Chapter 28
Ontarii couldn’t take his eyes off his mate. He realized that things were happening outside of his cell, but they didn’t seem to matter. Jennifer had moved to the side of her cage and was looking out, watching whatever was going on, but Ontarii kept a watch over her, refusing to let her out of his sight.
A Zantharian male in the mating frenzy was incapable of focusing on much other than his mate. When in a high stakes situation like the one they were currently struggling under, the urge to protect one’s mate became paramount, until it was the only thought that existed in his brain.Protect Jennifer. Keep her safe.
Unfortunately, that was much easier thought than done. Being kept in a Hareema cage made things difficult, and their chosen punishment for him, to die of the frenzy while being mere feet from his mate, was ironic and effective. They couldn’t have chosen a better one if they tried.
Jennifer rose to her feet in the cell above him. He remembered from his walk into the chamber that it was full of cages, some stacked on others, each full of an alien life form. He was familiar with the races of some of his fellow prisoners, but not all. Still, the menagerie held no interest for him. His whole world was in the cell above his head.
He respected her desire to escape, her push to fight against the odds, but he knew better. His enemy had bested him. And it was only a matter of time before he expired from the frenzy, leaving Jennifer alone to face their wrath.
“Ontarii,” Jennifer said from above him. “Someone’s coming.”
He nodded. Likely they were.
Maybe they were passing out food and water. They’d have to find some means of keeping their prisoners alive. Drake, for instance, the Minister of Defense, had been missing for weeks and was still alive, if not well, in a cell somewhere in the maze. What did it matter, though? Eating would only prolong the inevitable. He was doomed no matter what.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” his mate said. “Look, Ontarii!”
Doesn’t she understand that nothing else matters but her?
Still, he took his gaze off of her for a moment to see what had her so excited. His eyes widened when he took in the show beyond the bars of his cage. They were delivery suppliers, their Hareema captors, but they weren’t in their original gelatinous forms. Instead, they resembled Zantharian dragonflies in a way. Each had a set of large, translucent wings that fluttered so fast they were a blur. The bodies were a hybrid of humanoid and insect. The creature had six legs, two that could support it while it walked around, while the other four served as arms.
They were much larger than Zantharian dragonflies, and much more evolved, but as they flitted around the chamber he remembered a game he and his friends had played when they were younger. They would lure dragonflies into glass jars and keep them there, watching them as they flew about, hitting the side of the glass over and over.
Now he was trapped, and the dragonflies were the ones on the outside watching him during his slow demise.
He watched carefully as one flew close to him. It shoved a sac of something into his cell, dropping it to the floor, before it flew upward to Jennifer’s cell. It tossed a sac to her as well and if she hadn’t caught it, it likely would have tumbled through the bars and fallen down into his cell.
Ontarii kicked at the sac on his cage floor. It was full of something that was between liquid and solid, shaking slightly as he pushed against it. There was a short stub sticking out of the top of the sac, likely a straw.
So this is what the Hareema serve their prisoners.
“Should we try it?” Jennifer asked from above. “I’m starving. It won’t hurt us, will it?”
Ontarii scanned the chamber. In the other cages, the inhabitants were sucking at the sacs, clearly unconcerned. It was likely the substance was harmless, that it was just a sac of nutrients. Still…
“Wait,” he ordered, pulling the sac close and sniffing at its contents through the straw. It didn’t have much of an odor. If anything, it smelled faintly of fish. Putting his lips around the straw he took a draw.
The substance filled his mouth and he was amazed at how benign it tasted. Again, he was reminded of fish. It was like a stew his grandmother used to make from the finfish. He took another drink, starting to enjoy the flavor.
He experienced no ill effects from the drink. He squeezed the sac, forcing more of the contents into his mouth and then his belly.
“Well?” Jennifer asked impatiently. “Is it safe? I’m fricking starving up here!”
Ontarii swallowed the rest of the contents of the sac and licked his lips. “It’s safe, and it’s actually pretty good.”
Jennifer cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at him and put her lips on the straw. He watched as she drew some of the substance in. The look on her face made him want to laugh.
“It’s horrible!” she said.
He could tell she wanted to spit the stuff out but couldn’t find anywhere to do it where it wouldn’t drip down into his own cell. “How can you drink this?”
“I liked it,” he said.
“Then you can have it.” She went down on her knees again holding the sac through the bars. “I’ll drop it down to you.”
Ontarii shook his head. “You need that to keep your strength up. Come on, you can choke it down.”
