Sold to the Alien Smugglers: A Fated Mates Romance (Captive Mates Book 4)

by Corin Cain

  Tessa turns away – imagining what that brute would have done to her.

  I don’t need to imagine it. I’ve seen the aftermath myself, amid the fifty slaves Ling and I freed from scum even worse than the man who’d attacked Tessa.

  Her lips flash a momentary smile at me.

  “Thank you for saving me.”

  I wince.

  Adrenaline is still coursing through my veins, and it makes me even more painfully aware of nothing I’d done to deserve Tessa’s gratitude.

  I take a deep breath, trying desperately to calm my racing heart. Nevertheless, a drop of cold sweat runs from my forehead and down my cheek.

  I wipe it away, shivering.

  Tessa’s eyes are like an unspoken accusation. She might not be making it, but they reflect my own self-disgust.

  I didn’t save her from that rapist – at least, not deliberately. I didn’t do it out of competence. I saved her through instinct, terror, and blind luck.

  In the crucial moment – when I could have made a difference – I’d frozen.

  That’s why I don’t trust myself anymore. If that rapist hadn’t landed on the blade of my knife…

  I shift uncomfortably in my seat, wondering what other hidden places exist on this ship. What other filthy beasts inhabit the shadows and cavities of this ancient transport vessel?

  Tessa is still staring at me.

  Reluctantly, I acknowledge her words.

  “I’m Jamie,” I stammer. “What happened to you?”

  Tessa looks down. She’s wearing a thin grey sweater, stretched out from where the attacker pulled at it. She’s still decent, but the stretched-out fabric just highlights how slight and vulnerable she looks.

  An easy target – that’s what that scumbag must have thought.

  “I was just walking,” Tessa barely makes eye-contact with me. You know those damn sleeping compartments – I had a bitch of a cramp, so left to walk it off.”

  Her eyes harden.

  “I guess that bastard must have seen me limping and figured I’d be an easy target…”

  Her voice trails off. Tessa shudders, and reluctantly meets my eyes again.

  “I need a drink. You want something?”

  “Water,” I respond.

  The ration of water and food we get as ‘bottom-feeders’ on this voyage leaves my mouth dry and my belly grumbling, and if she’s paying, I’ll gladly take the hydration.

  Tessa nods, and pulls herself up from the seat. She fishes in her oversized pants for a handful of coins, and then limps across to the bar.

  The bartender blinks, waking himself up as he finally finds himself confronted by a paying customer. This far into the voyage, those ‘bottom feeders’ with a thirst have mostly exhausted what meager drinking money they brought with them; so there’s not much for him to do.

  With a huge yawn, the bartender pours Tessa a generous finger of a brown liquid in a plastic cup. Then, he reaches under the bar for a package of water – freshly re-sealed from the recycling plant in Elnor’s sub-structure.

  I don’t care that I’m drinking purified, recycled dishwater, shower runoff, and even pee. That’s the reality of low-budget spaceflight. Even lukewarm, this water will taste like heaven to my parched throat.

  “Bring the empties back,” the bartender grunts at Tessa – as if he’s reading from a script.

  Tessa returns to the table and sits back down, wincing as her leg gives her trouble.

  She passes me the package of water. I tear it open and take a first sip, allowing myself only enough to wet my mouth. Water is included in the ticket, but each passenger is given a daily ration; and this package of recycled water represents more than half of it.

  Across from me, Tessa downs the amber fire she’d ordered in a single swallow – screwing up her face and wiping her lips as the burning liquid reaches her stomach.

  Steeled by the drink, the young woman finally finds her voice.

  “I’d been walking down the hallway when my leg cramped up. I had to stop to rub it – and when I looked down, that’s when he grabbed me.”

  Tessa shudders as she remembers what happened.

  “He had one hand on my arm and one over my mouth – so I couldn’t scream for help.” Her eyes glisten. “Fuck – there are men like that living in these walls?”

  Tessa looks up at me.

  “Did you hear about the passenger who disappeared a month ago? The security staff said she’d probably left through an airlock – cabin fever, they told me.”

  Cabin fever, or space madness.

  It was rare, but sometimes a passenger on a long-haul flight would peer out into the twinkling eternity of space, and the void would call to them.

  But that wasn’t what had happened to that woman – after the experience Tessa and I had just endured, that much was obvious.

  “She could be on the other side of those walls right now,” Tessa shudders.

  I don’t let that thought enter my mind.

  If she is, then there’s nothing we can do to help her now. Not after a month. Nobody who goes missing on a long-haul space flight for a month is ever found safe or well at the end of it.

  Besides, it’s no longer my job to defend women like that. I’m no longer the one tasked with saving them anymore. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

  It’s a useless thought in my mind. Worse, it’s a dangerous thought. Just look how I’d frozen when that rapist had grabbed me.

  The ‘old me’ was gone – killed the same day Ling had died.

  Now, I’d just get myself killed if I tried to help.

  Tessa’s light brown eyes meet mine again.

  “Thank you again, Jamie. If you hadn’t heard me…” She shudders. “Gods.”

  I stare past her. I can’t accept her thanks. Our recent encounter made that much clear.

  The only thing I need to focus on is getting to planet X12 – and getting away from this kind of life.

  X12 has a very low crime rate – and as part of the Human Alliance, there’s no slavery, no Scorp attacks, and very few Toads.

  I shiver just at the word.

  Toads.

  Toads are the worst of the races.

  Hell, between the Toads and the Rogue Aurelians – the exiles and renegades who kidnap women in their fanatical search for their Fated Mate – the universe is a dangerous place.

  Ugh. I hate those alien bastards. Toads, Rogue Aurelians, and all the bloody human scum who ply the same grisly trade. Pirates or slavers, call them what you will. They’re always out there – endlessly patrolling the dark reaches of space, looking for their next victims.

  I guess I shouldn’t judge them by their species. Every race has its fair share of scum. It’s not the DNA or genetics of a slaver that makes them disgusting – it’s their vile and revulsive lack of basic morality.

  I stare out through the viewport. Through the murky glass I lose myself in the endless chasm of space; eternally hungry to suck you up and make you disappear.

  I need to disappear. That’s why I’m heading to X12.

  Sudden movement in the far distance – well beyond the glass of the viewport – makes me tense up. Did I imagine that?

  I saw movement – I’m sure of it. Somewhere out there, in the blackness of space.

  But there should be nothing but dead space ahead of us. Nobody comes here. Untamed Space is reserved for lunatics like the captain of the Elnor; who only took such risks to carve eleven months off a similar voyage through protected sectors.

  So, either we’re running parallel to a rogue meteor shower or…

  …my eyes widen as I count ten, twenty, and then thirty lights twinkling in the distance – definitely not stars.

  “No!”

  Tessa whips her head around to see why I’d gasped. Then, she follows where my eyes are locked. The moment she sees what I do, Tessa’s glass plummets to the deck – the thick plastic bouncing away as Tessa freezes at the sight screaming towards us.

  Thirty
Toad attack ships.

  There’s no mistaking the Toad craft. Just like the creatures that pilot them, Toad starships are ugly, uneven things; bulging with engines and weapons, and then swept with gangly, disproportionate ailerons and fins.

  They might look wrong – but there’s no denying the speed or lethality of a Toad attack ship. Generations ago, they proved themselves to be the only species in the universe that could threaten the Aurelian Empire through force of arms and technology.

  My chair shudders. The creaking hulk of the Elnor protests as the engines fire up to full burn.

  The floor of the bar skews to the right, and I realize that the captain is turning the vessel sharply away from the oncoming Toad ships. Tessa and I actually feel the shift, as the captain turned so sharply even the inertial dampeners can’t fully compensate for the incredible g-force produced.

  But it’s futile against the fast Toad ships. Within minutes, they’re on top of us – and, as they approach, lances of las-fire burst from the attack ships.

  The Elnor rocks from side to side, barraged by explosions. I grab Tessa and drag her beneath the table.

  I’m petrified – until the voice of my dead best friend cuts through my panic and confusion.

  Ling was always robotic under stress – and now, I can hear her voice almost as if she’s whispering directly into my ear.

  Get deeper inside. Las-fire can only penetrate the outer hull.

  She’s right – or my imagined memory of her is. The dorms are safer than the view decks.

  I steel myself and grab Tessa’s hand – dragging her after me as I clamber out from beneath the table and stumble across the tilted deck toward the doors.

  The ship lurches as I slap my hand on the open button, and I crack my head sharply against the wall. For a moment, stars flash in front of my vision – but I shake them off quickly.

  I can’t think in my panic. All I know is I have to get away.

  Pausing in the doorway, I glance behind me. The bartender is huddling behind the bar, eyes wide and terrified.

  I slap my hand against the button to open the door, and the moment it hisses open, las-fire brightens the bar like a crack of lightning.

  The ship rocks. Sounds like thunder ripple across the hull. A final blast impacts directly with the huge viewing window, instantly cracking it.

  There’s a moment of resistance – and then the air shield shatters.

  The glass is sucked out into space – as too is my package of water, Tessa’s empty glass, and the two chairs we were sitting at.

  I dive through the open door of the bar - desperately dragging Tessa behind me.

  I turned and glanced through the doorway one last time – at the bartender, clinging to a beer tap as the vacuum desperately tried to suck him through the gaping window.

  My heart steels itself. There’s nothing I can do. I punch the button to close the barroom door just as the bartender finally loses his grip. Through the viewport in the door, I watch him flailing as he’s sucked out into the abyss.

  I’m sorry.

  My head throbs. I reach up and sink my fingers into my matted hair. They come away hot with blood. I must have really slammed my head against that wall. Now I’ve got a gaping cut right alongside the fresh bruise I’d earned banging my head against the wall of my sleeping compartment this morning.

  With so many head injuries, it’s lucky I remember my own name.

  Tessa screams. The whole ship shudders under another barrage of las-fire. The deck beneath me lurches left and right, trying to throw me off my feet.

  A shower of sparks bursts from the wall, and smoke billows from the right.

  I pause.

  “This way!” Tessa does the guesswork for me – pointing to the left and darting down the hallway. She runs around the corner and that’s when I feel the first stab of terror.

  I’m suddenly frozen to the deck - blinded by a flashback of Ling turning the corner in the exact same way the last day I’d seen her alive.

  She’d run right into a Bullfrog electro-spear.

  But Tessa snaps me from my grim memory – poking her head back around the corner and hissing: “Come on!”

  I’m grateful to be jarred so sharply out of the memory. Shaking my head, I follow her, sprinting down the hallway until another billowing wall of smoke and sparks stops us in our tracks.

  “Fuck!” Tessa staggers to a halt. “Fuck, Jamie! Where do we go?”

  Tessa’s staring at me like I’ve got a plan. Her eyes widen – searching desperately for reassurance as the wall of choking, grey smoke rolls its way down the corridor towards us.

  My lungs are scalded. Stars burst before my eyes.

  I glance to the left, searching for that loose panel I’d kicked free earlier.

  I slam my foot into the panel even harder than I did the first time, and it cracks open – swinging wide the doorway through which I’d found Tessa earlier.

  I drag her back into the darkness. The faint light from the hallway illuminates the familiar scene – glinting across the trail of blood that leads to the shadows in the distance.

  That was where the man I’d stabbed had lumbered away.

  He might be alive or dead – either way, I’d sooner face him than what lay behind us. Smoke billowed through this hidden entrance, so I turn and slam the panel back into place, sealing us in darkness but stopping the rolling waves of that noxious smoke.

  Terrified by the dark, I tap a button on my smart-watch and a circle of light surrounds us. Wafts of smoke glimmer in the LED glow. Glancing back at the panel we’d come through, I see that the seal isn’t tight. Smoke is continuing to get through, and my lungs are already burning from it.

  I reach over and grab Tessa’s hand, leading her away from the smoke. We have to keep moving forward – deeper and deeper into the claustrophobic bowels of the Elnor.

  As we walk, I yank the knife from my belt, holding it in front of me. Tessa grabs a hunk of rusted metal from a shelf we pass, and grips it tightly in her own hand, ready to stab.

  If our would-be rapist was still alive in these dark corridors, he’d regret running into us.

  The light from my smart-watch quivers. I glance down and see that my hand’s shaking. I clench my fist, trying to stop the shivering. I can’t let Tessa know how scared I am.

  There’s another huge thud that I feel in my ribcage. The whole ship is rocked from side to side, and Tessa and I have to cling to the pipes and cables as the deck lurches beneath us.

  Then, the entire ship buckles – and I’m thrown into the air.

  My head cracks against the wall – again.

  Everything goes black.

  2

  “Wake up. C’mon, wake up!”

  The whispered hiss rouses me.

  My head is pounding like a sledgehammer. It’s fucking killing me. I blink, my eyes barely adjusting to the gloom.

  Where the fuck am I?

  Chains rattle. I look up, and see my hands suspended high above my head. Glancing down, I see my feet are sloshing in water, right up past the ankles.

  In panic, I yank at whatever’s restraining my wrists – but I get nowhere. My wrists are bound high above me, leaving me dangling like a side of beef in a butcher’s shop.

  I look around, panic swelling inside my chest. What is this place?

  The wall behind me is slick and slimy with moss and mold. A drip of liquid splashes down against my nose and I jerk my head back in surprise – a move I instantly regret, because my aching head screams in protest and the world around me spins dizzily.

  I struggle to hang onto consciousness, kicking out with my feet and splashing in the warm water. Somehow, I keep it together – hanging limply by my arms as my vision coalesces.

  Okay, so I’m shackled to these wet, slimy walls.

  I gasp for oxygen – and humid, fetid air fills my lungs. It’s swampy and foul.

  I flinch, and hear the sound of rattling chains above me. I can barely see in the gloom, but I
can feel the metal cuffs around my wrists, dangling me from a hook.

  I turn my head to the right, trying to get my bearings – but I move too quickly, and stars fill my vision once again.

  With my head pounding, I barely hang onto consciousness – forcing myself to stay awake by taking deep breaths of this foul-tasting air.

  My vision begins to clear again. I keep the movements of my head slow and deliberate.

  In the murky darkness of the room, I can finally see – and my first sight of Tessa, hanging from her wrists right alongside me. She’s staring at me with horror.

  “I-I’m okay,” I stammer, half-closing my eyes. It’s only then I realize the reason her light brown eyes are wide with horror might have more to do with our circumstances than whether or not I’d been injured.

  I look around – barely. The room is filled with mist; hanging in the fetid air like a cloud.

  Shit.

  I know what that means.

  Toads.

  We’re on a fucking Toad mothership!

  I’ve seen them before, when Ling and I would liberate slaves from the slimy fingers of those wretched creatures. Toad motherships are fearsome vessels – and just the kind of ship you’d find on the borders of Untamed Space. Motherships frequent the neutral space stations in this sector, constantly searching for slaves. Unlike within the Aurelian Empire, there’s full acceptance of slavery in the loosely-organized Toad Confederacy, and many of the disgusting creatures take advantage.

  After all – it’s the only way they’ll ever get a human female. Aurelians have women flocking to their harems because they offer them luxury, protection, and an overpowered libido attached to creatures that might as well be the very epitome of masculine perfection.

  Toads, on the other hand, are physically repulsive, cruel and greedy. No human woman would every willingly endure their slimy touch – but thanks to slavery, an unknown number of thousands are forced to.

  I fall limp, hanging despondently from the chains. A buzzing fills the room, and I lift my eyes to watch a big, fat mosquito – the size of an apple, no less – flying toward me.

  I grimace, and shake the disgusting bug off me the moment it sets down. I can’t even imagine the itching and pain that would result of letting a creature like that suck your blood.