Severed Read online

  The walls began to glow brightly, making me wince and blink as my eyes struggled to adjust. I caught a brief glimpse of an inky shadow flitting away into the far corner of the ceiling, apparently frightened by the light.

  “There!” I shouted, pointing.

  Lucian jumped up and ran to look in the corner. He made a disgusted noise and tried to catch whatever it was, but it was too quick for him. He turned back to the floating bed, empty handed.

  “What was that?” I asked in a shaking voice.

  “Skizix.” Lucian still sounded disgusted.

  “A what?” I put a hand to my heart which was pounding all over again.

  “Parasites that hang around spaceports looking to hitch a ride on an outgoing ship,” Drace explained.

  He still had one muscular arm around me and I found I was huddling against his side like a scared little girl looking for comfort from her daddy. I made myself sit up a little straighter and took a deep breath.

  “They’re like semi-sentient shadows,” Lucian said, coming back to sit on the other side of the bed. “They feed on dreams.”

  “What? Like they suck them out of your head when you’re asleep like some kind of vampire?” I could hardly have been more horrified than if he’d told me they fed on blood like vampire bats.

  “Not exactly.” He sighed. “It’s more like they feed on the emotions your dreams evoke.”

  “Which is why they like to slip into sleeping chambers and wait for you to go to sleep,” Drace said, looking at me. “I should have checked for them before I left you alone in here. I’m sorry, baby.”

  “It’s all right,” I said automatically, although it really wasn’t. I was completely freaked out. “So…is that thing, that skizix, likely to come back?”

  “It’s possible,” Lucian admitted. He frowned. “They’re very difficult to catch by hand. I’ll have to get the ship fumigated when we get back to Denaris.”

  “Okay, well, I guess that’s it for me.” I sat up straighter and started to get out of bed.

  “Wait—where are you going?” Drace asked.

  “To find some coffee or whatever the hell it is you guys drink to stay awake,” I said. “Because I am definitely not going back to sleep knowing that thing is prowling around.”

  “Wait.” Lucian put a big hand on my shoulder to stop me. “Skizix don’t actually do any harm—they mostly stay in the corners and feed from a distance. It won’t actually touch you.”

  “I know it won’t because I’m not giving it a chance,” I said stubbornly. “Come on—you guys must have some kind of stimulant around here. Where do you keep it?”

  “You don’t need a stimulant,” Drace said unexpectedly. “You just need company.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Skizix only feed from unprotected sleepers,” Drace said. “If you let us stay here with you, we can form a dream-shield around you.”

  “A what?” I shook my head. “What’s that?”

  “A protective mental shield those of the Claw Clan are able to form around themselves and others to keep away nightmares or anxious thoughts, I believe.” Lucian sounded thoughtful. “Males in a Triumvirate often do it for their female mates.” He looked at Drace. “Do you think it’s possible? We of the Fang Clan don’t have that gift.”

  Drace shrugged, his big, bare shoulders rolling. He and Lucian were both bare chested and wearing long, sleeping trousers in some kind of silky blue material.

  “The Claw Clan aren’t able to do a memory-wipe but I was able to help you do that. You should be able to help me form a dream-shield.”

  “I’m willing to try it for Rylee’s sake,” Lucian said, a bit stiffly. I had the feeling he was getting out of his comfort zone the same way Drace had felt uncomfortable when they fiddled with Phillip’s memories. This was bringing them together—mentally? Emotionally? Anyway, in a way they weren’t exactly comfortable with, but they were both willing to do it for my sake.

  I was touched…but still a little uncertain.

  “So in order to do this—to form this dream-shield—you’ll both have to stay in here with me the rest of the night? I mean…we’d all have to, uh, sleep together?” My cheeks got hot as I said the words and I realized I really could have worded it better. Great going, Rylee, you sound like a pervert.

  “Sleeping is all we would be doing,” Lucian said blandly, obviously seeing my discomfort. “I’m sure we all remember the no sex clause in our contract.”

  “And you can trust Lucian and me to honor that,” Drace said. “Whatever we may think of each other, we’re both honorable males. There will be no actual sex between us.”

  “Well…all right,” I said hesitantly. “As long as I get to keep my clothes on. Such as they are.” I shrugged around in the oversized jacket.

  “Oh—I simmed you some other things.” Drace got off the bed. “You were already asleep by the time they were finished. I’ll get them.”

  He came back with several strange-looking outfits which he hung in a kind of foldout closet that appeared in the wall of the bedroom when he tapped it. Then he handed me a long white gown with spaghetti straps. It seemed to be a thinner version of the silky material his and Lucian’s sleeping trousers were made of.

  “Oh… thank you.” I ran the ultra-soft fabric through my hands. It whispered across my fingers like the finest, most delicate silk. “This feels amazing.”

  “It’s sleeping cloth. Most of our night clothes are made from it on Denaris,” Drace explained. “It’s never too hot or too cold—much like the tempra-quilt you’re under.”

  I looked down at the shiny silver duvet which had seemed such a poor substitute for my old security blanket. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

  “I’ll be right back.” I hopped—and I do mean hopped because it was a long way down—carefully off the bed and went into the bathroom—what they called the fresher.

  I had to pee by then. Earlier, Drace had briefly explained the way to use the strange alien toilet, which seemed to be kind of a cross between a bidet and an airplane toilet. I managed it without too much of a problem, even though the suction part of it was stronger than expected, and then decided to change.

  After scanning the walls carefully for any stray dream-stealing skizix, I slipped off Lucian’s gray tailored jacket and slithered into the slinky white night gown.

  I looked down at myself and bit my lip. The fabric felt amazing against my bare skin but it left very little to the imagination. You could clearly see the outlines of my berry-dark nipples under the thin white material, which was stretched tightly over my full breasts. It clung to my hips and ass too, emphasizing how hippy I am, which is something I usually try to camouflage.

  I frowned indecisively. Should I really wear this in front of Drace and Lucian? More to the point, should I sleep between them with it on? It was so thin it was barely there at all. Also, though it fell to my ankles, the top was cut low and the nightdress was sleeveless, ensuring that we were sure to have skin-to-skin contact of some kind since both the guys were shirtless.

  When they’d put me between them before, I’d had the bulky jacket which formed a barrier between my skin and theirs. What would happen when that barrier was removed? Would I have another intense, unlooked for and unwanted orgasm if I rolled over in the middle of the night and wound up brushing their bare skin?

  “Rylee? Are you well?” Lucian’s deep, smooth voice from the other side of the fresher door interrupted my worried internal monologue.

  “I’m okay. I’m just…not sure if I ought to wear this,” I confessed.

  “Don’t you like it?” Drace asked and I could picture him and Lucian standing there together, both of them frowning. “Did I make it too big or too small? I had to guess your size and making female clothing isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”

  “It’s beautiful and it fits like a glove,” I assured him—which was part of the problem. “It’s just, uh, kind of revealing.”

  “Reve