I couldn’t stop staring at Michael. I wanted to touch his cheek to see if it was as scratchy as it appeared. His hands looked large enough to wrap around my waist. Ethan hadn’t been old enough to have a beard like this man did. Why was I thinking so much about Ethan today? Out of necessity, I’d managed to swallow any lingering feelings for him years ago. Why then did I feel as though I was betraying him today?
“Zoe, it’s time to go.” Michael’s words fired into the room like a bullet. The showmanship and humor he normally showed on screen weren’t present. He was all business at the moment. He spared a quick glance at me. “Don’t move. Someone will be back for you in ten minutes.”
I nodded mutely. As excited as I was, I was also terrified. I could trip onstage or there could be something wrong with me and I wouldn’t like the sex. And oh Lord, did I want to like the sex. The old movies made it seem like something magical and transformative. Back then everyone had the opportunity to enjoy the magic. Today, I was one of the few lucky women to learn the mysterious secrets.
“Don’t be worried,” Zoe said. She playfully flipped a lock of my hair and hugged me as close as her belly allowed. “You’re going to have fun tonight. I promise.” She grinned and winked then followed Michael out the door.
“Wait,” I called after her, a clear note of panic chasing each syllable. “Will I see you again?”
She swiveled and smiled gently, pointing at a large flat screen hanging in the corner of the room. “You’ll see me there.”
I watched them go, feeling utterly alone, then turned back to see myself in the mirror. Michael had been wrong. It wasn’t ten minutes before someone came to get me. Zoe had barely disappeared out the door when another man entered.
“Jane?” He didn’t spare a glance for the other woman in the room. I was the center of his attention. He wore a navy suit, open at the collar. No tie. Intriguing curls of hair were visible at the open button in his shirt. I stared. The night was full of new visuals for me, the least of which was hair on a chest.
“Jane, it’s time to go,” he said. His tone and words were respectful, but there was a look in his eye I couldn’t identify. He stared at me and I glanced down to make sure the dress was on me. Yeah, still there. So why...oh, now I realized. He was male, and I was a woman. An actual woman who was available for sex.
Legally he couldn’t have me, I was destined for one of the twelve candidates, but it didn’t mean he didn’t want me. Understanding this, I stood straighter, meeting his gaze dead on. “I’m ready.”
I walked next to him down a narrow corridor, aware of his height and unfamiliar masculinity. His hand brushed my elbow then gently ran down my lower back to the curve of my butt cheek. I glanced over. He snatched his hand away.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I... I’ve never seen a real woman before. I couldn’t help it.”
“It’s all right,” I replied. “I’ve never seen a man, except for the delivery boys who brought things to our school.” I purposely left out my special relationship with said delivery worker, but he didn’t seem to register my words, being too focused on his own mistake.
“Please don’t tell anyone,” he said. “I could lose my job.”
“Okay,” I agreed, but I wondered what could happen to him. Would he really be punished for something as simple as touching a woman? I knew it was my status as the Breeder that kept me off-limits. He likely knew plenty of worker women, but none who had gone through puberty.
My stride lengthened as we kept walking down the hall until we were at the wings of a large stage. I could see Zoe and Michael standing in the center. Bright lights beamed in on them. Sound boomed from Michael’s microphone as he smiled for the home audience and touted Zoe’s fertility and beauty. I’d heard the same speech my whole life. It was always the same speech, always the same pattern, only this time it was personal, because I knew the Breeder on the stage, and I played the lead in the next part of the act.
In the darkened shadows at the front of the stage, I could see nothing, but I knew what was there, or rather who was there. The candidates. One hundred of the smartest and strongest, best-looking men, chosen to compete for the honor of breeding with me. I squinted to get a better look, but the man beside me spoke.
“I’m supposed to administer a drug to you,” he said. “You have a choice, though.”
“Zoe said I should take it, but she didn’t say what it would do.”
“It will make you want us as much as we want you,” he said.
Oh. “All right.” I held my arm out to give him access to a vein.
He stared at my skin for a moment then seemed to shake himself to full awareness. Carefully, he swabbed my inner elbow with a cold cloth then pulled a syringe from the pocket of his blazer.
“Wait,” I blurted. “Does it have any other side effects?”
“It will make you a little dizzy and confused.”
Hmm. “No. Don’t give me the drug. I want to be aware of what’s going on.” Sexual desire wasn’t going to be a problem. Already I could feel the pulsing between my legs.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded. And kept staring at the action on the stage.
Time seemed to speed up from that moment. It seemed only seconds before Zoe was escorted off the stage to raucous applause and hoots. I’d hoped she’d come my direction, but she was taken off the opposite side. And then, I heard the line I’d heard in my dreams for six years. The line that introduced the newest Breeder to the world. Me.
Copyright © 2018 by Lynne Silver
ISBN-13: 9781488089336
His Human Bride
Copyright © 2018 by Alys Murray
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