1. Maggie

Chapter 1

Maggie

S hadows flickered across the stage, the soft lights overhead pulsing in time with the heavy bass vibrating through the metal floor beneath my bare feet. My heart thudded, each beat matching the music’s pace as I twisted and spun, as I glided up and down the pole mounted from the floor of the stage to the ceiling high above me.

Sweat trickled down my back, and warmth from the bright lights bounced off my skin, illuminating me like a strange, forgotten star in this dark, terrifying place.

It felt like only yesterday, though it could’ve been light-years since I sat in my office at the dance studio my sister, Talia, and I had just opened. She'd stopped by my office to tell me everyone had left for the day, that we were finally alone. I was thinking of suggesting we get pizza delivered, maybe crack open that bottle of wine I'd bought for a special occasion. What was more special than spending time with my twin ?

A boom echoed across the top floor of the warehouse where we'd set up our business, and we shared frowns.

Talia cocked her head and looked down the hall. The horror on her face . . . I still sat at my desk, and I couldn't see what she did, but whatever it was made my skin crawl. I wanted to drop to my knees and crawl under my desk. Hide from whatever was coming.

Dull thuds rang out, followed by my sister shouting for me to run. She pivoted and bolted down the short hall, but she didn't get far. Robocops leaped past my open doorway and the thud that followed told me they'd caught her. Grabbed her. She shrieked, and I snatched something up off my desk. I don’t even remember what it was now. I flung myself toward the hall, determined to help her.

Other robocops rushed into my office and attacked me. They toppled me backward, onto my desk. My arm stung. A bee sting? No, the robocops had poked me in the arm with something . . . I shook my head, trying to hold onto consciousness as the drug that made the world fade to . . .

Cold sank into my skin from the pole I clung to, a reminder of my captivity. Each time I wrapped my legs around it, I could almost feel the metal biting into me, tethering me to this new, cruel reality. I twisted and turned, forcing my body through the moves while a knot of fear bound tighter in my stomach.

Around me, the atmosphere buzzed with low, guttural voices—alien chatter barely rising above the throbbing music. The lizards sitting at the bar and the tables eyed me, their deep green and brown scales shimmering under the lights.

“Wake,” a lilting voice had said, driving me from the drug-induced haze and bringing me into my new present. Mechanical arms lifted from a soft bed and carried me across a big open room. I took in other pods like mine holding women dressed in thin white gowns like me.

“Talia?” I'd croaked. She cried out, and I strained to reach her, but our fingers could not touch. We'd slept together until we were five and only then gave into our parent's request that we remain in our own beds each night. Sharing a room was the next best thing. Unlike other siblings, we grew up best friends, doing almost everything together. We drew closer after our parents were killed, because then, we only had each other.

We’d even joked about getting married on the same day, of walking down the aisle side-by-side to say I do to our new husbands. Maybe even honeymooning together, though we’d chuckled and nodded, insisting we would not share the same bed after that.

The harsh murmur of the patrons inside the lizard bar washed over me, filled with low chuckles, snarls, and slurs, making it hard to focus. But I forced myself to keep dancing, pushing away the discomfort in my body and soul.

I was not just dancing; I was surviving, though I barely felt alive.

A low growl cut through the music, and I glanced over to the side of the stage where my boss stood. A massive lizard with green and dull gold scales, he had a jagged scar running across his face. These aliens looked vaguely like crocodiles back home. They stood on two feet with enormous claws, the position exposing their lighter-toned, scaled bellies. Spikes jutted down their spines, continuing along the tops of their long tails that could knock someone off their feet with one swipe. I knew this for a fact, because my boss slammed me to the floor not long after we met—right after he’d bought me at the auction.

His eyes, cold and calculating, watched me like a predator with prey. The way he stared made my skin quiver. His leer was a constant reminder that I was not in control of . . . anything any longer.

“Faster. Do more. Show more,” he barked, his voice erupting from his long lizard snout complete with sharp teeth. His words grated against the throb of the music pulsing around me. The room seemed to shrink under his command, and the weight of his gaze grew heavier with every moment. So far, he hadn’t tried anything sexual. Each evening, he dragged me to the stage and tethered me to the pole. He remained in the shadows, watching me, keeping others away. I'd be grateful for that if I didn't sense he kept them away because he planned to one day claim me as his own.

I pushed myself harder, my movements becoming frantic. Twisting and spinning, I tried to keep my energy high, but each step felt more like a struggle than a dance. My legs moved fluidly, but inside, I’d turned into a puppet with tangled strings .

If only I’d run faster after the space pod crashed in the alien desert on the edge of this vast, metal city overrun with so many lizard aliens I'd lost count within seconds of my captors dragging me down the first street. Other than wrapping a cord with an odd crystal around my throat that made me suddenly understand what they said, they'd left me alone.

Well, other than taking me to an auction where my current boss bought me.

As I swayed my hips and threw my arms out, the memories of dancing back on Earth passed through my mind—sunlight streaming through the windows of the studio, the laughter of our students, the freedom of expression I found only in dance. Those thoughts slipped through my fingers like grains of sand, reminding me of how far away I was from everything and everyone I loved.

I stumbled, and my lizard boss, Wortek, growled again, snarling at me to do better. Push harder. Fear twisted my guts into a bitter knot. Would I ever escape this place? Fear for my sister gnawed at me. She was on this planet, somewhere, and I had to find her.

I danced, putting everything I had into each move, desperate to avoid the belief that I might never see her again.

I lost myself in the alien, discordant music and the thrill of the adrenaline surging through my veins, struggling to keep up with Wortek's demands. But with every spin and sway, the horror of my surroundings sank deeper .

Until a figure across the room caught my eye.

He loomed above the crowd, tall and imposing, his presence different from the shorter, scaly lizards around him. My breath hitched as I took him in—from the striking blue of his skin that seemed to almost glow under the dim lights, to the sharp tusks jutting from his lower jaw that gave him a fierce yet compelling appearance.

He stood out like a flame in darkness, contrasting with the dullness of the bar and the swarm of lizard patrons drinking, shouting, and staring at me raptly. My heart flipped over, and despite the frantic beat of the music, I found it hard to look away from the strange male. Who was he and what was he doing here? I pushed the questions away; it wasn’t safe to let my mind wander when I should focus on each step, each night, each dance.

I leaped, grabbed onto the bar, and coiled my leg around it, slowly letting my body drop toward the floor.

Our gazes locked.

A jolt of recognition shot through me, and I almost lost my grip on the bar. Just like the most cliched thing in the world, everything around me faded. Warmth flickered inside me, replacing the stark fear that had wrapped around my soul ever since I was taken.

The urge to understand who he was clawed at my mind. I reminded myself that wondering wouldn’t change my situation. I was still dancing for monsters, still trapped in a nightmarish life that was no longer my own. But there was something about him, something I couldn't explain away as me noticing someone different.

I forced myself to rise to my feet, to swirl my body around the pole, responding to the music while my mind spun with thoughts of him. I caught glimpses of his intense, teal-eyed gaze, sharp and intelligent, and I let myself dream.

He was here to save me.

He would protect me with his own life.

And he would see all the pain I kept hidden beneath the surface.

I was a foolish woman. I'd given up on dreams when my parents died. Our struggle to hold onto our home and finish our education had stomped flat whatever misty wishes I might've held in my heart.

But in a place where I felt like an object, this male made me feel seen as a person.

I couldn’t let thoughts of him distract me.

My survival lay on this stage and in staying out of Wortek's grasp.