Page 78 of Rescued

I’m toxic for her—I hurt her just by being near her, he thought unhappily. God, baby—I’m so fucking sorry!

But his pain and sorrow didn’t help—all he could do was watch her walk away.

FORTY-ONE

DAVRIK

“No, I’m sorry Sir Davrik but I am afraid it is quite out of the question. You cannot buy our lovely Songbird Sonya for any price.” The Sluggorn shook his bulbous head, the slime on his body moving in waves with the gesture.

Davrik felt a surge of impatience and anger.

“Is that because you’ve already agreed to sell her to that fucking Trollox?” he demanded. “To Grox?”

Oozle straightened up, his antennae twitching.

“As a matter of fact, that is correct.”

“What? But why? I offered you a fortune for her and you said she wasn’t for sale!” Davrik growled. “What could he possibly offer you that I can’t?”

The Sluggorn pointed both antennae at him.

“Influence…power. He offered me a seat on the Sacred Eight—the ruling body of Opulex and all of Yonnie Six,” he burbled importantly. “Only the most important and influential males are asked to join. Can you offer the same? Do you hold the same influence as Sir Grox?”

Davrik clenched his jaw. Under the table, his fists were clenched as well but somehow he managed to keep his tone even.

“No, I cannot do that. But I can ask you to have mercy on Sonya. Do you know what happens to humanoid women who are taken by Trollox males? Once impregnated by their spawn, they are as good as dead! The Trollox fetus chews its way out, killing the female who carried it to term in the process! It’s an agonizing death.”

The thought of that horrible fate happening to Sonya was more than he could bear! Surely the fucking Sluggorn must see reason!

But Oozle only shrugged his slimy shoulders again.

“What happens to a female once she leaves my ownership is of no consequence to me. I am sorry, Sir Davrik, but I cannot help you. My best advice to you is to enjoy your remaining time with the lovely Sonya, since you will never be able to see her again once the week you have paid for is up.”

“But she’ll fucking die!” The cry was torn from his throat. To come all this way—to come to an entirely different universe to find the other part of his soul only to lose her again—it was unthinkable. Monstrous!

Oozle stood abruptly from the table they’d been sitting at to negotiate.

“Sir Davrik, I advise you to put a rein on your emotions. After all, you wouldn’t want your week with our lovely Sonya to be cut short, would you?”

As he spoke, several of the ever-present security guards—all of them huge Thorians with spiked tails and glowing green eyes—converged around the table. None of them was under nine feet tall and all were armed with pin-point blasters capable of taking a male’s eye out at forty clicks.

Davrik knew he couldn’t fight them all. He had no weapons on him, since they were forbidden at The House of a Thousand Flowers and while he might take out two or three of them with hand-to-hand combat, there were at least ten in the immediate area. The damn Sluggorn must have sensed trouble and assigned them to be there during their negotiations.

There was nothing he could do but pretend to capitulate, he realized.

Taking a deep breath to calm the Rage that threatened to rise inside him, he nodded reluctantly.

“Very well. I suppose I will just endeavor to make this the best week of Sonya’s life—since it is to be one of her last.”

“If you’re attempting to make me feel guilty, you can save your breath,” Oozle said blandly. “We Sluggorns are a cold-blooded race—we do not feel emotions in the same way you hot-blooded humanoids do. Truly, I do not care for any of the females under my care except that they make me money and treat the customers respectfully.” He gestured to the security guards and then nodded at Davrik. “Keep a watchful eye on Sir Davrik for the remainder of his week with us, please. Just to make sure he doesn’t get any wild ideas.”

Then he oozed away, leaving Davrik sitting at the table with his hands and jaw clenched in helpless anger. Very well, if he couldn’t buy Sonya, he would steal her from this place. But how? The guards were going to be watching them carefully for the rest of their time together. How could he get past them?

Several plans appeared in his head and Davrik examined each one carefully. No matter what happened, he had to have a plan B, in case plan A failed. And a plan C in case plan B didn’t work. And so on.

Whatever happened, he wasn’t going to let Sonya go with that fucking Trollox, he swore to himself. He had crossed oceans of time and space to find her and be with her again—he wasn’t going to let her die.

Sonya was his—he was never going to let her go.

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