“They’re all monsters,” she sobbed.
Kriss rattled off his remaining smacks as swiftly as Jago. None of them registered in Shayla’s head. She was too worried about the crowd baying for the spectacle of further humiliation. What if the judge demanded it? She was supposed to be a Gift, a vessel for their pleasure. But surely, only her nestors? Nobody else would be allowed near her.
She’d dreamed of this moment. Men lining up to satisfy their urges and in that fantasy, she’d lapped up the attention, and had orgasms that felt as real as waking ones. She’d gone as far as letting them use her in pairs, or even a threesome. Passed from one man to the next, their hunger never ending and her liquid core melting.
That was the fantasy. The reality was nothing like it. There was no way her Gift extended to an orgy of gigantic proportions. No agreement permitted that without her consent and she wasn’t capable of giving it. Only her imagination was allowed to spread its wings.
Jago released her shackles and rubbed her wrists. “No bruises, thank the queen.”
“What about my poor ass?” She reached behind and rubbed each buttock. There was a definite fire down there; however, there was no furnace, more like sun-drenched warmth.
“It’s good.” Kriss took her hand. “Let’s get you out of here. This crowd is crazy.”
She glanced around. Several men had stripped off their tunics, revealing the glow of their beating hearts beneath their skin. These men were in the state of Hunger and feverish. The droids had formed a circle around the arena, acting as guards. The judge, his eyes black as the night sky, licked his lips and raised his staff.
“Please,” she whimpered. “They’re like beasts.”
Kriss swept her up and over his shoulder. Her bare ass was still on display, but the solid form of his body supporting her buoyed her. She was safe with him and Jago. The pair of them marched her out of the arena before anything else happened and along a dimly lit passageway toward the distant exit.
She remained perched high, her head lolling and her hair a mess. “Okay, put me down.” She thumped his back.
“When we’re safely back home,” Kriss said, striding ahead of Jago.
She glared at Jago. “I’m naked.”
“Kriss. Put her down. We’re not walking through the city with her red ass on display.” He yelled to a nearby droid, standing guard by the exit. “You, fetch her clothing from the arena.”
Kriss carefully lowered her to the ground. Standing between the nestors, they acted like a protective layer. A few men had slipped passed the droids and were approaching them, their glowing hearts pulsating in the gloom.
“Stand back.” Jago held up his hand. “The punishment is finished. You have no right to come here.”
“She’s receptive. We saw it,” one man said, smacking his fist into his palm.
Receptive! Shayla squished her legs together. She’d not paid her sex any attention. But, it too had been drenched in ull and, she realized, its numbing effect had impacted the visible folds and clitoris. Tentatively, she lowered her hand and touched herself, using Jago as a shield so nobody could witness her probing.
“Oh. My. God,” she whispered. She was plump and wet. Her clitoris was swollen, too. “This can’t...”
“You looked beautiful,” Kriss whispered in her ear. “Sexy. And ours. Can’t wait to get you home. I want to drown in you, fuck you until you can’t stop coming. I want to sleep next to you, keep you there, safe by my side.”
“And mine, too,” Jago added.
The droid returned with the gown, pushing his way through the growing throng. The sentinel had brought other droids and they formed a circle around the three of them, allowing her to dress behind the shield. However, more men were arriving.
“The judge is coming,” Kriss said, pointing to the far end of the corridor and the entrance to the arena.
The staff clanged on the flagstones. He wore a fur-lined cloak draped over his shoulders. The dark walls of the passageway closed in tighter, filled by a sea of moving men who parted before the judge. Their luminescent lines of veins—purple, green, blue, even orange—accentuated the outline of their bare arms and chests. Shayla knew that in the darkness, where her eyes couldn’t see, they were aroused and ready. The men were in a state of Hunger.
“This is bad—” Jago said.
“Forbidden,” Kriss said angrily.
Shayla clung to his arm. “Don’t let them—”
“You’re ours.”
Jago sighed. “She is, but if they think she’s capable... and the judge, what if he thinks we’re not worthy anymore. He’ll take her off us.”
Shayla swayed, trying hard not to lose her footing. Her head throbbed with the sudden onset of a headache. This couldn’t be happening. What if her ridiculous fantasy became reality? What if the men who’d followed them out of the arena, and there seemed to be dozens of them, really were permitted to take her for themselves?