“Oh!” The exhalation slipped out, but it spurred Xelthar further.
His free hand continued down my shirt past my rib cage to the hem. His fingers played with the edge before his hand went underneath the fabric and reversed course. The heat of his skin burned against my ribcage, and then he grabbed my breast again. His fingers squeezed the skin, then rolled over the delicate flesh of my nipple.
My breath sounded ragged even in my own ears. I shivered—not entirely from the cold. My body betrayed me, remembering the fire from Cair’s hands and now Xelthar’s proximity. The heat between my legs was reaching inferno status. God, I wanted tofight him off … and yet, a part of me ached for the same touch. Like in the brig during the interrogation, I pressed my thighs together. My silent protest, intended to stem the rising tide, praying I could outlast him.
Xelthar nipped my nose. “No, no, no. We cannot have that.” His hand slid down the bare skin of my torso before pausing at the waistband of the prison pants. His thumb hooked inside the waistband, and his fingers bunched the fabric. He attempted to pull them down, but his taller stature made the gesture awkward, and the resized fabric didn’t give as well as he wanted. With a short, barked growl, he pulled his hand off the waistband and crouched a bit to grab my pussy full-on over the fabric instead.
My eyes closed as Xelthar’s palm pushed against my pubic bone and his fingers probed for my folds through the pants. My jaw dropped open with the need for release.
“Yes. Yes. I know you like?—”
Chapter Five
My eyes flewopen when Xelthar’s voice cut off and his hands released me. I should’ve felt relieved. Instead, my body hummed with the aftershock, slow to catch up to my panic. Xelthar’s calm was the giveaway that he hadn’t been helpless. He’d been patient. Before I could push him away from my heated body, I saw that I didn’t need to.
Cair stood over the moaning Brakian, now kneeling on the floor at our feet.
I didn’t need to understand much about Elkathan body language to read the simmering anger.
“I will deal with you later,” Cair said in a flat voice.
My anger flashed to match his. “Deal with me? Fuck you. I just want to go home.” I lifted my hand, intending to step past the kneeling Xelthar and poke Cair in the chest.
Instead, I flailed backwards onto my ass.
Xelthar had popped up from the floor, not as discombobulated as I’d believed from his dramatic moaning. His motion propelled me back, and by the time I’d scrambled up to standing again, the two aliens were brawling.
Instinctively, I stepped even further away from the thrashing arms and legs of the huge aliens.
Xelthar wrapped his long arms around Cair and, with a mighty bellow, pushed forward, seeming in an attempt to knock Cair off his feet. My stomach lurched; I wasn’t used to seeing strength like this up close. The floor shuddered under the force, a low metallic groan traveling up my calves like the ship itself was bracing, felt rather than heard.
Cair, paradoxically, moved toward his attacker, further into the bear hug. With a deep grunt, he swung his head back and then cracked his forehead into Xelthar’s nose. A deep blue-hued blood poured out. I froze, caught between fascination and horror at the color. Alien, yes, but still unnerving. The impact rang through the cramped space—wet and solid—and I flinched. Blue blood didn’t make it less deadly; it only made the violence look unreal for half a second before my brain caught up.
Xelthar dropped his hands from around Cair’s midsection and, in a flash, wrapped them around Cair’s neck. The muscles under Xelthar’s black mesh shirt popped with the exertion of strangling another person. My throat went dry. This wasn’t a fight anyone could watch casually.
Cair’s breath turned ragged, a harsh rasp that scraped at my nerves, and Xelthar’s exhale was controlled, like he could do this all day. I took one instinctive step back, eyes flicking to the door I hadn’t figured out how to open.
Cair widened his stance, pressed his palms together at his chest, as if praying, then shot his hands upward between Xelthar’s arms, dislodging the literal stranglehold Xelthar had on him. The release happened fast—one blink and the hold was broken—and the floor seemingly trembled again as their shoes scraped for traction. I realized I’d been holding my own breath, frozen in place, waiting for the next impact like it was already on its way. A fleeting relief surged through me. There was no telling who would dominate next.
The pair circled each other in the small space. I mirrored their circling, scrutinizing the bridge once more.
The air carried that strange weight again, and I couldn’t help wondering if it was a pheromone of some kind. If so, it wasn’t an aphrodisiac. The budding excitement from before had drained away entirely in the face of the grappling aliens.
I didn’t know who to root for. Cair kidnapped me from Earth, but that seemed to be a wrong-place-wrong-time type of miscommunication. Xelthar promised to return me to Earth, but brought the ship here—wherever here was—instead. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was always choosing the route that benefited him. At this point, Cair seemed the one who could get me home the swiftest if I just completed his interrogation.
Or maybeafterwardwas the lie people told right before they stopped being useful. My chest tightened. Every time I tried to help, tried to be the good person, it was like the universe took it as permission to hand me another problem. On Earth, the rule was simple: don’t get involved. Out here, survival had a different rule: pick the least deadly option and move.
Except I didn’t know how to help either one of them. My now-completed second scan of the bridge hadn’t revealed anything of use in a fight. And clearly (thankfully), neither of the aliens seemed to have a weapon on him. I wondered if there was a weapon elsewhere on the ship. My circling had brought me closer to the room’s door. If I slipped through the door and vanished into the ship, I’d be alone in a maze with two aliens who seemed like they could track me down whenever they felt like it.
Would it be worth trying to escape? Maybe there was an escape pod on this vessel. Didn’t most spaceships in Earth’s entertainment have escape pods?
Xelthar uttered a hair-raising series of growls and yips, distracting me. The Brakian threw himself at Cair, who openedhis arms wide to receive the assault. Cair then put a foot between the aggressor’s legs.
Was Cair trying to trip Xelthar?
My brain clicked into place like I’d finally found the right slot. One simple, human-sized advantage: leverage. For the first time since I’d been dragged off Earth, I felt useful. Smart. Almost brave.
Having identified my opportunity to help, I darted forward. My plan was to wind up behind Xelthar, acting like a fulcrum, so that when Cair shoved him backward, the Brakian would tumble across my bent-over figure.
