The Varkari

Choking Him

I stopped dead, the pants half way up my legs. It suddenly made sense how I had gotten so turned on for no reason. I remembered the burning in his eyes as I drank that cup, his pupils exploding. A part of me was relieved that I wasn't actually having a severe and sexual case of Stockholm Syndrome and the rest of me was extremely angry. I finished dressing and stepped out to find Alma handing her little golden discs that I realized were mushroom caps. She was stuffing them into the belt pouch at her waist.

Alma shoved a basket at me and I shoved them in fistfuls in my pockets, careful not to overfill them in a way that would look suspicious. Like hell I was having his spawn.

"Who is your Varkari?" I asked Shonnie.

She scoffed, flipping her hand around. "I'm not sure. On the ship they said that our pictures were sent back to Varkar and some Lord claimed me. The Admiral approved his request so I have been under the care of an older guy for two days. I'm supposed to meet this Lord today. Too bad for him that I will be stuffed with these shrooms and unable to give him any babies!"

"Shh," Alma hushed.

"These won't last forever," I said. "What are we going to do when they run out? You said they are getting banned."

"We will figure out how to form some sort of rebellion and either make our own colony or stow away back to Earth on the next ship." Shonnie seemed so confident.

Alma had a knowing smile. I frowned and cocked my head in a silent question. She shrugged helplessly. "These males are a warrior race. There is no possible way that a colony would withstand an organized Varkari war party. Punishment would be...swift."

"We can't just sit around and give up!" Shonnie protested, a little too loudly.

"Take these as long as you can. Use one every time you mate. It's like a Plan B pill," Alma replied, nonplussed.

"Female?" Rahzgaur was calling me. He said my name again and then released a growl of anger and intent that had me scurrying out into the light before he could start being a bull in a china shop.

"Here!" I blew some hair out of my face, arms full of clothes.

Golden eyes narrowed at me before he let out a breath, the rest of the rattle falling away. "I thought you attempted to escape again."

"Um...the back door was locked," I huffed with a shrug.

He did not like my joke.

"You like it?" I pointed to my outfit. I kept my expression calm, burying my rage and planned deceit deep inside my chest, even biting the inside of my cheek.

Cat-like eyes drifted along my form, lingering where the shirt hugged my breasts and my waist flared out, hunger lacing his gaze. "Keeper," he said, voice like thunder.

At first I was confused until a lithe creature with two sets of green eyes on a long head jumped slightly and stopped what he or she was doing. "Yes, my lord?"

"My mate has made her selection," he took my load from me and plopped them on a counter. "Put the bill on House Demanza."

The keeper nodded and began to ring up the clothes on a hologram, putting them neatly in a cloth bag. Shonnie appeared and hurried to my side, eyeing the Admiral like she was sizing him up. Her eyes flared with sudden recognition. "You," she spat.

"Ah," he rumbled. "This is your friend, yes? Even worlds away, you two found a way to reconnect. Scheming?"

My face scrunched in confusion, trying to remember if Shonnie had ever been to the city or had met him before.