Ryen did so and sat with him. He looked as if he wanted to say something but the scent of food must have taken his will to argue. As he ate, Drekk explained the reason for Ryen’s ‘imprisonment’.
“The reason you’re here, my friend, is that you need help. No, no arguing while you eat. Hear me out while you devour your meal.”
Ryen frowned but said nothing more and tucked into his food. The return of his appetite relieved Drekk. For the past week the giant had eaten half that much. It seemed Ryen was truly on the road to recovery. Physically, at least.
“As a Creation, we’re built to submit,” Drekk continued. “The first generation of us didn’t take, as you know. They were weak, barely able to function unless told to breathe every day. The second batch was no better. The monsters tortured and killed thousands.
“Those didn’t work either. Gradually, the Creators realised they needed to incorporate both submissive and dominant markers into our genetic coding. Unlike many in the System, we don’t have a choice about our natures. Our traits aren’t environmentally stimulated, but programmed.”
“I know,” Ryen said quietly.
“My generation looked promising. We appeared normal. We even acted normal, for the first few decades of our lives. Then, I’m afraid, science proved, once again, that man shouldn’t tamper with things best left in the gods’ hands. Many of my line became homicidal. Those that didn’t killed themselves.” He remembered too clearly the deaths of his friends. Watching Mertan kill his Creator before he understood what he’d done and killed himself.
“Drekk?”
“Death and madness descended,” Drekk said in a hoarse voice. He cleared his throat, aware Ryen watched him without blinking. “I managed to escape with a few others who’d retained their sanity. My only regret is that I failed to kill my Handler. My Creator didn’t fare so well.”
“Good.”
“Once I escaped, I tore through the System looking for a place to hide. The hungers, the need to destroy filled me for years. Like the rest, I was tainted with warring desires. The relief I craved wouldn’t come.” What he’d done before he’d found salvation still haunted him. “Then I happened upon a planet in the outer rim. A man unlike any I’d ever met showed me how to deal with my feelings. How to make the pain go away.”
“Another Creation?” Ryen asked.
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me anything about himself, not even his name. He told me to call him Master.”
Ryen frowned. “Master?”
“Distasteful, but he was kind, nice, pleasant. He drove me fucking nuts.”
“Tell me about it.”Ryen’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on Drekk.
“I tried to kill him several times. To my surprise, he overpowered me. He looked like a Mardu, or even a Nebite. He had pleasing features but not the brawn or overt strength to overtake me, so I thought.”
“A weaker man conquered you, and you enjoyed it?” Ryen’s distaste showed Drekk what he’d suspected of the larger male. Ryen didn’t know what it meant to truly submit. In the labs he’d been forced to endure, to lose to those weaker than himself. Which was why he constantly chafed at Drekk’s decision not to fight him. Ryen didn’t understand yet, but he craved submission—freedom. Until he resolved those conflicting parts within himself, he always would.
“That’s just it, Ryen. Master wasn’t weaker. His internal strength showed me how to control myself. How to adjust to accept who and what I was. Through Master’s teachings, I learned to be myself. To love women and men. To see without prejudice.”
“A lot of bullshit.” Ryen shook his head. “Come on, Drekk. Admit it. You got your ass handed to you by somebody stronger and he broke you.”
“You don’t understand. But you will.” Drekk stared at Ryen’s cuffs.
Ryen tensed. “Explain.”
“When Glaia brought you to bliss, what did you feel?” he asked, avoiding a direct response.
Ryen looked as if he meant to argue, surprising Drekk when he answered. “At ease. Her mouth took me to bliss. The rage I normally feel wasn’t there.”
“Exactly. Like your time in the labs, sexual surrender relieved you.”
“It’s not surrender.”
“You physically release and a part of you that hungers is fed. In the labs, how else did you find a measure of sanity? By fighting, as you’d been bred to.”
“I fuck and I fight. Easy answers.”
So why haven’t you found that same peace here on Mardu? “Let me ask you something else.
In the four months of limited freedom you had from the labs before they found you again, were you happy?”
“What the hell kind of question is that? I wasn’t free. I was on constant guard defending Anin. You think I have issues? That poor girl could barely function without my guidance. I helped her to decide for herself, to live with a measure of independence, before they found us again.”Ryen narrowed his gaze. “I still want to see her. How do I know those bastard Raggas are helping her? I’m supposed to take your word for it?”
“Yes.” Drekk finished his meal and smiled. “That was really good. I worked up an appetite this morning.” And he meant to do so again.
“Look, you little prick, I want answers. I’ve tried to be patient—”
“A stretch, I’m sure.”
“—but I’m done. I want out of here and I want to see Anin.”
“Your sister is relearning just as you are. Don’t tell anyone on Mara’s Light this, but I’d trust Erin with those Raggas, and you know I hold your sister in high regard. Nu and Set Fas won’t harm a female. It’s not in their ‘bastard Ragga’ nature. What you need to focus on is you, Ryen. Anin will be fine.”
“Yeah, well, you won’t be if I don’t get the explanations I need.”
“You always want to fight. I thought sex would have left you in a calmer state, at least for while. I can see I need to re-evaluate things.” Ryen knocked his chair back as he pushed to his feet. He reached for Drekk.
“I’m sorry, but this is for your own good.” Drekk pushed the button of the small handheld device he had in his pocket.
Ryen froze. “You son of a bitch,” he snarled, struggling with the bands stifling his mobility. “I’m going to tear you apart.”
“Not smart to tell me that.” Drekk finished his juice, aware of his own skyrocketing temperature. Ryen in a rage excited him. His cock throbbed with need, fuelled by the memories of things they’d already done together. Standing, he decided to take Ryen’s mind off his imprisonment with the truth.
“What the fuck is that?” Ryen paled, his gaze glued to Drekk’s tented trousers.
“A hard-on.”
Ryen swallowed nervously, and Drekk couldn’t wait until Ryen swallowed him again.
“I, ah, I know you like women and men. But if you even think about fucking me...”
“Ryen, I think about it all the time. What it would feel like to stick my dick between those lovely cheeks, to ream that tight, virgin ass. I’d love to suck that strong cock, to taste your seed as it flowed down my throat.” To Drekk’s delight, Ryen grew a massive erection.
“Cut it out.”
“Your Handler had a real problem with men loving men, didn’t he? Did he tell you of the evils of anal sex? Did he convince you that only a woman could contain a man’s seed?” Drekk took pity on Ryen’s panic. Learned behaviour has to be unlearned. “It’s okay. They told me that too.”
“Then why are you hard?” Ryen pulled at his arms. “You think you can rape me and I’ll suddenly be healed?”
“Not at all.” Drekk walked around the table and stared into Ryen’s eyes. “I have never raped another, nor will I. Relax on that score.”
Ryen let out a deep breath.