Companion's Dilemma (Brace for Humanity Book 5) Read online

  Lekorh sat on the other side of the bed, and he cupped her head as he soothed all the pieces of her mind that had burning embers in it. “Easy, Sarah. You are pulling too hard.”

  Dr. Lem cleared his throat. “Well, I can confirm that she has Saya skills. Will you send me reports, Lekorh?”

  “Yes, Lem.”

  Isabella cleared her throat. “What do you need from us?”

  Lekorh smiled. “Privacy and a few changes of clothing for her until we can arrange something a little more formal.”

  Iktabi nodded. “How far do you need us?”

  Sarah whispered, “It doesn’t matter. I can hear them all.”

  Lekorh blinked. “All?”

  “Right up to the baby in gestation tube four. The other ones aren’t thinking yet.”

  Isabella’s shock coasted across her mind.

  Lekorh lifted his head and said, “Everyone out. She can’t stop, and I need to begin immediate instruction.”

  She wasn’t sure what he meant until she felt her mind unravelling as it touched and learned from every mind on Imrahl. She was losing herself, and it was happening fast.

  Chapter Four

  The kiss shocked her. Her feeling of drifting away via other people’s minds was suddenly gone, and her entire focus was on Lekorh and the shivers of pleasure that she was experiencing.

  When Lekorh lifted his head, he had a serious expression. “Are you with me?”

  She nodded. “I am back. The drifting has stopped.”

  His lips had a shine on them, and his third eye was wide open. She smiled apologetically. “I am sorry. I should have pulled it together.”

  He stroked her hair and cupped her head in both hands. “You are doing exceptionally well. My own awakening was dangerous for all those around me. At least you are not known to the population.”

  She nodded. “Aside from all of my regulars. They will be looking for me. They are worried.”

  He sighed. “Right. You were involved with the public. I will speak with Vedder and Sommin. We will get a new server in place.”

  She grumbled. “At least tell me I can still be a courier.”

  “Only if you learn to conceal your presence from others. That will take some time.”

  He was still close to her, and she looked up at his eyes and then looked away. “I think I am safe for now.”

  “Relatively. The moment your curiosity sparks, your mind will take off.”

  He leaned back and sighed. She didn’t try to rummage into his mind, but it was a close thing.

  “Well done. Knowing that you could look but shouldn’t is the first step. Now, get up and take a shower. By the time you are dry, a change of clothing will be on the way.”

  He disappeared while she sat there. She reached out with her hand, but he wasn’t there. She fought the urge to look for him and carefully got out of the bed.

  There were small knickknacks on shelves on the walls. The bed was sized for a Rrassic. She was in Lekorh’s bedroom, but she had no idea what part of the city she was actually in.

  Why the kiss? He had kissed her to reset her mind, and she didn’t know why it worked.

  She moved around the room and eventually found the door of the bathing room next to that of the lav. Having the two rooms separate was handy and way less creepy than she had initially imagined. She had heard of them around the world, but her North American upbringing had never prepared her for the practicality.

  She first attended to a call of nature, and then, she headed over to the bathing room.

  She stripped to the skin and warmed the water in the shower. The bath was tempting, but it had not been offered as an option.

  The light rain of the warm water came down from the ceiling, and she stood with her arms raised above her head while curls of pink water headed for the drain. Her head had really taken a knock.

  The shampoo came out of the dispenser, just like it did in her own quarters, but there was absolutely no scent to it. The soap was the same. There was no scent to anything regarding cleansing, but she could smell the water.

  Once she had finished gingerly washing the new skin on the back of her skull, she turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping herself in a drying cloth. Since it was sized for Lekorh, it fit easily around her, and she tucked it in over her breasts.

  When she emerged from the slightly steamy bathing room, the bed had been made, and there was no sign that she had been in there to start with.

  She turned behind her and went to grab her clothing, but her outfit was gone. A quick look showed her that the clothing refresher was lit up and working on something, so she guessed that her clothing was all going through a cycle.

  She licked her lips and felt thirsty, which prompted her to go looking for water. She left the bedroom and walked into the main area of the apartment, looking for windows or anything that would give her an idea of where she was.

  She saw something glitter out of the corner of her eye, and she walked toward a window that showed an expanse that shocked her. The city was over five miles away, and she was at a vantage point, looking over them. “How high are we?”

  She couldn’t sense him, but she knew Lekorh was there.

  “We are in the mountainside. No one can approach us without going through nine layers of security and then requesting entrance.” He walked up behind her, and he looked at their reflection in the window.

  “How did we get here?”

  “I carried you from the med centre to the rail system, and it brought us here. I had to let the others in because Dr. Lem has been curious about you since I first mentioned you months ago.”

  “Months?” She smiled.

  “Months. Since the day you first came into the administration offices and offered Isabella sugar in the middle of the board meeting.”

  Sarah smiled. “It worked. I was allowed to get all of the offices involved.”

  “How did you know she was hungry?”

  Sarah looked back at him. “I watched to see how many of the staff came out for snacks and at which time. Yes, I stalked the building.”

  “That explains the confidence you had with everyone’s selections.”

  “All except you. I would never have pegged you for a human-dessert fellow.”

  He shrugged. “Reading minds burns a lot of calories.”

  She sighed. “I find it is not reading them that is causing the problem at the moment.”

  “You will learn how to keep things out.” He sighed. “Do you want to know what is going to happen?”

  She blinked. “Sure.”

  “Let’s have a seat.”

  He led her over to a low table where a cushion was going to act as her seat. “Apologies. I don’t actually entertain, so this is what I use for eating meals and watching vids.”

  She blushed. “Right. Apologies.”

  She cinched her wrap a little tighter and slowly knelt on the cushion. He got another one out and got some tea from a sideboard before returning with two cups and the pot. She didn’t care. She was so thirsty she would take whatever was provided.

  He poured the tea, and she accepted her cup, sipping at it as soon as she could. Her dry mouth absorbed the first sip, and she continued to drink in slow increments.

  Every time she set it down, he refilled it without speaking. She kept her mind occupied replaying the kiss, and when her body started reacting to the memory, she had to stop. Finally, she asked, “So, what is going to happen next?”

  He smiled. “What is going to happen is what just happened. You used the memory of the kiss to pull yourself back into your own mind. The mind-body connection is key to keeping control of what you can and can’t do.”

  He sighed. “Or rather should and shouldn’t.”

  She nodded. “I understand. I knew there had to be a reason for the kiss.”

  Lekorh gave her a strange look. “We will get into that later. For now, you are now officially my companion. This will allow you to travel with me, and I can monitor
your progress and control at all times.”

  “What if I am not with you?”

  He gave her a look. “You will be here or somewhere else secure.”

  She sighed. “I don’t deal well with confinement.”

  “It will only be until you get control of your mind. As for the instruction you are about to undergo, it has already begun.”

  She nodded, and her stomach growled aggressively.

  He bit his lips. “Or, perhaps we should have something to eat.”

  She smiled though she was blushing. “That would probably be a good thing.”

  He gracefully rose to his feet, the long outer vest swung, and she watched him glide across the space and into the kitchen.

  Lekorh pulled out the ingredients for a meal, and to her horror, he started to cook.

  He glanced at her. “You don’t cook?”

  “No. I have worked in food service my whole life. I eat at work or bring food home.”

  “Come sit over here and begin to learn. As my companion, you will be responsible for my body during periods of uninterrupted work.” He smiled.

  “You have to be kidding. I can’t even keep a plant alive.”

  “I will request what I need when I need it. You need only acquire it for me.”

  He smiled and minced and sliced his way into a nice-looking stir fry. He glanced back at her. “I know you provided the human recipes for Vedder’s café.”

  She shrugged. “I provided the recipes, he put them together. I never had to lift a finger. I don’t think Sommin will be as charitable.”

  “He is insecure, and it gave him an unfortunate reaction. I have spoken with him, and he will listen to you if you advise him on what is most popular with which clients.”

  “So, he lipped off, and Vedder lost it.”

  “Pretty much. It was a short argument that ended when Vedder ended it. Sommin should not have been goading him. He is far enough from his own transformation to know what will happen eventually, and he should have treaded more carefully.”

  “So, it is Sommin who is to blame?”

  He shrugged and dished out food on a single platter. “If you know that prodding a dangerous but friendly member of society is going to set them off, would you do it?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Well, he did. He knew it would happen, he forced it anyway.”

  She nodded and got a flicker from him of where the water decanter and glasses were located. Sarah smiled. “Isn’t telling me like that cheating?”

  “No. Not if it makes your stomach quiet.”

  She sighed. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and my body has been through a bit.”

  “Understandable.”

  She set the water vessel down on the small table and arranged the cups as Lekorh had indicated. He brought the stir fry over and set it down in the centre of the table.

  Fortunately, he had two sets of eating prongs. Only two.

  She knelt and then slammed a hand to her chest as her wrap loosened. “Yikes.”

  “Your clothing may have finished its cycle. This will keep for a few minutes.”

  She kept her hand on the connection of the wrap, got to her feet, and headed back into what appeared to be the only bedroom.

  The cycle had completed, so she quickly got dressed in her long tunic. The rest of the clothing could wait until later. She was hungry.

  She returned to the living space with bare legs after setting the towel into the cleaning cycle and wadding her clothes into a pile.

  Lekorh smiled and nodded. “Better?”

  “I think you have seen enough of me for the day, so yes.”

  “We will discuss that as well. I only have one bed, and I require my sleep, so you can either join me there or make up a bed out here for the night.”

  She reached out and took some of the meat and vegetable. “I will think about it.”

  “Well, tonight, you will sleep in my bed. You need monitoring after your injury.”

  She nodded. “Even humans have the injured party monitored for a day. Of course, they also make you wake up on the hour to make sure that you are not in a coma.”

  She ate, and he ate. Their meal was in peculiar silence as she was used to noise around her at all times. Even the roar of her cycle was a sound that she was used to.

  The quiet of eating made her mindful of each bite, and she ate, swallowed, and tried to make as little sound as possible. The food was good, if a bit bland, and when the meal was finished, she collected the dishes without prompting. Cleaning up after diners was something she was familiar with.

  Lekorh moved the table to one side, and he pulled their cushions closer together. “When you are done, we will work on your focus.”

  She nodded and dispatched the dishes into the cleaning units, cleaned up everything in the sink, and set the entire kitchen back the way it had been.

  When she returned to the cushion, she knelt, and Lekorh extended his hands, palms up. She placed her hands in his and closed her eyes.

  The cool wash of his thoughts over hers made her smile, and soon, he was guiding her on a careful look through the world of Imrahl, and it had nothing to do with the city.

  Chapter Five

  “How long have you known that you were grown?”

  She answered him on what had to be the psychic plane, but it looked like an empty city in the middle of Imrahl. She would not normally be standing naked in the middle of the street, but today was not a normal day.

  She looked at Lekorh, and he was wearing the same outfit that she was. There was a lot more of him to see, but his body seemed fairly casual about it.

  Sarah kept her gaze straight ahead. “I woke up in the canister. I could feel folks around me, sleeping. The alert minds didn’t quite emote like the ones I was used to, but they did seem very concerned about their charges.”

  “Good. But you have kept it to yourself this entire time?”

  “I have. Well, I shared Isabella’s knowledge. She has a really open mind.”

  He snorted. “Tell me about it. She broadcasts like an emergency tower, and I don’t have the heart to tell her that I can hear everything she does.”

  Sarah winced. “At close proximity, that must be rough.”

  “You will learn all about it when we are working in the admin office.”

  She shuddered. “I will have a word with her. Since Iktabi flirts with her constantly, it must be like watching a tame S&M film.”

  “What is that?”

  She gave him an image of a man pulling a tether tight and then wrapping it around his fist, bringing his female toward him.

  He cleared his throat. “Very apt.”

  “Thanks. It got into my head that first day and hasn’t left it. So, Lekorh, why are we here?”

  “We are here for you to practice your overlay skills.”

  “I don’t have any skills.”

  “Humour me. Move to any place in the city and tell me what the occupants are thinking about.”

  That seemed easy enough, but the place she wanted to be wasn’t occupied. She went to the teashop anyway.

  She was surrounded by Rrassic. Close to a dozen. “They shouldn’t be here.”

  She listened, and the plan she heard chilled her.

  Lekorh put his hands on her shoulders. “Just listen to their surface minds. Listen to what they say.”

  Sarah listened to their thoughts, and she wasn’t happy about it.

  “What do you hear?”

  “They are planning to grab some of the human women at the concert tomorrow.”

  He spoke softly. “Where are they going to take them?”

  “Rohadda. The portal is going to be at the northeast corner of the city.” She swayed. “Why are they just telling me this?”

  “They can’t feel you. Your thought patterns slide under their notice.”

  She nodded. “Oh, they are not very nice.” One of the men had been in the teashop, and he was having thoughts about her that she
wasn’t fond of. Oddly enough, in his mind, her hair was long and hung past her waist. His kink was not her problem.

  “Those who raid are generally not pleasant people. Do you have all the details?”

  She cleared her throat. “More than I would like.”

  “Excellent. Now, open your eyes and tell me what you saw.”

  She opened her eyes, and she was kneeling across from Lekorh with their hands touching. “Was that real?”

  “It was. It was a guided scan. You took a physical location and settled your mind in that place. When you were there, you found other minds. When are they going to enact their raid?”

  She dragged in a deep breath and tried to pull her hands back. He held her loosely but firmly.

  “Tomorrow. There is a concert tomorrow in the central park, and they are going to take the women after they have been aroused by the music. Wait, is that a thing?”

  He smiled and nodded. “The singers that we invite have an effect on humans that relaxes your inhibitions.”

  “Cheaters.”

  “We try to stack the deck in our favour, as you would say.”

  She snorted. “Right. So, they are taking the humans that they snag to Rohadda. Where is that?”

  “It is a particularly unpleasant location.”

  Sarah wrinkled her nose. “That explains why everything is underground but the portal. Their entire warren of habitation is under the surface.”

  She looked at him. “Didn’t you get this while I was there?”

  “No, I kept my mind from you so that I would not taint your experience.”

  “What?”

  “They would have known I was there.”

  “Oh.” She remembered what he had said about frequencies. “How did you know I was sensitive before this happened?” She pointed at her head.

  “I could tell by the way you acted around Isabella that you were reading emotions, and when I began to flirt with you, you broadcasted in sharp jolts.”

  She blushed. “What was I broadcasting?”

  “Surprisingly frank images of me. I was flattered and then fascinated.”

  Sarah tried to get her hands free. “Right. I think this exercise is over.”

  “For tonight, perhaps. I will contact Iktabi, and he can notify the Hunters.”