Claimed by the Conqueror Read online

  Still, the guy knew exactly what I was doing. He palmed his cock in his giant hand so briefly it could have been an accident, but it wasn’t. When our eyes met, I flicked my tongue over my lips, and he smirked, flashing me a really quick wink. Oh, yeah. He knew how this game worked, too. Judging by how quick he’d reacted to me, it seemed like he’d be pretty easy to convince to give me whatever I wanted, which was beginning to make me question my assumption about his relationship to Roe. I hadn’t even deployed my full charm offensive yet and he’d almost had his dick in his hand right there.

  Dad was still talking to the TerraLink Reps, and I tuned back into their conversation. He launched into his well-rehearsed introduction to our farm. He used it on everyone—TerraLink reps, alien visitors, new employees—and I withheld a yawn, returning to studying the male alien rather than listening to most of it. He looked as bored as I felt.

  “So…uh…roots. We grow roots, here,” Dad said. “Which you know. Of course you know. You can see that. Even if you didn’t know I mean. Which you do know,” he added quickly.

  “Dad.” I rested my hand on his arm. “Do you think, if Qui and Roe are here for a tour of Earth’s resources, that statistics may be more helpful? Acreage, output, things like that?”

  Dad looked at me and hesitated. “Of course. Statistics. Absolutely.” Then he paused again, lost for words, so I opened my mouth to take over. One of the TerraLink reps stepped in, cutting me off.

  “Not necessary at all. We haven’t been able to update their language, Euquari, into the database yet, so they currently can’t understand the information you’re giving them.”

  I sighed. The reps always did this. Left out a piece of information they should have led with.

  “We’re going to use the interspace language for now,” she finished.

  I smiled. Over to me, for the most part, then. Dad only spoke bits and pieces of the new language that had been botched together to allow a multitude of species to communicate.

  “Emma.” Dad looked at me. “Will you tell them they’re our honored quests and we appreciate this opportunity to give them a personal tour of our farm? Tell them we are so pleased to share with them a meal that will showcase the foods we grow here.”

  I nodded, and swiftly translated what he’s just said. Noticing the switch, both of the aliens now met my gaze. The female’s held more boredom, while Qui’s attention seemed to focus. Then Dad surprised me by trying out his basic interspace language skills, although he directed his question to the TerraLink reps rather than following my lead and speaking directly to the male. “What trade are they here for?” His words were halting but understandable. Maybe he’d make it through dinner after all.

  The rep nodded. “Qui and Roe are simply here for food and minerals, not women.”

  Qui stepped forward and his eyes focused on mine, intensifying. “No. That might change.” He tilted his gaze, assessing me. A strange surge of pride ran through me that I was apparently desirable enough to make this alien potentially change his plans.

  A grin captured my lips. Those were the only words he’d spoken, but they were all I needed to hear.

  2

  Qui

  The male human smiled, but he looked a little uneasy as he wiped away more of the water that kept leaking from his skin. That was quite disgusting. I hadn’t done any research on Earth dwellers, but Roe had. Perhaps she’d know why this specimen kept dripping. I’d ask her later if I remembered. I didn’t actually care, though, and it had nothing to do with our mission.

  The female human—what had he called her? Em-something? She gave me a smile that was anything but uneasy. It was the kind of smile that said she had something to offer, that she’d like us to get to know each other on an infinitely more personal level. Eyeing up her inviting curves, I wasn’t exactly opposed to that. Besides, a little additional research wouldn’t slow me down.

  “Emma, check on production levels while we’re in here.” The male waved her toward a group of humans.

  She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad.”

  Okay. Emma and Dad. I could remember that. So, from first impressions, humans were…interesting. The males seemed weak, and the females were…enticing. Earth wasn’t at all what I expected. I shielded my eyes as I looked out over the landscape. When the representatives from the TerraLink Program had flown us over the planet, it had been a mess of rocky cliffs and dead, dry ground. There were habitations here and there, but unless the majority of humans lived underground, the planet seemed barely populated.

  I thought of my mental checklist. I could work with barely populated—hell, I could work with populated to the max—but the state of this decaying planet would ease Roe’s conscience a little, possibly. When we were flying over, looking at all the gouges in the shape, I realized that it was almost a miracle the planet was still rotating.

  “Why isn’t the planet spherical? A lot of it seems to be missing.” It was maybe the one thing that interested me most. I wanted to check that the composition was normal before we stayed any longer, no matter what I’d just promised to call food and put in my mouth.

  The male and female looked at me in confusion, but that made sense considering their lives were really no bigger than this small patch of the planet. One of the TerraLink reps quickened their stride to walk beside me.

  “The missing chunks of the planet you think you can see are a result of vast swathes of water being lost to the heat of the sun. The surface area of Earth used to be seventy-one percent water, most of it contained in huge oceans.” The rep pressed a band that wrapped around her wrist and an image shimmered up from it as she held her arm out. “This is what the planet used to look like.” I spared a glance at the blue and green holographic ball as she manipulated it with her fingers.

  “TerraLink controls all of the water now,” she said, pride gleaming from her eyes. “We’ve sealed it under a dome and have systems in place to deal with evaporation, condensation, and even rationing for acceptable people outside the dome. The water travels to places much like this farm here, which has been built where water would have once covered the land because we’ve determined that to be the most fertile ground for our purposes.”

  Her voice droned on, but I stopped listening as my mind skipped ahead. We’d veered into the territory of statistics that I had no interest in. I didn’t care what the planet used to look like, I cared about what it could offer me now.

  “TerraLink has put a lot of programs and policies in place since we have taken charge of the organization of Earth. As you can see, much of the planet is completely lost, but we base our businesses around The Glass City, and we have been very successful at supplying the wider galaxy with humans for their business—or pleasure—needs.”

  I glanced at her, trying to conceal my disinterest. Everything she said was delivered in the same tone. Earth really was just a supply and demand venture for them. I almost pitied the puny humans who lived here, clinging to their simple little lives. As if their existence mattered.

  All I could see in my peripheral vision as we walked was the human, Emma, making her way closer to me. She did it in small steps, stopping now and then like she was actually interested in something someone else was saying, or like she was seeing her surroundings with fresh eyes, but she couldn’t fool me. I could almost see her plotted course—straight to my side—and my cock responded at the thought. The human desired me, that much was obvious. My body warmed with unexpected pleasure, but I ripped my focus back to the TerraLink rep at my side.

  “And how is this planet classified?” I knew this of course, but I wanted her to confirm it for me.

  “It’s a rocky planet.” She summoned another image on her wrist band, this one a cross section, and she held it out in front of me so I could see. “It has an inner core of solid metal, mainly iron, and an outer core of molten metal, also mainly iron.”

  Emma looked over the display, her tits bouncing and rubbing against my arm, as she had apparently completed her missio
n and was now right next to me. She was deliberately pressing against me, though trying to make it seem casual, and my cock stirred. Her boldness was refreshing,

  “What are the two of you looking at?” she asked.

  “The composition of the Earth.” The TerraLink rep looked and sounded bored, but in all of our interactions so far, that was exactly how they sounded all the time. I was the only one truly bored here. Except maybe Roe. I glanced over to her. She seemed to be feigning her interest better than I, and I fought the urge to shoot her a knowing smile.

  When we’d started exploring this area of space, we hadn’t expected to encounter a planet like Earth. A plant taken over by an all-powerful governing group who used another species to function as a seemingly benign—or even helpful—organization. Distaste for their tactics tasted bitter in my throat. At least when I conquered a place, I never pretended to be anything other than what I was.

  “How very interesting.” But Emma’s tone said it was far from interesting, and I tightened my lips over a grin, unwilling to show my amusement.

  “Oh, but it is interesting.” My voice came out almost as a growl. She shrugged like my attitude didn’t bother her at all.

  “Maybe you’ll also find our greenhouses interesting.” She threw a door open, and hot wet heat greeted us. I instinctively rolled my shoulders back, almost reveling in it. The feeling here was like dawn and dusk on my planet. They were the only times when the atmosphere was bearable as the oppressive heat of the day met the freezing conditions of the night. Every rotation of the sun and moon was a battle for survival, and only the strongest made it through. Which is what made my people so resilient, so superior to other species.

  “You were in here this morning weren’t you, Emma?” The dripping male wiped his face with greater frequency.

  “Yes, Dad. We were meeting the daily quota and preparing the big harvest.” She nodded, and I looked around the big space. Other humans milled around, tending to plants and taking samples from leaves and soil.

  “This is the only way we can grow these plants,” Dad said, indicating the great panes of glass surrounding us. The glass reminded me of Euquaniar, too. Glass formed huge chunks of our landscape, with the rocks forming naturally as heat acted on our sandy deserts and the freezing night temperatures cooled everything very quickly. Some of my most notable scars had formed as I clambered around on those surfaces. Not all of my wounds were a result of battle, but it didn’t hurt to let people think they were.

  I walked over to the windows and tapped on the glass. These were very thin panes compared to the boulders at home, reminding me of the fragility of this entire planet.

  “You like our glass?” The annoying male hovered at my shoulder. “It’s the only way we can grow anything at all here because it filters the sun, making it less intense. These greenhouses stabilize the temperature so the plants don’t become overheated.” He stopped and sniffed a great lungful of air. “Our other secret ingredient is the manure we add to the lakebed soil.”

  I automatically drew in a deep breath, then held it as I fought the urge to cough and splutter.

  “Manure is shit,” Roe helpfully informed me in our home language, and I nodded as I rolled my eyes. Yes it was, and now I could practically taste it. I almost longed for the sulfurous smell of home and the thick smoke that swirled across the lower realms during the day.

  Either way, I wasn’t interested in this human’s crop production. I wasn’t interested in the properties of his glass or the properties of his shit. I glanced back to the only thing in this ridiculous glass building I was interested in: Emma. She was at the back of the group, and every time I glanced over my shoulder, she was retying her shirt to reveal her waistline and offer her tits out the top. She was currently bending down to reach something from the floor, her movements long and slow and enticing.

  “Our crops are harvested to fulfil a weekly quota in some areas, and we’re due a more general large-scale harvest very soon.” The male named Dad continued to talk, but I didn’t even bother to nod in agreement. I didn’t care if he thought I was listening or not. So far, I’d deemed these humans as weak and I no longer cared about offending them.

  My gaze wandered back to Emma as she bent toward a human male examining leaves. What strange lives this species led, but what an offer the male appeared to be receiving. He stood and nodded at whatever Emma had said, but she laughed and pushed him away.

  My cock ached with the challenge of it. She wouldn’t push me away. I felt sure of that much. More intriguingly, what would she offer? I’d seen many, many alien races, but none quite like these humans. None so tiny and frail, yet apparently so intelligent. They were like infants—tremendous mental capacity housed in bodies that couldn’t support their survival. I could rule over all of them easily. I glanced at Emma. Ruling sounded good, and I had an idea of who I’d like to please their new ruler first.

  Roe took hold of my elbow, but I shook her off. I wouldn’t be dragged around by my sister on a foreign planet. Not in front of these frail beings. “Come here,” she hissed.

  I glanced at Emma and then at Dad, talking to the TerraLink reps, chatting it up about his shit farm, before walking casually beside Roe. I trusted her advice, and she was here by my side for a reason. I owed it to her to listen when she wanted to speak.

  “You need to knock it off.” Her face was stern. She was likely annoyed with me for my obvious disinterest in this entire process, but she should have been accustomed to it. I held up my hands. I didn’t need her telling me what to do, and I wasn’t going to listen if she wanted me to behave. She was my sister and my second in command, but I was still her captain and leader.

  I turned to join Emma, not bothering to respond to Roe. With everyone else busy, why not see what fun I could have with the clearly interested female?

  “No.” Roe grabbed me again. “If you carry on like this, you’re going to give them the wrong idea about what you want—what we want.”

  “What do you think so far?” I asked quietly, turning back to her.

  She shrugged. “There’s not much here.”

  “Not much here? It’s a dump. There’s nothing worth taking, nothing to conquer, nothing to pillage.” My words were matter of fact. Like most of my statements were.

  Roe raised an eyebrow and laughed. “I could have sworn you had your eyes on a walking, talking something earlier.”

  “I meant resources.” I barely moved my lips as I spoke, not wanting to alert anyone to our conversation, even if my language was still foreign to them. “Look around. There’s nothing on this piece of shit planet.

  “You mean you don’t want a lifetime’s supply of root vegetables?”

  I laughed, the sound dark. “Whose lifetime? Theirs, maybe.” I jerked my head back toward the farm. “Certainly not mine. They’re even rationing their water.”

  Roe nodded. “Yes. They’re a pretty desperate people. Are you thinking the planet actually isn’t worth conquering after all?” For the first time since we’d taken on the welfare of our planet, she seemed hesitant about a conquering mission. It was like she hoped I’d just say there was nothing here and we could fly away, and leave an untouched planet in our jetstream.

  But that wasn’t the way I rolled. I came, I took, I provided for my people. We were a superior race for a reason.

  “On the face of it, it’s not worth another thought.” I nodded and looked around; my gaze drawn to a ridiculous beam of light shining upward from a great glass dome across the desert. The TerraLink Rep had called it The Glass City. I rolled my eyes as I gazed at it, amused at the idea of an entire city being made of glass. These people didn’t know what a true city could look like, grand and tall, stretching across entire land masses.

  That beam was a false signal to all in space that life existed here, when it was actually no life worth living at all. It even glowed gold, the color of riches for so many. It lied. The TerraLink Program was welcome to what little trade they could scrape together
from these people.

  “Okay.” Roe nodded and spoke in a normal, conversational tone. “Then we just need the ship to take a few samples of the core and get the fuck off this festering rock.”

  The male TerraLink rep glanced in our direction, and I glanced at the floor, feigning interest in nothing at all. “Keep your voice down, Roe.” I cast a quick glare at her and said each word slowly so she’d understand I was serious. “And don’t tell me to knock it off. You knock it off, talking so loudly in front of them.” I jerked my head toward the reps.

  She scoffed. “What? You heard them say they don’t know our language.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I heard them say our language isn’t in their system yet. We have no idea how long that takes and how long we’ll be able to keep our business private. We need to be careful.”

  She watched me for a moment, her lips tightening into a straight line, before she relented with a nod. We wandered back to the TerraLink reps, Roe jabbering on about the green leaves of the vegetable plants in the universal language.

  “Do you like what you see?” Dad’s eyes gleamed as he gestured around at his crops.

  My gaze landed on Emma’s pushed up tits again as she folded her arms underneath them. “Oh, I like what I see very much.” Perhaps I could even take her with us as a little souvenir of this trip. Roe nudged me and I returned my gaze to Emma’s father. His eyes were wide as he watched me.

  “Thank you,” he murmured in his clumsy way in the universal language. I nodded.

  “Please.” He spread his arms and hesitated like he was searching for the words. “Look around in here a little longer before dinner.” He looked at the reps and said something about Emma in his own language.