The Commander's Slave by K. S. Augustin Read Free Book Online Page B

door
behind her.
    * * * *
    Once more, Asha was left to her own
thoughts, ones that were beginning to get more disturbing the more
she examined them.
    She had crashed on a planet, lost her
memory, and been bought as a sex-slave. Outrage, anger, shock,
disgust, these should have been the emotions dominating her,
especially when her buyer had the arrogance to take away her
virginity without a single word of apology or softness.
    And perhaps her first carnal encounter
with Tangus had been tinged with equal parts outrage and disbelief.
But deep inside, hadn’t she also harbored less-than-savory thoughts
herself about the man? Hadn’t a frisson of awareness danced up her
spine, tensing her body and hardening her nipples, when their eyes
met at Hell’s Market?
    Out of all the species of bidders that day, wasn’t it true
that she had hoped he would be the one to finally possess
her? And when he had possessed her, over and over again, instead of
satiation, hadn’t she instead yearned for more and more of his hard
intimacy?
    Asha groaned to herself.
    Maybe she could have deluded herself
that this was merely a physical reaction to his overpowering
masculinity. That, in time, it would burn out, as all relationships
did that were based on only sexual intimacy.
    That was a tempting train of thought,
unfortunately derailed by his kindness today. She had tried not to
notice, but it was obvious he cared very much for his men. The
demise of his planet also hurt him deeply. That, too, was
obvious.
    Perhaps if she could have put him in a
convenient little box--expert lover but ultimately just an
exploiter of women--she would be much happier. But the Tangus of
the boudoir was rounded out by Tangus the leader, Tangus the
sensitive, and she was lost.
    Here was a man worth centuries of
searching. Hard, yes, capable of ruthlessness, but also of deep
emotion and firm purpose. Dare she hope that they had some kind of
future together?
    She nibbled her bottom lip while she
followed that theory to its end.
    Surely the fact that he had even
bought her in the first place indicated that he was attracted to
her? And their intimate encounters since that time reinforced the
view.
    And why would he invite her on a tour
of the ship and supply her with clothes if there wasn’t a trace of
feeling budding within him, as well? Despite her amnesia she was
not naïve enough to think that he had felt anything for her when he
first bid those fifty quatroons, but surely she couldn’t be
mistaken about his growing gentleness and consideration towards
her? On the bridge he had appeared possessive in the face of
Daurent’s cheerful gallantry, a reaction that both puzzled and
warmed her. Maybe that proved that he wasn’t immune to
her.
    As for her amnesia, maybe that, too,
wasn’t such an obstacle after all. Of course there was the
possibility that she was nobility of some sort, part of a ruling
family, an important player in the politics of her planet, but
statistically, she had to admit that was highly unlikely. It was
more probable that she was a scientist or someone’s assistant or
even just a crewmember on the ship that had crashed.
    In the daze of the wreck and the grief
at not finding anybody else alive amid the hot corkscrewed panels
of metal, she had not taken much notice of her clothing ... her
uniform? She had still not recovered fully when the group of Helson
natives had found her, stripped her, and bundled her into more
restrictive clothing, discarding hers by the wreck and forcing her
on the four-day march to Hell’s Market. So now, there was no trace
of her former life, either physical or mental.
    Still, she thought with amusement,
there weren’t many adult women who came without some kind of
emotional baggage, usually the result of bad past experiences. And
if she had no bad experiences to remember, then she came with
little baggage. Simple!
    One problem out of the way, she
decided with determination. But onto the next, more difficult one.
How was