Clockwork Butterfly, A (4 page)

Chapter 6

“So, how was it for you?” Mae flounced up and onto the bunk, tight up against Lena.

“Oh, hi.” Lena kept her back to Mae. She was feeling used and stupid. If she was giving off frosty signals, Mae was either completely oblivious or choosing to ignore her.

“Come on,” she said, excitedly nudging Lena’s shoulder. “Did you get to fuck him? I’m getting hot thinking about it.”

Lena rolled her eyes while Mae wriggled around in the sheets next to her, burying her hands between her legs.

“No, I did not
get to fuck him
.” Lena was angry now and confused by her own feelings. She didn’t want to share what had gone on between her and Angelo.

“You did milk him, Lena, at least tell me that,” Mae said incredulously, her eyes wide. “Oh my God, you didn’t fail on your first collection, did you?”

“No, I didn’t fail,” Lena replied. She was tired of her randy companion who had freed her right hand from the tangle of sheets between her legs and was now trailing her fingers up into Lena’s nightshirt. Lena was annoyed by the stiffening sensation in her nipples and rush of warmth to her sex. Mae noticed and quickly took one of the little buds between her fingers.

“Tell me, Lena,” she whispered into Lena’s neck, raising the tiny hairs that drove her crazy. “Tell me what he looked like…tell me what he felt like.” She nuzzled deeper into Lena’s hairline. “Tell me what he smelled like.”

Lena was melting under Mae’s expert touch. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs and pushing her breasts into Mae’s hand. Mae obliged, kneading and tweaking while kissing and nibbling at Lena’s neck.

I could pretend it’s him…
Lena relaxed back into her pillows and let her body flop open, all sensual and languid.

“He was hard,” she whispered, her voice barely more than a breath. “So hard.”

Mae let out a low sigh and slowly unbuttoned Lena’s nightshirt, exposing her breasts, then belly, then lower to her rising mound.

“Go on.” Mae deftly undid the button over Lena’s pussy, slowly winding the fabric in her hands and massaging it into Lena’s curls. Lena parted her legs and Mae continued, using the button to exert direct pressure over her clit.

“I sucked him.”

“You know that’s against the rules.” Mae rubbed harder, easing Lena’s pussy open with her free finger.

“Yes.”

“What did he taste like?”

“See for yourself,” said Lena, offering her mouth to Mae.

Mae opened her lips and leaned in, inhaling Lena’s breath. Lena could see the intoxication of his pheromones overtake Mae. She breathed in once more then dove onto Lena, kissing and tonguing her hard and deep. It was sensual and hot, and Lena kissed her back with the same ferocity.

“You taste amazing,” Mae said between gulps of flesh.

Lena’s face was sodden with saliva as Mae devoured every trace of Angelo’s musk. She was becoming more dominant with her desire and began thrusting her hips and mound into Lena’s thighs while her hand was rammed into Lena’s aching sex.

“I’m going to fuck you, Lena.” Mae’s voice was aggressive and she grabbed Lena’s wrists and held them above her head. “I’m going to fuck you the way he should have.”

Mae pulled the tie off her own robe and bound it around the bedposts and Lena’s hands. As she was pulling the binding tight, her breasts swung into Lena’s face and she tried to follow Mae’s nipples with her mouth. Mae finished tying Lena’s hands and seemed to realize what was going on. She paused with one breast hovering over Lena and let it dip a little into her waiting lips.

Lena jerked her head up, caught the puckered flesh, and suckled and flicked her tongue, enjoying the contrast of the hard bud and soft flesh beneath. She wanted to have it all and lapped and sucked with her mouth wide open until Mae suddenly pulled away, smiling. She leapt off the bed, dropping to the floor below while Lena writhed in anger. Was Mae leaving her, like this?

Lena was furious. She had wanted to confront Mae, tell her she felt used, ask her why had she not told her about being a spy for the Archmatria. But it had happened again. Lena had just let Mae do whatever she wanted to do and said nothing. And now she was lying there frustrated and humiliated. She was about to scream for help when she heard the door lock and Mae bounced back up beside her, holding more robe belts.

“Shh.” Mae pressed her finger to her lips and winked. Slowly, achingly slowly, she pulled down the covers and opened Lena’s nightgown fully. She grasped Lena’s ankles and bound each one carefully to the sides of the bunk.

Lena offered no resistance. Once again, anger had evaporated and she was back under Mae’s spell, who was now kissing and biting her way up Lena’s legs, moving from one to the other. Lena squirmed as she reached the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh.
Smack!
Lena was startled at the sound and following sting at the point where Mae had just been kissing.

“Don’t move,” she commanded and continued licking and teasing the same spot.

It took all of Lena’s concentration to obey, and her whole body was tense. At last, the kissing continued up toward her sex and Lena relaxed a little, opening herself up to Mae’s expert tongue. She gasped when it darted between her engorged lips, tweaking at her bud, but only for a second before traveling to her belly.

“Oh,” Lena groaned in disappointment, and another sharp smack landed neatly on her bush. Lena got the message and lay silent.

Mae’s tonguing continued to Lena’s breasts and the rest of Mae’s body followed, squirming and grinding into Lena’s. Mae shrugged off her robe and let her swinging breasts make contact with Lena’s skin as she traveled upward. Lena watched Mae’s back hump and arch as she rocked her pelvis, obviously as horny as Lena and desperate for relief. She lowered her hips and began to work her naked, wet pussy all over Lena’s thighs, leaving a trail of moisture as she went.

Lena lifted her mound to meet Mae’s and sighed as the downy warmth ground together and mingled. Again, Lena was punished for reacting and a sharp slap met her breast. Mae abruptly lifted herself off Lena, crawled up to her face, and rose up with her knees on either side of Lena’s head. Lena was engulfed in Mae’s musky scent and her mouth watered at the sight of Mae’s aroused sex lips just inches away from her.

“Eat me,” Mae commanded and lowered her pussy onto Lena’s mouth.

Lena obliged and greedily tried to accommodate the full length of Mae’s mound in her mouth. She flattened out her tongue, just like she had with Angelo, and licked hard, savoring the juices that were now flowing from Mae.

“Oh, that’s good.” Mae started bucking and twitching, and Lena tried to hold fast with her mouth. Mae ground hard into Lena and then, as suddenly as it had started, the shuddering stopped and Mae clambered off, panting. “Your turn,” she said, slithering down between Lena’s legs. She pushed Lena’s thighs apart and leaned in, flicking her tongue over Lena’s clit.

It was divine, and Lena sank deep into her pillows, letting the familiar sensations wash over her. Mae continued to lick and suckle while gripping Lena’s thighs. Lena felt stretched and open, but needed more. She bucked her pelvis forward, trying to entice a finger or two. The image of Angelo’s thick, rigid cock burying into her kept flashing into her head. She imagined it sliding slowly at first, filling her up then pulling out, ready to thrust in again, hard and deep, over and over.

Mae must have picked up her cue because she suddenly rammed two fingers into Lena’s pussy. Lena squeezed around them as they twisted in and out in time with the tonguing. Lena was burning and desperate, and as the finger fucking intensified, she began to climax. From deep within her abdomen, right near her navel, the feeling built and crashed out through her sex.

Mae lay where she was with her fingers still inside and waited for Lena’s aftershock spasms to subside then slowly withdrew, licking the fluid off her fingers. She carefully untied Lena and pulled the covers up over them both and they slipped into a comfortable embrace.

“Why didn’t you tell me you worked for the Archmatria?” Lena finally asked.

“They told me not to,” Mae said simply. “Anyway, it would have changed everything between us.”

Lena kept silent.

Chapter 7

His eyes were smokier than she remembered and his hair was thicker and longer. He was like something from the books she’d read at school. It had barely been twenty-four hours since she’d first met him, but Lena had spent that time pining. Now she was here in front of him, trembling. As he reached out to push a wisp of hair from her eyes, she could see he was too.

Lena felt a flash of jealousy stab at her chest. “How many others have come to you?”

“None, Lena,” he said, looking confused. “You know that.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Lena was angry at herself for speaking this way, but couldn’t stop. “Everyone else has lied to me.”

“Where’s this coming from?” His eyes were kind and soft, and he pulled her into an embrace. He was so unlike the males she’d heard the women whisper and snigger about—great beasts ready to ravish you and leave you for the next wench or battle.

God, Mae was more of a male if the reputation was apt. The stab at her heart poked in and twisted when she thought of Mae. The image of being tied to the bed and fucked was branded onto Lena’s brain. It wasn’t jealousy, she realized, it was guilt.

Angelo’s arms wrapped around her more tightly as she worked through the storm of emotions battling within her. He pulled her down onto the lush bedding and stroked her cheeks.

Lena tried to pull herself together. She was the luckiest woman in the world, when she actually gave proper thought to her situation. She was being selfish. Here she was, blessed with two lovers, perhaps being a key person to stop the human race from falling into extinction. Oh God, she felt sick.

“What’s the matter?” Angelo asked tenderly.

“I didn’t think it would be this hard,” she said, looking at Angelo, who raised one eyebrow and smiled. “That’s not what I meant!”

“Oh no?” He beamed at her and pounced onto her neck, kissing and tickling her. The tension evaporated and she squirmed beneath him, giggling and trying to push him off. “What were you expecting, young lady?” He moved his mouth down to her ribcage just below her arm pit and nibbled at her ribs, holding her hands above her.

“Stop it!” she squeaked while trying to wriggle free from him. “Stop, I’m going to pee myself.” She laughed harder and clenched every muscle in her body, trying to block out the tickles and keep her body from letting her down embarrassingly.

“This session will be drawing to a close in thirty minutes precisely.” The scratchy sound of the intercom stopped them dead. “The canister must be deposited within this time.”

Angelo dropped his head onto Lena’s chest, and she was aware of the hard-on pressing into her thigh now growing soft. He sighed. “Why do they do that?”

“Come on.” Lena gave him a nudge. “It’s okay. We can learn to ignore them.”

“No, you don’t understand.” He leaned up on his elbow and stared intensely at Lena. “You are the only other human in existence who I get to talk to, spend time with, touch. I know we only met yesterday, but I’ve been waiting in this room for so long now, I can’t even remember when I got here.”

Lena looked around the room with all the tiny butterflies littering the shelves. It must have taken ages to make each one. She didn’t dare count them. “Surely the Archmatria or the people who bring you food must talk to you?”

“No.” His lids hooded his eyes from Lena’s view. “No, they’re not allowed to. I don’t know what they think is going to happen, but they scurry off in silence like wounded birds if I so much as peek at them.”

“That is tough.” Lena tried to imagine what it must be like in this stifling space with no one to talk to, only the occasional command or reprimand from the faceless voice of the intercom.

“I can’t bear that after all this time of solitude, I only get forty-five minutes with you and I’m expected to perform like some machine. It feels wrong. I don’t want you to be a machine either.”

“It is why we’re here,” Lena said slowly and carefully, hoping her tone would make him realize she battled with the same feelings.

“Fuck here! I’m sick of it,” he declared with a new sparkle in his eyes. “Let’s escape! Let’s be free, we’ll start a colony of our own.” He grabbed Lena by the shoulders and shook her gently. “Say you’ll do it, please? I know we’ve just met, but that’s what makes it all the more excruciating for me. To know that for the other twenty-three hours and fifteen minutes, you are out there doing God knows what with God knows who…I can’t stand it.”

Lena looked away, guilt flashing.

His voice softened and he continued, “Say you’ll come and start a colony with me. We can make our own children, not these manufactured robots. Please, tell me you’ll come.”

Lena was shocked at his speech. And thrilled. She thought carefully and held his hands in her lap. “I can’t, Angelo. I am a collector. I was chosen for this task. My body isn’t capable of procreation.” She wrapped her fingers more tightly around his. “As much as my heart would burst free in a beat and follow you, the future of our species lies with us and what happens in this room. I can’t abandon my duty and neither can you.”

Angelo bowed his head in defeat. “I know…I just want to feel the breeze in my hair as we run together over hills and fields. I want to feel the rain on my skin.”

“I’ll talk to the Archmatria. See if we can get you an exercise program outside. I’m sure they’d allow it.”

“They’d never agree.”

“Why not?” Lena was determined to help.

“Because I’ve made too many escape attempts. They don’t trust me.”

“Oh.” Lena gazed out the window and imagined his lithesome body making a run for it over the moors and being hunted down by packs of Archmatria with their robes flowing behind them in the moonlight.

“We’d better conclude business,” he said rather coldly, picking up the vial. Lena felt uneasy. “Do you mind if I just go ahead?”

“No, no.” Lena watched as he walked slowly behind the screen.

* * * *

“Lena, you are aware of your duties, are you not?”

“Yes…” Lena looked falteringly up at the Archmatria who seemed to loom over her, even though she was a full six inches shorter. Had they been listening in over the intercom?

“You know what is permitted between a collector and donor and what is not?”

“Yes,” said Lena, trying her best to recollect the lesson on Collection Law. If she remembered correctly, that was the time Mae had her bent over the pool table in the recreation room softly smacking her bottom with a ruler. She’d snatched a brief look at one of her other roommate’s notes afterward.

The Archmatria’s eyes bored into her, and she felt a crushing expectation that she was meant to recount the rules one by one. Her mind went blank.

“Yes, what?” asked the Archmatria sternly.

“Oh.” Small relief washed over Lena when she realized the Archmatria was waiting for something a little less informative. “Yes, ma’am,” she concluded.

“That’s better.” The Archmatria flicked through the notes on her clipboard. “It seems from these records that your second collection did not include your involvement.”

“No, I…I…” Lena stuttered in confusion. She’d only been in to collect twice. She’d got it wrong already. “What? I don’t know what you mean. We extracted the fluid and placed it in the portal.”

“Lena, you do not seem to grasp your job here.” The Archmatria motioned for Lena to take a seat in one of the ancient and uncomfortable looking chairs. The Archmatria took her place opposite, appearing to be quite happy on the high angular stool. “It is not permitted for a male to partake in self-gratification.”

“Why not?”

“Collecting must be carefully monitored. Any unauthorized ejaculation could lead to a weakening of the seminal fluid.”

“It wasn’t unauthorized. I was right there, beside him.”

“Yes,” said the Archmatria, once again taking up her notes. “I see that, but you really don’t know the importance of your presence? Has it not been explained about your genetic gift?”

“You mean my magic sex juice.” Lena rolled her eyes.

“Crudity aside, yes Lena, that is what I mean. The semen must have at least a trace of your pheromone in it for it to be capable of rousing the male sperm. After contact with your essence, the Y-chromosome specimens survived for a full two hours longer than when it was self collected.”

“You just let them die?” Lena was amazed. She’d imagined the samples had been whisked away and immediately frozen.

“Only for the first four days until we test the compatibility and success of the pairing.”

“You mean Angelo and me?”

“Yes. So you must take your role more seriously.” The Archmatria’s voice softened, “Please.”

“But how can I infuse the fluid with my essence without contaminating it?” Lena did know the number one rule about not having contact with the actual semen itself—that one had been drummed into her until she was ready to scream. The weight of her task grew heavy once more on Lena’s shoulders.

“As long as any part of you is in contact with the penis until the point of extraction, that will suffice. However, work on your own arousal as this increases the strength of the pheromone.”

“Oh.” Lena was surprised at this last snippet of information. And quite pleased. The Archmatria, if she understood correctly, had just given Lena permission to have full sexual contact, where her own pleasure was encouraged—no, a necessity. It suddenly became clear how important the secret meetings she and Mae had skipped class for had actually been.

The Archmatria silently dismissed her with a nod of her head, and Lena slipped quickly into the corridor where she flopped against the wall. This arrangement could be good. A rush of excitement flooded between her legs and up into her chest. Yes, this arrangement could be very good.