Part 20 (1/2)

Soon, the feeling was almost more than I could bear and I screamed my pleasure, as the waves broke over me again, and again, and again. I truly knew what it meant to be a phoenix dying only to rise from the ashes.

I must have pa.s.sed out or something because the next thing I remember was a concerned Kadell hovering over me.

”Aeryn, are you alright?”

”Are you kidding?” I looked up at him.

”Actually, no, I'm not.”

”That was the most pleasurable experience I've ever had.

Does it happen that way every time?”

171.

Violet Visions ”The pleasure yes, the burning no.” He kissed my forehead gently as if I were a precious treasure.

I pulled back and looked at his face. ”That could have killed me, couldn't it?”

He licked his lips. ”If we weren't compatible it would have made you very sick. We always have medics standing by just in case a called mate has problems.”

”And have they?”

”Like I told you, I've never know any one to be incompatible.

I suppose in the early years, there might have been some.”

”You keep talking about the early years...what are you talking about?”

His violet eyes gazed deeply into my blue ones. ”The planet changes everyone who lives here. The original inhabitants were human and now we are...something else.”

”You're human?”

”Basically. But to live here we had to make some adaptations over the years.”

”Your skin and eyes?”

”Among other things.”

”So it was true what you said about mates, that it was hard to keep them.”

”The early women got worn out as the changes became apparent. There were very few with the original colonists. And with this planet comes a hearty s.e.xual appet.i.te. This outpost was so far from Earth that we had to start calling our mates from afar.”

”And these changes...what will happen to me?”

”That is why we keep asking if you are willing to take us as mates. We know what the calling can do. But we need to be very sure, as the moment we come in you the changes begin.”

I looked down at my skin and could see the faintest of lilac 172 eXtasy's Collective Mind s.h.i.+mmers. ”Interesting.”

”The change will be complete upon the birth of our first child.”

”Children?” I swallowed hard. ”I never thought about children before. I'm not sure if I'm mother material.”

”I am.”

I frowned at him but wrapped my arms around his neck.

”How?”

”When you got the call from me, I had already begun to woo you. I knew more about you than you did about yourself. I knew that you were a lonely woman who desired to be loved above all else. You wanted to be special to someone. Your soul called to me.”

”It's not a rumor then?” I questioned.

”No, we can't read everyone's mind, just the mind of the person we love.”

I pulled back. ”You love me?”

”From the moment I felt you and knew I wanted you to dance for me. Only for me.”

I narrowed my eyes. ”So you knew when I wanted to rip your clothes off, I suppose?”

He grinned sheepishly at me. ”What do you think?”

I kissed him deeply. Yes, this man had been wooing me for years. And I reveled in the thought that someone desired and wanted me for so long, even though I couldn't quite put a finger on it. Every day, I had felt his presence.

”Why did we get sick?”

”It was your body's way of beginning to purge yourself of your need for me. You might have died that way, too, if the sickness couldn't be treated right away. It's known as the bonding sickness.”

”Did you know I was on Ja.n.u.s?”

173.

Violet Visions ”I asked to be put on Ja.n.u.s as a Protector. I knew you were there but every time I got close, you would slip away.”

I thought back to all the times I thought that Darren was hiding me and I knew now that he was. ”I think I do love you.

Tell me how soon can we do it again?” Kissing him deeply, I knew my future was with Kadell and I would dance for only him forever.

174.

eXtasy's Collective Mind Reliever By Jojo Brown e knew what she was before he ever walked into the room.

H Everyone knew. She was a prost.i.tute, a mythical creature they had all learned about in their history cla.s.ses at school.

Centuries ago, someone like her would actually be paid to allow men to touch her and transfer body fluids. Such transfers were outlawed so long ago, it was almost a mortal sin to even think about it. The few, who did consider it on their moral compa.s.s, existed out beyond the sentries, in the badlands. And, everyone knew they were all criminally insane, with no working compa.s.s of any sort.

Jakob wasn't from the badlands. He wasn't insane or a criminal, but he did believe that there could be a place for intimacy in the world. A very good place.