My Wild Pet (Whispers from the Imperial Cage #2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Briar

“Just breathe,” I keep telling myself, because quitting isn’t an option. I need to hurt.

I can still hear my ex. boyfriend’s words like a broken record, ‘You never let me in.’

If he only knew how many times I wanted to let him in, but couldn’t.

So here I am—alone on this mountain.

The trail is a lot steeper than I thought it would be, but I welcome the pain.

A breeze sweeps through the pines, and for a second, I forget about how much my body hurts and revel in the nature that surrounds me. No phone buzzing, no social media, no emails, no ex-boyfriend telling me I’m too emotionally distant. I’m just one human alone on Earth.

I manage to reach a small ledge halfway up the trail. I drop my backpack and rest.

Everything is so quiet .

If I close my eyes, I can almost pretend I’ve escaped all my problems.

Almost.

After a minute of rest, I put my backpack on and force myself to push through the rest of the trail.

All my leg muscles scream in protest. And just when I think I might keel over and die, a couple of adorable squirrels bolt out of nowhere, making me jump. I watch, panting, while they chase each other around a fallen log. Even squirrels have companions , I think jealously.

Eventually, I make it to the summit. The view from up here is stunning. An endless stretch of green trees and a huge expanse of sky that looks way too blue to be real.

“Wow,” I breathe, dropping my backpack on a flat rock. Then I take out my little notebook and start scribbling notes like I always do, just some sketches and random thoughts. Half the pages are filled with things I’ve never shown to anyone, private moments I keep promising myself I’ll share… someday…with someone.

Just as I’m finishing a quick doodle of the playful squirrels, I hear a low buzzing noise. It’s faint at first, like a piece of machinery running in the distance.

Right away, my gut tells me something’s off. I look around, trying to figure out where it’s coming from. But it feels like it’s coming from all around me, and it’s only getting louder.

The birds suddenly burst from the treetops, flapping away in panic as the sound intensifies.

If they’re scared, I should be terrified.

I turn around to get my backpack and notice there’s a strange shimmer in the air above me, like waves of heat rising off pavement. To my horror, I realize whatever is making the noise is also blocking out the sun. My shadow has disappeared because I’m in a much larger shadow.

The mechanical noise is deafening now, making all the rocks around me vibrate.

Not wanting to see what happens next, I grab my backpack and bolt back the way I came. My boots pounding the ground as I run blindly down the trail. I look back, half expecting to see some giant drone, but there’s nothing, just that thunderous mechanical vibration.

Then I freeze dead in my tracks. Not because I choose to, but because my whole body locks up. I can’t move. A blinding white light surrounds me.

I try to scream, but I can’t make a sound. Then I feel myself being lifted off the ground.

Below me, I spot my notebook and backpack lying in the dirt. My last thought as I’m lifted far above the ground is, No one will ever know what happened to me.

My own teeth chattering wakes me up with a start. I’m completely naked. My whole body is quaking from the freezing cold. I try to sit up, but I can’t. My wrists and ankles are strapped down to a metal slab underneath me that feels like an ice block.

I crane my neck around, but all I see are weirdly shifting shadows and strange pulsing orange lights. There’s no door, no window, and no exit. There are just glowing patterns everywhere.

I breathe in and notice the air reeks like old fish and ocean water.

I close my eyes, silently hoping, This is a dream.

A nightmare.

But it doesn’t feel like a dream when a piercing sound I’ve never heard before breaks the monotony of silence in the room.

I open my eyes to see part of the wall literally melt away in front of me.

Figures emerge—creatures? Aliens? Their skin gleams like liquid metal under the orange glow, and they move in false-starts, like an amateur stop-motion film, and it’s unnerving to watch them.

If I’m screaming, I don’t even register that I am because I’ve never been so terrified in my whole life.

One of the creatures makes an awful clicking sound that sends goosebumps rippling over my skin.

A slick, clammy tentacle slithers around my neck. My stomach lurches. I vomit in my mouth.

A futuristic gadget scans me from head to toe with a bright-blue beam. More clicking. More frantic tentacles touching me everywhere.

I realize with dread, I’m a lab rat on their examination table, which is exactly the kind of “first contact” scenario I never wanted to experience.

Some feeling comes back to my throat and lips, probably thanks to all the stomach acid in my vomit and I manage a weak whisper. “Please… don’t….”

But the creatures don’t even pause to look at me. The clicking just gets louder and the tentacles begin to move more frantically over my body.

That’s when I see the surgical tools—silver, shiny, and definitely sharp—gleaming under the pulsing orange lights. Then like lightning, a brilliant flash hits me full-on. My muscles seize, and suddenly I’m sinking into unconsciousness. I catch one last glimpse of those instruments hovering above me, and my brain screams a silent prayer: Wake up, wake up. Wake up from this nightmare!

But then darkness swallows me whole.

I wake with a start. I’m no longer shivering, but my skin is coated in a thick, slimy, foul-smelling oil. I want to break free, but my wrists and ankles are still tied down.

The air around me is overwhelming my nostrils with a chemical tang I can’t place and I gag.

Before I can fully process what’s happening, something moves in my periphery vision.

And then it comes into focus.

Another creature is looming behind me, its black tentacles gleam under the dim lighting. It’s gripping the edges of the table I’m on and is pushing me down a dark hallway.

I feel like I’ve stepped into a sci-fi horror movie I never wanted to watch, let alone be the star of.

After a few minutes, we reach two transparent glowing orange walls, and I see other humans. A dozen, maybe fewer, huddled together. Relief washes over me.

I’m not alone.

But the relief is quickly replaced by panic. None of the humans make eye contact with me. Their heads hang low, as if every ounce of hope has been wrung out of them.

What is this place?

The alien’s tentacles twitch as it examines the two cages. Its large eyes scanning each one as though deciding where I belong.

I watch its movements.

My mind screams, Put me in with the women! I can see them in the cage closest to me—all blonde and all hauntingly similar, as if they could be sisters.

I try to point, to gesture, to do anything to make myself understood, but it’s no good.

Finally after a long minute, the alien has decided where I belong and shifts its attention to a cage holding three men. It raises a device—a weapon? And shows it to the men.

Without hesitation, they shuffle back against the wall.

I want to protest, but something is keeping me from making a sound.

The alien clicks a series of noises, and the orange forcefield surrounding the cage dissolves with a faint sizzle.

Before I can prepare to be touched again, the alien’s tentacles wrap around me, their slimy texture sending a shock of revulsion through my body.

I gag again.

Then I’m lifted like I weigh nothing and dumped into the men’s cell with a thud.

I instinctively try to get up and run, but it’s useless. The forcefield has already snapped back into place, sealing me in with the three naked men.

The men stare at me, their expressions a mix of surprise and something more sinister lurking beneath the surface.

I press myself into the nearest corner.

This isn’t just a sci-fi movie anymore.

This might be a hardcore porn.

I don’t know why I’m here and why I’m not with the women. All of those women are blonde, like me, but not exactly like me. While their hair is pristine, mine is streaked with pink and purple highlights. Who knew aliens were such fashionistas?

I watch the alien leave and then I turn back to face the men in the cell. I instinctively cover my breasts with one hand and my vulva with the other.

A low, mechanical voice echoes through our cage. It’s the clicking alien language. It means nothing to me and if it means something to my cellmates, they don’t acknowledge it.

A big man with broad shoulders and a mass of dark hair stands closest to me. His gaze locks onto mine and a twisted grin spreads across his face. “Well, look what we have here, boys.”

“You’ve just stepped into the Devil’s den, honey” the smaller man says as if he’s been waiting years to say that.

“She’s probably a trap,” the wiry man mutters from the corner.

The big man turns to the wiry one, raising an eyebrow. “You mean she’s booby -trapped?” he asks, his tone dripping with mockery.

“I’m just saying I wouldn’t touch her,” the wiry man replies. “You can’t even be sure she’s human. It doesn’t make sense they’d put her in here with us and not with the other women.”

The big man looks back at me, his brow furrowing as if the thought had never crossed his mind. His confusion doesn’t last long. He steps closer, his massive frame looming over me, and reaches out to touch my arm. His hand is rough and calloused. His sharp brown eyes never leave mine.

I yank my arm away, forcing myself to hold his gaze. My voice is steady, even though I’m scared of what is going to happen to me in this cell. “Do any of you know where we are?”

He doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he turns back to the others, shrugging as if I’m some puzzle he’s just solved. “She seems human enough. She’s still covered in that oily shit they put on all of us when we arrived.”

The shorter man comes closer and grabs at me.

“Get off. Who gave you the right to touch me?”

“Definitely human,” the short man says with a laugh. “She’s got that whole ‘rights’ thing down. Only a human woman would think she has rights here.” He gestures around the cage, his grin widening. “Do you see any cops, sweetheart? Any judges?”

The big man chuckles. He takes a step closer and runs a hand through my hair before I can move away. “Maybe the aliens think she’s defective because of her pink hair.”

I slap his hand away. My eyes dart back to the other cage. The women inside are watching me with interest, their pale, blonde hair gleaming under the strange light. They look eerily similar, maybe they’re clones?

“What do you mean, defective?” I demand, trying to keep my voice strong, trying to make them see me as a person, not an object. But I can’t help but wonder if my odds would have been better with the aliens?

The small man laughs, a hollow, humorless sound. “Oh babe, how dumb are you? Look around. It’s obvious. We’ve been abducted by aliens for medical experiments. That’s what I think anyway,” he shoots a look to the bigger man. “Obviously, they’ve stuck you with us because whatever they wanted you for, it’s finished. They got it. Otherwise,” he gestures to the women, “you’d be over there with the virginal blondes.”

The wiry man in the corner pipes up again, his voice sharp and analytical. “Or,” he says, “it’s about sorting. Look at them.” He points toward the other cage with a jerk of his chin. “The aliens have no hair, no gender—at least not that we can tell. Maybe they’re grouping us by hair color, like puppies or kittens. Purple and brown probably seem more similar to them. Or they’re color blind. Or the alien who dropped her off is the office idiot. Who knows?”

I look over at the women in the other cage again, wishing I were there. My hair, once just an expression of my individuality, now feels like a branding, a mark that separates me from the safety of other women.

The big man snorts, dismissing the wiry man’s theory with a wave of his hand. “Doesn’t matter why she’s here. They gave her to us. Naked. And now she’s ours.”

The words send a chill down my spine. No, I think. I’m not anyone’s.

I try to keep my voice composed to find some common ground, “None of us belong here.”

For a moment, there’s silence. Then the big man grins again, his eyes narrowing trying to decide what his next move is.

The small man tries to touch my breast and I push him off. “Well then, if none of us belong here, no one will mind if this puppy wets himself in that pussy. Come here, kitty.”

The big man grabs the small man viciously by his neck. “Me first. Then if you’re lucky, I’ll allow you to dip your wick.”

“No one is dipping anything in me.” I say, trying to give myself courage. “Just because we’re in a cage doesn’t mean we have to act like animals. Did it ever occur to you that maybe our captors are testing us?”

The men all laugh at the same time.

The big man replies, “You can pretend you’ve consented, honey. I don’t care whether my women are willing, fighting, or unconscious. And,” he says pointing to the ceiling, “Those aliens don’t care either. We’ve already killed a few men before you who didn’t cooperate by my rules. Now are you going to pretend you’re willing like the whore you clearly are or do we need to force you? The choice of role-fore-play is entirely up to you.”

Think. What can I say to stop this? “I have an STD. I have syphilis!”

“And I have herpes. Come here, I’m going to give it to you.”

I address the man in the corner watching all of this, “Hey, are you going to stand by and let him do this to me? Where’s your humanity?”

“On Earth,” he replies flatly.

“Unbelievable,” I mutter. “At least these men are prepared to fight for something . Although, I must point out, it’s not a fair fight,” I say turning my attention back to my would-be attackers.

“Life isn’t fair,” the big man says as he moves closer to me.

I kick him as hard as I can in the groin.

He doubles over with pain, “You fucking bitch. I’ll make you pay for that.”

He grabs my ankle and knocks me off my feet. I fall hard on the metal floor. Something catches my eye in the confusion and I look over to see all the women in the cage across from us. It looks like they are screaming, but I can’t hear their voices, just see their movements, their hands waving in what looks like, ‘No!’

I’m glad I have cheerleaders.

The big man hovers over me. He knocks my head against the metal floor enough times that the room begins to turn, faster and faster. Then he holds my neck with one hand and my hips down with another. I summon the strength to fight back as I feel my breath being cut off and I feel the head of his erect cock at my dry entrance.

“You’re going to have to rip me apart,” I manage to say while spitting up some coppery blood.

“Open for me, whore,” he says through gritted teeth.

I hate this man. I kick at him as violently as I can, thrashing so hard I think I might have sprained one of my ankles. I manage to get a few good kicks in and thanks to the oil the aliens covered me in, I wiggle free, but not before I knee him so hard in the groin he shrieks and moves off of me like I electrocuted him.

My chest tightens painfully as I try to draw breath. Every cough feels like sandpaper tearing through my throat. Bent over, gasping for air, I glance at the other women. They’re still waving frantically, yelling something I can’t make out.

The sound of footsteps rips my focus away. I turn and see the big man barreling toward me.

I don’t have time to think. My body reacts on instinct, adrenaline overriding the pain. I get to my feet and charge at him like I’m Xena Warrior Princess.

I leap onto his back, clinging like a wild animal, and sink my teeth into his shoulder with everything I’ve got. The taste of sweat and salt floods my mouth, but I don’t let go.

His cry of surprise echoes off the cage walls. It spurs me on, and I bite harder and begin to taste copper. He thrashes, grabbing at me with his massive hands, and finally throws me off like I weigh nothing.

I hit the metal floor hard, the impact rattling my bones. Pain explodes through my skull, and the world goes sideways. My vision blurs, the lights above spinning like a merry-go-round.

Through the pain, I watch him. He’s stumbling, clutching at his shoulder, trying to reach the spot where my teeth left a deep imprint of my jaw.

“I hope it scars,” I manage to rasp.

The big man turns back to me, his face flushed with rage. “So you want to play hard to get? Others have tried that. They’re gone now. I’m going to do the same to you. I’m going to fuck you to death. We all are.”

I spit, a mix of saliva and blood hitting the floor between us. “You think that’s a win? Look around, genius. We’re in hell, and you think being king of this cell, population four, makes you something? Handing out death threats to the only woman in your little kingdom? You’re fucking pathetic.”

His expression shifts, the insult landing harder than I expected. He glances at the other men, as if looking for some solidarity. But they’re silent.

The fight drains out of me as the adrenaline fades. I let my eyes slowly close. And if death comes for me while I sleep, at least it will end the pain I feel now.