by Rena Marks
Son of a bitch. That was the best hope they had? A theory?
“Time is running out,” Happy said. “If we don’t do something, she’ll die from organ failure in the suspension fluid. Unfortunately, we’re not advanced enough to keep humans alive for more than a month. It’s been three weeks now.”
They were supposed to have stumbled upon a solution at least two weeks ago. The solution should have been growing along her body even now. At this rate, one week wouldn’t be enough time to grow an entire body’s worth of skin. Even now, she would be in so much pain…the shock might still kill her.
“Pax,” Happy said, his hand firmly on his bicep. All of his aspects were so damned touchy feely. That was definitely what they all had in common—that and his face. “It’s all we can do. And we need to move now.”
“Okay,” Pax breathed. “Who’s coming?”
“You don’t think five look-a-likes surrounding her table will terrify her as much as the pain she’s about to undergo?” Taut asked.
“She’s not going to wake yet, dummy,” Impatience said. “Until she does, one of us will stay with her round the clock so the others can rest. She doesn’t even need to know who’s who. We’ll all answer to Pax’s name.”
“Let’s go,” Pax said. He strode to the decontamination unit and stripped his clothes, aware of his aspects doing the same. They’d never really been naked around each other—but it wasn’t like they didn’t all have the same equipment. They were his exact copies in every way.
“Well, this is awkward.” Happy broke the uncomfortable silence, making a couple of the aspects snicker at all the exposed nakedness.
Impatience growled. “Shut it. I got my balls hanging out here.”
“I’m just saying I’m glad Lust isn’t here. He has a bigger dick.”
“He doesn’t have a bigger dick,” Taut said. “He just appears that way.”
“All of you, shut it,” Pax growled.
“He’s definitely more like Impatience,” Happy whispered, rolling his eyes. “Poor Lust must be as left out as I am.”
Again with the snickers.
Pax wished he could command them all to return to his body, but he knew from past experience, they’d remain just to needle him. Or torture him by popping out at a most inopportune time. Like the time he’d been about to get it on with his hand.
Fuckers.
But they were right. He was becoming more and more like Impatience, who they’d also referred to as Grumpy beneath their breath. And less like Happy. Or Lust. Or any of the rest. Definitely less than Lust. Sexy. Hedonism. Whatever name he went by these days. Pax could care less—because if he cared, they’d hang out more and more.
They stepped into the showers where they were sprayed with a sterilization solution. A blast of colder solution sprayed slowly over their shivering bodies.
“Shrunk up like used teabags and a hiding turtle,” Happy announced.
“Shut it,” five voices groaned.
For the first time in a long time, Pax felt the corners of his mouth turn up. He wasn’t the only one who was nervous. Happy was cracking jokes about their shriveled testicles.
The air warmed as they dried and the door swung open. The next room housed sterile gowns. This time, there was no speaking as they dressed and slipped their hands into gloves. Masks covered their faces.
Finally, they entered the room that housed the sleeping female.
The mood was somber as they stared at the amount of damage to her body. Everything was from the neck down was raw and would be bloody if not for the gel holding her flesh from weeping.
“Computer,” Pax said. “Lift left foot.”
A mechanical arm extended from the ceiling, cutting into the surface of the gel and closing around her ankle. Her leg was lifted until her foot broke the gel.
“Wow,” Happy breathed.
Her flesh was an even brighter red out of the gel. He shuddered to think of her as awake for this. She’d be in for so much pain. He used a pair of large tweezers to stretch a square of bio-film skin over the top portion of her foot, applying it carefully so no edges were folded down on itself.
When he was done, he stepped back. “We’ll leave her foot out of the liquid. In the morning, we’ll see if the film grows or if it dies. Computer, hold.”
He dropped the tweezers in the metal bowl with a clang.
“I’ll stay with her tonight,” Impatience said.
Pax actually wanted to stay, but he knew it was a waste of time. There was nothing he’d be able to do and he’d have to force himself not to check the skin every five minutes. Instead, he nodded and gestured to the rest of his shards to follow him out.
The next morning, he relieved a bleary-eyed Impatience. Well, not necessarily relieved as re-absorbed him. Impatience was excited, showing him the progress made on the girl.
Laser scans showed the bio-film skin had minute cells attaching around her heel, and spreading up toward the toes. They were in no way actual skin yet, but they were tentatively spreading. Success! But still, it was slow-going. At this rate, she’d never be fully covered before she had to be woken.
Somber, he got to work. There was much to do this day. He’d have to drape her entire body—the large parts. The small areas of her body were the problem. Between the fingers and toes, under the arms, the groin—those areas couldn’t be rushed. Those areas he’d have to wait for the film to grow naturally. Slowly.
And she’d have to be awake.
Chapter Three
One year later:
SERENA’S SKIN MAY HAVE been fully attached, but it wasn’t without complications. For a while, it was touch and go. Shock had hit in the beginning and once an infection made it necessary to remove part of the bio-film and start over. But now it had been nearly a year since she’d been woken.
He’d never met a braver female.
A year since Robyn had called him into her office—Happy had been the only shard present with him. She’d explained that he was Serena’s whole world, as she was not only cut off from human contact, but the world outside the gates of Xenia was led to believe she’d died. There was no way the world could know they created a skin to help her to live. The fear of his creations would be enormous. He had to expect a case of hero-worship from Serena and deal with it professionally.
He was the only person she’d seen or spoken to in a year. Or so, she thought, because his aspects answered as him. But not even the doctors visited, afraid to bring any infections. Unfortunately, the bio-skin that grew was ultra-sensitive and until he could find a solution, she couldn’t stand to have anything touch her skin. Not clothing, not a blanket, nothing. Consequently, she lived naked.
It was not an easy feat for him. And he couldn’t help but be relieved that it meant no others came to visit. He felt strangely territorial and convinced himself it was because it was his fault she was burned so horribly, his fault that she had fire phobias and was plagued with nightmares. He wanted no one else around for her to ever come to harm again.
That’s what he told himself.
Truth was, he didn’t want anyone to see her luscious beauty. The only way he realized that fact was when Jealousy stated it when the two of them were alone.
Yes, Pax felt the same damn way as his jealous aspect. Thankfully the others weren’t around to know.
He stepped into the sterilization unit, removing his clothes. Once he was redressed in his loose scrubs, he did another step they’d since developed when her skin sensitivity hit.
He stepped into a bubble unit.
Originally created for one of the human mates named Everly, the bubble had been designed to keep her scent inside during an episode where another Xeno Sapien was confused and thought she belonged to him. He had been territorial and sleep-walking in a primitive state, and wouldn’t be able to accept that she carried the scent of another Xeno Sapien, Thane. Zee’s own friend. It was a mess.
Now, the bubble was used to encase Pax so he could touch Serena wit
hout causing her pain.
At least he no longer needed to suit up in full gear with a face mask, hair net, and glasses.
The bubble had been modified many times and now sat thin and intact a mere two centimeters over his skin. Once he was sure it was complete, he entered the door to the room the lovely Serena lived in. Half his personal lab had been converted to a room for her.
She stared up at the window in the ceiling, relishing the filtered sunshine upon her glorious skin.
“Well, hello, handsome,” she said huskily when he entered the room.
He was sure he’d never blushed so hard. Her voice was new. Her vocal cords had been damaged from screaming and now she spoke raspier.
The left side of her lips turned up into half-smile. “We’re shy today, I see.”
“Of course not,” he all but snapped, trying to will the blush away. The mood swings were the only way he and the other aspects could explain away their differences.
“Yes, you are,” she teased. “I know what’ll get you over your embarrassment.”
He sighed. She wasn’t going to let this go. “What?”
“Imagining mine. I get to greet my doctor bare-ass naked every day.”
“Technically, I’m not your doctor,” he reminded her.
“Scientist, then.”
At his protest, she held up her hand. “I know you don’t have an official degree to hold up behind your name. Xeno Sapiens never had technical schooling. But Pax,” she leaned in, “you know as well as I do, you’re smart enough to be a scientist. Smart enough to be a doctor. And you don’t need human titles for me to think of you as either.”
And this was what he secretly loved about Serena. No matter what horrors she’d been through, she was always upbeat. Still trusting. Loveable and…good grief. She’d be better off with Happy.
And definitely, Happy was interested. Happy was interested in all things female.
It made an ugly bubble of something root in his midsection. The green pit of jealousy.
“Come, lay down on the table.” He knew his tone was short, he just couldn’t help it.
He avoided looking at the jiggle of her perfect breasts as she hopped up. Ignored the way she allowed her knees to part as if she wasn’t completely nude. As if she was completely comfortable with him.
How the hell did the Hedonist shard live through this torture?
“They’re a different color, you know.”
“What?”
“My areolas. They’re a very light pink. They used to be darker. More of a brownish-pink.”
Blood rushed to his cock and he instantly regretted the thin material of the scrubs. Thankfully she was looking at his face.
“It’s the skin,” he muttered. “The bio-film skin. The coloring is a bit lighter than your natural skin was. I didn’t take into account how much would stretch it would give as it grew, therefore taking some of the applied pigment.” He touched very lightly at the line of demarcation at the top of her shoulders. “How does this feel today?”
“You can press a bit harder.”
“I don’t want to cause you pain.”
Her lips twisted into that sardonic half grin. “Then touch me fully, doc.”
His breath caught, but he ignored the implication and pressed the tiniest bit more with his finger. He made small up and down movements, trailing his finger between her natural skin and the seam of the bio-film. The overlap procedure hadn’t worked and they had to cut away at the excess bio-film. It left a zig-zagged scar.
Her natural skin should have been more sensitive, from all the information they’d gathered before applying the bio-film. But somehow, the bio-skin made her nerves grow back much faster than they should have and her sensitivity exploded off the charts. For weeks she was a quivering mass of pain until she had decided to live nude.
Since her flesh was completely covered and safe from infection, it was agreed that she no longer needed doctor visits. Once a week, he took in a camera to record the progress for the doctors. The rest of the time, his visits were considered just that…visits.
Sometimes she teased him more than other times, getting a feel for what she thought was his moods, but in reality was the different aspects of himself. It was hard on her—she knew him a lot better than he knew her. She was with him—or at least, who she thought was him—every single day. He personally was with her a lot less than that, preferring the times when she slept and letting the other shards take the shifts when she was awake. While she was asleep, he could stare unabashedly at the beautiful bounty spread on top of the soft table and fantasize about her.
In fact, his secret project—the sex doll—was beginning to resemble Serena. Though her skin color matched Serena’s natural tone. The doll for which he had originally created the bio-skin.
“Feel this?”
Her eyes tightly closed to avoid seeing the areas he touched, his finger trailed across her natural skin in the vicinity of her throat. She knew the routine.
“My throat. No, there’s not much sensation there. Still a bit numb.”
The brain sent mixed signals. Because the bio-skin was super sensitive, her natural skin compensated by being a bit more numbed. Unfortunately, it didn’t help matters. But she couldn’t control that. Her brain had to be retrained; hence the touch therapy with her eyes closed.
“Here?” His eyes locked on her face to make sure she didn’t watch, he trailed his finger over a hardened nipple. A spike of heat curled in his cock. He’d just touched her nipple. Her fucking nipple. He’d have spank-material for days.
“Can’t pinpoint it,” she gasped. “Try it again? Softer touch, maybe?”
He skimmed his finger over her nipple again.
Her eyes flew open. “Pax?”
Holy shit, she felt that.
He felt the heat in his cheeks. He tried to turn the direction more clinical. “You can pinpoint the feeling?”
“Do it again,” she said.
“Your eyes are open.”
“I know.” Her voice was a whisper.
He tried to make his touch as impersonal as possible, considering the area he was touching. What the hell had he been thinking?
She moaned. “Pax,” she rasped, licking her lips. “I—I feel it. I do.”
What? Did he hear correctly?
“Feel it? Without pain?”
“I—I think so,” she whispered. “It’s been so long—I’m not sure. But I think so.”
He stroked her nipple again.
“Definitely.” Her voice was firm. “Do it again. But this time, a little harder. Leave your fingers on it, as if you’re plucking it.”
His eyes flew up to her face, but she’d settled back, closing her firmly. He was helpless to resist. He used his thumb and index finger and plucked her nipple, keeping the turgid peak captured between the two.
“I feel the touch. No pain,” she murmured. “But no pleasure, either. Do you think I’ll ever feel sexual pleasure?”
For her sake, he hoped so. He sure the hell did. “Perhaps someday,” he said. “Today is a major breakthrough. One spot where you can differentiate pain and pinpoint the exact spot of touch.” Usually when he touched her, she could tell a general vicinity—such as her arm, but couldn’t tell if it was her forearm or upper arm, or behind her arm, or even her wrist.
“Touch me some more,” she demanded, leaning back with her eyes tightly closed. She brought her arms up to cover her eyes.
His erection was at full mast now. She had no idea how carnal her words sounded.
“Touch me, Pax.”
She was well aware that the position of bringing her arms up over her head arched her back and thrust her rounded breasts outward. Goddess, the idea of her nipple between the sexy Pax’s fingers shot a dose of heat down between her legs.
The sexy Xeno Sapien was the moodiest man she’d ever met. She often teased him, getting a feel for how he felt each day. Sometimes he was uplifted and happy. Sometimes, like today, he was clinica
l and somber. Standoffish. Sometimes even more standoffish than other times. Sometimes he was sex on a stick. Well, usually he was sex on a stick, but sometimes it was as if he couldn’t help the lust rolling through his body. It was if it threatened to explode from his skin. Sometimes he was just plain happy. Like…constantly. And let’s not forget the days when he flipped his collar outward and glanced at himself in mirrors constantly.
She liked this persona best, because this one was where he tried to mask all his other feelings. For example, when he was happy, he was just plain happy. But with today’s mood—she could tell he was turned on. Why else would he touch her nipple for the first time ever? But he was going to deny it—even to himself—and pretend it was just an advanced phase of study. That was when she liked him best because she could draw him out of that shell he placed around himself. When he was in his other moods, he had no shell.
But something else was happening with the sexy man. Sometimes he forgot a small joke they’d had between them. It wasn’t like normal forgetfulness.
Because the man would remember it when he was in a different mood.
If he was happy when they’d cracked jokes, he’d forget about the running joke until he was happy again.
If he touched her sexily when he was feeling sexual, he didn’t touch her that way again until he was back to feeling like Mr. Sex on a Stick.
It was weird. It was like he was more than one person. Except for now. For now, the somber, shy, studious, sexy Pax was touching her a bit inappropriately. And trying to convince himself it was completely normal.
To encourage him to touch her anywhere, she let her knees fall apart, opening herself up to him. She felt, rather than heard, his breath catch. She knew it was beyond slutty, hell, who didn’t? But this man had seen and studied every inch of her. He’d created the skin that stretched over every fold of her body.
