Truthfully, I thought I’d be dead by now, or broken and wishing for death.
But there are still pieces of Vruksha that force me to temper the pull he has over me, refusing to accept that I even feel a pull at all. Like his fangs. Sometimes I think I see them drip with something, and I know that something isn’t saliva…
Or the blatant lust in his eyes.
Has he ever been with a woman before? Before they all vanished? Why did they vanish?
He’s staring at me again like he’s waiting for an answer.
My hands shake when I manage to say, “You only want to see, right? Nothing more?”
His nostrils flare, his eyes dipping to my body hidden behind fur. “I want to spend my spill inside you.” His voice is dark, gruff. “But I will accept seeing you tonight.”
His words make me shudder. They also warm my cheeks. I’ve imagined what it would feel like with him inside me… How could I not?
Gooseflesh rises on my arms.
“Okay,” I say.
I release my grip on the pelt and let it fall. My hands move to the buttons of my jacket again. Better get this over with before I think about it anymore.
“Wait,” he jerks forward.
My fingers pause.
Vruksha stalks closer, and I stiffen, but he stops several feet away, coiling his large tail under him. “I want you to stand.”
Stand? “You’ll show me the Lurker tech if I do?” I need to make sure.
“Yesss,” he hisses long and low. “Little human, I’ll show you whatever you want.”
His voice is eager.
I rise to my feet, praying for calm. My fingers find my ripped jacket again. This time, when I unclasp the buttons, he doesn’t stop me. His eyes are glued to me instead.
If I didn’t know I was in a hole, on Earth, all alone with a strange male, I would think I was on a stage about to strip for all the rowdy men on The Dreadnaut. There were sex workers who did that very thing…
But it’s just me and him—and the flimsy trust we’ve built. Too soon, I’ve reached the last button. I grab the lapels of my uniform jacket and tug it off, letting it fall to the floor.
Next, I reach for the clasp of my pants, loosening them. Vruksha hasn’t moved, hasn’t breathed. Heat flushes my cheeks knowing how intensely he’s watching me.
I push down my pants to gather around my boots.
My belly swarms with nectarflies as his eyes roam over my bare legs. I kick off my boots, toeing the pants out from under me.
“No scales, not a single one,” he murmurs. “How can you survive without basic protection?”
I don’t answer. I can’t answer.
I bring my now trembling fingers to the bottom of my top, clasping it. Before I can change my mind, I lift the fabric over my head and drop it onto the ground where my pants and jacket lie.
The scales on Vruksha’s tail shift, straightening outward. His eyes sear my naked flesh, flashing over my body like lightning. I place my palms flush to my stomach, waiting for his response.
“I’m not young,” I whisper, unsure why. “Not the type of woman most men want anymore.” I hurriedly add, “But I’m not old either.” I’ve seen thirty-three standardized years, and where most women my age have already had children and are raising a family, I chose a career in a higher caste instead.
But he may not know that. My body isn’t perfect and sweet like it once was. I stay fit because my job demands it, but if I had it my way, I’d never leave my rooms on the Dreadnaut, reading and drawing all day, every day instead.
Those simple desires are denied me. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve made the right choices… I mentally shake the thoughts away.
“The rest,” he demands when I pause. “I want to see everything.” His forked tongue lashes out and steals all my thoughts momentarily.
You can do this, Gemma. He won’t slip his tongue between your thighs when you’re not looking.
Or will he?
He won’t, I tell myself. I have not been able to wash since the day I was bartered away. I’ve never gone more than a day without being sanitized and scrubbed. Three days of being unclean? My nose wrinkles. Yesterday’s morning dew is all I’ve had to scrub my skin since being here. Once he sees my scrapes and bruises, he won’t want to look upon me further...
His eyes catch mine. “I want all of you,” he says, gentler this time, as if he read my thoughts. “I want to see what is mine.”
Bringing my hands to my bra, to the clasp in the front, I unhook it. I let the bra fall down my arms, using one of them up to hide my breasts. My heart is racing. His hands fist at his sides.
“Drop your arm,” he orders. “Drop it or the exchange is off.”
Anger rises, but I do what he says, letting my arms fall.
Air brushes my nipples, my exposed skin, making my shivers worse.
I pray he’s not a liar.
Because if he is, there’s nothing but the thin fabric of underwear, now several days worn, stopping him from taking me. I feel so unclean that no man or woman on the Dreadnaut would even get close to me right now.
But Vruksha is not a man—or a woman—he’s a primitive alien.
His member emerges from his scales, thick and throbbing. I take a step back.
“Don’t,” he rasps, shifting forward.
“You promise you wouldn’t touch me.” I shrink further as he nears to a hairsbreadth from me.
“And I won’t—but I will look my fill, and show you how it makes me feel, unless you do not want the same allowance when it comes to your tech?”
My cheeks burn. I can’t muster any words.
It’s not fair.
“Now, the rest.”
His body heat blankets over my skin. He’s that close. This fierce, alien male. If I trip, I’d land on him,
