Braden (4 page)

The train halted at its last stop in a series of hard jerks.
People muttered and snarled as they grabbed onto handholds, their belongings
falling to the floor. A child sat down hard and started to cry.

“No smooth stops for the slum dwellers.” Braden stood up as
the doors opened, and helped Elisa to her feet with a firm hand. “Not when
assholes run the trains.”

Braden kept hold of Elisa’s hand as he steered her out of
the station and into a different world.

The sights, sounds and smells of Pas City smacked Elisa with
the force of a sandstorm. Grills belched pungent cooking smoke, coupled with
the smell of spices and vegetables. Street vendors called out to passersby,
selling everything from robot parts to flowers to sticky pastries. It was after
midnight, but with the days so hot and sun-shielding expensive, this place came
alive at night.

Most of the women wore coveralls instead of robes, and their
men worked right alongside them. This last surprised Elisa, but she realized
that few women in this part of town could afford the luxury of a kept husband.
The men here sold the merchandise or worked the grills, their wives talking to
customers and tucking away credit strips. The equality of it was strange but
somehow appealing.

No one looked twice at Braden, but these people would have
grown used to Shareem. Shareem weren’t allowed to live in any other part of the
city.

Braden led Elisa though the mazelike and colorful streets,
sending greetings to those who called out to him. Elisa’s quick mind soaked it
up, this odd and wonderful place not an hour away from where she’d spent her
entire life.

“Where are we going?” She had to raise her voice to be
heard.

Braden sent her a smile that nearly melted her. “A goodly
tavern I know. Thought you might like to stay in public for now.”

He turned down a narrow street that teemed with people and
ducked under faded awnings into a bar.

The place was dim and cool but full of noise. The floor just
inside the door held grit from the last sandstorm, but the rest of the bar
looked clean.

There were other Shareem in here. Elisa counted three as
Braden led her across the room to a table in the corner.

One Shareem was blond and had been face-sculpted—a beautiful
man, a work of art. He was smiling at a woman standing next to him, and as
Elisa watched, his large hand slid to cover the woman’s buttocks. She looked up
and shot him a warm and happy smile.

On the woman’s other side stood a dark-haired brute of a man
with broad shoulders and darker blue eyes. To Elisa’s amazement, he too slid
his hand to the woman’s buttocks, and she switched the smile to
him
.
When the dark-haired Shareem encountered the blond’s hand on her backside, he
didn’t pull away but wound his fingers through the other man’s hand.

“That’s Aiden and Ky,” Braden said. “Aiden’s the beauty,
Ky’s the beast. The lady they’re both pawing is Brianne d’Aroth.”

Elisa stared in astonishment. The d’Aroths were Bor Narga’s
ruling family, Brianne the granddaughter of the lady who ran the entire planet.

Brianne had scandalized Bor Narga not long ago by jilting
her fiancé and moving to Pas City. She’d proclaimed her intention of looking
into the mistreatment of Shareem and started working hard at it. Because of
Brianne d’Aroth, Braden had been allowed to enter Elisa’s library.

The third Shareem she saw was taller than the others and had
a face that looked as though it had been sculpted, then ruined, then repaired
again. The result was a face similar to Ky’s—raw handsomeness with a touch of
brutality.

This third Shareem also had a lady with him, but she wore a
work coverall rather than robes. The two sat together at a tall table, and the
woman, like Brianne, was being quietly fondled by her Shareem.

“This is Calder,” Braden said, leading Elisa to the table.
“The Shareem who passes for my best friend. And his lady, Katarina.”

“The medic,” Elisa realized. “Katarina d’Arnal.”

“That’s me.” The woman smiled. “The sacrificing woman who
came to the slums to treat Shareem.”

“As long as the only Shareem you
treat
is me,” Calder
rumbled. “Unless it’s with my permission.”

Elisa wasn’t sure what to make of the exchange, but Katarina
winked at Braden even as she blushed.

“Introduce us before she thinks you’re rude, Braden,”
Katarina said.

Braden helped Elisa to a chair, piled her robes on an empty
stool and sat down next to her. Very close, his thigh and shoulder touching
Elisa’s.

“This is Elisa,” Braden said. He grinned. “She’s a
librarian.”

He said it as proudly as a man would proclaim that his lady
was on the ruling council.

Calder’s Shareem gaze flickered, which he covered by seizing
the glass of foaming ale a red-haired woman deposited in front of him. The
server’s loose coverall was unfastened to her waist, so that her breasts
tantalized from the shadows.

“Let her have a drink, Braden,” the woman said, plopping
another glass of ale in front of Elisa. “It’s hot, if you hadn’t noticed, and
she’s probably thirsty. She’ll need all the fortification she can get to deal
with you.”

Braden accepted his ale and winked at the woman. “Judith,
love, I haven’t heard you insult me all day. Don’t scare my librarian away.”

“I don’t have to,” Judith said. “You can do that all by
yourself.” She sauntered away, putting an extra wiggle in her hips.

“She loves me,” Braden said. He rested his arm across the
back of Elisa’s chair. “My friends, Elisa so nicely helped me out at the
library a couple weeks ago. Showed this Shareem how to work computers.”

“Poor woman,” Calder grated. “Did she lose a bet?”

Braden’s arm was a band of warmth against Elisa’s spine. The
feeling made her giddy, bold. “I thought you said he was your friend,” she said
to Braden.

Braden grinned. “You see? My lady is appalled at your lack
of manners.”

Calder shot Elisa a speculative look that was absent of all
banter. Assessing her.

A Shareem sizing up a highborn lady? Shouldn’t it be the
other way around?

Shareem were supposed to do as they were told, nothing more.
In spite of their radiant sexuality, they couldn’t instigate sex unless the
lady gave them permission—it was in their genetic programming. That was one
reason Elisa had not been terrified to allow Braden to lead her through Pas
City. Even if he’d cornered her inside his own apartment, he couldn’t touch her
unless Elisa let him.

Braden had already touched her, yes, but not in an intimate
way. Only her hand and back, and the sensation alone made her want to melt into
a puddle. Elisa sipped ale to wet her dry mouth and found it surprisingly good.

The second reason she’d not been afraid was because Braden
intrigued her. She wanted to talk to him, to learn about him, to get to know
him. What was he behind his melting smiles, and why had he chosen her and her
library?

“You said you wanted to ask me questions,” Braden said.
“What do you want to know?”

Calder and Katarina watched sharply while pretending not to.
Calder was better at it than Katarina.

Elisa had many questions, but she decided to stick to
harmless ones while Calder sat there, radiating menace.

“Your eyes.” She leaned closer to Braden, looking into them.
“I’ve never seen eyes that color, except on off-worlders. And your irises
widen. That can’t have any sight benefit, can it?”

Braden didn’t have any fucking idea, and he didn’t care. He
only cared that Elisa’s breath touched his skin as she looked him over. His
irises were widening even now.

“Women want the Shareem to want them back,” Calder answered
for him. “So our creators made our eyes change when we’re aroused. That way the
lady knows when we’re hot for her, even from across the room.”

“Only if your dick’s too small.” Aiden stepped way too close
to Braden, the heat of his body blanketing Braden’s side. He slid a firm arm
around Braden’s shoulders. “My lovers don’t need to look at my
eyes
to
know how much I want them.”

Aiden caressed Braden’s shoulder a little, fingers skilled,
and Braden felt himself reacting. A level one, Aiden could bring off a woman
just by touching her hand. A level one was all about sensuality and softer
pleasures, scented oils and massage. Slow, beautiful sex.

Aiden was also the lover of Ky, a level three. A match made
in…well, who the hell knew, but it worked for them. Their lady Brianne, the
sweetheart, brought them together and made the three of them whole.

Now Aiden was plying his sinful pheromones over Braden. Firm
fingers toyed with the chain on Braden’s biceps, and Aiden’s perspiration
moistened Braden’s skin.

Braden lifted the caressing hand away. “I don’t care who
you’re fucking, Aiden, as long as it’s not me.”

“I care,” Brianne said, coming to stand at the high table
next to Elisa. “I’m the jealous type.”

“Yeah, and that turns me on, sweet baby.” Aiden abandoned
Braden for her so fast that Braden laughed.

Aiden curled his arm around Brianne and pulled her up for a
kiss. Not a friendly peck, a long, tongue-filled, mouth-slanting kiss. When he
came up for air, Aiden’s eyes were fully blue.

“Hey,” Ky said. “If he gets some, so do I.” Ky put his arm
around Brianne from her other side and pulled her into an equally sensual kiss.

Elisa watched them with a surprised expression but her look
was intrigued, not disgusted. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the table,
but she faced the unusual situation without a word. Braden’s liking for her
rose several notches.

Judith set another tray on the table, put down fresh glasses
and started picking up the empties. “Keep it calm,” she said to Ky. “I don’t
want to get shut down. Besides, there’s no one for me tonight and that’s not
fair.”

Judith glanced speculatively at Braden and then at Elisa.
Judith had been known to dabble with a female—hell, with anything humanoid and
sentient. Judith wasn’t picky. She’d go double with a woman on a Shareem and
even play a little with the lady while the Shareem watched.

But she must have sensed that Elisa had no interest in
female play, because Judith gave a regretful shake of her head, picked up her
tray and walked off again.

“Poor Judith,” Aiden said. “Surrounded by hard-cocked
Shareem and no one to scratch her itch.”

“She’ll be fine,” Calder said.

He was right. Judith rarely lacked for sexual company.
Judith had been with Calder once, only once. Before he’d met Katarina, Calder
had never let a lady be with him a second time. Back then, he’d been scarred,
the Beast, not the mellow, healed Shareem sitting before them.

That is, Calder was
somewhat
mellowed. He could still
be unpredictable.

Like now. Calder stood, pulling Katarina up beside him, and
started to leave without a word.

Katarina smiled as she looked back. “Nice to meet you,
Elisa.” She waved before Calder more or less dragged her out of the bar and
into the night.

“Don’t mind Calder,” Braden said to Elisa. “He was a lab
experiment gone wrong. Makes him touchy.”

Elisa’s brows drew together in that cute, puzzled look.
“What does that mean, ‘a lab experiment gone wrong’?”

“It means he spent an awful lot of time alone,” Braden said,
his humor fading. “Way too damn much time, until Katarina came along. I love
her for what she’s done for Calder, I truly do. But Calder’s still not much for
etiquette. Or crowds.”

“Speaking of crowds.” Ky wrapped his arm around Brianne
again. “Let’s get the fuck out of this one.”

Ky’s eyes were still blue from that spectacular kiss with
Brianne. Ky wanted to go home and fuck, with both Brianne and Aiden.

Braden didn’t really understand that threesome, but it made
them happy so Braden lived with it. Besides, a happy Ky was a hell of a lot
easier to put up with than Ky pissed off and lonely.

There were a few more Shareem-human couples. Rio and Nella
lived now on Ariel, a planet much more forward-thinking than Bor Narga, that
was for sure. Nella had sneaked Rio off with her, risking arrest, because while
Ariel had no problem with Shareem, it was still illegal to take them off Bor
Narga.

Braden guessed the Bor Nargans feared some other planet
might propagate a Shareem army or something stupid like that. Bor Narga was
ruled by paranoid, frigid bitches. How Brianne managed to be so loving coming
from that family, Braden didn’t know.

Rees and Talan kept to themselves a lot, for which Braden
didn’t blame Rees. Talan was gorgeous and willing to experiment with Rees.
Research was never so good.

Rylan and Maia lived in the back of beyond, out in the
mountains beyond the sand sea, where Rylan made singing spheres. They hid out
there because Maia was Shareem—the only female ever created. Rylan didn’t want
to risk her getting caught, and Braden was good with that. DNAmo had given Maia
a rough time, and then there was her whole twenty years in suspended animation
to get over.

Eland and Jeanne—they’d met right after DNAmo had fallen,
and had been partying together ever since. Fun kids.

Aiden and Ky left, both with arms around Brianne. Heading
home for some satisfying heat. Good luck to them.

This left Elisa alone with Braden. A damn good situation.

Elisa trained her brown gaze directly on Braden. “Now that
everyone’s gone and we can speak freely,” she began in her soft librarian
voice. “Please tell me, Braden—why were you looking up details on cargo
transports on my library computer?”

Chapter Four

Braden didn’t move. Even his eyes didn’t flicker, but Elisa
sensed she’d thrown a question at him on which he hadn’t been instructed how to
answer.

Did he think she hadn’t paid attention? Elisa knew every
single thing that went on in her library, who looked up what and when and for
how long. Braden had come in there for more than research on his friend’s
singing spheres, and she wanted to know what.