Page 16 of I'm Not Your Pet

It was weird to be out here.

This was the same street I’d squinted at through foggy glass for three years, but never actuallyseen.

I wish I could say that it was a magical moment—that F’ukYuu was wonderful and bright and amazing. But…it wasn’t.

The street wasn’t…very pretty.

Dirty and littered with trash.

But it was new, and that was enough to excite me despite the haze I’d fallen into since Roark had purchased me.

I ogled the weirdly rounded buildings and the glass windows I’d occupied for years, a sick curl in my gut when I realized that dancers already populated the booths. They couldn’t see me. Not really, but I gaped anyway as we paused at the base of the steps and I tried to wrap my head around what had just happened.

I was still shocked enough that I barely noticed that we weren’t alone. A large baby-blue shark alien—similar in looks to Roark—took my suitcase from him. Without the translators on I couldn’t understand what they said to each other. Just more growly-growling-growl sounds. Blue dude held my things gingerly in one of his massive hands.

I felt like a kindergartner getting escorted home from school.

It sucked honestly, but I understood why we couldn’t bring the translators with us. They were tied to this location—and even if they hadn’t been, the headsets didn’t work in space, only the permanent implants worked while space-borne.

Touching me for the first time since last night, Roark laid one impossibly large hand on the small of my back. It stuck a little, but it was warm, and I was grateful for how gently he urged meforward. Without that touch, I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to get my feet to move.

My world had just become a whole lot larger.

And while that was endlessly exciting—and I couldn’t wait to see new things, and explore a universe I hadn’t even known existed—the part of me that had always been small and frightened was grateful that I wasn’t alone.

That I was with someone bigger than I was.

Someone with more claws and teeth.

Someone who no one would dare mess with.

Roark continued to gingerly push me forward as we headed down the busy street. He lent me strength as my eyes wandered, the sky above vast and inky black despite it being daytime. Transport shuttles—at least, that’s what I assumed they were, zoomed back and forth, barely blips on the horizon.

Shops and stalls selling goods and food lined the street that led from the pleasure district toward the port. I could see the spaceships from here. Some large enough they should’ve been planets of their own.

The scent of fried food—even if it was different than the food back home—made my stomach gurgle.

Roark frowned, eyes narrowing down at me at the same time I spotted a fucking donut shop. Donuts. Just like I’d wanted! I jerked toward it automatically, curious to see if they were the same kind I’d received for good behavior at work.

For a single terrifying moment Roark’s hand left the surface of my back. I’d moved too fast. And the tether I felt fell away. Quickly, I wiggled back into place, fully expecting punishment. What if he thought I’d been trying to run?

I hadn’t.

Fuck.

What had I just?—

“Hungr-ee?” Roark asked before I could spiral. I startled, surprised by the butchered English on his tongue. I hadn’t noticed before but he had a tablet in his hand. I squinted at it, trying to read the unfamiliar squiggles.

He was obviously reading from it.

Was it an English guide? That thing had to have cost a fortune if that was the case. From what I could tell huu-mans were new to this side of the galaxy. I was surprised something like that could exist at all—if that’s what it was.

“Hungry,” I echoed. My stomach growled again like it wanted to emphasize my point, and I eyed the donuts hopefully. I knew there was no way he was going to buy me one. They wereprecious. Rewards for good behavior. Not for guys who got excited and leapt into the stree—oh.

My back felt cold as Roark moved around me toward the booth, leaving me in the capable hands of his friend. The blue shark smiled down at me, but it didn’t help soothe my unease now that Roark wasn’t near. Nor did it explain what he was doing?—

Aaaaand he was buying one.

---