CHAPTER 26

Bromm

I should have followed my gut feeling. I never should have allowed us all to walk into this trap. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t do anything about it, and now here we all were. Foryk was unresponsive and catatonic. He and T were apparently secretly brothers, and they had both just watched their father get murdered. Adara and Reece were still unconscious though they had provided Henrik with enough tasks to focus on by sewing them up and dressing their wounds. Urman was silently examining the barrier holding us captive while Artemis did something I couldn’t begin to comprehend in an attempt to break it down. Dorian was watching in the corner, and I was sitting in contemplative silence beside Foryk as I tried to think of a way forward.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Markus and Xander were somewhere out there, alive or dead we didn’t know, as well as Foryk and T’s mother. And I still didn’t even know T’s name.

This was not how things were supposed to go.

I had just put my head in my hands in defeat when Foryk spoke up from beside me. He didn’t turn to look at me, but words were more than I had expected. A good sign.

‘What are you going to do?’ he asked.

‘What?’

His head jerked in Artemis’s direction. ‘They want you to knock her up. What are you going to do?’

My exhale was long and shaky. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Do you want kids?’

His words shouldn’t have shocked me considering the topic of our conversation, but it still took me aback. I hadn’t really thought of starting a family yet. I had only just fallen in love, and that relationship was complicated enough without the added responsibility of taking care of children. Everything was so up in the air, but that wasn’t the question he asked. Right now, bringing children into this world wasn’t the best choice, but in the future?

I pictured Artemis’ belly round with my babies, little Terran-Griknot children already running around her legs. They’d have her big brown eyes and my blue-toned skin, and tiny little fingers and toes…

The answer was yes. I did want children, and I wanted them with Artemis, but not now. Not like this.

‘This isn’t how things are supposed to go, Ryk, and I don’t want to talk about me right now. Why didn’t you tell me you had a brother, or that he was here with your parents?’

He turned his head away from me, and at first I thought he was dismissing me and my question until I tracked his line of sight to where T was braced against the wall, head hung low and his mask askew. His spikes were raised and bristled as if ready for a fight. Poison dripped from their tips, so everyone was giving him a wide berth which explained the void-like bubble that surrounded him. No one wanted to get caught up in his storm.

I recalled the way Artemis didn’t even hesitate to run to him, to offer him comfort as soon as he released that first bellow of pure grief, loss, and fury. I remembered the way he’d leaned into her embrace, taking that comfort even if only for a moment before he’d pushed her away.

Whatever past they shared, it was long and complex and there were clearly still feelings involved. What those feelings were was still a mystery, but I thought I’d figured out at least some of it. At the very least T’s feelings for Artemis were romantic, but I wasn’t sure if they were reciprocated. Artemis was incredibly hard to read beyond her distaste for him, and her reaction to his anguish took me by surprise.

It took us all by surprise if the surreptitious glances the others kept making between the two were any indication. I think a few of them, especially Dorian and Cadmus, were interested in their story more so for the way it kept their minds busy when they felt so useless. We all felt useless.

I was almost certain that was the reason Artemis was throwing herself into trying to break down the barrier so much. I could practically feel the guilt radiating off of her like a scorching heat.

Between everyone’s heightened emotions and the two unconscious bodies of our friends, this room was starting to feel stifling.

‘I messed up,’ he whispered, his voice so low and quiet I almost believed I’d imagined it. ‘Back before we met. I was on Burnos because my family… well, they lost faith in me. What I did… I’ve regretted it every day since, but I can’t turn back time. I haven’t spoken to my father in many solars, and now…’

‘Now you never will,’ I finished for him, the sadness of it all making my own voice waver. His father was gone, and he would never get that closure.

‘What…’ I paused, wondering if I should even ask the question, but then decided if he didn’t want to tell me then he wouldn’t. ‘What did you do?’

He sniffed, then turned watery burgundy eyes on me. The raw emotion in them was staggering, and something I had never before bared witness to from my ever-stoic Tornu friend. Shame coloured his cheeks, and he averted his eyes when he answered.

‘I had an affair with Tormik’s fiancé.’

I blinked, not expecting that. ‘Uh, I mean that’s not great, but surely you all could have talked through it…?’ I hedged. Sleeping with your brother’s fiancé wasn’t the nicest thing to do, sure, but the way he was behaving was as if he had murdered someone instead.

He let out a humourless, self-deprecating chuckle. ‘She couldn’t handle the backlash when we were discovered. She killed herself.’

And there it was…

‘Oh, Foryk. ’ I wrapped my arm around his shoulders as far as I could reach. My arms were long, but his frame was wider, so I only managed to wrap the tips of my fingers around the other side.

We sat there in silence from that moment, his tears making tracks down his cheeks but he never made a sound. Eventually, his body collapsed against mine as the exhaustion of the day finally got to him. Dorian rushed over when he noticed me straining under his weight to help me lower him gently to the floor. He didn’t even stir, fully in sleep’s grasp.

My eyes connected with Arty’s from across the room, concern etching deep grooved into her forehead and around her eyes when they flicked to Foryk’s prone form. She then glanced briefly towards T, who’s name I’d just discovered thanks to Foryk’s story. When his eyes continued to burn holes through the floor, Artemis turned back to her task, those lines digging even deeper into her face.

Dorian stayed nearby, watching me curiously as I studied my woman. I had imagined the two of us coming together in passion, our naked bodies intertwined, more times than I could count. But each of those times was infinitely more romantic than fucking her at the behest of an evil scientist who just wanted to knock her up and steal her baby.

My baby, I reminded myself. If we did this and my little swimmers were successful, he would also be stealing my child. And a royal child, at that.

‘You probably don’t have much longer until he comes back,’ Dorian stated, the reminder not one I needed. I was well aware of the time crunch and the stakes, but that wasn’t the issue. I had no problem fucking Artemis. The circumstances and the environment weren’t ideal, but exhibitionism wasn’t something I was concerned about. In fact, I was turned on by the idea, which was why sharing lovers with Foryk had become our go-to bonding activity back on Burnos.

The issue was that this would be Artemis’s first time, and I didn’t want it to be this way. She deserved romance and courtship and all the love and respect in the Intergalactic Union and beyond. I didn’t know how to give that to her in this situation, especially with the way she was currently avoiding me and focusing all her intent on getting us out of here.

So, my response was a noncommittal grunt.

‘Is there… some way we can help?’ he asked, and my head whipped around to stare at him in shock.

‘No, I just mean… with all of us in here the two of you won’t have any privacy. Is there some way we can make things easier for you both when you… you know…?’

I sighed. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what to do or how to do this without causing any more trauma to her. Or others. This is fucked up.’

A deep, rough groan resounded throughout the room. Everyone halted what they were doing and turned to stare at Reece who was finally stirring for the first time since we’d arrived.

When he groaned again, the sound painfully tortured and followed by a weak cough, Henrik rushed forward to check on him. Dorian and Urman were quick to tag after, but I chose to stay behind with Foryk. T… wait, no… Tormik didn’t even deign to look up, and Artemis took a few eager steps towards her awakening friend before suddenly thinking better of it and stopping. She didn’t move back, but she didn’t move towards him, either.

I shot her a questioning look that she received and her answer was to gesture towards herself, taking an added beat to cup her breasts. Ah. He didn’t know she was a woman yet. I forgot about that.

‘…Dar…a…’ he rasped, and Henrik placed his palm over our wounded friend’s forehead as he shushed him, checking his temperature.

It was the first time I’d allowed myself a proper look at Reece, my attention previously divided between the rest of the chaos while he slept. Now, though, I took in the sickly pallor to his already pale skin and how it looked like transparent parchment paper, the blue of his veins standing out in stark contrast from beneath. His facial hair had grown, a long silvery tangle that rivalled my own beard, only less wriggly. And he’d lost a lot of weight, too. Where before he had been stocky with bulging muscles, not quite to the same degree as the Tornu brothers but close, now he was slim and lean, the deterioration advanced and shocking.

Adara was still sleeping away the hurt on her own metal table. We’d tried to make them a little more comfortable by taking off our jackets, rolling them up as makeshift pillows and draping them over their nudity to protect their dignity, but there wasn’t really much else we could do for them. Artemis said they were going to be okay, and even though I believed her I needed to see it with my own two eyes before that knot in my stomach could untwist.

‘Reece?’ Henrik spoke softly. ‘Reece, can you hear me?’

The silver-haired Yu’Rom mutt let out an indecipherable grunt, but his eyelids slowly fluttered open. He squinted weakly against the brightness of the fluorescent lights, but he peeled them back enough to look at the closest thing we had to a medical professional.

‘H-Henri-k?’ he managed to force out through laboured breaths.

‘Hey, Reece. How ya doin’?’

‘A-dar-a?’ he asked, deflecting and redirecting the question.

‘She’s fine. She’s sleeping over there, see?’ he moved his body out of Reece’s line of sight and pointed at Adara’s sleeping form.

‘Wh-Who…?’ Reece asked, unable to get the question out through a grimace of pain.

‘Who’s here?’ Henrik finished for him. ‘Most of us. My team and yours, plus T, but you haven’t met him yet.’

Reece frowned. ‘A-Arty?’

We all turned to stare expectantly at Artemis. She looked nervous in a way I’d never seen from her before, stepping forward tentatively while wringing her hands in front of her.

‘Hi, Reece,’ she said, her voice soft and a little shaky.

His smile was warm, and his body relaxed at the sight of her. He held his hand out and she rushed forward to hold onto it. ‘Kn-knew y-ou’d c-come… f-for m-e.’

She practically melted at his words and knelt beside him to rest her head against his shoulder. ‘Like I could ever leave you behind,’ she whispered, her voice barely audible but I still caught it. Her tenderness towards him sparked a few questions in my mind about her true feelings for him. Had she developed feelings for him, too, but couldn’t act on it because he wasn’t into men? Was she now his type?

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, she was mine, but sharing had never been an issue for me. Except I’d never shared someone I loved before. Could I do it if that was what she wanted?

‘You’re quite the sentimental little thing, aren’t you Subject A-173?’ The scientist – Demari – spoke from the doorway, startling us all for a third time. We really needed to keep an eye on the damn door at all times. He never should’ve been able to surprise us in the first place.

We all turned to glare at him, though Foryk and T both took it a step further and growled low in their throats, their gazes murderous. In fact, so was Artemis’s.

‘What do you want now, you piece of shit?’ she snarled.

Why did that turn me on? Not the time, Bromm…

‘You have yet to copulate with the Griknot princeling. I have come to issue your first warning,’ he said.

Okay, so maybe it was the time…

He pulled the holo-tab from his belt again, and my stomach dropped. The last time he’d done that he’d murdered someone a few of us had cared about.

Backtrack… Definitely not the time…

Mirroring our last interaction, a blue-tinted hologram hovered above his screen. Again, it revealed a person bound and at his mercy, only this one was much, much tinier and strapped to a metal table that was an exact replica of the ones we’d found Reece and Adara shackled to.

Artemis let loose a vicious sound that was somehow both animalistic and mechanical at the same time. ‘Don’t you dare hurt him!’

The tall, lanky scientist didn’t even flinch, his face remaining indifferent as he stared her down with a superiority I wanted to punch out of him. ‘Copulate with the Griknot, or we start his procedures now. Without anaesthesia.’

Artemis released a scream so visceral as she charged at the barrier that it even sent shivers down my spine despite it being directed elsewhere. She halted just before the barrier could send her flying and glared intently at the scientist. If I didn’t know there was a wall between them it would have looked like she was glaring him down right in his face. She was tall enough to meet him eye-to-eye, and I thought I saw one of his twitch, a rare sign of his discomposure. It could have just been my imagination, though. Wishful thinking that she was getting to him; that he feared her.

‘I’m going to make your death infinitely more painful than you can imagine,’ she threatened in a low tone seething with lethality, and I believed every word.

The scientist sighed, then pressed the button on his holo-tab that connected him with whomever was in the room with the child. ‘Boss?’

‘Wait! Stop! Wait, I’ll do it. Just don’t hurt him!’ Artemis exclaimed, her fear raising the pitch of her voice.

The scientist paused, scrutinising her closely. He must have liked what he found, because he shut off the hologram and pocketed the holo-tab, a small, satisfied smile tugging at his lips.

‘Since you have proven yourself incapable of following through while left to your own devices, I shall remain here to ensure the act is complete,’ he stated, making the entire situation even worse. He wanted to watch?

I noted the stress vibrating through every inch of Artemis’s body, and I knew I had to step in. The decision was a no-brainer, I just needed to make this as good for her as it should have been in private.

I moved to take my place beside her, then used my fingers under her chin to nudge her face until she was looking me in the eye.

I gave her a confident smile I wasn’t entirely sure I felt but tried to emulate for her sake, then leaned in close to whisper in her ear. ‘He can watch, but he can’t touch. If the man wants a show, let’s give him one.’

‘Are you sure?’ she asked, uncertain. Nervous, perhaps. As far as I was aware, she was still a virgin.

‘This is your first time, right?’ I asked her, needing the confirmation to determine how to properly proceed.

She surprised me by shaking her head. ‘Not anymore.’

‘Who?’ I demanded, jealousy hitting me stronger than it ever had before.

Her lips thinned before she grimaced, refusing to say it out loud. The way her eyes darted to and narrowed on the scientist, however, told me all that I needed to know.

‘He’s a dead man,’ I hissed through my teeth, anger energising every last atom of my being.

‘I know,’ she agreed, then her hand raised to cup my cheek. The scientist was still watching on, looking increasingly impatient the longer we took. ‘I’m so sorry Bromm. It was never meant to be like this.’

I pressed a kiss to her forehead, the beginnings of a smile stretching at my lips. ‘As long as we’re together, I don’t give a fuck who watches,’ I confessed.

Her brows rose in a show of surprise, but the way her pupils dilated and her breathing became shallow told me she was more than interested in a little exhibitionism. Fuck, she was so perfect for me

I leaned in to press my lips against hers in an experimental kiss. She responded beautifully, her breath hitching and her tongue poking out to lick at the seam of my lips.

I pulled away and asked one last time before I let things go further. This was happening whether we liked it or not, but I wanted us both to want it. I needed to hear her give her consent. ‘Are you good?’

‘Yes,’ she breathed the word against my lips.

‘Perfect,’ I said, leaning in to kiss her again, but I didn’t get very far. Instead, she pushed against my chest until I stumbled back, only stopping when my back was against the wall. Then she scrunched the collar of my shirt in her fist and pulled me towards her, her lips paused bare millimetres from my own.

‘Let’s show everyone in this room just how much of a good boy you are,’ she teased, quiet enough only for me to hear. Her sudden dominance had my cock upright and rigid so fast I feared it would tear my pants right open. I’d experienced this side of her once before, but only vaguely. While she’d been in control, she’d still been looking for guidance. Now, she was only looking to devour.

I moaned. This may not be the way I imagined our first time together, but it was going to be incredible regardless.

I took in her heavy-lidded eyes, lust shining through her big brown orbs in her sultry gaze. She bit her lip as she checked me out, her tongue poking out to lubricate them, and I felt a bead of precum already seeping out the tip of my cock to soak through my pants.

Fuck the shitty circumstances. I was looking forward to this.