Dark Prince Ch. 02

"Absolutely not!" Angel's voice was shrill with anger. "He was a gift from my mother!"

"A defective gift. Surely she'll understand if you traded him in for something better."

"I do not want to trade him."

"I can give you a better slave, one that can see and does not cum until he's told. He's better than this one."

"If he's so much better, then why do you want to trade him?"

The other women laughed.

"Let's just say that I like unique pets."

"Well then let's just say that so do I. I will not trade my toy. I could care less whether or not he can see, as long as he fucks well, which he does."

The women around him murmured.

"He's too special. You cannot keep him until her highness sees him. She may want him yet."

"This is an outrage! He's my pleasure slave!"

They tightened a collar around his neck, but didn't bother to redress him. Rough hands gripped his arms and forced him out of the room. They held him tight, maneuvering him into the lift that brought them down to the main lobby. He could hear the fountains gushing water and the gasps and exclamations of many feminine voices all around him. For the first time in his life, he felt self conscious about his nudity. Devon was glad he couldn't see the lusty stares directed at him... but he felt them. His face heated with embarrassment.

The texture of the floor under his bare feet went from smooth glassy surfaces and fuzzy rugs to the abrasive cold of the walkways outside. The cool breeze of the early morning scented with a hint of rain confirmed that he was indeed no longer within the lodge.

One of the women let go of his arm and pulled on the chain attached to his collar. A firm hand pushed his head down and he was ordered to step up into a hover cruiser. Of course, he tripped into the waiting vehicle, but didn't fall very far. They grabbed him from all directions, and then shoved him onto the floor of the cruiser.

Hands caressed him, his hair, his face, and chest. Someone slipped their hand between his legs and fondled his balls.

He closed his eyes and swallowed. The scent of sex still clung to him.

"Don't be shy, pretty. We won't bite you."

"Speak for yourself, Shallon."

Teeth nipped at his earlobe.

"Stop it!" Again, the voice of Katadre. "Don't touch him. You'll get your stink all over him."

Someone snorted. "He already stinks of sex, Kata."

"Then he'll be bathed before her highness sees him."

"She won't want him no matter how stunning he is. The law..."

"We'll let her decide. There's always a first time for everything," Katadre answered.

"You just want her to give him to you." Another snort. "He belongs to the Endorean."

"Silence!"



Angel kept her head bowed in deference before the Utuduodian queen. The woman's eyes were two shards of green glass beneath a crimson fall of curls that reached her ankles. Her long, sinewy body reposed in her silver and purple throne, adorned with gleaming jewels. Angel thought it odd the empress was bare foot. A few jeweled rings twinkled on her toes, but nothing more.

When Queen Anashantey stood, Angel almost gasped. The queen walked with feline grace, her tightly muscled body almost bare save for the silver bustier she wore, miniscule thong, and long, purple cape. Tightly packed muscles adorned her abdomen like armor, and her thighs bulged with power. She wore a jeweled metal band that held her thick, red tresses from her angular face. It rose to a peak at the top of her forehead.

Though her face showed no emotion, Angel saw the fire that burned in her eyes as she let her fingers sink into the endless black of Devon's satiny mane. She let the heavy strands spill through her fingers slowly, savoring its silkiness. Placing one finger under his square jaw, she tipped his face up. Her thumb caressed his lower lip before her fingertips traced his smooth jaw line.

"He's very beautiful. His eyes don't look as though they've sustained any damage, so I must assume his condition is congenital." The queen sighed. "It's a pity. He might have fathered some beautiful daughters. Have you had his sperm rendered infertile?"

Angel winced. "Um..." She couldn't lie. They might have tested him already. "No. I haven't had the opportunity. That's why I haven't allowed him to penetrate me yet."

Murmuring went throughout the chamber. Angel looked around at all of the disapproving faces of the guards lined up around the glass bubble that was the throne room. The entire castle sat atop an enormous mountain and was made of a strange type of dark metal and glass. She surmised that the entire structure was about as large as the entire city of Sheetadel on Venushti. It occupied the entire summit, spiraling toward the heavens almost without end.

Angel looked back at the queen who smiled at her. "My guards seem to think you waste the talents of your...toy."

"What I do with him should not be of their concern. My mother gave him to me as a gift. I came here to celebrate my coming of age with a few friends, who'd been here before with their own pleasure pets and assured me it was a pleasant place to visit."

The queen lifted one tawny brow, her lip kicking up in amusement. "You'll have to forgive my guards impudence in how they managed this whole situation." She strode back to her throne and with a twirling flourish of her purple cape sat once again. "Katadre." Her voice cracked like a whip.

The raven-haired guard marched up to the dais and bowed. "My empress."

"Katadre, you should have told me personally about this situation. I'm sure that an official invitation on my part to the Endorean would have sufficed to allow me the pleasure of seeing her pet."

"Yes, my queen."

"As a token of your repentance for having caused her such stress you will give her Torec for the duration of her stay."

Katadre's head snapped up, her eyes bulging. "Torec, my queen?"

"Is there an echo in here?" The queen scowled.

Katadre bowed her head once more. "I shall have Torec prepared for her, my empress."

"That's better."

Angel wondered who this Torec was. Katadre obviously did not want to part with him. The look of hatred she gave Angel seared right through her. If looks could kill...

"Please accept our apologies, and on behalf of the citizens of Utuduo, remain in the castle along with your pet until your friends return for you."

"Thank you, your highness."

Angel breathed out a sigh of relief when one of the guards led Devon back to her and gave her his leash. The guard signaled her to follow, and with one last curtsy to the queen, she walked after the female guard with Devon trailing behind on his leash.

Silence ensued, all eyes riveted on Devon. It irked Angel... made her want to snarl at them.

Taking a deep breath instead, she turned her thoughts to the mission at hand; to find Alpha 7's missing angels. Within the castle, she could ask the servants if they'd seen a chamber containing black orbs sitting over a silver pool.