Shepherd by KH LeMoyne Page A

the first time, she wanted to release someone else’s burden. She wanted him to be as naked with her as he made her feel. Until this was over, neither of them could move on.
    “What are the scars from?”
    “The addition of two extra chambers to my heart, an additional lung, and a series of blood vessels to support the increased processing power of my body.”
    She glanced up, working hard to plaster calm on her features and keep the horror of the pain he’d endured from her voice. “For the added speed of your legs and strength?”
    He gave a terse nod. She returned it but stepped back, glanced down, and moved her hand lower. His abdomen pulled in before his intention to speak, and she moved a hand to his lips to silence him. Glancing over his navel, she followed the line of dark blond hair to the thick width of his penis. Only half erect, he gave every sign of resisting her exploration. She had every intention of eliciting his enjoyment of her touch—in a moment. As her hand slid slowly down, his width expanded in her palm. Good, but she had another target.
    She brushed her thumb over his glans and then traced her fingers to the joint of his thighs and the nestled sack of his balls. Both warm and soft, one was larger and riddled with scars.
    “And this?” She cupped both in her palm, gently rolling them, waiting to see when his eye changed color, cataloging whether rubbing both testicles elicited sensation and pleasure or just one.
    He swallowed hard but stared at her without blinking. “The Regent guards recruit at puberty, figuring the boys are surging in testosterone. They like total control over their assets. I was lucky. The test groups before me had both taken and none replaced.”
    Fighting back the anguish for the atrocities forced on him, she pushed on. “And the purpose of the new one?”
    He raised his chin slightly. “To increase aggression. More testosterone, a higher lizard-brain mentality, and less cognitive reasoning to override one’s orders.”
    With a delicate squeeze, she watched the colors in his constructed eye settle back into deep gold. “They failed,” she said with a smile. “Whatever they tried on you didn’t work. Must have really pissed them off.”
    His cheek twitched, and the side of his mouth gave a small rise.
    Not waiting for his acceptance, she released his balls, folded her hand around his growing erection, and dropped to her knees on the wet floor between his feet. One hand traced around the fresh wound on his thigh. “Does this hurt?”
    “I can feel that there’s a problem. The connective tissue reweaves, and the mechanics seek any alternate route to continue functioning at maximum efficiency.”
    He started with a sour tone but hissed as she pulled and stroked the full length of his cock. “Where do you feel the problem?”
    “At the connection to my own tissue.” He groaned as she placed a kiss above the juncture of his leg and torso. The scars clearly delineated where they’d removed his legs and attached the cybernetic enhancements. She kissed his artificial skin and then his flesh, lingering to tongue him from hip to groin.
    “Esme.” His palm covered her head a second before she turned and took him into her mouth.
    His fingers gripped her hair and tugged. “Damn.”
    She scraped her teeth below the helmet of his crown, enjoying the contrast of soft skin over steely hardness. Her fingers gripped the backs of his thighs as she nuzzled closer, swirling her tongue along the curves and ridges of his cock.
    No amount of tugging on her hair stopped her efforts. His body’s responses confirmed his pleasure, but her surprise was at how much she enjoyed this new experience. The tighter his grip and the faster his breathing, the more her heart raced and heat sizzled along her skin. The pleasure he’d brought her earlier resurfaced, pulsing in waves between her thighs as she worked her tongue over his flesh. The need to bury herself in the musky warmth of his body,