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  “That’s all.” Blix was practically beaming by now. “Just three little food cubes, my friend. In exchange for clothing made from the finest Belarian silk and satin. Not to mention a tok made of one unbroken piece of skin from a rare crimson-hide gelk. Very expensive, I’m afraid, and all sales are final.”

  A what? Lauren looked at the neatly folded tok in Vlanka’s orange hands. Was it really made out of some creature’s skin? It certainly hadn’t felt like any kind of leather. But from the look on Xairn’s face, she had worse things to worry about than what kind of weird alien skin she’d been wearing.

  “Xairn?” she asked anxiously, tugging at his arm. “What’s wrong? What did I do?”

  “You’ve sold yourself.” His voice was hoarse and his grip on her arm tightened until Lauren let out a squeak of pain. “Sold yourself into the skin trade.”

  Panic gripped her by the throat. “What? What are you talking about? I swear I didn’t mean any harm. I only gave him the cubes with worms in them. I didn’t think—”

  “Worms?” Xairn’s eyes widened suddenly. “Grieza worms?”

  Lauren shrugged uneasily. “I don’t know what kind they are. They’re pale orange and about this long…” She held out her hands to measure. “And they come with a side dish of some weird blue-green sauce.”

  “So.” Xairn turned back to Blix who was looking much less happy and smug now. “You traded your ‘very expensive’ clothes to Lauren for three helpings of Grieza worms. Which are, as you know, a rare and costly delicacy all the way from Twin Moons.”

  “Not rare or costly enough,” Blix protested. “Not to pay for the fine garments I gave your pet.”

  “The clothing you gave Lauren was the equivalence of slavery and death,” Xairn growled. “And you damn well know it, Spider. Do you want me to call the Judge of the Market to settle the claim?” He nodded at the purple tree being which Lauren had first seen striding up and down the center of the street. As though sensing trouble, it had stopped what it was doing and was staring fixedly at the scene playing out in front of Blix’s dusty stall. “Or will you acknowledge that what Lauren gave you was of equal value to the fucking clothes?” Xairn finished.

  Blix looked sulky. “No. I’ll acknowledge.” His purple eyes flashed. “But be warned, Scourge—I’m not the only one who desires a piece of your little pet. An exotic like that will draw all kinds of interested parties. You’ll have to guard her with your life if you want to get her out of O’ah intact.”

  Xairn’s eyes blazed and his voice dropped to a menacing growl. “I’d die before I’d let you take so much as a single hair from her head, you sick bastard!”

  “And you may. If you don’t watch out.” With that, Blix disappeared abruptly, taking Vlanka, the clothes, and the booth he’d been sitting in when Lauren first walked up, with him. There was nothing left but a dusty, bare spot on the stone pavement.

  “Xairn, I—” Lauren began…but then she stopped. There was a lot she still didn’t understand but by the look on his face, now wasn’t the time to ask.

  “Come on.” Xairn pulled her roughly down the street, steering her back into the alley where the Kindred ship was parked.

  “Hey! You’re hurting me!” Lauren protested when he opened the door and shoved her inside.

  “You’d have been hurting a lot worse if I’d been even a parsec later getting to you,” Xairn growled, but he let her go at once.

  “I don’t understand.” Lauren put her hand on her hips and glared at him. “Will you please explain what just happened out there?”

  A muscle in Xairn’s jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. “What just happened was that you were about to become a splice whore for the Spider.”

  “A spice whore? What the hell is that?” Lauren demanded.

  “A prostitute who offers her body to prospective clients. They try you out and if they like you, they can pay an extra fee to take part of your body to a lab and clone you.”

  “Part…part of my body?” Lauren could hardly believe it. Suddenly she flashed back to Vlanka’s orange, seven fingered hands. Some of her fingers had ended in sharp purple nails but some had ended in…In stumps. Oh my God! “You…you mean like fingers?” she asked in a trembling voice.

  “Among other things,” Xairn said darkly. “Believe me, Lauren, it’s not a life you’d want. And as beautiful and exotic as you are, you wouldn’t have lasted a month on the streets. Blix would have sold you piece by piece until there was nothing left.”

  Lauren shook her head. “But…but I don’t see how trading food cubes for clothes would make me Blix’s, uh, whore.”

  “The rules of trade in O’ah state that every transaction must be of exactly equal value. That is why it’s so dangerous to barter here instead of just buying something with credits. The Spider gave you very expensive clothing and in return, you gave him nothing but a few food cubes—you owed him more. Much more. And he could have forced you to pay the difference with your body.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tightly for a moment as though trying to hold back a headache. “Gods, if you hadn’t given him the cubes with the grieza worms…”

  “What would have happened?” Lauren whispered.

  “I would have fought for you to the last—please know that,” Xairn said in a low voice. “But there is no surviving a physical confrontation with the Judge of the Market. He is a Quinlow—they carry the power of life and death in their hands. So I…I would have lost you.” Suddenly he pulled Lauren to him in a crushing hug. “Gods, Lauren, I can’t lose you. I won’t.” His deep voice was raw with emotion.

  Lauren was so surprised she could barely think. In the entire time they’d known each other, Xairn had hardly ever touched her willingly. In fact, he’d even gone so far as to ask her not to touch him. Which made his spontaneous display of affection all the more rare and precious.

  “Oh, Xairn…” She hugged him back tightly, nuzzling her face into his neck, breathing in the warm, spicy scent of his bare skin. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered in his ear. “You were gone for so much longer than you said and I was so afraid…” She choked. “Afraid something had happened to you. And then Blix tricked his way into the ship by pretending to be Mr. Kittles—the pet rabbit I used to have. And then he seemed so nice and reasonable and he kept saying you would never come back and I…I was so scared and I missed you so much.”

  “That is what thought thieves do.” Xairn’s voice was soft and fierce in her ear. “They sense the troubled thoughts of their prey and then they stalk them mercilessly using their own fears against them. Forgive me for not warning you in more detail but I did not want to frighten you.”

  Lauren kissed his cheek impulsively. “That’s okay,” she whispered. “And I’m sorry I disobeyed orders. I should have known you had a good reason for me to stay inside the ship.” She shifted closer to him, happy to feel his arms around her and the comforting press of his muscular chest against her breasts. “I’m just so glad you’re safe.”

  As she pressed her body against his, Xairn stiffened in her arms. Abruptly, he drew away from her, ending the hug as suddenly as it had begun. “I am pleased and relieved that you are safe as well,” he said formally. “And I have good news—I have located an Alteration house that will perform the necessary manipulation of our respective DNA.”

  “That’s nice, I guess,” Lauren said doubtfully. “But Xairn…” She closed the distance he’d put between them and put a hand on his arm. “I still—”

  “Please.” Xairn pulled his arm away. “Don’t. And I believe it would be best if you would give me back my shirt and go put on the other garment I bought for you before I left.”

  Lauren frowned, scanning the heavy muscles of his chest and arms for chillbumps. “I’m sorry. Are you cold?”

  “No.” He suddenly wouldn’t look at her. “I just think it would be best.”

  “All right.” Feeling hurt by his sudden about-face, Lauren withdrew. How could he be so effusively glad to
see her one moment and so cold the next? Try as she might, she couldn’t help wishing to be in his arms again. He was so big and warm and she felt so completely safe when she was pressed to his chest. But from the closed look on his face, she could tell that wasn’t going to happen.

  Sighing, she went to the bathroom. So much for new clothes.

  She was so busy removing Xairn’s shirt and replacing the silver-blue muumuu, she almost missed the fact that she was still wearing the blue slippers with crimson red soles. When she finally realized she still had the shoes on, she had an uneasy feeling. Was this going to cause problems later on? Or were the worm cubes enough to pay for the slippers as well as the clothes Blix had given her? Would Xairn be upset when he saw that she had kept them?

  Deciding not to take a chance, Lauren took off the slippers and hid them in a small storage cabinet under the sink. Then, sighing, she went to return Xairn’s shirt.

  * * * * *

  Xairn was weak with relief—or possibly blood loss. He’d gotten into one last fight at the base of the support which held up the plasti-glass splicer tunnels. There had only been two splicers this time but one of them had jumped on his back before Xairn saw him. His knife had bitten deep—though thankfully not deep enough to wound his primary heart, which was what he’d no doubt been reaching for.

  He looked down at his side, examining the wicked gash where the knife had cut him. Dark red blood was welling up from the slice but at least it wasn’t gushing out. Xairn pulled the waistband of his black flight pants a little higher and tightened his belt to put pressure on the wound. There was no time to deal with it any further at present. He had to get the ship powered up and moved to Slk’s parking accommodations before it got completely dark. And before the Spider’s spies found out where he was headed.

  He walked stiffly to the front of the ship and settled himself in front of the controls, careful of the wound on his side. Though he didn’t want to admit it, his body was throbbing and it wasn’t just with pain. His secondary shaft, which for years had lain dormant between his legs, was so hard it was painful. It pressed against the front of his pants,snarling for release. Thank the gods, at least, that his primary shaft remained unaffected. But it was necessary only for bonding—the engorgement of his secondary shaft was more than adequate for other sexual purposes. Not that he would ever do such things to Lauren. Still, his body was urging him to, telling him to take her, to make her his.

  All because of one simple, innocent hug.

  She has no idea what she does to me—how she affects me, he thought as he put the engine through its warm-up sequence. For a moment he allowed himself to relive the sweet sensation of Lauren’s full breasts flush against his chest. He’d been able to feel her nipples, tight and ripe, rubbing against him through the thin material of his shirt. All her warm curves pressed against him as she came so willingly into his arms…it was almost as though she wanted to touch him. As though she wanted to be close to him despite what he was.

  She wouldn’t be so eager if she knew how I felt. The things I need, Xairn thought grimly. He didn’t want the desires inside him. Didn’t want to be like the rest of his race…like his sadistic father. Closing his eyes briefly, he remembered the many perversions he’d seen the AllFather perform. He’d savaged them—the unwilling females he took to satiate his monstrous appetites. I’d rather die than hurt Lauren that way, Xairn told himself fiercely.

  No, he decided as the ship rose above the skyline of O’ah and nosed toward the splicing district, he would never do that to her. Never use her that way. In fact, it would be better if he never touched her again. Gathering her into his arms had been stupid and impulsive, especially considering even such brief contact made his body react so strongly.

  From now on he would have to keep his distance—it wasn’t safe to be near her again.

  Chapter Eight

  “What’s troubling you, my lady?” Lock’s voice was soft as he washed Kat’s back.

  “I’ve sensed it too.” Deep kissed her and squeezed the sponge he was holding so that warm water ran down over her bare breasts. “Tell us what’s wrong, little Kat.”

  The three of them were in the huge bathing pool in their bathroom, enjoying a relaxing soak after the stress of Sophie’s wedding. And there had been considerably more stress than Kat had expected.

  “It’s Lauren,” she admitted with a sigh. “I really liked her—really felt for her. And now I’m worried.”

  “I would say you have cause to be.” Deep frowned. “If what Nadiah saw was accurate she could be in trouble.”

  “But that’s the thing.” Kat sat up a little straighter, splashing water. “Do you think it was?”

  “Sylvan seemed to believe in her power,” Lock pointed out. “Apparently it’s a rare but recognized phenomenon on Tranq Prime. A manifestation of the goddess in a few chosen females.”

  “But couldn’t she be wrong?” Kat pleaded. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to believe Nadiah had some kind of psychic ability—it was just that she didn’t want Lauren to be in danger.

  “I don’t know,” Lock murmured.

  “Well, she did think that Detective Rast was a Kindred,” Kat pointed out, feeling a spark of hope.

  “Yes, but you can’t blame her for that,” Deep objected. “Lock and I thought the same thing. He looks Kindred.”

  “He does,” Lock agreed. “And it’s not just the truegreen eyes. It’s his build, his bearing—”

  “Though he doesn’t treat females with the respect they deserve,” Lock pointed out, frowning.

  “Not exactly,” Deep agreed. “Although I got the feeling he wasn’t upset at Nadiah so much as at the application of her gift, which he claims not to believe in.”

  “But that’s the thing,” Kat said, feeling frustrated. “Can we believe that she’s accurate? Oh, I wish we had some way to check on Lauren but I know the Maw Cluster is way too far away for us to do a joining.”

  Deep looked thoughtful. “Ordinarily I’d say you were right about that, Kat. But there might be a way.”

  “Really? There might?” Kat asked excitedly.

  Deep’s voice was grave when he nodded. “Yes, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

  “What do you mean?” Kat frowned.

  “Well, as you know, sexual energy generates the power that we use to propel ourselves as seeker, finder, and focus into the astral plane,” Deep said. “The higher the tension between the three of us, the more energy is generated.”

  Kat smiled. “Of course. But I thought we generated more than enough energy. Hell, we could probably light up Yankee Stadium for a year if we could bottle what we put out.”

  “Be that as it may, it won’t be enough to reach the Maw Cluster,” Lock said softly from behind her. “Not unless we try something new. Something guaranteed to boost our output.”

  Kat frowned warily. “What exactly are we talking about here?”

  “Something we haven’t tried before.” Deep looked into her eyes. “I think you know what I’m talking about, little Kat—double penetration.”

  Kat’s mouth was suddenly almost too dry to talk. “I…” She cleared her throat. “What do you mean? We always do that. Every time the three of us make love when you and Lock fuse together to, you know, enter me.”

  She could feel herself blushing as she spoke the words but she couldn’t seem to help it. No matter how often she made love with her two new mates, she still felt a little shy about what the three of them did together. Deep and Lock might consider it perfectly normal to share a woman but it still counted as kinky in her book.

  “That’s not what I mean and I think you know it,” Deep said gently. “When Lock and I fuse our shafts together, we enter your pussy. But we’ve never tried filling both your pussy and your back passage at the same time.”

  “You mean one in front and one…” Kat cleared her throat again. “In back?” Her voice ended in a squeak.

  “Deep and I would like to make love to
you that way, my lady,” Lock murmured in her ear. “While we enjoy fusing our shafts to enter you as one, we also crave the sensations of filling you individually.”

  “You…you do?” Kat swallowed.

  “Does that bother you?” Deep asked softly. “Do you not want to be touched here?”

  Kat felt his finger brush lightly between her cheeks, caressing her rosebud as he spoke. She gasped and jumped, splashing water out of the bathing pool all over the bathroom floor.

  “Kat, are you all right?” Deep’s concern washed over her. At the same time Lock said, “My lady?” And she felt his tenderness and affection as well.

  “Fine, I’m fine,” she said, backing away from the two of them. “I just…I think I’ve had enough time in the bath.” She climbed out of the bathing pool quickly and wrapped herself in a long crimson bathing robe. It had been specially developed by the Kindred to instantly absorb water so it dried her immediately. Trying to look as though nothing was wrong, Kat swept out of the bathroom and curled up in the middle of the huge, three-person bed.

  She heard the low murmur of voices and knew if she ‘tuned in’ to her guys, she would probably be able to catch some of what they were saying or thinking but she didn’t want to. Instead she closed her eyes and burrowed her head into one of the big fluffy pillows. Maybe if they thought she was asleep…

  “My lady, what’s wrong?” Lock’s question let her know her sleep ruse wasn’t working.

  “Nothing.” Sighing, she sat up. “I told you, I’m fine.”

  “We can’t help but know when you’re lying, you know,” Deep said, sitting down on one side of her as Lock took the other side. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing really. I just…” Kat grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. “I’m just not a big fan of…that kind of sex. That’s all.”

  “You know the bonding fruit will help you stretch to accommodate us, don’t you?” Lock asked.

  “She knows.” Deep frowned. “But I’m guessing our Kat’s objection goes deeper than that.”