Shattered Stars Read online

  A cool cloth on her forehead brought her around. Her patron was crouched on the floor, and she was lying on the couch.

  “Oh, I am so sorry, sir.” She struggled to get up, but he smiled and pushed her back.

  “It is fine, Hannah, and when we are alone, you may call me Mero.” He stroked his hand over her hair. “You have already given me enough to keep me supplied with energy for the next ten years.”

  “How did I do that, sir?”

  He gave her a chiding look.

  “How did I do that, Mero?”

  “Better. I like the breathy way you say my name. As for how, my kind take pleasure and turn it into energy. We can also take pain, but it destroys our food source.”

  She blinked. “I am food?”

  His smile was slow and showed a lot more teeth than she was comfortable with. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

  She really wanted to faint again.

  “Now that you are awake, I will take you for some rest. I suspect you have been a little nervous as to your situation.”

  Hannah laughed. “You can say that.”

  It wasn’t past tense either. She was still nervous. She was with a man who could fire her out of an airlock if she didn’t please him, and here, there was nowhere to run.

  It was never supposed to be forever.

  He picked her up as if she weighed nothing and placed her on the wide bed. With a grunt, he lay down next to her and pulled her against him. Apparently, it was his naptime, too.

  With her back to his chest, she asked the question she had been dying to ask. “Do you ever cum?”

  “You mean ejaculate?”

  “Yes.”

  “Only during breeding season. The next one is still a decade away.”

  She nodded but was confused. “So, does it hurt when the erection stays?”

  He chuckled. “I will give you a Hmrain biology lesson tomorrow. For tonight, rest.”

  “Yes, Mero.”

  He pressed a kiss to her temple and held her while she escaped into sleep.

  Hannah jerked awake and sat up, her heart pounding. It had all been a dream.

  She laughed at herself until she looked around the huge room and the gown at the foot of the bed.

  She slipped out of bed and went to the lav, taking a short shower and evaluating the light bruising on her breasts and the slight ache in her pussy and ass.

  She dried herself with a cloth and walked into the bedroom, watching bots scurry around to clean up the bed and the dress and shoes she had left on the floor.

  A small bracelet was on her wrist and a crystal hung from it, the same colour as Mero’s eyes. She remembered what he said about it and guessed that this was what he meant.

  The new dress was pretty, burgundy, and ties could fit it to any body shape. There were matching sandals, and soon, she was dressed with nowhere to go.

  The central gardens looked like a place to start, and they were on the way to the mess hall, so she decided to go and visit them.

  The lush forest in the middle of the ship was a reminder of Earth that was. The plants weren’t the same, but the feeling was. She stood next to a tree and simply inhaled and exhaled slowly, enjoying the taste of life in all her senses.

  “Hey, are you human?” a voice called from behind some of the trees, and she turned with a smile.

  A man in a set of coveralls came out, and he grinned at her.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “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.

  Chapter Four

  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 mistranslate
d. 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 t
he 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.”

  “Not to be indelicate, Lord Mero, but how long are you planning on keeping her?” Grem-sah’s black eyes were suddenly serious.

  Mero looked into the face of one of his oldest friends. “Why, Grem-sah, you have never asked that before.”

  “Ryno has never enjoyed the company of any of your intimate bonds before. He does not attach easily, and I think it would pain him if she were to be treated ill.”

  “I am not planning to treat her ill, but you know as well as I that many do not suit the life I offer them. Her species is untried, and the eyes of the Hmrain are watching her success or failure.”

  Grem-sah looked at the woman who was making faces at his husband. “Is she mature?”

  “By her people’s standards, yes, and that is what matters. She was a full-voting citizen of her world.”

  “She acts so young.”

  Mero smiled slightly. “She is finding joy again. It is a good sign. Many races go into shock during education. She is coming out of that lockdown. Her files indicate that she was disciplined on a few occasions. That locks down the senses and spontaneity. I need her whole, so this is an excellent start.”