by Zoey Draven
“I booked a visit with one of Madame Allegria’s Krave.”
Genni’s mouth dropped open almost comically, but no sound emerged.
“I, uh, first went to him last week, but we didn’t have sex,” Eve said, swallowing. “And then I saw him again last night…and we did.”
Genni stared at her, those bright blue eyes piercing what felt like every pore of her skin.
“Who the hell are you?” Genni asked slowly.
Eve’s eyebrows rose. “What?”
“The Eve Tesler I know would never do something like that. She would never visit a brothel to lose her ‘V.’ To an alien whore no less,” Genni stated, crossing her arms over her ample chest. She hadn’t yet taken a seat so Eve felt like she was towering over her.
Fierce anger consumed her and Eve couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her friend’s mouth.
“How dare you say that,” Eve said, standing from the armchair, “when you were the one saying that you’d give anything to spend a night with one of them. Don’t be such a hypocrite, Genni!”
Genni looked taken aback at Eve’s raised voice, but then the blonde’s scowl deepened. “I was joking! I would never visit one of them. Do you know how many women they fuck a week? That place is probably crawling with diseases.”
“Oh really?” Eve asked, so angry that her hands were shaking. “You think that the women who pay 900 credits a night go there for the diseases? Get real, Genni. That establishment is so clean you could lick the floor.”
“You didn’t even think about it, did you?” Genni questioned, lips tightening at Eve’s surprising retort. “You’re having sex with an alien whore and did you even ask what they do for disease or I don’t know, if you got pregnant?”
It angered Eve even more that she couldn’t give her friend an answer. Because no, frankly, she hadn’t been thinking about it. Because she’d never had sex, she’d never needed a contraceptive. She’d never needed to worry about it.
And it was no secret that human women tended to be biologically compatible with many alien species. There were hybrids spread across the Quadrants, though Everton and the other Earth colonies liked to deny it.
“Again…” Eve said quietly, trying to calm down because screaming at her friend would get her nowhere. Genni had a mean streak and a temper. “Do you honestly believe that Madame Allegria wouldn’t address those possibilities, given her clientele?”
Genni sneered but only said, “The richies have good doctors.”
Eve raised her brow and even though it was a dig, she replied, “And so do I.”
That dig hit home. Genni had always been obsessed with marrying rich, though she’d often made Eve feel guilty for having an inheritance.
Genni huffed out a short breath, her hands going to her hips. “Then I hope for your sake you don’t need them, after your night with your whore.”
“Stop calling him that,” Eve said quietly.
Genni sprung on her words like the bloodhounds bred for hunting. A deceptively sweet, pitying smile crossed her full, pink lips. “Oh, Evelyn. Please don’t tell me you have feelings for him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Eve said through slightly clenched teeth. “I’ve only visited him twice.”
Genni studied her and sometimes Eve hated how well her friend could read her. Although at that moment, Genni didn’t truly feel like a friend.
“You do,” Genni said, realization coloring her tone. “You have feelings for a Krave.”
Eve sucked in a slow, steadying breath, trying to get her hands to stop shaking from the adrenaline and fury running through her veins. The morning was just going from bad to worse.
“Sweetie,” Genni said, purposefully using that word to sound condescending, “get your head out of Everton’s orbit, okay? I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“Oh, so that’s what you’re doing,” Eve murmured slowly, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
Genni’s nostrils flared. “Evelyn, listen to me. He works for Madame Allegria. He is paid to fuck human women for credits. And he must be damn good at it if he’s got even you spun in his web.” When Eve tried to protest, Genni cut her off with, “Yeah, I’m sure that he’s nice and you’ll say ‘he’s not like that.’ But don’t mistake a good business tactic for genuine romantic feelings, Evelyn. The Krave need repeat clients. That’s just good business and don’t doubt that Madame Allegria pushes that on them. They’ll do and say anything to get you to come back. That’s the simple truth.”
Evelyn thought back to her first visit, when she’d been about to leave. How Khiva had almost begged her to return…
She wasn’t a fool. Of course, she’d always known it in the back of her mind, but she hadn’t cared. She liked the fantasy of it, the pretending.
So why did the thought that Khiva was only vying for her continued business make her stomach hurt? Why did the knowledge that Khiva would most likely be having sex with another woman later that night, when he’d woken up with her, hurt so much?
How many women did he have sex with from week-to-week? From month-to-month?
Stop, she told herself. She had absolutely no right to be jealous of nameless, faceless women, especially when she’d paid him to fuck her, especially when she’d known exactly what she was getting into.
She just hadn’t counted on liking him so much. She hadn’t counted on liking the way he called her leeldra, whatever that meant in his language, or liking the small trilling sound he made when he was amused.
She wondered how many women he called leeldra on a regular basis. All of them?
“I have to get ready for the shop,” Eve said quietly, not quite meeting Genni’s eyes.
Genni was already walking to the door. She left the sitting room, but in the foyer she said, “Glad to know you weren’t murdered by a street lord, Evelyn, and that you were just fucking a Krave. I won’t worry next time!”
Eve closed her eyes, breathing out a sharp exhale through her nostrils.
“Oh,” Genni yelled from the front door, “and thanks for caring but Erik and I broke up!”
The front door slammed behind the temperamental blonde and Eve stood in the middle of her sitting room for another moment, watching Genni stalk down the street through the window.
Well, I was right about one thing, Eve thought, turning towards the stairs, shaking her head.
Genni had truly just wanted to vent about Erik.
Chapter Sixteen
Khiva pushed open the door to the Cluster, a living space he shared with the three other Keriv’i at Madame Allegria’s.
After Evelyn had left, he hadn’t bothered to bathe, wanting to keep her scent on him a while longer, had only dressed to cover his nudity before making his way to the top floor of the brothel. The room they’d shared that night and early morning would be cleaned promptly, erasing all traces of her, and readied for the client he had scheduled for later that evening.
Weariness weighed heavy on his shoulders as he shut the Cluster door behind him. The common sitting room was empty, though he’d expected that. Tavak’s and Ravu’s doors were open, signaling that they were still with their clients, but Dravka’s was shut.
Khiva crossed to Dravka’s door and pushed it open. He found his friend flat on his back in the center of his bed.
“Dravka,” Khiva said, lingering on the threshold. “Has it started?”
“Yes,” his friend’s darkened voice came, his breaths labored. “Tell Valerie to cancel my client.”
“Do you need the chains?” Khiva asked in Keriv’i. “Valerie will check on you if I tell her. You should not be tempted.”
“I am always tempted,” Dravka growled, his eyes finding Khiva’s.
Khiva nodded and crossed inside, watching Dravka closely. The Rut made males unpredictable. It strengthened them, but violence was more common among males who were Rutting, an age old instinct when female attention had to be fought for on Kerivu.
Dravka was naked, his cock fully erect and pulsing. K
hiva pitied him, knowing intimately how painful and frustrating a Rut was without a female to help ease it. But it happened every month for Keriv’i males. Even when Kerivu still existed, unbonded males withstood a Rut alone.
Khiva’s own Rut was due in a week or so. He could feel it coming, could sense the change in himself. It might come early, brought on by his desire and lust for Evelyn. He swallowed hard at that thought, an unfamiliar emotion making his chest clench.
“At least you will not have a client for a couple days,” Khiva told him, pulling the black chains from a chest at the foot of the bed. They rattled in his hands and quickly, he cuffed Dravka’s wrists, attaching each end to the bars drilled into the walls at the head of the bed. They were strong bolts, capable of withstanding a Rutting Keriv’i male’s strength. During the peak of a Rut, a male was reduced to an animalistic state and nothing was more important than finding a willing female to mate.
The chains were necessary.
“Thank you, my friend,” Dravka said, his body already gleaming with sweat as he thrashed in the chains.
“I will tell Valerie,” Khiva said, stepping out of Dravka’s sleeping quarters.
Before he shut the door, however, Dravka said quietly, “Do not let her come in here, Khiva. This Rut…it will be intense. I can feel it.”
Khiva exhaled sharply, looking over his shoulder at his Krave brother, whom he’d known for ten years. “You know Valerie well. You know how stubborn she is. Especially when it comes to you.”
With that, Khiva shut the door. He crossed to the Nu tablet installed in the stone wall and patched a connection to the bottom floor, the only line they were allowed to access from the Cluster.
Valerie’s blue hologram appeared immediately.
“Good morning, Khiva,” she chirped. “Is there anything you need?”
“Dravka’s Rut has begun a day early,” Khiva told her. “You will need to reschedule his client tonight.”
He watched her features still for a brief moment but then she nodded, her voice softening as she said, “I will. I’ll come check on him.”
“He prefers if you did not, Val,” Khiva told her, watching her carefully. Ever since Valerie had come to work for Madame Allegria five years ago, Khiva had always known of the strange friendship Dravka and Valerie shared.
“I don’t care what he prefers,” she said simply. “Do you need me to send up anything? For him? Or for you?”
“Veki,” Khiva said. A thought that had been in the back of mind ever since Evelyn left earlier that morning snuck up on him. Then he swallowed, debating whether to ask. “Val.”
“Yes?”
Khiva hesitated for only a moment before he asked, “Did Evelyn book another visit before she left?”
Khiva saw Valerie’s head turn, probably ensuring that she was alone at the entrance of the brothel and that her aunt wasn’t within hearing distance.
“No, she didn’t, Khiva,” Valerie said quietly.
Khiva tilted his head in a nod, intense disappointment, even perhaps panic, overcoming him. Valerie didn’t ask why he wanted to know, which Khiva was thankful for.
“Thank you,” Khiva said simply and then he ended the hologram call, staring at the black screen, at his reflection, for a brief moment before turning away, towards his own sleeping quarters.
He shut the door, alone, but that panicked disappointment didn’t leave him. The shirt he wore felt too constricting across his skin and he tugged it off, taking a deep breath, before striding over to the large window in his sleeping quarters. The next building over blocked most of the view, but he saw a strip of Everton over the top, towards what he knew was the Night District. He preferred the view of the Lake District from his assigned mating room, but the openness helped ease the tight feeling in his chest.
Khiva briefly eyed his bed, but didn’t feel the need to sleep. Keriv’i needed less sleep than humans and he’d even managed a few hours next to Evelyn the night before, something that never happened with his clients.
Restless, he paced the small room and then went to bathe, for something to do. As he washed, he ran over endless streams of the properties of metals, of the process of creating and crafting it, the heat of a forge, but he avoided thinking about the formula for creating firestones. Humans called it science. But for Khiva, it had been his way of life. It helped calm his mind until he felt more like himself, anything to avoid thinking about the human female he’d just been with.
When he exited the shared washing room in the Cluster, he saw Valerie enter. The blonde had a slim build, like many Everton females and piercing green eyes. While he appreciated her beauty, Khiva had never been attracted to her. Not in the way Dravka was attracted to her at least. To Khiva, she resembled her aunt too much for him to be truly comfortable around her. And while Valerie loathed Madame Allegria almost as much as the Krave did, Khiva knew that blood was blood.
It was impossible to deny blood.
Khiva tilted his head down in greeting, noting that Ravu’s door was now shut. He must’ve returned from his client while he’d been bathing. His brother, Tavak, had yet to return however.
“How is he?” Valerie asked, stepping towards Dravka’s door.
Khiva didn’t answer. Keriv’i male’s tended to like their privacy during the Rut and didn’t like to be disturbed.
Valerie clearly didn’t expect an answer from him because she opened Dravka’s door and stepped inside. Through the threshold, Khiva could see his friend’s expression when he saw the female. Khiva tensed only for a moment, prepared to rush in, but then he relaxed, knowing that Dravka would never harm Valerie in that way.
“Get away, Val,” Dravka growled to her. “Khiva! Get her away!”
“Hush, you big baby,” was all Valerie said in response.
“Leave the door open,” Khiva told her, knowing the human female wouldn’t be dissuaded from being at Dravka’s side, though it would torment his friend.
Valerie didn’t even blink when she saw Dravka’s raging erection, so used to being around the Krave that it seemed like a normal state. Khiva caught the way her eyes lingered, however, but he blew out a harsh breath and went to sit in the common area.
He listened to Valerie fuss over Dravka for a bit before his mind wandered and he snagged a Nu tablet off the common room table. Madame Allegria didn’t care if they had access to the networks of Everton, though he knew that she monitored their activity, their searches. She was aware how much Khiva contacted the Missing Beings branch in the United Worlds, how often he renewed his application and paid the hefty fee to do so, wiping out almost all of his savings from the meager amount Madame Allegria paid them per year.
A part of him was pessimistic. A part of him knew that finding his mother and brother was slim and that was if they were still alive. A part of him wondered if he would’ve had enough for passage off Everton by then if he hadn’t spent his credits searching for them.
The other part of him hoped that one day, all of his efforts, all of his blind hope would be rewarded. He dreamed of the day the United Worlds contacted him with the information that they’d been found, that they still lived, somewhere, in peace. And while Khiva knew he might never save enough for transport off Everton, while Khiva knew he might never see them again, just the knowledge that they’d survived the Great War would be enough to sustain him.
Tavak entered the Cluster right then, nude, his clothes bundled and clenched in his hands. With a side glance towards Dravka’s room, Khiva watched his expression darken when he spotted Valerie, but he didn’t say anything. Tavak had never trusted her, had never trusted any human. He’d recognized the type of female that Madame Allegria truly was from the beginning. He had a way of reading beings that was a gift, though it had burned him more times than Khiva could count when he’d gone against his instincts.
Out of all of them, Tavak simmered the most with restlessness, with the most anger, but he held it tightly reigned, as he must, at least for the sake of his brother, Ravu.
Even still, he’d been whipped the most by Madame Allegria and the human female seemed to have a sadistic pleasure doing so.
“Has my brother returned?” Tavak asked Khiva on the way to his sleeping quarters.
Khiva nodded and something in Tavak’s shoulders relaxed. The two brothers had been lucky, Khiva mused often. They’d managed to escape Kerivu together, despite where they’d ended up with the rest of them in the end.
Tavak was older than Ravu. Not by a long span of time, but Tavak had always watched out for his brother.
“Has Dravka’s Rut begun?” Tavak asked next.
“Yes,” he replied. “Valerie is checking in on him.”
“She is a fool,” Tavak said plainly and then turned to his door, closing it behind him. Every morning, after returning from their respective clients, they all needed time to decompress, to shake whatever character or role the female had wanted them to take on the night before.
Khiva hadn’t needed to do that this morning, he realized. Because he’d been himself with Evelyn. He’d done what he wanted with her, touched her when it pleased him to do so, kissed her without permission, and allowed himself to tell her about his race, about the firestones, which he had never confided in anyone about before.
Of course, his Krave brothers knew who he was, which line he descended from. Though they never treated him poorly for it, Khiva had always felt…other because of it. Not completely one of them, but set apart.
But with Evelyn, she hadn’t judged him. She’d told him to change his perspective, to focus on the good the firestones had done for the universe, for the war.
Evelyn, with her soft voice and even softer skin, and brown eyes that made him want to climb inside and stay forever.
Khiva closed his own eyes, already mourning the loss of her. He highly doubted he would see her again.
And perhaps, in some way, before Madame Allegria found out what was going through his mind…that was for the best.
Chapter Seventeen
Eve tilted her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the exquisiteness of the cool rain glide down her face. She didn’t care that she was standing in her garden like a loon. She didn’t care that her simple white linen dress was getting soaked through.
