Sohut's Protection: A Sci-fi Alien Romance (Riv's Sanctuary Book 2) A.G. Wilde (best way to read an ebook TXT) 📖

The auction.

These were the beings being auctioned.

Clee-yo.

Her name sounded so loud in his head, he worried that he’d said it out loud.

Moving swiftly but carefully so as not to draw attention to himself, he moved toward the displays, his eyes searching desperately for a hint of his female.

And he found her.

At least, he thought he did.

It was a display with a garden and on the other side were females that looked Merssi except for their skin coloring and heads.

There were about six of them…but no Clee-yo.

His life organ fell.

He was about to move away when his eyes caught movement underneath a large tree off to the side of the display.

Moving closer, he peered in just as a female stepped from underneath the blossoms.

She was…gorgeous.

Pale skin. Long legs. Hair like zimsu flowers.

This time his life organ leaped inside him.

Clee-yo.

But she looked different.

Her hair shone as if it had recently been washed with softening products and she was wearing a see-through shimmering gown that stopped mid-thigh.

His life organ crashed then beamed.

His gnora.

She was alive and well.

Beside him, he could hear the excited grunts of the Tasqals gathered in front of the display.

The sound of them almost had his claws protracting right there to rip their throats out.

Their attention was on his gnora. Clee-yo.

It was no wonder she’d been hiding under the tree.

She was obviously sought after by the brutes.

As she moved toward the transparent barrier, she was frowning at the Tasqals gathered at the display when her gaze fell on him.

Without realizing what he was doing, he reached out and placed his hand, now claw, against the transparent surface.

For a moment, she just stared at him before her frown became confused and she knelt before him.

She stared at him for a few moments and even though he knew that to her, he looked like the enemy, he hoped something in his eyes could let her know she was not alone.

That he was there to save her.

That he would get her out of this.

She must have seen something, because the confusion grew in her eyes before she stood again, her gaze still on him.

In the next moment, her head snapped to the side, her eyes widening before she stood and darted back under the tree.

Confused as well, it took him a moment to realize Hedgerud fighters had entered the terrarium.

They were pulling the other females not so gently toward the door they’d entered through while, on his side of the barrier, the Tasqals and their guards were moving.

Showtime.

Yet, he couldn’t leave the spot till he saw that Clee-yo was okay.

In the next second, she came from underneath the blossoms, her arms folded across her chest and a glimmer in her eyes.

He knew that look.

She was planning something.

His claw pressed against the transparent barrier as she walked bravely toward the guard, not even flinching when the beast took her roughly by the shoulder.

He was going to snap that guard’s arm and pull it from his body as soon as he had the chance.

Stepping into the shadows, Sohut activated the distorter on his arm once more, changing forms. Before his eyes, his arms changed to those of a Tasqal and he knew the distortion of the rest of his image was complete.

To everybody else, he would look like one of the awful elite.

This was it.

Clee-yo was ready to fight, and so was he.

31

Cleo gripped her lucky piece of metal and the shiv underneath each arm as she was led from the terrarium.

Her entire survival depended on what she did in the next few moments.

And she was going to survive.

She had to keep telling herself that.

Swallowing hard, she glanced back at the fairy garden before her gaze fell on the gator-guard who was still at the transparent barrier.

He was still watching her, and her heart lurched again like the first time she’d noticed him.

She didn’t know what it was and she couldn’t explain it, but he made her feel strange. She’d almost put her hand against his claw as it had pressed against the glass.

Apparently, she was starting to go crazy after all the many days spent in captivity.

That’s why she had to keep repeating to herself that she was going to survive.

She could do it.

She had to.

It was either that, or lose her mind.

As the gator-guard pulled her roughly along, she didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear, even though it was crawling all over her spine.

It also came to her that she was alone with the guard.

The other females were nowhere to be seen and soon she was pushed into a small dark room that was flooded with a red light. To her back were dark walls and to her front was another transparent wall of glass.

The room wasn’t much larger than a small bathroom and she immediately began to feel claustrophobic.

To boot, the thing around her neck felt like it was squeezing her tight whenever she had any intense emotions like this.

Gulping, she turned her gaze to the front of the room and what she saw on the other side chilled her completely.

Five or maybe six of the toad-men, the Tasqals she’d come to learn they were called, were sitting there.

They all looked similar, all dressed in white robes, but the one thing that was most creepy about them was the sleazy smiles they all had on their faces.

All except one.

He was sitting at the back, and for some reason, her gaze gravitated toward him.

He wasn’t smiling like the others and even though he was focused on her like all the others were, his gaze seemed different.

She wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing yet. For all she knew, he could be the crudest of them all.

Behind her, the door to the room closed and she was left alone.

“Specimen: human,” a robotic voice boomed.

Wait.

Panic flooded her.

It was starting already?

“Age: estimated at twenty and a half orbits,” it continued. “Warranty: none. Estimated life cycle: thirty rotations with hard usage.”

Cleo swallowed hard