The rest of his words were lost in a haze as the room spun around Gabe. His field of vision narrowed and spots danced in front of his eyes. He fought to remain conscious, but it was a losing battle, and he blacked out.
Gabe regained consciousness with a start and found he was still restrained, but was now lying on a large bed, in a room he’d never seen before. The lights were soft, and he was naked beneath a silky sheet folded neatly at his waist. He tried to move, to test the padded cuffs at his wrists and ankles, but his body refused his commands. He couldn’t twitch so much as a finger. So why am I tied down? “This is fucking not happening,” he said out loud, glad his vocal cords worked at least.
He heard a door open out of his range of vision, and he tensed, waiting to see who his proposed assailant was to be.
With astonishment, he watched Ashla walk to the bed and sit on the mattress beside him. She was dressed in a soft peach colored robe, and her brown hair was tousled on her shoulders. It was obvious she wasn’t wearing anything underneath the garment, which was held closed by a loosely tied sash. Her usually severe expression was gone, and she was smiling as she ran her hand over his arm from the cuff to his shoulder.
The situation was so off the charts unreal he had a hard time believing he wasn’t hallucinating.
“Don’t touch me,” he said sharply, trying and failing to shift his body away from her. “Keep your hands off me.”
“But the Director has given you to me for one night,” she answered in a languid voice that gave him chills, as if she’d been drugged with something as well. “I asked for the experience, and she granted my request because I’ve been so diligent and loyal, even as the foolish Second Daughters rebel and question. You’re unique, and I’m intrigued.” Now she was running her hand over his bare chest and then his abdomen, tracing the well-defined muscles with her fingertip, and Gabe gritted his teeth in fury as he glared at her. She hummed a dreamy tune as she touched him. “I had Khagrish lovers when there were more of them here, at the Retreat, but it’s been many years now.” She tilted her head, eyes half closed, as if reviewing past memories. “Blanggin belongs to the Director, who doesn’t share, and Slibb is disgusting. Zammarqq was…incapable.”
Thoroughly repelled, he made his voice sharp to cut through the fog she seemed to be in. He was going to make his objections plain and undeniable. “Ashla, I’m not a plaything the director can give you or anyone else. I’m a man with free will, and I choose who to be with and when. This, tonight, is wrong. You know that. I don’t want to be with you.”
Apparently, his negative tone had an effect on her mood as she scooted back on the mattress a little and stared at him, one hand in her lap, fingers of the other nervously pleating the fabric of the robe. Eyebrows raised, she said, “You won’t be hurt. I can make the night a pleasant one for both of us as long as you co-operate.”
“You’re completely missing the point.” With an effort he controlled his temper, channeling his emotion into making his voice commanding and his objections clear. “You don’t have my consent.” Gabe studied her as if she was the one at a disadvantage here and not he, summoning his indignation. “How can you aid and abet the Khagrish in anything? The devious bastards are keeping you and the rest of us prisoners.” He wanted to move the conversation from her personal desires to the larger picture of what was going on at the retreat. Get her to re-focus.
Ashla shook her head, lips set in a pout. “The Director created us, she takes care of us, and we do her bidding.” Reaching out, she traced the Special Forces tatt on his bicep. “And on occasion she gives us rewards.”
“I’m not an object to be given to you for the night as a reward.” Anger made his voice sharp. He took a breath and softened his tone. “Life doesn’t have to be under the Khagrish control forever. You deserve to be free to make your own choices. I can help you if you let me out of these restraints.” She was a Badari, how could she not want freedom? But from her lack of reaction he inferred Ashla was indifferent to her own plight, much less the fate of her sisters. He remembered Keshara telling him how the First Daughter had embraced the Khagrish agenda to the exclusion of all else. Gabe racked his brain for what tactic might sway her to a different course of action.
“I only want one thing from you tonight. We waste precious time.” With a frown, she loosened the ties on her robe so the front fell open, revealing her naked body underneath. Gabe focused on the ceiling as she reached to fondle him through the sheet. “From the looks of it, you’ll be more than adequate to my needs, even if not ready for me yet.”
“I’m not going to co-operate.” Maintaining his line of sight above Ashla’s head, Gabe had never felt less aroused in his life. He was angry through and through, and his pulse pounded in his head from the strength of his emotion. This woman held no interest for him. He belonged to Keshara, body and soul and he wasn’t about to betray her by the slightest acquiescence to what Ashla had planned.
The Badari rose on her knees, straddling his body to force him to gaze at her face and gave him what she must have thought was a seductive glance from under artfully lowered eye lashes. Trailing a finger along his clenched jaw, the talon tip rasping a bit on the stubble, she practically purred. “I know how to inspire you. There are ways, although I hope you won’t make me resort to the more drastic and painful solutions the Director assures me Khagrish females use at times on recalcitrant Badari males.” With an exasperated sigh at his lack of reaction, she moved to the side of the bed again, away from him and sat on her heels, eyebrows raised. “This encounter doesn’t have to be unpleasant. You should be happy to have this one last night of pleasure before you enter into the experiment protocol.”
Desperation gave him inspiration and words. “Do you believe in the Great Mother? Do you honor her commands?”
Wrapping the robe around herself, she seemed as if she was about to slap him, her expression furious. “What do you know of the goddess? Why do you bring her into this? She has nothing to do with humans or the Khagrish. She belongs to us, she cares only about us. She’s ours and she won’t help you.”
Hoping the truth of what he was saying would ring clear to her in his voice, he said, “I’ve been to her great circle of trees in the south. I’ve seen her will manifested through the chants and actions of the healer in the pack I’m with. I believe in her power. This, what you want to do to me tonight, is against her express command.”
Ashla laughed, tossing her head. “The drugs make you babble nonsense, human. The goddess would care nothing about you. She’d be pleased for me to have a chance for pleasure I’ve long been denied through unfortunate circumstances. I knew from the scent of you all over Keshara you gave her enjoyment. I will have the same from you and the goddess will approve because I’m the Badari here. I’m entitled to the same gratification Keshara received. “
“It’s totally different between Keshara and me—we love each other. Look at my shoulder, Ashla, see the mark she gave me, the mark the goddess blessed. I’m Keshara’s mate, I’ve claimed and been claimed. You proceed with what you have in mind and you defy the goddess. Forcing me to dishonor my oath to my mate is wrong. To abrogate the bond the Great Mother blessed is sacrilege.” He dared to hope his words, which were from his heart, were having an impact on her as she chewed her lip and stared with unseeing eyes at the art print on the far wall.
Clearly, she hadn’t considered this aspect of her selfish and odious plan. He hoped however much of the ancestral memory she possessed would validate his assertion about the sacredness of the mate bond and outweigh any jealousy she might harbor toward Keshara. He was running a risk here, but his options were limited pretty much to psychological warfare until the drugs wore off.
Toying with the robe’s embroidered belt, she acted indecisive as she crossed her legs and frowned, focusing on his body rather than his face. Following up on the only hope he had of avoiding the repulsive encounter Ashla was bent on forcing on him, he asked, “Are you sure you want to cross t
Tips of her fangs showing, she pointed one taloned finger at him, eyes narrowed in a glare. “You lie. A Badari woman wouldn’t take a human as a mate. And the goddess wouldn’t bless such a union. You owe Keshara nothing.”
“You know I’m not lying. You’d scent a lie in a heartbeat.” He shook his head in slow motion, glad to have even that much muscle control. “Check the mark on my shoulder for yourself if you don’t believe me. I give you permission.”
Lips thin with annoyance, she frowned at him, then leaned over to pull his naked shoulder up from the mattress, her touch rough, and the tips of her extended talons grazing his skin like thorns. She studied the golden circle into which the bruise from Keshara’s bite had transformed after the claiming. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the mark glowing softly in the dim light of the room and he sent the goddess a quick word of thanks. Now if only Ashla believed deeply enough to be deterred.
She let him fall onto the mattress, his body jerking against the restraints as her action was more of a shove than a simple release of her grip and sat silently beside him for several minutes before rising. Head held high, gathering her robe more closely, the Badari stalked from the room. At the sound of the door closing, Gabe took a deep breath, relieved at his close call.
What the Director had planned for him probably wasn’t much better, but he was either going to rescue Keshara and tear this place down around the Khagrish ears, or he was going to use his checkout code as the last resort it was intended to be. Not his first choice, but he’d do anything to deprive Farahnnim of her source for raising a new generation of ‘daughters’. Nonetheless he had no intention of giving up easily, not with Keshara’s life at stake. The Director would learn humans weren’t to be taken lightly.
He regained feeling in his extremities bit by bit and worked on isometric exercises hoping to speed up the process. It was perhaps an hour later when Slibb came in, carrying a prison jumpsuit and the flimsy sandals.
“Ashla said she’d changed her mind,” the lab tech said. “Said you weren’t worth the trouble after all. Don’t know how you managed to dissuade her, but I’m to take you to your cell. Decided to finish my dinner first because you weren’t going anywhere.” Cackling at his own humor, the tech ran a scanner a few inches in the air over Gabe’s body and nodded. “Readings are in the nominal zone.” Slibb undid the restraints in a practiced series of motions and tossed them aside. “These were precautionary in case you regained independent mobility early. Your reactions to the drug so far were outside the norms I figured better safe than sorry.”
Gabe tried and failed to move. Twitching his fingers was the most he could achieve and frustration was acidic in his gut because given half a chance he could escape right now.
Slibb cleared his throat. “Rise and get dressed.”
To his complete astonishment, now Gabe’s body worked, and he found himself getting to his feet and reaching for the jumpsuit, although he was unable to deviate from the limited set of instructions by one iota. “Is this how I got undressed too?”
“Yup. Walked in here under your own power, took off your stuff—the drug is amazing. Can’t use it on a subject too often though or they risk becoming paralyzed. Used to drive the males insane, in the old lab, if we weren’t careful about dosages and time limits. The animals can’t handle being immobilized for too long. Watched one die that way.” The tech sounded cheerful as he gathered up the restraints and flung them into a drawer. He turned as Gabe was sliding his feet into the damn flimsy shoes. “Good. You will walk next to me to your cell now.”
Slibb headed for the door, and Gabe found himself joining the Khagrish, matching his pace as if in a parade. As he proceeded down the corridor, Gabe checked his mental map of the installation and realized they had a ways to go. “Can you let me see Keshara for a second? It would mean a lot to both of us and I’d be grateful.”
“Not possible.” Slibb shook his head emphatically. “The Director will be mad enough to hear Ashla changed her mind and we wasted time. She could have initiated the protocols on you tonight and she only held off because Ashla had the hots for you. Don’t know what you said to extinguish her mood, but she was upset all right.” Slibb whistled as he pondered Ashla’s ire. “I’m not answering to the Director for deviating from my own orders, not when she’s already in a bad mood.”
It was worth a try. He hadn’t let his hopes go too high. Gabe shifted tactics, fishing for information. “The way Ashla was talking, sounds like there used to be a lot more staff members here at one time. I bet that made your job easier.”
Slibb agreed morosely. “Yeah, when we first came here, there were five of us techs and Branggin had a staff of six guards. Exciting times.”
Surprised, Gabe probed a bit more. “Quite a reduction. What happened? People rotate off and not get replaced?”
The tech threw his head back and laughed so hard he cried. Since his minder also stopped walking under the influence of his unbalanced mirth, Gabe found he was unable to continue either. He waited, facing forward, only able to see Slibb from his peripheral vision as the tech hiccupped, regained control and addressed Gabe in a quavering tone. “The fucking elixir happened. Seemed so wonderful in the beginning, like a gift from the gods. Of course, we all volunteered for the test program.” He ran one hand over his face and wiped it on his lab coat. “More like a curse from the evil ones.”
“How so?” Gabe speculated whether the tech was drunk or high on a feelgood. The Khagrish certainly was loquacious and emotional tonight.
“Immortality, life eternal in a mountain hideaway, with all the females a man could ever want. Be part of a unique experiment Dr. Farahnnim said. We’ll be famous and reap the rewards, she said. I don’t know if she ever actually intended to go back to our Khagrish home world and share her discovery, but it sure hasn’t worked out that way. She’s insane now, you know? Probably from her own damn elixir. It affects everyone differently. Live forever all right, but no one said it’d be in your right mind.”
“I think you’re all a few circuits short,” Gabe said frankly. “But the Director does appear to be a bit more off balance than you other Khagrish.”
“Yeah, thinks we don’t know she goes into her office and colors on the walls, sniffs the fumes, sleeps. Groundbreaking science, ha. Not anymore.” Slibb started walking again. “Farahnnim used to be brilliant, but she’s been getting worse for a long time now. Branggin keeps her as focused as he can.”
Remembering the time he’d spied on the Director from the vents, and how she’d indeed colored on the wall before taking a nap to celebrate, Gabe decided the tech was right in his assessment. Farahnnim stopped doing real science a long time ago.
“She remembers how to make the elixir though,” Slibb said. “As long as she can access her core long term memory, we’ll be ok. Especially with you to help us. If she can fumble her way through the science.”
Gabe decided to ignore the reference to the role Farahnnim expected him to play in her future experiments. “And the elixir makes you immortal?”
Slibb nodded. “Been here 500 planetary years. Trapped in this mountain fortress.”
Amazed by the longevity claim, Gabe was silent.
“First few decades were exciting. The Director had trouble getting the formula right for forming the daughters, but then she stumbled over the elixir, switched her focus from her original research plans to perfecting it, and we thought we were in paradise as promised.” Leaning closer, nearly tripping over his own feet, Slibb lowered his voice. “But you know what the catch is?”
Planting one foot after the other like a damn robot, Gabe moved forward at Slibb’s side. “I can’t imagine.”
“The elixir is physically addictive, and you have to keep taking it every thirty days like clockwork or you die. D-I-E, dead.” Slibb shivered. “One of Branggin’s guards couldn’t take the monotony of life here anymore, after his girlfriend went into the annex. He stopped showing up for his inject, aged two hundred years in a week and died screaming in the middle of the bunkroom. He was the first to go, but not the last.” Shaking his head dolefully, Slibb acted like a man lost in sad memories.
Gabe voiced what was the obvious answer in his mind. “Why didn’t Farahnnim have one of you shoot him up with elixir whether he wanted it or not?”
“Tried that with the next guy who rebelled. Learned the hard way once you’ve been on elixir and stopped, it’s poison to your body. No second chances. You’re screwed either way then. Lost a couple more who tried the cold turkey route. Had a rebellion, lost a few then, a few of the daughters too in that one. The stuff makes people insane, like the Director, or suicidal like Zammarqq last night. Sooner or later it’s going to get us all.” Slibb elbowed him in the ribs. “Maybe you’ll outlive us, human. Although I think Farahnnim’s planning to put you on the elixir too, once she’s sure the juice won’t affect anything you’ll need to make babies for her. Because we’re nearly out of raw material. Doc says she can’t make any more. Hell, we might even have to stick old Ashla into a pod if you don’t deliver for us. That’d serve her right, always fawning on the Director and acting as if she could do no wrong. Running to tell the doc if any of us screw up or slack off.” Laughing again, Slibb walked faster.
Gabe bit his tongue, not in the mood to ask more questions. He had the broad picture, and it was as ugly and horrific as anything else the Khagrish were doing on this planet. There was still the question of how Farahnnim had created female Badari and managed to establish this hidden lab, staying under the Khagrish sensors for centuries, but neither thing had a bearing on his need to escape, rescue Keshara, and obliterate the place.
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