Bound watched anxiously as the lovely Elite female he had chosen to approach weighed his words. Would she help him? Goddess, if she refused him, what would he do? He was convinced she was the only one who perfectly encapsulated exactly what he needed in order to recover Torn.
“If you have a moment I can tell you more about my offer,” he said hopefully. “It pays very, very well.”
“Wait…” She frowned up at him, suspicion filling her warm, chocolate brown eyes. “You say you’re a Twin Kindred—are you trying to pay me to, uh, get kinky with you and your brother? Because I am not that kind of girl. One man at a time, thank you very much.”
Her words pierced him to the core. She was so lovely with her lush, full curves and her long wavy hair that looked brown in shadow and deep auburn in the sunlight. Her big, dark eyes set off her pale skin perfectly. She was exactly the kind of Elite female he and his brother would have been privileged to call.
Bound reminded himself sternly he wasn’t on Earth to search for a mate. His only objective now was recovering his brother. Then and only then could they think about calling a female to lie between them and bond with both of them.
If there was enough left of Torn to bond with anyone, that was.
“I promise you, I have no interest in you sexually, My Lady,” he said earnestly. “But I do urgently need your services. Will you hear what I have to say?”
The little Elite sighed deeply.
“Well, since I don’t have to be to work until never o’clock, sure—why not? Come on…” She motioned up the block to the apartment buildings. “Come on in and tell me all about it.”
“Thank you, My Lady.” Bound felt a surge of relief. She would at least listen. And hopefully she would agree to come with him and help. He tried hard to keep his mind on the matter at hand and not watch the swaying of her full hips as they walked. Gods, she was beautiful! He had chosen well—if she agreed to his proposal.
Bound sent a quick prayer to the Goddess that she would and followed the little Elite as she opened the door to her domicile and ushered him in.
* * * * *
Lorelei knew it wasn’t smart to let a strange man into her apartment five minutes after she’d met him, but the Kindred were known to be good guys and feminists at heart. She didn’t believe the big warrior meant her any harm and she trusted her own gut instincts.
Like the instinct that made you think you were the girl of his dreams? asked a jeering little voice in her brain. God, how stupid can you be, Lorelei?
But what was she supposed to think? She’d only ever heard of Kindred warriors coming down to Earth to claim brides—none that she knew of came down to hire people with advanced, obsolete degrees for who knew what reason.
“I have no interest in you sexually,” he’d said. Ouch. Way to hurt a girl. But then, she had just accused him of wanting her to get freaky with him and his brother. Maybe she deserved it.
“Make yourself at home,” she told him as she pressed the unlock sequence and the door swung open. She was relieved that it worked—she was late on her rent too, although not as late as with her car payments. Maybe it would be a good idea to take some of her more essential possessions with her the next time she left, in case she was locked out when she came back.
“Thank you.” The big Kindred looked around her tiny apartment. It was clean, if a bit cluttered. There was a laundry basket full of clothes on the couch but at least they were clean clothes—she just hadn’t gotten around to folding them yet.
“Here.” Lorelei moved the basket and patted the sagging black leather cushion, indicating that the big Kindred—what had he called himself? Bound, that was it—indicating that Bound should have a seat on the couch.
“Thank you,” he said, folding his large frame somewhat awkwardly onto the human-sized piece of furniture. He was so big he made everything in her apartment look miniature. “Will you sit and talk with me?”
“In a minute,” Lorelei told him. “I need to find the First Aid kit.” She motioned to her skinned knees and grimaced.
She found the kit in the bathroom, behind a stack of towels, and brought it and a warm, damp washcloth back out into the living room. Seating herself on the loveseat opposite him, she made a motion with one hand as she dabbed her oozing knees with the washcloth with the other.
“All right, I’m listening. What do you want with me and my degree, which is totally useless? At least here on Earth,” she added wryly.
“It’s not useless—it will be extremely useful and valuable if you will agree to come with me.” He leaned forward eagerly, elbows resting on his knees.
“How?” Lorelei asked. “You said something about rescuing your brother who had been, uh, modified? Was he kidnapped by Skynet or what?” Catching his uncertain expression she waved her last remark away. “I mean, was he taken by some kind of sentient computer system?”
“In a manner of speaking.” He looked down at his hands. “Torn and I were on a mission to the Gamulon system around six months ago. We were at Kiva station—it’s known to be a haven for pirates and slavers but we badly needed supplies and we’re always together to watch each other’s backs. Only this time…I didn’t watch well enough.”
His handsome face twisted with misery and guilt and Lorelei felt her heart go out to him.
“What happened?” she asked gently.
“He…” Bound took a deep breath. “He was taken by V’radors while I was haggling with a merchant for a part we needed. It happened so quickly I only had time to turn the moment I heard him cry out. They were already dragging him out the door, which they barred against me. By the time I got through it…” His shrugged, his broad shoulders sagging. “He was gone.”
“V’radors?” Lorelei shook her head. “What or who are they?”
“A species who specialize in mech-droid enhancements and sentient species trafficking,” he said grimly. “They’re known to snatch a likely candidate and modify him or her to be the perfect slave—then they sell them off to the highest bidder.”
“Ouch,” Lorelei muttered. “That’s awful.” She couldn’t help thinking that life had been a lot simpler when humans had believed they were alone in the universe. Still, there was no going back now. “So you believe your brother has been, ah, modified?” she asked. “Modified how?”
“The V’radors will have added cybernetic parts to his body—possibly added a microchip to his nervous system or introduced nanobots to his bloodstream, depending on their purpose. As to what they have turned him into…” Bound shook his head. “He could be anything from a body-slave to a gladiator, fit only to fight in the Blood Ring for the rest of his days.”
“Wow…so they’ve actually messed with his mind and altered his body structure too?” Lorelei was fascinated. “They basically turned him into a kind of cyborg, huh?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Bound looked more troubled than ever. “But it’s my hope we can turn him back to his normal, organic self. There is a surgeon aboard the Mother Ship—a Tolleg named Yipper—who specializes in adding and removing enhancements. He thinks he can help, depending on how extensive the modifications are.”
“Okay, well…” Lorelei spread her hands. “If you’re going to just get all his, uh, cyborg parts removed, what do you need me for?”
“Because we can’t remove them at once—we need to get him to the Mother Ship, which may be no easy task,” Bound said. “I need someone who can speak to the AI part of him as well as the part which is still a normal male.” He sighed and raked a hand over his short blond hair. “I fear my brother is more machine than man right now, you see.”
“Okay, I can understand that,” Lorelei said, nodding. “So…you need me to come with you to bring him home?”
“I do.” He nodded. “But…it’s a bit more complicated than that, My Lady.”
“How do you mean, ‘more complicated?’” Lorelei frowned. “What’s the catch?”
“In order to get him I need a female to help,” Bound told her. “I have word that he’s coming up for auction on Femalah—that’s an artificial moon which orbits Terrin Four. Do you know of it?”
“Um, no. Sorry.” Lorelei shrugged apologetically.
“It’s a world where females are dominant,” Bound explained. “The fact that they are selling Torn there gives me hope, at least, that he has been trained and modified to be a pleasure slave rather than an assassin or a gladiator. But even so, he may not know me.” He frowned darkly. “He may not even know himself. I’ll need your help to get him back to the Mother Ship where the surgeon can begin to undo the body-mods and hopefully reverse any neurological changes that have been made to him.”
“I guess I could do that,” Lorelei said carefully. “But do you mind if I ask why you chose me to help you with this? There are other people who have the same degree I do. Not a ton of them but you said you looked over a lot of them. Why choose me?”
“I looked at many different candidates and searched through hundreds of bios up on the Mother Ship, which has an extensive database,” Bound told her. “But only you fit exactly the specifications I need to help rescue my brother.”
“Which are?” Lorelei frowned.
“Firstly, you’re a single female with no romantic attachments. Aren’t you?” He frowned, suddenly looking worried. “The bios were several months old. So if you’ve found a mate—”
“Found a mate? You mean gotten engaged or married?” Lorelei laughed. “Hardly. The last guy I went out with conveniently ‘forgot’ his wallet and then proceeded to get sloppy drunk and vomited on my shoes before he passed out on the bathroom floor of the club we went to.” She sighed. “Hardly marriage material. But still—you said earlier that you, uh, have no intention of claiming me and no, um, interest in me sexually.” She could feel her cheeks getting hot as she spoke but she pressed on. “So why do you care if I’m single or not?”
“Simply because it will be easier for you to act your part if you are not attached to any other male,” Bound explained. “And…” he sighed. “I also chose you because you’re an Elite. I knew that would appeal to my brother and I hoped it would help him connect with you and make it easier for you to bring him back to himself.”
“An elite?” Lorelei raised an eyebrow at him. “An elite what? I graduated with a 4.0 but I didn’t get any special title for it or anything.”
“I’m not referring to your degree.” Bound cleared his throat. “At the risk of sounding indelicate, I am speaking of your, ah…” He cleared his throat. “Of your body type.”
“My body type?” Lorelei still wasn’t understanding him. “I’m sorry, what do you mean by that?”
“In our society—Twin Kindred society—a female with full, abundant curves is known as an Elite.” Bound made the shape of an hourglass in the air with his hands. “Forgive me for picking you for such a superficial reason but you are the epitome of female beauty and my brother, well, he has a weakness for Elites.” He shrugged. “We both do, I suppose.”
“So…let me get this straight,” Lorelei said flatly. “You specifically wanted me because I’m plus-sized?”
“Plus-sized?” He frowned.
“You know—fluffy…more to love…pleasantly plump…full-figured.” Lorelei made a motion with one hand. “I could go on but you get the idea—right?”
“Oh, yes!” The confusion cleared from his chiseled features and he smiled at her. “Exactly. The fact that you’re single and you’re likely to be extremely appealing to my brother as well as your advanced and specific degree are all the things that led me to you.” He raised an eyebrow. “I hope you’re not offended by that?”
“Well, it’s a little sexist, I guess,” Lorelei said grudgingly. “But also flattering in a strange kind of way. Having a preference for plus-sized girls isn’t exactly the norm here on Earth—in my country, anyway.”
“It is on my world of Twin Moons,” Bound said earnestly. “On my home planet you would have to thrust the males away with a branch.”
Lorelei smothered a smile. “I think you mean, ‘beat them off with a stick.’ That’s the expression you’re looking for.”
“Oh, of course.” He nodded. “The point is, I think an Elite—especially such a beautiful one as yourself—will have an easier time getting through to my brother.” His face darkened. “If we can retrieve him, that is.”
Lorelei tried to keep her voice neutral and ignore the little hop her heart made when the big warrior called her beautiful. Even though he had expressly told her he wasn’t interested in her that way, hearing that he thought she was gorgeous and that his brother would too, was at least food for thought.
Just don’t let it be food for your ego and cloud your judgment, she warned herself. Get the whole story before you agree to anything.
“Tell me more about this place where your brother is going to be, uh, sold,” she said, trying to use her most professional tone. “This…Fem-lala place.”
“Femalah,” Bound corrected. “The Femalians have a matriarchal society where the husband is always subservient to the wife.” He frowned. “In reference to your world’s history, I believe it would be analogous to the society of Victorian England, only with the male and female roles reversed.”
“Reversed, huh?” Lorelei murmured.
“Yes. Females go out to work and control all the money while the males stay home and tend children and do other various household chores.”
“Wow,” she shook her head. “Talk about role reversal. That sounds interesting.”
“From an anthropological point of view, maybe,” Bound said dryly. “But from a practical point of view, it means I am unable to go and bid on my brother by myself. It’s unheard of for a male to take such initiative. They never leave the domicile without a mother, a wife, or an older sister to look after them and make certain they don’t get into trouble.”
“Amazing!” Lorelei was getting more and more interested. “So you want me to pose as your, uh…”
“As my mate—my wife, as you say,” Bound finished for her. “You will bring me with you to the auction and then buy my brother, Torn.”
“But…if I’m your wife, won’t people think it’s strange that I’m, uh, buying another guy?”
“Oh no.” Bound shook his head matter-of-factly. “It’s quite common for females to have more than one mate on Femalah—more than one husband. Some of the wealthy females have whole harems of males to serve and pleasure them.”
“Imagine that…” Lorelei grinned. “That sounds more like the Arabian Nights than Victorian England but wow—I think I could get used to a world like that.”
“I’m sure it sounds inviting,” Bound said darkly. “But in any society where there is such extreme inequality, there is also much abuse. Males are nothing more than chattel on Femalah. They may be abused, bought, sold…even killed without comment or recrimination to the female who does the killing.”
“That’s awful!” Lorelei exclaimed. “Okay, I see your point.” She sighed. “It’s just that women have been stomped on and held down on Earth for so long, a little role reversal seems like it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Do you know we still only make seventy cents to every dollar that men make even if we’re doing the exact same job? At least in this country we do—some places it’s a lot worse.”
“We Kindred don’t agree with Earth’s inequality any more than we agree with what happens on Femalah or on Yonnie Six, for that matter,” Bound remarked. “We don’t believe that females are inferior because they are physically weaker. The Goddess gave males greater strength to protect and shield their females—not to hold them down or denigrate them.”
“I like that.” Lorelei smiled at him approvingly. “I always heard that you Kindred were feminists.”
“We are more like equalists if there is such a thing,” Bound remarked. “An equal relationship is essential between a female and her two males if there is to be peace and harmony between them.”
“Her two males?” Lorelei started to raise an eyebrow before she caught herself. “Oh, that’s right—you’re a Twin Kindred. I forgot—sorry.”
“It’s easy to forget since I am alone—without my brother.”
The pain in Bound’s voice was almost palpable and for a moment, Lorelei thought his intense blue eyes looked suspiciously bright.
“Hey, you really miss him, don’t you?” she murmured. “I’m so sorry. I have an older brother myself but we’ve never been particularly close. I can only imagine it must be different when you’re twins.”
“There is a mental and emotional connection between Twin Kindred brothers that is only superseded by the bond they can form with a female, when she lies between them,” Bound murmured. “It…hurts to be without him. And every day I feel that connection between us growing weaker. I…” He pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to drive back a headache or perhaps tears. “Sometimes I fear that I’m going to lose him completely,” he finished, in a low voice.
“No, you won’t,” Lorelei said firmly. “I’ll come with you and help you get him back.”
“Will you really?” Bound looked up, hope shining in his eyes. “But I haven’t even offered you any money yet!”
Lorelei sighed. “Well, I wish I could do it for free but you kind of caught me at a bad time budget-wise. So…” She shrugged apologetically.
“I would never expect you to do this service for free,” Bound exclaimed. “I’m prepared to offer you a great deal to even make the attempt with me. It is, after all, a dangerous proposition.”
“Dangerous how?” Lorelei asked. Her stomach felt suddenly cold. “It sounds straightforward enough—pretend we’re a couple, buy your brother, and bring him back to the Kindred Mother Ship.”
Bound coughed delicately.
“It’s just that the Femalians don’t take kindly to outsiders. So we need to be certain they don’t find out our true identity. And then once we have my brother…we don’t know what has been done to him.” He lifted his hands in a gesture of uncertainty. “Kindred are large and muscular—they are often trained as fighters or killers when they are captured as Torn was.”
“But you said the fact that they’re selling him on a female-dominated planet means he’s probably been modified as a, uh, love-slave, right?” Lorelei couldn’t imagine what kind of modifications a Kindred would need for that particular role. If Torn was anything like his brother, Bound, he probably wouldn’t need a penis extension or anything like that. At least, if the long, thick bulge running down one leg of Bound’s tight leather trousers was any indication.
“…all right with you, My Lady?”
Bound’s deep voice drew her back to the present and she realized she’d been staring at his crotch, not paying any attention to his words. Talk about sexist!
“Uh, sorry. What?” She cleared her throat and looked at his face, not his crotch. “I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I said, we can stop on the Mother Ship first to draw up the contract. I can offer you fifty thousand of your Earth dollars to help me in this venture. Will that be enough?”
“Fifty thousand dollars? Enough?” Lorelei nearly choked.
“I wish I could offer more, but I have to have enough money in order to bid on my brother at the auction,” Bound said apologetically. “But if you need me to, I could borrow more…”
“No, no.” Lorelei waved a hand at him. “No, fifty-thousand is plenty.” She could pay off the rest of her student loans with that kind of money! And maybe move out of this crappy apartment too. “Fifty-thousand is just fine,” she repeated. “We have a deal.”
“Thank the Goddess.” He looked immensely relieved. Rising, he came to kneel at her feet and took both her hands in his. “Thank you, My Lady. Thank you from the bottom of my heart—you don’t know what a weight you’ve lifted off my shoulders.”
“Well, don’t thank me yet.” Lorelei could feel her cheeks getting hot with a blush but she told herself not to be silly—Bound was probably just showing gratitude in the way of his people.
Still, having him kneeling so close to her was a little disconcerting. Her skirt was pulled up past her knees so she could treat the scrapes she’d gotten falling down and she could feel the heat of his big body radiating against her bare legs. Plus, he smelled really good—a clean, fresh, salty scent like the ocean and cedar wood and masculine spice all mixed together. Delicious.
“I thank you for being willing to come and to try,” he said seriously. His eyes dropped to her wounded knees and he cleared his throat. “Will you…will you allow me to offer you a more tangible token of my thanks?”
“What—more tangible than fifty thousand dollars?” Lorelei raised an eyebrow at him. “Like what?”
“Will you allow me to heal your injuries?” He nodded down at the scrapes on her knees. She had stopped bleeding now but the small wounds still stung.
“Well…sure, I guess so.” Lorelei frowned. “What—do you have some kind of special Kindred medicine that heals things up right away?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Bound said. “The Tolleg surgeon on the Mother Ship—the same one who is going to help my brother—developed a compound which enables all Kindred males who drink it to heal the female of their choice.” He looked into her eyes. “I would choose to heal you in this way, if you will permit me, My Lady,” he murmured.
“Uh…in what way?” Lorelei heard the uncertainty in her own voice but she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Show me.”
“As you wish.” Bending his head, Bound licked slowly over her hurt right knee, his warm, wet tongue bathing the entire wounded area in a tingling stroke that made Lorelei’s breath catch in her throat.
“Oh…uh…” Lorelei didn’t know what to say. Her heart was banging against her ribs like it was a prisoner trying to get out, but somehow she couldn’t look away.
It was a good thing she was watching or she never would have believed what happened. Before her eyes, her right knee healed—the skin knitting together and leaving not even a scar where the nasty scrape had been just a minute ago.
“Hey—wow!” she exclaimed, staring down at her knee and then back up at the big Kindred. “That’s amazing! How did you do that?”
“As I told you—the compound I drank allows a Kindred male to heal a female. Of course…” He cleared his throat. “The female they most often choose to heal is a prospective mate—a female they are hoping to claim. But in your case, I simply wanted to thank you for your kindness.”
“Oh…okay.” Lorelei’s heart was still thumping. “A female they are hoping to claim,” he had said. But then he’d quickly followed up with a qualifier about just wanting to heal her.
Not like you’d want to be claimed by a Twin Kindred anyway, she reminded herself. He comes with a brother and if the rumors are true, it’s a nonstop sausage party. One huge male on the menu is enough, let alone two—they’d split you in half! Literally.
As if to reinforce her thoughts, Bound murmured,
“I wish my brother, Torn was here to heal your other knee, My Lady. It feels wrong to heal…wrong to touch a female without him.”
Lorelei’s breath seemed to catch in her throat.
“So then…you guys really do, uh, share a woman like…like that?”
“It’s a beautiful, sensual thing, having the right female to lie between you and your twin—or so I’m told.” Bound sighed sadly. “Torn and I never met a female we wanted to bond with so we never had the opportunity to find out first hand.”
“I…see.” Lorelei cleared her throat. “Well, you don’t have to heal my other knee if it feels, uh, wrong without him.”
“Oh no, My Lady—please don’t misunderstand me. I want to heal you. I just wish my brother was here to get the same pleasure I do from tasting your sweet skin.” Bound looked up at her, his gaze pure intensity. “I wish I could share you with him,” he said in a low voice.
“Uh…share me?” Lorelei’s pulse started racing again. “You don’t mean—”
“For healing purposes only, of course,” Bound said quickly. Leaning down, he lapped slowly over her other hurt knee, taking his time as though being certain she would be well and truly healed. When he looked up again, his deep blue eyes were hooded with pleasure. “You taste delicious, Miss Daniels. I’m sure my brother Torn would think the same.”
“You…you can call me Lorelei,” she said breathlessly. “I mean, since we’re going to be, uh, in business together.”
“Lorelei.” Bound took her hand in his as though they were meeting again for the first time. “Thank you for the gift of your name and for your promise to help me restore my brother. If you don’t mind me asking, when will you be free to come with me? The auction is just a few solar days from now and if we miss it—”
“We won’t miss it,” Lorelei said firmly. “Let me just load a few things into my car and—” She stopped abruptly. “My car—oh my God, my car!”
“What? What’s wrong?” Bound looked alarmed.
“My car—it repossessed itself this morning as I was trying to get to work. Right before you came.” She put a hand to her forehead. “Do you know what times it is?”
Bound consulted a chronometer strapped to his wrist.
“It’s almost ten o’clock your time.”
“Crap!” Lorelei jumped up, spilling the unused First Aid kit off her lap. “I have to get down to the dealership in the next half hour or they’re going to repossess it for good!”
“I’ll take you there,” Bound offered.
“Thank you.” She sighed. “But it’s all the way across town. We’ll never make unless you can fly.”
“As a matter of fact…” He smiled at her and held out a hand. “Come on, we’re not supposed to use the transport shuttles as anything but ground vehicles once we get down to Earth in them but I think just once we can make an exception.”