by A. G. Wilde
He was looking still staring at her, unmoving, but even from across the cell, she could see the corner of his nostrils twitch.
“A mating partner,” the other Tasqal mused. “Another form of entertainment as good as any other.” His bubbly laughter came over the Jell-O and Piper gripped the billowy material she’d wrapped around herself as the horror of their words echoed in her mind.
“But, my pleasure, they won’t do it willingly.” She could imagine the female purring by the male’s ear.
“Even better. I should like to see them do it by force,” the High Tasqal grunted. “The best way.”
As the Ceqtaq stood slowly from across the room, Piper could feel herself shiver from head to toe.
He was big. Massive.
And he was dangerous.
They wanted her to mate with him? Whether she liked it or not?
She’d rather die.
Piper gulped.
Funny thing was, she would probably die if he tried.
Chapter Four
She watched him, too scared to move as he stood and looked at her. But again, instead of dashing over to her to do as his masters bid, he walked over to look up at the Jell-O thing at the top of the wall.
She swore she heard a snarl leave his lips—the first sound she’d heard him make since she’d entered the cell.
Reaching behind him, underneath his dark hair, his hands reappeared with something dark and triangular. And, with precise aim, the thing went sailing through the air to slice the Jell-O in two.
In the corner of her eyes, she could see the guards by the cell bars shuffle uncomfortably, obviously unnerved by what the Ceqtaq just did.
“I thought you checked him for weapons,” one barked.
“We did. There are no weapons in the cell,” another answered.
“Then what in Polvrak’s name was that?”
He was right. What the hell was that?
Piper squinted at the dark thing in the wall. It had sliced the Jell-O smoothly in two and lodged itself into the wall, creating a large crack where it entered the material.
It would be a great weapon, whatever it was, if she could reach it.
Maybe later.
For now, she wasn’t moving from the corner where she was.
At the moment, he didn’t seem too interested in her. Going around dressed in what looked like a white cloud while trying to jump to reach that thing was practically like using herself as a flag to wave at him.
There was some kind of disturbance outside the cell, which drew her away from her thoughts. The guards seemed a bit flustered again—something that appeared to be happening a lot.
In the little time she’d spent as a captive, she hadn’t seen the gator-guards seem so out of sorts.
There was only one reason for that.
Him.
He was looking at the guards as well, his eyes still unreadable, and Piper wondered what he was thinking. He seemed to neither be interested nor scared. In fact, he seemed to be mildly annoyed.
There was more shuffling and the guards stood at attention.
Soon, a High Tasqal came into view. If she wasn’t mistaken, Piper was sure it was the same one that had “bought” her. She couldn’t be sure. They all looked the same to her. Horrible, deep green, toady things.
“Open the cell,” it ordered and again the guards glanced at each other. When they didn’t immediately move, the High Tasqal seemed to glare at them.
Finally, one brave guard moved in front of the bars and unlocked the cell. The Ceqtaq cocked his head to the side but didn’t move. He was watching them intently and Piper found herself looking from them and back to him. Neither party moved. Actually, the only movement was a disgusting pulsing in the High Tasqal’s throat.
Grabbing one of the metal shock rods from one of the guards, it spoke. “I paid good coin for you, my precious.” Its mouth curved into something that resembled a smile. “You would do well to obey my wishes. I will treat you well.”
“Like your people treated the women of my clan well?” It was a voice she didn’t expect him to have. As a matter of fact, she didn’t have any idea what he would sound like, but a sexy, deep baritone was not what she expected from the man—alien—that had just snapped another warrior’s arm like it was a twig, dented metal as if it was straw, and moved as fast as something from one of those Alien vs. Predator movies.
Damn, she thought.
She was momentarily taken aback and only realized everyone had gone silent when she heard her own voice floating across the silence. She’d spoken aloud. Clamping her mouth shut, her eyes widened slightly, but it didn’t seem as if the other aliens had heard. Thankfully. Remaining in the shadows away from their attention was her best bet at survival.
The High Tasqal seemed to have gone pale, if that was possible, and its dark eyes flashed yellow for a second.
Again, its mouth twisted into what she assumed was a smile. “The past is the past. Your world has long been…protected from hunting.” The High Tasqal smiled wider and Piper watched as the Ceqtaq’s eyes narrowed to slits.
She could see the muscles in his arms tense and she braced herself, fully expecting him to do something vicious at any second.
Who knew? The cell was open. He could get outside and murder that green, diseased-looking thing.
A part of her hoped that he would.
“And look...” Suddenly, the High Tasqal’s eyes were on her. “...I have given you a female to...satisfy yourself with.”
“Go fuck yourself.” The words spilled from her lips before she had time to stop them or contemplate the consequences.
For a few seconds, no one said anything, then the low bubbly sound of the High Tasqal laughing floated around them all. Taking cue, the guards surrounding him cackled along.
She was slightly aware of her chest heaving as her breathing accelerated, and when she glanced at him, she realized the Ceqtaq was looking at her, studying her, but not in the way he had before. This look was different.
“Restrain them both!” The High Tasqal’s laughter suddenly ceased and the guards began moving immediately.
They entered, their metal rods pointed at the Ceqtaq as six of them surrounded him. The seventh guard stalked over to her while the High Tasqal stayed at the door.
It snarled, its long tongue protruding from its long snout as it came toward her.
Suddenly, it was big and bad again, not shuffling with uncertainty, because the Ceqtaq was surrounded.
It seemed as if these pieces of shit were just like the men she’d had the pleasure of knowing back on Earth. The ones that only had strength for women.
It grabbed her by the leg, not caring as she fell to the floor, and began dragging her toward the slab across the room.
As she struggled, her eyes locked with the Ceqtaq’s. Surprisingly, he was watching as she was being dragged, not seeming to care the least about the fact that he was surrounded with shock rods pointed directly at his chest.
No, he was more interested in watching what they were doing to her.
Luckily, the floor was smooth, but she was sure if there were any hard bumps, the guard wouldn’t have cared if she’d gotten a concussion or not.
Effortlessly, it lifted her into the air, ripping the billowy material she’d wrapped around herself in the process, and threw her on the slab. The thing was hard, but, luckily, the billowy material that she’d left there somehow cushioned most of her fall.
Chains appeared from somewhere in the wall and Piper’s eyes widened as she realized what the guard was about to do.
“No!” She tried to kick and scramble off the slab, her eyes on the cell bars. They were still open with only the High Tasqal standing there. Surely, she could run past him and...she didn’t know what would come next but maybe the universe would be on her side and she’d figure it out as she went along.
A sharp pain shot through her ribs as the gator-guard’s knee collided with her chest. Pinning her down, he secured one of h
er arms.
A guttural scream left her lips, the type of scream that didn’t come only from terror. It was the type of scream that bubbled forth from deep anger and desperation.
The gator guard laughed and grunted, obviously enjoying his dominance in the situation.
Soon, her other arm was also fastened.
She remembered this.
The chains were the same as the one they’d fastened around her neck after the auction.
They were the same type of chains she’d woken up and found herself restrained with.
They seemed to love their chains.
Fuck them.
As she kicked with the last of her energy, Piper felt some of the fight leave her as her legs were splayed and fastened.
There was nothing she could do.
She couldn’t fight.
Hell, she couldn’t even escape.
Things had just gone from bad to much, much, much worse.
* * *
“His turn,” she heard the Tasqal order. “Weaken him first.”
The guards grunted in the affirmative and the shocks rods lit up in unison.
Her eyes were locked with his, the Ceqtaq’s, and she noticed his jaws clench. Yet, he did nothing to stop what was about to happen.
Why wasn’t he fighting? He could fight them. He still had the option to escape. From what she had seen, he could take them and at least hurt them enough to escape.
The first shock hit him from the back and she watched his face contort slightly, then another connected, then another, and another.
He was strong, but not that strong.
Piper watched in horror as they kept shocking him over and over again till he collapsed in front of them on his hands and knees.
She was sure one of those things had the power of a hundred Tasers. How he didn’t collapse from the first shock, she didn’t know, but now that he was on his hands and knees, the guards seemed to take pleasure in that fact, continuing to shock him.
If they didn’t stop, they were going to kill him. And for what? Some kind of dick trip?
Did they even have dicks? Didn’t matter.
She’d seen enough death in the short time she’d been...wherever she was.
“Stop it!” She screamed at them. “Fucking stop it! You’re going to kill him!”
But they didn’t listen.
Instead, they laughed and continued.
The Ceqtaq raised his head and looked at her then, his face tensed by pain, and their gazes locked again.
She didn’t know what about that look, but there was something that tugged at something else inside her. As tears swelled in her eyes and she struggled against the chains, she screamed at them.
Fuck them.
Fuck this.
Her sister was gone.
Earth was gone.
And she’d seen nothing but cruelty. Felt nothing but pain...fear...anger.
Fuck them!
When they finally stopped, he was lying prone on the floor. The only thing that let her know he was alive was the slight rise and fall of his shoulders.
He was still breathing.
Still alive.
“You fucking pieces of shit,” she sobbed out.
They lifted him then, and brought his body over to the slab.
“Restrain him there,” the High Tasqal ordered.
The guards didn’t hesitate and threw the Ceqtaq’s body over hers.
The sudden weight knocked the wind out of her.
“Wait, you can’t put him on me! He’s too heavy!” Piper inhaled deeply, trying to catch her breath.
The guards snickered.
Disregarding her pleas, they fastened the Ceqtaq’s arms and legs in the same way hers were fastened...and left him there.
She couldn’t see them leave, but the sound of the cell bars closing told her they were gone.
Luckily, there was enough leeway in the chains to allow her to shuffle slowly from underneath the Ceqtaq, her wide eyes on him the whole time.
This wasn’t good.
This wasn’t good at all.
One moment, her plan was to stay as far away from the predator as possible and now he was on top of her…seemingly unconscious, but still...
What would happen when he woke up?
Chapter Five
Fuck, he was big. This close to her, she realized he dwarfed her.
She knew she was a mere five feet four but geez. His shoulders were massive and he was full of pure, hard muscle.
His eyes were still closed, but her heart rate increased as each second went by. He was going to wake up, and he was going to wake up soon. And then what?
She was sure she knew what the High Tasqal wanted. That part hadn’t been a subtle suggestion. And now, with the little covering she’d made over herself gone, she was stark naked again, and not to mention chained.
It wasn’t exactly going to be difficult for him to do what his master bid. He was chained on top of her after all and, despite that he seemed to hate their captors as much as she did, she wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t carry out their orders.
After all, what had caused him not to fight back and escape when he could have made an attempt to do so?
Trying to calm her breathing, Piper closed her eyes and focused on better thoughts. Thoughts of better places and of better times.
She and her sister, Callie, had taken their campervan to Yosemite Creek Campground. They’d been nomads. Living life free and enjoying every minute of it.
It had always been Callie and her; Callie had been the one blood relative she could rely on. Callie had always been there. She’d been the stable one. The one good with business. She’d been the one to plan all their gigs in bars, where Piper would belt out notes while Callie would take to the guitar.
It had been their life.
Calm and simple.
Travel. Sing in bars and small clubs. Earn enough to get by. Life had been without complication.
Callie had been all she had for as long as she could remember. They’d somehow managed to not be separated as they were tossed about in the system. Being a foster child had been hard, but Callie had always been there. Always been there to talk her down when her anger flared...been there when she cried...been there when she laughed. Because of Callie, she could survive.
Because of Callie, she had survived.
And now Callie was gone.
Piper gulped hard.
It was her fault, all of this.
If they hadn’t stopped in Yosemite because of her whining, they’d have never been abducted. Callie would still be alive. Everything would still be normal. And she wouldn’t be stuck under a heavy alien that was bound to slit her throat when he woke up.
A stray tear slid from her closed eyes and ran down the side of her face.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to shuffle further from underneath the Ceqtaq, but there wasn’t much space left on the slab. Half of her body was still underneath his and she wasn’t sure the chains would allow her to move more anyway. They were already biting into her skin from her stretching too far.
Movement to her right made her eyes fly to the Ceqtaq’s face, and she breathed out heavily when she realized his eyes were still closed.
Maybe he was still unconscious.
Damn, what was she going to do?
She was staring at him, her mind flying through the options she didn’t have, when his eyes suddenly opened, causing her to gasp audibly.
He blinked once but didn’t move.
Her heart jumped against her chest as if to say “bitch, I’ve got a mind of my own and I can possibly survive if I escape your doomed body” and Piper tried to scramble away from him, fully knowing it was futile.
“Don’t move,” he spoke, his gaze unreadable.
The two words made her freeze and she stared back at him, her chest heaving.
Why the hell did she feel like a guinea pig that was caught by a snake or something? Maybe because, in this situation, that was e
xactly what she was. She wasn’t sure she’d class him as a snake though. But he was definitely something just as dangerous.
“If you move, they will know I am awake.” His voice was so low, she was sure only she could hear what he was saying and she realized that was on purpose.
He didn’t want the guards at the cell bars to hear him.
Nodding slightly, Piper gulped.
With that, he closed his eyes again and Piper didn’t dare to move.
It took her a few minutes before her heart stopped its escape attempt and she was calm enough to contemplate the situation.
He didn’t want them to know that he was awake. Why? Because they would force him to do more vile things?
Did that mean he didn’t want to do what his master bid? Or was he doing it to protect her?
Rolling her eyes at herself, she bit her bottom lip.
Don’t be ridiculous, Piper. Why would he give a shit about you?
But as she glanced back at him, she couldn’t help but wonder the motives behind his actions.
He was clearly awake, she could feel his breathing pattern against her chest. Yet, he remained with his eyes closed.
“They will punish you further once I have recovered,” he suddenly murmured, as if he could read her thoughts.
So, he was doing this for her, but why?
That’s what she wanted to ask, but instead, she replied, “I understand. Thank you...Ceqtaq.”
“Crex.”
“Huh?”
“My name is Crex.”
Oh.
“Piper,” she whispered back.
He said nothing else and his eyes remained closed.
She was sure he knew she was staring at him. Yet, he didn’t move.
Regardless, the little exchange made her relax a little.
Crex.
Interesting name.
His body was warm, and though she didn’t want to admit it, the feel of his skin against hers was comforting...a bit like how skin-to-skin contact calmed newborn babies.
Taking the opportunity to study his face, her eyes roved over his features.
She was right about his protruding brow. It made his eyes deep-set and that was probably why his gaze was so unnerving.