Chapter 1

Tania

Nausea courses through my stomach as my heartbeat speeds up. My surroundings waver and blur. I feel like I’m drifting on a sea wave. On a cloud. A hand strokes my cheek, and I blink. My vision clears, and I see his eyes. A scream of fear escapes my mouth, and I jerk my body away, but Wuylir grips my arms and immobilises me.

“Tania,” he says. There’s a warning in his deep husky voice. “Tania, calm down.”

He is so massive compared to me—his hand could crush my head.

“Tania,” he repeats with a hint of softness. “My little goddess.”

Dread surges through me, and I feel like an animal facing death.

Giggles bounce off my ears and the whispers follow. The whispers in a language I can’t speak. My eyes travel to the source of the sounds, and I see three women. They look like triplets—their skin is as blue as the sky on Earth, eyes purple, eerie, and curious. They’re tall and slim. Translucent fabrics of grey colour envelop their bodies and I see their large breasts and shaved mounds. My cheeks heat up.

“Your mother told you about Earth?” Wuylir asks.

“Yes,” I murmur.

My eyes sweep over my surroundings. I see stone walls, arched windows, colourful ornamentation on the ceiling. My eyes roam over the huge mattress I’m lying on. Wuylir is perching on the edge and the women are clinging to his back.

I take a deep breath and the air irritates my throat. It’s smelly. I cough and Wuylir strokes my cheek with his knuckles.

“Do you want to see Earth?” Wuylir asks.

I nod. “I do.”

He rises to his feet, shaking off the women, and he tugs me out of the bed. I sway as his arm wraps around me, and he moves me towards one of the windows. It’s ajar. We stand by it and I push it wide open then look out.

The cold stinky air whips my nostrils. My eyes sting. A stream of thin fluid trickles down from my nose, and I sniffle. I wipe my nose with the back of my hand.

I absorb the view with my whole being.

I see trees; they’re as tall as mountains and so green that their fresh and intense colour blinds me. Everything is so crystalline—stinky but clear—crisp but rich. And the enormous ball of brightness in the sky makes my eyes hurt. I blink a few times. My eyes travel to a strange vehicle parked by one of the trees two stories below from where I’m standing.

“The trees are called oaks,” Wuylir says, “and the vehicle is called a motorcycle.” He stands right behind me, pulling me to him so my back rests against his hot naked chest. I feel his massive erection rub against my ass even though he has a pair of strange blue trousers on. “The motorcycle is mine. You’ll love it when I take you for a ride.”

“Where are we?” I gasp.

“On Earth, Tania,” he says as he plants a wet hot kiss on my cheek. “You’ll love it here.”

“I want to go back home.”

“No.”

“Please.”

He tightens the grip around me. “You’ll love it here, sweetheart, I promise.”

His women surround us and one of them strokes the back of my hand with her fingers.

I growl with fury.

“You don’t want them?” Wuylir asks like he’s amused. “I thought you’d like them. They’re clones engineered to give entertainment.”

“No,” I say. “I don’t like women. But you should know this. You love digging in my head apparently.”

He kisses my cheek. “I don’t want to dig that deep. I want to give you some privacy.” He growls something in a sharp language and the women back up. “Only you and me then. Like your mother and your father.”

I hear a hint of respect in his voice and that intrigues me. “What do you want from me?”

“Tania,” he rasps. “My little gem. You’ll be very happy here. Earth is quite modern.”

“And smells of shit.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“I want to go back home.”

“You are my wife, sweetheart.” He grunts into my ear. “You’ll stay here but we’ll visit your family from time to time, I promise.” His enormous palm rests against my breast and he squeezes it. “I can’t wait to bury my dick in your cunt, sweetheart.”

I wriggle in his arms like a punnica in a trap.

Isabella

I drop onto the low stone wall that encircles the shed near the winery.

“Went good, huh?” My eyes shift to Arnau’s. “My mother doesn’t suspect anything.”

“You’ll be my wife,” he says.

His eyes start blazing and my heart flutters.

“Your tribe won’t listen to me if I’m not one of you,” I say. “If your people don’t join the resistance, we will never get rid of the gods. It’s time to stop this at last. To make everyone free. Free to live, free to love, free to choose a way of life. The gods treat foreigners like they’re items. This must end at last.”

I realise I’m pacing around Arnau. He grins at me and glides his palm over his head.

“I’ll take you to my tribe,” he says. “They will let you speak. I doubt they are going to listen to you though.”

Heat rushes to my cheeks. “Don’t you want your people to stop living in fear that the hunters will come and claim their freedom, innocence or life?”

“I want that, Isabella, I just think you and your school mates are too young and too crazy.”

“That’s why I need you.” I grip his arm. “You have experience, knowledge, honour. You’ll guide us.”

He leans towards me as his hand lands on the back of my neck. “I will be your husband.” There’s an eerie seriousness in his voice.

“That’s the plan.”

He squeezes my neck to the point of pain as the hairs on my back rise.

“You can divorce me as soon as I achieve my goals,” I say.

We have talked about it so many times. Everything is clear. The baby was his idea—very brilliant in my opinion. My mother was so stunned that she wasn’t able to think rationally.

“What if I didn’t want a divorce?” Arnau asks.

I sense menace and wildness from him.

“But we talked about it and you agreed…” My voice falters. “That’s the plan. I need you to marry me and brand me as yours.”

He pulls my long almond hair together and winds it around his fist. My primal instinct screams to escape him.

Then his lips slam on mine.

I yelp into his mouth. My body sways. My mind spins. Heat surges through my veins as his arms wrap around me and his lips crush mine.

I push at his chest and tear my mouth off his. “What the fuck are you doing?”

He pulls my hair down and my skull seizes with pain.

“Listen to me, Isabella,” he says.

I cringe into myself at the tone of his voice.

“I will marry you,” he continues. “I will take you to my tribe, I will help you and those kids from your school, but you’ll be a wife to me, do you understand? A good and obedient wife.”

“You mean…?”

“Yes, I mean you in my bed, underneath me with your legs spread for me.”

My hand jerks up to slap him across the cheek, but I restrain myself.

My heart thumps in my ears. “Is this what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.”

“This rebellion must be very important to you.”

“My cunt must be very important to you, Arnau.”

He rests his forehead against mine and inhales me. “You are everything to me.”

To be continued…

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