Page 2 of Owned By the Hvrok

Figures—more than one. They surged from the water around the dome, fast and deliberate. At first, she couldn’t tell what she was seeing—too fast, too unnatural—but then her brain caught up.

Not human.

Oh, my god.

They were humanoid in shape, yes, but stockier. Their movements were sharp, inhumanly smooth, and they wore some kind of armor—dark, glistening, segmented. Their helmets were featureless, except for thin glowing lines across the face.

She stumbled backward, hardly believing what she was seeing.

Panic surged. She didn’t scream yet. Couldn’t. Her brain was still catching up. Still trying to make this into something explainable.

But she couldn’t explain the way they moved.

Or how fast they closed the distance.

She turned to run…

But they were already there.

A grip like iron wrapped around her wrist, yanking her off-balance. Another figure appeared beside her, slamming a heavy palm into her shoulder and sending her crashing into the sand. Wind left her lungs in a sharp gasp.

She tried to scream then, but her mouth barely opened.

One of them held a sleek, needle-like device. She caught a flash of silver.

A sharp sting pierced the side of her neck.

“No—” she gasped.

Her body betrayed her. Limbs turning to stone. Vision blurring. Sound fading to a strange, underwater thrum. The beach spun around her. Her pulse raced, then slowed. Her hands twitched in the sand.

Above her, stars began to appear in the darkening sky.

And then the world dissolved into black.

CHAPTER 2

The walls weren’t walls.

They shimmered like heat rising from asphalt, rippling with an iridescent sheen that made Sylvia’s eyes ache. No corners. No seams. Just smooth, concave surfaces pulsing with a faint blue light.

She sat on the floor, her back against the cool curve behind her. Her skin still smelled of salt and the ocean, but now it was layered under the sterile sting of something chemical. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her knees. She hadn’t spoken in hours.

Maybe she’d forgotten how.

There had been no sky since the light took her.

Just the white flash on the beach. The crackling hum. The sensation of gravity flipping upside down. Then darkness. Now this.

A metallicclickechoed beyond the curved partition.

Sylvia’s head snapped up.

The wall in front of her shimmered again, the surface folding inward like melting glass. She scrambled to her feet, her bare soles skidding slightly on the smooth floor.

Three figures entered.

The first was short and thickset, its green skin glistening under the chamber lights like oil on stone. It waddled forward on thick legs, powerful arms swinging loosely at its sides, claws clicking softly with each step. Its eyes were black pits. Cold. Lidless.

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