She made sure to enunciate each word as she said, “Which button releases his cuffs?”
***
The smell of burnt hair and flesh floated up to his nostrils, rousing him. Luka tried to rise on his knees to support his body. His shoulders ached from carrying the weight of his unconscious form.
Panic made him shoot upright, all of the pain suddenly a distant memory. Something was wrong, but his damned clouded mind couldn’t remember what it was. Dread knotted itself in his gut as he renewed his struggle against the immovable magnetic cuffs.
The memory of a sharp scream played in his mind.
My mate! Someone had hurt his female. He’d gone mad with fury when the bitter scent of her fear had reached him.
Although still feeling like he was wading through deep, murky water to sort his thoughts, his goals became clearer. He needed to get free, to get to her.
He glanced desperately at his cuffs. How long had he been unconscious? Where had she gone? He couldn’t scent her anymore.
Just as he reared back, readying to break his thumb by wrenching it through the metal, the cuffs opened and his arms dropped. He stared in bewilderment at his wrists for a moment. His skin was burned and blistered, but he could make out the faint outline of blue bands circling his wrists. Somewhere deep down he recognized the marks for what they were.
He stood, feeling his strength return to him tenfold.
Just then, a feminine voice echoed from the ceiling, making his shaft go hard. He couldn’t understand most of her words, but he recognized his mate’s voice. Two words she’d recited stood out: “Luka” and “door.”
He stumbled toward the door, staring fixedly at the ceiling, and felt his focus waver. Hearing her voice caused every nerve within him to tingle.
Once again, he tried to break through his blocked mind and find the rational, logical part of himself that’d allow him to find her.
An electric buzz at the door drew his attention. He tested the handle, finding it unlocked. When he stepped into the hallway, he could still scent the faint trace of her fear from earlier.
Possessiveness and fury roared through his senses, overtaking him until all he wanted to do was kill, fuck, and protect.
Chapter 6
Alice ran down yet another white hallway, glancing at the messy directions she’d scrawled on her palm, the electric prod clutched in her other hand.
Before freeing Luka, she’d made sure that Helas and Sal weren’t wandering the halls. Fortunately for her, they’d both been in her room, attaching Luka’s new chains to her ceiling. When she’d learned she could remotely lock and unlock doors, Alice had taken the opportunity to seal them in her cell.
In addition to freeing Luka, she’d spoken to each of the Earth women. They’d been yelling questions to the camera, but she couldn’t hear them, so she’d tried to explain their situation quickly and told them she’d be unlocking their doors and then attempting to find them.
Alice had brought up a map of the facility and directed the women on how to get to a meeting place. Gishen hadn’t initially been very forthcoming with the map, explaining that none existed and he could give her directions instead. After a few quick electric zaps to his balls, he’d changed his tune.
Luckily, Alice was able to use the map to see that most of the women were being held in cells near each other. Hope swelled in her even more when she saw they were all located on the same floor.
She ran through a large set of doors and then down an enormous spiral staircase.
All she had to do now was find the women on the floor below her and then follow the route she’d memorized to freedom. Or at least the possibility of freedom. She still had no idea what they would do once they made it outside. Run in a random direction? Wait for Luka’s drugs to wear off and hope he could help?
She paused, glancing up the stairs. Where is he?
Alice was a reasonable woman and she knew there was no way for Luka to know where she was, but she didn’t have time to look for him. If it was a competition between him and the abducted women, she had to choose the women.
An unchained Luka had at least a fighting chance against their captors, but the women wouldn’t. Still, her heart ached thinking she might escape and leave him trapped here.
If I get out and you don’t, I’ll find help. I swear it.
She turned, running down the stairs once again. She needed to hang onto her newfound strength and not worry about her confused, drugged alien.
Bolting through the lower level doors, she looked around in a panic. Where are they?
The women were supposed to meet her here. Had something happened to them? Had they gotten lost?
Just as Alice began moving in the direction of their cells, she heard quick footsteps down a hall to her right.
Peeking around the corner, her heart leapt when she saw a small group of frightened-looking women running toward her.
A beautiful raven-haired woman near the front of the group greeted her. “Alice?”
“Yeah.” Alice panted, overwhelmed with joy at the sight of other humans.
“Sorry for the holdup. I’m Vanessa.” She pointed behind her toward the small woman Alice had seen crying. “We don’t think she speaks English, and she didn’t understand what you were saying. We had to practically drag her here.”
Alice nodded. “Thanks for making sure she came with you.” Moving back to the door, she said, “We have to get going. I’ve only seen three men who work here, but there might be more. The exit is on the top floor.”
