AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"We were already someplace safe!" I bark. "On a planet we chose as a home with our mates. Rex had no right to fire on our males..." My words trail off as I run out of steam picturing Qhix's sivot crumbling to the ground as he fought to keep us safe.
"Orcs," Stacy absently utters. "I know which ones you mean. I saw them on Tirius when I was first sold to my former owner."
"How long have you been out here?" Elle's eyes widen.
"A few years." Stacy smiles tightly. "Anyway, Tasha is right. We need to go back to Crao and check on our males."
Stacy lists to the side as she rises to her feet, wobbling over to pound on the transparent wall. "Hey, Rex!" When he turns to shoot a curious look over a scaled shoulder, she shrugs. "What the fuck? We didn't need saving, dickhead. Take us back to Crao now!"
Leave it to Stacy to confront a seven-foot-tall lizard dressed like a cowboy. The bitch is fearless.
"Afear me can't do dat, darlin'," Rex drawls in a heavy accent that's like nothing I've ever heard before.
"You shot my mate, asshole!" Stacy slams her fist on the wall again and loses her balance. Lena rushes over to catch her before she hits the ground. Clearly, these girls have not been drugged as we were.
"Wut is it wit human females aut nasty mouths?" Rex cringes, displaying wickedly long fangs.
"Language is only gonna get worse from here if you don't turn this motherfucker around and take us back to Crao," I fume.
"Me dinna kill de males." Rex's words are like fuel to my adrenal glands, clearing some of my brain fog. Qhix is alive! "Aut dat Kaul be dangerous."
Even more dangerous now that you've taken me captive, dumbfuck, I silently curse and narrow eyes on him, imagining Qhix's sivot beating him to death with his own arms after he rips them from his body.
"If you didn't kill our males, then what did you do to them?" Romy's question doesn't come as a surprise to any of us. We all know she has eyes for Bruke but is holding herself back for reasons she hasn't shared.
"Frele dart." Rex rapidly taps on the console, then turns to face us. "It be a sedative."
"Take us back to Crao!" Darcy joins Stacy at the wall, fuming pissed.
"Can't do dat darlin'." Rex tips his Stetson at Darcy and I can see her blood pressure go through the roof. "They be a bounty on yur heads. Nutrone in exchange fer every human and Valosian me aut me brothers can find alive aut return to Valose where it be safe."
"But we don't want to go to Valose," Zoe yells out from beside me. "We want to be taken back to our mates!"
"Sury darlin', but me a bounty hunter, a reaver as it were. And me be needin' dat nutrone. Once me deliver you to Valose, you can do wut you like."
Lena leaves Stacy at the wall and rejoins the two girls still huddled in the corner. Their whispers don't reach my ears. Then Lena glances nervously around the room until her uncertain gaze lands on me.
As soon as Rex turns his back and resumes flying the ship, Lena crosses the room to whisper in my ear, "We don't want to be taken to Valose either. That's the first we've heard of being bounties, and it doesn't seem to be in our best interest."
"Not to me either." A flicker of hope rises as I turn to look at her. "How long have you been on this ship?"
"Feels like forever since Rex boarded the ship we were on and took us from the scary as fuck aliens," Lena ponders. "I don't know how long. Maybe three days."
"Any weaknesses we can exploit?" I ask, peering over at a rectangular panel I believe to be the locking mechanism for the door in the room.
"When he left us on the ship to go get the five of you, I found a weapon and hid it just in case we needed it." Lena's eyes wander to Rex standing on the opposite side of the wall. "I'm grateful to him for getting us away from the aliens who bought us, but I don't totally trust him. He hasn't been mean to us or tried to harm us or anything. I mean, we were naked when he found us and he gave us clothes. He also brings us food and water regularly, but he does keep us locked in here."
"Were the three of you sold at the market on that red planet?" Zoe turns so we're all three huddled together.
"Yes. Rex called it Tirius," Lena says.
"Us too," Zoe smiles tightly.
"What kind of weapon did you find?" I ask, feeling somewhat hopeful as a plan starts to take shape.
"It'll be easier if I show you." Lena glances at Rex before hustling over to a panel near the floor and pockets a small device before rushing back over to us. "See."
I don't recognize the thin, sleek device Lena shows me.
