Taken by Tryon Scavenger

by Alyx X

  I tensed my muscles to hold in my shudder at the thought of being sold as a sex slave. He’d spoken about training. Training to fuck. Apparently he intended to be my trainer, all so I proved more valuable to whoever he was taking me to.

  Maybe I could work with that. Maybe I didn’t have to die to escape this situation, necessarily. No training, no value. I had to think in different ways, now. I wasn’t hunting. I had to turn my situation around and focus on my survival.

  Father taught me—no, he trained me—for situations like these. For a while, he’d lived in fear of my solo hunting missions, like I might be plucked from the desert and taken away by the TerraLink Program. So he gave me instructions on what to do to survive.

  I glanced around again and barked out another laugh. He probably hadn’t guessed that a rogue trafficker would be the one who’d take me, and I hadn’t guessed on being taken at all.

  That was the only moment I had allowed myself for self-pity. I didn’t have time for it—not if I was going to escape before he tried the training he’d mentioned. My stomach rolled right over.

  I returned my attention to working my wrist loose from the chains. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I gouged the metal into my skin until it tore, splitting open and sending blood seeping around the edges of the cuff, trickling down my hand as I hung it low. I continued to twist my arm, every movement sending a fresh trail of blood down my hand to drip from my fingers where I hung them over the dusty floor. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind me redecorating a little, adding this small touch of my own. The pain had stopped now, but the echo of it still burned like fire up my arm, and I gritted my teeth, my jaw tense.

  If I carried on, my wrist would be slick enough that maybe I could just ease it out from the cuff. Once I’d gotten myself free, it would be a simple matter of subduing the alien and working out how to get myself home. This was just one challenge of the many I’d faced and beaten leading my tribe, and I could return home to them having won another.

  As if I’d conjured him just by thinking about him, the door to the dank room that was my prison slid open. The air in here smelled of old things, musty things, dead things. I didn’t want to be another dead thing. I glared at him to show him exactly how I felt about him.

  He carried another glass of water in one hand, and again it was teeming with the slippery creatures that made me gag just thinking about them. They coated the surface of the water with an oil that shimmered every color Father had ever taught me, and some I’d never seen, though none of the browns of Earth.

  I snarled and spat in his direction. The bastard. He needed to stay away from me.

  He grinned at me. “Still have your spirit, I see. Good…good.” His voice dropped to a murmur. “I knew you had spirit.”

  As he spoke, the muscles in his chest rippled, most likely reacting to a change in temperature down here, and the deep green lettering across his skin shimmered in the lights that still flashed on the walls.

  He bent to set the glass he carried on the metal floor, but he glanced at the glass already there, well within my reach, and stopped. He lifted it and held both glasses as he returned his gaze to me and lifted an eyebrow.

  I laughed, loudly and deliberately. “I would rather die than comply with whatever you have planned. Besides, that’s disgusting.”

  He stepped closer. Once. Twice. He stopped just outside my reach, but his stance said he thought he was still in control. Then he put the drinks on the floor to the side of me.

  When he spoke, his voice was low and measured. “I could have trained you before now. I’ve been here day after day, ready to bend you to my will, to your new master’s fucking will. Break you, if that was what it took. But each day, I relented. Each day I decided to give you a little more time to heal.” He rocked on his heels—the same way I did when sizing up my newest hunters, and I squared my shoulders against being judged. Nothing this alien said could hurt me.

  “You will obey me.” He nodded like he already knew the answer and it was the right one. “You’ll cower before me in due time. You’ll submit to your future master. I’ll make you. I’ll train you to please him.” He shifted, widening his stance and clasping his hands behind his back. “We’re going to train now, and you’ll be more obedient this time.”

  I said nothing. He didn’t deserve the satisfaction of a response. Instead, I slowly worked my hand in the cuff.

  “Kneel,” he instructed. Then he chuckled. “Oh, I see you already are. Listen up. Your new master will not be an easy man to please, so these are the things he wishes from you. Complete submissiveness. You do not look at him, you do not speak to him unless he instructs those things. You will wear a collar, and you will bow to him to demonstrate your respect.” He began to pace, looking like a general commanding his troops. I had to choke down a laugh at that image, so normal compared to what was actually happening here. “And he wants you ready for him at all times, regardless of your own desires. You will suck his cock and take it in your pussy or ass, whenever he commands it.”

  My eyes widened, despite my attempt to keep my reactions under control. I didn’t have much right now except what I chose to keep hidden. Though, the idea of becoming completely submissive to some prick alien was almost laughable. I’d never bowed to anyone besides my father, and I wasn’t about to start doing so now. Especially not to someone who had paid to own me.

  “Fucking bastard,” I hissed as I swung out toward him, reminding him that if he planned to get me to submit, he had a lot of work ahead of him. Some might even say an impossible amount of work.

  My hands gripped the chains, disguising the way they cut into my wrists, and I tore open the wounds that were already starting to clot. Fresh blood slicked my hands.

  “I will never submit.” The more I spoke, the more attention I kept on my face and away from the hand about to slide loose from the cuff connecting me to this wall.

  “Oh, you will. We’ll start easy. Let’s see how good you can do this.” He stopped right in front of me. “Show me your tits. Stick out your chest.”

  I hesitated and gave my hand a tentative tug, but it wasn’t quite there yet. I still needed to distract him, so I heaved a big breath and stood proud. Nudity was not something I’d ever been embarrassed about. Not when I’d grown up among my tribe, where the opportunity to bathe had been scarce, forcing the entire tribe to bathe together whenever we found a small amount of water. Besides, the most important thing was keeping this bastard’s attention away from my escape plans. Swallowing my pride, I did what was necessary.

  The last of the white sheet that had clung to one shoulder slipped away, and I stood naked before him as the fabric pooled completely on the floor. I kicked it aside—I didn’t want any drops of red blood alerting him to my wrist.

  He swallowed as he glanced at my body, then he met my defiant gaze. I deliberately kept it empty, and he quickly swept away any hesitation I might have glimpsed in his gaze, replacing it with a twisted smile that crept up his cheeks. “See, I knew you could do it.”

  I tensed against a shudder. Just that smile left me needing a shower, and it strengthened my resolve to escape. That was step one. Step two was wiping that creepy smile from his face with my bare hands.

  “Good girl,” he murmured. From the look on his face, it was clear I’d convinced him it was going to be a good day. He backed up a little and crouched down. “Spread your legs.” He nodded at my clenched thighs. “Show me that pussy.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “My pussy?” I questioned, like I hadn’t heard right or didn’t understand.

  While I could do a lot to survive, this I didn’t want to do. Standing bare before him was enough for now. I tugged my wrist again, only just holding in a wince as it refused to budge and carved a new slice instead. I glared at him, defiant. No. He wouldn’t get to lay those creepy eyes between my legs.

  I almost relaxed at my own confidence. He couldn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to do.

  Suddenly, red-hot fire shot
through me, jolting my bones, and my back arched against the pain as my muscles protested. What the fucking hell?

  I shrieked and slumped over as the electricity subsided, barely hanging from my chains now and drawing huge breaths as my body seemed to fight for air. My heart thundered in my chest, and I could hear it in my ears. I looked up at the alien, panting and shaking slightly. What had he done to me? The bastard just chuckled, the sound forced in a way it hadn’t been before.

  I used my weight against the chains to force myself back up, pushing against them and gritting my teeth before I bared them at him, hissing my breaths in and out. “No.”

  He just smiled again as he drew a black box from his pocket and fiddled with a button on the side of it. “What you just felt was an electric shock, administered by me. It’s a training device for when you don’t comply with my commands. You don’t get to tell me no, warrior.” He nodded at my thighs again. “Now show me your pussy.”

  My temper flared, and I snarled, snapping my teeth as I lunged at him, swinging forward on the chains again. “I’ll never comply with your sick requests.”

  The hot pain shot through me again, and I tensed against the bone rattling electricity. I didn’t want to show him he could hurt me, but my whimper quickly evolved into a shriek. I’d been through a lot in my difficult life, but this was not something I had ever anticipated. Being electrocuted by an alien for sexual training hurt my pride almost as much as it hurt my body. I was ashamed at my weakness, but I was ready this time, and at least didn’t slump over. I remained strong, defiant.

  “You fucker,” I taunted him. “You fucker. Carry on, do that as much as you want. Cook me for all I care.” I could almost smell it burning me. If he kept this up I’d be little more than chidder meat. “See what your rich client thinks of you then.” I lowered my voice, growling out my threat. “It’s only giving me more of a reason to rip your cock and balls from your body.”

  “Show. Me. Your. Pussy.” His words were quiet, each one a command. Thinking for a moment, I realized maybe I was looking at this the wrong way. I needed to further swallow my pride and give the disgusting man what he wanted, if only in the name of survival. If I could fake my way through this ‘training’ maybe I would get the opportunity to kill the bastard and escape. I slowly spread my legs, giving him what he wanted, although I glared at him the whole time.

  Working with my new plan of faked compliance, I decided to go for seductive. I had to try “Do you like that?” I almost whispered, aiming for sultry. “Do you like what you see?” I swept my tongue across my lips. “What would you like to do to me?” I murmured, opening my legs a little wider.

  Weirdly, he skittered back, the movement quick like an insect. Huh. Anyone watching would have thought he was uncomfortable with this. If that was true, if this green bastard was inexperienced with dominating a woman as he so clearly wanted me to believe, then this might be easier than I thought.

  “Don’t you want to have a look?” I crooned this time. “You wouldn’t want to displease your client, come make sure I’m everything he’s paid for.”

  He swallowed, but moved back toward me, coming closer than he’d crouched before. I spread my legs about as far as they would go and arched my tits toward him, the movement disguising my hand still slick against the metal. Another drop of blood hit the floor, but I spoke to the alien again, distracting him.

  “Do I look like your kind, or are your women different? Do you like it? Do you like my pussy?” I kept my voice soft, persuading him to keep his focus between my legs. “Maybe my new master will like it?” I watched his enraptured face, careful to keep my voice simpering. He swallowed, his hand twitching, like he wanted to reach out and touch me. Feeling the looseness of my chains, the slick blood allowing me to gently slide my wrist free, my voice hardened. “Maybe he’ll like it when I bite his cock off, too!”

  I jerked my hand loose from the cuff, balled it up into a tight fist, and threw all of my weight behind a punch to land squarely on his jaw. I hit hard, and he jerked back. My other hand was still restrained so I couldn’t slip it loose, but I reached for the water with the greasy grubs in it and threw it at him. With the added reach of my free hand I was able to swing my legs out, aiming for his balls. The chains binding me snapped at my movement, keeping me just out of his reach. I changed tactics as he scrambled, reaching toward him, searching for additional momentum and strength before launching myself in his direction again.

  He jumped to his feet and rubbed at his jaw as he balled his fingers into a fist much larger than mine and pulled his arm back like he’d return my punch. I flinched, to my dismay, and pulled as far away from him as I could. His stance had evoked a memory of the time Jordah had hit me out in the desert, beating me with all his strength after I’d displeased him. The alien hesitated, and I watched doubt and fear play across his features as he examined his closed fist.

  “Hit me, then,” I screamed as I stood up, recovering my strength. I was ashamed of myself, not wanting to appear weak before this man. “Hit me. If you’re willing to torture me, you might as well beat me too. Or are you a coward, hiding behind your little electric box? If you plan to force me to become a slave, you will have to do much more than threaten me.” I breathed heavily as I finished shouting at him, sucking in great big pants of the stale-tasting air.

  He threw his head back and yelled wordlessly at the ceiling like the feral monster he was, then strode to the door and left, not even bothering to reattach the restraint I’d slipped loose from.

  I sagged to the floor, pulling the dusty sheet back over my body and chuckling a little in victory and disbelief as his shouts and yells faded away deeper into the ship.

  If the elders had witnessed that exchange, they’d definitely declare me the winner. Plus, I’d discovered a weakness. I could play with his mind all I liked—he didn’t have the strength or maybe the wits to deal with a woman like me. He could be pushed to lose control, and he didn’t actually want to hurt me. That was valuable information. I was worth too much to him to deliver damaged and broken.

  Despite everything else about my situation, I breathed out a sigh of satisfaction. No matter the speed we were travelling through space, I was one step closer to going home. One step closer to proving just how strong I was. To myself, and to my people. This was one alien I could handle, and I almost smiled at the challenge.

  As I relaxed, my stomach rumbled. Fuck it. I grabbed a slimy creature as it slid slowly across the floor and popped it into my mouth. Then I swallowed it without chewing, claiming a second victory for my day.

  8

  Lyx

  Huffing my impatience at myself, I doubled my thin pillow under my head. I could feel every grain of dust under my thin mattress on the floor of my room. I’d sold my bed frame for scrap metal when I first started running into financial trouble, and I’d always assumed I’d buy a new one when things got better, but they hadn’t. Well, at least until the human attached to the wall in my small cargo hold. She was about to make things better—a whole lot better. If I can just keep her under control.

  I kept my eyes open, staring out into the back space that used to be my room. I used to see the shapes and shadows created by my furniture, but my bed had been the last thing I sold. Before that, I’d sold everything I could possibly part with, and now I just had a box with my spare clothes in it and my mattress. The rest of the ship didn’t look much different. Everywhere I walked on board, I saw the marks where shelves had stood or where I’d ripped ornamental metal work from walls, leaving behind only rivet holes, rust stains, and scars across the metal.

  It had been a very low point when I realized I could make more money pillaging my own ship than I could scrap running. Anything from a dead or dying planet seemed to hold value to the galaxy’s collectors, and my stuff had probably fetched huge amounts at black market auctions after I sold it.

  Salvaging from planets already under such strain and profiting from their desperation and misery was officia
lly frowned upon, but I had no doubt it wasn’t that far removed from what TerraLink was doing. They were probably already scraping high value items and the things collectors would pay big for. Perhaps they also ran their own auctions. It was something I wouldn’t have put past them. Although, if they were happy to trade in actual lives, maybe inanimate objects was a step down for them. I cringed at my own hypocrisy.

  I bundled my pillow again, looking for a cool spot to rest my cheek against. Thinking of the TerraLink Program brought a fresh wave of doubt over my own behavior. I had an actual human—the ultimate souvenir from the dying planet Earth—in my cargo hold, and I was treating her like I would any souvenir. I was treating her like the fixtures and fittings of my ship. Shame washed through me at the thought.

  Maybe I could have held on a little longer and not gone down this path. Something else might have come along—it usually did, after all. If I’d just waited a couple of days before making the deal with Satyan, I might have run into a fleet of ships to scavenge from like Dad did that one time. He’d told me it was a once in a lifetime find, but really? In a space so vast as the galaxy?

  I shook my head. I could have waited. I should have waited. Hell, I should have explored all the other options. There wasn’t only the humans or their possessions, there were mineral deposits under the crust, too. Still, if galactic surveys were to be believed, only TerraLink held those mining rights. Apparently I didn’t have a whole lot of respect for TerraLink rights, so I didn’t care about that.

  I’d even heard the planet had some of the last deposits of steel left in the galaxy. Because, again, dying planets always had the most sought-after things. They had the best things.