Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“Right. Especially since I’m going in with you today,” V’rex remarked as they got out of bed.
“What? Why?” Penny asked. “The greenhouse is across the Compound from the Marketplace. You’ll be late for your own job if you come with me to mine.”
“It’s worth it,” V’rex growled, his eyes flashing. “I have some business there.”
And he refused to say anything else about it.
Fifty-Five
After a bland breakfast of thin blue porridge which seemed to be made of the same grain as the svetty flour, they walked to the Marketplace together with V’rex’s arm protectively around Penny’s shoulders.
She couldn’t help feeling good with his arm around her. He was so big and strong and warm and he smelled so good. The same dark spice which had frightened her so badly their first night together now filled her with a sense of safety and security.
Don’t get too attached, Penny, she warned herself. Once the two of you get out of here, you can bet the mutual attraction going on between you and V’rex is going to get one-sided pretty quickly. Once the Spice is out of his system, he’s not going to be nearly so interested in you.
But since they were still stuck in the Compound—at least until V’rex could hopefully pick the Glorious Leader’s pocket and get the Master Control—she reasoned she might as well enjoy her time with the big Hybrid while she could.
The minute they got to the Marketplace—which was mostly deserted this time of day—Penny saw that Skrug was already at his spot in the front of the Butcher’s stall, chopping meat.
Just seeing the big, ugly blue alien with his humped back and snaggly teeth made her feel sick to her stomach. The good feeling she’d had on the walk in to work with V’rex by her side seemed to dry up and blow away as she felt herself getting ready for a day of uncertainty and sexual harassment.
But she hadn’t counted on V’rex’s reaction to the other male.
As the two of them approached the bakery, Skrug saw her and shot her a snaggletoothed leer. Then his slitted yellow eyes moved to V’rex and he frowned.
V’rex, however, smiled pleasantly enough as he walked Penny up to the front of the bakery.
“Stay here, will you, sweetheart? I have some business to take care of.” He hugged her and kissed her gently on the cheek and then turned and went around to the butcher’s stall.
He came right up to Skrug, until the two males were chest to chest and stared the other male in the eye.
“Do you see that female?” he asked in a low, pleasant voice, the smile never leaving his face as he pointed to Penny.
“Uh, yeah.” Skrug titled his head to one side, staring askance at the big Hybrid. “What about her?”
“She’s mine.” V’rex was still smiling but his gaze had intensified as he looked into Skrug’s yellow, slitted eyes. “And I understand you’ve been saying some pretty fucking nasty things to her.”
“So what if I did?” Skrug lifted his huge cleaver threateningly. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do…” V’rex made a swift move, too fast for Penny’s eyes to follow, and suddenly he was the one holding the bloody cleaver.
“Hey!” Skrug made a snatch for the cleaver but instead of getting it back, he found his thick wrist held captive in V’rex’s other fist.
“What I’m going to do is this,” V’rex told him, still speaking in that low, frighteningly pleasant voice. “The next time you say anything to Penelope—fucking anything at all—you lose a finger.”
He slapped the other male’s hand down on the bloody butcher’s block, right in a pile of raw meat and raised the cleaver high.
“Want me to demonstrate?”
“What? Fuck no—get off me!” Skrug struggled but it was clear that though they were the same height, V’rex was the stronger of the two.
“As I said, you’ll lose a finger every time you say anything to my female,” V’rex continued congenially. “Now if you touch her, you’ll lose a lot more than that.” He eyed the other male’s swinging dick, which was trembling between his knees. “Your species takes great pride in the length of their equipment, I believe.”
“What…what are you saying?” Skrug demanded.
“I’m saying that if you lay a finger on my female, you’re going to be missing some of that length. All of it, in fact.”
At last the smile fell off V’rex’s face to be replaced by a cold rage like nothing Penny had ever seen before. It burned in his eyes, turning the pale gold to dancing crimson flames.
“Do you fucking understand what I’m saying to you?” he growled in a deep, terrifying voice, pushing his face into Skrug’s. “DO YOU?”
“Yes, yes! All right, I get it!” Skrug blathered. “I won’t touch her—she’s yours, okay? Not even during a Public Breeding—I promise!”