Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (14 page)

Slowly, Kerov
realized that the girl wasn’t another person—she was an image
reflected in some kind of shiny, silver viewer hanging on the
wall.

An
image of
him.

Suddenly the strange dream he’d had came rushing back to him.
Being taken over on the pubtrans station by a strange female—by
Frankie—who suddenly had control of his body. The incomplete Switch
which had led to the most disastrous mandatory sexual encounter
he’d ever had and Xirnah threatening to declare him impotent. And
then the unparalleled pleasure he’d felt as Frankie stroked his
shaft until he came—until they
both
came harder than he could ever remember coming
before…

Goddess above—it
wasn’t a dream!

The realization hit
him like a blow to the gut. He stared at himself in the shiny
viewer and ran one trembling hand through the long, wild black
hair. It was a soft, shiny mass around his head that felt utterly
different from his own trim, no nonsense haircut.

The body he was in was completely different from his own too.
He was short now—petite and curved instead of tall and muscular.
Not that this body was exactly soft—he could feel strength in it
and the muscles seemed toned but they were so
small
compared to what he was used to.

Frankie—I must be in her body,
he thought, looking down at himself. He was
wearing a long, soft shirt that had a picture of some kind of
animal lying on its back with its legs in the air. Its mouth was
open and a long pink tongue was lolling out. Hmm—either it was
dozing or it was dead. Kerov couldn’t tell though he did think it
would be strange to wear a garment with the picture of a dead
animal on it to sleep in. Then again, where he came from, it was
strange to wear a garment with any kind of picture on it. Such a
thing would have been considered distracting—an unwanted display of
individuality which the State would not have allowed.

But Kerov was more
interested in what lay under the long shirt than the picture on the
front of it. Two soft mounds pressed against the soft
fabric—breasts.

Unable to help his
curiosity, Kerov lifted the shirt and looked down. Yes, they were
indeed breasts—fucking gorgeous ones. They weren’t huge but that
was fine with him—he’d always thought Xirnah’s were too large and
thrusting—not that she ever let him touch them, of course, but he’d
seen them once or twice when her sex garment fell open. His State
mandated sexual partner’s breasts were high and full and pale white
with little pink nipples the size of his smallest fingernail.

The breasts he was
currently examining were very different. Besides being smaller they
looked softer somehow—more yielding. And the nipples were much
larger—wide brown bands with peaks that tightened enticingly in the
chilly morning air.

Beautiful,
Kerov thought, staring down at them. He could imagine cupping
these soft, tender breasts…rubbing his face between their full
slopes and feeling their silky texture against his cheeks and lips.
And then he would suck one of those tight brown nipples into his
mouth and circle it with his tongue, teasing the hot little peak
until she moaned and begged…

Experimentally, he
brushed one nipple with his fingertips and sucked in a breath at
the answering burst of pleasure. So sensitive! Much more so than
the flat copper disks of his own nipples. He did it again and then
grasped both tight peaks between his fingers and tugged gently.

Gods!
The
sensation made him feel weak in the knees. And it wasn’t just the
bolts of pleasure that shot through this new body at the gentle
touch—it was the erotic act of actually touching breasts for the
first time. It was something Kerov had always longed to do. Such
intimacy, however, was strictly forbidden. And though he had heard
of some sexually mandated partners finding common ground and
indulging in such things from time to time, he himself had never
had a partner who was willing to bend the rules.

He tugged the
nipples some more to feel the sensation again. This time, in
addition to the pleasure in the tender peaks, there was an
answering tug somewhere south of his naval. Instinctively, Kerov
pressed his thighs together, increasing and heightening the
pleasure.

Then he frowned—normally if he was getting excited he would
have spread his thighs to give his shaft room to grow. Of course,
if this was Frankie’s body there would
be
no shaft. That only made sense but Kerov still felt a
stab of apprehension as he looked down at the little pink
undergarments that covered her sex.

Taking a breath, he
pulled back the waistband and looked inside. Sure enough, there was
no shaft. But what he did see made him catch his breath. The soft
little mound of Frankie’s sex was an enticing sight. It had a
small, neatly trimmed patch of curls and the outer lips looked
swollen and puffy, as though they needed to be touched or
stroked.

Kerov was about to
reach down and cup her soft little cunt in his hand when he had a
guilty thought. This was Frankie’s body he was touching here—her
erogenous zones he was playing with and drawing erotic responses
from. How would she feel about him performing forbidden acts on her
without her knowledge? And where was she, anyway? Last time they
had been two spirits in one body. Was he alone this time? Or was
she hanging back, watching him from the corners of her own mind,
waiting to see what else he would do to her?

“
Frankie?” he asked, under his breath. But he got no answer and
didn’t feel her presence either. Could it be they had undergone a
complete Switch this time? But how was that possible when their
physical bodies were so many light years apart? And if it
was
somehow possible, what was Frankie
doing in his body right now? Had the night passed on his home
planet? Was she up and awake and doing things?

A sudden thought
made him groan. Last night after their mutual orgasm he had felt
Frankie leave. He’d gotten up to clean himself and heard a rapping
at his door. Kerov had been afraid it was Xirnah, back to give him
a piece of her mind but instead it had been his friend, Jorn. He’d
been dead drunk and in need of a place to sleep—Kerov had let him
in and allowed him to use the cot in his small utility room. Was he
still there now? And if so, could Frankie fool him enough to make
him believe she was Kerov?

As far as that went,
could she make the rest of the people in Kerov’s life believe she
was him? He had to inspect his battalion and lead the upcoming
review and later came the banquet…how would she handle such
things?

Not very well, Kerov
was afraid. She didn’t know the first thing about how people were
supposed to behave on his home planet. Come to think of it, though,
he didn’t know the first thing about how they behaved here,
either—only that things seemed to be freer and more permissive, at
least to hear Frankie tell it.

I’m sure I can manage,
Kerov told himself uneasily.
I’ll just stay here. If I don’t go out,
there’s no way I can damage any aspect of Frankie’s
life.

Rap-rap-rap!
A loud rapping sound came from another part of the domicile,
making Kerov jerk. Then he heard someone shouting.

“
Frankie? Frankie, are you okay?”

Kerov became
suddenly aware that he was still standing in front of the small
viewer with Frankie’s night shirt pulled up and her pink
underthings pulled down, exposing all her most tender and private
areas.

Gods!
Quickly, he pulled up the small pink undergarments and yanked
down the shirt with the picture of the sleeping or deceased animal
on it. The banging and calling came again—whoever it was sounded
very upset. Kerov debated going to talk to them but he was afraid
he would ruin one of Frankie’s personal relationships much as she
had ruined his with Xirnah—not that it was a great loss in his
case.

Far better just to stay here and keep quiet. Eventually
whoever it is will grow tired of knocking and go away,
he told himself uneasily.
But then he heard a clicking, scraping sound coming from the front
of the domicile.

“
Frankie?” the voice called again—it was feminine and sounded
worried. “Frankie, are you okay? Why aren’t you answering your
phone?”

Uh-oh—it was getting
closer. Somehow whoever it was had gotten into the domicile. Kerov
thought about hiding in the small room with the viewer—which seemed
to be some kind of a fresher. But before he could, a tall, slender
female with long, straight blonde hair came barging into the
sleeping chamber. She had on loose pink clothing and with her
narrow waist and hips, she didn’t look that different from a
Tarsian woman, although her hair was a darker blonde.

“
There
you
are!” Her voice went high with relief.
“
God, you had me so
worried!”

“
I
am sorry you felt worried for me,” Kerov responded, hoping he
sounded enough like Frankie to avoid suspicion. “I didn’t hear you
because I was in the fresher.”

The girl frowned. “The
fresher?”

“
Um…the…” Kerov fumbled frantically for the right word. To his
surprise, it rose to the front of his mind as if by magic. “In
the
bathroom,
I
mean. I was in the bathroom.”

“
In the bathroom for a whole
hour?”
the girl demanded. “Because that’s how long I’ve been calling
you. When you didn’t answer I got so worried I had to come over
here. I worked a double yesterday, you know—I’ve still got on my
scrubs. I would
much
rather
be home in bed but no—
you
asked me
to call just to be on the safe side.”

“
I
did?” Kerov looked at her blankly.

“
Don’t you remember?” The girl frowned at him. “You asked me
ages ago—you said you wanted to be absolutely certain you were on
time for your big test at the Lotus Pond.” She frowned at him.
“And
look
at you—you’re still
wearing your jammies. I thought you told me the test was at nine
and it’s already eight forty-five!”

“
A
test?” he repeated blankly. Seven Hells, this wasn’t good—in fact,
it was terrible! How could he be tested on knowledge that only
Frankie had? If only she were here with him but he still felt no
inkling of her presence in his head.
Frankie, where are you?
he thought desperately.
We had an incomplete Switch
before—why couldn’t we have it again?

But the other girl
was already shoving him out of the small fresher and back into the
sleeping area.

“
Yes, a test,” she repeated. “What’s with you today? You don’t
seem like yourself at all.”

“
Don’t I?” Kerov tensed his jaw. Was she on to him? Did
Frankie’s people know anything about body switching? Or was it
simply a turn of phrase?

“
No, you don’t. Now come on—get dressed!”

Kerov frowned. “No.
I cannot go to the test. It is…a bad time for me.”

“
What—you mean you have your period?” The blonde girl frowned.
“Well too bad—take a couple of ibuprofen and get over it. All
you’ve been talking about for months was taking this test and
getting a job at the Lotus Pond so you don’t have to work at
Victoria’s
Suckret
anymore. You can’t let a few cramps stop you from making that
happen!”

As she spoke, she
went to a waist high piece of furniture with drawers in it. Pulling
them open, she began pawing through a selection of garments. Kerov
watched her uneasily—yoga? What was that? And what kind of test was
Frankie supposed to take for it?

Unbidden, an image
rose to his mind—several females in form fitting clothes bending
and stretching, striking various poses as soothing music played in
the background.

Kerov frowned. Was
he somehow accessing Frankie’s memories, even though she wasn’t
there? He had heard that this was sometimes possible in a Switch,
if the partners were a perfect match, made by the Goddess. But he
barely knew Frankie and they were light years apart. He shouldn’t
be able to get anything from her memories at all.

But regardless of
the impossibility, he seemed to have access to her knowledge. He
drew on it now, pulling out pieces of information much as the
blonde girl was pulling things out of her drawers.

Yoga…meditation…breathing…It calms the mind, sooths the
spirit, and unifies the body,
Frankie’s store of information informed him. Kerov
didn’t see how bending and stretching and breathing could do all
that but at least he had some idea of what her test was about
now.

“
Here—your lucky yoga pants. Put them on, quick! And a
matching bra and panties set to make you feel pretty and
confident…and this purple crop top—it looks good on you and you’ll
be able to do all the inversions without worrying that it will ride
up or fall down.”

The blonde girl
shoved a bundle of garments at him and Kerov grabbed them by
instinct. Then he just stood there—could he really do this? Or
should he insist that he had to stay here at Frankie’s domicile and
refuse to take the test?

“
Well? Come on—
hurry!
We
have to be there in ten minutes!”