Often Claudette came to see her during the lunch break and they were able to talk in private in the little grassy meadow beside the Marketplace. Penny was still trying to get her friend to consider the idea of escape and she thought that maybe Claudette might be coming around—mainly because she was worried that her time was running out.
“My last two womb exams I haven’t been pregnant,” she told Penny, with a strained look on her face as they sat in the short green grass. “I’m afraid if I have a third exam with no pregnancy, they’ll consider me infertile and you know what happens then.” She made a slicing gesture across her throat and rolled her eyes up in her head.
“Why would they automatically assume it’s your fault?” Penny asked indignantly. “What about your, uh, husband?”
“Him?” Claudette gave an ugly laugh. “Oh no, they never blame the man. Besides, he’s gotten me pregnant on a regular basis for years now, so there’s no reason to assume there’s any problem with his sperm. It’s me.” She shook her head. “I’m getting older and I’m just not as fertile as I used to be.”
“Just hang in there.” Penny grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “We might be getting out of here soon. You should come with us!”
“And what would your husband say to that?” Claudette raised her eyebrows challengingly. “Why would he want another female tagging along and possibly messing up his plan when he’s so clearly smitten with you?”
“He’s not smitten with me,” Penny said uncomfortably. “He’s just…protective. That’s all.”
“Oh, he’s smitten all right.” Claudette gave her a rueful smile. “Never thought I’d see genuine love in this place, but I see it in those golden eyes of his when he looks at you, Penny. The question is, how do you feel about him?”
Penny shook her head. The truth was, she didn’t know how to feel about V’rex lately. He was so big and handsome and intense…
And dangerous and scary and possessive, whispered a little voice in her head. Not to mention willing to chop off body parts with a cleaver if somebody gets on his bad side.
So far, Penny seemed to always be on his good side. V’rex was patient to a fault with her and extremely attentive. But she still wasn’t quite sure about him. And so, she was doing her level best not to let herself fall in love with the big Hybrid—she was holding back her heart as well as she could. But considering how well they got along and the mind-blowing orgasms he gave her every night, it was pretty difficult to do that.
“Anyway, lunch is almost over. I’ll walk you back to the Marketplace and then I have to get going,” Claudette said.
She and Penny had walked back to their separate work areas to finish the rest of the day, as they so often did.
After lunch, the rest of work was usually uneventful and then Penny walked home, often to find V’rex already cooking supper—or “Last Meal,” as he called it.
They pretty much stuck with the usual vegetable stew now, because it was easy to make and they could change the flavor and texture to anything they wanted with the flavor sticks Claudette kept Penny supplied with. They made a game out of it, each of them making flavored food from their home worlds for the other to try.
Penny made the big Hybrid pizza, Fettuccini Alfredo, pad thai, chicken curry, and just about anything else she could think of. She also made him ice cream, chocolate cake, and brownies, though he didn’t have much of a sweet tooth and preferred savory dishes.
In turn, V’rex made her exotic dishes from both his home world and from other planets he had visited. But the ones Penny liked best were the ones his mother had made him—comfort food that seemed to bring back warm feelings from his limited childhood, before he’d been cast out on the streets.
The different flavors brought back many memories for both of them and it became part of their nightly “dinner game” as Penny named it, to tell the story they most associated with the food they had created. Which was how she learned what had really happened to his mother and why V’rex hated the Kindred.
It was after he shared a sweet and savory dish called goslin stew that his mother used to make for him that the truth came out.
“It’s delicious,” Penny told him truthfully, after trying the dish. “So tell me the story.”
V’rex had sighed.
“My mother used to make it for me,” he told her. “It’s a traditional dish from her part of Rageron, the Beast Kindred home world. But she could only make it when my father wasn’t expected home for dinner because he hated it.”
“Hated it?” Penny had taken another bite and frowned at him. “Why would he hate it? It’s so tangy and fresh tasting!” It reminded her a little of Tom Yum soup from her favorite Thai restaurant.
V’rex’s face grew dark, as it always did when he spoke of his father.
“He hated it because she loved it. Because it reminded her of the home he stole her from.”
“He…kidnapped her?” Penny remembered Kat and Commander Sylvan saying as much when they had first warned her against the big Hybrid but she couldn’t help wondering if it was really true.
V’rex nodded.
“Kidnapped her, raped and defiled her,” he said shortly. “He got her pregnant with me, which was why her kin wouldn’t take her back.”
“They wouldn’t? How awful!” Penny exclaimed. “Why not?”
“A female Beast Kindred is extremely rare,” V’rex explained. “So rare they have a special place in the Kindred religion—the worship of the Goddess. So when
