Candidate (Selected Book 4) (76 page)

Then I smiled. "As soon as I start the music, I am all yours." I used the visor, found the playlist I wanted, and started the music. It would last for hours and loop if necessary.

I smiled again and held out my arms. "All yours."

They each commandeered an arm, and then Harp said, "We have watched you dance. We have a similar dance style. Will you allow us to show you?"

"I'd love that."

Similar indeed. They danced as a sandwich. It began with Harp leading me, and the stance wasn't that different from what I knew. But Jaguar stepped in behind me, pressed against my back.

Let me just say. Oh. Em. Gee.

We danced for an hour, and then I told them, "I must do rounds. Then I'd like us to talk. We can stay here or you may take me somewhere else. But it is to talk."

"And touch," said Harp. "You will allow this, Andromeda."

"And touch," I agreed. "But not sex. Not the first night."

"But touch. More touch than you allow in public."

I smiled. "More than I allow in public," I agreed.

And so we worked the room. Some of the combinations had changed, but everyone was doing all right.

Dana and the Luxan were deep in conversation. Dana laughed at something the Luxan said, and so we left them alone.

Lotus and Charlotte were also talking, seated side-by-side, Charlotte draped in tentacles. We approached from behind, and I pulled more chairs over so the three of us could sit.

"Andromeda," Charlotte said. "I like her."

"You seem to be more comfortable."

"I'm not used to this much PDA, but after that foot massage, I'd let her do almost anything to me?"

I laughed. "Good. Are you listening, Lotus?"

"I am listening, Andromeda Hayes. But I wish to speak privately with you."

Inwardly I swore. I stood and stepped away, Lotus following me and then catching up. "You won't want to touch me. The Whiteblacks are staking a claim."

"I want to apologize for the way I treated you."

"It's fine, Lotus. I believe Charlotte can be a better fit for you. How do you feel about that?"

"Thank you for your help earlier. I believe Charlotte was about to run from me much like I ran from you."

"She's not running now, but you're going to have to be careful. You're far more comfortable with touching in public than she is."

"She told me if I bribe her with foot rubs, I may touch and taste all I want."

I laughed. "Has she kissed a tentacle yet?"

"I haven't offered."

"Do you need me to help?"

"No. We're both adults. We'll talk about it."

"I wouldn't wait."

"I want to do it in private tonight."

"Not her cell."

"I was going to invite her to my apartment."

"Hmm. That has to be done carefully. She's going to think you're inviting her for sex. She may be ready for that, but humans are a little weird about that. Are you inviting her for sex?"

"More touch and more talk, talk we can't do in public."

"What if she wants sex?"

"She must let me control the pace of our relationship."

"All right. Did you have more you wanted to say?"

"No."

"All right. Let's go back before Jaguar and Harp decide you've had enough of my attention."

Together we returned to the table. Twice Lotus reached her tentacles for me, but I shied away. "The Whiteblacks will eat you alive, Lotus."

And so we sat, and it took seconds before Charlotte was partially curled into Lotus and heavily wrapped in tentacles again.

"Did you talk about me?"

"Of course we did," I said. "Charlotte, Lotus likes you."

"I thought that's what this meant." She brushed a tentacle.

"She's about to invite you to her apartment. She wants to talk more and show you something. I don't think she's inviting you for sex, so I hope you won't be disappointed."

"I don't sleep with someone on the first date."

"If she gives you a backrub, you won't be able to say 'no' to anything she wants."

She laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"All right," I said. "I am going to register this as a tentative relationship. Lotus, you should keep Jasmine Brighteyes up to date."

"I will."

"All right then."

* * * *

Five minutes later, I told the Whiteblacks, "I'm all yours. My duties are complete until morning." A moment later we were headed for the exit.

They brought me to their apartment. They didn't blind my visor or shackle me, and I would hear about that tomorrow from Jasmine. But they each held an arm, and I couldn't have gotten away from them if I had wanted to.

Not that I wanted to.

The moment we were in the apartment with the door closed, Jaguar pushed me into Harp. Harp grabbed both my arms and held firmly, but not roughly. Then Jaguar stepped closer, and I was looking up into her eyes. My heart began pounding, wondering if I was about to learn Jasmine had been wrong when she said no one would hurt me.

But then Jaguar caressed my cheek very tenderly. "We know you don't understand."

"We wish to claim more of you," Harp said. "Almost all."

"And claim more completely," Jaguar said. "If you were Whiteblack, you would understand, and if you did not desire this, you would not have come with us. And so we would not discuss this. We would only do this."

"We won't hurt you," Harp said. "We want you to struggle."

"We won't hurt you," Jaguar said again. "And if you tell us you do not want this, we will let you go."

"Are you asking me if I want to be
raped
?" I asked.

"No! We know humans struggle when they are tickled, but they also laugh."

"We will not tickle," said Harp. "But we would treat you as a human we're going to tickle."

"We wish to claim more of you. Almost all. But not all," explained Jaguar. "We do not ask for sex tonight. We will not touch you there."

"Tonight," Harp clarified. "But we'll touch you everywhere else."

"For a long time," Jaguar added. "We require this. It is a portion of our biology. It is required to help you join our triangle."

"We haven't decided if I am going to join."

"It is required to see if you are even able to join our triangle," Harp said. "Everything we wish to do tonight and in the days to come are to see if you are able to join."

"I don't understand."

"We know," said Jaguar. "But you will, if you are able."

"We must do this," Harp said. "Or we must release you. We don't want to release you. We like you."

"We want you," Jaguar said.

"You won't hurt me," I said. "And you won't stop me from speaking. If I say the words 'Stop. I am serious.' You will stop. If I say something hurts, you will stop. If I say I can't breathe, you will stop. If I stop making noise, you will see if I am in distress and ensure I can breathe."

"Yes," Jaguar said. "We will not hurt you, Andromeda. Will you allow this?"

"Do Whiteblack kiss?"

"Yes. And lick. And that will be part of what we do, once you stop struggling."

"You must decide now," Harp said. "Ask us to release you, and we let you go. If you wish to stay, we wish to remove the visor."

"You have to lock the door," I said. "I'm not allowed to take it off unless I am locked in a room. And I can't take it off. You have to."

Jaguar nodded, and then the visor went blank. She pulled it from my face and set it aside. Then she said, "If you accept this, begin to struggle, and we will begin to claim you."

I smiled and burst into action. It didn't do me one ounce of good. Harp made a sound of pleasure, and then Jaguar bent down and collected my squirming legs. She took a moment to pull my panties from me. I made a squeal of outrage, but I guess I knew they intended to get me naked.

If they'd asked for sex, I probably would have said "yes", after all.

Then Jaguar picked up my legs. Harp held me by the arms. And together they carried me, squirming and laughing, to their bedroom.

I'll say now, everything they did was done very gently. They were strong and controlled me completely, but not once did they hurt me, not so much as an inadvertent bump.

They set me on the bed. It took them a minute, but they removed my kimono and top before pressing me backwards into the bed.

I couldn't stop laughing. I squirmed, in spurts, but at no point did their grip falter.

Then they began touching me. At first, it was similar to the touches they'd been doing all night, reclaiming the places they had already claimed. But they had full access now, and they began to take advantage of it.

They didn't go straight to my breasts, which actually surprised me. Instead, they teased my entire body, holding me pinned to the bed, touching generously. Then they rolled me over. Harp sat on my legs, pinning them, and Jaguar collected my hands together, holding them in one of hers in the small of my back.

Then they each began to caress my bottom. I stilled, and then whispered, "Yes."

Jaguar leaned down. "Do not surrender too soon. Your struggles are part of the process."

"The process takes time," Harp said. "It takes time when you are a Whiteblack. You are human, and it will take longer."

"You must struggle during the challenges."

"And struggle when we catch you."

"When you cannot struggle is when we know the triangle is forming," Jaguar said.

"I can't struggle now!"

"You can," Harp said. "It does you no good, and maybe you don't want to. But you can."

And so, from time to time, I attempted to struggle, but I was past wanting to, and they were token struggles at best.

They stroked me. They touched me. Then they rolled me back over. "Her struggles are weak," said Jaguar. "We should tickle."

"We don't want to tickle her," Harp said. "We want to kiss her." She leaned over, and I had my eyes closed before she reached me.

Being kissed by a Whiteblack is very similar to being kissed by a Kitsune. It starts with a kiss, but then there is a tongue. Kiss, tongue, kiss, tongue.

I liked it a great deal.

And then Jaguar kiss-licked, almost exactly the same, but from the other side.

And that was when they finally went to my breasts, but it was with their lips, not their hands. And as soon as they did, I arched my back and hissed.

They both reared away. "Did we hurt you?"

"God, don't stop now!" I said, opening my eyes. "No, you didn't hurt me. Don't stop."

And so they didn't.

* * * *

They touched me almost everywhere. Almost. They inflamed my passions, but they only carried it so far. Eventually we lay together. They were still clothed, which I found annoying, and they kept control of my hands, which I also found annoying. But we lay together. I was cuddled by both of them, and I felt really good.

"I don't want you doing that to me in public," I said. "But you don't have to ask anymore."

"We won't ask," Jaguar said. "And we won't hurt you."

"Am I spending the night?"

"We considered this," said Harp. "If you were Whiteblack, you would. But we think we should return you to your own room."

"I'm not sure I want to go."

"We don't want you to, but it is better."

"All right."

"We have your schedule," said Jaguar. "We have a challenge tomorrow afternoon. You will lose.

I laughed. "I rather thought so."

"You must try to win," Harp said. "It is important. You must struggle to remain free."

"I'll do my best," I said. I sighed. "You two are warm, and you smell good."

They said nothing for a moment, but then Harp caressed my face. "How good, Andromeda?"

"Well, not like an Octal," I said. "But really good."

They said nothing, but they cuddled me more tightly for a minute before we sat up. Jaguar left the room and returned with my things. I let them dress me. "Are you escorting me?"

"No," said Harp. "Jasmine Brighteyes tells us you know the way."

* * * *

Peony ran our event, delivering me to my starting point. The visor brightened, and she was looking at me. "You get one hour to hide." I will drop your challengers off here. They will attempt to find and capture you. You will engage in no combat and make no traps."

"Right."

"Once they begin looking for you, for every hour you evade them, they owe you a gift."

"Really?"

"And the gifts they owe increase in size. It might start small, but they turn significant as time passes. Also, if they do catch you, but you get away, that's a very large gift. It's not going to happen, but those are the rules."