Her Alien Captor: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Alien Pirates Of Cania Book 1)

by Zara Zenia

  “She’s right, you know,” Nor said, chuckling to himself. “You really shouldn’t have come. But here. I am a man of my word. I promised to release your mother,” he said, shoving Naela so hard that she fell to her knees with another sharp curse.

  “And now for the rest of the deal,” he said, pulling a hidden blaster from his tunic. Devron didn’t have enough time to react. He saw the blaster pointed at her and shouted.

  “Melody!” he cried. She turned to see him but didn’t have time to follow his line of sight before the bright pulse of blue light fired from the end of the blaster. Devron dove, but the heat of the plasma blast hit Melody the same time he did, and the smell of burning flesh tore a ragged, desperate scream from his throat.

  The guards didn’t wait for Nor’s order to close in to drag him away from Melody’s soft, limp body. His screams did nothing to slow them, nothing to dull the raging inferno of pain. What was there even left to fight for?

  28

  Pain came first. Pain, then confusion. A bright light, stiffness in every muscle and joint, and the kind of dry mouth that normally only came from a night of excessive drinking.

  “Don’t strain yourself,” said a soft, familiar voice, comforting, though it hardly helped with the confusion.

  “It’s been a week. She needs to wake up. If it’s a strain, so be it,” said another, less familiar voice.

  Melody groaned, fighting the glue-like seal of her eyelids before they finally pulled apart.

  Directly above her were Sina and Devron’s mother, both alien women looking . . . unhappy. Canians were human enough that Melody could mostly tell that Devron’s mom was annoyed and impatient, but Sina? Melody had no idea what the Selithi woman was thinking.

  She did know that her body felt like it weighed a ton, that even breathing felt like an ordeal because her muscles were too weak to expand her chest.

  The bright light she’d seen through closed eyelids was sunlight streaming through a nearby window, also familiar.

  They were in the apartment.

  Melody’s memories of what went down when they met with Nor were fuzzy. But trying to recall that much suddenly reminded her of that fateful meeting.

  She’d been stupid to ever go along with Devron’s non-plan. Even dumber for thinking there was a hope of reasoning with Nor long enough to get a knife in his back. The guy wasn’t stupid, and he wasn’t leaving any openings. He wasn’t even playing fair.

  All at once, everything rushed back to Melody. She remembered the shot, Devron calling out to her, the blinding pain as blackness enveloped her. But Devron wasn’t by her side now, and the tug of the Omega bond deep within her told her he wasn’t anywhere nearby.

  It was there, though. Which meant he had to be alive. That bond died with the Alpha, according to Sina.

  Was she hoping for him to make it out of this alive now?

  The fuzz in her head was too thick to wade through, but there were more pressing matters at hand than sorting through her feelings—if they could even be called that—for Devron.

  “Did you say a week?” she asked incredulously, trying to pull herself up to a sitting position. Her arms wobbled and faltered under her weight, and there was a stabbing pain in her shoulder that took her breath away, making the whole room spin as cold sweat sprang to her forehead.

  “I told you not to strain yourself,” Sina chastised, moving closer to the bed. She slid one reptilian arm behind Melody’s back and helped rearranged her on the pillows. “Will you be still now?” she asked, her bedside manner leaving a little something to be desired.

  Melody started to shrug, but the gesture sent another bolt of lightning down her arm and she cried out.

  “Suit yourself,” Sina scoffed, throwing up a clawed hand in defeat.

  “What’s going on?” Melody asked, turning to the Canian woman. It seemed more likely that she’d get straight answers there, but she wasn’t sure she’d like them.

  It was odd to look at the woman. She looked so much like Devron, the same pale, moonlit features, pointed ears, and pale eyes that were somehow fire and ice all at once, but there was an added hardness in her eyes. Lack of attraction, Melody figured. Hormones were a hell of a drug. She could attest to it.

  “Now is not the time Naela,” Sina muttered under her breath. “She needs more healing.”

  Melody surprised them all by growling under her breath, but the alien women didn’t spare more than a sideways glance for her.

  “Naela, is it?” Melody asked, trying a different tact.

  Devron’s mother arched a finely-sculpted brow at her.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Melody,” she said, feeling a bit foolish for the way the introduction sounded. “I’m, uh . . . well, Devron’s my . . . um—”

  “I know what you are,” Naela spat, every syllable laced with venom. “The Frenzy isn’t what I ever wanted for Devron. He didn’t deserve that curse, but I sure as hell don’t agree with the way he went about dealing with it. He knows better than to—”

  “He was desperate,” Sina argued in his defense. With no one there to speak on Devron’s behalf, she felt compelled to. Speaking ill of someone when they were not there to stand for themselves was the lowest form of cowardice, in her opinion. “Illness can cloud even the clearest judgment.”

  Naela scoffed again. “No excuse,” she said. “I wasn’t always the best mom for Dev, but I know I raised him better than that. I’m sorry you got mixed up in this. He never should’ve gone after what was Nor’s.”

  That was where Melody couldn’t agree with Naela anymore.

  “If he hadn’t, I’d be Nor’s Omega instead,” she argued, the words leaving a bitter taste in the back of her throat. Naela looked sick at the thought too, turning a shade paler than usual. “I’m not super-excited to be his slave or whatever pretty word you want to put on it, but I know Devron’s not the worst option out there.” Melody couldn’t believe she was defending him. She couldn’t believe she was making excuses for him. His mother’s judgment rubbed her the wrong way, though. Someone needed to say something to her.

  “Where is he?” she followed up, throat tightening around the words. She could tell from the bond that he wasn’t close, but he could be on patrol with Gaddis for all she knew. It didn’t have to be disastrous.

  “Nor has him in captivity,” Naela said.

  Shit was the only word that flashed through Melody’s mind over and over again.

  Why was she so upset?

  It should be a relief to her, her chance to get out, to get away from Devron without the bond interfering or pulling her back. And yet . . .

  She couldn’t turn her back on him after everything. Naela didn’t have to go into the gory details. Melody knew what ‘captivity’ meant, torture, unimaginable pain, being broken to within an inch of his life. She didn’t like what Devron had done to her, but he hadn’t done anything bad enough to warrant that treatment.

  “He has to set an example,” Naela continued, her lips a tight, thin line. “Stealing can’t be tolerated, but stealing an unimprinted Omega for your own?” She swallowed thickly, shaking her head. “I don’t imagine it’s been a fun week for him.”

  Melody’s stomach turned and twisted.

  A week.

  “How did I lose a week?” she asked, failing to hide her annoyance. That was too much time. Devron had been suffering all along, and what were they doing here? Looking at her while she slept?

  “You’re lucky you didn’t lose your life,” Sina growled, enough of an animalistic predatory sound to momentarily startle Melody into silence. “Naela dragged you back to the cruiser and auto-pilot delivered you both here. Egeon’s aim is poor, or his blaster needs calibration, but either way, you narrowly avoided a fatal wound. Nevertheless, the trauma of the injury and the energy needed to heal, even with the assistance of our technologies, left your fragile body demanding rest. There was no rousing you.” She added the last bit almost apologetically.

  “He’s n
ot dead,” Melody said to the other two matter-of-factly. She’d just realized that they couldn’t possibly have the same deep-down certainty that she did. They were probably much more worried about him. She was worried, and she hated that he was enduring whatever Nor could cook up, but she knew he was breathing. It was something.

  Naela’s silvery eyes snapped up, locking with Melody’s.

  “You’re sure of that?” she asked, barely louder than a whisper.

  Melody nodded, and even that twinged in her shoulder. She didn’t know if it was the pain from the injury or from a week without moving, but either way, it didn’t feel good.

  “I can still . . . feel him. God, that sounds stupid,” she grumbled, shaking her head and dropping her forehead down into her hands, ignoring the pain that lanced down her arm.

  “It’s not,” Naela reassured her. “That’s how the bond works. That’s good. That’s good information. Thank you,” she said, her scowl partially dissolving as her posture relaxed.

  Had she been worrying about her son’s life all week?

  No wonder she was cranky about Melody taking her time to wake up.

  “So, what are we going to do?” Melody asked, graciously accepting the water offered by Sina. She felt like a raisin, a sponge dried up in the sun.

  The water worked its magic quickly, though, seeping into every cell, rehydrating and bringing her back to life. While she enjoyed the water, Sina and Naela exchanged a look across the bed.

  “What?” Melody asked skeptically. “What’s that look for?”

  “We don’t have a plan,” Naela explained.

  “But no one would blame you if . . . if you decided not to take part,” Sina finished tactfully.

  “What?” Was it the sleep-fog, or were they really not making any sense?

  “Melody, you owe him no loyalty,” Sina said, surprising the hell out of her.

  “He was going to trade you to Nor for me,” Naela added, bitterness in her tone.

  It started to make a bit more sense to Melody.

  “He wasn’t,” she told them, explaining how she’d agreed to go along with it until there was something better.

  Naela still looked skeptical. “He didn’t come up with a better plan, though. That’s my Dev. Best intentions, but when it comes to the results?” She clucked her tongue and shook her head.

  Melody didn’t point out that she was a result of one of his ‘plans’.

  “Still,” Melody argued, completely at a loss for why she was so adamantly defending him, “he’s the one that Nor’s got captive. Not me. He kept his word.”

  “So you’ll help us release him?” Sina asked, her patience for the back and forth waning.

  “No way I could live with myself if I didn’t,” Melody admitted. “What are we going to do?”

  Naela looked her over, her expression thoughtful.

  “You any good with a blaster?” she asked.

  Melody frowned. The thing that nearly killed her? She’d always been pretty anti-gun back on Earth. Jobs came with enough risk without throwing in that kind of margin for stupidity. Not to mention the far heftier sentence that was attached to any crime committed with a weapon.

  No thanks.

  But for Nor?

  Well, Melody figured she could probably make an exception.

  “I’m a fast learner,” she admitted, getting a chuckle out of Naela. The older woman patted her on the leg, nodding firmly.

  “That’s the spirit. Finish healing up, and we’ll start lessons tomorrow. I’ve got some calls to make,” she said, nodding to Sina before letting her eyes linger on Melody once more. Melody fought the urge to squirm, feeling like it was a test of some kind and she had to stay still to pass.

  Finally, Naela turned and left the room, leaving the air a little lighter behind her.

  “I’m so happy you’re awake,” Sina sighed. “That woman is . . . difficult.”

  “I picked up on that,” Melody joked, cracking a smile at her friend.

  It was odd to think of Sina that way now, but what else could she call her? They were friends. As nervous as that made Melody, she was just going to have to find a way to accept it and deal with it.

  29

  By the time Melody woke up the next day, the apartment was full of voices she didn’t recognize. Whatever medicine Sina had given her left her feeling groggy and out of it, but when she went to move her shoulder, most of the pain was gone. It was still stiff, no doubt, but she didn’t gasp in pain every time she moved.

  It wasn’t just sounds that filled the apartment she and Devron had shared for months. There were smells, too. Delicious, enticing smells that pulled her out of bed like a cartoon character. The door creaked when she pushed it open, and the voices died down, only the sound of sizzling on the stove chasing away the silence.

  “Melody? How are you feeling?” Sina asked, stepping away from the stove, her forehead wrinkled with worry.

  “Fine,” she answered, flexing her arm in demonstration. “What’s going on here?”

  The voices that were unfamiliar to her belonged to two Canians—one spindly, lanky, and long, the other a bit stouter, face more wrinkled than any other Canian Melody had ever seen. Gaddis, Sina’s mate, was also crowded into the small space. It was tight with the six of them, but no one seemed to be all that uncomfortable with the close quarters. No one but Melody, at least.

  “Breakfast,” Naela answered as Sina pulled a big pan off the stove. With Gaddis’s help, they brought the skillet to the table and set it in the middle for everyone to serve themselves.

  “Smells good,” Melody answered, squeezing in with the rest of them even though there wasn’t much space. She was too hungry to care about bumping elbows. She felt like she hadn’t eaten in a week—probably because she hadn’t—and whatever this dish was, it smelled heavenly.

  She figured Naela was testing her—or at least hazing her a little—and she wasn’t going to give in. She could wait out the explanation for what was going on. They wouldn’t keep her in the dark forever, and outright asking a second time only gave Naela the power. Melody was no stranger to these games. She didn’t like playing them. She’d honestly had enough of pointless power struggles to last a lifetime after the last months with Devron, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t.

  As Melody heaped her plate with the steaming rice-like dish, one of the Canian strangers made a face, looking between her and Naela. It was the stouter, older one. He wore his silvery hair pulled back in a loose braid, and while he waited for his turn with the serving spoon, he drummed his fingers on the table.

  “Captain Naela called us in to help with her son,” he finally said, turning to Melody with a friendly little grin, his shoulders slumping slightly like that withheld information had been weighing on him. “Jorwon,” he said.

  Melody frowned. Was that some kind of alien greeting?

  “Mabav,” said the spindly one, raising his hand.

  Names, she realized.

  “Melody,” she said, nodding to them both. “Nice to meet you. ‘Captain’ Naela—you’re from the mining ship?”

  Naela’s eyes widened a bit, and Melody couldn’t stop herself from wondering what that meant. Did she not expect Devron to have shared bits of his life with her? Was that unusual between Alphas and their Omegas? There was so much she didn’t know about the alien world and its cultures that navigating this conversation was a veritable minefield.

  “We are,” Jorwon said, smile twitching a bit more. “Been with Naela for decades—since the beginning, more or less—and watched Dev grow up. No way we’re gonna let anything happen to him.”

  “He’s lucky to have friends like you,” Melody said, her chest tightening. Bad guys didn’t have people jumping to rescue them, did they? It was hard for her to think of the guy who’d kidnapped her and basically enslaved her as anything but bad, but Devron made it difficult. He had all these people ready to jump to his rescue, even her, after everything. How bad could he be?

&nbs
p; All the glimmers she’d seen, all the little things that made her wonder if he was someone she could really like, not just chemically like, seemed to be confirmed in that moment. It wasn’t just his mom wanting to save him, nor just the neighbors he’d only known for a short time who could’ve been fooled by his charm. These were people who had known him his whole life.

  Like Jodie was for her back home.

  Her stomach twisted again.

  Was Jodie that kind of friend? Would she jump at the chance to break Melody out of jail?

  If anyone would, it would be Jodie, but Melody wasn’t sure she had any friends who were that loyal.

  “Is there a plan, then?” Melody asked, directing the question to Jorwon instead of Naela. Devron’s mother didn’t seem entirely pleased that her crewman was being so candid and open, but she also wasn’t peeved enough to stop him. If anything, she was somewhat amused.

  “Breakfast first,” Naela said with a sharp look to Mabav, who was about to say something. He ducked his head and tucked into his plate.

  The food was everything Melody had hoped for from the smell. It was spicy, meaty, hearty, and delicious. She had no idea what any of the items were, but she ate every bite on her plate and then asked for seconds.

  She was the only one with a second helping on her plate while the others cleared their places. Normally, it might have made her feel a little self-conscious, but after spending a week in a sickbed with no solid food, she couldn’t care less about being a pig.

  “So,” Mabav said, sitting back down at the table and lacing his long, thin fingers together, “I was able to find someone who might be of interest to us.”

  “I’m listening,” Naela said, also taking a seat, her brows raised in interest.

  Jorwon slipped into the chair beside Melody and leaned over to whisper, “Mabav is our intelligence expert. He knows all—or knows how to find who does.”

  Mabav puffed up with pride before Melody got the chance to ask what a mining ship needed with an intelligence expert. Once she saw how proud he was, she couldn’t bring herself to mention it.