Rebel (The Draax Series Book 3) Read online

  He kissed my chest again. ‘You are not. Your little pussy is deliberately trying to keep my cock out.”

  “Probably because she doesn’t want to be wrecked for life,” I said.

  His laughter made me and the bed shake. “Your pussy is very tight, but you can take my dick.”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” I said.

  As we spoke, he was making small and measured pumps of his hips and I could feel more of his cock sliding into me with every motion.

  “There is only one way to find out,” he said with a wicked grin and another pump of his hips.

  “Easy for you to say, you’re not the one who may never walk right again or… oh!”

  I moaned, my fingers gripping Galan’s shoulders until the tips went white. He had made one hard and final thrust and I was stuffed to the fucking brim with cock. I took deep breaths, resting my forehead against Galan’s chest as his big hands rubbed my back and his tail squeezed my waist.

  “Such a good girl to take all of my cock, little human,” he said.

  “Thanks,” I panted. “I’ve always been an overachiever.”

  He gripped my ass and kissed the top of my head. The humour had disappeared from his voice and now it was thick with need. “Your pussy is so tight, I must move. Are you ready for me?”

  “I think so,” I said. “But go slow, okay?”

  “Yes. I will not hurt you, I prom -”

  “For Krono’s sake, Galan, where are you? You said you would be gone ten minutes and it’s been closer to …”

  I shrieked in surprise when the blue-eyed Draax walked into the bedroom. I jerked wildly against Galan, wincing when there was a stab of pain in my pelvis. Galan groaned, his hands tightening painfully on my ass.

  “Krey, leave us!” Galan snarled.

  Krey tore his gaze from Galan’s cock firmly embedded in my pussy, and walked out of the room, shutting the bedroom door behind him.

  “Fuck!” I said as Galan lifted me off of him. I scrambled off the bed, snatching up his shirt and dragging it over my head as Galan pulled up his briefs and pants and tucked his still hard cock out of sight. He grimaced and buttoned his pants before readjusting his dick.

  “Galan, I -”

  “Hush, little human.” The warmth had seeped from his face, leaving – my stomach clenched – regret in its place.

  He yanked his shirt on and took my arm just above the elbow, marching me out of the bedroom. Krey was standing near the couch and my face flamed red when he stared at me.

  Without speaking, Galan opened his door, led me out into the hallway, opened my door, and pushed me inside. “Stay here. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Do not leave your quarters,” Galan said. “You will be punished if you do.”

  His face turned a dark green and his gaze flickered to my crotch for the briefest of seconds before he slammed the door in my face and locked it.

  Chapter Ten

  Galan

  “What are you doing?” Krey leaned against my couch, his arms folded across his chest, and a look of disapproval on his features.

  I ran my hand through my hair before grabbing a bottle of gallberry juice and chugging it down. My cock was still half-hard and throbbing and covered in Ellis’s sweet cream. Krono! Her pussy was so tight and wet, and my balls ached with the need for release.

  I stared at Krey, silently imagining how he would look with my fist in his face. I loved my best friend, but he had the worst fucking timing in the world.

  “Stop looking at me like you want to punch me in the face, and answer my question,” Krey said. “Why did you take the thief from her room and fuck her?”

  “I did not take her from her room. She broke into my room and was hiding in my closet.”

  “Krono,” Krey said. “That little human is more trouble than she is worth. Why did you fuck her?”

  “You know why,” I said.

  He studied me as I drank more gallberry juice. “I cannot understand your attraction to her, Galan. She is so small and thin. If I had not just seen it for myself, I would not believe she could even take your cock. Was her pussy tighter than other females?”

  “Stop talking about her pussy,” I said.

  Krey glanced at my obvious erection before rolling his eyes. “She is a thief and as soon as the war is over, she will be returned to Earth prison. It is a mistake to sleep with her.”

  “I know,” I said. “I will not do it again.”

  “Will you not?” Krey said.

  I hated how well Krey knew me. Keeping my tail perfectly steady, I said, “I will speak with the human and tell her it was a mistake that cannot happen again.”

  “I know you seek a mate,” Krey said with sympathy in his voice, “but the small thief could never be your mate. Tomorrow the waiting period ends for the females employed at the castle. There must be one who catches your eye.”

  “They are all breeding compatible,” I said. “I will not take a breeding compatible female for my own when so many of our kind yearn for children.”

  “The one named Candala is not breeding compatible,” Krey said. “She is very pretty and already has a child of her own. You should spend time with her.”

  “Perhaps.” I drank more juice. Krey was right, the female was pretty, even with her odd pink hair, but I had no interest in her. I had no interest in any female who was not Ellis.

  I stiffened, the bottle of juice halfway to my mouth. Krono, if that was how I truly felt, I was in real trouble.

  “Galan? What is it?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “I will speak with Ellis and tell her it was a mistake.”

  I stuck the bottle of juice back in the fridge. I didn’t wish for Ellis to be my mate, I just wanted sex. I hadn’t been with a female in moons, and the feelings Ellis drew from me were based on lust, not love. No sane Draax fell in love with a female he barely knew.

  * * *

  Ellis

  It was dinner time before there was a knock on my door. It opened and I jumped off my bed, smoothing down Galan’s shirt with quick nervous jerks of my hand as Galan stepped into my apartment.

  He was holding a tray of food in his hands and he shut the door with his tail before carrying the tray to the table. I hurried over, the hope that maybe Galan didn’t completely regret what happened dying when I saw the look on his face, and the way he stepped back like he thought I might be infested with fleas.

  I stood behind the chair with my heart thudding and shame billowing inside of me. “Hi, Galan.”

  “Hello, human.”

  “Um, how are you?”

  “Fine. Sit and eat.”

  I sat down. “Will you join me?”

  “I cannot. Human, what happened earlier was a,” he paused and for a moment that stupid bubble of hope grew in my chest again, “mistake. I should never have fucked you and it will not happen again.”

  The hope bubble popped like it’d been poked with the needle-sharp point of a freshly sharpened pencil.

  “Technically, we didn’t really fuck,” I said. “I mean, there was no actual fucking, just you making me orgasm until I saw God, and then, uh, penetration, right?”

  His face darkened with embarrassment, and holy shit, what was wrong with me? I seriously needed a goddamn off button.

  “Anyway, you’re right. It was a mistake and it’s my fault and I apologize. I’d be really grateful if you didn’t tell your king about me breaking out of my room. I won’t do it again,” I said.

  I couldn’t do it again. My damn tools were still in Galan’s room.

  “What happened between us is not your fault,” he said. “It is mine. I will not speak of this to anyone, nor will Krey, but you must stay in your room. If you leave your room again without permission, Quill will have you sent to Iron Gate and nothing I say will convince him otherwise.”

  “I won’t leave again.” I poked at the food on my plate. “How was your day?”

  “Fine.” He was
already edging toward the door. “I am sorry, but I cannot stay and visit. I have prior commitments this evening.”

  “Oh, yeah, no, I get it. No problem.” I stood and plastered a smile on my face. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

  “Yes, most likely. Good-bye, Ellis.” Galan left my apartment, locking the door behind him.

  I stared at the food on my plate. My appetite had completely vanished for the first time since I woke up on the Draax planet. Unlike me, Galan was a terrible liar.

  * * *

  Ellis

  “Hey, hello!” I jumped up from the couch, smiling excitedly at the pink-haired woman. “Candy, right? It’s great to see you again.”

  “You too, Ellis.” Candy’s look was one part friendly, two parts warning, Will Robinson, danger ahead.

  I immediately tried to rein in my enthusiasm. I was acting weird, but could you blame me? I hadn’t spoken to anyone but Adrix for an entire week and while I liked him well enough, it was quickly apparent that he wasn’t that into me. Even on our twice daily walks through the garden, getting him to talk was like pulling teeth. Yesterday, in sheer desperation, I tried to speak to a random Draax we walked by in the garden, but Adrix had hurried me along and scolded me for talking to him.

  “You must remember that you are not a guest in my king’s home,” he’d said with his tail lashing back and forth. “You are a prisoner and it is only through the king’s mercy that you are not at Iron Gate.”

  “This must be your son. Hi, I’m Ellis.” I tried to smile in a natural way at the dark-haired boy standing just behind Candy and carrying two sets of virtual reality goggles.

  “Roden, say hello to Ellis, please.”

  “Hi, Ellis,” Roden said cheerfully.

  Adrix walked in behind them, setting a sewing machine on my small table. “Here you go, Candala.”

  “Thank you, Adrix.”

  He shut the door behind him as Candy set down a bag on the couch. “I have your clothes ready.”

  “Thank you so much.” I pulled out the four shirts, the three pairs of pants and the pair of shorts. “These are amazing. Hey, shoes!”

  Candy grinned at me as I held the shoes up to my feet. “One of the other ladies has pretty small feet. She had an extra pair of shoes she was willing to give up. Hopefully they fit you.”

  I tried the shoes on. “Perfect, actually.”

  “Great,” Candy said.

  I pulled the pants on under Galan’s shirt and buttoned them. “Thank you, Candy.”

  “They’re a bit too long. I was afraid of that. Hop up on the chair and I’ll hem them for you,” Candy said.

  “Oh, it’s fine. I can just roll them,” I said.

  “It’ll only take a few minutes. It’s why I brought the machine with me. Roden, hang out on the couch for a while.”

  “Sure, Mama.” Roden plopped down on the couch and stuck a pair of the goggles on his face before hitting a button on the side. It glowed green and I watched with some amusement as Roden grabbed an invisible steering wheel and said, “Departure checklist complete. Ready for takeoff, air tower.”

  I hopped up on the chair and Candy pinned the pants. “Okay, just give me a few minutes here.”

  “So, how are things?” I sat down on the chair and watched as Candy fiddled with the sewing machine.

  “Good.” Candy did something to the machine, placed my pants under a section of it, and hit a button.

  I watched in fascination as the silver blur of the needle pierced through the fabric. Candy pressed another button and a lever fed the pants through the machine.

  “God, these new machines are crazy good,” Candy said. “I had an old automatic sewing machine that belonged to my grandmother back on Earth, but when Sabrina found out I liked to sew, she had this new model brought to Draax. It’s crazy fast and for simple jobs like this, I can just program it.”

  “That’s cool,” I said. “What else is new?”

  “Well, the waiting period for us to socialize with the Draax is over.”

  “How is that going? Meet anyone interesting?” I was like a teenage girl desperate for drama. Normally I couldn’t give a shit about anyone’s love life, but I’d never been so starved for human contact before.

  “Oh God, no. I told you before that I’m not interested.” Candy sat back in her chair. “To be honest, most of the women aren’t. Everyone in the program is here to make money and no one is willing to risk their job just for a bit of sex. Even if it’ll be the best sex of their life.”

  “What happens if a woman did want to quit their job to marry a Draax. Is it even allowed?” I said. “Didn’t you sign a year long contract?”

  “There’s a clause in the contract that states if you wish to marry a Draax and start popping out babies, it’s an acceptable reason to end the contract.”

  “Of course there is,” I said, rolling my eyeballs so hard they were in danger of falling right out of my skull. “This work program thing is bullshit. You know that, right? They only want women here for one thing.”

  Candy half-shrugged. “Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. I know that Sabrina believes strongly in it and even if it is just a,” she hesitated, “way of luring women here in hopes they’ll mate with a Draax, what of it? Everyone in the program was suffering back home. Either from malnutrition, abuse by people who were supposed to love them, or an incurable disease. Four of the women were on the verge of homelessness after losing their shitty jobs, and two were actually homeless. Every one of them joined the breeding program out of desperation, not because they wanted to give a Draax a baby. The work program gives them a chance to do something more with their life, at least. It gives them a choice about whether they want to have a Draax baby.”

  She smoothed her shirt down before giving me a frank look. “Honestly, I’m not sure why you’re so bitter about it. You were a lower, right? You know what it’s like to struggle. Are the Draax perfect? No, but they’re trying at least. And they treat us way better than human males ever will.”

  I stared down at the table, my cheeks hot and my shame at an all time high. “I know. I’m being a bitch.”

  She sighed and leaned forward. “You’re not being a bitch. You’re used to not trusting anyone, and I get that. But I truly believe that Sabrina is doing a good thing for us. She’s giving hope to women who didn’t have much left to hope for. And you know what? The Draax may only be interested in one thing, but in the last week when it became apparent that most of the women aren’t interested in being,” Candy made finger quotes, “courted, they backed off immediately. They respect us and our feelings, and for most of us that’s a really foreign concept.”

  Jesus, I was really feeling like a total dick now. I scuffed my foot along the stone floor. I wanted to tell Candy that I wasn’t normally this awful, that deep down I was a nice person, but why would she believe me? Hell, I hardly believed it myself. I wanted to be a good person, I wanted to see the best in others around me, but experience had taught me that if people couldn’t get what they wanted from you, then you were disposable.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “You don’t have to be sorry. I don’t know your life story, but I can guess there haven’t been a lot of happy moments for you and I understand that it colours your view. But don’t judge the Draax for their way of life or what they do for the survival of their race. We owe them a lot as a race and, for some of us, as individuals. The Draax I slept with, the ones who were willing to break the law to barter sex for juice? They saved my kid’s life. Were they getting something out of it? Sure. But how often do humans do something for nothing? Why should we expect that from the Draax?”

  “You’re right,” I said. “I’m being judgemental as hell, and I suck.”

  Candy laughed. “Well, I’m so high up on my soapbox that the air’s getting thin, so maybe we both suck a little today.”

  She muttered a curse when the sewing machine made a weird grinding noise and stopped. I watched as she pulled out threads,
still muttering cures under her breath. When it became apparent that she needed all of her concentration, I stood and wandered over to the couch, sitting down next to Roden.

  He took off the VR goggles. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” I said. “What game are you playing?”

  “It’s not a game, it’s a flight simulator,” he said. “When I get bigger, I’m gonna be a fighter pilot for the Draax.”

  “Oh yeah? That’s cool. I used to repair ships back on Earth. Flew them occasionally.”

  His eyes widened. “Seriously? You flew a Draax ship before?”

  “Not a Draax one. But I’ve flown the havoc cruisers.” I decided it was prudent not to mention that I’d stolen the ships.

  “Luka says Draax battle ships are different from human ships. He says they’re better because they get technology from the Vokines. He says they’re harder to fly than human ships and I’ll have to study and practice a lot.”

  “Ships are ships,” I said. “How hard can it be?”

  Roden handed me the extra pair of goggles. “C’mon, you can be my co-pilot.”

  “All right.” I slipped the goggles on, swaying a little on the couch when the screen blipped, and the dashboard of a ship appeared in front of me. “This is cool.”

  “Super cool,” Roden said. “Here, let me explain what you gotta do…”

  * * *

  “Oh my God,” Roden said. “You just fired the guns into the back of the ship.”

  “Woops,” I said. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

  “The engine’s on fire. It’s not fine,” Roden said.

  I was shocked when Candy’s voice spoke directly behind us. “Okay, Roden, it’s been an hour. We have to go.”

  “Mama, we’re almost to the far end of the galaxy,” Roden said.

  “Sorry, big guy. We need to go. Shut it down.”

  He ended the program and I slipped the goggles off my face, rubbing at the marks on my cheeks. “Sorry, Candy. I didn’t realize so much time had passed.”

  “It’s fine,” she said. “I hemmed your other pants and it was nice for Roden to have company with his game.”