“Thank you, Sal. Please put her in the room,” he said, moving out of the doorway.
Sal shoved her unceremoniously into the small cell, less than half the size of hers. In a flash, she hunched over, pulling her arms in protectively and balling her fists. Her eyes flew to the chained man kneeling on the floor only a few feet away. His large arms were shackled behind his back, and his head lolled in front of him. Was he asleep?
“Don’t worry,” Helas announced. “He’s passed out for now. I’ll wake him when I get to the control room.”
She glanced at Helas, then back to the man. Even slumped, she could tell he was huge. His bare chest and torso were heavily muscled, and although he was kneeling, his head rose to her rib cage. He had to be well over six feet when standing.
Her breathing quickened, and her throat felt like it was constricting. She lunged toward Helas and the door. Luka was too large. What if he broke free?
Helas shoved her to the floor. “You will stay here. He’s chained to the wall. If his marks appear, I’ll let you out.”
Luka grunted in sleep, and she stilled, eyes wide.
“Looks like he’s waking up,” Helas exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “I’d better get to the control room. I’ll be watching.” He pointed above the doorway to a small lens mounted on the stone.
Before she could move, the door was closed and locked.
Alice sat perfectly still in the corner of the room for long moments, watching the man and trying to control her breathing. Cold sweat broke out over her body.
He can’t get free, she reminded herself, examining the taut chain connecting his shackled wrists to the wall behind him.
When she’d first glimpsed Luka, he’d been completely naked. Now, she was relieved to see, he wore soft, loose pants that hung low on his hips.
Her eyes were drawn to a large bruise running along his rib cage. Anger flared in her again. Had they kicked him? As she scanned his body, she saw his pale tattoos curving around other small cuts and bruises, some almost healed, some fresh.
She began to relax. This abused man, Luka, wasn’t her enemy. She needed to remember that. He was a prisoner just like her. Maybe he isn’t as dangerous as Helas made him out to be. They were probably trying to scare me. Even as she thought this, the memory of Luka snarling as his black eyes bored into her crossed her mind, and her panic resume.
A loud zap echoed in the small room, making the chains rattle. Luka’s body seized, and then he bellowed in pain, struggling to get out of his chains before abruptly stilling.
He turned his head toward her, and through his dark brown tangled hair she saw his eyes focus on her. His pupils were so dilated that she could only make out the faintest hint of icy-blue iris. As she watched, both the whites of his eyes and the iris were enveloped in black.
His nostrils flared, and he tried to turn his body more fully toward her. The deep black of his eyes and the wildness of his appearance made him look like something out of a horror film. Alice’s throat constricted. She swung her focus to the ground, unable to hold his unnatural gaze.
“That m-means you r-recognize me, right?” Her voice shook with fear even as she tried to keep calm.
Glancing up, she found he’d tilted his head at her like an animal.
She inhaled as deeply as she could, but she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
He started to tug at his hands, rattling the chain. When she scooted farther away, tears blurring her vision, he snarled and began to struggle harder. His muscles strained with the effort, and he never took his eyes off her.
An ominous groan from the metal base the chain was attached to had her tucking her body into a ball. She threw her hands around her head and began to rock.
No, no, no. He was going to break free, and if he had the strength to break free, he’d surely rip her apart, whether he meant to or not.
Tears dripped onto her denim-clad thighs as she waited for the sound of snapping metal, but it never came. With her head still tucked protectively against her hands, she raised her eyes a few inches to see what had happened to Luka.
He was breathing heavily and straining against his chains, but he’d stopped trying to break free. When he saw her face, his brows drew together. He blinked and shook his head like he was attempting to clear it.
Through the curtain of tangled hair, he peered at her again. His eyes were still black, but they looked more aware than they had a moment ago.
“Are you still in there, Luka?” she asked quietly.
His lids narrowed, but he didn’t answer.
He could’ve broken free just then; they both knew it. He’d stopped, though, controlled himself. “Thank you for stopping.”
Luka seemed to relax incrementally when she spoke, so between her short breaths, she kept talking.
“How long have you been here? Were you captured, or is holding people hostage normal on this planet?” Unsurprisingly, he didn’t answer, but she found talking to him had a calming effect on her too. Her heartbeat slowed to a normal rate, and her breaths grew even.
Judging from the dark matted hair that hung in front of his face, he’d been here
