glancing around for the source. He also spotted what appeared to be cameras in two locations. They were flat disks along the tops of two walls.
All the Elth on the ship would die painfully for taking him and the humans. They thought they could force him to claim a mate, then steal his cub? He shook with rage. He’d personally tear them apart with his claws.
Darla stood and slowly approached. Her eyes were a light blue, her hair white. She was a pale creature, delicate with her small bones and thin body. The brown outfit only made her paleness more stark.
She stopped directly in front of him, inches between their bodies, and lifted her chin. Her face was oval-shaped and her skin looked soft. Her features were strange but attractive.
“We need to, um…have sex.” Pink surfaced on her cheeks, and she licked her lips, appearing nervous. “I know this is going to be difficult and embarrassing—but I’ll do anything to protect my sister. It’s my job to look out for her. I’m older than Becky.” She lifted her arms and he noticed that her hands trembled. “I’ve done this many times before, and while it’s awkward, we’ll survive.”
He felt stunned at her description. “Awkward?”
“Uncomfortable. It’s difficult to have sex when you don’t want to.” Her features tensed. “Just, um, turn your back and give me a few minutes to prepare. Then we can get this over with.”
“You’re confusing me.”
Parts of her face turned even pinker and she dropped her gaze, staring at his chest. “It hurts more if I’m not ready. I need to prepare my body a little, and then it should be fine. I mean, I hope so. You’re a big…man.” She lifted her chin and held his gaze. “We’re going to do this, Gnaw. We need to do this. It’s not my first time, as I said. I survived all those other times. We’ll do what we need to, for as long as it takes, if it protects my sister.”
He cocked his head, trying to make sense of what she was trying to say. Then a suspicion hit. “You’ve been forced to breed before?”
Tears filled her eyes but she rapidly blinked. “Not forced, exactly. It depends on how you see it.”
Rage filled him yet again. She was a female. Who would do something like that her? “Explain.”
She turned away, took a few steps, and seemed interested in staring at the opposite wall. “I told you that I needed to get my sister off Radison, and why. Didn’t you hear anything I said while you were lying on the floor?”
“No.”
“Shat. Okay. I’ll explain again. The colonists started out as a religious cult. Then we got a lot of visitors coming to our planet, like the fleet taking leave there. It became a vacation spot…but there were a few complaints.”
She turned and faced him, anger in her eyes now. “Do you know what men want when they’re on vacation? Attractive women to have sex with. But Radison didn’t have any, because it’s against the law for our women to have sex unless we’re married. Our leaders realized visitors could make them wealthy if they made some women available, to keep them coming to our planet. They began picking certain ones. It’s not a choice. Women are chosen, and their new job is to have sex with visitors.”
His rage increased. “They did this to you?”
She shook her head. “I made a deal. Our greenhouse is inspected twice a year. The inspectors not only make sure we’re up to code and run things the way we’re required to grow quality food, but they get bonuses if they find any unmarried, attractive girls who are at least eighteen. Law keepers come to collect the ones chosen, who are forced to work in the brothels. Our families and friends become leverage against us. You don’t put up a fight, or your family pays. I’ve heard horror stories about fathers being murdered while trying to defend their daughters.
“Six years ago, I turned eighteen and the inspector made me an offer. He said he wouldn’t turn me in—or my younger sister, when she turned legal age—if I’d let him touch me. You know…have sex.”
Gnaw snarled.
“My parents had tried to find me a husband before the inspector arrived, the year I turned eighteen, but I was still single. I made the deal. His name was Anthony, and he was old enough to be my father. His wife had died, and he said he was lonely. It