Mara followed the three dark haired aliens, her pulse racing. It felt strange to leave her aliens behind. Wrong.
Have I made a mistake?
She touched her ear with the alien translator and felt the smooth spot Aedan had attached. If she pushed it, she could communicate with him. At least until their ship got too far away. Aedan had made it perfectly clear, if she changed her mind, he would return for her. He would find another way to return her to Earth.
Or a way to convince her that she could be happy with Bricus.
The alien named Hanus slowed, drifting behind the two other men to walk beside her. “So how long were you with those three?” He smiled, as if to reassure her he meant her no harm.
“A few days,” she said, feeling strangely nervous.
“Well, you’re lucky to have met them. They might be cursed, but they’re good males.”
She frowned. “Cursed?”
Hanus nodded, then leaned in conspiratorially. “Bricus is a Clouded Blood.”
“A Clouded Blood?” she shook her head, confused.
His smile widened, as if he was about to share really good gossip. “Yes. The day two such superior males, Drustan and Aedan were told their bond-brother was a Clouded Blood, all of us were sure they would refuse the bonding. But they stood by him. Even when their families disowned them. Even when female after female rejected them because of Bricus.”
“I don’t understand,” Mara said, frustrated. “Bricus is sick?”
The dark haired male laughed, his eyes a light blue. “No. His family is… poor. A working class. Our inferiors. Clouded Bloods cannot marry above their station and Pure Bloods would never choose a bonding with their inferior, and so, they are cursed. Because what mate could possibly love them?”
Mara was shocked by her anger. “Any woman would be lucky to have them.”
Hanus wrinkled his nose. “Yet female after female has agreed to bond with Drustan and Aedan, if they remove their bond with Bricus. They would sooner have two males than a bonding with him.”
She had the overwhelming desire to turn and run back to them. Is that why Bricus was so angry? And then she thought of his expression when he walked in on them in bed together. Her heart twisted. Seeing them together must have killed him.
And now she understood why.
If only they had told me. Then, I would… I would. What would she have done? Stayed with them?
Actually, I might have.
As the alien typed in a code and another door opened, he continued as if unaware of her turbulent emotions. “It’s alright that you don’t understand. Our ways are very different from your own. We—“
“Hanus!”
Ahead of them, an older alien with white streaks in his hair strode toward them. “What are you doing with a test specimen out of its cage?”
Hanus stiffened. “This isn’t a test subject. This is the human I am assisting my friend with.”
The older alien shook his head, his brown eyes deepening to black as they zeroed in on her. “I will take her from here.”
“But sir, I gave my word—“
“I will take her from here.”
When Hanus nodded and stepped back, his brothers following along beside him, she felt her first real flicker of fear.
“I don’t want to go with you.”
The older man caught her arm, digging in his white coat. “Subjects don’t get a say in their treatment.”
“But I’m not—“
A sharp pain radiated through her arm. She looked down in shock and stared at the needle protruding from her arm. Her legs crumbled from beneath her, and the old man caught her, holding her too close to his cold body.
“What will you do with her?” Hanus asked, his mouth drawn into a thin line.
The old man glared. “Test on her, of course. We never have enough females, after all.”
Mara tried to speak, but her numb lips wouldn’t move.
Aedan, Drustan, Bricus, if you’re out there, I need you.
But of course, they couldn’t read her terrified, desperate thoughts.
If she could just touch the communicator on her ear she could be saved. Yet, whatever had been in the needle kept her limbs limp and useless.
What will they do to me?
The older man dragged her through hall after hall until he came to one with a strange scent. She heard a woman screaming, and stared through a glass window at an auburn-haired woman who was strapped down to a table. A robotic piece of equipment was on the ceiling, with long metal arms that stretched down to her. One of them pushed into her mouth, cutting off her scream, while another moved toward her spread legs.
Oh my god, no. It was like every alien horror movie she could imagine all rolled into one. This can’t be happening.
“We’re testing the sexual responses of human females,” the alien that dragged her said, then entered a code into a room beside the woman’s. “We’ve already learned a great deal about your species, and you will help us further our research even more.”
I can’t let this happen! I need to get free!
Inside the room, he dropped her onto a metal table. Above her, the robotic equipment stared down at her.
With her pulse racing, she tried to speak. Mumbled words came out.
“Don’t worry,” the older man said in a tone that was anything but reassuring. “It’s all in the name of science.”
He reached for the straps by her arms.
“Tethi,” a man said, standing in the doorway. “There’s an emergency.”
The older man swore. “There’s always something.”
Dropping her bindings, he walked out of the room, the door closing behind him.
She willed her panic down. The only chance she had at escape was communicating with Aedan before their ship got too far. All she had to do was touch the button at her ear. Before the old man got back and tied her down.
She tried to move her arm, but it simply twitched and remained lying uselessly at her side.
Unwilling to give up, she put her entire focus on the one thing she must do, sending a brief prayer that she could be saved.
Please just let their ship be close enough to hear me.
Which is exactly when she heard footsteps approaching.