The day they got the doors open and freed us, I cried like a baby.
DNAmo had grown alarmed after that. They knew they could not release R294E8S into the world, as they did the other Shareem. If he was doing frightening things in a more-or-less controlled environment, what would he do when he was free?
They had staff meetings in which they discussed the termination of the R294E8S experiment.
Some wanted to give him drugs that would control him permanently. The problem was that someone would have to administer these drugs for the rest of his natural life.
Some suggested brain surgery, to lobotomize him. A pity, because he was so intelligent, but they’d created a monster, and they had to stop him.
A few went so far as to suggest they give him a lethal injection. A quick jab with a needle, and he’d cease to be a problem. Painlessly.
Not long after one of these meetings, R294E8S disappeared.
He had seduced one of the researchers and made her his slave, and the last thing she’d done for him was help him escape. They made a panicked search but never found him.
The news that DNAmo had created a Shareem they could not control leaked to the press and so to the public.
DNAmo was condemned by stiff-necked philosophers and the government. They lost money. Lawsuits began to be filed. DNAmo quietly folded, and left the planet and angry shareholders behind.
They’d never found R294E8S.
Talan took a deep breath. She searched the files for pictures of this mysterious R294E8S, but there were none.
She did find a description, Six feet, eight inches tall, muscular, blond hair, blue eyes. Not particularly helpful. Many Shareem in the records had that description, including one called Aiden.
One Shareem who did fit that description—Talan’s Shareem—was not in the records.
Talan looked at the name again.
R294E8S.
In her head, Talan removed the numbers
RES.
Rees.
A strong hand came around her and snapped off the monitor.
Talan turned slowly around on her stool. He was standing over her, six feet, eight inches tall, blond hair, blue eyes. He wore his tunic tonight, fabric strained tight over muscle, and the thin black chain glistened on his bronze-colored arm.
Talan swallowed, tears rising to her eyes. “They didn’t even give you a name.”
Chapter Thirteen
They stared at each other for a long time, Rees’s eyes dark blue, watching her.
“No,” he said.
“Why did you stay on Bor Narga?” Talan asked softly. “Once you were free, why didn’t you go off planet?”
Rees shrugged, the movement tight. “Easier to hide here. Most of the researchers from DNAmo left before they could be arrested, and they were the only ones who knew what I looked like.”
“But you’re trapped here.”
“Not really. At DNAmo, I never went outside. I could look through monitors but never leave the compound. Now, every day I wake up, I can go wherever I want to go, do whatever I want to do. I talk to people, I have friends. Some days, I do absolutely nothing. It’s my choice.”
Simple words, but she knew they were very important to him.
“Does anyone else know who you really are?”
“Rio knows.”
“And he’s never betrayed you?”
“He’s my friend.”
Another simple statement, but again, an important one.
“But you have an ident card.” Talan thought about the two arrogant officers who’d pressed Rio for his ident card and tried to give him a hard time. “Don’t you?”
“Yes,” Rees said calmly. “As Rees. Rio helped me have it made. Few people ask me for it, though.”
The officers had been keenly interested in Rio, she remembered, and had never noticed Rees in the alcove.
“Because you do things to their minds.”
“I persuade them to forget about me,” Rees said.
“You have done things to my mind.”
Rees hesitated a moment, then nodded. “I might have hurt you if I hadn’t.”
“Then I haven’t really fallen in love with you?”
His lashes swept down to shield his eyes a brief moment. “No.”
Talan touched the silver globe that hung around her neck. “When you bought me this, you were only playing with my mind?”
“I do whatever it takes.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Why? Why pretend to care?”
“Because you were an innocent, and I wanted to be gentle.”
“I suppose Lady Petronella asked you to.”
“She talked to me, yes.”
Talan stood up, her heart beating fast with fear and anger. “You and Lady Pet decided what I needed, did you?” She balled her fists. “How dare you make me love you and then take it away so casually, like I’m one of your researchers? You go on about not hurting me, but do you have any idea how much that hurts?”
Rees looked annoyed. “I have some idea, yes.”
“Do not start preaching to me that Shareem have emotions. You obviously do not.”
Rees stepped close to her. “You think so? You wanted to find out all about Shareem, Talan. I can’t help it if you don’t like what you learned. If you’d studied Shareem as much as you say, you’d know what we can do.”
“Well, no, I wouldn’t, because you aren’t Shareem. You are this . . . thing . . . called R29 . . . whatever. Anything I’ve learned about Shareem doesn’t apply to you, and you knew that.” She tapped his chest. “You knew that all along and didn’t tell me!”
“Tell you what? That I’m a monster who scared the shit out of his creators?”
“You aren’t a monster. I told you, your DNA is—”
“Human. Yeah, you said.”
“It is. But it doesn’t matter. You knew what you were, and yet you went on with it. If you really didn’t want to hurt me, why didn’t you just tell me to go to another Shareem, like Rio, or a level one?”
“I remember trying, and you not listening.”
“Why didn’t you walk away then? You could have at any time. You even kept saying so.”
Rees pinched her jaw between his fingers and thumb. “Because I wanted you, Talan. I wanted you for my own.”
“Don’t you dare do your tricks on my brain again. I’m wise to you, R294E8S.”
His eyes darkened, the irises widening. “I saw you, I wanted you, I took you. That had nothing to do with your research, or Lady Pet, or mind tricks. I wanted you because you’re beautiful, sweetheart. So get over it.”
“You mean you did all this so you could enjoy yourself? It had nothing to do with me?”
His grip tightened. Rees was so strong, and Talan should be afraid of him, but right now, she was too angry.
“No, it wasn’t all about you, rich girl,” Rees said with a growl. “When I saw you follow me into the holo-block that day, you turned me on in a big way. No woman ever turned me on just by looking at me before, especially not an innocent. So when I got the chance to have you, I took it. I didn’t do it for your pleasure.”
Talan fumed. “You used me.”
“You used me.”
“You’re Shareem.”
“And that’s what Shareem are for? Yeah, you told me.”
“I was in love with you!”
“No you weren’t. But I—”
Rees stopped talking. He snapped his mouth shut, released her, turned away, and walked to the door.
Talan’s anger blossomed into pain. “Where are you going?”
“Away. We’re done.”
“What about my level three?”
Rees turned back. “I thought you wouldn’t want that anymore.”
Talan stood with her back straight. She was afraid, angry, and hurt, but she didn’t want him to know it. “Of course I still want it. If you aren’t willing, I can always ask Rio.”
Rees looked furious. “As much as you piss me o
ff, Talan, I know you aren’t ready for Rio.”
“But I’m ready for you?”
“No.” His gaze was hard. “But you’re going to get me. If you really want level three, I’ll give it to you. I’ll give it to you so bad you’ll never forget it.”
A shiver ran through her, but she stuck out her chin. “Fine.”
Rees opened the door. “Come on.”
“What, right now?”
“Yes, right now. I’m ready. Are you?”
Talan clenched her fists and willed her knees to stop shaking. “Of course.”
Rees held out his hand. Talan went to him. When she took his hand, he seized her in a rough grip and dragged her into the sitting room.
*** *** ***
Talan asked him why they weren’t going back to the holo-room.
“I’m sick of holo-rooms,” Rees said. “We’re doing it right here, right now.”
He locked the door. When Rees turned around again, he saw Talan standing uncertainly in the middle of the room. He was enraged at her, but her red hair, her sweet face, and her beautiful body had him hard anyway.
She wanted level three. She was going to get it, oh yes, she was.
Talan’s sitting room was neat and almost bare, with only a lounge and a chair with a table in between. The walls were decorated with simple paintings and souvenirs from off world.
One of these souvenirs was a long pole made from polished wood, decorated with carvings. Rees didn’t know what it was for, and he didn’t care.
Rees snatched it up from its stand, looked up at the ceiling, and picked out the lenses of the three security monitors that watched the room. He took the smooth end of the pole and jabbed it into the first lens, breaking the plastic easily. The wires behind the lens broke and smoldered.
Talan’s eyes widened as Rees jabbed the second, and the third. “What are you doing?”
“You don’t want anyone watching, do you?”
His blood was up. Rees returned the pole to its place and crossed back to the door.
He’d learned about doors a long time ago. A panel to the right held the controls, including a mechanical switch that would open the door in case the power went out. No one would be trapped in a room because of a blackout.
Rees opened the panel, easily fused the electronic lock, and yanked out the lever for manual opening. He was strong enough to replace the lever when he wanted to, but Talan would never be able to do it.
She couldn’t leave. She was trapped in here. With him.
Mine.
Talan watched him, eyes round. He could smell her fear, her anticipation.
He could also smell her desire. She was afraid, but she wanted him, and wanted him to do things to her.
Rees had prepared. After he’d sent Talan to her room to rest that afternoon, he’d returned home and gathered up his accoutrements.
He’d quietly left everything in the sitting room when she was supposed to be sleeping. His plan had been to walk into her bedroom while she slept, wake her up by spanking her, and start then and there.
Rees had opened the door to her bedroom to find it empty. Then he’d spied Talan in the study, reading all about R294E8S.
Even without pictures, even without his name, he knew Talan was smart enough to figure it out.
Then she’d looked up at him and said, her eyes soft, They didn’t even give you a name.
The words had stabbed him to the bone. She felt sorry for him.
Even Rio didn’t feel sorry for him. Come to think of it, no one had ever felt sorry for Rees. They’d either been afraid of him or excited by him.
Talan, this sweet girl watching him and biting her lip, cared about how Rees felt. This was not good.
Rees had brought his manacles, thin metal and kind of pretty, but strong. They’d been made to fit snugly against a woman’s wrists and stay there. He had a silver collar to go with them, also made to fit snugly. A shiny chain hung from a ring in the collar, and the chain could be fastened to the manacles as well.
Rees lifted these out of the container he’d brought with him, and slanted Talan a look. “Come here.”
He wouldn’t force her tonight. He wouldn’t have to.
Talan took a hesitant step forward. She was shaking, and the little globe hanging between her breasts trembled. The fact that Talan still wore the cheap present he’d bought her made his heart twist.
When Talan reached him, Rees slid the manacles on her wrists and locked them. She stood unmoving, watching him with soft eyes, while he closed the collar around her throat.
Rees was already hard. He pulled her to him with the collar chain and kissed her. Talan kissed back, her mouth greedy.
Rees tasted her to the corners of her mouth. They wouldn’t be kissing much tonight, so he savored it while he could. She’d be too busy to kiss him later.
Rees broke the kiss before she was finished. Talan gave him a startled look, then Rees took her chain and led her to a clear space on the other side of the room.
“Put your hands against the wall,” he said. “Don’t move them until I tell you.”
Gingerly, Talan faced the wall and touched her palms to it. Gods, she didn’t need to be tied up. She’d stay there, where he told her, willingly.
Rio liked to talk to his ladies, to tease them, flirt with them, even while he was binding them. Rees liked to work silently and get down to business. He wanted Talan to wonder what he would do, to not know until it happened.
He took a container of lube from his pack, opened it. With one hand he lifted Talan’s tunic, and with the other lubed her all over her ass.
Talan gave him a nervous look as he methodically swiped the cool gel over her backside and pussy, making her even wetter than she already was. The lube blended with her moisture and gave off an exciting scent.
Rees let the skirt of her tunic drop and put away the lube. He wiped off his hands, then gathered up her hair, which he twisted it into a soft knot and pinned into place.
Then he took out his whip.
Rio used leather, but Rees had his specially made of synthetics. It felt soft as silk to his hands.
Talan’s eyes widened. “What are you going to do?”
Rees wrapped the whip around her arms. “Naughty girls don’t ask questions,” he said.
Talan closed her eyes, the lulling effect of Rees’s voice in action. Her face and body relaxed.
“Do you want me to take off my clothes?” she asked.
“No.”
Rees reached into his pack and pulled out a knife with a sliver-thin blade. Talan opened her eyes just then, and swallowed hard.
“Hold still,” he said.
He sliced Talan’s tunic apart at each shoulder. He shifted the knife to her side, and drew it all the way from the inside of her arm to the tunic’s hem. The knife was so slim and Rees’s skill so precise that he slit the cloth thread by thread and never touched Talan’s skin.
He finished and pulled the tunic free. She was naked beneath it, as he’d instructed her to be.
“You’re pretty,” he said. “And I’m going to love you all over.”
She swallowed and said nothing.
Rees put away the knife and unwound the whip from her arms. “Do you know what this is?”
“A whip,” she whispered, her lips barely moving.
“It’s a special whip.” Rees took the handle in his fist and smoothed her cheek with the cord. “I had it made just for you.”
“You did?”
“As soon as I met you. I went out that day and told my whip maker what I wanted. For when I met you again.”
Her eyes flickered. “You planned this all along?”
“I did, sweetheart. I wanted you. I was going to find you and do you, no matter what.”
“Why?”
Rees smiled. “Because you’re gorgeous, baby. You’ve got the finest ass I ever did see. I wanted to whip it and fuck it and make you beg me to do it some more.”
“So everything you
did was to lead up to this?”
“Yep. I had fun along the way, though.”
“You used me,” she said again.
He turned her face to his. “Isn’t that what you want? A Shareem doing what he does best to you?”
She started to turn. “You told Lady Pet—”
“Hands against the wall,” he snapped. She automatically slapped them to the wall again. He brushed the whip against her cheek. “Don’t let go again, or I’ll have to punish you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You will be.” He took a step back. “Do you know why this whip is special?”
Talan shook her head.
“It’s made of silken fibers woven together,” Rees said. “When I spank you with it, it won’t break your skin or leave a mark.”
Her lips trembled. “Then it won’t hurt?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Rees coiled the cord in his hands and stepped behind her. Talan’s arms were shaking, but she kept her palms pressed against the wall.
“I’m going to whip you now,” Rees said softly. “You tell me when you want me to stop, all right?”
Talan nodded once. She was sweating, her skin glistening under the low room lights.
Rees smiled to himself. His cock pushed hard at his tunic, wanting escape. Not yet. Let’s have a little fun first.
Rees was practiced. He knew exactly how far back to stand to let the whip come down fully across her buttocks. Talan flinched and drew in a breath between her teeth.
“Do you like it?” he asked. “Say yes, and I’ll go easy on you.”
“Yes,” she babbled.
Rees chuckled. Swish, snap, swish, snap. He whipped her five more times. His blood heated, excitement pulsing.
He stopped and held the whip coiled again. “Enough?”
Talan let out her breath. “Yes. Yes, that’s enough.”
Rees stepped close to her, raked his hand through her hair, and pulled her head back. “No, Talan, it’s nowhere near enough.”
“But—”
“Understand me, sweetheart. I don’t want you begging me to stop. I want you begging me for more. All right?”
Talan smelled of fear and rising excitement. “Yes.”
He released her. “Now then, I asked you, is that enough?”
She hesitated, and swallowed once. “No. No, it’s not enough.”
Tales of the Shareem, Volume 1 Page 13