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Whatever is the cause of these overwhelming desires, I can’t contain them. I can’t stop the deep, dark part of me thatcravesthe leader of that Aurelian triad.

It’s the way he has total control over me. That’s such an intoxicating drug – and one I never knew I wanted. I never knew I craved submission like this – and now, at my most vulnerable, it’s bubbling up inside of me.

Even worse, it’s not just the leader of the Aurelians who has this effect on me. I might barely have seen them up close – for just seconds, cowering at the bottom of the stairs – but I’m overwhelmingly attracted toall threeof them.

Each of the three Aurelians has his own rough, primal appeal. A little whimper escapes my mouth as I imagine how it would feel to have not just the leader of the Aurelians claim me – but all three of them at once.

Can you even imagine? All three of those huge, hard alien men losing control to the mating frenzy and taking me, hard and fast.

Gods, I’d feel so helpless with justoneof the massive alien warriors claiming me. All three? That would be so intense, I surely would lose my mind.

I’m so ashamed of myself – but that shame at being so aroused by my captors makes the desire even more intense. I try to force myself to clear my mind. It’s not easy – but I take slow, deep breaths until my quivering desire quells to more manageable levels.

Ineedto keep rational.

I should be terrified for my life right now, but I’m not. I’ve been trained a hundred times on how to deal with a kidnapping – but this is clearly different.

This isn’t one of the typical kidnappings on Marn – a technically illegal, but generally tolerated kidnapping as practiced by the high houses and corporations of this independent world. In Marn, kidnapping is a negotiating tactic – or even a way toopennegotiations.

These Aurelians, though? They’re clearly playing for keeps.

There’s a painful irony to the fact that I’ve spent months jumping at shadows – a prisoner in a house that was filled with constant tension. There’s actually a strange, cathartic release now that it’s finally happened – the worst-case scenario.

All that waiting, all that wondering, and it’s finally come to a head.

I’m scared – but at the same time, it’s strangely exhilarating to be outside the walls of my home for the first time in so long. Now that I know Gerard is alive, I feel a strange sense of adventure. My adrenaline has never pumped so hard through my veins.

“The Aurelians have morals,” I whisper to myself, feeling my logical brain coming back online. If they didn’t, Gerard would be dead, and that Aurelian would have claimed me the moment he had me alone.

Morals. That’s a good first step to getting out of here.

They have morals,I repeat to myself.They didn’t rape me. They didn’t kill anyone to get me. How can I use this information?

The Aurelian Empire hunts down criminals ruthlessly – especially those of their own species. The Empire has what they call the ‘Kill List’ –where the worst of the world are placed for the Aurelian Enforcement to hunt down.

If these three alien warriors went around kidnapping and raping women, they’d be on the Kill List.

Unless they never got caught.

I think over it, concentrating deeply. The only way they wouldn’t get caught is if they’d never harmed the men and women they’d kidnapped.

If they’ve done this before, everyone has come out of it alive.

Maybe not with the property or wealth they had beforehand – there’s clearly a motive for these kidnappings, just like buying my father’s Orb-deposits is the motive for kidnapping me – but at least I don’t need to fear these Aurelians killing me for no good reason. That’s a good first step.

I’ve been captured, yes – but these Aurelians don’t appear to be monsters.

At least, notyet.

But I saw the animal lurking behind the slate-grey eyes of the leader of this triad. I saw the primal need burning in him for me – a need that’s barely held back.

How long can anybody hold back nature?

How long before the leader of the Aurelians, and his two battle-brothers, snap and claim me?

6

Lazar