Alien Penetration

by Kaitlyn O’Connor

  “You are regretting the choice?” Kael asked unerringly.

  Camryn narrowed his eyes at his cousin. “I cannot imagine why you would think that,” he said tightly.

  “The men are talking,” Ean said uneasily. “If anything that has happened here should get back to the council, we will be undone!”

  “They have as much to lose as we do,” Camryn retorted. “They will keep their mouths shut.”

  “It will not matter one way or the other if we cannot do something with Simone.”

  Camryn flicked a look at Kael. “I spoke with her. I impressed upon her that her behavior would not be tolerated.”

  “Yes, so we saw,” Kael said dryly. “If I am not mistaken, she is even now cowering in the corner of your cabin—plotting mischief.”

  Camryn closed his eyes, seeking patience. “You do not know that.”

  “No. I do not know that, but I would guess it from the look she gave both of us!

  What the hell did you say to her that she looks at us now as monsters, and with burning hate?”

  Camryn swallowed a little sickly. “That she would die if she tried to stir up a revolt.”

  Ean and Kael exchanged a look.

  “Why did you tell her that? There has never been a breeder executed for treason!” Ean said angrily.

  “Because there has never been one who instigated revolt!” Camryn growled.

  “They will not go that far,” Kael said uneasily. “They are angry, and frightened, and they are accustomed to their own world. They are still women. They are still weak and well aware of it. They will not fight … long.”

  “Mayhap you should review the vids of their little discussion?” Camryn said dryly. “The women are angry, frightened, and dangerous because they are afraid of what will happen to them on our world. Did it not seem the least bit shocking to discover that two of their number were so unwilling to accept that they killed themselves? Do you think those who did not are any more willing to accept … because I think they are girding themselves to fight.”

  “They are not fools!” Kael snapped. “They must know that they cannot win such a battle!”

  Camryn grunted. “You and I know that. They apparently aren’t convinced … and there is where the danger lies.”

  “Mayhap we should try to reason with them?”

  Camryn and Kael both turned to look at Ean as if he’d lost his mind.

  “They are breeders!” Kael spat in disgust.

  “They are women!” Camryn snapped, outraged at the suggestion. “You are suggesting we … negotiate peace?”

  Ean reddened. “What is it that you plan to do, then?”

  “I will keep her in my cabin and keep a close watch on her until I am certain she has had time to consider the consequences and then I will return her to the hold with the others,” he said decisively.

  Ean and Kael looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “She is a breeder!” they said at once.

  “You can not keep her in your cabin!” Kael added. “The elders would stand on their heads if they learned you had broken tradition and done such an unheard of thing!

  They would instantly have her executed for corruption and you locked away for treatment!”

  Camryn narrowed his eyes at both of them. “They will not hear of it if I am successful! She is the instigator! If I can impress it upon her that they have no choice but to comply, then the others will follow her. Even if I cannot, if she is not there to stir them up, the others will behave and do as they are told.”

  * * * *

  Simone was too unnerved for a long while after Camryn had left to do much besides go over and over what he’d said. She discovered, though, that that wasn’t a bad thing. He’d given her the key to recovering her mistake.

  She had to convince him that he’d completely cowed her. They all had to convince the arrogant assholes that they’d browbeat them into submission! They were going to have to put forth a show of reluctance at first, she thought, if they wanted to be convincing, but she doubted it was going to take a lot to convince them. They were so damned arrogant already that they were sure that women were nothing but spineless weaklings.

  It wasn’t a tactic she hadn’t tried before. Of course, that had been with her boyfriends, but the draks were still males. It should work on them for the same reason it worked on the men of Earth—arrogance. It blinded them to the possibility that they might not be ruling the roost as they thought.

  The draks could bluster and bellow, stomp around and threaten, and thoroughly show their asses, and when they’d worn themselves out, and convinced themselves the women wouldn’t dare to defy them, they would do what they damned well pleased!

  Chapter Seven

  If there’d ever been a time when Simone desperately needed something to calm her nerves, this was certainly it! The urge for a cigarette was nearly painful and for a little while she couldn’t think of anything else and she began to wonder if her craving wasn’t at least partly responsible for some of her irrational behavior.

  Maybe, she decided. There was no getting around the fact that she wasn’t quite herself.

  Or it could be the situation.

  Or it could be her hormones, she realized. She would’ve begun to have changes right away, wouldn’t she, if the procedure had taken? Nothing drastic, maybe not enough of a change to feel it.

  The almost idle search for why she’d almost begun to feel like someone else calmed her when her thoughts shifted to the possibility that she really was pregnant.

  She’d had no concept of time since she’d been taken. She had no idea how long she’d slept after the doctor had given her the shot—long enough to be transported from the clinic to the ship, but that told her nothing. They had some sort of particle transporter.

  They could pop in and out in little more than the blink of an eye—although they seemed disinclined to transport them that way. There were no clocks. There were no windows and there wouldn’t have been a sunrise or sunset to tell her anyway. She only had her internal clock and the stress she’d been under since she’d first awakened had thrown that completely off kilter.

  Two weeks? Three? Had it been long enough that she could count on the fact that her little eggs were firmly planted? Or was her body even now gathering itself to reject them?

  She supposed she shouldn’t have called her baby’s father a monster. It had been an impulse and it had been a direct hit. She’d seen that in his expression and in his eyes when he’d recovered enough try to hide it. She’d been glad it had seemed to penetrate his thick skull at that moment, but it hadn’t taken long for guilt to begin to chip away at her complacency.

  It wasn’t fair to blame him for the failings of his entire race. He was the product of it—just like she was the product of her own society—except she knew he hadn’t chosen. She’d been given every opportunity to make up her mind, make her own decisions, even the freedom to reject any part of her own society that she didn’t agree with. He’d been trained to be what he was from birth. How could he possibly think any differently when no one, apparently, ever questioned the fucked up society they had?

  Or if they did, they were probably dealt with very swiftly.

  The worst of it was, she really did understand. He wasn’t threatening to harm her himself. He was trying to make her understand that his people would—because he didn’t want her to take his son with her if she went down. She could understand that. She didn’t like the idea either, but she wanted her sons to have what she had had—choices.

  Maybe they wouldn’t want to be warriors like their fathers were. Maybe they would, but she wanted them to have the chance to decide. She didn’t want them to be taught that she was nothing, unimportant beyond her biology and her ability to produce more warriors.

  Beyond that, she wanted them. She wanted to be able to hold her sons in her arms and teach them love by giving them love.

  It was no wonder that Camryn was so cold and unfeeling—all of them!

 
The thought gave her a pang. He was so handsome! Kael and Ean, too! She wished things were different—wished they were—wished they didn’t have to be enemies.

  If they hadn’t been taught to believe the things they had, if they’d even had mothers to temper the hardness, what might they have been like then?

  Not that it mattered, she told herself. They weren’t capable of tenderness or love, however much she might wish they were.

  She wasn’t even certain they were capable of passion beyond a desire to slaughter and maim. If they were, they weren’t tempted to waste it on her. She was surprised Camryn had even deigned to touch her at all.

  Of course, that was yet another one of those ‘forbidden’ things. Breeders didn’t even rank on their damned totem pole. They fell somewhere around animal, beast of burden—not even pet. She didn’t think it was actually a law, but the warrior class did not fraternize with breeders. It was looked down upon for them even to lower themselves to consort with the middle class. She wasn’t forbidden to have sex, not completely anyway. According to Akule, and assuming she wanted to, as long as she was pregnant and not near term, she could indulge. Indiscriminate breeding was absolutely forbidden, but if she was bred and couldn’t get pregnant, she could have a lover, or lovers. He’d actually suggested that they should be ‘generous’ with themselves.

  She’d had the feeling the bastard was hinting, but he could fucking hint all he wanted to. She didn’t think any of the women were desperate enough to let that snake crawl in their bed!

  She couldn’t even see any possibility that any of them would find a useful lover when nothing but the worker class would consort with them and they were the next thing to dirt themselves.

  She dismissed it. She didn’t want a lover.

  Well, despite her conflicting feelings of hostility toward them ,she might have been willing if any of her babies’ fathers had been interested, but they weren’t and that being the case, she thought she could manage doing without.

  She’d managed to calm herself down when Akule entered the cabin and settled to lecturing her about her place in the drak society. She didn’t know if it was intended as part of her chastisement or not, but it certainly was punishment. It wasn’t bad enough that he went into excruciating details on every little thing, but he droned when he talked until it was all she could do not to fall asleep.

  She listened until she was tired of listening, and then she got up, moved to a corner and sat down with her back to him.

  He went silent, clearly thrown totally off kilter.

  “You can not escape merely by not listening,” he said finally.

  Maybe not, but she didn’t want to hear it anymore. “Just how many times do you think you need to repeat that canned speech? Until we memorize it like you have?”

  She heard him crouch behind her. “Until you accept that this is the way things are and you cannot change them.”

  Well! There was no changing a damned thing if somebody didn’t have the balls to try! Maybe he was right, but they’d never know unless they did try and she wanted to know they couldn’t change things before she threw up her hands and gave up.

  “It is not the life you had, but it is not a hard life. You will not be expected to labor. You will be provided with comfort. You will have the freedom to come and go from the apartment assigned to you. You will have the freedom to seek your friends and spend the days with them …. You may take lovers if you desire to ease the loneliness.”

  Simone turned her head to look at him at that. Oh, it sounded like utopia alright!

  She didn’t have to work for a living. She could just be a slug and lie around all the time, getting bigger and bigger, and then produce her litter and start over!

  Maybe that would appeal to some people. She’d met some lazy individuals in her time and she thought that might be right up their alley, but it sounded like hell to her.

  She wouldn’t have to worry about having babies—litters—until she’d worn her body out!

  She would be out of her mind from sheer boredom in no time at all.

  She didn’t especially like working, but she liked the things it gave her and part of that was a sense of accomplishment, a sense of importance in the world, the feeling that she might make a difference—to somebody.

  She thought she could even bear the life they had planned for her if they’d only let her keep her babies. It would be enough to be a mother. That would be a full time job and one she’d love to have.

  Nothing could compensate her for having to give up her children.

  How could they not understand that when they’d gone to such great lengths to have children themselves?

  “If you understood anything about me you wouldn’t think that there was anything in what you’ve said to appeal to me at all. I had all of that before—except the not working part—and more! I had self-respect and the respect of my peers because I was worth something, because I pulled my weight and did my part. I had people who cared about me. I had a chance to have a family of my own. You took that away from me.

  You think you can offer me less, take everything else, and I’ll be happy? That I should be satisfied?”

  “You had no man.”

  Simone rolled her eyes. “And that devastated me, I can tell you! I had plenty of men, by god! I didn’t have a man at the time because I didn’t want one!”

  Alright, that wasn’t strictly true, but it was close enough. She didn’t have one because she hadn’t met one she wanted to keep—even for a little while—but that was beside the point! And it wasn’t a damned selling point for Macedon! Jeez! If she hadn’t found a man on Earth she could live with, what were the odds she would on Macedon?

  When they were such arrogant assholes! Anyway, he was talking lover. She could pick one of those up pretty much any night of the week if she’d been so inclined! It wasn’t as if Earth men were prone to turning down a free piece of ass!

  He looked disconcerted, but then his face hardened with determination. “I would be your lover. It does not bother me that you are a breeder.”

  An unpleasant jolt went through her, followed by anger at the comment about the status they had hung on her!

  Apparently, he took her speechlessness as consideration—or maybe he just didn’t notice the glint in her eyes because he was staring at her damned boobs!

  “I know your language well and I would be willing to learn your customs so that I would a good lover. Beyond that, there are things that I could give you that you would not be given, or be able to get for yourself.”

  Simone planted her palms against his chest to keep him at arm’s length as he settled his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. She wasn’t certain if it was a good thing or a bad thing that the men decided to return at that moment. She was still trying to decide whether it was against one of their damned laws to shove him on his ass when the door opened. It caught both her attention and Akule’s.

  Camryn, not surprisingly, was in the lead since it appeared to be his cabin. His gaze swept the room and settled on the two of them in the corner. He looked perfectly blank for a handful of seconds and then his gaze flickered over them and moved back to her face.

  And then he went into some sort of transition. His face darkened and twisted into a feral mask even before a roar of pure rage emerged from his chest that made Simone’s hair stand on end.

  A jolt went through her. She felt her eyes widen and her mouth drop open. Her mind went chaotic, but she snatched her hands back guiltily.

  Kael and Ean caught hold of him, thankfully, as he surged forward, but the image of a vicious Rottweiler on a flimsy leash flashed through her mind.

  Akule shot to his feet. “She is bred! There no law that she cannot take a lover!”

  It didn’t seem to appease Camryn—or either of the others, for that matter. She discovered that, although they were holding Camryn determinedly, Kael and Ean looked almost as enraged as Camryn. She felt uselessly along the wall in a mindless instinct t
o flee.

  “Out!” Kael snarled. “You cannot fuck her in the prince’s quarters whether she

  is agreeable or not!”

  “She is only just bred!” Ean snapped.

  Akule bowed shakily and inched his way around the men who hadn’t advanced much further than the aperture—thankfully.

  Camryn shrugged Ean and Kael off when Akule scraped past him and strode briskly down the corridor, rounding on her the moment Akule had disappeared. Simone managed to unglue her eyes from him long enough to search for a possible retreat.

  “Did you offer to take him as your lover?” Camryn asked through his teeth.

  Simone had just managed to pick her lower jaw up. At that, it sagged again, this time in disbelief. “I didn’t!” she gasped.

  “It is not forbidden, Camryn,” Kael said in a low voice. “Think what you are

  doing!”

  “It is forbidden in my apartment!” Camryn snarled, whirling on his cousin furiously.

  “You have the right to object to that,” Kael said, “but if you had attacked him he

  could have brought charges before the council!”

  “I am not concerned about charges from the likes of that putan! He overstepped

  his bounds petitioning her in my quarters!”

  “And your anger is completely out of proportion to such a minor infraction! The council would think that you had interest in her that you should not have, Camryn! She would suffer for that. Not you!”

  Camryn scrubbed a shaking hand over his face. “As Ean pointed out, she is just

  bred—only a matter of weeks! She cannot take a lover yet, not when it might jeopardize the implants!”

  “The collar protects them,” Kael said pointedly. “He knows it has already been

  placed—everyone knows! That would not hold water as an argument and well you know it!”

  Camryn turned and looked at Simone. He did not dare approach her, however, not even as close as he had before. “Go into the bedchamber, Simone,” he said finally, struggling to keep the anger still boiling inside of him from his voice.