Page 137 of I'm Not Your Pet

What if they found him?

What if they took him from me?

I will burn the universe down to find him.

Think, Roark. Think.

All is not lost.

This is just speculation.

He could be safe in the labs with Ushuu.

And even if he wasn’t, there were bound to be crew members who were still free. Enough of them and they could intercept the attackers. Sahrks were not violent by nature, but we could still fight. And fight well. A handful of us could easily incapacitate a group of pirates this size. Most species could not hold a candle to our strength and mass.

Just because I was trapped did not mean all the Sahrks aboard were.

Thud, thud.

That sounded like footsteps. Multiple sets, but it was impossible to tell who they were. Friend or foe, as I stared at the infrared screen and tried to discern how large the creatures approaching the camera were. When they passed by, I still had no idea who or what they were.

Down the hallways they went. We chased them on the cameras.

Please be ours,I prayed to the stars above.

To my father, who waited just beyond them.

Let him be safe.

Protect him.

“Can’t believe our luck,” one of the blobs grunted in Common. “Fifteen fucking humans.” It was not the words I had wanted to hear. My prayers were not answered. He rounded a corner with the other two—who I could now assume were pirates—heading deeper into the ship.

“Seventeen,” a smaller, reedier voice corrected.

“You saying I can’t count?” the first voice huffed.

“I’msayingthat there’s seventeen,” the second voice responded. “Fifteen from the auction. And two others that weren’t standing in the line-up.”

“What-the-fuck ever, asshole.”

My blood boiled, hands curling into fists. Part of me—irrational as it was—wanted to reach out and smash the computer so I wouldn’t have to hear them anymore.

“I liked the orange one,” a third, whispering tone answered. The sound of it sent a chill racing up my spine, if his words had not. “With the spots.”

“The orange one? I didn’t see an orange one.”

Huu-goh was the only orange-furred human. My stomach churned, and in the reflection on the screen, I could see that my spots were black, black, black.

“He was at the front when they boarded. Do you think his spots change color when he’s…you know…aroused?” the third voice added on, as if his first words had not been enough.

“The fuck should I know?” reedy voice huffed.

“No one cares what you like, Brody,” the first voice interjected. I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t growl. If I met Brody, I would force-feed him his own eyeballs and tear his head from his body. He’d deserve it, for having looked at my Huu-goh.

“Boss said we could sample the merchandise if we wanted,” Brody complained. “He said that we?—”

Suddenly, the three spots became six.

---