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

Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Briar

My body feels like it’s been dragged through hell. Every muscle screams and every joint aches. But the worst part isn’t the pain. I’m no stranger to pushing my body physically, I was a regular gym rat, but it’s the memory of the gymnasium itself.

I’ve never seen anything like it. The whole obstacle course felt alive, shifting under me like it was testing me, pushing me harder, waiting for me to fail. Platforms tilted and spun without warning, walls rose and fell, and those damn drones—they hummed and circled like vultures, waiting to strike the second I hesitated. The shocks weren’t enough to knock me out, but they were enough to remind me who was in control.

Aefre stood at the console the entire time, his voice calm and his words incomprehensible.

It only took me about an hour to realize that the course wasn’t just about strength. It was about breaking me. About seeing how far I could go before I gave up, and I got it into my head that if I gave up to Aefre and let the course best me, then I also gave up on myself and I couldn’t do that.

I was prepared to die on that course today.

Ironically, I did exactly what Aefre wanted. And if I had the extra energy, I’d feel upset that I was tricked. But I don’t even have the energy to be angry.

I close my eyes, leaning my head back against the cold surface of the shower wall. The metallic lavender smelling water stings where it hits the cuts on my knees, the bruises on my arms, and the raw blisters on my palms. The attendants work silently around me, their hands scrubbing my body, leaving no part untouched.

They even move the new piercings in my nipples back and forth. For their pleasure or for mine? I don’t know. I derive pleasure from it. Then I wonder then if they’re going to make me orgasm like they did the other woman? I had almost forgotten my state of arousal until now. But as tired as I am, I still want to orgasm. And the vision of Gabriel almost naked in the gymnasium flits through my mind. I look at the attendants and wonder how I would ask for a happy ending.

The attendants don’t look me in the eye as they massage the excess hair around my vulva or shampoo my god forsaken tail. I hate that thing. I hate the way it swishes around. I hate how Aefre and the doctor just added it to my body as if I should have always had it.

But still my body wants sexual release and so I grind my hips against one of the attendants hands, wondering how old he is. Telling myself it doesn’t matter because he’s an alien. But then that makes me just as bad as these grey men owning me. What should our skin color have to do with it?

But already I’m confusing myself. It does matter.

I grind my hips harder against his soapy hand. I’m almost there. Just a little more. Oh it feels so good. Just a little bit more.

But then the attendant removes his hands from me and when I try to reach down and touch myself. Suddenly, both my wrists are locked on the shower wall.

“No!” I say as I’m left underneath the running water, unsatisfied.

Crushed, I close my eyes and imagine that I’m back from my hike. That I wasn’t abducted by aliens and that none of this is real. The sound of the water is steady, rhythmic, and is drowning out the reality around me. For a moment, all of this almost feels normal. Almost.

But then the memories rush back, abrupt and unrelenting.

The UFO.

Tentacled aliens.

Big.

Small.

Slender.

The auction.

Rebecca.

Aefre.

Kaelin.

Gabriel.

The tail.

The obstacle course.

What’s next?

I fight back tears. I must not give this nightmare currency or the pain will break me.

My mind refuses to let go, so I focus on the least unnerving thing from this last month: Gabriel. Of all the horrors I’ve endured, he’s the most bearable—if only just.

He surprised me today. I didn’t expect him to speak to Aefre as if they were equals. We’re all pets aren’t we? Or is this a ‘some animals are more equal than others’ situation? I don’t know. And although, his words were a mystery to me, his tone was unmistakable.

I thought at first, I don’t need you to protect me , but after a few seconds of hearing him speak up in this alien language—it did something to me.

All at once, I was reminded of the warm, but odd conversation, we shared last night —and yeah, maybe he came off a bit too passionate, but that’s probably what ten years in captivity does to you.

But his thoughtfulness today—it gave me more strength than I thought I had in that moment. It shows he really does feel that in this situation, it’s us against them . And that’s the most reassuring thing I’ve felt in a month.

As the attendants release me from my shackles and I step out of the shower, I catch a glimpse of the cages beyond and my heart skips a beat when I see Gabriel.

He’s sitting in one of the cages, leaning back against the bars with his arms draped over his knees. His head is tilted slightly, the soft glow of the cleansing room’s dim lighting casting shadows over his sharp features. His wavy brown hair falls messily over his forehead, his full beard well-groomed and thick, and despite everything he endured today—he still looks... stunning.

Then as if he can feel my eyes on him, his head lifts, and our eyes meet. There’s something in his amber gaze—concern, maybe, or relief. Or both. I don’t know. But it makes my chest tighten all the same and I stand a bit taller as the attendants run their hands over my naked body.

Gabriel continues to stare as I’m dressed in another outfit that reveals my breasts, underarms, and vulva all the way back to my lower back so my tail is included too. It’s so damn embarrassing to have a tail. I took note that none of the other humans have one. I feel singled out and I can’t help but wonder if it’s a punishment because of what I did to Big. A sign that I seriously injured another human pet that I’ll have to live with forever like a scarlet letter.

After I’m dressed, one of the attendants takes me by the collar and leads me towards the cages.

My heart is racing but I don’t know if I’ll even get a chance to say anything to Gabriel because the exit is also near the cages. But more than anything, I want to talk with him. To thank him for today.

Gabriel shifts slightly, as he leans forward. The movement is subtle, cautious, but it’s enough to tell me he’s waiting, watching, and hoping for the same thing I am—a moment between us. Just one.

“Are you okay?” he mouths, his lips barely moving. His eyes search mine.

I nod, a small, quick movement, even though it’s a lie. I’m not okay. I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again.

As we near the cages, the attendant leading me, places a hand on my shoulder, then latches a leash to my collar and pulls me toward the exit. I glance back at Gabriel.

He doesn’t move or call out, but then, at the last moment, I hear him say my name, my real name, like a prayer through soft noise of the hissing automatic door “Briar.”

Our one last bit of humanity. Our human names. The memory of what he said yesterday sweeps through my mind, ‘Our names—they’re all we have of our past lives when we were free.’

I don’t say his name out loud as I’m led through the dark corridors of the ship, but I think it like a chant I can never get enough of. Gabriel .