Nell came instantly awake as a wave of cold water sluiced over her. Gasping for breath, she sat up on the hard seat and shook off the droplets. Air caressed her back and she reached behind her, feeling damp, bare skin. Dang it! How come every time she woke up, she was naked? Glancing down, she noted the purple spots on her body. Where had the bruises come from?
"I'm glad you didn't make me waste another bottle rousing you."
At the familiar masculine voice, Nell blinked while thoughts and memories whirled inside her skull. Familiar but wrong. Just like the hard bench under her and the metal walls around her. Holding her hands across her breasts and crossing her legs, she glanced up. Fear iced her veins and her heart raced at the blur of black hair, crooked nose and white even teeth surrounded by the angles and planes of his face. She knew him, yet couldn't recall his name. "You!"
A sneer thinned his lips and his black eyes flashed in his tan face. "Don't bother covering up. It's not like I haven't seen or touched it before."
Her skin crawled at the thought. She tightened her legs, searching for the slightest stickiness or twinge to indicate he'd violated her while she'd been out, all the while looking for a weapon in the narrow room. Everything was neatly stowed away. Definitely a Syn-En ship. But what about the odd stillness and the gravity? Had they landed on a planet? How long had she been out?
The man rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "Please. I don't have to rape you. You'll come willingly, once we get to the temple."
"I will not." Nell folded her legs against her chest, wrapped her arms around her shins and set her chin on her knees. Temple-schemple. She wasn't going anywhere with him. Beijing would come for her.
"Oh, he'll come." The man smirked, looming over her. "He just won't arrive. None of those freaks will. The defense array will destroy anyone who comes near."
She stiffened. If she didn't know better, she'd think he could read her mind.
He knelt in front of her, cupped her bare shoulders. His fingers bit into her bruised flesh. "I can do more than read your pathetic thoughts; I can make my will yours."
Nell batted his hands away from her.
He raised his hand as if to strike her.
Flinching, she shrank back against the cold wall.
"You're right." He chuckled, the noise like sandpaper against exposed nerves. "Why should I hit you when I can command your obedience?"
Her stomach rebelled at the thought. She wasn't a robot. She was a living, breathing person complete with free will and a mind of her own. Yet doubts sprouted like toadstools after a hard rain. No, she refused to believe him. "Bite me."
"Bite yourself." He pinched his pointed chin between his thumb and index finger. "Your hand I think."
"You're nuts. I'm not?" Nell watched her hand lift. What the heck! She tried to stop it, and, for a moment, her shaking hand hovered above her knee. Sweat beaded her temple and trickled into her eyes, stinging them. How had she lost control? She wanted to blink, but couldn't risk taking her attention from her traitorous body.
"Impressive." He shifted slightly and ran his hands down her back until he grasped the gentle swell of her butt and pinched hard.
Pain broke her concentration. She gasped. One hand braced against the thin cushion underneath her while the other wedged the fleshy part of her hand between her teeth. She bit down. The ache from the pinch was nothing compared to the agony of her incisors sinking into her skin.
"You see," his whisper washed down her chest, "whatever I want, you'll do. If I want to beat you, you'll beg me to hit you. My desires become your needs. You'll be the perfect woman, obeying my every whim."
Nell gagged on the sweet blood pooling in her mouth. Her anger surged. He had no right. She could fight him. She could. So why was she biting herself? Focus. Relax your jaw. You can do this.
"And when I want you, you'll open your legs, bend over or get on your knees before me." He grabbed her hair and jerked her head back so she would look him in the eyes.
The movement ripped open her skin on her hand. Blood and spittle dribbled down her chin. Tears blurred her vision. The pain. God, please, stop the pain.
"Do we understand each other?" A light gleamed in his black eyes, changing the color to a smoky gray.
That wasn't natural. Neither was harming herself.
"Forgive me." Leaning forward, he licked her cheek. The wet streak smelled of pungent chemicals. "I forgot your mouth was full. You may stop biting yourself now."
Nell's jaw opened, and her bloody hand flopped onto her lap. She cradled it against her belly, afraid to touch the red and raw skin. How badly had she damaged it? With a thought, she tried to wiggle her tingling fingers. No such luck. Visible over his shoulder, she spied a red cross on a black box attached to the wall. Perhaps that was a first-aid kit.
He slapped her gently on the cheek. "Do you understand the rules of your new life, Nell?"
"Yes." Hatred roiled through her. He would deserve everything Beijing would do to him. Beijing. Just the thought of him warmed her, gave her hope.
"No." That odd glow lightened his eyes to a misty gray. "Don't think of him. You are mine. My property. To do with as I see fit. Perhaps, you need another lesson in obedience."
Her hand pulsed with agony. He needed a lesson. One in manners and?
"On your feet."
Nell's body moved as if someone else controlled it. Her legs straightened, and then her feet touched the metal deck. Her efforts to stop only resulted in jerky movements, but still she hoped. Bracing her good hand against the seat back, she stood. Maybe if she concentrated?
"Not even then." Stepping in front of her, he reached up, steadying himself against the overhead compartment. "The longer we're together the stronger my control over you becomes."
Glancing down, she eyed her toes. To her surprise, they responded to her thoughts. Was there a limit to his control? She raised her good arm to cover herself.
"Uh-uh. I want to see you." He folded his arms over his chest and tilted his head as his gaze raked down her body. "I didn't have time to appreciate you before. Your former friends were determined to rescue you. Now I can see why. Turn slowly."
Heat blazed through her skin as she obeyed without thought. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be a weapon on board this ship. The Syn-En were soldiers for crying out loud. But even as the thought came to her, the will to enforce it drained away.
"Very nice. Even better than I pictured." He leered at her and wiped his palms on his black uniform pants. "As for your friends, if they come you'll sacrifice yourself to protect me."
Nell shuddered as lust invaded her. How could she be attracted to him, yet feel dirty and used? Guilt added to the emotional maelstrom. What would Beijing think when he found her?
"Of course, I would have preferred a little more meat on your bones." He palmed her bare left breast and fiddled with the nipple. "More cushion for the pushin' if you know what I mean."
Helplessness crashed through her. Why would she mirror a stranger's lust? The whole thing had the surreal quality of a dream. But this was real. Why couldn't she fight back? And suddenly, she knew. That mother/conscience thing. It had provided information when she needed it, told her how to survive and make herself useful. Oh God! Nell had allowed it to take control of her body and heal the damaged Syn-En. Now it crushed her free will and didn't even bother pretending she could control her body. Nell had been relegated an observer in her own life. She was nothing but a puppet with an alien yanking the strings. A tear ran down her cheek, quickly followed by another.
"Don't cry." For a moment, his eyes darkened to a more normal color. "I-I-"
At his command, her waterworks stopped. Good Lord, she wasn't even allowed the comfort of a good cry? "Why me?"
His black eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Because I like you, Nell. Isn't it obvious?"
"No." She watched blood overflow her palm and form red rivulets down her belly. Her hand didn't hurt as much now. Maybe anesthesia was a gift from the alien brain
controller. She'd prefer her free will or an infection from her bite.
"You sure did a number on your hand." He unsnapped the first aid kit on the wall, sat down on the bench and thumped the thin pad next to him.
Before she could even think of refusing, her body obeyed. She hated him for that, but the emotion quickly faded, to be replaced by gratitude for his attentiveness. The cushion was warm under her bottom and his touch gentle as he lifted her hand to inspect the damage. Nell felt herself drowning. What would she become once the brain controller finished with her?
"You should be flattered that I picked you, Nell."
She forced herself to think of what he'd said and her thoughts focused. So, her brain allowed clarity when it concerned him? What did it mean and how could she use it to her advantage?
"You chose me?" Nell had been confused, angry and humiliated today. Flattered didn't even make it onto her radar. She felt a fog seep into her brain, shrouding her concentration. Apparently, negativity was another thing that wasn't tolerated.
"Hmm." He pulled an antibiotic wipe from the first-aid kit in his lap and ripped open the package. The square wipe unfurled with a shake of his wrist. Bending his head, he ran the cloth over the half-moon shaped wound. "Well, you weren't the only one, but you were the first."
She stared at her numb hand, yet felt the concern and tenderness radiating from him. Aside from those invading emotions, she felt nothing. Could the alien puppeteer be boxing up the real Nell Stafford? "I don't understand."
"You really don't remember me?" A flush stained his tan skin and he gave a self-deprecating smile. "That's kind of bruising on the ego."
Recognition hit her then. She had met him before. She sagged in relief. It was one of her memories, not a false one implanted inside her head.
"Don't worry." He winked at her, before pulling out a tube of antibiotic ointment. "I'll think of a way you can make it up to me."
Lewd images of them together filled her head. His thoughts, his revenge for her forgetfulness. Nell swallowed a gasp. Her world shrank again. Soon she'd be relegated to the fringe. "I vaguely remember you."
"The Save our World Foundation." After smearing the ointment on her wound, he tugged free a roll of gauze and began wrapping her palm. "We talked. You told me all about how you got fired from your job because you were honest."
"Alejandro Delgado." The memory replayed like a high-definition movie. Back on Earth, he had held open the door for her to the corporate office and had taken the seat next to her. He'd said talking helped calm him down. She remembered liking him and being flattered by the attention.
"Yes, ironic isn't it?" Using his even white teeth, Alejandro ripped the end of the gauze in two and tied off the bandage. "We both thought we were signing up to save Earth, but the Skaperians wanted us to save their world. This world."
"I wasn't here to save the Syn-En?" Nell reeled as the truth of her mission infused her thoughts. She shuddered at the image of cricket-legged beings with an extra thumb on their hands. Although they looked human, they weren't. But soon that would change. Doc's comments about youth and health confirmed the ugly truth. She was a breeder for an alien race. Good God, what if she gave birth in litters?
"Those freaks?" Alejandro scoffed, before snapping the first aid kit closed. "They're not even human. Earth was right to try to kill them off."
Her chest tightened. She never wanted to think of Beijing dead. Never. But he couldn't rescue her. The thing in her head wouldn't allow it. She inspected the bandage so she didn't have to look at Alejandro. "You were nice then."
"Duh." He rolled his eyes before springing off the bench to pace the narrow aisle. "I wanted a job with a charitable foundation. Nice was practically a job requirement."
Nell resisted the urge to cover herself. Could she do it? As much as she wanted to prove she still retained some control, she couldn't handle the prospect of failure. Not right now. Especially since part of her didn't mind the nudity. She swallowed a groan. The brain controller possessed her. Nell plucked at the seat cushion and part of the seat lifted. She gasped. Clothes. Her hand shook as she reached for the black fabric. "So you're not normally a nice person?"
Alejandro shrugged, scooped out a set of clothes and handed it to her. "Manners are a way to get what you want. Besides, you looked so lonely that I felt sure we'd hook up later, if not to celebrate, then commiserate. We had something. I knew we'd meet again."
We had something. What they had was an alien behind the curtain jerking their strings. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Distancing herself from the building attraction, she wished she could separate what was truly hers from what the brain-controller made her feel. "You knew?"
"About the Skaperians? Nah." Bending at the waist, Alejandro removed the rest of the uniforms and found a couple of backpacks inside the bench seat. "I knew you had great tits, and your ass was still firm. I planned to seduce you with sympathy and maybe a drink or two. The Skaperians's brain box made all that unnecessary."
Nell tugged the black uniform tunic over her head, glad the soft fabric covered her as she pulled on the matching pants. "When did you find out about this world?"
"After I'd been taken into the interview." He made quote marks in the air by his head, and then began stuffing the clothes into the bag. "Once they told me about their situation, I couldn't refuse. I was about to become Adam to a superior race with a harem of twenty Eves. Who are waiting for me, even as we speak."
Twenty. As much as she was glad not to be the center of his sexual attention, the thought of having to accept the manwhore turned her stomach.
"Hey now, don't think like that." He tossed open the bench seat across the aisle from where she sat and handed her a pair of boots and socks. "I'm a man. What guy wouldn't want a lot of women at his beck and call? And I won't even force you into a threesome unless you want."
"Gee, thanks." Nell jerked on the wool socks and stomped into the boots. She knew what kind of guy would be satisfied with just her. Beijing. Those three weeks with him had been bliss. Unless? Her hands stilled on the laces. Velcro flaps scratched the back of her hand. Oh, God, what if her brain controller manipulated him too?
"Of course, if I want you in a threesome, then you'll want to be in one so?" Alejandro licked his lips and cinched the drawstring of the backpack tight. "Yeah, gets me hard just thinking about it."
She felt his arousal as keenly as if he poked her with it. Retreating into herself, Nell took a calming breath. Surely, he wouldn't want her to undress after she just finished putting her clothes on. She tied the laces and slapped the Velcro tab over them.
"Hey, you'll enjoy it, because I will." Dropping the full pack on the floor, he rubbed his hands together. "It's good to be king."
"For the king." Nell muttered, pushing off the hard bench.
That obscene light flashed in Alejandro's smoky eyes again. He shoved an empty pack into her belly and pointed to the emergency rations stowed in the cubby. "I only use my power when necessary. I don't abuse it. Remember, I could have you march naked in front of me."
Nell swallowed the bitterness in her mouth, knelt on the floor beside the open bench and began packing the dehydrated food. His lust was overwhelming. Could the man think of nothing else besides sex? "So why are we here, again?"
"My mission is to procreate." He rubbed himself through his black pants. "Yours is to see to my needs and raise as many children as I can get on you. I don't see why we can't start right now."
Nell squirmed when his savage desire hit her brain controller. Biting back a scream, she realized she felt a similar primal need with Beijing. Could Alejandro be a victim like her, controlled by alien programming and forced to behave against his natural inclinations? She felt Alejandro's anger and stopped thinking about Beijing. Perhaps this emotion thing ran both ways. Mentally, she wadded up her exhaustion, fear and pain and shoved it at Alejandro.
He winced but didn't take his attention from her breasts.
Hope blossomed inside
her. It had worked. Too bad no one ever died of an emotional overload. She closed the backpack of rations and swung it onto her shoulders. "Aren't we supposed to be somewhere? The last thing I need is nineteen other women mad at me."
His eyes narrowed, but he picked up the bag on the floor. His eyes lightened for a moment then a soft grinding noise hummed through the cabin. "You're only postponing the inevitable."
Nell forced herself to meet his eyes, unable to deny the truth, especially since he could read her thoughts. The brain controller may have conquered her body, but rebellion still reigned inside a shrinking portion of her head. "If it's inevitable then what's the rush?"
Alejandro closed the distance between them. Fury burned bright spots on his high cheekbones and compressed his mouth into a slash mark. He raised his hand and smacked the wall next to her head. "You think the mighty Beijing York will rush to your aid."
Nell strangled on the denial. Crap. Now she wasn't even allowed to argue with him?
Alejandro's hands closed around her upper arms. His grip tightened as he pushed down the aisle.
The pain of his touch intensified, but she ignored it. Thinking she was about to be body-slammed against the wall, Nell braced herself. Instead, the ground disappeared beneath her feet and she felt herself falling backwards. He released her, and she reached for the blue skies.
Green flashed in her peripheral vision seconds before she hit the ground. Hard. Her back popped from the awkward angle caused by the backpack. She inhaled the sweet smelling air as wet blades of tall grass slapped her.
A shadow blotted out the sky when Alejandro loomed over her. He pointed to the strips of thin, white clouds crossing the horizon. "See those streaks up there. That's debris hitting the atmosphere. Take a last look at your precious cyborg freaks. The Skaperians are great at building weapons."
And Beijing was a great soldier. He'd find a way to rescue her. But did he want to? Without her brain controller nearby, would he forget all about her, all they had meant to each other? Wiggling on the ground like an upside down turtle, Nell levered herself into a sitting position. Dew soaked into her uniform.
"If the Skaperians are so great, then why are we here? As an experiment?" A composite of purple flowers formed a soft spear point on the top of a finger-thick green stalk. It looked so much like a lupine from home she was almost tempted to pick it. Was it a flower or would it sprout teeth and bite her? No alarms rang inside her head, but she wasn't taking any chances. The brain box had seemed harmless at first too.
Alejandro grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet. "We're here to save their race from a virus that's killing them."
"Virus?" Nell's thoughts whirled and she kept her hands above the swaying grass. Knowledge flowed freely inside her head. The aliens wanted her for the antibodies, for some reason they couldn't make their own.
He spun her about and shoved her across the purple flowered meadow toward the treeline. "Thankfully, humans are immune."
"How would they know that?" Raising her hands over her head so the grass didn't stick to her exposed skin, Nell stumbled over the uneven ground. Stupid grass. Why did it have to hide such rocky ground? The long blades sliced at her pants. She prayed it wouldn't tear.
"That little illness we got after our first interview." With a hand clamped onto her neck, Alejandro steered her left. A light breeze scattered violet petals in her path and a bright yellow sun peered over the treetops. Birds chattered, insects buzzed and, the waist-high Pampas grass rustled. "Our recovery meant we had passed their first test."
"They got us sick. On purpose?" The bastards. Not only was she to spend the rest of her life barefoot and pregnant, but the aliens had infected her with a virus. Could her day get any better? Water splashed underfoot, and mud sucked at her boots. The pungent odor of mold and decomposing vegetation assaulted her senses. Nell blew her bangs out of her eyes. Yes, trekking through an alien swamp was an improvement. God definitely had a twisted sense of humor.
"Look at it from their perspective." Alejandro's words reminded her of other things wrong with this world. "We were billions and multiplied like cockroaches."
Nell straightened at the comparison. So she wanted a baby, that wasn't wrong. Especially, if he had blue almond-shaped eyes and? Anger swelled inside her head. Dang it. She'd have to do a better job of policing her thoughts. She paused at the edge of the forest, staring at the pine tree-like boughs blocking her path. "Isn't that exactly what they want us to do, here, in Paradise Lost?"
Alejandro walked around her and pushed the slender branch aside. Gray-green needles rained to the ground and crunched underfoot as he strode into the shadows. "Yes, but we'll create a better race. A hybrid of human and Skaperian. The best of us and them."
Oh joy! In addition to turning her into a remote controlled human, changing her DNA so she didn't age, an alien Easter bunny had laid eggs in her basket. The sarcasm rattled around her head and bumped into the idea of just staying put or getting 'accidentally' separated from him in the woods. Her traitorous body moved forward and she knew there would be no separating her from Alejandro. She shivered at the cool temperature under the canopy.
"Did you say something?"
A red bird darted in front of them and underneath the needles something rustled. Ugh, she hoped there weren't rats. Or something worse.
"No." Nell adjusted the straps on her shoulders. How had she gotten so bruised? Beijing would know. Plus, he would offer to carry her burden. Just his touch and-
"Stop thinking about him." Alejandro pivoted on his heel. His eyes seemed to glow under the dim forest, and fury twisted his blunt features.
Pain seared her skull. Dropping to the soft ground, she clutched her head.
"You are mine, Nell Stafford." Alejandro stomped to meet her. He grasped her injured hand and squeezed. Red spotted the white bandage. "Mine and I won't allow any infidelity, not even in your thoughts."
She gasped at the throbbing that threatened to shatter her and tried to pull her hand free. More agony rewarded her efforts. "Stop it!"
"Why do you make me hurt you? Do you think I enjoy it? Do you?" He tossed her hand aside, but the pain continued like a thousand paper cuts slicing right through nerves.
"Yes!" she hissed, curling into a fetal position on the ground. If only he'd hit, kicked or punched her, then she'd have something to fight. But this torture was in her head. Her fingers dug into the base of her skull. If she could find that brain controller, she'd rip it out with her bare hands.
"Pleasure or pain, Nell. Your behavior will dictate which, not mine." His boots appeared in front of her eyes. "I'm not the bad guy here. You are."
"You kidnapped me." A fresh wave of pain joined the heap of old. Her lungs burned. Her skin felt as if an army of ants munched on her. But none of it was real.
"I think you need to be reset." Alejandro smoothed her hair back. "You've lost sight of what's at stake. We're the Adam and Eve of a new civilization and I won't fail because of you."
Trapped inside her head, Nell watched as a wall of blackness approached. It would take her memories of Beijing; erase them as if he'd never been part of her life. As the darkness hit, she clung to his smile, and the happiness he gave her.