suddenly so hard to get air into her lungs. Then everything had gone numb and quiet and far away and it didn’t seem to matter if she could breathe or not. Slowly, she felt reality slipping away…
And then something sharp stung her, injecting her with fire!
Penny screamed hoarsely as her lungs suddenly came to life again, but there was something in the way of her mouth that wouldn’t let the scream come out.
She writhed against the restraining arms around her as the fire continued to spread through her veins. It was pain like nothing she had ever known. It made the agony of being poisoned seem like a stubbed toe or a paper cut in comparison.
“Stop!” she begged, though her words came out muffled. “Stop, it hurts! It hurts, oh God, it hurts!”
She was trying to say something—trying to tell him something, V thought, frowning. And she was writhing against him, which wasn’t unusual—the lust honey often caused such intense pleasure that the female he was injecting couldn’t hold still. But he felt instinctively that something was wrong. Though her emotions were muddled, they were definitely intense and he wasn’t completely sure what she was feeling was pleasure.
Carefully, he removed his hand from her mouth, since he was fairly certain that the NeverBreeder guards were long gone by now. As he did, he kept the flow of lust-honey going. Right now, he needed to overcome the poisons in her system. Later, after she was healed, he would sting her again to give her some immunity for when they had to venture into the jungle again. He—
But V’s thoughts cut off abruptly when Penelope’s words at last became clear.
“Please,” she begged. “Please, stop! Oh God, it hurts—it burns! Oh God, I’m on fire!”
Seventy-Eight
Horrified that he might be hurting her, V abruptly withdrew his stinger.
“Baby?” he asked hoarsely, stroking her flushed cheek. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“Hurts…” There were tears in her big brown eyes. Tears that he had put there, V realized with a rush of guilt. “Hurts so much,” she whispered. “Please…please don’t do it again. Feels like…on fire.”
“No, I won’t,” V promised, though he knew he would have to sting her again before they could go back out into the Deadly Jungle. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured, cuddling her to his chest. “I don’t understand. My lust-honey is only ever supposed to bring a female pleasure.”
“No pleasure…only pain.” Her eyes were drifting closed but at least her color was more normal and her breathing was no longer labored. “Only pain,” she whispered drowsily again, and then she drifted off completely, leaving V to wonder what in the Seven Hells had gone wrong with him.
How could he have hurt the woman he loved when he was only trying to heal her?
Seventy-Nine
Penny woke in cool darkness, feeling achy all over. At first she wondered if she was in the Love Hut with V’rex, but she didn’t hear the constant murmuring of the hypno-whispers coming from her pillow. And in fact, she didn’t seem to have a pillow. Whatever she was lying on was soft and springy and ever so slightly damp and it smelled like dirt and grass.
“Where…where am I?” she whispered, her voice coming out hoarse and uneven. “What is this?”
“Hey, you’re finally awake.” The deep voice was familiar and then Penny saw pale gold eyes glowing faintly in the dark beside her.
“V’rex!” she exclaimed. “What happened? Where are we?”
“Hidden in the jungle. Do you remember how we got here?”
“No…wait, yes.” Suddenly images rushed back to her. The rape attempt at the bakery and the subsequent fight between Skrug and V’rex. And then…
“Oh my God,” she whispered faintly. “I remember now—I chopped it off!”
There was a low rumble of laughter.
“If you’re talkin’ about Skrug’s dick, yes you did, sweetheart. You went full-on savage on his ass, not that I blame you.” His voice went suddenly serious. “Listen, I didn’t get a chance to ask you before but did he actually—”
“No, he didn’t…didn’t rape me.” Penny cleared her throat. “He tried but he couldn’t get it in. He—” She had to stop then, as emotions rolled over her. Anger, disgust, and also horror at what she had done. “I can’t believe I cut it off and killed him,” she whispered.
“Believe it,” V’rex said sharply. “And don’t be ashamed or upset about it. Any male that tries to take a female against her will deserves what he gets. I’m just sorry I didn’t get to you earlier.”
“You were all the way across