Chapter 14 #2
Sasha gave her a look and sniffed the air. What was her friend up to? She wasn't making fun of Sasha not wanting to deal with Kane's women. Instead, the twinkle in her eyes implied something entirely different.
Lilla looked at Lanny. "Do we tell her?"
"Well, she kept secrets from us..." Lanny trailed off, one last rebuke for putting her and her sister through that frightening experience without any warning.
Sasha took a threatening step forward. "You had better tell me everything. What's going on?" She didn't have the energy for games.
"You’re no fun. Get on the table so we can get to the fuzz removal. Then we will tell you what was happening while you were sleeping."
Sasha begrudgingly adjusted her towel and climbed up on the padded table. She hadn't known what it was for or why it would be in Kane's bathing room. It seemed like an odd place for a bed like structure.
It was Lanny who piped up with the information that it was a massage table, which set Sasha to daydreaming about Kane's muscles and how she wanted to massage them.
Although Kane had taken off his shirt to give her his own, and she had hazy memories of the satin warmth of Kane's naked chest, she really hadn't seen him. He had gotten to see and touch her, with his devastating whisper touches and soapy cloth, but he denied her the same chance.
Sasha wanted her chance.
She moaned thinking of it.
"Fuck, girl. What are you thinking about?
" Lanny laughed. She handed Sasha a damp washcloth.
"Clean yourself up and stop it. I'm not gonna wax you down there if you're doing that.
Everyone always said you were this special kind of woman and we knew you could do some odd things, but this? I don't know what to call this."
Embarrassed again, but giggling at Lanny's sarcasm, Sasha used the washcloth to clean herself. "This is all involuntary. I can't help it. But at least it's because of…"
She stopped herself. They knew she had feelings for Kane, but Sasha didn't want to examine all of that. He was holding himself back, keeping himself from her. She hated it. But she wouldn't be declaring him her bonded, or her mate, or even her friend until she knew where he stood.
"At least it's not some stranger I don't know making me wet all over myself. That was... that was horrible."
"That can happen?" Lilla's eyes were wide.
"With any alpha," Sasha said.
"Oh, Sasha," Lilla said in sympathy.
"Now before you do something to get me all crazy again, you guys have secrets. What do you know? I'm tired of being in the dark." Sasha leaned back on the table, entrusting herself to their beauty treatments.
"Davila told us the queen is coming to dismantle the harem today. The concubines are leaving, and she wants you there."
Lilla waved in the general direction of the harem. "Bye-bye, hootie-coos"
"Hootie-coos?" Sasha laughed.
"I heard one of the beta guards call them that."
"What does the queen have to do with the harem?" Sasha was so confused.
"She set it up, you goof. She organized one for all her mature, unmated sons. Did you know that alpha has fifteen living brothers?" Lanny asked.
"And three living sisters! The youngest is ten years old! She visits here a lot, but doubt she'll be coming here today." Lilla said.
As only servants who gossiped about the goings on of the upper classes could, the twins filled Sasha in on all the things they'd been told by the household staff.
"Everyone says the queen is very nice, it's her entourage that can be haughty and expects all the pomp and ceremony they can get." Lilla stuck her nose in the air and made condescending noises until Sasha laughed.
They speculated on the queen and what it was going to be like to "dismantle" the harem while covering Sasha head to toe in lotions.
There was so much slippery, creamy stuff that Sasha wasn't convinced they were doing it right.
Few drones from the slums knew of personal hair removal and deep skin moisturizers.
Lilla picked out jars and held them over Sasha's nose to smell test. Both girls were well acquainted with Sasha’s picky nose. They settled on a couple thing with fancy names. One left Sasha smelled like strawberries and the other left her skin with a subtle silver glow.
Lilla pulled papers from the basket of girly supplies and read the directions out loud while Lanny followed them, making Sasha feel like a test subject.
"This one goes on first." Lilla held up a bottle. "This is second. Wait five minutes, use this to scrape, and then this one goes last." She held up more tools and bottles.
Sasha was not reassured. "If you touch my woman's curls, I will hold you both down myself and shave your heads bald."
Lanny laughed; fierce Sasha was so funny. But fierce Sasha was serious.
Their time in the bathing room getting ready for the queen felt like a balm to Sasha. The steady, giggling presence of her friends eased a bit of the sharp edges to the recent ugly discoveries.
Sasha had learned in school that omega breeders were social creatures, that omega's needed constant company and that isolation could lead to despondency, which in turn lead to death.
The teaching made it sound like that company needed to come from an alpha. Sasha missed Kane. She wanted him here. But he could never give her this.