Page 15

CHAPTER 15

R ona had never been a fan of taking orders, especially not from men.

She’d pretty much had her fill of that working at the silk mine.

But having a dagger pressed against her skin definitely made her more compliant.

And when said blade was touching the most sensitive part of her body…

she was willing to do almost anything that was demanded of her.

She just hoped Zeth had a steady hand.

Of course he does , she thought.

He’s a Merc.

She wondered how many men had shed their blood on that blade.

Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?

And now it was being used to shave her pussy.

That thought shouldn’t have turned her on, but it did.

She wanted to cover herself to hide her arousal, but she didn’t dare move, for fear of being cut.

So she just stood there in the full tub, her body naked and dripping as Zeth dragged the blade across her skin.

After a couple of strokes, he dipped the blade into the bathwater to rinse it clean.

“So tell me something,” he said.

“Who is Tulliver?”

Rona started in surprise.

She was glad Zeth had chosen to ask the question while the dagger was away from her skin, otherwise the result might have been disastrous.

“What?” she gasped.

“You said his name in the alleyway. When you were kicking the man who assaulted you. You said: ‘Fuck you, and fuck Tulliver too.’”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Rona said.

Zeth looked up at her for a moment, his angelic face genuinely curious.

Then he went back to shaving her pubic hair.

“If you tell me about it,” he said, “I’ll tell you something about myself in exchange. Deal?”

Rona started to say she didn’t want to know anything about him, but she held her tongue.

For one thing, it wasn’t true.

For another, he had a knife to her pussy.

And soon, he was going to do things to her that no man had ever done before.

She decided it would behoove her to be polite, at least for the time being.

“It’s a long story,” she said.

Zeth smirked. “You’ve got a lot of hair.”

Rona sighed.

She supposed it couldn’t really hurt to tell him.

If anything, it might help her avoid another unpleasant situation like the one in the alley.

“I used to live here in Jeriko,” she said.

“Actually, I was born here. My father left when I was little to go work in the same silk mine where I work now. He wanted my mother and me to stay here in Jeriko because he thought it would be more comfortable than the mining village. I guess he was right. Before I went away, he gave me a knife to protect myself.”

“It wouldn’t happen to have been the same one you stabbed with yesterday,” Zeth asked, “would it?”

Rona tensed.

The Merc laughed.

“Don’t worry, woman. I’m not angry about that. If I were going to hurt you, I would have done so by now.”

“Very reassuring,” Rona said.

“And yes, it was the same knife. That was the last time I ever saw my father. We got word a few months later that he had died in a mine collapse.”

“Oh,” Zeth said.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m over it. It was a long time ago. Anyway, after that happened, my mother started hitting the bottle pretty hard. Pills too. She had a lot of boyfriends. A lot of creeps. One of them was a guy named Tulliver. He was a local gang leader. I guess he’s small-time compared to some of the people you’ve probably dealt with, but around here he’s not someone to trifle with.”

Zeth rinsed his blade, then continued shaving.

“I take it you trifled with him?”

“You could say that,” Rona answered with a dark chuckle in her voice.

“One time when my mother was passed out, he tried to put his hands on me. I used my father’s knife and stabbed him. Right here.”

She pointed to her left eye.

“Really?” Zeth asked.

He sounded impressed.

“Dead ass. Popped his eyeball like a grape. Buncha blood and goop squirted out. It was really gross. Anyway, he was screaming and hollering like crazy, saying he was gonna kill me. I was able to get away, but I knew I couldn’t stick around Jeriko after that. I hopped a freight car out to the mining village, and I’ve been there ever since. Sorta keepin’ a low profile, ya know?”

“How old were you when that happened?”

Rona shrugged.

“Twelve, I think? I’m not real sure.”

“That was awfully brave.”

Rona blushed.

“I sure as hell don’t regret doing it,” she said.

“If I had it all to do over again, there’s only one thing I would have done different.”

“What’s that?”

“I would have cut his dick off instead of stabbing him in the eye.”

Zeth nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

“What about me?” he asked.

“Would you cut my dick off if you had the chance?”

Rona couldn’t help but laugh at a question like that.

“I don’t think I can ,” she said.

“Yesterday I stabbed you as hard as I could, and it barely did anything.”

“My cock doesn’t have the same nanite-mesh as the rest of my skin. It dulls the senses slightly. Terrible for sex.”

“In that case,” Rona said.

“You’d better keep a close eye on that knife.”

Zeth smiled.

“All done,” he said, and with his free hand, he splashed some water between Rona’s legs to wash away the residue of shaving foam.

“How does it feel?”

She looked down at her bald sex.

It looked a bit strange, not having any hair down there, but when she touched it, the feeling was incredible.

“It’s so smooth,” she whispered.

“Indeed.”

Zeth reached up and brushed the ball of his thumb across her pillowy outer folds.

The slippery sensation of skin on skin made Rona gasp and tremble.

“Now it’s your turn,” Zeth said.

“My turn?” Rona was confused.

“What do you mean?”

The Merc stood up and handed her the dagger, handle first. Then he started to unbuckle his belt.

“You’re going to shave me .”

He unfastened his fly and shoved his pants down his long, muscular legs.

His cock sprang free, long and swollen and throbbing.

Rona was proud of herself for not gasping at it, but she could feel her heart racing faster as the nude mercenary stepped into the tub with her.

“You want me to… shave you?”

“Correct,” Zeth said, reaching down to fondle the big sacs hanging from the base of his shaft.

“I want you to shave my balls for me. It will make it feel better when you suck on them.”

“But… I’ve never done it before. Especially not with a knife like this. What if I cut you?”

Zeth smiled calmly.

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Rona could hardly believe what she was hearing.

Just yesterday, she had stabbed this man repeatedly.

Now he was trusting her to use a blade on his exposed privates.

Either he was extremely foolish or extremely confident—and Rona was pretty sure he was no fool.

She sank to her knees in front of him.

His hard cock was right there in her face, huge and jutting.

The canister of shaving foam was still on the side of the tub where Zeth had placed it earlier.

Rona set down the dagger and filled her hands with a good amount of the thick, white cream.

Then, very carefully, she began to work the lather over the mercenary’s scrotum.

His balls felt huge and heavy in her hand.

There was no hair on the shaft of his penis, and therefore no reason to apply the shaving foam to that part of his body, but there was a part of her that wanted to do it anyway, just to see what it would feel like.

She wanted to tug on it and stroke it.

She wanted to make it—

God, what is wrong with me?

Rona thought.

She dipped her hands into the water and washed them clean.

Then she picked up the dagger, and prepared to shave him.

“Here,” Zeth said gently.

“Let me help you.”

For the first stroke, he guided her hands, turning the blade just so and sliding it across his lathered balls, revealing a strip of clean, hairless skin.

“See?” he asked.

Rona nodded that she did.

He released her hands and let her do the rest on her own.

After a few strokes, she got the hang of it.

She cradled his balls in her left hand and shaved them with her right, all the while trying not to get distracted by his massive erection, which was pointing right at her head like a loaded gun.

“Um… you said you would tell me something about yourself,” she said.

“What would you like to know?”

“You said you were technically a bastard. What did you mean?”

“I was born and raised on Almalex-9, an old and wealthy planet ruled by aristocrats. My father—or my step father, I should say—was the head of a once great family that had fallen from its former glory. He hired the mercenaries to eliminate some of his rivals. Since he didn’t have enough money to pay for the killings up front, the Mercs offered him a discount… in exchange for one night with his wife.”

Rona stopped shaving and looked up at the big, naked warrior towering over her.

“He let them have sex with her?”

“He didn’t just let them do it. He watched. At least that’s what he told me one time when he was in his cups. Anyway, I was the spawn of that coupling. Or perhaps I should call it an octupling. There were seven Mercs involved.”

Rona swallowed a gasp.

Seven? God, she was getting off easy with only three.

She dropped her eyes back to Zeth’s pelvis and continued shaving him.

She had already finished one side.

Now she started on the other.

“So um… how did you end up becoming a mercenary?”

“Didn’t Aeron tell you?” Zeth asked.

“It is the way of the Guild. Whenever a team of Mercs impregnates a woman, they allow her to raise the child until he is of age. Then the Guild will collect him so that he may begin his training. In my case, I remained on Almalex-9 with my father’s family. After the assassination of his enemies, his fortunes improved, so we were able to live a fairly lavish lifestyle.”

“It must have been hard leaving that behind.”

The big mercenary laughed.

“Are you kidding? I couldn’t have been more overjoyed. The blood of the Mercs flows in my veins. I am a natural born killer. It’s what I was bred to do.”

“Great,” Rona mumbled.

“And now you’re going to knock me up with a little natural born killer of my own.”

The Merc gently stroked the top of her head.

“Do not be troubled,” he said.

“Being born to the Mercenaries Guild is a blessing, not a curse. It is a dangerous life to be sure, but it is also a life full of excitement and adventure, a life free from the fear of death. It is a good life, perhaps even the best.”

He smirked.

“Although, I must admit, life in my stepfather’s court was not so horrible either. My mother was not his only wife. He had a whole harem of concubines, and the poor women were sorely deprived by my stepfather’s lack of, shall we say, skill. Those women taught me many things.”

Rona stopped and looked at him again, eyes wide.

“You mean, you slept with your stepfather’s concubines?”

“There wasn’t much sleeping involved, believe me.” He shrugged.

“Besides, I was not related to them by blood.”

Rona shook her head and went back to shaving.

There was only a little bit left.

“Still,” she said. “That’s pretty messed up.”

Zeth laughed.

“Woman, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re jealous.”

“I am not jealous!” she growled.

“That’s ridiculous. I’ve only known you for—oh shit! ”

In her annoyance, Rona allowed herself to become careless.

As she was scraping away the last bit of foam from the mercenary’s balls, the blade slipped and made a tiny incision in his flesh.

It was only a nick, but Rona felt her throat go tight when she saw a bright red drop well from the cut and run down the Merc’s wet scrotum.

“I’m sorry!” she gasped.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“I know,” Zeth said, seemingly unconcerned.

“It’s alright. It’s only a scratch. However, I do want you to clean the blood away for me.”

“Of course,” Rona said.

Her heart was pounding.

She carefully set the dagger onto the edge of the tub.

Then she dipped her hands into the water, forming a little bowl with her fingers, so she could scoop some of the warm, soapy liquid.

“No, not like that,” Zeth said.

“I want you to use your tongue.”