Avren: An Auxem Novel

by Lisa Lace

  "How can we convince Branigan that everything is fine," I said to Mana as we sat in my office. "He's driving me crazy by nosing around."

  "Well, everything is not fine," she pointed out.

  "Yes, but it has to SEEM fine. There will be widespread panic if the humans or even the Susohnnan find out what you and I know."

  "How about we have a party?" she said, fiddling with the zipper on her blue coveralls. They were standard issue, and everyone was wearing them, except me. I'm exempt from rules like that because I'm the king. Of course, I was getting tired of either staying inside or changing my clothes every time I stepped out the door.

  "A party? What are you talking about?"

  "People who are throwing a party aren't worried about anything. It will convince him that the situation here is secure. You are here to meet another group for negotiations. He'll see that we are setting up shop, getting comfortable. It'll give the males a chance to find mates. You're not the only one in the middle of his mating cycle, sir," she said, not meeting my eye.

  "Well, fine, then. Organize a party. But I'm going."

  "You can't go to a party, your highness. With the commoners? I don't think so."

  She gave me a Look.

  "Not as myself. I'll put on one of those ugly blue coveralls." I gestured towards her outfit and she grimaced. "I haven't shaved, so I have a beard, which is not how I usually look in the publicity shots. I'll put on one of those caps the commoners like to wear, and I'll blend right in."

  She looked at me incredulously.

  "You. The king. You're going to blend right in?"

  "Sure. I can act like a commoner."

  "As your Senior Advisor, I don't recommend this course of action, sir."

  "You don't think I can pull it off?"

  She looked skeptical. Turning, she walked to the window.

  "Aw, give me a break, Mana. I'm tired of women falling all over me." I walked over to stand beside her at the window. The never-ending dust blew past, making everything gritty. "I know it sounds stupid. But they're just so...agreeable. To anything and everything. I'd like to hear the word no once in a while, you know what I mean?"

  She turned towards me, and her look had softened.

  "I guess I do. It can't be easy doing what you do, sir."

  A ray of hope shone in.

  "So, you're going to let me go?" I trusted Mana's decisions. If she told me it would be stupid to go, then I wouldn't go. But I wouldn't be happy. Or, I might overrule her suggestion but when I did that, it usually ended badly.

  She huffed out her breath.

  "As if I could stop you," she said, rolling her eyes.

  KENNA

  "I don't trust those Susohnnan, Kenna. They're up to something, just showing up on the planet like this." Mr. Branigan coughed for a long moment, then resumed his pacing back and forth. "First they order our evacuation. Then they cancel it. There's something going on. I just know it."

  "But what could they possibly be up to, Mr. Branigan?" I said, knowing he expected me to ask the question. I didn't care, though. As long as I could keep living this new life, I didn't give a flying fuck what the Susohnnan were doing.

  "I don't know."

  And what does this have to do with me, I thought but didn't say out loud. Mack got to the point when he darn well felt like it.

  "That's where you come in, dear."

  "Me?"

  "As the youngest of the human women, I thought that you could help us figure out what these aliens are up to."

  "You mean like a spy? You haven't trained me in subterfuge, you know."

  Mr. Branigan looked at me with an appraising eye. "We had hoped that your appearance would make it harder for anyone to suspect you."

  Wait. Youngest, sure. The other women that had come were in their fifties or sixties — scientists mostly. But my appearance? Did he mean pretty? Surely he couldn't be talking about me.

  "Yes, yes. You'll dress up like a Susohn female and go and mingle."

  "Mingle."

  "At the party they have tonight."

  "But won't they know I'm human?"

  He made a tsking sound.

  "Have you paid attention to any of the news reports? The Susohnnan are genetically identical to humans. We are all descended from the same race, Kenna. There is no way to tell the difference between one of them and one of us."

  "Oh."

  "Well, except their scar," he added as an afterthought. "They have some strange ritual that they go through. It's a rite of passage. And they are given a scar on the left hip. But no one is going to see your hip under your clothes, so you'll be fine."

  I stared at him.

  "Right. And what happens they discover me?"

  "Well, they won't hurt you. They're a peaceful race. That's why they've had so much trouble with the AEA at Wormhole 87. They're not willing to blast them."

  I made a noncommittal noise.

  "If they discovered you, tell them that you wanted to have a little fun and that you didn't mean anything by it."

  Well, that was true. And I could use something different. That was the only thing missing from my new and improved life: the kind of experience that a party provided. I glanced over at Mr. Branigan. He walked across the room and picked up a bag.

  "Here are some of their clothes and jewelry for you to wear." He held out the bag.

  He wasn't asking me. He was telling me.

  I shrugged internally. So be it. I guess I couldn't complain about being ordered to go to a party. He could have ordered me to do a lot worse things.

  "Sounds like fun," I said, smiling at him and taking the bag.

  He looked me over for a long moment, and his gaze made me a little uncomfortable.

  "Yes, well. Don't have too much fun, Kenna, dear."

  When I came out of the shower, I looked into the bag Mr. Branigan had given me for the first time. I reached in and pulled out a strange silky material — the seamstress made it from Susohnnan fabric. Just holding it in my hand made me feel sexy. That reminded me of what Jaylan and Mr. Branigan had said about me the other day.

  I went back into the bathroom and shut the door. There was a full- length mirror there. I bit my lip and dropped the towel.

  Was that me?

  Since I had left Earth, I hadn't had much time to consider my appearance. And I had been so happy here that I hadn't thought about it at all. I just hopped in the shower every morning, wrapped myself in a towel, and got dressed. I was too caught up in my new job to worry about how I looked.

  But Branigan was right. During the long ride here, doctors put us in an unconscious state called stasis. Stasis enforced a fast on my body, which took a few inches off. I wasn't skinny by any stretch of the imagination, but my breasts were full and round as they had always been, and the swell of my hips seemed provocative now, instead of frumpy.

  Curves, he'd said. In all the right places, he'd said. And he'd like to get his hands on my sweet...My sweet what? The thought of his hands on my sweet something made my breath come a little faster.

  Maybe after this party, I would have to pop by Jaylan's quarters and see if he was up for some fun tonight, too. It had been a long time, but I was pretty sure I still remembered how to do it.

  After a moment, I drew my gaze away from my surprisingly sexy body and returned to the other room. I put on my boring white underwear and bra and slipped the red dress over my head. It was long and flowed to the tips of my bare toes.

  There were no sleeves and the sides of the dress were cut away, exposing the soft pale skin of my torso. There was a gold braid belt that tied around my hips and a necklace with a golden triangle on it that I fastened around my neck.

  I brushed my long brown hair till it shone and then pulled it into a high ponytail on the top of my head and fastened the gold piece to cover the elastic. The straight hair flowed down my back, tickling my butt, even when it was pulled up like that. I had always thought that my chestnut locks were beautiful.

&nbs
p; I went back into the bathroom to see the result and was shocked to see that I looked so much like one of them. I did feel as though I were a spy. I mean, maybe I was exaggerating a little bit. It's not like we were at war with the Susohn.

  But they looked down on us. And they thought that our government was behind the terrorist attacks on their precious Wormhole 87. They were stuck up and thought they were better than us. And the last thing I wanted to do was spend a night among them.

  But work was work. And I didn't have a choice. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. Maybe Jaylan would like being with an alien if I had the guts to go find him later.

  "You seem very nice, but I'm not leaving the party yet." I had only been here for an hour, and these guys had been trying to chat me up for the past twenty minutes. I had enjoyed it at first, but now they were starting to bother me.

  "Aw, Miss. Give a guy a break. You're looking awfully good in that dress. And your necklace says your single. You're not on your cycle, are you?"

  I blushed. What? Why was this guy asking if I was menstruating? Oh, I guess I couldn't sleep with him if I was on my period. Still, it seemed like a weird thing to ask. Even for the Susohn.

  "No, I'm not. But that's beside the point."

  The other guy moved a little closer, making me uncomfortable. I stepped back, but I was against the bar.

  "If you're not on your cycle, then we don't have to worry. We're not either."

  Now we had moved from my cycle to their cycle? I was getting completely confused. Maybe Branigan should have briefed me more on their culture.

  "And we don't mind sharing a female, either, do we, Sanran?"

  "No, not as long as we both get some." The other man leered at me.

  Okay, this was getting out of hand now. I tried to push through them, but they were big guys, and they were not moving. And one of them took it as an excuse to grope me.

  I slapped him hard, feeling afraid. I didn't know anyone here, and there was no one to help me. Maybe I didn't want to be pretty if it meant I had to deal with assholes.

  "Get out of here, right now," I heard a commanding voice saying from behind the two men. They turned. The looks on their faces clearly said 'Fuck off.'

  "We saw her first. She's ours."

  "A female belongs to no one but herself. You are disgracing the Susohnnan with your behavior."

  "Yeah, well, don't tell the king," one of the men joked.

  "I will not tell him. He already knows. He is everywhere."

  The men were silent.

  "You know what the penalty is for disrespect."

  The men shuffled their feet and glanced at each other.

  "We were just leaving."

  "Yeah, I'm tired of this party already."

  I watched as they practically tripped over themselves leaving the room. Then I turned to say thanks and was blown away.

  He was tall. Over six feet. And he wore the blue coveralls but with three or four of the buttons undone, leaving a tantalizing view of his well-muscled chest. I immediately wanted to run my hands all over him.

  Kenna. Get yourself under control, I chided myself.

  He was staring at me too, and I suddenly realized I had forgotten my manners in the midst of ogling him. What would Gran think?

  "Hey, thanks. I appreciate your help. Those guys were getting a little out of hand."

  "No problem," the man said and I noticed that the hair that was curling out from under his cap was black. "They should be ashamed of themselves. No Susohn male is ever to act that way. No matter what time of the month it is. The king will deal with them."

  I nodded, not knowing what to say. What were they talking about? I was too ignorant of these people to be a good spy.

  I looked up at the man and realized I hadn't introduced myself. I was acting like a twelve-year-old at her first dance.

  "My name is Kenna." Mr. Branigan had thought it best to use my real name — less chance of screwing up.

  "Kenna. Nice to meet you. My name is Dar. Would you like a drink?"

  DAR

  After an hour or so of dancing and hanging out with the sweet little female, I was getting seriously horny. I had to know whether this was going anywhere or not. Because if it wasn't, I needed to set my sights on someone else. I could feel the pressure building.

  But I sincerely hoped that she wouldn't say no. I had to admit that this Kenna had enchanted me. All I wanted was to touch her and hold her. After our last close dance that had been pushing the line of what was acceptable in public, I broached the subject.

  "Kenna," I said. I like being straightforward. "Would you like to come back to my quarters for a nightcap?"

  She was in the act of taking a drink, and she froze with her glass halfway to her lush, pink lips. "A nightcap?" She repeated my words faintly, and she blinked as if surprised.

  "I'd like you to come back to my place so that we can..."

  I paused so that she wouldn't miss my meaning.

  "...get to know each other better."

  She blinked and put her drink back on the bar.

  "You want me to go home with you?" she said as if she couldn't believe it.

  "Obviously it's your choice but I hope you'll come with me."

  "Of course it's my choice." She said as if she finally believed what I was saying. "And I think I will go with you."

  "You will?" Now it was my turn not to believe it. She had seemed taken aback by my proposal. But her eyes took on a distinctly seductive look, and my groin tightened at the sight.

  "I most definitely will. Let's get out of here."

  Mana had set up an empty set of rooms for me to use. I couldn't have an unknown female coming into my real quarters. I scanned my eyes at the door to let me in.

  As soon as we were through the door, I had her up against it and was kissing her thoroughly, so she would have no illusions about what was going to go on here tonight. After a minute, I let up, and she looked at me, dazed with lust. At least, I hoped it was lust.

  "Wow," she said.

  "You are sure you want to do this?"

  She nodded.

  "Say it."

  "I want to do this."

  "Because if you don't want me, then please leave now. At this time of the month and I can't guarantee that I'll be able to stop at any time after this."

  It was the standard speech. Susohn males were trained to be very clear about what they needed during their mating cycle. We needed verbal permission from the woman, and we needed to make sure she came first - though, really, that last one was good for any mating time.

  When it wasn't our cycle time, it was possible to stop at any point during sex. It was unpleasant, but we could do it. But during the mating cycle, we were driven to seek orgasm and once we began it was almost impossible to stop.

  She nodded again, eyes wide.

  "Do you want to go?"

  "No."

  "Do you want me to make love to you?"

  She swallowed.

  "Yes. Please."

  I noticed her full breasts were rising and falling quickly, and she was breathing rapidly.

  "All right then. Where were we?"

  I leaned in, and she wrapped her arms around me.

  KENNA

  I was more than a little taken aback when he made me say out loud that I wanted him to take me. And I have to admit that if he had not aroused me before, then that would have done it.

  "All right then," he said, moving towards me, his dark eyes piercing me. "Where were we?"

  He pulled me tight against him, and I linked my hands behind his head. I kissed him with all the passion I had held inside for all these lonely years. Sure, there had been the odd boyfriend, but honestly, they had all been losers. Not like Dar. He was a man. Well, technically he was a Susohn but I wasn't splitting hairs at the moment. He was exactly the same as an Earth man where it counted, and that was all I needed right now.

  After a few minutes of kissing, he took my hand and led me to the bedroom.
I had never had a one night stand before but this felt right. And wasn't I supposed to be out living life and having fun? Wasn't I supposed to be reinventing myself? Well, I wanted to be shagged rotten by this handsome, sexy, guy, and I was going to do it.

  He began to drop my dress off my shoulder when I remembered about the scar.

  Shit.

  I couldn't fake that. I wasn't supposed to be getting naked with anyone so they could see my left hip. What was I going to do now? He couldn't see that I was a human. That would kill the mood.

  "Can we turn off the lights?" I murmured. "I'm a little shy."

  "Why, sweetie? You're beautiful. I want to see you."

  "Please?" I did my best to look beseechingly at him, hoping it would work.

  He sighed.

  "Okay, if that's what it takes for you to feel comfortable. But know this, Kenna..."

  I held my breath, as he gazed into my eyes.

  "I do want to see every gorgeous curve of you. And I will make love to you in the light." He whispered words into my ear with his hot breath and my treacherous, unscarred hips bucked at the thought. I didn't know if it was a threat or a promise.

  He chuckled at my response to his words.

  Once the lights were out, he proceeded to undress me. Then he kissed down my chest and belly, heading towards the left. Oh no. What if he kissed my hip and noticed that there wasn't a scar? That would be bad.

  "Come here, you," I said, pulling on his shoulders hoping he would stand up.

  "The ritual," he muttered rather desperately. "I must. Now where is it?"

  Oh my fucking God. Did he want to kiss the scar as some weird Susohn mating ritual? What was I going to do? He was almost there.

  He pressed his lips to a spot on my hip and I moaned loudly, and slid down his body making sure my breasts pressed against him as I went. He had been squatting and lost his balance, ending up on his knees. His erection was huge between us and I licked my lips. Fuck, I wanted him, like I hadn't wanted anyone in a long time.

  I straddled his legs, pressing my hard nipples against the planes of his chest and moaning for real this time.

  "I don't know if I kissed it," he said, his voice sounding strangled.

  "Oh, you kissed it, Dar. Now fuck me."

  He let out a shuddering breath and sat down on the floor with his legs out, his back against the bed. He slid his hand between my legs while at the same time bending his head to my breast. I gasped at the sensations.