Not that I would understand at all how to open such a door.
I buried my head in my hands and force myself to take three, practiced, deep breaths. “I can do this. I don’t know where I am. But, I can handle it. I can do this.” I rubbed my temples and squeezed my eyes tight against tears that were threatening to overwhelm me. “Goodness, I hope this is a dream…”
I opened my eyes and looked around the room. The flowers made a beautiful garden along the wall. They were multi-colored, striated with lines and swirls, purple stems and green leaves. They curled around the countertops and their scent wafted clean, fresh, and a little like honey-dew melon.
There was an enormous bed in an alcove, a tiny kitchen that had a few cooking implements I didn’t quite recognize, an ornate wooden rolltop desk that looked quite old, and a small bathroom. I patted water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked a bit haggard…the lack of sleep of the last few weeks had certainly painted dark circles into my sunken eyesockets and now my hair was a wreck, limp and tangled. I pulled it back in a ponytail and pinched my cheeks a little.
One of the women came back through the sliding door and laid a clothing bag on the chaise. She smiled at me, but it seemed like there was a glow of anger in her eyes. Then she left, the door blinking red again.
Curious, I slipped open the zipper. A blue and black cape was wrapped around a blue crop top and tight leather pants. They seemed to be exactly my size. The crop top had long sleeves, with golden embroidery curling up and down the fabric, wrapping around the breasts. The top had a low, square neckline. I glared at the outfit a moment. While it was something I might dare to wear sometime, I was certainly not going to put it on at the command of my kidnapper.
Holy shit…Kidnapped. I was kidnapped. I hadn’t quite framed it that way yet. The word loomed and I ran to the door. I pressed my hands into its metal smoothness and tried to find a button, a depression, a signal that would let me open it and…and what? I wondered. And run from this place? I couldn’t possibly be on a spaceship, right?
There were curtains across one wall that had a track of shades shielding what I assumed to be windows. I jogged over to the wall and found a panel button. I couldn’t read the symbols next to the panel, but I just started flicking switches.
With a grinding whir, the shade shields slid up and away from the window.
I gasped.
The Earth was outside my window.
White clouds swirled over green and brown landmasses. We were over northern North America. The Arctic floated, glacial and cool, just beneath the ship. The image of the Earth took up almost the entire window. The shadow of night was falling across the Atlantic and city lights rippled in the refraction of the atmosphere.
My head swooned and I grasped the small ledge of the window. I leaned forward, surprised by the coolness of the window against my forehead.
I was in space, a captive of the Beast King from some other planet…
How the Hell was I supposed to get home?
Four
Kajo
I paused outside my secondary quarters. I focused on the Earthling’s thoughts. Our telepathic connection was surprisingly strong; I had never before felt that with someone from her planet. They were such an inferior people…
Yet, I had invited one onto my ship.
There was just something about her…
Her thoughts were scattered, frantic, helpless. She was looking at her planet through the window. She was likely overwhelmed, stunned by the beauty of being in space. I could rationally understand that she was going to be frightened by this but couldn’t empathize. I had been born on a spaceship, had always loved traveling through the galaxies, and now ruled a kingdom skilled in telepathy and telekinesis. It was a world so far from her own. So much better than what she had ever known.
She should be grateful to me. I was going to unleash an entire new world for her.
I placed my hand on the panel and the door slid open.
The woman spun around, tears in her eyes, fists clenched, and her first movement was to pick up a base of sprigalin flowers and throw them at my face.
I ducked the wild throw easily. The vase shattered as it hit the floor.
“What right do you have?” Her face was turning red with the intensity of her yelling. “What right?” She scooped up a glass star figurine and lanced that at my head next. I caught it deftly in the air with my telekinesis, and then threw it back toward her. Not aiming for her but aiming so that it shattered into the wall just above her head.
“You Beast!” Her eyes went wide, shocked by my throw. “You are a beast! Truly! How could you take me from my home?”
Her blonde curls were messy, thrown back in a ponytail. A few had escaped and were making gentle swirls on her tear and sweat soaked cheeks. Though she was wearing sweat pants and a hoodie, the clothes could not hide a slender, athletic figure and the type of ass I liked: one I could dig my teeth into.
I shook away the thought sharply. I didn’t know why I had brought her here, but it couldn’t
