Page 9 of Abducting Sarah

“It’s all I have to go on at the moment, Jac. This plan might be cina waste, but it’s all I’ve got.”

Jac stood up and smiled as he joined me at the window. He crossed his arms and stared out at the Gorrk ship. “When all you’ve got is a bullshit plan, you call me. I’m honored.”

I laughed. “There’s no one else I would rather do a bullshit plan with than you.”

“Hey, you said it right this time,” Jac said, his tone amused.

“Bullshit is the same as cina waste?”

He nodded. “Basically, yes. But bulls are thousands of times larger than a cina. On Earth, cina are like mice.”

Jac often taught me the ways of humans and their references. It was one of the many things I learned from him. “I’ve sent your payment toSovereignfor this job, by the way.”

“Much obliged. I think Treg will lose it when he sees how much I’ve set aside for repairs.”

I laughed. “I’m not sure how a Gorrk keeps it together at any given moment, as it is. They’re so…”

“Gelatinous? Squishy? Slippery?”

“What’s squishy?”

He smiled and we spoke like old friends again, instead of like boss and employee. It was a bad habit I had never been able to break with Jacaranda Cozz. Had he not been raised in my father’s household, perhaps I would have been able to keep those lines sharply drawn. But I held Jac in high esteem and great affection, despite being his employer.

Our youth had been one of missions and the odd night of sharing a sleeping fur. We had grayed the lines between us so many times that my father often teased us for our closeness.

But when I reached twenty-two, we had the talk that every classed man must have with his son. Class cannot mix withunclassed, no matter the temptation. But my father’s temptation had nearly ruined my family and my life, so who was he to lecture anyone on such things?

CHAPTER 4

Sarah

The bright lights above nearly blinded me, but at least I could understand my captors’ words this time when I woke. “…wants to see her as soon as you believe it is safe to take her out of sedation.”

“Then let’s do it now, because I don’t want her sedated any longer than she must be,” the familiar alien said.

“Ode, I appreciate your concern for the specimen, but she is under my care now.”

“I understand that, Wave, but you don’t know them like I do, and if you—”

“Thank you for your wisdom. I will be sure Deacon sends a bonus for your added input on the matter. I’ll take her from here. You may return toSovereign. Now.”

I’m not sure what’s happening to me, but the familiar alien just got her ass handed to her in the nicest way possible. Mymind tensed from the frisson between them and tried to prepare my body for a fight, but none of my muscles would respond.

The familiar alien said, “Wave, if you kill her because of your ego, Deacon will have your head.”

“Have a nice trip back home.”

The familiar alien looked down at me, her blue hair falling around her face and framing it. “When you can, speak up if you have side effects from your drugs or your withdrawals, Sarah Hollinger. No one else here will understand it, but maybe they can return you to me—”

“Safe travels, Ode Hrimp.” The new alien shoved the gurney I was on through a doorway, and my nerves tried to creep up again.

Where the hell am I going now?

The hallways were nicer than the other ship—bright white with golden trimmed things in the walls. I couldn’t smell anything yet. The state they kept me in stopped me from breathing or doing anything outside of staring. Thankfully, the hallway lighting was less harsh than it had been in the laboratory, so that was a plus.

Everything seemed warmer than the other ship. Not by temperature—I still couldn’t feel anything—but by coloring and lighting. The machinery looked sleeker, too. This ship felt like an upgrade with the exception of being taken to my master.

Is master a formal title or a BDSM thing…is this some kind of sex trafficking thing for aliens? All those stupid stories about getting probed…they can’t be real, right?

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