Wiping his eyes, his erection still hot and heavy, Ky stalked to the bathroom where it took him a half hour to coax water from the reluctant pipes.
When he returned from his unsatisfying shower, he found Aiden dressed and watching a digital, the sound turned up to be heard over the storm. A sheet protruded from the crack in the shutters and only a tiny trickle of sand spattered to the floor.
The two did not speak for the rest of the night.
*** *** ***
The train left Elred after dawn, carrying people into the city to work. There was one first class car, and Brianne was its only occupant.
She sat back in the private compartment and sighed as the train headed for open desert. She couldn’t quite believe she’d ridden in this train last evening in the working-class car and let two Shareem pleasure her.
When Brianne’ had awakened this morning she’d groggily imagined it a dream, but when she’d come fully awake, the reality rushed back at her. She lay in a bland hotel room instead of her own bed, and she had indeed let Ky tie her to a cool pole and slap her with a flogger.
Brianne blushed at the memory, but part of her warmed in excitement.
She’d called Harbourgh and informed him that she’d stayed in Elred overnight so as not to interrupt her meditation. Her head bodyguard’s look had said, whatever, but he’d murmured a respectful, “Yes, m’lady.”
Brianne thought of the slick feel of Aiden’s hands spreading oil on her body, the growling impatience of Ky, the sting of leather across her backside, the way her heart had leapt when Aiden and Ky had kissed each other in front of her.
Their tongues had probed each other’s mouths, eyes closing. It never would have occurred to Brianne that seeing men kissing each other would turn her on so.
Then again, they had been two very attractive, sexy men.
Ky had a rugged sexiness that Brianne would never quite forget. His growling voice, his hard body, the way his blue gaze bore right into her, would stay with her. Aiden’s sinful handsomeness also made her heart flutter, but not in the same way as Ky’s did.
Gods, please don’t tell me I’m falling for a bondage master who hates me for imprisoning his best friend.
Brianne couldn’t fall for anyone. I’m getting married and will create a daughter who will head committees and smile for the digitals.
The girl-child would have the best combination of genes from herself and Dranis. That meant she’d have brown hair and brown eyes and a pleasant face, not too pretty, because women of Bor Narga should admire her but not be jealous of her.
Why did Brianne suddenly see a toddling girl-child with bright blue eyes and a winsome Shareem-like smile? She’d be adorable.
She stopped the thought. Shareem couldn’t impregnate women—they were forbidden to on threat of death. They had inoculations every half year to keep them infertile.
Why is this the first time I’ve thought that practice cruel?
Brianne could do something about it. She was Brianne d’Aroth, and she had the power of her position. She was good at helping make the lives of the poor and working class a little better, why not the lives of Shareem?
Would anyone listen to her if they knew she’d just enjoyed letting two Shareem pleasure her? Or would they think her as besotted as Talan d’Urvey?
The difference was, Talan had boldly stayed with her Shareem and married him. It was likely Brianne would never see hers again.
Why do I think of them as mine? They are the ones who coerced me out here. I couldn’t possess them if I tried.
Strange that the world saw them as sex slaves when they were so clearly in charge of any encounter.
A sense of someone watching her broke these troubling thoughts. Brianne turned to see Aiden in the corridor outside her compartment, his fingers pressed to the window.
He studied her like he might study a strange plant specimen in a botanical exhibit, head tilted to one side, lips twitching as though he might burst out laughing any minute. He smiled a broad smile when Brianne looked at him, then he made a face against the window, and she laughed.
She touched the control to noiselessly slide open the door panel. “Please come in. There’s plenty of room.”
Aiden’s tall body dwarfed the doorway. “Shareem aren’t allowed in first class. I was on my way to the loo. There’s a line at the one in the other car.”
“Why should you ride on crowded benches when you can sit on cushions? I’ll pay the difference in fares.”
Aiden’s grin widened. “Hey, I could get used to being your boy toy.” He winked. “You sneak me in here, and I’ll do it.”
“Ky as well.”
His smile faded. “Ky’s in one hell of a bad mood this morning. But I’ll tell him.”
He sent her another warm glance then turned and sauntered away. He certainly knew how to make a woman look at every inch his body. Brianne closed the door again and waited, wondering if he’d come back—with or without Ky.
Brianne d’Aroth never broke the rules. And now here she was allowing not one but two Shareem into her train compartment. She doubted the train attendant would refuse to let a member of the d’Aroth family do as she would, but if her grandmother ever found out …
Twenty-eight years old and I’m still worried about being called out by my grandmother.
But Clothilde d’Aroth, ruler of Bor Narga, was a formidable woman and didn’t take embarrassment to the family lightly.
Aiden did return twenty minutes later, Ky in tow. Well, maybe not in tow. Ky proceeded him by five paces, his face dark.
The compartment had seemed roomy, but when Aiden and Ky arranged themselves on the sofa opposite her, they nearly crowded her out. Aiden stretched out his long legs and rested his head on Ky’s shoulder. Ky folded his arms and stared out the window. Clearly Aiden had talked fast and long to get Ky to come here at all.
Brianne touched a control to gray out the windows for privacy. She’d already darkened the outside windows against the glare of the morning sun, though they could still watch the scenery rushing by. She offered them chilled wine from the small bar built into the wall, which Aiden gulped down with relish and Ky refused.
“So this is how the rich travel,” Aiden said, returning the crystal goblet to its holder. He sat back again, smothering a yawn. “Sorry. I always fall asleep in trains.”
“Except yesterday,” Brianne said.
Aiden grinned, his eyelids drooping. “I had something fun to do yesterday.”
Ky said nothing. He leaned his shoulder against the wall and blatantly looked out the window. Most people’s eyes flickered as they tried to focus on things rushing past on a train, but Ky’s remained fixed.
Aiden yawned again. His eyes closed, and he slumped onto Ky’s shoulder and was soon snoring softly. Ky sat in silence, not looking at Brianne.
The train swayed on its hover track, buffeted by wind left over from last night’s sandstorm. Aiden swayed with it, lost in sleep, his blond hair falling over Ky’s shoulder.
When Ky turned his head and looked down at his friend, his face softened. The look was almost imperceptible but Brianne, studying every nuance of Ky, saw it.
“You care for him, don’t you?” she asked.
Ky flicked his gaze to her. His eyes looked almost normal now, irises no longer expanded in arousal. But Shareem eyes would never be quite “normal.” They were larger than most men’s and made to shine with seductiveness, to pin a woman in place at all times.
Ky didn’t answer, and Brianne went on. “That is why you are so angry with me. For getting him arrested and putting him in danger.”
“Aiden is my friend.”
The harsh words dragged out of him. Aiden slept on, eyes heavy and closed.
“I read that Shareem didn’t have emotions,” Brianne said. “Or not much anyway. But that’s wrong, isn’t it?”
Ky scowled at her. “Why were you reading about Shareem?”
“Because I know nothing about them. My ignorance o
f you almost got you killed. That makes me feel ashamed.”
Brianne wanted to tell him, I learned, I understand, I want to help, but his forbidding gaze made her close her lips.
“All Shareem were nearly killed twenty years ago because of d’Aroths,” Ky said. “They shut down the labs, threatened to terminate the lab rats.”
“I know. That’s why I’m ashamed.”
Ky studied her from under lowered brows, his mouth a grim line. Last night he’d spanked her and kissed her and touched her. He’d wanted to chastise her, punish her the only way he knew how.
Aiden had been there for pleasure alone. He’d forgiven Brianne already, she sensed, but maybe Ky never would.
“You care for him,” she repeated. “Why shouldn’t you?”
Ky studied Aiden’s head against his shoulder. “Because it’s forbidden.” He said it like she ought to know that.
“To care?”
Ky transferred his gaze to the empty landscape outside the window. “To fall in love with another Shareem.” He gave a harsh laugh. “We wouldn’t pay much attention to anyone else if we did, would we? We’d be lost in each other. And the designers didn’t want that.”
“Because you were supposed to please other people.”
“Because they’d have lost money.” His voice grated. “We please everyone but ourselves.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t care.”
He sat still, a large man in black leather, his dark hair still damp. They’d stayed in a place with a primitive water shower, she realized, while she’d had sterilizers and a soft bed.
“Why should you care what Shareem feel about each other?” Ky growled. “Or are you going to write a research paper? What I saw Shareem do with each other in a train?”
Brianne flushed. “I would never do that. What happened between us last evening is private.”
“Is it? Or will your bodyguards arrest us when we get off the train for daring to touch your pristine body?”
“It was my choice. I had to give you permission to touch me.”
“Would the patrollers believe that? They like to think of us as walking menaces to women.”
“Then why did you take the risk?” Brianne snapped. “Why entice me to the train?”
Ky grinned briefly, and she saw a flash of what he was really like—intelligent and good-humored when he wasn’t angry. “It was worth it.”
“Because you wanted to punish me.” Brianne drew a breath. “I know you see me as an upper-class bitch, but I want you to believe I would never betray you. What we did yesterday will hold a special place in my heart. Please, let’s leave it like that. It was …” She flushed. “It was wonderful. You knew that once I had a taste of Shareem I’d always crave it. But you made me feel wonderful. Wanted.” She paused. “Thank you.”
“You sure you mean thank you, not fuck off?”
“Very sure.”
Ky looked her up and down, a scrutiny that took in every line of her, every defect, every flaw. In spite of herself she felt his chemistry touch her, relaxing her when she wanted to remain tense.
“You’re not like I thought you’d be.” He sounded grudging.
“How did you think I’d be?”
Again the once-over. Brianne might be the highborn woman, member of the ruling family, and Ky a slave in all but name, but he had the upper hand here and he knew it. He filled the first-class compartment not only with his large body and his Shareem chemistry, but with his glittering eyes, his voice, his power.
“I thought you’d be spoiled. Petulant. An upper-class bitch, like you said.”
The words stung and so did the look. “I suppose I can’t blame you,” Brianne said. “I try not to let how I was raised make me insensitive, but it probably does without me realizing it.”
Ky grunted. “Must be hell being rich and pampered.”
“I can’t help what I was born to be any more than you can.”
He slanted her an ironic glance. “Sure you can. You can say to hell with this and move off-planet any time you want. People will be pissed at you, but they won’t try to kill you.”
Brianne thought of her grandmother’s steely eyes and the admonishing messages she’d receive if she embarrassed the family by turning her back on them. “Perhaps not, but there’d still be repercussions.”
“If you’re trying to tell me we’re just alike, you lose. You were raised in a glittering palace. I was raised in a hellhole.”
“DNAmo?”
“That’s the one. We ate the healthiest foods and were treated like priceless art, but it was still a hellhole.”
“What was it like? I want to know.”
Brianne felt old anger radiate from him, pain that time hadn’t erased. “What do you want to hear about? Growth acceleration so you matured in five years instead of twenty? Then slowed way down? When it killed Shareem too weak to handle it, the scientists said, oh well, bring in the next batch.”
Brianne stared, appalled. “That’s horrible.”
“Yeah, especially when it was someone who’d been your friend.” Ky’s voice softened a notch. “Then tests, people watching you to see how you react, more tests.”
“Physical tests?”
Brianne imagined the kind of tests Shareem might be put through—strength, endurance, honing of muscles, bodies working and sweating. Sexual tests too. What enticed them, what didn’t, what they could do to women. Being a researcher there must have been … interesting.
“And psychological ones,” Ky went on, his look somber. “What you’d do if you were kept in isolation. If someone you’d grown to like was taken away from you.”
“Some people might call that torture,” Brianne said indignantly.
“You might. DNAmo called it science.”
“It was wrong.”
“You think?”
“Perhaps that was why DNAmo was shut down,” Brianne said. “Enough people objected to what they were doing.”
Ky shook his head. “It was shut down because stiff-necked d’Aroth women couldn’t face what DNAmo was creating—men who might make women succumb to sexual desires. When the d’Aroths disapproved, the investors started to lose money and so did DNAmo.” Ky made a dismissive gesture. “So we had to go.”
“I’m sorry.”
Brianne felt silly saying it, because she’d been a child when DNAmo had been shut down and the Shareem experiments outlawed. She’d had nothing personally to do with it closing, but Ky was right that women in her family had made the recommendation. She’d seen the d’Aroth name on the reports concerning DNAmo’s closure and decisions on what to do with the Shareem.
“Stop apologizing,” Ky said. His eyes softened, and Brianne felt his pheromones touch her as though he were trying to soothe her. “You paid us back last night. We’re square. We’re done.”
“Because I let you coerce me onto the train?”
To her surprise Ky gave her a small smile. It was incredible how a smile warmed his face.
“No sweetheart, that was for you.”
“I thought you were punishing me.”
“I was.” The smile turned sinful. “Punishing you. But I’m Shareem. It’s programmed into me to make you feel pleasure, no matter how much I want to punish. It almost killed me to tease you and walk away. You found release twice. I had to hold it in a while.”
Her gaze dropped to his leather-covered lap. “Why did you walk away? Why didn’t you release?”
His smile remained, though his eyes were watchful. “Would have spoiled everything, wouldn’t it? You were bad and we wanted to discipline you a little. But you got us back, sweetheart. We were dying for you.”
Ky’s blue irises started to widen. Arousal. Which made warmth pool in Brianne’s belly.
What was he talking about? They’d been so calm and cool walking away from her last night that she’d never dreamed she’d turned them on.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“You like to apologize.”
“Only because I’m level three. The punisher. I want you to want your punishment.”
Brianne rubbed her damp palms over her thighs, resisting the urge to push her fingers between her legs. She wet her lips and asked softly, “How would you punish me right now?”
She sensed Ky’s attention snap to her, his anger fading under growing heat. “Bold lady, aren’t you?”
“I want to be.”
“Are you sure?”
Brianne nodded.
“Why?”
Brianne’s temperature rose as his gaze riveted to her mouth. “You gave me such pleasure yesterday. I want to learn how to give pleasure in return.”
The air in the compartment was very still as Ky stared at her. “What would you do with your lesson once you learned it?”
“I’m not sure. But I want to learn.”
“Aiden’s a better teacher than me. He can be gentle.”
Brianne shook her head. “No. I want you.”
Ky studied her another moment with an unreadable expression. Then he abruptly loosened the catches of his leather leggings. “All right, if you want it so bad, come here and get on your knees.”
He pulled open his fly, then rose long enough to slide his pants down his legs, and sat back down again.
Brianne stared in shock at the dark shaft that lay hard and full against his abdomen. For a full minute she couldn’t speak, trapped in her first true look at a man’s sex.
“You know how to kneel, don’t you?” Ky asked.
Brianne glanced at Aiden, but the other man continued to sleep, his legs outstretched, his head firmly on Ky’s shoulder. Slowly Brianne gathered up her layers of robes and knelt in front of Ky’s spread thighs.
His cock lay there, huge and hard, waiting for her. Brianne stared at it in fascination.
She’d learned something about male organs in school, but the physiology teacher had skimmed over the lesson, implying that men were ashamed that they had such things attached to their bodies. Brianne had never seen real bare male flesh, and she suspected the teacher never had either.
Shareem had been enhanced to be longer than a normal man and a large handful around. A tight fit, but the way Brianne’s opening ached now, she imagined herself easily widening for Ky to slide inside her.
Tales of the Shareem, Volume 1 Page 42