Claimed Beauty (The Cubi Book 2) Read online

  Daniel propped himself up on his elbows to look at the end of the aisle. Other than a guy with a scowl on his face and arms crossed over his chest, there were at least six other people with a grin on their face. The human side of Daniel kicked in, and he blushed what he imagined to be a deep crimson.

  “Yeah, let’s do that.” Daniel scrambled to his feet and found his shirt and pants, getting into them and straightening his clothes while Caledon did the same and tried to stack a few of the books. He stopped to look at one of them.

  “Hmm, never read this one,” he said and stacked it on another book. They finally finished straightening themselves, and Caledon picked up the two books. As they neared the end of the aisle, all but the librarian scattered. The librarian held out the book Daniel had apparently dropped when the breeder bumped into him. Oh shit, he had really figured out what the snap-of-the-fingers hunger meant.

  “My Lord may have dropped this?” the librarian said.

  “We did, thank you. We’ll take these, too,” Caledon said, handing the librarian the other two books.

  “And please leave the mess. We’ll take care of it.”

  “Are you being snooty with me?”

  The red-eye smiled. “No more than My Lord usually is with people who fuck outside the stalls.”

  Caledon looked like he debated it with himself. Then he reached over to grab Daniel’s shoulders and hold him between them. “Can you blame me?”

  The red-eye let his eyes roam Daniel, but his eyes zeroed in on his face. Then the stern expression evaporated, and his red eyes darkened. “No, My Lord. He’s fucking beautiful.”

  “That he is,” Caledon said almost in a whisper.

  Daniel couldn’t help but beam. He had fucked a Lord to lose a dose, and these were the guys teaching self-control. The red-eye seemed to have trouble with his hunger, and it made Daniel slightly nervous, remembering what the ordeal with Jonah had ended up with. Daniel unconsciously stepped back against Caledon who put an arm around him. He felt safer.

  “Back to your duties.”

  “Yes, My Lord.” The red-eye turned, trailing Daniel and Caledon to the counter. He ran the books and placed them on the desk, his eyes cutting to someone behind them several times. Daniel sneaked a peek and found the breeder he had bumped into. His initial hunger satiated, the guy was barely his type. Jesus, he had a type in men? Yeah, he was definitely bi or something. Or was it the change?

  Caledon nudged Daniel to follow him from the library.

  Daniel stopped just outside to look back at the librarian and the breeder. “Caledon, is it the hunger that makes someone attractive?”

  “No. Why?”

  “Because the breeder I bumped into wasn’t as attractive after I fed.”

  “His desire for you had shifted. The focus. The more you focus on someone, the more attractive they become to you. How do you think desire works? Or working two bodies to climax?” Caledon looked around as if he wanted to make sure their next words were to remain private. “How else do you think you keep making me and Seldon lose a fucking dose?” Caledon’s eyes darkened again. “You demand all of our attention.” Caledon’s voice dropped, too. “You lure us in. You steal our focus and direct it to whatever it is you want from us. Seldon was right when he labeled you a predator. There’s not a lot of hunters out there who can match you, and the only problem is you have no fucking idea. You need to learn this about yourself as you grow stronger. Whatever disadvantage we thought you’d have from being dosed early, you make up in pure charisma and hypnotic sexual skills, cub.”

  Oh, damn if that wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear. But also, the scariest shit he’d ever heard.

  “Predator?”

  “Seductor as Seldon calls you. He’s an aggressive top and a bossy bottom at best. Never saw him submit to anyone like he did to you the day you were classified.”

  Daniel’s brain still hadn’t let everything from that night shimmer to the surface, but he got glimpses of Seldon lying back with his arms over his head and an expression of pure rapture on his face. And damn, Daniel felt hunger rise again. He looked up at Caledon whose eyes darkened again.

  “Oh shit, you’re going to be the death of us,” Caledon said, breathlessly.

  “Self-control,” Daniel said, smirking as he took the books from Caledon and stepped back.

  Caledon gaped. “Self-control? Cub, you just poked the bear!”

  Daniel set into a sprint down the hallway, weaving in and out between the people in the hallway, laughing loudly and hearing Caledon close on his tail, laughing ominously. But where were they going? Oh shit, he’d have to stop, and he did by the elevator, holding up the books as a shield and giggling like some damn school kid. Caledon caught up to him and hauled him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing.

  “Blood tests!” Caledon pushed the elevator button, still laughing by the feel of the shoulder in Daniel’s stomach.

  “Yeah, that’s not one of my kinks,” Daniel croaked. Caledon slapped his ass hard, making Daniel jump. “Ow!” The elevator pinged, and Caledon stepped inside.

  “Let’s try some of that self-control later.” Caledon placed Daniel back on his feet to be able to look around at two blue-eyes and a couple of breeders, all grinning. “I need to take care of something, so you stay exactly where I leave you. Don’t wander off down there.”

  “You’re gonna leave me?”

  “In the hands of a doctor, yes.”

  “Yes, My Lord.” Daniel hugged the books to his chest and contemplated what Caledon had called him. A predator. And Seldon had called him a seductor. Focusing on the breeder had made him attractive, so it was when Daniel made them focus on him that he became irresistible to them. When he could make them lose control of a dose. He looked at the books in his arms thinking he had to learn to control what he said while being dosed because he had just promised to read a book. An additional book. A smut book. He’d never read one before.

  The elevator stopped, and people got off and more got on, all nodding at Caledon, and one addressing him My Lord in passing. Daniel wanted to know how long he had been Lord of House Three but decided to wait until people weren’t listening in. The next time the elevator pinged the light in the display shone red, so Daniel knew they had arrived on the red-eyes level.

  Caledon led the way, and Daniel thought he recognized something. The office he and Maldon had waited in before Seldon and Caledon came back all horny. They continued and entered a set of double doors, and the place both smelled and looked like a hospital.

  A blue-eye came their way. “Lord Caledon. And…”

  “Daniel, House Three’s newest Changeling.”

  “Sire Seldon’s…”

  Daniel grit his teeth, making the blue-eye step back a bit.

  “Claimed Changeling, Daniel. Yes, and he’s very protective of his Sire.”

  “Admirable. Daniel, my name is Doctor Shelton. If you would follow Nurse Gerald, he’ll take your blood sample and have it sent to be added to your registration. My Lord, if you would follow me.”

  “Thank you, Doctor Shelton. Daniel, stay where the blood will be drawn, and I’ll come and collect you when I’m done.” Caledon looked at the books. “You have enough to keep you, I see.”

  Daniel looked at the books in his arms and snorted. “Yes, My Lord.”

  The red-eyed nurse smiled and pointed for Daniel to follow so he did. “Rough start to the change?” the nurse asked, not looking at Daniel as he sat on a chair and found what he needed.

  “Debatable,” Daniel said, placing the books on the table next to him.

  “Mine was hell. But I managed.” The nurse smiled a bit and placed Daniel’s arm on a slanted leather armrest before tying something around Daniel’s upper arm then staring at the elbow joint as a vein filled.

  “How long did it take?”

  “Two months and two overdoses.”

  “Damn,” Daniel muttered, happy it wasn’t him. He figured he should stop asking before he
got some sappy story he didn’t want to know about. Like he hadn’t wanted to know the girl’s name. Right then he was happy he hadn’t.

  “Yeah, they caught me on my honeymoon.”

  “I really don’t want to know,” Daniel said, regretting his tone immediately.

  “I’m sorry. Some need the sharing.”

  “I like the detachment. Don’t even think about my parents. Often.”

  The nurse looked up at him from his work at preparing the needle. “You look young.”

  “I am young.”

  “The Untouchable,” he muttered and sighed heavily, and Daniel hoped he kept any further comments to himself. “I have absolutely fallen in love with the scenery. Me and a few of the others go camping sometimes. We’re in the middle of a National Park. So beautiful. But you don’t strike me as the camping sort of guy.”

  “Never went camping so I wouldn’t know,” Daniel said, happy the nurse changed the subject. So, it wasn’t all wrong when people said nurses were people-people.

  “You should go see this place when you get the chance.” The nurse smiled and warned of a prick before jamming the needle into Daniel’s vein. He wasn’t squeamish, but he didn’t watch, either.

  “What’s the blood for?”

  “Before the change of our eyes, we’re still susceptible to some diseases. Some allergies still need to be taken into account while we still eat. Like severe allergies to shellfish, asthma, stuff like that.”

  “Oh,” Daniel said, not caring since he didn’t have any of it. He’d never been prone to sickness. He even avoided the crabs some girl he had been with had spread to six other guys at school so he could deny ever having been with her after that. She was hot, but that was fucking embarrassing once it came out just how many she had been with within a week.

  The nurse took three vials of blood before rolling his chair back to look at his collection. “That would be it. Lord Caledon asked for you to stay here, so…would you like anything while you wait?”

  “Is hospital coffee as bad here as it is in a human hospital?”

  The nurse laughed, nodding. “Yes, it is. Can I tempt you anyway?”

  “Actually, yeah. And water.”

  “Water in the tap,” the nurse said and pointed to a sink. “But I’ll bring you a cup of coffee. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.”

  He left, and Daniel went to drink three cups of water to quell his thirst after all the moaning in the library. God, how could he not be ashamed of having fucked with spectators and fucked hard enough to tip books from the shelves?

  Maybe there was something about Changelings in Caledon’s book. Daniel sat back down in the chair and used the leather armrest as a support as he settled in and looked through the book. It had a table of contents, and he looked up Changelings.

  A Changeling is a human with the genetic predisposition for growing the preoptic area of the hypothalamus. This center…

  Caledon had already explained it, so Daniel skimmed ahead. The Changeling will, during the growth of this area, experience uncontrollable hunger and an irrational need to feed as the newly developing center hungers for the hormone the body will release during sexual stimulation. This can be quelled by the doses of higher evolved Cubi, which is advised to keep the Changeling from feeding on humans at all hours of the day.

  The nurse came back and placed a cup of coffee and left immediately. Daniel sniffed the coffee, and it was bitter as hell. But he drank it and skipped a bit more of the book, knowing he was going to return to that part.

  Changelings who are classified to the opposite sex of how they identified themselves in the human world often experience long periods of habituation. A so-called “straight” or “heterosexual” will have a time of adjustment. The religious and cultural impacts are the most relevant aspects of this as shame stems from these unnatural imprints on the mind.

  Daniel skimmed for more words to be of relevance.

  The rare and blossoming Changeling will be the ones suppressed against their nature in the human world. These Changelings will accommodate to their new way of life with relative ease or even ferociously feed and nourish themselves as their nature is set free from restraints imprinted on them by a society which has deprived them.

  As with any other Changeling, the blossoming one needs help and guidance. For more information on how to support these, look under section C, II.

  He flipped to that section, thinking he saw something of himself there.

  When a blossoming Changeling is finding his or her new footing in the Cubi world, it is important that they are guided as best as possible. Changelings of this nature are to be pointed out as early as possible to be claimed and raised so that they may grow into potent and full individuals in the Cubi society. Blossoming Changelings often evolve faster than the Changelings fighting their transformation. Examining the blood from Changelings has revealed a higher level of the so-called Cubi protein in the blossoming Changelings.

  After that, it became more technical than Daniel thought he could understand, but apparently, this protein could transport the hormones. Or something.

  Someone moved in the curtain opening, and Daniel looked up, finding Caledon watching him.

  “Blossoming Changeling?”

  “Case in point.” Caledon pointed at Daniel. “You ready?”

  “Yeah.” Daniel collected the books and followed Caledon.

  “I’m happy to see that you’re already reading the book.”

  “Well, I am very curious about…everything I’m going through. So suppressed against my nature would be me not having the faintest idea that I was bi?”

  “Possibly. You never looked at a guy and thought, fuck me, or that you wanted to slip your dick in there?”

  “No. I’ve looked at guys during photo shoots and thought, he’s fucking hot, he’s gonna take my spot, but I’ve seen guys kiss, and it never did anything for me.”

  “Were they hot?”

  “No.”

  “So, if you saw a girl you found unattractive would that make you not interested in girls in general?”

  “No…and now I see your point.”

  “Let me give you some advice. Never limit yourself unless not doing so will do harm unto others. You mentioned your makeup. Your ass dance, which I’m a big fan of by the way, especially after finding out you can do that shit while fucking.” Caledon took a deep breath. “When I told you that Seldon and I spoke of him classifying you as a top, too…there is no mention of versatile Changelings in there, and there’s a very good reason for that. You won’t find one book in the library that speaks of it because they’re all in the library of the Great House.”

  “Why?” Daniel asked.

  “As soon as I get an answer, I’ll let you know. But you’re far from done exploring yourself, my little blossoming Cubi.” A dangerous smile spread on Caledon’s face. “Let’s go explore…after we meet the Grand Lord.”

  Daniel ran the questions on the note in his pocket through his head again while he followed Caledon through the many hallways and two elevator rides. He had nothing written about being a verse as he didn’t know it held any significance. Apparently, it did.

  “Remember,” Caledon said as he stopped them by huge wooden and beautifully ornamented double doors. “Showing respect to this man is the absolute most important part of your meeting here, okay?”

  “Yes, My Lord.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Seldon woke up to Rosadin stroking his arm.

  “Hey, baby girl.”

  “Hey. How are you?”

  Seldon tensed his back and bit down as the scabs cracked off its edges. “I’ll be staying here for a while longer.”

  “Okay. Do you want anything? Marcadon and Talidon just arrived. I told them the full version.”

  “How did they take it?” Seldon asked, hoping his sons would understand.

  “Marcadon is upset, Talidon is calmer.”

  “That’s like their personality traits,” Seld
on said, chuckling.

  “Do you want coffee? I’ll bring it in here.”

  “I’d prefer tea.”

  She winked and left, leaving Seldon to wait for Marcadon to march in there and give him a piece of his mind which was usually pretty clear cut and measured in millimeters. Both his sons dropped down to sit on the carpet where Seldon could see them and both looked sad or disappointed. With Marcadon it was hard to tell sometimes. He was so like his mother. Temperamental but strong, pigheaded, and with a fierce sense of justice. Talidon was a sweetheart. Got that from his mother, too. Seldon could barely contain his smile. It had been years since he’d had all three of them gathered at the same time.

  “How are you holding up, Dad?” Marcadon asked.

  “Better, now that Lord Caledon saved me from the hunger of a newborn Changeling.”

  “No way you could feed him like this.”

  “Oh, with this one you’d be surprised.”

  “I second that,” Rosadin said and sat between her brothers. Talidon poured coffee, and Marcadon got up.

  “Relax completely in your body.”

  Seldon did, and Marcadon pulled the blanket at an angle that slid Seldon’s torso and head to the edge of the bed without him having to move a muscle. He could now drink a cup of tea on his own with his head close to the edge and one arm over.

  “So…no one’s furious?” he asked, setting his cup down again.

  “We read the transcript,” Talidon said, looking into his mug. He looked heartbroken, and it was probably the sight of Seldon’s back.

  “You tried to protect him,” Marcadon said. “If I’m proud of anything, it’s knowing that.”

  “Wait ‘til you see him,” Rosadin said, grinning. “At least you Marca.”

  Seldon laughed. “You haven’t told him anything about my cub, have you?”

  “Not a word.”

  “Dad?” Marcadon asked, looking expectantly at him.

  “Wait. But I’ll give you a hint. I’d take this punishment ten times over to claim him.”

  Marcadon’s eyes grew wide.