“I am calm, princess. I’m going to show you how calm I can be.” Lunging toward her, she dodged out of his grasp, but it was far too close for comfort since she felt the pads of his slimy fingers brush along her shoulder.
His roar of outrage seemed to rattle the walls. She turned, held the fork high in the air, and watched him unsteadily. His laughter was maniacal, loud, and cackling.
“What do you plan on using that for, Luna? Fork me to death?”
He lunged toward her again. Despite his intoxication, Maximo was quick. As he grabbed a handful of her hair, she cried out in pain. Lifting her arm high, she tried to blindly stab at him. Failing several times, she twisted in his arms until she could find a clear shot.
Without a second thought, Luna brought the fork down. She felt resistance and then heard him scream out in pain as the utensil hit its mark. The impact caused him to loosen his hold on her hair, and she slipped from his grasp.
Time was of the essence. Rushing toward the door, adrenalin pumped through her body. Just when she was almost free, Maximo tackled her from behind. Feet coming out from under her, she lifted her arms to shield herself as gravity and Maximo’s weight took her down.
Raw pain spread up her arm as something thick and sharp pierced her flesh. She was rolled over roughly. Maximo straddled her waist and slapped her across the face. The taste of blood filled her mouth.
“You made me do this, Luna.” Caressing her face almost lovingly, whispering the words. Hauling her from the ground, Maximo pulled her close for an embrace.
The pain that radiated throughout her body was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Head cradled to his chest, she didn’t fight him. Didn’t have the strength to. As he murmured unintelligible things against her hair, that was when she remembered what was in her pocket.
Using slow movements as not to alert him to what she was doing, she pulled out the hair barrette. Luna tightened her fist around it and leaned back to look at him. One of her eyes felt swollen, and her vision was blurry and out of focus.
He looked down at her and caressed her face once again.
“You made me do this, princess. If you would have just come to me willingly, I would have been kind, gentle even. At first, at least.” His words were lies. All of them.
Just as he bent down to kiss her, she lifted her arm and stabbed the barrette into his neck. She nearly gagged as she felt the shell meet the thickness of his flesh before it sank in.
She pulled it out quickly but not before she twisted it into his throat.
Maximo howled in pain and pushed her away. Great arcs of blood the color of the night sky sprayed from the wound in his neck. His hands went to his throat to try to stem the blood flow. Shards of the shell had broken off and were still embedded in his skin.
A sickening noise spewed out of his mouth, and that same noxious blood oozed out of his throat. As he stumbled toward her with an arm outstretched, she didn’t waste any time in turning and running away.
She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, through the dusty terrain, with pain still coursing through her body. None of that mattered because escaping and living were her only options. When darkness threatened to take her under, she pushed it back and ran harder.
Wet warmth seeped from various parts of her body, but Luna didn’t dare stop and check herself.Everything she owned that was of any importance was in her bag lying on the floor next to Maximo, who was bleeding out.
But she was still alive, and that was far more important than any physical possession she had.
ChapterNine
ERAK
Erak and his brothers finished loading the ship with a few supplies they purchased in the city. The little, human female Luna had never come back out, and despite his raging hard-on, he hadn’t gone after her or looked for another female.
Maybe he should have, but he wasn’t one to push a female to do his bidding, no matter how much he wanted her. Raimi had been all about going to find her, but he had explained to his brother that they were Aktulla males of the Asek line, and if a female didn’t want them, they certainly didn’t go and hunt her down.
Egotistical, perhaps, but an Aktulla never bowed to anyone. There were no human females where they were from, and so, he decided she was a commodity, something that was strange and delicate and piqued his interest.
Their mission was far bigger than fucking random females anyway. They need to find women to carry their sons. But he also couldn’t dismiss that there was something about Luna that called to him on a primitive level and something that he hadn’t been able to shake no matter how hard he tried or how he reasoned with himself.
Just one thought of her and he was hard as fuck. Her bow-like lips, so red and succulent, made him imagine them wrapped around his aching shaft.
“How much longer until we take off?” Genet stepped out from behind the ship, cords of rope in hand. His voice had a hard edge to it, and he could tell Genet was just as pissed about not getting to sample Luna as he and Raimi were.
“Once we finish loading everything, we should be able to head out. It appears the majority of the other ships are staying put tonight.”
“Lucky bastards.” Genet mumbled under his breath. “I agree with Raimi on going back and finding the little, human female. My cock is still hard for her.”
Genet headed to the other side of the ship, grumbling about blue balls. Erak should have never let his brothers talk him into stopping at this fucking planet.