Quiver by Viola Grace Page A

could say to that. It might have been involuntary on his part. She ignored it and kept working, but the room felt so hot that she wanted to open her shirt.
    Sweat beaded on her lips, and she definitely didn’t feel like herself. She was actually fantasizing about finding a faceless guy and riding him until they both came.
    Anna shook her head, focused on work and kept working until it was time to head home.
    That day, the men weren’t just staring; a few followed her toward home until she put a set of train tracks between her and her pursuers.
    The scent of diesel did the trick.
    Thank god, the weekend had come on time.
    She spent Saturday and Sunday on her own, overheated, her pussy throbbing and her blood on fire. After four days of escalation, she was relieved to find that the effects had faded.
    It was time to ask her parents about what was going on.
     
    Her mom made her a cup of coffee, and her dad stared at her, scowling with his nose twitching.
    “Anna, what is wrong?” His comforting voice rolled over her.
    Her mom looked at her and smiled. “He worries.”
    Anna tried to think about what she wanted to ask and finally said, “Are there any issues with ladies in either of your families being followed by men at certain times?”
    Her dad nodded. “My mother had that problem.”
    Her mother suddenly got serious. “You think it is that?”
    Her dad wrinkled his nose again. “It seems like it.”
    Anna was a little surprised when they brought her into the sitting room and her father left for a moment.
    “Mom, what’s going on?”
    Her mother smiled softly and patted her knee. “Don’t worry. Your father’s family has a long history of this kind of thing. He was just hoping that it wouldn’t show up in you. It is a little tricky to deal with.”
    Her dad came back in, hauling a box that Anna didn’t recognise.
    “Is that Grandpa’s?”
    Her dad smiled softly. “No, it is your grandmother’s. She left it in case there were any other ladies in the family.”
    He opened the box and carefully removed a small, leather-bound journal, handing it to her. “My mother struggled with literacy so read slowly.”
    “What about Grandpa?”
    Her dad smiled. “He wasn’t my father. The journal explains it. Just read and keep reading.”
    Confused and curious, Anna opened the journal, looked at the spidery script and started reading.
     
    An hour later, her head was pounding and she was shaking with illness when she realized that every woman in her family line had gone through the same thing. As if being a woman didn’t already put her at a disadvantage, she had to be out in a world where her body was in danger.
    “So Grandpa wasn’t...”
    Her dad smiled. “He was my dad, but he didn’t father me. Your gran was chased by a mob, and I was the result.”
    Anna sucked in a breath and told her parents about her meeting with the Volunteer Recruiter.
    The more she spoke, the more her parents looked at each other with a weird decision in their eyes.
    Her mother nodded. “I think you should go, baby. This is a chance to break the cycle. If you don’t, you will be in danger every time this comes around.”
    Her dad looked at her and smiled. “Your mom isn’t wrong.”
    “I am never wrong, darling,” her mom piped in.
    “Right. This isn’t a good life for you. Sometimes, the hardest decision is the right one.”
    Anna looked at them. “I don’t know if I want to leave Earth.”
    Her parents smiled, and her dad took her hand. “Yes, you do. You made the decision months ago. We talked about it, we agreed that we would be proud to have you out there, and now that your options have limited you, you want to rethink it. Rethink it all you want, but do it. If this is a genetic reaction that trails back through generations, the folk you are going to might have a better idea of how to handle it.”
    Anna wrinkled her nose. “They will auction me off to the highest bidder.”
    “As a slave?” Her mother was