Chapter 2 | Rex

Chapter 2

Rex

There was a pest issue. I stared at the set of bins at the back of the bar with a hint of dismay as I looked at the raised lid—a lid I’d definitely shut last night after closing up the back and throwing out the last of the trash. This was Ov’Korad, a desert planet ruled by the native species, the Ovters, and Arkod, the capital city. The Ovters liked their rules, and one of those meant very strict pest control, so this shouldn’t have happened.

Somebody was going to get in serious trouble if they turned out to be the source of this rodent problem. It wasn’t me, but I still hesitated to report it. Something about this didn’t feel right, the lid maybe. It was big and heavy, designed to lock magnetically to prevent smells, leakage, and access by those less opposable-thumb-inclined. It should be impossible for a beastie to get in, even if it was a stray pet or escaped animal...

I caught a flash of movement just as I slammed the lid shut, and I froze in place, my senses sharpening as I tried to locate it again. What was that? Maybe it was a lost pet or something exotic that had been smuggled in. A pale, slender limb quickly drew back behind the last bin in the row, the one in the corner. Something without fur for warmth or protective scales, something exotic.

I didn’t want to deal with an animal scavenging for food, but I wanted to deal with an exterminator even less. If anyone saw one lurking out back, it could hurt the bar’s bottom line if word got out. When I went to the back door, it was with a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, a feeling much like anticipation. The scarred wooden table at the center of my domain called, but it wasn’t until I was slicing some nice, thick bread that I knew what I was planning.

When the tiny human waitress walked in from the bar area that I knew what I was dealing with in a sudden flash of insight. She beamed a cheerful but fake smile at me, the freckles that dotted her cheeks and nose reminding me, with a pang of longing, of my home world. “Hi, Rex!” she said, then laughed and blushed when I shoved one of the two plates I’d been preparing her way. I curled a finger and thumb around her thin biceps and gently squeezed. “Yes, I know you think I’m too skinny. I never say no to your sandwiches, Rex. You’re a good man.”

As Jenny took the weight off her feet for five minutes to hungrily devour the food I’d prepared for her, I turned with the other plate to the back door. I didn’t answer her curious question when I leaned out and placed it on the back step where it was out of sight of the kitchen should Drova take a look, though I doubted he would.

There, my stray out back wouldn’t go hungry on my watch. Now I just had to figure out what to do to lure them in so I could protect them. “Exotic” was an understatement, humans were a very desirable species. Attractive, smart, but very fragile and thus easy to control. It turned my stomach to think of what this one had gone through to get where it was; it didn’t know it yet, but things were about to change.

A wiser male would have stayed out of it and kept his nose clean. But something about this particular creature out back drew me, and I never ignored my instincts. They had kept me safe during the long, hard years on the Arena sands, and they kept me safe now, navigating the dangerous world Drova lived in. That reminded me of the shady figures that frequented the bar. Would I need to do something to prevent them from using the alley out back? How dangerous was it for this little human to stay there?

I was mulling over what I should be doing all day and nearly missed the chaos that erupted in the bar that afternoon. Stuck with my head in the stars, lost in thought, I was too late to help when I barreled through the door. Jenny was already snatched away by a yellow-skinned alien with a pair of powerful tentacles instead of hair. A Sythral lay dying on the bar floor, and the city guard was clomping inside to take control of the brawl that raged.

I retreated, unwilling to get mixed up in any of it when I had another human depending on me. At least, I hoped they were still back behind the bins, but I couldn’t be sure; I had been unable to keep watch the entire time. The noises of the fight could have scared them off. Too bad this brawl wasn’t deemed enough of an issue to arrest Drova. I would very much have liked to see the end of the nasty, gambling-addicted bar owner.

It was late in the evening when I closed up the kitchen and cleaned the last work surfaces with a fresh cloth. Jenny was taken, and every data feed was streaming news of her and the alien that had taken her. The photos showed the most troubling information, and I felt like a heel for not having seen it. A slave collar around her slender throat, previously hidden by the scarf she always wore. That explained the freckled human’s crazy work schedule; she had no choice.

I wish I could report it, and send the authorities after Drova, but the practice was, sadly, legal on Ov’Korad. Akrod was the closest space hub to Ov’Karal, the closed-off sister planet in the same solar system. Ov’Karal was the biggest importer of slaves. A mysterious, dark planet ruled by the vicious Sythral.

It only made me more determined to rescue the human out back. Jenny should have been my priority, but I knew it would be impossible to find her now that every authority in the city was chasing her. At least the image of her and the Akiladian made me feel like she might be in good hands. The arm wrapped around her waist was possessive, but the shoulder thrown up indicated protectiveness. A male recognized such posturing for what it was: a male protecting his female.

With a heavy heart and a struggle still raging inside of me over whether to let the Akiladian take care of things, I finally locked up the kitchen back door and stepped outside. The air was cold and brisk, rapidly cooling in the deep dark of night. This was a desert planet, and while the days were sweltering hot, the nights dropped to below-freezing. My human would die of exposure if I didn’t help them soon.

When I glanced at the bins, they appeared closed and unchanged from when I’d thrown out the trash that morning. I didn’t want to approach, fearing it would spook the human if it was still there. Was it female or male? I didn’t know. The arm had been slender, small, but that could indicate it was a child.

Would it survive a night out there? I wasn’t sure, and now I regretted not looking up data about humans before I left. I should have had a better plan than this—I’d had all day to think about it. Granted, some of that day had been spent talking to the city authorities as they took witness statements, but this still felt wholly inadequate.

I couldn’t see it anywhere, not under the bins, not behind them. Maybe it had left, but I didn’t think so, where would it go? I resorted to leaving my peace offerings on the ground next to the bin, then backed away and hid. A Pretorian like myself could climb anything, and all I needed to do was turn the corner and climb up the rain pipe, out of view of the bins and the back door.

In seconds, I was up on the roof with a perfect view of the alley, but it cost me nearly all my patience to wait there and do nothing. Eventually, my ploy paid off. A small figure crawled out from behind the bin at the back. Definitely a human—with a pale brown mop of hair and a grime-streaked face. I couldn’t see her eyes, but I knew it was a female by her shape: curvy hips, a breast pressing against a thin, pale shirt, visible only from the side for a brief flash. That flash was enough to set my blood on fire.

It didn’t feel right when I climbed down much later and went home to my warm and comfortable hammock, while she curled beneath the old blanket I’d left her by the trash, eating the leftovers I’d piled in a sack for her. It didn’t feel right at all when my cock kept growing hard when I thought of that glimpse of a soft breast. Didn’t feel right at all, and perfect at the same time, when I started to think of her as mine. My human. Mine.