by A. G. Wilde
“Yooman?”
“Yes, a being like the one in your cell...and the one in mine,” Yce added.
The Piper. Yes, the Tasqal had called her the same thing. She was a yooman. That was the name of her species.
However, the implication that a yooman was with Xul made him frown.
“A yooman will only slow him down on Muk.”
“I know.”
“What will he do?”
“We’ll see.” There seemed to be a pause. “Tasqals approaching. We will continue the conversation later, brother.” And with that, Yce’s voice was gone.
It had taken some getting used to, having someone in his head, but having worked with Yce for so long now, it had become natural.
Sure enough, as soon as the Tasqal reached the cell bars, a prickle ran over his skin.
He could feel its presence and the immediate rage that began building within him was hard to control.
His eyes flew open and met the Piper’s.
She wasn’t looking at the Tasqal or the guards as they came in.
She was looking at him.
And he didn’t like what he saw in her eyes.
Chapter Eight
“Ceqtaq, you have had rest. You have been fed. It is time.”
Piper watched as the temperature in Crex’s eyes just seemed to get colder.
Didn’t the Tasqal see? Under different circumstances, if Crex was free, the Tasqal would be dead.
“Time to provide your coin’s worth,” the Tasqal continued.
She couldn’t keep the fear from her eyes. And it wasn’t fear for herself.
She was afraid for him—afraid of what he’d already endured. Afraid of what they were going to do to him.
She was helpless against them, but he wasn’t...and every being in the room knew that.
To get him to do their wishes, to mate with her for their entertainment, they couldn’t force him to.
Could they?
“Time to provide us with some worthy entertainment.” The Tasqal’s bubble-popping laughter filled the cell, seeming to bounce off the walls.
“Mate,” the Tasqal ordered.
When Crex didn’t respond, the Tasqal motioned to the guards who nodded.
Taking their shock rods, they activated them.
As the first connected with Crex’s back, she saw his nostrils flare.
The current must be going directly through the wounds that were already there. Evil pieces of shit.
“More!” The Tasqal ordered, and another five guards activated their rods and pressed them against his body.
She could see the pain in his face, the veins bulging against his skin as his gritted teeth. How he managed to be shocked so many times without dying she wasn’t sure, but seeing it happen so much was tearing her apart.
How could they do this without feeling a bit of remorse? Didn’t they see what they were doing?
“Whip her. Whip her so he can watch,” the Tasqal ordered and finally, Piper’s eyes flew to look at her captors.
The dark eyes of the Tasqal seemed like pools of filth. And, even being different species, she could see that it was enjoying what was happening. She didn’t care to look at the guard as it reached for her legs and pulled her forward, flipping her on her belly so hard, the chains bit into her skin again, making her wrists and ankles bleed.
The first of the whip fell on her back and made tears spring to her eyes. Biting down on her bottom lip to distract her mind from the pain, she could feel blood in her mouth from biting too hard.
Her gaze moved to Crex’s. He was enduring the punishment they were giving him for non-complying.
He was doing it.
She could do it too.
The second crack of the whip landed on her back and made her cry out in anguish. Her vision blurred and her head sagged.
She couldn’t take much more, but she had to. She would.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw movement.
Crex was moving, rising slowly on his hands and knees to shield her again.
And just as before, the guards paused in shock.
The low bubbly laugh of the Tasqal reached her ears and with it came instant hatred.
She hated them so damn much.
Hated them for what they were doing.
They were shocking him and cracking the whip against his back at the same time and the sounds made her choke on the heap of emotions that seemed to ball up within her.
“Stop it!” She screamed. “Just stop.”
Surprisingly, they did, and she blinked a few times, not believing they had actually listened to her request.
“Tell me, human,” the Tasqal spoke, “why should I cease?”
Piper swallowed hard, her face twitching in anger.
The nerve of this species. They’d captured them. Were torturing them. All for what? Entertainment.
Fucking entertainment!
The thought that the other women were experiencing the same thing made the rage within her grow even more.
“Will you give yourself freely?” The Tasqal cocked its head to the side, and she watched its lips curve into that hideous smile it had.
“We will lay him horizontal and you can mate with him,” the Tasqal suggested and she couldn’t believe the horror of the suggestion. “Take pleasure from his body.” The Tasqal turned its head to the side menacingly. “Take pleasure and we will stop his and your pain.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Piper balled her hands into fists.
The shocking…the whipping…the Tasqal was telling her she could end it.
She could stop the pain.
It was a good proposition. All she’d have to do was take something from him neither of them wanted to give.
Motioning to the guards, the Tasqal gave the signal for the whipping and shocking to start again and she heard Crex grunt as they renewed their attack.
She could end this.
She’d just have to be like the Tasqal. Manipulative. A thief.
All she had to do was trust in what it said.
But little did it know…she’d spent all her life learning to take what people said with a grain of salt. Whatever sounded too good to be true was usually just that...too good to be true.
Nevertheless, if it thought she would sell herself so easily because she was a weak human, it had a big surprise coming.
“Stop it,” she whispered and shortly after, she heard the assault on Crex stop. He sagged a little against her, and she swallowed the urge to cry.
“Release the human,” the Tasqal ordered.
As they released the chains from her hands and ankles, she felt Crex sag against her some more. He was spent. They hadn’t even given him enough time to recover from the last assault. The hatred she felt for them tasted bitter in her mouth.
“Without chains, you can do it better.” The Tasqal’s mouth spread into a toothless grin. “Mate with him when he recovers.”
As it turned to leave, she knew she had to think fast.
“I need water. And a towel,” she said, wondering if the Tasqal would understand.
It turned to look back at her then, its soulless eyes boring into her.
Taking the pause to mean it was interested in what she was saying, Piper continued, “My species will die without water. And I need the towel to prepare myself.” She swallowed at the lie. “All the humans you abducted need the same. We need water at least,” she said.
The Tasqal nodded to a guard then continued out of the cell.
She couldn’t believe it listened to her.
Maybe it was just that desperate for its entertainment that she could probably demand more things in the future.
It was worth thinking about.
As the Tasqal and the guards left the cell, Piper shuffled from under Crex. Her back ached as she did, causing her to grit her teeth to bear the pain.
His hair hung limply over his head and his breathing was labored.
As soon as she was no longer un
derneath him, he collapsed on the slab.
Piper wrung her hands as she stared at him, her whole frame shaking with the deep breaths she was taking.
His back was now even in a worse condition than it had been before. It was hard to look at.
It was red and bloody, the deep welts oozing fresh blood.
A sound by the cell bars had her spinning her head thinking the guards were returning, but instead, it was one of the little robots entering the cell. She hadn’t noticed before, but they were small enough to slip between the bars in and out of the cell.
Instead of a disc with food, this time it was carrying a flask with clear liquid and a folded piece of cloth.
Shit.
It had granted her wish.
Water and a towel.
Snatching the things from the little robot, Piper thanked the little thing.
Glancing back over at Crex, she climbed back onto the slab and got to work.
Tearing a piece of the towel, she wet it and began dabbing at his wounds.
If only she had some antiseptic or something to clean the wounds. He was going to get an infection if the wounds weren’t cleaned properly, but this was the best she could do.
His wounds were so deep, she winced each time she put the cloth close to them. Tears were springing in her eyes, but she didn’t allow them to fall.
She wasn’t going to let them get the benefit of seeing that.
She wouldn’t give them that pleasure.
Taking care to wipe the blood away, she noticed that some of the wounds were a dull pink while the others were fresh and red.
Were those the wounds from the previous beating? She frowned slightly as she looked at them.
Couldn’t be. Nobody healed that quickly.
His hair was covering his face and she assumed he was unconscious again. She owed him for this.
Twice now, he’d saved her from the pain of the whip.
Twice he’d done it when he didn’t need to.
As she wiped his wounds, her finger brushed the center of his spine and ran over something hard.
Bringing her face closer, she noticed there was a hard ridge there.
As a matter of fact, the ridges ran along the length of his entire spine, like bones that were pushing upward through his skin. She let her finger run over each one in awe.
For a second, she wondered if the torture he’d endured had somehow caused his spine to bend, but she brushed away the thought. He wasn’t crippled. He’d been bracing himself up until she’d shuffled from underneath him.
The ridges were something she had never seen before. It seemed the more time she spent with him, the more alien he became.
Drawing her attention away from the ridges, she finished cleaning his wounds and wrapped the remainder of the towel around her body.
It was a little cover for her nakedness as she went over to the indentation in the floor. Pouring some water on the cloth, she rinsed his blood from the fabric. And, as she was over there anyway, she took the time to relieve herself.
Taking a few gulps of the water, she returned to the slab and climbed on top of it to lie on her side facing Crex.
He still hadn’t moved from where he’d collapsed.
Tentatively, she outstretched her hand to move his hair from his face.
His eyes were closed, his face expressionless, almost as if he was sleeping.
She still had her hand by his cheek when his arm suddenly shot up, grabbed her wrist, and his eyes flew open.
She inhaled sharply, his palm grazing the wound she had there.
Realizing he was hurting her, he relaxed his grip but didn’t let her hand go.
“You wiped my wounds but didn’t tend to yours,” he stated almost matter-of-factly. So he’d been conscious the whole time?
It wasn’t what she’d expected him to say either, and it left her speechless for a few moments.
“You’re more hurt than I am.”
“It will heal,” he said, and then his eyes fell to her wrist. “Your wounds won’t heal so easily.”
Pulling her wrist from his hand, she pulled the towel close to herself.
No “thank you” or “I appreciate it.” Instead, he was berating her?
He must have seen the displeasure in her eyes because she thought she heard him mutter something.
“What?”
He seemed to swallow hard
“Thank you,” he said.
Chapter Nine
They were back sooner than she’d have liked.
The cell bars creaked as the High Tasqals entered, flanked by the seven guards.
“It is time, human,” the male said, its voice booming in the cell.
Piper turned to glare at them. Crex was by her side, seemingly asleep. He’d closed his eyes and hadn’t opened them since they’d spoken earlier.
“Time for you to earn your coin,” it continued.
“It will be interesting to see it mate, my pleasure,” the female crooned and the urge to slit the thing’s throat surged so strongly within Piper she was sure she’d have launched herself from the slab to do just that had she had a knife.
“Wake him,” the Tasqal ordered and a guard approached, the shock rod aimed at Crex.
“Don’t you dare,” Piper scrambled over his body, this time shielding his with hers. She glared at the guard then back at the Tasqals, baring her teeth at them. “Even if you wake him, I won’t do what you bid. I won’t give myself to your wishes.”
Horrified, she watched as the Tasqal’s lips curved into a smile.
“Wake him,” it ordered.
The rod connected with Crex’s side and, immediately, the current flowed through her own body. It felt like a massive muscle cramp going through her entire frame, causing all her muscles to seize and, in a second, her body began shaking with the pressure from the current.
As her body moved on its own, she was mildly aware that she was being vaulted off the slab and was tumbling to the floor.
She’d been pushed.
Crex.
He’d pushed her away from him.
Lying on the floor by the feet of the captors, she looked up at them through blurred vision. Nevertheless, she hoped they could see the hate in her eyes.
“Mate with him, human, or we will have to dispose of you,” the Tasqal said.
Gathering a ball of spit in her mouth, she spat at their feet. “Fuck you.”
The low bubbly laugh reached her then.
It was clear.
It didn’t matter what she did. The Tasqal was sure it was going to get its way.
Well then, if that was the case, she would go down fighting.
“Fuck you to hell!” She screamed.
Just then, she felt herself being suspended by one arm in the air. A gator-guard was lifting her, its snarl close, as it brought her away from the slab.
Mildly confused, she glanced over at Crex and the others, wondering what they were planning.
“It seems we have put two stubborn beings together, my pleasure,” the female Tasqal said.
“Oh, yes,” the male agreed, “yes we have. How incredibly annoying. This expedition is turning out to be disappointing.” It turned to look at her. “Ulruq of the Tasqal Legion elite is dead and I have two useless beings bought for many coins.”
His mate murmured beside him.
“I must get my coin’s worth...even if it means blood will be shed.” Its dark eyes flashed as it turned back to face Crex, who was now rising on his hands and knees.
“Shock him,” the Tasqal ordered. “And turn up the charges.”
The guards grunted in agreement as six of them approached Crex.
Piper stared in horror.
Not again.
As the charges hit him, Crex sagged, his entire body stiffening, straining against the pain that was coursing through his veins.
The shock rods surged from blue to a fiery white as the charges increased and the scream that left her lips did so involuntarily.
>
If she’d thought he would die before, well, he was certainly dead now.
“Stop! Stop it!” She struggled against the guard that was holding her.
She could hardly look at him now; he was literally being burned alive through the electric current.
Even his skin was changing color, getting darker as the seconds went by.
She couldn’t watch them do that to him.
“I’ll do it! I’ll do whatever you want me to. I’ll give myself to you if that’s what it will take,” she wailed. “Just stop. Please, just stop.”
The Tasqal raised his hand to the guards for them to stop, and she watched as Crex collapsed back on the slab.
She was breathing so hard, her body shuddered from the surge of emotions within her.
“You will do anything?” The Tasqal turned its head to the side.
“I will give myself to you,” Piper gulped. She didn’t know what she was saying, but she didn’t try to take the words back. The fact was that she couldn’t watch them kill him because of her. If she wasn’t there, if she hadn’t been bought, they’d have been using him for battle.
She was sure he’d have been fine then.
But, because of her, they wanted other entertainment. Entertainment she was happy he didn’t oblige to, but their stubbornness was going to get them both killed.
If giving up herself meant keeping them both alive, she’d do it.
The laugh of both of the Tasqals echoed in the cell, a bubbly popping sound that bounced off the walls.
“You are already mine,” the Tasqal finally said.
“It thinks it had a choice, my pleasure,” the female crooned.
Piper swallowed hard.
“I no longer care for you to mate,” the Tasqal informed her. “It was just a game.” It moved closer to her. “Maybe we should see how long you can survive bearing my spawn,” it murmured.
Piper gulped hard.
The thought of being impregnated by such a thing made her want to barf.
She wanted to tell it to go to hell, but if that meant it’d leave Crex alone, maybe it was worth it. Plus, as the female Tasqal had so dutifully pointed out, she didn’t really have a choice in anything.
There was only the illusion of choice.
“Will you stop torturing him if I carry your child?” She swallowed hard again.
