Sabine is much happier to conform, and to obey, and to believe the leaders know what they're doing. I've always asked too many questions.
"The last time I saw her, she was alive and well," he says.
I don't know how good the translation is because it sounds as though it's smoothing out what he's saying. And from the way he looks at me, I suspect there is something he's not telling me. I lower my voice and step up to the bars. "What happened in the attack? Keep your sentences short." I touch my ear to indicate the translator device might be struggling with more detailed responses.
His lips curve. They are full and look very soft. Kissable. I push away the thought, not wanting to examine where it came from.
"A screamer attacked your people," he says, as though that explains everything.
I frown. "What is a screamer?"
"A flightless cloud-seeker." He stands and holds his hand over his head as if to indicate the size of whatever a cloud-seeker is…oh that is the translation of the name his people have given the bat-ostrich creature. "Your people had taken its egg."
I take a moment to process the information. The people who survived the attack said that the creature screamed. But some thought the animals were herded by the aliens. Then the aliens disappeared from the story because, of course, they don't exist. So it was all blamed on an animal attack, even though four bodies were never recovered.
Four missing women. Including Sabine.
"And then what happened?" I press.
"My brothers and I rescued those that we could."
Rescued. Or is that a mistranslation? I tilt my head and study him. "You did not return them to the colony."
He watches me with those big eyes, then steps up to the bars. I have to tilt my chin to hold his gaze. I should step back so I am out of reach. I'm pretty sure that if he held out one of his arms, I could walk beneath it without banging my head. He's so much bigger than a human man. I swallow. If I show fear, I won't be able to recover from that.
Am I afraid of him?
I don’t think so. He seems calm and reasonable and willing to help. He doesn’t seem like a threat, even though the soldiers and leaders are convinced that he, and his kind, are.
"We did not. In our tribes, taking a woman is acceptable."
I snort and shake my head. "And does the woman have no say in this?"
"The women know the rules. They are taken back to the tribe, and when they are ready, they may choose a mate."
They may choose.The words echo in my head. It could be a lie. A miscommunication.
"You do not steal women to take a mate for yourself?"
He pulls a face as though I have suggested something repulsive. "It is the women who get to choose."
The opposite of what the colony has done, where no one has any choice.
"So your brothers have Sabine?" I need to be clear on that.
"They do…" he hesitates as though there is more to tell me, but he isn't sure if he should. I cross my arms and wait. For a few heartbeats he is silent, before giving a single nod. "They have Sabine, Bridget, Ruby, and Mia. They were allowed to keep them in exchange for me returning with your soldiers."
I step up to the bars, my fingers curling around the metal. "What do you mean?" Fury burns in my chest and spills through my arteries. "Who let them keep my sister?"
"The soldiers who attacked us."
The soldiers who attacked. His words echo in my head. Well, not his words exactly, but the translation of them. The soldiers who delivered me here. The ones who brought the alien man back to the colony. They traded my sister, and three others, for one alien. "Why would they do that?"
"I do not know. But your sister is safe she is…very attached to Edilk."
"Very attached how?" One eyebrow arches.
His gaze rakes over my body before settling on my face. "She has chosen him to be her mate."
