Taking a few deep breaths, she attempted to calm her warring emotions.
She looked down at the palm he’d kissed and felt the telltale flutter of butterflies in her stomach.
Crap.
Chapter 3
“We were really getting somewhere yesterday.” Helas grinned.
Alice frowned at him, then averted her gaze, staring down at her hands resting in her lap. She’d spent another restless night in her cell and was in no mood for Helas’ pretentious smiles or chipper attitude.
“If he hadn’t been close to breaking his chains, I would’ve left you alone.” Helas raised his hands in mock exasperation. “But I couldn’t have him damage you, now could I?”
Damage me? As if she were property. “He didn’t hurt me,” she said quietly.
The more Alice thought about the events of yesterday, the more conflicted she felt. It’d be better if she turned off her emotions and stopped caring about Luka, but she couldn’t seem to do it.
Helas nodded in agreement. “And as long as you do as I say, I won’t let him hurt you.” He leaned back in his seat and clasped his hands together. “Don’t worry, we have upgraded his restraints. They lock and unlock with a fingerprint. He won’t be able to break free again.”
Alice leveled her gaze on Helas. Disgust roiled within her. “Why Luka? You said you hated mixed species. Is that all there is to it?”
The way Luka had fought off the two men yesterday had been impressive. If he could do that while drugged and bound, she couldn’t imagine how difficult it would’ve been to capture him. Why would they have gone to the trouble if there were other people with mixed heritage around?
Helas’ fake smile faded. “You did what I asked yesterday, so I’ll answer one question. Is that really the one question you’d like to ask?”
Alice had a million questions. What time was it? Was this what the whole planet was like? How long had it been since she’d been taken? Why couldn’t she remember anything after being taken from her work?
Although all of these questions and more burned within her, she couldn’t fight the urge to learn more about Luka. “I’d like to know what kind of man he is.” Hopefully, Helas would tell her about all the people Luka had killed or little old ladies he’d stolen from. It’d be a hundred times easier not to care if Luka was a terrible person.
Helas wrinkled his bulbous nose. “He used to work with me as a research scientist. We were trying to discover a cure for our species’ infertility. He was very motivated, but after finding out about our experiments down here, it seems he was not motivated enough. I had no choice but to lock him up. He was planning on betraying me.”
She inwardly groaned. Her gut feeling had been correct. Luka was a victim, and if Helas’ story was true, then she also believed Luka must be a good man.
The reason Luka had been taken and locked up was now clear to her. The beatings and forced drug use, on the other hand, told her something different about Helas. The pain that’d been inflicted was unnecessary and had been done from a vindictive, angry place. Helas hadn’t taken Luka’s betrayal well.
“Curing infertility using a race descended from Clecanians is my organization’s primary goal. You humans haven’t ventured into space or interbred with any other species. Earth is a perfectly preserved, undiluted, living record of ancestral Clecanian DNA. It’s unfortunate that someone with tainted blood happened to be the one to recognize you, but I have to put my distaste aside for the greater good.”
“Why do you have to physically beat him and electrocute him? Don’t you have a sedative or something that’d work instead?”
“Mixing different drugs with the ones already in his system may cause unwanted reactions or possibly contaminate his samples. I try to use sedatives only when absolutely necessary.” He stood and moved to the door, waiting for Alice to follow. “It’s time. I’d like you to touch him more today.”
Alice rose, gaze fixed on the ground to hide her eagerness. “If you bring me some medical supplies, I’ll touch him. He has lots of bruises and cuts that need to be tended to.”
He let out a humorless chuckle and turned to face her again. “You aren’t in a position to make demands.” A wicked grin curved his lips. “He will not be healed. You will touch him. If you don’t, I’ll send a shock through his cuffs. Any pain or suffering he experiences today will be on your head, not mine.”
Tears welled behind her eyes again. She focused on controlling her breathing to keep him from seeing how his words affected her.
He stepped through the door, and Alice followed him quietly, walking with her head hung low all the way to Luka’s room. She couldn’t bear to see Helas’ triumphant expression. It was stupid for her to have mentioned healing Luka. Now Helas knew she cared whether the man was hurt or not. She’d shown a weakness to him, and he’d use it to control her.
This is exactly why I should try not to care! I’ve just made it worse for us both.
His gaze followed her as she moved through the open door of the cell. “Remember, I’ll be watching.”
Alice shuffled into the dim room, and her eyes locked on Luka’s. He was still kneeling and chained, but now instead of his hands being bound behind him, his arms were spread wide. The shackle at each wrist was resting, as if glued, on a new metal plate on the stone wall.
“His chains allowed him to have some freedom, but after yesterday’s episode, we decided restricting his movement would be wise.” Helas met her disdainful stare. “Magnetic cuffs are less comfortable, but he won’t be able to break out of them.”
She frowned
