If they were anything like the reptiles on Earth, they probably wouldn’t be warm-blooded.
“Shit,” Kelsey softly chanted again. Maybe a dozen of the alien slaves for sale looked like they’d be warm-blooded enough to become breathing incubators for reptile eggs, including herself and Nexis. The ten Cristos would almost certainly bid on ten of those twelve women.
Those were bad odds.
A big yellow alien, looking like a cross between a gorilla and some kind of bird with short wings on his back, took the stage. “Bring order,” he demanded loudly. “Auction start. Bid must pay at win. No promises of later. Will die if lie.”
One of the cages on the far left was lifted by a crane from where it rested, slowly moved to the edge of the raised stage, nearer to the crowd of buyers. Curiosity drove Kelsey to inch closer to the front of her cage to watch what would happen. It would be her turn up there, at some point.
The Nupa female inside the cage stood, gripping the bars and glaring defiantly at the buyers. She only wore a loose wrap type of skirt around her body. All four of her breasts were on display. When the auction began, alien males lifted little colored sticks. Then some lowered them. It went from about two dozen bidders lifting white sticks to just six with red ones.
“Next round,” the auctioneer called.
Four of the six lifted orange sticks. The other two backed away.
“Next round!” The auctioneer sounded excited.
One bidder lifted a pink stick. The other three males glared at him.
“Winner!” The auctioneer brayed a snort-laugh. “Pay! Take.”
The thin blue alien with the pink stick came forward, withdrew a pouch, and met with one of the guards. He dug into the pouch, passing over something that Kelsey couldn’t see, before another guard strolled to the female’s cage.
He unlocked the door, reached in to grab the female slave by her throat, and withdrew a thin chain with a bracelet attached. He snapped the bracelet on her wrist like a handcuff and yanked her out, leading her to the buyer. The female didn’t fight. The blue alien accepted the chain and the guards escorted him toward the back of the room, out of sight.
In seconds, the guards returned.
“Next slave,” the auctioneer yelled.
The second slave was a mouse-looking type of alien. She stayed curled into a ball on the floor of her cage. One of the Cristo aliens bought her, and she began to shriek. The poor alien fought the guard when he hauled her out of her cage. Her buyer punched her in the face, knocking her out cold, before throwing her over his shoulder. He stalked out of the door with a big grin on his ugly snake face. None of the guards escorted him.
“Oh fuck,” Kelsey muttered. That would probably be the way she’d leave the auction if a Cristo bought her. She’d be unconscious because she’d fight too.
Two more of those snake/crocodile aliens bought females, and when it became Nexis’s turn to be sold, Kelsey stood inside her cage, gripping the front bars. “No!”
Nexis managed to stand when her cage was placed at the front edge of the stage. Over a dozen buyers held up sticks at first. Two were the creepy reptile aliens. There was also the scarred Parri. He really was a big blue son of a bitch.
“Hey, Parri!” Kelsey yelled suddenly.
It drew attention from the buyers, the blue alien included. She met his gaze. “Buy her! Her name is Nexis and she thinks you’re cute. She pointed you out to me. She really wants to belong to you.”
Two of the guards rushed toward Kelsey’s cage, and she backed up.
“Silence!” one of the aliens snarled, withdrawing a shock stick.
“She’ll be so grateful,” Kelsey continued to yell. “Best slave ever. Buy her!”
One of the guards shoved the shock stick between the bars and jabbed her in the stomach. Agony dropped Kelsey to her knees and stole her ability to breathe as the electrical current surged until the guard yanked the stick away and stalked off. The auction was over by the time she stumbled to her feet once more.
The Parri was leading Nexis away on a thin chained bracelet.
Nexis met Kelsey’s gaze, her violet eyes wide and full of tears. Her friend smiled at her gratefully.
“Thank fuck,” Kelsey sighed in relief, forcing her own smile. At least her friend wouldn’t die a horrible death.
Her cage was suddenly jolted, and Kelsey jerked her head up. A massive hook attached to the top of the roof, and her cage was suddenly lifted. She grabbed the bars to stop herself from falling to her knees as the cage swayed. It settled down hard at the front of stage.
Four of those scary Cristos rushed to put up sticks, along with five other aliens. One of them looked like a pink blob. Three were toad aliens.
The last looked like a mix between human and some kind of feline. He was big, with lots of muscles. He had thick blond hair, almost like a mane, and golden feline eyes. She’d always liked cats. His expression wasn’t the friendliest, but out of the bunch, she prayed he’d buy her. She forced a smile to her face and released the bars to give him a small wave.
His eyes widened.
Round two of the bidding had the feline guy still there, but so were the Cristos. Two of them hissed at him. The cat alien withdrew a dagger from somewhere on his clothing and barred sharp teeth back at them. Kelsey was impressed. He wasn’t one to back down from intimidation.
“Please buy me!” she loudly pleaded, staring right at him.
“I’m attempting to, human.”
His extremely gruff voice gave her chills, sounding very animalistic. Not that it dissuaded her from hoping that he’d win the bidding. Between him and the Cristos, he was her best option.
“Thank you! I’ll be the best slave ever,” she promised. Kelsey wasn’t above begging and kissing some alien cat-man butt if it meant not being forced to incubate eggs that would turn into killer babies as they hatched.
“Silence!” the auctioneer yelled. “Slave, you hurt if talk more.”
Kelsey sealed her lips but kept her gaze locked on the feline male. Two more rounds of bidding took place before one of the Cristos handed his pouch to the other and backed off.
The feline alien snarled loudly. “You’re cheating.”
“It’s not cheating to give brother funds. Give up. We own female.” The Cristo hissed, flicking out a long, thick tongue. It nearly hit the feline male in the eye—but he dodged, caught it in his fist, and the snake screamed as his tongue got brutally yanked.
Guards rushed forward and got between the remaining two bidders to separate them. Another round of bidding. A third Christo passed a pouch to the one still bidding. The feline alien snarled again and tried to lunge at him, but the guards blocked his path.
Her alien bidder gave her an angry look and shook his head.
“No!” she whispered, understanding when he didn’t lift a stick during the next round of bidding. He couldn’t afford her.
A guard came to her and unlocked the cage. She didn’t wait for him to grab her by her throat.
Instead, she backed away, before running forward again, jumping up, grabbing a bar from the roof of her cage, and swinging her body, kicked out with every ounce of fear she possessed—which was a lot.
Both of her bare feet hit the guard in the stomach and he staggered backward. She dropped to the floor, flinching at the feel of the unforgiving metal, and rushed out of her cage toward the still doubled over guard.