Page 60 of Victoria's Discovery

Thorn was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed the human hess walking past him. Doing a double take, he jerked to a stop and called out to her.

He more than half expected her to launch into a run without even turning around but, to his great relief, she didn’t. When she paused and pivoted to face him, his first thought was,By the Gods’, her scowl face is worse than mine.

He did not say that aloud of course. He was delirious, not mentally deficient.

Thorn recognized her as someone he’d seen Vee talking with, vaguely recalled her name being something like Brawl or Stab. Maybe Spear? Deciding to play it safe, he very deliberately didnotsmile and stuck with something neutral.

“Female, I require your insight.”

Hmm. Perhaps ‘female’ was not as neutral as he’d expected, judging by the way her eyes narrowed and her brow arched.

“Is this about Victoria?”

If he said yes, would she tell Vee they knew about her ailment? If she did, would Vee try to stab him in the eye as Thegan’s kinswoman had him?

It was a risk he would have to take. It had already been three days. They needed to know how to help her. Besides, he did not think Stab would believe he felt concern for any other female.

“Yes.”

Her gaze immediately sharpened, and she took a threatening step closer, not appearing at all concerned or intimidated by his much larger size. “What did you do? Is she okay?”

Thorn tried not to take offense at her accusation, understanding it came from a place of care for Vee rather than an intentional insult to his honor. That did not stop his eyes from narrowing in warning, however.

“Careful, female,” he advised lowly. “I would sooner walk the six hells than allow or cause harm to Vee.”

Tension released from her shoulders and she nodded once, seemingly appeased. “Good. Now, ask your question.”

“We fear Vee has shrunk from lack of food during our imprisonment aboard the ship. Is this reversible with regular feedings? Can we restore her lost height?”

Stab blinked in silence for a long moment before squinting up at his face as though trying to decipher some confounding riddle hidden under his skin. Thankfully, she seemed to give up before he ground his teeth to dust trying to hold in his impatience.

“Er, no. She can’t get taller anymore,” she answered flatly, making his heart sink to his boots.

Thorn sighed deeply. “So, it is irreversible? You aresuremore food will not help?”

She snorted, a faint smile twisting her lips. “Yeah. I’m sure. I mean, she could get wider if you feed her enough, but no taller.”

“Wider?” he repeated, his mind instantly imagining her hips rounding further. “Mmm, yesss. Wider is good.” His cock throbbed in the damned uncomfortable ‘jeens’ he wore solely to please Vee.

“Wait, what? Wider is good?”

Frowning at her rude interruption of his imaginings, he gave a vague, “Hmm,” mostly because he had no idea what she’d said.

“My thanks, human. Good eve.”

“Yeah, sure thing. Goddamn aliens are weird. I gotta get me one of those. Maybe two. Eh fuck it, let’s go for gold. I’ve always liked the number four.”

What is she rambling about?

Thorn hadn’t been listening, but it didn’t matter. He had his answer. Turning on his heel, he headed for the elevator. He would go to the cantina and make her a platter of her favorite foods. Perhaps he would feed it to her. By hand.

He almost stumbled over his own feet at the thought. Would she let him? Damned if he knew, but the possibility alone had the base of his horns throbbing and his cock painfully hard.

He was almost to the elevator, lost in imaginings of her single, pink tongue sliding silkily over his thumb, when he abruptly remembered it was late, and she was already asleep.

Feeling as though he’d just been robbed of a priceless treasure, Thorn grit his teeth and eyed the elevator doors like they’d done this to him on purpose.

“In the morn, then,” he mumbled, nodding to himself as he pivoted and returned to their rooms.

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