“Is he still alive?”
She nodded, letting the tears flow with ease.
“Then you didn’t lose him.”
“I lost so much this time. Not just you and Eva. Kiehle…Yoshi…Max… There’s no reason to live anymore.”
“I thought you’d stopped thinking that way.”
“When I used to have something to live for.”
“And you still do.”
She turned away from Jim and curled into a ball. “I don’t have anything. Not even this.” She dug her hands in the grass to the dirt underneath, knowing none of it was real. “Not even you…”
“I’m here. I’m with you.”
She cried harder, doing what she knew she should’ve done a long time ago. “No you’re not. You’re not real. You’re dead.”
She thought she heard him say something else, but his voice sounded muffled.
“Bye, Jim,” she said through her sobs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
She strained to open her eyes. They felt heavy and tired.
“There she goes. See? I told you she would wake up when she got home.”
Alharad.
She tried to move her mouth but it felt as if it were stuffed full of cotton.
“Take your time. I’ve been waiting patiently for you to wake. I wanted to be the first person you saw when you opened your eyes.”
No.
She closed her eyes tightly. She didn’t need to see or talk to him. For all she cared, he could throw her back into her old room and she could begin whoring tonight.
He tsked. “That wasn’t very nice.”
Someone pried her eyes open until she was staring right at Alharad. He hadn’t changed a bit. He was still the fat fucker she remembered.
“What did you do to me?” she asked, slurring her words.
The last thing she remembered was hitching a ride from a trader to the space station. She shook her head, trying to regain her thoughts.
“I had Viteri put you in stasis for the trip.”
“Why?”
“Why?” He chuckled, making his stomach bounce. “Because I didn’t want you causing any more trouble and I didn’t want you provoking the guards. I would’ve been really upset if anyone punished you but me.”
She laughed along with him, crazy and out of control. “You can’t possibly punish me any more than I’ve punished myself.” She’d left the male she loved, her best friend and her kids. Anything he did to her would be a piece of cake.
He motioned for her. “Bring her to me.”
The guards holding her upright dragged her closer to Alharad. Her legs stung, as if they’d been stuck with a million needles.
He reached out and smacked her. If they hadn’t been holding her, she would’ve hit the floor. Her brain rattled in her skull. The loud crack reverberated off the walls. Her ears rang long after the sting left her cheek.
“That’s for thinking you could get the best of me.”
She used her tongue to massage the inside of her cheek. She tried to straighten her legs. They wobbled but she finally did it. She raised her head to look at him. “I shouldn’t have tried to get away from you. This is my home.”
He tilted his head, which seemed as if it would fall off his shoulders.
“Eva doesn’t understand what I’ve been through. I’m not the same woman who she left behind. I didn’t belong there. I’m sorry.”
He waved the guards away. Without their support, her knees buckled.
Alharad steadied her with a hand. “Once a whore, always a whore. Pet! Don’t just stand there! Come, come. Meet Ally. She’s going to help train you in the brothel.”
Ally turned her head toward the light footsteps.
A girl.
She couldn’t be more than fifteen years old.
She slunk from the corner of the room to stand by Alharad’s side with her head hung low. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Her skin was a dark, smooth cocoa color, but Ally could still see the bruises on her cheek and lips.
“She has the same spark that you used to have.” He winked at Ally. “You’re the perfect person to teach her that nothing good comes from disobeying me and trying to escape.”
Her eyes snapped back to Alharad. Her hands shot out with speed she didn’t know she had and wrapped around his throat. His eyes opened wide and bugged out. He made gurgling noises. She squeezed harder, feeling his trachea under her thumbs.
“You deserve to die,” she seethed.
His fingers pulled at hers, trying to remove them. When that didn’t work, he hit and scratched at her arms.
She saw the fist barreling down on her from the corner of her eye. She didn’t try to block it or move out of the way. She didn’t want to do anything that would make her let go of his neck.
As the pain erupted in her face, she closed her eyes against it. She tightened her hands on Alharad’s neck. Determined to kill him before they killed her.
Another punch landed on the back of her head, then another and another, until she finally fell to the ground. She curled into a ball as the guard kicked her in the side.
She coughed and tried to get to her feet but all she could do was roll to her knees. Blood dripped from her mouth and nose, painting the floor red.
Alharad cleared his throat. “I see that a taste of freedom has made you forget whose brothel this is.”
“Fuck you,” she coughed out.
He laughed. “I may finally take you up on your offer.”
She reached for his leg but he stepped back. A guard kicked her hard in the stomach, making her yell out and fall to her side.
“Take her to the prison until she’s ready to behave.”
A guard grabbed her by the shoulder, yanking her up. She screamed when she felt her shoulder dislocate. The sound did nothing to stop them from handling her roughly. She looked at the girl as they pulled her away. “What’s your name?” she shouted.
The girl looked from her to Alharad then back again. Defiantly, she lifted her head and straightened her shoulders. “Zoey. My name is Zoey.”
With a snarl, Alharad backhanded Zoey so hard, he sent her flying a few feet and to the ground.
“Her name is Pet,” Alharad declared, his fists balled, ready to strike again.
“It’s not,” Ally said as she struggled with the guards. “Her name is Zoey. There’s a better life out there! Zoey, if you get a chance, leave this place!”
A guard elbowed her in the nose. It cracked as bone crushed against bone. Stars seemed to dance around her head. She closed her eyes as they dragged her through the halls. Blood flowed in large drops from her face to coat her shirt. What didn’t flow from her nose and mouth streamed down the back of her throat to her stomach.
“I’m going to have fun with you,” one of the guards sneered.
“Go ahead,” she said. Kill me, she inwardly begged.
“I’m Viteri. Sagnior was my brother. Do you know how upset our tribe was when we had to bury him?”
Sagnior.
The guard whose brains she blew to itty-bitty pieces.
She giggled as she remembered blasting him away. “You didn’t get all of him. I still had pieces of him on my clothes when I left. I threw pieces of your brother in the trash—where he belonged.”
“You whore!” Viteri propped her against the wall and punched her again and again. There was no shielding herself. The blows rained down with ferocity and brutal strength until she didn’t feel them anymore. Her body became numb.
This is what death feels like.
Finally.
* * * * *
“Where is she?” Kiehle held Alharad against the wall by his neck. He would end Alharad’s miserable existence—after he told him where Ally was.
“Kiehle! Let him go.”
“No.”
Taio put a hand on his arm. “He can’t tell you because he can’t talk. You’re choking the life out of him.”
What would be so wrong about that?
&nb
sp; “We think she’s in the dungeon but we need the code. It seems that Ankon got trigger happy and killed the guards who were blocking the door.” Taio grabbed Kiehle’s arm. “We need him.”
Kiehle dropped his hand reluctantly.
Alharad sputtered and coughed. “I won’t tell you.”
Taio flicked his hand at Kiehle and turned away. “Kill him. Ankon! We’ll have to blast through the doors.”
“No, no, no!” Alharad said, covering his neck with his hands. “I’ll tell you the code. But it won’t do you any good. Once I file another complaint with the Galactic Council, you’ll regret ever stepping foot on Yinnis! She came here of her own free will. We had a deal!”
“Consider it revoked. Code. Now,” Kiehle growled.
Alharad tried to step to the side, away from him. “Zoey!” he shouted to the girl standing in the corner. “Call the Galactic Council; let them know I’ll be filing another complaint.”
From the corner of his eye, Kiehle saw the brave girl shake her head no. When they’d come into Alharad’s private quarters looking for him, the girl had helped them immediately. She’d showed them exactly where Alharad had been hiding in the brothel.
Alharad’s face reddened. “Why you—”
Kiehle stepped in Alharad’s line of vision, blocking him from looking at Zoey. “There’s no one here to save you.”
“I want you out of my brothel now!” Alharad yelled.
Taio raised a brow. “Brothel? Not anymore.”
“What have you done?” Alharad asked, wide-eyed.
“Well, you see, the Galactic Council thought you were due for a surprise visit and since they wouldn’t accept my resignation, they thought I should be the one to do the honors.”
“Another raid? So soon? I’m not due for one.”
“And that’s exactly why they decided to pay you another visit. You always seem to know when we’re coming, which means you’re always prepared for us. This time you aren’t.”
“I-I…let me explain,” Alharad sputtered.
“My guards are sending reports to the council as we speak. Your brothel is riddled with citations. Your slaves are malnourished. You don’t have the proper paperwork for half of them. Oh—and children.” Taio tsked. “You lied to us. There are two little boys living in the brothel with your whores.”
Alharad’s eyes widened. “You don’t understand. They don’t work in the brothel. They’re my personal slaves. I just had them in there as a punishment for being unruly. I was going to bring them back to my personal quarters today.”
“Kiehle? Were the children accompanied by a parent or another guardian?”
Kiehle looked directly into Alharad’s eyes without flinching. “No.”
“Per law, the only way a child can remain in a brothel is if they are with family or an adult who serves as a guardian. You should know the law well; it’s what saved you from being shut down before.”
“What did you do?” Kiehle asked. “Did you go out and get more children when Max and Yoshi left?”
“I-I had to replace the slaves I lost,” Alharad said. “What did you expect me to do?”
“I would expect for you to learn how to dress yourself,” Kiehle snarled.
“These are minor infractions! I’ll pay the fines and promise not to let them occur again,” Alharad said.
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Taio said.
“Why? Because of the undocumented slaves?” Alharad’s eyes shifted from side to side. “I can get the proper paperwork for them. There was a large shipment two days ago and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by. You run a business, you can understand. I figured I could get the slaves now for half the price and work on getting the paperwork later. I kn-know it’s illegal,” he began to stutter. “B-But I’m sure we can work out a deal of some sort? Hmm?”
“A deal? There won’t be any need for that. You’ll spend the rest of your life in prison—that is, if my brother doesn’t kill you first.” Taio turned to Kiehle. “If he doesn’t give you the code on the next breath, make it his last.”
Kiehle stepped back and unsheathed his jango, letting his hands get used to the weight. All it would take was one smooth movement and he’d send Alharad’s head rolling to the ground.
“I…”
Kiehle stepped forward, bringing the jango up.
“Zero-three-two-one,” Alharad blurted as he cowered away. “Zero-three-two-one!”
Kiehle kept the jango raised. “Go ahead and try it,” he said to Taio. “I’ll wait here.”
Taio relayed the code to a guard.
“If it doesn’t work, I get to kill him. No one else,” Kiehle said, lowering his weapon to rest on Alharad’s shoulder.
“I promise,” Taio said.
Alharad whimpered and cried even after the guard came back with a response.
It worked.
Leaving Alharad to piss on himself, Kiehle re-sheathed his jango and ran to the dungeon. He darted to each cell, peering inside.
Where is she?
He was just about to give up when he saw her in the last dark cell.
She hung from chains on the wall. She looked lifeless. Dead.
No.
“Ally, please wake up.”
Someone pulled on her chains. She yelled out as pain shot through her shoulders. “I hate you. Kill me already.”
“Shhh. I have to get you down. It’s going to hurt.”
Kiehle? This is a dream.
She tried to open her eyes but couldn’t, they were swollen shut. “Is that you?” The words came out a garbled mess.
“Don’t try to talk. I’m going to count to three and then bring your arms down. One…two…three.”
Pain.
She screamed at the top of her lungs.
He gathered her in his arms. This wasn’t a dream. He was here. No one had arms like him. No one held her like him. No one smelled as good as him.
“You came for me,” she said, slurring her words.
“I told you I’d always find you.”
“Kids?”
“They’re home with Eva. Missing you.”
She buried her face in his chest. She missed them too. She missed him. “I left them.”
“They understand why. Max said you did it to protect them because mothers always protect their kids.”
She nodded. That’s right.
“Alharad. He’ll find me.”
“Don’t worry about him. He wants you gone. Immediately.”
“Can’t leave. Zoey…little girl.”
“We have her, and two more little boys.”
She sighed with relief. If Kiehle had Zoey, then she would live. He’d take them to Eva, who would see after their care.
“Stay with me, Ally.”
She couldn’t. She wanted to. Oh how she wanted to. “Too late. I’m dying.” She coughed up blood, feeling the metallic taste on her tongue. “Tell…tell…the kids…I love them.”
Her head swam. It felt so full, so heavy.
“I won’t let you die.”
Her equilibrium seemed to tilt on its axis, making her stomach churn. She just wanted to die in peace. She wanted to let go. She wanted him to let her go.
“You have to live,” he said as she bounced in his arms. “We have to bond.”
Bond. That would have been nice.
“Me, you and the kids. We have to bond and become a family.”
“Bonded…kids?” she tried to ask.
“All of us. Don’t leave us, Ally. They need a family.” His breath came out in hard pants. She bounced forcefully. She couldn’t see but it felt as if he was running. “I need a family.”
“Hurry,” someone shouted.
She’d recognize Taio’s boisterous voice anywhere.
“I love you,” Kiehle whispered.
It’s too late.
But she would die in the arms of her protector.
Ally let herself slip away.
Epilogue
Ally
woke to a door slamming. The sound seemed to rock the house. Then running across the floor upstairs.
“Stay out of my room!” Zoey shrieked.
“Ow,” Max yelled.
Ally grabbed her pillow, covered her face with it and groaned. “Not again,” she muttered.
Santa stirred at her feet. The hulking nekran had taken to sleeping at the foot of their bed. As large as a Great Dane, he took up quite a bit of space.
“Whose idea was it again to add a second story to the house and put the kids’ rooms upstairs?” Kiehle asked.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
She clutched the pillow in her hands. “It seemed like such a good idea at the time.”
“I can’t have anything for myself without boys touching it with their grubby hands,” Zoey yelled, clearly just steps from their door.
“This teenage stage,” Kiehle said. “How long does this last, exactly?”
“Oh baby. We have a ways to go,” she teased.
Without knocking, Zoey burst through the door.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” Kiehle said. He used the name he’d started to call her whenever she was in one of her moods.
“Dad, I’m so serious. They keep going through all my things!”
“And mine too,” Yoshi added.
They hadn’t been “Kiehle” and “Ally” since the bonding ceremony on Drazlan over two months ago. The ceremony hadn’t been just for her and Kiehle, but had included the kids as well. Ally couldn’t explain the magic behind the ceremony, but the love she felt for Kiehle and the kids had been magnified tenfold. There were no doubts in her heart or mind. They were a family.
And she hadn’t been the only one who’d felt it. Immediately after the ceremony, the kids had called them “Mom” and “Dad” and it had felt as though the kids had used those names for all their lives.
Ally loved it.
“I’m sure they have no need for your things. They’re boys,” Kiehle said, loud and exaggeratedly so that the eavesdropping boys could hear him.
Giggles erupted from outside the door.
“Argh! See what I mean? Yoshi and I can’t even talk to you and Mom in private.”
“Private? I’m sure the new neighbors can hear you screaming on the other side of the lake.”
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