Chapter 10

TEN

She was still stuck in the underground mine, only everything felt different.

Her would-be abductors were gone, left behind in the tunnels under a cloud of sedating gas. Possibly badly injured, too, considering that guy had taken over her body and used it to brutally beat them up.

God, he'd completely wrecked her.

So why wasn't she in pain anymore? She knew for a fact that she had a broken foot, and as she'd made her way toward the exit shaft, her body had ached in a hundred different places. Tomorrow morning, she'd probably be covered in all kinds of ugly bruises.

That had been… a trip.

A dark, evil, exhilarating trip.

She'd gotten a glimpse of what it was like to be…

Powerful.

As he'd slipped into her mind and taken control, she'd been forced to sit back like a spectator watching a horror movie.

How easily violence came to him. As naturally as breathing. And if not for her reservations—which she'd somehow managed to communicate to him—he would have done a lot more damage. Would have killed them without blinking an eye. Even using her untrained body, he was spectacularly effective.

And then there was that ability of his—that uncanny ability to see with his mind's eye; to sense everything that was going on around them in microscopic detail, even through walls and beyond the lines of ordinary sight.

The magnitude of it hit her all of a sudden, and the glimmer of understanding in her mind widened into a crack. It was terrifying to think that any being could possess such an ability.

And if he hadn't been constrained by her human body…

Good lord.

Was he even real? Now he was gone without a trace, and Jade wondered if he truly was just a figment of her fractured imagination; a manifestation of her subconscious desire to fight back against a frightening world that was trying to swallow her whole.

Damaged body, mind full of chaos.

She had to get out of there. So why was she staring at the walls, feeling weightless and completely devoid of pain?

Ah. I remember what happened.

After he'd left her, she'd made her way to the metal ladder that led to the exit. The sunlight streaming through the shaft above was a reassuring sight.

She remembered trying to climb up: hurting, scrambling, desperate to see the sunny blue skies outside. Claustrophobia had enveloped her, worse than she'd ever felt before. Considering she used to go down into these kinds of places all the time, it was uncharacteristic, but then again, she'd just gone through the most terrifying experience of her life.

Her heart had been pounding like crazy, so hard it almost hurt. Her palms were clammy and…

Oh.

Now she remembered.

She'd tried to grab the rusted metal railings of the ladder, but when she'd curled her fingers into a firm grip and tried to pull herself up, excruciating pain had shot through her left hand to the point where she lost her handhold all of a sudden.

She'd fallen.

And then, she'd blacked out.

Good one, Jade.

Deep down, she knew she was an idiot for asking Dragek to get out of her head. He was the only person who could effectively help her get out of this situation, and she'd chased him away.

Why?

Maybe because the feeling of having him inside her head was really fucking scary .

Anyway, in the end, his presence had disappeared in an instant, almost as if he'd been ripped away against his will.

So now she was in the space between wakefulness and oblivion, wondering how in the bloody Universe it was possible to exist like this—within her surroundings but apart.

As if there was a void between her conscious world and her dreams.

What if she got stuck here? Suspended in her thoughts, all alone… except for the occasional company of that platinum-skinned alien demon?

Funny, she could almost admit to herself that she kind of missed him. She'd been betrayed by those closest to her and pursued by the ones she was supposed to be able to trust. She was alone, trapped in a nightmare with nobody to turn to. Even the close friends she would normally confide in weren't an option.

They would all listen to Cameron over her. They all believed in the Federation—in the damn system, in whatever the powers that be told them. She couldn't blame them—not too long ago, she'd been the same.

Even her own family wanted her to be under the care of MWA. They thought they were doing the right thing.

I don't feel insane, though. I'm not psychotic or delusional. Surely.

The only one who might even remotely understand her situation was an intimidating alien with luminous platinum-hued skin, pitch-black eyes, and raven hair, who was hard and brutal and terrifyingly competent at violence.

Dragek.

But… he wasn't evil.

If he was that kind of bad—reptilian-alien-unthinkingly-cruel kind of bad—surely, she would have sensed it.

So. I leave you for the briefest of moments, and you end up like this, hm?

The sound of his voice inside her head—deep, resonant, mildly amused—shocked the hell out of her. She tried her best to calm her thoughts and gather her mental voice. Back already? For someone who pretends to be so high and mighty, you seem rather involved in my business.

It's because you're special.

Huh. What a strange thing to say. There isn't anything particularly special about me. Now, she really couldn't tell whether he was being serious or sarcastic. Did Kordolians ever get funny like that?

She decided she wouldn't react, even though the possibility of him praising her for some characteristic—she didn't know what—was highly intoxicating.

I presume I'm not fully conscious right now, so where are you? Don't I get to see you? The words were out of her mouth before she could even think. Part of her wanted to see him again, to take in his otherworldly beauty. For he was a visual feast, and she hadn't observed him enough.

"Over here." His voice echoed in the recesses of her mind, but it was as if he'd spoken the words aloud. She could barely tell the difference anymore—whether he was talking in her head or in the surreal space that existed between wakefulness and oblivion.

In this version of existence, she was standing in the crypt-like chamber, her body light and free of pain.

She could have died and gone to some sort of purgatory for all she knew, although she didn't know what she would have done to deserve that.

She turned toward him. "Oh. There you are. So, what do you want now?" Her words came out blunter than she'd intended, partly because she was trying to conceal her reaction.

She stared. She couldn't help it. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded, his expression maddeningly cryptic. She took in his partly exposed form; his honed body, all muscular power and deadly perfection.

She studied his features: strong, angular, alien yet strangely familiar, made otherworldly by his platinum-hued skin—a shade somewhere between silver and moonlight.

He was a bit different to the Kordolians she'd seen on the Networks. Those ones were all similar in their coloring, although their skin could vary in shades of silver, from light to gunmetal grey. But they all had snow-white hair, and their eyes were always in the warm-colored range: crimson, yellow, amber…

This guy, Dragek, was different.

He was the first dark-haired Kordolian she'd ever seen, and his eyes were different, too. From the sclera to the irises to the pupils, they were pure black.

His hair was a very deep ash-brown, almost black. Tied back in a simple ponytail, it was long and lustrous, and she was overcome with a sudden urge to run her fingers through it.

He was darkness: deceptively beautiful and utterly compelling.

Jeez. Would you snap out of it already?

If there was any part of her that was losing touch with reality, it was the part of her that found him… attractive .

"My bosses are going to retrieve you from here. It will be much faster if you tell me your precise location on Earth."

"R-retrieve me?" It was one thing being chased by people from the MWA. At least those people were human, and she had a rough idea of what to expect, even if it was horrible.

But now, due to some ridiculous twist of fate, the Kordolians had taken an interest in her.

How the hell did this even happen?

"I can sense your mistrust, human, but now is not the time for indecision. Understand that this conversation exists in the void between the real world and your dreams. In reality, you're lying unconscious at the bottom of a deep hole, exhausted, with broken bones and a damaged body and no way of climbing out—unless your human body can surpass the limits of its endurance. In addition, as per your request, I held back from killing those men against my better instincts. Eventually, the sedative poison and the effects of my assault will wear off, and they will come looking for you, and now they will want to seriously hurt you."

"They're bound by a professional code," she retorted, the words sounding hollow as they escaped her lips. For deep down, she knew his cold, hard pragmatism was the truth.

"Professional code?" His lips curved in disdain. "Meaningless drivel. If they're like most sentient beings in the Universe, they'll desire revenge. They will hurt you. But if you tell me your exact coordinates, I'll come and get you."

" You'll come?" Her unconscious heart flipped inside her chest.

"Personally."

"W-wait." He might have saved her once, but she had no idea what his true intentions were, and she definitely couldn't trust him. "Answer me. What do you want with me?"

She'd heard the rumors about Kordolians. Pretty much everyone on Earth knew by now unless they'd been living under a rock. The aliens were facing a mass population calamity. Nobody knew how or why, but there was a severe imbalance of males to females.

But impossibly, humans were able to have babies with Kordolians.

They wanted Earth's women.

How bloody convenient.

The alien stared back at her, his pitch-black gaze giving away nothing. His eyes unnerved her. She didn't quite know whether he was looking at her or through her.

If he could speak in her thoughts, what else was he capable of? Could he read her mind?

"The mere fact that you're able to exist in this place with me is reason for us to want you. We won't allow you to fall into their hands."

"You don't even know why they're after me."

"I think I have an idea." His tone hardened. "This isn't a negotiation, human. You're coming with us. If you refuse to tell me where you are, we'll track you down eventually, even if you fall into the hands of your pursuers. I'm just giving you the option of a fast, efficient retrieval. I'm sure you understand the potential consequences of your indecision."

Jade understood perfectly well. The MWA goons would find her.

The Kordolian's logic was brutal, forcing her to accept this sudden reality.

She could go with what she knew—and she knew that things were about to get bad— or she could take a wild chance and go with him.

"How do I know that you and your people aren't going to do terrible things to me?"

"You don't," he shrugged, his tone laconic. "You can only believe what I'm telling you, which is that I— we— won't . Of all my kind, my masters are the least problematic for you and your species. Were you aware that the leader himself has claimed a human as his own? That he has a child with this female? Do you even understand what that means?"

"Obviously, I don't," she grated, growing increasingly annoyed in spite of her surprise. Some human woman had a child with the infamous Tarak al Akkadian? Had she done so willingly? It was almost unthinkable. "I'm not an expert on alien-human relations. I'm guessing your leader is the General."

"He's the one I've pledged to serve—for now. Amongst my kind, he currently holds the greatest amount of power and influence."

Jade kept quiet. Dragek's words weren't exactly reassuring. According to the Federation, the Kordolians lurking in Earth's orbit were dangerous oppressors—enemies that were going to take over Earth and turn them all into helpless minions.

They were cruel and illegitimate rulers. They'd waged a bloody revolution on Kythia. Anyone who followed the Universal News knew that.

So she had a choice—not much of one, but she had to figure something out. Either she could take Dragek at his word or refuse to give him the coordinates. The second option would result in her being detained by the MWA—and she would probably get beaten up in the process.

Then, according to him, they would come after her, anyway.

She could only imagine it—a bunch of heavily armed, menacing Kordolians forcibly busting their way into a secure facility and taking her out of there.

It would be a disaster.

"I'll go," she grated. "I'm near a place called Coober Pedy. In the Opal Fields. I can't give you the exact coordinates of this mine, but you should be able to identify it. There's a white vehicle with four wheels parked at the top." She'd taken the old electric buggy that had belonged to her grandfather. It was old and beaten on the outside, but that thing was damn near indestructible. The battery had a huge capacity, and it could go for weeks without needing to be recharged.

Dragek nodded. "They will find it."

" They? Aren't you going to come?" A spark of anxiety entered her chest. Strange, that. He wasn't exactly the most friendly or reassuring of characters, but at least he was someone she knew.

And he was kind of reliable… when he wasn't zipping in and out of her mind at random.

"I will." One corner of his mouth curved ever so slightly. "Just remember that you are responsible for this, human."

"Don't you dare hold me responsible. I didn't ask for any of this. And… I have a name."

"You never offered it."

"You never asked."

"So? What are you called, then?"

"Well, thank you for asking. It's Jade."

" Jade. An interesting name." He rolled her name across his tongue; shaping it with his deep voice, with his perfect Universal accent—as if it was something to be savored.

Don't be ridiculous.

"Aren't you supposed to…" she made a gesture with her interdimensional hands, "you know, go now? Back to your real body?"

"An unconscious state doesn't resolve on its own. I have no control over when consciousness will return."

"You mean, you…" She couldn't imagine what might be happening with his physical body. "Did they knock you out or something?"

"One does not simply fall asleep in a hurry."

" Oh. " She took in his relaxed stance. He was as cool and depthless as an almost-frozen pond. How could he be like this when, in reality, she was lying on the ground, unconscious, her body damaged in a dozen places?

"Someone's coming," he said calmly.

"What?"

"One of them—your would-be captors—is awake."

" What? " Jade grew increasingly frantic. For although he was as calm as anything, his words promised imminent danger.

"Next time, you are not to balk when I kill. It's always better to eliminate a threat in the first instance." A tiny puff of exasperation escaped him. His expression softened a fraction—so minutely she thought she could be imagining it. "If I were you, I would resume consciousness and try to hide."

"Easier said than done. Isn't that what you're supposed to do, anyway? Wake up so you can alert your people and come get me?"

"For your sake, it's probably more advantageous if I stay with you right now."

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"At least, if they attempt to harm you again, I can take control of your body and force you to consciousness."

"Y-you could do that?" She didn't quite understand how that was possible when he couldn't even wake up in his own body.

"It's possible. But not desirable. An action of last resort. I'll stay for as long as possible." Tension entered his voice, betraying a hint of emotion for the very first time. So he was capable of that. She sensed his impatience, the pent-up violence inside him. Almost as if he were itching for a fight.

She didn't know if she was ready to live that kind of nightmare again.

But it was better than being found by the MWA goons, who would want to pay her back for what she— Dragek— had done to them.

She made a quick calculation. "I'd prefer it… if you had to take over again… rather than get caught by those guys. Do what you need to do."

"No. At this point, the risks outweigh the benefits. But if things become dire—and if I'm still here—I'll intervene." He unfolded his arms, allowing them to hang loosely—relaxed but tense. She'd never seen anything like it. It was as if he were fluid. One with his surroundings but ready to explode into lethal violence at any moment.

But this hesitation of his was uncharacteristic. "What's the problem? Why don't you want to get inside my head again?"

He gave her an indecipherable look. "I don't want you to lose your sanity."

His answer was unexpected. It made her feel a certain way inside—warm and like there were butterflies in her stomach.

He was the only person who actually thought she was sane right now.

"You'd better wake up now," he said softly. "Or maybe it's better that you don't. Ease your thoughts, Jade. We'll arrive here soon enough. Then all this will be over."

Before she could ask him what the hell he was talking about, he disappeared into thin air, leaving her suspended between dreams and reality.

Yet again.

Oh, no.

That meant he'd woken up.

And he was coming for her.

The Kordolians were coming to take her away.

Better being taken by aliens than getting locked away in some institution, right?

…right?