Eland and Jeanne (Tales of the Shareem) (12 page)

Eland swallowed his own groans as he came. He kept moving inside her, closing his eyes and pretending it was all in a day’s work.

Who was he kidding?
Eland was lost.

But no need to let these other idiots realize how stupidly in love he was falling.

***

Jeanne was limp and happy as he carried her into the bedroom. The door closed on Aiden’s voice. “Now, that was
nice
…”

Eland stripped off Jeanne’s blindfold but left the cuffs. “You liked that,” he said, his voice broken.

“I did.” Jeanne sounded surprised. “
Why
did I like that?”

“Some do.” Eland shrugged, as though it made no difference to him, never mind his blood was on fire. “I guess you’re one of them.”

Jeanne’s smile nearly undid him. “So what do we get to do now?”

Eland loved that she was so trusting of him. It made the nugget of hope in him grow, which was a bad thing. Hope would kill him.

He forced himself to scowl. “Now I get to punish you for liking that so much.” He leaned over her. “Remember, you’re
mine.
”

Jeanne’s smile widened. “Always.”

Damn, she was going to kill him. Eland turned abruptly away, found the strap he’d used last time, and came to her. “Not good enough. Turn over.”

Slowly, Jeanne obeyed. Too slowly. Eland wrapped his arm around her waist and flipped her onto her stomach. Then he spanked her.

He spanked her with the strap until she was laughing and coming. Then he threw away the strap, pulled her hips back against him, and took her. Her coming went on, her noises of joy growing loud and shrill.

When Eland finished, he fell to the bed next to Jeanne, spooning her against him, arms protectively around her. Jeanne was already falling asleep. He kissed her flushed face and damp hair.

“What am I going to do?” he whispered, half to himself. “I can’t get enough of you.”

And that couldn’t happen. He’d try to stay with her, and he’d be caught, and killed. He’d die because he too much loved a lady. The executioner would laugh at him as she pushed the button to turn Eland to ashes.

***

The Shareem met as often as they could after that. Sometimes Eland was with them, to Jeanne’s delight, more rarely—Rees.

They discussed what they could do, put forth ideas, possible people they might trust. There weren’t many. The search for the missing Shareem was strengthening. Apparently, the security department on Bor Narga had finally figured out just which Shareem had managed to leave the planet—very few—and which were still at large.

Everyone in Judith’s living room was on the wanted list, for starters.

“I’m working on it,” Rees said on a night he could show up, his tone hard and unhappy. “We might have to get off the planet one at a time. And not all of us will get away.”

They knew it. Jeanne saw it in their faces. Already one Shareem had been caught, terminated before Rees had been able to get him free. That failure haunted him, and the other Shareem grieved.

Jeanne’s anger rose as she watched them. They were men, with feelings, needs, lives. Why should they be killed?

“You’ll get free,” she said quietly during one of these sessions. “I’ll make sure of it. I’m going to keep trying to find someone who will take you away from here, get you safe. I swear this.”

“And me,” Judith said.

“Sweeties.” Rio put one arm around Judith, one around Jeanne, and gave them each a kiss on their cheeks. “It’s why we love you.”

Eland said nothing, only watched. Jeanne, flashing an impish smile at Eland, kissed Rio back. The session in Judith’s bedroom with Eland after that was mind-blowing.

The nights Eland could get to Judith’s, he taught Jeanne more. She was open to him now, interested in what he came up with. She learned to take a small, lubed plug in her ass, which warmed her all over. She’d then kneel in front of Eland, her hands bound behind her back, and take him in her mouth until he came, powerfully.

One amazing evening, she lay down on top of Eland, he fully inside her, while Rio was invited in to participate. With Rio in her mouth, Eland inside her fully, Jeanne thought she’d burn up and die.

At other times, Eland had her sit with him and the other Shareem—just sit while they talked. Jeanne would be unclothed and adorned only with her collar and nipple clips. The others could see all she had, all that was Eland’s.

While the Shareem were obviously always hungry for sex, they didn’t begrudge Eland for having Jeanne, Eland said. If a Shareem had a lady, then the others wished him well. They were made to pleasure women, not to fulfill their own hearts.

Which, to Jeanne, was terribly sad.

If nothing else, Eland taught Jeanne to be comfortable in her own body. That was what having her sit naked among the others was about. That and it brought her a tingle of wicked pleasure to be scrutinized. And
no one
could scrutinize like a Shareem.

Jeanne learned not to be afraid of sex and not to be ashamed of wanting it. It was pure pleasure, and joining with another, an intimacy that nothing could surpass. She decided that as long as sexual exploring was done in mutual agreement and enjoyment on all sides, there was nothing wrong with it.

She was even allowed to ask other Shareem for pleasure—if Eland was present. But Jeanne never did. She wanted Eland, and that was all.

Not that she minded when he let others join them. Aiden massaging her while Eland rode her. Ky and Rio taking turns spanking her while she rode Eland.

The day he told her to straddle Judith on a chair and let Judith touch her was interesting. Judith enjoyed that, to Jeanne’s surprise, and so did she, a bit. The noise coming from Judith’s room when she retreated there with Rio later was jarringly loud.

Through it all, Jeanne knew she was falling in love with Eland. She felt complete when he was with her, and empty when he was gone.

And she feared for him, a gut-wrenching fear that didn’t let her sleep. The danger to him wasn’t false. Jeanne’s nights were restless unless Eland was at her side.

Soon, she’d have to let him go. Jeanne knew that. And she would. She’d send him where he could live in freedom, and then she’d work like hell to try to see him again. Eland deserved to be at peace, and safe.

One day Judith and Jeanne saw no Shareem at all. That day segued into another, and another. They both went out looking for them, surreptitiously, just to make sure they were all right—that any of them were all right.

Nothing.

The night of the third day without Shareem, patrollers came around, walked inside Judith’s bar just as it was closing, and told the remaining patrons to get out.

Chapter Twelve

“This is Bor Narga, not a slave world,” Judith snapped at the lead patroller. “You have a warrant? Otherwise, you can leave—I don’t care what you think I have in here. I won’t even let you in for a drink. It’s just now after hours, and that would be breaking the law.”

The patroller tried to intimidate Judith with a glare, her fingers on her stun gun, but Judith, who’d raised herself from nothing, didn’t intimidate easily. The patroller snarled that she’d be back, but she went.

“What do we do?” Jeanne asked after Judith had slammed the metal doors over the bar’s open front.

“You go home, and let them search your place, but only if they have a warrant.” Judith headed for the stairs. “But first, help me get rid of the stuff.”

She meant the toys and accoutrements the Shareem had left. It was a crying shame to throw them all into the incinerator, but it had to be done. No trace of Shareem could be found here, and some of the sex toys Judith had obtained were illegal on Bor Narga.

Jeanne slipped the nipple clamps with chain into her pocket, however. If caught with it, she could claim she’d bought it from an off-worlder, thinking it was jewelry. Maybe the patrollers wouldn’t know what it was for anyway.

At home, Jeanne received a brief call on her console from Judith to say the patrollers were knocking on her back door, probably with a warrant this time. After Jeanne clicked the console off, she sat on her couch with her knees drawn to her chest. What would happen to Judith if they arrested her? Would they use drugs on her to get her to admit she’d been harboring Shareem?

And where
were
the Shareem?

At three in the morning, Judith called her back. Jeanne slapped the answer button on her console and gazed at Judith’s face, which was drawn in concern.

“They searched,” Judith said. “Found nothing. Of course they didn’t.” The way Judith’s eyes burned into Jeanne’s, Jeanne knew she feared her console was being bugged. “They did tell me one thing I didn’t know. They’ve caught some of the men called Shareem. Four of them. Rio, Braden, Ky … and Eland.”

***

They were stuck in a cell about twelve by twelve, all four of them in nothing but loincloths, the walls of the cube transparent so the patrollers at the jail could watch them. They’d been given sterilizing showers and then colorless wobbly protein cubes for supper. Plus water, in the requisite amount men of their weight would need.

“So we’ll be in perfect health when they kill us,” Braden said dryly.

Eland leaned against one of the walls, folded his arms, and thought about Jeanne.

He loved her. But he could tell no one, not even to get it off his chest among friends. The last and best thing he could do for Jeanne was to not even mention her name.

A patroller captain came to interview them. She never let them out of the cell, only turned on the mikes and speakers so she could talk through the soundproof wall.

“You know a woman called Judith?”

All the Shareem looked blank, glancing at one another as though to try to place the name.

“How about Jeanne Narren?”

Again more blank looks. Eland felt his body temperature rise, and he hoped to all the gods there weren’t monitors for that in here.

“Any humans known to be assisting you will be arrested,” the captain said. “Helping fugitives is against the law.”

“Yeah?” Rio said, leaning on his arms against the glass wall. “How would you like us to help
you?
”

The captain’s brows furrowed. “By telling me where the other Shareem are?”

“No,” Rio said. “Help soothe you down and show you what fun is. Braden’s really good at tickling.”

Braden flickered his tongue at the woman. Ky had his back turned, pretending to not notice the patroller at all.

The patroller scowled. “None of that.” She snapped off the mike on their side. “I know you can force women to do what you want just by being in the same room with them. Don’t worry, you’ll soon be cured of it.”

She clicked off the speaker and walked away, her footfalls silent behind the glass.

Rio gave her the finger. “You know, I love me a patroller with a sense of humor.”

“Yeah,” Braden said. “Who doesn’t?”

Ky raised his head from where he’d been studying the floor. “Great. My last days of life, and I’m stuck with your lame asses.”

“And Eland’s,” Braden said, his gaze on Eland. “You all right, big guy?”

“Sure,” Eland said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Braden lifted his brows, showing he knew damn well the only thing on Eland’s thoughts was Jeanne, but he said nothing.

“Well, my friends, I think this time we’re screwed.” Rio sank to the floor, back to the wall, and rested his arms on his drawn-up knees. “Well and truly.”

“Yeah,” Braden said.

They were all thinking it, but didn’t dare say it out loud
... Unless Rees comes through.

***

Jeanne and Judith tried desperately to find out what had happened to Eland and the others, but though Judith kept an ear out through the many people she knew, she never heard that any of them had been terminated. Judith also hadn’t heard that they’d been released either. The Shareem remained imprisoned, and their fate hung in the air.

Why they hadn’t been terminated, Jeanne couldn’t imagine. The one Shareem the patrollers had previously caught had been killed quickly enough. Jeanne hadn’t met the man, but her heart ached for him, killed through no fault of his own.

And it made her angry.

Angry enough that a few days after Eland had been taken, Jeanne stayed at Judith’s until after she closed, and said, “We’re not going to just sit here. We’re going to save them.”

Judith gave her a nod. “Agreed. But I’m fresh out of ideas. I haven’t heard from Rees, and I have no clue how to get in touch with him.”

“We have to do this without Rees,” Jeanne said. “Without Shareem. Just us.”

“I’m willing.” Judith filled mugs with coffee and handed Jeanne one as she continued cleaning up the bar. “What did you have in mind? We’re not highborn or politicians.”

“I know. I’m a dockworker, and you sling drinks for a living. But we’re Bor Nargan women. We have way more power than most people on this planet. More than Shareem, anyway.”