Page 12 of Game on Askole

We both took a step back. Sam pulled her knife. “If he tries to eat us, I’m slitting his throat.”

The knight’s compelling yellow eyes studied us as he asked again,“Do you belong to the Jones clan?”

Sam sidestepped the question with one of her own,“Who are you?”

“I am called Tihar.”

I could see why Voss had picked him to be my interrogator. Tihar was damn scary looking. “He’s working with the Coletti,” I told Sam and switched to mind talk,“You’re an Askole?”

“I am,”Tihar said proudly.

I casually glanced around for something I could use as a weapon. Nothing but rocks and cactus.“What do you want?”

“I seek females from the Jones clan.”The Askole suddenly picked Sam up.

My cousin stabbed him in the neck with her tactical knife. The blade didn’t even break the skin.

Tihar disarmed Sam and sniffed her.“You smell like Kaylee. Do you share her talent in bed sport?”

“What? No!”Sam squawked in outrage.

Good God, Kaylee’s mental broadcast of her bedroom activities had the entire male population of the galaxy wanting their own hot-to-trot Jones female.

“Hey, knock it off, you pervert.”Sam smacked wildly at the tentacle slithering over her chest. “How do you know Kaylee?”

“We had many adventures on the planet Roma.”Tihar dropped Sam and reached for me.

I ducked under his outstretched arm and took refuge behind a Saguaro cactus.“You do not want to smell me.”

Moving faster than the eye could follow, Tihar zoomed around the cactus and scooped me up. I gasped as he stuck his nose in my armpit.

Tihar inhaled, and his tentacles stood straight up.“Gak. You stink worse than Davit blood worms.”

“I do, don’t I?”I couldn’t resist touching Tihar’s face. His skin kinda felt like a rattlesnake’s. Dry and scaly.“Put me down. C’mon, big guy, I don’t like being manhandled.”One of Tihar’s tentacles stung my neck.“Ow!”

“Clever little female, you are disguising your scent.”His tentacle crawled down the front of my jumpsuit. “You are a Jones female with fine breasts.”

Shit! It was like being groped by an octopus. I gripped the silky tentacles and yanked them off my breasts.“On Earth, you don’t put your hands on a woman without permission.”

“Askole mating rituals allow us to touch a chosen female.”A tentacle caressed my face.“So soft.”Without any warning, Tihar spun me upside down and jammed his face in my crotch.

Sam had the gall to laugh. “Is that romance Askole style?”

God, I hoped not. I punched him in the jaw and shouted mentally, “Stop that!”I rubbed my knuckles. Damn. It was like hitting a brick wall.

The Askole flipped me around.“How else am I to determine if you are fertile?”

“A medical scanner,”I retorted and swatted at another tentacle. “Why do you need to know if I’m fertile?”

“I am looking for a strong female to mate with.”

Oh, hell no. I squirmed frantically.“Put. Me. Down. Now!”

“I will offer three times the bride price for you and the other female.”

“No! We are not for sale,”Sam yelled.

Tihar totally ignored her.“Who is the head of your clan?”

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