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  “So, what else do you know about human women?” She had a strange fascination in hearing his deluded ideas. She fought the tenderness that threatened to soften her toward him.

  “Always apologize with flowers; always pretend you are wrong.” He tapped her shoulder carefully with one of his dangerous-looking claws. “I will not do that. I am a Zyrgin conquest warrior. I do not pretend.”

  “Okay, I think I’ll go to sleep now.” Maybe she’d wake in the real world. Except somehow that didn’t seem as attractive a prospect as it should. Please let her wake with more energy. If she was going to escape, she couldn’t be so weak that she slept all the time.

  He leaned over her and gave her an odd close-lipped kiss. And she meant close-lipped. He had them pressed so tight, she couldn’t see his thin lips, only the skin surrounding them. “I will kill you, you know,” she said sleepily.

  “Of course, but sleep first, my breeder.” He lay down, pulled her into his arms, and fell asleep. Rose was tired and desperate to sleep, but that would make her vulnerable.

  She woke alone, and she’d never admit it aloud, but she missed the alien’s warm body next to her. It had been curiously comforting to be held. She’d woken a few times during the night, and each time he’d held her securely. One time she’d woken when he’d adjusted the blankets around her. Her heart ached as if he’d grabbed it and twisted it inside her chest. The last time anyone had simply held her had been when her mother was still alive.

  She was glad when the door opened and distracted her from thoughts of family. He walked in, carrying a silver mug. “I brought you human coffee. The doctor said you may drink it now.” He sat down next to her on the bed, carefully lifted her, and held the cup to her lips. Rose stared up at him. “What are you doing?”

  “I am feeding you your coffee.”

  She pushed his claw away, half expecting him to slash at her. “I can drink it by myself.” She looked around at the large, silver room. “Where is this place?”

  “You are in the dwelling I built for you in Natalie City.” Yeah, that helps a lot. She’d find out where she was one way or another. Hopefully it was close to a human city. When she escaped, she’d be able to get the word out about the aliens.

  “How long have I been…unconscious?” She had some vague memories of crying because he ate her hands, and of him feeding her.

  “Two weeks.” He touched her head again, seeming fascinated. “I approve of your hair. Larz’s breeder has midnight hair, but not interesting spirals like you.

  Two weeks! That horrific rage, the same rage she’d felt the night before when he told her he’d destroyed her chances of proving herself, coursed through her. She literally shook with it and he took the cup back from her. “I could kill you,” she snarled at him.

  “Why?” He looked baffled even though his face didn’t change expression. Maybe she was just anthropomorphizing him.

  “You destroyed any chance I’ll ever have to prove myself.”

  “Why do you have to prove yourself?” Again, that feeling of great confusion coming off him.

  Rose stared at him, for a moment totally stumped. “I just have to, that’s all.” How did she explain to him how crucial it was—it had been, she corrected herself? How crucial it had been to become an agent. To rise in the ranks and be allocated a big case. She’d known she’d be able to go home if she made a success of herself. Her father would accept her and her brother would forgive her.

  “Who put you in that hole?”

  “Parnell did, to help me prove that I can be an agent.” She licked her lips, afraid to ask the next question. “Where’s Mr. Parnell? The other people in the building?”

  He patted her head, and for one, long moment she battled the need to really hurt him. “We captured him; he’ll never harm you again.” There was something strange in his voice—an intense rage.

  With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she licked her dry lips. She’d hoped she was the only one they’d captured, that Mr. Parnell and the others were safe. “And the others—my colleagues?” she said, barely above a whisper. They’d become her family. She’d never been close to any of them, but they’d spent most of their time together for years.

  “Some we captured, some we allowed to go. A few humans escaped.”

  They stared at each other, the silence around them as loud as a siren. She had skills, but he was so much bigger and more muscular than anyone she’d ever come up against. She’d have to catch him asleep.

  It hit her, as if the reality of her situation reached inside her head and slapped it into her. She was trapped, couldn’t get out of this silver box he kept her in. Just like that, the panic she’d been pushing to the back of her mind overwhelmed her. Her skin became clammy and she looked around, her motion jerky, seeking exits, a primal scream trapped in her throat, her muscles so tense they ached. She was shut in again. It might be a bigger box, but she was shut in a place with no windows, the door hidden in the wall, and she was sure it would only open for the alien. What if they were underground? His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear what he said. He sat the cup down on a shelf and came toward her, touched her face, and his lips moved again.

  The wall opened and another alien came in. She screamed and screamed, but couldn’t hear her own screams. Why couldn’t she hear herself screaming? The other alien pressed something against her neck and her eyelids became heavy. The last thing she was aware of was Zanr touching her cheek. Curiously gentle.

  When she woke, she couldn’t think of anything but the fact that she needed the bathroom desperately. She looked around the cluttered room and it all rushed back: the alien, her destroyed hopes. She had a vague recollection of the doctor alien injecting her. Before she could panic, she saw the alien sitting on a silver chair.

  “I need the bathroom.”

  He’d helped her to the bathroom before, but she’d been so weak and out of it at the time, she wasn’t sure which wall it was behind.

  He pointed, and a section of the wall slid apart to reveal a large bathroom. She got up and staggered to the door, motioning him back with one hand when it looked like he wanted to help. She only hesitated a moment before entering the smaller space.

  She used the facilities and then went in search of a toothbrush. She found one in a section of the wall that slid open when she touched it, found a toothbrush inside as well as a tube of toothpaste. Rose didn’t waste one minute going to town on her teeth. It was a miracle she didn’t kill the alien with her breath alone. She rinsed her mouth and straightened. Looked at the mirror that she could’ve sworn wasn’t there a moment before. Her eye twitched and then she screamed. Pure rage blinded her and this time she heard her own scream. She’d kill him slowly and with blunt things that hurt him. A lot.

  He was next to her before the first scream left her throat. “What is the matter, my breeder. Do you feel ill again?”

  “What did you do with my hair you, you funkwhisker?”

  He cocked his head. “Funkwhisker?”

  “Never mind, what did you do with my hair?” Using the word her mother used made her heart ache. Instead she focused on the alien she was going to kill.

  He stroked the spirals he’d somehow plaited to stand upright on her head. She looked like that woman in the story. The one who had snakes on her head. “I am very pleased to have a breeder with superior hair. I enjoy arranging your hair, my breeder. I have obtained many hair ornaments for you.”

  She walked past him and went back to sit on the chair he’d vacated. “I’m going to kill you,” she said at last. Conversationally. “I’ve spent almost eight years trying to prove myself. And you, alien, came and ruined that.” She took a deep breath and continued, “And on top of that you messed with my hair. No one messes with my hair. And no one made it stand upright like I have a head full of snakes and lived to talk about it.” How on earth did he manage to plait it like that?

  Again, that reptilian cock of his head. “Why should I not arrange your hair?”
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br />   “First, never touch my hair. Ever. You better not even look at it.” Her hair had always been her best feature, thick and glossy with curls that bounced around her head.

  “I will look at it and I will touch it many times.” He said it evenly, as if discussing the weather. But there was also a taunt in there, as if he dared her to dispute his right to touch her hair whenever he wanted. “Your hair is one of the many pleasing things about you.”

  She breathed so hard, her chest rose and fell. His gaze flicked down, lingered. How many times did she have to say this before he listened? She swallowed. “You took everything from me, and now you’ve messed with my hair.” She screamed the last three words at him. Maybe in the grand scheme of things, him playing with her hair wasn’t a big deal. But it was the last straw.

  He reached out and she flinched, but he only put his large, claw-like hand on her head and patted. “Stay calm, my breeder, the doctor said your hysteria might return.” He turned her to face the wall. “I made a window.”

  Rose stared. That window hadn’t been there a moment before. She could see silver-domed structures. But beyond that were very human-looking snow-capped mountains. But which mountains?

  Parnell had told them that if they were ever captured, they had to drink and eat whatever they were given—to get strong and wait for the chance to escape. Captors always made mistakes. She only had to stay calm, wait it out. This crazy alien would make a mistake and she’d be gone. “Where exactly is this place?” At least she was still on Earth. She’d been half-afraid she was on a spaceship. “Natalie City,” he said flatly.

  “Tell me where you’re keeping Mr. Parnell and the others?” Maybe if she kept asking, he’d tell her.

  He didn’t change expression, and still, she read him like an open book. Get real, it said.

  “I feel tired. I need to rest.” Unfortunately, that was the truth. The faster she got strong, the sooner she could rescue Parnell and the others. But she hated being this tired all the time. How was she supposed to rescue everyone? Where did she even start to look for them?

  He grunted and stroked her hair. “Sleep, my breeder.”

  Rose held up a hand. “Don’t mess with my hair while I sleep. I mean it.” She couldn’t believe she was feeling sleepy again. When would she get strong?

  “Your hair is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He picked her up and carried her to the bed. Laid her down gently and covered her. Like her mother used to do.

  She fell asleep, smiling.

  Zanr watched his breeder’s eyes close and her breath slowing. She was magnificent, brave, and clever. Even her speech impediment was attractive. She reminded him of the doll Zacar’s adopted small human liked to play with. But she was much prettier. She smelled much better than the doll. He’d washed her and dressed her for the two Earth weeks she’d been unconscious. Soon he’d be able to dress her in the superior dresses he’d obtained for her. He liked touching her beautiful soft skin. But most of all, he enjoyed arranging her hair. He’d do a lot of it in future. Even if she screamed like that again. He measured the small lump under the pelt. It was amazing how big a sound she could get out of that small body. Sometimes he forgot that she was small and delicate. The moment she spoke, she seemed bigger. Maybe she didn’t realize that she was smaller than the rest of the people around her.

  “Report to my office,” Zacar said over the communication system.

  “Yes, my leader.”

  He knelt next to Rose and stroked her cheek. Rose was on the way to recovery. The food and water he’d managed to get into her every day while she was still unconscious, coupled with Viglar’s assistance, had strengthened her. But he still didn’t like leaving her alone. His claws lengthened. He wanted to torture Parnell. Torturing that woumber was his right. He set the sensors to let him know when she woke or if she needed assistance. He was at the front door when he remembered how thirsty she always was when she woke, and he went back and left a glass of water next to the bed.

  He left the dwelling his fellow warriors had helped him build for Rose while she’d been unconscious. It hadn’t surprised him when Larz had turned up to help him. But when several of the others had come, as well, he hadn’t known what to think.

  Outside, the mountain sounds greeted him: birds screeching, shuttles taking off and landing. When she was strong, he’d show his breeder all their treasures he’d won. He could tell she’d been impressed with the ball of string.

  At the cave, he went around the large, flat stone obscuring the entrance and through the steel doors they’d installed after Zacar had decided to make the cave their headquarters. He carefully passed the dwelling Zacar had made for Natalie. Their new city was also named after Zacar’s breeder. Something that had never been done before.

  Whenever warriors were called to Zacar’s office, they camouflaged or ran past Zacar’s dwelling at top speed. The small human he’d adopted, to please his breeder, was very observant and insisted the warriors had tea with her.

  Zurian had also adopted a small human to please his breeder. Zanr didn’t see the appeal. The mess they made of their nappies was enough to bring any warrior to his knees. He’d even been instructed to stock the supply room with everything the small humans needed.

  He camouflaged and sped past Zacar’s dwelling inside the cave. Normally Zanr enjoyed the odd ritual of drinking tea from a cup so small, he had trouble holding it between his fingers. But today he wanted to get to Zacar and then back to his breeder.

  He found Zurian and Zacar in conversation over a holo image. Zanr saluted Zacar and waited. He’d never been called in by Zacar before, wasn’t high enough in rank to have personal contact with him. Mostly he took his instructions from Zurian. Zanr could think of only one reason he’d been called in. He was without a bloodline and maybe Zacar had decided that a warrior like him did not have the right to claim a breeder as fine as Rose. No matter what, he would not give her up. He’d lived his whole life with the threat of losing everything, hanging over him, because of his lack of blood. This was the first time he couldn’t bury the fear beneath a careless laugh.

  Zacar nodded at him. “Are you aware of the human resistance, warrior?”

  “Yes, my leader.” Zanr relaxed. Maybe this wasn’t about his breeder. The humans had formed a resistance but so far hadn’t managed to do any damage. Their numbers were small.

  Zacar motioned to the human TC broadcasts that played several images on the walls. They routinely intercepted TC broadcasts to monitor the humans. The TC was the primitive device the human’s used to communicate and watch their entertainment and news.

  Zacar called up another image. Rioting humans, carrying plastic boards with strange writing on them, marched down a city street. A round human female carried one that said, Aliens go home. Zanr was outraged. “They dare dictate to Zyrgin warriors? And to use their females to do it?” Woumbers.

  Another brown board with primitive writing said, Earth for humans. Zacar said, “I told them Earth now belonged to the empire.”

  “Maybe all humans have inferior hearing and understanding,” Zurian said.

  A young man with the same coloring as Rose, but not as pretty, carried a large cardboard with the words, Kill all aliens. Zanr smirked at the image. They could try.

  Aliens must fall. He looked at Zurian. “Fall where? Zyrgin warriors are sure-footed.”

  “Idiots.” Zurian sneered.

  “As you’re aware, we’re doing things differently with this conquest,” Zacar said. Zanr wasn’t sold on the new methods. If they’d stuck to their normal conquest, all those protesting humans would be dead. What’s next, training females to be warriors?

  Zacar called up a new image. “I allowed the humans to continue ruling themselves until now, but they are using the protests as excuses to loot and harm each other. I plan to tighten the reins.”

  “Yes, my leader.” He didn’t understand why Zacar had allowed them so much freedom, but who was he, a bloodless warrior, to judge
his leader?

  “That is not why I called you in.”

  Zanr stood taller. He wasn’t one of the inner circle and didn’t expect to be given an important mission for many decades to come. Zacar only called in a warrior if he wanted to send them on a mission. It might be that Zacar was aware of him through his friendship with Larz. Or he was satisfied with the job he did with the building in Washington. Whatever it was, he’d take it.

  Zacar was quiet for a long moment and then said suddenly, “Your breeder is still recovering?”

  Zanr should be gratified that his leader would care about the breeder of a lowly ranked, bloodless warrior. He knew his bloodless status meant he’d probably never advance too high. But that he was accepted on the conquest was all due to Zacar’s willingness to take a chance on misfits. Even so, he’d prefer them not to focus on his breeder. She was for him alone.

  “She is a strong female; she is recovering fast,” he said with pride.

  Zurian called up another screen, but Zanr kept his focus on Zacar, as was proper.

  “That is good, because we need to use your breeder to find traitors in our ranks,” Zacar said.

  The shock held him absolutely still, even as it felt as if he’d taken a punch to the side of his head.

  Chapter Five

  Zanr had to concentrate hard not to stumble, to stare straight in front of him. Like all warriors he was in excellent health, but something was wrong with his lungs. It felt as if they contracted, making it difficult to breathe; even his heartbeat stopped for one, agonising second.

  Zacar was a warrior he looked up to, the closest blood of the Parenadorz. And yet he’d just betrayed his trust in the cruelest way possible. Why allow him a breeder when Zacar planned to take her away from him?

  Never did he expect to be treated with such a lack of respect from Zacar. He’d even come to believe that one day, he might be given a higher rank.