Chapter Four

 

 

Pain.

Misery.

Fear.

It’s all I’ve known since Vonn has taken me captive.

I’ve been in his house for seven days now. Each morning I awake hoping for a chance to escape, but he keeps me locked in his home. Sometimes he even keeps me locked in a cage.

That’s where I am at present.

Locked in a cage.

Naked and alone.

He’s been gone for hours. I’m thirsty and starving, and I’m so sore from my last beating that I can barely roll over. My ribs are bruised, but I somehow manage to grasp the bars and pull myself into a sitting position. The cage is large, at least, but it’s still a cage. I lean back against the cool metal bars and listen for sounds of Vonn.

If I don’t run away, he will someday kill me. Of that, I am certain. His rage toward me is unwavering. He doesn’t care that I’m not the one who killed his mate, Erixa.

I’ve stopped trying to convince him to free me. He won’t listen to reason, and speaking without permission only results in more punishment, more pain. He views me as an extension of Harry and thinks it’s his right to torment me.

Footsteps sound on the stairs, and my stomach flips countless times as I await his arrival in the large room where my cage rests. This is his bedroom, in fact, and he sleeps in the massive bed behind me each night, crawling between the sheets and drifting off after beating me or fucking me. Sometimes both.

The door glides open and he enters the bedroom. Seven feet of unrelenting fury.

I shudder and hug my center, willing him to realize the error of his ways and either release me, or at least stop with the daily beatings. Kleaxians mate for life and I’m confused that he’s fucked me, because according to Harry, Kleaxians don’t engage in recreational sex or sex with slaves. They only have sex with their mates, but Vonn has made it perfectly clear that his intention is to punish, not keep me as his mate.

I’m also terrified by the prospect of getting pregnant. Eventually, the last birth control shot I received at the women’s clinic in Capital Acres will wear off. Kleaxians and humans are sexually compatible, and Harry had shown me pictures of half-human, half-Kleaxian offspring that were being raised in the laboratories outside Capital Acres.

Vonn opens my cage. “Out,” he barks.

I crawl out as quickly as my aching body will allow, and kneel at his feet and await further instruction. I keep my gaze downcast, because if I look directly into his eyes without permission, he’ll slap me in the face. My cheek still throbs from this particular lesson.

He scatters breadcrumbs on the floor and steps back. Then he pulls a canteen from his pocket and spills a small amount of water on top the breadcrumbs. The floor is a smooth stone that doesn’t absorb the moisture quickly, leaving small puddles of watery breadcrumbs to form on the surface in front of me.

Tears prickle in my eyes.

I can’t believe any being could be so cruel to another, but this is how he serves all of my meals.

“Eat and drink,” he commands. “Clean the floor.”

There’s nothing to do but follow his orders. If I don’t, not only will I starve, but he’ll kick the shit out of me. On my hands and knees, I lap up the soggy breadcrumbs, probably the only food I’ll get today. My stomach rumbles while I eat, and his black boots never leave my vision, an ominous reminder that he could kick me at any moment.

The saltiness of my tears mingles with my pitiful meal.

I’m careful to lick up every morsel, and once I’m finished, I return to the kneeling position at his feet, my head bowed in submission. More tears stream down my face. I don’t cry easily, and I fear he’s rapidly breaking me down. I no longer feel like myself. I feel like another woman, a stranger I’m watching helplessly from afar.

He pulls his engorged cock from his pants and shoves it in my face.

I do what I must, and when he’s finished, he drags me into the bathroom and stands in the doorway while I use the facilities and brush my teeth. I wash my face too, and I’m horrified by the bruises covering my body when I glance in the mirror. Some of them are fading, while others are fresh.

To my surprise, he doesn’t put me back in the cage, but takes me downstairs to his kitchen.

“Clean,” he orders.

I nod and hurriedly wash the dishes and clear the table. Since I don’t know how to use the contraption I suspect is the dishwasher, a large silver box that rests in the middle of the counter, I clean everything by hand in the sink.

There are bits of meat and other delicious looking morsels left on the plates, and I think he’s a bastard for rubbing it in my face that I had to lick breadcrumbs and water off the floor, while he dined on much finer fare. The whole time I work, I feel his angry gaze hot on my back, watching and ready to correct me for any perceived mistakes. My hands are shaking in my nervousness, and I pray I don’t accidently drop a plate.

The pale alien servant who lives here enters the kitchen, takes one look at us, and then leaves. The servant isn’t a Kleaxian, and I don’t know what his race is called. Perhaps he’s a slave rather than a servant, but I’ve never seen or heard Vonn hit him. I’ve only glimpsed the servant a few times, when he’s entered the bedroom to tidy up. I’ve never dared speaking to him, and he’s never uttered a word to me either, or to Vonn. Whenever Vonn has barked an order, the pale servant simply nods and goes off to perform his master’s bidding. Either the pale alien can’t speak, or he’s not allowed to.

I finish putting the kitchen to rights and sink down to kneel at Vonn’s feet once more. My knees ache from all the kneeling, but I don’t much have a choice.

The life I’d been trying to return to on Earth feels like a fleeting memory that fades more with each day. All the problems I’d had with my family seem ridiculous compared to my current circumstances. I’d been trying to escape Tallia and a horrible relationship, yet fearing my homecoming on Earth, fearing the consequences of the very freedom I’d spent two years dreaming about. If only I hadn’t been so scared. If only I’d been brave enough to return home sooner. Regret wells in my heart and poisons my blood.

The wormhole is truly gone. Vonn confirmed it a few days ago, when, after delivering a series of kicks to my legs, he taunted me by saying, “Wormhole destroyed. Kleaxians build up strength and numbers, many years in secret, to defeat human invaders.”

His deep voice drags me back to the present.

“Fuck, then cage,” he says, grabbing me by my hair and hauling me upward.

He shoves me over the kitchen table and forces my thighs apart. Seconds later, the head of his cock presses at my sore entrance. I close my eyes, dreading what’s to come with a strange sense of detachment.

This isn’t me.

I’m not here.

I’m floating up and away.