The Alien’s Reward by Luna Kingsley
Chapter 22
Sarah
“Try to stay calm,okay? We’ll get some answers the next time someone comes back.” Willa is falling apart, and I don’t blame her. If I allowed myself a minute to really think about the situation we’re in, I’d be having a full on panic attack right now. Instead, I image my mom and dad’s faces and think about all they’ve been through. After they encouraged me to take this trip and fulfill my dreams all to prove they weren’t holding me back after my sister’s death, I can’t disappear on them. Not without a word about what happened to me. “This is where we need to stay strong. Let’s look at the positives. First, we’re all together. They didn’t separate us and that would’ve been worse, right?”
Willa nods, frantically, but she nods, nonetheless.
“And don’t forget about the cargo ship,” Maren adds from where she’s strapped to her bed. Yes, they’ve strapped us to our beds even though we’re locked inside another room together. This room is completely sterile with nothing in it besides the four plain beds and four white walls. There’s one door with a window the size of an index card, otherwise we’re in a literal white box. It’s panic inducing without the straps holding us to the beds.
“Yes, the cargo ship,” Trinity says. “Once we get out of here, I can fly that baby and get us back to Nedruinia. And if you’ve had enough of Cruna after all this drama, we’ll plan our flight back to Earth. Okay?”
“I want to go home,” Willa says. Her voice breaks and she could be talking about right now or on the chance we get out of this facility. Either way, my heart breaks for her because this isn’t what we signed up for.
“We all want that, Willa,” I say. Of course, before I can say anything else, Vah’all’s powerful, well-muscled body and boldly handsome face pops into my head. And it’s not just his sexy alien features that appeal to me—it’s his scorching touch, his determination to have me and keep me all while making sure I’m happier than I’ve ever been. How do I leave someone like that behind?
The door to the room opens, all four of our heads moving in the same direction to see what’s going on. Instead of one of the scientists, a large machine is wheeled in, followed by a scientist, and then the cycle is repeated. A strange machine with a scientist for each of us.
“What the hell is this?” Maren asks, fighting against her restraints to try to sit up on the bed. We’ve all begun fighting against the straps unconsciously, our attention focused on the machines being positioned by our heads. “Answer me, douche canoe.”
He doesn’t answer her, and I can’t form the words to ask what’s going on. Panic like I’ve never known before wells in my throat as he pulls out a needle and positions it toward my hand. They haven’t explained anything about what they plan on doing to us or with us while we’re here. And now they’ve brought in these strange machines and are about to poke us with needles. Should I be afraid for my life? What level of fear should I be working with right now?
Willa screams as more guards enter the room. She’s fighting like hell, and she may think she’s fragile and falling apart, but she’s the reason these assholes needed to call in reinforcements. My heart swells with pride because even at her lowest, she’s not going down without a fight.
The scientist at my side grabs my arm to steady me but I take Willa’s lead and fight against him. “Guards!” My bed is surrounded as hands clamp down on my arms and legs. One even presses against my face, making me cry out at the pressure being exerted against my cheek. There’s a sharp prick against my neck and I scream.
I do my best to fight off the panic that threatens to pull me under while so many hands press down on my body I could suffocate. Within seconds of receiving the injection to my neck, though, my body grows as heavy as lead until I lose the fight at keeping my eyes open.
* * *
The lights aredim when I blink awake. Soft whirring sounds and occasional beeps fill the room like our own sound machine. My friends are quiet and calm. As soon as I turn my head to the side, they’re lying still, suffering from the effects of the drugs. My arms are still strapped to the bed but now when I move them, they ache. A needle sticks out of each hand connected to a tube that runs up to the machine by my head. My hands are already bruised and I’m still sluggish from whatever drugs they’re pumping into my system.
It’s alarming to me that my initial response to waking up in this situation is to cry out for Vah’all. He’s become the one I can count on in this place. Now after all this, he’s the only one I can trust. But I don’t know what he’s going through. If he’s still in confinement or being punished for trying to keep me safe, we can’t count on him to get us out of this mess.
“Sarah?” Maren’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“Maren, are you okay?” I do my best to lift my head so we can look each other in the eye, but I’m still too groggy and from the sound of her voice she’s just coming out of it.
“I think so.” A minute of silence passes before she says what we’re both thinking. “We need to get out of here. Somehow. They’re not messing around.”
“I know.” If only there were a way to loosen the restrains enough to get free. I’d be happy just to pull the needles out right now because whatever they’re pumping into my system, hurts. My arms are bruising, my veins throbbing and alternating between scorching hot and as cold as ice. Every so often my whole body starts to shake but right as I’m wishing for a second blanket, I break out into a sweat and try to kick off the one I have. “What do you think they’re trying to do to us?”
“Make us more like them?”
My head pounds, making me want to close my eyes and go back to sleep. But that seems like the last thing I should do. My instincts tell me to try to find a way to get free of these restraints. To try to keep these drugs from being pumped into my system.
Once again, the door clicks open, and my stomach drops as my heart rate increases. Like a sick science experiment, I already associate the door opening with bad things. This time, it’s only one scientist and it’s just him—no more machines on wheels or drugs that’ll add to the painful discomfort I’m already experiencing.
He walks to the machine by my bed first. After checking to see that the needles are still inserted and the tubes are delivering the liquid, he looks at the panel on the machine. “So, what’s the end game here, Doc?” I ask.
His wings kick out suddenly behind him before he folds them back in place. His eyes are a smooth, dark onyx that regard me with a practiced coolness that adds to the chills already racking my body. We haven’t been given an explanation thus far so when he begins speaking, I’m shocked.
“In another lab we’re working on successfully fertilizing a female Dhevieth’s egg. Once this process is successful, we will use you as a host.”
“Surrogacy,” I say, my voice a whisper while I process this new information. “What’s with the tubes and needles? My body hurts. Every inch of me. Why would you want us in this much pain if you want to use us for your benefit? We never did anything wrong.”
For the first time, he hesitates. But it doesn’t make any sense to me. The four of us are innocent but we’ve gotten caught in the middle of these games.
“I’ll see what I can do about finding something to make the administration of the medicine less painful.”
After staring at him for a while to see if he’s serious about that, I nod. “What about the restraints? We’re already locked in this room. Isn’t this overkill?”
“We can’t risk having you pull the needles out. The medicine you’re receiving prepares your bodies to accept the Dhevieth offspring. We will not compromise on this.”
“Son of a bitch.” For the first time since he entered the room, Maren speaks and it’s to curse him out. I don’t disagree with her, but I want those pain meds. Since I don’t know what happened to Vah’all, I have no way of knowing if anyone will come for us or if we’ll have to figure something out on our own. The same hopelessness Willa felt weighs me down now that he’s revealed our purpose. Without Vah’all to protect me, I’ve become a property of Bameh’s science program instead of his protected mate.
The four of us are on our own.