Tenderly, he kissed my forehead.
I was his treasure. Until the bitter end.
10
Talis
The fetus would be growing by now. I had never felt my knot before, but the feeling was stronger than anticipated. Never in my life had I expelled so much seed in one woman. I had no idea how her body would take it, which meant that I needed to stick by her throughout the process.
I could sense Mia’s fear. The harsh reluctance she had felt for days was only growing. This wasn’t a good sign, especially now that she was bearing child. It was in my DNA to make sure she was safe, but we were stuck in this godforsaken ship. Luckily, I had a plan that would not only save her life but save mine in the process. It would get us out of here, and we could start anew in a place that was free.
“We can find a new home,” I said.
“We’ll talk later,” she said.
Her reluctance was contagious. It was written all over her face. This place was a ticking time bomb, a space shuttle that had slowly turned into its own wilderness or strange metallic habitat. It was time to witness the fracture, the break between two leaders, Cade and Juliana.
I saw the screens showing the extreme bloodshed. The process of unfolding had already begun.
I didn’t want to think of the mess we were walking into, but space madness was like a virus that spread throughout a crew. One person flips. Then another. More follow until the whole line finds their own set of manic habits. I couldn’t let her fall into it like the others.
I took Mia’s shoulders and forced her to understand. From above, the screams had started. For a while, we didn’t acknowledge them. Along with the pounding against glass, they grew even louder. Some of the inmates were trying to escape. Did she understand how dark this was yet?
“Earth is dead,” I said. “You might be the last ones to make it. But everyone else? They are acting like animals. They’ve lost their goddamn minds.”
She looked at me intensely and pulled away. “I can’t leave them all behind. I can’t betray the crew.”
What else could she do? I admired her loyalty, but it was not what we needed right now.
We walked down the hall, and the lights were starting to flicker. The ship had been slowly shutting down power this whole time, and now, they were on their last engine thrusts.
Pretty soon, we’d be walking in complete darkness. The people frozen within their chambers would die. All hell would break loose.
As we got closer to the cafeteria, it was pretty clear that hell had already been invited inside. Things had begun to set in for Mia. Her eyes widened. “What have I done?”
But her outburst wasn’t just a minor annoyance to her. I could sense that it was indicative of her distrust, something she had slowly built over years of combing the darkness. “Fear and betrayal work hand in hand. Use it to your advantage,” I said.
The more I walked near her, the more I saw how capable she was, how understanding she could be toward a situation that should have broken any woman, omega or beta. She had conviction, and she had learned to take orders. She was a leader.
Had she not been pregnant, I would have beaten her into submission. She hadn’t learned how to fully submit, how to stand tall behind her man. She would have to someday soon.
Finally, we rounded a corner and saw the quarantined cafeteria. My heart stopped, but Mia ran with excitement toward the automatic doors until she saw what covered the windows.
Blood. It was everywhere. It was not the thick puddle one might expect, nor the occasional handprint. The walls were covered with a thick mist of blood, as if multiple people had suffered blows to their skulls.
As I got closer, I caught a true glimpse of the destruction inside. Food and trash covered the floors. Nearly all the appliances had been thrown to the decking, broken as much as they possibly could be.
I pressed my head against the glass and let out a course predatory growl. All of the bodies inside had been dismembered and slaughtered, torn and left out in full display. There was no rhyme or reason to this violence.
In the center of the room was a bright red apple. A single bite cut through the top.
It was as I thought. Chaos had started to spread. “I will enter and search for Juliana’s body,” I said.
The gore didn’t faze me as I knew it fazed her. I had seen worse. Mia wiped her tears from her face and denied me access. “No. I’m calling the search off,” she said. “I’ve got a new plan. A better plan. We get off this ship. We just go.”
“Cade is somewhere near,” I said, sniffing the air. I could smell the bastard. He was closer than I originally thought.
Turning, Mia looked down another hall. At the end of this one was a small garden. The door had been left open.
“Don’t,” I said, stopping her. “He’s close. I’ll go inside first.”
“You don’t need to be a hero,” she said. “I’m not frightened.”
I refused. This place was now a nightmare, and the only way out of it was to be careful. I had instincts she didn’t. I could scent like no other animal. Despite our last fight’s ending, I was positive I could break this man in half.
The garden itself was brightly lit and overgrown. However, the plants were starting to decay, albeit slowly. I stooped down in the center of the room to take a look at a tomato that had started to fold in on itself. Not far away, another half-eaten apple sat on top of a small crate. No doubt, Cade had been in this room.
I hunched near the plants and searched for any more unusual signs. A few footprints here and there but not much else I could find. I glanced back at Mia and shrugged. “Nothing. We need to head to the cargo hold. We can get the batteries I left and get the fuck out of this place.”
But just as I was about to exit the room, the power to the ship turned on. My eyes widened, and I felt a new sense of urgency take control. “No,” I muttered. “Fuck no!”
Mia sensed it, too. She screamed and ran toward the shutting automatic doors. “Run—”
But her voice cut off as soon as the doors closed in front of me, cutting us off from one another. The bastard nearly took off her hand.
Mia hit the doors hysterically screaming, but her voice was muffled behind the glass. I put my hand on the glass in defeat. Cade knew we’d be back to free the crew. He knew one of us would be stupid enough to enter the garden. And now he had me trapped like a bull in a pen.
“Mia, it’s okay,” I said, keeping my hand against the glass. I was waiting for Cade to come around the corner, but he didn’t. Instead, I heard a hissing sound whizz from above, followed by the cold mist of gas. A thick fog started to fill the room.
Looking for a way out, I held my breath. I tried to remain stoic and strong but couldn’t see shit. The poison coursed through my veins, shocking me to my knees. I tumbled to the floor, unable to search for a safe place to land.
Not only was the pain incredible, it paralyzed my nervous system. I turned irate and confused, rolling like a dying insect, but even those movements stopped as a deep weakness sank in.
I strained to see and could barely get a look at Mia’s silhouette. The mist slowly dissipated, and the power shut off, rocking the starship hard. I fell lifeless onto the molding vegetables, barely able to move, breathe, or do anything.
At least I bred her. It was a strange last thought, but it allowed me short relief. She would get her child.
Wearing a gas mask, Cade walked through the plants without care. Every step he took came with the deep impact of his boot heels in the soil.
I was injured, but I wasn’t dying. A large halo ran across the flickering lights. As I looked into Cade’s eyes, I reached out for mercy. He met me with a stiff kick to the gut.
One last pump of adrenaline managed to get me on my knees again. ”Mia,” I growled. She needed me. I promised her that I’d protect her. We were supposed to get out of this hellhole together.
“Don’t make this harder on yourself than it has to be,” Cade said, voice m
uffled by his mask. He leaned down and removed the breathing device. Looking directly at Mia, he placed his heel against the top of my head, pushing down with all his weight until my cheek hit the soil. She just kept screaming.
He tied my wrists and ankles together, making sure the knots were firm enough before moving on to checking the rope. “It’s only precautionary. Your body will heal, but I need to keep you from attacking me.”
When I was completely incapable of fighting back, he slid out a large black body bag and was able to roll me in.
The bag was just big enough to fit two bodies, as well as a monster like me inside. Any other species would have just killed me. There was more to this.
I breathed in the scent of the leather bag, feeling the heat rise around me. My senses were dull, and I couldn’t move an inch. I closed my eyes and tried to remain calm, but my system was growing wild with uncontrollable thoughts.
“Took you long enough to show up, Talis,” he said, smacking against the back the body bag. He lifted the front end and started to drag me out of the room. I could no longer hear Mia. My only hope was that she’d run to safety.
He knew my name. What else did he know?
If Mia had her own mission to take on, Cade did as well. He knew too much. And now, I was going to pay for my sins.
Even the ones I was hadn’t yet committed...
11
Talis
“Wake the fuck up.”
A strong whip shot against my back. Leather grinding into my flesh, the heavy knots coursing into me, I dropped forward and spat blood.
“I said, wake, son.”
Heavy accent. Tattoos. His body was skinnier than I remembered. He had a lot to prove. His mind was weak, but he appeared as confident as ever.
Humans and their egos. It was no wonder their leaders weaponized their people with emotion.
He had fight in him, but he was no fighter. He hadn’t acquired any skill worth bragging about, and he wasn’t even as capable as a dog. He was a cheating predator, a low-level human being. He was a snake, a Trojan horse waiting for any opportunity he could find. Well, he’d found one, and it might have worked out had I not had a child and woman to protect. He was barking up the wrong tree.
If Cade hadn’t ambushed me in the garden, I could have ruined him. In a fair fight, I would have cut his legs off and watched him hop around the ship like a leper. I would have relished watching him suffer to death.
“I’m up,” I barked, adjusting to the light. I knew where we were now, at least. We were in what they kept calling “solitary.” I was shut inside the small space within the airlock, forced to stare at the endless space landscape.
“I could easily open this thing. It would kill us both instantly. At least, I think. We seem to share some characteristics,” Cade said.
“Don’t do it,” I said. “You’ll suck us both out.”
“It’s good that you’re awake.” Cade circled me. I blinked and woke up some more, realizing he had hung me up to dry. My wrists were chained to the ceiling. My legs felt too weak to stand on.
In that bag, I would have been powerless. I was starting to feel my strength again. Even if I was still chained, there was a chance of escape. I just didn’t like the odds of him opening the door to space.
“Guessing you came for that bounty,” I muttered.
Cade paused and laughed. He whipped me a few more times, splashing my blood onto the wall. Like a hunter, he was testing the boundaries and growing more arrogant as things went his way. But the difference between Cade and I was I processed information faster, and I always remembered an enemy’s face.
Finally, he moved back, dropping the whip onto the floor. He picked up his next tool, a bloodied crowbar. He held it up to the light so I wouldn’t miss it. With his other, he grabbed an aluminum can of some unknown substance. With confidence, he taunted me. “You are one fucked up monster.”
I was better than him. I was stronger in body and mind. I wasn’t going to give him the time of day. “I am not as vile as you, Cade Fryer. I’ve read your reports.”
“And what did they say?” He stood tall, proudly waiting for me to list his accomplishments of terror.
“Above all else, the reports say you got caught,” I said. “They said that you were too stupid for your own good, that you had to be locked away for so long due to your absolute incompetence. A true shame.”
Cade turned deep red. He shook and seemed taken aback. He had me completely subdued, so he was supposed to hold all the power. But it didn’t matter how capable he thought he was. Mia was my mate. I would break free and get her off of this ship safely.
“Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll rape the bitch,” he snarled and raised the can high into the air.
I lunged forward, chains holding me back from tearing the flesh from his face with my teeth. “You touch her, and I’ll make sure to take you myself. You maggot, you rat, you festering wound.”
Immediately, he sprayed my face and eyes, leaving me paralyzed and screaming in pain. The chemicals worked on me quick. I fell in a heap and let out a beastly cry, weakened and pathetic.
He tossed the can on the floor. “Roach spray,” he declared. “The best money can buy. Who would have thought it worked on aliens, too?”
It was difficult to speak, but I managed to croak out a question. “You brought a can of roach spray into space?”
He swung the crowbar against my back, and lay, breathless and worried. ”It’s a pretty penny, that bounty,” Cade said. “Now, what I want to know is what you did to put that kind of a reward over your head?”
“They killed our families,” I roared. “They killed all of them!”
Another blow to the back. My flesh turned hot. My defenses were on high, and I wasn’t giving up, no matter the pain. It took me a good minute, but I picked myself back up, inch by inch. I stood on my feet and grinned.
“Calm down,” he muttered. “I’m not going to kill you, yet.”
He turned and sat back against the wall, tossing his weapons to the side for something different. “This bottle,” he said, “is a human killer. Whiskey.”
A joke of some sort, but it didn’t compute. He took a big swig and relaxed, but his eyes made him look completely unhinged. Taking one more drink, he sighed loudly and held out the bottle. “Go on. Take some. It’ll loosen you up.”
“How’d you know about the bounty?” I asked.
Smiling, he pulled the bottle back and shrugged. “Not thirsty? Okay, fine. That’s more for me to enjoy.”
I breathed through the pain, reserving my energy. “I asked you a question.”
He drank until his lips quivered unnaturally. Then, he started to open up. “With a crew like ours, the program was doomed from the start. Anyone with half a brain could understand that,” he said.
I’d poured over the flight logs, seen all I needed to know. None of the convicts were qualified to carry on their race’s legacy. But Cade thought he was different. He had a plan. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t bring me any comfort. “If you knew it was going to fail, why did you sign up?” I asked.
“I was their special recruit,” he said. “I guess I proved to be of some use to them.”
“Who?” I asked.
He laughed. “Seriously? You can’t take a guess?”
“Your planet’s government,” I muttered to myself.
“Government? They started phasing that out a long time ago, when they realized they wouldn’t be able to provide. Climate and shit,” he said with a smirk. “No, I’m talking about the people on top. They tried to find a way out. They started all these programs. There were talks of portals. Men and women built worlds to form new realities. The Internet was utilized, but it led to too much information. Information is chaos. It’s a disease. None of the experiments panned out for the bastards. They couldn’t fix their mistakes, and I was just more proof that their guesses were less than subpar. They told me they’d send my ass away forever. For what I did, they should have
. Humans... anywhere we end up, we’re doomed to fail, just like this mission.”
“Still doesn’t explain how you found out about me,” I said.
“C’mon, alien. This isn’t some grand conspiracy. Everyone has something they’re running way from. I found out about your plight by doing what I do best. Like a predator, I learned from you. Saw you as soon as you came in through the cargo bay. There are cameras all around this place. Helps pass the time.”
He stood and reached into his pocket. Stooping down close to me, he pulled out a small tablet and waved it in front of my eyes. He was so close that I could bite his throat, but I knew where that screen came from, and the sight of it caused me pause.
It was my identification tablet. I was going to discard it. “They’ll kill you. They won’t give you shit in return for me.”
“Maybe,” he said, pacing. “Maybe, that’s not what I want.”
“You can’t have her,” I growled.
“I always take what I can’t have,” he said. “Just like you.”
The dance was over. I was caught. Caught by a measly fucking human. And yet, he had done a good job. Perhaps, I should have congratulated him.
“We are nothing alike,” I said.
He raised a brow. “You came for the girl, didn’t you?”
“I came because my ship ran out of fuel,” I protested.
It didn’t matter what I said. He wouldn’t believe my best intentions. I didn’t know there would be a suitable mate stationed in this dump. I had no idea who I’d meet down here.
He kicked my ribs and rolled me over, chains still holding and twisting my arms into the air. I panted and spat more blood. It was no use. I couldn’t keep my past from coming up, even if I tried. And every fucking time I thought about Mia’s unbridled beauty and innocence, the more I knew I couldn’t keep lying to her.
He was right. I was a bad man, a worse man than she thought. I had killed so many men during the Sankarian invasion, but I had my excuses.
Seed: A Dark Sci-Fi Omegaverse Romance (Alpha Unknown Book 2) Page 8