by Lily Thomas
“Oh, it’s more than just artificial insemination.” The woman winked at her like it was awesome news she was passing along. “I had sex with the Vrak’rir who got me pregnant.”
“Oh no!” Natalie shook her cage bars as she felt the blood drain from her face. “I’m not being forced to have sex with anyone!” She screamed at no one in particular, but assumed they’d be listening and watching if this was an experiment.
“You won’t be forced.” The woman across the way laughed like she was daft. “You’re just presented with… the opportunity.”
Natalie still didn’t like the idea of this situation. She wasn’t ready to be a mother, but that was assuming they were even allowed to keep their children.
“So, we’re basically breeders for these people.” Nothing but flesh and blood incubators.
“Yeah.” The woman sucked in a shaky breath, as she clutched her stomach.
Natalie’s heart went out to her. Even if she was forced to become pregnant with an alien child, she still couldn’t imagine having it taken from her. And this poor woman in front of her was probably going to have to face it soon, since she looked close to popping.
“If they took you, it might mean they already have a match for you.”
Natalie’s lip curled. No one was getting between her thighs for an experiment.
“Does the same alien man sleep with all these women?” If so, he was one lucky guy. Maybe he even signed up for this, but that didn’t strike her as Vrak’rir style. She didn’t know much about them, but they were a mate species, which meant he wouldn’t want to be spreading his seed willy-nilly.
The woman across the way gave another belly-shaking laugh. “No. Some of the species they use only sleep with their mates, like my Vrak’rir. He’d never sleep with another woman, and he told me there are plenty of other alien men in another corridor. They even have alien women for human men.”
“How come no one has heard about this?” Natalie was amazed this type of thing could be going on. Then again space was big, and it was hard to make sure everything that went on was legal.
The woman shrugged, as she shifted on her feet. “It might be a new thing, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t really have anyone who would miss me. My fiancé is probably happy about my disappearance.”
Natalie opened her mouth and then closed it. Was there anyone who would miss her?
Probably, but would they notice? She had a tendency to drop off the grid from time to time, and she worried no one would think to look for her until it was too late. Her parents didn’t even know she’d gone on this trip and she had no idea what’d happened to her friends. They might not even be in a situation to look for her.
So… she guessed she should prepare herself to meet a stud of sorts. Her skin crawled as she imagined all the alien species she could be paired up with. What if she was paired with a Slidiuean? They had yellowish skin that looked like it was melted cheese and a bunch of tiny horns on top of their heads. She wouldn’t be able to let someone like that touch a single hair on her head.
Natalie raised a hand to her head and massaged her scalp with a couple of fingers. The headache was disappearing, but slowly. She felt like she was about to pass out. She’d only just got her life back under control, and now she’d been kidnapped. She wanted to scream in anger, but that wouldn’t do anything other than cause a raw throat and annoy her nearby cell mates.
She tried to look on the bright side, but she wasn’t able to come up with anything that cheered her up. Sure, they might not be sharing the same alien stud, but that didn’t really cheer her up at all.
Why couldn’t she be back at home? She’d recently accepted a new job where she worked in an office filing data away. It was good work, paid well, and allowed her to sit while she did it. Nothing better than sitting while working.
“I can’t believe no one knows about this.”
“No one will until they decide to tell, because from what I can tell they are government officials. They don’t need to tell anyone about anything they do until they want it to come out, assuming they ever want to let it out.”
Natalie looked over at the other woman. “Excuse me for being rude. I’m Natalie, and you are?” Time to make some friends. Friends were always good in this type of situation.
The woman sent her a warm smile. “I’m Veronica Marsh. Sorry about calling you an idiot earlier.”
“No problem.” Natalie waved it off. She didn’t have time to get offended, especially when she wanted to make friends around here.
“No,” Veronica shook her head of red curly hair, “it wasn’t fair of me. I hadn’t even bothered to get to know you before judging you. It can be overwhelming when you first get here. It wasn’t like you knew what was going on, and I should’ve been sympathetic.”
She shook her head. “I’ve been called worse, trust me. So, what are we supposed to do while we’re caged away?”
“Unfortunately, there isn’t too much for us to do, but every once in a while, they let us all out to talk with each other out in the hallway. It’s the only chance for some of us to really stretch our legs.”
“And you’ve been here for about ten months?” She was going to go crazy, if she was left in this cage for ten months straight, especially if she had a growing stomach. “Wait until I get out of here and tell the HFS about this.”
“HFS?” Veronica’s face scrunched up in confusion.
“Yeah, the Humans For Separation organization. They don’t believe in human alien interactions, if you get my meaning.”
“Oh.” Veronica tapped her chin with a finger. “Hmmm, they don’t sound like people I’d want to know.” Veronica frowned. “I’m a firm believer that we’re better off being a part of the universe than sticking to our own little sector of space.”
“But they might be a good group to come to our rescue and prevent this from happening again,” Natalie argued. “I may not agree with everything they say, but I think aliens and humans shouldn’t breed so easily and without concern. It’s a bit reckless, in my mind.”
Veronica shook her head, her fiery red hair swooshing around her shoulders. “Maybe it’s because I have a Vrak’rir mate, but I think having an alien as one’s partner isn’t such a horrible thing.”
Natalie raised an eyebrow. Clearly, she wasn’t about to convince Veronica this wasn’t a good idea and Veronica wasn’t about to convince her that mating with aliens was a good idea. There were unknown complications.
“But I do think breeding us as an experiment is wrong.” Veronica conceded. “I would be happy to see this facility burn to the ground.”
This interbreeding was a new thing, and no one knew what was going to come of it. How would any of these children be accepted into human and alien societies? It was just not something fully explored. And the human group HFS wasn’t the only group. There were several alien groups who didn’t want their species’ blood being diluted by other species.
She was born and raised on Earth, and she believed in at least keeping some humans pure of blood. If they kept hooking up with aliens, then wouldn’t they be breeding themselves out of existence? Or was that just the way of the future?
Natalie wasn’t ready to get impregnated, and she was ready to fight tooth and nail to stop it. She didn’t want a baby with horns or claws.
Don’t get her wrong, she was more than happy to have alien friends, but that was different than starting a family with one of them. Then again, she didn’t really have too many alien friends since she’d lived most of her life on Earth. Not many aliens were allowed on the human home world. Aliens were thought to be dangerous, and they had to go through several hoops before being allowed on Earth.
“So… this Vrak’rir of yours, what do you think of him?” She had to gather more information.
“Oh, I have no idea.”
Natalie cocked an eyebrow. “But you slept with him.”
“We met only once, and he must have got me pregnant on the first night, b
ecause they never let me see him again, and then this started to get bigger.” She pointed to her stomach.
“How horrible!” Because it was. They’d set them up only to tear them apart! It was crueler than cruel.
“But he was wonderful for that one time we were together. He was sweet, yet strong and formidable, and I enjoyed being held in his arms.” Veronica’s voice took on a dreamy quality. “It was the one time I felt safe here.”
Her skin tingled as she imagined being set up with a fierce Vrak’rir. Veronica might describe hers as sweet, but that didn’t mean all Vrak’rir would be so kind. From what she’d heard, the mated species could go a bit mindless when presented with their fated mate. Another shiver ran through her. Please, don’t let it be some crazy strong alien man.
At least, Veronica looked in good health. It was one positive thing for her to focus on. The people here might be experimenting with human alien hybrids, but at least they were taking care of their flesh and blood incubators.
For now, she’d have to bide her time and wait for an opportunity to escape. Because she refused to stay here and be a content captive. She was going to escape if it was the last thing she did.
Chapter 3
After what could only be a few days, Natalie felt like she was going nuts. The only thing to do was sleep and talk to the women around her, but the only one she was able to see clearly from her cage was Veronica, and they were running out of things to discuss.
This might be a “gilded” cage, but it was still just a cage, and she was ready to bust out. Not to mention, she feared what might become of her.
“What happens once you give birth, do the scientists end the experiment by getting rid of their test subjects? Or do they just get you pregnant again?”
Veronica shrugged. “I have no clue. I guess we’ll find out once I give birth.”
“Yuck. I couldn’t imagine being a constantly pregnant lab rat popping out babies left and right.”
“You don’t want children?” Veronica asked surprised by her vehemence.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Natalie raised a hand in the air, “I want to have children at some point in my life, but I’d rather it was my choice and the children were raised with two loving adults rather than cold as fuck scientists.”
The sound of a door opening and closing reached her eager ears. Natalie raced over to her cage bars and peered out but whoever had come into the hallway wasn’t in view yet.
Then she saw them. Two human women in crisp white uniforms with tablets in their hands.
“Hey! Over here!” She yelled at them, but they ignored her. “Hello?” She stuck a hand out of her cage and waved it at them.
They walked over to a woman’s cage completely ignoring her and held up an electronic scanner of some sort, took notes and then moved on to Veronica’s cage. They seemed to take great interest in her bulging stomach.
“She’s eating all her food, but we should increase her protein a bit more. I’m not liking these readings on the screen.” One scientist leaned in to point out her screen to the other.
“What’s wrong with me?” Veronica held her stomach protectively, but they didn’t answer her. They didn’t even look up to acknowledge her.
“Vrak’rir babies are used to a lot more protein, and this baby appears to be no different.”
The other nodded as she took down notes on her tablet. “Interesting.”
“Hey!” Natalie hollered at them getting fed up with them ignoring her and Veronica. “She asked you a question about her child! You should have the decency to answer her.”
Slowly, they approached her cage.
“Let me out. I never signed up to be someone’s guinea pig and birth human-alien hybrids!”
They ignored her and scanned her through the bars of her cage out of arm’s reach. Otherwise, she would’ve tried to strangle them.
She covered her breasts even though she was clothed. She had no idea what that device did, and she didn’t like the idea that it might be some sort of see-through-clothing device. Although that might be her active mind running away with her.
One of the scientists was familiar looking.
“I know you.” She pointed at the scientist with glasses and brown hair. “You were there when I was drugged.” When she thought she was experiencing a dream.
No response.
“Don’t ignore me.” She fumed, but the scientists didn’t even spare her a glance.
Then they left without a word.
She felt a mass of emotions crawl up her throat and choke her. How could they just ignore her? Where was their sympathy and tenderness towards another living being?
“I’m not breeding with an alien!” Natalie screamed after them. It was probably fruitless to pretend to be this strong, but she couldn’t help it. If she gave up her strong exterior, she knew she’d break down crying, because damn it, this was crazy weird.
Another day passed, and Natalie felt close to ripping her hair out. The anticipation of what was to come scared her. She wasn’t ready to be with an alien. She was an Earth girl through and through.
If she got pregnant with an alien hybrid that might have to change. She’d have to move to a colony, a place where her child would be better accepted.
A mechanical noise drew her attention to a corner of her cell, where a gun like thing descended from the ceiling.
“Ready to meet your stud?” Veronica called out from behind her.
“What do you mean?” Panic rose inside her chest as her adrenaline spiked. The gun turned to face in her direction.
A dart shot out of the tip of the gun, nabbing her in the neck, and she collapsed onto her knees right before the ground rushed up to meet her face.
Natalie’s vision started to blur, as she watched scientists unlock her cage door and walk into her room. A stretcher was brought in. They laid it down next her and then a couple of men picked her up by her shoulders and feet, and they rolled her onto it. Black dots danced across her vision.
Were they going to bring her to her stud while she was drugged like a meal on a plate? Natalie wanted to let out a whimper, but she was too far gone, and her throat made no sound. Within a few more seconds, she passed out on the stretcher as the men carried her out of her cell and through the corridor.
Dryke wanted to burn down the building. How dare they capture him and lock him in a cage like an animal. Fisting his hand, he whammed it into one of the three metal walls of his cage. Each wall was littered with indentations from his fists. The first day he’d been captured he’d let his rage loose on the walls. There were even a few scratch marks where he’d scraped his black claws across the shiny surfaces.
He was a Vrak’rir and anger management wasn’t one of their strongest abilities. He wasn’t used to being in such a defenseless state. Whoever took him had stripped him of his weapons. All he had left was his brute strength and his wickedly sharp claws.
He glanced at the fourth wall. It was built out of bars of metal. He wanted to bust through them, but he restrained himself from trying. They weren’t going to budge if he couldn’t break through the metal walls.
Dryke needed to save his strength for whatever might come, because he wasn’t too sure why someone had decided to kidnap a Vrak’rir for such a stupid experiment. They were breeding half breeds, but that would mean they’d have to have his mate in their clutches and he doubted they were able to do that.
He’d been searching the universe for her since he was born, and he’d never even had the inkling of her existence. If a Vrak’rir couldn’t find his own mate how could a group of humans?
Growling he let out some steam.
“Good to hear you finally gave up!” Someone called out. “Damn racket was beginning to annoy me.”
Dryke let out another growl. He didn’t need to be sassed by someone else in the same predicament.
“Calm yourself.” Another Vrak’rir said across from his cell.
“I’m doing my best, Strux, but I’m beginni
ng to lose my mind.”
“It’s for the best to keep our heads.”
“How can you say that?” Dryke growled. “You were mated to a human, and then they took her away, and you haven’t even seen her for months.” Maybe they would find his mate. He paled. He couldn’t be stripped away from his mate after having her lush body because he was sure his mate would be curvalicious and addicting.
“I realized it wouldn’t do either of us any good if I raged around my cell. They haven’t gotten rid of me yet, and I still hold out hope I will see her again.”
Dryke could see hope shining bright in the other man’s onyx eyes, but he had his doubts any of this would come to a happy ending. They’d be in here for the rest of their lives or until the program was ended, and then they’d all probably be killed, because why would they let their test subjects out to let others know what happened?
He rested his head against the bars of his cage and looked at the corridor on the other side with longing.
“As long as they don’t expect me to impregnate a woman that isn’t my mate, because that isn’t happening,” Dryke growled as his jaw clenched in frustration.
“They found my mate. I’m sure they’ll find yours.”
He might be eager to get his hands on his mate but he sure hoped they didn’t find her. He wanted to spare her and her unknown face from this situation.
“What do you want your mate to be like?” Strux asked striking up more of a conversation. Dryke didn’t blame him. It got really boring standing in the same cage day after day. It was a miracle neither of them had gone insane yet.
Dryke shrugged. “Does it matter?”
Strux shrugged back at him. “Ever since I was a child I dreamed about what she’d look like.”
“And your mate? Was she everything you hoped for?”
“And more,” Strux confirmed. “I only wish I’d been allowed to see her more than one night, but I guess my seed did their job after that one night of lovemaking.”
“She was receptive to you then? A human?”