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CHAPTER THREE

-Clay-

LET ME JUST say, I’m not small; at over 6ft I’m usually the tallest in the room. I’m the kind of tall that gets looks and smart remarks, like ‘how’s the weather up there?’.

Ha ha, good one, never heard that before.

But the…thing that filled the doorway would’ve stood head and shoulders above me. It was humanoid, over seven feet high, and stacked wide with solid muscle. It was so ripped, its muscles had muscles. It had dark bluish gray skin streaked with black, pointed ears, and coils of black hair that fell to its waist. It ducked and had to turn sideways to get its ridiculously wide shoulders through the door, and it was still a tight fit. Then it stepped onto the deck, the floor protesting at its weight. It straightened and the top of its head brushed the ceiling.

The metal pole dropped from my hand with a clatter.

Nobody dared move as the alien scanned the room with piercing yellow eyes. My stomach fell further as three more stepped in behind it, each as ripped and intimidating as the first.

Fuck. We were fucked. We were so very fucked.

My eyes settled on the last alien. They all appeared to be male, and he was even taller than the others, but his tightly packed muscles were more streamlined, less bulgy, making him look straight-backed and regal, with dusky purple skin and pointed ears. From his wide shoulders, his torso tapered down into a slim waist that would make an Olympic swimmer envious. Flecks of luminous gold littered his skin and streaked his mane of pale hair, glinting in the harsh emergency lights. His amber eyes shone as they surveyed the flight deck, taking in the smashed equipment and cowering crew members with an air of distaste; a haughty prince scrutinizing street beggars. The hairs on my arms stood on end, and I shrank back into my chair. For some reason I didn’t want to catch his attention. There was something about him that was utterly terrifying.

And also kinda hot.

The thought popped into my head from nowhere. I definitely had a concussion.

The aliens had no visible weapons, but I was one thousand percent sure they wouldn’t need any. These guys were packing, and they radiated dominance and power in a way that jumped straight to my hind-brain and made me want to cower like a kicked dog.

Caldwell glanced at me, and carefully hid his metal pole behind his back.

The first alien, who stood at the front of the group, scanned the room until his eyes landed on the male security officer where he was cowering at the back of the room. The officer shrank back from the alien's harsh gaze and almost squeaked when he strode over, stopping directly in front of him.

The creature spoke in a deep voice. “Why are you here?”

The officer, pasty-faced and shaking, seemed like he was about to wet himself. He looked around the deck desperately and then up at the alien towering over him.

“Me? I…uh…I.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I just… needed some money to pay off my debts…and my uncle knows the recruiting officer so…” The alien frowned down at him as he desperately tripped over his words, sweat visible across his face. “So, he-he-he got me the job and—”

Captain Turner stood up and raised his hands, putting the officer out of his misery.

“We are here on a peaceful mission, on behalf of the ISE, to investigate and gather—”

The creature snapped his head towards the captain, making him flinch slightly, and spoke over him. “Who are you?”

The captain cleared his throat. “I am Captain Turner, I’m the one in charge.”

The alien frowned and looked between the two men, sizing them both up.

“You are in charge?” He asked Captain Turner, clearly confused. “You are much smaller than this one. Why isn’t this one in charge?” The alien indicated the security officer.

The captain, totally thrown off, struggled to find words for a moment. “I rank higher than him.”

The alien wasn’t satisfied with that. “But he is bigger and stronger than you.”

Turner swallowed. “We don’t rank people by size or strength, we go by experience. I am more experienced.” To his credit, his voice barely shook.

This seemed to satisfy the alien. “I see, you are older and wiser than this human so you command him.”

Captain Turner gave a small nervous laugh. “I’d like to think so.”

The creature nodded at this and, casting a final critical glare at the officer, who was on the verge of passing out from fear, turned and approached Captain Turner instead.

The captain’s tenuous smile faded as the alien stepped closer to him, and he was forced to crane his head back to keep eye contact. The captain was dwarfed by him, his head only level with the middle of the alien’s chest.

“I will give you one opportunity to explain yourself,” the alien said.

Turner cleared his throat again. “As I was, uh, saying, we are a scientific exploration party. We were investigating an anomaly when something went wrong, causing us to lose control of the ship. I apologize for invading your territory, but we simply had no control and meant no harm or offense…”

While he spoke, my attention was drawn back to the other aliens where they still stood by the door. Two of them watched the exchange with bored expressions, and the last one, the taller one with the golden flecks on his skin, looked around the room like he was searching for something. He scanned the crew with a look of mild confusion on his face. Before I could look away, his eyes passed over me and drifted off, then snapped back again a moment later, his amber gaze boring into mine. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared like he smelt something foul. I looked away quickly, lowering my head, but I could still feel his focus on me like a weight pressing down on my shoulders.

I focused back on the alien leader in the middle of the bridge. He had his head tipped to the side like he was thinking.

“It would be quite illogical to attack us with such a tiny ship and such a small number of undernourished warriors,” he said. “I believe you are speaking the truth.”

The captain deflated with relief.

I glanced back at the tall alien. He was still staring at me like I had personally offended him. My stomach tightened, head pounding. Something stung my eye and I wiped it with the back of my hand. When I pulled it away it was smeared with blood, and my stomach clenched even more at the sight of it.

“Are you ok?” Caldwell whispered.

“Yeah.” I wiped my shaking hand on my trousers, smearing the blood down my leg, and breathed deeply. The last thing I wanted to do was throw up in front of these alien muscle bros.

“Why is the tall one staring at you?” Caldwell hissed.

I grimaced at him. “You noticed that? I thought I was being paranoid.”

“No, man, he’s really glaring at you. Why’s he doing that?”

“How should I know?”

Caldwell stiffened. “Oh shit, he’s coming over.”

“What?”

I looked up to see the tall alien striding towards me, his face intent, nostrils flaring. Had I done something to offend him without realizing it? He looked like he wanted to kill me.

I fell out of my chair. The female security officer saw what was happening, and stepped into his path with her hand on the phaser tucked into her belt. The alien stopped and looked down at her with a critical eye.

“Hesha ,” he said. His voice was deep and smooth. It sent a chill through my body.

The officer didn’t say anything, her shoulders were tense and her hands trembled, but she planted her feet and stood her ground while I scrambled behind my chair. There she was, half my height and twice as brave.

The alien looked over the officer’s head at me, fixed me with his death stare again, gave a deep growl, and then turned to his leader.

“ Jursin, meni ere tara-arwe .”

The leader wrinkled his brow, confused by the tall alien’s words, and then took a deep inhale through his nose, like he was smelling for something. He turned, following his nose, and his eyes fell on me.

“Meni cene,” he said.

My head swam. What was happening? Had I offended them somehow? Had he really just smelled me from across the room? I cautiously sniffed at my flight suit, but couldn’t smell anything apart from blood and musty sweat, which wasn’t that potent or, to be honest, that unusual. The sweat, not the blood. And definitely not enough to offend anyone. Was poor hygiene a capital offense?

The captain sensed something was wrong. “Clay is our pilot. If you have any problem—”

To my relief, the leader turned his piercing gaze away from me and addressed the captain again, holding up his hand.

“I have come to a decision,” he said in Panlin with an undeniable finality. “We will escort you back where you came from and leave you there. You may stay there for as long as it takes you to fix your ship, or to be rescued. You will not re-enter our territory or return to the dark hole. We will not attack you as long as you abide by this, and do not venture near our border again.”

The captain let out a deep breath of relief and nodded. It looked like we were going to be ok after all. I relaxed slightly, although the piercing amber gaze of the tall alien still made my skin prickle. The leader went on in the same deep, emotionless voice.

“We will tow you back and leave you there immediately. And we will keep this ‘ Clay’ .”

It took me a moment to register the words. I recognized my name, but it didn’t make sense in the context.

“I’m sorry, what?” The captain frowned, just as confused as me.

The alien pointed at me. “We will keep this Clay human.”

The captain opened and closed his mouth a few times before replying. “Keep him?”

Suddenly, everyone was looking at me. Cold panic bubbled up my throat as I realized what he meant.

They wanted to take me.