Stolen By An Alien

by Amanda Milo

  Daddy Nine tapped something on his ear and it became clear that the others were ready for detainment on the ship too. They began dragging others up the ramp, and I was surprised when, instead of following in the wake of subdued bodies, we were herded to a separate entrance.

  A nicer, more welcoming gangplank actually, with shiny railings and stone insets and Dohrein leaned in to whisper, “Do I need to cover your eyes?”

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  His gaze searched mine, gauging my level of attraction to buffed mineral deposits when my guy had just been beaten and dragged away from me. “I think I can manage.”

  He nodded.

  Around us, other ‘Gryfala’ were being assembled. Then Nine strode past us with a polite nod for me, but now deliberately ignored his son.

  As we followed up after him, I looked over at Dohrein. “Your dad?” I mouthed, wide-eyed. “What’s his problem?”

  He sighed. “He always wanted a daughter.”

  33

  ANGIE

  “What happens now?” I asked Dohrein.

  At first, the hobs wanted to separate us so that there wouldn’t be any 'challenging'. I gave orders for us to stay together and… so far, the hobs were following them. They did not follow my orders to release our guys though.

  Because that shit would be too lucky.

  We were pacing near very comfy looking chairs. Or, at least, I was pacing. Dohrein grabbed my arm to stop me when the hobs seemed to take too much interest in my anxiety.

  He pulled me to stand in front of him, my feet inside of his as he leaned against the wall. I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Don’t rebuke me,” he warned in a low voice.

  I narrowed my eyes even further, squinting now. “Are you serious?” I hissed.

  He leaned in until his lips brushed mine. He didn’t close his eyes, and neither did I, and I would have reared back but he’d palmed the back of my head to keep me in place.

  I blinked to focus.

  Right against my lips he whispered, “I need to be able to operate as your hob. If you are perceived as being single, these hobs will fall upon you.”

  “Rape me?” I breathed in horror.

  “No!” he returned, aghast, his firm bottom lip dragging against my chin as he formed the word. “No, never. They will fall all over you trying to court you. But what we need right now is to navigate Arokh’s release. Understand?”

  “Yeah,” I breathed, and Dohrein’s eyes crinkled just before he kissed me. For real this time.

  I bit his lip.

  Not hard, but he pulled back quickly all the same, and it made something in my heart lift, just a little, when he smiled at me. His wings retracted - I hadn’t even seen him open them! That was close. The dick.

  And to everyone, that probably looked like a reassuring, affectionate makeout session. I glanced around, uncomfortable at the hungry looks from all the hobs.

  “Hey,” someone said and I turned.

  “Oh hell,” I groaned. “Was it too much to ask that your alien got you far, far away?”

  Bitchy gave me a… well, a bitchy smile. “Missed you too, babe.” She slid a look up at Dohrein, then flicked her gaze quickly back to me. Her eyes were serious, and when she wasn’t being nasty, she could look kind of pretty, actually. “You need to come check Weepy.”

  Arokh’s brother’s girl was not catatonic anymore, and yay that she wasn’t screaming. Buuuut she was scratching furrows into her arms. Yikes. “Hey! Holy crap, stop! You don’t need to hurt yourself,” I admonished as I peeled her hands up.

  “I said stay back!” I snarled at the hobs pressing in to see what the poor damaged little ‘Gryfala’ was doing to herself.

  Nine showed up next to Dohrein, who was close enough to me that I heard the following and was ready to throat punch every asshole here with wings.

  Except Dohrein. Maybe. I’d save him for last, that way I could see how I felt after I made it down the line of all the other throats.

  “I noticed that ‘your’ female is not wearing any of your powder.”

  And it should be noted that his father noted this smugly. The asshat.

  Trying to pry up one of Weepy’s hands, fingernails bloody, I glared at him. “You know, that’s rude. And the last time he ‘powdered me’ I begged to orgasm until I was unconscious. Not really feeling like now’s the time, but thanks for being nosy,” I expelled an aggravated, “Fuck! Me!” under my breath.

  Wrong words, man.

  Wrong words.

  His chest inflated as he stared me down with a scowl so much nastier than Dohrein’s and he sneered, “I am in service to-“

  I held up Weepy’s bloody hand to stop him. “Yeah, yeah – lost in translation, okay? What I meant to say is fuck off. Go. You’re irritating me and I need my hob to give me all of his attention or I could turn into Bitchy here, okay? Trust me; you do not want that.”

  “Hey…”

  Without breaking the stare down I addressed her. “Yeah?”

  “I think I’m starting to like you.”

  “Back at you.”

  Nine left. Stormed off in a scary this-won’t-be-the-last-of-me villain kind of vibe. But it would just have to be added to the list. Problem #944 was currently in progress.

  “They killed him,” Weepy shudders.

  Dohrein knelt down in front of her, and flicked a lock of her hair back behind her ear, ignoring her flinch and looking at her thoughtfully. “Doubtful.” He stroked a hand down her spine, slowly, and repeated until she relaxed. A little.

  She gave a shaky inhale. “Really?”

  He nodded. “Those bastards can take a lot of voltage…” he trailed off when he saw my look.

  I mouthed, “What the fuck, man?”

  He widened his eyes and shook his head once. “Sorry.” He blinked like a robot trying to process the concept of comforting words. “It is more likely that he was just stunned into submission. He’ll be put on trial before he is executed.”

  She cried harder; I socked him the shoulder, and Bitchy grinned. Freaking grinned. “I like him!”

  “Great. You two will make adorably miserable babies together,” I gave a mini clap.

  Weepy was crying so hard she was choking. Dohrein pulled her against his chest, petting her hair and purring. He looked like he’d swallowed an entire bag of lemons - because it was still cheery ‘ol Dohrein - but he was purring like a hero. A few others crawled closer, and he eased Weepy down onto his front as he reclined. We sort of… well, after that, we draped ourselves around him, being lulled by his pretty purr, and the other hobs were glaring at him like he was the fucking Pied Piper of pussy.

  In reality? I lay against his back, his wings folded tightly between us so no powder could be spread. I wasn’t the only one; he was pretty massive - bigger than a human guy, and I could feel at least two other women against me, also touching against Dohrein. Because comfort.

  Poor Dohrein, adopting all these females that had no interest in shagging him. “On Earth, you’d be a ‘cuddle bitch’.”

  “Friend-zoned,” Bitchy added.

  I peered over my shoulder to see that his perpetually grumpy expression did not lighten.

  “It means-“

  “I can gather,” he groused. But he didn’t leave our not-putting-out-for-you asses, and you had to like a guy that had your back. I hoped really hard that Dohrein found a really great girl. Because under all that sour puss he was actually a really great guy.

  Fluttering her eyes at Dohrein while addressing me, Bitchy said, “I know that I'd love to hear. Come on, Ang,”

  “A cuddle bitch is a dude that does all the work hugging, kissing, holding but gets no sex. You never heard that?”

  “Nah, I knew, just wanted to be here when he heard it.” She grinned evilly.

  I shook my head, and was reaching to pat Dohrein’s shoulder when an explosive snort made us all jump.

  It was Weepy.

  Well, I’ll be damned!
<
br />   We all stared, shocked, as another snort burst from her, then she barked a laugh, tears still rolling, shaking from the force of her laughter in Dohrein’s arms.

  “I think we broke her.”

  Gasping, Weepy grabbed Dohrein’s wrist. “Thank you. For doing this.” Briefly, she met his eyes. “It’s… you’re a lifesaver.” She swallowed, all trace of humor leaching from her as quickly as it had shown up. “I appreciate it.”

  He shifted, looking uncomfortable with her praise.

  The mood had gone all serious, and we were silent for the rest of the ride.

  34

  ANGIE

  Exiting the craft, Dohrein’s wings were puffed up high and half spread, hovering over us like a cob swan with his flock of cygnets. He glared down any hobs who tried to approach – and that would be many – and I didn’t begrudge him this posturing at all. None of us were exactly in the mood to be pawed at.

  They wouldn’t let us stay to watch them unload our males. Dohrein did try to intercede on our behalf, but apparently the other hobs felt we’d become too emotional if we saw our group of bonded males being dragged out.

  “I’m not leaving him!” I shouted.

  Dohrein grabbed my wrist. “You can’t do anything for him right now. And truthfully - despite what you think you know - this is actually for the best.” He cut me off as I started to protest. “IF he sees you, if he even smells you, his instincts will override his sense and he’ll have to be subdued again. You don’t want that.”

  No. I didn’t want that. But to abandon him was beyond disloyal. I tried, I really tried to come to terms with this. But I couldn’t.

  “Are they going to kill him?” I whispered. My words broke, and I had to blink my burning eyes.

  “No,” Dohrein said quickly.

  Air rushed from my lungs and I almost dropped to my knees in relief. That is, until Dohrein added, “At least not until the trial,” under his breath.

  “What? You were serious about that?”

  It was weird, having the words that I had been about to screech just splattering the air before I had the chance to actually force it out myself. And it was Weepy who’d shouted that.

  Dohrein rubbed a hand over his face. Then he reached forward and grabbed Weepy – who, I thought it was important to note, barely jerked away this time, and even went willingly to him after a moment – then me, and Bitchy, and the other girls until we weren’t just in a huddle, but instead were pressed around him, all our faces almost touching.

  “Hear me. The Council will decide the outcome of each case. Hissy fits will not impress them, tantrums will not change their mind. This is happening. And right now, it is in the incarcerated’s best interests that we leave.”

  “But-“

  His jaw hardened. “I strongly suggest now. That we leave right now.”

  “Dohrein?”

  Dohrein looked over our heads. The barest hint of his fangs were bared when he hissed out a breath.

  We turned to look too. The hob addressing him was the picture of absolute incredulity.

  “You have… you don’t serve all of these Gryfala?”

  I did not care for his tone. Not at all. Hobs had been tripping over themselves to be near us since they’d captured us, but now even more were exiting the ship and were crowding around, very interested in this answer.

  Bitchy cocked a hip. “Fuck yeah. Dohrein’s the Man.”

  The speaker smoothed his choppy rocker hair back, a cute cut that would have served him well on earth. “Females, no doubt you are looking to add males-“

  “We have males.” I spat. I indicated the belly of the big ship with a jerk of my thumb. “The rest of our males were stolen and locked up-“

  Dohrein tugged the back of my shirt, the action taking place low enough that no one but the other girls would have seen. He began to usher us along as the group of hobs milling about us increased to an alarming amount. Or maybe it wasn’t so much the number of them that was alarming, but their ravenous expressions.

  And then one hob whipped out a diamond.

  And after that it was like some sort of gemstone frenzy.

  Glittering, sparkling rocks were suddenly all around us, and Dohrein, still keeping us moving at a pretty fast clip, cupped his wings over us protectively so that our view would be partially blocked – although he was careful not to brush up against us.

  “Impressive wingspan,” Bitchy teased. I felt my face screw up. Was she… flirting?

  His reply was all gruffness and... husky voiced. “Thank you.”

  One of the women gasped. “Look at the size of that one!”

  Fingers began pointing. “Look at that crystal! It’s got to be six inches around!”

  “Gotta admit. This beats dick pics any day.”

  ◆◆◆

  “Where?”

  That was Dohrein. All the words.

  Nine glowered at him, at all of us. “All these females – together - peaceably, is… unprecedented. But… if they are refusing to be taken underwing into quarters with other hobs, then here." He rubbed his forehead. "The accommodations are certainly not fit for princesses but if they insist on remaining together-” he seemed to choke a little at the next two words, “-with you, they may all stay in this room if they can control their urges to quarrel and challenge each other.”

  Dohrein just gave a nod.

  Nine tried to glare him down, not satisfied with Dohrein in any capacity. “When they need to be separated, bachelors are available in surplus if you change your-"

  “We won’t,” he growled firmly.

  And we just stayed pretty quiet. It was Nine’s natural inclination to address a princess directly, but we’d quickly learned Dohrein knew how to navigate this word; we were better off shutting up.

  Okay, really, I was sick of getting stealth pinched.

  Something I was pretty damn sure wasn’t sanctioned treatment for a gryfala.

  I gave a haughty sniff, and like he could read my mind, Dohrein cut me a warning look from the corner of his eye.

  That took skill, by the way.

  All around us were hobs, all ogling us like-

  Like we were back in that freaking auction pen. It was intense. And it was clear they had no idea what to do with all of us. Whispers, words like “wings” kept getting tossed around too, but no one was rude enough to just come out and directly ask us about our “deformity”. I suppose they were all hoping that we would start collecting harems therefore nobody wanted to piss us off.

  “They will refrain from challenging each other,” Dohrein promised. “But it would behoove you to release their males-“

  “I’ll hear no more on the matter. Trial is at suns rise. I have to return to your mother’s side.” And without even a ‘hey, glad you made it back safe’ he turned and left.

  “What a cold bastard.” I said.

  Dohrein just looked grim…mer.

  “Are you just going to stare at us?” That was Bitchy. Being Miss Congeniality again. But this time I had to agree. It was beyond unnerving, really. “If you aren’t going to help us then you can all leave!”

  And to our surprise?

  They did.

  Dohrein finally looked down at us, and taking us all in, slowly looking over our faces, he sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. His wings drooped, the tips dragging on the floor. “This is a dire situation.”

  “Duh! What are we going to do?”

  “I am afraid to leave you. If I leave, you will be hounded the moment I step out of that door. They are not going to help you get your males back. My sire has no interest in helping either, although he has the greatest influence. I wish I could get a message to my mother.”

  An anxious round of knocks sounded.

  He stalked over the door, and his theory about our odds of staying unmolested was proven to be true. As soon as he opened it, heads filled the doorway, all peering in at us, hopeful expressions on their faces. “We’ve brought blankets!”
r />   Dohrein snatched them and slammed the door, narrowly missing smashing a few noses.

  The knocking came again.

  Pillows followed.

  Then food.

  Water came after.

  “What, are they going to split up all the supplies?”

  He made a frustrated noise. “And give you every chance to change your mind and let them in? Of course.”

  Dohrein paced back to us. “Tomorrow I will get to her. Attempt to intercede.”

  “What do we do until then?”

  He looked at us sadly. “Try to get some sleep.”

  He dropped to the floor, and was about to lay back before he thought better of it. He moved to his stomach instead, and spread his wings out on the floor. “Climb on. It won’t hurt them if you are careful. It might comfort you to rest against them.”

  We carefully tucked in around him, the backs of his wings completely safe for us. Surprisingly warm for being so thin too.

  But I didn’t sleep. And I don’t think anyone else did much of it either.

  Every time I closed my eyes, I heard Arokh’s screams.

  35

  AROKH

  I have been feeling crazed, lethargic, feverish without my Angie. I know the symptoms would only worsen. But they won’t.

  Because I am about to die.

  The council lists my crimes. Leveling the accusation of Bonded is enough to have my neck, but I also injured hobs in my rage last night, and the grave list of their traumas are crimes brought against me also. The shame of it singes me with every name they add. But I had no choice – they were taking me from my female. My muscles begin to ripple as I grow even more agitated. I shake off the instinct and try to relax.

  Not surprisingly, the Rakhii sitting to the side of the council enters the proceedings, demanding proof of my Bonded status. If I’d injured hobs, that would warrant severe punishment. The Bonding claim however is such a grievous offense that not only would I die for it, but my family will be fined, castigated, ruined.

  I appreciated that the council was thorough; if the case were unjust I would greatly appreciate their attention to detail, to justice. But I dreaded what would come next.