Her voice broke and tears were a burning pressure behind her eyes. She jumped up from the couch and turned her back on him. Staring at the wall, she tried to regain some control.

Liken felt his chest tighten at the anguish in her voice. He opened his mouth to speak, but she seemed to sense it and held her hand up. It was as if by throwing her hand up, she could ward off his words. He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. He couldn’t handle the thought of reducing her to tears. He waited for her to speak.

After a minute, her shoulders straightened and she turned to face him again. Her eyes were dry chips of ice, but her voice was even colder. “I’m not fucking your brother.” Each word was spaced with emphasis.

The welling emotion in Liken’s chest turned to fury in an instant. “I did not ask you to fuck my brother.”

Her voice was like a bullet. “Then what do you mean he’ll be there during sex. How will he be touching me?” Crushing cynicism filled her tone.

His voice was harsh. “Most of the time, he will be across the room. After I merge with you, he will press his body along yours.”

“No. I won’t be any part of this.” She spoke absolutely. “I’ll take my chances. No link.” She started pacing, her movements echoing her inner agitation.

Liken stood up and towered over her, stopping her in mid-stride.Any last bit of patience he had was gone. “You will do it. Tair will build you a better shield.”

“He can build a better mousetrap if he wants to,” she shot back, “but he’s not doing it in my head.”

He grabbed her arms and glared down at her. “There will be no sex between you since that is your will. But, body contact is necessary.” He felt like shaking her, but didn’t.

She raised a rebellious face upward. “Oh right.” Her voice was sharp enough to cut glass. “He’ll just be watching us and rubbing against me while we fuck. I don’t know why I thought that was sexual.”

His jaw was so tight it would probably lock permanently. “Enough. You will do as you are told.” His tone was final.

She gave a laugh of disbelief. “That’s it?! I’ll do as I’m told?!” She thought that maybe her head would blow off from sheer temper. “Listen, big guy, you merged with the wrong gal. I’m not a child you can order around.”

His voice was ruthless. “You will obey me in this. It is for your protection.”

The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. “I won’t obey you in anything, but especially not this. What are you going to do tomorrow, rape me?” Her voice turned ugly. “Will Tair watch that too?”

He turned loose of her abruptly. His voice was colder than she’d ever heard it. “I am done with this. I will be back later when you have regained your reason.”

He turned and headed for the door. Hitting the button nearly hard enough to leave an impression in the wall, he swung past the sliding door and turned back. His voice was mocking. “Your trust is quite touching, Sharon. Your resourcefulness is impressive as well. You have found yet another way to run.”

He leaned wearily against the doorway. Bitterness was carved into his face. “You forget – I know your fantasies. I was at the table with Tair last night when certain images ran through your mind. You grew wet at the thought. Deny it to me if you must, but be honest with yourself. The thought of my brother in the room with us scares you, but you are not as outraged as you pretend.”

He stared at her for a minute, but she made no response. He turned and walked down the pathway. The door slid shut in his wake.

His words had struck her like a blow. Sinking to the ground, she tried to calm down. As she wrapped her arms around herself in unconscious comfort, she felt numb with grief. Hurt was a living thing in her chest. He didn’t love her. You couldn’t have love without respect. He thought she would obey him like a child. She could only gasp in outrage. He thought it was okay for Tair to be with them. It was at that moment she realized she could feel his hurt and anger pressing upon hers. It was flowing between them, abenefit of merging,causing magnified grief. Wiping a hand across her face wearily, she wondered how things could have gone so wrong so fast. Cosmic Destiny. It sucked.

Chapter 10

Tair opened the door of his home, to find a seething Liken on his doorstep. He spoke in Shimerian.“Enter, brother. I could feel your anger raging at me all the way from your dwelling.”

Liken walked past him and Tair pushed the button, sliding the door into place. Turning around, he leaned against it, and watched his brother storm into the living room. Walking to a button on the wall, Liken pressed it and removed a bottle oflerj. Bringing it to his mouth, he took a healthy swallow.

Tair winced. The potency of the alcoholic drink was well known. He could attest to it himself. Liken must have scorched his insides with that big a swallow.

Moving to join his brother in the living room, he sat down on the couch. Liken paced with the bottle still in his hand. In the voice of someone trying to sooth a wild animal, Tair said,“Liken, you and Sharon are both broadcasting at an alarming level.” He rubbed his hand across his aching forehead.

Liken really looked at his brother for the first time. There were lines of stress in Tair’s face and there was dull pain in his eyes. Knowing his own face looked worse, he felt guilty nonetheless.“My apologies, Tair.” He made a visible effort to calm down.

“You and Sharon are building the hurt and anger between you, Liken. You need to pull back from her for a time. It is dangerous.”Tair hated to see his brother in such shape. The voice of reason was definitely needed here.

With a nod of assent, Liken worked on withdrawing and blocking Sharon as much as he could. He could not sever himself from her completely but he could block her out for a time. They both needed it. He knew Tair was right.

Tair gave him a tired smile of approval.“I am glad you see reason. You need to put your emotions aside, brother, and begin thinking instead.”

Liken felt another wave of anger move through him, but he focused on getting it under control.“I suppose you know what was said.”

Tair’s voice was wry.“I could not help knowing. It was practically an assault.” He felt sorry for both of them. The angry words and feelings from their argument made him feel raw and unhappy.

Liken felt guilty again.“We had no right to so abuse you, Tair. I can only say that we are newly merged and we will learn better control with time. Again, my apologies.”

Tair waived them aside.“There is no need, Liken. I am much more concerned with what has happened. Why is she so resistant?”He couldn’t understand why Sharon would be so against such a natural thing.

Liken knew Sharon very well, perhaps even better than she knew herself.“There are many reasons. She is afraid, uncomfortable with her growing sexuality. She doesn’t completely trust me. She was raised in a culture very different from our own. She viewed you being in the room as a desire on my part to share her. It doesn’t reconcile with her idea of love.”

Tair shook his head.“Those are all things that can be handled with reassurances and patience. We are a very sexual culture, but possessive as well. You need to get her to understand that my linking with her is not a betrayal. It is customary. As a matter of fact, it is necessary. She judges it an infidelity and assumes you do not care for her. You must show her she is wrong.”

Liken collapsed into the chair across from Tair and took another swig from the bottle.“Easily said, brother. How can I make her understand? I tried reasoning, I tried ordering, and still she refuses to trust me. She pulls back from me.”