The Healer's Garden Read online

  Jahara sighed. At least she didn't have to fuss with preparing a meal before her unwanted guests arrived. She pulled the tunic over her head, turning blindly toward her bedroom and the warmth of a water shower.

  "I hope you don't mind that we cooked the evening meal."

  Screaming, Jahara covered her body with the clothing she'd just removed.

  The petite woman standing in the living room doorway did not hide her amusement. “My apologies, most honorable Jahara,” she said. Her disproportionately large breasts bounced in the deep V of her dress as she bowed. “I am Ishawny, your breeding guide. They told us you were expecting us."

  "I was ... I mean I am.” The realization of what was to come slammed into Jahara, forcing the air from her lungs. She needed some time to prepare. “I'd like to freshen up if I could?"

  "If it would please you, we could join you in the bath?” Ishawny stepped forward, the caramel ringlets of her hair shimmering in the soft light.

  Why did the woman keep referring to herself in the plural?

  "No, thank you. I am quite hungry.” Actually, she'd lost her appetite.

  Disappointment deflated the breeding guide. “As you wish. We will serve you dinner, then complete the ritual.” She sidestepped, motioning with her arm. “I'm sorry my regular breeding partner couldn't be here, but I would like to introduce a most skilled breeder."

  Jahara gulped for air as a man stepped next to Ishawny. If it were possible, Brenimyn looked more gallant than the day before. “I know you. What are you doing in this apartment?” Her finger shook at the broad sweep of his bare chest. His thighs were sheathed in snug fitting breeches. As tired as she was, Jahara could not keep her gaze from traveling the length of his sinewy body.

  "They call me Brenimyn. I am pleased to meet you, Jahara, most cherished of humans, gifted woman and bearer of offspring. I am here to serve.” Bending at the waist, he winked at her. Neither Ishawny nor the camera mounted in the corner witnessed his insolent behavior. “Our apologies for taking so long to join you, but there were some difficulties with the paperwork."

  "I was just going to bathe. Perhaps you could join me while Ishawny readies the meal?” Her words were stilted and she willed herself not to glance at the blinking eye making her so nervous. “You go first."

  "That would be fine.” He sent her an impish grin.

  No, it wasn't fine, what was she thinking? She didn't want to be naked in front of this man. When he turned around she pulled her tunic over her head. It might have been inside-out, but at least it covered her breasts.

  She wondered if he also knew the bathrooms held no cameras. Away from the probing eye of the Garden, perhaps she could talk him out of this ludicrous idea. Perhaps she could stall him long enough to make Ishawny and the observers believe they had copulated.

  Cold fingers of dread walked up her back.

  * * * *

  She slammed into the bathroom behind him. He hadn't seen this much fight in a woman in a long time. He tried to rein in the hope blossoming in his chest. Calmly he shut the door and turned the faucets on at the sink and tub.

  "Now, there may not be cameras in here, but the audio amplifiers in the other room are very sensitive,” he said. “The water will help drown out our voices, but I suggest you keep that raging storm of yours to a dull rumble.” He settled himself on the edge of the tub, crossing his arms and feet.

  She wrung her hands and sputtered under her breath. The picture she created made him laugh. The rolling sound echoed off the tiles.

  She stopped moving and stared at him. “What on earth could be so funny? I don't think any of this is humorous."

  "You, Jahara. Just you."

  "What about me?"

  "You're fluttering around as if you've got bugs crawling on your skin and I find your nervousness over your first mating ... cute.” Concern softened his voice even as his eyes searched and penetrated. “You've never been with a man have you?"

  "I don't believe that's any of your business."

  "Oh, but it is my business.” He dropped his hands to the edge of the tub, hoping the relaxed posture would ease the tension sluicing off her in waves. “I'm the primary breeder responsible for training, and leader of the male breeding stock. When one of the partners for the first mating isn't available, I take their place. It's part of my responsibilities.” Of course Ishawny's partner wouldn't be home puking his guts out if Brenimyn hadn't laced the man's food with the vile medicine he'd stolen from his friend's bag of herbs.

  But Brenimyn had needed to meet this woman. He needed to know if the connection he'd felt arc between them yesterday had been real or a figment of his overzealous imagination. He'd put his plan in action the moment he'd found out she'd requested a breeding guide.

  "But you're Kylie's mate. Even I know I can't usurp another woman's claim on a breeder,” she said, her doe eyes full of confusion and fear. “Why have you come to me?"

  Now that was a loaded question. One he couldn't answer without scaring her. She wasn't ready for complete honesty. “I'm responsible for making sure the first copulation is pleasant."

  She turned from him, her voice barely above a whisper. “Perhaps we don't need to do this tonight? You see, I'm already committed to another.” Jahara waved her ring finger in the air. “I didn't choose to come here."

  "Jahara, few choose the Garden.” Least of all the breeders forced into slavery, he wanted to add, but knew it wasn't prudent. “You realize you can't put off the inevitable. Tonight, tomorrow, next week, eventually you will be expected to mate in front of the cameras.” Brenimyn wanted nothing more than to take this frightened woman into his arms and show her the strength of a man. But she wasn't ready for what he wanted to give her.

  He couldn't resist reaching out to her with his thoughts.

  Her hand fluttered to her cheek. “I...” She turned and fear flashed across her brow.

  "Jahara, being with a man isn't so horrible.” He rose and walked to her, his hand stroking the spot his mind had touched. “Don't you feel the chemistry between us?” A frisson of awareness sparked from her cheek up his arm. His suspicions were confirmed. Jahara was the one who'd been sent to fulfill his destiny.

  * * * *

  Jahara lay naked on her stomach in the guest bed. She still wasn't sure how Ishawny had coaxed her in here. The woman hummed to the music filtering softly through the speakers, her hands working the floral scented oils into Jahara's muscles. Her head felt light and a little dizzy. She'd had too much dakaru root at dinner, but she didn't care. The fruity liquid would diminish the memory of the events about to take place. Perhaps, like Jacinta, she would become pregnant at this copulation. Oh, to hope.

  Jahara hadn't talked the breeding guide or her partner out of this first mating. Not in the bathroom when the breeder had cornered her, not during the evening meal when Ishawny and Brenimyn had waited on her, unwilling to join her at the table, and certainly not at this moment as Ishawny's firm hands masterfully massaged the muscles of her buttocks. It seemed nothing was going to keep this mating from happening.

  Fortunately, Ishawny was a skilled lover and doing a good job of keeping Jahara's thoughts off Brenimyn. She didn't know where the breeder was and at the moment, didn't really care. Something had turned her libido up a notch. Perhaps her food had been prepared with a stimulus, or the oils contained something. Whatever it was, it buzzed pleasantly in her head and made Jahara's body taut with need. She let the delicious sensations curl over her muscles. If this was going to happen, she might as well try to enjoy it.

  Ishawny pressed on her thighs and Jahara spread them willingly. The woman's fingers rotated gently, moving lower to massage her sex. Jahara's labia throbbed as they swelled with blood and her breasts tingled as if laved by a lover. Every fiber began vibrating with the need building inside her.

  At Ishawny's suggestion Jahara rolled on her back and took the steepled peaks of her nipples into her hands. As if sensing what she wanted, Ishawny's head dipped between her thi
ghs. The velvety touch of her tongue stroked between her folds. Jahara closed her eyes, delighting in the sensual banquet Ishawny's fingers and mouth offered her body. Somewhere, deep in her psyche, she knew it was wrong to be enjoying this woman's intimate touch, but at the moment, Jahara couldn't recall why.

  Ishawny's fingers slipped into her and Jahara arched into them, pressing them deeper. Her muscles contracted as the woman used her tongue to push back the protective hood and took her clitoris into her mouth, her tongue flicking over the bundle of nerves.

  Ishawny's hands were everywhere on her body at once; stroking her face, roaming her belly, rimming the rose-bud hole of her anus. Ishawny's mouth lapped and suckled her sex even as it crushed down upon her mouth.

  But that couldn't be.

  In her haze of mounting need, Jahara forced her eyes to open. Brenimyn knelt on the bed next to her, his mouth curving into a smile as his teeth nipped at her bottom lip, urging her to open again for him. “Relax, Jahara. Enjoy what we offer."

  How long had he been watching them?

  She felt his erection, hot and hard against her breast. Jahara wanted to protest, to ask him to leave the room, but his fingers tangled in her hair and he captured her mouth with his. He tasted of wintergreen and smelled of fresh air and male heat, something thoroughly masculine, and not totally unpleasant.

  He shifted and his hands replaced Jahara's at her breast, his fingers dancing from one fleshy mound to the other. The warmth of his touch shot through her as the rough pad of his thumb grazed over the pearled points. He trailed kisses down her neck, licking and nibbling her flesh, trailing blazing embers of desire everywhere his mouth touched. Her nerves were on fire. She couldn't stop the growing wave of ecstasy pushing her upward, slamming her body with a pulse-pounding need to climax.

  The two worked well together. Jahara bucked against Ishawny's oral assault, even as Brenimyn's fingers sent jolts of pleasure from her breasts straight down her core to her womb. She wanted desperately to tumble off the edge of elation and fall headlong into total bliss. But nothing they were doing seemed to help her achieve that goal.

  "A neuro stimulator, please,” Jahara begged them.

  "I have something so much better.” Brenimyn shifted away from her. “I believe she's ready, Ishawny.” His hand replaced the woman's mouth and Jahara groaned in protest. “Don't fret, Jahara, I'll help you find the relief your body seeks."

  "No, I don't want you.” Even in her fog, Jahara understood what he intended to do. As much as her body screamed for release, she didn't want what he had to offer.

  "Brenimyn is gentle.” Ishawny laid kisses over Jahara's face.

  "I am all that is between you and sweet pleasure.” Brenimyn's fingers circled the nubbin pulsing with thousands of tiny sparks before his thick fingers plunged into her. She groaned out an oath.

  "A stimulator,” Jahara panted. “It's all I need."

  "Brenimyn can give you so much more.” The liquid heat of Ishawny's voice rolled over her. “Perhaps it'll be more pleasant if you don't watch, Jahara,” she breathed the words into her ear. “Roll over and kneel on the end of the bed. Focus on me. Let us help you crest the final wave. It's what you want. I can feel your hunger."

  Jahara did as she instructed, coming up on her hands and knees. Brenimyn's hands never lost contact with her body. She felt his erection rubbing between her thighs as he pulsed his hips. She was so hot, so ready to let the orgasm control her. Jahara could smell the elemental scent of Ishawny's desire mix with her own and another rush of liquid poured onto her thighs.

  "Feel it, Jahara.” Ishawny knelt next to her, her hands rubbing her back and reaching around to stimulate her throbbing nipples. “We want you to feel the rush of release."

  The words whispered over her skin shimmied through Jahara. Every nerve ending pulsed and jumped as if a neuro stimulator were jolting all the cells of her body.

  Ishawny leaned against her, rubbing her breasts against Jahara's back. Except for the firm tip of his penis rimming her slick heat, she had no sense of Brenimyn's body. Jahara liked it that way. She focused on Ishawny and the sizzling temperature of her flesh against her. The smell of their juices mingled, filling the air with their hot scent. It was something familiar to hold onto.

  The heat of Brenimyn and Ishawny's touches blended and mixed in a breathless whirl, until Jahara had no idea whose fingers circled her clitoris, or stroked her breasts, or pushed past the puckered barrier of her anus and filled her body. Her internal muscles clenched and she gasped out incoherent words. She circled the precipice that would plunge her into sweet abandonment, but nothing would push her over the edge. Her frustration mounted.

  "Jahara, ask him,” the words pulsed out of Ishawny's mouth on shuddered breaths. “Ask Brenimyn to satisfy you.” Her teeth grazed Jahara's buttocks. “It's what you want. It's what we all want."

  "Please, I can't stand this. I need ... I need...” Jahara's voice trailed off. Everything was clouded with desire. She couldn't open her eyes, couldn't form thoughts in her head

  "You need what only Bren can give you.” Ishawny's satiny torso slid up Jahara's back and Ishawny leaned in to nibble her earlobe. “You just need to ask and he will take you where your body wants to go.” Her breath heated Jahara's flesh.

  "Anything to help me finish this. I want...” Jahara couldn't say the words.

  "Brenimyn?"

  "Yes." Jahara nearly screamed the word as the pressure built between her thighs.

  He pushed into her then, slowly and with exquisite leisure, allowing her body time to adjust to his girth. He was firm and yet yielding inside her. It stretched her in a way no neuro stimulator ever had. With each gentle stroke, Brenimyn deepened the penetration, drawing out the bliss coursing through her. There was no pain as she thought there might be, only the incredible heat of his penis filling her and the intense enjoyment it brought. The sensation was new and wonderful.

  "It feels nice, doesn't it?” Ishawny murmured. “Brenimyn is a skilled breeder."

  Actually, the feeling was incredible, but Jahara couldn't say it aloud. It would make what she was feeling all too real. Copulating was a necessity to maintain the species. Of course her body would respond this way. It was natural.

  She rocked back on her knees, reveling in the power of Brenimyn's thrusts. She heard him groan out her name. His hands gripped her hips, pulling her impossibly tighter to his soft belly until he was sheathed completely by her. Her inner muscles contracted around him and Jahara trembled with the sensations rolling through her.

  Brenimyn pulsed inside her, tiny strokes that had her quivering as she climbed higher, to a level of pleasure she didn't know existed.

  Slowly, he lengthened his strokes, pulling almost out of her before plunging back. His fingers came around her belly, traveling through the thick triangle of curls, to circle the swollen nub of her clitoris. His touches rocketed through her, sending ripples to her stomach, squeezing the air from her lungs. Of their own accord, her legs spread wide and her back arched so her sex pressed firmly against him with each thrust of his hips.

  The thrill of the ride reached a crescendo. With Brenimyn pounding into her and the tips of his fingers buried in her moisture, the release came hard and fast. She pushed back on him, filling her body again. She heard skin slapping against skin as his hips pistoned, his body retreating only to plunge in and fill her again. Her raspy cry of release lifted and churned the heated air.

  But Brenimyn didn't relent. His fingers circled her tingling button even as his penis filled her again and again. Her muscles trembled once again around his swollen sex and the power of another orgasm built within her.

  "Jahara, feel Bren. Let him take you to that wonderful place of release again.” Ishawny's voice trembled in Jahara's ear. Jahara opened her eyes, but could barely focus on the woman whose fingers vigorously stroked her own wet sex. She watched Ishawny's body convulse, the pleasure crashing through her like a wave. The power of Ishawny's bliss slammed into Jah
ara as if she were one with the breeding guide, experiencing the same sensations.

  "Jahara, you are tight, so tight.” Brenimyn's hoarse voice mixed with Ishawny's gasps of pleasure. “I can't hold on. Come with us."

  The sensations were all so overwhelming. Brenimyn released her clitoris to dig his fingers into the flesh at her hips, pushing himself with a wonderful force into her throbbing sex. She could feel Ishawny's fingers as if they were on her body. They all climbed the torturous edge of release together. Brenimyn's thighs shuddered against hers and they tumbled together into the wild abandonment of ecstasy.

  Spent and weak from her efforts, Jahara collapsed on the bed. Ishawny snuggled against her. Pushing the hair out of Jahara's face, Ishawny whispered soothing, nonsensical sounds. The musical tone of her voice floated through her.

  Brenimyn fell heavily on her back and she waited for the wash of emptiness that always followed her climaxes, steeling herself against the disappointment that would replace the bliss.

  It never came.

  She had never experienced this power of release. Her heart pounded uncontrollably against her ribs and the blood rushed in her ears like a raging wind and suddenly she had no air in her lungs. It was too much. The edges of her world went black and she fainted from the sheer intensity of her first mating.

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  Chapter Six

  "Jahara, today I would like you to do the breeder physicals.” Gabriella's heels clipped along the tile floor. She detested this wing of the hospital only slightly more than the petite woman scurrying beside her. Jahara was here to ruin the Garden, she was sure of it. Why else would a woman of her advanced age, with such a prestigious pedigree, suddenly show up here?

  "I realize how difficult it is to adjust to life in the Garden. It was unfair of me to ask you to work alone in the clinic yesterday.” She tipped her head, raising an eyebrow, forcing her lips to curve. Gabriella knew the hatred pulsed in her eyes, but she didn't care what this woman thought of her. “You must have been just worn out.” Her insincere inquiry didn't require a response and Jahara knew it.