ALIEN ABDUCTION (Captured by Aliens) (3 page)

The men
that she did see, such as the guards, all appeared to be human.  Certainly King
Kore was, as she knew far too well.  Every man Ebony had seen so far was at
least seven feet tall and encased in muscle hard as steel, and had warm bronze
skin and rather long hair of jet black or white or silver--or sometimes a
combination of all three.

The two
sisters came to yet another wide marble staircase and started walking down the
steps.  “I love the gardens,” Adrienne said.  “They feel a little more like
home.”

“Well,
they might if we had the first clue what kind of plants were growing in there. 
I’m afraid to touch any of them,” said Ebony.  “I don’t know if they’re
poisonous, or carnivorous, or what.”

“Oh, I’m
sure Dezec would never let us come out here if there was any danger,” her
sister replied. 

“Well, let’s hope your husband wouldn’t let anything happen to you--or
to your baby.”

Adrienne smiled up at Ebony, her face glowing with happiness.  “You
thought I was crazy to marry him when I had the chance,” Adrienne said.  “But
it’s way better than being in that harem and I only wish the same could happen
for you.”

Ebony sighed.  “You were simply a reward for his service to the
kingdom as captain of the guard.  It’s not like you got to choose him.  You
didn’t know him at all.”

Adrienne shrugged.  “Is it any weirder than picking people through
on-line dating sites? They’re total strangers, too.  At least I saw Dezec and
knew who he was before he chose me.”

“I’ll admit that your fine-looking Captain Zeta was nice enough to
me when I met him--however briefly.”

Adrienne smiled again.  “He loves me, and I love him, too.  It
doesn’t matter how we met.  All that matters is that we did, and now we have
each other.”

“And shoes.” Ebony tried to keep from rolling her eyes.  “All right,
then. 
As
much as I didn’t want to believe in love at first sight, it seems to have
happened for you and for him. 
I’m truly happy for you and your baby.  I think
he’ll take care of both of you--you lucky heifer.”

Adrienne
hugged her sister as they walked.  “It will happen for you, too, Ebony.  I’m
sure of it.”

“Hmm.  So
far, I haven’t been so lucky.”  She couldn’t bear telling her sister of the
nightly visits to the king.  She’d long since become numb to her situation. 
She never thought a person could get used to forced sex, but given enough
time….

They
reached the end of the corridor leading to the gardens in the lower level of
the palace, and Ebony felt a little better already.  The gardens were her one
escape from the confines of her elegant prison.  She pushed open the heavy door
and started to walk into the atrium that served as an entryway to the gardens.

She
stopped in her tracks and Adrienne almost bumped into her. 

Near the
small center fountain of the marble atrium, a young, slender blonde woman lay
crumpled on the polished stone floor.  Over her stooped a guardsman dressed in
a long, heavy black coat, and he seemed to be examining her closely.

Ebony
reacted instinctively.  “Adrienne!  Get out of here!” she hissed.  “Go and get
help!  Get Captain Zeta!”

Adrienne
hesitated.  “What--what’s going on?” she asked, staring at the fallen woman.

“Go!  
Now!
”
And to Ebony’s relief Adrienne turned and left the atrium without another word--but
she let the heavy door slam behind her.

That made
the guard look up.  At least, she assumed he was a guard, given his long black
coat and the familiar silver gun strapped to his waist.  Then she recognized
the woman lying on the floor.  It was Cassie, a pale and slender blonde, one of
her sisters from the harem.

“What
happened?” she said, hurrying over to the fallen woman.  The man gave her a
startled look and then straightened up when she knelt down beside Cassie’s
motionless form.  Ebony touched the young woman’s neck to feel for a pulse, and
found that though her heart beat slowly she was indeed alive.

Just
beyond the atrium, the fresh green scent of the gardens blew in through the
open doors--but Ebony could see nothing past the mammoth man blocking the
entrance.  She did not recognize him; though he was just as tall and bronzed as
the other men, his long hair was black with a slight sheen of silver, and he
had very large brown eyes.  He studied her more closely, and far more openly,
than any palace guard should have done.

But the
palace was enormous and there were no doubt hundreds of guards that she had
never seen.  She threw this one an angry look.  “Don’t just stand there,
dumbass!  Aren’t you a guard?  Go get a doctor!” she snapped.

But
instead of moving past her, the man grabbed Ebony by one arm and hauled her to
her feet.  Before she had a chance to scream or fight, a strange-smelling cloth
was pressed to her nose and mouth.

A wave of
dizziness swam through her head, making her eyes roll around in their sockets. 
The atrium spun out of control...and Ebony closed her eyes as blackness
swallowed her whole.

CHAPTER THREE

Ebony
slowly became aware that something terribly wrong had happened.

She was
hit all at once with a sensation of falling, along with a painful throbbing in
her ribs.  Blood pounded between her temples and across her forehead.  Gradually
she realized that her head was upside down and she was being carried, draped
over some large solid object that moved forward one step at a time.  Her
fingers tingled with the pressure of bindings at her wrists, and something
tight stretched around her mouth and the back of her head.

Still
groggy, she peeled her eyelids open with an effort...and found herself in the
dark, lying across someone’s shoulder.  Rough, uneven stone floor moved past
her vision in a whir, forcing her to close her eyes again and choke back a
sudden rush of bile at the back of her throat.  There were splashing sounds
with each footstep her bearer took.

If she’d
been clobbered in the head, she wouldn’t have been surprised.  A headache from
whatever had drugged her into unconsciousness made her feel sick and dizzy.

She
attempted to open her eyes again, bracing herself this time and dragging in air
through her nose.  Her nostrils flared as she became aware of an awful stench of
sewage permeating the space, making her gag again.  By the smell in the air,
she was being taken somewhere through the sewer system.

Ebony
steeled her stomach, striving for calm.  She’d need it if she was going to get
out of this--whatever this was.

A big
hand secured her legs tight against a hard chest, leaving the upper half of her
body to dangle on the backside of the man who carried her.

He was a
big son of a bitch, whoever he was.  Even though she hung upside down with her
head partway down her captor’s back, she could see and feel that his shoulders
were massive and tapered down to a narrow waist and hips.  He had the muscular
buttocks of someone who played heavy sports, and his thick legs looked like
they belonged on a bull--or maybe just Mr. Universe.

Shadows
flickered across the walls of the tunnel.  Their movement only increased her
dizziness.  She raised her head and tried to discern her whereabouts, for the
ache in her head made her skull feel like it was going to explode from the
pressure of hanging upside down.

It didn’t
take much imagination to realize something was wrong.  She sure as hell wasn’t
where she was supposed to be.  Unless the king and his men had some kind of
sick fantasy or fetish going on, it was pretty obvious to her that she had
first stumbled across the abduction of Cassie and was now being kidnapped
herself.

She could
not imagine why anyone would kidnap her, or kidnap Cassie.  They were just two
more concubines in a castle that was filled with them.  And the unspeakable
torture that any man would get if he ever touched a woman of the king’s harem
should have been enough to stop anyone from trying to take one.

But it
was obvious that someone had found it worth the risk to try.

Much as
she hated the idea of going back to the harem, Ebony realized that if her
captor took her too far into the sewer system she’d never be able to find her
way back--even if she could somehow escape in the first place.  The
heart-stopping thought of never seeing her sister again, or anything else that
was familiar, made panic surge to the surface.

Ebony
used the adrenaline rush to claw at the back of the stranger, kicking her legs
and trying to scream through the gag muzzling her mouth.  “
I
want to
get down! Now!”

A hard
smack landed on her ass, stinging her cheek and stunning her into immobility.  “Settle
down!” the man commanded, in a deep, booming voice.  She could feel it rumble
from his chest into her thighs.

His
response only provoked Ebony to greater anger.  She wasn’t a fucking kid!  Being
spanked like a child only pissed her off more. 

But Ebony
knew she had to calm down and think if she wanted to survive this.  She felt
pretty confident that if he’d meant to hurt her, she’d already be dead or
injured by now...and so she could only hope that she was therefore needed alive
for something, even though she couldn’t imagine what that could possibly be.

She
gritted her teeth.  Putting every ounce of energy into her legs, Ebony kicked
out and then kneed her abductor in the solar plexus, trying to throw herself
out from under the arm that bound her.  She was gratified to hear him grunt as
the air was expelled from his lungs.

His
immediate response was to bend forward and drop her, feet first, onto the cold,
wet stone floor of the sewer.  The moment her bare feet found the surface, she
stumbled, righted herself, and whirled around to run. 

Up ahead,
she saw several other tall, strong men carrying women from the harem down the
tunnel.  The shadows she’d seen spinning around the tunnel were from small
lanterns they carried in their free hands to guide their way.

The sight
confused her, making her unsure of which way to go to escape.  Before Ebony
could take more than a few steps, however, she was snatched by the waist, spun
around, and crushed hard against the same masculine chest that had held her
before.  Long fingers wrapped around her waist beneath her ribs.

Ebony
snatched the gag off her mouth and was about to scream bloody murder--when the
man lifted her off her feet and brought her face up to his.

She
arched her back, gasping as he compressed her waist to hold her high in the air. 
Her feet dangled off the floor by a foot as she was brought face to face with
her abductor.  And even in the dimness of the shadowy tunnel, she could see that
his face was eerily similar to the one man on this planet that she despised
more than any other--King Kore Anadaru.

Ebony saw
thick black eyebrows slanted in anger above cold, crystal blue eyes.  The
crystalline color was apparent even in the dark and it pierced her gaze like
the rays of a prism.  Angular cheeks looked carved from marble, jutting down to
a broad chin marked by a cleft. 

Dark
silvery, almost black hair, chopped off straight at the chin, curled up around
his ears and forehead.  The effect should have softened his face, but he was
made of too many hard angles to ever look soft.  Except for the color of his
hair and the broadness of his chin and straight nose, she’d swear she was
looking at a mirror image of the king.  The similarities made the hair rise on
the back of her neck.

But this
man’s lips were full, not thin, and curved into an angry grimace, matching the
stubborn set of his jaw and the angry look in his eyes.  If the tension infusing
his face and musculature was any indication, he resented the fact that his
captive had found the nerve to try to escape.

Slowly,
Ebony closed her gaping mouth, and swallowed convulsively before trying to
summon up the words.  “I know you,” she said at last, feeling certain that she
did even though she knew she’d never set eyes on him before.  He wasn’t the
kind of man she’d ever forget.  “I
know
you.”

“I’m
afraid you do not.  Are you going to fight me?  Must I knock you out, as Damon
knocked you out before?” the man growled, giving her a hard shake for emphasis.

Her head
snapped back, unprepared for the sudden change in direction.  “If you manhandle
me, you’re going to wake up without your balls!” she said through gritted teeth. 
Then she stopped, and froze in place for a moment. 

He
smirked, hitching up one corner of his mouth, though the amusement failed to
reach his eyes.  He gave Ebony an appreciative once-over.  “I’m just surprised
you have any fight left in you at all.  None of the others did.”

But
suddenly she didn’t want him to know just how much fight she had in her.  She
realized that her best chance lay in lulling him into a false sense of security
until she could steal away at a better time, and so she decided that she would
cooperate in any way necessary until she could escape.  Her captor’s brute
strength was far greater than her own, but she trusted that he would think like
a typical man: with his dick.  In her experience, men underestimated those who
were smaller than themselves.  And she was tiny in comparison with this big
brooding lug.

Slowly,
she shook her head, continuing to stare at the man who held her dangling above
the floor.  “Who
are
you?” she gasped, though her chest felt tight and
it was becoming hard to breathe.

He
chuckled, but it was a rough sound that was devoid of mirth.  “I find myself
disappointed in you.  I thought, by the look in your eyes that you were more
than merely another one of these vapid concubines.  I was sure you were smarter
than that.

“But to
answer your question, I am Fallon Anadaru.  I am rightful heir to the throne of
Chalcydon and I was betrayed by both my father and brother.  And you, little
one, are going to help me secure my place upon my throne.”

Her eyes
widened.  “The king--has a brother?”

“He does. 
Not many know.  I like it that way.”

“A
brother that should be king, instead of him?”

“You
heard me.”

“I heard
you.” Ebony tried to twist out of his grasp, but her struggles had no effect.  “Of
course, there’s no telling if anything coming out of your mouth is the truth or
not,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath as he continued to hold her aloft. 
“You could just be insane.”

He
ignored her words.  “If you are willing to behave yourself,” he said, “I will
allow you to walk of your own accord.” He aimed that piercing blue gaze
straight at her eyes.  “Are you going to behave?”

Behind
her, Ebony sensed that the others in the group had stopped to listen to their
exchange and had closed in to cut off any avenue of escape.  Much as she’d love
to give this man a run for his money and wipe that belittling smirk off his
face, she knew better than to press her luck.  There were just too many of his
men here in this dark and unfamiliar tunnel.

Yet if
she played dumb and cowed before him like a good little girl, he might lower
his defenses--and if he didn’t, she was willing to try something crazy like
seducing him if it meant she could escape.  She knew very well that there was some
kind of shortage of women on the planet, and all men liked getting their dicks
wet as much as possible.  And all men especially tended to fuck themselves into
exhaustion whenever they got a new piece of ass.

She’d had
enough boyfriends to know that much.

You’re
a survivor, first and foremost,
Ebony reminded herself. 
You can worry
about your feelings about it at a later date--if you survive this.

Still
staring at his cold blue eyes, she nodded silently, and was greatly relieved
when he lowered her to the floor at one side of the tunnel, away from the
stream of muck, and the pads of her bare feet connected with the cold, damp
stone.  She took a deep breath and tried to straighten her flimsy red silk
gown.

“Get
moving,” the man said, and then spun her around and prodded her into walking by
pushing his finger into her back.

Ebony
walked on, and kept silent, but kept to the very edge of the tunnel.  Now that
she was upright and walking, she could see that the center had a slow river of
sewage in it that would have been knee-deep on her or on any of the other women. 
The men had thick boots and barely noticed the inconvenience, but Ebony cringed
at how filthy her bare feet were and how the long gold-edged hems of her sheer
red gown were already soaked to the ankles in an unthinkable sort of mud.  But
there was nothing she could do about it now but keep moving.

She
counted seven men walking up ahead and every one of them had a woman thrown
over his shoulder, just the way she had been.  She didn’t like those odds.  And
as much as she wanted to think about only herself, she could see the terrified
faces of the captive women as they were carried through this dark and stinking
tunnel into the unknown.  Yes, Cassie was one of them, and she saw Rebecca, and
Jane, and Suzanne, and Michelle, and Pamela, and
Famke.