Oh God. I’m on display. Like an animal in a cage. Fuck this! I want to go home! I hate this stupid planet!
Her eyes blurred with tears, but she bit her lip hard.
No—don’t cry. Don’t give them the satisfaction. Don’t do it, Lexi!
But despite her best efforts, a tear slipped free, trailing hot down her cheek to drop onto the dusty boards below.
Lexi wondered if she could endure the full hour, and what else the crowd might decide to do to her while she was trapped there, utterly helpless…utterly at their mercy.
30
LEXI
She’d been standing here, bent over, naked and trapped with the cruel metal dildo biting inside her forever.
The crowd murmured and the wood of the stocks bit into her wrists and neck as Lexi shifted miserably, trying to ease the grinding agony of the iron device locked inside her. Each tiny movement made, the rough nubs scraped her raw.
Her breasts hung down, swaying helplessly. She hated how exposed they were. Hated how the crowd stared at her like she was some kind of sideshow attraction—a freak to make fun of. A Scarlet Woman to jeer at and revile. The poor woman beside her had been taken away a little while ago and now they had all turned their full attention to her.
“Can she really make nectar with only two breasts?” a Terian voice called out, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Yes—look! It’s dripping from her nipples already,” another answered, and a ripple of laughter went through the crowd.
Lexi’s cheeks burned hot. Sure enough, a bead of golden nectar had welled up from one tight nipple, slipping down the curve of her breast to drop onto the dusty boards below.
She wanted to scream at the crowd to leave her alone, but the words died in her throat. And she knew if she got upset, it would only make them laugh harder.
“I wonder what they feel like,” a Terian man speculated. “Ain’t never felt no off-worlder tits before!”
“Go on—touch them!” another man urged him. “You know they’re fair game in the stocks.”
“No! Keep away from me!” Lexi shouted, her voice cracking with fear as she found her words at last. “Don’t you touch me, you perverts!”
The crowd roared with laughter, the sound rolling over her like a wave. Hands clapped, voices jeered—words she couldn’t catch, all blending into one cruel chorus.
She twisted in the stocks, desperate to get away, but the heavy wood held her fast. Panic rose in her throat.
Oh God, they’re going to touch me and I can’t stop them! I’m trapped like an animal, waiting to be pawed at.
A shadow fell over her. One of the Terian men had stepped forward, his four eyes glittering, one large purple hand outstretched.
“Hey now, aren’t you pretty for an off-worlder? Why don’t we see how juicy your tits are?” His fingers reached for her breast, slow and greedy, as though savoring the moment. His lips curled in a hungry smile.
Lexi squeezed her eyes shut, her skin crawling as the smell of his sweat filled her nose.
I can’t watch. I can’t bear it. I’ll take myself away—I won’t think about it!
And then she heard it—a sound so low and feral it didn’t seem possible it came from a person.
“Touch her…” the voice growled, deep and vibrating like thunder, “…and DIE.”
The crowd went silent as if someone had turned down the volume on a screen.
Lexi’s eyes flew open, hope welling inside her.
Brandt was striding toward her, his massive frame cutting through the onlookers like a blade.
Lexi’s breath caught in her throat—she had never seen him like this! His golden eyes were no longer golden at all—they glowed a terrifying, blood-red. His face was as mask of fury, lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl that made him look more than half-beast. He seemed to fill the square, towering over everyone as if he had doubled in size with sheer rage.