Page 27 of Alien Rescue

“Parnell is not the human you think him. He will never be freed.”

“Don’t you dare insult him. You’re not fit to lick his boots.”

He pulled his lips back from his teeth, snarled like a dog. “I do not wish to lick his boots.”

“Why did your people capture Mr. Parnell? Did you want to destroy him before he could oppose you?”

He pulled his lips back from his teeth in an expression so vicious, she jerked back. “He created the raider camps. Put the Parenadorz’s breeder in the camps.”

Shock and then anger made her body rock back again. He was lying. He had to be lying. “I don’t believe you.”

Could it be true? Could Mr. Parnell have done that? He put you in a hole that nearly killed you, a small voice in her mind taunted. She pushed that thought away. This alien would never convince her that Parnell could have created those hellish camps.

“It is true. Our Parenadorz’s breeder suffered greatly.”

She stared at him. “What is Paradorz?”

“Parenadorz is what you would call an emperor.”

“Did this Parenadorz come to Earth? Did his wife come with him?” She couldn’t imagine how this woman could’ve ended up in the camps.

“His breeder is human.”

“Not much of an emperor, is he, letting her get captured and put into raider camps?”

He was on her before she could blink, his palm held gently over her mouth. “Never speak such things. The Parenadorz see and hear everything.”

Rose nodded. She had her doubts about the emperor seeing and hearing everything, but she’d err on the side of caution.

“The breeder of the Parenadorz was taken to the camps before the Zyrgin were aware of her existence. If she were in his care, Parnell and his woumbers would never have been able to capture her.”

Rose sighed. “I tell you, Mr. Parnell is not involved with the raiders. If you found evidence that he was, it was because he was under cover.”

He didn’t answer, as if he knew it would be useless to argue with her about this.

They sat in silence for a while. Rose formulated and rejected several plans to rid Earth of the aliens. In all the scenarios, Zanr mysteriously manage to escape. Only to find her later and make hot, passionate love to her. Obviously her repeated attempts to prove herself, and being captured by the aliens, had messed with her mind. She needed to find her colleagues and if there was any kind of resistance, she needed to make contact with them.

They ate in silence for a while. “Tell me how you became an agent,” he said.

“On my nineteenth birthday, Parnell was there. He is a friend of my father’s. My family didn’t want me around.” Her father had sent her to boarding school after the kidnapping and refused to see her for the next nine years. “ I decided to go with Parnell and become one of his agents.” She shrugged. “And that’s what happened.” She didn’t tell him that Parnell had been a close friend of her father’s. That she’d met him when he came to visit, and he’d suggested she came to work for him when he saw how unhappy she’d been. Parnell had told her he’d show her how to become strong. To prove herself and to get back her family’s love and respect. He’d told her he’d show her how to become a strong, successful woman that her father would welcome back with open arms.

“You are angry that your family did not want you?”

“I’ve been angry for a very long time,” she said. “Even before my nineteenth birthday, I clashed with my family.” She’d been a nightmare to live with. Her father might have been out of her reach, but her brother had suffered the brunt of her anger and frustration. She finished the last of her food and sat back. “So how did you become a warrior?” she asked, curious, but also wanting to change the subject.

“I was born a warrior.” Like the time he’d told her about killing the bear animal, something in his voice hinted at more.

“So, you don’t train or apply to become one?”

“No, mostly warriors are born from warriors.” He swallowed some coffee and seemed to think it over. “Sometimes the Parenadorz can make a warrior.”

“So, you have a caste system?” This Parenadorz of theirs had worrying powers. How did you fight someone like that? Zacar had already scared the pants off her.

“No, we do not. Warriors are superior to citizens. We are stronger and faster than citizens.”

“Isn’t that a two-caste system?”

“No, we are all Zyrgins.”

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