Page 10

Chapter Five

Unknown Location

Anti-Gravitational Cell

Time blurred. Wren slid in and out of consciousness.

She had vague memories of a sharklike man forcing her to drink water.

Still, when she skimmed the edges of wakefulness, thirst bombarded her.

Something seemed off, but she couldn’t put her finger on what, nor did she care enough to bother about it.

Sleep enticed her to linger, to sink into its blissful depths.

A full-body jerk forced her to open her eyes. Cold skin touched her bare arms then clutched her to a chest. She blinked at the face of a shark. A familiar odor assailed her, one she’d encountered too often on her splice shopping—piss. She grimaced. Had she soiled herself, and when?

He released her and stepped back, no doubt affected by her stench. Her skin was icky, too, as if she hadn’t showered in a while. She ran her swollen tongue over her teeth that probably had moss growing on them, they were that furry.

“What’s going on? Why have you taken me?” she demanded, but her voice was reed thin, raspy…from lack of use.

“Drink,” he ordered, shoving a liquid packet at her.

She obeyed, uncaring if it was poison. Her tongue had stuck to the roof of her mouth. Unwilling to take the time to figure out how to open the packet, she ripped it with her teeth and drained it.

“Eat,” he said, tossing a bar at her.

She needed answers, but she was starving. Four bites later, despite the plastic-and-bitter taste, she covered her mouth to burp. “Sorry,” she said. “Ate too fast.” Then scowled at her politeness. He’s my…abductor, for fuck’s sake.

“Good.” He inched toward the door.

“Wait,” she said, scrambling to her feet. Her gaze caught on the dissolving wrappers. One moment they were there, the next… Poof. “Um, where are you taking me? How…” She rubbed her face and winced. “How long have I been here?”

“We are descending. If you behave, I will not stun you.”

“Huh?” She frowned at him, unsure how bad a stun could be. Did he mean tase? “Listen here, Lizu, what the hell’s going on? I’m a human, and I have rights.”

He laughed, hissing and gurgling. “You are entertaining, little one. It is unfortunate that you will not survive what is to come.”

“What?” she squeaked, closing the distance between them.

He shuffled back, matching her movement. “You will be on Iphara. The kuliriji has not been successful so far, but as a Yithian, I do find you appealing. I hope he succeeds with you.” With his menacing black eyes, he ran his gaze over her body.

Her skin itched under his none-too-friendly perusal.

“So far, Earthians cannot survive our venom. But I am intrigued by your…kissss? Am I saying that correctly?” He shrugged.

“Lizu,” someone shouted. Behind him appeared another Yithian, a woman draped over his shoulder. “Do not tell her everything,” he snapped.

“She might live. I would like her to think of me favorably.” Lizu scooped up Wren and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of dirty laundry, her hands dangling past his ass.

And without taking her wants into consideration. She pummeled his back then gave up when all that it gained her were bruises.

“This isn’t endearing you to me,” she said, holding herself up with splayed fingers across his fishlike skin. She tried not to shudder.

What he’d said awaited her and the other women sounded like experimentation. No way was she staying complacent for that.

“Iphara? Where is that, Lizu?” she asked, keeping her tone light even as panic clawed up her throat.

“A small island near Mascroba.” He juggled her, slapping her stomach against his solid shoulder. Each time, pain lanced outward and snatched her breath.

“And that is?” she managed to ask.

“The Royal City of Yithia.”

“Fuck,” she whispered, her voice strangled. She was heading to another planet. Not Pluto, Mars, or any of the ones she knew of. A foreign, hostile Yithia was their destination. She shivered when chills raised the goose bumps across her skin.

Focus . She drew in a breath. Island meant having to steal a boat to escape.

But where was safe? How could she survive when the plant and animal life were unknown?

Some planets had acid instead of water. Yithia could be one of those.

Which left getting off-world her only choice.

She’d need a ship. And a pilot, but the one ally she had was her abductor.

“Lizu, why me?” she asked, then frowned. “Wait, how long have I been with you?”

“Fourteen days,” he said.

She swallowed her tongue. Two weeks? Her family would believe she was missing.

All would know she’d been hitting the splice, and worse, the chance of a rescue was in the negatives.

She doubted anyone had seen her get taken.

But she refused to give up hope. There had to be opportunities, and when they arose, she’d grab them.

Staying friendly with her would-be suitor had to do, for now.

“Lizu,” she whispered, peeking at the other Yithians. Their hostages were limp. Shit . No help from that quarter. And she wasn’t sure she could save them either when her future was as bleak. “Will you let them hurt me?”

“If it makes you compatible with me, then yes.”

She growled. Strike one, asshole.

“I do hope the formula works on you, Wren. I find your hair unusual.”

Just her hair? She seethed, curling her fingers into fists. “Formula?” Oh, yes, an anti-venom to survive the cytotoxins in his saliva. “Like a vaccination or a chemical to trigger a drastic transformation?” Superhero powers right about now wouldn’t go to waste.

“I do not know.” He whipped her off his shoulder and shoved her against a bulkhead.

The shuttle’s compartment was tiny, made crushing by the six Yithians crowding the space.

The women were dumped on the metal floor though the Yithians had been gentler than she’d expected.

With what she knew about this species, they were anything but considerate.

They must not have wanted to damage the test subjects.

“Sedate her,” a shark hissed, glaring at her through one scarred eye.

Lizu stiffened and faced the man. “The kuliriji said nothing about keeping them asleep.”

One Eye smirked, adding a diabolical twist to his features, especially when venom dripped onto his sleeveless shirt. “He did say—”

“On the journey, which I did.” Lizu stood firm.

“We will let him decide. I will not stop him when he kills you.” One Eye settled in the cockpit and slapped a button.

The door shut, trapping her. Staying in her old cell or stealing their ship wasn’t an option. Not anymore. Besides, she didn’t know how many were on the crew. Though, taking it would have been ideal. Commandeer their ship and fly home.

Sounded easy.

She scoffed then lowered her head when a few sharks glanced at her. Now, if she could ‘seduce’ Lizu without dying from his spit, maybe he could be the pilot. Right, seduce a venomed alien who might not know how to fly anything, even this stupid shuttle?

She rubbed her nose to hide where she looked.

His blocklike gun was within reach. Pickpocketing that without his notice would be damn hard, not to mention that it would focus all their attention onto her.

No. She needed a knife—dagger, paring, butter—she didn’t care.

Yet none had such a weapon holstered to their belts.

In their boots?

She faked a sneeze, bending over to do so.

There . Something glinted in Lizu’s chunky boot.

She smothered a smile. For all she knew, it was a buckle.

No need to get too excited just yet. Rubbing a heel across her ankle brought the ring on the ankle harness to the forefront.

It was all she could do without being too obvious.

She squared her shoulders then touched Lizu’s arm. When he focused on her, she leaned in. “May I fix my boot?” She pointed down and waited, praying he didn’t do it for her. He’d find out for sure she was lying. She clenched her jaw and kept her body lax.

“Yes.”

With a slow exhale, she crouched and fiddled with the metal ring, her gaze on the glint in his boot. It was a knife. She chewed on her lip. He’d feel it if she tried to inch it free.

Think.

She made to rise. Faking a cry, she ‘fell’ forward, catching herself on his impressive calves. It took a second to wrap her fingers around the hilt. But to slide it ou—

He hoisted her up and pushed her against the bulkhead. “We are about to land.”

“Oh,” she said. “Thank you.”

With the dagger between her forearm and thigh, she tried to tuck it out of sight. Where to stick it was the next dilemma. In her boot made sense, but when and how? Soon, he’d carry her over his shoulder again.

Had he said land? She ducked, slipped the dagger into her boot, then danced from side to side as if she wanted to ‘see’ through the windshield. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears while she ‘misbehaved’ like a child. She chanced a glance when he remained silent.

He scowled at her. “What are you doing?”

“What color is your sky? The land? Oceans? Let me see,” she whined.

“It is good that you are curious.” He grabbed her by her waist and lifted her, holding her like an offering to some nameless god.

But it gave her an unhindered view of his homeworld. She gaped at the pale-yellow sky with three suns. The ground was gray to black and the oceans an exquisite aquamarine to emerald green.

“It’s pretty,” she said, her voice breathless. She eyed the tiny island they were careening toward. Shit . She was running out of time.

“Our archive dwellers state that this world was once cold beneath layers of snow and ice. That Calzantu took pity on us and sent another sun. Since then, our lands dried up and our oceans shrank. The heat is unbearable, as would the loss of our cities be.”

“The eventual death of our world is millions of years away,” another Yithian said. “For now, our people are safe in our oceans.”

“True, Diexa,” Lizu said.