Page 4 of Adored By the Alien Warlord
Maggie was mine. The sand gods had spoken, but more than that, I knew this in my heart. I would not allow anyone to hurt her.
“You need to get back to work, not stand around talking with me.” Wortek nudged his head to where three Veerenads sat at a table playing a game with stones and colorful number blocks. A fourth stood, looming over the others, his glare and clenched fists signaling he was angry and about to take that fury out on the other players.
I sent one last look at Maggie. She spun and twisted, giving everything she had to the crowd, while Wortek watched her as if she was property. It made my blood boil. But as long as he watched her and didn't touch her, she was relatively safe.
My job was to make myself indispensable and gain Wortek's trust.
Only then would he stop watching Maggie long enough for me to steal her away.
Chapter 3
Maggie
As the music continued pounding, I drowned myself in the rhythm, begging my body to keep moving, to forget the weight of fear crushing my chest. Each rotation around the pole became an act of desperation. Wortek stood nearby, his gaze burning a hole into me. I took a quick sip of water whenever the music slowed, anxiety bubbling in my gut. He saw me as an investment, and the thought made my insides twist.
What would happen if I could no longer perform?
Finally, the lights brightened, and the music dropped to something low and tinny. Break time. They were too few and too far between.
My tether wouldn't reach far, but it was long enough I could step off the stage and into the cool shadows.
The bartender's gaze caught mine, and he rounded the metal bar, bringing me a huge mug of water like usual. If only he'd bring enough for me to dump some over my head. Heat poured through me, and sweatcoated me in an unpleasant, sticky way. I wore only a thin tunic and snug pants, clothing Wortek tossed my way when I arrived, saying they’d belonged to a youngling. I'd clipped the hole for a tail together in the back, but it often loosened, and while I welcomed the cool air drifting through the hole, I didn't like that it left my ass on display.
“Don't take long.” Wortek came up behind me, looming over me like the menace he truly was. “Dance. Then dance some more.”
From dusk until dawn. I'd collapse on the hard bed inside my small basement room after I finished and sleep for most of the day. At least I hadn’t lost much weight—yet. But Wortek was surprisingly generous with food. He must be aware of calories in and calories out, though I doubted he'd use those terms. No, he was merely practical. If he didn't maintain his investment, he'd lose it.
But the meat he sent tasted rancid, and the vegetables were always overcooked.
After guzzling half my water, I wiped sweat off my face with my arm. My heart thundered but the break wouldn't be long enough to slow the pace down. This wasn't a rest as much as a moment to catch my breath and replace some of the water I'd lost.
How long could I maintain this relentless pace? Tears stung at the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them back. Crying would do me no good.
After drinking the rest, I lowered the empty mug onto the edge of the bar.
“Back to work.” Wortek nudged my spine toward the platform and my pole.
I climbed back up, on display again as the lights in the bar dimmed and the ones over me brightened. Music rose in volume, and my body took over, dragging me back into the dance.
Like every other night, I tried to lose myself in the music, but my awareness remained split between dancing and the blue-skinned male moving around the bar with a steely gaze. His strong jawline and build were much like a human’s, except he had to be at least seven feet tall. But then, everyone I'd seen here in this lizard city was equally tall and broad. Were there no puny people like me? At five-eight, I'd always considered myself tall, yet here, I felt incredibly petite, and not in a good way.
As I dipped and swayed, my eyes met the male’s and locked. Confidence swirled around him like an invisible barrier. And I'd already seen he had no issue dispensing justice, either with his sharp glare and snarl or with his fists. This might be his first shift, though that was only a guess on my part, but he'd already established control. I doubted many would issue him a challenge.
A glimmer of something I couldn’t name flared in his eyes—a spark of kindness or even understanding, but I quickly shook off the thought, reminding myself of my reality. Other than his blue skin and lack of a snout and tail, he was no different than the lizards. He lived among them, for heaven's sake. He was as one of them as Wortek.
I had to be careful. As he'd shown during the fight earlier, he enforced the rules of the bar with harsh brutality. He was likely as ruthless as Wortek and the others.
But still, I couldn't look away. My legs pumped to the rhythm while my thoughts wrestled with the strange sense of safety he seemed to provide. As if he could somehow shield me from this nightmare. I felt foolish for letting this thought spark hope inside me. But without something to latch onto, I worried I'd soon fade away.
Wortek’s growl snapped my attention back. “Dance, female. Stop staring around.”
I stumbled, his voice cutting through my thoughts with a jolt. Panic surged inside me, and I forced my body to move again, my limbs clumsy as I fought against the despair wrapping cold fingers around my heart. I didn’t want to fail. If I did, I stood no chance of finding my sister. Talia was out there somewhere, maybe working like me in a bar or finding some other way to survive. I'd track her down, and we’d find a way home.
Another break came, and I hung my head as I drank, afraid of Wortek's watchful stare. If I could just disappear . . . I focused on the chill of the mug against my lips, the coolness seeping into my belly as I drank. And drank. And drank.
And then, I danced.
Finally, dawn scraped its way up onto the horizon, staring around with a harsh, orange glare. Light poked in through the few windows on the back wall of the bar, stabbing down on me gliding around my pole.