by Pearl Tate
Perhaps Humans are more advanced than we realized? We must be ready to act with an apology to their people for the foolhardy way I approached acquiring my mate.
As I take a deep breath of her calming scent, I admit I’ll do anything to keep her.
CHAPTER FIVE
- Travek
“This doesn’t look good.” Gilip states the obvious as we’re pulled into the ground under a frozen terrain. The tunnel we’ve entered could fit the Discovery—it’s that large!
“Let me do the talking. It’s apparent she’s my mate, and I’ve come for her.” My face softens as I peek down at her again. She’s perfect even with the slight snore of her exhales.
“What if they don’t know that? Humans don’t mate, do they?” Sol is watching me closely when I meet his eyes. His turmoil is clear from the way his hair is undulating on his head.
“No, Hannah said they didn’t. But it’s clear we can with them. I don’t know if it’s their atmosphere that naturally blocks us or what, but it’s time they join the Coalition. This was bound to happen, eventually.” Sols nods at my logic, but Gilip’s eyes narrow.
“What if they immediately kill us?” He throws his hands in the air and stomps to the back. I hear the telltale click and slamming as he opens the lock-up.
“Don’t you dare get weapons! I can’t kill my mate’s people!” It's one thing to take her away from her family and something else entirely to start killing. What if we accidentally kill someone important to her?
His footsteps stomp back towards us. “You want us to go out there totally unprepared? What if they want nothing to do with non-humans?”
“I understand. Fine. But if they planned to kill us, they would’ve just shot us out of the sky. According to Hannah, they possess those capabilities.” Blowing out a breath of frustration, I stand.
Our argument stalls as our attention is pulled to what's outside.
We’ve slowed and large doors slide into the rock walls surrounding us. They’re pulling us into their hanger, although I don’t spot any other spacecraft. “Sol, you take my mate. I’ll go out and speak with them first.”
We watch a stream of Humans surround our ship with some kind of projectile weapons pointed at us. “Lower the hatch. Stay inside with her. I’ll negotiate to give them back the others and we'll just take her.”
It sounds so simple. So logical. But my heart is pounding, and I just want to flee with her.
Patience. I must represent Quasar diplomatically and not start a war. There's so much resting on how I deal with this. Not to mention, my mother will kill me if I handle this poorly.
Sol steps closer and takes Lisa from me wordlessly. I nod and turn to head to the exit. Their air has a taste of fuel and metal as it streams into the craft through the slowly opening hatch door. Straightening my uniform and posture, I wait and watch as they come into view.
Stepping onto our ramp slowly, I raise both my arms in greeting before clasping them in front of me and bowing slightly. “I am Travek Kirley of the House of Kirley from the planet Quasar.”
Waiting a moment to see if anyone steps forward, I’m relieved to notice three figures step forward. Unfortunately, I immediately see a Taxin. His cold eyes meet mine. It’s impossible to say if he’s smiling because, they have inflexible mouths that only stretch open to devour their prey.
This could be good or bad. They’re members of the Coalition and should recognize my heritage. But we don’t maintain any alliances with them, and there isn’t anything we trade.
The human in the lead speaks first. “I’m General Andrew Dempsey, and you’ve been brought here because you invaded our military airspace. Do you want to explain what you’re here for?” Stepping forward to address me, I notice the hair on the man who speaks is white and black.
“I’ve come to Earth, because I felt my mate. She was in the building you saw us near. With your permission, I’d like to leave with her. We accidentally picked up more females than we planned with our transporter beam. We’d like to leave them with you and be on our way.” It sounds so simple. How could they possibly argue with that?
The Taxin’s eyes drop to the General when he spins to speak to him. I’m shocked to realize they understand each other in a language I don’t know. It takes some time before they turn back to me and walk closer to where I stand next to the shuttle.
“Well, it seems that Rodney here,” he waves to the Taxin next to him, “recognizes your species and says you all don’t develop mates any longer.” So, they are working together. What could the humans possibly have that interests the Taxin?
“That has recently changed.” I’ve made a quick decision to not get into what has happened with Bren and Hannah. I don’t like the way this is going just by the feeling coming off of the Taxin. He looks way too happy about the current situation. “If you contact the Coalition, you’ll find we are a peaceful society that only wants to live in harmony with others…”
“Humans are not part of the Coalition and neither are we.” It’s Rodney who cuts me off and his words confuse me. They are. They've been for hundreds of years.
“We have a different proposal.” General Andrew Dempsey pauses dramatically with a small smile. “Fight Rodney. If you win, you can go.”
What does he mean, fight? With weapons?
My confusion must show on my face. Rodney throws back his head and laughs before explaining. “There are many old stories of how fierce and deadly the Quasarian mated males are. The stories tell of your prowess on the battlefields as mercenaries for many races. I wish to experience this.”
Yes, I’ve heard the stories too. He’s right. There were many mercenaries thousands of years ago—when we had mates.
But I just found my mate, and I’ve never fought physically in my life. We have an evolved world now. Is he serious?
I look back and forth between them. They seem serious. “Do I have a choice?”
“No.”
General Andrew Dempsey is already backing away from us, and I realize that they mean right now. Right here.
The Taxin backs up a few paces and settles his weight more on his hind legs. He has the advantage in so many ways already. The thick tail that extends out his backside is long and can thrash out as a leg and arm would. I’m so fucked.
This is for my mate though. If they’re telling the truth, then they’ll let us go. Springing forward, I pull back my fist and swing towards his head, but he ducks. At the same time, his tail slams into the back of my head and everything goes dark.
CHAPTER SIX
- Lisa
I’m shivering violently as the freezing temperature wakes me. There's hard metal under my body, and that’s where the cold seems to be seeping into me. Where am I?
Sitting up quickly, I huddle on my butt, pulling my legs into my chest to examine my surroundings. The lighting's dim, and I appear to be in a metal room.
A cage? Or a prison cell? It’s not much bigger than my height laying down so maybe it’s six-foot square? One wall holds a door that's as high as the ceiling with a small window near the top.
Resting my head on my knees, I try to pull myself together. I was…
The study group! We were at the study group and then the light...
“Shelly! Susan!” After yelling, I pause, listening for a response. The cell can't be soundproof. I just woke up so maybe they haven't yet?
This is total bullshit. Where the hell am I now? As the silence continues around me, a trickle of fear runs down my spine. I need to stand and get my circulation going.
I’m so stiff from the cold though, it’s hard to make my body work. Instead of just getting up, I have to roll onto my knees as my poor frozen joints creak in protest. Straightening slowly, I turn in a circle before walking closer to the door.
“Susan?” The window high in the door to this room has metal bars criss-crossing the view. I hear soft footballs outside the door. I’m too short to peek out but I press my front against the metal door and stand up on my tiptoes trying. I
’m about three inches too short. That figures.
“Ah!” My voice screeches as I register the reptile right outside the window as I glance up. It looks like a snake or turtle's face? But it’s tall! Its head is as big as mine!
Falling back to the floor on my butt, I shimmy to the opposite wall of the door and curl into a ball. I can barely breathe as my chest tightens in fear. I’m not big on snakes and the yellow eyes with large cat pupils stare back at me without blinking. With no hair on its head, the scales are fine and overlapping in green to black variations.
I watch in horror as a fine, forked tongue flicks out. Reaching through the bars in the window on the door, the appendage travels at least six inches into the cage! As the creature pulls it back into his wide, lipless mouth, I note how it stretches from one side of his head to the other. Where he should have ears—that seems to be where the edge of his mouth ends!
Our neighbor had a snake. Once, he thought it would be a great idea to let the neighborhood kids watch him feed it in the backyard. Its mouth got so wide! This creature is the exact same way.
Tears are making my vision wavy as they begin to fall down my cheeks. The gravity of the situation I’m in settles hard on me. This is bad. Am I dinner for this thing?
When the door grinds open, I’m prepared for the worst. Hyperventilating, I'm almost blacking out from my heavy breathing. So, I’m shocked when a uniformed officer steps into the cell instead of the horrifying creature.
“Stand up!” With relief I realize that he’s the only one coming in. I can still make out the snake behind the window of the door. “Now! Or I let him in to make you.”
His words register slowly, but I’m not taking any chances. Clawing at the wall the surface behind me scramble to my feet. “Who… who are you?”
Pressing myself back against the wall, I try to slow my breathing. I’m afraid to take my eyes off the snake in the window to even look at this guy. But it makes no sense. “Where am I?”
“No questions,” he snaps. When I don’t move, he reaches behind himself and pulls open the door. I’m astounded to see it isn’t a snake. It’s a man!
Well, kind of like a man. He’s at least a foot taller than the guy already in here with me. Frozen, I’m mesmerized by what he’s exposing behind the door. I never bother looking at him, even when he speaks again.
“Take your clothes off.” His voice is calm, even, and threatening. But his words have my eyes snapping to him for the first time.
“What?” My voice is weak with fear as I begin to hyperventilate again.
His head cocks to the side, and I take in his uniform that looks more military than security. Not that I know much about that. But there’s no name tag or identifying features to it. “I know you aren’t stupid. You were at a community college. Don’t make us strip you forcefully. Now, take off your clothes.” His last words are firm, and I know I have no choice at this point.
Swallowing hard, I turn slightly and hold on to the wall behind me before kicking off my shoes. “Why?” I manage to get out that one breathless question as I unbutton my jeans and peel them down my legs. Anything they tell me will be better than what my mind is conjuring up.
Now that he's exposed the reptile as a humanoid being, I’m a little less afraid of being eaten. He isn’t actually a snake, right?
“No questions. Just off!” The uniformed, burly man takes a threatening step forward. Kicking out of my pants, I whip my shirt over my head. “Underwear too. Everything off.”
Mother fucker. This doesn’t look good. I’m obviously in some weird military and alien base, but why?
“Turn around and put your hands on the wall at your head height.” His hateful eyes drill into me. Fine.
Putting both my hands on the cold, metal wall behind me, I drop my head onto the freezing surface and close my eyes. Whatever they want, I have little choice. The only sound is my harsh breathing until I feel a hand lightly brush aside my hair to place it over my shoulder.
Tensing, I don’t open my eyes or make a move. Silent tears are streaming down my face. Now that my nose is totally plugged, my breaths heave in and out noisily. They're the loudest thing in the room and dominate the silence behind me.
The uniformed officer talks behind me, but I don’t understand the language. I’m just relieved that he isn’t close. When the responding voice answers, I realize that the reptile man has entered the cell too. His voice is raspy and much deeper.
It seems like forever they talk behind me, although it’s probably only a few minutes. “Turn around.” The barked order has me gathering my nerve to open my eyes and turn towards them slowly. Steeling my backbone, I glare at them through my tear-filled eyes with my jaw set.
“What did I do?” This all makes no sense to me. Why would they take me from school to bring me here?
“No questions.” The military guy barks as he turns around and heads for the door. I stare after him, totally at a loss.
It isn’t until the reptile man grabs my upper arm and pulls me to follow that I start to panic. His hands are coarse on my naked skin. My head swivels to gape at where he’s touching me without thought. His nails are long, dark, and pointed where they curve menacingly from his scaled hands.
I stumble beside him as he draws me to the door. The hall is much shorter than I envisioned, and we only go one door down. Military guy is opening the next cell over with an eye and hand scan. It only takes a second before the grinding of the locks releasing has the door popping open.
It swings soundlessly, and neither one follows me in. I’m just tossed inside unceremoniously. Falling to my knees, I wince as pain shoots through my body.
Fucking hell, what’s wrong with them? I could've walked in. The entire time, I cooperated.
The locks grind again behind me. Swiveling onto my butt, I glance up and determine the door is identical to the cell I just came from. The reptile man is looking at me through the window opening.
His eyes flicker away and behind me. A low moan makes me realize I’m not alone! Did they take any of the other girls too?
But when I swing around, I’m shocked to see a man lying on his stomach behind me. He’s naked too.
At first, I avert my eyes, looking up at the ceiling. But I’m naked too. What’s the point? Isn’t it more important to check why he’s passed out on the floor?
Another moan has me dropping my eyes to study him more closely. The only light comes from a strip in the ceiling with metal over it too. But I can make out his shape well enough.
He’s big. Almost too big. He dominates the small floor. I practically slid into him when they tossed me in.
Backing up to the door behind me, I slide to the wall in the corner furthest from him. Watching him closely, he pulls the leg furthest away from me up as he leverages himself onto his arm.
Should I say something? Is he hurt? There’s not much I can do if he is. Crossing my arms, I sink down onto my haunches. A part of me wants to just plant my face in my knees and ignore him. Pretend like this really isn’t happening.
Something I did must alert him to my presence, because he whips around to face me. Our eyes meet. It’s then I realize… his hair? It’s floating up around his head defying gravity. What the hell?
Oh, lord! He isn’t human either!
CHAPTER SEVEN
- Lisa
Barely daring to breathe, I make myself as small as possible in the corner I’ve claimed. Now that he’s seen me, he seems hesitant to move towards me. In my book, that’s a fantastic thing.
I watch as he straightens slowly, scooting back to lean against the wall across from me. This cage isn’t much bigger than the one next door, but deeper. It’s the same temperature and just as chilling though. Shivering, I notice my teeth chatter as I try to huddle and keep my heat.
How long has it been? How long was I passed out on the floor freezing? It feels like icicles are forming in my veins.
“Hello. I’m Travek.” My drifting thoughts are cut off by the s
tranger's deep voice. It sounds rough, but I understand his English. It’s clear it isn’t his first language from the accent and slow way he speaks.
“Lisa,” I whisper back in return. His face lights up at my response. He looks happy? It’s kind of weird, but then I watch his lips form my name a few times under his breath as if he’s memorizing it.
They obviously put us together for a reason. Since we’re both naked, it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out why. The idea makes me panic.
So far, this whole experience has been like a horrible B movie. Aliens. Government conspiracies. Nudity. It has it all.
My breathing speeds up as I consider my options. They’re extremely limited, but I will not play along and get knocked up by a strange alien in a cage!
His smile makes my resolve falter as he continues to look at me curiously. He’s incredibly good looking. Except for his wild, dark hair that reminds me of medusa, he looks like the neighborhood biker bad boy.
Tattoos decorate his chest, arms, and from the looks of it—even the tops of his legs. It's an intricate design that overlaps and weaves across his chest. Some fantastic colors show up, reflecting brightly even under this diluted light. Sexy.
But the hair? It’s not snakes—too thin. But as I watch it float and settle, float and settle, I can't help wondering if he controls it. It appears black in this light and the effect makes him look like he’s underwater. Or like a merman…
“Are you alright, Lisa?” I’m surprised he’s asking about me when he was the one out cold a few minutes ago. But I guess I’m having trouble concentrating. My mind keeps drifting to totally inappropriate thoughts.
Shifting, I try to slow my shivering and wonder briefly if moving away from the wall would be better. “Yes. They just took my clothes and brought me in here.” I slide my butt all the way to the floor and wince as the frigid surface presses against me.
Trying to be modest, I keep my legs tight and arms across my chest. It doesn’t do much though. “Are you okay?” I guess I should ask him back, right?