Chapter One
Slade was horny as hell, but it wasn’t his fault.
Being locked in solitary in a super-max prison with no female contact for five years will do that to a male. And of course, the eroto-lust stimulant his old mistress had given him, in an effort to make him fuck her brains out, didn’t help either.
Slade shifted uncomfortably on the exam table, hearing it groan beneath his considerable muscular bulk. Even for a Kindred warrior, he was on the big side. At seven and a half feet, he was taller than most of his kind and a look at his eyes revealed the reason why. The right eye was like melted gold and the left was a brilliant green.
Slade was a hybrid and hybrids always grew big. He was half Blood Kindred and half Beast Kindred and he had both the fangs and the mating fist to prove it.
Not that anyone had looked at his mating fist in a good long time…
Just thinking that…imagining sinking balls-deep in some willing female and letting the fist swell within her, had him hard as rock under the too-tight orange and blue striped BleakHall jumpsuit he wore.
Slade shifted again, trying to ease the pressure, trying not to think about finding a female to ease his need.
Of course, he didn’t want a real female, Slade reminded himself as a pretty little human nurse bustled into his room and started taking his vitals. She was as gorgeous as a Rathian gorna-flower in bloom, but so tiny she looked likely to break if he so much as looked at her wrong. Why were all these human girls so damn small?
But even if the little nurse hadn’t been too small and skinny for his taste, there were other factors holding Slade back from making a move. One, the little human female smelled strongly of another Kindred. Doubtless she was bonded to one of the males who worked aboard the Mother Ship—that made her strictly off limits.
And second and more important, Slade had taken a vow.
Not a vow of celibacy or chastity exactly—more like a vow that he wouldn’t be with a real woman again. Not after Cinda. Though it had been nearly six years since she died, her memory was still fresh in Slade’s mind and he sure as hell didn’t intend to cheat on it.
Not with a real woman, anyway. Which was why he was extremely eager to get off this damn exam table and go find the Pairing Puppet House which he knew was somewhere in the Unmated Males section of the Mother Ship.
Pairing Puppets were female androids the unmated Kindred males used to relieve their needs until they could find the female the Goddess had for them and form a bond with her.
Only hybrids couldn’t bond with anyone. He hadn’t even been bonded to Cinda, though they had been together for five years. Even without the mental connection most Kindred shared with their mates, and despite the fact that both of them were slaves, it had been a beautiful relationship.
Right up until the time his old master had sold her…
Slade tried to push the memory out of his mind. Cinda was gone—dead and burried. The old master was history too—Slade had made sure of that himself. And as for the mistress he’d been sold to—the one who had bought him right off the chopping block—well, she’d gotten rid of Slade as soon as it was evident he wasn’t going to service her the way she wanted to be serviced. But not before she’d given him the eroto-lust stimulant to try and convince him to fuck her.
Slade closed his eyes, remembering the angry look on her thin, pretty face when he’d refused her advances…
“What’s wrong with you, slave? Did I not save you from death after you killed your old master? Have I not given you good food and a fine, thick mattress to sleep upon? And am I not beautiful?”
“I’m grateful for the food and the place to sleep and of course, for my life, Mistress,” Slade had growled. “And sure, you’re pretty. A little on the skinny side but hell, I guess that’s the fashion here. But sorry—I’m not gonna fuck you.”
“Such crude language!” his mistress had sniffed. “Then again, your crudity is part of why I bought you. Along with your…other attributes.” She eyed the bulge in Slade’s leather slave trousers greedily. “All I’m asking is that you service me—not fall in love with me. So get started immediately—or else!”
Slade had thought privately that there was no way he’d ever fall in love with a skinny, stuck-up female like her. She wasn’t even remotely his type. But even if he had been interested in her, he wasn’t going to break his vow.
“Sorry,” he’d told her. “I can’t. Also, I won’t. Ask me anything else. You want me to fight for you—be your champion in the ring? I spent years in the Blood Circuit—I can win a hell of a lot of credit for you. Or I can help out around your house—fix anything that gets broken. I’m good with my hands.”