THREE
Kate stared at the scarred back of the golden alien torn between fear and disbelief. He’d carried her out of the arena like a sack of potatoes thrown over his shoulder, her bare ass on display, everything on display. And that was after watching him thrust his hand inside an alien’s body and squeeze its heart until it dropped dead to the ground. She shuddered, thinking about his powerful form, the way he’d struck out at the brown alien in the blink of an eye. He was lethal, dangerous.
She should be afraid. But as Kate listened to the guttural vibrations of his voice as he spoke to someone unseen—an alien language, something she was still trying to wrap her head around—she felt the tell-tale signs of arousal.
What the hell is wrong with me? she thought, almost in dismay. Sticky black blood was smeared on her side from where the golden alien had painted himself in it and yet she couldn’t bring herself to be completely disgusted. She must be losing her mind. Going into shock, or something. There was no reason why she would be attracted to him.
His skin felt oddly cold against her body. And even though she’d seen him fight just moments before, she didn’t see a glimmer of sweat. His scent, though…his scent struck at her very core. On a chemical level, she was more attracted to him than any human man she’d ever encountered.
Does an alien even emit pheromones? she thought wildly and then she almost laughed. She was losing it.
Kate weighed her options. She strained her neck, bringing her head up so she could see where she was, feeling a painful arch in her spine. They were in some sort of dock, but for ships. Spaceships. Aliens of different species milled around, reminiscent of a scene straight out of Star Wars. She blew out a steady breath, trying to calm the racing of her heart.
Her alien moved, his muscles flexing and pulling as he strode forward, onto a metal ramp. As Kate wondered what the hell she was going to do next, she stared at the alien’s bare back. Suddenly, she realized he wasn’t quite as golden as she originally thought. His skin was like a tough hide, cool to the touch. The texture of his skin was scale-like, but it had an iridescent quality to it that had looked gold in the light of the arena. Now, in the ship dock, his skin glinted silver, light bouncing off.
She was really losing her mind because for a brief moment, Kate thought that his skin was beautiful.
They were boarding a ship, she realized, straining her neck up to see the ramp they’d just walked up. It was retracting into itself as the doors of the ship silently and smoothly closed together.
Brilliant light illuminated the spaceship. She heard her alien speak, but to whom she couldn’t see. His feet never stopped for a moment. She heard other voices and she wondered, with a burning face, how many strange aliens were seeing her like this.
His strong, muscular legs ate up the ship. Just how big was this thing? She felt like he’d walked over a quarter mile by now, twisting and turning down narrow hallways without once breaking stride. Every new voice that she heard, she always heard the same thing, a word that sounded like ix-ravax-on. Was that the alien’s name?
Finally they came to a stop. His hand came off her ass—she’d somehow forgotten it was even there—and then she heard a series of beeps before a door whirred open. The alien stepped through and she heard it shut behind them.
Suddenly, she was hauled off his shoulder and Kate cried out in surprise, only to find herself cradled in his arms again. He frowned down at her as he placed her, surprisingly gentle, on something soft. She looked down, seeing it was a large bed covered in furs and she shot up off it, backing away from the hulking, impossibly large alien, fear building. They were in a large, darkened bedroom.
“What do you want with me?” she asked, her voice sounding panicked. “Why—why…”
She trailed off, too many questions swarming in her mind, making it difficult to form a coherent sentence, not that he understood her anyway. Why was she here? Why did he take her? Did he expect her to have sex with him?
Not gonna happen, she thought, determined, eyeing the alien.
His features were just as strange as she remembered, slightly human and yet…not. Something about him screamed predator. And she was his prey.
He seemed even more massive in the room. His broadness sucked out all the space. Kate’s eyes caught on his dark horns, which seemed to be straighter than she previously remembered, and then trailed down to his pierced nipples, and the strange scars marring his skin.
His eyes were unlike human eyes. He had black pupils, but the rest was all iris, no whites whatsoever. His irises were like his skin. They reflected light. Right now, they shone silver and she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t eerie as hell.
His pupils moved down to her still naked body and with a gasp, Kate yanked the fur covering off the bed and used it to shield her own nudity. She glared, even though her hands shook. When she tried to tell him off, her tongue glued itself to the roof of her mouth.
The alien studied her, his surprisingly full lips still pulled down into a frown.
Then he spoke, his deep, guttural voice washing over her like a wave. Kate understood nothing. He kept repeating a word—frixavir?—and gesturing towards the bed. He wanted her to lay down? Over her dead body. She would not become his whore.
“I—I don’t know what you’re saying! But I’m not having sex with you!” Kate finally cried out, frustrated, tired, and scared. Her entire world had just completely flipped itself on its head. Everything she knew didn’t make sense anymore. She was on the verge of tears as she wondered what she was going to do.
When a tear dripped down her face, his speech halted abruptly and his huge form strode forward. Her first reaction was to cower away from him, but she stood her ground, holding her breath.
The alien’s touch jolted her. His fingertips were cool, as was his skin, and they were gentle as he traced the path of her tear before dashing it away. He inspected the liquid on his fingertip and she wondered if he could cry, if he thought that it was as alien to him as he was to her.
Seeking her eyes once more, he stepped closer, breaking into her personal space like a wrecking ball. He pressed her into the wall of the room, his bloodied chest flush against the furs she clutched around her body, but his unexpected presence wasn’t meant to intimidate. At least she thought so. The expression on his face could mean anything—what did she know about an alien’s body language?—but she felt her limbs relax, just slightly. She blew out the breath she’d been holding.
“Luxiva…ta rix l’an.”
The unknown words sounded lyrical to her ears. She didn’t know why, but she felt comforted by them, as if some part of her knew exactly what he was trying to say. Or maybe she was just grasping at straws, her mind finally submitting to exhaustion.
His hand smoothed through her hair, rubbing the strands between his fingertips. Kate’s scalp tingled, her eyes fluttering shut for a brief moment.
His head cocked to the side. His chest rumbled and then he said, “Krav.” He backed away, holding his hands out like he didn’t want her to move. He gestured to the bed again and then he was by the door. It whooshed open, his eyes glowing. “Krav luxiva.”
He turned from her…and then he was gone.
She stared at the spot that he’d just occupied, at the closed steel-like door of the room, and she wondered if she was a prisoner there. With tentative steps, she approached it. There was a keypad above her head and she reached out, pressing her fingers against the strange buttons and symbols. There was a jolt and she pulled her hand back, hissing in surprise. The keypad made a harsh noise and then it was quiet once more. The door didn’t open.
She tried another button, only to have the same results. Then another. Then another. After she tried them all, her stomach dropped with dread.
Kate spun back to the room, looking for another door. There was one on the far side of the left wall. That one actually opened when she touched her hand to it, but it revealed a bathroom of sorts, complete with something that looked like a toilet straight from Japan and a cylindrical stall that she guessed was a shower. Turning back to the room, she discovered a small window next to the bed of furs and she rushed over to it.
Her heart skipped a beat in her chest.
“Oh man,” Kate whispered, eyes wide, as she gazed out into open space, a sight she’d once known with one hundred percent certainty that she’d never see in her lifetime. The ship was moving now, humming, practically silent, but when she placed a palm on the cool metal of the walls, she felt a subtle vibration. The stars were bright against the dark backdrop and her hand shook when she reached out to touch the glass.
Kate sunk down onto the bed, sitting gingerly on its edge, clutching the furs to her bare breast, as she looked out the window. She wanted to cry, she realized. But it wouldn’t solve her problems; it never had. She had to think about this logically and in order to do that, she needed a plan. She always had a plan. They helped center her, focus her.
Kate made a list in her head. She needed to find out who these aliens were, why the silver/golden alien with the strange eyes and beautiful skin had taken her, what he planned to do with her, and most importantly, how she was going to get back to Earth. She needed to find out where they were going, to figure out how to communicate with them—since they obviously didn’t speak English—and whether she could convince them to take her home.
A simple plan formed in her mind: she would try to communicate with her alien—and try not to freak out in the process—and then she would figure out her purpose. Baby steps. Once she accomplished those two things, she’d reevaluate her position. Simple.
Yeah, right, she thought. The spaceship veered and the planet she’d just been taken off of came into view. It was a red planet, unlike anything she’d ever seen before.
Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…
* * *
Vaxa’an’s headed to the command center. His warriors inclined their heads respectfully as he passed but then continued their duties. He felt the spaceship start to rev up and then came a smooth jolt, signaling that they’d disconnected from the power bay. Soon, they were in open space and off the planet surface of the Pit. He passed a large window looking out into the darkness of the galaxy they were in. He longed for his home planet, and he thanked the Fates that it would only take three spans to reach. Patience. He’d always had patience.
His mind flashed back to his female. He remembered the stale smell of fear radiating off her and it turned his stomach. He would never harm her in any way. No one would ever harm her again.
Vaxa’an strode into the command center. His crew greeted him, eyeing the blood of his kill on his chest. He’d forgotten that he needed to wash still. Was that why his female had been frightened? She should feel pride that her male had defeated an enemy.
“Kirov,” he said, addressing his technology advisor. “I need a language implant. Immediately.”
“Yes, Prime Leader,” Kirov said, a hint of an amused smirk on his lips. Kirov, like Lihvan, was like a blood brother to him. Vaxa’an would get shit from him later, most likely. “What language?”
“Human,” Vaxa’an replied, sliding into the chair as Kirov adjusted the laser points directly into his eyes. “The Krevorags must have uploaded their findings to the language terminal.”
Kirov turned from him and searched through his hologram database. “Which Earth language? According to the Krevorags’ findings, there are over six thousand languages currently active on the planet’s surface.”
Vaxa’an started in surprise. “Six thousand?”
“Over six thousand,” Kirov corrected.
Obviously, the humans were more advanced and more widely spread than Vaxa’an had given them credit for. On Luxiria, there were only three active languages, although one of them was the old language. Only the elders spoke it.
To have over six thousand languages implanted at one time could kill him. “Let me hear a sample of the top thirty languages.”
Kirov did as he commanded. Vaxa’an listened to clips of sound, trying to determine which language his human female spoke. She’d only said a few lines, but the words, and her pleasing voice, were imprinted into him, like a touch.
After the twelfth sampling, he finally found her native tongue. “Implant this language. What is it called?”
“This one is called ‘Ang-lash.’ Specifically attributed to a land called ‘Nur-th A-mira-ka.’” Vaxa’an filed that knowledge away. Kirov tapped on the hologram screen and code started to run. “Implanting in three, two, one.”
The laser fired up blue and lit up straight into his pupils. For a brief moment, Vaxa’an was blinded and the sudden pressure at the base of his neck made him grunt. Implanting a language was a stressor on his mind, but a necessary one. He’d only needed to do this a few times in his life, mostly for ambassador talks and trade alliances. Knowing his luxiva’s language was a top priority. He wanted to communicate with her, to calm her fears.
The whole process only took a few moments. When it was done, Vaxa’an shut his eyes, his temples throbbing, but he recovered quickly.
“Recite the Luxirian code in ‘Ang-lash,’” Kirov said. Vaxa’an shot him a look and his friend’s lips twitched, his head tilting down. “Prime Leader.”
Nevertheless, Vaxa’an recited it, trying to differentiate in his mind the tangled web of this ‘Ang-lish,’ combing through the other threads of languages he’d already had implanted. Without practice, they tended to become one jumbled mess in his mind. Now, he knew her language was called ‘English,’ but it would be difficult for Luxirians to pronounce the word properly.
He tried out the strange new words, speaking the code most young Luxirians learned from the moment they entered military training, about Luxirian pride, brotherhood, and defending their planet.
Kirov looked pleased. “I didn’t understand a word. But it matched the sample the Krevorags uploaded. Hard to say how effective it is until you use it on your luxiva.”
Vaxa’an stood from the chair, pushing away the laser. “I see Lihvan has a bigger mouth than I thought.”
Kirov rolled his shoulders back, unapologetic. “You came here for a Breeder. You left with a human luxiva. Word will get out at home. More males will want to fight in the Pit now that there is…possibility.”
Vaxa’an had known that would be the case from the moment he’d realized the implications of a human mate. “And you, my friend? Will you also fight?”
Kirov met his eyes and Vaxa’an saw his answer before he spoke. “Yes. Perhaps in every fight at the Pit until my Instinct finds a suitable Breeder. Maybe I will not be so lucky as to find my luxiva, as you have, but at least I could continue my father’s line with offspring.”
Vaxa’an clasped his shoulder. “I wish that for you.”
Inclining his head once more, Kirov said, “Thank you, friend.”
Vaxa’an stepped away, turning towards the door, aware of his crew on the command deck. He was impatient to return to his female, to communicate with her. Before he left, he said to Kirov, “I want everyone on board implanted. Make sure it’s done by the time we reach Luxiria.”
“Yes, Prime Leader.”