Zandian Lights Read online

  “Goodbye.”

  I can’t get away quickly enough, and I dart out fast enough to avoid any goodbye kisses, and run inside before they can even speak of accompanying me.

  I close the door to my room behind me, relieved I didn’t run into Octavia or any friends on the way, and toss myself on the hoverdisk and wrap myself in a finely-woven blanket. I expect to cry but tears don’t come. Instead, I blank my mind out, remembering again how lucky I am to be here on this planet, in this situation.

  The memory comes to me again.

  I’m standing in a field, with someone who’s tall, way taller than I am. I reach barely to her waist. My arm is extended upward, and her hand keeps me safe. Around us the grass blows, tall, yellow dry grass, and the sound—a glorious rushing, like water, courses around me and through me. The field extends in every direction, and the grass is nearly as tall as my head, and I feel infinite. In this moment I’m so safe and powerful and protected.

  I take a deep breath, and fall into the pattern of breathing I’ve developed just for helping pursue this memory. I make my mind empty, then focus on the bright Zandian star, letting it fill me with light. I breathe for a long time, observing the star, just existing. Then, when I’m ready—my mind knows—I allow the memory back in, and send the light from the Zandian star to illuminate it, teasing out the edges so I can remember.

  It’s like a picture in my mind, a hologram. So crisp I’m there, smelling the air, feeling the wind. The woman’s hand. The memory advances, letting me see pieces of it that were hidden before.

  “Run,” she tells me. I no longer know the language she speaks, but I know what she’s saying.

  “Run as fast as you can. Feel the air. Feel the world. It’s part of you.”

  She says my name, and it’s not the name I have now.

  And I obey her. I run, and she runs too, and we laugh and laugh, racing around with the wind, while the grass bows down before us, honoring our joy.

  “If you run fast enough, you can fly.” And we do. We fly together, hand in hand, our feet still on the ground, but our hearts in the blue sky overhead. We fly and fly, and my heart is full of joy.

  Memory is a tricky thing. If you push too hard, you rip off the pieces that still hide in the mist, and they fall away and you lose them forever. The trick is to let the memory flow like the light of a setting sun, just watching, not directing. Allow it to caress you, and sometimes the light flows into those hidden corners, illuminating them. Telling you the new secrets that were locked away for so long.

  Today nothing else new comes—not her face, not her name. Not the place we were, or why we were so free. But I love the memory nonetheless, because when I remember that feeling of pure joy, I believe I can feel that way sometime again.

  I don’t know if it can ever be with Arc and Bow.

  But it will never be with Mykl.

  I don’t know what to do. So I toss and turn, while sleep eludes me, hour after hour.

  All I know is that something about Mykl sings to me, the way the grass in the field called my name. I don’t want to give up. Not yet.

  Chapter 3

  Mykl

  * * *

  Today she’s wearing trousers that are even tighter than her previous ones. The ones she had on at the crystal festival, when we—Veck.

  Are they painted on? She’s wearing them to spite me. She’s angry about the kiss, probably. Trying to taunt me. The urge to punish her long and hard has my cock lengthening along my pant leg. I have to turn away to compose myself. How does Kianna get more attractive each planet rotation?

  “Hey, Mykl.” She sashays over to me, her voice full of that honey and bite that drives me mad. “Look.” She holds something in her hand, but I find it hard to pull my eyes away from her curves. The way her shirt comes down highlights the swell of her—

  “Helloooo? It’s Zandia calling. Is Mykl here?” She pretends to tap on her comm unit. “Attention, looking for Mykl, last seen in the—”

  “Enough.” I grab her by the arms. She sucks in a breath and her green eyes go wide. Those berry red lips part just a fraction. My cock surges against my pants, painfully constricted. “I told you not to dress like this.”

  “Like what?” She plays innocent. We both look down at her chest, where her perfect breasts are barely covered.

  Despite my best intentions, a growl comes from my throat as my cock punches out.

  And she giggles. It’s the most irritating, adorable sound I’ve ever heard. She vecking giggles! The nerve of her. I have to do something. Make her stop this teasing. Because if she does not stop, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

  I tug her close enough so that we’re nearly touching. The heat of her body sends her scent to me, something light, like flowers in a field. Sunshine. “Stop.”

  “Stop what?” She narrows her eyes.

  “You know what.”

  “Stop doing such quality work? But if I did, I’d be reneging on the promise I made to King Zander and myself to help this planet succeed.” She gives me a wide-eyed innocent look and licks her lower lip. Nods her head toward the table. “Once again, I did what you asked. Way ahead of time. I think that deserves some kind of reward.”

  “Oh, you do, is that right?” My voice comes out low, a growl.

  “Yes.” She sticks up her chin. “And if you weren’t so timid, you’d—”

  “Timid?” My horns go on alert and I tighten my grip on her arms. “Timid?”

  “That’s right.” A little smile plays on her lips. “Afraid. Terrified, actually.”

  “Kianna, you are really pushing me.” I give her my most stern look. As her master, it’s my right and duty to punish her, to teach her the Zandian ways. I haven’t considered it because I have no interest in getting so intimate with humans.

  Especially considering what I’ve heard about them. How they are aroused by physical discipline. How it creates a bond for training and molding them.

  For keeping them.

  And I don’t plan on keeping one.

  Especially not this very tempting, terribly irritating, beautiful little brilliant human who loves to torture me with her full breasts and—

  “I specifically told you I’m not interested in… anything. And you disobeyed a direct order. That’s just—”

  “Just what?” her eyelids flicker. How can a being have such thick, black lashes? She tilts her head up toward me. “What it is?”

  “It’s… insubordination.” My voice is lower now, softer. I slide my hands down her arms to circle her wrists. “Very disobedient. To keep offering something I don’t want.”

  “Hmmm. So it is.” I’ve never heard this tone from her before. Sultry. Like sex, music. “I wonder what you should do to me?”

  Her eyes close and her lips part. I growl again. Veck, I can’t resist her! It’s like my blood is boiling for this human. She’s the only one who can ease the itch. For one second, I wonder if it would be so wrong to… be with her. What damage could one time do? Just to see?

  I’m about to lean down and take her mouth, but then I see the little smile on her face. Triumphant. Victorious.

  I pull back, emotions all over the place. The predominant one being anger.

  “This isn’t a game, Kianna.”

  Her eyes fly open. “I don’t think it is.”

  “Then stop trying to win.” I stare at her. “Stop trying to manipulate me. It won’t work.”

  Before I can think it over, I pluck the part she was holding and set it aside before grabbing her up in my arms and striding over to the hoverseats at the side of the room, the one that beings use for breaks. We’re the only two in here, now, and it’s unlikely that anyone will enter. Still, the master door is unlocked. I ignore that.

  “What are you doing?” Her voice goes up, a mix of alarm and fight.

  It only kicks my lust up another degree. “What I should have done from planet rotation one. Teaching you who’s boss here.”

  Veck, this is a mis
take. But I can’t stop myself. Don’t want to stop, either. It’s like my hands are doing the only thing I want, and I’m dying for it.

  I sit down and tug her over my lap. It’s the work of a second to arrange her slender, luscious form over my strong thighs.

  She squeaks and squeals, twists to look up at me. The expression on her face—outrage, surprise—makes me chuckle.

  “Mykl! Put me down at once.” She pushes at me.

  “Gladly.” I smile at her. “After I’ve punished you.” I push her shoulder, gentle but firm, to make her lie flat.

  “What?” She twists up again.

  I shake my head. “You know exactly what I mean. From the second you set foot in my dome, you’ve done nothing but tease, sass and disobey. Try to rile me up. It’s time to get a few things straight.”

  I use one hand to hold her against my legs by pressing on her back. With the other, I tug at the waistband of those tight pants.

  “Stop!” She grabs my calves. “Mykl. What do you—”

  “You know what I’m doing.” I bend down, letting my breath brush her neck. She stops fighting immediately. Her hands soften on my legs but she still holds me, her fingers loosen but don’t release their hold. Even through my pants, her touch makes me burn. The places where her fingertips meet my muscles come alive, nerves dancing. And veck, having her on my lap has made me hard as steel.

  She wiggles on my lap. She can feel it, I’m sure.

  “I’m going to spank you.” This time when I grab at the waist of her pants, she lifts up her hips slightly, as if encouraging me. Assisting.

  My cock gets harder. I peel the fabric down and suck in a breath at the vecking creamy perfection of her thighs. For a second, all I can think about is tearing away that scrap of lace that covers her crotch, spreading those legs, and burying myself in her pussy. I lean over her body, unwrapping her long legs, inch by inch. When I toss the pants to the floor, I’m so hard it’s painful.

  “But I don’t want to be spanked.” Her voice is quiet.

  I don’t believe her for a vecking second. Because I smell her arousal, even through her panties. And when I look closer, I can see that she’s soaked the cloth. Oh, stars, what I’d like to do.

  “You don’t?” I grab the lacy top of her panties and tug it up, hard, so that the fabric disappears into the crack of her ass and rides up against her pussy lips.

  “Ohh,” she gasps and writhes on my lap. “I… don’t.”

  “Mmm, well, that’s just too bad, then, isn’t it. Because it’s happening whether you want it or not. The only question is whether to take these off, or not.”

  I tweak the waistband so it rubber bands against her hips, making a little snapping sound.

  She gasps again. “Mykl.” There’s so much need in her voice that I nearly pull her up and kiss her.

  But that would make things worse. I take a deep breath. “I want you to stop disobeying my orders. You need to do what I ask.”

  “What do you want me to do?” She widens her thighs a fraction.

  Veck, the things I want her to do.

  “For now? Keep your hands down, don’t kick, and say thank you when I’m done.”

  She makes a little noise of I don’t know what, maybe a question, but it turns to a cry as I raise my hand and bring it down hard across her ass.

  The crack that rings out is so satisfying that I growl. My horns stiffen. “For this.”

  I spank her again, a bit harder.

  “Owww.” She hisses and bucks.

  I hold her down with one hand. “Quiet. We’re just getting started.”

  I spank her again on each cheek, then at the base of her thighs. “This is for all the times you didn’t listen.” I spank again. “And this is for the times you did what you wanted, not what I wanted.” I bring my hand down hard. By the one true star, her skin is the softest thing I’ve ever felt. I’m dying to finish the punishment so I can touch her—but no. I’m not going to do that. It would give her exactly the wrong idea.

  “And this is for doing the exact opposite of what I told you.” I rain a flurry of hard spanks across her cheeks, fast.

  “Mykl,” she gasps, grabbing my legs again. “It hurts.”

  “It should.” I keep spanking.

  “Stop it.” She digs in her fingernails.

  “Stop it?” I spank harder. “Stop, the way you stopped when I told you not to tease me?” I crack her across her upper thighs. “Stop the way you stopped dressing so… provocatively?” Another one on her thighs, then a few more on her ass.

  “I mean it!” She wiggles, scratches harder. It almost hurts, through my pants. But not quite.

  “I hope you don’t think your delicate human hands can injure me.” I spank again and again. “Because not only would you be wrong, you’d get extra strikes for even trying.”

  “Fuck you.” Her voice is determined and shaky.

  “Fuck me? Oh, really?” I spank even harder. “Are you going say that again, Kianna?”

  “Fuck you!” she shouts. “Mykl, stop it!”

  “I’ll stop when I’m ready to stop.” My voice stays firm.

  Her ass is a deep pink. “I’ll stop when I think you’ve learned a lesson.”

  “The only lesson you’re teaching me,” she snaps, panting, clutching my legs like a vise, “is that you’re an asshole.”

  “Keep up the insults, Kianna. This is what you’ll earn.” I spank her thighs again.

  “I’m going to kill you!” she screams, and punches me with her fists.

  “Wrong answer. Do you want me to use my belt?” I lay one hand across her hot flaming ass. She clenches her muscles and whimpers; I can tell it hurts by how hot it is. But I can also see that she’s even wetter than before.

  Veck, spanking does turn my human on, just like the others. And if I wanted to take her now, she’d be receptive… and passionate.

  No. Not my human. This human. This troublesome, difficult human who won’t leave me the veck alone.

  “You’re not supposed to torture me,” she wails, her voice pitiful. “It’s a rule.” But she looks up at me and licks her lips. Slow. Deliberate. “Don’t you want to find another way to teach me a lesson?” She bites her lower lip.

  “I’m not torturing you. I’m showing you who’s in charge.” I rub her ass. Try not to groan at the way I want to bite her lip the way she’s doing. Want to stick my tongue into her pussy.

  She flinches, then relaxes into my touch.

  Wrong answer,” she snaps. “You’re teaching me that you’re a bully.”

  I stifle a snicker. Veck, she’s feisty. I love that. I’ve been with females on many planets, pleasure slaves, and not a one of them had this incredible mix of passion and sass. None of them knew how to push my buttons just like this. Probably because she’s a human.

  A human.

  “Zandians,” I point out, my voice taut, “have dominion over humans. We must tame our mates.”

  “Mates, yes. But that’s exactly what you don’t want from me. Right?” She slumps over my lap. Goes quiet. Then she says, “Fine, Mykl. You win, okay? I’ll do what you want from now on.”

  Her voice is so flat that a cold spire of dread pierces my chest.

  Did I spank her too hard? She was turned on before—now it’s like that all disappeared. Veck. I never wanted to really hurt her. Just teach her a lesson. And also, the other thing, the thing I can’t allow myself to think about—

  She lets go of my legs. “Can I please get up and get dressed?” She sniffles.

  My chest tightens. “Not yet,” I growl.

  “I’ve had enough.” She stiffens under my hands.

  “No, you haven’t.” I don’t know what the veck is going on with me, all I know is that I need to bring this little human the pleasure she’s dying to have. I’ve heard from every mated Zandian how spanking and punishment turns on their mates, and how they pleasure them afterward in a way that’s explosive with passion.

  She doesn’t deser
ve it. And it’s really going to send the wrong message. But veck if I don’t want—no, need—to give this small creature everything she desires right now. Now that I have her naked and needy over my lap, I’m not going to leave her wanting. Something inside me burns to finish what I started. It’s like I’m in a dream, on autopilot, doing this from a distance.

  I run my hands over her ass and thighs. “Relax,” I murmur. “You’re right. There are other lessons to learn. Other things I can teach you.”

  She sucks in a breath and her body comes alive again. I feel the energy coursing through her anew. It’s amazing how in tune with her I feel. Is it the light streaming in through the skylights? It’s close to solstice, and even sitting in the beams seems to make us crackle with new energy.

  Or it is her skin; is it embedded with some irresistible life force?

  I don’t know, and I don’t care. I stroke her over and over until she hums, a low gentle sound, her whole body easy and light. Expectant. Then I run my fingers lower, to the place between her thighs. She moans and spreads her legs, letting me in.

  She is the vecking softest thing I’ve touched. So wet, warm. Tight.

  I can’t wait for more.

  Kianna

  * * *

  My ass stings from the spanking, and I’m angry that he held me down and punished me. At the same time, I’m euphoric, because after all, isn’t this what I wanted?

  And it’s more magnificent than I dreamed. His strong hands on my ass, spanking, then stroking, his low growly voice. Right now I’m dying for him to do more.

  He said he wants nothing to do with me, but I know that’s a lie. His every touch tells me he wants more, not less.

  When he slides his hand between my thighs, I open for him.

  He’s skillful with his strong fingers, just like I imagined. I don’t know where he learned this technique, and right now I don’t care. Later on, maybe, I’ll mentally behead every whore in every pleasure dome in the universe. Now I’m going to enjoy it.