there was no other choice. The thought of being touched by anyone else in here made my stomach churn with revulsion.
“Well, what do you know,” Nocc mused, stepping aside. “The boy will get to fuck for real, after all.”
“About time!” Trox scoffed, finally letting go of my arm.
I rubbed the soreness out of it, keeping my gaze down.
“Go get her!” Nocc slapped Wyck’s back as he rose to his feet. “Then, we’ll all show you how the real men do it.” He howled with laughter again, the rest of errocks joining him. “Here.” Nocc shoved the laser knife into a tentacle of a yourlu. “Make sure she doesn’t do anything funny.”
I stepped back, away from all of them, until my backside hit the table behind me.
How much could a woman go through?
How much could I take?
Since I’d landed in the Dark Anomaly, I’d seen my colleagues brutally murdered, I’d been assaulted and humiliated. Every time I thought I’d reached the limit of what I could take, more had been thrown at me. Every time, I went through it, my limits grew. And here I was now, about to have public sex in order to survive for just a little bit longer.
Was this life even worth living? Any struggle to prolong this existence suddenly seemed useless. I closed my eyes—the fight, the light, and the energy draining from me.
I recognized his warm, spicy scent and knew he’d come closer.
His chest touched my forehead, and he put his hands on my waist.
I didn’t want this to happen this way.
I wanted to tell him. My throat tightened too much for me to speak. The words weren’t strong enough to convey the anguish I felt, anyway.
He lifted me up onto the table behind me then stepped closer between my legs.
Everything inside me tensed. I no longer felt the relaxing comfort I’d grown accustomed to in his presence. Right now, even Wyck’s touch felt foreign and invasive.
He lowered his head to my ear and whispered, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
My heart leaped with a loud thud in my chest, and I blinked in shock. I’d been expecting to be ravaged publicly, hoping that with Wyck, it would be more bearable somehow.
I did not expect this confession.
Slowly, I lifted my gaze to his. His warm, golden eyes were on me, a light smile curved his full lips.
Relief flooded me. There was no resentment, no cold hostility I’d dreaded to see, not a trace of any violent lust in his expression. Though, the burning desire was prominently there, but it was softened by kindness and affection that melted my heart.
I wasn’t alone, the Wyck that I knew was still with me.
“Come here,” I said softly, cupping his face.
The music was still blasting out of the tablet, the same upbeat song playing on a loop. It helped with drowning out the noise of everyone else in the room.
“Keep your eye on the gun and the knife,” I whispered into his ear before planting a kiss on the side of his neck. “I’ll do the rest.”
“I—I’ll try...” he breathed out, wrapping his arms tighter around me.
Nocc sat in a chair nearby, the gun in his hand still trained at Wyck’s head. The yourlu, with my laser knife clutched in one of his tentacles, took a place on the table right behind me. The blue-flame blade was hovering just above my shoulder.
I focused on the music for a moment, thinking only about Wyck. Sliding my hands up the hard planes of his chest, I savored the sensation of his warm skin under my palms. I hooked one arm around his neck, to bring his head lower. Using the moment, I finally did what I’d wanted to do for so long now—I kissed him.
I gently took that plump lower lip of his between mine, and he released a soft gasp into my mouth. The spice of his scent was in his taste, pleasant and familiar. I slid the tip of my tongue between his lips, and he yielded, parting them for me.
He splayed his large, warm palms on my bare back between my top and the skirt. The sensation tingled with warmth along my arms and thighs.
This could be so good.
Being with Wyck could be amazing, it dawned on me—had this been for real.
But it wasn’t, this was all for show.
“What the fuck is she doing?” Nocc’s rough voice yanked me out of the soft, blissful haze of kissing Wyck. “Spread your legs and take his cocks in. Now!”