My body will be… what?
Warden Egara pushed the side of my chair and to my shock, the chair slid toward the wall where a large opening appeared. The examination chair slid, as if on a track, right into the newly revealed space on the other side of the wall. The tiny room was small, and glowing with a series of bright blue lights. The chair lurched to a stop and a robotic arm with a large needle slid silently up to my neck. I winced as it pierced my skin, then all I felt was a slight tingling at the injection site. A sense of lethargy and contentment made my body go limp as I was lowered into a bath of warm blue liquid. I was so warm, so numb…
“Just try to relax, Miss Day.” Her finger touched the display in her hand and her voice drifted to me as if from far, far away. “Your processing will begin in three… two… one…”
Chapter Two
“The transfer must be wearing on the body, therefore she sleeps.”
I heard the voice, but didn’t stir. I was quite comfortable and I didn’t want to wake up.
“Yes, however, she has been like that for four hours.” This voice was deeper, more commanding, clearly frustrated by my state. “Goran, perhaps my mate was damaged in transport.”
Damaged?
“There does not appear to be any damage.” A different voice. “She is small and perhaps needs additional time to recover.”
Small? I’d never been considered small. Short, maybe, but small? That was almost funny. I couldn’t will my body to move, to see who considered me to be anything but my usual curvy, very solid self. It was as if I’d woken up from a long nap and I was content to stay that way. I felt warm and safe and secure, not on the brink of… oh!
My eyes fluttered open and I did not see the stark gray walls of the interior of the processing facility where I’d spent the past few days. Instead, I seemed to be in some sort of rustic structure, the ceiling and walls made out of sturdy canvas. I couldn’t see much of the space, for there were three men looming over me. My eyes widened at their size. They were formidably large and… large. I’d never seen a man so big, let alone three of them. Was their size normal?
Everything about them was dark. Black hair and eyes, black clothing over tanned skin. They reminded me of men from the Mediterranean region of Europe. But I had not been sent by the processing center to Europe, or even the mid-East, but off-planet. Trion? Where was that? How far was I from home? Warden Egara hadn’t said how far away this planet was before she’d swiped her finger across her display and had me transported. It had happened so fast, like falling asleep for a surgery and waking up afterward completely unaware of everything that had happened in between.
I was lying on my side, no longer in that uncomfortable chair in the processing room, but on a narrow bed. My wrists and ankles were no longer restrained and I reached up and threaded the fingertips of my right hand through the hair just behind my ear.
Yes. There it was. I released a pent-up breath. The small lump caused by the justice department’s implant, the device that they’d promised would bring me home someday. Until then, I had to survive as Evelyn Day, convicted murderer.
I blinked, confused, as I tried to get my bearings. I’d known about alternate planets my entire life, but images of them on the media were never provided. Transport off-planet was only allowed for military personnel or for women in the bride program. Because of this, I’d always imagined that aliens would be very different than humans, but I was most definitely wrong. These men, if they were examples of their planet’s race, were very handsome specimens and very human-like. Handsome perhaps wasn’t the correct word. Intense, virile, manly. Gorgeous.
Regardless, their power and harsh energy, their sheer size, and the very distinct possibility that they might hurt me had me scrambling backwards.
The wall was pliant against my back and I had to put my hand down to balance myself. I was on my hands and knees and the men’s gazes dropped from my face to my body. While the air was warm—wherever I was—I felt it against my bare skin. Looking down, I was definitely not in prison garb. I was naked.
“Where are my clothes?” I squeaked, trying to cover myself and looking around. The space was Spartan, containing only the bed where I sat and a table in the center of the space. The room wasn’t overly large, or perhaps it was the sheer size of the three men before me taking up most of the space. Large black trunks lined a wall and metal gadgets, looking like medical machinery from the hospital and appliances from my kitchen, sat upon them.
“You have been transported and processed as custom demands,” one of the men said.
“But, I’m naked.” My hands froze and I looked down when I felt my nipples. They had gold rings through them. If that weren’t enough, a gold chain ran from one ring to the other and hung down to just above my navel.
I… um, I had nipple piercings. I couldn’t turn my gaze from the strange
sight. The hoops were smaller than a ring meant for a finger, the chain attached was thin like a cord and decorated with small gold discs.
“I see by your reaction that being adorned is not a custom on Earth.” I didn’t look up to see who spoke.
Adorned? Surprisingly, the nipple piercings didn’t hurt, even though they were brand new. Surely they would be sore. When I was ten I’d had my ears pierced and it had taken well over a month for the holes to heal. I felt no pain now, only a slight pulling on them because of the weight of the chain. It was slight, but constant… and arousing. My nipples tightened and I gasped, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Welcome to Trion. I am Tark, your new master, and you are in the med unit at Outpost Nine. I brought you here to see the doctor after your transfer, for you did not wake.” The one on the right spoke, his voice deep and somehow familiar. His dark eyes met mine and held. I couldn’t look away, nor did I want to, for I felt… something. No man on Earth ever looked at me in such an intense way. It was as if he were claiming me solely with his eyes.
Why would his voice sound familiar? Odd, but I shook that thought away as impossible. He glanced at one of the other men, then looked at me again, clearly and intently. “This is Goran, my second-in-command.” The other man nodded to me. He appeared younger than Tark and an inch or two shorter, but no less powerful of build. “And this is Bron, the doctor stationed here at Outpost Nine.”
The third man offered a slight head tilt as well and remained silent. He didn’t keep his eyes on mine as Tark did, but let them rove over my body. I shifted my hands to cover myself better, but knew he could see everything.
All three wore black pants, but while the other two men wore black shirts, Tark’s was gray. The cut was similar to what Earth men wore, yet I’d never seen such broad shoulders or well-defined bodies. These were strong men and their clothing only accentuated that.
Tark was the only man who spoke to me. “Evelyn Day, you have been matched to me by the interplanetary treaty. While I have been assured of your wellness, the transfer could have harmed you. You were asleep for more time than anticipated. Bron will examine you for any damage. Up.”
He held out his large hand for me to take. I eyed it, then him, carefully. Warily.