Brenda sighed in exasperation. She had not heard that Familiars were deliberately obtuse. "I mean that before we leave this place, I want you to .....TAKE me. Have sex with me." She stared down at the floor in embarrassment. Familiars were reputed to have enormous sexual appetites, and Corinthon had spoken about him following his own natural urges when they would meet. Was she so repulsive that the most sexual being in the galaxy would find it distasteful to make love to her?

Jax still sat in amazement on the cold stone floor of the cell. She *had* meant what he thought when she first said it. But why would she want this of him? Was it just curiosity about the reputation of Familiars? No matter the reason, her request fit in nicely with his plan. But niggling doubts plagued him, and he had to know her reasons.

"Why do you ask this of me? I refuse to consider the proposition until I know more details." His voice was firm, but not cold. It somehow enticed her to tell him the story, gently seducing rather than demanding it.

"Do you know of the .....creature....who captured you?" Jax shook his head. "His name is Corinthon. His brother was Morenon, and he ruled this planet for many years until his death several weeks ago. My mother was Morenon’s consort."

"But you are not his daughter?"

"No. My mother brought me here when she became consort. I was a small child at the time. My mother was a Torengi, as am I. Being on this planet, and particularly around Corinthon, tortured me beyond words." She breathed deeply. "Against my wishes, Morenon adopted me as his own and made me heir to the throne." Jax felt her steely gaze. "A throne that Corinthon covets more than life itself."

"So, you stand as a barrier to his goal, and Corinthon would kill you -- and that is why you wish to escape?"

"Among others. Corinthon will not simply kill me, because that might incur the wrath of the Charportans." She cleared her throat. "Besides that, he *wants* me. I do not want him. Ever. I have told Corinthon of my feelings many times, and he had concocted a plan that will bring him both the power of ruling Charporta and my presence as consort."

"And my capture was part of his plan?"

Brenda was beginning to feel uncomfortable discussing her maidenhood with this very sensual man. "Charportan law states that in order to assume the throne, either I must have already taken a consort or that I remain….." Brenda hesitated to confide her virginal state to this virtual stranger. Most women, she heard, enjoyed the sexual union and sought out mates. But she had never felt any of the longing she heard other women express. No man had ever stirred her enough to make her long for him to take her. She saw Jax’s confusion, but she hoped he would not push her for further clarification. "To make a long story short," she sighed, "Corinthon had intended to take advantage of your .....urges.....by bringing me here to you and having you make me ineligible for rule."

Jax still found her reasoning flawed. "So, why do you still ask me to .....take you? Why not just trade my freedom for yours?"

"I told you I had a plan," Brenda continued slowly. "If you take me with you when you escape from here, Corinthon will have neither thing he desires." Jax shook his head in continued confusion, and Brenda crouched down to meet his gaze. "If we make an agreement to help each other until we leave Charporta, the people will know of my disappearance but not of our mating. They will try to find me, and according to Charportan law, there will be a one-year moratorium before a new ruler is named. Perhaps, once we arrive at another planet and go our own ways, I will find a warrior who is brave enough to help me expose Corinthon for the evil man that he is. In the meantime, it will be my pleasure to inform Corinthon that you have already made love to me. He will know that you have taken both of the things that he wanted -- the power, and......me."

Jax rose an eyebrow in understanding, but her reasoning troubled him. To a Familiar, the sexual union was a beautiful thing -- the end result of extensive foreplay. It was not a tool to use as a bargaining chip, or as a way to achieve another goal. Sexual union *was* the goal.

He sighed. "And that is your entire plan?"

Brenda nodded. "Yes. So, do you agree?"

Jax breathed deeply, looked at his wrists encased in manacles, rattled his chains, and then looked back at her. "No."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NO!?" Brenda almost screamed, remembering at the last moment to keep her voice low. "You are a fool! Corinthon means to kill you tomorrow morning if he carries out his perverted plan!"

Jax shrugged. "Possibly." He smiled at Brenda, and it infuriated her. "Either way, I shall die happily after having the pleasure of taking you." He leaned forward, causing her to shrink back from him. "Even hidden as you are beneath that cloak, your voice enchants me and promises many delights to be discovered." As Brenda began to weave slightly from the hypnotic effect of his voice, she remembered her anger and stomped her foot, glaring at him.

"I do not need your cooperation, you know. You are powerless, chained to the wall as you are." She decided to bluff. "I could still take what I need from you and find someone else to aid me in my escape." She walked toward him with false bravado, praying that he would not recognize it as such. She swayed her hips as she had seen women do when trying to entice a man. But her scheme was quickly foiled.

Jax’s gaze shot at her with such intensity that it almost brought her to her knees. "Really? This intrigues me." His eyes crinkled in amusement as he immediately saw through her ploy. "Do tell me more about how you intend to take advantage of my….helpless…..state." Jax’s eyes were locked with hers as he crouched on the balls of his feet, but then when he attempted to rise to a standing position, he began to waver and his eyes closed.

Brenda gasped when she saw him appear to lose consciousness and she almost rushed to put her arms around him. But then just when she was about to touch him, Jax opened his eyes again and slid slowly down the wall to a sitting position again. Brenda crouched in front of him. "Are you ill?"

Jax shook his head and lay it back against the wall to rest. "No. Just some residual effects of the drug Corinthon used on me when I was captured."

"He drugged you?" Jax noted the genuine concern he heard in her voice. He looked at Brenda and the warmth in his eyes made her uncomfortable for some reason. She reminded herself to remain practical. "How does the drug affect you?"

"It dulls all of the Familiar senses." Jax could sense Brenda’s ignorance of what he meant. "Imagine if someone gave you a drug that rendered all five of your senses completely useless."

"That would be horrible. I think I should go mad," Brenda said quietly.

"Well, Familiars have many more senses than that." Jax sighed and shook his head to clear it. "This must be some new drug, because even a seasoned warrior like myself has never been prepared to cope with this kind of weapon."

Brenda cleared her throat delicately. "Does it affect…..anything else?" Jax frowned, but then when she gestured gently towards his lap, he chuckled.

"NOTHING affects that," Jax said confidently, smiling at her innocence.

Brenda rose to a standing position. "Well, if you are absolutely sure that you won’t accept my bargain…."

"I’m certain."

She began to walk towards the door of the cell, pausing once to look back over her shoulder at him. "You really are making a mistake….." Jax was motionless, just watching her go. She was about to stomp her foot at his arrogance when she heard it.

{Wait. Don’t go.}

She stood frozen at the doorway of the cell. It was as though he had said the words aloud in her brain. She turned back to him, and Jax wore a sly smile. She had not been aware that Familiars had telepathic powers. "I changed my mind. I will agree to your terms."

Jax sensed her relief. For some reason, it galled him to think of her going to one of the guards and asking him to mate with her. Even without seeing her face, Jax was beginning to get the feeling that he was destined to be the one to "take" this petulant angel.

"Good." She was walking back over to the wall of the cell where he was chained. "Now, I think there’s enough play in the chains that you should be able to accomplish the deed where you are….."

"WHAT? Certainly you are jesting!!" Jax was incredulous. His mind began to reel with the realization of how truly innocent she was. "Besides," he said, trying not to make her naivete obvious, "if we did, then you would have what you came here for, and I would still be a prisoner. You might change your mind and find a guard who would be willing to aid you in your escape." He shook his head. "No. It is definitely not just."

The foot-stomping started again. "I give you my word!" Brenda was beginning to doubt what had seemed to be a brilliant plan only an hour before.

Jax rose one eyebrow and a half-smile graced his handsome face. "Your word?" He folded his arms across his chest, feigning deep thought. "Let’s see – the only Charportans I have met thus far have nearly killed me in order to effect my capture, continued to drug me senseless, and chained me to a wall." His cynicism was hard to dispute. "You’ll excuse me if my trust in the word of a Charportan is minimal at best."

"Oh, the word of a Charportan is worth nothing, but the word of a Familiar is like a blood oath?"

Jax tipped his head to the side. "You have said it yourself. I did not realize how truly perceptive you were."

Brenda put her hands on her hips, which were still swathed by the cloak. "Well, I suppose that I could always call out to the guards if you did not follow through on your promise." She looked around quickly. "And since time is fleeting …." She glanced towards him, and although he could not see her eyes, her gaze touched him. "Obviously mutual trust will be needed if we ever hope to make our escape from this planet together."

Jax watched her movements carefully. She withdrew a large iron key ring from the folds of her cloak and came close to the wall where he was chained. As she drew close enough for him to truly sense, he could smell the trace of the most delicate of the tatslet flowers that grew on the high plains. He realized more than ever before her petite stature in comparison to his. Jax slowly rose to his haunches again, not wishing to frighten her away before she had set him free from his manacles.

Brenda, for her part, also was beginning to drown in the sensory images of being that close to the Familiar. His mere physical presence almost overcame her before she even grew close enough to touch him. She found the key to the manacles and as she drew close to placing it in the lock, her hand began to tremble.

{Go ahead. You can trust me.}

Jax saw her head, cloaked by the voluminous hood, turn towards him ever so slightly, and then back to her task at hand. She placed the key in the lock on the manacle and then, taking a deep breath, turned it, unfastening the manacle. It fell against the wall of the cell with a clank.

She never even got a chance to breathe before she heard the second clank. The next thing she realized was that the keys were gone from her hands and the Familiar stood before her, towering over her, completely free from his imprisonment. "How?….when?….." She began to stammer as she debated the wisdom of her plan once more. "You must remember …. You gave me your word!"

The corner of Jax’s mouth lifted in wry amusement as Brenda began to back up against the wall herself. "My word? Ah, yes. My word." His eyes began to sparkle and he drew nearer to Brenda, inhaling the sweet scent of her. A low laugh began to work its way up from deep in his chest. "Surely you are not becoming timid NOW, are you, my angel?"

"Me? No," she said in a whisper, again conscious of just how large a man he was. She glanced down again at his lower body and tried to remember the prayers to be said just prior to one’s death.

"Never let it be said that a Familiar did not stand by his word," Jax muttered. "But first I would see to what kind of creature I have sold my soul." Brenda was standing now with her back to the cell wall and Jax was close enough to reach up with his first fingers and push back the hood of her cloak. His fingers trailed softly along her hair as the offensive shield fell onto her shoulders.

Jax had to catch his breath. Her dark, lustrous hair felt like the softest barjeeli cloth against his fingers. He toyed with a few of the errant strands and then his gaze was drawn to her face. Her perfect face. Soft eyes, like those of a fawn at morning. Lush lips, far more sensuous than any he ever remembered seeing on Meer’an. If the rest of her was this exquisite, Jax found much to look forward to in their journey from Charporta to ……anywhere.

"Is something wrong?" Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.

Jax stroked the sides of his fingers against her hair again. "No….nothing is wrong, angel."

Brenda heaved a loud sigh. "Good, then let us get started ……" As Jax trailed his fingers over her cloaked shoulders, she immediately felt his body tense and his touch froze where it stopped. "Now what is wrong?" she asked fearfully.

Jax’s senses were recovering rapidly from the effects of the drugs Corinthon had been feeding him. As he brushed his knuckles across her small frame, the realization hit him like a rushing wild beast. He unfastened the small frog of her cloak, barely parting the opening with his fingers. As he saw her heaving breasts, he closed his eyes and turned from her, muttering words that Brenda guessed must have been profanities in the Familiar tongue.

She lowered her head in shame. "I am sorry if you find me….less than appealing, Familiar. I only need your services but this once……"

Jax turned back to her with a gasp. She thought he found her displeasing! He shook his head at the irony of it. He wanted her more than he wanted freedom at this point, and yet she was probably more ill-prepared for his advances than most creatures in the galaxy. As he approached her again with a smile, he rubbed the back of his fingers gently against her cheek, causing her to shrink from him. "Angel, it is not that I find you lacking in any way." His eyes raked her frame. "You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, in any realm of this galaxy."

"Then, what is it?" Her eyes brimmed with confusion.

He moved even closer to her, so that his fingers pushed her cloak off her shoulders and it dropped to the cell floor with a whooshing sound. He traced the gently rounded neckline of her gown with one finger before he tipped her chin up with the same finger to look into his eyes. "You are a maiden." She tried to look away, but he held her gaze captive with his eyes and her face captive with his finger. "You have never been touched by a man, have you?"

"No." Brenda was barely able to form the word and a flush rose to her cheeks. "Why is that a problem?"

Jax shook his head as his finger continued to trail back and forth across her collarbone. "You have heard of the reputation of Familiar males?" Brenda nodded quickly. "That before we ….. take…. a female, we believe in prolonged foreplay?" Again, a quick nod. "THOROUGH foreplay?"

Jax’s finger strayed beneath the neckline of her sheer pink gown. "And you must also know that the first time is usually less than pleasurable for a female, no matter how much…..preparation…..comes before."

Brenda finally broke the spell he was weaving with his words and voice. "But you see, there is no problem for us! I do not expect or want pleasure, Familiar."

Jax’s brows knit together in confusion. "No pleasure? But don’t you realize that if you just allowed me to …encourage…. you a little….."

"No. I just want you to do it. That was our agreement. I am not interested in pleasure." Her eyes flashed. "You did say that a Familiar never breaks his word." She was becoming agitated now, and Jax fully expected the foot stomping to start again. Although her tenacity and coloring reminded him of a fierce tigress, her visage was truly that of an angel. This would indeed be an interesting journey.

"Very well then," he answered curtly. Brenda looked at him in confusion. "Back up against the wall, and take off your gown."

Brenda slowly moved the few steps backward so that the cool stone wall was at her back. As she put one hand to the strap of her gown, Jax’s hand stopped hers there. "One last time, angel, I will ask you to reconsider. We could wait until we escape the fortress and then we would have more time for…." Brenda shook her head vehemently and pushed his hand away, releasing her full breasts from the gown at the same time.

When she heard the sharp intake of breath, Brenda looked up just as her gown hit the floor. Jax’s eyes caught hers and held them captive, and she was amazed as she saw tiny violet sparkles of light begin to dance in his irises. She was beginning to remember tales from her girlhood – about how some Familiars were almost uncontrollable in their sexual rituals.

Jax began to murmur some words in the Familiar tongue that were completely strange to Brenda, but they still caught her in their hypnotic spell. As she continued to gaze into his indigo/azure/aquamarine/slate eyes that were exploding with color as she watched, she finally recognized some of his words to her. "Place your arms around my neck," he ordered softly, bending at the knees so that his face was brought level with hers.

Brenda slowly did as he asked, and as she did she noticed a scented haze begin to envelop them. Why had she not remembered all of these stories before she made this plan? Now she recalled it -- the Familiar’s sexual scent. It was said that once a Familiar began to entangle a woman with his sexual scent, he could make her want him badly enough to surrender her most intimate desires to him helplessly. She would literally become slave to anything he wanted. The scented aura that a Familiar wove around a woman was irresistible.

As Brenda tried to keep her mind clear, it fogged over with the tangy fragrance of zilliang spice and the warm, explosive feel of the air in the deserts of Frentoy, combined with the musty smell that occurred just after the rain in the highlands. She moaned softly, turning her face away from Jax’s. How could she have been so stupid as to make this pact? Would the Familiar’s scent haunt her dreams? Would she ever be able to forget it -- or him?

Jax did not allow her to continue her reverie as he took one knuckle and turned her face to him. "Look into my eyes, angel," he said in a ragged voice. She felt his arms wrap around her, drawing her lower body against his. When she felt the evidence of his arousal, she surely regretted her plan.

"Familiar, perhaps I was foolish to...." Jax cut off any further discussion when his lips descended upon hers. They toyed with her softness, and his tongue teased at the perfect bow of her upper lip before he nearly smothered her in a sizzling kiss. Brenda felt him enclosing her body in his arms, and she feared that he would crush the breath from her body. When she began to gasp for air and inadvertently breathed into his mouth, he pulled her even closer.

Jax was trying his best to control his overpowering urge to lower her to the floor and drive her mad with wanting him. When he felt her open her mouth to his questing tongue, he knew she was as close to being ready as this quick taking would allow. But her responsiveness tortured him, and so Jax decided to add one last stroke to this seduction that was far too brief for his Familiar sensibilities.

As she began to tighten her hold around his neck, he purrrrred softly into her mouth.

Brenda felt as though her whole body had touched by fire when the erotic sound reverberated down to her toes. Jax felt a tremor go through her body and when he broke the kiss, he looked into her glazed eyes. "Let me stop now, angel," he said hoarsely. "Let us seal the pact away from this place...when you are more fully aroused...." She was barely capable of conscious thought, but Brenda shook her head no vehemently. Jax inwardly cursed but admired her single-mindedness. "Then wrap your legs around my waist, my tigress."

Brenda barely heard his words through the passion-induced fog, but she did as he asked. He released his hold on her body and braced his hands against the wall on either side of her. Just as Brenda began to wonder what would happen next, it did. Jax moved his hips against Brenda to fulfill his part of the bargain, swallowing her scream of pain with his lips.

She thought she would certainly be ripped asunder when she felt him filling her. Her legs squeezed his torso tightly and she felt him absorb some of the pain that she knew was necessary to accomplish her initiation into womanhood. But then, to her amazement, he seemed to become one with her in rapid breathing. As her chest rose and fell, so did his. When his breathing began to calm to a slower rate, she found hers slowing to match it. Still joined, it was as though he was leading her down some path, and she found herself anxious to see where it might eventually take them.

Jax could feel her body begin to relax against his and for that he was grateful. The grip she had around his neck lessened, and he almost began to smile in satisfaction, but then he felt her hand move toward the hair at the nape of his neck. His eyes widened immediately.

Familiars found the stroking of their hair wildly stimulating, and he feared that should she begin to touch his blonde locks, he would lose what little semblance of control over his Familiar instincts he still had.

Although he had sent her the telepathic message and he saw the curiosity in her eyes that confirmed she had received it, she still continued to move her fingers towards the nape of his neck. In order to stop her from some action they would both regret, Jax moved one hand from the wall to trail the backs of his fingers up the side of her body, brushing the outside swell of her breast. Brenda’s hand stopped as the sensation caused new feelings in her innocent body.

How was this possible? How could the Familiar touching her there radiate feeling all the way down to the place where they were joined? Just as Brenda began to hope that he would continue the touching and they would further explore this mystery together, Jax totally astonished her by moving both hands to her armpits and lifting her, breaking their joining. He set her gently down on her feet against the stone wall of the cell. She looked into his eyes, which were still slightly dilated with his excitement but no longer lit with fireworks. "I don’t understand! Why did you…..I mean, you didn’t……"

He traced her lower lip with his finger. "No, my angel, I didn’t."

"But why?"

Jax shrugged his shoulders gently. "You said you were not interested in your pleasure this time. It was not right that I should take mine."

Brenda’s kiss-swollen lips parted in shock. "But that is not fair to you…..or to any man, for that matter! I never meant that you should not….." She blushed and looked down, only to have him tip her face up to his again. "You should have ….. finished."

To Brenda’s surprise, Jax leaned down and brushed his lips across hers, leaving little electrical shocks wherever they touched. "Your concern for my satisfaction is very gratifying, angel," Jax said softly. "But I never said that I wouldn’t finish what we have so wonderfully started at some later time."

"There won’t be a later time!" Brenda gasped as his meaning became clear. "I told you this was just for the one time….you need not …..provide your services to me again." She suddenly became very aware of her nude form and reached down for her gown awkwardly. "Our main goal now is to get out of the fortress and get to the Tunnel Point so that we can safely escape Charporta and Corinthon."

Jax’s fingers left trails of fire up her arms as he assisted her in putting on her gown again. He glanced down and saw the large ring of keys laying on the floor. "I assume this is our way out of the cell?" he asked, picking them up. Brenda nodded, still a little shaken from their encounter.

As he moved silently but with the agility of a cat towards the door, Brenda stood rooted to the spot, admiring his nude form. For a large man, this Familiar could be as quick as a whispering breeze. Yet during their joining, he was as overpowering as a fierce storm on the planet Jarda. She suddenly realized that he was speaking to her. "Is there a guard outside?"

"He was sleeping when I entered the cell," she said softly. Jax came back to her and picked up her cloak, placing it on her shoulders. He slid his hands down her arms in a seductive caress, and as he turned back towards the cell door, she shook her head in amazement. Perhaps her plan was a good one after all. She found herself looking forward to the journey ahead.

What made Brenda slightly uncomfortable was that she wasn’t sure why she was so happy about the upcoming adventure…Was it because of what had just happened between her and the Familiar?

Or was it because of what had been delayed and he promised was yet to come?

Brenda was brought from her reveries again when Jax extended a hand to her. "Then, shall we leave, angel who is not interested in pleasure?" He was quiet so as not to rouse the guard, but his face still bore a teasing look, his eyes crinkled at the corners.

Brenda placed her hand in his and nodded silently. She realized that the saying of the elders was true – the journey of many miles was indeed beginning with one step.

To be continued…..