“All that crap he was spouting about having your file, you mean?” Need asked, frowning.
She nodded hesitantly.
“I was thinking more about the other things he said,” she admitted softly. “About…about what he said about me…ripening.”
“You mean all that about how your cunt honey would turn sweet?” Need asked. “Don’t forget, I tasted your honey myself, girl. It was sweet to the tongue but mostly salty, I can tell you that for sure.”
“It’s not just that,” she whispered. “He said…said something about me being…being in pain.”
“Are you in any pain?” Need demanded, feeling a sudden stab of anxiety.
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“Not like any pain I’ve ever felt before.”
Which wasn’t exactly a “no.”
“What’s wrong then, girl?” he asked impatiently. “I’ll try to do right by you if you just tell me—remember I promised you that.”
Lan’ara shook her head quickly.
“Nothing, I’m sure, my Lord. I…I’m just tired, that’s all. It has been a very long day.”
Which was the absolute truth. Lan’ara still couldn’t believe that it was only that morning when the big Kindred had bid on her and bought her. The memory of the slave auction seemed to be fuzzy with time already. Maybe it was her mind screening it out—a kind of defense mechanism. The way it mostly screened out the memory that her mother and little brothers were gone. It was easier not to think of some things, Lan’ara had found.
Much easier.
“Don’t blame you for being tired, after the day you’ve had,” Need remarked. “I’ll try to find you something to sleep in.”
“Thank you, my Lord.” Lan’ara nodded at him.
He hesitated. “You had a bath earlier but I don’t know how much, er, bathing you actually got done with those damn blossoms going at you. Would you like a sonic shower before bed?”
Lan’ara felt her cheeks get hot when she remembered the way the wash blossoms had sucked and tasted her. Her nipples and pleasure button throbbed at the memory and she had the feeling of a hungry flower opening between her thighs again.
But she hastily pushed the thoughts away. She needed to be chaste and pure, she reminded herself, for Senator Pouncenblast to want her.
“Well?” Need demanded and she realized she’d never answered his question.
“Oh! Oh, yes, my Lord—a sonic shower would be fine,” she said quickly, though she had no idea what that actually was. Still, it had to be better than letting the wash blossoms suck and taste her—right?
“Fine.” Need nodded shortly. “I’ll find you something to wear, as I said. Then we’ll go down together.”
He went digging in the clothes storage area—which came right out of the wall, Lan’ara saw with fascination—and soon returned with an undershirt of his which seemed to be made of some soft, black material.
“Come on,” he told Lan’ara and led her out of his quarters and down the vine-draped, moss-carpeted hallway.
They went past several metal doors—all wreathed in vines—until they came to a tiny cul-de-sac at the far end of the corridor. It was located in a sheltered corner right across from a huge metal door that looked twice as broad and half again as tall as the others they had passed. It was the only entryway in the ship that Lan’ara had seen which wasn’t framed in vines and leaves and flowers.
“You’re not to come down here by yourself, ever” Need told her sternly as they crowded into the alcove together and Lan’ara looked up at the strange-looking nozzle high on the tiled wall above her.
“Yes, my Lord—but why?” she asked curiously.
As if to answer her question, she heard a tromping tread coming down the long corridor which terminated in the vast, bare metal door.
“Shh!” Need hissed at her and backed her more firmly into the shower stall, shielding her with his muscular form. She could feel his body heat against her skin and she shivered as she pressed close to him. The big Kindred was too tall for her to look over his shoulder, but she peered around his side, keeping well back so that she could catch a glimpse of the hallway without being seen herself.
In a moment the bulky form of Drung came into view, tromping down the vine-covered hallway. He stopped when he saw Need standing there in the doorway to the sonic shower with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Kindred?” he sneered, glaring at Need. “Thought you’d take a chance and try to steal the girly’s file while I was out of my room, did you?”
“Fuck you, Trollox,” Need growled. “I came for a sonic shower, that’s all. The water in my quarters isn’t working right.”
“And did you bring the pretty girly with you?” The Trollox lifted all three of his heads in the air, their pig-snout noses snuffling noisily as if trying to catch Lan’ara’s scent.