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

Chapter 58

CHAPTER 58

Briar

After Aefre and Kaelin have left, the air between us feels thick with unspoken thoughts. I look over at Gabriel, but he’s just staring at the ceiling.

My mind is reeling. I want to talk about what just happened about how I wanted it and didn’t want it at the same time. No, that’s not true. I wanted it. I just didn’t want myself to want it. But the sexual tension between all of us has been building for quite some time since that last time, the off-hand remarks Aefre makes about the hair between my legs, the way Gabriel watches my breasts bounce when I run, and the way that I look at Aefre when I’m in my pet bed aroused knowing he can give me what I want. And I enjoy having them together both of them playing their roles of trainer and pet.

But I worry that Gabriel feels like he should have protected me. I remember last time. But then again, he watched as Aefre had sex with me and it turned him on. He’s not like men from Earth , I remind myself. He’s lived in this world for twelve years. This is normal, isn’t it?

In the end, I decide that I enjoyed myself and that if Gabriel didn’t, then it’s up to him to say something about it.

“Do you think anyone on Earth knows about them, the aliens?” I ask, breaking the silence and changing the subject.

Gabriel shifts, his golden eyes catching the faint light as he turns in my direction.

“You mean the Imperials? The Octopods? Or all of them?”

I nod. “Yeah. All of them. All of this.” I motion around the room.

He exhales softly. “I don’t know. Maybe. I would like to believe that if they knew they would try to warn people against alien abduction or do something...”

“It’s strange. In the last ten years, people can easily make videos and pictures with their phones and share them with the world in real time. And there are so many UFO videos online, but no one believes them. It makes me think there’s a conspiracy to keep all of this hidden and the best way to do that is to tell everyone else that the person with the UFO story is crazy.”

His hand brushes against mine. “And if we went back? If we somehow made it back to Earth, what do you think they’d say if we told them about our lives here?”

I laugh bitterly. “They’d call us crazy for sure.”

I close my eyes, letting my imagination run wild with that thought. Going back to Earth and telling people about Aefre, Kaelin, the collars, the tail, the sex, the Grand Championships, everything. “They’d say we were making it all up for money. A bad sex story. A really terrible one.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel says with a faint smile. “Human pets in a galactic competition. Doesn’t exactly scream believable. No one in France would ever believe that . ”

“And even if they believed us, what then? What could either of our governments do? Send an unarmed rocket up and demand their people back?” I ask rhetorically.

Gabriel doesn’t answer me, so I continue.

“You know, I always used to hear things. Retired military guys, conspiracy theorists, even that Israeli space guy—what’s his name? Eshed?—talking about aliens.”

Gabriel raises an eyebrow. “And what did you think?”

“I mean, I was curious,” I admit. “But then Eshed said Trump knew about aliens, and I no longer believed him.”

He lets out a low laugh. “Pourquoi? Pourquoi Trump?”

“Because there’s no way Trump could keep a secret that big. Not a chance. He’d want to get in there and try to negotiate some kind of deal.”

“Touché,” he says. “But why would Trump know? Alien real estate?”

“Oh you don’t know. He was President of the United States. Maybe he is again. I was taken before the election.”

Gabriel smiles. “It’s still true then, anyone can be anything in the US.”

“Except be believed if you talk about aliens. Ironic that isn’t it?”

Gabriel’s goes quiet with his own thoughts.

“Anyway, I never quite believed anything I heard about aliens. So it makes me wonder…why?”

“And now?” Gabriel asks, his voice quieter, his amber eyes fixed on mine.

“Now, I wish I’d listened more,” I whisper.

We are silent just looking into each other’s eyes. I don’t know what’s worse—that Earth might not know about us, or that they might know and simply not care.

Gabriel’s hand brushes mine again, this time more deliberately. “Maybe it’s better this way. If they did know, then people might be living in fear all the time. But then, not to warn people is disingenuous. I’m not an educated man, but surely there’s someone on Earth, some group that could build some kind of defense or at least provide people with a tracker so the police would know where someone went.”

My heart is breaking for him. I can’t imagine the pain his parents must have suffered looking for him after his disappearance.

“You’re right though, regular people wouldn’t believe us even if we tried to warn them. It might just make our lives even worse, to return and to be called liars. Even though, it’s such a strange thing to lie about,” Gabriel says, almost to himself. “But we know it’s real. We’ve lived it.”

“That’s enough, right? We don’t owe Earth a warning?” I say wanting to clear my conscience.

His gaze meets mine, his expression softening. “It’s enough. If we get a chance to do anything it won’t be wasted on a message back to Earth. Our chance will be spent on trying to escape.”

“With Gael?”

“Yes, or someone else like him. He can’t be the only one. But he’s the one here now.”

The silence returns, and I close my eyes, trying to imagine a life where any of this makes sense. “Gabriel, do you think Aefre would ever give us this kind of freedom? A room to ourselves, to just… be?”

He considers my question. “If we win, maybe. Aefre’s strategic, not generous. But it’s possible. Why?”

“If we win, it could be a start,” I say. “A chance to learn more about Gael the Returner. And maybe next year… we go.”

He exhales sharply, muttering something in French, his voice laced with frustration. “ Si nous gagnons, cela ne veut rien dire, Briar. L’année prochaine? Tu crois vraiment qu’ils nous laisseront partir?”

“I don’t understand you,” I say softly.

He turns to me, his golden eyes blazing with intensity. “Next year?” he repeats in English. “You think they’ll just let us leave? This year may be our only chance. I don’t want that image we saw in the mirror maze—the child with the collar, our child—to become a reality here. Getting two adults out is difficult enough, but a child?” He throws a hand up in the air, “Forget about it. Impossible.”

Before I can respond, he leans over, cupping my face gently. His lips find mine in a kiss that’s tender but filled with purpose.

When he pulls back, his voice is full of raw emotion. “I want freedom. And I won’t leave without you. Je ne peux pas imaginer ma vie sans toi. We’re a team, Briar. We’re not meant to be pets. We’re human. We’re meant to be free.”