hand emerged from the sleeve to grab a piece of fruit from a nearby cart, his heart almost stopped in his chest. Despite the temporary tattoos on her hands marking her as a brothel worker, he was certain he was tailing a human.
“What the…” Axis looked around, scanning the crowd for threats but seeing none.
With purposeful strides, he moved quickly and efficiently, grabbing the hand and pulling the cloaked person behind him even as they began to struggle. He needed to get her somewhere safe, a place where they could go and figure things out.
“Let go!”
Axis pushed the woman against the wall of the alley he’d dragged her into. The voice was definitely female. None of this made sense.
“Where did you come from?” he questioned as he pushed the hood of her cloak back.
The face looking up at him made his jaw drop. Never before had he seen such a beautiful female, even with the split lip and blackened eyes that glared back at him.
Although his lips refused to move, a million questions flew through his mind as he studied her.
“I promise I was going to pay,” the female pleaded, frantically searching the cloak’s pockets.
Axis dropped her arm. Her tears drew an instinct to calm her and ease the upset he’d caused. She was so much smaller than he was, he could have easily hurt her with his strength and not even known it.
“Shhhh, sweeting,” he murmured patting her shoulder awkwardly. Looking around again, he didn’t see anyone searching for the female he’d hustled away. Where was her protector? How was she here? “Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“I’m nobody,” she whispered, her gaze shooting to the ground where it stayed focused, even as he tried to get a better look at her. “Please let me go.”
“Go where?” he asked, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he’d found a human. A female human. Wandering alone in the market of Euphoria.
“Please.” Twisting her wrist in his grip, she pulled with all her might. “They’ll punish me if they think I’m trying to run away again.”
Fearing he could hurt her, Axis loosened his grip only to curse as she slipped her hand right out of his hold.
“Wait!” he yelled after the woman as she darted in front of a cart, barely missing its large wheels that could have easily caused her serious harm, if not death.
Running after her, Axis tried to keep her in his sights, but with her size and the crowd, it wasn’t long before he’d lost her. Needing not only his communicator, but also his weapons, he made his way back to his shuttle as quickly as he could.
He booted the comms and quickly typed out a message for the council. He’d found what Kaine meant when he’d said out of the ordinary.
A human was living on Euphoria. A woman he was going to find.
Chapter Two
Nova bit her lip until the taste of blood filled her mouth. The taste was unpleasant but managed to give her something to focus on other than the asshole alien whipping her. Her cries only made him strike harder. She struggled to control the sounds being torn from her throat until they became silent screams against the wood beam in front of her. It was the only thing she could do in hopes that he’d get bored and end things sooner rather than later. Considering this wasn’t her first punishment, she’d thought she would have gotten used to it or built up a tolerance to the fire searing her back, but she hadn’t. The pain was fresh each and every time he swung the whip. He’d done it so many times she’d lost track. Time seemed to slow whenever she tried to keep track of the beatings, prolonging the pain. Each second seemed a thousand years long as Nova struggled for breath through the cutting agony.
Her body bowed forward, even though there was nowhere for her to run. The pole she was tied to kept her from moving too far, but at this point, she appreciated its sturdiness. It was the only thing that kept her standing, since her knees had given out long ago. She wasn’t sure how long exactly, but it had to have been a few hours at least. The abuse had started with pinches, slaps, and punches, but progressed to the whipping more recently. Things were blurry, but Nova knew it hadn’t been a full day since Talis had dragged her back to the