Stolen By Them: Page 6

  I cautiously approached the door. I hated that I didn’t even know her name. “Is everything alright?” I called out, making my voice soft and gentle. “Do you need something?”

  No response. I pressed my head against the door, listening. My human ears weren’t as effective as they were in my true form, but I still managed to hear her breathing, fast and shallow, mixed with small sobs. My heart beat against my chest. My female was hurting and she was alone.

  I couldn’t stop myself. I pressed the emergency button on my communicator to unlock the door and burst into the room.

  She was curled up in the corner, seeming even smaller than she was already. Her arms were wrapped around her naked legs, her entire body shaking. She didn’t look up as I slowly approached her.

  Rage, deep primal rage filled me at seeing her in this state. She was in pain and there was nothing I could do to ease it. Her breathing became even faster. My presence was making it worse, but no way was I going to leave her alone.

  I ran outside and grabbed one of the blankets. Thank Atz that we had brought so many pillows and blankets to her room.

  I kneeled by her side and gently lowered the blanket on her naked body. It wasn’t cold in the shower room, but I hoped this would make her feel safer. The blanket nest had worked to soothe her earlier.

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

  Her body stilled and her breathing stopped. Panic crashed into me. What was wrong with her?

  “Vuk!” I roared into my communicator, before switching it on silent.

  My outburst made her jerk, but at least she started breathing again.

  “What’s wrong?” I repeated. “How can I help?”

  Sobs were her only answer. Zut. I’d never felt this powerless in all my life. And it was all the Athions’ fault. I was going to kill them. Every single one of their rotten kind. I was going to destroy their ships, blast them into atoms and blow them into space, scattering them until nobody remembered who they’d been.

  The female shuddered again. I wanted to reach out to her, stroke her mane, but even in this state of rage I knew that it would do more harm than good. To her, we were aliens, the same Trads who had invaded her planet and enslaved their females. She didn’t know Vuk and I were different. I had to show her, somehow, but I didn’t have the faintest idea how.

  Unless… I was crazy to do this, but it couldn’t exactly get worse.

  “You’re afraid of us,” I stated, making my voice as calm as I possibly could. “You think we’re going to breed you because that’s the only thing you know about our kind.”

  She stilled and I knew she was listening to me.

  “You’re wrong about us. We have no interest in that. Vuk and I have never been to Earth for that very reason. We think it’s wrong what our government is doing. We were raised to revere females and protect them, not enslave them. It’s why we’re here, just the two of us, far away from Earth. And you know what? I’m going to prove it to you. Look at me.”

  She didn’t move, but her breathing was getting faster.

  “Look at me,” I said loudly.

  She blinked up at me, her eyes clouded by a veil of tears.

  I pulled down my trousers as fast as I could. She sucked in a sharp breath and wriggled, fighting against the blanket, trying to get away from me. I hated myself for having this effect on her.

  I pointed at my flaccid cock. “Look at me. I’m not aroused. I don’t want to fuck you. I have no interest in violating you.”

  She stopped her struggle. Her eyes were fixed on me, on my cock. I was scared it might come to life after all, but I kept my mind clean. She needed to see this. She needed reassurance.

  That’s when Vuk stormed into the room. He stared at my exposed arse. “What the zut are you doing?”

  Vuk

  I’d always known Raf was crazy, but this was a whole new level. I pushed past him and picked up the female. At least he’d put a blanket around her. Even so, I couldn’t avoid some of her naked skin touching me. She was still in my arms, but I couldn’t stop to reassure her. I had to get her out of this room, away from Raf. What had that idiot been thinking?

  I carried her to the nest and sat down, cradling her in my arms. She weakly tried to get away, but I kept a hold on her. We had to sort this out. She couldn’t stay afraid of us. The way she’d been curled up in the shower room made me scared for her sanity. She was broken and it was on us to put her back together. Showing her our cocks wasn’t going to do that.

  “You’re safe with us,” I told her. “We might be Trads, but that doesn’t make us evil. Think about it. How can an entire species be evil? There are bad Trads and good Trads. Our government is doing terrible things and many of my kind follow blindly, some even revel in the power they’re given over another species, but that’s not what I believe. Neither does Raf. We’re outcasts because we don’t buy into the whole superiority crap. We don’t think human females should be used for breeding. We didn’t support the invasion of your planet. We’ve never even been there.”

  She’d stopped struggling and seemed to listen. Good. Now I just had to hope that my words could convince her. I’d never been much of a talker, but today, the words came easily.

  “We’re never going to force you to do anything. You’re our guest. I’m sorry we can’t bring you back to Earth, but any attempt to get close to the planet would kill all three of us. If there is somewhere else you want to go, we’ll get you there. You don’t have to stay with us, but if you want to, you can. All we want to do is to keep you safe.”

  My tail wrapped around her before I could stop myself.

  She looked at it, her eyes wide open, but she didn't react. I should have changed to a more familiar human form, but when Raf had called me, the panic in his voice had made me forget everything else. I'd thought she'd been hurt. Taken from us. Seeing her alive had been the biggest relief of my life.

  I cleared my throat, surprised by the emotion roiling through me. I was an impulsive person, but I rarely felt this much. I didn't have the words to describe what was going on inside my heart.

  “How can we prove that we don’t mean you any harm? How do we make you believe?”

  Her lips twitched and I thought she was about to cry, but then she whispered, “Not by flashing me.”

  “Flashing?” I asked in confusion.

  “What the other one did. Expose himself.”

  Curse Raf and his stupidity. I’d been right, it had traumatised her. His manhood was impressive, and he would surely impress females if they weren’t afraid of us and our own species.

  I looked her straight in the eyes and said as sincerely as I possibly could, “I won’t show you my cock.”

  For some reason, she started laughing.

  Chapter 11

  Laughing helped, even if it was verging on hysteria. After everything that’d happened, laughter was exactly what I needed. An alien showing me his dick. A transforming shower. Eating worms that looked like carrots. Crazy. My life had become utterly weird and crazy. It was a miracle that I hadn’t gone insane myself. Yet. Who knew what was to come next.

  The Trad looked at me in confusion, as if he wasn’t quite sure what was happening. I probably would have done the same if I’d had a giggling alien in my arms.

  For some strange reason, I didn’t feel threatened by his embrace. It felt protective rather than menacing. This Trad hadn’t flashed me, but I believed him that he didn’t mean me harm. I had no idea what had brought on that sudden change. Maybe my body was no longer able to sustain the permanent state of panic. Maybe my mind had decided to protect me from more fear by giving me a temporary illusion of safety. I was still scared, but it wasn’t as overpowering as before. I could think again.

  “Can we start over?” the Trad asked. “Pretend that we met somewhere else, that we didn’t find you on an Athion ship?”

  I was good at playing pretend. I had spent years on Earth pretending that everything was going to be okay. That I’d have a fut
ure. Yes, I could do this.

  I nodded and the alien’s chest heaved in relief.

  “My name is Vuk,” he continued. “And my stupid friend over there is Rafaz, but people generally call him Raf.”

  I lifted my head a little to see the other Trad hovering by the bathroom door, looking very unsure of himself. At least he’d put his trousers back on. I really didn’t want to have to see that … thing again.

  “And what is your name, little one?”

  “I’m not little,” I snapped, repressing a shudder. That’s what the Athions had called me. Little poomii.

  “You are compared to us, but I shall refrain from using that word if it offends you,” Vuk said soothingly. “Our females were bigger than Earth women, even though they were smaller than us males.”

  There was true pain reflecting in his eyes. I knew their women had died, same as with the Athions, but until now, it had been an abstract concept. Seeing his grief made it real. Millions of women dead; maybe more, I had no clue how many Trads there were. Mothers, sisters, grandmothers, wives. It may have been long ago, but Vuk was still hurting.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” I muttered. It seemed a terribly inadequate statement. “My family died too. And many of my friends. I know how it feels to grieve. How much it hurts to be alone.”

  Vuk inclined his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  I cleared my throat. I didn’t want to think of my losses. “I’m Wren.”

  “That’s a pretty name.”

  “It’s a bird on Earth. My mother was a bit of an ornithologist and thought it would be clever to name me Wren King.”

  He looked at me in confusion and I realised he wouldn’t know about birds on my planet.

  “The wren is known as the king of the birds,” I explained. “And since my surname is king… well, as I said, she thought it was clever.”

  “Except that you’re a queen rather than a king,” the other alien, Raf, said quietly from the other side of the room. “A queen who deserves better than what’s happened to her so far. But don’t worry, we’re going to treat you like royalty. You don’t need to be afraid of us.”

  “Do you have a royal family on Tradrych?” I asked to keep the conversation going. As long as we were talking, I was distracted from my fear.

  “Not for centuries,” Vuk replied. “Now we have Commander Bazyli and the Rzad, our planetary government, and Polityks who rule the individual regions. They’ve been gaining power ever since the women perished, promising that we’d find new females. When they discovered Earth and realised that humans were compatible with our species, most people stopped supporting the opposition, so now the Rzad is in complete control. There are rebels, but I doubt they’ll ever be strong enough to make a difference.”

  “Which is why we left,” Raf supplied. “Trad politics stand against the values we were brought up on. We may be outcasts now, but at least we didn’t betray our principles. We sometimes supply the rebels if we have the means, but we mostly stick with other pirates.”

  And just like that, we’d progressed from me being a frightened mess to them giving me a crash course in Trad politics. Funny how life turned out sometimes.

  “So, you’re pirates,” I muttered, kind of surprised that didn’t make me more scared. On the contrary. Knowing they weren’t part of the Trad regime made me feel better. Of course, they could have been lying, but my gut instinct was starting to change its opinion on the two aliens.

  “Yes, pirates and proud,” Vuk said with a grin. “We steal from the wealthy and give to the poor-“

  “Actually, we keep most of the profits,” Raf interrupted.

  Vuk growled at him. I flinched as his chest moved against my body. He froze, looking down at me with regret shimmering in his eyes.

  “Sorry, my Queen,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to scare you.”

  I was still in his arms, his tail around my waist. Being in that position made me seem weak. Something changed within me and I sat up, pushing away from him, scrambling to my feet. The blanket threatened to expose my naked body, but I gripped it tight and wrapped it around me like a beach towel. Head held high, I walked a few steps away from Vuk and sat down there, leaning against the wall of cushions. I wasn’t going to cower in his arms. I needed to pull myself together and not have them see me as vulnerable, even though I still felt like that.

  “There are many pirates out there,” Raf continued as if nothing had happened. “All kinds of species. Not many Trads though, and it took us a while to get them to trust us. There are many preconceptions against our kind.”

  “But now we’re part of them.” Vuk offered me a small smile. “And since you’re now with us, you’re under the protection of every pirate in our organisation. If any of our friends see those two Athion kraktz, we’ll be notified.”

  “Kraktz.” I copied the sound he’d made. “I think I like that word.”

  “It’s a good one,” Vuk confirmed. “Would you like to learn more Trad swearwords? We have some excellent profanities in our vocabulary.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe later. I’m not very good with languages. How come you speak English this well?”

  The two of them exchanged a glance. “We always hoped we might one day get a chance to meet a female,” Raf admitted. “Once the invasion was over, once the dust had settled. So we studied Earth languages, just in case. Being a pirate means having a lot of free time while waiting for the perfect ship to come along. And your English is very easy to learn. Vuk took only two of your Earth weeks to be fluent. Me, a bit longer, because I also studied German at the same time. They have some great obscenities too.”

  Two weeks to learn a language. Wow. They both had a slight accent, but it was almost unnoticeable. Their grammar was on point and I bet their vocabulary was more extensive than my own. I was on a spaceship with two super-intelligent geeks. Who were also huge, intimidating and not as scary as I’d thought, despite Vuk’s horns and tail. Or maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. Making me feel overconfident rather than scared shitless and suicidal. Maybe this was better. I should enjoy it while it lasted.

  “What do you do when you’re not a Queen?” Vuk asked me.

  He was really obsessed with the royalty thing. It was strangely entertaining.

  “I’m a teacher. I teach sciences, mostly biology, to children who’re unable to go to school. Since the invasion, many parents keep their children at home, especially girls, so there’s a big demand for virtual lessons. I have students all over the world…”

  I realised I was rambling.

  “That’s interesting.” Raf looked at me with surprising honesty. “I’ve always enjoyed reproductive biology.”

  “Raf,” the other alien admonished. “That’s enough.”

  Vuk had his eyes fixed on me as if he was worried that Raf’s comment might make me break again. But no. I was in control, finally. I wasn’t going to fall apart again; I wouldn’t let that happen.

  “No, it’s okay. Let’s talk biology, although I’d appreciate it if you had some clothes I could borrow?”

  Chapter 12

  Rafaz

  The human was messing with my head. She was so confusing. I thought we’d broken her, yet there she was, talking about all sorts of animals I’d never heard of. Vuk had fetched clothes and some more food for all of us, so now we were camped out in the nest we’d built for her. I couldn’t take my eyes off Wren. She was the most magnificent little creature I’d ever encountered. She was tiny and vulnerable, yet there was a strength lingering behind those beautiful eyes. With a bit of help, she’d put her ordeal behind her, I was sure of it. The question was, what were we going to do with her? She seemed comfortable in our company just now, but her fear of my kind was rooted deep within her. It wouldn’t be easy to overcome.

  She took another fried leaf and started munching on it. Vuk was a genius for growing that stuff, and I had to admit, they weren’t all that bad when they were fried. Good enough as a
snack.

  Eventually, we’d have to find other food for her. That green stuff wasn’t going to be enough in the long run. She’d been repulsed at the idea of eating the fluff worms again, but maybe I could puree them and slip them on her plate without her realising. They had lots of protein so it may be worth the trouble if I got found out.

  “… and then we have those cute little animals with long ears and twitchy noses,” Wren said, moving her hands as she was trying to make us imagine what she was talking about. “They seem quite boring and stupid at first, but they’re actually really clever. Once, Sniffles managed to open a drawer and…”

  I tuned out her words, focusing on the movements of her lips instead. I didn’t care much for Sniffles, but I loved the way her mouth moved as she spoke. I wanted to reach out and run my thumb over her bottom lip to test if it was as soft as it looked. Tiny indentations lined the corners of her lips. I’d never seen anything as cute as those. I wondered if they had a name, but I didn’t want to interrupt her. It was good that she was finally feeling safe enough to have a conversation with us, even if it mostly consisted of her talking and us listening.

  A yawn interrupted her waterfall of words. I checked my communicator. It was only early afternoon, but she'd been through a lot of stress recently, both physical and mentally. She was still healing and needed rest.

  I exchanged a look with Vuk, who seemed to be having the same thoughts. He got to his feet, startling the female. I was close to strangling the idiot. No sudden movements, had he forgotten that already? I watched her closely, looking for signs that she was about to switch back into her frightened state, but no, she pushed her shoulders back and stared at me defiantly. Pride filled my heart at seeing her this strong. She was fighting and she wasn't giving up. She's had her weak, broken moment but now she was clinging to her strength. Yes, she was going to be alright. She'd get through this.

  I smiled at her, my happiness breaking through all other emotions.