Bonded by Jaymi Hanako

arouse. “Something wrong?”
    “No.” This was their last night together. He’d already told her so, and he meant to stick to the plan. “Go to sleep…”

Chapter Eight
    The big man swaggered through the crowd with the kind of confidence only a man his size could justify. A slight smirk played on his lips, and the gleam in his dark eyes made it clear he was looking for trouble. A very specific sort of trouble. The kind every man looked for during the festival.
    Several women eyed him with obvious interest. He wasn’t at all handsome by any stretch of the imagination, but his size sparked a certain kind of feminine curiosity, and they soon flocked about him, flitting about like tiny birds around a massive oak tree. The same curiosity had occurred to her a few times, though the role she’d been playing had rendered it impossible for her to discover if all of him was large.
    Ethlinda stepped back into the shadows. Though confident in her disguise, she wasn’t ready for him to see her.
    His presence confirmed she was in the right place. Wherever Dev Geithin loitered, Jaren Caradoc would not be far behind. How convenient for her.
    She waved her hand, dispersing magic. Changed her disguise a little here and a little there. Enhanced parts of her body in a way she was certain her former husband would find irresistible.
    Once, her only motivation to bind Jaren to her had been money. Pure and simple. Now it didn’t matter if she could touch his finances.
    She wanted revenge.
    No man had ever left her before. She always left—or rather, helped them on their way when she tired of them. Ensuring she would get what she needed as reward for her efforts in enduring the tediousness of marriage, time after time.
    She didn’t like being left behind. It made her feel weak.
    Another target added motivation, though of a different kind.
    Ethlinda wanted her former slave to see how easily she could have Jaren back in her bed. Such an innocent girl would be heartbroken to lose her first lover.
    Nothing would stop her. Nothing.
    She followed the first mate through the crowd. Though he flirted and teased with the women surrounding him, he did not appear to favor any one in particular. In the festival, the dances would decide the final pairings. The women used the music to seduce their choice, left to have sex with them, then returned to entice another. Repeating the process for as long as their energy and their interest held out.
    Dev joined a group of off-world men, but there was still no sign of Jaren or the former slave. A sliver of doubt crept into Ethlinda’s head. She never imagined the little girl could bind the space captain to her exclusively, when so many other women were readily available. Perhaps the slave was still a novelty for him. She certainly had nothing else in her favor.
    It appeared the plan would need a small amendment.
    Ethlinda continued watching. Thinking.
    She briefly considered taking the first mate instead. She was sure she could have him if she wanted, and he could get her on the ship.
    But no.
    That would not work.
    Jaren was rather odd about those things. She might be able to get him to overlook another, but there was no way she would get back in his bed if she fucked his friend.
    Too bad.
    It would have been interesting to learn that man’s true size.
    Two of his companions showed promise. Both treated the first mate with a certain degree of respect, suggesting they were likely crew members on the Marama . They were much younger than Dev, young enough for this trip to be their first working space voyage.
    Youth would make them ignorant. Reckless. Lusty. Ruled by their cocks rather than their heads. They gorged themselves on the traditional punch, seemingly unaware of what the mixture would do to them. If they continued to imbibe at that pace, they would find their cocks would not soften again for many days.
    Close to the bonfires, the deep drums began to sound.
    As one, the women moved toward the flames,