Branded

by Jenika Snow

  Stellan nodded. “Yes, Sir,” he said, but still looked at him curiously.

  “Do it now,” Tolcan ordered, deeper, with more command.

  Stellan entered the instructions into his wrist activator, signaling for backup to come into the caves. Tolcan looked at the female, took in her delicate features, and the fact she was interesting to him, piqued his desire, like no other female, human nor Rogue, ever had.

  He’d learned throughout his existence that when he felt something so deep, so powerful it confused him, made him question the very core of who and what he was, he didn’t ignore it. The problem was, did he really want her as a concubine? The alternative to turning his back on this curious little human was handing her over to the Royal Guard to be used as a breeder. For some reason that very idea, the very image of his kind rutting between her thighs, filling her with Rogue seed, infuriated him. He was insane, or maybe defective, because these were dangerous thoughts.

  Taking a human as a concubine wasn’t unusual, but having one as a mate, an equal, was a forbidden, deviant act. Humans were seen as labor, breeding stock, or as sex slaves only, and having one as a mate meant he’d be deemed as some kind of pervert, possibly even lose his status as head Enforcer, and all because he had this fascination with a female.

  No, he’d not jump to an emotional decision. This could simply be because she was an anomaly, a human that had interested him for the first time, and because of that he was even entertaining these desires.

  “Let’s go,” he said, putting those thoughts out of his head. She wasn’t going to be his, wasn’t going to be more than a breeder for his kind. That was the end of it, and thinking anymore on it meant he’d have to give up everything. He couldn’t do that, not for a female, or a human especially.

  Chapter Three

  Before Greta was even awake everything came rushing back. It was like a dream, one going in reverse, faster rather than slower. She remembered the man who had shot her, the Rogue male that came after her as if she were nothing more than the dirt on his boot. But then there had been another Rogue male behind him, watching her, appraising her almost. He was huge, as were all of the Rogues, and the black bands tattooed on his arms from wrist to shoulder told her he was an Enforcer. She’d learned enough about the hostile, violent species to know they had classes, the same as humans used to have. Those bands represented his rank, and because they covered his arms she knew he was at the top.

  She was afraid to lie there, but even more afraid to open her eyes and alert them to her being awake. So she lay there, wherever there was, and listened, waited. She heard nothing but the sound of her heart, the fast respirations as she breathed, and prayed no one was beside her. All of her people, the men and women she’d grown up with, helped protect, and who in turn had helped protect her, were all gone, right in the blink of an eye. Then she thought of Jayce, how he’d been trying to help her get out of there but then had gotten shot. God, was he okay? Would he be okay?

  “I know you’re awake.” The deep voice came from beside her, a short distance away. She was still so afraid, but she opened her eyes, clenched the material beneath her in her hands, and turned her head. The room she was in was dark, and only the small window above them, placed in the ceiling, let light in.

  She didn’t move, just continued to stare at the Rogue that sat in the corner, his big body shrouded by darkness. She scented something in the air, something sweet, thick, and she knew instantly it was a Rogue herb, one that she’d heard they smoked to calm down. She’d heard it had calming effects.

  She licked her lips, afraid to even breathe as she stared at him. Who was he? Where was she? What in the hell did he plan on doing to her? She didn’t know what happened when a human was caught aside from the rumors the females were used as breeders, and the healthy, young males for labor. But this place looked more like a home, or what she assumed a home to be.

  There was the pallet she was on, and a small, metal, square looking contraption in the corner. It had doors on either side, so she supposed it was used to hold items, maybe clothing? She didn’t know much about these kinds of comforts, not with jumping from cave to cave. It was the only way for her to live, for her kind to survive.

  “Are you hungry, thirsty?” he asked, still staying in the shadows. A cloud of smoke surrounded him as he exhaled, and she hated having to inhale it, hated that the room was foggy because of it. Was he trying to drug her, make her do what he said without fighting him?

  She didn’t answer, just stared at him. He leaned forward, and she got a look at his face. God, it was the Rogue from the cave, the one that had stared at her, seemed transfixed by her. His hair was short, black as night, and his eyes—God, his eyes were so light blue they almost seemed white.

  “I know you can understand me,” he said slowly, deeply. He inhaled from the long, white stick, the end lighting up red. He held his breath for a moment, and then exhaled the smoke. “I implanted a chip in your neck so you’ll understand my language,” he said without any emotion, without even showing any expression on his face.

  She instantly touched the side of her neck, expecting there to be pain, but all she felt was this small, flat, disc-like device under her skin.

  “So, I’ll ask you again,” he said and slowly stood, rising to his massive seven feet height. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  She sat up, feeling lightheaded, but pushing it back. He took a step closer, and she scrambled back on the bed. Her heart beat painfully hard in her chest. The wall stopped her from moving any further from him, and as he came closer, she felt like she might pass out. He leaned forward, placed the white stick in his mouth, took a deep inhalation, and held her gaze with his own.

  She was frozen, scared beyond words, and didn’t know what her fate was. Then he exhaled slowly, the white, sweet smelling smoke surrounding her face in this thick cloud. She started breathing harder as her fear consumed her, but as the seconds ticked by she felt herself grow relaxed on the bed, her heart calming, and her fear leaving.

  He didn’t smirk, didn’t even move for a few seconds. Then he slowly stood to his full height again. “I’ll ask again, female.” He held her gaze again. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  She felt herself nod, worry of what was going to happen and fear of this monster leaving her, just fading away. No, not leaving her, just being buried by the calmness that engulfed her. He moved out of the bedroom, the door sliding into the wall seamlessly. She didn’t know how long she sat there, but it seemed like an eternity before he came back.

  His kind was so human looking, with little differences that weren’t so little in reality. Aside from his tattoos, his flesh was a strange combination of cream and brown, the color almost making him seem like he’d been in the sun … but not. Aside from the clear height and muscle mass difference between them and the humans, they looked very similar.

  “Now, female.” He set the tray on the bed, and strange looking items were on top of it. A green gelatinous square sat on the left, a blue piece was next to that, and this brown, textured slab of what she knew was meat. There was also a helping of bite sized cream-colored pieces and a cup of what she assumed to be water beside that.

  He stared down at her, and as she took in the monstrous size of this man, and the fact he’d just gotten her this tray full of weird looking food, it felt as if the world was rushing around her and she was on the verge of going over some cliff without anyone realizing.

  “Eat.” He said that command hard, with all the dominance she’d come to expect from his barbaric, yet very advanced species.

  Picking up the green stuff, she started eating it. For some unexplainable reason it melted in her mouth, exploding with flavor, and having her hungry for more. Or maybe she was just starving, malnourished? Before she knew what was happening she was devouring the whole plate, even if she had no clue what it was she ate. Because she’d been in hiding with the other humans she didn’t get a lot of portions when mealtime came. And when it was time to eat
it was things they could forage and scavenge for quickly. They couldn’t stay out in the open that long, not unless they wanted to become noticed. This race had technology the likes of which made humans, when they were at the top of their game, seem infantile.

  She’d been in hiding for her entire life, she’d always been on the run, always looking over her shoulder, and hungry … so very hungry. There wasn’t a time she didn’t go to be with fear on her mind, filling her very soul. It was who and what she was, though, and she didn’t know any different.

  When she was finished eating she grabbed the cup of water and drank it all, not realizing how thirsty she really had been. Greta stared down at the tray, so surprised she’d eaten everything, especially right in front of this Rogue. She still had yet to know what his plans for her were, but she stared at him sitting back on the set in the corner, watching her. It seemed since she saw him that’s all he did … watch her.

  “Would you like to bathe?” he asked.

  She still felt so relaxed, so calm, even if rationally she shouldn’t. Greta shouldn’t even have eaten the food or have drunk the water he’d given her. She didn’t know what he could have put in it, but on the heels of that thought she knew it didn’t matter. If he wanted to hurt her he would, and poisoning her food seemed like a lazy way for a Rogue to get rid of a human.

  “What are you going to do to me?” she asked warily, knowing she needed to be afraid, but that drug he’d blown in her face erasing that. Leaning back against the wall she stared at him, wished he’d quit with the brooding and watching her, as if he stalked her, waited for his time to pounce and devour her.

  Then he leaned forward, braced his forearms on his thighs, and said in a deep, very intimidating voice, “It’s because of me you’re not getting bred upon by my kind against your will.”

  Her heart jumped in her throat. “But I am here against my will.”

  He didn’t respond, didn’t even move.

  “Why am I here and not being raped by your barbaric species?” she asked with a thick tongue, her voice cracking. “Why would you stop that from happening?”

  The silence stretched on as he bored those eerie light blue eyes into her. “Because for some reason I want you for my own, and handing you over to get fucked and impregnated by another Rogue male infuriates me.”

  She felt her eyes widen when he stood, felt that drug finally start to dissipate as he came closer. She scrambled to push away from him, to get as far from this massive, scary male as she could, but she was trapped, at his mercy, and she started hyperventilating.

  “You’re here right now, in my home, because I want you.”

  ****

  Tolcan knew the Posh was leaving her system, and he saw the fear start to take root in her again. Taking the small cigarette of Posh, a plant from his home planet that they had cultivated here, he relit the end. Inhaling deeply from it, he walked toward her, holding the smoke in his four lungs for a moment before leaning forward and blowing it around her. She was too frightened to do much of anything, and that fear had her respirations increasing.

  Posh had relaxing and almost euphoric properties, and if taken enough in large quantities it could cause hallucinations. Right now he just needed her calm, needed her not in hysterics. It was better for her that way, better for him, too, because this was new to him as well, and he didn’t need a crazed human female making this even tenser.

  He blew more Posh smoke in her face. Her eyes dropped to half-mast, and she rested against the wall, her legs going straight in front of her, and her entire body becoming relaxed. Moving back to the chair, he sat down, leaned back, and stared at her. He stubbed the end of the cigarette off on the bottom of his boot, and tossed it on the small table beside him.

  He’d actually brought her to his pod, took her into his home because the very thought of handing her over to the processing faculty for the Royals, to have her tested, probed, checked for superior fertility, had him enraged. And then the thought of her being paired with Rogue after Rogue until she was impregnated had this beast emerging from him.

  What’s wrong with you? You’re acting out of character.

  He scrubbed a hand over his face, dropped his hand to his thigh, and stared at her. She watched him. Her blue and green eyes were so mesmerizing he felt himself stand and move closer. She didn’t move, her body too relaxed, feeling too euphoric from the drug to do much of anything but respond if he asked her something.

  He moved closer to the bed, stopped when his shins hit the pallet, and stared down at her. He was a Rogue, an Enforcer, warrior, and wanting a human female was out of character … out of the question.

  “You want me here?” she said softly, sleepily from the drug.

  He didn’t answer, just sat down and looked at her feet. She had nothing covering them or her legs. The material she wore wrapped around her slender waist and fell to her knees. But right now, with her legs bent, he could see right up the material. She wore a garment between her thighs as well, hiding that part of herself, but he wasn’t a sick bastard about to take from her when she was unwilling and drugged. Looking at her feet, he saw how dirty they were. He’d taken off the ratty, hole-ridden shoes when he’d brought her to his home.

  She was filthy, with dirt covering her legs and thighs, her arms and face. Her dark hair was tangled, but even with the filth on her he saw her beauty, saw the uniqueness in her, the desire and need that consumed him upon first setting eyes on her. What was it about her that had him so drawn? He’d never heard of his kind going through this. The Rogues may have lust for the humans, and because of that took them as concubines, even having a harem of females at their disposal, but it had never been like that for him. He’d always focused on the job, the task at hand … the mission.

  He reached out, touched her toe, and felt his cock jerk because of that small motion, felt his arousal climb higher. She was so small in comparison to him, so fragile. She didn’t move, and instead breathed out softly. He lifted his gaze to her face and felt this growl of appreciation on having her here rise up in him.

  “I don’t understand any of this. I don’t understand why I’m here,” she said and rested her head on the wall beside her.

  “You don’t have to worry about why you’re here.” He moved his finger up her leg, marveled at the fact she was hairless, and wondered if it was another anomaly. He’d noticed, upon bringing her here, that she had no hair on her legs or arms. Maybe that was another uniqueness, the same as with her eye color?

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’re here because I want you here. If not for me you’d be another breeder.” He rested his hand on her knee, looked into her face, and waited for her to realize that. She might be relaxed from the Posh, but she understood what was happening. She just didn’t care because of the drug.

  “Are you going to make me your breeder, your sex slave?”

  He was surprised she was forward with her questions, even if she was on Posh.

  He removed his hand from her knee, clenched them into fists at his side, and tried to keep his composure. “I don’t take females against their will.”

  “But you did.” There was a pause. “You took me from the only home I’ve known, the only family I’ve ever had.”

  He felt this strange twinge deep inside of him, this need to explain he wasn’t this monster. But that would be a lie, because he was a monster, and he had taken her for himself.

  “You have no family anymore. They’ve been taken to the labor facility, and the few fertile females have been placed in the breeder compound.”

  She pushed herself up a bit, but that seemed hard for her. “What about my friend, the man trying to get me out of there?”

  He clenched his jaw. “What relation is he to you?”

  She closed her eyes, rubbed her forehead, and exhaled, resting back against the wall again. “What difference does anything make anymore?”

  He didn’t respond, just watched as her resistance left, her strength
fading, and he knew this woman, drugged or not, wouldn’t fight him. She’d lost her hope, which was clear to him. He sensed it, smelled it come from her in waves of sadness, and knew that his people had done this to her.

  “What is your age, female? Your name?”

  She dropped her hand to her lap and blinked a few times, maybe trying to clear her head. “I think twenty-one, although I don’t know for sure as I’ve been hiding, from your kind, since I was born.” She looked at him, maybe hesitant to answer the rest. “God, what does it even matter?” she said to herself. “My name is Greta.”

  He wasn’t going to argue with her on the politics of it all. Decades had passed, and he couldn’t control what happened in the past. But she was young, so much younger than he was. At twenty-one she was a mere child compared to him and his species.

  “Sleep, female,” he said, and watched as she closed her eyes, the Posh too strong for her to fight anymore. He left her in the guest pod and went into the living area. Sitting down on the bench, he breathed out and scrubbed a hand over his face. She’d sleep for the next few hours at least, and then he’d have to deal with explaining he had no intentions of letting her go, and that if she were breeding with anyone it would only be him.

  Chapter Four

  “What are you planning on doing with her, Tolcan?” Stellan asked, this concentration and almost … worry on his face. They were at his pod, Stellan having shown up after he clearly heard the news Tolcan had put in a request to keep the female as a concubine, because wanting her, requesting her as a mate, was forbidden.

  “What does it look like?” he said, angry that one of his warriors was questioning him. But Stellan wasn’t just under Tolcan’s command, but also a male he’d known since he was a boy. They’d been together when they landed on earth, fought side-by-side, and had watched over the other. This was his friend, and it was clear Stellan was confused, too, about why Tolcan was suddenly taking on a female for his own when he’d never shown interest before.