But to both our surprise, Rylee vetoed this idea. I could make no sense of this—the male had tried to kill her. Shouldn’t she want to be rid of him forever? But despite the harm he’d done to her, she still didn’t want him killed.
Char’noth offered to send the groveling, crying male back to where he had gotten him in the first place but Rylee didn’t like that idea either. She understandably didn’t want him invading her domicile while she was gone with Drace and me.
“What about a memory wipe?” I finally suggested. “We could clear his mind of you completely if you like,” I told Rylee. “That should simplify your life when you return to Earth.”
“You can do that?” She looked at me in awe.
I shrugged. “I can if Drace will help. It’s a talent of the Fang Clan but we need a partner to make it effective.”
Drace frowned and I could feel him considering through our newly strengthened link. What I was suggesting was something only rightfully bonded mates would normally do together and it took a level of mental and psy-connection which we hadn’t previously had. However, since our first failed attempt at severing the bond between us had actually strengthened it instead, I thought we might be able to pull it off.
It also required a large measure of trust. I watched Drace as he considered my proposal.
“I guess we can try,” he said finally. “If you really want to merge minds that way.”
“It doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t bother you,” I said. “And it’s for Rylee.”
I could feel his reluctance melting at that. Somehow, though we had just met the little Earth female, she had already worked her way under both our skins.
“If you could make him forget me that would be great,” Rylee said eagerly. “Also, do you think you could make him forget he wants to drink and do drugs?” She made a face. “And cheat? He’d have a much better life if he wasn’t so weighed down by his addictions…and his attraction to skanky women.”
“Present company excluded, I’m sure” I murmured. “But actually, I’m afraid I can’t erase your past paramour’s proclivities and tastes—I can only make him forget you. If, for instance, he saw you on the street he might not remember you but he would still be attracted to you.”
“Any male would,” Drace pointed out. “She’s fucking gorgeous.”
The little female’s cheeks grew rosy under her creamy light brown skin tones.
“Thanks anyway. Just making him forget me will be fine and I’ll be sure he doesn’t see me on the street or anywhere else. I never want to have anything to do with him again.”
“Very well.” I nodded at Drace and we attempted to get the whining, mewling human male between us. It was easier said than done—he kept falling on his face and moaning that he didn’t want to die. His cowardly display was in direct contrast to Rylee’s calm acceptance of the subject. It turned my stomach. Not even a Beta would whine and beg so shamelessly.
Finally Char’noth produced a set of manacles for the human’s wrists and we hung him from a hook affixed to the ceiling. Why the Commercians had such extreme methods of restraint, I didn’t know and didn’t want to know. Probably to display Earth females to their prospective buyers. I didn’t like that idea at all but there wasn’t much I could say about it when I was using the restraints myself.
“All right,” Drace said when we were standing on either side of the sniveling male. “Now what?”
“You put a hand on the human’s right temple and I’ll put mine on his left,” I told him. “When we form a connection using him as a conduit, we should be able to enter his mind.”
I had never actually tried this before but I knew instinctively I could do it—just as I knew the other gifts of my Clan would be available to me as soon as I found the right psy-partner. Drace wasn’t that male but he would have to do, for now.
We positioned ourselves and I closed my eyes to concentrate. I could feel Drace concentrating too and then I was swooping forward, falling into a dark space I knew was the place behind our captive’s eyes.
There was an unfocused blob of color which quickly resolved itself into shapes. It was the male—Phillip, Rylee had called him—pulling the projectile weapon from his pocket.
“Son of a bitch!” Drace said in a low tone and I knew he was seeing the memories as well.
“What? What is it?” I heard Rylee ask.
“We’re watching the moment he pulled a weapon on you,” I told her, not opening my eyes. “It’s…unsettling.”
“Unsettling? I want to pound this asshole into the ground,” Drace growled. “I still don’t see why we can’t flush him out the airlock.”
“How far do we need to go back?” I asked, Rylee, ignoring my temporary bond mate’s outrage. “To get rid of his memories of you completely?”
“At least two years.” She didn’t sound very happy about it. “I stayed in the relationship way longer than I should. But I didn’t want to give up—I’m not a quitter.”
“You’re not a coward, either,” I said, examining more of Phillip’s memories—some which featured Rylee and some which didn’t. In the memories without her I saw him skulking around, often carrying and using his firearm as well as taking many illegal substances which made him even more unstable. He was a much more dangerous male than she seemed to realize.
“She’s too brave for her own good,” Drace growled in a low voice, obviously seeing the same things I was. “And this guy is a Goddess-damned asshole who didn’t deserve her.”
I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about and it wasn’t just the way Phillip had often gotten drunk and shouted at her. As we scrolled backwards through his past, looking for a time before he knew Rylee, we also saw the two of them in the sleeping platform together.
The sight caused a possessive growl to rise in my throat even though it was ridiculous—this had happened long before Drace and I met Rylee. Still, I didn’t like the sight of her with another male.
Not that Phillip was doing much to please her.
As Drace and I watched, we saw how the human male seemed to only care about his own pleasure. He used Rylee’s body selfishly, never considering what she might like or enjoy.
It made me angry to see how inconsiderate he was. Rylee was a rare beauty—a treasure. Any male privileged to attend such a female should feel grateful and do his utmost to worship her body properly with his own. Not just get on top of her and thrust a few times, grunting garbled endearments until he came.
Phillip hadn’t even had the decency to make sure she was satisfied afterwards—he simply crawled off her and dozed, leaving Rylee to help herself.
Those parts—the parts after Phillip was already half asleep on one side of their sleeping platform and Rylee was bringing herself to pleasure—I tried not to watch too closely. It felt wrong to spy on her. Yet I couldn’t help noticing how her slim brown fingers flew over the slippery, swollen interior of her pussy…couldn’t help hearing her soft moans as she brought herself the pleasure her partner had denied her.
I felt Drace’s arousal growing through our connection and knew he was watching as well.
“Gods,” I heard him mutter but I didn’t reply.
It made me uneasy to feel another male’s sexual desire—it wouldn’t have been so clear, so insistent, if he had been a Beta male. But bound to another Alpha as I was, I couldn’t help feeling his strong emotions clearly, just as he felt mine.
To my relief, we finally found a point in Phillip’s memories where there was no Rylee anywhere in sight.
“Here,” I murmured to Drace.
“All right—what do we do?” he asked.
“Concentrate on removing Rylee. Wipe her from his mind completely as though you were rubbing out a drawing in the sand,” I said and proceeded to follow my own instructions.
The action was unfamiliar to Drace at first but I felt him helping me and in less time than it seemed possible, all memory of Rylee had faded from Phillip’s mind. It left some holes in h
is past but I managed to put in the suggestion that these were due to the substances he’d become addicted to. Maybe it would give him the incentive to quit them, as Rylee had wanted him to.
When we were finished, I was very glad to withdraw from his mind and I felt Drace’s relief as well. Being inside the memories of a male who had been abusive and neglectful of our chosen female wasn’t comfortable—mostly because I had to work almost every moment to control my temper and keep from breaking his unworthy neck.
“It’s done,” I said, opening my eyes. “We can send him back, just not to Rylee’s domicile.”
“There are plenty of reflective surfaces I can send him through,” Char’noth assured me. “I will be certain to set him far from where your chosen female resides.”
“Good,” Drace said, frowning. “As far away as possible.”
“Hang on,” Rylee protested. “You can’t set him down naked in the middle of India or Spain or somewhere. I mean—unless you’re going to put some clothes on him?”
“Impossible,” Char’noth told her. “Only living, organic tissue can be transported without considerable difficulty and expense.”
“We’ve paid enough as it is,” Drace growled. “I’m not spending one fucking credit more on this bastard.”
“I agree,” I said. “Send him down nude.” Rylee started to protest but I shook my head at her. “No, ma 'frela—this male was cruel and inconsiderate to you. He deserves much worse than to be sent safely back to his home planet minus only his clothing and some parts of his memory. Or is it that you still have feelings for him?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed, frowning. “I just…feel bad for him. He wasn’t all bad—not in the beginning, anyway.”
“You’re too kind hearted,” Drace told her. “But you need to forget about this idiot now. If we’re going to meet the terms you laid down in the contract, we need to get moving.”
“Fine.” She sighed and cast one last look at Phillip, who had a dazed, uncomprehending look on his face. “Just don’t send him to France or Japan or anywhere like that. I mean, at least put him someplace where he speaks the language, okay?”
“It shall be as you say,” Char’noth assured her.
“Thank you.” Rylee nodded at the Commercian and though I saw a swift grimace of distaste pass over her face, she didn’t gasp or try to run from him as she had at first.
Watching her overcome her fear of the many-armed alien gave me a new respect for her. She was brave and compassionate and beautiful and ours—mine and Drace’s—for a solar month. I felt a surge of pleasure and possessiveness coming from my temporary psy-mate and knew he felt the same.
Without thinking about it, I went to stand to one side of Rylee. Silently, Drace took his position on her other side so that we were flanking her.
Ours. The thought echoed in my mind and in his as well, I was sure.
It didn’t occur to me that I was thinking as though Drace and I were rightly bonded and had chosen Rylee the way any other psy-bonded males might choose a female mate to complete their bond. It just felt right to me and for the first time since I had experienced the other male’s emotions within my own mind, I didn’t feel exasperated or irritated or desperate to get rid of him. With Rylee between us, it didn’t seem so wrong to know what Drace was feeling.
Don’t get too comfortable with it, I warned myself. This partnership can’t last and you know it. We’re both Alphas and that isn’t going to change, no matter how beautiful and brave and desirable the female we’ve chosen is. This has to end and Rylee is the only one who can help us end it.
I hoped.
Drace
With Rylee’s bastard of an ex-mate taken care of, we were finally free to leave the Commercian’s station and re-board Lucian’s ship. I saw the little female hesitate for just an instant before stepping through the airlock connecting us to the station. There was an expression of fear and indecision on her lovely face. Then she looked down at her copy of our contract, which she clutched tightly in one hand, lifted her chin, and took the step.
Lucian and I exchanged glances and I knew he had seen it too. Rylee had plenty of courage to go along with her beauty. It made me glad that we had chosen her from the AMI, even though we wouldn’t have her for long.
I helped Lucian with uncoupling his ship from the Commercians’ station and then he went to set a course for our home planet while I showed Rylee around.
“Wow…” She trailed her fingertips lightly along the polished copper of the walls as we walked down the main corridor. There was framed art at tasteful intervals lit by soft, indirect glows. “This is amazing. It’s not at all like I thought a spaceship would be. I thought it would look more like the centipedes’ station but this is different—it’s like some kind of space yacht.”
Even I had to admit the ship was a beauty—a sleek, Travian 6000 edition with spacetime bubble displacement tech and a hyperdrive second to none in its class. And it was built to the most luxurious specifications possible.
Personally, I still liked my own little star-jumper better. It wasn’t nearly as fancy but it was cozier and it handled like a dream. But it wasn’t as fast as Lucian’s luxury behemoth and his ship was a lot roomier too—which was a good thing. On the trip to Earth we’d given each other a lot of space—mostly so we wouldn’t kill each other.
“This is what five million credits will get you,” I said to Rylee as she admired the brushed copper fixtures and large zirgian marble bathing tub in one of the freshers. “But Lucian can afford it—he’s a high priced litigator. Negotiates a lot of trade agreements between Clans. In fact, that’s what he was doing when we were accidentally bonded at the Clan gathering.”
“Really? If you two are from rival clans, why were you even near each other?” Rylee asked.
“Not on purpose, that’s for fucking sure,” I growled. “I was just there to deliver some work I’d promised to a client from another Clan.”
“So these gatherings are like conventions—just for business connections and things like that?” she asked, with evident interest.
“Well, no…” I shifted uneasily. “They’re mostly for males who haven’t found a psy-bond mate yet. That usually happens in childhood so the psy-bond between the males has time to grow and mature with them until they’re ready to find a female to complete their bond. I wasn’t looking for a mate, though—I was fine being single. And so was Lucian, as far as I know.”
It was a lie but I didn’t see the need to tell her the truth—that I had watched the psy-bonded males all around me at the Clan Gathering with envy and despair. All my life I’d felt like a freak—an outsider because somehow I couldn’t seem to find the right partner—couldn’t find a Beta who could bind his life to mine so that we could call a female as our mate.
My parents—all three of them—had told me over and over not to give up, that someday I would find the right Beta and then the two of us would find the right female. But as I got older and struck out on my own, those reassurances dried up. Both my brothers found their mates and then found females to start families with. Then my sister was called to complete the Triumvirate of two males from the Beak Clan.
At last, only I remained.
I moved far from my hometown of Renth and buried myself in my work—making wood carvings for the holy temples of the various Clans and sometimes special pieces for private collectors. I only came out and socialized when I had to. It was easier to bear my unmated status in solitude than it was in a crowd where I felt like a single drop of water unable to flow with the rest of the stream.
I hated going to the Clan gatherings, even though my business demanded it…but I felt drawn to them too. I couldn’t help thinking—even years after I should already have been mated—that I would somehow find the right Beta to psy-bond to. Couldn’t help wishing that I would be able to trade my solitary existence for one filled with a family and a house full of children and two loving spouses to share it with.
And now here I was�
��bonded all right—but to another Alpha, which would never fucking work. I could still remember the sharp surge of elation I’d felt after eating the ylla roll when I suddenly had emotions that weren’t my own inside me…and the crash of disbelieving anger and despair when I realized those emotions belonged to another Alpha and not a compatible Beta as I had hoped. Not just any Alpha either, but one from the Fang Clan, who were mortal enemies to my own Claw Clan.
It was such a fucking mess I wondered if we’d ever get it fixed.
Although now that I thought about it, my link to Lucian wasn’t bothering me quite as much as it had been. Adding Rylee to the mix, even though we weren’t really bonded to her, seemed to have sanded away some of the rough edges of our link, which had been irritating me since we’d first been accidentally joined. Of course, I still wanted to be free of the other male but the feeling of his emotions in my head no longer made me want to wring his neck—I wondered why…
“What’s this room?” Rylee asked, breaking into my speculation. “Some kind of kitchen?” She was looking into a sleek, modern area with secure cabinets and a cold storage unit as well as a table with just enough room for three. There was also a huge, copper colored pot which was full of nutrient slime which could be simmed into any imaginable food.
“That’s the food prep area. Lucian has the best in food-sim tech in here. You want me to make you something?” I offered.
“Thanks but…” Rylee yawned. “Actually, right now I’m just really tired. It’s been a long, crazy day. Is there anyplace I can lay down? And, uh…” She looked down at herself. “Do you have anything else I can sleep in? I guess I should have thought about it before we left but I don’t really have any clothes.”
“I’ll see what I can find,” I promised. “But first, let’s get you a room for the night.”
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