Wicked Captor

by Draven, Zoey

  His blood smeared the outside of the tin, but he popped open the lid and held it out for her.

  “What is it?” she asked, peering down. Inside were dark, flaky rectangular chips of something, no bigger than a business card.

  “Travel rations,” he replied. “Just one should fill you.”

  Cara swallowed. “Just one?” Judging by the size, it looked as if it wouldn’t keep a mouse full. But she couldn’t be picky. Food was food. And she hadn’t eaten since…yesterday, wasn’t it?

  As she gently pulled a flake off the small stack, he said, “Tev. It expands.”

  Surprisingly, the flake was heavy. It had the heft of metal, but was soft and pliable like raw beef. Not exactly appetizing, but she asked, “You’re not trying to poison me, are you?”

  The alien made a harsh huff through his nostrils that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. But Cara knew better. Looking at the almost grave lines of his face, she wondered if he’d ever laughed in his life.

  “Nix, female. This will not poison you. Even young offspring can stomach this.”

  Drawing in a deep breath, and with an encouraging rumble of her belly, Cara placed the rectangular flake on her tongue and chewed slowly.

  Beyond a slight peppery taste, the ‘travel ration’ didn’t taste like anything. It was chewy like beef jerky, however, and saliva filled her mouth. It seemed like it had been ages since she’d chewed anything and her body responded accordingly.

  Once she swallowed, she actually felt the food settle in her belly. And then…she felt it expand.

  Cara’s lips parted and she found that she looked up at the horned alien, whose name she still did not know. “It’s working,” she murmured in amazement.

  The sensation of fullness hit her all at once. But it wasn’t an empty fullness, like if she’d downed a few glasses of water. She felt the nutrients of the food already begin to energize her, replacing calories lost. She felt the protein strengthen her limbs and she almost smiled at how good it made her feel. Almost.

  When the food stopped expanding, she felt slightly uncomfortable, like she’d just consumed a holiday dinner, but nothing that she couldn’t handle. It felt good, after so much time feeling a burning hunger.

  “Do you need another?” the alien questioned, tilting his head slightly to the side. The one hanging light in their room glimmered off his obsidian black horns. Cara’s eyes gently ran from their base at his skull to the sharp tips that curved around his crown.

  “No,” she murmured. “It was a little too much actually. But thank you.” She glanced at the tin, still clenched in his bleeding palm. Her curiosity got the best of her and she questioned, “What are they made out of?”

  “The rations?” he asked. “I do not know the translations in your language. The Baquarians developed them.”

  “Baquarians?” she questioned.

  His lips turned down again and Cara found herself looking at them a little too long. How did someone who looked as rough and harsh as him have such soft, full lips?

  “The fighter who took you from the Pit,” the alien started. “He is a Baquarian. Their planet is in the Second Quadrant.”

  Immediately, Cara remembered her captor’s snake-like face and a small shudder of revulsion raced through her.

  His voice deepened when he asked, “Did he harm you? Touch you?”

  “He always stopped before…” she whispered, trailing off.

  She remembered the horned alien slashing his claws at the Baquarian. She wondered if that was why the snake always stopped. Because he knew he shouldn’t be touching her, especially if she was being sold to another. But to whom? To the alien standing in front of her?

  For some reason, she knew that he hadn’t been the one to buy her.

  She didn’t know why. It was just a feeling.

  It was a guess when she asked, “You’re delivering me to whoever bought me, aren’t you? To whoever’s money that was that you threw at the Baquarian?”

  His silence was answer enough.

  The rage that filled Cara’s body surprised her. Perhaps it was her renewed energy, perhaps it was because she wasn’t filled with fatigue, but she found herself shooting off the bed and approaching her newest captor. She wondered how many more she would have.

  “Tell me,” she demanded. “I want to hear you say it.”

  The metal tin dropped to the cracked floor as he snagged her wrists when hot fury made her swing them at his chest. The alien hissed at the contact of their skin, at the sight of her exposed hands from underneath the cloak.

  Caged. Again.

  Something in her broke, rearing its ugly head, and she fought against him, struggling against his iron-clad hold. But nothing that she did worked. When she tried to kick at him, he simply caught her closer, trapping her legs between his own. Every muscle in her body strained against him. Every ounce of her strength worked in breaking free. She’d bit the first alien that had tried to take her from the Pit after his successful fight. He’d wisely chosen another. Somewhere between then and now, she’d lost that woman, she’d lost that fight. And she was finally finding it again.

  So she fought against him until exhaustion made her limbs heavy. She fought against him until tears burned the back of her throat, until tears dripped down her cheeks. It was the first time she’d cried since her father died. Even during her captivity, she’d never shed a tear once. It infuriated her that this moment was when her body finally let them fall.

  And all the while, during this entire episode, her alien captor never once fought back. He restrained her so she wouldn’t hurt him. Then she realized that he was restraining her in a way that she wouldn’t hurt herself.

  Eventually, her strength gave out. Her heart pounded a mile a minute in her chest, her body completely winded from the fight since she hadn’t exerted it enough since she’d been captured. Her muscles felt weak, underused.

  And she was crying. Deep sobs racked her body as she tried to catch her breath. She was finally breaking down. This was her tipping point. Finally.

  “Female,” the alien hissed. He sounded almost…tormented, which couldn’t be right. “Stop this.”

  His strong grip gentled on her wrists, but he didn’t release her. It was then that Cara realized how closely they were pressed together. The entire lines of their bodies were flush with one another.

  Again, despite everything, she felt that little flame of need, of desire.

  Cara stilled against him. Like a bucket of ice cold water dumped over her head, that was enough to dry up her tears. She must really be messed up from her time at the Pit to feel that way about her newest captor, the most fucked up case of Stockholm Syndrome.

  Panic made her rear back. Or at least try to. But he had a good grip on her still and what she hadn’t realized was that her previous struggle against him had loosened her hood just slightly.

  And when she reared back, only to have his grasp stop her?

  Her hood came tumbling off.

  * * *

  It happened just like in the tales he’d listened to as a youth. Stories that Devix had passed off as false, even though he’d listened with raptness, with focus.

  Because the moment he saw the face of his fated mate, his luxiva, the one female in the entire universe that the Fates had chosen for him…it was like something snapping into place. Except, instead of a gentle snap, it was a roar in his ears. It was his blood rushing beneath his veins, his Instinct wakening fully, unfurling in his chest with a rightness that shocked him. It was his cock hardening to a point of pain and a desire that made his head swim.

  But more importantly, it was a calmness. It was like his mind was saying, there you are, nothing else matters now.

  Except Devix knew that wasn’t true.

  His female’s face looked impossibly soft. Golden hair tumbled around her shoulders, still wet from her bath. Her wide brown eyes stared up at him in shock, little hairs fanning out from her lids that he found…mesmerizing. Her nose was small, the
tip upturned slightly. And her lips…they were pinkened from her exertion, her top lip slightly fuller than the bottom.

  Everything about her was…perfect. Strange, but perfect.

  Just as a feeling of elation, of completeness, of lust, of contentment filled him, so did dread.

  He had finally found his fated mate.

  And she belonged to another male. Devix would be handing her over to Sarkon, in exchange for his peace, for his freedom that he’d begun to build for so long on Rozun.

  Because Devix knew that if he didn’t return with the female in his grip, Sarkon would stop at nothing to destroy him, to destroy the life he’d been building for the last six rotations.

  He had finally found his mate…and he couldn’t keep her.

  His Instinct roared in mourning within him.

  “You should rest,” he found himself saying, releasing her immediately. His voice was unrecognizable to his ears. He realized it was also the voice of his Instinct, of the beast inside, making itself known.

  The female stumbled away from him towards the sleeping platform. Already, the short distance between them made him feel…unhinged. He stopped himself from going after her and set himself up in the small chair in the corner of the room.

  Her quiet voice reached his ears. He didn’t look at her, which was the most difficult thing he’d ever done.

  “Where will you sleep?” she asked.

  “I will not sleep this night. Now, rest,” he ordered gruffly. His hands shook when he retrieved the tin of travel rations from the floor.

  Out of his peripheral vision, after a moment of stillness, she settled onto the sleeping platform. The spike of lust that raced through him almost made him groan out loud, but he clenched his jaw so tightly it ached instead.

  The room was quiet as his female tried to find sleep. She struggled at first. Every now and again, he perceived her looking at him, as if wondering if he would do anything to her in such a vulnerable state.

  She didn’t trust him.

  His Instinct prowled within him at that thought, but Devix knew it was for the best. She shouldn’t trust him. He was nothing more than scum. He didn’t deserve her.

  Finally, he heard a slight change in her breathing pattern. Her heart beat calmed and Devix knew that she slept.

  Unable to resist, he glanced over at her, lying on the sleeping platform, huddled in her dirty cloak, her gold hair fanning out around her head.

  The pain of loss hit him hard. He wanted to bellow to the ceiling, wanted to rage at the Fates for toying with him so cruelly. They had truly abandoned him if they tormented him like this.

  The pain was unconceivable.

  And Devix knew that he was in for the longest night of his entire life span.

  FOUR

  “This is your spaceship?” Cara asked, her voice rising slightly in awe.

  The towering alien behind her just ushered her along quickly, forcing her to approach the massive hunk of metal. There were larger ships in the docking bay—or wherever they were. But the majority were smaller, none of them even coming close to the size of this beast.

  She must’ve been glancing at the smaller ships for a little too long because the surly alien next to her, who’d acted like a foul asshole all morning, grunted, “Do not try it, female.”

  Cara blew out a short breath. Even if she did try slipping from his grip and stealing aboard a vessel, she wouldn’t get far. She knew nothing about their technology, had not even flown so much as a kite in her life. And even if she did somehow manage to pilot a ship? She would have no idea where she would go and would probably starve and get captured once again before she ever even made it out of the galaxy.

  Fighting annoyance, she glanced back to his ship. It was a gleaming gunmetal gray and Cara couldn’t help but admire its lines. She’d often done that with her dad’s motorcycles. She’d stare for hours. And now, she was getting caught up in those same feelings.

  Cara’s hood blocked some of her vision. The alien had insisted that she put it up that morning as they strode down the quiet streets of the colony in the early hours. The sunlight had been blocked by a heavy red cloud cover, casting the colony in bleakness. She almost felt sorry for the inhabitants that lived there. Almost.

  The alien hit a button on the metal strap around his forearm and silently, a silver ramp edged towards the ground from the ship. The docking bay was deserted, thankfully, so no one was around to witness them stride inside the ship and seal it closed again.

  The sudden hush and coolness that drifted past her cloak felt heavenly. After being in the humidity on this colony, and the heat on the Pit, and the damp muskiness of her cage, the inside of the ship felt like a breath of fresh, pure air. Cara longed to feel it on her face so she shook off her hood and closed her eyes. She was shocked when she felt a small smile cross her lips. It had been so long since she’d smiled. Guess it only took an agreeable temperature to make her happy…

  When she opened her eyes, the alien was staring at her. Her breath hitched. The intensity in his gaze made her heart beat increase but she didn’t know if it was out of fear or something else entirely.

  He jerked his head to the side, like he was forcing himself to look away, and then strode down a brightly lit hallway, the sides brushed with a matte black metal.

  Cara followed after a moment’s hesitation, their footsteps the only sound between them. Cara’s feet were still bare and she didn’t want to think about everything she’d stepped in while on the colony.

  The hallway led to an…elevator. A glass tube elevator that, when activated, shot them up two levels to the very top of the ship. Through the glass, she could see a small control room, not like anything she’d expect to pilot a ship that size. Then again, what did she know about alien technology?

  There was a single panel that stretched the entire length of the room, full of buttons and tiny screens that reflected words in a language she couldn’t even hope to understand. A single steel chair was raised in front of it. It was scuffed from extensive use, the ends of the armrests worn. Along the other walls of the room, large machines whirred and flashed and beeped, but her alien captor paid them no mind as he stepped towards the controls.

  He tapped a series a buttons and she heard a sound deep within the ship. Bright lights flickered on, making her squint, but she watched in amazement as what she’d assumed was a wall in front of the control panel began to lower, revealing the docking bay below.

  Cara peered down and she realized they were a lot higher up than she’d originally assumed. Carefully, she watched his fingers flit over the buttons and screens, perhaps trying to catalogue and memorize his actions just in case.

  He let out another huff from his nostrils when he saw her watching a little too raptly. She swore he was laughing at her behind those blue eyes when they connected with her own. He quirked his sparse brow, like he was daring her. That arrogance infuriated her but it didn’t stop her from tracking his movements. Infuriated and…excited her? No. That couldn’t be.

  She ignored her treacherous body and focused. He must truly think that she wouldn’t be able to recreate his actions or else he wouldn’t have let her watch. But she had a good memory. She just might surprise him. And by the time he finally figured that out, hopefully she would be long gone.

  Every time she had the chance, she would study this, study him.

  Cara let out a gasp when the ship suddenly lurched forward, hovering above the ground, the cables that had been fueling it disconnecting all at once. The ship tilted and they began to move, slowly and steadily nearing a thick wall. Cara’s eyes widened, casting a nervous look at the alien, but before she could ask him what the hell he was doing, the wall peeled back.

  To reveal space.

  Space…with stars that didn’t twinkle like they did when their light filtered through Earth’s atmosphere. Terrifyingly beautiful space. Just inky blackness and stars.

  Cara’s lips were parted as she stared. She’d never seen the view in
front of her before, despite traveling to that colony from the Pit. The Baquarian had kept her locked away below. Always in darkness.

  But he was letting her see it.

  When her gaze tipped to him, he was looking at her. Cara knew he saw the awe etched deeply on her features. And the way he looked at her…it made her spine prickle with awareness.

  Why was he looking at her like that?

  Cara cleared her throat, her gaze returning to the scene laid out in front of her like a celestial buffet.

  They didn’t speak as he piloted the ship further and further away from the colony behind them. When they veered, Cara caught her first glimpse of it from afar.

  And it was completely unimpressive. It was smaller than she thought. Just a small little red planet, if it could even be called that.

  Cara did notice, however, that the farther they flew from the planet, the more relaxed her captor became. The rigid lines of his shoulders eased and he leaned back deeper in his chair, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

  Cara asked, “You don’t like being on the colony. Why?”

  He was silent for so long that Cara had already expected he wouldn’t answer her.

  So, when he finally spoke, a few minutes had passed and he was typing in something on the largest control screen.

  “I lived on Petrika once,” was all he said.

  “You did?” she asked. For some reason, she was surprised but then she realized she shouldn’t be. He’d known his way around, had navigated the seedy, filth-strewn streets easily. The aliens there hadn’t dared to fuck with him, like they knew he was dangerous.

  “Tev.”

  She assumed that meant ‘yes’ in his language, had heard him say it before.

  “I…” she started, I’m sorry on the tip of her tongue, because who in their right mind would want to live there? “Why? Where you born there?”

  Another huff through his nostrils. “I lived there because I could go nowhere else.”

  What does that mean? she wondered, frowning.