by K. Webster
Willow gets tugged from the doorway. The woman who replaces her makes my heart stop in my chest.
“Aria?”
Her lips press to a firm line. “Lyric.”
In the darkness they look so similar. As if cued into my thoughts, she barks out an order and then the room is bathed in light. Not a room. A reform cell. The wall beside the bed is lined with stone, but the wall across the room is lined with bars. The room next door is empty.
“Why am I in a reform cell?” I demand, jerking my gaze back to Lyric.
She crosses her arms over her chest as she sizes me up. “That’s where kidnappers go in a prison.” She steps closer. “What planet are you from?”
“This one. Mortuus.”
“What’s your name, monster?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Hadrian.”
“Well, Hadrian, you fucked with the wrong chicks today. We didn’t get to our position to let two braindead monsters screw it all up.”
“What do you want?” I growl.
Bravely, she walks close enough that I could reach out and grab her throat if I wanted to. But I don’t want to. This is Lyric. Aria’s family. I fist my hand at my side and level her with a hard glare.
When something glints, I realize she’s holding a magknife in her grip. Not so useless after all.
“I want my sister,” she says coolly.
So do I.
“And if you’ll let me, I’ll bring you to her.” I grit my teeth, biting back an irritated snarl. “Release me, female.”
Her lips curl into a sinister smile. Where Aria smiles sweetly at me, her sister looks like a sabrevipe ready to pounce on its prey. “No, monster boy, you’ll bring her to me, not the other way around.”
Bring her here?
Rekk no.
“Breccan won’t allow that,” I bite out at her.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what Breccan won’t allow. You’re going to help me get my sister here.” Another predatory smile. “If you want to live.”
I blink at her. Did this alien just threaten me?
My sub-bones start popping and it takes everything in me to rein in my anger. All I want is to get this female and drag her back to my Aria so I can go back to the way things were. Rather than backing away, she lifts her chin and pierces me with a fierce glare.
She opens her mouth and I take my opportunity. I grip the hilt of the magknife, yanking it from her hand. Her body falls against mine and I hug her to me. Twisting her around, I keep her pinned to my front with her arms trapped in my grip.
“Listen, alien,” I growl, my lips pressed against her hair near her ear. She smells foreign but sweet. “I’m trying to make Aria happy. You for some rekking reason make her happy. So you’re going to get on that ship even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming onto it.”
“Let me go!” she cries out, squirming and flailing.
The wiggling causes my cock to wake up. Oh, rekk no! Her rump rubs against it, making me groan in shock. I practically throw her away from me. She stumbles and then swivels on her feet, her glare dangerous and threatening.
“Oh, motherfucker, you’re going to regret doing that shit!” she screeches, her chest heaving. My gaze falls to the way the gray material hugs her breasts. They’re rounder than Aria’s. My eyes, against my wishes, rake down her trim body and I take in the slight flare of her hips.
“Are you okay?” Willow asks, running into the room.
“Don’t get close to them,” Lyric says, huffing. “They’re monsters. Just because they talk and have our family members doesn’t mean a damn thing. They’re dangerous.”
Willow’s gaze flits over to me and then she winces. “He’s bleeding. Zoe should take a look at him.”
“He’ll live,” Lyric barks out. “Unfortunately.” She storms off, leaving Willow behind.
“Are you okay?” she asks, her brows furling together just like Molly’s do.
“I just want to make Aria happy,” I mutter mostly to myself.
Willow’s features soften. “You really know my mother?”
“I do.”
“Is she hurt? Where is she?”
“She’s here, on this planet. Quite the contrary. She’s happy. And in love.”
“In love?” she asks, astonished.
I nod. “So is Aria.” My heart aches at that thought.
“Hey,” Willow whispers. “Just hang in there for a bit. We’ll get you fixed up. Let me talk to Lyric. I’m sure we’ll get this sorted. Give me some time.”
Since she’s Molly’s daughter, I throw her mother’s words back at her, hoping to gain favor. “Thank you. You’re a doll.” It’s a phrase Molly uses often.
Her cheeks blush and she laughs. “Only Momma would land herself on an alien planet, fall in love, and enchant the monsters into using her country bumpkin lingo.” She stares at me for a moment longer. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here.”
Willow rushes from the room and the door closes behind her. I sit down on the bed and inspect the cut on my hand. The magknife sits on the floor, so I quickly stash it between the cushion and the bed, hiding it. It could prove to be useful later.
“Your negotiation skills need work,” Theron calls out from somewhere.
“Rekk off.”
3
Lyric
“You should have killed them when you had the chance,” Zoe says bitterly. “Now what are we going to do with them?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be the nurse,” I say absentmindedly. All I can think about is how strong the monster had felt when I was clamped against him. His powerful arms could have crushed me, but he was surprisingly gentle. I shake my head to clear my mind of the memory. “You’re far too interested in maiming instead of healing.”
She snorts, but doesn’t answer. A lot about Zoe goes unanswered. Willow and I have a lot in common. We both did what we had to do in order to leave Earth II to find our families—my sister, her mother—though we were kept in cryo headed for Exilium for different lengths of times. That’s what they did. For decades, the ones who were in charge, collected the criminals and held them until their ultimate prison was complete, only to dump us to rot for the rest of our existence. But Zoe has been “in transit” longer than both of us and she doesn’t have any family she’s spoken of—it’s just her. So we have no idea how she landed herself here or what crimes she committed to get herself into the same position we’re in. In the vastness of space, sometimes the only thing I have to hold onto is the memory of Aria and the promise of being reunited with her. Zoe doesn’t have that or anything else to look forward to. Maybe if I were in her shoes, I’d be just as bitter and guarded.
“We can’t kill them. They know where our families are. We have to make them bring my mom back—and Lyric’s sister.” Willow is pacing, energized. I haven’t seen her so pumped since we first overthrew the prison guards. Her red hair is an explosion around her delicate features, but she doesn’t seem to notice. She keeps pushing it away from her face as she paces back and forth. “They have information we need, too. About the planet. What it’s like to live here, really live. If we’re ever going to get out of this prison, it’s information we’ll need to have.”
Zoe isn’t convinced. She leans back in the chair, pushing a pencil behind her ear. Her prison uniform, what all of us wear as there aren’t any alternatives, is starting to show wear. The bright yellow material is faded to a dingy cream and there are patches where the fabric has worn completely away and spots where blood has stained it dark. I make a mental note to search the prison for additional uniforms. “You’re assuming they’re here out of the goodness of their hearts. C’mon, Willow. Don’t be dense. We’ve dealt with monsters like these before. They could have ulterior motives.”
“Monsters?” comes a wispy voice from the command room door.
I turn and find Stella, a wispy woman who’d be beautiful if it weren’t for the ever-present anguish in her features. Her white-blond hair lies lank ove
r her shoulders and a small child clings to her legs, a pale face that peeks out only to dart back into hiding every few seconds.
“What monsters? Is that why you called the code red?” Stella asks. Everything about her is soft, delicate. When I first woke in Exilium, Stella had already given birth to a son, Henry, back on the ship about three years ago, though she wasn’t willing or able to talk about her child’s father. She was one of the few who belonged to those men on the ship while they collected prisoners for decades, only woken up a few years ago and forced into sex long before they ever stepped foot on this wretched planet.
“Big scary ones,” Zoe says, her eyes on the kid.
“Christ, Zoe,” I bite out as the child yelps and hides behind Stella’s legs. To Stella, I say, “Yes, that’s why we called the code, but there’s no immediate threat. We detained the…visitors in the cells. You’re safe.”
“For now,” Zoe adds under her breath, but we all ignore her.
“What do they want?” Stella asks. Her hand goes to Henry’s hair and she begins to play absently, almost as though he’s a real-life security blanket. The action seems to soothe them both.
“We’re not certain, yet,” I answer, hoping Zoe will keep her mouth shut. There’s no need to cause panic amongst the others until we have a more concrete idea what the monsters want.
“Everything will be right as rain. No need to worry,” Willow adds, crouching down to peer at Stella’s son. “Chin up, buttercup.”
“Are you sure we’re safe?” Stella asks.
My shoulders tense as all their eyes turn to me. I feel their expectations like a weight on my shoulders. “I’m sure,” I say firmly. I don’t know if I’m trying to convince them…or me. “It’s almost fifteen hundred. You two should head to the mess hall for dinner.” The cheery tone in my voice sounds false to my ears, but Stella herds the little boy away with promises of dessert.
“They wanted to kidnap us,” Zoe shouts when Stella is out of hearing distance. “That’s what you call safe?”
“They can’t kidnap us from behind bars,” I say calmly. “They aren’t going anywhere.”
“I’ve never seen tech like theirs before,” Willow says, finally taking a seat, though her leg still bounces up and down. “Its origin is unlike anything from Earth II.”
“That would make sense, considering they’re aliens.”
We both ignore Zoe. “What if they have a way to communicate with their people? We could confirm their story. Talk with your mother, my sister.”
Willow’s eyes light up and Zoe exclaims, “Are you insane? That could be a trap. They could have been watching us for months, bugged the place.”
“Heavens to Betsy, Zoe. You’re the most paranoid person I’ve ever met.” Willow shakes her head.
Zoe lifts a shoulder. “Not paranoid, prepared. I’d rather not have an ambush situation on our hands. We barely survived overtaking the guards. What if there are more of them headed right for us?”
I take a deep breath. “Willow, can you do a scan of the perimeter for unknown vessels? Make sure there isn’t an alien armada out there headed this way.”
Willow nods and spins around in her chair, clicking away at the monitors.
“What are you going to do?” Zoe asks.
“I’m going to have a chat with our monsters, see what they really want. If they can contact my sister, then I’ll be able to ask her questions only she knows the answer to.”
“They could be lying. You can’t trust them.”
“That’s possible,” I admit. “But we won’t know until we find out more about them and where they came from.”
“They could be telling the truth,” Willow says quietly, still working on the scan.
That’s what I’m afraid of, I think, but don’t say out loud.
Fear turns to anger as I stride to the cells where I’m keeping the monsters. I let it fuel my steps and clarify my thoughts. I need to find out exactly what they know, where they’re from, and what their purpose is with the prison and its inhabitants. Willow and Zoe offered to come with me, but I turned them away.
I want to do this alone.
A-Block, where we’re keeping them, was for the worst of the worst—before we overthrew the prison. The cells are small, only enough for a bed and toilet, and they’re bare of any softening touches or personal effects. Confinement, the guards had called it. I’d never been sent there, but I’d heard stories from women who had. Deprived of interaction or exercise, all the prisoners could do was pace around the small cell and “think about their transgressions.” The only food they received was a ration of bread and moldy dehydrated cheese with water. I wished the crappy food and isolation was the worst part about confinement, but I’d heard stories about atrocities committed against the prisoners here.
I flick the lights on and begin toward Hadrian’s cell. I’ve been awake for more than twenty-four hours at this point, but I know I won’t be able to sleep until I have answers.
“Hello?” comes a voice I already recognize as his. “Is that you, Lyric?”
The A-Block cells are kept in the farthest reaches of the prison, deep within the mountain. Moisture from the ocean above slicks the walls and pools on the floor, leaving the constant sound of dripping water all around like we’re in a cave rather than a manmade dwelling.
I approach his cell carefully, willing myself to maintain my composure. He’s reclined on the bed, his hands behind his head and one leg drawn up at an angle, seemingly relaxed.
“I knew you’d come back,” he says with his eyes still closed.
“What do you know about my sister?” I demand.
“I know everything about your sister.” There’s an inflection in his voice I don’t quite understand, and it makes me bristle.
“What do you know?” I repeat. “Why did she send you here?”
“To bring you back to her,” he answers, and I frown. There’s more to the story, but I can’t discern what I’m missing. Why would he travel so far, risk so much to bring me to her? It doesn’t make sense.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth? You came here to kidnap us. Don’t you realize how fucked up that sounds?”
“Do you think I care if you believe it’s the truth or not? We’re here to take you to Aria and Willow to her mother. That’s all that matters. You’ll be coming with us whether you want to or not.”
“That’s where I think you’re wrong.” Shaking my head, I open the door to his cell and close it behind me. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know whether you want to or not.”
“What makes you think that?” He finally cracks open his eyes and sits up.
I hold up the device in my hands. “You won’t have a choice.”
“The rekk is that?”
“A truth-teller. The guards used to use them on us when they needed to interrogate us.” The truth-teller is a small box of insubstantial weight with sensors that attach to his temples. I’ve been subjected to them once and it’s an experience I’d never like to repeat. But to find my sister, to save her, I’m willing to do anything.
Even commit atrocities I’d nearly died to save the others from.
“And you think you can use that on me?”
I nod.
His lips turn into a feral grin. “You can try.”
He can’t escape, not with his hands shackled to the wall, but that doesn’t alleviate the nerves skittering in my stomach. Monster is an accurate description. His features are too harsh, too animalistic to be natural. We learned on Earth II any survivors here on what used to be Earth would have suffered the effects of radiation—to what extent the experts were never certain.
Now I know.
Their genetic makeup has mutated until they look nothing like humans. I remember how strong he was when he held me in his grasp. I’d never met a man on Earth II with strength so profound. Everything about him seems designed to be overwhelming, intimidating. From the pitch-black eyes to the towering height.
The Aria I knew would have run screaming.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warn as I draw closer to the bed.
He says nothing.
My heart beats double time as I begin to unwrap the cords with the sensors I’ll need to attach to his temples. It should be because of how terrifying he looks, but it’s not. It’s because all I can think about is how he felt against me.
Being alone with him doesn’t seem like such a smart plan anymore.
“Rekk, you look just like your sister. It’s a shame,” he says, those black eyes on me.
“What do you mean?” I ask absentmindedly.
“That I have to hurt you.”
Then there’s a knife at my throat and Hadrian is in front of me, somehow free from his shackles.
4
Hadrian
I’m not really going to hurt her. But she’s compromising our mission and I need to get back. Home. I’ve barely been here for a solar and I’m already itching to escape. I thought it was torture watching Breccan care for the one I wish were mine, but in reality, it’s better than nothing.
Here is nothing.
Until she walks in, reminding me of Aria.
It’s maddening.
I just want to collect the alien and get back to where I belong.
The magknife is pressed to her pale skin and her blue eyes are wide. The anger she’s worn thus far is replaced by fear.
Rekk.
I really am a monster.
When she flits out her tongue to lick at her bottom lip in a nervous way, my cock jolts without warning. I disgust myself. Fury rises up inside me, chasing away the heat licking at my cock. I grip a handful of her hair, tugging until she’s forced to crane her nog to look up at me.
“Are you really going to hurt me?” she asks, her nostrils flaring.
I skim my gaze along her nose to her full, pink lips, and then look over her pale throat. Sometimes, Aria wears dark bruises from Breccan’s mouth. I imagine it hurts the fragile aliens, but I think they like it, otherwise she wouldn’t wear them proudly and often. And if we’re being honest, I wouldn’t mind darkening up Lyric’s throat that way. I wonder if she tastes sweet…
