Kane

I wake up with a jolt. A jolt of electricity straight to my testicles, in fact.

“That woke him up!”

I’m hunched over in pain, tied to a chair. Naked.

“That’s only the beginning. Couldn’t keep it in your pants, could you? What are you, some kind of animal? I thought more of you, Kane. Much more.”

Ragh is standing in front of me, a taser in his left hand. I try to figure out where I am, but all I see is a big mirror and gray walls.

“Don’t worry about where you are, you’re never getting out of here. Not in one piece, at least.”

“Why?” I spit. “I thought we were doing something good!”

“We are. What’s better than the Sahr in control? For millennia we have been nothing but scavengers, hated, spat upon. Not anymore. Now we are on top. All thanks to you, my friend.”

“So let me go.”

Ragh throws his head back and laugh. “You’re way too powerful for that, Kane. If there’s one man who could tear this whole clan down, it’s you. No. You are too good, my friend. You’re staying right here. And as a price for screwing me out of a million credits with that purple cock of yours, I’m going to make you watch this.”

He flicks a button, and the one-way mirror becomes see-through. In the other room is Piper, tied to a metal contraption. She’s wearing nothing but her underwear, and tears are streaming down her face.

“You let her go,” I growl. I do my best to break free, but I can’t.

No matter how hard I try… I just can’t.

“She has nothing to do with this!” I say.

“No, she’s the reason for all of this,” Ragh says. “And by putting that monster of yours inside of her, you just fucked me out of a million credits.”

“Who cares if she’s a virgin or not? It’s all bullshit anyway, isn’t it?”

“What, their ‘powers’? Sure, that’s bullshit, but their hymens? The alien connoisseurs who will drop a million on her — they do care about that, and they will check. Luckily for me, technology has come far, and we’ll restore it. Not after I had my turn though,” he smirks.

My blood runs cold.

“You won’t.”

“Watch me, Kane. Watch me.”

Ragh exits the room, and I’m all alone. The only thing I can look at is Piper, tied up, exposed. I have failed to protect her, and Ragh is rubbing my nose in it.

* * *

Piper

This can’t be happening. It can’t.

But it is.

My wrists and ankles are bound to some strange contraption, and my clothes have been torn from my body. Only my panties and bra remain. I’ve seen the way the rats look at me. They’ll come for me.

I thought it was all going to work out.

I thought the other Zorans were going to save us. That we would get out of here, and I could help Kane find his memories… that is how all the books I’ve ever read would end.

I guess that, even after all I’ve seen, I’m still naive. Kane is hurt bad, and I don’t even want to think about what’s going to happen to me.

Tears stream down my face. You’d think I’d run out of tears at some point, but we haven’t reached gotten there yet — not by a long shot.

Every time I think about Kane, the waterfalls are back.

We had something so… pure.

So perfect.

Sure, the way we met was somewhat unorthodox — but that’s a great story to tell our children, right?

Our children…

More tears follow.

I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I realize I never really thought about the logistics of it all either. Zorans are unwelcome on Earth, ever since the horrible events of Pazar. How would our relationship even work? Would I have to move to New Exon? What about my parents, my studies?

The door swings open.

I don’t even have the energy left to imagine it’s Kane who will carry me out of there. No, the rat-people have broken my spirit.

Ragh smiles at me from the doorway, showing me his many, tiny teeth.

“Don’t cry,” he hisses. “It makes you look ugly.”

* * *

Kane

I’m a failure.

A monster.

A killer.

I wish I died in that crash. The flames could have taken me, and the world would have been better off for it. I changed nothing on Vagreon — I killed the Seven Lords, and what happened? New lords took over. Old boss, new boss. Same thing.

The only good thing I ever did was save those human girls… but that’s negated by the fact that I brought them Piper. The most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. So positive, so sweet, so caring… and now, thanks to me, some alien prince is going to do unspeakable things to her.

“Smile, human. Smile for me!”

Ragh’s grating voice makes my eyes snap open.

He’s standing next to Piper, running his hairy fingers across her cheeks. She’s looking at me through the mirror, her big blue eyes filled with bone-chilling fear.

The moment I someone else touch my mate, I lose it.

I lose it.

All the hatred, the anger, the pure rage I have inside of me forms into one massive, powerful, ball. My muscles brim with energy, and I roar Piper’s name so hard it makes my eardrums bleed.

No one touches my mate.

No one!

My chains start to rattle, tremble, shake. I feel my muscles struggling, my very bones about to snap, but I push on. Without Piper, I have nothing left to live for.

Without Piper, I am nothing.

My chains break.

I rise from my seat, grab my chair and throw it right through the mirror. I jump through and pounce on Ragh. My vision turns red as my fists wail down on him. I don’t stop punching until my knuckles are red, raw and bleeding.

“Kane! Kane!”

Piper’s frenzied cries finally snap me out of my blood-lust. Ragh is nothing but a bloody pulp now, his legs still twitching — but that’s about all that’s left of him.

The human must think I’m a monster. Fuck it, I am a monster — a monster who is getting her out of here.

I rip her chains off and throw her over my shoulder. I kick open the door to her cell and run like hell.

There’s Sahr patrolling the hallway, of course. They shoot me. They hit me.

I don’t stop.

I keep running. I keep going. One foot after the other. I’m losing blood, my strength seeping away, but I can’t stop.

I won’t ever stop. Not until Piper is safe.

Once we reach the surface, I collapse.

We made it.

“Go,” I growl, coughing up blood as I lower my human to her feet. “Go on!”

She grabs my cheeks, tries to look me in the face, but my vision is blurry. My hearing is off as well; It’s like I’m underwater.

“Go!” I slur. “Go!”

My eyelids feel heavy. I glance down, and all I see is red, bullet-holes riddling my silver body.

A green vision appears. A tall figure, Zoranesque, like the one in my dreams. It’s time for me to return to the dreamworld. Forever.

I have saved my human. I have done my duty. I can die with dignity.