The Hunter's Surrender (2 page)

His lover frowned at the abrupt shift in the conversation. “What?”

“Your mother. Do you ever think about her?” the king repeated.

Santara shrugged. “It’s hard to think about someone of whom you have no memories. I was raised by my father, the same as everyone else. Male caregivers, male tutors, male friends—that’s all I’ve ever known.”

“You’re right. It’s all we’ve ever known. This woman will only be here a few days and then gone. I don’t know why I’m so worried.” He stood abruptly, slamming his body against Santara’s. “I want to make love to you. For the rest of the day. Whatever needs doing, can be put off until later.”

“As you wish, Sire.”

King Rochar grabbed his lover’s hand and pulled him toward the door. “You are very cheeky to your sovereign. I might have to punish you.”

“With your big, hard cock?” Santara asked.

King Rochar’s laugh filled the small room. “Most definitely.”

Chapter Two

Maddie Graham was edgy as the crowds in the vast docking bay milled about within a few feet of her. The speeder pod from the ship,
The Duskrider,
should have been there to pick her up twenty minutes before, but there had been no word from its crew. Although she was tucked into the shadows near the massive entry doors, she still felt exposed, vulnerable. She had garnered too many enemies in her life, but that came with her profession.

Being a bounty hunter wasn’t a job for the faint of heart, and she’d learned to always be cautious, knowing there was no sense inviting trouble. So she did her best to stay hidden. Finally, she heard the gravelly tones of Finn, the pod’s navigator, in her ear bud.

“Hey, Maddie. Sorry about the delay. The multilateral generator on the little beast was acting up again, so we had to wait until the fix-it guys had a chance to check it out.”

Maddie had to laugh. ‘Fix-it guys’ made it sound like the engineers were using Old Earth hammers and nails to clap something together when in fact they were wizards who could tune anything, fix anything, salvage anything and revamp everything. She knew from first-hand experience that if she were to give them a snaffled piece of hardware they’d never seen before, it would be dismantled, duplicated and modified to work more efficiently before she’d even had a chance to file a report about the mission.

“Maddie, you still there?” the disembodied voice in her ear asked.

“Yeah, what’s your ETA?” she whispered.

“Not going to be there for another thirty minutes. I’ll signal when we’re in Ventian airspace. Be ready for us to come in and swoop you up. Do you copy?”

“Roger that,” Maddie said. “I’ll wait for your signal.”

Maggie puffed out a sharp breath in impatience.
Half an hour to stay hidden
.
I don’t want to, but I can.
She figured if she could lie in wait for half a day to pick up a Barjian assassin, she could certainly manage to keep out of sight for thirty lousy minutes.

In spite of the relative security of her hiding place, she still felt jittery. Her senses were tingling, telling her something, but she wasn’t sure what. The activity in the cavernous chamber seemed as usual. It was full of creatures from all planets in the galaxy, the sound a cacophony of languages from everywhere. She recognized some of the beings, like the tall, stork-like Phelocians with their barbed beaks who were pushing their way through the crowd of slow moving Cartulids who left a nasty stream of slime in their wake.

Everything seemed normal, or as normal as an interplanetary docking base could be. Yet something wasn’t right. It was hard to focus with so much noise going on, but she forced herself to shut it out. Standing stock-still, she slowed her breathing and tapped her ear bud twice to change the frequency to allow it to scour for any nearby conversations, which might prove useful. She quickly realized it was too bad she hadn’t done that earlier as she discovered one discussion was close—very close, in fact. Her communication device revealed that whoever was talking was with her in the hidden alcove.

Maddie was appalled at how near these two were. For Joram’s sake, they were right behind her and she hadn’t even known they were there. They must have been utilizing some kind of cloaking device because despite her edginess, she really hadn’t been able to detect their presence. Maybe she’d been too concerned with rendezvousing with the pod and getting the hell off Ventia. But she didn’t think so. Nevertheless, no matter what the reason, not only were the creatures near enough to touch her, they were talking about her.

She stiffened as a horrible thought crept into her head. If they had the technology to stay off her radar, they probably were also quite capable of monitoring her communication with the pod that was on its way to retrieve her. In all probability, they were well aware that she was trapped on the planet for another half hour. It was imperative she found out who they were and what they wanted with her, so she stayed quiet but coiled, ready for anything.

“I can see why the council chose her,” said Creature Number One.

“I don’t know,” said Creature Number Two. “I still think she looks like she’ll be more trouble than she’s worth.”

“I think that will make her all the more valuable to the king,” reiterated Number One.

While the two continued to argue, Maddie tapped her ear bud a single time, activating the night vision shield. Cautiously turning her head, she nearly gasped aloud to discover that the creatures were, in fact, two absolutely gorgeous human males. She was used to working with beautiful men.
Jake, Bellan and Micha, the men of
The Outrider
, the first star cruiser she’d worked on,
were incredibly good looking, but the interlopers were akin to gods. Her friends were tall, but these men were even taller with long, dark hair that hung down their backs. Maddie couldn’t figure out what they wanted with her.

They were beside her before she had a chance to react. They had approached stealthily, her ear bud picking up no noise or movement. Their cloaking device appeared to have multiple powers. As they flanked her and took her arms, she tried to struggle, but they only laughed. Her attempts to kick out at them were futile. It was as if they had willed her body to their own commands and it wouldn’t obey her. One of the men tugged her communication bud from her ear and threw it away. She wanted to giggle when she saw it fly through the air and land on the slimy back of a Cartulid. But she couldn’t seem to remember how. The other man passed a hand in front of her face, and everything went black.

* * * *

Maddie woke up, trying to remember what had happened, wondering vaguely where she was. Snapshots of beautiful men and snippets of conversation spun through her head, attempting to reassemble themselves into some sort of logical picture. She heard footsteps approaching and when they stopped, she sensed someone watching her.

“I know you’re awake, Maddie.”

She feigned sleep, not wanting to have to acknowledge her captivity or her captor.

“I know everything about you. And my men were right. You are incredibly beautiful. We’ll make fine-looking children together.”

Maddie’s eyes shot open, and she gasped when she saw the man behind the voice. He was so beautiful he made the two who had captured her look like trolls. And he thought
she
was beautiful. And that they would make fine-looking children together.

His words echoed in her head. “Wait a minute,” she cried. “I don’t want to get married.”

“Oh, I’m not planning to marry you. I’m planning to impregnate you.”

Maddie struggled to sit up, her head still fuzzy from whatever the kidnappers had done to knock her out.

“What do you mean, impregnate me? And who in Joram’s name are you that you think you can have someone kidnapped for your own procreation needs?”

The god smiled, and Maddie was sure the room became brighter.

“I’m sorry. I’m King Rochar, and you’re safe here in my palace on Tentalia.”

“Safe. I hardly think so,” Maddie scoffed. “I’ve been taken prisoner, held against my will and the stunning but evil king wants me to bear his child. That doesn’t sound safe at all.”

The handsome devil smiled even more broadly. “You think I’m stunning?”

“Of course, but women tell you that all the time, don’t they?” Maddie said, snorting derisively.

“Well no, for there are no women on Tentalia. When tales of your exploits were brought to us, my people knew you would be the perfect woman to bear my child, so we could continue the royal line.”

Drawing on her strength, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and clambered to her feet. “Are you telling me that this is a totally male planet?” she said, looking up into the king’s face. “I don’t understand.”

The king put out his hand and gently stroked Maddie’s cheek. “It’s the way it has always been on Tentalia. We have only male lovers, therefore we need to bring women here to bear our children.”

At his words, Maddie felt herself becoming wet between the legs.

“Only male lovers,” she repeated.

The king ran his finger gently along her collarbone then leaned in to lick her bottom lip before nipping it, startling her into stepping back.

Now, King Rochar stepped toward her, overwhelming her with his size and his own unique scent. “Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about two men making love? Have you ever thought about all that power, all that strength channeled into the thrusts and withdrawals of a big, hard body?”

She shivered as those images ran through her head. His smug smile told her that her shiver had not gone unnoticed
.

He broke away abruptly, dropping his hands to his sides.

“I’ll let you rest. I will see you when the
tilan
bells chime.”

Before Maddie had time to speak, King Rochar had turned to leave, letting her
savor
her thoughts of men and their lovers.

Chapter Three

Maddie wasn’t sure what wakened her from a sound sleep, a sleep filled with beautiful men. She lay there floating as images of men caressing other men, kissing other men, making love with other men, cascaded through her brain. It was as if someone was holding a book and flipping through its pages, letting her have a glimpse of each picture as the page was quickly revealed then turned. Flashes of bare skin, of hard muscle and tantalizing peeks at stiff cocks…all designed to tempt but not fully reveal.

She struggled to open her eyes, unwilling to let go of the images. Or maybe she struggled to keep them closed and guard the visions a little bit longer.

Men loving men
.

It wasn’t something she’d ever thought about before, but King Rochar’s words had slipped into her dreams and now she squeezed her legs together, remembering how he had looked in those very dreams.

He’d been lying on a huge bed, his massive body naked and aroused. She’d been standing in the shadows as he’d called to his lover, a man who’d slipped through the open doors of the balcony, a man as tall and dark as the king with a long, thick cock poised against his belly.

She saw the feral look on the king’s face as the other man approached the bed in answer to Rochar’s summons. That wild gaze soon changed to moans as his mysterious lover began to climb toward him. The moans grew louder as King Rochar spread his legs, allowing his companion to drift over him like a shadow, skin rubbing against skin, hard cock sliding across hard cock.

The moans grew deeper, forcing Maddie to open her eyes and realize that the sounds had slid from her dream and were coming through the ornate door lying open beside the fireplace.

She slipped from the bed, flinching as her bare feet touched the cold marble floor. She looked down, startled to find she was nude. Not wanting to think about who might have undressed her, she looked around for her clothes. They were gone, but in their place a filmy blue robe had been left over the arm of a big, comfy chair. She quickly put it on and tightly cinched the belt around her waist. Padding quietly across the bedroom, she stole into the adjoining chamber wondering what she would see, knowing somehow that it was going to be her reverie spread out before her.