Callie backed against the wall and waited.
****
Jakara opened the door slowly, not wanting to disturb the girl if she was still sleeping. They were usually tired for several days following the medication that put them to sleep during the hyper jump. But she wasn’t in the bed.
He glanced around the room, sighing out loud as he finally spotted her, cowering against the wall near the window. He walked inside and closed the door. “I’m not going to hurt you. Please come over and sit down so I can explain.”
“Why do you speak English?”
He repressed a smile. That was her first question? “Your languages aren’t that difficult to learn, although American English was the most challenging of them all. Too many odd rules.”
Her expression softened somewhat, but her body language still screamed stay away from me. “What language do you usually speak?”
“To your ears it would sound like a Russian dialect.”
“Are you human?”
“Not like you are.”
“What’s different about you?”
“That’s complicated to explain.”
She waved a hand in the air. “But the way you look now … is that your true appearance?”
“Yes. The way you see me now is what I really look like. I haven’t disguised anything.”
“Can you? I mean, disguise yourself.”
This time he did smile. “No. I don’t have tentacles, I can’t make myself invisible, and I don’t do card tricks.”
The corners of her mouth turned up. “I guess you’ve been asked those questions before.”
“Questions similar to those, yes.”
“You said I would be taken to my family.”
“That is no longer possible.” He walked over to the desk and pulled out the chair, taking a seat in it, then pointed toward the bed. “Please. Sit down.”
She finally pushed away from the wall and took a seat on the edge of the bed, but she crossed her arms, hugging her body as she did so. He couldn’t do anything about her closed-off position. He only hoped what he had to tell her wouldn’t make her any more wary of him than she already was, or this situation would be even more complicated than he’d already made it.
He’d need to bring them some food soon, and then figure out what to do next. He had a plan, but executing it was risky. Then again, he’d been disobeying direct orders his entire life. Why stop now?
****
Callie watched the alien carefully, waiting for him to speak. With his flight jacket off, dressed in boots and what looked like combat fatigues, he looked like one of a number of National Guard and US Army personnel she’d seen in the city shortly after the invasion. And, she hated to admit this, but he was also very handsome.
Dark hair that was longer than she was used to seeing on men, but soft-looking and slightly wavy. He needed a shave, but she’d always found a hint of stubble sexy for some reason. And his eyes were like deep pools of chocolate. If she were sitting with him under normal circumstances, she’d have been flirting like crazy.
“First of all, I know your name. It was on the report from the drone. Calliope Elyse O’Doyle. A very intriguing name.”
“I prefer Callie.” Ugh. No one had called her Calliope since fifth grade, and she hoped like hell no one ever did again.
“All right. That’s easier to say. I’m called Jakara. We don’t have surnames here. We’re known by our families. I’m from a long line of warriors, and currently I hold the position of Special Retrieval Commander, meaning I do what I did with you. I retrieve key Earthlings left behind, and I command my own craft.”
“Retrieve?”
“Yes. Our superiors believe if your planet reestablishes its communications systems, those left behind will find a way to contact your families here, and that would be a threat to our mission.”
She frowned and uncrossed her arms. “Could we do that? I mean, I’m not up on stuff like that, but as far as I know, we’ve never contacted beings from other planets. I assume that’s where we are now, right? Another planet?”
“Yes. You’re on Addo, which is one of three planets that can sustain life in the Alpha Centauri system.”
Alpha Centauri. Callie tried to remember exactly how far away that was, but couldn’t. Science had never been her strong suit, and right now her head was swimming with the realization she was no longer on Earth. “So why would you think we could contact anyone so far away?”
Jakara shook his head. “You have no idea the things your government can do that they’ve never told you about.”
She wasn’t about to get into a political debate with him, and didn’t feel qualified to talk about communication through space, at any rate. “So, where are they? My family?”
“There is no easy way to tell you this.”
Callie swallowed hard as tears threatened. “They’re dead, aren’t they?”
He nodded. “There was a riot earlier today, and they were caught in the crossfire. I’m sorry.”
“Were they ever alive to begin with, or did you just tell me that so I would come with you?”
His face took on a dark expression, and fear coursed through her body, hot and alive. “I have no reason to lie to you. We conquered your planet. Don’t you understand that? And I would have taken you, whether I told you I was bringing you to where your family was being held or not. I said that as a courtesy, not as a condition of your willingness to accompany me.”
She bit her tongue to keep from crying. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Her body shook with the effort of holding back her tears and with anger at his words.
“We’re at war. And in war there are casualties.”
“War? This isn’t my war. Why couldn’t you simply leave our planet alone?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“How do you know what I would or wouldn’t understand? I’m not an idiot. I have a Master’s degree.”
“Yes, I know. In art history.”
She didn’t like the attitude he was suddenly giving her, so she stood. “At least I have one.”
Jakara stood, and it was then she noticed how tall he was. Since she was barely five foot three, most adults were taller than she was, but he was at least six foot five, maybe even taller. And he was big. Not fat, but the man had muscles. “I’ve been highly trained. We don’t have universities such as the ones you have, but I assure you I possess intellectual skills that are equivalent, if not superior, to your own.”
“Oh, I see. So it’s your people skills that need work, then.”
“Do you want an explanation of why we invaded your planet, or not?”
“Yes.” No. Because once she knew, she could no longer pretend this wasn’t real. It would cross the realm from being a bad dream to a living nightmare that she was trapped in.
“We targeted Earth for your females. Ours are not … they aren’t socialized to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. They bear us children, and keep our homes, and work in our industries, but they aren’t like the women on your planet.”
Callie sat down again because she had trouble believing what she’d just heard. “So, did you take me because of what you just said, or because you thought anyone left behind might try to contact their family here?”
The struggle on his face seemed to indicate he was choosing his words carefully, and she wondered whether he was lying to her, or simply deciding how much to tell her. “Both. My official mission is to retrieve anyone left behind. Anyone female, that is. It’s your planet’s women we want, but potential communication with those already taken isn’t the only reason we want them.”
Callie took several deep breaths as she struggled to remember what else he’d just said. “I don’t understand what you meant about the way your women are socialized.”
He sighed, and as he watched her, she didn’t think he was going to elaborate, but finally he spoke. “The Regum are the ruling class of this planet—Addo, of Sera, where most of them reside, and o
f Voyeur Moon. They have ruled for centuries, and they consider sex for pleasure as something which weakens men. Sex is to be used for procreation, not recreation. That’s actually one of their propaganda slogans.”
“I read a book like that once.”
“The way we’re forced to live our lives isn’t a work of fiction. From the time our women are born, they’re told that sex is painful, messy, and something to be kept hidden. They’re told it’s their duty to their husbands one day so they can bear them children. If any of them hear it’s pleasurable, or something to be enjoyed for the sake of the act itself, those thoughts are pushed out by fear and more lies.”
“And in centuries no one has rebelled against that?”
His face was dark and angry now. “Of course they have. But those rebellions were always crushed and lives lost because of them. Once our technology evolved to the point of space travel between galaxies, new worlds opened up to those of us not content to force or beg our women to have sex with us.”
Callie’s stomach contracted in revulsion. “Do you mean to say this isn’t the first time you’ve taken women from other planets for sex?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking. I see the disgust in your eyes. The Velone women came to Voyeur Moon willingly, and were paid well for their services. Establishments were set up, but not on Sera. The Regum would not allow that. They were set up on Voyeur Moon, which the Regum was supposed to give to the Tyranns. We were supposed to have full control of the planet by now.”
“Tyranns?”
“Yes. The other class that emerged. The class I belong to. We want to live our lives in a new way. Not one that instills fear in our women, but one where they are free to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh.”
“Sorry, but it still sounds to me like you invading Earth is all about sex, not politics.”
He ran his hands through his hair, and if she hadn’t still been afraid, she’d have found his frustration amusing. “No. It’s not about that at all. It’s not all about sex. The Regum control everything. It’s about doing what we want to do. About living our lives the way we choose to, not the way the Regum order us to live it. It’s about freedom and living by our own code of morality, not a twisted one that has been passed down through the generations.”
“Okay. So what happened to the Velone women?”
“The Regum closed down the establishments and took them back to Sera after the planet which the Velone came from was destroyed. Their star exploded. They gave them employment that didn’t include gratifying men, and they used the explosion as a way to further their propaganda. They told our people the explosion had been punishment for us having taken the Velone women from their homes.”
“But you said they came to Voyeur Moon willingly.”
“They did. But you don’t understand the Regum. They have a way of twisting everything that can make one believe the sky is orange, not blue.”
“But obviously not everyone believed the star exploding was a punishment, because you still invaded my planet.”
“We invaded your planet because the women on it have the attitude toward sexual pleasure that we seek.”
“What do you think our attitudes toward sex are like, exactly?”
“We know what they’re like from watching you. Your entertainment, your reading material, even the way you live your lives.”
Holy shit. “Once again, it sounds like it’s all about sex to me. And it also sounds like the Tyranns want the same thing we want on Earth. The freedom to choose our own way to live.”
“You have freedom in most of your lands.”
“Not as much as you think. We still have standards by which we live.”
“You have no idea how free you are compared to us.”
He sounded so defeated that her heart almost went out to him. But she was his prisoner now. That much had become obvious in the little he’d told her, and she still didn’t know what his intentions were. “So what happens now, Jakara?” She waved her hand in a circle. “Is this where I live?”
He shook his head. “No. I cannot keep you here.” His voice held a note of fear, which surprised her.
“Where were you supposed to take me?”
“To the holding cells on Voyeur Moon. The same place your family was during the riots. But you’re too pretty. You wouldn’t be there long.”
A nasty shiver ran down her spine. She didn’t want to ask, but she had to. “Where would I go instead?”
The look he gave her was full of pain, but she also glimpsed lust in his eyes. She would be powerless against him, and as that realization hit her, another one did that left her just as shocked. She wanted him. In the Biblical way. She averted her gaze quickly. This was all kinds of fucked up, but there it was.
Was that part of his power? Had he planted that desire in her brain? Could he do things like that? What if he could read her mind? What if he knew her thoughts, right now?
She finally dared to glance into his eyes again, but if he could tell what she’d just been thinking, it didn’t show on his face. Instead, he watched her carefully, as if choosing whether to say anything at all.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You’d be taken as a slave by my superiors. They’ve been doing that since the first wave of landings. Taking the Earth women they find especially desirable and using them. Passing them around the camp, or keeping them for a specific group of men.”
Hot fear prickled at the edges of her consciousness again. “I’m confused. You say the Velone women came to that planet voluntarily, but now you’re telling me I’d be used as a sex slave. Which is the truth?”
He shook his head slowly. “Your people were supposed to be brought to Voyeur Moon voluntarily as well. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
“What happened to change it?”
“I cannot explain that. I’ve told you too much already. This has become too dangerous for both of us.”
His voice was low, as though he were talking more to himself than to her. And once again, he sounded afraid, which further confused her. “So is that what you have planned for me? To keep me as a sex slave?”
“If it was I would have done something about it already.” Now his voice was full of sarcasm, but she had to admit he was right. It’s not as if she could fight him off.
“Then what do you intend to do with me?”
“I brought you here because I didn’t want to see you used as a slave.”
“Why would you care whether I am or not? What am I to you other than a casualty of war?”
He averted his gaze this time. “I can’t explain why I did what I did.”
“I’m still not following you.”
Jakara gazed into her eyes again. “I didn’t take you where I was supposed to. These are my quarters. I was supposed to take you straight to the holding cells on Voyeur Moon, but I defied my orders and brought you here instead.”
She didn’t ask why again. She merely watched him for any sign of bullshit, but he seemed perfectly sincere. “So what happens now?”
He sighed out loud. “Keeping you here would mean severe consequences for me, and a fate I won’t condemn you to if you’re caught. We have to leave. I have to hide you.”
Chapter Three
Jakara showed Callie to the only spare bedroom in his home. “It’s a bit nicer than my quarters on Addo, and no one will find you here.” They’d taken the ride from Addo to Voyeur Moon in his spacecraft, after he’d sneaked her out of the barracks and across the tarmac. The only reason they hadn’t been seen was because there was a party going on at headquarters and even the guards weren’t at their posts. But the entire thirty minutes of their flight, he’d checked his scope for any aircraft following him.
“Won’t you be missed at the party?” She’d been afraid to leave the barracks, so he’d had to tell her about the party. There was no point in telling her what kind of a party it was. That would have only upset her even fur
ther.
“No. I’ve already falsified my report.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I lied about having taken you to Addo first.”
She started at him, blinking several times. He didn’t want to tell her what he’d done, because then he’d also have to explain why he’d gone out of his way for her. But she wasn’t a woman who would accept a pat answer and move on. She’d already proven that.
He’d told her far more than he should have about the Regum and the Tyranns, but something in this woman called to him. She made him want to spill every secret he had. No one had ever affected him this way, and he was thrown off balance because of it.
“In my report I said that you got away and are still on Earth. I explained I had to repair my stun beam. I surmised it had failed and that’s why you were able to escape me.”
“Won’t you get caught lying?”
“Not unless you say something to my Section Chief.”
“Why would I do that?”
“You wouldn’t. So neither one of us has anything to worry about, do we?”
She walked around the room, touching the bed, dresser, desk, and the drapes. She pulled them aside and glanced out at the dark night. “Why is your home on a different planet than the barracks?”
He took a seat on the bed. “That’s complicated.”
She turned to face him. “Tell me anyway. Please. I’m trying to understand all this, but I can’t if you keep giving me vague answers.”
“Perhaps you ask too many questions?”
She didn’t answer, but he hadn’t really expected her to. He didn’t owe her an explanation, but perhaps a bit more information would suffice, and then she’d stop probing.
“The barracks were not originally built for the Tyranns. They were used for the Regum’s army. But now the Regum house most of their troops on Sera, and they deign to allow us to keep a small contingent of troops on Addo.”
“And why were they willing to give you this planet?”
Kidnapped by a Warrior Page 2
