Page 11 of The Dalgur’s Pet

“Oh, I do not know. Four or five.”

“Four or five?”

Giselle tried to remain calm and focus, tried to understand. A million questions whizzed through her mind, none of them with answers she was particularly eager to hear.

Vrix smiled that toothy grin, leaning in close to her face.

“Do not worry, sweet one, I will not let that happen to you. We have learned how fragile human flesh and bones are and will not be making those mistakes again.”

Giselle grasped at Vrix, even though he was the one who had said the words, the one who had taken her, used her. She blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to clear her head, trying to comprehend what he was saying.

She wasn’t the first.

They had taken others.

They had killed them.

Purposeful or not, humans were dead because of Vrix and Thase.

Tears spilled down her cheeks, wetting Vrix’s chest as she clung to his shoulders.

“Please, just take me back to Earth. I-I don’t belong here, I⁠—”

Thase fisted a knot of her hair, yanking her head back again before hissing in her ear.

“You belong with us. You belong to us. If you behave like a good little pet, then you will have nothing to worry about. Give us your tight little cunt and ass without complaint, and we will do our best to be gentle with you.”

Giselle whimpered, tears spilling down her cheeks as Vrix watched her with a smile.

“Please, I just want to go home,” she pleaded, before Thase jerked her again.

“You will not be returning to Earth, and if you say it one more time, I will collar you.”

She tried to stifle her sobs, terror streaming through her. She didn’t know what that meant, but Vrix had warned her about it. The collar had done something to the last human who wore it, a human who was now dead.

“I-I’m sorry,” she said, desperate to be rid of Thase, but not wanting to anger him further.

He eased up his grip on her hair, blessed relief washing over her aching neck.

“Of course you are. Where do you belong?” he asked.

“O-On your ship.”

“And who do you belong to?”

“You and Vrix.”

There was a moment of silence before a slap echoed through the room, pain radiating up her spine from where he had smacked her ass.

“Good girl,” he whispered before releasing her, trundling out of the bed. He glanced at Vrix. “I trust you can keep an eye on her.”

Vrix rolled his eyes.

“Of course I can.”

“Good,” Thase said, then exited through a door that whooshed open without another word.

Giselle was frozen in Vrix’s arms, the futility of her situation settling like a brick in her stomach.