Page 64 of Space Daddy and a Boy Called Twink

Roger did a double take, his expression twisted up, clearly uncertain what to think about the way Kryton was engaging with him. And knowing what I did about Furkers, I couldn’t help but think he had singled Roger out because he sensed something about him the way Daddy had with me.

It’s not something I had much time to consider before a sound came from nearby—the door to the stairwell? Footsteps made their way across the concrete.

Kryton tapped my shoulder, and as I looked at him, he mimed as he mouthed, “Stay low.”

I wasn’t gonna have an issue following that instruction, but I didn’t know how much good it would do me when she could easily detect me by scent. Still, I kept close to the bottom of the truck bed, not really having any other option, listening out for Daddy’s Vorcon ex, when I noticed the footsteps had stopped.

Her claws came over the side of the bed, gripping on before her head rose up, and upon seeing us, she hissed.

I looked to Kryton, who I hoped had some plan, but his human form was gone, and in his place, was an egg-shaped thing, with strange grooves across it, covered in some sort of film.

“That asshole ditched us,” Roger muttered as Sheila raised her claw and brought it down at me.

In my periphery, the egg shifted about before exploding and sending something flying through the air, hurtling at her. Sheila redirected her attention, but not before what looked like the tentacles of the thing that had been birthed from the egg wrapped around her face. She fell from the side of the truck, her cry growing louder as she collapsed.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t ditching us, after all.

As we climbed out of the bed of the truck, Sheila screamed, clawing at the creature against her face. Whatever Kryton had shifted into had skin that was almost like putty. When she sliced it, the gunk expanded and clung to her claws, so that soon it bound her up as the thing steadily expanded across her, as though trying to consume her entirely.

“I say we run,” I told them, motioning toward the parking garage door, and we took off.

I checked over my shoulder. Sheila was making progress in pulling the gunk from her face, tearing it apart in a way that concerned me—after all, Daddy had just gotten a cut on his legand it was brutal, but she was basically shredding Kryton. I couldn’t imagine why he would have sacrificed himself like that for us, but I’d have to sort that out later. Right now, we had to get the hell out of there so his sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain.

We rushed through the parking garage door, then down the stairwell. As we reached the third floor, we heard the top-floor door open. Fuck, she was right on us.

In my hurry, helping Roger down the stairs, I stumbled, tripping up and catching myself on the rail.

“You good?” Roger asked as he struggled with Eric down the steps.

For having been an ass to him in the café about aliens, and to now see that I was full of shit, he was being very thoughtful. My breath hitched as the adrenaline of the excitement caught up with me. “Yeah, I’m…”

As I regained my footing, a black mass appeared at my side.

Sheila.

She descended by her tail, gnashing her silver teeth. She growled before striking at me with one of her claws, just as the window on the opposite side of the stairwell exploded and something came shooting inside.

Not just something—a light-pink tentacle, a shade I immediately recognized.

Daddy!

He seized Sheila’s wrist, yanking her back and slamming her into the wall. He bashed her skull against it, the wall cracking, splitting open, before he dragged her outside.

“Holy hell…” a wide-eyed Eric muttered.

But I only had one thing on my mind.

I had to make sure she didn’t hurt Daddy.

24

DADDY

Idragged Sheiladown to the alley by the parking garage, working to restrain her claws with my tentacles.

On the way into town, I’d been stressed out of my mind. I’d stayed in my Vorcon form because it was optimal for speed and I didn’t have any time to waste. I had to get to Twink before her. When I reached Main Street, a crowd had formed along the sidewalk. That is to say, up until they saw me and started racing away. I’d feared the worst—that as I neared, I would discover Twink’s frail human body shredded like paper across the café. But he wasn’t there, and a shrill cry alerted me that my ex was across the street in a parking garage. As I’d made my way to it, I shifted back into my natural body. Even though it wasn’t ideal for battling a Vorcon, it would be preferable to a male Vorcon that was intended to be dominated and forced into submission by a female. Retrieving the syringe from the backpack, I’d hurried alongside the building and began to climb when I saw Sheila in a stairwell with my Twink, and then I speedily kicked into action.

After we crashed against the pavement, I managed to gain hold of her ankles and a wrist, but she was quick with her free arm and nicked my tentacle that had nearly restrained it.