Leader continued.
V’rex repeated these lines as well, but it was the next vow that had Penny blushing all over again.
“I vow to thrust my shaft deep inside you and fill you with my seed, to suckle your nipples and give you relief from the nectar which swells them to fullness, and to breed you daily until your belly swells with life.”
His soft, deep voice rumbling the pornographic promises as he stared into her eyes made Penny’s heart skitter in her chest and her face felt so hot she was sure her cheeks must be glowing neon pink.
God, she’d read plenty of books where the hero was good at dirty talk and said this kind of thing—well, sort of—to the heroine while they were making love. But she’d never had a man talk directly to her and say anything close to the vows V’rex was reciting. Her last serious boyfriend, Garret, hadn’t been willing to say anything at all during sex—he’d just grunted a lot and then had gone right to sleep afterwards.
But the vows were continuing.
“I claim you as my bride to love, cherish, and protect. You will be mine forever—I will never let you go,” V’rex finished.
And then, to Penny’s surprise, he let go of one of her hands and reached up to cup her cheek. Weren’t the vows finished? What was he doing?
“Mine,” he murmured again, for her ears alone. “Mine forever, sweetheart.”
Penny didn’t know what to do or what to say. He wasn’t just reciting a vow this time—it was like he was adding to what had been said. And he was still looking directly into her eyes as he spoke. She wanted to drop her own gaze and blush with mortification, but she couldn’t look away. She was trapped in a pale golden sea that reflected her own flushed, uncertain face, as though V’rex could somehow see inside her…
“Very good!” The Glorious Leader clapped his hands loudly, breaking the spell Penny had fallen under. Finally she was able to tear her gaze away from the big Hybrid’s.
God, why was her heart drumming so hard against her ribs? Was it just with embarrassment and fear? But her pussy felt suddenly even more swollen and her breasts were heavy and full with the nectar, her nipples tight and aching for a warm, willing mouth to suck them deep and draw it out…
No! What was wrong with her?
This crazy situation is not turning me on, Penny told herself firmly. It’s just the effects of that damn Mother’s Milk I’ve been drinking for so long. V’rex is the enemy—I was warned against him! There’s no way I have any kind of attraction to him, no matter what kind of sexy things we were forced to say to each other! There’s no way—
“And now it’s time for the fourth and final part of our Unification Ceremony,” the Glorious Leader intoned, breaking her frantic train of thought. “The branding.”
“The what?” Penny exclaimed. Luckily, her words came out in the middle of a huge swell of applause from the audience. Clearly this was a popular part of the ceremony.
“The branding—or marking of the bride by her Forever Mate—is a time- honored tradition here at the Compound,” the Glorious Leader continued. “It shows not only his ownership of her body, but her devotion to her new mate—a devotion which should be exceeded only by her earnest devotion to our Glorious Cause and of course, to her Glorious Leader.” He pointed to himself and smiled modestly.
As he finished speaking, seven NeverBreeder guards came to stand beside each of the males. They each held identical writing instruments which looked like old-fashioned calligraphy pens to Penny. Only once they uncapped the “pens,” the nib of each one was glowing red-hot.
Penny felt faint as the smell of burning reached her nose. As she watched in horror, the NeverBreeder guard beside V’rex handed him one of the burning pens.
“Now take the branding instrument and make your mark upon your bride,” the Glorious Leader ordered. He appeared to be staring especially hard at V’rex, for some reason, as though getting ready for any signs of trouble. Not that Penny noticed much—she couldn’t take her eyes off the red-hot tip of the pen in the big Hybrid’s huge hand.
V’rex’s eyes were hard as he stared into hers and the hand that had been holding her own suddenly clamped down on both her wrists at once, holding them effortlessly in place in a bone-crushing grip.
“Ow!” Penny gasped involuntarily. “Please! I don’t…don’t want