“You’re lucky you got a white tail, ya know,” a voice said in my ear.
I rolled over on the thin blue palate I had chosen because it was in the corner, away from everyone else, and looked at the speaker warily. It was a small woman with bright pink skin and four arms.
She looked like the Mind-controlled workmen Sir and I had seen on our first trip to the throne room, I thought. Torvians—that was what they were called—but she didn’t seem dangerous. It had been hours and hours since Shadrack had shoved me in the crowded room and no one else had said a word to me. Maybe I should try to make a friend, as he had sarcastically suggested.
“Um, hi,” I said. “What’s your name?”
“La’le’la,” she said, giving me a friendly smile and my tail another wistful look. “You’re so lucky to have a white tail!”
“Because it means no one can touch me, right?” I asked hopefully. “I mean, that’s what my old Master told me.”
“He told you right,” La’le’la said. “Means the prospective buyers can’t ‘try you out’ before the auction.”
“Try me out?” I looked at her in horror and then glanced at her tail, which was made of long black fibers. “Is that what your tail means? They get to—?”
“Oh, they don’t get to fuck you—it’s not like that,” La’le’la said. “But they do get to tweak your nipples and shove their cocks in you, just to see how they like the fit—ya know?” She shook her head. “I’m not looking forward to that—it’ll make my Heat so much worse!”
“Your, uh, Heat?” I looked at her uncertainly.
“Sure. We Torvians go through Heat before our Mating Cycle. It’s one reason the Korrigons were able to label us as ‘animals’ and dominate our planet.” She sounded bitter. “When a female Torvian goes into Heat, she needs to get fucked.” She shifted restlessly on the thin purple palate beside mine. “And I’m needing pretty bad right now. Not that this damn thing will help me.” She nodded down to the long tail made of silky black fibers that was protruding from between her pink butt cheeks.
“But…” I cleared my throat. “Won’t, er, having prospective buyers ‘try you out’ help with that?”
“Afraid not.” She shook her head. “See, having a black tail means they can try you out, like I said—but only once. Meaning they just slip it in and hold it there a minute—no thrusting or coming allowed and that’s what I need—for a male to shoot his seed in me.” She sighed. “Well, maybe I’ll get what my body wants during the Pet Show afterwards.”
“The Pet Show?” I asked, frowning. “There’s going to be a show after the auction?”
“Oh, yeah.” She nodded her head knowledgably. “All the Masters who pay to attend the auction sign a binding agreement to participate in the Pet Show afterwards with at least one of the Pets they purchase. It kind of raises the profile of the event, you know?” She shrugged. “Anyway, it’s possible that whoever buys me will put me in the show, and we all know how these kinds of shows end.”
“We do? I mean, I don’t,” I protested.
“Why, with the pets getting fucked, of course! That’s the whole point of it.” She looked at me like I should have known that. “Haven’t you ever been in a show before?”
“No, never.” I shook my head. “Although my, er, previous Master got me ready to be in one. I mean, we did a lot of training.”
I thought of my “training” with Sir and a shiver ran down my spine. If only he was the one who would buy me, I wouldn’t mind a bit participating in the Pet Show with him. But the idea of being with any other man that way turned my stomach.
“Well, you’re gonna be in this show, I bet,” La’le’la said, eyeing me speculatively. “I mean, you’re obviously a fancy pet—a rare, expensive breed.” She leaned forward and sniffed at me. “And you’ve got the scent of a HighBorn Korrigon on you, too,” she added. “It’s faint but it’s there—the other Korrigon buyers will smell it. Bet the bidding will go through the roof when you’re brought to the block.”
I wondered how in the world I could still smell like Sir after two weeks and numerous showers and baths, but apparently I did and his scent on me would be a big selling point.
“I…was owned by a HighBorn Korrigon,” I admitted, since there didn’t seem to be any point in denying it. “But he…he sent me back home. He didn’t want me anymore.” My eyes were stinging as I spoke and suddenly the longing for Sir that I had been trying to push to the back of my mind nearly overwhelmed me.
“Aww, sweetie—don’t cry.” La’le’la looked at me anxiously. “You don’t want to ruin your looks before the auction! It’s real important to look your best so you can get the highest bid and the richest Master. That way you’ll be living in the lap of luxury when all this is over.”
“I don’t care who buys me,” I said bleakly. “The only one I want is my old Master—the only one I want is Sir.”
“Maybe he’ll change his mind and come looking to buy you,” La’le’la said comfortingly. “I bet he’s missing you as much as you’re missing him, sweetie.”
“You’re very kind,” I said, sniffing. “But if he wanted me, he wouldn’t have left me in the first place. Besides, he doesn’t even know I’m here. In fact, he doesn’t even know I’m in the same galaxy as him! For all he knows, I’m back on Earth. Not that I was very happy there, either,” I added.
“No? Why not?” La’le’la asked. “Tell me all about it—maybe it’ll help distract you from missing your old Master.”
“Well…” I sighed and swiped at my eyes. “I guess it can’t hurt…”
We talked for a long time. I told La’le’la about my crappy job with Great Aunt Maizy and her yappy little dogs and how I had been sleeping on my sister’s couch.
She frowned.
“So you’re a pet who used to take care of other pets?”
“A lot of them,” I said grimly. “And there was a new litter of puppies recently, which basically doubled the workload. But tell me about your life,” I said. “I’m curious about your people and how you live.”
“Well, sure,” La’le’la said amiably. She told me about her life on Torvia Prime and how she had been raised to be a pet from her earliest childhood.
“I always knew I would belong to a Master,” she said, sighing wistfully. “It’s a better fate than what most of my people get. The males of my planet are sent away as laborers or skilled craftsmen and the females are either maids and cooks in the rich Korrigons’ households or Sex Pets with Korrigon Masters. I have a pretty face and a svengalla pussy so—”
“Excuse me,” I interrupted her. “A what?”
“Oh, a svengalla pussy. It’s especially tight and plump and it molds to the shaft of whatever male enters me to give him special, individualized pleasure,” she explained. “It’s considered extremely desirable in a Sex Pet.”
“Uh…how did you find out that you have this, um, kind of pussy?” I asked, frowning.
“I was bred for it,” she said airily. “So I knew I’d be a Sex Pet because it would be a waste to let a girl with a svenglla pussy end up as a cook or a maid. And sure enough…” she shrugged, all four of her arms moving with the motion. “Here I am.”
“That’s terrible!” I said indignantly. “Don’t you want to be free?”
“I want my people to be free,” La’le’la told me. “But as for freedom for myself, that would mean getting a job. And to be honest, I’d rather live in the lap of luxury and get fucked every day than go out and grind away at some mindless labor I hate.”
This attitude shocked me, but La’le’la seemed to take it as a matter of course. She told me what she hoped for was a rich, kind Master who would become so attached to her he would never want to sell her and would keep her in luxury.
“Eating Glordian crème bon-bons and getting my Heat-itch scratched regularly—that’s good enough for me,” she sighed. “A damn sight better than working as a maid or a cook!”
“Well, I think it’s terrible that your people are enslaved to the Korrigons—and so many other people in your galaxy too,” I said, frowning. I wished I still had the Sovereign’s ear. She had seemed young enough and flexible enough to realize how wrong what her people was doing to other sentient species was and maybe even to put an end to it.
But as Gra’multh had said, there would be no more chocolate chip cookie parties with the Sovereign for me. Not now that I was going to be sold to a complete stranger, who might take extreme steps to silence me.
A shiver went through me at the thought and I tried to push it away.
“La’le’la, do you think—” I began, but just then the door opened and Shadrack stepped through. There was another male behind him but not a Korrigon. It was a little green guy, only about five feet tall, who had short black hair and slender, pointed ears. To me, he looked a little like an elf.
“All right, you lot!” Shadrack roared. “It’s time to get ready for the auction—all your future Masters are lining up to see you, so you gotta get into position. This here is Mister Takalook our coordinator and poser—he’s gonna make sure you’re posed just right.”
“Yes, I am. And dear me, there’s quite a lot of raw material to work with!” The little green guy—Mister Takalook—clasped his hands together in obvious excitement. “It’s my job to get all you girls looking just perfect so you can get the best Master possible,” he said, addressing the whole room. “So it’s in your best interest to work with me, people! All right?”
Some of the girls gave him sullen glares but many were nodding their heads. I saw La’le’la’s eyes light up when he spoke.
“Oh, I’m so glad we have a coordinator!” she exclaimed.
“You are?” I asked, frowning.
“Oh, yes—all the high-end auctions have them!” She nodded eagerly. “He’ll be certain we’re looking good for the Masters. Remember, Elli—the better you look, the higher your bids. And the higher your bids, the richer your Master.”
“Okay,” I said but I couldn’t share her eager enthusiasm. I didn’t care how rich my new Master was—I didn’t want to be a Sex Pet for anyone but Sir.
But it seemed I was never destined to see him again.