Taken (Selected Book 2)

by Robin Roseau

  "It's stunning."

  We were in orbit about Saturn, well outside the rings. And it was perhaps the most stunning sight I'd ever seen.

  "It is possible that some of the other human mates have been brought here, but I haven't heard of it happening. Sapphire, you may be the first human to see Saturn like this."

  We were standing together at the view port, Bronze behind me with her arms around me. I leaned backwards against her, my head against her shoulder.

  "It's stunning," I repeated.

  We stood together like that for a long time, not talking. Then her hand began creeping across my body. I had a pretty good idea where it was going. I didn't even try to stop her. Her fingers found the top button of my blouse, and then the next, and then the third. Then she began to tease the skin she had exposed.

  I closed my eyes and enjoyed the attention.

  I wasn't wearing a bra, or panties. She'd won both of them from me in a game late yesterday. But she wasn't wearing a bra, either. Not that I took advantage of the fact, but I was winning often enough to continue playing.

  She cupped one breast, her thumb playing over the surface, barely remaining outside the disallowed territory.

  "Playing with fire," I said, opening my eyes.

  She rumbled a chuckle.

  I stared at Saturn. It was so beautiful, and I couldn't imagine anywhere I'd rather be the first time I let her take me.

  I captured her hand and brought it to my lips. I kissed her wrist then each finger, then clasped her large hand in both of mine, holding it still.

  "I wasn't done," she complained.

  "You were thinking of cheating," I replied. "I was only saving you from yourself."

  "Were you?" she asked. "You were starting to pant."

  I thought before answering. "I know," I whispered.

  "Why do you stop me? Wouldn't this be the perfect place?"

  "You know why."

  "I don't, Sapphire. We both want more. Do you deny it?"

  I didn't deny it, but I wasn't ready to admit it. "If I let you seduce me, you're going to think I've agreed to be your mate. And I haven't. You think sex means we're mated. Sex is sex. My body might want you. I might want you. But it's still just sex. I'm not in love. And even if I fall in love with you, if I hate the space station, I'm not staying. Being in love but miserable is still being miserable."

  "I won't let you be miserable."

  "You have as much as told me we won't be living on Earth. You have as much as told me we won't even visit very often. You've suggested I might see my parents now and then, but the likelihood is they'll grow old and die while I'm half a solar system away. So until you tell me we'll live on Earth, if that's what I want, then this is about more than how I feel about you."

  I turned around in her arms, looking up. "I may be falling in love with you. My emotions are all over the place, and I don't know. I'm certainly entirely in lust. I can't believe how much I want you. But I am convinced there are things you should be telling me that you aren't. And you've refused to answer my questions about the space station, yet we detoured here on the way. I think you hoped this would give you enough time to seduce me, and I'd be so lost in what you do to my body that I won't notice the space station sucks."

  "It doesn't suck, and that's not why we came here."

  "Maybe not, but right now, I'm not sure I believe you."

  "You accuse me of lying?"

  I looked down, trying to gather my thoughts. "No." I looked back up. "I do not accuse you of lying. I told you I wasn't sure. I think you would say or do almost anything to win this, our final challenge, and the only one that really matters."

  She didn't respond to that.

  "Bronze, you're winning. All right. You're winning. Now is when you should consolidate your position. Instead, you're doing a good job convincing me there's a rush. Is there a rush? You have another four and a half months."

  "You want me to seduce you. You were thinking about everything I was."

  I wasn't sure I wanted to admit anything, but if I expected her to be honest, I had to be.

  "I admit I was thinking this would be a beautiful place for our first time. I admit I wondered what I was going to do if you turned up the heat. I admit I contemplated encouraging you. And you know what? If things were only slightly different, I would have. If I understood your emotions better, I would probably let you. If you had invited me rather than kidnapped me, we'd have been making love on the moon. If the stakes weren't so high for both of us, we'd be making love right now."

  I cocked my head. "If you can honestly tell me it's just sex for you, you can have me right now. I will be an exuberate partner. But you can't tell me that, can you?"

  "No. But it's not just sex for you, either."

  "That's true, but I'm not remotely as invested as you are. Do you honestly believe just because you feel good that I've forgotten what you've done to me?"

  She looked away, not answering.

  "It's beautiful here," I said after a minute. "I don't want to fight. What you were doing felt good." I began buttoning my blouse. "But if you can't behave yourself, stop touching me."

  I turned my back on her and moved away, taking a different view out the window. She didn't pursue me, which actually surprised me. Instead, she turned away herself, and a few seconds later, I heard the cabin door open and close.

  I hugged myself, feeling very lost, and stared at Saturn.

  Fear

  When she hadn't returned after an hour, I decided she was sulking. I pinged her via text.

  Do I need to come kick your sulking butt?

  She responded via voice. "My butt isn't sulking."

  "I didn't think offering to kick your head would improve our relationship."

  "I wasn't sulking."

  "How well would it have worked a few days ago if I tried that line on you?"

  "I wasn't sulking," she repeated. "I was making. Um. Phone calls."

  "Phone calls."

  "You know what I mean."

  "So you get to make phone calls, but I don't?"

  "That's right. Sapphire, I need you to disrobe and climb into your chair."

  I stiffened, suddenly on guard. "Why?" I asked.

  "Do what you're told. I'll be up in a minute to secure you."

  "You'll have to catch me first."

  "As much fun as that sounds, we don't have time for that game. Get in your chair. I'll be up shortly." She clicked off without giving me a chance to tell her what I thought of her heavy-handed orders.

  She had put me on guard. Why was she insisting on the chair? Why now? I turned around and eyed them, wondering what she could do to me once I was there.

  I knew it would be futile to fight her. She controlled every door. She controlled my visor.

  My visor. I accessed command mode. The release option was unavailable. I couldn't take it off. She had given me full control since leaving earth, except during specific moments, but now she'd locked it in place.

  My heart began to pound. What did she think she was going to do?

  I eyed the chair again, filled with suspicion. It's not paranoia if they're out to get you, right?

  She used to be a fucking tiger. She's changed her entire body, rearranging who knew how much of herself. She'd made me partially psychic. If I relaxed, I could feel the bond we shared, and I thought it was growing stronger. She told me we'd be able to have children together. She was from a different star system so far from ours we couldn't see it in a telescope! But we were going to have children together.

  I was pretty sure her capabilities far exceeded my imagination, but my imagination began running rampant.

  What did she intend to do?

  I was pretty sure she could alter my brain chemistry. I was pretty sure she could lobotomize me, too. She could make me into a smiling little Sapphire-doll, ready to do whatever I was told.

  I began panting in fear, looking for somewhere to hide. There wasn't anywhere, of course. But I ran to the
cabin door, discovering it wouldn't open for me. But then it did open, and I ran forward, only to run right into Bronze. She caught me by the arms.

  "Sapphire!" She set me back on my feet and released me. I backed away from her, looking around, looking for somewhere to run. Looking for somewhere to hide.

  "Why aren't you in the chair."

  "Don't do this. Please don't do this."

  "Don't do what?"

  "What are you going to do to me? You owe me that. If you're going to lobotomize me, I deserve to know. You owe me that much!"

  "I don't know what you're talking about." I backed away, and she pursued me. "Calm down. What's wrong with you?" I glanced at the chair. I glanced past her, wondering if I could dive past and make it to the door.

  Not that I'd find safety, but I was beyond reasoning now.

  "Please don't do this. You promised you wouldn't hurt me. You promised what happened would be my choice."

  "I couldn't possibly hurt you, Sapphire. Calm down. Tell me what's going on."

  "Why are you putting me in the chair? It was one little fight. It wasn't even that big a fight. If you want sex, we can have sex. It's okay. Really. I love your body. You know I love your body."

  "Sapphire! I really don't know what you're talking about. You said you wanted to experience free fall."

  "What?" I squeaked.

  "The ship is going to put us into orbit. Then we'll shut down the engines, and you can see what free fall is like. What did you think I was going to do?"

  "I don't believe you!" I screamed. "You're going to do something to me. You don't like that I think for myself, and you're going to give me the equivalent of an alien lobotomy!"

  "Oh, Sapphire," she said. She knelt down, our eyes on a level. "Listen to me. Do you think it's your body that intrigued me? If I wanted the hottest body on Earth, well, yours isn't bad. But it's nothing compared to your mind. It would kill me to hurt you that way."

  I eyed her carefully.

  "You wouldn't be you. I could never hurt you like that."

  "How am I supposed to trust you?" I asked. "You're a space alien. You don't remotely think like a human does. We already know the aliens don't mind lying to get what they want. Jasmine demonstrated that. And we know you're willing to keep secrets. We know you're willing to stomp all over our most basic of laws. We know you're willing to do horrible things to us just because you're lonely."

  "Sapphire, no one has done horrible things to you."

  "That's your opinion. You're not the one who was kidnapped, drugged, had your body modified against your will, flown literally halfway across the world, and then fought over like a scene from a gladiator movie. You weren't kept in a prison cell, or made blind whenever you were removed. You weren't forced to engage in physical combat to fight for your freedom. All that happened to me because you were lonely."

  I backed further away from her. "Well, guess what. Everyone is lonely. Do you know what humans do when they're lonely? They deal with it. They try again. They put themselves out there. They ask someone on a date. They take some rejection and ask someone else. If they receive repeated rejection, they wonder if there are things they can change to improve their chances. Some of us remain lonely. Some of us turn to self-destructive behavior. Drugs. Violence. Suicide."

  I shook my head. "Some of us engage in illegal behavior. Some of us snap. But when that happens, the authorities try to catch us. They throw us in prison. Maybe they try to give us a little help. But what happens when a space alien is lonely? The authorities step all over some innocent woman's rights. They help with the slave trade. They help with human trafficking."

  I began to scream. "That's what you've done. This is nothing but slave trade. I'm not your mate. I'm your slave. That's what you want, a slave who has to do what she's told. It's human trafficking. On Earth, it's considered near the greatest depravity that men do to women. But this time it wasn't a man trying to do it to me. It's other women. It's you!"

  I crossed my arms. "So if I have just a little bit of trouble trusting you, maybe it's not so unreasonable. And if I wonder what new depravities you have planned for me when you don't get your way, maybe that's not so unreasonable either."

  She closed her eyes for a minute, breathing slowly, and then she opened her eyes, opened her arms, and looked at me with compassion.

  "Sapphire," she said very gently. "I'm not trying to hurt you. Frankly, if I were going to do what you suggest, I wouldn't require your cooperation. Your visor can knock you out with barely a thought from me. I could then pick you up, toss you in the chair, and do whatever it is you're so afraid of."

  "You locked me in here."

  "I didn't want you stumbling into my phone calls."

  "You locked my visor on."

  "No I didn't."

  I stomped my foot. "Yes you did! I tried taking it off, and I was locked out of that option."

  "Why did you want to take it off?"

  "Because I didn't want you using it to knock me out!"

  "Well, I didn't use it to knock you out. Maybe that's because I have no such intention."

  "Then why did you lock it?"

  She cocked her head lightly. "Oh. I did that last night. You do remember last night. I forgot to unlock it again. I'm sorry."

  I eyed her carefully.

  "Sapphire, I have absolutely nothing planned that either of us would consider nefarious. There's nothing now, and there never will be. I don't know how to convince you."

  "You promise you have nothing planned while I'm in that chair except putting us into orbit?"

  "Well, that's not entirely true, either. We would talk for a while, and then I was going to suggest you sleep."

  "And you were going to do more testing."

  "Yes, I was going to do more testing. But I see you wouldn't respond well, so I'm not going to. And I was going to give you a few pleasant dreams."

  "You're trying to seduce me."

  "Of course I'm trying to seduce you. But I heard what you said earlier. I was going to consolidate my position, as you suggested."

  "I think... I think I'm going to be sick." I ran past her, and she didn't try to grab me. "Please let me out!"

  The door was open by the time I reached it. I had my hand over my mouth as I hurried for a bathroom.

  I wasn't sick, but I thought it was a close thing. Bronze entered behind me and knelt down. I felt her hand on my back.

  "I could never hurt you, Sapphire. You're right. I'd do almost anything to win you. But I couldn't hurt you."

  "I'm so scared," I said.

  "I know. And I'm sorry about that."

  "I don't think free fall is a good idea right now."

  "You're going to be fine. Come here." She tugged on me, and I let her pull me backwards into her arms.

  I started to cry, and once I began, I knew I wasn't going to stop.

  "Please take off the visor," I blubbered. She did it for me, setting it aside, and then, on the bathroom floor, she held me as I sobbed out my fear and frustration.

  Station

  Tucked into my chair, I watched our approach to the space station via the monitors. It looked so lonely out here in the dark of space.

  We were as far from anything as seemed possible. The station was parked in an orbit around the L4 point. It was actually a crowded piece of space, relatively speaking, but nothing was particularly large, and the aliens used the rocks for building material.

  But we were equally far from both the sun and Saturn, and none of the planets were more than a bright star.

  The last week had been strained between us, which I hadn't helped when I refused to come to her bed. She threatened to restart the five-month clock, and I told her if she did, it was going to be the worst five months of her life.

  She'd given me the space I had demanded but secretly didn't actually want. No, I didn't want space. I wanted to know I could trust her.

  But I was sure I couldn't.

  We did meet halfway, sort of. We continued m
y lessons, and we were both professional about them. And we talked and played games, but I flat out refused to allow wagers, and I didn't let her see me unless I was fully dressed.

  She took it in stride, but I knew I was hurting her.

  Guilt gnawed at me, and then anger, because I shouldn't have been in this situation in the first place.

  Yes, I worked myself up into a real snit.

  I thought about that and sighed. And then I looked at the space station.

  It looked so small, but then we drew closer, and closer still.

  It wasn't small. Oh, no, it wasn't at all small. Five kilometers would be tiny for a planet, but it was huge for a manmade structure floating in space.

  Man made? Well, you know what I mean.

  "Bronze."

  "I'm a little busy here, Sapphire. Can it wait?"

  "I don't want to fight."

  She said nothing then I heard her sigh. "Were we about to fight?"

  "No. I was about to apologize and point out we're arriving at your home -- at my new home. I thought this was pretty momentous." I trailed off.

  "I'm sorry, too," she replied.

  "Are you mad at me?"

  "No, Sapphire. I'm many things, but anger is not one of my current emotions."

  "I really do want this to work."

  "Do you? I thought you wanted to go home."

  "I want a lot of things. I won't get everything I want. If I weren't willing to give you a chance to convince me I want to stay here with you more than I want to go home, I could be a lot more difficult than I've been."

  She growl-chuckled. "I suppose you could."

  "Tell me about your home here. Oh, you're busy. I'm sorry."

  "I have a little time. That's a pretty open question though."

  "Well, it's not a house. I can see that. But I don't know what it is. Or where it is."

  "I have a suite on the rim," she explained.

  "A suite?"

  "Yes. It's big enough for a family unit of three adults and three children."

  "Three adults?"

  "Temier are not the only species that require a trinity for life, although mated Temier do not share their quarters with the male except during a brief mating period."

  "I get my own room?"