a Pleasure Rites, #1 by Ines Johnson (top ten books of all time TXT) 📗

on the streets at midday. Most were at work or school. Two young ladies strolled arm in arm, their four mates walking at a distance. The two females snuck glances at Jian as they neared. The taller girl spoke behind her hand as the other one gaped at Jian. When the tall girl pulled her hand away, the other shook her head in disbelief.

Jian could guess the trajectory of their gossip by that shake of disbelief. Young women no longer believed in the work of the Brotherhood. Myth, they called the female orgasm. Jian ached to tell them it was all too real and their sacred right to boot, but four sets of male eyes glared at him, and so he kept his mouth shut and his head down. Jian paused and bowed as the two women passed him. He kept his head down at the aggression of the four men who closed ranks around the women. They hadn't needed to. The Brotherhood was a pacifist brood by nature and creed.

The Sisterhood had long been leery of the Brotherhood of the Pleasure Hounds. Many of the older women had firsthand knowledge of the hounds' skills. They knew a single orgasm impaired a woman's judgment temporarily. Multiple orgasms, in which the hounds specialized, could render them entirely witless. That much power in a man's hands made the Sisterhood anxious. They need not have feared. The Brotherhood had no designs on earthly powers. Their order was entirely devoted to the Goddess. But one misstep in Jian’s youth, one dark spot of misjudgment, brought the ancient temple to its knees.

Lady Kathryn's words echoed as the temple came into sight. There were holes in the temple. The Temple of the Brotherhood of Pleasure Hounds was indeed in bad shape. In its heyday, the temple had been a beacon of activity. Bonded triads lined up to use the services of the hounds, who had mastered time tested methods of producing female offspring. Even when unions produced male children, happy couples gladly paid tithes to the monks who showed the couples methods of bringing pleasure to all in the union, not just the females.

Now, without any females gracing their steps, the temple’s gardens were all but bare. The domed roof needed repairs. The roof was work that a few young men could handle, but no young men remained inside the walls of the temple to accomplish it. Jian, who was in the last years of his twenties, was the youngest who remained.

He trudged up the walkway. Behind him, he heard the crunch of tires once more. Jian sighed. In truth, he ached for the feel of a female against his body. It was the greatest boon of being a hound. Being in the presence of that sacredness made him feel important; a part of the Goddess, a part of a family. Being of service, being needed, drove him to these doors after being discarded at a young age. It’s why most of the hounds did their work. They were all discarded third or fourth sons.

That sense of being needed once clouded Jian's judgment when a young, newly bonded girl declared herself in love with him. Jian never imagined such a thing was possible, having the love of a woman. It had been a heady experience that he hadn't wanted to end.

Love was a rare thing, a divine gift, just like female babies. Gifts were not wasted on discards. Jian had been sourly disappointed by love. Five years later, he continued to pay the debt of that disappointment. What rankled was that his brothers were condemned to suffer alongside him.

Jian could take the money from women wanting only his pleasure services. That would fix the roof. Put berries in the bellies of the old hounds who still remained within. But Jian couldn't bring himself to do it. Giving pleasure outside of his vows was akin to expecting love. It would be a betrayal of the Goddess who had shown him a way to be useful, a way to be needed.

And so Jian turned around to face the stopped car with a spine of steel, to offer up his own dish of disappointment.

A man disembarked from the vehicle. A very beautiful man with golden hair, green eyes, and a friendly smile.

"Hello," the man said walking toward Jian. "Are you Brother Jian?"

"If you're looking for a gigolo, you need to continue down the road for about a mile. Place called Stallions. You can't miss it."

The man's eyes went wide, then transformed into an amused grin. "I'm not looking for male company. I'm in need of a Pleasure Hound."

Jian peered into the car. There were no others occupying the conveyance. "Hounds only work with bonded triads."

"Yes, I know. A female has just accepted my bond mate and myself."

Jian raised dubious eyebrows. This man looked a little too old to be newly mated. He knew the age and conjugal status of every female in the city. There were no unbonded females, of age, at present. Jian told the man so.

The man nodded his blonde head. "She's not from the city. It’s rather... extraordinary circumstances."

Jian's hope sparked for a moment, until he remembered the chaos from the last time he trained an eighteen-year-old female just on the other side of puberty, but still not mature enough to be called a grown woman.

As though reading Jian's thoughts, or more likely being informed from the scandal, the man addressed Jian's concerns. "My lady is nearly twenty-one years and quite independent. She has lived outside of our culture and is not used to the ways of men. She needs help understanding me and my mate as much as we'll need help understanding her."

Training a grown woman with two devoted mates? Jian's interest peaked.

"I aim to do right by her, by blessing our union in the ancient ways that please the Goddess."

The man respected the ways of the temple? And...

"And of course I'm willing to pay a hefty sum for your services." The man's eyes skirted