by T. S. Ryder
The bartender coughed and shook his head. "I'm not getting involved. You're a registered pet, and if you try to leave without your owner, you'll be put in the pound. If your owner doesn't claim you in three standard days, you'd be put down."
"But I'm not a pet! I'm a person!"
"You're a pet," the bartender repeated. "You had better go back to your owner. You don't want to get stolen."
Lisa stared at him. Anger welled in her and for a moment she was tempted to break his nose. Instead, she sat herself firmly on the stool and glared at him. "I want a drink."
"I can't serve—"
"I want a drink! If I can't go home, at least I can get drunk. Besides, my… owner isn't here. He's gone off to kill the people who killed his parents." Her shoulders slumped. "He's a T'Shav."
The bartender stared at her, the orange stripes on his face turning a sickly yellow. "You're Zon's pet?"
"You’ve heard of him?"
"Who hasn't?" The bartender shook his head. "Out. Out, now. I am not going to mess with him."
"Not until I get my drink!" Lisa glared. "You don't want me to tell him that you mistreated me, do you?"
The yellow turned white, and the pink went red. The bartender shook his head, eyes wide. Hesitating a moment, he pulled a bottle from under the counter and set it before her. "Nutrient beer. On the house. At least if I say I was giving you nutrients, he might not kill me," he added in a mutter.
Lisa ignored the bartender, holding the beer in her hands. All of a sudden, she just didn't feel like drinking anymore. What was she going to do now?
Chapter Four
After a day of struggling to find a way back to Earth, Lisa decided that even if she was stuck in this outpost, the least she could do was indulge her scientific curiosity. As such, she spent most of her time at the bar, asking questions to anybody who would answer her. She learned that the chip implanted in her wrist not only was an identification tag, but it also linked her to Zon's charge account and contained her genetic information so that the bartender knew what was safe to give her. The bartender once asked her if it was true that she had 'universal DNA', but she didn't know what that meant and so told him it was a lie.
It was two full days before she heard from Zon again, although it felt like the days were longer and nights shorter than on Earth. She got a call from him in the bar but didn't actually know that she was getting a call. All she saw was a red light flashing in her wrist and she thought her hand was going to explode. The bartender explained what it was and how to answer. Lisa retreated to the bathroom to take the call.
"Where are you?" Zon asked, his voice tense, as soon as she answered. A holographic image of his face extended from her wrist. Lisa stared at it, fascinated. How did they get the projection to go through her skin?
"I'm at the bar," she said. "Where are you?"
"Out," he replied vaguely. "I want you to get back to the hotel at once."
"Why?"
"Word of you has spread. I doubt most people would be stupid enough to try to steal you from me, but you're a rarity and I would prefer you to remain in the hotel, where you have less chance of being seen."
Lisa shivered. "Are you coming back, then?"
Zon hesitated, a pained look coming over his face. "It's been two days since we last saw one another. Am I correct in assuming that you are no longer affected by the pheromones?"
Heat rushed to Lisa's face. She had continued to dream about him every night, though she didn't have the same burning need to be with him she had when he was near. She cleared her throat. Two days was more than enough for the pheromones to stop messing with her head, and she could answer with relative certainty–she wanted Zon, and it wasn't just because of his musth.
But he was an alien. She shouldn't want him.
"I can think clearly, if that's what you mean."
"Good. But just to be safe, I want you to stay in the hotel. I'll be back in a couple of days. My musth is reaching its climax and, without sex, it's hard to control the aggression."
Heat surged in Lisa's body, making her gasp, until she realized what Zon was saying. He wasn't coming back for her. Wherever he was, he was going to find a different way to ease himself.
"So you're going to find some woman out there?" she blurted, unable to keep the tinge of jealousy from her voice. "While I sit around hoping that I'm not abducted again?"
To her surprise, Zon's expression darkened and he bared his teeth at her. "What sort of man do you think I am? I have never had a woman while I was in musth! With my pheromones influencing their decisions, it might as well be rape! No, not ‘might as well’–any man who seduces a woman who has not previously given her consent to have sex during his musth is raping her!"
His eyes burned with aggression, mouth set in a tight line. Lisa found her hand slipping between her legs–if she had been turned on by him before, she was radioactive now. A man who would fight his own needs to make sure that the woman he was with gave him consent… that was very attractive!
"But the pheromones have worn off on me," she blurted. "So that's not an issue anymore."
Zon's eyes widened.
Her heart pounded and her mouth was dry. She had had boyfriends in the past but they had always ended up making the first move, both to jump into bed and to leave her at the side of the road. Maybe sex without expectations of forever was exactly what she needed. When she got back to Earth, she could find a boyfriend who wouldn't destroy her when he left her. Maybe she would even leave him this time.
"You said that your aggression is hard to control without sex. Well, I'm right here and I have nothing better to do." Lisa dug her fingers into her thigh, pinching her skin to try to keep her mind calm. "And the pheromones have worn off, so I'm fully aware of what's happening."
"We can't know that for certain." Zon's voice was strangled. "Our species… we don't know how much it affects you. You could still be in the thrall."
Lisa hesitated, contemplating her own senses and body for a moment. Was it possible that what he was saying was right? "Maybe a little," she admitted. "But it's not like I'm so drunk on you that I can't think about it. I want you. And you need this. I know what I'm getting myself into, so no harm, right? Besides, I'm a scientist. I need to learn how similar our biology is. Unless you don't want me."
"That is not an issue, I assure you."
"But if you're in musth—"
He barked out a laugh. "I wasn't in musth when I first saw you. The pictures of you that the auction house spread… I came to that auction for you. I wanted you from the first moment I saw your image. It has nothing to do with musth."
His words turned her insides to jelly. "Then you want me and I want you. What's the problem?"
Zon groaned, and she could see she was winning him over. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't."
"Get back to the hotel," he rumbled, his eyes dark with lust. "Be ready for me."
She had completely forgotten that she was in the bar bathroom. The holographic image of Zon disappeared and Lisa raced out of the bar, leaving the drink she had been nursing behind. Her heart pounded in excitement as she ran back to the hotel.
Zon couldn't have been very far away, because by the time she had run her fingers through her hair and stripped off the armor plating covering her body, he was there. The full force of his pheromones hit her and Lisa was on him before she could think, dragging her fingers through his hair, thrusting her tongue into his mouth the way she wanted him to thrust into her.
"You smell so good," he moaned, responding to her fervor by gripping her thighs, spreading them over his hips.
Lisa flushed. "I haven't figured out how to use the shower."
"I'll show you how to use it–after."
His mouth caught hers again as he walked towards the bed. His grip was so tight on her legs she knew it would bruise, but that only made it more exciting. She'd experimented with BDSM a little in the past, but her boyfriend hadn't been up to it. Maybe it wa
s time for those fantasies to re-emerge.
Zon tossed her onto the bed, caging her with his body as he followed her down. His skin was burning, as hot as flame, and that heat built inside of Lisa's stomach as he moved down her body, focusing on one breast than the other, making her nipples harden and her core tighten. He tested her with a finger and growled.
"So ready."
His skirt was tenting and Lisa found herself growling as well. "So are you."
"Musth," he panted, sliding a finger in and out of her while he worked her sweet spot. Lisa clutched the bedding beneath her, arching her back to him. "No foreplay necessary when you've got hormones pounding through your blood."
"Pounding," Lisa moaned, unable to think straight as her body writhed just from his touch. "Oh, god…"
A moan answered her. Neither of them could take it another moment and he entered with a single thrust, beginning a deep, fast rhythm at once. His thick, strong body rocked over her, his elbows resting on either side of her head. Lisa couldn't think as her body jerked in time with his thrusts, and she grasped his arms to anchor herself. Every time he drove into her stung a little, but she didn't care about the pain as the tightness built until she was so full and ready that it was agonizing to sit at the edge.
"Zon!" she screamed, half-begging, her fingernails clawing at his back. She clamped her teeth down on his shoulder, her jaw clenching, as he took her over the edge.
She didn't know if it lasted hours or days, but when Zon stopped moving, she couldn't breathe. He collapsed over her, only just not crushing her with his bulk. They gasped together, both clinging to the other, neither moving.
Eventually, Zon raised himself onto his elbows again. His eyes were wide and worried as he stroked her hair back from her face. "Did I hurt you?"
Lisa moaned, not knowing how to answer. Yes, there had been some pain, but that had made it all the better. "You were amazing," she whispered. Her throat was hoarse, probably from her screaming. "That was amazing."
Relief washed over Zon's face and he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "Was it?"
She nodded, her eyes drifting shut. Every muscle in her body was beginning to ache with weariness. She smiled. "So amazing. I've never had it that good before."
"Me neither," Zon admitted, his voice growing husky. He nibbled at her collarbone. She didn't think it was possible, but the heat began to build again at once. "Do you need a rest?"
"No," she blurted, although her body was trying to tell her yes. "I don't need to rest."
Zon grinned at her and began rocking his hips again. Lisa stared into his eyes, grinning. Who knew that an alien species would be so compatible with human biology?
Chapter Five
Lisa flinched as she dabbed a milk-colored cream onto Zon's back. It fizzled over the deep scratches there, bubbling like hydrogen peroxide before smoothing out into a sheet of flexible material that was almost the same shade as his skin. It was a fascinating compound called fleshseal, made from synthesized stem cells that adapted themselves to whatever wound it was put against to help heal. Lisa had already put a little capsule of it in the satchel she had bought, with the rest of the samples she was taking back to Earth with her.
"And you were worried about hurting me," she muttered, shaking her head. "Why didn't you tell me I was hurting you?"
"You weren't," Zon chuckled. "Not any more than those bruises on your hips hurt you."
Lisa glanced down to where two perfect impressions of Zon's hands were visible. A quick pass with a laser had turned the dark purple to a mottled green, and the bruises would be gone in a few hours. She had to admit that she hadn't realized that he was holding her that tightly the previous night, any more than she had realized she was scratching deep welts onto his back. Not that she minded.
It had been some night.
"So is your musth over, then?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
"More or less," Zon said. "But I hope that doesn't mean that we won't have more nights like that in the future."
Blood rushed to places Lisa would rather not think about at the moment. She throbbed, both with the aftereffects of the previous night and this new rush of desire. She continued to dab the fleshseal onto his back.
"Yeah. That would be fun." It was only sex, after all. Lisa cleared her throat. "So…"
"So?" Zon pressed.
Lisa hesitated. She wanted to ask him whether he would take her home, but now seemed like the wrong time for it. She didn't want him to think the only reason she had slept with him was to make him more open to taking her back to Earth. But she had to go home. Her brother would be worried sick!
Before she could make up her mind one way or another, an explosion rocked the hotel. She was thrown back onto the bed as the door burst open. There was the zing of a weapon. A flash of light. Zon crumpled.
"Zon!" Lisa reached for him as his eyes rolled wildly, but hands grabbed her and yanked her back.
Lisa kicked back at whatever was holding her, screaming. Something was clamped around her neck. Electric jolts went through her with every movement she made; she kept fighting until her eyes streamed with pain and her head was pounding so hard she couldn't see. She felt a pointed shoulder dig into her stomach and she hung limply. She had the sensation of being carried, and then a smooth lifting, like she was in an elevator.
"Did you make sure the T'Shav was dead?" a voice asked.
"I shot him in the chest. No way he can survive that."
Lisa whimpered, earning herself another blinding shock.
"Idiot. T'Shav's can survive almost anything besides getting their heads blown off." A pause. "Level the outpost. The last thing I want is a warlord like Zon to come after us."
Warlord?
There were the sounds of distant explosions as Lisa was dropped to the floor. She blinked, trying to clear the bleariness from her eyes. Figures loomed in front of her.
The outpost was being leveled. The bartender, the strange aliens who would patiently answer all her questions… Zon. Lisa whimpered again. They were all being killed. Why? What did these aliens want? Why had they taken her?
She pushed herself up, trying to draw the strength to demand answers. A blinding pulse shot through her spine. She slumped as blackness closed in around her.
***
Lisa's head pounded when she woke. At first, she couldn't remember why she felt like she had been hit by a truck. Then it all came rushing back to her and she jerked upright, gasping. A soft white dress covered her, but other than the thin cot she lay on, the stainless steel room she was in was utterly empty.
She got to her feet shakily, feeling her neck. The collar was no longer there. Panic threatened to overwhelm her–what was she going to do without Zon? He had said there were plenty of people out there who would be worse owners than him, and she believed him. Were those the kind of people who had taken her? It couldn't be coincidence, they had specifically targeted her to take. Word of her had spread. Zon had been afraid someone would try to steal her. Was it because she was from an undiscovered species? Did they want her to take them back to Earth to strip it of its resources?
A door slid open and a man stepped into the room. He held a bowl, and the smell of freshly cooked meat made Lisa's stomach rumble. Still, she drew away from him, eyeing the man warily. They had leveled an entire outpost to kill Zon.
Zon.
Lisa's hands clenched. "You are going to take me back to where you got me right now."
The man's brow arched. Other than the thick, protruding brow and extra arm sticking out of his back, he looked human. "You are in no position to make demands. You should eat. You'll need your strength."
"For what? What do you plan to do with me? Why did you take me?"
"Why did I take you?" A smile twisted his lips. "You really don't understand how valuable you are, do you? The only reason Zon got you for as cheaply as he did was because everybody was too afraid of him to challenge him. Didn't you wonder why you were attacked in the forest?"
"You sent them?" Lisa's eyes widened. "After me?"
The man shrugged. "Not me, but people in my line of work."
"We thought that they attacked because of Zon," Lisa mumbled, drawing back as the man came forward. "But me? Why? What… Are you going to put me in some rare zoological collection? Do you want to return to my home planet to strip our resources?"
"Mining asteroids is easier than dealing with an inhabited planet." The man shook his head. "No. We're not after your planet or your people, or to put you in a zoo. It's you. Do you have any idea how rare universal DNA is?"
Lisa remembered the auctioneer saying something about her universal DNA. "What is that? It doesn't make any sense, every species has its own DNA—"
"With shared traits. Universal DNA is when an individual, such as yourself, shares all of its base pairs with other species." The man paused. "For instance, you share 100% of your DNA with my species, with most species, in fact. All of your base pairs are present in my DNA, but not all of my base pairs of present in your DNA. Universal. You… you are more than a rarity. You are an impossibility. It's almost as if… almost as if you were human."
The bottom of Lisa's stomach dropped out. Almost as if she was human? What was that supposed to mean? What he was saying… it was impossible. Genetics simply didn't work that way. His species couldn't have extra DNA that she didn't have, it had to be different. How could they share any DNA in the first place? He was from another planet!
Lisa swallowed dryly. "And what do you want with my universal DNA?"
"It can be used for many things. Cures for genetic diseases, reversing infertility. Proving religious dogma. But all I'm going to do is sell you. You are going to make me a very rich man." He set the bowl down on the ground and smiled. "Try to eat."
He left without another word. Lisa pressed herself against the far wall, shivering. Her brain skittered around, finally settling on one thought. Zon was dead. She had nothing left out here to stay for. And so she was going to return to Earth or die trying.