Craving Captivity: Human Pets of Talin, Book 5, page 1
Contents
Trigger/Content warning
Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Other books by RK Munin
Craving Captivity
Human Pets of Talin, Book 5
By RK Munin
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved:
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author.
Translation:
Don’t steal the stories I worked so hard on, and occasionally cried over. Don’t get upset at the absolutely made-up story lines: this is a romance, so of course it isn’t realistic, duh! Don’t be petty and hate on it because it isn’t your kink. We’ve all got different tastes and there’s no shame in that.
Copyright: RK Munin, 2023
Cover Illustration by RK Munin, 2023
Warning: Author is dyslexic as hell.
The editing and beta reading team: Martha Collins, S.F., and Lauren Meghoo
Profession Editing: Edits Amanda Brown Edits, LLC
Feel free to contact me with questions, requests, or comments: author@rk-munin.com
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Thank you to all my readers!
Trigger/Content warning
In the very first chapter there is a room where several sick individuals might already be dead. The description is brief without much detail.
One of the main characters is ill in the beginning of the book with an issue breathing without coughing.
Several chapters include descriptions of abused workers (they’re basically indentured servants).
There is an unequal legal power dynamic throughout the book between the main male character and the female character, with the latter being owned for the former according to Talin law.
This book contains subjects including sex, mentions of sexual violence, strong language, and violence. Mature audiences, 18+ readers only.
Glossary
Artificial wombs: Talin women cannot get pregnant if they don’t “scent-bond” (see below) with their partner. When scent-bonding started going out of style (and eventually became illegal), the Talin started using artificial wombs to have children. Once live births were outlawed and instead, artificial wombs were used, it was expected that each Talin couple would finance the creation of exactly two children—one male and one female—unless the government requested more to make up for a population unbalance.
Common: One of several universal languages used both for speaking and writing.
Cresh (creshes): It became fashionable not only to have a child produced in an artificial womb but to have them raised by specially trained professionals. Children spent their young lives in the cresh and only left when it was time for them to begin training for a future career under the guidance of their family.
Ending (clinically referred to as Collapsed Scent Disease): If scent-bonded partners were separated for too long, they could suffer and die. The length of time partners could go without each other depended on the individuals, but most could only last ten or so days apart because they started suffering. It was a painful death and one of the reasons a Talin monarch in the distant past started encouraging his people not to scent-bond.
Fading (clinically referred to as Catatonic Withdrawal Disease): This disease could strike a Talin at any time in their life but was most common when they were in their prime breeding years. Without a scent-bonded partner to help stabilize them, they could fall into a deep depression. They stopped eating and moving, and eventually they died. It was considered a shameful disease among the Talin, and those who suffered from it were often hidden away by their family.
Identification Cubes: Often called simply an Ident, these devices acted as a combination of communication device, locator, and identity verifier, recorder, and method of payment, among other things. Most species had moved to using small information squares instead of the awkward cubes, but Talins refused to give them up.
Information square: These could range from the size of a human hand to the size of a human torso. They looked like a square of glass, but were imbedded with electronics. They could store data, record, have access to UniBases, store wealth, and act as a form of identification. Most species used these instead of the older, less versatile Identification Cubes.
Intercranial translator (also known as an INT): Almost every hearing species had this small bit of tech implanted in their head. It only worked with verbal or gesture-based languages; it couldn’t translate written words.
Mattil medal: Awarded to soldiers for acts of bravery. At best, most soldiers only won one in a lifetime of service.
Scent-bonding: Talins had oil-secreting glands in their cheeks. Each Talin produced oil with a unique scent, and they could become addicted to their partner’s smell. The lack of oil-producing scent glands in humans was why it was believed that Talins couldn’t become scent-bonded with humans.
Talin Government Basics
Monarch: The monarch and Apogee Assembly worked together to lead the Talin people. Although the monarch didn’t serve on the Apogee Assembly, they had the power to challenge any laws the assembly wanted to pass. They could also unilaterally disbar an assembly member, but this was considered an extreme action and was rarely done.
Apogee Assembly: This was the major law-making and governing body. Under this assembly, other government programs were overseen. The members of the Apogee Assembly were referred to as servant citizens and were elected by their Clan Assembly to a position in the Apogee Assembly.
It was expected that a monarch’s grown children, called Prime Son/Prime Daughter, would serve on the Apogee Assembly. There were always two positions set aside for them although it was rare that both would serve at the same time.
Clan Assemblies: Talarian, the Talin homeworld, was divided up into providences. Each providence had a Clan assembly made up of a representative from each clan in the providence. Those who served on Clan Assemblies were called assembly citizens. These Clan Assemblies picked one of their members to serve on the Apogee Assembly.
Colony Assemblies: Most colonies didn’t have large clans or were made up of a few families starting a new clan. Therefore these assemblies were made up of whoever the citizens of that colony felt would do the best job of governing. Most homeworld Talins looked down on colonies as being made up of upstarts or new clans.
Talarian: Name of the Talin homeworld.
Moravi: capital city of Talarian and home to the Apogee Assembly
Time Keeping
Common Units: This universal timekeeping framework was used by most species. Based on a ten-unit day, each unit was the equivalent to about two hours of Old Earth timekeeping. Most species divided up a day into a five-unit working cycle and a five-unit rest cycle.
Marks and Strikes: Talins didn’t use Common Units. They had marks and strikes. First mark was at sunrise and last mark was at sunset—thirteenth mark. Strikes were used at night and went from one to thirteen. Each strike and mark on Talarian was the equivalent of forty-five Old Earth Minutes. Each mark was made up of one hundred submarks
When referring to a passing of time, they were all marks, whether they happened during the day or night. For example: Searin set his Ident to wake him at eleven strike, which was only three marks from now.
Because colonies would be unlikely to have the same day and night pattern as the homeworld, they kept the twenty-six strikes and marks but changed how many submarks were in each unit so it all still worked for their individual colony timekeeping.
Talin ships would keep the same hours as the homeworld.
UniBase: This stands for a universal database that most species kept and allowed free access to for all their citizens. Often ships would have
Chapter 1
The smell inside the processing facility was foul. It was filled with a combination of unwashed bodies, boiling chemicals, and rot. All of it made Tamerin cough and wish he’d packed a respirator. The stench was overwhelming. Along with a few Vicpor, mostly Porian workers bustled around the large open-floor processing plant. They were nimble with their four legs and two arms, jumping over vats sometimes instead of bothering to walk around them. But the most astounding thing to Tamerin was not a single person was wearing a mask. It was as if the smell didn’t bother them at all.
As shocking as it was, it went to prove that a body could become accustomed to many horrible things.
“You there!” Oglee, the Vicpor owner and overseer of the plant shouted at a Porian carrying a heavy load on his back. “Hurry up or I’ll dock you a day’s worth of food. Dock you!”
The obviously fatigued worker tried to move quicker at Oglee’s threat. Turning his shiny, insect-like face to Tamerin, Oglee wiggled his antennae with pleasure. “You have to remind them who controls them or they get lazy,” he confided in Tamerin. It was obvious this Vicpor took great pleasure in bullying his workers, making Tamerin feel sorry for every soul laboring in the industrial building.
When Tamerin remained silent, Oglee clicked his pincers a few times in irritation. “I’m an excellent overseer. My domicont coating is highly sought after by many other factories. No one can coat metal as well as me. No one!”
“I’m sure your process is exemplary,” Tamerin responded, knowing he had to play nice with this despot if he wanted to collect Lasha. Although he’d already paid for her work contract, the Vicpor could still revoke the sale until Tamerin escorted the human out of the factory. Only then would Lasha be safe from reprisal.
Although Oglee stood almost as tall as Tamerin, the Vicpor’s shape was nothing like his own. His three-segment body consisted of a bulbous head carapace, round cylindrical mid carapace, and a lower carapace with two spindly legs jutting out and covered in fine black hair that looked more like spikes than anything else. The mid carapace sported two arms with three claws each sprouting from both sides, and at the shoulders each side had a pincer arm.
“Yes, exemplary,” Oglee agreed, his antennae moving again. He liked the compliment. “I’m going to add that word to my factory’s descriptor. Exemplary!”
“As nice as your facility is, I’m here to collect the human worker, Lasha,” Tamerin reminded Oglee.
“Of course. Right this way. This way!” Oglee led him deeper into the hell-scape. Tamerin noticed Oglee was loudly clacking his mid-body and lower carapace together as he moved, making the workers flinch.
Tamerin had never been fond of Vicpors. They had a reputation for treating everyone, even their own species, poorly. But this Vicpor struck Tamerin as worse than the species’ abysmal reputation.
When Tamerin had first walked in, he thought there was some kind of emergency. Oglee had been yelling and clacking his pincers threateningly while waving his other four arms in the air as some poor, emaciated, elderly Porian worker huddled against a steaming chemical vat. The blasé attitude of the other workers told Tamerin this was a common sight.
The moment Oglee noticed Tamerin and took his eyes off the Porian, the elderly male had scurried off, limping badly on his hind leg. A glance around told Tamerin that most of the workers were Porian, and the moment the elderly male was close to a younger one, he was helped to a workstation to sit down.
At least there the male had someone taking care of him, unlike the human he was here to find.
Seeing the Vicpor’s treatment of the Porian and the state of all the other workers made Tamerin want to grab Oglee’s spindly neck and crush it. It would be easy. He walked with it fully extended out of his top carapace, a sign of confidence and power in the Vicpor world.
Patience, he reminded himself. You need to stay patient or you might not recover Lasha. Focus on saving the human, not killing an annoying Vicpor.
“I don’t understand why you’d want her,” Oglee said as they skirted around a rusting holding tank. “She’s almost dead. If you wait a day or two you can buy her by the pound. That would be less than half of buying out her work contract. By the pound is cheaper. Cheaper!”
When Tamerin didn’t respond right away, Oglee came to a stop and held out a three-digit lower arm to point to a group of other workers. “They’re all much healthier and know the processing better. The one you want is both unhealthy and the stupidest worker I’ve ever bought. Buying one of these others would be better for you in the long run. And I’ll give you a good price. Good price!”
Tamerin had to grit his teeth to keep from rattling his back plates in rage. Balling his hands into fists, he worked on keeping his breathing steady and not killing the Vicpor.
After he rescued Lasha from this horrific place, he might come back and give this immoral and evil creature a taste of Talin vengeance. How dare anyone treat a creature as delicate and rare as a human this way?
“I’ve already agreed and paid for her contract,” Tamerin gritted out between clenched teeth. If he wasn’t careful, he would slash his lips on his sharp front teeth. “Take me to her right now.”
“Of course, of course,” the Vicpor said. He must have finally started to realize Tamerin wasn’t pleased with the delay. “You must want to collect your new property and leave quickly. This way. This way.”
Unlike the warmer factory floor where there was better insulation and running machinery heating the area, this room was almost as cold as the temperature outside. It was frigid enough to see his breath condense as it left his mouth.
A dozen shapes were lying out on thin bed pallets lined up in a row on the floor. All of them were bundled in blankets with only hints of skin showing. He was sure several of them were already dead, sending his anxiety into overdrive.
Rattling out a loud, buzzing sound of worry from his back plates, he rushed to the smallest figure. He didn’t need the Vicpor to tell him this one was Lasha. It was the only human-sized shape in the room.
“Ah, you know what humans look like then,” Oglee commented as he hurried to catch up. “I only bought her because the business that sold her contract assured me she was strong for her size. They lied, of course. But you can never really trust those work-contract brokers. They lie to everyone.”
Tamerin ignored the Vicpor as he dropped to his knees, straining to hear the sound of breathing or any signs of life. He could see raven black hair peeking out from under the blankets. His hand trembled slightly as he folded the blanket down to reveal a gaunt, pale face.
By the Ancestors, she looked far too still! Was he too late?
“Wake up, human! Wake!” Oglee yelled, reaching a long, pincer appendage around Tamerin’s body to nudge Lasha forcefully.
“Don’t touch her,” Tamerin growled out, grabbing the pincer at the base and twisting hard enough to hear the limb joint groan.
“I won’t touch! Won’t touch!” Oglee screeched, tugging ineffectively at his pincer. Using his hold on the pincher, he shoved the Vicpor away. Oglee yowled and tucked his head down to hide his delicate neck in his lower carapace.
“You’ll regret that! Regret!” Oglee warned him, cradling his pincer against his chest and holding it with several of his arms. “No one hurts me! I’m a Vicpor of significance. Apologize to me, Talin, or I’ll nullify the sale. Apologize!”
Tamerin let loose with a war rattle by slapping his back plates together with force. It sounded like hundreds of feet pounding on the ground and echoed in the cold, dim room. Oglee jumped at the sound and took a half a step back, but then he seemed to center himself and stood tall. “I want my apology or I’ll have you removed without this useless worker.”
“You won’t nullify anything and I’ll be walking out with her,” he growled at the Vicpor. Getting to his feet and letting his claws slide out of his fingertips, he sounded another war rattle before speaking again. “I didn’t plan on fighting today, but I will if you push me. Any excuse to separate your head from your body.”
