Page 23 of Meteor Storm

I stood and took a staggering step toward him when he glanced up again, shaking his head in warning. It was clearer then that he’d been drugged. I’d seen enough people under the influence of potent narcotics to suspect that something was severely wrong with him. His cock was hard and he looked primal and unhinged like he could either fuck or kill anything that moved.

Just as I thought it, one of those ugly spike-heads staggered out of the brush, his big eyes zeroing in on me like a goddamn robot.

Bad idea, I thought, but his distraction snapped me out of my stupor.

I finally turned to run, trying to remove myself from the situation, but when I passed that eerie metal column, one of my wrist cuffs lit up and my body was yanked painfully toward it. I looked up at the blinking blue light on my shackle, pulling, but it was as if I’d been welded into place.

Spike moved my way until his attention shifted toward Thilar’s enraged roar. Spike raised his weapon to defend himself, but the way Thilar disarmed him, quickly and precisely, made him look like a toddler fighting a giant. The weapon was on the ground now and in a sequence of swift and powerful motions, Thilar drove his opponent into a tree and began throwing his fist into his bony face, again and again.

I heard teeth cracking. Blood dripping. And then the intruder was on the ground, his limbs twitching.

Thilar stumbled away from him, his knuckles dripping with blood, but kept his back to me like I was a curse he didn’t want to face.

I glanced up at two more little silver orbs floating above us. They were waiting for the moment the spectators had come for. The moment when the big gray warrior would take the frail human as his reward.

Even in space, people were the same kind of sick, thirsting for violence and dismissing cruelty.

Thilar roared again, clutching at his collar with frustration, likely because the warden was trying to torture him into compliance. And if Thilar didn’t comply, I would feel the consequences next. The memory of how the shock collar felt sending volts of electricity through me made me shiver. Even more agonizing was the thought of my implant short circuiting again.

When would it malfunction for good under such abuse?

I bit my lip, my stomach knotting at the sight of Thilar grasping for control. I had to count my blessings and survive another day. They wanted a show and once they got it, we could all crawl back into our cells and rest like the tragic slaves we were.

I glanced at the knife sticking out of the nozun’s body. It was close. Close enough for me to reach it and slide it out of his flesh. Mine had been thrown from my hand long ago, not that it would do anything. If I was going to be a goddamn tribute again, I had to make it look good.

At least, that’s what I was telling myself so that I didn’t feel like a beaten dog rolling over for its abusers.

Thilar turned just as he heard the knife dislodge. I quickly lifted it, trying to pry my wrist cuff off so I could break free, but the magnetic pull only tore the knife out of my hand and stuck it to the pole near my head.

Stupid.

There was no escaping what was supposed to come next and the valerian’s words were just echoing continuously in my head.

Give them a show.

Thilar looked at me with remorse and honestly… I hated it. I didn’t want him to look at me like I was a victim. Like I was a sad little prey animal in a tank about to get eaten. I would have given anything for him to wipe that expression off his blood-stained face and just do what had to be done.

My eyes were hot with frustrated tears. I balled my hands into fists, knowing full well what had to happen for us to be free of the game that day.

“Just do it,” I pleaded. “Just do it.”

He was breathing so damn fast I thought he might burst. And he was hot. Really hot. Not like he was in his cell. I wasn’t sure if his species sweat, but his body heat sure was making me sweat.

He smelled of soil and something herbal. Something that lingered on his breath. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t familiar either. He pressed his hard body against me, his cock firm against my belly. He said some things I couldn’t understand, but his tone was chiding. And, since he wasn’t doing it himself, I decided to initiate things.

My fingers tore at the buckles of his pants, drawing his eyes. Another wave of his intoxicating scent filled my lungs and I felt my nipples pebble under my thin dress.

There was no way I was turned on… no way in hell. Not in that damn place. Not with an alien. Not with an audience.

“Do me a favor and just get it over with,” I said.

He continued to speak, his voice strained. His forehead dropped, pressing to mine, and he inhaled deep before sighing, a man defeated.

After a few moments of effort on his part to regain composure, he moved in, his fingers coiling in the long tresses of my hair. He pulled my head back and to the side as he pressed his body against me, taking in my scent again like a wild animal. Unexpected awareness trickled through my veins, settling in my core as he lifted my tattered skirts over my hips.

My pulse kicked up a notch. Not the way it was racing in the chase. This was different. I closed my eyes as Thilar grasped my hips, turning me around to face the pole. His nose and lips traced the side of my neck again, making me shudder as warm air licked my thighs and hit my backside.

I could see the dead opponents around us, bloodied and unmoving and pummeled until they were unrecognizable. All three of them would have ripped me apart while I screamed had Thilar not ripped them apart first.