Living With Syn Read Free Page A

Sinclair and about
four-thousand-five-hundred other women stood in long line upon
disembarking from the Sarran Starship Brightstar . She held
Duchess lightly in her arms, the basket at her feet. The women
already claimed by their WarriorPairs were hustled through a
separate line, presumably on their way to their new homes. Syn and
the others snaked through a queue branching off to ten counters
where the Sarran WarriorPairs processed paperwork, assigned
housing, and checked the cargo bays to make sure each fem was
reunited with her household goods. From Anya, Syn learned that
Jonal and Tonas, Anya’s BondMates and the Admirals of the Brightstar Fleet, decided that the Earthen fems would be
more comfortable with their possessions around them. Surprisingly,
two cats made it up to the ship, her Duchess and Anya’s Tigger. In
her less logical moments, she thought that both Duchess and Tigger
put themselves in a position to make the trip. Something about
those two felines together made the hair stand up on the back of
her neck.
    After learning the extent of her cat’s
intelligence and abilities, Syn wondered who took care of whom.
    ::I take care of you,:: Duchess
replied with a sniff. Syn giggled, gave her white beauty a kiss on
the nose, and leaned down to place her back in the basket.
    The line moved quickly. It seemed to Syn that
the line served the purpose of exposing the women to as many
WarriorPairs as possible, as if they were on display. She thought
the Sarrans used the queue to give the WarriorPairs who stayed
planetside the opportunity to pick up the telepathic signal of a
potential BondMate.
    They stood in accordance with their assigned
geographical boarding unit. She guessed that the Sarrans felt the
Earthen fem would be more comfortable with those whose culture and
mores most closely resembled their own. In her case, they got it
dead wrong.
    It meant that somewhere either ahead or
behind her lurked Madeline Dixon-Howard, once a fellow resident of
Philadelphia’s Main Line and a friend of Syn’s in a big sisterly
sort of way. After the abuse began Maddy shunned her. When she ran
away, her reputation became as tarnished as the family silver after
the butler quit.
    Maddy made it extremely uncomfortable for Syn
on board, pointedly telling anyone who would listen that Syn was a fallen woman and worse still, a former prostitute. She
couldn’t defend herself because in part, the accusation was true.
She spotted Maddy about twenty yards in front of her. Syn possessed
very sharp hearing, sharper still since surviving the plague.
Unfortunately, she could hear the vitriol Maddy spouted.
    “Yes, she does resemble a sluttish version of
Marilyn Monroe with that platinum hair. Even in a prim navy suit,
she can’t hide the fact she is a slut.”
    The young woman next to Maddy attempted to
change the subject but Maddy continued determinedly.
    “She has violet eyes, can you believe that? I
used to think she used contacts, but they’re real. Poor thing
always was top heavy. In eighth grade, she wore a size thirty-two
D, even though she is only five foot six, and she didn’t attempt to
hide her pulchritude.” Syn imagined the vicious look in Maddy’s
eyes.
    Of course she had more to say, “She even wore
cashmere sweaters, which called more attention to her figure. She
had to wear one of those bras, you know—over shoulder boulder
holders? No matter what she wore, she resembled white trash or a
high-class hooker. Surely makes the case for what’s outside being a
portent of what hides within.”
    Syn closed her eyes, hoping that if she
couldn’t see Maddy she would be unable to hear her. However, it
seemed to Syn that the WarriorPairs in the line of Sarran men
leered at her while listening to Maddy’s monologue.
    “During the attack before landing, Admiral
Jonal put her in charge of our section. He claimed her to be a
friend of his bonded. I attempted to tell him what kind of trash he
put in charge, but he had no time to