She scowled. “Hey! Put me down!”
He shook his head.
She gaped.
“You utter, disbelieving ass!” She was midway through every curse she could think of when he stopped in front of a wall and swiped his hand over a recessed panel.
The only reason Aletta saw all that was the way he was holding her—how strong was this guy? She wasn’t a small woman—had her face barely above the panel.
Lights flashed, and then the wall slid open with a happy little chime that had Aletta grinding her teeth. No, a door. She was unceremoniously put back on her feet, and a big, warm hand between her shoulder blades gently nudged her into the room.
She staggered slightly on tired legs, then spun to face her rescuer-captor, but the door slid shut, blocking him from sight. The last she saw of him was a grim scowl as the muted metallic chime of the door closing sounded.
She raced to the door and tried swiping her hand over the recessed panel on this side of the wall. But nothing happened. She stepped forward, then away, hoping some kind of sensor would trigger the door.
Nope.
With a frustrated shout, she resorted to banging on it with her fists. “Hey! Let me out!”
When nobody came and the door didn’t open, she slid to the floor in a heap.
I will not cry.
God, she was exhausted. It felt like days since she’d last seen Dylan when it couldn’t have been more than a few hours. What was it they always said about abductions? Don’t get moved to a secondary location or something. She shook her head. Either way, aliens had abducted Dylan—she choked on a hysterical sob—and now Aletta was on an alien spaceship after being chased by one lot of aliens who wanted to eat her, then rescued by another lot who wanted… What exactly did the big scowly guy with purple eyes want with her?
Was she a fool for thinking he’d rescued her? Had she been abducted, too?
She frowned, thinking of the way their leader had argued with the others and how reluctant he seemed to be to take her with them. Had he wanted to leave her to die? Because that’s what would have happened.
These guys were dressed the same and looked the same as the ones who’d taken Dylan. She had to be on this ship. Aletta’s lips lifted in a fleeting smile. She had to get out of this room and find her sister.
But her body betrayed her, the adrenaline that had flooded her body fading to a bone-deep exhaustion, and she slid to the floor in a heap.
She’d just close her eyes for a minute while she came up with a plan.
The wail of an alarm woke her with a jerk. Her neck jarred, sending a hot pain into her skull. Aletta groaned as she sat up, rolling her head from side to side to ease the stiff feeling from sleeping on the floor. She blinked against the orange lights flashing in the room. Something was wrong.
How long had she been here? She hadn’t meant to fall asleep.
Dylan!
She had to get out of this room and find her sister. She would be somewhere on this ship, she just knew it.
Aletta tried the door again, but it still wouldn’t open. Turning her back on the locked door, she scanned the room, taking in everything she had missed in her exhausted state.
It wasn’t big, with only enough room for a bed, a small table attached to the wall, and a folding chair hanging up out of the way, which she assumed was to save space. If she took three paces, she’d be at the bed that took up the entire length of the wall opposite the door. The table and chair were to her left, and another doorway was to her right.
Another door! How had she missed that?
She dashed toward it, waving her hand over the recessed panel, which, this time, opened. Her relief was short-lived, though, when the smallest bathroom she’d ever seen—and that was saying something as she and Dylan had lived in some hovels—was revealed.
The whole space looked like a wet area. A toilet bowl swung out from the wall as she stepped into the tiny room. The urge to pee suddenly hit her, and Aletta made quick use of the facilities, relieved to see the toilet flush automatically and then swivel backinto the wall. A hum sounded and, on a whim, she waved her hand over another panel near where the toilet had hidden itself. It swung out, clean and sparkling.
Oh. Self-cleaning toilets were certainly something she could get on board with.
A small sink, with a small, mirrored cabinet built into a wall, frightened her when she caught her reflection.
I look like shit.
