The guard deliberately slowed his pace as the noise increased. “An additional prize for the freedom contest,” he announced. “I almost wish I were entering so I could get my hands on this one.”
He stopped in a central hallway where multiple corridors came together and pulled her chained hands up over her head until she was on tiptoe, putting her body on full display.
“Take a good look. No natural defenses, just soft flesh and a tight cunt.”
There was a roar of approval, and she saw more than one of the caged aliens gripping their cocks. These, too, varied, but they all looked either disgusting or painful. Terror shot through her system, but she refused to let it show, lifting her chin defiantly.
“I’m not as defenseless as you think.”
Another roar, mixed with some mocking laughter, and the guard shook his head as he let her arms drop and they resumed their journey. A stream of blue semen shot past her, and she watched in horror as it foamed when it met the stone floor.
“You shouldn’t challenge them,” the guard said. “They’re all bred to fight, and the idea of defeating a female only makes them harder.”
“I’m a fighter too,” she hissed.
He looked at her, his gaze lingering on her bruises, and she could have sworn a brief flash of sympathy crossed his face. “How’s that working out for you?”
Not waiting for a reply, he continued to lead her up the corridor, and she tried not to reveal how much his words stung. Fighting hadn’t helped her at all so far—it had only resulted in more abuse—but what alternative did she have? She couldn’t give in to these monsters.
When she had woken up on an alien spaceship, she had been too shocked to immediately recognize just how much her situation had changed. Even though she had never seen anything like the creatures surrounding her, she had convinced herself that it had to be some kind of movie set.
Had someone drugged her? Her clothes were missing, and her head ached. A small cage surrounded her, one of a line of cages that curved away in both directions, and she had to fight back a wave of claustrophobia. Getting out of it was first on her list. When she couldn’t find a lock, she tried wrestling with the bars, but the metal felt disturbingly sturdy, and the bars didn’t budge.
“Let me out of here!”
Her voice echoed down the long, curving corridor and caused an uproar from the surrounding cages. A cacophony of growls and shrieks erupted, mingled with a few voices telling her to shut up.
She ignored them all. When no one appeared to answer her call, she grabbed the two metal bowls attached to the front of the cage and began banging them together. The noise escalated again, and this time, there was a response.
A tall blue figure strode up the corridor, jabbing a stick into the cages he passed—a stick that sizzled when it connected and was followed by cries of pain. As he drew closer, her certainty that this was some type of elaborate hoax faltered. Red eyes gleamed from a dark-blue face with a crest of dark hair running back over his scalp. While those could have been explained by makeup, his proportions were subtly wrong—his arms too long and his legs too short. He wore a tattered black uniform with a vaguely military look, but it didn’t hide his obvious strength.
“You will be quiet,” he growled.
She had never responded well to orders. “I will do no such thing. Where the hell are my clothes? Let me out of here right now. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I’m going home.”
“Home?” He laughed, revealing a mouth full of pointed yellow teeth that looked all too real. “Your system is three days behind us.”
“No! You’re lying to me.” Her mind whirled dizzily. Could it be true? She took another look around, studying the strange variety of lifeforms surrounding her, the dirty floor of the corridor, even the male standing in front of her. She wanted to believe that he was lying, but part of her mind was screaming. He stepped closer to the bars, and the smell of him washed over her—as rank as roadkill lying on the side of the road for a week in the Texas sun, but with a strange metallic undertone like nothing she had ever experienced before. And that was what convinced her. Her stomach churned as she realized that this was real, that she was on an alien ship, that she was a slave on an alien ship. Three days of bile gathered at the back of her throat, and then she vomited, straight into the alien’s face.
He roared, and a moment later the stick came through the bars, jabbing into her stomach and sending her crumpling to the ground as the world went dark.
When she woke, some indefinite time later, she was sprawled on the floor of her cage and nothing had changed. Her stomach throbbed and her head ached as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Her throat was dry, and her mouth tasted like a barroom floor. She looked desperately for the bowls that had been fastened to the front of the cage, but they were on the floor, empty.
How had she ended up on a fucking spaceship? The last thing she remembered was walking back to her apartment after her last shift at the diner. She had taken a shortcut through the park, anxious to get home and complete her law school assignment for the next day. The park had been dark and deserted, as it always was at that hour, but she lived in a quiet little college town, and she had never been worried before. Still, while she had mentally reviewed legal precedents, she kept her hand on the illegal can of Mace that her boss at the diner had given her. That was the last thing she remembered. Or was it? She suddenly remembered hearing a faint noise, too vague to be a footstep, and catching a whiff of something unpleasant. The alien, she decided now.
A whine came from the cage next to her, and she glanced over to find a small lizard-like creature looking up at her with enormous golden eyes.
“Hello there,” she said cautiously. “I bet you don’t want to be here any more than I do.”
“Then you shouldn’t have let yourself get captured by the Derians.” The gruff voice came from the cell on the other side of the lizard creature.
A small gnome-like male was staring back at her. Like the lizard, his skin was covered with scales, but he had a thin fringe of white hair. Bulbous green eyes studied her from under bushy white brows.
“I can understand you.” Just as she’d been able to understand the guard, she suddenly realized.
He snorted. “Fucking Derians give everyone translators. They wanna make sure we know how high to jump at their command.”
“A Derian? Was that what he was?”
“Yeah. That one is named Muu. You’re lucky it was him you spilled your guts on. Asgii would’ve done a lot worse than put you to sleep.”
“Put me to sleep? He shocked me with a damn cattle prod.”
The male shrugged. “Could’ve been worse.”
She shivered and raised a hand to her aching head before she remembered that she was completely naked. A faint warmth rose to her cheeks as she dropped her arm to cover her breasts.
The male snorted again. “Don’t need to worry about me, girlie. You’re not my type.”
“Sorry. I’m Izzie. Who are you?”
“Name’s Rummel. But don’t go chattering on now. I intend to sleep while I can. Won’t be no fucking sleep once they sell me.”
“Why not?”
He was already turning away, but he hesitated and looked back at her. “Destined for the mines, I am. Be lucky to make it a fucking year.”
Her heart skipped a beat, but she lifted her chin. “I’m not afraid of hard work.”
He shook his head. “No mines for you, girlie. That soft flesh might not appeal to me, but there’re plenty out there that are going to be willing to pay for a taste.”
Without another word, he turned his back on her and curled up on the floor. The lizard creature whined again, poking its nose against the bars, and she petted his head. He made an odd, almost purring noise, and she continued to stroke him as her mind went over Rummel’s words. Since she was naked and caged, her potential fate was horribly clear. But if they thought she was going to just accept her fate, they were wrong. She had n
ever backed down from anything in her life, and she wasn’t about to start now. She would fight.
Unfortunately, fighting hadn’t saved her.
The guard stopped in front of an empty cell, drawing her attention back to the present. He opened the door and pulled her inside by her chains. Before she had a chance to react, he stepped out again and closed the door behind him with a resounding clang.
“Put your hands through the bars and I’ll unlock the cuffs,” he said.
She didn’t want to obey any of their orders, but it would be stupid to fight this one, since she really didn’t want her hands chained together. Silently, she extended them through the bars. As soon as he unlocked the cuffs so that she could move freely, he grabbed one of her hands before she could pull it back inside the cell.
She expected him to yank the rest of her body up against the bars, but all he did was stroke her hand curiously.
“So soft. Shame there’s a claim on you. I was looking forward to trying you out myself.”
“Never,” she snarled.
“How would you have stopped me?” The question wasn’t even threatening, just mildly curious.
She didn’t answer him, and he shook his head. He raised her hand to his mouth, and she braced, already expecting pain, but all he did was extend a long, thin tongue and swipe it across her palm. She shuddered, and he laughed.
“Oh, you’re going to be wasted on him.”
He finally dropped her hand, and she retreated back into the cell, trying not to let her despair show on her face. He was right, of course—she couldn’t have stopped him—but she would have had to try. She had lost everything else; all that was left was her pride.
Chapter Three
Three days later, Izzie shivered despite the hot sun beating down on her as she was led out into a vast arena. The sand beneath her bare feet burned, but she refused to show any sign of discomfort. It was hard enough to keep her head high knowing that she was being paraded around like a prize animal. At least she was dressed—well, to a certain extent. The brief white garment was both sheer and open up the sides, but it was the most clothing she had worn since she had been taken.
Stone seats surrounded the arena, oddly reminiscent of the Roman Colosseum but on a much larger scale. Of course, the Colosseum wouldn’t have had enormous screens on either end or a fleet of hovering drones. The mixture of primitive setting and advanced technology would have intrigued her under other circumstances, but she was too terrified to care about it now.
The past three days had been almost peaceful. True, she had been confined in a cell with few comforts and no privacy, but it was larger than the cage had been, and more importantly, no one else had entered the space. She had done her best to ignore the constant ribald comments, leers, and masturbatory sessions from the surrounding cells.
Instead, she found herself thinking about the white-furred alien with surprising frequency. He might look like a more attractive version of the abominable snowman, but he had spoken intelligently, he hadn’t grabbed her, and he had ordered everyone to leave her alone. An order that had been obeyed. The same guard brought her food twice a day, surprisingly good food, and made no further attempt to touch her.
Until this morning. He told her to extend her hands to have them cuffed together once more, and when she refused, he raised a shock stick.
“I don’t want to use this, but I will. You are attending the games today.”
She glared at him, but in the end, common sense won out. No matter how unpleasant her fate, she would rather be conscious this time. Her common sense didn’t prevent her from attempting to kick him in the balls when he entered her cell to attach a chain to her cuffs. Unfortunately, all she did was stub her toes against the very hard surface.
“My cock is safely tucked away behind my carapace,” he said cheerfully, then yanked her closer. “Unless you want me to bring it out to play?”
“Not if you were the last male alive,” she snarled.
“You might just change your mind after Baralt gets ahold of you.” He shook his head in mock sympathy. “He gutted a male with a single swipe of his claws in his last fight.”
“Baralt?” The question emerged before she could call it back.
“The male responsible for your current undamaged condition. The one who plans to win you today.” He shook his head again, and this time, his sympathy didn’t seem quite as false. “He’s a scary motherfucker. And the concubines say he’s got a dick the size of my arm.”
He held up his thick, heavily muscled forearm, covered with red-and-gold scales, and she barely suppressed a wince. Remembering the size of the big white-furred alien, she found it all too easy to believe. Had his apparent kindness simply been an act?
“He might not win,” she said defiantly.
“You better hope he does. Goolig won the first day, and he killed his prize female. At least Hvach’s prize will live—even if she wishes she hadn’t survived. Only fit for the bait slaves now.”
As he talked, he led her down the corridor to the usual accompaniment of excited voices. She snuck a quick look under her eyelashes at the occupants of the cells and shuddered as she wondered if any of them were Hvach or Goolig. On the whole, she would rather be dead than some useless vessel passed from slave to slave. The thought only renewed her resolution to fight whoever won. Enraging them to the point where they killed her seemed like her most viable option.
She was still turning over that depressing possibility when the guard delivered her into the hands of a massive caterpillar-like alien. His skin gleamed with scented oil, and he rubbed four pairs of tiny hands together happily at the sight of her.
“Most promising. A very pleasant change from some of those dreary Tarrigs.”
The guard passed the chain to him.
“Watch out for her,” he warned.
The other male tittered. “I didn’t become Master of the Harem by letting a female get the better of me.”
Izzie stood as docilely as possible until the guard was out of sight, turning over possibilities in her head. Could she find her way back to the spaceport? She had done her best to keep track of the corridors through which she had been marched. The noise that always greeted her appearance might be a problem, but it was a fight day, and the halls were already alive with noise.
“Come along now, girl. I am Master Napunsa, and you will do as I say.” He turned on his dozen little back legs as he spoke.
Wrapping the chain unobtrusively around her wrists, she grabbed it with both hands and yanked as hard as possible. Unfortunately, Master Napunsa’s tiny hands were stronger than they looked. Neither he nor the chain budged in the slightest.
“Tut-tut,” he said disapprovingly. “If you were not to be displayed today, I would punish you for that.”
He leaned closer, his perfume overwhelming her. “But you will be back in my power soon enough. Do not test me again.”
Despite the threat, she had made two more attempts to escape while she was being bathed, oiled, and groomed. She hated every moment of it and did her best to fight, but the harem staff simply used her cuffs to hold her in place whenever she attempted to resist.
After a muttered consultation, they even removed every scrap of hair on her body except for her head, leaving her feeling even more naked than before.
“Should we pierce her?” Tugtai, the female overseeing the process, asked nervously.
“Hell no, you shouldn’t,” Izzie said immediately, but Tugtai ignored her, focusing on Master Napunsa’s face.
“No, I think not,” he said finally, and Izzie breathed out a silent sigh of relief. “If she lives through the week with the winner, I will ask Relkhei for his preference. He has expressed an interest in this one.”
He chuckled and turned away, and once again she had to bite back the rising sense of terror. A week? With one of the vicious aliens from the cells? The thought of Baralt flashed through her mind. Despite the intimidating picture the guard had painted, Baralt seemed
to be the least of the evils surrounding her.
She choked back a hysterical laugh at the idea that she was actually hoping to be won by a yeti, but she found herself thinking about him more and more frequently as the final preparations were completed.
She had even looked for him as she’d been led out into the arena, but the sands were vacant.
The hot, dry air swirled around her skin in a heated wave. Looking up, she saw three small white suns and had a sudden dizzying sense of unreality. As if all the other things that had happened to her had not been enough, that glimpse of an undisputedly alien sky felt like the final blow. She was never going back to Earth. She was never going back to the small apartment that she had tried so desperately to make into a home. Despair threatened to overwhelm her, but as she had done many times before, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. Even if she never made it back to Earth, she would never accept being a slave.
The guards accompanying her led her all the way around the arena so that the crowd could get a good look. Despite her burning feet and the sweat trickling down her body, drying as soon as the arid air touched it, she kept her head high and refused to look at them.
As they neared the tunnels, the guards led her up onto a high platform and separated her cuffs, lifting her arms high and wide to fasten them to two upright posts. Her feet were likewise fastened to the posts so her body formed an X.
“Honored guests. Welcome to the last day of the death games!”
The smooth voice of the announcer was greeted by a roar of approval from the crowd.
“For our first match, Hvach and Goolig will compete for the chance to take on Baralt the Exterminator! This will be a rare treat, since the Exterminator usually leaves his victims alive—if not in one piece.” A chuckle from the announcer and more approval from the crowd.
“With no further ado, please welcome Hvach and Goolig.”
Izzie watched in horror as an alien emerged from a tunnel at each end of the arena, striding toward each other and coming to a halt in front of her platform as the announcer introduced them.
Izzie and the Icebeast: A Scifi Alien Romance (Alien Abduction Book 9) Page 2
