Page 17 of Forced to Mate By the Mad Scientist

“That can be arranged you know,” Barbarous said coolly. “Or I could give the punishment you just earned to the lovely ladyyou came here with. Sylvia, I believe her name is. Would you like that, Mr. Kross?”

Kross felt sick with fear and rage.

“Leave Sylvia alone!” he roared at the screen. “Leave her the fuck alone!”

“I will…ifyou cooperate. Now will you give the collector your samples or not?”

“Fine. As long as youpromisenot to hurt her.”

“I give you my word as a gentleman and a scientist,” Barbarous said gravely. And putting one long hand over his heart, he made a little bow.

“All right.” Kross extended his arm to the silver droid, which hovered nervously at the other end of the room, as though it didn’t trust him. He knew there was no way to be sure the mad scientist was telling the truth or that he wouldn’t go back on his word. But there was nothing else he could do—no other way to protect the woman he loved.

The droid finally took some blood and a scraping from the inside of his cheek. Then it hovered through the air to the round hole it had come from and disappeared into the wall again.

After that, there was nothing to do but pace his cell and try to get through the pain cage again, even though he knew it was useless. He was aware he was probably punishing himself for not being strong enough to protect Sylvia. The pain felt good in a way—it was what he deserved. He never should have let those two tree-looking bastards sneak up on him…

Just as his thoughts were becoming a loop of guilt, anger, and anxiety for the woman he loved, the door opened again and two of the treetures entered. One of them stood by the door and the other held the arm of a sobbing woman.

At least, Krossthoughtit was a woman. She had breasts and was wearing a kind of short dress made of some kind of tan plantfiber. But she also had hair like wool and small, curling horns on her forehead.

The treeture holding her arm walked her right up to the closest hazy red pain shield while Kross watched, wondering what the hell was going on. Then, abruptly, the pain shield was gone.

It only lasted a split second and before Kross had time to react, the sobbing girl was shoved into his area and the red shield was reactivated.

The treeture by the wall must have hit the control button at the same time that the other one pushed the girl in, Kross thought. Either way, he had missed an opportunity. He wouldn’t miss again if he could help it.

But in the meantime, he had the crying woman to deal with.

“Hey, are you all right?” he asked her. “Did they hurt you?”

She looked up, taking her hands from her face and he saw that her eyes had horizontal pupils. They were also red from crying.

“Did they hurt you?” Kross asked again.

“No…butyouwill.” The woman looked at him mistrustfully. “They sent me here for you.”

“For me?” Kross frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t understand.”

“No, but you will, Mr. Kross.”

Kross turned and saw that the screen on the far wall was lit again and Barbarous was smirking at him from it.

“What are you talking about?” Kross demanded. “You think I’ll hurt her just so you can get off watching it? I don’t fucking think so!”

“If my formula works, you won’t have a choice,” Barbarous told him.

“Formula? What for—” Kross started to ask. But at that moment there was a hissing sound and the tree trunk roombegan to fill with pink smoke, pouring in from a hidden vent somewhere.

It was cloyingly sweet—Kross coughed as he inhaled it. He felt like he was choking on cotton candy—a confection that humans were fond of though it was nothing but sugar.

The girl they had shoved in the room with him was choking too. Kross wondered if the plan was to kill them both with poison gas—what else could Barbarous be doing?

But after a moment, the smoke cleared leaving nothing but a lingering, too-sweet scent hanging in the air. Kross looked down at himself. His body looked fine and he certainly didn’tfeelany different.

The woman looked pretty much the same too, he thought. She was just standing there, blinking, as though she had been stunned.

“Well?” Barbarous demanded eagerly from the screen. He was staring at Kross avidly. “Well, how do you feel?” he asked.

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