by Lisa Lace
Her fantasy of this being some kind of dream had slowly died over the past week. She still didn’t know how it was possible, but everything she’d seen told her that this was deadly real.
“Come.”
It was one of the very few words that had been spoken to her in the time she’d been with the Wescra who kidnapped her. They hadn’t been harsh, but they hadn’t been nice either. As long as she kept quiet and did as she was told, Leanne was ok. Whether that would hold true on this new planet remained to be seen.
She squinted as the bright light hit her eyes. A hand between her shoulder blades shoved her forwards, and she stumbled right into the arms of another Wescra.
This one was taller than the ones that had her and more built. He also looked fiercer. She tried to cringe away, but he had her tightly.
“This is her?”
“This is her, Commander.”
He looked her up and down. “Good. Take the others to the safe point, quickly now.”
“Come,” he said imperiously. He started striding down the ramp, expecting Leanne to follow. She couldn’t help staring at him. Like all the Wescra she’d seen so far, he was well built and muscled. His hair was a deep black and just brushed his shoulders.
His thick eyebrows were currently furrowed in what looked like disapproval, and his eyes seemed to pierce her like search lights. She couldn’t help it; she found him attractive. She berated her traitorous body. Her captor was most certainly not attractive!
She felt tiny and intimidated next to him. She had an average build, but the Wescra were huge. Not to mention that a week of no showering had left her hair a greasy mess, and she was sure she didn’t smell good either.
The Wescra made an impatient hand gesture over his shoulder, once again, ordering her to follow.
She’d had enough of following orders, though. On the ship, she was trapped. Here, she had a whole planet. If she could get away and hide, there may be some way to contact Earth. She wasn’t exactly sure how that would help her, given that they were probably hundreds of light years away from any help Earth could offer. But it was either that or take her chances with the aliens who’d kidnapped her.
Leanne didn’t hesitate. She leaped off the side of the ramp and staggered. It was a longer drop than she’d thought. She forced her feet to start running and didn’t look back.
Shouts behind her told her that she was being chased. She half-expected them to shoot her, but there was no sudden burst of pain, so she kept going. Her aim was a small group of trees, maybe fifty yards ahead. If she could just get out of their sight, maybe she could hide.
That idea went down with her when one of the Wescra tackled her. Leanne tried to fight him off, but he pinned her to the ground easily. He flipped her over, and Leanne found herself looking at the tall one, the one they gave her to.
“Do not try to run.”
She expected him to hit her — he looked angry enough to — but instead, he yanked her to her feet.
“I am Commander Resek. I am your protector here. You should do as I say.”
“I don’t want a protector!” Leanne spat.
“Nevertheless, you need one. We all do. Look around you.”
Leanne did. The planet seemed a strange mix of nature and technology. They were currently on the edge of a forest, but not too far away she could see multiple buildings. They didn’t look good, though. Half of them had holes blown in the sides, and others were falling down.
“What’s happening here?”
“We are at war.”
“No, you invaded the Greli. Your war is on your home world.”
Resek grunted a laugh and started pulling her back to the ship, where he had what looked like transport waiting. “Don’t believe everything they tell you. The Greli have always lusted after rule. It was only a matter of time until they attacked.”
This didn’t fit with what Leanne knew about them. A second later, she realized how foolish it was to think she "knew" anything from a TV series that everyone thought was purely fictional.
“Where are we going?”
Resek was pulling her along so fast that she was panting to keep up, but it felt so good to have someone talk to her, even in the brisk way he was doing. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed having a conversation.
“Home.”
Leanne bit back her protest that this wasn’t her home. Deciding it was best to save inquiries until they got wherever they were going, she went quietly. Resek seemed pleased with her obedience and loosened his grip. Let him lull himself into a false sense of security. Leanne hadn’t given up on escaping. Not even close.
They got into a hovering device that she supposed was the equivalent of a car here. Leanne fumbled with the straps, trying to work out how to pull them effortlessly around her like Resek did. He sighed impatiently and strapped her in so fast that she barely saw his hands move.
It made her feel stupid and embarrassed, but Resek wasn’t paying attention to her anymore. Leanne looked out of the windows with interest only for a few minutes. This planet was definitely at war, Resek wasn’t lying about that.
She instead examined the inside of their vehicle. It actually looked more like a mini-ship than a futuristic car. It was certainly faster than any car Leanne had ever driven in.
The drive was short. Leanne was relieved that the building they stopped by at least looked intact.
“Come.”
“Where are we?”
“Home.”
Leanne folded her arms. “I’m going to need a bit more than that, Resek.”
Instead of answering, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder as if she was as light as a feather. She shrieked, more in surprise than anything else. He wasn’t rough, but he held her firmly until they were inside and the door was locked. Though he let go of her once he’d set her down, Leanne’s imagination was running away with her.
What else would a Wescra Commander want a woman for? She was going to be expected to have sex with him, and just from her initial impression, she didn’t think Resek was someone who was used to hearing no for an answer.
“Your room is here,” he said, gesturing. “Kitchen here. Bathroom over there. Tomorrow, we start.”
“Tomorrow we start what?”
“Winning the war, of course.”
“Um, Resek, you realize I have no idea what you’re talking about, right?”
“The crew did not fill you in?”
Leanne had a great many things to say about the crew but settled for shaking her head.
“The Greli have been targeting our women. You have been brought to me to give me strength and help me fight.”
“Fight? I have no idea how to fight!”
“Of course you do. Everyone is trained to fight from birth.”
“No, Resek, they’re not. Not where I came from. I’ve never gotten into a fight in my life.”
He looked at her as though he didn’t believe her. Leanne couldn’t believe that he was seriously considering dragging her into battle. Wasn’t it bad enough that she was expected to spread her legs for him? He hadn’t said that, but she could tell by the way he was eyeing her figure that he thought he didn’t need to.
“Why… why me?” Leanne could only think to keep him talking until she could think of a way out of this. “I mean, you had people fly to Earth and kidnap me and my five friends. Why us specifically?”
Resek didn’t meet her eye when he answered. “That is enough information for now. You may wash, then when you are ready, join me in my rooms, that way.”
He turned to leave, and Leanne worked up the courage to say it. “What if I don’t want — if I don’t want to sleep with you?”
He frowned. “Of course we must join. Fighting without the bond when the bond is possible is foolhardy. It’s very easy to die out there. Let’s not make it any easier.”
With that, he left. Leanne frantically tried to think. She didn’t imagine he’d just accept her refusal of his advances.
If he was prepared to kidnap her, who knew what he’d do? Even if she did do as he asked, what if he hurt her? It certainly wouldn’t be that out of character for Wescra, from what little she thought she knew of them.
Leanne wasn’t going to stand around for this. She headed for the door. It was locked, obviously, but she’d had to try. The windows were likewise sealed shut. She moved around the house, looking for any way out. Finding nothing, she eyed the furniture, wondering what the chances of her managing to smash a window and get out of it before Resek ran back through and grabbed her.
Considering what she’d seen of him and his reflexes, the odds weren’t in her favor.
“You won’t escape,” Resek’s cool voice called from the bedroom.
Leanne desperately didn’t want to do this, but she couldn’t think of a way out. A faint memory provided a glimmer of a hope. If the TV series was right — which was looking like a big "if" right now — Wescra males fell asleep after the bonding thing. It was just for a short time, but it may gain her the opportunity to search for an escape route without Resek breathing down her neck.
Slowly, she made her way to the bedroom, trembling. Resek took her in appreciatively. He didn’t give any commands, almost as though he was waiting for her to come to him. As though she had any choice.
Leanne shuffled forward and stood before him. Resek wasted no time in getting her clothes off. The fact that he wasn’t rough didn’t soothe her much. When he took off his own clothes, she could see that he was already erect. She tried hard not to flinch.
Resek put a hand behind her back and pulled her to him. His cock was pressing into her stomach, and Leanne tried to move as little as possible.
He pressed his lips to hers, and Leanne yielded to him. Her mouth opened and she tried to let her mind go blank. If she was to have a chance of escaping, she needed to do this.
When Resek’s tongue slipped into her mouth, she gasped in surprise. He was a very good kisser. That shouldn’t matter. Even though her nipples were tightening, she still didn’t want to do this. The fact that he was a good kisser was irrelevant.
Her traitorous hands came up around his back to hold onto him, and she jerked them away.
Resek paused, pulling away slightly. Leanne didn’t understand. She could feel his cock pressing into her, telling her very clearly that he didn’t want to be stopping.
“You are shaking.”
She didn’t meet his eye.
Resek sighed in frustration. “The information we have on humans is very limited. Use your words.”
Leanne glanced up at him. Did she dare hope?
“Humans… we don’t… we don’t sleep with people we’ve just met.”
That wasn’t strictly true, but if she could use some kind of "Earth custom" excuse to get her out of this, she would bend the truth as needed.
“What if you are thrown together in battle?”
Leanne suppressed a sigh. “I told you, we don’t get into battles very often.”
Resek snorted. “Humans are the most warlike creatures I’ve ever known to walk this universe. You are constantly at war with yourselves.”
Leanne opened her mouth and closed it again. He was right. What could she say to convince him?
“You came to me, against your customs. Why?”
“You told me to.”
“You thought I would force you?” Resek’s eyes widened in anger and Leanne flinched, which just made him even angrier. “You really think us the monsters the Greli paint us as?”
Her silence seemed to be answer enough.
“Get out of here. I am no monster. Tomorrow, we battle. Tomorrow, afterward, you will come to me. You will see the necessity.”
Leanne could hardly believe her luck. Maybe the Wescra weren’t quite as bad as they were painted. She still didn’t trust him, but she took the opportunity and scurried away.
Thinking she may as well take advantage of the shower, something she’d not been allowed to use on her week-long trip, Leanne went into the bathroom.
She fully intended to get straight into the shower, which looked almost like one of the showers back home. Instead, she found her hand sneaking down between her legs. She tried to push the memory of Resek kissing her out of her mind, but the stupid thing wouldn’t go.
She should not have been so turned on by it. She shouldn’t be now. At the very least, she needed to get her hands back to more acceptable places. She should get in the shower, wash, and plan her escape.
Soon. First, she needed to escape from the throbbing between her thighs. She sank down to the floor, biting back a moan. Her fingers brushed over her clit, and she spread her legs wider.
She wasn’t thinking of Resek. She wasn’t. She wasn’t remembering his tongue in her mouth.
Leanne was wet and leaking onto the floor beneath her. She hoped the sound of the shower water would drown out the gasps that she couldn’t hold back as she fingered herself. She tilted her hips so that she could slip a finger inside herself, pumping steadily as she worked her clit.
Leanne slapped a hand over her mouth as she came, trying to muffle the sound of her release. If Resek came running and found her on the floor like this, she’d probably die of embarrassment.
Weak-kneed, Leanne forced herself to get up and stumble into the shower. The hot water streamed over her as she tried to justify what she’d done. She wasn’t attracted to Resek. She was just… relieving stress. Yes, that was it. Relieving stress so that she would be fully alert to work on her escape plan.
She’d never been a good liar. It struck her that now may be a good time to start learning.
Leanne scrubbed herself with a vengeance, as though she could scrub away all the confusion and lingering, infuriating attraction. Tomorrow, she would start finding a way out of here. Resek’s patience with her was bound to run out at some point, but she planned to be long gone by then.
She was playing with fire, and only hoped to run before she got burned.
Chapter Four
Leanne flinched as a pair of hands shook her awake. Resek was looming over her.
“Get dressed,” he said shortly, gesturing to a strange set of clothes laid over a chair.
Without a word, Leanne got up and examined the suit. It looked exactly like what the Wescra wore into battle. It was thin and covered her body from neck to ankles, but she knew that it was tough and could resist most shots from laser weapons.
“Would you mind leaving while I get dressed?”
“Why?”
Leanne tried to think how to explain but came up blank. Wescra were more different from humans than she’d realized. Resek was honestly confused by her request. Besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t already seen her naked. The thought made her flush, and she turned her back to him as she dressed as quickly as she could.
She expected them to take the hover car again, but instead, Resek set a brisk pace, walking towards a clump of hills on the horizon. Leanne’s heart sank. She was likely to be exhausted even before they reached the battle. Then Resek would see with his own eyes that she really, really didn’t know how to fight.
“Their ships can detect the heat signatures of hovers if we come too close,” Resek explained. Despite the pace, he didn’t seem out of breath at all. “We walk. They’ve been attacking the eastern front for weeks. We have soldiers working through the night to keep them back. They know that if they can conquer this stretch of land, many will lose their homes, which will make fighting all the harder for us.”
“Why don’t they – just bomb everything from above?” Leanne panted, struggling to keep up with his long strides.
“We have ground missiles that recognize their ships’ heat signatures, just as they recognize hovers. See there? That’s one of them. If they try flying over this area, they’ll be shot out of the sky. It’s their ground troops we have to worry about.
“We take shifts. So do they. Overnight, we just hold them back. When the Commanders arrive in the morning, we focus on trying to p
ush them back and take more territory.”
Leanne was too out of breath to say anything else, but she was surprised. She’d expected the war to be much higher tech, and a lot less organized. She guessed she didn’t know much about alien wars. Unfortunately, it seemed she was about to learn quite a bit.
Resek handed her a gun. “Shoot here.”
Leanne eyed the trigger. She didn’t want to shoot anyone. She doubted Resek would accept that as an excuse.
“I really – can’t – fight,” she panted. As she expected, he ignored her. She wondered what he’d do if she simply refused to move. Carry her over his shoulder, probably. He certainly was strong enough. She knew it would just make him angry, and probably achieve nothing, but she desperately didn’t want to be in this situation.
She slowed to a halt. “I can’t, Resek. I can’t fight, and I don’t want to.”
He gave her a look that seemed more condescending than anything else. “Everyone is afraid before the battle starts. It will fade once you start shooting. You should know this. Did your Commander not explain it to you?”
He grabbed her wrist and started pulling her along. Leanne decided it was best not to make him angry while he was holding a gun, and reluctantly followed. He’d see soon enough that she was telling the truth. She just hoped that it wouldn’t take her dead body to convince him.
By the time they reached a group of Wescra soldiers, Leanne was both exhausted and terrified. They saluted to Resek, seemingly glad to see him. One of them rushed up to give a report.
“Nothing unusual. They made a push for the western edge, but we managed to hold them off. It looks like they’re making a straight-on attack today, right for the front.”
“Good. We will repel that and attack on their right flank. I want to see if I can injure that new Commander of theirs. Having leadership down makes them weaker. See to it.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Leanne realized she was shaking. She’d been hoping that the Commander would stay in the back and shout orders. Resek headed straight for the front, cutting a path through the other soldiers. Leanne could hear shouting and gunfire. Her legs felt like rubber, and she wondered if she was about to pass out.
