Sought

  “You have?” Kat frowned. “When?”

  “In the light of morning, as the sun rose up, the day to greet,” his brother answered for him. “We rose our eyes to the window and see a star wrapped in shadows.”

  “Huh?” Okay, her convo-pillar definitely wasn’t doing its job—this conversation was becoming more and more incomprehensible but Kat didn’t know how to end it.

  “It was you, my lady,” the light twin, or Large, as she was beginning to think of him said. “Your sheet like a cobweb to cover the curves of a goddess.”

  Suddenly, Kat got it. Oh no! No wonder they look familiar—they were two of the guys who waved at me this morning when I was only wearing a sheet. She began to feel intensely uncomfortable and not just because of what Large and Rigid were talking about. The strange prickling sensation she’d had earlier in her nipples and pussy was back and this time it was multiplied.

  Shifting uncomfortably, she blurted, “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed the show but I didn’t do it on purpose. I mean, I didn’t know you could see through the sheet with the sun shining on me that way.”

  Large frowned but then nodded, as though understanding her. “But though you showing curves of luscious tastiness without intention, still the seeing of an elite was a thing more beautiful than skies aflame by burning sun.”

  Clearly it was a compliment so Kat nodded politely and murmured a soft, “Thank you.” She really wanted to get away from this embarrassing predicament and find out what was going on with her tingling body parts, but when she turned to leave, Rigid took her hand.

  “The Goddess has blessed you with enough delicious to burn a male with desire,” he rumbled, his green eyes blazing into hers. “Good thing, come with us. Please enjoy evening entertainment of our tongues on every scrumptious curve.”

  “Huh?” Kat tried to pull away but the dark twin was gripping her hand too tightly and refused to let go. “Look,” she said carefully. “I don’t think we understand each other very well, but I am not going to have sex with you and your brother. Is that clear?”

  “Fine lady.” The light twin took her other hand and stared earnestly into her eyes. “Forgive this brother of mine. His tongue is rough like a boot to the rear. His meaning is this—you go with us and discover the joys of meat?”

  “Meat?” Kat said doubtfully. Maybe they were just asking her out to eat. Not that she wanted to go anywhere with this weird tingling sensation going on in the most sensitive parts of her body. Still, she felt she ought to be polite. “Uh, well, I do enjoy meat. The only thing I’ve had to eat so far on Twin Moons is fruit.”

  “Bonding fruit.” Suddenly Rigid pulled her close and pressed his face to her neck. Kat tried to push him away but he held her tight, inhaling deeply. To her dismay, the heated lump she felt pressed against her thigh proved that he really lived up to his name.

  “Hey, let me go!” she gasped, pushing at his broad chest. It reminded her of the way Deep had scented her when they first met but this was different—strange. She couldn’t explain it but it felt utterly and completely wrong to have someone who wasn’t Deep or Lock touching her. Especially this intimately.

  “Hands off, you son of a bitch,” a deep, familiar voice behind her growled. “This female is spoken for.”

  “Deep?” Kat turned her head and saw him standing there, his black eyes blazing with barely controlled fury. “Oh, thank God! Help me—they won’t let me go!”

  “That’s because you just agreed to spend the night with them, teasing their cocks with your talented tongue.”

  “I said what?” Kat gasped as Deep pulled her away from the very irritated Rigid. “I did not! They just asked me if I liked eating meat and I said that yes, I did enjoy it.”

  “Is that what you heard them say?” Deep frowned as he hustled her away through the crowd.

  “Well, not in so many words,” Kat said, trying to keep up with him. “I mean, it was more like, uh…” She tried to think of exactly how Large had put it. “Something about discovering the joys of meat.”

  Deep raised one black eyebrow at her as he dragged her along. “You mean the pleasures of the flesh?”

  “Oh my God!” Kat shook her head. “But I had no idea that was what they meant. Look, could you please slow down? I—” She stopped abruptly as she tripped over someone’s foot and nearly fell. Only Deep’s grip on her hand saved her, but her stumble pushed them both into a silvery fountain which was spouting some kind of pale green alcoholic beverage. Kat only got a few drops on her dress but the entire front of Deep’s shirt was thoroughly drenched.

  Cursing, he straightened up and plucked at the sodden mess. He was wearing the same kind of shirt Kat had found in the chest that morning and the tiny little feather designs that decorated the front of it dripped with alcohol.

  “I’m sorry,” Kat said. “I didn’t mean to trip but if you hadn’t been dragging me along so fast—”

  “Come on.” Grabbing her hand, he began pulling her through the crowd again. Kat expected that he was taking her back to Lock but she saw no sign of the light twin as they pushed through the people milling around the large room.

  “Where are we going?” she demanded when Deep started pulling her up a broad spiral staircase that led to the upper levels.

  “Away from unmated males for one thing,” he snarled, throwing a glance at her over his broad shoulder. “You smell entirely too luscious for your own good.”

  “I do?” Kat wanted to stop and sniff herself but she wasn’t at all sure that she would be able to smell what was clearly so apparent to Deep’s sensitive Kindred nose. She concentrated on climbing the spiral staircase which was beginning to seem never ending. Deep had already pulled her past several upper levels and showed no signs of stopping. With each step she felt more and more sensitive and irritated between her thighs and she was beginning to have the urgent feeling that she needed to go somewhere private and do something about it, even though she wasn’t entirely sure what she could do. “How…how much further are we going?” she asked, trying not to sound out of breath.

  Deep ignored her breathless question. “How did you even understand enough of the language to talk to those two without translation bacteria?” he demanded in a low voice, looking back at her.

  “Piper gave me a convo-pillar,” Kat gasped. His pace was so relentless it was like being on the stairclimber at the gym set on maximum. “She…she had one too but hers worked… better than mine. I could…could barely understand what they were saying.”

  “A convo-pillar?” He threw a glance over his shoulder. “You know those are illegal on most Kindred colonies?”

  “No, of course I didn’t.” Kat felt a stab of panic. “Why? Do they cause some kind of disease or infection?”

  Deep barked out a laugh. “Nothing like that. But they’re notoriously unreliable. The Kindred High Council determined they cause more problems than they solve.” He pulled her higher and higher until finally the never ending staircase came to an abrupt halt in a narrow hallway. At the end of it was a small, plain wooden door. “In here,” he growled, pulling Kat through it unceremoniously.

  It turned out to be another restroom but one far less elaborate than the ladies room down in the main gallery. There were a few sinks with small 3-D viewers mounted above them and some blowers that she assumed must be for drying hands. And, to her intense relief, she could see a row of small, round curtained-off areas which must be the Twin Moons equivalent of bathroom stalls. The strange sensations in her body had increased until she was dying for some private time.

  “Um,” she said, edging toward the row of round curtains. “I had a lot to drink earlier so I’m just going to—”

  “Go on.” Deep released her hand. “And don’t worry—I won’t listen.”

  Kat wanted to say something about there not being anything to listen to, but she was in too much of a hurry to get some privacy. Trying to walk normally even though her pussy was throbbing, she made her way to the last curtain at the v
ery end of the row. It reminded her of an old fashioned shower curtain back on Earth—the kind people had used with those free-standing claw foot bathtubs. Her grandmother’s house had one in the downstairs bath.

  Behind her she heard Deep laugh. “All the way down to the end, huh? I told you I wouldn’t listen.”

  Kat refused to dignify his remark with a reply. Instead she slipped inside the small, round space and closed the curtain firmly behind her.

  Inside was an extremely low toilet with a padded purple seat and some strange looking nozzles poking out at different angles. Some kind of Twin Moons bidet? Kat wondered, but she really didn’t care about the facilities.

  Lifting her dress, she pressed trembling fingers down the front of her panties. God, she was on fire! Her pussy so hot and wet with need she was surprised her juices weren’t running down her inner thighs. At the first tentative touch a moan rose to her lips. Kat managed to clamp it off by biting her lip but it was a near thing. Already she was right on the edge—it seemed like the lightest touch might make her come.

  Have to be quiet! Can’t let Deep hear! The idea of him finding out what she was doing was too embarrassing—Kat knew she would just die if he caught her touching herself. But she was finding it really hard to keep quiet when every gentle movement of her fingertips over her swollen clit sent intense jolts of pleasure through her entire body. Just as she thought she couldn’t keep from groaning or gasping one more minute, the loud sound of the blower cutting on provided the answer to her problems.

  Thank goodness! Deep must be drying his shirt—now I can be as loud as I want to.

  Wishing she had something to lean against, Kat spread her thighs wider and stroked her sensitive clit more firmly. An orgasm rolled through her and then another, arching her back and forcing a low moan from between her lips as her pleasure crested again and again. But with each successive orgasm, instead of decreasing, her desire seemed to intensify. Until finally, she was coming almost continually and getting more and more turned on each time.

  What’s wrong with me? she thought hazily, her heart pounding and her head swimming. How can I be getting more horny every time I come? Shouldn’t I be feeling better by now? But she wasn’t—not at all.

  Though it was incredibly difficult, Kat forced herself to stop. Clearly the effects of the bonding fruit had kicked in completely and what she was doing wasn’t working. What she needed was to go home and sleep it off. As if I could sleep like this. I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin! I’m so empty inside. I need to be filled. Need…no!

  Panting, Kat pulled her hand out of her panties and straightened her dress. I can’t go back to the party like this. I can’t. I’ll go insane. She would have to get Deep and Lock to take her home and then shut herself up in the bathroom, just as Piper had recommended. And then what? Make myself come all night until I’m so sore I feel like my pussy is broken? It sounded ridiculous but she didn’t know what else to do.

  Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders and tried to look calm as she pushed back the curtain. She might be in desperate straights, but she was damned if she’d let Deep know about it. The last thing she needed on top of this crazy predicament was to have him mocking her.

  To her relief, his back was to her when she exited the small circular stall. He was leaning over one of the blowers, holding his shirt up to dry it off.

  Kat frowned as she walked closer. There was something on his back—its broad, tan surface was covered in long, pinkish-white marks. Kat had seen him shirtless before during a joining and she knew the marks hadn’t been there before. Suddenly, she realized what they were.

  “Scars,” she whispered, putting a hand to her mouth. “My God, so many scars. But how—?”

  Deep whirled around to face her, though she would have sworn he couldn’t have heard her horrified whisper over the roaring of the blower. “Feeling better now, little Kat?” he asked, giving her a knowing smirk as the blower cut off.

  “What happened to your back?” Kat asked, ignoring the innuendo.

  He shrugged lazily. “An old battle wound.”

  “More like wounds. Those are fresh scars—how did you get them?” The sight of his back had stirred something inside her—some memory so disturbing she’d somehow repressed it. Maybe a dream she’d had? Kat didn’t know—she only knew seeing the cruel white and pink scars covering his broad back upset her terribly.

  “They’re old. You just haven’t noticed them before.” Deep went back to examining his shirt. “I think I got most of the fermented narr juice off so if you want to go back to the party—”

  “Hey.” Kat grabbed his arm. “Don’t brush me off or act like I’m stupid—a vagina and a brain aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.”

  He raised one black eyebrow at her. “Are you accusing me of being sexist?”

  “Among other things. I’ve seen you shirtless before and your back never looked like that. What happened?”

  Deep’s bottomless black eyes narrowed as he stared pointedly at her hand on his arm. “It’s none of your concern. Now if you’re finished pleasuring yourself, maybe we can find my brother and get the seven hells out of here.”

  Kat felt her cheeks heating in a blush but she refused to back down. “Why won’t you tell me?”

  “Why don’t you tell me what you were doing talking to two strange males when I specifically told you what effects the bonding fruit would have on you? Do you want to be raped? Or were you just looking for anyone besides me to scratch your itch?”

  “You bastard!” Before she could stop herself, Kat slapped his cheek as hard as she could.

  Deep caught her hand before she could pull it back. “Very nice, little Kat.” Slowly, he drew the two fingers she’d used to touch herself between his lips, sucking and licking gently as though trying to get every last trace of her juices.

  Kat felt her heart skip a beat and then start to pound crazily against her ribs. Like it or not, she had to admit that the feel of his warm mouth on her flesh and the hot way he was looking at her was having an effect on her overheated body. “St-stop it,” she stuttered, trying to pull away. “Let me go.”

  “For now.” He released her hand and began shrugging back into his shirt. “But you’ll pay for that little love tap, my lady. I promise you that.”

  Kat wanted to respond in kind but somehow the words wouldn’t come. She watched mutely as he rebuttoned his shirt and tucked it into his tight black pants. Then, taking her hand firmly, he pulled her out the door.

  “Wait,” she said, finally balking as they reached the head of the stairs. “I…I can’t go back to the party. I have a…a problem to take care of. I need to get home.”

  “Of course you do.” Deep’s annoying smirk left no doubt that he knew exactly why she didn’t want to go back to the crowd. “I’ve alerted Lock. He’ll meet us at the back entrance and we’ll leave from there. We’ll go straight home and help you with your problem together.”

  Kat began to panic. “I’m not bonding with you tonight!” she said, trying to pull her hand out of his. “I don’t care how much of that damn fruit I ate—there’s no way I’m letting you two get me between you.”

  “Oh, you’ll be between us all right,” Deep snarled, keeping a firm grip on her hand as he dragged her down the spiral stairs. “That choice has been taken from you. You gave it up with your first bite of bonding fruit, little Kat.”

  * * * * *

  “What in the seven hells did you do to her? She’s scared to death and angry too.” Lock paced in front of the locked bathroom door. Kat was on the other side of it and she refused to answer his calls or pleas.

  Deep shrugged lazily. He was leaning with one shoulder against the wall, a look of apparent unconcern on his dark face. “I simply told her that you and I would take care of the problem the bonding fruit had given her.”

  Lock faced his brother. “And how exactly did you tell her we would do that? She probably thinks we’re waiting out here to poun
ce on her and bond her the minute she opens the door.”

  “That’s exactly what I think.” Kat’s voice was muffled but audible through the thick wooden panel of the door. “Which is why I’m not coming out for the rest of the night until this damn fruit wears off.”

  “My lady…” Lock paused, trying to think how he could put what he had to say delicately. “Forgive me,” he said at last. “But the, ah, effects of the fruit won’t just wear off on their own. Deep may have put things in the wrong way when he spoke to you, but he was right about one thing—you’re going to need help.”

  “That’s not what Piper told me,” she protested.

  “Piper also gave you an illegal life form to put in your ear. Look where that got you,” Deep pointed out sarcastically. “Now are you going to come out and let us help you or not?”

  “Forget it. I know what your idea of help is—both of you skewering me at once. I’m not about to become a sexual shish-ka-bob for the rest of my life just because I ate the wrong fruit by mistake.”

  “It doesn’t have to be like that,” Lock pleaded. “Please, my lady, we can help you without making love to you or bonding you to us—I swear it.” To his surprise, Deep sighed and came to stand beside him at the door.

  “Lock is right,” he said, putting a hand on the wooden panel. “Come out, Kat. I didn’t mean to frighten you, I was just…” He stopped and cleared his throat. Looking down at his boots, he continued. “I was angry when I saw you talking to those two unmated males.”

  There was silence on the other side of the door and then, finally, it opened a crack. “Is that your version of ‘I’m sorry?’” Kat asked, one blue eye appearing warily in the narrow opening.

  “It is.” Deep nodded, tightlipped and frowning. “And I don’t say it often.”

  “Or ever,” Lock murmured, earning a glare from his brother.

  “All right.” Kat opened the door all the way and stood there, her arms crossed protectively over her breasts as she shifted from foot to foot. “I’m listening. I wouldn’t be if the stupid fruit I ate wasn’t driving me crazy, but it is. So talk. How can you help me without the three of us doing the hokey-poke-her?”