Boisterous laughter seems to pierce right through my head and chest while I struggle to absorb this information. I think I should be happy or scared, but I'm neither. I can’t feel anything at all.
"Well, gentlemen, it appears we will have a modified human to sell to you sooner than expected. Now, let's talk price, shall we?"
A beep cuts off the rest of Clija's smug words, leaving me alone again with Sventik, who is once again hovering over my face.
"It appears Clija plans to keep you, after all." Is he pouting? "It's a shame I can't keep you myself, but as his second in command, I can play with you more often than any of the others. I still have my tests to run, especially now that we know you're pregnant. How truly wonderful for us!"
He's wrong. It's not wonderful at all.
It's a nightmare.
Chapter 12
Olo
Iwakewithajolt and gasp.
Where am I?
The room looks like the ship's med bay in Straf, all sterile and metal with cabinets all along the sides of the rooms, save for a single closed door. I'm alone, but who knows how long that will last? I try to sit up, but I'm tied down to a hard surface—an operating table, if I had to guess—and I'm not going anywhere. In fact, most of my body is still numb, and I can only twitch or move the slightest bit.
Helplessness isn't a feeling I deal well with, and that sinking, gut-wrenching emotion is all I'm feeling right now. Add in what happened at our den, and I want to scream.
A loud bang has Lyra shrieking and me growling. I whip my head toward the open doorway to the nest as five aliens burst through our front door. I raise my hackles and stand to place myself in front of Lyra, who's now shaking and also attempting to stand.
"Stay down," I say as calmly as I can, which I'll admit isn't calm at all. "Wen will get here. We just need to stall them."
I don't tell her that I don't buy my own words. I don't tell her that I fear Wen won't get back in time to stop this.
"Come out now, and perhaps I'll be gentle," one of the aliens commands.
I stay silent and still. Fear is nearly choking me, but I refuse to let the emotion consume me.
"Have it your way," is all hear before four aliens are racing down the hall toward us.
I rush to slam the door shut, hoping to buy us a few precious seconds, but they're faster. They barge into the nest and grab me, tugging me out into the hall despite my struggles. Lyra cries out, then falls silent, and my heart fucking stops.
I'm quickly pinned to the wall by two of the aliens and barely manage to see Lyra being dragged limply past me.
No matter how much I twist and fight, it's useless, and I'm dragged to the front door just as they pull Lyra through. A familiar growl rends the air, causing the aliens blocking my view to freeze in place. Another roar, and the sounds of fist impacting wish flesh echo ominously through a world seeming to hold its breath alongside me.
"Turns out you had my property, after all," says the same alien as before.
"She's not yours." Wen doesn't sound right, and it sends me further into a panic as I resume my fighting.
I cry out as something sinks into my neck seconds before I'm dropping to the ground. The world around me blurs and blackens. Too quickly, I'm out.
The door to the med bay slides open on a faint whoosh, pulling me from the memory.
An alien in an odd covering that encases its whole body save for its eyes hovers over me, a holoscreen to his left. I can't focus long enough to read it, and I doubt it's in English anyway.
There's a beeping noise, and a voice says, "Well?"
It sounds like the same one as before at the den, and it makes me shudder.
"This modified human is a male, but my scans show he has a womb like the females of their species do."
"Interesting," drawls the first voice. "And is it pregnant?"