Geared for Pleasure (6 page)

Bodhan was an enigma. He could not have missed her arousal, yet he did not press her. He could have taken her easily—she would not have denied him if he had continued. Yet she was thankful he had not reveled in her weakness. The blow to her pride would have been too great had he taken the last illusion of control she had left.

Her thoughts raced ahead. Four days. In four days she would be in Two Moon Bay. According to the Wode who had been stationed there, it was a favorite port for sailors and traveling traders alike. Surely someone there would know of the Deviant and point her in the right direction.

Then her first kiss beneath the dark, mysterious waters would be nothing more than a memory.

“She smells like fresh sweets. Tasty. I may save my profit for once to have a lick of
that
treat.”

The sultry voice made the small crowd of women surrounding Dare laugh. Even the guard stationed in the open doorway chuckled. She could only be grateful he was facing the other way.

Lavender grinned at her in the long mirror’s reflection and Dare tried to return the expression, grateful the woman sported neither bruises nor hard feelings from their earlier encounter. Her smile contorted, interrupted by the gasping need for air as Lavender tightened the laces of the corset she’d brought for her to wear.

“Be good, Seraphina. I think our Dare is shy, in spite of her name.” Lavender leaned closer to Dare, the scented oil in her hair and face paint all seeming to blend perfectly with her name and the color of her dress. She whispered in her ear, “Never you mind her, love. She teases everyone. It’s just her way. Only been here a few days longer than you this time, and as usual, you’d be thinking
she
ran the place instead of the boss.”

The woman in question came closer and Dare turned to greet her, as well as evade the infernal corset session for a few air-gulping
moments. When she finally faced her, the hairs on her arms lifted, her skin heated, and she had the oddest sensation she had been punched in the chest.

She was
nothing
like the others. Standing out in the crowd, not simply for her defiance of the women’s color-coordinated fashions. Her curved hips were covered in a black crinoline underskirt that she wore instead of a dress, and her full breasts spilled out of a jade corset embroidered with, of all things, golden dragonflies. They drew Dare’s gaze, but not nearly as much as the dark oval spots that lined the outside of her arms, disappearing up her neck, behind her subtly pointed ears and short tousled hair that was the shade of a dark ruby when it caught the light. But the spots… Dare knew those spots. Knew she would find the same markings up her spine.

Seraphina was a Felidae. A female Felidae with no shame in showing her markings. Showing most of her body, for that matter.

Dare had only been this close to one other of her kind. The queen’s personal maid, Nephi. Nephi was a shy, slightly older female, though still quite beautiful. She had always covered her ears with a lace cap and her body with a high-necked, long-sleeved gown. Even on the warmest of days, she’d refused to reveal her markings. The queen adored her, and it was clear Nephi shared her feelings, but to Dare it seemed she was an anomaly. A Felidae who enjoyed the company of humans. Seraphina was obviously another.

The rest of their kind did not usually enjoy mixing outside of their species. With their keen vision, agility, and desire for isolation, they chose to work in the mines and the processing factories that bordered their settlement near the mountains framing Centre City.

Dare knew the queen did not approve of the settlement’s borders, fortified as they were with stormfence—the same technology that, with the turn of a crank, electrified the massive entrance gate to Queen’s Hill. Neither did Idony approve of the shield guards monitoring the Felidae’s comings and goings, or the pending alternative
recently put on the table by the science ministry: that they should all be brought in to be tagged as a census alternative.

The Theorrean Raj had never disguised their disregard for the Felidae as a species. They annually denied the settlement elders’ requests for improved living standards. For the opportunity to trade fairly. The decisions disgusted and enraged the queen in every instance.

But not enough to disagree.

In fact, since she’d been in the palace, Dare had never heard Idony speak a word aloud in protest. Not when the Raj members, the nobles, and the queen had their annual meeting to discuss Theorrey’s future. Nor when the governor from Maithuna brought his harem of chained Felidae females—declawed, tails clipped, and obviously drugged—to the Hill when he was called to negotiate a change in trade conditions.

Idony had hated every moment she was forced to take part in
that
official visit but willed herself to remain silent. Only Dare, because of her abilities, had known the queen’s heart. Had felt enough that she knew not to ask her why.

Seraphina’s voice brought her back into the moment. “Get a good enough look, pretty girl? Count every silky spot? If you’re nice to me, I may even show you my tail.”

She came closer, until her cheek was flush against Dare’s. She smelled of sex and something unique. Some alluring aroma that made Dare feel strange, liquid. She thought a female’s pheromones only affected males of the same species.

Seraphina pressed a soft kiss against her jaw, her tongue slipping out to caress Dare’s flesh.

The rough, wet texture made Dare shiver and she leaned closer, hardly aware of her movements, of the fact that she was asking for more.

Seraphina cupped Dare’s bare shoulders in her hands, turning
her back toward the mirror where she could see them both reflected in the beveled glass. The heat of her bare breasts pressed against Dare’s back enticingly.

Dare’s eyes, indigo blue to match her hair, were wide and dilated. Her hair had been left down, curls flowing toward the middle of her back in a wild, abandoned style that was so unlike her usual tight braid.

Beside the gloriously colorful Seraphina, Dare should have felt dowdy and plain. But as she studied herself in the mirror, the silver threaded corset that cinched her waist in tight, her own not insignificant breasts plumping above the fabric, she felt intensely female. Powerful. New.

Seraphina lowered her voice, her lips brushing against her teasingly. “But just so you know. If you’re
not
nice? I’ll show you my claws instead.”

The threat left Dare oddly unafraid. There was something in those exotic, kohl-lined green eyes that reminded her of Nephi. Something she trusted instinctively.

“Save it for the men, Phina. Help me get her dress on,” Lavender prodded, shattering the moment. Both women lifted the gown, made of the same silver and white material as her underthings, and lowered it over Dare’s head.

“My, my. The boss must think to make a fortune on the virgin market. This dress is fit for the eternal queen herself. Maybe you
are
the reason he went off all mysterious.” The woman who’d spoken looked at the others, who were nodding thoughtfully.

Dare held up her arms, jerking as Lavender started yet another round of lacing. She missed her Chalice uniform more with each passing moment. It was loose and comfortable. Sexless and laceless.

She would be able to breathe.

“You are mistaken.” She gulped her denial along with another quick breath. “I have no idea where he was before I woke up in this
place, but it had nothing to do with me. I was taken by a woman named Lucy Thrice and her oafish twits against my will.”

Another younger woman in pink came forward with a vigorous nod. “It’s true. Our handsome guard, James Stacy?” She blushed as she mentioned his name to the women around her, her gaze darting toward the eavesdropping guard. “He told me Thrice’s latest sidekicks drugged and trussed her up, but they’d claimed they had no other choice. She had beaten the two men soundly. Broke a nose and one of their arms. James said the boss shot them both when he found them dumping her, naked and tied up onshore. He let Lucy go free, being that she’s a woman and all. You know what a gentleman he is.”

She had only beaten Nettles, but Dare wasn’t going to contradict the story, not when the women began looking at her differently. When she could feel what they felt.
Admiration
.
Curiosity.
Emotions preferable to the pity and detached judgment they’d sent her way when Lavender had first brought her to the suite.

It was a dormitory of sorts, still richly decorated but with narrow beds made only for sleeping, the sitting area, and a few small windows revealing the deep water that encased them.

Dare noticed something else. The sconces along the wall emitted light but did not flicker. Neither did she detect the scent of fumes. It seemed the
Siren
was not only offering illegal services, but its entire construct was criminal. Theorrite was the only explanation for a submersible containing the kind of power that was reserved for scientific and royal use alone. How had Bodhan stolen enough to create at this scale without attracting attention?

The women gathered round, peppering her with questions. Where did she learn how to fight? How did she break such a big man’s arm? They wanted to know every detail.

All but Seraphina. She stood back, arms crossed, staring at Dare with a challenge in her expression. “The element of surprise will not always work, regardless of your size. You beat the man but you
underestimated the woman.” She shrugged. “I know Lucy Thrice. She is dangerously clever. A mad chemist with poisons and sleeping draughts, that one. She has enviable survival instincts and is… sexually energetic if the mood is right. She was by far the greater threat. All you were in danger of from Nettles was a disappointing prick.”

Dare lifted her chin, oddly hurt that this woman she was so drawn to seemed to be mocking her. And ashamed of herself for not being more suspicious of Lucy Thrice. “He would have forced himself on me. No man should take away a woman’s control.”

Seraphina’s exotically slanted eyes glittered like emeralds. “Not in that scenario, of course. Still, my heightened instincts say you would enjoy the wonder of submitting to another. Allowing yourself to be thrown over a man’s lap, your skirt tossed above your head as he spanks your sweetly glowing cheeks. No?” She chuckled at Dare’s blush. “I admit it isn’t
my
first choice. I would much rather be the one giving the spanking, since I’ve yet to meet a man who is my match. You’d be surprised how easily the biggest toughs fold when I get them alone. How they like to bend over and have me—”

“Well, I think Dare was very brave,” Lavender interrupted as a few of the other women laughed bawdily. “I also think she doesn’t need to hear about your infamous escapades. Not today.”

Seraphina smirked. “I tease, Lavender. You know how I love to tease.” She met Dare’s gaze, curiosity a living thing in her eyes. “So fair Dare of the bluest hair, if it wasn’t for your sake, then why do
you
think our boss disappeared for days without letting anyone know where he was going?”

Dare tilted her head, wondering why everyone was so fascinated with Bodhan’s actions. It was, however, a fascination she shared. Everything about him interested her. Intrigued her. Worried her. “How long was he gone?”

“Five days,” the lady in pink piped up. “And James said he’d been
sure he heard the boss mumbling about treasure, but he came back with his pockets empty.” She smirked. “And an armful of you.”

Dare’s senses went on alert with the information. The treasure she’d made an oath to guard—Queen Idony—had disappeared in that time frame. Could Bodhan have anything to do with the theft of Theorrey’s heart?

It was horrifying to think she could have kissed a man, fantasized about a man, who was capable of such villainy. He was a criminal whose trade was based on divining the desires of others. Yet even as those thoughts crossed her mind she doubted their substance.

She would have felt malice in him. Darkness. Surely it would have been clear.

“Look at the gears turning in that brain of hers.” The redheaded Felidae licked her lips, meeting Dare’s gaze with a speaking wink. “Smart
and
sexy, with a name like Dare? I definitely need to keep my eyes on you.”

“Seraphina.”

The deep voice startled Dare out of her daze. Seraphina rolled her eyes. “He always interrupts my fun. Look lively ladies, our lord and master has come a-calling. Do I get my whip back tonight? I promise I’ll behave.”

Bodhan only smiled. “You promise that every night.”

Dare watched the vivacious female sway toward where Bodhan stood in the doorway, the guard now gone from view. The movements of Seraphina’s hips were more pronounced than they had been moments before. Feline.

She gestured toward Dare with a sweep of her arm. “How true, but she should know that is why you keep taking me back, smart man that you are. Speaking of men, if you were aiming to scare all the exciting clientele away, you have succeeded. You’ve covered all our new girl’s biggest selling points in your best virginal finery.”

Dare bit her lip, looking down at her clenched hands, knowing
Bodhan scanned every inch of her, from her silken slippers to her modest bodice with off-the-shoulder sleeves. The outfit did belong more to a ball on Queen’s Hill than a brothel. Although her bodice was still lower than she would like.

She refused to meet his eyes. She would not allow him to practice his charm on her once more. A little over three days and she would be free. She doubted their paths would cross again. Surely she could resist this unnatural and decidedly unwelcome attraction until then. And perhaps she could discover his secret. Discover whether or not he was connected to her mission.

The room was filled with silent speculation. Dare could sense the women studying them, wondering at the obvious tension between their boss and the new arrival.

Seraphina chuckled, breaking the silence. “I can see we have all left him speechless. Perhaps we should take Dare downstairs where she will be more appreciated.” She moved toward Dare, where she stood by the mirror, but Bodhan’s touch on her elbow stopped her.