Chapter 2

Unity had assumed that the size of the huge male standing outside her cell was exaggerated by the dim light and cramped space but as she approached the bars she realized she was wrong. He was even more enormous than she"d thought. Her head barely reached his chest - his extremely well-muscled chest, all of which was clearly visible since the only thing he was wearing on his upper body was some kind of studded leather shoulder armor. His shoulders were wide enough to block out most of the passageway behind him.

From what she"d seen these aliens had skin tones ranging from a pale gold to a deep bronze, all with an almost metallic gleam, and his was a rich gold. His short, close-cut hair was a darker shade of gold and even his eyes were gold, glowing slightly in the dim light. He looked far more like a king than the previous one - albeit a barbaric warrior king.

She shuddered at the memory of the previous king with his soft, cruel hands and his sick demands. The dungeon had been a better alternative than his bedroom, but that didn"t mean she wanted to stay here forever.

"Well?" she demanded. "Are you going to let me out?"

"Yes." Despite his immediate agreement, he didn"t reach for the cell door, frowning at her thoughtfully. "The question is what am I going to do with you then."

"Send me home. Back to E-earth."

Dammit. Her voice sounded shaky rather than demanding.

"And where is this Earth of yours?"

Oh. It hadn"t even occurred to her until that moment that he might not know.

"Don"t you have some kind of star chart or something/"

"There are such things," he agreed. "But most Farlain do not leave this planet. Even if one were familiar with those charts, they would be useless without a point of reference."

Damn. Damn, damn, damn. She fought against the rising tide of panic and focused on her anger instead. She wasn"t going to get anywhere by pleading.

"That"s not my fault! I didn"t ask to be abducted."

"I cannot return what is not mine to return," he said.

"Fine. Just set me free. I"ll figure something out."

Not that she had any idea what yet, but it would have to be an improvement on her current situation. To her dismay, his frown only increased.

"You have no status in our society. Someone would be sure to claim such a... tempting prize."

His eyes flicked down over her body for the briefest second and she was painfully aware of how little the gown concealed, even before it had been torn. It consisted of little more than two brief pieces of thin white cloth, joined at a single point on each shoulder and at both sides of her waist.

In addition, the bastard former king had ripped the neckline down far enough to expose her right breast almost to her nipple before she kneed him, hoping these aliens had balls in the same place. They did. He"d given a very satisfactory groan as he bent over clutching himself. The blow he"d dealt her after he straightened was not as satisfactory but damned if she was going to go down without a fight.

He"d grabbed her again, ordering her to obey him, and she gone for his face with her nails. They weren"t that long but they were long enough to draw blood and cause some damage. That was when he"d decided to send her off to the dungeons - "to learn respect." When she told him she would never respect someone who thought he could own another person he struck her again, hard enough to knock her out that time.

She"d regained consciousness in this cell and had been here ever since wondering how the hell her perfectly normal life had turned into something out of a science fiction movie. She"d been sitting in her living room, mindlessly watching an old movie and thanking God that tax season was over when an alien appeared in the corner of the room - the classic grey-skinned, large-eyed alien that people joked about. Only she"d been terrified rather than amused, especially since he was tall and strong rather that come cute little cartoon figure.

A flash of light blinded her as he came towards her and the next thing she knew she was waking up stiff and groggy to find herself dressed in her current minimal outfit and strapped to some kind of stretcher. The former king had been leering down at her and even though he was far more human-looking than the tall-grey alien, he was also clearly not human. Like her captor he was tall and lean, but his skin was a metallic coppery shade and his eyes had a weird reddish glow.

"Excellent. Has she been trained?"

She was quite sure he wasn"t speaking English but she could understand him perfectly.

The big grey alien shrugged.

"Not my department, King Ulmat. I"m only in charge of procurement. But if you don"t want her, I have plenty of other buyers-"

"No, no. I want her. Training her may even prove entertaining." His petulant expression was more suited to a spoiled toddler than a king. "The queen just doesn"t understand my needs."

He reached down and pinched her breast cruelly, smiling happily when she only managed a pained grunt in response. She tried to lift her hand to push him away but it only fluttered weakly and smiled broadened.

"Delightful."

"The stasis will wear off," the grey alien reminded him but the king waved his hand dismissively.

"A female who won"t react to my... attentions has no appeal for me. Now, we have business to discuss. These specialized orders are profitable, but not scalable. I was thinking..."

The two males walked away out of earshot, leaving her trying desperately to move. Panic filled her but she refused to acknowledge it - Screaming and crying hysterically wouldn"t help anyone. She kept trying to raise her arms but the sensation never returned to her limbs, and eventually she drifted off into unconsciousness again. The next time she woke it was to a vicious headache and the awareness that the restraints had been removed.

Even better, when she instinctively clenched her fist, it formed a tight little ball. She sat up, wincing as pain jolted through her head, and the found the king sprawled in a chair watching her impatiently. The naked king. Without the elaborate robes he was an unappealing combination of thin and flabby but it didn"t diminish his arrogance.

"Finally. I dislike waiting. You may service me."

He waved at his lap but his dick was either completely limp or ridiculously small, hidden beneath the loose skin of his stomach.

"I will do not such thing," she hissed. "I demand you return me to Earth immediately."

"You are in no position to demand anything. I might be persuaded to grant you certain favors if you please me, but they certainly wouldn"t include sending you back to the primitive planet. You should be grateful that I"ve removed you from it."

"Primitive?"

Considering that the room they were in could have come straight from a medieval castle, complete with thick stone walls and furs on the bed, the irony would have made her laugh if she hadn"t been so angry.

He gave her a petulant smile and gestured again, this time at the floor in front of him. She started edging towards the door instead and his expression shifted to annoyed.

"It seems you need to be taught a lesson in respect and obedience, female."

"I don"t need anything from you."

She whirled and dashed for the door. Unfortunately, despite his apparent lack of muscle tone, he caught her before she reached it, cold fingers clamping down painfully on her wrist as he started to tear off her dress. At which point she"d tried to knee him in the balls and ended up in the dungeons.

Now the huge alien who"d replaced the king was telling her that someone could just claim her.

"And you call my planet primitive," she said bitterly. "At least no one can just take you there."

"Except someone did," he pointed out and she glared at him.

"But he wasn"t human."

"Indeed. And no human male ever takes a human female against her will?"

She wanted to tell him no, but her innate honesty wouldn"t let her.

"It would be against the law," she said primly.

"As was taking you, but the fact remains that you were taken and you have very few alternatives."

"If I might make a suggestion, Your Majesty."

The smaller male who"d accompanied the king finally spoke, his voice smooth and obsequious, but she didn"t miss his sly glance at Cronan.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I believe the wisest course of action would be for you to claim the female for yourself."