by E. M Reders
“You can go now,” Jessie snapped at Jepa and Hunk B – Katie still hadn’t learnt his name – as they took their seats at the table with Alice and Nora. “It’s not like we needed your assistance in the first place.”
Ever since Jessie had woken up after her second bout of sleeping drug, she had been in a foul mood. The fact that they were not allowed to leave deck seven unescorted didn’t help matters. Not that they didn’t have plenty to entertain them. Every five minutes it seemed another alien hunk was entering their new domain for some reason or other, and they all seemed very friendly.
“So, now that the stalker twins have left, care to explain yourself?” Jessie asked harshly. She had already admitted to Katie that she had forgiven their friend for her moment of stupidity, but that didn’t mean she would go easy on her.
Still, Katie thought the poor woman needed a break. She looked even paler and broken than before. God knows what was going through her head. “Oh leave her alone, Jess. It’s not her fault she’s a soft touch for a tall, well-muscled, scary-looking alien.”
“I’m not…”
“Oh yes, you are. I saw your face when that hunk came into the room. And I saw your reaction to him back in that alley. Can’t say I blame you either,” she giggled, “these aliens are ridiculously hot.” Which was probably why she’d been having those sexy dreams since they’d been here. So much hotness around, her nocturnal imagination couldn’t even handle it. Her dream lover was nothing but shadows, with the occasional silver shimmer, but hell was he good.
“Corr thinks that Torq might be Alice’s mate,” Nora said, pulling Katie back from her thoughts. “Says he’s been acting all strange since the mission that ended with us being brought here.”
This news caused Hannah and her to shriek in delight. Nora had explained all about Corr and how he had recognised her as his soulmate the moment they had first met back in the room they had all been caged in after they had taken care of that loser with their handbags before Corr had whisked her away from them again. Katie suspected that he just wanted to get her back into bed for some naked fun. It was the look in his eyes that had given it away.
“What mission?” Jessie asked, getting the convocation back on track.
“Well, have you noticed that some of the males look a little more human than others?” Nora asked. Katie had actually, but she hadn’t really thought much of it. “It’s because they have been drinking human blood.”
“What?” they all shrieked.
“They can make themselves appear human by consuming human blood. But, apparently, because they have been doing it for so long, they can’t just give it up without suffering serious withdrawal, so Torq and the other Slayers were sent out to retrieve a group of human volunteers.”
“So there are others here, other humans?” Alice asked.
“Yes. Fourteen apparently, though I believe their numbers just went up. The girls joined them last night. They have a whole deck of the ship to themselves.”
“Will they expect us to… you know… give up our blood?” she asked nervously. While they had all wondered why there were other humans on board, no one had given them a reason as to why. And after Hunk B’s harem joke, they had all been a little nervous to ask.
“I don’t think so. They may ask, but if you say no, I doubt they will try and force it.” Well, that was something at least. Though, from the dreamy look in Nora’s eyes, she had no problem being bitten.
What would it be like? Would it hurt or would there be pleasure? Katie suddenly found herself incredibly curious.
Chapter 9
Hex had been hoping that now the other humans were on board he would be able to feed from someone other than Joel, maybe even a nice female, but it seemed not. Entering the feed room located on the other end of deck seven to the living quarters the humans occupied, his mood plummeted at the sight of Joel sat there waiting for him. Was it wrong of him to have hoped that the lush petite female he had seen on the camera feed of the attack would be the one to have fed him? He still didn’t know what it was about her, but she had been on his mind almost constantly ever since.
“Is something wrong?” Joel asked.
Schooling his features, Hex replied, “Of course not. Any problems on deck? Everything running OK?” He had put a lot of work into the remodel for the humans. Now that they were in it, he wanted to make sure they were happy with it.
“Oh yes, everything is fine,” Joel replied. His left eye twitched.
He was lying, Hex could tell, but he had a pretty good idea what was wrong.
A few minutes later, his reduced quota of blood fulfilled for the week, Hex was just sitting back down in his chair in the engine bay when Torq came storming in, his eyes burning with rage. “I need your help. Alice’s old lover beat her to near death and left her for dead. I want him found.”
“Alice? You mean the broken female from the holding bay feed?”
“Yes,” he snapped. “But she is broken no more. Alice is my mate. I claimed her last moon.”
Wow. Torq - Mr I don’t want a mate - had actually claimed his female? Things were definitely changing around here. Fist with Corr finding his mate and now Torq. Were any of the other females the Slayer Chaer brought aboard destined to be mated?
“Congrats dude.”
“Dude?” Torq looked at him strangely as if he had lost his mind.
“It’s a human thing.”
Shaking his head, Torq sighed. “You are not human, Hex.”
No, he wasn’t and he wouldn’t want to be either. Over the years, he had witnessed some terrible things. Humans, while interesting to him, had major flaws. Why anyone would invent weapons that could destroy all life on their own planet was beyond him.
Hex had lost a planet, a home. To create something that could take that away from you was just plain stupid in his opinion.
Booting up the console, Hex took his seat as the masses of screens lit up. “What do you plan on doing with the information if I give it to you?” He had an idea but he wanted clarification first.
“Get her revenge. He needs to pay for what he did to her,” Torq stated, confirming his suspicions.
Well if Torq was going to leave the ship, then Hex was going with him. For two reasons. Firstly Torq wasn’t accustomed to the human world having spent very little time in it. And secondly, he had overheard the human females talking with Joel, moaning about the horrible food that the food console produced.
Yes, he had been watching them from his console; he couldn’t help it, he just needed to see Katie, make sure she was OK. Though why he had no clue.
Corr had also stated that his mate was less than impressed by the food available. It had been while watching the female called Katie that he had been given an idea of what might help, but he could only get the things he needed in the human world.
“Okay, but I am coming with you.”
“No.”
“Then I guess revenge is out of the question,” he said, spinning around in his chair to face his friend.
“You’re not meant to leave the ship. Teks’ orders,” Torq growled.
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Anyway, I think he is a little preoccupied at the moment to worry about me.” After Mandy’s body had been discovered Teks had delayed their leave. Now he was working double time to find the killer and make sure that none of the males were suffering from madness. “He won’t find out, Torq.”
“He better not," Torq warned, giving in. "What information do you need to know?”
Finding Torq's target was relatively easy, but getting the male to leave his mate was not. Torq wanted nothing more than to take this fucker out, but it was hard for him to leave Alice behind, especially after Mandy's death and the attacks by Sekon and Dekon. Eventually, he was satisfied with leaving his mate with Corr's mate and the other females.
First thing on the agenda was taking care of Alice's abusive ex, which was taking longer than expected, then they could head off to the supermar
ket.
“So what is it you just had to pick up?” Torq asked as they hid in the shadows waiting for Alice’s ex to leave the large glass skyscraper he worked in.
“Salt, pepper, rosemary, among other things.” He had a huge list, though, he planned to just purchase every herb and spice on the shelves at the store.
A look of confusion came over Torq’s face and he asked, “What? Why the hell do you need any of that stuff?”
Unable to help himself, Hex burst out laughing. “You don’t know what it is, do you?”
“No. I don’t know much about the human world,” Torq admitted. Slayers like Torq had never had any need to visit the human world so they had no experience of their foods. He would be in for a big surprise if he ever did. The first time Hex had tried Indian food his mouth had burned for what felt like hours. He had since learned to stick to the milder spices.
“They’re seasonings. Things you can add to food to improve taste. Apparently the food our consoles produce is inedible, according to our new human guests at least. I'm hoping a few seasonings will quieten their moaning until I can reprogram the consoles to dispense some human dishes for them.” Which he planned to make his next big project.
A few hours later and the bastard they were after finally appeared. It didn’t take Torq long to fulfil his mission and Hex doubted the male would be found by anyone before the last breath left his body.
With Torq's red markings, inhuman eyes and his little experience with humans, Hex decided it was best to go into the supermarket alone, so he left Torq outside while he joined the humans inside. He had to wear sunglasses as his eyes had already changed back to their true form, but his markings were still yet to appear and he knew how to behave around humans.
After filling his trolley, he went to the checkout. The moment the bored-looking female assistant looked up her whole demeanour changed and interest sparkled in her eyes. While she scanned his items through the till, she started up a conversation, flirting to the best of her ability, even going so far as to say she was about to go on her break if he wanted to join her.
This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for. It had been too long since he'd gotten laid. He had been dreaming about stripping down a willing female and feasting on her wet, juicy pussy for months. He’d secretly hoped that he could get some one-on-one time with a female while out with Torq.
So why did he find himself declining? “While that sounds like a very tempting offer,” it so was not, “I am afraid I must refuse.”
She didn’t like his answer and tried her best to get him to change his mind, leaning over to show off her ample cleavage. His cock remained unresponsive. What the hell? What was wrong with him?
Chapter 10
Only a few days had passed since they had been abducted but so much had changed in that short time. Nora was happily mated to Corr, a Warrior of the Chaetdorian race. Katie had never seen the woman so happy or content. Alice too had now been swept off her feet by the alien that had done the abducting in the first place. Torq was a Slayer, which was another word for an assassin apparently. Katie would have been worried for her friend but it was obvious to all that saw them that there was a great and intense love between them. Torq would never let Alice know pain again.
But while Katie found herself immensely happy for her friends, she could not help the jealousy that bubbled within her. She wanted that. She wanted to find someone that she knew with a certainty would never leave her, never chuck her aside for somebody else, never steal her dreams. Which is what Paul had done.
She had been saving for years to put herself through the training she needed to become a qualified nurse. She had left university a year before she would have graduated when her mum had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in order to look after her. Her father had abandoned them both back when she was five so there had been nobody else to turn to for help, not that she wouldn't have been there for her mother, but it would have been nice to have had someone else there to share the load. After her mother's death, she had been too heartbroken and lost to go back. It was only after many years of unfulfilling jobs that she had looked into going back and finishing her education. She had saved for years to pay for the courses she needed to complete in order to become a fully qualified nurse. When Paul had drained her savings to pay for his bit on the side's designer shoes and whatever else she had asked for, he had demolished that dream.
One look at her two friends and the Chaetdorian males they had mated and she knew instantly that they would never do that.
“Hold on,” Jessie said, hand raised in the air in the universal signal for stop. “You’re telling us that you had dreams of Torq doing ‘sexy things’ to you before you actually met him.”
“Yes.”
It was the first time since Alice’s shock decision to stay with the Cheatdorians that they had had a chance to talk to their friend without one of the large handsome alien males hanging around. Though, Katie doubted the twins were far away. They never were.
Apparently Alice had dreamed about Torq for over a week before they had found out that aliens existed. After seeing him in the flesh, she couldn’t bring herself to be parted from him.
The crazy thing was that they hadn’t even known each other’s name at that point, never mind have a conversation. She just couldn’t bear to be parted from him. The draw between the fated pair was too strong for either one of them to resist. And Torq had certainly tried.
Alice’s story had her thinking about her own dreams and the pleasure giving shimmering shadow that haunted her.
“It has to be a coincidence. Did you have dreams of Corr?” Jessie asked Nora. She had been the first to mate one of the aliens.
“No. But maybe things are different for the other tribes. Corr is a Warrior. Torq is a Slayer. There might be some difference in how they find their mates. And anyway, Alice has always been sensitive to things. She knew we were going to be abducted.”
“No, I didn’t,” Alice rushed in. She was never comfortable when the conversation turned to, what Katie like to call, her gift. “I just had a sense that something was going to happen.”
And Katie was starting to realise that maybe they should take note of Alice’s senses more often. Hell, if she had then maybe she wouldn’t have ended up with half of the losers that she had.
“Well has anyone else had any dreams?” Hannah asked, biting her lip nervously. Was she having dreams too? Katie could only hope, but knew her friend wouldn’t divulge the information until she was ready.
“Nope,” Jessie replied instantly then all eyes turned to Katie. Her breath hitched.
“Well?”
“Arrghh,” she groaned. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s simple. Has a hunky, tattooed alien male with fangs and shining eyes been fucking you vigorously in your sleep?” Trust Hannah to put it that way. Her words brought forth the images of last night's dream.
“Well...”
“Oh my God, you have. You’ve been dreaming about one of them,” Nora sang happily.
“Not exactly.”
Hell, how did she even begin to explain this? The dreams were so unclear, dark. It could be anyone, even a human for all she knew.
“Since we arrived here, I’ve been having this strange erotic dream. I’m with someone. A guy. But it’s all dark and I can’t figure him out. I can just feel what he does to me.” And boy did he make her feel. The things he did. The guy had her waking up screaming in pleasure every night.
“Can you see anything, feel anything that might hint at who he is?” Alice asked.
“Not really. Every so often I get a flash of silver, then nothing.”
“Silver?” Nora asked, sitting up in interest. “Could be a Techno, they have silver markings.”
Maybe, but then again, the only other detail she could glean from her dreams left her more confused than ever, and doubting that it was a member of the alien race that teased her so fantastically.
> “What is it? What’s that face for?”
“Nothing.” She could feel her face burning with heat.
“It’s definitely something. Come on, Katie, spill.”
She knew they would not drop the subject, that they would continue to badger her until she cracked. Might as well just get it over with.
“He had a piercing.” There she'd said it. She hadn’t clicked on at the time, but as she had thought back over the dream while lying awake in her bed late at night, she remembered that little something extra the small addition to his member had given her.
“Well, that helps narrow it down. I’ll ask Corr if any of the Technos have a piercing,” Nora stated.
Unfortunately, it was not that simple. “Sorry to disappoint, but it’s not exactly in the sort of place that Corr would likely know of it.” Or at least she hoped not.
News of her dream lover’s intimate piercing had them all in hysterics for a few moments, but as time passed and the giggling subsided, Katie became more depressed. Two of her friends had found their match, their perfect soulmate since they had been brought here. Was is too much to ask that she find hers too?
“Come on,” Hannah said, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her to her feet.
“Where are we going?” Were they even allowed to leave the deck? The reason Nora and Alice were even on deck seven was because their mates had things to do.
“Hunk watching,” she explained to the laughter of her friends.
“What?” Nora giggled.
“Well it’s obvious that Katie wants an alien hunk of her own, and I for one wouldn’t mind finding out which of these hotties have gotten their junk pierced. Also, for the first time in days, we are actually free from overprotective, domineering males. I say let's enjoy it.”
Wonder who she could be talking about?
The main problem they found was actually getting off deck seven. While Corr and Torq had shown her friends how to work the some of the technology on the ship, the way to open the doors to deck seven was not one of them. Luckily, Katie knew someone that could help.