AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jade swallowed. She had toured the mining office with one of her former colleagues when they had first landed on Lynx-Nineteen. The story of a mine collapse and the yawning, cavernous entrance to the eerily shiny shaft made her stomach clench.
But the thought of sitting alone in her room all winter, trying to survive on her meager savings, made her entire spine ache with tension. Her hands kneaded the ill-fitting trousers she wore, the rough fabric grating her skin.
I used to wear silk and lace. Or nothing but jewelry. I used to bathe in oils and lotions.
I used to use an untold amount of lube.
Why does everyone think you have to be rough with redheads? That we need to be “tamed” and fucked into submission?
Almost to a man, those were her clients. They liked her subtle resistance and took delight in making her yield, doing everything but her clearly stated “non-negotiables.” They wanted to extinguish the flame of the so-called fiery redhead.
“I don’t know how to mine. I don’t even know how to farm.” I know how to fuck.
But I don’t want to do that with dozens of men, day after day.
“Well, to be fair, Miss Jade, you haven’t had much time to learn! You’ll get the hang of it in another few seasons.”
If she was still on this planet in another few seasons, she would need to ask about Lynxian prisons, because she would absolutely snap and shove someone in front of the millet plow—and she might prefer the communal atmosphere of a penal colony anyway.
What am I saying? The Pleasure Park was a prison enough!
Miles scratched his furry chin as he halted the shuttle at one of the many farms in the area. “You could always talk to the Contract Manager at the town hall. Might have something useful. Maybe even a shop clerk.” Miles tried to smile.
Jade knew that he was trying to be polite. There wasn’t going to be anything new. There wouldn’t be anything she could do. She’d looked a dozen times, and the jobs were always the same, just with different details.
But her mind spiraled stubbornly back to the only “talent” she had ever earned praise for.
Sex.
Ick. No.
“I might look, Miles, thank you. I—”
Jade’s sentence was cut off by a gust of wind that chilled her straight to the marrow of her bones.
“Ooh, that’s a brisk one! The temperatures will drop like a stone after harvest! Time for me to add winterizer to the shuttle fuel!”
I can’t live through another winter on this planet. Definitely not alone.
Jade’s hard heart softened into self-preservation mode. Maybe she could find a Felid looking for a companion, a bedwarmer. The Felid males she’d seen appeared to have some manners.
Being one man’s bed warmer was better than being a bed warmer for dozens of nameless, faceless clients. She could negotiate better. She could have security. All of the other women who had landed on this godforsaken planet seemed happy, so there must be something to this idea of a being wife.
And hadn’t so many of her wealthy clients, the ones who could afford to get married on Sapien-Three, snuck in to see her because their wives were no longer servicing them?
After a few cycles, I could do just enough to keep him happy—whoever he is. All these Felids are desperate for “Queens.” We’re living proof. I’m going to find one. A rich one. One who’s going to get me off of this rock.
“Hey, Miles, how late is the Contract Manager’s office open?”
Chapter Four
“I’m sorry, Miss Jade. All I have is mining and farming unless you want to move out of Hillhead.”
Jade bit her lip. The cities away from here were bigger—and she would be the only human there. Some misbegotten sense of community, or maybe simple fear, kept her from venturing too far from other humans.
Why are you afraid? The Lynxian males you’ve met have been more gentle and polite than any human men you ever serviced. And you’re going to get your ass off of this rock, so you’d better not cling to your human cronies too much!
Still... Looking for jobs in other cities in the same hellhole wouldn’t spare her from the harsh winters. While she was stuck, she might as well be surrounded by friends until her ship came in (literally).
