Page 31 of The Pleasure Contract

My brain won’t… let go and sync with whatever the simulator is trying to show me… or whatever fake-Az is trying to do to me.

At this point, I’m starting to think it would be easier with real-Az.

Except-

He’s not technically allowed to touch me without a breeding contract. Not officially. Not without consequences. Look what happened to Zann just because he lent a hand – and a cock – to Senator Glex’s daughter, Xoe.

And I don’t want a breeding contract with him.

He’s going to get the complete wrong idea about us if we-

Wait.

What if-

14

Az

Iam buzzing so hard with excitement this morning, my horns may well fall clean off. I’ve been awake since the early hours, and can hardly contain myself. I almost went to Lois’ travel chambers, but perhaps she has had a very eventful night and is in need of more sleep.

When she finally makes it to the dining carriage, I lean back in my chair, draping my arm along the neighboring backrest, aiming for a nonchalance I absolutely do not feel right now. “Sleep well?” I ask, virtually vibrating in my seat.

Lois looks up to me and swallows, her little human tongue rolling out to wet her lips. She makes a very non-committal kind of noise and seats herself opposite me, her attention completely on the platters of food for us to break our fast.

I’d eaten mine about three hours ago, but there was no way I was going to leave this table without seeing her this morning.

“How’s Lady and P-”

“They’re fine.”

She blinks up at me, slowly chewing a piece of fried zerzer meat – possibly startled by my abrupt answer. “They’re sleeping well now,” I add. Leaning forward, I pick up the decanter of fresh nectar juice and pour Lois a glass. “Something I trust you also did after using my Permission last night?”

Lois starts choking.

For a moment, I almost leap to my feet, but she’s already waving off my concern as she slaps her own chest and gets out the last of her coughing fit. Looking at me through watery eyes, she asks, “What did you just say?”

I cannot help the grin from taking over my face. “You,” I say, leaning forward, my forearms folded on the white linen tablecloth of the dining table. “Used my,” utilizing my thumb, I point to myself. “Permission.”

Her pretty little mouth hangs open for a second or two. Then it closes. Then it opens again. She’s starting to resemble a northern bog-fish after being freshly reeled in – but, like, the cutest little bog-fish you ever did see.

Her cheeks are turning pink, too.

Is she remembering what she did last night with my Permission? Was it good?

“H-how do you-”

“There’s a setting on Permissions,” I start, reaching over to place two more pastries on her plate. “It’s standard. You set it so that the owner of the Permission gets notified when it’s been used.”

That cute little bog-fish mouth hangs open again. And for the love of The Four! I just want to scoop her up and… I don’t know, squeeze her really fucking hard? Not in a painful way, though. I don’t want to hurt her – not at all. I just want to- I don’t know… I just want to touch her so fucking bad. Exactly how she’d let my Permission touch her last night.

Suddenly, my belly is flooded with the searing feeling of jealousy. Which is fucking ridiculous. You can’t be jealous of your own Permission… right?

Lois is still looking at me like I’ve fallen off my drak one too many times.

“Relax, I didn’t turn on the log settings or the recording settings.”

“Log settings? Recording settings?”