Valiant Read online

  “You didn’t mount her.” Pete approached the cage. “Why not? Do you like men, 927? The doctor said to leave her in there and your nature will eventually make you fuck her. That smell thing must have worked since you are interested in her. I guess you guys don’t mind sharing, huh?”

  Mike snorted. “If you bend her over it’s just the same as taking a man.”

  “One asshole is as good as another. Just close your eyes and pretend she’s Mike.”

  “Hey, that isn’t funny. Don’t have him fantasize about bending me over. I don’t want him looking at me that way.”

  Pete laughed. “Better he thinks about you that way than me and we’re the only two he sees unless you want to count the doctor. Nobody would want to screw him.”

  “True.” Mike laughed. He opened the cell door and set down a large platter and a container. “Come and get it.” He slammed the cell door and both men left.

  A minute later the loud noise sounded again. The glass partition started to slowly rise. 927 relaxed and turned to meet Tammy’s gaze. “I will go over there. You can use the toilet without me watching you.”

  She nodded. “Thank you.”

  There was no privacy inside the room. She glanced at 927. He had walked to the cell door and stared out of it, keeping his back to her. The toilet was just that, a portable one that had been set on the metal with tubes shoved between the wall and the cage that led out of sight.

  Toilet paper sat on the back of the lid. Tammy hurried and used it. There was a hose and a drain hole had been cut through metal next to the seat on the floor. She used it to wash her hands. It was similar to turning on a garden hose and just pointing the weak spray into the hole on the floor. This had to be his only way to get clean. It was barbaric.

  “I’m done. Thank you.”

  927 turned and nodded. He picked up the silver container and carried it to the bed. 927 pointed to the floor when he took a seat there, indicating she should sit next to him. He used the bed for a table. She cringed when he lifted the lid to reveal the food. It was “Valiant food” only. She could tell it wasn’t cooked much. They’d brought steaks, sliced into strips, seared only, on a bloody plate.

  She sat. “I can’t eat that. It’s too raw.”

  He frowned at her. “You will eat. You need strength. Close your eyes and think why you must survive. You must take down at least one.”

  She cringed but knew he had a point. She hadn’t eaten in a long time and her belly ached from hunger. He picked up a chunk of seared meat and held it out. Her hands shook as her fingers gripped an end of it, careful not to let blood drip onto her clothes.

  He lifted another and locked gazes with her. He showed her how to sink her teeth into it and yank to tear the meat. She tried but the meat was very tough and her teeth weren’t sharp enough as his were. She had to fight the urge to be sick at the taste of blood. The meat had dripped it into her mouth when she’d bitten into it, trying to tear it unsuccessfully. She tried to bite into it but since it was so tough and thick that she just took it out.

  “I can’t eat this. I can’t even get a piece. I can only gnaw on it.”

  He reached over and used his fingers to open her lips, his knuckle against her teeth to nudge them open too. Tammy opened her mouth for his inspection. He frowned. His fingertip ran across the edge of her teeth before he explored her back teeth. He pulled his finger away.

  “They are too smooth. Why did your kind allow someone to grind your teeth down? They are useless.”

  “They just grow this way. We don’t have a need to tear things with our teeth. We use forks and knives.”

  He pulled the meat from her fingers. He opened his mouth and tore a small piece of meat from the steak and handed it to her. She hesitated and took it. Good thing I’m not a germ freak, huh? She cringed as she ate the small piece of bloody meat. He tore another small piece off and placed it on the tray in front of hers. He used his teeth and kept tearing her small strips, making a pile.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Never in a million years would she think she’d eat raw meat and thank a man for using his sharp teeth to rip it apart to make the bites small enough for her to chew and swallow. She also never believed she’d be hungry enough not to gag at either reality.

  Tammy couldn’t eat it all. What she didn’t eat, 927 did. He ate more than Valiant had. He removed the empty tray and walked to the cell door. He turned the tray and shoved it outside the cell. When it dropped it made a loud crash that Tammy winced over. He returned and twisted open the metal thermos. He sniffed it before handing it to Tammy.

  “It is safe. Sometimes they put drugs in my drink but I’d smell it.”

  She smiled at him after enjoying the icy-cold water and handed it back. He drank while staring at her. Her smile slipped at the odd expression that darkened his eyes and made him study her a little too intensely for comfort.

  “What?”

  “You are attractive. You smell sweet.”

  An uneasy feeling made her nervous. “Valiant said when I’m scared I smell that way. I’ve been scared a lot since yesterday.”

  He hesitated. “You belong to this Valiant?”

  She nodded. “We’re getting married.”

  “Married? What is this?”

  She considered her words. “It’s a ceremony that binds us together until we die in my world. He wants to marry me to make sure human law acknowledges that I belong to him.”

  He nodded. “But you already belong to him?”

  “Yes.”

  He softly growled. “That is too bad. I want you.”

  She inched back from him, feeling fear. “No.”

  He frowned. “I said it is too bad. Do you not understand this?”

  “I belong to Valiant.”

  “Keep your voice down or they will hear us. I know. I agree.”

  Her heart rate returned to normal. “I was afraid you didn’t care that I am his. The way you said that implied you were going to…touch me anyway.”

  He shrugged. “I would want him to protect you if you were mine and you were taken from me to be given to another. I would kill him if he mounted you. I will not force breed you, Tammy. I may want to but I can control it. My mind rules my body.”

  Good thing.

  “I just hope that this Valiant comes for you soon.” He stood. “You smell too good. It has been a long time since I allowed my body to give in to the urge to breed. Much too long to be this close to you.”

  That made Tammy uneasy again. It almost sounded as though it were a threat. As if he warned her that his control would only last so long. She bit her lip. “What do you do in here to keep busy?”

  He shrugged. “I grow strong.”

  She glanced at the large room. There was the twin bed and the toilet. The small hose with the twist-turn to shut it on and off and the drain in the floor were the only other things. She had no idea what he meant.

  “You must get so bored.”

  “Bored?”

  She tried to think of a way to explain it to him. “You have nothing to do.”

  “I get strong.” He moved to the floor beside her and did pushups. She watched as his muscles strained and tightened while he quickly lifted up and down. He eventually stopped and glanced at the wall. He ran at it, twisted, and slammed his body against it. He did that a few times, switching shoulders as he hit it. She stared at the bars and realized they’d bent slightly, just barely, and she wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been searching for damage.

  He stopped doing that and walked to the front of the cell where the bars were. He gripped them and did pushups while standing. He finally turned and strode to the center of the cage. He suddenly crouched down and leapt high into the air. His fingers caught the bars of the roof, his body hung feet from the floor and she watched in amazement as he did pull-ups. He seemed to do them forever until sweat dripped down his body. He released the bars and landed gracefully on his bare feet. He turned and looked at her.