Page 70 of No Strings Attached

Vi barely registered the trip through the station. She was daydreaming about locking the door on her and Bobby’s roomin the suite and staying there for days, as Acken had promised she could. She had worked so hard to suppress her desire for him since those last days on the asteroid, and through the long trip on the ship, that the effect of pulling the cork out of that bottle was alarming. She was almost woozy with a desire to be alone with him, wrapped up in him, and even her hunger and weariness settled down at the thought that it was almost their time.

More than that, she was ready for them to talk about their feelings for each other, to see if they were both feeling the same pulls toward each other. She craved the comfort of his presence at all times, and it went way beyond sexual. This last day, pretending like there was nothing between them to deal with Prag and then the Ophidians, had been harder than she expected. She had continuously sought to take his hand or have him drape an arm around her and pull her in close. She wanted to talk through everything she had experienced in his absence and hear everything he had experienced in hers. Even when he had been standing at her side, she had missed him. Missed the freedom of being with and around him the way she wanted.

So yeah, their room was her destination. A quick group debrief, then escape. Maybe some furious fucking followed by a post-coital heart-to-heart, then a deep, snuggly sleep in each other’s arms. Vi signed aloud and smiled.

Prag stopped in front of a set of double doors, showed them how to use the scanner for entrance, then opened the right door and entered. Vi followed with Acken on her heels.

Prag stopped short, gasping, and Vi walked right into him. Before she could react, Acken had wrapped both arms around her and lifted her to his chest, allowing her to see the scene before them in all its glory. It was madness.

Acken yelled, “Prag! Exit immediately and secure the door. Do not let anyone else enter.”

As Prag complied, Acken turned and put Vi on the ground so she would be behind him, then turned back, drawing both daggers.

On the sofa, Bobby sat with his arm around a curvy, blond, naked human woman who had her knees pulled to her chest and was sobbing loudly. On the other end of the sofa, Valis sat with six pink females excitedly rubbing any parts of his body he would allow them to touch. An Olferian female stood listlessly against a wall, with a Trallian male cross-legged at her feet. In the middle of the sofa, with their backs facing Vi, were two other beings. One had membranous insect wings and one had many tentacled upper appendages.

Standing rigidly away from everyone was the god of dinosaurs. He seriously looked like the result of Arnold Schwarzenegger fucking a velociraptor. His color was orange gradients, and he wore stretchy, navy-blue tactical pants, but was bare chested. He stood at attention, hands behind his back. Vi took in his thick tail, massively clawed fingers and toes, and the stubby spikes running down the back of his head, neck, and arms.

She whispered, “Acken, whatthe fuckis that?!”

“The Zig. Stay behind me and do not use your normal antagonisms on this one, Vi.”

Fuck that, she wasn’t going to cower behind Acken. She stepped around him and stood in front.

“Bobby, please tell me what the fuck is going on here, right now.” She widened her stance and crossed her arms under her breasts, then glared at him and noticed for the first time that he was covered in blood. “Oh shit, are you injured?”

Bobby patted the back of the naked blond and stood, coming toward her.

“No, Vi, I’m fine. It’s not my blood.”

She held out her hand for him to stop approaching. “Good. Stay there and tell me why the fuck is there a Zig in here? We’ll get to the females next.”

The god of dinosaurs cleared his throat and spoke, without making eye contact, “Permission to speak, ma’am?” He had an extremely deep voice with a growling undertone that made Vi’s hackles rise.

She turned toward him, “You do not need my permission to speak. Please speak freely.”

He blinked, then turned his head to look at her, seeming to take her in with a glance. Then he met her eyes, “Ma’am. It isTheZig, always, even if there is only one of us. I would not wish for you to make that mistake when it might cost you.”

“Noted, thank you.” Her eyes had fixated on his mouthful of ultra-sharp teeth. “I am Violet. May I ask your name?”

He nodded. “Former Commander Zalon.”

“And that is how I should address you? Not Zalon, or Commander Zalon, butFormerCommander Zalon?”

He nodded, still maintaining his rigid posture.

“Terrific.” She turned back to Bobby. “Please tell me what the fuck Former Commander Zalon, a human female, and everyone else is doing in here.”

“Ella,” Bobby said, gesturing back toward the human. That, just Bobby saying the name of another woman, combined with her mental image of him holding her as she wept, sent an unwelcome frisson of jealousy through Vi’s gut. She tried hard to stamp it down.

Valis pulled himself free of the six pink females, to a whiny chorus of disappointment, and came over to join Bobby before Vi and Acken. He opened his mouth to speak, but Vi held up one finger to silence him, and he closed his mouth.

Bobby looked at her with confusion. It was clear he didn’t understand why she was angry, “Um, Valis told me he had seen ahuman female at a brothel on the lower levels, so we went down to see. I thought you might want to buy her so you could set her free, so I wanted to ask her owner for a price.”

Vi softened at that. Of course, he had. He knew how furious Vi would be to see another human female, abducted from Earth and sold into slavery.

Her voice gentled considerably, “I take it that things didn’t go as planned?” She swept her arm to indicate the 11 strange creatures in the room and a bemused expression crossed her face.

“Um, no. Decidedly not.” He gave her a chagrined look. “The owner tried to claim me as his slave, since I wasn’t branded. He had Orni,” he pointed to the Trallian at the Olferian female’s feet, “working in the brothel for people who couldn’t afford females. He was going to send Orni back to the kitchens and have me take his place.”

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