Chapter 17

Liberty stared at the TV, studying the lions, but her mind was on Jovan. Even through the beveled glass she could see that his body was so much different than hers. She had noticed that male and female bodies were not the same, but she hadn’t thought beyond the apparent height, broad shoulders, and Jovan’s flat chest against the small bumps of her own.

Even tonight through the beveled glass she had seen the difference of the sexes, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Humans were so vastly different than SR44 beings. If a male and female SR44ian were to stand next to each other, one could not tell the difference.

She had seen him fisting his sexual organ, and she noticed the length and girth of it, where on her human body, there was none.

A strange sensation came over her, and her stomached ached a bit.

Minutes later, Jovan came out of the bath, a towel wrapped around his waist. He met her eyes briefly and said, “I just need to get some clothes.”

She watched as he rummaged through the drawers and came up with fabrics made up of squares in the colors of blue and green.

As he returned to the bathroom, she watched the muscles in his shoulders and back roll with each step. His back also had a picture of a skull with a red knife going through the eye socket. She had seen others with pictures on their skin at the club where she had worked. The picture on Jovan’s back should have been frightening, but it wasn’t. In fact, she decided she liked it, and her stomach ached a little more.

Sighing, she grabbed the remote and switched off the TV. She snuggled down into the crisp sheets and closed her eyes, hoping she wasn’t getting ill.

Minutes later she felt the mattress dip, and she opened her eyes. Jovan sat on the bed looking at her.

“You can’t sleep here, Liberty,” he said, crossing his arms over his smooth, bare chest.

“I do believe—”

“No, Liberty. You can’t. There’s a whole list of reasons why this is a bad idea, with the top of the list being that you are Noah’s half-sister. I’m not going to be caught in bed with you. Noah would beat me to a pulp.”

Liberty studied him. His wet hair hung in strands down to his shoulders, his green eyes glowing. She wasn’t the Warrior Noah’s sister. She had been born into servitude of his family, and she told Jovan this.

“It doesn’t work that way on Earth, Liberty. On Earth, you’re his half-sister, and since you’re here, you might as well play by the rules.”

Liberty nodded, both surprised and excited that if what Jovan said was true and Noah would accept it, she did indeed have family here. But that didn’t change the circumstances of the current situation.

“Jovan, I can’t take my leave.”

“Liberty, you have to.”

She sighed and closed her eyes.

“Oh my God,” Jovan said, grabbing his head. “What the fuck?”

She watched him sink to his knees, saying words that she believed would be described as curse words.

After a moment, she closed her eyes again. Jovan breathed heavily and slowly came back up to sit on the bed.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked. “I felt like I was being crushed by emotions again.”

Liberty nodded. “Jovan, I do need to stay here, because I am protecting you from the onslaught.”

He simply stared at her while trying to catch his breath.

“We have a lot of work to do for you to learn to master your gift, Jovan. If you wish, we can start now as I’m not very tired.”