Page 36 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

"He hasn't done anything since we put him in here," one of the guards said. "Hasn't even moved much."

"I suspect he's done plenty," another voice hissed.

The door to his cell opened and Cooper considered turning to look at whoever had entered. When the door closed again, he decided not to bother. He could hear the guards walking away but didn't believe for a minute he was being left alone with whoever had come in to interrogate him.

"Why did you do it?"

"Since you seem to know everything, why don't you tell me?" Cooper answered. "You didn't listen to anything I said earlier, either."

"When everything you said was a lie, there was no point in listening to you. But I can tell your bond with the human woman has damaged you. Did you think we would spare you so we didn't damage her?"

Rage boiled in Cooper's chest and he pushed himself up. "Is that what you call torture, then? An attempt not to damage the human? She has done nothing to you or your people and you'vesubjected her to punishments my people refuse to use on our worst enemies."

"And yet you'd subject her to an unbreakable bond," his interrogator said. "One that will kill her if we kill you."

He looked to be about Cooper’s height, with the heavy cape and cowl he'd seen everybody but the guards wearing. A movement at the hem drew his attention to the same kind of heavy tail he'd seen on the guards.

"You can't force that kind of bond," Cooper said.

"Our history would say otherwise."

"The mating bond is biological as much as it is mental," Cooper argued. "That can't be forced, either, but it can't be deepened into anything else without the acceptance of both parties."

Something that had been nagging at the back of his brain clicked and Cooper suddenly felt the pieces fall into place. Everything he'd ever known about how his people reproduced had been twisted just enough that it still made a strange kind of sense. But something else had been keeping him from thinking too hard about the parts that didn't and he suddenly knew why.

"But you think you've been saving human women from forced mating bonds, don't you?" Cooper asked wryly.

"Many of the human women we've rescued had begged to have the bonds removed," his interrogator said.

"How many of them survive it?"

He could feel the displeasure of the man in front of him. Despite the tail and the obvious Chelion features he could glimpse beneath the hood, Cooper felt human brain patterns in the thoughts he couldn't quite hear.

"How many of them beg to go back to the monsters you rescued them from?" Cooper pressed. "How many of them end up bonded to one of your guards here?"

"It is difficult for them to reintegrate into their lives after all they've been through."

"Yeah, you're not rescuing them, you're raiding enemy camps and stealing their women. You might claim that you're doing it because of the way they're being treated but we both know you're not above torturing a woman to break her bond with her mate."

"You kidnapped a woman and forced her to bond with you."

Cooper made himself as comfortable as he could on his bed. "Kidnapped, yes. Forced her to do anything? Not at all. I quite like my human, in fact, and was looking forward to getting to know her and her people better before you interrupted."

A hiss escaped from under the hood and Cooper wondered why he was there. This was the most inexpert interrogation he'd ever been subject to, and that included when he was training to be a scout.

"But how did you force an unbreakable bond?"

"I told you, I didn't. You don't get that kind of bond without acceptance from both sides. She let me in because she wanted me there. And the only way I'm leaving is if she kicks me out. I will tell you, though, that torturing her the way you have isn't the way to convince her to let me go."

"You would let her be tortured to keep your hold on her?"

"I will stay bonded as close as I can to shield her from as much of your torture as I can," Cooper snapped. "She is my mate and I will do whatever I can to keep her safe."

"You have failed so far. Letting her go will be more effective than anything you can do from here."

Cooper stared at the cloaked man in front of him for a long moment then let his mouth draw back in a smile. It wasn't a nice smile.

"Every injury you do to her will be avenged," he said. "Before I dismantle this place piece by piece I will see every one of you who had a hand in hurting her destroyed."

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