Shattered Stars (4 page)

“I thought so,
but I didn’t see you in the common room.”

She nodded and
backed away as he stepped in close.

“Why are you
dressed like that?” He frowned, reaching for her gown.

Her unease
flared wildly. “I am dressed as my bond contract dictates.”

“Does he dress
his domestics like that? It isn’t very practical.”

He moved toward
her again, and she knew that body language. He had found a woman in
a revealing dress, and now, he wanted to get under it.

“I am not a
domestic.” She had to say it. “I am his intimate servant.”

The man’s face
turned into a sneer. “You are a whore? Why didn’t you say so? Look,
I don’t have any money now, but I am good for it.”

He lunged for
her, and she dodged him.

“No. Stay away,
you idiot!”

He didn’t take
no for an answer and grabbed her, pinning her up against a tree. He
was clawing at her skirt when she heard a whoosh and felt the air
buffet her skin.

He let out a
shriek, and she was suddenly free. She stumbled forward and turned
to see her attacker dangling from Mero’s hand.

Mero was
holding him by the neck, and he looked over to Hannah with concern.
“Did he injure you?”

She felt the
claw marks on her thighs. “Nothing serious, sir.”

“Well, then, I
shall only take a little of his energy. Just enough to keep him
from feeling pleasure or desire for the next decade.” Mero’s eyes
glowed, and the human in his hand went limp.

Crewmembers
arrived and hauled the human away. Hannah took a few steps and had
to stop. Her legs didn’t want to hold her.

“Hannah?” Mero
was at her side, and he held her against him. “What is wrong?”

She felt the
tears easing from her eyes. “Nothing. I am fine. I am fine.”

He nodded and
came to some kind of decision. He held her and launched himself
upward, holding her tight as he flew to the upper level. The
command deck.

“What were you
doing in the oxygen farm?”

“It reminded me
of home. Now, the resemblance is a little too close.”

“You have not
eaten.”

“No, sir.”

“I will send
for something, but I must attend this communication. Stay with me,
and I will make sure you are cared for.”

She nodded and
stayed in his arms as he met with others of his kind and spoke in a
liquid language that wasn’t on her list of known languages.

They were all
on a series of projection monitors. After an hour of discussion,
one of the men commented on her. She could tell because he jerked
his chin in her direction.

She recognized
Mero’s response when he said Earth, and she blushed when she
identified her sensuality rating. She didn’t understand the words,
but the cadence of numbers was universal.

The group
became excited by the news, and Mero was suddenly answering
questions about her.

It was strange,
awkward and a little bit irritating, but when food finally arrived
and she pulled the plate of fruit into her lap, she nearly moaned
at the exquisite taste. She had missed fruit. She ate with relish
and licked every digit on her hand when she was done.

The room was
silent, and it only took a quick glance at the room to know that
everyone had been watching her eat.

She looked to
Mero, but his eyes were hot. Watching her eat had turned him on. It
appeared to have turned all of his people on.

“Sorry,
sir.”

Mero gave her a
slow wink and returned to his conversation with his people.

Apparently, she
had just made humans the new Hmrain toy of choice, and all she had
done was have breakfast.

Hannah dozed off,
leaning against Mero. She woke abruptly when his hand began moving
across her ribs and he cupped her breast.

The
conversations were still going on, but Mero was slowly thumbing her
nipple and waking her body.

Shivers started
in her body at his lazy and casual caresses. His hands were bored,
and he was just playing her body to keep himself alert.

Hannah held
herself motionless and breathed shallowly as she listened to the
conversation drone around her.

He seemed to
find every sensitive spot, every light bruise on her skin, and he
was waking the memory of pleasure from the day before.

The longer she
sat on his lap, the more of his language seeped into her brain.
From what she was beginning to understand, they were discussing the
best species to harvest.

As she
listened, it became apparent that her brain had mistranslated. It
was actually, harvests on different worlds. They were talking about
farming.

She was sitting
at a board meeting, and Mero was fondling her breast as he talked
about mining and crop rotation. Hannah tried not to smile.

Her arousal
grew but remained at a low simmer. When Mero abandoned her breast
and reached for her feet, sliding his hand up her skirt, she
realized that things were going to escalate quickly.

He parted her
thighs and slid a finger into her with embarrassing ease. His thumb
caressed her clit, and while he discussed business matters, he
slowly finger fucked her to a short, hot climax.

When her senses
righted, she found her hands wrapped around his wrist and her
throat was sore. Apparently, she had let her body run roughshod
over dignity again.

Silence in the
room got her attention. She turned and expected to see the
collection of faces, but instead, the room was dark.

To her shock,
Mero pulled his hand from between her thighs and he slowly licked
his fingers. The shock kicked in when she saw the length of his
tongue nearly wrapping around his digits before licking away the
honey her body had produced.

When he was
done with his apparent snack, he smiled. “Thank you for breaking up
a boring meeting. There are not many of my kind, but we all share
the same needs when it comes to what we look for in a companion.
You have just increased the price of any of your species with a
sensuality rating over two hundred.”

She blinked.
“Two hundred?”

“Yes, it is the
baseline where we can feed without injuring our servant. Anything
above simply increases your chance of survival.” His smile was a
blinding flash.

He pulled her
dress back into place, and he stood her up next to him before
rising to his feet. For a human, she was a tall person, but there
was something intimidating about only coming up to his
collarbone.

He turned her
and walked out of the communications centre with his wing guiding
her.

They returned
to his office, and he handed her a flat screen similar to the ones
she had used in the school.

“Research what
you like.”

He nodded for
her to take a seat next to him in the small extra chair that was
now behind his desk.

She held the
precious screen between her hands. “Thank you, Mero.”

“It is the
least I can do.”

She took her
seat and opened the files, flicking through them until she found
the Hmrain section. She dove into the information, but it was
extremely incomplete. There was only a mention of the basic
physical description, the wings, height and what was classified as
adaptable physiology.

Skin tone
depended on parentage and darkened with age. The darker the Hmrain,
the older it was.

She glanced
over at the rich blue of Mero’s hand and nodded. Okay, that was
interesting.

Breeding was
described as cyclical and that was it.

She muttered
about the incomplete information and changed the topic to
Hmrain-controlled worlds.

Each one of his
kind had a minimum of one technologically advanced world under
their protection, and they also had agricultural moons and planets
at their disposal.

So, if her bond
price didn’t prove it, this was confirmation that Mero was wealthy
and old. A few years ago on Earth, she would have heard him
referred to as a sugar daddy.

She smiled and
kept reading, curling up on her chair and enjoying the free access
to information.

“Hannah, would
you care to go for a walk?” Mero got to his feet.

She flicked her
gaze to him before she looked down at the screen and tears formed
in her eyes. “I can’t read anymore?”

“You can read
all you like when we return, but the captain has asked me to join
him for dinner, and I am not going without you.”

She sighed and
turned off the screen. “Yes, sir.”

With
reluctance, she got to her feet and smoothed her dress.

He gestured for
her to come with him, and once again, she was at his side, walking
in the shadow of his wing.

Captain
Grem-sah was charming, jovial and gave her just the right amount of
attention. He was also six feet tall, translucent and had his mate
with him. Ryno was charming and not nearly as tall as his husband,
but his manners were as impeccable.

While the
captain and Mero spoke over dinner, Ryno smiled at her and asked,
“Are you enjoying the trip?”

She nodded. “I
have only ever been on the shuttle between Earth and the education
station. Anything different is fun.”

“Well, having
you here has allowed Grem-sah to bring me out, so I thank you for
your presence.” Ryno smiled.

“Bring you
out?”

“It is against
protocol for the captain to have his mate attend a social event
without a corresponding companion for the other parties at the
meal.”

“Oh. Well, I am
hardly a mate.”

Ryno chuckled.
“You are as close as most Hmrain get in a lifetime. Unlike most
species, breeding isn’t their first priority.”

Hannah felt
Mero’s gaze on her. She smiled at her companion. “That is a topic
for another time. How long have you been on the
Shattered
Star?
”

“It will be
seven years in three weeks. Grem-sah bought my bond to bring me on
board as a botanist, but I noticed that he was visiting the oxygen
farm rather frequently. We struck up a conversation, and our
relationship developed from there. We have been officially married
for five years.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you. It
has not always been easy, but it has been an adventure. Now, I am
monopolizing the conversation. What did you do before the education
station arrived?”

“The year
before the station arrived was hellish. We were hit by a global
killer. An asteroid so large that the dust cloud it created covered
our surface and began to kill plant life. Those with breathing
difficulty were the first to die then waves of disease swept
through human communities. We had to find new ways to live, so we
started from scratch and returned to a more primitive way of life.
It was not pleasant to leave what we knew to start over, but the
rules of society were redrawn and everyone had to find their own
place in the world once again.”

“What was your
place?”

She sighed and
prodded the remnants of her meal. “I was a student learning to be a
teacher, and then, I became a manual labourer. It was the only way
to earn enough rations to live. I had to be better than the men
just to pull in the same calorie count.”

“It sounds
harsh. What did you do?”

“Whatever I
could. It was usually combustible collection for the generators,
but I have also gone on reaper patrols where we find the bodies of
the dead and dispose of them as respectfully as we could.”

Ryno shuddered,
his green skin shivering. “It sounds horrible.”

“It wasn’t
unbearable until my mother chose a protector and he...” She paused.
“He and I did not get along, so I had to function as a solo member
instead of a family member and that was difficult.”

“Did you have
siblings?”

“Two. Ruth and
Deborah. They are still children and under the protection of the
crèche.”

Ryno leaned on
his forearms and whispered, “What do you wish for them?”

“Enough food to
grow, enough space to run and someone to watch over them and keep
them from harm.”

“Do you think
they will follow you to the stars?”

“I think that
they are growing up in a very different world than I did and that
anything is possible.” She sat still as the server removed her
plate and set down a green and wiggling mass in a sherbet-style
cup.

She looked to
Ryno. “What is this?”

“It is umbar
jelly. The umbar fruit is scraped and squeezed, and this is the gel
that remains. It is very nutritious, but do not worry if you don’t
like it, it is an acquired taste.” Ryno prodded the mass with his
spoon. “I have yet to acquire it.”

She grinned and
tried a spoonful. It was weird. Mint and lime were warring in her
mouth with a hint of coconut milk. She swallowed and tried another
spoonful. It was better than the first.

Ryno gave her a
wry grin. “I believe I have just lost all respect for you.”

She giggled and
finished her small scoop. She waved her hand at him. “Give me
yours.”

He handed it
over to her and put her empty bowl on the small plate his had
arrived on.

She finished
the second scoop and sat with her hands folded in her lap.

“That was
nice.”

Ryno chuckled
and glanced over at the captain and Mero. “They have switched
languages so that we won’t know what they are saying.”

“It is
effective.”

Ryno laughed
and continued to ask her about life on Earth before the
asteroid.

* * * *

“Thank you for bringing
her, Lord Mero. Ryno gets so lonely when I have to leave him
behind.”

Mero watched
Hannah and Ryno giggle and laugh with light hearts. He had seen her
steal the second dessert, and it had amused him beyond measure. “It
is good for her to socialize as well. As a first meeting, this is
going very smoothly.”