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I catch Alexa’s gaze.“That’s not what it looked like earlier.”

“That was a first,” she says, quivering while rubbing her arms.“They got really worked up about the dinosaur that circled over the huts.They call them dragons.I don’t know what got into them, but you don’t want to unleash their violence.It seems that danger and fighting make them fucking horny.”

“Bastards,” Karl bites out.

I think about my own near-rape experience and suppress a shudder.

“Have you tried to escape?”I ask.

“Impossible,” Sandy says.“They always keep watch.Even now, one of them is guarding the area from their outlook decks in the trees.”She turns her face to Irina.“And we all know what happens when you try.”

Irina drops the sleeve of her blouse and shows me half of her back.Long slashes crisscross her shoulder blade.“They did this with a thorny branch.I’m lucky it healed without getting infected.”

Fuck.

Alexa leans closer.“If you don’t do what they say, they drop a slug-like leech into your ear.”She points at a woman with cherub cheeks that sits in the center of the floor.“That’s how Eucabeth went deaf.From how she screamed, it must’ve been agonizing.”

Cruel fuckers.They’ll get what they deserve.Too bad we need some of them alive to get off this planet.

“Have you found out anything about the portals?”I ask.“Those lizards brought us here.Some of them must be able to create portals that can take us back.”

Sandy shakes her head.“They don’t even discuss it among themselves when they think we’re not listening, and they’re aware that I’m the only one who understands a little of their language.It must be a tightly guarded secret.”

If only I could connect with the prawns, but my head is hurting too much.It feels as if my brain has been through a blender.I can hardly think, let alone concentrate on using my power.

I rub my aching temples.The pain is getting worse instead of better, which isn’t a good sign.

Sandy observes me with a pinched brow.“You don’t look good.”

My chuckle is wry.“One of you don’t happen to have painkillers, do you?”

I try to keep a sense of humor, but if moving hurts, laughing is pure torture.

She sighs.“Medicine is a luxury the slavers never allow.I don’t even think they know the concept.”

In that case, I may end up dead after all.Unless I make it back to Earth in time.

Sandy studies me with a curious light burning in her blue eyes.“What happened at the beach?What did that Alit want with you?He looked downright scary.”

“This is going to sound weird.”

Sandy chuckles.“Believe me, hun, nothing can sound weird to me anymore.”

Point taken.“He’s an Alit prince, and he thought I was his mate.”

I expect them to burst out laughing, but they only stare at me with owl-sized eyes.

“But…” Sandy frowns.“I’ve picked up a few things since arriving here, and from what I’ve gathered, the Alit don’t mate with humans.”

I consider telling them the truth, that I discovered I’m an Alit myself, but I decide against it.I’m not sure how they’d feel about me if they learned I’m not a born-and-bred Earthling, and it’s too cumbersome to explain the whole history.Besides, I don’t understand everything myself yet.Nor do I want to dwell on what happened between Aruan and me, especially the fact that a part of me already misses him.So I shrug and settle for, “He was wrong.”

I’m not his mate.We did the whole consummation thing and all the hotness that went with the act, and then he told me our mating had failed.

“Wait,” I say as I remember something.“He spoke to you in his language, and you understood him.”

“I’ve picked up a few words.”Sandy hugs her knees to her chest.“I’m a fast learner, and I’ve always had a good ear for languages.”

I sit up straighter and immediately regret the sudden movement when pain lances into my brain.“That means you’ve met some Alit.”