Legally he couldn’t have me, I was destined for one of the twelve candidates, but it didn’t mean he didn’t want me. Understanding this, I stood straighter, meeting his gaze dead on. “I’m ready.”
I walked next to him down a narrow corridor, aware of his height and unfamiliar masculinity. His hand brushed my elbow then gently ran down my lower back to the curve of my butt cheek. I glanced over. He snatched his hand away.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I... I’ve never seen a real woman before. I couldn’t help it.”
“It’s all right,” I replied. “I’ve never seen a man, except for the delivery boys who brought things to our school.” I purposely left out my special relationship with said delivery worker, but he didn’t seem to register my words, being too focused on his own mistake.
“Please don’t tell anyone,” he said. “I could lose my job.”
“Okay,” I agreed, but I wondered what could happen to him. Would he really be punished for something as simple as touching a woman? I knew it was my status as the Breeder that kept me off-limits. He likely knew plenty of worker women, but none who had gone through puberty.
My stride lengthened as we kept walking down the hall until we were at the wings of a large stage. I could see Zoe and Michael standing in the center. Bright lights beamed in on them. Sound boomed from Michael’s microphone as he smiled for the home audience and touted Zoe’s fertility and beauty. I’d heard the same speech my whole life. It was always the same speech, always the same pattern, only this time it was personal, because I knew the Breeder on the stage, and I played the lead in the next part of the act.
In the darkened shadows at the front of the stage, I could see nothing, but I knew what was there, or rather who was there. The candidates. One hundred of the smartest and strongest, best-looking men, chosen to compete for the honor of breeding with me. I squinted to get a better look, but the man beside me spoke.
“I’m supposed to administer a drug to you,” he said. “You have a choice, though.”
“Zoe said I should take it, but she didn’t say what it would do.”
“It will make you want us as much as we want you,” he said.
Oh. “All right.” I held my arm out to give him access to a vein.
He stared at my skin for a moment then seemed to shake himself to full awareness. Carefully, he swabbed my inner elbow with a cold cloth then pulled a syringe from the pocket of his blazer.
“Wait,” I blurted. “Does it have any other side effects?”
“It will make you a little dizzy and confused.”
Hmm. “No. Don’t give me the drug. I want to be aware of what’s going on.” Sexual desire wasn’t going to be a problem. Already I could feel the pulsing between my legs.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded. And kept staring at the action on the stage.
Time seemed to speed up from that moment. It seemed only seconds before Zoe was escorted off the stage to raucous applause and hoots. I’d hoped she’d come my direction, but she was taken off the opposite side. And then, I heard the line I’d heard in my dreams for six years. The line that introduced the newest Breeder to the world. Me.
Chapter Two
“Gentlemen. Please welcome to the stage, this year’s Breeder, Jane.” Michael’s voice filled the loud hall, penetrating every eardrum. No last name. It had long been deemed unnecessary to make the Breeder anything more than a fantasy woman.
I felt a little push from behind and stumbled onto the wooden stage. Six years of training took over and my stumble turned into a slow glide designed to highlight my legs and how they looked in the high heels they’d shoved on my feet. I remembered to swing my hips for maximum effect. It must have been working because a loud chorus of male shouts greeted me from the audience.
I aimed my smile in their direction. It was my weapon and I honed it to maximum efficacy. I’d been told to make every male candidate in the audience want to possess me and that’s what I’d do.
I’d walk for the good of society as had been drilled into me since birth. If the males were motivated by a worthy prize, they’d continue working their hardest to win it. The spotlights shining down on me made it impossible to see the one hundred men deemed worthy to enter the competition, but I knew they were there. The testosterone rolled onto the stage in a tidal wave.
After what seemed like a mile, I made it to center stage and the magnetic presence of Selectioner Michael. Gone was his businesslike attitude. Here, he was all showmanship and ear-to-ear smiles. His booming chatter listed things about me, but I didn’t focus on them. I turned briefly and saw huge glossy photos of past Breeders flashing on screens behind me. Their faces were as familiar as my own.
The tenor of the light changed as the screens flashed to white. “The time has come, gentlemen,” Michael said, as if telling a secret to a lucky few. The audience’s whistles and shouts stopped abruptly. There was only the whisper of chairs creaking as their occupants sat straighter. No one wanted to miss a word of what was coming next.
The man who’d escorted me to the stage rolled out a small round table covered in a shimmery silver cloth. On the table perched a large glass bowl. Every man who’d won the chance to enter the auditorium tonight had a card in the bowl with his name and identification number.
“You’re on, Jane,” Michael said.
I smiled out to the audience hoping to convey my impartiality to the home viewers. My fingers trembled as I lowered my hand into the bowl. For good show, I rustled my hand around, taking care to tease out the anticipation, but not take too long for fear the males in the audience would revolt.
Several members of the Guard stood at strategic points in the auditorium to ensure the process would go without violence. It was one hundred men against a dozen, even if those dozen had serious weapons.