Page 1 of His Clever Captive

CHAPTER 1

LACEY

The cage reeks of musk and something sharp, like burnt sugar and rust. My throat is sore from screaming for help earlier, but no one came—just those tiny servants with their misters and their cold, efficient hands. The little chattering things scrubbed me raw, then sprayed my skin with strange-smelling oils that glistened under the dim bedroom lights.

Then they left me here.

Alone.

Naked.

Shivering.

Feeling violated and fragile, with nothing but a thin sheet of a green silk-like fabric to cover me. I huddle in the corner, the metal bars like icicles against my back. I shift slightly, trying to ease the cramp in my leg and twist the sheet anxiously in my hands as my mind races back to how I got here.

As Gwen, Iris, and I got ready for our boss Gabe's wedding, we were ambushed by weird lizard aliens, and I was knocked out.

When I woke, I found myself up on an icy metal platform in front of a leering crowd of aliens with too many eyes andteeth. Paraded around like livestock, inspected and prodded by repulsive creatures at the auction, the memory of their slimy tentacles, rough hands, jagged nails, and creepy gazes still makes me sick.

The most repulsive of all the aliens—a giant monster of a creature with pulsing yellow eyes and dripping jaws—purchased me. Lord Gruzzik.

Then I was tossed into a dark container and transported to this cage. I had begged and pleaded to see my friends to no avail.

Was it two days ago? Three? Maybe a week? Time blurs when your world shrinks to a little prison in the opulent bedchamber of a disgusting alien brute. And I’m struggling to find any hope of escaping.

The door suddenly hisses open and I gasp, my heart slamming against my ribs.

Gruzzik stomps in, his hulking frame nearly scraping the ceiling. His scaled skin glints like oil on water, and his nostrils flare as he prowls closer. He reeks of decay.

“Human,” he growls, thick fingers curling around the bars, claws clanging. His knuckles are the size of my fists.

I press myself against the back of the cage, the sheet slipping.

He inhales deeply, his canine eyes narrowing. Then his gaze drops and his long, dark tongue darts out of his snout, as if tasting the air around me. A low, rumbling sound escapes him, and I watch, horrified, as the leather covered bulge between his legs shifts. Swells.

Oh god…

Bile rises in my throat, but I swallow it down, forcing myself to stay still and silent. Maybe if I don't move, he won't...I shudder, my skin prickling, anticipating the assault.

The cage door screeches open and one meaty hand—skin cracked and rough—clamps around my ankle.

“P-please—” I whimper.

He yanks at me hard and I scream, scrambling to grip the bars, but my palms are slick with sweat. The sheet tears as I’m dragged out, the cold air biting my skin. Gruzzik looms over me, his breath hot and sour, so rotten I gag.

This isn’t happening. I’m asleep and this is a nightmare. I squeeze my eyes shut.Pleaselet this be a nightmare!

But when I open them, Lord Gruzzik is still there. And his free hand reaches for my thigh?—

CRACK.

A four-armed shadow descends like a lightning bolt, a massive, wicked-looking club in one hefty fist. Gruzzik snarls, the force of the blow making him sway, before collapsing like a felled redwood tree.

“Got ‘im!” roars the hulking alien, his voice booming.

He’s got four beefy arms, charcoal skin, and muscle stacked on muscle in an almost cartoonish way. He’s so top-heavy I don’t know how he remains upright.

Then another figure darts past me—and all I catch at first are green scales shimmering. A lithe creature appears and they drive a thick glittering blue blade into Gruzzik’s chest with clinical precision. “Target neutralized,” they mutter, flicking their long tail behind them.

---