Born

5

The young Bred’s eyes went wide in her elfin face and for a moment Allora considered bringing Mel with her. Having someone to accompany her would make the task more bearable. But a Bred caught abandoning the community would be recycled immediately, with no one bothering to find out the why of it. Mel was young, with many years of life ahead of her and while she seemed loyal to Allora now, the task mistress recognized the Bred’s credo of love the one you’re with would prevail in the end.

Allora held still as Mel removed her armor, staring down at the small hot spring, wishing she could linger within, enjoy the wet heat. She would not think of what she’d allowed Cormack to do to her, would not think about how he was most likely doing the same even now to a Bred woman out in the barracks, his strong hands gripping an experienced woman’s thighs, holding her open to his ministrations. Or worse, rutting within her until both shouted from relief. Relief Allora had seen countless times while patrolling the barracks, but had not experienced for herself. I have bigger problems than irrational jealousy right now.

She touched Mel’s arm and lowered her voice to a confidential whisper. “Go to the kitchen and tell the cook I need a hot dinner. While she is preparing it, steal as many nutri packets as your apron pockets can hold.”

The girl shook her blond head and stammered,

“I’ll…they’ll catch me and I’ll be flogged.” She cleared her throat, obviously retrenching back into her normal bawdy self. “Under the right circumstances I might enjoy having my backside tanned, but not over a few packets.”

“I wouldn’t ask this of you if there was another way. But there isn’t, because tomorrow the overlord will announce my betrothal.”

Mel’s face lit up with understanding. “You fear unification? Or is it the wedding night that has you so stirred up? I told you to take a Bred lover to do the dirty work of capturing your maidenhead. It’s what we are made for.”

Allora grit her teeth. “This is not about rutting, it’s about my life.”

Mel tsked softly. “You would shirk your duties because you fear some man’s cock? Don’t let him hear, for you will never be able to deflate that ego, no matter the state of his equipment.”

She groaned and sank back onto her pallet.

Though she was a full decade older than the Bred, Mel had done things that Born woman four times her age couldn’t imagine. In the girl’s experience everything boiled down to sex, and claiming otherwise was futile.

“They will strip me of my position. Born women married to overlords cannot be task mistresses.”

Mel cast a sly smile at her as she laid out a fresh shift. “Don’t throw out the boots and whip just yet—you still might have hours of fun with them.”

Defeated, Allora shuffled to the side of the pool.

Casting her dirty shift to the floor, she shivered, cold air raising goosebumps on her skin. “Please, go fetch me a dinner tray.” She would just have to figure out another way to acquire what she needed.

Mel touched her arm, a small gesture that would see her whipped if the overlord ever saw it. “"Twill be all right, milady. It only hurts for a moment and then, never again. And you will have a child from the ordeal.

Think of how wonderful to cradle a babe to your breast.” The Bred’s gaze glossed over.

Allora didn’t know what to say. Voicing that she had no use for a child would only hurt the girl’s feelings. Breds could not reproduce—another safeguard to control their population with an iron fist.

Some of the nursemaids Allora had endured didn’t acknowledge the loss, but Mel spent all of her free time in the Bred nursery, where the new hatchlings were kept for the first year of life.

Luckily, Mel snapped herself out of the trance and hurried off. Allora sagged, the weight of the day pressing her flat. Sinking down until the water covered her shoulders; she closed her eyes and tried to force her mind to come up with a plan. Eventually she could get the packets, but where would she go?

This community, these people, were the only family she’d ever known. Didn’t she owe it to them to consider doing as the overlord demanded?

Though she heard no footsteps, she sensed a presence behind her. “Back already, Mel?”

“No, my Task Mistress.”

Her eyes flew open and she jolted up out of the water. “Cormack? What are you doing here?”

His blue-eyed gaze burned into her, locked on her face. The bottom of the pool was shallow but even still, he towered over her, her head aligned with his groin. She couldn’t help but notice the giant bulge there. “I wanted to see you.”

The steam from the spring rose up, swathing him in an ethereal halo, as if the rest of the world faded away while he looked at her. His gaze slid downward.

Her heart thumped inside her chest. She could feel the intensity of his stare and it made her burn.

“So this is why the Borns are always so clean. I often wondered how you could stand washing in buckets of cold water so often.”

His snide remark bristled, and mustering her dignity Allora marched toward him, water still sluicing down her body. “Do you wish to file a formal complaint? Because as your task mistress I would take it into consideration before having you executed for taking such liberties. These are my private chambers.”

A small smile curved his lips. “I’ve already invaded more private places on you, this seems tame in comparison.”

The look on his face, the intimate tone of his voice made her sex clench even as shame washed over her.

“That shouldn’t have happened. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

He moved in closer, until she felt the heat from his body. The scent of male perspiration and spice invaded her senses until she could almost taste him.

“You were not thinking, you were needing, letting your body dictate your actions. Too bad you didn’t let me finish.”

Unlike the first time he touched her, his hand didn’t shake as he reached out. Allora sucked in an unsteady breath as he cupped her breasts, one thumb stroking over her beaded nipple. Pleasure so intense it almost brought her to her knees spiraled from that small movement, rippling outward.

“I’ve marred you now, Task Mistress, left my filthy Bred mark on you.” He caressed the smear of what looked like ash on her pale breast. She glanced over to the unlit fireplace, where the grate had been removed before meeting his clever gaze. “You’ll never be the same.”

“Why are you doing this?” And why am I allowing this madness to continue?

He shrugged the gesture of a man who had no cares. “I have very little time left. Might as well go out with a bang.”

“So you plan to rape me?” Such an act was punishable by death but Cormack was right— they could only kill him once.

His eyes glittered as he pressed his palm against her flat belly. “I plan to seduce you, Task Mistress. I plan to imprint myself on you so deeply that I will still live within you long after I am gone.”

She swallowed hard, swaying on her feet, lust clawing deep rivets on her. “We can’t. It is forbidden.”

He pulled her closer, nuzzling the hair by her ear.

“Everything worth doing is.”

Allora had never thought she was the sort to give in to temptation. Yet Cormack redefined the word for her. Was it the lure of the forbidden like he said? Or the burning desire to know exactly what she’d been missing?

His hands reached around to grip her ass, pulling her flush against him. The coarse fabric from his thermal shirt abraded her aching nipples. “Your maid said you need a Bred lover, to ease you in. I’m volunteering for this assignment, Task Mistress. Use me in any way that pleases you.”

The feel of his rock hard body and throbbing erection pressing into her, making her ache and yield to him as a woman’s flesh was designed to do, blotted out all thoughts of anything else. Until reality called out to her.

“Allora, have you finished with your bath yet?”

Mel asked from beyond the curtain. Cormack’s eyes dared her to shout for help, betting she would betray him instead of take him up on his offer.

Did she really want to save herself for Gaul? Let him be the one to capture her maidenhead? She envisioned his globular body dripping sour sweat as he rutted atop her. Would that be her only acquaintance with sex?

Not if I can help it.

Staring into his eyes, Allora raised her voice. “No Mel, I plan to linger here for some time to come. I will not require anything more from you tonight.”