When Kai braced his hands on Master's thighs and took me once more into his mouth, I lost control of my senses. His head bobbed in time with the roll of Master's hips, their movements quickly synchronising into a rhythm designed to break me in a matter of minutes. I dug my fingers into the arms of the chair, supporting some of my weight and enabling Master to thrust harder into me. He didn't take the opportunity, however, choosing instead to torment me with slow, steady thrusts which pushed my hips forward, forcing my cock deeper into Kai's mouth.
Kai choked, and the shiver of vibration felt so good I couldn't resist making it happen again, thrusting my hips in time with Master's to force myself farther down Kai's throat until he was gagging around my length, long ropes of drool sliding down my shaft. Everything was wet heat and strangled breaths and pleasure from every angle, more intense than I thought I could stand. Master grunted with effort as he drilled into me, snatching a handful of my long hair and wrenching my head back, forcing me to arch my spine and cry for mercy as the changed angle enabled him to hit my prostate on every thrust, the head of his cock dragging decadently over the spot, my muscles twitching and clenching around his shaft until I swore I could feel the bump of every pulsing vein.
I whimpered a warning and then fell apart, coming hard down Kai's throat, my orgasm like an explosion behind my eyes. Master cupped the back of Kai's head and forced him down onto me until his nose pressed flush to my groin, and he had no choice but to swallow my seed or choke. The rhythmic contractions of his throat around the head of my sensitised cock were almost too much: I wriggled and writhed in Master's lap, all my muscles pulled tight, my arsehole spasming with every spurt of my ejaculate.
A low moan told me Master was about to climax, then he bit me, digging his teeth into the flesh of my shoulder and breathing hard through his nose, transforming into something feral and untamed as he bred me.
He finally released Kai, who lifted his head, coughing and spluttering, his lips a rosy red and swollen from their rough treatment, his eyes dark, dark, dark like the depths of midnight.
"Mark me," I begged.
Heat flared in his inky gaze as he rose, stood between my legs, and tugged hard on his stout cock. He climaxed in moments, painting me with splashes of hot come. Then he was kissing me, wet and sloppy and insistent, a soft growl vibrating between us. Master shifted, his dick sliding from me, and the shudder I gave at the sensation passed from me to Kai as I kissed him back. Master stroked my flanks, wrapping an arm around me to hold me more securely on his lap, then he scraped up through the slippery fluid on my stomach and pushed his fingers between our joined lips, smearing Kai's spunk into our mouths and making us lick him clean.
I broke the kiss to watch Kai sucking Master's fingers, a look of pure bliss on his face. He opened his eyes, green again as arousal faded into the warm afterglow of good sex, and Master cupped his face, brushing the pad of his thumb over Kai's lips. I smiled at the dazed look Kai gave me, then cupped the other side of his face and kissed him again, soft and tender, silently praising and reassuring him he was loved. Master nuzzled my neck and petted Kai's hair, all three of us in that moment sated, calm, and utterly content.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The next day, our world was torn apart.
Kai and I had been fooling around in my bedroom when suddenly a dull roar like thunder sounded in the distance.
"What was that?" I asked, sitting straight and listening intently.
"A bomb." Kai was instantly on his feet, dragging me up.
We ran outside and saw the guards rushing to the walls of the compound, those on duty already with their weapons drawn, more emerging from their private quarters beyond the training paddock, armour half-on and half-off as they raced to see what was happening.
"Come on." Kai took my hand and tugged me along behind him, making for the perimeter wall where Morgan was barking orders, men milling around, pointing and staring towards the centre of Otiz.
Master's compound was on the outskirts, bordering the desert. The road to the centre ran past the front gates, and we had heard the lumber of many carts, the clop of horses' hooves on the stones of the road as traders came from near and far to sell their wares at the weekly market. It was second-noon, the smaller sun at its zenith, and the light bouncing off the pale stone of the compound's walls and paved surfaces was blinding.
We reached the wall without being halted, and Kai swarmed up the ladder in front of me. Hesitating only a second, I followed, my heart thudding in my breast. Otiz was a quiet outpost, and I couldn't remember there ever being trouble before. The conflict which raged on around us had never come close, and most of the time it was easy to forget we were at war.
I took Kai's outstretched hand and let him help me up the last rungs of the ladder. We stood side-by-side on the guards' walkway and looked out over the top of the wall towards the marketplace. I sucked a breath as I saw the column of black smoke rising from the centre of Otiz and squeezed hard on Kai's hand. Chaotic sounds reached us, carried on the light breeze: screams and shouts, the braying of pack mules, the crash of falling rubble. Kai's mouth set in a thin line, his green eyes narrowed against the glare of the suns.
"Where's Master?" I asked, the panic which had been welling inside me exploding into outright fear. Master had left the compound early that morning, and I had no idea where he was. For all I knew he could be lying dead right then, buried beneath the rubble or torn to pieces by the bomb. "Where is he? Where did he go today?"
"Who let the slaves up here?" Morgan demanded, scowling in our direction.
Kai held me back as I started to advance angrily on the head of the guards. "Just tell us where he is," he said. "That's all he wants to know."
"Get them back into the house," Morgan barked to the nearest guard, turning his back on us.
"Please, Shan." Kai gripped the arm of a tall, heavyset man, whom I recognised as one of the guards he had sparred with the morning Master and I watched him in training. "Was he at the marketplace?"
Shan gave us both a sympathetic look. "He has a personal guard," he said. "I'm sure he wasn't harmed."
A thin, keening wail rose, and it took a moment before I realised the sound came from my throat. Kai caught me as I staggered, preventing me from toppling off the ledge. Shan caught my arm and half-carried me to the ladder.
"Can you climb?" he asked, his tone not unkind. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me, and without waiting for me to answer, he swung me over his shoulder as though I weighed nothing and descended.
Kai followed as Shan carried me back to the house, guiding the guard inside and to my chamber.
"I can walk!" I protested, but he didn't set me down until we were in my room.
"We're fine," Kai said as Shan dithered. "We won't get in the way, I promise. I'll look after Tam, just please, find out where Master is. We need to know he's all right."
Shan nodded. "Morgan won't rest until we find him," he said. "He'll send men out to start searching."
I began to shiver. My teeth chattered and my limbs shook, even after Kai had sat me down on the bed and wrapped his arms around me. I took comfort from his proximity, but the thought of losing Master chilled me to the core.
"Go," Kai snapped, sounding more authoritative even than Morgan.
Shan hesitated a moment longer, looking uncertainly in my direction, then nodded to Kai and left, closing the door behind himself.
"Tam? Tammy, look at me." Kai cupped my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. "He'll be okay," he promised. "You heard what Shan said, he had guards with him. They'll have protected him. He probably wasn't even in the marketplace anyway."
"But what if he was?" I whispered. "Kai, I can't lose him, I can't!"
"You won't." Kai pulled me to him, hugging me fiercely. He stroked my hair over and over, but I wasn't sure if the gesture was supposed to soothe him or me. "He'll come back, Tammy. Just wait. We haven't lost him, I promise."
҉҉҉
That day was the longest of my life. Kai and I didn't move from my bed, huddled close and rocking in each other's arms. My sinuses stung, but I didn't cry. I almost wanted to, to relieve some of the tension thrumming in my limbs, the choked, bottled-up feeling of helplessness which consumed me. My grief was a river swelling against the dam, waiting for it to burst. If I allowed myself the luxury of even a single tear, I feared I'd never stop.
Every time we heard guards troop past the windows, or the gates opening, or the clop of horses' hooves, we stiffened, listening, straining to discover if Master had been located, neither of us daring to move and demand news which could shatter our hopes.