It was like before, at the club. She was affected, but not as much as other humans. Not as much as lore told us she would.
"A shower is necessary." Kylie clarified, shaking my arm off her. "Unless your water is going to burn my skin off?"
"We are proud to have regular H2O on our ship," Fey jumped up, immediately slipping on what vomit he hadn’t been able to clean up and slamming back down on his ass. "Seriously? Why did we think she was turning inside out? This stuff smells like the rot in the death pits of Girlatz."
We’d gone there once, but the women of the planet had smelled about the same as the death pits. We hadn’t stayed long. Fine with me, considering I hadn’t wanted to go there in the first place, but Fey always got what he wanted.
"Well, consider cleaning this mess up a good return, and repayment for nearly getting us killed." I said to my Fey, dripping with sarcasm. I draped my arm around Kylie, the girl leaning into me as I pulled her away and toward the large shower in the master suite that had been set aside for the first wife. It was placed there before Fey and I had even boarded, as all our ships were built for this.
"We were not nearly killed!" Fey yelled, slapping his hands against the slick floor like a petulant toddler. I laughed, leading Kylie away. I didn't miss the longing look she gave him as we left him behind.
"Don't worry, he won't be far behind." My heart ached at the admission, knowing that Fey would only be minutes. There was an emergency cleaning station only steps away. "He bought you, after all."
Each of the five words were punctuated by a stab to my heart.
"You don't sound happy about that." Her hand wrapped around mine, my fingers already cupped around her hip. She wasn't searching, wasn't asking, but there was a loss in her voice that I desperately hoped I wasn't imagining.
Although I should be.
"I'm happy you are here." It wasn't a lie exactly, as happy as I was to have her in my arms. She shouldn't be here. It was dangerous for all of us. There was a reason I had set our destination to Io and not to home. I had a plan, and as long as anyone on Cox didn't catch wind of our expedition to Earth we should be okay.
"I'm happy you are safe," I added on as I led her down another corner, the words hopeful.
"So, is it more that you wish you had gotten to me first?" She leaned into me, and I flinched as her touch tensed every muscle between my knees and my navel. "I saw the way you both looked at me back at the club. I remember what you said. I’ll never forget it actually."
Her fingers pressed against mine, spreading them as she weaved the heat of her with my own. I chanced a look at her, at those wide eyes that had seen so much, wanted so much.
"I wanted to keep you safe," I admitted, keeping my voice low as I pulled her around to face the door that would be hers from this point on. "At the time, keeping you on Earth seemed like the best—safest—option. Fey had different ideas, and Fey won. Fey always wins."
The bright smile that she wore fell, although the hungry gleam in her eyes grew as she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her cheek against mine, her breath hot in my ears.
"Fey doesn't always have to win." My stomach tightened, my emotions going into a tornado that I was sure was seconds away from escaping from me.
I winced as I pushed the energy back into my belly. I couldn't do that to her, not on her first day here anyway. Or never. I seem to remember Fey saying something about how he wouldn't share.
"Is this it?" She asked, nodding to the door. I grabbed her hand, gently placing her palm against the plate and coding in her print as the new owner of the room. The pad ignited in a million stars as it scanned her. With a musical beep it faded back to black, the door sliding open to reveal the massive suite and the huge bed, the kitchen, and the bathroom. Her eyes went wide.
"Yes. You will lack for nothing." I wasn't even sure she heard me; she was too busy absorbing the furnishings. Then, she gasped loudly as she beheld something she obviously was delighted by, and stepped inside. My hand fell away from her, only to have her fingers tighten and pull me in.
"Good. Then you will come with me." I froze, feet cemented to the floor as her fingers slowly slid from mine.
"I am not the one who purchased you." It was a legitimate excuse, and I puffed up my chest as I delivered it, hoping that the strength would cover my disappointment.
She laughed.
The sound was like a bell from the sacred mountains of Dilldan. It rang through the halls and straightened my spine, that one sound pulling me forward despite my hesitation. I didn’t want to anger Fey again. I was still recovering from our last fight.
"No one purchased me. I signed nothing. If anything, Fey kidnapped me." She reached out to me, those dark eyes like a tether—a barbed leash that wrapped around me and pulled. Demanding.
It pulled all of my carefully placed restraint and shredded it into ribbons. Her smile brought all of the daydreams I had had of her to the surface, my emotions flooding out of me. She moaned softly, her body reacting unconsciously to my unrestrained power lust. I was ashamed at my lack of control; she deserved better.
"Not that I fought him," she continued, slowly untying the flimsy gown that she was wearing. "There
