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  The grunt from the other side of the cage caught their attention.

  Lauren looked up and met the mean black eyes of their alien guard. Those eyes were in a flat, smashed-looking face set in a long head.

  She broke eye contact and looked back at Kaitlyn who whispered, “Promise me that we keep our mouths shut, our eyes down, and try not to be noticed. Watch everything—learn—but we can’t be the hero.”

  Lauren nodded.

  But Kaitlyn wasn’t satisfied. “Say it, Lauren,” she hissed.

  “I promise,” Lauren whispered back.

  Carefully she let her eyes raise. The burgundy red alien was still staring at them. He was big, burly. Kind of chubby compared to the ones she’d seen on the ranch.

  Before she could drop her eyes, he hissed, “You tall woman kill commander.” And he was mad about it. He tried to spit at them through the bars. Thank holy hell it fell short.

  She and Kaitlyn scooted back.

  She tried to control her expression, but it was difficult. She wanted to celebrate the death and let the glee show that Makayla managed to kill one of their kidnappers. Warring with that emotion was the shock that the alien spoke English. And the fear from the realization that the creature was heavily armed and pissed at them. So, she fought to keep a straight face and won.

  The alien stepped closer to the cage and wrapped all four of his big hands around the bars. She noticed how long and thin his fingers were. And that there were only four fingers on each hand. He rattled the cage and she noticed that nothing shifted. He moved, back and forth as he tried to shake the motionless obstacle. The bars were solid. Nothing happened.

  She tried really hard to ignore him and sighed in relief when two additional red aliens came to the room and barked at him in another language. He spat something back at them. But then turned and walked to the far side of the room. Sulking. It was interesting that he didn’t move closer to the other aliens, but farther away.

  One of the new arrivals was taller and thinner than the others. He had blankets in his arms and walked over, pushing them between the bars toward Lauren and Kaitlyn. She wasn’t going to refuse. She stood up and got close enough to scoop them off the floor. Turning slightly to keep the red guy in her sight, she passed them off to Kaitlyn.

  He also passed through some pieces of fabric that floated to the floor. He pointed at his feet.

  Lauren glanced at the other women in the cage. For the first time, she noticed that they all had blankets, and most of them were wearing the fabric strips on their feet.

  She assumed they were like slippers.

  Once she had the slippers on and the blanket wrapped around her body, she stopped shaking long enough to realize how cold she’d been. Now that she was warmer, the fear swamped her. She turned to Kaitlyn and they wrapped each other in their arms and the blankets—and collapsed back on the floor. Sobbing.

  No one said a word. Not their captors, or the other girls in the cage.

  THE NEXT MORNING, THEY were awakened with a blast of cold water.

  They were all hit with a frigid, powerful spray out of something that resembled a fire hose. It answered the question of why there was a big drain in the middle of the cell. They had all used the drain for a bathroom. Holding up blankets so there was privacy.

  The guard who had developed a quick hatred for Lauren, concentrated the spray right at her head, pushing her all over the floor. The water shoved her into the wall, and she shrieked, and kept shrieking, trying to drag oxygen into her lungs while hoping that someone would notice what he was doing and save her.

  Kaitlyn braved the water cannon to help Lauren stand up. To get her feet under her. But the damn guard was now gleefully trying to kill them both.

  Lauren started shrieking again and she couldn’t stop. She didn’t notice when the water turned off or that Kaitlyn was pulled away and herded to the opposite end of the cave with the other women.

  She shrieked and cried and screamed at the top of her voice. Hysterical and fed up. She couldn’t stop, didn’t want to stop. Lauren knew the room beyond the bars had glass in the doors and on some of the instrument panels. She’d seen it. So, she used her voice to stab at that glass. She had a phenomenal singing voice. Had even taken lessons when she was younger. She’d been taught to break a wine glass and did so often as a prank with her friends. Hitting and holding the note above high C had become easy for her. So, she did it now. Shrieking and using her lung control to find that exact note.

  Aliens started screaming and rushed at her with their fists and those metal rods. The pain shocked her into silence, but it took several minutes for the beating to end. Finally, someone came into the cell and started throwing the aliens out the door, one by one. He looked back at her as he exited the door. “Don’t do that again. Next time I will let them kill you. It doesn’t matter how much you are worth.”

  All the guards were gone from the room. The women were completely alone. There was silence.

  Lauren’s body hurt. Evidently, the big bad aliens didn’t like her to scream. Good to know. She learned a few other things too. They moved like shit. They were clumsy and even though they had four arms, it was as if they didn’t know how to use them to fight. If there hadn’t been so many of them, she might have had a chance.

  Lauren might look small, but she knew how to take care of herself. Definitely one on one, maybe two to one. But not against as many as were taking turns beating the crap out of her. Freaky, red, four-armed aliens. One of these days, she promised herself, she was going to kick their red-furry asses. Especially the damn guard with the hose.

  She sighed and looked up when Kaitlyn came over to her. “One of the alien women can speak English. She has a translator or something. She said the cold, hard shower is a regular occurrence. It is why the other women claimed the area at the back of the cage, as far from the wall of bars and the water cannon as possible. Besides moving out of spitting distance of their guard. She said you need to be over there when they do it again.”

  Lauren groaned and tried to laugh. Now that the guards were gone and the water was off, it was obvious that she wasn’t going to die from her beating. The alien women who had apparently been here longer stood up and started to hang their blankets on small hooks on the wall at the back.

  Kaitlyn shrugged. “They know something we don’t, so we better follow their lead.”

  Lauren noticed the six other women from earth were also mimicking the alien women’s actions.

  Suddenly four bright sunlamps turned on overhead and a blast of warm air came from the ceiling. It effectively raised the temperature to desert heat, drying everything in the cell within a few minutes.

  Lauren stood up and stretched in the heat. Loosening her muscles and trying to work out the kinks from laying on a cold floor and the beating. She started a slow kata. The martial arts dance was scripted. Done fast and sharp as it was supposed to be, with guttural Kiai to startle an opponent, intimidate them, or simply to express confidence or victory—there would be no hiding the combative nature of the exercise.

  But she slowed it down and left off the verbal taunts, and softened some of the moves so it looked more like Tai Chi. Just a little slow dance.

  She winked at Kaitlyn when her cousin joined in. Lauren was a black belt and had been since she was twelve. Kaitlyn could have been, but she didn’t like it and quit when they were younger. Lauren still competed.

  Kaitlyn liked throwing axes and knives. They were her weapon of choice. Lauren’s weapon was her body. Well, and maybe her voice. She would need to learn more about how that worked.

  ONCE EVERYTHING WAS dry, a slot opened in the wall behind them and what passed for breakfast was shoved into their space. There were also tubes of water for each of them. The alien woman who spoke English warned the humans, “If you don’t eat and drink, they will force you. You will not like it.”

  She seemed satisfied when everyone ate and picked up a water tube. She motioned for Kaitlyn and Lauren to sit by her
. “I am Natacha. I had a master who gifted me with a translator so I can speak and understand all words. Soon someone will come to get you both to go to the medical unit on the ship. Before you go, I must warn you not to use your voice again. Not even a little bit to irritate the pissant guard. The high sounds are something the Siloth cannot tolerate. You broke the glass with your voice, you made their ears bleed. You must not use it again or they will simply slit your throat,” she warned.

  And it looked like she was right. There were several guards outside the cell, motioning to Kaitlyn and Lauren to come with them. She figured she better do what Natacha suggested and keep her mouth shut.

  As if Kaitlyn knew what she was thinking, she turned into Lauren and whispered, “The last promise you made to be quiet didn’t last one day!”

  THE WALK TO THE MEDICAL unit was informative. For one thing, the damn ship was bigger than Lauren imagined. And there were a lot more aliens. From the time they were captured, she’d only seen a total of five aliens. Walking through the long corridors she counted twenty before they got in an elevator and moved up a floor, then there were at least fifteen more. Shit.

  The ship appeared to be made of dull black metal. It wasn’t shiny, and the black stuff was rarely covered. There weren’t walls made of other material, it was just sweeping metallic hallways. Doors opened for them and the elevator worked without obvious security. She looked up at the ceiling and noticed that it wasn’t black, it had large dark gray piping that probably held all the wires and things needed to run the ship. The space looked like it might be large enough for her to crawl through.

  It made her wonder. If they got out of the cage, could they take over the alien spaceship from up there? And do what? She had no idea how to fly anything, neither did Kaitlyn. She wondered if any of the women did? Something to ask when she got back to the cage.

  All thoughts of escape fled when they walked into the medical unit. Immediately the Siloth doctor took blood samples from both girls.

  “I need to run these,” the doctor said. This medical test will only take a few minutes. And it will tell me if you are a virgin or close to a virgin. And if you are pregnant or not. It will also tell me if you have anything wrong with you that would prevent pregnancy. While we wait, I have questions. You were both taken from the same house,” he stated.

  It wasn’t really a question. But he was looking at her, so Lauren nodded. Wondering as she did what close to a virgin meant. She didn’t think that was possible. You either were or you weren’t, right?

  “Are you related in some way?” the furry beast demanded.

  Lauren looked at Kaitlyn and raised an eyebrow. Kaitlyn brushed her hair back and slid her hand down her arm.

  The girls had a code. Developed long ago in response to suitors they wanted to get rid of, or uncomfortable situations they needed to escape. Kaitlyn was telling her to keep the doctor talking and the attention away from her.

  She could do that. “We are cousins. My father and Kaitlyn’s father were brothers.”

  The doctor moved closer and reached out his hand. “But your skin is so different. And your eyes.”

  The alien doctor was fascinated by the color of Lauren’s skin. And he asked a lot of questions about her and the differences between their parents. He couldn’t believe they were related, and it was easy to keep him focused on her stories of their different physical characteristics.

  Her major in school was psychology and she had a minor in social work. She could talk about nature versus nurture with the best of them. When the buzzer signaled the results of the test were ready, the doctor was visibly reluctant to get back to business.

  Lauren stole a glance at Kaitlyn who gave her the all-clear. She had done what she needed to do. Lauren had no idea what that was, but she was sure to find out.

  The doctor turned and smiled at her and nodded at Kaitlyn. He addressed one of the guards. “The girls are fertile and untouched. Make sure all the guards know this keeps them safe from other attention. They are worth more if we sell them as breeders. I will notify the captain of their status.”

  Lauren started to object. But she figured she didn’t want attention from the aliens so she wouldn’t argue with him.

  The doctor warned Lauren, “They want me to take out your vocal cords. The consensus is if you can’t talk, you can’t scream. I had to treat three guards for brain bleed after that stunt.”

  She sighed. “I only screamed because the guard was trying to drown me with the water cannon. I didn’t do that on purpose.”

  He frowned and looked at what seemed to be the guard in charge.

  That man looked at Lauren, then at the doctor. And nodded.

  The doctor sighed.

  Lauren studied him. “If you take my vocal cords, I could bleed out and die. Is it worth the chance?”

  He sighed and studied her. Finally, he shook his head no. “The chance isn’t worth it. But though I find you fascinating, I cannot exempt you from the procedures all women will be subjected to.”

  Lauren’s breath hitched. “Like what?”

  “Your reproductive system will need to be tweaked to ensure that your body will accept alien sperm and combine your DNA with that of your owner. It will also ensure that you are ready to breed when you are sold.” He motioned for the guard to step back and he leaned in and whispered. “But don’t worry. You will be really happy.” He turned and lightly hit first Lauren and then Kaitlyn with what looked like a pressure syringe.

  “What the hell was that?” the two cousins demanded immediately.

  “It’s what I call my fated mates serum. It will change your biology and make you attractive to only one or two men in the universe. Others will turn away and leave you alone. But your fated mate will be compelled to have you. And you will be driven to mate with him.” The light of fanaticism gleamed in his eyes.

  Jesus. He really couldn’t do that, could he? But what did she know? She didn’t think he could boost her reproductive system to take alien sperm either. But she bet she was wrong. Kaitlyn met Lauren’s gaze and they were of one mind at that moment.

  Hell no! They were more than their hormones!

  Chapter Three

  THE FIRST THING LAUREN noticed when they got back to the cage is that a couple of the other girls were missing. She checked faces and realized it was the alien woman with a bright pink tuft of hair on her head and the blonde human girl that was around thirty. Makayla’s age. She looked over at Natacha and raised her eyebrows in question.

  Natacha waved them over to sit with her again. Lauren was a little mesmerized by the alien woman. She was so serene. She had a large head, bigger at the top than at the bottom, with large brown eyes. She didn’t have a hair on her head. Not even eyebrows. Her body was covered from her neck to the floor in a robe dress and it looked like she never took it off. She was calm and seemed wise.

  Kaitlyn looked around a bit and Natacha told her quietly. “Small things hide well in the back corner where the wall meets the cave.” She shifted so Kait could sit beside her, and by leaning back, have access to the corner.

  It only took her cousin a second to slide the knife she’d taken from the medical unit, into the space.

  There wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation with putting their trust in Natacha. At this point, there just wasn’t a choice.

  Lauren sat down in front of the two, hoping to block some of the guard's view. “Thank you, Natacha. I might have done a couple of trills with my voice or screeched a little to scare the guards. You kept me from doing something stupid and getting my vocal cords cut. Where are the other girls? We didn’t see them on the way back from the medical unit.”

  Natacha shook her head sadly. “The medical test you had was done to check if you can get pregnant and are healthy enough to have many children. The positive results will keep you from the other guards. It means your worth as a breeder is high. Because of this, the guards and others cannot mess with you. But Tallie and Nancy were not as lucky.”


  The other women, humans and aliens, moved to sit closer.

  “I was born into this. I have never known freedom, yet I know the thirst for that elusive feeling. I have had good owners and bad. I will tell you now—today, this moment, this is not a battle you can win. Not now. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t search for some way to change things. Just that nothing you do now will make a difference. We will care for them when they return. It is all we can do.”

  “Can I ask a question?” one of the human women asked.

  Natacha nodded.

  “My name is Tawnya. What did you say about the other girls? Do you know why we are here?” She pushed her straight black hair out of her eyes and leaned forward.

  Lauren figured Tawnya was maybe twenty-five years old. She had a Midwest accent and Asian ancestors. Her dark, almond-shaped eyes were open wide as she waited for answers.

  “If you haven’t heard me say it before, my name is Natacha. I have been a slave for a long time. I don’t even know the planet I came from or my species because none of my owners have bothered to tell me. If they even knew. I have not met anyone who looks like me. I was gifted with a translator by my last owner. That owner died and his son sold me to the Siloth. I will tell you all I have been able to learn.”

  They all nodded at Natacha to continue. Except one of the alien women. She was near, but Lauren didn’t think she understood anything.

  “The Siloth are the aliens who control this ship. They have a contract with a man on a far planet for breeders. Women of all sizes and shapes. Of all worlds, if they can be bred for children. Every time someone is brought on board, they are taken to the Siloth medic. He does a test to see if you can get pregnant. If you can, your worth to them is high. The guards won’t touch those of us who are fertile. They won’t use us for sex because they would run the risk of getting us pregnant. Which would make us useless for their contract.”