In the darkened room, he circled her likeness, nearly life-size. She turned, seeming to follow his movements…seeming to want him, her violet eyes hooded, the ends of her silky black hair swaying above her waist, her naked flesh flushed with arousal.

Lukan reached out, aching to touch her tawny skin, grasping air instead. Reality precluded contact, as did the distance separating them. Unable to stop his grinding need, he whispered, “Arez.”

It was the name he’d given her, as she had none on E4. There, she was no more than a pleasure slave, created to offer her body and obedience to the men in power, no different from him. Lukan had promised never to abandon her or to leave her lonely again and wanting, but he had, and soon she’d die unless he intervened.

His body went hot, then cold. He wanted to run back to her, or at the very least move closer to her image, but he couldn’t manage a step. Her expression tempted, holding him in place. Each breath became a struggle. Powerful memories returned of her skin’s scent, perfumed with female musk and a sweet fragrance used to excite males. Lukan hadn’t needed any enticement. From the start, her caress had undone him, given not only in pleasure but with tenderness.

Their masters never knew about their bond. Lukan witnessed it now as his image came into the hologram.

The heightened color in Arez’s cheeks and throat acknowledged his presence, for she could do little more to prove her true passion for him. Slaves weren’t allowed to speak to each other. Their gazes were never to meet for more than a second. Cruel manacles held her arms above her head, precluding any embrace or resistance, the heavy chains secured to a bolt in the ceiling.

Surrounding the candlelit stage were E2’s rulers who hailed from the second dimension on Earth, a place so unlike its fourth realm E4. On E2, emotions and desire weren’t allowed. All men resembled each other in coloring and facial features, their varying ages the only thing that differentiated them. The same held true for E2’s women, no female being distinct from another. Such a sterile existence hadn’t been enough for the ruling males. They created E4’s Palace and its slaves for their pleasure.

A few of the leaders smiled lewdly in anticipation of the coming performance. Others conversed in tones too low to overhear or understand. When he’d been on the stage, Lukan had no idea if they discussed trivial matters or ones that would mean his death. Nor had he cared.

Being close to Arez was all that had mattered. For her, he would die. For her, Lukan wanted to live. He watched his image doing what he could not. Naked, he stood before her, cupping her full breasts with a right the rulers had given him. If he performed well, it would mean more food. Although he was always hungry, giving Arez pleasure soon became Lukan’s most pressing task. The moments they had together belonged to her and him, no one else.

His thumbs grazed her nipples. Instantly, the long tips hardened at his attention, and the areolas grew tight. He drew closer. Their thighs touched; his cock nestled against her moist cunt.

He recalled the sensations that followed, heat pooling in his groin, thickening his shaft painfully, overwhelming him with an urge to take Arez. Even so, his desire to speak to her was greater. He’d pressed his cheek to hers as though to bury his face in her hair. However, his mouth was on her ear.

She’d whispered before he could. “Take me as though you mean it. I know you do.”

As always, her assurance surprised him. So did the playful tone beneath the smokiness of her voice.

“You know?” he whispered in return, running his hands down her lush hips to her buttocks. Cupping the cheeks, he pulled her into him, proving his strength, demanding she yield. “How? You’re able to read thoughts?”

“I can read your body,” she countered, grinding hers into his, biting his shoulder lightly.

He pushed to his toes at her hot tongue licking his skin.

The sensuous move was no match for her suckling his throat. Tingles shot down Lukan’s back and to the top of his head. On his prolonged sigh, she breathed, “You can’t hide your hunger for me. You stare as though I’m your ration of food.”

Her words had made him smile, a gift stronger than the tastiest morsel or life-giving water. Eager to tease in return, he said, “Tonight, you are my meal.”

He dropped to his knees, wordlessly directing Arez to part her legs. She complied. Not because she was a slave expected to entertain her captors, but because she demanded what Lukan did—a connection between them that enriched the sex and surpassed it, nourishing the soul. He pressed his face to her dark curls, so earthy like the rest of her, smelling of lust and life.

She moaned at him licking her mound. Deliberately, Lukan avoided her clit, determined to draw out her anticipation and longing for him. To affirm it in the only way he knew. How many times had he wanted to give up a week’s ration of food for the thrill of searching her face as she searched his? To have the privilege of looking into her eyes in order to see what was in her heart. That he mattered. He was important to her. He had a name. They had hope. A future.

He swallowed and moved around the hologram, absorbed with what it showed—his fingers running down the length of Arez’s cleft, already damp with her excitement, her moisture slick and warm.

More than a dozen candles burned around the stage. In the flickering flames, perspiration shone on her shoulders and beneath her weighty breasts. Torn between tasting her skin’s sweet saltiness and focusing on her nub, he’d settled on the latter, inhaling deeply of her sex, cleansed and oiled for his use. Wanting her to smell of him, he teased her nub with the tip of his tongue.

Arez’s mouth sagged opened on her throaty grunt, the noise telling Lukan how much he’d pleased her.

Sounds of approval rose from E2’s rulers. Several of them left their chairs, moving closer for a better view.

As he’d been trained, Lukan spread her vulva to show the men her rigid clit, scarlet with her rising passion. At a measured pace, he licked the hard rise of flesh, then retreated, just as he liked and the rulers most often demanded. They wanted their slaves to earn the privilege of climax. A captive’s frustration heightened a master’s experience.

Lukan brushed his lips over Arez’s cunt, savoring her unique flavor, her velvety skin. An intolerable amount of time passed. Her hitching moans filled the cavernous space, reaching the shadows beyond the faint golden candlelight. A flood of warmth rolled through Lukan’s limbs, weakening them and his resolve to delay her climax.

Despite the danger, his sole focus became burying his cock in her snug, heated sheath, pounding into her until Arez lost all control and regarded him fully and at her leisure…giving him a taste of the forbidden in the Pleasure Palace, their prison.

After which, the guards would surely punish her.

The thought of them refusing Arez food or causing her pain had stopped Lukan more quickly than a blow or threat. He knew he’d kill any man who tried to harm her, and then he’d be eliminated, unable to offer Arez his protection. Better to play the part for which he’d been created. A compliant slave bringing a female to a lazy and maddening climax.

Her cunt tightened around the fingers he’d worked inside, his hand holding her in bondage more easily than the most savage restraints. Even so, she kept shifting her weight, trying to get away from his infernal licking as she reached the edge of her climax and tumbled over.

Lukan wouldn’t allow her retreat.