by Sara Fields
What the fuck?
I forced my eyelids open and saw my three comrades beside me.
Did we really drink that much whiskey? I was feeling more hungover than I had ever felt in my life. I tried to stand, but my limbs felt weak. I fell back on the couch and groaned weakly.
I was a fucking mess. Morgn and the other guys were never going to let me live this down. Dammit, if my legs would just do what I told them already.
I leaned forward, holding my head in my hands and moaned. I stayed there for a long moment, willing my head to stop spinning. I felt so dizzy.
“What the actual fuck,” Morgn murmured. I lifted my head. He looked just as bad I felt.
“What happened?” I murmured. Ryder and Aarom were still out. Completely. The only ones awake were myself and Morgn.
Morgn squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
My brain felt like it was beginning to come back to life, each neuron firing and communicating with each other at a level far below my usual. What misery was this?
Gradually, I realized this wasn’t a whiskey hangover. I didn’t feel nauseous, not in the slightest. Whatever has caused this wasn’t booze. I took a deep breath and initiated the com device on my ear. I turned on the full body scan and commanded it to evaluate myself.
I’d engineered the devices for the four of us. A small nanowire was embedded directly into our skulls, allowing it to read our vitals for toxins in the blood or lymphatics, or directly through bone and muscle tissue for injuries. I heard the telltale signs of its clicking, indicating it was reading me. More than once, this com device had saved my ass.
I remembered one time, when we were fighting the humanoid alien race, the Drugans. I’d broken my leg and through the com, we’d set it and wrapped it with special galvanized medical tape in the field. I’d been able to walk without pain in under an hour.
“Toxin detected. Diphenyhydramine-HCl. Suggested treatment of rest and fluids. Alternative course, Nano bot deployment to destroy toxin,” the com said in my head.
“Proceed with Nano bots,” I commanded, my voice sounding weak to me. We didn’t have time to wait for rest.
I heard Morgn mutter the same. I could feel the Nano bots immediately swirling through my bloodstream and within thirty seconds, I began to feel clearer headed. My exhaustion slowly stripped away until I felt like myself again. I sighed with relief. Within five minutes, I felt normal.
I instructed the coms to activate the Nano bots on Ryder and Aarom as well.
After a few tense minutes, they woke up too.
“What the fuck happened?” Ryder muttered.
“We were poisoned,” I said out loud with disbelief.
“Where’s Alaina,” Morgn said as he rose from the couch. I watched him as he walked around the living room and kitchen. He strode out of sight and returned a few minutes later, fuming.
“She isn’t here,” he declared.
“Fuck. It must have been her. She poisoned us. How would she know we were susceptible to Diphenyhydramine-HCl? That’s something the Vakarrans have kept closely guarded for years,” I replied.
She’d poured the glasses of whiskey. Prepared four, just for us. It wasn’t until Aarom had grabbed a glass and given it to her, that she had one. I hadn’t seen her get the glasses, the ice, or pour the whiskey. She’d done it all on her own.
She was a Stryke after all. Smart. Resistant. A fighter in her own right.
Had she been one of our enemies in battle, I’d have admired her for it. Instead, it pissed me off. We’d been nothing but kind and gentle to her, especially if you compared us to Taazar and some of the other men I knew. We hadn’t beaten her, other than striping her curvy little ass. She didn’t know how good she had it with us.
I wanted to protect her, and she had thrown that back in my face. In our faces.
Maybe we’d been too kind. Had given her more freedom than she deserved. Now, if Nix found out that she had escaped us, he’d claim her for sure. Once he did that, she was as good as dead. He’d break her, destroy her, and toss her away like garbage. We had to find her now. We couldn’t let her get away with this.
Nix had already been informed of her existence. We had to report her. It was our duty. I hated it. I hated bending to that fucking bastard’s will. He was an asshole, through and through. He’d never returned our respect for a single second. I ground my teeth.
“Davon, ready the ship. We’re gonna do a survey reconnaissance of the city. She could have left hours ago. Even on foot, she could have covered some serious distance,” Ryder commanded calmly. Leave it to him to take the lead, keeping up a working unit.
I could tell by the look on Morgn’s and Aarom’s faces that they were ready to tear the city apart to find her.
It hadn’t been more than a week, but none of us could picture our lives without our little human. She’d wiggled her way deep into our heads and into our hearts.
When we got her back, she wasn’t going to leave that bed.
I’d bind her to it for a week. I didn’t care.
Morgn met my eyes and I knew he was thinking the same thing.
She was going to rue the day we captured her again.
I’d made the mistake of getting captured by her in the first place. But that was just me. Not my team. The four of us together were an entirely different story. She thought she’d beaten us. Escaped. Claimed her freedom once again.
She thought she’d mastered us.
No. She was wrong.
We were Vakarran. The second battalion. Strong, intelligent, and not to be underestimated. We were conquerors. We were known for it.
Alaina would learn soon that she was the one that was going to be mastered.
“Let’s go find our human,” Morgn growled.
Chapter Twelve
Alaina
They’d come for me when the sun rose. The Resistance. Humans. My own fucking species had captured me and taken me prisoner. Even now, my head whirled with the insanity of it.
A large group of men had tied me to a chair. I had fought, punched, bit, and kicked, but I was no match for five men at once. My lip was bleeding. I’m sure I already had a black eye. One of them had cut my cheek with the ring on his finger when he’d smacked me.
Dirty. Angry. Power hungry. The lot of them.
I’d realized amidst their conversations that there were very few women here. Since the Vakarrans had invaded, this pocket of men had taken up residence underground. A good fertile woman was rare, so they kept anyone that they found locked up in this derelict prison. Slaves just to use and fuck whenever they wanted while they played war games above ground.
They fed me. Forced food down my throat. When I refused, they’d hit me again. They hit me just because they could.
I knew what was coming. I know what they were going to do to me.
Five filthy men waited before me. Every one of them staring down at me like predators who’d just cornered their prey. I shivered with fear and revulsion. I was lucky I hadn’t puked up the rancid breakfast that they’d forced me to eat.
I’d lost my jacket in my struggle. Now, I sat there, bound and cuffed to a heavy metal chair. The leader, who went by the name Neil, stared at me with putrid excitement.
He had a long, unruly matted beard. Dark, inhuman brown eyes stared down at me and he sneered in my direction. His clothes were filthy, covered with mud, sweat, dirt, and who knows what else. It was almost like all of them had forgotten how to bathe without a woman by their side. He breathed too loudly. He was disgusting. He even spat on the floor beside him, yet all the others deferred to him, without a second thought.
He was their leader.
A scream of terror sounded down the hallway. I vaguely wondered if it was Nina. I wondered what they’d done to her, what kind of torture had been forced on her in order to get her to trick me into coming. I hadn’t seen any semblance of fear in her eyes.
They’d taught her well. Now, I was here, about to
be raped by five men. She’d done that. I wondered if she could live with herself now. Had she done it to other women too?
My heart pounded, and my chest rose and fell with dread. I couldn’t get enough air. I could feel myself beginning to panic.
“So fucking skinny. I want a little more meat on a woman, but beggars can’t be choosers, right, boys? I bet she’s still a good group of holes to fuck,” he muttered, and I shuddered at the threat in his voice.
His predatory gaze passed over me.
“Where did you come from? Where did the Vakarrans find you? Did you come from the female processing center or somewhere else?” he pressed, his eyes narrowing with curiosity.
I didn’t say a word. He glared. Waiting. Expecting.
Two men moved to either side of me. Two stayed at his side.
My eyes flashed to the ones by me. One was rather heavy set, the other, tall, skinny, and lean. Both just as fucking dirty as Neil was. My stomach roiled. I felt nauseous. They both pulled out long, sharp-looking knives from their boots.
Fucking fantastic. A little torture before a five-man rape session was really going to brighten my day. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
A sob escaped my throat.
Except for my Vakarrans. I really wanted my Vakarrans.
I closed my eyes for a moment, calling out to them. Reaching.
“Help me. Find me. Take me back. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done,” I thought to them. I didn’t know if they could hear me over such a long distance or if our telepathic ability still held up after I betrayed them. I prayed it would. I wished I’d never drugged them or escaped. I wished I’d never come here. My entire being was filled with fear and regret.
A knife blade pressed up against my throat and I began to panic.
“You’re not answering me,” Neil growled. “Answer or else my boys here are going to teach you a lesson you won’t forget.”
His voice made my skin crawl and bile rise in my throat. I wanted away from here.
“Are there more women like you out there?” he asked, his gaze narrowing in on me with a weird mix of curiosity and anger. He was used to being obeyed.
I was never going to betray my sisters or my friends back in the forest. They were safe there and I wouldn’t want to continue living if I had known that I’d put them in the hands of these men. It was a stark reminder that while Vakarrans were known for their cruelty, humans weren’t at all innocent either.
Humans could be worse, much worse. Corrupted by power. Vengeful. Greedy.
I’d been naïve to the danger. My hope for my freedom had blinded me to the reality.
Neil watched me closely. Danger seeped from his every pore.
I had a feeling I was in for a world of hurt.
The knife traveled down my skin, slowly slicing through my t-shirt. My heartbeat echoed in my head and I started to feel a little lightheaded. The cloth parted away from my skin and I shivered, feeling cool and clammy. The skinny one reached out and tore the remnants of my shirt clean away. I cried out as the fabric pinched my skin in the process.
Skinny man then slid the blade underneath the connector of my bra between my breasts, pulling up and slicing through the lacey fabric like butter. My breasts bounced slightly, released from the cups that held them. I felt my nipples harden in the damp chilliness, my skin prickling with goosebumps from the cold.
Skinny twirled his knife and skirted around my nipple.
I stilled with fear.
Tears welled in my eyes as terror consumed me. I was so scared. I wanted to take it all back. Skinny stilled beside me, softly pressing the blade against my breast, my nipples hard with fear. It stung just a little, like a papercut, but he didn’t slice any deeper. He waited. For Neil’s orders I presumed. Ready to slice my nipple off at a moment’s notice with a flick of his finger.
“So?”
My thoughts scrambled in my head. My sense of self-preservation reared its ugly head and I tried to think of any way out of this. Maybe the easy copout would work.
“From the processing center,” I whispered, watching Neil for signs that he knew I was lying. Fucking bastard stilled and continued staring back at me.
“One day, we’re going to take all those women for ourselves. Right, boys? Enough women for all of us. We could have our own harems. Think about it. So many good tight holes to fuck. Never the same one, no matter the night,” Neil murmured.
Fatty chuckled beside me and I watched as he cupped his dick in his hand with a groan. I’d have gagged if I was willing to move. Skinny moved the blade away from my nipple and continued working downward. He moved in front of me, unbuttoning my pants and sliding my zipper down, his touch dangerously close to my pussy.
I heard his breathing hitch in excitement and I began to feel sick.
He took the knife and slid it under my waistline, slicing down my leg to the very hem of my pants. He did the same to the other side, until he gripped the fabric and ripped it completely off of me. It hurt as the rougher fabric burned against my skin. I was almost naked now. I had just a pair of lacey panties to protect me from their evil.
“Don’t,” I begged.
Neil grinned gleefully.
“Look at that. Her skin all pale and freshly washed looking. Makes me want to mark her up, fuck that innocent look right off her face. Smack her around until she gets who is the boss of her now,” Neil muttered, and the others cheered in agreement. “What do you say, boys? Want to teach this little slut a lesson?”
I tried to move my legs, but the harsh metal of the cuffs cut into my ankles. My wrists were shackled behind me and I knew if I survived the day, they’d be bruised for days to come.
Skinny moved to cut off my panties and I began to openly sob.
Every single human in that room with me groaned with desire.
They wanted me to cry. To scream. They wanted me to be scared. It excited them. They wanted to dominate me in all ways.
I was so afraid.
It was over. I had nothing left to give.
Male screams echoed in the hallway and all five of them turned their heads in surprise. Sounds of a scuffle bounced off the walls. A gunshot. Another scream. Alarms began screaming and red lights started to flash, blinding me at first.
That was when the door exploded, flying inward and smacking Fatty to the ground. He screamed bloody murder and then, the sickening crunch of bone hitting concrete turned my stomach. I looked to the side, staring as a pool of blood began to seep outward from his skull. He wasn’t going to be getting up from that. The blood pool grew even bigger. He was as good as dead.
I lifted my head back to the door. Morgn stood there, his copper eyes boring into my soul and I almost sobbed out loud in relief. Ryder stood next to him, looking dangerous and consumed with fury. Aarom, his eyes softening with pity once he laid his eyes on me. Davon, too, focused on me, looking victorious and relieved now that he’d found me.
I must be quite the sight.
They’d come for me. My Vakarrans.
Skinny barreled behind me, hiding behind my tiny frame for protection.
Stupid.
Ryder, Aarom, Davon, and Morgn propelled forward. Neil took that moment to roll backwards, reaching for a gun that he had stuffed in the back of his pants. He fired it off wildly in my general direction and I yelled out with fear. I didn’t want to die. The bullet ricocheted off the concrete wall, skimming across my left cheek in the process.
I screamed, sobbing with pain. In the confusion, I saw Neil disappear out the mangled door frame. Instead of running after him, all four aliens rushed toward me. They stopped for nothing. They had a mission and it was getting to me. The other two human men were just standing in the way and even I knew that they were doomed. My Vakarrans wanted me back and they were going to take me no matter what.
The two men who had been guarding Neil were dead within an instant.
Laser guns straight to the back of the head. They didn’t even have a second to blink before
they dropped dead. Davon and Morgn shot them down without a second glance.
That left my four Vakarrans and Skinny, hiding behind me with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. A blade pressed firmly against my throat. I felt a trickle of blood roll down my skin. Everything hurt. I was in so much pain.
Terror racked through my body.
Even though my aliens had come for me, I was still going to die.
I trembled, sitting in that steel chair, cuffed and bound with no means of escape.
Ryder stepped forward. The other three let him.
I felt numb. Then something happened that I hadn’t expected.
My handcuffs popped open as Skinny released me from the chair. He didn’t release me completely though, forcing me to stand and holding me tight to his lean frame instead. He kicked the chair out of the way. Now it was just me and him, my body protecting the meat of his torso. Maybe he thought he was safer this way.
I breathed a sigh of relief then. I met my Vakarrans’ eyes, one after another. Every single one of them watched me with obvious fear.
They didn’t want me to die. They wanted me to live.
They thought I was as good as dead.
They couldn’t have been more wrong.
I was free. Skinny had freed me and in turn, he’d signed his own death warrant.
I knew what Kira would do now. I closed my eyes for a long moment, calming my breathing and priming my body for action. I knew what had to be done. I let everything around me fall away, letting the beat of my heart rule over my soul.
The screams of dying men silenced. I didn’t hear them anymore. The harsh words of my Vakarrans screaming toward Skinny man, no more. The pain and fear pounding through my body, gone. It was only me, Skinny, and the sharp knife pressing against my throat.
I stilled. I didn’t move a single muscle. I had to prepare myself.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Calm.
I let it all fall away. I let it all go.
