The Alien’s Reward by Luna Kingsley
Chapter 14
Vah’all
The slapof cold water against my face shocks me back to consciousness. I’m lying half in, half out of a river after falling once my wing took a cut from someone’s sharp talons. I move slowly when my head clears, testing my limbs to make sure nothing is broken. Urgency fills me as I think of Sarah and how they came to take her from me. She must be at the compound by now which means it’s going to be much more difficult for me to get in and get her back.
I pull myself to my feet and shake my head to clear the fog so I can take to the sky and finish what I started. Before I get anywhere, though, I home in on the sounds above me, my scales prickling with awareness.
They’ve found me again.
My warrior brothers stalk me from the skies, circling above the trees. I swoop in and out so I can get glances of them before they disappear. Thoughts of fighting them cross my mind but if they’ve already taken Sarah into the compound, it doesn’t make sense to fight it. Now I want to be close to where she is.
I’m still assessing my injuries when the warriors land. For falling from the sky, I’m in remarkably good shape, aside from a wound to my wing and a few scrapes and cuts on my body.
“We’re taking you in, Vah’all. It’ll go better for you if you don’t fight it.”
I raise my hands in surrender, focusing on the sounds of water rushing over the rocks to bring calm to the chaos inside of me. When they grab my hands to restrain me, I hold thoughts of Sarah in my head. When anger over the council’s decision being overturned suddenly threatens to consume me, I focus on knowing that at least we’ll be together in the same place. Whatever reasons they have for this sudden change in decision, I’ll find a way for Sarah to be with me again.
We return to the military compound and I’m eager to see Stux’an. He may be my alpha but he’s always been on my side. This is the first time I’ve strayed from our laws and technically I asked permission for Sarah to be here before I brought her from Cruna. Instead of allowing me freedom now that we’re back, they lead me down to the very bottom floor of the compound. I’ve been down here myself before but only to deliver prisoners that I’ve captured from fallen ships. And only when the prisoner is someone the alphas would be interested in questioning.
Now it’s my turn to be a prisoner.
I’ve gone against the alphas in favor of my woman. These are the consequences I’m forced to suffer. But I’ll do what I need to do for her.
The confinement cells are dark. There are no windows at this level. No heat either. By the time nightfall comes, even I’ll be uncomfortable in the frigid darkness. They don’t bother with any special treatments once I enter the cell. My arms are forced above my head, my wrists shackled into the restraints. They do the same to my ankles. It’s possible to move forward and sit down against the wall, but I can’t access the door or the locks.
“I want to speak with Stux’an,” I say.
“You are not in a position to make demands, Vah’all. A warrior is dead because of your actions.”
Dread pools in my stomach, the only thought blaring in my mind—lies.
“I did not kill anyone!” My voice is absorbed by the walls. The confinement cells are where prisoners go to disappear. Once the dutiful assassin, I’ve become expendable as long as I no longer follow their directions as soon as they’re given. “Allow me to speak with Stux’an and I’ll explain everything to him.”
“He’ll see you when he’s ready.” I don’t understand the lack of sympathy from those whom I’ve fought with side by side for so many years. They treat me like a stranger, barely looking into my eyes while locking me away like a criminal. When in truth, I’ve done nothing but protect what I was already given by the council. A mate who I’ve sworn to protect as soon as she became mine. How can that make me a criminal?
“At least tell me what has become of Sarah. Is she here in the compound? Is she safe?”
“She’s with the other three humans. They’re staying together until the council makes a final decision.”
I drop my head, relieved but frustrated at the same time. My arms are heavy in my chains and I’d give anything to have the opportunity to see her with my own eyes and make sure she’s being treated well. “I don’t understand why the council changed their minds. They’d already made a decision. Now they claim to want to do it all over again.”
“You’ve sent tremors through the core of Bameh by bringing these females here. Some like the idea, some are vehemently against it. Consider they’re here for their safety.” The last warrior turns to leave. When the door is only open a sliver he says, “I will let Stux’an know you’re here.”
And with that, he closes the door, leaving me in darkness.
The night drags on as I drift in and out of sleep. My dreams are cursed with the faces of the dead framed with fire and twisted metal. Haunted screams jolt me awake as I shiver on the cold cement floor. It isn’t until I’m lucid that I remember where I am and that none of the images or sounds are real. Just memories from my past that I’ll never escape.
How could I ever explain to Stux’an how Sarah takes all of this away? The night terrors are an endless punishment of everything I’ve done but when I hold her in my arms, a calm encompasses me, protecting me and keeping the memories at bay. Her aura called to me from space like a piece of my soul. Now that I’ve tasted this peace, I can’t live without it.
I don’t want to.
Sarah’s somewhere in this building. Somewhere above me. Stux’an better pay attention to the fact that she’ll need heat to stay warm. And they eat more often than we do, needing sustenance at least three times a day if not more. These are all things I planned on telling him if he would’ve come down to see me. But the night wasted away and he never appeared. No one did. I was given no medical treatment, no food, no water, no heat. Once the one who did anything they asked, now a criminal in their minds.
It’s easy to lose track of time down in these cells. The darkness is disarming and disorienting but at some point, there’s a tightness inside of me that grows with intensity. My skin prickles across my chest but nothing external will soothe me. My instincts tell me it has something to do with Sarah and not knowing is the worst form of torture.
Has something happened to her?
Is she sick?
Was she injured when they took her?
Suddenly I need to know but there’s no one around to answer my screams. They’ve thrown me down in this cell, locked me away. But I don’t care about any of that. I only want to know what they’ve done with her.
I want answers and I won’t get them down here. Not if they plan on pretending I don’t exist while they form another council and decide the fate of my woman without me. The problem is clear—there are those who don’t want Sarah and I to reproduce. But at the same time, if it’s a possibility, it would cement her future on the island as well as that of her friends. There are more of us who want a future for our kind than those who look at species mixing as a negative thing.
Slowly the answer to our predicament begins to form in my mind but it won’t be something easily won. Somehow I’ll need to convince Sarah that our best course of action is to try for a child.
Then the door to my cell unlocks, a sliver of light too bright after so many hours of darkness. Sarah enters my cell surrounded by a glow as if she’s being presented to me in a dream. Her hair flows softly around her shoulders, accentuating her wide brown eyes that are full of worry and hesitation. She wears a one-piece outfit that fits the curves of her body but when I glance down, her feet are bare. A tremor passes through me as I imagine how cold the floor of this cell must feel on her bare skin. It’s the bare feet that tell me this is all a dream until I close my eyes, awash with disappointment, and then she speaks.