She had no clue and no brain function to really consider it because that deserted her the moment her terror glazed eyes brought it into focus.
Gaelen jerked her through the doorway so fast she felt her shoulder joint separate from her arm. Before she could do more than gasp, he slammed the door between them. A thin little whimper of fear penetrated the fog of terror that enveloped Emma. She whipped a look in the direction the sound had emerged from and instinct took over. Surging toward the crib where the baby lay, she scooped him up and looked around for a safe place to hide him.
There was nothing. The cabin was small and the crib and bunk took up most of it, neither of which would hide either one of them. The corridor was out of the question. She could hear the battle raging there.
It flickered through her mind that poor Gaelen was going to get slaughtered by that metal monster, but she couldn’t spare the time or emotion to examine that too closely at the moment.
There was only the bathroom, but thankfully the moment she thought about it, she realized there would be room in the storage cabinet for the baby at least.
She rushed toward the door and into the bathroom.
The cabinet, she discovered, would hold them both if she emptied it.
But would the monster grasp what the stuff on the floor meant?
She shook the thought off.
She couldn’t just shove the baby into that little cubby and expect him to be quiet. He was too little to understand that he would need to. He would think if he couldn’t see the thing it wouldn’t know he was there.
She compromised by tossing some of the linens back into the cavity to pad them and the rest into the bin for dirty linens, then scrambled into the tight area and pulled the door closed behind them.
She didn’t realize just how much heat she’d generated until they were closed in the tight space. Almost immediately she felt like she was roasting and burning up their oxygen.
They could still hear the banging from the battle.
In point of fact, it seemed to escalate and grow louder until it was no longer a dull thudding partly muffled by the pounding of her galloping heart in her ears.
Abruptly, the door was wrenched off of the linen cabinet with a scream of metal.
Emma screamed, as well, when she felt her arm seized.
Struggling, she tried to wrap her free arm and her legs around the baby to hold him and protect him as she was dragged out.
The monster wrenched him from her grasp in spite of all she could do. She screamed, this time with more fury than terror, pounding at the thing in an effort to break free.
“Cease! Emma, stop! You will harm yourself for no good reason!”
Emma whipped a sharp look toward the man who’d spoken intending to inform him it was for a very good reason, but his next comment stopped her cold.
“They will kill the baby if you continue to resist.”
She gaped at Kadin in horror—stunned by his statement, confused to discover all three men were there when she had thought it was only Gaelen—and whipped a look toward the baby, dangling by one arm as she was—helpless, fragile, so precious—crying for her, reaching.
She went limp, lost all will to fight. “Give him to me, please? Please, please, please don’t hurt my little baby,” she gasped just before something hit her like a truck running over her and pitched her into a deep, black hole. Nye’s screams followed her down.
* * * *
Emma woke with a sharp edged gasp and sat upright.
Vertigo hit her immediately and she toppled from the platform she’d woken on onto a harder, colder surface she instantly identified as a floor—metal or stone.
She corrected that. Metal. It had to be. She didn’t know where she was, but she had to be on the ship.
Or at least ‘a’ ship.
Would the aliens have taken over the ship? Or moved her onto theirs?
She was afraid to think about Nye, but she couldn’t block the thoughts. They poured through her, bringing wrenching grief that tore painful sobs from her throat. “Nye,” she sobbed, hoping against hope that they’d put him with her.
Only silence answered her though, a dull, empty silence.
Curling into a tight ball, she wept until exhaustion overtook her.
She felt ten times worse when she woke the second time. Her eyes felt as if they were swollen shut and her sinuses were inflamed from all the tears.
She was going to kill those bastards if she got a chance, she thought with sudden rage.
If they’d hurt Nye ….
She broke that thought off, trying to convince herself there was no reason to harm him.
Except just plain old neglect.
She broke off that thought, too. It wasn’t helping. It was making her more agitated and she was no good to him if she couldn’t pull herself together.
Kadin had said they would kill him if she didn’t stop resisting.
So she had.
Had they killed him anyway? Just to be spiteful? To punish her for trying to fight to begin with?
She didn’t know, but she thought the guys might.
Unfortunately, for all she knew they were dead.
A hard knot formed in her throat.
She didn’t want to think about them being dead—couldn’t.
Quite aside from meaning she was totally alone, she just couldn’t imagine such strong, virile men dead.
They were too young to be dead!
Well, she didn’t have a clue of how old they might be, truthfully, but they’d seemed young and strong and uber manly—warriors, fighters.
An image filled her mind abruptly.
They’d been in captivity when Kadin had bellowed at her to stop. They’d been disarmed.
It heartened her.
Surely they must be alive if they’d surrendered?
Some of her fear and grief lightened.
They would do their best to rescue the baby. She knew they would and she had confidence they would be able to figure something out.
She didn’t know if they would risk their necks to save her, but she was a big girl.
