it's time to share mine.
14
U'DRON
R'ven looks distressed. "I appreciate you sharing your secret with me. And even if I don't understand it entirely, I respect it." She takes a deep breath and offers me a false smile. "Mine is worse."
Is there worse? I have told her of the shame I have lived with every day since the destruction of my clan, how I can never claim a mate unless resonance steps in, how I am doomed to be forever caught between true adulthood and youth. How I cannot claim the female in front of me, who is as lovely as she is fragile, who pressed her teat into my hand and mouth-mated with me and enticed me in ways I could scarcely imagine.
Perhaps this is the biggest cruelty of all—that R'ven is so lovely and willing and I must turn her away. She deserves better than the shame of a male like me.
"I'm…" She hesitates and then blows out another breath, crossing her arms over her chest as if to protect herself. "I'm just going to say it and get it over with. I'm not a nice person, U'dron."
This…seems an odd thing to state. "I think you are nice."
The laugh she chokes on sounds almost as if she is going to cry. "When I got here, I lied about who I am. I thought everyone would like me more if I was this flower child, nice hippie person without a care in the world. I've been pretending to be that person for months now. It's not who I am, though."
I try not to frown, because she listened so attentively to my own story. "Then who are you?"
She licks her lips, considers for a moment, and then sighs. "I'm a stripper. I take my clothes off for money."
I…
This is bad? I often wear very little clothing. "What…is mah-nee?"
"Shit. Right." She thinks for a moment and then adds, "Okay, I get in front of men—strangers—and they offer me tokens that I can use to buy things like food and a home." She tilts her head. "If I take my clothes off, that is."
"Why do they care if your clothes are off or on?" I am genuinely perplexed. "They are focused on your comfort?"
R'ven blinks at me. "Oh my god. No, U'dron…" she bites her lip. "They want me to take my clothes off so they can touch themselves to the sight of my naked body. I dance for them too, and if they give me extra money, I do a special dance just for them to entice them."
I am stunned. I try to imagine groups of men reaching for R'ven's teats, her soft skin, pawing at her as if she belongs to them. "But why would you do this?"
She rakes a hand through her mane, antsy at my question. "Because it pays well. My mom kicked me out when I was fourteen. I worked a lot of fast food jobs when I was a teenager, but it wasn't paying the bills. It was either do something bigger—like deal drugs—or strip. And stripping's not so bad. I like the music, and I like dancing. I just…didn't like the customers." She shrugs. "You think I'm a whore now, don't you?"
I am not sure what that word is, nor do I know how to understand what she is telling me. "Males paid you money to entice them…" I restate slowly. "Is this right?"
"A lot of money," she agrees.
"And you did it because…you want to entice them?"
"The guys at the strip clubs?" She makes a face. "Not at all. It was just a job, and one that paid a lot of money. I never dated clients. Most of them were scum."
I am still having a difficult time understanding. "Where was your tribe in all this? Why did they not feed you or give you a place to stay?"
"I told you, my mother kicked me out when I was a kid. She was the only tribe I had. No one else would feed me or take care of me. So I did what I had to in order to survive."
I nod slowly. "And males were willing to offer much to look at you, because you are so beautiful."
Her expression softens. "I don't think they much cared what I looked like, to be honest. It's that a woman's in their face, flashing her tits. It's a very different world where I come from. People hide their bodies a lot more, so when you see a little flesh, it