by Bex McLynn
“Therion.” His name caught in her throat, coming out like a pained breath.
“Ech, none of that now,” he said and plucked at her cloak again. “Got someone else to see.”
As she followed him through the dim lamplight of the compound, her mortification nipping at her, he started humming that wistful melody again, which reminded her of a Scottish folk song.
“What is the name of that song?” she asked him.
He startled and blushed, as if he’d not been aware of his humming. “‘The Ne’er-Do-Well.’”
“Ah.” The title fit the melancholy tune. “And where are we going?”
His voice came low and deep, rumbling her chest as her feet shuffled over the sand. “Barracks.”
The long, rectangular structure looked like it housed animals, but Therion called it a barracks not a barn or stable, which meant that people were inside. Her stomach twisted. She’d passed here each night, thinking some sort of domesticated beasts, like an alien horse, were kept in the closed stalls.
She was such an idiot.
The twin suns had begun to rise. Maude could see the pinkening of the sky as the bruised purple of night and the twinkling stars faded away.
The huge Teras man who had carried Therion inside was already up and about. Maude found it bizarrely comforting to see that the Teras stood by a thick, solid post, and his meaty fists worked a hanging sandbag. She almost laughed. With so much sand around, of course it wouldn’t take much for an alien civilization on another world—a sand-filled world—to conceive the concept of a boxing bag.
The massive Teras pounded away on the bag. Sweat dripped in rivulets down his thick tattooed neck. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt. The turquoise veins that cover the skin of the Teras gave his tight shirt a beveled, web-like pattern.
How could he bear the heat dressed as he was? Her impulse wanted to say something, yet she bit it back. How foolish would she look, pointing out the obvious? This man was a slave, like all the other Teras in the Gwyretti compound. He probably had no other shirt to wear.
Next to her, Therion snorted, and when she turned to him, he met her gaze with a befuddled look. “Why are you giving pup eyes to Culler?”
Culler? That was the man’s name? A culler was someone who picked through the herd and killed the undesirables.
A blush flamed her cheeks. “He just looks uncomfortable.”
Therion eyed her. “Right. Of course he does.” He gestured toward Culler with his bound hands. “That there is a man kicking ass. He looks delighted. In fact, I’ve never seen him happier.” Then Therion raised his voice. “Isn’t that right, Cull? You’re a happy little fuck right now, aren’t you?”
Maude snapped her gaze back to the Teras. Culler stopped working the bag and stared blank-faced at them. His chest barely heaved from his exertion. This was a man well-used to beating things into mushy little pulps.
“See?” Therion nudged her with his elbow, propelling her forward a step. “He’s got a twinkle in his eye and everything.”
Maude dug her heels into the sand to halt her progress toward Culler, but Therion pushed her forward as he strode forth. She’d become a mound of snow trundling before the shovel of a plow.
Good lord, this was how she would meet her end. Culler wouldn’t need to beat on her. He could snap her with his little finger and be done with it.
Where was the spider’s defensiveness now?
“Therion,” she hissed. “Therion, stop. I don’t think—”
“Ech. It’ll be fine.” Therion continued to plow her forward, into Culler’s insanely long reach.
Culler gave himself a good shake, flinging the sweat from his brow, and then snorted like an angry bull.
“Cull, glad I caught you,” Therion said, stopping much too close to the other Teras. “What’s a good time for you for a riot?”
Culler trained his hypnotic eyes—swirls of green and gold that never mixed yet somehow remained flat—from Therion, onto her, and then back to Therion.
“Fucking Therion,” Culler grumbled as he pivoted toward a Gwyretti guard who lingered by the barracks.
He beckoned the Gwyretti forward with a sharp ‘come here’ head cant.
The guard, one who Maude had seen before—Lakei, she believed—scampered forward. The spider rattled softly with his eager approach.
Lakei’s partially closed frill quivered. “Aye, Culler, sir?”
Culler pulled back and cold-clocked the guard. The Gwyretti’s head snapped back as his entire body spun around. The canteen he held flew from his grip as he crumpled to the sand.
Maude yelped in fright and jerked back. Stunned, she stared at the downed guard.
Therion groaned, as if frustrated. “Didn’t mean to start the riot now.”
Culler shrugged. “Now's good.”
Then Culler took a sip of water from the canteen. The man hadn’t bent over at all, which meant he snagged the canteen out of the air when the guard lost his grip on it.
“Good for you, maybe.” Therion, who still held the bucket, awkwardly gestured to himself. “I meant good for me. Oh, and good for Maude’s head guard, too. Now I gotta backtrack with Kesken and tell him the riot’s already started.”
“You want later? Start it later,” Culler rumbled.
“Aye, I want it later.” Therion turned and shouted to Tapuc and Eremit. “This isn’t the start of the riot. The big bastard’s just giddy, is all.”
Tapuc slapped Eremit on the shoulder, sending the younger guard scampering away, probably to report the incident to Lider. Though, she hoped Eremit went to get Lakei some medical aid as well.
Therion grumped as he turned his back on the guards. “We need to work on this, Cull. Twice now. Fucking twice, you eager shit stick.”
Culler stared at Therion, and Maude got the sense that the incident number was probably higher than two.
Therion shook his head. “You know what? I don’t care. Does a riot after dinner work for you? Because that works for the guards.”
The huge Teras simply grunted, turned, and walked away.
Therion took several steps after him and called out, “If you wanna eat, do it beforehand. And don't stuff yourself or your belly’ll cramp up during the brawl.” He turned to her. “Do you think he heard me?”
Maude watched the other Teras stride off. He hadn’t even flipped his hand in casual acknowledgment. “I don't think he cares.”
Therion glanced back over his shoulder. “Huh. He probably doesn’t care. Good point, Maude.” He raised his voice again. “Bash the guards, Cull! You know, during the riot. Bash the guards!”
A dazed groan rose up from the downed guard.
Maude started forward to help him, but Therion snagged her by her upper arm. “He’s fine.”
“He was unconscious.” She pointed to the poor Gwyretti. “Unconsciousness could mean a concussion, and those shouldn’t be treated lightly. The effects can linger for weeks.”
Therion ran his eyes over her, his mouth turned down. “You’ve been knocked unconscious?”
He sounded menacing, like he took exception to the notion that she should be knocked flat out.
A bit mystified at his fierce reaction, she fumbled over her response. “Uh, no. Never.”
Looming over her, he nodded his head once. “Good.”
“Good?”
“Fucking great, Maude. But if someone did knock you out, you’d let me know. And I’ll fuck ’em up for you.” He gave her a stern look. “Got it?”
She swallowed and resisted the urge to rub at the ache in her chest. Only Nicole had ever offered to beat up her bullies, and as sweet as it was for her sister to offer, they both knew Nicole was all talk. Therion, though? Maude could actually see him doing it. She could envision him pounding someone into the sands on her behalf, and it made her skin tingle in a good way.
He dipped his head, boring his stare into her.
“Got it?” he asked softly.
She swallowed, and her
eyes skipped over the black and red tattoos on his neck to connect with his gaze. “Got it.”
Chapter Five
Therion sat in Maude’s cell, his back against the wall, and cradled his wrist in his lap. Gummy’s empty shit bucket sat beside him. Staring at the stinky thing, he kept hearing the guard’s sneering voice, I don’t care what you’re good for…
Once the suns had risen, the heat became too much for Maude. When they had reached the main building of the compound, Lider and several guards strode from the entrance. The encounter unfolded the way Therion had expected it would. The spider had flared, and although Maude had apologized profusely, Lider separated Therion from her.
“Missed opportunities,” Lider had said to him once Maude had left for the cooler, lower levels. “I don’t abide by them.”
Aye, Lider wanted results. Of course the nasty bastard did.
“That wasn’t even a full day,” Therion had whined.
It hadn’t mattered, though. The training master had snagged him for the morning drills and another lesson in breaking bones. Therion’s wrist had snapped like a damn twig, which was mildly embarrassing. It didn’t sit well with him, being forced to accept how brittle he’d become. Another Teras had finagled a makeshift splint before the guard put him back in his shackles. Without an advanced medibay, he would have to heal naturally. No matter. He’d been hurt worse than this before.
Poor Maude, though. She’d looked at him like someone had just kicked all the ratka pups in the whole wide universe. She winced often, as if she could feel the pain radiating up her own arm, and cradled her own wrist protectively against her belly.
Several times now, she’d tried to engage him in conversation, parting her enticing pink lips, only to press them closed again. Something nagged at her; he could tell. And as much as he wanted to believe that her head overflowed with thoughts of him, he doubted it. But a bastard like him could dream, couldn’t he?
“Oh cay,” she said, her soft voice snapping his attention from her lips to her eyes.
Hell. He’d been caught staring, hadn’t he?
He shifted, and his chains rattled as he cleared his voice. “‘Cay?’ What’s a ‘cay?’”
“Cay. It’s a letter. Part of an abbreviation for…” Her eyes tracked to the ceiling as her attention turned inward. “Actually, I don’t know what ‘oh cay’ stands for. It’s just a saying. I’m saying yes.”
Therion perked up. He liked the Human word ‘yes.’ It meant aye. Best fucking word, as far as he was concerned.
He nodded for her to continue.
She tucked her hair behind her ear. It was such a Human motion. Teras ears weren’t notched like a Human’s. Her hair nestled behind her ear smoothly, like silky strands of sunlight. It delighted him to look at it. He wanted to run his fingers through those strands and muss her hair, all to see it tousled and a bit wild.
As if coming to a decision, she straightened her spine and squared her shoulders. “You can do it.”
Fucking Unholde, he needed to focus. “Do what?”
She held his gaze. “You can rescue me.”
Therion’s heart pounded, and he tamped down on his gut response, which was to smile. Instead, he eyed her suspiciously. “Seriously? Don’t play with me, now.”
“I’m not playing with you.”
Gods, he so wished she’d play with him.
She nodded. “I’m saying ‘yes.’ Do it.” Then, she tacked on, “Please.”
Whatever gust powered her sails blew itself out, and her shoulders slumped. It unsettled him to see her looking wiped out and uncertain.
He smiled for her and injected his voice with enthusiasm. “Well, all right.”
She mumbled something that, unfortunately, sounded nothing like the ‘thank you’ he’d anticipated.
“What, now?” He chuckled. Surely, she hadn’t added—
“And everyone else.”
He stopped laughing. “Maude.”
Her spine snapped straight again, and her eyes flashed. “And everyone else too. All the slaves. Rescue us all.”
Unholde drag him down. She didn’t understand that over half the arses here reveled in being fucking bastards. “Maude, I don’t think—”
“Do the Teras keep slaves?”
That threw him. “No. Not in the Dominion.”
“What about the Teras living on Radost? Do they keep slaves?”
He shrugged and told her honestly, “I don’t know. Possibly. Radost is a cesspool of a planet, Maude. Degenerates from all the races come here when they’ve nowhere else to go.”
She bit her lip as her gaze lost focus once again. “You’re here.”
He inwardly cringed at her matter-of-fact tone. “I’m here for you.”
“Well, I’ve nowhere else to go. But I’d rather be anywhere else than be here.” She shook her head. “This is wrong, Therion.”
She stressed the word ‘wrong.’ Fucking honed it and skewered him with it. She wasn’t blaming him, but he’d heard the hurt and confusion in her voice. Direis keep her, she was trying to understand the nasty workings of his world.
“Maude.” He waited for her to look at him, then he canted his head toward the door. “These fucks aren’t worth a second thought. Not the Gwyretti who are keeping you here or the nasty Teras bastards they’ve shackled.” He held his arms out toward her, displaying his tattoos. “Any bastard inked like this is Unsworn. Tossed from his house. He drifts about because his oath isn’t worth a grain of sand.”
She blinked at him. “But you’re the exception? Unsworn with a heart of gold?”
He frowned and shook his head. He didn’t understand the color reference for a vital organ and chose to power onward. “I know how this looks. That I’m asking you to trust me. And I’ll get you out, but the rest of those fucks—”
“No one deserves to be enslaved.”
He could see that she believed that. Hell, what choice did he have? It was wired into his nature to give people what they wanted.
“All right, Maude.” He nodded once at her. “Consider it done.”
“Done?” Her voice lifted yet that one word carried so much weight.
“I’ll rescue the whole lot of them for you.” He gestured again with his chin to indicate the surrounding compound. “They’re savage fucks, Maude. Don’t deserve much of anything. These bastards don’t know how lucky they are to have your regard.”
Maude dipped her head as a warm blush—the most fascinating thing to watch—colored her cheeks. The Teras blushed a cool blue when their emotions overtook their features.
Something bloomed inside of him to see her so flattered. He’d never really been good at compliments, probably because he punctuated all his sentences with ‘fuck.’ But Maude didn’t seem to mind it. Her easy acceptance of him hinted that it never occurred to her to take issue with any part of him. It baffled him.
Unholde fuck him. Did Maude actually like him?
She looked at her folded hands resting on her lap. “You can sleep up here, if you’d like.”
Therion perked up, his heart giving a swift kick in his chest. “What was that?”
He knew what she’d asked. He’d blurted out his question as a knee-jerk stall tactic because her offer bypassed his brain and shot straight to his crotch, hardening his cock and riling his anthers.
“You’re hurt.” She gestured toward his wrist. “Come up here. I’ll take the floor.”
There was no way he would let her sleep on the ground. “I’m good down here.”
Her eyes flicked away from him. “Well, we could share, then. The cot. We could share it.”
That they could, and he would love to be pressed against her in a supine position, but Seph had him promise to demonstrate courtesy and understanding. As much as he wanted to slide onto that cot and draw Maude into his arms, he didn’t do it. He might look like an Unsworn mongrel, but that didn’t mean he had to act like one as well.
“Really, I’m good,” he told her, and da
mn him if his voice hadn’t rasped against his throat.
She scooted toward the edge of the cot. Her dainty little toes touched down on the sand carpeting the floor as she reached a hand out to him.
“Come on, Therion.” This time she didn’t flick her eyes away.
Gods, her eyes hypnotized him. The absence of gold streaks—typical of Teras eyes—left him reeling at first. But now, staring into her eyes, he saw a multitude of green shades. From mossy to jeweled to floral, he saw more unique flecks of green that he could name.
She blinked, and he practically had to shake himself to put his protests back on track.
The cot. Right. He could get on the cot for a bit, he supposed. It was still morning, and well past her usual bunk time. This way, she could get some rest before he busted her out of this abysmal place.
“All right,” he told her. “But only until the riot starts.”
“Only until the riot starts.” She nodded as she scooted back onto the cot.
The narrowness of the cot had him relieved that he hadn’t fully recovered the weight he’d lost while on Prykimis. He and Maude would barely fit, and his boots would definitely hang off the end, which was probably a good thing. Filth covered him—grime, sweat, and a bit of blood.
Therion used the wall behind him, pressing against it with his back, as he pushed up onto his feet. Then he hovered there, unsure of what to do next.
He ought to tell her that he’d never shared a bed with a woman before. For the Teras, sex was supposed to happen in braces—sturdy chair-like structures with straps and stirrups to control a man’s depth of penetration. You only slept in a bed—truly slept, not fucked—with a dedicated partner, either a spouse or clutch member. Since he’d never met a woman who wanted to play pretend—to see what it would feel like to burrow beneath the blankets with one another—he’d never done this before.
But he was sure willing to give it a go. He certainly couldn’t fuck up something as simple as lying in a cot. Could he?
Maude had already laid down and pressed her back to the stone wall. “Therion?”