The First She ✓ (Ezron Book 1)

ELEVEN

Her fight came to her like breath. She twisted and coiled, trying to push Vrox off her body. As usual, she was rendered useless under his power.

Dirt scraped her arm and cheek, while the child's cry scratched her ears. She knew that Vrox could hear the child's cry as well, which is why she didn't understand why he wasn't running to his rescue.

Why was he laying atop her, smoldering her voice?

She muttered demands and asked questions, but they were unable to make their way past his oppressive hand.

She continued her struggle, insisting until her muscles were sedated with fatigue. As her strength left her, anger swelled.

All she wanted was to go out and rescue the child. The wilderness terrified her– an adult woman, so she couldn't begin to imagine what that hopeless child was feeling.

Vrox kept her down, and he didn't seem interested in letting her go any time soon. This side of him was monstrous. She knew that the wilderness was more dangerous in the night time, but it wasn't right to turn their backs on a child.

It wasn't until many minutes later that the child's cries came to a halt. She stopped breathing altogether, assuming the worst.

Did the child just become some toothy animal's dinner?

She was unable to fall asleep, too alert with guilt and disgust for Vrox. Her freedom was restored at the first peek of the sun, and she kicked away from him the second she felt his arms slack.

"You crazy son of a bitch!" she spat, fighting the urge to strike him. She knew well that hitting him would only piss him off, and possibly incentivize him to hit her back.

Vrox sat up and watched her as she began to lose her shit. She pointed to the mouth of the cave while running her free hand through her hair.

"We could have saved him. He was a fucking kid!"

It didn't matter whether the child was an alien or human; she would have rescued it all the same.

"Do you not have a heart in that stupidly big chest of yours, you simple animal?"

Vrox absorbed her rage. What remained of braid flicked around, and more of that moisture that he couldn't identify rolled down her cheeks.

"You fucking primitive degenerate."

Her vicious words kept coming, trying to hurt him in the ways that she couldn't physically. Her braid flicked left and right as bittersweet satisfaction braided with her fury.

Vrox had just proved to her that all men were selfish monsters.

He stared at her blankly. He didn't need to understand her words. The pitch-black abhor in her gaze and the speed of her speech made her upset quite obvious. He tried to think of ways to explain that what she heard crying last night was a devious creature and not a child, but was unable to find the words.

Annoyed with the high pitch of her voice, he walked to the mushroom-like plant and began to pluck their breakfast.

Kira sniffled and tried to recollect her breath, ignoring the plant that he offered to her. Her stomach was as dry as a dessert, craving both food and water, but she wasn't in the mood to eat.

"Do not start defying me. You will eat and then rub your medicine on your chest and crotch wounds."

He pushed the handful further into Kira's hand, glaring a threat. She accepted it but refused to bring it to her mouth.

Vrox filled himself, taking a break before dealing with the frustrating youth. Once his body was nourished and ready to take on the day, he sat beside Kira and picked at her braid.

"Look at what you did to your hair," he scolded. "How many times must I tell you that you need to keep it aside? It will do you no good to have it in your face while a beast attacks. I cannot protect you forever. You must become your own man."

Kira tried to move away, and he punished her with a sharp tug to her hair. With an annoyed grunt, he untied the braid and redid it. His nails and thick fingers got in the way as they always did, complicating the task.

"You will now eat."

He grabbed her wrist and guided it to her mouth, waiting for her to take a bite.

"Mothers, Vrox!"

Vrox stopped, forgetting about feeding food to Kira's mouth and medicine to her breasts. Meanwhile, Kira forgot how to breathe altogether. She dropped her breakfast and launched herself t0 the back of the cave.

"Mothers, Draekon," Vrox replied as he stood up. "How did you find me?"

He ducked his head as he exited the cave, finding his brother standing many yards away. Draekon was young, but that's about where their similarities ended. He had scales running down his left leg, regal green eyes, and a long braid of hair. Draekon was shorter by a few inches, but he made up for it in personality. He was the peacemaker of the family, while Vrox was the drifter.

"I saw you yesterday and followed," the younger brother answered. "I had to camp earlier because I thought it was going to storm. What are you doing here? The others are waiting for the delivery."

Vrox sighed. He had been sent out to gather medicinal plants for the group but ended up picking up a bratty Kira instead.

"I got distracted. I found a boy, and I have been trying to keep the little pesky thing alive."

"A boy? Alone in the forest?" Draekon laughed while stopping by his side. "That's impossible, Vrox. You probably ate some joy berries and hallucinated the whole thing."

"I will show you, but do not get too close. He is fearful of men. I think it is because someone hurt him."

Draekon raised one of his thick, dark eyebrows. "That is even more impossible. No one hurts boys. They are more valuable than spinx fur."

"I know it. I saw his injury. Someone has dismembered him."

Anger clouded his brother's face. Across their planet, the length of one's cock was a sign of strength and dominance. They walked around naked proudly because a man only hid his cocks if it was shamefully short.

To prevent a boy from developing such a scared feature of power was a sin deserving death.

"Is he alright? Does he need medicine?"

Vrox shook his head at Draekon. "I don't believe he is in a great deal of pain. Stay here. I will get him."