Page 13 of Victoria's Discovery

Gasping, she relaxed her legs and used her grip on his head for balance then bowed over so she could see his upside-down face. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

He met her worried stare with a look that very clearly said ‘calm the fuck down, ‘fraidy cat.’

Wincing, she straightened and nervously patted his hair. “So sorry. Won’t happen again.”

Making a conscious effort to not choke him again, Victoria instead kicked off her flip flops and hooked her feet under his arms then patted his head again to give him the go-ahead.

“Okay, I’m ready. Just, go slow.”

He rose gradually while she craned her head back to watch their progress. With him being seven and a half feet tall, at least, he wouldn’t be able to straighten fully with her on his shoulders and she didn’t want to crack her head open.

When the hole came within reach, she cautiously passed her pointer finger through it in case there was some kind of invisible force field or lasers that would decapitate her.

“Better to lose a hand than a head.”

Relaxing when her finger only met chilly air, she tightened her legs to signal Thorn to go a little higher.

“A little off target,” she mumbled to herself, using her left hand to push Thorn’s head to the right.

He grumbled but did as she directed, taking a half-step to the side.

“Nope, too far, go back.”

Eyes on the opening, she tilted his head back the other way then quickly grabbed onto the horns at his hairline, barely registering his choked groan.

“Oh, right there! Don’t move. Ok, now up. A little more… yes! Good. Now, stay just like that.”

The hole was only maybe six or seven inches across, big enough to fit her head, but there was no way she’d be able to get her shoulders through it, never mind her hips and ass. She’d expected that, but it was still disappointing. She was really hoping it was bigger than it looked from the ground and that she’d be able to squeeze through.

Of course, she didn’t know what the hell she would’ve done if she’d gotten out. Maybe look for a lever to open the cages.

“And then I’d, what? Lead a revolt to take over the ship? Ha,” she snorted.

A smirk tipped her lips, even as the musky, animal scent that was a hell of a lot stronger up there assaulted her nostrils, as she imagined herself standing on the bridge of the ship, dressed like some kind of badass space pirate, flying around the universe saving people and taking down villains.

A masculine shout snapped her out of her fantasy and almost made her bang her chin on the sharp-edged lip of the opening.

Whipping a look across the aisle, she spotted Angry staring at her, his head popped through the opening in his cell. He was doing a seriously impressive pull-up, holding himself up there with just his fingertips on the edge of the hole.

Once he saw that he’d gained her attention, he called out, “Vi’kail.”

Frowning, she shook her head to tell him she didn’t understand what he was saying.

“Re ta Vi’kail,” he repeated, dipping his chin down at himself.

“Vikael? That’s your name?”

He smiled and nodded once then raised his chin at her.

“Victoria.”

“Vectora.”

“Uhh, yeah. Close,” she answered, amused her name seemed to be giving these aliens trouble when theirs were the elaborate ones. “Vee.”

His dark green lips kicked up in a charmingly lopsided smile before he became serious. His eyes dropped to the cell below her before rising to meet hers questioningly. Glancing down as well, she peered through the transparent ceiling at Thorn beneath her then over at Thegan, now standing at his side, staring back up at her.

Looking back at Angry, or Vikael, Vikail? Vi’kail? There’d seemed to be a slight pause in the middle of his name, so maybe there was an apostrophe or hyphen?

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