by Roxie Ray
But to my dismay, a closer inspection of Bria’s paperwork provided more questions than it did answers.
“Completely fabricated. All of it.” Haelian growled with frustration as he worked at one of the consoles in the bridge. He had run all of Bree-ah’s handler info and references through our database of known vendors and coordinators, one by one. As each turned out to be a dead end, the scent of his frustration had filled the room all over again. “Her handler, as far as I can see, does not exist. Nor does the healer who completed the human female’s psychological evaluation. Everything up until she arrived at the auction house for processing—it is all fake. I cannot corroborate any of it.”
“Blood,” I snarled. Now, I was the one who could not keep my rage in check.
“Blood nothing, Kloran.” Leonix stepped between Haelian and me, a sneer on her lips. “Or have you not yet realized that all of this is your fault, General?”
I opened my mouth to roar at her, but my voice would not carry up through my throat.
There it was again. The shame.
I had been so desperate for her to be the one who would save our race, I had not bothered to check any of this before her purchase. As general and captain, it was my duty to select the breeding slaves we brought aboard the ship. My duty to verify that their paperwork was in order. And while Bree-ah’s had appeared to be, had I simply run her information through our databases as Haelian had just done—
“How dare you blame him in this moment?” Haelian snapped. He grabbed Leonix by the shoulder and turned her to face him. “These people fooled the auction house. It was their job to perform thorough background checks on the slaves, far more so than it was General Kloran’s. Any one of us could have made the same—”
“No.” I placed my hands on both of their shoulders, separating them. “No, Haelian. She is correct. While the auction house may be at some fault, she is on our ship now. I took her fate into my hands when I chose to purchase her. The responsibility of this lies with me. As does the regret for what I have done.”
I hung my head for a moment, then pushed away. A good leader, my father had always said, knew when to own up to the wrongs that he committed. A good leader took the blame, then dealt with it using his strength, the resources at hand, and most of all, a level head.
Unfortunately, a level head was something I did not possess in that moment.
“I was the one who should have double-checked her paperwork. I was the one who brought her aboard this ship, anyway. Worst of all, I was the one who pushed to have her taken down for testing. Even though we had our doubts about the validity of her paperwork, I simply told our specialists to ensure they explained the procedure and asked for her consent first. I did all of this in the hopes that she might finally be the female whose womb could bear our seed. But it was all error after error in judgment just the same.” I stared out through the front shields of the ship into the stars as they passed us by, the metallic tang of regret heavy on my tongue. “And now, I must set this right. We must track down the snakes who abducted her, and we must make them pay for their crimes.”
“And the slave trade commission? Should we alert them of what has happened here?” Leonix looked at me expectantly as she hovered over the communication panel.
I took a deep breath, then shook my head.
“It is what they would wish for us to do, I know. But if they were to incorrectly determine that we are to blame in this, that this was not simply a mistake…” My heart thudded in my chest, hanging heavy as if it were made of lead. “We cannot risk being barred from continuing to purchase females for testing. Already, two of our last acquisition have proved to be nonviable—”
“Three,” Leonix corrected me. “The third ended her cycle of heat earlier today as well.”
“What?” This was news to me.
Leonix gave me a small shrug of disappointment. “I thought that you knew. But to hide this from the commission…are you sure that is wise, General?”
Before I could reassure her, Haelian stepped in for me.
“We have no other choice. There is too much at risk to leave this in the commission’s hands.” He turned to me, chest puffed out and head held high. “As you said, we must track down these predators ourselves, General. I wish to request the honor of lead for the team who will do so.”
Gently, I nodded. This was a dangerous endeavor, but there was no one I trusted more.
“And what of the human female?” Leonix asked.
I sighed. “We cannot keep her here against her will. It goes against everything we believe in. I suppose…we have no choice but to find some way to return her to her home.”
“It will not be easy. But finally, General, you have made a decision I can agree with.” Leonix nodded gracefully. “Shall I wipe her memories and begin searching for a transport ship?”
A pang shot through my chest. A mind-wipe would be painful for Bree-ah. Worse, it would remove all her memories of her time here. In some ways, that might be a blessing. She would not recall the fear she had suffered, the confusion, the sensation that she was somehow unsafe.
But in kind, she would also forget me. Despite her short time aboard our ship and our limited interactions, I had obviously developed a fondness for Bree-ah, one that I still struggled to justify or explain. She was beautiful, our ridiculous little female. Fiery, even through her fear.
There was no other option, though.
“She has seen too much here for us to return her home with her memories of this place. Earth has no knowledge of life beyond Earth, as far as she knows. It is best if we return her as she was before her abduction.” I clenched my jaw, shoving down whatever emotions were welling up within me. The scent of my sorrow welled up anyway, though.
To my surprise, Leonix gave me a sympathetic look.
“I believed she could be the one too, General. Her body is most like ours out of all the species we have encountered so far. Do not think that you were alone in your hope.”
“Then have some quarters prepared for her. She is not a breeding slave. She should not remain in her bio-cell. We no longer have need to monitor her beyond routine check-ups to ensure that she is of good enough health to return home.”
“Of course. But…” Leonix and Haelian shared a meaningful look. “It could take some time to arrange for her transport back to Earth. We are already too far off course, and not many vessels venture to her galaxy.”
I narrowed my eyes and looked between them. “What are you two scheming?”
Haelian tugged at his collar, then shrugged. “In my research, I have learned that human women are not that different from Lunarian women in…many ways.”
“They feel attraction, Kloran. Sexual desire, too. Some sources indicate that, ah… both human desire and sexual pleasure may even enhance the likelihood of conceiving a viable child. We could be wrong, but—”
“If the human were given time to connect with someone, seeing as she is no longer to be confined to her bio-cell,” Haelian added.
“I do not know if it is possible. Obviously, should transport be arranged, it would be cleaner for all of us if she was returned home unharmed, with no memory of this place. But…” Leonix gave me the flicker of a wry smile. “Perhaps we should not rule her out completely, yet.”
I did not see myself as a clever man, but even a dullard could have connected those dots. Bria was not a breeding slave, which meant that she was no longer sexually untouchable if she was so inclined to act on her own urges. And if Bria were to become sexually attracted to a Lunarian warrior…
There was a possibility for mating, and following that, a possibility that she might get pregnant in a more…traditional manner.
“The two of you are geniuses.”
“You need not flatter us, General.” Leonix arched an eyebrow, looking smug as she left to arrange Bree-ah’s new quarters. “We already know.”
I felt a small smile begin to spread on my own lips at the way this new plan had radiated warmt
h through my chest. Bree-ah would still be cared for while she was under our protection. Now, she would have the ship to roam through at will. And since she was considered a slave no longer…
She could be romanced. Mated with. Possibly even bred.
But then a rogue thought swept through me, leaving a snarl on my lips and a growl in my throat.
I could not begrudge any warrior among my men the chance to mate with her, if Bree-ah wished for it. But all the same, if anyone else so much as looked at the human woman with lust or longing…I did not know that I would be able to stop myself from what I might do to him if he did.
8
Bria
I didn’t know what I’d expected General Kloran to say—but I’d expected him to say something.
He could have called me a liar. Screamed at me again, snarled and shook his fist and stomped his feet. Maybe, since he’d apparently been trying to play Mr. Nice Guy, he could have actually acted like it. Wrapped me up in those big, strong alien general arms of his, cradled me to his chest like a little lost kitten. Stroked my hair. Held me close. Purred my name a little more—Bree-ahhh… Breeeee-ahhhhh…
I cleared my throat and blinked, stirring myself out of that fantasy as quickly as I could.
Okay, so I liked how he said my name. That didn’t mean I needed him to hold me. He had kidnapped me, after all…except, that he hadn’t.
Actually, from the looks and sounds of things, he might have actually been as blindsided by all of this as I’d been.
Still, imagining him holding me and trying to soothe me was…probably a little much. He hadn’t even made the slightest move to, for one. He’d just stormed out through the shimmer that he could make appear in the wall and left me here fantasizing about how ripped his abs probably were under his shirt.
But that was just those knock-out drugs still pinging around in my system, maybe. Normal drugs could screw up a human’s brain chemicals like that, depending on what they were. I didn’t see any reason why alien drugs would be any different. Or maybe I was still just in shock. When I saw how far the Milky Way was from the ship earlier, I’d outright fainted. Shock made sense, then. I wasn’t actually hot for General Snarly Face. I was just…out of sorts.
Who could even blame me for wanting a big strong man to cradle me in his arms after all I’d been through, anyway? I’d spent the last decade living with a man whose only idea of giving comfort was a stiff, unwanted kiss after a long session of thrusting where I mostly just spaced out. As much as I was trying to make light all of this, I knew that everything I’d been through was pretty dark. Joking around made it easier, but being held…
Yeah. After everything I’d been through, I could definitely see why I might be a little in need of a hug.
Not that I could ask him for one, of course, but hey—it was my fantasy. Within it, I could have whatever I wanted.
I wrapped my arms around myself, tempting myself by just imagining what it might be like to be folded up against the chest of…not the general in particular, but a man of his size and strength.
No sooner than I’d started, though, the shimmer appeared on the wall again. It made me flinch like an awkward teenager and my cheeks burned red.
Oh, no. If he walked in now, I was going to feel like I’d just been walked in on while masturbating or something. All things considered, I couldn’t actually imagine anything more mortifying.
That is, until I saw the female alien from before enter again. Actually, having her stare me down with her wary gaze while I showered again—that would have been the most mortifying thing of all right now.
“If you’re here to tell me that you guys are still going to try to impregnate me, you can leave now.” I pointed her back toward the shimmer that she had emerged from. I’d already decided that assertiveness might benefit me more than anything right now. The general had seemed perturbed when I informed him that I was not, in fact, a slave like he believed I was. There was only so much I’d been able to pick up from these people, but being insistent and straightforward seemed to have worked okay for me so far. “I already told General Kleenex that I’m not a breeding slave. Ask him yourself.”
The woman’s lips twitched into a thin, one-sided smile. Or maybe it was more of a grimace. It was kind of hard to tell.
“You do not need to fear, human. I am simply here to move you to a different room.” As if she could sense my apprehension about that, she was quick to add, “A room that you may come and go from as you please. As you have stated—you are not a breeding slave. It is ill-fitting to continue treating you like one.”
My heart fluttered with hope. “You’re letting me go?”
The woman nodded, giving that little hope in my chest its very own set of wings. “We are attempting to arrange for transport back to your home world as we speak. Until that can be settled, you’ll have your own quarters and free roam of the living spaces here on the ship.”
I had to blink a few times before that actually set in.
They were letting me go.
They were sending me home.
And when I got there…
I’d finally be free. For real, this time.
As soon as I was able to convince myself of that, I was quick to scramble to my feet.
“Well…thank you, then.” I dusted off my hospital gown and leaned forward, squinting and trying to make out the name tag on her jacket. It was perched above a few military-esque stripes and medals as well as a strange patch that looked like claw marks beneath a crescent moon. General Kloran wore a similar one on his own jacket, though he had way more medals and stripes than this woman. But the name tag itself was written in a strange set of symbols that I couldn’t even come close to deciphering. “Um. I’m Bria. What’s your name?”
The woman raised an eyebrow as I offered her my hand to shake, then ignored it completely.
Guess they didn’t shake hands on Luna-whatever, then.
“I am called Leonix. Lieutenant Leonix Dyoval of High House Dyoval.”
“Oh. Leonix? That’s a really pretty name.”
Leonix stared at me strangely for a moment. Then her skin turned a shade closer to red than orange as she waved the shimmer back into existence.
Blushing. She was blushing—she had to have been.
Well, that was…new. And kind of sweet, too, in a way. Leonix didn’t seem like the most emotional sort of person. As far as her personality went, she struck me as kind of a closed book.
But she blushed when I told her that her name was pretty. Just like General Kloran’s eyes had shifted to every color of the rainbow when he finally realized that he’d made a mistake.
She ushered me through the shimmer. This time, I happily moved through it.
These aliens blushed when they were unexpectedly flattered. Their eyes changed color based on their emotions. Humanizing wasn’t exactly the right word, but these little quirks about them made them feel more like…people to me, at least. And best of all, they had finally realized their error. They were sending me home.
Maybe these Lunarians weren’t so bad after all.
As Leonix led me to my new room, we passed nearly a dozen other members of her species. They were all different shades of orange, some darker and some lighter, and they seemed to possess every color of hair I could imagine, but they all had similar features. Their noses were flatter than human noses. They almost looked catlike in that regard. Their claws, eyes, and fangs, though—in that way, they reminded me more of wolves.
“Are you all from the same planet, then? General Kloran mentioned it, Lunaria…”
Leonix nodded. She didn’t strike me as much of a talker, either.
“You all look so much more similar to each other than humans, though. On Earth, we have so many different races…”
Leonix turned, her brow furrowing in confusion. “Ridiculous. You are all of the same race.”
“Oh. No, but we all have different colored skin, you see—” I was having to jog slightly to keep up wi
th her long, quick strides. My legs felt short and stubby compared to her long, slender ones. Just like being in Sector One all over again.
“Color does not matter. You are all humans to us,” Leonix said dismissively.
I respected that. It would be nice if more humans felt that way, too. But I could also tell that my idle chit-chat was starting to get on her nerves.
We spent the rest of the walk in silence until finally, she brought me to a black door with an arched frame and a slit down the middle. When Leonix waved her hand across it, the doors parted to either side, opening up into what I assumed would be my new room.
“Wow,” I breathed as I stepped into it. The room was three times the size of my cell, and best of all, the door looked like one I’d actually be able to operate. It was smaller than the master bedroom of Michael’s penthouse, of course, but that had never felt like my room. It had been his, and I’d been graciously allowed to inhabit it. Compared to the tiny, cramped apartment I’d grown up in in Sector Six, it might as well have been a mansion. “This is…incredible.”
“Your food articulator is here.” Leonix moved to a metal box that had been set into one of the walls of what looked like a kitchenette, complete with a sink and a small black towel hanging from a rack. It looked like we were jumping right into the grand tour, then. “Speak into it what you would like to eat. It has been fitted with a translator chip and will do its best to approximate what you desire—but you may have to experiment with it a little. The Lunarian diet varies a bit from yours, from what I understand. Your bedroom is through this door—” She gestured across the tiny living room toward another set of black doors, “—and the lavatory is through the final door. You will find clothes in the bedroom closet, as well as hygiene materials in the lavatory cabinet. If you need anything additional, you must come find me and I will do my best to provide them.”