Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“I think you’ll find this new assignment more palatable,” he said, steepling his long fingers on his desk. “I need you to go to Salimba Prime in the Helixon System. The Salimbans have some natural resources we’d like to make use of, but we need a trade agreement with them first.”
This was one thing Kaitlyn liked about the Kindred—the Mother Ship was incredibly powerful, and they could have taken anything they wanted. But they never swooped in to conquer and despoil a new planet—they made agreements and treaties instead. As a result, the alien warrior race was mostly welcome in all corners of the galaxy and beyond.
“What kind of resources?” she asked.
“It’s a plant called ‘the Love Vine’ whose blossoms are supposed to have the same effects as Bonding Fruit,” Sylvan explained. “As you may know, most of our Bonding Fruit supply is grown on Twin Moons, the Twin Kindred home world where it was developed in the first place. But there was a very poor harvest this season, which is of great concern to us. Without Bonding Fruit, many of our warriors would have great difficulty Bonding to and making love with their human brides.”
Kaitlyn understood what he meant at once. Bonding Fruit had special chemical compounds which allowed a woman to stretch in order to take an extra large shaft during sex—a necessity in most Kindred/human relationships since the seven-foot-tall alien warriors were all hung like proverbial horses. If they were running low on Bonding Fruit, it was going to interfere in lots of people’s love lives here aboard the Mother Ship.
Bonding Fruit was also an extremely potent aphrodisiac, but she had never tried it herself—that was because once you took it, you pretty much had to get filled and the sexual urges didn’t stop for hours. She’d known a few unlucky women who had accidentally ingested the stuff while single—two of them had ended up Bonded to a Kindred warrior they hadn’t previously known and the third had been forced to make do with an oversized sex toy. However, it hadn’t really satisfied her cravings and she’d been in a state of semi-painful arousal for days afterwards.
“Too bad you can’t simulate something like the compounds we Beast Kindred make,” Braze remarked, speaking up again. “That would solve the problem.”
Kaitlyn turned to him, surprised.
“What compounds?”
He shrugged, broad shoulders rolling.
“Beast Kindred make compounds in our saliva and, uh, other fluids that help a female stretch.”
“Really?” Kaitlyn asked. She’d studied the Kindred pretty extensively before taking this job and moving up to the Mother Ship because she’d wanted to know what to expect. But she was still learning new things every day, it seemed.
“Yes, they do. Unlike the Blood Kindred or the Twin Kindred,” Sylvan said. “Believe me—we’re working on it. But we haven’t found anything usable yet. In the meantime, if we could find a new source that would enable our warriors to keep calling brides from Earth, it would be helpful. Our stores of Bonding Fruit aren’t at a critical level yet, but I’d like to try and stay ahead of the problem.”
“I don’t blame you,” Kaitlyn said to Commander Sylvan. “What do I need to know about the Salimban culture to get the trade agreement done?”
“There’s plenty of information on the Outernet—they’re not a secretive society,” he said. “But the main thing to know is that they’re a matrilineal and female-led society, which is one reason I chose you to be our Ambassador to them.” He raised his eyebrows at Kaitlyn. “I know that was your special area of study, correct?”
“That’s right.” Kaitlyn nodded. It would be nice to visit a planet where women weren’t second class citizens, she thought. “It sounds right up my alley,” she remarked.
“It should be. Only…” Commander Sylvan hesitated for a moment as though he had something unpleasant to tell them.
“Only what?” Kaitlyn asked, leaning forward again. “Is there something wrong there? Something dangerous?”
“No, no—nothing like that,” her boss said hastily. “It’s just…the Salimban females have rather complicated relationships with their males.”
“Complicated how?” Braze asked flatly.
“Complicated as in…they own them,” Commander Sylvan said.
Kaitlyn’s eyebrows shot up.
“Commander—is this a Yonnie Six situation?” she asked.
Yonnie Six was a female-centric planet that was notorious throughout the galaxy. It was owned and ruled by ruthless Mistresses who believed that men were useless except as sex toys and bodyslaves. They were extremely cruel to the hapless males they captured and trained to serve them, forcing them to wear pain collars and punishing them mercilessly for the least infraction.
Kaitlyn didn’t like the idea of treating Braze like that. She and her Protector had mutual respect for each other and though she was quite sure he was capable of bearing it, she didn’t wish to hurt him or give him any pain.
But to her relief, Commander Sylvan shook his head.