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“Sorry,” Vera apologized around Nancy’s hand.
Stacey sighed and swirled the potent drink in her cup. She was already feeling the effect of the alcohol. She knew that there were milder drinks offered on Caysta, but somehow, she wasn’t surprised that it was this highly intoxicating drink that Gaix offered them. Only pregnancy or nursing could have excused them from taking part, given that Gaix hadn’t managed to impregnant anyone in their small circle, none of them were off the hook. The last time she drank more than a few mouthfuls she woke up with her head splitting, numerous deep scratches from the prince’s claws lacing over her thighs, breasts, and sides, and a horrendous ache between her legs from where Gaix had brutally rutted her to his satisfaction.
“I wonder what exactly the itinerary is for this so-called romantic cruise. Do you think there would be some sort of planetary stop?” She glanced over at Jasmine.
With long, shiny dark hair and a flawless golden complexion complimented by large, dark eyes, she was initially Gaix’s favorite among his human “brides” and had gone with the prince on numerous excursions until her intractability landed her among their small number of unfavored humans. Denise had reigned as his favorite ever since but even she hadn’t been on as many personal trips over the last several years as Jasmine had during her short time. She was the only one among them who would have some idea of what sort of luxury trip the prince would have in mind.
Jasmine’s lips pinched thoughtfully. “The prince likes stellar cruises,” she said in a low voice, “but he gets bored easily. There will be stops arranged. Space stations, exotic planetary ports. I would definitely expect it from a trip exclusively focused on pleasure. Probably staring with Kaidava if it follows with his usual pleasure cruises.”
Stacey bit her lip. Small exotic planets offered some opportunity, but the risk outweighed it by usually being low-populated, if at all. In fact, there was a greater chance of being stranded on an uninhabited planet when it came to such excursions by wealthy aliens. “Kaidava could offer us the opportunity for escape.”
“Escape? On Kaidava? Are you crazy? That planet is exclusively devoted to pleasure and populated by horny aliens everywhere,” Nancey hissed, the color flooding from her face. “No one would help us there. They wouldn’t hesitate to either return us to him for reward or just keep us for themselves depending on how our luck fell.”
Quin grimaced. “I hate to admit it, but Nancy has a point. For a species known to pretty much hunt down and trap mates, they aren’t exactly very sympathetic when it comes to being screwed by a shitty mate.”
“Do you have a better idea?” Vera whispered and Quin shook her head, conceding to her friend as the other woman clutched her hand tightly in support.
Among their small group, Vera and Quin had been stuck to each other since the mating ceremony creating their own private defensive barrier against the rest of the world. Quin, tall like a runway model, was lean, sculpted, bearing a sun-kissed complexion and blonde. She tended to handle their shitty lot in life with a foul mouth, sass, and all the attitude that she could muster, to mask the terror and helplessness she felt beneath the surface. While she was the defensible face of their duo, Vera was the rock.
Small, curvy, and pale with mousey brown hair and a figure to die for concealed beneath the least flattering clothes she could find—to Gaix’s extreme displeasure—Vera endured tirelessly, every punishment delivered making her more stubborn and determined to displease their “mate.” Whether that was clothes, cutting her hair with a knife in a choppy style that she wore hanging over her face, or simply her unwillingness to dance to Gaix’s tune with his petty requests, she had probably received more punishment than all of them though she seldom spoke of it. She was not only the shoulder that they all leaned on from time to time, taking all of their grief and anger and consoling them, but faced everything with an irreverent sense of humor even at the worst of times.
Their small group had expanded to include shy Nancy who frustrated Gaix endlessly with her inability to so much as put two words together in his presence. Curvy, modest, and shy, Nancy was endlessly kind and helpful and possessed a maternal streak a mile wide that made her quite the mother hen at times. She would arrange for soup if someone was ill or sit with them if they needed it. It was those three ladies who took Stacey in after Gaix took her virginity so brutally that it left her crying for days from the tears and bruises. They had consoled her and held her when her nightmares woke her in the middle of the night. Jasmine joined them a few months later, nursing a broken bone. Her silent compassion got Stacey through many evenings by doing nothing more than listening without judgement. They had all saved Stacey in some small way, bringing laughter into their dark little corner of Caysta. Now it was time to save each other one more time.
“It’s going to be our best chance,” Stacey whispered. “It is a busy planet. If we get away and get to the space port, I’m sure we can find someone to help us get away.”
Nancy gave her a doubtful look. “Who is going to just help a bunch of human women escape? We don’t even have money to offer them. Even if we did there is a good chance that we would end up in the exact sort of situation that we are already in. Or worse.”
“I don’t know if there could be worse,” Jasmine interjected, her expression tight. “You don’t understand. If master Athdar is with us it means trouble for us if we don’t magically turn over a new leaf and become the perfect little mate.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t even know if it will help then.”
Stacey frowned over at her. “What do you mean?”
“Master Athdar, there is only one reason he leaves the palace… and that is to dispose of females once the prince tires of them,” Jasmine whispered.
“No way.” Vera stared at her in shock, but she grimly nodded her head.
“I didn’t think it would ever happen to any of us because regardless of how difficult we are, we are still very valuable and Gaix likes having all of us as sort of status symbol to parade us around at royal functions.”
They all grimaced in silent commiseration. No one enjoyed the royal functions. Gaix often chose what females to include for each party from among all of his females collectively, but his entire collection of humans was always put on display. And that was exactly what they were… a valuable collection that he could fuck. None of them experienced lasting harm, no matter how harshly he treated them, but she knew that was mainly because he wanted his humans to be in perfect condition when he paraded them around before his envious interplanetary peers.
“But I saw it with my own eyes,” Jasmine continued in a hushed voice, her eyes wide with trepidation. “I wasn’t supposed to see, and I don’t even think that Athdar noticed me passing when he spaced a wrapped body out of the airlock. It was one of his other mates who had accompanied us. I don’t recall her name or species now as we were barely introduced, but the next day there was some excuse given that she was unwell.”
“Oh my god,” Nancy whispered, her hand covering her mouth.
Vera swallowed, her expression tightening. “Are you saying he is going to murder us and space our bodies?”
“Or more likely just kill us on one of his exotic planets where the wildlife can take care of our remains,” Jasmine offered.
“Fuck me.” Quin dragged her hand over her face.
Stacey felt that sentiment down to her bones, but there was an important detail that they needed to know. “Do you think it will happen before or after Kaidava?”
Nancy’s eyes snapped over toward her in bewilderment, but Stacey gave her a reassuring smile as Jasmine regarded her contemplatively.
“After, I’m quite positive. Kaidava will be the highlight of the trip as it is the ultimate destination, and he is going to want to flaunt us a bit before he arranges our accidents.”
Stacey let out the breath she was holding and nodded. “So Kaidava will have to be it.”
“What if we are wrong?” Nancy interrupted. “Gaix has never taken us all anywhere. That could be why he brought Athdar.”
