Tales of the Shareem, Volume 1

by Allyson James

  Brianne d’Aroth, articulate and well-educated, jabbering like a schoolgirl trying to explain her truancy. She signed off, not lessening Lady Talan’s scowl.

  She laid her hands on her desk and drew a deep breath. Then she jammed on the intercom and shouted for her chief bodyguard. “Harbourgh! What the hell did you do?”

  Chapter Three

  The Bathhouse

  “ … and all charges will be dismissed,” the colorless woman said. “Lady d’Aroth sends her deepest apologies.”

  The robed lawyer who let Aiden and Ky out of jail looked less than happy to do so. She apparently shared the view that Shareem were best kept locked up if they couldn’t be terminated.

  Clad once again in his black leather leggings and tunic, Ky grinned. “Thanks, darlin’.” He swatted her behind as he strode past her and out of the building.

  Out on the sun-blasted road Ky waited for Aiden to catch up. Aiden had resumed wearing his sleeveless tunic and sun-blocking robes, which swirled as he walked.

  “Making friends wherever you go,” Aiden said mildly.

  “Hey, she pissed me off. All charges dropped—a mistake, little Miss Brianne d’Aroth decides.”

  “Her bodyguards made the mistake. She didn’t even know.”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  “You didn’t feel her pheromones.” Aiden smiled. “Beautiful face and a great body under those robes. You’ve seen her on the digitals.”

  “Doesn’t mean I like her,” Ky growled. “Besides, she’s a d’Aroth.”

  “Lighten up. We’re still alive.”

  Ky stretched, locking his fingers together and raising his arms above his head. His dark hair moved in the breeze. Two women in the uniforms of city workers paused to gaze at him appreciatively.

  “Watch it,” Aiden said with a grin. “We’ll be right back inside.”

  “Screw that. Bath?”

  Aiden nodded and they moved off to find public transport to take them back to Pas City.

  Their enterprising friend Judith had recently set up a bathhouse where Shareem could swim, bathe, and enjoy themselves without hindrance. Shareem could bathe at home in their own water showers of course, but they found they liked having a place they could hang out without worrying about patrollers.

  Judith’s bar was another place they could talk, though patrollers sometimes came in to police it. Judith had kept the bathhouse a closely guarded secret, and the Shareem weren’t telling.

  Ky knew that Judith sometimes let women—carefully screened and sworn to secrecy—sit in observation rooms and watch the Shareem bathe or swim. The Shareem knew and didn’t mind. If women wanted to stare at them, fine. That’s what Shareem were for, to be looked at, wanted, sought.

  Judith made plenty of money on the baths and spent it all on her Shareem. She regularly added luxuries, including cascading waterfall showers, massages, and steam rooms.

  How to pamper your sex slave, Ky thought as they left the hover train and entered the building that housed the baths.

  They went into the scruffy shop Judith maintained in front selling cheap trinkets and art reproductions. But Shareem knew that in the back room was a latch that let a part of the wall slide back, admitting them into halls that led to marble rooms and the bath chambers.

  As soon as the wall sealed behind them, Ky started to strip off his clothes. A Shareem had no shame about his body—the natural state for them was naked. Shareem covered up to go outside only because the patrollers would love any excuse to arrest them. Besides, the harsh Bor Nargan sun could fry naked flesh to a crisp.

  In the bathhouse with only Shareem—and maybe a few voyeurs looking through false walls—clothes were superfluous.

  Ky bundled his clothes onto a wicker shelf at one end of the huge steaming pool. “I’ll be glad to wash the stink of jail off me.”

  “You were sterilized,” Aiden pointed out, also stripping. “Cleaner than you’ve ever been in your life.”

  “Don’t say sterilized. I don’t like that word.”

  Aiden grinned but shut up.

  Ky walked to the edge of the pool and slowly lowered himself in. The bite of heat on his legs, belly, and cock felt damned good. Judith was a goddess. The tiny ring that adorned Ky’s right nipple glinted under the water.

  He moved to a seat and watched Aiden finish folding his clothes. Aiden was like that—neat, folding things, keeping his room in the apartment they shared tidy. Ky had seen Aiden naked before of course, every day for twenty years, but today Ky looked him over.

  Aiden’s body was like a taut bow, not as bulky as Ky’s—Ky had been made to be a Dom. Aiden was muscular, but he wore his frame almost elegantly. The golden hair that dusted his chest and twisted around his balls was a little darker than the hair on his head. He had a tight ass curving to strong thighs.

  The black chain on his right biceps was thinner than Ky’s. Level ones’ chains were the thinnest of all.

  The kiss in the cell had been brief. Aiden had laughed afterward, backing away, saying, “What the hell? We’re going to die.”

  Ky hadn’t answered. Dark feelings had swirled through him at the feeling of Aiden’s tongue in his mouth.

  Then had come a barrage of thoughts. First, that Ky hadn’t minded all that much. Second that he liked the taste of Aiden’s lips and wouldn’t mind tasting them again. Third that Ky’s body temperature had started heating to dangerous levels.

  Fourth that Aiden’s kiss reminded Ky of DNAmo and its experiments, experiments best forgotten.

  Aiden slid into the pool and ducked under, water darkening his blond hair as he surfaced. He found a seat, leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

  They didn’t speak. Aiden and Ky could sit in companionable silence for hours, not needing to converse.

  Not even about the kiss. When it was important, they’d come to it.

  Ky closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool bench on his backside, the lap of water against his shoulders, the warm relaxing steam.

  “You’re still brooding,” Aiden said. “I can feel brooding all the way over here.”

  Ky answered without opening his eyes. “I’m a Dom. Being bound and helpless goes against the grain. I want … hmm.”

  “You want to Dom someone. Call Judith. She’ll be on her knees before you finish asking her.”

  “Not Judith.”

  Brianne d’Aroth. When he’d watched her on the digitals he knew she’d make a good submissive. He’d seen it in her eyes. Smart and competent and wouldn’t she look good with nothing but my chain around her neck?

  “You’ll never get near her.” Aiden always had the knack of knowing what Ky was thinking. “You want to punish her, but even if she agreed, you’d never get past her bodyguards.”

  “Maybe.”

  Ky had methods, honed over years of experience, of getting women to come to him. Eagerly. Brianne would be no different.

  “You’re crazy,” Aiden said.

  “No shit.”

  “Why’s he crazy this time?” a Shareem voice said, and Ky opened his eyes.

  Braden, another level three, banged into the room, the closing door echoing against the water. He wore a white tunic and black leather leggings which he began stripping off his Shareem-bulked body.

  “He wants a woman.” Aiden watched Braden stuff his clothes onto the shelf and approach the pool.

  Braden had black hair, brown skin, and a Shareem-muscled body. His face was different, square jawed and lean, not as handsome as the face-sculpted Aiden but not as plain as Ky.

  “We all want a woman,” Braden said.

  Instead of easing himself into the water as Aiden had, Braden plunged in with a huge splash, going under and coming up fast, throwing his hair back in a wet arc. Ky impatiently wiped water from his face.

  “One particular woman,” Aiden said.

  “Oh. Not as easy.” Braden swam through the warm water. “I heard the two of you got locked up.”

  “News travels fast,”
Ky said.

  “It does among Shareem. As soon as you went in we heard.” Braden paused. “I called Rees.”

  Shareem usually went to Rees when things went bad. Ky had never figured out what level Rees was, and Rees wasn’t telling.

  Rees had been an experimental Shareem at DNAmo, not encouraged to fraternize with the rest of them. Whatever the researchers had done to him had left him aloof even now, but the man was damned resourceful.

  “That pretty little thing he bamboozled into becoming his lifemate has friends in high places,” Braden went on. “She’s why you’re out, gentlemen.”

  “Lady Talan d’Urvey.” Aiden’s lips curved into a smile. “I wonder if she’d like an oil massage as a thank you?”

  “Only if Rees lets you,” Braden said.

  “He could watch. I’d make it worth his while.”

  The blue in Aiden’s eyes widened to spill over into the white. A Shareem aroused.

  Braden grinned, his eyes going bluer, and Ky knew his own eyes were joining the blue-fest. The thought of pretty Talan lying on her stomach while Aiden slid oiled hands over her didn’t help Ky’s rising temperature.

  Aiden created his own oils, blending formulas that could bring a woman to climax just by sniffing the bottle. Aiden claimed that the right oil with the right woman made her experience with a level one as good as that with a level three.

  Ky imagined Aiden slowly rubbing Lady Talan’s body while she squirmed against the table. Rees would be watching, rock hard, maybe spanking his wife when Aiden was done for daring to enjoy another Shareem’s touch.

  In Ky’s head, the vision changed to Aiden massaging Brianne d’Aroth, and Ky waiting to give her a little taste of lash when it was over.

  Ky’s body temp rose higher. Braden’s cheekbones were flushed and Aiden smiled, a faraway look in his eyes. The water would start boiling any minute.

  “Stop,” Ky said, his voice harsh. “I haven’t released, and I’m not doing it in front of the pair of you.”

  “I might have to find a private room too,” Braden said, his hand stealing under the water.

  “Level threes,” Aiden said. “Can’t hold it in.”

  “Bite me,” Ky returned.

  Aiden shot him a thoughtful look, which made Ky remember Aiden’s scent as he pinned Ky against the transparent wall in the jail, the rough taste of Aiden’s tongue slicing into Ky’s mouth. Ky returned the look, his skin heating even more.

  Braden wasn’t paying attention. “We should change the subject. Except I can’t think about anything except fucking now.”

  “How’s Calder?” Ky asked abruptly.

  The blue in Braden’s eyes receded a little. “A pain in the ass. So about the same as usual.”

  “He ever coming to Judith’s again?”

  “Give him a break.”

  “Hey, we don’t care what he looks like,” Ky said. “I mean, look at my face.”

  Braden laughed. “I’ll tell him you said that.”

  Calder rarely left the elaborate compound he’d built for himself with the fortune he made from women who wanted to be with him. He chose what women he’d pleasure from an endless list of applicants, some from off-planet. The women were allowed to be with him only once, and Calder made the experience unique and worthwhile.

  He did not visit the baths no matter how many times Judith asked him, because Calder wouldn’t undress in front of other Shareem. He had been ruined long ago at DNAmo, his body disfigured by chemical and plasma burns. Ky didn’t know the full story of the incident, and Calder never offered to explain.

  Ky also didn’t know the extent of the damage because he’d never seen anything but Calder’s face. Calder’s shape was fine—he dressed from head to toe in tight black leather, covering his hands in formfitting gloves. The leather outlined a body as tall and honed as Ky’s.

  Calder usually kept his face covered, easy to do in the desert climate of Bor Narga. Most people wrapped sun-blocking cloths around their heads and donned goggles to keep the deadly sun at bay. When Calder went out, he looked no different from other Bor Nargans—apart from his Shareem body and his ability to bring women to their knees wherever he went.

  He’d had reconstructive surgery performed by Dr. Laas, one of the original DNAmo scientists and a genius at genetic sculpting. She’d said that the reconstruction had given Calder back his life, but she could never make him the perfect Shareem again. The burns had been too extensive, stripping him down to muscle and bone. She’d barely been able to save him.

  Artificial skin and grafts helped, but according to Dr. Laas almost every inch of Calder’s body was now brutally scarred. One side of his face had escaped except for slight pulling around his mouth, but the other side was a complete ruin.

  His cock must be in good working order though, because women couldn’t get enough of him.

  No one knew exactly what Calder did with women in his pleasure palace—they could have tea and cakes for all Ky knew. A woman who’d gone to Calder had once told Ky, It was worth it, every minute of it. Sometimes I dream about it, but when I wake up I’m safe again.

  Ky was curious, but he’d never violate Calder’s privacy and ask him. Shareem didn’t do that. They’d been so scrutinized at DNAmo and now by patrollers that it was an unwritten code that they left each other in peace. Braden was the closest thing Calder had to a friend, and even Braden didn’t know that much about him.

  Ky came out of his thoughts to find Aiden talking about their incarceration at the hands of Brianne d’Aroth.

  “Brianne d’Aroth?” Braden mused. “I see why you’d want to ravish her if you could. She’s lickable.”

  “I liked her,” Aiden said. “Even if she did get me arrested. In the coffee bar, when she was watching me, she acknowledged she wanted it but knew she couldn’t have it. Regretfully. She didn’t pretend not to be interested.”

  Braden grinned. “Lucky for her you’re a level one. Nice soothing sex. If she’d seen me or Ky and started fantasizing about a chain between her nipples, the slap of a strap on her sweet, smooth ass …”

  Ky stood up, water cascading from his naked body, cock ramrod stiff. “I’m out of here.”

  If he didn’t release soon, his body could overload. Sex wasn’t just fun for Shareem, it was a release valve. Sex was survival. Ky had gone too long without easing himself today, the stint in jail not helping.

  “If you need a lady, I’m sure there are a few here.” Braden glanced at the smoked glass at the end of the room.

  It didn’t help Ky thinking of women behind the glass, flushed with need, hands stealing to their thighs or breasts while they fixed their gazes on his body. Ky’s heart rate increased, his body temperature far above what a normal human could tolerate.

  “Make sure you set the shower for freezing,” Braden called as Ky grabbed towels and moved toward the inner rooms, Braden’s laughter behind him.

  *** *** ***

  The ice-cold water didn’t do much to relieve Ky’s tension. He held his cock in one hand, the swollen tip hard and dark, and braced his other hand on the cool shower wall.

  He let his head drop back as his fingers dipped to his balls, smoothing their tightness. He let his anger spin into his Shareem wanting, first imagining Brianne d’Aroth as he’d seen her on digitals, all prim and neat and businesslike, then imagining her with her clothes open, her brown hair mussed and her eyes filled with hunger.

  He would do it.

  Ky sensed a familiar presence and opened his eyes to see Aiden leaning against the wall opposite him. Aiden’s cock was stiff and straight, but he made no attempt to stroke it and give it comfort.

  “The water doesn’t get any colder than this,” Aiden said. “It would ice up in the pipes if it did.”

  “Shut up.” Ky squeezed, forcing his fingers tight around his shaft. He felt Aiden’s gaze going to his cock, watching what Ky did, Aiden’s eyes hot blue.

  Ky’s body tightened. He thought again of Aiden’s kiss in the cell, t
he rough masculine feel of it. His lips had tasted good, salty and smooth.

  Aiden’s sculpted face beaded with water, his hair slicked back, his throat exposed where he rested his head against the wall. What would Aiden do if Ky crossed the tile floor, grabbed Aiden, and started kissing him? Ky imagined Aiden’s startled look changing to that slow smile of pleasure he got when he liked what someone did to him.

  Ky would lick all the way across his friend’s lips, maybe dip his tongue inside that Shareem mouth and taste him again. Even better if Aiden were in manacles, a leather collar around his throat.

  Ky groaned. His hand tightened on his cock, and he abruptly spilled his seed, letting it wash away with the water. He leaned on the shower wall and dragged in a breath.

  “Feel better?”

  Ky looked up at his friend. Aiden met his gaze as though he knew exactly what Ky was thinking.

  “It’s forbidden,” Ky said automatically.

  “If we never did what was forbidden, we’d all be dead by now.”

  “You have a point.” Ky straightened up, breathing a little easier now that his cock wasn’t such a flagpole. “I’m going to punish her.”

  “Brianne d’Aroth? You just got out of jail, you want to go back in?”

  Ky went to Aiden, moving slowly, controlling himself. “She almost killed you. She owes you. And me.”

  Before Aiden could reply Ky slanted a kiss across his mouth, brief and hot, meant to singe more than caress.

  Forbidden, right. The researchers had watched avidly as Ky had done what was forbidden. Ky opened his mouth to say this, then his brain darkened and refused to form the words. Damned programming was still there. You’d think after twenty years …

  Ky backed away, mind blanking out the memory again. Aiden watched him, his eyes filled with blue, his Shareem pheromones covering Ky and trying to make him stiff again.

  “Do you want me to help?” Aiden smoothed one finger across Ky’s cheekbone. “With Brianne d’Aroth, I mean.”

  Ky grinned suddenly. He licked Aiden’s lips from one end to the other, enjoying his friend’s startled look. “Oh yeah. I’m counting on it.”