Page 105 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

105

Promise of Safety

W illow

Popeye’s words, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more,” ring in my ears. The sham court, the unreasonable sentence, the trip here, and this fucking Death Valley planet. If that weren’t enough, the attack by my next-door-neighbor, my aching boob, and the welcome-to-the-cellblock shower have done me in.

If I could, I’d just lie on my bed and go to sleep. There’s just one problem—I don’t have a bed.

Although I probably shouldn’t, I feel calmer after the big guy dried me off. There was something about his touch that, rather than being intrusive, soothed me.

“Do you talk?” I ask. “What’s your name?”

“He’s Valor, and I’m Braveheart.” Purple furry answers for them both.

I want to sleep, but I’m scared of these two. I could pretend there’s no elephant in the room, but growing up in a house full of boys means I had to ask for what I wanted or I’d never get it.

“I want to sleep. Unmolested. I—” I was going to say more, but I guess that covers it.

No one speaks, we just look at each other.

“Valor and I can’t fit in one bed, or I’d do that. I may be kind-hearted, but I’m not sleeping on the floor,” Braveheart says. “You can sleep with me in my bed. I promise you’ll be unmolested.”

“Promise?” I ask, my voice tiny, as if I’m three years old.

“Unmolested,” he repeats, giving me a penetrating look.

I shrug. Really, what choices do I have? A, sleeping in the same bed or B, the floor with the alien rodents. If Braveheart wanted to harm me, he could do it without breaking a sweat. They both could, separately or together.

I grab the coveralls and struggle to tug them on while holding the blanket up with my teeth in a hapless effort to hide myself. Without asking, both males grab a corner of the blanket, hold it up around me, and face the other way while I get dressed.

“Thanks,” I say. I’ve got to hand it to them, that was honorable.

Now that my new clothes are on, I release a mirthless laugh. Valor, the three-eyed big guy, is one of the biggest in the cellblock. I think two of him could fit in here. With me. I roll the bottoms of the legs and the sleeves, but I’m swimming in it. It’s better than my tattered tunic, though.

I wait for Braveheart to lie in bed against the bars, then I slide in, my back to his front.

Glancing over my shoulder, I take my first look at the inhabitant of the cell next to us. Right behind Braveheart is an ugly, gray Hyperion. The knobs circling his head where a crown would be are common to his species. He’s eyeing me, none too subtly.

Braveheart notices my fear, follows my gaze, and turns on his other side to growl at the male. I feel the rumble vibrate through the mattress. This isn’t an angry human growl. There’s something animalistic not only in Braveheart’s looks but in his very DNA.

“If you even try to touch this female, Melch, I will bite off your arm without a second thought. Are we clear?” His voice is rough, threatening, not at all like the tone he’s used with me. For added effect, he snaps his jaws at the guy and delivers another menacing growl. He waits until the Hyperion slinks to the other side of his cell, then turns toward me and slides his arm around my waist.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he croons in my ear, his tone completely different from a moment ago. “I just don’t want you to fall off.”

If I had more energy, I’d worry about both of these males, as well as the Hyperion who’s still eyeing me hungrily, albeit from across his cell. But I don’t have more energy. I just want to go to sleep.

Braveheart

If my cock worked, it would be hard as stone right now. The only females geneslaves like me encountered were sadistic scientists or medics. Little Willow is nothing like them. She’s soft, not just her body, but her temperament.

I don’t need Valor’s ability to read minds to know she’s scared to death of both this situation and us. I imagine it would be hard to be plunked onto this planet and thrown into a cell with two muscular geneslaves who tower over her.

“I promise I won’t hurt you,” I whisper. My mouth is so close to her, her hair flutters when I speak. “I’ll protect you as much as possible. Tomorrow, when we work in the mines, I’ll help you get your quota.”

We’re both facing the same direction. I lean up on my elbow to see her expression and get a better look at her pretty face.

Her hair is pale gold and her eyes are blue as the sky on Ethos where I was stationed in a shadow operation a year ago. Her face is still blotchy, whether from crying or from the beating the water gave it, I don’t know. She has a small nose that turns up at the end. She’s a pretty female.

“You asked Valor and me to believe your story about the pie.” I pause, waiting for her to acknowledge my words. After she nods, I say, “I’m asking you to believe when I say we won’t hurt you. We’ll protect you as much as we can.”

She takes a deep breath, then another, as if she’s willing herself to believe me.

“We’ll prove it to you,” I vow as I tuck her closer to me. Perhaps she’ll realize I’m telling the truth when she notices there’s no hard cock pressing against the back of her thighs.