Venomous: Erotic Science Fiction Romance (Alien Warrior Book 1) (17 page)

“Stop.” Broken, I fisted my hands in the fabric of my tunic. “I’m well aware the only thing standing in the way of those monsters is Venom.”

“Is that all you see him as? A shield?”

I shrugged, lifeless.

“Then why deny me? I am the second strongest slave. Only the Verak and Yoni come close. I can protect you as well as Venomous One can. Why may I not exchange protection for mating when the Rä can? What did he say or do to garner your approval?”

“He didn’t–” My mouth clicked shut.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Ah, he did not ask did he?” Yofk’s stare became piercing. “He took.”

Shaking, I glared and stood my ground.

If he jumped me what could I do?

When Venomous had done so there was no escape, and I doubted the outcome with this alien would differ.

This time I have a voice
.

Yofk understood me.

Would Venom have stopped if he’d understood me
?

“Hate you forever,” I mumbled.

“You have a high opinion of yourself to assume I care what you think.” He rubbed his chest, eyeing me with amusement. “Your planet must be a proud place.” His hand dropped to his side and his fingers clenched. Amusement faded, replaced with anger. “That male would die for you because you are his, yet you speak of him with scorn. You are naïve. Set aside this past life and expectations. Realise how lucky you are.”

I stumbled on the spot. “
Lucky
?”

“You were abducted from your home by a superior species that might mean to enslave your people. You were bought by a violent slaver species then thrown into an arena with sex-starved gladiators that have not known softness for solars
,
only to rouse the interest of the strongest. You
see
how the Vudwani is used, still, you show no gratitude. The Rä sacrificed his personal honour to ensure the flame of your life burns bright, and you piss on his offering thinking yourself above the natural order.”

Oh, no, he bloody well didn’t.

“Being forced to fuck anything that moves is not the natural order of things.” Incredulous, I jabbed my forefinger at the floor, steaming mad. “
Fuck you and fuck your fucked up world
.” All but hopping now, my head shook with the force of my words. “
I didn’t ask for this
.” My pitch climbed. “
I don’t deserve this shit.
I’m doing the best I can. You’re judging me for trying to maintain a modicum of pride, so I don’t lose all will to live.”

“I hear nothing but whining, female. It is not attractive.” He looked me up and down. “You ask to trade? Well, what can
you
offer? What skill of the mind? What strength of the body?”

The callous words knocked into me like blows from his thorny fists.

“You are
weak
. You should be on your knees begging to receive me.”

Breathing hard, I backed up and twisted my face away. “I’m physically weaker than you, so what? If I were male you wouldn’t expect me to do this or back down.”

An amused whirr contracted the segments of his long neck. “You are not male, and if you were, I would break you for entering my territory.”

“It’s not okay for people to assume I lack a sense of worth, and can be used and abused because I don’t have a dick. I won’t accept it. I won’t make it easy for you people to act heartless, to act like
my choice doesn’t matter
.” I thumped my chest. “I matter. My feelings are not irrelevant.”

“Feelings? I want to stick it in.”

Words spoken to me by another alien echoed in my brain.

‘You were made a battle prize by the L’Odo.’

Was my resistance to bartering my body impractical when I was considered a
prize
by, hands down, the scariest male in the place?

‘
You are mine to protect, mine to shelter, mine to feed, and mine to cover.’

A striking realisation tore through my fear of the mauling I believed imminent.

As much as he talked the talk, Yofk hadn’t touched me.

“You want what this female refuses to offer?”

“I do.”

“Then take it by force like the monster you choose to be. I won’t let you scare me into spreading my legs, just so your conscience lets you sleep at night.”

Yofk recoiled.

Damn straight, I called him on it, and I was right to.

He didn’t want to force me, wouldn’t, or Venomous had warned him not to, and he tried to bully me into offering myself.

‘Sickly, weak, pathetic, worthless creature.’

The L’Odo were wrong
.

Yofk was wrong
.

I might not be the strongest creature on the planet, but that did
not
make me weak.

True strength came from making sacrifices and beating the odds to survive.

It didn’t come as a happenstance of birth.

Bulging eyes frosted over. “I no longer desire the clasp of your hole, female
.
Ungratefulness is ugly.” He retreated. “You turn my stomach.”

Spine straightening, I crossed my arms over my breasts. “Right back at you.”

He spat phlegm at my feet, but he let me stay.

And he laid not one feeler on me.

B
atting aside a vine, Venomous stooped and thumped a fist against the hard earth above the tunnel leading into Yofk’s mound.

He wanted to tear the crude structure to pieces and rage at the male within.

That would be dishonourable.

Venomous swore, if the Krael had hurt her, he’d break his chitin in half.

He wondered if she’d bared her back, and gazed at the male in the same soft way she did when he pleased her with the gift of cloth.

No trace of her pheromones hung in the misty air, did that mean her body did not dampen for Yofk?

Bizarre as he found the notion, he wanted her to react that way to his body alone, yet surely to be otherwise would mean it was painful for her?

Would she understand this was the best he could do in the place of a trusted clan male as her lesser mate?

A globular head popped from the hole, and furious, bulging eyes met his. “At last. Take her before I do something I regret.”

Anger surged within Venomous’ blood, and burned his insides.

He had no reason to strike the Krael for taking what he’d been owed.

And yet....

“I owe Kilboh,” he rumbled waving the male forward.

“Not now.” Yofk clicked a series of ear-splitting trills. “You do not want to fight me. I am enraged.”

Lumen pushed past the male then climbed from the tunnel looking flustered.

She spun once she’d cleared the threshold and they locked gazes.

Her lips thinned to a bloodless slash. “Gratitude.”

Snorting, Yofk dismissed her brusque parting and shot Venomous a look of sympathy. “I do not envy you. Bring her to me if you need someone to watch her. Another would tear her limb from limb.”

Lumen said nothing in retaliation, only watched as the Krael disappeared into the dark recesses of his mound.

She stared at her grubby feet as they squirmed, and dug furrows into the soil.

Venomous tasted the air, but could not gather the potent musk she emanated during clutch.

To his shame, his hearts lifted.

Yofk could not coax her into mating
.

Then why did she avoid his eye as if disgraced?

Disquieted she thought he would reject her, he reached for her. “My Rä’Na–”

Flinching, she shied away. “Cold. Go back Venom’s lair now?”

Why does she put emphasis on my possession of the space?
“It is our lair.”

“Whatever you saying.” She peered into the dark spaces of the jungle then shivered. “No safe. Us go?”

The journey back to the lair was fraught with quiet.

She would not let him help her, and struggled over the craggy, mountainous terrain, often falling to her knees, or bashing her legs until he saw bruises staining her flesh.

Venomous became convinced the Krael had harmed her.

Once he got the ragged covering off, he’d inspect each speck of her flesh for damage then take reparation out of the male’s hide.

When she slipped on a steep incline, and fell flat onto her front, he rushed to help her stand.

She shoved at him. “
Let go
.”

“I will carry you. There are no healers here. If you harm yourself–”

“Fine.” She folded her arms and hid her face. “Do whatever. Me no stop. Me no have choice!”

The bitter tang of anger misted the air.

“My care upsets you?”

Air rushed past the plush strips of her mouth, gem eyes dull when they met his. “Me tired. Please go?”

Later, inside the safety of the lair, she wriggled from his arms and headed for the nest.

She sat then stared at him with a stony expression.

Venomous did not like the weight of her scrutiny, it felt as if she judged him and found him lacking.

He surmised, “You are angry.”

“Yes,” she snipped.

His tongue tasted the air.

The jumble of scents confused him, and made him restless. “You are unhappy I sent you with Yofk.”

“Unhappy?” She glared. “Me swear, if you no so
damn scary
.” Her slender fingers curled in the air to shake in a fist. “Know what like waking to strange place with alien demand sex?
Again
.” Her voice was loud by the time she finished. Her eyes glittered, and her cheeks flushed. “
Well
?”

“What would you have had me do?” He closed the space between them then crouched. “You were unable to stay awake. I could not protect you in the pit. Yofk offered, and I accepted. He is the best lesser mate I will find you in this place.”

The angry glare remained in full force. “Lesser mate?”

“On Rök, a female takes a lesser mate. If her primary mate dies, she has a protector.” He tilted his chin to his chest. “That is not your way on Earth? Many cultures have this practice to safeguard their widows, my Lumen.”

“Culture....” Her eyes rounded. It reduced the effect of her angry stare. She swallowed. “You die and Yofk be mine mate?”

“Yesss.”

“No mean take mine body now!” She flung out an arm, expression murderous. “No like Yofk!”

“A lesser male need only join with you each time his scent fades, and your body no longer recognises his claim.”

“No!” She flashed her palm. “Human no like Rä. No choose mate by scent. Male who no Venom taking sex is–!” A stream of words he didn’t understand came out garbled through the translator. “No be with Yofk! No ever!”

She ranted on, but he had to interrupt her. “These important words do not–”

“Argh!” She clutched hanks of her hair. “Try remember different customs
.
Hard when no talk right
.
”

“Indeed,” Venomous gestured between them, “but I am here for you. Ask what you will of me.”

“Sweet again.” She gazed at him helplessly then let go of her hair. Her hands slapped her thighs. “Try understanding my view. What call when male force female who no Rä’Na?”

It took many moments for what she implied to sink in, and take root in his mind.

The idea was so startling, Venomous plopped onto his backside. “No.
No.
This is not done. There is no forcing.”

“Venom, please. Rä have male and female. Must be history where male use force.” Her lips thinned. “Forced me.”

He dipped his head in a downward jerk, a strong denial of her claim. “It is not possible. When our mate calls forth our stem, we align to her, and this locks our reproductive cycle to hers. It will not firm for a female we are not mated to. Only as a lesser mate, or widowed can a Rä take another.”

Lumen rubbed her forehead with her thumb and forefinger. “Lesser mates? How stem go hard if a’Rä? Me think a’Rä no gender.”

“Only Rä’Vek are granted the honour of a widow’s protection.”

Stilling its circular motion, she pressed the flat of her hand to her brow. Her voice was odd. “You be lesser mate?”

“It is a likelihood.” Even after mating an offworlder many would seek his strength to protect what they cherished.

“Right,” she whispered. “No like this thing.”

“There are no other Rä here,” he pointed out feeling as if she needed reassurance, but unsure of what words would ease the rigidity of her body.

“Asked you do?”

Venomous sensed his answer was important.

He also sensed the right answer was one that would displease her. “It is an honour. A tradition I am obligated to accept if it comes from a male I respect.”

Averting her gaze, she trembled as she pushed the hand that rested on her brow into her hair again. “Okay. Talk on that other time. What happen when Rä’Na die and leave behind Rä’Vek
?”

“Not a thing. His urges fall dormant unless his scent brings another a’Rä into maturity.”

“Trade lesser mate place so Yofk keep me safe when work?”

“Yesss. I would have explained.” He inched his clawed hand closer to her leg. “You were recovering from the Opda sting.” He hesitated before touching her ankle. When she didn’t shake him off, he eased closer to rub her cheek with his knuckle. “I did not mean to frighten you. I had no choice.” He took a long breath, hoping she would not think him weak for his next confession. His voice was as tight as his chest when he spoke. “I did not want to give you to him. It pained me.”

The scent of her resentment dissipated.

“So mad at you. Understanding now.” She huffed a laugh. “No think Yofk happy with trade.”

Venomous struggled not to snarl.

He did not care if the male was fulfilled, he should have been honoured to touch her soft flesh. “I scented his arousal, but not yours.”

“Apology.” She held his claw with her hand, and moved her cheek against it. “Me understanding lesser mate part of Rä world, but no mine. I no do.” She chewed the side of her mouth as if fearful of his reaction. “Clutch for He, Venomous One only. Fight other male. Understanding?”

Knowing her vibrant emotions, part of him did understand.

He felt protective and possessive of her in all ways.