She’s here to entertain six hundred males, and the only way for her to do that is if I— if we—keep her well and alive. I need to know you’re with me on that. Can I count on my family to support me?”
Nocc gave him a long, penetrating look.
For the first time in his life, Wyck felt that the errocks’ loyalty to each other was not a given. Nocc had spoken the truth when he’d said that the errocks on the Dark Anomaly had stood up for each other. Until now, Wyck had always felt the support of their entire group behind him. His strength stemmed from their collective power. The feeling of being on his own lately had been destroying him from the inside. He needed the loyalty of his people, he wanted them on his side. Yet, he also felt that it was he who had been drifting away, going against the group.
“You want all of us to help you keep her alive?” Nocc’s expression turned calculating.
“Yes. I want you to protect her with me.”
“Did Vrateus say something about this?”
“No,” Wyck replied firmly. His task had grown way past Vrateus’s orders. Keeping Nadia safe had become Wyck’s personal mission. “It’s because I want her safe. And I need you—all of you—on my side.”
Nocc shifted his weight to the other foot, his expression finally relaxing. “What exactly do you want us to do?”
Wyck released a short breath. It was too soon to breathe with relief, but Nocc’s words gave him hope.
“I want you to keep the crew at bay tonight, away from her. Let her do her dance and let me get her out of there without anyone laying their hands on her.”
“Her dance?” Nocc folded his arms across his chest. “She’ll need to do more than that tonight.”
Wyck’s heart hollowed with dread.
“You didn’t like her dancing?” he asked flatly.
“It was...lovely,” Nocc spat the word out as if it burnt his mouth. “But I barely caught a glimpse of her tits before you hauled her away. That was hardly fair, boy.”
His thoughts drifted back to that night. The moment Nadia had run to him something had snapped in his heart. Since then, she’d been becoming his main reason to wake up every morning. By now, he felt he would die to protect her. Except that his death would leave her completely on her own. And he might need help to stay alive.
“If you want to see her naked,” he said to Nocc, slowly, “you’ll have to make it safe for her to do so. No one touches her, no one even comes close enough to breathe on her. Do you understand?”
Nocc chewed on the inside of his cheek, taking a pause that was too long for Wyck’s comfort.
“It’s a deal,” he finally said, and Wyck was able to inhale deeply.
“Promise she won’t be harmed,” he demanded, needing to hear it said out loud.
“Promise.” Nocc nodded.
Getting Nocc’s word on it was as good as securing a promise from their entire group. Having his family fully behind him again took a load off Wyck’s shoulders.
Errocks were the largest group on the Dark Anomaly, both in size and in number. Vrateus recognized their power, giving them the honor of being his personal guard. Even after Crux had taken over the Dark Anomaly, naming himself the captain, and Vrateus had fought him to get his title back, he’d kept the errocks as his guards. The captain needed their power.
No one dared to mess with errocks, and Wyck loved that. He enjoyed being a part of something bigger than he could ever be on his own.
Feeling somewhat lighter at heart, he got some food for Nadia, Lesh, and himself. Then the three of them had lunch together. It was easy to forget about the world outside of their glass bubble when he was talking with Nadia.
She smiled, telling him another story about the outside world that was beginning to truly fascinate him. Lesh lay at his side, gnawing on a bone. And Wyck didn’t want to think about anything beyond the present moment.
Once he finally forced himself to leave her side, he turned right from her room, not left. Then, he headed toward Vrateus’s room instead of his own.
“Captain!” He slammed his fist into the set of double doors, identical to those of Nadia’s.
Vrateus had occupied this room ever since he’d become the captain of the Dark Anomaly. Wyck was sure that the reason the captain had selected this space out of the many