Page 359 of Fated Mates of the Titan Empire

My rare skin for his rich girlfriend’s new handbag.

I trembled.

I didn’t want to be here.

I’d been abducted and brought here against my will and then chosen by a man—an alien!—who’d taken a shine to me.

I missed my friends. I missed our friendship and our jokes and the way we used to laugh and play games.

I wondered where they were now. I hadn’t seen them in the other rooms. I was the only human they had here. That’s what Shrisa told me soon after I arrived.

Of course, when I say “arrived,” I really meant when I woke up…

Forget what Rod Stewart crooned. The first breath is the deepest.

I sucked so much oxygen into my lungs my chest almost doubled in size. Then I coughed and sputtered as the breath fought its way out again.

The bright light.

That’s what I remembered. It lit up the minivan’s interior and plucked me and my friends out one after another like ripe grapes from a vine.

And I flew, heading higher and higher at such a dizzying speed I could barely open my eyes. The white light burned so brightly it hurt and then—

Nothing.

Like falling to sleep.

Or falling off a cliff.

Now I was in this place.

I clambered to my feet and pulled myself up using the edge of my bed. It was hard and white and very cold beneath my hands.

A figure bent over me and helped me up onto my feet. The figure placed a blanket over my shoulders.

“Thank you,” I said. “Thanks for—”

A reflection of myself stared back at me. The figure, whoever he or she was, wore a visor and cloth that covered them head to foot in something not unlike a Hazmat suit.

I started back and edged away from them.

There were two of them. The closest one had placed the blanket over me and raised his hands in a manner that was meant to suggest he wasn’t a threat.

I was naked beneath this blanket and there was nothing they could do that would convince me they weren’t a threat.

The second figure raised an electronic device that beeped. A green light blinked. I shied away from it. The first figure pressed a hand to the device and lowered it to the ground.

Then the figure spoke. It was in a deep, guttural sound in the back of his throat.

His native language, I guess. I had no idea what language it was. It sounded very foreign.

My heart thumped so hard I could feel it in my toes.

“Where am I?” I said. “You have to let me out of here. I have rights!”

The two figures shared a look before the first figure, much smaller than the other, reached into his pocket and extended something to me. He was very slow and careful with his movements.

It was a small box, no larger than a matchbox.

---