After months of air conditioning twenty-four seven, I’d lost all tolerance for the heat and I had sweated through my clothes just minutes after they’d dragged me outside.This close to Tovis, his body heat was radiating off him like a fire, and I felt like I was trapped in an oven, but I wasn’t willing to put any space between us.
Not when we were surrounded by blue, kidnapping assholes and there was a monster on the loose.I shuddered as I remembered the size and ghoulish, bony face of the creature that had run off.
It had to be the percer thing that had chased Tovis into my spa the day we met.It had to be, I refused to believe there was more than one kind of alien monster lose on Earth.
I sniffed, too dehydrated and tired to cry anymore, even though my eyes kept watering at random moments, like my body knew it had every reason to cry but didn’t have the energy to keep it up.
Tovis looked dead.He hadn’t moved at all since he’d taken a baton to the head, and there was a trail of blood from where they’d rolled him.His face was swollen, nose clearly broken, and dried blood covered his front.He was so still, I kept my eyes fixed on his chest, counting his slow, even breaths to reassure myself he hadn’t actually died right next to me.
How much power did those batons actually have?I didn’t know much about electricity or cattle prods, but I knew even tasers didn’t usually knock people out for very long.It had been almost twenty minutes since Tovis collapsed.What happened if someone got tasered to the skull?
Was his brain fried?Or had he gotten a concussion when he hit the ground and the baton just finished the job?Neither option sounded good.
I rested my cuffed hands on his thigh and laid my throbbing head on my wrists, trying to block everything out and rest while I could.
“Jessa.”
I flinched awake at the sound of my name, and whipped my head up to see Tovis’ yellow eyes fixed on my face.
I sucked in a relieved breath.“You’re okay!”
The sun had set, I must have dozed off for longer than I thought, and the brutal heat of the day had faded just enough I didn’t feel like I was going to die right this second.Tovis was still laying on his side, his hands still cuffed behind him, but he looked alert and I swore his face wasn’t even swollen anymore.
His nose still looked broken though, there was no way he’d healed up that fast.I looked around, blinking hard as I realized a miniature camp had been assembled around us.The only light came from a strange, squat cylinder a few feet away from us, all the sytos were clustered around it, talking in hushed voices.All around us were short poles, about two feet tall, set up every few feet, with a glowing white light at the top, a low vibrating hum filled the air and I had a feeling I was looking at some sort of security measure, though I didn’t know if it was to keep us in, or keep other things out.
Based on the wary look our captors were shooting at the darkness, I guessed it was to keep percers out.
“I’m well,” Tovis murmured, drawing my attention back to the alien I’d turned into a pillow.“Are you hurt?”
I leaned down and rubbed my hands over my sleep bleary eyes.The movement dragged my loose hair over his legs and he twitched like I’d tickled him.I froze when I realized I was cuddled up to his naked, muscly thighs, and my hair was literally tangling in his loincloth.
Whoops.
I jerked my head back, hoping the low light hid my blush, and the direction my eyes had gone.
“I’m fine,” I said, wincing at how rough my voice was.I’d been baking in the sun for hours, screamed and cried for most of them and hadn’t had a sip of water since this morning.I sounded like a pack a day smoker.
Clearing my throat, I shook my head.Tovis was awake, and even though we were both still cuffed to a stake like feral dogs, I felt so much better not being alone.
“They didn’t hurt me,” I snorted out a painful laugh.“I mean, they shocked me and cuffed me, and dragged me out here, but they didn’t beat me or, you know, do other things.”
Other thingshadn’t even occurred to me until just this moment a cold spike of fear shot down my spine at the realization of just how helpless I was if the thought occurred to them, too.
Tovis’ nostrils flared angrily when I said ‘shocked me’ but he wiped the expression off his face and shook his head comfortingly.
“Sytos are not good, they’re cruel, and apathetic at best.They see other species as resources or slaves only, but these males are little more than drones doing their Kwin’s bidding.They won’t touch you like that, they don’t have the interest, or the permission.”
His words were equally reassuring and horrifying.
No rape, yay.Cruel, apathetic slavers, not yay.Not yay at all.
“What do they even want me for then?”I whispered, darting a glance at the huddled sytos.A few looked our way curiously, but no one said anything or approached us, so I figured even the ‘slaves’ were allowed to chat.
A muscle twitched on his broad jaw.
“All the sytos on Earth crashed here when their cruiser died.They usually capture slaves and sell them, but they can’t leave the planet, they’re trapped here.My guess is that they don’t have a use for you, but they’re taking you to their Kwin as a gift.”
“What’s a Kwin, and why does it want human gifts?”I hissed, swallowing down the hysterical urge to shout my questions.
