Page 29 of Marked
Finally, the entrance hatch to the ship slid open, and I was taken onto another smaller flying vessel. There were windows, but they were covered with thick curtains. I couldn’t even look out onto the new planet I’d been forced to inhabit. I told myself it was just temporary, but things were looking pretty fucking bleak for me right now.
The little ship sped off and when it finally landed some time later, the door opened to reveal a silver building. It was spherical in shape and the windows were reflective, meaning I couldn’t see inside.
Attitude jerked me forward again, and I dutifully followed. I scowled at myself, ever the meek, obedient little human. Ishouldbe fighting back. Ishouldbe doing something. But what? What the fuckcouldI do?
I was on an alien planet, surrounded by creatures that saw me as nothing more than a commodity. A prisoner. Maybe even amealif they were feeling particularly barbaric. I had no weapons, no allies, no idea where I evenwas. The air smelled different here, thick and humid, clinging to my skin like a layer of filth. Everything here screamednot Earth, and I had no idea how to navigate any of it.
Even if I broke free, where the hell would I run? The landscape beyond the towering structures of this alien city was endless and barren, stretching out into nothingness like a vast desert of white sand. I’d seen no signs of ships, no vehicles I could steal, no escape route that didn’t lead straight into the jaws of somethingworse. There were no authorities to turn to, no benevolent government or police force that would step in to save me. As far as I could tell, this planet operated on one simple rule:The strong take what they want, and the weak get swallowed whole.
And I was weak here.
For the first time in my life, I wastrulypowerless. No knife hidden in my boot. No familiar streets to disappear into. No way to turn the tables, because the tables weren’t even in the same fuckingdimensionanymore. My captors were taller, stronger, faster. They knew this world. I didn’t. If I tried to run, I wouldn’t make it two steps before they ripped me back. If I tried to fight, they’d beat me down without breaking a sweat. If I tried to hide, I’d starve or get dragged out by something worse than them.
There was no escape. No help coming. No reason to hope.
And that was the worst part of all.
Hope was a fragile thing, and right now, I felt it slipping through my fingers like droplets of water.
They led me inside into more pristine white hallways. I stopped paying attention because they all looked the same, until we stopped in front of a large white door.
I suddenly got a very bad feeling that whatever was about to happen to me was going to happen in there.
I wondered if I was about to die.
CHAPTER 6
Kendra
The door slid open to reveal an enormous room with a ton of scientific-looking equipment. I couldn’t even hazard a guess at their function. I’d never been very good at biology, or science in general if I was being really honest, but these were most definitely alien and far more advanced than anything I’d ever seen or heard of back on Earth.
But none of those held my attention, not even for a second. Instead, my eyes locked on the massive clear glass cage on the other side of the room. It wasn’t the cage itself that I focused on, though, but who was inside it.
Alaric.
He was here with me. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of dark-colored boots and his jeans.
And he looked fucking pissed.
His dark eyes centered on mine, and he pressed a single hand against the glass. I smiled softly, his presence comforting me a little even though he was caged just like I had been.
I stared at him for several more moments before my core cramped hard. I curled my pelvis inward, unable to cope with the sudden painful reminder of the arousal I had been fighting off for so long. The so-called heat that Alaric was supposed to help stop.
Bastard pressed a slimy palm against my forehead. Gross.
“Ahh. Just as we thought. The presence of her mate renders the heat-reducing medication useless, and her temperature is rising once more. Increased liver function is likely the culprit for the breakdown of the drug,” he said.
“Interesting. So just the sight of each other causes the progression of her heat then,” Attitude replied thoughtfully.
“It’s about time the military brought us the male Lupenii mate. I swear they’re practically useless sometimes. Having the male here for the first time will be incredibly novel and crucial to understanding the induction of the process of the Lupenii female heat,” Needle said. He was the whiniest of the three, and I decided his voice reminded me of nails on a chalkboard.
Bastard picked up a metal bar off the counter and it expanded into a tablet-sized see-through screen. He swiped his fingers along its surface, and a spot in the center of the floor started to rumble.
A slat opened and a strange capsule emerged from beneath the ground. The surface of the egg-shaped object peeled away, and I jerked backwards when I saw what was left. There was a metal plate at the center, with four metal arms extending outward inthe shape of an X. At the end of each arm was a large circular metal cuff. They appeared too large for my ankles and wrists, but I knew enough in my short time here on Ghengra that alien technology could change shape or do something else entirely.
Attitude swiped his finger across the central point of the metal rope that held my wrists captive, and they recoiled back into the small rectangular device he’d pulled out of his pocket some time ago. I rubbed my wrists, trying to chase away the feeling of the metal on my skin.
“Strip,” Needle commanded.
