Tales of the Shareem, Volume 1

by Allyson James

  The console chimed softly and a new message spread itself on her screen.

  Take the last outbound train of the afternoon from Pas City toward Elred. Move to the front car after the stop at Ahjed. We will have two hours of uninterrupted journey.

  Good gods, the Shareem called Ky must be sitting at his console right now, his blue eyes fixed on the screen, waiting for her reply. Brianne’s cold sweat returned.

  It would be so easy for her to turn the messages over to her head of security, to let Harbourgh track down the Shareem and punish him for stalking her. That would be the wise thing to do.

  Her imagination returned to the coffee bar and the blond Shareem dipping his tongue into the cream, blue eyes fixed slyly on her. She drew a sharp breath.

  What part of no don’t you understand? she sent.

  Not a moment later came the reply. You are so ready.

  Brianne slammed her hand to the console’s off button. She rarely turned off her console, because she received important messages all the time, but she couldn’t take any more of this.

  She pictured Ky smiling his Shareem smile on the other side of the screen, knowing that Brianne would be on that outbound train. No matter what she tried to tell herself, she knew deep down inside that she’d go.

  She wouldn’t be able to resist.

  *** *** ***

  As the hover train shot her northward, Brianne understood why the Shareem had wanted her on the service to Elred. This late on a weekday evening, very few travelers were interested in the remote communities along the canyons to the north. After Ahjed, the front car was completely empty.

  Hover trains were steered from the rear, the car guided by grav fields which interacted with the field of the track. The front car gave a view of miles and miles of nothing fading to dark as the glaring sun set.

  Brianne touched controls to opaque the windows between the front car and the one behind it, although no one sat in that car either. Alone, she sank into a seat and watched the walls of the box canyon close in on the train.

  Two hours ahead was Elred, a small community of crystal miners and people who wanted to retire someplace quiet and remote. Deep wells dug by state-of-the-art equipment allowed people to exist in the dry canyon where water hadn’t flowed above ground for at least a million years. Brianne had been there once at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new well. Very few had turned out for the event.

  When the door of the car opened behind her she tensed but didn’t turn. She knew the Shareem entered—she could feel the strange combination of excitement and relaxation pour over her as it had in the coffee bar.

  “Close the door,” a male voice said.

  She jumped, thinking he meant for her to get up and do it, but she heard another man rumble in the affirmative and then the door closed. Dear goddess, both of them.

  Brianne looked around in alarm. The blond Shareem she’d seen in the coffee bar turned from closing the door and bathed her in a slow smile. Her blood heated and she swallowed, knowing he remembered every detail of her reaction to him. He carried an intricately carved box under his arm, which he set carefully on a seat.

  The Shareem with him looked as though he had no humor in him at all. Dark brows drew together over his Shareem-blue eyes and his bulging arms were folded across his leather-clad chest.

  This was Ky, she recognized from his holo photo in the ministry’s database. He was not as tall as Aiden but more massive, his dark hair in tangled waves down his back. A level three, made for bondage and domination, not just sex—more sex than a woman could handle. Walking sexuality.

  I came here to apologize to them. Nothing more.

  The tightening heat inside Brianne told her she lied to herself.

  She dipped her head in a cordial nod while Aiden smiled and Ky scowled. She could at least be polite. “I am Brianne d’Aroth,” she said.

  “We know who you are,” Ky rumbled. His voice was rough and grating, used to command.

  “I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience of your arrests.” Brianne was expert at saying the proper thing even when agitated. “My bodyguards acted without my knowledge. I assure you, the mistake—”

  “Strip,” Ky said abruptly.

  “—will be made up to you … What?”

  “Strip,” Ky repeated, unmoving. “So I can paddle your ass.”

  “Level threes like to get right to the point.” Aiden opened the carved box revealing a row of glittering bottles resting on black velvet. His voice was lower, quieter, more seductive. Come with me, darling, and I’ll make you feel good, it said.

  “We can’t force you,” Aiden went on. “You might enjoy having me help you out of your clothes, but if Ky does it, he won’t be gentle.”

  Brianne glanced at Ky, whose hard face gave truth to the words. “Because you’re a level one?” she asked Aiden.

  “Level ones are about pure sensuality,” Aiden said. “Oils smoothed on you so my hands glide over you. A piece of silk brushed over your skin. Water trickled down your back to slide between your ass cheeks.”

  Brianne swallowed, feeling each sensation as Aiden described them.

  Aiden lifted a bottle from the box and cradled it in his palm. “Ky will tie your hands and spank you until you do whatever he wants. I’ll smooth your body with oil and do whatever you want. Which would you like first? Maybe Ky to punish you and me to soothe it all better?”

  Brianne looked from one to the other, backing up a step. “I didn’t come here for anything sexual. I came to apologize, to offer recompense. Nothing more.”

  Ky moved toward her. “Yes, you did.”

  “Did what?” He confused her.

  “You came here for something sexual. If you didn’t want that, you would have sent a note.”

  Brianne shook her head. “I have no intention of having sex. Ever. I’ve never had sex. Not with a man.”

  Aiden’s smile widened. “Then you’ve had it with a woman?”

  Brianne gasped. “No, of course not.”

  “There’s no shame in enjoying a woman.”

  “I meant that I’d gone to the clinic,” she said hastily. “I’m not a virgin. But I’ve never …”

  “Had a man inside you,” Aiden finished. “Had his cock fill you until you groaned with it, never had him make your pussy wet.”

  A vision suddenly shot into her mind of Ky buried deep inside her, his muscled arms bunching as he drove himself into her. Aiden would hold Brianne’s head in his lap, hands soothing as Ky fucked her.

  And fucked was not a word Brianne d’Aroth was used to using. They were doing something to her, the pair of them.

  Mirth danced in Aiden’s eyes as though he knew what she’d just thought. The two of them had every intention of doing something to her, his look said.

  “Remove your clothes,” Ky said. “I’m losing patience.”

  “I’d do it,” Aiden advised. He caressed the glass stopper of the bottle, finger moving lovingly around it.

  Brianne’s heart pounded. “What if someone comes in?”

  “They won’t,” Aiden said. “This train is mostly empty, only a few hardy souls in the back who don’t look like they’ll move until the last stop. We’re alone.”

  Ky added in a soft voice, “If they do come in, what will they see? You naked for us?”

  Brianne blushed. She’d never been bare in front of anyone but her doctor, a middle-aged woman who saw the human body as a collection of biological components. Never in front of a man, or anyone who’d be interested in her in a sexual way. She didn’t know anyone interested in her in a sexual way. Certainly not Dranis.

  Ky took another step toward her. Brianne looked at his large hands and could almost hear the fabric of her robes tearing. She grasped the top clasp. “All right. I’m stripping.”

  She touched the catch that held her robes in place and the magnetic seals came apart. She wore no body monitors, having removed them and left them in her apartment. She’d left her pagers, too. She’d told her
bodyguard that she would spend the rest of the afternoon and evening meditating and didn’t want to be disturbed. Everyone on her staff understood, thinking Brianne needed to recover from her “ordeal” yesterday.

  She’d come out here alone with no way for her bodyguards to find her. She had to be out of her mind.

  But they were Shareem. They couldn’t harm her. Their programming made it so that they would do only what Brianne wanted.

  In their own special way.

  The look on Ky’s face told her that he’d push the boundaries as far as possible, never technically violating his programming.

  Brianne let her robes fall, catching them before they could touch the floor. Aiden took them from her, smoothing them over a seat. Beneath the robes Brianne wore a plain sleeveless tunic of costly fabric that hugged her body.

  She sensed their pheromones rise as they looked at her. Ky had a definite bulge in his leather leggings, and Aiden’s eyes were brilliant blue. Two Shareem males aroused.

  Because of her.

  It was exciting making men excited. Dranis had never been excited in his life.

  “Keep stripping,” Ky said.

  Brianne put her hand to the clasp at the back of her neck. “I am betrothed,” she said.

  Aiden nodded. “We know. We saw it on the digitals. You could have brought him along.”

  The idea of Dranis going anywhere near Shareem or having sexual thoughts at all made her snort with laughter. “That would never happen.”

  “He wouldn’t give you pleasure?” Aiden asked, sounding genuinely curious.

  “Not Dranis. I am not marrying for that.”

  “Why then?”

  “She’s highborn,” Ky said in disgust. “She’s the highest-born of all. They never marry because they like someone.”

  “I have to,” Brianne flared. “I have to make this marriage. It’s expected of me.”

  “So you picked him out, why?” Ky asked. “Because he wouldn’t bother you too much?”

  “You know nothing about it.”

  “I know more than you think.”

  They stopped, Brianne breathing hard, Ky holding her gaze.

  “Leave her be, Ky,” Aiden said softly.

  To Brianne’s surprise, Ky shot Aiden a sideways look and fell silent. Aiden caressed the bottle again and for some reason Brianne felt soothed, as though he’d stroked her skin.

  “Highborn women,” Ky said again though his voice was not as harsh. “You almost got Aiden terminated and you didn’t even know it.”

  “My bodyguards acted without my authority, as I said. They thought I was in danger.”

  “Good thing our friends found out,” Ky said. “Or you might have apologized to Aiden too late. I would have lost my best friend. Does that mean anything to you?”

  “Of course it does. I would have felt terrible. I already do feel terrible.”

  Ky shot Aiden an ironic look. “It would have upset her. Poor little thing.”

  “Ky,” Aiden said in a warning tone.

  Ky ignored him. “What are you going to do to make it up to us?”

  “What do you want me to do? I’m very wealthy as you keep pointing out. I can make a generous donation to anything you wish. I truly want to apologize.”

  “As if money could make up for it,” Ky said.

  Aiden lifted his hand. “Hey, wait a minute. I like money.”

  Ky reached into a pocket and pulled out what looked like short strips of leather attached to a handle. Brianne’s eyes widened. “What is that?”

  “A flogger. Are you brave enough to take it?”

  Brianne’s gaze fixed on the leather. “To take what?”

  “Your punishment. You said you wanted to make it up to us.”

  “And that will clear things between us?”

  “It will be a start,” Ky said.

  The blue in Aiden’s eyes had widened again. Ky was partly right—they truly had suffered, and she should have been more observant about what her bodyguards were up to. It had been her responsibility. If it made them happy to have Ky spank her with the flogger, then …

  She swallowed. Spank. Flogger. Oh gods.

  Ky sent her a small smile. “Are you brave enough, little princess?”

  “I’m not a princess.”

  “You are in everything but name. Pampered, spoiled, highborn, hiding behind shielded walls. Can you take a Shareem?”

  “Of course I can.” Lassitude, excitement, worry, and need rolled together to make her shake.

  “Can you? Show me.”

  Ky didn’t believe her. He expected her to cry off, to tell them to stop, to snatch up her robes and run to the back of the train where other passengers lingered. He’d brought her here, fully believing she’d never go through with it. His half-smile told her so.

  Enraged, Brianne grabbed clasp at the back of her tunic and wrenched it open.

  The tunic unfastened automatically and Brianne pulled it off, along with her underwear. She did it quickly, nearly ripping the garments in the process.

  Ky thought she was afraid, did he? A weak highborn woman too timid to strip in front of a Shareem, too weak to take the attentions of a level three?

  She was completely naked before she realized what she’d done.

  Aiden roved his gaze up and down Brianne’s body, his face still. “Now that is perfection.”

  Cool air touched Brianne’s skin and her clit began to tingle. The sun had gone, the sky darkening, streaked with burning pink.

  Brianne was naked in a train. In front of two Shareem.

  Ky didn’t waste time admiring her. “Turn around and put your hands on that pole.” He indicated a vertical pole attached to the end of a seat. “Above your head.”

  Brianne obeyed. She’d kept her shoes on, soft embroidered slippers made for an afternoon’s meditation. They made no noise as she walked over to the pole. Drawing a breath she grasped the cold metal, her arms reaching high.

  She felt them behind her even as her fingers closed around the hard pole. Ky in cool leather touched her on one side, Aiden in linen that smelled of male and scented oil touched her on the other.

  A strange relaxation tapped her, rendering her limbs warm and loose. Shareem pheromones poured over her, making her nipples tighten and her opening wetter than she’d ever felt it.

  Her lassitude ended with a gasp when Ky wrapped leather tethers around her wrists and secured them to the pole.

  She turned to him, eyes wide, but he didn’t look at her. His tunic creaked as he moved, his eyes as intensely blue as Aiden’s.

  Aiden removed the stopper from his bottle, scenting the air with dark spice and flowers. “Do you like this one?” he asked. “I have others. This one seems to fit you.”

  The odor reminded Brianne of the jasmine that flowered in her force-shielded garden as well as cinnamon and cardamom, expensive spices shipped in from off-planet. Cinnamon and cardamom were her favorites.

  “Yes,” she said softly.

  Aiden poured a stream of oil into his palm then eased the scented warmth onto her skin. A feeling of deep contentment mixed with excitement swirled through her.

  Aiden’s strong hands smoothed her shoulders and down her sides, then across her waist and upward to her breasts. His fingers slid over her nipples, teasing them into points.

  “You like this.” His breath touched her ear.

  Who wouldn’t?

  “Oh yes.”

  “Enjoy it,” Ky said. He’d moved to her side again, leather brushing her skin. His eyes had filled with blue.

  He flicked his gaze to Aiden, and she thought she saw a brief spark of pain. He caught her focus on him and quickly masked his expression.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked.

  “Because you had us arrested,” Ky answered.

  “And then you let us out,” Aiden said.

  “I couldn’t let you die,” Brianne said quickly. “It wasn’t fair. You’re not animals.”

  “So many t
hink we are.” Ky’s body brushed hers, his erection obvious.

  “I don’t.”

  “She has a kind heart,” Aiden said. “I can feel it.” He pressed his hands under her breasts and laughed softly.

  Ky slid a broad hand along her oiled belly and twined his fingers with Aiden’s. “It’s beating so fast.”

  “I can’t help it,” Brianne said.

  “She likes when we both touch her, “Aiden said. “She likes two men.”

  Brianne gulped. “Two? I’ve never even been with one.”

  Their hands moved together over her breasts, Ky’s callused and hard, Aiden’s strong but gentle. Heat pooled in Brianne’s belly and between her legs, and she moved her hips, thrusting without knowing why.

  “I think she wants something,” Aiden said, a smile in his voice.

  Without speaking, the two let their hands rove across the sensitive skin of her lower abdomen and brush the curls at her pussy. She pressed her hips forward, wanting to rub herself on their hands.

  “Lovely,” Aiden murmured.

  The scent of the oil and the touch of the Shareem made her lethargic. They were able to do that, Brianne had read, calm a woman with their touch. She certainly needed to be calmed. As the train swayed through the darkening desert, her heart beat rapidly, and her body felt like fire.

  Their fingers tangled at the join of her legs, Ky’s touch rougher than Aiden’s. Touch me, touch me. Please don’t stop touching me.

  “She’s going to come,” Ky’s voice held curiosity. “So soon.”

  “Do you want to come, Brianne?” Aiden whispered.

  “Yes.” She moved her hips. Last night, she’d climaxed for the first time since she’d made herself stop exploring her body under the bedclothes years ago. Now, once again, she was at the breaking point, wanting, needing, to come.

  “Not until I allow it.” Ky’s mouth pressed her ear, his rough whiskers against her cheek. “You are not allowed to come until I give you permission.”

  Brianne whimpered. She needed release. Her skin burned, her blood so hot.

  “Do you want to come?” Aiden asked again. His voice was soft, low, soothing.