“But that is…good. Right?” I squinted, not really sure what to make of the grimness in her tone. “Last I checked, we were in desperate need of these fertile humans and their breeding capabilities.” I nudged Ronan with my elbow. “Maybe we will even be able to claim a few for ourselves, hmm?”
Leonix shot me a piercing glare. “Have you not spoken to any of the other human females at all, Gallix? The slave trade demands willing breeding slaves, not forced captives. But Bria and the rest…they do not seem to have much faith that their government will hold up that end of the bargain.”
I blinked, then flushed a little at my cheeks. Blood. What a baz-terd I was. Willing breeding slaves was one thing. A cause for celebration, really. But the possibility of more unwilling humans being torn from their planet and shipped off into space…
I might have been a baz-terd, but even I was not horny enough to be pleased to hear that.
“When the ship makes it to Lunaria, the first three females will be assigned high lords or princes to provide cubs for in the traditional way.” Artificially inseminated, she meant—not bedded and wedded the way our comrades had done with their pretty human wives. “After King Brixta takes his pick of the three, at any rate.”
“I do not envy his chosen one,” I groaned. “Willing or not, that is not a fate I would wish on any female, bearing that coward’s seed. I would rather eat my own socks.”
“It is their willingness that is the question, Gallix—not how much you might envy them,” Leonix said with another glare. “The two of you will rendezvous with the slave ship, acquire the three females, and bring them to Lunaria safely.”
Ronan and I exchanged a glance.
“Unless?” he asked.
“Unless, during your voyage, the two of you should determine that perhaps these females are not so willing after all,” Leonix said. “You will need to get to know them. Win their trust and determine their eagerness for their new appointments. If they are all happy to serve as breeding slaves for our people, then so be it. But if they are not…”
Slowly, I felt anger flicker through my chest. Another glance at Ronan showed me that his eyes were turning a shade redder as Leonix spoke.
“Consider it done, General,” I said with a nod.
Leonix gave me a sad smile. I almost would have preferred another glare. “I am no general, Gallix—nor will I ever be. But I have been tasked with overseeing this mission, and I have chosen the two of you to carry it out under my command. These women may not be eager to open up to you, though, I must warn you. If they are being enslaved against their will, then they will likely be slow to trust aliens that they do not know. And worse, they may be spies—for Earth, King Brixta, or someone else entirely.”
Leonix beckoned us forward and picked a tablet up off the table at her back. She turned it to face us and flipped through three images, presumably of the females we would be escorting. The first two were pretty enough, but stirred nothing in me save for, perhaps, pity. But the third one…
She had deep brown eyes, the color of a forest in autumn. They narrowed at the corners, making it look like she was smiling, though her luscious, soft pink lips were not curled to match. Her pale face was speckled in a way I found entirely ravishing. It was as if someone had taken a brush before her and flicked tiny beads of paint all across her nose and cheeks. Her hair was large and wild, a mess of auburn curls, and her neck was long. Elegant.
She looked like a damned drunken vision. Like something that had been pulled out of one of my dreams, the desperate ones that left me gasping and yearning, my balls heavy and my cock stiff enough to hang a holster on.
“Gallix,” Leonix said, warning in her voice as she caught me staring. “Close your mouth and stop gawking. I can see what you are thinking, and the answer is no.”
“Was not thinking anything.” A lie. I was thinking several things, all of them deeply involved in how the third female’s lips might feel against mine and how she might sound when I made her moan beneath me.
“Gallix,” Leonix said again. “These females are the future of our race, if they are willing. If they are not, then they are captives, no different from those kidnapped by the Rutharians.”
“Right,” I said, nodding. My throat suddenly felt tight, my mouth dry. And my cock…blood, my cock was rock hard. I nearly dove for the tablet when Leonix took it away. Damn her—I was not yet done looking at that lovely, perfect face. “Right, yes. Of course.”
“You will protect them. You will make them trust you,” Leonix said sternly. “But Gallix?”
“Yes, General?”
Leonix rolled her eyes. “If I discover you have bedded any of these females, I will have your balls for it. You are not to woo them. You are not to seduce them. They are in your care. You must treat them as such.”
“We will do you proud, Leonix,” Ronan said—but Leonix was still glaring at me.
“And most importantly—though I should not have to say it—you are not to fall in love.” She raised her hand to us in salute. “That is an order.”
I raised my hand to her as well, but even as I did it, my mind was racing.
You are not to fall in love, she had said, but my fool heart was thrumming in my chest like it had never pumped blood at all
