by Emma Vance
She extended the goblet of wine to him. If you were watching her face closely, you would have noticed the tightening of her mouth, the pinching around her eyes.
But the Turxxian male was not looking at her face. His gaze was fixed pointedly on her breasts. He seemed to belatedly notice the wine glass in her hands, but instead of taking it from her, he gripped her arm and pulled her to him.
I saw her wince imperceptibly and knew his hand must have been biting into her arm. The glass in her hand shook, but she held it fast. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath until a rush of air released from me.
The male turned towards me with a scowl on his face.
“Are you still here? I don’t need assistance. I’ll fuck her without witnesses.” He tilted his head at me, assessing. “But if there’s anything left of her when I’m done, you are welcome to her.” A smile spread on his face as he looked back to Nisha. “Don’t say I’m not generous.”
I moved towards the door, but did so slowly, praying he consumed the wine quickly and that this would be done. Instead, he dragged her towards the bed.
“Serve me!” he snarled at her, as he pulled his meaty body onto the bed. Nisha moved towards him and held the glass of wine up to his lips.
I nearly roared with relief as Nisha poured the wine into his mouth and he gulped it greedily.
Until his fleshy arm swung out, knocking the wine goblet from her hand and to the floor. The poisoned wine bled across the plush carpet, and my eyes met Nisha’s, who looked at the goblet in dawning horror.
The male shoved her underneath him. At her scream, I launched myself forward.
If I were going to die today, at least I would take the bastard with me.
Chapter Ten
Nisha
I’d fucked it all up, and now, I was going to die being raped by the grossest alien I’d ever seen, suffocating under a pile of puss-filled, waxy flesh. I struggled underneath him, trying to buck him off, but his weight was too much for me to move. He chuckled in my ear as he twisted my wrists painfully.
“Oh good, I was beginning to think you wouldn’t struggle for me. Don’t worry, I like to get the first fuck out of the way before I really get down to the fun of things.”
He pressed against me, unconcerned that I was gasping for breath. I felt his strange dick wiggling against my upper thighs, and I squirmed away from it.
“He’ll find your little cunt, my dear. He can sniff it out. But he likes a good chase as well as I do, so please, keep struggling. It makes the fucking all the sweeter.”
“You are fucking disgusting,” I spat at him. If he was going to rape and kill me anyway, I might as well go out swinging. “Good thing you’re rich, because no female would ever willingly fuck you!” I gasped out while I still had breath.
His skin turned a mottled red and his mouth twisted with rage. “You’ll pay for those words you worthless whore. I’m going to make you feel it now.”
He lifted a meaty fist and struck me across the face, so hard I was momentarily stunned. My ears were ringing loudly.
Suddenly, his weight was lifted off me. The roaring still echoed through my ears. I shook my head. No, it was Otun’s howl I was hearing. He had slammed into the disgusting male and threw him to the ground.
Now, Otun stood over him, his sharp fangs protruding, his eyes like thunder.
No.
I leapt up from the bed and ran to Otun.
“Otun! You can’t hurt him!”
I gripped his bicep and tried to pull him away from the alien male, but he wasn’t budging. Instead, Otun tucked me behind him and advanced on the male.
“You will die for this!” shouted the repulsive alien as he struggled to sit upright, his flaps of skin pooling around him like a deflated balloon.
“I will tell them exactly what you did.” He managed to make it to his feet.
Otun moved quickly, backing him up against the wall of the tent and grabbing a fistful of his sore-covered neck skin. Then he lifted him up two feet in the air with it.
“You won’t be able to tell them if you are dead,” Otun said, with a low growl. The alien male’s red glowing eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
“Otun, you can’t! Get out of here now, while you still can!”
“Listen to the whore!” sputtered the gross male. “You don’t want to kill me. They’ll execute you!”
When Otun didn’t move, his pleas grew desperate. “I can make you a rich male! I promise! Release me and I will give you more coynes than you’ve ever seen!”
I gently laid my hand on Otun’s bicep. “Otun, please. Don’t kill him like this. They’ll kill you. I cannot be responsible for that. I don’t want to be the reason you die.”
Otun released the male with a snap of his hand and the alien crumpled to the floor. “I see no better reason for my life than to save yours.” His stormy gaze pierced mine, and I was riveted by the swirling emotion in his eyes.
“You two will be put to death for this! I’m going straight to Bardoa!” the disgusting alien shouted, and we both turned towards him. He shuffled across the bed, skirting out of reach of Otun and towards the entrance of the tent.
He pointed at me, goo dripping from his arm in globs that hit the carpet in fat puddles.
“You, I’m going to feed to my beasts. After I’ve let all the males fuck you. No female embarrasses me this way, I’ll make sure you—”
His words were cut off. He brought his hands to his throat. A retching, strangled, yelp came out of his mouth, and he pitched forward, face first into the carpet.
Dead.
We stared at him, my heavy breath the only sound in the tent.
“Well, it looks as if he drank enough poison to kill him,” Otun commented.
I walked towards him to check his pulse but couldn’t bring myself to touch him. “What if he’s just passed out?”
Otun shook his head. “The poison doesn’t work that way. It’s death or nothing.” He walked over to the body. “But, just in case,” he nudged him with his foot and then pressed his fingers into his slimy neck.
I wasn’t sure if you could even find a pulse through all that festering skin, but Otun was satisfied when he pulled away.
He turned to me. “I’m going to leave the tent and call for help. I need you to act distraught. Cry. Be hysterical. That will throw them off you. You shouldn’t be implicated in the slightest.”
“What about the wine?” I gestured to the goblet tipped over and spilled all over the floor. “Won’t they be able to tell there’s poison in it?”
“Untraceable. I doubt they’ll be testing for poisons anyway, and if they get that suspicious, we are probably done for.”
He said it all so matter of factly, with an air of calm confidence.
Not like he didn’t just risk everything to save my life. Not like he hadn’t just attacked a patron of Stryxx whom he was meant to be protecting.
They would execute him if they found out.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?” I asked, my eyes searching for answers in his broad, chiseled face.
A flash of something, a hint of vulnerability, then it was gone.
He hesitated, and I could sense indecision there, like he was warring with the reason himself. The moment stretched so long, I didn’t think he was going to answer.
“I feel the need to protect you, Nisha. I don’t know why. As if I have some responsibility to you.”
I bristled. “Well, you don’t. You don’t owe me anything. In fact, it’s likely the other way around.”
He shook his head and continued to study me thoughtfully. “No. There’s something about you that I’m drawn to. It’s not just because of that night. I find you . . . fascinating. Delicate. Refreshing.”
I snorted. No one had ever called me delicate in my life. But I guess to a seven-foot-tall furry alien made of solid muscle, a tall chubby brown girl from Connecticut would look fragile.
“I have no way of thankin
g you,” I said to him, stepping closer. “You’ve helped me twice now, and this time . . . I think we both know that I would have died a particularly horrible death.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I told you, I wanted to help you. I couldn’t have stopped myself if I tried.”
He took a step closer too, closing the gap between us. “The moment he laid his hands on you, there was no decision to make. I would have ripped him apart with my claws if I could.” His voice was a low growl, and despite the violence of the words, I felt heat pool in my belly. I reached my hand up and stroked his square jaw. The fur on his face was not unlike a beard on a human man, but silkier, like a buttery suede, or the soft bridge of a cat’s nose.
He tipped my head back and closed the distance between our faces. I gasped as his lips connected with mine. It was a tender kiss, soft and exploratory. Not like the previous time we’d been together, which had been more commanding. This kiss was meant to reassure.
He pulled away and set me back from him. I was shaky on my feet.
“Now,” he said, turning to the grotesque body on the floor. “I’m going to need you to scream.”
Chapter Eleven
Otun
Bardoa ruled the Turxxian’s death an accident and didn’t even attempt to look into it further. If he suspected foul play, he likely didn’t want to go to the trouble of finding out.
That, and the Turxxian had paid in advance.
It didn’t particularly matter to Bardoa if he were dead as long as his bill was paid. The poison had done its job well, even if it had only been a half dose.
I still wished I’d killed him with my bare hands. I’d be far more satisfied.
But the important fact remained, Nisha was safe. But for how long?
Escape right now was out of the question. My poison was gone, and with it my fail-safe way of getting off this planet without Bardoa hunting me until my last breath. I’d either have to save and scheme to get another dose of it, or escape from Stryxx in a blaze of glory, and have Bardoa haunt my steps for the rest of my days.
The truth was, I didn’t know if I wanted to escape anymore. Not on my own, anyway. If I escaped, I’d go crazy thinking of what happened to Nisha.
If she was safe. If she had anyone to protect her.
A sneer twisted my lips. There’d be no one to protect her if I wasn’t here. She’d be utterly on her own. I sat down on my bed, my head in my hands, my thick mane falling over my face.
Why did I care so much?
It wasn’t just because I’d rutted between her thighs. I’d been with other females, and while my species was generally loyal to their females, this was beyond anything I’d ever experienced before.
This was bordering on obsession. I watched for her in the figure of every female that walked by. When I woke up in the morning, her face was the first thing I thought of. I craved the sweet taste of her skin, her throaty voice whispering in my ear. My cock thickened just imagining her hips filling my hands.
I stood up from the hard bed and paced my room, sighing heavily. I needed to do something to get this out of my system. This fixation was unhealthy.
But I knew exactly what would clear my head.
Nisha
“Come on, we’re going out.” Sarah planted her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side as she studied me. I could almost imagine we were back on Earth and she was just a friend trying to get me to hit up a club with her.
But we weren’t on Earth, and my experience just a few nights ago only proved how far away we were.
“Where would we even go?” I arched a brow. “We are sex slaves trapped on a brothel planet. Not exactly my idea of a good time.”
She huffed and sat down beside me. “I’m so sick of everyone being so damned miserable. You used to be more practical than that. Now you’re more miserable than the rest of them.”
“Well I haven’t had the best time lately,” I snapped.
“It could have been worse. He could have died after he’d hurt you. Or killed you,” she reasoned. I couldn’t argue with her there. Sarah wasn’t known for being sensitive and sweet, but she always knew how to put things in perspective. We’d become close friends the day we’d met. Waking up in an alien slave transport certainly forged strong friendships. Whenever I was feeling down about being here, Sarah was usually the one to pick me back up. I hadn’t asked her what had happened in her past to make her so cheery about becoming a sex slave on Stryxx, but she certainly didn’t dwell on our predicament.
I sighed and scrubbed my hands over my face. “You’re right. But that doesn’t mean I feel like partying or going to the pleasure houses. I’m okay waiting a while before having sex again. If I don’t get chosen and if the sex poison lets me, that is.”
“I’m not taking you to a pleasure house.” She made a face and stood up again, tugging my arm. “Well, I am. But not for that. Jesus, Mei took me to the discount house last week and I nearly puked. Have you seen what they do there?” She shuddered.
She cajoled me for a few more minutes.
“Just get ready, where I’m taking you is a surprise.”
I laughed begrudgingly at her enthusiasm. “Get ready? We literally all have the same one outfit.”
“Well, depuff your eyes and run a comb through your rat’s nest hair then, for God’s sake. You look like someone died.”
I laughed. “Someone did die.”
“Someone you wanted to die. That’s not the same thing.”
She’s right, but she didn’t know the whole story. I hadn’t told anyone about the poisoned wine or about Otun’s involvement. If it ever got out, we’d be executed. I was on tenterhooks all week waiting to be arrested if Bardoa determined it was murder. I hadn’t seen Otun since that night.
I was a wreck. My desire to see Otun conflicted with my fear of him being ripped apart in the gladiator ring once Bardoa found out. I also definitely had some sort of PTSD after killing that disgusting alien guy. I woke up in the middle of the night shaking. I didn’t want to hang out with anyone, and I couldn’t stop crying. Clio had even done the unbelievable and excused me from the choosing room for a few nights. Of course, she said that no male would want to fuck such an erratic female and that if I didn’t get myself sorted out, they’d throw me to the pits for sport, but I was grateful all the same. It was as if that night had taken away any safety or security I felt about being in a place like this. Now, I truly realized I could be killed at any moment.
I wasn’t safe. At least, not unless Otun was there. But he couldn’t be there all the time, and after last week I wasn’t sure I wanted him to risk himself.
What choice did either of us have? None. We had to stay here. But he’d said he felt protective of me, felt a responsibility towards me. Did that mean he cared about me? I shook my head, clearing the thought. No, he was just a nice guy who wanted to help a female he probably felt bad for. The kiss before he left complicated things, but because I couldn’t figure it out, I didn’t read too much into that.
I looked at Sarah’s expectant face and sighed. “Fine. I’ll go out with you. I was tired of moping around anyway.”
She squealed and jumped up, then wrapped me in a giant hug. I hugged her back. Maybe tonight I could learn to forget and maybe have a little fun.
Nisha
“You took me to the fucking guard pleasure house?” I turned to Sarah incredulously.
Her mouth took on a stubborn set and she crossed her arms. “You don’t know what for yet. I told you, it’s not for that.”
It was the last place I wanted to be. I wasn’t sure if I would see Otun there, even though it was attached to the guard barracks. But if I did, I wasn’t sure if he wanted to see me. I didn’t want him to feel an obligation towards me, like he said he did. I wanted him to like me. Which was stupid because any relationship between a guard and a sex slave wouldn’t have any sort of future.
I followed Sarah into the concrete-looking compound, my pulse pounding with every step.<
br />
We weaved through the halls, passing by more than a few guards finding pleasure with eager females. We walked all the way to the back of the building, and when Sarah started to lead us down a shadowy hallway, filled with unsavory-looking dudes, I grabbed her arm.
“Girl, where are you taking us? Am I about to get murdered?”
“Don’t be silly. It’s just through here. I promise, you’re gonna love it.”
We walked down dark steps and I heard the sound of roaring in the distance.
“Sarah, it doesn’t sound like I’m going to love anything.” I paused. She pulled me down the rest of the stairs.
“Nothing is going to happen to you. Stop being so scared, Nish.”
Sarah dragged me through a dingy door, and it opened onto a large space. It was packed with alien males. There were very few aliens in uniform, so I wasn’t sure if all of them were guards or not. Most of them were clustered in large circles, many were yelling, with fistfuls of coynes in the air.
“Fighting pits,” I whispered, more to myself than Sarah.
She responded anyway. “Yep, fighting pits. Right in the bowels of the guard house. I think Bardoa allows it because they let off steam. Patrons also come here and bet coynes on the fights.”
I was fascinated. All this time I’d been to the guard Pleasure House and I’d never seen this. Otun must have known about them, but he’d never mentioned them to me.
I frowned. Why would he? It wasn’t as if we were together. I kept putting these expectations on him in my mind. Just because we’d had sex and talked all night, just because he’d saved me, didn’t mean that we were in a relationship.
As if I’d conjured him from my thoughts, I saw broad, furry shoulders and shaggy dark hair. I strained to see better. He was fighting in one of the rings in the middle of the room.
No. It couldn’t be Otun.