“Oh,” Chloe whispered. Suddenly she felt lost, drowning in the depths of his golden eyes. “Tark—” she began but just then the door to the suite slapped open and a very angry Monk Taroni stomped in.
“What’s this I hear about the two of you sneaking around last night instead of feeding the Skin Hunger as I told you to?” he demanded, glaring down at them.
Tark rose up at once and pushed Chloe protectively behind him. She gathered the furs to her and peered out from behind him.
“Fuck…off,” Tark growled, glaring at the monk. “I d-don’t c-care who you a-are. You d-don’t come into my r-room with my f-female without knocking!” Even standing down in the bed pit, he towered over the other man and his rage was terrible to see.
Taroni shrunk back. Apparently the sight of a half-naked, seven-foot-tall Beast Kindred warrior with glowing gold eyes and an angry snarl on his face was more than he had bargained for.
“Well…you were wrong to disobey orders,” he huffed, still frowning. “Only the fact that our founder, Monk Aaroni has taken a liking to you keeps me from kicking you out this instant.”
“I’ll t-tell you who’s going to get k-kicked out,” Tark growled.
If blue skin could go pale then Monk Taroni’s did. But somehow he stood his ground.
“Tell me this,” he demanded, “did the two of you feed the Skin Hunger as I told you to last night?”
“We, uh…we slept together,” Chloe said, joining the conversation because she didn’t think she ought to keep hiding behind the big Kindred.
“Slept together?” The monk frowned threateningly at them. And he had seemed so nice the day before, Chloe thought. Why was he being so stern and awful now?
“Well…yes,” she said and gestured aimlessly at the bed pit where she and Tark were still standing.
“I see I must be blunt,” Taroni said, his orange eyes flashing. He pointed at Chloe. “Did you or did you not open your thighs for your mate last night and take his shaft deep inside you?”
“Um…” Chloe didn’t like to lie but she didn’t want them to get kicked out before they could get the jewel for Tark either. “Yes,” she said, trying to make her voice as firm as she could. “Yes, I did.”
“Liar!” the monk exclaimed.
“What? How can you say that?” Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t know what we did or didn’t do last night!”
“Look at the hem of your robe! See how black it is!” Taroni pointed at her hem and edging of her robe-dress which was indeed black. “The resonite tells on you,” he told Chloe. “It is white when you tell the truth and turns black when you tell a falsehood. That is how I know you are lying!”
“What?” Chloe looked down at her dress, feeling betrayed. “Why didn’t you tell us that before? This is entrapment!”
“I wanted to know if you were lying or not—to me or to yourselves.” Taroni looked both triumphant and smug—not exactly a winning combination in Chloe’s opinion.
“Well…well it’s none of your business, anyway,” she snapped.
“Yes, it is. You say you came here for Oneness—how are you ever going to achieve it if you refuse to follow my guidance and feed the Skin Hunger?”
“I don’t believe the ‘Skin Hunger’ is even a thing,” Chloe countered. “How can you tell if someone is, uh, hungry for someone else, anyway?”
“I told you—the resonite tells on you. Here!” He shoved a clear crystal towards her and Chloe took it without thinking. At once the chunk began to glow blue and get cooler. Soon it was deep azure and so cold she had to drop it.
“Ouch!” she exclaimed as the crystal clattered to the floor.
“Y-you okay?” Tark took her hand quickly in his much larger one, looking anxiously at her palm.
“I’m okay.” Chloe flexed her fingers. “It just got freezing cold for some reason.”
“It became bitterly cold because that particular crystal measures the amount of Skin Hunger you are experiencing,” Monk Taroni remarked, frowning at both of them. “Clearly you are still very hungry. And I am certain if your mate were to hold the crystal, the results would be the same.”
In answer, Tark reached down and picked up the lump of crystal, which had gone clear again. Chloe knew he was trying to prove the monk wrong but unfortunately, the crystal turned blue even faster for him than it had for her. And while his face remained impassive, she could tell that it was getting cold as well. His hand was turning blue and frost started forming around his big knuckles.
“Stop it, Tark!” she exclaimed, knocking the burning-cold crystal out of his hand. “You’ll give yourself frostbite!”
“You see my point, pilgrims,” Taroni remarked, frowning. He looked at Tark. “If you had pleasured your mate with your fingers and mouth as I instructed you yesterday, you would not be so hungry right now. As it is, you are nearly starving to death, you need her so badly!”
Tark said nothing but his golden eyes burned as he glared at the monk.
Chloe found herself unaccountably shaken. Could it be that Monk Taroni was right, somehow? Could it be that the big Kindred really was hungry for her touch? Or hungry to touch her?
She remembered the look in his eyes when he’d sucked her fingers into his mouth, cleaning away her juices with his tongue. Why had he done that? Was he just proving a point? Or was he trying to tell her something?
Well, he had said he wanted her. But for what? Just for sex? Chloe didn’t consider herself a one-night-stand kind of girl. And even if she had been, the equipment she’d seen between his legs when he jerked off was pretty scary. It was huge for one thing, but that extra ridge of flesh around the base was what really scared the hell out of her. How could any girl accommodate something that big?
Still, maybe she ought to do something for him if he really was in such dire need…
“I understand the two of you have signed up for the advanced Couples Oneness course later on today,” Taroni said, breaking her train of thought. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to tell our founder, Monk Aaroni, that you are not ready for it and will be unable to attend.”
“What? No!” Chloe exclaimed. If they were denied access to the Cavern of Precious Treasures, Tark would never get his hands on the jewel. “No, please—don’t do that! We really want to take his class. It’s the main reason we came here.”
“Well…” Taroni frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose I can give you one last chance. But only if you do exactly as I say.”
“Yes, please—anything,” Chloe promised recklessly. “Just tell us what to do, really.”
“Good.” The monk nodded. “I will give the two of you until noon today when I will come to check on you. At that time I will ask you if you have fed the Skin Hunger. If the hems of your robes turn black and I know you are lying, the two of you will be cast out of the Resort. If, however, they turn white, you can attend the class with Master Aaroni tonight.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said. “We’ll feed it—honestly we will!” After all, how hard could it really be? All they needed was some skin-to-skin contact. They could get naked and just kind of rub up against each other. It might be kind of embarrassing but it wouldn’t be the end of the world…
Then the monk turned and pointed his finger at Tark.
“You will pleasure your mate with your hands and mouth,” he said, frowning sternly. “This will feed the Skin Hunger for you both—your need to touch and her need to be touched will be at least in part, satiated. I will give you the resonite crystal to hold and ask you for the truth when next I see you. If I am not satisfied by your answers and the crystal’s reaction, I’m afraid the two of you will have to leave.”
“What?” Tark and Chloe said at the same time.
“You heard me.” Taroni frowned at them. “You have until noon. And I will give instructions that you are not to be bothered. I understand that the intrusion of my apprentice last night was unwelcome.”
“But…but…” Chloe didn’t know what else to s
ay. It didn’t matter anyway because Taroni was already gone, slipping through the sliding stone doorway like an assassin who has dropped a bomb leaving the mess for others to clean up.
Chapter Fourteen
Tark stared at the doorway the monk had gone through as though he could set the damn thing on fire with his glare. He wished he would have gotten a few more modifications and enhancements while he was working with the Dark Kindred. Weaponized laser sight would have come in handy for blasting the damn monk into orbit.
Then again, if he blew things up, they would be kicked out of the resort.
We’re about to be kicked out anyway, he thought unhappily. There was no way he could ask Chloe to let him taste her as Taroni had demanded. She was only here posing as his mate as a favor to him and she had already been forced to do much more than should have been asked of her.
“Tark?” A light touch on his arm made him turn his gaze down to Chloe, who was still standing just behind him.
“Y-yes?” With a sigh, Tark sat on the edge of the bed pit with his feet still in the warm furs.
“You, uh…” Chloe cleared her throat. Her eyes were shifting nervously and he had the feeling she was working up the nerve to tell him something. Probably that she wanted to leave this place and never come back. Well, he could hardly blame her.
“Yes?” he asked again when she didn’t go on.
“Do you…” Chloe licked her lips. “Do you…want to take a dip in the hot tub?” she asked at last.
Tark had the feeling she had been going to say something else and had lost her nerve at the last minute. Well, she could tell him she wanted to leave in the bathing area as well as anywhere else, he supposed. And a hot bath would feel refreshing.
He shrugged and nodded. Then remembering he was supposed to practice talking he added, “S-sure.”
“Great.” Chloe climbed out of the bed pit—the lip of it was almost waist high on her. Being so much taller, Tark simply stepped out. They both walked a few feet to the pool but Chloe stopped right at the edge.
“I wonder…” she murmured, looking down at the steaming water, which was a pale sky blue.
“W-wonder what?” Tark frowned, wishing he knew what she was thinking. If she wanted to leave, she should just come out with it. He ought to be brave enough to say it himself—to offer her the way out. But he wanted so damn desperately to be free of his stutter! It had ruined his life. If he could just find the jewel the prophesy spoke of and get rid of it once and for all…
“Well, you know how our resonite robes seem to change depending on, um, circumstances?” Chloe asked, pulling him back from his thoughts.
“Y-you mean the w-w-way they melt when we t-touch?” Tark raised an eyebrow at her.
“Well…yes.” Her cheeks got pink and so did her robes.
Tark wondered if maybe the changing colors of the robes meant something, just as the way the hems changing from white to black had meaning. But before he could ask Chloe what she thought, she was already getting into the pool.
Sure enough, when the hem of her robe-gown touched the water, it began to change shape.
“I knew it!” Chloe exclaimed triumphantly. “It’s turning into a bathing suit! I thought it would. I…” Her voice trailed off as she looked down at herself.
Tark couldn’t help looking too. The robe had indeed changed itself into another garment. But this one was much more revealing than the dress she’d been wearing earlier.
The robe had become three small, translucent triangles of fabric which clearly showed the flesh underneath. Two of them had adhered to her full breasts where they barely covered her tight pink nipples and the third was between her legs, clinging provocatively to her ripe pussy mound. She appeared to have dark blonde curls there, he noted—so pink must not be the natural color of the hair on her head.
“Oh my God,” Chloe gasped and the white triangles turned an embarrassed shade of pink which almost matched her hair. “A bikini—it turned into a bikini! And a tiny one, too!”
Quickly she got all the way in the water, as though to hide herself. Tark wished she wouldn’t—he had never seen her curves so clearly displayed—she was fucking gorgeous. He wanted to see more.
Curious to see what his own robes would do, he also stepped down into the water. They shortened until they were above his knees but other than that, didn’t change very much.
“Hey!” Chloe exclaimed indignantly. “Why did your robe turn into perfectly normal bathing trunks while mine turned into a micro-mini bikini?”
“M-maybe to show off y-your curves?” Tark suggested. He gestured down at himself. “I d-don’t have any to sp-speak of myself.”
“I know—you’re all hard, mouthwatering muscle.” Chloe sighed, her eyes resting on the flat planes of his abdomen and chest. Then she bit her lip. “Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to stare at you like you’re a piece of meat.”
“I don’t m-mind you staring at me if you d-don’t mind me staring at you,” Tark murmured. “I’ve n-never seen an Elite’s c-curves so re-revealed before.”
“Oh, right…I forgot, I’m ‘Elite’.” Chloe frowned skeptically. “Is that really a thing? I mean, you guys really think that, uh, plus-sized girls are…”
“Beautiful,” Tark finished for her in a low voice. “Yes.”
“Oh, well…” She was blushing and biting her lip again and he noticed she was looking at his suit—or rather, the edging and hems of the swimming suit which the robe had become.
“L-looking to see if I’m lying?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “St-still white. S-see?” he nodded at the edging around his suit which was, indeed, still perfectly white.
“No, of course not,” Chloe denied at once. Immediately all three of the little triangles which her robe had become were suddenly edged in black.
“Mmm-hmm.” Tark crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.
“Oh dear…” Chloe looked down at herself. “That is so inconvenient! Okay, look, I’m sorry—yes, I was looking to see if you really meant it about how your people see, uh, plus-sized girls. Because, well, it’s not how my people see us at all.”
“How d-do they s-see you?” Tark asked. He couldn’t imagine looking at a luscious Elite like Chloe and not seeing the ideal female but he knew different cultures had different norms.
“They see us like the Commercians saw me,” Chloe admitted, looking down at her hands. “I mean, there are a lot more body-positive movements out now than there used to be and I try to be really body-positive myself. But, well, I just came from a place where I was put in a prison that was specifically designed to make me lose weight. I was told every day how ugly and fat I was. That…” She swiped at her eyes, looking away. “That’s kind of hard to get over, you know?”
Tark felt his heart fist in his chest. He wished he could crush the Commercians to dust, the way they had crushed Chloe’s self esteem. She was so beautiful—so gorgeous with her full, luscious curves. How could anyone look at her and see anything less than perfection? How could they hurt her and abuse her just for being what she naturally was?
You have to ask? muttered a sarcastic little voice in his head. They hurt and abused her for the same reason you were bullied and abused most of your life—because she’s different. Because they think that difference makes her somehow wrong. Bastards!
Tark wanted so badly to convey his feelings to her—his understanding of her plight. He wanted to let her know he understood what she had gone through…and that she wasn’t alone.
Stepping closer to Chloe, he cupped her flushed face in his palm and swiped at the tears tracking down her cheek with the pad of his thumb.
“I kn-know,” he said simply, looking into her lovely blue eyes. “I kn-kn-know what you mean. How it f-feels to be t-t-told you’re not g-good enough.”
“Do you?” She sniffed and looked up at him more fully. “But you’re so big and muscular and powerful and strong and gorgeous! On my world you’d be considered the ideal man!”
“And on m-my world you would b-be the ideal female,” Tark murmured. “B-but it wasn’t my looks that m-made me an outcast—it w-was my st-st-st…my st-stu-st…” He shook his head, unable to get the word out. But of course, Chloe understood.
“Because of your stutter—of course,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry—I should have realized that. I guess I just thought that Kindred were more socially advanced—that they wouldn’t let a child with a problem go untreated.”
Tark shook his head grimly.
“M-most K-kindred parents wouldn’t,” he said. “B-but my f-fuh-fuh-father…” He could feel his throat locking up on the word and he had to force it out. “He…didn’t a-act like m-most parents.”
It was still so hard to speak of his Sire—to even think of him. They fucking hated each other—Tark was nothing but an embarrassment, a slap in the face genetically. The only son of the great Commander Rarwl, the silver-tongued ambassador—the one all the Kindred called when they needed a peace treaty brokered or when the High Council needed help solving a particularly thorny problem. The one who was supposed to have a perfect son to carry on in his footsteps, to uphold his legacy.
And instead he got me, Tark thought. He could feel his stomach knotting at the thought, at the memory of his father’s anger and disgust when he could barely even stutter out his name. The heavy blows, the harsh shouts, the cold silences…they were all still with him, still inside, locked away but always looking for a way out.
The feelings on his face must have showed because Chloe was looking up at him with a mixture of concern and sympathy.
“Tell me.” She got out of the tub and spread out one of the towels to sit on so that just her lower legs dangling down into the water. She wrapped another towel modestly around her and, with a motion, indicated that Tark should join her. “Tell me all about it,” she said softly. “I don’t care how long it takes or how hard it is to get out—I’ll listen. Because I think you need to talk.”
This wasn’t what they ought to be talking about, Tark was pretty certain. They needed to talk about how they were going to get out of here, since there was no way they were meeting Monk Taroni’s demands. But somehow he found himself sitting down beside the diminutive Elite and spilling his guts as though someone had given him a shot of Terbathian truth serum.