He pursed his lips and glanced down at where my fingers lightly grazed his pectoral muscle. “I understand. All of this has been a lot for you to take in. It must take some adjustment, but I’m glad to see you’re coming around to my way of thinking.” He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear, his breath hot against my skin. “You know, I could make this a lot of fun for both of us, Tara.”
That rush of pheromones caught me in a cyclone, and my body reacted to them instantly. He knew exactly what he was doing.
For one stupid, crazy moment, I was actually drawn into the spin he was offering, to live in the room and allow him to treat me however he wanted, and be on his arm and attend functions with him as a willing volunteer rather than a bought breeder, but as quickly as the thoughts arrived in my head, I shook them out. That wasn’t me talking, or at least thinking. Those were the damned hormones again. They had a way of messing with the mind.
I wanted to take a step away, to try to clear my head, but I didn’t want him to take it the wrong way. I needed to win my freedom to move around his property as I wished, and I wasn’t going to do it by pissing him off.
Borys had turned back to his guests, seemingly bored of playing with me. He said something to them, and they all laughed, but my attention was drawn back to the pit. Several of Borys’s guards had entered with what appeared to be a kind of Taser, and were ushering the creature back into the cage they’d released it from. Two other Trads shoved Diarus between them as well. He glanced over his shoulder one final time and caught my eye in his amber gaze. My heart swelled. I knew what he was telling me in that look.
The fight was far from over. In fact, it had only just gotten started.
“Come, let’s go inside and eat. Tara, are you hungry?”
I nodded, even though I wasn’t. “Yes, absolutely.”
“Would you care to join us, then? I know it isn’t traditionally the done thing to have a female at the table, but I believe we’d all like a little female company since it’s been so sparse for so long.”
Female company? I hoped I wasn’t about to be turn into the rest of that evening’s entertainment. I told myself Borys wouldn’t let one of the other Trads touch me, not when he wanted to impregnant me himself. He couldn’t risk another Trad accidentally laying his eggs inside me instead.
But going to eat with them meant I was going to be shown more of the property, and if I could get an idea what rooms were in the house, I’d be able to figure out the most likely place he would keep any plans hidden. I was being far more useful out here than I would be if I stayed locked inside a room.
“That would be wonderful, thank you. I’m honored.”
My thoughts went to Zoe. How was she doing? I told myself it was a good thing that I was taking all of Borys’s attention. While he was with me, he’d be leaving her alone. She seemed so much more fragile than me, and she was younger, too. I felt protective of her, even though we were both in the same situation, and I remembered feeling the same way at the facility. At the time, I’d put it down to maternal pregnancy hormones, but now I had to admit that perhaps I simply cared.
“This way,” he said.
I tried not to shudder at Borys’s hand on my lower back, guiding me away from the pit and toward the house. His guests followed, voices thick and gruff, tails swooshing on the dusty desert ground as they walked. I didn’t think I’d ever been so aware of how exposed, fragile, and very human I was until right at that moment, my back turned to several alien males who I was certain would happily try to mate me given half the chance. Only Borys’s high power in their government did anything to stop them.
We stepped through the large hexagonal panel that was the main entrance to the building. When Zoe and I had arrived, we’d been brought in through the rear entrance, I realized now. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder. As far as I could tell, Diarus hadn’t been brought this way, so I assumed the cages, or whatever it was he was being held in, weren’t on this side of the pit. If I was ever given the chance to get to him, I was going to need to come out this side and go around the pit. Or through it. I didn’t much like the idea of possibly coming face to face with the beast, no matter how easily Diarus had managed to calm it down. I didn’t think I had the same way with alien animals as he did.
I hoped the claw marks on his chest didn’t get infected. He was already covered in scars, and he probably thought that a few more wouldn’t make much difference, but I hated seeing him hurt.
I was guided down a corridor. I did my best to figure out which of the doors led off to Borys’s personal living areas versus those he kept for work. How would I get into them? They were on the opposite side of the building to where I was being held.
“Here we are,” he said, gesturing to a room with a long table and multiple chairs positioned around it. Platters of food were already on the table, covered with silver cloches.
“Where should I sit?” I asked, looking around.
Borys took the chair at the head of the table and then pulled me onto his lap. “You can sit right here.”
The bulge of his erection pressed to my backside, and inwardly, I shrank. I didn’t think I could handle it, mentally or physically, if he tried to fuck me again.
He must have sensed me stiffen, as he leaned in and spoke softly against my ear. “Relax, Tara. I won’t try to take you again tonight. I know your body needs to recover from earlier.”
The other Trads all took their places, and the drinking continued, only this time interspersed with eating. I didn’t know what to do with myself, remaining bolt upright on Borys’s lap, hugely conscious of his hand touching my thigh, or when he skirted it higher to rest on my hip. I did my best to absorb everything that was being said, hoping to pick up on any hint about where the locations of the other facilities might be based, but none of them said a word about it.
There was a lull in the conversation, so I used the moment to try to get more out of Borys. I twisted in his lap to face him, though I hated the feel of him grinding against my ass, and looped my arm around his neck.
“Thank you for inviting me here, but all of this seems so impersonal. You must have more personal rooms than this, somewhere, perhaps, where we could have a little more privacy?”
“Of course. But they’re my private spaces, and I’d like to keep them as such.”
Damn.
I pouted. “Really? I want you all to myself.”
“There will be plenty of time for all that. I have guests, Tara. Let’s not be rude.”
I almost scoffed at his idea of being rude.
But it was clear that he was as protective of his own living quarters as Aleksy and the others had implied. This was why none of the rebels had managed to get access to the documents we needed. They could get into the building as guests, perhaps, but I was already witnessing the lengths Borys went to in order to keep his private self and his work self in two different areas.
I couldn’t just give up, however. I’d been allowed out of my room, and I had to make sure I made the most of the opportunity. I leaned into him, purposefully crushing my breasts to his chest.
“My ass might be all used up, but I still have my mouth. Wouldn’t you like to feel my tongue wrapped around your cock?”
I wanted to gag at the idea of his huge cock stretching my lips wide and pushing down my throat. How would I handle it if he ejaculated into my mouth? Could the Trads control whether they expelled their eggs at the time of orgasm? If they could, it meant he’d chosen to lay them inside my ass, and he’d done so deliberately as a way of showing me what he was capable of.
“Just tell me where your rooms are then?” I persisted. “Are they close by? At least give me a hint.”
“You walked past them on your way to the fighting pit,” he said, “but that’s all you need to know for now.”
So, I’d been right. At least now I had an idea of the location, even if that didn’t get me inside the rooms.
I wriggled harder onto his lap, encouraging his er
ection to harden. “I really would like you to take me to them.”
Borys frowned and caught me by the arm to prevent my movement. “That’s enough, Tara. I’ll have Odex take you back to your room. You clearly need to rest.”
He jerked his chin toward the guard who’d been bringing me my meals. So that was his name. Odex.
My dismissal worried me, however. Had I asked too many questions? Had I made Borys suspicious of me?
I didn’t know, but I got to my feet and bid the other Trads goodnight, and then allowed Odex to take me back to my room.
Chapter Eighteen
Nadeusz
MIKOTAJ JABBED HIS finger at the screen we’d been monitoring in shifts for the past twenty-four hours.
“It’s gone,” he said.
I frowned. “What?”
His gaze flicked down to the clock in the corner of the monitor. “That vehicle has been passing over the top of us every thirty minutes since it was first spotted. It should be here by now, but it isn’t.”
I twisted my lips, thinking. “Is that a good sign or not?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, lines appearing across his brow, so his scales overlapped. “Could go either way.”
“Perhaps they didn’t find anything of interest and moved on,” I suggested.
He shrugged. “Maybe, but I feel like something is brewing, and I don’t like it.”
I knew what he meant. A new kind of tension was in the air, like everything was coming to a head. It made me nervous that Tara wasn’t with us as well. Diarus could take care of himself, I’d seen it enough times, but I felt like we’d dumped her in the middle of a pool filled with those fish on Earth with the giant jaws and big fins... Sharks. That was it. A pool filled with sharks.
I got to my feet. “We should let Aleksy know.”
Miko stood to join me. “I agree.”
Together, we left the room and stepped out into the corridor.
A sudden crash came from somewhere on the other side of the building, and someone yelled. More shouts followed, and another bang sounded, louder this time.
Miko and I exchanged a worried glance.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
“I don’t know, but I’ve got a feeling it has something to do with that missing vehicle that’s been observing us.”
We both picked up our pace, running down the corridor, toward the noise. The wail of our emergency sirens filled the air
Another Trad I knew as Zyfrik shoved past, coming from the direction we’d been heading. His eyes were wild with panic.
“We’re being raided,” he cried. “Get out now.”
“Velos!” Miko exclaimed. He reached out to grab Zyfrik’s arm. “Where’s Aleksy?”
“I’m not sure. He’s coming, I think.” Zyfrik yanked himself out of Miko’s grip and kept going.
I spotted Aleksy’s long, white-blond hair flowing as he ran toward us. More crashes and bangs followed him, and I winced at the shouts of alarm and pain. Who had the polityk’s men gotten hold of? I hoped we weren’t going to lose many rebels.
“We need to get out of here,” Aleksy shouted above the wail of the alarm. “Everyone needs to disperse.”
If we left this place and scattered, how would we stick to our plans?
“What about Tara?” I asked.
“I can’t worry about one human woman right now,” our leader snapped.
This was exactly what I’d been afraid of. “We can’t support her if we’re not a united front.”
“We’ll regroup. Just like we have before. We need to get somewhere safe.” And with that, Aleksy took off, leaving us standing there.
Miko shook his head. “No, we should fight. If we run, we’re putting the whole plan in jeopardy.”
He started forward, running off toward the sound of the guards breaking down the door to get to the rebels, but I grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him back.
“Aleksy is right. We need to get out of here. Neither of us will be able to help Tara if we’re locked up in a cell, or even worse, dead.”
Miko gritted his teeth and growled.
He knew I was right.
“Come on,” I said, turning to run back toward the rear of the building. “We need to take to the tunnels.”
We turned right down the corridor. A Trad in protective gear blocked the way. The black helmet was pulled down over his face, though there were holes cut for the horns. He held a taser. With no hesitation, I threw an elbow into his throat, striking the vulnerable spot where the body armor met the helmet. The guard choked and fell backward, the taser flying from his grip.
Miko quickly stepped in and snatched it up. “Let’s get out of here.”
We stepped over the Trad’s body and kept going. The door leading to the courtyard at the back of the building was ahead of us, and I rammed it with my shoulder. We burst out of the back of the building. Another soldier was waiting for us, but Miko acted faster, using the taser to send him flying, his body jerking with electricity.
“Come on.” I yanked Miko along. “This way.”
We took off down the back street, running hard. Above our heads, the vehicle we’d been monitoring was back.
Miko had spotted it as well. “Velos! They’ll be able to see us.”
“We need to take the tunnels.”
Underground, they couldn’t observe us, and any heat sensor equipment wouldn’t work either. One other place it didn’t work was out in the desert, the overall temperature of the ground too high to distinguish the warmth of a living creature.
I hated that we’d left other rebels behind. How many would be arrested?
We reached a tunnel entrance and yanked the gate open. I checked over my shoulder to make sure no one was following, and then let Miko go first before taking after him. We didn’t slow our pace any, knowing we needed to put as much distance as possible between us and the base.
We darted down the tunnels, our feet pounding the floor. I was sure I’d hear shouts following us, demanding for us to stop, but none came.
Eventually, we slowed and came to a halt. We both bent double, hands on each other’s shoulders to keep our balance while we caught our breath.
“Do you think we got away?” Miko asked, still gasping.
“It looks that way,” I managed to reply.
“Fuck, we’re responsible for the raid.” Miko straightened. “You know that, don’t you? Someone must have followed us. Aleksy warned us about bringing Tara to our headquarters.”
I shook my head. “You don’t know that. It could just as easily be coincidence that we brought Tara back there. It’s been days now. Why wait so long?”
Miko pressed his lips together. “They were waiting for us to act, maybe? Wanted to see what our next move would be.”
Unease twisted through me. “As long as it wasn’t because they wanted Tara back in place as a breeder and didn’t want to raid us until she was firmly in position. We handed her straight to Borys. Maybe they’d known that was our plan all along. What if Borys knows exactly who she’s working for.”
Miko shook his head. “You’re letting your imagination get away with you.”
“Am I?” I knew I was being aggressive, but I couldn’t help it. We’d used Tara as bait, and it might just have been us who were the ones who’d been caught.
Miko rubbed his palm across his mouth. “We can’t do anything about it now. We need to get somewhere safe and then we can make a plan.”
“As long as that plan involves getting Tara out of there, I don’t care if she’s found the locations of the other facilities, we just need to make sure she’s safe.”
Miko nodded. “Agreed, but we can’t do anything to help her if we’re both behind bars.”
“Do you think Aleksy got away?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “The others would have protected him. They’d have put themselves in the line of danger to make sure he got to freedom.”
Guilt stabbed at me. “Shouldn�
��t we have done the same?”
Miko shook his head. “No, we have Tara to think about.”
I still felt like I’d abandoned our comrades. What would they think of us? Would they understand our reasoning? After all, both Tara and Diarus were a part of the rebels now and needed to be helped as well. Still, I couldn’t shake the idea that we’d landed Tara exactly where Borys would have wanted her.
“Velos!” I exclaimed. “What idiots we are.”
Miko knew exactly how my mind worked.
“Tara wanted to do this,” he said. “She has more vested in this than any of us. The women inside those facilities are her people.”
I knew he was right, of course I did, but that didn’t stop a terrible sense of regret settling in my gut.
Chapter Nineteen
Diarus
THE CLANG OF METAL against metal startled me awake.
Bright sunlight hit the front of the cage, sending dark lines of shadows from the bars onto the ground just beyond my feet. Where I was huddled near the back, the sunlight didn’t reach. I was stiff and aching from the fight the previous day. The thin blanket on the floor had been of little comfort during the night, but at least it had kept the worst of the cold from leaching into my bones. Unable to lie on my stomach due to the wounds across my chest, I’d lain on the floor on my back and put my arms behind my head. I hadn’t thought sleep would have come any time soon, but, to my surprise, the darkness had claimed me within minutes.
This morning, the cuts across my chest had crusted over. The wounds were six long slices, one for each of the creature’s claws. I didn’t blame the beast in the slightest—it had only done what it believed necessary to survive. I’d have done the same if I’d been in its place. I couldn’t risk the wounds getting infected, however. A dose of blood poisoning was the last thing I needed now. I wouldn’t be able to help Tara if I was dead.
When the Trad guards had thrown me back into the cage after the fight, I’d figured there was no point in asking them for any cream or bandages. Instead, I’d used the bottle I’d been given for drinking water and tipped it over my chest. The cold water stung but washed away the dried blood and any dirt that might have accumulated in the wounds.
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