AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, then I’m doubly sorry,” said Halston Effers. “Look, you better hope whoever was on that ship died when it went down. The vvoln hunt in packs and they like to play with their food. They’ll rip things apart but in such a way that you bleed out watching them eat your legs, you know. It’s a shitty way to die. But theyaredead, one way or the other. And if we went up there… well… we can’t.”
“Because you’d…” I looked down at his crotch. Then away.
“Maybe nothing,” he said. “We take suppressants these days. If donen want to mate, it’s easier done without going into a frothing-at-the-mouth madness that makes you mount anything in sight and fuck them senseless, right? No one really wants to do that, because you’re out of control. It’s terrifying. If we want to mate, we take things that allow us to do it without, uh, the rut. And the suppressants are supposed to withstand the pollen in the air from the seasonal changes, even if I went up there.”
“Really?” I said. “So, then why won’t you?”
He shifted on his hooves. “That’s a risk you want to take, shei?”
My clit throbbed again. What the stars was wrong with me? “I need to get there. It’s important. We can take a speeder, right? How bad could it really be? We couldn’t be there for longer than a full gesun-cycle.” That was the length of a day and night on the planet Geheri, the Toth homeworld, the standard of the galaxy. “We might not even need to sleep out there if we get to the ship easily.”
“It’s important for your client? Why can’t he cough up more credits then?”
“Is it money? How much do you want?”
He swallowed suddenly, looking me up and down. Then he took a step back, looked down at the table, and picked up his glass of ale. He took a long swig of it and wiped at his furry upper lip. He named an astronomical amount of credits.
“What?” I said, horrified.
“Yeah, and I want you to sign some affidavit or something that if I lose it out there and rape you, you’re not going to get me locked up.”
My mouth went dry. He justsaidthat. “That’s a real concern?”
“You still want to go?”
“I can never get that amount of credits.”
“Contact your client,” he said, taking another drink of ale. “See what he says. You know where to find me.”
“I… there’s no way,” I said.
He gave me an easy grin, backing away with another shrug.
I went after him. I took him by the arm to stop him, and I pulled him in close.
Okay, bad idea. Because, whoa, I could smell him, and he smelled… well, not like anything, not like… I don’t know, likesex, but in a good way, like some very earthy and very hot kind of something that seemed to burst inside my nostrils and set up this chain reaction that went to my breasts and between my thighs, and I twitched all over.
He sucked in a breath, yanking out of my grasp.
I’d somehow spoken at the same time. My intent with pulling him in close had been to whisper this to him, and so I’d said it. “I’m with the resistance.”
So, I didn’t know why he pulled away. Was it because of what I’d said or because of… did he smell that I…?Stars.
His gaze found mine.
“Please,” I said. “It’s important that I get to that ship.”
He shook his head slowly. “There isn’t a resistance anymore,” he said, his voice barely audible.
I shrugged, spreading my hands. “Nothing too centralized, no. For fear of being crushed. But we never really went away, no matter what the Toth say.”
“That’s…” He scratched the side of his neck. “No way, shei, no way. You just made the whole thing even more dangerous. I’m not sticking my nose out into… I leave the Toth alone, they leave me alone, right? Not getting mixed up inthat.”
Stars.
He backed away again, shaking his head. “Sorry, shei.” His voice was louder. “You’ll have to wait until after the season.”
TWO
