Creation's Control

Chapter Six

Drekk swallowed every bit of Ryen’s passion. Like a drug, Ryen’s seed made Drekk want more. Satisfied when Ryen’s cock, and then Ryen, went limp, Drekk stood on shaky legs.

“Damn, you’re a handful.” And a mouthful. Drekk licked his lips and moaned, his body quickly rejuvenated and wanting more. Rough urges rocked the control he worked so hard to maintain, and Drekk concentrated to keep his inner beast at bay. Fuck me, Ryen is eating away at my self control. And I’m loving every minute of it.

When Ryen had knocked him down and attacked him, Drekk had almost put a stop to it. Then he’d sensed Ryen’s need to explore, to understand what it was he truly needed. He’d let the larger man gain control. For a while, he hadn’t intended to stop him. Ryen had been made to suck cock. Stars, but his mouth fit Drekk’s shaft like perfection.

He could only imagine what that ass would feel like gloving him as well.

Trying to cool his libido, Drekk cleaned himself in the lav and dressed. He brought supplies out to clean the mess off Ryen as well and paused. Waves of satisfaction filled him at the sight of his cum and Ryen’s mingled over Ryen’s belly. Uneasy at the intensity of such feelings, Drekk wiped evidence of their passion away. He took his time cleaning, unable to resist the beauty of Ryen’s frame.

He trailed a damp cloth over Ryen’s muscular arms and chest, past his ruddy cock, thick thighs and sculpted calves.

“I am in way over my head with you,” he murmured to his sleeping lover. What he’d intended as no more than a way to help Ryen—a fellow Creation—overcome what fate had handed him now seemed a path towards a new relationship. Drekk readily admitting to loving the intimacy he and Ryen had shared. But a relationship with a male so like the ravaging animal he’d once been? Could he afford to release that side of him when he’d worked so hard to bury the past?

Ryen could pull that out of him as no one had in hundreds of years. In all the time since his escape from madness, Drekk had shared sex and affection, but he’d never truly loved.

Around Ryen he wanted to possess and be possessed. His inner balance, at peace with dominance and submission, now fluctuated upon Ryen’s moods.

I’m the master. Me, he reminded himself. This domination, this sexual closeness exists only to save your sorry ass, Ryen. Your beautiful, tight, firm, sorry ass.

Drekk rubbed his eyes in frustration.

Ryen, fortunately, chose that moment to moan, interrupting his moment of self-crisis.

“Drekk? What happened?”

“I fucked you so hard you passed out.” Drekk grinned at the astonished look on Ryen’s face. “Actually, I think your newfound passion fried your circuits. It’s happened to me a time or two. You’re healing, Ryen. All that emotion bubbling inside you is finally leaving you without violence.”

Drekk resisted the urge to glance away from Ryen—the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. Fascinated didn’t begin to describe Drekk’s feelings. Kaleidoscopes of blue sparkled and meshed around the golden pupils of Ryen’s eyes. The black collar’s studs gleamed against his now-glowing golden skin. The strength apparent in Ryen’s frame contrasted with the uncertainty in his expression. Exotic, powerful, and achingly vulnerable, Ryen made Drekk want to indulge himself in his infatuation and fuck him now.

But after such progress, sex would not only be foolish, but selfish. Though Drekk knew he’d satisfied Ryen, Ryen wasn’t yet ready for the burden of intimacy real sex between them would create.

For that matter, Drekk wasn’t sure he was ready either.

Ryen shook his head and stared at Drekk’s body as if he couldn’t help himself. When he zeroed in on Drekk’s perpetual hard-on, he flushed. “Did we really just fuck?”

“Not exactly.” But we will. “How did it feel when you took control?” Ryen paused in thought. “It felt, well, good. I was in charge one minute and not the next. Your taste, it, ah...”

Drekk grinned. “Yes, yours as well. We complement one another, Ryen. That’s not a bad thing. Tell me how it felt when I took that control back from you.” Ryen frowned. “At first I didn’t like it.” He struggled with his next words. “Then it felt right. I wanted, hell, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I wanted...more. Penetration more, if you can believe that.”

His candour warmed Drekk from the inside out. “I can. That’s called progress. You wanted to be taken.” Stars knows I want to take. “The need to submit is so ingrained in you that even Synster’s abuse couldn’t mute it completely. We were Created to serve. You can’t deny that as much as you and I might want to. Your problem is that you’re a strong male.

That dominance wars with your submissive yearnings. But you can have both. You can be commanding in the world outside, and free yourself to serve sexually, at least until you feel confident in your control. ”

For a minute, it looked as if Drekk had gotten through to the stubborn male. Ryen seemed on the verge of agreeing, maybe even accepting the truth.

“You know,” Ryen said as he tried to sit up. The cuffs holding him down stopped him.

“Fuck. You going to let me up yet or what?” He grimaced at his restraints and tugged harder.

Drekk sighed. “Cuffs, release.”At least they’d taken a step in the right direction. And he’d found some ease. Hell, helping Ryen had turned him into a rutting pig. He had a hard time thinking about anything but fucking the mulish Creation.

Ryen stood. He glanced in surprise at his belly and blushed, the sight so becoming Drekk had a hard time keeping his distance. “Thanks for cleaning me up.”

“My pleasure.” Drekk felt his vision clouding with desire, with the urge to take what he wanted. Whenever that happened, his pupils expanded and he saw more of everything. Not what he needed right now with a naked Ryen standing so close. “Why don’t you go clean up while I figure out what else we’re going to do today?” Ryen grunted his agreement and left.

Drekk took the time to straighten the room and calm his libido when his communicator sounded.

He answered the call, keeping his video signal black. “Yeah?”

“Is that any way to answer that expensive-as-shit communicator I bought you last year?”

“I thought you said I had a week,” Drekk said to Rafe, not amused. He wanted nothing to come between him and Ryen— not after the progress we’ve made today, he quickly amended.

Ryen had allowed himself to desire another male, but even better, to act on it. Aside from one instance, he hadn’t lost control of himself since his arrival.

“The mining op actually got pushed back by another week. This is something else that’s just come up. I need you on this right away.”

Glancing at the bedroom and weighing his options, Drekk cursed. As if he had a choice.

“What do you need me to do?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but some Ebrellions are making noise in Shathra.” Rafe lowered his voice. In the background Drekk could hear deep voices arguing. “I’m trying to placate a bunch of ruthless gang leaders pissed off that their women are on the market.” The slave market.

“I thought the Ebrellions were long gone.” Surprised to hear of the ruthless aliens once again in the Vrail System they’d once been banned from, Drekk well understood Rafe’s position. “You said gang leaders? Who are we talking about?”

“Nennit, Dog and Tangle.”

“All three of them in the same room? That can’t be good. Shit. Didn’t Tangle just take a mate?”

“Yeah, and the damned female’s Nebite. You know the Ebrellions aren’t going to give her back without a fight. I might manage to trade a few pleasurers for Nennit’s woman, Dog’s daughters and the others. Hold on.” Rafe yelled at Erin to keep Tangle from killing Dog, then threatened to rip Nennit’s balls off if he touched one hair on Erin’s head.

What a mess. Luckily for Rafe, he had Erin to keep the animals at bay while they worked.

The pleasurer angle made sense. Why fight when you could buy your way out of trouble? Drekk didn’t need to ask if the pleasurers would be willing. Rafe played at being a bad guy. He at times tweaked the rules, but he’d never consent to slavery.

“What do you want me to do?” Drekk asked.

“The Ebrellions have blockers, so I can’t teleport in any of my contacts to make this right. I need you to use your magic and find a way into their warehouse. One of the females retained a comm unit. She’s been feeding us live info.” What Rafe didn’t say out loud; his contacts, the peacemakers, were ass out of this one since they couldn’t teleport into the area. Their presence would only worsen hostilities amongst the gang leaders anyway. Drekk would need to use his abilities to teleport into that warehouse to rescue the girls.

A pregnant pause cautioned Drekk to ask, “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s not a handful of Ebrellions we’re dealing with. It looks like they brought a fucking contingent. Like three or four dozen of their warriors. Peacemakers are streaming through Mardu’s atmosphere as we speak, just what we don’t need. My boys here don’t much like the law interfering in family business,” Rafe said loudly, most likely for the gang leaders’ benefit.

“They’re paying me a pretty bek to make things happen, now.” Drekk thought fast. “How many females total?”

“Eleven. Three women, eight girls.”

“Fuck. Give me five minutes and patch your contact through to me.”

“Her name’s Olla, Tangle’s woman. Oh and Drekk? This is rescue only. You don’t engage, got it?”

Drekk didn’t answer, too busy racing through the house. He donned a protective chest plate, boots and armaments—two Melan pistols, a laser sword and several grak grenades that he fitted to his weapons belt.

The communicator buzzed and he spoke with Olla, one scared, gutsy female. She gave him a detailed description of the threat. She’d come into contact with a dozen Ebrellions planning to ‘void’ into their System. Once they left the System, the women would be lost forever. Unfortunately, Ebrellion transport had advanced way beyond what those in the Vrail System possessed.

“Go easy, Olla. I’ll find you. I’ll be the guy with grey eyes and a scar down his face.”

“Hurry, please,” she said around sobs and disconnected.

“What’s going on?” Ryen stood with his arms crossed over his bare chest. He wore trousers and the fresh scent of soap.

Even with the threat of danger looming, Drekk couldn’t stop himself from taking another whiff. Ryen smelled so damned good. “I have a small job to do.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

“You’re staying here. If I’m not back in a few hours, Rafe will contact you. Cuffs, resistance enforced.” Drekk ignored Ryen’s glare. “You can’t leave the building. Sorry, Ryen, but you’re a liability until you can fully function. I won’t endanger those women for you. I can’t.” Drekk smiled to take the sting out of his words. “While I’m gone, work on pleasuring yourself. We’ll compare notes later tonight.” Stars willing.

He took a deep breath and psychically prepared for a long trip thanks to Olla’s coordinates. Then he let himself go. Landing in the middle of a battleground, Drekk quickly assessed the situation.

Three women and eight worn, weary girls tensed with dread when he neared.

“Is he one of them?” the youngest asked another, most likely her sister due to the resemblance.

“I don’t think so.” Olla’s familiar voice answered. “Drekk?”

“At your service.” He frowned at the squalor of their surroundings. What looked like a large warehouse was covered in filth, river dredge and a plethora of nasty insects. The centre of the area was dimly lit and filled with wooden boxes and metal containers large enough to fit a small house. Still, the condition of the space didn’t sit right.

Not what he’d expect for a slave auction, even from the Ebrellions. No one sane could consider this a fitting station to hold women for sale. “They aren’t planning on selling you?”

“Me and the other women will make ‘willing’ brides,” Olla said with disgust. “The others,” she paused and toned down her voice. She hurried to Drekk and whispered in his ear, “The others are for sacrifice. To their gods for safe passage through the great void.”

“Terrific.” No bartering for any of them. Cheltam couldn’t fix this one. “I’ll be right back.”

Drekk grabbed one of the girls and teleported with her into the location he and Rafe had agreed upon. Erin stood waiting, her war face on. One look at the pitiful young girl with him and her fierce demeanour crumbled.

“Come here, sweet.”

The girl ran to her open arms.

“I have ten more coming. Be ready,” Drekk warned and shot back to the cell in the middle of the warehouse.

He made eight more trips, tiring rapidly. On his ninth trip with just Olla and another woman left, he found the pair cowering behind a few large crates.

“Hurry, Drekk. The others are coming back. I can hear them,” Olla warned.

Drekk heard them too. Swearing, he grabbed the other woman and jumped into the temporal stream.

He stumbled when he returned to the room in Tekar filled with crying females.

“Here.” He handed her to Erin. “That’s ten. Just one more.” He leaned over to catch his breath, tense knowing time was of the essence.

Rafe joined them and locked the door behind him. “The others are upstairs. I left them secured in the parlour.” He blinked in surprise. “Damn, Drekk. You did it already. Wait, I count ten.”

“Gimme a break. I’m travelling several hundred miles here. It’s not as easy as you might think. Olla’s last. I’ll be right back.” He missed what Rafe said in response and appeared just in time to watch a hulking Ebrellion shake Olla like a rag-doll.

“Where are the sacrifices?” one of the two next to him said with a growl.

Though the Ebrellions looked human, rumour had it they shapeshifted. A rumour Drekk had no intention of putting to the test. He didn’t want to know what the hell they could do. Several blasts of his pistol took care of the asshole holding her as well as his friends.

“Come on,” Drekk shouted over the growing din outside the warehouse.

Olla ran to him. She’d nearly reached him before her eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled to the ground.

“Mine,” one of the bastards roared as he exited a hallway Drekk hadn’t noticed in the dark. The Ebrellion aimed an oddly-shaped gun at Drekk.

Drekk dodged the discharge as all hell broke loose. He reached Olla when an explosion took him off his feet. Crashing into a metallic container hard enough to break a few ribs, he slid down in a heap of pain. Spotting Olla, it was all he could do to focus when she blurred.

Several more Ebrellions had joined the one that shot Drekk. Yet shots firing around him showed the Ebrellions weren’t alone. Either the Mardu gangs had found them already or...shit. The men streaming through the new hole in the ceiling didn’t speak Mardu. They sounded Ebrellion. When they began shifting, Drekk saw more than he wanted.

Giant six-legged thrells— wild, vicious canine variants found in the Anate Jungle—now stood in place of the bastards shooting at their own kind. A monstrous brawl erupted around him and Olla. Drekk crawled to her, sucking up the pain. Before he could reach her, claws raked his back, shredding his armour.

More a hindrance than a help, the armour gave him a fit before he twisted loose of it.

Drekk barely managed to get to his sword and lop off a few threll limbs before their hideous shrieks summoned more of the bastards to him.

Damn it to hell. Drekk hurried to heal his wounds as he fought but it was slow going.

Teleporting so often and in such distances had weakened him. He did manage to stop the bleeding on his back, though the wounds remained raw, his ribs still cracked.

An Ebrellion lifted him off his feet and slammed him into another container, undoing the work he’d just done on his back.

Annoyance grew into that familiar fury that scared the shit out of him. Unable to stop himself, Drekk released a large amount of pheromone into the air and relieved the itch in his arms. Several of those nearest him faltered. He made quick work of them with the claws in place of his hands, but not before two more opponents landed a few punches.

Knocked to his knees with an uppercut to the face, Drekk shook his head, dazed out of his rage as his hands returned to normal. Before another of the Ebrellions could attack, one of his own kind pulled him away. A battle cry turned the fighting downright savage as more aliens entered the place until the warehouse was crawling with them. They fought each other and soon what Drekk recognised as Mardu gang members.

Not a war he needed to be in the middle of. On his hands and knees, Drekk crawled to Olla. Not sure if she suffered from any internal injuries, he forced some of his blood into her mouth and made her swallow it.

Fatigued, he fought to hold onto his awareness. Drekk felt the energy of the battle around him. Blinking through the blood dripping down his face, he noted one set of eyes focused on him and knew he needed to leave before he was no longer able.

Everything around him grew hazy. Shit, have to go...now.

Drekk closed his arms around Olla and reached deep within himself. Fuzzy, he pictured the one thing he couldn’t stop thinking about, even this far gone. He’d almost made it into the temporal stream when a hand grabbed his leg.

Ryen cursed again and resumed pacing. That fucking drun. Leaving Ryen here to ‘pleasure himself’ while Drekk battled it out with Stars-knew who. Did Drekk know how damned condescending he’d sounded? A liability, he’d called Ryen.

I know I have control issues, but I can handle myself in a battle. To lock me inside like an animal at the observatory? I am going to seriously kick his ass when he gets back. If he gets back, his conscience added, which pissed him off even more. The thought of not being able to tell Drekk off annoyed him. That the male might be broken and bleeding somewhere while Ryen paced safely in Drekk’s house angered him. Not seeing Drekk alive again, ever, panicked him to no end.

Swearing, Ryen punched a whole in Drekk’s wall. Dammit. He’s going to see that and use it as proof I’m not stable. Ryen relished the confrontation before a disturbance in the air caught his attention.

A bruised woman, bloodied Drekk, and a huge, dark-haired male entered the space.

Drekk and the woman lay unmoving on the ground covered in bloody bruises while the male crouched over them. Ryen immediately went into battle mode.

“Help him,” the male said in a heavily accented voice. His eyes glittered and in the light looked almost reptilian. He vanished before Ryen could attack.

Ryen wasted no time. He scrambled to Drekk and found a pulse, weak but there. The woman seemed unharmed except for a few scratches which even now were healing. Seeing a spot of blood on her lips but nowhere else on her face, he suspected Drekk responsible for healing her.

A communicator buzzed, finally. He’d been searching for a hint of a communicator for hours. Ryen found it and hit ‘receive’.

“Drekk?”a low voice asked.

“Who the fuck is this?”

“Cheltam. Ryen, have you seen—”

“Drekk’s right here. He’s not moving but the woman he brought with him seems to be waking. We need help right away.”

In an instant, Rafe and two others appeared. Rafe rushed to Drekk’s side, and Ryen had to resist the urge to break Rafe’s fingers where he touched Drekk. See, Sir? I’m controlling myself. Wake the hell up so I can show you... Fuck, I just called you ‘Sir’.

“Fellin?” Rafe called. “Bring your kit. Drekk needs help.” The medic attended to Drekk while another medic saw to the female.

“What happened?” Rafe asked in a hard voice.

“He just showed up, right before you called.”

“He’ll live,” Fellin said, relieving everyone of the immediate threat.

Ryen allowed himself to take his eyes from Drekk, satisfied his ‘friend’ would make it.

Conscious of Rafe’s scrutiny, he snapped, “What?”

“Those bands. The thing around your neck. Everything okay?” Rafe asked gruffly. “Erin’s concerned.”

The magnecuffs wouldn’t come off until Drekk commanded them to. But only a thin clasp of metroleum held the collar together, easy enough to undo. Ryen fingered the synthetic band at his throat, unable to remove it in spite of what it meant. Or maybe because of it.

“I’m fine.” Ryen fought a telling flush. “Fine as can be considering this asshole’s out killing himself while I’m stuck here under orders.”

“If Drekk thought you needed to stay—”

“Fuck Drekk. Soon as the idiot wakes up his ass is mine.” Rafe raised a brow and Ryen turned three shades of red. “Fuck you, too. You know what I mean.”

Drekk groaned and Ryen wanted to sag with relief. Instead, he pushed the medic and Rafe out of the way and knelt beside Drekk.

“Ryen?” Drekk rasped.

“You try leaving me here again and I’ll kick your ass all the way to Mornio.” Ryen carefully lifted him in his arms and took him into the bedroom. “Yo, medic, in here,” he yelled. Fellin hurried in. “So what’s the deal?” he asked the medic. “You going to tend to his wounds or not?”

“I, ah,” Fellin stuttered as he stared up at Ryen in awe or fright, Ryen couldn’t tell.

“Well?” he asked in a low voice, impatience gnawing at his temper.

“I’d like to, but he’s doing it all by himself. He must have injected a thraxian supplement before he arrived.”

Thank fate, Drekk’s natural healing abilities continued to work. “Yeah, right. Thraxian supplements.” Ryen cleared his throat, relief making him dizzy. Drekk really would be alright. “I think Cheltam wants a word.”

“Cheltam? I don’t hear...” At Ryen’s glare, Fellin raced from the room.

Drekk coughed. “You going to threaten everyone in my dwelling?”

“Hell, yes.” Ryen sank to the bed next to him. “How bad do you feel?”

“A few busted ribs, a concussion, some lacerations on my arms and chest. Nothing a few night’s rest won’t cure.” Drekk blearily opened his eyes. “Nice collar you got there.” His shit-eating grin should have irritated Ryen, and it normally would have.

Ryen grinned back.

“Maybe next time I’ll bring you with me,” Drekk joked. “You could have kicked some serious Ebrellion ass.”

Ebrellions? Even on Eyra in the labs Ryen had heard about the Ebrellions. Aliens from another star system who could supposedly do all manner of things. Deadly warriors who could shapeshift and communicate telepathically. And teleport, he thought with suspicion, recalling the male who’d appeared with Drekk and the female.

Ryen fumed. No one fucked with what he considered his. As if he’d allow anyone but himself to screw with his...lover.

Drekk closed his eyes with a goofy grin on his face. “Just gonna sleep this off,” he slurred. “Tell Cheltam—” He didn’t make it past the name.

Ryen didn’t look up when Rafe entered minutes later.

“The others took Olla back to her family. She woke enough to tell me what she remembers of the situation. Apparently, Drekk put down a shit load of Ebrellions. Olla was in and out of consciousness in that warehouse, but she thought the damned things shifted into thrells.”

Rafe handed him a communicator and nodded at Drekk. “I don’t trust the sorry bastard to tell me if he’s hurt. You call me if Drekk doesn’t heal properly, if anything at all looks off.” Rafe walked to the door and paused. “You know, he was pretty out of it. He brought the rest of the females to my place. Yet he brought this last one back home, to you.” Rafe gave him a look he couldn’t decipher and left.

Ryen settled in for the night next to Drekk. He lay on his side, his head propped on one hand as he studied the confusing male next to him. ‘Back home, to you’ played like a broken audio clip in his head.