Taken Read online

  Chapter 4

  Fresh from the shower, I feel exhilarated, better than I've ever felt in my whole life.

  Reaching for a fresh square of material, I briskly begin to dry off, going lightly over my nipples that are strangely sensitive. Neither of my males was overly rough with me, so there's no reason for them to be sore.

  I smooth the towel over my belly and between my thighs. My body feels different, not the shape or texture of my skin, but inside. There's a tightness as if something is squeezing my lady parts from within.

  My thoughts linger on the purpose of the blue liquid.

  Sensitive nipples and squeezing in my cervix? My fear of pregnancy comes barreling down on me in a powerful rush. I push the absurdity aside. Even if these were symptoms of pregnancy, I wouldn’t have become this way only minutes ago.

  Shaking my head in denial, I finish drying off and cross the room to choose a dress from my new wardrobe. Flipping through the selections, I don't see the gowns, so caught up in the internal argument I'm having with myself.

  These are not men. These are males from another world. It would be in my best interest to stop comparing the two. How can I discount the shifting in my belly with the insertion of the blue liquid? And what about that stinging pinch with Nulis? That has to mean something. Right?

  I can’t be pregnant. I refuse to believe conception could be instantaneous. It takes hours for sperm to reach the egg, and that’s if I’m ovulating. Pregnancy doesn’t happen as soon as the man ejaculates.

  Let me rephrase that. Pregnancy doesn’t happen as soon as the male ejaculates. It just can’t be possible.

  A wet blanket of fear settles around me, clinging to the points I made in my internal argument that make way too much sense.

  If I am pregnant, how can I return home with an alien's baby in my belly? I can’t imagine my males would let me go if I was carrying their offspring.

  As much as I want to deny it, sex with Nulis felt different than any of the other times. The shifting of my insides, the sharp sting, and the sudden cramping—it all has to mean something.

  Shaking my wet head against my own logic, it must simply be a case of too much sex. That's all. Typically, there's more time between my males’ visits. My body is just reacting to all the sex. That’s what the cramping was about. It has to be.

  Picking a random garment, I lift it over my head, the fine material shimmering over my skin before falling to my ankles in a swoosh of fluid skirting. Choosing a jeweled belt, I try to wrap the thing around myself in some sort of configuration that looks intentional.

  I need to get my head out of the clouds and get with the program. This sexual frenzy I've gotten caught up in has to be set aside. I must find a way to convince Natu to take me home.

  Curtesy of my shark-toothed friends, I now have a mirror of sorts. Positioning myself in front of the sheet of reflective metal, I check my handiwork in the cloudy reflection. The jeweled belt looks like crap, but my skin is flawless. My hair that's already beginning to dry is alive with vitality.

  I've never looked better! Never felt better. But I can't stay here with these aliens. I'm human. I belong on Earth.

  I lean in for a closer look, swallowing hard at what is reflected back. This weird metal must be playing tricks on me. What are supposed to be perfect circles, those ebony voids in the center of my baby blues, have taken on an elongated appearance. Nothing like the feline slits of my males, but a definite distortion of what once was circular.

  Natu rushes up behind me. Startled, I whirl around as he talks a mile a minute, holding up some strange device.

  “Avay, the translator is ready!” He hands me a small instrument I have no clue what to do with. “Place this in your ear, like so.”

  I watch as he demonstrates. Copying his movements, I push the little bud of the device in my ear. He nods and fiddles with some sort of instrument that looks like a small television remote.

  “Can you understand my words?” Natu asks.

  For the first time in an eternity, I hear words I recognize. I can't answer. Dumbstruck, my jaw hangs loose as I stare at him through a pool of tears. Overcome with the sound of something familiar, I leap into his arms, my feet dangle off the ground as he hugs me tight.

  “Yes, Natu. I understand you.”

  “I have so much to tell you, shoulsis.”

  “I have so many questions.”

  We talk over each other; the language I've always known a jumble of the most beautiful mix of vowels and consonants I've ever heard.

  Natu sets me on my feet, and I take a step back so I can peer up into his face.

  “Say something else,” I giggle excitedly.

  “I would rather hear your words,” Natu smiles with a flash of fangs.

  “Oh, I don't know. There are so many questions. I guess the first is what does shoulsis mean? Is that like a wife?”

  Thinking a moment, he shakes his head.

  “I do not know what a wyefe is, but shoulsis is a mate to a clov.”

  “What is that?” I crinkle my nose at the new word.

  “A group of males mated to a single female.”

  “Wow,” I breathe. “So, I officially have my own harem.”

  “Hay-reem?”

  “That would be my word for this arrangement between all of you and me, except where I’m from, there would be one man to many women.”

  It’s Natu’s turn to wrinkle his nose.

  “So, in your culture, it's normal for one woman to have many husbands?” The last word doesn't seem to fit.

  “Hoosbond?” he repeats with a tilt of his head. “Almost always, one female is mated to many males. Most young are born male, so females are, or were, grossly outnumbered. Besides, the female is safer with more than one protector.”

  “Is the Universe such a dangerous place?” After the monsters I saw at the marketplace, I already know the answer.

  “Yes, very.” Closing the distance, he wraps a hand around my waist, pulling me flush against his hard body. “Also, it is better for the female when she enters her cycle to have multiple males service her.”

  Pressed tight against his unyielding body, I couldn't agree more with that statement even though I’m not sure exactly what he means.

  Natu leans down to capture my lips with his, my next question dissolving as his tongue engages mine in a soft, intimate dance, my belly curling up tight with a lick of heat. My earlier intentions of finding a way home evaporate with the unquenchable machine my body has become. I let raw instinct lead the way as I reach for what I know will satisfy me.

  Natu first squeezes, then removes my hand that's latched onto the outline of his heavy erection before ending the kiss on a heavy sigh.

  “I must wait. It is Xuel's turn at your cunt.”

  The vulgar word shocks me as much as it sets me on fire. I open my mouth to argue Xuel hasn't done anything to me except growl and pass out, but I shut my mouth. Xuel wouldn't want that shared.

  “Tell me more about your culture. What other pleasurable acts do you have besides the kwis?”

  “Kiss,” I repeat the word with a chuckle. “Your pronunciations are adorable.”

  “Kwis. I said it correctly.”

  I open my mouth, then shut it, deciding not to share anymore “pleasurable acts.” With what these males are packin’, I'm positive I would choke to death giving a blowjob.

  “You mentioned the female's cycle,” I divert.

  “Yes. Nomadican females are fertile the majority of the time. It can become painful if they are not serviced often.”

  “But I'm not a Nomadican female.”

  “No. But you are a suitable substitute. That is why I suggested you as a mate. Xuel and Nulis needed some convincing, but after I pointed out your attributes, they became of a like mind.”

  My mouth goes dry with dread as I ask, “What was I before I became a shoulsis? You know, when I was first… taken away from those sex-slaver troll things?”

  “You were purc
hased as a coitus servant.”

  Why I set myself up for pain when I already knew the answer is anyone's guess. It hurts to know I was meant for nothing but fucking—nothing but a piece of meat to be used and ultimately, thrown away.

  Dropping my head, Natu lifts my water gaze to meet his tender stare.

  “I sensed you were special,” he passionately declares. “I felt it the moment I touched you. That is why I fought so hard for you. Not to worry, Avay, you are no longer to be used but cherished. Protected. Loved.”

  The last word shakes loose a long-buried yearning—a need for acceptance, to be looked upon with favor instead of disdain. Staring hard into the glowing depths of Natu’s alien eyes, I bask in the adoration forever denied me.

  The moment grows intense, the longer I look. Just as Natu opens his mouth to speak more words, I withdraw in fear of what he might say next.

  I need his assistance to get home, back to Earth. Falling in love with an alien isn’t part of those plans. I begin to move around the room in hopes of outrunning my feelings. A good diversion is to get back to asking the questions I’ve wanted the answers to.

  “So,” I begin. “I’ve always wanted to know why the floor is all sparkly.”

  Natu watches me pace, puzzled by my sudden retreat.

  “They are Sermonian crystals. Their purpose is to produce oxygen for the ship.”

  “Seriously?” Crouching down, I run the flat of my hand across the ebony surface, the crystals embedded in the spongy substrate twinkling at my touch. “That’s amazing.”

  Natu grins and takes a seat on one of the chairs. Tenting his hands, he looks ready to be bombarded by my inquisitive mind.

  “The ship we’re traveling in, how large is it?” I ask, settling into a crossed-legged position on the floor.

  “Tweeshey lineials.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” I say, tapping my earpiece. “Maybe the translator isn’t working.”

  “It works only if the words entered are already translated. The Mannock that created the program must not have added translations to any Nomadican measurements.”

  “Mannock! You mean a human, like me?”

  “Yes.”

  “When can I meet this human?” I sit up a little straighter.

  “She is never in one place for very long. It is rumored her mate was killed, and without protection, she must remain hidden.”

  “She!”

  I can’t believe there’s another human freely roaming around the Universe just like me. Well, not exactly like me, but a human, nonetheless.

  “Why doesn’t she just go home?”

  Natu’s brow quirks skyward. “Home?”

  “Back to Earth where she belongs. Or is she lost?”

  He looks at me strangely but replies. “Not lost. It would be difficult for her to return to Eerith.”

  I grin at his mispronunciation. “Why would it be difficult?”

  Natu doesn’t answer, and I’m too curious about this other woman to wait for an explanation. To have another woman with shared experiences to talk with would be incredible, and if I could communicate with her, this mannock traveling through space alone, it could be my ticket home.

  “When you got the translator from her, did you tell her about me?” I ask Natu with wide eyes.

  “Yes.”

  “Can I meet her?”

  “She did not make the request.”

  Slumping back, his answer is deflating but draws forth what’s now dangling at the tip of my tongue. Opening my mouth, I draw in a breath and pray for courage. Thinking and planning my return home was one thing when I was locked inside my cage. Now that I’m about to put my plan into action, my bravado withers.

  “You have a question,” Natu prompts.

  “Have you ever been to my planet?” I skirt around what I really want to ask.

  “Only in the vicinity, never to walk the ground.”

  “Is it possible for this ship to go there?” My throat suddenly goes dry.

  “Yes.”

  Natu’s answer makes me lightheaded. It’s official, I have the means to return home! Now, all I need is some alien cooperation to get me there.

  “Would you take me?” I barely breathe out the words.

  “Why would you wish to return to Eerith now that you are mated?” Natu looks more hurt than confused.

  I open my mouth, then clap it shut. I have one chance to get this right. It’s going to be a delicate balance between getting what I want and not pushing him so far away, he refuses to help me. If I say the wrong thing, there’s no going back.

  “Natu, please understand I was snatched from my home. I never got to say goodbye to my parents.”

  “Parrients?”

  “You know, the female who birthed me and the man who sired me?”

  “Ah! You need closure.”

  “Yes!” I clap my hands excitedly. “Closure. That’s exactly what I need.”

  He couldn’t have given me a more perfect reason if I’d thought of it myself. Once my feet touch down on the Earth, I’ll run and hide from them. Maybe they’ll even allow me to go alone, and I’ll simply never return.

  “I am afraid our journey is in the opposite direction as Eerith. Perhaps, if our trades are lucrative enough, we can plan a course to include your system,” Natu explains. “Then, there would be Xuel to convince of the journey.”

  “He would deny me the closure I need, knowing I was wrongly abducted, then sold like a piece of meat at an auction?” I recoil.

  Natu sits back in his chair. Rubbing his chin, he regards me with a ruminating eye.

  “I am sorry you were taken from your planet, Avay,” Natu begins. “You have to understand, it is not as easy as you think to enter systems under the control of Universeval Rule.”

  “Rule? What rule?” I ask, immediately riled up like a cat with its fur rubbed the wrong way. “I have rights as a citizen of the United States! You can’t just come in an abduct people. That’s against the law.”

  My heated words have him sitting forward. Resting heavy forearms on his knees, I appreciate the view of his immense shoulders bunched up in his new position. But! I’m also mad as hell there is some sort of bullshit rule he thinks applies to me.

  “Avay, Universeval Rule must be obeyed by all, even if you are not aware of it.” I have to give him props for his patience as I stare daggers at him. “The Luartick Sector is controlled by a supremacy unmatched by all beings. No one will go against that control.”

  “Natu, it’s my home planet. All I want is to go back. It’s where I belong,” I blurt out before thinking.

  “The Yulineons assigned to govern that sector will not allow the landing of any spacecraft.”

  “Even if it’s to return someone who was stolen?”

  Natu’s eyes scan my face. A sadness settles around him over my situation or realizing I want to be returned, I’m not sure. Either way, I’m wracked with guilt for contemplating trickery.

  “If we are able and Xuel will allow it, I will endeavor to pose a request to the Yulineons that you might be returned.” Natu drops his eyes. “I would grant you a detachment of the mating, but I cannot promise Xuel and Nulis will be of a like mind. They are proud males. I do not believe they would bear the dishonor as I would for you to return to your home.”

  “Dishonor?”

  My heart shatters as I watch Natu’s face sink into a mask of rejection and pain. I hadn’t anticipated the magnitude of my request… for either of us. I hadn’t meant to feel so much for Natu or crave Nulis. Don’t even get me started on the lust I’ve got going on for Xuel. None of this was supposed to happen.

  Using these males as they were using me was going to be my ticket home. Now that tender feelings have somehow gotten involved, my plans have backfired in the worst way. Throw in some alien hierarchy—which no one on Earth knows about—who is calling the shots from outer space, and clearly, me returning to Earth isn’t as simple as dropping off an abducted girl from where sh
e was taken.

  A dark and hollow place within me takes root and wells. If I make it home, I would never see my males again. An emptiness fills me, swirling into a black hole that begins devouring tiny bits of my soul, and I know will ultimately be swallowed by the misery of being alone, without them.

  My decision to return feels more and more like the wrong choice, the more I ponder it. I can’t second guess myself. Caught up in this foreign world I know nothing about, I’m lost in a mountain of unknown. No matter how much I feel like I belong here, I really don’t. My home is on a planet a zillion miles away.

  Despite my warring doubts, I find myself asking, “You would dishonor yourself in the eyes of your peers so that I could go home?”

  “Yes, Avay, I would.”

  “But why?”

  “Because I love you.”

  Well, shit…

  I can hardly breathe as I take in his words, my heart swelling so large it hurts my chest. The sincerity on his handsome face breaks me almost as much as his words. Leaving Natu, my savior, behind might not be possible.

  Moving from my place on the floor to kneel before him, Natu cups my cheek in one enormous hand. I hadn’t meant for the words banging around inside my head to fall out of my mouth, but here they go.

  “I love you, too.”

  Denial is a curious thing, but it can’t stop what’s in my heart. How can I not love him? Natu has always fought for me, which is more than I can say for anyone else I’ve ever known. Not only did he rescue me from a horrible fate on that red-dirt planet, but he also saved and protected me, along with Xuel, against what Agris and Orius did to me.

  “And still, you would leave me.” Natu's voice is deep and gravely.

  Holding his watery gaze is torture. I owe him an explanation. I should try to make him understand why I shouldn’t be here, but my internal arguments seem so feeble now that he holds me in his visual embrace. Verdant green turned a brilliant Emerald of masculine emotion keeps me silent.

  “I will speak to Xuel.” Natu pulls away.

  Nodding sadly, I sit back. Everything I’ve wanted to ask doesn’t seem important anymore. Natu looks so forlorn, I feel the need to distract him. Looking around, my eyes land on the bowl of nuts set aside during Nulis’ visit.