Taken by the Renegade (Rise of the Sadecs Book 2)

by Sadie Marks

  "I think my brain is going to explode," she complained but in a soft voice that wouldn't make the pain worse.

  "Sorry about that too; it's a side-effect of having all that information pushed into your brain at once. If I had a more sophisticated system, it would have been easier, but now that you're awake, I can give you a pain killer." He got up, holding a small glass out like a peace offering. It held a shot's worth of blue liquid, and she eyed it skeptically.

  Alien ship, alien lover, alien language stuffed into her head—nope, she'd had enough of all things alien, and that included weird medicine. "No thanks, I'll be fine." She waved him off with one hand and then turned on her side to face away from him.

  He stood there; she could feel his eyes on her, and he didn't make a sound as several minutes passed, and then he sighed. "I know it's a lot, Sam. For what it's worth, I wish I could have told you first. But I love you, and I know you love me, so I figured this part would work out eventually."

  He continued to stand there, probably waiting for her to say something, but she remained stubbornly silent until she heard him turn and walk across the room. The door opened with a little shushing sound and he was gone, leaving her alone with her racing thoughts and a chest full of ice-cold fear.

  An alien. All those years of pushing everyone away, of random club scenes and one-night stands, and when she finally let down her guard, it was to fall in love with someone who wasn't even from Earth. She refused to cry over it. She hadn't cried in years and she wasn't about to start now, but she could feel the tears prickling at the back of her eyes, and only sheer stubbornness held them there.

  But that only worked while she was awake, and when she woke up later, she could tell by how sore and raw the skin around her eyes felt that she'd been crying in her dreams. She couldn't remember any of them now, but she could guess that they hadn't been pleasant.

  She sat up with a heavy sigh and reached for her shoes which were lying on the gray metal floor. She wondered if she'd kicked them off, or if he'd taken them off for her. Right now, she didn't want to think about him taking off her shoes while she slept. It was too kind and caring an act. She was angry and wanted to stay that way until she had it all out with him.

  There was just one problem—she couldn't figure out how to open the damn door. She could see where it was. The wall was a different shade and slightly recessed, but it didn't have any kind of a handle or knob that she could see. She looked for some kind of touch-plate, but the only one she found didn't open when she pressed it.

  "Unbelievable. Now I'm locked in?" She scowled and kicked the door hard enough to hurt. Hurt herself, that was. Her soft city shoes wouldn't have done much to protect her foot even on their best day, and after the rugged hike through the desert, she was lucky they were even in one piece.

  She cursed and swore and then began to bang on the door with both fists while she tried to ignore her throbbing toes. She added shouting to the mix when her hands started to get tired. "Trev! Trev, let me out of here right now!"

  When the door finally opened, it was so unexpected that she fell right through and into his arms.

  A shriek escaped before she could pull it back, so she just ignored it. "I was locked in!" she shouted, wrenching herself away from him and back on her own two feet.

  "Sorry, the door wasn't coded to recognize you. Here, let me show you." He palmed the pad in a specific way, and then nodded his head toward it, "Now wave your hand over it."

  She did, and suddenly the door began to close. He stopped it before it sealed all the way and smiled. "All the doors will recognize you now. Would you like something to eat? Between your naps, you've been sleeping most of a day, by Earth time."

  He said this like it was no big deal, but she choked, sputtering, "What? A whole d-day?"

  "Almost. The new language needed time to settle in. Headache gone?" he asked.

  When she nodded slowly, he seemed satisfied. "So, food?" This wasn't really pulling up to the confrontation she'd planned, but the mention of food had her stomach making increasingly louder noises, so saying she wasn't hungry was going to be an obvious lie.

  She found herself tucked into the corner of a small galley, which she guessed was another word for kitchen, though it didn't look like any kitchen she'd ever seen. She watched with avid interest as he pulled two pouches out of a cold box and dropped one of them onto the table in front of her. It landed with a loud clatter and she looked up at him, confused.

  "It's still frozen…" she trailed off when she had the sudden thought that maybe his race ate things like this.

  He laughed and settled down across from her. "Well, the ship is too small to do any real cooking, so I make do with Self-Cooks." When she looked no less confused, he clarified, "Ready to eat food that comes frozen and then cooks itself. Just grab that tag on the end and twist it off."

  He showed her on his own meal, and she watched with her mouth hanging open as the package slowly inflated and began to release steam from one end. She looked down at her own, turned it over to find the tag, and gave it a twist. When she reached down and touched it, she could feel it, the surface slowly heating up until it was too hot to keep touching, and she couldn't help but be delighted by the process.

  "Give it a minute," he advised and then showed her how to pull it open at the seam and fold the top layer underneath with a neat action that left his dinner sitting in a kind of rounded plate. A piece broke off to form something like a spoon, making the meal self-sufficient.

  She hid her excitement. She wasn't about to start praising his weird alien dinners until she actually tasted it. For all she knew, it could taste like mud—but after the first bite, she had to admit it was good. Better than good.

  "This is amazing. I can't believe it cooked in seconds. We have quick meals, but they're nothing like this." Her oven could cook a frozen dinner in a few minutes, but everything inside was generally either mushy or too tough to really enjoy. This was clearly much better technology, and the really strange thing was that each section seemed to have cooked to a different temperature. The item that was obviously bread was room temperature, but the smallest serving was a clear gel-like food that had to be a dessert—and it was shockingly cool while the main course would have burned her mouth if she hadn't taken a second to blow on it.

  "My people enjoy living, all of it. We like to eat, we like to drink, we like to—" He cut himself off and winked at her. "Anyway, with so many of us out on ships, good food is a priority."

  Her mouth was too full to manage a scowl, but she glared at him, just so he'd know she was still mad at him. He didn't seem overly worried about it, shrugging and eating his package as though he'd been starved for a week.

  "You act like you're the one who just missed a day's worth of meals," she commented.

  He polished off the last bite and then leaned back in his seat. "Weeks of Earth food had me craving something with more flavor."

  She thought he was teasing at first and frowned. "I mean it's good for frozen stuff, but Earth food isn't bad," she protested. Though…she could still taste the dessert on her tongue where it lingered with a subtle sweetness.

  He laughed and shook his head. "Not bad, just a little bit…bland for our taste."

  "Bland? It's not like this was spicy or anything." She waved the flimsy spoon at her plate.

  "Not spicy, no, but—I'm not sure it's something I can explain to you. Some of our senses are enhanced; taste is one of them. The food tastes normal to you, not too far off from what you're used to, but there are levels of flavors and spices there that you can't really distinguish." He'd gotten to his feet in the middle of the explanation, and by the time he was finished speaking, the remnants of their meals and packaging had disappeared into a slot in the wall.

  Very efficient, she thought.

  "This alien thing is going to take some getting used to, Trev. I mean, when I think of aliens, I think of tentacles and—"

  "That would be the Mattlers. Pleasant people, but th
ey don't enjoy space travel much. A problem with vertigo, I believe. Their ships are full of a viscous liquid that helps them keep their center of gravity. Upside is it's disgusting, so no one bothers them."

  She stared, positive he was joking and waiting for the laugh; it never came. "There are actually tentacle aliens?" she said in a soft shocked tone that caught his attention, and he turned back to look at her.

  "There are several sentient races with tentacles; most of them don't travel off their planets. A whole universe just opened up for you, Sam. And you're going to be amazed at what's out there. You're just getting a small preview of what your whole world is about to find out." He held out a hand to her, and after a short hesitation, she took it and let him pull her to her feet. "Come with me; I want to show you something."

  She followed, obedient at least for the moment, as he led her back to the bridge or command center—whatever they called it. He pushed her toward a seat, but she resisted, grumbling about the way he was maneuvering her.

  "You're going to want to sit down, Sam. Trust me on this." He sounded very serious, but she just gave him a stubborn look and crossed her arms over her chest. He waited a minute and then sighed. "Okay, don't blame me then," he said as he leaned over and pressed a button on the control panel.

  The ship around them vanished, and suddenly they were floating in space. She panicked, screamed, and grabbed for her throat seconds before she realized that she could still breath. Her heart felt like it was about to burst, but that was from fear. When she calmed enough to look down, she could tell that they were still standing on a level surface—she just couldn't see it anymore.

  Her eyes flicked toward his, and he was watching her, not with the expected amusement but with a patient, resigned look. "I did warn you."

  Well, he had, but she'd just thought he was being pushy. She didn't realize he was going to make the whole fucking ship vanish! At least he hadn't laughed about it, but it was obvious now that they were in no danger, so she took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She carefully took a step forward, reaching one hand out in front of her until it touched something cool.

  "It's all still there," he assured her. "It's just overlaid with a virtual representation of what's outside." He walked toward her, carefully moving around things he knew were there, and then wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.

  She was tempted to fight it, but the truth was it felt good to be held just then. She felt tiny, insignificant, in the vast expanse of space. It was humbling and scary but, also, incredibly beautiful.

  "Where is Earth?" she asked, craning her head for a glimpse of it.

  "Sorry, it's too late. It's gone now, but—"

  "Gone? She spun around and stared at him. Her first thought was that his people, whoever, or whatever they were, had destroyed her planet. With images of being the only human left alive, she ranted at him, "You monsters! What did you do to my planet?"

  He squinted, mouth opening as he tilted his head, and then like a light dawning, she could see his expression change to one of consternation. He palmed his forehead and sighed. "Samantha, I know this is a lot, but you really need to settle down. This is exactly why everyone was so worried about introducing humans to the rest of the universe." He shook his head. "Earth is fine. I just meant we weren't close enough to see it at this scale. I can shrink it down and point out the tiny dot it would be, but you wouldn't be able to recognize it."

  She rolled her bottom lip under and examined him for signs he was lying. There weren't any. If anything, he seemed tired and exasperated, so she nodded. "Sorry about the 'monster' thing. I'm still a little overwhelmed about everything." The apology was reluctant, but it was sincere. "I wasn't expecting any of this. You never even hinted that your background was this weird."

  "I wasn't allowed to. The laws are strict about tourist passes to Earth. As long as your planet was still in quarantine, no one was allowed to let you know that other races existed." He dropped into the pilot's seat and turned it to face her. It looked very strange since she couldn't see the chair, only him folded into a sitting position.

  "Your seat is behind you if you want to sit," he reminded her.

  Since her legs were shaking from yet another burst of adrenaline, it seemed like a good idea, so she felt around until she found it and then settled down into it with some trepidation.

  "If you reach your left hand down, you'll feel a button. It releases the back so you can lie flat. The view is worth it, but it's up to you."

  At least he'd learned that telling her what to do at the moment wasn't going to fly. Her planet was no longer in sight, but there were others and billions of stars. It was beautiful, really, and she let out a soft gasp of wonder as she stared out into space for several long minutes. It was slightly dizzying. She could feel the ship moving around her, but without the walls, she found herself clutching the arms of her seat against the feeling of floating.

  "I-I think I've had enough now," she said when the vertigo started to make her sick to her stomach.

  He leaned forward, ran the palm of his hand over the console, and suddenly the stars vanished, and the ship's hull encircled them again. "Better?"

  She let out a sigh of relief and returned the seat to an upright position. "Yes, thanks. That was something else," she said.

  "So are you. Must you always be this stubborn about everything?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched her.

  "Yes, sorry. I can't help it, especially when I'm kidnapped by aliens, who don't even have tentacles, and get dragged who knows where in outer space." Her mouth quirked at one corner and she allowed a breathy laugh to escape so he knew she wasn't serious, at least not entirely.

  "I didn't kidnap you. You agreed to come, and I wasn't specific about where so you can't even say I lied. I am sorry about the tentacles, though. I didn't know you had a preference in aliens. If you want, I can try to arrange for you to meet one of the Mattlers. They've got some strange sexual habits, though, so I'm not sure you'd like them much."

  She stared at him, about to tell him off when she caught the slightest hint of a suppressed grin and then she snorted. "You're not as funny as you think you are, and I think I'll just stick with you, for now."

  "Will you?" He asked the question in a soft, almost urgent tone, and she realized he'd taken it to a serious place.

  "Not like I have a lot of choice at this point. I don't think you'd take me back if I asked you to, would you?" She already knew the answer, of course. He wouldn't have kept it all secret until they took off if he intended to bring her right back home.

  "No. Not now, at least. Eventually, I could probably work something out, but I'd be happier if you didn't want to go back. Everything I said is true, and how many people on your planet get a chance to live out in space?"

  She'd avoided looking at him until then, but now she spun her seat around to face him. "If you want me to stay, then it's time to tell me everything. No more secrets, Trev. I mean it!" She pointed a finger at him and shook it "Any more hiding stuff, and—" She stopped when she realized she didn't actually have a valid threat on tap.

  She fumbled around for something suitable as the silence stretched and his eyebrow went up as if daring her to come up with a good one. "And I'll—I'll refuse to make any sounds when we play or have sex. Not one moan or whimper!" And then she crossed her arms and sat back, looking pleased. He loved to hear her when she was needy, and he already knew she could take anything he gave her silently when she wanted to. It was a weak threat, but valid.

  "So, we are going to continue playing and having sex is what you're saying." He leaned forward with a wicked grin spreading across his lips, and the next thing she knew, he'd pulled her out of her chair and placed her in his lap. He pretended to ignore the way she slapped at him, but his arms coincidentally wrapped around her at just the right place to pin hers down.

  "Ugh, stupid alien," she grumbled without much heat. Truthfully, it felt good to be in his arms, and she relaxed ba
ck against him with a sigh of exasperation. Her body seemed to melt against his without any control at all.

  Staying mad at him now was probably pointless. It was done, and she couldn't really say she hadn't agreed to it. She'd known he was holding things back; he'd admitted as much, and she'd still gone along with him. It could have been worse, she supposed, this was better than a serial killer or some weird Rustic cult. This was at least an adventure.

  And she still loved him, alien or not.

  "Okay, start talking. I want it all," she said pointedly, after she'd indulged in a little snuggling and he'd loosened his grip so they could both get comfortable in the pilot's chair. Since her arms were free again, she also poked him hard in the side for good measure. "Talk."

  He tilted her head back, so she was staring right into his face. He seemed nervous and she cringed a little inside wondering what he was about to reveal. "The first thing you need to know is that I don't actually look like this. We wear disguises on Earth, so we don't scare the natives."

  "I—okay. But you're sure there aren't tentacles, right?" He laughed and her eyes narrowed. She couldn't believe he was telling the truth. She'd seen him naked—completely naked—and she wasn't sure how a disguise could work like that. "Scales? A tail? Horns? Please tell me there isn't slime. I don't think I can handle slime," she said with a dramatic shudder.

  He snorted, "You're not taking this seriously!" It was an accusation, but a playful one, and he tapped the tip of her nose with one finger. "It happens to be true. This is not me, well, not all of it," he said, correcting himself.

  "I don't understand, Trev. I've seen you completely naked."

  "It's basically a hologram overlay, like the stars I just showed you, but it covers my body. Useful, but limited, since it doesn't affect what you can feel, so only humanoid aliens have been allowed to visit your planet during the quarantine. It would be too strange if someone bumped into you and felt tentacles…" He paused, smirking at her. "…that they couldn't see. It can change the height a little, small body shape changes, just nothing too drastic."