Page 26 of Alien Rescue

“Why what, my breeder?”

She fisted her hands, her nails digging into her palms. Her fever dreams came back to her. “Tell me why you allowed me to escape, Komodo?” she said through clenched teeth. They didn’t just allow her to escape; they’d tried to scare her into it.

“There are weapons out there that can destroy your people and mine.” He cocked his head. “Komodo is not an appropriate special name.”

“Tough. Wait a minute. You want me to help you find weapons that can destroy you?” She almost laughed in his face.

“Do you know what nuclear and biological warfare are? Chemical?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“The scientists who stole the golden-era weapons from the basement lab could do a lot of damage to humans. They have threatened to do that if we do not leave Earth.”

“Good for them.”

“They will not succeed.” He looked her over, a blatant possessive gaze. “You are my breeder. No bomb, no human will ever change that.”

“You don’t own me, Komodo.” Arguing with him was strangely exhilarating.

“You are mine, breeder.”

She held up a hand. “This will get us nowhere. What did you hope to achieve by letting me escape? I don’t know anything about weapons and explosives.”

He leaned toward her, suddenly looking more alien, dangerous. “You know more than you realize. And you should accept that we will never leave Earth. Those weapons will not harm us. Can you say the same for humans?”

Rose sat next to the fire, but suddenly none of its heat reached her. Only the chill morning wind. If those scientists did what they threatened, only a chill winter landscape would remain. “We have a right to defend ourselves,” she said. But even to her own ears she sounded weak.

“You knew where to get weapons and explosives. You also know what the scientists look like and where they would escape to. Tell me what the symbols on the rock at the building meant?”

“You saw that?”

“I have superior Zyrgin eyesight.”

“Are you serious?” She was tempted to stick her knife in his superior eyesight.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know where they might keep biological or nuclear weapons.” She’d never been in the inner circle, never been trusted with any important information.

“You were in the labs. You may have heard or seen something that can help us. And you understood the symbols on the rock.”

“I wasn’t allowed in the labs.”

“When they took you out of that hole, they put you in the labs before you were taken to your sleeping place.”

“Oh.” Rose thought about it. She wasn’t about to help their conquerors do anything, but this might be an opportunity. “I will help you if you release Mr. Parnell.”

“Why are you so interested in this human?” he growled. “He is an ugly human with no honor.”

“He was helping me.”

“How?”

“He tested me, put me in the box. It made me stronger.” Saying it out loud somehow made it sound crazy. Maybe she had been a little crazy to want to be buried alive. Would it really have proved anything? Or had she been punishing herself for that day when she’d destroyed her family? She shied away from that thought.

“You do not have to prove yourself to him.” He stilled, his eyes narrowed. “That is why you were in that hole. You thought you were proving something?”

He wouldn’t understand. His lizard mommy and daddy probably loved him unconditionally. “I want him freed.”

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