Panic spiked hot inside me. “Captain!” I scrambled to my feet.
“Listen,” Wyck spoke to me. “What’s your name?”
“I’m not talking to you,” I dismissed him quickly, moving after the captain who had already started to organize his crew.
Wyck strode to me. I’d never realized how massive errocks really were. Maybe because I’d never stood next to one this close before. Or maybe this one was especially huge, even for his kind.
Much taller than an average human male, Wyck towered over me. His chest was above my eye level, his bulging muscles partially concealed by a short leather vest that was open in the middle.
“Fine,” he said. “Don’t talk to me, then. I don’t care about anything you have to say, anyway.”
He wrapped his enormous hand around my arm, dragging me toward the opening in the wall as if I were nothing more than a fly.
Chapter 2
WYCK
“Let me go!” The female thrashed in his grip as he took her out into the corridor.
Her scent, maddeningly tantalizing, assaulted his senses. Warm and feminine, she smelled...sweet, like the pollen sugar Svetlana used in her baking. Suddenly, he wondered if the female’s skin would also taste sweet if he licked it...
“Get your filthy paws off me!” She made another attempt to yank her arm out of his hand.
The males, crowding the corridor, snickered and leered. Some laughed openly.
Wyck closed his eyes for a moment and quickly exhaled the air rich with her enticing sweetness. Reining in the wild urges her presence had caused wasn’t easy, but he needed to focus. He was the newly appointed leader of the captain’s personal guard, and he would be damned if he’d let this woman humiliate him in front of the crew.
“Move it.” He clenched his jaw, shoving her ahead of him.
The crew parted as he walked her down the corridor, but he lacked the authority of Vrateus to command their respect. They didn’t remain quiet.
“Hey, Wyck, are you going to have fun with her?” Someone shouted from the back of the crowd.
“Can I get in on it, too?” Another one chuckled eagerly.
“Listen, you lost a bet three days ago. I want her to pay for you.” Krakhil, the dimo, unceremoniously reached out and grabbed her thigh, making the female squeal and jump.
“Out of the way,” Wyck growled low, shoving the dimo aside with his shoulder.
He didn’t ask for the female to be placed in his care. Now that this task had been assigned to him, however, he couldn’t fail. He already sensed that looking after her would bring its share of trouble.
The female made another attempt to twist out of his grip.
“Let me go, I said.” She even stomped her foot. Cute. But useless, nevertheless.
He didn’t waste words on her, dragging her along, past the crowd.
“Do you hear me at all?” she raised her voice. “Are you too dumb to understand? I’m not going anywhere with you, or with anyone of your kind. Not after what happened on the ship.”
She shoved her elbow into his ribs, hitting the flashlight in the pocket of his vest. The pointy end of the flashlight’s handle painfully jammed into his side, sending a flash of irritation through him.
“Stop this.” He yanked her arm sharply.
She cried out. The high-pitched sound brought him to a stop.
“You dislocated my shoulder!” she yelled, grabbing onto her arm with her other hand. “It hurts like hell!”
Was she really that fragile?
He let go of her, just in case, then stared, unsure what to do next.
She stopped screaming abruptly. Spinning on her heel, she bolted down the corridor, away from him.
A sly, little liar.
He stalked after her, being in no particular hurry. She disappeared out of sight, running around a bend in the corridor, but there was nowhere for her to run. She wouldn’t get far.
The corridor lay inside the outer layer of the Dark Anomaly’s disk, stretching along the entire habitable sector. It was long but not endless. The female wasn’t familiar with the layout of the Anomaly. She’d never find a place to hide where he wouldn’t find her. Besides, her scent trailed in a strong alluring tendril behind her, guiding him.
The female’s sharp cry made him move faster, though. It seemed she hadn’t made it far after all.
As he turned around the corner, the female came into view. Lying on the floor, she kicked her feet at Kex and Tezul who both tried to climb on top of her.
Instead of rushing to her rescue, Wyck slowed his pace.
Kex was a yourlu. The purple, four-armed Tezul was a bretoin. Both were horny but not hungry. Had she been attacked by one of the inherently cannibalistic types like ognats or kreers, he’d be worried about her being bitten and—depending on the location of the bite—seriously injured or even killed.
These two would simply try to get into her pants. Since Nocc’s actions hadn’t taught her to be cautious, Wyck decided to fall back and let these two teach her another lesson.
He was far less articulate than Vrateus, the captain, to eloquently explain to this female the dangers of running around the Dark Anomaly on her own. He also lacked the captain’s patience. Showing her what awaited her was much more efficient than telling, in his opinion.
He sauntered toward the trio rolling on the floor. Tezul used his six limbs to catch and immobilize the legs of the female, while Kex slithered his tentacles into the opening of her neckline, yanking the closure of her suit down. The two sides of it fell open.
The sight of the delicate globes of her partially exposed breasts momentarily stopped Wyck in his tracks. The impact of rushing desire felt like a physical blow to his groin. He swallowed a groan as both his cocks throbbed in the tight confines of his pants. Her sweet scent seemed to have permeated his entire being.
With a grunt, the female arched her back, freeing her arm. Something bright flashed in her hand, then half of one of Kex’s tentacles dropped to the floor with a wet, sloppy sound.
The female had a weapon!
And she’d sliced Kex’s tentacle off.
Alarm jolted him out of the stupor that his raging lust had plunged him into.
Kex wailed in pain. Tezul didn’t seem to notice anything at all, busy with fitting himself between her legs while ignoring her suit.
Grabbing Kex by the scruff of the short, tattered shirt he wore, Wyck tossed him aside. Next, he kicked Tezul off her. Whimpering and glaring at him, both scurried away.
“Come.” He reached for the female’s upper arm again, but she kept brandishing the knife in her hand.
Sitting up jerkily, she suddenly stabbed the blade into his side.
The pain zigzagged through him, all the more acute as it was unexpected.
“What the fuck!” he roared, shock and anger rolling through him in swells. To his relief, however, at least his desire had subsided. “Why me?”
“Why not?” she bit out, her breathing ragged, her expression startled, as though her jamming the laser between his ribs surprised her as well. “Are you any better than them?”
She yanked the closure of her suit back up.
He certainly didn’t believe himself to be better—or worse—than anyone else on the Dark Anomaly. He was simply a part of the crew. One of them.