Tales of the Shareem, Volume 1

by Allyson James

  Rio was hard again. He tightened the clasps of his leggings, telling his cock to behave itself. “How the hell do level ones do it?” he muttered.

  The idea he’d had before drifted into his head again. He left the mirrored room, his cock still inflated and his imagination spinning, found a console in a blue and yellow sitting room, and made a call.

  *** *** ***

  “This is a first,” Aiden, a level one Shareem, said as he slid into the seat next to Rio in Judith’s bar half an hour later.

  Judith brought him an ale, her gaze raking Aiden’s body. Her pheromones danced in the air, but she wasn’t directing them at Rio. Judith’s attention today was only for Aiden.

  Even Rio had to admit that Aiden was something to look at, even if he was a measly level one. Blond and blue-eyed, Aiden had been face-sculpted at DNAmo, an experiment that hadn’t been extended to all Shareem. While Rio and Rees looked like naturally attractive men who worked out and took care of their bodies, Aiden had been bred to out-handsome every man on the street.

  His brow, nose, chin and cheekbones were sculpted in perfect proportions. His jaw was square, his eyes a perfect almond shape, his hair blond. He dressed in a white sleeveless tunic, the kind Rees liked to wear, which showed off his well-muscled body.

  Judith’s smile as she approached said she appreciated every molecule of him. “On the house,” she said, setting a self-cooling glass of ale in front of Aiden.

  Aiden smiled back, a delight to see, if you were a woman.

  “Hey,” Rio said, pretending to be hurt. “You made me hand over my credit slip.”

  Judith flashed him a grin. “I’ve given you so many free drinks, Rio, I’m surprised I’m still in business.”

  “Because we’re friends,” Rio said.

  “Bite me.” Judith sent Aiden a sultry look. “That invitation is open to you too.”

  Aiden chuckled, his Shareem laugh low and sexy. “Tell you what. I’ll buy Rio’s and my next round.”

  Judith rubbed Aiden’s brawny shoulder before turning around to sway away. “See, Rio,” she said. “That’s what it’s like to be sweet.”

  “Sweet,” Rio muttered. “What I’ve always dreamed of, being sweet.”

  Aiden raised his glass. “To friends,” he said.

  “Friends.” Rio lifted his glass in return and took a swig. “What did you mean this was a first?”

  “A level three asking a level one for advice? What happened? Did your whip malfunction?”

  “Stop it, I’m laughing so hard.” Rio set down his ale glass, licking the spicy ale from his lips. “Here’s the thing. I’m sexy as hell, I have women crawling at my feet, begging for me. I can make them orgasm by looking at them and telling them they want to. What I don’t know how to do is . . . touch them.”

  “What are you talking about? You touch women all the time.”

  Rio shook his head. “No, I fuck them. I tease them. I spank them. I don’t touch them.”

  “Ah, I think I see what you mean. Who’s the woman?”

  “A gorgeous, redheaded virgin.” Rio broke off. “I don’t know why, but she’s made me more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life.”

  No, he did know why. She was beautiful, sweet, lickable and he wanted to fuck her and fuck her until he couldn’t take any more.

  “Uh-oh,” Aiden said.

  “What uh-oh? And wipe that grin off your face.”

  “Sounds serious.”

  “It doesn’t matter what it sounds like. I’m Shareem. She’s not. She’s new to this, and I’m too level three for her. She needs level one, and I can’t be that.”

  Aiden drew a thoughtful finger around the rim of his glass. “So do you want me to take over?”

  A dart of jealousy pulsed through Rio bringing with it a pain he’d never experienced, far beyond the torture they’d put him through at DNAmo. The thought of Aiden going to Nella and pleasuring her slowly made his veins burn.

  “No,” Rio said, more emphatically than he meant to.

  Aiden could have said something snide, but he didn’t. He simply took a drink of ale, his perfect throat moving in a perfect swallow.

  “What I want is for you to show me how to be level one,” Rio said.

  Aiden looked surprised. “I don’t know if I can. We’re bred to our levels—we can’t change.”

  “I know that. But you can at least teach me how to touch her like a level one might. Maybe I could hold back my level three tendencies and leave her when they flare up.”

  Aiden studied his ale glass, his lashes shielding his eyes. “You must really care about this lady.”

  “She’s been through a lot. She needs soothing.”

  Aiden’s gaze flicked to him. Aiden was usually a wisecracking pain in the ass, but today he was being calm and thoughtful. “I can show you how to massage her. You’re Shareem, your fingers should be as soothing as mine.”

  The bar had emptied, the last customer swaying away. The door clanked loudly as Judith let it down. It was the hottest part of the day, when people drifted home and businesses closed to wait out temperatures that could soar to a hundred and thirty degrees in the shade.

  “You want us to leave?” Aiden called to her.

  “Are you kidding? Stay as long as you like.”

  Judith liked Shareem. She was the only bartender in Pas City who did. Most women on Bor Narga shunned the forbidden Shareem, at least in public. Judith, on the other hand, liked Shareem, liked sex, and didn’t much care who knew it. She, Dr. Laas, and Talan were the only women Rio knew who treated Shareem like human beings.

  Judith began her task of cleaning off tables, not in any hurry.

  “There’s really not much to it,” Aiden said. “Start with her facedown, naked, on a bed wide enough for you to sit or kneel next to her. Have her place her arms to her sides, her legs a little apart. Then you massage her. Make sure you use plenty of oil so your hands glide and don’t burn her skin.”

  “Start where?” Rio asked. He pictured Nella lying spread-eagled on the bed, facedown, her sweet ass beckoning him. He’d start between her thighs, thumbs kneading her flesh, before he moved them farther apart and lowered his tongue to stroke between her cheeks.

  “Her feet.”

  “What?” Rio jerked himself from his cock-hardening fantasy. “Her feet?”

  “It will relax her, make her pliable. Women love having their feet rubbed.”

  “Most women beg me to rub somewhere other than their feet.”

  “They like their toes nibbled,” Aiden said. “And suckled.”

  “Rub feet, suckle toes. Got it.”

  “Do it slowly, the strokes steady. Then move up her legs. Use her muscles as a guide. Not hard strokes—you want to soothe, not press.”

  “How long before I can massage her pussy?”

  “Gods, level threes are impatient. The trick is to go slowly. By the time you’ve reached her ass, she’s sighing with pleasure, but you don’t stop there. You do her entire back and arms while she’s longing for you to get to her pussy. Make her wait.”

  “Now that I can get into. Holding back, making her beg.”

  He saw Nella again, squirming on the sheets, her red hair tangled on the pillow, her hips lifting toward him. Please, Rio, she’d say.

  Not yet, baby, he’d respond. I want you good and wet before I get there.

  She’d whimper with disappointment, then he’d lift his strap and smack her sweet little backside.

  Rio sighed and made the image dissolve. “Massage. Slowly. I’m not sure my programming will let me.”

  “Like this.”

  Aiden moved his ale glass and pressed his hand to the table, thumb and last two fingers on the surface, the other two fingers held loosely. “Glide across her skin, pressing a little. Long strokes, following the curve of her leg.”

  He moved his hand across the table, slowly and sensually, his own eyes becoming bluer, as though he pictured a beautiful woman under his hand.

&nb
sp; Rio copied his movements, trying to shape his hand the same way, trying press a little, but not too much. It felt awkward.

  He gave up. “I gotta say, massaging this table does nothing for me.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s a lot better on flesh. Here, roll up your sleeve.”

  Rio pushed his leather sleeve above his elbow and laid his arm on the table, wondering what Aiden would do.

  Aiden placed his hand on Rio’s, then slid massaging fingers from Rio’s wrist all the way up the underside of his arm, gliding and soothing.

  He was a master, Rio had to give him that. His touch was exactly right, perfect, sensual, not too hard.

  “Like that,” Aiden said. He stroked again. “It loosens her muscles, makes her relaxed and very happy. Here, try it on me.”

  Aiden rested his bare, brawny arm on the table, tanned skin contrasting the scarred white tabletop.

  Rio put tentative fingers on Aiden’s arm. It felt nothing like a woman’s, too hard and too broad, the golden hair that curled around it too wiry. Rio moved from Aiden’s wrist to his elbow, trying to copy what he’d felt Aiden do to him.

  Aiden shook his head. “Too hard.” He put his hand over Rio’s, guiding his fingers to the right form, pulling him back when Rio tried to indent his skin. “About half the pressure you’re using. Let her own muscles guide you, and whether the woman is small or large, and how much she indicates she can take.”

  Aiden guided Rio’s hand a time or two more, then let go. Rio, more sure what Aiden wanted, slid his fingers up the other man’s arm, feeling the sinews relax beneath Aiden’s bronzed skin.

  “That’s it,” Aiden said, his voice low. “Use her body to tell you how much pressure you need.”

  “Hum,” Rio said. He kept massaging, feeling the shape of Aiden’s arm beneath his fingers, learning to sense where Aiden relaxed under his touch. His Shareem warmth helped, and so did Aiden’s, a sensation that was as soothing to the massager as to the massaged.

  It was mesmerizing, really. Rio added his middle finger to the stroke, like he might do to Nella’s pussy, and Aiden responded with a soft noise.

  “You got it,” he said, his Shareem voice low.

  Rio lifted his hand away and picked up his ale, pleased with the lesson. “Thanks. That will come in handy.”

  He heard a soft noise close by and turned his head. Judith was standing numbly at the next table, her empty tray in her hands, staring, lips parted.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Rio asked.

  Aiden gave her a slow wink.

  Judith blinked, unfroze, and moved woodenly back to the bar. “Nothing,” she said. “Nothing at all.”

  Rio turned back to Aiden. “All right, so now I know how to massage. What else?”

  “Have her turn over onto her back, and then do the same thing again. By this time, she’ll be completely happy and ready for anything you want. Another good thing is to hold her head in your lap and massage her face. That you have to do very gently.”

  Rio set down his glass. “Show me.”

  Aiden lifted his hands to his own face. “Use your thumbs and fingertips. Do the cheekbones, the temples—pulse points—and jawline. Gently. Here.”

  He touched Rio’s face, his Shareem skin warm. Rio flinched.

  “Relax and close your eyes, asshole,” Aiden said.

  His fingertips were blunt but featherlight on Rio’s skin. Rio, wanting the lesson, let his eyes drift closed.

  Aiden traced Rio’s cheekbones with his thumbs, pressing a little, making Rio relax in spite of himself. He felt Aiden’s Shareem touch flow over him, making him compliant, much as his own touch might work on a woman.

  “You can do this when you’re face-to-face, like we are now,” Aiden said, rubbing little circles over Rio’s temples, “when things start getting more intimate. Move at random, don’t massage in any particular order. You want her to wonder what you’ll do next.”

  “Mmm,” Rio said, getting into it. Maybe he could teach Nella how to massage him. Mutual massaging could be fun.

  Aiden moved his thumbs and fingertips down Rio’s cheeks, gently pinching his jawbone, then his chin. He moved to Rio’s lips, pressing lightly all the way across, his touch soothing.

  “You’ll want her lips relaxed and yielding,” Aiden said, his warm breath touching Rio’s mouth. “She’ll have no worry, at this point, only pleasure. She’ll want you, but she’ll wait for you to do what you like.”

  Rio felt his shoulders sag, Aiden’s technique and Shareem touch lacing his mind with relaxation. He never thought he’d feel comfortable having another male touch him, but Aiden knew what he was doing.

  Aiden slid one finger across Rio’s softened lips, parting them. The next thing Rio felt was something softer than fingers, something smooth and cushioning that continued the massage across his mouth.

  His own lips responded before the connection reached his brain. He returned the gentle pressure, completing the kiss, then his eyes popped open to see Aiden’s beautiful face hanging an inch from his own.

  Rio scooted back from the table. “Did you just kiss me?”

  Aiden picked up his ale, smiling, his Shareem eyes filled with blue. “Yes. What’s your problem?”

  “My problem is you just kissed me.” Rio swiped his arm over his mouth.

  Aiden sat there looking amused. “I was demonstrating what you should do.”

  “Warn me next time.”

  “Get over it, Rio. I didn’t hurt you.”

  “You could have.” He touched his lips gingerly, as though making sure they were still there.

  “It looked fine from where I’m standing.” Judith was leaning on the bar, a forgotten rag dripping in her hand. Her rushing pheromones touched Rio all the way across the room.

  Rio studied her, interested. “You know, that turned her on,” he said to Aiden.

  Aiden nodded. “I’ve had more than one woman tell me she fantasizes about watching two Shareem make out in front of her.”

  “Really?” Rio’s heartbeat slowed, his Shareem genes fighting the abrupt emotion of alarm. “I’ve never heard that. Of course, the women I’m with don’t have much time to talk.”

  “That’s part of being level one. Sharing fantasies.”

  Rio took a thoughtful sip of ale. “That’s really a woman’s fantasy?”

  “Yep.”

  “Have you ever fulfilled it?”

  “No. Not yet.”

  “It’s forbidden, in any case,” Rio said automatically. He turned his ale glass around. It was nearly empty, but Judith seemed incapable of movement, so he didn’t signal for a refill. “We were programmed to want women only.”

  Aiden gave him a wry look. “Forbidden. Right. How many other things that are forbidden do you do anyway?”

  Rio conceded this. “You have a point.”

  “It’s not you I’d fulfill the fantasy with,” Aiden said. “So don’t worry.”

  Now that Rio’s initial shock was over, he grew curious. “Who then? What Shareem do you think is beautiful enough to go to bed with?”

  “He’s not beautiful,” Aiden said. “But he’s fucking sexy. And I’m not going to tell you who.”

  “Rees?” Rio asked.

  Rio knew that Bor Nargan human men sometimes took other men as lovers, and with women so uptight about sex, who could blame them? But he’d never heard of a Bor Nargan man being with a Shareem, or a Shareem on a Shareem. It was forbidden, and truth to tell, Rio had never really thought about it.

  He’d done plenty of two Shareem men on one woman, a few times even three on one, but he and the other Shareem had been busy pleasuring the woman, not each other. Once a woman had asked Rio and Rees to let her lick both their cocks at once. She wanted them to stand facing each other, tips touching, while she licked her way from one end to the other.

  They’d done it, but Rio had been too far gone in pleasure to notice Rees’ hands on his shoulders and the tip of Rees’ long cock rubbing against his. He’d not h
ad any desire to take Rees aside and kiss him, or anything.

  Aiden shook his head. “Not Rees. Don’t try to pry it out of me, because the last thing I want is him jumping on a hover train out of Pas City, never to be seen again.”

  Rio held up his hand. “All right. I’ll let it go. I was going to ask you to come over and help me learn level one on my lady, but if you’d rather hump a Shareem . . .” He shrugged.

  “I’d be happy to,” Aiden said. “You’ll probably get it wrong anyway.” He turned to where Judith was still staring at them with a dazed expression. “Judith, any chance of another ale?”

  “Sure,” Judith said. She automatically filled two more self-cooled containers and brought them over, her gaze riveted to Aiden. “On the house,” she said. “For both of you.”

  Chapter Nine

  The Story of Rio

  When Nella went back down to the main sitting room after showering and resting, she saw a tall man breeze through. So intent was he on making the lift that the man nearly ran into her.

  At the last moment, he stopped then beamed a dazzling smile on Nella. The man was definitely older than Rees and Rio, his hair iron gray. Not Shareem, but a human, handsome of face with a well-built, muscular body.

  Also, unlike Shareem, the man’s eyes were brown; wide and warm, and well—sexy. Whenever Shareem got around to aging, they might look like him.

  “Hello,” he said. “I’m Dr. Ralston. You must be the specimen . . . I mean Nella.”

  Nella didn’t quite know how to respond to this, so she settled for politeness. “How do you do?”

  “Excellently well. This problem has challenged me in ways I haven’t been challenged in a long time. Frankly, I was getting bored figuring out how to make cave-root bats better at fertilizing underground vegetables.”

  Nella had to smile. “Do you work for your planet’s agriculture ministry?”

  “Good gods, no. I and my work were outlawed when DNAmo closed. Foolish, you know, because everyone needs a good geneticist. But no, I work in secret, and furnish people with research and ideas. Other people get the credit, unfortunately, but I don’t really mind. It’s the work I love. And I get to collaborate with Dr. Laas, who is a true genius. I’m good—one of the best geneticists in the galaxy—but no one can touch Dr. Laas. I keep trying to get her to run off with me, but she enjoys being buried down here, working on her machines and arguing with Baine. And, truth to tell, she’d never leave her Shareem. She likes looking out for them.”