Page 138 of Dancing for the Minotaur

“You don’t know her like I do,” the human male said. “She likes the attention. She likes knowing men want her. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been up on that stage every night, shaking her ass.”

“She climbed onto that stage because she needed currency to provide for her mother and her younglings,” Taurex growled. “She did something difficult and unpleasant and distasteful to her because the male who had promised to care for their family refused to meet his obligations. There is no shame in that.”

Orlov gave him a disbelieving look.

“Jesus, you really fell for her, didn’t you, big guy? Well, sorry to burst your bubble but whores like that are a dime a dozen. They don’t fall in love—they just pretend, to get more money out of you.”

Taurex did not answer. The cold inside him was spreading.

Orlov leaned forward.

“But you actually loved her, didn’t you? That’s almost funny.” His eyes narrowed. “Because she isn’t yours.”

The words struck the old wound, but Taurex didn’t flinch.

“No,” he said. “She is not mine.”

Orlov looked surprised.

“What?”

“You are correct about one thing. Terra is not mine,” Taurex repeated.

For the first time since Taurex entered the room, genuine confusion appeared on the human’s face.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he demanded.

Taurex stepped closer to the desk.

“She belongs to herself. She chooses who touches her,” Taurex continued. “She chooses who she loves. She chooses where she goes, what work she does and what happens to her body. Neither you nor I have the right to make those decisions for her.”

For a moment, the only sound in the room was the faint hum of the building’s ventilation system.

Then Orlov’s face twisted with sudden comprehension.

“Oh.” A slow, ugly smile spread across his mouth. “I get it—she rejected you.”

Taurex felt the pain of that truth but accepted it.

“Yes,” he said simply. “She did.”

Orlov laughed—a sharp, mocking sound.

“After everything you did for her—all the money you spent on her—the stupid bitch turned you down too!”

Taurex’s grip on the blaster tightened, but his voice remained controlled.

“Be careful what you say next.”

Orlov ignored the warning.

“So that’s why you disappeared. I wondered where you went. I had my people watching your place, but you vanished for weeks. Off licking your wounds, were you?” He shook his head, still amused. “All that money, all those muscles and horns, and the whore still wouldn’t have you.”

“I have told you not to call Terra that.”

“I’ll call her what the fuck I want,” Orlov snarled. His gaze sharpened. “So she turned you down and yet here you are.” He leaned back again. “Why?”

Taurex looked toward the hallway where the faint sound of Lisa crying could still be heard.