Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (11 page)

Desperately, Frankie
gripped the softening shaft, lined it up with the alien woman’s
pale pussy, and tried to push it in anyway. She managed to
succeed—sort of—but the sensation was horribly unpleasant.

This part of Kerov’s
anatomy was incredibly sensitive and Frankie had an idea that any
other time sex as a man could have been intensely pleasurable.
Before she’d actually made contact with Xirnah, back when Kerov was
filling her head with sexy pictures, the shaft had swelled with
need and she’d felt the strong urge to thrust. But entering the
alien woman was like being enfolded by cold, raw liver.

Ugh!
she
thought, shivering involuntarily as she tried to thrust.
It’s like having sex with
a corpse.
Well—a
really angry, irritated corpse, anyway. Xirnah continued to glower
at her as Frankie pushed in and out with the ever-softening
member.

“
Hurry
up,”
the
alien woman ground out. “You know I detest this—don’t take so
long!”

“
Faster,”
she
heard Kerov urging her.
“You’ll never be able to finish at that rate. You
have to get some momentum going in order to come.”

There was too much pressure—both from inside
and out. Frankie finally
thought she understood the meaning of performance anxiety. Between
Kerov’s urgent demands and Xirnah’s glaring, not to mention how
intensely unpleasant it felt to thrust into the cold, slick well of
her pussy, Frankie felt the shaft between her legs lose its last
little bit of tumescence and go completely soft.

“
I’m sorry,” she muttered, stepping back and tucking the wilted
shaft back in his trousers. “But I can’t…I just
can’t.”

“
What?” A look of surprise and triumph came over Xirnah’s
thin, perfect face. “Are you admitting defeat? Declaring
impotence?”

“
No—tell her no!”
Kerov sounded almost panicked.
“Don’t declare impotence! She’ll be able to use
it against me. I’ll be given a different sexual
partner.”

Frankie didn’t see how that could be a bad thing. Xirnah might
be Kerov’s idea of perfection for some reason but clearly his alien
girlfriend did
not
feel the
same way about him.

“
I, um…I’m sorry,” she said again, taking another step
backward. “I’m not declaring anything but I just…I can’t right
now.”

“
Ha!” There was a gleam of triumph in Xirnah’s dark eyes as she
got off the bed and straightened her garments. “Where’s your famous
Kindred virility now? The great Kerov, Battalion Commander who
killed legions of the Swarm, is wielding a
blunt saber.
Wait until I tell my friends!”

“
You have
friends?”
Frankie snapped, stung into sarcasm again. “That’s surprising
considering what a grade A bitch you are!”

Xirnah’s eyes
widened.

“
How dare you speak to me this way?”

“
She’s right—stop at once and apologize. You’re only making
things worse,”
Kerov growled.

“
I
will
not
apologize,” Frankie said,
glaring right back at the woman. “I’m only telling the absolute
truth.”

“
Fine.” Xirnah gathered herself up to her full height—which
still wasn’t nearly tall enough to let her look down on Frankie—not
in the tall Kindred body she was currently inhabiting. “Then I’m
leaving and tomorrow morning at o-six hundred sharp I am requesting
a different sexual partner.”

“
Go ahead, sweetheart,” Frankie snarled. “Have fun trying to
find anyone who’ll want screw you. You might be pretty but that
nasty attitude you’re carrying around completely ruins your perfect
little package.”

Xirnah’s eyes
narrowed and her lips pursed in rage.

“
Why…you…you crude, disgusting
Kindred
you!” she stormed. “I’m going to tell everyone I know
that you’re a rude, ignorant,
impotent
thug!”

Then she turned and
stormed out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

* *
* * *

Kerov groaned inside
the prison of his own body. Gods, could that have gone any worse?
He really didn’t see how. The mandatory sexual encounter had been a
complete and total disaster. Xirnah hated him even more than she
had before and now she had plenty of ammunition to use against
him.

“
Impotent,”
he
muttered.
“She’s
going to tell everyone I’m impotent!”
He tried to run his hands through his hair
in a gesture of frustration but then remembered he couldn’t—Frankie
still had control of his body.

“
I’m sorry.” Frankie’s voice sounded small and
contrite—feminine even though she was speaking through his voice
box. “I…I never meant for it to go that far. That stupid
puta
just made me so mad!”

“
Xirnah is a very difficult female who has to be handled
correctly,”
Kerov
growled.
“You
completely mismanaged the situation!”

“
Well you should have warned me that she was cold inside!”
Frankie protested. “That was like trying to make love to a corpse!”
She shivered. “Ugh!”

Against his will,
Kerov had to admit she was right. He couldn’t help remembering the
first time he’d had sex with Xirnah. He’d had other sexual partners
before but none who had absolutely no Kindred blood in them.
Xirnah’s bloodline was exclusive—pure Tarsian. In fact, it had
surprised him that she was assigned to him at all. Possibly it had
been some kind of a punishment for her but it hadn’t exactly been a
pleasure for him either.

At any rate, her
pure blood insured that her body temperature was especially low—at
least compared to his own. The first time he’d sunk his shaft into
that bloodless slit between her thighs it had taken everything he
had to keep going and actually finish. Being inside her pussy was
like being gripped by a cold, slick fist—an admittedly startling
and unpleasant sensation.

“
What are you thinking?” Frankie asked, breaking his train of
thought. “I can feel your emotions and I can
almost
catch your thoughts but not quite. Are you super
pissed off at me?”

He
sighed.
“I’m upset
but… I should have warned you Xirnah’s body temperature was
especially low, even for a Tarsian.”

“
What do you mean
even
for a
Tarsian? Are all the people on this planet cold?”

“
All but the ones who have Kindred blood,”
Kerov said.
“And none are as hot as me—I am full
blooded Kindred which counts against me in many circles. And not
just because my blood is too hot.”

“
I
wondered why she kept calling you ‘Kindred’ like it was a curse
word.” Frankie sounded thoughtful. “Are your people not wanted
here?”

“
We were at first—we were welcomed with open arms by the
Tarsians because we brought fresh blood and new technology. Then
they discovered my ancestors’ curse.”

“
You mean the whole body switching thing?” Frankie said
dryly.

“
Exactly. That was frowned upon—considered wrong and impure by
those in charge. And things only got worse for us when a new regime
rose to power. They implemented laws to breed our Switching gene
into nonexistence. Supposedly no living Kindred is still able to
Switch.”

“
Well I’d say their little breeding program failed,” Frankie
said. “Seeing the shape you and I are currently in.”

Kerov sighed.
“Unfortunately, you’re right. But no one else must know
that.”

Frankie bit her lip—
his
lip—Kerov could feel it even though he hadn’t made the
gesture.

“
Do…do you think the way I acted tipped Xirnah
off?”

“
I
don’t know.”
Kerov
wished he could pace as he considered the situation but again, his
body was not his own.
“It might have, but probably the idea of declaring me impotent
has overshadowed any other thought in her mind.”

“
I
really
am
sorry about that.”
Frankie sounded really contrite. “I know how much a man’s sexual
prowess is tied to his sense of self-worth.”

“
It’s not my self-worth I’m worried about,”
he growled.
“It’s my career. I have a promotional
banquet coming up and it wouldn’t be good if it got out to my
superiors that my assigned sexual partner asked for a reassignment.
Especially based on the fact that I was unable to inseminate
her.”

“
I
swear I would have finished if I could but she was
glaring
at me and she was
so
cold
inside.” Frankie
shivered.

“
I
guess I’d grown used to her internal temperature,”
Kerov admitted. He was
still angry with Frankie but he couldn’t be completely enraged—not
when he knew the point she was making was valid.
“It
was
an unpleasant shock the first time I entered her
but I made up my mind to get used to it. After all, it isn’t like I
will ever be with a female who is any warmer.”

“
You should come to Earth,” Frankie said, surprising him.
“Lots of girls get called as Kindred brides there and I’ve never
heard any of them complain that their husbands are too hot. So we
must have about the same body temperatures.”

“
Oh?”
Kerov
asked, interested despite himself.
“So the females of your kind are warm
blooded?”

“
Well, we’re not cold fish like that Xirnah.
Dios—
she felt like cold, slimy, raw liver
inside.” Frankie made a face which Kerov felt rather than
saw.

He wondered what it
would be like to make love to a female who was warm inside rather
than cold—that might be appealing. In fact, he imagined it would be
intensely pleasurable. But there was no point in thinking of it
now—it wasn’t like he would ever get to experience such a thing.
The encounter with Xirnah was over and it was getting late. The
best thing to do was to go to sleep and hope to wake up alone in
his own skin tomorrow.

“
It’s late,”
he told Frankie.
“And the only hope we have of Switching back is to go to sleep
and hope your soul finds its way back to your body back on
Earth.”

“
It will—won’t it?” She sounded anxious. “I mean, I wouldn’t
leave your body and then just go wandering around, unable to find
my way home, would I? Earth is an
awfully
long way away.”

“
With any kind of Switch a soul can only find its own body or
the body of its mate,”
Kerov said, trying to comfort her.

“
But I’m not your mate,” she pointed out. “I barely know you.
Although I guess after what we’ve been through tonight, I know you
a lot better than some people.”

“
True,”
Kerov
acknowledged wryly.
“I do not know why your soul found mine over such a
distance—it must be a fluke. But I don’t want you to worry that you
won’t find your way home. That couldn’t happen unless you were a
Switch Kindred yourself—and only then if you were a True
Jumper.”

“
A
True Jumper? What’s that?”

“
A Switch Kindred who is
able to not just inhabit his mate’s body but to jump into anyone
else’s as well.”

“
And are
you
a True Jumper?” she
asked.

“
I didn’t think I could
Jump or Switch at all,”
Kerov said
ruefully.
“And I wish to the Goddess I
couldn’t.”

“
I guess I can understand
that. I
did
sort
of screw up your life.” Frankie sounded remorseful. “I’m sorry I
broke up you and Xirnah—even if she
was
kind of a bitch.”

“
I will survive her
loss,”
Kerov said stoically although
privately he wondered what female he would be assigned to next. It
was difficult to imagine a more unpleasant person than Xirnah but
knowing the Ministry of Matching, they would find someone. He had
never yet heard of someone who asked for reassignment that didn’t
regret it once they met their new partner. Still, that was for the
future. For now he just wanted to go to sleep and hopefully wake up
normal again.

Frankie seemed to be thinking the same
thing.

“
I guess we should get
ready for bed,” she said. “Um…I can see this is your bedroom but
where are your pajamas?”

“
My what?”
Kerov asked.

“
Your pajamas. You
know—your sleeping garments?”

“
Why would one need
garments to sleep in?”
Kerov was genuinely
puzzled.

“
Well…to keep you warm at
night, I guess. And for modesty’s sake.” Frankie sounded slightly
scandalized.

Kerov shrugged mentally.