Mastered by the Zandians (Zandian Brides 3)

“Think we vecked up with Mirelle last night?” I ask Lanz. The two of us are in our craft, heading out towards Macron-3 for supplies, an easy journey.

“Yes.” Lanz leans forward to examine the screen. “Make sure we have extra precautions. Pirates are moving out of the usual areas.”

I set the appropriate controls. “Veck, I’d take her there this planet rotation if we could. But it’s just not safe.”

“Not to mention, nowhere near the top of the priority list we have from Master Seke.” Lanz adjusts our course, then lets auto take over. We’re running our own mission now without Archer. Master Seke determined we’re ready to work on our own. Archer’s going to be training some new young warriors.

“True,” I muse. “No telling when things will quiet down. And even when they do, Jesel is not going to be at the top of the task pile.”

“But if we stress the fact that there are human females? Would Master Seke let us go, eventually?”

“They might not even be alive at this point. And there ar

e other leads from closer, safer sources to investigate first. Jesel has been a cesspool since the planet rotations when it first started hosting humans. Remarkably dangerous territory around it now, too.”

“She has a hard time accepting ambiguity. I’d have expected her to have more fortitude.”

I consider this. “She’s plenty strong in other ways. But humans have much fiercer emotional attachments.”

I’m almost starting to understand her. The thought of losing Mirelle gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, something I’ve never before experienced. Oh, I care about my friends and my fellow Zandians. I’d give my life for them; it’s our way. But there’s an extra frisson of something in my chest when I consider Mirelle. And that makes me want to give her the exact thing I can't give her if I want to make the worry go away. What a vecking conundrum.

“She likes it here more all the time. She’s making friends and impressing beings at work. A little longer, and we’ll be able to petition for full citizenship.” Lanz’ voice is not convinced. He knows as well as I do that our little human is withholding something critical.

“To do that, we’d have to remove her cuffs first. You think that’s a good idea right now?”

He hesitates and I shake my head.

“Neither do I. And if we know she’s not fully committed, the king will see it in a second. He’s not the ruler for nothing.”

“I just think…maybe…if we gave her what she wants, she’d give us what we want.” I’m not sure what I mean. I feel out the words as I go. “She thinks of Jesel as some kind of answer to her problems. If we took her back there, maybe she’d see it’s not. And then she could commit to Zandia.”

“But King Zander won’t let her out until she first commits to Zandia. Proves that she’s ready to be one of us, and won’t betray us or work against us.”

I scratch my cheek. “It’s an impossible situation.”

“I just can’t take the chance that she vecks something up in her zeal to…whatever.” Lanz shakes his head. “I can’t lose her. We can’t lose her.” There’s anguish in his tone.

“Agreed. We’ll just need to work harder in the sleep chamber.” I give a humorless chuckle, because sex has been our only strategy from the beginning. “Get her so addicted to us that she falls in line.”

Lanz remains silent.

“We could punish her more often? Harder?”

“No. She’s too tough. To really punish her, we’d have to hurt her, and neither of us want that. Plus, that would kill any trust she has. Drive her away for good.”

“I know that. I meant the kind she likes.”

“Oh, that. Well, of course.” I smile. “She does like when we discipline her.”

“And it truly does seem to make her softer, more compliant.” He looks at me. “Don’t you think? I mean, not because we beat her into submission. More because we please her so well that she’s more interested in pleasing us.”

“And it’s lucky that our brands of pleasure all run to the rougher sort.” My cock hardens, thinking of how I like spanking her soft ass, turning it pink. How she gasps and wiggles and gets wet as I do.

“We’ll take her one planet rotation,” he promises. “As soon as we can.”

“Yes. But not now.”

Mirelle