by May Sage
And here she was. Hands bound above her head, legs spread apart on her hard bed. Waiting for a disgusting pig of the alien variety to come and rape her.
Willow had really believed the propaganda: breeders were respected, treasured, and they lived happily ever after with every luxury. There were pictures of smiling mummies holding their kids on the brochure.
She laughed at her stupidity.
The door opened and she felt every part of her body contracting, attempting to shrivel into nothing so they wouldn’t notice her.
Damn. She couldn’t help the tears; but she managed to keep it silent.
“Now, there’s no need for that,” an amused, cold voice chuckled.
She couldn’t help glancing up. Despite herself, she echoed that laugh, seeing the irony behind all that.
“That’s the spirit, girl,” the sexiest man she’d ever seen said, with a cruel smile.
He looked like Chris Hemsworth, if he’d ever worn a lab coat; the only thing betraying his alien origins were those mesmerizing, inhuman silver eyes.
“Why are you doing this to us?” she breathed.
After all, they already had what they wanted – willing breeders by the bucket load. They’d even started refusing some of the volunteers; she just didn’t understand why they thought that harming them was necessary.
The man was taking a blood sample, and surprisingly, he took care not to hurt her, as gentle as any nurse she’d known.
“Interesting. You’re the first to ask,” he told her. “Well, subject two-two-three, some amongst my peers believe that females of your race, as members of a sentient species, should be given the same rights as Klints. Only, female Klints are a thousand times superior, and the sluts like you who take their rightful places are a disgrace.” His tone was perfectly civil, conversational. “The reason why I’m doing this to you, is to correct an error. I am proving a point, if you will.”
Tomb Raider would have been proud: she spat on his handsome face.
Willow glared at him while waiting for his blow. It never came. The scientist just laughed.
“I see I’m going to have to prove it to you, too,” he said.
He got up from his chair and climbed on her bed, towering over her.
Shit.
His smirk never leaving his disturbingly desirable mouth, he pushed her long hospital gown up, revealing her naked flesh, and bending towards her.
He licked her there, languidly, and she did her best not to react; his finger joined his tongue, teasing her, making her tremble, and whimper.
The scientist finally lifted his head, crawling to her ear.
“You see,” he murmured, his finger still driving her mad. “You hate me. You despise me, and everything I’m doing to you. And yet, you want this. You. Want. Me.”
She hated herself right now, because he was right.
“Right back at you,” she replied more confidently than she felt. “I’m just an inferior slut, yet you’re hard just from touching me, psycho. What does that make you?”
The smile finally disappeared, replaced by pure hatred.
Then, without a word, without pulling her gown back down, he was gone.
Cedar
What does that make you?
He wasn’t sure. That made her a particularly clever slut, though.
Cedar had never doubted his cause. The minute Calden – who used to be his friend – announced he classified humans, of all things, as citizens of the Empire, he’d joined the movement, knowing that it was just a matter of time until his rule came to an end. Calden had obviously lost his mind.
Cedar was well placed to know just what humans were: his dear mother had been one. She’d sweet talked her way from his father’s bed to his will, and before his rotting corpse had been cold, she’d started to fuck around with a lot of other Klints; for money, for power, for fame. He’d witnessed it all, learning one of his most valuable lessons: human females were made for one thing.
Fucking.
Cedar wasn’t even remotely interested in doing any of them; his child would be born from a Klint, a Tarnarian, even a Judsar – anything but a human.
His hard, itching balls were somewhat in disaccord, apparently, wanting nothing more than to empty their content into that clever slut’s warm pussy.
“How did the extraction go?” Netla asked when he made it to his lab.
Cedar just shrugged before recording her bloodmark. They didn’t bother with tests when they were lucky enough to pick up breeders; the empire had already made sure that they were fertile, and that’s the only thing that they cared about.
The girls were going to be sent to one of the five breeding planets they’d set up, and they’d do what they were made for: get fucked, until they became pregnant. The kids would be tested to check the paternity, and the father would raise him with his Klint bride.
He didn’t even comprehend why that wasn’t the way things worked in the entire Empire.
“You’re alright? You seem tense.”
Netla caressed his forearm, and he knew it to be an invitation to release his stress inside her, but he flinched away from the touch, frowning at his own reaction. He’d never been averse to recreational entertainment with her before.
Cedar felt on edge, and his mind couldn’t find a plausible reason why – a first.
“I’m fine. Is the cerebral reader free?”
“Yes. Do you need to read one of the patients?”
“No. I need you to run a test on me.”
As a scientist, he liked to observe, analyze, calculate any abnormality. His own behavior was so out of character he couldn’t help himself from taking notes.
Perhaps he could use his own case as yet another demonstration of the fact that interactions with human females were detrimental to a Klint’s wellbeing.
Twenty-Three
Enough
Calden
He couldn’t understand how everything was suddenly so wrong.
A few days ago, he had very few concerns, now he stared at reports that proved two things: firstly, he was a blind fool, and secondly, the majority of people around him were lying to him.
Two hundred and twenty-nine. There were two hundred and twenty-nine names on the list he’d asked for.
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s quite simple – and brilliant, too. Every year, we have welcomed between three and five hundred breeders – less, recently, but it still means that there were about forty ships dispatched yearly; and apparently, historically, one or two has disappeared.”
One or two out of forty was a humongous percentage, however, there were hundreds of lost ships a year – if someone had wanted to gloss over the fact that a very high percentage of those had been full of breeders, it would have been easy.
“What are they doing to them?” Lena gasped.
Calden snapped, “Use your imagination,” and regretted his word the instant he saw her eyes.
Fuck. Just what he needed: to further damage their declining relationship.
Lena hadn’t slept in their bed since Tania’s arrival, four nights ago. Yesterday, he’d found her bunked in next to Alek. He was at a loss, unsure what to do about it.
“Sorry. I meant…”
“I don’t care,” she cut him off, turning back towards Jaycn. “And your sister? Any news?”
There hadn’t been a word from Xian, and they were telling themselves that it meant nothing. If she was fine, she was working on bringing down those fuckers, Calden was certain of it; she could hardly contact them in the middle of an investigation.
But there always was the other option: she might have been killed. If those people were using or selling humans, Klints were of little use to them.
“I have an idea.”
Lena was still solely addressing Jaycn.
“I think the only way to find them might be from the inside. We could dispatch a few fake breeding vessels, full of trained soldiers who know and accept the risks. My father c
an help.”
Her father, the leader of the human Dissenters. Great idea.
“If a word of this come out, your entire planet will revolt against us.”
“Perhaps they should,” she retorted, silencing him by her vehemence. “I am Empress of this pathetic excuse for a government and with or without your approval, I am asking my father for help.”
She got up and left the room, leaving him shocked in place.
“She’s right.”
He nodded, closing his eyes, hoping that Jaycn would take the clue and leave him alone.
“That’s actually a smart plan. If they are taken, they’d just need to activate a bug, and we’ll have a location…”
“I know she’s right.”
His tone wasn’t inviting any discussion, but his cousin still pushed:
“What’s wrong then?”
Everything.
The problem wasn’t what she said. It was that he’d looked in her eyes and he’d finally managed to read something.
Hatred.
Tania
She was going to scream if it didn’t stop. Tania was really, really trying her best.
She’d had an excruciatingly painful operation two days ago, but she wasn’t regretting it: at least, now she could breathe outside. That meant being able to get some much needed distance. She made a point of running around the gardens everyday, from dawn to dusk, to stay out of everyone’s way.
She’d even asked Calden if she could just go back home.
“That’s not possible right now, I’m sorry. The roads to Earth are rather dangerous, as you would know. Besides, we do need to speak about the reason why we’ve brought you here in the first place…”
She hadn’t put up too much of a fight, given the fact that she was cared for, pampered, fed and outfitted here; that beat waiting table.
Each time she crossed the path of Xian’s brother, or Calden’s mate made her want to go and beg for a one-way ticket to Earth, though.
The Empress wasn’t the worst: she just glared and blatantly ignored her.
The other one…
“Still here, I see.”
She took a different path each day, but somehow, she always seemed to bump into him around twilight – or Magneo’s technicolour version of it.
Tania slowed her jog, hoping against all hope that he’d just pass her by, but of course, the dick matched her pace.
“Calden’s not tired of you yet? Those lips must be fucking incredible.”
He’d done everything but calling her a whore, and at first, she’d tried to say that the Emperor had never so much as flirted with her, but his abuse got worse when she talked back, so she just took it with a smile now.
“I’m almost tempted to try it… but then again, no thank you. I guess home wreckers aren’t my idea of fun.”
Tania wondered if she could ask for a music player to tune him out. She didn’t feel comfortable requesting anything, given the fact that she was spoilt to death, but that was becoming a necessity.
She’d thought that dealing with insults all her life would have conditioned her to take most of what he dished out, but it still cut deep, although not one word coming out of his lips was even remotely true.
Then, he managed to make things worse by changing his angle.
“You know, I wondered how you, out of everyone in that ship, made it out. Let me guess: you ran like a coward and left them all to die.”
Tania wasn’t aggressive, and she couldn’t remember a time when she’d resorted to violence before.
That being said, she flipped.
Knowing none of it had much effect on him didn’t stop her from punching, kicking and screaming at him, until her body was battered by the wounds she inflicted to herself by hitting his rock hard frame. She was exhausted, and the tears just wouldn’t stop.
When she regained hold of her senses, she realized she was on the floor.
Jaycn was talking to her, and trying to lift her up. Snapping her hand back, she got to her feet and turn her heels, running to the palace as quick as she could; pushing herself, she couldn’t hear anything but the sound of her heartbeat. She knew Jaycn was calling her name. She didn’t care.
She finally found Calden in his office, alone. Perfect.
“I want to go home.”
He looked up and frowned, his eyes darting left. She didn’t have to turn to know Jaycn was standing next to her.
The Emperor sighed.
“Look, I need you to hang on just a little while. Everything is up in the air right now. Alone – on Earth or here – you’re vulnerable.”
She’d done just fine for eighteen years; she’d be alright. She was no one, as his cousin had constantly reminded her.
“Just let me go home. It’s not like anyone was after me before.”
“They will be now, if they access the data I have concerning you. I’m sorry. You’ll know soon.”
Not that again.
“I beg of you, please, I want to go home.”
Calden did something strange, then, taking the little jewel on his temple and putting it down. She’d never seen any Klint without it before – she’d wondered if it had been a part of their body, before dismissing the idea when she'd seen that Lena had one, too.
He got up and tilted his head towards the door.
On their way out, he turned to Jaycn and said curtly, “Come with us. Chip off.”
The Emperor led them out of the building, and back to the gardens they’d just left. He walked so quickly she started to jog to match his steps. Soon, they’d left the pretty, neatly cut park and entered a thicker, darker, denser forest.
“Sorry about the theatrics. I’ve already said it out loud once, but since, we’ve caught an increasing number of bugs around my office. I’m pretty certain my new microchip is also compromised.”
Her arms were crossed on her chest, and she nodded without relenting. Whatever he had to say didn’t change one simple fact: she had had enough.
“Have you heard about the compatibility program?”
She nodded; everyone knew how it worked.
“Lena is a hundred percent match to me, and she’s absolutely perfect for me, although I never stop messing it up. She is my mate. I have never been healthier or stronger than since I’ve had her by my side.”
Another nod; Xian had told her as much.
“I’ve pulled you out of the breeding program and brought you here because you are Jaycn’s.”
Jaycn
A million things crossed his mind at that moment. The heavy, painful shadow that had consumed him since he’d seen that girl with Calden lifted, replaced by an odd blend of hope, shame, and self-disgust.
“I’m sorry I haven’t told either of you before,” his cousin added.
Sorry wasn’t going to cut it. There was no valid reason why it might have been a good idea to leave him in the dark.
“But it was for your safety, Tania. We all have a target on our backs right now. Lena can take it – and even then, she has a bodyguard to help. You don’t exactly have her training. Claiming you as one of us would make you an easy prey.”
Ok, scratch that. He had a valid reason. It didn’t mean that Jaycn was forgiving him, though. He could have find a way to tell him regardless. Should have.
Jaycn glanced towards the small woman; he could still see dry tears on her golden skin, and she seemed so fragile, like a wounded animal.
He’d hurt her purposefully, everyday, justifying it by telling himself he was protecting Lena’s honor. In truth, it had been because from the moment he’d seen her, he’d wanted her to smile up at him, but she only relaxed with his cousin.
He’d been jealous, simple as that. Like a petulant child, he’d virtually pulled the pigtail of the girl he liked.
“I’m sorry,” he managed to say.
The girl didn’t spare him a single look. Jaycn wasn’t even surprised when she opened her mouth again and repeated, firmly: “I want to go home.”
/> He wished she’d hit him instead – stronger, this time.
Fuck. What had he done?
“That’s not possible, Tania. Not now. I can’t risk anything happening to you.”
“I don’t care!” she yelled.
Calden shook his head.
“I do. Like it or not, you’re family.”
Twenty-Four
Blood
Willow
It was the eleventh day, give or take a few. At first, she couldn’t tell, but she’d been moved to a room where she could see outside.
She wasn’t on Earth, the light was too different – green, rather than yellow – but a sun rose and fell; quickly, too. Trusting her body clock, she was roughly assuming that two days here were one on Earth.
The new room was small and sparse, but she wasn’t strapped to the bed anymore. Though she could still hear the screams and moans, they’d seemed farther.
Everyday, he came. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t touch her either. He just stood there and wrote down notes.
At first, she’d stayed silent, like him, but it soon became clear that he preferred it that way, so she made a point of attempting to engage him in conversations – unsuccessfully so far.
“So, how are you and your fellow rapist friends doing today?”
One of his eyebrows waggled, and he stared at her for a long moment before writing more notes.
“Personally, I’m having a ball. People just love to sleep in the room where they also piss, and don’t get me started on the whole shivering thing, every night. Five star accommodations. What’s your name by the way?”
