Page 8 of Tender Captivity (Human Pets of Talin)

Jinna watched some intrepid purple bugs climb up and down a nearby plant stalk.

She was sitting on the reclining mat Renalan had set out for her, sipping from a canister full of an unknown, sweet, cool beverage.

Next to her was a small decorative box full of items Renalan had left to keep her entertained while she rested.

There were snacks, a small information square, several canisters of liquid, and a few other things she wasn’t familiar with.

There was even a small, round device she could grab and squeeze that would sound an alarm in the house and bring Holian or Renalan running.

She thought they were going overboard, but both men were busy and didn’t want her to be bored.

It was also paramount to both of them that she feel safe and secure.

Instead of complaining and asking to be involved, she settled down on the mat and watched the purple bugs.

It wasn’t bad. The bugs were interesting, and when she got bored, she’d start reading on the information square.

She only had to remain here for a few marks.

“Hi, are you Jinna?”

Startled, Jinna flinched away from the presence that appeared at her side. Rolling off the side of the mat, she instinctively put her arms over her head to protect herself.

“Oh shit! I’m sorry! You’re safe, I’m not going to hurt you,” the voice said as she heard rustling. Opening her eyes, she found another human woman kneeling on the ground next to her. Feeling foolish, she lowered her arms and sat up.

“Hello, yes, I’m Jinna,” she responded, hiding her shaking hands in her lap. Her heart was racing in her chest, and she felt a little dizzy.

Before her heart had even slowed, Renalan was there, lifting her in his arms and sounding a loud, concerned rumble.

“What’s going on here? Why are you sitting in the dirt?” He focused his gaze on the stranger. “Lakin, did you push her over?”

“No!” Lakin denied quickly as she plopped back to sit on the end of the reclining mat as Renalan carefully set Jinna down next to the energetic woman. “I might have startled her, but I didn’t punch or push. I wouldn’t do that.”

“I heard differently,” Renalan said as he leaned over to right the basket that had gotten knocked over. “I believe you struck Nol with your fist back on Kalor.”

Lakin huffed out a breath. “Geez, that was over a year ago, and I only punched him that once. You’d think he’d have forgiven me by now.”

“Forgiven, perhaps,” Renalan answered with an amused rumble. “But forgotten, no.”

“She didn’t hit me,” Jinna said, feeling like she should be honest. But now she was worried because this Lakin woman had already hit someone in the past.

Lakin pointed at her with a triumphant look at Renalan.

“See! I don’t go around hitting people I’ve just met.

Nol was a special case. I woke up in a strange place, surrounded by people I didn’t know, so I started swinging.

I stopped when I realized no one was trying to hurt me. So cut a girl some slack.”

“How does one cut slack?” Renalan asked as he stood back up.

Jinna couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her. Lakin shot her an approving glance. “If you got why that was funny, you must be free-born. Humans raised among the Talins wouldn’t have heard that archaic term.”

“Lakin made you laugh. This is good. I’m going to fetch some more snacks since two of you are here now.” He pointed at Lakin. “She shouldn’t move, so if you want to visit, stay on the reclining pad.”

“Got it,” Lakin said with a grin. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t exert herself.”

With a final, indulgent rumble, Renalan left.

Before Jinna could make a comment, Lakin started asking questions.

“Were you wounded? Is that why you’re not supposed to be moving?

Holian said I could come out and visit. He and my Talin, Dalt, are dealing with the Challenge issue.

But you look fine to me. Are you sick? By the way, Holian is way more attached to you than any human.

Have you slept with him? You smell like apples, is that his bonding oil?

If he’s scent-bonded to you, you better stay.

I like Holian, and I’d hate to see him suffer.

But I’d also understand if you didn’t want to live as a pet.

I mean, if you aren’t born to it, it’s really weird. Right?”

Lakin finally paused to let Jinna speak, but with so many questions she wasn’t sure where to start. Finally she gave up. “I need you to repeat all those questions one at a time, please.”

Far from appearing upset, Lakin laughed and patted her leg. “Sorry, I’ve been meeting a lot of new people lately, and I’ve gotten into the habit of jumping in with both feet. First question, why aren’t you supposed to be moving around?”

“The healer came by to check on me and decided to treat an old injury. She said I shouldn’t put weight on that leg for, uh, three marks? I’m still getting used to Talin timekeeping, but Holian set a timer on that information square so I’ll know when it’s fine to walk again.”

“That’s good then,” Lakin declared. “I’m sure you could probably walk on it if you needed to, but these guys tend to be overly cautious because we’re so fragile.

” She rolled her eyes. “Fragile! Ha! Let’s see one of them crawl through an access hatch and rewire three sets of redundant systems without setting off any alarms or accidently setting themselves on fire. ”

Jinna was intrigued. “Did you do that?”

Lakin’s expression turned mischievous. “I might have, once or twice. But I promise I never did it without good reason.”

“How come you’re still here?” Jinna blurted out. “If you have the skills to do that, you should be able to slip out of your collar and escape!”

“Oh, I do all the time.” Lakin reached up and unsnapped her collar with ease then held it out for Jinna to see. Peeling back the soft lining of the metal band revealed a slim, hidden area. “Dalt had it specially made for me. Look at all the goodies he hid in it!”

It took Jinna a full minute of staring at the inside of the collar to understand what she was looking at. “Are those tools?”

Lakin beamed. “Yup! Everything I might need to break out of a room or disable a ship.” She adjusted the lining so it covered the tools again and then snapped the collar back around her neck.

Jinna ran her fingers over her own collar. “Why are you still here? Why haven’t you tried for Delorta-controlled space? I remember the ship I was brought here on passed by one of their stations. If you could make it to them, you’d be free!”

Lakin shook her head. “No way am I running. I’m invested in helping these guys fix themselves.

And besides, I couldn’t ever leave Dalt.

” Lakin pointed to Jinna’s throat. “Try opening it yourself. If I know Holian, he keyed it so you could take it off if you needed to. He probably forgot to tell you. I heard he rescued you and there was even a fight. Did Holian kick ass? The guys all say he was as good a fighter as my Dalt in his prime.”

“He did save me from a beating,” Jinna confirmed as she awkwardly pushed the pads of her thumbs into the sensors on her collar. The thing clicked open right away. Pulling it off, she held it in her hands and stared at it, stupefied.

“I didn’t expect that,” she murmured.

“See, I told you,” Lakin said. “Now tell me about meeting Holian.”

Jinna shook her head and held up the collar.

“No, you need to explain all this to me first,” she demanded.

“Why do the Talins keep humans as slaves if they don’t want us to work?

Why did one Talin beat me and now Holian is treating me like a real person?

Why would he make me wear a collar but let me take it off?

Why would you need to help them? What is going on? ”

Lakin’s eyebrows rose with Jinna’s frustrated questions. “Uh, that’s a lot of ground to cover. Right, let me start with the fact that Talins are dying in record numbers from a disease called Fading. Families and clans with access to human pets are afflicted at a much lower rate.”

Time passed quickly in the garden as Lakin explained how humans filled the need for love and affection among the Talins.

She learned there were two political factions fighting over the fate of Talins.

Human pets had found themselves as symbols for the progressive Reformists who wanted to loosen or even abolish the strict scent-bonding and child-rearing laws.

The Traditionalists wanted to keep everything as it was and even strengthen some of the more draconian regulations.

As she talked, Jinna realized Holian must have scent-bonded to her. That would explain why he seemed compelled to rub his bonding oil in her hair. If Holian had bonded to her, there must be more than sex between them. Right?

“Now that I’ve explained it all, are you going to stay?” Lakin asked, her expression worried. “Holian’s a good guy. He can be a little bit of a hard-ass, but he’s only got everyone’s best interests at heart.”

“I won’t leave,” Jinna blurted out. “As long as I can stay with Holian, I won’t leave. I mean, I won’t try to escape or anything.”

Lakin waved her hand. “You wouldn’t need to escape.

If you really didn’t want to live among the Talins and you weren’t attached to anyone, I’m sure Holian would send you to Sorana.

That’s a Talin colony way the hell out there on the edge of Delorta space.

They have a secret deal with the Delorta so humans can go, uh, ‘missing’ and end up at one of the Delorta refuges. ”

“Oh!” Jinna exclaimed. “It’s that easy?”