by Jessica Loft
© Copyright 2017 by Count Publishing – All rights reserved.
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Dark Matter
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Table of Contents
Dark Matter
A Tale of Two Clans
Eye of My Tiger
The Scandalous Duke’s Bride
Climbing His Corporate Ladder
Twice In Love With My Navy SEAL
Behind Closed Doors
The Forgotten Wife
Guilty
Coming Out of Hibernation
Finding Your Way
A Duty Of The Duke
Protecting Her Body
More Than A Merger
Unanticipated Love
Galactic Warrior
Forgetting Larkin
Riding Under My Stars
Rekindle My Navy SEAL
Curious Chemistry
Thirst For The Hunt
A Proper Arrangement
Seminar Seduction
The Pastor’s Daughter
Guardiana: The Aftermath
A Tale of Two Clans II
Dark Matter
CHAPTER 1
Life on the moon was a lot different than it was on Earth, Clara knew that much. She thought about it every morning as she washed her face and brushed her teeth with her one tank of fresh water. Every resident was allotted a tank weekly, and if you ran out, you’d have to pay through the nose to get some bottled water from the rations compound.
Clara was always careful with her rations and her paycheck. She liked to be prepared for anything, and she knew that wasting her precious provisions was not smart in the least. Though it sounds somewhat frightening, Clara had voluntarily moved to the moon when they had set up the first encampment there. She needed some space-literally- between her and her last ex, and with no other family to worry about she decided to offer her shiny Ivy League computer engineering degree to NASA.
That morning Clara started her day like any other. Her cat Jupiter, a white and orange fluffy monster about a hundred years old jumped up to her chest and licked her button nose. She smiled down at the old gal and scratched behind her fluffy ears as she yawned and sat up among her white pillows. Needing a sense of clarity in her new home, she had designed and decorated her entire space compartment white. White walls, white blankets, and white appliances. It was soothing to her somehow, as if everything was new again.
After getting out of bed they began their usual routine, she fed Jupiter, and made herself her morning white chocolate mocha. As she got ready for her job she contemplated the solitude of her life on the moon. She had friends, sure, but only one of them was really close. A knock on the door brought Clara out of her reverie, and she realized that she was burning a lock of her long chocolate brown hair in her curling iron.
“Shit!” She seethed, pulling her hair out of the device as quickly as she could. She burnt her fingers and cursed again as she headed towards the front door. When the knock came again she grew irritated and called out that she was coming. “Who is incessantly knocking at this hour?” Before opening the door, she closed her white robe over her slim figure and looked out the peephole.
“Good morning!” Katy chirped with a smile as Clara pushed the air seal button and opened her door to let her in.
“What’s so good about it?” Clara grumbled, suckling on her fingers.
Katy’s flawless caramel toned face dipped into a frown. “Uh oh. Is somebody having a bad morning?” She lifted her small upturned nose to the air and took in a whiff. “Is something burning?”
Clara rolled her eyes and told her the story as she went to her closet to get dressed. “It’s just an off morning,” she explained, looking through her choices of dresses. “I’ll get over it in a minute.” She took a deep breath finally picked out a navy blue A-line knee length dress with beige high heels. While she dressed, Katy sat on her bed and peered out the window over at Clara’s neighbor’s patio.
“That’s weird,” she murmured.
Clara zipped up the back of her dress and walked over to where Katy was sitting. “What’s weird?” She asked, following Katy’s line of sight. “I don’t see anything.”
“Exactly,” Katy urged. “Remember last week when you said that the barista girl in your office disappeared? And then that other woman; I think her name was Jesse? She just up and disappeared one day while she was out on a lunch break.”
“What does that have to do with my neighbors? They could just not be home.” Clara pointed out.
“Look at the patio. See how the plants in the glass are wilting? And their dog has been sleeping there and scratching at the door for the last three days. Every time I’ve come here I’ve looked out this window and it’s always the same. They’re gone.”
~
Clara tried to ignore the tingle of fear that went up her spine as she walked along the spacewalk towards the NASA building. Katy had pointed out yet another disappearance, making the count up to at least ten people now. And those were just the ones that she noticed.
After the barista and Jesse’s disappearance, she had even tried to file a missing person’s report with the moon’s police force, after Jesse’s disappearance, but they had disregarded her. They told her that the people in question were simply taking a vacation to Earth. She didn’t believe it for a second, but with nothing else to do she had no choice but to try and pretend like their disappearances didn’t bother her. However, now, because of the disappearance of Lisa Tomly and her wife Sarah, she couldn’t push it to the back of her mind and pretend to be ignorant any longer.
By the time she arrived at her office, her tingle had grown into a full-grown shiver, and Clara was practically running to get inside her office. All of the women seemed to be disappearing, and now that she thought about it, Katy was the only female she’d seen all day. Including on the spacewalk. Her hands shook as she tried to unlock her office door. Come on, she urged herself, so intent on the lock that she didn’t see the shadow appearing behind her. Just open! The key finally slid into the lock and just as she straightened her back to push open the door she felt a hard shock and everything went black.
CHAPTER 2
Clara awoke to the sound of whimpers. Her mouth was as dry as the desert and her neck hurt badly, but she was alive. Slowly she lifted her head from the cold cement floor and opened her eyes. She gasped when she saw her surroundings, and quickly got to her feet. The cage she was in was small, maybe fifteen by fifteen, with at least twenty other women milling around, all looking frightened as they searched for a way out.
Looking down at herself, Clara noticed that she wore absolutely nothing that she had dressed herself in this morning. She was now dressed in a light brown shirt with a bronze metal belt around her waist and a similar one around her throat. Her feet were bare and from what she could feel beneath the dress she also wore no undergarments.
A younger woman, looking to be in her late teens was on her knees beside her, weeping loudly into her delicate hands as her long blonde hair fell over her back and face. Clara knelt down and gingerly put a hand on the young woman’s back. The girl flinched, but relaxed when she looked up to see Clara’s human face.
“There, there,” Clara soothed, rubbing her back. “It’s going to be all right.” She had no idea if what she saying wa
s true, but this girl needed to calm down or she was going to send herself into a panic attack; something that would not be good in a crowded cage of equally frightened women.
“How do you know?” The young woman croaked, leaning herself fully into Clara’s embrace. “What’s going to happen to us?”
Clara choked back her own tears and looked up. Several women were looking at her now, as if she had the answer that would soothe their very souls.
“We’re going to survive,” Clara answered, hoping beyond hope that it was true. I don’t know how we got here, or why we are all women, but whatever the reason, we are going to live through it. Do you hear me?”
The young girl wiped her nose on the hem of her identical brown shirt and nodded her head. Clara helped her up into a standing position, and introduced herself. The girl introduced herself as Emily, and she and the rest of the women began to fill Clara in on everything that they could remember. According to the majority of them, they all felt the same thing; a sudden and painful shock to the throat before waking up in the cage. Some of the women described seeing a bright blue glow before they passed out, but no one was certain where it came from.
Clara listened to everyone, her inner alpha female taking control of the situation. She prided herself for her analytical and intelligent mind, and she was recording the information in her brain like a high-powered machine. She counted out the women in her cage and the one beside them, took in the surroundings, including the metal air ducts above them, the metallic red floor below them, and the odd floating orbs of light that seemed to float directly around their cages.
Every six hours a four by four square would open in the center of their cage and provide them with a bizarre assortment of food and water pitchers. The odd part about that though, was that it seemed to just appear and disappear. The floor never actually seemed to open like a machine, but rather the table would rise from the ground like quicksand.
Clara followed every pipe, every sound, and every seam in the floor and walls with her eyes. Trying to locate an avenue for escape. They all lead to the same place; the door. The door that had remained locked and unopened now for what seemed like an eternity, and there was no way to get out of the bars to go explore it.
~
“What are you thinking?” Emily asked, her voice barely above a whisper. They had been waiting patiently for the morning meal to rise up from the floor, but today it had never come. At first they reasoned it was just a little late, but then they counted the hours until lunch hour, and no lunch came either.
“They’re starving us,” Clara said calmly, her eyes on the locked metal door.
Emily squeaked, and wrapped her arms around Clara’s defined bicep. “You think they’re going to kill us?” She asked.
Clara gave the girl a small smile then shook her head. “No. At least I don’t think so. But I think they do want us weakened for some reason.”
As if to prove her point, a long whining sound came from the either side of the large door, making every woman in the cages grow immediately silent. Clara stood frozen to the bars, her eyes refusing to break contact with the door. Nothing about her moved, not even her breath. The whine from the door became louder, and then suddenly, the door wasn’t there at all. It was as if it dissolved into thin air, just like the food table. In walked a tall, beautiful woman with ebony skin and neon blue markings etched along every noticeable naked part of her body. She wore a crimson red, backless, deep V-neck dress that fell to the floor. Her pitch-black hair was curled with ribbons of what seemed like real gold; a color that matched her irises perfectly.
She smiled at them revealing two long incisors, much like the fabled human vampires, and chuckled lightly towards the cages of women. From the wall she pulled out a long gold chain and walked gracefully towards the cages. Every woman in captivity stood there frozen absolutely mesmerized by the beautiful predator.
“Hello my lovelies,” she purred, her voice as light and clear as a bell. “Which of you would like to come out of those nasty cages, hmm? Who wants to come out here with me?”
All at once the women rushed towards the cage doors, their arms reaching through in hopes of touching the beautiful woman. They all shouted at the tops of their lungs to be chosen, making the odd creature laugh and smile even wider. Clara however stood completely still, like a deer caught in headlights. She saw this woman for what she was - a spider. A predator that looked harmless and beautiful; but was actually vicious and cunning. She was built to be a hunter.
With all the confidence in the universe she walked to the first cage and opened the door, as if knowing exactly what was about to happen. As soon as the door was open, the caged women rushed her, almost like puppies to a new owner. They whimpered and careened, but were careful not to touch her.
The alien woman took her time choosing her women. Pointing to them with her long thin blue finger and attaching them one by one to the long golden chain, until she had nearly twenty women strung together. Clara watched in fascination as she reigned in her own desires. Just like the other women, she had the strongest urge to want to please this mysterious woman. Her entire insides seemed to be begging to be closer to her. Her ears strained against the bars, wanting to hear just one word of approval from her. When the alien woman chose her prey from the cage, the rest all whimpered, but made no move to try and break free. Instead, they obediently stayed put, as if waiting their turn.
The woman locked the first cage and turned towards Clara’s cage. Clara had the strongest urge from within to look away. It was as if the smallest sliver of her sanity was trying to rise above the influence and protect her. Look away! It said. Don’t look into her eyes. With every ounce of control she had, Clara turned her eyes downward to the ground. Her senses groaned in protest, desiring to stare at the pretty woman again.
The woman pointed Clara out immediately. She was the only one in the entire room that wasn’t looking at her. Clara’s long, thick brown hair fell into her face and hid her eyes from the slave mistress. Amused, the alien walked over to the defiant woman, and reached out to lift her chin with her long, pointed nails. She was surprised at how much resistance this slave gave her. But finally, as always, the human woman eventually gave in and looked up at her.
“What is your name little one?” The slave mistress asked, her eyebrow cocked coyly.
Her voice sounded like satin against Clara’s ears, and she felt she had no choice but to answer.
“Clara,” she rasped.
“Clara,” the slave mistress echoed. “My name is Numia, I am the Mistress of Slaves.” She touched the bars and just like the doors they seemed to melt into the ground. “Come Clara. I think I have a buyer that is going to be very interested in you.”
CHAPTER 3
Clara came out of Numia’s spell just as she was being pulled by the other women onto a large stage. The room had a high, vaulted ceiling, with beautiful large glowing orbs suspended in the air, just like the smaller ones in the prison cells. Below her she saw others that looked very much like Numia, only male. Some had skin as dark as coal, others had pale, alabaster features. Some even had a royal purple hue. All of them, though, shared one trait; their tattoos. If that’s what they were. Like Numia, they glowed a bright neon blue, and spidered like intricate tribal tattoos over their arms, necks, chests, and fingers.
From what Clara quickly noticed by glancing around, there were but a few women in the audience, maybe ten tops out of the hundreds of gorgeous men. All the men were milling around on the stage inspecting the lines of human women frozen in their chains. Many of them looked hypnotized, even aroused, but none of them looked a single bit frightened. She however felt quite different. Her entire body shook with fear, though she tried her best to look otherwise. Emily had been her only friend in the cage and she was still in the cage. She was all alone in a room full of aliens, and she realized that she was about to be sold.
~
Riordan lifted his onyx eyes to the stage of the banquet room, hi
s gaze lazily roaming over the new shipment of slaves that Numia had just presented them. His people had been capturing aliens for slaves for years, and now all of the human women looked exactly the same. Red hair, black hair, blonde- it didn’t matter; to him they all looked the same. However, what were his people to do? Their women were dying out for reasons unknown to them. There hadn’t been a baby girl born in nearly a hundred years, and humans were the only species even remotely genetically close to theirs that could bear children.
As a Guardianite, he was against slavery and the capture of human women. As the king, however, he felt as if certain dramatic measures needed to be taken for the continuation of his species. The moon settlement had been easy to buy. The human male president sold every woman over the age of eighteen at a fairly low price, as if he was happy to rid of them. He was a man of no honor, of that Riordan was sure.
“My Lord,” Ajax murmured, reaching out to touch Riordan’s deep caramel toned and neon blue tattooed shoulder. “The auction will start soon. Numia has asked that we come to the stage and pick out which ones will be coming to the castle.”
Ajax, Riordan’s oldest friend and royal advisor, was always there to keep Riordan on track. He knew that his friend, though a king, had a kind heart and a patient soul. Ajax watched as Riordan flexed his naked shoulders and cracked his neck, making the glowing blue tattoos glow even brighter. He took a step into the large banquet hall, and immediately those around them parted like the red sea to allow the king and his entourage to pass through.
“My Lord,” Numia greeted sweetly, her golden eyes sliding deliciously over the handsome king and his near nudity. Though they were anatomically close to the human species, they lacked insecurities. There was no such thing as sin of the flesh in their world, so most wore little to no clothing unless they were riding into war. Only then was it an issue of safety. Today the king wore his crown, a simple garland made of the universe’s most precious stones, and a black shendjyt that fell to his ankles. His markings laced over his large pectoral muscles and down his ribs and hips. They continued downwards over his legs and to his feet, where a six pointed star- the mark of the king- rested on the top of each foot.