The slavemaster leads me down the hall, to a room in the back. He steps in front of the door and eyes me. "You know for this privilege, you'll be paying more for her. My other customers will be quite upset when they learn that the human female is no longer for sale. She's a big draw."
"They'll get over it," I growl. "Name your price."
He does.
It's an obscene amount, and I suspect he's gouging me deliberately. He doesn't want to pull the human from his slave auction. He wants to use her to escalate the bidding. It's only that he fears me and my influence that I'm here at all. It's a huge sum of credits…and yet it's what I expected. I cross my arms and incline my head, letting him know that the price is agreed upon. I don't haggle. Doing so would decrease my power, and I want this man well aware of how little the credits matter.
With an almost gleeful nod, the male opens the door and gestures that I should follow him.
I do…and I see her.
She leans against the wall, apart from the other females. There's a defeated look on her face as she stares off into space, and when I step into the room, she turns her dull gaze to me. As she does, the look on her face melts away to one of…hope.
No one's ever looked at me like that before. Like I've made every one of her keffing dreams come true. It fills me with conflicting feelings to see how excited she gets. It's just because I'm saving her from the auction block. It's not for me. "I'll take her."
"Don't you want a good look at her first?" The slavemaster moves to the human female, kicking at her leg. "Get up. Show him your teats."
The girl jumps to her feet, wincing as he kicks her, and when he tries to do it again, I put a hand on his arm. "That's mine. Don't damage her."
"Of course, of course." He's all smooth apologies, patting the girl on the arm. "I think you'll agree she's a fine-looking specimen of a human, don't you think?"
The girl moves toward me, her breasts swaying. She's naked, wearing nothing but a cheap collar around her neck. Up close, she's slightly older than I thought she was. Still youthful, but with some age behind her eyes. Her breasts are as magnificent as ever, big and full with light pink tips. I know every bit of her body, watched her expose it all as she dances. There's nothing here that's new to me…other than being so very close to her. It's the first time I've stood in the same room as her. First time I've breathed in her scent.
Kef me, nothing in all the galaxies should smell as good as she does. They've covered her in perfumes, but underneath that is a light, sweet scent that's all her. She gazes up at me with big, questioning eyes, as if she doesn't dare to hope.
A muffled sob breaks behind her, and she flinches, looking back at the other females.
I hate the sound of a female crying. Hate that I'm in a room full of females crying. They deserve better fates than this. "How much for all the females?"
"Oh, I cannot do that," the slaver says, all apologies. "It would disappoint too many customers. I cannot allow you to take more than one. She is the best of the group, is she not? Or does another tickle your fancy?"
There's a desperate flash in the female human's eyes. She's afraid I'm going to pick someone else. I don't look away from her. I don't want her to worry about such things. Ever since our eyes met through the window, I've thought about no other female. I gaze down at her, at the pale, pale skin and oddly greenish eyes. She looks soft, this female, softer than I ever imagined, and I hunger to touch her.
"No. I will take the human."
If she doesn't flinch when I take her to bed, it will be worth the credits. I can slake my needs, get her out of my mind once and for all, and move on with my life. I'm not keeping her. I just need to get her out of my head, and the best way to do that is to work out all of my sexual frustrations with her. Once I've gotten her out of my system, I'll take her to the human refuge—the planet Risda III.
We'll both get what we want out of this.5TESSAThis has to be a dream. Good things don't happen to me. They haven't since the day four years ago that I woke up on an alien spaceship. From there, they've just gotten progressively worse. So to see the object of my dreams stride into the room and demand to buy me before I ever step on the auction block? I feel like I'm dreaming.