Chapter 1
ONE
My head is pounding, and I’m uncomfortable. Why am I lying on a hard surface? This is not my bed. Did I fall asleep somewhere on the space station?
I blink my eyes open, squinting as bright lights assault me. Quickly, I cover my eyes with one hand and groan as I peek between my fingers. The throbbing in my temples intensifies.
After pushing to sitting, I lower my hand and glance around.
It’s hard to stay upright. Why am I so heavy?
I’m cold, too. Panic seizes me as I recall a giant alien male injecting me with something.
I don’t think I’m on the space station any longer.
Nothing around me looks familiar. It doesn’t smell right.
My breath hitches when I realize I’m in a metal cage. I grow nauseous as I look over the edge through the bars. I’m suspended several feet off the floor.
No wonder I’m so uncomfortable. The cage isn’t large enough for me to stretch out.
I’ve been sleeping for heaven knows how long, curled up on my side.
They didn’t even provide me with a blanket.
I have nothing but the thin dress and panties I was wearing when I entered the medical bay with Adryn.
I’m not even wearing shoes. This explains why I’m chilly.
The temperature on the space station was always a perfect level to allow for minimal clothing, mostly because we didn’t have much to work with.
The temperature in this room must be kept lower.
Breathing heavily, I look around. I sway, unable to balance myself.
Something is off. The room is filled with cages.
Some are on the floor. Others are hanging at different levels.
All but one are empty, and I rise onto my knees and grab the metal bars when I see Adryn in one of them. She’s not moving.
“Adryn…” I hiss, trying to keep my voice down.
Nothing. She must still be affected by whatever they drugged us with. Is the drug making me feel like I weigh more than I do?
A loud noise makes me shift my attention to the other side of the room in time to see a door swinging closed and three men coming toward me. I drop onto my butt and pull my knees up, wrapping my arms around them.
Shaking violently, I watch them approach. Now I know why my cage is so high off the floor. It’s at their eye level. Two of the men seem to be guards. They’re wearing all black and have weapons. One is blond and the other has red hair.
The third man is slightly taller. His hair is dark brown and thick. His eyes are also deep brown. His skin is tanned. He’s also wearing black, but his clothes look more distinguished, as if he’s important. He has no weapons that I can see.
For the first time, I hear them speak. The sounds coming from their lips are unintelligible. Certainly not English. My heart races as they stop at my cage. The unarmed alien eyes me skeptically, looking up and down my small, balled-up frame. He narrows his gaze as he scrutinizes me.
Finally, he smiles and turns to the other two, nodding. More words are exchanged. The two guards close the distance. They open a door on the front of the cage and grab my biceps.
I cry out as they drag me forward, angling me so that my head is leaning over the edge, my hair hanging long and messy. It’s a long drop to the floor. I’ll be injured if they let me go. But that’s not what happens. Instead, the redhead grips my head, keeping me immobile.
The non-guard holds up a strange metal circle. He opens it, wraps it around my neck, and snaps it closed. I barely have a chance to see it well before it’s secured and out of my line of sight. It settles heavy around my neck.
The blond man holds out some sort of electronic device. It beeps next to my collar.
When I flinch, the redhead says, “Do you think the translator is going to work?”
The blond shrugs. “I’m told it worked for the headmistress on the space station.
She was given an earpiece. She was at least intelligent enough to realize she had no choice but to turn over the beings on the space station to our care.
Apparently, these younger creatures are in their twenties.
They’re called humans. We don’t know yet if they speak or can be controlled. ”
Infuriated, I struggle against the tight grip these men have on me.
“You will hold still, human female. Obey or you will be punished.”
I’m still shocked by my ability to understand. “You speak English,” I mutter. My voice is raspy. My mouth is dry. I wonder how long it’s been since they took me.
The blond—the one holding the device—smirks. “No, human. The collar is sophisticated. It translates our language into whatever the wearer speaks.”
I’m on my hands and knees, praying to the heavens that they don’t suddenly release me because I will fall. I’m leaning too far to stop myself, and I feel awkward. My body weighs a ton. I hope they don’t think I have the ability to hold my precarious balance.
My heart races as the redhead continues to palm the back of my head, angling me forward while the other fiddles with the odd device. It seems to me the collar is working. What is he doing?
“Please,” I beg. “Where am I?”
“Venkoria,” the smirking man informs me. “You’d do well to hold your tongue so as not to anger your new master.”
The dark-haired man scowls. “There’s no need to frighten the human. I’ve paid good money for her. I’d rather she not die of a heart attack before I take possession.”
My breath hitches as I lift my gaze to the dark stranger who seems to have bought me. He looks calmer than the two who are manhandling me. I don’t like the idea that he has purchased me as though I were livestock, but I’d rather take my chances with him than the others.
“Inject her before she expires,” my new owner orders.
The brute gripping my head pulls me forward even farther. His partner puts the device away and holds up a syringe. I nearly pee myself as he pushes the needle into my neck.
Expecting the room to go black again, I squeeze my eyes closed, but nothing happens. Instead, the man who has bought me holds my gaze for several seconds before smiling. “I’ll be back to collect her.” He turns and marches from the room.
The two men shove me back several inches and close the cage.
I rise onto my knees and grab the bars, supporting myself with difficulty. “Please. What’s going to happen to me?”
They chuckle as they look at each other.
“I wasn’t expecting her to be so intelligent,” the redhead says.
“I wasn’t either,” agrees the blond. He stares at me, cocking his head as if intrigued.
I reach up and tug on the collar. “Will you please take this off?”
He smirks again. “The collar is permanent, little female. You’ll wear it for the rest of your life. It has a GPS locator, so don’t even think about trying to escape. You will be found and punished.”
The two men turn and leave me in the cage. I’m shaking so badly I fear I’m having a panic attack. After dropping onto my butt, I reach up to examine the collar. It’s thick and heavy. There are four rings on it, and I shudder to think what they might be used for.
I begin to feel strange, but I can’t put my finger on it. There’s a tightness in my belly and an odd pulsing between my legs. I squeeze my thighs together and wrap my arms around my knees again, resting my chin on them. It feels like my neck is straining to hold my head up.
All I can think about is the dark man who collared me and then left. He said he would be back. He owns me. I can’t get him out of my mind. His smile. The furrow in his brow. The way he looked at me. I want his gaze on me again. I want him to come back.
The pain in my temple has eased, but I’m very thirsty and I need to pee. I assume I will be waiting here for my new owner to return before anything else happens.
Remembering Adryn, I crawl to that side of my cage and look in her direction. She hasn’t moved. I hope she’s okay.
Time ticks by slowly. Finally, she moans. I’m so happy I could squeal. I restrain myself, though. “Adryn. I’m over here.”
She pushes to sitting, holding her temples the same way I did. “Where are we?” she whimpers.
“Venkoria. It must be the name of this planet.”
She meets my gaze from several yards away. “I’m scared.”
“I know. Be brave.” I don’t feel the least bit brave, but I want to be positive for my friend. A noise makes me think the men might be returning. I don’t have much time. “Listen. Don’t fight the collar. It won’t do you any good, and it allows you to understand what the aliens are saying.”
The door across the room opens. The three men step back into the cage room. My owner leads the way, striding with purpose toward me. “Time to go home, Little pet,” he says. He steps to the side so one of the guards can unlock my cage, and then he holds out his hands and lifts me into his arms.
I’m frightened, mostly about falling, so I grip his neck as tightly as I can and wrap my legs around his waist as far as I can.
He’s very large. My heart rate relaxes as he supports me with one hand on my back and one under my butt.
I don’t even care that my dress isn’t covering my panties.
It got bunched up around me in the cage.
His huge palm presses against my bottom, his fingers touching the bare skin of my thighs and hips.
When I inhale, his scent calls to me. I find myself burying my face in his neck, breathing him in again. I can’t get enough. I want to crawl inside him. That makes no sense.
I hold him tighter. It must not annoy him because he rubs my back and nuzzles my neck. His lips tickle my ear, and he whispers, “You’re mine, Little pet.”