Severed

by Evangeline Anderson

  It was all so gorgeous and exotic I hardly knew where to look first. And except for the strange coloring of everything (and the tiny pink pterodactyls) it was surprisingly Earth-like. Well, except for the people.

  There were a few other couples—or I guessed I should say threesomes—visiting the beach. Some even had children with them. I noticed that the men seemed to come mostly in shades of blue and green—although I saw some red skin tones as well—and the women were a pearly gray. And just as Drace and Lucian had told me, the women were mostly my size or maybe even a little smaller. Watching one, who looked to be only around five foot three walk by, flanked by two massive seven-foot tall males, I wondered how the tiny woman managed to accommodate her huge husbands…and shivered.

  Good thing I don’t have to worry about that! I told myself. Then, remembering the dream-sequence I’d shared with Drace and Lucian the night before, I felt a stab of guilt. In the clear light of day I had to wonder why I had allowed them to do that to me, even in a dream. But still, the memory of having both of them touching and tasting me at once, the feeling of their big, hard bodies on either side of me, their hot mouths sucking my nipples at the same time, started a little fire in my belly. One I couldn’t put out, no matter how much I scolded myself.

  Trying to put the whole thing out of my mind, I looked around, wondering how the Denarins would react to the sight of an Earth girl.

  A few of the natives looked askance at us, but not as many as I would have thought. Lucian had assured me that Denarin males often traveled outside their own planet to find the right female to bond with. Maybe that was why no one was very interested in the strange alien girl who had showed up on their beach.

  Actually, my two guys seemed to get more strange looks than I did. People would look at the two of them, their noses would wrinkle, and a look of disbelief or confusion would come over their faces. Some of them shook their heads or muttered to each other. But though they had to be seeing the strange reaction too, Drace and Lucian kept their heads high and refused to acknowledge the way people were staring and talking.

  I wanted to ask what was going on, but I decided to wait until we were someplace more private, like wherever this mysterious Tanta Loro they kept talking about stayed. I still didn’t understand why they had brought me to the beach in the first place—did she have a house here? As far as I could see, the only structure built on the silvery sands was a little hut made of the wood of the bluish-purple trees.

  As we got closer, I saw the beach hut was a kind of open-air shop with shelves filled with strange products whose uses I couldn’t begin to guess. There was a bored looking young man sitting inside the hut, behind the counter. He was reading what might have been a girly magazine—that was, if a magazine had crystal clear pages you could see through and all the pictures moved,.

  I noticed something else about the “magazine”—every single picture displayed a threesome. There were always two males with one female between them and some of the things they were doing made me blush. It was porn—pure and simple but the young Denarin guy, who had reddish skin and black hair, didn’t seem the least embarrassed when we walked up to him.

  “Hello.” Lucian rapped on the counter for service and the guy put down his magazine—though he didn’t bother trying to hide it.

  “What do you need, good sirs?” he asked in a bored voice. “A filter-frond to block the light? Maybe a privacy shield so you can pleasure your female without prying eyes seeing?”

  “That won’t be fucking necessary,” Drace growled, looking menacing. “And watch your mouth around our female—she’s a lady.”

  “Oh!” The young Denarin sat up straighter and I saw his nose wrinkle as he looked between Lucian and Drace. “Forgive me—I, uh, made a mistake. I thought the three of you were a Triumvirate. But of course I see now that must be impossible.”

  “Why would it be impossible?” I demanded, putting a hand on my hip. “Because I’m from another planet?”

  “No, of course not, beautiful lady!” The young man was looking more and more uncomfortable and embarrassed. Well, it was about time he got embarrassed about something since being caught ogling porn didn’t apparently faze him.

  “Why, then?” I persisted.

  “Rylee…” Lucian said in a low tone but the young Denarin was already answering.

  “Well…because both of these esteemed males are Alphas,” he said. “So they cannot be bonded together even if…” He trailed off.

  “Even if what?” I asked, frowning.

  “Even if their, uh, scent says they are. Bonded, I mean.” He looked truly miserable now and I was beginning to feel sorry for him, especially considering the way Drace was glaring at him and Lucian was frowning.

  I finally began to understand what was going on—apparently what they’d told me about not wanting to be stuck together because they were both Alphas had some actual substance to it. Somehow everyone on their home planet could tell what they were and the fact that they were together—and none of them approved.

  Now all the reactions of the other threesomes we’d seen on the beach made sense. We were getting the same kinds of looks that an interracial couple or a gay couple might get if they went to a less progressive part of Earth. Or anywhere people were bigoted assholes, really.

  For the first time, I understood their desperation to be free of each other. It was one thing to be out and proud about it but neither Drace or Lucian wanted to be together. They were like two straight guys somehow stuck in a gay partnership—they were being stigmatized for something they weren’t, which is never any fun.

  “As a matter of fact, they are bonded,” I told the shop keeper briskly. “But we’re about to take care of that right now.” I turned to Drace and Lucian. “All right, guys, why are we here?” I asked. “I mean, why did you take me to the beach? It’s pretty and all but I thought we wanted to get down to business. Where is Tanta Loro?”

  “Tanta Loro?” The young Denarin’s red skin turned a dirty pink color and I realized he had suddenly gone pale. “You’re going to visit the sea witch?”

  That got my attention. “Sea witch? Nobody said anything about a sea witch—you guys said a ‘wise woman.’ I was picturing a little old lady with puffy white hair and a cat sitting on her lap while she served us herbal tea.”

  “What?” Drace frowned. “What is a cat? And why would a wise-woman have white hair?”

  “A cat is a kind of animal on Earth,” I said. “A pet. And on Earth, at least, when people get old and wise—well, old anyway—their hair often turns gray or white.”

  “Tanta Loro is very ancient and wise,” Lucian said thoughtfully. “But I’m afraid she has no hair at all.”

  “What—she’s bald?” I asked, surprised.

  “No—she hasn’t got hair because she’s got tentacles,” Drace growled.

  “Tentacles?” I stared at him. “We’re going to see a sea witch who has tentacles? What is this—the Denarin off, off, off Broadway production of the Little Mermaid?”

  “What?” Lucian and Drace were both looking at me in obvious confusion.

  “Never mind.” I shook my head—this was getting bizarre. Well, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about trading away my voice for legs since I already had them. But still…it was weird. “Listen,” I said. “Just tell me—why are we going to see a witch?”

  “Because she’s the only one who can help us,” Lucian said, frowning. “Don’t worry, ma 'frela, you will be safe between us the entire time.”

  “Lucian’s right—we won’t let anything happen to you, baby,” Drace assured me.

  “So…you’re really going to see her?” the shop attendant asked, wide-eyed.

  “We are if you’ll ever stop gawking and sell us some breath-weed,” Drace growled.

  “We need three doses to last at least two standard hours apiece. Do you have that?” Lucian asked him.

  “Well…sure. I mean, of course I do.” With trembling hands, the attendant reach
ed beneath the counter where the porno mag was still displaying its moving three-way pictures and pulled out a small, shiny box that looked like it had been made out of a large clam shell. It was pinkish-red, curved on the top and bottom, and polished to a bright shine.

  Opening the clam-box, the Denarin shop guy took out three tiny oblong objects about the size and shape of medicine capsules—two blue and one red. Great—so we’d moved from The Little Mermaid to The Matrix.

  He handed the pills to Drace who gave the red one to me. I looked at it, shining like a ruby in my palm, and wondered what I was supposed to do with it.

  “Do you need vision drops? Or ballast?” the Denarin shop guy asked, putting away the clam shell box and motioning to the shelf behind him where, among the other strange objects, there were rows of shiny stones. They ranged in size from the size of a walnut to some that were bigger than my fist and reminded me of the polished geodes you can always find in the gift shop of the science museum. “I have different weights to fit all sizes,” he said.

  “Hmm…” Lucian nodded. “I believe I still have some drops left over from our last trip. But we do need ballast. We’ll take six. Four large and two small.”

  “Right away.” The shop keeper seemed to be in a hurry to get rid of us but he moved surprisingly slowly transporting the small geode-like stones. In fact, he only lifted one at a time, as though they were extremely heavy.

  I went to pick up one of the larger ones and was surprised to find that it was heavy—too heavy for me to lift.

  “Oof—what are these?” I asked, abandoning my efforts to pick up the fist-sized rock.

  “Ballast rocks,” Drace answered shortly, which didn’t answer my question at all. He looked at Lucian. “I’ll pay for these if you pay for the breath-weed. Deal?”

  “That works.” Lucian nodded.

  “Very well then, uh, sirs.” The shop guy brought out something that looked like a white pearl as big as my closed fist, round and smooth and gorgeous. He presented it to Drace first, who pressed his thumb to it as though he was going to let it take a fingerprint. But instead, a tiny, sharp needle shot out of the middle of the pearl and stabbed him. I saw it happen because he pulled back just a little at the last minute.

  “Oh!” I gasped involuntarily. The milky white surface of the pearl took on swirls of red for a moment, then it cleared. Drace stuck his thumb in his mouth, clearly healing himself as he had after we signed the contracts the night before.

  “Payment by DNA,” Lucian explained, seeing my horrified look. “Each person’s account is hooked to a sample of their DNA—it only requires a single drop of blood to verify and draw the credit from the account.”

  “Remind me not to open a credit card here then,” I said faintly. I couldn’t help thinking that if people had to be stabbed in the finger every time they paid for something back on Earth there would be a lot fewer impulse buys and way less credit card debt.

  “Here you are, good sir.” The shop guy presented the pearl to Lucian and he repeated Drace’s performance, stoically allowing himself to be stabbed with the miniature needle. He didn’t pull back as Drace had, however and I saw his mouth tighten—ouch, the needle must have gone in deep. I winced in sympathy.

  “Paid in full,” the shop guy chirped when the pearl took on swirls of red and then turned back to white again. “Thank you for your business, uh, sirs…madam.” He gave a little nod to me.

  Lucian just grunted and started to lift the extremely heavy geode stones off the front counter. But his bloody thumb slipped on the slick surface of one and he dropped it.

  “Damn it!” he swore, grabbing for the falling stone.

  Drace caught it right before it hit the sand and put it back on the counter. Then, to my surprise, he took the other man’s wounded hand in his.

  “Here.” Lifting Lucian’s hand to his mouth, he swiped the pad of the other man’s thumb—which really was bleeding a lot—with his tongue.

  “What—?” Lucian looked almost as startled as the shop keeper, who was openly staring.

  “Bond-mates take care of each other.” Drace’s deep voice was slightly defensive as he let Lucian’s hand fall. “Even temporary bond-mates.”

  “I…” Lucian looked down at his thumb, which was completely healed now. Clearly he was at a complete loss for words.

  “I thought you said you couldn’t heal him?” I murmured to Drace. “Since you’re both Alphas.”

  He shrugged. “Thought I’d try anyway. Looks like I can. Come on.” Scooping up the incredibly heavy geode stones, he turned towards the beach. With a slightly stunned look in his eyes, Lucian followed.

  Of course neither of them looked as freaked out as the shop keeper. The last time I looked back at him, he was still staring as though he’d seen something completely indecent happen right in front of him. Wow—for people who spent their lives having kinky three-way sex, the Denarins were a really uptight society!

  I turned to follow my guys. Surely the wise woman slash sea witch was around here somewhere—but where?

  * * * * *

  Drace

  “The bottom of the ocean? Seriously? We’re going to the bottom of the freaking ocean?”

  Rylee stared at me and Lucian with obvious disbelief.

  “Yes, of course,” Lucian said, frowning as he squirted some of the vision drops from the tiny plasti-seal bulb into his eyes and passed it to me. “Tanta Loro is one of the Half-Folk. They always make their homes below the waves.”

  “It’s okay, baby,” I said, trying to put her at ease as I squirted some of the drops in my own eyes. “We have the breath-weed to help us breathe and the ballast stones will allow us to walk normally on the sea-bed. And these drops will allow you to focus underwater just fine. Here.” I handed her the bulb.

  “But what about the water pressure?” she protested, even as she squirted some of the drops in her eyes. “Won’t we be crushed?”

  “Actually, we’re not going that far down,” Lucian said, taking the bulb back from her and tucking it into his trouser pocket. “Tanta Loro’s fortress is on a submerged costal shelf not too far from our edge of the shore. Come—we’ll show you.” He took one of the blue breath-weed caplets and placed it under his tongue. Then he held out a hand to me. “Drace…the ballast?”

  I pulled the ballast-stones out of the pockets of my worn flight leathers and handed him two of the large ones. Naturally the breath-weed didn’t protect our clothing so we were going to get drenched—which was why I was wearing trousers I didn’t care about. I arranged the other two large stones in my own pockets and helped Rylee put her own, small stones, into the side pockets of her sand-dress.

  “Um…thank you.” Lucian’s voice sounded strange. When Rylee and I looked up at him, he was still just staring down at the stones in his hand. I saw that one of them had a smear of red on it—his blood. Lucian was looking at it as though he’d never seen anything like it before.

  “Lucian?” Rylee asked softly. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine.” He tucked the stones in his pockets and looked up at me. “Thank you,” he said again and this time I knew he wasn’t just thanking me for the stones.

  “Welcome.” My voice came out rougher than it should have. I still didn’t know why I had healed his wound. I doubted he would have done the same for me. Maybe I just wanted to show him I was as committed to this venture as he was—that I wouldn’t leave him hanging even if things got rough under the waves, as they almost had last time.

  The attendant at the shop had been right to get that worried look on his face when he’d heard where we were going—many of the Half-Folk were friendly with those of us who lived on land instead of under the sea.

  Tanta Loro wasn’t one of them.

  In fact, she’d nearly had her guards skewer Lucian and me the last time we’d visited. It took balls to face her again but neither of us had even considered backing down—we needed to be parted too badly for that.

  But is it really so bad b
eing joined to Lucian? He’s an honorable male, even if he is a little stiff, a little voice whispered in my head.

  I frowned. I only had to remember the look on the shop attendant’s face when I’d sealed Lucian’s wound to answer that one. Even if I was sort of getting used to my temporary bond-mate, it wasn’t like we could stay together. Our world wasn’t kind to unsuitable bondings. We had to get this fixed.

  “Come on,” I said, tucking my own breath-weed capsule beneath my tongue and showing Rylee how to do the same with hers. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Rylee

  I must be dreaming. This has to be a dream, I thought as we walked slowly through the warm azure waves, getting deeper and deeper into the sparkling sea. But we kept walking and I wasn’t waking up, despite the red pill I had tucked beneath my tongue. It had sort of stuck there and was staying in place without any effort on my part.

  We kept walking. The heavy geode rocks in my dress pockets kept me grounded and the sand underfoot was surprisingly stable. Soon we were up to our necks—well, I was, anyway. Drace and Lucian were only up to a little over their elbows. As the water lapped against my chin, I began to feel panicky.

  “Look, guys,” I said, looking up at them. “I don’t want to break our contract but I’m not sure if I can do this. I’m only an okay swimmer—I’m way better in a pool than in the ocean—and this is really kind of freaking me out.”

  “You won’t have to swim, baby,” Drace rumbled, taking my hand. “We’ll just keep walking—the ballast keeps you grounded.”

  “Swimming or not isn’t really the point,” I said. “I just don’t know how safe this is—are there sharks around here?”

  “Sharks?” Lucian frowned.