Bait

by Marissa Farrar

  We were pushed in single file through the crowd of Trads. I sensed their gazes linger on me, full of fire and hunger. I had no doubt that if I hadn’t belonged to Borys, they would have grabbed me and dragged me away. I’d have been swallowed among them, screaming and writhing within the throng of horns and tails.

  But we left the building without being accosted and were taken to another transporter vehicle, much the same as the one I’d arrived in. I wondered where Zoe had been before she’d come here. What had she been doing during the time since I’d last seen her? I hoped we’d get the chance to speak privately, though I wasn’t going to rely on it. Even if I was unable to tell her the truth about why I was here, I thought we could at least connect again. But then I realized I was going to have to lie, and I needed her to lie for me as well. If she told Borys too much about me, they might put two and two together and realize I was the escaped girl from the facility. The only way I could protect both her and myself was by continuing with my lie. I would have to tell her that I had given birth at the facility and that I’d been moved here almost immediately after. She’d left before me, so she wouldn’t know that I had vanished during the middle of a sandstorm. Diarus also looked uneasy. He wouldn’t meet my eye. He knew Zoe from the facility as well, and if she revealed that she knew us both from the same place, Borys’s men might start to wonder if we were the escaped human and Athion.

  I remembered how Diarus had been with everyone back at the facility, keeping his head down as he was now, and not speaking to anyone unless he was forced to.

  I remembered when I’d first seen the Trads in their true form. It had taken me a short time to distinguish one from the other as well. And that was with them up in my face, pushing me around and demanding things of me when I’d been in my most fragile and terrified state. There was a chance Zoe simply didn’t recognize one Athion from another. I would have to pray that was the case. If she did realize who he was, she would wonder why we were pretending not to know each other.

  Borys’s guards shoved us into the back of the transporter. Though we each wore the same liquid metal cuffs that we’d been kept in back at the facility, they obviously decided that wasn’t enough to keep us in one place. The bottom of the transporter suddenly hummed, and I discovered myself unable to move. I’d heard about this technology before. A powerful magnet worked with the metal cuffs, keeping us pinned in one place. On top of that, the guards slammed the rear door shut, and a lock clicked into place.

  “How far are we going?” I shouted out to whoever was in the front of the vehicle.

  Of course, no one responded.

  I was itching to talk.

  But Diarus was a professional and gave no sign that he was in any way interested in us or what was going on around him. I understood why. If someone got a hint that he might be interested in me, extra caution would be taken to ensure he was kept away from us women.

  The transporter lifted into the air, taking us to our next destination.

  Chapter Seven

  Nadeusz

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’VE just let him take her.”

  Mikotaj wasn’t even looking at me, and for some reason, that made me even more furious than I already was.

  “That was the plan,” he replied. “It worked. Now we just have to let it play out.”

  We’d been forced to beat a hasty retreat from the spot where we’d been watching the auction and return to the rebel base. We’d left the marketplace as soon as we’d known Borys had bid on Tara. Word had gotten around that some of the Trads working for Borys had been informed of there being rebels within the crowd, and while nothing pointed the finger directly at us, we were aware that we might still get recognized as having come from the facility. If we were spotted, we were going to have some difficult questions to answer, so it was easier and safer just to keep our heads down. Plus, one of the other women on stage was also from the facility, and while I doubted she’d say anything that would drop us in it, she might inadvertently do something that would get us noticed, if she saw us. Her presence complicated things with Tara, too. While I didn’t think the other woman knew anything about how Tara had gotten out of the facility, and wouldn’t suspect that anything other than going through the normal process of birth and redistribution had happened, there was still a chance Tara would let it slip that there was more going on. We couldn’t trust the other woman, and I didn’t want her to get Tara in trouble.

  Though it had torn me up inside, we’d headed back to the transporter and got the hell out of there.

  I had to admit, Diarus had impressed me. I knew he came from a fighting background, but hadn’t seen him in action before. I tried to tell myself that it should make me feel better about Tara going with Borys, but it didn’t. The idea of that son of a bitch touching her, and her feeling as though she had to let him, made me insane. I was going to torture myself with images of them together every second she was gone.

  “Why aren’t you angrier about this?” I demanded of Miko.

  “One of us has to hold our shit together, Nadeusz. And right now, I don’t think that person is going to be you.”

  “I just can’t stand the idea of him touching her. You saw how he looked at her. He could be fucking her right now.”

  I balled my hands into fists.

  Miko’s lips thinned. “He won’t. He’ll want to play with her first. Make sure she’s terrified of him before he decides to take her.”

  I scowled. “You’re not making me feel any better.”

  “Tara knows what she’s doing. She just needs to work fast, so he doesn’t reach his peak. She won’t be the only human female in that house either. Borys may well have other favorites he’s busy with before he gets to her.”

  I snorted. “I hope you’re right.”

  “And she has Diarus in there with her, too.”

  “He can’t do much. If he steps in and tries to interfere, he’ll blow his cover.”

  Miko shrugged. “That’s still something, isn’t it? At least he’ll be there to step in. He’ll have to find a way to let us know when it’s time to get her out of there.”

  “That’s even if she’s able to find what we need.”

  “She’ll find it. I have faith in her.”

  “So do I,” I snapped. “She knows that. I made sure of it before she left.”

  “She’s not just yours, Nadeusz,” Miko said, a warning tone to his voice. “You know that’s not how things work.”

  My scowl deepened. I knew I couldn’t have Tara all to myself. Velos! We’d just handed her over to another Trad, hadn’t we? With females so few among our numbers, it was only right that we had to share. While I could see she had a connection with Miko and Diarus, too, that didn’t mean I wasn’t allowed to try to get her to favor me. I would worship her, and take care of her, and give her the kind of pleasure she’d still be thinking about for years to come. Trouble was, we’d sold her to the nastiest son of a bitch on Tradrych, and while she was in the hands of someone else, I had no way of doing any of those things.

  My blood boiled.

  Movement came in the doorway of the room, and I turned to find Aleksy’s large form filling it. We’d come back before him, leaving him there to handle things in case anything went wrong at the last minute. I assumed by his presence that it had all gone to plan.

  “She did well up there,” Aleksy said. “I was concerned she might find it too much and flip out. I certainly hadn’t expected her to go the extra mile.”

  He was referring to Tara exposing herself on stage.

  “She’s stronger than she looks,” I replied. “She knows exactly what’s at stake. More than us, even. She’s gone through it all herself.”

  Jealousy burned within me at the thought of Aleksy and so many other Trads getting a good eyeful of Tara’s tits. I’d palmed those perfect breasts only hours before. I understood why she’d done whatever was needed to get herself noticed up there, but I also wanted to gouge Aleksy’s eyes out for having seen her
like that. I didn’t know why I didn’t feel the same way when it came to Miko. Yeah, I was jealous as hell that Tara liked him, too, but I also understood and accepted it. He, Diarus, and I had all known her for the same amount of time, and under the same circumstances, and to have someone else muscling in right now felt wrong.

  Of course, no one had needed to muscle in. We’d just given her to another Trad, instead.

  Chapter Eight

  It felt like barely any time had passed before the transporter was lowering itself out of the sky again. These things moved fast, and I barely felt the acceleration. My stomach was a twisted knot of anxiety, and I wished the two people I was in here with would do more than sit in silence.

  The rear doors opened, and the magnetic forcefield holding us in place released.

  “Come on! Out!” one of the security guards demanded.

  We each got to our feet. Diarus had restraints around both his ankles and wrists, forcing him to move at a shuffle. We only had them on our wrists, since, I guessed, we weren’t seen to be a threat. I hoped I’d prove Borys wrong about that.

  We didn’t have much choice but to climb out of the transporter.

  I stepped out onto the ground and lifted my head, curious as to where we’d ended up. I was going to need to learn my way around this place, in particular the areas Borys kept to himself.

  The building I found myself in front of was huge. A dome structure of shiny material somewhere between glass and metal—a material I was sure I’d never come across on Earth—and arranged in hexagonal panels that reminded me of a beehive. The ground was made up of the same desert sand that had been back at the facility when we’d been taken outside to wash and get some fresh air. Here, however, the outside space had been landscaped, with lush green foliage of thick-leaved plants growing in cultivated areas. We were enclosed in by a high wall, and I couldn’t see any sign of gates leading to the outside world. Of course, we’d landed directly from the air, so there was no need for a gate. This place was huge, and I tried not to allow myself to be intimidated. I’d be searching for documents somewhere in this building, and it wasn’t as though they’d just be lying around.

  “You!” the guard snapped at Diarus. “This way.”

  He shoved Diarus from behind, sending him stumbling. With Diarus’s ankles bound, he was unable to right himself and went face down in the dirt. I sucked in a breath and held back my urge to call out his name. I couldn’t make them aware we knew each other.

  The guard bent down and hauled Diarus to his feet, and pushed him again.

  “Hey, leave him alone!”

  Zoe’s shout surprised me.

  “Shut up, girl. Worry about yourself,” the guard snapped back.

  He must be taking Diarus to a different part of the building. My heart twisted. I hated seeing him go. Diarus could handle himself, and he’d been going undercover for far longer than I had, but I couldn’t help the protectiveness surging up inside me. I didn’t want to see him hurt or think that he might have to endure more violence, even though I had ordeals of my own to face.

  Diarus’s back disappeared around the building, and I prayed it wouldn’t be the last time I’d see him.

  One of the other security guards stepped forward, his tail lashing the dusty ground behind him. The air smelled dry, as though it sucked any moisture from the insides of my nostrils. How far away from the city were we? How hard would it be for Nad and Miko and the other rebels to reach us? Threads of worry wound inside me, but I did my best not to focus on them. I’d only just arrived, and I still had a mission ahead of me before I could even think about being rescued. I needed to find the locations of the other facilities and then I could think about how the hell I was going to get out of this place. It already looked like a fortress. A part of me wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been a moat on the other side of the tall walls surrounding the property.

  “You two, this way.”

  I exchanged a glance with Zoe and caught the fear in her eyes. Perhaps I’d just been being paranoid about feeling something had changed between us. I’d been allowed to give birth surrounded by people who at least cared if I lived or died. Her Trad birth would have been a very different situation. She might simply be traumatized by what she’d been through and was struggling to connect.

  We were taken in the opposite direction to Diarus.

  I returned my attention to the building. Like the wall surrounding us, I couldn’t see any doors or windows allowing access. I assumed we weren’t going to be entering the place via the sky this time.

  The Trad placed a hand to one of the panels. A whooshing came from somewhere inside, and the panel pulled back, revealing an entrance.

  He jerked his chin toward the building. “In.”.

  There was zero point in refusing. After all, hadn’t I deliberately put myself in this situation? Zoe, however, was a different story, yet she didn’t cry or fight back. Had they broken her, back at the facility? My heart ached. She seemed to be a shell of the woman I’d gotten to know during our time there.

  “Please, can we stay together?” I tried, not wanting to leave her alone.

  But the guard laughed, raw and guttural. “I don’t think so. The polityk doesn’t want an audience when he comes to mate with you.” That laugh again, like nails down a blackboard and I shuddered. “Or maybe he will. I’ve heard he likes things a little on the freaky side.”

  Revulsion seeped right down to my bones. At least I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant, thanks to the injection I’d been given before coming here. It was a mercy, despite the very likely possibility of having to force myself to be with Borys and make him believe we had something special. I glanced over at Zoe. Perhaps that wasn’t going to be the only reason now. If Borys was with me instead of Zoe, he might leave her alone, and if he left her alone, she wouldn’t fall pregnant again either.

  We walked down a long corridor. This place didn’t feel like a home, at least not one I’d ever entered. It was too bare, more like a hospital or even the facility. Was this really where Borys lived? What did it say about him that his expression of who he was inside was no more than this cold shell?

  The Trad stopped and placed his hand on the wall to open another of the almost pod-like doorways.

  “Put out your hands,” he commanded.

  I did as I’d been told, and he used a small, silver device to remove the restraints from my wrists.

  “This is you,” he said, grabbing hold of my arm and shoving me forward.

  Automatically, I reached for Zoe.

  He batted my hand away. “No, you don’t.”

  “Please, we can share. Just let us stay together.”

  I’d expected her to beg as well—for her to want to stay with me—but she kept her head down.

  The guard gave me another push into the room, and I staggered back. The moment I was out of the doorway, it slid shut again, closing off my view of the guard, Zoe, and the corridor beyond.

  Tears filled my eyes, and I stayed in that position for a moment, my heart heavy. Would Zoe survive this? Perhaps physically, she’d have no choice, but mentally, I doubted it. She already seemed so different from the person I’d gotten to know before. We’d all gone through an insane amount—from being abducted from Earth, to finding ourselves pregnant with an alien child on another planet, and then having to go through the birth of that child. It was no wonder she was struggling to keep the faith that things would get any better. In her mind, things weren’t going to get any better. She didn’t know about the rebel group. As far as Zoe was aware, this would be our lives until we died.

  I wished more than anything that I could tell her the truth, but I’d sworn to Aleksy that I wouldn’t breathe a word. I couldn’t go back on that promise, could I, even if it meant saving the life of a broken woman?

  There was nothing I could do for the moment.

  With a sigh, I turned toward my prison.

  I frowned and narrowed my eyes. Unlike the stark, bare corri
dors outside, I seemed to have found myself in a bedroom that wasn’t unlike my bedroom back at my apartment at home. A large double bed stood center stage, complete with soft-looking sheets and scatter cushions. Nightstands were positioned on either side. There was a closet, which I assumed would contain the Trad-favored clothing of that strange, overly silky to the point where it almost felt wet, material. A bookshelf was lined with books.

  “Oh!”

  Were they actual books, in English? That interested me far more than checking out the clothing.

  A second door led onto a bathroom, which contained a bath as well as a separate, freestanding shower.

  This wasn’t what I’d been expecting at all. I’d thought we’d end up somewhere like the hole back at the facility, with no bed and hard floors, but this felt almost luxurious. He wanted to keep us in comfort, though I didn’t know why. We were his slaves, weren’t we? We didn’t mean anything to him.

  Why should he care?

  A part of me was tempted to lie on the bed and feel sorry for myself, but I had to remember the reason I was going through all of this.

  Of course, I wasn’t expecting to find anything about the other facilities in this room, but I still intended to pull the whole place apart, just in case. There was an Earth phrase we used about hiding things in plain sight, and I knew I would be pissed if I went through hell to get my hands on the plans, only to discover they’d been under my nose all along.

  I started at the bookshelf, pulling each book out, checking behind it, and shaking out the pages before placing it back again. I wasn’t going to be disrespectful to the books by throwing them all around the room, no matter what I thought of the Trad who owned them.

  I yanked open the drawers of the nightstand, and my heart stopped. I stared down at the contents. Small, smooth, silver items. A tube of some kind of liquid. A silky strip of material I could have mistaken for a tie or a scarf but knew wasn’t. I swallowed hard. These were sex toys. It meant Borys would be coming to me to do what he wanted. He wouldn’t be bringing me into his quarters. That was the opposite of what I wanted. Was that why the room was laid out so well? It wasn’t only to keep us human women happy, it was where he’d come to fuck us.