The stench of blood was strong in her nostrils.

There was simply no escape from it. The only thing Ashley wanted was to get away from that room. Luckily it seemed that was going to happen when Zar returned to her with a man she thought she'd glimpsed on the screens of the station.

"Ashley, this is Captain Roagh," Zar told her, looking much grimmer than he had before the meeting. "He will take you to the females. Remember what I told you. If he reports you started any trouble, it will be your last visit."

"Yes, you told me," Ashley said. "You don't have to make every sentence a threat, you know?"

Zar gestured to the blood and pieces of warriors on the ground.

"You tell me," he said. "Don't I?"

Ashley didn't reply. The dead were all Nayanors, men who could no longer hurt and raid, but it had still been terrible to see them die like that.

The look in Zar's eyes bothered her as well. Something was wrong, but Ashley didn't think it was the right time to press that. The eyes of the Nayanor captain were regarding her with intensity she didn't like one bit.

"He won't hurt you," Zar added before turning away. "Bring her back to my quarters, Roagh."

"I will," the captain replied, not turning the gaze of his deep blue eyes from her. "Come, female."

"My name is Ashley," she said when the warrior led her from the blood-coated hall.

"So Zar said, yes," Roagh replied as they walked through hallways and corridors, going down if she felt it correctly.

"You can call me by my name then," Ashley said as if her point needed to be made more obvious. "Female is so... dehumanizing."

Roagh stopped and turned back to her. The warrior towered over her like most Nayanors did and looking into his dark eyes, Ashley suddenly remembered he wasn't Zar. The harbinger let her get away with a bit of spunk because she was his fated.

Roagh looked more like a raider as she'd known them before yesterday when Zar began to make her doubt she understood everything. Now, looking at the captain and feeling very alone all of a sudden, Ashley began to think that perhaps Zar was an exception.

"From the moment I saw you, I knew you were trouble," the captain told her. "Zar knows it too, but as you saw yesterday, he can't do anything about it. The bond is making him weak to you and while you may think that's good for you, let me correct that.

"First, tell me, do you think we're all idiots here?"

Ashley didn't answer, but when Roagh kept staring at her, she realized it hadn't been a rhetorical question.

"No," she said.

"Then why do you act like that?" Roagh asked. "You seem to think we don't know we are taking you all to our world against your will. As if we're deaf to your screaming, blind to the tears."

"Why do it then?" Ashley blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Why?" the captain asked and the uncaring glint in his eyes told her just how different he was from Zar. "Because we must and we can. If you were dying of thirst, would you not take water you can see? Anyone would. The bigger the thirst, the more they would do. Lie, steal, kill.

"Females are what we need and you are what we take."

Before Ashley could argue, he raised a hand and she quieted, knowing Roagh wouldn't allow her to talk back.

"That said," the captain went on. "We don't expect you to be happy about it. Your happiness isn't what we need. If some of you can make yourselves get used to our way of living, then good, but we will not change for you and it's hopeless to think we will.

"So let me warn you, female. You think you did something good yesterday, saving those females. Three, wasn't it? Already five lives have been taken for that and I guarantee there will be more. Zar's a proud man, you see. I'm telling this to you because I can't say it to him. Zar's my friend and I fear he may have just killed himself and everyone around him for your pretty eyes and tight pussy."

You're a fucking asshole, you know that?

What Roagh said next truly robbed Ashley of words, though.

"The man Zar just went to talk to, he would never hear you out. If you had been The Reaper's mate, he would have beaten you to a pulp for what you did. Possibly cut your tendons so you could never have walked again. A pussy is the only thing a man like him needs from a female and you don't need to get out of bed to give him sons.

"The Reaper also happens to be the asshole who controls the Black Hall. You'll see it, if you're very lucky. It's the stronghold that houses most people during the long night. You know what that is, female? Did Zar tell you?"

Ashley nodded weakly.

"Good," Roagh said. "That spares me some time. Now, do you imagine a proud man like Zar will back off when The Reaper asks him why he's suddenly letting a female run his ship? Of course he won't. He'll tell The Reaper to fuck himself. In a polite way, if he can control himself. And then The Reaper, who is just as proud, will leave his domain on Luminos behind the gates when the long night comes.

"Do you understand me? Your little trick will cost a countless amount of lives yet if your mate doesn't develop a sense of humility in the next three minutes."

Ashley's head was spinning. She felt sick to her stomach. Some of it must have shown on her face, because a tinge of pity flashed by Roagh's eyes.

"I didn't know," she said in a broken voice. "I just wanted to save my friends."

"I believe you," Roagh said, reaching out his hand as if he wanted to touch her before he pulled it back, remembering who she belonged to. "There is nothing to be done about it now. I'll see what Zar says after the meeting and if need be, I will go and talk to The Reaper myself.

"As for you, keep that in mind. What's done is done. Don't make it any worse now."

They resumed their walking. Ashley felt like a balloon with all the air let out of her. As much as she hated the captain for being so coarse and lecturing her on what needed to be done, the levity she'd felt was gone. Roagh was right. She'd been so happy, so proud to save the women that she hadn't considered for a second what it did to Zar's position.

Nayanors weren't Terrans, but she'd made all her judgments on Terran customs.

The truth was even worse. Ashley opened her mouth to tell Roagh, to ask him for help or advice but she didn't dare. It was quite clear that the captain was only talking to her because he was trying to protect the harbinger. Otherwise, the "female" probably wouldn't have been worth conversing with.

Truthfully, Ashley knew things could get much worse. If Felicia and the other two made it back to the Union, which she had to believe they would, given that Zar had let them go – not knowing the secrets they carried – there would be hell to pay. If anyone in the Union finally found Luminos, what was there in store for her? And Zar? And everyone else on the planet?

She had never been that conflicted in her life. Of course she wanted the raids to end, for the Union to discover Luminos and free the women imprisoned there. On the other hand, she hadn't considered her actions from the Nayanors' point of view.

If someone found out Zar's mate had revealed their secret, Ashley didn't doubt he'd be killed. She herself would probably suffer the same fate. As for all the women on Luminos, their children, would they be spared the wrath of Nayanors?

She didn't know. She didn't have any answers when only that morning, the world had seemed pretty clear and straightforward to her.

Courage. Have courage, damn it.

"Roagh," she said, looking around carefully to make sure no one was nearby.

The captain turned to her with flashing eyes that told her he probably didn't appreciate being called by his first name.

"Captain Roagh," she corrected. "Is anyone overhearing us right now? Could they?"

He looked at her suspiciously, before shaking his head.

"Nayanors don't spy on their own," he said. "What is it? I promised the harbinger I'd get you back to him."

Yes, I remember. I can imagine he could live for an hour without fucking me as you seem to think.

"There's more," she admitted.

Roagh's face dropped, but Ashley had no way back. She had to tell someone before she got a lot of people killed. Nayanors or not, she wasn't them. Mindless disregard for the lives of others wasn't something she wanted to be remembered for when all she'd been trying to do was help.

"Speak," Roagh ordered harshly.

"Promise me you'll help," she asked him. "I swear I never wanted to get anyone hurt, only to save the women you stole."

"Speak, female, now."

"Before they left, I told the women what Zar had told me about your world," Ashley said quickly. "I knew nothing about the long night then, or about The Reaper or anything like that."

"What do they know?" Roagh thundered at her, alerting some warriors walking by them.

"Is that the harbinger's mate, Captain?" one of them dared to ask.

Roagh gave him a look so vicious it made the warrior take a step back.

"Walk away while you still have legs to walk on!" Roagh roared to him.

When the warrior hurried away, Roagh grabbed Ashley by the arm and pulled her into a small alcove. The grip hurt and it seemed that the "no touching" rule didn't apply when she'd managed to seriously piss someone off.

"If you lie to me now, female, you'll regret it," Roagh said furiously. "What do they know!?"

"The name of the planet," Ashley said. "And that you travel through wormholes."

Roagh growled, fury plain in his deep eyes as he raised his hand, ready to strike her. Ashley waited. It had been the reaction she'd prepared for, but it didn't come.

Somehow, Zar's name stayed between them, shielding her from all harm. Roagh seemed to be shaking from rage, but he didn't hit her.

"If you lie to me now ..." he warned her.

"I'm not!" Ashley said. "I want you to help me, I wouldn't lie to you with so much at stake!"

"I wish I had your confidence," Roagh said darkly. "If your friends reach the Union, I wonder if there is any helping anyone."

"Will you try?" Ashley asked.

Roagh finally seemed to be calming down. She didn't know the reason why and couldn't push him any further than she already had, but there was definitely something.

"I will do what I can to protect my people," Roagh answered.

Ashley resisted telling him a few good words on the topic of selfishness, but stopped herself. Arguing with Nayanors, she'd found, was as fruitful as bouncing a ball off the wall, hoping the wall would crack.

"In the meanwhile, say nothing to Zar," Roagh warned her. "He is not as calm about these matters as I am."

Calm is not the word I would use.

"Come now," the captain called her. "We're expected and if we don't show up soon enough, Zar will have my head."

Ashley followed in silence this time, keenly aware of the captain brooding next to her. She couldn't entirely blame the man, considering she'd just given him terrible news about his home world and people. Despite feeling guilty about the suffering she might have caused, Ashley didn't know if with her newfound knowledge, she would have done anything differently the previous day.

Nayanor raids caused suffering all the time, all across the galaxy. It was high time they paid for it too.

Seeing a lot of guards, Ashley guessed they'd reached the women. Behind the huge doors, she could hear terrified muttering and crying.

Gods, did you really just stick them in one room like cattle?

Her resolve strengthened again. As far as she was concerned, Nayanors could take their self-righteous attitude and go all the way to hell.

"Considering what we just discussed," Roagh told her sharply. "I dare you to say anything stupid in there."

Ashley didn't dignify that with a response.

She didn't have any intention of doing anything that stupid anyhow. It was clear she and everyone else behind those doors were going to arrive on Luminos. No stopping it now. Since she was in a key position to possibly make their lives a bit more tolerable, Ashley didn't want to gamble her freedoms for a plan she hadn't thought through.

The doors opened. There was some screeching inside as if the women thought someone was coming to hurt them. Ashley felt her blood boil.

She stepped forward, walking into the hall, ignoring the captain by her side. Women cleared way for them.

"Hi," Ashley said, in her best impression of someone cool and collected in a bad situation. "My name is Ashley Donovan. Some of you may know me from the Arctic station. I was kidnapped just like you were but I was lucky enough to happen to be the mate of the harbinger."

She ignored the vicious look Roagh gave her when she spoke of her "luck".

"I know you're scared," she went on. "I'm scared too. I have come to explain a few things to you in the hope you can take that knowledge and steel your courage for what's coming.

"That rocking you felt last night was the ship traveling through a wormhole..."