“Where is she?” Stone’s voice was hoarse in his own ears as he fought the Rage that tried to overcome him. He was no use to Cassandra as a mindless beast—he had to retain his reason!
“Like I said, strapped to the fucking-frame, up on the stage. Come on, give me the blaster and we’ll go see her together.”
Stone didn’t see that he had any choice. Slowly, he handed his blaster over to the Beast who tucked it into his own belt.
“Good. Now come on—straight to the stage,” he told Stone, giving him a shove.
When he got closer to the stage, Stone saw what was going on. Cassandra had been fastened to some kind of silver hoop, her arms and legs splayed out helplessly. Her dress had been ripped open to show her bare breasts and there were tear tracks on her cheeks, as though she’d been crying. Her panties, at least, appeared to be intact—it was easy to see since her legs were spread. She appeared to be seated on some kind of thin metal frame seat, which kept her from sagging in her bindings.
Stone abruptly found his Rage a little bit easier to control. If The Beast had hurt her—raped her—he would have lost control completely. But it appeared that no permanent damage had been done, which made the possessive, protective berserker part of himself less likely to break free and create havoc—or get them both killed.
“Mistress,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice level. “Are you well?”
“You can drop the act, Kindred,” The Beast snarled in his ear. “We know the two of you are spies from the Mother Ship. We’ve known it from the minute you touched down on the planet.”
Stone felt his heart settle like a rock at the bottom of a pond. So they knew. Their cover, as the humans said, was blown. Still, there might be a way to get out of this—he just needed to keep his wits about him and find a way to get Cassandra free of that strange silver hoop The Beast had called the “fucking-frame.”
“There is no need for violence,” he said, speaking to Gozeriam and ignoring The Beast. “We didn’t come here to harm you, your Slimefullness—we are here to apprehend The Beast for a murder he committed on a planet called Earth.”
Gozeriam uttered a muddy laugh.
“Is that right?”
“Yes.” Stone nodded, feeling the cold muzzle of the weapon brush against his neck again. “Let us take him and we’ll be gone. Name your price and we can pay it.”
The Beast cursed and shoved him hard in the back, nearly causing Stone to fall.
“You think his Slimefullness would sell me out?” he demanded. “I’m his star!”
“We would if we felt like it,” Gozeriam remarked mildly. “However, we are more interested in punishing the Kindred for their refusal to do business with us than we are in more profit. After one has a certain amount of it, more money becomes useless—while revenge is always useful and amusing.”
“The Kindred couldn’t do business with you because their porn is through their nose. I mean, it’s all about scents—not vids,” Cassandra exclaimed from her place in the silver frame.
“Shut up!” One of the female guards slapped her hard across the face. “Who asked you to talk, girl?” she exclaimed.
Stone felt the Rage clawing at his mind and held it back with a grim effort.
“Don’t touch her,” he growled at the guard, surging towards the stage.
“You don’t touch her either, big guy.” The Beast was suddenly there, shoving the weapon between Stone’s shoulder blades. “Try that again and I’ll blow a hole right through you!”
“Let him speak,” Gozeriam commanded. He turned to Stone. “We are curious as to some details. Tell us, are you and your ‘Mistress’ mates?”
“No.” Stone shook his head. “Just partners and friends.”
“Well, how surprising. From what we know of your species, it could not have been easy to act out the script we wrote for the two of you if you were not already sexually attached.”
“We did what we had to in the service of our mission,” Stone said woodenly.
“For which, you must both be punished. But we think you care more for this female than you care to admit,” Gozeriam said thoughtfully. “So it will be most interesting to watch you as she is slowly killed.”
“Hurt me, not her,” Stone said at once. “She is not even Kindred—you can let her go and just kill me.”
“Stone, no!” Cassandra cried.
“Shut up!” The guard slapped her again and Cassandra spat angrily at her.
“Let her talk,” Gozeriam ordered. “We are interested in what she has to say as well.”
“Please, your Slimefullness…” Cassandra’s voice trembled but she did not cry. “I’m sure the Kindred High Council would be willing to pay a ransom for us. Just name your price—please!”
“Did you not just hear us refuse your partner’s offer of monetary compensation?” Gozeriam demanded, his slitted yellow eyes narrowing in displeasure. “However,” he added thoughtfully, “There may be one thing we would be willing to trade for your miserable lives.”
“What is it?” Stone demanded. “What do you want?”
“We were quite pleased with your performance in Forbidden One,” the Slimerian mused. “Perhaps we would be willing to give you your freedom if the two of you would consent to film Forbidden Two, the Sequel, before you go.”
Stone looked at his partner. He didn’t want to answer for her in this because he wasn’t sure what Gozeriam wanted them to do. What would be in the script of this particular vid? He had a feeling that whatever it was, it would definitely eclipse Forbidden One’s erotic requirements.
“What do you want us to do?” Cassandra asked Gozeriam bluntly.
“What do you think, my dear Officer Steel? You are strapped to the fucking-frame, are you not? We expect your partner to fuck you.” Gozeriam gave his mud-sucking laugh again.
“I won’t rape my partner for your pleasure,” Stone growled, glaring at the Slimerian. “You can kill me before I’ll hurt her that way!”
“Well, well—it seems you need some incentive. Hallora, bring the injection.”
“What? What injection?” Cassandra looked around fearfully as one of the other female guards laid down her long, silver spear and brought out a wicked-looking syringe. It was full of some bright red liquid with black specks floating in it.
“Don’t hurt her! What are you giving her?” Stone surged forward again, only to feel the weapon dig into his back as The Beast muttered, “Easy, big guy!”
“Don’t Stone—don’t want them to hurt you,” Cassandra gasped as the female guard shoved the thick needle into her neck and pushed the plunger.
Stone had never felt so helpless—so close to Rage. Only knowing that The Beast would kill him before he could reach Cassandra kept him from going to her. He was no good to his partner dead.
“What did you give her?” he growled, glaring at the Slimerian. “What in the name of the Goddess have you done?”
“Hallora has simply given your ‘Mistress’ something to make things a bit more interesting,” Gozeriam assured him. “And to help you make your mind up to record the vid we asked you to do.”