Page 10 of Forced to Mate by the Mad Scientist (Kindred Tales Spicy Shorts #3)

10

KROSS

Kross didn’t eat the fucking mush they gave him. It tasted as bland as paper and he couldn’t stomach it—not when he was so worried about Sylvia. Several more times he’d tried getting through the pain barrier, but it was no use. He finally had to admit to himself that he was exhausting and hurting himself for no reason. There was just no way to get past it—not without passing out from the pain.

Shortly after his last attempt, a hole appeared in the wall of his jail and a round silver droid floated into the room. It ordered Kross to extend his arm for “specimen collection.”

In answer, Kross kicked the fucking thing as hard as he could. It ricocheted off the wall, making a mechanical wailing sound like a siren. At once, the screen on the far wall turned on and Barbarous appeared, frowning.

“I suggest you cease abusing my droid and allow it to take your blood and any other specimens it asks for,” he said, glowering at Kross.

“Like hell I will, you fucker!” Kross growled. “You can have my blood when you tie me down and take it!”

“That can be arranged you know,” Barbarous said coolly. “Or I could give the punishment you just earned to the lovely lady you came here with. Sylvia, I believe her name is. Would you like that, Mr. Kross?”

Kross felt sick with fear and rage.

“Leave Sylvia alone!” he roared at the screen. “ Leave her the fuck alone!”

“I will… if you cooperate. Now will you give the collector your samples or not?”

“Fine. As long as you promise not to hurt her.”

“I give you my word as a gentleman and a scientist,” Barbarous said gravely. And putting one long hand over his heart, he made a little bow.

“All right.” Kross extended his arm to the silver droid, which hovered nervously at the other end of the room, as though it didn’t trust him. He knew there was no way to be sure the mad scientist was telling the truth or that he wouldn’t go back on his word. But there was nothing else he could do—no other way to protect the woman he loved.

The droid finally took some blood and a scraping from the inside of his cheek. Then it hovered through the air to the round hole it had come from and disappeared into the wall again.

After that, there was nothing to do but pace his cell and try to get through the pain cage again, even though he knew it was useless. He was aware he was probably punishing himself for not being strong enough to protect Sylvia. The pain felt good in a way—it was what he deserved. He never should have let those two tree-looking bastards sneak up on him…

Just as his thoughts were becoming a loop of guilt, anger, and anxiety for the woman he loved, the door opened again and two of the treetures entered. One of them stood by the door and the other held the arm of a sobbing woman.

At least, Kross thought it was a woman. She had breasts and was wearing a kind of short dress made of some kind of tan plant fiber. But she also had hair like wool and small, curling horns on her forehead.

The treeture holding her arm walked her right up to the closest hazy red pain shield while Kross watched, wondering what the hell was going on. Then, abruptly, the pain shield was gone.

It only lasted a split second and before Kross had time to react, the sobbing girl was shoved into his area and the red shield was reactivated.

The treeture by the wall must have hit the control button at the same time that the other one pushed the girl in, Kross thought. Either way, he had missed an opportunity. He wouldn’t miss again if he could help it.

But in the meantime, he had the crying woman to deal with.

“Hey, are you all right?” he asked her. “Did they hurt you?”

She looked up, taking her hands from her face and he saw that her eyes had horizontal pupils. They were also red from crying.

“Did they hurt you?” Kross asked again.

“No…but you will.” The woman looked at him mistrustfully. “They sent me here for you.”

“For me?” Kross frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t understand.”

“No, but you will, Mr. Kross.”

Kross turned and saw that the screen on the far wall was lit again and Barbarous was smirking at him from it.

“What are you talking about?” Kross demanded. “You think I’ll hurt her just so you can get off watching it? I don’t fucking think so!”

“If my formula works, you won’t have a choice,” Barbarous told him.

“Formula? What for—” Kross started to ask. But at that moment there was a hissing sound and the tree trunk room began to fill with pink smoke, pouring in from a hidden vent somewhere.

It was cloyingly sweet—Kross coughed as he inhaled it. He felt like he was choking on cotton candy—a confection that humans were fond of though it was nothing but sugar.

The girl they had shoved in the room with him was choking too. Kross wondered if the plan was to kill them both with poison gas—what else could Barbarous be doing?

But after a moment, the smoke cleared leaving nothing but a lingering, too-sweet scent hanging in the air. Kross looked down at himself. His body looked fine and he certainly didn’t feel any different.

The woman looked pretty much the same too, he thought. She was just standing there, blinking, as though she had been stunned.

“Well?” Barbarous demanded eagerly from the screen. He was staring at Kross avidly. “Well, how do you feel?” he asked.

“Fine. The same.” Kross shrugged. “Why? Am I supposed to feel something? Because I don’t. I guess that formula you’re so proud of is a dud.”

Barbarous scowled at him.

“Impossible! There must be some effect!”

“Ohhhh!”

The noise startled Kross and he looked away from the screen to see that the woman with the goat’s horns was moaning and rubbing her body. One hand was touching her breasts and the other was between her legs.

“ Ohhh,” she moaned again, looking up at Kross. “Oh, please!”

“Please what?” he asked, frowning at her.

“Please take me!” the woman begged.

Kross was taken aback. Just a moment ago she’d been afraid he would hurt her—now she was begging him to have sex with her. What in the Seven Hells was going on?

It has to be that damn cotton candy gas, he thought, as he backed away from the pleading woman. It must have affected her somehow. That’s what Barbarous meant when he was talking about his “new formula.”

Speaking of Barbarous, he was glaring from the screen on the far wall.

“Well? Why do you not take her? Fuck her!” he demanded.

“She’s been drugged,” Kross growled, glaring at him. “I’m not going to fuck a drugged woman—that’s called rape!”

“No, that is what we call scientific progress,” Barbarous corrected him. “So you feel no urge at all to mount the lovely Lorna here?”

“Of course not!” Kross was disgusted. As if he would take advantage of a woman that way! It went against everything the Kindred stood for—everything he had ever believed.

But more than that, the idea of rape went against his very DNA. It was so deeply ingrained in Kindred males that females were sacred and not to be harmed that he couldn’t have brought himself to hurt the woman or take her against her will even if his own life was on the line.

“Hmm…interesting. Very interesting.” Barbarous nodded and made some notes. “Well, it seems that this version of the formula isn’t useful for males though it does appear to work quite well on females.” He nodded at the girl named Lorna, who continued to rub herself and moan. “Are you certain you don’t want to put her out of her misery? She won’t be satisfied until she’s been penetrated, you know.”

“Fuck you—I won’t do that!” Kross shook his head. There was only one woman he was interested in and he wasn’t going to go fucking around with a complete stranger who he’d never even seen before.

“Fascinating.” Barbarous made another note. “Very well—it’s back to the lab I suppose. I must study those samples you gave us.”

Just as though Kross had offered his blood freely, instead of being coerced.

The fucker! Kross thought fiercely. But before he could say anything, the screen went blank once more.

The goat-woman continued to cry and rub herself but after a moment, the door opened again. This time three of the tree-men came in and one of them was holding Kross’s own blaster, which they had stolen from him when they caught him in the forest.

“Send the girl out,” the one with the blaster demanded.

“Fine—take her.” Kross held up his hands, though he was wondering if there was some way to take the blaster away. He edged closer to the pain wall, waiting for the tree-man closest to the switch to turn it off.

The minute the wall went down he dropped low and lunged forward. He was just about to go for the blaster when Barbarous’s voice came from the screen again.

“Try it and the girl dies,” he said. “And if I have to kill Lorna, I’ll kill your Sylvia too—that’s a promise, Mr. Kross.”

Kross turned and saw that one of the treetures had its long fingers wrapped around the goat-woman’s throat and was choking her.

“Fuck!” he growled. Standing quickly, he put up his hands. “All right—leave her alone!”

He couldn’t stand idly by and watch a woman get hurt or killed. Again, it went against everything in his Kindred heritage and DNA. Also, he feared for Sylvia. He didn’t want to do anything that would get her hurt or punished.

“Very well. Clipcut, loosen your hold on her throat,” the mad scientists instructed.

The tree-man did as he said, though he still kept his long fingers loosely around her neck.

“Good. Now you and Manlow and Pushplant take her out and fuck her,” Barbarous said casually. “For once I think she’ll welcome it.” Then he looked at Kross. “And you —get back into your area. If you try anything like that again, it’s your Sylvia who will be getting fucked by my treetures. Do I make myself clear?”

“Fucking crystal,” Kross growled. He went back to stand by the bed and watched as the wavering red pain walls came back up.

“Good. I’m glad we understand each other. I’ll be speaking to you later after I rework my formula.” He pointed a finger at Kross. “Don’t get too comfortable. I will find a way.”

Kross didn’t know what he was talking about and he didn’t fucking want to know, but he asked anyway.

“Find a way to do what?” he demanded.

But the screen was blank once more and since the three tree-men had already dragged the moaning goat-girl out the door, he was alone with his thoughts.