Her Alien Masters (Captives of Pra'kir Book 3)

by Renee Rose

  That made her frown. She wriggled, and he had to tighten his hold to keep her in his arms.

  “I don’t think she’s been punished enough, tonight,” Gav’n observed coolly.

  It was part of her conditioning, Jakk knew, but it caused him physical pain to see her upset and to deny her anything she’d asked for. He had to explain. “It will cause the public distress to see you walking down the street after the way the footage of your crash has been playing over and over again. Someday, maybe, but not tonight, and never alone.”

  Her big blue-green eyes pleaded with him. “Not alone, then. With you both. It’s dark. No one will see me.”

  His resolve slipped under her beautiful pleading gaze. Against his will, he flicked his eyes to Gav’n, who shrugged.

  He sighed. “Shortest walk of your life. I’ll take you. Someone has to stay with the girls in case they wake up.”

  “And that someone is me,” Gav’n said.

  Against his better instincts, he set her down and allowed her to dress while he threw on some clothes. Then he grasped her smaller hand in his own and led her down the stairs and out the door. They took the stairs down to the street and walked in silence through the back alleyway. He liked the feel of her hand nestled in his own, the sense of protectiveness she inspired in him. He’d never had a female to protect before. It was a wonderful responsibility.

  “If you and Gav’n weren’t so...um...attentive to me, I would be freaking right now.”

  He furrowed his brow at the words that hadn’t translated. “What is freaking?”

  “Worried sick. Upset.”

  He stopped and spun her to face him, catching her up in his arms. “About what?”

  Her slender hands came to his chest but she didn’t push with any real intent. “Everything. Living here with you, raising the girls. Trying to integrate on a planet I know nothing about.”

  His stomach dropped for her. He wrapped her head up against his chest and kissed the top of it. “I’m so sorry, little one. It must be terrifying for you. Tell me you’re not afraid of me...of Gav’n?” He held his breath, waiting for her reply. He supposed he should want her afraid, for the conditioning, but, at this moment, her trust meant far more.

  She shook her head. “Not really...sometimes a bit. But I’m beginning to understand you both. You don’t mean me harm, even if we don’t see eye to eye on how I should be treated.”

  He arched a brow. “Don’t we?”

  Under the light of three full moons, her face glowed pale, but he thought her cheeks colored.

  “I think you rather enjoy the way we treat you. Even when it involves stern discipline.”

  Yes, definitely a flush.

  He cupped her chin. “Say it.”

  She tried to pull away but he wouldn’t allow it. “Say what?”

  “Say you like when we punish you.”

  She colored even darker. “No way—I don’t.”

  “I’ve touched your pussy after punishment. You’re always wet for us. You love your spankings. Say it.”

  She tried once more to squirm out of his grasp, and when she realized she couldn’t, she whined, “Jakk.”

  “Say it, or next time you won’t be rewarded after you’re punished.”

  Her lips set in a firm line.

  “Is that your choice?”

  A lift of her chin.

  “So be it.”

  He released her and tugged her forward, resuming the walk.

  She jogged to catch up with his longer stride. “I-I might like some aspects.” She sounded breathless.

  He smirked, but no sense of superiority arrived. In fact, something about this delicate human, the ward whose entire life he controlled, always left him humbled. Earning her trust, seeing the resistance ebb away and the glow of warmth start to simmer in those ocean-green eyes made his entire existence spin on its head. He may control her life, but she certainly had plucked the strings of his heart. Of course, he knew he could never expect her to feel real love for him—an unfit male—but at least she might come to accept him.

  ~.~

  It felt incredible to be outside. After the weeks in prison and now cooped up in the house, fresh air—especially the sea air—healed her with every breath. Unfortunately, their walk was all too short. They looped around the block, and Jakk led her back toward the house.

  In the street, they passed the next door neighbor, a stooped, elderly woman who stopped her mopping—yes, she was mopping the porch!—and openly stared at Mira as they walked by.

  “That’s one of the alien invaders. They moved her in next door.” The being crouched on the step behind her spoke as if they couldn’t hear. It was not a Pra’kirian, at least not the same species as Gav’n and Jakk. It resembled a naked sloth.

  “Good evening, Linat, Arnc,” Jakk said coldly. He tugged her elbow and led her away, into their tiny yard.

  “Um, what was that?” she whispered when they’d passed.

  “He’s a Mekron. About twenty years ago, we launched a manned expedition to one of the moons, the biggest discovery of which was an alien ship we found drifting, powerless, in our debris belt. No one knew how sick they were until we brought them home, fostered them out—much like we did you—and they’d been with us a while.”

  “Sick?” she echoed.

  “The first began to show symptoms six months after they arrived. A strange… rash that wouldn’t go away.”

  The girls. She peered up at him, but he looked steadfast at their feet and just kept walking.

  “Eventually, the rash became… I don’t know, it’s some kind of mummifying disease, one that causes fungus-like growths to eat their bodies from the inside out.” He was quiet a few steps more before softly admitting, “The first died five years later, and they’ve been dying ever since. And it all started with a rash our doctors can’t quite figure out.” Even more softly a few steps later, he said, “That’s why we can’t keep a nanny, and that’s why their school doesn’t want the girls there. Whatever is killing the Mekron, they think it’s finally jumped species.”

  “Oh.” A sick feeling twisted in her gut. She hoped to God the girls’ rash wasn’t related.

  She stopped to pluck a bright-red berry from one of the bushes in the yard.

  Jakk knocked it out of her fingers when she brought it to her mouth. “What are you doing? Those aren’t edible.”

  She picked another one, examining it. “They aren’t?” Nibblingthe tiniest bit of its skin, she sampled it. “They look and taste exactly like the berries the girls had for breakfast. What were those?”

  He stared. “What berries?”

  “They were just like these. The girls ate them for breakfast and gave me a plate, too.”

  Jakk’s expression turned grim, and he pounded up the stairs and threw open the door.

  “Shh.” She raced up behind him. “Jakk, you’ll wake the girls.”

  “I plan to,” he growled, stalking into their bedroom and switching on the light. “Wake up, girls. We need to have a talk.”

  Gav’n jogged down the stairs and joined them. “What’s going on?”

  The girls sat up, rubbing their eyes and blinking at the light.

  “Mira says the girls ate the berries from the bush outside for breakfast.”

  Pritzi burst into tears, and Jan turned pale. Even Darley shrank down into her covers at Jakk’s booming voice.

  “And you fed them to Mira, as well? Whose idea was this? Darley’s?” He turned a furious gaze on the oldest girl. “So, the berries are the cause of the rash?”

  “Are they?” Gav’n boomed when no one answered.

  Mira couldn’t take the sight of Pritzi backed into the corner of her bed, sobbing. She joined her there and scooped the small girl into her arms.

  “You realize you could’ve killed yourselves? The body makes a rash to get the poison out. Your little sister could’ve died from this harebrained idea of yours. And all for what? Attention? To stay out of school? What is this ab
out?”

  Darley’s face crumpled now.

  “And you fed them to Mira? She’s not even the same species. What if they were fatal to her?” Gav’n paced the room like an angry tiger.

  Even Jakk’s normally stiff expression lit with anger. “Your mother didn’t believe in physical punishment, but maybe—”

  “No,” Mira interrupted. She had strong beliefs against corporal punishment for children, which had long ago been outlawed on Earth.

  Jakk and Gav’n both looked at her surprise. The girls did, too.

  “That’s not the solution,” she said firmly, willing them to accept her opinion for once.

  Jakk drew in a measured breath then exhaled. “One month with no screens, no excursions, no fun of any kind. You’ll go to school tomorrow and explain what you’ve been up to and why you’re safe to return. And if any of you misleads Mira on anything again—anything at all—I will make you all very sorry. Understood?”

  “Yes, Uncle,” Darley muttered, managing to appear surly, even through her tears. Jan sniffed and nodded, which was the most communication Mira had seen from her. Pritzi snuffled, “Yes, Uncle,” her little chest heaving with sobs still. Mira rubbed her back and lowered her to her side, curling her body around the girl and petting her.

  Jakk turned off the light, and he and Gav’n left the room.

  Mira held her breath, listening to the three girls sniffling, her heart twisting in pain for them. They were troubled, certainly. Probably the sound scolding had been necessary, but she only wanted to soothe them. To promise them the pain of their mother’s loss would ebb, in a year or two. That they would feel like participating in their lives again at some point, and that they were still loved.

  But she didn’t know them, and they hated her. So she settled for staying in their room until they fell asleep and creeping out with a heavy heart.

  Chapter Seven

  Mira held the communication/translator pad up to the screen on Jakk’s intelligence device. She’d been working at it since the moment everyone left the house. Jakk had left early, and Gav’n had taken the girls to school to explain about the berries and convince them to allow the girls back in, despite the fact the rashes hadn’t disappeared yet.

  They’d left her a list of chores to do, and she was responsible for picking the girls up, but her priority was figuring out where her shipmates had been placed. So far, she’d spent over an hour just figuring out how to navigate Jakk’s device.

  There was no news service report about any of their placements, other than the brief news of the Council’s decision to foster them out.

  Where were her friends? What had happened to them? Were they being “conditioned” by the same methods she was?

  Her back and neck had grown stiff from leaning over for so many hours. She sighed and stood, rolling her shoulders. She had cooking and cleaning to do, and the stupid oven still needed to be repaired. She found Jakk’s little music device and switched it on. Ugh. The music was awful. She switched through the various options, finally choosing one that was at least less screechy than the others.

  It was strange that there were no speakers for the unit. She guessed they hadn’t invented surround sound on Pra’kir. Maybe they heard things differently. Their sense of smell seemed keener than hers. They always claimed to know she was aroused by her scent.

  She hurriedly cleaned the bathrooms and floors then finished disassembling the stove until she found the fried heating coil and thermocouple. She placed them on the table to ask one of the men to order, or—her preference—to show her how to order things. Would they give her an expense account? For some reason, the thought made her giggle.

  The old-fashioned kept-woman thing titillated her on some level. She had fantasies of greeting the men naked and giving them each a blowjob to ask for money. But the fantasies were only appealing in a pretend world. Not having her own bank account or funds wasn’t cute in real life. She needed a real job, an income, freedom.

  Fuck.

  Would she ever find happiness and fulfillment on Pra’kir? Sexually, she had. But there was more to life than sex. And no matter how kind her masters were to her, no matter how attentive, they couldn’t make up for the fact that she would be living as a child for the rest of her life.

  ~.~

  Mira set the shuttle program for the school, thrilled to be out of the townhouse. These twice-daily trips had become her only excursions, only ventures into fresh air. Gav’n and Jakk had promised they’d take her somewhere soon, but it had been two weeks of monotony. She almost wished the girls were still home with their rashes during the day.

  She could chisel the damn shock collar off if she needed to, but it was better to bide her time and build trust. After she found the location of her shipmates, she’d get rid of the collar to slip away undetected for at least a visit.

  The shuttle drove itself straight to the academy and pulled into the circular drive. The girls stood out front, waiting. Mira was under strict orders not to leave the shuttle for any reason. Gav’n said it would be bad enough if anyone spotted her inside the vehicle, but if they saw her outside, there might be trouble.

  The girls jumped into the shuttle quickly, like they were embarrassed to be seen with her. She gunned the shuttle, and it charged back down the tracks to the main speedway, moving automatically.

  “How was your day, girls?”

  No one answered.

  “Pritzi?”

  She glanced in the rear-view mirror. The little girl looked exhausted. She seemed too young to be in school. On Earth, she’d only be in preschool.

  All three girls had circles under their eyes and somber faces. What had they liked to do before their mother died? What would she want, if she were in their shoes?

  She’d want to be out in nature on a hike or simply in fresh air. She gazed out the window at the scenery whizzing by. The coastal city of Endermere was absolutely breathtaking. She still longed to go to the beach. In the other direction, lay hills.

  On a whim, she overrode the programming in the shuttle and took the exit off the speedway toward the hills. A little fresh air was exactly what these girls needed.

  Darley noticed first. She sat up taller and looked out the window. “Where are we going?”

  The slight note of alarm in her voice made Mira smile.

  “I thought we’d go pick some wildflowers.”

  “What?”

  “How do we do that?” Pritzi asked.

  “Well, I’m not sure. I’m finding a good place to pull off so we can go exploring.”

  Pritzi started bouncing in her seat. “Really? We get to go exploring? Whooshka!”

  She followed the road and took another turn, down a set of tracks that bumped and jolted the shuttle like they were old and out of repair. She followed it until she saw a turnabout and stopped the shuttle. “Let’s get out.”

  “Here?” Darley asked doubtfully.

  “Yes, here. Why not?”

  “Is this someone’s property?”

  Mira shrugged and climbed out of the shuttle. “Probably, but I don’t see anyone around. Come on, girls. We won’t stay long. Just enough time to pick some flowers. Look at them all!” The hills were dotted with color—yellows, purples, blues, reds. Giant butterflies skimmed the tops of the fragrant blossoms, adding to the rainbow of color.

  Pritzi and Jan threw their doors open and climbed out. Darley followed a moment later.

  Mira stooped and picked a fistful of purple flowers, leaving the stems long enough to weave together. She started braiding them, walking slowly and picking other colors as she ambled toward the hills.

  Pritzi ran up beside her. “What are you doing?”

  “Making you a flower wreath. Want to help?”

  “What’s a wreath?”

  “A crown. Ooh, see those yellow flowers over there? Get me some.”

  Pritzi raced to help, gathering handfuls of flowers and racing back with them. “Mira, look at this one! Do you want white?” />
  “Yes, baby. I want every color. Pick me the whole stem—like this, see?” She held up the stems in her hand to show how long she needed them.

  Jan joined the picking frenzy. Only Darley refused, arms folded, kicking at the flowers with her human adult-sized feet.

  Mira found a flat rock and settled on it to weave a crown for each girl. Pritzi ran back and forth, bringing her new blossoms and watching wide-eyed as she created the wreaths. Jan, too, brought flowers, although she didn’t make eye contact when she surreptitiously set them beside Mira.

  When she finished all three, she made a fake trumpeting sound with her fist up to her mouth. “Pritzi, I crown thee Princess of Endermere.” She placed the largest wreath on Pritzi’s head.

  “What’s a princess?”

  Of course, the girls didn’t know what princess or royalty meant.

  “It’s being a ruler. But it’s better than the Council of Nine. It’s more like being the most beautiful, pure, and powerful in all the land.”

  “Oh, it’s like the premier,” Pritzi said.

  Mira dropped a crown on Jan’s head. “Jan, I crown thee Princess Premier of Endermere.”

  Jan didn’t smile, but Mira thought she liked it, nonetheless.

  She drew a breath and regarded Darley. “And Darley, I crown thee—”

  “I don’t want your stupid crown.”

  “You’re mean, Darley,” Pritzi shouted. She took the wreath from Mira in her little chubby hand. “You wear it, Mira.” She stood on her tiptoes, as if she might reach.

  Mira dropped to one knee to let Pritzi crown her. “Okay, girls. I guess we’d better get back before your uncles realize I’ve broken all the rules.”

  “Too late,” Darley muttered.

  The bright yellow and red police shuttle hurtled down the tracks toward them.

  She stood and hastened toward their shuttle, not wanting to run into anyone. “Come on, girls. Get in the shuttle.”

  “It’s Uncle Gav’n,” Pritzi announced, pointing. “See?”

  She nibbled her lip, her belly flip-flopping. She’d known they’d see she deviated from instructions, but she hadn’t been sure how they’d react. It seemed she was about to find out.