Yce: Alien Abduction Romance (Captured By Aliens Book 3)

by A. G. Wilde

  A shiver ran down her spine at his answer.

  “Then what’s the plan?” She was beginning to panic. She could feel it.

  The thought of being ripped apart by multiple wild animals made her go pale.

  “Get you to safety,” he said.

  His words almost made her stop in her tracks.

  That’s why they were running? He was concerned about her?

  “I can handle myself,” she hissed, “just tell me what to do.”

  Loud snarls echoed close to them, way too close, and Diana gulped.

  Then it happened.

  It happened so fast, she didn’t have time to catch her bearings.

  Something was holding on to her, and not just her leg or arm or something—her entire lower body.

  She was suddenly being lifted into the air, her only connection to the ground being Yce’s grip on her hand.

  A scream left her lips as she struggled to understand what was happening, the cloth bag she was carrying falling from her other arm as she flailed in the air.

  It wasn’t a sand cat. They couldn’t lift her this high and she didn’t feel any teeth sinking into her flesh.

  Yce was desperately pulling on her hand. Discarding his own cloth bag to grip both of her hands with his own. He was pulling her so hard it felt like her arm would dislocate.

  But whatever was gripping her and lifting her into the air was strong, ridiculously strong.

  As her terrified eyes met his, she could see the panic on his face.

  She was being lifted higher now and their grip on each other’s hands was slipping.

  Then it hit her. The sound of the tree bark stretching. The moisture around her lower body. The ooze.

  It was a zehmip.

  She’d been grasped by a zehmip and the thing was trying to swallow her.

  Using her free hand, she swung it above her to connect with thick, wooly hair.

  The same hair she had slept on for the past few days. The same hair she had wrapped around herself for warmth.

  She was right. It was a zehmip.

  Somehow, she hadn’t imagined the thing actually eating or even being a predator itself. Even though she’d known it was dangerous, with Yce cutting them down so easily, she’d somehow not thought of them as a threat.

  But now...

  It felt like some kind of suction, whatever was pulling her into the zehmip’s mouth, and she realized she was only slipping deeper and deeper inside the thing. What had been a tent for her for the past few days was now actively trying to ingest her?

  Fear gripped her as she struggled to climb out, still gripping on to Yce’s hand.

  His boots slipped from her feet and fell deeper into the mouth of the zehmip as she tried to climb forward. But this only made things worse as the smoothness of her feet made it so there was absolutely no traction against the flat insides of the zehmip’s mouth.

  “I’m slipping further!” she screamed, realizing her grip on his hand was slipping too.

  “I’ll get you out of there!” he shouted back. “But I have to let you go.”

  No. Don’t let go. Please don’t.

  But she knew he had to.

  And…she trusted him.

  He would get her out of there.

  She knew it.

  She trusted him to do it.

  As her fingers slipped from his, Diana gripped on to the edge of the zehmip’s closing mouth with both hands.

  Please hurry.

  But as he bent to find his blade, she heard the snarls of the sand cats.

  They were closing in now that she and Yce had stopped running, and all she could do was scream his name as the first one pounced.

  He had his blade now, but it was still a struggle.

  She watched him take down the first sand cat as she was lifted higher into the air, the sound of tree bark stretching in her ears as the suction pulled her deeper.

  Another sand cat pounced on him, digging its teeth into his back, and she watched him ignore the pain as he raised his worried eyes to hers.

  She could barely see him now, as she gripped the sides of the zehmip’s mouth, struggling to lift herself enough so she wasn’t swallowed entirely. She realized with clarity that the mouth was almost fully closed now and that her entire body was being covered with the plant’s inner slime.

  She was being eaten...and it wasn’t the cunnilingus her body would have been happy to receive earlier. It was like the universe had a screwed up sense of humor.

  The more she struggled, the faster the zehmip’s mouth seemed to close, but she found herself screaming and struggling as she tried to escape her impending doom.

  But it was futile.

  It was far too slippery. She had no grip.

  The only thing she could hold on to was two of the spikes where the mouth closed and she was gripping them for dear life.

  As the zehmip’s mouth closed, she could see enough in the darkness that Yce was being swamped.

  There were three sand cats on him now and Diana stared at him in horror.

  He was still heading towards her, determination in his eyes.

  Why didn’t he save himself?

  He was going to be killed if he didn’t kill them first.

  He should take care of himself. She...well, she’d figure something out.

  But her thoughts bore no confidence.

  For the first time in her life, she was left to face something she hadn’t had to face in a long time.

  The last time she’d felt this helpless was when...

  Her stepfather.

  Something broke inside her and Diana choked on a sob.

  She could do this.

  She could take care of herself.

  She’d always taken care of herself.

  She’d never needed anyone to fight her battles for her.

  She’d been fighting them by herself all her life and she’d managed to survive.

  She was strong.

  She could do this.

  But as she struggled and slipped further and further away, the slime and ooze now dripping over her hands and face, she couldn’t help the tear that ran down her cheek.

  The only option for escape was slowly closing before her and she couldn’t reach it. No matter how much she struggled, it was far too slimy…far too slippery. She just kept falling back.

  And when she saw her last view of the ground, she choked on another sob.

  Yce.

  She could hardly see his body now as he fought with the sand cats. She couldn’t even count how many; there were just so many of them attacking him all at once.

  As the zehmip’s mouth closed, she kept her grip on the two spikes as she was enveloped in complete darkness.

  Darkness and ooze.

  She could hardly hear anything now. It was oddly quiet in the mouth of the plant. And as it constricted around her, the juices covering her entire body, she finally stopped struggling.

  She couldn’t escape this.

  She couldn’t do it alone.

  For the first time in her life, she wasn’t her own savior.

  For the first time in her life, she had to face the fact that she couldn’t do it on her own.

  “Fuck you!” she screamed at the plant, rage rising within her. “Fuck you!”

  She kicked the thing, realizing that just as when she had been trying to climb out, her kicks just slipped against the soft inside of the plant’s mouth.

  Still, she let out all her energy, raining kicks on the inside of the plant till her legs pained her.

  It was all she could do.

  Yce wasn’t coming.

  He was probably dead.

  She choked on another sob as the thought hit her and kicked harder.

  There was no way he could have gotten rid of all those cats by himself and the image of him being dragged off to one of their dens made fresh tears form in her eyes.

  She hated this. She hated all of this.

  This planet. Its inhabitants. The I
sclits and Tasqals that were after them. Everything.

  She began raining kicks again till she could kick no more. Her legs were tired, weak from the exertion, and she was still in the same spot. Nothing had changed.

  Breathing hard, it was only the sound that broke the silence.

  Around her, everything else was quiet.

  She couldn’t even hear the sand cats outside and that was probably for the best.

  She didn’t want to hear them as they tore him apart.

  It was too much.

  Choking on another sob, she screamed in frustration.

  She didn’t even get to tell Spock that she didn’t really hate him.

  All that anger towards him seemed so irrelevant now.

  In his last moments, he had been determined to set her free.

  She didn’t hate him, that big blue idiot.

  Far from it.

  A part of her actually…liked him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  She could feel the zehmip pulsing around her and it was getting hard to breathe now. There was so much slime, so much ooze, and the walls of the thing’s mouth just seemed to keep oozing more and more of the substance.

  Her eyes were closed and she couldn’t open them because of the level of slime. To breathe, she had her hand clasped over her nose to prevent the fluid from going down her nostrils.

  The slime wasn’t burning her skin though. She was thankful for that at least.

  Maybe it was just waiting for her to suffocate and then the digestion would start.

  It felt as if she was in a coffin.

  It was a coffin.

  She was just waiting for time to stop and the minutes ticked by slowly.

  In her mind, thoughts moved by slowly.

  She thought of Earth. It seemed so far away now. Like another world. Well, it was another world and she was far, far away from it.

  Funny, nothing on Earth seemed to matter at the moment.

  If she’d had a successful corporate career, it wouldn’t have mattered anymore.

  If she’d driven an expensive car, who would give a shit about that now?

  If she’d had a mansion on a hill, it really wouldn’t matter at all.

  Nothing. Mattered.

  When faced with death...nothing mattered anymore.

  It was a strange feeling.

  There was such...emptiness.

  She was alone in her thoughts, so alone, that it took her a few seconds to realize the zehmip was shuddering every few seconds.

  If she could open her eyes, she would. Instead, she tried to listen. Her ears were covered in the slime, too, though and if she couldn’t hear anything before the cavity was flooded with the ooze, she definitely couldn’t hear anything now.

  She was sure of it, though.

  There had been a shudder.

  Waiting a few seconds, she felt nothing.

  Maybe she had just imagined it, but as her hope fell once more and she went back to her thoughts, the head of the zehmip shook.

  Yes, that was definitely a shudder and it didn’t feel like it was the plant itself that was doing it.

  It happened again. This time, the zehmip jerked so ferociously she was rocked back and forth within the cavity of its mouth.

  And then she was falling.

  The feeling was undeniable.

  She was still in the plant’s mouth but the sudden downward movement was immediately recognizable.

  She was falling and it only took a few seconds before there was a hard impact when she hit the sand on the surface.

  Thoughts swirled in her head. What had caused the zehmip to fall so suddenly?

  From what she knew, they only fell if their stalks are cut and sand cats couldn’t do that.

  That only left...Yce.

  Her heart jumped at the thought.

  Was he still alive?

  Had he managed to survive being mobbed by a gang of the terrible cats?

  She got her answer in the next few seconds as the mouth of the zehmip was sliced open and she felt two large, strong arms grip her.

  As she was pulled from the slime, Diana wiped away the fluid from her eyes, coughing as she exited the ooze.

  She’d forgotten how cold it was outside.

  Inside the zehmip’s mouth had been so warm. Now, the cold hit her, but she was thankful for it.

  It reminded her that she was alive.

  As she managed to clear her vision, she cast her eyes on her rescuer and a sob caught in her throat.

  He was gripping her to him as he stumbled away from the now dead plant.

  Yce.

  He’d done it.

  He’d done it after all.

  “Yce,” she breathed, wrapping her still slimy arms around his neck as gratitude overwhelmed her.

  She hadn’t been so happy to see another person in all her life.

  “Yce!” she choked again, sobs escaping her throat.

  He said nothing. Instead, he held her close as he stumbled away. His gait was jerky, but she didn’t notice. She was too overwhelmed by the fact that she was alive and he was there.

  It’s one thing when you think you are going to die only to be given a second chance at life.

  As she buried her face into his neck, she let the tears flow and she didn’t try to stop them.

  It was her first tears in over fifteen years.

  In all that time, she had refused to let herself cry.

  After that last time it had happened, the last time her stepfather had entered her room and she’d decided no more, that she was going to fight for herself, she had decided not to cry.

  And she’d kept that promise.

  But right now...right now, crying felt so good.

  It felt so good to just let it all out.

  Yce stumbled a few more paces before he tried to rest her on the sand, but she wouldn’t let him go.

  She wasn’t ready to do so yet.

  He was a reminder that she was alive.

  Clinging on to him, her face buried into his neck, she held on to him tighter. He made a sound and, instead of putting her down on the sand, he sat with her in his arms and held her close.

  He said nothing.

  He didn’t need to.

  She didn’t know if he was reading her mind or not but at the moment she didn’t care.

  She just wanted to hold on to him.

  He was alive and he was here. And because of him, so was she.

  She needed to feel his strength for a few more minutes.

  But they sat like that for more than a few minutes. It was pitch black around them and it was cold, but here, close beside him, everything felt like it was going to be all right.

  “Thank you,” she whispered and felt as he rested his chin against the top of her head.

  Still, he didn’t try to release her again and she didn’t try to move.

  It was just her and him.

  Her and this alien.

  This alien who’d saved her. And she thanked him for it.

  She thanked him so darn much.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dawn sauntered in as the twin suns rose into the sky slowly.

  It was getting light enough for her to see their surroundings and as she raised her head from his neck and looked over his shoulder, her eyes widened in their sockets.

  All around them were bodies. Bodies of zehmips everywhere, sliced from the stalk, their mouths also carved open. And dotted around the bodies of the dead plants was what was left of the sand cats.

  “My goodness,” she breathed.

  They hadn’t gotten him. He’d been the one to get them, and judging from the dismembered bodies dotting the ground, he’d gotten them good.

  She couldn’t count how many cats were lying dead on the ground because there were so many parts strewn around.

  She didn’t even know how many zehmips were on the ground. It was carnage. Mass carnage.

  “What—” she began.

  “I couldn’t find you.” His voi
ce reached her ear. “The cats pulled me away and I couldn’t find you.” He sounded tired, exhausted really, but Diana couldn’t pull her gaze away from the scene in front of her.

  The pieces came together in her mind then.

  He’d battled for his life, fighting off the cats, then when he couldn’t find the zehmip that had swallowed her, he had slaughtered every single one of them in search of her.

  No one had ever fought so hard for her before.

  The thought touched something deep within her.

  He’d done that for her.

  Judging from the number of bodies, they’d been in horrible danger last night.

  It was well over twenty zehmips and at least a dozen sand cats.

  Somehow, they’d walked into some kind of feeding frenzy and they’d made it out alive.

  When she finally pulled her wide eyes from the carnage to gaze upon him, her eyes widened some more and a gasp caught in her throat.

  Easing off him, her mouth fell open.

  His blue skin was tinged with blood, his white hair clumped together by the fluid.

  There were wounds all over his body and the more she eased off and looked at him the more wounds she saw.

  His eyes were almost closed and she felt a lump form in her throat.

  It wasn’t tiredness she’d heard in his voice earlier.

  No, it had been something else. He was weak.

  From the looks of it, he had been bleeding from his wounds all night while she’d selfishly held on to him, not even asking if he’d been okay.

  Her breaths came short and hard as regret hit her like a boulder.

  “Yce,” she breathed.

  “I will heal,” he said, as if reading her mind and again, she didn’t care if he had.

  “But—”

  “I will be fine,” he said, his eyes almost closed now.

  His grip on her was slipping as his energy waned and Diana gripped him.

  No.

  He wasn’t about to lose consciousness now.

  What could she do to help? They were in the middle of the desert. A desert with no end in sight.

  Gripping him harder, the slime from the zehmip made their skin cling together.

  She was sticky all over but at least she was otherwise okay. Him on the other hand...

  Then she remembered. She’d had that first-aid kit in the cloth bag she’d been carrying.