15. Chapter 15

Being held helped. Immensely. Ava never felt as secure as she did curled up in Vox’s arms. She never wanted to leave this security. Her stomach ended the moment for her, choosing to growl loudly.

Vox startled back, moving fast and holding her at arm’s length. He stared at her, and Ava felt like she had whiplash at his fast he moved. She had to smile and chuckle at his expression. “It means I am hungry,” she explained.

He looked down at her stomach, covered in the blanket. “Is there another animal that lives inside of you?” He reached for her shirt, poking at her stomach underneath.

That earned him an actual laugh out of Ava. Vox watched her raptly. She felt crazy with how fast her emotions were changing, laughing now when she was so sad earlier. With the thought of why she had initially been sad, she stopped laughing quickly. She nervously tugged on her hair instead, letting it down from her bun.

“And that sound was positive?” Vox went from looking at her stomach up to her face, lingering on her hair that now cascaded down her back in waves. “Your face lights up when you do that.”

“Yes, it was laughing. My stomach made that noise because I am hungry.”

“Ah, I had left to retrieve food for you earlier.” He motioned behind himself to where a plate sat of some synthesized noodles.

Ava, feeling a bit awkward now about having him gaze at her so directly, moved out of his arms and grabbed the plate of food on the counter. It was still warm as she dug into it. After a moment she went into the bathroom and filled up a glass and drank that as well. She felt cold now away from his embrace and hitched the blanket up over her shoulders.

He watched her the entire time, not moving. “How often do you need to eat?”

Ava considered the question, “I usually eat a few times over the cycle when I’m awake. If something big is going on, I can go almost the whole time I’m awake and only eat once. But I eat a lot then when I do.”

He hummed a bit watching her. When she was almost finishing up, he spoke again. “Ava, I need to go make some preparations. I take it you will sleep while I leave?”

Yes, she needed to sleep. She nodded. Her head was aching now from being awake so long. She still had the sedative in her pocket and hopefully would be able to think clearer about what she could do to help Nuor and Ebel once she rested. She didn’t want him to leave, but could hardly voice that thought aloud.

“What preparations are you doing?” she asked while sitting back down on the bed, stalling him.

He hesitated, then answered, “The Tuxa check in with their home world every other cycle. It is due in a few hours. We will need to make the Tuxa in the cells confirm everything is going smoothly to keep on course.”

“How . . . are you going to do that?”

Vox let out a sinister smile and a brief shine traveled across his body from head to toe. Ava guessed that was her answer, but he elaborated. “Their minds are puny. We will make them say what we wish.”

He stood now, suddenly business. The mattress lifted when he removed his weight. “I also need to discuss arrangements for you with my brethren.”

“Arrangements?” Ava shook her head, sleepiness momentarily forgotten. Her eyes narrowed.

“Yes, hush. A war zone is no place for one such as yourself. You will now rest and let us figure out logistics.”

Ava supposed he meant it as being comforting and trying to be considerate of her, but his words caused a flush of irritation to surge through her. Her hands balled up, gripping her blanket tightly. “I would like to discuss that too. I don’t want to have it decided for me.” Too much has been decided for me before.

Vox rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms back. The same creature that held her tenderly for the last few moments was now replaced by a tense jumble of muscles that were stretched taut as he flexed his arms.

“Very well, we will discuss it more once you awaken. Sleep now.” He glanced back at her before he left the room, door closing behind him.

Ava stared at the door, frowning, tension filling her muscles. Whatever tender mood that had struck him while she snuggled against him seemed to have been replaced by a firm professional exterior.

The room was now quiet again. Ava felt disgruntled. Her body was still tingling from where he was curled up beside her a few moments before. He might have said they would discuss it, but his mannerisms did not. She would bet credits she would be told the plan as an afterthought. Him saying a war zone is no place for me . . . is he wanting to send me off? Had he gone from hugging her to discarding her within a single heartbeat? The thought made her let out a grunt of frustration, loud in the quiet room.

Ava fidgeted for a few minutes with her blanket. To be free of the Phor ship would be wonderful, but to depend on the Vorbax for plans for her future so fast? She had no doubt the Vorbax would try their hardest to figure something out for her, but what sort of plans would they arrange for her to be safe?

Humans were treated far worse in the universe out there than she was here on this Phor ship, her mother a prime example. Others were given manual jobs they were not expected to survive. One of her sisters was sent off to an exotic zoo. Her mother’s tears never stopped during those days. It was a relief for Ava to end up here, with Ebel, in the Phor’s engine hall where none of the males had any interest in her.

The Vorbax could shuttle her off somewhere, but what would happen next? She couldn’t risk falling into worse hands. When she went off ship with Nuor they always researched areas where the slave trade operated so they could give them a wide berth. The universe wasn’t safe for her. Humans had never been able to fight back and gain any rights.

And what would happen if she stayed here on the ship? Sudden death if there was a battle? Both options seemed awful.

They had short-range shuttles on this ship that were used for transport to docks that couldn’t accommodate larger ships. Technically those could be used as an escape pod. That should be the game plan for Nuor and Ebel before they got to Torga.

Nuor at least had contacts that she could find once she got to any city. If Ava went with her she could probably hide with her. Probably.

Ava sat, her mind spinning and beginning to ache from being overtired. She forced herself to focus a little longer on one more point—the aspect of all this that was weighing most on her mind.

Aside from what she was going to do physically, emotionally she was torn. Vox . . . how he held her.

Ava flushed, feeling heated by the memory of how his body felt next to hers. Her feelings about him added so much more confusion to all of this. The books she’d read seemed so much more straightforward than this . . . mess she was in now.

Ava shook her head and fished the sedative out of her pocket. She held it in her fingers, thinking about living with Nuor. But what kind of life would that be, having to hide all the time? Not the life she really wanted, that was for sure.

She took off the blanket and smoothed it on the bed for her to curl up under and went to the bathroom again. On the way back she picked up the crinkled magazine cutout of Joy that had fallen on the floor next to the bed. She smoothed it out with her hand and stared at it. Yes, she might be able to hide with Nuor. But what about the other Humans? What about Joy and her mother? All of her many sisters. They had no way out. And no allies. No strong ones at least.

Maybe . . .Ava had the beginning of a plan. She folded the paper and stuck it in her shirt, close to her breast, and put the sedative patch on.

As it took effect, before sleep claimed her, she thought. And planned. She was going to be an active player in her own life for the first time.