by Ruby Dixon
“Harrec,” Kate sobs, clutching at the doorframe. “We have to do something.” Behind her, Harlow is pale, clutching her son close.
I look to Taushen, but he’s clearly torn. He shifts in place, as if he wants to lunge after the others, but he keeps glancing back at the human women clustered in the doorway, and I can practically read his mind. He wants to spring to the defense of the others…but he also doesn’t want to abandon us since he’s established himself as our protector.
One of the aliens looks up at our ship and nods. He sees us standing there and calls something out in a strange tongue. I can’t make out what he’s saying, but I can guess it. Come out if you want to live. The muzzle of his gun is lowered ever so slightly, as if to reassure us.
“Should we go out?” I whisper. Elly shrinks down, curling into a ball on the floor. Her eyes are huge and staring out at the snow, as if silently willing Bek to get up. I’m sick at the heartbreak in her eyes. Sick at all of this. Is there no safe place in the universe?
“What did they say?” Farli asks.
“Nothing good,” Taushen says grimly. “Stay here, all of you.”
He strides forward a footstep, then pauses and shoves his spear into my hand. “Guard them.”
Wide-eyed, I nod. The thought of going up against men with guns with a bone spear is terrifying, but what choice do I have? My heart is hammering in my chest, and I’m so freaking scared I feel like I can’t breathe.
Taushen turns back around to the strange aliens and takes a few slow steps forward. He’s not more than halfway down the short ramp when the alien lifts his gun, pointing it at Taushen, and barks a new order. Taushen pauses.
“I think they want us to go with him,” I whisper to the others.
Gail nods and puts an arm around a trembling, sheet-white Elly. Kate’s sobbing, but she moves next to me, and Farli moves to my other side. I look for Harlow, but she’s receded into the shadows. I can’t blame her—she’s got a kid on her arm and one in her belly to think about.
“Stay behind me,” Taushen warns us. “Do not make any sudden moves. Let me protect you.”
Brave words, but as the cluster of us moves slowly forward, I don’t think there’s anything he can do. There’s nothing any of us can do except surrender.
3
BROOKE
Things seem to happen in a cascade after that. We’re all dragged forward and forced to drop to our knees in the snow, kneeling in front of the enemy while they discuss things in their strange, barking language. Harlow’s dragged out of the ship a short time later and sobs loudly at the sight of her mate fallen in the snow. The aliens let her keep Rukhar with her, and they seem fascinated by her big belly, murmuring to each other about it while we wait. Taushen is dragged on board the ship, unwilling but also not fighting. He just gazes at us with bitter frustration in his eyes, and it’s clear to me he wants to do something to stop this, but he knows trying anything would just result in his going down like the rest of the men.
We sit in the snow and watch as one by one, the unconscious men are dragged into the ship. There are at least four orange aliens and no sign of the old crew of the Tranquil Lady, and the gnawing worry in my stomach won’t go away.
This is bad. This is really, really bad.
At some point, Harrec regains consciousness and tries to tackle one of our alien captors, which ends up in him just getting shocked unconscious again. Kate breaks into fits of tears, and the tears keep flowing when they bring out her tiny kitten and take him, too. Farli is silent as her pet, Chompy, is roped and dragged on board the ship. Her hand is on her belly, and she watches with fierce, narrowed eyes as the remaining sa-khui men are collared as they are unconscious.
I remember those collars. Shock collars.
Slave collars.
We’re going to be sold into slavery all over again.
The realization makes me want to throw up. I can tell Elly and Gail realize the same thing—there’s a dead look in their eyes as we watch the unconscious men get collared and taken away. Back to the hell we just got rescued from.
It seems so very unfair. Life can’t play this cruel a joke on us, can it?
One of the aliens comes toward us, waving his gun. He says something and it sounds like nothing more than crackling coming from his throat. I can’t make heads or tails of it.
When no one speaks up to answer him, I glance around. Kate’s still crying, and Farli is glaring silently. Both Elly and Gail look traumatized. They were both slaves for a lot longer than I was, and I understand. I think of how hard I cried when I first arrived here. Eventually I got used to things. I grew stronger. I can survive this, too. So I swallow hard and look at the waiting alien. “We can’t understand you. We speak English.”
He cocks his head, and those fish-eyes focus on me. “Hain-glish?” he says after a moment. “Yuuurth Hainglish?”
“That’s the one,” I say dully. “Yurth Hainglish.”
“Youuu haf breeeding ffeemalesss,” he comments, nudging his gun at Harlow. She gets to her feet, tears streaking her freckled face. “Preknannnt?”
She nods, sniffling.
I’m surprised that they’re gentle when they put the shock collar around her slender throat, and they don’t even bother with putting one on Rukhar. He’s too little, I suspect, and we all know he’s not going anywhere. He clings to his mother’s hand as they lead her into the ship.
The orange alien turns to me. “Whhhisssh one is hurrr mayyyl?”
He wants to know who she’s married to? I hesitate, because I’m not sure if I should give up that kind of information. Then again, what does it hurt? We’re already captured. They shouldn’t care unless they want to keep them together. “His name is Rukh. I can show you which one he is if you bring me to them.”
The other women stare at me, aghast, like I just agreed to blow our alien captors. Can’t they see what I’m doing? Maybe not. I’ll have to explain later. For now, it’s important that I keep a family together if I can.
When the other alien comes back out with a slave collar, they confer with more of their strange, crackling language and point at me. I hug my arms to my chest, shivering and hoping I didn’t screw things up for Harlow and Rukh. The new alien comes to my side and puts the collar on me while I stand meekly still, even if the urge to run is screaming through my head. At least Summer and Warrek didn’t get captured. God, I should have gone to the fruit cave with them and I wouldn’t be here right now. Stupid Taushen should have stayed with them. Now he’s as screwed as we are.
The orange alien points into the ship. “Innnnssssside.”
I head up the ramp, even though it feels like every step is taking me away from my freedom. There’s a huge knot in my throat, but I choke it back. Or try to. I mostly just sound like I’m gurgling miserably.
The alien leads me down a hall in the ship, and I swallow hard at the sight of dark blood spattered on the metallic walls. There are old, dried stains on the flooring that tell me that this probably wasn’t a peaceful takeover of the ship. I don’t know how they found us, but I wonder if the old crew sold us out. But I think of Mardok, who was taken captive with the rest of the men. Maybe not. Maybe things are just as awful as they seem. The alien at my side shoulders his weapon and punches buttons on the wall panel, and the door slides into the wall with a hiss. Inside, there’s an unconscious sa-khui male—Harrec.
“Hrrr mayyyl?” the alien asks me. “They are pair?”
“Not this one,” I tell him, and then an idea occurs to me. If they’re keeping one couple together… “This one is the male of the very tall white-haired female. She is pregnant with his child.”
He frowns. “They are pair?” he repeats again.
“A mating pair, yes. Very compatible.” What else do slavers look for in mating pairs? “They will breed many strong babies.” So they can all grow up as slaves? Ugh, I’m grossing myself out with even suggesting such a thing, but I also know Kate’s terrified for Harrec. If I were in her
position, I’d want to be with my man. So…if I can influence things, I’m going to try.
I mean, hell, it can’t get much worse than this.
The alien stares at me and then taps something out on his armband. A moment later, a new alien appears, this one without a gun but in a sleek dark bodysuit that emphasizes their weird anatomy. His ribcage looks truncated and his hipbones jut out like a tinkertoy alien that was put together weirdly. He barks something at the other in their strange language.
My companion speaks, gesturing at me, then at the room Harrec’s locked into. They both look at me. “Feeeemayyyyl is wif younnnng?”
I nod. “The one with the white hair. Run a pregnancy test on her if you don’t believe me.”
They exchange a look. “Wait heeeere,” the second alien says, and gets out something that looks like an iPad. He returns a few short minutes later and nods at his friend. “She carries.”
“Breeding pairrr,” the other says. “More moneyyyy.”
“There are several breeding pairs,” I point out. “Lots and lots of money. I can show you which ones.”
The second alien looks at me with those weird, unblinking eyes. “You…brreeeding pairrrr?”
“Me? No. No mate.”
They look at me, and then one grabs my hand, pinching the skin on the back of it. He holds his pad close to my skin. A tiny needle shoots out and scrapes along my skin, leaving a welt. The alien pauses and studies his pad, then nods. “No mmaaaayyyyt.”
The second alien speaks up. “But otherrrrs…breeding pairrrs…”
“Yes, and I can show you all of them.”
“Shhhowww,” he gargles at me.
So I do. I point out which human belongs with which sa-khui male. I want to keep the families together, and I hope desperately that they’ll see this as a good thing. Even if we get taken away from this planet and the tribe, if I can keep the girls with their men—and Rukhar with his parents—I’ll have done something right. The aliens make notes and talk privately to themselves as I give them details. I hope that means they’re taking this to heart and I’m not making a mistake. That I’m not selling out my friends. I even tell them that Gail and Vaza are a mated couple, even though Gail swears up and down that she’s too old to have kids. I know she’d want to stay with him. I tense up, wondering if the aliens are going to go out and test Gail’s blood too, but they only take notes and move on to the next alien.
At the end, we get to Taushen’s cell. He’s not unconscious, but he’s bound hand and foot, facing the opposite wall. All I can see is his broad back and the long hair that sweeps down his shoulders, and his endlessly flicking tail.
“This one isn’t mated,” I tell them in a low voice, hating that I have to admit the truth. But I can’t save Taushen. There’s no one else to “hook” him up with even as a lie, and they know he’s not mine. We’re going to be condemned to the same fate, him and I—sold without a partner and no one else to lean on. I’m not a big fan of Taushen, other than he’s easy to look at, but I hate that he’s getting the shortest end of the short end of the stick when it comes to this.
Well, him and me both, but I chose my fate, in a way. I chose to pair up the others in the eyes of the enemy, for good or for evil. I’m just hoping it’ll work out in their favor.
But the aliens only stare at me and then point at Taushen again. “Maaaayl has no maaaayyyyyt?”
“No mate,” I say patiently. Our voices are low, and when the door shuts, I’m glad, because I don’t want Taushen to hear me talking with them.
“Femaaayl has no maaaayyt?” The alien points at me with one fat, lobster claw-like finger.
Rut-roh, raggy. This is taking an alarming turn. “Um, no.”
The aliens talk in their weird language again, and then one makes a weird wheezing noise. It isn’t until he slaps his knobby knee that I realize that was the orange bulb-headed alien version of laughing. Yeesh. I try to wait calmly, even though I’m wanting to tug on the collar on my neck something desperate. Every time I swallow, I can feel it against my throat, and it’s making me feel claustrophobic.
Then, one alien leaves. The conversation ends and then just one orange-headed alien remains. It doesn’t make me feel any easier, though; he’s giving me a look I can only describe as sly, despite his fishy eyes. He gazes at my boobs a little too hard, and I wish I hadn’t taken my leather tunic in with a few creative nips under the arms to show off my girls. I want to put my arms over my chest, but that might be too obvious, so I pretend to be blissfully unaware of the situation. Meanwhile, the hairs on the back of my neck are prickling and I can feel a cold sweat coming on.
What am I going to do if they decide that because I’m no pregnant…it’s open season on my vagina? What if they rape me? A full-body shudder moves through me, and I fight the urge to vomit, thinking of the lobster-claw fingers again. If they try to touch me, I’ll fight. And then what? Get shocked into unconsciousness and sleep through whatever they do? God, I don’t know if that’s better or worse.
I’m about to whimper aloud, but then the second alien returns again, this time with a small metallic thing. When he unscrews the top and sniffs it, it reminds me suspiciously of a flask. Alcohol? Alien alcohol?
He holds it out to me and indicates that I should drink it.
I swallow hard, gingerly taking the flask. A bit of liquid is in it, no more than a few spoonfuls. “What is this?”
“Drrrink,” the alien tells me. As if I didn’t know.
I stare at them uneasily. If I refuse, are they going to pour it down my throat anyhow? Maybe I’m too much of a coward to put up a fight, but getting all bruised up isn’t going to help things. “Bottoms up,” I whisper to myself, and then swig the drink. Please don’t be poison.
I’m half expecting the drink to burn or taste like vomit. Instead, it’s cool going down my throat and tastes a bit like mouthwash. I wrinkle my nose and then hold the flask back out to them. “Done.”
The two aliens make that weird wheezing laugh again. God. More laughter? I wonder what I just drank. Alien pee? Are these the frat boys of the space slavers? I try to remain calm and not freak the fuck out, and instead mentally chart any symptoms. I don’t feel burning on my tongue or swelling in my throat like I’ve heard happens with a toxin. I don’t feel sweaty anymore. I do feel warm and flushed.
Erm…I feel warm and flushed in specific places.
And it’s getting worse by the moment.
“Oh god,” I whisper. I think I’ve been roofied with the alien version of Spanish fly. I hug my arms over my breasts tightly. “What did you guys give me?”
One moves to the door of Taushen’s cell. He taps calmly on the pad and then, when the door swishes into the wall once more, gestures that I should enter. “Yoooou haf no maaaayl,” it croaks at me. “Now we maaaayk maaaaayyyyted paaaair. Maaaaake younnnng. Brrring moooore moneyyyy.”
Oh, fuck me.
I hesitate, and when I don’t rush gleefully into the cell with Taushen, the second alien shoves me from behind. With a squeak, I pitch forward and stumble into the cell. Whatever was in the drink is making my head swim, and the floor seems to bob and weave a little. I flop to the ground and land on my belly, moaning. God, my tits hurt like I’ve got my period.
God, my vagina hurts. That’s…new. It aches and feels empty and throbs with need.
“Well, this fucking sucks,” I breathe, rolling onto my back and grabbing my boobs to try to stop the ache. I squeeze open one eye and look over. Taushen is staring down at me, an expression of surprise on his hard face.
“Brooke,” he whispers, giving a puzzled look to my tit grab. “What do you do here?”
4
TAUSHEN
Captured.
Shame and anger boil in my belly. Shame that I could not protect the females. Anger that we have been so easily overtaken. Helpless rage joins in. How could I let our people be taken? Why did I not fight to the death?
The answer is as obvious as it is annoyin
g. Brooke and the others needed protecting. They have no one to look after them if I let myself get taken with the others, so I chose to stay behind. Not that it mattered in the end, because I am yet captured. However, capture is not defeat. As long as I am alive, I will fight to free myself and the others. Even now, with my hands bound behind my back by strange rope, I twist ever so slightly in my bonds, waiting for them to loosen.
I have not given up. I will never give up.
The door opens to the cave I am being held inside. It takes all of my willpower not to stiffen or alert them in any way that I have heard. I remain calm and still. I do not twist my hands. Only my tail lashes back and forth, but I cannot stop that no more than I can stop my breathing. I hear the soft sound of Brooke’s voice, and it calls up even more intense feelings. I am angry and frustrated that she has been captured, but not surprised.
Brooke. She and the one called Suh-mer are the last unmated females. They are my only chances at a family and kits, and yet again, my khui chooses to remain silent.
I hate it. I hate that it will not choose. I hate that time after time, I have been ignored and that the khuis of others have sung. The initial group of females arrived, and I thought I would surely have a mate amongst them. One by one, though, they resonated to others. Then Li-lah and her sister. Then the five enslaved humans. It is a bountiful feast for the sa-khui amongst the prized and once-rare females. My friends and hunter companions have paired up, mated, started families…
And yet I remain alone.
My khui is either flawed or too choosy. No, I realize bitterly. It is not the khui that is flawed, it is me. A khui always selects the best mate to make kits with a female. The fact that I have not been chosen tells me that there is something wrong with me that makes me a poor mate to any female. It is a thought that has eaten at me for turns.
