Their Human Receptionist (Whispers from the Imperial Cage)

Five hundred and thirty-five days.

That was the contract. That was what I told myself when I left Earth. A number. A deadline. A way home.
I was so naïve I almost deserved what came next.

The Celestial Spire is the most exclusive hotel in the galaxy. Twelve thousand rooms. A hundred species. Staff who smile and say nothing. Staff who keep their eyes down when guests walk their humans through the Grand Lobby on a leash.

I told myself it was not my business.

I told myself that right up until I recognized one of the humans on the floor.

Rafe and Lorian own the Spire. Imperial-born. Sovereign Directors of the Ascendant Alliance. They are silver-skinned and silver-eyed, and they share everything. Their Empire. Their bed. Their obsessions. And they have decided I am one of their possessions.

I should have run the first time I felt it. Instead, I stayed. I learned. I let Rafe record my reactions with the patience of a scientist. I let Lorian into spaces in my mind I did not know existed. I wore the Venus Lock they gave me and called it a condition of employment. I told myself I was still free because I could still say no.

Then the Championships began.

Humans collared. Displayed. Trained to perform for an arena full of aliens who paid for the privilege of watching them break.

I made my choice. I helped the human pets escape. I burned everything I had built and stood in the wreckage waiting for punishment.

They did not execute me. Instead they bought me.

Both of them.

My collar. My contract. Their rules. Their bed.

And the thing that kept me awake afterward, the thing I cannot say out loud even now, is this.
When Lorian locked the collar around my throat and Rafe watched, I felt something I had not felt since I boarded that ship and left everything I knew.

I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

This is a love story. Just not the kind you survive unchanged.


*
My Human Pet — The private cage
My Wild Pet — The competitive arena
Their Human Receptionist — The Empire that built the cage
My Prized Pet — The sanctioned cage
His Beloved Human Pet — The cage that became a home
My Human Wife — The chosen alliance

Control evolves, but so does rebellion.

All books are standalone.