Freeing the Beast: Taming the Beast, Book 1 (15 page)

Their future together. “What I can’t live without.”

He traced the outline of her mouth and ruffled her lashes.

She giggled.

He murmured, “So you believe me now. That what happened tonight came from the real me and because of you, nothing else.”

Becca went to one elbow and smoothed back his hair. “Uh-huh.”

“You’re absolutely certain?”

She’d known from the way he’d kissed, caressed and made love to her that he’d behaved that way from something deep inside. A power she’d unleashed in him, making him part bad boy, mostly nice guy, totally her guy.

However, she also recalled what her mom had said about there being one indisputable sign. Becca hadn’t bothered to look for it, though she would now. Leaning up, she regarded their reflections in the mirror. His ass facing it.

“
Any potion that would have altered the way he usually behaves, would have also changed another part of him
,” her mother had said.

Becca’s heart soared at the final proof that the potions hadn’t done anything to him. There was still a perfect Cupid’s heart on his right cheek. As obvious as always. Not one part of it altered.

Exactly the way Becca intended to keep it.

About the Author

Tina Donahue is an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Siren Publishing and Kensington
. Booklist
,
Publishers Weekly
,
RT Book Reviews
and numerous online sites have praised her work. Three of her erotic romances (
Adored
,
Lush Velvet Nights
and
Deep, Dark, Delicious
)
were named finalists in the 2011 EPIC competition. The French review site Blue Moon Reviews chose her erotic romance
Sensual Stranger
as their Book of the Year 2010 (erotic category). The Golden Nib Award at Miz Love Loves Books was created specifically for
Lush Velvet Nights
, and two of her titles (
The Yearning
and
Deep, Dark, Delicious
)
received an Award of Merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competition (2011 and 2012).
Take Me Away
and
Adored
both won second place in the NEC RWA contest (different years). Tina is featured in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. She was the editor of an award-winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company.

Email:
[email protected]

Website:
www.tinadonahue.com

Blog:
www.tinadonahue.com/blog

Twitter:
www.twitter.com/tinedonahue

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/tina.donahue.75

FB Fanpage:
www.facebook.com/TinaDonahueBooks

Triberr:
www.triberr.com/tinadonahue

Pinterest:
www.pinterest.com/authortina/my-books/

My page at TRR:
http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/mypageprofile.php?location=tinadonahue

Look for these titles by Tina Donahue

Now Available:

The Yearning

Outlawed Realm

Unending Desire

Illicit Desire

Shameless Desire

Stolen Desire

The Prophecy

Come Fill Me

Deep Within Me

Pleasure is not a malfunction.

Coral-600

© 2015 Roxy Mews

Coral-600 is the first and only one of her kind. An artificial intelligence prototype with realistic skin over her metal frame, she was deemed too expensive for mass production and gifted to the royal family.

She cannot legally have a relationship with a human, and it never entered her electronic brain to want more—to break the law. Until she meets Quinn, and her DNA-enhanced skin tingles with a completely new sensation. Desire.

His body damaged beyond repair in the war, Quinn survived—barely—by agreeing to have much of it rebuilt. His royal relatives have taken him in, but it’s tough adjusting to a body that doesn’t come with instructions.

As Coral helps Quinn cope with his new body, the connection between them reaches the melt-down point. But unless she can convince the authorities that humanity runs deeper than flesh and bone, she’ll have her CPU wiped clean—permanently.

Warning:
This book contains artificial and natural flavors, lubricant (lots and lots of lubricant), and fun with oh-so-hard drives.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Coral-600:

I always watched humanity from a distance. As a servant, I never wanted to do anything but my job before. Living in the castle with the royal family was to make their lives more convenient, not mine. I’m programmed to please the royal family. Every time I told a stranger it was my job to please the king they would laugh behind their hands and turn from me until they could make their faces more somber. I had no idea what they were giggling about.

The Coral-600, that’s my model number, was not programmed with slang and local cultural vernacular. The Coral-600 was supposed to pick that up. Well, the Coral-600 wasn’t able to do that. Why? Because people whispered. They didn’t explain. I was supposed to learn things from the people around me and be able to blend in, but no one would answer my questions. They shouldn’t notice I’m here, and for the longest time, they didn’t. Then
he
came to visit.

Quinn was not informed of my robotic status. He was told I was “the help” and to be ignored. There were other robotic servants in the household, and other machines, but I was the only one with artificial intelligence-based programming. The queen’s intelligence and her manners were quite artificial, but I’d been told that is impolite to say out loud.

Etiquette was programmed into my initial database, but that’s an ever-changing set of data points. Humans have changed so much since I was initially turned on. I’ve served through three generations of royals and each and every one of them was determined to change something. I have been given many uniform changes as well, but have yet to find one that I like better than my own skin. My mechanics are covered with skin, and that is quite enough cover if you asked me. Which, of course, no one ever did, and it would be improper etiquette for me to volunteer that information.

The few times people did inquire about me, it was only about my physiology. My skeleton and internal organs are human engineered. It’s all accessible through the Parliamentary library, but from what I understand, the royal family has chosen to keep my existence to themselves. They don’t seem to mind when I discuss my body with others, only when I attempt to do so nude.

I’m not all machine. I was bio-engineered to have skin, and hair, and eyes and all of the nerves and touch receptors of a human. I was also given ears, but they’re only for aesthetics. It’s my understanding that the Coral-100 was designed without ears and was poorly received. Personally, the extra orifice is not a pleasure to maintain, but I’m the only “Coral” to still exist. If ears let that happen, so be it.

Quinn had ears as well. In the weeks he was in the palace I never saw him trim hair from his like the king does, and I attempted to watch him as often as possible. Quinn didn’t interact with the royals like other visitors. He didn’t eat with them at meals, and he didn’t partake in coffee in the morning. He must not malfunction without coffee like the queen does.

I was in the process of replacing the drapery I’d cleaned when Quinn first spoke to me. I noticed him watching me as I positioned the tails to hold the panels open and allow the morning sunlight in. When I turned to him to see what he needed, he had to look up to focus on my eyes.

“I apologize for staring. Your name is Coral, right?”

I nodded and waited for him to place his request.

Quinn’s brow furrowed. His head turned slightly to the side and I noticed that his facial hair glistened in the sun coming through the clean windows. I made note to always have the windows spotless. The stubble on his face was enhanced by the sunlight, and it would be a shame to deprive the rest of the palace of his beauty.

I realized a bit too late that I was not replying in a manner that was pleasing to him. Before I could correct my mistake he began to leave.

“I’m sorry. I…I just…nevermind.”

I watched him go down the hall to his room. He was pleasing to view as he walked away as well. He had excellent musculature. His shoulders were broad and the muscles beneath his shirt moved harmoniously as he walked.

But I returned promptly to my tasks as he rounded the corner. I had put myself twenty-three seconds behind my usual schedule. I adjusted my pace to correct the deficiency.

I’m supposed to work during the day and only interact on my own free time after dinner is served. I have survived by following the rules. I haven’t been replaced or recycled in three generations. I would hate for them to notice me too much and realize the human skin I wore and maintained was changing.

Donations of skin were rare, and unfortunately my manufacturers went through six transplants before the cells fused to my biometal properly. The specimen I currently wore was from a young female model. In order to maintain her skin’s elasticity and youthful appearance, cells from quickly-regenerating sea life were infused into it.

Quinn had a youthful appearance to his skin as well. He filled the doorways when he entered the room. When he came to decline his place at the dinner table for the fifth night in a row, I noticed his symmetry ended at his waist. His penis was far too large to be contained in the trousers he wore, and was slung to the left.

I was working dinner service with the other maids that evening and Paisley, one of staff on duty, shoved her elbow into my side.

“Stop staring at his package.” She whispered into my audio receptors.

Paisley knew I was mechanics and was one of the few people who spoke to me as she would other humans. I appreciated that. I also appreciated that Paisley would explain when I was doing something wrong. But this time I was confused.

“He has no parcel in his hands. I was looking at his penis.”

Paisley made a snorting sound I knew meant she was attempting to conceal laughter.

“It’s bad manners to look at a man’s penis before your first date. At least, it’s bad manners to be caught doing it,” she explained.

“All men with large penises should wear kilts. Then their penises wouldn’t interrupt the lines of their otherwise symmetrical bodies.” I looked at Quinn’s penis again, even though I wasn’t supposed to. “Or perhaps they should just live naked. That would be even more pleasing.”

Staring at Quinn’s package was something else I added to inappropriate etiquette that night. I was sent back to my chambers early that evening.

The housekeeping programmer, Miss Matilda, had dismissed me quickly when my mouth began to salivate at the thought of Quinn nude below the waist. I would have asked one of the other maids if their salivary glands were malfunctioning as well, but Quinn had smiled at me, and I decided the research wasn’t necessary at that moment.

I made sure to tip the edges of my lips into a similar smile. I did not want to be rude. A man should definitely receive a smile when he had such an impressively-sized penis. The human women on staff got to stay because they could control their salivary glands in Quinn’s presence. For the first time in my memory, I really wanted to be human.

eBooks are
not
transferable.

They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Freeing the Beast

Copyright © 2015 by Tina Donahue

ISBN: 978-1-61922-430-8

Edited by Jessica Corra

Cover by Angela Waters

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: March 2015

www.samhainpublishing.com