as he looked into Skrug’s yellow, slitted eyes. “And I understand you’ve been saying some pretty fucking nasty things to her.”
“So what if I did?” Skrug lifted his huge cleaver threateningly. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do…” V’rex made a swift move, too fast for Penny’s eyes to follow, and suddenly he was the one holding the bloody cleaver.
“Hey!” Skrug made a snatch for the cleaver but instead of getting it back, he found his thick wrist held captive in V’rex’s other fist.
“What I’m going to do is this,” V’rex told him, still speaking in that low, frighteningly pleasant voice. “The next time you say anything to Penelope—fucking anything at all—you lose a finger.”
He slapped the other male’s hand down on the bloody butcher’s block, right in a pile of raw meat and raised the cleaver high.
“Want me to demonstrate?”
“What? Fuck no—get off me!” Skrug struggled but it was clear that though they were the same height, V’rex was the stronger of the two.
“As I said, you’ll lose a finger every time you say anything to my female,” V’rex continued congenially. “Now if you touch her, you’ll lose a lot more than that.” He eyed the other male’s swinging dick, which was trembling between his knees. “Your species takes great pride in the length of their equipment, I believe.”
“What…what are you saying?” Skrug demanded.
“I’m saying that if you lay a finger on my female, you’re going to be missing some of that length. All of it, in fact.”
At last the smile fell off V’rex’s face to be replaced by a cold rage like nothing Penny had ever seen before. It burned in his eyes, turning the pale gold to dancing crimson flames.
“Do you fucking understand what I’m saying to you?” he growled in a deep, terrifying voice, pushing his face into Skrug’s. “DO YOU?”
“Yes, yes! All right, I get it!” Skrug blathered. “I won’t touch her—she’s yours, okay? Not even during a Public Breeding—I promise!”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”
Turning, V’rex sliced down with the blade of the huge cleaver, burying it in the wood of the butcher’s block with a loud thunk!
Skrug gasped and stiffened, yanking his hand away as V’rex finally let him go.
“My finger!” he howled, glaring at the big Hybrid and holding up the bloody stump of one long, clawed digit.
It was his pinky finger, Penny saw, feeling sick to her stomach. V’rex had cut it off at the second joint, leaving only a wiggling stump which was fountaining purplish blood everywhere.
“You chopped it off! You chopped off my finger!” Skrug whined, holding his hand to his bloody apron to try and stop the flow.
“Told you I would, didn’t I?” V’rex’s face was cold. “That was for what you said to Penelope yesterday. Better make sure you don’t repeat the same mistake today—or ever again. If you do, you won’t have enough fingers left to cut meat—or do anything else.”
He wiped his hands on the sides of his crimson toga, as though he’d touched something dirty and turned to come back around to where Penny was standing, staring with an open mouth, in the bakery storefront.
“Doing all right, sweetheart?” he inquired in a conversational tone.
“I…I guess so.” Penny wasn’t sure what to say. She had never seen anyone commit such casual violence before. It was like something out of a movie about the mob.
My God, Penny, whispered a little voice in her head. That was some serious Scarface shit!
Even though V’rex had been acting on her behalf, it was still scary and uncomfortable to witness. She’d been feeling so comfortable and safe with the big Hybrid only moments before…but how well did she really know him?
Kat had warned her that he had a reputation for savagery and he was a notorious space pirate. Penny supposed a guy didn’t get a rep like that for being kind to puppies and kittens…
“Let me know if he bothers you again,” V’rex said, interrupting her chaotic thoughts. Leaning forward, he gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead that belied his ferocious act. “Take care of yourself, sweetheart and have a good day. Oh, and it’s my turn to make Last Meal tonight since you cooked yesterday, okay?”
“O…okay,” Penny stumbled over the word, still not sure what to say.
“See you later then,” V’rex said.
Then he turned and headed for the other side of the Compound and the greenhouse, leaving Penny to stare after him uncertainly while Skrug whimpered and whined to