Owned by Luna Voss
16
Melyta
“Thanks for coming,” says Barion, opening the front door. “I hope you know it means a lot.”
“Yeah, well, just remember this if I ever need a favor,” Korva replies, stepping inside.
“Nope,” Barion chuckles, “next time you need help, I’m leaving you high and dry.”
Korva’s face cracks into an expression of an amusement, and I’m surprised at how handsome he looks when he smiles. Based on my experiences so far, I’m used to thinking of him as somewhat grim. He claps his friend on the back. “I thought you’d say that. Let’s get down to business.”
“You, uh, remember Melyta?” Barion asks, putting his arm around me.
Korva nods, and he looks me right in the eyes, possibly for the first time since we’ve met. “Yeah, I remember. But nice to meet you again. You’re the reason my best friend is in the process of digging himself the deepest grave on Tarsheb 8.” He flashes me a smile, letting me know his words aren’t meant to be aggressive. “And dragging me down with him. You see yourself as a Vostra wife?”
I find my cheeks warming at his question. The truth is, I don’t know what I want. Or maybe I do know, but I’m having trouble coming to terms with it. How many times over the last year did I picture myself at Barion’s side, his mark on my neck, his ownership of me clear for everyone to see? How many nights in bed did I touch myself thinking about him, when I didn’t even know his name?
“I think I could be a Vostra wife, yes,” I reply, phrasing my answer carefully.
Korva’s face turns mischievous. “You say that now. Wait until you earn yourself a trip over Barion’s knee.”
I blush even deeper, even though I recognize he’s only teasing me. Barion grins at his friend and claps me loudly on the ass. “Oh, she’s already quite familiar with getting her little butt spanked. She can be a real handful, this one.”
“So that’s why you like her so much,” Korva laughs.
I don’t know whether I should be embarrassed or pleased by the way the two men are talking about me. I can tell their words are meant to be complementary, and I suppose within Vostra culture, that kind of makes sense, but I guess I’m still… adapting to that. To the whole thing, really.
“I suppose you two have business to get to?” I say awkwardly, not exactly sure what my role is in this kind of social interaction.
Both men look at each other, and then look at me.
“You are our business,” says Barion.
I frown at him, not understanding. He pulls me close to him, then kisses the top of my head.
“We’re going to figure out how to keep you on Tarsheb 8,” he tells me. “So that you can stay here, and you’ll be safe.”
“I still think you should tell Sarizor she escaped,” Korva says for what feels like the seventh time. “If he thinks she’s far outside the system, what is he going to do? It’s not like we’re the Butarza Family with contacts all over the galaxy.”
Barion sighs and puts his drink down on the coffee table. “Have you talked to Sarizor since Gurt’s been in the hospital?”
Korva rolls his eyes. “Yeah, we chat all the time.”
“He’s fucking manic. If you’d talked to him, you’d understand why that wouldn’t put him off. He’s out for blood. He thinks he might lose his only kid.”
“He must be the only person in Dalax City who’s sad about that. I’ve been wanting to put daddy’s boy in the ground for ages. I’m a little jealous you got to do the honors.”
“He isn’t in the ground yet,” Barion warns him. “And if he recovers enough to identify Melyta, we’re fucked.”
“Yeah, well, that isn’t our first problem,” says Korva. “Our first problem is how you’re going to end this manhunt without turning in your vulta here.” He gestures to me.
“Do you… have to end the manhunt?” I suggest. “I mean, if you’re in charge of it. Couldn’t you just drag it out, and drag it out, and whoopsy, I guess you never found me?”
Barion laughs. “That’s a reasonable idea. Might be able to get away with that with something else. But not with this.”
“Are you sure?” Korva chimes in. “Maybe she has a point. Isn’t that basically what you did when Sarizor ordered you to kill that club owner who threw Gurt out for causing a scene?”
Barion shakes his head. “I bought that club owner out and told him to get the fuck out of town. Look, Korva, you’re not getting it. I’ve never seen him like this before. I think he would spend every credit the Family has to find her if that’s what it took. If I don’t show him some kind of results soon, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Then it sounds like there’s only one option,” I say, finding my voice and putting something together all at once.
Both men turn and stare at me.
“We’re going to have to pretend that I’m dead,” I tell them simply.
* * *
Barion
“This is where she’s staying,” I announce as my car pulls up outside the hotel. “Remember, we need her alive.”
In the vehicle with me are four of my men, all experienced Dultaz soldiers armed with stun weapons. For all they know, we’re on a mission to capture Melyta Bartryz for once and for all.
“This assignment is of the utmost importance,” I growl, idling the car, waiting. “This is the person responsible for what happened to Sarizor’s son.”
I could be imagining it, but I think I hear a hastily stifled snort from one of the soldiers behind me. Outside of Gurt’s inner circle, a couple of pandering yes-men who I best remember bouncing off the hood of my car, the guy wasn’t exactly popular. Basically the gangster version of a spoiled rich kid.
Impatiently, I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. “She should be arriving here in a red hover car any time between now and midnight. 10,000 credits and a bottle of Carshellian whiskey to the first one who spots her.”
“Hey,” says Jab, the vostrat next to me, “there’s a red car. Is that her?”
I squint, and sure enough, I see the vehicle Korva has prepared. A small red hover car with definitely-illegal window tinting. And although my men don’t know it, it doesn’t contain a driver at all: Korva is controlling it remotely from a distance.
“Wait for her to get out,” I order, watching the red car intently. “We’ll get her as soon as she…”
And then, just as I expected, the red hover car peels off.
“Looks like she knows we’re here!” I yell, gunning the accelerator.
“Good thing we didn’t take something with wheels!” grins Jab, looking more excited by the prospect of a car chase than anything.
Our own hover vehicle streaks across the city streets, chasing our quarry. I keep hot on its tail, knowing my attempt to catch it needs to appear genuine. Korva keeps the other car just out of reach, though always within sight.
“Hang on!” I yell, turning down an alley to my left. “I think I can cut her off.”
But when we emerge, the red car is nowhere to be seen.
“Shit!” I yell, my frustration very real. This wasn’t part of the plan.
“There she is,” says Jab, pointing.
I slam my foot on the accelerator, disregarding traffic laws entirely. Other cars honk as I cut them off, racing after the little red car.
Little by little, we start to catch up. Korva takes us into the industrial district, and I can feel the excitement rising in my men as they sense us catching our prey.
“Looks like she’s heading for that new Rangasta facility,” says one of the gangsters behind me.
Sure enough, Korva is taking the red car in the direction of a construction site, an almost-finished industrial building that the Rangasta Corporation will soon be using to manufacture who-knows-what.
“We’ve got her now,” says Jab. “That’s going to be a dead end.”
“Remember, Sarizor says we need her alive,” I repeat. “That’s our number one priority. She has information we need.”
I slow down as we follow the car through the entrance of the facility. We find ourselves in an extremely wide tunnel, the end of which is blocked by a glowing red force field.
“She’s ours,” I growl, my heart starting to race. “Driving through that would kill her. There’s nowhere for her to run.”
And then, just as we planned, the little red car starts to accelerate. Faster and faster, with no signs of slowing down or stopping.
“What the fuck is she doing?” yells Jab. “She’s going to run straight into—”
And that’s exactly what the red car does, with fiery aplomb. A great explosion rings out as it smashes into the force field, orange flames leaping away from it, blindingly bright. I whip our vehicle around as fast as I can and speed in the other direction, pieces of shrapnel plinking against the back despite my quick escape. I pull over at the tunnel’s entrance.
“I… don’t think she survived that,” says one of the men behind me.
“Yeah, no shit,” says the other.
Jab nudges me playfully. “Hey, I still saw her car first. When can I expect my bottle of whiskey?”
I just look forward, my jaw set. My mind is with Melyta. “We need to get out of here.”
We drive in silence away from the construction site, our “objective” failed.
* * *
Melyta
It’s late when Barion finally comes home from executing the plan we made with Korva. After midnight. I’m pacing the living room nervously, unable to sleep, unable to even sit down. I hate waiting. I feel useless.
The moment his car pulls into the driveway, I rush to the door, my heart starting to pound. Did it work? Will I be able to keep living on the planet where I was born and raised, the planet where I’ve spent my entire life?
Will I be able to keep living with Barion?
He comes into the house and there’s this darkness around him, a swirling intensity. He sees me and the darkness starts to melt, but the intensity doesn’t. With long strides he crosses the room and cups my face in his hands, stroking my cheeks, his touch dominating, possessive. Slowly, his fangs extend.
“I’ve lied for you,” he growls, “I’ve killed for you, and now I’m betraying my Family for you another fucking time.”
I gulp, trembling, unable to look away.
Barion’s mouth twitches. “And I’d do all of it again. All of it, to have you. You’re everything to me now, Melyta. My laughter, my joy, my madness. You’re my Fated Mate, and nothing will ever take that away. I’m going send you into heat, and then I’m going to knot you, own you, and mark your neck for everyone to see.”
Words fail me completely. Instantly, I’m on the verge of tears with the emotional intensity of this moment.
“Say it,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. “That you’re my vulta. That you belong to me. I need to know that you want it, too.”
“…I want it,” I whisper back, and I’m sure of my words, even though my voice is trembling. I know that if I were to leave him a second time, I would spend the rest of my life aching with regret. “I want you… Vostra.”
I’m nervous as I say the word, but the look of satisfaction on his face is immense. It’s a very intimate usage of the word Vostra, one I’ve only heard women within the life use to refer to their mates. It’s a term of submission, of respect, rather like sir in the military, or the way human women use daddy.
“Say that again,” he rasps. “I like it when you call me that.”
“I like it too, Vostra,” I purr, his reaction giving me confidence.
“Tell me that you’re mine,” he growls, his tone suddenly authoritative. “That I own you.”
I nuzzle against his hand. “I’m almost yours. As soon as you…”
My voice trails off, and I feel embarrassed. He’s already marked me. Of course I had to go and bring that up. Stupid.
“Sorry,” I say, my eyes starting to sting. “Barion, I wish I had kept your mark the first time. If I had known—”
He shushes me with a gentle kiss. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t owe me a damn thing.”
In spite of myself, I feel the need to explain. “I thought you were just a normal vostrat. I didn’t think you—”
Another kiss, this one more forceful. “I am just a normal vostrat. I’m a bad man, Melyta. I live a dark life. But you make it brighter. Whatever fucking light there is in this world, you give it to me. All that matters is that we’re together now. I’ll knot your cunt and come inside you as many times as it takes to send you into heat. And when I mark you this time, it won’t come off.”
His hand moves to my throat and he backs me up against the wall. I obey his wordless touch, burning to feel him inside me again. I want him to take me physically, to match his words. I want his knot.
“Yes,” I whimper as his hands slide under my skirt and confidently slip my underwear down my legs. “Take me right here.”
He scrambles at his belt buckle in a frenzy, freeing his enormous cock. I use a hand to guide him to my entrance and let out a moan as he starts to push himself inside.
“Oh fuck,” he groans. “Oh fuck, Melyta, I need you.”
One hand on my neck, the other firmly gripping my hip, Barion starts to fuck me against the wall. I feel tiny and feminine as his huge body envelops me and his thick cock threatens to split me in two.
“Fuck me, Vostra,” I whimper, wanting more of him, all of him. “Please, fuck me harder!”
With a snarl, he starts absolutely pounding himself into me, just fucking me with everything he has. I hear him growling, see his beacon glowing gold, feel his fingers digging into my ass as his cock slides in and out of me.
“Mine,” he growls. “Mine mine mine, you’re fucking mine!”
My legs buckle as I come, and Barion grabs my ass with his other hand to support my weight. I moan and writhe between him and the wall, held in place, his cock stretching me open as he has his way.
In my orgasmic haze, I feel Barion picking me up and carrying me over to the nearest carpet. He sets me down on the floor, still inside me, and starts to thrust again, this time gripping my waist.
“Mine,” he growls, beacon gleaming. “My fucking vulta.”
His knot releases as he comes, and I feel it expanding inside me mixed with the satisfying, liquid warmth of his seed. He groans, slumping down on top of me. We stay there together, our hearts racing.
“I sent you into heat once, and I can do it again,” he whispers, kissing my neck. “My vulta is going to have to get used to my knot inside her. I’m going to leave you dripping with my seed as often as I can.”
My lower body quivers with the still-foreign pleasure of being knotted. “I’m going to hold you to that… Vostra.”
