Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Burn sat beside her, the bed creaking slightly under his muscular frame.
“No luck on the key in the shuttle bay,” he said grimly. “I looked fucking everywhere—couldn’t find it.”
“I didn’t find anything in the office either,” Bright said, frowning as he paced the room. “Well—not the key, anyway. But I did find out what the humanoids that were here before us were doing.”
“Oh?” Noelle asked, perking up slightly. “What were they doing?”
“Porn,” Bright said shortly, making a face. “Homemade porn. Lots of it. Different species, all filmed right here—probably somewhere in this house.”
Noelle blinked.
“Porn?” she echoed.
“Yes. And I’m pretty sure Thune is selling it—on a large scale. The way the accounts are set up, there’s a constant stream of credits coming in and going right back out. It explains a lot.”
“I found some dirty pictures in his dresser drawers,” Noelle offered, wrinkling her nose. “Really weird ones too. He probably jerks off to them. Ugh.” She shuddered at the memory.
Burn growled.
“Fuck. Is that what he wants us for? To be in his sick little alien pornos?”
Bright shrugged, his face grim.
“I don’t know. Possibly. He could’ve hired anyone to balance his books or clean his room. But us? A bonded trio? With a human female?” He shook his head. “That sounds like exactly the kind of twisted scenario someone like Thune would want.”
“Well, I didn’t find anything in his bedroom,” Noelle said, sighing. “And believe me, I looked. I even went through his nasty pockets.”
“You what?” Burn looked horrified.
“I was careful!” she said quickly. “But there was no key—nothing but trash and grime and those disgusting pictures.”
“That’s okay, sweetheart,” Bright said, sitting beside her on the other side of the bed and putting an arm around her shoulders. “We might be able to—”
But he didn’t get to finish the sentence.
A guttural roar split the air from the hallway outside.
Noelle jerked upright, her stomach twisting into a cold knot.
Please let it be Cookie again, she thought desperately. Please let it just be Cookie yelling about something stupid…
But then came that familiar, grating voice.
“Piggy-wigs! Get out here NOW!”
Her heart leapt into her throat and her heart started pounding.
“Oh no…” she whispered. “It’s Thune.”
And suddenly, her room didn’t feel like a sanctuary anymore…
It felt like a cage.
55
BURN
Burn felt a deep, rumbling growl rise in his throat, his entire body vibrating with rage.
The hallway echoed with the Trollox’s voice, loud and grating, each word like a slap of sound against his ears.
“Piggy-wigs, get out here now!”
Gods, how he fucking hated that name.
He and Bright moved as one—shoulder to shoulder, instinctively forming a shield in front of Noelle. Burn stepped slightly in front, ready to absorb the brunt of whatever the three-headed bastard was about to dish out.
She’s ours now. No matter what this fucker says—she belongs to us. I’ll die before I let him touch her! he thought grimly.
The door slammed open hard enough to rattle the frame.
There stood Thune, blocking the threshold like some nightmarish parody of a bad fairytale. All three of his thick necks bulged with muscle, and all six of his piggy little eyes were narrowed in accusation.
“What did we tell you about being in the same room?” he barked. “No mingling and no breeding until we say so!”
Burn curled his upper lip in a snarl.
“We weren’t breeding, you big ugly fuck—we were talking!”
The room echoed with his fury. Beside him, Bright held steady, still shielding Noelle, even though Burn could feel the tension vibrating off him like a tuning fork ready to snap.
Thune’s three mouths twisted into something between amusement and cruelty.
“No talking back!” he thundered, and the remote in his thick, meaty hand clicked.
Agony exploded in Burn’s spine—white-hot lightning shooting through every nerve. His muscles seized, locking his body into one long, shuddering convulsion. He dropped like a stone, knees slamming to the floor as the pain drove the air from his lungs.
Gods—fuck—can’t breathe—can’t fucking breathe…
He heard Noelle behind him, her voice ragged with panic.
“Stop! Please, stop—you’re hurting him!”
Through the haze of torment, Burn saw Bright still on his feet, gritting his teeth and leaning protectively over Noelle, his own body twitching from the pain. He was refusing to go down.
Bright, you stubborn fuck. Gods, don’t get yourself hurt trying to be the shield for us both…
And then, as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped.
Burn collapsed forward onto his hands and knees, sucking in huge, greedy gulps of air. His skin was slick with sweat, his vision spotted at the edges.
His body screamed to lash out, to fight, to kill. Rage surged through him like a tidal wave. But his limbs were slow to respond, his nerves still jangling like frayed wires.
He looked up to see Thune standing over them, cheerful again—like nothing had happened.
“Now then, now then,” the middle head said in a syrupy tone. “You must excuse us—we just get upset when the little piggy-wigs don’t obey.”