Page 1 of Nita’s Bounty
CHAPTER 1
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NITA
I’m tucked inside Bela’s little sleeping nook, perched on the edge of her narrow bed with Skylar curled up beside me. Her skinny arms are wrapped around a decorative pillow that she hugs to her chest. Her gray eyes round with curiosity.
“I need to talk to you both,” Bela whispers, pulling the thin curtain closed behind her to give us the appearance of privacy.
We’ve bonded through our mutual trauma after being taken from Earth by freaky mantis aliens called Xar’Ads, and auctioned off like livestock. There were six of us. All women, all twenty-something, except for Skylar, who is barely sixteen, and me in my thirties. Madame Althea bought Bela, Skylar and me for her pleasure station, Lux. The other three… who knows?
Everything happened so fast. By the time it really sank in, it was too late to do much about it.
Bela just came back from being sent to “entertain” her first customer. I’m not sure what I was expecting from her, but she doesn’t seem to be too traumatized, which makes what she says next all the more believable.
“He’s here to rescue us,” she whispers excitedly.
“Wait. Who’s here to rescue us?”
It’s weird how Bela keeps hiding her smile and the way her cheeks blush. She’s acting more like a giddy girl with a crush than someone who was sent to bang an alien stranger who paid for a good time as a punishment to keep us in line.
Her words come out in a rush.
He would be Treto, the lizard alien who has been following us after somehow discovering we’d been stolen from Earth. Now he’s here to rescue us. Except, when he showed up on the pleasure station, he fell head over heels in love at first sight with Bela. Something about recognizing her as his fated mate or some such nonsense.
“And that doesn’t sound crazy to you?” I ask.
Bela shrugs.
“What if he doesn’t come back?” Skylar mutters in a small voice. “What if he can’t help us, or he’s lying about rescuing us?”
She is so young. Despite being sheltered and naïve, she’s already becoming embittered from everything she’s had to endure—starting with being stolen from her bed by aliens who can’t tell a teenager from a grown-ass adult. It pisses me off that she’s here having to deal with this when she should be worrying about homework or whatever school gossip is going around.
“He’ll be back,” Bela assures her. Then she darts an apologetic look at me before looking pointedly back at Skylar. “I told Treto, if he has to choose one of us, he should take you.”
I nod to Bela, letting her know I understand. More importantly, I approve of that decision. I’d do the same thing, although not for the reasons she might expect.
“Um, on that subject, I’ve been doing some thinking.” I avert my eyes to pick at the pilling quilt I’m sitting on. “I–I’m going to stay here.”
“You’re what?” Bela and Skylar both exclaimed.
I expect their outburst and quickly shush them. “Don’t look at me like that,” I hiss. I don’t owe them an explanation, but I’ll give them one anyway because I know they’ll demand it. “What’s there to go back to Earth for? I’m leaving behind an abusive baby daddy who poisoned my kids against me, a dead-end job, and bills I’ll never be able to pay off.
“I’ve been talking to the other girls here and …” I shrug and drop my eyes back to the quilt, “it doesn’t really sound so bad. Alien dick sure sounds better than any human dick I’ve had. And if I’ll be getting fucked, for once it’ll be on my terms.”
“Nita, no,” Bela moans. “This isn’t what you want. There’s no freedom if you stay here. There’s no choice. I’m not saying you have to go back to Earth, but anywhere has to be better than staying here.”
I lift my chin and harden my expression, meeting the pained look Bela is giving me. I’ve never had much of a choice in anything in my life. Everything was either dictated to me or thrust at me. She may not think so, but making this decision is freeing. “This is my choice, and I’m making it. I’ll stay here because I choose to.”
Bela shakes her head, but she doesn’t argue further, even though her sour expression tells me she doesn’t like it.
“Look, don’t think I’m going to the other side or anything,” I add, needing them to know exactly where my loyalties fall. “I’ll do what I can to make sure you two get out. I’m choosing this place, but that doesn’t mean I want that for either of you, or that I’ll go against you.”
“Thank you, Nita.” The relief on her face and in her voice is almost insulting. Like I would turn on these girls. But then I remind myself that we haven’t known each other all that long, so I guess I shouldn’t take offense.
When she reaches out to me, I take her hand and give her fingers a squeeze. She starts to smile, but then her brows furrow. She opens her mouth, but it’s not her voice that comes out.
“Nita. Um, Nita?”