He felt her anger and hate directed at him when she’d first realized he was to be her Forever Mate, but that had changed to deep embarrassment while the two of them recited their “vows.”
Her pink cheeks and stumbling words as she begged him to breed her were both adorable and arousing, as far as V was concerned. He could tell she wasn’t used to talking dirty. And he’d felt an unmistakable tendril of arousal from her as he had returned the favor with his own vows. She might not like him much, but her body undoubtedly reacted to his—there was no denying that, he thought.
But her desire hadn’t lasted. It had turned to fear and pain when he’d had to mark her with his initial. He could still see the red lines of the capital V he’d burned unwillingly into her flesh just above her left breast. He would heal it as soon as he could but Gods, he’d hated marking her!
You’re just like him, a little voice had whispered in his head when he saw the tears in her soft brown eyes and knew that he had been the one to put them there. Just like him when he hit her…when he made her cry…
Maybe those bad old memories, which he’d pushed away almost as soon as they surfaced in his mind, were the reason V had turned the branding pen over to his new bride and insisted that she mark him too.
He looked briefly down at his own left pec. Penelope. It was an unusual name but he liked it—liked seeing her handwriting on his body for some reason, though he couldn’t understand why.
Penelope hadn’t been able to understand his actions either. He had felt her confusion as he told her to mark him, to prove that if she was his, he was also hers.
But then confusion had turned to fear again and right now she was terrified.
She thinks I’m going to rape her, V thought, looking down at her soft face, which was pale with dread. Her eyes were so big they seemed to have taken over her entire face and he could feel her trembling against him as he carried her over the neatly manicured paths towards the Love Hut which had been designated as theirs.
He wanted to say something—wanted to let her know he wouldn’t hurt her, or reassure her some way. But he was grimly aware that the entire fucking Compound was bugged. The GL and his orange NeverBreeder mutants would be watching everything—probably listening too. They didn’t even try to hide it, either. The brazenness of their spying was somehow even more infuriating and it meant he didn’t dare to say anything out loud to the girl in his arms.
He could only carry her into their new bedchamber and hope she understood…
Thirty-Five
Penny was trembling with fear as the big Hybrid carried her along like she weighed next to nothing—which she knew for a fact was not the case. He had carried her up all those steps at the Amphitheater without even losing his breath once and now he was striding along like it was nothing to carry a full-gown woman around in his arms for miles. She couldn’t get over how horribly strong he was.
He’s so big—there’s no way I can fight him off, she thought desperately as he strode through the public park towards the rows and rows of little white houses. Oh God, I wonder how much it’s going to hurt? How rough is he going to be?
She risked glancing up at him, but his face was impassive again—blank and emotionless. Was he really going to be able to do this to her with no shame at all? Was he going to enjoy hurting her? Raping her?
He glanced down for a moment and their eyes locked again. Those pale gold depths were almost like mirrors—Penny could see her own fear reflected back at her.
“Almost there, little girl,” he rumbled, as though she had asked him how much further they had to go.
Penny couldn’t say anything—her throat was too dry and her lips didn’t seem to want to form words. She couldn’t believe she was in this position—couldn’t believe all her dreams of space exploration had somehow turned into this nightmare scenario where she was being carried by her soon-to-be rapist to the house where they were supposed to live together for the rest of their lives…
V’rex came to the door of a white cottage with blue trim set at the very end of a long lane. Other, identical cottages, stretched out down the street but Penny wasn’t looking at any of them. She was wondering again if she could get free and run away if the huge Hybrid put her down to open the front door.
But her half-formed plans were dashed when V’rex simply kicked the door open and carried her over the threshold, just as though she really was his new bride.
The interior of the cottage was neat and cozy—Penny got a blurred impression of it as he carried her through it. But soon enough—too soon—they were in the bedroom.
The bed was a large, square mattress covered in a dark blue coverlet that seemed to be made of some kind of dense, silky fur.
V’rex put her down at last, in the middle of the mattress, and then immediately ripped off her top.
Penny gasped. It hadn’t been much of a top and her breasts had been showing between the long, colorful grasses. But still! The violence of the act surprised and terrified her. She felt her heart pounding in her throat as she tried to cover herself with her arms.
The big Hybrid paid no attention to her attempts
