by Zoey Draven
There was a nondescript wooden door at the end of the alley. A golden circle with the initials ‘MA’ was imbedded in the wood and before Eve even had time to wonder if she should knock, the door opened from the inside.
The girl she recognized from her first call to Madame Allegria’s stood on the threshold. She looked a little younger than Eve’s age, with blonde hair and green eyes. She wore the same pleasant smile on her face from the call.
“Miss Tesler?” she asked.
Eve nodded, her hands giving a faint tremble. “Yes.”
“Welcome,” she said, stepping back and gesturing inside. “Please come in.”
The lantern just above the door flickered on, casting a golden glow on the stoop, as Eve stepped inside. The foyer inside was dimly lit, growing darker as the girl closed the heavy door behind her. But as her eyes adjusted, she saw it was tastefully and expensively furnished with Old Earth antiques.
“My name is Valerie,” the girl said, walking around a black wood desk at the base of an impressive and grand staircase.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Eve murmured, feeling out of place and unsure what to say as she approached. It was her first time ever interacting with someone who worked at a brothel.
“I’m Madame Allegria’s assistant. Since you are a new client, anything that you might require or any concerns you have will be directly reported to me,” Valerie told her.
“Alright,” Eve said softly, her eyes briefly straying past Valerie to dart up the staircase. Was that where the Krave stayed?
Valerie pulled out a Nu tablet and handed it to her. On the screen was a contract of some kind and when Valerie saw Eve’s confusion, the woman said, “We are under legal obligation to collect your consent due to the delicate nature of the business. I am required to tell you that all our employees have proper and valid visas from the Earth Council and are compensated half of all client payments. There is also a section in the contract that states our privacy policy and that we do not share the names of our clients unless the United Worlds requests the information specifically. You can sign at the bottom once you’re ready and I will send a copy to your Nu device.”
Eve swallowed, glancing down at the contract. As she scrolled with her fingertips, she saw it was relatively short and that it stated everything that Valerie told her. After a brief, silent moment, Eve signed where prompted and then handed the device back to Valerie.
“Excellent,” Valerie chirped. “The second half of your payment has already been withdrawn from your account. You will be going up to the third floor for your visit this evening.”
Eve sucked in a breath. “W-which door?”
“There is only one door on the third floor,” Valerie said with a small smile. “As with every visit, you can stay the night with your Krave if you wish. To recover.” Eve jolted. She could? “We just ask that you are ready to depart before eight tomorrow morning and we will have a car ready to take you home.”
Eve’s terrified expression must’ve been apparent on her face.
“Don’t be nervous, Miss Tesler,” Valerie said softly. “All of the Krave are very accommodating to their client’s needs. You have nothing to fear. You will be well looked after,” she added.
Eve would’ve blushed if she wasn’t so nervous. All of the nerves from that day—or lack of—were starting to accumulate all at once.
“I just…go up?”
Valerie walked around the desk and gestured for her to follow. Tucked away behind the grand stairwell was an elevator. An Old Earth elevator with a metal gate and a velvet interior, so unlike the sleek, glass pods in Everton’s Downtown buildings. Valerie opened the gate and then stepped away so Eve could enter.
“If you require anything, please tell your Krave. He will see to your needs,” Valerie said. And right before she closed the latticed gold gate of the elevator, she added, “Just go right in the room. He’ll be waiting for you.”
And then the door slid smoothly closed, leaving Eve inside, alone. With shaking fingers, Eve pressed the third floor button on the elevator panel and she heard a gentle humming sound as the elevator rose. All too soon, a bright ding sounded and the doors opened towards a dark, red velvet-lined hallway which led to a single wooden door.
Before she knew it, her feet were in motion, her heeled shoes silent on the carpeted hallway. Nervously, she smoothed her damp palms down the silk of her dress, trying to distract herself by looking at the Old Earth lanterns and smoothing her fingers over the red velvet wall.
But all too soon, she found herself standing in front of the wooden door, with hammered gold imbedded in geometric patterns on its surface, a modern contrast to the Old Earth decor.
Valerie had told her to go right in and it was like she was outside of her body as she reached for the door lever. She turned the handle down and with slight force, she pushed the surprisingly heavy door open on creaking hinges.
As if in a daze, she stepped inside and the door closed behind her, latching and locking automatically. It felt…final. And Eve’s heart felt like it was trying to pound its way from her chest, her courage almost failing her for the final time as she realized she’d actually done it. She was so tempted to simply turn around and run.
But she took a deep breath, letting her eyes adjust to the dark room.
The first thing she noticed was the smell. Some sort of incense was burning, but it was light, not overpowering. It smelled like...pine trees but more pronounced. All the trees on Everton were carefully grown in laboratories and controlled greenhouses before they were planted for landscaping purposes throughout the different districts. There was a place in the Lake District where pine trees towered overhead, taller than buildings, and the smell was divine, crisp and fresh.
That was what the incense smelled like, but underneath there was something she couldn’t identify. Something warmer and spicy.
Movement caught her gaze. And when her eyes flickered to the right, near a sumptuous-looking bed piled high with plush blankets and satin coverlets, she saw him. He was rising from a leather armchair, the color of cognac, tucked near the corner of the room, the material creaking under his weight.
Eve’s breath hitched.
The alien male regarding her from the corner of the room could only be described as…intense. Intensely masculine, intensely focused, intensely…erotic.
One of her first thoughts was that he was massive, towering over her 5”5 frame. The Krave in front of her had to be nearing seven-feet-tall and looked to be close to three hundred pounds of solid bulk and carefully sculpted muscle.
Eve could easily imagine him overpowering her. She wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing anything he wanted to her. And that realization both frightened her…and aroused her?
His skin, at first glance, looked like it was a stormy grey, similar to the dark grey clouds that the Programmers illuminated over Everton when the rains came to water the landscaping on Sundays. Eve had always thought that the rain was beautiful and she often walked in her garden to feel the droplets run down her face.
And parts of his skin were rain-cloud grey, but as he approached her, in the flickering soft light from the fireplace, she saw that his skin was really more of a dark, dusky blue, that also held patches of the deep grey and black. In addition to his skin, she noted that he wore a simple black shirt that stretched across his wide chest and loose black pants.
Startled, Eve’s gaze flashed up to his face and she was immediately met with the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. They were pure color, with no white, and the deepest swirling of tree green and brushed gold and night sky indigo. Unlike any eyes she’d ever encountered before. Eve watched his wide black pupils dilate and move over her body before returning to her face. He seemed to be studying her the same way she was to him.
His features were alien, but not as alien as she’d expected. He had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, just like her. His eyes were wide-set, however, his nose sharp and structured, and his lips were slim. He ha
d no hair on his body, or at least from what she could see. His head was perfectly smooth. His cheekbones were high and his jaw was prominent, giving him an almost aristocratic profile.
Immediate and intense attraction flooded her, which surprised her and made her hands tremble at her sides. She hadn’t expected to find him so attractive.
“You’re…” she trailed off, her voice scratchy from nerves and arousal. “You’re very handsome.”
Then she flushed in embarrassment, the words sounding strange to her own ears. But Eve felt like a fish out of water. She didn’t know how to react, what to do, how any of this worked.
She was coming to a Krave as an inexperienced virgin. She had expected to be a nervous, fumbling wreck, so she should cut herself some slack.
Breathe, she told herself, shyly meeting his eyes again. His expression hadn’t changed and he stopped a few feet away, his head tilting to the side, still studying her, which made her shift in place.
A sound rose in his throat, or perhaps deep in his chest, that made her freeze. It was like a soft rasping growl that slid over skin and made her shiver, even in the warm room.
The Krave closed the distance between them, but instead of stopping right in front of her, he circled her, halting at her back. Her heart sped up in her chest until it felt like it would pound right out, so loud that she wondered if he could hear it. She forced herself to stand still, to keep her gaze forward, which landed on the large bed.
Eve could sense his presence behind her, as noticeable and obvious as her nerves. She realized that the spicy, warm smell she’d first noticed was him. It enveloped her, wrapping around her, and it made her head swim with startling arousal.
A soft, surprised gasp escaped her when she felt his hands. Large, strong, masculine hands wrapped around her hips from behind, searing through the silk of her dress. He made that sound in his throat again and his hands shifted, almost possessive, like he had bought a night with her, not the other way around. It surprised her how desirable it made her feel.
The Krave was touching her like he owned her…and he had yet to say a single word.
This is what I wanted, she realized, her eyes fluttering closed when his palms slid slowly up to her small waist.
Touch.
To Eve, the most underestimated thing of all was simply touch. Being touched by another, the intimacy of it. Eve wanted touch possibly more than she wanted sex. It was possible that all Eve wanted that night from him was touch, especially if he continued to touch her like this.
A shuddering breath escaped her when he suddenly pulled her back into his massive, warm body. His legs widened their stance so that she stood between them. And Eve’s eyes widened when she felt the unmistakable feeling of his hard, pulsing erection at her back.
“Who are you?” his voice sounded, soft but unmistakably male, deep and rich. His words were slightly accented, but clear enough to tell her that he had been using English for a long time.
Underneath her silk dress, her nipples pebbled into tight, hard peaks and she realized at that moment that it was possible for a male’s voice to arouse her even further.
“I…” she swallowed, her mouth as dry as sand. “M-my name is Evelyn. Or Eve. Eve Tesler.”
“Evelyn,” he murmured quietly at her back and her lips parted, still staring at the bed with a wide gaze, as his hands traveled upwards from her waist, skimming the sides of her breasts before resting on top of her shoulders.
Eva-leen, was how he pronounced her name.
“Yes,” she whispered, swallowing loudly.
Suddenly, his hands returned to her wide, full hips, as if he couldn’t stay away from them for long. His grip was strong and sure and she’d never imagined that a male simply touching her hips could be so erotic.
With more courage than she felt, Eve’s head tipped back, her dark hair falling over her shoulder. His pupils were wider, blacker when their gazes met again. His hands clenched on her hips, making her silk dress rise up a couple inches.
“What’s your name?” she asked softly.
For a moment, his hands stilled and the only sound in the room was the crackling fire.
He was silent for so long that Eve worried she wasn’t supposed to ask. Had that been in the contract, she wondered? Had Valerie said anything about it?
But it seemed even stranger to her to not know his name.
Finally, relief flowed through her when he answered with, “I am called Khiva.”
Khiva. He pronounced it like kai-vah, with a hard ‘a’ sound.
“Khiva,” she repeated, tasting his name on her tongue, and his pupils dilated further, his fingers flexing on her hips.
“Yes, female,” he murmured softly, his dark eyes steady on her, still studying her, it seemed. Eve wondered what he was thinking, what he had deduced about her.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she whispered, holding his gaze. Everything about that moment was surreal, from the tantalizing smell of him that fogged her mind, to the warmth and quiet of the room, to the way his hands felt on her body, as if he’d been touching her her whole life.
Nothing felt real.
And yet, it was.
Eve was standing in a room in Madame Allegria’s infamous brothel. She’d bought a night—and early morning apparently—with one of the Krave, whom she could finally experience sex with, if she chose to that night.
A Krave that was looking at her like he wanted to devour her, with a touch that made her nipples go hard, and her mind go hazy.
And his name was Khiva.
Chapter Four
Khiva’s nostrils flared as the female’s scent hit him hard. She was wanting and she needed to be mated. And soon.
But underneath the obvious scent of her potent arousal, he sensed hesitation, perhaps even fear, neither of which he was used to. The human females that visited him and the others under Madame Allegria’s employ were regular clients. It wasn’t often that he served a new female and Khiva knew he must be out of touch, considering she…puzzled him. For a brief moment, when he’d first seen her, his mind had gone blank and he’d felt like an untried youth presented with his first mating.
Khiva had been well-educated in the art of seduction and sex, as all the Keriv’i were, even before Madame Allegria had taught them of human female’s needs. He knew that he would be able to please this female—Evelyn, she’d said—as he pleased all of his regular clients.
Something about her, however, made him act on instinct without thinking. Never had he initiated touch with a female client without her permission and yet, before he had spoken one word to her, he had moved behind her in a very dominant Keriv’i way.
He had palmed her full hips and stroked down her sides before he’d even realized what he’d done. Even when he had realized it, even when an apology was on the tip of his tongue, he hadn’t stopped. Instead, he’d dragged her closer, enjoying the feel of her body—so unlike the slim and narrow figures human females seemed to favor and try to emulate, especially among his clients.
Demav, she had a lush body. It was already perfect to him and he had yet to unclothe her.
A soft growl tore from his throat, eager in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. Then he remembered himself. Evelyn was a client. She was in control of everything and he shouldn’t grip her like an untried youth, especially since he sensed her nervousness.
It was one of the hardest things he had to do—and he’d had to do many hard things in his lifetime—but he slowly released her, guessing he would need to ease her into their night together.
Khiva stepped around her, inhaling a sharp breath for control. Though he’d released her, he still stood close.
For a moment, he simply studied her. Looking at her filled him with a gentle pleasure. It was unexpected. While he thought all of his clients had a beauty about them, never had he wanted to memorize one’s features. But this female…he committed her to memory, from her long, dark wavy hair that tumbled over her shoulder, to her large and round da
rk eyes, to her pink mouth with a slightly fuller bottom lip.
Evelyn shifted in place and Khiva’s voice came thick and dark when he asked, “Is there anything I can provide for you that would make you more comfortable tonight, Evelyn?”
He heard her swallow and his eyes came to the hollow of her throat, at the delicate skin there the color of rich cream.
Her pink lips quirked in a nervous smile. “Am I that obvious?”
“You have nothing to fear from me,” he purred softly, needing to comfort this female. “I am here to please you, in whatever way you wish.”
Khiva watched as her pink tongue darted out to wet her lips. He felt it like a punch in his gut and his aching cock gave another pulse, his abdomen clenching. The Keriv’i had always possessed higher sex drives in comparison to other races.
It was, perhaps, one of the many reasons why they made excellent whores.
Khiva’s lips tightened, but he pushed the thought away, choosing instead to focus on the female in front of him. When he dragged her scent into his nostrils, she made his mouth water. She smelled…like how the bright western valleys of Kerivu had smelled during the warm season. As a young male, he’d often journeyed there with his mother and brother and they were days of happiness and peace…before the Great War. Before everything changed.
Her voice anchored him when she said softly, “Can I look around?”
A surprised sound rumbled in his chest, but Khiva assumed her odd request was meant as a comfort. Madame Allegria, during their training, had always told them that human females craved feeling safe. Even if they requested darker fantasies of their ‘Kraves,’ as the humans referred to his race as, they still needed to trust their mating partners. That ‘trust’ extended to physical places, or so he assumed. Perhaps human females liked to feel nested and protected.
“Pax,” he said, lifting his chin up. But then he corrected himself. “Yes.”
