Soon, the feeling was almost more than I could bear and I screamed my pleasure, as the waves broke over me again, and again, and again. I truly knew what it meant to be a phoenix dying only to rise from the ashes.

I must have pa.s.sed out or something because the next thing I remember was a concerned Kadell hovering over me.

"Aeryn, are you alright?"

"Are you kidding?" I looked up at him.

"Actually, no, I'm not."

"That was the most pleasurable experience I've ever had.

Does it happen that way every time?"

171.

Violet Visions "The pleasure yes, the burning no." He kissed my forehead gently as if I were a precious treasure.

I pulled back and looked at his face. "That could have killed me, couldn't it?"

He licked his lips. "If we weren't compatible it would have made you very sick. We always have medics standing by just in case a called mate has problems."

"And have they?"

"Like I told you, I've never know any one to be incompatible.

I suppose in the early years, there might have been some."

"You keep talking about the early years...what are you talking about?"

His violet eyes gazed deeply into my blue ones. "The planet changes everyone who lives here. The original inhabitants were human and now we are...something else."

"You're human?"

"Basically. But to live here we had to make some adaptations over the years."

"Your skin and eyes?"

"Among other things."

"So it was true what you said about mates, that it was hard to keep them."

"The early women got worn out as the changes became apparent. There were very few with the original colonists. And with this planet comes a hearty s.e.xual appet.i.te. This outpost was so far from Earth that we had to start calling our mates from afar."

"And these changes...what will happen to me?"

"That is why we keep asking if you are willing to take us as mates. We know what the calling can do. But we need to be very sure, as the moment we come in you the changes begin."

I looked down at my skin and could see the faintest of lilac 172 eXtasy's Collective Mind shimmers. "Interesting."

"The change will be complete upon the birth of our first child."

"Children?" I swallowed hard. "I never thought about children before. I'm not sure if I'm mother material."

"I am."

I frowned at him but wrapped my arms around his neck.

"How?"

"When you got the call from me, I had already begun to woo you. I knew more about you than you did about yourself. I knew that you were a lonely woman who desired to be loved above all else. You wanted to be special to someone. Your soul called to me."

"It's not a rumor then?" I questioned.

"No, we can't read everyone's mind, just the mind of the person we love."

I pulled back. "You love me?"

"From the moment I felt you and knew I wanted you to dance for me. Only for me."

I narrowed my eyes. "So you knew when I wanted to rip your clothes off, I suppose?"

He grinned sheepishly at me. "What do you think?"

I kissed him deeply. Yes, this man had been wooing me for years. And I reveled in the thought that someone desired and wanted me for so long, even though I couldn't quite put a finger on it. Every day, I had felt his presence.

"Why did we get sick?"

"It was your body's way of beginning to purge yourself of your need for me. You might have died that way, too, if the sickness couldn't be treated right away. It's known as the bonding sickness."

"Did you know I was on Ja.n.u.s?"

173.

Violet Visions "I asked to be put on Ja.n.u.s as a Protector. I knew you were there but every time I got close, you would slip away."

I thought back to all the times I thought that Darren was hiding me and I knew now that he was. "I think I do love you.

Tell me how soon can we do it again?" Kissing him deeply, I knew my future was with Kadell and I would dance for only him forever.

174.

eXtasy's Collective Mind Reliever By Jojo Brown e knew what she was before he ever walked into the room.

H Everyone knew. She was a prost.i.tute, a mythical creature they had all learned about in their history cla.s.ses at school.

Centuries ago, someone like her would actually be paid to allow men to touch her and transfer body fluids. Such transfers were outlawed so long ago, it was almost a mortal sin to even think about it. The few, who did consider it on their moral compa.s.s, existed out beyond the sentries, in the badlands. And, everyone knew they were all criminally insane, with no working compa.s.s of any sort.

Jakob wasn't from the badlands. He wasn't insane or a criminal, but he did believe that there could be a place for intimacy in the world. A very good place.

He and a small group of his peers had worked long and hard to devise the plan. All they needed now was the cooperation of one more person. They needed the help of The Reliever. They needed her.

175.

Violet Visions No one could remember back far enough to know where or when she had come from. They just knew she was here, and from a young age, they all knew what she could do. The s.e.xual relief she could give with a single glance.

He saw her as soon as he entered the large room, sitting in the center of her living cage. The tentacles writhed about her, granting her protection from the h.o.a.rds that would drain every ounce of energy from her, given half a chance.

As Jakob walked between the rows of curtained cubicles, a grimace creased his gentle face. His deep blue eyes strained to stay focused ahead, rather than peer into any of the numerous, occupied relief stations. He knew, without looking, what would meet his eyes in any of them. The smell of s.e.x and sweat filled his nostrils, as the deeps moans of pleasure filled his ears.

He was just as naked and just as s.e.xually hungry as the other forty or so people in the room, but the c.o.c.ktail of capsules he'd taken had done their job. His c.o.c.k hung from his groin in an uninterested soft tube against the heavy, relaxed sac. The medication did not stop the deeper hunger though. He could feel her power over him and wanted nothing more at that moment than to slip into cubicle number twenty-six and slide the soft receptacle onto his c.o.c.k.

With a great effort, he concentrated on his task. He was there to see if there was some way to get to The Reliever, some way to communicate with her, some way to get her to help them in their quest.

He hadn't remembered the cage from his journeys here in his youth, as every young person did as part of their rite of pa.s.sage.

Jakob did remember the fear that settled into his belly at the sight of her keeper though. The last in a long line of eunuchs, charged with keeping her separated-whether for her safety or society's-another forgotten fact from the far past. He stood at 176 eXtasy's Collective Mind the side of her cage, arms crossed over his ma.s.sive bronze chest, glaring grey hate at all comers. The only softness one ever saw in him was when his gaze strayed to her. The look of contempt dissolved into one of admiration and awe.

Jakob skirted the cubicle he'd been a.s.signed, with its soft seat, snaking, flexible fluid receptacle and pile of folded cloths.

He needed to be closer to her, to catch her eye and let her know that he needed her for more than just a quick relief. He needed her to see that he was different.

As the toes of his naked foot crossed the purple line on the floor around the cage, the tentacles surged forward to bar his way. Her gaze snapped to him. She was amazingly beautiful. The mauve mesh body stocking hid nothing from view. She sat there with one knee drawn up and her arms positioned in a softly protective way, both hands gently grasping her ankle. The spindly crown rising from her forehead matched the color of the room and the stocking. Purple-everything was purple. Why had they chosen purple to be her color? It didn't take long for Jakob to answer his own silent question. The instant her eyes met his, he knew. Her eyes were the exact same shade of purple as her surroundings.

Her intense gaze shifted from boredom to curiosity with just a hint of anger in the transition. She tilted her delicate head and looked closer, lower. She focused on his c.o.c.k, a slight furrow marring her smooth forehead.

Instinctively his hand closed over it, more to protect it from the force of her gaze, than to find pleasure. The fact that the medication could not hold up under such direct contact was apparent, instantly. His c.o.c.k stirred and grew beneath his palm.

Even without a full erection, he could feel the o.r.g.a.s.m closing his mind to all else.

Before it completely enveloped him, Jakob made a bold 177 Violet Visions move. He held his other hand out to The Reliever, gently inviting her, desperately hoping she understood.

He saw her eyes close, a small smile lift the corners of her lips and her hands raise toward him, just before he was tackled from behind. The guards fought with him as he struggled to see her again. Basically climbing the immense chest of one, he peered over the broad shoulder and called out one word.

"Please."

As they forcibly removed him from the room, all h.e.l.l let loose. The tentacles swirled and closed around her, cutting her off with amazing speed. Every occupant of the cubicles screamed in acute rage. Angry men and women tore the curtains down. A few of them clawed at the backs of the guards in their blind rage.

If not for the size of the men carrying him, they would have torn Jakob to shreds as well.

Rather than throwing him out the front door as he'd expected, the guards hurried him into a small, empty office. His clothes were thrown at him just before the heavy metal door slammed shut.

A deep baritone voice came at him from some hidden speaker. "Who are you?"

Searching the walls and ceiling quickly, he decided to answer honestly and hope for the best. "Dr. Jakob Livingston. I work at The Center For..."

"We know where you work. The Center for Humanity, in other words at the baby factory."

Jakob hated it when people called it that. He had always taken pride in his work-ensuring the strongest, most genetically perfect children for The Society-until recently.

178.

eXtasy's Collective Mind "What are you doing here, Dr. Livingston?"

"Research." His one word reply seemed to throw the voice off balance for a moment. The speaker stayed unnaturally quiet.

"We have always cooperated." The answer finally came.

"Yes, you have been very good at sending over the vials, there is no question. My research was more in the area of how those vials are filled. If we could figure out how The Reliever does what she does, we may be able to work with it."

In as far as it went-that was true. The research had been about how she did it-they had been trying to figure that out since time immemorial-but that had all changed about a month earlier.

Jakob had been studying an image of The Reliever on the monitor, his c.o.c.k heavy against his thigh just at the thought of her. A colleague-a female colleague-had absently brushed against his arm as she reached for something on the desk. She turned to him at his sharp intake of breath and her unremembered words washed over his fevered skin. He reached up and traced his fingers along her cheek. The dilation of her pupils and the quick soft moan pa.s.sed in the beat of a heart. But it had been there-she had reacted just as strongly as he had.

His hasty apology and retreat to the privacy of the closest toilet t must have lef her startled. He'd stood over the bowl and slammed his fist along the length of his c.o.c.k for no more than a minute before the heat roared up his shaft and splattered into the wall. It was unlike anything he had ever known-so much better than the soft tube of the receptacles found in every home. The feel of warm flesh on flesh was amazing and he found he wanted more of it-a lot more.

The peers he had secretly been working with did not know the true reason that he wanted The Reliever freed. He wanted her flesh to press onto his. It was her image that started it all-and 179 Violet Visions now all he could think about was what it would be like to make use of her personal receptacle.

"Dr. Livingston, are you going to answer our question? Or shall we have the guards return?"

Jakob snapped back to the present with a shudder. "Sorry, the speaker must have shorted out. Can you repeat the question, please?"

"I shall repeat the question for diplomacy sake. If our guest were willing, would a meeting with her be helpful?"

Jakob's heart pounded in his throat, nearly cutting off the use of his vocal cords, "Yes. Yes, that could be very helpful-for the research."

A metallic click vibrated the hidden speaker, followed by countless minutes of deafening silence. Jakob paced around the small room, anxiously hoping for another click. When it came he d.a.m.n near jumped out of his skin.

Rather than the speaker clicking back to life, the click was the lock on his door snapping open. The biggest of the guards stood, filling the doorway. "Follow me."

Without another word, the guard led Jakob to a dark room. He could tell it was larger than the office he had just left, without being able to see it. It had a cavernous feel. At a distance, as soon as the guard softly closed the door behind him, he heard a strange sound-very much like a snake's belly on a bed of dry leaves. Beads of sweat burst onto his brow and upper lip. Fear wrapped itself around his spine-tightened-encompa.s.sed his lungs, strangling breath from him.

He forced himself to stand still and focused on the power needed to expand and contract his lungs. Slowly his eyes 180 eXtasy's Collective Mind adjusted to the dimness of the room and he saw her. She lounged seductively in the middle of a large bed. The tentacles of her cage were still with her, still protecting her, now they had become one with the walls though. He was within their grasp-in the cage with her.

"You are Jakob." Her sultry voice washed over him like a warm summer shower. "You are here to speak with me, but there is more. You think you can take me from this place. You think you would be my savior. You think you could touch me and survive. You think too much."

"Can I know your name, to start with?"

"They call me Violet."

"I don't think I could be your savior Violet, I think perhaps you could be mine, and all of mankind's."

His own selfish needs almost drowned out the thoughts for humanity.

"They tell me I am already doing what is best for your people."