by E. M Reders
“Focus, brother!”
Startled out of his wonderings by the mental slap from his twin, Jepa focused back on the blonde. She was looking strangely at him is if waiting for something. But what?
“The answer to her second question, brother.”
Oh right.
“None of your business.” The last thing they needed was these two getting loose on the ship. The blonde and red head over Hecto’s shoulder definitely seemed a handful. Their mate on the other hand was strangely quiet.
“She will not be when sandwiched between us.”
The words were distracting enough, but did Hecto really have to send his visual fantasy to accompany it.
“So you’ve kidnapped others?” the blonde asked, her words finally piercing his mental fog.
“No we have not kidnapped others.” That had been Torq. “All the humans on deck seven are volunteers.”
“Volunteers for what?”
He knew what was coming even before his brother opened his mouth. Hecto did not speak often to others, but when he did, it was either extremely important or just plain stupid. Unfortunately in this case it was the latter.
“A harem.”
Their mate’s eyes could not have gotten any wider.
Chapter 6
A harem? “You’re joking.” They could not be serious, could they? Who would volunteer for something like that?
Then again, Hannah probably would enjoy it judging by her behaviour over the last few months. She seemed to have no problem getting down and dirty with any guy then quickly moving on to the next one.
“Yes, he is,” Hunk A growled at Hunk B’s back.
Thank God for that.
“So what are your names?” she asked as they continued on their way. She couldn’t really go on calling them Hunks A and B forever. And seeing that these guys were not from her world, she didn’t want to even attempt to guess what they could be called.
“Why would you need to know that?” Hunk A asked.
“So I know who to hunt down and bash to death with my bag if Jessie doesn’t wake up. I’m guessing the stuff you gave her was the same thing we were knocked out with to get us here. And I’ll tell you, the headache that followed was not pleasant one bit.” Jessie was going to be so pissed when she came to and her head was pounding again.
He seemed a little reluctant at first, but then sighed and answered. “Jepa.”
Looking to Hunk B, she waited but got nothing. It seemed that those two words before were all he was capable.
When Hannah froze beside her, a gasp escaping her like she had been taken by surprise, Katie pulled her attention away from the silent one of the pair and focused on her friend.
“Hannah, are you OK?”
Nodding, her mouth working but no words forthcoming, Hannah seemed unable to pull her gaze away from Hunk B.
The rest of the journey to the mysterious deck seven was done in silence, Jepa and Hunk B seeming to almost have a soundless argument the whole way. Jepa looked pissed for some reason and kept glaring daggers at his twin. When he wasn't focused on his brother, his gaze moved to Hannah, a frown on his face.
Was something going on that she did not know?
When they exited the strange lift type thing that didn’t seem to move anywhere – Jepa had called it a transporter – Katie entered a long, wide room set out like a huge lounge, but with odd machines running along one section of the wall. On one side of the room, there were dozens of doors. Actual normal doors, not the weird disappearing type that she had seen everywhere else on the ship. And opposite them next to the weird machines was a large viewing window showing nothing but rock.
Where were they?
Stepping further into the room, Katie took in the very human feeling space. It looked deserted, no other being in sight, but she could hear voices somewhere in the distance.
“Joel?” Jepa shouted from behind her causing her to jump. His voice echoed loudly through the open space.
“Who’s Joel?” she asked just as a door opened and a head popped round the corner of it.
“Oh hey,” the guy said, stepping into the room and smiling at them in welcome. When his eyes landed on Hannah his smile brightened – it seemed someone liked what they saw – then dimmed briefly for a moment when they alighted on Jessie’s unconscious body over Hunk B’s shoulder.
“What can I do for you?”
“We have three more residents for deck seven. They need rooms next to each other and showing how to work the consoles.”
Consoles? Was he talking about the strange machines?
“And clothes,” Hunk B growled, purposefully stepping in front of Hannah and blocking Joel’s view of her.
Interesting. Two more words to add to his vocabulary.
“Sure, sure,” Joel said with a smile. “Follow me.”
After they had been shown to their rooms – a still unconscious Jessie deposited in hers – Jepa and Hunk B left, if somewhat reluctantly, and Katie and Hannah were left with Joel as their tour guide. He showed them everything, from the state of the art entertainment centre with every movie and TV show known to man to the machines where they could get food. Not that Katie would want to eat anything it could give her.
“Isn’t there anything, you know, normal it can make?” she asked after he listed off a number of things he could recommend.
Shaking his head, he replied, “I’m afraid not.”
“Well is there a kitchen anywhere around here. Maybe we could just fix ourselves food.”
“Again, I’m afraid not. Not up here at least. But seriously, after a while, you will get used to it.”
But Katie didn’t want to get used to it, she wanted to go home... back to her small empty, lonely flat.
How had she ended up here? Just two weeks ago she’d thought she had everything worked out. A place to call her own (even if she did rent it). A job that paid good money (even if it did kill something deep inside her). And a boyfriend that loved her (as well as the slut he was secretly shacking up with and give all her hard saved money to).
Maybe Alice was right. What did they have keeping them here? Their lives truly and utterly sucked.
“The food actually wouldn’t be too bad if it had some flavour,” Hannah said as she prodded at the grey mush Joel had just removed from the food console.
“Maybe it needs some salt, or maybe a little pepper.” She looked around for some before she spotted Joel’s smirk. “Let me guess, they don’t have any, do they?”
“Nope. A lot of these aliens have never stepped foot in the human world, never mind tried any of our foods. I’m afraid we have tasted our last enjoyable meal.”
There was something about the way he said aliens, and the strange look in his eyes when he said it, that made Katie think that he didn’t like them very much. Though, why he would be here if he didn't, and as a volunteer at that, she had no idea.
Chapter 7
It seemed the females had taken care of the problem themselves before anyone had even managed to reach them. They’d managed to do what a squad of trained Warriors had failed to; take down a madness induced Chaetdorian Warrior. As he watched the feed over again for what felt like the hundredth time, he found his gaze once again drawn to one female in particular.
She was beautiful. He had never really been drawn to blondes in the past, and usually went for someone much taller, but there was just something about her that set his heart beating wildly and his dick straining against his leathers.
“Hex?” The sudden shout brought him abruptly back to reality. He had been so focused on the screen and the beautiful female upon it that he hadn’t heard anyone arrive.
How long had he been watching the thing? He had no clue. All he did know was that he seemed unable to stop.
“Over here,” he called out, letting the male know where he was but not turning away from the screen. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes away from her. She was just so...
Rounding the corner, Torq asked,
“What are you doing?”
Watching the female of my dreams.
Where that thought had come from he had no clue, but it proved one thing; he needed to get laid.
“Look at her,” he said, pointing to the screen. “I’ve never seen a human so brave, so ferocious. She took Dekon down almost by herself with nothing more than a handbag. She’s amazing. Have you seen this?”
“No. First glimpse I’ve had at what went off down there. It was all over by the time I arrived.”
“Well then,” he declared, setting the whole recording to begin again. As the feed showed Corr’s mate and the other females chatting, the action a little way off at that point, he turned to the Slayer and asked, “You brought them aboard, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m glad you did. I like this bunch, especially her.”
His brother might be pissed – beyond pissed – but the more females on board the better as far as he was concerned, especially if there were more like that. He hadn’t had the chance as of yet to check out the volunteers up on deck seven.
“Katie.”
“Is that her name?” It was perfect. “Katie… I like it. Might have to introduce myself at some point. It’s been a while since I enjoyed the company of a good woman.”
Silence descended as they watched the females chatting away, Corr’s mate doing her best to explain why they were there and who had taken them. When they suddenly jumped up, Hex said, “Oh, here we go. This is when the shit kicks off.”
Hex wasn’t sure how many times he had watched the footage now, but he knew at just the right points to switch between the camera recordings to follow the fight through the door and out of the holding bay. But as he moved to do so Torq stopped him.
Why? Katie had gone out the door. That was the best thing about the footage; the beautiful female hammering Dekon with her handbag.
The feed of the holding bay continued, the fight moving outside, showing that one female remained. While the rest had given chase, wielding their large, oversized bags, a young fragile looking female stayed behind. She had her arms wrapped around her as if she was trying to keep herself together and she was shaking like crazy.
“Now that is one scarred human in need of a hug.”
“A hug?”
“You know, a human embrace, a show of affection and comfort where you pull another to you and wrap them in your arms.”
“I know what a hug is,” he snapped back.
Had the Slayer taken a shine to her? That was the only reason Hex could think of as to why he would be so short tempered on the subject. It took a lot to make the Slayer Chaer snap like that. And he should know, he’d been trying since long before their entrapment on Earth.
When Torq turned to leave, Teks entered. Seeing the rage in his eyes as he turned to face him, Hex quickly shut the feed down and asked, “What’s wrong, brother?”
“Bring up file 7751B from my private files,” he ordered.
OK. Awkward.
“Bruv, they are your private files. You know they can’t be accessed from here.”
“Give it a rest, Hex. I know you regularly hack into my private system. That footage you were watching just a moment ago was one of my classified files.”
Shit.
“Now bring up that file.”
“Fine,” he moaned, tapping away at the console and hacking back into his brother’s system. “You’re going to change all your passwords again after this, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Not that it will stop you.”
No, it wouldn’t. He couldn’t suppress the smile that graced his face at the thought of the challenge. He wondered how many seconds it was going to take this time. And it would be only seconds.
With a few more clicks of the keys, he was in, bringing up the file that his brother had asked for. The moment it appeared on the screen his smile dropped.
“Mandy,” Torq sighed beside him, taking in the image of the broken human female they had known since she was a child. “What happened?”
“We don’t know. She was found like this back at the warehouse tonight. That building has been checked on multiple occasions since her disappearance with no trace of her found. I ordered one last sweep, just to be sure we hadn’t missed anything and they found this.”
“Looks like it could have been done in a rage, a frenzy. Could it have been done by one of our own?” Hex asked, thinking back to footage from the holding bay and the insane look in Dekon’s eyes. “You know, another suffering from madness?”
“It sure seems that way, but none of our males have been unaccounted for, and none has shown any symptoms of the illness. There is also the fact that according to early results from the medibay, there is no sign of any kind of sexual assault.”
Seriously? Any Chaetdorain male suffering from madness would have no problem with the idea of mating a woman by force.
Mating was an intimate affair, sealed with a bite to the neck during orgasm. Madness sent males into a kind of mating frenzy; that’s all they cared about, all they wanted. A mate.
“Are there marks?” Torq asked.
“Yes, there are what appears to be bite marks upon her neck, indicating at a forced mating.”
“That makes no sense,” he commented as he closed down the file, no longer able to stomach the image before him. What male - even a madness induced one - would forget the best and most crucial part of mating?
What the fuck was going on?
Chapter 8
Katie awoke with a gasp, her body slicked with sweat and shaking from her climax.
What the hell? She’d had erotic dreams in her time but never had they been as real feeling as that, or been with the unknown.
She’d fantasised about a vast array of people from old crushes to celebrities, but this had been something different. She’d felt the guy’s hands on her body, his weight pressing down on her as he settled between her thighs. She had felt everything... but could see nothing but the occasional shimmer.
Had she dreamed of having sex with the invisible man?
Rising from the bed, she wanted nothing more than to take a nice relaxing bath. Back home she would regularly soak her problems away in a nice hot bubble bath. Damn those aliens for not having installed baths. They had installed practically everything else but forgot the two most important things. A bath and a kitchen.
Hell, even a shower would do but she didn’t know how to work the so-called cleansing unit that was the alternative. It had one of those strange panels she could not figure out.
Not wanting to even waste her time, she dressed in one of the jeans and t-shirt combos that Joel had given her last night. They were close to her size but still a little big. And the jeans were way too long for her petite frame so she had to roll them up a couple of times at the ankle. He’d promised that he would make sure more suitable clothing was acquired before they left the planet. She still couldn’t get her head around the fact that aliens were real, and that she would be leaving Earth and travelling the stars with them.
Exiting the room she had been given – a somewhat dull and empty place – she made her way over to the large viewing window and took a seat in one of the many armchairs positioned facing it. There wasn’t much of a view now, but she could only imagine the beautiful sights that awaited them in space.
“Can’t sleep?”
Turning at the musical voice, her heart pounding in her chest from being taken by surprise, she found herself gazing at the most stunning woman she had ever met.
Now, Katie had never been attracted to a member of the same sex, but hell, this was a woman to turn for. Curves in all the right places. Long, shiny black hair that made her look like she had just walked out of the salon. And her eyes? As black as coal.
Must be contacts.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the woman apologised.
“Not your fault. I was miles away,” Katie explained, her eyes going back to the window.
“I know what
you mean. I can’t wait to just sit here for hours and watch the stars,” she said longingly with a heavy sigh, taking a seat in the chair opposite her. “I’m Temple.”
“Katie. My friends and I were brought up here last night.” If in fact it had been night; it was hard to tell with them being underground.
“Right, I heard about that. Your friends are Hannah and...”
“Jessie.”
“That's it. Sorry, I’m terrible with names. I only remembered Hannah’s because Joel mentioned it once or twice.”
He had? She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Hannah had a history of attracting creeps, and Katie got strange vibes from Joel, though, he seemed friendly enough. Maybe it was just her own history with men that was making her think the worst of the male population.
They sat together for a little while in a comfortable silence, both lost in their own thoughts before Temple announced that she was going to take a shower before the others rose. It only took a second before Katie was begging her to show her how to work the cleansing unit in her room.
"Think you can remember that?" Temple asked a few minutes later.
"I think so." Running over the short sequence Temple had just taught her to work the unit over again in her head, Katie was hopeful she could. "How do you make it look so easy?"
"It is really, once you get a gist for the language."
"You know their language? How?" During their short chat with Joel the night before, Katie had gotten the impression none of them did. The main door to the human deck had one of those panels, making it impossible for any of them to leave without permission. They were literally locked in.
Suddenly looking a little uncomfortable, Temple mumbled, "Just a little bit. Well, I better go." Before she could even move an inch to stop her, she was gone.
Fuck, she moves almost as quickly as they do.
An hour later, feeling clean and refreshed, Katie found her friends waiting for her with what she assumed to be breakfast.
