If she was right and they had, and the
Hirachi
hadn’t figured that out yet, it was possible they could ‘spy’ on the
Hirachi
and discover if it was safe to take them as allies. Otherwise, if the
Hirachi
were a threat, too, they would have to deal with them after they’d dealt with the
Sheloni
--or at the same time. She was inclined to empathize with them, even though she despised some of their customs, but they would be in an unacceptable situation if they got rid of the
Sheloni
only to discover the
Hirachi
treated them as badly or worse.
There was only one way she could think of to discover whether she was right or not, though, and she was reluctant to do it.
She was going to have to strike up a friendship with that blond that was fucking Kole.
The thought made her feel vaguely ill. Grinding her teeth, acknowledging that it was jealousy, she struggled to accept the fact that it was an emotion none of them could afford. The breeding could be used as an advantage if they could set aside their natural tendency toward territorialism. The Hirachi didn’t seem to suffer from that particular problem--probably something to do with their custom of eschewing close relationships, maybe even just a quirk of their nature that prevented it--so it shouldn’t create problems. And the breeding was the only thing that allowed them close contact.
It still took all she could do to save her life to approach the woman. She spent the first half of her exercise time working out and working up her courage. Finally, mentally reciting a pep talk for herself, she hailed the woman when she reached the nearest point in the two adjoining enclosures. “American?”
The woman stared at her distrustfully for several moments and finally moved closer. “No, but I speak English.”
Swedish, Bri decided. She should’ve guessed tall, beautiful, and blond equaled one of the Scandinavian countries. Trying not to feel resentful, Bri forced a friendly smile. “Seems the Sheloni spanned the globe for the best selection of fuck buddies they could find for the Hirachi.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed.
Stuck up bitch, Bri thought, holding her smile in place with an effort. “Don’t take that the wrong way.”
“Vat is right way?”
Ok, so maybe her diplomacy had slipped and a tiny bit of malicious jealousy had slipped in. She shrugged, resisting the urge to descend into childish name calling. “Actually, that just didn’t come out the way I intended. My name’s Bri--I’m sort of taking a survey.”
“For vhat?”
Bri smiled thinly. “It can get pretty boring around here.”
“Not here,” the woman responded provocatively.
Allowing an image to settle in her mind of knocking the bitch to the ground and pounding her beautiful face to a pulp, Bri managed to hold on to her temper. “Oh. Guess you wouldn’t be interested in playing allies and enemies, then? Musical chairs seems to be the only one anyone’s playing now. We all get to play that one.”
The woman studied her speculatively. “I thought the
game
was movie trivia?”
“We’re going to play that one, too, but I’ve been trying to think up something that would include everybody since we don’t all speak the same language. We’d have to have a common language to play the trivia game.”
The woman tilted her head to one side thoughtfully. “Maybe you should check first and see if there is one that all know? I, myself, speak a bit of several languages, and understand two very well, my own and … a rare
Asian
tongue.”
It took a moment for that cryptic message to sink in, but then Bri realized that
Hirachi
did sound a lot like an Asian word. She knew that
had
to be what the woman was hinting at. There was nothing
rare
about any of the Asian dialects. They were a prolific race and had more problems with over population than just about anybody else. “I’ll do that,” she said, smiling more easily. “I think it’s a good thing to learn all we can about each other anyway since it looks like we’re all going to be one happy family.”
The woman nodded. Bri hoped that meant she had grasped the general idea, because generalizations were about all they could manage at the moment. She didn’t dare chance anything at all that might tip the
Sheloni
off that they were trying to organize. That was the most crucial element to their success or failure, gathering and exchanging information.
She still didn’t like the woman, but that hardly mattered. Common enemy, she reminded herself. They could go back to hating and distrusting each other for being different after they’d gotten rid of the
Sheloni
.
At the moment, it was much more important to focus on using what they had at their disposal. If the
Sheloni
had breached the language barrier for them, they’d given them a powerful weapon to use against them.
Chapter Fourteen
Bri was so caught up in her scheming, she almost overlooked a problem closer to home--protecting Cory from the machinations of the
Sheloni
. It wasn’t altogether that, though, and it certainly wasn’t because she was neglecting or ignoring Cory’s needs.
Her memories of her last close encounter with the
Sheloni
were just so painful that she tried to block it from her mind.
Then again, she might not have remembered at all except for the fact that she was working so hard to make certain the women used their knowledge of the
Hirachi
language and the breeding to gather as much information as they could about the
Hirachi
.
It dawned on her abruptly, though, that she was one of the women. The
Sheloni
had told her that she would be bred again. She supposed the only reason they hadn’t yet was because they realized she would need a little time to recover if she was to have a chance at being bred successfully and producing for them.
She had very mixed feelings about that prospect, aside from a revulsion of being passed around. She had wanted to play an active role and being bred would give her that chance. On the other hand, that also meant Cory would be subjected to the tender mercies of the
Sheloni
again, and he did not fare well under their care.
How could she circumvent that, though?
She was afraid she couldn’t, but she had to try. God only knew what it would do to Cory to be traumatized by another abrupt separation.
The alternative wasn’t any better. The
Sheloni
didn’t trust the
Hirachi
not to hurt the baby. She didn’t know if they could be trusted or not, but she sure as hell didn’t want to test it. So trying to convince the
Sheloni
to let her keep him with her was definitely out. The only alternative that came to mind was Consuelo. If she’d already been bred, there would be no reason to separate her from Manuel, and she knew Consuelo would take good care of Cory, too. He might still be unsettled and upset. He might still forget her in the time she was gone and leave her struggling to regain his trust yet again, but it would be better for him with Consuelo, regardless.
She
would care whether he cried or not, and she would know what to do to soothe him.
The
Sheloni
might be cold blooded and unreasonable in her book, but they wanted Cory and Manuel to thrive. It didn’t matter that their motives were different. It only mattered that their ultimate goal was the same in this case.
If they drugged her as they had before ….
But they hadn’t bothered with that the last few times, having decided, apparently, that she was docile enough they could manage her without the drug.
She hoped that was the case, because she didn’t know how well she’d be able to plead her case under the influence.
Having decided on the best course, she resolved to speak to Consuelo about it the very next time she was allowed to go out.
She didn’t get the chance. The bot came for her the following morning just as she was preparing Cory to go out.
“Leave the child. Come.”
Bri stared at the chunk of metal that had appeared out of one of the ‘rat holes’ as she had begun to think of the invisible access doors to her habitat. Coldness washed over her, making her belly knot in anxiety. “Wait!” she exclaimed when the thing clamped a lead to her wristband. “I should give him to Consuelo to take care of while I’m … gone.”
To her surprise, the bot seemed to hesitate.
Deciding it must be communicating with the
Sheloni
, she rushed to press her point. “She can take care of both babies, and he’ll be better off,” she added. “He isn’t … he won’t be any good to you if you keep screwing up his head! And, if I take him to her he won’t be scared and confused.”
“Take the child to the one called Consuelo.”
This time the voice didn’t come from the bot. It seemed to waft through the walls. Relief flooded her even though her anxiety didn’t diminish appreciably. She didn’t want to leave him at all. If she’d only had more time to adjust to the idea of having him torn from her again she thought it might have been easier.
Then again, maybe not. Nothing was actually going to make it easy.
Gathering him up hurriedly before they could change their mind, she followed the bot as it led her through the outer door. It wasn’t until Consuelo emerged carrying Manuel that it dawned on her that everyone was out.
And everyone was watching.
Closing her mind to that for the moment, she focused on Cory. “I have to … you know,” she said uncomfortably when Consuelo stopped at the sight of the bot. “They’re going to let you take care of Cory for me, though.”
She could see Consuelo didn’t really want to get anywhere near the bot, but she settled Manuel on the ground and sidled close enough to take him when Bri held him out. Cory began to fuss almost at once, but Consuelo bounced him and turned to distract him with ‘the baby’. Cory instantly quieted, staring at the ‘baby’ in absolute fascination, as if stunned to discover there was another person his size around. Swallowing against the lump in her throat, both relieved and a little hurt that he could be so easily distracted, Bri didn’t resist when the bot led her away.
As focused as she was on her misery, though, it didn’t last. The moment she realized the damned bot had no intention of taking her back into the habitat embarrassment pierced her grief.
Talk about a walk of shame! It was bad enough to be thrown in with one of the Hirachi to be bred like she was nothing but a … dog, but to lead her to her stud in front of everybody and his brother!
She did her best to act unconcerned about it, but she could feel the blood pounding in her cheeks.
And, as acutely self-conscious as she was about being stared at by everyone, she was even more uncomfortable when she caught Kole’s gaze as she was led past him.
It didn’t matter, she told herself. Everyone was in the same boat as she was. They all knew it wasn’t a matter of choice.
Besides, it meant she’d have the chance to discover another puzzle piece about the Hirachi, a little more information that would help them make the right decision about whether or not to accept them as allies.
The bot led her to the Hirachi called Dansk, the one who’d impregnated Consuelo.
Consuelo had said he talked a lot. It was a good opportunity.
She hoped like hell Consuelo wasn’t thinking about cutting her throat right about now. Unable to resist the temptation to look to see how Consuelo was taking it, Bri glanced in her direction apologetically.
To her relief, Consuelo merely smiled and waved.
Kole, she saw as she swept her gaze back toward the mountain of man meat she’d been handed over to, was still watching. His face was not devoid of expression, however. He looked … pissed off.
She looked away quickly, unnerved by the anger, uncertain of whether it was directed at her or at Dansk.
Dansk, she saw when she finally nerved herself to look at his face, looked anything but delighted himself.
Her heart sank. What was it about
her
that made them so damned reluctant to fuck her? She couldn’t see that they acted that way about the others, and she knew damned well he’d ‘performed’ for Consuelo, otherwise she’d still be in the breeding pen.
They were ordered inside. It was a relief in a way, because even though there could be no doubt that everyone knew what would be going on inside, and it was almost as bad as having to perform publicly, it wasn’t quite as bad if she couldn’t see them. Out of sight, out of mind, she told herself, knowing they had enough on their own plate that it really wasn’t likely they would give it another thought.
It was still hard to convince herself of that. She felt horribly exposed.
Dansk slammed his balled fist against the door as it sealed behind them, making Bri nearly jump out of her skin. Sending him a frightened glance, she scurried to the far side of the room, wondering if Consuelo had lied to her about the Hirachi not being mean.
At the sound of her furtive retreat, he turned sharply away from the door. The tension seemed to go out of him. She could see his face darken and realized from his expression that it was embarrassment not anger that brought the blush. His skin was lighter than Kole’s and his blush more noticeable.
She made an unexpected and not unpleasant discovery when she finally allowed herself to really look at him.
Contrary to what she’d thought before, Dansk was not ugly. Unlike Kole, whose face was more appealing because of the strength and virility evident in his harsh features than from any real claim to beauty, Dansk was handsome.
Maybe she just noticed because she’d grown accustomed to their skin tones and could see past it and maybe that wasn’t it at all, but there was no denying she found his features came together to make a remarkably handsome face.
After staring at her uncomfortably for several moments, he crouched. Before Bri could get really worked up about that, he went to his knees, and she realized he’d hunkered down so that he wasn’t looming over her threateningly. Lifting a hand toward her, he held it palm upward. “No hurt little ting.”
Bri stared at him blankly for several moments, wondering with dawning indignation if he thought she was … like a puppy dog. It occurred to her forcefully after a moment that it was not exactly a good thing that the Hirachi seemed to be learning English from two women talking baby talk to their infants. Correction, one talking baby talk in English and the other in broken English with a strong Spanish accent.