I didn’t know him.
He was an alien!
I should understand him less than regular human beings.
But still, it hurt.
The reason he’d protected me wasn’t because it was a part of the M’rora culture, that it was somehow his sworn duty.
He did it because he wanted the same thing Iav did.
He wanted to fuck me.
He needed to fuck me.
He was no better than Iav.
I began to question everything he’d had done for me, everything that had seemed honest and true at the time.
Had he really brought me to this minefield to keep me safe?
Or was it a way to get close to me and get what he wanted?
Was the minefield a trick to keep me to himself?
Maybe he was the bad guy and Iav was the good guy!
The thought alone sent a chill down my spine.
What did he say about the Shadow preferring for their mates to give themselves to them freely?
That it somehow gave them more power?
Was that what Vai was doing?
My stomach lurched and I could hardly keep myself from being sick.
I knew something about Vai’s story didn’t add up.
There was always something about it that didn’t quite ring true.
Now I understood why.
He did it for his own purposes.
He was only helping me to get what he wanted.
What was between my legs.
The cold hard truth of disappointment swept over me like a wave and I fell onto the bed and put my head in my hands.
Vai had seemed so calm, so kind…
But it was all an illusion.
Him and his Shadow had more in common than he realized.
And that thought hurt more than I could express.
I’d made the mistake of allowing myself to get close to him.
I had started to like him, to feel as if we were developing a genuine connection.
And for that reason, Vai was worse than Iav.
It was only Iav’s poison that had created my physical response to his advances.
It had never been anything deeper.
Vai was different.
I had begun to like him.
Really like him.
What was I going to do now?
I was trapped out here in the middle of a minefield.
Surrounded by enemies.
Would he take advantage of me the way Iav had tried to?
Would he force himself on me?
Poison my water so I couldn’t control myself?
Even through the red mist of anger floating before my eyes, I knew that wasn’t right.
He could have done something like that already.
He didn’t have to bring me to a minefield to do it.
So what was I supposed to do now?
Sit in my room and feel sorry for myself?
Let him do what he wanted with me?
No, I decided. I would strike out on my own.
This was a large ship.
It must have smaller ships I could use, like emergency shuttlecraft.
I could jump in one of those and get it to take me home.
I could outrun the Shadow for a while, maybe long enough for him not to catch me.
And if I failed?
Then I could wind up his concubine for the rest of my life, and forced to breed as many of their children as they wanted…
Just the thought alone made me feel itchy.
Or I could play along with Vai and then, when he wasn’t looking, knock him out.
I could hijack this ship and get home even faster.
Or maybe get Computer to tell me about other options that Vai wouldn’t.
But Vai was big and fast and strong…
Could I hit him hard enough to knock him out?
Was there another way I could disable him?
Maybe lock him away somewhere?
Did they have jail cells in this place?
Could I get him trapped in one?
And would Computer even listen to me if I did take over?
Probably not.
The M’rora were an advanced spacefaring species.
They must have systems in place to stop that kind of thing from happening.
I paced, shaking my head and muttering to myself as I cobbled together a series of plans.
Each grew more far-fetched than the last as I considered my options.
Finally, with my feet aching and my arms sore from hurling them around like a crazy person, I fell back on my bed and collapsed.
I refused to be a victim.
I would think of something.
I had to think of something.
I felt a throb in my chest and placed a hand over it.
Great, I thought. Now was the perfect time to have a heart attack.
Why not?
Every other bad thing had happened to me today.
The throb thumped hard against the inside of my chest.
I sat up.
It wasn’t my heart making that sensation.
It was something else.
The steady thump of the glow I associated with the bond that linked me with Iav… and now Vai.
I could feel Vai somewhere in the ship, his steady throb close and strong.
I could reach for it and probe at it with spiritual hands.
I wondered if he would feel me touching him.
Maybe.
I surprised myself that I actually did want to do that.
But it wasn’t his connection that had grabbed my attention.
It was Iav’s.
My eyes bulged in surprise and I bolted up onto my feet.
I ran to the window and peered out at the vast darkness of space.
I raised a finger to the glass the way Vai had gotten me to do earlier.
Right there, I thought, pointing at a seemingly indiscriminate patch of space, that’s where Iav is.
His signal, his pulse, his bond, whatever you wanted to call it, was growing stronger.
And he was heading right for us.
Unused to calculating time and distance, I wasn’t sure exactly how fast he was approaching or how close he was getting to us.
All I knew was he was coming.
And I sure didn’t want his appearance to be a surprise when he did.
I ran for the door.
Computer located Vai for me.
He was in his quarters which were located just around the corner from me.
I knocked on his door and didn’t wait for him to tell me I could enter.
I shoved it open and stepped inside.
I immediately came to a stop upon seeing him wearing a towel that draped around his hips.
It did nothing to disguise his impressive manhood poking from underneath it.
It was obvious he had a
