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I hear a clank, and spin around to see the Sentinels retreating back through the doorway. The doors hiss closed behind them.

I look around the spartan room, and realize we’re alone.

My shoulders slump. I take a deep breath of fetid air.

Then, it’s time to turn toward the bed – toward Tessa.

She’s just a big lump beneath the blankets – huddled up, like a child hiding from the monster under the bed.

Only, there’s no monster under this bed. The monsters are all around us. We’re trapped on a ship full of them.

I take a step forward, and my heart aches for my poor, terrified friend. She’s where I was, just days ago. She’s broken, terrified, and feels powerless.

I had been too – before I rediscovered my strength.

I approach the bed.

“Go away!”

“It’s just me, Tessa. It’s just me.”

At the sound of my soothing voice, Tessa nervously peels the covers away from her tear-streaked face.

“Oh, Gods. Theyhaveyou, Jamie.” She sobs. “I saw… I saw you get Bonded… I… I couldn’t watch…”

I step to the edge of the bed, and try to make my voice sound more confident than I feel.

“Don’t worry about it, Tessa.You’regoing to get out of here.”

I make the promise to help her escape – and this promise, at least, is one I can deliver on.

One more shipment, and Lord Oblog promised he’d release her – and for some twisted reason, I believe the slimy bastard.

Me?

I knowI’mnot getting out of here anytime soon. Neither are Marcel, Quint, or Lucius.

But I’m confident Lord Oblog will keep his promise – if only to show good faith, and demonstrate to the Aurelians that they can take him at their word. That’s a powerful tool.

Besides, Oblog doesn’t care about Tessa. She’s just a tool to him – a bargaining chip, to ensure the Aurelians’ compliance. He just needs to show them he keeps his promises – and then they’ll believe the one that he won’t hurt me…

…as long as I don’t try to escape, or the Aurelians don’t try to rescue me.

On the bed, Tessa shivers despite the room’s fetid warmth. There’s only one bed in here, and no kitchen unit like the Aurelians cooked that slab of meat on.

Instead, there’s just a replicator in the far corner, which extends down from the ceiling. It’s old, but it can still probably churn out the thin gruel, laden with synthetic nutrients, that comprised the slimy oatmeal-like paste we subsisted on while aboard the Elnor.

The Elnor. Wow! That seems like a lifetime ago.

I’m filled with anxiety and fear, but the raw terror has left me now that the Sentinels have left. I begin to grow more aware of my surroundings, and my aching body.

The Toad-scum is drying on my legs, while the Aurelian’s cum is still glistening on my thighs. I shudder. I feel so dirty.

It’s not the seed of my triad that makes me feel dirty, though. I wear that with pride. There was nothing dirty about the Aurelians pressing their sweaty skin against mine, mixing our scents together. I can feel the taste of them on me. My sensitive nose – enhanced the moment I became Bonded – can single out each of their individual, masculine musks – and I breathe in deeply of them.

Likewise, though, I can almosttastethe fear radiating from Tessa. I must have gained the Aurelians’ ability to discern emotions from scent alone – detecting the whiff of hormones and neurotransmitters released by her body. My sense of smell has been powerfully enhanced through the Bond – as too has the ability to single out or ignore individual scents, which is why I’m not gagging at the assault of smells aboard this ship.

It’s just one more of the many benefits that come from being Bonded.