Page 57 of Bought and Shared
The word “mate” and all that entails swims to the forefront of my mind then. I’m suddenly so overwhelmed I could cry. My eyes pool with water and my throat thickens with unshed tears. Have I exchanged one prison for another? Will being a mate to Knox and Oren strip me of my choices in life the same way that being married to Micah would? I can’t deny it’s a paralyzing thought no matter how much I enjoy my time with Oren and Knox.
“What YOU want? Your only destiny is to be my wife!” Micah haughtily declares into my prolonged silence. “To be a wife and a mother is every woman’s highest calling. To fight it is arrogant and self-serving!”
I’ve been told this my whole life. That my “calling” is to serve others and never myself. While I want children one day in the distant future, I’m not ready to make that kind of commitment when I’ve only just become an adult myself. And I will never make that commitment to this man.
It’s then that I realize I’m not powerless in this situation at all. If Micah pushes things too far, I can easily call for Rollins and he’ll make sure the man leaves me alone, permanently if necessary!
Gathering my books in my arms, I strengthen my resolve and my spine. “I’m leaving now, Micah, and I think you should too. Don’t contact me again. If you do, you won’t like the outcome.”
Sneering, Micah edges closer. “Is that a threat?”
The man was insufferable. “Take it however you want.”
Tilting his head, my former fiancé quickly scans the titles of the books stacked in my arms. “Not only are you willing to fornicate with these foreigners, but you’re studying their culture as well? You’ve strayed so far from redemption, Aurora, I’m not even sure you can be saved.” His judgmental tone of voice is so condescending I have to fight the urge to slap his face.
“Then stop trying,” I retort, before turning and strolling away with my selections.
Rollins spies the heavy stack of books in my hands and quickly takes them for me. As we walk over to the front desk to check them out, I notice that Micah is discreetly exiting the library. Good. I hope he got my message loud and clear and never returns.
I had two cups of coffee with breakfast, and I can feel my bladder protest as we finish checking out. Telling Rollins I’m going to use the restroom before we head back to my suite, I dip inside and do my business.
As I’m washing my hands, I sense him before I see him. I don’t even get a chance to yell. A cloth with some foul-smelling substance is slapped over my mouth and nose, and the last thingI notice before I pass out is Micah’s smug expression glaring back at me in the mirror.
CHAPTER 18
Aurora
My head aches and my mouth feels like a desert when I come to. My body aches all over and there’s a buzzing in my ears that won’t go away.
“You’re awake,” a kind, soft voice speaks to me then.
I look up and spot my mother lingering in the doorway. Her familiar face causes my chest to painfully constrict.
“Mom,” I croak out, my voice sounding foreign and weak. “Where am I?
My mother, an older version of me, walks into the room. “I’m here, sweetheart. You’re back home safe and sound.”
I try to sit up, but I realize I can’t. “What’s going on? Why am I tied to the bed?”
As I struggle frantically and look around, I realize I’m tethered to my own old headboard. Everything in my room looks the same as when I left it a few scant weeks ago. However, after havinglived outside this closed community for such a short time, all that I see looks so childish. Like I’m in the room of a twelve-year-old, not that of a full-grown woman whose parents were trying to marry her off.
A shadow of concern crosses my mother’s face as she notices my anxiety-filled perusal. “The ties are for your safety, Aurora. They thought you might hurt yourself without them, dear.”
Who is “they”? And why does anyone think I’ll hurt myself when I never have before? Despite my mother’s reassurance, I continue to struggle as the memories flood back to me. The library. Micah asking me to leave with him. And when I wouldn’t, his threats. Then, disgustingly, the attack in the bathroom where he drugged me.
“Mom, I need you to help me get free!” I plead, as desperate to escape as a trapped animal. “Quickly, before Micah comes back!”
Wringing her hands together, my mother begins to pace. “I can’t do that, Aurora.”
Her words penetrate my haze of fear and create a whole new one. “Why not?”
“Because we’re doing this for your own good, dear,” she reveals with less confidence than is necessary in this pivotal moment.
I’m stunned by her words. The implication of what she’s telling me suddenly settles in with the ominousness of deadly flood waters. She said “We’re” doing this for your own good. That meant Micah isn’t doing this alone. My family colluded with him to kidnap me.
My mother sees the stricken look on my face and grimaces. “You have to understand, Aurora, we can’t have those heathenscorrupt your pure soul! Your father and I can’t just idly stand by while you turn toward a life of sin. These aliens might be stronger than us, but their faith isn’t. God will protect us. Have faith, and he will guide us out of this darkness together.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Please let me go, Mom. I have a life back at the base and opportunities I’ll never have here at the compound. I don’t want to marry Micah. Don’t force me to do this.”
