Garden of Serenity

by Nina Pierce

  “It’s really not so horrible, Jahara. I’ve been told it’s rather a pleasant experience being with me.” He couldn’t resist teasing her just a little. Brenimyn focused on her sweet face.

  “It’s just that I …” Her hand fluttered to her cheek, fear raging in her toffee eyes.

  He rose and walked to her. “I understand you’re afraid, Jahara.” His hand stroked the satin skin his mind had touched. “But don’t you feel the chemistry between us?” A frisson of awareness sparked from her cheek up his arm. “I will make your experience something you will never forget.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, desire and need—and faith in a childhood vision—swelling his heart.

  Being alone with Jahara, erased all doubts.

  This woman 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 gotten her in here and out of her clothes. The woman hummed to the lilting strains of violin music filtering softly through hidden speakers as her hands massaged the floral-scented oils into Jahara’s tense 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 male 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 moved to 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 wonderful job keeping Jahara’s thoughts off Brenimyn. She didn’t know where the male 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 synapses. If this was going to happen, she might as well try to enjoy it.

  As Ishawny’s fingers moved intimately over her flesh, she focused only on here and now. Somewhere, deep in her psyche, she knew it was wrong to be enjoying the pleasure offered by this woman’s touch, but at the moment, Jahara couldn’t recall why. Coherent thought was overridden by her body’s primal needs.

  She smelled her desire mingled with the oils and the dark musky scent of the heated air. Heard her breath coming in heavy gasps even as sweet epithets of encouragement were whispered in her ear. Felt the silken touch of Ishawny everywhere on her trembling body. Hands stroked her hair and tickled along her spine. Lips kissed along her sex even as they nibbled along her jaw.

  But that couldn’t be.

  In her haze of mounting desire, Jahara forced her eyes to open. Brenimyn lay on the bed next to her, his mouth curving into a smile as his teeth nipped at her bottom lip, urging her to open for him. His hot gaze raked over her face and she wanted to drown in the icy depths of his eyes. “Relax, Jahara. I offer only pleasure. All of it. All of it will bring you wondrous ecstasy. Trust me.”

  Brenimyn rolled her on her back, laying his body across hers. She wanted to protest, to tell him to leave the room, but his fingers tangled in her hair as he took possession of her mouth, leaving no doubt he was taking control. Jahara should have been frightened, should have fought harder against his passionate assault, but everything he was doing to her body only strummed the hungry need building inside her.

  His whole being invaded her senses: the comfortable weight of his body settled across her torso; the heat of his skin as his hands explored and seduced; and the taste of wintergreen that filled her mouth when his tongue tangled with hers, delving deeper as if he couldn’t completely get his fill. The breeder’s male scent surrounded her in warm cloud of masculine heat, its aroma heady and erotic.

  Brenimyn trailed kisses down her neck, licking and nibbling her flesh, igniting blazing embers of desire everywhere his mouth touched. Jahara’s nerves were raw. Fire burned through her veins. Her head was dizzy with the sensations rippling over her muscles. She couldn’t stop the growing wave of ecstasy pushing her upward, slamming her body with a pulse-pounding need. His hands masterfully stroked her flesh, every touch meant only for her pleasure. She stumbled along the edge of bliss, desperately wanting to fall headlong into total release. The man seemed to revel in his ability to keep her suspended in this needy limbo.

  Her hands moved of their own accord, gliding over the ridges of Brenimyn’s back, her nails digging deep half-moons into the flesh of his shoulders. Jahara didn’t know where Ishawny had gone, wasn’t even sure she was still in the room with them until she whispered in Jahara’s ear.

  “Ask, Bren. Let him take you to that place of bliss.”

  “I don’t need him. Just a neuro stimulator,” Jahara begged.

  “What I offer is so much better.” Brenimyn pushed his erection against her hip. “And so much more satisfying.” He kissed her hard and long, stealing what little breath she had. “You just need to trust me.” The man shifted away from her and Jahara moaned at the loss of his weight and heat. His laugh rumbled through her. “I do believe she’s ready, Ishawny.”

  “No … it’s not really what I want.” Even in the sexual fog muddling her thoughts, Jahara understood what Brenimyn intended to do—that knowledge warred against her baser needs.

  “Brenimyn’s gentle.” Ishawny brushed the hair from her face. “He knows how to pleasure.”

  “I am all that is between you and sweet release.” Brenimyn’s fingers flirted with her sex. The man certainly knew his way around the female body.

  “We know what you want. Let Brenimyn give that to you.” The liquid heat of Ishawny’s voice comforted her. “Perhaps it will be easier if you don’t watch, Jahara.” The woman’s hands soothed and calmed even as Brenimyn’s stimulated. “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 feel your hunger.”

  Jahara did as Ishawny suggested, coming up on her hands and knees and scooching back to the edge of the bed. Brenimyn’s hands never lost contact with her body. She was so ready to let the orgasm control her.

  “I promise you only pleasure, Jahara.” Brenimyn’s teeth rasped along the flesh of her hip, the exquisite pain making her gasp. “I know what your body wants.”

  Ishawny stood beside the bed, her hands soothing and caressing. “We want you to feel the euphoric release your body craves.”

  The words whispered over her skin shimmied through Jahara. Every nerve ending pulsed and jumped. She inhaled, trying to ease the dizzying sensations filling her head.

  Ishawny leaned into her, the woman’s breath warm and comforting on her shoulder. Except for the heat of his hands, she had no sense of Brenimyn’s body. Jahara liked it that way. She focused on Ishawny and the silky warmth of the woman’s hands on her skin.

  “Jahara, ask him.” Ishawny’s words feathered hot over her ear. “Ask Brenimyn to satisfy you.” Her lips caressed the corded muscles of Jahara’s neck. “It’s what you want. It’s what we all want.”

  Just one more touch, one more pulse of a finger and her body would be quaking in complete ecstasy. But try as she might, she couldn’t maneuver her body to make Brenimyn touch her where she needed. “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 along Jahara’s back. “You just need to ask and he will take you where your body wants to go.”

  “Anything to help me finish this. I want …” Jahara couldn’t say the words.

  “Brenimyn?”


  Yes. “I need him.” Jahara nearly screamed the words 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. His body was firm and yet yielding inside her. It stretched and filled her in a way no neuro stimulator ever had. He canted his hips, pressing deeper with each gentle stroke. There was only a quick push of pain and nothing but the incredible heat of his body 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 out loud. It would make what she was feeling all too real. As a healer, she knew these sensations were logical and natural, but her normally ordered thoughts couldn’t figure out why that would be. Not when her body was trembling with each stroke of her flesh. Brenimyn seemed to be not only in her, but around her. Sensations of him reached to the far corners of her brain, comforting her with his presence.

  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 moans of pleasure lifted and wove into the quiet strains of the violin until the whole room seemed to echo with the harmony of their copulation.

  The thrill of the ride reached a crescendo. She pushed back on him, filling her body again. Her orgasm stole over her and through her and she fell down on her elbows, burying her delirious screams of bliss in the satin cover. Her name ripped from his lips as he found his own release, sending her over the edge once again.

  Spent and weak from her efforts, Jahara collapsed on the bed and Brenimyn fell comfortably heavy on her back. He pushed the hair out of her face, whispering soothing, nonsensical sounds. The deep timbre of his voice floated through her and Jahara waited for the wash of emptiness that always followed her climaxes. She steeled herself against the disappointment that would replace the bliss.

  When it didn’t come, she had to wonder if sex without emotional expectations would always be this satisfying.

  Chapter Six

  “Today I’d like you to do the breeder physicals.” Gabriella stared straight ahead as she spoke, her heels clipping along the tile floor. She detested this wing of the hospital only slightly more than the petite woman scurrying beside her. No doubt the eldest daughter of the Chief Administrator was here to undermine her authority as director, she was sure of it. There was no other reason a woman of her advanced age, with such a prestigious pedigree would be sent to the Garden of Serenity.

  “I realize how difficult it is to adjust to life in the Garden,” Gabriella said. “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. She knew hatred pulsed in her eyes, but she didn’t care what this woman thought of her. “You must’ve been just worn-out.” Her insincere inquiry didn’t require a response and they both knew it.

  Pushing open the door to the breeder’s clinic, Gabriella watched Jahara recoil from the overwhelming stench. The pungent odor of urine and sweat hung in the waiting room like a fog. Unlike the rest of the hospital, this wing was depressingly dark. No holograms brightened the drab walls of steel gray. No plants sat cheerily filling the shadowed corners. The luminous ceiling was the only source of light in the dim room and even that barely penetrated the murky gloom. Gabriella insisted it remain that way. The naked men slumped in the metal chairs lining the walls and running down the center of the room deserved nothing more. They were repugnant creatures.

  “Dr. Bresilee, such a surprise.” Standing quickly, the receptionist sitting at the dented metal desk across the room bumped his knee in his haste to greet them. “It is truly an honor to have you here in the well-check.” He limped toward them, his insignificant penis bouncing with the motion.

  Jahara’s throat worked to swallow what Gabriella hoped was disgust. The man standing before them had no testicles. Perhaps the healer had never seen a eunuch. Gabriella hoped that was the case.

  Her smile was genuine when she turned back to Jahara. “Collin, this is Dr. Khateri. She’s new to the Garden of Serenity. She’ll be conducting the well-checks on the breeders today. I have given Savanah the day off. Please be sure Dr. Khateri has everything she requires.”

  “I am pleased to meet you, Collin.” Jahara reached out her hand. “Please call me Jahara.”

  Collin’s brows pinched, his gaze darting from Jahara’s hand to Gabriella forced smile, then quickly about the room. Jahara’s polite gesture clearly confused him. Bowing again, he kept his hands clasped tightly at his navel, his bony knuckles white with nerves. “Dr. Khateri, cherished of humans, gifted breeder of offspring, I shall be honored to provide for you today. Please call on me with any request.”

  “That will do.” Gabriella dismissed him with a bored wave of her hand. “I will show her how to do the first breeder, be sure to keep the cubicles full. I know the schedule is busy today.”

  “As you request, most honorable Dr. Bresilee. The first men are already in their places.” He shuffled back behind the desk.

  Gabriella choked down her revulsion. She only needed to get through one physical, surely she could do that. Her first years at the Garden flashed back to her in snippets of satisfying memories. Men were such weak and stupid creatures. She held on to that thought as she led Jahara through the arched doorway. The sterile room they entered was depressingly cramped. Stretchers, separated by thin white curtains that had aged to a sickly yellow, lined the wall across from them. The space was as offensive as the Neanderthals occupying it.

  “Here we are.” Gabriella didn’t try to disguise the revulsion in her voice. She had nothing to hide from this woman. “Be sure to wear gloves. Boxes of them are in all the cubicles.” Gabriella pulled plastic sheathing over her hands. “Well-checks require very little healing power. The gloves are designed to protect you from these … anim … breeders.” Gabriella coughed. The biting male odor clogged her throat and made her gag. “The gloves are thin and once you become accustomed to them, they will be no hindrance.”

  Jahara’s cheerful expression disintegrated. Perhaps the healer loathed men as well. That thought brightened Gabriella’s dour mood. Oh, this would be the perfect place for the woman who had been sent by her Dame to spy on them. She knew from the beginning, Jahara wasn’t here to bear offspring. Gabriella was nobody’s fool. Well fine, if the government wanted to see firsthand how she ran things, she wouldn’t make it easy on Jahara. She’d simply keep the healer with the male breeders where she would do the least amount of damage. It was her ability to spot minor nuisances before they became problems that had gotten Gabriella to the position she now held. And Jahara certainly had the potential of becoming a major pain in the ass.

  “Now then, start at their heads, making sure they have nothing in their hair, check the clarity of their eyes then their mouths.” The man sitting naked on the gurney opened his mouth for Gabriella without being asked. Well, at least he was well trained. She preferred them that way. “Check the color of their gums and the health of their teeth.” The man stuck his tongue out. “Be sure their tongues are clear of any disease.” Bresilee waved her thumb over the disgusting muscle. Not as silken and delicate as a woman’s. Such a waste. “Work your way down the throat, over the chest, checking the lungs and all the vital organs.” Gabriella’s hand fluttered an inch over the man’s skin. This man didn’t deserve more than a moment of her time.

  “Skip the genitals.” The words fell out of her mouth without inflection. “Check the legs then the health of their feet.” The man stood.

  “Last check the genitalia for any disease.” Her hand waved over his groin. Revulsion crawled up her back and she had to fight the shiver of disgust rolling over her muscles. Men were such ugly things, body parts hanging about in plain sight. Not soft and
supple like a woman, their sexuality hidden from view for one to explore and discover. “If all looks well, send him out and move on. It’s really quite simple.”

  Gabriella shucked off the gloves, dropping them in the waste near the steel basin by the door. She knew her face didn’t disguise the loathing welling up from her as she vigorously scrubbed the chemical wash over her skin. She hated it in here and hoped Jahara found it just as objectionable.

  The man bowed as he left. Another walked in to take his place on the end of the exam table. Neither spoke.

  “See? There’s nothing to it,” Gabriella said. “The men are required to do this once a month. You’ll find they know the routine. If you find anything unusual, send them through the red door immediately for quarantine.” She pointed to the far end of the room. “Nothing heroic here, Jahara. This is just the first step. Any man in the breeding stock found with problems or disease must be culled immediately. There’s another team of healers in the other wing who will do the curing. Don’t take your time to heal even the most minor ailments.” The lies tumbled out of her mouth without a hint of deception. “Your job is simply to make sure they are fit to copulate.”

  She couldn’t stop her fingers from protecting her nose. The close contact with the male had her stomach churning. Rushing toward the door, Gabriella spoke over her shoulder. “I think you will find this much less demanding than the clinic, don’t you agree?”