Human Rights (14 page)

The vision of Jiat blurred, like looking at the landscape through a rainy window. Everything became so warm, and my thoughts slowed. Sound disappeared, but I clung to the memory of that purr even as darkness rushed up to swallow me whole.

The last thought I remembered having was that Dr. Tiwan was wrong. The pain of losing the memory of Jiat's purr was the worst of my life, and then there was nothing.

Chapter Twelve

My head was pounding. It reminded me of when I'd turned nineteen and was given glass after glass of the spiked punch. I'd woken with a headache much like this one. I moaned and brought my hand up to my head.

Wait.

Hand. Head. There was no silence, no darkness. I was thirsty. How could I be dead
and
thirsty?

I tried to sit up, force my eyes to open, but a broad hand pressed me back down. Finally, my eyes cooperated, and my vision filled with the sight of Jiat hovering worriedly over me. Jiat! But, oh, my head!

"Shh," Jiat purred. "You've been asleep for almost two days." He lifted a cup and brought it to my lips. It tasted of water and something sweet, a little sour. I watched him unblinkingly as I slowly sipped. "I am so sorry," he whispered, nuzzling my temple. "I wanted to tell you Tiwan was one of us. Whenever a pet is to be destroyed for anything other than murder, Tiwan puts them into a deep sleep, and we smuggle them to the colony. We didn't tell you in case Miab witnessed your execution." Jiat's whiskers twitched. "Miab is a pain in the ass, and is most certainly not part of the Movement."

After finishing the cup of liquid, I licked my dry lips. It took three tries to make my tongue and throat work, for me to ask the one question burning in my mind. "I'm alive?"

Jiat set the cup aside and drew me into his arms. "Yes."

Tears gathered in my eyes as I reached up to brush my fingers over Jiat's face. "I'm alive!" I gasped. I rose up enough to kiss all over Jiat's muzzle, holding tightly to him, my fingers tangling in his fur. "And you're here... with me."

"My life in the city meant nothing if I could not share it with you. I told you as much," Jiat said, his hands smoothing over my bare skin. "I love you."

I laughed as my tears fell. "We're here... in the colony?"

Jiat chuffed. "In the colony, and in our simple, new home."

"And Hosanna?"

"Hosanna has gone to live and work for Hyra. Together, they will continue where I no longer can." Jiat licked at my throat and cheek, taking the tears from my skin. "This is our life now. Equality and nothing to hide." He grinned at me. "Would you like to see your new home?"

See the colony. It was frightening and exciting, and I nodded. "Please." I wanted to walk, to breathe in fresh air.

Jiat helped me up, and I looked around our home. It was simple. Clay brick walls with mud between the bricks. The roof was a tight thatch. It was one room, but with windows on each side. Simple screens were stretched over the windows. A table and four chairs, a divan, a crude kitchen, and the bed I'd been in with Jiat. I chewed at my lip. "This is so unlike your grand home."

"I like it. It has... potential." Jiat held out a dark blue cloth. "I will build bookshelves, a desk. We will improve our kitchen. We will make our life here, Ewan. Nothing handed to us, everything earned. Together."

I stared at the cloth in Jiat's hand. "What's that?"

Jiat chuffed. "Your loincloth. We will have more clothing made for you in time, but for now, this will have to do."

I took the loincloth from Jiat, my throat tight. Clothing. My own
clothing
. Jiat helped me to tie the loincloth, and I knew then I'd been elevated. I'd gained something I'd never dreamed of having: freedom. Jiat took my hand and tugged me through our front door and outside. It was bright, hot. Summer had come? I looked up at Jiat, his coat practically glowing in the sunlight.

"How long...?"

Jiat squeezed my hand. "Mid-spring when you went into the pound. It is now the first month of summer."

I looked around. Other similar homes were near our own, many with their doors and windows thrown open to the afternoon heat. Every home had a small garden, vegetables climbing trellises and reaching toward the bright blue sky. I turned back to our home and, yes, we also had a patch of land cultivated and ready to grow things. I smiled, hope bubbling up inside me.

"Ewan!"

I spun around in time to see Jill rushing up to me, smiling, her body covered by a simple dress that stopped mid-thigh. "Jill?"

"I'd heard you'd been brought here, that Jiat had arrived." She hugged me and kissed my cheek. "I'm so glad you're all right. Hrya was so worried about you."

I blinked. "Hyra is here?"

A look of pain streaked across Jill's face before she smiled at me again. "No. She's needed in the city. I... I understand that, even if it hurts. She'll come to me, though, whenever she can. I'll wait."

Her devotion made me smile. I'd have waited for Jiat, too.

"I want to show Ewan around, Jill," Jiat said gently. "Come by after dark. Have supper with us. It won't be anything special, but—"

Jill grinned. "It'll be perfect, Jiat. I have to go help gather eggs, anyway. I'll bring some for you." She kissed my cheek again. "You'll love it here." Then she was gone, jogging down the dirt road and disappearing over the hill.

We walked all afternoon. No human was naked. There were no collars. No leashes. No one had their heads bowed or eyes averted. There was laughter. Sweat. Work. I saw humans paired off together, humans with canines or felines, felines and canines... there was no permutation I didn't see. Groups talking together. Playing games. And children! I saw
children
running around, chasing one another, humans and canines and felines. By the time we returned to our home, I was sun-flushed, heart racing, and mind whirling.

"It's perfect!" I cried once Jiat shut our door. "It's perfect, Jiat. Home is
here
. I want to be a part of it all. I want to make it work."

"It will take much work." Jiat went to a cupboard in our kitchen and returned with dried meats and fruit. "I have more of the juice I gave you earlier. You should eat. Rest for now."

I put the food on the table and threw my arms around him, kissing his muzzle. "I want to
celebrate
, Jiat, not rest!"

"And how would you like to celebrate, hmm?" Jiat asked, wrapping his arms around me and inching me back toward the bed.

"With pleasure and cries of passion and so much kissing, my lips ache from it," I declared.

Jiat and I tumbled back onto the bed, and his weight above me was one of the greatest pleasures, solid and real. "As you command, Ewan."

I smiled up at him, brushing my fingers near his eyes, honey eyes filled with love and warmth for me. He already had my love, and so I gave Jiat the only other thing I had kept for myself. "Westyn. My name is Westyn."

S.L. Armstrong has been writing for as long as she can remember. Art and reading have played a large part in her life since young childhood, but around fourteen, writing became her passion. Voraciously consuming every book in front of her opened up hundreds of worlds in her head, and she soon wanted to create worlds for other people as well. She has a particular fondness for gothic horror, horror, high fantasy, urban fantasy, and romance novels. The authors she turns to time and again are Stephen King, L.J. Smith, V.C. Andrews, R.L. Stine, and Anne Rice, among others. She has no shame in picking up the young adult novels she loved as a child, and she will talk your ear off about grammar and punctuation.

After she married her husband sixteen years ago, she began to truly delve into the world of writing for public consumption. It was sheer chance that she stumbled on M/M fanfiction, and she's not looked back. Though fanfiction will always have a fond place in her heart, she soon grew tired of playing in other people's sandboxes. When she discovered M/M romance, and how it was now a legitimate branch of romance writing, she knew her course. S.L. plans to release F/F, M/M, M/F, and multiple partner books as she continues her writing career. M/M romance is where her heart lies, no matter what else she may write or read, and it's where she keeps returning to. There is something about two men passionately in love that just makes her heart melt, and she has no intention of giving that up any time soon.

S.L. Armstrong lives in Florida with her husband, two dogs, and eleven cats. She hates the heat and longs for a northern, snowy climate. She writes with K. Piet on a number of projects, but she also writes her own solitary titles as well. S.L. Armstrong owns Storm Moon Press LLC along with her husband and K. Piet.

Gabriel isn't quite making a living as a paranormal investigator, even with the help of his ghostly twin, Michael. But when he encounters the arrogant and sexy Dorian as he cleans the man's hotel room, it will take more than his casual displays of wealth to lure Gabriel to his Scotland estate. The opportunity for some scorchingly hot sex with the rich enigma, however, just might do it.

Michael doesn't like or trust Dorian, and he's not shy about saying so. But when Dorian calmly casts a banishing spell to put Michael in a 'time out', both brothers are shaken to the core. There is a lot more to this supernatural business than either of them suspected, and Dorian apparently knows far more than he was letting on. As the feelings between Dorian and Gabriel evolve into something more than lust, a hidden danger is also growing, and it will take all of their combined skills to prevail.

Now available
from Storm Moon Press!
Digital: $7.99 / Print $15.99

Includes 12 black-and-white illustrations by Diana Callinger!

Zach is just seventeen years old, but despite his youth, he has more than his fair share of responsibility. An experimental fling in high school has led him down the path of single fatherhood. Now, he holds down a job, takes his college classes online, and pays his own bills as best he can—all while juggling daycare and chores and play-dates for his four-month-old, Mae. It's a rough, 24/7 life, but to Zach, Mae is worth every penny spent and every minute of his day.

With no free time to speak of, it feels like a miracle when Zach meets Wil in the check-out line at his work. Handsome, grounded, from the proverbial "right side of the tracks", and—even better—good with kids, Wil is everything he could want in a boyfriend. But as interested as Wil is in Zach, he has his own life, his own family, his own job and college career to think about. All the various draws on their time means that it's hard just to find chances to be together. But Zach's no stranger to hard tasks, and believes he owes it to himself to try.