Page 30 of The Dalgur’s Pet

It was all going right over her head—she’d never been much of a tech person—but something about the firm grip around her middle pleased her. She hadn’t resisted when he’d asked her to join him in the cockpit, hadn’t tried to stop him as he’d pulled her onto his lap.

But he was behaving, at least for now, making no move to hurt her like he claimed to enjoy doing.

“Our ship harnesses the energy of nearby stars, converting light into propulsion. You press this to engage the drives, which create a bubble of negative energy density around the ship. It is how we contract space-time to enable faster than light travel without violating causality…”

She nodded, biting her lip and turning to face him.

He smiled at her, perhaps understanding that she wasn’t grasping much of what he was saying, his voice trailing off as he gave her a squeeze. He gripped her chin with his other hand, but there was no cruelty to the move, just curiosity as he ran his thumb across her skin, studying her.

Things had been different with him since Umuna, since they had given her their eggs. Thase had cared for her tenderly while the sterile clutch dissipated, and even when they were gone, the sneers had mellowed to gentle smiles.

“Why are you being so nice? I thought you liked to hurt me?”

She regretted the words as soon as she’d said them, panic bubbling in her stomach. Surely she’d break him from whatever spell was making him docile, kind.

But he didn’t make a move to squeeze the hand at her throat, to press his claws into her. He blinked rapidly, taking a long moment before answering.

“I do not wish to upset you.”

His hand slid behind her neck, tangling with her messy hair, and she almost thought he was about to kiss her.

“What does that mean?”

Thase rolled his eyes, a sly smile curling his lips.

“I would like you to be happy here. With Vrix. With me. And when I hurt you, it makes you upset.”

Since when did he care so much about her happiness? Dread coiled in her, despite the sweet touch, the kind words.

“It would make me happy if you took me back to Earth.”

His eyes narrowed, a glare directed at her, though his grasp on her remained gentle.

“What is so great on Earth that we cannot give you here?”

Giselle opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when she found no easy answer. Her mind had been more calm in the past few days than any other moment she could recall. What did she have on Earth?

A messy breakup? A monotonous job? The only family she had anymore was Anthony’s, and clearly they’d have nothing to do with her now that they weren’t together. God, what would she even tell her therapist?

“Hi, yeah, oh, last week was pretty good for me, though the alien abduction really put a damper on things…”

They’d have her committed.

Something about the ship, the endless vastness of space, calmed her. Or was it the two aliens who gazed at her with that same look of utter reverence.

She couldn’t answer his question, so instead she asked another.

“Have you spoken with Vrix?”

There’d been a glimmer of hope after he hadn’t completely disregarded her the other day, but she wasn’t sure if he’d talked to Thase yet.

“About the surgery?” he asked, eyeing her carefully.

She nodded, too nervous to speak, uneasiness prickling her skin. He was silent for a long while, his fingers brushing through her hair.

Finally, he answered, cradling her head so she rested against the crook of his neck.

“There is something wrong with us. It is why we have been exiled from our homeworld. It is barbaric to utilize living hosts for our clutches, has been illegal for centuries since our species developed the artificial incubators that serve our population.”