Page 13 of Alien Rescue

“Zanr, you will call me Zanr or ‘my warrior’.”

She snorted. “And you may call me gone,” she muttered.

“That is an odd name, my breeder.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Don’t call me that. I told you my name is Rose.”

“I remember—it is like the flower?”

“Yes.” She watched him and seemed to relax a bit when he said nothing else. She muttered something that sounded like “at least no stupid flower compliments.”

“Tell me about the basement labs.” A solution occurred to him—maybe he could wear her down. He didn’t have to do it the way they did it during interrogation of the enemy.

She lifted her chin. “No.”

“We know about the labs. You wouldn’t reveal any secrets.”

“No.”

No matter how many times he asked, she remained firm.

Maybe he could make her believe he’d hurt her if she wouldn’t talk. But he balked at that. A no-blood warrior shouldn’t scare his breeder. “I can make you talk,” he said, and she shivered.

She lifted her chin even higher, but he could see the way she shrank down into herself. He hated this, hated scaring her. Glaring at him, she spat, “I will not tell you anything. You can torture me and beat me or kill me—I won’t talk.”

He was trying to think of a way to make her talk without scaring her too much, when the door alarm sounded. “I need to give your breeder a final checkup,” Viglar said on the comms.

Zanr gave the command for the door to open. Viglar walked in. “I do not agree with the interrogation and torture of breeders.” How did the doctor find out? Sometimes Zanr thought warriors were like chattering breeders.

“You insult me. I would never torture my own breeder.”

Rose jumped up. “Who is he?”

“Our doctor. He will?”

She screeched and jumped up. “I have been immunised against truth drugs; injecting me with it will not make me talk.” Her eyes were wide and scared, and she looked ready to run through the walls to escape Viglar.

“Why does her hair stand up like that?” Viglar asked in Zyrgin. His eyes widened and he leaned closer. Rose looked ready to climb the wall to get away.“Is that the home galaxy on her head?” Rose screeched and stepped back from him.

He caught Viglar’s hand before he could touch her hair. “My breeder has superior hair. I experimented with a few hairstyles,” he said modestly. He treasured everything about his breeder, but her hair was truly magnificent.

Viglar almost rolled his eyes the way Rose had earlier. “Earth women seem to steal a warrior’s sense. Tell her to sit down so that I can examine her,” Viglar said.

Zanr turned back to Rose. She glared at them, proving he’d made a good choice. She was scared, but refused to show it. “Sit on the couch, my breeder. Viglar needs to examine you.”

She looked between them and then seemed to come to the conclusion that she had no other choice. Zanr sat next to her, and ignoring her glare, he took her hand in his. “Hold onto me if you become scared.” She stared at him, a strange look on her face.

Viglar stepped close and moved his scanner the length of Rose’s body. He glared at Zanr. “She wiggles like a worm and then she jumps like those rabbits Natalie got for the small human. Your breeder has to be still.”

Zanr bent over Rose. “I know you are afraid, but you have to remain still so that Viglar can make sure you are totally healed from your torture.”

“I wasn’t tortured and I’m not afraid of any?”

He put his palm over her mouth again, and her eyes flashed daggers at him.

A few minutes later, Viglar turned to face them. “She is better but she needs food and vitamins and exercise,” Viglar said, still in Zyrgin.

Zanr stroked his breeder’s back, trying to keep the tension from showing in his body or his voice. “You are mostly recovered from your ordeal, my breeder.” He didn’t know why she insisted that she wasn’t tortured. But he would find out more when Viglar had left. He didn’t like the doctor this close to his breeder. Females liked doctors for a reason he didn’t understand. Though it was reassuring to see Rose glare at Viglar when he injected her. “I will look after her.”

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