Lara Santiago - Menagerie Read online

  “Me too. Maybe we could walk together.” She was prepared to say anything to keep this guy interested.

  He exchanged amused glances with the man standing next to him and asked, “Are you spoken for yet?”

  “I don’t think so. How would I know for sure?”

  “Have you selected any man from the gauntlet arena?”

  “No.” Valerie frowned. “What’s that gauntlet arena thing again?” Better to get her answers from this hunk than a hostile blue alien.

  He narrowed his eyes, then explained. “The gauntlet arena is a large room filled with men seeking a partner. When you enter and walk down the gauntlet aisle, the interested men will step forward and try to get your attention.” He looked her up and down. “I expect you’ll garner a lot of attention.”

  “Why?” His interested appraisal brought a grin to her lips. In her non-dream life she seldom rated a single look of interest from the men she came into contact with on a day-to-day basis. Attractive men like the man before her never saw her at all.

  He smiled in return. “Well, first of all, you’re a blonde. It’s rare in this place, for some unexplained reason. And second of all,” his eyes ran down her body with definite interest once again, “you aren’t frighteningly skinny like the majority of the women here.”

  Valerie frowned and looked down at her crappy jogging suit. And while she’d always dreamed of being frighteningly skinny, she’d also always considered herself pleasingly plump. “Does that mean you think I’m fat?”

  His eyes widened with panic. “No. Of course not. I meant absolutely no insult. It’s just that the slightly curvier women are, well, more kindhearted in this place.” He leaned in and whispered confidentially, “The bony, skinny ones are mean. It’s not their fault. It has something to do with the alien vortex process when they’re brought aboard.”

  Alien vortex process? Valerie drilled a look into his beautiful eyes, trying to understand. “How are the skinny chicks mean to you? What do they do?”

  He shrugged. “It’s their temperament, I guess. They go out of their way to aggravate all around them and especially men, but only after they’ve selected a group. By then it’s too late. The new men here always go for the skinny, mean ones and subsequently they’re stuck. Those women with a little meat on their bones are always selected first by the seasoned men here.”

  Valerie nodded, but didn’t quite believe what he said. Her slightly hazy memory, which seemed to fade with each passing moment, recalled an incident very recently where a man she was with had suggested that she should go on a diet.

  Even now the feeling of shame washed down her insides in a burning, hurtful rush. She shook her head to dissolve the remembered sting and lifted her eyes to his face. This was her dream, after all. She would control it and she most assuredly didn’t want to think about diets.

  This man’s seductive gaze drilled through to her soul. His face reflected an expression suggesting that he liked what he saw in the deep, dark recesses of her mind.

  “The men who have been here a while understand that principle, anyway, and I certainly do.” His eyes traveled appreciatively down the rounded figure hidden by the boring jogging suit. “Yep, they’re going to love you, all right.”

  Valerie nodded, released him and brushed her hands down her blah gray jogging shirt, which probably didn’t enhance her round body in the least. “So after the interested men select me, then what?”

  His gaze narrowed. “Then you select the one man you like best out of those who are interested and he takes you to meet his group.”

  “Oh yeah, the group. They mentioned the groups when I first got here. How many men are in your group?”

  “Five.”

  Valerie nodded and smiled. “I hear that’s the average.”

  “I guess.”

  “Then what?”

  His eyebrows lifted. “Then if all of us agree you’re the one for us, we seal the deal.”

  Sex? Did ‘seal the deal’ in this dream mean sex? Of course it did. It was her dream. It could mean whatever she wanted.

  Valerie studied the man before her. He had a nice face. A patient face. He was tall and his wavy strawberry-blond hair and general body build reminded her of an Iowa farm boy. He perhaps also had a touch of Irish in his blood. Sexy, as far as she was concerned.

  Valerie wanted to ensure she could find this man again. “What’s your name?”

  “You can call me Hauser.”

  “I’m Valerie.” She reached out and touched his shoulder. She squeezed it. The muscle in his arm was solid, not like in her usual dreams, when you reached for something that you wanted and it vaporized.

  He laughed nervously. “Are you sure you’re okay, Valerie?”

  “So can I just pick you? And you would be one of the men I spent time with here in this place?” She glanced around the sterile hallways where they stood as if someone might witness her molesting his shoulder with prurient intent.

  His eyes widened and he looked over at his friend. The other man shook his head. Hauser chuckled and said, “I believe we have to make our selections in the gauntlet arena for it to count.”

  “Okay. Let’s go there. I’d like to choose you. Is that okay?” Valerie ran her hand from his muscled chest to his fine flat abs. He made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a surprised growl. “Will you step up at the gauntlet arena so I can choose you?”

  “Yes. I believe I will.”

  “Excellent.” Valerie sighed. She knew she’d wake up before anything ‘good’ happened, but planned to enjoy this dream for as long as it lasted.

  Hauser’s smile dissolved and his expression hardened. “You understand what the five of us in our group want, right?”

  She laughed. “Yes. You all want sex. I get it.”

  Hauser exchanged a knowing smile with his friend, who sent his gaze to the ceiling as if in disbelief. Perhaps he was looking for a partner too. The man who accompanied Hauser was attractive in a long-haired, rebel guy sort of way, but Valerie much preferred Hauser.

  The three of them strolled down the blue-lit hallway. After two or three turns that completely made her lost, she noticed they now moved towards a group of people. There were several of the painted aliens dressed just like the first alien guy, only these two had green skin and blond hair.

  Approaching slowly, Valerie saw that they stood outside a set of over-tall wooden double doors. A line of girls waited for entrance, and each time the door opened to admit one, a rousing cheer went up, cut off only by the door closing.

  “So let me get this straight. I wait in line while you go inside. Then when it’s my turn to go inside, I walk down the gauntlet, they cheer and then you’ll come and get me.”

  “For the most part, yes, that’s right. Keep walking as far as you can, I’ll be towards the end of the gauntlet row. They’ll be lining the ropes on either side. Sometimes it gets a little crowded by the time you get to the end, but I’ll grab your wrist when you get close enough to me. If you still want to be with my group, just touch my skin anywhere. When the crowd clears, declare that you’ve chosen me.”

  She reached out and stroked her hand down his arm. “Should I yell out your name?”

  Hauser shook his head. “Probably not. We shouldn’t have met ahead of time. Some of the other men might complain that I took unfair advantage.” He winked.

  Mesmerized by his wink, Valerie finally answered, “Oh. Okay.”

  They were within shouting distance of the group waiting outside the tall doors, but no one had looked up to see them approaching yet. Hauser slowed his stride. “May I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “If I select you as the mate for my group, how often will you allow sex for each of us?”

  Valerie shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s the average for that sort of thing?” She expected to wake up before any actual sex took place, but she played along.

  “The Others think that once every other month is enough.”

>   “The Others?”

  “That’s what we call the multicolored aliens here.”

  Nodding, she asked, “And sex every other month isn’t enough?”

  “I’ve been here for almost two months already. I’m starting to get shaky. I hear at three months I’ll want to die.”

  Valerie sympathized. She didn’t want him to suffer for a second. Glancing back at the hallway they’d just come from, she wondered if she could talk him into a quickie in some remote closet. Just looking at him made her want to climb up his body, licking all the way. Given all the rules they seemed to have, she imagined that wouldn’t happen. They probably had rules against closets and any licking taking place inside them.

  “Hmm. Well, how about twice a month for each guy. What’s that, ten times for me each month? I could do that, easy.” Besides, it was a dream. Not like she would ever get to have any real sex with this gorgeous guy anyway. She would be on the verge of ecstasy, about to experience multiple orgasmic delights, and then her alarm clock would shrilly ring before the first ripple of climax hit her unsatisfied body.

  That was the way her dreams always worked, frustratingly enough.

  His eyes widened. “That would be very generous of you.”

  Valerie shrugged. “If they all look like you, it will be my pleasure.” She suspected that even if the others looked like Quasimodo, the elephant man, king of the lepers and Satan, Hauser would still be worth it all on his own. He was a walking advertisement for the kind of insatiable sex appeal she’d only dreamed about. The kind of immediate attraction she’d waited for in her awake life. Could she drag Hauser back through this fabulous dream to her awake life? Likely not.

  Hauser winked at her and separated himself before anyone noticed they’d walked down the hall together. He entered a smaller door next to the double doors where all the women in line entered one at a time.

  Stepping up to the last woman in the long line, Valerie studied the other females while she waited for her turn. They’d obviously changed clothes. Many were attired in fancy dresses, sported freshly coiffed hair and wore makeup. The majority of them were frighteningly skinny, as Hauser had mentioned.

  Valerie looked down at her sweat outfit and suddenly felt sort of foolish. Her hair was pulled away from her face and secured with a gray scrunchy, which matched her equally boring gray cotton jogging suit.

  Over her shoulder, she noticed a fresh batch of four women, also dressed up in very fancy clothing, approach to stand in line behind her. She probably should have gone with the initial group to change, but she guessed it didn’t matter. Valerie had a guy lined up and Hauser hadn’t cared about her clothes. Undoubtedly, sex was more important than fashion from a male perspective. Suddenly, a disturbing thought occurred to her and she hoped Hauser hadn’t been teasing her. It wouldn’t be the first time a man had stood her up.

  The gauntlet arena door opened and another exuberant cheer sounded as the woman in line directly ahead of Valerie disappeared through the tall entryway. She took a long step forward and into the attention of the new alien guy. He glanced up and down her body a few times as if with curiosity. His gaze finally landed on her face with an expression that said although he found her attire completely inappropriate, he didn’t want to argue over it or stop the speed of the line to question her.

  She broke the ice by speaking before he changed his mind and expressed disapproval of her clothing. “Let me guess, your name is Aqua.”

  “Correct.” One light-blond eyebrow on his aqua-painted face lifted. “Are you ready to make your selection in the gauntlet arena?”

  Valerie answered with a hesitant, “Yes,” even as unease slid through her veins. Hauser had seemed very interested. She closed her eyes and sent up a little prayer that he wasn’t lying about wanting her.

  “When I open the door, make your way down the roped off areas. Look for those men you find appealing. Touch the skin of the one you want with your open hand and further instructions will follow.”

  “Right.” Valerie nodded and shrugged as though she’d done this a hundred times before.

  Without a further word, Aqua opened the door and ushered her through. Valerie was unprepared for the sheer volume of men in attendance. There must have been hundreds of them and another rousing cheer went up when she crossed the threshold into the large darkened room. She took two steps inside, and the door closed solidly behind her.

  Valerie brushed her hands down the sides of her clothes and took a step forward. Perhaps gray sweats were the new black. At least many of the men didn’t think she looked stupid. Each man she passed had one of two distinct reactions. They either looked up and down her body and moved forward, trying to get her to come nearer. She guessed they weren’t put off by her jogging suit, either. Several other men took one look at her, rolled their eyes and backed away from the roped off areas, allowing others to fill in the empty spots. Apparently, a lot of men fell into the first category of having distinct interest in her gray sweats.

  Dismissing them quickly, Valerie searched the crowd for Hauser. She remembered that he’d said he’d be at the end of the row and headed quickly for what she thought was the end of this long line. Searching the hordes of men now closing in, she was panicked when she didn’t see him right away. The uneasy feeling of his possible betrayal tugged at her.

  The men she passed grabbed at her clothing, screaming at her to pick them. She kept her hands to her sides, but after a few steps the men were snatching at her arms, trying to entice her to touch them. She pulled her elbows in close to her torso and marched forward, looking right and left for the man she’d seen earlier. Didn’t he say he would be at the end of the line of men? Where was the end of the line?

  Looking down the gauntlet, she revised her opinion from hundreds of men to possibly thousands. She tried not to look into their desperate eyes, but a few launched themselves at her. The space in which she traveled narrowed and the men were able to take hold of her more easily. The hands of several unseen men reached out to caress, tap or smack her for her attention. She couldn’t even see faces anymore, just hands attached to arms waving in a frenzy trying to gain her notice.

  Panic engulfed her brain. Her heart pounded in her chest. She could barely move forward. Looking over her shoulder, Valerie saw that the path she’d just followed was no better. She was surrounded and she couldn’t move. She crossed her arms and tucked her hands against her body, not wanting the flat of her hand to touch someone accidentally.

  Male hands attached to unseen bodies were now gripping and yanking at her sweat pants as well as her sweatshirt. A bubble of fear lodged in her chest and a sob escaped her throat.

  Where was Hauser?

  Valerie stopped very briefly and the men closed in around her. She screamed, but they wouldn’t stop. Suddenly, she was being pushed side to side by the massive bodies surrounding her. Valerie was afraid she was being smothered. She tilted her head back and screamed, “Hauser!” Her voice was lost in the din of shouts.

  Valerie couldn’t move forward any longer. With each and every step, she encountered a leg and no place to put her foot. She started to fall sideways and without meaning to her hand shot out to break her fall.

  A firm hand snaked around her wrist the instant it left the safety of her body.

  Oh God, someone had hold of her.

  Chapter 2

  Valerie tried to dislodge the hand that had a death grip on her wrist by shaking it off, but the man held fast. Was it Hauser? She wanted to believe that it felt like his hand, but she wasn’t certain.

  Afraid to look and see who held her, Valerie sank to her knees and the man with the death grip on her wrist went down too. The pressure of the bodies all around her intensified. She looked up, but the bodies were piling up over her. She tried to see the man attached to the hand and with the shifting of several bodies, she got a glimpse of Hauser’s hair. He was the one who gripped her arm.

  Thank heavens.

  Valerie slid her free hand alo
ng Hauser’s arm and gripped the shoulder muscle under his shirtsleeve. It felt even better to touch his firm, smooth shoulder than it did just touching him through his shirt. The moment her hand gripped his firm skin, an obnoxiously loud air horn sounded and the men around her shuffled and departed clumsily.

  She held fast to Hauser’s shoulder even as he released her wrist.

  The air horn sounded once again with a riotous blast that she felt all the way into the depth of her chest. She clenched her hand into Hauser’s shoulder more firmly, refusing to let him go. Her other hand became free and she clutched it around his waist. They kneeled on the floor of the cavernous room as the echo of one horn blast faded, only to be replaced by another.

  Valerie closed her eyes as if it would help block the strident sound of the horn. After only a few seconds, she was still on her knees gripping Hauser’s shoulder beneath his shirt. Her nails had pierced his skin and he grinned after they finally shoved aside the unwanted masses still vehemently trying to convince her to choose them instead of Hauser. Fat chance.

  Hands in the air, as though participating in a bank robbery, he didn’t seem to notice the injury she wrought on his skin. Or he didn’t care.

  “What are you doing?” It was a grass-green alien this time and Valerie assumed his name was Green. “Let go of him.”

  “No. He’s the one I want.” Valerie slung her free arm around Hauser’s neck. His hands remained in the air and his gaze rested on the floor, but she saw his lips form a subtle smile at her passionate statement.

  Green glared and put his hands on his hips. “You have to let him get up and retreat back to his place.”

  “No, I don’t. I don’t want to lose him. What if I can’t find him again?”

  “It’s been recorded. The moment you touched his flesh with your palm he was chosen by you. Release him.”

  “I don’t believe you. You’re trying to trick me.” Valerie sealed herself to Hauser and buried her head in his throat. “The second I let him go, I’ll never see him again.”

  Mr. Green alien huffed with extreme exasperation. “You’ve already selected him. He must be allowed to go back and inform his group. They have to approve his choice before we can move forward.”