiled shyly up at him just before Ragan picked
him up and threw him on the bed, climbing in eagerly after him.
After two weeks, Ragan became concerned about Donovan
obsessing over the baby and not getting enough exercise and rest, so
he directed him to go out with Lothan once every afternoon to run in
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the park near their house. On the first afternoon they were to go
running in the park, Donovan emerged from the house with the baby
in a baby carriage.
Lothan stopped him at the door. “No, you don’t, Donovan. Ragan
warned me you might try this.” He used his communicator to call for
a servant to get the baby. Once the servant arrived, Lothan pulled
Donovan along with him. “You are obsessed with little Blake,
Donovan, and it’s not healthy. Ragan is interviewing baby nurses
today to keep you from spending so much time with him.”
“What? But that’s not fair. Ragan said he was my baby, too!”
“He is, Donovan. Please don’t be upset. You want to keep your
master happy, too, don’t you?”
Donovan nodded, and Lothan continued. “I know I’m young, but
I’ve never seen my brother so happy as he is with you and the baby.
Just do as he tells you, Donovan. You always fight him, and it only
causes you trouble. Let him make you happy. It’s all he wants.”
“Oh, all right,” Donovan sighed. “I guess I do have a tendency to
obsess a bit.”
“A bit?” Lothan ducked as Donovan tried to punch him.
“Let’s go to the park then and run. I’ve missed being able to
exercise.”
They jogged down to the park, and right away Donovan saw one
of his old shipmates walking disconsolately around the running trail.
A large Tygerian servant followed him slowly, looking terribly bored.
“Can I talk to him, Lothan? He used to be a friend of mine.”
Lothan shrugged and went up to the Tygerian servant and said a
few words. He motioned for Donovan to come over. “It’s okay. You
can talk to him.”
Donovan jogged up to walk along beside the man whose name, he
remembered, was John Miller. They’d never been friends exactly, but
he knew him enough to speak to him when he saw him on board the
ship. “Are you okay, Miller?” he asked as the man looked over at him
indifferently. “I haven’t seen you in weeks.”
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“I’m as okay as I’ll ever be as long as I’m on this godforsaken
planet.”
“Is–is your Tygerian mean to you? Have you been abused?”
Miller shook his head and sighed. “No, not really. Not once he’d
‘broken me,’ as he said. Now he just fucks me every chance he gets.”
Miller was a tall man, much taller than Donovan, but he’d always
been very slim. He looked frail now, like he’d practically stopped
eating altogether. “I have a wife at home, Donovan, and children. I
don’t think any of the rest of you were married, were you?”
Donovan shook his head uneasily.
“I know she’s grieving for me and suffering right along with me.
I’ve tried to explain to the damn Tygerians, but they don’t give a shit.
We’re garbage to them.”
“My…uh…Tygerian has been very kind to me after the initial
breaking-in thing. I’m sorry you’re so unhappy. Ragan is the Battle
Commander, and he has some authority. I can talk to him if you like
and see if he could do anything for you. Possibly some kind of
prisoner exchange could be arranged.”
“Save your breath, Donovan. Nothing can be done. I’ve decided
that my wife would be better off if I were dead. At least then she
would feel free to move on and marry again. Give my children a real
father.”
“Miller, don’t talk so crazy! You’ve survived this long. Don’t give
up now. Let me talk to Ragan. Surely he can help you.”
“No. Don’t tell anyone, or they won’t let me out to walk again. I
couldn’t stand being locked away anymore!”
“Okay, okay, calm down. I won’t tell anyone. But stop this stupid
talk of killing yourself, or I’ll warn someone.”
Lothan called to him, and he took reluctant leave of his old
shipmate.
Later that evening as he sat outside with Ragan and the baby in
the cool evening air, his mind kept drifting back to the conversation
with Miller. He hoped it was a temporary depression Miller was going
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through and that somehow he’d be able to overcome it and find some
happiness as he had. He thought about how he would feel, though, if
he were suddenly to be stolen away from Ragan and Blake, and he
knew that if he were, he wouldn’t want to live either. He was tempted
to explain it to Ragan but remembered his promise to Miller. He
decided he’d wait to see him one more time, and if he were still so
despondent, he’d say something to Ragan and see if anything could be
done to send him back to his family.
The next few days when he went to the park, he watched for
Miller, and finally on the fourth day in the park he saw him. As a
matter of fact, Miller saw him first and came up to him eagerly. He
seemed quite different from the depressed man he’d met only a few
days before. Now he was fairly bursting with energy. He jogged along
beside Donovan and spoke to him urgently. “I must talk to you. I’m
so glad to see you here today.”
“Glad to see you too, Miller. You seem to be in a happier mood.”
Miller looked behind him to see how close the servant was and
lowered his voice. “Do you remember Tom Zaagan? I saw him here
yesterday in the park. He was running for exercise like you, and he
told me something exciting.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Zaagan said that when we crashed, when the bastards forced us
to land, he was able to crawl away from the wreckage and hide an
interplanetary communicator.”
“What?” Donovan asked sharply. The crash had been a chaos of
flames and screams and smoke. The pilot managed to bring them in
close enough to try to land, but they had clipped some trees and
slammed into the ground on the way down. It was hard to believe
anything from the ship had survived that nightmare, including the few
survivors who had been rounded up almost immediately and taken
away by the Tygerians.
“How?” Donovan shook his head. “The Tygerians were on us in
only a few minutes.”
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“He had it in his hand when the ship started down and managed to
hang onto it. He said he was thrown clear in the wreckage, crawled
over to an outcropping of rocks, and managed to hide it there unseen
before the Tygerians arrived and took us. Don’t you see what this
means?”
Donovan shook his head. “If you’re thinking about escape, you’re
crazy. They watch us all like hawks. Even if you could make it to
where he hid the communicator, which is doubtful, you’d have to
have exact coordinates to transmit.”
“That’s where you come in. You were a navigator. You could
figure the coordinates from the stars and then we could transmit them.
It could mean rescue for us!”
“No,” Donovan said firmly. “I have no interest in rescue. My
family is here now.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
“No! I have a child. I love my…my Tygerian. I’m sorry, but I
can’t help you.” Donovan tried to pull away from Miller, but he was
relentless, running after him and hanging on his arm.
“Please, Donovan! If you don’t want to go with us, that’s your
problem, but help us out, please! Where’s your loyalty? Where’s your
compassion, man? Have you lived with these monsters so long you
think like they do?”
Donovan turned and gripped him around the throat. He could
sense the Tygerian servant looking at him in alarm and walking faster
to come alongside them. “Don’t call them monsters, damn it. I said
no!”
The Tygerian servant, along with Lothan, reached them and pulled
them apart. Donovan saw the alarm on Lothan’s face and smiled,
holding out his hands. “Just a misunderstanding, that’s all. Nothing to
worry about.” He pulled Lothan away and walked quickly around the
track one time before he told him he wasn’t feeling well and wanted
to go home. Lothan regarded him strangely, but took him back home
and didn’t mention the incident any further.
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Donovan couldn’t get it out of his mind, however. He wanted to
help, he really did, but if he were caught…He finally had some
happiness, and he couldn’t jeopardize it to help his former shipmates.
The risk was too great. Besides, how would they ever all get away to
go to the site of the wrecked craft? It had to be some two or three
miles away in the forest. He wasn’t sure he could even find it now if
he tried.
He heard the baby crying and got up to go in to him. He stood in
the darkened room and held the sweet child to his chest, breathing in
his delicious smell as he swayed to and fro with him. The baby put his
chubby arms around his neck and buried his face in Donovan’s throat.
Donovan loved him so much. He heard someone come up behind him
and saw that it was Ragan. He took the baby in his arms and put an
arm around Donovan as well, kissing him on the top of his head.
“Go back to sleep, nobyo. I’ll get him back to bed. You need your
rest.”
If only he could rest. He kept thinking of Miller and how he
wanted to take his own life rather than be away from his wife and
child any longer. Did he owe him this one chance? Did they have any
possibility of making it work?
He’d never leave, of course, but if he could help his shipmates,
didn’t he have a responsibility to do so? He stayed awake most of the
night, thinking it over. By morning, he’d reached a decision. If he
could help them he had to consider it. He couldn’t live with himself if
he didn’t try to help them. He would ask them if they had a plan, at
least, and not make any promises.
He arranged to go to the park the next day with Lothan, and Miller
was there. When Donovan approached him, he eagerly explained their
plan. They would simply sneak away in the night at the time of the
next shifting, which was coming up in only a few days. On those
nights the Tygerians stayed out all night, so if they were lucky, they
wouldn’t be missed until morning. They would have hours to find the
site of the wreck, plot their coordinates, and wait for rescue. There
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was almost always an Alliance ship in or around orbit these days, or
there had been at the time they’d made their raid. The ship should
make contact very shortly after receiving the coordinates.
It seemed simple enough. Except for the part where Donovan
made his way home alone afterward on a night of shifters possibly
roaming the streets. I might make some shifter a tasty treat then, and
Ragan would never even know what happened to me.
In the end, though, he agreed to try it. He had a bad feeling about
the whole thing and had no idea that it would really work. He
supposed he owed it to his shipmates to try, though. Even if it killed
him. They made their hurried plans and agreed on a place to meet on
the night of the shifting, three nights away. If Ragan discovered he
had helped them to escape, or if anything went wrong, Ragan’s fury
would be terrible. He was taking a huge chance just when he’d finally
found his happiness. He only hoped Ragan would find a way to
forgive him if things went really bad.
* * * *
On the night of the next shifting, Ragan left the house early,
explaining to Donovan that he had to check on some important
council business before the shifting celebration later. He told
Donovan to be sure to lock the door, kissed him good night, and left.
Donovan went into the baby’s room and stayed there until dark, then
left him with the nurse Ragan had hired and told the servant he was
going to bed because he didn’t feel well. He requested that he not be
disturbed.
He slipped out the front door only a few minutes later and made
his way to the park by taking back alleys and staying out of the
streetlights. The thick cloud cover made the nights very dark with no
moon shining through, of course, so though he knew there was a full
moon up there the night remained inky dark. He could hear loud
voices in the night, and coming from the nearby amphitheater, he
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thought once he heard chanting. When he got to the meeting place, he
saw his former shipmates waiting for him, half hidden behind a grove
of trees. They stepped out and rushed toward him, pumping his hand.
“Thanks for coming, man. We thought you might not!”
“I promised I would. Now let’s hurry and get this over with. I
don’t want Ragan to discover my part in all this.”
They were whispering to each other urgently, and now Tom
Zaagan pulled his arm. “C’mon then. Let’s go. I think I know the
way, and personally, I can’t get off this planet quick enough.”
A sudden shout made Donovan’s heart almost stop. “Who is that
over there? What are you doing?” The voice was deep, angry, and
definitely Tygerian.
For a moment, the three humans froze in place, and then Miller
yelled, “Run!”
Donovan ran. Later he would wonder why he didn’t just freeze
and stay where he was. His presence in the park would have been
difficult to explain, but he could have perhaps lied his way out of it.
Instead, he ran with the others in a complete panic, the stupidest thing
he could possibly have done. There was only one voice behind them,
so the three men scattered in three different directions, each perhaps
hoping the alien would be confused.
Donovan ran straight into the woods, heading for the deepest part
of the forest. He tried to control his panic, thinking that if he could
just lose whoever was pursuing him, he could possibly circle back
around and make his way back to Ragan’s house. He looked behind
him, and panic turned to terror. Behind him, some distance away but
getting closer, were torches held aloft in the darkness. There must
have been ten or more.
Frantically, he took off in the darkness, stumbling and falling, but
getting up and moving on, anxious to get distance between himself
and the pursuers. He had no idea where he was going, but he hoped he
wouldn’t get himself hopelessly lost. He stopped from time to time,
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expecting to hear voices closing in on him, but he heard only the night
time sounds of the forest.
He finally got the nerve to look behind him, and the faint light
from the torches, though still too close, was now going off in another
direction. He heard distant shouting and screaming, and he knew that
one of his shipmates must have been caught. Sick and scared, he
started to run again, this time veering off in another direction, as far
from the torches as he could go.
He was becoming exhausted, and he knew he couldn’t go much
farther. He sat down under a tree to rest, thinking he’d stay there only
until he could catch his breath. Leaning his head against the tree, he
closed his eyes and kept as quiet as possible, trying to control his
rapid breathing, willing himself to breathe slowly in and out.
He awoke to daylight and panic. Oh, gods, Ragan has found out
I’m gone by now. He’ll think I’ve run away from him! The idea
terrified him. Perhaps if he got up and went back toward his house, if
he could find the way, perhaps he could say he went for a walk and
got lost. Even as the thought passed through his mind, he knew Ragan
would never believe it. He was in for it, no doubt. He’d never hear the
end of this one. He stood up, trying to get his bearings and figure out
which path might lead him back to Ragan’s house. A slight noise
made him spin around and face the trail behind him.
Ragan was coming toward him. Filled with relief, he ran toward
him. As he got closer, he could see that Ragan was furious, his face
cold and set. He ran up to him anyway and reached out for him.
Ragan drew back and pushed him harshly away. Donovan fell back
on the ground, and his head hit something hard. The world went black
around him.
When he awoke, he was lying on his back under a tree, and Ragan
was on his feet beside him, staring down at him. Donovan couldn’t
understand for a moment what was happening. He struggled up to his
elbows. “Ragan? What…what happened?”
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Ragan swore at him in Tygerian, his beautiful green-gold eyes
dark with fury, his face icy cold. “I tracked you down, you worthless
human. I should have killed you, and I would have if not for my son.”
Each word hit Donovan like a rock. Ragan’s eyes were wild, staring,
and almost insane with emotion.
“I told you I would never allow you to leave me. Traitor! Liar!
Pretending to love me and my son. Pretending to want to stay with us
forever. It was all lies, wasn’t it, little human?” He shook him hard.
Donovan tried to touch Ragan’s face, but Ragan slapped his hand
away. “I should have killed you in the Games. You said you loved
me! Why did you lie? Why? Were you the lover of one of those
humans?”
Ragan pulled him to his knees in front of him. “How did he make
love to you, nobyo? Did he kiss you like this?” He leaned down and
thrust his tongue between his lips, ravaging his mouth, taking his
breath away. “Did you suck his cock for him?” Putting a hand to the
back of his head, he pushed him roughly down toward his dick.
“Show me how you sucked him, human!”
Donovan twisted away and fell back on the ground, looking up at
him. “You’re crazy, Ragan. You have no reason to be jealous!” He
jumped to his feet and backed away from him a few steps. Ragan
started after him, but Donovan jumped away, picked up a big limb
lying on the ground, and swung it at Ragan wildly, forcing him back a
few steps. Ragan glared at Donovan with a look akin to hatred.
“You want to kill me, nobyo?” He pulled his knife from the sheath
on his leg and threw it over to Donovan. “Pick it up. Kill me!”
Donovan reached for it warily. He had no wish to hurt Ragan, but
he’d never seen him like this, and he wasn’t even sure if Ragan was
fully aware of his surroundings. His eyes were dilated and staring.
“Nobyo, why do you want to leave me?” His voice became low
and tortured. He bent over and held himself around the waist. He
looked back up into Donovan’s eyes, gazing down into his soul, it
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seemed. “Why, nobyo? I love you so much.” His voice was so
cracked and full of misery, it broke Donovan’s heart.
His eyes seemed to glaze over, and Donovan wondered if he was
even really conscious or in the middle of some kind of dream. His
eyes streamed with tears. He held out a hand to Donovan. “I love you
so much, little nobyo. Please don’t leave me…”
Donovan whispered to him, afraid to wake him up from this state
he was in. “I won’t leave you, Ragan. No matter what. You belong to
me, Ragan, you and Blake. I love you, darling.”
Ragan opened his eyes, searing him with a gaze full of heat.
“You’re lying, nobyo. How long has it been going on? Answer me, or
so help me, I’ll…” He pulled back his fist this time and lunged
forward. He looked as if he wanted to punch Donovan but couldn’t
bring himself to do it. He stood over him, shaking with rage.
“Ragan!” A voice behind him made him straighten up and look. It
was Lothan, running up to Ragan and grabbing his arm. “No, Ragan.
Don’t you dare hit him. You’ll regret this later. Get away from him!”
Something in Lothan’s tone must have reached him because he
turned around and walked away a few steps before falling into the
grass beside Donovan. Lothan bent over Donovan and pressed a cloth
to the back of his head. “This will help stop the bleeding. Just relax,
I’m here to help you now.”
Donovan reached his hand toward Ragan. “What–what’s the
matter with him?”
“He’s still a beast. He shifted to find you and I followed. He must
have shifted back when he saw you. His body shifted, but it takes
longer for his mind to catch up. Don’t worry about him! I need to get
you home.”
“He wanted to leave me!” Ragan jumped to his feet and paced up
and down like a wild animal, and Donovan cringed away from him.
Lothan looked up at Ragan and let loose a long stream of vicious-
sounding Tygerian. He spoke soothingly to Donovan. “It will take
him a long time to calm down. Whatever he said, he didn’t mean half
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of it. I wish I could have found you sooner, I might have been able to
prevent this,” he said gesturing at his head.
“He hates me, Lothan.”
“No, he loves you very much, and he’s crazed right now. Still
more animal than anything. We have to get you home. Can you
walk?"
“I–I think so.” He got painfully to his feet and took one step,
stumbling a bit. Ragan was on him in a second, hoisting him up in his
arms.
“I’ll carry you, human.” Ragan reached for Donovan, and
Donovan shied away violently. Laughing cruelly, he hoisted him into
his arms and stared down into his face. “Perhaps on the way home
you can tell me why you wanted to leave me. Explain it to me,
human. Tell me how you laughed at me and made a fool of me and
lied to me. You and your human lover.”
“Ragan, please.” Donovan looked up at him, eyes pleading, but
afraid to touch him. “I didn’t leave you. Let me explain. Please give
me one chance.”
Ragan looked down at him with fury in his gaze. “I will give you
nothing! You’ve had your last chance to lie to me. You have
embarrassed me and made a fool of me. To think I was willing to
share my child with you.” He threw Donovan over his shoulder then
and strode from the clearing and through the forest.
He had run in a mostly circuitous route, so he really was only
about two miles from home all along. Ironic, Donovan thought
bitterly. The time it took to make it back to the house at least gave
Ragan some time to come back to himself. By the time they reached
home, Ragan’s breathing was almost back to normal, and when he set
Donovan down to look at him in the hallway, his eyes were more
normal again.
“The entire country knows of this stupid escape attempt, and
they’re furious. Until I decide what to do from here, it’s best if you
stay out of sight. The others have been taken home by their masters as
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well. I’m sorry, Donovan, but it’s best for you if you stay locked in
your room for now.”
He closed the door in his face, and Donovan heard the key turning
in the lock.
* * * *
Ragan sat in his office, watching Donovan on the security camera.
He’d been reading, twirling one finger through a lock of dark hair that
fell beside his cheek, one leg thrown over the arm of the chair. As
Ragan watched, he let his book drop to his lap and stared off into
space. It was late in the evening, and he seemed bored and restless.
Did he miss Ragan? The last week had been pure misery for
Ragan, the only bright spot the time in the evenings when he was able
to sit at his desk and watch his lover in the security cameras. Lothan
had been in to see Donovan several times in the past week, and the
baby was brought in every day for several hours. Still, Ragan had not
been in to see him, and he’d been steadfastly ignoring Donovan’s
messages that he needed to speak to him.
Ragan was convinced that Donovan had been planning this escape
for a long time and had consistently lied to him about his love for
him. His initial fury had turned into feelings of hurt and betrayal.
Lothan urged Ragan not to jump to conclusions, to talk to Donovan
and be patient with him. If he didn’t yell and rage at him as he wanted
to, he’d tell him everything. The trouble was Ragan didn’t know if he
could do it. His passion for Donovan was so strong he found it
difficult to be calm when he thought about his escape attempt. He’d
said he loved him and the baby more than anything, yet he’d tried to
leave them. Was everything he’d ever told him a lie?
He had to go talk to him, and he couldn’t put it off any longer. If
he was truly so unhappy he’d risked his life to get away, he had to let
him go. He couldn’t keep him a prisoner forever. He walked out of his
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study and down the short hallway to their bedroom. Taking a deep
breath, he opened the door and stepped inside.
As the door opened without warning, Donovan got to his feet and
seemed to catch his breath. Ragan stood just inside the door, not
smiling, not greeting him. Donovan had been asking to speak to him
all week. Now that he was here facing him, it seemed he couldn’t say
a word.
Ragan stepped a little farther into the room. “Donovan, we need to
talk.”
“I agree,” Donovan said. “I’ve been asking you to see me for a
while now.”
Ragan shrugged a bit and came over to sit in the chair across from
him. Donovan sat, too, and gazed at him with those beautiful,
mysterious eyes. “How’s your head? Lothan said you hit your head on
a rock when you fell and sustained a mild concussion. I’m sorry. I
didn’t mean to push you so hard.”
Donovan nodded at him. “I’m better. Hell of a headache for a day
or so, but Lothan brought me medicine.”
Ragan glanced up at him sharply. Was that a reproach? It should
have been his master seeing to his welfare, not his younger brother.
The wordless rebuke hung in the air between them.
“I’m ready for you to tell me now, Donovan. It’s better if you just
go ahead and say it.”
Donovan looked confused. “Say what?”
Ragan made a sound of exasperation. “Tell me. Tell me how you
wish to leave me and go back to your people. I know it hasn’t been
easy for you here on Tygeria. You must miss your own family and
want to be with them again. I’m trying to understand. I only wish
you’d been honest about it and not told me you loved me.”
“Like you told me?” Ragan looked up in surprise to see that
Donovan was angry, his handsome face set and his lips turned down
in a frown. “Oh, don’t look so surprised, Ragan. You keep telling me
how much you love me and how you can’t make it without me.
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Before the Hunt you told me over and over again I had to learn to
trust you. Well, where’s the trust for me, Ragan? I know it must have
looked bad when you discovered I was gone. I realize that. But why
couldn’t you wait to talk to me before you jumped to conclusions?
Before you locked me in this room for a week like a prisoner?”
“You sneaked away in the middle of the night, on the night of the
shifting when I told you never to go out because it was so dangerous.
I was in my beast when word came of your attempt to escape. You
knew how dangerous that could be. You were trying to call down an
enemy ship to our home! We found the communicator. Your friends
told us you were going to program in the coordinates.”
“It wasn’t for an attack on your planet, Ragan. I wouldn’t do that!
It was only for a pickup for my shipmates. Not for me! I told them I
wouldn’t go with them, but I owed them a chance to leave and get
back home. They were both very unhappy! Miller has a family at
home, a wife and children. If you were trapped on an alien planet,
wouldn’t you do everything in your power to come back home to me
and Blake?”
Ragan jumped to his feet and began to pace back and forth. “You
and your shipmates put yourselves in danger of being taken captive.
You and your shipmates attacked our planet. We didn’t come to you!”
Donovan got to his feet to face him. “I admit that. Still, was that
any reason to torture and kill all but a few of us? Couldn’t you have
negotiated our release with the Allied forces?”
“It wasn’t my decision, Donovan. I did the best I could. I saved
your life. I talked them out of executing all three of you for this last
escape attempt. I got them to agree to let you go home. All of the
remaining captives who wish to go. Of the ones who survived, three
wished to stay with their masters. The rest of you will be allowed to
go home.”
Donovan jumped to his feet. “No! You can’t send me away! I’m
not some stupid puppet you can jerk around!”
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Ragan shook his head, doggedly. “Donovan, please. My mind is
made up. I don’t want to lose you, but how can we go on from here?
You don’t trust me anymore, and who could blame you? I let my
jealousy overcome me and come between us. If you go home, your
people will welcome you back as a returning hero. They’ll give you
back your career and your life. No, it’s selfish of me to keep you here,
and I won’t do that to you anymore.”
Donovan’s mouth had dropped open, and he simply stared at him.
He looked shocked, but Ragan assumed it was because he was finally
being given the opportunity to go back home. Ragan nodded again.
“So, it is settled, and I will make the arrangements. The transport will
pick you and the others up in two days’ time. I’ll try to stay out of the
way in the meanwhile so it won’t be so awkward. I’ll be at the council
house if you need me for anything.”
Before Donovan could say anything, he turned on his heel and
strode to the door. Ragan gave his nobyo one more backward glance
as he left. He was sitting in the chair still, his face white and shocked.
He seemed to be focused inward, and it broke Ragan’s heart. It was
almost as if the ghost of Donovan sat there quietly in the room, and
his nobyo was already gone.
“Remember that I love you,” Ragan whispered quietly. He closed
the door softly behind him and headed quickly to his shuttle craft.
* * * *
Donovan was angry, more angry than he ever remembered being
in his life. Once again, Ragan had issued an order and thought it was
over, just like that, like the six months they’d been through together
had never happened. Did he seriously think Donovan would just walk
away from him? From his child? Did he think he’d allow Ragan, with
perhaps some other alien he found to be his new nobyo, to raise his
baby to be a little savage like his father? Hell, no!
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The idea of someone else taking his place as Ragan’s nobyo sent a
searing slash of jealousy and rage through him. Yet if Ragan was tired
of him, as he must be, no matter what stupid reasons he’d just laid out
for sending him away, then there was little he could do about it.
Although it broke his heart, and would probably kill him to hear that
he had found someone else, Donovan was strong. Hell, he’d proven
over and over since he came to this planet just how strong he truly
was.
Perhaps he could survive losing Ragan, but he couldn’t—wouldn’t
survive the loss of his child. He set his jaw firmly and made his
decision. He would have to act quickly if he had any chance of
succeeding. He went to the door and called loudly for Lothan. He
needed Lothan’s communicator, and quickly.
* * * *
The council meeting had dragged on interminably, it seemed to
Ragan. He was having great difficulty paying attention. Time and
again, his thoughts strayed back to Donovan, his beautiful mate. He’d
be leaving Tygeria on the next day’s transport and just like that he’d
never see him again. He’d never hold his sweet body in his arms
again, or watch his dark head bend toward Blake’s golden one. He
wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand this pain, but he had to let him go.
He’d hurt him too many times, and the last time he’d almost hurt him.
No, it had to be. Ironically, he loved Donovan too much to let him
stay. He had to give him back his life.
The minister who had been speaking on and on about troop
strength on their northern borders finally bowed and made his way
back to his seat. Wearily, Ragan lifted his hand to bring the meeting
to a close, when Nethan got up from his chair at the far end of the
council table and walked to the middle of the floor to stand before
him.
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Ragan frowned a little at the man. This was the one who’d once
touched his nobyo and told him he would treat him better than Ragan
ever would. Ragan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The man had
probably been right, though it galled him to admit it. It certainly
didn’t make him like Nethan any better. Taking a deep breath and
trying hard to school his face, he nodded impersonally. “You have
business to bring before the council?”
Nethan smiled with a touch of his usual arrogance. “Not the
council, Ragan. Just you. I have a personal matter to bring before
you.”
“Personal?” Confused, Ragan shrugged. “We have no personal
business I’m aware of, Nethan. What’s this about?”
Nethan turned quickly and went to the door of the council
chamber. He swung the door wide and Ragan’s mouth fell open.
Standing there on the threshold were both his mates, Alana and
Donovan. Alana looked amused, a slight smile playing around her
lips. Donovan, however, looked grim and determined.
Ragan stood up, furious that Donovan should be here. He hadn’t
wanted to see him again—it was tearing him apart. What could he be
doing here with Alana—and Nethan? A sudden horrible suspicion
came to him, and he could feel the hot blood rushing to his face.
“Clear the council chamber!” he yelled. “Except for the three of
you!” He pointed a long finger at Nethan, with a little wave to include
the other two standing tensely now by his side. Ragan paced up and
down restlessly as the crowded room emptied, many curious glances
being sent their way. He wanted to rush toward Donovan and pull him
into his arms, but he willed himself to be calm, to not show any
emotion. The few minutes it took for the room to empty gave him the
time to try to control himself.
When the last man closed the door behind himself, Ragan whirled
to stare straight at Nethan.
“Explain yourself. Why have you brought my mates here?”
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Before Nethan could speak, Alana stepped forward. “Only one of
us is your mate, Ragan. That would be me, and I am here to speak for
our son. He’s far too young to speak for himself, but I think he
deserves a voice in this. After all, you’re sending away the person he
is most attached to—the one he loves more than anyone in his life.”
She turned toward Donovan. “This nobyo you chose has been an
excellent father to our child. He contacted me and asked for my help.
Since you have been foolish enough to discard him, I gladly came to
give him my support.”
Ragan growled at her. “I didn’t discard him. I am sending him
home, where he belongs. It may be hard on Blake at first, but he’s
young. He’ll get over it.”
“What about me?” For the first time Donovan spoke up quietly.
“Will I get over it too?”
Ragan really looked at him for the first time since he’d come into
the room. The look of pain on his face stunned him.
“I-I…” Ragan stuttered. He was having trouble forming words as
he gazed into those beautiful eyes.
Alana spoke up again. “I have promised Donovan that if he stays
on Tygeria, he will be able to see Blake whenever he wishes. Blake is
my son, and that is my right. Do not challenge me on this, Ragan. It is
as much for Blake’s sake as for Donovan’s. Blake will suffer
needlessly if you send his father away. I won’t do that to my son.”
Ragan looked back and forth between them helplessly. “But
where would Donovan live? With you?”
“No, with me.” Nethan said. Ragan looked at him in confusion.
For the past few moments, while Alana and Donovan spoke, he’d
almost forgotten the man was still in the room.
When Ragan stared at him without comment, Nethan cleared his
throat nervously and went on. “I’ve always fancied him, you know.
He asked if I was still interested and I said yes. Since you don’t want
him anymore, I would be willing to take him on as my nobyo.
With…ah…your permission, of course.”
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“With my permission?” Ragan’s voice was very soft as he came
off the dais and walked slowly toward the three of them. “With my
permission?”
“Well, yes,” Nethan said, his voice faltering a bit at the strange
expression on Ragan’s face. Alana stepped in front of Donovan as
Ragan prowled closer, and Nethan took a step backward. “I wouldn’t
consider coming between the two of you, of course, Dyson. It’s
just…well, he told me you didn’t want him anymore.”
Ragan moved Alana gently out of the way so he could stand in
front of Donovan. She allowed it, though she stood protectively near
him. Donovan faced him with his chin up and his eyes staring directly
into Ragan’s.
“The thing I don’t understand,” Ragan said quietly, “is why you
would want him. He’s arrogant, stubborn and very disobedient. He’d
be nothing but trouble, from the very start.”
“Perhaps, Dyson,” Nethan said quietly. “But just look at him.
He’s a very good-looking human.”
Ragan looked him up and down. Donovan was wearing only his
loincloth and his tanned, smooth skin and rippling muscles gleamed
under the lights. His dark hair shone, and his eyes as they stared back
at him were flashing with defiance. He was the most beautiful
creature Ragan had ever seen.
“No, Nethan. I don’t give you my permission. Find yourself
another nobyo. This one is mine.” He took Donovan’s arm and tugged
gently, giving him a chance to pull away, letting him know that if he
chose Nethan, he wouldn’t stand in his way. Instead of drawing back,
however, Donovan came to him willingly. He stepped into the circle
of his arms and laid his head on Ragan’s broad chest.
“Thank you, Alana, for your support of my nobyo. You’re right.
Blake would miss him terribly. I was a fool to even consider it.”
Alana inclined her head in her regal manner and turned away, but not
before she dropped one eyelid and winked quite deliberately at Ragan.
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She swept from the room, pulling a confused Nethan behind her.
“Come , Nethan. We’ll find you another nobyo. As you can see, this
one is taken.”
When the door shut behind them, Ragan walked back to the
council table with an arm around Donovan. He bent to pick him up by
the waist and sit him down. Since the table was on a high dais,
Donovan’s gorgeous face was on a level with his own. He cupped his
hands around his jaw and drew his lips toward him, kissing him for a
very long time. “I love you so much sweet one,” he whispered against
Donovan’s mouth. He pulled back and held Donovan by the
shoulders. “Can you forgive me, nobyo? It seems that once again I’ve
been an arrogant fool. I’ve not considered your feelings, have I?
When I saw you walk in with Nethan…the idea of you in Nethan’s
bed would have killed me. Will I ever learn to give you the love and
devotion you deserve, sweet one?”
Donovan smiled up at him. “I think I can train you, sweetheart.
After all, we’ll have a lifetime together to work on it.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shannon West likes to spend time at her computer, immersed
in the stories in her head. She lives with her husband in the southern
US, and is the mother of four children. She loves to travel, meet new
people, and read science fiction and romantic fiction. She loves to
write it too and is a multi-published author, but still works a day job
to support her writing habit. Shannon loves to hear from readers. You
can contact her at her website.
For all titles by Shannon West, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/shannon-west
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com