Living With Syn Read Free Page B

listen. That association will
be short lived once they find out she trolled as a street
whore.”
    Syn saw Maddy’s audience shrug their
shoulders. Again Syn’s mind drifted to her night with Anya.
    * * * *
    ::Why do you lead with your chin,
Syn?:: Anya had asked. It was the first time she understood
mind speech. Syn was startled.
    “I don’t lead with my chin, princess, I state
the obvious.”
    “No, you neglect to say what makes you
remarkable.”
    “And that would be…”
    “You have a PhD in clinical psychology
specializing in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I had access to the
manifest. You graduated from Temple at the top of your class and
received your PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy
League School, last time I looked,” Anya answered with a smile.
    “That just makes me a well-educated
prostitute.”
    “And being a physician makes me a
well-educated bastard as Sister Edwana took great pains to remind
me.” Anya linked her arms through Syn’s and they moved to sit on
Syn’s bunk. As I said, I am an empath. I see you. You are
tough on the outside, but soft and loving beneath the hard
exterior.” Anya smiled.
    “I’m embarrassed I came on so strong. I
expect disdain, therefore I shoot before I get shot. For example,
that hulk that brought you here…”
    “TeZaron?”
    “I suppose that’s his name. He visibly
reacted to my presence. I felt like he lifted his nose as if he
smelled something off. He was in such a hurry to leave, he didn’t
even make you sure you were comfortable.” Tigger jumped up onto
Anya’s bed.
    “According to Jonal and Tonas, he is a Sarran
Elder and traveling incognito. I don’t think he was happy to be
outed.”
    “He sure had a funny reaction to me.”
    “They all have funny reactions to the Earthen fems as they refer to us. Half of them don’t know
whether we are the best thing that happened to their planet since
the tragedy or an inferior race destined to bring down their
culture. Once they bond, however, they are loving, kind, and the
most noble of men.” Tigger began to purr.
    Anya explained the process of the bond, in so
much as she could. From what the princess told her, the bond became
metaphysical as well as temporal. It came with complete acceptance
of all of your past and future. Syn didn’t know if she would be
capable of dropping her shields or subjecting herself to the level
of commitment that it would entail. Even if she could, she didn’t
want to open herself to heartbreak. Despite what Anya claimed the
bond could be, no man could overlook the fact that Syn lived with a
pimp who trained her to become a whore.
    Anya was now the highest ranking fem on
planet since none of the Elders’ spouses survived the Zyptz attack.
Since she became Syn’s friend, Maddy hated Syn even more.
    Anya had shied away from the physical; the
idea of bedding two men caused her great distress until she
accepted her own desires. Syn saw no problem with the physical act
of mating with two men; but she didn’t know if she could let her
guard down long enough to permit the intense intimacy the bond
required. She didn’t trust men and nothing in her experience gave
her the slightest inclination to change her mind.
    Back home in Philadelphia, after entering the
shelter, she had little to do with men. When she attended the
University of Pennsylvania, she shunned all of them except for her
professors and the unavoidable discourse necessary to earn her
masters, then doctorate in psychology. During the summers and after
her graduation, she went home to the Women’s Retreat, the
shelter that had rescued her from the street and worked to help
others like herself overcome their pasts.
    * * * *
    As Syn’s mind traveled back to the present
she noticed that Maddy’s audience looked a bit irritated when Maddy
mentioned Syn to be a friend of Anya’s.
    “They aren’t really friends you know,” Maddy
continued. “Anya met Cynthia only because the Elder TeZaron put
Anya