Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Nina

I always like to judge how good sex was by how weak my knees are afterwards. Now, I don't think I'll be standing on my own two feet for quite some time, and I slide to the floor, my back resting against the operating table and my legs grateful I've taken my weight off them.

"Good." I pat what best I can reach of Venn, which just happens to be an ankle. "Very good." He slides down onto the floor beside me.

"Yes," he agrees in that serious tone of his, the one that means he has taken the time to think about how he feels and what he's saying. It's so rare that he lets me see this part of himself, the part that betrays his emotions, that I turn to look into his face.

Of course, his expression was still nearly impossible to decipher, like he's worn a mask for so long he can't quite remember how to smile. But his voice can't disguise the awe he feels as he murmurs my name again and again under his breath.

I kiss the corner of his mouth, just as Reke pushes the hammock-chair away. It rolls across the room, following one of the many railings in the ceiling, and I silently concede that maybe the Hov had a point when they designed hanging chairs after all. Then Reke flops down by my other side, a strand of hair falling over his forehead, his ears trained toward me.

"You are different," he announces, which, I can assure you, is not what you want to hear immediately after just having the most amazing sex of your life.

"Umm … okay." I wipe my semen covered hand on my jeans, for want of a towel.

"You are different from when we rutted together in my hammock," he clarifies, slipping his tail between my back and the table and curling the end around my waist.

"Oh." Well, that makes sense. "I'll never forget when we hid under your blankets, just the two of us. It was special, and spending time with you when I was so lonely gave me the courage to really try escaping, instead of just constantly thinking about trying." I press into him, shoulder to shoulder. "But of course I'm happier when Venn's here with us. And of course because we escaped." My voice hitches on the last word, like I still can't quite believe.

"Akh." Reke narrows his eyes, watching me with his head tipped to one side.

"Akh, what?"

"Akh, it is annoying."

"Annoying that I'm happier? Or annoying that Vennkor's here?" I glance at Venn, but he just shrugs, leaning more firmly against the table's side, his long legs stretched out before him. He looks nearly relaxed.

"Both." Reke crosses his arms over his chest and glowers.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" He is acting strange around Venn, and I poke him lightly in the side. He jerks away from me with a gasp that makes me instantly suspicious that Reke might, in fact, be ticklish.

"That does not translate."

I just roll my eyes. "There's no point in you pretending to sulk. I know for a fact that you like it when Venn is with us."

"I do not know what you mean."

"Fine, then look me in the eye and tell me you didn't enjoy the sight of my hand clenched around Venn's cock. And tell me you didn't like the way you and Venn pushed me back and forth between the two of you, using me for your own pleasure."

He pouts, avoiding my gaze, and picks at a pretend piece of dirt on the spotless floor.

" And tell me that you didn't come that much harder having seen Venn's painting my hand." I run a hand over his stomach and down farther, toward his slit. His skin is hotter there. Softer, too. And I can feel a slight pressure just beneath the surface, like his cock is hardening again, already preparing to make an encore appearance.

A piece of tape floats through the air to land on one of my feet, and I glance up, seeing an uncovered camera. Evidently the strapping tape (or whatever it is) isn't sticky enough to stay attached for any length of time.

I don't even know if the cameras are still working; possibly we've moved beyond the range of the space station, for surely there's a limit on the distance from which they can spy on us. Nevertheless, something like heaviness floats downward and settles uncomfortably on my shoulders, almost like how the tape had fallen—deceptively softly, a feather on the breeze. I pull my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs. Everyone might already have seen everything of me, but that doesn't mean I don't want my privacy now, and when Venn hands me my sweater, I gratefully pull it on, stretching the wool weave so it fits over my legs as well, until it's just my head, hands and feet that are visible.

It's just like the Hov to push their way back into my thoughts. They've stolen this moment from us, when we should be sitting here in our glorious, sated stupor, our limbs too languid to support our own weight.

Beside me, Reke rests his cheek on my shoulder, and on my other side I can feel the tension returning to Venn's body as he too dresses, more alert, more on show , never wanting even for a second to display to the watching Hov anything that might be taken for weakness.

"Did you mean what you said," I ask, "about finding the other women?"

"I have no intention of returning to Ves." Venn names his home planet. "And I can hardly believe Ney wishes to return to her home."

"Unless it is to kill them all," Reke adds, followed by an enormous yawn that displays every single one of his pointed teeth.

"What do you mean?" I'm embarrassed to admit I'd practically forgotten all about Ney, when this whole time she's been monitoring our safe passage away from the Arena.

"You do not know?" Venn frowns. "The Hov did not abduct Ney. Her family sold her to the Hov, not so long before you were brought in."

"Oh, fuck." I glance toward the closed door, just double checking that she's not coincidentally standing behind us, listening to us talk about her. "No wonder she's always so angry." I'm guessing that for her, escaping the Arena was more than a simple fuck you to the Hov; it was an even bigger fuck you to her family, the ones who'd expected (or wanted) her to die in that space station for the pleasure of the crowd. "And Reke—" I look at the sleepy cat, his legs drawn up under his body, as though he's preparing for a long nap.

"Nina." He says my name as soon as I say his, nestling even closer to me. "Have you not already guessed? You are my home." And then he abruptly climbs over my legs and tries to slip in-between Venn and me.

"I told you!" I gloat and move over, giving him some room, until he's sitting with one thigh pressed against mine and his other thigh pressed against Venn's. "You do like Venn." I wasn't lying when I'd told Reke I'd noticed him watching Venn. It's always when Venn is too preoccupied to notice, like when I've got my hand around his dick.

I look between them. Is that what's got Reke acting strange—he's got a crush on Venn? Reke, who is determinately not looking at Venn but cleaning his claws like he's got no cares in all the world and like he didn't just push his way between us.

Then it occurs to me what he just said. "Aww. I think you might be my home too," I tell Reke, and then I peek around him to Venn, feeling ridiculously nervous all of a sudden. Considering what the three of us just did together, I shouldn't be finding myself with sweaty palms. But sweaty they are, and I reach for my jeans, pulling them on in an attempt to hide the fact my sweaty hands are also shaking. "What about your family, Venn? Won't they want to know that you're alive? Do they even know where you've been for two years?"

I wince because that wasn't the question I'd opened my mouth to ask. I'd chickened out, panicking that Venn might regret his decision and wish he'd returned home, regardless of the risk.

"My clan will already have mourned me." He's watching me over Reke's head. There are shadows in his eyes.

"And what about you?" I ask.

"Me?" There's a pause, like he's never stopped to think about himself before. "I have had two years to mourn my family. And two years to mourn myself."

I wrap an arm around Reke's shoulders and grasp Venn's forearm. He leans into my touch, until we're both squishing Reke, but Reke doesn't complain. Quite the opposite, for his chest vibrates as he purrs, which is a dead giveaway that he's pleased, even though he's still not acknowledging Venn.

I close my eyes, relishing the sensation of Reke's vibrating body. It isn't a loud purr. Actually, the ship's engines are louder, but I love it.

"So, it is decided," Venn says.

"Yes," I confirm, eyes still closed. "We'll go to deep space and see if we can find the other Humans. Maybe they'll want to stay where they are, and maybe we can stay with them." I try imagining what that life might look like–the three of us living in a house together on some alien planet with a hologram TV and hoverboards instead of cars.

But hadn't Venn said deep space was practically empty? So maybe the planet they crashed landed on is deserted, with no buildings or internet, like if they'd crash landed on a deserted island with palm trees and tropical storms.

The idea of making our own huts and fishing for our dinner every evening isn't so terrible, not if it means we get to live the rest of our lives without the Hov. Hell, I'd rather live on the side of an active volcano than ever see another Hov.

"And if we can't find the women," I add, mainly to remind myself to not get my hopes up too much for fear of further heartbreak, "us being in deep space will at least mean we're far, far away from here." I automatically glance up, like I can check if the uncovered camera is watching us. Its surface gleams a little in the artificial light, a winking eye, mocking me.

The ship lurches to one side. The three of us slide along the floor until we hit the far wall, accidentally activating the door leading to the corridor.

My stomach drops a little, like when you're flying in a plane and you hit a patch of turbulence. A small part of you panics, but mostly your common sense (or your rampant disbelief) tells you that everything is probably going to be okay. I need everything to be okay, after everything we've already suffered. I need us to be free and happy and safe.

I grab hold of the doorframe to keep my place as the ship tips the other way, straightening itself. If this were a plane, the seatbelt sign probably would've just lit up.

It's just turbulence, I promise myself. Just turbulence.

In space? Is that even possible?

"Can you hear that?" Reke crouches, his beautiful ears twitching as he listens.

"Hear what? There's nothing but silence." And then it hits me. There's nothing but silence because the engines have stopped.