“Can you imagine how it will be?” he demanded of her even as he gnawed gently at the point of her breast and reveled in her clutching fingers in his hair and her gasping response. “We’ll complete the act of the kind, making love so intensely it will take days for us to recover. Can you imagine that?”
“Yes. Oh, yes, Julian,” she panted quickly against his hair as her fingers gripped the strands harshly. “I pray you are right about this. I hope so much that there’s no disappointment.”
The remark gave Julian sharp pause, cutting through the haze of need and craving that so ruled him. He raised his head, lifting his lips from her flesh, and tried to meet her eyes. The blue depths were closed off from him, squeezed tightly shut as if she were desperately trying to hold on to a fantasy. A dream.
Not a reality.
Julian reached up for her chin, his grip a bit brutal as frustration warred with his need to stake his claim. She resisted him, as always, her eyes staying screwed shut.
She had no faith in him, he realized a bit numbly. There was no trust in her whatsoever. She didn’t believe for an instant that what she was feeling would last or carry her through to fulfill the promises he was making her. And despite the urgency of those raging instincts within him, Julian proved how truthful he had been when he had claimed this was not all about the physical. He stepped away from the exquisite offering that she was, rejecting her half-baked efforts at learning what it meant to be kindra to him. Despite all he had said to her, she simply didn’t understand…and she didn’t believe. Without that belief in him—in them—a mating between them would ring false and empty. Oh, it would satisfy the Ampliphi and the claim of kind between them, but he refused to take portions of her now, only to be snapping up scraps of her later as they went. He could not be satisfied like this, and neither would she. So long as she fought the real depths of the role she was meant to play, she would circumvent the overwhelming possession of the kind mating. Until he had her trust, he realized, he would never have her.
Frustrated and aching from head to toe, he extricated himself from Asia completely and walked away to a safe distance. Well, relatively so. There would never be a distance between them that would act as enough of a buffer to shut down their physical desire for one another, especially not now that the connection was moving along at a raging clip and calling them to one another in screams of need.
“Dress yourself.”
Chapter 11
“Dress yourself.”
The command was harsh and hot, coming from him on a voice full of unrelieved need and finally making her fully aware of the fact that he intended to put an end to their interlude. To say she was shocked was a poor representation. Flabbergasted was more like it. An impact that was quickly chased by a hundred other emotional reactions just as wildly skewed and confused.
“But…” She couldn’t even fathom how to argue with him just then. All she knew was how viciously deprived she felt without his heat and passion burning into her. One of her nipples was abraded by his teeth and tongue, making it far more sensitive to the air of the room and making her so very aware of how it had felt to have him there. The long length of her body curved restlessly with unspent passion; she longed to draw him back to her and sought in her mind how she could do that—even as she struggled with the sense of relief rushing through her. Discombobulated by the conflicting desires, she sought Julian’s help and guidance.
“I don’t understand you!” The snap in her voice came off harsher than she meant it, but frustration was getting the better of her. She reached to scoop up her dress, jerking it on over her head so roughly she was lucky she didn’t tear the delicate fabric. “You’ve been harping on me since daybreak about how much you want to make love to me, and when you finally get the chance, you walk off and treat me like I have the fucking plague! What kind of sick game is this?”
“Why don’t you tell me!” He rounded on her, getting up in her face. “You bitch at me about how you aren’t just a body for mating with and making babies, but you throw yourself at me offering nothing but your sex to me! Tell me why I shouldn’t be confused and pissed off!”
“I…” Asia suddenly saw his point and she felt a little sick in her stomach. “I couldn’t help it,” she argued lamely. “It just comes over me when you touch me. And it isn’t against the law for me to get turned on when that’s what you are trying to do to me! You want to talk about confused? You start pawing me, get me all wound up, but somehow it’s still not enough for you! If you want to fuck, then let’s do it! Let’s feed the masses, Julian. Put all your troubles and worries to rest. C’mon, I’m game.”
He laughed. It was a bitter, hard sound, but it was a laugh just the same. “You just don’t get it. I’m beginning to think you never will.”
He turned his back on her and started up the spiral ramp leading to the upper level of the house.
“Hey!”
She hurried after him, reaching the landing just as she grabbed hold of him around one bicep and yanked really hard to turn him toward her. He emitted a frustrated growl, all but roaring in her face as he came around to face her.
“I thought you said you didn’t want to be nightfly,” he hissed at her, all but knocking her back with the level of rage he was emanating at her. “If that’s true, then why would you whore with me?”
“Whore? Did you just call me—”
She didn’t even finish. She hauled back and punched him in the head before she could even think about checking the impulse. What she didn’t realize was that his anger, just like his passion, was infecting her. The longer she stayed Beneath, the more sensitive she became to the energy flying around her. She hit him with the side of her fist, following through so hard that her whole body twisted…and so did his. He spun around hard and hit the wall beside him, reaching out to catch himself against it.
Asia stood there breathing angrily, both fists up in front of herself defensively, her breath huffing and her face flushed with rage. Julian was just standing there running his tongue over his teeth to make certain they were all there, then he wiped at his bloody mouth and touched fingers to the hinge of his jaw.
Okay, rule number one, don’t piss off the bounty hunter, he thought wryly. To be fair, he hadn’t been expecting her to hit him, and by the look that was crawling over her face, she hadn’t been expecting it either. Aghast, Asia covered a mouth open with shock and held out a supplicating hand to him. She touched his shoulder gently.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry! I have no idea why I just did that! I swear to you, I don’t just go around hitting people out of the blue. I…”
“No. No that was my fault,” he soothed her quickly. He turned to the hall and entered the bathroom. It looked strange and old-fashioned, with pull chains on the basin and the toilet. It was an odd rectangular shape and it was covered. The piping in the room was visible and it looked like it was all made of something like bamboo.
Julian went to the square basin and pulled one of the chains. Immediately it began to fill with clear water. He quickly washed his hands and rinsed blood out of his mouth. Then he pulled a second chain and the basin drained in a rapid little swirl. It was efficient and a minimum of waste, Asia realized. She had seen rows of bamboo outside and had thought it was part of the structure, when in fact it was probably piping designed to take away waste water.
“The rains fill the reservoirs above us. The tanks are above all the roof levels so turning on water is just a matter of gravity. That’s why when we build we build downward,” he informed her when he took note of her curiosity.
She shook that off, though, resting a hand on his arm. “Are you all right?”
“I am. I’ll be sporting a solid bruise by tomorrow, though. I think I’ll enjoy explaining it to the Ampliphi.”
“Oh God…”
“I’m kidding,” he said quickly. “Just a joke.”
“Not funny,” she said darkly.
“No, I don’t suppose it was.” He sighed. “Listen,
I know you didn’t mean to hit me. It’s my fault. Rage is a powerful form of energy. You were standing so close to me you got swamped. It’s my responsibility to control my emotions and I’m not doing a very good job of it.”
“And I’m not making it easy for you to do so,” she admitted, taking responsibility for her share of the problem. “Look, I am sorry that I’m not doing things the right way. I warned you over and over that I am not the person you need…I’m too stubborn. Too jaded. Too harsh. People have been telling me for years what a cold bitch I am and…I guess I always thought that was just an outer shell I was using to protect myself. I guess it turns out I’m a cold bitch straight to the core.” There was no mistaking the sadness in her pretty blue eyes as she wrapped herself into a crooked sort of hug. “I’m sorry. I know your life is on the line here. You probably wouldn’t even be doing this if there wasn’t so much pressure….”
“Hey,” he stepped up to her, taking an elbow into his palm. “I made a very conscious choice, a very selfishly motivated choice, the moment I saw you strutting your stuff down the sidewalk. You’re right, I never asked you if you wanted this. I never gave you a fair chance. But know this. If you had refused to come here after I tried wooing you properly, I would have stayed on the Earth plane with you. You are my kindra. There’s no changing that. I don’t want to change that. I don’t care if you are prickly like a…like a…”
“Porcupine,” she provided with a small smile.
“Yes. A porkpine. I have seen this creature with many quills. It has a soft underside, as do you. It just takes some time to find it.”
“Hmph. Good luck with that.”
“Thank you. I will need it.” He grinned when she clicked her tongue at him. “We’ll find the way to make you happy here. Let’s just get through tomorrow morning. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed.
“Okay, wait a minute. I thought you said to keep off the grass.”
In fact, it was such a strict rule that there was only a single walkway leading from the colony to the cliff. And it was heavily guarded. Two guards stood inside a gate in the colony and four stood outside a second gate that was on the land.
She’d been reasonable when the outfit Lucien had brought her had been a little tight on top and had a little too much swirly fabric in the skirt. How a woman could move in it was beyond Asia’s scope of understanding. She’d been very accommodating when Julian and Lucien warned her to stay between them at all times during their travel, even though it rankled her to be the protected female. She’d even been ecstatic when Julian had found her a solid stick made of a remarkably strong wood that was exactly the length she wanted.
But this…this gave her a bad case of the heebie-jeebies. Bad enough her sister was traveling this way. After listening to Julian’s description of the people-eating okriti, she wasn’t at all eager to get out onto their territory.
“I always thought safaris were the stupidest things,” she grumbled as the first gate opened. They started out on the long walkway leading toward the land. Asia gripped the straps of the pack she wore on her back as she followed Julian across. “People fighting people, that’s one thing. I’m not afraid of anyone. Even the biggest, baddest man in town has soft spots, you know? But lions and shit like that, they have claws and fangs and not an ounce of fat. Their entire bodies are dedicated to one thing—muscle—and that muscle only does one thing, it helps it to kill stupid people who go out in little cars on safari!” Then she realized, “Oh God, we’re not even going to have a car, are we?”
“No,” Julian agreed, “we aren’t. But stop worrying so much. Lucien and I have done this plenty of times. We know how to avoid danger and we know how to handle the okriti.”
“Are you coddling me? Because if you’re coddling me, it’s not the okriti you’re going to have to be worried about,” she grumbled.
“He’s not coddling,” Lucien reassured her, coming to the rescue of his friend. “He’s just stating facts. There’s no denying this is a dangerous trip. But if you listen to us and we all stay sharp, it’ll be over in just a few hours.”
“And we need to get there before sunset,” Julian reminded them.
“Right. Sunset bad. Got it.” Asia exhaled hard as they came up on the second gate. The guards saw them coming and opened it for them.
“What report?” Julian asked of them shortly.
“All’s well,” a guard replied. “No sign yet of the south party you’re expecting and I sent two scouts north ahead of you. They reported an easy path ahead and no sign of okriti or tamblyn.”
“Okay, now what the fuck is tamblyn?” Asia demanded to know.
“Land fowl. They can’t fly but they swarm their prey and take it down by sheer numbers. A flock can be deadly to a lone person…a large flock isn’t afraid to take one of us down. But they will avoid groups of us because they learn fast that we can hurt and kill them. They’re kind of tasty, too. It’s one of the main foods served in the colonies. Tastes somewhat like turkey.”
“Deadly land fowl. Got it.”
Julian heard the tension ratcheting up in her voice. “Listen. They have long necks like those pink birds in Florida…”
“Flamingos.”
Lucien chuckled at the word, especially when Julian tried to repeat it. “Just avoid their sharp bills and break their necks. They’re dead in an instant,” he informed her.
“Oh. Cool. I can do that.”
“And don’t step into any patches of sand,” Julian warned.
“Do I want to know why?” she asked meekly.
“Just don’t do it. Stay on the hard ground and the grass.”
He wasn’t going to get any argument from her. Julian was actually a little fascinated by this side of her. She was a tough girl who could handle herself; why was she suddenly so afraid?
“Because I’m a city girl,” she snapped irritably. “Muggers and crackheads I can deal with. This nature shit is not my scene.”
“Just stick close to us and you’ll be fine,” Lucien advised with obvious amusement lacing his voice. “Tell me,” he said conversationally, “what exactly is a crackhead? It sounds painful.”
“Oh, um…” She laughed a little, finding it weird to talk about the dregs of her own society when she’d been so self-righteous about the way they handled theirs. “It’s someone who is addicted to crack. Crack is a drug. It’s very habit forming and once you start…”
“You become a crackhead,” Lucien supplied. “I see. Julian has told me about the recreational drugs in your society. We have something like that, but only the nightfly use it. It helps their time to pass, I suppose.”
The remark sobered the group as they each recalled exactly where they were headed and why.
“So what is this place like that we’re going to? What can I expect?”
“It’s not easy to explain the ways of the nightfly. It is something you need to see and experience for yourself to understand. It is a culture unto itself,” Julian said. “But you won’t need to worry about that. You won’t be put in with the main population, just the holding area.”
His jaw was set so hard that she could see it even from her position behind him. He really wasn’t happy about her spending even one night at the holding colony. She wondered if there were any men in the holding colony and voiced the question aloud.
“Guards, of course, are men,” Julian informed her. “There is a separate holding colony for men who commit lesser crimes. Capital crimes, as you know, are a sentence of death.”
“And…what is the punishment meted out for the men who are guilty of lesser crimes? The women are forced to sell themselves, what are the men forced to do?”
“Hunt,” they answered in unison.
They didn’t need to say anything more. Hunting for game in these wilds that they were clearly so frightened of was a terrible sentence indeed. Deadly and dangerous.
They moved in silence for quite some time after that. For the most part the wilderness was rea
lly just grasslands that seemed to stretch on for miles, with only the occasional copse of trees to break the monotony. It was easy to tell, now that she was really moving, just how high up they were. The air was significantly thinner than she was used to. Also, it was decidedly warmer. It had the feeling of being closer to the sun. She wondered if they had seasons, or if it was always this warm. She could see clouds above them now as well as what she had seen below, but there weren’t nearly as many. It was very curious.
She caught her first sight of the okriti about a third of the way through the trip. Julian stopped her and pointed out the distant herd. It was hard to make them out, but they moved like gorillas, their long arms dragging through the grasses. Julian and Lucien didn’t let them sit around staring at them, and she didn’t blame them in the least.
They passed two other colonies over the next hours, one much smaller than Julian’s, the other astoundingly larger. Asia risked going very close to the cliff’s edge so she could look at how far down the levels of the colony truly went. There were many reservoir tanks both over the entire colony and down along the sides. She couldn’t help but be amazed at the architecture of so many walkways and bridges and conical houses.
They went at a fairly easy and steady pace, and when they came up on a third colony she was surprised when Lucien said, “There it is.”
It looked just like the other colonies, only quite a bit smaller overall. But of course it would be. There weren’t many women to begin with. The percentage that was criminal must make for very small numbers.
Asia began to get a little nervous. She wasn’t stupid, after all. She was going into an unknown situation that Julian deemed dangerous. He didn’t seem the type to overreact, and as long as she was a fish out of water it made her especially susceptible to the dangers around her.
They approached the unassuming little colony, and immediately she could tell there was a difference. Instead of a variety of conical houses, there was one large main building and a ring of smaller houses. The gates leading from the land to the colony were set in tremendous walls that ran the length of the colony on either side, enough to cover every mooring and every contact point between the buildings and the ground. It was clear that no one wanted any of these women escaping via the rigging that kept the colony afloat.