Page 5 of Trove’s Purpose

The species’ main claim to fame was their camouflage abilities, so their skin and hair was never one color. It always took on either their surroundings or, just as often, the clothing they wore.

In this case, the color of this male’s skin was the bright, now faded orange of his jumpsuit. His hair was long, halfway down his back, even in the ponytail he had it up in on the back of his head. His hair, and the top half of his head, matched the gray of the walls instead of his jumpsuit. He had three eyes, all sharp slashes on his face. Two about where hers were and a third on his forehead, but the inner corners were all pointed towards each other, so the upper eye was on its side. They were purple, bright and clear, and clashing terribly with the orange of his jumpsuit.

But he was handsome despite it. He had a pretty boy face, the kind that would grace the walls of a teenage girl’s room as she dreamed about her favorite boy band members. A long, elegant nose over a pair of soft lips, all framed by a sharp, triangular jaw. His features were ageless, timeless, flawless. He was handsome in a cute, heartthrob way.

And, to her annoyance, that was exactly her type. Especially when that face was accompanied by a crude, metal gun that he was pointing right at her face. He wasn’t thin or super muscular. And he had a tail. She knew that domini had tails, but she was still surprised to see it moving behind him.

His two lower eyes trailed up and down her body, while his third, upper eye remained locked on her face. Making sure he was always watching her closely. It was not an amorous look, but rather a dissecting one. He was making sure she wasn’t a threat.

“You’re rather small…” He said, frowning, checking her out again. “What are… wait…”

“I would like to speak to you and your crew,” she said, her voice level and even despite the fact that she was looking down the barrel of a gun leveled at her forehead.

The domini male focused all three eyes back on her face. Suspicion cast over his features.

“My crew?”

“Yes,” she said, doing her own once over while she was still hidden from his gaze. She’d been given files on everyone who was part of the Humility crew, including the other humans that had mated the males once from Rik-Vane. There was only one domini on the crew.

That must mean this was Trove.

She was in the right place.

It was time to get to work.

“I have a job for you,” she said.

Chapter 3

Trove

Their unexpected guest was sitting in one of the many meeting rooms they’d found in this old recycling center. There was nothing left in there with her but the chair they’d offered her. And that person was definitely a her. Her shapely body, especially generous in her hips, was extremely feminine.

And familiar…

Trove allowed her to keep her helmet on as he watched her, gun leveled at her chest, waiting for the others. He’d commed Rok – who had insisted on remaining awake and on his watch shift despite Trove offering to replace him. Rok was now going to get their captain. Tanin would be the one to decide what happened to her next.

She said she had a job for them. She hadn’t elaborated. She’d been silent and cooperative, making no sudden moves, obeying his commands completely and promptly, as he led her here. But the fact that anyone had found them was insane, much less someone who would pop up and just announce she had a job.

No, Tanin needed to be woken. Meanwhile, Trove was just keeping her controlled, behaved, and watched to be sure she wasn’t a threat.

But she just sat there. Hands on the arm of the chair. Making sure she kept them both not only in view but away from her body. Giving him absolutely no chance of mistaking her movements as a threat and prompting him to pull the trigger.

A model prisoner. One with a deliciously tempting body. Her breasts were small, but that she even had any narrowed down which species she might be from slightly. Not all females had breasts, and some only had them at certain times.

What really caught his eyes, however, were her hips. Wide and luscious, they were positively salacious. They connected a hind end that was just as generous and still bounced when she walked despite the restrictive envirosuit she wore. He wanted to stroke those hips. He wanted to hear her whimper and scream and cry out her pleasure.

This was a female not part of his crew. One he didn’t know. One that didn’t know him. He could work out the frustrations and tension in his brain on her. Make her scream for him, squirm for him. Break her mind and body and then-

The door to the room slid open and in stepped Tanin. Their captain, a gray skinned s’skree male, was half dressed, clearly just roused from bed. The quills on his head were flat, showing his lack of concern for this situation. His expression, however, was stoic and unreadable. Tanin always looked like that. It was a wonder to Trove, who couldn’t imagine always controlling his features so severely.

Just behind him, the huge, hulking figure of Rok lumbered into the room. He was a four-armed baemoth male, probably about twice as wide as Trove, and four times as strong. He had a horn curved back over his head, beige brown skin, and bright yellow eyes. He also had a great many black and teal scales all over his skin. Baemoth males were judged, aesthetically at least, by the amount of scales on their body. In that respect, Rok was probably considered one ugly novi. But he had normal facial features and was probably the nicest guy on their crew.

But he was also the most intimidating, and Trove knew that the female thought so as well, because the sight of him made her tense up.

“Found her wandering around the entrance hall,” Trove said by way of greeting as Tanin stopped beside him, keeping Trove’s line of sight clear. “She’s unarmed. She’s behaved. She says she has a job for us.”

“Oh, really,” Tanin said, voice calm and unimpressed. Like this was something they dealt with every few days or so. “Female, what is your name?”