Another male covered in tan fur with a rack of antlers growing from its spine to the ground stepped into the circle.
He grunted at the irate winged creature. “Share?”
Gasping, gold eyes sharpening then dilating with dread, the alien female sobbed and tried to crawl away.
Scared for her, I whimpered.
A hard yank on the leash dragged her back.
Collapsing, she gave up.
She didn’t seem to have the energy to lift her head let alone attempt escape.
My hand fisted on my lap and the knowledge that could be me burned unnaturally hot in my breast.
Had the alien been stolen from her home too?
If Venomous hadn’t fought for me, if he hadn’t claimed me for his own needs, how many would have raped me last night?
Would I now be kneeling at Grol’s other side?
Feeling a deeper comprehension of exactly what Venomous spared me by choosing me for his own, I glanced at him hoping to share a moment of connection.
He missed it, busy scanning the alien horde, keeping an eye out for danger, and I’d never felt more indebted to anybody in my life.
Sensitive to the mewling cry of the female being mistreated, my head turned of its own volition.
Grol accepted the revised payment with discernable reluctance, but gestured for his lackey to let the pair go by.
Both males were erect by the time they grabbed the listless female off the floor.
Arranging her between them, they used rough fingers to grope and probe, negotiating in an indifferent exchange what penis went in what hole.
They bent their knees and impaled her.
She whined a protest, but didn’t struggle, hanging limp as they jostled her.
Unable to comprehend the hard-hearted act, my gaze travelled to their faces, expecting to see shame or desperation, maybe, as an explanation for their sordid behaviour.
My eyes connected with the winged male as he was already watching me.
A fleeting look at the other alien showed him staring at me too.
It was sinister how focused their attention was on me while rutting inside someone else.
Pissed, unable to sit there and do nothing, I opened my mouth to spew the sickness roiling inside.
I pushed onto my feet with every intention of going over there and, I don’t know, making a scene.
I had to do something, couldn’t just sit back and watch.
“No look,” Venomous ordered his eyes passing over me before returning to our surroundings. “Sit.”
My lips pressed into a white line of tension knowing there was nothing I could do to help her without him backing me.
It was a reminder though he’d fucked me and claimed me we weren’t a couple.
He didn’t have my back.
Seething, I did as I was told because I wasn’t brave enough to risk the alternative.
Sitting naked and exposed as sanctioned rape happened an arm’s length away made me feel unhinged.
Throat tight, pushing words out was an effort. “You could stop them.”
“Yesss.”
My fists banged my knees as I twisted my face to him. “Then do it.”
Cold eyes met mine. “I fight. Take mine Lumen when I no look. Trade you for her?”
After a brittle pause, I fitfully shook my head.
Quivering with anger, with shame, my palms sweated and my pulse quickened.
If I screamed in this godforsaken place would anybody care?
The otherworldly screech of alien laughter raked across my sensitive eardrums.
I jumped at a loud bang.
Cracking my knuckles, hugging my hands to my belly, I frantically looked for a reason to it all, hell, for an escape route.
If I scream will no one listen?
I couldn’t breathe.
My throat closed and my vision darkened.
If I scream will–
“Like Lumen’s world?” Venomous asked then jerked his chin. “Two males, one female?”
His dispassionate tone of voice filtered past my crazy, and my fracturing psyche snapped shut.
My body unknotted, and I realised with a jolt I’d teetered on the brink of losing my mind.
Shaken, I looked up at my alien.
His expression was curious not goading.
He interpreted my preoccupation wrongly.
“No.” Appalled, I shut my eyes and faced away. “Some women do, but I never did. I don’t condemn the act. People should do as they please, as long as it makes them happy and hurts nobody.” Hollow inside, I opened my eyes. “Does she look happy to you?”
His answer was an unaffected stare I thought might have flickered with compassion, but he turned to conceal whatever emotion he felt.
Other trades, sexual and clandestine happened within our vicinity.
The room grew noisier and busier, the pungent smell of sex and alien stink making my gorge rise.
Piles of discoloured, tarnished scrap and debris acted as room dividers, and lower hillocks of rock and metal rubble created pathways.
Slaves burrowed into and dug around in the towering heaps, salvaging what refuse they found.
Thinking of the odds and ends in his cave, I wondered what my alien had rooted around for.
Venomous mentioned he would trade for cloth.
Contemplating him then myself, I couldn’t figure out what we had to offer.
A terrible thought struck me.
Afraid looking over might bear the consequences of before, I darted a split second peek at the slave female.
Bit by horrified bit, my gaze travelled to my bestial protector.
My mouth opened to threaten him, but then I remembered his claws, his curved fangs dripping with poison.
Nothing but a puff of air eked out.
Venomous eyed me askance. “No trade mine Lumen’s flesh.”
My panicked foreboding was replaced by a welling of shame.
What was I supposed to think?
Apologetic, I touched the back of his hand. Umber scales felt like warm satin. “I shouldn’t have assumed....” My eyes darted to then from the atrocity happening not a stone’s throw away. “Maybe I don’t need clothes. We should go.”
His giant hand twitched under mine.
Head canting to the side, he considered me. “Need.”
My composure splintered, the thought of him trading anything with these savage people disturbing.
I dug my fingernails into the back of his hand, anger making my voice harsh. “I’m tired, I’m hungry and I’m cold. You have no idea how hard I’m struggling not to get up and run, and run, and run.”
Eyes closing, I just breathed for a while.
My voice could go no higher than a pained whisper as I heard yet another male humping on top of that poor slave. “Please.”
Venomous turned his hand and gripped my wrist, thick fingers engulfing most of my forearm.
He pulled me over the stone bench.
When my softer thigh pressed against his hard one, he gentled his touch.
He ran his thumb over the pulse at my wrist. “No be sad.”
“I’m tired of not knowing what’s going on. I’m tired of not understanding you or you not understanding me.” My eyes opened and lifted to his. “I’m scared.”
Tongue flickering, he hissed as he lowered his head, black gaze locked with mine.
A wild thought skittered across my mind.
He’s going to kiss me.
My lips parted and my lashes lowered.
Venomous jerked straight.
His attention switched to our surroundings then roamed as if he sensed something.
A male had pushed away from the far wall and headed our direction.
Venomous released me and stood, shifting to place himself directly in front of me. “Halt, Kilboh.”
The alien’s green unibrow fluttered at the protective stance.
A gammy eyeball rolled to me as it blinked, eyelid closing left to right ins
tead of up then down.
After that lingering look, he dismissed me then inclined his spherical head at Venomous. “Trade?”
“Need cloth.”
Kilboh smiled. All his teeth were black. “Offer this.” He tugged on his tunic.
Relaxing into a more approachable stance, Venomous gestured him to spin.
Wiry, ankle length arms held out from his swollen sides, Kilboh waddled a circle.
Venomous appeared satisfied. “Fee?”
“That seed sac Yofk spat rotten chaw on my rations. Poisoned me.” Kilboh stomped his hoof. “Kill him.”
Clicking his teeth, Venomous shook his head. “Truce with Yofk.”
The eyeball rolled. “Cut him then. That Krael cover-beast must bleed.”
“Agreed.” Venomous thrust out an upright palm. “Payment now.”
Kilboh stripped revealing a circular chest covered in bristly green hair then tossed the balled up material.
Making a satisfied noise, he marched back to his spot holding up the wall.
Gathering everything together, Venomous tied our produce inside the tunic then handed me the smelly bundle. “We go lair.”
“Yuk.” I held my arms out. “This stinks.”
“Wash later.”
“No. Now please.”
Eyes flickering in what I strongly suspected was the Rä version of an eye roll, he gripped my chin then touched his cheek to mine. “Very well.”
CHAPTER SIX
Venomous watched his mate out the corner of his brille.
She wandered the lair touching the fragments on the walls making a sweet humming noise under her breath then singing the words to a strange song.
Earlier, she’d tried to help him cook.
He’d been so flustered when she touched his things and moved them about, he’d hissed and flashed fangs.
Aghast, he withdrew at once, realising how selfish he’d become of possessions that were of no real consequence.
It was a shameful way to behave.
I’ve been here too long, far too long.
Instead of punishing him with silence and derision, she’d held up her soft skinned hands and backed away looking sympathetic.
Her compassion made him feel worse.
His human had nothing of her own, only what he gave, and as his mate everything he owned was hers.
I am worse than a misbehaved hatchling.
Venomous peeled layers from the glowing stones until satisfied they were hot enough to roast the meat.
Similar in composition to the hot rocks of his home world, they were precious in this place yet numerous enough he didn’t fear theft.
Not that any male would dare steal from him.
Glancing at his mate, he clicked his teeth at his thoughtlessness.
He needed to remember that verity had changed considering the rarity of his latest acquisition.
He placed a metal dish on the one side of the metal grill and boiled the plant roots in the sweet water.
He worried his Lumen would derive no nourishment from the food, so strange was she, but there was nothing else.
All he could do was pray his merciful Grandfather sheltered her under his hood now that she’d mated his warrior.
He seared half the meat, set the rest aside for last meal then bid her come to him, vastly satisfied she approached without hesitation.
My mate begins to trust me.
Lumen sat then eagerly reached for the smaller portion of seared meat.
Venomous pulled her hand back. “We shall do this the proper way.” He lifted her onto his lap and picked up the juiciest serving of animal protein. “Open.”
Her cushioned lips flattened.
Unimpressed with her refusal, he held the meat away until she relented.
He pressed it to her thinned lips. “Open, dearest.”
Shifting until her buttocks rested comfortably in the groove between his thighs, she tried to take a bite, but drooled over the meat and his claws.
Cheeks emitting a rush of heat, she rolled her eyes in a human gesticulation then gnawed the charred edge with a determination that spoke of her hunger as much as the fearsome snarls of her stomach.
Venomous retracted a claw then pushed the blunted finger into her mouth.
He ran it over her teeth ignoring her struggles of protest. “The L’Odo defanged you?” She already possessed no natural weapons. To be deprived of another was sickening. “Do not worry. They will grow back after your shedding.”
Lumen gurgled and murmured, “Babe.” She pulled her face away and her chest lumps wobbled.
He realised she shook because she laughed then remembered she would not shed her skin after injury to heal a deep hurt because she was not Rä.
Though such a realisation was distressing, her mouth stretched into an obscenely wide smile as she enjoyed their repast.
Her rounded face is so pliant and expressive.
Venomous found he liked her protruding features and how they reflected her inner thoughts, even if it was grossly improper to be so emotional.
His head tilted in amusement.
She is outlandish, but endearing.
Tearing the meat into tiny slivers, he slowly fed her, watching carefully for a bad reaction and choking.
When she longingly eyed the blanched legumes, he gave her a meagre amount of each, pausing between mouthfuls to make certain her insides adapted to the foreign fare.
She didn’t like the tart fen roots.
Her lips turned inward, cheeks hollowing as her eyes yet again leaked fluid.
Apprehensive, he rubbed her lower back as she made funny faces and wagged her tongue.
He pressed her to drink fresh sweet water until the symptoms eased. “Are you full?”
Nodding, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then burped, a squeak of a sound. “Gratitude.”
Venomous picked up the rest of the meat, unhinged his jaw then devoured it whole, throat muscles constricting, rippling to mash it down then carry it to his stomach.
Lumen watched him do this with her mouth gaping, but he ignored her to belch making her jump then hunch her shoulders and giggle.
He chewed on the crunchy fen root and found it delicious, such a shame his female didn’t agree.
He gulped half the remaining sweet water then pressed her to drink more.
He did not know how much she needed, but decided more was better than less considering how often she leaked fluid and how wet she got for him during clutch.
“Venom?”
“My Lumen?”
Her eyes were downcast. “How long here?”
He deliberated what she could mean and decided she wanted to know how long he’d been a slave rather than how long they would remain inside the lair or on the planet itself. “Aeon and three.”
“No translate.”
“Thirteen solars.”
She inhaled sharply and stopped plucking at the canister spout. “Solar mean planet circle sun one time?”
“Yesss.” Not sure what troubled her, he tasted the air. There was too much to make sense of. “Why?”
“Escape?” she asked. “We try?”
“No.”
Had she not seen the rebel leaders quartered then staked to the stalactites in the marketplace as a warning to those who’d dare dissent?
He fell silent watching her thinking of all that had happened.
He’d fed her, traded for her clothing and they’d begun the first stages of the bonding rites by mating.
Even his first seeding would begin soon.
“Tell me why no?” Edginess crept into her tone. She twisted to face him fully with her hands resting on his chest. “Why no escape?”
Venomous softened under the press of her small fingers and his stem stiffened.
He shifted her weight, and forced thoughts of clutch from his mind, distressed how often his mind veered towards it.
Perhaps it would help if she were not so close?
Hesitant,
Venomous stared at her face and was unsure of how to proceed.
On Rök the important roles of Rä’Na and Rä’Vek were clear after maturing from carefree a’Rä.
Males, Rä’Vek, sheltered, fed and protected his mate and offspring.
He worked, provided, and took up leisure activities with those in his Guild or Caste.
Females, Rä’Na, endured her male’s seeding, tended the lair, laid, nested and hatched their offspring.
She had her own interests separate from that of her mate, her own profession should she want one, and while she may see him at festivals and gatherings of kindred, she did not actively seek out his attentions in private.
As they were no longer eating, it was proper he set her away then go about his individual interests.
Venomous did not want to do this.
He liked her slight weight, and enjoyed having her in his arms, even if it did make him want to bend her over and....
“It is not possible,” he grumbled.
“Accept this?” Face scrunching, her arms waved about. “Accept until die?”
Head shaking, fingers stabbing, her mouth moved with words he was sure were convincing, but the translators stripped it down to practically nothing.
“Way out. Us find.” Stopping her rant, she speared him a narrow-eyed look. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Escaping how?”
How was he to handle her question?
A well behaved Rä’Na would not question her male’s way of providing, or ask him to explain himself as long as he did provide all she needed to survive.
He did not blame her for asking, truth, he was impressed she did.
Venomous understood his obligations and what was appropriate, but using logic as a guide, one could argue the unspoken rules of decorum didn’t apply in their circumstances.
Concessions had to be made.
Was upsetting her with the details one of them?
“Venom?”
“Are you not pleased? You are warm, dry, fed and safe.”
She nodded slowly, head tilting in amusement, but her expression was puzzled. “Still escape, no?”
“You are displeased with your Rä’Vek.”
Hesitant, she touched his jaw. “No want go home?”
“I do, but escape is not possible. I watched others fail.” He had a plan, but was it time? “I must be patient and survive until success is certain.” Happy at her touch, no matter how unsure, he cradled her closer. “And now I have you. You are my priority.”
Venomous: (Alien Warrior Book 1) Page 9