deep sense of apprehension, Penny held out her arm to him. She had a memory of him stinging her the day before and in her head, his sting was associated with horrible, fiery pain.
But she told herself not to be silly—V’rex’s sting had been pleasurable in the past—if extremely intense. Probably she was just imagining the pain—it had only been a fever dream brought on by the toxins of the plants that had poisoned her.
V’rex himself seemed hesitant to sting her. But then he gripped her wrist, elongated his tongue, and struck, sinking his stinger into the underside of her forearm.
It was like being stabbed with a hot, blunt needle.
The very first time the big Hybrid had stung her, on the day of their Unification Ceremony, the pleasure had been so intense she had screamed. The pain she felt now was every bit as intense as that pleasure—it felt like he was pouring fire through her veins, setting every nerve ending alight with agony.
“Ow! Stop!” Penny gasped, attempting to jerk away from him. “Stop, please, stop!”
V’rex withdrew quickly, his tongue going back to its normal size and shape as it left her arm.
“I hurt you,” he said. “Gods, my lust-honey actually hurt you!”
“It burned.” Penny took in a deep, shaky breath and swiped at the tears that had come to her eyes. “It was kind of awful. I’m sorry,” she added, seeing the stricken look on his face. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me.”
“I’ve never hurt a female with my sting before.” He sounded stricken. “It only brings pleasure.”
“It’s probably like you said—your, uh, lust-honey is reacting with the plant toxins or something. It’s not a big deal—honestly.”
But she could tell from his face that it was a big deal—a very big deal to the big Hybrid. He looked so upset that Penny had the urge to comfort him, only she wasn’t sure he would welcome comfort from her or not.
She couldn’t help remembering the night he’d told her about how his mother had been killed and his father had abandoned him. He’d taken comfort from her then, pressing his face to her breasts and holding her close.
But that was different—it was back in the Compound, she thought. And the Spice was everywhere, making him want me all the time. Making him think I was some kind of beauty queen.
And right now she looked anything but beautiful, she was sure. Parts of her toga were still stiff with dried blood and she hadn’t had a shower in two days.
“Um, if you think you gave me enough protection, maybe we should just get going,” she suggested.
“I think you should be okay.” V’rex squared his shoulders. “So yeah, let’s get out there. But if you feel sick or dizzy or faint or you can’t breathe, let me know and I’m afraid…” he sighed unhappily. “Afraid I’ll have to sting you again.”
“Okay.” Penny nodded and tried not to wince at the idea of another painful sting. “I’ll let you know.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
And V’rex led the way out of the hollow tree trunk and into the jungle.
Eighty-One
They trekked through the jungle until they came to the NeverBreeders’ road and followed it carefully, keeping a sharp eye out for the little orange bastards either coming or going. To V’s relief, they saw no one, though the road seemed to stretch on and on forever.
Of course, he had been knocked out on his earlier trip between the landing pad and the Compound, and Penelope had only been awake for part of her own journey, so they had no idea how far they had to travel. V just hoped they could get to their destination before they died of thirst. The steamy humidity and heat of the jungle was merciless, making them sweat freely, which meant they were losing a lot of moisture without being able to replace it.
At least the second sting he’d given Penelope seemed to have protected her from the poisons. V’rex was glad about that—he didn’t know if he could bring himself to sting her again. Watching her recoil from his sting and seeing the tears of pain in her big brown eyes—tears he had put there—had been fucking awful.
And this time her emotions hadn’t been muddled so the pain he had caused her had come through loud and clear. It had been horrible to feel her agony and know that he had caused it—fucking unbearable.
No Kindred ever wants to hurt his mate, even by accident—it’s unthinkable. The way V’rex felt