Yaoime

Erotic passions, heartfelt emotions, and adventurous minds come together in these three unique tales.

Heart and Mind, Olivia Lorenz
Ghostly poems, an old painting, and erotic compromise bring together two very different men, aligning hearts and minds.

Zinged!, Mae Powers

Can two Sky-Guards of different ranks push the boundaries of protocol in order to find love and passion, while on an alien planet?

Don’t Ask, J. J. Massa

EXCERPTS

Heart and Mind

by

Olivia Lorenz

Part I: Winter

“Get up, you worthless runt! Up, I said!”

Yan Yue refused to move. Although the wooden platform felt cold and hard through the thin layers of his clothes, to his tired body it seemed as comfortable as a featherbed. He closed his eyes and drew the width of his sleeve across his face, hiding from the distorted mask of rage his master, Leng Min, turned on him.

It had been a mistake to perform in front of the city’s premier teahouse. Situated in a park away from the bustle of the town, the teahouse’s open front featured a stepped dais for privileged customers, giving a pleasant view of a lake. Leng Min had directed his troupe onto the wooden viewing-platform edging the waterfront. This guaranteed that teahouse customers had little choice but to watch their performance.

Yan Yue had suggested that the noble patrons probably preferred to enjoy their tea whilst regarding the calming scenery of water, rocks and trees rather than the madcap antics of entertainers. His master had ignored him. When he’d stepped onto the platform, Yan Yue had commented on the slippery surface. Leng Min had scowled at him and told him to get on with it.

Turning somersaults and performing handsprings while balancing with another member of the troupe was usually so simple he could do it with his eyes closed. Even the sprinkling of frost on the wooden boards wouldn’t normally present a problem. But Yan Yue hadn’t slept for three nights, and he’d gone without food for two days as punishment for causing the troupe’s sudden flight from Hankou. His body ached with exhaustion and his mind stayed fixed on the injustices he’d suffered at his master’s orders.

As he went through the motions of his routine, his gaze fastened on a man inside the teahouse. Seated toward the rear of the building, out of the draught, the man wore dark silks and had long, waist-length hair partially gathered into a topknot. He sat perfectly straight, conversing with two others. A guard stood nearby. Clearly, the man was somebody of importance.

Yan Yue could only see the broad sweep of his shoulders and back, but what he saw was enough to intrigue him. Perhaps because he was used to the sight of noblemen slouching in their seats or lazing on couches, to see one sitting so straight in a public teahouse fascinated and attracted him.

Faced with these three distractions, it was little wonder that Yan Yue lost his balance. His friend Ai Nu had cried out in alarm, loud enough for Yan Yue to snap his attention back to the present. He’d ended their usually graceful routine by knocking Ai Nu clear to land on her feet, while he fell flat on his face. This motion saved them both from dropping into the lake, but it didn’t impress Leng Min—and neither did it impress those watching from the warmth of the teahouse.

Yan Yue heard a ripple of laughter as he fell, but even that was short-lived, replaced by murmured comment as Leng Min started to yell at him for his clumsiness and stupidity.

“Get up!”

The order was punctuated by a sharp kick to his belly. Yan Yue gasped, reflexively curling into a ball. He tensed, lying as still as possible as Leng Min kicked him again. Experience had taught him that his master generally tired of kicking him after a few minutes. It was better for him to take it rather than risk further punishment.

But today it seemed that Leng Min wasn’t satisfied with two or three kicks. The blows came harder, forcing him to unfurl from his position. Yan Yue squirmed to get away, folding his hands over his head to protect himself.

He heard Ai Nu’s anxious voice above him. “Stop that. You are too hard on him. It wasn’t his fault—look, the wood is slippery with ice.”

“That’s not an excuse.” Leng Min aimed another vicious kick at Yan Yue’s ribs. “He’s used to performing in the winter. He danced along an iced rope in the snow last year, but now it seems he’s lazy and ungrateful. First he forces us to run away, now he can’t even follow a simple routine! I should flog him. That’d be an example to all of you layabouts.”

Yan Yue shuddered. The rest of the troupe mumbled in protest.

“Yan Yue makes half of the money we bring in,” Ai Nu argued. “If you flog him, you’ll ruin his looks. Do you really want that?”

“If the magistrate in Hankou caught him, he’d be flogged anyway,” Leng Min snapped. “Learn your place, woman, or I’ll flog you next!”

She snorted in disgust and whirled away. Yan Yue felt grateful that she’d spoken up for him, but then, she was safe from the worst of Leng Min’s temper. Ai Nu wasn’t indentured to him. Technically, she was a free woman, like the rest of their troupe, but the poor harvests of the last few years had blurred the distinctions between ‘free’ and ‘slave’ in Leng Min’s favour.

With more workers coming to the larger towns to seek their fortune, many ended as little better than slaves, forced to turn over their earnings to an unscrupulous master. Joining a travelling entertainment troupe seemed an enviable life after toiling in the fields, but the reality proved just as hard, and at the end of the day they had no place to call home.

The troupe had settled in Hankou for the winter. They’d just established ground for themselves outside a pavement café when they’d been forced to leave. Yan Yue didn’t blame the others for resenting him, although they never said anything to his face. Leng Min had no such compunction, though, and in three days he’d gathered more bruises than he thought was possible. Now, as his master started kicking him again, Yan Yue bit his lip to stop from crying out.

“Leave him alone.”

The voice did not belong to a member of the troupe. Clear, precise, and carrying the northern accent of the imperial capital, Chang’an, it was a tone that commanded respect. It certainly stopped Leng Min from kicking him.

Zinged!
by
Mae Powers

Chapter One

Tor Ri Leng, Tor Ri Leng!

It was an old prayer of protection handed down by his forefathers, uttered during times of stress. Commander Ving Li Shen could not help but utter it now.

How many times did he have to go through training a new officer on ops missions? Especially one that had a lot of disregard for the Moon-Guards and the traditions of the Zodan Empire.

“Give me strength!” he muttered softly, as he glanced at the younger man before him, tromping towards the cave’s entrance. “I’m so gonna need it.”

Tall and lithe, and hair that shone line a silver beacon, with gold wisps threaded through, the junior officer moved with a feline grace that often startled Ving. Yet, he had to admit the man could hold himself well in a fight. He’d watched the man spar during training for this practice mission, and his form was naught but splendid to see.

Something within him, however, did believe that Officer Quan Shei Imotra could be a candidate for Upper Commandment. Ving still held his opinions to himself. He would give a full report on this young insubordinate when the two finished this blasted assignment. Which he hoped ended soon.

To make matters worse, they had to find a princess. A spoilt princess who volunteered to be part of this training mission. Stupid princesses. If he’d seen one Lotus-petal smiling Empire princess, he’d seen a dozen of them. The Emperor was known for his many wives…and trails of children.

He glanced at the young man before him. Less than a half-decade younger than him, Quan could almost pass as one of the Emperor’s many bastard children too. Except it was said the junior officer was the son of a royal duke and a high-born lady of the Imperican Domain. Most people from there were of light skin and hair physical characteristics.

Still, the hybrid officer’s jade-tinted aquamarine eyes showed he was of the Zodan Empire also. Most Zodan purported varying shades of green or aquamarine eyes. Occasionally one saw pure jade-amber eyes, like his own. He flipped his long dark braid off his shoulder as he marched behind the other man.

They were on their way through this thick foliage, to locate the Princess Amiandra Lo-min. He didn’t know how many times the selfish little imp tried to get him in her bed. And being one of the favorite children of the Emperor, he wasn’t about to put his neck on the line for her little whims.

He glanced back over at Quan, and wondered if the man would be tempted by the delicate prettiness of the princess. He hoped not. Ving viewed the ground as he almost tripped in a small hole. The ground was soft and slightly muddy after the light rain they’d had this morning. He looked back up to see if Quan had any problems.

His eyes rested briefly on the man’s backside when a gold chain hanging out of it caught his attention. During ops missions they weren’t allowed to wear adornments so that that type of thing didn’t interfere in any way with their assignment. At least it wasn’t against regulations to carry them in your pocket. Ving didn’t feel like reprimanding the younger man, so ignored it.

What Ving found he couldn’t ignore, was the way Quan’ high tight buttocks swayed so pleasingly as the junior officer walked in front of him, his step light and quick. Ving shook his head, trying to clear his wayward thoughts. What had made him think that Quan’s butt was attractive in the form-fitting white uniform the junior officer wore? It cupped his bottom cheeks, defining the smooth muscles of them quite appealingly.

He’d been struck by the younger man’s soft beauty from the first moment he’d come aboard the Lotus-Prime. No person’s presence, male or female had ever affected Ving so damn instantly, and on many levels. Ving groaned.

Quan halted to look back at him.

“Everything alright, sir?”

Ving nodded. “Just will be glad when this is over.”

For the first time on their mission, Quan smiled at him. “Yeah, me too. I don’t like them either.”

Quan recently transferred to the Emperial Ship Lotus-Prime. Had he been on training missions on other ships? “This is not your first then?”

Quan took a deep breath, evidently catching his breath. “No, sir. I went on a few real missions back on the China Star. I thought that my mission training period was over actually.”

Ving grinned. The China Star was one of the oldest ships in the Shodan fleet. Said to have come from Earth, where their people partially originated from. Old, but still one of the most impressive ships in the whole Emperial Space Navy. The captain was well known for his maneuvers and training of his personnel.

“I know Captain Maikin, he is thorough. They should have listed that on your record, but then we didn’t get the transfer order files right away. The sunbursts have been interfering with ship-to-ship communications of late.”

“Those from the Doriahn sun emit radically only periodically around the seventh month, sir. So, I’m sure the records are there now.”

He nodded. “It’s good to know you are prepared then. Let’s continue. I don’t believe we have much further to go.”

The younger officer nodded an affirmative of his head and then spun around to begin heading up the trek again. Ving’s eyes once more strayed to the man’s butt. It perturbed him a bit that he found Quan’s ass so appealing. He shook the thought off quickly and proceeded after the other man.

“The cavern’s entrance is just at the base of the mountain. See, over where those clumps of boulders are.” Quan came out of his reverie and looked towards where Chen had pointed.

In the near distance, he glanced at the odd shaped huge rocks and noticed for the first time an opening instead of just a shadow like he first thought, situated in between the boulders. Chen motioned for him to follow. They turned on their infra-lites just inside the cavern’s entrance, before it got too dark to see.

Both of them pulled out their megon-blasters, as was the standard procedure when on a scout or other mission in dangerous situations. Even though this was a training mission, they still followed procedure. Chen took the lead and Quan started up after him, through several cavernous tunnels until they got to a huge chasm that had some florescent moss on the walls.

There, on one flat large rock, they actually saw Princess Amiandra sitting, looking scared and her large jade eyes quite wide, as if frightened by something. Quan thought she was a good actress what with her trembling and petrified look. She was dark haired like Ving, but slightly dainty and pale skinned, and her royal gown was dusty upon her. Very good dramatics, Quan thought.

She tried to scream through the gag in her mouth. That’s when they heard the horrendous roar behind them. He swung around with his megon-blaster ready. Chen had done the same. Coming out from some other opening, he saw a huge, scaly and hairy creature, unlike any other ugly creature he’d seen before. It immediately charged them and Quan reacted naturally.

He shot his weapon at the same time as Commander Chen did. The two dissipated the loathsome-looking creature in seconds. Quan was sure that Chen didn’t want to be torn to shreds by those razor-sharp talons that damn thing possessed. He jumped back at Chen’s command, and saw another one rounding the bend. Together they took the next unctuous being out too.

He ran quickly then to untie the princess. “Are you ok, your highness?”

“Oh, my heroic rescuers. Yes, yes I am fine. Take me out of here please!”

“Quan, those are not the standard droids for these ops.”

“They were destroyed by those things,” the princess shouted, “and were about to get me too when they backed off at hearing you come in here. Oh when we get back I will reward you both handsomely!”

Quan raised a surprised eyebrow when he heard Chen let out a loud groan. Then the man pulled some tiny metallic silver object out of his uniform’s upper pocket and aimed it at the princess. The princess disappeared in sparkling motes of light.

Chen grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “The insta-traveller has only enough for one person to use. Mostly commanding officers only are issued them. I can’t deal with traveling to the pod-ship with her in tow. She’ll be fine there until we get back to the ship. Don’t you agree?”

Laughing, Quan nodded. “I don’t think I want her particular rewards either. Thanks, sir.”

“You’re not so bad, Quan.”

“Funny, sir, was thinking the same about you.”

He liked Chen’s smile. “I hate these fucking ops missions. At least some of it was real. Shall we get back to our vessel now and get off this damn planet?”

Quan could only agree. “I’m quite ready to get out of here.”

Then a part of him suddenly became sad. Leaving meant that he had less time with Chen. Quan sucked in his breath, not fully understanding what had happened in the short time he’d been alone with Chen. They needed to get back quickly before he made a total ass of himself. Quietly, he followed his commanding officer out of the cavern.

Don’t Ask

by

J.J. Massa

Chapter One

Captain Zachary Smith bit back a groan when he saw the man seated in front of his colonel’s desk. It was his nemesis, his secret crush. His face serious and otherwise expressionless, he did his best to pretend that he was alone in the room, listening to a recording.

“Rest, Captain,” barked his commander, Colonel Marshall. Zack dropped his salute to clasp his hands behind his back, eyes fixed on an invisible point above the Colonel’s head. “Mr. Thayer has need of your services once again,” the senior officer went on. Zack fought the urge to cringe or to look at the third man.

Federal Agent Falk Thayer lounged easily in his chair seemingly unaffected by the scene playing out in front of him. He’d come in and announced his needs. The ranking officer had listened and offered him provision. Zack had an emotional price to pay, but Falk was apparently unmoved by it.

“Captain,” growled Colonel Marshall, “Federal Agent Thayer will require your cooperation regarding the Pavarato case,” the older man nodded toward a beige folder resting on the corner of his desk. “I expect you to assist fully with his investigation.”

“Yes, sir. Of course, sir,” Zack rapped back, focused entirely on his superior officer.

“That will be all, Captain,” the colonel nodded sharply. “You are excused. Make yourself available to Agent Thayer,” he ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Zack affirmed, turning sharply. Without even a quick look toward Falk Thayer, he left the room.

* * * *

“Coffee, Penelope, would you please?” Zack asked as he passed his secretary’s desk.

Though she was an army sergeant, Penelope Raines preferred not to stand on ceremony. They’d been instant friends since their first meeting, and he didn’t doubt that she knew most of his secrets. He told her half of them, and she’d likely guessed the rest. When others were present, they maintained a formal relationship; otherwise, they were relaxed with each other.

“Coming up, Z,” she aimed a commiserating smile his way, turning toward the break room.

He strode into his small office and kicked the door closed behind him. Groaning, he collapsed into his office chair, his face sinking into his crossed arms resting upon his desk.

Moments later, when the    door creaked open, he didn’t look up. He smelled the strong coffee and knew that Penelope hadn’t let him down.

“Just put it on the desk, Pen,” he mumbled into his forearm, not moving his face from his arm. “Hey, d’me a f’vr?” he mumbled, lifting his head a fraction of an inch, “Gimme the Pavarato file ‘n lemme know when A’gnt Thayer heads this way.” He dropped his head back into the crook of his arm, wondering when his luck would improve.

He heard the sound of the cup landing on his desk, but Penelope didn’t leave. He didn’t stir for a moment until after several long seconds, still without looking up, he mumbled, “Pen? You need something else?”

“I was coming in anyway, Smith,” Agent Thayer spoke finally, amusement thick in his voice.

Zack shot to his feet, nearly knocking over his chair. Automatically, he snapped to attention, groaning inside when he realized he’d done it. He heard the other man’s chuckle and reached for his coffee, hoping to hide his embarrassment.

“Now what kind of a good soldier gets caught unaware like this?” Falk mused, causing a hot blush to sweep up and burn Zack’s cheeks.

“I, I, um, you…” he stammered, feeling like a fool. Sucking in a deep breath, he stood up straight. He was six feet and two inches tall, muscular and attractive, and he knew how to use it to his best advantage. Why wouldn’t it work on Agent Falk Thayer? “I wasn’t expecting you to just walk in,” he objected, carefully sipped at the strong brew.

“I didn’t ‘just walk in’,” the other man told him calmly. “I stopped at your secretary’s desk. She had your coffee,” he nodded toward the liquid crutch cupped in Zack’s hands.

Zack couldn’t understand it. Falk Thayer had medium brown hair, medium brown eyes and regular features. The other man was easily four inches shorter than he was. How he could be so unremarkable and so intimidating at the same time, Zack just didn’t know. But he was.

“Um, yeah,” Zack looked away and took another deliberate sip of coffee. “Well, what is it you want me to do?” he asked grudgingly.

Falk bit back a smile. Why did he so love to antagonize Captain Zachary Smith? Whatever the reason, it was good fun. Zack would always resent him—he knew that, he accepted that.

Every time he saw the army captain, he remembered the first case they worked together—Antonin Del Gravo, Army corporal. He’d had the young man sent to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. The problem with that was that Zack had found evidence that the young soldier might not have been guilty. Falk had prevented him from pushing the case, and the corporal had apparently committed suicide before he could even be assigned a cell.

 Zachary Smith believed in truth, justice and the American way. He saw things in black and white while Falk, several years older than him, lived in a world of gray. The truth was that the other man’s idealism and innocence sometimes rankled Falk. He doubted if the idealistic young captain would even understand the choices, the obligations that Falk was responsible for.

“I need you to interview members of Pavarato’s old unit, Baker Company, 687th Engineer Battalion. Find out who his friends were, that sort of thing,” he told Zack as he watched him closely. The handsome captain had a very open and expressive face.

“Um, okay, that’s in Minnesota, isn’t it? Yeah,” he answered his own question. Falk saw it, the flicker behind those blue green eyes. A decision? What? “Okay, I can be there tomorrow by lunchtime,” Zack agreed decisively. “Anything else?” he asked, keeping the expanse of the desk between them.

“No, Captain Smith,” Falk took a casual step toward the taller man, remaining relaxed and seeming unaware when Zack backed away, fumbling with the desk blotter. He held out the case file, and Zack gingerly took it. “Just review this file, and feel free to call me if you have questions. See you in Minnesota,” he said, glancing the four inches up to Zack’s face.

Surprise registered there and possibly panic. “You’re going, too? I mean I can just call you… Why don’t I just call you? Um, save you the trip. No sense in wasting your time…”

Falk considered the captain for long seconds. When Zack’s breathing increased, he decided to let him off the hook. “You’re right, Smith.” He bent down and scribbled on a small piece of notepaper. “Here’s my cell phone number. Just give me a call when you have something to say.”

Zack’s relief was almost palpable. “Yes, s… I mean sure, okay, good idea,” he grinned, taking the tiny paper square from Falk.

With a curt nod, Falk turned and left the office, his countenance bland until he gained the outside of the building. Dropping into the driver’s seat of his government-issue sedan, he rested his forehead against the steering wheel.

He had no doubt that Zack was aware of his looks and sex appeal. He was equally sure that the other man had no idea of the effect he had on him. Under other circumstances, he would have given the attractive captain a tumble.

The most important of those circumstances being that the other man was straight and second, he was in the military. Shaking his head against any hint of an erotic daydream, Falk started his car and headed back to his own office.

Yaoime

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