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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

-Clay-

THE MOMENT THE alien’s breathing slowed, my eyes snapped open.

I’d almost given myself away when he’d untied my hands, and playing dead until he fell asleep was an agony of self-control with my heart pounding like I’d just run a marathon. I didn’t know what to expect when he came back, but the gentle way he laid me down on the bed and wrapped himself around me wasn't it. It was hard to believe this was the same guy as before, because he had been a massive dick.

Speaking of massive dicks, there was almost nothing between us—this stupid chain outfit didn’t count for shit–and I struggled not to stiffen at his touch. A warm lump pressed into the back of my thigh, and I didn’t need three guesses to figure out what it was. I swallowed and struggled not to think about it. Not going there.

I tried not to remember the way it had felt to be pinned between him and the wall earlier. That had just been the pheromones. That wasn’t me .

His body was so hot I was going to be sweating in seconds. His chin rubbed against the top of my head, and I felt him nuzzle down into my hair. Then he sniffed loudly and made a quiet noise, a soft rumble in his chest and throat that vibrated against my back. It was almost comforting, the sound someone makes at the smell of freshly baked bread, and not at all one I would associate with the savage monster he had been earlier. An unwelcome warmth spread through me.

This was too weird.

I stared into the darkness. The softness of the bed felt so damn good, and I ached all over, but I forced myself to move. I shifted experimentally, straightening my legs away from his. He didn’t move. I swallowed against the dryness in my throat and inched forward. Our skin stuck together, tacky with sweat, before it peeled apart. He still didn’t move.

Ok, so far so good. The dead weight of his arms was wrapped fully around me. I could try to pry them apart and extricate myself from them, but the risk of waking him was too high, and the top of the bed was too close to wriggle upwards. So downwards it was.

I shimmied using my hip and shoulder, trying to move as little as possible, using my heels to dig into the bed and drag myself downwards. The stupid golden chains clinked gently with each movement, and I bared my teeth. He stirred and I froze, waiting for his amber eyes to snap open and ensnare me again. But they didn’t, and I continued to slide inch by inch towards freedom.

Finally, my head slipped through the loop of his arms. I rolled off the edge of the bed and landed softly on the pads of my feet.

I was free. I had no idea how long I’d taken to crawl out of his grasp, but it felt like hours. Now I just had to get out of there before he woke up.

I crept to the door and glanced back. He was a dark mass on the bed, impossibly large. The pale light through the windows picked out the edges of his shoulder and chest, and the gentle movement of his breath. I scratched the back of my neck. Why had he suddenly been so gentle with me?

But it didn’t matter, I was getting out of here. Away from him and his unwanted sexy pheromones and that…what had he said earlier? Soul-life bond? Sounded like some sort of spiritual hippy-dippy wedding situation. As if being kidnapped and assaulted wasn’t bad enough. What kind of psycho backwards species was this, where people could just grab you and force them into marriage? They might be bigger and more technologically advanced than us, but at least on Earth you had to say “I do”.

Not that I ever would; marriage would be almost as bad as being abducted. I didn’t even want to marry Mr. Right Human, let alone Mr. Alien Asshole. Nope, not for me, thanks. He could go find another human to abduct. I was sure there were plenty of weirdos out there who would jump at the chance to bang a seven-foot purple alien dude.

I mean, it wasn’t like he wasn’t hot, objectively, with his sculpted abs, wide shoulders, and smoldering amber eyes. And yeah, that big alpha male thing might have worked for me in the right circumstances. But that didn’t mean I wanted to be Mrs. Alien Asshole.

In the room where we had eaten earlier starlight filtered in through a wide window that took up one wall, throwing long shadows of strange shapes across the floor. The whole place looked like it had been sculpted from one solid block. It wouldn’t have been out of place in one of those high-end hotels in the mountains, where you needed to earn at least a million credits a year to even look at the brochure; everything was smooth, curved edges, precise and elegant, with low chairs and a circular mat in the middle. It felt entirely alien in every sense of the word.

I’d been unconscious when he first brought me in here, and I couldn’t see an obvious way out. I crept across the room, tip-toeing as I stepped over the circular mat and cushions neatly replaced by the servants. Everything was dark and silent, except the blood that rushed in my ears.

I scanned the walls with growing panic until I spotted something that could be the door. God knew what I’d find out there, but whatever it was couldn’t be worse than what was in here.

One section of the wall was set back just a fraction. On one side, a smooth, empty panel was set into it. There were no visible controls. I pressed a finger to the pad. Nothing happened. I pressed my whole hand to it—still nothing. Maybe I was being a complete idiot and it was a manual door that I just had to pull open, or turn a handle or something. But the door seemed to be completely smooth and sealed with nowhere to grip.

I set my fingers into the crease where it met with the wall and pushed.

“Open, you fucker,” I hissed.

The door slid open revealing a smooth, dimly-lit hallway, curved and pale. I paused, listening for any sign of movement. When I heard none, I slipped out.

***

THE SHIP WAS huge. Like, fucking HUGE. A maze of twists and turns, paths branching off in all directions, cavernous rooms so big I couldn’t see the ceiling. It had the same, eerie feeling of a shopping mall in the middle of the night—if the mall had been built by scary aliens.

As I crept along the halls, the chains on my outfit swayed and clinked softly against me, and my heart raced. I didn’t know how many aliens were on board, but right now it seemed mostly deserted. Maybe they were all in bed.

Now and then, I heard distant footsteps or voices, and I ducked out of view until they were gone. It was slow going, but I had no idea what kind of dangers lurked around every corner, and I had no weapons to defend myself.

In some places, the walls glowed with a soft, pulsating light, and every surface was smooth and carved with no obvious signs of manufacture. I’d never seen anything like it. It seemed weird that such a savage race could be so advanced. Part of me wanted to stop to examine it, but I had to find a ship and get out of there ASAP. Where was the flight deck? They had to have one. This was taking far too long, why the hell was their spaceship so fucking big?

I rounded a corner and froze. A huge alien was standing a short distance away with his back to me, and even from here, I could see the cords of muscle that stood out across his shoulders. I had to move and find somewhere to hide before he turned and saw me, but I was locked in place, too afraid of making a noise and drawing his attention.

He walked away from me with a stealth that didn’t seem possible for a creature with his bulk. That was why I hadn’t heard him—his footfalls were silent.

I watched, hardly daring to breathe as he moved towards a heavy door. Pausing there, he glanced to the side and the light caught his face. I took a sharp breath; he was part of the group that had boarded my ship.

The realization was enough to break me out of my shock, and I stepped backward. The alien must not have seen me, as he turned back and entered the room. I caught a glimpse of tall, curved columns of glass inside before the door slid shut behind him.

I spun in the other direction, not wanting to go past that room. That alien freaked me out even more than Arcay did. Something about him was off. I mean, apart from the fact that he was a huge, savage alien. And I didn’t like the idea of running into him face to face.

After what felt like hours, I found a set of wide glass doors that lead to some kind of biodome. There was no sign of movement inside amid the soft shadows of bushes and leaves, so I eased the door open and slipped inside. If there were plants, there would be water, and my throat was so dry by now it felt like I’d gargled with sand.

The foliage was densely packed, making it hard to see more than a few paces ahead, so I followed the sound of trickling water. In a small clearing, a circular pool fed into shallow channels that spread into the surrounding flora; some kind of irrigation system. I dropped to my knees next to it and almost dunked my head in before my brain kicked me.

That might not be water, idiot.

Oh yeah, right. I peered in, sniffed it, stuck a finger in, and touched it to my tongue. It seemed like water. I scooped a handful and sipped it tentatively. What was that saying? If it looks, sounds, and feels like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

I gulped it down. It seeped through my fingers and dribbled down my chin and chest. The water was cool and refreshing, and it didn’t seem like it was going to poison me, or turn me inside out or anything. Finally a win. It was a small one, but I’d take it. After the day I’d had I needed it. I took another gulp of water, feeling it soothe my dry throat, and grinned stupidly to myself. This was a sign that things were turning around.

A noise made me look up. On the other side of the pool, a huge black creature was lapping at the water. It looked like a hyena and a crocodile had a disgusting baby, all mouth and jutting teeth, and its long tongue slithered in and out of the water like a snake. I froze. Its mouth was huge. It looked like it could bite me in half without breaking a sweat.

Whatever the fuck it was, it didn’t look friendly, and I wasn’t about to test the theory. I edged backward, aiming for the cover of the plants. As I moved my leg, the fucking stupid, golden chains slipped over my thigh and pooled in my lap, tinkling cheerfully. The creature snapped its head up, small eyes locking onto me. I’d seen that look before, on my neighbor’s dog when I was ten, and I still had the scars on my ankle to prove it. I didn’t wait around to see if this monster was as big a bastard as Fido had been. I ran.

These stupid fucking chains. Why hadn’t I taken them off? I should have chucked them into the first trash chute I found.

The densely packed plants tripped me as I pushed my way though, the sound of the monster crashing around behind me. What was that I was saying about things turning around? Yeah, I take that back.

Through the leaves ahead, I caught a glimpse of the glass doors and channeled the last of my energy into making my legs move faster.

I was almost there when I was knocked off my feet and stabbing pain shot up my leg. I cried out and fell, landing heavily on my elbows and looked back. The creature’s hideous teeth sank into my leg and hot blood dripped down my bare ankle.

I shouted and kicked out with my other foot, and caught the thing with my heel between its beady eyes. It squealed like tortured metal, opening its maw a fraction, and then chomped down even harder, jerking its head back and forth, dragging me across the floor.

I threw my head back and screamed.