Caged by the Alien: A Scifi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Titan Empire Book 2)

by Tammy Walsh

  I watched in horror as Cik-A ran as fast as she could, knowing there was no chance she was going to escape. She couldn’t allow them to capture her. I’d seen what their TV shows were like. I imagined they had some very… innovative ways of making prisoners talk.

  “The second team is heading into the building now, toward the tracking device,” Quus said, speaking into the camera. “We’ll split the screen so you can watch both live streams at the same time.”

  The armed Changeling team rushed into the building, covering one another as they took one hallway after another, closing in on the tracking device.

  And still, my machine on the desk hadn’t made so much as a peep.

  Cik-A turned another corner.

  The shuttlecraft descended. It didn’t even set down as the Changeling soldiers abseiled to the ground and hit it running. They took after Cik-A.

  The team in the building turned down a hallway. The tracker was in the next room. They approached it carefully.

  The Changelings cornered Cik-A, who had nowhere else to go. She raised her rifle and clutched a remote detonator in her hand. The Changelings opened fire.

  My machine bleeped, making a loud high-pitched noise like an old fax machine.

  Inside the building, the soldiers turned a corner and lowered their weapons at the room.

  Cik-A danced as her body was riddled with plasma fire. She pressed the button on the detonator and she exploded, knocking the Changeling soldiers back on their asses.

  At the same time, the tracking device in the room detonated, taking the closest four members of the Changeling team with it.

  And my machine came to an abrupt stop.

  I had just watched myself die.

  No one was happy to see the soldiers die. Not even the Changelings. They could care less if a Yayora had died but Changelings were not supposed to die, especially not on air.

  It was a hollow victory, one I felt had been too expensive to pay. The soldier shouldn’t have died.

  Not for me.

  When I saw Cik-A press the detonator and watched as the fire enveloped her body, I was reminded of Chax consumed by his wreath of flames.

  “Well?” Grandpa said. “Did we get it? Did you track down the Control Room’s location?”

  I couldn’t focus.

  They had a right to know what the sacrifice of one of their soldiers had bought them, but I couldn’t recall how I was supposed to know the answer to his question.

  I glanced at the details on the machine’s monitor. A string of numbers that made up coordinates.

  “Yes,” I said distantly. “I have it.”

  Grandpa and his generals erupted into cheers of jubilation. With how many Yayora the Changelings had killed over the years, I supposed a single death in exchange for the means of their destruction wasn’t such a high price to pay.

  But it was for me.

  Because I was meant to be the one that died.

  Unable to face their cries of excitement any longer, I turned and ran.

  I bolted down one hallway after another with no idea where I was heading. I was immediately lost.

  Good. That was the whole point.

  “Maddy?” Stari shouted as she chased after me. “Maddy? Hold up!”

  I came to a dead end. I turned to run in another direction and slip past Stari when she held her arms out to either side, cornering me. I tried to dart past her but she moved, lightning quick, and snatched me in her arms. She held me close as I struggled to escape.

  “Calm down!” Stari said. “Calm down! We know the Control Room’s location thanks to you!”

  “No!” I yelled. “It’s thanks to Cik-A! She gave up her life. For me! No one should ever have to die for me!”

  “She died for all of us. Thanks to her, we stand a chance against the Changelings now. We can beat them.”

  But it wasn’t only the soldier’s death that played on my mind. It was someone else’s…

  “He should never have died for me!” I said. I no longer struggled, but Stari didn’t relax her grip. “He never should have been taken from me!”

  I burst into tears and pressed my face to her uniform.

  “Sh,” she said, gently running her fingers through my hair. “Sh. It’s all right. None of this should have happened. But it did. And now we have to come to terms with it.”

  “Why did he have to die?” I said, tears streaming down my face. “Why did he have to be taken and not me?”

  Stari held me close. She had tears in her eyes too and she could barely bring herself to look at me.

  “You really love him, don’t you?” she said. “It wasn’t just an act for the cameras. It was real.”

  My heart was in my throat and I could hardly breathe.

  “Yes,” I said. “I loved him. We were going to spend the rest of our lives together.”

  And now he was gone. Torn from me.

  I did my best to pretend I was getting over him, pretend I was ready to begin again.

  But it was too painful.

  I couldn’t bear it.

  “What if I were to tell you he was still alive?” Stari said.

  What was this? Cruelty? Maybe she was a Changeling after all.

  “Listen to me,” she said. “What if I was to tell you he didn’t die in that explosion?”

  “What do you mean?” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.

  Stari checked over her shoulders and took me to one side. She lowered her voice.

  “I’m not supposed to tell you this,” she said. “Grandpa… He thought you would be better off not knowing. They all did. And so did I.”

  “What? What are you saying?”

  “He’s alive,” Stari said.

  Her big yellow eyes pinned me in place.

  “We thought you might not help us if you knew the truth about him,” she said.

  My heart rate slowed. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. But I would believe it. I was too hopeful not to.

  “I would have helped you even if he was still alive,” I said. “It doesn’t matter about that.”

  “That’s not the truth I’m talking about,” she said.

  Her eyes moved between mine and she looked like she regretted telling me the truth. But it was too late for her to back out now.

  “What?” I said. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. Just so long as we can be together again.”

  “Maybe not, after you hear what I have to tell you.”

  A weight sat heavy in my chest. It only got heavier as she told me the truth.

  Chax

  I paced my cell. The pain tore up my legs and across my back in a fractured lightning bolt. It was excruciating but it was nothing compared to the pain of never seeing Maddy again.

  I replayed the shuttlecraft scene over and over in my mind. We’d come so close to freedom. Was there something we could have done better? Was there something we could have done to improve our chances of escape?

  I ran through hundreds of ideas, slotting them into place and pulling them apart again, to figure out a better way through the assault course we’d traversed to reach that ship.

  Not that it mattered.

  We failed and there was no way to change the past.

  I wouldn’t be heading back to the surface. It was more than a small relief. No matter what the Yayora chose to do with me, it could never be worse than what the Changelings had done.

  The Changeling “siblings” were in the cell next to mine. The Yayora grabbed them the moment Maddy and I left the dilapidated barn. It was a chance to glean some much-needed inside information, I supposed. Not that the siblings would ever talk. I would have bet my life on that.

  Klang lay on a cot with his arms behind his head. His legs bounced in time to a tune only he could hear. He had a distant smile on his face that made me feel sick to my stomach.

  Trang performed press-ups off the wall, rolled, and landed in a squat to keep herself in good shape.

  In good shape for what? I wonde
red.

  They were locked up in a secret Yayora base and would face the crimes they committed against not only the Yayora but the countless others they’d killed over the years.

  And still, they were smiling.

  I didn’t like the look in their eyes. They seemed so calm, so at ease, so in control.

  I didn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.

  What did they have to be so positive about?

  They held a secret. Something that would allow them to win in the long run, even if they were in a losing position right now.

  But what was it?

  They were dangerous and crafty, the way all Changelings were. I needed to tell someone what I suspected, even if I didn’t have any evidence to back it up.

  I knew the Changelings better than most.

  The Changeling siblings were up to something.

  I just couldn’t figure out what.

  I shifted to thinking about Maddy recovering from her injuries. Soon, she would be heading back to her homeworld. I pictured her reuniting with her friends, living happily, and finding someone worthy of her love, someone who could give her the life she deserved.

  Not me.

  I didn’t deserve her.

  Not after I betrayed her.

  I insisted on receiving regular updates on how she was doing. She took the news of my death as well as could be expected. I couldn’t imagine how painful it must feel to lose the one I loved most in the entire galaxy.

  According to the reports, Maddy stayed in her room for the first couple of days. When she came out, she was ready to undertake her mission—a crucial one the Yayora had risked everything for.

  It pleased me to know she was doing something to help them. If she succeeded, she could give the Yayora the chance they needed to overthrow their conquerors and destroy them.

  Then they could begin the long, hard process of rebuilding their civilization. I hoped they wouldn’t forget the lessons they learned during their fifty painful years of incarceration within their own planet.

  Right now, somewhere up on the surface, Maddy’s plan would be going into effect. I was only glad she wouldn’t be the one put at risk.

  Did the Yayora have the firepower to overthrow their oppressors? I didn’t know. But they would try.

  The door at the end of the hall opened and my stomach grumbled. It was lunchtime. I was starving. Healing fast required a great deal of energy. I smiled as Stari entered. But she didn’t carry trays of food.

  She was probably bringing news about Maddy, I thought. She’d tell me whether or not their mission had been a success.

  My smile faded when a second figure came marching into the room.

  She’d lost a little weight and her eyes were red-rimmed and sore. She glided on long strides and her chin was high.

  Klang wolf-whistled and made loud kissing noises.

  “Well, hello beautiful,” he said to Maddy. “How about you come over here and give me that pert ass?”

  “I wouldn’t mind a piece myself,” Trang said.

  Their comments went ignored.

  My mouth felt dry. I never thought I would see her again. In fact, I engineered the situation so I would never have to see her again.

  It was hard doing that to myself—to refuse to lay eyes on the most beautiful creature in the galaxy, to refuse to let myself touch and be with her…

  It was for the best. Much better for her to think I was dead than to learn the truth.

  She drew to a stop in front of my cell.

  I couldn’t meet her eyes. I longed to gaze upon her but I couldn’t do it. I scanned her body out the corner of my eye, never daring to look at her directly.

  She shouldn’t be here.

  I turned my body away from her, keeping the worst of my injuries facing the back wall. I even kept the worst of the facial scars on my left cheek from her.

  Was it just me or did my cell feel like it’d shrunk to half its regular size?

  “Is there anything you need?” Stari said.

  “Take her away from here,” I said. “She doesn’t need to see me like this.”

  Stari ignored me and remained looking at Maddy.

  “Open the cell door,” Maddy said.

  I stepped forward and stabbed a finger at Stari.

  “Don’t you dare!” I said. “We made a deal!”

  “Yes, well, I made a new one with Maddy,” Stari said. “Computer. Open the cell door.”

  The door hissed open. I backed away from it, so far my back met the wall.

  “Looks like the big man is afraid of the little girl,” Klang hissed to his sister.

  “Is there a way to block the other cell out?” Maddy said.

  “Only the sound,” Stari said.

  “Do it.”

  “Computer, mute the next cell.”

  The Changeling siblings yelled and shouted. They would still hear the noises they made but we couldn’t. They banged on the partition wall with their fists. That sound was blocked too.

  “Do you want me to stay?” Stari said.

  I don’t know why she asked her if she wanted her to stay. I was the one that needed protection.

  “No,” Maddy said. “You can go. I’m safe with him.”

  Stari frowned at me. She’d never been very warm with me but now she was downright frosty. She marched out of the room.

  The door hissed shut.

  It seemed very quiet in that space.

  Too quiet.

  Even with the Changelings waving their arms, morphing into our body shapes, and trying to distract us and get our attention, I felt like we were alone.

  And I was terrified to face this woman alone.

  I had lied to her. Several times. Even before we met, I came fully stocked with lies.

  “Look at me,” Maddy said.

  I refused.

  “I said look at me!” Maddy repeated.

  It wasn’t a yell or a scream. It was a command. That, combined with my own selfish desire to look upon her, overcame my will. I couldn’t fight it any longer.

  I had to look at her.

  I shifted my eyes up slowly. I looked her over in one piece at a time.

  I began with her feet. How small they were, and yet how strong. When we ran from Iron Hoof at the farm, she kept pace with me every step of the way.

  Then her long luscious legs. I recalled them vividly wrapped tightly around me. So soft, and yet so firm.

  Her torso with those perfectly-sized breasts that I’d nibbled on for hours. And still, I knew I would never get enough of them.

  And her long lithe arms that hung at her sides, her hands balled into fists that might launch at me within the next few minutes.

  Then came the hardest part.

  Her beautiful face and the expression it harbored.

  Her face was pale and drawn. Her luscious plump lips should have been vibrant and alive with passion but were now pressed together in a firm line. A frown blotted her forehead in consternation, and in her eyes, oh, those gorgeous glimmering gems, was the piece de resistance.

  They shone with a pain, an anger, and intensity all her own. I hadn’t seen that look on her face since I first turned up in her room. A day that felt like a lifetime ago now.

  Her true emotion was cloudy and overcast, difficult to ascertain. Anything I tried to read into it was nothing more than what I was projecting onto her. I emptied my mind of thoughts and tried to read her expression.

  She was angry. But she was also confused. And she cared. A lot. She wanted to know what was going on.

  I wondered what Stari had told her and how much I could get away with not revealing to her…

  No, I thought. No more running from the truth.

  Maddy deserved to know what had happened and why I did what I had.

  Maddy approached my cell door. She watched me closely, her eyes taking in every detail.

  I turned my body as she came closer. I didn’t want her to see me. Not like this.

  She st
opped at the cell door and peered at the line that delineated the room she stood in and my cell. There was a look of deep thought on her face.

  “Don’t come in,” I said. “Please.”

  She considered my response for a moment before ignoring me completely and stepping in my cell.

  I was caged, trapped. Nowhere for me to hide or escape to.

  She appraised the interior of my cell. It was bare. I hadn’t personalized it. The only things I had of any value were tucked away safely in my mind and I couldn’t exactly pin those to the wall. I wouldn’t even if I could. They were personal, private moments. I didn’t want to share them with anyone.

  She stepped closer and still didn’t say a word.

  I didn’t know how she would react next. She might unleash her anger on me, beating at me with her clenched fists. I wouldn’t even try to protect myself.

  Or she might just stand there, staring at me, her pain drilling into me harder than anything she could dish out physically.

  “Why did you tell them not to inform me you were still alive?” Maddy said.

  I couldn’t bear to face the pain in her eyes. Pain I had caused. I looked away.

  “I didn’t want you to see me like this,” I said.

  “Like what?”

  I turned my face toward her. There was no avoiding her now.

  “Like this,” I said.

  I gauged the look in her eye as she looked me over. Her eyes ran over the burns wrapped around my chin and across my cheek.

  She reached up to touch my face, but I pulled away.

  “Does it hurt?” she said.

  Agony. But being away from you hurts more.

  “It’s fine,” I said.

  “You’re as handsome as you’ve always been,” she said.

  A hot wad formed at the back of my throat.

  “It really doesn’t bother you?” I said.

  She shook her head.

  “The only thing that matters to me is you’re alive,” she said.

  I smiled, but the warmth didn’t return to her face.

  “But that’s not the real reason you avoided me, is it?” she said.

  The hardness returned to her voice.

  I scanned her face, looking for hints about how much she knew. Stari knew almost everything. Could she have told Maddy?