Page 2 of His Human to Charm

I thrash around, my hair sticking to the sweat and tears on my face and obscuring my vision. My knees and feet dig into the demon’s chest even as his claws extend and bite into the flesh of my thigh. A cry erupts from my lips, and I don’t know if it’s from fear, pain, or the overwhelming helplessness I feel. A loud hiss sounds from Curls’s chest, and then I’m thrown roughly to the ground.

The pain of my arms being pinned between my body weight and the ground is dulled thanks to all my panic and the adrenaline telling me to fight, to run, to scream. I scramble backward as best I can until I feel the base of a tree pressing against my arms. Curls takes up the space I’ve put between us faster than I can catch my breath. Twirls stands right behind him, watching what’s unfolding with a look of amusement.

“We did not take you for you to cause problems.” Curls’s lips pull back in a snarl as he talks. “Our friends are dead. Your males have killed them, and all because they have females like you.”

He’s talking about what happened to Skylar, the woman I was sent to this planet with. When we first arrived here, she was instructed to get the demon she was going to mate away from my demon in case they tried to fight each other. She ran into the forest, and her mate chased her and mated her. On the day they came back to the tribe, three males from a different tribe, probably the same one these two kidnappers are from, found her and threatened her in the same way these demons are threatening me. Skylar was already mated to her demon, though, so he found her and ripped apart the males who touched her.

I try to tell him that what happened with the other males had nothing to do with me, but it’s impossible with the gag still in my mouth. Not that I think Curls or Twirls would care at all what I have to say about all of this.

I really want to tell them that the demon who is meant to be my mate, the demon who will come for me, is one of the goddess’s chosen warriors. He will find me, and when he does, he will make these demons pay for everything they have even thought to do to me.

The only problem is I don’t know when he’s going to find me or what all these other demons could do to me before he does. If they know Toron’s a chosen warrior, maybe they won’t treat me as harshly in an attempt to earn favor and not be killed when he finds us. I can’t tell them if they keep the gag in my mouth, though.

“Are you going to calm down?” Curls kneels on the ground beside me, crowding me in more. His arms flatten on either side of my head to trap me.

It’s no surprise when I lash out again at being cornered. I bend my leg as much as I can even though the cuts in my thigh make it burn. I put as much of my power as I can into kicking at the male, but when I connect with where his ribs are, he doesn’t even seem to flinch. No, it’s like he knew I’d lash out if he got close to me and wanted it.

“Poor choice,” he says as his hand wraps around my throat. His large, scaled fingers squeeze tight enough that I know blood isn’t moving to my brain. It feels like an eternity for the darkness to swirl in my eyes, my fingers trying to pry the demon’s hand from my neck. Then my world goes black.

2

Alice

Seven Days Before Kidnapping

“This is your room,” Olivia says as she swings the heavy wooden door open.

I wipe at the tears that have, thankfully, stopped now that I’m away from everyone else and can process everything happening. I was sent to an alien planet maybe twenty minutes ago with another human woman, Skylar. She had to leave as soon as we came to this planet. She ran out of the great hall, followed by the demon meant to be her mate, and told me she’d be back soon to explain everything that she was told before we left Earth. Apparently, she was given a rundown of what’s happening here, and I was a little too emotional to actually listen when someone tried to tell me before we left Earth.

Olivia snaps my focus back to the present as she explains to me the very few amenities we have on this planet.

“Your room has a lock if you want to feel more secure. None of the brothers will bother you unless you invite them to, in which case they’ll never stop bothering you.” She gives me a smile, finding humor in her words. But I’m not in a very good mood and can barely manage to keep my tears at bay. She chews on her lips before continuing to talk. “Your wardrobe has a handful of underwear. I’ll have Ralleth grab some tunics from your mate for you to wear.”

I let out a loud exhale through my nose as my eyes go wide. I shake my head, not knowing why I’m reacting so hard to what Olivia said. “I don’t have a mate.”

I know I’m on this planet to breed with the aliens, and I know there’s one here that I’m specifically here for. That doesn’t mean I’m just ready to shack up with one of these giant lizard men and have sex with him. I’m curious. Of course, I’m curious. But being curious and actually going through with it are two different things. I never took that step on Earth, so I need a bit of time to adjust to the idea of having sex with an alien. Even more time to settle my nerves on getting pregnant by one.

“Sorry.” Olivia cringes slightly. “There are some things we need to talk about when it comes to mating the demons that we should discuss. The first is that we don’t say their names unless they’re our mates. So, I can’t say the demon that belongs to you’s name, or I’ll incur all the wrath of my mate.”

“Wrath?” I try to keep even more panic from bubbling up in my chest.

Olivia gives me a mischievous smile before explaining. “No, sorry. That’s a poor choice of words. He’ll just take me to bed and make sure I know whose name I should be saying. When you say a male’s name, it tells them you’re interested in taking them to bed.”

“Your mate’s name is Toron.” A masculine voice with a lisp interrupts our conversation from the doorway, causing both of us to jump. He laughs loudly when he catches our reactions.

“My Ralleth,” Olivia shakes her head, her fingers rubbing at her temples even though a smile tugs at her lips. “We need to work on you not interrupting when I’m talking to my sisters.”

Ralleth gives me a questioning look and then a look at the door like he’s waiting for me to invite him in. I give him a soft nod, and he walks to Olivia in an instant, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight to him for a moment before pushing away. He gives me a quick look over, his eyes narrowing on my face before he finally says something. “The brothers all want to know if she is hurt. She was crying quite a bit, and they all worry that she was sent to us in pain.”

“I’m fine.”

No doubt everyone out there probably thinks I’m hurt because of my crying. Nope, I’m just an emotional dumpster fire that’s really bad about not crying at every single little fluctuation of emotions. Little too happy? Tears. A little too sad? Tears. A little too hungry? Believe it or not, tears.

“I was just scared, and I didn’t want Skylar to leave because she’s the only one I know.”

Ralleth looks down at Olivia and then back to me, his head cocking to the side. His dark, black eyes are simmering with confusion. “You have family here, now. Yes, six blood total. Dath and his mate, Yril and his mate, your mate, of course, and his father. You know many people who all care for you very much.”

The ache in my chest eases at the thought of already having a family in this place. Until I remember what I have to do for them to accept me as their family. Those thoughts have my breaths coming in hard and shallow and my heart rate picking up. I don’t even know what my demon looks like, but apparently, he’s already decided he wants me enough that his family is my family, and everyone just accepts that. My panic must be clear to Olivia because she’s pressing a hand to her mate’s chest and pushing him away before grabbing my shoulders and making me look right at her.

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