Page 123 of Sohut's Protection

“Sector?” Cleo took another step back, the reality of the situation weighing on her mind.

She’d been captured…again.

And Sohut…he was probably dead.

The thought made her want to collapse.

“I wasn’t in a sector, whatever that is,” she replied, threading her hands into her hair as she stared wide-eyed at the ground. “I was free.”

“I know you’re probably in shock right now—”

“What is this place?” Cleo turned her wide eyes to the female in front of her. “Where am I?”

“This is our terrarium. It’s where they’re keeping us before the auction.”

Auction?

She was in a cage.

There was that feeling around her neck again and she touched her neck as she took a step toward the transparent barrier.

She could just about see her reflection in the glass and there was a thin blue line around her neck.

It wasn’t solid, but it felt like it.

It was a clasp of some kind and memory of the moments before she was taken came rushing back to her.

Sohut.

Slamming her fists against the glass, she screamed at the beings on the other side.

She wasn’t an animal, goddamnit!

She wasn’t going to be caged, auctioned, and bought!

She’d die first.

As the beings on the other side paused to look at her, some coming close enough she could see the sores on their bodies, she looked one of them in the eye.

On the other side of the glass, the toad-man smiled.

Lee-yunna took a step toward her, causing Cleo to step back farther.

“Stay away from me,” she said, as her gaze darted around the fairy forest.

It was all for show.

There wasn’t anything magical about this. That reality was making panic rise within her.

“I have to get out,” Cleo murmured, her gaze still darting around.

“You’ve been unconscious for a few days…” Lee-yunna said. “Come sit with us. We will explain it to you.”

The female smiled at her and Cleo nodded slightly before she allowed the alien to lead her over to the other females.

They were all sitting on a set of rocks out in the open and as she and Lee-yunna approached, the conversation didn’t wane.

Whatever they were talking about though, Cleo didn’t hear.

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