Shameless Desire (The Outlawed Realm)

by Tina Donahue

  A dog’s bark awakened Regina.

  It was an ordinary sound she was used to, yet there was an odd quality in the animal’s yapping…a hint of fear behind its menace.

  Propping herself on one elbow, Regina regarded Nikoli. He’d draped his arm over his forehead. His fingers were slack, lips parted, his chest rising and falling steadily, proving how deeply he slept.

  The dog’s barking turned to whimpers, which soon quieted.

  Regina’s pulse continued to thump even as she ordered herself to relax. Even if the animals were disturbed, it couldn’t be by anything that didn’t belong in this neighborhood. No vampires, certainly. She and Nikoli had seen Andris, Sazaar and the others trapped in the void between the dimensions, their fangs bared, their ungodly shrieks muted by the vacuum. The creatures had perished seconds later, never to return.

  Regina wished she could have expected the same from Detectives Sheehan and Goddard. More than once, she’d sensed them tailing her around town, waiting to see if she’d lead them to evidence that she had murdered Donald Bakshi.

  When the detectives had first questioned her about the man, Regina told them she had no idea who Bakshi was, because she didn’t.

  “Then why did we find your fingerprints at his home on Bainbridge Island?” Sheehan had asked.

  She’d danced around that awful question and the others they’d posed, her mind reeling. It wasn’t that she and Nikoli hadn’t been careful. They had, with Regina insisting they clean up after themselves, leaving no trace of them having been in the inventor’s house. Unfortunately, that had the detectives commenting on how immaculate the place was.

  “It was as though everything had been wiped down,” Sheehan had said.

  “Except for the doorknob in the bathroom,” Goddard cut in.

  They’d found her prints there, the one spot she’d missed.

  A new dog began to bark, this one closer to Regina’s house. The sounds it made were just as frantic as the first animal’s were, then mournful, betraying its alarm. Surely not because two detectives approached her house.

  For a moment, Regina almost hoped for that. With Sheehan and Goddard, she at least had constitutional protections. They wouldn’t dare storm her home to harm her or Nikoli. However, with those who lived on his plane and the other dimensions, all bets were off.

  She slipped off the bed as gracefully as she could, glancing over to see if she’d awakened Nikoli.

  He remained on his back, his features relaxed, untroubled. Past him, on the nightstand, was his handheld device. A small metal box that appeared unremarkable. To the casual observer, it might have been a trendy TV remote or a space-age smart phone. Nikoli had built it months ago, using the instrument to open a portal between the dimensions so Lukan and Arez could escape the Pleasure Palace on E4 and come to this realm. Since the day of their liberation, the device had never left Nikoli’s side, always ready should he and Regina need it to flee whatever came their way next.

  Like E4’s guards and werewolves?

  A wave of queasiness had her swallowing quickly. She pulled her gown from the TV, slipping into it as she padded down the hall to his office. Two long tables took up most of the space. Strewn across the polished wood were schematics and materials for his newest inventions. Innovative gadgets that were far beneath his expertise as a quantum physicist but allowed him to earn a living undetected on this side. A streetlamp’s light bled past gaps in the shutters, falling across the items, among them a half-finished bowl of Cap’n Crunch cereal drenched in maple syrup.

  The concoction was one of Nikoli’s favorite meals, along with macaroni cooked in pickle relish, and vanilla ice cream topped with vinegar. Just thinking about it made Regina gag. The weirder the combination, the more Nikoli seemed to crave the food, reminding her how different their physiologies were. For the rest of his days, he couldn’t risk eating chocolate. On E2, the rulers had manipulated their people’s DNA so the delicious treat was poison, used to execute malcontents.

  Goddamn pricks. What horrors were they up to tonight? What new tortures were they developing?

  Regina stopped gritting her teeth and turned to the window, the steady patter of rain catching her attention. When had the second dog stopped barking? Why? She ran her hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm them. The air was humid, oppressive, its damp scent coppery, reminiscent of the stench of blood.

  She went to the window and waited to hear another animal barking, this one down the street, proving that whoever…or whatever…had been outside had moved on.

  Rain beat against the roof and tapped the windows, filling the quiet. Her lungs started to burn. She’d been holding her breath and hadn’t even realized it.

  Go on, look. Nothing’s wrong. You’re imagining it.

  Her hand trembled as she reached for the shutters. She parted them just a bit and leaned closer, peering outside.

  The upscale residential street was shadowed, the dark interrupted only by a series of streetlamps that created pools of yellow light, illuminating the slanting rain. Regina regarded the glistening puddles, dripping vegetation, parked cars, seeing nothing—

  Oh shit.

  She stared at the house directly across the street, the shadow near its front porch. Within its perimeters stood a man. The gloom hid his features, but he was tall, the contours of his body youthful and strong, his long hair worn loose to his shoulders.

  No, no, no.

  Regina snatched her hand away and stumbled back a step, then moved forward and closed the shutters. The wood made a sharp clack that sounded too loud and ominous. Had he heard it? Was that possible? He’d faced this house, clearly staring at it. Why? Who was he? What was he? A guard who’d seen Nikoli and noted his resemblance to the rulers, or a werewolf that had caught his scent and wanted to tear him apart?

  No fucking way was she going to let that happen.

  She started down the hall to alert Nikoli. He’d activate his device. He’d take them from here…to where? How long would they stay? When would it be all right for them to return? Would it ever be safe? If not, how would they survive wherever they went? How would they…?

  Regina halted before her panic became uncontrollable and she did something stupid. Like begging Nikoli to transport them to a location that would make them more vulnerable than this place. If that guy outside was a creature from E4, no way could he get into this locked house unless he broke down the door. That, she’d definitely hear.

  She returned to Nikoli’s office and hurried to his computer, ignoring how late it was. She needed answers fast, and as much help as she could possibly get. The moment she had Skype up, she clicked on the green call button. Seconds later, Lukan’s image came on the screen.

  Even with her worry, Regina couldn’t help but stare. He was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.

  The Arizona sun had deepened his bronze complexion and lightened his blond hair. He still wore it shoulder length, thick and wavy. His blue-green eyes were as exquisite as Regina recalled, his features straight out of a woman’s erotic fantasies. Meelo and Damir had created Lukan to be the perfect specimen of a man so that he—and the other slaves like him—could satisfy the rulers in E4’s Pleasure Palace, indulging their every wanton vice.

  “Regina.” His deep voice was a little cautious. Although she and Nikoli spoke several times a week with him and the others, they’d never called this late.

  Leaning toward the screen, he murmured, “Is everything all right?”

  She wished.

  “Lukan,” Arez called out in the background. “Where did you go? Come to the bedroom, I want to show you this.”

  He looked torn, as though he didn’t want to deny her, yet couldn’t leave without knowing why Regina had called.

  “More baby things?” she asked, forcing herself to make small talk and celebrate their happiness so long in coming, so well deserved.

  Lukan smiled like the proud papa he was going to be. “Arez and Damir are buying out all the stores.
I keep telling them the baby won’t stay small long enough to wear everything.”

  “Then you’ll just have to make more babies, won’t you?”

  His brows lifted as though the thought hadn’t occurred to him. Men—you had to love them.

  “Regina?” Arez hurried into camera range and sat on Lukan’s lap. Against her chest she held a wad of rainbow-colored garments, all tiny and adorable. “I want to show you this…this…stuff.”

  She looked at Lukan to see if she’d used the correct word. Her English was still shaky, her voice sultry, her accent thick. On E4, where she’d spent the first twenty-six years of her life, Arez hadn’t been allowed to speak unless it was to beg the rulers or guards to take her, punish her, use her as they willed.

  Regina clenched her jaw to keep from swearing at the cruelty and injustice the young woman had suffered.

  “Clothes,” Lukan corrected.

  Arez repeated the word.

  He ran his knuckles over her cheek. “Perfect…but Regina didn’t call to see what you bought.”

  Despite his gentle gesture and tone, Arez gave him a frown and turned back to the screen, looking hurt. “You don’t want to see my stuff—my clothes?”

  “Of course I do,” Regina said, unwilling to disappoint Arez in the least. “Show them to me.”

  The young woman smiled, her breathtaking features luminous with joy.

  As they had done with Lukan, Meelo and Damir had created Arez to be everything an E2 ruler would want in a female sex slave. Her hair was thick and black, falling to her waist, her eyes an astounding violet shade, more arresting than Liz Taylor’s had ever been. With her lovely features and caramel-colored complexion, she didn’t look quite real.

  “I like this one the best,” she said, holding up a green romper decorated with yellow daisies. “It reminds me of out there.”

  “Outside,” Lukan corrected gently.

  “Out…side,” she repeated, enunciating each syllable.

  He nodded.

  She touched his shoulder. “Where there’s freedom. What we’ll eventually give to the other slaves just as soon as we find a way.”

  Regina pressed her fingers to her mouth, fighting emotion at the girl’s comment, what the rulers had denied her kind. Conceived within an artificial womb and then taken from E2 to E4’s Pleasure Palace, Arez hadn’t known anything else until Lukan’s rescue. She’d never seen the outside, didn’t know plants and fresh air existed. During her and Lukan’s first nights in Seattle, they’d slept in Regina’s backyard, not wanting to be trapped in the house, confined by walls as they’d been on E4.

  “Do you like it?” Arez asked. She held the garment closer to the computer screen. “It’s all right, isn’t it?”

  The girl’s need for reassurance saddened Regina further. On E4, the rulers and guards had never allowed the slaves to make a decision, have an opinion or need. They treated them as objects, not living, breathing people. Regina would have moved heaven and earth to make certain nothing else bad ever happened to Arez. “It’s adorable.”

  “And so soft.” She rubbed the garment against her cheek, moaning blissfully as she did. “Our baby won’t mind wearing clothes, not like I did.”

  Regina nodded to say she understood. Until Arez had crossed over to this realm, she’d never worn clothing. Pleasure slaves weren’t allowed that. They hadn’t even been given names. The rulers tracked them by their genetic code. On each one’s inner wrist were what appeared to be a series of moles that formed symbols, similar to a DNA profile on this side.

  Lukan hadn’t only saved her from all that, he’d christened her Arez, a word that meant freedom in their language.

  A new surge of sympathy welled in Regina. It was a moment before she could trust her voice. “No matter what your baby wears, he or she will be perfect. How is anything else possible? Look at the two of you.”

  Arez pressed the garment to her throat. “I don’t care if it’s what you call pretty on this side. I just want it to be safe.”

  “It will be,” Regina promised. She and Nikoli would see to it, no matter the danger it posed to them. How could they not? “Is that all the clothing you have?”

  “Oh no, there’s bags and bags of it. Damir found a mall we hadn’t been to before.” Arez slipped off Lukan’s lap and bent at the waist so Regina could still see her. Her hair swung forward. She pushed it behind her ear. “Don’t go. Let me get it. I want to show you.”

  Regina had been hoping for that. The moment Arez rushed from the room, Regina spoke to Lukan, “Have you, Damir and Meelo been following the reports about the recent murder in Seattle?”

  He glanced over as though checking to see if Arez was out of earshot. Turning back to the screen, he used the same subdued tone Regina had. “Meelo and I watched the newscast the other night.”

  “The victim was one of the guards that followed you through the portal, right? One or several of the werewolves attacked him, right?”

  Lukan looked uncomfortable. “The reporter said it was because of drugs.”

  “You don’t believe that. I can see it on your face.” Regina leaned toward the screen. “Help me out here. I’m worried about Nikoli. His features are identical to the rulers. What if the guards see him here accidentally? What if the werewolves come after him thinking he hunted them on E4?”

  “They’d have to find him first.”

  “By smell, correct?”

  He glanced over again, as though something off camera had caught his attention or he needed to stall for an answer.

  “Lukan, please.”

  On a heavy sigh, he nodded. “Yes, they would find him by smell.”

  Regina gripped the arms of her chair. “A few minutes ago, I looked outside to check why the neighborhood dogs were barking. I saw a man across the street.” She described his body shape, the length of his hair. “Does that sound like the creature you saw on E4 when you and Arez were hiding in the cave?”

  Lukan’s frown deepened. Once more, he glanced over, checking the area to the side of him. “I can’t say for certain.” He faced the screen again. “The creature we saw wasn’t wearing clothes.”

  Regina held back a groan. “Yes, I know, but he was young and strong, wasn’t he? His hair fell to his shoulders?”

  “It did, but that doesn’t mean who you saw outside tonight is one of the creatures from E4.”

  “Yeah it does,” she argued. “No one who looks like that lives on this street. The dogs weren’t only barking, they sounded scared.” Before Lukan could debate her, she asked, “How many guards and creatures followed you over here?”

  “I don’t know. Arez and I saw nothing more than shadows. I was barely conscious after the guard hit me with his dart.” He whispered, “Why?”

  Regina’s gut continued to twist, making her nauseous. “Is it possible that more guards are coming to this dimension other than those who crossed over with you and Arez?”

  “How could they? Why would they?”

  Because Vakar had sent them. Surely, he’d concluded that someone had helped Lukan and Arez escape. That someone could be Meelo or Damir. It could also be Nikoli, even though everyone on E2 believed he was dead, thanks to his father. Domm Zorr had lied to protect his son, claiming that Nikoli had died fighting the vampires. The rulers had bought his story, even giving Nikoli a state funeral.

  Regina could only imagine Vakar’s rage at Nikoli having duped him. Could he already know Domm had been in on it?

  If Vakar did, he hadn’t let on to the man. Domm hadn’t opened a portal to warn his son. Could be Vakar was biding his time until his plan was well in motion—using his device to open portals on this side, ordering the guards to locate and capture Nikoli, dragging him back to E2 for execution along with his father.

  Regina bit her lower lip so hard she tasted blood. She wanted to scream or put her fist through the wall but forced herself to remain calm. To try to reason this out as Nikoli and his people would. The Seattle metro area had more than three
million people in it. The guards locating him here, even accidentally, would be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

  A good thing, until she remembered the help they might get from the werewolves that had also crossed over with their superior sense of smell.

  “Regina?”’

  She blinked, then blurted, “The guards are coming for Nikoli. One of the werewolves is already here. I know it. We have to do something.”

  Chapter Six

  Gwen stood next to Staci in their snug kitchen, both of them staring at the back door, listening for sounds from outside. Mortal screams. Animal snarls. Carnage.

  Nothing. For the moment, everything was as it should be.

  Yeah, right.

  Minutes earlier, Gwen had asked Kuma who he was while her mind had added, what are you?

  He might as well have been reading her thoughts, or perhaps he saw the panic on her face, because he’d released her hand and stepped away from her bed, his attention moving to the hall.

  At the time, Gwen wondered if he intended to leave, not wanting to explore why the thought pained her.

  Staci had saved her from such sentimental musings. “What’s wrong?” the girl had asked him, rocking on her heels as though she would have liked to move closer but didn’t dare.

  “Something’s coming,” he answered.

  Gwen hadn’t asked what, nor had Staci. They watched him release the metal button on his jeans and lower the fly. The zipper’s rasp sounded louder than it should, the same as the pounding rain and Staci’s hitching breaths.

  “What’s he doing?” she asked Gwen.

  Wasn’t it obvious?

  The edges of his jeans fell away from his body, revealing his hairy groin, his muscles taut and rippling. He toed off his running shoes and stripped, his clothing smacking against the hardwood floor. He stepped out of his jeans. Naked. Unashamed.

  Staci made a whimpering noise not entirely devoid of pleasure. Gwen couldn’t blame her. He was magnificent. His cock long and thick, the head plump, reddened with desire. Thick veins snaked up the rigid shaft. Gwen would have given up a year of her life for the privilege of burying her face in that part of him, licking his hard rod. She snuck a peek at his face. Her pulse leapt even as her bones seemed to go soft.