Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 14648 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 73(@200wpm)___ 59(@250wpm)___ 49(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 14648 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 73(@200wpm)___ 59(@250wpm)___ 49(@300wpm)
2
Tessa’s heart was pounding fast and hard, and it felt as if it would burst right through her chest. The creature who held her was monstrously huge and frightening. Although he held her in an ironclad grip, he was surprisingly gentle, especially given the fact that he had some wicked-looking black claws.
It was those claws that curled into her flesh and hinted at the promise of pain. When she had first been captured, all she had been able to think about was escape. But as the time passed and she was taken from one planet to the next as these slave traders gathered females, Tessa’s hope of ever seeing her home again dwindled away.
Now, it was about survival.
She hadn’t lived for the last twenty-three years by doing foolish things, like running when death—or even worse, torture—would be imminent. She very much wanted to live, and she knew her fate, had seen it when she watched the unwilling females be gathered up like livestock and sold to the alien willing to pay the most. Once more, she looked at the creature who held her.
If she appealed to this male, perhaps he would treat her more like a pet that served him food instead of what she feared he had planned. To some, being a pet was horrid and they longed for death, but Tessa learned enough with the other humans she had been living with, and if she wanted to keep living, she needed to play the part.
Besides, this male could very well torture and maim her if she didn’t cooperate, and as much as she would have longed for death then, there were creatures in this solar system who derived pleasure from the blood and tears of others.
No, she would have to play this safe and smart, because there was no one coming for her, and her chances of leaving were not worth the risk of the punishment that would be exacted upon her.
The alien was silent, and the only words she had heard him say were to the serpent creature, but the language had been gruff and not something she had ever heard before. She was so out of her element right now and more scared than she had ever been.
But what made her feel uncomfortable and confused was the arousal that tried to claim her. It had been so sudden and started the second she fell into this male’s arms. The way he looked at her told her that her fate would most definitely have sexual activities involved.
She should have feared for her life at the thought of being with this male in any way because of his sheer size alone. There was no doubt that what he had between his huge, muscular thighs was just as large as the rest of him.
She had been captured what felt like ages ago, and in all honesty, it could have been, because the days meshed together. It wasn’t like the traders spoke directly to the females they kidnapped, and aside from some harsh commands in the language each female could understand, they were ignored. They didn’t even have the pleasure of bathing alone, and when they were allowed to clean up, there was always a nasty creature watching.
The first thing that registered when they landed on this planet was that it was uncomfortably hot. And then when they exited the craft and she saw the jagged mountains, the red-hued and smoky sky, and the rivers of lava that flowed far too close to them, she had known she was in hell itself. At first, she had assumed she would either become food for another species, or a servant.
There had been much talk of humans being nothing more than that to other species at the camp of humans where she had been born. But when her kidnappers stripped her of her clothing and lined her up with the other naked female creatures, Tessa’s fate had become very clear. She was to be sold as some kind of pleasure slave.
Earth, the planet her species was originally from, had long since been destroyed, and now humans were almost extinct. Etera, the planet where she had been living, resembled what she knew to be her ancestors’ planet. The food was abundant, the climate comfortable to sustain human life, and she had been happy there.
Although Etera was perfect for her kind, there were wild animals that were ten times bigger than they were and carnivorous. They had lost many people to those creatures, ones that liked to maim before consuming. But there was no place that didn’t have its dangers.
She stared up at this male, one who looked like a demon by all accounts and who bared his teeth at anyone foolish enough to come close. He had to be at least seven feet tall, with red-tinted skin, and his hair that brushed his shoulders was the same shade as the ink from the Squinda beast.