Raven wrote the alien word mechanically. Her letters were very neat. Kane was a stickler for penmanship these days. A soft thump from the bed drew her gaze again. Kane had flipped the blonde around and had her pinned facedown and writhing, his hand hard at work between her thighs. He was grinning at the back of her tossing head, all tooth and cruel humor, bringing her right to the edge, and then just keeping her there while she begged him to let her cum.

The man had a mean streak, that was for damn sure, but it was a sadism Raven didn’t want aimed at anyone but her. She sketched out more letters in obedient silence, making neat rows left to right, just to keep her hands busy. She needed to keep her hands busy. The urge to go over there and snatch that blonde bitch bald was very, very strong.

“Please, please fuck me!” Sue-Eye was practically screaming by now. “Please, Kane! Please!”

His laughter was answer enough, but he gave Sue-Eye a slap to the ass and a spoken, “No,” anyway. He took hold of her and tossed her roughly but playfully off onto the floor. He dropped down onto the bed and pulled his pack back onto his lap. He held out his hand with a Caesar’s arrogance, calling, “Get this off me, ichuta’a,” and Sue-Eye scrambled to him on her knees, sucking at his fingers as if they were cocks.

Raven tried not to pay too close an eye, but Kane missed nothing. He grinned, sudden and sharklike, and she quickly dropped her gaze to her paper and wrote blindly.

“Oh, get off me!” A slap. “If I want a blowjob, I’ll ask for one. I’m not shy. Don’t!” he snapped, so suddenly that Raven looked around, but Sue-Eye was just crouching there by the bed. Kane was glaring, though, one hand curled into a warning fist. “If I want your pussy touched, I’ll touch it myself or tell you how. You’re all done, ichuta’a.”

“B-but—” Sue-Eye’s hands were clenching spastically at either side of her. “Please!”

“No.” Kane slid his finger along the seam of his pack and opened it to his computer. “Sit down. Cool off. Food will be here any minute.”

“Then will you…?”

“Maybe. Raven.”

She didn’t miss the biker’s brief scowl and she didn’t think Kane did, either, but he let it go and crooked a claw to call Raven over. He typed several minutes without giving her any attention whatsoever, but then turned his pack around and pointed at the faintly metallic-looking stripe along the outer edge of the pack’s lid. “Touch there,” he said.

She pressed her fingertip to the strip, her entire body stirring with the same electric lightness that she had felt when he first showed her how to write his alien letters.

“Slowly,” Kane murmured. He took her wrist and guided her down the width of the shiny track. His computer hummed loudly all the while and beeped as soon as she reached the end of it. Kane pushed her hand away, pecked at the keys a little more, and then shut his pack with a snap and gestured to it.

Raven could feel a smile twitching at her lips. She ran her finger down the seam just as he had so often demonstrated, feeling the slow burn of Sue-Eye’s gaze on her back the whole time. The pack opened for her immediately and Raven’s heart leapt with unreasoning pride.

This meant something. He could fuck who he wanted to fuck, but this was the telling thing right here.

“You understand,” he said conversationally as he turned the pack back to face him, “if I ever see you playing in there, I’ll break that finger right off.”

“Got it,” she said happily.

“Go practice your letters.”

As Raven was seating herself, the knock of dinner’s arrival sounded at the door. Sue-Eye received it, paid the extortionist’s fee, and parceled out waffles and fried chicken. As soon as Kane had his, he gave the order for their clothes to come off. Sue-Eye stripped with exuberance, coming to his side without an invitation.

It was a risky move on her part, one that had won her a smack on more than one occasion, but Kane chose to sit her on the bed beside him this time. He even rested a hand on her thigh while he typed and ate, the surest sign of his rare good mood.

And why shouldn’t he be in a good mood? It had been another good hunt, another good idea from own personal yes-girl. The elation at being granted access to Kane’s case quickly faded into dread as she watched Kane lean over and nip at Sue-Eye’s bare shoulder. Raven’s appetite congealed on itself. She stared down at her paper and its lines of alien writing.

I hate that blonde haired bitch, she wrote, and stared at the letters until they blurred with eyestrain. Sue-Eye was a bitch, too, in the purest possible sense. A whiny, obsequious, tail-wagging, slobbering bitch-dog.

“Can I, Kane? Please?”

“No.”

Raven glanced covertly into the dark mirror of the TV screen and saw Sue-Eye’s hand hovering over Kane’s crotch. He was pretending to ignore her as he tossed his chicken bones to the floor, but pretend was clearly the operative word. He was enjoying himself, enjoying the torture of his ichuta’a, and if he knew how much it bothered Raven, he’d be enjoying that, too.

“Please? I want you so bad.”

Kane sniffed at his waffle, and then dropped the Styrofoam box holding the rest of his dinner on the carpet. “Go take a shower,” he ordered, balancing his computer on his thighs. “And I warn you, ichuta’a, if you like your hands, you’ll keep them off your cunt. I’ll know if you cum.” He drew in a deep breath pointedly and showed his sharp teeth in a grin. “And I won’t be happy about it.”

Sue-Eye stood up obediently. “Can’t I blow you at least? Please. I need your cock.”

“Maybe later.” He flicked his claws at her, all his attention on his computer. “Now go on. I’m working.”

Raven couldn’t stop herself from looking up as Sue-Eye went by. She was caught, chilled by the gleam of victory carefully hidden in the other woman’s eyes. There was a plan at work here, and it was going in Sue-Eye’s favor.

Raven returned her eyes to her work, but her movements were all by rote. Sue-Eye was making herself noticeable. She was making herself useful. How long before she made herself indispensable?

Kane had said he would take Raven with him when he left Earth. Saying wasn’t the same as promising, but she still believed him. Kane didn’t have to lie, not when he could just give her one to the stomach to shut her up. Raven was by now almost entirely convinced that he would never kill her, not unless she did something dramatic like stab him, but he still had moods and he was still pretty quick about slapping her around. Questioning him about whether or not he really meant it when he said he’d take her with him might just annoy him enough to earn her a few bruises.

God, her DNA was scattered over half a dozen crime scenes by now. She’d rather be killed than be left behind to have to explain everything. At least Kane’s way was quick. Looking at prison, at gang rapes and stabbings and everything that went with it, right up until she was plugged into that last hot wire, Raven felt like throwing up.

It wouldn’t happen. Not now. Not after he finally got her the way he wanted. He wouldn’t throw her away now.

Raven ran a hand up her side, her fingertips lightly brushing over the metal outlining her breasts, the metal stiffening her nipples. Silver and gold. He’d made her his treasure. You didn’t do that to someone you were just going to abandon.

But then again, why not? It wasn’t like he’d paid for any of the jewelry. Raven gripped at her own arm, twisting around to see her new tattoo clearly. E’Var, it said. She could read it now. He’d put his name on her and taught her to read it.

“What are you doing?” Kane. He was smiling at her crookedly, his hands hovering over the keyboard of his computer.

Raven looked at him, but thought of Sue-Eye. Sue-Eye and her games. Sue-Eye, who thought she was winning them. Raven thought so, too, and it was a terrifying thought to have. Hesitantly, unsure of just what she was doing, she said, “My period’s almost over. I think I’ve stopped bleeding, but…you know…I just want to be sure.”