Devoured Read online

  But how to find her?

  Closing his eyes, Garron inhaled deeply, letting his incredibly sensitive sense of smell do what his eyes could not—pick out the girl he was seeking. He found the faint strain of lovely, feminine scent and followed it blindly, turning until he knew which direction it was coming from. He took one step forward and then another. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of a couch which held two puppets.

  Both had lovely full figures, which was nice since Garron preferred a female that wasn’t too skinny. One of them had carefully styled hair that was a strange reddish shade of blonde and wide blue eyes which came up to meet his when he stopped in front of her.

  “Yes, warrior?” she asked in a high, mechanical voice. “How may I service you?”

  Garron frowned and leaned down to sniff her. He withdrew, his nostrils wrinkling, when the faint scent of oil and metal met his nose.

  Not her.

  So it must be the other puppet—a short, plump girl with pale, porcelain skin and long reddish brown hair that fell in a thick curtain around her face. Garron couldn’t see what color her eyes were because she was still staring down, apparently concentrating on the book in her lap.

  “You,” he said roughly, tapping her on the shoulder.

  The puppet flinched—or seemed to. It must have been a glitch in her programming that caused it because Garron had never seen one react that way. Slowly, she looked up.

  “Y-yes, warrior?” Her voice was a soft, lovely alto that made his cock surge. “What…what can I do for you?”

  Garron stared at her. Her eyes…why did they look familiar? They were dark pools, fringed thickly with black lashes and filled with some emotion. Was it…fear? But that was impossible—Pairing Puppets didn’t feel. Probably it was a trick of the light. Or maybe a different kind of programming.

  He leaned closer and inhaled, drawing her scent deep into his lungs. Yes, this was her all right—the girl the delicious aroma was coming from. The scent was so complex—he could even smell notes of uncertainty in it. Was this more Kindred technology at work? Maybe a way to make the warrior feel like he was pursuing the girl instead of the other way around? If so, it was working. He felt his cock harden even more in his trousers and the forbidden urges surged to the forefront of his mind.

  “Stand up,” Garron commanded the puppet, his voice hoarse with need. “Let me look at you.”

  The girl set her book aside with hands that seemed to shake. Slowly, she rose, displaying herself for him, just as he had commanded.

  Garron sucked in a breath at her beauty. She had full breasts and wide, curving hips that filled out the black lace dress she wore nicely. Her long, thick hair trailed down her back like silk and her soft, pink, kissable mouth trembled almost like a real girl’s.

  But it was her scent as much as her appearance that drew him. There wasn’t even a hint of the oil and metal stink the other Pairing Puppets always had. Her lovely feminine aroma bewitched him completely until he almost felt like the girl was seducing him, though she did nothing but stand there, looking down at her hands and biting her lush lower lip in a way that was distractingly erotic…and distinctly un-puppetlike.

  Though he found them enticing, her mannerisms bothered him. Garron frowned, trying to think past the bewitching scent. She didn’t smell like a puppet and she didn’t seem to react like one either. Why was that?

  “Who are you?” he demanded, staring at her. “What are you?”

  “Just…just a P-pairing P-puppet, warrior,” the girl stuttered, her pale cheeks going bright red. “I am…I am new here.”

  “A new model, you mean?” Garron demanded.

  She nodded eagerly. “Yes! A…a prototype. I…have not been here long.”

  That explains it. The sweet, fresh scent, the Puppet’s seeming modesty… it all made sense now. Not that Garron wanted to spend much time thinking about it. He had finally found a Pairing Puppet he could bear to use—in fact, he found he couldn’t wait to use her.

  But not just use… he wanted to caress every inch of the creamy, pale skin he could see under her thin black lace gown. Wanted to stroke the soft waterfall of silky hair away from her delicate features and decipher the color of those bewitching, dark eyes. Wanted to raise her skirt and stroke and scent and most of all taste her sweet sex…that most forbidden activity that his people, the Rai’ku, considered taboo and illicit…

  All the things you wish you could have done with Nella, whispered the voice of guilt in his head. Garron pushed it away with some difficulty.

  “I want you,” he told the Puppet thickly. “No, I need you. Now.”

  “Oh, I…” The puppet blushed even redder, if that was possible and tried to take a step back. “Perhaps another model, warrior. I am…still so new.”

  “No,” Garron growled, his lust and her sweet scent overcoming his inhibitions and even his guilt. “You. I must have you. Come.” He reached out a hand for her and in a moment, the Pairing Puppet put her hand in his obediently.

  “My…I have a room upstairs,” she said hesitantly.

  But a quick encounter wasn’t what Garron had in mind. He needed to take his time, to explore the hidden urges he’d been suppressing for years. And he needed to take her someplace private, just in case his dr’gin came out at last.

  “No.” He shook his head firmly. “I need you to come with me.”

  “I…but I…” She shook her head, her big, dark eyes wide with what honestly looked like fear.

  Garron frowned. “Aren’t you programmed to serve?”

  “Of…of course I am.” She cleared her throat. “I’m just…I mean, forgive me, warrior.”

  Abruptly the fear in her eyes got to him. Even though he knew it was a simulated emotion, he couldn’t help reacting to it.

  “Hey…” He turned and cupped her cheek, lifting her chin to make her meet his eyes. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly. “I just want…I just need to…I need a release. That’s all.” And in that moment, he really meant it. Though he had felt his blood boiling and the beast within him growing closer to the surface, for some reason just being near this little Pairing Puppet seemed to cool him down. His need was just as strong but as he touched her, he found that his blood no longer boiled until he felt he might explode.

  I can do this, he told himself. I can take her without hurting her. I can appease the dr’gin within and not let it out. I’m sure of it. As long as I can touch her…as long as I can taste her, I’ll be all right.

  The girl—no puppet, she’s only a puppet, he reminded himself—stared at him, wide eyed and trembling for a long moment. Then, slowly, she nodded her head.

  “All right. I…I’ll come with you.”

  “Good.” Garron knew he would have been within his rights to pick her up and carry her off by force. She was, after all, just a mechanical puppet, built to ease the needs of the unmated Kindred aboard the ship. But he didn’t like to treat a female like that—not even an artificial one. “Come,” he told her, tugging gently at her hand.

  After a moment, she followed him.

  Chapter Seven

  Oh my God, are you crazy? What are you doing? Are you actually going with him? The little voice in Tess’s head was screaming and yet somehow she felt powerless to do anything but let the big Kindred who had picked her lead her along the narrow streets of the Unmated Males area. Other Kindred went about their business, walking to and fro, talking and arguing and laughing—none of them seemed to notice that she was being taken away to who knows where to do who knows what with a strange man.

  Of course they don’t notice—it’s no big deal because they think you’re a freaking Pairing Puppet! the little voice yelled. And don’t kid yourself with all this ‘going who knows where to do who knows what’ crap! You know exactly where you’re going and what you’re going to be expected to do once you get there.

  Yes, that was true enough. There had been hunger in his brilliant turquoise eyes when the big Kindred looke