Hide to Stay Alive (Club Release 1) (6 page)

My gaze darts up and into
his eyes. Just the sight of those amazing teal eyes makes me feel a
little better. The vents next to his nose are still a bit weird but
I’m getting more used to them. His eyes more than make up for the
vents and his strangely striped skin. They are so pretty. His long
hair is nice too.

“
Good. Be still, I’m going
to remove these cuffs from your wrists.”

I watch as his large hand
pulls a key from his pocket and then quickly unlocks the cuffs. He
keeps hold of the cuffs and chain. I vaguely wonder what he’s going
to do with them. I don’t want him to put them back on me.
You don’t have a choice in the
matter
, my logical side sadly points out.
My heart sinks. I can’t handle this.

With his free hand, he
guides me to the bed. Once again, I freak and wonder if he’s going
to jump me. I covertly check out his frame to see if I have any
chance of taking him out. Fuck! Pretty Eyes seems to be all thick
muscle. I can see the damn things rippling under his dark
clothes.

He nudges me down onto the
bed. I start shaking and want to run.

His nostrils flare and so
do the vents next to his nose. His eyes soften. “Calm down, you’ll
be safe here. I’m going to help the others takeoff and get us away
from this planet. I’ll return to check on you as soon as I can.”
His eyes harden. “Stay put.”

His commanding tone is
back. The lump in my throat swells. When he continues to stare at
me, I realize he’s waiting for me to respond. I nod my
understanding.

“
That’s good enough for
now, little human.”

I watch as he turns and
leaves. The chain rattles in his hand reminding me of what I’ve
just been through. As soon as the door shuts, I start looking
around. As the trauma of the last few days sinks in, I start to
shake violently.

Needing a secure place to
calm down, I look under the bed. Not going to happen, it’s only an
inch off the floor. On the other side of the bed is a chair, but
its low to the floor as well. I go to the door Pretty Eyes went
through and try to open it. Fuck, how did he do it?

Another door catches my
attention. It’s smaller than the other one. I go to it and push
what looks like a handle. The thing springs open. Looking inside, I
see that it’s a closet. Kind of small but that suits me fine. I
look over my shoulder, nobody’s there. Getting back to the task at
hand, I lift out the material in the bottom of the closet and
quickly slide in.

Reaching out, I grip the
door and shut it. Still trembling, I arrange the material over me.
I do it with great care to make sure none of me is visible. My body
slowly calms to the point where I’m barely trembling. Tears well in
my eyes as I relive being captured and brought to the platform from
hell. Gayle’s bloody face flashes through my mind. Megan being
dragged off to an uncertain fate causes a tear to slide down my
cheek.

You will not think of
those things
, I tell myself in the firmest
tone I can manage. I wipe a tear away and take a shuddering breath.
Falling back on my training, I focus on my breathing. In through
the nose, out through the mouth. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

With time, I begin to calm
myself. Pretty teal eyes flash through my mind. Heat stings my
cheeks as I remember him touching me on the platform. That is my
only good memory of that horrible time.

His softly spoken words
come back to me. “We are willing to buy live-sex-playthings and
seemas that take care of our homes and sexual needs. If you want to
be one of those things you will follow my orders.”

My breath catches as I
realize what I’d agreed to by letting him touch me. I feel panic
start to rise in me again. The pressure crushing in on my chest is
almost unbearable. I start shaking violently again. I long to hold
my faithful backpack.

The two of us had been a
team for so long. I hope someone nice is taking care of Backpack.
The pain over the loss of my companion is excruciating. We’d been
together for the last five years. What am I going to do now? I have
no friends. What are the zaphinians going to do to me? Are they
going to toss me in a cage like the other aliens did?

Just the thought of that
nasty cage has my heart racing and my senses going on high alert.
My nostrils flare when I catch the faint scent of stale pee coming
from my hand and the edge of my pants. Will they at least hose me
down before they toss me in a cage?

My small moment of calm is
now shattered into a million pieces. I don’t want to die or live
out my life in a cage. I silently scream as a new wave of pain and
depression spears through my heart.

Get a grip, Hallie Mead.
Pretty Eyes didn’t hurt you and he said he
wouldn’t
, my logical side reminds me.
Sometimes I hate my logical side but not today. Today she’s helping
me understand that things could be a lot worse.

The zaphinians have been
nothing but good to me, just like the red being with the long white
hair said. Just because they look different from me does not mean
they are bad. I have to focus on how nice they have
been.

I go back to breathing the
way I’ve been taught. In through the nose, out through the mouth.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Time passes, each second
that goes by brings me closer to the calm state I’m striving for.
When nothing bad happens for a long while I relax. My aching
muscles happily soften. Time continues to crawl. I wonder how long
it will take to get to their home planet.

No, I can’t go there.
Horror could be waiting for me on their planet. I need to stay
calm. The rumbling of my stomach reminds me that it’s been hours
since I last ate. I listen closely. Nobody seems to be milling
around. Pretty Eyes and his friends must be still manning the
spacecraft.

Thinking about the
spacecraft reminds me of stories I’ve heard. One man said all
spacecrafts are dirty. The last one was but this one isn’t. I’ve
also heard that crafts sometimes have engine trouble and float
around in space for an endless amount of time before it comes
crashing down on an unsuspecting planet spilling the dead bodies of
the crew all over the ground and sometimes killing locals in the
process. I don’t want my dead body to kill anyone.

I shudder at that thought.
My stomach growls again. This time more loudly. Needing to feed it
before it gives my location away, I reach into my side pocket and
pull out a pecan with my non-pee smelling hand. I crack it open
with my teeth and start eating. To my horror, I realize that I’m
using my dirtiest hand to pick the nut’s meat out. Fuck!

As I chew, I try not to
think of where the person or people are that where in that cage
before me. I try not to wonder what happened to Megan Blaker and
Gayle Balwin. Tears well in my eyes but I blink them away. I finish
my pecan and think about eating another one.

I remember a woman once
telling a group of her friends that she’d heard that alien
spacecrafts didn’t have any food on them. From what I’ve seen so
far that could be true, but it might not be. I wasn’t fed on the
last craft. Who knows what’ll happen on this one.

I twist my lips as I
remember the soft bed on the other side of this door. I can’t see
any being having a luxury like that and not having food. Then
again, I know nothing about the zaphinians. What if they can go
weeks without eating? I’ve heard of species like that. My stomach
rumbles again.

Should I feed it or not?
My supplies are getting low. Backpack would have come in real handy
right now. She was loaded with food when we got separated. The loud
roar of my stomach fills the small space I’m in. Needing to quiet
it, I retrieve another pecan and crack it open. This time I don’t
worry about which hand I use. If I’m going to die from using
pee-pee tainted fingers it’s too late to save me now.

I just finish eating the
pecan when I hear a noise. My heart freezes. I go into stealth
mode. No movement and shallow breathing. The action as saved me
many times in the past. I hope it does now.

You’re not in the woods,
dummy
, my logical side nastily points out.
If I could have left this room, I’d have had a better chance. “Hide
to stay alive,” I whisper to myself. My voice is low enough not to
be heard by anyone except me. The words echo in my mind. They
comfort me.

CHAPTER

8

~
Din Zar TocGar
~

♥

“
I better go check on the
little human. She should be still sitting safely on the bed where I
left her,” I say to my brother, Din Von TocGar, and our good friend
Din Ryk WavTe. Feeling confident about our newest addition, I rise
from my chair and head to the door. We rarely buy playthings but
every once in a while we’ll see if there is a being on the
sell-block that is worth saving. Rescued beings can be very
loyal.

“
Tread carefully, this one
seems a little different from our usual additions,” Von says as he
spins his chair around and looks at me.

“
She obeyed me and she
responded well to my touch.” I try to act nonchalant. I don’t want
my brother and friend to know something about her draws me to her
in a way I’ve never experienced before.

Ryk grunts. “If Von says
tread carefully, you should do it. Dealing with a new addition is
always risky even if the being passes the first test. That’s why we
don’t buy beings often.”

I snort and frown at my
brother. “Okay, I’ll be cautious. I don’t know why you’re bringing
this up? She’s just a new addition.” At least that’s the story I’m
sticking to because it’s the one that has to be true.

Von leans forward and
looks at me as though he is reading my soul. “Your eyes glowed when
you were near her.”

I shrug. “So. When we get
heated up they do that. What’s the big deal?” For some reason,
Von’s words bother me.

Von’s dark brow arches
again. “Our eyes don’t usually glow before we even touch a seema or
a plaything.”

“
Maybe I’m getting sick,” I
retort smugly.

“
Does that mean you need me
or Ryk to go check on her?” Von’s silver eyes look calculatingly at
me.

As my heart skips a beat,
I know Von’s on to me. “No, I can handle it. I’m drawn to her for
some inexplicable reason, but I’m sure with time it will wear off.”
The need to go to her overwhelms me. Before my brother can say
anything else, I turn on my heel and leave the room.

With my heart beating
faster than it should, I go to the room I left her in and open the
door. I do a double-take of the bed. She’s not there! A submissive
should always follow commands. My lips press together as
frustration builds in my chest.

My gaze darts around the
small room. My little seema can’t be under the bed or the chair.
She could use a few pounds for sure, but she’s not that skinny. I
walk over to the bathroom and open the door. I expect to see her so
when I don’t I can’t stop the growl that escapes my
lips.

The need to find her right
now dominates my thoughts. I have to see her. Anger flares through
me as I realize she’s already gotten under my skin. I close my eyes
and push the anger aside. Never let a seema or a live-sex-plaything
control your actions. How many times have I told younger warriors
those words? I shake my head and force myself to calm the zyf
down.

“
Never let a seema get to
you,” I whisper to myself as I leave the bathroom.

I sniff the air and smile
when I catch her scent. If I’d stopped and focused on her scent
when I noticed she was gone, I would have found her sooner. I can’t
continue to let her get to me. “It’s time for her to start learning
her place,” I say quietly.

Moving to the only closet
in the room, I open the door and get ready to pull her
out.

“
Hide to stay alive.” I
just barely hear the words coming from my sheet covered seema.
Those softly spoken words break my heart. I remember seeing her
standing of the platform with wide scared eyes. The little human
had just seen two other females dragged from the selling-block. For
all I know those females could have been friends or family members
of hers.

“
Tread carefully.” Von’s
words haunt his mind. My brother’s right. She’s not a
live-sex-plaything that approached us for a job. She needs a caring
touch right now, not a lesson. Lessons can come later.

I gently pull the sheet
off her. She screams and then slaps her hand over her mouth.
Frightened dark brown eyes look up at me. Pain stabs my heart and
causes my stomach to churn. I never want her to look at me this way
again.