Chapter 11 #2
“Everything. But in the beginning, nothing. He seemed so perfect, even if he was taller than I would have liked. That didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except what he was making me feel. And he felt it, too. He came right to me. And, Stars, he was even ready to fight Corth for me.”
“To fight Corth?” Tedra said incredulously, but then with dismayed understanding, “We’re not talking about a warrior, are we?”
Shanelle lowered her eyes. “No—but he’s as big as one, nearly as big as father.
And he acts like one more than he doesn’t—except for one major difference.
He’s emotional—possessive, jealous, passionate—too passionate, actually, and that’s where everything went wrong.
He didn’t have much control of his passion to begin with, but when we were about to join, he—he lost it completely.
He wasn’t aware he was doing it, but his arms just about crushed me, and when he breached me, it hurt so bad I fainted. ”
“Oh, baby.” Tedra’s sympathy poured out, her arms going around Shanelle very carefully. “You’ve always had a low tolerance for pain. The slightest little scrape or bang as a child and you’d be screaming your head off.”
Shanelle’s expression turned wry. “I’d like to think I can take a scrape or bang these days, mother. I didn’t will myself to faint. This was pain of an unacceptable level.”
“But a breaching is painful. I know you kept your innocence intact for your father’s sake so your lifemate could have it, but it looks like you should have visited a meditech instead.”
“It’s a moot point now.”
“Is it?” Tedra sighed. “All right, so we’ll class it as one of the most horrible breachings on record. As long as the man made up for it afterward, then—”
“There was no afterward. When I woke up, I just wanted out of there.”
“Wait a minute.” Tedra was outraged. “Are you saying you got no pleasure to make up for the pain? That’s indecent! I’ll—”
“Mother—”
“—crucify that bastard when I see him! He should have insisted—”
“Mother! I didn’t want him to touch me again.”
“But you needed to be shown it’s not all pain, and who better to show you than the man you picked yourself?”
“You’re not listening, mother. With him it was all pain—or at least too much pain. He was too rough even before he lost control. And he did insist we continue the joining. In fact, he wasn’t going to let me leave until we did. I had to ask Martha to change his mind.”
“I’ll bet he just loved that.”
“Sure he did, enough to swear he was going to destroy Martha first chance he gets.”
Tedra grinned. “I’ll bet she just loved hearing that.” The audiovisual console in Tedra’s dressing room chimed right then, so she added, “I’m not answering that, Martha. I told you I’d talk to you later.”
“Maybe it’s not her,” Shanelle suggested.
“Of course it is. It drives her crazy that she can’t get around on this planet like she could on Kystran—and does on the Rover, popping into any audio console and computer when she wants.
If her main housing hadn’t been turned off when she left to get you, she’d be yelling at us right now, instead of dialing for permission to speak. ”
Proof was the end of the chiming coming from the dressing room.
All of Tedra’s advanced machines were stored in there, away from Challen’s sight.
The room was so crowded with the wonders of other worlds that there’d been no room to add Brock’s housing when he joined the family.
So he was kept in another room—otherwise Martha would have borrowed his console to have her say.
“I think I’ll visit a meditech after all,” Shanelle said with a grimace as she started to get up.
Tedra’s hand detained her. “Sit down. I didn’t mean to get off the subject, but I was getting too close to tears for comfort.
This wasn’t supposed to happen to you. It shouldn’t have.
And maybe we ought to let your father have a good look at you after all.
Your young man needs some punishing for what he put you through, and if Challen doesn’t do it, then I’ll have to. ”
Shanelle shook her head. “I don’t want him punished for something he did unintentionally. He could use a lesson or two in bedroom manners, for the benefit of the next woman…he…”
Tedra lifted a brow at the way her words trailed off. “So it bothers you, the idea of him with other women?”
“No, why should it?”
“Because you picked him, Shani. Because a part of you is already maintaining that he’s yours.”
“Well, that part will just have to catch up to the rest that says I’m not interested anymore,” Shanelle replied stiffly.
“Yes, you are. You’re just disappointed that he’s not as perfect as you’d like him to be. I’m disappointed that he’s not a warrior. But these are difficulties that can be worked out.”
“Mother, you still aren’t listening to me,” Shanelle said in exasperation.
“Maybe because I know you. And maybe because even though I’ve tried to minimalize your father’s influence on your ideas about sex-sharing, you really do share his views.
You want only one man. That’s why you’ve waited this long, trying to find the right one.
And this is the right one, or you wouldn’t have been willing to share sex with him the moment you met him.
You went with him with every intention of opening your heart to him, of spending the rest of your life with him. ”
“That’s absolutely true, but instincts can go awry, and hopes and intentions don’t always hold up to reality.
I wish it had worked out, mother. I wanted it to so badly.
But the plain fact is, the man is dangerous.
You can’t imagine what it was like to be held by someone just as strong as father, but without his gentleness—and he didn’t even know he was hurting me.
That’s what frightens me the most, and I’m not going through that again. ”
“But, Shani—”
“Look at me, mother,” Shanelle cut in impatiently this time.
“Do I look like I’m not serious? I have the bruises to prove I am, and if they’re already showing up on my arms from my just being drawn forward for a kiss, then let’s see what the rest looks like by now.
” She whipped her blouse off—then wished to Stars she hadn’t.
She hadn’t expected quite such a dramatic showing, but she should have.
Her skin did bruise easily. Shades of red, violet, and soon-to-be-black liberally covered her upper torso, the darkest patches spreading out from the sides, where she’d been squeezed too tightly.
The lighter marks, which were around her breasts and lower waist, probably wouldn’t hurt to the touch now, but had yet to fade.
Shanelle blushed in embarrassment, because none of it felt quite as bad as it looked. But her mother had turned ashen and then crimson with rage. And Tedra didn’t have much more to say, merely, “The man dies!”