Page 24 of Victoria's Discovery

His gaze caught on the green-skinned male in the cell across the pathway from theirs. Vee had spoken with him, exchanged names, and did not seem to hold any fear of him even though Thegan could see clearly he would present a fair threat in a fight, despite how small he was.

Thegan caught the watchful look the male leveled on him and Thorn, as well as the way his features softened when his gaze landed on Vee.

So, he has an interest, as well. Who else…

Continuing his search, Thegan found many of the males were watching the women of Vee’s clan, most especially the pale-haired one now caged by herself, but none seemed to be paying pointed attention to Vee.

While he wouldn’t mind a bit more protection for her, he was not upset at the idea of only having Thorn and the green male as bondmates. Providing, of course, the green one was honorable.

If he was not, he would just have to be chased off.

Or killed.

Chapter 13

Vi’kail settled himself against the wall of his cell so he had a clear view of Victoria and the giants sitting on her either side.

His first reaction to seeing them kiss her was one of intense jealousy. That hadn’t waned much in the minutes since, but the analyzing look on the paler one’s face as he gazed around at the males in the hold, himself included, helped to temper his jealousy with awareness.

Vi’kail had visited more than his share of slave planets during his years as a soldier in the Federation, then later as a bounty hunter before he’d left that life completely and settled onKardeshto breed and train lupka, so he had a damn good idea of what awaited them.

Judging from the beings in the hold, he knew they were to be sold as slaves on one of the entertainment planets. Likely one of the rougher ones on the edge of the civilized universe now that he knew theGaulikwere responsible for their abduction.

Those scrounging, opportunistic bastards weren’t known for hawking their wares on the more high-class slave planets, if you could call a slave planet high-class. They usually sold to the worlds on the outskirts, the ones the Federation didn’t often bother with policing.

That was due in large part to the fact that they didn’tVeiltheir captures before selling them as slaves and the fact that they didn’t particularly care if they took people from advanced or protected planets, all of which was completely illegal.

The more upstanding Overlords and Masters preferred to at least give the impression they were abiding by the law. Their slaves were either criminals or procured from unprotected and undeveloped planets. At the very least, they required their stock to be Veiled prior to purchase, so they could claim ignorance if they were illegally obtained.

Knowing he and everyone else down there were bound for slave markets to be sold off to battle arenas, pleasure lounges, and the like helped dampen his jealousy even more and centered his thoughts on what he could do to prepare for that.

The giants were obviously planning to woo her. Crik, they’d already started. But as he watched the paler one search out other interested parties, Vi’kail realized he was doing so with a mind to building a pack for her.

That both surprised and impressed him.

From the look of them, they came from a fairly primitive world. Vi’kail knew from experience a lack of technology didn’t mean a lack of intelligence or common sense, but that the male had already assessed the situation, knew that danger awaited them, and was putting his mind to doing what was needed to protect Vee, even before his own place with her was secure, told Vi’kail exactly what kind of male he was: quick-minded, honorable, and pragmatic.

That was the kind of male he could respect. The problem was that Vi’kail had already set his eyes on Victoria for himself. Unfortunately, from the look of her flushed cheeks and the shy, interested glances she kept giving the giants, she obviously wasn’t opposed to the idea of being wooed by them.

Which left Vi’kail with two options: coax her away or join them in their pursuit of her.

A female having multiple mates was not at all uncommon in the universe. Most species he’d encountered produced more male children than female, his own included, so it was an arrangement born out of necessity and, for the most part, it worked well.

For himself, he’d never really considered it one way or the other. Of course, he also never planned to settle down, knowing his chances of finding a female willing to overlook the ghosts that haunted his past were about as good as aNuriblaster not jamming right when you needed it most.

But there was something about Victoria, something that made him want things he hadn’t let himself want in a long, long time.

He hadn’t exchanged more than two words with her, and knew nothing about her, but he was drawn to her all the same. Part of it was that she was just plain beautiful, but a lot of it was in how she reacted and carried herself.

He wanted to taste her, to feel the tight clench of her cunt fisting his cock as he fucked her, to explore every inch of her silky-looking skin with his hands and tongue.

But what surprised him was that his interest wasn’t just carnal in nature.

She had this mix of innocence, skittishness, and bravery. He didn’t think he’d ever been attracted to that particular mix in a female before, but in her, it was pushing all his buttons.

He wanted to protect her, to learn about her, to see the world through her eyes.

He knew damn well he’d never felt that for a female. So, why her?

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