by Liz Paffel
Distrust clearly lined her words. She said them cautiously as if afraid she might set off his anger… or his answer would be worse than his fists. He hadn’t spoken a word about his intentions to anyone besides his father. The need to reveal it now pulsed inside him, as if saying it out loud made it less of a crime.
“Are you asking because of your fear of me, or because you are truly curious?”
“I won’t lie. Both.”
“My father is in trouble. I’m trying to help him.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“He’s to be executed… in a manner of speaking. I can’t let that happen.”
A quiet alarm began to chime from his hand-held scanner. Life forms detected. Ten meters. Nine. Eight.
“Identify lifeforms.”
“Meshuuk confirmed.”
Seven.... Six.
“What do we do?”
Hahn reached behind the seats for the Faze 2 and pushed the power button. The compact square fit in the palm of his hand, but once he activated it, it would generate enough electricity to shock any life form within twenty meters of the Threv without affecting the craft’s anti-surge system.
“Get down behind the seats.” He thrust a handheld blaster at her. “Just aim and pull the trigger. The laser will do the rest.”
Hahn pulled himself up to the top hatch in the ceiling, cracking it enough that he could do a pull up and peer through. The Meshuuks came in a tight group, their shuffling feet kicking up sand. The illuminated sky created a dusky hue, clear enough that Hahn could see their gnarled faces and beefy hands. Pulling the activation pin halfway with one finger, he inched the hatch open a little more.
“She will die by our hand or yours, if you don’t appear. Weapons down.”
Hahn’s heart slammed against his chest.
They held the brown-haired female by the hair. Her feet were dangling slightly off the ground as she kicked and flailed, her fingers digging into her captor’s hand where he held her.
“Blume!” Sasha burst from below. Hahn jumped down too late. Sasha threw open the side door and held the gun in both hands, laser beam pointed at the Meshuuk who held the female. “Let her go.”
“He will vaporize us, Sash. Put it down.”
“Shit.”
The giant beast laughed. “Your woman listens well. How many beatings to train her?”
Hahn ground his jaw. The Meshuuk raised a blaster.
“Where is our prize, eh? Is this her?” He waved his weapon in Sasha’s direction. “The stupid Lork neglected to take the valuables before this planet caves in on itself. Now they’ll pay a fee to get them back.”
No wonder they’d left so fast. All the tremors and the instability on the scans. This place was in big trouble. Let the planet cave. No way were these beasts taking Sasha.
“She is my prize. I have claimed her.” Hahn took Sasha by the forearm. Ignoring her look of shock, he tugged her forward and tossed her gently onto the sand. Stepping up behind her, he righted her and whispered in her ear. “I am sorry.”
“You are in no position to claim anything.”
Hahn activated a ball light and tossed it on the ground. The area around them lit up like daylight. He grinned as the Meshuuks gave him a once over, their eyes glowing with their good luck. An Axxeon warrior by himself was a good find. They made tough slaves and even tougher fighters.
“You’re scavengers looking for trade or ransom, correct?”
The lead Meshuuk snorted, but it was all the answer Hahn needed.
“You already know you can sell or ransom me for bountiful credits. But there’s one thing you don’t know.”
“What is that?”
“The females inside the compound are not to be harmed.” He gestured to Sasha. “My prize remains mine. Where I go, she goes. All of the women go with me.”
A roar of laughter filled the air. “You are in no position to make demands, Axxeon.”
“Oh, I am.” He pulled up his left sleeve, revealing the insignia tattoo over his bicep. “I am prince Hahn, the son of King Metetto. I am worth a fortune in credits. And you’ll get it as long as you do as I say.”
Sasha’s mouth hung open, the blaster hanging limp from her finger. She searched his face, but he refused to look at her.
“Is that true?” Her soft whisper was loud in his ears.
“It is.”
The Meshuuk thrust the Blume at Sasha’s feet. They quickly grabbed each other.
Hahn moved to stand in front of them as the beast ignited a flash. He blinked, his vision turning white, then dull… then blank. Sasha’s scream sounded far away as he collapsed.
Chapter Ten
Her clothes were gone.
Sasha sat up in a panic, hands going to her bare breasts and down her belly. She was completely naked!
“Ah, good. You’re awake.”
The oily feeling of bad deJa’vu slid over her. Her breaths came hard and thin, her pulse dangerously jacked.
You’re awake. Good. I didn’t kill you after all.
With a gasp, she spun to try and locate the familiar male voice.
“Put this on.”
Sasha’s gaze flew to the unfamiliar female voice. Her forehead scrunched to find a human woman looking down at her. Tall and full in the hip, with wide blue eyes and blonde hair pulled back beneath a shimmery pink scarf. She held out a robe of some sort. Sasha snatched it and held it to her chest.
“Where am I?”
“That is a common question to which I am allowed to give a cursory answer. Attempts to inquire for further information will be ignored.” The blonde tipped her head and smiled. She blinked. Could she be any more Stepford wife?
“Okay,” Sasha said. “So, where am I?”
“You are on Yala, on the hem of our Motherland, Hanasha-Yupa.” She bowed her head in reverence, eyes closed for three seconds before she resumed her sweet smile.
The room spun. Sasha put her hands out, gripping the sides of a thick mattress to hold on. Shaking her head, she tried to clear the vertigo, but it only became worse. Holding down the nausea rising in her throat, she put a hand to her mouth. Something in the corner of the room caught her attention. Every inch of her lit with gooseflesh.
“No! No, why is he here? Please, he’s… he’s…”
Darren gave a lazy grin around the toothpick in his mouth. He had one leg up and braced on the wall behind him. He looked her over, his nostrils flaring as his eyes lit with a deviant glow. “Hey, baby. Long time no see.”
“You’re in prison.”
“Nah. Not here, I’m not.”
Her mouth went dry as a hard tremble went over her. Her insides turned to jelly, a cramp going through her middle even as a painful throb started behind her eyes. She needed to get out of here, to run.
To hide.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out. The woman handed her a glass of what looked like water. Sasha ignored it, too afraid to take her eyes off Darren. He hadn’t moved, was just staring at her in the way he had right before he’d snapped. It was a first date. She’d taken all the precautions. Met in a public place. Drove herself. Had a friend on standby to bail her out if it went south.
He’d still managed to rob her blind, lock her up inside her apartment and torment her for twenty-six hours before she’d managed to hit 911 on an old cell phone.
Being a victim was a choice. Her therapist had said so. She wasn’t a victim. She’d been so strong for the women in the compound. She’d tried so hard.
She fumbled for the glass and took in enough to wet her mouth. It slipped through her fingers and fell to the ground. “He’s… he’s in prison. How did he get here?” She turned to the blonde and yelled with all the fear and anger inside her. “Why is he here?”
“My apologies, Sasha Black. Your mind was probed upon your arrival to see if you’re a suitable candidate for blending. In most cases, deep probing regenerates unpleasant memories and reiterations of fear. It may also bring up recall of
great joy. There is no telling how it affects each human.”
Deep probing?
“What the hell did you do to me?”
“Your mind was probed upon your arrival to see if you’re a suitable candidate for blending. In most--”
“You’re telling me that he’s a hallucination?”
“Yes.”
“How do I make it stop?”
“In most cases, reiterations of fear pass on their own. However, sometimes they do not.”
Darren smiled triumphantly as if he planned on never, ever going away. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, baby.”
Sasha grabbed the woman’s arm. “You have to make him go away.”
The blonde smiled sympathetically. “My apologies, but I am unable to assist with that.”
Sasha ran her hands over her face. He wasn’t real. He wasn’t real. They’d done something to her brain. What had her therapist said over and over? You choose to give your memories power, Sasha. Don’t let them control you. How did you take that kind of advice when aliens literally pulled the memories forward in her brain, made them real again? Tangible. If she touched him, would he be solid, or whispy like a ghost?
No. This wasn’t real. He couldn’t hurt her. His hands wouldn’t make any impact. He couldn’t tie her up and throw her in a closet. He couldn’t force her head over the sink while he threatened to cut her throat.
It. Wasn’t. Real.
Pulling herself together, she slipped into the robe while making sure she stayed covered. It was awkward, but manageable. Even if he was a figment of her fear, she wasn’t giving ghost Darren a show.
“Where are the other women?”
“They are no longer your concern.”
“They are my concern. Angel is expecting a baby, and—”
“As I said, they are no longer your concern.”
Fuck! She gripped her head with both hands and took a few hard breaths. “Hahn? Where is he?”
“Oh, your master? He is well. You will see him soon.”
“My master?”
“Of course. Are you not the concubine of the Axxeon Prince? He was very adamant that his precious prize is not harmed.”
Concubine? Oh, hell no. “Oh,” was all she could manage.
“Of course, you were bathed and freshened up for him after the probing. I’ve laid out appropriate clothing for you. Would you like assistance in dressing?”
Where were the others? Poor Angel had probably fainted to see the Meshuuks. Their beefy, mauling hands on her softness, pulling her out of the compound. That kind of stress could cause early labor. Anxiety swirled in her middle.
“You replaced me already, huh? Figures.” Darren’s voice sounded far away. She did her best to ignore it. Yet, she’d slightly slouched and turned inward as if she could make herself smaller. Her body was having an involuntary reaction to him.
“I would like to see the other humans. And Ee-naa. Where is she?”
The blonde didn’t respond as she turned to a small table and lifted a fluttery garment. It was some sort of dress made from cream colored fabric. Golden and pink threads ran through it, giving it a hint of shimmer. Sasha could see the woman’s hands right through it. Surely, it wasn’t completely sheer?
“I will assist you. Stand, please.”
There wasn’t any point in resisting. Maybe if she just went along with this madness, it would dissipate quicker. Darren would dissolve and never return, she’d find Hahn and the women, and… and then what?
“My name is Lora. I am a servant of The Mother, but she has gifted me to you for the remainder of your stay.”
Sasha stood stiffly, moving only enough for Lora to dress her. “You’re human.”
“Yes, of course.”
“How did you get here?”
“My past is no longer my own, I’m afraid. My only memories now are of The Mother and my glorious servitude.”
The fuck? She’d never done drugs, but this had bad trip written all over it. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she’d lost her damn mind, but she still had to find the other women.
She needed Hahn. Needed to know he was okay.
“Listen, Lora. I need your help.”
“Of course.”
“I need you to take me to the women who were brought here with me.”
Lora smiled and forcibly yanked a ribbon around Sasha’s waist. “I am human with an inferior mind. I have been altered and cannot be trusted. I will kill myself before I will commit treason against The Mother. Please turn.”
Sasha turned slowly and looked up at the taller woman. Her expression was robotically blank, but when their eyes caught for a brief flutter, she recognized the haze of trauma there. The flash of inner stress that ran so deep, it became a thread in Lora’s fabric. She knew that thread. The more you pulled it, the more the trauma unraveled. Instead of creating a pile on the floor that could be tossed away, it knit itself a new tapestry. A different pattern, always there, just different.
“Lora, please,” Sasha whispered. “I see the humanness in your eyes. Whatever they’ve done to you, they haven’t erased it all.”
A hot puff of air washed over her left shoulders. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her middle went tight, her muscles hard as she held her ground despite the overwhelming need to run.
“You smell good,” Darren said. “Just like I remember.”
A chill raced through her body, but she didn’t react. Don’t give him power. Don’t do it. Lora suddenly moved behind her. Sasha spun to see the woman walk straight through Darren. He wavered like a dying projector beam. And then he was gone.
“Sit for your lotions, please.”
Sasha glanced down at herself. The dress was beautiful, crossing over her breasts in two wide strips of fabric and meeting at her waist where a wide sash tied around her middle. The skirt hung in six strips of fabric, cut high enough that they would separate and show off all the lady bits if she walked too fast. The dress was completely sheer.
Lora might as well have covered her in wet tissue paper.
“There is no way that I’m wearing this. I absolutely am not.”
“It is the dress of a concubine. If you choose not to dress to your status, that indicates you are available to others, of course.”
“What kind of fucked up place is this?”
“Yala is everything, of course. Once residents are processed, they are ready to serve in Hanasha-Yupa.”
Lora began smoothing some sort of lotion down Sasha’s arms.
“What is Hanasha-Yupa?” She was going to regret asking.
Yes, she was.
“It is a pleasure city, of course.”
Of course. Of course, it was. She’d gone from snowshoeing in her backyard, to a desert sand planet, to a whorehouse. And, her attempted killer was following her around like a morbid shadow. She had a sudden flashback of all the Jerry Springer episodes she’d mindlessly watched in college. If she ever got out of here, she was going to beat down Jerry’s door and be the craziest guest he ever had.
“I have another question. If it’s known that I’m a concubine for the Prince, why was my mind probed for, what did you call it? Blending?”
“Should The Mother’s plan to have you bred to the Prince doesn’t work out, you will be put into the slave pool and be reassigned.”
“B-bred. Did you say, bred?”
“Of course. The Prince was purchased by The Mother and is being held for ransom or resale. Imagine the higher price he will fetch with a guaranteed heir. You are done. Please stand.”
She was going to kill him. With her bare hands.
The door to the room slid open. Hahn stood there, escorted by a brown humanoid with lizard-like skin. Lora nodded graciously, gave a little curtsy, and hurried from the room. Lizard pushed Hahn inside and left, shutting the door.
She nearly crumpled with momentary relief. He was clad in a cream-colored pants and shirt with a high collar. Red embroidery lined the outer sleeves and do
wn the sides of the pants. His blue hair was pulled into a thick braid, as if several thin braids had been woven together.
He raked her with a surprised, heated gaze. Sasha crossed her arms over her breasts, but it was too late. She’d already felt his assessment like a physical touch. Her nipples pebbled hard. A deep ache started between her legs as he roamed there. Her dark curls were clearly visible through the fabric, as was the softness of her belly, the fullness of her hips and thighs. There was no hiding problem areas in this get up. By the look on his face, she didn’t have a single thing to hide anyway.
His eyes claimed hers, the absolute desire sparking there taking her by surprise.
“We are NOT breeding!”
His lips twitched. “We’re not?” The lines between his solarderm lit as if powered by a brilliant backlight. He shook his head. “Of course, we’re not. We’re busting out of here.”
“Thank God.”
His lips pulled up in a sassy grin. “Are you sure we can’t just—”
“Hahn!”
“Busting out of here it is.”
The doors slid open again and the Lizard man was there. “Your Highness, I will escort you and your slut to a meal. This way.”
Sasha bristled, her voice a hard whisper. “Did you tell them that I’m your concubine?”
He tapped her nose with the tip of his finger. “There had to be some sort of payback for calling the Threv a car.”
Chapter Eleven
The spirits were blessing him with an opportunity.
Off all the bad luck in crashing the Threv and being captured, something incredible had come of it. He’d been taken to the outskirts of Hanasha-Yupa, a city the Galax Union was eager to infiltrate for its criminal activity.
The famed city was, like the desert planet, a ghost. Everyone knew it existed, but no one could find it. Captives were sourced and brought into the city from other planets by brainwashed slaves who’d kill themselves before giving up a single breath of information about the city. The wealthy and royalty of other planets boasted about their perfect slaves trained inside Hanasha’s gates. Much like human cattle, slaves were shipped to other planets and put on market for purchase. It was a practice the GU wanted to shut down.
