“Stox and I are trying to make certain that the breeders understand and appreciate the gravity of their roles so that the fucking for the sake of fucking will end.”
I nod several times, stalling before blurting out, “Adir?”
“If you’re asking if he’s a guard, the answer is yes. He’s not being reassigned as one of the new breeders.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Lara leaves, and I flop onto my bed. Maybe when I head down to eat, I’ll slip into the back and talk to Viko some. What’s sad is that he’s my only friend here. At least I have one, but still. One friend. I can’t really consider Lara one since she’s my superior. Is she considered my superior when she’s in the military, and I’m a civilian? I don’t know.
New breeders. Wonderful. I hope it’s a bit before they arrive.
Nope. No such luck. The very next morning, the new breeders are brought through. All of the women are standing in our doorways as the breeders parade down the hall. They smile and nod to us, but they don’t seem to be too arrogant, at least not yet.
It doesn’t take long for there to be a knock at the door. This breeder is wider than most, so very muscular, and I worry that if we did anything, he would crush me.
“Hello,” he says. “I am Igor. You are?”
Well, he’s asking for my name. That’s a promising start.
“Hi. I’m Callie.”
“Callie. Nice.” He grins. “Do you want to talk a little before we, ah, get started?”
“Maybe we can talk a lot and see where we are then?” I suggest.
“You don’t want to?”
“I don’t know that yet. I don’t know you.”
There's thudding and thumping and moans and groans coming from next door. Then, there are even more groans from the other side.
It’s quite clear that the new breeders want to prove that they’re fertile.
Igor at least looks a little sheepish. “Maybe they’ll talk after?”
“Maybe,” I say doubtfully.
“If you would rather I go…”
“Please.”
He leaves, but it’s only about ten minutes later when there’s another knock. As I did with Igor, I immediately step back to let him in, but he stands there in the hallway.
“Hello, I’m Ives.”
“Hi, Ives. I’m Callie.”
"You are so very light-colored. Do you go out in the sun much?"
“I do sometimes. Not lately.” I frown.
“I read about Earthlings, and I learned that some of you can turn red in the sun. Do you?”
“No, not too badly. I tan.”
“Tan?”
“My skin gets a little darker. Some people can get rather dark, but I get more golden.”
“Golden. That’s so interesting.”
“And I get some freckles too if I’m out in the sun for a while.”
“Freckles, freckles…” he murmurs as if he’s trying to recall what they are. He keeps his hands by his sides and doesn’t use his chip to cheat. “The tiny brown spots, right? On noses and cheeks?”
“You got it.” I smile. “Do you want to come in?”
“I don’t mind standing and talking. There’s no rush, right?”
My smile widens. “No rush at all.”
But then my smile falters. I can’t help thinking about Adir. We talked about God and Heaven and Hell. That’s a far cry from sunburn and freckles and tanning.
“Do you enjoy yourself here?” he asks.
“For the most part.”
“You don’t like something?”
“It’s a bit… much at times.”
“It can be overwhelming,” he says, nodding a few times. “I’m so grateful that my brother and I are here together. My father died when my mother did. He tried to protect her, but…”
“The Grots?”
“Ovian bastards,” Ives mutters. But then he brightens. “Let’s talk about something else. Do you have any siblings?”
For quite some time, Ives and I just stand there and talk. He’s very easy to talk to, and I even let him sit with me during dinner, but the conversation we have is fairly superficial. There’s no true depth to it. Is that my fault? Is it on me? Am I sabotaging our relationship because I’m already thinking about putting Ives in the friend zone?
I can’t really say, but I do have to admit that my thoughts keep turning to Adir. If he saw us, he would be furious, but love isn’t supposed to be jealousy, and I’ve felt jealousy over the others Adir’s been with. Does a part of me want Adir to see that I’m sitting with a Novan? That’s ridiculous.
But I do think Ives and I can be friends, which makes me happy at least. It hadn’t been easy for me to make friends growing up, and it took me forever to make any here, and now, I have two.
As for Adir… I don’t know what he is. He could’ve been a friend and maybe so much more, but now… I just don’t know, but I can’t forget about him and how he made me feel—not just the terrible heartache or the tremendous orgasm, but just the sheer appreciation of him listening to me and respecting me.
Respecting me when we talked. Not with my body or my heart, though.
Why can’t I just let him go already?
15
Adir
The new breeders. I hate them. It's not fair for me to. After all, they're just doing their jobs, but I do my best to stay out of their ways. For the most part, it seems as if they are trying to at least get to know the females some, so that's an improvement, but there does seem to be just as much fucking as before. Who knows if any of the relations will actually work, though.
I’m bitter. I know I am, but I can’t help myself. As much as I can’t get Callie out of my head, I can’t bring myself to be rejected by her again. As it is, my mind hates me and punishes me each night with terrible nightmares.
A week after the new breeders have started to take on their duties, I notice a centuricmobile pulling up out front. Out climbs the overlord.
I gulp. What is Overlord Nestrol doing here? I haven’t seen him set foot inside this place ever. I
