by Ella Maven
I slid to the bars separating our cells. “Daz!” I yelled. “Stop! You’re going to hurt yourself.”
He didn’t stop struggling, but he slowed his efforts. “Fra-kee,” he gasped. He took in my body, now clothed in the gray sheath, and his aura detonated like an explosion. For a moment all I saw was red. “What did they do? Where are your clothes?”
“I’m okay.” I gripped the bars of the cell. They weren’t metal, or at least not metal I was used to, but they were cool and had a chemical smell to them. Daz’s chains looked to be made of the same material. I wondered if they were impervious to his machets because no matter how much Daz struggled and slashed at the chains, they didn’t break. “They just took my clothes and put me in here. I swear.”
His chest heaved and he sliced his eyes toward Trupa. “What the fleck?”
Trupa didn’t say anything. He only smiled as he made a motion to the Uldani next to him. The Uldani walked down the narrow hallway in front of the cells. I couldn’t see how many there were, or where he was walking. Once he was out of sight, Trupa only smiled wider, and my stomach clenched.
“You have no honor,” Daz spat. “You can’t beat us in battle, so you resort to under-handed tricks.”
“Honor is overrated,” Trupa said. “And it doesn’t sound like you have much either. Actually handing over a precious female in exchange for your brother?” He tsked. “Doesn’t matter anyway. Soon you’ll have a chance to meet all the females you like. Any species. Take your pick.” He grinned. “Because you and your brother will be my breeding stock.”
The words were a punch to my solar plexus. Air left my lungs on a rush.
“Like hell I will,” Daz growled.
“You won’t have a choice,” Trupa said. His eyes cut to me, and I wished I were invisible. “Just like she won’t have a choice. You like Drixonian cock? Well you get a two-for-one deal.”
From a distance came a clanking sound, like a doorway opening. Growls filled the hallway. Feet shuffled. Voices shouted. The sounds of a struggle drew closer, and I kept my gaze locked on the hallway until a large blue body appeared. His hair hung in his face, but the horns were unmistakable, as well as the chiseled body—he was Drixonian.
Uldani guards were on either side of him, holding straight, solid poles connected to a collar around the Drixonian’s throat. His machets were out, but the poles ensured against damage from his blades.
“Sax,” Daz whispered.
The captive growled. One black eye peered through his long hair and connected with Daz’s.
Other than that, Sax didn’t acknowledge his brother. He seemed out of his mind, nearly feral, fighting the guards the entire time. They passed the entrance to Daz’s cell and came straight to mine. With dawning horror, I realized they intended to put this growling beast of an alien in my cell. With me. Only me.
I had no Daz to protect me. Nothing. And even if I had a weapon, how could I injure Daz’s brother? The alien had been through enough.
“Why don’t we just let Daz mate with her if she’s so attached?” one of the Uldani asked.
“Because.” Trupa sneered. “He’s got to learn he’s not going to get what he wants. And she has to learn she’s nothing but a womb.”
My cell door opened, and with quick movements, they unclipped the poles from Sax’s collar and shoved him inside. The door closed behind him with a resounding clang.
“Sax!” Daz roared, renewing his struggles. “Brother! Listen to me!”
I could only see one eye through the long, matted hair covering Sax’s face. That eye was scary. Whatever they’d done to him, or given him, had flipped a switch. Daz had told me about his fun-loving, playful brother, the one who loved to laugh and tell jokes and wrestle with Xavy.
This Sax was a wild animal. He stood, breath heaving, at the front of my cell, his hands fisted at his sides, his arms corded with muscle. He wore only a pair of thin, ragged pants that ended below his knees. His feet were bare and caked with dirt.
I had nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. My only weapons were my hands. “Daz, what do I do?” I cried as Sax took one step toward me.
“Tell your human to play nice,” Trupa ordered Daz.
“Fleck off,” Daz snarled.
The Uldani motioned to one of his guards with two flicked fingers. They extended a pole through the bars of Daz’s cell and slammed it against the side of his neck. Crackling filled the air. Daz’s body went rigid, his eyes bulged, and his mouth opened in a silent cry of pain. His aura quivered and flashed a bright white. His scales flickered in color like a TV losing a signal. Pain skittered down my spine in what was surely only a ghost of what Daz was going through.
“No,” I screeched, and ignoring the hulking alien in my cell, flung myself at the bars separating my cell and Daz’s. “Leave him alone! What are you doing to him?”
The Uldani took the torture stick away and Daz collapsed. I thought he was passed out, but he lifted his head, his body trembling. Saliva dripped from his mouth, and I choked out a sob. “Daz.”
“She mates with your brother,” Trupa said. “She does it now, or we’ll shock you until your brains scramble. I only need your cock, not your mind.”
My knees gave out, and I hit the ground with a thud.
“D-don’t,” Daz’s body shuddered as his words came out raspy and broken. “Fi-ight.”
“I can’t fight your brother,” I sobbed. “He’s your brother.”
“He’s not anymore. What that is … in your cell … not my brother.”
I turned to look at Sax. His hair had parted, and I could see both of his eyes. They shifted, and for a moment, I thought I saw recognition in his gaze. Emotion. But then they went dark and dead again. All the hope I’d felt only this morning vanished. I was left with an impossible choice. I couldn’t let Sax rape me, and I couldn’t kill him either. Either one would be a betrayal to Daz.
“D-don’t g-give i-in,” Daz slurred.
He wouldn’t be able to take another shock. Even now, the smell of burned flesh filled the air and the scorch mark on his neck oozed with melted flesh.
A growl filled my cell. I turned. Sax slammed into me, taking me down hard. I landed on my back, and the wind was knocked out of me. I fought for my breath as his hands held mine over my head. I screamed and arched my back as Daz roared in the cell next to me, his cries full of pain, agony, and heartbreak.
Sax leaned down, and I thought he intended to bite my neck, but then he spoke in my ear, his voice clear and urgent. “Don’t fight me,” he whispered.
I froze, unable to believe I’d heard him.
“We’re going to fake this.” He brought his knee up between my legs violently and slammed my hands down on the ground just as he let out a feral growl. “But if you keep fighting me, they’ll hurt Daz.”
I sobbed, and I didn’t have to fake that. I was going to have to trust Sax because that was the only option I had. I went limp as he tugged down the front of his pants. My heart slammed against my ribcage so hard I thought it would burst.
“Ah, look at that. She must care about you, Daz. Look at her lying nice and quiet for your brother’s cock.”
Daz swore and flailed, and I wanted to tell him to stop, that Sax was going to get us through this, but there was no way I could tell him.
Sax turned me over, bringing me to my hands and knees. I trembled so hard, I nearly face-planted, but his hands were sure and strong. Suddenly he stopped and turned to growl at the Uldani watching us. They didn’t move, and he roared, louder this time. He leapt to his feet and rushed the bars, slamming his palms against the cell like a raging animal.
“He won’t finish with us watching,” one of the guards said to Trupa. “In our tests, he refuses. I think it’s his alpha instincts to protect his mate and young.”
Trupa glared but finally backed away from the bars as Sax continued to growl and pace. “Fine. Remain out of sight and make sure he finishes. If he hasn’t mated her, shock Daz.”
“Ye
s, sir.”
With one final look, he turned and walked away. The guards shifted away from our cells, but I knew they wouldn’t go far, following Trupa’s instructions.
Once they were out of sight, Sax’s entire posture changed. He no longer stood hunched over. He rose to his full height and swept his hair away from his face. His head turned slowly, and he looked at his brother.
Daz’s mouth dropped open when their gazes connected. He blinked a few times then nodded. Daz immediately glanced at me, offering silent support with his gaze. His aura beamed with comfort. When Sax swung to me, his purple eyes were clear. He pressed his finger over the seam of his lips, showing me to be quiet.
He slid to his knees in front of me and whispered quickly. “Be convincing.”
The next minute was awkward and weird and terrifying. We sat across from each other, not touching. I cried and yelled. Sax growled and grunted. Daz roared and swore. And finally, Sax moaned long and loud, while I whimpered and fake-sobbed. Truthfully, we all should have won an Oscar for our acting abilities.
Shortly after, footsteps sounded in the hall. Sax shoved me in a corner and curled himself around me. When guards appeared in the hallway outside my cell, he growled.
“He’ll be possessive for a while. We can leave him in there,” one said.
“With any luck, he’ll mate her again,” said the other. With that, they left, and we heard the distinct clang of a door down the hall.
Sax immediately uncurled from me and gripped the bars facing Daz’s cell. “You stupid, flecking idiot,” he snarled at his brother.
Daz stretched his neck and groaned. “Missed you too.”
I shoved my face between the bars as far as I could. “Are you okay?”
Daz blinked at me and while his eyes were dark and his body tight with pain, he gave me a small smile. “I’m fine now I know you’re okay and my brother isn’t out of his mind.”
“What are you doing here?” Sax hissed. “Why would you deliver a female to them? What were you thinking?”
Daz’s nostrils flared. “Watch your tone.”
“Oh, fleck you.”
Daz pulled against his chains to glare at his brother. “I was thinking you’re my only brother. I was thinking that I wasn’t sure I could live with the guilt, because while you rotted away in here, I was the happiest I’d ever been because I’d found my cora-eternal.”
Sax went still. Slowly his gaze swung to mine. His eyes narrowed and he grasped my hand. Without warning, he tugged down the leather bands around my wrist to reveal my locs. He sucked in a breath, and his eyes widened with wonder.
“Fatas hasn’t forgotten us,” Sax whispered.
I pulled up the bands and waved with an awkward smile. “Um, hi. I’m Frankie.”
The corner of Sax’s mouth lifted. The gold rings in his nipples sparkled in the low light of the dungeon and through his hair, I could see the outer shells of his ears were pierced with rows of metal studs. “I’m Sax. Hate to meet you under these circumstances.”
“Yeah, same,” I muttered.
“So, what was that?” Daz asked.
Sax’s anger seemed to melt, and he slumped with his back against the far wall. “That was me outsmarting the Uldani as best as I could.”
Daz narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”
“They think they found a drug that turns me into this feral horny beast who’ll fleck anything with holes. The only thing it does is get me hard. The rest I pretend. Because as long as they think they’ve found a drug that works, they won’t keep working on something that will work. Because that thing I was? That’s what they want us to be for them, Daz.”
“So, they just want to use you to breed females?” I asked. “But why?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know that. They’re careful what they say around me.”
“Wait,” I said. “How can you understand me?”
Tapping his implant, he said, “They updated my implant with most major Earth languages. That was why I wasn’t surprised to see a human.” He frowned at Daz. “And why I’m furious with you. Have you forgotten all we stand for?”
“It was my idea,” I said.
Daz’s eyes met mine and then dropped.
I wrung my hands, feeling like the anger swelling in the two cells was all my fault. “I overheard him telling Gar that you were held here. I saw the video of them hurting you.”
“It was nothing,” Sax sniffed. “I heal fast.”
“But you both already lost a brother!” I cried. “I couldn’t let him lose another.”
Sax studied me carefully, his face tilted in the low light. He stayed silent.
“I intended to rescue you,” Daz said. “But Fra-kee insisted on this plan, and I had to admit, it was the best option. We were running out of time.”
Sax’s head whipped to his brother. “What plan?” He tugged on the bars in frustration as he curled a lip. “How is this plan going so far?”
“We never intended them to take me,” I said, guilt gnawing at my insides like a starving rat. “We were going to get you, and then Nero was going to shoot all the Uldani. But they drugged Daz and used his body as a shield. Nero couldn’t get a shot off.”
“Should have shot through me,” Daz growled.
“Don’t say stuff like that,” I snapped.
“This is not your fault,” Sax barked at me, and then whipped his head to Daz. “This is on you. You agreed to let her be a part of this.”
“She said she’d come on her own if I didn’t help her—”
“You’re a Drixonian!” Sax roared. “Lock her up. Restrain her. Do whatever you have to do to ensure her safety, but—”
“Brother,” Daz barked in a tone I’d only heard him use with his males. “I long for the day you meet your cora-eternal and have to tell her what to do. It’s not so easy. And until you know what it’s like, don’t lecture me.” His lip curled. “In case you forgot, we’re both trying to save your life.”
“I will not be saved at the expense of a female’s life, or yours!” Sax roared. “Rex didn’t die, and I didn’t put up with these Uldani flecks, just for you to suffer at their hands. Dazeem Bakut in chains!” Sax slammed his palm on the cell bars with enough force to bend normal metal. “And your female at their whim!”
“These chains are breakable,” Daz spat. “And my female answers to no one.”
His last words were spoken with reverence. “Daz,” I whispered. How did he still hold so much reverence for me despite the position I’d put him in?
He lifted his chin, and despite his shackles, he was the picture of a king with his broad chest and confidence. “I thought Fatas abandoned us. Abandoned me. But you, my Fra-kee, are proof she didn’t leave us. This situation couldn’t be much worse, and yet I have faith, for once in a hundred and a fifty sun-cycles, that she will see us through this. Even Fatas can’t ignore that you are the perfect mate for me, and I’ll spend my whole life being the perfect mate for you.”
My heart swelled, and I wished for nothing more but to be close to him. I reached through the bars. “I wish I could touch you.” Instead, I pressed a kiss to my palm and blew it toward him.
He cocked his head. “What was that?”
“I blew you a kiss. It’s an Earth thing.”
He smiled. “I like that Earth thing.”
Sax was watching us curiously, and then his gaze dipped to my chest.
“What?” I asked.
He reached out and withdrew Miranda’s necklace. He brushed his thumb over the wishbone. “What is this?”
“One of the other women gave it to me. It’s a good luck charm.”
“Good luck charm,” he murmured. “What does that mean?”
“Well it’s just a superstition…uh or a belief that an object can make things go in your favor.”
He snorted and dropped the necklace. I shoved it under my dress.
“Well,” he said. “We sure need some things to go in our favor, huh?”
&nbs
p; I rubbed the wishbone beneath the scratchy fabric of the dress. I was never one for superstitions, but I was hoping on every wishbone, four-leaf-clover, and rabbit foot my mind could conjure. “We sure do.”
Nineteen
Daz
“So, what do you know about their plans?” I asked Sax as we waited for sundown. “Why do they want us to reproduce when we’re their enemy?”
The guards hadn’t returned. Sax said they’d be posted outside the cellblock’s entrance. For now, we were alone and could talk freely.
Sax paced the cell he shared with Fra-kee, occasionally dropping for a few pushups or sit-ups. Curled into a tight ball on the cold stone floor, Fra-kee dozed. I hated the sight of her behind bars with only her small hands as a pillow for her head. I’d get her out of here or die trying. I’d take a fleck of a lot of Uldani with me too.
Sax stopped and braced his hands on his hips. “We weren’t always their enemies. We used to be their good little soldiers. They want that back. And the way to do that is to grow us themselves.”
They’d taken his tag, and the sight of his bare left biceps set my teeth on edge. That band of metal had symbolized his identity and everything he stood for as my second-in-command of the Night Kings. I grimaced. “What have they made you do?”
“When I first got here, they were focused on smacking me around and using me as collateral to get the females. I don’t think they ever intended to release me. They planned to get the females and then use me to get them all pregnant. Of course, it was clear pretty quickly I wasn’t going to do what they told me. That’s when they brought in this sick asshole with needles and began shooting drugs into me. It’s ridiculous to put these females through this when they aren’t even Drixonian. I can’t impregnate them anyway—”
