Of course they were still working on their escape plan, but the “Glorious Leader” still hadn’t visited the greenhouse for an inspection. In fact, no one had seen him for a while and the rumor was he was sick with some kind of cold or flu in the “big house” and was recuperating.
As the days—and then the weeks—went by, Penny began to cherish the hope that maybe the stranger cult leader who looked so exactly like Colonel Sanders wasn’t just sick—maybe he was dying. Maybe he would just slip away, which ought to make escaping the Compound much easier. Without him, maybe the NeverBreeders would lose their sense of purpose and the breeders would get over their brainwashing?
But even if they didn’t escape, were things really so bad? Every morning she woke up with V’rex and every night she went to sleep in his arms. That wouldn’t be possible if they got away. They would have to split up—go their separate ways. Penny had a job to do and though she understood now why V’rex hated the Kindred, she still worked for them, which would make continuing the relationship they had now severely impractical, if not completely impossible.
Or maybe he wouldn’t want me at all, Penny told herself. She was still convinced that the ubiquitous Spice that was piped through the air in the Compound was responsible for the profound attraction V’rex had developed to her. If they got out of here, he would probably lose all interest in her, which would hurt—a lot. Whereas as long as they stayed here, his desire for her remained strong—which was really nice and extremely flattering.
So maybe things weren’t so bad, after all.
That was what Penny was thinking one day, about a month into her time at the Compound, when suddenly everything went straight to the Seven Hells…
Sixty-Five
They had just finished breakfast when the red light came on over the tiny table in the breakfast nook and a cold, androgynous voice spoke Penny’s name.
“Penelope, Forever Mate of V’rex,” it said. “You are wanted for testing.”
“Huh?” Penny looked up at the light, one hand on her rapidly beating heart. Across the table from her, V’rex was staring at it too, a baleful gleam in his pale gold eyes.
“Please report to the Breeding and Conception Center before your work shift,” the voice continued. “You are wanted for testing.”
“What…what kind of testing?” Penny faltered.
But the voice didn’t speak again. The red light went off as abruptly as it had come on, leaving her with no more information and a cold lump of fear in the pit of her stomach.
“Fucking bastards!” V’rex ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want you to go,” he said to Penny.
“What choice do I have?” she protested. “Anyway, they probably just want to check my womb and see…” She swallowed hard. “See if I’m pregnant.”
Which of course she wasn’t, which was bound to cause trouble if it was found out.
I should have expected this, Penny told herself as she rose slowly to begin clearing the breakfast dishes. Shurla had told her just a day before that all the breeding she and Skrug had been doing had paid off.
“I’m pregnant!” she’d told Penny excitedly when she’d come to get her ration of bread for the day. “Soon I’ll finally be contributing to the Glorious Cause!” The light of brainwashed fanaticism had been shining in her eyes as she spoke—a look Penny simply couldn’t understand. How could anyone be excited about giving up their own child to become one of the sexless orange NeverBreeders?
But she had only smiled and congratulated her former friend as she handed Shurla her bread.
It should have occurred to her, Penny thought now, that if Shurla had been examined and found pregnant, she herself couldn’t be far behind. They were, after all, from the same group and all of them had been with their “Forever Mates” for almost a month now. It was only logical that she was being called in for a womb exam.
“I don’t think you should go,” V’rex repeated. “What happens when they find out you’re not pregnant?”
“They won’t…won’t recycle me right away,” Penny protested, hoping she was right. “I mean, from what Claudette has told me, they give you at least three chances before it comes to that. And anyway, maybe she can help me,” she added, brightening a little bit. “She told me once there’s a way to skew the test results so it looks like you’ve been pregnant but lost the pregnancy very early. That proves you’re fertile and just had a complication, you know?”
“I just don’t like it.” V’rex was up from the table, pacing and running a hand through his hair, as was his habit when he was worried. “I don’t like you going into that place where I can’t get to you to help you if things go wrong!”
“Things won’t go wrong,” Penny tried to reassure him. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“Yeah, that’s what we’ve been telling ourselves all this time,” V’rex growled, frowning at her. “We’ve gotten fucking complacent, little girl—even happy—in this fucked-up place!”
“Happy?” Penny said uncertainly, though she supposed that was what she’d been thinking herself, right before the cold voice had spoken to her and ordered her to come for testing.
“Fuck yeah—happier than I’ve ever been,” V’rex said roughly. “I’ve finally found the female I want to Claim. And even though I can’t Claim you here, I can at least have you near. I can wake up beside you every morning and lick your sweet pussy every night. I can hold you in
