by Frost Kay
She didn’t consider herself difficult, but for the people who’d betrayed her? She’d be a thorn in their side. Plus, there was his skin to take into account. The texture was rough, and, yet, somehow it held a doughy consistency. It was so alien and off-putting.
Her eyes skimmed over to the reflective glass, and she winced at her reflection. She looked like a wreck. Tendrils of blond hair hung around her gaunt, pale face. The bruised smudges beneath her blue eyes caused them to look dull and tired. It looked as if someone had sucked the life from her.
“Do you remember the first time you came here?”
She blinked and pulled herself from her horrid visage. “I had no clue these were two-way mirrors.”
Virgil sniggered. “We all watched you bicker with Coal and then try to fix yourself up.”
She rolled her eyes, and the corner of her mouth quirked up at the corner. “That was mortifying,” she said dryly. “Thank you for reminding me.”
“You can’t hide that smile from me, Allie Sai.”
She wiped all expression from her face. She wouldn’t allow herself to get sucked back in. These people were trained to manipulate emotions.
Virgil raised a lumpy eyebrow at her. “There’s no need to be so serious.”
She chuckled. She’d been given every reason.
“What’s so funny?”
Allie scowled at him. “It’s none of your damn business.”
He whistled and shrugged one shoulder, choosing for once to stay silent, before striding forward through the doors.
Allie followed him at a much more sedate pace and glanced around the huge warehouse. A sense of home settled over her like a blanket. She rubbed at her arms to get rid of the feeling. This place wasn’t home. The people here weren’t her friends.
The warehouse was surprisingly empty, except for Eve and Zune. Eve’s purple-haired head popped up from the leaves she was inspecting. She glanced at Allie, her lilac eyes widening behind her black glasses, and smiled, lifting her hand in a small wave. Allie didn’t have it inside her to ignore the Av woman. Eve had been nothing but kind to her. Perhaps Eve had been innocent in everything, too? The idea was naïve, but she clung to it anyway.
She lifted a hand in a weak greeting and then glanced at Zune. The Kiterran man smiled at her and lifted his chin. Part of her nerves melted away at the kind expression on his face. Was it possible to fake true affection? Allie didn’t think so. Maybe everything wasn’t fake. Her steps paused as she stared at her former partners, curiosity worming its way into her mind. What were they working on today?
“You coming?” Virgil asked.
She glanced back at the annoying alien and forced herself toward him and through the open doors. “Am I not allowed to greet my friends?”
“I didn’t know you still had friends here.”
His blasé comment shouldn’t have hurt, but it did.
“Apparently not.”
He grunted and placed his hand on the wall, the door sliding shut without a sound. She gazed at the door, another fissure of fear souring her stomach. If the door required special access to get open, how would she get out?
Allie squeaked when the dark hallway lit up, bright lights flashing above. The lights led down the hall and then turned to the right, illuminating the path. “How does it know which way we’re going?”
“That’s classified.”
“Of course it is,” she grumped.
“As is the work of Eve and Zune.”
The message was loud and clear. She wasn’t part of their team any longer, so she didn’t have access to anything they were doing.
“Naturally,” she drawled. What was her problem? Why was she letting Virgil get to her? The old coot was trying to rile her up, and she was letting him. When she used the rational part of her brain, what he said made sense. From the beginning, she’d wanted her freedom. Now that she’d done what they needed, her part was done. She didn’t belong here. She wasn’t a spy, a soldier, or a scientist. She was a mixologist. Allie drew herself up taller. And a darn good one at that.
She picked up her pace as Virgil strode down the hallway. For a shorter alien, he sure had a fast gait. Every one of his steps was two of hers. They turned the corner and continued down another hallway that looked exactly the same: a smooth white wall that rounded into the ceiling with no doors. He turned left, and Allie started to jog. Goodness, at this rate, she’d start sweating like a pig or break one of her ankles.
They wound through a few more hallways, and her anxiety picked up. She’d been counting the turns; left, left, right, left, right, right, or was it left? Biting her lip, she tried to ground herself and squashed the crazy images her mind was inventing. They weren’t going to kill her. They needed her.
She almost shouted hallelujah when Virgil stopped and slapped a hand against the wall. A soft pink light formed a tall arch on the wall, and then that section of the wall disappeared completely.
“They’re in here.”
Allie glanced over her shoulder and considered sprinting back down the hallway. Even if she managed to get her shoes off, there wasn’t anywhere to go. She didn’t have access to anything and there were no rooms to hide in. Well, none visible to her Human eyes.
Pulling in a deep breath, she turned back to Virgil and smoothed her hair.
“You look fine.”
“Did you or did you not tell me that I looked like crap earlier today?”
“I thought it might help.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Well, then,” he smiled, baring his sharp teeth. “Ladies first.”
She hid her flinch. Those stinking teeth. They got her every time. Allie threw her shoulders back and lifted her chin to make herself as tall as possible. She wouldn’t walk into that room looking like a weak, pathetic Human. When they saw her, they would know they were dealing with a professional female who was about to knock them onto their butts.
“Maybe next time, don’t smile,” she muttered as she drew closer to Virgil.
His deep belly laugh followed her into the room, where God-only-knows-what was waiting for her. But that was okay. They didn’t know what they were dealing with, either. No one would mess with her from now on. It was her life, her future. And she’d fight dirty for it if she had to.
Southern girls were polite, but they’d knock you down if you weren’t careful.
6
Strong Girls Don’t Faint
The room was pure white. Go figure. What was it with aliens and white?
She glanced around the space, squinting at the walls. On closer inspection, they weren’t exactly white. They were more of a pearl. Iridescent. She probably looked like an idiot squinting at the walls, but it gave her a moment to collect herself before she sat at the table with the three Av males whom she had no desire to speak with.
You’ve got this.
Allie glided toward the two empty chairs on the other side of the silver table. She kept her expression placid as she pulled one of the translucent chairs from underneath the table and sat, noticing the table was bolted to the floor.
Lovely. They had her in an interrogation room. What did that mean?
Shifting in her seat, she once again glanced around the sparse room, purposefully ignoring the turquoise, silver, and midnight eyes pinned to her. It was petty really, but she didn’t want to bestow any of her attention on any of them. They didn’t deserve it.
Allie laced her fingers together and centered herself. The sooner she found out what they wanted, the sooner she was out of here. It was better to get it done quickly than drag it out.
She sucked in a breath and lifted her head, pinning her gaze over Lev’s shoulder. “Let’s get on with it,” she said.
Lev cleared his throat, but she didn’t look away from the shiny green spot on the far wall. The silence dragged on, but she didn’t say anything else. Her sisters had played the silent game for days. A little bit of silence wouldn’t make her crack.
“Isn’t this
just a lively meeting?” Virgil commented, yanking the chair out with a squeak. He plopped into the chair, a humanoid shape of messy wrinkles.
She shook her head. “I don’t know how the dragoness deals with you,” she mumbled from the corner of her mouth. Nothing he did was subtle.
Again, he flashed his unsettling teeth and laced his fingers across his stomach. “I suspect with many bottles of spirits and a tree trunk.”
She glanced at him. “A tree trunk?”
“She threatened to beat me with it.” He grinned, blessedly close-lipped. “But she’d have to catch me first.”
Her lips twitched, the cursed things betraying her. Allie smoothed her expression and this time focused on a shiny blue spot over Coal’s shoulder. “What do you want from me?”
“There are many—” he began.
She jumped as metal clanged, and her palm began to burn. Allie glanced at her smarting hand in surprise. She’d slapped the table. When was the last time she’d lost control like that? She reeled in her anger as she spun the huge metal ring adorning her middle finger. “I don’t want to hear any of your innuendos or jokes. I’m not here to be made fun of. I’m not here to joke around. I’m here to get a job done. So quit messing around and let’s get this done, all right?”
Coal held his hands up, his brows almost touching his hairline. “As my lady commands.”
It was a fight not to roll her eyes at the sarcasm in his voice. She turned her attention back to the little green spot just over Lev’s shoulder. She’d yet to look in Blade’s direction, even though it seemed as if his gaze was boring holes in her left cheek. “You got what you wanted. I don’t know what more you could possibly want.”
Lev leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “We would like you to talk about what you experienced while alone with the king.”
They knew what happened. “Why would you want to know that? You have the footage.”
“It’s important.”
She waved her hand toward him. “You know exactly what happened. You had the feed from my eye cam.”
“Part of it was distorted from your tears.”
A chill ran down her spine. Her tears. He was already blaming her for her weakness. “And you couldn’t salvage anything from it?”
“Our tech was able to salvage most of it.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Then why do you need me?”
“The video and audio are great. But we’re more interested in your impressions of the king.”
“My impressions?” Allie shuddered as Sloven’s blood red eyes flashed through her mind. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “Other than the fact that he’s a complete sociopath?”
Another image of him smiling down at her while she gasped in pain assaulted her. It made her sick. Her stomach lurched, and she forced her eyes open, the room blurry. Allie swallowed hard against the bile threatening to flood her mouth. “Why do you need to know? He’s already in jail. There’s no sense in drudging this all up.” Just talking about the monster seemed to make the well-lit room seem more shadowy.
Coal leaned forward, his expression earnest. “It helps us with the case. In case you might have to testify—”
Allie slammed back into her chair as Lev and Blade both hissed at their brother.
“Testify?” she said through numb lips. For the first time, her gaze connected with Lev’s. “Never once did you say I had to testify against that monster.” She held up two fingers. “You asked me to do two things. Create a truth serum and administer it to the maniac. I accomplished both.” She shook her head. “I won’t do it. You have everything you need in the audio and video files.”
“Allie…” Blade whispered, his voice caressing her name.
She jerked and glared in his direction, meeting his midnight eyes. “No!” she snapped. “You don’t get to appeal to my better side by telling me how many thousands of innocent people I’ll be helping. You’ve already used that one.”
“It doesn’t make it any less true.”
Allie ripped her gaze away from his to stare at Lev. “I have gone above and beyond what you have asked me. Heck, have any of you stared down a mass murderer?” Silence. “That’s right, you haven’t. I know I am just a Human,” she sneered, “but I was still under your command, Lev. It was your job to prepare and protect me. You did neither. I was not prepared for the situation you threw me into…” Her voice broke, and she had to swallow again to keep her emotions from rising.
“Not everything goes according to plan,” Virgil said, his tone heavy. “And, unfortunately, life is not fair.” He touched her bare shoulder as if to comfort her.
Allie shrugged off his hand and shook her head. “I’m not a child. I know life is unfair. Me being here is proof of that. But this situation is beyond unfair. It is cruel, malicious, and unethical. My life has been one disaster after another since you walked into my life.” Her glare cut to Blade. “You lied to me.”
“I know,” was all he said.
No apology, no words of remorse. She glanced between all the men. “You all lied to me.”
Again, they all kept silent as her words hung in the air.
A bitter chuckle erupted from her chest. “Are you seriously going to say nothing? After everything I’ve gone through, you have nothing to say for your actions?”
Again with the silence. Her anger ratcheted up a notch.
“Say something, damn it.”
“I’m sorry,” Lev said.
Two simple words, that’s all they were, and they supposedly had the power to make her feel better, but all they did was make her feel worse, angrier than she was before. “Do you think two little words will fix what you’ve done?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Honesty!” She clapped. “I’m surprised you’re capable of it. When I imagined space, foreign planets, and aliens, I used to think it was romantic. But now that I’m here? I know it was all a fantasy. This is real life. You’re just as bad as the unscrupulous lowlifes on Earth. I was forced here by a government that didn’t care for my wellbeing. And not only that, you led me to believe that I had killed someone. Do you know what that does to a person?” She stared at Coal, then Lev, and finally, Blade. “You know what I’m talking about. You’re the killer.”
“Allie,” Virgil chastised.
“Don’t get all high and mighty on me now,” she retorted, turning back to Blade. “Do you understand how much I agonized over the Lock? For weeks and months, it weighed on my conscience.”
He shook his head, his bluish-black hair sliding across his cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be sorry.” She glanced at the Av triplets. “Your mama would be ashamed of you, because I’m ashamed of you all. I thought you were better than this. I knew you would manipulate the situation, so you could get what you wanted, but I didn’t think you’d manipulate me to get what you wanted.” She chuckled again. “Well, manipulate me more than I already knew.”
“This is the Lock sector,” Coal said, like it was an explanation.
“I don’t care what sector it is. You used me and messed with my mind and my feelings. That’s wrong.”
“I understand you’re upset, Allie, but—”
“Upset?” she snarled, cutting him off. “I’m way past upset! Upset is when somebody ruins your favorite pair of shoes or steals the last piece of chocolate when you’re on your period. I’m enraged and hurt. All of you betrayed me.” She scanned the group and asked the question that had been bothering her for the last three weeks. “When did you mark me?”
“Before you ever set foot on that ship,” Blade said. His tone held no feeling. It was factual.
It felt like he’d slapped her in the face and then stabbed her in the chest. They’d played her from the very beginning. “Why the ruse? Why not ask me to help you? Why pretend to pirate my ship?”
“There are many angles,” Virgil commented.
She stared at him and then scrutinized the group. All four men seemed to b
e locked down like vaults. “Unbelievable. You’re still playing games. I almost died,” she whispered, choking on the words. Allie glanced down at the table, irritated that her eyes pricked uncomfortably. She hated it. Every single emotion she felt, she cried. Happy, angry, sad, it didn’t matter. The tears came out to play every time. Stars above, she loathed it. Crying made her feel weak when all she wanted to do was yell.
Allie choked back her tears and looked each of them square in the eye, so they could see what their actions had done to her. “I went in there knowing each of you had betrayed me. I confronted that monster, Sl-Sloven…” She stuttered on his name. “To make sure no other girl would ever be in my position, so that no other Human would ever be at the king’s mercy. I did that for everyone else. I refuse to give you any more of myself than you deserve, which is nothing.”
Lev frowned and ran his hands through his turquoise hair. “We don’t deserve anything else from you.”
“Damn straight.”
“But I’ll ask anyway,” Lev soldiered on.
“Why am I not surprised? You just take, take, take. But what more can you take from me?” She grinned at them, but the smile felt manic and uncomfortable on her face. “You’ve taken any shred of safety I’ve felt here and destroyed it.”
She shoved to her feet and twisted, so her back faced the men. Allie untied the knot of the dress at her neck that held the front and back together, like a Greek style dress she’d seen as a child, and let the back piece fall away. The back of her dress slithered down and caught at the base of her spine, exposing her whole back. Hisses sounded behind her, and a chair screeched against the floor.
Allie glanced over her shoulder, taking in the horrified expressions of all three men. Blade stood behind his chair, his hands curled around the top of it as if he was holding himself back. She gathered the material at her waist and wrangled it back into place, then tied the knot, securing the fabric before turning around.
She placed her hands on the table and leaned closer to make her point. “I’m permanently scarred because of this. I will wear that monster’s marks on my body for the rest of my life. In a way, you’ve scarred me because of your actions.”