“Release ankle cuffs.” He pinched her chin and turned her face. “No lies, pretty human.”
She blinked, surprised to see...was it warmth In his eyes now?
“Release wrist cuffs.”
She moaned as her arms dropped and the blood rushed back into them with billions of pinpricks.
Daneth scooped her up. “Is this hold me?”
She tucked her face into his neck and nodded.
“You like this?”
Another nod. She looped one arm around his shoulder.
He carried her through the door to his chamber and toward the cage. “Why?”
She tightened her grip on his shoulder, not wanting to be put away yet. She didn’t answer.
“Bayla.” His voice cracked like a whip.
Her bottom clenched. “It feels nice.”
“Humans require physical contact.” He didn’t say it like a question, but he didn’t sound certain, either. More like he was testing out a theory.
“Don’t Zandians?”
~.~
Did Zandians require physical contact? If he’d been asked two planet rotations ago, he would’ve scoffed with an instantaneous, definitive no. But, feeling the soft weight of Bayla in his arms, the scent of her skin, the musk of her arousal filling his nostrils, he wasn’t so sure.
“Not physiologically,” he hedged.
What if Zandians did require physical touch? What if it brought them alive? Made them experience emotions they hadn’t felt in thirty solar cycles?
No. That was foolish. He’d known having close contact with a human female might affect him. If he was going to complete his experiment successfully, he needed to pull back from her allure and focus. Concentrate. Stop allowing her to whip his emotions into a frenzy.
And yet, when those slender arms tightened around his neck, there was no way in the galaxy he could let her go. She liked this. She wanted him to hold her. How utterly ridiculous.
How precious.
Instead of attempting to place her in the cage, he detoured to his sleepdisk and made himself comfortable, scooting into a seated position with his back against the wall. Bayla’s soft, heated bottom settled in his lap, teasing his stiffened cock. He’d loved torturing her with orgasms. Watching her face flush and eyes turn glassy. Hearing her plead for release. Oh vecking stars, the way she’d begged with him had made him rock hard!
Master, please. I’ll be your good girl, I promise.
Those words made him want to flip her onto her knees and pound her pussy hard from behind. Pound her until she learned what it meant to be his good girl. To serve her master’s every whim.
Veck, he was losing his mind.
Chapter Three
Bayla must have drifted off to sleep in Daneth’s arms. When she woke, she was alone in his chamber. She stretched, and her bottom protested, still sore from the spanking. She climbed off the sleepdisk and went into the bathroom, checking out her backside in the mirror. Still red. Looked like some of those marks would last a few days. She ran her hands over her cheeks, surprised at how little she resented her master for punishing her so mercilessly. Only warmth filled her chest as she thought of his jealousy and anger, of the way he’d held her afterward.
She wouldn’t trade seeing those sides of him for anything.
She searched the shelving from which Daneth had produced her tunic and found panties and leggings, which she donned. She tried the door, but, as expected, it was locked. Still, he’d left her out of the cage, which she counted as a win. She strolled around the beautiful room, examining everything. Daneth had very few personal items and everything in the room bore the same order and precision she’d witnessed in his lab. Clothing was organized and neatly stacked, boots shined and lined up.
The door swished open, and she jumped then dropped into a low curtsy as Daneth entered.