Candidate (Selected Book 4) (5 page)

"Do you work here?" I asked her.

"Yes. I am one of the technicians. It is a good job. I am learning. Would you like to sit?" She gestured to a sofa. I didn't answer, so she tugged on my arm, and I let her pull me forward. We sat together, and she moved closer, a hand on the center of my chest.

"I am being gentle," she said. "I do not want to hurt you."

"I appreciate that," I replied. Then I inhaled deeply. "Something smells good."

"I know," she said. She reached a hand around the back of my head, and when she pulled me closer to her, I let her. She pulled my face into the cleft of her neck and shoulder, and I found the source of the wonderful smell.

"It's you," I whispered.

"I have never done this before," she said.

"Done what?"

"A battle of wills. This is my first. Thank you. Remember, if you don't kiss my feet, then Jasmine Brighteyes will let you go home."

"I remember," I whispered. I squirmed. I wanted to hold her, but the shackles kept me from reaching for her. But then I manage to reach with both hands and clasp her cheeks, one hand to either side. Her blue skin was smooth and soft and lovely. She was lovely. And she smelled so good. I breathed deeply.

"Do you want me to stop touching you?"

"No!" I said firmly. "When does our, um..."

"It already began," she said. "You're losing."

"No," I whispered. But then my tongue reached out, and I licked the side of her neck. She tasted even better than she smelled.

"Do that again," she commanded, and I did, then a third time. I began panting.

"Humans like to kiss," she whispered. "Octals don't kiss, but we do something similar. Do you want me to show you?"

"Yes," I whispered.

At that she pressed my hands back down then slid a leg across mine, perching over me. She bent me backwards until I was firmly against the sofa, my head bent at an angle. I continued to pant as I stared up into her eyes.

"This is an exchange of fluids," she said. "I will only give you a taste. I am giving you a chance to win your battle with me."

I didn't have words.

But she put a hand behind my head and lowered her mouth to mine. Then she slipped her tongue into me while pulling my head forward. Her tongue slipped deep inside me, further than a human tongue would have, and then I felt fresh wetness across my own tongue. She brushed her tongue across mine, and after a moment, I felt something new. I was filled with deep, deep pleasure, and I moaned.

Dark Skies withdrew from me, although she licked my lips, and when I licked them clean, I was filled with more of the pleasure.

"Do you want me to stop what I'm doing to you, Andromeda?" she asked.

"No. God, no. Oh god, but what are you doing to me?"

"This is our battle of wills." She looked into one eye, then the other. "I think you'd do anything I asked, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," I whispered. "Please kiss me again."

"Maybe soon," she said. "If you willingly kiss my feet, you don't get to go home. If I tell you to kiss my feet, what will you do?"

My head cleared marginally. Dark Skies watched me. I didn't answer her, so she leaned forward and brushed my lips with her tongue again. I reflexively licked them and moaned again as the pleasure built.

"Please, Dark Skies," I said.

"Please, what, Andromeda?"

"I-" I didn't know.

"Do you want me to touch you?"

"Yes!"

She set her hands moving, leaning closer, and my panting increased.

"I want you to think about something," she said. "If you can still think. I want you to think about belonging to me."

I moaned. "Yes," I whispered. "Yes."

"Kissing me."

"Yes."

"Making love to me."

"Yes, Dark Skies. Please, yes."

"Already this feels so good, doesn't it, Andromeda?"

"Yes," I whispered, dragging it out.

"We have only been here for a while, not even ten minutes. Imagine a life with me. I would be your queen, and you would obey me completely, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," I agreed.

"I will give you a choice, Andromeda. Beg to kiss my feet. Beg to kiss them, and I will make you feel very, very good. Or ask me to stop, and I will walk away."

"No!" I said. "Don't go."

"Then beg," she said. Then she licked my lips again, and I was filled with more pleasure and such need.

"Please, Dark Skies," I said. "Please let me kiss you feet. Please don't stop. Please... Please..."

As begging goes, it probably wasn't very good, but I didn't have enough brain power left for eloquence.

She moved from me, standing, and I felt such loss.

"Kiss my feet, Andromeda," she said. "Kiss them very thoroughly, and I will give you pleasure."

She didn't need to order twice. I slid from the sofa and lowered myself to her feet. I kissed them, and I kissed them, and when she ordered me to lick, I licked. She ordered me to open my mouth, and then she slid two fingers into me, and I sucked on them greedily. Then I kissed her feet some more before she pulled me to my feet.

Then we were kissing again, her tongue in my mouth, and I knew nothing else but pleasure for along time after that.

When next I could think, I was back in my cell, lying on my side. The shackles were gone, but I still wore the visor. I didn't remember getting there, but I felt deep loss. Dark Skies was not there.

I didn't remember getting there. I didn't remember anything but pleasure after I kissed her feet.

I closed my eyes and slept.

* * * *

I woke to a voice saying, "Breakfast will arrive in ten minutes, Mating Candidate Hayes."

I opened my eyes slowly. I reached up to rub the sleep from them, surprising myself when I found the visor in place. I tried to remove it, but I couldn't.

I lay there for a while, trying to put the pieces together.

The battle of wills wasn't a battle at all. I'd have done anything she asked, anything at all. And it took her only a few minutes.

Eventually I sat up. Breakfast arrived. I took a look at it then saw to my morning needs, cleaning up as best I could.

I found evidence I had deeply enjoyed my time with Dark Skies, although my panties were fresher than they should have been. I didn't ask myself too closely how that could have happened.

I was ravenous by the time I turned to the food. It was basic breakfast: pancakes, eggs, and bacon. There was orange juice to go with. I ate every bite then placed the tray back where I'd gotten it.

Then I went back to the bed and curled up, closing my eyes.

I didn't sleep, and it was only a little while before the visor dimmed, then brightened. Administrator Brighteyes appeared.

"Good morning, Ms. Hayes."

"I lost," I whispered.

"That was a given. In all fairness, I would also have lost, although I would probably find a way to cheat."

"You drugged me."

"I didn't drug you. Dark Skies did."

"How?"

"Her scent."

"Can all of you do that?"

"Most species produce pheromones. The Octal are especially potent. But tell me. Do you doubt me when I tell you that we are able to cheat?"

"No," I whispered. "Oh god, what did she do to me? I barely remember."

"Almost nothing. Dark Skies is a very kind woman, Ms. Hayes. She asked me to thank you."

"Why?"

"I think she told you. She's never done that before. Although you were no challenge for her, she gained experience she can use in the future. And she enjoyed your attention."

I didn't answer right away. "I don't know what to say," I finally admitted.

"It was perhaps an overwhelming experience. Well, it is time to make a decision. Do you wish me to have you collected and escorted to the arena? I can have four males waiting for you."

"No."

"Perhaps you wish to join the next group of women to come though. I can give you things to occupy your mind so you are not completely bored."

"You said we could negotiate."

"So I did. I will have you collected shortly." Her image disappeared, and I was looking at the cell.

* * * *

I found myself back on the chair, my legs swallowed, my arms swallowed. The Catseye sat across from me.

"What are my options?"

"Agree to accept your fate relatively willingly, and I'll work with you as much as I can. Or the arena is being used right now, but I can have you out there this afternoon."

"Those are my choices?"

"They are."

"What happened to the other choices?"

She said nothing but simply waited.

"You'd let a male have me."

"You can try to resist him," she said. "He'll cheat."

I looked away. "I'd let Dark Skies have me."

"I know. She'd accept you for a dalliance, but not as a mate."

"What do you want?"

"Make me an offer, Ms. Hayes," she said.

"An offer."

"Yes. Make me an offer. That is the nature of negotiation."

"And you'll accept, as long as I willingly marry one of you."

"Not necessarily, but that is the beginning of negotiation."

I turned back to her. "Fine. An offer." I thought about it. "I don't want to be forced to marry someone I don't even know."

"And?"

"I don't want to be forced to marry some male."

"I still don't hear an offer."

"Are you going to force me to marry someone?"

"I will force you to go home with someone, and that person will be allowed to woo you. There are rules. You will follow them. After a period of time, you could be allowed to go home. None of the women who go home are happy for having done so."

"Why not?"

"Because whoever you're with will have been cheating for months, Ms. Hayes. None of the other species are as powerful in this way as the Octal, but you didn't last five minutes against her. If I let her keep you for a week and forcibly removed you, you'd kill yourself trying to get back to her."

"This is wrong."

"Make me an offer."

"An offer."

"An offer."

"An offer." Okay, we were well into a circle there, but I was stalling, trying to think. "Would you let me get to know someone first?"

"Keep going."

"All right." I smiled. "I'll let you send me on dates."

"Dates."

"That is the human way," I said. "Dates. With whomever you want, as long as she's female."

"And then what?"

"And then we'll see what happens."

"Intriguing offer," she said. "Unfortunately, it's not quite good enough. Do you care to sweeten the agreement?"

"You can counteroffer."

"Fine. I'll introduce you to sixteen of the males here at the center. You can spend a few hours with them and then pick the four you wish to compete against."

"That's hardly an offer."

"Yours was also hardly an offer. I believe it is your turn to counteroffer."

"Introduce me to sixteen females and give me two weeks, but if I don't like any of them, you'll send me home."

"Interesting. If it weren't for the final clause, I'd consider it. Care to remove it?"

"Six months."

"Excuse me?"

"Six months. I'll date whomever you want, as long as she's female, for up to six months. If two of us hit it off during that time, then we do. If not, at the end of that six months, I'll pick one of them."

"And if she's not interested after getting to know you?"

"Then you send me home."

"No. You'll pick again, and again, until one accepts."

"No," I said. "I'll pick once, and if she declines, then I get to pick from amongst them to join me in your arena."

"Excluding the species that don't do that?"

"No. I get to pick. Four, I believe you said."

She considered me. "Sixteen."

"You're not serious. Four."

"Eight, and I get to pick half of them."

"I get veto power. Otherwise they could all come to an agreement, in effect giving me to someone I hate."

"If you veto all my choices, I get to fill out the eight with males."

"Why would you do that to me?"

"So you won't dare veto all my choices."

"You could back me into a terrible corner," I said. "There's no promise you're even going to introduce me to anyone I don't hate."

"I will allow you to meet every female who comes here," she said. "It will be their choice to ask you out. I can't do better than that."

"If I come to you in six months and honestly tell you I didn't like any of them, what are we going to do?"

"You won't."

"What if?"

"Then we'll extend our agreement."

"If you agree to not put anyone into the arena who I flat out didn't care for, I'll agree to your terms."

She smiled. "You'll spend the six months, when you're not on a date, in your cell. Some of the women I introduce to you will want challenges with you before they will go on a human style date. You will do your best to win, or I will find ways to punish you."

"No," I said. "You can't leave me in there like that. I'll go crazy."

"I'll let you keep the visor. It is very clever."

"So six months of television?"

"Consider it better than any human computer."

"I want a job. A paying job, one that pays at least what I was making a week ago. And not one moping floors."

"A job."

"One that uses my brain."

"Working for me."

"If that's what you want. And exercise. Daily."

"You'll accept the rest of my terms?"

"Yes."

"You will spend your spare time in the cell, but if you behave, you will keep the visor, and I will give you nearly full control over it."

"Clothes."

"Not while you're in the cell."

"Bedding."

"Not required."

"Administrator, give me something."

"I'm giving you a unique deal. You're the one who asked for six months."

I stared at her for a while. "A good job."

"My assistant." She smiled. "You'll help run the challenges."

"No."

"Take it or leave it," she said. "Leave it, and you'll spend most of your time in your cell, and I'll let you have exercise only when it pleases me to do so."

"Give me a decent place to live and I'll agree."

"No."

"Administrator, I don't want to be down in the cells, looking at those morose women, if you're then going to make me help you treat them like this."

"That's fair," she said after a moment. "I can put you in a private cell block. You won't see any other women."

"Is that the best you can do?"

"No, but it's the offer on the table. You're a mating candidate, and you will spend your time as one."

"Fine," I said. "Fine."

"Let us review," she said with a smile. "Six months, or perhaps less. I will introduce you to any female interested in meeting you. You will go out with any who ask. At the end of those six months, you will offer to become mated to one of them. If you cannot make that offer, or she declines, you go into the arena as specified."

"Yes."

"You will work for me. When you are not with one of the challengers or performing your duties, you will be in your cell."

"Exercise."

"Right. How often?"

"Two hours five times a week. I like to swim and bike."

"Biking is problematic. Swimming I can offer, and perhaps other choices."

"All right. Clothes."

"I will provide suitable clothing for you. You will wear what I select."

"I can't keep dressing like this," I said, looking down. "They're going to get, um..."

"I know. I will see to these needs as well."

"I wouldn't suppose you could just send me home."

"No."

I sighed. "Was there more to discuss?"

"Your hours will be irregular. Some of the challenges are overnight. Your visor will have your schedule."

"All right."

"You begin tomorrow. Spend today learning the capabilities of the visor."

"Exercise."

She considered me. "We have a pool. I do not promise you will be alone." She smiled.

"You're not going to give me a swim suit, are you?"

"I will obtain one, but I don't have one ready today. If you want to swim, this is your offer today. However, you could swim as you're dressed, and I will have other things for you afterwards."

And so I nodded.