CHAPTER THREE
Jill had a flash of stark terror crossing the threshold into the lab. Every instinct screamed a warning to run for her life, but she knew the safety of the Preserve was an illusion. She marched along between two guards, with Dr. Sheyall in the lead. The interior of the complex was as she’d expected, institutional, long corridors, portals with inscriptions she couldn’t read.
The military translator implants only worked on spoken languages. Usually soldiers carried hand readers if they needed to decode any signs or markings while on a mission. Are my sisters held behind one of these doors? She tried to memorize all the twists and turns, in case she ever had a chance to escape. She realized she’d reverted to combat readiness mode, despite being out of the service for five years now.
The guards stayed outside while Sheyall showed her how to work the shower. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to keep the door open and sit right outside. I’ll make sure no one invades your privacy, but you can’t be left completely alone.”
Jill made the water as hot as she could stand, peeled off the nightgown with a rueful smile. Why couldn’t I have been kidnapped when I was wearing my work clothes and my tool belt? She briefly examined the injuries to her foot and leg, pleased to see they were healing. Stepping into the shower, she let the water soothe her aches and pains. The first great sob welling from deep inside took her by surprise, then she slid to the floor of the enclosure, hands covering her face, and wept until she couldn’t breathe. All the events of the last few days came crashing in on her.
Eventually, the tears stopped. Sheyall knocked on the door loudly. “I have a meeting to attend soon—are you nearly done?”
“I—I’ll be out in a minute.” She took a deep breath, rushed through washing her hair then stepped out of the water, wrapping herself in a huge rectangle of soft black fabric which instantly soaked up the droplets beading her skin and hair.
“I’ve left you clean clothes the guards brought.”
Jill dropped the towel and picked up the neatly folded garments, which she discovered were a beige jumpsuit and utilitarian white briefs to go underneath. She grimaced at those but decided to wear them. A pair of flimsy, open toed sandals lay on the floor. Can’t kick anybody too hard with these on. After rolling up the cuffs and the sleeves on the jumpsuit, she felt she’d done the best she could. She finger-combed her short hair, folded the pink nightie and emerged into the outer room carrying her one possession from home over her arm. “Ready. Thank you for arranging this.”
Sheyall looked her up and down. “I’ll go part of the way with you as it’s in the direction of my orientation meeting, but the guards will deliver you to the cell.” She indicated for Jill to precede her into the corridor, where the two guards waited. At a branching of the corridor, the scientist said, “We’ll talk again, in a few days. I’ll need to record your cognitive reactions to the situation, take specific physical measurements, nothing to be scared of.”
“It won’t hurt a bit,” the guard muttered under his breath in a sarcastic tone.
Jill nodded and turned to the left in the direction her escort nudged her with the tip of his weapon.
Soon enough, she came to a large cell, the entrance blocked by a clear force wall, where the Badari were held. Aydarr was pacing the floor beside the barrier, but he stopped when she came into view and watched her closely as she came to the edge of the cell.
She did a double take. Gone were the barbarian style loincloths. Each man now wore a jumpsuit and sandals similar to her own, making them seem more like prisoners from an advanced civilization. Their hair had been cut short, except for Aydarr’s mane of thick gold and brown hair.
The guard gestured with his weapon. “Get away from the portal, 801, you know better than to approach the door.”
Glaring at the man all the while, Aydarr retreated a few steps. The guard took Jill by the elbow, provoking the alpha into another snarl, and thrust her through a briefly illuminated gap in the force shield. He was so rough she staggered and nearly fell before Aydarr caught her. A sizzle sounded behind her as the barrier resealed and the guards departed.
Aydarr hugged her. “You were gone so long—I was worried. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, just cleaner.” She tried for a light tone, but her voice wavered a bit.
He searched her face. “Your eyes are red.”
“I got overwhelmed with emotion for a moment,” she said. “No one laid a finger on me, I promise.” Beyond him, she saw the rest of the Badari standing beside their chairs at a long table bolted to the floor. In a bay beyond, there were bunk beds.
Plates of unappetizing food waited on the table, along with containers she guessed were liquid refreshments. Aydarr drew her toward the head of the table and indicated for her to sit in the empty chair to his right. Mateer was on the other side and she guessed she’d displaced the second enforcer, Reede, who now sat to her right. I hope he isn’t going to be upset.
“You didn’t wait dinner for me, did you?” She was surprised and embarrassed at having taken so long with her private breakdown in the shower. “You didn’t need to do that. You could have saved me a plate.”
“There was every need. We can’t eat without the full pack being present and accounted for,” he said. “I want you to formally meet my men—your men now as well.”
Starting with Mateer, each man in turn bowed his head and gave her his name, welcoming her to the pack and swearing their loyalty to her.
“I’m honored,” she said, overwhelmed and at a loss for words. There seemed to be a lot more to this mate title than she’d realized. And did Aydarr think he now had permission to take this into a more physical relationship? If so, he was in for a rude surprise. The two of them had to have one hell of a conversation after dinner. “Please, you’ve waited long enough for dinner, everyone be seated. You must be hungry—I know I am.”
“Wait until you find out what swill the Khagrish feed us,” Reede said as he ladled a serving of the mushy casserole onto her plate and added a hunk of bread. “There’s no rush to eat this. Not like the fresh caught meat we had in the Preserve.”
Mateer raised his drink. “A toast to the Alpha’s mate and her bravery.”
She blushed and fidgeted while the pack shouted for her and drank. “Thank you. Any one of you would have done the same, I’m sure, if you hadn’t been paralyzed by the bracelet device.”
There was little conversation during the meal. Reede had taken on the task of keeping her plate full, and Jill choked down as much of the food as she could. Aydarr ate in silence, although she was very conscious of him beside her. When the meal ended, the cadets cleared the table and dropped all the refuse into a recycling chute. Pratym knelt beside her chair.
“Thank you for saving my life today. Your action was unexpected and courageous.”
“I’m amazed they listened to me.” She patted his hand. “Don’t go getting cut up again. The argument I used might not work a second time.”
Aydarr took her hand and drew her out of her chair. “You shouldn’t have given up your advantage, not even to save a pack member. Now the Khagrish know you’re immune to the bracelet’s effect, at least at this level.”
Jill stopped. “I can’t sit idly by when I can take action to help someone.”
“And your determination to do the right thing is part of what I admire about you, but the choice wasn’t strategic.”
She studied him. “Tell me you wouldn’t have taken action to save him if you hadn’t been paralyzed.”
He leaned close enough to whisper in her ear. “I already did. I put myself and my pack at risk to save you from Gahzhing.”
Silenced by the undeniable truth, Jill blinked and allowed him to draw her forward. “I’m grateful, of course.”
“We have to talk,” he said, echoing her thoughts. “Come.” He led her to an alcove, slightly off the main cell area, dominated by a wide bunk. “The Khagrish give me my own space, humble as it may be, in deference to my rank. The scientists value the hierarchy of the pack insofar as someone has to be in command when we deploy. The men must obey without question. So the staff reinforces the status of the Alpha.” He flashed her a rueful smile. “As half-heartedly as they can.”
“About this mate business.” The bed made her uneasy. And there really was no privacy in this alcove.
“You and I are not mates in anything but name, to fool the Khagrish.” He gestured at the bed. “Please, sit.”
She glanced at the bed but stayed on her feet. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining that you aren’t stuck on this mate stuff when the Khagrish aren’t in the vicinity but—”
“I find you very attractive. I admire your courage and bravery. I want to know more about you and the world you come from.” He ran his hands through his hair and frowned. “I’m probably saying this wrong. I don’t mean to be insulting.”
“You’re doing fine. I find you attractive too.” Feeling heat in her cheeks, she was annoyed to be blushing furiously. Again. “I wish we’d met somewhere else, under other conditions.” Deciding this was awkward enough without both of them facing off as if preparing for battle, she sat on the hard mattress and reached for his hand, drawing him to sit beside her.
“The Khagrish believe we’re lesser beings, mere animals, so I knew they’d accept my statement we’d bonded as mates. I hoped it would intrigue them enough to buy you time. Although in this hellhole of a prison, you may regret what I did. The Khagrish are cruel and merciless in their pursuit of so-called science.”
“The new arrival, Sheyall, doesn’t seem happy to be here. She might be helpful.”
“She’ll come to embrace the way the others think and act, or at least learn to keep quiet if she doesn’t. Or she’ll disappear. We’ve seen this pattern before. Don’t get your hopes up.” He studied her face. “And don’t trust her.”
Jill glanced at the walls. “Do I see a surveillance vid, over there in the far corner?”
“Yes, the Khagrish watch us all the time, but there’s no voice recording as far as we can tell. Those in charge don’t think animals like us are capable of talking about anything they need to know.” His voice was scornful.
“Convenient for you but not thorough of people who call themselves scientists.” Fidgeting with a string on the badly frayed blanket, Jill believed she should confess her lapse. “I let it slip to Sheyall that you and your men have names for yourselves. I’m sorry. I’ll be much more careful going forward, I swear.”
“Don’t worry. They discount any sign we’re more than dumb beasts to wage war for them on command. Or subjects to experiment on. The Khagrish are arrogant and unfeeling for the most part. The weaker ones take refuge in the belief we’re beneath them, animals, as I said before. There’s much you need to know about us.”
“I got into an argument with Sheyall on that very point. She told me you and your men were bioengineered animals, not human.”
“And you said?”
“I don’t care. You’re just as much a full-fledged sentient as I am, or she is.”
He laughed. “An unpopular viewpoint here in the labs. The Khagrish do their best to convince us—and themselves—we have no souls, no claim to personhood.”
“Why did you rescue me, out there in the Preserve? Why didn’t you leave me to die?”
Aydarr frowned and his eyes glowed golden. “I wasn’t going to abandon a smaller, weaker being to perish.”
“What if I had been bait in a twisted Khagrish trap?”
“Then we would have dealt with you once we had proof. In the meantime, you clearly needed help.”
“Thus proving my point again you and your men are every bit as human, to express the idea in my terms, as I am.”
“Ah.” He smiled. “I have to warn you there’s no guarantee the other packs would have reacted the same. Jamokan’s probably would have. The Tzibir, I don’t know. They have less of the root stock remaining than we do, more of the reptilian gene splicing.” He reached out to push an errant lock of her hair off her face. “You appear to be tired, circles under your eyes.”
“Yeah, been a long day. I kinda bawled in the shower. Wore myself out.”
“We can talk more in the morning, if you’d like to catch some sleep.” He left the bed to kneel at her feet. “Let me check your injury first. Timtur has been trained as a combat medic, in addition to his healing abilities, if we need him.”
“I think it’s healing nicely. I looked at it in the shower.” But she sat back and enjoyed the careful way he removed the flimsy shoes then held her foot as he examined the wound, stroking the skin. Aydarr’s touch was soothing. “Let me guess—I’ll be sleeping here with you?”
“We slept well together in the cave,” he said, confirming her guess. “There’s no other empty bed, and we must maintain the appearance of being mates for your protection, flimsy as it may be.”
Wondering why there weren’t any Badari women, she scooted against the wall as he spread the blanket and moved to join her. She decided to ask something else rather than venture into the unknown territory of what the Khagrish might have done with female captives. “How do you and your men stay so strong in this awful place? So fierce?”
He glanced at the others, most sitting at the table playing a game with crude cards, a few others in their bunks. “We must, we have no choice. We can’t allow the Khagrish to win. Someday the bastards will be made to pay for what they’ve done. I pray to the Great Mother I’m alive on that day to extract a measure of vengeance. Our very name, which we gave ourselves, means the undefeated.”
“What about escape? Has anyone ever made it out of here?”
“There’s a legend of one man who was able to flee, from the early times, before the packs were established. But no one knows the truth of his story. We pass it among ourselves, to give hope. But the Khagrish are careful, and their technology gives them the upper hand.”
Intrigued, she had any number of questions but could barely keep her eyes open. “Is there anything I absolutely need to know tonight?” She yawned. “Anything essential for survival, I mean?”
Coming to sit next to her, he pulled her against him and lay down, spooning together on the bed as they had in the cave. “No. More information can wait. Fortunately, we’re in the ramp up period for our next deployment, which means training time, not experiments. Not torture. I don’t expect them to send you with us—I don’t know how I’m going to protect you then.”
“Hey, I can watch out for myself too, you know.”
“I have no doubts.” She heard a smile in his voice. “But you don’t know the full extent of what you’re up against. I’ll give you a full briefing when the situation changes.” He hugged her closer. “I preferred the impractical pink garment you wore in the Preserve to this.”
Jill figured it would be unwise to admit she preferred his loincloth and the view the skimpy fabric provided of his sculpted muscles, along with the blatant physical evidence of his interest in her, pressing against her backside like a steel rod. Now wasn’t the time to take the discussion into potentially sensitive territory. Not with the rest of the pack an arm’s length away and the Khagrish viewing devices watching her every move.
A blaring siren awakened her in the morning as the lights flashed on and off in the room. Sitting up with a gasp, she was disoriented, alone in the bed.
Aydarr came to her. “I was letting you sleep in as long as I could, but now we have to line up and be counted.”
Rubbing her eyes, she stumbled from the bed and walked with him to stand on the black line at the edge of the cell, in front of the force barrier, where the rest of the pack waited. Three guards stood on the other side, along with a robo floating on anti grav, holding bowls of fruit and other foods.
“All present and accounted for,” Aydarr told the guard as he and Jill took their places.
“Don’t make us wait tomorrow.” The man was impatient, gruff. “Or you won’t be getting any breakfast for three days. I got better things to do than stare at you.”
Petty dictator. Jill watched with interest as he punched a code into the pad on the wall outside the cell, allowing the robo to drift into the room through a narrow gap that briefly opened in the force field. Pratym and the other cadet stepped forward to take the trays of food and carry them to the table. No one else moved until the robo had left the cell again.
“Dismissed,” the guard said. He pointed at Jill. “Except for you. Come closer to the barrier. I gotta scan you for signs of breeding. Now.”
Fuming, she walked to the barrier and stood while he aimed a scanner at her abdomen.
“Negative. Dr. Gahzhing isn’t going to like my report. Better work harder tonight.” With a leer, he added a few choice suggestions before signaling to his comrades, and the squad marched away, the robot following like a dog.
“I’m sorry you had to endure their scan and insults,” Aydarr said.
“These bastards won’t wear me down with crap like that.” Jill straightened her spine. “Where’s the food?”
Over breakfast, she asked, “What’s on the schedule for today? Or are we left here in the cell to twiddle our thumbs?”
“We have training of various kinds all day,” Aydarr said. “I assume the Khagrish will leave you here since you won’t be deploying with us.”
“I’ll try not to get bored.” She bit into the slightly spoiled fruit Reede had set at the edge of her plate after searching through the entire bowl to find her the best there was. Actually, the day’s agenda suited her. She wanted to go over the cell in minute detail, see what she could learn about Khagrish tech. Jill wasn’t worried about what the constantly watching guards at the other end of the vidscans might think—she was a highly intelligent sentient so of course she’d examine her environment. For damn sure if I find any chinks in their precautions, I won’t be signaling my excitement.
Shortly after breakfast she waved goodbye to the pack as they departed from the cell under heavy guard. True to her promise to herself, she checked out the entire room, Aydarr’s alcove, and the semi-private bathroom inch by inch. The Badari had nothing technical in the cell, no vids or coms of their own, no handhelds, not even a way to warm up the disgusting food. The chute where the cadets packed up the remains of each meal and the disposable utensils had a shredder where the appliance met the cell wall, no escape possibilities there.
“Wow.” Dusty and tired, she sat on the end of the bed she shared with Aydarr and reviewed what she’d observed. The only thing of direct interest to her were the ventilation shafts, one here in the alpha’s alcove and the other in the bunk room area. The opening was much too small for a Badari to squeeze into, but she probably could wriggle her way through. Unfortunately, the heavy grille over the vents was electrified, as she discovered when she casually kicked off one of her sandals in the direction of the grate to test it.
The sound of the force field door opening drew her out of the alcove to see Aydarr and the others file into the cell. Each man was carrying an electronic tablet.
“What have you got there?” she asked, going to meet him.
“This is how we get the full situation report briefing on the next mission.” He showed her the screen. “Details on the planet, the population—”
“Are you going into the Sectors?”
“Not yet. I told you, we weren’t the forces that kidnapped you. I suspect the Shemdylann carried out the operation, no doubt commissioned to do so by the Chimmer. But the long term goal of all of this, as I understand things, is to use us as scouts, advance forces, behind the lines terrorists on Sectors worlds. That’s why we were trained in Basic. We shouldn’t discuss this too openly. Ask me questions later, when we’re in the hole in the wall passing for our bedroom.”
“All right.” She took the tablet and scanned a few screens, all in a language she guessed was written Khagrish but gibberish to her eyes. There were visual aids as well, which sprang to life when she touched them. “You can read this then?” Seating herself at the table, guessing dinner would arrive soon, she continued to play with the tablet, her excitement mounting. This kind of tech she could do something with.
“We’re taught as cadets.” Aydarr held out his hand. “I need that. Mateer, Reede and I have to go over operation strategy, so we can pass along the parameters to the rest of the pack and make assignments.”
“You’re welcome to come sit with us,” Pratym offered. “I can lend you my tablet, if you wish to learn. Dekan and I would count it as an honor to assist you, my lady, if the Alpha permits.”
Aydarr shrugged. “Whatever pleases you.”
Delighted, she sat with the boys at the end of the table and took over Pratym’s device, accepting their shy assistance in a beginning lesson on the written form of Khagrish. Dinner was even quieter than usual, with the pack members concentrating on the copious briefing materials.
When Jill and Aydarr retired to their alcove for the night, she was impatient to ask questions. They’d hardly curled up together before she started in on what she wanted to know. “Why don’t you and your men escape when you’re gone on one of these sorties? You said you’re fully armed, right? Surely anything is better than coming back here at the risk of your lives?”
He nodded. “We’re transported in cryo sleep, then awakened when it’s time to fight. Khagrish and occasionally other soldiers fight beside us, but keeping an eye on us as well. At the end of the mission, the Khagrish debrief the alphas before we’re all put under the sleep again and returned here to captivity.”
“But why—”
“The Khagrish hold hostages, our next generation. If one of my men or I were to attack the Khagrish commander while we were away, for example, several Badari cadets would be killed in retaliation. If they brought me back alive after committing such a crime, I’d be forced to watch the younger ones die before I too was killed.”
“These people are utter barbarians.”
“The long term goal of this program is to decide which of the three templates for the perfect soldier works best. When the Chimmer make their choice, the other packs and the cadets of those breeds will be killed, used for experiments, or sold to the Shemdylann as gladiator fodder. I believe we’re coming closer to the time of decision. I represent the eighth generation of Badari.”
She gasped. “They’ve been conducting these experiments for that long? I knew the Mawreg and their client races worked on extended timetables in their planning but this is incredible.”
“You know I want to escape, to take vengeance but, while the enemy holds my next generation hostage, I can’t risk more than token resistance. They have carried out their threat. When I was a cadet, newly graduated to the pack, there was a problem, and the Khagrish killed three other cadets and my Alpha. It wasn’t an easy death for any of them, Jill. And then I had to fight for dominance, to take over the pack, or die myself. I had to kill the old Alpha’s two enforcers in combat because the Khagrish wanted to observe the pack dynamics after such a change.”
She turned in his arms and gave him a hug, resting her cheek against his. “I can’t imagine the life you’ve been forced to lead here. I’m so sorry.”
Aydarr dropped a kiss on her cheek and held her closer. “Tell me of your life instead.”
She pushed away thoughts of the colony her people had been so happily building. Those memories weren’t going to be of any use in the current situation, could even become paralyzing if she let herself give in to the grief. “The relevant fact right now is I used to be in our military.”
“A soldier?”
She nodded and elbowed him in the ribs as a warning. “Don’t sound so surprised. I was a tech with the Special Forces. I can take things apart and reassemble them to function even more efficiently. I can hack systems like nobody’s business, and I have a memory like a steel trap. My abilities with computers and artificial intelligence networks are why I’m so interested in the data pads. If I could hack into the Khagrish AI, I might be able to get us out of here, find my people wherever they’re being held—the possibilities are intoxicating.”
He was silent and when he spoke again his voice was low and intense. “You give me hope where I never expected to find any again.” He put his hand under her chin and gently raised her face to his. “Promise me you won’t take any chances. Swear to me you won’t initiate any escape attempt without discussing the idea with me first.”
“No problem. Hey, I’m a member of the pack now too, remember?”
“And we’re stronger because of it.”
She stared at him. “You sound as if you really mean that.”
“I do.”
The next day at breakfast, Jill asked, “May I keep Pratym’s data pad today, to study?”
“Much as I hate to deny you anything,” Aydarr said with a smile, “I can’t allow him to loan it to you. Pratym would be in trouble and so would I.”
Jill had anticipated the refusal and moved onto her second objective. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Same as yesterday, calisthenics, unarmed combat drills, more briefings on aspects of the mission. Why?”
“I’m coming with you. I can observe or maybe I can participate to some extent, but I want to see more of this facility. And I want to test how far the Khagrish will let me push back.”
“I like both goals,” Mateer said, earning himself a glare from the Alpha. Raising his eyebrows, he said, “Your mate offers us a chance at learning new things about them for a change.”
“I’m not risking your safety to gather data.” Aydarr’s face was set in grim lines.
“My safety—the safety of all of us—might depend on what I can learn or observe.” She wasn’t giving an inch. “Me sitting in this cell isn’t much safer than me being wherever you are.”
“She’s probably less safe here actually,” Mateer said. “You wouldn’t be here to protest if the scientists wanted to take her for tests or other purposes.”
Aydarr set his eating utensil on the edge of the plate with great care, rose from the chair, and held out his hand to Jill. “Come.”
“Now?” She was surprised but decided not to make a fuss. She took his hand, and walked with him into the sleeping alcove.
He crowded her into sitting on the end of the bed and sat as close to her as he could get.
Mateer had risen as well and now he and Reede stood with their backs to the bed, blocking the rest of the pack from watching whatever was going to transpire.
“What is the matter with you?” Jill tried to establish space between them but his grip was iron on her wrist.
“You cannot, you must not, argue with me in front of the pack.”
“I wasn’t arguing,” she said, anger beginning to stir. “We were discussing the options for today.”
“I said I wouldn’t risk your safety just so you can gather data. You challenged me and Mateer backed you.” Releasing her, he ran his hands through his thick hair and took a deep breath. “Try to understand, in a pack the concept of dominance is everything. You have to remember we Badari may look humanoid to you, but we have genetic material giving us instincts and impulses drawn from animals. The soldiers and cadets have to accept their alpha as the absolute ruler. Or they can challenge me to a fight to the death and try to take the spot from me.” He gestured at her. “If the two of us present less than a solid front, our behavior confuses the pack.”
She glanced at the two men shielding them from the others and lowered her voice further. “You think Mateer wants to kill you and take your place?”
He ground his teeth. “No, my enforcers are loyal to me, and know I can take them in a fight. You’re missing the point. You said you were in the military, therefore you should understand I can’t have the pack unsettled when we’re going into combat. When we may be fighting not only for our own existence but the continuation of the Badari race. Created naturally or created by unprincipled scientists—how we came to be doesn’t matter, I want us to survive. Including you. There can be no doubts cast on my leadership.”
She held her breath and counted to ten, only now realizing what deep waters she’d strayed into. Have to handle this right or we’ll have issues going forward. “In my branch of the military there’d be a certain amount of open discussion permitted from the leader’s staff, until those in command gave an order or said the time for considering alternatives was done. I didn’t mean to disrespect your authority. I guess human military units are a bit different from being in a pack. But you told me yourself there’s never been a pack with an alpha’s mate in it before, right?”
He nodded.
“So you and I are free to set new guidelines for my role.” She held up her hand as he opened his mouth for what she was sure was going to be a protest. “I will promise you while we’re held here in this prison, I won’t surprise you in front of the pack unless there’s an emergency. We can discuss and come to a consensus privately on anything important, so we present the united front you’re worried about. But if and when we ever manage to escape to a life beyond these walls, we’ll have to work on how we run the pack together. I’m not willing to be the submissive bedmate with an empty brain, gazing adoringly at your muscles. We can get a divorce from this mate stuff and go our separate ways once we’re free, if that’s what you expect.” Thinking of walking away from Aydarr made her heart falter a bit. But I need to be equal partners. She uttered her final word on the subject aloud. “I won’t settle for less.” She held out her hand.
He looked from her face to her hand. “This signifies what?”
“We shake hands on a deal where I’m from. Now are we in agreement or not?”
There was a moment of silence and Jill realized she was holding her breath. Aydarr nodded. “I can accept what you propose.”
He shook her hand awkwardly but with a firm grip.
“The guards are here,” Mateer said over his shoulder. “Better finish up whatever you’re deciding.”
Aydarr rose from the bed, and she joined him. “My mate will accompany us today but will take no risks to do research.”
Jill walked with the others to take her place on the black line while the guards watched.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked the head guard.
“With my pack. You don’t have any orders against that, do you?” She made her tone more deferential than she preferred. “Check with Dr. Sheyall if you’d like. I’m sure she wants me to spend as much time with the alpha as possible.”
“We can wait,” Aydarr said with a suppressed laugh.
The guard gestured with his weapon. “Don’t get ideas, animal. All right, come through the portal one at a time and line up to report for training.”
As Jill moved into a section of the prison she hadn’t seen before, she tried to commit the route to memory. The trip ended in a large open room reminding her of a gym. The guards took up positions spaced all around the walls and a more muscular Khagrish than she’d seen previously stood at the front and screamed orders for the calisthenics he wanted done.
“Don’t over tax yourself,” Aydarr said. “You sit on the bench over there when you tire.”
“Just watch me—I’m tougher than I look.”
Jill kept up with the group for a while, doing her version of the stretches then the actual exercises, but she’d been out of the military for five years, after all. While life on a colony planet was no bed of roses, she hadn’t exactly been physically challenged. There were groundcars and flitters. So, when she thought she’d done enough, she sat and observed. The guards were vigilant about watching the Badari and pretty much ignored her. Clearly, she wasn’t viewed as much of a threat, which might work in her favor at some point. Jill hid her smile.
Next the Badari paired off and were put through their paces doing unarmed combat drills. Jill stayed out of that one. She didn’t want to show off the techniques she’d learned in the Sectors military, not while there was any possibility she might have a chance to take a guard unaware at a critical moment.
The third activity was more exercise, disguised as a game, with a ball and hoops lowering from the ceiling, four evenly spaced around the floor. Jill watched the Badari split into two teams and play an exciting match, constantly running, dodging, shooting the ball. They played till one team scored ten points then took a break. The baskets seemed to be worth different numbers of points. She had a grasp of the rudiments of the underlying strategy. The guards had gotten animated and sloppy during the game, appearing to make bets and even yelling encouragement to the players. Despite the circumstances, the game appeared to be fun.
Jill walked onto the floor as they were forming up to play again. “Which team am I on?”
Eyes narrowed, Aydarr evaluated her and pondered the question. “We play rough.”
“Yeah, I saw that.” Hands on her hips, she stood at the center line. “Well?”
“Pratym, you sit this game out.” The alpha shrugged. “Jill, you take his spot on my team.”
She thoroughly enjoyed the next half hour, beginning with her move immediately after the game began, stealing the ball from Mateer’s hands, doing the required dribbling and putting up the shot into the highest scoring basket from the length of the floor away. She understood the Badari were making efforts to avoid hurting her, even as the men played aggressive bump and run against each other. She felt she legitimately held her own with the ability to be nimble and outmaneuver the men while stealing the ball. And her skill at making impossible shots had even the guards cheering on a couple of occasions.
When the game ended in their team’s victory, Jill accepted the accolades from the pack members graciously. “I played a similar game in school,” she said. “Some things you never forget.”
“Rematch,” yelled the head guard.
Jill shook her head as Aydarr said, “No.”
“My foot’s a bit sore. You’ll have to excuse me. Maybe tomorrow.” She retreated to the bench, limping, passing Pratym and indulging in a jubilant hand slap as he hustled to take her place.
Timtur, the pack’s medic, jogged over to kneel at her side as she sat. “The alpha wants me to check your injury.”
“I’m fine, nothing but a few twinges toward the end.” She saw Aydarr glaring at her. “But you can certainly do an examination.” She’d played barefoot, as had the men, so she extended her foot gracefully.
The guards were ordering the game to begin, but the medic took his time. “Healing well, as you’ve said.” He rubbed his hand over the red mark one more time, and there was an odd tingling sensation against her skin. Startled, she blinked and shifted on the bench. Timtur gave her a bland look from his brown eyes and left to rejoin the team. Rubbing her foot, which now felt much improved and was noticeably not as red, she pondered how much psychic ability the healer might have. And how about the rest of the pack?
A guard tapped her on the shoulder. “Dr. Sheyall wants to see you. Now.”
She flashed a glance at the game surging across the floor. “Let me tell my mate where I’m going.”
He grabbed her by the elbow and hauled her to her feet. “Don’t give me orders, bitch. I’m not the prisoner here.”
“All right, no need to get worked up about it.” Yanking her elbow free, Jill walked in the direction he indicated. Aydarr was watching them, and she gave him a wave to indicate the situation was fine. “Going for my chat with Dr. Sheyall,” she said, raising her voice. “See you later.”
As she and her escort reached the door, it opened and a line of Badari men she’d not seen before entered. The man in the lead—their alpha she was sure—paused then changed direction to cross her path.
He moved into her personal space, but she didn’t believe she should retreat. Like all the Badari, he was tall and heavily muscled. “So this must be Aydarr’s mate, the human we’ve all heard so much about. I’m Jamokan, and you should be sad you weren’t given to me. I’m sure I could show you a much better time than he does.” He laughed and his pack, crowding around, guffawed. Jill repressed her instinctive panic at being boxed in by the overwhelming group. He took a strand of her hair in his hand and lowered his head to sniff, then placed his nose on her neck, trailing down to her shoulders. Furious, she stood stock still, fearing injury. Jamokan could break her with one hand. His grip on her waist was tight, pulling her against his crotch. “Sweet,” he said, raising his head to wink at his enforcers.