Page 18 of Savage Union (Brutal Universe #2)

17

TURK

I led the boy down the corridor and back to my private lift. His clear amber eyes were bloodshot from weeping but he seemed calmer now.

It was a damn good thing for him that I’d come back down to the crew deck when I had. Though to be honest, I still couldn’t say why I had done it.

It was the strangest fucking thing—I’d been getting dressed in my quarters when suddenly a feeling of almost panic had come over me. A feeling that something terrible and irrevocable was about to happen if I didn’t quickly get back below decks.

I hadn’t stopped to question the feeling. After years of captaining a smuggling ship, I’d learned to trust my instincts and I’d never had such a strong one before. I couldn’t even wait to take my lift—I went straight down the tube because it was faster.

The minute I’d climbed down the Gensen’s tube, I heard someone shrieking. To be honest, it almost sounded like a female voice—which was impossible because we didn’t have any women on board. The feeling had gotten even stronger and I had run as fast as I could towards the ominous sound.

I’d gotten back to the shower room just in time to stop a rape in progress. I felt a surge of rage when I remembered the sight that had met my eyes. The huge, hairy Jerx—that fucking animal—pressing the helpless boy to the wall with his dick in one hand, trying to shove it in.

My hands curled into fists—I didn’t tolerate such things on my ship! Rape and abuse might be standard on other deep space vessels, but not aboard The Illyrian. What the fuck made Jerx think he had the right to treat a fellow crewmember that way? He was definitely in for a rude awakening—as was Gurflug, if he really had perpetuated the rumor that Cass was a Catamite and there for the crew’s pleasure to use whenever they wanted.

It occurred to me that I was feeling extremely protective—even possessive—of the slim boy I’d hired to navigate. Which didn’t make any sense—I didn’t even know him and besides, I’m no lover of males, as I believe I mentioned before. Still, the feelings persisted. Even though I didn’t know the boy, I wanted to take care of him—to protect him.

Enough. I told myself I was just upset about what had almost happened and the insubordination I now had to punish. The boy really didn’t have anything to do with it—he was just a victim in all this, that was all.

But I still couldn’t understand why I’d had such a deep, visceral feeling that I had to get down below decks and rescue him…

My thoughts were interrupted when we crossed through the bridge and entered my Ready Room. I cast a grim look at the whipping cross and coiled pain whip in the corner of the room and then looked back at Cass, who was staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.

“Captain?” he asked in a soft voice. “I don’t know…don’t understand…”

“You’ll see. Sit there.” I pointed at the chair behind my desk.

His eyes went even wider.

“In…in your chair?”

“Yes, I said impatiently. I wanted him well out of the action. “In my chair. Go on—sit.”

Without another word, he obeyed. My white shirt seemed to swallow his slight frame and his amber eyes were wide and worried.

He didn’t need to be afraid, of course—it was Jerx and Gurflug who were going to be on trial. I opened my mouth to tell him so, but just then there was a knock on the Ready Room door.

“Come,” I said and Jerx came in, followed by Gurflug who already looked upset and offended.

“Captain, I really must protest this summons!” he began in his thick, burbling voice. “I was just getting settled in my bunk for the night. I need my sleep if I’m going to navigate properly!”

“Yes, I’m sure,” I said dryly. “Did you tell Jerx that Cass here is a Catamite I hired to service the crew?”

“I…you…” His bulging purple eyes blinked rapidly and his rubbery lips opened and closed several times. I knew at once by his reaction that he had done it—his scent proclaimed it as well as his expressions. Clearly he was trying to think of a lie that would keep his hide safe from my pain whip.

“Just answer the question,” I said, frowning at him. “Did you tell Jerx and the rest of the crew that Cass was a Catamite?”

“He did! Jerx said. “He said it and the whole crew heard it!”

“I never did!” Gurflug exclaimed, clearly deciding that denial was his safest route. “Though I did hear Jerx call the pup a Catamite several times,” he added.

“Fucking liar!” Jerx snarled, rounding on him. “You said you were the only navigator and that the Captain hired that fucking little brat as a Catamite!”

It sounded plausible enough. I turned to Cass and raised my eyebrows.

“Cass? Is this true?”

The boy nibbled his lower lip, his eyes going even wider.

“Don’t worry,” I told him. “Just tell me the truth.”

At last he spoke up.

“It’s true,” he said in a low voice. “Jerx started calling me ‘Catamite’ right away but then in the mess hall, Gurflug said that he was the only navigator and I was hired for…to serve the crew. Sexually.” He swallowed hard and I could hear the click in his throat.

I could see what it cost him to say those words—the pain and humiliation. Not to mention the personal danger Gurflug’s lie had put him in.

I turned to the big Galafruxian.

“So you told the whole crew that your fellow navigator was here to fuck them.”

“I never…” Gurflug began to protest.

I turned to Jerx.

“And then you decided to rape Cass, based on Gurflug’s words.”

“Yeah, but Captain, look at it this way—I was doin’ the boy a favor!” Jerx protested.

I felt my eyebrows lifting almost to my hairline.

“ What did you say?” I demanded. “Since when is raping someone doing them a fucking favor?”

“You know Catamites!” Jerx protested. “They got certain needs. Like they need to suck cock—they need to get fucked. It’s part of their DNA. I was just helping him out, that’s all.”

I glared at him.

“Crewman, that is the lamest excuse for rape I’ve ever heard in my life. Remove your shirt and step up to the whipping cross.”

Jerx shot me a hate-filled glance and I thought at first he might challenge my authority. I bared my fangs at him, letting them grow long and sharp. Only the high-born Brutes of Clan Savage have fangs and I was certain Jerx knew how deadly they could be. I can either kill or heal with a bite and I certainly wasn’t planning on fucking healing him.

With a final snarl, Jerx yanked off his shirt and went to the X-shaped whipping cross. Reaching up, he grabbed the two long grips protruding from the top ends of the X. He gripped one in each hand, which stretched his bare back out like a canvas for the whip, and braced himself.

“Twenty lashes,” I told him. “And that’s a light sentence. I’ll give you a hundred more if I ever catch you trying anything like what I saw tonight again aboard my ship!”

I uncoiled the whip and shook it out, listening to the faint sizzling, crackling sound it made as it came to life. Most of the pain from this whip was caused by nerve conduction—every blow was magnified times ten. So while it didn’t usually leave marks, getting whipped by it was absolute agony.

I’ve said before that I take no pleasure in whipping any of the men under me—but I did take pleasure in this whipping. Every time I drew back my arm and let the sizzling lash fly, I remembered the sight of Jerx trying to hurt the boy—I saw that slight, delicate frame trembling under his hairy bulk—and I fucking reveled in punishing him for it.

I gave him twenty lashes—no more and no less—and Jerx grunted and groaned with every one. When I was finished the hairy pelt that covered his back was nearly bald—the whip having burned the hair away as it stung him.

“That’s twenty,” I said, coiling the whip again. Touching it didn’t hurt me because it was keyed to my DNA.

Jerx groaned as he let go of the grips but he didn’t dare to give me a look. He did, however, shoot an angry glance at Cass, who was still sitting silently in my desk chair.

“Get out,” I told him. “And don’t let me catch you doing anything like what you tried again or you’ll never crew with The Illyrian or any other ship run by Clan Savage for the rest of your miserable life, crewman.”

“Yes Sir,” he muttered and left the office—which only left me Gurflug to deal with.

“Well,” I said, looking at him. “Looks like it’s your turn. Ten lashes for lying and putting a crewmember in danger.”

“What? Me?” He took a step back from me, his muddy cheeks going pale. “Surely you can’t mean to punish me when I did nothing wrong!”

“You gave the entire crew the idea that your fellow navigator was a sex worker,” I growled. “Cass was nearly raped tonight because of your lie! I don’t tolerate liars aboard The Illyrian, any more than I tolerate rapists.”

“You don’t dare whip me!” he protested, frowning. “I’m the navigator! You need me!”

I shook my head at his arrogance and willful ignorance.

“Weren’t you on the bridge when Cass showed us his navigation skills?” I demanded. “You have no leverage here. Now get up to the whipping cross and assume the position!”

Gurflug took another step back, his doughy face a mask of defiance and fear.

“If you lay a single finger on me, I promise this stinking ship will end up in the middle of a black hole during our next jump!”

I could feel the growl rising in my throat. Nobody insults or threatens my ship—fucking nobody.

“Are you threatening me, Galafruxian?” I demanded. “Because if you are, then I’m never letting you navigate again. And you’ll spend the rest of your time aboard The Illyrian in the brig!”

Gurflug’s face went dark with anger.

“You wouldn’t dare to lock me up!”

“ Try me,” I told him. “Now are you going to take your punishment like a male or do I need to call some crewmembers up here to hold you down?”

“I…you…”

His rubbery lips worked but he couldn’t’ seem to get a coherent sentence out.

“It’s clear you’ve never been held responsible for any of your actions before,” I told him. “But that ends now. Get up to the whipping post!”

I saw the dawning realization on his face that he wasn’t getting out of this. Finally he stepped up to the cross and reached for the grips.

“Take off your shirt,” I told him.

Gurflug cast an enraged look over his shoulder.

“Take off my shirt? You already made me remove my layer of protective slime!”

“And you smell a little better for it,” I pointed out. “Now take off your shirt—the pain conductors won’t work otherwise and you deserve to feel every bit of the pain and terror that Cass felt tonight when Jerx attacked him.”

He gave me a furious look but finally removed his shirt, baring a greenish brown back. His smell still wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t as eye-wateringly bad as it had been before his shower. I shook out the whip, listening to it sizzle, and then gave him the first stroke.

“Ohhhhh! Ahhhhh!” Gurflug roared and groaned. “You must stop, Captain—I cannot take anymore!” he moaned.

“That was just the first one,” I told him. “Man up—you’ve got nine more to go.”

Of course the big Galafruxian cried and groaned dramatically through the rest of his whipping. By the time I reached the tenth stroke, I was thoroughly sick of him and wishing I could leave him on the next stable planet we passed. But I had hired him which meant I was stuck with him now. It’s against the Captain’s code to abandon any crew member outside their home galaxy. So like it or not, Gurflug was with me for the rest of this mission.

When I finished the whipping, there were a few, faint red marks on his back but you would have thought that I’d whipped him until he was bloody from the way he lurched away from the whipping cross, groaning and cursing. He gave me a baleful look and then glared at Cass.

“This is all your fault, pup!” he snarled, pointing a thick finger at the other navigator. “You’ll be sorry!”

Cass turned pale but raised his chin defiantly.

“Maybe if you hadn’t spread lies about me you wouldn’t have been whipped!”

Gurflug started to say something in return, but I held up a hand to stop him.

“Enough. Get back to your bunk right now. Not another fucking word unless you want to spend the night in the brig. And next time, think before you lie!”

Still muttering angrily to himself, the big Galafruxian finally left my ready room.

Then I was left alone with the boy and a problem—what was I going to do with him?