by the door, his back propped against one side, his long legs stretched across the entire entranceway. Lesh made himself comfortable alongside him, resting his heads on his master’s knee.
“How has it been?” Wyck’s gaze remained on his pet, but I knew he was talking to me this time. The tone of his voice had changed, lacking the note of affection it held when he spoke to Lesh.
“Splendid.” I pursed my lips, trying and failing to tear my gaze away from the food.
He lifted a piece of what appeared to be a stew meat and tossed it to Lesh. The center head snatched it from the air, its teeth snapping loudly.
Swallowing the saliva that had gathered in my mouth at the appetizing smell of cooked meat, I schooled my features into what I hoped was a casual expression before meeting Wyck’s gaze. He’d been watching me, with a knowing look in his eyes.
I shifted on my pallet, annoyance muffling my hunger.
“It’s tonight,” he said calmly.
“All right.”
“‘All right’ means you’ll do it?”
“‘All right’ means ‘I know’ and ‘fuck off.’”
“All right, then,” he said pointedly, rising to his feet.
My eyes moved back to the food, completely against my will.
“Wait!” I yelled as he bent over to place the plate down for Lesh.
“Yes?” He straightened, the plate still in his hands.
“I’ll think about it, okay.” I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten. It must’ve been a ration bar, back on the spaceship right before our failed landing.
“You had enough time to think.” He lifted another juicy chunk of meat off the plate and tossed it to Lesh’s left head. I couldn’t help but follow it with my eyes. “I need your promise, now.”
“Why do you think I won’t break the promise once I’ve eaten?”
“I suspect that’s possible.” He paused for a moment, eyeing the food on the plate. “I’m gambling on the belief that you’re a person of honor. And if you’re not...” He shrugged. “I can always resort to dragging you to the mess hall by force.”
“Why don’t you just do that?” I scoffed. “Why pressure me for a promise?”
“I’d love to have some cooperation from you.” He shifted his weight to his other foot. “I want you to have whatever choice I can give you. Because I am a person of honor.”
“I don’t believe there is any honorable way to deal with this fucked-up situation.” I sighed. “Whose idea was this anyway?”
“The captain’s. If you have one female and over six hundred males who want her—”
“Six hundred!” I gasped.
He nodded.
“There used to be over seven hundreds of us just over a month ago.”
“What happened to the rest then?” I asked mechanically.
He shrugged his wide shoulders before replying evasively, “Power struggle.” Gazing at me with curiosity, he asked, “Does the size of the crowd bother you? Is there a smaller number that you would prefer?”
“Yes!” I exhaled sharply. “How about zero?”
“That’s not going to happen. They want you.”
“But why?”
“Isn’t it clear? They all want to fuck you. Only if they do, you will die, and they’ll be left with nothing. Vrateus gave them the next best thing—they’ll watch you and pleasure themselves. They’ll get their fun, and you’ll live.”
From the captain’s perspective that might be a win-win situation. Except that no one took my personal feelings into consideration.
“And if I refuse?”
“You’ll die.” He huffed a breath, his thick brow ridges twitched in annoyance. “Listen, I don’t have much patience, and long explanations bore me. So, you either go out there and do it on your own or I’ll drag you to the mess hall myself and—”
“You’ll molest me?”
He stared from under his heavy brow.
“It doesn’t have to be me. In fact, I’d prefer if you choose someone else but me.”
“Oh, it’d better be anyone else but you,” I said quickly.
His jaw muscles flexed again, the way they tended to do when he was irritated or angry. I’d learned some of his tells already.
“I’m sure Nocc would love to give it a go,” he gritted through his teeth. “Or Kex and Tezul, the two males who tried to climb on top of you yesterday.”
The recent memories of that made my stomach churn with nausea, which must be what Wyck had been hoping for when he’d brought it up.
“You’re not helping by scaring me.” My voice came out gravely hollow.
“I need your promise,” he insisted, stubbornly.
The promise to allow someone to assault me in front of hundreds of over-sexed aliens. Or to die.