Purity

  “No.” Boone shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t have to be in pain.” He stood abruptly.

  K looked up at him. “Where are you going?”

  Boone frowned. “To get some answers.”

  * * * * *

  Boone strode down the metal corridors of the ship, trying to get the enticing sight of K naked out of his mind. God, she gorgeous. She’d always been beautiful with her sharp, delicate features and her air of barely leashed danger. But seeing her naked had never bothered him before. Now it was a whole different matter. Her breasts were full and heavy, the tight nipples a deep pink. And the cleft of her sex was swollen with need, the ripe button of her clit on full display when she parted her slim thighs. It was enough to make a strong man weak at the knees with desire.

  But it wasn’t just the beauty of her newly developed body that drew him. K still had an innocence about her—she truly had no idea how lovely she was. And she certainly didn’t seem to have a clue about the effect she had on him. There was no artifice in her—nothing coy or artificial. That mixture of innocence and directness drew him even more than her lush new curves. Drew him so much that Boone had to talk to himself sternly as he marched down the corridor.

  She’s innocent. Not only that, the idea of sex scares her to death. I have to be professional here—treat her as I would any patient. Can’t let myself get distracted. Unfortunately, ignoring her new body and acting like he wasn’t attracted to K was easier said than done. Still, he had to try, he told himself as he stopped in front of Loki’s door.

  “Loki, open up.” He pounded briskly on the metal door, producing a hollow booming sound. “Come on, get out here.”

  “What do you want at this time of night?” Loki yawned and blinked owlishly. “The ship’s on autopilot. Is there some kind of problem?”

  “Hell yes, there’s a problem and you’re gonna help me solve it.” Boone pushed his way into the pilot’s sleeping quarters and stood against the door with a frown on his face.

  “What problem? What are you talking about?” Loki asked peevishly. Whatever it is, make it quick—I need to get plenty of rest to look my best tomorrow. I can’t go down to my home planet looking like Hades and expect to find an attractive touch partner.”

  “Well as it happens, you’re not the only one who might be needing a partner,” Boone growled. “K’s having a hard time and I need to know what to do about it.”

  Loki’s bright green eyes with their thin, single ring of gold narrowed speculatively. “Why should I care?”

  Boone leaned forward, getting into the other man’s personal space. “You should care because she saved your ass on Minotaur. If she hadn’t come riding to the rescue you and I both would be dead meat—literally.” He leaned even closer. “Now K is in a bad way and I need some information. Are you going to help me or not?”

  Loki sighed. “All right, I’ll help—but only because you’re so sexy when you’re angry.” He batted his eyelashes at Boone who stared stonily back at him. Loki shook his head. “No sense of humor. Fine, what do you mean by, ‘in a bad way?’”

  Boone ran a hand through his hair. “I mean she’s changing. In the past two weeks she’s gone through puberty and had her first menstrual cycle.”

  “Ah.” Loki nodded. “I thought I smelled first blood on her.”

  “First blood. Right.” Boone frowned. “Anyway, so now she’s complaining of feeling hollow inside—like she needs to be, uh, filled. And having pain in her, uh…”

  “In her naughty bits?” Loki’s gold ringed eyes danced mischievously. “You have no one but yourself to blame, you know.” He shook a finger in Boone’s face.

  Boone sighed. “I know, I know—K said the same thing. It’s because I took away her suit.”

  “No—the suit was only part of it. You kissed her—and it was a deep kiss too—at least that was what it looked like,” Loki said. “Remember? Back on Minotaur?”

  “I’m not likely to forget,” Boone growled. “What with all the pheromones that damn saurian was pumping out, I probably would have kissed you if you’d been around.”

  “No, you wouldn’t have,” Loki said waspishly. “I practically threw myself at you in the heat of the moment and you turned me down. No, you wanted to kiss K, Boone. And now you’re paying the price—or she is, anyway. That kiss tripped her system into overdrive. Our little Princess Paladin is going through her first sex cycle.”

  “Isn’t that dangerous?” Boone demanded. “Can’t it kill her?”

  “Not now that we’re going to Eros. She will need a touch partner soon. Don’t worry, Boone,” he said, smirking. “You don’t have to be the one to fuck her. Just take her out in the Market of the Heart the minute we land and her hormones will do the rest. Het males love having first sex with newly ripened females—they’ll be drawn to her like flies. Ugh.” He shivered and made a face.

  Boone’s heart clenched. “I can’t just throw her to the wolves like that. Besides, I thought I was the one she imprinted on,” he protested.

  “Yes, but you’re not Erian.” Loki raised an eyebrow at him. “No offense, Boone, but her DNA will draw her to another of her kind. Don’t be hurt when that happens—just accept it. It’s simple biology.”

  Boone frowned. “I don’t know that K is ready to have sex with anyone, let alone some horny stranger she meets in the love market, or wherever it is you guys hook up.”

  “Well, she’s not going to have a choice once her cycle reaches its peak. Don’t worry—she won’t be too picky once that happens,” Loki assured him. “That hollow feeling you mentioned? That’s her body telling her she has to get fucked or die. That kind of biological imperative tends to trump any little issues she might have about screwing a stranger.”

  “But how do I know he’ll treat her right? That he’ll be as gentle as…” Boone trailed off.

  “As gentle as you would be?” Loki finished for him, one eyebrow raised. “Look, Boone, it’s just better to have another Erian as a touch partner. The first sex cycle can be a long, drawn out process. Only another Erian has the, ahem, stamina to keep up.” He sighed. “Besides, there are sacred customs to be followed—rituals too complex for a non-Erian mind to comprehend. It’s really quite beautiful.”

  “All right, all right—beauty and custom and stamina—not to mention the biological urge to get with your own kind, I’ll keep all that in mind,” Boone said grimly. “Though I have no idea how I’m going to break the news to her.”

  “Don’t tell her anything,” Loki suggested. “Just let nature take its course.”

  “I have to warn her,” Boone insisted. “I just…don’t know how. Isn’t there any way to back off the cycle? Just for a little while in order to let her get used to the idea?”

  “Tell her to get herself off,” Loki said. “Oh come on, Boone—don’t look at me like that. Having an orgasm helps satisfy the sexual cravings—at least for a little while. It won’t work forever but it should stop at least some of the pain she’s having until we get to Eros.”

  Boone ran a hand through his hair. “But she’s so innocent, Loki. I mean, she’s never done that before. I just don’t know—”

  “Boo-hoo, poor little Princess Paladin.” Loki’s eyes flashed angrily. “She’s sooo innocent and pure. She doesn’t even know how to touch herself and she’s too delicate for sex. Let me tell you something, Boone.” He poked a finger in Boone’s chest. “She’s going to have to get over all that delicacy and innocence pretty damn fast. The Erian sex drive is a monster and it will eat you alive if you don’t give it what it wants.”

  “I understand that, Loki, but—”

  “No, you don’t. None of the other Earth-normals in the system do.” Loki crossed his arms over his narrow chest. “But you’re about to get a crash course, especially if you stick with Little Miss Purist.”

  Boone clenched his jaw to keep from spitting out an angry retort. “All right, Loki, I get it—you have to have sex or die. The problem is, how is K supposed to
, uh, touch herself when she’s so sensitive?”

  “Oh, that.” Loki shrugged and reached for a small pink tube which had been sitting on the table beside his sleeping platform. “Here.”

  “What’s this?” Boone took it, frowning suspiciously.

  “Serra-berry gel. It soothes the ache,” Loki explained, obviously seeing his uncomprehending look. “I’ve been using it myself but I won’t need it after tomorrow.”

  “So I just tell her to rub this where she hurts?” Boone motioned with the tiny pink tube. “And then…”

  “Uh-huh. And then just keep on rubbing.” Loki tapped his fingers together impatiently. “Have fun with that, big boy.”

  “Thanks, I guess.” Boone sighed. “This should be interesting. Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything that might make this whole thing easier for K?”

  “No,” Loki frowned peevishly, apparently losing his patience. “I’ve given you my expensive berry butter and told you much more about the Erian sex cycle than I should have already. I refuse to skip any more of my beauty sleep in order to hash out disgusting hetero sexual practices with you. Good night, Boone!” Putting both hands on Boone’s chest, Loki shoved him out the door of his sleeping quarters and slammed it closed behind him.

  Boone was left standing in the corridor alone looking down at the small pink tube. “Great,” he muttered to himself. “Just great. How in the hell am I gonna tell her—”

  “Tell me what?”

  He whirled around to see K standing there, his shirt closed around her, but held carefully away from the sensitive points of her nipples. “I wasn’t sure where you’d gone,” she said.

  “I told you, I went to get some answers.”

  “And did you?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Get some?”

  Boone sighed. “None you’re going to like, I’m afraid. Come one, let’s go back to my quarters and I’ll try to explain.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “So now I have another cycle I have to go through?” K stared at him in disbelief. “How long does this one last?”

  “I don’t know.” Boone shook his head, looking miserable. “But I’m afraid your first sex cycle is a little more serious than just getting your period for the first time.”

  “How serious?” K felt cold all over. “What’s going to happen to me?” she demanded.

  Boone ran a hand through his hair. “According to Loki, you’ll be compelled to mate.”

  “Mate? You mean engage in sexual reproduction?” K began to pace around the room. “I can’t, Boone. I don’t want to!”

  “I’m afraid you’re not going to have a choice. With the Erian sex cycle, it’s have sex or die.” He looked wretchedly unhappy but K was so upset herself she could barely spare a thought for his emotions.

  “I thought you said it was called ‘making love’ when it’s with someone you care for. Boone…” It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he cared for her, if he would help her through this terrible thing but her pride rose up and choked her, not letting the words come out.

  Boone seemed to understand anyway. “It is,” he said softly. “But Loki says you’ll be drawn to another Erian.”

  “I’ll be drawn to a stranger? Some filthy, contaminated male I don’t even know?” K wrapped her arms across her chest and hugged herself tightly, ignoring the jagged bolts of pain in her tender breasts.

  “K, honey…”

  “I want my suit.” She pointed a shaking finger at him. “I want it now, Boone. I won’t stand for this. I won’t be reduced to contaminating myself with some strange Erian.”

  Boone sighed. “It’s not fully regenerated yet. And even if it was, I don’t know how safe it is for you to put it on in the middle of your first cycle.”

  “I don’t care about that. Just get it—get it now!” K heard the note of rising hysteria in her own voice and took a deep breath, fighting the turbulent emotions that threatened to overcome her. “Please,” she whispered, in a voice that trembled only a little. “Please, Boone.”

  Finally, he nodded. “All right, darlin’. I’ll get it.”

  K paced restlessly while he was gone, wondering what in Purity she was supposed to do. She could feel the hollowness inside her growing and the pain in her most sensitive areas burned like fire. These were signs, Boone had told her—symptoms of her eventual fate. But I can’t do that, she told herself, still pacing. Can’t let some strange male put himself inside me. Maybe if it was Boone but anyone else…

  The idea of anyone else touching her so intimately, invading her, contaminating her to the very core, made K feel sick and weak. It was as though someone had told her she must lie naked in a tub full of leb’gra bugs and let their thousands of tiny, scratchy, chitinous legs touch her as they moved over and under and around her body with no protection between herself and them.

  The analogy made her skin crawl and she shivered in disgust. But even the leb’gra bugs would be better than sexual reproduction with a stranger. And yet Boone said she would have no choice…

  “Here it is.” Mercifully, his deep voice cut through the repeating cycle of worry and doubt her mind had fallen into.

  “Give it to me!” K ran quickly to take it from him. But when he held it out to her, she found herself strangely reluctant to touch it.

  “Here.” It hung limply from his fingers like something shed by a reptile. Something strange and scaly and altogether inhuman.

  “Thank you.” K made herself take it from him, despite her sudden revulsion. It felt slippery in her hands—almost alive. Which made sense, since it was a semi-sentient being. K knew she should have felt like she was greeting an old friend—the skinsuit had been part of her since she was nine cycles old. But somehow she didn’t feel that way at all.

  “See, it’s still not healed from where I cut it.” Boone pointed to a long, jagged tear in the fabric which started in the thigh and ended high in the abdomen. “It looks a lot better than it did,” he continued. “Maybe it will be healed soon.”

  “I hope so.” K clutched the suit to her, ignoring the strange reluctance she felt to have it close to her. “Thank you, Boone.” She looked up at him. “I’ll help you get your sister from the pshalite mines, I swear it. And I won’t kill you until after I do.”

  “Thank you, K.” He nodded gravely. “But I still think it’s too damaged to wear.”

  “It will be whole soon.” K took a deep breath. “In the mean time, I will simply have to live with the pain.”

  “There is a way to back down the sexual cravings,” Boone said hesitantly. “I don’t know how you’d feel about it though.”

  “Tell me.” K looked at him eagerly. “Anything—I’ll do anything I have to.”

  “You may not be so eager once I tell you.” Boone shook his head but motioned to the sleeping platform. “C’mon over here and let me explain it.”

  * * * * *

  “So I’m supposed to touch myself between my legs until I feel pleasure?” K sounded deeply skeptical and Boone couldn’t say that he blamed her. But still, if this was the only way to keep her cravings in check, he didn’t know what else she could do.

  “That’s right.” He cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortably like a pervert. “Until you feel a release.”

  “A release? What kind of release?” K shook her head. “I don’t understand how this is supposed to help, Boone.”

  “It backs off the sexual cravings—at least for a little while. Look, K, it’s really not hard to do. Aside from you Purists, everybody all over the solar system does it all the time.”

  “It sounds like a waste of time to me.” K frowned. “But if you think it will help.”

  “I do.” Boone started to get up but she stopped him with a touch on his arm.

  “Where are you going?”

  Boone gritted his teeth. “To give you some privacy. This isn’t something you usually do with an audience, darlin’.”

  “But I’ve never done it before,” she protested. “What
if I can’t get it right?” A look of fear passed over her delicate features. “Please…” It was clear she didn’t want to beg but she couldn’t quite keep the pleading note out of her voice. “Please, Boone, don’t leave me.”

  Give me strength! Like it wasn’t hard enough to be around her while she was half naked, now he had to watch her put on a one woman show. How the hell was he going to get through this while keeping his hands to himself? But the pleading note in her voice and the fear in her black eyes kept him from leaving.

  “All right.” Sighing, he sank back down on the sleeping platform beside her. “I’ll stay. I just hope you won’t be upset with me for watching you do this later, when you know a little more.”

  “I won’t be,” K promised, unbuttoning her shirt. To Boone’s relief, she didn’t take it off completely. Instead she spread it open, baring her breasts and the ripe little mound of her pussy. “I’m supposed to put this ointment on first, is that right?” she murmured, examining the small pink tube of gel Loki had given Boone.

  “Yes, that’s right.” Boone’s own voice sounded slightly strangled in his ears.

  K gave him a frown as she squirted a little of the gel on one fingertip. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine. Just fine.” Except for the part where he had to watch her innocent self-exploration while keeping his libido in check. “I’m fine,” he repeated firmly, wondering who he was trying to convince— himself or her.

  “All right then.” Tentatively, she brushed her gel-covered finger over one tight nipple. “Ouch!” She jerked her hand away, frowning.

  “What is it? Are you okay?” Boone asked worriedly. What if she was so far gone that even the gel and an orgasm couldn’t help her?

  “It’s so cold.” K shivered and wiped the gel away carefully with the hem of her shirt. “I don’t see how this is supposed to be soothing.”

  “I don’t know either but you’d better keep trying,” Boone told her.

  She tried again with the other nipple with the same result. “I don’t like this.” She frowned, looking frustrated. “I’m no good at it.”