He needed to want to fuck me.
A flush of hot and cold washed over me.
Would he want to do it as a Trad, or would he at least be kind enough to morph to human form before he took me?
Of course, it wasn’t as though I was completely unused to being intimate with a Trad in his natural form. I lifted my gaze to peep at the opposite side of the vehicle, where the two Trads, Nadeusz and Mikotaj sat, side by side. Where once, I’d have been horrified, revolted even, at seeing the Trads in their natural form, I appeared to have changed my mind about them. Not all Trads were bad, and from the way I’d been tangling tongues with Miko, and then had gotten hot and heavy with Nadeusz only a matter of hours ago, I’d clearly changed my mind about finding them hideous. I’d had Nad’s tail pushing inside me, doing all kinds of crazy things to my body. Just the memory of it sent a tingling rush between my thighs, and I pressed them closer as though to capture the feeling.
I caught Nad’s eye, and my face heated. His gaze held mine, dark and intense, and I felt like he could read every word of what I was thinking on my face.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Nad asked me.
I forced a smile, trying to be brave. “As I’ll ever be.”
Miko reached across the space between us and touched the back of my hand. “You can still back out. No one will think any less of you.”
“The other women can’t back out,” I replied. “They don’t have a choice, and I can help them.”
That was what mattered the most.
The rebel leader, Aleksy, was in the back of the transporter with us as well, together with a couple of the other rebels. It was important I wasn’t seen with Dairus, Miko, and Nad, or people might realize we were the ones who’d vanished from the facility. I couldn’t risk being handed back to the Trad who’d abducted me, Rhett.
I’d been dressed like a bride instead of a slave. My long blonde hair was pinned up, with a few tendrils framing my face. My dress was silver and white, and I was strapped so tight into the beaded corset that not only did I worry I wasn’t able to breathe properly, but I also thought there was a good chance my breasts were going to topple out of the front. I understood the reason for the over-the-top outfit. They needed for Polityk Borys to notice me among any other women who might also be up for auction.
The vehicle we were in didn’t have wheels, and it lifted into the air. My stomach lurched, and I clung to my seat, thinking I was going to be thrown around. But the transporter was a surprisingly smooth ride, and it glided through the sky without barely a bump or a jolt.
The sandals for my feet were white and silver to match my dress, and were also mercifully flat. I told myself that it meant I’d be able to run, though I didn’t have anywhere to run to. I had to stay with Polityk Borys until I found what was needed. Perhaps I could leave and spend the rest of my life holed up with Nad and Miko, and Diarus, together with the other rebels, but what kind of person would that make me? It wasn’t only that I’d be proving myself to be a coward, and that I’d spend my life hiding away on an alien planet with no future to look forward to, it was that I’d be abandoning all the other women who were being put through the same as I’d been.
The women I’d spent time with back at the facility—Dawn and Avery, and Zoe and Jennifer, among so many others—had no idea about the existence of the rebels. They hadn’t been fortunate enough to catch the attention of Nad and Miko, or Diarus either, and, for all I knew, they were still somewhere in the facility. They had no hope to cling to, and I understood exactly how that felt. It broke my heart that they were suffering day after day, with no light at the end of it. They’d been terrified and miserable, and yes, perhaps so would I be, when I was living as Borys’s slave, but I also had hope and focus, and a reason for waking up every morning. What I’d go through was only a fraction of what they were experiencing every single day.
I wondered what the other women at the auction would be like. Would they be terrified and crying? Would I want to offer them words of hope that all was not lost? They would have no idea that the rebel group existed and that we had Trads, and Athions, too, on our side. But I wouldn’t be able to say a word. I was sworn to secrecy, and even breathing a mention of the rebel group could get myself and Diarus killed.
I thought back to those I’d left behind at the facility. Would they have had their babies by now? What would they think had happened to me? They’d probably assume I’d been taken away to give birth, though if Kaja, the matron, had gone around asking questions about me, demanding to be told anything they might know, they’d all learn quickly enough that I hadn’t just been taken off to have the baby like the others.
I tried not to think about the Trad baby I’d given birth to, but that I’d refused to acknowledge. Was the baby aware of my abandonment? A strange ache formed in the center of my chest at the thought of it. I didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl. I hadn’t been given any choice in the pregnancy. When I’d been back on Earth, before I’d even known of the existence of Trads or planet Tradrych, I’d been tricked by the Trad, Rhetarz, into believing he was a human called Rhett, when in fact he was a Trad all along, whose only mission was to impregnate me with his spawn and abduct me to this planet.
But I knew I’d war with myself every day about whether it had been the right thing to do to send the baby back to its father. Rhetarz didn’t deserve to have the child, but I’d tried to make the choice that would be best for the baby, not for him. I was a human, and not even the baby’s biological mother—the Trad’s only needed females as incubators—and I was on the run. There was no possibility I could have taken care of an alien baby in this situation.
Strangely, even though I’d been terrified of the creature while it had been inside me, that knowledge didn’t make my decision hurt any the less.
The transport vehicle moved through the air.
“How far is it?” I asked.
Miko shook his head. “Not far. We’ll be there in a few minutes. It was walkable, really, but we couldn’t walk you through the streets like this. You’d have had every Trad in the vicinity following after you.”
I didn’t miss how his gaze traveled down to my chest.
“Hey, my eyes are up here, buddy,” I said, keeping my tone light and teasing, even though inside I was quaking with fear. I had no problem with Miko looking at my tits. I’d happily show all three of them everything I had to offer. They’d made it clear that they had no problem sharing me. Only now I was about to be given to someone else, which took the Tradrych idea of sharing a step too far.
“Sorry, Tee. They’re a little...distracting.”
“Good,” Aleksy said. “She needs to get noticed.”
“I don’t think there’s going to be any problem on that front.”
My cheeks heated again.
I didn’t seem to affect Aleksy the same way I affected Miko and Nad and Diarus. Maybe he wasn’t into women, or at least human women. Or perhaps he simply took his job seriously and didn’t want to risk having his ideas swayed by any kind of emotional attachment to someone. Not that it mattered, of course. I had the others supporting me.
My stomach churned at the idea of being handed over to another Trad. I was thankful to Diarus for offering himself up as well. I couldn’t imagine going into this completely alone. Of course, there was no guarantee that Polityk Borys was even going to bid on me, never mind both of us. Aleksy seemed confident that Borys always bought the best of what was on offer, and everyone else was too frightened to bid against him, but it wasn’t guaranteed.
I couldn’t imagine what kind of Trad he must be for even other Trads to be too scared to bid against him. He was also the one overseeing the birthing facilities—not only the one I’d been rescued from, where the other women were currently being held prisoner, but also others that had yet to be opened, and that were in secret locations. That was the crux of my mission. Polityk Borys would have the locations of those facilities written down somewhere in his ho
me—or so Aleksy believed—and I needed to find them. When we had the locations, the rebel group would set out to destroy them. The Trads couldn’t bring any more pregnant humans to Tradrych if they didn’t have the facilities in which to house them. That was the plan, anyway. But if I failed at the first hurdle, and Borys didn’t bid for me, the rest of the strategy would be useless.
The transporter began to descend again.
“We need to stay out of sight,” Nadeusz said. “Aleksy will take you to the market.”
A shot of panic fired through me. “You’re leaving?”
“No, girlie. We’re not going anywhere. But we can’t be seen taking you into the market. Word will have gotten out that we’re missing from the facility, and if we’re all seen together, people are going to put two and two together and realize you’re the missing woman. We can’t have that.”
I nodded to show I understood, but that didn’t change the horrible swirl of fear in my gut at the thought of not having them with me. I was going to have to be without them in Borys’s house as well, but I’d still hoped for a little more time with them. They made me feel safe, which was crazy considering they were both Trads, but they’d been the only ones to take care of me.
At least I’d still have Diarus. I hoped.
The transporter touched down, landing on the ground with barely more than a bump. I sucked in a breath and tried to push down the nerves churning my stomach.
“It’s okay to be nervous,” Nad said, frowning at me. “A woman in your situation would be more than nervous.”
In order not to raise suspicions, I needed to forget the rebels existed. If I was one of the other women being brought to an auction to be sold as a slave to be impregnated again, I’d be terrified.
I was terrified. My hands trembled as I adjusted the top of my dress.
The rear doors to the transporter opened, and the noise hit me. A crowd of voices, all shouting and jeering and laughing. I got to my feet and climbed out the back of the transporter, the others following. We’d stopped behind a massive building with a huge domed roof. This was supposed to be a marketplace, but from the outside it looked to be more like a theater.
“I’m going to handle you roughly,” Aleksy warned me. “Don’t take it personally. We have to make this seem real.”
Other Trads clearly didn’t know he was not only a part of the rebels but their leader. He was a powerfully built Trad—even more so than the others—and I couldn’t help the dirty, twisted little thrill that went through me at the idea of him handling me roughly. That thrill was quickly quashed by remembering that I was going to be handed over to one of the bad guys. Not only that, I was going to have to get the bad guy to trust me, so I’d be able to get access to places in his home the others had been unable to reach. I didn’t want to think too hard about what that might entail.
“Tara, wait.”
I turned to find Mikotaj standing there, his brow furrowed. “We need to say goodbye. We’ll be watching from the sidelines, but this might be the last time we get to speak to you for a while.”
A while. I hoped it was going to be days rather than weeks.
He put his arms out to me, and I fell into them, pressing my face to the smooth material of his silver t-shirt and inhaling the now familiar scent of him. He angled me away so he could look into my face. He brushed my cheek with his fingers, and from out of nowhere, tears filled my eyes.
“Stop being nice to me,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “You’ll make me cry.”
He lowered his forehead and pressed it to mine. “I’ll never make you cry.”
How could I have ever thought that he was cruel and monstrous?
He ducked his head and kissed me. I opened my mouth to him, and our tongues touched lightly. I was aware of the others around us, watching. It was a strange mixture of embarrassing and erotic.
“Hey, my turn,” Nad growled. He took my hand and dragged me away from Mikotaj.
I threw Miko an apologetic glance, but Miko only pursed his lips and shrugged. I guessed he was used to Nad’s dominating ways.
“I can kiss you better than that,” Nad said.
“It’s not a competition,” I pointed out.
He cocked an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
I didn’t miss the side-eye he gave to Miko, as though he was saying ‘watch this’ without saying a word. Then he reached to cup the back of my neck, his other hand going to my waist, pulling me closer. I clutched his broad shoulders as our lips crushed together. My breath instantly grew shallow, and I forgot the others for a moment.
I wished more than anything I could lose myself in the feel of Nad’s big, strong body hard against mine, could wrap my thighs around his hips and let him make me forget about everything else. His tongue thrust between my lips, darting back and forth, like he was fucking my mouth. Everything about him was powerful, and I wanted to hand myself over to him.
But I was here for a reason, and we all had a job to do. Reluctantly, I broke the kiss, and Nad growled in frustration.
“I have to go,” I told him.
He thinned his lips, his nostrils flaring, but he nodded.
There was one person I hadn’t bid my farewells to yet, and I turned to the Athion.
“You don’t need to say goodbye to me, Tara,” Diarus said. “I’m coming with you.”
“It won’t be the same, though,” I replied. “Everyone needs to think we’re strangers.”
“True. But you’ll know I’m there.”
I bit my lower lip. “But what if you’re not? What if someone else bids on you?”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“How can you be sure?”
Aleksy interrupted. “The slaves are put through a task to ensure they’re fit for purpose. Then the bidding is started.”
I frowned. “Task? What kind of task?”
“It’s nothing,” Diarus said, but he wouldn’t meet my eye. “It’s just a show of our strength, that’s all.”
I hoped it didn’t have anything to do with the scars littering his back.
One of the other Trads banged on the side of the transporter. “We need to move.”
I sensed them all gather around me, a hand touching mine, another on my lower back, their glances filled with encouragement but tinged with worry. Nadeusz and Mikotaj didn’t like what was about to happen either, but we all knew it had to be done. This was all so much bigger than just my safety. There was an entire population of women being used as breeding machines, and an entire planet that had been half destroyed and then invaded. I wasn’t going to hide away and do nothing.
This was a war, and I was going to fight.
Chapter Two
Aleksy grabbed me by the arm and shoved me toward the marketplace.
Two of the other rebel Trads held Diarus between them and were following behind.
I felt every step that took me farther away from Miko and Nad, and closer to my fate, the space opening up between us.
How many women had been brought to Tradrych now? It was clearly enough that they weren’t able to keep tabs on all of us, or who owned who. Once the women had given birth, they were sold on, like I was about to be, or thrown into whore houses for other Trads to do as they pleased with. When they fell pregnant again, they would be transported back to the facility to give birth, and the process would repeat over, until the woman was either no longer able to carry their spawn or died. We weren’t far enough into this process for it to be happening in that cycle yet, but, if we didn’t do something, that was what would happen.
We entered the marketplace, and I reared back at the heat and volume of sound.
I’d never seen so many Trads in one place. The marketplace was a massive circular room with a curved glass ceiling. At one end, a stage took up a large portion of space. Above us were galleries, where people—the Trads with wealth at their fingertips, I assumed—sat overlooking the stage. The rest of the inhabitants of the city of Vrale gathered in a throng in
the main arena. Vendors sold food and drinks out of carts they pushed between the Trads, or from crates strapped around their massive shoulders. They called their wares over the top of all the other Trads shouting to each other. It was like a wall of sound, and I wondered how there was any possibility of Trads calling out bids for the auction when they had to compete with this kind of racket.
The others had said it was okay for me to appear scared, and I was thankful for that. I wasn’t sure it would have been possible for me to have looked any other way. My entire body trembled, right down to my internal organs, as I gazed over the massive crowd of Trads. They’d been intimidating when I’d only had to deal with them in small groups, but seeing them all here like this, hundreds, crowded among each other, was insane. That they were all male didn’t help matters. I felt their gazes alighting on me with hungry intensity. They weren’t only massive, horned aliens. They were male aliens, all of whom had been starved of sex for many years, and who knew they could fuck any one of us now, if the price was right. I was sure Aleksy knew what he was doing, but surely, he couldn’t be certain that Borys would be the one who’d bid the highest for me. What would happen if another Trad bought me? Would Nad and Miko come and get me?
I wished I’d thought to ask these questions when we’d still been in the transporter. It was too late now.
Aleksy kept me wedged hard against the front of his body as he pushed me through the crowd and toward the stage. I was grateful for his dominating presence, but I knew it wouldn’t last.
Several guards stood in front of the steps leading onto the stage. I wondered what their role was. Was it to keep the woman on stage or to keep the sex-starved Trads away from us?
“Got another one for you,” Aleksy called out to them as we approached. “Should fetch a pretty penny.”
Their lascivious stares crawled all over me, and I tried not to shudder.
Aleksy’s voice came hot behind my ear. “You’re on your own now. Good luck.”
The Tradrych Strain- The Complete Series Page 14