Severed Read online

  But to both our surprise, Rylee vetoed this idea. I could make no sense of this—the male had tried to kill her. Shouldn’t she want to be rid of him forever? But despite the harm he’d done to her, she still didn’t want him killed.

  Char’noth offered to send the groveling, crying male back to where he had gotten him in the first place but Rylee didn’t like that idea either. She understandably didn’t want him invading her domicile while she was gone with Drace and me.

  “What about a memory wipe?” I finally suggested. “We could clear his mind of you completely if you like,” I told Rylee. “That should simplify your life when you return to Earth.”

  “You can do that?” She looked at me in awe.

  I shrugged. “I can if Drace will help. It’s a talent of the Fang Clan but we need a partner to make it effective.”

  Drace frowned and I could feel him considering through our newly strengthened link. What I was suggesting was something only rightfully bonded mates would normally do together and it took a level of mental and psy-connection which we hadn’t previously had. However, since our first failed attempt at severing the bond between us had actually strengthened it instead, I thought we might be able to pull it off.

  It also required a large measure of trust. I watched Drace as he considered my proposal.

  “I guess we can try,” he said finally. “If you really want to merge minds that way.”

  “It doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t bother you,” I said. “And it’s for Rylee.”

  I could feel his reluctance melting at that. Somehow, though we had just met the little Earth female, she had already worked her way under both our skins.

  “If you could make him forget me that would be great,” Rylee said eagerly. “Also, do you think you could make him forget he wants to drink and do drugs?” She made a face. “And cheat? He’d have a much better life if he wasn’t so weighed down by his addictions…and his attraction to skanky women.”

  “Present company excluded, I’m sure” I murmured. “But actually, I’m afraid I can’t erase your past paramour’s proclivities and tastes—I can only make him forget you. If, for instance, he saw you on the street he might not remember you but he would still be attracted to you.”

  “Any male would,” Drace pointed out. “She’s fucking gorgeous.”

  The little female’s cheeks grew rosy under her creamy light brown skin tones.

  “Thanks anyway. Just making him forget me will be fine and I’ll be sure he doesn’t see me on the street or anywhere else. I never want to have anything to do with him again.”

  “Very well.” I nodded at Drace and we attempted to get the whining, mewling human male between us. It was easier said than done—he kept falling on his face and moaning that he didn’t want to die. His cowardly display was in direct contrast to Rylee’s calm acceptance of the subject. It turned my stomach. Not even a Beta would whine and beg so shamelessly.

  Finally Char’noth produced a set of manacles for the human’s wrists and we hung him from a hook affixed to the ceiling. Why the Commercians had such extreme methods of restraint, I didn’t know and didn’t want to know. Probably to display Earth females to their prospective buyers. I didn’t like that idea at all but there wasn’t much I could say about it when I was using the restraints myself.

  “All right,” Drace said when we were standing on either side of the sniveling male. “Now what?”

  “You put a hand on the human’s right temple and I’ll put mine on his left,” I told him. “When we form a connection using him as a conduit, we should be able to enter his mind.”

  I had never actually tried this before but I knew instinctively I could do it—just as I knew the other gifts of my Clan would be available to me as soon as I found the right psy-partner. Drace wasn’t that male but he would have to do, for now.

  We positioned ourselves and I closed my eyes to concentrate. I could feel Drace concentrating too and then I was swooping forward, falling into a dark space I knew was the place behind our captive’s eyes.

  There was an unfocused blob of color which quickly resolved itself into shapes. It was the male—Phillip, Rylee had called him—pulling the projectile weapon from his pocket.

  “Son of a bitch!” Drace said in a low tone and I knew he was seeing the memories as well.

  “What? What is it?” I heard Rylee ask.

  “We’re watching the moment he pulled a weapon on you,” I told her, not opening my eyes. “It’s…unsettling.”

  “Unsettling? I want to pound this asshole into the ground,” Drace growled. “I still don’t see why we can’t flush him out the airlock.”

  “How far do we need to go back?” I asked, Rylee, ignoring my temporary bond mate’s outrage. “To get rid of his memories of you completely?”

  “At least two years.” She didn’t sound very happy about it. “I stayed in the relationship way longer than I should. But I didn’t want to give up—I’m not a quitter.”

  “You’re not a coward, either,” I said, examining more of Phillip’s memories—some which featured Rylee and some which didn’t. In the memories without her I saw him skulking around, often carrying and using his firearm as well as taking many illegal substances which made him even more unstable. He was a much more dangerous male than she seemed to realize.

  “She’s too brave for her own good,” Drace growled in a low voice, obviously seeing the same things I was. “And this guy is a Goddess-damned asshole who didn’t deserve her.”

  I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about and it wasn’t just the way Phillip had often gotten drunk and shouted at her. As we scrolled backwards through his past, looking for a time before he knew Rylee, we also saw the two of them in the sleeping platform together.

  The sight caused a possessive growl to rise in my throat even though it was ridiculous—this had happened long before Drace and I met Rylee. Still, I didn’t like the sight of her with another male.

  Not that Phillip was doing much to please her.

  As Drace and I watched, we saw how the human male seemed to only care about his own pleasure. He used Rylee’s body selfishly, never considering what she might like or enjoy.

  It made me angry to see how inconsiderate he was. Rylee was a rare beauty—a treasure. Any male privileged to attend such a female should feel grateful and do his utmost to worship her body properly with his own. Not just get on top of her and thrust a few times, grunting garbled endearments until he came.

  Phillip hadn’t even had the decency to make sure she was satisfied afterwards—he simply crawled off her and dozed, leaving Rylee to help herself.

  Those parts—the parts after Phillip was already half asleep on one side of their sleeping platform and Rylee was bringing herself to pleasure—I tried not to watch too closely. It felt wrong to spy on her. Yet I couldn’t help noticing how her slim brown fingers flew over the slippery, swollen interior of her pussy…couldn’t help hearing her soft moans as she brought herself the pleasure her partner had denied her.

  I felt Drace’s arousal growing through our connection and knew he was watching as well.

  “Gods,” I heard him mutter but I didn’t reply.

  It made me uneasy to feel another male’s sexual desire—it wouldn’t have been so clear, so insistent, if he had been a Beta male. But bound to another Alpha as I was, I couldn’t help feeling his strong emotions clearly, just as he felt mine.

  To my relief, we finally found a point in Phillip’s memories where there was no Rylee anywhere in sight.

  “Here,” I murmured to Drace.

  “All right—what do we do?” he asked.

  “Concentrate on removing Rylee. Wipe her from his mind completely as though you were rubbing out a drawing in the sand,” I said and proceeded to follow my own instructions.

  The action was unfamiliar to Drace at first but I felt him helping me and in less time than it seemed possible, all memory of Rylee had faded from Phillip’s mind. It left some holes in h