CHAPTER ONE
“Look at the bongas on the woman coming up the walkway. I saw her first. She’s mine!”
Even as he looked, Strom punched his life-long friend in the arm and tried not to stare at the woman Garhan had pointed out. As she came in their direction, her chest bounced with each step and revealed the truth of Garhan’s words. “All that matters to you in life is a big set of bongas and legs thrust wide open. There has to be more than that.”
Garhan rolled his pale gray eyes and rubbed his upper arm as though Strom had hurt him.
What is that about? Strom always took care to use restraint.
“More to life?” Garhan huffed and swiped a beefy hand through his cropped hair. “Are you insane?”
Strom didn’t bother to respond. They’d had this conversation too often and it made no difference. Nothing would change with words. The next time Garhan caught sight of a female with big set of bongas, he’d think of nothing else. And Strom would continue to grow more morose. Each passing day brought a suffocating dissatisfaction, and Strom didn’t have a clue how to remedy it.
None of his friends seemed to want more. Besides, as the emperor’s son, Strom had his every desire satisfied. Why isn’t that enough?
The well-developed woman stopped directly in front of them. Strom placed a restraining hand on Garhan’s wide shoulder, just in case his friend became overly-friendly as he oft had occasion to do.
“Is this the way to register for the event?” Her sultry voice sliced through Strom and made him hard.
Impossible.
No woman could do that. This had to be because he’d gone without a consort to slake his needs for over two weeks now. That alone might do this. A mere woman could not hold power over his body.
Garhan shrugged Strom’s hand off his shoulder before he stepped into the woman’s space. “Save your energy, beautiful. I’m the only event you can handle.”
“And how would you know I’m beautiful with your gaze fastened to my chest? Directions, please,” she said and tapped a booted foot with an unattractive display of feminine impatience.
Strom wouldn’t look at her chest under treat of torture after that comment. He concentrated on the rest of her. She wore a big hat with a floppy brim, but Strom could see wisps of pale yellow, almost white hair. Her eyes and half her face were hidden by immense dark glasses. However, if her eyes rivaled those delectable lips, Strom wondered if he’d start slobbering on her like Garhan. Plump and full, they turned slightly at the corner, as though something amused her. This gave him pause, since her voice communicated displeasure.
Garhan laughed and took a step closer, almost initiating contact. He overlapped his palms on the left side of his chest. “Can you hear that sound? It’s the beat of my poor heart. I think I’ve fallen in love.”
“Love? I’m here on business and won’t be trifled with by a Barthinian who hasn’t a clue about the meaning of love.”
“And how do you know I’m a Barthinian?”
“The vacuous look in your pale gray eyes. Neither you nor your friend have a true spark of life between you. I’m willing to bet neither of you know the first thing about love and devotion.”
Garhan dropped his hands and stepped back. Strom wanted to argue on principle, but hadn’t he often shared the sentiment? Love was for the commoners. In reality, it didn’t exist. It was an ethereal crutch used by the weak-minded to make sense of their meaningless lives.
“There’s been nothing new for man to discover for centuries,” Strom said and gave a shrug. “Certainly not archaic sentiments without real purpose.” There was no reason to deny his beliefs.
She raised a single haughty brow to peek above her glasses at his words.
Garhan’s stance stiffened. “Are you sure you want to register for this event? The only positions left are for furniture. And furniture doesn’t talk back. They fuck. And they do it whenever their master bids.” The bite in Garhan’s voice betrayed his anger. He meant to insult her. Yet, she should know what Barth males thought of the women they purchased for their homes.
No self-respecting Barthinian woman would come anywhere near the assembly hall at auction time. If she planned to register, she dropped several notches in Strom’s already-low estimation of womankind. While he might not use the word furniture, most men of his class did without qualms. Some had a piece in every room…women only in their homes for sexual entertainment and to bear male offspring if they were lucky. Since she’d come for the auction, she needed to know what to expect.
“Go straight ahead and through the blue doors.” Strom pointed in the direction he and Garhan had been headed only moments before she’d distracted them.
She gave a dismissive wave and turned her back on them. Strom watched until she entered the assembly house. “Still want the big bongas?” he taunted his friend.
“If I owned her, I would beat her for back-talking to me like that. Let someone else buy her. It won’t be me.”
He didn’t understand it, but Garhan’s dismissal of her pleased Strom. Although not given to impulse, Strom wanted to know more about her. “I’m curious to hear her qualifications.”
Garhan narrowed his eyes. “Why? You have no need of additional furniture. You’ve never owned more than a single piece.”
“Sazha is gone. She returned to her people on Cada two weeks ago, and I’m climbing the wall.” He laughed at his own wit. His sex-wall was state of the art and could satisfy him without a woman’s assistance. “But I doubt I’ll find another to replace Sazha easily.”
“Certainly not that one.” Garhan pointed as if she still stood at the end of the walkway. “No way is that woman a submissive.”
Garhan was more than likely right. Strom sighed. “Then she isn’t for me. Let’s get inside before we have to fight for our seats.”
Once inside, chaos reigned in the large auditorium. The grantor stood behind the podium banging his gavel. “Take your seats. Take your seats!”
Strom and Garhan moved toward the front of the room, where Strom’s father sat with several of the other Barthinian elders. Everyone he passed on his way gave a slight bow as they met his gaze. As the emperor, and the supreme ruler, his father was not only the richest man in the Colion galaxy, he owned the planet Cada where Sazha’s family lived. And now Sazha.
And nothing was too good for the only son of Emperor Tima.
Strom’s father raised his bejeweled hand and the royal sword of the galaxy. He did in an instant what the grantor couldn’t while screaming and slamming his gavel onto the surface of the podium. Everyone quieted and took their seats.
Strom sat next to his father, who gave him his bejeweled hand. The traditional greeting never failed to warm Strom’s heart when it came from his father. Yet…as much as he wanted to admire his patriarch, so many aspects of his father’s character didn’t sit well. Strom tried to ignore the differences between the two of them and, for the most part…succeeded. However, a life of excesses only satisfied him minimally.
“Your sensite master says he has nothing left to teach you. Perhaps I can coax the master from Cada to come to here and continue your training.”
“Perhaps.” Even that didn’t appeal. A few sensite tricks would not cure his malaise.
The guards at the back of the podium, facing the raucous crowd, tensed and pointed in the direction of the door. At the thought of danger, a shot of adrenaline hit Strom and he relished the sensation. He leaped from his seat to see who had the guard’s attention.
“Halt!” one of the guards called.
At the back of the room, his father’s men surrounded a figure. “I’ll see what it is,” he told his father.
Another of his father’s men moved to block his path. For a second Strom considered using his sensite power, but the guard only did his father’s bidding. Strom turned back to his father.
“Leave it to the guards,” his patriarch said. “They can handle any interruption. It’s time to start the auction.”
Strom knew his father only wanted to protect him from trouble, but he didn’t want or need to be coddled. A little danger would add some much-needed spice to his life.
The grantor banged his gavel and the first woman walked from behind a curtain to stand naked in front of those gathered. She was petite, with a figure more like a young boy than a woman. She didn’t interest Strom. Nor did any of the next dozen or so women catch his attention.
He found himself waiting for her…the woman who more than likely wouldn’t suit. His cock began to pain him each time it wasn’t her.
When the next woman walked onto the stage, he almost didn’t recognize her, but his cock did. Not only did it give a standing salute, it nearly exploded.
Strom was a loss to understand his treacherous body. Again he concluded it had to be no more than his lack of attention to his sexual needs since Sazha’s exodus.
At the sounds of admiration, Garhan leaned toward him. “Maybe I spoke too quickly. She’s beyond beautiful.”
Beautiful didn’t begin to describe the ethereal vision in front of him. Infinite clouds of white-blonde hair covered her like a glistening cape. Even his father’s hand tensed on the arm of his chair. Strom didn’t hesitate this time. “I will have her.”
“She won’t allow you to dominate her.” Garhan’s voice showed his disappointment.
“Let me worry about that.” Strom held his hand up to silence Garhan. He wanted to hear all the grantor had to say about her qualifications.
“This is Jada, from the planet Cada. But as you may have already surmised, she is Durman. Only the second Durman female to ever stand on this stage, she will be worth every tuggé she brings. Think, my friends, what pleasure it will bring you to have such a prize.”
The grantor paused as if uncomfortable. “She’s not a virgin and wishes to make that clear, in case it’s an issue for the man who purchases her.”
Strom had no use for a virgin, but he estimated at least ninety percent of those present wouldn’t want her now.
The grantor reached for her and she shied back.
“Pull your hair back from your shoulders, so they can see what they’re buying,” the grantor told her.
With the back of her hand, she swept back first one side, then the other. She stood tall, almost six feet, and her curves were well-proportioned to her height. Her sizeable bongas thrust boldly into the air with pale coral areolas. The pouting nipples pointed straight in Strom’s direction.
Her female stomach showed muscled tone, as did her arms and thighs. Her skin glowed with golden color.
The grantor motioned for her to turn. The ends of her long, straight white-blonde hair swished in the air as she revolved. The thick shining tresses hung down to the back of her knees and made him think of how it would look fanned out on the sex-wall while he fucked her.
Her legs were well-muscled, too. He was unaccustomed to seeing women with muscles. Garhan was probably right—she wouldn’t be submissive. Strom could overlook much in a woman, but not that. He needed a consort who would subject herself to his will. These women were for one thing only…sex. They were to be used.
“Jada promises to submit to your every sexual desire,” the grantor said and the bidding began. “She is looking for a strong master to honor her submissive nature.” Hands went up across the room.
Strom waited, even as he itched to bid for her. When she didn’t once look in his direction, it intrigued him. He reached for her with his sensite power and met with a wall.
No way could she be blocking him. It must be all the energy in the room. But that wasn’t a logical conclusion. Other than his father, all of the Barthinians in the room combined wouldn’t generate a spark of sensite. And not even his father could block him for more than a second or two. He’d heard of talismans made by the supreme seer on Cada capable of blocking the sensite of even a master. She wore a ring on her thumb. Perhaps it was a talisman.
The second the bidding slowed, he doubled the previous bid. Garhan elbowed him in the side and his father raised a haughty graying brow.
“Sold!” The grantor banged his gavel with swift purposefulness.
With the sharp sound, she finally met his eyes. The turquoise depths of them breathed fire. What had he done? The last thing he needed was a woman with flames in her eyes.