Page 5 of Bought and Shared
I’ve never liked the attention of men. It makes me nervous and far too self-conscious. In response to their predatory interest, I start to breathe heavier and faster. I’m once again painfully aware of how skimpy my dress is and how much of my body is on display. I feel wanton. Exposed. And available. Everything my parents and our clergy have railed against my entire childhood.
The air is thick with anticipation and something else. Something much more dangerous. It’s animalistic and wild. Though I’m not worldly about such things, I instinctively know what it is.
Unadulterated lust.
I can feel it coat my skin like moisture on a humid summer’s day. I’m not the only one either. Cadence can sense it too. Her fingers tighten on mine as though she is grounding herself as much as comforting me.
Ushering us into line, we select our meals and are shown to our tables in the far corner of the room. I keep my eyes on the floor as I lower myself onto the bench, my fingers gripping my tray painfully tight. As turbulent as my stomach is, I’m not going to be able to eat more than a few bites of my dinner if I hope to keep it down. Staring at my meal, I decide it’s no loss. It’s a thin stew that looks watery and flavorless. Not that it matters to me tonight. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it even if it was my favorite dish in the world. I’m far too distracted and nervous by the upcoming auction to do anything but fret.
The men’s gazes trail us to our seats like an apex predator does its prey from the edge of a dark wood line. We hear them talking amongst each other, though I can’t make out anything specific they’re saying. But their lustful expressions and animated body language tell me well what they are all likely discussing, and it thoroughly unnerves me.
The only one who’s not affected by the tense atmosphere is the rainbow-haired girl from the bus whose name I belatedly learned was Amy. Amy is playfully brazen with the men. She has more confidence than all of us combined. She’s laughing, teasing, and blowing them kisses. Though I’m not sure any ofthat is “normal”, I can’t help but be envious of how brave and outgoing she is.
Cadence keeps up a steady stream of conversation throughout the meal as I force myself to chew and swallow my food. I’m so grateful for her strong presence I could cry. Truly, I don’t think anyone has ever been so kind to me in my whole life. I’m so used to being ignored and dismissed that it’s become second nature for me to want to disappear into the background where it’s quiet and safe.
The soldiers find reasons throughout the meal to stroll past our tables. Some don’t even try to hide their intentions. They stop when they see a pretty girl they like, lean down, and whisper naughty things into her ear. The women predictably blush at their advances and giggle nervously. Some nod and whisper things back. I can only guess at what is being said, but I’m sure it has everything to do with the auction tonight. When it happens to Cadence, I hold my breath and try not to panic. The interlude is brief, but I can practically feel my friend’s heartbeat through the wooden bench we sit on.
After the meal is over, we’re ordered to clean up after ourselves. As I’m stacking my tray upon a pile of others, I see one certain Voltan who makes my feet stop moving and my heart start pounding. It’s as though I’ve been physically hit by a truck and struck by lightning simultaneously. My body flushes for an entirely different reason than it has thus far.
When the beautiful soldier locks eyes with me, I feel like liquid fire is suddenly coursing through my veins. I realize that between my legs I’m immediately hot and slippery and that secret place deep inside my core begins to ache with longing. The tiny bud that’s hidden between my folds begins to pulse to lifeand my lips slightly part as though I’m about to openly moan with pleasure.
My reaction is horrifyingly embarrassing, yet I can do nothing about it. I’m lost. I feel as though some monumentalsomethinghas just shifted into place. My entire being is completely consumed by the synapses firing off in my brain and the hormones flooding my hyper-sensitive system. Completely consumed byhim.
I become dimly aware that he has frozen too and is gazing at me with a peculiar and inscrutable look on his handsome face. It’s not quite the same as the blatant lust the others have shown. There is somethingotherhappening in this moment. As we continue to stare, the sound of the room drops out. Everyone and everything fades away but the two of us. I’m entranced. Drowning. And so needy, I’m afraid I might do something crazy like throw myself into his arms and beg him to purchase my contract right now or else I’ll die.
I’m not the only one who feels the strange pull though. The man with pitch-black hair, clear blue eyes, and full red lips, apparently feels it too. He stands at least a foot and a half above my five-foot, two-inch frame, and his magnetic presence all but swallows me whole as we stand there, completely transfixed by the other. He seems to be panting and his pupils blow wide, subsuming his blue irises with bottomless black.
The line of women behind me grows irritated with my lack of forward momentum then, and someone shoves me forward. Acting fast, the officer reaches out and steadies me by gripping my arm. Dragging me in close before I can tumble to the floor, he presses me into his broad chest, one hand at the small of my back and one on the back of my head, as we silently stare into one another’s souls.
CHAPTER 4
Oren
“The auction starts promptly at nine,” my human secretary relays to me as we walk side-by-side, his phone in hand as he reads off the long list of things I need to do before then.
“How many women will be participating tonight?” I inquire, hoping we have more draftees than last time. There’d been barely enough to scratch the itch of twenty deserving men last quarter. That hadn’t gone over well with the hundreds of remaining soldiers that continued to go without.
It was no secret that abstinence was causing the men to become restless. I didn’t blame them, either. Many of them have been without female companionship for years. As a response to being so sexually backed up, they were moody, edgy, and constantly looking for fights. Nothing a good fuck or two couldn’t cure. But with direct access to women being so limited, combined with all the bureaucratic red tape surrounding the draft, the supply was basically at a trickle when we needed a full-on flood to satisfy the needs of so many.
The Voltan were a particularly lusty lot. They needed regular sex and female companionship to perform at their peak. At present, things had become fairly desperate. Just the other day, I’d broken up a fight that had started over a false rumor that the auction wasn’t I happening this quarter. Clearly, something had to give or we were going to be dealing with something much worse than a scuffle in the very near future.
“We have twenty women in tonight’s auction, Colonel Rayaz,” Bryan says after scanning the list.
Swearing internally in my mother tongue at such low numbers, I make my way into the mess hall to grab something to eat before I finish up the stack of reports littering my desk. We’d been promised double that number this term. Headquarters was going to get a call from me as soon as I got back to my office. This was unacceptable. If something didn’t change soon, we were going to have a full-scale rebellion on our hands, and I wouldn’t blame the men one bit.
“I’ve canceled your one o’clock tomorrow as you directed, Colonel,” Bryan relays, as he follows me inside the noisy hall. “And I’ve made sure to reschedule the Fabre consultation for next week.”
Because I skipped lunch today, I’m starving and only half listening to my secretary as I consider what I’m going to eat. That’s when I’m hit by a miracle. I smell her before I even see her. Her scent is like a physical touch. When it curls into my nostrils, it injects straight into my bloodstream and causes my body to erupt into complete chaos. My skin tightens. My senses sharpen, and my dick immediately turns to stone.
One second, I’m just minding my own business, listening to my secretary drone on and on about my daily meetings. The next, itfeels like I’ve been catapulted into a full-on rut! Desperate to see who is casting this spell over me, my eyes dart around until they land on the culprit. Long, curling, dark red hair. Flawless, pale skin. Ruby red lips. Golden brown eyes. And a body so lush and full it could turn a saint toward a life of sin.
Unable to look away, I continue to stare, transfixed by her beauty and our off-the-charts chemistry. I realize my mouth is open and I think I’m actually panting. She looks just as surprised about it as me. I don’t have a single doubt that she’s experiencing the same sudden hormonal roller coaster that I’m on at present.
The crowd knocks her off balance suddenly, and I snag her arm and pull her inappropriately close. I don’t even know I’m going to do it until it’s done, so the look of surprise on her beautiful face probably echoes the one on mine.
Pressing her against my chest, I stare down at the petite woman with so much desire and lust I’m sure it frightens her, a fact that turns me on all the more. I drink in her fear just as much as her smell and beauty. It is a heady cocktail I can’t help but indulge in as the pheromones work through my system like a potent drug.
When she bites that full, bottom lip of hers, I nearly groan out loud. Fuck me! I have to fight the urge to push her to her knees, unzip my pants, and thrust my hard cock into that sexy, pillowy mouth of hers.
