Well, as free as anybody else in the world she’d left, she supposed, when the government regulated pretty much everything but breathing.
But she’dstillhad choices.
She’dchosento live in the cabin away from pretty much everybody, because she’d never really been able to fit in and people made her uncomfortable. And she didn’t feel alone or lonely when she was in a place where she couldn’t be passed by and ignored.
Now …. Her future wasn’t her decision. Her body wasn’t hers anymore. She was a breeder.
So, did that mean if she accepted her fate and let Kadin breed her that it would get her back to Nye sooner?
Not that she could prevent him from trying if he decided he wasn’t going to let her reluctance get his ass killed.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
On the other hand, it didn’t seem she had a choice and since she’d been separated from the baby for a purpose, she thought this must be it.
One thing that occurred to her that disturbed her way more was that she had doubts almost immediately that shecouldbe bred by the alien man, that even that seemingly simple solution to her biggest problem—getting Nye back—would elude her.
Granted, there were almost as many similarities as there were differences, but the differences were vast.
But maybe they could create something that would appease the bastards and they’d let her have Nye back?
It occurred to her that it wasn’t likely they’d just thoughtfully put her back if it transpired she couldn’t breed with Kadin—or anyone on the ship that wasn’t human.
Would they just dispose of her? Flush her from the airlock as Kadin had said?
Horror washed over her in a wave of cold and for many moments she couldn’t push the horrific images from her mind. It was a struggle to calm herself.
Kadin helped by climbing on the platform with her and kissing her stupid again.
And then fucking her brains out.
He had ‘the touch’. There was no denying that.
She felt mellow enough when he’d finished she simply passed into the sleep dimension.
She was hungrier, if possible, when she woke again.
Worse, she needed a toilet.
Kadin, bless his heart, got off the platform and passed through a narrow door. She heard the splash of water and nearly peed her pants—that she didn’t have.
She didn’t know if it was a bathroom or not, but she was damned well going to turn it into one!
Struggling not to look like she was in a frantic rush, she headed that way as soon as Kadin exited.
Thankfully, it actually was a bathroom—of sorts.
She supposed she should just be grateful that it had a wall between the outer wall and the toilet—pot—but she wasn’t.
One more thing to hate those bastards for!
The semi-privacy wasn’t really enough, but she managed to unlock her muscles sufficiently to make use of the facilities.
There was even a drip feed water source sticking out of the wall. She hit at bathing with it by waiting impatiently for enough drips to fill her cupped palm over and over and finally drank. The water seemed to hit the bottom of her empty stomach like a rock. She could feel it sloshing as she headed back into the main room of the cell.
Kadin was eating something when she came out, totally diverting her from her discomfort. He glanced at her and held out something in one palm.
It looked like a wad of bread.
“What is it?” she asked when she’d taken it.
He shrugged. “Food.”
Dismay rippled through her. “Is this … all?”
He sent her a speculative look. “You’re asking if I’m hiding the rest?”
She gaped at him. “It didn’t occur to me.” Anger followed the surprise. “Are you?”
“Why would I need to? I could just eat it … could have while you were occupied in there.”
That was inarguable. “I wasn’t insinuating that you were. I was wondering how they expect two people to survive on this,” Emma said testily.
Trying not to think about what they might be feeding baby Nye, if anything, she settled and ate what tasted like a small cake of sawdust.
Upon reflection she decided not sawdust. It actually didn’t have that much taste.
And it was such a little bit it just seemed to float around on the gallon of water she’d drank to try to appease her empty stomach.
She sat for a while afterward, nursing it, trying to think about anything but throwing up. Thankfully, their ‘hosts’ thought of something to distract her until her stomach finally settled.
They opened the door to their cell.
Emma would’ve refused to go out.
Well did.
Kadin simply grabbed her and yanked her out.
The door slammed behind them as swiftly as it had opened, leaving the two of them naked and standing in a bizarre sort of ‘exercise yard’, she supposed, of nudists.
“Must be the breeding pen,” Kadin muttered after surveying the area.
“Oh my god!” Emma gasped in a hoarse whisper.
* * * *
Gaelen was too preoccupied with his own aches and pains to allot time for anything beyond that for a good day after the battle. As the pain began to subside, though, he became aware of the voices of others of his kind.
The count was fifty—a very respectable force even without weapons—but there was little they could do with that information at the moment.
Another day passed before he heard the tiny voice he realized he had been searching for and a profound sense of peace settled over him.
Nye was alive.
* * * *
Hauk had never been inclined to focus on the negative. He considered himself a realist, though, and, pick it apart thought he might, he could see no silver lining, no possibility of turning the tables on their captors that would be an acceptable risk.
They had been expecting one of their ships to arrive to rescue them and there was some chance, he was sure, that the ship might have been close enough to see them taken, but he could not convince himself
