Kidnapped By the Alien Prince by Tori Kellett

Chapter Two

Calista came suddenly awake in the dim light with her heart pounding and listened for whatever noise had woken her. She let out a shallow breath and tried to calm down when she heard the hum of her old refrigerator in the background. It had broken down two days ago, and she had lost everything in the heat, but it obviously seemed to be working now, and she thanked her lucky stars because she couldn’t afford a new one. The air-conditioning was also a complete waste of time, and she wasn’t prepared to do what her landlord seemed to think was a fair exchange for actually turning the damn thing on.

Lassitude stole over her, and she settled back down, wondering if she was actually awake at all. Nope, must be a dream because she felt comfortably warm, not sticky as if there was no air in the usual ninety-degree heat at this time of year, and she seemed to have found a spot on the mattress that didn’t have lumps sticking out. She smiled contentedly. Good dream.

“They will all be regaining consciousness shortly.”

Calista’s eyes flew open, and she let out an involuntary cry as the large shadow loomed over her, and she jerked upright. Without thinking, her head connected with something that felt like a brick wall, and her second cry was in pain.

“Draks, get the light on.”

Calista blinked as the dim light became brighter, and she took in the metal bed, the hum of machines surrounding her that definitely wasn’t her refrigerator, and the huge gray—no, silver almost—Halloween monsters who stood in front of her, one of them rubbing his cheek. Callie didn’t know whether to scream, faint, or just go back to sleep. But this wasn’t a dream; it was a nightmare. Pulse pounding, she scooted back up the bed as far as she could.

But then the high-pitched female scream that came from somewhere close put an end to all those plans because each of the silver monsters shot a worried look at each other and rushed out.

The screaming didn’t stop, and Callie—because she was clearly insane—got up and followed them. Her head throbbed painfully, which she didn’t think was supposed to happen in dreams, and she peered into an identical room to see who was screaming.

A woman. Definitely not silver, gray, whatever, but she looked a good ten years younger than Callie’s own thirty-seven.

“For god’s sake, N’ameth, do something.” The monster took a step toward the girl, who immediately stopped screaming and burst into tears. Callie had seen enough.

“Leave her alone, you bastards,” she yelled, scooting in between them both and rushing to jump on the bed. The girl immediately looked up at Callie’s shout, and Callie wrapped her arms around the shaking and clearly terrified young woman. Not that she was doing much better.

Both huge monsters looked at each other, then back at Callie, seeming nonplussed. If it was at all funny, she would have laughed at their identical looks of discomfort, so classically male when faced with female tears.

That they were male, she was in no doubt. The fact that they had to be over seven feet tall, muscles so wide the guy on the left’s bicep was the size of her leg, and the…her eyes trailed down to the bulge apparent in the tight-fitting black pants he wore. Callie shivered.

“You are cold.”

Callie’s eyes widened as the bigger of the two—if that was even possible—held out a soft blanket cautiously as if she was going to react badly. She gazed into the weird dark blue, almost navy, eyes, hoping to be able to detect honesty. Hell, at the moment she’d be happy to be satisfied he wasn’t going to kill her or eat her, whatever. The girl in her arms had stopped crying hysterically anyway. “Is your head injured?”

“No, thank you.” It hurt like hell, but she wasn’t giving him the excuse to touch her, and she wasn’t cold, but if he was showing any type of concern for their well-being, it needed encouraging. The male took a small step toward her and placed the blanket on the bottom of the bed, then took a hurried step backward.

Callie licked her lips. Damn, she wanted a drink.

The smaller one seemed to almost read her mind because he put a colored beaker into something that looked like a microwave and said, “Water, program four.” He got the beaker out and held it out.

Callie looked at it suspiciously. “You looked thirsty.” She was, but she still wasn’t drinking it. He smiled, if that was the right word, and put the beaker down on a small table next to the bed. If she stretched, she could reach it.

“Who are you?” She wanted to say what are you, but she didn’t want to upset them.

“First—”

“Zakaarir,” the bigger one interrupted and put an arm across his chest and bowed.

The smaller one copied. “I am N’ameth.”

Callie considered that a moment, still assuming she was having a weird dream. She had to be. Not that she’d ever dreamed about huge silver guys with white hair and scales? Or maybe it was a uniform because if it wasn’t, then they seemingly walked about bare-chested.

In fact, apart from eye color and height, there was very little difference between the two.

“Where are we?”

The fact that they didn’t ask for her name came as no surprise. Somehow, she had a feeling they already knew.

They looked from one to another, and then the larger one heaved a huge sigh. “You are on a battle cruiser approximately three million heptires away from your planet.”

Callie gaped, and the girl in her arms started sobbing again. She had no idea what a heptire was, but three million of anything sounded a lot. Callie hushed her automatically and asked the next logical question. “Why?”

The larger one—no, wait. She couldn’t keep referring to him by size. Zakaarir, he had said, sighed again. “I am happy to explain, but…” He trailed off as the girl cried harder. Callie turned to her.

“What’s your name? I’m Calista, Callie for short.”

“Lexie,” she managed to splutter out. “This is a nightmare.”

“Uh-huh. Why don’t—” But she didn’t get a chance to say anything else as N’ameth leaned down and injected something very quickly into Lexie’s arm. She didn’t get so much as a chance to react before her eyes rolled up and she went limp.

“What the hell?” Callie yelled. “You can’t go around doing that.”

“Her breathing and heart rate had spiked considerably. The sedative will not harm her, and she was at a higher risk if we had let it continue,” N’ameth said.

“I don’t care, you bastards,” Callie railed.

N’ameth considered that. “But we have a sire and used to have a matriche.”

Callie frowned.

“I believe she didn’t mean the literal meaning of the word ‘bastard,’” Zakaarir said, almost with a hint of amusement. “I believe it means a male without honor.”

N’ameth shook his head. “We would never—”

“Kidnap? Drug us? Take us from our homes and family?”

This time, even Zakaarir didn’t seem to have anything to say.

“You take us back right now,” she demanded, probably uselessly.

“I cannot,” Zakaarir said. Callie folded her arms stubbornly. “If you come with me, I will attempt to explain. It also means you will be in a better position to reassure them when they wake up.” Zakaarir put out his hand invitingly.

“So, I can do your dirty work for you? I don’t think so.” Then she processed what he’d said. Them. More than Lexie. She looked at his enormous hand—well, large for her. Probably in proportion for him—and kept her eyes averted with difficulty when another thought about things being in proportion hit her mind like a hammer. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”

He shook his head and kept his hand extended until, with a sigh, she accepted, and he helped her stand. Then she looked down. The fact that she was dressed gave her some comfort. The fact that these weren’t her clothes did not.

“Where are my clothes?”

“We thought you would appreciate wearing something cleansed, but if you accompany me, I will explain everything.”

Callie reddened and hoped to hell he hadn’t been the one to change her into something clean. The shirt she was wearing was the size of a dress, and the thought of all that masculinity seeing her much less than lithe and sculpted body—she tried not to snort hysterically—was enough to give her hives.

In fact, the only good thing she could find about waking up so far was the fact that there hadn’t been any cockroaches. There had been three in her kitchen when she’d gotten up yesterday. Although, if he was a regular size wherever he came from, she really hoped that meant the equivalent bugs weren’t the size of cats.

Callie glanced around as they stepped out into some sort of corridor. Not that there was a lot to see, just metal or plastic-lined walls until they got to a door at the other end with odd-looking symbols on it. Zakaarir held it open politely, and she stepped through and nearly bolted back. In fact, she might have been tempted if a certain huge, hard back hadn’t prevented her. “It’s safe.”

Because she wasn’t looking at the room. She didn’t take in the other three giants that all looked at her with obvious curiosity; she was gazing in stupor at the big screen on the far wall. The big black screen that looked like something out of a Star Trek movie. If she saw anyone with pointy ears, she would scream as loud as Lexie.

But it wasn’t the blackness that drew her; it was the blue circular thing that looked suspiciously like a planet.

Which she was looking at from above.

Which meant she really was on—Callie swallowed hard—a spaceship. She turned and gazed up at Zakaarir. His expression was unreadable. “If we go through there, it will be quieter.” She glanced toward a smaller office that he pointed to and walked toward it. Her knees only shook a little, but what surprised her the most was that every alien? she passed bowed their head in respect, either at her or Zakaarir. It was only a nod, not a full bow from the waist, but even so. He pulled out a chair for her, and she sat. He went over to the same small microwave thingy in the corner and spoke.

“Water, chilled.” He looked back. “I have the temperature preprogrammed, but please let me know if this isn’t acceptable.” He passed her the glass, and she stared down at it like it was going to bite. He sighed. “If I was going to poison you, I’d hardly go to this trouble.”

She took a cautious sip, and it seemed okay, so thirstily she drained it. She reached out and put it on the desk between them. “You can start talking anytime.”

Amusement flashed over his face, and she took another minute to study him. At first she had thought the two she had woken up to were identical apart from eyes and a little height, but not so. They both had the same silver-gray skin and white hair, but Zakaarir had a presence about him the other one didn’t. A commanding one. She had the feeling they were all badass, but the one in front of her seemed to take it to another level.

“I am Prince Zakaarir of Ishtaan.”

She blinked slowly. A prince? He wasn’t exactly what every little girl dreamed of. Older girls? Most probably. Women who should know better? Hell, yeah. “There’s not just Lexie and me, is there?”

He shook his head. “There are six of you. You were the first to wake, and after the second female’s reaction, it was decided to keep the rest asleep until we land. There was one female that had a bad reaction to the sedative, but she is sleeping comfortably now.”

“Why us?” Because if she accepted they were so far from Earth, the second question had to be why.

“Because our race is dying.” He glanced away from her and looked to the smaller version of the window that showed the blue planet, and she saw sorrow clear in his eyes. Sorrow, regret, and helplessness. It was still no excuse for kidnapping, though.

“What do you mean?”

“My elder sire ruled a hundred cycles ago. Under his orders, we invaded a far sector for its mineral deposits. He didn’t know the planet had come to an agreement with another race for protection. Superior fighters in every way. We would have been destroyed.”

Callie waited. He didn’t say so, but she could guess from his flat tone he didn’t agree with his grandfather. She assumed that was who he meant, because if sire was father, then elder sire must be the previous generation.

“We were told by our wise ones that the genetic alteration they had been working on would make us superior in every way and easily able to defeat the enemy. Faced with our own annihilation, all those of fighting age agreed. Except it went wrong. The enemy left, but then we found out over the next ten cycles or so the consequences of our actions.”

His face hardened, and Callie knew it was going to be something really bad.

“Do you understand what genome editing is?” She shook her head. “Humans have a compatible genome count to ours. Genomes encode protein. Your genetic diseases, for example, are caused by rare mutations in the coding region of a gene.”

“Okay,” Callie said. Science had never been her thing at school. She could quote reams of everything from Shakespeare to Poe, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t know or perhaps understandably wouldn’t care.

“What we didn’t understand was that using the genome-editing tool can cause whole chromosome deletion. In this case, not only did it cause a genetic malfunction with those warriors that contain only the X chromosome, but it also mutated to eradicate it completely in their young.”

“X chromosome?” She knew that. “You mean women?”

He seemed to take a moment to absorb that. Maybe they had another name for females.

“Yes. Our warriors with just that chromosome all sickened and died, but not immediately. In the males, the Y chromosome reacted as expected, provided the necessary protection and made the changes you see to our bodies, but it took at least ten cycles after the war for us to realize the problem. And it wasn’t just the warriors themselves. The birth rate of females dropped dramatically. And now nearly ninety cycles on, we have females of only seventy cycles or over, and a few young females of perhaps seven or eight that will be lucky to live to maturity.”

“The children are dying?” Callie whispered in utter horror, and she pressed a hand to her stomach, as if she could contain the pain inside of her.

He nodded solemnly. “Females are being born, but infrequently and only to those women who live long enough to bear them.”

And Callie understood. She worked out why she was here. “So, this is your answer? There are no females suitable in your world, so you had to go to a different store?”

He frowned. “Store?”

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Callie jerked back at the honest—if blunt—answer. Although, she didn’t know what she expected. He could hardly lie. It was just that he was due for one hell of a disappointment. She stood up, and alarmed, he rose as well. “Did it ever occur to you to approach our government and ask for volunteers? Instead of kidnapping people?”

Zakaarir’s unusually blue eyes darkened even more. “There wasn’t time.”

“And I’m just supposed to believe that? How do I know you’re not lying your ass off.”

Zak went quiet for a moment, seeming to absorb what she said, but carried on. “We entered through a small window in space. It wasn’t stable, and it has since closed.”

Tears pricked at Callie’s eyes. “Are you saying we can’t go home? Ever?”

He nodded once. Callie hardened her heart to the regret he saw in them. “And what if we don’t want to be baby-making machines? What then? I’m guessing a big warrior like you will have no difficulty forcing someone my size.”

It wasn’t easy to tell, but Zakaarir’s gray face went even paler. He looked down at the desk. “I need one of you to agree to be my har’fe, my mate, but I will never force you.”

“Not all of us?”

He shrugged. “Not for me, certainly. I hope all your females will choose a mate, but it is vital I produce a matriche very soon. The lives of many depend on it.”

“A matriche?”

“One who has young.”

A mother. She bit her lip and swallowed down her tight throat. The irony was cruel.

“I was hoping you would agree to be my queen,” he said softly. “You tried to take care of the other female. You haven’t panicked.”

“And those are the only requirements?” Callie said incredulously.

“No. In the week you have been here, we know you want young, children.”

“A week? I’ve been here a week?”

Fury stripped Callie of all sense, and her hand flew out and she slapped him before she even thought about it. Somehow, she knew that if he had wanted to, he would have been fast enough to stop her. He was obviously strong enough. She shook her head and stepped back. What had she been thinking? That was the first time she had ever hit anyone in her life. “I’m sorry. I abhor violence, and that was very wrong of me.”

“It was understandable after what we have done.”

Callie gazed into his calm eyes, and regret settled in her. “But I can’t give you a baby. If you somehow have my medical records, you will see I am unable to conceive anymore.” It had been an ectopic pregnancy and the ultimate reason Gary had left her. “And I’m pretty sure I’m too old.” Which was a shame because a new start sounded attractive. Gary had certainly gotten a new start. Skipped and left her to face the thousands of dollars they owed in failed fertility treatments.

Zakaarir stepped around the desk. She hadn’t realized she was shaking until he clasped her and pulled her close into him. “If you truly want a young, we may be able to reverse the damage in your body, but it is urgent. My sire has nearly succeeded in destroying our people. I cannot become king by our laws unless I produce a queen in three days. It would override my sire’s wishes to strip me of my title.”

Callie rested her head on the solid chest in front of her just for a moment. She had been strong for a very long time, and the luxury of being held was a very distant memory. So distant it was as if it had happened to another woman. Which in a lot of ways, it had.

Would it be so bad? Helplessly, her eyes drifted to that still impressive bulge in his skintight pants. He followed her gaze, then looked back at her and cupped her cheek. “Despite the impression we have given you, we are not such unfeeling monsters. I will not cause you pain.”

But a child? Her pulse picked up. What if it didn’t work? He seemed so confident, but then so had every different doctor she had seen. They all said the same thing, and then Gary made it her fault when it failed every time. But on an alien planet, what happened then? Where would she run to when there was no escape?

She had promised herself no more after the last failure. No more. Not ever again. So why was she even considering this?

Because she was about to land on an alien planet completely at their mercy with no hope of getting home?

Because the tug of a child was still strong after all these years and promises to herself she would get on with her life?

Or was it that the thought of the gorgeous prince tugged at her insides in a different way. A way she hadn’t felt for a long time.