Free Night Hungers by Kathi S. Barton

that living with him, she’d never have any time of her own again.
    “Can’t we just have sex? Why does it have to be all or nothing? What if I don’t like you? What if I can’t...I’m not a nice person. I’ve done things, lots of things that I can’t...I want you, but not like that, not forever. I can’t do forever.”
    Aiden rolled off her so quickly that she cried out in alarm. When she looked to where he was standing she noticed he was dressed completely, head to toe. When he pulled his hair back, she watched as he took several deep breaths before he turned to face her.
    “I have to leave. I don’t... I will be able to find you if you need me, but I can’t be near you. Not if this is all you want. I want you as my mate, not as my sometime lover.
    Call out to me if you change your mind. Good night, Zane.”
    When the door closed quietly behind him she sat there for several minutes not thinking about a thing. Nothing, not a thought, nothing entered her mind. When she heard someone stirring in the hall beyond her she closed her eyes and took herself to her own lair. Moving to the sublevels of the house she’d bought and converted, she moved as though she was on automatic pilot. It wasn’t until she was settled into her own dark corner that she thought about Aiden and what she had done to him. His rejection and his hurt with her were like her own. She could feel it run through her heart and head.
    When her pager went off, she nearly didn’t get up to answer it. Finally moving to the phone, the only one in the house, she dialed the number. The voice at the other end was female and she knew it as well as the male who normally called to give her the assignments.
    “My lady. How may I be of service this evening?” She hated this woman, the Queen of Magic. Zane wanted to hang up, to scream at her, to tell her that it was unfair, but she did nothing but wait.
    “You can cut the subservient act, Zane. We both know you have no respect for me. I have an assignment, but first I’d like to know if your wound is healed from today. I was told you were shot.”
    Thrown slightly off her guard Zane didn’t at first answer. She wondered for all of two seconds how she had found out, but wondered why she even cared. Zane had been hurt before and had not been asked if she was healed.
    “The assignment, if you please. Unless it’s part of my sentence too, to make sure that you are informed of my wellbeing. Is it, my lady?” There was no mistaking the snarl this time and Zane hoped that the queen would get the message.
    “It’s always my duty to make sure that my subjects are in goo—”
    “Make no mistake, Queen, I’m no subject of yours. I am your slave only. And I will remain so until such a time that I’ve served my sentence or I’m dead. Now, if you would be so kind as to tell me what mess you’d like for me to mop up for you I can get started.”
    There was silence at the other end. Zane could feel the tears on her cheeks and refused to wipe them away. She’d thought that she’d cried them all out, but apparently not. Looking at the wall across from her she could see the two dates. The date her sentence began and when it would be at an end. Just two thousand nine hundred and forty-six more years to go of her three thousand year life sentence, a piece of cake.
    “Zane, it doesn’t have to be this way. I swear to you if you would just tell me what happened I can—”
    “The assignment or I hang up and you can have your other flunky call me. In fact, I would prefer if he did from now on. I believe you calling me would be considered cruel and unusually punishment—even for me.”
    The line went dead. Zane laid the phone in the cradle and stood waiting. She knew that it would ring again soon. The man, whoever he was, would call her with a location and she would go. She had no choice. This is why she could never mate. This is why she would never be with anyone for more time than it took for them to find out