Kieran (Tales of the Shareem)

by Allyson James

  Kieran had a little reunion with the other Shareem who’d made it and were waiting for them—Calder and Katarina—Calder already looking as though he’d lost twenty years, with a smile creasing the corners of his mouth. He was protective of Katarina, though. Very protective—scowled at anyone who came near her.

  Aiden and Ky nearly crushed Brianne when she came off her transport, both men trying to hug and kiss her at the same time. A six-armed bundle of love, Kieran said in Felice’s ear, and she laughed. It did him good to see the threesome reunited.

  Braden and Elisa, twined around each other, hurried off to find a room, Braden grinning hard. Rees and Talan . . . the two of them were still yelling at each other, but that would likely wind down into a bondage session that left them both breathless.

  One more Shareem came to them, Rio—that smug bastard who’d left Bor Narga with his lady from Ariel two years ago.

  “About time you assholes got here,” Rio boomed as he reached Kieran and bumped fists with him. “Who’s the pretty? Don’t tell me you conned a lady into sticking with you.”

  “This is Felice,” Kieran said, wrapping his arm around her. “And she can kick your ass, so don’t mess with her.”

  Rio shared a laugh with Felice and his lover Nella, but Rio gave Felice a wary look as he went on by to greet Rees. Rees and Rio had been best friends, and they met with a lot of laughter, bear hugs, and loud words.

  Felice squeezed Kieran’s hand. “I say we find us a room. I’m exhausted.”

  “Yep.” Kieran said, though he wanted a room for better reasons than sleeping.

  While he and Felice moved down the wide corridor in search of the quarters Rees had arranged, Kieran took the time to enjoy the fact that he was actually off Bor Narga. He’d never been to a space station, which was like a huge indoor dockyard, but clean. So clean. No dirt, no dust.

  The floor was paved with multicolored stones brought from the planets surrounding them, and the ceiling soared overhead to a clear canopy that showed the stars outside. But the place wasn’t empty. Station 579 was crowded with people from different planets, different systems, different races—most of them Kieran had never seen before. Many of Kieran’s clients came from off-world, but the variety of sentient beings here stunned him. Skins of different colors, beings of different shapes, things that might or might not be people at all—everyone mixed freely. Gender wasn’t as apparent either.

  Felice took it all in stride, but she was from Old Earth and had been around the galaxies a time or two. Kieran had thought the Shareem with their body-hugging tunics and black chains would stand out, but no. Turned out the Shareem were some of the most human-looking beings here. No one gave them a second glance.

  Well, all right, maybe a second glance from anything remotely female. They were still Shareem, still gave off come-and-have-sex-with-me vibes, and that fact would never go away.

  “I think I’m going to like it here,” Kieran heard a Shareem say before he and Felice dove into a lift that swept them up to guest quarters.

  “Space station inns are all the same,” Felice said as Kieran led her into the clean white room with a beige-covered bed, beige chairs, and beige rugs. The console was black, breaking up all the beige and white. “But I have to say, I’ve never been happier to see one.”

  The bedroom was bigger than the one in Kieran’s apartment and had much less tracked in sand. No dirt at all, in fact. Crazy.

  Felice touched a control on the console, and the wall behind the bed blossomed into a mural of a field of red and blue flowers.

  “Which would you like?” Felice touched more buttons. “Mountain vistas? An ocean view? Oh, look, a desert.”

  The picture must have been taken on Bor Narga. The Sand Sea stretched before Kieran’s eyes, all the way to the ridge of mountains, red and stark in the distance. On a mural, it was pretty.

  “Ocean,” Kieran said abruptly. “We’ll switch it if I get homesick.”

  “Will you?” Felice touched the control again and sat down on the bed. The mural faded into an ocean, vast and blue under a clear sky.

  Felice leaned back on her elbows, stretching her legs—the position pushed up her breasts. Definitely a view Kieran preferred. “How does it feel to be off Bor Narga?” she asked him.

  “Weird,” Kieran said. He pulled off the tunic he’d donned at his apartment. “I don’t feel anything right now. Not really.” He dropped the clothes then undid his loincloth and let it fall. “It’s coming, though.” He put his hand on his hard abdomen. “The happiness is starting to build up about here. Eventually, it will get all the way to here.” He moved his hand to his heart. “I think I want to be inside you when that happens.”

  “Yeah?” Felice slanted him a smile. “What are you going to do about it?”

  Kieran growled. All the frustration, fear, pain, and worry that had churned through him in the last day and a half came to a climax.

  He grabbed Felice by the coverall and ripped it open to her navel. Felice’s eyes widened. More ripping, then Kieran picked her up by the waist and turned her bare body to the mattress.

  Kieran gave her backside one spank. The sting in his palm felt good, and her laughter and squirming made his rock-hard cock harder still. As he raised his hand again, Felice tried to crawl away across the bed, but Kieran caught her by the hips and dragged her back.

  His level-three training with its careful planning and detailed steps dissipated in the artificial breeze from the mural. There was only Kieran and Felice, Kieran pulling Felice back to him, she on her hands and knees. He grabbed the lube he’d taken from his apartment, and had her wet and slick with it in no time. Didn’t smell as nice as the one he’d use in Rees’s apartment, but it was close. He could tell from the way Felice smiled that it was close enough. The scent memory was making her open up, knowing what he was going to do, and wanting it.

  Kieran rubbed and stroked her until he knew she was ready, then he slid his cock straight into her back opening. Felice was already squirming, coming apart as he buried himself inside her.

  Her gasps turned to squeals as Kieran thrust, Felice grabbing the bed covers to hold herself in place. Kieran’s groans filled the small room, and he heard himself saying things to her, his sub, his sweet Felice, his love.

  This was basic, raw sex. Lovemaking would come later. Right now, they were two people needing this wild release, the only thing that could ease the ache inside them.

  Felice shouted, a fierce noise of pure pleasure. Kieran thrust into her once, twice, three times, and then spilled his seed in a mad frenzy, his fuck!, ringing through the small, sound-dampened room.

  Felice fell, panting, to the bed. Kieran seized her by the waist, gently this time, and turned her over. He peeled off her boots and the rest of the coveralls, then stripped back the sheets and laid her on them. He crawled into the bed beside her, snuggled up next to her, and dropped into a dreamless, mind-numbing sleep.

  *** *** ***

  Freedom. It was strange, Felice thought.

  She was free of the serfdom that had dogged her for years. Free of the contracts that bound her to an unscrupulous trainer and his bosses. Kieran, sleeping heavily next to her, was now free to do whatever he liked.

  Felice watched him sleep, the exhaustion of the last days finally fading from his face. He was a beautiful man, wiser than he knew, and Felice loved him.

  She yawned and stretched in the comfortable bed, and found his blue eyes open and watching her.

  “Hey,” she said softly.

  “Hey.” Kieran grinned. “I’m feeling better now. More rested.”

  Felice returned the grin. “Good.” She traced a pattern on his hard, bare chest. “When you leave here . . .” She stopped and swallowed. “When you go . . . What do you want to do?”

  Kieran’s grin faded a little, but he smoothed back her hair. “What do you want to do? Go back to Old Earth?”

  “Eventually. I’d like to see my family, my best friend again.”

&n
bsp; “Probably costs a lot of money to get to Old Earth,” Kieran said. “I don’t want to take it from Talan or any of the other ladies either. They’ve done enough.”

  “Agreed.” Felice couldn’t stop the small fear in her heart. “You don’t want to go there, then?”

  “Didn’t say that. I’ve heard all my life about Old Earth. I want to see it.”

  “With me?”

  Kieran looked blank. “Why wouldn’t it be with you?”

  “Oh. Well. I thought maybe now that you could go anywhere you wanted . . .”

  “That I’d dump your ass and run off?” Kieran’s fingers tightened in her hair. “You know, for a smart, kickass fighter, you don’t know anything. You and I will go to Old Earth together. Or Ariel together. Or Sirius together. Or whatever space station or planet is out there—together. You can do fighting exhibitions for cash. I’m strong—I can lift and carry for cash. Whatever it takes. We’ll do it together. All right?”

  “All right,” Felice said breathlessly. The bubble of happiness Kieran had described started welling up inside her as well.

  Kieran rolled onto her, his large body pushing her down into the mattress. “I’m your Shareem, Felice. I’m level three. That means you obey me. And now that I’m not a second-class citizen, it means I don’t have to obey anyone else.” His smile turned wicked. “I wonder what I’ll think of to tell you to do?”

  Felice traced his cheek. “I’m looking forward to finding out.” Her smile faded. “I want to tell you something, Kieran. I love you.”

  Kieran blinked once, then his eyes blossomed a deep blue. Shareem blue. “Yeah? That’s good, Felice, because this level three loves you too.”

  “But does Kieran?” she asked softly. “All of you?”

  The blue stopped spreading, but if anything, grew more intense. “All of me . . .” He touched his heart. . . . “Loves all of you.” He put his broad, warm hand on her chest.

  Felice’s heart, beneath his hand, swelled into a joy that was almost painful. “I’m glad,” she whispered.

  “Mmm.” Kieran moved his touch between her legs, smiling when he found her wet. “So am I.” He eased her thighs apart, and the next thing she felt was his very large cock pushing inside her and filling her. His smile widened as he slid all the way in. “The universe had better watch out. Shareem will be moving to every corner of every galaxy.”

  And because they’d no longer be forced to take the sterility inoculations, they could create more Shareem. The thought made Felice’s heart beat faster with hope.

  “Spreading sexiness wherever they go,” Felice said. Her grin died as Kieran moved inside her, and she groaned, lifting to meet him.

  “You betcha,” Kieran said. He made a deep noise of pleasure in his throat. “This adventure, it’s just beginning.”

  End

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading Tales of the Shareem: Kieran! I hope you enjoyed this installment of one of my favorite series.

  The Shareem came about years ago when I discovered the historical fact that in rural areas of England, even into the nineteenth century, men would sometimes rid themselves of their wives by selling them. This was illegal, but the practice went on. I thought, “So unfair on the women. Why couldn’t the wives sell their husbands instead?”

  Then I thought, “You know, I could write stories about men for sale.”

  This idea, which started as half a joke, began to intrigue me. I’d always wanted to write scifi romance, so I decided to set the story on a distant planet. That way I could decide the culture that came up with these men who were genetically engineered to be the sexiest guys alive. I called them Shareem, a play on harem.

  The first Shareem, Rees, however, was no pathetic victim of his circumstances. He might have begun as a commodity, but along the way, he’d taken charge of his life. He was bold, dangerous, smart, and of course, sexy as hell.

  The rest of the Shareem showed up, one by one, smartassed, incredibly gorgeous men, each in need of one special woman to make him believe in the power of love.

  The series evolved as I explored the different levels of Shareem, and the background of the planet of Bor Narga. Because this was my first erotic romance series, I experimented with writing about light bondage, menage, and male/male relationships (in Aiden & Ky).

  I also started to wonder what had happened to some of the Shareem who’d been sold off-planet before the factory that made them closed, and so Justin came to be. I was also intrigued by what would happen if these men could become fathers, which I also wrote about in stories involving Justin, and touched on again in Kieran.

  Kieran had been wandering around my head since the end of Justin, when I wanted to resolve getting these guys off their backwoods planet. I first saw Kieran in the dockyards, stumbling over Felice while he checked out cargo transports. The the two of them had to stay there for a time while I worked on other projects, but the intervening months gave Kieran a chance to develop into a the big, hot, sweetie he became.

  With this book, Kieran, I’ve closed an arc, but left it open so that other Shareem can have their stories told in the future. There are more of them out there, and who knows what happens to them when they reach their destinations?

  If you are new to the Shareem, I’ve included a chapter of Rees, Book 1, following this note, so you can see where it all started.

  To keep current on this series, and others I write as Allyson James (romances and urban fantasy) and Jennifer Ashley (romance), sign up to my newsletter at: http://tinyurl.com/8mfgded The email newsletter is sent out when I have new books available or for important updates on books and series. Also check out my website at http://www.allysonjames.com

  If you enjoyed Kieran, consider leaving a brief review or even just a rating (on sites that allow it) where you purchased the book, or on Goodreads, Shelfari, or other reading sites. Ratings and reviews help authors spread the word that a book is out.

  Thank you for reading, and I hope you find a Shareem of whatever level you need!

  Best wishes,

  Allyson James

  Read on for

  the first chapter of

  Tales of the Shareem: Rees

  by Allyson James

  Book 1

  Tales of the Shareem

  Rees

  Chapter One

  A Shareem male.

  Easy to tell he was Shareem, first because he was tall, more than six and a half feet. Second, because of the slim black chain on his biceps. Third, because he was naked, except for a loincloth around his waist.

  From the other side of the airy white hall, Talan watched the Shareem pause in front of the door to a holo-block.

  He dark blond hair pulled into a tail that hung between his shoulder blades. His back muscles were sculpted to perfection, tapering to a narrow waist and muscular thighs.

  The loincloth left his backside bare. Talan had never seen a man’s backside before. It was enough to dry her mouth and make her hot all over.

  Reading about Shareem—researching them in a dusty library—was one thing. Seeing a Shareem in the flesh was something completely different.

  Talan knew now why women had once gone crazy trying to get them.

  Shareem. Genetically enhanced males, grown and bred for the pleasure of females. A fashion twenty or so years ago, very illegal these days.

  Despite the cooling system inside Talan’s robes, sweat trickled down her back.

  The Shareem paid for the holo-block with a credit strip, and the big door slid open. Beyond, Talan glimpsed an ocean, palm trees, and a beach. Good choice.

  The Shareem entered the room. The door started to close.

  Talan had never broken a rule in her life. Talan d’Urvey would never, ever sneak into a holo-block rented for only one person, without paying. That would be wrong.

  But she’d followed him this far, and she couldn’t linger for hours waiting for him to come out.

  The door had nearly closed. Talan flung he
rself across the hall and into the holo-room just before the door boomed shut behind her.

  *** *** ***

  Rees gazed out across the blue-green waves of the tropical ocean, sank his toes into the warm sand, and thought about the woman following him.

  Rees liked oceans. The desert world of Bor Narga had no oceans, except for a dried-up one in the middle of the planet.

  He liked the soothing cool of the water and the tropical air touching his ass, kissing his skin like a woman’s lips. It was a perfect place to ponder the problem Rio had brought to him and to think about the woman.

  She’d been following him all morning, ever since he’d left the bazaar. At first he’d thought she was a patroller, one of that fine body of women who enjoyed harassing the now-free Shareem.

  A closer glance told him no. Her robes placed her as upper-class. The patterns and colors on them indicated she was unmarried, educated, and celibate.

  A celibate young woman following a Shareem.

  He wanted to laugh. Naughty girl.

  She’d followed him into the holo-block then dived for cover behind the broad-leafed plants and stayed there.

  Maybe he should give her a show. He could stretch out on the sand, place his hand on his thigh and brace his cock so it would point straight to the sky. He’d spread his legs a little, show her that his balls were tight and lifting for her.

  The DNAmo programmers had designed Shareem to respond to even subtle stimulation. Just being watched by an interested woman could make Rees’s cock rise.

  Besides, she was cute.

  He imagined her coming out from her hiding place, kneeling and taking him in her mouth.

  Mmm, he wanted that.

  A celibate wouldn’t know what to do. He’d have to show her. His cock tingled in anticipation.