Edge carefully observed the exchange between the two women. He knew that they were human. What he didn’t understand was how they could be here. Leaning his head back, he fought against the desire to close his eyes again as a wave of fatigue hit him.

Grasping the container with the nutrient-rich water, he raised it to his lips. His hands shook so badly he was forced to grasp it with both of them. Frustration and rage burned through him. He had never in his life felt so weak.

He followed the woman with his eyes as she placed the tray on the crate next to the bed. Two bowls sat on the thin sheet of metal. Spirals of steam rose from each bowl. The fragrant scent of the soup made his stomach clench with hunger. It had been weeks since he had eaten anything.

“You might want me to help you with this,” she said, picking up one of the bowls.

Edge ground his teeth together when he saw her glance at his shaking hands. He lowered the container of water back to the bed. His mind felt disconnected and fuzzy. He was trying to piece everything together, but the effort caused his head to pound.

“Where am I?” he asked again, this time in a softer voice.

Lina gave him a rueful smile. “You’re basically in the sewers,” she said, lifting the spoon to his lips. “You eat, I’ll talk.”

Edge grunted his agreement. This woman – Lina – was very bossy, he decided, opening his lips and accepting the warm soup. The liquid hit his taste buds and he moaned in bliss.

Lina chuckled. “I swear Gail is the best cook in the universe. She can take the most unappetizing stuff and create a dish that will make your mouth water.” Her expression sobered as she continued. “There are six of us all together. You’ve met Bailey. She was the one who helped doctor you up a bit. Mechelle is the one who brought us the soup. Her twin sister, Mirela, is here as well. Then, there is Gail, Andy, and myself,” she explained.

Edge frowned. “How…?” he asked between mouthfuls.

Lina’s mouth tightened, and she looked down at the bowl in her hand for a second before spooning up more soup and lifting it to his lips. There was anger in her dark brown eyes. He was fascinated by how they could express so many emotions in them.

“A son-of-a-bitch named Colbert Allen sold us to a blue prick named Badrick. He was the Usoleum who the Alliance council assigned to Chicago. Badrick was supposed to be working to end the battle between Destin and Colbert. Instead, Colbert and he had come up with a partnership to sell human women to a bunch of other aliens. Those in our shipment were divided up. A group of aliens known as the Armatrux took us,” she bitterly explained.

Edge lifted his hand and touched her arm when she placed the spoon in the soup. Between the water and the soup, he was feeling stronger. What she was telling him was unbelievable. The Armatrux would never let such precious cargo escape them.

“You expect me to believe you… that a group of… human women were able to escape… the Armatrux?” he demanded, his voice filled with suspicion.

Her mouth tightened again. His weakened condition appeared to be hindering his ability to hide his emotions and thoughts. She turned on the bed and placed his bowl of soup on the tray. Edge caught his breath when she twisted back around with surprising speed. Her hand wrapped in his long hair, pulling his head back while the front edge of the pointed spoon pressed uncomfortably against the soft skin where the main artery in his neck was located.

Her grip on his hair tightened when he dropped the water container. It hit the floor with a loud metallic clunk. She was straddling him. Rising up on her knees, she forced his head back a little further.

Edge wrapped his hands around her waist. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the curtain that had given them the illusion of privacy being jerked open. Five additional women suddenly surrounded the bed. Each held a weapon trained on him.

Edge’s grip on Lina tightened. His gaze remained locked with hers.

“I can take him out,” Gail said, drawing a bead to the side of his temple.

Lina’s eyes held a satisfied challenge and he understood her message: even if he was able to hurt her, he’d be dead in seconds. A wry smile curved his lips, and he forced his fingers to relax.

“Just give the word, boss lady,” Andy said.

The tension grew as the silence lengthened. Lina slowly removed the spoon from his neck and slid down across his lap. Another feeling of discomfort swept through him. This feeling had nothing to do with the fact that he was weak and everything to do with the woman rising from the bed.

He watched as she skillfully twirled the spoon between her fingers before placing it in the bowl of soup. The other women were a little more reluctant to lower their weapons. He moved his gaze to each one before returning to Lina.

“Tell me… what happened,” he asked in a soft voice.

Lina nodded. She raised her hand and spread her fingers. As quickly as they had appeared, the women retreated. The oldest woman shot him a warning look before she closed the curtain.

“We’ve lived, worked, and fought together for years,” Lina said, sitting on the crate near the bed.

She picked up the second bowl of soup and drank it before placing the empty bowl on the tray. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Then she picked up his bowl, and was surprised to see that the bowl was almost empty.

Edge started to shake his head, but stopped as a wave of dizziness threatened to send him sliding sideways. Whether he wanted the soup or not, his body needed it. He curled his fingers when they began to tremble.

“I had forgotten how fierce the women on your world could be,” he said, grateful when she held the rim of the bowl to his lips instead of the spoon. He drank deeply, then leaned back against the pillow and closed his eyes as the warm liquid hit his stomach. “How long have you been here?”

“Almost two years,” Lina replied, “give or take a few weeks.”

Edge opened his eyes in surprise and met her gaze. She gave him a wry smile and indicated that he should finish his soup. He drank the remainder.

“Two years,” he repeated in disbelief.

Lina nodded and placed the empty bowl on the tray. “From what we could surmise, the Armatrux were planning on selling us. Unfortunately for them, they met up with some other aliens who were even bigger and badder than they were – Jawtaws. During the fight, the electrical system went haywire for a bit. The cells the Armatrux were holding us in opened and we escaped. It wasn’t too hard for us to find a place to hide. Spaceships are pretty damn big. The Jawtaws must not have realized that we were a missing part of the cargo and, from what we could see, the bastards didn’t leave any survivors to tell them about us. With a skeleton crew, it wasn’t difficult for us to remain out of sight. Two and a half months later, they docked on this Spaceport. Mechelle is brilliant when it comes to costumes and makeup that allows us to blend in. The Jawtaws were selling off things left, right, and center from the ship. We dressed up, pretended to be shopping merchants, and walked off the ship. My brother once told me that you could get away with anything as long as you acted as if you belonged there. We slowly worked our way down, learning more about the Spaceport. Seven months ago, we found this place and here we are,” she said.

Edge blinked as he absorbed what she was telling him. The dangers were almost too many to comprehend. The possibility of their surviving this long without being caught was impossible to calculate. A shiver ran through his body followed quickly by another one.

“Lina,” he suddenly hissed, his head fell back and his jaw fiercely tightened.

“Bailey!” Lina yelled, reaching out and gripping Edge’s hands when his body began to jerk uncontrollably.

From the recesses of his mind, Edge heard the sound of the curtain opening. A burning pain was beginning to overtake him. His stomach twisted and churned. He felt the touch of cold metal against his neck. He jerked in surprise when the injector hissed before darkness surrounded him, mercifully pulling him down into its inky embrace.