by Tana Stone
The Curator pivoted toward Hope and tilted his head. “I’ve never heard of a hu-man before. Where are they from, Zaria?”
The female apparently called Zaria shrugged. “A non-warp planet called Earth. It’s protected by the Drexians. It’s where they get their mates.”
The Curator’s face lit up, and he snapped his fingers. “That’s right. I heard about that. The females they take from an unsophisticated planet.” He leaned closer to Hope. “Unusual looking, aren’t they?”
Hope leaned back, bumping into Kos. “Look who’s talking, you wanker.”
The Curator giggled again. “Earthians are feisty.”
“Earthlings,” Hope corrected, mumbling ‘wanker’ under her breath again.
The Curator cocked a white eyebrow and bowed slightly. “My apologies, Earthling.” He spun on his heel and walked back to his oversized chair, flicking his gaze to Zaria. “So, are these two mated?”
Zaria nudged Hope hard in the ribs. “Answer the Curator. Are you his mate?”
“Not officially, no. I mean, I’m not anyone’s mate,” Hope stammered, cutting a quick glance to Kos.
The Curator leaned forward and narrowed his eyes, shifting his gaze between Hope and Kos. He finally flopped back. “I don’t believe you. Why else would a human and a Drexian be on a shuttle together?”
“He was taking me back to Earth,” Hope said, ignoring Kos’s sharp look. “I barely know him.”
“He was tied up when we found them,” Zaria said, stifling a laugh.
The Curator’s eyes brightened. “Tied up? Indeed? Oh, I like that.” He steepled his fingers and drummed them against each other. “That would go over very well with my guests, although I suspect they would prefer to see the female tied up.”
Kos suppressed an urge to lunge at the alien. He wanted to rip the giddy man’s arms off for talking about Hope like she was some sort of object to be played with.
The Curator glanced back at Kos and smiled. “Yes, he’s clearly her mate. I’ve heard about big, tough Drexians and how possessive they are about their little humans.”
“She is not mine,” Kos forced himself to say. He knew what would happen if this collector decided they were a couple. “It is as she said. I was merely her pilot.”
The Curator smiled at him, the boyish grin making him appear almost harmless. “You’re lying.” He waved a hand in front of himself. “I don’t blame you. You’re trying to protect her.”
Zaria chuckled behind them.
“Of course, if you’re not together,” the Curator continued, “we could always put her in a case with a Xalurian.” His clear eyes seemed to glow silver. “They’re insatiable.”
Hope made a small noise, moving closer to him.
“That’s what I thought,” the Curator said. He nodded to Zaria. “Put them in one of our premium cases. They’ll be the main attraction at our next party.”
The two armored aliens took him by the arms and led him out of the room. His face burned, but he tried to keep his breathing steady. They needed to get out of there, preferably before they were shoved into a cell. He scanned the ship as they were led further up the spiraling ramp. Aside from the guards with them, he didn’t see any more armed aliens he needed to contend with.
He tested the zip ties again. One sharp snap should do it. Then he’d have to take out the two guards and the red-skinned alien before they would have to run down the entire length of the ramp to get to the hangar deck and their shuttle.
As they reached a clear-fronted compartment, Kos steeled himself. It was now or never. With a hard yank, he snapped off the zip ties binding his wrists and spun around. Both his blaster and blade were gone, but he quickly knocked the oversized blaster out of Zaria’s hand, and it skittered across the floor.
Zaria screamed, but Kos had already knocked one of the burly alien guards off his feet by kicking his kneecaps in, and he fired a quick blow to the other’s throat. Grabbing a gaping Hope by the hand, he ran down the ramp, scooping up Zaria’s blaster before she could reach it.
He fired the weapon over his shoulder, running as fast as he could. To her credit, Hope matched him step for step. They’d almost reached the bottom, when his entire body convulsed. It felt like electricity was shooting up from the floor. Kos dropped the weapon as his body jerked. He could feel Hope twitching next to him, and he didn’t know if it was her screams that tore through the air or his.
When the pain stopped, they both sank to the floor, their bodies spasming. Kos tried to push himself up, but his muscles would not cooperate. He saw a pair of black, pointed-toe boots approaching and stop next to his face.
“That was a mistake,” Zaria said before lifting one foot and kicking him hard.
Twelve
Hope blinked up at the shiny white ceiling. Why was it so bright? And why did she feel like throwing up?
Rolling over, she saw a pair of large, emerald green eyes watching her. Her breath caught in her throat until she realized that the creature with the large eyes was on the other side of a plexiglass wall.
“You okay?” the creature asked, her voice a near purr.
Hope pushed herself up until she was sitting cross-legged and facing the alien in the adjoining cell. “I think so.”
The creature had yellow skin covered in a fine downy fur and a long tail she held in one hand. “They got you pretty good with the electrified floor panels.”
Hope rubbed her bare arms. “So that’s what that was.” Even the memory of the jolts that had made her body convulse sent a fresh wave of nausea through her.
“You’ll feel the aftereffects for a while,” the alien told her, “but you shouldn’t sustain any permanent damage.”
“Good to know,” Hope muttered.
Peering around, she saw that she was in one of the compartments that ringed the spaceship. Three sides were clear, and the only solid white wall had a rectangular window that looked out into space. Instead of a single bed pushed up against one side, this room had a larger bed in the middle. Craning her neck even more, she saw that Kos was lying behind her, his knees pulled into his chest in a near-fetal position.
“Zaria made sure he was out of commission before they moved him again,” the neighbor said.
Hope touched a hand tentatively to his arm, but he didn’t respond. “How did she do that?”
The alien worked the fluffy end of her tail and shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”
Hope rested her hand on the Drexian’s arm. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t been so hell-bent on getting home, they’d both be safe. She may not be where she wanted to be, but Kos wouldn’t be injured, and they wouldn’t be in a weird prison being held by a super creepy alien who had a voyeurism fetish. She shuddered as she thought about what he’d said.
She and Kos were supposed to be the main attraction at some party. She didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she knew it couldn’t be good. She glanced down at the unconscious Drexian.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I know you’ll probably never forgive me for all this, but I really am sorry.” She flashed back to the look of betrayal in his eyes when he’d found himself tied up and realized she’d manipulated him. She may have regretted that most of all. “For everything.”
“I doubt he can hear you,” the alien next door said. “But I’m sure he’ll forgive you. He’s your mate, right?”
“It’s complicated,” Hope said.
The woman gave a nervous laugh. “I’m afraid it’s only going to get more complicated in here.”
Hope pulled her gaze from Kos and focused on the female alien. “Have you been in here long?”
“Long enough.” She pulled on the end of her tail. “I’m Xarla.”
Hope tried to mimic the hard “ch” sound at the front of the alien’s name. “Hi Xarla. I’m Hope.”
Xarla glanced at Kos. “And the Drexian?”
“Kos,” Hope said.
“How did they get you?” Xarla asked.
<
br /> Hope took a shuddering breath. “It’s my fault we’re here. I wanted to go back to my home, Earth, so I knocked out Kos and commandeered the shuttle.”
Xarla’s vivid green eyes widened.
“The trouble was, I didn’t know how to fly it and I’d tied up Kos. I ended up taking the ship out of warp and bringing us to a standstill. I guess that’s when this ship saw us and decided to pull us in with a tractor beam.”
“Oh.” Xarla twisted her tail. “Now I understand why you were apologizing to him.”
“Yeah.” Hope heard her voice crack. “I’m pretty sure he hates me.”
“For your sake, I hope he doesn’t. The Curator’s guests don’t want to watch a couple fighting.”
Hope swallowed hard. “What do they want to watch?”
Xarla looked down. “It depends. I’m a Vralithian.” She paused as if this should mean something.
Hope assessed the cat-like creature. “Sorry, I’m not familiar with alien species and what they’re known for. What does that mean?”
“I’m very flexible,” Xarla said. “I can twist myself into all sorts of configurations.”
“Wow. It doesn’t hurt?”
Xarla stood, arching her back and coming up between her own legs, then placing her hands on the floor and whipping her legs back around. “No. I have a floating spine.”
Hope didn’t know what that meant, but she suspected alien anatomy was a lot different from humans. “So, everyone has to perform during the parties?”
Xarla settled herself on the floor and wrapped her tail around her shoulders and shrugged. “That part isn’t so bad. It’s getting picked by one of the guests that you don’t want.”
Hope’s pulse quickened. “I’m guessing that means you have a private party with them?”
Xarla’s eyes went to the floor. “It’s better than getting the end of Zaria’s whip.”
“Whip?”
“Zaria patrols the parties for the Curator. Makes sure all the guests are getting what they paid for. If anyone isn’t happy, she uses her laser whip.”
“That’s barbaric,” Hope said.
Another shrug from Xarla. “Who’s going to stop her?”
“Aren’t there some sort of space laws to prevent this kind of thing? This can’t be legal. “
“Not in this sector there aren’t. That’s why aliens come here from all over. They can get away with things they never could in other places.”
“If the Drexians find out about this, they’re going to make the Curator sorry he was ever born.”
“I’m afraid the chances of your Drexians finding you are slim,” Xarla said. “The Curator has the sector’s enforcers in his pocket. The ones he isn’t blackmailing, that is. He pays handsomely to keep his location secret.”
“And no one ever escapes?” Hope asked.
“The only way anyone gets off is if they’re bought. But that doesn’t happen often.”
Hope let out a breath. This was why she was a loner, she thought. Whenever she got involved with someone, they ended up getting hurt. She looked over at Kos as he stirred, dreading explaining everything to him and dreading how furious he was going to be.
Thirteen
“Kos?” The female’s face came into view, although it took him a few moments to remember exactly where they were and why he was lying on the floor. And why he felt so drained and shaky.
He sat up, his head swimming. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.” She reached a hand tentatively and touched his arm. “What about you?”
He glanced around at the pristine cell with its bright lights and transparent walls, clenching his jaw when he spotted the large bed. He was far from fine.
He stood, ignoring the tingling in his limbs, and walked the perimeter of the room. He scanned the ceiling for vents and saw nothing large enough to fit through. At least, nothing he could squeeze through. There was a gap at the top of the clear walls between the cells, but only for ventilation, and it was too narrow for anyone but a child to fit through, if that. Even extending his arms, he could barely touch it.
Pressing his palms to the sliding panel that was the door and front of the cell, he leaned hard. Nothing. No give and no buckling. Whatever the transparent substance was, it wasn’t going to be easy to break. He rapped his knuckles on it as he thought about how he was going to get them out.
Kos was going to get them out. He had to. The alternative—spending the rest of their lives as part of some living collection—was not an option.
“Kos?” Hope’s voice jerked him out of his thoughts.
He spun around. “What?” The word came out harsher than he’d intended, and the female flinched.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What does it look like? I’m trying to figure out a way to escape.”
A sound came from the next cell, and he looked over to see a creature sitting on the floor with her tail draped around her shoulders. She’d been so motionless he hadn’t noticed her until she made a sound.
“This is Xarla,” Hope said, sweeping a hand in the alien’s direction. “She’s been telling me about this place.”
Kos gave her a curt nod before turning his attention back to the door.
“No one’s ever escaped,” Xarla said.
Kos looked back at her, noticing how she nervously stroked her tail. He noticed that the cell on the other side of them was unoccupied, so for the moment, she was his only source of information. “Not yet.”
Xarla let out a small laugh that died quickly. “The Curator designed this place to be impossible to break out of. Bigger creatures than you have tried.”
Kos thought of some of the fearsome aliens he’d seen as they’d walked around the spiraling ramp. He might have spent hours upon hours training for battle, but he didn’t have spikes shooting out of his spine or horns jutting from his forehead.
“Grek,” he cursed.
“Listen, Kos.” Hope joined him at the door. “I’m really sorry about all this.”
He grunted but didn’t respond. He knew the nice thing to do would be to accept her apology and tell her that everything would be okay. He just didn’t feel like lying.
“I know this is all my fault…” she continued.
He whirled on her. “Yes, it is.”
Her eyes widened, and she stepped back.
“Being rescued from the Ganthar wasn’t enough for you, was it?” His voice rose. “You couldn’t just say thank you.”
Color flooded her cheeks, but she pursed her lips and scrunched them to one side. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I not thank you enough for taking me off my home planet against my will? Unfortunately, there isn’t a ‘thanks for abducting me and forcing me to marry a total stranger’ Hallmark card for that, or I definitely would have given it to you.”
Kos didn’t know what most of that meant, but he understood enough. “I get it. You hate the idea of being matched with me.”
She let out an impatient huff. “It’s not you. Like I said, it wasn’t personal.”
He stepped closer to her and their bodies almost touched. “Really? It felt pretty personal when you had your legs wrapped around my waist.”
Xarla sucked in a breath, but Kos didn’t let his gaze leave Hope, whose eyes were flashing dangerously, her head tipped back to look at him. Even though he towered over her, she hadn’t backed away.
“That’s why you’re really upset, isn’t it?” she asked. “Because I tricked you.”
His heart raced. Even though he could feel his ire rising, heat also coiled at the base of his spine as he watched her chest rise and fall. “I’m upset because we’re trapped in this prison with no way out. No one knows we’re here. Since I was tied up at the time, I wasn’t able to get off a distress call.”
She cringed at that. “I’m sorry I tied you up. I had no idea our ship would be intercepted and we’d be taken prisoner.”
“Of course, you didn’t. Because you have no idea about thi
s sector or about space or flying a shuttlecraft.” His voice grew louder. “All things you should have thought about before you disabled me and caused our ship to be dead in the water.”
“Fine.” She threw her hands up. “I get it. I’m impulsive and thoughtless and selfish. Don’t think I haven’t heard it all before. This is exactly why I’m not good mate material. I’m not a team player. I do better on my own. That way the only person who gets hurt when I do something really dumb is me.”
He wanted to shake her, but he saw the hurt in her eyes and suspected she’d been the one hurt more often than she wanted to let on. Kos released a breath and took a step back.
“Well, none of that matters now because we’re officially stuck with each other in here.” He spread his arms wide. “I’m afraid there’s no escaping me.”
She was silent for a moment, and he wondered if that fact was just now sinking in. If she’d been trying to get away from him, she’d achieved the opposite.
“Won’t the other Drexians come looking for us when we don’t show up?” she asked. “You came after me.”
He shot her a side-eye glance and muttered, “Look where that got me.”
She ignored his comment. “My point is that the Drexians seem pretty good at the whole search and rescue thing. They won’t let one of their warriors or one of their oh-so-important tribute brides be lost forever.”
Kos thought she might be right, but he also knew it would take a while before they were determined to be missing and even longer for warriors to search the space between here and the Drexian outpost. He suspected that the Curator was skilled at staying hidden. It was why he’d only heard whispers about the alien, and why he’d never been stopped before. Clearly, the Curator wasn’t reckless.
“No time soon,” he said, nodding to Xarla. “Your friend is right. We probably won’t be able to break out by force.”
“So, we just wait to be rescued?” Hope asked. “I guess I can do that.”
He cocked his head at her. “Now you’re willing to be patient?”
She glared at him. “I said I was sorry. I’m sorry for getting us into this mess, and I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
