Gemini (The Zodiac Brides #2)

Chapter 1

Oh, Wendy, Wendy, Wendy…

Wendy

My wrist hurt as I tried to pull my arms free from the scratchy string holding them together at my back.

I forced my eyes open, fighting against the strain and exhaustion, letting my sight adjust to the darkness of the night. People—men—chatted and cheered just a few feet behind me in the otherwise mostly silent forest.

Where were we? I was supposed to—

I jolted, eyes now wide as I scanned my surroundings.

The shuttle was attacked.

We crashed.

I was supposed to meet my…husband.

Shit!

I turned my head, trying to look over my shoulder and past the tree I was bound to. A fire and a group of men eating around it. Narrowing my gaze to try and see their faces better, I realized that none of them were part of the shuttle crew.

Double shit.

My feet were tied too. They really did take every precaution to prevent any possible escape.

I grunted, pulling harder and harder, scratching my skin raw from the burn of the string as I tried to break free, only to freeze with a gasp as someone approached.

All the blood drained from my face when the scarred man crouched in front of me, a satisfied grin on his face.

“Oh, Wendy, Wendy, Wendy…Stop hurting yourself, will you?”

“Let me go,” I forced out.

“You know I can’t do that. You’re valuable. Like all women coming from your colony.”

I spat at his face and he scoffed, wiping it with the back of his hand.

“You’re far from home,” he said, shaking his hand. “I wasn’t gonna let such an opportunity slip through my fingers. You sex-craved women never leave your little dens, after all. Well, except when you are bought by powerful men.”

My throat dried out. My sister had been one of them, happily leaving just a year ago to become a sex worker in one of those fancy space hotels. She wrote to me every month, telling me how good life was over there. How obsessed men had become over her. How satisfied she was now.

It was hard for women like us—being born on a planet that didn’t suit human life, we were given supplements from a young age and until we reached puberty. Said supplements also fucked with our hormones and made us…horny. Until it sometimes ached.

Men from all over the galaxy traveled to our colony. Our brothels were the most proficient and men spent fortunes hoping to bring one of us back with them.

But most of us never left.

We were protected on our planet. Our men protected us from the others.

The man in front of me—George Falcon—was forbidden to land on my colony after he tried stealing a couple of my friends.

After he had abused them. It was hard to abuse women that were ninety-five percent of the time willing to give you a good time.

But he had beaten and bruised their bodies. Broken their spirit.

And now…he had gotten me.

“Where were you headed, hm?” he asked, sliding a rough hand to the back of my head, gripping my hair tightly. “That was a fancy shuttle you traveled in.”

“None of your damn business.”

He pulled my head closer to his face with a snarl and I winced, eyes shutting close, anticipating a blow. But it didn’t come. “Who did you sell your cunt to, huh? Some rich old dude who’ll pass you to his other rich friends? Like the good little slut that you are?”

I didn’t answer. Telling him that I was traveling to the Zodiac System to be married and bred by an Alien for free seemed like it would only anger him more.

Did we even reach the System? The crew had said we were just over an hour away from the station before we were attacked.

“Where is the crew?” I asked through the pain.

He pulled harder on my hair. “Dead. We scattered their guts around camp to keep the potential predators off our backs.”

Predators? “What—what planet did we crash on?” He ripped his hand away, pulling the hair brooch with him to inspect it. The brooch my sister had given me before she left. My heart broke in my chest. “Give it back—”

“I haven’t seen any humans to rescue you,” he sneered, ignoring me and sliding the precious item in his pocket. “We’re on Gemini. And in two days, your buyer will be here to make me a really rich and happy man.”

Gemini…So I did make it to my destination…

But the chances that my husband found me before my “buyer” were slim.

And whoever that man was? I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet him, high libido be damned.

Because if he was allowed to, he would have tried to get one of us directly where we came from.

Which could only mean he was on my colony’s black list, and not someone I would enjoy my time with.