His Human Possession (Zandian Masters 8)

The only inevitability.

At least she got hers over sooner than later.

The door slid open and she ran to Paal’s chamber. He’d given her a code to enter to get in and she used it. She rushed in to grab her thin

gs—which really consisted of a few borrowed items of clothing, then quickly left, running back down the hall.

Should she take the lift? No, what if he was coming down?

She raced the opposite way down the corridor, jogging through the maze of halls that made up the center level of the pod. She just needed to find a place to hide.

And she needed it quick—before the tears started to fall.

Rage rocketed through Paal. He slammed his fist into the wall beside the lift to keep himself from tearing after his female and demanding to know exactly what was going on.

This baby probably isn’t even yours.

Was it true? How had she even been impregnated? Weren’t all sex slaves altered to prohibit conception? Those who weren’t breeders, that is?

Had she known she was carrying another male’s baby whilst she tried to seduce him?

But if so, why not pretend it was his?

Nothing made sense.

All he knew was the sickening sense of being duped, being trapped when he’d heard her talking with the other human about securing her future made him certain he shouldn’t follow her.

Whatever was in play here, it would end in disaster.

He’d be the chump his father had been, left cold the moment the situation changed or a better opportunity came along.

His own mother had seen it clearly that night at the weekly meal, hadn’t she?

She looks like she wants to get her hooks into you.

He forced his feet to start walking and made his way to the deck, hoping to the Zandian star something—anything—would require his attention there.

8

Leti ignored the female voices around her.

Maybe they’d go ahead if she just left her head under the pillow.

Some being pulled the covers off her and gave her leg a little shake. “Come on, Leti. You can’t cry in bed all day, even if it’s the nicest sleepdisk you’ve ever slept on.”

Bayla.

Sigh.

She emerged from under the pillow and shoved her tangled hair out of her face. Her eyes still stung from all the crying she’d done the night before. Or had it been an entire planet rotation ago? She didn’t know how long she’d been buried in Mina’s covers hoping to wake up to a new reality.

One in which it didn’t feel like her heart had been put in shackles and whipped with an animal hide strap until it gave up and just stopped working. And, of course, that image brought memories of Paal rushing back to the forefront.

“Guess what?” Bayla sat on the sleepdisk by her feet, Mina near her head. “Mina has the ability to project holograms in her chamber.”

Leti rubbed her swollen eyes. Bayla’s words made no sense to her overslept mind. “Huh?”

“Holograms. For entertainment. Some of them are funny, too. Want to watch?”