Tamed by the Alien Overlords

by Renee Bond

Neither of them made it more than one step before their heads exploded, the projectiles that killed them moving so fast and so silently that it looked like spontaneous combustion.

  “To threaten our mate,” said Lenth’s voice, his icy calm a striking counterpoint to Karkan’s fiery passion, “is to die. There can be no compromise.”

  “There will be no tribunal,” said Sandora’s voice, matter-of-factly. “No testimony. No mitigating circumstances. No pleas. No mercy.”

  “The best you can hope for now,” said Karkan’s voice, “is a quick death. Not a painless one, mind you. But maybe, if you’re lucky, a quick one.”

  The mobsters started firing. At shadows. At nothing. They were panicking.

  As well they should.

  Suddenly, Baldy’s arm was around my throat. Then he was at my back, his gun pressed against my head, using me as a human shield. With a quick glance, I could see that Kara had flattened herself on the floor, trying to stay out of the line of fire. I wished I was down there with her. No matter how powerful Domann combat exoskeletons were, they couldn’t keep a bullet from entering my head if Baldy’s finger slipped!

  “Show yourselves, or this bitch gets a full lobotomy!” he screamed.

  “Very well,” Karkan answered.

  The air shimmered.

  A Sandora-sized commando, clad in the metallic scales of his fully-body combat suit, appeared in between two of the remaining goons.

  His arms flicked out. Barely appeared to touch the necks of the men to either side of him.

  The men crumpled to the ground. Unconscious, or dead.

  Another shimmer.

  A massive, Lenth-sized commando appeared behind another of the gangsters.

  Then picked him up, the way I would pick up a pillow.

  Then that man was soaring through the air, plowing into yet another of the gangsters. The two of them landed in a heap, accompanied by the deep thud of bruised meat and at least two loud snaps, which I could only assume had come from broken bones. Both of them began moaning and trying to crawl away.

  “Back!” said Baldy, now the only one of the men left on his feet. “Dammit, get back! I’ll fucking kill her!”

  “You will not.”

  The air shimmered. Karkan appeared directly in front of me and Baldy.

  “You died the moment you were stupid enough to point a gun at our mate.”

  I heard a click come from behind my ear.

  The sound of a pistol hammer falling.

  I flinched… but nothing happened.

  “Fuck!” Baldy swore.

  Several more clicks.

  No human had yet managed to work out how the Domann could sabotage guns like that. Some in the resistance theorized that they used nanites, somehow. Nevertheless, discovering that your gun was nothing more than an expensive paperweight was such a common occurrence that most resistance soldiers carried at least three firearms into in operation.

  Baldy threw his gun at Karkan.

  It stopped one inch from Karkan’s dark helmet, then floated gently to the floor.

  “I’ll snap her neck!” he said, his voice cracking under the stress of his rising fear.

  “For leading the men who threatened our beloved mate,” Karkan said, “you will die in agony. For every threat, for every insult, that you have leveled against my woman, I will now break one of your bones. I will leave you here, clinging to life, with a drone to broadcast your last hours on this planet, as a warning to anyone else who thinks that they can ever threaten a mate of the Domann.”

  Shit. This was getting heavy.

  Then Karkan was standing close by us. He’d been several steps away… and then, he wasn’t. He didn’t so much move as teleport forward.

  Faster than I could blink, he gripped each of Baldy’s wrists in his hands.

  Then Baldy’s arms were no longer holding me. I jumped away.

  Baldy struggled. Kicked at Karkan. Spat onto his helmet.

  Then he began hyperventilating.

  Because Karkan simply stood. Impassive. Impervious to any effort Baldy made.

  A dark stain began to spread from his crotch.

  “Lenth, Sandora,” Karkan said, “take the women away. I would not have them witness this.”

  Honestly… that was just fine by me.

  “One last thing,” I said.

  Then, concentrating harder than I ever had in my life, I spun around, dug the ball of my left foot against the floor, and launched my right foot at Baldy in the hardest roundhouse kick I could muster. I caught him in the ribs, under his left arm. There was a sickening thud, and I could feel at least one of his ribs snap.

  He cried out in pain.

  Began blubbering.

  I ignored his pleas as I helped Kara to her feet. Ignored him, as Lenth and Sandora untied our hands and led us out of the warehouse.

  To be honest, now that I’d gotten a kick in, now that I was safe and starting to calm down... I almost felt bad for the guy.

  I’d hated the Domann, just like he did, not so long ago. I might not have treated Kara and me any differently than he had. Well… yes, I would have. But I would have been just as suspicious as Baldy and his men had been of us.

  But none of that mattered. Not for poor Baldy. There was nothing I could do for him now.

  There was nothing anybody could do.

  The resistance had targeted Domann mate transport ships exactly once. That attack had resulted in the most brutal punishment broadcasts in history. Entire stadiums full of prisoners. Tortured to death.

  The Domann were usually very careful never to injure their prisoners. Punish, yes. Injure, no. They maintained that it was beneath them to injure a human just for not understanding their duty to serve them. But to those who threatened their mates, the Domann were more than brutal.

  They were downright evil.

  Women who could bear Domann children represented the last hope of the entire Domann race. And the Domann held a special hatred in their hearts for those who would threaten that hope.

  I shivered, as my mind couldn’t help but picture what was about to happen to Baldy.

  It was not going to be pretty. And I was glad that I wasn’t going to see it.

  But damn, getting that kick in had sure felt good.

  Kara and I followed Lenth and Sandora out of the warehouse.

  “How’d you find me?” I asked.

  “We have thousands of drones all over the city,” Sandora said. “Luckily - for you - one of them spotted you as you were traveling here.”

  I said nothing for a time. My mind spun, wondering what was going to happen to Kara and me.

  We stopped walking in a parking lot outside the warehouse. The sky had grown cloudy, even dark, and the wind had picked up. At least a dozen combat drones surrounded us as we walked, appearing from behind other buildings or flying down from somewhere overhead.

  “We’ll wait here,” said Lenth. “A shuttle will be along shortly to extract us.”

  Kara said nothing. Her shoulders were slumped, defeated. She was staring at her boots.

  “I’m sorry,” I said to her.

  She looked up. Forced a smile.

  “You tried,” she said. “It was always a long shot.”

  I turned to Sandora.

  “Let Kara go,” I said. “I know you’re going to take me back. But let her go. I’ll go willingly if you do.”

  “Why the hell would we do that?” Lenth asked. “And for the record, whether or not you’re willing will make no difference. You are our mate. You belong with us.”

  “Think about what you told me in your message,” I said. “About how the Domann are considering wiping out whole cities as a deterrent against resistance. The thing is, the threat of orbital bombardment can’t be a deterrent unless the resistance knows that it’s a real possibility!”

  Lenth and Sandora looked at each other.

  “Let Kara take that intel back to the resistance,” I pleaded. “Let her tell our people - her people
- what you told me, in that message you sent. At least give them a chance to stand down! It might save millions of human lives!”

  For a moment, nobody spoke.

  “It’s not a bad point,” Lenth said.

  “I know,” Sandora replied. “But we don’t have the authority to let a prisoner go.”

  “You’re right,” said Karkan, as he caught up to us. “But nobody will try to stop us until she’s already safely back with the resistance.” I turned around. Karkan’s helmet was off, revealing his stern visage, even though the rest of his body was still covered by the dark chrome metal of his combat suit.

  “They’ll definitely find out,” said Sandora, as he pressed a button on the front of his suit. As he did, his own helmet… retracted, somehow, back over his shoulder, then disappeared somewhere into his suit, the metal folding into an impossibly small size. After a moment, Lenth did the same. “These combat drones are recording everything, and even I can’t keep that information from fleet ops forever.”

  “You think your sterling record can survive an official censure?” asked Lenth, a smirk curling his lips.

  Karkan shrugged.

  “Liza is right,” he said. “She may be the most disobedient mate our race has ever captured, but she’s right. If releasing one prisoner can actually quiet the resistance enough that orbital bombardment is no longer an attractive strategy, then we owe it to humanity - and our mate - to try. No matter the consequences to us.”

  Slowly, Lenth and Sandora both nodded. Sandora took hold of the steel cuffs around Kara’s wrists. They opened immediately. After a moment, Sandora did the same with mine.

  “Thank you,” Kara said to me. “I’ve got a few other ideas on how to get in touch with another resistance cell. Might take a little time, but when I do find my way back in, I’ll tell them that you got me out.”

  “Least I could do,” I said, “considering the whole city may be on the line. But… tell them something else too.”

  “What?”

  “Tell them that the Domann aren’t as bad as we all fear.”

  Kara blanched.

  “Do you not remember being rounded up like cattle and imprisoned?” she demanded.

  “Did they torture you?” I asked. “Or starve you? Or even hurt you?”

  “No,” Kara said slowly. “I sure didn’t enjoy the prison, though.”

  “Maybe if we all stopped shooting at them, they wouldn’t do that anymore,” I said. Then I rounded on Karkan. “And maybe if the Domann approached humanity with a bit more diplomacy and a bit less prison, we wouldn’t want to shoot at you in the first place!”

  “Perhaps we will see such a future, one day,” Karkan said. “But, I think not. The fact is that the very survival of my entire race depends on the subjugation of humanity. I do not think my kind will ever be content to ask nicely for the things we need to keep our people from extinction.”

  Nobody said anything for a moment. Karkan’s words ran deep. And we all knew, deep down, that they were true. There probably wasn’t any hope for a future in which Domann and human truly worked together.

  “You be nice to her,” Kara said to Karkan. “Or I’ll come back up to that ship of yours.”

  “We will,” he said flatly. “But not out of fear.”

  “We love this woman,” Sandora said fiercely. “We will do whatever it takes to protect her and make her happy.

  “Including training her not to run away from us ever again,” said Lenth sternly, casting his eyes over at me.

  “She will be made to learn her place,” said Karkan. “And when she finally allows herself to accept that place, she will be happy for the rest of her life.”

  It felt weird to hear them talking about me like that. But I also couldn’t help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

  My men. My aliens. They’d captured me. Punished me. Pleasured me.

  And now they’d saved my life.

  And they weren’t at all shy about showing the strength of their feelings for me.

  Kara, however, clearly didn’t interpret what they’d just said in the same way that I did.

  “You bastards,” she whispered. “She’s not some fucking animal-”

  “It’s ok,” I cut in. “It’s… not nearly as bad as they make it sound. In fact… I don’t know if I even think it’s bad at all.”

  Kara’s mouth hung open for a long moment. When the look of shock on her face finally faded, she could only shake her head.

  “I never thought I would see the day,” she said, “when Liza fucking Strong became an alien sympathist.”

  “Well,” I said, “I’ve… had some new experiences, lately. The Domann mean well. The whole dominant alien invader thing is just... who they are. But honestly, if you give it a chance, it’s not all that bad. It can even be… nice. Really nice.”

  Kara’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

  “Be sure to tell your resistance leaders,” Karkan said, as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, “that even Liza Strong can be tamed. Can be shown that she belongs to us - and that that’s the way it should be.”

  His fingers gripped my mouth. Pulled it up.

  He kissed me.

  Surprised, taken off guard, I froze.

  Then my lips melted into his. My eyelids sank shut. My whole body relaxed. Gave in, to his unbearably strong embrace.

  He had come for me. Right when I’d been in more danger than I ever had been, my men, my aliens… my mates… had come for me. And they’d made everything right.

  I couldn’t ever thank them enough.

  But I was sure as hell going to try.

  I felt a new appreciation for them take root within me. A new feeling of warmth towards all three of them.

  Maybe, if all three of them really did care about me… then just maybe, it was ok if I cared about all three of them in return.

  When Karkan’s lips finally released me, Kara was gone. I hadn’t seen her leave.

  Maybe that was for the best.

  A Domann shuttle came to collect us.

  Landed in the parking lot.

  The four of us began walking towards it. As we approached the entrance ramp, Karkan spoke.

  “You, my insubordinate little woman,” he said, “are in a galaxy of trouble.”

  Chapter 38

  Liza

  After a short shuttle ride - in which Karkan, Lenth and Sandora talked amongst themselves about how their rescue operation had unfolded, giving each other critiques and advice - I was quickly ushered back to the personal quarters of my mates.

  I didn’t resist. Didn’t even protest. They’d let Kara go - and saved both our asses - so I figured I owed them at least that much.

  Part of me felt sad, as I entered their personal quarters. After this little adventure, I was definitely never going to get another chance to escape. Hell, I’d be surprised if they let me go to the bathroom without supervision.

  But, mostly… I was actually kinda glad to be back.

  I just couldn’t deny that I’d made a real connection with Karkan, Lenth and Sandora. With all three of them.

  It still felt weird not to hate their alien guts. And it also still felt weird to acknowledge that I had romantic feelings for all three of them. And it felt even weirder to think of that as normal, instead of something to hide!

  But those feelings of weirdness were fading.

  And they were just as quickly being replaced by the naked truth that I was deeply, almost painfully, attracted to each one of them. Not just for their gorgeous alien bodies, but for their personalities as well. For the care they’d shown me after capturing me. For the way their dominance stirred my loins. And now… for how they’d saved my life. And then, as if that weren’t enough, they’d risked getting in trouble with their superior officers just for the chance to save human lives.

  Karkan, his hand on the back of my neck, marched me to the middle of the room. It had been cleaned up. The light fixtures restored. The chairs righted.

>   “Stay,” he ordered, looking deep into my eyes, his voice stern.

  I wanted to ask him if that was what passed for flirting among the Domann. Then I realized that it very probably was.

  My eyes fell to the floor. After putting myself in a situation where they’d had to save me from almost certain death, giving them attitude just didn’t feel right. Hearing that order made me instinctively want to be anywhere else, of course. But… there was a new part of me, now. A small but growing part which genuinely didn’t mind staying right where Karkan put me. A part that actually wanted to listen to him. To obey his orders.

  He had just saved me, after all. He, Lenth and Sandora. Having that experience will change how you see a person, or persons. Now, they weren’t my captors. Well, they were. I definitely wasn’t going anywhere. But, they weren’t just my captors. That’s what they had started as. Then, they’d become my lovers as well. Now, they were also my saviors.

  My heroes.

  “Yes Sir,” I managed to whisper.

  “Good girl,” Karkan said, his tone softening a hair.

  He moved behind me. I stayed still.

  Then I felt something snap into place around my neck!

  I gripped it. Tugged at it.

  Karkan had affixed a metal collar around my neck! A thin, silver chain was affixed to that collar, which ran down to disappear through a tiny hole in the floor.

  “What the fuck is this?” I demanded.

  “That,” he said, “is what you are going to be wearing until you earn back the trust you lost when you left this ship - by yourself - without our permission.”

  I tugged at the chain. It gave, letting more length of chain out of the floor. But as soon as I released it, some mechanism under the floor sucked it back in. I didn’t have to think hard to imagine that it would only give so far before it stuck fast, severely limiting my range of movement.

  “If I told you this was barbaric,” I asked, “would you punish me for it?”

  “Do you really have to ask that?” returned Sandora.

  I tugged at the collar again.

  Frowned.

  Then my hands fell to my sides. Defeated. I couldn’t even tell where the collar opened. It seemed as if it was fashioned from one solid piece of metal.

  I didn’t like it. Not one bit.